The Bonding (The Song and the Rhythm)

by Brian C. Hager

  Both the Swordsman and the Jaga were dazed momentarily, but Vaun was first to recover. He reached down for his sword and rose with it already slashing at the disoriented Jaga.

  The Song, brought back to life, guided the woven steel, and Vaun felt bone slice cleanly. As the thing’s left arm thumped onto the floor, the Jaga howled in pain and fury with a sound that seemed to come from the depths of some dark hell, freezing the blood of all who heard it. It even made the guardsmen outside the king’s chambers stop a moment to stare around at the walls, wondering what sort of hideous creature could make such a sound.

  The Jaga toppled onto its left side, though it managed to reach across its body and slash Vaun across his shins with its remaining arm. Hearing the youth’s painful gasp, it bared its fangs in a grin of satisfaction.

  The Swordsman staggered back against the wall, realizing this was the first time he had been injured and felt it. When the Chattul had clawed him, his Bonding had followed so quickly that the pain had never hit him. Now he felt as if he might never use his legs again. Oddly, though, the Song adjusted its music to accommodate the injury and the Rhythm changed beat, as if they had expected this to happen.

  The Jaga now rose and ignored Vaun completely, running instead at the king whom it had been assigned to kill. It forgot its wounds in its haste to accomplish its mission.

  The king had hit his head on the back of the divan when he’d fallen, knocking himself out, and only just now woke up. He lay stunned and open to the Jaga’s attack.

  Vaun gritted his teeth against the pain as he charged after the creature, letting the Song and the Rhythm guide his steps in a course that he hoped would save the king.

  The Jaga took one last step and hurled itself headlong at the king, its one arm reaching for his throat. Vaun Tarsus jumped an instant after it did, his Vaulka out before him in a desperate attempt to save King Dobry’s life.

  The Overlord’s vision cleared just in time to see the black creature leaping at him with one claw outstretched. His eyes widened in terror and his dead wife’s face flashed before his eyes, and he wished his vision would cloud over again. He tried to raise his poker to defend himself, but for the first time in his life he found himself paralyzed with fear, unable to do anything but watch death approach.

  Vaun’s sword entered the Jaga above its right hip and plunged upward into its body to the hilt, the point exiting its other side at chest level. The Swordsman collided with the creature just behind his weapon, knocking the Jaga off course just enough to miss King Dobry’s face.

  The long, black claws raked across the back of the divan as the Jaga fell onto it, Vaun Tarsus landing on top of the creature. The Swordsman rolled off the Jaga and fell heavily onto the floor, panting with pain and exertion. Even from the floor, Vaun could feel the inside of the creature’s body through his sword, and it made him want to throw up.

  King Dobry turned his head and stared at the deep gashes the Jaga’s claws had torn in the divan’s back, ignoring its body lying askew on top of him. He reached up and touched his cheek, thinking how close his face had come to resembling the couch back.

  The blond king was still stroking his face when ten of his guards, swords drawn, charged into the room, Merdel and Thorne immediately behind them. Taking one look at the broken furniture, the Swordsman lying face-down on the floor gasping for breath, and the Jaga pinned to the divan partially on top of the king with the hilt of a Vaulka sticking out its side and a dagger protruding out of its shoulder, Captain Stolar sighed deeply, relieved everyone still lived. “My King, are you all right?”

  King Dobry looked up at the captain of his guard and only nodded weakly, again thinking how close death had come and how he had watched it, feeling helpless. Maybe Jolar was right. Maybe he was getting too old to properly defend himself. His pride had nearly gotten him killed today.

  “What about you, Vaun Tarsus?”

  Vaun turned over so he could see Captain Stolar, then gestured to the Jaga with his left hand while he scratched his side with the other. “I’m fine, except that I’m so hungry now I could eat that ugly beast.”

  10

  THAT EVENING, THE SIX COMPANIONS sat with King Dobry and Captain Stolar in the king’s private audience chamber. The largest of the king’s rooms, it had bookshelves built into the walls, as did all his rooms. Colorful paintings and tapestries adorned the few blank spaces, and the furniture here was as rich as any in the palace.

  The two invalids, Drath and Vaun, lay at opposite ends of a long, dark red couch situated on the edge of the blue and gold, leaf-patterned rug that dominated the room. Red colored thread outlined the gold scrollwork and leaves against the solid blue background of the rug. Drath lay covered in a thick blanket, and Vaun had both legs wrapped tightly from the knee down. Across from them sat Merdel and Thorne on a similar couch. Rush and Dart, who had appeared mere moments before the scheduled meeting, sat together on a smaller, gold divan to the right of Drath’s end of the couch.

  Captain Stolar sat in a comfortable blue chair next to the two elves looking a little chastised, for the king had been all but yelling at him ever since the attack. King Dobry sat across from his captain in a high, wingback ivory chair with his sword close by and a rather sour look on his broad face. The king did not take well to being attacked in his own rooms.

  “Explain it to me again, Captain.” The blond king’s deep voice emphasized his anger. “How is it that any creature, much less a Jaga, was able to sneak into my city, then into my castle, and then into my own rooms without being seen? And why did I have only one person to protect me, even though he’s a Swordsman? That’s right, Captain, the young Ramener’s a Swordsman. But that’s not the point. The point is I was nearly killed. Have your men been lax in their duties?”

  The king had changed the royal robes he’d worn while performing his kingly duties and had changed again after the Jaga’s attack. He now wore loose-fitting silk breeches and shirt of a deep blue and trimmed in gold. He was not wearing his crown, as he rarely did because he said it gave him a headache, but he did wear an unpleasant scowl.

  Captain Stolar, ashamed at disappointing his king, shifted in his seat and focused on the floor. “It’s like I told you before, Your Majesty. The outer doors were locked and bolted from the inside. We came as soon as we heard the Jaga scream, but we had to break through the doors. And those doors were strong and thick.” He now looked back up at his king. “And Jaga have been known to sneak up on armies with more than a score of sentries standing watch.”

  “What about the entrance the Jaga and Vaun used? The one that no one is supposed to know about.”

  “I’m sorry, My Liege, but in the heat of the moment, I didn’t think of it. And no one but myself even knew of it.”

  “How did the doors come to be locked? I didn’t lock them. And I certainly wouldn’t have bolted them.”

  “That’s another question I can’t answer right now, Your Majesty.” Captain Stolar talked slowly and softly, trying to ease his monarch’s wrath. “The Jaga must have done it when it first entered the rooms.”

  Vaun Tarsus shifted position on the couch. “It couldn’t have. I followed it too quickly. I would have seen it and been able to stop it before it even got to King Dobry. It went straight from the study into the library where His Majesty was.”

  “What about the guardsman who was killed?” King Dobry looked from Vaun back to Stolar. “Who was he?”

  “We haven’t been able to identify him, yet, Your Majesty.” Stolar shrugged. “No one was supposed to be back there. The only time anyone is allowed in those passages is to change the torches, and no one goes back there alone. And as I said, none of the guards are supposed to know which restricted access doors lead where. The man’s face is unrecognizable, and it will take a little while longer for all the guard shifts to report anyone missing.”

  Rush sat up straighter. “He could’ve locked the doors. He could’ve been sent to help the Jaga, or he could’ve already been here.
”

  “You mean to suggest I may have had a traitor in my house, as well as an assassin?”

  “It’s quite possible.” The elf seemed unaffected by the king’s anger.

  “But that doesn’t make any sense.” Merdel’s eyes narrowed. “If the man had locked and bolted the doors while King Dobry slept, why didn’t he just kill him? He would already be in here and would have had to let the Jaga in through the secret door. Why go to the trouble of sending a man and a Jaga, when just one could have done the job?”

  “Perhaps whoever sent them wanted to make sure Dobry was killed.” Drath’s voice was still weak and gravelly. “Maybe this man couldn’t be trusted to perform an assassination. Maybe the Jaga couldn’t have opened the secret door by itself or locked the outer doors.” The tall man coughed, his whole body shaking.

  Merdel looked over at him. “Jaga are very intelligent.”

  Drath cleared his throat. “I know that. But they can’t be too familiar with the workings of a lock, if at all, and especially not with the catch to a secret door. I think the man was supposed to lock the doors and let it in, but he wasn’t supposed to kill Dobry.”

  Stolar nodded. “You may have a point. From the looks of what’s left of him, I’d say he was a soldier of some kind. He wasn’t a palace guardsman; that I’m sure of. All of my men have been accounted for. He wasn’t wearing anything that might tell us where he came from, but I’m guessing he probably lived in the city. He may have even been a city guardsman. We’ll know by tomorrow morning. If he was a guard, then he would not have known how to perform an assassination, and I can’t figure out how he would’ve known about the secret door. As I said earlier, I’m the only one who’s supposed to know it’s there.”

  Thorne grunted. “So why kill the soldier?”

  Captain Stolar shrugged again. “Perhaps the Jaga just felt like it. Killing is what they love best. Or maybe its master told it to. Who knows?”

  “The man who sent the thing.” King Dobry frowned sourly. “That’s who. Could they have been sent by Elak?” It was a question they’d all been pondering.

  Merdel pursed his lips. “It’s possible, but not likely. It’s not really his style, and I don’t think he knows about your involvement, Your Majesty. At least not yet.”

  “What’s this have to do with the Dark Wizard?” Stolar seemed surprised and apprehensive at the same time, as if any mention of that evil man set his teeth on edge.

  King Dobry turned his full attention on his guard captain. “Captain Stolar, the men before you have been called upon to eliminate the wizard Elak, for he is trying to do a very bad thing.”

  “That’s putting it lightly,” Merdel jibed.

  “Please don’t ask what.” The king halted Stolar’s question. “The fewer the people who know, the better. Just be aware that he is about something that threatens us all. And please keep quiet about Vaun’s…gift. That might draw too much attention as well. In the meantime, find out who that man was and who might have sent him and that disgusting creature. I have a few suspicions of my own, but I need proof. That is all, Captain, and thank you.” King Dobry appeared to have calmed.

  Captain Stolar rose and buckled on his sword. “As you wish, Your Majesty. I can assure you that, from now on, no one will get close to you unless you want them to. I will personally see to it.” King Dobry nodded, and Stolar bowed respectfully to his king. He then nodded to Drath and headed from the room, his back straight and his head proudly erect.

  “Stolar.” The sound of the Overlord’s voice made the captain stop and turn. King Dobry looked deep into Stolar’s brown eyes. “I trust you with my very life; you know that.” Stolar nodded. “I believe it when you tell me I am safe, and I’m counting on you to root out the traitors in my house and get rid of them.”

  Stolar snapped his heels together when the king said that and managed somehow to stand even taller. He then slapped his right fist over his heart in salute. “For my king and his realm, my life.” His pledge stated, he executed a sharp turn and marched briskly from the room.

  “He’s a good man.” Drath squirmed a little under his blanket and shivered, still suffering a few chills from the poison.

  King Dobry nodded. “I trust him implicitly. Now, what can you men tell me?”

  Merdel leaned forward in his seat. “I’m afraid we don’t have much to tell you. Everything is going pretty much as planned. I have figured that we have a few months before Elak’s magic begins to seriously affect our world. After that, it will be critical that we stop him. This is good in part, since it will take us quite a while just to get to his fortress. And I haven’t yet found anything that can tell me how he’s destroying the barriers, although I haven’t looked at every source yet. The bad part is that if I don’t find something, then we won’t know how to stop him when we do confront him. Fortunately, if I don’t find anything of use here, I know someone along the way who might.

  “As for the Jaga, I have only theories. I can be fairly sure Elak did not send it. It was most likely sent by another one of your enemies, and I wouldn’t be too quick to assume that enemy is a foreign one.”

  The king grunted in agreement. “You’re probably right. I know Stolar didn’t have a hand in it. He’s been with me far too long to think of treachery now. I can’t think of anyone else right off hand, but I will find who sent that thing.”

  Rush sat up in his seat and bounced excitedly. “We could perhaps help you, Your Majesty.”

  “Yes.” His cousin nodded enthusiastically. “Finding things is our specialty.”

  “I’m sure it is.” The king smiled indulgently. “And you’re welcome to help. But I don’t want to hear of you two ‘finding things’ in other people’s houses. Especially mine.”

  Rush gasped as if he’d been accused of stealing his mother’s favorite necklace. Besides, he’d returned that. “We would never borrow anything from you, mighty king.”

  Dart’s stone-grey eyes were as wide as his cousin’s black ones, and his mouth gaped open in shock. “No, never.”

  “Good.” King Dobry nodded at them and turned to Drath. “What about you, Drath?”

  The tall man grinned. “I wouldn’t take anything from you, either, and I agree with Merdel. I think the two elves would be good to help in the search, although we can’t stay here too long. I don’t want to give Elak any more time than we absolutely have to.” He raised his cup of foul-tasting medicine the physician had given him, insisting Drath drink it if he would not stay in bed.

  Vaun followed suit with his own medicine, and both made the same disgusted face as they drank. Looking at each other, they lowered their cups and exchanged them. After each had sipped from the other’s drink, they grimaced again and retrieved their own medicants, albeit reluctantly.

  “Yours is disgusting.” Vaun had a sour expression.

  “No, my friend, yours is disgusting.” They both drank and grimaced again, shuddering at the awful taste.

  The king grinned at both of them. “You can’t leave until both of you are well.”

  Drath only nodded as he drank more, wondering why he was suddenly into self-torture.

  Vaun took another drink as well. “You lied to me, Drath. You told me there were no monsters here. And yet I’ve already been attacked and nearly killed by two.” He emphasized his point by raising two fingers.

  “I never said that.” Drath tried to sound hurt, but his voice was too weak to convey the impression. “I said they were rare. Your meeting them was just bad luck.”

  Vaun choked on his medicine, coughing loudly. “Bad luck? I’ll show you bad luck.” He made to rise and draw the Vaulka that leaned against the couch at his side but winced in pain and groaned as he strained his injured shins. Slowly he sank back down. “When I get well, I’ll make you wish that Chattul hadn’t been so easy on you.”

  King Dobry burst out laughing, his whole body shaking with mirth. Drath glanced at him wonderingly before saying to Vaun, “Not likely. And you’re still aliv
e, so why are you complaining?” That brought a fresh bellow of laughter from the king, and the others merely stared at him, thinking him hysterical. After a minute, though, the laughter infected them all.

  * * *

  After finally slaking his hunger on a meal big enough for three people, Vaun found Merdel in the largest of the king’s libraries. The wizard hunched over a tome larger than his head, his nose mere inches from the page. From his position, with his head held up by both hands, the youth thought the bearded mage asleep. He approached quietly, wanting to startle his friend awake.

  “You can stop sneaking up on me, Swordsman. I’m awake.”

  Vaun sighed regretfully and sat down, disappointed he wasn’t able to pay Merdel back for all the times he’d surprised him. He watched the wizard read for a few minutes, struck again by the casual way Merdel had addressed him by his new title. He didn’t know if he’d ever get used to it, but he liked it. “Having fun?”

  Merdel glowered. “Definitely not. It seems like I’ve read every book in this and every other library, and I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

  Vaun looked around, having not yet visited this library. It, like all the others, had bookshelves sunk into every wall of the room. The shelves rose to the ceiling a full thirty feet over their heads, the far walls spaced a good forty feet apart. Shelves also stood in columns in the middle of the room, running the full hundred paces between the front and back walls.

  Massive standing candelabra were present everywhere in the library, but because of the late hour none were lit. Every candle and lamp burned during the day to provide light for the sometimes hundreds of people, commoners and nobles alike, who came to read. The only light now came from the oil lamp resting just beside the wizard’s book, so Vaun could not see the fine tables and chairs he knew were available for visitors, nor could he see the exquisite tapestries and rugs that decorated the room. The windows showed the dark, moonlit night outside.