by Joe Jackson
There were so many questions she needed answers to. She just hoped Gil would be as forthright as Kari needed her to be.
*****
Kris kept his back firmly to the wide trunk of the tree. The sounds of the approaching soldiers was echoed every so often by a shift from his companions, as they edged nearer to each other in preparation for trouble. Evasion had failed; though Kris received ample warning of this unit’s approach from Gabrius and Liria, the beshathans had managed to get a whiff of something – or someone. Kris had a suspicion that a paladin aura had grabbed a firm hold of their enemies’ attention.
It didn’t help matters that he only had half of his force with him. They had split up the day before, and now Kris counted only Gabrius, Liria, Sherman, Sharyn, and Sonja with him. It was a capable bunch, but they faced daunting odds if their pursuers continued to harry them. He had yet to get a clear indication of what was after them, but there was an erestram among them, and that was concerning all on its own.
Kris continued to steal glances around the tree whenever he could, using short glimpses to augment what he could hear. It wasn’t a full unit; probably closer to a skirmish squad. For all he knew, it could be an erestram noble with a few retainers. That seemed unlikely out here in the woods, and Kris’ mind settled more on additional troops moving south toward Sorelizar. He was at least satisfied that they were far enough from the border that his group wouldn’t get pinched. Not in the traditional sense, anyway.
But they were going to get caught.
Sharyn was crouched beneath some foliage with Sherman, and the Warlord gave a sharp wave of his arm to attract her attention. He made a hand gesture to shapeshift, and the woman gave a single nod before she began shedding her armor and equipment. Within moments, there was a massive, muscular black beauty of a beast in that foliage. The odds had just gotten better.
Kris pointed at Sharyn, then at Liria, and brought his hands together, then motioned for the two women to circle around and flank their enemies. Lightly armored and light on their feet – surprisingly so in Sharyn’s case, given her bulk – they were best suited to passing the enemy without drawing immediate attention. Kris, Sherman, and Gabrius would be left to take the brunt of the initial attack, but that would be where Sonja’s talents became invaluable.
The sorceress came up to Kris at his beckon, and crouched beside him. “What would you like me to do?” she whispered. “They look to have an erestram with them; it’s very difficult to bring arcane power to bear against an erestram. Perhaps it’s best left to you, and I will see how I can deal with its companions.”
“You’re really good with illusions, aren’t you?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Make them believe they’re up against a lot more of us. I want you to try to funnel them straight to me,” he said, gesturing for Gabrius and Sherman to come closer. “Any chance you can bring the forest to life?”
“Not without alerting Arku,” Sonja answered with a shake of her head. “I think damage to or manipulation of a realm acts like a beacon.”
“All right, then. You concentrate on funneling them to us, then disable as many as you can, or simply neutralize any arcane spellcasters among them. That erestram will be trouble, but I think we can manage if Sharyn and Liria flank them. Hmmm, you know what else you can try? Conjure up something gross, something that smells really bad. I think their noses are a lot more sensitive than even Gabrius’.”
“I’ll see what I can manage,” Sonja said, and she faded from view and crept off to the west to deploy her magic from an out-of-sight place.
Kris turned to his companions, each a few yards to either side of him. He stole another glance around the tree he was against, and could see there were at least five enemies. He still saw only the one erestram, which was good. Still, their two squads were virtually the same size, and the erestram did tip things in the beshathans’ favor. And that was to say nothing of Kris’ hope that they could avoid killing their enemies if possible.
Shouts came from the north, and though Kris couldn’t understand the beshathan tongue, he knew alarm and orders when he heard them. Sonja’s illusion must have gotten their attention, and he gestured for Sherman and Gabrius to stand ready. Black Diamond slid out of its sheath without a sound, and Kris deliberated on drawing out his golden blade. The forest was dense but there was plenty of room to fight, meaning he could dual-wield his longer blades without trouble. But Black Diamond was made for sundering, and if he was trying to defeat his enemies without taking their lives, rendering them weapon- and armor-less was the best way to go.
Someone came running toward Kris’ cover in a hurry, and by their steps it was obviously not one of his companions. He gripped his sword with both hands and swung it around at waist level, leading with the flat of the blade. Between the elestram’s speed and the strength of Kris’ swing, it bent over his sword and then remained doubled over for several seconds, wobbling in place. After a few moments, it vomited violently, and Kris kicked the jackal-man over and stepped out from behind the tree.
The scene before him was chaotic. There were a number of elestram and a couple of mallasti gathered around a ten-foot erestram. But it took Kris’ trained eyes only moments to make sense of what he saw. There was no cohesion, no line, and no established perimeter to suggest they were trying to form a phalanx.
These aren’t soldiers at all, he thought.
That didn’t seem to make much difference to the erestram, which came barreling toward the first of its enemies it could clearly see. Kris tensed, putting both hands on the hilt of Black Diamond. He crouched slightly, settling his weight, and flexed his legs, prepared for the massive strength of the creature, which he was quite familiar with. Few could say they had been trained by Celigus Chinchala, but Kris could, and it gave him a familiarity with the taller, stronger beshathans that not many others could claim.
Except maybe Kari, he mused.
His companions started to edge in toward the group of beshathans, so Kris called out his orders. “I think these are conscripts. Disarm them if you can, but watch for trickery. Sonja, make sure the mallasti don’t bring arcane power to bear.”
That was it; he had to leave it to his team to do their jobs. The erestram bore down on him, and Kris readied himself for an overwhelming strike. He was moderately surprised when it didn’t come, and the massive wolf-man instead stopped short and executed a routine that used its reach and the length of its war scythe to maximum advantage. Kris fended the blade away and did his best to try to hack the end off of the weapon, but whatever the case for its companions, the erestram was no slouch and avoided Kris’ defensive tactics.
The two began to slowly circle, Kris making every effort to penetrate its range while it kept him at bay with its long-hafted weapon. A sudden spin nearly caught Sherman as he herded some of the other beshathans away from Kris’ duel, but there was only the briefest of openings before the wolf-man was poised and attacking Kris again. He slapped the war scythe away again and again, and when the erestram backed off to reset, he drew Glory Stream and stalked in, preparing his own offensive routine.
With the extra blade, he was able to force the erestram to give ground now, knocking its weapon aside when he could and then making short, controlled lunges to try to close the distance between them. The erestram was a canny fighter, sidestepping and changing direction to keep Kris from neutralizing its power with backwards momentum. It finally unleashed one of those overhead crushing blows, and Kris ducked in and kept a blade up to parry as he made to break its defenses once and for all.
Its knee caught him squarely in the collarbone, rocking him backward, and he halted his advance, straightening up to parry the true overhead chop that followed. It tried to knee him again, but Kris slipped deftly to the side and punched it squarely in the side of the knee, though he missed the nerve bundle he was aiming for. Without hesitating, he kicked the erestram twice, once in the thigh and then higher in the side, and only a sweeping parry by the wolf-man kept
Black Diamond from cutting into its ribs.
The erestram yelped then, and sidestepped quickly, revealing Liria behind it. One of the syrinthian’s blades was tipped with blood, and the erestram turned and tried to crush her quickly. Impressively, rather than try to back or dodge out of range, Liria moved in on the creature. She took a solid knee for her efforts, just as Kris had, but absorbed it as best she could and stabbed under the offending leg several times, perforating its other thigh while it was immobile. She took a backhand slap for that, and the erestram caught her cleanly, staggering her.
Fortunately, she wasn’t alone. Kris stabbed it in the hamstring with a perfectly-placed strike, and as its leg buckled, he came around the side and finally landed a cleaving strike on the haft of its weapon, sundering it. He spun with the momentum of his chop, Glory Stream lagging behind so he could turn the flat of the blade and cuff the erestram on the back of the head. The blow didn’t knock it out; it hardly seemed to faze the creature, really. But the wolf-man was bleeding from several deep punctures in its leg, and it made no effort to get off of its knees as it turned fearful blue eyes on the Warlord.
It asked him something, but Kris shook his head. “You’ll have to speak infernal; I don’t know your peoples’ tongue.”
“How did you escape?” it asked in the appropriate language.
“Escape? What are you talking about?”
“Are you not Erijinkor Tesconis?”
Kris pondered that; he did sort of look like a shorter, striped version of Erik, especially to the untrained or foreign eye – and probably more so when he was armored and his distinguishing marks were covered up. “No. We’re on our way to free him, actually,” he risked.
“You are too late.”
“What do you mean?” Kris demanded. He glanced around at his companions, who had the other beshathans rounded up into a frightened bunch. “What happened to Erik?”
The wolf-man regarded him for a moment, but put the nickname into context without an explanation. “He escaped several days ago. We are combing the forest looking for him per the king’s orders. Who are you, then?”
Kris ignored the question and crouched down beside the erestram. He laid his hand on the wolf-man’s thigh, and within moments, the flow of blood slowed to a trickle, then stopped completely. “We’re friends of his, and came to rescue him. You said he already escaped?”
“A couple of days ago. The king and the duke are furious, and are sending out hunters and trackers everywhere to recover their prisoner. Please, do not hurt my searchers; take me as a hostage if need be, but they are mere townsfolk. They are not fighters.”
“I had gathered that,” Kris said with a glance toward the injured elestram he’d flattened. He rose back to his feet. “So, you don’t know which way Erik went when he escaped?”
“The king has trackers looking in every direction,” it answered, straightening out its leg as it stood. It grimaced in pain; the wounds weren’t healed all the way, just enough to keep from bleeding constantly. “No one knows how he escaped; he was quite secure and being tortured on a daily basis, so it should have been impossible for him to flee on his own. He had help.”
Kris put his hand to his chin and beckoned Sonja over. “Why haven’t the trackers used arcane power to find him?”
“Find who?” Sonja asked as she stepped up beside Kris.
“Your brother. Apparently, he escaped already… with some help.”
“Attempts to locate him with arcane power have failed. I am not sure of the reason why; I know little of the arcane,” the erestram answered, picking up the halves of its destroyed weapon and then eyeing Kris’ sword with respect.
“Erik’s escaped?” Sonja whispered, and her eyes glistened with tears.
“Yes, but you know what this means,” Kris grunted.
“We have to find him before they do,” the archmage agreed. She turned her attention to the erestram. “Do you suspect which way he may have gone?”
The wolf-man shook its head again, and Kris glanced over his shoulder. “Whoever freed him has to know the borders are being watched. What lies to the north of Si’Dorra?”
“Mas’tolinor to the northwest, a sea to the north, and a couple of the lesser kings’ realms to the east and northeast,” Sonja answered.
The Warlord was surprised that Sonja would know that, but put his next question toward the erestram. “Do your people sail? Would there be ships on the sea that he and his rescuer could hide away on?”
“Only small fishing ships; we are forbidden to go too far from land by the Overking’s law. Fishing ships are also prohibited from going between realms, so the sea would offer little respite from pursuit,” the wolf-man answered.
“And there’s no way King Koursturaux would willingly let any trouble cross her border,” Kris muttered. “They’ve got to be heading east, unless whoever rescued him has the connections and canniness to go to ground and stay hidden until this all blows over.”
“This will not simply all blow over,” the erestram said with a short shake of the head. “The king will not cease pursuit until his prisoner is in chains once again.”
“So, they’re headed east.”
It nodded. “That is where the bulk of our hunters and trackers were sent.”
“We have no time to lose, then,” Sonja said before making a conscious effort to calm herself. She blew out a sigh. “What do we do with these, then?”
“As I said, take me as your hostage, but I implore you to let these others go free.”
“You’re not a prisoner,” Kris said. “I’ll grant you your freedom on one condition: That you and your assistants speak of this encounter to no one.”
“I owe you the honor of my life, and so it shall be,” the erestram said. “I will convince the others to keep quiet as well, but do not dally too long, off-worlders. With the king furious, it will not take long before he sets his sights on you.”
“When is the council meeting, do you know?”
The erestram looked off into the forest, thinking. “I suspect the king will be leaving his fortress at Agivak for Anthraxis within the next several days. I am not certain of the exact date, though.”
“All right then, take your people and continue doing what you were told,” Kris said.
“You know that if I find your friend, I must take him into custody?”
“I do,” Kris said, and he laid a hand on Sonja’s shoulder without even bothering to look at her. “Let’s all pray we find him first.”
The erestram nodded. “Would you honor me with your name, warrior?”
“Kristofer Isaiah Jir’tana,” he said, not bothering with any of the titles.
“That is a name I will remember for all my days, and for more reasons than one,” the erestram said and returned to its companions.
Kris summoned his own with a gesture. “We need to clear the area, and fast,” he told them. “They’re going to keep quiet about our presence for as long as they can, but that’s a promise we can’t depend on for long. Erik has escaped, and there are tracking parties like this looking for him everywhere. We need to find him first, which means long days and short sleep shifts. Let’s get moving.”
“I’ll try to contact the others with an arcane sending,” Sonja said.
“Good. Oh, and Liria?”
The syrinthian girl turned, her golden eyes wide with alarm. “Sir?”
“Great fighting. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said. “Er, Kris. That was certainly much different from my last fight with an erestram.”
Kris was surprised by that comment, but left it to her to explain if she wanted to.
“One can certainly see the effects of Lady Vanador’s training,” Gabrius commented with a rare smile.
“Feh, you two made that fight boring,” Sharyn teased, putting the last bits of her armor back on. “Do you really trust them, Kris?”
“Not completely,” he admitted. “But bear in mind, Arku is Celigus’ cous
in or nephew; they know each other pretty well. And I’ve heard a lot about Arku over the years, particularly that he’s not terribly powerful as demon kings go, so his people are only loyal when they have to be. I doubt these care very much whether Erik is ever caught again. They probably just want to get home to their families.”
“They’re not the only ones, I’m sure,” Sherman said with a nod.
“Well, let’s get moving, then. The faster we find Erik, the faster we can get back and do something relaxing… like help Kari build a house.”
There was good-natured laughter at that, and the Silver Blades headed eastward to try to rendezvous with the rest of their number. Kris was nearly positive Erik and his benefactor would head east, toward the realm of one of Arku’s enemies that didn’t have a sizeable force watching the border. He would have to push his companions to their limits and beyond, but he realized it might still not be enough. They were competing with erestram and elestram, two peoples with far more speed and stamina than anyone under Kris’ command.
Except, perhaps, for Sharyn.
“Hey black beauty,” Kris said.
The werewolf didn’t react at first, but then she turned a shocked look his way. “Are you talking to me?”
“Don’t look so surprised. I’m honestly curious, because I don’t know all that much about werewolves: How fast and for how long can you run?”
“You want me to try to find Erik before they do?”
“We’re racing against time, doubly so because they have elestram and erestram trackers. I suspect you’re the fastest we’ve got, and you’ve got the best nose and the perfect disguise. Can we lean on you?”
She stopped without answering and began shedding her armor and weapons again. “Is there some way you can keep in contact with me, Sonja?” she asked.
“That is some scar,” Kris muttered when the woman was down to her undergarments. “You didn’t survive that, did you? So, were you resurrected, like Kari?”
“We suspect so,” the werewolf answered, ignoring the many surprised stares aimed at her now. “Sonja?”
