by Tony Roberts
“So how come this is their territory if they’re not usually around?”
Lace sat down on the stand of one of the statues and cleaned his sword in the light of the torches carried by his men. “They tend to go on raids rather than occupy territory. If they find the Caldokians have trespassed then they come out and launch a huge attack. We saw one of these a short while ago; it wasn’t pretty. The lizards tend to stay up on their platform this end of the city. They know better than to come down here.”
“But what of us?”
Heller grunted. “We’ve fought them once; you don’t want to do that very often. We lost three men. They don’t give up.”
Faer turned away, thoughtful. Now they numbered nine. What the plan was she didn’t know, but nine against an army? How were they going to escape the forest and get to the heir to the throne without being seen or stopped? The odds were mounting against them.
Heller watched her, his eyes resentful. “If it wasn’t for the fact you’re useful in keeping these things off us, I’d recommend leaving you here to rot. You’ve brought nothing but misfortune to us ever since you turned up – and you led the army to us.”
“Not my doing,” Faer turned round. “For all I know Via left a trail. Clearly they wanted to destroy you, so they thought up this false plan to rescue the heir here. Where is he? How do we get to him? He’s not in the capital, that’s for sure – the king didn’t honestly know where he was.”
“I’d say Theruddas or Capel knows,” Lace said. “We’ve got to save Gorradan and that means taking out Jerethal, finding the heir and disposing of Capel and Theruddas.”
“Oh, is that all?” Heller said sarcastically. “And what do we do after dinner?”
“Why don’t you shut up?” Faer snapped. “All I’ve heard from you is a lot of whining, complaining and negative rubbish. If you’ve not got anything wise or constructive to say then don’t say anything at all.”
“And you – you’ve been nothing but a weight around our neck from the moment you’ve turned up.”
Faer turned to Lace. “Captain – I’m through with this man,” she jerked her thumb at Heller. “I’m going off on my own way. You and the other are free to join me, but he isn’t coming.” She swung back to Heller. “If you try to come with me I’ll immobilise you.” She stood face to face with the furious Heller.
“Alright, Dark Blade,” Lace said wearily, standing up. “I don’t want any splitting up; there’s few enough of us as it is. I clearly need someone with your skills to help in this, and you, Heller, do as she asks and shut up. Your griping is getting on my nerves too. We need men of strength, men I can rely on. I’m not sure you’re in the right frame of mind to do this.”
Heller spat on the ground by her shoes. “So you want me to apologise to this freak?”
Faer’s fists clenched. “Take that back right now.”
“Get lost. I apologise to no half-breed, especially one with the black heart of a dark elf.”
Faer’s mouth tightened. She brought up her left hand and turned it into a claw shape. Heller gasped and clutched his throat, fighting off some unseen force. Faer slowly brought her hand down a couple of feet and Heller sank to his knees, choking.
“Blade!” Lace shouted, taking hold of her arm. “Cease!”
Faer eyed Heller for a few more moments, then stopped, throwing her arm up and wide and turning round in exasperation. Heller fell forward, panting heavily, two men springing to his side.
Lace stood by her side. “We need Heller too – he’s a good officer, and we only number nine now. I don’t want to lose him, too.”
Faer folded her arms. “Then temper his tongue.”
Lace nodded and went over to a recovering Heller. He looked at the half-elf, massaging his throat painfully. “See, Captain, what she’s capable of?”
“Only because you provoked her. Can’t you see she could wipe you out in a flicker? She has all the Dark Elf abilities. Would you take one of them on? Then go easy on her.”
Heller grunted. He nodded to the two men making sure he was alright, and they stepped back. He eyed Lace with resentment, then cleared his throat, still rubbing it ruefully. He spoke to Faer. “I – regret my words to you.” The words were forced and both knew he was being insincere.
She turned round. “Heller. We don’t have to like one another, and its clear we don’t. But we are bound together in a common cause, so it would be best that we do not fight each other. As you have seen, I could deal with you quite easily, but I don’t wish to if I can help it. Captain Lace leads this group and both of us should look to him. He has my support.”
Heller nodded once, curtly, then turned away, his face dark, his thoughts even darker. Lace puffed out his cheeks and looked around. “Right. We rest here. I doubt the king’s army can come this way. Provided we don’t meet with any trouble from now on, our route is clear. We can make our way out of the city and find a new hideout. I would like to know how many of the army is following us.”
“I could do that,” Faer said. “I would move silently and invisibly, using my darkness ability. One can move much better silently than a group.”
“But you don’t know the route from here out.” Lace looked worried. “And its dangerous in this city, even for someone like yourself. You don’t know the way out. What happens if you get lost? Let’s get out and re-think our strategy.”
They rested for a while, discussing their next move. They were clearly only able to go on as the way back was impossible. The way ahead was discussed. Lace referred to a cave system close to the sea near the forest’s edge he knew of, from his days with the royal army before the war. He decided that was their best chance. Standing up, he turned to one of the men. “Lysak, take up a scouting position.”
Faer stepped into line, alongside Lace as Lysak, one of the better scouts in the group, took up the lead. The passageway that led from the chamber was musty and smelt of animal, and piles of droppings could be seen against the walls. “Marking their territory,” Lace nodded. “We’d best be careful from now on.”
They went slowly, stepping as quietly as they could. The corridor turned left, then right. Vague carvings adorned the walls but Faer couldn’t make them out. The floor suddenly dropped away into a yawning pit. Lysak looked down, then round. “They’ve removed the bridge, sir.”
“I can see that,” Lace said dryly. “That’s inconvenient.”
“It’s down in the pit, broken.”
Lace sighed. Nothing was easy. He looked at the gap. Twelve paces wide. Too far to jump. Faer looked up. The roof was gone here, rising up into darkness, almost like a shaft. The air was warm and oppressive. She didn’t feel happy about being here. “We can’t go back,” she said.
“We have to get across.” Lace looked round for inspiration.
Faer went to the edge of the pit and looked down. The pit was perhaps twenty paces down and ended in a pile of rocks, detritus and a broken narrow wooden beam. “That was your bridge?” she asked, looking up.
“Yes.” Lace was about to say something but suddenly the men back in the tunnel drew their swords. “Kaldeen hunting party,” one of them said grimly.
“How many?” Lace snapped.
“Fifteen or more, sir.”
They were trapped.
NINE
Faer glanced at the beams. She held out a hand and closed her eyes, willing the forces of nature to flow through her fingers, her tendons, her sinews. Dark elves were seen as destroyers, as evil through and through, but Faer knew that this was not entirely true. Yes, they were bad, and had a contempt for life that more trustworthy and noble races did not, but they did have their loves and preferences. Nature was nature, and all elves had an affinity for it. Dark elves may have a different view of it and ways they acted and interacted with it, but they respected it nonetheless.
She now drew the air around her into herself, forcing it into a physical force. A negative force. One half of the broken beam began moving, rising, and sudd
enly it was floating towards her. As it reached her she grabbed the end and pulled it onto the floor of the corridor.
Lace gaped at her. She looked up. “Prepare a binding for it. We’re going to cross.”
Lace swung round. “Kaptash, rope. Now!”
Kaptash fumbled for his rope while Faer repeated her trick on the other half. This rose more sluggishly, and by the time she had it alongside the first, the sounds of fighting had broken out.
She stood, feeling slightly weak. “Captain, get it bound and get the men across. I’ll try to hold them off.”
“You’re drained – or partly anyway. I can see it. How will you hold them off?”
“Give me strength,” she said. “I’ll partly drain you and Kaptash – not much, just enough to make me strong again and not enough to incapacitate either of you.”
Lace nodded and braced himself. Faer put a hand on his head and drew some of his essence into her. Lace felt a flow of his strength being sucked away from him and it was a very unsettling experience, but then it ceased and she stepped back, smiling in gratitude. There was a wave of weakness and he held onto her for a moment, then stood upright again. “Good enough. Kaptash, you do the same.”
The soldier wasn’t happy, but orders were orders and Lace seemed reasonably fine. The process was completed and Faer turned away, replenished. Lace urged a sweating Kaptash to get on with the binding. She stepped past Heller and two soldiers standing across the passageway, and then she was at the forefront of the fight.
Three soldiers were desperately trying to hold off the creatures attacking them. Big, burly bipeds with snouts like wolves, jagged teeth and clawed hands at the end of long, muscular arms. They wore rudimentary clothing but nothing ornate or complex. They fought with their teeth and claws and were immensely strong – they had dark grey fur over much of their bodies and had a slightly hunched appearance. Already they were driving the three soldiers back towards the second line.
Faer saw that the kaldeen were in a mass, with no organised line or tactics. They were simply attacking and using sheer weight of numbers and their strength to prevail. Two had cuts and were bleeding but they didn’t seem to notice, or appeared to be hindered by their wounds.
Even as Faer got to them, the middle soldier was knocked back by a wild clawed swipe, his neck and face scored with a deep series of cuts. Faer stepped up and sent her sword down onto the creature’s neck, cutting in deep. The kaldeen howled and staggered sideways into a comrade, blood splattering both itself and its neighbour. It remained on its feet and came at her, enraged.
Faer was nonplussed for a moment. Nothing so far had been able to withstand a blow from her sword, and she wondered if her powers were fading. As it came for her she sent the sword deep into its guts, pushing hard. This time the animal gurgled and sank to its knees, its strength sucked out of it by the blade. She pulled it out and was instantly faced by another, clambering over the stricken one in its efforts to get at her. She decided to waste no time. Calling up a fresh burst of power, she sent a shaft of fire into its eyes, forcing it to rear up in pain. It tried to get away from the flames which is feared but it was stuck fast by the ones behind.
The smell of burned flesh and singed fur came to her. No time to waste. The man to her left fell, toppled by a swipe to his chest by his opposing kaldeen. Faer swung hard and low, slicing its left arm off at the shoulder, her blow continuing up across the throat, slicing a deep hole in that, too. The kaldeen struck the passage wall and slid to a sitting position.
Faer couldn’t see any more as two came at her. She slammed a wall of force at them and they went backwards, stunned. Both fell under the slavering ones behind them and Faer had to step back. The man who had fallen was left behind, his flesh opened up and ripped to shreds. The strength of these creatures was something to behold.
“Come on!” Lace shouted. “We’re across!”
Faer fanned another burst of fire across the front row, making the animals hesitate. Fire was something they did fear. She quickly glanced over her shoulder. Lace, Kaptash and Lysak were across, the beam lying across the gap, a slight sag in the middle, bound by a mass of rope.
“Heller, go!” she snapped. The two other soldiers with her were backing towards the pit, trying hard to fight a delaying action. Heller stepped onto the beam and ran hard, making the beam sag dangerously. One of the other soldiers lost courage and fled too, his feet slipping but he kept enough balance to get across.
Faer gripped her sword tightly and forced yet another burst of flame out, through the blade this time. It impacted on the biggest kaldeen, engulfing it, and the monster roared in agony and fear, almost exploding with fire. It gained her and the other man vital heartbeats of time. The other soldier went across, but as he went up the other side, the rope gave out and the beam folded, toppling back into the pit. The soldier was grabbed by the arm and pulled to safety.
“Blade!” Lace yelled, fear written over his face.
She whirled. The kaldeen, eight of them, were coming for her, claws reaching for her. She had moments left before they would rend her to pieces. She ran the four paces to the pit’s edge and leaped. As she did so she turned over her right shoulder, her arm pointing back to the pit edge, and she sent a wall of force at it, the extra force sending her up and at a faster pace.
She twisted and hit the far side hard, winding her. Instantly three pairs of arms grabbed her and stopped her from falling down to her death. She was dragged up to the solid ground and she sat down, shaking with effort and spent energy. On the other side the kaldeen snarled in frustration. Even they recognised the stupidity of trying to jump.
“Well done, Blade,” Lace said, “I thought you were finished there for a moment.”
She looked up and grinned faintly. “I’m not that easy to defeat.” They looked at the mass of furious kaldeen for a moment, then all turned and made their way along the passageway. Lace looked at Faer. “You alright? You look a bit tired.”
“I’ll be fine thanks, it’s just the effort of using my powers. Drains me a lot. I’ll be alright, just give me a little while.” She looked ahead. “Is it much further?”
Lace called to the man who had recalled the cave system. The soldier nodded. “We come out of this passageway onto a forest path and then we come to another part of the city. Once out of that the caverns aren’t too far. Just across a gorge and then a waterfall. You’ll see the caverns from the waterfall. It’s out of the forest.”
“That sounds good.” Lace looked at Heller. “Seven of us. Not much of an army.”
Heller grunted. “One more night. I’d rather not spend it here.”
“We might not have the choice. Come on, let’s go – its best not to hang about here.”
They went on and after a short while emerged into the open. As the man had said, there was a forest path which took them away from the temple complex and through a thickly-infested area. It seemed there was an old route they were following, for it ran very straight. Overhead vines and creepers blocked the sun and it was dark and dank. They went in single file, since the path didn’t allow two to walk abreast.
They crossed an open space, the sky in full view. Birds were coming to roost and it was clear the day was coming to an end. Heller glanced left and right, and pulled a face. “We don’t want to be here when darkness falls.”
“Why is that?” Faer asked.
Heller grimly carried on ahead of her, saying nothing. She looked round at Lace behind her. Lace shook his head and urged his men on. There were plenty of ruins here, old abandoned houses, overgrown and almost completely covered in creepers, undergrowth and trees that seemed to sprout everywhere. They followed the same path on the other side of the clearing. Here was an old doorway and two men pushed hard at it, opening it a little wider to allow them all to enter a dark, echoing space.
“Shut the door,” Lace said.
Two men pushed with all their might, and slowly, reluctantly, the door closed. As it did so Faer caught sight of
the outside surface. It was lined and scratched, as if something had clawed at it. The door squealed shut and they were in darkness. A light was struck and torches once more ignited.
The seven looked around. It was a square hallway, by the looks of things. Upturned furnishings, many of which were in pieces, lay scattered about. There were benches, tables and chairs. All were covered in dust, webs and piles of dirt. The whole atmosphere smelt of rot and decay. “What is this place?” Faer asked.
“I think it was their council chambers. Here was where the Caldokian Empire was ruled from. At least, that’s the theory anyway.”
“How do you know all this? I thought you hadn’t been here before, but you all seem to know which way to go.”
“We’ve been in this forest for a year or more and our scouts went all over, trying to find out more about the place. Some never came back,” he said grimly, “but enough did to give us a good picture of the forest. These ruins were visited more than once and a route through mapped. We lost men here but we got enough back to make a decent plan of the ruins. This was one place our men came by more than once.” Lace wandered deeper into the hall. “Although I have never been here before personally, I have studied the maps well enough. There is a back way out but it means going into the Council Chamber and at night that isn’t advisable.”
“Oh?”
Lace picked up one intact looking chair and righted it, sweeping detritus off it. He sat down. “This goes for all of us; I don’t want anyone going deeper into these chambers than this hallway. You know the stories. We keep that door shut, and stay here for the night. I want fires lit and this place illuminated. We stand guard shifts, all of us, two on at any time. Three shifts tonight.”
“I’ll stand first shift,” Faer offered.
“You?” Lace looked surprised. “You’re not part of the command…”
“Captain, I must pull my weight too. I don’t like being regarded as a passenger or a guest. I’m in this as deeply as any of you. I’ll do my bit.”
