Kastle moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Gently kissing her neck he said, “We might not agree on your lifestyle but you’ll always have a friend in me.”
As she turned to face him, Kastle could tell that she was feeling guilty about their tryst. Not wanting to complicate things or drive her away, he released her and turned back to his room. “Now, let me gather up a few things and let’s go have a chat with this assassin.”
Chapter 8
The first thing Tao noticed when they entered the village gates were the guards. They seemed to be either very young or very old. They were probably the ones unable to work the fishing nets. He did notice that they were all dressed in brown leather breastplates and armed with short swords and spears. No bows were visible but that didn’t mean they weren’t around somewhere.
The companions weren’t accosted as they entered but it was obvious that they were being watched constantly. Armed guards walked the wooden ramparts and a few guards followed behind them as they moved through the town. There seemed to be only one road, if that was what the dirt path could be called, which led to the center of town where historically the most important buildings in a village would be found.
With wide eyes, Arieal gazed around at the drab buildings and sarcastically asked to no one in particular. “I wonder if they have a Starbucks?”
Gamble snorted. “I doubt it but it would be nice.”
Since no one else laughed at her poor joke, the dark elf in disguise turned her attention back to their surroundings. After a few minutes, she finally realized what was bothering her about the villagers and nudged Tao’s shoulder. “They’re staring at you.”
Dragging his mind away from the martial designs of the town, he focused his attention on the townsfolk. She was right. They were staring. Not at the dwarf or the ladies but at him. Tao looked down at himself. He wasn’t very tall, being just over five foot. His skin was the golden hue of the oriental people while his hair was jet black and pulled back into a ponytail. He imagined he looked like Bruce Lee with long hair. He didn’t think that he looked intimidating. He had opted not to wear his armor but just a simple black and red silk keiokgi with his swords tucked into his belt. Of course, the silk robe made visible part of his dragon tattoo which ran from the hara, the spot two inches above his navel, up across his chest around his back to the left side of his neck until it ended with the head of the dragon rearing on his left cheek. It was the mark of the Kensai or sword saint in Nippon.
When they reached the town square, the companions were confronted with a large crowd both in front and behind them. Tao made a mental note that every citizen seemed to be armed with some sort of weapon, be it a frying pan or an axe handle. This was not good.
Tao stopped and causally nudged Arieal back to stand with Cozad, Moira and Gamble. Glancing around, he didn’t see Mathias or Pixi. The archer had probably blended into the crowd and the faerie was invisible. Good. At least they had a couple aces up their sleeves if things went bad. Tao stepped forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Bjǿrn was standing behind him and slightly to his left.
Keeping his hands away from his weapons, Tao held them up in what he thought would be a non-threatening manner. “We come in peace. We mean you no harm.”
Many in the crowd began to mutter amongst themselves and that scared Tao more than anything. A crowd was one thing, an angry mob was another. Seeing the crowd’s fear of them growing was like watching the embers of a fire slowly eat at dry twigs. There was heat, there was fuel, now all it needed was a spark and the crowd would turn into a mob.
Tao tried diplomacy again. “I can see that we are not welcome. That’s fine. We’ll leave. We’re just lost travelers and wanted information.”
A young guard spoke up first. “Nice try Atlantean. We’ll not fall for that line again.”
Sensing an opening, Tao focused his attention on the spokesman. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re strangers to your land. We’re not Atlanteans.”
“Liar, you wear the mark!” The young guard looked at the crowd and yelled, “Atlanteans cannot be trusted!”
The crowd roared their approval and many took a slight step forward. The mood of the crowd was shifting and not in the companion’s favor.
Bjǿrn said, “It doesn’t look like it is going well.”
Tao nodded. “I don’t think we’re going to get out of here without a fight.”
“I agree but they’ll be on the losing side.”
Before Tao could respond, a high pitched horn blast echoed through the town square. The companions were unsure of what it heralded but the townsfolk obviously recognized it because they surged forward. Emboldened by the arrival of the horn blowers, the brash young guard leveled his spear at Tao’s chest and charged.
Back in the real world, Mac had been a student of the martial arts for many years having attained Black Belts in both TaeKwonDo and Judo, not to mention his extensive combat training during his stint as an Army Ranger. One thing he had always read about and only a few times attained was the state of Zanshin.
Zanshin had been called many things over the years; the zone, the empty mind, Zen mind and enlightenment just to name a few. It is the mindset of body and mind working in perfect harmony. Sports celebrities talk about how their game was ‘on’ and everything was just right, like when the basketball player is shooting from outside the three-point line and sinking every single shot. Marine and Army snipers talk about becoming one with the shot, where they can almost see the wind and visualize the drift the bullet will travel when making a eight hundred meter shot. Zanshin is that moment in time when conscious thought disappears and the body reacts without thought. It is a beautiful thing when it happens. However, to your opponent, it is deadly.
As the guard attacked, Tao reacted. As a by-product of being his avatar, he entered zanshin at the outset of battle. Drawing both blades in one fluid motion, he executed two strikes in the same motion; one strike sliced the spear shaft in half, the other cut a slash across the young man’s chest. It was not enough of a wound to kill him but one that would be bloody and painful. Stepping back with both swords at the ready, Tao bellowed loudly.
In the martial arts, the yell was known as a ki-hap or spirit-shout. It was used to startle your opponents and to help focus a practitioner’s energy. Tao used it now to startle the crowd and it worked. The surging mob faltered and stopped at the sight of the bloody guard and the fierce warrior with the twin swords, one of which was coated in ice.
They were at an impasse.
The mob was unsure of what to do and the companions feared to move or say anything that might disrupt the delicate stalemate. Time passed and Tao dared to believe that they might make it out of this situation without having to kill anyone. Suddenly, a stray arrow came from the back of the crowd and struck Moira in the shoulder.
As she fell with a scream, pandemonium took over.
The mob surged forward and Bjǿrn went berserk. Hearing his wife scream in pain caused Bjǿrn to shape-shift into his were-bear form in a matter of seconds and attack. Anyone and anything in his way became fair game. He was so crazy with rage that his seven foot claymore fell to the ground forgotten. He was just using his massive strength and claws to smash aside anyone foolish enough to enter his range.
Cozad’s first instinct was to attack. His Chaos mind-set wanted to crush the foolish peasants but it was his duty to guard the ladies from the onrushing mob. He struggled for a second or two before planting his feet and readying his battle-axe. Anyone who entered his reach was going to pay a bloody toll for their foolishness.
Arieal felt her motherly instincts kick in when Moira went down. Pulling off her scarf, she held it to the wound in hopes of controlling the bleeding. The druid was already pale and seemed to be entering the early stages of shock. Annie tried her best to remember her first aid training. She knew there was something about keeping her warm and elevating her feet. She couldn’t remem
ber why but she doubted that she would have time to do it anyway, given their current situation.
Mathias had slipped off to the side at the first sign of the crowd following the companions. He was completely unseen by everyone which was fine by him. Although, his Archer persona was more at home in the wilds, the Matthew mind-set was more comfortable in the crowded cities. Growing up in Denver gave him a familiarity with the abundant shadows and tight alleys of city life. Climbing onto the rooftops had been easy. Moving from rooftop to rooftop unseen by the guards wasn’t exactly easy but wasn’t too difficult either. Mathias was just about to fire on the crowd when he heard the high-pitched horn. From his vantage-point on the roof, he could tell it was coming from the skies and not the ocean. Scanning the horizon, he caught sight of the five incoming beasts that his half-elf mindset recognized as wyverns.
Wyverns were a distant relative of dragons with large bat-like wings and extremely long tails. Although they didn’t have the deadly breath weapon of their larger cousins, wyverns have a stinger on their tails with a poison more lethal than any scorpion venom.
Mathias was as shocked as everyone when the arrow came from the back of the crowd. Dropping all pretense of concealment, the archer began firing indiscriminately at the mob. It was simple. If they were moving toward his friends they were a target. If they were moving away, they were safe from his arrows.
Tao heard the wyvern-riders before he saw them. The flapping of their wings and the shrill cry of the wyverns was unmistakable. He wasn’t sure how he knew that but he did. He was extremely busy with the guards to do more than register their arrival. One part of his mind stayed on the problem. Would the newcomers be friends or foes? Only time would tell. When the wyvern-riders swooped down on the crowd, most of the mob fled in panic and it was obvious to Tao that the riders were feared by the townsfolk.
On their second pass, the first two riders fired their crossbows at Bjǿrn. Neither arrow pierced the were-bear’s fur but they did manage to get his attention. As he roared his disapproval of the wyvern-riders, the next pair made their pass. However, they didn’t shoot arrows at the lycanthrope. They each fired a net with weights on all four corners. Their aim was perfect. Both nets struck Bjǿrn and in seconds he was completely immobilized.
The fifth and final rider fired his net at Tao on his pass. However, Tao was more agile than the were-bear and dodged to one side. Before the samurai could recover and move to free his friend, the first two wyvern-riders had swooped back down, grabbed the trussed up lycanthrope and flew off.
Tao took one step to follow before stopping.
This was his worst nightmare. A party member kidnapped, another one injured and the rest surrounded. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed movement and ducked reflexively. A lone guard had used the distraction of the wyvern-riders to get within striking distance of the samurai.
Before Tao could counterattack, a goose-feathered arrow sprouted from the guard’s chest. He glanced at the rooftop and saw Mathias’s smug grin. Tao thanked him with a nod and pointed at the fleeing wyverns. The Archer nodded once and was gone.
Having a slight break in combat, Tao moved back to his companions and asked, “How bad is she?”
Gamble shrugged. “Unknown. She’s unconscious at the moment and has lost a lot of blood.”
“Can you carry her?”
Gamble nodded. “Yes. It might not be good for her but I can manage.”
“Good. We are leaving. Cozad you have point.”
“Understood,” replied the Dreadknight. His eyes had already shifted from the blue fire of contentment to the smoldering purple of controlled rage.
Pixi popped into view right overhead. “There’s a small gathering of townsfolk trying to block the gate.”
Tao replied, “They won’t stop us. They’ll move or we will move them, one way or the other. Now let’s roll.”
Gamble lifted the injured druid and followed the armored Dreadknight with Arieal and Pixi in tow. Only a few guards stepped out to meet them and they were quickly dispatched by Cozad. Once they reached the gates, the companions found a gathering of twenty townsfolk. A simple sleep spell from Pixi knocked out half their numbers. Couple that with the sight of the glowing purple eyes of the Dreadknight carrying Bjǿrn’s seven foot long claymore convinced the rest that they had somewhere better to be.
Moments later, they were out of the gates and into the wilds. They hadn’t really gained any information for their efforts and one of their companions had been captured but they were alive…which meant they had another chance.
Chapter 9
By the time Kastle and Callistra arrived at her cabin it was an hour past noon. They found the assassin lying on her doorstep still bound by the magical black bands. Kastle lifted the assassin out of the way with ease and followed his beautiful companion inside. This was the first time he’d been invited to visit his lover’s home. It was a simple three-room log cabin in a secluded clearing at the northeast edge of the Dark Forest.
Kastle paused as he entered the cabin. Although it was a simple design, it was ingeniously built with the main room, kitchen and bedroom surrounding a large stone fireplace in the center of the cabin where its heat would radiate into all three rooms. Kastle really didn’t want to know how she came in possession of the cabin. He gestured with the bound assassin. “Where?”
As Callistra left the main room for her bedroom, she just waved her hand. “Anywhere is fine.”
Dumping him in a beautifully hand-carved chair, Kastle pulled out a length of rope from his backpack and began wrapping the arms and chest of the Hashāshīn. Satisfied with his handiwork, he stepped back. “Alright assassin. It’s time we had a talk. In a moment we’re going to release the magical bands which are holding you but I suggest you don’t try to escape until we’ve had a chance to get to know one another better. Alright?”
Tariq couldn’t reply since he was effectively gagged by the sorcerous ribbons but the stare he gave the holy man was full of anger and hatred.
When Callistra reentered the room, both men followed the beautiful vampyress with their eyes as she moved over to a small cage. Lifting the lid, she pulled out a solid black scorpion that was at least eight inches long and placed it on Tariq’s chest. Gracing him with a crooked smile she said, “No sudden moves. If my pet feels threatened or jostled, he has a tendency to sting. Of course, the choice is entirely yours.”
After a moment she asked, “Do you understand or shall I have my pet demonstrate?”
Tariq nodded, then thought about it and shook his head. He couldn’t remember which was the right answer, was it yes or no?
Whichever was the right answer Callistra was satisfied and pulled out her wand. With a simple flick of the wrist, she tapped the tip of the wand to the black bands and they dissolved in to nothing.
Tariq asked, “What right do you have to hold me? I know my rights. You can’t hold me.”
Kastle chuckled. “First, let’s get something straight. You aren’t in America or Canada or even East-bumble-fuck Egypt. You are in Hyperborea and here, might makes right. Currently we have power over you which gives us the right to do what we please. We have the right to hold you captive, turn you into a slave or kill you. It is our choice not yours. Is that clear?”
Tariq flexed his shoulders and started to lean forward with the intention of standing up. That was until the scorpion shifted positions and flicked its tail. Tariq hesitated and then slowly shifted his weight back into the chair. He swallowed hard before speaking. “Clear. What is it that you want?”
“Information.”
“What kind of information?”
“Let’s start simple with introductions. I’m Kastle and the lovely young lady behind me is Callistra. What’s your name?”
“Tariq al’Nasir al’Rafiq of the Hashāshīn Order.”
“What brought you to Hyperborea?”
“Al Shaytan.”
“Where are your companions?”
Tariq spit in
the cleric’s face. “In Hell for all I care.”
Kastle calmly wiped off the spit and looked at his companion. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. You want to try?”
Callistra stood up and moved behind the assassin. Leaning down, she whispered in his left ear but loud enough that Kastle would hear what she said. “I can make you talk.” She shifted to his other ear. “I know something very important about you, something that you don’t even know about yourself.”
As she slid her arms around his chest she leaned in and nibbled on his neck, Tariq found it very erotic and enticing. When she shifted her hands lower, he felt his pulse quicken at her touch. However, when she grabbed his dagger and pulled it away, he tensed and started to rise once again. When the scorpion crawled the few remaining inches until it stood over his left carotid artery, Tariq froze.
Callistra moved into view. “This is beautiful. It’s a dagger of venom, right? Or should I call it a katar since it’s crafted in the Arabic fashion of a punch dagger?”
Seeing the assassin’s eyes widen as she handled his blade, she continued talking. “This was the weapon given to you by Al Shaytan. No use trying to deny it, his mark is right here on the tang. Right now you just think this is a magnificent magical item but it is more…much more. Shall I tell you about it?”
Callistra moved over to the sofa about fifteen feet away from the bound assassin and sat down. Tariq had no idea why but there was a tightness in his stomach that wasn’t there a few moments ago. He felt feverish and began to sweat. His first thought was that the scorpion had already stung him. When the witch began to twirl his dagger around, he felt his eyes drawn to the magical blade and the longing to hold it in his hands began to grow. It was his blade after all. Why should he let the witch hold it?
Callistra’s smile didn’t reach her eyes when she asked, “Do you feel it? The need to hold this? Is it gaining strength? Now imagine if I were to drop this in the deepest ocean. How would you feel? I’ll tell you how. You would do anything to retrieve it. The compulsion would be so strong it could drive you to try and swim to the bottom of the ocean. And why? Isn’t this just a magical dagger? A simple tool?”
Lost Lands: The Game - Atlantis Page 7
