Savants of Humanity (The Scholar's Legacy Book 2)

by Joshua Buller

  Hawke nodded, looking intently at the fire to avoid meeting Char's eyes. “I'm sorry, then. If I hadn't come here tonight, you would have been safe.”

  “Aye, but mebbe it was good fer me ta finally put that ghost ta rest.” Char reached over and grabbed Hawke's chin, forcing him to look over. “Besides, ah can't get mad at ya fer tryin' ta keep me safe. Even if ya made a helluva botch of it.”

  I chuckled at that. Hawke reddened a bit and tried to push away from Char, but the giant was much too strong for even him to overcome. That made me laugh harder, which got Char to laughing too. Hawke looked about ready to start a fight before our overgrown friend relinquished his grip. Since he had still been struggling to free himself, Hawke's sudden release made him overbalance and topple over. Char and I were breathless by the time he straightened himself up.

  “Ah'm glad ya came, Hawke. An' Micasa, too.” He gave me a toothy grin. “Wish it were under nicer terms, but still, ah'm damn glad. Guess we'll be spendin' a lot more time tagether soon, too.” He pulled out his nullstone and turned it over in his fingers a few times. Considering his digits were the size of small logs, it made the fist-sized stone look like a chip of dirty glass. “Never thought ah'd see Grankul again. Who else is goin'?”

  I rummaged through my pack for a moment and managed to find the nullstone Hawke had given me. “Well, I'm in for sure,” I said, flashing the bauble. Char's mouth quirked, somewhere between a smirk and frown.

  “Aye, thought so. Can't say ah'm thrilled at tha thought, but yer not tha same li'l lass from so long ago, neither. Who else?”

  “Well, Uraj has one, and Silvia has one, and we have the one we got from Liturgy.” I counted them off on my fingers. “Counting the one you have, we just need one more.”

  “Blimey, jess six is gonna be rough. Dunno who this Silvia is, but ah hope they can keep up. Guessin' the other one is yers, Hawke?” he said with a nudge towards my companion.

  “No. I gave mine to Micasa. Uraj took the one Bojangles had to find our sixth. I'm taking the one Othenidus has.” He said it with a grim certainty that matched the shadow creeping over his face.

  Char whistled through his teeth. “That'll be a hell and a half ta get, ah reckon. Doubt someone like Mr. Bighead in Val'Hala will jess hand it over.”

  “I'd wager you're right. That's why we need to get back to Damkarei as quickly as possible. We have less than three weeks to gather that last nullstone and make it to the ship for Grankul, and we'll need all the might we can muster to break Val'Hala.”

  “Civil war in Astra,” Char muttered. “Ah knew it'd happen eventually, with a crackpot like Othenidus gatherin' power, but ah'd always hoped ta be wrong.”

  “We should try to get some sleep,” Hawke declared. “It's going to be a long ride, and we'll need all the rest we can get.”

  Yet we didn't even have time to start unpacking our sleeping rolls before I noticed the soft azure tint of daylight pushing the stubborn black sky away. We had been so absorbed in our discussion, we'd burned away our whole night. I marveled that I didn't feel tired, until I remembered what we had spent all our time drinking.

  “Huh, whaddya know,” Char said, sidling up next to me to take in the firstborn rays of the day. “Time really does fly, don't it? That's fine with meh.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Ah'm too wired ta sleep anywho.”

  I sighed. I would have gladly spent the day sleeping, but what Hawke had said was too true; we were running out of time and needed every scrap of daylight we could spare. Our overnight excursion to find Char had been a dangerous gamble, but trying the same thing all the way to the western coast was too much to risk.

  Hawke was already gently waking Restless, brushing and feeding him to make sure he was ready for the day's ride. At the least, I thought, the horses managed to snag some rest. Hawke was well acquainted with sleepless nights, and I could always try to doze in the saddle, but our steeds had been pushed too hard already. I could only hope they'd hold out a little longer.

  “Will you be okay without a ride?” I asked Char as I started Sir Brown Horse's morning routine. Our giant friend gave me a wolfish grin.

  “Aye, dun worry 'bout meh,” he insisted. He hurried to his camp to start packing essentials. It was good to see him in decent spirits, especially after everything he told us about his history with Anonce and Jerem.

  Come to think of it, Char had said that Hawke knew Jerem, and even worked with him. My curiosity started bubbling to the front of my mind, and I rushed to finish my preparations. Fortunately, Char was still trying to sort out what he wanted to bring when I was done. I didn't want him to hear me bringing up that sore subject with Hawke again.

  My scholarly friend was still trying to get Restless to calm a bit. Apparently, the steed wasn't happy with being woken so early after such a hard night of running. I almost reconsidered asking, but I knew there probably wouldn't be a chance once we were on the road.

  “What is it, Micasa? Is everything okay?” he asked. I realized I'd just been standing there quietly. I had to stop doing that.

  “Oh, I was just wondering if you remembered anything else about Jerem?” I asked. “Char didn't talk about him much, but you must have known him okay if you worked with him.”

  Hawke looked at me like I'd asked him if we could eat frogs for breakfast. “He was Char's friend. You heard his story.”

  “Yeah, and he said you both freed him. What was he like?”

  “I…did save Char. But I was by myself when I did. Wasn't I?” Hawke reached for his forehead and massaged his temple. “I never met a Jerem. I'm…sure of it?”

  He had never acted like this around me before. Hawke was the type of person to either definitely know something or not. More than that, it was the basis of his whole power. There was something unsettling about his uncertainty.

  “Hawke?” I said quietly. Before he had a chance to respond, though, Char's voice boomed from the camp.

  “All set!” he cried. “Let's get on tha road! If yer not careful, ah'll leave ya both in muh dust!”

  Chapter 21: Reckless

  I'd worried about how Char would keep up with Hawke and me both on horseback, but I had given our voluminous friend too little credit. With his essence pumping through him as steadily as the blood in his veins, he was able to set pace that would be the envy of any destrier. The air was filled with the subtle thrum of his soul energy, but it had a gentle, reassuring mien to it, not unlike what I was used to feeling from Hawke.

  With time in short supply and heavy demand, we kept to the Astral Road, hoping our haste would help us avoid any unwelcome deterrents. Considering how we must have looked - two riders cantering alongside a ten-foot tall whale of a man keeping up at what could have passed for a casual jog - I expected that any hopeful bandits or others lacking scruples would think twice before hindering our progress.

  With our disregard for caution, we made much better time than we would have trying to avoid unwanted eyes. Rolling plains of grass belonging to unknown lordlings and fields of wildflowers melted together as seamlessly as the fused stone beneath hoof and foot as we sped on. The occasional ruin crept over the horizon to watch our passage, and some bolder ones lounged alongside the road, their crumbling mortar sneaking across the path like probing granite fingers. The sheer girth of the road let us skirt around their reach and thunder past without a second thought spared.

  We camped right on the roadside, sparing though our stops were. Even close to the most powerful of fiefdoms, few would consider such reckless behavior. It was practically begging roving highwaymen to partake of an easy mark. Yet with the Scholar and our friendly colossus by my side, I slept as easy as I had in any inn.

  Of course, travelling a causeway as prominent as the Astral Road, we encountered traffic on multiple occasions. Most were no more conspicuous than a merchant driving his cart with the help of a pair of donkeys as sullen looking as their master, or a group of vagabonds bound for whatever city might spare them a scrap of kindness, or
barring that, food.

  We did pass a procession of some lesser noble, his ornate carriage pulled by a team of nobler Clydesdales. A retinue of soldiers surrounded their charge, the type whose armor was so decorative it had more place in some collector's showroom than on the battlefield. Among them, I spied a figure clad in a vest the color of forest moss and baggy satin pants, the telltale garb of a Disciple. Not wanting to draw attention, we made sure to slow down just long enough to show the proper obeisance to appease them and send them on their way before we picked up our own pace.

  We kept the chatter to a minimum, at least amongst ourselves. We already knew the nigh-impossibility of our task. As swiftly as we progressed, it would take at least a week before we'd reach Damkarei. That would leave us with less than two weeks to mobilize an army capable of assaulting the walls of Val'Hala, the most heavily fortified city built by man. Even if we were successful, we might run out of time to reach the boat for Conclave.

  What strength we did spare for speaking, we saved for talking to those we met along the road who didn't immediately shy away or outright run from our approach. When those sources were hard to come by, we tried the denizens of the small hamlets that occasionally popped up along the main road, protected by the name of Damkarei or Val'Hala or some other smaller but sufficiently potent liege.

  The news was always the same, though. A small vacation town out east had been attacked by a cutthroat bandit group led by some hulking green beast. Damkarei was preparing for war. A hideaway of blasphemers had been burned to the ground and slaughtered to a man. Demon sightings were on the rise in the Old Kingdom, and many of the more affluent nobles were considering migrating across the Madness to the safety of the Fertile Lands.

  The last one was disquieting, especially to Hawke. We hadn't seen hide nor horn of a grinel in all the time we'd been galloping back and forth around the Old Kingdom in the last month. With all the military strength the Kingdom had, it was uncommon for people to worry about just the odd sighting. For people to be discussing it so much, it had to be a recent trend.

  That's why we weren't too surprised when we saw a contingent of about fifteen soldiers on horseback heading east one day as we rode. Hawke and I had both been growing uneasy the last couple of days. We were perilously close to Val'Hala, ready to turn off the main road at the first glimpse of its battlements.

  However, the soldiers approaching us were clad in the beige uniform of Damkarei. Considering the two kingdoms were only a few days apart by horse, it wouldn't be unusual for a patrol to be out on the Road. But I remembered our fight outside the Madness. Those savages had been wearing the Damkarei colors, too.

  It was too late to consider turning off road and letting them pass. They'd already seen us and started hailing for us to halt for inspection. I could feel my gut tighten, and I fought the instinct to clutch for my short-sword. Hawke held no such scruples, and let his hand rest on Symphony's hilt as we reined up in front of the blockade the soldiers had formed.

  “Hold!” cried one soldier, positioned slightly in front of his peers. “What business have you?”

  “The Astral Road was free for everyone to travel, last I checked. What business do I need?” asked Hawke.

  “None usually, as you say. There's been a number of demon sightings in the area recently, however.” The soldier's flint gaze locked onto Char. “One might wonder why two travellers would be moving in the company of…someone so suspiciously unique.”

  “You can't tell by our accoutrements?” Hawke gave a slight shake of his sword. “Me and my young apprentice here are bounty hunters, taking this uniquely suspicious someone to Damkarei. We've heard Lord Uraj and Lord Hawke have placed quite the sum on his head.” He gave them a warm smile. “It's lucky we found you fellows on the road. Perhaps you'd be willing to escort us the rest of the way to the capital?”

  The soldiers had started muttering to each other in low tones, their eyes flickering between us with growing unease. I couldn't keep myself any longer from grasping my hilt.

  “That's odd,” said the lead soldier. “Lord Hawke hasn't been seen in Damkarei for years. If you're going to lie, you should be better informed before you do so.”

  My fingers immediately closed around the hilt and jerked. I heard the rasping hiss of Symphony being freed, too.

  “You should, too,” said Hawke. “I was just there a little over a month ago.”

  The armsmen had started fanning out the moment we drew steel, but Hawke's proclamation made them freeze. It was just for a second, a quick lapse of disbelief, but it was more than what we needed. Hawke kicked Restless to a charge, and at my urging Sir Brown Horse took up the rear.

  They were well equipped, with lances in hand for charging, and short-swords and maces belted to their saddles for any enemies that drew close. They weren't ready for our sudden rush, though. In a blink, we were in their midst, our blades whirling through their ranks and scattering them. Their polearms were more hindrance than help at such close range, and they had no time to switch to a more favorable weapon as they desperately struggled to stop our attack.

  My short-sword lashed out and caught a fumbling soldier in the chest. It would have been a lethal wound, if I hadn't struck with the flat of the blade. Instead, I locked the weapon to his chest and tugged as hard as I could. His mouth made an 'O' of surprise as he was pulled from the saddle. I undid the lock just before the sword was ripped from my hand, bringing it up to parry a strike from a horseman who had managed to drop his lance and draw a mace.

  Hawke, meanwhile, wielded Symphony with furious precision, every arc it made disarming a man or cleaving through the leather armor beneath their uniforms to deal shallow but stinging wounds. A few had managed to back off enough to make use of their lances, but Hawke lopped off the heads of the weapons as easily as trimming leaves from a branch. It hardly mattered whether he disarmed them or not; with his essence coating him like armor, any blows that managed to find purchase were turned away without so much as scratching him.

  Still, they outnumbered us almost eight-to-one, and started to rally into a circle around us. Hawke was at home on any battlefield, impervious and indestructible, but I was decidedly less so. The soldiers realized this too, as their attentions turned to overwhelming me. My own essence shielded me, but I was far less practiced than my teacher. Countless potentially deadly blows rained on me, reduced to merely battering and painful. Hawke tried to intervene, but they'd managed to interpose themselves between us. I could see the panic on his face, and could tell he was a hair's breadth from resorting to killing to get to me.

  There came an unearthly bellow from behind. The battle froze, and everyone turned to watch a quarter-ton of lumbering, half-demon fury descend on the skirmish. Char's expression was enough to make my hackles raise, and a few of the soldiers flat out turned their mounts and rode off at the sight of him.

  I had to give credit to those who held their ground, some going as far as to make a few feeble attempts at harming the giant. Char didn't even notice them. He began plucking the armsmen from their mounts and tossing them aside with indifference, the soldiers raining to the ground like overripe apples from a tree. One foolishly bold young soldier thrust her spear towards Char's face, prodding for some weakness to exploit. The giant lazily snatched the weapon from her hands and, for some reason, bit it in half. Her face went white, and she made the decision to join those who had already fled.

  I flung myself from the saddle and started to lock the arms of those who fell together. With the intervention of our most cumbersome of comrades, the fighting had all but ground to a standstill. Hawke dismounted, his sword still hanging from his grip. He paced the growing line of captives, Symphony poised at just such an angle that Hawke could snap it up and take a life with but a twitch.

  I had secured about half of them when Char spoke up. “Aye, lookit that one beat feet!” he guffawed, pointing towards the south. I looked over my shoulder, seeing one of the soldiers running as fast as their feet would ca
rry them. They must have been one of the fools Char had dumped from the saddle, though that didn't stop them from trying to make a break for it.

  They hadn't made it terribly far, though. I could easily outpace them, and every captive would mean one less enemy down the road. There was no doubt in my mind these soldiers worked for Othenidus, and we would need every edge we could take if we were going to be successful.

  My feet were already moving before I'd made the decision. It wouldn't take me long, especially with my essence granting me speed. I heard Hawke shout, and then a clash of steel, but my adrenaline was pumping, and I was focused on my prey.

  The ground ahead of my target dropped off just ahead of them, and I slowed, knowing I could easily corner them. They didn't stop at the edge, though, opting to hop right down it. For a wild moment, I had thought I'd driven them to suicide.

  Reaching the ledge, I saw it was nothing of the sort. It dropped off at a steep incline, plunging down for several hundred feet of dusty rock and stubborn brush. The runner was sliding down the face of the bluff, a cloud of disturbed dirt trailing his descent. I should have turned back. It would be nearly impossible to drag them back up, even if I caught up now.

  But I didn't want Hawke to see that I'd failed. He would have caught them. I could do it too. So I stepped off in pursuit.

  My feet scrabbled for purchase as I picked up speed and raised my own cloud of dust in my wake. I kept one hand behind me for extra traction, hoping it'd be enough to stabilize me. I could still see the soldier about fifty feet below me. The foliage thickened into a tangle of wiry bushes and low, gnarled trees. They were almost to the bottom, and if they reached the undergrowth first, I would probably lose them. I leaned forward to accelerate.

  I bumped a shrub. It was only a minor scuff, but I was going too fast, and my balance wasn't perfect. I tried to correct myself and overbalanced. The ground flew up to meet me face first, the impact rattling my teeth. The warm taste of copper filled my mouth as I careened out of control the rest of the way down, the world blurring before me between blue sky and unyielding earth.