by Sandell Wall
“You cared for him?” Aventine asked.
“We were engaged to be married, once upon a time,” Commander Narin said. “It was years ago. He broke it off. He was not ready to give up his role as the emperor’s assassin and decided it would be too dangerous for me to be his wife. We’ve…we’ve not really spoken since then.”
On an impulse, Aventine stepped forward and hugged the other woman. At first Commander Narin resisted, but after a heartbeat she returned the embrace, squeezing Aventine with a fierce desperation. When she stepped back, Commander Narin’s cheeks were wet.
“You’re not alone anymore,” Aventine said. “I’m here. I’ll stand with you against Lady Athlain.”
“Thank you,” Commander Narin whispered. She recovered her composure quickly, wiping angrily at her tears. When she spoke again, her severe countenance was back in place. “Let’s get you to the throne room,” she said.
“Lead on, commander,” Aventine said.
“Please, call me Narin.”
Chapter 18
REMUS AND THE SURVIVORS ran for a day and a night. In daylight, mountainous black thunderheads filled the sky behind them. By night, lightning lit the clouds from within, the rumble of thunder urging the people on through the darkness. On the morning of the second day, they had to stop or leave the weak behind to perish. Tethana came to find Remus where he stood guard, always between the refugees and the encroaching storm.
He sensed her approach before he saw her. Curious, he tried to contact her with his mind. “Tethana, can you hear me?”
Tethana’s response was immediate and powerful—not words, but an overwhelming surge of surprise and terror. Remus watched her step from the back of the crowd, walking against their flow as she came to speak to him. Her face was drained of color, her eyes wide.
When she drew near she spoke in a shaky voice. “W-what did you do? I heard you in my mind!”
“I can sense you,” Remus said. “Ever since you delivered me from the enemy’s lightning I’ve been able to sense your presence. You don’t feel it too?”
Tethana looked afraid. “I do, but I didn’t know what it was. I thought if I ignored it, it would go away.”
“You try,” Remus said. “Say something in your mind and concentrate on directing it to me.”
Tethana went silent as she walked alongside Remus. He waited patiently for her to figure it out.
“Like this?” her tentative voice spoke in his mind.
“Yes! Just like that!”
Remus sensed both awe and fear from her and saw a tremulous smile on her lips.
“What is this?” Tethana said in his mind. “How is this possible?”
“I don’t know,” Remus replied. “I think we’re connected somehow through the vessel stones. A tremendous amount of energy was pouring through me, both from the storm above and from the enemy’s attacks. I sensed you when you grabbed hold of me and saved my life with your stone. That created some sort of link between us that didn’t dissipate.”
“I can…I can feel your emotions.”
“I feel yours too. It’s a little weird, but comforting at the same time.”
Tethana smiled slyly. “Yes, it is. I had no idea you felt that way about me.”
“What?” Remus blurted in exasperation, forgetting to send the thought and speaking out loud. “You’re not supposed to feel that!”
“I don’t think you can hide anything from me now.”
“That’s going to take some getting used to.”
“Can anyone else hear us when we talk like this?” Tethana said in his mind, returning to their silent discussion.
“I can speak to Pricker the same way through the circlets on our heads, but he doesn’t seem to be able to hear us. Maybe the link between you and me is different? See if you can make contact with him.”
Tethana went quiet again. Pricker shadowed Remus everywhere he went, but had dropped back when Tethana appeared. Tethana turned her head toward the thin Drathani—her forehead creased in concentration. Remus walked beside her and waited. After some time she spoke in his mind, “Nothing. I can’t feel him the way I do you, and he doesn’t react to my thoughts.”
“Interesting,” Remus replied. “At least we might have some privacy.” He decided not to mention Savaroth and the Drathani leader’s ability to eavesdrop on Remus through the gauntlet.
Maybe my connection from Tethana is hidden from him the same way Pricker is.
“We have to stop,” Tethana said out loud. “If we keep going, the villagers are going to start to drop from exhaustion.”
Remus looked back at the angry sky. “I think we’ve gained some distance on the storm. We might be able to risk resting, but it’s dangerous.”
“If we don’t rest, we’ll abandon hundreds of innocent people behind us,” Tethana said.
“I’ll go speak with the Ethari,” Remus said. “Can you convince Goregash to stop for a while?”
“I’ll make him listen.” Tethana marched off back through the crowd in determination.
“Don’t forget we can speak when apart now,” Remus sent the thought to her as she walked away. He grinned to himself when he saw her jerk in surprise at his words.
“I won’t forget,” Tethana responded. “Just don’t be eavesdropping on me without my permission.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Well, just don’t.”
With Tethana gone, Pricker stepped back to Remus’s side.
“We have to stop,” Remus said to Pricker through their connection. “The weaker villagers cannot be pushed any further without rest.”
“If that storm catches us, we’ll all die,” Pricker said, stating it as a simple fact. “It moves slowly, but the power of its lightning can level entire armies. It’s an ancient Drathani weapon, used to subdue fortified cities. This rabble won’t stand a chance.”
“Who are you, that you know all of this?” Remus asked. It was the first opportunity he had to question Pricker since slipping the circlet onto the Drathani’s forehead. Since their confrontation outside the hut, they had been fighting and running for their lives.
“Questions are a dangerous thing,” Pricker said. “We don’t always like the truths we find.”
“I had enough of your riddles before you put the circlet on. I don’t want them in my head now. Answer the damned question.”
“As you wish,” Pricker said. “Before I called myself Pricker, I was Calaban the Conqueror, the greatest general the Drathani Empire has ever seen. I was brother to the Elthanari, the supreme one. In his name, I subjugated the known world. For hundreds of years I commanded his legions and carried out his edicts. I was tasked with subduing your race when my brother, was betrayed. I returned to our homeland with a hundred thousand troops to kill the usurpers, but I was too late. They were ready for me. They stripped my soldiers from me and enslaved me, choosing to torment me for an eternity rather than kill me outright. But I escaped. Insane, I wandered in the wilderness for an age. Somehow, I found my way to your fledgling empire. I fought in wars as a mercenary. I lived a lifetime as an outlaw king. I toiled for decades as a slave laborer. In that long period of darkness Calaban faded from existence. I remember him, but now there is only Pricker.”
“So we share a common enemy,” Remus said after contemplating Pricker’s origins. “But if you’re an exiled general of that enemy, how can I trust you? Why should I?”
“Those questions are your concern, not mine. You need me. I don’t need you.”
“But you followed me! I never asked for your help.”
“With this circlet on, the remnants of Calaban rise to the surface of my soul. Before, you knew Pricker as a broken fool. I followed you because something in my damaged mind sought kinship. But you have made me whole. Trust me now, or don’t, but you’ve only made it this far because of me. Remember that.”
“I put the circlet on you. I can just as easily take it off.”
“You may try.” P
ricker’s response was calm, but the threat behind the words made Remus pause. He had no idea if the gauntlet would stun the Drathani the way it did the thralls, and he did not want to find out what happened if he angered Pricker.
“Keep the damn thing on then,” Remus said. “But don’t you forget that without me, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. Everyone else would have killed you or abandoned you. I stuck up for you.”
“It seems we have a mutually beneficial arrangement,” Pricker replied.
“Make sure it stays that way.” Remus moved away from Pricker. He was more than a little disturbed by their conversation and wanted some time and distance to think over what Pricker had revealed about his past. He set out to find Promost Lister.
Remus walked through the mob of fleeing survivors, heading toward the front where the Ethari marched. As he moved through the crowd, a murmur followed him. Soon, everyone was looking at him and talking. He heard bits and pieces of what was being said.
“Touched by the gods.”
“Storm caller.”
When the first Volgoth villager dropped to his knees, Remus stopped in his tracks. “What are you doing?” he asked in surprise.
The villager prostrated himself before Remus. “Oh mighty one, you delivered us from our enemies. I watched you tear lightning from the sky and hurl it at those who oppress us. The gods have chosen you. The gods have blessed you.”
The murmur surrounding Remus grew. While he stood there in disbelief, more and more villagers dropped to their knees. He turned in place, watching as the circle of prostate Volgoth grew around him. When the last row knelt, he found Goregash staring at him. Arms crossed, eyes burning with hatred, Goregash looked at Remus with disgust. The Volgoth chieftain did not kneel, nor did his warriors. Tethana stood with the chieftain, their conversation obviously interrupted. She looked at Remus with concern, her forehead wrinkled in thought.
“This is absurd,” Remus said under his breath. He turned and ran through the kneeling figures, dodging around each prone form. He could feel Goregash’s gaze burning a hole in his back. It was not long before he reached the Ethari. Marching at the vanguard of the mob, the soldiers and their dark armor were a stark contrast to the dirty clothing of the villagers that followed behind.
Remus found Promost Lister marching beside Pikon. He fell into step next to the two Ethari.
“We have to stop and rest,” Remus said. “The villagers won’t survive being pushed any further.”
“We’re not stopping,” Pikon said. “The Volgoth can stay and protect their own if they’re too weak to continue on.”
“I know we intended to leave the Volgoth behind in Delgrath, but this isn’t the way. They won’t survive without your soldiers.”
“That much is obvious, but we might not survive if we stay.”
“I’ve seen what’s coming.” Remus held up the gauntlet on his arm. “Savaroth speaks to me. He showed me a vision of the Drathani legions that will swarm over the empire. The only chance we have is to stand together.”
Both Pikon and Promost Lister turned their heads sharply toward Remus. “The knowledge of that name alone is dangerous,” Pikon said. “You should discard that abominable artifact, cast it aside and never touch it again. It may grant you power, but through it the enemy will control you. And you forget your place. We too know what comes. The legions of the enemy are not Drathani soldiers, they are Ethari. We’ve been trying to warn the Volgoth for the past year, to no avail.”
“But the Volgoth are on the move now,” Remus said. “They overcame their superstitions and fought the runebound in Delgrath. You told me back in the Wilds that the only hope of survival was a united front against the Drathani invasion. Now that we’re fighting as one combined army, we have a real shot at a true alliance. If we can make it to the Umgragon fortress, we can enlist the aid of the best legions in the empire. We need your soldiers. If you leave now, it’s you who throw away the chance to survive, not the Volgoth.”
Neither of the Ethari responded. After marching in silence for several hundred feet, Promost Lister said something in a language that Remus did not understand. Pikon responded in the same tongue, and the two of them engaged in a heated conversation while Remus walked beside them and waited to hear the outcome.
The two Ethari went quiet, and then Pikon spoke in the Volgoth tongue. “We’ll rest for four hours, no longer. If the storm threatens us before then, we move out immediately. Anyone unable to follow must be left behind. We cannot all perish for the sake of a few.”
“Four hours is enough,” Remus said. “I’ll spread the word.” He turned to leave.
“Remus,” Pikon said, his voice hard.
Remus looked back.
“This is the Volgoth’s last chance,” Pikon said. “If we don’t make a stand at Umgragon, Promost Lister says that we will march into the Wilds and fight no more. The forest is big enough to hide us for a hundred years without ever being found.”
“I understand,” Remus said. “I hope it does not come to that.”
“For your sake, I hope the same.”
Promost Lister signaled the halt—the Ethari soldiers stopped marching. Behind them, the ragged multitude of survivors stumbled to a stop. Remus jogged through the crowd, looking for Tethana. He followed her impression on his mind like a beacon. After the uncomfortable discussion with Pricker, and dealing with the Ethari, he just wanted to be near her reassuring presence.
Remus found her with Monstur. She sensed his approach and turned to look him as he drew near. His heart skipped a beat when she smiled at him.
“I, uh…I talked with the Ethari,” Remus said, suddenly tongue-tied. “They’ve agreed to stop for four hours.”
Tethana blushed. Belatedly, Remus remembered that he could not hide his feelings from her. He thought of kissing her and she only blushed harder.
Monstur was oblivious to the unspoken tension between Remus and Tethana. The giant barbarian stepped forward and clapped Remus on the shoulder. Remus almost collapsed under the force of the gesture.
“Not only did you save my friend,” Monstur said, his tremendous voice echoing inside his tree stump of a helmet. “You tore thunder from the heavens and delivered us all from certain doom. This a great day. A blessed day. Shim says that the forest sings of your heroics.”
Remus blinked. “Shim?”
“Aye, Shim! My friend and guardian.” Monstur extended a massive hand. The cat Remus had saved in Delgrath squirmed out of a hollow space in Monstur’s armor and scampered down his arm. Perched on the outstretched limb, the cat inspected Remus. Remus returned the animal’s gaze, unnerved by the intelligence he saw behind the golden feline eyes. The cat was larger than the city mousers he was familiar with. Its coat was a beautiful russet brown, and tufts of fur tipped its pointed ears.
This is a forest predator. A wild animal.
Monstur said the cat talked to him. Remus was almost certain that was impossible, but something about the animal made him hesitate. Just as Remus started to think the cat was going to speak to him, or do something astounding, it lifted a paw and started to wash its face. When the cat looked at Remus again, the intelligence was gone, if it had ever been there at all.
“He likes you,” Monstur boomed. His voice seemed to only have one level: too loud. Startled, Remus jerked back. Shim darted up Monstur’s wooden armor and made himself comfortable on one of the outstretched branches above the barbarian’s head. If Monstur stood still, his bark covered armor made him look like a grotesque tree. A literal tree stump encased his head and shoulders, with only small holes cut for his eyes and mouth. And it looked like the tree was still alive, green leaves sprouting from its branches.
“That’s the strangest armor I’ve ever seen,” Remus said. “How did it withstand the enemy’s rune-powered blades?”
“Amazing, is it not?” Monstur said. “When I must leave the Wilds, I carry the forest with me. The gods of green leaves and sturdy trees watch over me, even when I wan
der far from their home.” The barbarian thumped his wood-encased chest. “The wood of the tyrant trees cannot be hewn with any tool of man. No fire can harm it. Thanks to Shim, I alone know the secret of shaping it.”
“You’re the most formidable man I’ve ever met,” Remus said. “I’ll be glad of your strength if you stand with us against the Drathani.”
Monstur laughed. Remus winced at the deafening sound.
“I see why Shim likes you,” Monstur said. “And Tethana too. Now if you’ll excuse me, the two of us need to find food. I hope someone managed to carry something with them.”
Monstur marched away into the crowd. The Volgoth made way for him, showing the wood-clad barbarian more respect than Remus had seen them give to even Goregash.
Remus glanced at Tethana. “I need to find Ellion and speak to my squad. Will you come with me?”
“Sure,” Tethana said with a smile. She walked alongside him as they looked for his men.
“Was all that true, or is Monstur crazy?”
“You saw his armor stop the Drathani weapons,” Tethana said. “You tell me if you think he’s crazy.”
“He says he talks to his cat.”
“Maybe he does.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t believe that!”
“I don’t know what to believe about Monsturian. He was giant even at birth. His mother died from the effort of bringing him into this world. This is a terrible omen for the Volgoth. They took the cursed baby deep into the forest and left him there to perish, as is our way. But he did not die. That cat found him and protected him. Three days after Monstur was abandoned in the woods, the cat came to Ursteth’s hut and meowed until she followed it into the forest. You have to understand, these forest cats are never seen. For one to walk into the village and ask to be followed is a miracle. Ursteth found Monstur alive and well.
“Due to his survival, and the cat guarding him, Ursteth concluded that Monstur was chosen of the gods. She brought him back to the village and raised him as her own. But he was different. He had no use for people, or the confines of walls and a ceiling. He tolerated such constraints for a time, but was always called back to the forest. In the end, he left the village and became a nomad. Now he travels the Wilds with Shim, calling himself the protector of the forest. Men cannot become shamans, so he is something else, something special. The people revere him as a living legend. He was just telling me that the forest is suffering, that dark invaders stalk the once peaceful shadows. He said Shim told him that they must leave the forest to fight this enemy, or the Wilds will be destroyed.”
