“But that is their base!” said Slurr. “Why would Surok destroy his own stronghold?”
“Let us be sure that is what he’s done. It could mean that he is headed this way and is not planning on returning to Stygia. We’ve all concluded that the people of that city are little more than fodder to him. If he plans to march across Illyria, he would have no further use for his walled keep.”
Cerah had a thought. “I’m going to fly to the outpost. If the enemy is coming, those outliers should know and will be making ready.”
Slurr surprised everyone by saying, “Take Ban with you. He knows the location, and I feel he’ll be safer on Tressida’s back with you than here, should they come.”
“Alright,” she replied. She did not have to look for long to find the boy. Ban had been instructed to stay at the rear of the column, so that he could make for the city should an attack come. But the boy had a propensity for doing as he pleased, they all knew, and he was in fact waiting behind a group of dragons so that Slurr did not see him. One of these was Szalmi, who as Cerah approached did an almost comical side-step to betray Ban’s hiding place. The boy blanched as he saw Cerah approach, certain that he was about to be scolded for being so far forward.
“Come with me, little brother,” Cerah said to him. “I need a navigator to show me the location of the enemy outpost.”
Though Ban, like everyone else, had been badly shaken by the appearance of the western light, his expression changed quickly to one of relief, first, then joy as he realized he was being given another opportunity to show his value. He dashed to Cerah’s side, then the two ran to Tressida.
The queen had already expressed her fondness for Slurr’s half-brother telling her match-mate that she thought Ban was “just a precious miniature-Slurr, with far more impishness.” She crouched low so that the small boy could climb upon her back. Cerah vaulted in place behind him.
As Tress took off, Cerah shouted to Slurr, “Be vigilant. We shall return soon.”
He nodded his head and waved as they flew quickly to the northwest, then turned and began calling out orders to his warriors.
“It only took Yarren and me about twenty minutes to get to the place where he waited for my return, and from there it was no more than a ten-minute creep through the forest,” Ban told her.
“Then it will only take Tressida five minutes,” she told him.
“Is she that much faster than Valosa?” he asked.
In answer Tressida greatly increased her speed, causing the boy to tilt backwards, bumping against Cerah, who had grown used to her match-mate’s sudden bursts and was slightly better prepared. “She is that much faster than all dragons,” she laughed as she helped him sit upright.
True to her word, in five minutes they were approaching the position of the outpost. Cerah told Tressida to fly low above the trees, and to slow so that she could see what the warriors were doing. A moment later her hand flew to her mouth to stifle her gasp.
“They’re dead!” Ban exclaimed.
Indeed they were. The entire camp was littered with bodies, and more gruesome still, body parts. It was clear that Surok’s monsters had liquidated the outpost, feeding as they did so.
Cerah directed Tressida to land. She slid down off her back and Ban followed. As they walked among the carnage, Ban had to steel himself against the urge to wretch. He had never before encountered death on such a scale, and so vast was the collection of decomposing bodies that stench was abhorrent. As she approached a pair of warriors whose bodied were intact, she inspected them. While the cause of death among the dismembered fallen was obvious, she had to look closely at the unbroken corpses to determine how they had died. There were no obvious wounds. However, she saw that one of the men had a jagged fissure in the plate armor that protected his upper body. Ban was taken aback and she knelt and looked more closely at the opening, then smelled it. She crinkled her nose as she drew back abruptly.
“This man died of a magical assault. The breach in his armor smells of the same electric ozone that is present when Surok uses his lightning attack,” she said, turning to look at Ban.
Ban had known many remarkable women in his life, and had come to know even more since traveling to meet Slurr. He had been a little confused at seeing female warriors standing side by side with the men. But then he’d seen them as they exercised and sparred with one another, keeping their skills honed for the battle they were expecting. He’d quickly realized they were every bit as capable and dangerous as any man.
But Cerah, he realized more and more, was unlike even the most impressive and astounding of all the women he’d encountered in his life. He nodded at her discovery, but was unable to say anything in response.
“If Surok had been this close, wouldn’t have we seen the clouds?” Ban asked.
Cerah considered this. “They normally extend some distance from where he himself is located. So I feel we should have seen them, you’re right.”
“Unless this happened at night,” Ban suggested. “The day before yesterday was rainy during the daylight hours, though it was just a regular storm. In the dark Surok’s clouds might have gone unnoticed, given that the stars were already hidden and it already stormed.”
“That makes sense. Good deductive reasoning. You’ve answered your own question. Now can you check some of the other bodies?” Cerah asked him. “Go to two or three of those with all their limbs still in place and see if they’ve suffered similar injuries. The jolt attack leaves burns on the flesh.”
“Alright,” he replied as he found another whole cadaver. There were far fewer of these than there were of those that had been ripped apart. The body he found was that of a young boy. To his shock, Ban recognized him as one of the two sentries he’d so easily fooled when both sneaking into and out of the camp. He wore no armor, and his dirty grey tunic had multiple tears. Beneath them the skin was clearly charred.
“It’s the same with him as well,” he said, pointing to the dead boy. “I know this one. He was one of the two that were supposed to be guarding the outpost, but didn’t even face in the right direction to do so. He looks like he was no more than nine.”
Cerah heard the catch in Ban’s voice and moved to where he stood. She put her hand on his back. “It’s horrible,” she said. “Nothing Surok does surprises me anymore, but I just don’t understand how the Stygians could consent to sending their own children to die. And now it seems quite clear that it was the ones with which they’d allied themselves that did the killing here. Surok is exterminating his human warriors. He is finished with the city of Stygia and its people as well.”
“We should get back,” Ban said. “If the monsters have been here they could reach our front in short order. I’m surprised that we didn’t see them moving through the forest when we were flying over.”
Cerah boosted him back onto to Tress and climbed on, nudging the dragon with her knees. As she did she heard her match-mate say, “I don’t think we saw anything because I don’t think they’re coming.”
“What do you mean?” Cerah said mentally. “Where else would they head? From the looks of things, they will not have gone back to Stygia. That light tells me the city is no more.”
“I don’t know where they are going. I just feel it will not be toward our army. It’s a sense within my spirit. I can offer no further explanation. This attack did not occur today. These people were most likely killed the night Ban mentioned, the stormy night,” Tressida replied.
Cerah’s brow furrowed as she considered this during the remainder of the short flight back.
When she landed, she saw Slurr standing with Parnasus and Kern. Her husband signaled to her as she and Ban approached.
“Kern says that the riders are on their way back. They found the city flattened.”
“Like Kamara?” she asked.
“No,” said Kern, “not exactly. Where we found nothing at all when we walked through the scar that had been your city, the scouts say that Stygia has not vanished. It ha
s been destroyed, flattened. Not a building is left standing.”
“Then there are there bodies as well?” Cerah asked, remembering the gruesome sight that met them at the outpost.
“Yes, everywhere,” said Parnasus. “Yarren estimates that about two-thirds of the population of Stygia lies dead among the ruins. He said the monsters had clearly feasted upon many.”
Now Cerah told them what she and Ban had found, including the fact that it was clear many had been killed magically.
“Was there any sign of the monsters?” Ban asked.
“That is the part that is most perplexing,” said Kern. “There is in fact no sign of them at all.”
Cerah had a sudden revelation. “Turn the riders around. Send them to the coast to the north and south of Stygia. The black ships must be anchored somewhere in one of those places. I sense we may have miscalculated once again.”
“What do you mean?” Slurr asked, his expression falling as the realization grew that this misjudgment was solely his.
“For whatever reason, and again we must keep in mind that ‘reason’ no longer seems to apply to Surok’s decisions, it is my guess he is leaving Illyria altogether.”
“Would he pass up on the chance to slaughter so many humans?” Kern asked. “Illyria holds more potential victims than any of the other nine continents.”
“I sense he would,” Cerah said, nodding her head. “Illyria will still be here for his to ransack later.”
“Then where would he go?” asked Slurr.
“Kier,” answered Parnasus, as he suddenly understood Cerah’s line of thought.
“Exactly,” she said. “He believes, as we hoped he would, that we have left for Kier. That’s what the surviving Stygians were told to say. When Zenk divined their thoughts, as I’m sure he did, he would have been able to reach no other determination than that this was the truth.”
Slurr was next to grasp the implications of the evidence. “Surok wants to defeat us. He wants the army out of the picture as quickly as possible, so that he can then murder with impunity across the rest of Quadar. He wants to wipe out every warrior…”
“And the Chosen One,” Kern said as he too saw the pieces fall into place.
“That’s exactly what he wants,” said Cerah. An instant later she raised a hand to her temple. Ban and Slurr watched as Kern and Parnasus did the same. When they lowered them a moment later, Cerah said, “There is no sign of the enemy on land, or of the black ships on the coast. They have already sailed.”
“How could they have left so quickly?” asked Ban.
“Without the Stygians to slow them down, Surok’s monsters are capable of great speed,” Parnasus answered. “In the two days we have been waiting for them to attack there has been more than enough time for them to slaughter the Stygians, both in the city and the outpost, to board the dark ships, and to utterly raze the city.”
“I expect the monsters were far out to sea when Surok cast his spell of destruction,” Cerah said grimly.
“There is one last thing I don’t understand,” said Slurr.
“Well then, you are doing better than me,” said Parnasus. “There is a multitude of things that I do not understand.”
“Of course I feel the same,” the general replied. “But the one thing in particular is why when he destroyed all the other cities was there nothing left behind, but Stygia was left in ruins.”
“Surok no longer seeks to find the Chosen One,” said Parnasus. “Do you remember? That was my theory when you told me of your experience at Kamara, and when I Went Within to examine the other cities that had gone. Surok knew that his spell would not affect Cerah, and that if she were in a city when he removed it and its people, the lone survivor would be none other than his nemesis?”
Slurr nodded, understanding coming over him like a creeping illness. “There’s no need to clean up behind himself anymore,” he said.
“Precisely,” the First Elder replied. “His mindset has changed completely, from first expecting, mistakenly, that all of Quadar would be as easy to roll over as Niliph was, to a brief dalliance with stealth attacks, to now…a full confrontation. All of our warriors against all of his upon the plains of Kier.”
“Well, once again Surok determines our next move, instead of us,” said Cerah, her voice heavy with aggravation. “Slurr, recall the warriors near the forest, and prepare to march to Senchen. We’ll load the army back aboard our ships and hope that Renton can get us to Kier before the enemy can do too much damage.”
“At once,” he said, crestfallen.
Cerah heard the pain in his voice. “Darling, do not fault yourself. Your plan was sound. Surok’s mind is not. And whether you intended to do so or not, you couldn’t have picked a better place for your phantom destination. The continent of Kier is composed mainly of uninhabited prairie. What people do live there are farmers, spread far and few between. There is only Lamur and Nedar with any sizable population, and we have a strong force there, thanks to Yarren and Russa.”
The two young wizards were near enough to hear Cerah’s mention of their work on Kier. Along with the town burgomaster of the small port of Orna, they had managed to enlist a disproportionate number of warriors for the Army of Quadar. Jessip, the rotund ball of energy who had helped them now led the garrison which protected the two cities. The army was based at a point half-way between them, where the city of Reeze had once stood. It was the destruction of this city that had made it possible to easily convince the people of Kier that an evil was coming, and that they needed to help fight it.
“Jessip commands a force of eight thousand,” said Yarren. “Strong, but not enough to stand against the full fury of Surok’s beasts.”
“Agreed,” said Cerah. “That’s why we need to move quickly now. Yarren and Russa, I have asked much of you already, and I ask again now. Fly ahead to Senchen. Inform Admiral Renton that the army is coming, and have him make the necessary preparations for a voyage to Kier. We will need all of his skills to get us there in the shortest time possible.”
“As always,” said Russa, “it is our honor to serve the Chosen One.” She and Yarren hurried to the dragons, and were soon disappearing to the southeast of the camp.
Slurr had gone to speak with his captains, and he now returned. Cerah could see that his spirit was still heavy. I don’t suppose he will forgive himself quickly. Only if we can minimize Surok’s damage to Kier will he rise completely from this self-recrimination, Cerah thought. She knew she would have to keep encouraging him for the duration of the voyage.
If the course of the war to that point had taught the Army of the Light nothing else, they had learned to mobilize at a moment’s notice. By the time Cerah had finalized her personal preparations for the march, Slurr’s warriors were ready to move as well. They set out at once, though the hour was late, and would march through the night. The road to Senchen was well kept, and would speed their passage, Cerah knew. By the time they reached coastal city, Renton would have the ships ready.
I hope the admiral has yet another trick up his sleeve, she thought as her forty thousand warriors and her four hundred wizards crossed the Illyrian countryside.
Late the following day a fisherman from the humble village of Karral, on the southern shores of Rethmira, was far out to sea in his small craft. It was a special day for him, as it was his son’s tenth birthday, and as such was the first day he’d taken the boy with him to fish. He’d shown the lad the art of throwing out the nets and had lectured him on the fisherman’s most important asset: his patience. He beamed with pride as the boy sat quietly until it was time to pull up the lattices, then worked steadily alongside him to empty them when at last they were hauled in. “You’re a natural!” he told him.
The man wished that it had not been necessary that he take the boy so far from home on his first trip, but over the past months he’d found the schools of icthura had abandoned the waters nearer to Karral and now, when they were found at all, it was much further out to sea. It w
as just another manifestation of the changes that were occurring all over Quadar. He knew of the war. He knew of Surok. And as time passed he realized that the demon did not have to be present for his effect upon the planet to be felt. He’d heard tales of vast herds of animals falling dead for no apparent reason. News had reached him that attacks by wild beasts had become more frequent, often occurring far closer to populated areas. And now the schools upon which he depended were moving away from Rethmira.
So, the boy’s first time out would be a lengthy one. It couldn’t be helped.
They had lowered the nets once more, and were talking quietly about the intricacies of the noble craft of catching the sea’s bounty, when the man saw something that made his blood run cold.
Far to the south of the small boat he saw a bank of billowing black clouds, which appeared to be moving to the east at a very fast rate. There was no one left on Quadar who did not recognize this phenomenon. It marked the passage of the evil demon Surok. The boy saw it as well and pointed to it. “Be quiet!” the man scolded, fearing that even the voice of a small child might be enough to alter the course of that foul storm. Surok hated all human life, he’d been told. Wherever he and his dreaded black ships might be headed, the man was sure that if the demon had any notion they were there, he would take the time to divert, hunt them down and kill them.
After several minutes the boy whispered, “Father, I think the nets are full again.”
Again, the man reprimanded him. “Damn the nets,” he told the boy. “Make no sound!”
They sat for a long time, and watched as the unnatural clouds continued to track their way east. After a full hour, the man began to feel confident that they had escaped a horrid fate, as the sky to the south grew clear once more. If the beast is going to land on Rethmira, he thought, it will not be at Karral.
Although the boat would have held many more of the large fish, when they pulled in the nets for the second time, he did not throw them out again. Trimming his sails to catch the winds which he feared may have been stirred up by the passing of Surok’s storm, he headed back to his village as fast as the breezes would carry them.
A Single Candle (Cerah of Quadar Book 3) Page 22
