Heirs of the Fallen: Book 03 - Shadow and Steel

by James A. West

  A shiver of revulsion passed over Leitos’s skin. “You think I would betray my own for the promise of becoming one of you?”

  “The Faceless One rewards his followers,” Rallin said.

  “The Faceless One seeks to destroy all humankind,” Leitos answered hollowly.

  “Lies, boy! Exaggerations and blasphemies, spread by fools. I tell you, we have lives worth living. We serve him, and in return, he rewards us, allows us to sail and take plunder of his enemies—our enemies. Stay with these men, and you’ll be hunted all your days. The Brothers of the Crimson Shield are the true betrayers. Stay with them, and you’ll die by the sword or wither in chains. Side with us, and reap the blessings of our master.”

  Leitos said nothing, but he noticed Ulmek’s scrutiny.

  “Well, little brother, what will it be?” Ulmek asked. Leitos frowned at the question, spoken as if there was actually a choice. Ulmek dropped his gaze to Leitos’s hand. He had unknowingly drawn his sword. “Will you cut me down and free him?”

  “No. Never,” Leitos said. “I … I meant to end his drivel.”

  “Then why not do it?”

  “Would you stop me?”

  “No.” Ulmek stood away with an inviting gesture. “Kill him. He and those like him have preyed upon your people long years, much as they have preyed upon mine. He deserves death. Take your vengeance.”

  Rallin looked between them. “Don’t listen, boy. To kill a servant of the Faceless One is a grievous crime.”

  Leitos gripped the hilt of his sword, knuckles going white. He stepped forward, eyeing Rallin’s pulse throbbing in his neck. That was where the blade would fall, stilling the Kelren’s lies. In an instant, it would be over. The sword swung above his head, his muscles went tight and hard. In a blink, he could destroy this lying, hateful beast. A blink….

  Leitos abruptly lowered the sword, settled back on the soles of his feet. “We need to learn his secrets. Killing him serves nothing.”

  “You are learning, little brother,” Ulmek said solemnly.

  “A test?” Leitos asked in disbelief.

  Ulmek nodded. “Each new day is filled with challenges and obstacles. We learn from them, surmount them, or we do not. To be a Brother of the Crimson Shield is to overcome more often than you fail … and to survive, of course.”

  While Leitos considered that, Ulmek reached into the sack at his belt, and carefully drew out a large rat. He held it up for Rallin to see.

  “In the alleys of Zuladah, they are not so willing to let a man handle them,” Ulmek said, deftly avoiding the vermin’s nipping teeth. As he looked into its shiny black eyes, the creature calmed. “On a ship, though, rats are used to men tromping about—they do not like us overmuch, but they tolerate our presence.”

  “You are a fool if you think a rat will make me betray my own.”

  “You overestimate yourself,” Ulmek said placidly. He raised a bloody finger to the rat. It stretched out its nose, whiskers dancing eagerly. “Or, perhaps, you misjudge the persuasiveness of hungry vermin.”

  Rallin went still as stone. “What … what do you mean to do?” he demanded.

  “One way or another, I will have the answers I require,” Ulmek said. “That is all. Your life, your pain and suffering, are all meaningless to me, while my the men of my order are my life. Answer my questions, Rallin of the Blackfish, and you will walk out of here … a whole man.”

  “Gods good and wise, you are mad!”

  “Refuse to tell me what I need … well, no matter. Another will, and you will have been ruined for nothing.”

  “Do not do this,” Rallin pleaded.

  Ulmek went on, as if the sea-wolf had not spoken. “After this little fellow tastes blood, he will call to his companions. More will come, and more still. Dozens, maybe scores. After they lick away the blood, they’ll taste the honey. By then, a swarm will have covered you, frenzied with hunger. They will start digging then, and chewing—their claws and teeth are so very sharp.”

  “Do not do this!” Rallin repeated, howling the words.

  “They will devour your manhood, burrow into your bowels, eat their way to your beating heart—but only if I let them.” Ulmek pulled another rat from the sack.

  “I cannot watch this,” Leitos muttered hoarsely.

  “You must,” Ulmek said. “I must. Even Rallin, here, must see how far I am willing to go in order to free our brethren. The Faceless One and his agents have forced their war and their chains on us far too long. This night, all that ends. No more running. No more hiding. No more submitting.”

  With some effort, Leitos stood his ground, and glanced at the slaver. “You can escape the judgment you deserve,” he said, voice cold. “The choice is yours—a choice that you have never given to those you kill or enslave. Tell us how to defeat the Night Blade. Tell us how to get our brethren safely back, and you will be spared.”

  Rallin’s gaze darted from the lively rats held in Ulmek’s hands, and back to Leitos. “I … I’ll tell you … just don’t put those rats on me. I swear, to all the gods that heed men, I’ll tell!”

  And so he did, telling of Kelren strategies and how to overcome them, of signals and how to answer them. He also revealed that Telmon intended to lead the Brothers into a trap that would get them all killed.

  When he finished, fresh tears were spilling from his eyes. “You will let me live, a man whole … as you promised, yes?”

  “No,” Ulmek said, and tossed the rats onto the slaver.

  Rallin began screaming before Ulmek hustled a stunned Leitos up out of the hold. His initial shrieks were merely cries of fear. By the time Ulmek shut the hatch, the sounds of agony filled the hold.

  “Do not fret,” Ulmek said to the chained Kelrens. “Do as you are told, and I promise you will fare better than your mate.”

  Naked terror shone in the eyes of the sea-wolves, and Ulmek laughed.

  Back on the main deck, under the cover of night, Rallin’s cries vanished beneath the sounds of the sea, and the wind singing through taut stays and shrouds.

  “Telmon!” Ulmek shouted good-naturedly. He cast about, found Telmon, and strode aft under a sky bursting with bright stars.

  The sea-wolf looked up from tying off a stay to a wooden cleat, suspicion flitting across his face. “Where is Rallin … what did you do to him?”

  Nearby, Sumahn leaned against the rail, talking quietly to Daris. They fell silent at Ulmek’s approach, and the two young warriors gaped when their leader dropped a friendly hand on Telmon’s shoulder.

  “I want to thank you,” Ulmek said, smiling broadly.

  “For what?” Telmon’s suspicion had grown palpable.

  “For making this so much easier.”

  Before Telmon could react, Ulmek’s sword found a home in his guts. With a vicious sawing motion, Ulmek disemboweled the Kelren, and thrust him over the rail.

  Chapter 10

  The lanterns hung about the deck of the Night Blade came into view beyond a spit of land covered in lush foliage that served as natural breakwater for a shallow cove. It was just as Rallin had told. The Bloody Whore’s sails billowed, as if eager to join her anchored sister.

  Word passed among the Brothers to make ready. In a hushed voice, Daris called for more speed through the open hatchway. The remaining Kelrens—faced with the threat of suffering as Rallin had—put their backs to the oars, propelling the ship to greater speed. With Ulmek manning the rudder, the Bloody Whore rounded the breakwater. Like a black swan, the ship glided through calm waters glimmering in the light of the moon.

  Hunkered behind a cluster of barrels near the portside bow, Leitos searched the darkness, but could not see anyone aboard the Night Blade.

  “They will stay hidden,” Rallin had warned. “Only after the proper signals are given, will my mates respond.”

  He had gone on to explain those signals, and what to expect in return. Ulmek had cautioned the Brothers that they should believe little, if any, of what the man claimed. “How
ever, we will do as he said, while expecting the worst. But no matter what happens, our task is to free our brethren….”

  Now the Bloody Whore veered toward the Night Blade, rapidly cutting the distance. Halan, standing at the bowsprit, signaled the other ship with a shuttered lantern, as Rallin had said they should.

  After a long moment, a lantern on the Night Blade blinked in response. Halan signaled again. More quickly than before, he received two slow blinks, followed by four rapid flashes.

  “They want us to come abreast,” Halan said over his shoulder.

  Again, Daris commanded more speed, and Leitos heard the sweep and splash of oars increase their pace.

  Keeping low, he moved to the rail. Sumahn nodded his readiness. More Brothers shifted amid the shadows, blades bared. As Leitos went over Ulmek’s plan again, his fingers tightened around the hilts of his sword and dagger.

  Over the rail, he could make out the Bloody Whore’s ram, a great bronze beak cutting a path to their target. An emaciated harridan of wrought iron stood upon the ram’s top edge, her corroded hair swept back, and mouth spread wide around long fangs. It was an ugly thing, forged by Kelren hands, but this night it would serve the will of the Brothers of the Crimson Shield.

  “Make ready,” Halan called softly, drawing his great scimitar.

  Leitos’s heart began to thump.

  Shouts erupted from the deck of the Night Blade, then a sea-wolf cried, “They mean to ram us!”

  A moment later, the Bloody Whore speared the Night Blade’s hull at the waterline, and a thunderous crash of rupturing planks and timbers spilled out over the cove.

  “Now!” Halan bellowed.

  Leitos leaped a breath too late, and the jarring collision sent him flying over the rail. He landed on his face, and flipped across the Night Blade’s deck.

  Sumahn, Daris, and the others rolled expertly, coming up in the midst of stunned Kelrens. The peals of clashing swords erupted an instant later, but were faint under the crackling din of the Bloody Whore impaling her sister’s bowels and breaking her keel. The mangled remains of the wrought iron harridan ripped a splintery gash through the Night Blade’s deck, splitting the ship in half.

  Leitos gained his feet as the Bloody Whore ground to a halt. The Night Blade’s bow began to rise precipitously, and battling warriors stumbled down the deck. Deep groans and the rush of water told Leitos he had only moments to reach the hold before the front half of the ship sank.

  Leitos raced forward, flung open the hatch, and jumped through. A single guard, dazed and bleeding, staggered drunkenly in the wavering light of a firemoss lantern. Leitos attacked without hesitation. The sea-wolf blocked his sword stroke, but missed his slashing dagger. Gagging on the blood filling his throat, the slaver plummeted into the hold through the second hatchway.

  Leitos caught the lantern, and clambered down the ladder. He dropped into water deep as his knees. Aft, the splintered hulls of both the Bloody Whore and Night Blade strained against one another in mingled destruction. Seawater boiled into the hold, floating the dead guard, and rats by the score.

  Chasing the lantern’s light, Leitos made for the sound of shouting men. Kicking apart a jammed bulkhead door, he found the prisoners. Filthy, scabbed, and hollow-eyed, they all squinted against the sudden light.

  “Father!” Leitos cried.

  “Leitos?” came the disbelieving response. Then, “Get the key! The guard wears it around his neck.”

  Leitos splashed back through the doorway. The bobbing Kelren now served as a raft for a handful of chittering vermin. Leitos swept them aside, and found the key attached to a leather cord. He ripped it free, and made his way back to the prisoners.

  By now, the rush of seawater had submerged the lower bunks. The Brothers chained to them fought to thrust their faces clear, their eyes wide with terror.

  “There’s no time to free us all!” Ba’Sel shouted. “Unbind those you can, and escape before we sink!”

  Leitos found him, a dark face almost lost amongst the others. Beside him stood Adham.

  Forcing himself to remain calm, Leitos made his way forward, unlocking those Brothers’ shackles who were nearly underwater, then those who were chained to higher bunks. Where other men might have fled in panic, the freed Brothers stood fast, some guarding the doorway, the rest helping find locks for Leitos to unfasten.

  “Fool, boy,” Ba’Sel grumbled when Leitos reached him.

  Leitos unlocked his shackles, then his father’s.

  Adham wrapped him in a fierce hug, then abruptly pushed him to arm’s length. “I take it you are not alone—unless you learned how to sail a ship?”

  “The rest are above.”

  “The sea-wolves said they killed you all, before the storm forced them to flee.” Unshed tears shone in his gray eyes. “I did not believe them. Not for a moment.”

  Ba’Sel caught Leitos’s shoulder. “Weapons?”

  “There is too much wreckage to be sure,” Leitos answered.

  Ba’Sel ordered the hold scoured for anything with which to fight. In short order, the Brothers had armed themselves with iron-headed mauls, a pair of adzes, belaying pins, and splintered pieces of planking.

  Leitos tried to press his sword into Adham’s hand, but his father took the dagger instead.

  “I want to be close to these bastards when I spill their guts,” he growled.

  In the brief time it had taken to arm themselves, the hold had almost become impassible. The Brothers swam to the ladder, and climbed to the rowing deck. Before they could join the battle on the main deck, a tremendous column of seawater shot up through the hatchway they had just escaped. What was left of the Night Blade’s hull shattered around them like an eggshell, and a foaming blast of seawater washed Leitos and the Brothers out of the wreckage, and across a coral reef.

  Another debris-laden wave rolled Leitos off the reef into deeper water. Gasping, he struggled to stay afloat while holding his sword. Brothers bobbed to the surface close by, most coughing and entangled in coils of rope. A few stood on the reef, looking around in astonishment. More still swam away from the grounded ships, making for the distant shoreline.

  “Leitos!” Adham called.

  Leitos swam toward his father. After a few strokes, his feet touched the sandy bottom. “We need to go back for the others.”

  “There is no need,” Adham answered, pointing at what was left of the two ships, the reef holding them fast.

  Moonlight played across the debris, and Ulmek stood on the highest point of the Night Blade’s ruined bow. He raised a firemoss lantern, peering about. Behind him, some of the Brothers began lining up Kelren prisoners on the tilted deck, while others tossed lines to those swimming nearby.

  “Dealing with these bastards will make for a long night,” Adham warned, swiping a strand of seaweed from his cheek.

  “We cannot kill them,” Leitos said. Adham gave him a sharp look, and he added, “As our prisoners told us, we do not have the seamanship to make the return journey. Besides, we will need them to build us another ship ... if that is possible.”

  “He speaks the truth,” Ba’Sel said, gazing at the leaning palm trees growing above a pale ribbon of shoreline. Higher, a shadowed and dense forest guarded the way to a mountainous land.

  “One of our prisoners,” Leitos said, “named these the hunting grounds. He always laughed when he said it, as if our coming here would mean our doom.”

  “I would speak with this man,” Ba’Sel said.

  Leitos shook his head. “Telmon will never talk to the living again.”

  Ba’Sel grunted. “Then perhaps one of these others will.”

  “Rest assured, they will talk,” Adham assured him.

  “First,” Ba’Sel said wearily, “we must get our men and the prisoners ashore. Then we set a guarded camp. I do not know what dangers these lands hold, but we must be prepared to meet them.”

  Chapter 11

  Hours later, in a burst of gold and crimson, the sunrise bri
ghtened the leafy green foliage that climbed the flanks of sharp ridgelines and soaring mountains, the highest peaks of which hid amongst banks of mist. From Leitos’s vantage point, the curving shoreline gave way to a terrace of black rocks to the south; to the north, pale sands climbed out of the sea and became dunes covered in patches of tough grass.

  Ba’Sel’s thoughtful expression spoke of vague familiarity. “If I do not miss my guess, we are standing on the shores of Yato, the largest island in a chain of the same name. I saw a map as a boy. Hundreds of isles stretch to the south and east, like a great claw cutting through the Sea of Sha’uul.”

  “And how does that serve us?” Ulmek groused.

  Leitos knew the man was happy to have rescued Ba’Sel and the others, but he did not know how he felt about relinquishing command. Without question, he was back to his usual ill-tempered self.

  Ba’Sel fingered a scabbed lump at his hairline. “Poorly, unless Pa’amadin favors us. Even before the Upheaval, those who flourished on these islands were a warlike folk. By all accounts, the Yatoans were not given to trade, or forgiving of outlanders. They proved so hostile in guarding their islands that even the Suanahad Empire, with its hunger for conquest, gave Yato a wide berth.”

  “Yatoans,” Ulmek murmured. “Where have I heard that name?”

  Ba’Sel glanced at Leitos and quickly away. “Zera was of these lands.”

  “So she claimed,” Ulmek said. “Only a fool would trust the words of a lying demon-born. But that is of no matter. We should double the guard at once. Telmon suggested these lands are a danger to us.”

  “No,” Ba’Sel said. “Our scouts have found no spies, we have suffered no trouble, and so we will show no outward signs of hostility. If there are any watchers, we will show them that we mean no harm, and perhaps they will help us.”

  Ulmek shook his head in disgust, and Leitos found himself torn. Fighting the Faceless One’s minions had left him with a sense of purpose and fulfillment—after a long year of training, he had finally begun his avowed quest. And the night before, when Ba’Sel had spoken of making ready, Leitos had been sure the encounter with the Kelrens had changed the man’s heart. But it had not, and his renewed passivity left Leitos deeply troubled.