‘May I ask,’ said Ashere, ‘whether you have found a role for our small force?’
Baldwin smiled. ‘Thank you for coming to help us,’ he said, making sure that he met eyes with both Farred and Brock as well as with Ashere. ‘You have arrived sooner than most of my dukes. I would like to think I would have done the same for your countries, but...anyway, I owe your people a debt of gratitude. To answer your question, Your Highness: yes. I do have a role for you. You are to check the advance of the enemy while my people escape.’
XXIV
Swift Magic
Belwynn did her best to put the sights of the Great Road behind her as the group continued their journey westwards. Everyone was quiet, however, and that did not make it easy. The whole experience had been very unsettling. The Drobax were a disturbing intrusion into the world she thought she knew.
Grienna was not a large state, and it did not take them long to travel the width of it. The major settlements were clustered around the Great Road, which fed their economies. But travel a few miles either way and the ancient forests of Dalriya reclaimed their dominance of the landscape. It was not long after midday that they found the terrain getting more difficult and the signs of human habitation disappearing.
They pressed on. As was usual by now, Gyrmund led the way. He was taking them in a north-westerly direction, hoping to cut into the centre of the lands of the Grand Caladri and find the inhabitants. The forests of the Grand Caladri were larger than those of the Blood Caladri. That meant they would be even more sparsely settled. Soren pointed out that finding the Caladri would be almost impossible. They would have to hope that, instead, the Caladri would find them.
As time went by, Gyrmund began muttering to himself. Then he abruptly stopped.
‘We’ve been past here already,’ he exclaimed angrily.
‘Are you sure?’ asked Belwynn.
‘Yes. I’ve had the feeling awhile. At first I thought I was going mad. So I snapped a twig.’
Gyrmund pointed to a low hanging branch of a tree a few feet in front of him. A twig lay hanging down from it at head height, snapped but still attached.
‘Well, stop taking us the wrong way,’ suggested Herin.
‘I’m not!’ shouted Gyrmund.
‘Calm it,’ said Soren. ‘This is the work of the Grand Caladri. They are stronger magic users than the Blood Caladri. They have always used magic to defend their boundaries rather than weapons. They obviously confuse anyone who tries to get too far.’
‘Then how can you stop it?’ asked Gyrmund.
‘I can’t!’ snapped Soren.
Now he seemed to be losing his temper. He held his hands up in an apology and took a deep breath.
‘Sorry. It’s happening again. They are casting a subtle sort of magic which encourages people to fight with each other. I suspect that most unwanted intruders end up killing each other so that the Grand Caladri don’t have to bother. Anyway, we’ll have to control ourselves and be careful. Especially you two,’ he said, gesturing at Herin and Gyrmund.
Herin and Gyrmund stood sour-faced, but said nothing.
‘So, Soren,’ began Belwynn carefully, ‘any ideas what we should do?’
‘Not really. There’s no point carrying on. I guess we just wait here and hope they come to us. That’s the trouble with shutting yourself away from the world. You cut off potential friends as well as enemies.’
‘Why should they come to us?’ asked Moneva.
Soren shrugged. ‘Perhaps we look more interesting than the usual visitor?’
‘Well I would think so,’ said Herin. ‘A one-eyed Krykker for a start…’
Herin realised what he had done in mid-speech and clapped a hand over his own mouth.
‘Sorry,’ he said to Rabigar.
Rabigar shrugged the insult away.
‘I think I’ll go for a walk and cool down,’ Herin said.
‘I wouldn’t,’ said Soren. ‘You might never find us again. I think we should all rest up here for a while. Gyrmund, maybe you could start a fire?’
The group sat down around Gyrmund’s fire. There was an uneasy feeling amongst them, and most people took the chance to eat their midday meal in relative silence.
Perhaps an hour went by before the Caladri arrived. Where the Blood Caladri had intercepted them with an armed group of soldiers, the Grand Caladri had apparently sent only one person.
He was dressed in loose tunic and trousers and carried no weapons that Belwynn could see. Belwynn knew that didn’t necessarily make him any less dangerous.
Wizard, said Soren, confirming her suspicions.
The Caladri wizard approached from the direction they had been heading in. He walked slowly, but with the same jerky motion Belwynn had noticed amongst the Blood Caladri. He had a long, grey beard that covered his facial features and went down to his chest. It was difficult to place an age on the Caladri they had met, since they had longer life spans than humans. But Belwynn decided that this man was of the generation between Szabolcs and Prince Lorant.
The group hastily stood up as he approached. He stopped a few feet from them and stood still for a while, observing. Did Belwynn feel a feather-light touch on her mind? She couldn’t be sure.
No one said anything. The group had become accustomed to taking the lead from Soren in these situations. He seemed content to wait for the Grand Caladri to speak, and so everyone waited.
‘You are not from Ishari.’
It sounded like a statement rather than a question, but Soren nodded to confirm it.
‘You bring news of the invasion?’
The invasion? Does he mean that Ishari has invaded the Empire? Belwynn asked her brother.
I don’t know what he means.
‘We bring news from Prince Lorant of the Blood Caladri and from Emperor Baldwin of Brasingia,’ said Soren. ‘This news is about the threat from Ishari. However, we have been travelling, and have not heard from the south for a while. Has the Empire been attacked?’
‘Quite possibly, but I have no news of that myself. I speak of the Ishari attack on our lands. They are mounting their challenge now. The news you bring us is perhaps redundant now?’
‘I don’t think so,’ replied Soren, ‘I think it’s vitally important.’
‘You must understand,’ said the wizard. ‘Time is short and all enchanters are needed for the defence. Why should I expend my energies on bringing you into our lands when they are needed to defend them? You must give me an acceptable answer.’
Soren thought about it. Before he came up with a reply, Elana answered for him.
‘We bring tidings from Lady Onella. She has told us how to defend Dalriya from Ishari.’
The wizard’s eyes widened a little at the answer to his question. He stood looking intently at Elana for a while. Again, Belwynn wondered whether he was using magic to search within her, checking on the truth of what she said.
‘Very well,’ he said eventually. ‘Your presence may be important. We have no time to go by foot. I must transport you inside. I will get little help to do that, and it is costly. The more people I transport, the more difficult it is. Must you all enter our lands?’
They all looked about at each other. How could they decide who was important and who wasn’t?
‘I think we all should go,’ said Belwynn honestly.
The wizard nodded his acceptance of this.
‘My name is Ignac. Please follow me.’
Ignac led them back in the direction that he had appeared from, past Gyrmund’s broken twig. Except this time, instead of more forest, they came upon a wooden pole. It was just like the one they had found when they had entered the lands of the Blood Caladri, with similar markings on it.
‘Place at least one hand on the pole,’ instructed Ignac.
&
nbsp; ‘It’s a form of transport?’ asked Soren wonderingly.
‘Yes. They help us to guide a transportation from one location to the next.’
They all crowded around it. Belwynn sat down on her haunches so that she could grab a lower section of the pole and leave room for everyone else.
Ignac recited some words under his breath, and Belwynn felt her stomach lurching. Lights swirled around them and her vision receded, until all she could see was her friends clasping the pole. Then she could see nothing.
She gripped the pole tightly as she experienced the sensation of moving. She thought she could hear some of the others speaking or shouting, but they seemed like faraway sounds. Her stomach roiled as she moved, cut off from most of her senses. Then she stopped. She saw her knuckles, white from clinging on to the pole. Her vision expanded. Soren and the others were there. She took a deep breath and tried not to vomit. Clarin didn’t manage it, staggering off to the side and hurling against a tree. Dirk had a coughing fit that brought up blood and mucus.
Belwynn used the pole to lift herself to her feet. She realised that this pole must be a different one, because they were now in a new location, but at no point had she let go of the original.
Ignac had taken them to the outskirts of what looked like a sizeable settlement, by Caladri standards.
‘Are we ready?’ he asked.
The group gathered themselves together.
Are you alright? asked Soren.
Yes, why?
Nothing. You just look very pale.
Looking around, she saw that she wasn’t the only one. Dirk looked dreadful, but Elana was tending to him, and he gave a weak thumb up to indicate that he was ready to move on. After hearing how he had killed Nexodore three days ago, Belwynn found that she had a completely different opinion of the man, and she admired his bravery in continuing their journey despite his obvious physical frailty.
Ignac led them towards the settlement. The Caladri did not appear to engage in arable farming at all, so there were no fields or such signs of habitation, as Belwynn would expect to see in human lands. There was a Caladri road, however, and on each side of it sat timber buildings, nestling in amongst the trees of the forest. The settlement was designed, it seemed to Belwynn, to blend in to the natural surroundings as much as possible.
She worried, however. There were no signs of defences here. The bigger towns of the Empire and even of Magnia all had some kind of walled defence, of timber if not of stone. The Caladri, it seemed, did not feel the need for such defences. Yet Ignac had told them that Ishari was about to invade their lands.
He began to lead them along the road towards the settlement. Coming in the opposite direction were about a score of Caladri, a mixture of males and females. As the two groups approached each other, they slowed down and stopped. One of the male Caladri left his group to approach them. Belwynn thought he looked about the same age as Ignac. Ignac fell to one knee.
‘Lord Kelemen,’ he began.
The man he addressed made a wristy movement with one hand. Ignac stood up again. Kelemen looked Belwynn’s group over.
‘This is a delegation, apparently from Prince Lorant and Emperor Baldwin,’ explained Ignac.
‘With what purpose?’ asked Kelemen.
‘We bring news of a threat from Ishari,’ explained Soren.
‘Ha,’ Kelemen laughed bitterly. ‘A little late.’ He looked them over. ‘Rather a strange group to be representing the Blood Caladri and Kellish. May I ask what you are doing in this company?’ he said, directing the question at Rabigar.
‘I am…exiled from my homeland. I do not represent the Krykkers.’
‘I see,’ said Kelemen. ‘I will be frank with you all, since you arrive at a serious time, when our presence is needed elsewhere. We are the ablest enchanters of this region. We go to our capital, Edeleny, to defend the borders of our realm. The forces of Ishari are preparing to attack them. An army is poised to invade from the north should our defences be breached. As a leader of this region, it is my duty to bring my enchanters to Edeleny as soon as possible. Ignac says you have news of the threat we face. I must hear this news quickly.’
Soren began to speak for the group, going as quickly as he could. He told Kelemen what they had learned of the weapons of Madria from Szabolcs of the Blood Caladri. He explained how they had come to be in possession of one of them. Finally, he told Kelemen that they believed Ishari posed a threat to the whole of Dalriya.
‘So,’ he concluded, ‘this attack on the Grand Caladri is part of a greater scheme that Ishari has. I believe that to defeat Ishari we need these weapons. And I fear that Ishari has grown in power. How sure are you that your magic defences will hold against them?’
‘They have never been breached,’ replied Kelemen simply. ‘May I see the weapon you have?’
Dirk fumbled in his cloak for a while before producing Toric’s Dagger. He looked nervously at Elana, who nodded at him, before he passed it over to Kelemen. The Caladri studied it closely, tracing a finger along its edge.
‘Of course, you are interested in Lady Onella’s Staff, in the temple at Edeleny. That is partly why you are here,’ he said, making it a statement rather than a question.
Soren nodded.
‘You intend to take the staff from us just like you have taken this dagger?’ the Caladri said, in accusing tones.
‘The Lady Onella, or Madria, as she names herself to me, needs the weapons to fight Ishari,’ interjected Elana. ‘We do her work.’
‘Onella speaks to you?’ demanded Kelemen.
‘Yes,’ replied Elana simply.
Kelemen looked at Elana for a good while. He thought carefully.
‘You may come with us to Edeleny. Perhaps your words should be passed on to the elders of the Caladri. Any decision is for them to make. But Edeleny is under attack. I cannot guarantee your safety if you come with us.’
He gave the dagger in his hands another look. Belwynn saw the look in his eyes.
He wants to keep it, she warned Soren.
A few moments passed before Kelemen offered the weapon back to Dirk. He had obviously decided to return it. For now.
Soren looked around the group. ‘Not everyone has to come,’ he advised them.
Indeed, not everyone looked sure that they wanted to go. But the alternative, stuck in an unknown part of the Grand Caladri forest, didn’t seem too appealing, either. Belwynn knew that everyone had made their decision back in Essenberg, for good or ill. No-one was about to change their mind now.
‘Are you still strong enough to help us?’ Kelemen asked Ignac.
‘Yes, My Lord,’ Ignac replied.
Kelemen pointed towards the pole they had arrived at. ‘Then we will all go on to Edeleny at once.’
With a gesture towards the other Caladri, Kelemen led them on towards the pole. They were now about thirty in number. Kelemen decided that they would travel in two groups. He asked Belwynn’s group to split into two, so that there would be sufficient magic users in each group.
Kelemen and half of the other Caladri placed their hands on the pole. Belwynn joined them, along with Soren, Rabigar, Elana and Dirk.
As before, Belwynn felt a strange lurching sensation in her belly first, then the rest of her senses began to be affected as the teleportation began. She felt a kind of itchiness inside her head, then her vision left her and the feeling of nausea kicked in. They were travelling faster than before, and she felt the sensation of speed on her body. They were also travelling further this time, and the longer it went on, the more tiring and difficult it became. Then, without warning, they had stopped. Belwynn felt like the world was spinning around her. She was physically sick. She actually felt a bit better for it. A hand brushed her hair back.
‘Belwynn? Are you alright?’
&nb
sp; It was Soren. She opened her eyes. She could see, but they were unable to focus on anything properly. Soren helped her pull herself up. The spinning sensation returned as she stood up, but she gradually began to recover. Rabigar had put Elana into a sitting position and was talking quietly to her. It looked like she, too, had been sick.
Then Belwynn saw Dirk. He was still lying in a prone position, seemingly unconscious. He had also been sick, but it was stained red with his blood.
‘The teleportation must have affected him badly,’ said Soren. ‘He has not recovered from the injuries Nexodore gave him. Not nearly recovered.’
A female Caladri was crouching over Dirk, while feeling his forehead and the pulse in his neck. When Elana saw him she gave a little cry and crawled over to check him herself.
‘Will he be alright?’ asked Belwynn.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Elana. ‘He’s breathing…’
The female Caladri crouching next to her reached up to receive an item passed down to her. Belwynn could see that it was a small vial. The Caladri worked away a stopper at the top. She then delicately passed the vial under Dirk’s nose.
Nothing happened for two seconds, then Dirk suddenly jerked awake. He gave a horrible, rasping cough, and more drops of blood were expelled. He fought to breathe in air for a while, looking like a fish that had been pulled out of the water. Elana whispered quietly to him and slowly his breathing steadied and he opened his eyes. Dirk was helped to his feet, and everyone moved a few feet away from the pole to make space for the arrival of the second group.
Belwynn looked about her. They were in another forest clearing, but close by she made out a Caladri road. Following its path, she could see what must be Edeleny in the distance. The peaks of tall buildings rose up as high as the trees, and she thought she could faintly hear the noise and bustle which always emanates from large settlements.
The second group arrived at the pole. The arrival was fast, but Belwynn’s eyes detected a degree of movement, as if they had arrived from somewhere, to the east, rather than appearing from nowhere. The Caladri seemed immune from the side effects of the teleportation, but Herin, Clarin, Gyrmund and Moneva were all affected in the same way she had been. They lay in a confused state, clutching their disturbed stomachs, before they slowly began to recover.
Toric's Dagger: Book One of The Weapon Takers Saga Page 33
