by Dean Cadman
Alexia searched the two dead agents for anything useful, but didn’t find anything at all. She noticed that both arrows had been removed from the dead agents’ chests and were nowhere to be found. It reminded her of how important her remaining arrows might be, and so she went to retrieve the arrow still embedded in the first agent’s chest that she had killed. When she stood up after removing the arrow, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. In one fluid motion she whipped herself around towards the detected movement, and had an arrow nocked and ready to fire even before she faced her target. There, on the hillside above her, stood a mountain goat. It just stood there watching her, and she watched back, as if both of them were too scared to move an inch. Neither Alexia nor the others had eaten much that day, and even their water supply was beginning to run low. Alexia knew if it hadn’t been for the fact it had rained several times since they had entered the mountains, they would all have died from dehydration a long time ago.
Very slowly Alexia drew back the bow, almost scared to breathe in case she frightened off her prey. Normally she would have aimed for the head of her quarry, but she knew full well how hard the head of a mountain goat was, so instead she aimed for its chest. She hated to kill such a magnificent creature but knew if she didn’t, none of them would survive for much longer without more food. She let her arrow loose, and it flew straight and true, killing the creature cleanly. Once again she thanked Aysha for her bounty before retrieving her prize and returning to the cave.
Alexia checked on the others and found that they were all still unconscious. Neala seemed to have more colour in her face, but Renn seemed to look even worse than he had before. She left the cave again in search of some firewood, and although not many trees grew this high up in the mountains, a few did cling stubbornly to the hillside here and there. The recent rockslides seemed to have taken their toll on some of them, and Alexia managed to find enough small branches scattered around on the path to make a small fire possible. She knew the wood wouldn’t burn for long, so she decided to prepare the meat before lighting the fire.
It was hard work skinning a mountain goat, and in her current weakened state she found it even harder, but after two hours or so she had the animal skinned and butchered sufficiently to start the fire. Once she lit the fire and the meat had started to cook, she felt almost dizzy at the delicious smell that came from the fat-rich meat as it sizzled over the flames. It didn’t take too long to cook, but to Alexia it felt like a lifetime as she waited to taste the cooked meat.
Neala awoke to the delicious smell of cooking meat. Instinctively her hand fell to her chest where only hours before a stone shard had impaled her. She looked around, dazed and confused, but seeing Lusam unconscious by her side seemed to wake her up fully.
“Lusam!” she croaked as she tried to stand up in the low cave, only to hit her head on the ceiling above. Rubbing her head, she knelt down next to Lusam, not even noticing Alexia outside the cave entrance. Alexia heard Neala inside the cave and went in to speak with her.
“Don’t worry, lover-boy’s fine. He passed out after he finished healing you, but he’s still breathing,” Alexia said smiling.
“I don’t understand, why aren’t we all dead? What happened to the Empire agents?” Neala asked, confused.
“It’s a long story. I have some food cooking, so maybe you would prefer to hear it while we eat?” Alexia said, gesturing towards the food cooking over the fire. Neala almost passed out again at the thought of food, but managed to nod her agreement and make her way to the cave entrance.
“What about Renn?” Neala asked. “Has he regained consciousness? He looks in a bad way to me.”
“No, he hasn’t woken up since he arrived at the cave. I was hoping Lusam might be awake by now to at least stabilise him, even if he can’t fully heal him,” Alexia replied, looking at the still and pale form of Renn lying deeper within the cave.
“I’m not sure how long Lusam will be unconscious for. When he attempted something similar in Helveel, he was unconscious for almost five days,” Neala said.
“Oh Gods! I hope you’re wrong. I don’t think Renn has five days,” Alexia said with a worried look on her face.
“I agree, but we tried everything to wake him last time, and nothing worked. He simply woke up when his body was ready. We need to clean Renn’s wound, but we have no water or bandages. I did see some Calendula plants not far from here though.”
“Calen… what plants?” Alexia asked looking puzzled.
“Calendula plants. The flowers can be used to stop bleeding and infections. They also speed up the healing process, but in Renn’s case we only need to stop the infection and keep him alive until Lusam wakes up… if we can,” Neala replied.
“How do you know all that?” Alexia asked, amazed at her knowledge of plants. Neala laughed and pointed with her thumb over her shoulder.
“Lusam taught me all about the uses of various plants in the forest next to Helveel. We used to visit there every Seventh-day, and each time he showed me something new.”
“I’ll bet he did,” Alexia said winking at her friend.
“Hey!” Neala said blushing and swatting at Alexia’s arm. Alexia laughed loudly and dodged Neala’s half-hearted attempt at hitting her arm.
“What’s so funny?” croaked Lusam from the back of the cave.
“Lusam, you’re awake!” Neala said excitedly.
“Shhh… not so loud,” Lusam replied holding his throbbing head. “Is that food I can smell?” Neala rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Oh, how silly of me. It seems I was mistaken, Alexia,” Neala said apologetically. “We didn’t try everything to wake him last time in Helveel. It seems all we needed was the smell of cooking food to wake him up.” Alexia burst out laughing at her friend’s joke, but Lusam obviously didn’t appreciate the volume of her humour. Holding his head he slowly made his way towards the cave entrance, then suddenly stopped half way.
“Where are the Empire agents?” he asked cautiously, trying to glance past the two girls sitting near the cave entrance.
“Dead, mostly,” Alexia replied. “I was just about to explain to Neala what happened before you woke up.” Alexia handed them both a chunk of cooked meat and took one for herself. Nobody seemed in any rush for an explanation whilst they were eating their fill, and Alexia was happy to remain silent while she ate hers. They each devoured several chunks of the delicious meat before Neala prompted Alexia once more to continue with her story.
It didn’t take Alexia long to describe what had happened, and both Lusam and Neala were amazed by what she told them. Lusam couldn’t imagine why his enchantment would allow the arrows to pass through their magical shields, nor could he offer any other explanation. At that moment it didn’t really matter. The Empire agents were no longer an immediate threat. Their numbers were now diminished even further by the three Alexia had just managed to kill, as well as the five she had killed earlier, and the one who had plunged to his death whilst trying to levitate up the mountainside. Lusam didn’t know how many Empire agents remained, but he did know it was far fewer than it had been the previous day.
“I need to take a look at Renn,” Lusam said, feeling a little guilty he had spent time eating and talking before helping his friend. In truth he knew that without the food he would have been too weak to do much anyway, and he probably still was.
“Can you take any more magic from us before you try to help him?” Neala asked, worried that he was still far too weak to attempt any magic.
“I’m not sure how much magic you could have recovered since last night without any food or sleep, but I suppose we could take a look,” Lusam said sceptically. Neala nodded and offered him her hand. Lusam easily located Neala’s small reserve of magic, but as he expected, little of it had regenerated during the short time since he had last taken it from her. He gathered a small amount from her, then he did the same with Alexia. He felt a little better, but knew healing Renn’s wounds would take much m
ore magic than he currently had. ‘I’ll have to do the best I can until I regain more of my strength,’ he thought to himself, as he knelt by Renn’s side and began to heal what he could of his injuries.
Chapter Eleven
Zedd and his remaining three men landed safely halfway down the mountainside, well out of range of the young girl and her deadly arrows. At first Zedd remained silent, unwilling to give further orders until he had thought through all of his options carefully. ‘They’re certainly very limited now,’ he thought to himself, incredibly frustrated at what had just happened.
He had started with fourteen men, now he had only three left. Fourteen men he had taken under his command without telling anyone else. Protocol dictated that he must inform another Empire agent of his intended mission, and also the number of any men he intended to take with him, and he had not done that. With their Necromatic rings the agents were able to communicate with each other easily over relativity short distances. If Zedd had followed protocol and informed another agent of his plans, it would have meant whomever was in charge locally would have become aware of why he suddenly had fourteen men missing.
Zedd’s intention had been to capture or kill the boy-mage quickly, then return as a hero, and ultimately return home to the Empire and his family as reward. In reality with the losses he had already suffered, coupled with his disregard for protocol, he was more likely to be executed on his return, and his family forced into abject poverty. Fortunately for Zedd, no one knew he had even arrived in Stelgad, let alone taken fourteen men under his command and entered the mountains to chase down the boy-mage. ‘And no one ever would,’ he thought to himself smiling. Whatever the outcome, he fully intended to kill the three remaining men before he returned to Stelgad. He would secretly re-enter the Dark Forest near Stelgad, then emerge openly and announce his arrival to whomever was in command. He would report Cole’s demise within the Dark Forest due to one of the Netherworld creatures, and no one would be any the wiser.
Zedd knew he had to continue up the mountainside after the boy-mage. If he didn’t, and turned back towards Stelgad instead, there was a strong possibility he would be intercepted by his fellow agents, who would no doubt still be searching for the boy-mage themselves. They didn’t know that the boy-mage had gone into the mountains, but they did know he and his friends had entered the forest, and with so many agents in Stelgad, it wouldn’t take long for them to expand their search into the surrounding mountains.
This time he would follow the boy-mage from a safe distance and choose his time of attack carefully. Brute force hadn’t worked when he had fourteen men at his disposal, so it was painfully obvious it wouldn’t work with only three. He needed to be smarter and bide his time, then maybe an opportunity would present itself further down the road. At this point he had nothing to lose by following the boy-mage and his companions, and possibly much to gain.
“We need to find some food before we continue after the boy-mage again. I want you all to spread out and start casting tracing spells. Look for both animals and plant life, and don’t forget to search underground for edible roots and vegetables,” Zedd commanded.
“Sir, are you sure it’s wise that we confront them again with only four of us left? Wouldn’t it be safer to return to Stelgad and gather more reinforcements first?” one of the men asked.
“Are you questioning my command?” Zedd asked in a threatening tone.
“No, sir,” the man replied quickly, snapping to attention in front of Zedd and visibly paling.
“Good, then do as I command.”
“Yes—sir,” replied the man nervously, as he quickly moved away and began to search for food as instructed.
Zedd and his men spent the rest of the afternoon searching for food, and when they had done they had enough to last them several days. They created a fire and ate a hearty meal before continuing their trek up the mountainside.
Just before dark they arrived at their earlier camp where five of their fellow agents still lay dead. It was a stark reminder of how deadly the young girl and her bow was, and did little to improve the mood within the camp. There was no way to bury the bodies in the rock-hard rocky ground even if Zedd had felt the need, which he didn’t. But neither did he want to leave them here to be discovered by any other group of agents that may be following behind them. It was strictly forbidden to reanimate a fellow agent, and doing so was punishable by death. It was considered very disrespectful, and only in exceedingly rare circumstances was it ever done. Zedd had absolutely no doubt that if the five dead agents were discovered here like this, it would be classed as one of those exceedingly rare occasions. He also knew that if one of them were to be reanimated and questioned, he was done for, and so was his entire family back in the Empire.
Zedd sat on a rock staring at the five dead agents before him. He felt no remorse or guilt for their deaths, only concern for his own future welfare. He knew he could burn the bodies using magic, but he could also use them as a weapon against the boy-mage and his companions. Even if the reanimated agents failed to kill the boy-mage or his companions, and instead they managed to defeat them all, it still wouldn’t be a complete failure. Corpses could only be reanimated once, and that meant there would be no chance they could be questioned later should they be discovered by another party of agents.
Zedd knew that the body of the man who had plunged to his death after failing to re-establish his levitation spell would be in too bad a condition to reanimate, so he wasn’t worried about him. The three who were shot from the sky whilst levitating were burned beyond recognition by the fireballs that hit them, and therefore would also be in a condition beyond reanimation. That only left the three men who died near the cave, and those he could deal with when they arrived there. Zedd stood up with an evil grin on his face. He would not reanimate them himself. If he did and the minion was intercepted by any fellow agents in the future, it would lead them straight back to him. Instead he would command one of his men to raise all five dead agents, and as an added bonus, when he eventually killed that man, it would automatically sever the spell that bound the undead minions, releasing them all back into death and neatly tying up all the loose ends in one fell swoop.
“You,” Zedd said pointing at the man who had earlier questioned him, “reanimate those five corpses.” The man looked aghast at Zedd’s command, looking to the other two men for support, but found none.
“But, sir—it’s against our holy law to do that. I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” he said with conviction. Zedd didn’t even bother replying to the man’s refusal to carry out his orders, he simply killed him where he stood, draining all of his magic through his own Necromatic ring. The man’s death-pulse was felt by Zedd and the other two men even before he fell.
As he crumpled to the floor, Zedd smiled and said, “Very well, then you will serve me as a minion instead.” Zedd considered asking Cole to reanimate the—now six—dead agents, but wasn’t sure if he was capable of doing it, especially in his weakened state.
“Would you like to reanimate them all for me?” Zedd asked the remaining man, daring him to refuse. The man visibly paled and simply nodded mutely to his request.
Ten minutes later and there were six undead minions standing in the camp.
“Command them to remove the arrows from their chests. We don’t want to be returning any ammunition to the young lady now, do we?” Zedd said flippantly. The man gave his command to the undead minions, and as one they all removed the arrows from their chests with a sickening ripping-of-flesh sound, and dropped them on the floor by their feet.
“What would you have me command them to do, sir?” the man asked nervously.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe go kill the boy-mage and his companions,” Zedd said sarcastically.
“Yes—sir,” the man replied. He repeated the order to his new undead minions, and the three men watched silently as all six disappeared into the darkness, heading up the mountain path in the direction of the boy-mage and his companio
ns.
Chapter Twelve
Lusam managed to close the wound and control the beginnings of an infection in Renn’s leg before he was forced to stop, or run the risk of passing out again. The setting of the bones and repair of the muscle would have to wait until after he’d rested a little. Alexia had already volunteered to watch the Empire agents while Lusam got some well-needed sleep. At first Lusam kindly refused her offer, as he was concerned that Alexia wouldn’t be able to see them or their auras in the darkness, but after she had pointed out that they were simply sitting around their campfire in plain sight, he quickly changed his mind, thankful for the rare opportunity to rest. Lusam retreated back to the relative safety of the cave and fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down his head.
Neala came to sit by Alexia’s side, checking out the Empire agents’ position as she did so.
“Do you think they will attack us again tonight?” Neala asked nodding her head towards the campfire in the distance.
“I doubt it, they lost a lot of men today. From what I can see there are only a few of them left, and they don’t look like they’re in a rush to do anything at the moment,” Alexia replied without taking her eyes off the agents’ camp.
“I really hope you’re right, Alexia, we all need a break after what we’ve gone through the last couple of weeks, especially Lusam. I’ve no idea how he’s managed to make it this far without collapsing.” Alexia nodded her agreement, but said nothing.
“Alexia,” Neala said quietly.
