The Cavalier Trilogy: Book 02 - The Rise of Malbeck

by Jason McWhirter

  He awoke, shivering, to the sounds of Myrell’s voice. His body felt chilled to the bone.

  “Jonas, open your eyes,” she said softly.

  He was lying on his back as he opened his eyes. Myrell was looking down at him. The rest of the men had all experienced the same sensations and were now busy taking in their new surroundings. He realized that he was still holding his breath, so he exhaled in relief, and took a deep breath of air as he looked more closely around him.

  He almost choked. The air was not only bitter cold, but it felt strange and foul in his mouth and lungs. It was as if he could taste it, an unpleasant, almost evil taste that stank of death and oozed despair. Jonas was struggling with the weight of it and he could see that everyone was feeling the same discomfort.

  “It will pass. Your body will get used to it,” promised Allindrian, drawing her sword. The gesture was casual, but the meaning was obvious; they were not in a safe place.

  “I’m not sure I want to,” spat Fil, trying to get the nasty taste from his mouth.

  Jonas stood up straight, and looked around him. They were in a forest, a very dark forest, but it didn’t have the healthy earthy feeling that you get in most lush forests. This forest was dark, really dark. The darkness was more than just blackness; it seemed alive. The trees and brush all had a spindly look to them and they were covered in thorns and a blackish moss clung to everything. A dense mist covered the ground, floating around them menacingly. It was dark, but there was a faint bluish light emanating from above, bringing a subtle eerie glow to everything around them. It was not a pleasant place, and Jonas immediately wanted to leave.

  “Blade Singer, where do we go?” asked the king, stepping up to them with his giant sword held easily in his right hand.

  Jonas was impressed with the man’s stature. It wasn’t just his incredible size and strength, it was also his aura that gave Jonas pause. He radiated power and charisma, and for the first time Jonas realized that this man was the type of man that moved worlds, the type of man that men followed without question. He had seen that charisma before in Kiln. They were both men who did not need magic to inspire. Jonas felt the pull of his personality, and he suddenly felt small and embarrassed under his gaze. He had not noticed the man’s power before as he had been too distraught over the death of Taleen, his mind unable to focus on much else. He scarcely paid the king any attention. Now, he realized he had acted like an arrogant child and he could hardly believe that he had spoken to the king as he did. He would make amends somehow, that he promised himself.

  “Follow me,” Allindrian said. “Stay close to one another and do not wander off. If you do, you will most certainly get lost and perish. Keep your weapons drawn and do not say a word unless I tell you to.”

  Everyone drew their weapons, but the usually comforting noise of steel scraping on steel did little to strengthen their resolve. Jonas could feel the mist and the oppression of the place drain the courage from their bones.

  “Blade Singer, what matter of beasts we be fearin’ from this place?” asked Durgen, his son’s axe held easily in one hand and his shield strapped to his back.

  “Many, Master Trader. Many strange creatures live in the trees and brush, and we must try to avoid them at all cost. But we should fear the trysts the most. Though blind they can hunt by sound, and they exist in large numbers. The beasts resemble humans, but with extraordinarily long arms and very short legs. And their faces are more mouth and teeth than anything, with two pronounced ears on the top of their heads giving them excellent hearing. They are strong and fast, and where there is one you will surely find more.”

  “They sound pleasant,” Fil remarked wryly.

  “Make no mistake,” Allindrian continued. “This may be the most dangerous and frightening thing you have all ever done. It is very possible we may not all make it through, but if you follow my lead, we have a chance.”

  “How long do we have to stay in this place?” asked the king. He spat on the ground, trying to get the taste of the place out of his mouth.

  “Two and a half days to reach the gate that will take us to Cuthaine,” she answered.

  “Then let us start,” he said impatiently.

  The mist and the lack of sunlight slowed their progress. With no sun or real source of light, they could only just see a small distance in front of them. Jonas gazed through the cracks in the canopy of trees, and finally came to the conclusion that the bluish glow was coming from some horizon that never seemed to change. It was like a moon had set, staying in one spot, bringing its nightly glow to everything. It was eerie how the lighting and surroundings never changed, and Jonas wondered how Allindrian could find her way through the maze of trees and brush.

  Jonas’s thoughts were interrupted by a sudden piercing scream from in front of him. He sprinted forward, both blades in his hands. The blades glowed faintly, matching the subtle bluish light from the strange horizon.

  The party had stopped and he saw several men trying to calm a comrade on the ground who was clearly struggling against some unseen threat. He was screaming and rolling around on the forest floor as three warriors tried to subdue him.

  Allindrian and the king ran from the front of the group, pushing their way to the downed man.

  “Silence him,” hissed Allindrian, her eyes darting into the shadowed darkness.

  Jonas was concerned as he had never seen Allindrian lose her composure. She appeared worried and tense, her eyes darting anxiously from the screaming man to the black forest surrounding them. Jonas remembered her warning about making noise. The last thing he wanted to do was attract a group of trysts. He joined Allindrian in scanning the woods around them, half expecting an army of the blind beasts to attack.

  Three men had secured the struggling man while a fourth clamped his hand over his mouth. There were a few moments of muffled sound before the squirming man bit his hand, filling the Hallows again with his anguished cries.

  “What is wrong with him?” whispered Fil.

  Many of the men were now taking Jonas’s lead, facing the forest, expecting the noise to bring the trysts down upon them. They had formed a circle around the screaming man and more than one had nocked an arrow.

  Then Kromm took action and pounced on the man, pinning his arms down with his heavy legs.

  “Sorry about this,” he said, bringing his fist down hard on the side of the warrior’s head. There was a thud and then he went limp. After a few seconds the warrior’s limbs began to twitch slightly, as if he were having a seizure, but luckily he was no longer making noise.

  There was a pall of silence as everyone’s eyes darted from tree to shrub. The mist continued to drift lazily around them adding to the nervous tension that was thick as butter.

  “Flip him over,” ordered Allindrian, anxiety evident in her voice.

  The king turned him over and stood up, while Allindrian knelt down and slowly pulled back the man’s cloak near the base of his skull.

  “I was afraid of this,” she said, standing up and looking at the king. “A soul worm,” she announced, pointing down to the back of the man’s neck. “It must have dropped from the trees above and burrowed into his skin.”

  Sticking out of the warrior’s flesh was a green worm about as thick as a man’s thumb. One end had dug into the man’s flesh while the other end wiggled around slowly. It was a sickening sight.

  “What is a soul worm?” the king asked. “Can we remove it?”

  “No. The worm has already eaten into his spine, permeating it with numerous tiny tendrils. The worm severs the spinal cord, then patches the connection to the host’s brain, keeping him alive, but unable to function, so it can continue to feed. If we kill the worm or remove it, he will die.”

  “What is it feeding on?” asked Myrell shakily

  “The worm is feeding on his soul, on his life force, so to speak. There is nothing we can do.”

  “Can I heal him?” asked Jonas, sheathing his blades.

  “No. You cou
ld probably heal the spinal cord but not the damage to his soul. He might live but he would be a useless shell of himself.”

  “In Bandris’s name, I can’t sit here while his soul is sucked from him. Is there nothing we can do?” the king asked in frustration.

  “Yes,” she replied. “You can kill him.”

  “What!” exclaimed Dandronis.

  “If you kill him the worm will leave, for what is left of the man’s energy will disperse to the Ru’Ach and it will have nothing to feed on. He is suffering now, as you can see,” Allindrian added, gesturing to the convulsing man, “and his pain will disperse as well.”

  Everyone was silent as the king digested her words.

  “But you must hurry. The man’s screams very likely attracted the trysts. We must get moving,” she added quickly.

  The king sighed, with sorrow and frustration, stabbed his sword into the ground, and drew forth his knife. Everyone looked away, in respect for the king’s choice and for the man who was to die. No one wanted to watch the killing stroke. Killing an enemy was one thing, but killing your own comrade while he lay on the ground unconscious was difficult to stomach. But it had to be done, and everyone knew it.

  After a few moments, the king stood up. “It is done,” he said softly, despair dripping from every syllable. “Let us go, I long to leave this evil place.”

  As he spoke, a sudden shrill screech filled the Hallows. The sound, though distant, was terrifying.

  “We are found,” Allindrian hissed. “Follow me, and stay together.” Without another word she darted off into the mist and everyone followed with weapons drawn. There was no need for silence. They had been discovered. Everyone ran as fast as they could to stay on Allindrian’s heels, crashing through the thorny brush, frantically trying to elude their pursuers.

  Another screech erupted into the night. This time it was much closer. The beasts were fast and it was obvious that they would not outrun them. Despite the chilling coldness, Jonas began to sweat as he ran the unseen trail that Allindrian miraculously followed. He kept Fil and Myrell in his sight as they followed the rest of the men, fleeing through the brush after Allindrian.

  Suddenly Jonas found himself, with the others, at the edge of a clearing, the first they had seen since they entered the Hallows. Mist floated around the clearing so they could not see the ground, but in the center of the forest opening was a rise of rock and dirt sprouting a black spindly tree as big around as a person. The tree’s branches reached out in different directions resembling the long skeletal arms of a demon.

  “Follow me!” Allindrian yelled. “Step where I step! The ground is littered with deep pits of black water that will pull you down to your death. They are to close. We cannot outrun them, we must fight! The high ground of that rise,” Allindrian pointed to the tree, “will give us a better chance.”

  More screeches came from just behind them.

  “Go! Now!” Jonas yelled. “I will hold them off!”

  Allindrian was about to say something in protest, but she caught herself, realizing that she was the only one who could lead them to the hill and the tree. Only she could see the correct path. The mist in the clearing covered the swampy waters like a white blanket. If anyone stepped into those waters they would not be coming back out. The water, black as a demon’s heart, would suck them into its depths, the magic of the place pulling them in and feeding on their energy. Only she could get them safely to the hill.

  Allindrian gave Jonas a quick good luck nod before advancing into the mist, the men slowly and cautiously following behind her.

  Jonas turned to face the forest, holding both blades low. He saw two of the men step up next to him. One was Fil and the other was Evryn the axe man. Then he noticed Durgen the dwarf step from behind the large form of the axe man.

  “Can’t have all the glory,” the dwarf growled, un-slinging his shield and hefting his silver axe.

  Jonas had no time to argue with any of them. As more screeches came from the forest it was apparent that the trysts would be on them in a matter of seconds.

  Closing his eyes, Jonas concentrated on Shyann’s power, bringing it forth deep within him. He brought the God Fire into his chest and slowly sent it into his arms, channeling it into both swords. Blue flames erupted from his blades and he opened his eyes just in time to see the brush part in front of them, a hairless gray form bursting from the gap.

  The tryst was a bit taller than a dwarf, with long spindly arms and two powerful back legs. Its gray hairless body looked almost opaque. Jonas could see the beast’s blue veins under its ghostly skin. The tryst’s hands were tipped with three long fingers capped with white claws that looked like large eagle talons.

  But it was the tryst’s head that was the most terrifying. The animal had no eyes at all. Its entire face was a huge gaping mouth filled with white razor sharp teeth. Two twitching deer-like ears protruded from the top of its skull, and Jonas could just make out two holes positioned under the ears that must have been its nose.

  As the tryst came at them, it opened its mouth, screeching loudly. But Jonas cut the piercing sound short with a burst of flames. Lifting his blades, he sent two massive jets of fire into the forest. Moving his blades left and right, he directed the fire into the brush blanketing the area with flames.

  They heard screams of pain as Jonas continued to direct the flames into the forest. Evryn, Fil, and Durgen had flanked him, prepared for any trysts that made it through the God Fire. But none did.

  Finally the awful screams died out and Jonas let the power subside, the fire disappearing as quickly as it had come. The brush in front of them had been obliterated, and the unusual thing was that most of the flames had extinguished themselves when the source of the fire stopped. The wood here was not normal, as it didn’t burn as wood should. But then nothing in this place was normal. At least five trysts had been caught in the flames and their bodies were blackened and burning, adding a putrid stench to the already foul air.

  But they didn’t have time to admire Jonas’s work, for another handful of the creatures leaped from the brush at them. They moved quickly, charging them fearlessly. It was hard to believe that they could not see, for they seemed to know exactly where the group was standing.

  Fil jabbed his spear forward at a charging tryst, impaling it through its gaping maw. The animal bit down hard, snapping the spear off before it jerked a few times and fell to the ground convulsing in death.

  Two more came from the brush at Durgen, and another two came at Jonas. Evryn, standing next to Durgen, engaged the tryst to the dwarf’s left. One beast jumped from the ground at the dwarf, who lifted his shield high, using his powerful legs to push forward, smashing the beast in the side and launching it far to his left where it crashed into the tryst next to it.

  Evryn was there to cleave a crease in one of the tryst’s skulls, but the other one rolled away quickly, springing right back at him like an enraged cat. He tried to yank his axe blade from the skull of the tryst he had killed, but he could not free the weapon in time. The tryst hit him hard in the chest, plummeting them both backwards into the mist.

  Jonas brought his glowing blade down over the long arm of one of the trysts, severing it at the elbow, while simultaneously lunging forward with his other sword and skewering a second beast through the chest. That one fell dead, but the first beast shot its large mouth forward with a vicious snarl. Its mouth was big enough to engulf Jonas’s entire head, and he had no doubt that its teeth could easily slice through muscle and bone.

  Jonas swayed backwards away from the dangerous mouth, pivoting his body to the side. The tryst had just missed him, and instead found Fil’s sword crashing into its skull. It fell dead at their feet, and Fil yanked his blade from the grisly mess, smiling briefly at Jonas.

  Durgen had seen Evryn go down but he couldn’t see a thing in the fog. But he didn’t have any time to worry about the warrior as another tryst had emerged from the mist to his left. The dwarf growled, engaging the creat
ure and dispatching it with several powerful swings of his deadly axe.

  Jonas glanced behind him seeing that Allindrian and the men were now climbing from the mist up onto the hill.

  “Time to go, Dwarf!” Jonas yelled.

  Durgen heard the cavalier and looked around for Evryn. He could hear some struggling nearby and then suddenly a tryst flew from the mist, landing in the smoldering brush at the edge of the clearing. Evryn stood up from the fog making eye contact with the dwarf, and gave him a quick smile. Blood dripped from several puncture wounds in his shoulder but his armor had protected most of his body from the deadly bite. He also had several deep cuts across his face, probably from the tryst’s sharp claws.

  They all regrouped, facing the forest with their backs to the clearing. They could hear more commotion in the forest and they knew that more trysts were soon to arrive.

  “How do we get across the swamp without Allindrian?” asked Fil worriedly, glancing back over the mist covered bog. Jonas held his blades toward the brush, searching his brain for a way across the swamp.

  “Let’s take our chances with the fog. More of those damned beasts are coming, and from the sounds of it, a LOT more,” Evryn said.

  “No,” Jonas replied. He had come up with a plan. “I will part the fog and you will guide yourselves to the hill.”

  “What if the trysts come before you can get across?” asked Fil.

  “Then I will deal with that problem when it arises! We are out of time!” Jonas said, closing his eyes and seeking out his cognivant powers. The energy of the Hallows felt different, and it took a few more seconds to concentrate on the swirling power of the place. But he managed to grab the energy around them and use his mind to push it through the mist toward the hill.

  His head began to pound with the effort, but still he concentrated on his task. It was much harder work to control the energy of the Hallows. Everything seemed wrong, out of place, and fragmented. But he gritted his teeth, focusing on using the energy to part the mist. And it was working. He kept pushing and concentrating and finally he created invisible walls that the fog could not penetrate, forming an opening in the mist about ten paces wide all the way to the hill. Now they could see the ground and the brackish holes of dark water.