“Bah,” grunted Valeran as he picked at his food. “I hate when facts get in the way of helping people. I know we will be able to help more people this way, but it’s still annoying.”
Lord Mendor did not bother replying and continued to read the book along with Nilesh. Ashrak grinned and watched Valeran eat for a moment. He knew the big man would love nothing better than to go poking around ancient ruins and fighting bandits, but it was not to be. “So, that still leaves us the problem of walking through hundreds of kilometers of desert swarming with soldiers. Do you have any plans, Nilesh?”
Nilesh looked up with a wry smile and shook his head. “If it were all a big city, I would be able to help you, but I’m fairly useless out in the desert. There’s just not enough people telling secrets out in the middle of nowhere for me to have ever been interested in learning how to get around.”
Ellian shifted, looking up from where she was quietly eating her food. “I’ll be able to help with that. As you probably all figured out, I’ve spent my time out in the desert far more than bars and taverns. If the Skywitch can take us to The Valley of Majorca, then we can gain the help of some of my people.” Ellian looked up and grinned as everyone turned toward her. “If we’re good at anything, it’s getting around soldiers and knowing how to survive in the desert.”
Lord Mendor leaned over the large map they placed in the middle of the table and after a few moments put his finger on it. The spot he chose was about thirty kilometers from the city of Brun. “The Valley of Majorca,” he said. “It’s located in a fairly barren spot and not anywhere close to towns or settlements. I would say that is the perfect place for bandits to hide out.” He looked up from the map to Ellian. “Will the Skywitch frighten them off?”
Ellian shook her head. “Not if we land at the mouth of the Valley. They will be farther in, and as long as we don’t try to drop down on top of them, they won’t leave.”
Chari frowned. “Can these people be trusted,” she asked, staring intently at Ellian. “They are bandits after all. They may be your friends, but what’s to stop them from killing us?”
Ellian’s eyes narrowed, and she spat angrily, “the same thing that stops me from killing you.”
“Come on, Ellian,” Ashrak said angrily. “It’s a serious question. These people may be your friends, but we don’t know them at all. Bandits don’t exactly have the best reputation.”
Ellian looked like she was about to bark angrily, but she stopped herself. Instead, she took a deep breath before answering. “All right, it is a good question. Forgive me; I’m just so used to hating nobles. They are a rough bunch, but good people. I’ve known them for a long time, and you can trust them to get us where we need to go.”
“It’s the best chance we will have,” Nilesh said. “We will have a better chance of getting through the desert by sneaking past than if we had a thousand soldiers with us.”
Ashrak and Chari exchanged looks before they nodded toward Ellian. “Okay,” Ashrak said. “We’ll do it your way, Ellian.”
Valeran stood and picked up the map from the table. “I will tell the captain where we’re headed. We will head out after dark, so they won’t see which direction we are going. At least I can do that for you, and if you need anything further, you have your communicators.”
***
They waited until it was well past dark before the Skywitch rose impossibly high into the sky and then turned off all of its exterior lights. They also made several course corrections before finally coming to rest high above the valley. It wasn’t a few moments more until they’d settled onto the desert floor.
“Tomorrow morning, I’m going to take the Skywitch in several different directions and make it look as if we are landing. I figure if I can get Count Stavix’s and General Rhendu’s soldiers to go off on several false trails, it’s the least I can do,” Valeran said, watching as his men led several dancers off of the Skywitch. They were smaller beasts than the common dancers that were found in the city. They also had thicker scales and larger crests that when displayed could cover the beast’s eyes from the sun. Lord Mendor had provided the dancers and said this breed was much better for the deeper desert. Besides the saddle, each lizard was heavily laden with supplies though they did not seem to be affected by the burden.
“These dancers are good animals,” Ellian said, caressing the hard scales on the nose of the six-legged lizard she’d chosen to ride. “They are expensive, as well.” Nilesh had already mounted his dancer and had the large book opened in front of him with a lantern lighting the pages. He had been engrossed in the tome since they’d received it and hardly put it down. The little man continued to make odd sounds every once in a while as he read though the disgruntled sounds still outnumbered the ones of triumph. Ashrak and Chari were also climbing aboard their dancers as well.
“I wanted to give you every advantage I could,” Valeran answered as he stood with his hands on his hips before reaching out and grasping Ashrak’s arm.
“You have,” Ashrak answered. “There’s no telling what we will find out there but if we succeed it will be because of you. Thank you.”
“You just keep your communicators handy. If you run into something you can’t handle, then call me. It won’t take long for us to get to you no matter where you are in this blasted desert.”
Ashrak nodded and patted his belt pouch before looking at his sister. “How long will it take us to get to your men?”
Ellian grinned and launched into her saddle before taking up the lead of their small group. “Not long, perhaps an hour or so,” she said, squinting into the distance. “I know they’re in the Valley. However, they will have seen us land and will be watching. They’ll find us. Just ride normally and if you hear or see anything, don’t draw your weapons.”
Ashrak nodded, and they all lapsed into silence as they rode into the night. They were able to see fairly well due to one of the moons being almost full. The smallest moon was only a sliver, but the larger was about three quarters full and let them see well enough to travel without fear. Nilesh had a small oil lamp attached to his saddle so that he could continue to page through the book. Ashrak figured it would keep anyone from thinking they were trying to sneak up on them, which was a good thing when you are trying to find bandits. He did not relish the thought of arrows fired at him from the darkness.
They traveled slowly for perhaps an hour and a half before Ellian’s friends finally revealed themselves. A voice, deep and gravelly, spoke from the darkness.
“Ellian,” the man said loudly enough for them to hear. It sounded like it was coming from a large series of boulders and rough terrain just to the right of their current path. “Is that you? Strange company you are keeping these days.”
Ellian immediately stopped her dancer and signaled for the rest of them to come to a halt. She spoke over her shoulder in a low voice. “Don’t make any sudden moves or you’ll have an arrow in you before you know it.” She turned back and raised her voice. “Daka, I’m here with my brother and some friends. They are not a threat.”
“Aye, so they won’t have any trouble throwing their weapons to the sand then will they?”
Ellian looked back at them and nodded before taking out her swords and daggers, throwing them to the sand. Ashrak, Chari, and Nilesh exchanged looks but followed suit, letting their own weapons join Ellian’s.
After a few cautious moments, they could see several figures moving out of the darkness and towards them. Chief amongst those was perhaps the largest man Ashrak had ever seen. Nothing compared to the Naiadens but he towered almost twenty centimeters above his fellow bandits and was just as wide. When he stepped into the flickering light of Nilesh’s lamp, the man’s arms were as thick around as a normal man’s thigh. A large scar ran from his forehead, across his eye and almost all the way down to his chin while still having left his eye contact. Despite his menacing countenance, his grin glinted up at Ellian as he stepped toward her.
“It’s been two weeks,�
� Daka said in his deep base rumble. “We were worried that with all the trouble in the capital, you’d be dead by now. It’s good to see that we were wrong though now I owe Fallon a gold piece.”
As he spoke, another figure stepped around him. The woman had a long, dark braid, dressed in tight hunting leathers, and carried a menacing-looking bow. She was tall and used every bit of her height to reach up and pull Ellian’s head down into a long kiss.
Ashrak and Chari exchanged looks.
The large man laughed, his deep voice reverberating in his chest. “Yes, and as you can probably guess they’ve missed each other. It’s been a longer two weeks for some than others.” He gave the kissing couple a last glance before walking past them and examined Ashrak, Chari, and Nilesh carefully. The large double-bladed axe rested on his shoulder as he walked around them. He wasn’t exactly menacing them with it, but it was more than ready to cause them harm if the big man decided he needed to do so.
“And you must be Daka?” Chari asked.
Daka stopped next to her dancer and nodded. He was tall enough to look Chari in the eyes. “Aye, and what might your names be?” Daka asked before glancing over at Ellian and Fallon who were still very involved with each other. “I don’t think I’ll be getting it out of Ellian anytime soon so you might as well introduce yourselves before I have to gut you with my axe.”
Chari stiffened and narrowed her eyes slightly, but Daka just continued to wait patiently. “My name is Chari Silvencor,” she finally said. “And that is Ashrak, Ellian’s brother. Behind me is Nilesh.”
“And are you the leader of this little band?” Daka said with a small grin.
“Well, no, but I don’t think we have a leader,” Chari said with a small frown. “Or really, it just depends on where we are. Out here in the desert Ellian has been leading us.”
“Ah, so it’s a band of brothers and sisters, eh?” Daka said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “He looked back at Ellian and Fallon who had stopped kissing and were murmuring softly to each other with their foreheads pressed together. “We can understand that, and it looks like we share at least one member.” He reached down and scooped up the swords and daggers from the sand and begin passing them back to their owners. “Be welcome and follow us back to our camp. It sounds like you have a story to tell us.”
After they had retrieved their weapons, they followed Daka and the other bandits into the night. Their camp was well-hidden amongst the rocks along the edge of the Valley. The one fire was kept low and blocked by high rocks and by the time they arrived, there was the soft glow of the sun beginning to make its presence known on the horizon.
There were only about seven members of the small band who sat around a central fire on several light carpets that had been placed down for that purpose while Daka settled himself on a large rock. Ellian and Fallon sat with each other with Fallon sitting behind and her chin resting on Ellian shoulder. Her eyes were hooded but observant as she watched the strangers in their camp.
Slowly Ellian related the story as she knew. There was only the occasional interruption or interjection by of the rest of them and the bandits with their hard faces listened quietly. It was hard to tell what they might be thinking until after Ellian had finished.
“Sounds like a story in a fable,” one of the bandits said as he scratched his beard.
“It’s not a lie,” Chari said defensively.
“That’s not what he meant,” Ellian said. “You don’t understand us very well, do you?”
Chari looked confused for a moment until Ashrak squeezed her hand and answered the question that was in her eyes. “My people love fables and stories. To be in a story that my people tell brings honor to us. I think he meant it as a good thing that it sounded like a fable.”
Chari looked around and saw the nods from around the fire before looking back at Ashrak. “I apologize,” she said looking first at Ellian and then to the bandits who it spoke. “I do have a lot to learn, but I’m not afraid to try.”
“It’s not the trying that’s the problem, it’s avoiding dying before you figure it out,” Ellian said looking at Chari with a grim expression. “I hope you’re a fast learner because you’ll need to be to survive. Even Ashrak will have to keep his eyes open out here.”
Ashrak nodded quietly, agreeing with his sister. “So, will you and your friends help us?” Ashrak asked.
Daka chuckled and looked over at Ellian before answering. “Our leader wouldn’t have led you here if she didn’t think we’d be game. I don’t know about the rest of this band of drunken fools, but I’m in. At the least it will give me an opportunity to kill some idiot soldiers who have no business being out in the desert.”
Ellian looked around at her men and watched them all nod in agreement. “Very well,” Ellian said. “Now that we have that settled, we just have to figure out where to go.”
Nilesh, who had been mostly quiet up to this point, cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “I think I might have an idea of where to go first,” the small man said as he opened the book on the carpet in front of him. “Teglareck mentioned many ruins that he had researched. It’s a staggering amount, really, but I’m beginning to see that he paid more attention to some of them.” Nilesh put his finger down on one of the maps. “There is an old, abandoned temple that he speaks of often. It looks to be several days travel from here, and I don’t see any mention of it on modern maps. At the very least it’s not likely to be crawling with soldiers.”
Daka stood and walked over to the book, looking over Nilesh’s shoulder at where he was pointing. “Akka,” he said and grunted, looking displeased.
Nilesh nodded looking up at the big man. “Yes, the Temple of Akka is what Teglareck calls it. Do you know of it?”
Daka shook his head. “No, I don’t know of any buildings there. That’s just what we call that area. Most people stay far away because it’s infested with dangerous creatures and wild animals. No one goes to Akka if they can help it. It’s a charming place if you like death traps.”
“Why do you think that’s the best place to go?” Chari asked. “Does it say the Golden bands are there?”
Nilesh shook his head. “No, they never got a chance to visit the Temple ruins. What he does mention, though, is that the Temple was a place to speak to the dead. Since the bands were a way to communicate the ancestors, much of his research pointed toward Akka as a likely place for the bands to be. There is even one paragraph that mentions Akka as the place the Golden bands were created.”
“We have no better place to start looking,” Ashrak said, looking at the rest of his companions. “Let’s just make sure we don’t join the dead when we get there.”
Chapter 12
“Does the sun have to be this hot?” Nilesh complained as he hunkered down under the sunshade attached to his saddle. “Why couldn’t the Golden Bands have been hidden away under a nice, damp dungeon in the middle of the city?”
“Oh, come on, Nilesh,” Ashrak responded. “It gets dismally hot in the cities even on the coast, and we’re just in the scrub lands. Just be thankful we don’t have to head into the deep desert. Even the black spire is just on the edge of that godless place.”
Nilesh didn’t respond, but Ashrak could hear him grunt under his sunshade. Despite what he’d said, Ashrak had to agree with the little man that it was uncomfortably hot. He wasn’t about to admit his time in Terek might’ve softened him a little bit to his homeland’s heat. He looked over with concern at Chari who was wilting under her sunshade. Still, she had not complained and most likely wouldn’t which just made him love her all the more.
“Ah, the deep desert,” Daka said as he pulled back on his dancer so he could get closer to the conversation. The beast he was riding was almost as much of a freak of nature as the man himself. It was twice as large as even one of the cities dancers and so gnarled that if it stopped moving and laid down, it closely resembled a stand of rocks. Daka reached one of his massive arms over and lifted up Nil
esh’s sunshade, peeking under at the miserable man. “There is no need for a cooking fire there, at least during the day. If anything needs to be cooked, you simply put whatever it is in an iron pot and let it sit on a rock for a few minutes.”
Nilesh squinted back and scowled. “It’s not food I’m worried about cooking,” he said. “Even under this sun shade, I feel like I could scatter some spices on my arm and have a good snack within a few minutes.”
Daka let out one of his voluminous, deep laughs and let the sunshade fall back down over Nilesh. “Do not worry, little man; I’m sure a Helgren won’t need you to be cooked before it tries to eat you. They’re not sophisticated creatures, but they are persistent and sneaky.”
“That sounds a lot like you, Daka,” Ellian said from up front where she was riding next to Fallon. “I was fairly sure you had some animal in your lineage though I was picturing something bigger.”
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 97
