by Derek Barton
She stepped into the stall next to his. Creeping below the stall board, she pressed her back against the pen to keep out of sight and went to the back of the pen. He was busy tying the saddle bags as the horse chewed noisily on its oats in a feedbag. She climbed over the boards behind him.
He hefted up on one leg and started to swing the other around when the princess leaped and caught him by the shoulder. They rolled backwards and crashed into the far wall of his pen.
Letandra bounced to her feet and stood in a fighter stance with two daggers. Jaspe writhed on the ground, holding his ankle and ignored her.
“You broke it! You crazed—” He coughed and wheezed.
She lunged and sat upon his chest and thrust the daggers to his throat. “—Now you know I am serious. We have an understanding?” She growled.
He did not comment, but nodded his head. Jaspe was dirty, smelled of old body odor and his face was smeared with sauce from his last meal.
“What is your part of the plan?” She demanded.
“Plan? What are you talking about? I need a Me—”
The daggers drew a tiny pair of thin lines that bled down into his shirt.
“Oh, oh. Yes, yes! No need for that. I will tell you. She wants the boy, the horse-killer.”
She tried to ignore his barb about her brother and continued, “Who is she? What were you going to do when you found Taihven, murder him?”
“I am no killer! We...we were only to take him, cut up his hair so no one would know who he was and...”
“I asked you, who?”
“I-I… do not want to die, but they would kill me for saying just as quick as you will with those knives.”
She sighed and leaned in closer to the man. Letandra pulled down her scarf and looked him in the eyes. “How much is my mother paying you for this treason, Jaspe?”
He gulped. “Well, first, we had to find, uh, the both of you. I was promised three Kildaras to take the prince to Port Ssescima. There is a Brehevic slave ship waiting for him.”
“Bastards!” she cursed.
Jaspe shrugged as way of an apology.
“Go on. What about the other man?”
“Merinac was to find you, then tells you that Prince Taihven needs you and to meet him at the Smarmy Wench Inn at Carlysle Hills. He was going to take you on the long route so you be far away from stopping me.”
She saw red. She kept focusing on the blades at the man’s scrawny neck. A pathetic street thug like this would go unnoticed and his disappearance would not raise any questions. The man was a waste.
“Please, please,” he begged. He had read her mind. “They promised me enough coin to live forever off the streets. I was not going to harm him. Swear on the Hand of Lady Haethraa.”
She ignored his words, but tried to calm herself. She needed more information.
“You keep saying “they”. Who is working with my mother?”
“He is a stranger here — never seen the likes of him before, but he did not tell me his name. His deal got me out of the dungeon and that was good enough for me.”
“What does he look like? Where were you to meet up?”
Voices could be heard again at the entrance to the stables. A young boy’s voice and another older boy. Probably stable hands arriving to start digging out the stalls.
“Speak fast,” She whispered.
“He was bald – had no eyebrows or hair anywhere. Once I got the prince to the ship, I was to be paid there.”
That Camiyaan! The answer came to Letandra. She brought the Slaver from overseas!
“Do you know where Prince Taihven is?”
“No. Was going to go back to my farm and get my tracking dogs.”
“What was in the bag that Merinac gave you?”
“It had some beggar clothes to change him in. Also had my pardon papers in case the Wyvernguard stopped me. The bottle was a bit of Sampin Sap to put him to sleep. Those boys are coming in soon. You got to let me go, please.” He whined.
Letandra struggled with her thoughts. “Against my better judgment, I am going to make a deal with you, vermin. I will pay you now four Kildaras to give me the papers and anything else the queen gave you. Then I want you to leave Tayneva forever.”
“I am in your debt and service. I know I did not earn your mercy.”
She lowered her blades and wrapped her hands around his ankle. She then drew out a simple Mender sigil. Warm healing magic passed from her hands into his leg. “That will help. So, we have a deal?”
“Of course, of course.”
“I do not want to regret this and have to kill you later, Jaspe.” She locked eyes with the rag of a man and held up a pouch. “Do not stop. Do not tell Merinac. Take your horse, the coins and do not look back.”
3#
Taihven looked all around him. Each sentence flowed through the air and through him, but not by sound. He knew he had not heard the words, but felt them. He set his feet, prepping himself for a diving tumble back into the water or shrubs.
“You are welcome to remain with us. Sapinyaz are not too dangerous.”
The prince saw a snapshot of the flying fish that chased him from the water.
“Yet they are not only denizens of water.” Something with three sets of jaws with jagged teeth jumped out from recesses of the prince’s mind.
“I am not one to take advice from someone who refuses to show himself.” Taihven snapped. He rubbed one temple with his hand. His head throbbed with a dull ache.
“That is a wise statement.”
The twin lizards twisted their heads to the right and stared into the brush. Twigs of several dwarf trees snapped and the ferns parted violently. The path shook once more as an immense reptilian head poked out and approached. The body of the lizard ended at the road and continued into the muck. Then it hit him. The stripe in the road itself was the creature’s body as it traveled halfway submerged in the wet earth. The head matched the other lizards only dramatically bigger.
From behind its black mane more lizards slipped down onto the path. They remained a wary distance back from the prince. The two original lizards slithered over the path and joined them.
Taihven felt panic as the numbers that surrounded him had more than tripled.
“I am One, Akuem’balshas. Or Akuem if that would be easier for you.” It tilted its head dog-like and studied him.
The prince was unsure how to respond or if he should.
“We are Balshazra. We have seen many in Aberrisc, but none such as you. What are you called?”
They were not hostile — yet — but there were so many. He counted over two dozen. Letandra or his father would certainly know how to answer and handle the situation. They were always good with diplomacy and times for political words.
“So there are more of you? You have... family?” A random memory of his sister and father standing in the Court of Anim High popped up. He had been only five years old, but his father’s speeches there had been part of an historic peace pact.
“W-What?” he stammered.
“I am sorry, you do not like… relaying?” It seemed to struggle with the last word.
“Relaying? Are you talking somehow in my head?”
Akuem straightened its head and an actual wide, toothy grin spread over its face. “Of course! We are Balshazra. Our touch allows us to speak together, Parence Taa Veean.”
Taihven took a few steps back, stunned. “You… you can listen to…” He snapped his mouth closed and he envisioned words in his mind. “You are reading my thoughts and memories!”
“You do comprehend.” Akuem nodded.
“Um, it is pronounced Prince Tay-ven Artay-de-us.” Now he felt awkward stating it out loud.
“I understand now. There are many count of you humans, but none in Aberrisc?”
“No. I am from a city called Wyvernshield of the country Tayneva. Is your homeland called Aberrisc?”
“There are many lands that make up Aberrisc.” Akuem explained. “Ours we
call Huuscia.”
The boy then remembered the last conversation he had with his father before the coma about the episodes and the metal cubes he saw. Is this all real?
A bitter pang of guilt and pain ambushed him.
“Why are you sadden by this?”
“I failed my father often and now it is too late to fix that. And I miss him already.”
Akuem tilted its head again, confused by Taihven’s words and crept closer. “We would like to relay more on this, but not now.”
The prince took a cautious step back from the creature.
“We have no desire to hurt you or your kind, Prince Taihven. We would hope you would come to Home.”
Taihven caught a sight in his mind of a huge series of pearl-white towers half-submerged in a massive pool of water. Another image followed and he saw a bed of cottony fluff material and a plate of what looked like assorted cut fruits and meats.
“Home,” Akuem’balshas repeated. “We would be honored.”
Taihven nodded and thought, "Your kindness and offer are greatly appreciated.”
Two of the Balshazra, the same two that he originally encountered, came forward. One extended its paw toward him.
He took it, careful to avoid the long claws.
“One be Tamdaam. Two be Re’sha.” It pointed at his partner. “We travel within waters on Body, Akuem’balshas. Our Protector and Guide.”
Tamdaam paused and its head shifted to the right. It then nodded. Taihven realized that they could somehow guide their thoughts to specific individuals.
The smaller Balshazra returned its attention to the young Prince. “Akuem wants to know if you are the one known as Wandering Wolf?”
An accompanying thought came to life in his mind’s eye — a sudden, violent battle. Green Ones ran and threw their javelins at a fleeing boy. The boy spun around and downed several of the tenacious beasts with Fire Bolt spells.
He gasped when he recognized his battle.
Tamdaam nodded again, but this time to Taihven. Akuem twisted its head facing away to the east and the ground quaked stronger than before. The “Body” separated from the muck until it was eight feet or so above the marshland. Tamdaam guided the young man along the lizard’s broad back to a mane of rope-like frills. “We are to begin Trek.”
Tamdaam and Re’sha shrank in size and slithered inside the mane. Many of the Balshazra took shelter along with them. Akuem slithered smoothly between the ferns.
The prince stood in guilt-ridden silence. He had murdered the Green Ones and the word had spread of his deeds.
Akuem explained, “A ghost, as you might call it, is said to exist. It has come many times to differing lands, but does not belong to any realm. Stories of good and evil follow Wandering Wolf. Eulocths hate it and few have ever made them fear like Wolf for they are an evil of their own right. Stories have increased over past years.”
The great lizard fell quiet. The marshlands receded and the landscape blurred as the creature took up a higher speed. Taihven felt blitzed by Akuem’s words. Could this world really be true or was it another level of his malady? Insane patients hospitalized in the Castle Infirmary often made the same claim — their delusions were real and not imagined.
“Wandering Wolf has come to symbolize many things to different lands and it does not know what it has wrought or what it has changed for many. Is Wandering Wolf a good omen? To some, its visits meant hope. To some, Wandering Wolf is a sign of end of Aberrisc.”
The beast’s speed decreased and came to an abrupt stop. Before them a great lake of black and green water encompassed several acres of land. In its murky center, Taihven saw the soaring, pearl towers from before. Most of the structure had translucent qualities. He spotted dozens more of the lizards which slithered up and down smooth ramps inside or climbing thin grooved poles. Their city was protected by its moat and five monolith structures on its borders. The monoliths were tipped with a constant purple-silver lightning arc. Home was surrounded by this lightning fence.
Taihven gaped and was speechless. The Balshazra had to be incredibly more powerful than one would assume.
“Before I can take you within, we need to know, Wandering Wolf. What do you wish to bring to Balshazra? What are your plans for Us?”
#4
“Just how far are you planning to cross the line, mother?” Letandra snarled as she stepped out from the curtains of the bed chamber’s patio. She had waited for over an hour outside the room after giving up her search for Taihven and the mercenary Merinac. Now she had the queen alone.
Demetryce lurched forward and dropped her clay cup of tea. “How dare you disturb my Time of Mourning!”
Letandra held up the parchment, clearly displaying the queen’s signature on the prisoner’s official pardon.
The queen’s jaw snapped shut and she crossed over to her mirror ignoring the cup’s mess on the floor. She sank down to her chair without a word and brushed out her gray locks.
Letandra strolled with confidence and sat upon the bed. She refused to break the contest of wills and waited for her mother to answer. They locked eyes several times in the mirror’s reflection.
The queen broke and relented. “Letandra… I know that this does not sound like a solution, but we cannot protect him every moment of the day. If he was unknown to everyone around him then—”
Letandra spat a curse. She could not answer, but balled her fists and rubbed them into her thighs.
The queen sighed and asked, “What? What do you want?”
Letandra maintained her silence, relishing her mother’s squirming.
Several moments passed.
“Look! You only have the word of one man and—”
“—I have more than enough! And with my powers in the Court as Lady Magistrate, I could open a formal investigation. How are you going to like the questions around why you hate your own son so much? You up for a little digging into what happened during the Cros’seau coup?”
“You would jeopardize the Throne?” Demetryce gasped. “You would shake what little confidence the peasants have in us? We face a horrible war. We could lose everything, not just this city.”
For the first time, the steely confidence in Letandra’s eyes waivered. The queen pounced on the opportunity.
“We lost your father. I know I made a terrible mistake and a decision I regret in a state of—”
“—I lost my father!” She screeched and turned her back to her mother.
She stomped over to the bedchamber door. With her hand on the door handle, she said, “I am not going to ever stop protecting him. I love him. I love you too, but I will not allow you to ever threaten this family again. Call off all other actions you are attempting against Taihven. If you can do this, I will leave him in hiding and he will not be back until this crisis is over. Do we have a deal?”
“Are you going to pursue any investigations?”
“Should I? What else have you done mother in your attempts to protect this family?”
Demetryce did not answer.
She shook her head and shrugged. “No, no. I am done looking at your dirt for now.”
“Sweetheart,” the queen moaned.
“Stop it. Do you agree with the deal or not?”
“I swear to your terms.” She looked seriously at her daughter. “Your father truly chose well. You are very strong and capable. I will not continue to be in your way because you need to focus on this war and nothing else. I am sorry.”
“I am not going to stop watching you.” She promised. With that she stormed out the door.
Letandra knew she had hit home and Demetryce knew she was committed to Taihven. Yet, in her heart, she did not believe her brother was safe. The queen had always been prepared for any crisis she ever faced and she never saw her mother not have any back-up plans. She hoped she had enough over her mother to keep her under control.
And Demetryce was right about one thing. The Throne could not face any more scandal or doubt. The war was fueling t
he fires of rebellion.
In the end, Adventdawn walls may need to hold up against more than the Viestrahl.
#5
Taihven contemplated and formed his reply very carefully. “I am not a danger to anyone unless I am attacked. The Green Ones ambushed me at my fire and I defended myself.” Guilt returned over his actions. “Honestly, Akuem, I never believed that this world existed. It is like a dream. Does your kind ever dream?”
“Our minds and bodies go into a state of rest only, but I believe I understand what you are saying. Your mind shows me you do not desire to cause pain or suffering. And you did not believe your actions here were true.”
