As I walked toward the inn a little before dawn, I saw a hatless Ujin sitting against the inn’s back wall, his summoned beast atop his shoulder. He fed Shifa some pieces of fruit. When I came closer, Ujin said, “One of these days I feel you aren’t coming back.”
“The convoy is moving a bit slow for my tastes.”
“I understand. A dragon knight on foot must feel as though he’s standing still.”
I nodded to myself. “Finally figured it out, huh?”
“Well, it’s not like I didn’t suspect you were lying in the first place, but Shifa smelling the smoke from your burning stones clinched it. I hope I don’t know too much now.”
“That’s probably impossible for you.”
“Ah, an insult from a dragon knight. I’m honored. I have to ask, though, why aren’t you flying?”
“I no longer have the prana to do so. Simple as that.”
“So the fight in Jegeru went that bad, huh? Then why don’t you tell some general or noble who you are? I bet they can fly you on a griffin or something.”
“Even if they believe a man who can’t summon a dragon is a dragon knight, I can’t trust that someone high up in Shia isn’t working with the Advent. As much as I don’t like to admit it, if anyone stronger than a virginal bandit comes at me, I’ll be in trouble.”
“Not from what I’ve seen. You don’t even shift your feet unless two guys are coming at you with everything they’ve got.”
“Sparring with wooden poles and without casting a spell is a smidge different than a fight to the death.”
“I’ll have to trust your word on that. You know, it sounds to me like you’re in need of whatever help you can get. Shifa won’t mind lending you some of that assistance. I would have to tag along, of course.”
“That so? I’ve told you about our enemies, right?”
“Yeah. Look, I’m not offering to head into the front lines with you, but I didn’t leave the comforts of my home to avoid the titillating opportunities that came my way. Furthermore, Shifa here is a fiercer fighter than you may think. Show him your moves, Shifa!”
The little creature hopped off her perch and cast little waves of fire from her punching and kicking limbs. It would have been a frightening display of flair and finesse in spellcasting for anyone less than three feet tall.
“Okay, I get it. You can tell her to stop.” He did. “Not that you need to know this, but I don’t think I’ve ever been successful in dissuading someone from following me, so do what you want. Just be aware that sometimes the front lines come to me.”
“I’m a big boy, Mercer. If I die, it’s all my fault.”
“As long as you understand. You’re not planning on brining Dae-Won along, are you?”
“Ha! No. We’ll walk even slower than the convoy if he comes along. He can barely walk a day without getting blisters from his sandals. By the way, he’s shown some interest in Kiku. You two aren’t a thing, are you?”
“In another life.”
“What?”
“Never mind. No, we’re not a thing, though I’d warn your friend that she’s as likely to stab him as kiss him.”
“Heh, yeah. I already told him that she seems a little, uh, off. I’m assuming you know that she talks to herself.”
“I’m aware.”
“And that I’m pretty sure she’s making up answers to anyone that speaks with her.”
“I told her to say whatever she wants if someone asks about her past or about me. I suppose that means she’s having some fun spewing whatever comes to mind. She might open up to you when she learns you’re coming with us, but whether she wants to divulge her past to strangers is her business.”
“Yeah, I’m just gonna tell Dae-Won not to bother her.”
“Good idea.”
For the next two days I did nothing but sit and sleep. I wanted to save energy so that I could push myself over the next week. By then the coast should be in sight. Hurrying our legs for the better part of a day while getting only minimum rest should also be a good initial indicator of how dedicated Ujin was about following me.
An hour before the moon’s soft blue beams gave way to harsher rays of dawn, I awoke from my bed in the wagon. I sent Kiku to get Ujin from his room. He and she came out with two extra packs of food some people in the convoy kindly offered him the evening he informed everyone of our intent to go on ahead. That day and the next we ate all the perishable sweets first. They were, thankfully, soft enough for me to enjoy without putting extra caution in my bites.
So far, Ujin did well to keep pace with me and Kiku. Despite his forehead exhibiting some added sweat and speaking less, he never complained and refused to conserve energy by unsummoning Shifa any more than usual. He finally dismissed his creature companion for a while when a rainstorm made stretches of the trek a muddy affair on the third and fourth days, but he did so more out of a favor to Shifa than from duress.
Five mornings after leaving the convoy, the drenindru’s ears stiffened. Wanting a higher perch, she ran up Ujin’s back and sat on his head. She answered Ujin’s query with a few chirping squeaks.
“Well?” I asked.
“She hears some dogs barking.” Another chirp. “And horses.”
“Horses don’t bark, silly!” said a chuckling Kiku.
Other than a quick roll of the eyes, I ignored Kiku and asked, “Could someone be hunting out here?”
“Don’t think so. There’s no forest nearby, only farmland.”
“Maybe someone is chasing down a criminal,” said a more serious Kiku. “Do you think they’ll give us a reward if we catch him ourselves?”
A minute more of walking brought us humans in hearing range of the commotion. We came upon a village shortly afterward. Many of the villagers were women and children, each gazing toward the barking and neighing coming from the northern field of green beans. Some of them were “armed” with broomsticks, farm tools, or cookware. We could have slipped past them without being noticed, but I told Ujin to ask someone what was going on.
Getting the answer from an old woman with a pot in her hand, Ujin said, “A mischief of Pukam rats overran the fields during the wee hours of the night. They’re trying to kill or chase off any that are still feasting.” A middle-aged woman came up alongside the old woman and said something in an imploring tone. Stating the obvious, Ujin translated for her, saying, “She wants us to help. What do you think?”
“As much as I’d enjoy collecting the souls of rodents, I’m thinking we don’t have the time to worry about rats.”
“Aww, but look how wretched they are seeing their poor plants get eaten,” said Kiku. “Feel that? I bet this nice, strong breeze will blow the smell of dragon smoke a long way.”
“That’s right,” said a musing Ujin. “Don’t you always burn the ground around you before you sleep in the wild? That’s to keep animals away, right?”
“I suppose I can try burning a few stones. Fine, we can spare a little time. Bring one of the women with us. Tell her I’m going to use magical smoke to scare off the rats.”
The woman who implored our help came with us. Not trusting us completely, a few women and older children followed us as well. To the rest of the villagers it might have seem as though we were walking back where we came, but our goal was to get farther upwind. We crossed a couple of hundred yards before turning north, following a dirt path between one crop of green beans and another. Every fifty to hundred feet I burned a dragon stone and the soil around it until the flame threatened to spread to the crops themselves.
The villager we brought along vouched for us when two men on their horses came to investigate the whitish smoke they saw. They doubted my claim that the smoke of a few burning rocks was going to help drive away the rats, but when we assured them we would not demand any coin for the service, they let me complete the plan. Since they were there, I also gave the horsemen a handful of charred dragon stones. That way they could take the stones and spread them throughout the field or throw the
m at rallies of rats, hopefully encouraging the pests to flee from the “dragon” in the area.
A moment after we started walking back to the road, Kiku said, “Hear that?”
“Uh, no,” replied Ujin.
“The dogs stopped barking.”
“Oh yeah. At least we know they can smell the smoke.”
Less clear was how the rats were reacting to the dragon smoke, if at all. I was content in leaving the village with that question unanswered, but when we heard shrieking coming from the confines of the settlement, we sprinted to get to it.
We came upon a sight more humorous than perilous. Some of the women and children were standing on tables or chairs to get their bodies above the dozen or so dark brown rats scampering and squeaking through the village. Others stood nailed to the ground in their fright, praying that no rat brushed against their legs. A few of the braver women and older children did their best to use whatever they had on hand to herd the vermin away from their homes. For their part, the rats appeared happy to leave as fast as their little paws could take them.
To make sure none of the rats were panicky enough to attack someone, I told Shifa to chase off any rat that came too close to a child or elder. She did as bid, using her growling barks and the occasional spurt of fire to really get the rats moving. For about an hour I let Ujin’s companion give chase to anything with a scaly tail. Even with her fierceness on display, her cuteness overpowered it, attracting the children, especially once most of the rats left the premises.
When Shifa stopped her chasing to rest on top of a table, several children brought over some food for the creature to eat. Except for a tail pull or a hard pat to the head, Shifa enjoyed the attention. In turn, Ujin basked in the consideration of the younger, prettier women that came with their mothers to keep an eye on their children. A bit of sustenance was brought over to the humans as well.
As I ate a hunk of bread smothered with the jam of a plum, Kiku nudged my arm with her elbow. A jerk of her head took my line of sight to a shy looking little boy mustering up his courage to get through the other children and pet Shifa. A young woman I assumed to be his mother offered what I also assumed to be reassuring words.
“She’s speaking in the Jegeru tongue,” said Kiku.
“So she’s a refugee? Find out what she knows.”
“As you command.”
Replacing her always slightly sinister smile with a guise of pastoral pleasantness, Kiku walked over to the Jegeru speaker. Meanwhile, I silently got the drenindru’s attention and pointed at the shy boy. Getting the hint, Shifa hopped over to the boy’s hand, making him and his mother happy. I hoped an appreciative mother would be more willing to loosen her tongue to a stranger.
After a few minutes of conversation, Kiku came back to me and Ujin. She said, “Yeah, she’s a tome copier from a town a few miles from Watawara. She came to Shia on a dinky boat with a few others once they realized monsters were pouring out of the capital.”
“Did she get a look at these monsters?” asked Ujin.
“Nah. It’s mostly what other people said. She only heard that they act and look a lot like corrupted humans. A lot of people think Wregor has something to do with them, so it sounds like most refugees are sailing here rather than there. Anyhow, their boat eventually made it to Shia’s coast, but by then there were already hundreds and hundreds of homeless refugees roaming the coastal towns. Lucky for her, she was able to save some of her coin before she left. She bought a cart ride to get away from all the crowds and settled in the first place that didn’t yet have a refugee presence.”
“Being lucky is if she had no coin to spend and ended up here anyway.”
“I don’t believe I was talking to you.”
“Geez, you’re touchier than I thought.”
“Part of me is.”
“The part that talks to herself?”
“The part of me that doesn’t care if you live or die.”
“Both of you shut up,” I said. “It’s time we get moving.”
“But these nice women invited us to stay for a real meal,” said Ujin.
“I won’t stop you from staying as long as you want.”
A sigh. “Yeah, yeah, all right. Let’s go, Shifa!”
By noon the next day we reached a sizeable town a handful of miles from the coast. As the Jegeru native described, dozens of her ilk occupied the streets. Unless a wealthy refugee brought over a few bags of coin to buy their way into the few available homes or inns, men and women that had once been prosperous in their communities were forced to beg for alms. Even those with valuable skills would have a difficult time competing with the local tradesmen, language barrier or not. Not to mention that the most generous of cities could only relinquish so much generosity before everyone saw the refugees as a problem to solve.
Of course, if the Advent invaded within the coming months, refugees would be the least of Shia’s concerns. I could not help them directly, but if I was successful in regaining my power, then I could help them reclaim their home. That idea, combined with being so close to the sea, incited my feet onward. I just about ran the rest of the way.
I wanted to avoid refugees and locals alike, so in the same hour we smelled the salty air, we stepped off the road. As it turned out, skirting everyone’s attention was going to be difficult. It appeared that the influx of refugees prompted Shia to call upon her defenders. From what we could tell, it wasn’t merely a contingent of resident guardsmen patrolling the coastal towns and the emptier spaces between them, but at-the-ready soldiers normally stationed in forts.
On our way to see if there was a chance we could get around the patrols, we saw an encampment of soldiers not far from a village or the sea. Along with Shifa, Kiku climbed a thirty-foot tree to get a view of the area. She came back down to tell of a shipwreck several hundred yards from shore. The Jegeru ship had run aground on a sandbar, so it seemed those on board only needed help being transported to dry land.
I concluded that finding a way around everyone was going to take too long, which meant crossing through the patrols, and if we wanted to remain incognito, we needed to wait until the tender cloak of nightfall unfurled over the sky. So we found a little patch of listless foliage to hide in for an hour or two. I wasn’t planning on falling asleep, but my body wanted to take advantage of my first real rest since the morning.
It barely felt as though I shut my eyes when I awoke with a start. Ujin was shaking my shoulder, the early darkness shadowing his finer features.
In a harsh whisper, he said, “Wake up, Mercer! Kiku ran off! I think she’s about to do something stupid.”
Getting up, I asked, “What? Why?”
Starting a jog, he replied, “We heard a bit of a commotion nearby, so I sent Shifa to check what it was. Well, it was a couple of solider guys taking some struggling girl into a tent. I told Kiku and she took off.”
“Shit.”
It did not take long to catch a glimpse of Kiku’s silhouette running toward a large tent glowing by the mellow light of a lantern hanging on a wooden pole. If the guard standing right next to the entrance looked back, he would have certainly seen her as well. Luckily, someone or something out of view held his focus. Kiku reached one of the tent’s back corners and crouched beside it. She listened in for a moment, then used her dagger to cut a slit to peer inside. Not wasting an apparent opportunity, Kiku cut the slit all the way to the ground, creating an opening for her. She looked around, spotted me, ignored me, and then slipped right on in.
A handful of seconds later and Ujin and I used the slit to enter the tent. Blood spurted out of the neck of a solider without his pants when Kiku extracted her weapon from his flesh. The twelve to fourteen-year-old girl, who lied on top of her mostly torn clothing and a rug of animal fur, stared up in confused horror as Kiku dragged the lifeless body away from her. When her wide, upset eyes saw me, she couldn’t help but yelp out a trembling cry. Kiku dropped her load and spoke in a low, comforting voice to her.
Next, my female companion grabbed a corner of the animal rug and did her best to wrap it around the scared girl. At the same time, someone outside the tent directed their sardonic sounding Shia words toward us.
“Someone wants to know how much fun the dead guy is having,” said Ujin.
“Time to run for it,” I told Kiku.
While the voice outside said something else in a more serious tone, Kiku picked up the girl and ran for the slit. I let Ujin and Shifa run out next. The instant before I stepped outside, I saw the flaps of the tent entrance begin to move. A few seconds later and someone shouted an alarm in their native tongue.
Despite her encumbrance, Kiku ran surprisingly fast, but I knew she couldn’t hold out forever. The sea wasn’t far, but we had to get through an increasingly alert military camp first. At the outset, our path remained at the camp outskirts, only heading deeper when a break in the rows of tents and torchlight gave us a reasonably dark section to run into. Nevertheless, somebody soon noticed the suspicious sight of several human silhouettes darting through what was supposed to be a secure area.
More and more soldiers shouted out our position. Horses neighed and dogs barked. Some ten yards ahead, a soldier crossed our path, his spear pointed at Ujin, the one currently in the lead. A gush of prana in my legs pushed me to the front of Kiku and then Ujin. At the same time I surged ahead, I threw an explosive stone and set it off. The soldier’s flinch was enough for me to sidestep his spear. Not looking to kill more soldiers, I simply slammed my shoulder into his chest, planting him to the ground.
A few reinforcements were already close enough to start becoming more than shadows. The sea also converted its formerly inky shade into a glittery reflection of the moonlit sky. Kiku shoved her cargo into Ujin’s arms so she could summon our ride. We needed a few seconds for the creature to enter our realm and for us to get on its back. Since I lacked a true defensive spell, the best I managed to do was summon numerous dragon stones and raise a wall of fire.
The Dragon Knight and the Light Page 33
