Protector Of The Grove (Book 2)

by Trevor H. Cooley

  They traveled southward, staying among the trees until Gladstone’s road traffic was behind them. The roads near the border of Malaroo were much less traveled. The Roo-Tan left their country only rarely and they let few visitors in. Those that were allowed to travel within Malaroo borders were levied a hefty fee.

  They reached the border checkpoint less than two hours after leaving Gladstone. Oddly, the Roo-Tan guards were not at their station. The rest of the party waited at the road while Sir Hilt and Qurl walked to the guard barracks where the soldiers stayed between their rotations. When the two men returned, there were unsettled looks on their faces.

  “No one was there,” Hilt said. “There was just a note posted at the door that said to wait for their return.”

  “It cannot be correct,” Qurl said. “We keep ten men posted here at all times. Fine warriors. They would not all leave their post.”

  “Do you think it was the nightbeast?” Poz asked, his voice concerned.

  Yntri clicked in reply, “That is not their way. A nightbeast would not kill ten men who were not targets just to set up a trap.”

  “This one might,” Justan said, thinking of the letter.

  Hilt shook his head. “I checked inside. There was no sign of a fight. No blood anywhere.”

  Justan sent instructions through the bond and Deathclaw and Gwyrtha ran over to the barracks. Gwyrtha sniffed around outside the walls while Deathclaw slipped inside the door. Justan had shared with them the scents of basilisks and they would know what to look for.

  “Please don’t be offended, Hilt,” Justan said. “But they might be able to find something you couldn’t.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Aldie asked. “Do we really want to wait here like the sign said?”

  “No,” said Hilt, rubbing his chin. “I don’t think that would be wise.”

  “If these men did desert their posts, father will deal with them severely,” Jhexin said, a scowl on his face.

  “Gwyrtha did not smell any blood,” Justan said as he heard back from her through the bond. “But there was something else, an odd smell she couldn’t place.”

  Deathclaw soon returned, Gwyrtha at his side. “There was no blood or sign of violence inside,” the raptoid reported. “However, everything in the human’s lodging place was damp. Even the blankets were wet. I too smelled the strange scent that Gwyrtha described.”

  “Something is going on that father needs to know about,” Jhonate said. “We should hurry.”

  “Agreed,” Hilt replied.

  They set off across the border, Deathclaw, Gwyrtha, and Yntri running ahead to scout for danger. Hilt kept the party at a swift pace but they weren’t on the trail more than fifteen minutes before Justan received a message back from Deathclaw.

  There are many men here and they are coming your way from the west, the raptoid warned. They are armed for war.

  “Deathclaw says a group of armed men is approaching,” Justan said. He took his Jharro bow off his shoulder and grabbed an arrow. Gwyrtha soon reported back as well. “Gwyrtha says another group is coming from the east.”

  “Everyone ready yourself!” Hilt said, drawing his swords. “How many?”

  “Deathclaw saw a dozen, Gwyrtha maybe more. She isn’t good with numbers,” Justan replied. “From the images they’re sending me they look kind of like Roo-Tan, but they’re covered in strange paint.”

  “Roo-Dan, then?” said Jhexin. “Here?”

  “And only ten of us,” said Hilt. He lifted a small pendant from a chain around his neck and kissed it. A slight smile ran across his face. “Prepare yourself for spirit magic attacks. They may have witches or sorcerers with them. Also their weapons may have spirits bound to them so don’t let yourselves get hit.”

  “Are you sure they’ll attack?” Aldie asked.

  “Roo-Dan filth!” Qurl spat. “They wouldn’t come all this way unless they meant to fight.”

  “Gwyrtha and Deathclaw will follow them and attack from behind,” Justan said. “There’s something else. Gwyrtha is catching more of that strange scent she smelled back at the border. She thinks there is magic in it.”

  Justan opened himself fully to the bond, letting his mind touch all of his connections except for his bond with Fist. A shudder passed through him as he drew in a small portion of Gwyrtha’s energy and fed it through each bond in a continuous stream. Justan could feel his every muscle crackling with energy.

  He was now hyper aware of both his bonds and his surroundings, his senses tingling. He would be able to defend against magical attacks to both bonded simultaneously in this state. He didn’t know how long he could keep it up without losing his concentration, but he had practiced it with Deathclaw and Gwyrtha a lot before the raptoid left on his mission.

  He even sent a little of that energy through the ring, Are you ready, Jhonate?

  She shivered with a surge of adrenaline. “I am.”

  Justan could hear the approaching Roo-Dan now. They had begun a whispering chant that to Justan’s heightened senses sounded like a low roar. “They come!”

  Some of them have blue magic, Deathclaw sent suddenly. I see it with my Mage Sight!

  “Merpeople!” Yntri whistled aloud and through everyone’s Jharro token. The elf darted from the tree line in front of them, dodging as a narrow spear arced from the trees, plunging into the ground next to him. Yntri ran past them and up the trunk of the nearest tree, climbing to a thick branch and standing there, drawing an arrow.

  Justan willed the world to slow around him.

  The Roo-Dan warriors poured from the trees. They did indeed look similar to the Roo-Tan, with their braided hair and light brown skin color, but that was where the comparison ended. The Roo-Dan saw their party and screamed like savages. Their skin was covered in white painted runes and instead of the hide armors that Jhonate’s people favored, they wore only animal skins. Their weapons varied from short spears and cudgels to curved swords.

  Justan didn’t hesitate, but began firing arrows. He took three of them down before Hilt rushed forward to meet them. The named warrior danced into their midst, slicing with his swords, Northwind and Southwind. Each slice sent blades of air into his enemies, toppling them.

  Jhonate and the others leapt into the fray, the Roo-Tan warriors working the savages over with their constantly morphing Jharro weapons. Butcher Poz lived up to his nickname, lopping off Roo-Dan limbs left and right. Aldie seemed to have learned his lesson with the use of his sword and kept his enemies at bay with wide swipes of his blade.

  Then from the tree line emerged the merpeople. There were five of them, two females and three males. They looked a lot like the Silvertree elves, with fair skin and pointed ears, though their features were a bit puffy. They wore elaborate multicolored leather armor and carried long metal spears. They were eagerly pointing at the tree Yntri was standing in.

  Next to the merpeople emerged a new group of Roo-Dan that looked a lot different from the others. There were both males and females in this group and they wore only loincloths. Their bodies weren’t painted with white runes but were instead smeared with runes of blood. These people didn’t carry short spears or swords like the others, but instead wielded strange scepters wrapped in animal skins and topped with bleached skulls, a few of them human. These were the Roo-Dan witches Hilt had warned them about.

  He shifted to spirit sight and saw them begin weaving strands of white spirit magic mixed with long ropes of gray and dark spirit magic. These new Roo-Dan began gesturing wildly, sending out long nets of this intermixed spirit magic over his party.

  Justan knew that these were the biggest threats and sent Deathclaw and Gwyrtha after them. Trusting the rest of his group to fight off the melee attackers, he turned his bow on the witches, firing just as their net of spirit magic settled over him.

  Justan felt the beginnings of a deep fear stir within him, and reached out with the bond. Forming his spirit magic like a blade, he sliced through the strands of the net, taking it
apart around him.

  Hilt and the Roo-Tan warriors were able to steel their minds and fight the attack, but the two academy fighters were not so well prepared. Aldie slowed, losing ground to his attackers and Poz took a wicked sword slice across his ribs.

  Justan’s first arrow took one of the witches in the chest and he fired again, sending his next arrow into a witch’s eye. Then Deathclaw and Gwyrtha leapt among them. Deathclaw swung his sword and lashed out with tail and claws while the rogue horse, having grown larger than her normal size, pounced on one of the female merpeople pulling her down to the ground. The rest of the merpeople remained focused on Yntri, their faces twisted with hatred and their arms outstretched as they worked spells.

  The elf was up in the tree, leaping from branch to branch as huge orbs of water tried to coalesce in the air surrounding him. If he was trapped inside one of the orbs he knew he wouldn’t be able to get out. Each time one of their water attacks failed, the merperson would let the orb of water crash to the ground and try again.

  Finally Yntri was forced to jump out of the branches and roll to the ground below, coming up on his feet and firing. His arrow struck one of the mermen in the chest and burst into flames, causing the merman to scream, clutching at the fiery arrow in a panic.

  Justan took down two more of the witches with arrows before a man broke past Poz and ran towards him. The man carried a short spear and a wooden shield wrapped with animal hide. A rune was branded in the middle of the hide and the shield had a dusty white glow. To Justan’s slowed vision, the man approached at a crawl, yet he still had no time to put away his bow and draw his swords.

  The Roo-Dan man had an unnatural rage in his eyes and Justan saw a halo of gray mist surrounding his head as the man thrust forward slowly with his spear. Justan dodged to the side. He waited for the spearhead to pass by, then reached out with his right hand grasped the man’s forearm. In one smooth motion, Justan yanked the man forward and, at the same time, kicked out with his foot, tripping the man up.

  The Roo-Dan man crashed to the ground, then rolled to his feet and came at Justan again. This time Justan grabbed the man’s spear just below the head and pushed it up into the air. He brought his knee up into the man’s belly and the Roo-Dan warrior doubled over. Instinctively, Justan brought Ma’am down, willing the front of the bow to sharpen down to a razor fine edge. The Jharro wood obeyed, slicing open the man’s neck.

  The man dropped his spear and stumbled away, clutching at his spurting wound. Justan looked at Ma’am in shock, watching as the sharp edge rounded back out to normal. It had worked. He hadn’t even known what he was doing, but he had willed the bow to change and Ma’am had obeyed.

  A horn sounded out, sharp and loud across the field. A score of warriors wearing stiff hide breastplates and carrying Jharro weapons walked from the trees. Several of them lifted Jharro bows and began to fire.

  “Roo-Tan!” shouted Jhexin, raising his arms in triumph as white-painted warriors fell all around the clearing. The one merwoman that remained standing turned to run but a pair of Roo-Tan men cut her down with swift slices of Jharro swords.

  Justan cheered along with him, but his elation faltered when an arrow suddenly struck Gwyrtha in the side of her belly, penetrating deep. Several of the Roo-Tan soldiers had turned their attention on her and Deathclaw. Justan willed his bonded to return quickly to his side. Gwyrtha bolted towards him, but Deathclaw disappeared into the trees.

  Perhaps Deathclaw had the better idea because the bowmen continued to fire as Gwyrtha ran towards him. A few shots fell short, but two of them struck her, one piercing her leg, another one her jaw.

  Justan! she shouted, stumbling.

  “Stop!” Justan cried, running to stand in front of her. “She’s not an enemy!”

  Jhonate saw what was happening and echoed his cry waving her arms as she ran to his side. “Stop firing!”

  Still one more arrow flew. Justan saw it arc through the air, heading for Gwyrtha’s head. He narrowed his focus even more, slowing the world further than he ever had before. The arrow floated lazily towards her and Justan reached for it, his arm moving just as slowly. He got his hand in position and willed his hand to close around the shaft, watching helplessly as the arrowhead slipped past his fingers. He felt the fletchings touch the side of his hand and finally his fist closed around it, snatching the arrow from the air just before it pierced Gwyrtha’s eye.

  Jhonate continued to shout and wave, telling the men to stand down, while Justan threw the arrow aside and knelt at Gwyrtha’s side. He dove through the bond, assessing the damage.

  Why didn’t you harden your scales this time? he asked. The arrow in her side was the worst of her wounds. The tip was broad and barbed and had pierced deep into her intestines.

  I wanted to be big this time, she said. My tongue hurts. The arrow in her jaw had pierced her tongue as well.

  I’ll get to that one in a minute, Justan replied. He used flows of water to open up the space around the arrowhead in her side so that he could pull out the arrow. Then he started repairing the damage.

  I won’t be able to eat. My food won’t taste good, she complained.

  Your tongue will be fine, Justan replied, engaged in his work. Now you listen to me, Gwyrtha. If we are ever in a fight, you harden your scales. I don’t care whether you’re big or small or fast or slow, you protect yourself. Understand me?

  He closed the wound in her belly and assessed the damage to her jaw. This arrowhead had gone all the way through her tongue and it was easiest to break off the head and pull the arrow out.

  I’m sorry, Justan, Gwyrtha said guiltily. I’ll do better next time.

  You’d better, Justan replied as he healed the wound. He turned his attention to the arrow in her leg. You scared me.

  You do realize this was your fault, Deathclaw observed. Now that the arrows had stopped falling, he had returned to the edge of the tree line and was watching them. You should have told her to go with me instead of running into the open.

  Justan winced. He was well aware of his mistake. You’re right. I will remember this for the future.

  You had better. Deathclaw replied. A mistake like this could kill one of us some day.

  It’s not Justan’s fault, Gwyrtha said indignantly. Those men shot me.

  No, he’s right. Justan said as he finished healing her. I’m sorry. He hugged her and stood, looking at the rest of his party.

  Poz and Aldie were both having wounds tended to by soldiers wearing white armbands. Qurl and Jhexin were with Yntri by the bodies of the merpeople talking to a group of soldiers. While Justan watched, another Roo-Tan soldier standing closer to the tree line called out to Yntri and beckoned him over, pointing at another body on the ground.

  Hilt and Jhonate were talking to another one of the Roo-Tan soldiers, a tall man who carried a Jharro staff and wore a half helm made of Jharro wood on his brow. The braid that hung down beside his face was woven with a blue ribbon. Justan approached them, Gwyrtha staying at his heels.

  “But why would Xedrion come this far out?” Hilt was saying. “The Protector doesn’t leave the grove unprotected.”

  “It is not unprotected. We only brought two hundred warriors with us,” said the soldier, unfazed by Hilt’s remarked. He wore an easy smile. “Father left Sen in charge while we are gone and they are on high alert.”

  Jhonate grabbed Justan’s hand and pulled him closer. “Sir Edge, this is my brother, Fleen.”

  Justan stuck out his hand, trying to recall what he knew about this brother. He said, “You would be the sixth son of Xedrion, born of Faldreth.”

  “That would be me,” said Fleen. He shook Justan’s hand warmly. He didn’t have the standoffish air that Jhonate’s other brothers had. “So you are Jhonate’s betrothed. I have to say I was quite impressed by the way you grabbed that arrow out of the air. I apologize for my men shooting at your bonded.”

  “It was an understandable mistake considering the circumstances,” Justan said,
returning his smile. “I take it it’s not common to find Roo-Dan out this way?”

  “Definitely not,” Fleen replied. “Father will need to be told as soon as we get to camp, of course. He will also want to know that our border guards were not at their posts.”

  Justan, said Gwyrtha.

  “That was likely the doing of the merpeople,” Justan suggested. “My bonded smelled them at the guard house and there was water everywhere.”

  Jhonate frowned. “My question is how did the Roo-Dan know we were coming? It seems like a strange coincidence that they should be waiting for us as we crossed the border.”

  Justan! Gwyrtha said, nudging him. She was watching the Roo-Tan soldier talking to Yntri. The soldier had his arm around the elf’s shoulder as he said something and pointed at Justan. Yntri followed his gaze, looking their way, and his eyes looked concerned. A spike of worry shot through the bond as Gwyrtha said, Not a person.

  Justan’s heart jumped. It was Vahn. He pulled his bow off of his shoulder and shouted both aloud and through the Jharro wristband, “Yntri! Nightbeast!”

  The elf’s eyes widened. He tried to pull away from the man, but the assassin was already moving. He sent his hand up, morphing as it rose, turning into a sharp spike just before it pierced the underside of the elf’s chin.

  Vahn’s eyes met Justan’s as he shoved the spike upward. The assassin then jerked the spike free and pointed it at Justan, giving him a promising smirk. He let the elf fall to the ground.

  Justan felt shock rush over him. He wanted to cry out. He wanted to scream. Instead, he drew an arrow and fired, striking the nightbeast between the eyes. Vahn didn’t even flinch. He gave Justan an oversized smile, then turned and ran for the trees. Justan fired another arrow and another. Each arrow struck the assassin. Once in the back, once in the leg. It kept running. Several Roo-Tan men who had seen the attack ran after him.

  Old elf, said Gwyrtha sadly.

  I’ll get the assassin, said Deathclaw. Come, Gwyrtha.

  Yes, she said angrily and ran for the trees where the nightbeast had disappeared.