He moved to counter the prince’s next thrust and, when the blades clashed this time, the Light flashed, and elf was rocked back on his heels, eyes wide.
Dain surged toward Haldrin and interlocked the two blades. Gripping his sword one-handed, he held the prince’s weapon at bay and drove his fist into the elf’s face with a short, vicious punch. He felt the prince’s nose crack.
Haldrin roared in rage and pain, managing to throw the paladin back slightly, and he tried to wipe at the stream of blood pouring from his ruined nose. Dain smiled and took full advantage of the distraction with a wicked slash at the elf’s exposed stomach. The prince dodged aside, enough to prevent a killing blow, but the satisfying popping of chainmail links rang out where the sword split them.
The first inch of Dain’s blade was smeared with blood. He moved back a step to take in his opponent’s wound.
A long swath of Haldrin’s chainmail had been parted, along with the cloth underneath, and a bloody gash crossed his exposed abdomen. His nose continued to gush down over his chin and his eyes watered from the pain. The elf swayed on his feet, barely able to stay upright.
“Do you yield?” Dain asked. He hoped to end the fight here and ride away. There was no need for this to end in death. He could bandage the elf up a bit then leave him tied to a nearby tree.
“I will hunt you to the ends of the world, human. After I capture and destroy that evil creature, there will be no place you can hide, no people who can shelter you from my wrath,” Haldrin spat. A great, deep fury burned in his eyes.
The elf lunged forward, first bringing his sword up in a high arc and then bearing the heavy blade down with a furious howl.
Dain sidestepped the blow and, as Haldrin’s sword plunged into the ground, swung his own sideways, through the determined elf’s throat, severing bone and arteries and trachea. Only a thin flap of skin held the elf’s head to his body.
Why hadn’t he listened? Dain thought in frustration as he turned from the bloody spectacle. Why choose death over a simple deer?
Exhausted from the fight, Dain still managed to drag the prince’s corpse off the roadside and into the woods. He cut a low-hanging branch and swept it across the road to try and mask any signs of the struggle.
After all evidence had been dusted away, he turned to face the doe once more. She no longer struggled against her bonds and, as before, stared at him with her strange blue eyes. She seemed relieved.
“You weren’t much help there. That arrogant bastard was a good swordsman and I could have used it.” He hoisted her up across Boon. “I’ve never seen a deer worth killing for, but it was him or me, and there was no sense letting him kill you after I went through all the trouble of healing you up.” He took up Boon’s reins and began walking north along the path to Galena.
Alternating between walking and riding, he made good time for the rest of the day. The road led them through several swaths of dense forest separated by either open farmlands or green meadows surrounding clear, rocky creeks. He hadn’t met a single soul all day other than the prince, and was glad for it. Once or twice, though, he felt eyes watching from the roadside.
At last, when the sun’s light had faded and the sky had grown overcast with clouds, Dain crossed a narrow, stone bridge over another gurgling stream and pulled up. Here, a grove of evergreens offered protection from the slight drizzle that had started to fall. Gently, he lowered the doe from Boon’s back and laid her on a soft mat of evergreen boughs. He stripped his gear from Boon and picketed the horse close by. Then he gathered a few handfuls of sweet clover. He placed them near the doe before visiting the stream to refill his canteen. The clover was gone when he returned, so he poured water into his cupped hand and was satisfied when she drank from it like someone’s pet.
He started a fire, removed an iron pot from his saddlebag, and poured the rest of the canteen’s sloshing water into it, adding some dried tea leaves before hanging it to brew. With nothing left but to wait, Dain studied the doe once more.
Haldrin hadn’t been the first man he had killed, far from it. He had fought and killed for honor, glory, duty, national pride, and ultimately wealth. But why fight over an animal? The guards had been arrogant, as had Haldrin, but the world was full of arrogance. Why had he done it? Was it something about the doe herself, some desperate need it had for protection, or was it his own desire to protect?
Regardless, he would be out of the enchanted lands tomorrow. The frigid cold was no place for the doe.
“Well little one, you’ve been a lot of trouble, but pretty good company. I’ll let you free now,” he said while cutting the leather bonds from her feet. “You’ll probably just bound into the forest and disappear, and that’s alright.”
Dain sat back and watched. The doe first stood, then stretched and tested her legs again. She had more strength than this morning, he noticed. She passed in and out of his sight, walking a slow circle around the grove. He was surprised when she returned again to the fireside and lay down.
“Odd,” he remarked aloud.
“Yes…she is that,” a feminine voice answered from the dark. “Be still and no harm shall come to you, stranger.”
Boon’s head shot up. His nostrils flared. The warhorse’s ears twitched rapidly, searching in all directions. Dain sensed his nervousness. Normally, Boon was infallible as a lookout, and he did not like being snuck up on.
“I gather there are several of you. Likely a few with arrows aimed at me,” Dain replied without moving.
“You are observant, for a human,” came the voice again. “I will move into the light, since you have obeyed, while my friends watch you.”
A young elven woman stepped into the firelight facing him. Flowing dark hair fell loose to her shoulders and her silver eyes seemed to glow. She held her chin high, proud, while walking closer. Her ears and brows, while clearly elvish, were softer and less cold than those of the golden elves. A silver crescent moon hung from a thin strap around her neck, catching the fire’s light, and she wore a mix of simple, forest-green cloth and tanned brown leathers. A wood elf, he realized. Despite the implicit threat of the others waiting in the shadows, Dain felt a surge of pure wonder as he gazed upon her. She was perfection. No woman could compare to her.
“You are beautiful,” he said, unable to tame his tongue.
A quick, shy smile flashed across her mouth as she produced a cup from her pack and reached for his teapot. After filling it, she sat down opposite him, close to the doe. The doe placed its head in her lap, and she took a moment to cradle the animal’s head and gaze deeply into its eyes. Seemingly satisfied, she turned back to regard him.
“You are bold, to speak such a word to someone whom you have only just met, especially someone with a few hidden archers at her command,” she said, arching one dark eyebrow.
“Please…accept my apologies, then. It was an unfortunate slip of the tongue.” The woman’s brow rose further, but her eyes had taken on a playful glint. “Shall I take it back?” Dain said, unable to stop himself from smiling.
“You are headed to Galena, but you do not seem like a miner,” she said, ignoring his question.
“I am only a miner for now. Until something better comes along. Fate or destiny or what have you.”
“Fate or destiny…destiny has certainly had a hand in shaping your path since you found her,” she said softly, stroking the doe’s head. “I have spent weeks searching for her.” She lifted her head to look Dain in the eyes.
“I am Sera,” she said.
“Dain. Honored to meet you, Sera.”
“Was she injured when you found her?” Sera turned to regard the doe again.
“Yes, I healed the wound as best I could.”
“Where?”
“I pulled an arrow from her hip just there,” Dain said, gesturing to the doe’s flank. “My healing skills aren’t the best. I’m afraid she’ll always have a scar.”
Sera’s face tightened as she ran her fingers over the wound. When sh
e pulled her hands away she balled them into fists and trembled. She took a deep, steadying breath before speaking again.
“Who…Who trained you to heal?”
“I was once a paladin knight, far south of here. That was a long time ago.”
“And what is a paladin?”
“For me, it is a hollow word. One that no longer holds any meaning.” Dain tried to pay the words little mind, but like stones, they still fell heavy from his mouth.
“What price would you now claim for her life?” Sera asked. She looked at him expectantly.
“Well, you have those archers watching me, Sera, and since the doe led to our pleasant meeting, I would simply ask that you set a price that’s fair. I don’t consider her life to be mine anyway.”
“Fair is a difficult thing,” Sera said, cocking her head to one side. “Fair to one is not always fair to another. The life you saved is now yours to own. That is the way of my people. I will give you a second chance to name your price, but first I would show you something of her.”
“There is no need for that. You clearly love the doe and she returns the feeling. Truly, I want no reward. I was just trying to find a place to leave her where she’d be safe.”
Sera stared at him for a time, then spoke again.
“She will never be safe, I’m afraid. I need to undo the spell placed on her by the cruel Golden. They are tyrants who enslave and destroy my people.” The last was said with a curl of her graceful upper lip. Her hands had balled back into fists. She unclenched them and smoothed them down her thighs before meeting his eyes again. “Do you have some item of theirs? It will ease my casting.”
Slowly, Dain reached into his quiver, removed the black arrow, and handed it to her.
She frowned at it, gripping it until her knuckles turned white.
“This will do.”
Sera placed the arrow on the doe’s flank and began casting above it, speaking in Elvish instead of Common now. Dain couldn’t understand the words. Unlike the Creator’s Light that he channeled, the spell had no visible sign, but he sensed the power from both the deer and the arrow. Sera completed the casting then returned the arrow before laying her hands on the doe, caressing it. She pulled her hands back a bit when the doe began to take on a faint blue glow, shivering violently as if she were cold.
“She is well,” Sera said. “Their spell is just wearing off. It causes her to shake a bit.”
Dain stared, transfixed, as the doe began to stretch and change. Her white hair and tan freckles faded. Her hooves split and then separated into five distinct appendages. Her nose collapsed in on itself until it had shrunk closer with her eyes. Locks of blond-and-black-streaked hair sprouted from her head. Only the brilliant blue eyes remained unchanged and the doe was reshaped into a small elven girl. The girl’s eyes closed and she sagged into Sera’s arms.
Dain had heard the legends. In many lands there were stories of shapeshifters, fearsome and vicious beasts usually, but in all his travels he’d never seen one.
Sera removed a bolt of fringed green cloth from her pack and wrapped it gently around the child’s frail body. Briefly, Dain glimpsed the deep scar on the child’s hip. Sera drew the child close, clutching her tight, and then leaned down to kiss her forehead. She started to whisper while gently rocking her back and forth.
“What is her name?” Dain finally asked after he’d found his voice. He watched the child’s blanket-covered chest rise and fall as she took deep, peaceful breaths.
“Jin,” Sera replied, smiling down at her. Tenderly, she brushed a stray lock of hair from the girl’s face.
“Jin,” he echoed.
“Thank you, Dain, for saving my daughter. Tonight we will camp here with you, and my guards will watch over us. Tomorrow we can talk further. I have a debt to you that can never be repaid.”
He could only nod. Sera wrapped Jin in her arms and draped a wool blanket over them both before lying down.
Dain watched for a few moments longer as mother and daughter snuggled into each other. Identical smiles lit their faces. He fell asleep some time later to the sound of their even breathing close by.
CHAPTER THREE
Despite waking early, Dain was the last to rise.
Sera was cooking a sizzling omelet over the fire while Jin played with one of the guards. The guard wore thick, heavy leathers and a pair of crossed shortswords over his back. Stealthy and quiet, the gear would be ideal for ambush warfare, but fighting an armored and determined foe would prove difficult, Dain mused to himself.
“I didn’t know wood elves ate eggs. Most of the elves I’ve met didn’t eat meat of any kind,” he said, pushing off his blankets.
“An old human tale. We eat meat, just not in the quantities humans do,” Sera answered with smile. “Jin says you snore louder than an orc.”
“Clearly, Jin has never met a sleeping orc,” Dain replied with a smile of his own. Sera seemed reserved—almost royal, even—but didn’t lord over him with commands and orders. He felt relaxed in her presence. “Does she remember much of what happened?”
Sera’s expression darkened. “I am afraid to ask, and she has not mentioned it. No use borrowing trouble from tomorrow when there is enough to go around today.”
Dain nodded in agreement. Seeing him awake, Jin turned from the guard and raced back to the campfire. Without a limp, he was relieved to see. She stopped at the fire’s edge, near her mother, and stared intently at him for several seconds.
“Deer or girl, you still like to stare, don’t you?” he said.
The question seemed to free the young girl from a deep trance. She turned, then cupped her hands, and whispered in Sera’s ear. Dain overheard only a few words, all in Elvish, which he couldn’t understand anyway.
Sera’s smile melted as she listened, and her face took on a focused intensity. She nodded as Jin continued. When Jin finished, the staring resumed, only now it was both sets of eyes boring into him as if trying to see through him.
“Those eggs are going to burn,” Dain said. He didn’t care for all the scrutiny.
“Jin claims you are a good fighter,” Sera said finally. “She says many other things concerning you as well. Things that I will not repeat, but how could she know you are a good fighter? What happened after you found and healed her?”
“We had a… misunderstanding with a large golden elf. He seemed to be the one who shot her with that arrow, and he wanted to finish the job.” Dain was suddenly aware that each of Sera’s guards had stepped from the trees. They held their bows ready, pointed in his general direction, as if he were some rabid beast that might attack at any moment.
“What was his name?”
“Haldrin. He claimed to be a prince. Did you know him?”
“What happened to him?” Sera asked. She still stared at him with those intense silver eyes.
“It was him or me, so I killed him,” Dain replied. He had never been one to brag, especially when it came to killing. It made him uncomfortable to speak of his own abilities or exploits.
“Despite his vicious nature, or perhaps because of it, Prince Haldrin is an expert warrior. Someone to be feared with sword, spear, or bow. Surely, you are incorrect. No ordinary human could kill him,” Sera said, her voice suddenly hard.
Dain heard doubt in her words; he didn’t like being called a liar. His anger rose in response.
“I didn’t really get to see him use the spear or bow, but yes, he was a damn good swordsman. He’s dead now, though, I’m sure of it.”
Sera turned to look at the girl. “Jin, is this true? Did this human kill Haldrin?”
Jin finally stopped watching Dain, turned to face her mother, and nodded once.
“Merciful Creator,” Sera breathed, dropping the pan as she stood. She spoke quickly in Elvish to a pair of the guards who rushed forward and began packing her gear. The others vanished into the trees. Dain heard them packing as well. Sera rounded on him, mouth set in a hard line.
“You have killed King E
lam’s son. Once the Golden find out, he will scour the land for you or any trace of you. He will be angry enough that Jin was freed and escaped, but with Haldrin dead, he will send an army to hunt you.” Sera had picked Jin up by now, and one of the guards returned with a saddled horse. She regarded Dain. After several tense seconds she gave one curt nod, seemingly to herself.
“You must come with us. The guards, those watching at the north bridge, will never let you cross.”
Dain didn’t argue. There was too much conviction in her voice. He saddled Boon then followed Sera as she started the group along.
Their horses held pace in a steady trot for three miles until Sera turned off the ancient, cobbled road and onto a faint trail to the southeast. They rode for hours, deep into the forest, through the oak and maple and evergreen groves. Despite the pall of danger that had settled over their party, Dain couldn’t help but admire the red and gold leaves of autumn around them. After a time, the dim trail brought them around a large, still lake, and they traveled up one of its feeder streams until Sera called for a dismount. There they let the tired animals drink their fill.
Four of the guards crossed the stream directly and made heavy tracks toward the south to confuse any possible pursuit, and two remained with Sera, Jin, and Dain as they turned their horses up through the gravel streambed.
For half a mile they kept their horses confined to the stream before letting them free of it. Then they dismounted and walked their mounts. One of the guards led them now while the other trailed behind.
Dain had been unable to speak to Sera throughout the day, and his efforts to talk to any of the guards had not been met with success either. Finally, she dropped back to walk beside him.
“They don’t speak Common. Few among us do,” she said. While she seemed at ease, her eyes swept the surrounding woods, alert for any sign of trouble. The guards did the same.
Dain studied Jin as she rode alone on Sera’s horse. The child wore her black-and-blonde-streaked hair pulled back in a ponytail, and her blue eyes seemed to take in everything all at once.
Kingdom's Forge: Book 01 - Paladin's Redemption Page 3
