Standing on Orda again, the weary riders unsummoned their griffins while the former passengers summoned their steeds. I elected to stay on foot as I searched the peak for any signs of people in need or the enemy they fled from. I did not get far before a rider’s aerial advantage allowed him to spot something noteworthy. He landed and called my group over in his own tongue. As we came up to him, his finger sliced across his neck while another pointed at the ground. It turned out he was trying to prepare us for the grisly sight we came upon.
Lying on its side was a charred, headless body, its top half being little more than a blackened skeleton. Considering frayed strands of floral dress wrapped around its legs, I guessed the corpse was once a woman. Everyone but Ghevont stopped several steps away from it. The undisturbed scholar crouched next to the body and inspected the victim.
I did not have to be a practiced scholar to conclude that the woman had been a thrall. Blotches of dark green skin still dyed parts of her skin, and I imagined the beheading and flame resulted from someone defending themselves and assuring themselves that the thrall would stay dead. Clarissa discovered the burned skull in a shrub several yards away. She found it slightly uphill, meaning the beheader kicked the head away from the burnt body as an added precaution. Of course, the kicking may have just been a way to release some frustration.
Gerard perceived footsteps to track from the area around the dead thrall. They moved northward, deeper into the unstable hills.
“There’s a lot of activity,” said Gerard. “There’s practically a trail through those shrubs, and signs of a camp a few feet away from it.”
“They can’t be too far,” said Clarissa. “These hills are too slippery and steep to climb them quickly. I’m having trouble keeping my balance up here, and I like to think I’m better at staying upright than your average human.”
To Eu-Sook, I said, “Have a squad fly north, and unless people are in immediate danger, tell them to avoid engaging any thralls they may find. We don’t know what they’re capable of, so I prefer to fight them only when we can overwhelm them together.”
“Should we go with them?” asked Gerard.
“Not yet. I want to wait until the fog clears completely, then we can search the area to the south and east. Clarissa is right, these hills are hard to climb for the average person, so I suspect we’ll find more vulnerable people at ground level than up here. Let’s look around for more clues for now.”
It didn’t take long for a rider to spot another dead thrall. However, its body, which was missing most of its left arm, lied in a crevice that would require a perilous descent down a cliff-like slope to reach. The best Ghevont could do to study it was to ride a hovering griffin for a few moments. Neither this thrall nor the first emanated any kind of residual prana.
Half an hour after that second find and the brisk wind pretty much cleared away the fog. I sent one squad east while getting another to join Eu-Sook’s squad south. I first wanted to check whether anyone was using the lighthouse to hide. It was located about two miles from our hill, just west from the buried fortress, though the structure itself had not been touched by the mudslide. Sixty feet off the ground, the smooth stone foundation of the lighthouse became a wooden platform holding a pagoda-style room twenty feet tall at its center.
As Master Jia described, part of the inner lighthouse had collapsed in the same earthquake that caused the mudslide, blocking easy access to an otherwise solid building. Master Jia bypassed the obstruction by fashioning a temporary earthen ladder that led up to a third-story window. With wings available to us, all we had to do was land on the platform.
No one was currently using the structure as a safe haven, but without any defensible positions nearby, it may have to become one again, for I did not like the idea of protecting people from atop the exposed hills. Naturally, we were going to have to use the hills as well if we assembled more than a few dozen people. For the moment, I would have been glad to see a single person to save, but it seemed that most people distrusted the hills. Or perhaps the thralls prevented their targets from ever reaching the hill range. There was only one way to learn the lay of the land and its state of affairs.
We flew in a roughly southeastern course, our griffins spread out a hundred yards from one another. To block the wind, dust, and bugs from getting into our eyes, I rose my ward, helping us achieve a clearer view without squinting and blinking so much. Aided by this magical buffer, Eu-Sook distinguished something important enough to take her whiptail to a lower altitude.
A field stained by ash soon became visible to me. A few hundred feet lower and the bodies materialized as well. The most affected area was a strip of land nearly two hundred yards long, angled north to south. It wasn’t all that wide, maybe a hundred feet in some parts, telling me this fire had been deliberate and controlled. With no smoke rising from anywhere, the fire must have burned out more than a day or two ago. We landed in front of the ashen plain, waiting a few moments for the others to join us before heading in.
Many of the bodies had been piled on top of each other, but about a third were haphazardly sprinkled throughout the burned plain. I estimated more than two hundred bodies occupied the space. Except for a few in armor and several dozen not caught in the hottest flames, the majority had everything but their bones scorched away. Nevertheless, we found a handful of bodies that showed signs of being thralls.
“So there’s some organized resistance,” said Gerard. “There are hoof prints all around this area.”
“And it’s good they’re burning the bodies,” said Clarissa.
“They’ve probably figured out that normal wounds won’t stop a thrall from attacking,” I said.
“Though the fire has left little to study,” said Ghevont. “I doubt there’s any prana to retrieve here.”
“Check anyway. Gerard, find out which direction most of the hoof prints go.”
As Gerard recruited two riders to help him track the hoofs, Eu-Sook waved over Ghevont. Clarissa and I followed the scholar to one of the piled bodies. Eu-Sook stared at two particular corpses at the edge of the pile, one on top of the other. They each exhibited thicker and more complete layers of burned skin and muscle than the others I’d seen, especially the one on top. The top one also sported odd growths sprouting from its arms. Several wrapped tightly around the arms of the second. Other bony-like growths stuck straight into the ribs.
After giving him a minute to look them over, I asked Ghevont, “What do you make of it?”
“Probably what you’ve already guessed. This is likely a thrall in mid-feeding. Offshoots from the main tendrils have burrowed into the bones themselves.”
“Ouch,” said Clarissa. “At least vampires don’t do that.”
“And we’ve never been more appreciative,” I said.
A little while later and Gerard confirmed that the hoof prints led northwest, back to the hills. We mounted the griffins and flew north, intending to meet up with the griffin squad roaming east of the hills and find out if they saw any horsemen or signs of battle.
The clouds were thinning by the time we saw a griffin. In fact, it would have taken longer to find him if the kingclaw had not been flying toward us. His rider spoke with Eu-Sook, who then told me that he had been sent to find me. They found a group of horsemen about two dozen strong fighting three times as many thralls not far from the hills. The rest of his squad was still engaging the last of the enemy when he left.
Our new path had us heading a tad to the northeast. We kept that heading long enough for the largest patches of overcast sky to break apart and give us an almost unbroken stream of sunlight. I almost wished it stayed overcast. It matched my mood more closely. Regardless, the light gave me a farther and better view of the land below. It allowed me to see gray wisps of smoke miles out. The smoke came from a few trees caught in a blaze. Dots moved about in a plain near the grove of enkindled plant life.
On our dive, the dots enlarged to recognizable shapes, namely horses, griffins, and h
umans. No fighting appeared to be taking place. Many of the jogging horses were lined up in a row, their purpose seeming to be to sweep the waist high grasses and expose hidden enemies. Except for a single kingclaw keeping watch from higher up, the griffins rested by using their legs rather than their wings. Every griffin was accounted for.
Landing by the winged squad, Eu-Sook asked whether any thralls remained alive. The rider nodded. He turned his griffin around to lead us to the thralls. As we toddled toward the specimens—a griffin’s talons made going any faster too awkward for comfort—several of the horsemen broke off from their row and headed for us.
Coming within clear shouting range, a familiar voice said, “Well, well, look at that! Of all the places either of us could be!”
I looked at the speaker to my right. When my eyes adjusted to the light coming from the fire and sun, I realized the shouting arose from Aritomo.
When he trotted closer, I said, “Master Kagemori, I’m glad to see you’re still alive. Does that mean Master Okazaki is alive as well?”
“That he is. He should be in the hills right now, hiding with the others.”
“How many others?”
“Uh, I’ve never counted, but there are about four hundred people scattered in different groups. There isn’t a cavern in the hills big enough to hold everyone at once.”
“Why aren’t you with them? What are you doing out here?”
“Burning every ghoul thing that comes too close to the hills. Thank Tahlous for fire, eh? We have to keep them busy or they’ll grow in numbers and overwhelm us. Lucky for us, they’re easy to distract. Most don’t seem to have much of a brain left. Still, it’s tiring work. Our horses won’t last forever. They’ve been our only physical advantage over big herds of ghouls.”
“They won’t have to last much longer. A ship should be here by the sun’s setting. We can take your people away from here by midnight if we move quickly enough.”
“Glad to fucking here it. We can sometimes see ships from atop the hills, but few have ever come close, and there are almost none by this point. We were basically moving north step by step to try to get to the Iunt, though I was having doubts we were ever going to make it out of the abominable hills. It seems the gods want me alive badly enough that they sent a royal and some real soldiers here.”
“You’ve truly never seen Jegeru soldiers around?”
“Well, Hanying told us we couldn’t trust any of ‘em, so we avoided going to forts and the like. We’ve met people that say they’ve seen soldiers marching off somewhere to the east, but they aren’t marching around here, that’s for sure.”
My squad arrived on a dirt patch safeguarded by two griffins and three horsemen. In the middle of the patch were three thralls encased in an earthen spell. Dirt covered pretty much their entire bodies and heads, muffling the groans they made.
“What’s this about, princess? The soldiers said you wanted a few of these undead bastards alive.”
“Aye. My scholar needs to study them. Their prana may save some lives. Go ahead, Ghevont.” As Ghevont went to work, I asked Aritomo, “Is someone leading your group of survivors?”
“There are a few voices that carry more weight than others.”
“Such as yours?”
“I have quite a bit of knowledge that has kept us alive.”
“Such as where to hide in those hills, yes?”
“I’ve been around here before.”
“With others who hide in hills.”
“Ah, I believe you’re insinuating that I’m a bad person, princess.”
I snickered. “Not at all, Master Kagemori. Well, at least not completely. I only find it sadly and comically ironic that criminals and their lairs are doing a better job of protecting people than soldiers who are nowhere to be found… Hmm, Jegeru will need to be rebuilt, and I imagine your connections to the underworld will put you in a good position to take advantage of it.”
“You’re blunt, princess. I always heard royals like to be delicate and play games.”
“Only to those who can undermine our positions. There’s no need to be subtle to those without such power. I only bring it up now in the hopes that you choose to support more than exploit your people. The fact that you’re out here fighting ghouls heartens me somewhat.”
“Heh, you’re thinking farther ahead about my future than I am, princess, and I’d prefer not risking my life out here if the fucking ghouls didn’t keep finding our hiding places. Distracting them is the only way to get them off our backs.”
“I see.” Noticing that Ghevont had finished examining two of the thralls, I asked him, “What have you found so far?”
“The crystal is sensing the aura of nismerdon prana, but I’ll need to actively extract it to learn exactly how much they carry. I’ll carve an absorption rune to help me. It will only take a moment.”
“It’s best we hurry,” said Aritomo. “There’s always more ghouls on the horizon.”
“Our eyes in the sky will see them well before they can overrun us,” I reassured him. “For now, take the time to feed and water your horses. We’ll be moving to the hills as soon as we finish here.”
With Gerard’s help, Ghevont carved a circular rune seven feet wide. The first thrall, a once plump, tall man no older than twenty, was dragged on to the rune by earthen spells cast by Gerard and a rider. Once secured to the ground, the staff’s crystal touched the top of the thrall’s head, causing the indented parts of the ground to glow a rusted red.
The thrall had been trying to break its constraints the entire time, but not until the rune started pulling its life force did it threaten to make headway. Gerard and the rider had to reinforce their spells and exert extra mental fortitude to prevent the thrall from achieving its goal. Going by the brightening of the rune, Ghevont too augmented his spell. A few seconds later and the thrall lost the energy to do much more than wiggle. A few moments afterward and the thrall lacked the vitality to lift its eyelids ever again.
Lifting his staff off the ground, Ghevont said, “Fascinating.”
“What is it?” I asked. “How much prana did you absorb?”
“Not very much, I’m afraid. Do you remember the Advent who wanted to kidnap your sister?”
“I can vaguely recall her, yes.”
“Do you also remember what happened when we subdued her? She willingly ejected her nismerdon prana, effectively killing herself. The instant I cast my spell, this thrall enacted a nigh identical measure Of course, I doubt its own will had anything to do with it. It must be a reflex rooted within the prana itself.”
“Is there any way to gather the prana once it escapes the body?”
“Not in any meaningful way, and not without shifting my attention away from the richer prana in the body. The best I can do is try to hasten the speed at which I absorb the prana, though I suspect that will inhibit my efficiency quite a bit.”
“Efficiency isn’t so important with thousands of thralls out there. Do whatever you think will provide the most prana.”
“Will do.”
While the riders carried the dead thrall to a burning pile of its brethren, we moved on to the next thrall. This time Ghevont and the others were better braced for the thrall’s thrashing and the wasteful leaking of its prana. The second thrall’s implanted life tolerated the scholar’s spell for a few moments longer than the first, but the end result was the same.
“Well?” I asked.
“Er, it’s an improvement.”
“That didn’t sound encouraging.”
“No, no it did not. I admit, however, that I refrained from putting all my prana into the endeavor. That won’t be the case for this last thrall.”
“Are you sure there isn’t a way from keeping the prana from dissipating so quickly?” asked Clarissa. “Like what if I enwrap the thrall in a lot of ice? Or what about Odet’s ward?”
“Hmm… Well, you will have to make both the ice and the ward exceedingly compacted to have any kind of chance at p
reserving the escaping prana, and I still doubt it will affect the efficiency by any substantial amount. On the other hand, it won’t hurt me if you wish to add your spells.”
“Yup, can’t hurt to try.”
So when the last thrall—a female that lost the lower half of her left leg and the whole of her right arm—was placed on the rune, the vampire collected an untold number of water droplets and draped them over the supine body and dirt. The water froze on contact. She took a minute to add another layer of ice and to increase its density.
When Clarissa nodded that she was done, I cast my shield over the ice-encased thrall. As if bending the shield around the body wasn’t already awkward enough, adding to its compactness pushed my concentration near its limit. Like Clarissa, I could repair the larger cracks that kept appearing, but we had to leave the smaller ones alone if Ghevont was ever going to include his spell. I told him to begin.
The thrall’s fidgeting created more fractures, especially at the extremities. She must have been strong for her mere trembling to disturb through every layer of her restraints. That strength drained out of her a little slower than the others, but she surrendered to the absorption spell in due course. I let my shield dissolve into the air.
Freeing the ice from her intangible grip, a mildly panting Clarissa asked, “Did that work?”
Wiping off sweat from his brow, the scholar replied, “It’s difficult to know how much of an impact your idea had, but there is some good news. This thrall enjoyed a larger prana reserve than the other two, so I was able to absorb something I consider consequential. Assuming I can find others like her, I estimate it will require forty to sixty thralls to refill the crystal.”
“Forty to sixty? That will take days to gather, won’t it?”
“It will be tiring, hazardous work, yes.”
“We don’t have to refill the whole damn thing,” said Gerard. “Just whatever can help remove the prince’s desiccation disease.”
“I agree,” I said. “Though I worry finding even ten thralls like this one will prove rarer than not. For now, let’s meet up with the survivors in the hills. We can help them escape without any nismerdon prana.”
The Dragon Knight and the Light Page 28
