by Jay Barnson
Zeke cocked his thumb over his shoulder at Rumela. “Do you think we would be the ones in danger if either of us wished violence? Even if you shouted for reinforcements, you would be dead and we’d be on the other side of the bridge by the time they came out of the tower. I would hate it, but my first duty is to protect the rightful heiress to the throne.”
The other two guards lowered their weapons. “You realize I will have to report this,” the toll-collector said.
Zeke nodded. “You must do your duty. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t expedite it, however. I promise you, this will get sorted out, and the truth will become known soon. And then, you will know that I spoke the truth.”
The man nodded slowly. “I hope so. For all our sakes.”
As Zeke set his horse to walking past the guards, Jack asked, “Oh, do you know if Zainus passed here?”
The guard looked at him in confusion. Jack said, “About five feet tall, oversized head, and his skin looks like it clay or rubber. Real nasty turd.”
The guard nodded. “Right, him. He crossed about an hour ago with two other men and turned east.”
Jack nodded. “Thanks.”
The guard bowed his head and stepped aside. Jack and the rest of the group crossed the bridge without further discussion and turned east.
By the time the mist had burned off and the full morning sunlight was upon them, they were well past the bridge and traveling along a wooded section of the road. While it concealed them from a distance, Jack knew it was only a matter of time before the queen or her servants discovered the dead torturers, the men at the bridge reported them, or they learned of Bachan’s freedom, assuming none of those things had happened already. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t imagine pursuit being far behind, and kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being chased.
“I don’t mean to dampen our spirits with annoying questions,” Zeke said. “But, after we stop Zainus, then what? The queen won’t stop there. She’ll send others.”
Jack considered. Jenny and Annabelle were powerful witches, but they couldn’t handle the queen and her soldiers. Even if they defeated Zainus, all they’d do would be delay the inevitable, now that Taliel knew the crossroad was open again. The queen said it was hard to find the crossroads—the gateways they called it—and it had certainly taken Evelyn long enough. But clearly, it was possible.
Delcina answered. “We have to depend on Bachan and the ability of the Royal Guard to mount a defense and expose the truth. If he can convince the nations that she really is Lilah, the daughter of Hothlurian, then they can unify against her and capture her again. If only they could figure out how she escaped in the first place. She is supposed to be entombed in the citadel in Lauris.”
Jack nodded. “Zainus bragged that he helped her steal a human body. Maybe she won’t be able to do that trick again if he’s gone. And y’all were able to defeat both of ‘em before, so with enough warning, y’all can do it again, right?”
Delcina sighed. “The Wardens might be able to do so. But they aren’t what they once were. And they may not be able to do anything against either of them if she crosses over to the Dark Lands.”
Zeke said, “How do you know all this? Most folks figure ol’ Hothlurian is just a legend and I didn’t know what to make of Lilah. Figured she was just a criminal who claimed to be his daughter. I never really bought into the idea that she wasn’t dead in her tomb.”
Delcina sighed. “Believe it. My father has seen her body. All royal born are charged with defending the land against the return of Hothlurian. None of us expected to have to take that charge literally in our lifetimes. It was just history. But here we are.”
Rumela spoke up. “Zainus.”
“What?” Jack asked, echoed by Zeke and Delcina.
Rumela pointed. “He be close. I smell him.”
“An ambush?” Zeke asked.
Jack rubbed his chin. “Or maybe we got ourselves a chance to ambush him. How far do you think he is?”
Rumela shrugged and took several steps forward. Jack waved her off and said, “No, Rumela. Y’all hang back.” He got off his horse. “Let me go take a look-see up ahead.”
“Be careful, Jack,” Delcina said. Jack grinned and pushed forward. Around a turn along the road, he spied three horses, grazing by the side of the road. But there was no sign of Zainus or his men. Jack moved carefully, keeping below the grass and cover, but found no one. He carefully backed away to return to the others.
Everyone waited for him as he returned, exactly as he’d left them. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said quietly. “I found horses.”
Nobody responded. It took Jack a moment to realize that nobody moved at all. They swayed, making tiny movements to maintain balance, but otherwise stared straight ahead, as if still waiting for him to return.
“Hey, y’all, what’s going on?” Jack asked. The terrible answer came to him with the force of a gut-punch. They were bewitched.
Three crossbows fired with loud clacks and snaps of their strings. Jack whirled about, expecting to die immediately, but instead Rumela’s chest blossomed with the bolt shafts. One broke and bounced off, but the other two penetrated deeply.
Two men emerged from the forest, discarding their crossbows. Jack reached for his sword. Bachan had given him some brief training on how to use it, but he knew he was no match for even one of the bandits, let alone both of them.
Zainus stepped out from behind cover, drawing his blade. “Well, what do you know?” he said. “I guess I’m a giant-killer too, now? That poison ought to finish her off in no time.”
Jack roared. “No! Cure her now, or I’ll...”
“What?” Zainus said. “Kill me? No, that won’t be happening. Besides, I don’t have the antidote. I’m immune to the poison due to my faerie heritage, and these two guys, well, they know better than to get any of it on them.” He stepped forward from his two guards.
Jack charged. Zainus easily parried his clumsy blow and gave Jack a swift kick in the butt while Jack was off-balance. Zainus laughed and signaled the two guards. They made their way to Zeke and the princess. Jack moved to stop the bandit approaching Delcina, but Zainus intercepted him and attacked. Jack struck with his sword, preparing for Zainus to move and counter as Bachan had taught him. It worked exactly as Bachan had taught, but Zainus was already back in position threatening with his sword before Jack could counter.
Behind Zainus, the bandits pulled Zeke and Delcina roughly from their horses. Zainus struck, and Jack backed away, blocking with the flat of his blade exactly like Bachan had taught him not to do. The bandits held their swords to the throats of his friends. Several yards away, Rumela wheezed.
Zainus glanced behind himself too briefly for Jack to take advantage of it. Zainus laughed. “Well, now, you are in a bad position again, aren’t you? Poor Jack. You know, you can see the castle really well about a half-mile up the road. Sanguine castle has its distress banners flying. I interpreted that to mean someone might be pursuing us. I couldn’t have imagined it would be you, Jack. You resisted my spells, killed a fearsome giant, and escaped the torture chamber. You constantly amaze me, young man. Take that as a genuine compliment.”
Jack charged him again. Zainus struck Jack’s blade and did something which wrenched it from Jack’s grasp. Jack dove for the sword, and Zainus didn’t stop him. The parody of a man laughed. “I can’t respect your fighting skills so much, but I admire your spirit. I’ve been looking forward to finishing our little fight.”
Jack raised his sword toward the little man and said, “Then let ‘em go. Stay and fight me, just let ‘em go.”
Zainus shook his head. “No, that is not how this is going to work. They know too much, so they can’t go free. However, I can spare their lives and merely take them prisoner. They’d serve much better as captives than as corpses, anyway. If you tell me where the portal is, in detail, and then beg for my mercy, I’ll give you my word that you’ll be the only one
to die today. Besides the giant, obviously.”
Jack attacked Zainus again, this time exactly as Bachan had taught him. Zainus blocked, dodged, and took several steps back. Jack pressed his advantage. Zainus gave ground and lost his balance against a rock. Jack struck at Zainus’s exposed chest, only to discover that Zainus had suckered him into that attack. Zainus knocked Jack’s sword from his grasp, and the little creature jumped on him. While small and light, Zainus had incredible strength he brought to bear as he found leverage. He pinned Jack’s sword-arm to the ground with one knee and straddled Jack’s chest, bringing the edge of his blade to Jack’s throat.
“It’s over, Jack,” Zainus said. “Now, will you tell me what I need to know while you can still speak, or do we just slit all your throats and be back to our mission?”
Jack’s left hand was free, but he couldn’t get any leverage. And it would take only the smallest move from Zainus to kill him. However, he could still reach Delcina’s dagger. Maybe he could take Zainus with him, but that wouldn’t stop the bandits from killing Zeke and Delcina.
“Promise not to kill them?” Jack asked.
Zainus grinned. The edge of his blade raised a hair’s width from Jack’s throat. “If you can convince me your information is true. And then if you beg me.”
“Please don’t hurt them. I beg you.” Jack’s fingers silently pulled the dagger from its sheath.
“That sounds pretty good, Jack. Now, tell me, how do I find the portal from Hobbfield?”
Jack thought quickly, trying to get his hand readied. His angle was bad. He would be dead before he could stab the little man. Would his decapitated body continue the stabbing motion without him? Morbid thoughts moments away from death. Zainus shifted his weight, readying the slice.
“There’s a church!” Jack said. “A set of stones in a circle. The crossroad was there. I promise.”
Zainus looked at him curiously. “That actually sounded a little like the truth.” Technically, it was. Jack readied his strike.
A ragged, wheezing voice gasped, “You leave Jack alone!” Zainus looked up, eyes wide and mouth open, as Rumela crawled toward him. He turned his sword to defend himself.
Seizing his chance, Jack twisted and whipped Delcina’s knife across Zainus’s body. Zainus shifted back to Jack and raised his sword for the killing blow, but his blade wavered, shook, and fell from his grasp onto the ground. He collapsed, unable to breathe as he died from a wound nearly identical to the long cut that had killed Korak the Giant. In a moment, his eyes fluttered, and he died.
The two bandits looked on in shock. Zeke and Delcina regained control over themselves when Zainus’s spell died with him. Delcina struggled free before the bandit could do anything, and he immediately turned and ran, leaving his sword behind. Zeke wrestled with his former captor, easily overpowering and killing the bandit with his own sword.
Jack rushed to Rumela’s side. Her face was pale and blood flowed from her mouth and her chest. “Rumela,” Jack cried, desperately looking around, wishing Jenny was here with her healing juice and spells. But there was nobody to save her and nothing he could do. “Rumela, please be okay!”
“You be fine,” Rumela wheezed. “I be fine. You are my best friend, Jack.”
Jack nodded. “You saved my life again, Rumela.”
Rumela closed her eyes. “I’s a purty good friend, too.”
“The best.”
Rumela smiled, and with a final wheeze, died.
Jack hugged her body and cried.
Now that she was awake, Jessabelle felt every bump and jolt the wagon made along the road. The sleeping pallet cushioned her from the worst of it, but it was not a comfortable ride. She quit trying to sit up. She considered becoming Jessabelle-the-cat, but she felt uncomfortable changing form in front of Owen. Not to mention she feared that as a housecat she would get bounced around the wagon like a pinball. They’d given her some food, but she’d dropped more of it over the side of her makeshift mattress than she’d actually eaten. The food was dried and not very flavorful, but it helped get rid of the taste of Owen’s potion.
A tiny brass lantern hanging from a wagon bow provided dim but steady illumination from a crystalline light bulb at its heart. Owen still sat on the low bench across from her. It was wooden with no padding. As uncomfortable as she was, he had to be ten times worse. He looked at her and said, “You should probably sleep while you can. You will heal faster.”
“I reckon it’d be easier to sleep through an earthquake.”
He shrugged. “I can give you something to help.”
“What if Lisbet needs me awake?”
He shrugged. “She can worry about that. I’m more worried about my patient.”
She stared at him. He looked like he’d barely started getting his growth spurts after puberty. “You seem kinda young to be a doctor,” she said.
He shrugged. “I’m not a doctor. I’m just a healer.”
“Ain’t that better than a doctor?”
“Sometimes. The best doctors are both. Healers can help your body mend itself if nothing else is wrong. Doctors can fix what’s wrong. Sometimes. But that takes a lot of study.”
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
She shook her head. “Everybody seems younger here than they really are.”
“How old are you?”
“I just turned sixteen a few weeks ago.”
He opened his eyes wide. “I thought you were at least twenty.”
She laughed. He laughed, too. For a moment, she forgot that they were chasing murderous commandos and trying to save the world. She and Owen were just a couple of teenagers nervously getting to know each other. She wanted to trust him. She wanted him to have no ulterior motive, no shadowy masters, and no dark secrets. Just someone to talk to. But what would she talk to him about?
“So, um, where do you go to school?” Only after she asked did Jessabelle realize she wouldn’t recognize any place he named.
“I am tutored at the citadel.”
“What is your favorite subject?”
“I don’t know. I like languages.” He hesitated as the wagon went over a particularly large bump, sending the tiny lantern circling at the end of its short leash. “I’m not so good at mathematics.”
“I ain’t, either.”
He smiled at her. “You really should try to sleep. The potion will work faster on you sleeping than awake.”
“I ain’t that tired.”
“Liar. I can tell you are exhausted. Just close your eyes.”
She did. Five seconds later, she said, “Nope, not sleeping. I told you.”
“Is everyone from your world so stubborn?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m more ornery than most.”
“Ornery? I like that word. Ornery. I’ll remember to use it to describe you later.”
She laughed and looked at him again. He shook his head. “Eyes closed, remember.”
“Sure thing, doctor.” She closed her eyes. “How long have you been with these guys? The, um...?”
“Wardens? Since I was twelve and my abilities began to manifest. The army tried to conscript me. A healer is a valuable commodity to the military. My parents decided to enlist me with the Wardens instead. By ancient tradition, the Wardens take precedence. My parents thought it would keep me out of harm’s way, since the Wardens rarely see any kind of combat. Not since Lilah was captured.”
Jessabelle opened one eye to look at Owen, but closed it again under his stern gaze. “So they put you here so you could dodge the draft?”
Owen hesitated before answering, “If I understand your meaning, yes. A lot of people do that. Only the top candidates are accepted, often military veterans. We take our oaths seriously, and we’re well trained. We just haven’t had any serious military engagement in generations.”
“Until tonight,” Jessabelle said, but her words came out sloppily. Owen could have been one of the people mowed down at the fort tonight. Or was t
hat last night? A little sleep had taken the edges off of that nightmare.
“Until tonight,” Owen said with a slight frown. “But this is what we train for. Don’t worry. They may have caught us by surprise at the fort, but there’s no way...”
Owen probably said a lot more before he realized Jessabelle was asleep, but that was all she remembered before drifting off in spite of the bumps and jostles.
Jessabelle awoke to the sound of gunfire. The wagon was stopped, and she heard the thunderous blasts of the Wardens’ rifles as well as the staccato cracks of the modern rifles used by the Coven. The lantern was out, but the early dawn provided enough illumination to see Owen at the rear of the wagon.
“Stay here,” he whispered and stepped out through the opening. Jessabelle ignored his request and followed him. Her shoulder barely hurt at all now, but that didn’t mean her wounds wouldn’t reopen if she stressed them again.
Acrid smoke drifted through the trees, and horses tied to the nearby saplings tugged at their bonds. They weren’t panicking, but they seemed anxious with battle raging around them. Jessabelle understood the feeling. Lisbet, ducked behind a fallen tree, motioned for Owen to come to her. Jessabelle followed behind, keeping low. More gunshots sounded from a short distance away in the forest, and more drifting smoke dimmed the tentative gray light. Lisbet motioned to two fallen Wardens on the ground, and Owen rushed to attend to them.
Lisbet muttered a monologue from her position. “Sergent Hershel, there are two more on the ridge, behind the great oak. Can you see them? Keep low. Make certain of your shots, for the enemy doesn’t need to reload. Warden Kirkpatrick, we cannot spare anyone to help you now, but if you crawl to our position, Warden Murphy can heal you.”
Jessabelle thought Lisbet was using some kind of radio, but realized the woman was speaking to the soldiers with no special device. That, or she was just crazy. Jessabelle assumed magic was at work.
“They will run out of bullets,” Jessabelle suggested. “Sooner or later.”
