Chosen (The Warrior Chronicles, 1)

by K. F. Breene

  Antsy men shifted their stances as Shanti walked past, loose dust kicked up from a hundred men and twenty or so beasts. The midday sun baked down on the line, stifling the air, glistening the brow. Battle was near. They could all sense it. Expectation buzzed louder than a swarm of flies, battering her shields and pumping her blood. This was what she was born for. To lead men into battle.

  Duty hummed through her bones as she rounded the horses and glanced up at the Captain, tall and strong atop his horse, shoulders and head high, a similar feeling coursing through his body. The only difference was, these were his men, and the leadership was his duty. She was but a sword within his arsenal.

  Chosen, my stubbed toe.

  “We are getting close,” Cayan said without preamble, sparing her no more than a glance. “They will have sentries soon. We need to make a plan of entry now, in the event we meet the enemy.”

  “You’re aware this isn’t their home land, right?” Shanti asked as she stopped beside Sterling’s horse.

  “But they reside here now,” a stern man on a dapper horse said.

  It was time for serious and hostile, was it? She hadn’t gotten the decree.

  Pushing down an insane urge to stick a knife in his shoulder just for giggles, she said, “A faction of Inkna reside here, yes. But their people, as a whole, are spread across the land, trying to dip their fingers in everything profitable. This faction will be attached to a small city the same size as yours or less. They will be running things, but the work donkeys will not be theirs. They will have a few sentries to monitor trade routes, or crazed indigenous peoples wanting their land back, but they belong to a giant nation dominating the west, plus they have capable mental warfare that has probably so far been unimpeded. They are not overly concerned with the probability of assaults from a foreign nation.”

  “But even though they aren’t the work horses...” A balding, stodgy character paused in his speech, giving her a weighty stare, before continuing, “Their forces will double ours in size.

  Shanti pondered that statement. “Possibly. They are branching out, which means they have a stable horde here in which to sustain their leadership. Assuming they are torturing Sanders for information with which to spread their forces to your city, they probably have enough to cover both areas. Which means that, yes, they probably double this war party in size. At least.”

  “Well, that’s terrible news,” a furry-browed man said, his lips in a thin line.

  “Tobias,” the Captain barked, silencing the other man immediately. He squinted ahead, thinking. Grim blue stare met Shanti’s. “You think their sentries will be light?”

  “I do.”

  “They’ll be expecting us, though.”

  Shanti blew out a breath, slowly shaking her head. “There are not many leaders that would send this kind of response if a few of their men were taken.”

  Three horses started to prance, and Shanti, the only one on foot, backed away quickly. Getting trampled before the battle would be just her luck.

  “I assume you imply that their leaders are wanting, and not a judgment on my leadership,” the Captain said with a warning in his tone.

  “This isn’t the time to be prickly, but that is correct. As I’ve said—“

  “I’m not interested in what you’ve said. Do you think they expect us?”

  Shanti took another couple steps back, Cayan’s gaze nearly a physical push. “Not so soon, no. And not with your best men. We will have surprise on our side. And skilled fighters. The only thing of concern is mental warfare.”

  “Regardless of whether or not they are expecting us, they will have some warning system in place,” Sterling stated mildly.

  A baby-faced man spoke up. “Not if we kill them before they get the signal up.”

  “Well, now, that is the question, isn’t it?” Shanti said. “What is their signal? Is it a light or sound device, like your city has? If that is the case, then yes, killing them will solve the problem.”

  “You wonder if they are monitored mentally,” Cayan said with a grim voice. The men tried to hide masks of confusion at the mention of mental abilities.

  She nodded. “I don’t know how powerful they are. If their power matched the little mouse I spoke with, then they can probably reach about two hundred spans, maybe less. But if they have a few powerful men, they can space themselves out and monitor each other, making the first sentry you come across as good as a siren for the rest.”

  “Can you cut the link?” Lucius asked.

  “I can disguise it, certainly, but that limits my power for when we go into their hold. If it were my call, I wouldn’t waste valuable power on the sentries, unless they try to attack us mentally. They will have their most valuable members behind the walls. I will need to attack them or shield you once we go in.”

  “We kill them on sight,” Cayan decided. “If they are warned prior to our coming, then all of their mental defenses will be lined up waiting. They will at least be all in one place. No surprises.”

  Shanti nodded and shrugged at the same time. Battles always brought surprises, but she didn’t want to rile him up further.

  Cayan, Sterling, and a circling of other experienced men dismounted from their horses and gathered in a circle, dissecting the maps and making final arrangements. Each lieutenant had a group of men under his guidance, which then sectioned out again to a staff sergeant. They listened and nodded, the lower tiered men leaving much of the arrangements to the officers.

  When they had finished, the circle broke up and they stowed their maps, walking determinedly back to their mounts with hard faces. As Shanti turned toward her spot in the middle of the line, Cayan said, “Shanti, I want you up front. I am led to believe you are a good shot with the bow. I also know you can use my power to search out the enemy from a great distance. Both are useful.”

  “If the horses spook, I’ll be trampled.”

  “You’ll be riding behind me.”

  She was in the process of saying, “No,” when hard blue eyes rooted her to the spot. Her tongue got thick and melded to the roof of her mouth. She wanted to shrivel away, to look anywhere but at those eyes. But she’d be blasted if this man would intimidate her, so she held that stare, trying to ignore the shivers running up her back and weakening her legs.

  “It was not a question,” he said, his eyes and bearing reinforcing his words.

  She nodded indifferently, telling herself it was because she said she would follow his command for now, rather than admitting to being scared shitless to refuse. She waited for him to climb on and allowed herself to be hoisted up after him.

  It appeared she had her answer for how he inspired fear…

  “It won’t be easy to shoot from behind your big body.” Her voice had only a hint of pout.

  “Sterling will hit anything to the right. You to the left. I will hit anything in front. What we miss those behind us will hit.” After a pause he finished with: “I want you to connect with me. Use my power to reach.”

  “Together our power is unpredictable.”

  “I need you 100% for when we go in the hold. Use me. It wasn’t a request.”

  And the hits just kept on coming.

  The progression continued with everyone on point. Shanti put her hand up the bottom of Cayan’s shirt onto his smooth, muscled back. She tagged along as he opened his mind and spread it out, letting him use the brunt of power required, even though it was only a trickle. Being linked mentally, she couldn’t help but feel his apprehension for the coming battle. He was worried of his decision, he was scared Sanders was dead, and the incredible burden of his position weighed on his mind.

  “You made the right choice,” she murmured for his ears alone. “Your people will make it through this. If you didn’t act, they would’ve come for you in numbers, and you would’ve still had to fight.”

  “I know that. I just hate sentencing my people to death.”

  For a brief moment she leaned against him, supporting. She knew what
he was going through from experience. Some decisions weren’t easy, but they still needed to be made. Death was inevitable and so was this battle. It might as well happen now as later. It might as well happen far from home, rather than where innocents might get killed.

  It was another hour before Shanti and Cayan felt the mind ahead and slightly to the right. They were traveling over hard dirt, making a large dust cloud that billowed out and above the trees. Only someone asleep wouldn’t see them from a great distance. Then, when they got closer, the tromp of hooves and murmur of voices would surely wake the dead.

  “We should send someone ahead,” Cayan mumbled to himself. He had realized their predicament.

  “Let me go,” she responded quietly. “It will be an easy thing.”

  Fear of a different sort swirled through his thoughts. For her. For her safety. He thought of her as one of his, now. She had become his responsibility and he didn’t want to see her hurt any more than Sterling or Lucius. Those fears were tempered with hard logic. He knew it was the best course of action, quick and efficient.

  She had no idea why he hated that fact.

  “Sterling,” Cayan said in his commanding voice, “take Shanti, Lucius, and Tobias. Cut them down.”

  Lucius kicked his horse forward until he was even with Cayan.

  “Lucius, I can’t get down when you’re—“ Shanti’s words were cut off by Lucius dragging her over to his saddle. “What am I, a sack of cabbage?”

  “You are much louder than a sack of cabbage,” Cayan drawled as Lucius kicked his horse into a trot.

  Their small party rode ahead. Tobias, knowing nothing about Shanti, couldn’t contain his displeasure at a woman tagging along. He kept his distaste to huffs, however, being a well versed fighter—he knew better than to piss off the Captain. Shanti, knowing better than to waste time, didn’t punch him in the throat. All in all, they got along.

  “Sterling, what is your range?” Shanti asked as they ate away the hard packed earth, closing the distance to the first sentry. It was a well-traversed road though not badly eaten away, indicating there was more foot traffic than heavy animals or carts.

  “Dead on for three-hundred spans,” Sterling answered in a flat tone, eyes scouting the foliage and road ahead.

  “Tobias?”

  “Two-hundred at most, but that is while steady.”

  “Then one-hundred on horseback?”

  He nodded, eyes swiveling, trying to catch every movement, whether natural or otherwise.

  Shanti leaned into Lucius and closed her eyes, drawing power off of Cayan even with the distance. She wasn’t as interested in the sentries as what lay ahead. She wanted to know how hard it would be to get Sanders. She wanted to know what sort of mental capability they had. Even minimal power could still overcome her if there were enough of them.

  “Are we close?” Sterling asked in a hush.

  Shanti searched, dots of pulsing color laid out before her, sparse at first, then more dense, throbbing points of emotion that signified humans, and other subtler nuances signifying males. She could sense idleness and boredom, no prevailing worries of their troupe, or any other violent group, traversing the road.

  “Okay, Sterling, there will be a man to your right. He is off the ground. I’ll know more as we get closer. Behind him will be a man way off to the left. Based on the trees, I am thinking they can both see the road.”

  “How do you know?” Tobias was skeptical.

  “Because I get my menstrual cycle,” Shanti said in a flat tone.

  “Trust her,” Lucius said fiercely. “She knows what she’s saying.”

  “How far can you see?” Sterling asked, arrow nocked.

  “I can’t see far enough for my taste, even with Cayan feeding me power.”

  In another couple minutes Shanti said, “To the right, up ten yards. Male. Bored. Not expecting us. In range.”

  Sterling’s eyes followed her directions in perfect trust, waiting patiently for the man she said would be there. Not understanding the nature of her Gift, it was a little too trusting for her taste, but it was how Cayan’s men operated, and since she was correct, she said nothing.

  A small wooden circle crouched at the top of a tree in plain view, a man leaning against the edge in utter dullness, asleep while standing up. With a practiced movement that gave Shanti pause, Sterling sighted, pulled, and loosed his arrow in one smooth, clean stroke. The arrow flew true, sticking into the mid-chest and dropping the man out of the tree.

  “Lucius, you want the one on the left or shall I take him?”

  “I’ll take him,” Lucius said, using his knees to steer the horse. The beasts were well trained. Probably still bit, though.

  “Left, forty-five degrees. Male. Aroused—probably playing with himself. They must not see many people come through this way.”

  “How the hell do you know—“

  “Silence Tobias,” Sterling barked. “The Captain trusts her. That should be enough.”

  Lucius spotted the man, but didn’t have the range Sterling did. They got closer, Lucius looking down the arrow as the distance closed.

  “He’s spotted us,” Shanti whispered. She had her own bow nocked just in case Lucius missed.

  The arrow pinged into the air. They watched it travel until it slid into the neck of a ducking sentry. Any later and it would’ve missed.

  “Lucky. One on the right, Sterling. Close to the road. I’ll take the one way left. There must be another road off that way.”

  Shanti leaned back from Lucius, nocked her arrow, sighted, waiting until the man came in range, and released, as Sterling did the same. A second later another arrow flew, traveling a similar path as Shanti’s.

  “That was a waste of an arrow, Tobias,” Shanti said evenly. “And a bad shot. Make sure you can improve on me before you try to cover for me. Sterling, to the right. They are denser up ahead.”

  Sterling was ready, and as good as everyone said. He made it look effortless as he pulled his mighty bow back and sighted his arrow; his form perfect. He topped Shanti in range with the ability and strength to operate that giant bow. She thanked Cayan for sending him.

  “Lucius, left. Two coming on the right, in the same tree. Sterling, I don’t know if you can take them both or split the victory with Tobias. We should stop after that. We’re approaching a busy area.”

  Lucius drew; so did the other two. A second later, Shanti did too. There were men in trees and on the ground, all active. The area beyond was a sort of hub. Probably an outcropping of the city where people traded or conversed, away from the castle or city walls. They would be citizens, and she had the feeling the Captain wouldn’t want them killed.

  “Hold up, here,” Shanti said softly, patting Lucius on the back.

  Sterling looked at Shanti. “Should we take the rest on foot?”

  She shook her head and relayed what she thought was coming up. Sterling nodded. “We should wait for the others, then. No one else will see their approach?”

  “Not at present, no.”

  “And beyond the hub, as you called it?”

  “My range wavers. There are a few people and a few large mammals. Probably cows or oxen or something like that. A couple dogs. A horse or donkey. I would imagine farmers are on the road leading to the city. There are men and women and children. All mundane types.”

  “What are you, a witch?”

  Shanti lazily glanced at Tobias. His eyes were hard as he sneered. Before Sterling could react, she shrugged him off. “I am the one who will keep you alive if someone decides to mind-fuck you, Tobias. If you keep talking like an ignorant simpleton, I won’t bother.”

  “I don’t need your help.”

  “Fair enough.” To Sterling she said, “Should we ride back to the Captain or wait out of sight?”

  “No sense riding back and wearing out the horses. Let’s duck off to the side.”

  They did, waiting quietly, Shanti coating Cayan’s anxiety with tranquility so he knew they were oka
y. His turmoil dwindled but didn’t disappear. He probably looked calm and relaxed, but his mind whirled and his nerves were strung out. She selfishly hadn’t taught him how to hide his inner emotions. A woman in her position needed a failsafe. Hopefully there’d be no hard feelings if he ever figured that out.

  With a slight tremor in the ground, the horses and men following came into sight slowly, the pace slightly picked up since Shanti and crew had left. As they thundered closer, Shanti slid off her horse and stepped closer to Sterling. “Was it discussed to sneak in and ferret Sanders out without raising the alarm?”

  Sterling glanced to Lucius and Tobias, watching the approaching mass draw nearer. “The idea was presented, yes.”

  “And discarded how quickly?”

  A brief smile flashed across Sterling’s lips. “Almost immediately.”

  “You don’t take one of ours and get away with it?”

  Sterling answered with a small nod. “It was thought that they would come for us anyway. The Inkna raised the question. The Captain is answering.”

  “So Cayan—the Captain—is sending a message. And yet, he is still facing tough odds. Interesting.”

  Sterling’s intense, flat stare turned down to Shanti. “The Captain is doing what’s right. Taking our men, as they did, under the guise of trade, must needs an answer. A brutal answer.”

  Shanti glanced at him briefly, then returned to mentally checking on the men to come. “Oh yes, I agree. If I were in his shoes, I would’ve planned to devastate this People as well. But then, I know what they are capable of. I know how they operate. I am just surprised by the Captain’s foresight. He is a capable leader.”

  “Did you doubt before now?”

  Shanti shrugged. When you were near death half the time, and getting into trouble the other half, it was hard to properly assess the leader of a prosperous city. But now, in a time of peril, away from protective walls and early morning raids, she had a chance to take notice.

  As Cayan came to rest beside their small party his gaze scanned Shanti’s body, probably looking for wounds. Not seeing any he turned his attention to Sterling. “Report.”