Another glimmer, this one from a different spot. Then another, and yet another. Within several heartbeats, the forest ahead of Rheq filled with numerous glimmers, each moving slowly, yet steadily towards the camp.
These were no animals. This was an ambush.
Placing two fingers between his lips, Rheq whistled loudly. He then turned and ran back towards camp. He noticed one of his fellow guards across the field turn in confusion—a state which ended quickly when men raced from the wood, each of them screaming battle cries.
“We’re under attack!” Rheq heard someone shout. “To arms! To—” the shout turned into a gurgle.
The camp began to stir, too slowly for Rheq, as he reached the outer tents. Kneeling behind a barrel containing grain for the trip, he removed an arrow from his quiver and nocked it. Finding a target would not be hard—hundreds of men emerged from the forest surrounding them, each wielding wicked looking weapons.
Chapter 65
Pendr awoke when someone kicked his foot, hard. He opened his eyes immediately and instinctively reached for the sword at his side.
“It’s begun,” a deep male voice said. It took Pendr only a brief moment to attach the voice to Dosfogal.
Distant sounds of screams and metal on metal first confused Pendr; then realization took hold: the main forces were under attack. That means Danla is at risk.
“Quickly,” Captain Mux’s voice said just loud enough for all of the squad to hear. “Saddle up the horses. We need to act now!”
Any remnants of sleep evaporated from Pendr’s body and mind as he gathered his saddle and set about preparing his horse. This activity was one of many that Mux had had them practice. In short order, the squad was mounted and ready.
“Hear me now,” Mux said. “The latest word from our sources place Avadi in a cabin to the west of Blythewood. He has a small force surrounding him. We race in and kill Avadi first. Be quick—don’t hesitate. We dare not let him escape.”
“But our army is under attack!” one of the men said. Pendr could not tell which one in the darkness, but he was glad the man echoed his feelings.
“They are doing their part,” Mux said tightly, “and now we must do ours. Follow me!”
Without further instructions, the captain spurred his horse into a gallop. Pendr did not need to be told to embrace the blue myelur; he did so as soon as they started to move. While following Mux’s lead, Pendr noticed that each of the other men in the squad also had covered themselves in the protective shield.
While traveling, sounds of battle continued further into the wood. Pendr tried to ignore the cries of pain but found it difficult to do so. People he cared about were under attack.
Mux wound his way through the wood, jumping over small streams and fallen logs along the path. With only the light of the stars and the new waxing moon, traveling at such a speed proved challenging, if not treacherous.
And then, without warning, the trees ended. An open field with a cabin, framed in wood but with a stone chimney, stood before them. To either side were large tents. Behind it was a corral of sorts, housing a dozen or so horses.
A cry of surprise, from what had to be an enemy on watch, sounded when Mux’s forces emerged from the forest.
Mux did not wait. He aimed his horse straight for the cabin, as did the men who followed him. Before they could arrive, men—armored and wielding weapons of different kinds—emerged from the tents.
Arrows cut through the night air. Pendr worried not for such weapons; they could not pierce the blue myelur shield surrounding him. That confidence disappeared when he saw Mux’s horse go down, taking the captain with him. Several more of the squad followed a similar fate. They are shooting at the horses, not us! It was a smart tactic—one which Pendr had employed himself in battles. He guessed if Mux had not been forced to attack now, the captain would have left the horses behind.
Pendr leaped from his mount just as it crashed into one of the fallen horses he had been following. Remembering his orders, Pendr ignored the men from the tents and headed straight for the front door of the cabin.
In his right hand, he held his sword—a long, broad sword with a good bit of heft. In his left, a tower shield which ran from his shoulder to his knee acted as protection if the blue myelur failed and was emblazoned with the emblem of a tree—the kingdom’s symbol.
From small windows on either side of the cabin’s main door, Pendr saw firelight coming from inside. Without pausing to formulate a plan other than to enter, Pendr crashed into the door, shield side first.
The door had been barred, but the power from Pendr’s large body, aided by the blue myelur, made it collapse inward.
The light from the fireplace lit the scene. There, sitting up from a large bed, was a middle-aged man who matched the description of Avadi. But he was not alone. Next to him was a woman of similar age, and on a bed to the left were three children—the oldest of whom could have been no more than ten winters.
“Avadi!” the woman cried out. “No! Not us! Not the children!”
Pendr stopped. If the woman had been truthful, she had revealed that this man was indeed the one behind the attacks on Nothcar—the man Pendr was sent to kill. Did Captain Mux know his family would be with him? I can’t kill an unarmed man in front of his family!
A blow to the back of Pendr’s head made him realize he had hesitated long enough for one of the men from the tents to attack. The blue myelur prevented the hit from hurting Pendr, though the force was strong enough to knock him forward and to one knee.
Without hesitating this time, Pendr swung his sword around to fend off the man behind him. The strike caught the man in an armored thigh and continued until it sliced all the way through one leg and partially into the next.
The woman and the children were screaming now. Pendr stood, his back to them. He looked out of the cabin, over the man he had just taken down. Those of his squad who had survived the original attack were battling the men from the tents. Another man broke off from the fray and headed toward Pendr.
Quickly, Pendr let a knot build up inside of him—a knot of purple myelur—and released it at the man just before he arrived at the cabin. The effect blew the attacker backward thirty or so paces. He landed awkwardly on his head, his neck bending at an abnormal angle.
With that threat eliminated, Pendr turned back to face Avadi.
He wasn’t there.
The woman and the children were huddled together on the main bed, but Avadi was gone. In the back corner of the cabin, to Pendr’s right, there was a small door, slightly ajar. Pendr raced to it and muscled it open.
There, behind the house, was Avadi climbing on top of one of the horses by the corral. Without looking back, the leader of Sothcar took off to the west, leaving his men, his family, and Pendr behind.
Chapter 66
A nipping at Wyjec’s hand brought him to his senses. It did not hurt, but it was forceful enough to wake him. The night was still dark; the shard of the moon was headed westward meaning that dawn was still a ways off.
Through the red myelur, Wyjec looked at the wolf’s heart which sought his attention. The lines on the animal’s heart marked him as Three—one of Alpha’s offspring—and one of those who was scouting that night.
A combination of whistles and growls came from Three. The sound was one the wolves assigned to a specific thing: man. Wyjec took that to mean men were nearby. We shouldn’t be this close to them yet. According to the map, Blythewood was a good distance away.
Wyjec asked the wolf for clarification, the best he could with their primitive form of verbal communication. Three made the same sound meaning man.
This could be a problem, or it could be an advantage. Perhaps the men Three had detected would know something of Avadi’s exact location, or provide at least some information which he could use. It was too good of a chance to miss.
After giving the command to Three to wake the rest of the pack, Wyjec stood and stretched. He had not slept long, but he had sl
ept deeper than he thought he would. Any traces of drowsiness vanished as he prepared to get the pack on the move.
Just before Wyjec was about to give the order to follow Three to the men, Wyjec heard it: battle cries. Rapidly checking around him, he noted that all of his wolves were with him, aside from the others who were sent out to scout at night. It would not be his other scouts who were fighting; they were in the directions away from the sounds of battle.
Who would be fighting in the middle of the night so close to Blythewood? Dread came with understanding: Avadi’s enemies. They must have found the leader of Sothcar first.
No! I’ve come too far to give up now!
Wyjec whistled loudly, directing the wolves to head to the fray. Trees whipped by as Wyjec tapped into his inner energy to keep up with the wolves. His family ran silently, as he had taught them. He wanted their prey to have no warning of what was to come.
A ghastly shriek of pain echoed ahead and to the left. The wolves altered their course, panting heavily from the sprint.
Just ahead, Wyjec could see the red glimmers of many men, though some of the lights—those that were stationary—were dimming. They’re dying! This, in and of itself, was not a bad thing, unless one of those fading lights belonged to Avadi.
Then, the pack broke past the tree line and into a clearing. A cabin, with tents set up by it, sat in the middle. Around it, men fought viciously. They were too distracted to notice the horde racing in their direction, and the wolves refrained from howling until they were on the men. Wyjec called upon the blue myelur to protect his body as the wolves began their attack.
It did not matter what kingdom's colors the soldiers wore —the wolves tore into anything which stood on two legs. Then, and only then, did the howling begin.
Wyjec scanned the crowd, looking for Avadi. He did not see him, and none of the men would be in any shape to answer questions once the wolves completed the attack. A scream, different and higher pitched, came from the cabin. Wyjec raced to the front opening. The door lay splintered on the floor, torn from its hinges.
A woman, clutching three children tightly, sat on a bed, her back against the headboard. From the light of the fire in the hearth, he could clearly see the terror on her face.
“Where’s Avadi?” Wyjec demanded.
Her mouth worked as if she were trying to form words, but she said nothing.
“Where’s Avadi!” Wyjec screamed this time.
With a quivering hand, she pointed to a door in the back corner of the cabin.
He’s here! He’s close! A rush of anticipation washed over Wyjec as he ran to the back door.
Chapter 67
Danla could not let the screams of the slaughtered distract her. She needed to focus on healing the soldier before her who was bleeding to death. A nasty gash in his left shoulder oozed out the red, life-giving fluid. Her hands pressed down on the wound while she let the power of the green myelur flow from her inner reserve to seal up the injury.
Within moments, not only had the blood stopped but underneath the ripped open armor was healthy skin.
“Thank you,” he said as he sat up. He reached for his sword and shield by his side.
“You must rest,” Danla said.
He heeded not her words. “If I rest, we’ll die.”
Danla wanted to argue, but she knew he was probably correct. The battle still raged around them. There was no safe harbor here for soldiers to rest after a healing.
Once the attack came, Mistress Halima directed the healers to the center part of the camp. A large tent, big enough for at least twenty people, was pitched with the sole purpose of acting as a healing station.
Cots were set up, with small, but sturdy stools next to them. Even though the attack came as a surprise, the army still had a plan. The soldiers would fight. If they were injured, they would be brought to the healers’ tent. Once their wounds were mended, they would return to the battle.
As protection for the healers, Mistress Halima sat in the middle of the tent, legs crossed and eyes closed. From what Danla understood, her mentor’s sole responsibility was to cast a protective ward around the tent using the blue myelur. It would allow friendly forces in, but keep those intent on doing harm away.
Using a bucket of water and a thick cloth, Danla washed the blood from her hands. He had been the third man she had healed since the attack began. The healers—fourteen of them—took turns in an effort to let others recover. If the flow of wounded continued at its current pace, they would all be spent shortly. With the healers drained, the battle would most likely be lost.
Time passed, both quickly and slowly. More men came in with various wounds, and each of them was healed enough so they could return to the battle. Danla began to feel sapped to the point where it became an effort even to stand. Still, more men came.
“Are we going to win?” Danla heard Eladrel ask one of the men he had healed.
To this point in time, no one had spoken the question which loomed over all of them in the healer’s tent. It was not that the healers had been told to refrain from asking, rather fear of the answer kept them voicing their main concern.
“I can’t say,” the soldier said. His right ear was missing, and now smooth skin was in its place from where Eladrel had done his work. “We’ve pushed them back to the forest, but they keep regrouping and hitting us where we’re weakest. So far, we’ve kept any enemy mages away from this tent. That’s one of our main goals.” The man stood. “Keep doing what you can in here. It’s making a huge difference.”
He exited the tent without saying more. Danla looked around at each of those who could use the green myelur. Each had their shoulders slumped, and several lay down on the cots reserved for the wounded. And why not? We are wounded as well, just in a different way.
“Rest while you can,” Halima said, speaking for the first time since she had placed the protective ward.
Needing no more encouragement than that, Danla lay down on the cot next to her. Though spattered in blood, she could not find it in herself to let that bother her. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sounds of battle still raging around the tent.
Chapter 68
Avadi kicked his horse in the flanks and headed away from the cabin. He had picked the only saddled horse, meaning it would take time for Pendr to prepare a horse to follow—time he did not have. Once Avadi made it to the trees, Pendr was certain he would not be able to follow him in the dark.
This man, the one abandoning his family, was the sole reason for the war. He needs to be stopped, now!
Pendr called upon the purple myelur, letting it build inside him. But Avadi was traveling too fast. He would escape before Pendr could form enough power to do any significant harm to the leader of Sothcar’s forces. If only I had my horse! With that thought came a recent memory—he did not have his horse because it had been shot out from underneath him. Time to repay that debt.
Focusing on the right front leg of Avadi’s horse, Pendr released what myelur he could summon in such a short period. It was sufficient. The horse’s right leg buckled enough for it to stumble. The jolt knocked Avadi from his saddle and to the ground, landing hard.
Just then, a new sound entered Pendr’s ears. Howling. Lots of guttural, menacing howling came from the other side of the cabin. The effect was chilling and stunned Pendr into a moment of delay. Why would wolves be here?
Regaining his wits, Pendr understood that he needed to stay fixated on his primary target: Avadi. Breaking into a sprint, Pendr raced to where the man was just now beginning to sit up. I shouldn’t have hesitated before. While logically Pendr understood the concept, emotionally the idea of killing a man in front of his family, no matter if it was for the greater good, was too hard to conceive.
Still, Pendr doubted it was a coincidence that Avadi had a door in the back of the cabin which led to a horse prepared for travel. Maybe he wanted his family to be a distraction. Why these thoughts came to Pendr as he ran to Avadi, he was not sure. On
e thing of which he was certain: he could not let anything distract him this time.
Avadi had gotten to his feet, but stood groggily. His back to Pendr, the man put one hand to his head and then pulled it away, inspecting something on his palm. In the dark, Pendr could not see for certain what Avadi saw, but guessed the captain had hit his head when he fell.
Only a few paces away now, Pendr raised his sword. Behind him from the cabin, a male voice cried out, “Avadi!”
The call was enough for the captain of Sothcar to turn. Avadi’s eyes widened when he saw Pendr almost on top of him. He held up a hand in defense, but it was no use. With one complete blow, Pendr’s sword went through Avadi’s wrist and continued under his chin, decapitating the man.
Pendr spun to see who had called out the warning. Surprisingly, it was not a man dressed like that of a soldier. Instead, the man had long, unkempt hair and wore what appeared to be animal hides. This doesn’t make sense. Who is he?
For a moment, Pendr and the other man stared at each other across the distance from the cabin to where Pendr had completed his mission. It was at least two hundred paces, if not more. The man in animal skins was not armed, yet something about him made Pendr keep the blue myelur shielding around him.
“No!” The man shrieked. “He was mine to kill!”
This statement made even less sense. Pendr had never seen this man before, and he was certainly not part of the king’s army. If he wanted Avadi dead, does that make him my ally?
Pendr’s answer came when the odd man made some loud, strange whistling and growling noises. From around the cabin came a pack of wolves—large ones. There must be nearly thirty of them! With an emphatic gesture, the man pointed at Pendr. The pack broke into a sprint toward their new prey.
Chapter 69
Wyjec watched his wolves tear their way across the field to the soldier who had just killed Avadi. It had been him. There was no doubt. Through the red myelur, Wyjec had been able to verify the man was indeed Avadi—the man who betrayed him in Iredell. Each living being’s red glimmer was a bit different, and Wyjec had studied Avadi long enough to be able to recognize him.
Darker the Shadow (The Howler King Trilogy Book 1) Page 26
