I looked up to see Lin and Julia with their hands over their mouths in excitement and a pixie doing loops over their heads. I staggered up with a big silly smile on my face. Almost immediately, I felt my legs kicked out from under me by someone whose armor was of comparable weight and found myself on my back with a deadly serious dark elf straddling my chest. Maya looked down at me, her chest heaving with emotion. Lips curled, teeth bared, eyes frosty, she was every inch the predator that I only occasionally caught glimpses of. It was a jarring reminder that she was no mere human girl.
“Alex Martin, Prince of the Nova, if you ever scare me like that again, so help me, I will kill you myself!” she rasped painfully. She put both her hands tenderly alongside my jaw and brought her deep, emerald green eyes close to mine, searching my face for any trace of resistance. A second later, her lips crushed my own, and I felt warm tears of joy streaming down both of our faces. We couldn’t decide if we wanted to laugh, cry, or giggle hysterically the entire time we kissed, and we kissed for a very long time. Finally, she let me get back on my feet, but she kept a hold on me while I got wild, ecstatic hugs from Nia, Lin and Julia. At last, all four demanded to hear what had happened, and I relayed the story as I knew it. It was my turn to be surprised when I found out that I hadn’t been gone for months or even weeks, but more like twelve hours!
Suddenly, my head started to burn like I was set on fire. “Alex, you bastard! Maya might not kill you, but I certainly will!” Rosa’s voice was threateningly loud in my head. “Do you have any idea what you put me through? The pain that cutting the link like that caused me?” I could feel the sadness flowing off of her as I did my best to comfort her. “You almost left me alone in this world again, you stupid fool! I don’t think I have ever been that scared in my life when you vanished, or so happy when you came back. Please don’t try anything like that again; I don’t think my old heart could take it!”
After calming Rosa down and promising to talk to her more later, I tried to catch up on what happened after I left. While I felt well-rested, the girls were a mess. Jules and Lin were still red-eyed and had exhausted so many of their spells that they could barely stand. Nia had greeted me enthusiastically, but was now collapsed, splayed out on Kaima’s broad back, snoring fitfully. Maya was the worst, her armor was more red and black than white, and there were layers of gore and filth everywhere on it. She was gaunt-faced and haggard and it looked like she had lost fifteen pounds since I last saw her. I could tell from her dark rimmed, deep set eyes she desperately needed sleep as well, but was fighting it in an attempt to cling to me as much as possible.
First to business; I managed to get ground cloths and blankets out of the packs and arranged them on comfortable spots on the ground near the replenished fire. And I ordered the two girls to lie down and get some sleep, promising to wake them with some food when I had it ready. They nodded off happily with relieved smiles on their faces.
Maya needed more work, a lot more work. I helped her remove the armor and set it aside for a good cleaning, and I mostly - sort of – averted my gaze as I had her remove the leather under padding and change into warm sleepwear. I wiped her face, arms, and hands with a cloth moistened from a water skin and, for the most part, she handled my ministrations calmly but refused to take her eyes off me for a second. I nestled her down into the warm blankets and just happily watched her inhale and exhale peacefully for a little bit before her eyes finally drifted closed. Walking over to where the horses were standing quietly, untethered, I first stopped by Somnus and patted him on his broad neck.
“Thank you, Somnus, you are amazing!” He nodded his big head up and down, in complete agreement. Unable to resist, I leaned in close and whispered, “But you’re not as good a kisser as Maya.” He snorted and looked away with a disgruntled huff. Chuckling, I dug through one of the saddlebags on the ground until I found Nia’s small pack. Retrieving her magically enhanced warm blanket, I carefully picked her up from where she had crash-landed on Kaima’s back and wrapped her in the blanket. I carried her back to the campfire area and placed her in a good spot; close, but not where she would get sat on or disturbed. The next order of the day was food! I felt like I hadn’t eaten in months, and the magic users and Maya had to be starving.
From a short distance away, I heard a mouth-organ playing a tune and I looked over to see the last of Belrothe’s wagons being loaded up. I jogged over and was pleased to see the same older farmer we had talked to after the attack in the forest. He came striding toward me with a big grin on his face.
“I was hoping to be able to thank one of you in person!” he bellowed. “We saw your camp over there but we didn’t want to intrude; we all owe you folks so much!”
“We were glad to help, even if we aren’t paladins,” I snickered thinking about Maya’s reaction.
“My name’s Jostin, but everyone calls me Jo.” He chuckled deeply. “We’re just packing up the last of the food and bandages and stuff to take back to the village, and we hope to never see this place again ever!”
“Food?”
“Yeah, we brought a ton of it along from the village, but most of the people weren’t interested in eating; they just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.”
A few minutes later, I swaggered back into our camp fully laden with baskets of eggs, four arm-sized lengths of smoked sausage, loaves of fresh bread, a crock of butter and a bag of iced pastries, all of which the teamsters were more than happy to unload, especially to their saviors. In short order, I had the fire stoked and I was cooking again, smiling as I thought about how much I had missed this simple chore.
Waking Maya was easy; all I had to do was wave the huge plate of eggs and sausage in her general direction and she was sitting up, arms outstretched to receive it. Most of the food on her plate was already gone by the time I retrieved the toasted bread from the sticks I had placed next to the fire. She sighed contentedly, chomping on the thick slices of buttery goodness. Her big emerald eyes watched me as I played the fool and finally coaxed a small smile out of her.
“Alex, have I ever told you how much better life is when you are around?” she said huskily, a wide range of emotions and a few tears running down her face.
“Maya, I feel the same about you. I just had what seemed like months to consider the alternative, and it’s not something I ever want to do again,” I said quietly, refilling her plate and drinking in her nearness.
“Good, we’re agreed. You will never leave me again, your Queen commands it!”
“By your command, my Lady,” I chuckled and worked on preparing more food. Seemingly full for the time being, Maya snuggled back down into her blankets and for the first time, smiling, she drifted back to sleep.
The girls were also more than happy to be roused for feeding, and they raced through their meal almost as fast as Maya, but their eyes really lit up and they squealed with delight when they spotted the pastries. Once they were both sated and seemingly incapable of eating another bite, I tucked them back into their beds. Finally, I turned my attention to Nia, picking her up and bringing her close to the fire.
“Hey, little girl, you need to wake up and eat something.” Nia’s big eyes shot open and the tears started pouring out as she clutched me feebly.
“Mister Alex, I thought I had lost you. I can’t lose any more family, I just can’t!” she sobbed, and I felt tears well up in my own eyes. “I’m such a bad bodyguard, bad Nia!” she hissed angrily.
“Hey now, there was nothing you could have done. I’m still alive. Besides, you did something much more important for me; you had Maya’s back when I wasn’t around to be there for her!”
“Yeah, about that, Mister Alex,” Nia gulped nervously. “You can’t ever do anything like that again. No, I mean it. Maya really lost it in that cave last night; to say she went into a berserker rage would be comparing a fart to a hurricane! I think Winya was the only thing keeping her from the point of no return.”
“She’s right, Alex,” a very
haggard-sounding Winya whispered through our link. “Maya was very, very close to the abyss. It was bad; I tried to control her through the armor as much as I could, and I’m pretty sure I damaged our relationship in the process. But my primary mission is to protect her and I couldn’t lose another Queen, not like this. She hasn’t spoken to me since.” I think I heard tears forming in her voice.
“Winya, you did everything I could ever have expected of you. She had a big shock; I’m sure once she has recovered, things will return to normal. I will talk to her when she wakes up.”
“Thank you, Alex, I owe you everything as usual…” her voice trailed off listlessly.
“C’mon, Miss Super Pixie Wizard, let’s get you fed,” I said playfully, poking Nia in the stomach.
Letting the girls get some much needed sleep, I busied myself by cleaning up camp and scrubbing the crud off of Maya’s armor and rinsing it out. I found a small stream with some deep quiet holes a couple hundred yards from camp and made several trips to clean armor, rinse out and refill water skins, and clean cooking utensils. I even found time to strip out of my own gear and give it a much-needed rinse. The volume of crusty dried blood that rehydrated and was carried away in the current told me that whatever I had experienced in the Hell dimension was no dream. I took a swim while I was at it; after spending a few months in Hell, the icy cold water felt refreshing to say the least.
In the late part of the afternoon, I woke up the wizards and Maya and fed them the remainder of the eggs, sausage, bread, and pastries. They all went back to sleep while I contacted Rosa and we had an in-depth discussion about the amulet. She had some interesting ideas about making some modifications to it; and after consulting heavily with my mother, she and I spent the rest of the afternoon working on it. Waking the girls finally as the sun was getting low in the sky, I sent them down to the stream to clean up and dress, while I struck camp. We had agreed earlier that if we travelled all night, we could make the dark elf capital by early morning. Most of us could see perfectly well in the darkness, and it wouldn’t slow down the Vakhas in the slightest.
Just as we were about to saddle up in the deepening twilight, a figure appeared stalking toward us out of the rising ground mists. Casting back her hood; Belrothe appeared startled to see me as she gracefully walked up and bowed formally.
“Sir Alex, I am very surprised and happy to see you!” She smiled and then nodded somewhat nervously to Maya and the girls.
“Thank you, Lady Honalde, I am relieved to be back as well. Please accept my deepest condolences on your losses in Riverfield.” I could see her usually stony features cloud with predatory anger.
“Thank you. I wanted to report that I have evaluated most of the seventy or so that escaped last night’s ‘situation’ with whole skins.” She glanced warily at my dark elf. “I am now down to about forty of which I am reasonably sure of their loyalty, the rest were culled.” She shifted uncomfortably on her feet and looked like she wanted very badly to say something. Finally, she just sighed and spit it out. “Sir Alex, from what I have seen these past two days, I am convinced that you two are indeed the Children of Light and Darkness and that Pharmon is the great evil that opposes you. The evil bastard has attacked my person, my family, and those charges under me. Honalde blood is never spilled unanswered! Never! I now require vengeance for those slain. I pledge my service to you and your cause until this creature is destroyed forever. I have left my lands in the control of others, including my remaining grandson, and I am ready.”
I was taken aback for a moment, never expecting a twelve hundred year-old vampire to want to become one of the team. I could see a number of both advantages and disadvantages to the options; finally I nodded and replied, “Lady Honalde, any assistance you could provide would be welcome. Might I suggest that rather than coming along and fighting by our side, which could be difficult for you in the daylight hours, we give you a task more suited to your strengths?”
Her eyes narrowed inquisitively. “What exactly did you have in mind, Sir Knight?”
“You are among the oldest and most dominant of your kind, Lady,” I said pulling out the newly reworked amulet from my pouch. Startled she took a half step back and hissed. “Do not be afraid, my mentor and I have changed the nature of this version of the Amulet of Tepestra; it will now work for our cause.”
“In what way?”
“We have turned it into a demon magnet and prison, if you will. From now on, when it is in the close presence of one of the other five Amulets of Tepestra, it will draw the demon out of that amulet and chain it harmlessly within this one, rendering the other amulet useless.”
“And this will help destroy the Lifebane, how?” she queried, reaching up and absently brushing a few strands of blonde hair out of her eyes.
“With the other amulets, the Duke still commands a vast army of vampires, which are a deadly knife blade against the heart of our opposition,” I said, holding up the piece. “But an elder vampire such as you could use this to destroy his hold over the vampire legions and rob him of one of the most devastating weapons in his arsenal.”
“I see,” she said with a quirky smile. “I do know when I am being played, young Alex, and it’s not as satisfying as ripping the desiccated heart out of the damn lich. But as a leader myself, I am wise enough to recognize one must match strengths to weaknesses in battle. It is still an important role you give me and I will accept the task you offer.”
I handed the amulet over to her and watched her place it around her graceful neck. “Good fortune and fair winds, Lady Honalde.”
“Just make sure you kill the bastard for good this time,” she gritted, showing some impressive fangs, and with a wave to the others, disappeared back into the gloom.
…………………………………………….
Within the halls of the grievous tower, orange foxfire played uneasily along the dusty cobblestones leading to the grand throne room that had not seen good cheer in more than four centuries.
The large chair in the center of the room was occupied with its resident, a malignant darkness pressed against the light. The flames from the few wall sconces hanging precariously on the walls were stock still as if the firebrands themselves were afraid to move.
To the right of the throne lay a twisted body that had been carelessly thrown aside in a heap. A fresh trail of black blood pooled below a clenched fist that extended over the arm of the chair. What was formerly Duke Pharmon held a heart recently ripped out of the chest of its owner. Idly, he massaged it in his fingers like a sponge, a low growl churning in his throat.
Suddenly the sconce lights winked out in unison as arcane red light started to stretch out from the doorway and windows, eventually spider webbing across the ceiling. The figure in the chair stood up, took a step forward, and then went down hard on its knees. The sound of ancient bone like cracking bamboo twigs. Head down nearly to the floor, the necromancer waited.
Darkness oozed like spilled oil from the window that looked out over the brutal sea and rocks below, coalescing into a dark female form in an inky black dress. Her skin was coppery but her featureless eyes exactly matched the color of her garment.
What served for eyes of the fierce Duke looked up at her and rasped. “Delphine?”
A curvaceous mouth opened slightly revealing sharp onyx teeth, and laughed. “No, I am not your demon mistress, you pathetic worm.”
“Then why do you torment me so with her image?”
“Because it pleases me to do so,” she tittered, watching the Duke shift uneasily on the stone floor. “We have unfinished business, you and I. Do you not remember your Kerr master?”
“Four hundred years is a long time, Mistress; but, yes, I remember you as if it were yesterday.” The corpse growled, a strange broken-glass-over-stone sound.
“Funny, it’s been like five minutes to me,” she giggled, but then her voice hardened into something distinctly inhuman. “When you breathed your last, killed by that red-haired warrior,
you howled to the stars for vengeance. I was impressed and answered your plea, even though you had not yet fulfilled our original bargain. You swore to serve me faithfully for all time, did you not?”
“I did, and I have kept my part.”
“Hmmm…not so much. I gave you specific instructions and, amazingly, you have managed to flounder about and fail miserably so far. One, you were to destroy as many humans, elves, dwarves and magical beings as possible. Two, you were to be alert for signs of the Nova tampering with this world and, specifically, kill the Children of Light and Darkness. Three, destroy the Nova fortress now called Sky Raven. Any of this ringing a bell for you?”
“Mistress, my armies have conquered more than half of the known world, we are rooting out magic like rats under a chicken coop. Unfortunately, the Child of Light has proven to be ‘resourceful’ and has surrounded himself with capable companions.”
“I give you renewed existence, unlimited riches, off-world help and high-level demons, and that’s the excuse I hear? He’s surrounded by capable companions?” She paused and shook her head sadly and sighed, “I blame myself, actually. I know I should only be using still living necromancers, but then I hear these rage-filled, dying oaths and I turn to butter. Listen up, mush brain! Kill the magic, find those keystones, and drop them into the deepest ocean before they can be used to recharge that damn fortress; and, by the stars, kill the Child of Light or Child or Darkness…really! Either one will do, but get it done!”
“If it’s so easy to deal with the Child of Light, perhaps you should finish him yourself,” the Duke growled testily.
“Whoa, watch the attitude, you know it doesn’t work that way. We Kerr cannot kill Alex Martin anymore than the Nova can kill you; against the rules.”
“Bah! Rules, what rules do such as we follow?”
The image that was not a woman stamped her foot and squealed angrily, “You really did not just include your pathetic dung-brained existence on a par with me, did you?”
“No, Mistress.”
Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) Page 22
