by JD Franx
Still shaking his head, Max scratched the back of his neck. “Giddeon, can you sense how far away they are?”
“No,” Giddeon answered. “My energy, both physical and magical are near gone. I can only sense out to a few hundred yards and I’m pretty sure I can’t feel any intelligent life.” As he looked at both Giddeon and Saleece with disbelief, Max noticed for the first time how pale and drawn they both were.
“Max,” Yrlissa called as she began helping Ember walk back to the rest of the group once more. “They have both headed back to WhiteVale Cove. They are almost a mile away on foot. They should no longer be a threat, and by the time they arrive in WhiteVale, we shall be long gone.”
“Was that so goddamn hard?” Max barked, glaring at Giddeon.
“Max,” Yrlissa said, grabbing his arm, “you need to understand that all creatures of magic, even Humans or the Elvehn have to be in good health to use it. Our reserves are not infinite. Using the power of our bond has a price. If that price cannot be paid, magic users can and often do die. When physically exhausted we can no longer cast or use magic, not even our heightened senses will work well. Keep that in mind as we continue to travel, please?” Arriving back with the others Yrlissa helped Ember sit on the ground again.
“In other words, you’re politely telling me you three need more rest. My apologies to you all,” Max said, with sincerity.
Shaking her head, Yrlissa pointed to Ember. “Us four. You cannot forget about Ember now. As her power quickens she’ll be needing more rest as well. Besides, you and Kasik can’t go forever without sleep either.”
Smiling, he agreed. “I know, you’re right. We’ll try to allow for more rest when possible. Work for you, Giddeon?”
“It does,” Giddeon answered, as he took a water skin from his horse and handed it to Ember.
“Here,” he offered, “some water will help with the nausea, just be sure to take small mouthfuls. Even if your stomach isn’t well, be sure to eat a small amount of jerky or a biscuit. It will help. Trust me, I know how you feel,” he smiled.
Ember nodded her thanks, it was first time he had ever shown her any kindness. “Thank you Giddeon, I… I don’t know why I feel so bad.”
Smiling even wider as he looked at her, he said, “I do and I would imagine Yrlissa does as well, but we don’t have time to discuss it right now. Those other two pirates may be gone, but they will eventually return to look for us. Can you ride? We really do need to go. We’re only a day’s ride from Albynor. We can rest there under the Elvehn Guard’s protection before we resupply and move on.”
“Yes, let’s go. Lissa, what did I do? How did that man become impaled on the tree?”
Helping Ember to her feet, Yrlissa said, “We don’t have time for a long talk about this, mai nahlla, but one of the Fae’s most valued abilities, according to legend, is being able to shift themselves and others to different locations throughout our world. It is known as realm-jumping. You must have jumped on instinct with that pirate, but with you not being able to control it, he must have re-entered back here in our dimension impaled on the tree or maybe the force of the jump pushed him into it. I honestly don’t know. The Fae have been gone a very long time. Most of what we know is only myth or legend. Now come, we must go,” she insisted.
“Giddeon, we should be able to walk the horses for a while,” she said. “It will be at least seven or eight hours before those other two sea bandits return to WhiteVale.”
“Good,” Max replied, his relief clear. Eyeing Ember, Giddeon and Saleece, he nodded. “They need it after what they just went through. Let’s get going, the sooner we reach Albynor, the sooner they can rest.” Yrlissa helped Ember up on her horse as everyone else walked. They were gone from the location of the fight moments later
.
Chapter Thirty-Six
We continue to head back east in the direction that Kael is being held. Though I have tried to make contact through his dreams once more, it seems I’m being blocked. Or at least I think I am. I don’t understand how these new abilities of mine are supposed to work. Abilities… Magic, I guess I should say. There is an itch inside my head, that familiar feeling you get when you know that you’re forgetting something. It’s there, I know it is, but when I grasp for it, I can’t find it. It’s frustrating. Yrlissa, Giddeon, and the others have told me that the Fae were this world’s most treasured people long ago, that their presence is so strong that it alters the way magic behaves in Talohna. If I really am the last one, how can I help this world when I can’t even help the person I love the most in either world?
Before Kael was shot, both of us longed for adventure. We hiked forests and climbed mountains, we even did some underwater cave exploring after we became S.C.U.B.A. certified. We both dreamed for more than we had when it came to excitement. It’s one of the things I loved most about him, his sense of adventure matched my own. If anyone else ever reads this, take to heart this advice: be careful what you wish for. Sometimes dreams do come true, but never forget that nightmares are also dreams.
EXCERPT FROM EMBER TOLLEN-SYMES’ DIARY, 5025 PC
WAYVIR MOUNTAINS, NORTHERN PASS
Sixteen hours had passed since the fight in the forest. No sign of any pirates behind them had helped everyone travelling with Giddeon to relax a bit, though no one had yet managed to sleep on the back of the horses. Ember felt a little better after something to eat, and with the day’s second meal an hour past, was feeling even better. The colour had returned to her cheeks even though she was still exhausted. With the supper hour gone, the sun had started its fall into the ocean on their left side, the strange two mile break in the mountains to the north side of the pass was coming to an end.
“Most people called this break in the mountains to our left here ‘The Veil of Paradise’,” Giddeon offered, as an explanation to what they were seeing. The trip through the pass weeks earlier had been too rushed to enjoy the sight.
“It allows for another way into the pass without having to enter at one end or the other. People often use it to save time, especially during wartime,” Kasik added.
“It’s beautiful,” Ember said, as she smiled and inhaled the crisp ocean air. “You can see the ocean, and we’re high enough to see miles out into the water. This far up, the rays from the sun catch the waves with colours you don’t see at a lower elevation. That’s the WhiteWyrm, isn’t it? The ocean we took to the Dragon Isles?” she asked.
“It is. You’re sense of direction is impeccable,” Giddeon replied. They entered the gloom of the sunless pass as the mountains grew in size once again. Albynor was only eight hours away at their current pace and all longed for the comfort of the beds in the small town’s cozy, but well-kept inn.
Both mountain passes in northern Cethos were famous for their wide open areas of clear flat terrain, similar to the mountain plateaus in Yusat where the locals grew rice and other crops. These bowl-shaped, open areas were popular rest and evening camp sights for travellers of all sorts. As Giddeon and the group with him descended a small curved hill in the mountain trail, one such open plateau came into view. It was the last one before the mountain pass ended and was unique for the area because trees extended into the bowl on each side, but still left a large, open area in the middle. Kasik often joked about how good an ambush sight it would make. This time, however, the words never left his lips, the quiet of the open plateau revealed no travellers had stopped for the night.
When pirates from the Suns of Blood armada poured into the open field from both tree lines like water under the bow of their ships, Kasik cursed at missing the subtle warning.
“Fuck. Suns of Blood, Giddeon.”
Max’s habit of hanging back to avoid being trapped backfired as he was surrounded by a dozen pirates the moment he entered the clearing. Though everyone managed to draw their weapons, it would do them no good. In all, fifty of the kingdom’s most sadistic pirates had Giddeon, Ember, and their friends trapped and at their mercy, which was a word long removed
from the Suns’ vocabulary.
When Yrlissa laid eyes on the leader of the ambush, she turned away and drew her hood up over her head. With everything well under his control, Captain Bauro Blackspawn walked to the front of his men. Giddeon recognized the man at Bauro’s right side, his most trusted commander, Dominique Havarrow. A young woman accompanied Bauro on his left. At the sight of the fabled Reaver leader, Captain Havarrow, Yrlissa pulled her hood even further forward, hiding her face within its shadow.
“Well, ArchWizard Giddeon Zirakus. You weren’t so hard to catch. You’ve been a bloody big pain in my ass though. You ‘ware of that, wizard?”
“I don’t really care how sore your ass is, Bauro,” Giddeon replied. “Perhaps you should be out with your ships more often instead of sitting on your big piles of gold getting piles,” Giddeon joked, but didn’t dare laugh.
“Funny you should say that, Giddeon, ‘cause the first time I come to shore looking fer your annoying little crew, you come walkin’ right up to me so easily like.” The pirate captain smirked, clearly proud of capturing his prisoners.
“The thought of how you managed to keep so many of your dogs hidden from us happened to cross my mind, Bauro.” Giddeon’s words caused a rumble of murmurs to rise from the pirate crew, the derogatory term was an insult to most pirates, especially ones that called themselves Suns of Blood. Captain Blackspawn held one hand up to quiet his men and the second out for the female Elvehn woman at his side. Yrlissa paled at the sight of the young woman. The darkness that had stayed hidden in WhiteVale swarmed around the sorceress, but it wasn’t hers. It was as if she’d been around the darkness and it had rubbed off on her. Tainting her. Yrlissa shivered, unable to understand why or how.
“This is Talvira, Giddeon. Your fellow wizards felt her magic was too weak to form a connection with the earth, so they tossed her from the Eye. Left her to fend for herself at ten years of age. Turns out she don’t need a cruus to do what she do best. She hides things. People, cargo, even whole vessels, if need be. Once I figured out that you slipped from your rooms at the inn in WhiteVale Cove, she hid our ships from your prying minds. It never dawned on you that the first twelve men we sent after you were only to slow you down long enough for my ships to sail past you undetected? You’re slippin’ in your old age, ArchWizard. My armada dropped us in the Veil of Paradise well ahead of you, so that we could set this nice little meet here. Gotta love these granite mountain trails, hey Northman? No tracks, aye? Worked good, d’ you not think?”
“It did, Bauro, I’ll give you that,” Giddeon replied, showing no emotion.
“I’m glad you approve. You have no idea what a pain in the ass it is to get fifty damn horses onto ten ships so we could stay ahead of you. Now hows about you get down from my new horses so we can have ourselves a chat?”
Nodding, Giddeon could only obey as he looked at the others to make sure they would listen as well. With their weapons still drawn, Max and Kasik looked ready to take as many pirates to the afterlife with them as they could.
“Easy, boys,” Giddeon said, nerves making his voice crack the smallest bit. “Let’s just see what happens.”
Captain Bauro laughed at Giddeon’s warning. “Be sure your boys understand, wizard. We have no problem losing every Sun here as long as you drop with them. Got it?”
“Yes,” Giddeon agreed, with reluctance, “they got it. Now get on with it, Bauro. What do you want?”
Max climbed off his horse and went to help Ember.
Terrified, her muscles shivered with uncontrollable spasms. “Max, I’m scared. We’re not going to get out of this, are we?”
Lifting her off the horse, he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Try to stay calm, all right? They’ll only take you over my dead body, I promise.” As he put her down he could feel her uncontrollable shaking, and her face was more pale than normal.
Grinning from ear to ear now that everyone was down off their mounts, Bauro continued to put on a show, raising his arms like a champion gladiator from Ellorya. “Better. See, wizard, now we can talk like civilized folk.”
Gideon snorted at the asinine comment. “What do you want, Bauro? Quit wasting our time while you strut about. Get on with it. You know as well as I do civilized is something you’re not. You never were.”
Bauro’s sneer twisted his face sideways as he carried on. “You wound me, Giddeon, and here I thought we were such good friends,” he said, the sneer turning to laughter.
“That was my mistake, Bauro, and it was many years ago. I’m not arrogant and foolish any more.”
“That may be so, but it’s not just your life on the line this time, is it?”
“No, it’s not, so just get on with it.”
“Fair enough, wizard,” he chuckled, purposely using the title for a novice wizard, yet again. “I have a deal for you, Giddeon, the best one you gonna get. Your nose in my man’s... my business back in WhiteVale cost us dearly and worse, now Lightfoot will be too suspicious for us to sneak into his company again. So to pay the tab’s balance, that adorably strange redhead you have hiding back there will come with us, and…”
Max’s interruption came with no delay. “That won’t happen, Captain, not now or any other day.”
His response made Bauro laugh even more. “Holy shit, Giddeon, where in the Nine Hells of Perdition did you find that big bastard? Fuck me, is that an Orotaq obsidian bow on his back? Fuck boy, can you actually draw that thing?”
“Be more than happy to show you, pirate. Jus’ say da bloody word,” Max mocked.
“Ha! And a sense of humour to boot. Only those fuckin’ Orotaq monsters can use those bloody things, boy. It’d be a sight ta see, but at another time and another place, perhaps. Oh, come now. You can stop poutin’, big man. You can’t stop us, so just be a good big bastard while I talk with the wizard.” Bauro snorted at Max’s lack of response before turning his attention back to Giddeon. “The other half of the deal, is a certain… mmm, assassin that I hear you’ve latched onto,” he said, trying to peer past Giddeon and Kasik to get a good look at who else was behind them.
He smiled as his eyes passed Saleece and settled on Yrlissa. “Ah, there she is. Yrlissa dear, don’t you be so shy. I knew that incompetent bitch Merethyl wasn’t capable of killing Cass’ lass. The guild’s been hiding you well all these years, my dear. You still have a debt to pay to the Suns for Cassel’s death, girl, and his captain is here to call it in.”
“Dominique?” Yrlissa asked, as she pushed past Max and Ember to get closer to the pirate captain. “You know I didn’t kill Cassel. I loved him. What the hell is going on? I came to you as soon as I found out who he was. I told you what happened.”
Dominique Havarrow, the leader of the Reavers, stepped forward, frowning. “He died because of you, lass. He stayed on that gods’ cursed dirt farm because of you when he was only there to bury his father, at least ‘til you came along battin’ your eyes at him. Your past cost him his life, Yrlissa. You never told me that. You’re responsible. It’ll take a long time for you to pay the price for that.” Dominique’s voice was calm and emotionless. It caused visible shivers to run down her spine. Never one to show fear, she stared hard at the Reaver captain.
“Do your worst, Dominique. You cannot make me suffer any more than I already do because of what happened.”
“Come now, dear. We both know that’s not fuckin true,” Bauro interrupted, as he burst out laughing. It soon died down, however. “Ladies, come with us and your friends may walk away unharmed. I give you my word.” Yrlissa started to walk forward almost as if lost in a trance of past memories, but Kasik held her back, unconvinced.
“Come on, Bauro,” he pointed out. “Everyone knows a pirate’s word is worth less than the rancid breath it took to spew it. You won’t let us leave here and we know it better than you do.”
Kasik looked back over his shoulder to see if Max was ready. The only chance to fight their way out would be to follow in the wake of destruction caused by his superior
strength and speed. Instead, his eyes were drawn to Ember. Visible waves of fear radiated off her body as she shook with tremors. Tears of intense pain ran down her flushed cheeks. Everyone knew exactly why the Sun’s captain wanted her, and it was obvious that Ember knew, as well. There were just way too many for them to fight.
Bauro’s gruff voice forced Kasik to turn his attention back to the danger at hand. Again Captain BlackSpawn laughed, knowing full well there was little Kasik or the others could do. “Ah, Kasik, you bastard. I guess you’re right. We’re not gonna let you go. So, feel free to die any time.” Turning to walk away, chuckling, Bauro shouted to his men. “Remember to keep the women alive. They’ll be entertaining until they’re sold in Dasal. That’s an order!” he growled, before disappearing into the crowd of men and women.
As the pirates drew their weapons and advanced, Ember’s penetrating scream of horror ripped through the crowd of people, forcing everyone to stare in her direction. Max spun to see what happened and staggered backwards from the shock. Her normal, bright red hair blazed like a forest fire as it whipped around her head and down her back like a frenzied wild animal. While her body continued to shake, stirring up the dust around her feet, her green eyes glowed with celestial power. Dropping to one knee, as if in pain, ethereal white wings sprung from her back, spreading out to over six feet on either side of her. Smoky wisps and motes of vaporous matter fell from the other-worldly appendages as the young Fae knelt quivering in the dirt. With a scream of gut-wrenching agony, Ember arched her back and a blast of energy shot from her body to envelope those that travelled with her. Max’s instincts kicked in and he covered his head for protection while Kasik and the others turned their backs to the incoming pulse of magic. Stunned for only a second, all of them reopened their eyes a second later, shocked.
