Darroth just stood there open-mouthed, with steam coming out of his ears, as Lin climbed up and Maya and I hastily launched the warhorses up the road, leaving a frustrated dwarf in the middle of the road to hash things out with Miss Clara and Lady Gemma.
Leaving Sky Raven took longer than I would have expected. The guards didn’t seem to have quite gotten the hang of operating the massive door yet, and all the ruckus with us leaving didn’t help their concentration, either. Hons was there and we shook hands solidly, and I asked him to support Rosa as much as he could. Maya was still handing out orders to a shirtless Higs, while he trotted alongside us all the way to outside the gate. The twins followed and waved, excitedly blowing kisses.
One last look behind, a few last waves and words of encouragement, and we started our descent down the mountain.
Chapter 8
Relieved to be finally away, the horses settled into a comfortable pace. The two druids were chatting and pointing non-stop, excited to be on their first great adventure. Maya patiently took time to coach and acquaint them in dark elf society and customs. Fortunately, as in most agrarian societies or peoples who are deeply connected to the land and forests, dark elves revere druids. Maya was pretty sure the girls would be treated as celebrities by most of her people.
The Vakhas were clearly exhilarated, for once not tied down to the snail’s pace of foot traffic or worse yet, donkeys. They were able to really let loose and show everyone what they could do. I am no expert, but it appeared we were easily doubling the pace of a quality travelling horse, and neither of them showed the slightest fatigue, either. Nia, however, apparently found the rhythmic motion of the lope, with its three fast beats and pause, almost irresistibly hypnotic and quickly fell asleep in her niche on the shoulder of my armor.
Using our link through Winya as a conduit, Maya and I found we could communicate fairly well in our minds. This had the advantage of bypassing all the girls’ chatting and the clatter of hooves. The travel was easy; the road was a little choppy, but the Vakhas never wavered in their pace. Scrub plains and stone plinths soon became areas of scrub oak and bushes. Off in the distance, the green wall of a forest loomed. We stopped briefly for necessities and to grab a bite, then we were back on the road and the miles were flying by.
My dark elf’s helm turned toward me and canted slightly, and she surprised me.
“Alex, I have a confession to make. Winya relayed most of what you and Portia talked about that night. In my defense, it was primarily so that I could judge how much time I had to find you and get into position, but still I heard everything.”
Oh-oh! Like any male in this situation, I immediately tried to remember if I messed up in any way or said anything that could be misconstrued. Unfortunately, a lot of what happened out there in the woods was kind of fuzzy to me. Turning into a zombie is not one of those occurrences that most people want to affix permanently in their minds and savor and there were a lot of other points that were questionable as well. Guardedly, I went for the safe topic.
“Yeah, well, that revelation about Portia causing your dreams all these years must have been a lot to think about.”
“Yes, but I’m talking about the other part of the conversation where you said, ‘There is a chain of destiny forged between Maya and me that will never be broken, and our love will never falter even beyond death!’ Did you mean what you said?”
“Every word!” Travelling as we were with our helms on, there was no way to read her expression, so I took a deep breath and let it out. “While we’re on confessions, I have one as well. There was one temptation that Portia offered me that nearly had me, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.” I detected some alarm and sadness across the link. She was very quiet for a few moments, but finally she stated, “Alex, if you were tempted by the vision of Alera, you wouldn’t be the first male to be attracted to her, she is a very beautiful woman.”
“I wasn’t thinking about Alera.”
“Dawn then,” she guessed.
“No, not Dawn.”
“Well, I know it wasn’t thoughts about our adopted daughter, Nia! Was it?” she said, slightly alarmed.
“Absolutely not! It was before Winya even woke you, when I thought Portia was you. She was trying to persuade me to run away with her to the amber forests of Ayerhs, wherever that is. She/you said we should just get on our horses and ride away, just the two of us. Forget about the war, the undead, the Child of Light and Darkness - just be us.”
Maya was silent for a long dozen heartbeats. Finally, she tilted her helmet in my direction and thought. “So the son of the builders of the universe has self-doubts. That’s good to hear.”
“Huh?”
“That means you are still mostly human,” she explained. “Fear of failure, loss, defeat; those are all human emotions, as is love. That means you and I have a chance, at least in the short term.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, suddenly filled with anxiety.
“Alex, what happens when this prophecy runs its course and you are the victorious son of the Nova, exalted ruler of worlds beyond imagination? What happens to us? I am still a mortal, a mortal who will someday lose the appearance I have now and become an old crone. Why would you want to waste time on someone like me when you can travel the galaxy and have any woman you wish?”
“Maya, I have no wish to be anywhere except with you, and I told Portia the same thing!”
“I know you did, but did you ever stop to consider that, in a twisted sort of way, Portia may have been right? Let’s look at it another way, Alex. If it wasn’t for you being here, do you think your parents would be as interested in the life or death of our world as they are? In their own words, they have told us there are many, many worlds like ours out there. This little planet is just a barely noticeable pawn on a much bigger chess board, pretty insignificant. And the people who inhabit this planet are like ants are to us, again hardly worthy of their notice.”
“And you’re concerned that I will feel that way at some point, also?” She nodded, and I pondered her words for a few moments before answering. “Maya, I don’t know where this road will lead us ultimately, but I seem to remember you promising to never doubt me again, and I would hold you to that vow. Whether we both live another hour or a thousand years, I will be here with you always. In my heart, I am still Alex Martin, blacksmith apprentice from Foalshead, and that Alex loved you before he ever saw your face.’ Riding abreast, I reached out and took her hand. “I love you, Maya; I will always love you.”
I’m pretty sure my ears picked up a small sob from within her helmet, and her head dipped for a moment and then bobbed back up. Finally after a very long pause, she replied. “Fair enough, Magic Boy.”
“Good, and as for my parents and the galaxy beyond, yeah, I’m still trying to come to terms with it all myself. I still feel like that bumbling trainee who had the audacity to ask the most beautiful woman in the world to the First Day dance.” That time, I could feel a wave of sun-like warmth over the conduit, and I got a mental nudge of approval from Winya telling me that Maya was satisfied with my answer and much, much happier.
Abruptly, Maya gave her mare a little more head and they shot out ahead of us, and I heard laughter from Winya.
“Hey, where are you going so fast?” I sent to the two of them.
“I’ve got to see a man about granting permission to marry a certain bumbling trainee, and I’m getting tired of waiting!” Maya called back, out loud, causing Lin and Julia to look at each other with puzzled expressions. Finally, they just rolled their eyes and went back to their chatting after I caught up.
After making excellent time to the bottom of the mountain, Lin broke out a map and guided us to where the old trail intersected the road that should lead to the dark elf capital. When we got there, we expected the road to be overgrown but, in fact, it looked as if it had seen recent use and repair.
“Stay alert, people; I don’t like this very much,” said Maya.
&
nbsp; “I would have expected this road to be long gone by now. I wonder who is maintaining it?” Winya broke in.
As we trotted on, Maya stopped at times to study the road surface. Finally, she called a halt, got off her mount, removed her helm and gauntlets, and knelt down to examine some tracks in the road. She repeated this a few yards away and poked at a lump along the trail with a stick, and then she got up frowning.
“What?” I asked, mystified at what she was doing.
“Human light cavalry, eight to ten riders, yesterday afternoon. There must be a human village or a large working farm nearby,” she said, dusting off her hands.
“And you can tell this from looking at scuff marks in the dirt?”
Maya smiled at me and gave me one of those looks which says, ‘I find you adorable even if you are stupid.’ Then she explained while she replaced her armor. “These tracks were made by shod horses, riding in a loose but constant formation; we elves prefer our horses ‘barefoot’, and it certainly wouldn’t be undead riding them. The hoofprints are fairly uniform showing healthy, well-trimmed hoofs, which speaks to them having a unit farrier or skilled blacksmith or both. If the human riders were individually responsible for caring for their mounts, there would be variations in condition. Also, these animals were not laden down with heavy camping gear or supplies. Their horse apples tell me that they primarily eat grain and hay, with some bedding straw in there, so they probably spend their nights in a stable, somewhere within a few hours ride of here.”
“Wow! How did you learn all that?”
“Horses are easy; try tracking a Lisping Wral Cat through the forest at night. Come on, we’d better get going,” she grinned.
As night was approaching and Maya really didn’t want to lead us into the forest ahead in pitch blackness, we decided to make camp. Besides, watching the two girls painfully dismount, I had a twinge of guilt remembering that they weren’t used to riding all day and I’m sure they were saddle sore. We pulled everyone back from the road a few hundred feet, finding a sheltered cove created by some scrub oaks that were looking lonely. After a cold supper of packed biscuits and trail bacon, I made some hot tea by heating a pot without fire and we quickly settled down for the night.
“Somnus says he will guard the camp while we sleep,” Jules announced. “Apparently, he feels guilty about something,” she said pointedly, glaring at the big horse, which again hung his head and looked away. I was actually starting to feel sorry for him; this was probably going to be a long trip for him facing the wrath of the two druids the whole way for lying to them.
Maya and I stripped off our armor and laid it out carefully for quick retrieval. Cleaning up quickly, we climbed under the blankets we had spread out. The night air was cold, and it looked like about a million stars were lit up for the show. Lin and Julia were already fast asleep snuggled next to each other under their own coverings. I took one last grateful look at the dark elf nestled against my chest, and was rewarded by a lingering kiss. After sending Rosa a quick ‘all is well’, I drifted off.
An hour or so before dawn, I was nudged awake by a finger on my lips. Maya was already in a deep crouch above me, holding Winya as a sword, her head up listening intently.
“What is it?” I whispered.
She was silent for a long moment. “A battle, I think. Someone is attacking a caravan; I can hear panicked horses. Suit up, I’ll wake the girls.”
I stood up and pulled on my leather undersuit, still listening to the night air and trying to make as little noise as possible. With my human senses, I couldn’t hear anything but the night breeze through the scrub oaks, but Somnus and Kaima were both fully awake and already wearing their unicorn barding. They alertly faced the road ahead of us, their big nostrils sucking in large amounts of air and testing it for danger. With the leather suit on, I simply widened my stance, extended my arms, and willed my armor to rise and clamp on. With practice, I have this process down and it takes me less than a minute. Maya, of course, had dressed conventionally; but due to much better design, her lighter, more maneuverable suit literally pulls on and snaps down in an instant. It takes her longer to put on her undersuit than the armor itself. I would have loved to watch, but I was too busy directing my heavy suit in the final sealing process.
Lin and Julia were hurriedly gathering up the bedding and camp supplies. Gone now were the giggly girls from yesterday’s trip; right now, they were all business and were surprisingly competent at it. Lin saw me assessing their work and whispered, “My father is a forest tracker for the local constabulary. With seven daughters and no sons, we all learned how to get him on the trail quickly.”
I nodded and finished attaching the last of the gear to the backs of the Vakhas. Nia had already suited up as the “Combat Pixie” as Maya joined us from the outer edge of camp where she had been listening. We all grabbed a few gulps of water from a skin and mounted up.
We rejoined the road in a few moments and pounded off in the direction of the sounds. After about five miles, even I could start hearing the din of battle; sword upon sword and screams of the wounded, some of which sounded like women. The warhorses didn’t hesitate about travelling in darkness, but their magical nature probably let them see as well as Maya anyway. Unfortunately, before we could close with the battle, the road narrowed, entering a heavy section of woods where we would lose most of our advantage with the warhorses. Maya hissed and slid off Kaima at a run, instantly vanishing into stealth mode through the trees. Not willing to let my dark elf go into battle without me, I threw a leg over and dropped to the ground as well. Looking at the girls I whispered, “You two stay back with the horses; there’s no room for them to maneuver in these trees, and it shouldn’t be anything we can’t handle. If we don’t return, change into birds or something and get back to the fortress.” With that, I grabbed my shield and hammer and sprinted down the road. Nia flew above and just behind me.
The few hundred yards were covered in a handful of heartbeats and rounding a small bend, the scene unfolded to my mage sight. As Maya had predicted, there were three large, elongated flatbed wagons attached to teams of four horses. None of the wagons were going anywhere; someone had thrust tree trunks through the spokes of the rear wheels, smashing several spokes in the process and grinding each of the wagons to a complete halt despite the efforts of the panicked horses and their drivers. Each wagon had several women and children in homespun clothes huddled up front near the driver’s seat and a few armed men trying desperately to protect them. The defenders seemed to be a mixed bag of ordinary farmers, using simple wooden agricultural tools like forks and scythes, and some lightly-armored, uniformed men with cloaks and swords in the forefront. There couldn’t have been more than five or six left, and another went down as I approached. The attacking force was harder to define. Humanoid in shape, there appeared to be thirty or more of them taking advantage of the trees for cover, with the wagons taking up most of the roadway. They darted in, savagely attacking with swords or just their bare hands and then backing into the trees for a few moments. There were numerous cries of fear and pain from the women and farmers, but the uniformed men and their attackers were nearly silent save for the clash of blades.
Three attackers rushed the first wagon, and my mage sight registered three crossbow bolts strike them in the foreheads simultaneously as if fired from the same weapon. The steel rods passed through flesh and bone and still had enough force to careen off into the woods beyond, lost forever. The three were dumped backwards on their butts; but incredibly, all three got back up on their feet, shook off the damage, and faded back into the woods, regrouping to rejoin the battle.
“They’re vampires!” Winya hissed angrily. “Oh, and Maya says to tell you it’s about time you got here, slow poke! She is joining the fight for real now!”
Vampires, huh? The last time I fought one, it was with my bare hands; let’s see how things go when I have my hammer. Using my mage sight, I was able to see that this new information didn’t faze Maya at a
ll. In fact, it just pissed her off more; these guys are so dead! I noticed a white whirlwind of magical Winya blade dash into the forefront of the fight.
The first vampire I hit didn’t even see it coming; my hammer impacted hard into the side of his head and it didn’t even register on my hand that I had hit anything. But his cranium exploded nicely on impact, sending bits of flesh and blood through the air. Without losing the momentum of my swing, I redirected it into the midsection of the next in line, sending him flying somewhere off behind me, leaving most of his heart muscle still attached to the wicked spike of my hammer. By now, the group of attackers had noticed Maya and me and were realigning themselves to attack us instead of the farmers; we didn’t mind in the least.
Yes, these were definitely vampires. I didn’t judge them to be as old as the one Winya and I had killed in Xarparion, but they still had all the equipment - long bright fangs and superhuman strength and speed. Most of that equipment didn’t help them much against our armor; they couldn’t bite through it, and those stupid enough to hit us with their fists, found out the metal could shatter bones as effectively as my hammer. Maya, of course, was more lightly armored but she had the advantage of Winya. She blazed through the bloodsuckers like the angel of death sword dancer that she was; I lost count of how many limbs I saw flying before I returned to business.
I took down two more rather easily before a couple of smarter ones jumped on my back and attempted to rip off my helm. On a normal knight, that might have been a winning tactic; but they failed to find a seam in the few seconds they had before I reached back and grabbed them, one in each hand, and brought them together violently in front of me. Momentarily stunned, they dropped to the ground and, deactivating the lightening enchantment on my boots, I brought my full weight down on their skulls, which buried the pulped mess a foot into the ground. As I learned with my fight at the academy, regeneration is fine, but it doesn’t help if you have no head left.
Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) Page 16
