Windbreak
Page 9
Eva felt a cold chill run down her back. Memories of her battle against the first Smelterborn in the depths of the Gyr resurfaced and she shuddered to remember the dark blood magics she’d witnessed.
“I awoke in the flames, but I was not burning,” Seppo continued. “When I emerged from the First Forge, I found I had succeeded. I was a golem, my soul protected by an enchanted iron body that would never age. I was immortal!”
Eva took a step back, sensing a change in Seppo’s voice she’d never heard before. He sounded…harsher now, and she sensed the madness that had been lurking in the shadows of his triumph.
“What happened?” Soot asked in a hoarse voice. Eva wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.
Seppo shook his iron head and his fists clenched in frustration. “I-I am not sure. It is all so fragmented. Something — Illmaren, no!”
They waited in silence until Seppo regained his composure. The golem’s broad shoulders sank and he bowed his head. Eva didn’t want to ask, seeing how much pain the memories caused her lifelong friend and guardian. But she knew she had to.
“Who was Illmaren, Seppo?” she asked, mustering an empathetic tone. “Please — I know it hurts, but we need to know.”
“He was my apprentice,” Seppo said, voice flat. “He…he died in the Forge. Afterward…I am not sure. There are large chunks missing. I fled Palantis. It was at that time the Smelterborn were created. I was angry — someone corrupted my creation! I returned, some years later… to destroy the First Forge.
“By now there were very few Palantines left. I led them through Palantis…there were golems everywhere. No! My friends! Fire! Smoke! Ogunn!”
A familiar darkness seized Eva, the same hopelessness that had dogged them on the Endless Plains. She had never heard the name spoken before but somehow she knew, knew this was the evil they faced.
“It was he who corrupted the First Forge,” Seppo said. “The Smelterborn were his vile design. We…fought. The Palantines stood no chance. We failed… The next thing I remembered was being awakened by Soot in the ruins.”
An oppressive silence permeated the forest clearing. The humans looked at one another but no one dared break the quiet.
“So what do we do now?” Wynn asked, unable to contain herself any longer.
“We go back to the city,” Andor said. “And try to save as many people as we can.”
“There is another chance,” Seppo said. He gestured to Eva’s Wonder and then turned to Soot. “Do you have the other?”
Soot nodded and reached for a pouch tied to his belt, extracting the Dark Wonder. The two stones glittered in each other’s presence as if vying for control, Eva’s flashing golden light and the other pulsing blood red from the runes carved in its ebony surface. “Adelar gave it to me for safe keeping. Haven’t let the sky-cursed thing out of my sight since we left the city, why?”
“I used Mistress Evelyn’s stone to power the First Forge,” Seppo explained. “It’s twin is the dark stone. Ogunn killed my apprentice and stole it from him, corrupting it and the First Forge to birth his Smelterborn.
“It is what Ogunn has sent his army of golems for. I am sure of it. He knows I am awake and that he is vulnerable while it is in our possession. With both stones, I believe I could destroy my creation for good and, in turn, the Smelterborn.”
“That’s all well and good,” Andor said. “But unless you can take your forge apart from here, it doesn’t change the fact that hundreds of golems are marching on Gryfonesse right now. The Scrawls will have sealed the pass, but that isn’t going to stop them forever.”
“No,” Eva said, “but it could buy us some time. If the Smelterborn can sense the Dark Wonder and it’s taken back to Palantis, perhaps they’ll follow.”
Everyone but Seppo stared at her like she’d grown a second nose.
“There’s hundreds and hundreds of miles between us and Old Palantis,” Soot said. “And each one of them has a dozen different ways to kill a person. And am I the only one who realizes Seppo can’t fly? It would take months to even reach the coast on foot!”
“And the First Forge will likely be well-protected,” Ivan said. “With golems, yes, but powerful rune wards as well, I imagine. It would take an army to even reach Palantis!”
Eva shook her head. “We don’t need an army. A small group has a better chance of sneaking on the island without being noticed; like my father did.”
“You’re crazier than I am!” Sigrid laughed. “That’s a death wish! We don’t stand a chance!”
“It can be done,” Seppo said. “The Smelterborn will not know for certain where the Dark Wonder is — especially the closer we are to Palantis. The odds of survival are not in our favor, however.”
Wynn shook her head. “You must’ve lost a couple of screws. Sigrid’s right, that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of!”
“So crazy it might work,” Tahl said in a low voice. “And it’s the best chance we have, as far as I can tell.”
“But you are the queen now!” Chel said to Eva, placing a hand on her arm as if to beg her to stay. “You cannot do this.”
Eva looked at Andor. So far her uncle hadn’t said a word, just watched with a brooding expression on his face while the others talked.
“What would you have me do?” she asked.
“I would have you return to Gryfonesse and defend your people,” he said, followed by a long pause. “But as Chel says, you are queen now. The choice is yours.”
Thinking of all the innocents in Rhylance gave Eva pause. There was no easy answer. The chances of them making it all the way to the First Forge, let alone finding and successfully destroying it, was a long shot. But so was defending Gryfonesse from the Smelterborn, especially after what they’d seen in the Talon.
“You asked what I would have you do,” Andor said, noticing her hesitation, “Adelar would probably say the same. But you aren’t my daughter and you aren’t Adelar’s daughter.” He paused and a grim smile spread across his face. “Your father would take the stones to the First Forge.”
Eva couldn’t help but give a small smile back before growing somber once more. “Then I would ask you, lord commander, to rally our troops and return to the city. Gryfonesse is your command now… I will go to the First Forge.”
Looking around at her friends, their exhausted faces covered in dirt and streaked with sweat, Eva knew she couldn’t ask any more of them. Especially not this. “If —”
“Oh, come on,” Sigrid said, rolling her eyes. “You already dragged me and Ivan and Chel all over hell and back once. You know we’re coming.”
Ivan looked at Sigrid like he’d seen a ghost. He opened his mouth to say something but then seemed to think better of it and nodded. “I’m with you, Eva,” he said in a quiet voice.
“I am with you as well, sister,” Chel said.
“And the only reason I didn’t go last time is because you didn’t give me the chance!” Wynn stepped up with the rest, looking determined to fight anyone who told her no.
Eva’s eyes met Tahl’s.
“I should have gone with you last time,” he said. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
That left only Soot.
“The last time I told you I was going east, you said you wouldn’t go back for anything in the world,” Eva said. Aside from Seppo, who only had partial memories, Soot was the only one who’d been to Palantis before. Eva knew she needed her foster father, as much for his quiet strength as his knowledge.
“You’re going to drive me into an early grave,” Soot muttered in his best grumpy tone. “I reckon this is the only reason worth going back to that sky-cursed hole. Guess that means we’re coming too, eh Seppo?”
The golem nodded. “I am the cause of all this. We will come with you, Evelyn, and help you destroy the First Forge.”
Eva looked at them each, in turn, heart swelling for her friends and loved ones.
“Let’s save the world.”
Chapter Fourteen
With no idea how far the Smelterborn were behind them, Eva remained on edge for any sign of attack, such as a snapping stick, a looming shadow between the trees or the crunch of an iron boot on rock, but the forest remained silent. One advantage — if you could call it that — of being chased by iron golems, she’d realized after several encounters, was that suits of armor couldn’t move with much stealth. Not even the Shadowstalkers or scouts were quiet enough for gryphon, or even human, ears to miss. Nevertheless, they walked with hands on weapons, ready for an ambush at any moment.
Gray morning revealed they’d kept their intended course, holding the Windswept mountain range to their left. Despite a night of clambering over boulder fields and doing their best not to tumble down steep ravines, they’d made decent progress. But progress came with a price. Eva felt exhaustion dragging at her, tripling the weight of her chainmail until her arms, legs, neck, and back felt like she carried a Smelterborn’s iron shell, not her lightweight armor.
Thankfully, they had Seppo to clear the way for them. The golem hefted broken branches and rocks blocking their way, tirelessly blazing a trail through even the toughest terrain. In the growing daylight, Eva could see twigs, pine needles and dirt caught between the golem’s plates or held fast by blotches of sap.
The golem let out the closest sound he could make to distaste and tried scrubbing himself to rid his armor of the sticky substance.
“What a mess,” Seppo said flinging the handful of rock and sand away in disgust. “I’ll be in need of a good scouring and oiling when this is done.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Soot said. “We really feel for you.”
The rest of them had just as many twigs sticking out of their armor, but also enjoyed a host of cuts and scrapes — collateral of blundering through the pines in the dark. As tired as they’d been back in the meadow, Eva thought they resembled walking corpses now. The dark rings under their eyes were more pronounced, giving their features a sunken, skeletal look. Eva could only imagine what she would see peering into a looking glass.
Seppo found a small stream and the humans did their best to clean up after drinking deep and refilling their water skins in the frigid runoff. Passing around what was left of their rations helped sate everyone’s growling stomachs. Eva didn’t relish the task of foraging in the mountains in springtime when most plants had yet to flower and wild animals had picked the remnants of last year’s bounty clean.
“Looks like it’s back to dried meat and roots soon,” Sigrid said around a mouthful of the last of her biscuit. “Seems like we just got off this yesterday. If I’d have known that, I would have eaten better when I had the chance.”
“Pretty sure my belt thinks it was just yesterday,” Ivan said, tugging at his waist. “I swear, if I make it through this I’m going to get so fat I can hardly walk!”
“There are worse things to eat,” Chel said. “Especially when nothing is all there is.”
Eva silently agreed with Sigrid and Ivan. Although it felt like an age ago, she reminded herself they’d just spent weeks on the Endless Plains, fleeing the Smelterborn west. Now, with barely any time to recover during the flurry of war, they were doing it all over again, in the opposite direction.
“It will be better this time,” Chel added. They all looked at her, but she gave no answer.
“How in the name of the sky will it be better this time?” Sigrid asked, incredulous.
“Oh, I think I can answer that,” Seppo cut in. “I believe what the Juarag-Vo woman means is that this time, the chances of any of you surviving to make the return journey are so small that your suffering will likely be over sooner than later.”
Chel stared at Seppo, a faint look of horror on her face. “That is not what I meant at all!”
“Alright, alright, enough gabbing,” Soot said. “Seppo you get to take watch — all night, every night. Since the rest of us need sleep, how about we all pipe down and try for some, eh?”
While the gryphons went off to hunt — it’d been almost two days since they’d eaten — Eva and the rest hunkered down beneath a large pine. The old tree sat on a short rise overlooking the beginnings of a gorge cut by a torrent of water below. Most likely it had been snow the day before, melted off the mountains just above the tree line.
Eva closed her eyes and focused on the sound of the rushing stream, trying to clear her mind using a meditation technique she’d learned from Ivan. Soon, she felt herself drifting away and finally fell into a deep slumber.
Seppo woke them a short time later — Eva didn’t know how long they’d slept but it wasn’t long enough. Still, she felt the edge of her fatigue blunted and stretched her sore muscles. It was midday, overcast and dreary, but the clouds were far above and didn’t look to hold rain or snow.
Soot gathered them around a bare patch of dirt and began sketching out a rough map of Altaris on the ground with the end of a stick.
“Here we are, about halfway down the Windswepts,” he said, drawing a series of vertical arrow shapes. In any other situation, Eva might’ve commented on how childlike the drawings looked, but she held her tongue and focused on the crude map.
“The Talon is the largest and easiest pass, but there are some on the Rhylance Skrael border that we can take without too much problem,” Soot marked these with a couple of Xs. “Once we cross the mountains, we’ll take the same route as the last time, skirting below the Endless Plains through Ivan’s country.”
“It may still be winter in Skrael,” Ivan cautioned. “Our cold season lasts longer than it does farther north.”
“We’ll just have to deal with it,” Soot said. “There’s not time to swing back around to the north, not without losing weeks and any ground we’ve gained on the Smelterborn.”
“South it is, then,” Eva agreed.
To the right of his mountains, Soot drew a big circle marking Skrael and the other southern lands. “Most of the country through here is hills, mountains, and forest, much like this, if I remember right. Good news is spring should be well on by the time we get into the highlands.” He made several more markings even farther to the right. “Beyond that, we’ll eventually drop into the river country and then hit the woodlands and the ruins of the Palantine Empire. From there, it’s a roughly northeast shot to the coast. We follow it until we see the island and there you have it.”
He sat back and folded his arms over his broad chest. Looking at the rough map, it seemed the simplest plan in the world. What the scratches in the dirt didn’t show were the miles and miles of rough country, spring storms and Smelterborn they’d face, nor did it take into account the fact they’d be traveling slowly, unable to fly beyond what Seppo could walk in a day.
“It’s a good plan,” Eva said. “But what about when we get to the island? How can we evade the Smelterborn?”
“We may have an advantage in our favor,” Seppo said.
They looked at the golem expectantly but he stared at the mountain peaks as if he’d forgotten about the conversation. Soot smacked him on the breastplate. “Focus, rust bucket!” he growled. “What are you talking about?”
“The First Forge gives the Smelterborn life,” Seppo said. “And Ogunn has overstretched his army to recover the Dark Wonder. It may be that if they have sensed the stone is moving east that they will abandon the attack on Rhylance and return to Palantis, lest they become inanimate.”
“So it’s a race to see who can make it to the island first,” Tahl said.
Seppo nodded. “In a way, yes.”
“The good news is old Seppo here is faster than your run of the mill golem,” Soot said, thumping the golem’s chest plate again, pride apparent in his voice. “It’ll be close, but there’s a chance, at l
east.”
“No time to waste then,” Sigrid said, standing. “The sooner we get through storming Skrael, the better.”
The weather grew wetter and colder the farther south they traveled. Frequent spring storms poured buckets of rain and often turned into giant, wet snowflakes that left them soaked to the bone and shivering. While the gryphons and their riders flew overhead, Seppo ran along beneath them, bounding over the roughest terrain at a pace impossible for a human. When the gryphons needed rest from the additional riders, Soot, Chel, and Ivan walked with Seppo. Even with the benefit of flight, the days grew long and tiring.
Just as Soot promised, the highlands of Skrael proved to be fierce and unforgiving. Sigrid, Tahl, Eva, and Wynn took turns scouting ahead in pairs, a method that helped them circumvent a numbers of ravines and canyons that would have otherwise added days to their journey. Although the humans could be safely ferried across through the air, all four gryphons combined could barely lift Seppo off the ground and then only until the ropes broke from the weight.
After three more days travel, Soot found the pass they were looking for, a high scree field far above the tree line between two snow-capped peaks where nothing but moss and lichen grew. They passed between the two mountains peaks in somber silence. At the top of the pass, Soot pointed out a large pile of rocks off to one side of the narrow trail.
“I’ll be stormed!” he said with a rare chuckle. “We piled those up as a waypost marker on the last trip. Can’t believe they’re still standing — never thought I’d ever see them again.”
Eva walked over to the tower of rocks and saw a large flat stone leaning against the boulder forming the foundation of the pile. It was the size of a table, with names carved into the rock by rune magic. Eva knelt down and ran her fingers over the letters. She recognized several, including Wayland — Soot’s given name — Andor, Uthred, and Celina.