Wraith King

by Jack Porter

  38

  With morning came the sound of blowing horns. Already beginning to be more watchful, I rose quickly to look out the window. The flutter of wings drew my attention to the ravens that circled the towers.

  “What’s happening?” Ilana appeared beside me, naked just like I was. She rested her chin on my shoulder and gazed out the window.

  “Don’t know,” I said. Far below, horses were being saddled, and from the armory drifted the sounds of steel being hammered.

  We didn’t have long before finding out what was going on. A servant knocked on my door a minute later, a female elf this time, who took in our nakedness with barely a glance and then told us to meet Nya in her chambers.

  We dressed quickly and headed up the tower stairs. Nya’s chambers resided at the very top of the tower. It wasn’t a simple bedroom chamber, either, but a variety of rooms all leading off an impressive and surprisingly cozy main chamber. The second set of stairs led to high windows and possibly a rooftop. This time of day, the entire room was filled with natural light. The servant left us in this chamber, which Nya entered a few minutes later from the outside.

  She strode to a small table near a bookshelf and poured three glasses of dark red wine. Then she handed one to Ilana and me before saying, “The Wraith King is on the march. He will be here in two days.”

  I almost dropped my glass.

  My face must have registered my shock because Nya nodded grimly. “He is coming to seek vengeance on the elves for their attack on him, and for his injured wyrm, I believe.”

  “Fuck,” I said. “Nya, I’m sorry—”

  She shook her head and sank down on a small couch. “I knew what was at stake. The Wraith King has wanted an excuse to attack us for hundreds of years, and we just gave him one. I knew our retreat was too easy.” She tipped her goblet and drank deeply until it was empty.

  Feeling shocked and angry and guilty, I followed suit, as did Ilana. When we’d all refilled our goblets and drained those as well, I stood to face Nya.

  “What needs to be done?” I asked. Feeling fortified by the alcohol was only part of it. I had a deep, burning desire to see the Wraith King defeated. And I wasn’t even sure where it came from. “I may not be the best warrior you have, but—”

  Nya and Ilana stood as one. Taken aback, I stopped mid-sentence.

  “You need to go home,” Nya said. “This isn’t your war.”

  “What?” I asked sharply. Ilana was nodding. “What do you suggest I do?”

  “The Wraith King is on his way here, Jon,” Nya said, “and he brings his main forces with him. That means his lands are mostly unguarded. Perhaps more empty than they have been in a millennium.”

  I didn’t like what she was thinking. “So you want me to leave?”

  Nya’s expression grew stony. “It’s your best chance to get out. Now, before he arrives and surrounds the castle. Once he’s here, there’s no going back.”

  I ran my hand over my beard. “I don’t know where I’m going or have any experience there. What makes you think I would ever succeed?”

  Ilana stepped over and took my hand. “I will go with you.”

  Raising an eyebrow, I said, “You don’t want to go back to that place.”

  “No, but I want to help you. I swore to do so after you liberated me. And I am bound to you, Jon.”

  I turned and put my hand on her cheek. “But Ilana, then you’ll be stuck there… Unless…” I realized what she had in mind. “You want to go with me?”

  Her eyes brightened. “Why not? I could return to your world and honor my vow to you. And I would never have to see the Wraith King again.”

  “But…” I looked at Nya, whose expression remained unreadable. “What about the elves?”

  “Our time may be ending,” she said slowly. “It is good you won’t be alone. Ilana can lead you through the Black Mountains and safely to the portal. You may never get another chance.”

  “You’ll just wait here to die?”

  “No,” Nya said, “we’ll take as many of the wraiths as we can. We’ll send them to the fire pits where they belong. And when we die in battle, we’ll go to the Light Lands like our ancestors before us.” She looked at me sadly. “There are too few of us to win this battle. He knows we are weakened.”

  I let go of Ilana and circled the couches, thinking. “You’re in a castle. That’s got to count for something.”

  “Aye,” Nya said. “It does. We will hold out for a while. Until the siege towers tear down our walls and the wraiths overrun us. And then we will either die or be taken as slaves. And Castle Blackhold will burn.”

  “Then run,” I said, infuriated that she was so resigned to this fate. “Run for your lives.”

  “There is nowhere to go.”

  “I won’t go,” I said, standing resolutely in front of her.

  “You don’t have a choice,” Nya said. “You don’t belong here. You’re not an elf, and neither is the succubus.”

  Her words made me angry. “What about all your talk? About our trip to the Elfstone?”

  Nya looked at me coldly. “You said you aren’t part of the prophecy, and I believe you.” She looked at Ilana. “You swear to get him home safely?”

  “I swear it,” Ilana answered.

  39

  Before midday, Ilana and I were saddled on our horses and ready to say our goodbyes. The idea was to travel light, so we only packed the bare minimum of provisions. Nya rode with us to the main city gate. All around, elves were scrambling to prepare for the siege. Everyone carried a weapon, whether it be a sword or a club. Elflings were being led to safe hiding places. Anything flammable was being doused with water.

  My mare nervously tossed her head. Either she knew what was coming, or she was detecting my own anxiety. Syn rode with us, her face set in a grim expression as she made way for us through the crowds in the streets. A few heads turned as we passed, but most of the elves paid us no attention.

  Nya wore a plain tunic and leather shirt. Her leggings were also plain, but there was no mistaking the command in her bearing. Even the smallest elves parted for us without trouble.

  Ilana and I garnered more attention than Nya and Syn. As we rode, I wondered how the succubus would last in our world. How would I hide her wings? When she had been bound, they had been hidden. But I couldn’t ask her to do that, could I?

  The streets widened as we descended into the lower levels of the city. When we passed the brothel, I knew we were close to the main gates. The elves there were no longer hanging around the door. They had either abandoned it to find a safer place or were preparing to fight.

  The gates were already fortified, bolstered from within with heavy iron bars slid into slots vertically and horizontally. And then they were barricaded with beams slid into grooves in the streets and tilted into the gates. Nya commanded the small door to be opened, and we rode through onto the drawbridge, which had been lowered for us momentarily.

  Ash and smoke thickened outside, swirling around as if the plains were already on fire. Perhaps they were.

  Nya pointed right. “Follow the line of the mountains. Do not take the main road. The Wraith King will have no choice but to use the plains and the roads for his armies. You will be safe for as long as you can avoid them.”

  Ilana nodded. I urged my horse closer to Nya until my right leg touched hers. Laying my hand on her arm, I said, “I still don’t feel good about this. What about all your plans?”

  “Plans have a way of getting changed,” she said with a smile. It was better than the cold words she had spoken earlier, but I had the uncomfortable feeling she was trying to shield me.

  Which meant she really thought they couldn’t win, that the elves we’re all going to die.

  “I won’t be able to keep my oath to you, after all,” I said sadly.

  She looked deeply into my eyes, and maybe it was the lingering effects of last night’s drug-induced haze, but I thought I saw a hint of glowing blue. Then, she leaned
over and kissed me softly on the mouth. “Thank you, Jon, but I am freeing you from your oath.”

  Then she pulled away, took up her reins, and with a nudge of her heels, her stallion sprang into a gallop. She and Syn hurried through the door out of sight, and I watched the heavy iron door close after them.

  Feeling heavy, I turned and gave Ilana a half-smile. “Ready?”

  She nodded, and we urged our horses along a half-hidden path along the moat. Soon, it turned from rock to dust, and then to scrub. We left the line of the moat and followed the mountain instead. The forest crept in, but we were able to keep a good pace, keeping to the rolling fields as much as possible. Eventually, we were forced in under the trees.

  As we grew farther away from the castle, I felt worse about the entire situation. With each step of my horse’s hooves, I grew restless, guilty.

  “What’s wrong?” Ilana asked after I’d looked over my shoulder for the fifth time. “Is someone following us?”

  “No,” I said, halting my horse. “But this doesn’t feel right. It feels like running away.”

  “Are you worried about being a coward?” she asked, stopping her horse beside me.

  I shook my head. “No, it’s deeper than that. They are in this situation because of me.”

  “They have been enemies for centuries, Jon, the elves and the Wraith King.”

  “What about before that?”

  She looked out through the darkening forest that separated us from the main road. “They were allies, I think.”

  “How old is the Wraith King, exactly?”

  “Ancient, but no one really knows. He’s been in Hell for so long no one can remember it without him.”

  “Generations?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about his children? Does he have those?”

  “I don’t think so. If he does, he must kill them or keep them as slaves. I have never heard of them or seen them. Come, Jon, we must keep moving.”

  I allowed her to lead me along the path for a few more minutes, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that what we were doing was wrong. “I can’t do it,” I finally said.

  She sighed and turned her horse to look at me.

  “I don’t even know if the Wraith King’s portal leads to my world,” I continued. “What if we get there, and it leads somewhere else? Or it leads somewhere worse?”

  “Then you could come right back to Hell?”

  “Do you know if it works both ways?”

  The succubus shook her head. “No, I know nothing about it, other than what I’ve already told you. Are you afraid?”

  It was a valid question. “Cautious, maybe,” I said. “But no. I just don’t see the point in running away from danger when we could be running into more.”

  She looked at me, shrewdly. “And you don’t want to abandon Nya.”

  “I don’t. Does that bother you?”

  Ilana smiled seductively. “Not at all.”

  “Are you disappointed that I won’t be taking you to my world? At least not yet. I still want to go home.”

  “I go where you go, Jon,” the succubus said. “I would only be disappointed if you sent me away.”

  I grinned. “Never.” And I meant it.

  Without another word, we turned our horses back toward the castle. With each mile back, my heart felt lighter, even if it meant we were likely going to our doom. As the trees crept around us once more, the light faded further.

  Or at least, it should have.

  “Do you see a fire up ahead?” I asked.

  Ilana peered through the gloom. “Yes.”

  We halted our horses. “What do you think?” I asked.

  “Torchlight, maybe, and it’s moving through the trees.”

  My mare tossed her head again, and I was learning that she had a keen sense of danger. “Elves don’t need torches,” I whispered.

  Ilana shook her head, her eyes wide with fear. We dismounted and led our horses to the other side of the path, toward rocky ground and a stand of trees. Before we could completely hide, however, an arrow whizzed past my head and landed in the tree beside me. It was so close that the air lifted my hair.

  The horses snorted. I jumped, and Ilana grabbed my arm to whirl me around.

  A party of wraiths approached, more than ten of them. Drawing my sword, I let go of my horse’s reins and slapped it on the rump. The horses took off down the path. One of the wraiths shot at it, and Ilana’s horse went down with a horrible screech. The animal landed in a cloud of dust with an arrow in its neck. My mare escaped, but I didn’t have time to worry about her fate before we were surrounded.

  40

  I barely had time to raise my sword before they attacked. With a great beat of her wings, Ilana took to the air. I parried a spear thrust and used my elbow to knock back one wraith as another attacked with a vicious-looking dagger. If they had all carried spears and swords, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. But this bunch had a hodge-podge of weapons.

  Still, if Ilana hadn’t been with me, I would have died right there. As I slashed and fought for all I was worth, she attacked from above. Her nails became claws, which she used to grab hold of her prey’s head. Her eyes glowed red, and her face took on a terrible expression of hatred and fury.

  The succubus kept them off my back while I pushed through the riff-raff around me. These wraiths were smaller than the ones we had fought a couple of days ago, which made it easier for me to overpower them. But they were also quicker than their larger counterparts. One darted in under my sword and stabbed my belly. Fortunately, my leather armor deflected the blow. I grabbed the wraith around the neck with my left hand and threw it back into its companions. Then I skewered it along with another one using my sword.

  The archer was trying to hit Ilana, and so far, she had managed to dodge the arrows. Fearing a lucky shot, though, I fought my way through two more wraiths to the one with the black bow and arrow. He loosed an arrow just as I drove my sword through his neck.

  I heard a cry behind me and turned.

  The arrow had pierced Ilana’s left wing. Her flight became erratic, but she managed not to fall even as the wind tore the wing further. Drops of her bright red blood splattered on the final two wraiths.

  With a yell, I jumped on them, attacking one from behind while the succubus drove her claws into the other’s face.

  Driving my sword through the wraith’s spine took more effort than I had imagined, and I grunted as I shoved. The wraith shrieked and then crumpled to the ground, dead.

  Panting, I hurried to where Ilana was landing. Her wing had torn even more, and her normally vibrant skin had turned white.

  She fought the pain, however, and looked around us for any more foes. Her gaze landed on my sword, which I’d left abandoned in the last wraith’s spine.

  “More will come,” she said. “This wasn’t an accident.”

  I looked around. Ilana was correct. What were the chances of a band of wraiths straying so far from the main army? “Could they have been scouts?”

  She frowned. “It’s possible, I suppose, but Nya told me that only the Rulers and the Royal Guard know of this path. It’s been a secret for centuries.”

  “So, someone inside the castle is communicating with the wraiths.” My words hung in the air. Neither the succubus nor I voiced our suspicions, but I would have bet that Alayna was behind it. Who else had such a cruel vendetta against Nya, and therefore me? Indeed, we had suspected her all along of having contact with the wraiths.

  Now, more than ever, it was important for us to return to the castle. Nya needed to know that we had proof of a traitor on the inside.

  41

  The succubus’ bottom lip quivered as she gazed at the body of her dead horse. The animal had died quickly, it seemed, dead long before we had a chance to check on it. That was a comfort, at least. When an angry tear slipped down Ilana’s cheek, though, I wondered if I understood what she was thinking.

  “It’s the first time I’ve ever had
a horse of my own,” she whispered. “And it didn’t live more than a few days once I got it.”

  Holding her injured wing with her right hand, she bent down and closed the mare’s eyes. When she stood, she wiped the tears, leaving dirty smudges on her face. I put my arm around her shoulder and led her down the road.

  Our journey back to the castle was slow going. My mare had vanished, forcing us to walk. To add insult to injury, Ilana was wounded. Her legs worked, but she had lost more blood than I would have imagined to come from her wings, and the awful tear continued to leak as we went along. She never complained, however, even though by the time the castle was within sight, I was nearly carrying her.

  A great dust cloud had settled over the plain in front of the city, stirred up from the approaching army. With it came the ash and drifting embers I associated with the Wraith King.

  The watchers on the walls saw us coming from a long way off, and they sounded a horn. Nya rode out to meet us along with her entire guard.

  “That was a short journey,” Syn said as she took Ilana from me.

  “Ambushed in the forest,” I said meaningfully to Nya.

  Her face grew grim, and she shot a look at Syn. “Get the succubus to my tower. Speak to no one, and keep a guard on her at all times. I want you to personally see to her protection.

  Syn saluted Nya, hoisted Ilana in front of her onto her own horse, and galloped away with three other elves in tow.

  I jumped up behind Nya, who urged her stallion to follow at great speed to the castle. The small gate opened for us, and our retinue seemed to fly into the city. Nor did we stop once we were inside. We followed Syn’s trio through the now-deserted and darkening streets, the sounds of the horse’s hooves echoing strangely off the stone walls.

  I hung onto to Nya, determined not to lose my seat behind her, but her stallion was well up to the task of carrying two people. We arrived at the castle just as the last dregs of red light faded, leaving only the typical reddish night hue on the western horizon.