Cargius offered a regretful smile. “Be brave.”
“I said keep him silent,” Keira barked.
Danielle felt the charcoal stick begin to move on her stomach again and then stop. It moved again, and then came back to the same place. She sensed the priestess’ confusion but didn’t understand its cause.
Keira suddenly raised her hand and demanded silence. The bewildered elders stopped their chanting. Her anger was palpable as she looked in Cargius’ direction. “Bring him here.”
Cargius was pulled to his feet.
“What’s wrong,” Allius asked.
Keira ignored him, keeping her withering glare on Cargius. “That symbol.” She was pointing at something on Danielle’s belly. “It’s Aquitius, isn’t it?”
“Of course it’s not. The first of the five has never had the ability to transform into a gilled creature, you know that; it has always been Margot’s bloodline which has water as its hidden nature.”
A small smile crept onto Keira’s lips, as if she had just realised something and liked it very much. “Druid’s Bane has never been of the purple aura of the first order before, either. You’re a liar, Lord Cargius. This whole attempt to protect the other girl has been a façade, hasn’t it? You’ve been trying to protect this one all along, until her dream has sufficiently prepared her to do your bidding. She can retrieve the book, can’t she? Can’t she?”
“Believe what you will, witch. It shows how far your learning has fallen over the last two centuries. That symbol is Aquitius of the higher tongue. It means her blood has the power to burn and channel fire and air. Not that it matters now, since you’re going to kill us both anyway.”
Keira licked her lips as she considered him closely. Whatever the higher tongue was, it clearly was not familiar to any but her and Cargius, and to Cargius a great deal more than she.
“There is no way to test the truth of this?” Allius asked.
“You said if I touched the Book of Minion it would burst into flames and be destroyed?” Danielle said. She desperately wanted to help Cargius.
Keira seemed amused by her statement. “Don’t believe everything a Druid tells, you, child.”
“The book’s destruction requires that the Fountain of Rebirth be found and a ceremony performed,” Cargius said.
Keira struck him across the face. “Hold your tongue.”
They clearly didn’t want Danielle to know this. Or they simply didn’t want it spoken.
“Keira slowly walked around Cargius, eyeing him. “I could kill you, and keep your little princess alive until her dreams reveal her true nature.”
Cargius chuckled at that.
Mr Bale said to Keira, “What if you’re wrong?”
“What if I’m right? And what if we can’t find the offspring of Margot’s line? This girl may be the only chance we have of retrieving the book and the Fountain of Rebirth. And this bastard could be trying to prevent that by having us kill her?”
“There was naught of this in the prophecy,” Mason said.
“Aye, and there was naught on how our Goddesses’ gifts were going to be returned to us, either, except the briefest mention of the Archbishop,” Keira retorted.
“I would never do your bidding,” Danielle piped in before the arm around her neck tightened, choking off her words.
Keira’s grin was growing. “That was clever, Cargius. Have me dispatch the very one who could return Maig’s gifts to us.”
Danielle couldn’t tell who was bluffing, for Cargius was grinning as cruelly as the witch.
“Maybe you’re right and that it is Aquitius of the lower tongue and she does have all three natures. And maybe I am lying about the other two children. I mean, when was the last time your kind sensed their existence in the realm of the living? Or conversely, you could be about to spare the life of the one person who can kill the new Hand and destroy your perverted faith forever. Either way, it’s not for me to enlighten you.”
Keira pursed her lips and then nodded almost imperceptibly. “Get her up and into some clothes. We’re leaving at once.”
“Fren said to kill her,” Lord Mason replied. His alarm at the change in circumstances was mirrored in the faces of the others standing at the altar. Danielle also sensed a general air of disappointment.
“And I said we wait until we know the truth. Now move.”
“And what of the anointing of the New Hand?”
“His voyage to Vellums Forge will just be a great deal more painful. Fren is expecting it will be so anyway. Now lets move.”
The five men restraining Danielle pulled her up off the altar. Lea tossed a long coat at her. Danielle quickly pulled it on. She was relieved of course, but she didn’t know what to think of this new development. Had Cargius just saved her life or had their enemy discovered something that made their predicament more desperate? She looked at Cargius for direction and her blood chilled a little as she realised it was likely a little of both.
“We should seek Maig’s guidance,” Allius was saying, not happy with this decision.
“And I will, when we are safely away from here. There is not enough time now, the sun will be up soon.” Keira was pulling on a long coat over her robes. To the attendees she said, “Put away the bowls and knife, and stow the skulls. And quickly.”
The altar servants moved to obey.
“And what of him,” Mr Bale asked, referring to Cargius.
To Danielle’s horror, Keira unsheathed the dagger at her belt and gestured to the men holding Cargius to put him on his knees.
“Please, I’m no use to you without him,” Danielle protested. The noose had been put back around her neck, and a man gave it a hard jerk as she moved to intervene, dragging her back.
“Is that what he told you?” Keira took a fistful of Cargius’ hair and forced his head back, exposing his throat.
“Worry not for me, Danielle. Just make sure that when opportunity affords, kill your brother—.”
Keira’s blade flashed in the firelight and opened Cargius’ throat, stopping him mid sentence. Danielle gasped and looked away, as blood spurted out and quickly soaked the front of the Druid’s robes. Two servants held his convulsing body upright while a third filled a large silver cup with the blood that was pulsating from the wound. When Cargius’ eyes rolled into the back of his head and the blood stopped flowing, the cup was handed to Keira, who held it up to the obscured sky in both hands.
“Maig, we beseech you, bless us for letting this sacred blood, and give us its wisdom and strength so we might have victory over your enemies.” The words were spoken in the Druid tongue.
Consumed by grief, Danielle bit back a sob. She silently uttered the prayer of protection and watched as Keira took a deep draw from the mug and then wiped the blood from her lips as she handed it to Allius. When the elders had drunk their fill, the dregs were left to the rest of the robed attendees, Lea first among them. They drank like vultures. It sickened Danielle to the very core.
“Throw his corpse onto the fire. And let’s go. I want to be aboard ship before first light. Bring her,” Keira said of Danielle, before lifting the hood over her head of long dark hair, and turning to leave the clearing.
Danielle was pulled to her feet and made to follow the priestess into the dark, foggy woods. She wiped at her tears and glanced back over her shoulder as Cargius’ limp body was swung onto the fire. The robed attendees were hurriedly gathering up the silver bowls and trays that had been laid out for her sacrifice, and putting them into an iron braided chest. Other attendees were extinguishing the torches that burned at the parameter of the circle, and placing the assortment of animal and human skulls that sat atop of the braziers into another larger chest.
Allius led the way into the forest, his long sword drawn. The large warrior was shouting orders to the men who had been set to protect the circle, and firelight now caught the edge of armour and weapons as these men, some bearing torches, fanned out on each flank providing a protective wall for the el
ders and their prisoner. A smaller party ran ahead into the darkness, and the rest formed a rear guard with the attendees of the ceremony who were even now preparing to leave the clearing with their chests of equipment and join the column.
Danielle’s thoughts raced as she watched the activity. They weren’t going back to the tunnel that was clear, and she was relieved to know as much. She had liked that place not at all. Keira had mentioned a ship, which meant if they were somewhere on the southern shore of the lake, and she was pretty sure they were, they had to be heading to the small hunting and fishing village in Wildling Cove. The annual Amthenium hunt made the little village home for one week each year, so she knew it well. There was no other place along this steep and rocky stretch of coast where access to the lake could be afforded easily or a ship of the size necessary to carry so many could moor safely close to shore. But how to work this to her advantage against so many and all well armed, that’s where the problem lay.
Guessing she had time to think that through, Danielle glanced back over her shoulder for one last look at the bonfire that lit the foggy forest behind her. Past the ranks of men and the trunks of dark tree she could see that Cargius’ body was well alight now. She silently bid him safe passage and hoped he would find peace with those who waited for him beyond the veil. She suspected he would, that somehow death was a relief for him. She had seen the longing in his eyes when he had spoken of those he loved at the ruins of Ra’majum.
“Don’t worry, your turn will come,” Lea said. She was walking at Danielle’s side, the end of the halter around Danielle’s neck curled around the girl’s hand. Her other hand rested lightly on the sword sheathed at her hip. “At least now your brother will be there to see you die. And it only seems right that he should be the first to drink your precious blood.”
“So why would I help you find this book if you mean only to kill me afterwards?”
Keira glanced over her shoulder at them and gave Lea a hard look, then said to Danielle, “Because if you do, we’ll spare your brothers. And if you are particularly helpful, we’ll even see that Lord Eden is established as the vassal king of the territories of Arkaelyon once we have restored the Larniusian Empire. Your father’s bloodline will continue. That should please you some.”
Danielle didn’t reply, because as far as she was concerned, none of this was going to be necessary. She would honour Cargius’ last words. Kane would die the first opportunity she had.
Something touched her mind, something external and just out of reach. She looked at the back of Keira’s head, wondering if the woman was trying to read her thoughts again. That idea was quickly discarded because the second time the touch came she realised it was different—kinder somehow and oddly familiar. It came a third time, a little closer. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest as she realised it was James. He was here, or at least close at hand. How that was possible she did not know.
“Stop!” Keira drew up abruptly. She stood there listening to the quiet of the woods for a moment then turned quickly and stared directly into Danielle’s eyes. Danielle felt a bolt of cold terror run through the length of her body, for the priestess surely knew they were no longer alone. The string of a long bow sang out crisp and sweet in the quiet and Lea shuddered and gave a small cry of surprise as a long shafted arrow took her in the back. Her eyes opened wide as she stared at the bloodied barb sticking out of the front of her tunic. Then her face contorted with fear and she slumped down on her haunches and whimpered, “The wards … we were supposed to be protected—.”
If she said more, Danielle didn’t hear it for the air around them exploded with blinding blue light and the roar and crash of thunder as bolts of lightening streaked out of the darkness behind them and exploded among her captors. Men ran for cover as death rained down on them. Allius shouted at his men, his bellowing voice calling them to arms and the defence of their priestess. It was the last thing Danielle saw before a bolt of blue lightening struck a tree beside her, splintering and shredding its mighty trunk in a blinding hot blast of flame. The force of the explosion threw her off her feet and knocked her silly. She shook her head to clear it and heard a war cry and steel clashing furiously in the woods behind her. Men were running to join the melee.
Small fires burned here and there among the shattered trees and dead. The carnage was awful. Mr Bale had been reduced to a bloodied and smouldering corpse. The three robed warriors who had been walking beside him were in no better condition, all had limbs torn asunder and were burnt and one was missing his head. Lea was lying on her back, the front of her clothing wet with blood and her eyes staring lifelessly up at the trees. Lord Mason was beginning to stir as he regained consciousness, while further afield Lord Allius was working to rouse the priestess. Eight druids in palace uniforms came running back up through the woods. Allius ordered two to help him with the priestess and the rest to add their number to the fight. One of the warriors almost stood on Danielle as he rushed past to add his blade to the fierce skirmish that was taking place in the woods back towards the clearing.
James’s voice reached Danielle over the noise of the fighting. Her ears were ringing and her head was still spinning and she couldn’t see him, but he was calling to her and the desperation in his tone roused her into action. The lightening had stopped and thinking it safe to move she throw off the noose around her neck, grabbed Lea’s fallen sword and got to her feet as quietly as she could. She noticed the priestess’ leather pouch containing the Seer’s bones lying nearby and seeing the opportunity afforded her, she grabbed them too and then scurried off between the trees, jumping over the dead as she went and trying to ignore the stench of death and scorched flesh that now invaded this place. She shoved the pouch containing the seer’s bones in her pocket, hardly believing her luck.
A short way ahead through the trees, she saw the skirmish line—or at least part of it. James and Faith were on horseback working desperately to hack and chop their way towards her. But the surviving druids, and there were perhaps as many as sixty or seventy that she could see, were giving as good as they got, and the advance had become a bloody stalemate, with as many palace guards going down as Druid warriors.
There was a shout of alarm behind her then the cluck of a crossbow. Red-hot pain took Danielle’s left leg out from under her. She lost her footing and fell sideways, crashing through a tuft of ferns and then gave a yelp as she tumbled down a small embankment and into a stony brook. The water was red with blood as men and women were fighting and dying around her. Danielle grabbed a fallen sword and tried to rise. The pain in her leg was unbearable and she fell back down into the shallow water. A Druid soldier loomed over her and she turned his stabbing blade before it reached her shoulder and slashed at his legs. A bolt of lightening struck the man, exploding his head and shredding his right arm to a bloody stump. Danielle traced the bolt to its source and found a tall, red haired woman attired in a white blood splattered robe and a wolf pelt cloak. The woman was hurtling down the opposite bank towards her. Four palace guards were with her marking her as friend and would be rescuer. They came splashing forward, cutting their way towards her. One of the soldiers took a druid spear in the gut as Danielle put an arm around the woman’s shoulder and forced herself back to her feet. The woman’s guard covered their retreat, fighting to protect them as they crossed back over the brook towards their own lines. Danielle had kept her sword and she fended a blade that came in from the right and slashed at the neck of a man—who’d just driven his spear into the chest of a knight—cleaving a fatal wound to his throat.
They reached the opposite bank. Danielle was about to thank the red haired woman when the blade of a long sword burst out of the woman’s gut, the steel wet with blood and innards. The weapon was pulled free and the woman choked up blood. Her surprised expression faded with her strength and she slumped forward face first into the mud. Danielle turned to find Allius towering over her and the point of his sword, slick with blood, a few inches from her face.
“You’re coming with me.”
Danielle tried to bring her sword to bear, but the Druid lord stood on her sword hand, forcing her to let go. Danielle screamed for help and tried to pull free. She heard James and Faith calling to her. She managed to get her free hand into her pocket as Allius dragged her up. She bit his arm and when he recoiled and released her, she turned to run, but he swung the flat of his sword at her head. The explosion of pain dropped her to her knees. Half stunned, her one thought was to hide the bones. Then Allius’ sword swept back, and the second blow felled her completely and sent her spiralling into darkness.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
James watched in dismay as a burly warrior hoisted Danielle’s limp body over his shoulder and splashed back across the brook and up the opposite bank. He’d seen her rescue from his mount and was riding to meet her when it had all gone terribly wrong. Despite the large number of knights and soldiers streaming down the wooded slope from the tunnel, adding their numbers to the fight and quickly overwhelming the enemy, the likelihood that they were on the cusp of defeat was blatantly clear. They’d failed to arrive in time to encircle and take the enemy by surprise, and now Lord Cargius was dead and Danielle was being taken from their reach as well.
He kicked his horse forward and flanked the fighting, riding down behind the ranks of men who were throwing themselves into the slaughter. When he found a gap in the fighting he spurred his horse across the brook. A Druid Warrior thrust his spear up at him. James parried it away with his sword and booted the man in the head before gee’ing his horse up the opposite bank.
“James, wait!”
He reined in at the top of the fern covered riverbank. Faith was riding after him but had been caught up in the fighting. She fended a spear thrust up at her chest, and hacked at her attacker’s head with her sword, opening him from shoulder blade to hip. Another Druid warrior came at her, but she rode him down and then broke through the enemy’s failing ranks and spurred her horse forward. The battle was almost done, and it was clear that the last of the Druid warriors were determined to die fighting rather than be taken as prisoners or retreat.
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