Heirs of Vanity- The Complete First Trilogy Box Set

by R J Hanson

  “Speak and think no more of it,” Roland said. “You should be proud men. If it were not for you, I would hate to think of the fate those children would have suffered. I should not be going, and I should not be dragging friends of mine with me. However, I have a history of foolish decisions and I would hate to change my course now. You could do a service for me here.”

  “Anything,” Pala said.

  “I need good men that I can trust to watch some things while I am gone,” Roland said.

  He handed Facl the ancient weapon and armor retrieved from Lord Mandergane’s resting place.

  “I need you two to watch over these carefully until I return,” Roland said. “Can you handle that?”

  “Yes, certainly,” Facl said.

  “Very well,” Roland said. “Here are five more gold coins for the two of you, and give these five to Marnie. If I do not return, give these things to Prince Ralston in my stead. If he does not return then take them to my father, Velryk, in Fordir. Make sure Marnie is taken care of as well. If we do not return, escort her to Fordir and ask for my father, or Eldryn’s mother, Shaylee. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, it will be done,” Facl said.

  Facl and Pala took the items and wrapped them in oiled leather. They saluted Roland and Roland returned the salute. Facl and Pala walked from the stables feeling much better about themselves than when they had entered.

  “Riders have been sent for the others that were searching for Lord Mandergane’s sword,” Tindrakin said. “There are paladins and notable rangers among them. Why not wait for them to arrive here?”

  “Time is against us,” Roland said turning back to his saddle to double check the girth. “If they arrive in time to help then I’m sure they’ll move on toward our destination without our hanging around to point the way.”

  “Understood, sir,” Tin said.

  “Tin, why are you here?” Roland asked as he turned back toward Tindrakin.

  “I have never been a rich man, nor such a noted warrior that anyone bothered to remember my name,” Tindrakin said. “My elderly parents, and my sister and her children are now well cared for thanks to the two of you, and your generosity. They are no longer in danger of the poverty I worked hard to prevent. Now I have the chance to be both rich, and noted with honor. I have heard the way the men have repeated the stories about us, and your run, over the past several days. That is a pride I never thought to feel. That is, however, not all of it. I have done my time here for justice and country, but these people, these lands, need help.” Tin looked at Roland, “why do you do it?”

  “I have my reasons,” Roland said, thinking of the burnt doll and of Engiyadu’s smug smile.

  “What about you, Eldryn?” Tin asked.

  “El’ here does it because he wouldn’t have anyone to mother-hen over if I died,” Roland said.

  “Apparently I’m not much of a ‘mother-hen’ as you put it,” Eldryn said with a bit of disdain. “If I was any good at it, we wouldn’t be going.”

  “You see, Tin, the fact is that even if it were not for me, Eldryn would be going anyway,” Roland seemed much more comfortable talking about anything other than his own reasons for this dangerous campaign. “He just likes to blame the stupid things we do on me. Everyone knows I get hit in the head a lot, and it makes for an easier explanation for our foolish actions.”

  “You may get yourself hit in the head again,” Eldryn said as he tightened his saddle girth.

  “You all have eaten?” Roland asked.

  “We are ready,” Eldryn said shortly. “See to it that you are.”

  Roland laughed.

  “Be cheerful, El’. It is not every day that a man gets the chance to ride off into fortune and fame.”

  Eldryn lost his bit of anger and laughed at the absurdity of what Roland had said.

  “I’m surprised Marnie didn’t come to see her knight in shining armor off to battle,” Roland said, continuing his cheerful tone.

  “She said that if I meant to kill myself for your stupidity that she didn’t want to watch it,” Eldryn said.

  “She’s had a rough time of it since Lavon,” Roland said, serious again. “She has proved herself a strong and resourceful girl, though. Her anger at you, well…at me mostly, will likely fade. She is only angry because she cares.”

  The four men prepared their mounts and equipment and then rode from the stables to the city gate. Well, three of them rode. Kodii led the mule that was loaded with their food and other supplies. It was the dead of winter now. The month of Janis, so named for the deadly cold of the continent Janis, was all about them. It was a killing cold that always accompanied this time of year.

  Chapter XI

  Bait

  After jogging all afternoon, for Eldryn was leading their mule now, and well into the night Kodii made a discovery. He was several leagues ahead of the group. Kodii squatted on his heels and waited. About an hour later when Tindrakin approached Kodii motioned for him to move up next to him. After Tindrakin dismounted and joined him, Kodii nodded to the ground and moved off into the dark.

  “Roland, Eldryn, look at this,” Tin said, pointing to something on the ground as they approached. Roland could see in the dark of night just as he could in the brightest day due to the enchantments of his helm, however Eldryn had a harder time.

  “What is it?” Eldryn asked.

  “Tracks,” Tindrakin said. “A number of heavy and lighter war-horses. I would guess maybe thirty or forty on horseback with another fifty to sixty on foot.”

  “They don’t travel like a cavalry unit on the move,” Roland said. “These tracks are lumped together here and there in irregular groups.”

  “Knights,” Eldryn said. “The footmen are probably squires and ferriers.”

  “There wasn’t any word of this in Skult,” Tindrakin said.

  “There wouldn’t be,” Roland said. “They hope to surprise Daeriv. Being a sorcerer, I would imagine he has many spies.”

  “Where from here?” Eldryn asked.

  “It seems logical to follow them,” Roland said. “Perhaps we’ll be able to help them in some way. Tin, can you follow their tracks, it looks like Kodii is going to be out in the dark scouting.”

  “With my eyes closed as long as there is no more snowfall,” Tin confirmed.

  The small group continued on into the steel cold against the brutal lashing of the winter wind. Near midnight they halted and set up camp. A cold camp would be the smartest thing, but the winter’s anger was upon them. Eldryn, with his belt back from Roland, seemed comfortable, and the horses could withstand the cold, however, Roland and Tindrakin would need the fire. How Kodii endured was something Roland hoped to discover someday.

  Eldryn saw to the horses, digging out the snow so that they could get to the grass beneath. He also fed them some grain and corn that they had brought with them from Skult. Roland and Tindrakin began gathering firewood.

  “Dead, seasoned wood only,” Roland said. “We don’t want to send up any more smoke than we have to.”

  Tin positioned the fire under a large tree knowing that the branches would help disperse the smoke. They boiled snow with several bits of jerky and a few herbs in the same way that Roland and Eldryn had learned from Ashcliff. The result was a blood warming broth that each man enjoyed thoroughly. Roland was still recovering from his long run and this ride was already beginning to tax him. He was asleep soon after his meal was finished.

  The small group rode for two more days with Tindrakin following the tracks of the knights and their entourage and Kodii only coming into sight rarely. On the morning of the third day a heavy snow began to fall.

  “Can you still find them in this?” Roland asked.

  “I think I know where they are headed anyway,” Tindrakin said. “They have been traveling in the same direction since we came upon their tracks. There is a box canyon a few leagues from here. It is the perfect spot for an ambush, and that would be exactly Daeriv’s style. That’s assuming
the knights are traveling to a specific destination to meet with him. If the knights were just going after Prince Ralston, I think they would have taken a path that would have led them more of a true north, toward Daeriv’s stronghold.”

  “Take us to the canyon then,” Roland said.

  Eldryn looked over the arrows in his quiver and separated out the special ones. Then he strung the sectot bow he had retrieved from Nolcavanor. He also loosened his lance that was lashed to the side of his saddle.

  Three more hours of riding brought them to the crest of a ridge shortly after noon. They saw the encampment of knights almost a league from the entrance to the box canyon. The canyon was roughly four hundred yards long, and perhaps sixty yards across at its widest point. It was surrounded by cliffs ranging from twenty yards tall at its back, to two yards in height at the mouth. It was the perfect spot for an ambush.

  Tindrakin and Eldryn could not make out the object at the other end of the box canyon, but Roland, with the aid of his helm, could see it clearly. Prince Ralston was strapped to a stone table at the other end of the canyon.

  “This is very obviously a trap designed to get most of Prince Ralston’s remaining knights killed,” Eldryn said. “It is an apparent ambush.”

  “This is my type of fight,” Roland said.

  Eldryn had gotten used to Roland’s desire for suicidal fights, however, Tindrakin gave Roland an incredulous look.

  “Your type of fight?” Tindrakin said.

  “Yes,” Roland replied lightheartedly. “There is no thinking involved. We know where our goal is. We know that we will be ambushed. Furthermore, we don’t have to sit around thinking of a plan because there is no other way than to go straight down there and get him.”

  “But, sire…” Tindrakin began but wasn’t sure how to finish.

  “Yes?” Roland said.

  “I’m not sure…” Tindrakin attempted to continue.

  “This is a volunteer expedition only,” Roland said. “However, if you should choose to go, remember your training. Every creature down there bleeds. Every creature down there can be defeated. Men have killed them before you and I were born and will continue to do so long after we’re dead. Make them fear you.”

  Tindrakin nodded and Eldryn clapped his shoulder.

  “Remember the people of Lawrec,” Eldryn said. “Remember their children.”

  Roland, Eldryn and Tindrakin rode toward the knights’ encampment while Kodii remained at his customary distance.

  “Who goes there?” A knight, a Great Man by the size of him, wearing full plate armor and the crest of Lethanor asked. He was flanked by a much smaller, much younger, man wearing the blue robes with white trim of a novice wizard.

  Eldryn recognized the King’s Knight right away. He supposed Sir Brutis didn’t recognize him due to the fact that the only time they met Eldryn wasn’t wearing his armor and visored helm.

  “I am Roland, these are my friends, Eldryn and Tindrakin.”

  “You are the ones that retrieved Lord Mandergane’s remains and his artifacts?”

  “Yes,” Roland replied simply.

  “Then come ahead,” the knight replied. “We sit in counsel now. I am Sir Brutis, King’s Knight of Lethanor. This is Isaak, wizard of the Prince’s Court.”

  “I have a man in the woods,” Roland said. “His name is Kodii. He’s Zepute.”

  “I’ll make sure our sentries are aware,” Sir Brutis said.

  “You’re the Roland that killed Yorketh?” Isaak asked.

  “I am,” Roland said.

  “This may seem a bit ghoulish, but did you find anything of interest on him?”

  “A few rings and some other articles of interest,” Roland said. “Why do you ask?”

  “Your sort isn’t known for recognizing items of great magical worth,” Isaak said. “No offense. Perhaps I could look over what you recovered?”

  “Perhaps when we don’t have other pressing matters,” Sir Brutis said.

  “Of course,” the wizard Isaak replied.

  “You can’t reach him by magic?” Roland asked Isaak.

  “There is a barrier,” Isaak responded, knowing exactly who Roland was referring to for he had answered this question many times in recent days. “One that I do not understand.”

  Roland, Eldryn, and Tindrakin dismounted and walked to a large fire that burned in the center of the encampment. They counted twenty-eight knights around the fire, including Sir Fynyll. They noticed that there were two other knights of Lethanor, King’s knights, and one of the knights of Lawrec seemed to also be a paladin of Fate, at least by the colors that she wore. Roland looked on the paladin of Fate and something about her seemed familiar, however he could not place it. She was tall for a woman, and definitely of the Great Man race. There was something about her silk black hair and steel gray eyes that tickled Roland’s mind. She wore a fine alloy breast plate and carried a mercshyeld shrou-sheld across her back.

  Eldryn’s eyes found the female knight and were held there by a force beyond his will. Eldryn had been born reserved and reasonable, and had thought, until now, that he would always be so. However, looking on this beauty, Eldryn realized that he felt anything but reasonable and reserved. He felt the sudden, maddening, jolt of unbridled foolishness flush throughout his every nerve.

  “What are mercenaries doing in a knights’ camp?” Sir Fynyll asked, his ever present hawk on his shoulder.

  “These are the men that retrieved the mighty weapons for Prince Ralston and gave Lord Mandergane the burial he earned ages ago,” Sir Brutis said. “They did it for no payment that I am aware of and are, therefore, not mercenaries. I have invited them into this counsel. Please continue with your scouting report, Sir Fynyll.”

  Sir Fynyll scowled at Roland. He was not the sort to forget mouthy mercenaries and lower-class persons who thought themselves high born. He remembered the tall man from the streets of Skult well. Furthermore, the retelling of the story about this Roland’s ridiculous run had gouged his nerve, and his ego.

  “My hawk has seen their troop movements,” Sir Fynyll began. “It is as we suspected. They have the canyon surrounded, but there are very few archers. They are infantry for the most part supported by a handful of giants and ogres armed with large spears and prepared with piles of rocks.”

  “If I had to guess,” Sir Brutis began, “I would say that they wish to get us, all of us, into the canyon. They hope that we will make a forceful move for the Prince. Once we are in the canyon, they would encircle us and block our retreat. As long as they held us in the canyon they could take as long as they needed to whittle us down.”

  “Does anyone have any suggestions?” The woman paladin asked.

  “My fires are deadly,” the wizard Isaak said. “But only at a short range. Once they are grouped together, and with sufficient protection, I could be quite useful.”

  “I might have an idea, my lady,” Roland said.

  Eldryn sighed because he feared he already knew what Roland’s idea would be. And why was he addressing her? He already had his precious Claire. What was he doing talking to this paladin!

  “Lady Angelese, Sir Roland,” the lady said with a smile. “I am a paladin of Fate.”

  Eldryn felt fire burn up his neck to light his face ablaze.

  “There is no sir to it,” Eldryn blurted. “We are just Roland and Eldryn.”

  Eldryn was beginning to learn that jealousy is an unpredictable foe.

  “Well, let’s hear it,” Sir Brutis said, ignoring the banter.

  “You cannot permit them to trap so many knights in one box canyon,” Roland said. “It would mean doom for you, your lands, and the people you have sworn to protect. Therefore, I suggest that no knight enter the canyon. Instead allow me and my companions to enter and release Prince Ralston while some of you focus on making sure the mouth of the canyon remains clear and the others take the battle to Daeriv’s forces. They won’t expect an attack. It’s not much of an advantage, but it is some advantage.�
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  “That would be very dangerous,” Sir Brutis said. “However, it does have a chance of working.”

  “I’ll not have it said that I allowed commoners to rescue Prince Ralston while the knights of his land stood by,” Sir Fynyll said with disdain in his voice.

  “Then you may travel into the canyon with us,” Roland said as amiably as possible while cutting Fynyll off from saying more.

  Sir Fynyll realized he had trapped himself, or rather, allowed himself to be trapped. There was nothing for him to do now but follow his words with action…and hope for the best.

  “Very well, I will lead your group into the canyon,” Sir Fynyll said, managing to puff a bit more air into his chest than normal.

  The knights all agreed and discussed how they would divide their own forces leaving some to ensure the mouth of the canyon remained open, and others to move along both sides of the canyon to meet Daeriv’s infantry.

  Once agreed the small camp came alive with purpose. Bows were strung, blades wiped clean, armor checked, and horses rubbed down. Several among the group took time for prayer. Eldryn tried to clear his mind of thoughts of the Lady Angelese. He recited the Code in his mind and focused his thoughts on what was to come. Tindrakin stripped all non-essentials from his pack. He was no knight, nor even a squire, but he was a good soldier. His polearm, sword, dagger, and a single water skin were all that he carried. He tightened his armor and dismissed all thoughts of family and of home. He was ready. Roland scanned the area for Kodii, but with no success.

  As the troop mounted and began to move out from camp many eyes watched them. Eyes of friends and of foes alike. Some hidden and some bravely, or perhaps foolishly, exposed.

  Roland, Eldryn, Tindrakin, and Sir Fynyll rode the short distance to the entrance to the box canyon in silence. Sir Fynyll looked to the hawk that sat on his shoulder.

  “Be in the skies,” Sir Fynyll said to the regal predator.

  The four men scanned the area again, but caught no sign of Daeriv’s army, although they were certain they were there. The volunteers sat their horses easily with their muscles loose and began their ride into the canyon. Each man held his horse to a trot until they were half way to the stone table where Prince Ralston was strapped down.