The trotting horsemen led the way back to the hills. A couple of our griffins went on ahead to reconnect with the squad still flying over the range.
Six or seven miles later and the horsemen came upon a large, leafless tree just north of a hill that jutted outward more than any other in the region. Fifty yards from the tree was a narrow, steadily rising trail. From the air I could see that it led to a circular plot of trampled grass nestled at the point where two hills merged. A vertical crevice twenty feet tall opened up in the middle of the southern hill. On the opposite side of the opening, a gray, hooded figure kept a lookout on a ledge. I probably would not have been able to see him at all were it not for a reflective twinkle bouncing off the spyglass he employed.
When the horsemen were close to reaching this precipice, I had my squad of griffins land near the crevice. The hooded lookout climbed down to, presumably, learn who we were. After Eu-Sook’s tongue gave him a brief summary of our identities and goal, the sentry walked up to greet the arriving horsemen. Aritomo jumped off his horse and handed the reins to the lookout. The horses were then led into the crevice.
“We keep the horses through there,” said Aritomo. “The humans go through here…” Aritomo walked over to the rock wall opposite the crevice, below the ledge. He knelt and knocked on the smoothest part of the slope. “There’s usually a secret pattern to these things, but there’s no need in times like these.”
As he finished speaking, a man-sized piece of the wall moved deeper into the hill. It revealed an older gentleman standing in a stair-like passage going into the ground. No longer needing the griffins, Eu-Sook’s squad unsummoned them. The riders were thus able to follow us into the hideaway. The man who closed the doorway with an earth spell stayed at his post. Much of the thin, winding passageway was reinforced with wooden posts and beams. A few candles lit our way.
A wider tunnel opened up to our left, but we skipped it and walked another twenty yards. We entered a cavity large enough to fit two tiptoeing elephants. Rather than elephants, the chamber presently fit ten people, seven of them awake and armed. The remaining trio were sleeping by another tunnel opening and on a pile of way draped with animal skin. Hanying belonged to the sleepers. Aritomo’s voice got those with their weapons to relax.
The Jegeru language bounced off the walls for a while, and as he spoke, Aritomo sauntered up to Hanying and kicked the underside of his shoe. A startled Hanying looked at Aritomo, then at the rest of the room. Catching sight of me and my companions, he bolted upward and stepped over to us.
Out of habit, Hanying spoke a few words in his mother tongue first. When he caught himself, he said, “S-sorry, princess. I was just saying that I’m surprised to see you here. How d-did you find us?”
“A griffin squad caught sight of Master Kagemori and his horsemen fighting off some nismerdon thralls. How have you been?”
“Well, I’m not one of those thrall things. That’s something, right? Are you here with the dragon knight? Or an army?”
“Neither, I fear. We’re here with a few griffin squads to collect whatever survivors and nismerdon prana we can before retreating to the sea.”
“What do you need nismerdon prana for?”
“To counter some Advent influence. If we act fast enough, we may even be able to save Jegeru’s prince.”
“Oh. What about us? There are hundreds of people in these hills. Can a few griffin squads get everyone out of here?”
“A Wregor ship will be within reach later today. I will allow the horsemen and their mounts to rest for a couple of hours before we start scrambling southward, toward Seopo. From there we can use boats and wings to get people out of this troubled land. In the meantime, we need to inform everyone in the hills about our aim. How difficult will that be?”
“Uh, it will be easier to reach some groups than others. We’re not really unified, you know. Some groups were here before us. Many of them weren’t the welcoming type, but Aritomo knows how to talk to those kind of people. Anyway, some people want to wait out everything deeper in the hills, or they’ve gone ahead and headed north at their own pace. Not to mention that people everywhere are getting protective of their last bits of resources. There wasn’t much to begin with.”
“You’ve done well to hold out as long as you have. If you’re up for it, I’d like you to help me spread the word to as many groups as you can about their latest option, one that won’t include infighting and starving.”
“As m-morbid as it sounds, infighting and starving may be preferable to meeting what’s out there. I’ve gone to help distract the thralls, as you call them. They act like rabid animals most of the time, but if they ever get a hold of you, they become oddly intelligent about their gruesome business. They’ll try dragging you away somewhere if there’s a lot of danger around them, and they never try to kill you. They’ll break bones so you won’t move, but they won’t kill you.”
“The dead have no prana to give them,” said Ghevont.
“Whatever their reasons, I’d rather take an arrow to the heart than get captured by one of those things.”
“I’m sorry about all the horrible sights you’ve witnessed,” I said. “I wouldn’t expect battle-hardened warriors to come out of these experiences unscathed, but you just have to persevere a little longer. Can you do that?”
“Oh, uh, of, of course. I’m sorry if I sound despairing. It’s just a lot to take. There isn’t even anything to read to pass the time.”
“I understand, Hanying, I do. All we can do is keep busy. Start by telling us where the nearest survivors are.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Over a hundred people were squeezed into the first tunnel system we visited. Another two hundred were scattered in nearby hideaways, which could be reached relatively easily thanks to the wings on hand. Those who were healthy and eager enough to head to Seopo were allowed to begin the trek with only a paltry escort of armed bandits and a pair of griffins guiding them. However, many of the survivors were women, children, the infirm, and the elderly, so they required the bulk of our protection.
It took longer than I liked to get everyone moving back up to the surface. We weren’t going to have the advantage of daylight much longer, though I never expected to reach the lighthouse that same day. Regardless, if we wanted to reach Seopo with any speed, we were going to have to hike the hills throughout the night. We could join the horsemen on flatter land to quicken our pace, but that would only make it easier for a horde of thralls to overtake the frailest of us.
In the meantime, I ordered a few griffins to convey those who had the most trouble traversing the hills directly to the top of the lighthouse. If we had the beast and manpower to ferry dozens of people while still protecting those left on the ground and keep our scouts in the air, this would have become our primary means of travel. I wish there was at least a Jegeru ship in the area, but it appeared that any boat that could be sailed or rowed away from shore had been by now.
I chose to walk amongst the survivors, helping them negotiate the trickier spots with a spell from me, the griffin squad, or my contingent of friends, which now included Hanying. That griffin squad normally meant Eu-Sook’s, but her riders occasionally needed to relieve fellow riders who had exhausted their prana reserves. It was easier to provide rest periods to the squads in the revealing light of day, but the coming nightfall was a different story. It didn’t help that denser clouds rolling in through the late afternoon brought darkness a little quicker. At least they were not the inclement kind.
Griffin eyes, while powerful, did not see all that well in the dark, meaning we needed to send riders out farther and longer to properly scout an area. And according to the horsemen, the thralls often closed in between midnight and dawn. It was thus shortly before every ray of daylight disappeared that I ordered every griffin squad to scour the skies. This round of scouring led to a rider catching the dark outline of an approaching ship. I sent a rider to confirm the ship’s Wregor origin. If they confirmed its ident
ity, my order asked for two more riders to transfer the people in the lighthouse to the ship.
Less encouraging were the reports of lone thralls running near our general direction. For now, a single thrall could be tracked and put down without great risk, allowing Ghevont to go and absorb its prana when one was caught close by. He returned from one of these excursions with a growing suspicion that these lone thralls had been intentionally sent out from a larger pack with the purpose of finding people to absorb. He theorized that the pack could sense whenever one of their own perished, giving them a location to aim for.
“What makes you think that?” asked Hanying.
“Well, according to the horsemen’s experiences and my own recent excursions, lone thralls rarely possess the prana to be a threat. There’s barely anything to absorb. Those that came from a group, however, are quite a handful in comparison. I believe the weakest thralls are used as sacrificial pawns of sorts. The theory fits well with what I’ve observed so far.”
“Then you’re saying we’ve just given away our position,” said Gerard. “How far do they have to be in order to sense each other?”
“Unknown, though I imagine they have to be organized in such a way that allows them to respond to a single thrall’s death from miles away. Or perhaps there are thralls who specialize in sensing their brethren’s prana.”
“Whatever their method,” I said, “we need to join the horsemen if a group of thralls are already on their way.”
“Isn’t it better to get on the griffins?” asked Clarissa.
“We’re not trained to fight atop wings. We’ll only be adding unnecessary weight. Come on, let’s get down.”
Several of the horsemen were carrying torches, giving us pinpoints of light to head for. With my shield, Ghevont’s light spell, and Gerard’s earth spells, going downhill was a quick, harmless affair. Aritomo offered some horses to ride, but since I believed their current riders needed them more than we did, I declined. We simply joined the men and women who could not get a horse of their own, but still desired to fight if and when the need arose. They mostly consorted with the slowest horsemen at the back of the line.
We kept track of the survivors’ pace thanks to the torchbearers in their group. It wasn’t until we mingled with people who could move faster did I realize just how dreadfully slow those on the hills advanced. Why did the gods neglect to give humans wings? Maybe we would have to earn them somehow?
As I continued to contemplate the ways a human could gain the ability of dragons and griffins, the scholar stopped in his tracks.
“You sense something?” asked Clarissa.
“How perceptive of you,” replied Ghevont, no trace of sarcasm in his tone. “There’s a spark of nismerdon prana coming from the east.”
“A thrall?” asked Gerard.
“It’s hard to say. Its prana is unstable, flickering. Something is muddling with it. It could simply be the sheer distance.”
“Is it coming closer?” asked Gerard.
“…Umm, maybe. It’s difficult to say for certain. It just entered my range.”
“Which is how far?”
“I can’t be certain of that either. It will depend on the strength of the nismerdon spark. If it’s weak, then it’s surely within a hundred yards of us. The more powerful the being, the farther out it is.”
“Please inform Aritomo of what we’ve learned,” I told Gerard. “Ghevont, call down a griffin and take flight. Try to get closer to the nismerdon spark. Don’t engage if its prana is stronger than the typical thrall. We can send a few horsemen to back you up if that turns out to be the case.”
“As you wish,” said the staff wielder.
The scholar cast a fire spell and spun it in a circle, the signal to let the nearest griffin rider know to land. It was Eu-Sook who answered. She took Ghevont skyward and eastward. Her griffin had barely entered the darkness when an airborne rider a thousand yards to the north spouted fire in the air, notifying us of another thrall sighting. The fire spewed upward two more times, indicating multiple thralls.
“A group,” said Clarissa. Not far from the direction Ghevont was heading for, another rider cast the same three spurt signal. “Another?”
“Or a big one,” I said.
Others who had seen the signals were quick to spread the warnings to those that had been facing another way. Fourteen of the twenty-nine horsemen were sent to investigate. They split in half to tackle both warning targets at once. Aritomo followed Gerard back to us.
“The thralls will be lured to us, correct?” I asked Aritomo.
“That’s the plan that’s worked the best. We’ll surround them and get them to cluster before we burn their mossy asses. Anyone on foot will be in charge of cutting down the ones that get past us. I take it you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty, princess?”
“My weapon is not merely for show, I assure you. There will be no need for you to worry about my well-being. Please focus on your own people.”
“Done.”
Aritomo had his men create a wide half circle. Those of us with our feet to the ground made a smaller half circle behind the first. Three griffins flew directly above us. A fourth joined us when Eu-Sook returned with Ghevont.
“What did you see?” I asked him.
“Numerous thralls in full sprint. It won’t take long for them to reach us.”
“What about that nismerdon spark you felt?” asked Clarissa. “Did it belong to a thrall?”
“There was little time to investigate properly. Madam Hara thought it wiser to inform you of the incoming thralls. Regardless, considering that the nearby thralls do not exhibit the same kind of prana strength, I’ve concluded that the aberration must belong to a formidable being.”
“Gods, it’s not one of those giant things, is it?” asked Hanying.
“Their power is much more distinctive and intense. I would have recommended a retreat if I sensed one.”
“You could go back with the other survivors if you’re not comfortable fighting,” said Gerard.
“No, I’m fine here,” replied Hanying. He grasped his war hammer with both hands. “As long as we’re not fighting another corrupted eidolon or giant, I can handle it.”
“I thought you handled yourself very well when you faced the corrupted eidolon,” said Clarissa.
“Uh, thank you, but that was just instinct taking over.”
“Then your training is working,” said Gerard. “The point of training is to add an instinct that isn’t fleeing when a hectic situation occurs.”
“The horsemen are coming,” said Clarissa.
While the vampire could track them with her eyes, the rest of us had to rely on the sound of their galloping hooves pounding the ground, blending with my heartbeat. My eyes soon received a little help from one of the horsemen when he cast fireballs to any bush or tree he passed, creating points of light that better defined the moving shadows running toward us. It appeared as though both groups of scouting horsemen had merged their groups, and a couple of griffins had by now joined in the effort to cut down or burn any thrall that broke away from the main horde.
In preparation for their coming, Clarissa gathered a great ball of water from the air. Much of that water was then laid down and frozen in front of her. She continued to expand her ice patch to the point that not even a corrupted kangaroo could jump over it. In a similar vein, Gerard used his elemental capacity to fashion multiple trenches and large potholes that an unmindful thrall’s foot would likely stumble in.
On reaching their comrades, the charging horsemen turned back around to fill in some of the gaps. Close behind them was the thrall horde. Unlike creatures infected by corruption, they made little if any noise. If I already did not know what they were, my mind would have had trouble making sense of what a silent group of running people meant. Since I knew what I was up against, I readied my weapon and looked out for any opportunity to cast my shield.
When the enemy came in range, every horsemen with the
aptitude to light a candle, cast their flame spell. They aimed either for a thrall or a thicket of shrubs in the way. In less than three seconds a swath of fire pushed back against the night. Those with bows and crossbows unleashed their projectiles. Everyone else that could fling a ranged attack did so as well. The horsemen that had no ranged attack available to them chased any thralls that threatened to outflank the half circle. I was impressed by the organization displayed by mostly untrained men. A true army would have almost no trouble dealing with thralls unsupported by giants.
Nevertheless, even on fire the thralls did not cry out in pain or cease their running and leaping. The horsemen had to back away a hundred feet to give time for the fire to eat away at the thralls the blaze touched, then they would turn around again to refocus on the undamaged thralls. A second retreat brought the horsemen and enemy to my defensive line. A handful of thralls came right for my group.
As expected, they expressed no obvious signs of discriminating awareness. The ones that crossed into the knight’s and vampire’s traps fell right for them. While tripped up, Hanying would come in and slam down his hammer on their heads. Knowing that my friends could take care of themselves, I stayed close to a pair of young men that represented the east end of the half circle. Only once did I have to raise my shield for them. A thrall ran right into it and bounced off, giving them an opening to hack at it with their weapons.
Several dozen dead thralls later and the horde had been subdued without losing anyone. The worst injury came to a horse when a burning thrall was able to latch on to its leg long enough to scald its skin. When it became safe enough, Ghevont fashioned a rune to absorb the prana of the thralls still savoring life. As for the stronger nismerdon spark from earlier, the scholar told us he no longer sensed it. However, it had not been part of the horde, so we could not have killed it. Once the thralls were burned or stripped of their life force, we resumed our march.
The Dragon Knight and the Light Page 29
