“Got your back!” Lara shouted. Alrion used the opportunity to press the attack on the other one. The Blighter was distracted and didn’t defend itself well, going down quickly. Sweat started to form on Alrion’s brow, and he drew in some quick breaths. Looking up he could see more waves of creatures descending upon them. But they were trying to bypass Alyx.
Vincent looked around as he fought, and seemed to be coming to a similar conclusion.
“I’m going to try and draw them over here,” he shouted. Vincent pushed forward into the oncoming Blighters, knocking two down but not finishing them off. He was instead carving a path forward. Alyx dropped back a little to be closer to Alrion.
“What’s he doing?” Alrion said.
“Giving them an easy target. Or making them think he is trying to flee. Hopefully it works.”
“I hope so too,” Alrion said. Initially it did seem to make an impact. The two that his father had spared immediately rose and charged after the blacksmith. Fewer Blighters were making the effort to come over and challenge Alyx. But then Alrion noticed something odd in the movements. There was a clump of Blighters moving forward as a formation. Not only that, but they kept looking around for something.
“Look at that group. They seem to be following orders. They’re not like the rest,” he said. Pointing over at them, he drew Alyx and Lara’s attention.
“Lara, you watch them, I’ll keep my eyes on the ones closer,” Alyx said.
“Sure, don’t lose concentration,” Lara said. Alrion trusted her with that task too. He needed to keep his focus on the enemies closest. He knew Alyx was good, but it didn’t take much for one to slip through in the circumstances.
“I think I have something,” Lara said. Alrion looked over at her immediately.
“At the back there’s a pair together. They seem to be directing that pack of Blighters. What do you think?” she said. As Alrion turned back to look properly a dagger whizzed past his face and dropped a Blighter right in front of him.
“Got your back, but that doesn’t mean you can turn away!” Lara shouted. Alrion knew she was right. He had let his attention be drawn too easily. So, between the intense encounters of the battle, he let his view wander over to the two that Lara had pointed out. One of the two seemed to be a leader of sorts, barking out orders but also pointing and surveying the fight. The one next to him seemed different. As if he was providing advice.
“Wizard,” Alrion heard in his mind, amongst the blaring and confusing noise of the Blight communication. He somehow knew that the Tainted one advising the leader had uttered that word. Alrion decided in that instant that he had to move.
“Follow me!” he shouted at Alyx, and started moving. He threw his weight behind a long slice, cutting down a Blighter from behind and moved away into the space behind it. Alyx cursed and dashed over, whirling through another group with a slashing of blades.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said, kicking another Blighter to force an opening.
“Keep going, they’re following!” Lara shouted. Alrion looked up and saw the tight group of Blighters had changed direction again.
“Vincent come back and cut them off!” Alyx bellowed. She stayed one step behind Alrion, keeping the Blighters at bay. Alrion stopped; he had reached a dead end. There was no way further back, he had ventured too far from the forest entry.
“This is as far as we go,” he said. He readied his sword, trying to ignore the slight trembling of his wrist.
“We’ve got this!” Alyx said, pushing forward once more. Alrion was amazed by her intensity, and it seemed to be working. At the same time, he could see his father working his way over. The Blighters didn’t know which way to turn, and they struggled to put up much of a fight. Within minutes the fighting started to die down.
“They’re sneaking away!” Lara shouted. She pointed to the odd pair of leader and advisor. They were re-entering the forest.
“Come with me. Vincent, you finish up here,” Alyx said. She ran off with Lara, barely stopping, avoiding any straggling Blighters. Vincent methodically worked his way back to Alrion’s side, and together they fought off the remaining Blighters. Alrion sank down to the ground, exhausted.
“Not here, let’s get back to the horses,” Vincent said. Alrion nodded, it was too much effort to talk. He hauled himself back up and they made their way back into the forest.
9
A NEW TYPE
Lara was light on her feet, easily getting ahead of Alyx. There was little danger now, and she wasn’t concerned about the threat from the two Tainted. Especially since they were fleeing the scene.
What if one of those two spotted me before?
The thought of it made a pit in her stomach. What if her mistake had resulted in that ambush?
I have to catch them!
Lara increased her speed, almost tumbling over when her foot caught on an extended tree root. She staggered forward and regained her balance. But her knee felt the pain of the sharp movement required and she pushed the sensation away.
Where are they? She thought as she continued. She slowly let her speed drop, and instead focused on looking for where they may have gone.
“Lara, come back here!” Alyx shouted. Lara was reluctant to give up the chase, but she could sense the urgency in Alyx’s voice. She jogged back, and found Alyx standing where they had left the horses. Only there were no horses.
“They’re gone,” Alyx said. She sheathed her short sword and looked around.
“I checked those knots, they were tied properly,” Lara said. There was no sign of the ropes either.
“Then they must have come and let the horses free. There’s no trace of them. Not much in the way of tracks either, it’s quite a mess.” Alyx bent down and examined the ground. But she just shook her head and stood. She kept her eyes on the area, but looked unimpressed.
“It must have happened earlier, they didn’t have time right now. We would have heard something,” Lara said.
“Right. Maybe those two did it before, to hedge their bets in case the ambush failed. They did seem familiar with the area. You tracked them pretty quickly, yet they still got away.”
“They did,” Lara said. She was searching for excuses, but didn’t know what to say. She had failed several times now and it felt terrible. She saw Alrion and Vincent approach. Vincent had his usual demeanour, and looked fine albeit a bit tired. Alrion looked completely washed out.
“Horses are gone. Looks like they did it during the fight,” Alyx said.
“They’ve definitely been here before. Even chasing them I lost them,” Lara said.
“This is a setback. But we’re all intact. Anything valuable in your bags Alrion?” Vincent said.
“I have your ring and my amulet on me. And I was wielding my sword. But the notebook was in there.”
“The one with the mysterious wizard messages?” Lara said.
“That’s the one. Any messages now will go to them,” Alrion said. He let out a sigh and looked around the area.
“Don’t worry about it, if it turns up, it turns up. We don’t need those messages to move forward,” Vincent said. Alrion looked up at him, his face brightening a little.
“Exactly! Everything we need is here. We’ll just be slowed down a bit,” Lara said. She hoped to cheer him up a bit more.
“Wilson is going to be annoyed. I’ll have to explain when I get back,” Alyx said.
“If they cut the horses loose, maybe they’ll find their way back one way or another,” Vincent said.
“Let’s go with that theory. So what next?” Lara said.
“We must move forward to a safe location. It is quite a walk I think. It would be unwise to camp on the plains tonight,” Alyx said.
“How’s everyone doing? Just tired? No injuries?” Vincent said.
“Nothing major,” Lara said.
“Nothing here. Muscles are tight though, still not rested enough,” Alyx said. Alrion mumbled something but didn’t c
larify.
“Let’s move out then. The sooner we get away from here the better,” Vincent said. He shook his head once more and returned to the path.
“I’ll go ahead and scout out,” Lara said. Before anyone could respond she dashed forward. She just had to do something useful. She thought she could survey the scene of the battle and see if there were any Tainted that had fallen. They might hold clues as to how the ambush had worked, and any planning that had gone into it. But she couldn’t shake the image of that shadow she had almost caught before.
What if they were here and I missed it? And even now I was too slow to catch them. Tainted are not stealthy or fast. What’s going on here?
Lara slowed to look through the fallen bodies. They were predominantly Blighters, which she found interesting. Usually there were more Tainted to direct and control the Blighters.
Further afield she found what looked like more Tainted. She turned them over gingerly, looking for anything that might help. But she found nothing.
“Typical. But to be expected. They do seem to do a lot of communication by thought,” she pondered. It was time to return to the group. They weren’t far behind, and Alyx urged them all forward.
“Keep moving,” Alyx said.
“Anything there?” Alrion said.
“Nothing of use. But I have an interesting theory.”
“Which is?”
“There’s a new type of Tainted that we haven’t encountered before. One that’s fast and stealthy and can even track people,” Lara said. It seemed almost silly saying it out loud. But she saw nodding heads and interested looks all around.
“What’s your reasoning?” Vincent said. He moved in closer and gave her his full attention.
“Well, look at how they managed to get away. But they also knew where our horses were and made sure the horses were chased away while we were busy with the fighting.”
“Agreed, good point about the tactics. Some manner of stealth required there.”
“How did they know where our horses were? Have they been watching us?” Alyx said.
“I think so. I saw something last night when scouting. But I couldn’t make it out and it disappeared,” Lara said. She couldn’t keep it to herself any longer, even if it looked bad for her. She felt her cheeks colouring as she said it. Alyx looked angrier than the others and her footsteps were louder and more like stomping.
“What? You saw something and didn’t say anything? We could have done more to prepare. I don’t understand your silence,” Alyx said.
“It was just a shadow, it could have been anyone or anything. I didn’t want to alarm anyone. Obviously, I won’t do that again, now that we know what we are dealing with.”
“I am a bit surprised you didn’t mention it,” Alrion said. Lara didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to try and explain it more, it would just be embarrassing. They wouldn’t understand.
“I just made a mistake,” she said.
“And another one letting them get away now,” Alyx said.
“I think that’s a little unfair. Since they got the jump on us, and as you said at least one of them seems a bit different, it makes sense that they could escape,” Vincent said. He stepped forward and put a hand on both Alyx and Lara’s shoulders. “We need to calm this down a bit before it escalates. The enemy is out there, and we are doing them favours by doubting each other.”
“I have something important to add,” Alrion said.
“Let’s hear it,” Vincent said. There was silence until Alrion spoke again.
“When we were trying to distract them away, and those two Tainted directed the Blighters back to me. I heard a word amongst their communication. Wizard.” Alrion paused.
“You think they could pinpoint you as the wizard?” Lara said. With each word she grew more incredulous. That was a serious problem if it was true. But it did help explain some of the behaviour.
“There could be something to that.” Vincent turned away, deep in thought.
“But how is that even possible? Do you think they have some way of recognising what you look like?” Alyx said.
“It felt like it was more than that. The battle was pretty chaotic, yet they knew exactly where I was. I think there’s something going on. What if this theory of a new type of Tainted isn’t just one who is fast and stealthy. What if they’re actually a Tracker?” Alrion looked around at the group. Lara felt stunned. Of course, that had to be it.
“That would explain how they’ve tracked so closely behind. But that would mean we can never shake them off,” Lara said.
“It’s just a theory,” Alrion said quickly.
“There’s definitely some merit to it. But let’s not jump to conclusions. There’s always a way around an obstacle,” Vincent said.
“Exactly. You can just kill the Trackers,” Alyx said.
“Is that your solution for everything? Lara said. It was an easy comment to make, and she felt a bit bad for it. But in a way, it felt like a valid question. Alyx had devoted her entire life to killing the Skull King. And a lot of Tainted and Blighters on the way.
“I won’t take offence at that, but when it comes to the Blight it’s a tried and tested solution,” Alyx said. She was right too. Lara decided to leave it for now.
“Lots to think about,” Vincent said. He looked worried. That, Lara could easily understand.
The walk was longer and harder than Lara had expected. But she eventually figured out why. They were ever so slowly ascending. It was so slight; it was hard to notice at first. But once she figured it out she looked back and it was obvious.
“What is it?” Alrion said. He looked back too, with a puzzled look.
“We’re ascending. Slowly but definitely getting higher up.”
“There’s a reason the north gets cold. The height is a major factor,” Alyx said.
“We may need to better equip ourselves,” Vincent said.
“There’ll be other towns, or villages. The further we go the less built up it is. As the land gets harsher, the settlements grow smaller,” Alyx said. She emphasised the word harsher when she spoke.
“Speaking of harsher, this is getting tougher by the minute and I think we’re all fading. Any ideas on where to stop?” Vincent said. Alyx slowed then stopped completely. She surveyed the area. There were large rocks around, with mostly rough shrubs.
“There’s a good selection of rocks over there, should provide enough shelter in case it rains,” she said, pointing with her right arm. Lara’s gaze followed and she saw a large cluster of rocks. The biggest ones on an incline, casting a shadow in the afternoon sun.
“Works for me, let’s head over,” Vincent said. He looked like he had an extra spring in his step and led the way over.
“I don’t know where he gets the energy,” Alrion said. He just shook his head slowly.
“It’s all in your mind. You should know all about that,” Vincent said.
“Well, I’ve been a bit preoccupied,” Alrion said. For the briefest instant Lara saw a look of pain and exhaustion sweep over Alrion’s face. But he hid it quickly.
It’s taking a toll on him, she thought. Hopefully this journey would not drag on too long. But if the frequent battles, travel, and the Blight communication were wearing Alrion down, he was going to struggle even more if the terrain became any more demanding. Which she assumed it would.
I need to change the mood, she thought. Lara bounded ahead, pretending she had hidden reserves of energy.
“Last one there has to cook!” she shouted. Alrion came alive, and increased his pace. Alyx maintained her speed, and was the last one to arrive.
“I think letting Alyx come last may not have been the most strategic move,” Alrion said with a laugh as he watched her join them.
Alyx said nothing, busying herself with building a fire. Once it was going she disappeared into the twilight, and returned with two rabbits. She prepped them, put them on the fire and used some wet leaves to create additional smoke. Lara
was sceptical, but also intrigued by what she was seeing.
“Finished,” Alyx announced. She handed out portions of smoked rabbit on sticks to the others and settled back near the fire. Lara bit into the meat hesitantly. But it wasn’t burned, and it wasn’t raw. A wonderfully subtle smoky flavour permeated the meat and she was surprised that her mouth was filling with saliva.
“Wow, this is amazing!” Alrion said, between mouthfuls. Vincent was too busy eating to add anything.
“It’s surprisingly tasty,” Lara said. Alyx nodded.
“When you’ve lived the life I have, you get plenty of practise cooking out in the wilderness. A few small things make these kinds of meals more palatable,” Alyx explained. She took another bite and Lara was just impressed that Alyx had bothered to learn how to do that.
“If the food is not palatable, it’s harder to eat. And often you don’t know when your next meal will be so you must be prepared,” Alyx said. Lara just laughed. The rest of them gave her odd looks.
“What? I thought that maybe Alyx was some sort of closet gourmet, living on the land. But then she just killed it all by being so practical,” Lara said. Alrion laughed too, almost choking on his food. Lara gave him a smile.
After they had eaten Alyx rose, and walked over to Alrion.
“You did well today, but now is not the time to rest. Get up, you need to train,” she said, grabbing Alrion’s hand. He looked shocked, but let her help him up.
“You too,” she said to Vincent. He rose slowly, a curious look on his face.
“You two will spar and I will stop you as appropriate to demonstrate a point,” she said in a matter of fact way.
“I really hadn’t expected this, but fine. I’ll do my best,” Alrion said.
“She’s probably just teaching you a lesson for doubting her cooking,” Lara said, poking some fun at him. Alrion gave her a quick smile before readying his sword. It had been an intense day, and she felt like she had let everyone down. But these few moments of lightness and humour at the end of the day had helped.
As much as Alyx grated on her, she could appreciate the woman and her contribution to the team. They really did feel like a team already. And that was going to be important for what was to come. It was so easy to forget in a light moment what was going on. But Alrion and Alyx were infected, and time was marching on. Far too quickly for Lara’s liking.
Spark of Truth (The Hidden Wizard Book 3) Page 7
