JOURNEY OF THE SACRED KING II

by JANRAE FRANK

  "Forgive me," she murmured to the corpse and left. When she got back to her companions, she deflected their questions with a shake of her head. "I found a body. Badly chewed up. There were shifter prints all around it. We'd better get moving, lest they come back."

  * * * *

  They made cold camps for the next two nights. Each evening Gloriel scouted further and further afield, watching for fresh shifter spoor. The third night she did not return.

  Josiah squatted beside Aejys. "You should get some sleep. I'm sure she'll be back by morning."

  "No. I'm not resting until she returns. Even if it delays us."

  Dree sat idly drawing circles on the ground. "I agree. I don't like this one bit."

  The wind shifted at dawn and Dree tensed. "There's something out there. I smell them."

  Something large hurled from the trees, landed near them, and lay still. Aejys leaped to her feet and reached it first. It was Gloriel – or what was left of her. Aejys touched her throat, finding a thready pulse.

  Gloriel opened her eyes, "Hoon is here," she said and died.

  Growling began all around them. Josiah reached for the flask in his pocket. Something landed on his back, sending him into the dirt, the flask skidded from his grasp and into the bushes. He twisted, drew his knives, and raked the blades across the throat and face of a shifter-wolf. The creature released him, clutching its throat. Josiah saw six coming out of the darkness and heard still more racing behind them.

  "Run!" Josiah yelled. "There's too many!"

  Aejys ran. She hated it. She wanted desperately to stand and fight. She cursed her hands and then Margren.

  Josiah fled down the path in Aejys' wake, desperate to prevent their getting past him and reaching Aejys. He heard a Valdren scream and die. Reaching for the horn, he found it gone and cursed silently. A huge tree three myn wide rose to his left. He slowed, stepping aside and listening for pursuit. When the howling grew near, Josiah moved suddenly into their path. He spitted the first one as the second skidded into them, knocking the first farther up his blade before he could free it. The blade twisted from his grasp as the full weight of the dead creature settled on it. Josiah drew his sword as he was slammed to his knees by the second creature. He brought the pommel down hard on the shifter's head, stunning it and slashed its throat with his knife. Then he sprang to his feet and ran again. He saw the flash of Aejys' blue tunic; she was getting farther and farther away from him. Josiah slowed to a jog, taking the descent to the river below them cautiously. If someone had to die, he would rather it was him than Aejys. He had no idea where Dree was.

  Each shifter that tried to get past him in pursuit of Aejys died. He would turn and fight, then run again. He caught a flash of movement and something hit him from the side before he could turn. His hand struck a rock, his fingers went numb, and the sword skittered from his grasp. Teeth sank into his arm. He cried out in pain. Another ripped into his leg. They swarmed over him in a sea of fangs. Josiah twisted, kicking and striking with motions made desperate by the sheer press of their numbers as they began to leave bone deep tears in his limbs. As quickly as he freed himself from the grip of one, another would have him – but more frequently it was several. A shifter bit at his stomach, but the corselet held. That shifter sprang onto the middle of him and went for his throat. Before the teeth could find their mark, a tremendous winged beast descended, seized the shifter, and tore its head off, throwing the body into the trees. The other shifters released him and drew back, retreating into the shadows. Josiah lay for a moment, his dark hair falling about his face like a partially obscuring veil; struggling to stay conscious; wondering if the creature had merely saved him to eat him instead. Gryphon ... red gryphon. Then the bellyband, saddle-straps, and stirrups registered in his fading awareness. "Guildsmon..." He gasped out as consciousness failed him.

  "Sic'em, Little Bit," Talons ordered, dropping to her knees beside Josiah. The gryphon gave a shrill cry and set off in pursuit. She could see his chest rise and fall, so she knew he was alive. "Josiah?" Talons touched him and he roused enough to say her name before sinking back into oblivion, just that and no more.

  "Talons."

  The assassin set her pack down and started pulling out soft white cloths, and a flask of water. The Horn of Sephree hung around her neck, the leather shortened by make-do mending. She cleaned and bound his wounds, getting nothing further from him than small pain noises. Talons raised a small silver whistle to her lips and blew. Humans could not hear the sound, but the gryphon came crashing through the trees a few minutes later. Little Bit stood twenty-five hands at the shoulder, his body long and golden; wings, shoulders, forelegs, and head covered in bright red feathers with a deep mulberry crest. He lowered his head and rubbed against Talons, crooning affectionately. Talons kissed his cheek, then pushed him away. She stood up, pulling her gear from his back. She wrapped Josiah in her blankets, then settled in the curve of Little Bit's body and slept.

  "Talons?"

  Josiah's voice woke her as the sun broke over the horizon sending fingers of new gold through the trees. Talons opened her eyes. Josiah was pale, lines of pain etched like canyons in his face; desperation pooling in his eyes.

  "The others? Did you see the others?"

  "No,' she said, cold and distant; her face utterly without emotion. "There are no others. All I've found is scattered bodies."

  Josiah tensed, turning his head away with a sharp intake of breath. "That can't be. I can't be the last ... the only one left."

  "I assure you, I have not found a living soul. Just dead ones."

  "Aejys? Did you find her?"

  "If you mean did I find her body, no."

  A tiny hope flared and he asked, "Dree?"

  "I don't know what she looks like in catkin form, so I couldn't say if any of those bodies I found were hers. They were all badly mauled. Two of them had no face left."

  Josiah fell silent. He had not allowed himself to get to really know any of the Valdren except Gloriel – he had been too busy caring for his crippled lover.

  "The shifters that bit you ... were they moonies or choosers?"

  "Don't know."

  "You need to get these wounds Read. Is there a chance Aejys Rowan could still be alive?"

  "Yes. I suspect that Mephistis suffers from deijanzael. There's a mortgiefan link between them. Either he takes her back to the castle to do it or he sets up out here, which would take time. At least a day or two." Gods, I pray he did not take her to the castle ... I'd never reach her. Josiah's eyes closed briefly, fighting back the fear that she might already be lost.

  "The pass is six days south on horseback. That's a few hours on Little Bit. Even riding double."

  "You'll help?"

  "That's why I'm here. Hadjys has sent word that she is to be protected at all cost. The whole Guild is on alert. Something's going on. I've seen fireborn sweeping the area. Little Bit and I had to hide from them. That's how I lost track of you."

  "Why hide from the fireborn?"

  "Did you get a look at Little Bit? He's a red. They only leave the blues alone. They might have attacked first and asked questions later. I could not take that chance."

  Josiah nodded.

  "You're lucky to be alive," Talons told him. "You're in bad shape. If there were some close place to leave you behind safely, I would." She bundled her gear, securing it to Little Bit's saddle.

  "No." Josiah stood. The pain in his legs nearly dropped him and he had to lock his knees to keep from falling.

  "You should have waited," Talons admonished him. " Let me help you. Push too hard and you'll make it worse. You could cripple yourself."

  Josiah shook his head. "We have to get going. I can't give them time to kill her."

  "You must love her."

  "More than life itself."

  Talons could understand that. It mirrored her feelings for Edouina. An image of Dynarien flashed across her mind. She loved him too. That was the male she wanted, not Bryndel. She rememb
ered all the times Dynarien had tried to talk her out of a simple kiss and then how he had kept to his promise of no touching in spite of finding her naked on two occasions. Then he had just held and comforted her. She allowed herself a tiny smile and muttered, "Silly rakehell."

  "What?"

  "Thinking aloud." Talons climbed into the saddle, fastened straps around herself, and extended her hand to Josiah. He climbed up behind her.

  "Hold onto me," she told him. "We're going to find them."

  "Do you have any liquor? I can't access the magic without it."

  "No."

  * * * *

  Aejys fled heedlessly down the slope. Gloriel had told her the river lay in this direction and was not far. She ran until she felt as if her lungs would burst, plunging through the undergrowth. Screams and howls filled the air behind her. Dree broke suddenly from cover at her feet in cat form.

  < Run! Run. Run. > Dree sent.

  A stitch caught in her side and she faltered a few steps. She glanced back, hearing a cry, recognizing Josiah's voice. She saw the battlemage fall, shifters swarming over him. For one brief instant she could not move.

  < Run! > Dree's voice came back at her, forcing her from her paralysis of grief.

  Aejys ran, tears streaming down her face. She did not know that she fled, not from danger, but from rescue unlooked for. She burst through a thick cluster of tall bushes and onto the riverbank. Dree waited there, but as soon as she saw Aejys she jumped into the river. It was shallow there. Aejys followed her. They kept close to the edge where a dense curtain of trees and brush concealed them as they fled. The water deepened steadily and by midday Dree had moved to ride on Aejys' shoulder. Aejys' pace slowed as she tired.

  < Not much farther... a place to hide. >

  "Good," Aejys whispered, wishing she could send the way Dree did, dreading the possibility that even a single soft word could alert their pursuers to where they were. The punishing pace she had set and the exhaustion that followed kept her grief at bay. She knew there was no way that Josiah could have survived. Aejys began to suspect that death would not be such a bad thing if she could die on her own terms and not Margren's ... but with her soul unclean, that was not an option – to die only to rise undead, her soul sheathed in cold, rotting flesh, stalking her loved ones...

  She remembered an ancient tradition among the paladins of the primitive tribes from which both the Sharani and the Waejontori rose. If their souls became unclean they buried their sword hilt in the ground and threw themselves on the blade. When the undeath came on them, the sword – still lodged in their hearts – destroyed them. She had found a description of it in an obscure book as an adolescent. If she had had a blade and the use of her hands it would have been a better thing to do than fall into Margren's hands again – especially since the intention of Mephistis was to take her in a rite of mortgiefan.

  < There! >

  Dree jumped onto the bank. A tremendous tree grew at the waters edge, its roots draped over a broad cracked stone, half of them dangling exposed into the water like a knotty curtain. A widening part opened above the water. Dree squeezed in.

  < Under the water ... an opening ... it's like a cave in here. >

  Aejys took a breath and dove under, hooking her wrists on the largest root to keep the current from sweeping her away. She saw it. Her shoulders were almost too broad to get through. She squirmed and twisted. Her lungs screamed for air. Aejys shoved hard at the riverbed with her feet and then she was through. Her head broke the surface, gasping. Aejys climbed higher, pulling herself into the crack of the stone above the water's reach.

  "How did you know this was here?" Aejys whispered, still afraid to speak aloud.

  < I grew up here. This was my secret place. >

  Aejys started to ask another question, but exhaustion overwhelmed her and she slept.

  * * * *

  Aejys woke to the smell of fish. Dree had gone fishing while she slept. She now sat cleaning five fish, her claws halfway between hands and paws, using her nails like a blade and throwing the entrails into the water.

  < I know you don't like raw food, but a fire would give us away. >

  "I'm not hungry ... I keep thinking about Josiah."

  < Josiah? > Dree began eating the fish.

  "Didn't you see? He's dead ... I saw it ... they got him."

  Dree dropped her fish, making an unhappy noise. < That's why you stopped? >

  "Yes ... if you hadn't called out again, they would have had me too."

  < You must force a few bites down to keep your strength up. If you don't get the sword, Josiah will have died in vain. >

  "Died in vain. I don't want that. You would have made a good soldier."

  < No. I'm a minstrel. It's the wisdom of the songs. >

  * * * *

  Carliff sat in a huge chair in his upstairs study where he held small councils before a fire that could not warm him. Skin the texture of old leather and the color of ancient parchment stretched tight over his fleshless bones. He stood nearly seven feet tall. Three of his closest advisors sat beside him: two vampires and a lich.

  An urgent rapping on the door preceded the entry of a vampire in black and gold surcoat over blackened plate armor.

  "Hoon is in Norendel, My Liege," the newcomer said.

  "I have not sensed him." The lich king replied.

  "We found bodies six days east of Fireborn Pass. Three dead Valdren, a couple of shifters in Hoon's livery, and one we did not recognize. That one wore this," he put a golden charm in Carliff's bony hand, it was a dragon clutching three rowans.

  The lich advisor leaned close to see the object. "Margren. She's come after the children. And her sister, no doubt."

  "One of the dead was Gloriel. She'd been torn to pieces."

  "Gloriel," the lesser lich said sadly. "She was a fine ranger and a good friend."

  "No," Carliff snarled suddenly. "Gloriel was leading Aejystrys Rowan's party. Sound the arm and mount. We're heading for the pass."

  The vampire, sitting at Carliff's left hand, asked, "Sire, how has Hoon escaped our notice?"

  "I don't know, but we're going to find out. Tell my liches to prepare and open the southwest Gate Arcane."

  "At once, Sire." The vampire rose and departed.

  * * * * *

  Aejys and Dree followed the river for half a day. The grass and bushes gave way to scattered trees and long patches of weather smoothed stone lying in sliced layers like stacks of plates. They were running out of cover. Dree took the point, darting across the open spaces, going from boulder to boulder to outcropping. Aejys followed. The river widened into shallow wings where it lay half blocked by huge stones.

  Dree jumped onto a large rock, scrambled across, and sprang to the next.

  Aejys followed. Spray, from the water striking stone, misted around them.

  The far side was broad agate shelves with no cover at all.

  < Down the shelves and across the meadow. There is forest beyond it. >

  "Sounds like a bad place to be caught in the open."

  < No choice. The mountain you want is on the other side of the forest. Just run full out and pray. We can't go back. They'll catch us. >

  "And there could be more of them down here somewhere waiting for us."

  Dree made an unhappy noise, jumping onto Aejys' shoulder again.

  Aejys jogged down the shelves toward the meadow, intending to hold back for a burst across the green. Howling erupted behind her. Aejys lengthened her stride, praying desperately that there were not more of them ahead, that she and Dree would not soon find themselves bracketed. Her foot touched the meadow. The ground rose slightly to her left and she could not see what was over the small rise. She sprinted for the trees three hundred yards beyond the grassy stretch. She closed the distance quickly. Once among the trees she would have a chance to lose them again. She started to hope only to have her fears realized as a dozen large wolf-like creatures burst out from the forest. Aejys s
werved away from the compromised shelter of the trees without breaking stride, but as fast as she was, she was not fast enough. They coursed her like hounds, running to all sides. A heavy weight crashed into her back, teeth closed on her leg. She staggered and fell. Dree leaped away, fleeing. Aejys lashed out with her foot, hearing the crunch of shattering bone as the blow connected. She rolled, coming to her feet. Her leg hurt and burned. She got three steps, unable to find her stride again. They pulled her down, tearing at her, clinging to her flesh like ticks. She threw her arms up instinctively to protect her face and the blood, pouring from her arms, got in her eyes, blinding her for a moment. A loud, cruel laugh sounded in her ears as chill fingers touched her temples with a word of command, and she fell away into darkness. By a stroke of mischance she had entered the meadow just four hundred yards from the camp that lay beyond the small rise where she could never have seen it.

  * * * *

  Aejys hung stripped to the waist, her arms fastened to the branches above her and her legs to the trunk. They had positioned her so that she faced Dree – spellcorded to prevent her shape shifting – and three others who must have been villagers, all tied to trees and stripped. They were at the far corner of the camp, which occupied a greensward, mostly in the open. There were several tents nearby. A male hung upside down from a pole, his throat cut, his head tied back, and his blood draining into a large basin. Two ghouls hovered about him, licking his legs in anticipation of being given the remains. The undead moved about on various errands, mostly skeleton warriors. Aejys counted at least four who were clearly vampires and twice that many necari and sa'necari. She saw Margren and Mephistis talking with a tall, well-built mon in crimson velvet and silk who showed long fangs when he laughed. Aejys guessed that Mephistis had found a way to shield them from Carliff's notice, otherwise they would not have camped so openly in the lich king's lands.