Kingdom of Magicians

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Chapter Eight

  Keo walked through the undergrowth of the trees as silently as he could, which was quite silently, as he had a lot of experience in making his way through the woods without making noise after living in the Low Woods for his whole life. At his side was Gildshine, which was currently sheathed, as he found it easier to travel through the trees without holding his sword. He kept his eyes and ears open for any Riders, even though Celeresis had assured him that her scouts had confirmed that this particular part of the forest was Rider-free.

  It had been about ten minutes ago that Keo had left the Gatherers' camp and came here. Celeresis had personally returned Gildshine to Keo and had also informed him of the identity of the Riders: A blonde-haired woman known as Yuras, who was said to be almost as violent as Celeresis herself. According to Celeresis, Yuras rarely actually fought on the front lines with her men during battle. Instead, she stayed at the Riders' camp, making strategic decisions from there, and it was her generals who were on the front lines instead.

  The plan was simple. While Celeresis led the Gatherers on a frontal attack on the Riders, Keo would slip into the Riders' camp—which was now less defended due to the fact that most of the Riders would be out fighting off the Gatherers—and kill Yuras. It certainly seemed like a simple plan, but Keo had the strangest feeling that it would not work out quite so simply, as most plans did not.

  Keo stopped when he heard some voices and dropped down behind some bushes. Peeking through the bushes, he saw a couple of Riders run by, swords in hand, no doubt to go meet the Gatherers' assault that had probably started by now. When they were gone, Keo stood up again and continued making his way to the Riders' camp.

  But Keo did not move quickly. This was partly because quickness often lead to noisiness, but also because he had severe doubts that he could pull this plan off. Yes, he wanted to save Dlaine and himself, yes, he had no love for Yuras or the Riders, but deep down he wasn't sure he could be an assassin.

  After all, Keo had never killed another human being before, not even out of self-defense. Yes, he had killed that demon, but demons weren't human and so he didn't feel so guilty about valuing his own life above that of a vile monstrosity. The problem was that he did not know Yuras and he had no personal reason to kill her, because she had never harmed him, whereas Celeresis had.

  Still, Keo had to go along with it, because the other alternative was to get castrated and killed and he had no desire to lose his life or his manhood anytime soon. If he had to play assassin, then he would, but a part of him wondered if he couldn't find another way to end this conflict and save his life and Dlaine's life that didn't involve murdering someone he didn't know. He figured that there had to be, but if there was, it was clearly not an obvious solution. He thought about trying to communicate with Jola, but he didn't know where she was or how to communicate with her anyway, and even if he had, it was too late to go back on his word.

  My and Dlaine's lives matter more than Yuras's, Keo told himself as he walked from tree to tree in an attempt to stay hidden from any watchful eyes. Yuras is nothing more than a gang leader who has probably robbed countless innocent people over her life. Dlaine and I, on the other hand, are trying to save innocent people, so if I must take the life of a common crook like her, then that is what I will do.

  Of course, Celeresis was also a crook who had killed and robbed lots of people, but right now Keo could not deal with her. Maybe he would later on, after the demons were dealt with, but for now he had to think about his and Dlaine's best interests, and right now that meant killing this Yuras woman. He suddenly realized why Master Tiram always told him that sometimes you were faced with two different decisions that were almost equally terrible and there's not much you can do about it except grin and bear it.

  After a few more minutes of walking, Keo saw several tents in a clearing through the trees. Walking doubled over, Keo stopped at the treeline and then peered through the gap in the trees, using some of the growing bushes to help hide him from any Riders who might still be in their camp.

  The Riders' camp was large, with about three hundred tents total from what he could see. Several large campfires, currently nothing more than large piles of ash, stood at various places throughout the camp, likely where the Riders cooked and ate their meals based on the scent of the smoke that was sent his way by a strong gust of wind. A few Riders patrolled the edges of the camp, mainly large men with muscles like boulders, who carried axes, hammers, and other weapons at their sides. But they appeared to be the only Riders there, which made sense, because the vast majority of their fellow Riders were probably out dealing with the sudden attack from the Gatherers.

  According to the report from the Gatherers' spies, Yuras was based in the large tent in the center of the camp. Two guards stood in front of the entrance to the tent, no doubt there to protect Yuras from assassins who would want to kill her. That meant that Keo would need to figure out a way to get past those guards, although he wasn't sure how just yet.

  I'll have to be very careful, Keo thought, gripping the handle of Gildshine. If I'm spotted, I probably won't live long enough to regret it.

  As silently as possible, Keo dashed out from the trees and in between two empty tents. He actually dashed inside one of the tents, which was thankfully empty, and then stayed still, listening for any sounds from the guards that might indicate that they had seen him. When he did not hear any guards coming over to his tent, Keo sighed in relief.

  He poked his head out of the tent's flap, did a quick survey of the area to make sure that the guards were not looking this way (they were not, as their attention seemed to be focused on the trees around the camp), and then dashed over to the next tent, and the next, and the next, making his way over to Yuras's tent as quickly and silently as he could. He kept expecting to accidentally enter the tent of a Rider who had not left for some reason, but every tent he entered was empty, save for one, which had a sleeping Rider who thankfully did not notice Keo when he entered nor when he left.

  At last, Keo reached the tent nearest Yuras's. It was tiny and cramped, like most of the tents, but he did not care. He peered out from inside the hot and stuffy tent and saw the two guards standing before Yuras's tent. They were talking to each other, chatting about the sudden attack from the Gatherers, but they did not seem to notice Keo. Even so, Keo could not simply walk up to the guards and demand that they let him inside Yuras's tent. They were easily the largest Riders Keo had seen yet and both carried huge broadswords that looked like they could cut Keo into firewood if he was not careful.

  Pulling his head back into the tent, Keo thought, I need to figure out how to distract them from the tent's entrance. Lure them away. But how?

  Keo looked around at the interior of the tent, searching for anything that might help him figure out how to lure the guards away from Yuras's tent. He sat on a sweaty, dirty bedroll, with a pack right next to it. Keo started digging through the pack, pulling out half-eaten biscuits, empty water jugs, knives and brass knuckles, and several other things, none of which would be very useful for luring Yuras's guards away from her tent. Scowling, Keo stopped digging through the pack and then folded his arms over his chest.

  Think, Keo, think, Keo thought. You need a distraction.

  That was when Keo noticed a small, round red sphere in the bottom of the pack. He grabbed the red sphere, which felt heavier than it looked, and turned it over as he examined it. It was rather warm in his hand, which made him wonder for a moment what it was until he suddenly remembered something that Master Tiram had once told him about.

  This is a bang sphere, Keo thought. He held out the sphere as far from himself as he could when he thought that.

  According to Master Tiram, a bang sphere was a very dangerous and very powerful weapon. When thrown with enough force, the bang sphere would explode against anything it collided with. Depending on how big the explosion was, it could even kill a person instantly. Keo had never seen one in real life before, but Master Ti
ram had described them to him at one point and this red sphere resembled it to an almost uncanny degree.

  A part of Keo wanted to put it back down immediately, because bang spheres were known to exploded if handled incorrectly and Keo was in no mood to lose his hand or half his face from a bang sphere explosion.

  But then another part of Keo told him that this was exactly what he needed to lure the guards away from Yuras's tent. Of course, he would have to be careful about where he threw it, as he did not want the guards to notice where the bang sphere came from, but he had to use it.

  So Keo crawled over to the tent flap and peeked out quickly to make sure that the guards were still there. They were and they were also still talking to each other, although they were now sharing rather bawdy jokes that must have been hilarious based on how hard they were laughing with each other.

  Let's see how funny you find this, Keo thought as he prepared to throw the bang sphere.

  As fast as he could, Keo threw the tiny bang sphere through the tent flap. It flew over the heads of the chatting guards, who thankfully did not seem to notice it, and went much farther than even Keo expected it to go. The bang sphere landed on a tent on the other side of Yuras's tent.

  And … nothing. No explosion, no fiery burst of flame that distracted the guards. It was almost like Keo had not thrown the bang sphere at all, which frustrated Keo greatly.

  Now how am I supposed to— Keo thought.

  A huge, earsplitting explosion sent burning chunks of canvas flying everywhere. The guards jumped when they heard the explosion, but they must have had greater control over their nerves than Keo thought, because they immediately ran over to the tent, shouting for the other guards to come and help with what they believed to be an attack.

  Now was Keo's chance. He darted out from the tent toward Yuras's tent, which was now completely unguarded. He pulled open the flap to her tent and rushed inside, drawing Gildshine from its sheath as he entered.

  Then he stopped to see exactly where Yuras was. The tent he now stood in was much wider and bigger than the rest of the tents, at least as big as two tents put together. There was plenty of room for him to stand up in and the entire place smelled like it had been freshly scrubbed recently, although there was also a definite odor of sweat and dirt that he could not deny. A closed wooden chest sat off to one side, while directly before him sat Yuras herself.

  As Celeresis had described, Yuras had blonde hair, similar in color and style to Celeresis's own, in fact. She even had similar facial features, such as her nose, which was almost an exact copy of Celeresis's nose, in fact. She looked slightly heavier than Celeresis, but not by much.

  The leader of the Riders was sitting on her bedroll with what appeared to be a map of the area spread out before her, which she had apparently been studying before Keo barged in. But she froze now and was looking at Keo in shock and confusion.

  “Who are you?” said Yuras. Her voice sounded similar to Celeresis's, though Keo didn't focus on that. “I have never seen you before. And what was that explosion I heard outside my tent?”

  Keo gritted his teeth and held Gildshine before him. “Sorry, but I'm going to have to kill you. It's nothing personal.”

  Yuras raised an eyebrow. “An assassin, then? Well, I'm not going to ask how you got past my guards. I'm just going to show you why it is always a dumb idea to try to kill the Queen of the Riders in her own tent.”

  Queen of the Riders? Keo thought. That sounds like Celeresis's 'Queen of the Gatherers' title. What a strange coincidence.

  Yuras stood up. As soon as she did, Keo charged at her, aiming the tip of Gildshine directly at her heart. He didn't want to spend a whole lot of time trying to kill her, so he was going to try to take her life in one or two well-aimed blows, and then get out of here as fast as he could.

  But Yuras dodged his sword easily, despite the lack of room for her to maneuver around in. Moving as quickly as the wind, Yuras grabbed Keo's hands and twisted them. Although Yuras's hands were smaller and lighter than Keo's, she could still twist his hands in painful, unnatural directions that forced him to drop Gildshine, which Yuras then kicked away outside his reach.

  Keo struggled to break free of Yuras's grip, but then the Queen of the Riders kicked him in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him with her thick, heavy leather boots. Yuras then let go of his hands, causing him to fall down to the tent floor on his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

  Nonetheless, Keo reached for Gildshine, which was only a couple of feet away, before he felt the tip of a knife rest on the back of his neck.

  “Touch your sword, assassin, and I will cut off your head without even thinking about it,” said Yuras, her voice angry. “Not that I want to, because I hate getting blood on my things, but I'm not afraid of killing anyone who tries to kill me first.”

  “Why don't you just kill me outright?” said Keo. He did not look up at her because Yuras's knife was against his neck in such a way that if he looked up, he would likely cut himself accidentally.

  “Because no one has managed to get this close to me before,” said Yuras. She sounded impressed, despite her anger. “My men tend to stop any would-be assassins from getting even one inch within the camp. Besides, I am interested in learning which assassin's guild that you belong to. The Death-bringers? The Brothers White Blood? Or are you just a lone wolf hired by someone to take me out?”

  Keo considered lying to her, but something in Yuras's voice told him that she would see through any lie he might tell her. That meant he had no choice but to tell her the truth, because he figured that she was going to kill him no matter what, so there was no reason to lie.

  “I'm not even an assassin, technically,” said Keo. “I'm a traveler from the Low Woods who got roped into the conflict between you Riders and the Gatherers without my consent.”

  “Did Celeresis send you to kill me, then?” said Yuras. Her voice sounded more annoyed than angry now.

  “Yes,” said Keo, still keeping his eyes on the floor of the tent.

  “Why?” said Yuras. “It isn't like her to send an untrained assassin to attack me, not unless you are a distraction for her real plan, whatever that is.”

  “Because of my sword,” said Keo. He gestured toward Gildshine with his hand, but still did not move his head or neck. “It's a magical sword. She promised to let me and my friend go—her men captured us—in exchange for me using my magical sword to kill you.”

  “She did?” said Yuras. “How do I know you aren't lying in order to make yourself look more like a victim?”

  “Because I can tell that you are smart enough not to be fooled by deception,” said Keo. “And my life is in your hands, so if I lied and you found out, you could kill me easily.”

  Yuras did not answer immediately. Keo wished he could look up at Yuras's face, but her knife was still held against the back of his neck, which made even the slightest movement of his neck deadly. He fully expected Yuras to chop off his head or at least slit his throat—or maybe summon her guards and have them do that to him, if Yuras truly hated getting blood all over her things, as she said she did.

  Then Yuras finally said, “I can tell you are telling the truth. You are too naïve to lie like that, especially to someone like me. Besides, that sounds exactly like the sort of thing my dear sister would do.”

  “Sister?” said Keo. “You mean that Celeresis is your sister?”

  “My twin sister, actually,” said Yuras. “Of course, she likes to say that she is the older sibling because she exited our mother's womb five minutes before I did, but we are still twins whether she likes it or not.”

  Yuras sounded quite bitter about that, as if she and Celeresis had spent countless hours arguing over that minor point. It seemed rather irrelevant to Keo, but he decided that pointing that out to the woman who could take his head off was probably unwise right now, so he simply kept his mouth shut on that subject.

  Still, Keo had a few questions, so he said, “But why are you two f
ighting each other, then? I thought that siblings loved and cared for each other.”

  “Tell me, traveler, have you ever had a sibling before?” said Yuras. “Do you have any at all?”

  “No,” said Keo, still without looking up at her. “I'm an only child.”

  “Then don't pretend to understand what it is like to grow up with a vile, conniving bitch like Celeresis for a sister,” said Yuras. “We have never gotten along at all due to our contrasting personalities—”

  Keo had to hold back a snort that would surely get him killed, because to him, Yuras and Celeresis had very similar personalities from what he had seen of them both.

  “—and the fact that mother always seemed to love her more than me,” said Yuras. “But it wasn't until five years ago, after our mother died, that we were forced to strike out on our own and fend for ourselves. Because we had never married, we went our separate ways, joining robber gangs and rising through the ranks until we got to where we are today.”

  “So you turned to crime because you two had nothing better to do, then,” said Keo.

  He felt Yuras's knife dig slightly into the back of his neck. He thought for sure that she was going to take his head off his shoulders now, but then she stopped, although Keo felt some blood leak from the wound in the back of his neck where the knife dug into it.

  “We're not common criminals,” said Yuras. “We each rule our own gangs with an iron fist. We are two powers struggling for control of this road and I will never give up until my sister's neck is under my boot and she is begging for mercy like the coward that she is.”

  Keo gulped. He considered saying something flippant, but with Yuras as violent as she clearly was, he decided to take the more diplomatic route.

  “Listen, Yuras, I really don't care about your conflict with your sister,” said Keo, keeping his tone calm so that he did not accidentally provoke her to anger. “The only thing I care about is getting me and my friend out of this situation alive. Right now my friend is back at the Gatherers' camp, where they will castrate and kill him if I don't kill you.”

  Yuras made a snort of disgust. “Celeresis always had a disturbing fascination with the balls of men. But why are you telling me all of this?”

  “Because I am not your enemy,” said Keo. “I have no dog in this fight. Killing me won't do anything for you because I don't even work for your sister. The worst that might happen is that your sister will lose my sword, which she wants, but trust me when I say that you don't want my sword, either, because it's—”

  “Magical,” Yuras finished for him. “Yes. I have a great distaste for magic of all sorts, but magical weapons especially. Besides, I have enough strength and power to defeat my sister all on my own.”

  Keo blinked. He was about to say 'It's cursed' so he could scare Yuras from touching it, but Yuras's reasoning was better than his, so he decided to roll with it.

  “So you don't have any reason to hold me hostage,” said Keo. “I'm no threat to you or your men. I just want to take my sword and leave.”

  Keo did not like to hear those words come from his mouth, but he felt he had no choice in the matter. He knew that Celeresis would be furious if he returned without having killed Yuras, but he decided that he would figure out a plan to save Dlaine and himself between now and then, assuming Yuras chose to spare him. He thought about searching for Jola, even though he did not know where she was, because he believed that Jola's magic might be able to help rescue Dlaine and get away from both Yuras and Celeresis.

  But then Yuras said, “Sorry, but—while I believe you are not an actual assassin—I will still kill you and have my men dump your body in the middle of the woods somewhere.”

  “What?” said Keo. “Why? Weren't you just listening to what I said?”

  “I was,” said Yuras. “But you have already caused severe damage to my camp, which is unforgivable, and you might be lying about wanting to walk away. Besides, while I have no interest in using your sword for myself, one of my Riders used to study magical weapons for a living, so I will simply give it to him and let him figure out what it does and how to use it. Good bye.”

  Keo felt Yuras's knife lift off his neck. He looked up, saw the cruelty in Yuras's eyes and her now-bloody knife rising above her head, and knew that he was going to die, because there was no way he could move fast enough to dodge her attack.

  But right before Yuras could bring her knife down onto his face, there was another explosion from outside that caused her to look up and say, “What the hell was that?”

  Keo—though just as surprised by the explosion as Yuras—nonetheless rolled to the side, grabbing Gildshine as he did so, and rose to his feet. He then slapped the knife out of Yuras's hand and, before she could react, placed the tip of Gildshine against Yuras's throat. Yuras froze, her dark eyes focusing on the sharp blade now at her throat.

  But before Keo could say or do anything else, one of Yuras's guards staggered through the tent flap, shouting, “Queen Yuras! The camp is under attack! The Gatherers—”

  The guard suddenly choked and gasped before he fell forward flat on his face, a dagger in his back, with blood flowing from the wound. And standing behind the guard was none other than Celeresis herself, already drawing another knife from her belt, this one sharper and more jagged than the last.

  But Celeresis froze when she saw Keo holding Gildshine's tip against Yuras's neck. It was the first time Keo had ever seen Celeresis actually surprised, but she soon recovered and appeared as confident and in control as she did before.

  “Ah, Keo,” said Celeresis, a smirk on her lips. “I see you are already in the process of killing my younger sister. I thought for sure that Yuri had killed you, but I guess she was just too soft on a kid like you.”

  The look of loathing in Yuras's eyes was as deep as the pit, but she did not utter a word, likely because she believed that Keo would kill her if she spoke.

  “Celeresis?” said Keo. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to wait back at the Gatherers' camp for my return.”

  “That was a lie,” said Celeresis. “I was merely using you as a distraction. My hope was that you would be caught by the guards, who would then be too distracted by your appearance to mount an effective defense against my select team of Gatherers who would go in and burn the entire camp down. What makes this plan so great is that it doesn't matter if you successfully kill my sister or not, because either way I will destroy this place, kill my sister, and win this bothersome conflict once and for all.”

  Keo had to admit that that was a pretty clever plan on her part. He felt used, but at the same time, he also admired Celeresis for her cleverness.

  “But it looks like I don't need to kill my younger sister myself,” said Celeresis. “Remember our agreement, Keo. If you kill Yuras, then I will let you and your friend go freely. I will even let you keep your sword, which I will no longer need after the Riders are gone.”

  Keo bit his lower lip and then looked at Yuras. She was defenseless now and it would not take much effort to stab her in the throat and let her bleed to death. To a certain extent, he might even enjoy it, seeing as she herself had been just about to kill him not more than a few minutes ago. And if Celeresis was indeed telling the truth, that she would let Dlaine and him go without complaint or any fuss, then Keo had no reason not to kill Yuras here and now.

  On the other hand, Keo still did not trust Celeresis. She had already expressed a deep interest in taking Gildshine for her own goals. If Keo killed Yuras, there was nothing to stop Celeresis from killing him, taking Gildshine, and then maybe later killing Dlaine, too. It would certainly fit with her bloodthirsty, deceptive character.

  Yet Yuras seemed no better than her to him. If he spared her, Yuras would probably kill him as soon as she got a chance. Even if she didn't have a weapon visible, Yuras seemed like the kind of person to carry all sorts of weapons on her that she could use to defend herself.

  I feel like I'm at an impasse, Keo thought, his fr
ee hand balling into a fist. I don't want to help or hurt either of them. I just want to get out of here and continue my journey to Capitika.

  “Come on, Keo,” said Celeresis. “Make your choice. Either kill my sister or allow me to kill you for breaking our agreement. Stop delaying.”

  Celeresis's pressure annoyed Keo, even though he agreed with her that he would have to make a choice sooner or later. And it would have to be sooner, because he could hear the explosions and fighting outside and Celeresis looked like she was going to lose her patience very soon if he did not come to a decision quickly enough for her tastes.

  Looks like I have no choice, Keo thought.

  Without making a sound, Keo lowered Gildshine and stepped back from Yuras. Yuras immediately jumped away from him, drawing another knife from her boot that she had hidden away, while Celeresis shouted, “Hey! What do you think you're doing?”

  Keo looked at Celeresis. “Not helping you. I want nothing to do with this conflict. While I'm no fan of your sister, I'm not going to do your dirty work for you. You will have to do it yourself.”

  Celeresis scowled and stepped toward him, knife in hand. “How dare you. Do you really want my men to kill your friend? Because they will, especially now that you have broken the deal.”

  “Not unless I get back to the Gatherers' camp first,” said Keo.

  “What makes you think I'll just let you leave?” said Celeresis. She raised her knife. “I'll cut your throat and burn your corpse with the rest of this damned camp.”

  Celeresis took another step forward, but then Yuras jumped in between her and Keo. She slashed at Celeresis, causing her sister to step backwards to avoid getting cut.

  “Yuras?” said Keo in surprise. “Why are you helping me?”

  “Not out of the goodness of my heart, I can assure you,” said Yuras, without looking at Keo. “I'm only giving you a chance to escape because your escape would anger my sister, although don't think I forgot about how you tried to kill me. Understand?”

  Keo nodded, but then realized Yuras could not see him, so he said, “Yes.”

  “Then leave,” said Yuras, still facing her sister. “I'll keep my sister distracted. Leave, and never come back here ever again.”

  Keo did not need to be told that twice. He turned to face the tent wall and then slashed at it with Gildshine, cutting a hole in it large enough for him to exit through, but before he did, he looked over his shoulder at Yuras and said, “Thank you.”

  Yuras did not respond. She just advanced on Celeresis, who now looked so angry that Keo would not be surprised if she burst into flames. The two immediately started slashing and stabbing at each other, blocking and dodging the other's attacks with surprising grace and fluidity.

  But Keo did not stay long enough to see who would emerge the winner. He dashed out the hole in the wall, Gildshine at his side, hoping that he would be fast enough to get to the Gatherers' camp in time to save Dlaine.

  ***