by Beam, Brian
But, I will fix it. Max will be freed no matter what I have to do. My father will have to accept that he can’t control me. I will not give up. I will not lose hope again.
We are well over halfway to the Academy at this point, with maybe a week left before we arrive. We travel through most of the night now, taking me further and further from Korin . . .
No, I will not lose hope again.
Chapter 8
The Walking Not-So-Dead
It’s hard to follow your instincts when you’re busy speeding through the woods, trying to keep up with the very person those instincts are warning you about. Hell, it’s especially hard to do when the moon decides to take cover behind the night-darkened clouds, necessitating every ounce of your attention to be focused on not breaking an ankle or running into a tree.
Kait’ kept a goodly distance ahead of us, leaving Til’ and me unable to question her. With the pace she was setting, I didn’t have the breath in my lungs to get out anything more than unintelligible grunts anyway. Til’ kept up right beside me, his diminutive stature doing nothing to hinder his speed.
“I don’t like this,” Til’ said suddenly, making me jealous of his ability to speak clearly despite our exertion.
“I . . . I . . . yeah,” was all I could say, though I’m not sure it didn’t just come out as “ugh.”
“If things start looking bad, we should just run,” Til’ continued, sounding way too somber for his usual nature.
“Ugh,” I responded, for sure this time. I hoped Til’ took it for the agreement it was. Like him, I still wasn’t feeling certain about Kait’s intentions. However, if her traveling companions could help protect us from Bill, maybe taking a chance with her would be worth it. Even if she was vague in her motivations and about as shady as an elm.
We eventually came within sight of a campfire, its orange glow illuminating two huddled individuals and three canvas tents in a small glade. Kait’ drew up short of the upcoming encampment, her body just a slender shadow surrounded by a golden aura from the fire. She pulled back her hood and raised her hand into the air, flicking some sort of hand signal towards the camp.
Two figures in hooded cloaks leaned out from behind trees ahead of us, longbows held outstretched from their bodies. I wasn’t sure whether to take the gesture as a warning or as an indication that they weren’t going to attack. They slipped back behind the trees and gave a wordless shout to the camp.
The dark shapes in the camp shifted. I stepped up just behind Kait’, now able to see that there were actually three people sitting around the fire, their backs turned to us.
“Here we are, as promised,” Kait’ said with just a hint of breathlessness.
I simply nodded, still too winded to speak. Til’ came up beside me, breathing heavily but looking alert and wary. His right hand was tucked into his cloak. I had a feeling that it was gripped firmly around the handle of his dagger.
Chiding myself for my lack of caution, I bent forward to covertly draw my own dagger, trying to appear as if struggling to catch my breath. It wasn’t much of a stretch. I was in pretty good shape, but Til’s and Kait’s relative stamina made me feel like a wild boar that had just raced a grazil.
I rose to my feet, carefully sliding the dagger up my sleeve.
Kait’ shifted her weight onto one leg, thrusting her hip out enticingly with a hand planted firmly on its shapely curve. Not that I was attracted to that; I’m just saying that she seemed in no way positioned to turn against us. With her relaxed stance, I began to think that maybe I’d been completely off base with my reservations.
“If you’re ready,” she prompted with playful reproach, “let me introduce you to the boys.” Kait’ swept her arm dramatically towards the camp. As she turned, the glow of the fire highlighted her face, revealing the dark tone of her skin. I could finally make out the earthen colors of her tight clothing. She didn’t appear to be carrying any weapons on her. Not overtly, anyway.
“We’ll stay right behind you, if you don’t mind,” I answered cagily, keeping Kait’s body between me and the men in the camp. Sure, it may seem paranoid, but I had Max counting on me. I couldn’t do much for him with an arrow shot through my chest. Chasus taught me that trust must be earned, and Kait’ had yet to earn hers.
“Suit yourselves,” Kait’ replied smoothly, turning with a sweeping flair of her cloak. Once her eyes were no longer on us, I transferred my dagger to my left sleeve and dropped my right hand to my sword’s hilt.
Kait’s hips swayed with dangerous femininity, sheer confidence clear in each step. Til’ and I followed guardedly, approaching the camp in a near-crouch, as if we were sneaking up on wild game.
As we neared the camp, I saw that all three men around the fire had hoodless black cloaks drawn tightly around their bodies. Their heads swiveled to watch us in their periphery. The firelight splashed across their profiles, painting them with a sinister glow. Their faces were gruff and unshaven, their hair clean yet unkempt. The fact that I couldn’t see their hands made me nervous. Granted, paranoia had become a large part of my life ever since my Activated Contract with Galius.
Kait’ stopped just before reaching the three men and turned back to us. “And here are our companions. These three are Vhillin, Oslen, and Kevrin.” Kait’ swept her arm from left to right as she introduced the men. “The other two are Ullian and Tagin. They’re currently on watch, if you hadn’t noticed.”
I looked to the trees where I’d seen the two men hiding, but there was no sign of them.
Kait’ gestured towards Til and me. “And boys, this is Korin and Til’. They’ll be staying with us for a while.”
“Well, until morning,” I countered warily. My hand tightened around my sword’s hilt as my conscience berated me for not trusting my gut about Kait’ from the beginning.
“Did I not tell you before that I don’t think that’s necessary?” Kait’ asked, her breathy voice taking on a hard edge. She nodded towards my sword with a malevolent gleam in her eyes.
That was it. An alarm sounded in my head. I’d been wrong to allow myself to put any trust in this woman. Til’ and I were in danger.
“Run, Til’,” I commanded under my breath as I unsheathed my sword.
Only, I didn’t unsheathe my sword. I couldn’t.
I pulled at the hilt, my muscles straining, but the sword wouldn’t budge. Changing tactics, I dropped my dagger into my left hand, readying to defend myself. The dagger ripped from my grasp and shot down to my hip, clanging against my sword’s iron hilt.
A second clang resounded as Til’s dagger joined mine, the force of its contact staggering me to the side. I tried to wrench the daggers from my hip, but they were firmly held in place. Someone in the camp was using magic of some sort against our weapons. Something small and metallic glinted in the firelight as it soared through the air and thudded to the ground beside me.
“Run, Til’!” I screamed in a panic. I knew we had no chance against the five men and Kait’, especially if magic were involved. When I tried to flee, though, there was a sudden, violent tug at my hip. My left leg was thrown off balance, and I was pulled to the ground on my side.
Til’ gave me a swift, fearful look that was quickly exchanged for a murderous glare at Kait’.
“No, Til’. Run!” I screamed. I tried to push myself up from the damp forest floor, but I couldn’t lift my hip from the ground.
Just as I was starting to worry that Til’ was going to ignore my plea and recklessly throw himself into battle with Kait’ and her men, he thankfully turned and fled. It had to have been hard for him to leave me there, but it was the only logical course of action. Otherwise, we would’ve both been captured.
Kait’s lips pulled into a vicious snarl. “After him, boys,” she commanded. The three men around the fire were to their feet quicker than I would’ve expected. As they turned to sprint after Til’, my body went numb with dread.
Each of the three men had a circular green light emitting fro
m the center of his chest. If their faces had looked sinister in the firelight, they looked downright demonic in the green glow shining through their dark shirts. Apparently the drunken man in the Old Homestead had been right. I mean, I didn’t think that these men were the walking dead, but they did have the green lights he’d spoken of in their chests.
It was only after my heart started beating again that I noticed the other two men sliding from the shadows and taking up the chase as well. Seeing only their backs, I wasn’t sure if they had green lights emitting from their chests or not. What I was sure of was that I couldn’t let them get to Til’. I had to fight.
If my suspicions were correct, whatever magic was being used against me was only affecting metal objects. Obviously the sword and daggers were primarily metal, and my scabbard had a metal cap lining its opening. There were metal buckles on my backpack and a couple metal objects within it. Aside from that, there was only my belt buckle.
Practically tearing my belt from my around my waist and shrugging off my backpack, I rolled away and pushed up into a crouch, ready to make after Til’. Before I could move a muscle, I caught sight of another metallic flash in the air, this time noticing that Kait’ had lobbed whatever it was in an underhand throw.
The object landed in front of me with a wet thump. It appeared to be a small metal sphere. I was suddenly jerked forward, as if someone had grabbed my cloak at its clasp and pulled. From my crouched position, I was dragged face-first into the sodden ground. There was a simple metal button clasping my cloak, and it had completely escaped my attention. I quickly ripped my cloak from around my neck.
In the meantime, Kait’ had closed the distance between us, her leg drawn back and ready to plant a boot into my face. As her foot rushed forward, I rolled away, grabbing her ankle with both hands. My rolling momentum allowed me to twist her leg and bring her down onto her back. I jumped to my feet, ready to run, but Kait’ recovered just as quickly.
“Why?” I asked, tensed and ready to defend myself.
Kait’ let out a humorless chuckle. “Because you and the Kolarin will be useful additions to our group.” The baleful tone in her voice made me wonder how I’d ever found it—or her—attractive.
I didn’t have time to care about what Kait’ meant. I had a friend to save. Giving her my most impressive “you really don’t want to fight me” look—which I hoped was bolstered by my week’s worth of unshaven facial hair—I took a couple of retreating steps backwards.
“Look, I don’t want to fight you,” I admitted honestly. First of all, she apparently had magic at her disposal. Without knowing what she was capable of, I was at a huge disadvantage. Secondly—and I know it sounds chauvinistic—she was a woman. It’s not that I believe women are weak or anything; it’s just that I was raised to never lift a hand against them.
Kait’s eyes flashed with maleficent mirth. “Then don’t,” she said, swiftly flinging another of the metal spheres towards my face. With our close proximity, I barely had time to jerk my head to the side to dodge the projectile. Only when I saw Kait’s amused expression did I realize that I’d done exactly what she’d expected.
My scabbarded sword, along with the attached daggers, slammed painfully across my chest. I threw my leg back to widen my stance and hold my ground. I twisted my upper body, allowing the sword and daggers to slide off my chest and resume their flight towards the sphere Kait’ had thrown. I’d put together that whatever the objects were, they somehow drew metal to them.
Deciding that I had no desire to see what other tricks Kait’ had up her sleeve, I charged her. Sometimes a little recklessness goes a long way. Her eyes widened slightly at my brazen attack, and she reached a hand into the lining of her cloak. I was too quick for her, though, throwing an arm around her waist and tackling her with my shoulder.
We hit the ground hard, and Kait’ exhaled loudly, her breath knocked from her lungs. I leaned up, ready to give up the manners of my upbringing as I lifted my right hand to strike her. Before I could follow through, she threw a hook punch towards my jaw.
Now, I’ve mentioned before how my uncle, Chasus, trained me in both swordplay and hand-to-hand fighting. He was an expert in many techniques of unarmed combat: Tau’Shal, Henreti, Palong, and, you know, general street-tough brawling.
The fighting technique that I’d always found most versatile was Palong, its basis grounded in anticipation and adaptation. It’s almost a state of mind more than anything, and it was this state of mind that recognized the incoming attack in time to alter my punch into a forearm grab.
My fingers encircled Kait’s lean-muscled forearm, effectively stopping her punch. Kait’s sleeve had dropped halfway to her elbow, meaning that my hand should’ve latched onto bare skin. Instead, it squished against something slimy and soft on her inner forearm, making me think of slugs. I just barely kept myself from immediately releasing her arm in shock.
It’s not that I was scared of slugs; I just didn’t find them very pleasant to touch . . . or see . . . or be around. Okay, maybe I was a little scared of them. I think my manly pride has taken enough damage in this journal already. What’s another hit or two?
Anyway, I controlled my shock through the same Palong mindset, lifting my left hand from Kait’s chest and giving her a solid punch to her chin. Her head snapped to the side, her face twisting into a mixture of pain and unadulterated fury. I wasn’t proud of punching a woman, but under the circumstances, doing so was the least of my worries. After a follow-up punch for good measure, I jumped to my feet, taking a hold of her cloak as I did.
Pulling up on Kait’s cloak as I stood, I flipped her onto her stomach. I pressed my foot against her lower back and tore the cloak off over her head; if it held any more of the metallic objects, I wasn’t about to let her have access to them.
With her cloak in hand, I dashed for the campfire, its flames dwindling in the absence of Kait’s men to stoke it. The jingling chime of metal-on-metal sounded from within cloth, vindicating my actions. Kait’s footsteps squished across the clearing behind me, but I kept moving forward, dropping her cloak onto the fire as soon as I reached it.
Behind me, Kait’ let out a vicious scream. I turned just in time to block her fist as it drove forward towards my face. I hooked a punch into her left flank in reply, immediately dropping into a crouch afterwards to avoid her next swing. Twisting, I jabbed my elbow sharply into her inner thigh, dropping her down to one knee. Using my momentum, I spun behind her and threw my right arm around her neck, squeezing my tensed bicep against her throat while pressing her head down and forward with my left arm.
This was more akin to the street-tough brawling type of fighting I previously mentioned, and given that Kait’ had proven to be a formidable fighter, I truthfully didn’t expect any success with my hold. Instead of using one of at least five countering moves I could think of off the top of my head, though, she started clawing at my arm, frantically trying to pull it away from her throat in a panic.
I tightened my grip ever so slightly, wanting only to incapacitate her to unconsciousness without causing any permanent damage. She continued to claw at my arm, her body flailing wildly below. Long nails tore my skin through my shirt, but I held tight.
Kait’s sleeves slid down as her struggling intensified, revealing dark, undulating shapes lining both of her inner forearms. Firelight played across their shiny skin, hitting me with a sickening realization. They were leeches. Blood-sucking, parasitic, slimy, gross, worse-than-slugs leeches. Trust me, the irony of being freaked out by leeches while fighting a sorceress and being just a few weeks removed from fighting eldrhims and evil wizards hadn’t escaped me.
Well, at least now I knew where Kait’ had been drawing her magic energy from. Having such a ready source, I didn’t understand why she wasn’t using magic against me as I worked to subdue her. Then again, I wasn’t exactly an expert on magic, despite having grown up with a magic talking wizard cat.
Kait’ finally released my arm and thrust an open h
and towards the fire. My breath caught. She was wearing a ring on her middle finger. A metal ring.
In a flash, one of her metal spheres, glowing with red-orange heat, shot from the fire to her hand, clinking against her ring. With a stomach-turning sizzle, the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Kait’ only let out a weak groan in her half-conscious state. She brought her hand back to my forearm, pressing the heated sphere against my sleeve.
Let me just say that my woolen sleeve didn’t provide as much protection against the glowing, fire-hot sphere of metal as I’d have liked.
My arm involuntarily jerked away, and Kait stumbled forward, gasping. With Kait’ down, I stood to attempt another retreat. I didn’t even take my first step before a sudden burning pain sliced along my right shoulder. It wasn’t until I saw the arrow tear through the canvas of one of the tents ahead of me that I realized that been a couple finger-lengths away from having an arrow impaled through my arm or chest.
Whoever had shot the arrow closed the distance between us before I could even turn around, and I felt what I assumed to be their bow whip diagonally across my back, wrenching a scream from my lungs. With a quick turn, I caught my black-hooded attacker’s longbow in one hand—mostly by dumb luck—and punched them in the face with the other.
As my attacker stumbled back, I could faintly make out his features. He was a thick-bearded man dressed in all black, his torso covered with a hard leather cuirass that prevented me from knowing whether or not he also had a green glow coming from his chest. There were two dead rabbits tied together by their hind legs hanging from a chain on his belt, making it seem that he’d been out hunting when the night’s ruckus had begun.
His hand reflexively went to his face, and as it did, I swept a low kick across the back of his knees, tripping him to the ground. Without looking back, I started running in the direction Til’ had fled, confident that my escape was assured with Kait’ and the bearded man downed behind me.
