by Jordan Baker
Ariana cursed inwardly that the only passages she knew were all guarded, for they had hoped to get as many of their soldiers into the city as they could before the alarm was raised.
"That is truly unfortunate," Borrican said.
"You're tellin' me," Milli said. "And they stink to the heavens. I'm surprised they didn't put a guard out in the stables."
"You sayin' bad things about us guards, Milli?" the dead guard by the bar shouted, his voice a hard rasp.
"No," she said, glancing over at him. "Jes' sayin' how safe it is in Rivergate thanks to you and the other six hundred of you, what protect us, an' all."
"That's right," the man sneered, then he went back to staring at the door.
"Do you perhaps have any horses for sale?" Borrican asked. "I presume they would be out in the stable that you mentioned."
"I do," she said. "A couple of travelers, much like yourselves, left 'em here some time ago, an' I've done my best to keep 'em in good health in case they ever come lookin' for 'em. Soldiers tried to take 'em for their own, and the guards tried too, but I argued with 'em and there they stayed. Must admit, I've become a little fond of 'em, but I'd be willing to part ways with 'em for the right price."
"Perhaps I could take a look at them," Borrican said, echoing the suggestion that Ariana sent to him in his thoughts.
"I will wait here," Ariana said, and Milli looked a little nervous until she turned her face and let the glow of the lamp catch the crystals that covered the side of her face. "Don't worry, I will be fine."
"Well then," Milli said with a nod, her eyes wide. "Let me fetch a lantern and I will show you."
Borrican stood and followed Milli out of the inn, and several guards walked past as the two of them made their way over to the stable.
"You don't look at all like Edward," Milli commented.
"I'm not him, but he is a very good friend of mine," Borrican told her.
"Oh, well that's good," she said. "A fine young man, and handsome too, like you. She sure knows how to pick 'em, she does."
Borrican felt a little awkward, but he decided to let it go, and Milli pushed open the stable door.
"The horses are in here," she said, loudly, for the sake of another groups of guards that walked by on the street. "Better offer me a good price for 'em too!"
The horses snorted and stamped as Borrican entered the stable, but he knew that they would not stay calm for long.
"The horses got somethin' into them. Gettin' nervous," Milli said, and she reached out and touched one of them on the nose. "There, 'ats better." The horse eyed Borrican and snorted, its ears twitching. "Seems he doesn't like you."
"Perhaps I should have had something to eat before we came here," Borrican said as the horse snorted and stamped again.
"What's that?" Milli asked, having missed what he had said.
"Nothing. You said there was a door to the passages out here?"
"Aye," she said as she led him to a far stall and kicked aside some hay and manure with the bottom of her shoe, and tapped her foot, revealing that the boards were hollow underneath. "Not sure what you're planning but the tunnels under Rivergate have been blocked."
"What's this?" Borrican felt his heart sink. "How?"
"Filled with rocks, 'bout halfway down."
"That is truly unfortunate," he said, and he sighed, irritated that the fight was going to be that much more difficult. "I guess there's nothing we can do about it now."
"Well, it's still good place to hide, if that's what you're needin'," Milli said.
"That wasn't the plan," Borrican told her. "You might want to find a safe place, Milli. There's going to be some fighting soon."
"For true?" Milli said, excitedly. "Please tell me you're gettin' rid of them soldiers. You do that, well I'd love ya for life."
"How about free ale for life," Borrican suggested.
"Now you're talkin' foolish talk," Milli said. "No one gives away free ale."
"So I suppose sweetwater is out of the question."
"Not a chance," Milli said with a grin, a twinkle appearing in her eye. "You're a pushy young fella aren't ya."
"Never hurts to ask," he said with a smile, then he sighed. "I suppose we'd best get back inside. The guards you told us about are probably dead by now."
"What? How?"
"Katie...can be a little impatient sometimes," he said, and he felt Ariana's thoughts confirming what he had just guessed.
"Yes, Katie. And what's your name, if you don't mind me askin'?" Milli asked, her voice a low whisper. "You do look a might familiar."
"I am Borrican," he said, with a short tilt of his head.
"Akandar?" she whispered. Borrican nodded and Milli grinned. "Well, aren't I jes' a bug in a mug."
Borrican froze. The horses snorted and neighed as his dragon senses flowed outward. He heard a sound, and it was coming from the floor of the stable, inside the stall. Two taps, the sound of steel on wood, came from the floor and it appeared that Milli heard it as well.
"There are no guards nearby," Borrican said. "Can you open the passage?"
"'Course. Hold this," Milli said, and she handed him her lamp, then walked over to a half-barrel in the corner and stepped inside it. After crouching slightly, she jumped straight up, and when she landed, several floorboards popped upwards. She reached out her hand and Borrican helped her out of the water barrel, then she walked over to the boards and pulled them upward, revealing a dark passage. Borrican held the lamp over the hole in the floor and saw Kaleb's face looking up at him, covered in dirt and dust.
"The two of you are noisy, stomping around up here," he said. "And it's a good thing too, or we'd never have found you."
"Kaleb," Borrican said, keeping his voice low, as he handed Milli the lantern, then reached down and helped Kaleb up to the stable. "That stomping was likely the horses. It's good you made it."
"Would have got here sooner but someone tossed enough rocks and rubble into these tunnels to build a castle wall," Kaleb griped, then he smiled. "Nothing a determined bunch couldn't handle though."
"All right," Borrican said. "Get as many up from the tunnels as you can. There are six hundred guards in the city, and from the looks of them they are greys, so as soon as one of them sees us, they will all know, and so will Calexis, most likely."
"Right," Kaleb said as he reached down and helped a Maramyrian soldier up from the floor, and he looked at Milli in the dim light. "I've met you before, haven't I?"
"A humble innkeeper I am," Milli said, whispering. "Milli's the name. You're Lord Kaleb of White Falls."
"Nice to be known," Kaleb said. "That makes me feel important."
"I follow all the royals," Milli said. "All the stories, all the gossip."
"Oh, well I'd better watch myself then," he said.
"No need to worry about me," Milli replied. "I run a discreet establishment, if you know what I mean."
Borrican felt Ariana becoming more impatient, and he decided that they had better return to the inn.
"Come, Milli," he said. "We should go back. It won't be safe out here much longer."
"Right," she said. "I still got a few hiding places the guards don't know about."
"Good," he said, and he nodded at Kaleb then walked out of the stable, leaving it in the darkness.
When they walked back through the door of the inn, Ariana looked as though flames might start coming out of her ears, and Borrican already knew she was beyond irritated at how long it had taken he and Milli to return from the stables. The dead guard at the bar was now truly dead, laying on the floor with his head smashed in, and Borrican noticed that the handful of patrons who had been sitting in the tavern room were now slumped over, unconscious.
"While the two of you have been gossiping, the three guards are dead and everyone else will have a headache come morning," Ariana said.
"Oh my!" Milli exclaimed, beaming as she walked toward Ariana. "It really is beautiful."
"What's beautiful?"
<
br /> "I would love to find me a jeweled mask like that," Milli said. "No doubt the girls would too, if there were any left."
"It isn't a mask, Milli," Ariana said. "But I'm glad you like it."
"Really? It's quite lovely," Milli told her. "Quite lovely indeed."
"The tunnels were blocked, but Kaleb made it through," Borrican said. "I suppose now is as good a time as ever to do what we came to do."
"Milli, you should stay here, and bar the door," Ariana said, and flames began to dance around her.
"Right then," Milli replied, wide eyed at Ariana's fire, and she followed her and Borrican to the door of the inn. She flinched at the piercing screech that rang out in the night as soon as Ariana stepped outside, blazing with flames, and Milli was even more surprised when Borrican ran out into the yard, then leapt into the air and disappeared into the night, becoming an enormous black shadow with wings. When he let out a deep roar and acid fire dripped from his mouth as he circled over the rooftops of the mountain city, Milli shut the door and quickly put the wooden bar in place and leaned against the door.
A few moments later, she heard the sounds of pounding boots and soldiers shouting, then her expression turned to a grin and Milli walked over to the bar and pulled the cork from a bottle of sweetwater. She took a swig of the powerful liquid, then she looked around the almost empty tavern, pleased as a plum, as she envisioned a full tavern and busy rooms upstairs once again.
*****
In the darkness, behind sleeping eyes, Calexis listened to the slow breathing of the young man who lay next to her, upon the rich bedding of the royal bed. Her other self, the part of her that had become one with the madness and the shadows had slipped into an unconsciousness resembling sleep, but was far deeper. It was nearly all Calexis could do, to gain some small amount of respite from the horrors wrought in her name by the power that had taken over her existence, using what little power she had left to bid the creature to sleep. It was too much to hope that Aaron, the young warrior and mage, whose power she could feel radiating from him like heat from a glowing iron, would throw off the shackles that bound him to the shadow, and strike her dead, releasing her from the dark prison that her own mind had become, but the grip of the dark god was too great. And so Calexis listened to him breathe, taking satisfaction that though he was held captive by the power of the shadow, he had not yet given in.
In some small way, she felt a kinship to Aaron, and from what she had learned about his relationship to Lexi, the daughter she had forsaken, she wished she could help him in some way, or at least express her thanks. So many such thoughts began to run through her mind that she did notice at first when the room slowly became quiet, unnaturally so, and the sound of his breathing faded. Curious, and making sure the god within her remained unconscious, Calexis slowly opened an eye, and looked out into the dim light of the room.
A wisp of white appeared next to the bed, slowly materializing into a hand, then an arm, followed by a body and the face of a young woman, who leaned over and gently touched Aaron on the arm. With frightening speed, Aaron's hand shot up and clutched her by the throat, and she choked for a moment, before shifting her form to something less solid, and his hand suddenly clutched at nothing, grasping at only empty air.
"Aaron," she whispered, her voice like an echo, one that only he could hear. "It's me, Ehlena."
Aaron sat up, his eyes glassy and black, glimmering like the night sky, and a strange power surrounded him, driving back the shadows that surrounded him, though they continued to twist and turn, as though reaching for him. Ehlena stepped away, sickened at the deathly feeling of the shadows in this place that seemed to rekindle the poison that still lingered within her, but even more unnerved by the feeling of the power that shone in Aaron's eyes. It was like standing upon the edge of a precipice and nearly losing balance, and it somehow felt both strange and familiar.
Aaron glanced over at Calexis, testing the power of the shadow that connected him to her, and he could tell that the dark god within her still slept, in a kind of dream. The temptation to strike her, to use his power to end her, was nearly overwhelming, but he knew that it was not yet time, and he must wait, and he would only likely anger her, the way he was now. Aaron stared at Ehlena, who stood before him, shifting in the air like a spirit, curious that she seemed different, and he could tell that she was using her magic to hide something, but he did not have the power to see through what it was.
"What are you doing here?" he whispered.
"You can speak, Aaron," Ehlena said. "She cannot hear you."
"It is dangerous for you to be here, Ehlena," Aaron warned, still worried that Calexis might awaken, and feeling an odd presence within her, something he had noticed a few times before. "I am sorry if I hurt you."
"I am fine," she said. "I woke you, and you do sleep in a very dangerous place. What is happening to you, Aaron? I can feel the shadow all around you, and the fire of your power has nearly turned to darkness."
"I will resist it until the mages complete their work," he told her. "I can feel what they are doing, and they have almost finished."
"I already know this," Ehlena said. "But once they have finished the spell, what will you do?"
"I will do what must be done and fight the shadow with my flames," Aaron said. "I don't know how, but you must try to get the people to safety. Perhaps Stavros can use his magic, but once Calexis learns of this, I will only be able to hold her off for a short time before things will become very dangerous here. She has spoken of others coming to Maramyr. Perhaps they can help, but they will face many enemies in the city, and more in the palace."
"Ariana leads an army of Maramyrian and Kandaran soldiers, with Borrican and a number of dragons, who fought to defend the elven forest," Ehlena told him. "The elves send a force, and there are ships with even more who will fight, coming up from the Aghlar coast, led by Carly."
"What of the Ansari?" Aaron asked.
"I have heard a few whispers on the wind, but after the battle at Elvanar my power is not as strong as it was. It is strange that they are not decisive about this, for the Ansari do not waver once they have perceived an enemy."
"I cannot tell what she is planning, but I do not doubt that it will involve the power of the shadow," Aaron told her. "Tell the others they must get the people as far away as possible once the battle begins, for I fear the destruction that may be caused either by the darkness itself should I fail, or the fire that it will take to destroy it."
"I will," Ehlena said. "We will do as much as we can."
"As will I," he replied, then he looked at her a little more closely, the power deepening in his eyes for a moment. "What happened to you at Elvanar, Ehlena?"
"The poison of the shadow," she said, and reached out her hand tentatively toward the dark tendrils that hung in the air around him. "It is very strange that this power no longer seeks me, though I cannot bear to be near it." They moved slightly at her touch, but it was as though the shadow was somehow blind to her power.
"How did the shadow touch you?" Aaron asked, curious at what he saw. He could feel the hunger of the dark power, determined to consume his power and the life of anything that came near to it, but through his connection to it, he could tell that it paid Ehlena little notice, as though she held no power, and yet he could also sense that even though she was weakened, she was by no means weak.
"It was the poison stones the Darga used," she said. "They gave off a deadly smoke that withered much of the elven forest, and killed many of the elves as well. I used the wind to draw it away from the trees, but time was short so I drew it toward me. Thankfully, most of it was burned away with dragonfire."
"And some remained," Aaron said, with a somber sigh.
"Yes," Ehlena told him. "In time, perhaps I will be free of the poison that lingers, but I do not know. I can only hope, and carry on, for I would like to continue to be in the world."
"Of course," Aaron said, with a tired smile. "I would like for you to live, Eh
lena, and free of the shadow." He reached out his hand, and Ehlena took it in her own, then she felt his power touch her gently. "I will try to help you, but I cannot do it now, not without waking Calexis."
"And here I am trying to help you," Ehlena said with a sigh and she offered up her own tired smile.
"Warn the mages that they must complete their spell soon," Aaron told her. "That would help me best, for they are now in grave danger of being noticed, and I cannot distract her for much longer."
"I will tell them," Ehlena said.
"Good," Aaron said. "And promise me that when the time comes, you and the others, you will not hold back." Aaron suddenly glanced over at the sleeping queen. "I can feel her beginning to wake. You must leave, Ehlena."
"What do you mean, Aaron?" she asked. "What do you plan to do?"
"If I fail, if my power cannot overcome the shadow, I will try to hold its power here so the others can burn it with their fire," Aaron said, and he let go of her hand, his eyes flashing darkly as the shadows closed in upon him once again. "Go now."
Ehlena disappeared into the night air and out through the open window, worried for Aaron and knowing the risk he faced. She made her way down into the city, and began to search for the mages, making sure to keep her power obscured, for she knew that Calexis had awakened and with the power of the god within her and the shadow, she would be able to sense her power if she was not careful. Stavros was very skilled at hiding himself, and despite her ability to hear and feel most things upon the wind, it still took her some time to find him. There was only the barest shift in the air on the tiled roof of an inn, where a dark glowing crystal had been ensconced at its peak. Floating in the air, without form, Ehlena saw the crystal slowly turn around, moved by an unseen hand, then she felt a subtle shift in its power and the crystal began to pulse with light that at first seemed almost unnoticeably different but she quickly realized that it was only an illusion, and underneath it, the crystal glowed with pure, white light instead of the dark, purplish light of the shadow, and somehow it was the crystal itself that seemed to pretend it had not changed.
