On Blackened Wings

by James E. Wisher

  Qang peeked around the door. “The fat gentleman on your left with the long mustache and blue tunic.”

  Binder glared at Wei and chains appeared from thin air, skewering through Wei’s arms, legs and chest before lifting him from his chair and ripping his body into bloody chunks. Blood and bile sprayed over the remaining lords.

  “I’m going to say this once. If you wish to live, be at the palace tonight at sunset to swear your allegiance to the throne. You will come exactly as you are, caked in blood and filth like the corrupt pigs you are. Keeping you alive is a matter of convenience for me, not necessity.”

  Binder turned to leave, caught himself, and turned back. “You have all been marked by my magic. Try to flee, try to attack me or my people, and you will die, instantly.”

  Qang fell in beside him as they retraced their route out of the mansion. “Do you leave a mess like that everywhere you go?”

  “Only when it’s necessary.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Karrie stared at the book of poetry in her lap. She’d been sitting on the couch trying to read the same page for the last fifteen minutes. Her mind simply refused to concentrate. It was all well and good for her mother to tell her to do something to take her mind off of things, but she couldn’t focus on anything but the fear of what was coming.

  After hours of tossing and turning she finally got out of bed, grabbed the first book she saw, and settled in the living room. Usually poetry put her to sleep in minutes, but even that old standby failed her. Since Duke Carmichael hadn’t returned to gloat, Karrie assumed her father and the others were still safe or as safe as they could be under the circumstances.

  She tossed the book aside and rubbed her dry, scratchy eyes. Maybe threatening to cut Duke Carmichael’s son’s throat if they made her marry him would discourage them. Probably not. With sorcerers on their side, the cultists could force her to do whatever they wanted. She hated being helpless. Karrie wanted to hit something.

  Since not sleeping on the couch wasn’t helping, maybe she should try not sleeping in her bed for awhile. She was just about to stand when a thump sounded out in the hall. A second thump followed a moment later. What in the world?

  The lock rattled and the door eased open. In the dim light all Karrie could make out was someone in a servant’s smock carrying a bloody sword.

  She drew a breath to scream, but a hand instantly covered her face.

  “Quiet, Karrie,” Jen said. “Wake your mother and get your shoes. We need to move, now.”

  Karrie’s heart leapt. She didn’t need to be told twice.

  She lunged off the couch and ran down to her parents’ room. Slamming the heavy door open, Karrie ran to the bed and shook her mother awake. “Get up and get dressed. Hurry.”

  Her mother groaned. “Go back to bed.”

  “Jen’s here to free us. Come on, before more guards show up.”

  “Jennifer’s here?” Her mother finally sat up. Karrie dug a pair of slippers out from under the bed and stuck them on her mother’s feet.

  “That’s right. Dad must have sent her. Are you set?”

  Mom blinked a few times and Karrie took that as a yes. She dashed to her bedroom, threw on boots and a robe over her pajamas before returning to the hall. Mom stumbled out of her bedroom still half asleep.

  Jen stood at the doorway watching the hall. Karrie grabbed her mother’s hand and pulled her toward the exit.

  “Ready?” Jen asked.

  Karrie nodded and her mother said, “This is all very sudden.”

  Jen grinned, looking for a moment very much like Damien. That heartened Karrie.

  “Most prison breaks are.” Jen took one last look up the corridor. “Let’s go.”

  Karrie followed Jen out, trying her best to ignore the dead sorcerers partially blocking the doorway. They were holding her captive. Whatever happened to them wasn’t her fault.

  The passage was so dark Karrie could barely make out Jen’s back ahead of her. A lantern would have been nice, but of course it would have served as a beacon to every guard in the castle. Despite the fact that one hung every twenty feet, they’d have to make do without light.

  They hadn’t gone far when Jen turned right and led them into the servants’ halls. Karrie remembered playing hide and seek back here with Jen and Damien when they were kids. Looked like Jen remembered too.

  Jen froze and motioned them flat against the wall. A trio of guards ran by, their nervous faces lit by a burning lantern. Looked like their escape had been noticed.

  When they resumed walking Mom said, “We’re never going to get out of here. Duke Carmichael has too many on his side.”

  “Have a little faith,” Jen said. “The castle is a warren of passages. If we’re smart and fast there’s no reason we can’t make a clean getaway.”

  Karrie was torn between wanting to believe Jen and fearing her mother was right. She clenched her jaw and kept moving. Whatever happened, Karrie refused to go back without a sword at her throat.

  By some miracle they made it out of the living quarters and into the work area. The halls were dark and silent, all the servants having turned in hours ago.

  Jen froze five paces away from another intersection and whispered, “I’ll be right back.”

  She was gone before Karrie could object. A second later a pair of heavy blows came from ahead of them.

  Jen returned. “Coast is clear.”

  “Did you have to kill more of our guards?” Mom asked.

  “No .” Jen’s voice was hard. “I had to kill a pair of traitors. And if I need to kill a hundred more to get the two of you out of here, I’ll do it without a second thought.”

  Karrie swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew Jen almost as well as Damien, but she’d never seen her warlord mode. Her willingness to kill sent a shiver down Karrie’s spine. It was what they trained to do, but hearing it so bluntly came as a shock.

  They moved on before another argument erupted. Her mother’s tension vibrated through her hand and into Karrie. She hadn’t liked Jen’s response, that was clear, though why her mother should care about the lives of their jailers was beyond Karrie.

  The group paused twice more, once to let a patrol pass and a second so Jen could eliminate another trio of soldiers. They had to be getting close to the door. Karrie had lost all track of where they were in the dark, but surely it couldn’t be much farther.

  A light appeared in the doorway ahead of them, almost blinding in its intensity. A sorcerer and six guards stood in a junction, obviously waiting for them to show themselves. If Karrie’s memory served they had to get through there to reach the servant’s exit.

  What were they supposed to do now?

  Jen motioned them back the way they’d come.

  Mom stood stock still, arms crossed. “You’ve failed. It’s time to accept that and surrender.”

  Karrie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Surrender, and go back to being prisoners? She’d never accept that.

  “We haven’t,” Jen insisted. “There are at least two other exits. I can create a distraction so you two can escape. I’ll join you when I can.”

  “No.” Mom reached out and put her hand on one of the hanging lanterns. “It’s time to go back.”

  Before either of them could react, she flicked the lantern off its hook, sending it crashing to the floor.

  “This way!” a voice said.

  The sorcerer and his squad came running down the hall. His hands crackled with soul force.

  Karrie shifted to stand in front of Jen. The bastards still needed her alive.

  “Stand aside, Princess,” the sorcerer said. “We need to eliminate this assassin.”

  “Please don’t insult me by repeating that lie,” Karrie said. “Go, Jen. They won’t risk hurting me.”

  Jen hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave her behind. Finally she said, “I will get you out of here, Karrie. I promise.”

  Jen vanished, leaving Karrie and her mother alone
in the hall.

  “Find her!” the sorcerer shouted. “I’ll escort these two to their apartment.”

  He grabbed Karrie by the left arm and dragged her back the way they’d come. Her mother fell in behind them, meek as a kitten.

  The trip back passed in silence if not darkness. Karrie got a good look at the people Jen had killed. She felt nothing as she stepped over them. Numbness filled her. Despite what Jen said, there was no way she could return now. The guards would be even more alert. They were stuck in their comfortable prison for the foreseeable future.

  When they reached the apartment door, the sorcerer thrust Karrie through before pointing at the dead men outside. “They were my friends. Either of them was worth ten of you.”

  “Perhaps you should have thought of them before you betrayed the kingdom,” Karrie said.

  Power crackled around his hand and for a second she feared he might strike her down on the spot. Part of her welcomed a release from the fear and boredom of captivity. In her mind’s eye she saw Damien rain death and destruction down on them in retaliation.

  “That’s quite enough.” Mom put a hand on the sorcerer’s shoulder. “Carmichael doesn’t want her harmed.”

  The sorcerer lowered his hand and the light faded. “Stay here and do as you’re told or so help me, orders or not, I’ll break every bone in your body.”

  Mom slipped inside and he slammed the door behind her.

  Karrie slumped on the couch. When her mother had spoken the duke’s name with such familiarity things finally fell into place. “You’re one of them.”

  “Yes,” the queen—she couldn’t think of the woman as her mother in that moment—said without a hint of embarrassment. “My family has worshiped the Binder for centuries.”

  “So you were okay with these people killing Dad and marrying me off to a boy I’ve never met?”

  The queen sat beside her. “Nobles marry strangers all the time. As to your father, I would have preferred if he was a fellow believer, but you know how he is. He never would have knelt before the Binder. He would have fought with everything he had, throwing thousands of lives at an enemy he had no hope of defeating. Much as it pains me, it’s better to sacrifice one man, even the man I love, than uncounted innocent lives.”

  “They’ll never get him,” Karrie said. “Dad will figure out some way to beat Duke Carmichael and his friends and once he does, we’ll still have a war on our hands and fewer people to fight it. All you and your fellow cultists have done is betray and weaken the kingdom in its time of need. I hope you’re all ashamed.”

  She stood, marched to her room, and slammed the door. When she’d wedged a chair under the handle she fell on the bed and wept.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Jen left the capital quickly behind. At lightning speed she’d made it out in under a minute. The whole escape had been nothing but a blur. She couldn’t get over the fact that Queen Audra was with the cultists. What was she thinking? Jen couldn’t imagine. Worse, any hope of breaking Karrie out of the castle was dashed. The guards would be tripled and maybe more after her failure tonight. At least she’d whittled down the enemies’ numbers a little.

  Lucky for Jen she now had a new plan to recover Karrie. During their brief time together, Bo mentioned that Duke Carmichael’s son was traveling to the capital to marry Karrie. Since the announcement went out a day ago, that meant he was traveling overland and not by sorcerer. That left him vulnerable.

  Half a mile from Al Elan’s hiding place, she slowed to warlord speed then to a regular walk. Her core was badly depleted. If she’d had to fight against an enemy warlord right now, Jen figured her chances weren’t great.

  She smiled at herself. Not great was far too optimistic. She’d be dead in seconds.

  Luckily the night was silent save for her footsteps and Al Elan gave no indication of danger. Knowing he watched over her allowed Jen to relax, maybe more than she should, but after tonight her mind was a jumble. Some food and a few hours’ sleep would set things right or as right as possible under the circumstances.

  When she entered the clearing, Al Elan was on his feet and staring at a huge maple tree.

  “I think your brother was here,” he said.

  That didn’t seem very likely. “What makes you think so?”

  “Come see for yourself.”

  She moved to stand beside him. Jen rubbed her eyes. The message burned into the tree didn’t vanish. Damien had sliced a slab out of the maple to make a flat writing surface and left her a message. Jen would have liked to say she was surprised, but if he didn’t have anything else carving a tree was exactly what she’d expect from her brother.

  Surprising as the medium was, the contents were more disturbing. The sanctuary had been attacked, forcing Uncle Andy and the archmage to find new quarters. She was supposed to let them know when she had Karrie and the queen so Damien could come get them.

  When she finished reading Jen glanced at Al Elan. He quirked an eyebrow. “So what do we do?”

  “Plan B. I hate to ask you for more help, but can you locate the duke’s son and find out what kind of protection he has?”

  “Certainly, but where do I search?”

  She let out a relieved sigh. Jen didn’t think he’d flat out refuse, but his willingness made her feel better.

  “They’re coming from Port Valcane, probably by the main caravan route. If you follow the best road out of the capital east, you should come across them eventually. If you can give me numbers and a rough idea how far out they are it would be a huge help.”

  He nodded and lay back down. “Anything else before I get started?”

  “I can’t really say until I know what we’re up against.”

  “Understood. I shouldn’t be long.” He closed his eyes leaving Jen on her own.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Al Elan slipped out of his body for the second time and flew toward the capital. He didn’t mind scouting for Jennifer, in fact, sometimes being a ghost felt more natural than wearing his body. Perhaps there was something wrong with him, or maybe Dreamer’s power made him feel this way. Not knowing worried him, but nothing could be done for the moment so he focused on the task at hand.

  Ten priests—sorcerers, he had to remember that—swarmed through the sky over the city. If they sought Jennifer, they would need to expand their radius. More likely they sought to keep her or any of her allies from sneaking back in. Al Elan smiled. So little did they know.

  He spotted a wide, smooth road leading east. That had to be the main caravan road she mentioned. Flying along its course took no effort and the total lack of traffic offered nothing to distract him. Given that it was the middle of the night what could he expect?

  Miles hurtled by and he spotted and rejected a trio of small caravans camped on the roadside. None of them had enough guards or a carriage suitable for a traveling nobleman.

  He estimated three hundred miles had passed when he finally spotted a likely group. Ten soldiers in leather armor and holding naked blades surrounded a carriage of dark wood with a golden, stylized C, for Carmichael he assumed. Another thirty men slept on the ground and on the carriage roof.

  Al Elan peered closer at the soldiers. As he feared. Fully fifteen of them were knights—warlords, damn it. As powerful a warrior as Jennifer was, fifteen against two was a big task, especially given his inexperience with his new abilities.

  Hopefully when he told her what obstacles they faced, she would have a brilliant strategy to overcome them. Al Elan well understood his personal shortcomings. Strategic thinking was an area he needed to improve.

  Nothing remained for him to do here so he willed his spirit back to his body. A moment of brief, rapid movement later and he sat up, burdened by flesh once more.

  Jennifer had a strip of jerky in one hand and a flask of water in the other. “What did you find?”

  “I estimate three hundred miles from the city, the duke’s son has set up camp. He’s guarded by forty soldiers, fifteen of
them warlords.” Al Elan smiled, pleased he had used the correct word this time.

  “No sorcerers?” Jen asked.

  “I don’t believe so, but I’m new to reading soul force movement so I can’t make any guarantees. Were you expecting such a powerful defensive force?”

  “I didn’t think Carmichael would send his baby boy out on the road without protection. How many there would be, I had no idea. Fifteen warlords is a lot. Good.”

  Al Elan cocked his head. “Good?”

  She nodded. “If he’s expending that much effort to make sure the boy arrives in one piece it means he’s vital to his father’s plans. We grab Carmichael’s son and he might just be willing to make a trade.”

  “Assuming we can,” Al Elan said.

  Jen nodded. “We’re going to need help. Think you can find my squad? As far as I know they haven’t been captured, but they could also be anywhere at this point.”

  “I’m not certain. I’ve never looked for something over such a large area. Given enough time I could probably find them, but in the timeframe we need… I don’t know. Meaning no disrespect to your squad, but perhaps I should look for your brother instead.”

  Jen grinned. “Having Damien along wouldn’t hurt, but he’s got his own tasks to complete. If we can get Carmichael Junior we’ll bring him to Uncle Andy and let him decide what to do. I’m not stupid enough to try and make the trade on my own.”

  That was something anyway. “Very well. I shall try and find your men. It may take me a while, so you should probably rest.”

  Jen settled in, back to the maple tree. “Precisely my plan. Good luck.”

  Al Elan freed his spirit for the third time. He no longer even needed to be asleep. Just wishing it to be so did the trick. Another gift from the dragon no doubt.

  When he floated well above the clearing Al Elan tried to think how best to search. Flying around at random wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He knew the squad reasonably well considering how much time they’d spent together. When Dreamer wanted to find something he focused on it and somehow his power drew him along. Could Al Elan do something like that?