Wayfarer's Keep

by T. A. White

  She turned back the way she’d come, hoping that one former pathfinder with a boomer could help in some way.

  On her way through, she passed Dane and Peyton. Witt fought next to them. “Come with me,” she shouted. “They’re coming through on the west wall.”

  Dane didn’t stop to question, firing one last round into a beast before racing after Shea. Witt and Peyton brought up the rear.

  At least Shea wasn’t going alone. That had to count for something.

  The sprint through the Keep seemed to take an eternity and passed all too quickly. They picked up two others, a Trateri Shea recognized vaguely and Allyn, the pathfinder from the nursery. It wasn’t the fiercest of squads, or the most trained, but she figured it was better than nothing.

  The screams and sounds of fighting reached them before they entered the west courtyard. The sounds of beasts and humans dying was an assault on the ears.

  Shea looked back at her hastily assembled team. Dane, Peyton and Witt looked determined, their faces hardened. The Trateri looked unsure, as did Allyn.

  “Today, I don’t care if you’re Trateri or pathfinder, warrior or teacher,” Shea said. “We’re fighting to preserve our lives. If this wall falls, the beasts can attack the main group from the back. They will sweep through the Keep killing all within, including any children they find.” That last was aimed at Allyn. “We’re going to stop them here.”

  Looking back at her were five resolute faces. Her words seemed to have an effect, steeling their determination.

  “Alright, let’s do this,” she said. “Dane, you and Peyton, are our snipers. Just like at Edgecomb.”

  A smile flashed on a couple of faces at that statement. Yeah, she thought they might appreciate how they’d come full circle.

  “The rest of you, we’re going to hit them from the ground. Pick your shots wisely and don’t hit our people. We’re going to work our way through the courtyard until we get to the wall. Allyn and Witt, you’re going to keep any beasts off us when we’re firing. Got it?”

  They all nodded.

  Shea took a deep breath and said a short prayer.

  Dane and Peyton peeled off, making their way to the second floor where their line of sight would be slightly better.

  Shea stepped into the courtyard, the rest of her group flanking her. A beast that had made it past the wall noticed immediately. It leapt over the few Trateri warriors battling its brethren and galloped straight for Shea and the others.

  There was a high-pitched squeak from Allyn, but to her surprise, none of those who’d joined her broke and ran.

  “Steady,” she said. It came closer and closer. “Steady.”

  They couldn’t waste their shots. Better to let it get uncomfortably close.

  Shea waited until the last possible second, when she could stare into its cold, alien eyes, see the bright amber of its irises and smell its breath as it gave her a fang filled smile.

  “Now,” she shouted.

  As one, the boomers barked. Shea’s boomer bucked in her hand, almost knocking her back a step. Another reason she had to wait so long. From this distance, even she couldn’t miss.

  The beast’s charge slowed as the wounds on its body bled sluggishly. Still, it came on, looming above them like a sinister reaper.

  A whomper crashed into it from above, knocking it down. Witt and the Trateri warrior darted forward, finishing it off with their swords before it could gain its feet.

  “Reload,” Shea shouted at the rest even as she busied herself with the same.

  It took seconds and then they were advancing across the courtyard in a steady march. Dane and Peyton keeping watch from above while Witt and the warrior did their best to protect Shea and the rest as they tried to shoot beasts off the wall.

  The Trateri and pathfinders on the wall quickly caught on to what they were doing, maneuvering so the beasts had their backs to Shea’s group as they picked them off one by one.

  When Shea ran out of ammo and a beast was too close, she switched her grip on the boomer, using it as a club to knock a beast’s snarling snout away from her.

  By now, they’d somehow fought their way onto the wall. She fought shoulder to shoulder with Trateri and pathfinder, a mad dervish of movement as the onslaught continued.

  Shea’s arms and shoulders ached even as she pressed on. The boomer was useless at this close range and she’d been forced to resort to her sword, wielding it like a woman possessed. She didn’t plan to die here. She had a future, she had plans. She had a traitor to catch. She wouldn’t let these beasts keep her from her goals.

  A beast leapt, tackling Allyn. He fell back with a cry, toppling over the edge of the wall and to the ground behind them. By some miracle, he landed on his back on a small cart, the beast on top of him.

  His screams reached Shea as he struggled to keep the beast and its claws from eviscerating him.

  Shea tossed the boomer down—it was useless with the way they were struggling—and tightened her grip on her sword. She leapt after them, her stomach leaping into her throat during the fifteen-foot drop.

  She landed on the beast’s back, her knee and ankle throbbing in protest. She wrapped both hands around the sword and stabbed down into its back, aiming for any vital organ she could reach. Its hide was thick and tough. She had to work hard to make any headway in her slices.

  Allyn fought from below, his face a mask of panic. Between the two of them, they managed to bring the beast down.

  It slumped where it stood, crushing Allyn beneath.

  “Get me out of here,” Allyn said in a panicked voice.

  Shea slung one leg over, landing on her feet. The beast was a big one. It would take both of them to move.

  Shea set the sword down and reached to grab a piece of the beast, straining to lift it.

  A growl sounded from above. Shea stiffened and looked up, spotting a grindle on the same stairs she’d have to climb. She let go of the creature she held.

  “What are you doing?” Allyn asked. “Help me.”

  Shea didn’t answer, her attention locked on the beast in front of her.

  It crouched, legs bunching beneath it.

  Shea reached for her sword, only then noticing it had fallen off the cart. Too far. She knew it even as she lunged towards it.

  The beast leapt.

  Reach, she screamed at herself.

  Steel whistled through the air, a short ax burying itself in the beast’s head. The grindle collapsed to the courtyard already dead.

  Shea grabbed her blade as she gained her feet in the next moment.

  She turned to look behind her at the person whose timely intervention had saved her. Fallon glared back, his expression unhappy. He was caked in blood and mud with a small wound on one arm.

  “You’re not supposed to be down here!” he shouted as he reached her side. The men he’d brought poured past him and onto the wall above. Two of them stopped to help Allyn out from under the beast.

  “Everyone else was busy. I did what I had to do,” she told him, her sword at her side.

  He gave her a dark look but didn’t argue. In the end, all that mattered was that she was alive and had managed to hold the west wall long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

  “How’re the rest of the defenses?” Shea asked.

  His face was grim as he looked over their heads at where his men and women fought. “Not good. We’re getting hammered.”

  “Can we last?” she asked.

  The dark look in his face was all the answer she needed.

  “They’ve pulled back for now. It’s given us a chance. We’re preparing to destroy the bridge,” he said.

  She contained her curse. Things really had gotten bad if he’d decided on that course of action.

  She nodded to show she understood even if she wasn’t necessarily happy with the news.

  Shea spotted Trenton over Fallon’s shoulder. His gaze held outrage, the expression
equaled only by Fallon’s moments before. Shea gave him a chin nod. His face became even more morose.

  “We agreed you wouldn’t get involved with the fighting,” Trenton said once Fallon had shifted his attention to a beast that had strayed too close.

  “Things happened,” Shea replied in an irritated voice. Now that the immediate danger had passed, her ribs hurt and the scratches and minor wounds she’d sustained in the last hour were beginning to sting.

  “I would have remained with you had I known you were going to get involved,” Trenton said through gritted teeth.

  Underneath the anger and frustration from her guard, Shea thought she detected something more. Worry. It was what enabled her to keep from snapping, the situation fraying her temper more than she’d like to admit.

  “I know,” she said. “Believe me, this wasn’t planned.”

  If it had been, she would have more than a six half-trained people with her.

  His chin jerked down.

  “Shall we get up there?” he asked, tilting his head toward the wall.

  She gave him a surprised look. She’d expected him to have her escorted back inside the Keep.

  “You’ve done a good job of securing this place, might as well finish the job,” Trenton said, only a trace of sourness on his face. His gaze turned to Fallon who had returned to Shea’s side.

  Fallon gave the both of them a bland look. To Shea’s shock, he didn’t challenge Trenton’s assumption. “He has a point. I would normally place you in command of this spot for your actions since the original person in charge has fallen.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. That might be the case, but she also suspected that he wanted her where he could keep an eye on her, given her tendency to find odd, dangerous situations. This way, he at least had a chance of protecting her.

  Her hand tightened on her sword and she looked above them. The additional Trateri Fallon had brought had done their job. At this point, the only thing left was to mop up and kill as many of the beasts as they could before they scampered back over the side of the wall.

  Fallon and Shea fought side by side, their movements perfectly in sync. He was the better fighter, but she was creative in the way she forced her opponents off-balance. He sent her a wolfish smile after they’d dispatched a particularly big beast. It was a smile she returned, the thrill of victory and triumphing over her enemies chasing any tiredness from her bones for a brief moment.

  A strange sound reached her ears, familiar in a way that told her she’d heard it many times before. She almost missed it in the din of battle.

  “Do you hear that?” she asked, cocking her head.

  Fallon cleaved a beast’s head from its shoulders in a single blow then cocked his head. “Yes.”

  It was still faint, but Shea recognized it. Trateri war horns. Not from inside the Keep either. They sounded too distant.

  Shea walked along the edge of the wall, on the lookout for stray beasts. They had begun retreating down the wall and her progress was unhindered as she weaved through battle-weary fighters. She came to one of the watch towers that had been built into the wall and opened the door before climbing the steps to the top. Once on the outlook deck, she turned to the southeast from where the sound of war horns swelled.

  Fallon shadowed her.

  Shea drew in a sharp breath at the sight that greeted them.

  The horde of beasts was still there. Their numbers didn’t appear low enough given the amount of fighting that had already taken place.

  That wasn’t what caught Shea’s attention. No, it was the impossible sight at the far end of the valley.

  Countless numbers of horses streamed over the ridge, on their backs Trateri warriors in full battle dress with leather armor, their long-curved bows nocked and drawn over their horses’ heads as they aimed into the army of beasts before them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The war horn sounded again. Above the ridge, several banners rode into view. Earth clan’s colors mixed in with Horse clan’s and the rest of them. All of the clans were present.

  Darius had brought the whole army. At least ten thousand strong.

  The horses broke into a gallop, the ranks of Trateri surging forward as they charged into the valley and the army waiting there.

  “Darius brought the army,” Shea said in a wondering voice. “How did he know we needed him?”

  “That is a good question,” Fallon said, not taking his eyes off the scene in front of him.

  There was a dull roar as if even the air itself screamed in victory as the Trateri warriors drove the beasts in front of them, their momentum and great numbers acting as an unstoppable wedge.

  The beasts, caught between the gorge in front of the Keep and the Trateri at their backs, were trapped with nowhere to go.

  Arrows flew as Trateri on horseback shot into the beasts’ ranks.

  The beasts panicked, their instincts taking over. Some were knocked into the gorge as the ones at their back tried to get away from the humans sweeping in for the kill.

  It was a total reversal from just moments ago.

  Shea watched in stunned disbelief as the beasts that had seemed so hopelessly invulnerable were slain by the mounted warriors who rode them down.

  “Trenton, stay with her,” Fallon ordered, heading back into the tower.

  Shea hadn’t even noticed her guard’s presence until now.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “To meet Darius and thank him for his assistance.” Fallon disappeared before she could question him any further.

  Shea looked back at the battlefield. “He means to ride out into that?”

  While the tables had turned, there were still a lot of beasts between the Keep and the army Darius led.

  “Indeed. Trateri don’t hide when there are enemies to be killed,” Trenton said.

  True enough.

  Shea turned toward the stairs to the tower.

  “Where are you going?” Trenton asked.

  “To help the healers.”

  They were going to need it. She knew Chirron had done the best he could while the battle raged around him, but now that it was almost over, he was going to get slammed with wounded. She might not be able to heal, but she could wrap wounds and carry the injured as well as the next person.

  *

  Shea slumped into her chair. It was finally quiet. The cries of the dying and injured had faded in the wee hours of the night.

  They might have won the battle but that didn’t mean it wasn’t without a cost. There had been numerous casualties for both pathfinder and Trateri.

  Shea’s eyes slid shut, her head sagging forward as the events of the day caught up to her.

  She slid instantly into a dream. In it, she walked across a broken land, great clouds of dust reaching high into the sky all around her. Buildings—great behemoths like those she’d seen in the underground city—lay broken on their sides, the twisted metal of their frames forming an otherworldly carcass.

  Unfriendly, invisible eyes watched her pass from the shadows of those dead buildings.

  The dream had a surreal quality to it. Despite that, she was struck by the strange thought that this wasn’t really a dream.

  The landscape changed until she was standing in a land that made her think of the depths of night, even with the sun shining from above. She stood in a bowl-like territory, while far in the distance, mountains crouched. Before her was a butte, standing tall against the sky, three tower-like spires branching off it. The sight filled Shea with a bone-deep fear. Something evil waited in that place.

  She knew it just as she knew her own name.

  She looked around, trying to determine where she was. This all seemed familiar, as if she’d been here before.

  A figure dropped from the sky. Shea remained in place despite the terrifying form approaching. It was a man, his skin the color of obsidian, great wings the color of night arching from his ba
ck. On his feet were great claws like a bird of prey’s that flattened upon landing. His face possessed a cruel beauty

  He looked at home here, at ease. His wings flared slightly, the leather membrane in them thinning until she thought she might be able to see through them. They looked delicate even as she suspected their power. They had to be, to carry his weight.

  Next to him, another creature landed. The bat-like creature Shea had spoken with the previous night. He was over a foot shorter than the first winged creature, his skin lighter and the resemblance to a bat more striking. The other one looked like a man given wings— if one discounted the clawed feet and hands.

  From behind her came a snort and small whicker. Shea turned to find a pale horse pawing the ground. At least she thought it was a horse until she got a clear view of the red eyes and a pair of very sharp-looking horns rising from its forehead.

  It bared fangs at her that indicated despite its similarities to its equestrian cousins, this creature was a carnivore. A very efficient one, if those fangs were anything to judge by.

  “Is this she?” the black-winged creature asked, an enigmatic gaze focused on Shea.

  “Yes, Covath,” the bat said. “She’s the one who sought to bargain with me for her peoples’ safety.”

  Meeting the one called Covath’s gaze, Shea lifted her chin as she studied him. Oddly enough, she felt none of the normal fear. Perhaps because this was a dream. Or maybe because despite his obvious ability to kill her, she didn’t get any inkling of such an intention from him.

  “You are the one who woke the old ones,” Covath said, his gaze sliding over her.

  Shea pressed her lips together as she considered him. It was obvious he expected an answer. It would be wise to be polite to such a creature. Even in a dream.

  “I’ve heard that before,” Shea finally said. “Though I am never sure what they are referring to.”

  It was hard to read the expressions on Covath’s face. It was humanoid, but he seemed even more remote than Fallon when he had his warlord’s mask on.