Storm Holt (The Prophecies of Zanufey Book 3)

by A. Evermore

  She roused again and looked up at him. ‘Bokaard. He came back. He’s alive.’

  Marakon stood up straight, stunned. It took him several long moments to put it all together. ‘That’s incredible,’ he said.

  ‘No more incredible than you surviving,’ Rasia smiled. ‘I think he knew you weren’t dead. He longed to see you. Maybe he’ll return with the children. Go now, eat and rest.’

  ‘I’ll not leave you again,’ Marakon said firmly.

  ‘I’m not going anywhere.’ She shook her head. ‘And I need to sleep myself. I’ll still be here when you return. Go, I insist.’

  Marakon felt the exhaustion as a physical thing dragging him down, but he didn’t want to leave Rasia’s side. She was right though, she needed to rest peacefully without him worrying beside her. His stomach rumbled. She was already asleep when he reluctantly turned to go. He decided to get some food and take an hour’s rest at most.

  The townsfolk had gathered food from the few surviving stores and placed it in the smaller warehouse next door. There he found Ghenath and Cormak. They talked about what had happened as he made a meal of seed bread, apples and a vast array of pickled and salted items. To his empty stomach it tasted like a meal fit for a king.

  Afterward he took off his armour and found a quiet place in the corner of the storeroom atop a pile of hay. He immediately fell into a deep sleep and did not awaken for several hours.

  When Marakon finally awoke Rasia was gone. They had moved her body to the next warehouse where the other people now lay in permanent rest.

  ‘It is often the way,’ the old female nurse smiled at him sympathetically. ‘It’s as if their soul knows. They live just long enough to say goodbye to their loved ones, and leave when they are free to go.’ She squeezed his arm gently, and then left him alone with his wife’s body.

  Rasia’s once tanned face was now grey-white and her lips a shade of slate. He stroked her cheek. It was so soft under his hand, and so horribly cold. He didn’t bother to wipe away the tears that flowed down his cheeks.

  ‘You told me you would still be here,’ he whispered, ‘but it turns out you had to go.’ He knelt down beside her and buried his head into the sheets, letting the grief consume him.

  Marakon stayed there for a long time, stayed even when the tears had gone and the grief turned to numbness once more. Slowly he stood up. There was no point staying here, Rasia was not here, she was gone never to return. There was no point to anything anymore. He gently drew the sheet over her face, a face he would never see again.

  Marakon left the warehouse of dead and wounded, and stood outside in the fresh air. His knights were gathered beside the harbour wall. They had eaten, rested and cleaned their armour. It gleamed in the sunlight that fell now and again through the clouds. They were only eight now, four were gone and he doubted he would ever see them again either. The knights smiled at him, concern and sorrow shared in their faces.

  ‘We’re sorry, Marakon,’ Lan said. ‘We did what we could, but there were too many of them.’

  Marakon said nothing, but gripped the big man’s shoulder and squeezed.

  ‘We cleaned your armour and tended your horse,’ Ghenath said. He thanked her. They looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell them what to do, what their next task would be, but he had nothing to tell them. He had no desire to do anything.

  ‘The Maphraxies will not return, not immediately anyway,’ he said, his voice hoarse and cracked. ‘So you may as well stand down and rest and help the people here. Where’s my horse? I need some time alone…’

  They brought his cleaned and rested horse to him. Luckily his horse’s wounds were little more than a few grazes on its hindquarters. He put on the saddle and bridle, but left the armour where it was on the stable floor along with his own freshly cleaned and fixed armour.

  He eased his aching body into the saddle, and trotted along the coast road leading north out of town. He didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing. He couldn’t just sit in that destroyed town. He had to feel the wind in his hair, the sun on his face, and perhaps, for a moment, he thought he could outrun his life.

  The road ran upwards and along the cliff edge with thick forests to the right. There was no one on it as he galloped along, and he focused on nothing else but the ride. The sun was beginning to set through the clouds, turning them orange and pink. The air was fresh and filled with the smell of the sea. He came to a high point on a cliff that jutted outwards and stopped to give his horse a rest. He patted his neck and stared out to sea for a few minutes.

  He’d just started off again when he saw a dust cloud in the distance coming towards him. Marakon slowed his horse to a trot. He wore no armour, but he still had his sword. No Maphraxie rides a horse, he laughed and let his hand drop from the pommel. The other horseman closed the gap between them, dropping to a trot as he neared. His face was covered with a scarf to keep the road dust out.

  ‘Marakon?’ a muffled voice came from behind the cloth and he pulled it down.

  ‘Bokaard?’ Marakon said in shock as he looked back at his friend.

  He’d only half believed Rasia when she’d spoken of Bokaard surviving. He’d thought she was delirious with sickness. They dismounted and embraced roughly, laughing like they used to do over a beer in a tavern.

  ‘Praise the goddess, you white belly, you’re alive. I knew it.’ Bokaard grinned.

  Marakon shook his head. ‘You would not believe my story even if I told you.’

  ‘Well, you’re gonna tell me, you lucky bastard, and then you can disbelieve mine,’ Bokaard said, his grin infectious and white teeth gleaming.

  ‘I’d like that. Over a beer of course,’ Marakon nodded.

  ‘They came by surprise, destroyed the town.’ Bokaard dropped his smile and became serious.

  Marakon reached over and gripped his shoulders. ‘My children. Rasia said you chased after them. Did you find them? Did you see anything?’

  Bokaard looked away and shook his head. Marakon suddenly saw the man’s exhaustion. Blood soaked his leather jerkin from a wound.

  ‘I tried,’ he grimaced and blinked back tears. ‘I have not stopped riding until now. Searching for them, though I knew it was helpless. They destroyed the house, came right for the children. We fought them, Rasia and I, but there were far too many. We chased them, then Rasia was trapped. I would have stayed with her, but she made me go after the boys.

  ‘I took a horse and found them again, but then was attacked. I lost them going right out of the town. I followed where they might have gone. I thought maybe the boys could have escaped and run away. I thought the knights on white horses might have freed them. I thought and hoped for many things, but I never found the boys again.’

  Marakon dropped his hands from Bokaard’s shoulders. It had been a poor hope at best. ‘You did what you could, you have my deepest gratitude.’

  ‘Did you find Rasia?’ Bokaard asked.

  ‘Yes, I found her. They were looking after her and I…’ he trailed off as a painful sob caught his throat. ‘She is gone, Bokaard.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Bokaard stared out to sea, his black skin seemed to grey then. ‘I promised myself to protect her, to protect them all.’

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ Marakon tried to appease the anguish in his friend. ‘We arrived too late to do much. There were too many of them. They came here with purpose, and many Maphraxies. That anyone survived should be considered a miracle.’ His own words of consolation sounded hollow in his ears.

  ‘Come, let’s find a beer and talk.’

  In silence they rode back to the smoking ruin of Wenderon.

  Chapter 29

  Demon Dreams

  ‘RAVEN Queen.’

  The voice called to Issa in the darkness of her dream. She spun around to peer into the blackness from where the voice had come. It was a strange voice, one she had never heard before, deep and gravelly and not human.

  ‘Raven Queen.’ She spun around again as the
voice came from directly behind her.

  ‘Why do you call the Raven Queen?’ she asked, hating her trembling voice.

  ‘We must speak with her,’ the voice replied.

  ‘Who are you? Reveal yourself.’

  ‘We know where the spear is.’ Red eyes gleamed in the black, and she fell back, immediately thinking Baelthrom. But then she saw these eyes were different and they had pupils with a vertical slit, just like a cat’s.

  ‘I’ve seen you before,’ she said. ‘I saw you in the sacred mound, in that vortex. What do you want from me?’

  The eyes disappeared and in their place a glowing spear formed.

  ‘The white spear,’ she breathed.

  ‘Yes,’ the voice hissed. ‘We know where it is.’

  ‘What is it for? Why do I keep seeing it?’ Issa said.

  ‘Come to us and we’ll tell you. There’s a man who searches for it, only he can kill the Demon Wizard.’

  ‘I don’t care about the Demon Wizard. Leave me alone,’ she shouted. She wanted the darkness to go away and the demons to leave her alone.

  ‘You will care. The greater demons from the Pit are coming.’

  Horrible forms moved in the dark, long pitch-black faces with hungry eyes that bore right into her soul. They clustered around her, their sharp claws began tearing at her skin and pulling her hair. She beat them back with her fists.

  ‘Get away from me. Go away,’ she screamed.

  Issa awoke choking on her scream. She sat up gasping. The sheets were wrapped around her and she was covered in sweat. She kicked them off and glugged down a glass of water. The dream faded and the quietness of the room crept in.

  ‘Uh, Zanufey, please tell me why my mind’s plagued with demons.’ She dropped her face into her hands. From the gap in the curtains it was still dark outside. She flopped back onto the bed and shoved aside the smothering velvet covers. It took a while for her racing heart to calm again, but eventually she fell back into a dreamless sleep.

  Asaph was having a difficult night. Whether it was the late night food and wine giving him nightmares he couldn’t be sure, but in them he was being hunted by a white owl the size of a dragon. It swooped and struck him as he fled through trees. Whole branches were torn from their bows and thrown around him. Talons longer than his hand snatched at him, and the owl’s eyes were hungry all-black pits. Asaph could not end the nightmare, but spent the whole night suffering.

  When he finally awoke well after dawn he felt more exhausted than he had before he’d gone to bed. The door to his room opened and his father peered in.

  ‘I did knock,’ Coronos said apologetically.

  ‘Ah.’ that must have been what woke him up. ‘I overslept,’ he mumbled, propped himself up, and drained the water by his bed.

  ‘Issa said you might be coming down with something. How do you feel?’

  ‘I had a rough night of tortured dreams. Now I’m awake I feel exhausted. But I think my head is clearer,’ Asaph said. Indeed the fog that had stuffed up his mind all of yesterday now seemed to be clearing. He sat back against his pillows with a sigh of relief. The fog had been so bad, he realised, that it had even blurred his feelings for Issa. That realisation worried him.

  ‘Good, maybe it’s passing. We’re doing nothing today, but resting and eating,’ Coronos grinned. ‘Well you and Issa are, Freydel and I will be attending another meeting.’ Asaph nodded, relieved to not have to do anything.

  ‘Breakfast is being served downstairs where we ate dinner. You’ll have to be quick if you want any hot chocolate as Issa is about to finish the lot.’

  Asaph struggled out of bed to the sound of Coronos laughing. His father turned to go.

  ‘Oh, one more thing.’ Coronos paused in the doorway. ‘I’ve told her to stay in the castle until the orbs call us, but you know how her inquisitiveness drives her. Try to keep her here. If she tries to go into town, we’ll not find her again until dinner time.’

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ Asaph frowned. ‘Getting her to do anything she doesn’t want to do, or trying to stop her from doing the things she does, is virtually impossible. I guess you’ll be taking her to the Wizard’s Circle?’ Asaph slumped, he felt left out, but also too tired to really put any emotion into it.

  ‘Yes, but none of this should be of any worry to you,’ Coronos reassured him. ‘The Wizard’s Circle know what they are doing.’

  ‘What if they decide to invite her to take that stupid test? How can I protect her if I cannot be with her,’ Asaph sighed.

  ‘No matter how you feel for Issa you cannot stop her making her own choices,’ Coronos said. Asaph pulled on his trousers. He really didn’t want to think about it right now. ‘Now be quick if you want some breakfast.’

  Asaph slipped on sandals and hurried out the door still buttoning on his shirt.

  An hour after breakfast Issa felt the Orb of Water calling her. Knowing she would be called she had placed it on the bed whilst she washed and dressed. Her linen clothes had just been delivered by the maid, and they were clean and pressed. No sooner had she dressed than the orb began to glow.

  She watched the orb, admiring the swirling turquoise within it as it throbbed and hummed. She stepped towards it and hesitated. She chewed her lip. She didn’t feel ready to meet the most learned and powerful magic wielders on Maioria. Right now she wished she was the Raven Queen. Why did the warrior woman only seem to come to her when she was in battle or when Zanufey’s moon was with them?

  She checked her face again in the mirror. Her luminous eyes were nearly back to normal, just a subtle glow that no one would notice unless they were really looking into them. She didn’t want to be seen as a reckless over-user of magic, or a novice - all of which those strange turquoise eyes meant.

  As a last thought she quickly buckled on the short sword that Grast’anth had given her. It would probably look strange, but it immediately gave her the confidence she needed. The last time she had felt this nervous and flustered about meeting people was at a summer fair on Little Kammy where, as a child, she’d had to act in a play with the other children. All those faces looking at her had made her faint, and she never did a play again.

  ‘I’m not a child anymore, I’m an adult,’ she said firmly to her reflection in the mirror. Saying it to herself didn’t make her feel any better.

  She picked up the raven talisman. I could show them it, perhaps they will know something about it. She went to stuff it into her belt and then hesitated. Maybe she should wait to see who they were before she revealed too much about herself. She set the talisman back down. Taking a deep breath she stilled her mind. There came a squawk at the window that made her jump out of her skin.

  ‘Ehka. Great Goddess,’ she cursed and stared at the bird. He opened his mouth as if laughing. ‘Where have you been? How do you always know where to find me? Anyway, I’ve been called to the Wizard’s Circle.’

  He hopped in the open window and jumped onto the bed beside her, staring into the orb with intrigue. She picked up the orb and gripped it in her hands. It was warm and tingling with static energy. Suddenly she realised she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Was that part of the test? To see if she could do things intuitively? Or maybe Coronos just forgot to tell her how it worked…

  She couldn’t explain it, but she could feel the orb calling her, just like when a friend called out your name. She mentally accepted the request. Air rushed all around and through her, making her tingle with energy. It was exhilarating and yet exhausting at the same time. It felt as if every cell of her body had separated and energy was moving right through them. Then they were drawn swiftly back together and in moments she felt solid ground beneath her feet.

  Chapter 30

  Powerful Men

  ISSA swayed, and stood blinking up at Freydel. He had a warm smile on his face.

  ‘Next time it will be much easier,’ he assured. ‘Take a moment to get your bearings.’

  She took a deep breath. Everything became more solid
and stopped swaying. The place was beautiful. A lone mountain towered to the south and green forests blanketed rolling hills. Sparkling rivers flowed through the forest and fed into lakes, then wound onward to the sea in the north. The sun was high and would have been strong, but she could see the protective shimmer of a magical shield surrounding them.

  Twelve stone chairs ringed the turret that raised them off the ground to a dizzying height. The stone turret and chairs felt ancient, much like she felt the sacred mount to be. But despite their age, except for the broken one, they were in pristine condition. There was a great sense of something missing from the circle, or a sense of loss, as if it were broken and incomplete. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

  Eight of the chairs were occupied by the most powerful and learned wizards of Maioria, who all now sat staring at her with intrigue. Once there had been twelve, six men and six women, so Coronos had said. She caught his eye and he smiled encouragingly back at her.

  ‘You may place the Orb of Water alongside its sisters,’ Freydel gestured to the floor and she saw three other orbs had been placed there.

  She stared in absolute wonder at the red orb she had never seen before.

  ‘The Orb of Fire.’ She bent close to it as she placed her own orb. Its rich swirling mass of fiery reds and oranges was mesmerising.

  ‘Indeed. Come, stand beside me.’ Freydel took her hand and led her back to his seat. She felt less nervous as he held her hand. She stood beside him while he sat and then spoke.

  ‘Issa, please meet the members of the Wizard’s Circle.’ Freydel introduced the wizards, and she nodded to each of them, feeling her cheeks grow hot under their gaze.

  ‘Members of the Wizard’s Circle, please meet Issa, Zanufey’s Chosen and slayer of Keteth,’ Freydel said proudly. The wizards nodded and murmured. Her stomach lurched and she stared at the floor, wishing Freydel hadn’t called her that.