Dark Healer (An Empire Falls Book 1)

by Harry Leighton

“Indeed,” Garrow said.

  “You wanted to see us,” the first man said.

  “Perhaps some introductions,” Garrow said. “I’m General Garrow, commander of the Empire’s 11th Legion.”

  “We know,” Trimas said. “What’s left of them anyway.”

  Garrow gritted his teeth. “Indeed. Would you introduce your friends?”

  “Jonas here I think you already know,” Trimas said, indicating the big bounty hunter.

  “Yes. Good to see you again,” Garrow said. Jonas just stared at him.

  “And this…” Trimas paused, thinking for a second. “This is Daeholf. He’s the one who was waving your flag. After he’d retrieved it, that is.”

  Garrow took a moment to compose himself. Grateful as he was, and as bad it would look in front of the men for him to punish the men who’d rescued them, he was approaching the limit of his tolerance. Daeholf appeared to notice this.

  “We’ve had some experience dealing with these sorts of things. We’ve encountered men similar to those berserkers before,” he said in a calm voice. “That’s how we were able to help.”

  “I think you’re stretching ‘similar’ there,” Trimas said, turning to look at him.

  “He means we’ve dealt with Marlen’s creations before,” Jonas said.

  “Marlen?” Garrow said, stomach falling through the floor.

  Trimas saw the look on Garrow’s face. “We thought so,” he said.

  “What did you think?” Garrow said hurriedly.

  “You are or have been in contact with him, haven’t you?” Jonas said accusingly.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Garrow said. “And I don’t appreciate being questioned.”

  “A healer. One of singular skill. Perhaps the one who helped fix your son,” Jonas said grimly.

  “How…?” Garrow said.

  “We’ve been tracking him,” Jonas said. “He’s the one I’m after.”

  “We’re after,” Daeholf said.

  “We’re after,” Jonas amended.

  “He’s your rebel instigator?” Garrow said.

  “I expect given the events of the battle, you’d already come to that sort of conclusion,” Trimas said.

  “So what was his plan?” Garrow said.

  “Is. Is his plan,” Jonas said. “He’s very far from finished yet. This may only be the beginning.”

  Garrow gave him a horrified look.

  “Near as we can guess, he’s decided he wants his own space. He’s started a rebellion and lured an imperial legion in to smash it and legitimise his claims,” Daeholf said. Garrow was inwardly grateful he’d said lured rather than duped.

  “The emperor wouldn’t stand for it,” Garrow said.

  “Really?” Trimas said. “He’d have already shown he can beat the empire’s armies. The region is not rich either so it’s really not worth the enormous resources that would be required to retake it.”

  Garrow was silent for a moment, thinking. “You may be right. So what do we do?”

  “We?” Jonas said. “You stay out of our way and let us deal with it. Like I asked you before.”

  Garrow bristled a little at that.

  “We’ve been tracking him for a long time and we have some idea of what he’s capable of,” Daeholf said. “A small strike team should hopefully be able to eliminate him without too many more imperial casualties.”

  Garrow considered that.

  “You’ve lost enough men and still have a rebellion to deal with,” Trimas said.

  “You’ll take care of Marlen and stay out of the rest of it?” Garrow said.

  “If you keep quiet about who I am, yes,” Trimas said.

  Garrow thought about it. There was little to lose. For him anyway.

  “It’s a deal,” he said. “Do you know where he is?”

  “We have a couple of leads,” Daeholf said.

  “And you’re not going to tell me?” Garrow said.

  Jonas frowned at him.

  “I see not. Very well. Please take advantage of my camp’s resources. I’ll have my men extend you every courtesy. Anything you need, requisition it. Deal with him as soon as you can.”

  “We will,” Trimas said.

  “Dismissed,” Garrow said.

  Jonas clearly bristled at that but said nothing and the three of them left the tent.

  Garrow let out a sigh of relief. Maybe he’d be able to come out of this with his head intact. And if those three got themselves killed saving his arse so that he could take the credit for it all, so much the better.

  *****

  “We have a couple of leads?” Jonas hissed as they walked away.

  “You wanted me to say we have no idea where he is except that he is probably in the area?” Daeholf said.

  “No. But it is true.”

  “Someone will have seen something,” Trimas said. “You can’t just transport around seven-foot killing machines without being noticed.”

  “We didn’t even know he had seven-foot killing machines until today,” Daeholf said.

  “You have a point there,” Trimas said.

  “Which comes back to how we find him,” Jonas said. “He’s probably making more of those damn things as we speak. We don’t have much time.”

  “More of them? That’s a pleasant thought,” Daeholf said.

  “How many of them would it take to conquer the empire do you think?” Trimas said.

  “Probably not many,” Daeholf said.

  “Let’s see if the other two have any ideas,” Jonas said. They walked quietly back to their tent and dismissed the guards.

  Jonas lifted the flap to see Alia standing and strapping on her weapons. Zedek was giving her a despairing look.

  “What are you doing?” Jonas said, stepping into the tent.

  Zedek looked at him helplessly. “She won’t listen,” he said.

  “I’m fine,” Alia said, tightening the last buckle.

  “No you’re not,” Jonas said, stepping towards her. Trimas and Daeholf stepped into the tent behind him.

  “You’re a fine one to talk,” Alia said, eyeing Jonas’s sling. Jonas looked down at it. He took it off carefully and flexed his arm, suppressing a grimace.

  “I’ll do,” he said. “I’ve had a lot worse.”

  “I’m sure. But we’re all a bit battered. We’re not out yet though and we have a job to do,” Alia said.

  “You took a heavy blow to the head,” Jonas said. “You can’t just shrug that off.”

  “You can’t shrug at all,” Alia said.

  “I’m not trying to be funny,” Jonas said. “You need to sit this one out.”

  “Like hell,” Alia said. “You can hardly lift your left arm and Trimas is having trouble walking. The two of you should be sitting this one out.”

  “Hey,” Trimas said, trying to straighten his limp.

  Zedek lifted his hands. “You see?” he said.

  “Guess it’s just you and me then, Zedek,” Daeholf said.

  “That’s not helping,” Jonas said to him.

  “If I’m not going, I’m not telling you where Marlen is,” Alia said.

  They all turned to look at her.

  “What?” Jonas said.

  “She’s exaggerating,” Zedek said. “We’re not sure.”

  “You need to explain that,” Daeholf said.

  “We’ve been talking to what passes for a doctor around here,” Zedek said. Alia gave him an angry look. “Okay, you tell it,” he said to her.

  “Some of the injured appear to have gone missing,” Alia said with a sigh.

  “Missing?” Trimas said.

  “Perhaps taken away,” Zedek said. Alia looked at him again. “Okay, okay,” he said.

  “One of the orderlies has apparently seen people on the fringes of the battlefield carting off bodies. He thought they were like him at first, but they were heading in the wrong direction. The sawbones dismissed the idea, we are starting to lose the light, people are seeing things,” A
lia said.

  “It’s a lead,” Daeholf said.

  “A good lead,” Trimas said.

  “Which we’re all going to be following up,” Alia said firmly.

  Jonas gave her a long look. “You’re really not going to listen to me are you?”

  “You going to tell me to run again?” Alia said.

  “We need to have a long talk,” Jonas said.

  “We don’t have time now,” Alia said.

  “Would you like us to leave the two of you alone?” Trimas said. Both Jonas and Alia gave him a look.

  Daeholf stepped over to Alia and looked closely into her eyes. She was surprised but held her ground.

  “What?” she said.

  “You been sick? Feel sick?” Daeholf said.

  “No,” Alia said.

  Daeholf looked at Zedek. “No,” he confirmed.

  “Dizzy?” Daeholf said to Alia. “Blurred vision?”

  “Nope,” Alia said.

  “Headache?”

  “Obviously.”

  Daeholf stepped back and shrugged at Jonas.

  Jonas frowned at the pair of them.

  “We don’t stop him soon we’ll all end up in a lot worse shape than we’re in now,” Alia said.

  Jonas circled his left shoulder, considering that.

  “You’re probably right,” he said.

  *****

  “This is horrible,” Zedek said, looking over the scenes of devastation. The mud. The blood. The bodies. The bits of bodies. The crows and the flies were already starting to move in.

  “Never stood on a battlefield before?” Alia said.

  “Have you?” Zedek said.

  “Sadly, yes.”

  “How can people do this to each other?” Zedek said, looking at a severed arm still holding a shield.

  “Trust me, it would look worse if the light was better,” Daeholf said.

  Zedek looked at the purpling sky. “Then I’m grateful it is starting to get dark,” he said.

  “I’m not,” Jonas said. “We need to find the body snatchers whilst we can still see them.”

  “There’s a group of pickers over there,” Trimas said, standing on the body of a dead horse.

  “Do you have to?” Zedek said distastefully, looking at the horse.

  “Vantage point,” Trimas said, hopping down.

  “It’s not the pickers we’re after,” Daeholf said, scanning the field.

  “It’s not a job I’ve ever been able to understand,” Alia said. “How can people rob corpses like that?”

  “Whilst not a job, it is a valuable service,” Trimas said. “It stops useful things going to waste.”

  “That’s a horribly efficient way of looking at things,” Alia said.

  “It’s not like it’s something I regularly do myself,” Trimas said.

  “Regularly? As in you have done it?” Zedek said.

  “Most soldiers have taken a trophy or two,” Trimas said. Zedek looked at Daeholf, who shrugged.

  “We’re getting off track here,” Jonas said. “War is horrible. Let’s stop it getting any more horrible.”

  “Over there,” Daeholf said. “By the trees.”

  “I don’t see it,” Jonas said.

  “Group of men in cloaks. I think. We’ll need to get closer.”

  “What are we going to do?” Alia said. “Capture and question?”

  “Definitely not my turn for a plan,” Daeholf said.

  “We’re alive,” Zedek said. “We’ll listen.”

  Daeholf looked at the others.

  “Get on with it,” Trimas said.

  “I’d suggest we follow them instead. We’ve seen that Marlen can kill his men when they’re being questioned and this might be our only opportunity to find him,” Daeholf said.

  “That makes a lot of sense,” Alia said. “You’re off the hook.”

  “Erm, thanks,” Daeholf said.

  “Spread out and try to look like pickers,” Jonas said. “Let’s not spook them.”

  Trimas bent down to a body and started rifling pockets.

  “Look like,” Jonas said. “Not be.”

  Trimas flashed him a grin.

  They made their way slowly across the battlefield, every so often ducking down near bodies, eyes on the cloaked figures.

  “This is disgusting,” Alia said quietly.

  “I don’t even want to look at my boots,” Zedek said. “I’m pretty sure I stepped in someone.”

  “In someone?” Trimas said.

  “There was a bad noise as I was walking. Let’s pretend it didn’t happen,” Zedek said.

  “They’re moving into the woods,” Daeholf said.

  “Damnit,” Jonas said.

  “Let’s speed up,” Alia said.

  “They’ve got a cart,” Daeholf said. “We should be able to follow the tracks.”

  “In the dark?” Zedek said.

  “Maybe, maybe not. But even if they can see in the dark, their horse can’t. They’ll have torches,” Daeholf said.

  “Why can’t we see the torches yet?” Zedek said.

  “I doubt they’d light anything until they get out of sight through the trees,” Trimas said.

  They scurried across the battlefield in the dimming light, eyes trained on the area of the trees the cart had disappeared into. They made the edge of the wood but there was little sign of the altered.

  “I really can’t see much,” Jonas said, looking at the ground.

  “Cart track,” Daeholf said, pointing.

  “If you say so,” Zedek said.

  They followed the track into the trees.

  “I can’t see a fucking thing,” Trimas said, waving his hand in front of his face. “We need torches.”

  “We’ll give ourselves away,” Jonas said.

  “What’s that?” Alia said, pointing.

  “Torches,” Daeholf said.

  “Hoorah,” Trimas said.

  “This way then,” Daeholf said, walking carefully between the trees in the gloom, the others following.

  They came out of the trees and stopped at what they saw.

  “A church?” Alia said. “He’s set himself up in a church?”

  They surveyed the ground. There were a number of torches put up around the churchyard which was surrounded by a stone wall. There were a number of men, presumably altered, wandering the grounds patrolling, though none of them had the obvious size of any of the berserkers.

  “Defensible,” Trimas said.

  “Depends how many altered he has here,” Daeholf said.

  “Let’s hope not many,” Jonas said.

  “So what are we going to do?” Zedek said.

  “Until we see him, we can’t be sure he’s here,” Jonas said.

  “And it’d be daft to attack if he wasn’t,” Trimas said.

  “We look around then, find a good spot to watch from,” Daeholf said, scanning the area.

  *****

  The knives went into his chest easily but it didn’t stop him. Jonas was hurt, she had to save him. But the knives didn’t stop the giant. They just seemed to make him angry. The giant raised his hand...

  “There he is,” she distantly heard someone say.

  “Alia,” Jonas said urgently. He put a hand on her shoulder to stir her.

  “Sorry,” she said, shaking her head slightly to clear the vision.

  “You okay?” Jonas asked.

  “Fine,” she replied.

  “You seem … distant. You sure you’re up to this?” Jonas said.

  “Seriously, I’m fine.” She looked around.

  The sky was just starting to turn, a hint of light just starting to be visible. Early hours of the morning. They’d been here the rest of the night. Perhaps she’d dozed off? Now that she listened, there was also noise. Intermittent noise on the breeze.

  “What’s that can I hear?” she asked.

  “A battle,” Trimas said.

  “A battle?”

  “At a guess one sid
e has launched a night attack on the other,” Daeholf said.

  “Probably the imperials on the rebels,” Trimas said. “Ballsy move by Garrow but I guess he didn’t have a lot of options after what happened earlier.”

  “So shouldn’t we be helping out?” Alia said.

  “No, Marlen is here. We’ve seen him,” Daeholf said.

  “You’ve seen him?” Alia said.

  “Yes. He stuck his head out of the church for a minute, presumably for some air. Jonas identified him,” Daeholf said.

  “So we attack?” Alia said.

  “That would be a hell of a risk,” Trimas said. “We’ve no idea how many altered he has in there.”

  “We’ve not seen any big ones go in or come out since we’ve been here and we’ve been watching for some time,” Zedek said.

  “We’re going to have to chance what’s in there,” Daeholf said.

  “That seems to be your normal plan,” Trimas said.

  “Again?” Daeholf said. “You have an alternative?”

  “Ah, no. We have to go in relatively blind,” Trimas said.

  “We’ve not seen any evidence he’s keeping a major force in there,” Jonas said.

  “And we have to try,” Alia said.

  “We need to get in first,” Zedek said.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Jonas said.

  “Oh?” Alia said.

  “I think we need some sort of distraction, then we can sneak in the back, skirting what would probably be Marlen’s main defences, whatever they are,” Jonas said.

  “You’re going to set the church on fire?” Alia said.

  “What?” Trimas said.

  “Private joke,” Alia said.

  “It’s not a bad idea but it might be a bit more chaotic than we can manage,” Jonas said. “Besides, I doubt there’s much we can burn.”

  “So what’s your idea?” Trimas said.

  “I’ll provide a distraction, you wait for my signal,” Jonas said.

  “What are you going to do?” Alia said.

  “I’ve got a couple of ideas but they’ll take a few minutes to set up and it depends on what I find near the gate,” Jonas said.

  “You sure about this?” Daeholf said.

  “Do you have a better idea?” Jonas said.

  “No,” Daeholf admitted.

  Jonas bent into a crouch.

  “What’s the signal?” Trimas said.

  “You’ll know it when you see it,” Jonas said.