by James Wyatt
“In case you thought I was exaggerating,” Janik muttered, his sword springing into his hand. “Dania, get us to shore! We can’t let this thing tip us.”
“What is that?” To his credit, Auftane sounded genuinely curious rather than panicked, and he gripped his huge mace. “What’s the best way to kill it?”
“It’s a chewer,” Dania said, pulling hard on the oar while keeping a close eye on the creature.
“Chuul,” Mathas corrected, thrusting his hand toward the creature and sending a blast of frigid cold toward it. It slowed momentarily as the water pouring off its shell crystallized into ice, but the thing kept coming, spraying tiny shards of ice around it.
“Stay out of its claws!” Dania shouted.
“I could have guessed that,” Auftane said, and then the creature was upon them. Auftane swung his weapon, smashing it into one of the chuul’s claws. Janik drove his blade under the carapace just above the other claw, drawing a gout of greenish blood. Above them, a mass of slimy tentacles writhed like a nest of worms, dripping thick slime into their boat. Dania kept rowing and they surged forward, but the creature leaped toward them again, landing on an oar and snapping it.
“I guess I’m done rowing,” Dania said as she drew her sword. The chuul was behind the boat where only Dania could reach it, and its momentum brought its tentacled head down within her reach. In a flash, she cut a gash just above the tentacles, spraying herself with a mix of blood, slime, and seawater.
“Hold still a second, Dania,” Auftane said just behind her. She felt his hand on her shoulder.
“Hold still?” she shouted, dodging to her right as the chuul’s claws came down on either side of her. Even as she dodged, she felt a surge of strength and knew Auftane had augmented her armor with his magic.
Mathas reached out to touch Janik’s sword. “It will cut deeper,” whispered the elf, and he patted Janik’s shoulder. “Good luck.” Janik gave Mathas an incredulous look and then turned to the chuul.
The creature slammed the rear of the keelboat, lifting the prow out of the water and propelling it forward a short distance, where it plowed into a sandbar, turned sideways, and lodged firmly. Janik jumped out of the boat, landing in water about knee-deep. He splashed toward the chuul, shouting in a vain attempt to frighten the monster away.
He got the creature’s attention and it edged along the boat to reach him, giving both Dania and Auftane the chance to land more blows on its back. Auftane managed a solid blow, crushing the hard shell on its back and causing blood to ooze freely around it. The creature turned away from Janik and grabbed Auftane in one of its claws, lifting him into the air. Janik jumped forward and drove his sword toward the chuul’s underbelly as it raised both claws, but its belly was as heavily plated as its back, and his sword glanced aside.
The chuul raised Auftane toward the writhing mass of tentacles at its head, and they twisted like giant, slime-covered worms around his limbs, neck, and torso. The dwarf’s dark skin paled as the slime penetrated his skin, sending a paralytic venom into his muscles. As Janik jabbed in vain at the creature’s legs, the dwarf struggled and then froze. The tentacles drew him closer, and beyond Auftane’s stiff body, Janik could see a set of mandibles beginning to open and close in anticipation of tasting the dwarf’s flesh.
Janik thrashed with his sword, hoping to distract the chuul again, but he couldn’t land a solid blow from where he stood.
“For the Flame!” Dania’s cry turned Janik’s head, and he saw her leap from the keelboat onto the creature’s back. She had sheathed her sword and pulled out a dagger, and as she landed on the thing’s shell, she found a spot to drive the thin blade between the armored plates, drawing a fresh gout of blood. Janik saw a stream of green join the water dripping from the chuul’s mouth as the thing’s mandibles started tearing at Auftane’s flesh.
“Hold on, Auftane!” she called out. “I’m coming for you!” Dodging the chuul’s claws as it reached over its back toward her, she scrambled to the tentacles that held Auftane and started hacking at them with her dagger. Each slash of the small blade sliced a few tentacles, cutting some off and making others recoil, loosening their hold on the dwarf. As Janik watched from below Auftane, fell into the water with a splash that drenched Janik.
Janik’s relief at seeing Auftane freed disappeared in an instant when he realized that the paralyzed dwarf was lying still, completely submerged in the water, right between the chuul’s front limbs. Carefully, Janik advanced, on guard against the creature’s pincers, which flailed wildly in the air.
Then the claws stopped flailing and Janik dove forward to grab Auftane and pull him out of the water. The dwarf wasn’t moving, but Janik could tell he was breathing properly. Janik looked up at the chuul just as a cluster of glowing blue bolts of magical energy sped over his head and into the creature’s carapace. Mathas had chosen his spell carefully, for Dania was now wrapped in the creature’s tentacles.
She was not yet paralyzed, and she struggled fiercely, prying tentacles off with one hand as she slashed with the dagger in her other hand. The pincers that had caught her had left ugly marks—the right side of her armor was torn open and Janik could see blood in it—and the chuul was using both pincers in a frantic attempt to keep hold of her.
Janik started to circle the beast, looking for the right place to drive his sword for a killing blow. He kept one eye on Dania to make sure she was still fighting—and still occupying the chuul’s attention. Mathas cast another spell, not enough to distract the creature from Dania.
Maybe this will finish it, Janik thought as he plunged his sword deep into the joint where the chuul’s rear leg joined its body. The creature gave a bizarre howling screech and Janik wrenched the sword hard, hoping to hit some vital organ inside its monstrous body.
Dania took advantage of the creature’s pain to plunge her dagger into its tiny eye, causing it to squeal. This time, the sound was weak and short, and the chuul’s legs gave out and its body dropped into the water, splashing Janik with water, green blood, and slime.
Janik slogged to the boat while Dania extricated herself from the tentacles and rushed over to check on Auftane. Janik watched as she crouched beside the dwarf, cradling his cheek in her palm. As if in response to her touch, the dwarf’s frozen face seemed to melt. He moved one stiff hand to his chest, pounding his fist against his breastbone as he coughed out a mouthful of water. He took a deep, uneven breath and smiled up at Dania.
“You are a true paladin,” he said hoarsely. “Quite a hero.”
“Nonsense,” Dania said. “Are you badly hurt?”
Auftane started to get to his feet, but the dwarf struggled badly. “I’m all ri … ouch!” He touched one hand gingerly to his side, where the chuul’s mandibles had torn his skin.
“Here, let me have a look at that,” Dania said, reaching toward him.
“No,” the dwarf replied, reaching for a wand tucked in his belt. “I can take care of myself. You’ve got a nasty wound of your own, there.” He gestured toward Dania’s own torn side.
Mathas called down from the boat. “Why don’t you all come up here before anything else attacks? There could be more chuuls in the water, Sovereigns forbid.”
Janik watched as Dania helped Auftane climb onto the boat. Mathas reached over the side to help pull him up as Dania pushed from below. Then Dania turned to Janik, ready to help hoist him up as well.
“Are you hurt, Janik?” she asked, scanning him from head to boot.
“No, just wet.”
“Good,” Dania said, helping hoist Janik so he could reach Mathas’s outstretched hand. She climbed up easily behind him.
“So what’s this I hear about the legendary fortitude of the dwarves?” Janik said, smiling at Auftane.
The dwarf shuddered. “I guess it’s nothing compared to the protection of the Silver Flame,” he said, nodding toward Dania. “Or maybe all the slime rubbed off on me.” He brushed idly at the sleeves of his coat, and the others laughed.
“That’s it, Auftane,” Dania said, “you took all the slime with you, so I was safe.” Smiling, she laid a hand on her torn side, bathing it in warm silver light as the flesh knit itself together. Remembering the wand in his hand, Auftane did the same to his own wounds.
Janik shook his head. “I don’t know, Mathas,” he said. “Looks like we’re lacking in some key survival skills that these two possess. Ever consider taking up the path of the artificer?”
“I’m more likely to finally listen to Aureon’s voice nagging at the back of my mind and take up the cleric’s call,” Mathas replied seriously.
Dania retrieved a new oar from the hold and managed to work the boat free of the sandbar. As she rowed the rest of the way to shore, they watched over the stern as Breddan’s ship disappeared into the haze. No more chuuls reared up from the water, to their great relief. They found a small inlet and pulled the keelboat in, then tied it to a stunted tree leaning over the water.
“Let me look around a bit before we start unloading supplies,” Janik said. “I don’t want to leave the boat right outside a rampager’s lair and come back in four months to find it reduced to splinters.”
“A lot can happen in four months,” Dania said. “It’s hard to imagine we’ll find it intact regardless.”
“That might be true, but remember, we’re not leaving it in the harbor at Stormreach unguarded,” Janik answered. “The dangers around here are likely to be wild animals, or monsters that might as well be wild animals. The animals will smell us on it and leave it alone, assuming we don’t leave food lying around that they’ll smell. The monsters might smell us on it and think it’s food, and that’s the risk I want to minimize.” He jumped off the boat to the bank of the inlet, and crouched to look at the soft earth.
“What about Krael?” Auftane asked.
“If he hangs back to wreck our boat after we leave it here, we’ll have some comfort,” Dania said. “At least we’ll be ahead of him.”
“Any sign of his passage there, Janik?” Mathas called out.
“Not here, no. I don’t see any sign of big beasts around here, either. I’m going to look around more—see if I can find where Krael came ashore and which way he went.”
“Let me come with you,” Auftane said.
“All right—come on. Dania and Mathas, stay with the boat.” He thought for a moment. “You could start loading our packs for the long walk, if you want.”
“Will do,” Dania called as Auftane jumped off the boat, landing hard on the bank. Janik and the dwarf started walking toward the beach.
“Thank you for pulling me out of the water,” Auftane said as they started climbing a dune.
“Of course.”
“You put me in a position where I could see Dania fighting the thing, but I couldn’t see you. Couldn’t move my eyes, you know.”
“I know. That happened to me the last time we fought one of those things.”
“It paralyzed you? What happened?”
“Same thing that happened to you. Dania cut me out.”
“She is quite a warrior,” Auftane said, his admiration clear in his voice. “Empowered by the Silver Flame, I suppose.”
“No, she’s always been quite a warrior,” Janik said. “Since long before she started talking about the Silver Flame all the time. There’s Krael’s ship.” They crested the dune and could see the masts and furled sails of Hope’s Endeavor. The decks seemed deserted. Scanning the shore nearby, they couldn’t see any sign of Krael or his troops. “I don’t see anyone, do you?”
“No.”
“Let’s head that way.” He pointed toward an area of shore nearest to Krael’s ship. “We’ll look for tracks, see if we can figure out what they’re doing.” They made their way slowly up and down the dunes that fronted the beach.
“Dania was in the army in the Last War?” Auftane asked, picking up their conversation.
“Yes. She’s about a finger’s breadth away from one of those soldiers you read about in the chronicles, who endured so much in the war that they lose their grip on reality. Come to think of it, maybe less than a finger’s breadth, now that she’s following the Silver Flame.”
“I don’t know. She seems quite sane to me.”
“I’m not sure I can call it sane when she jumps on the back of a chuul, brandishing only a dagger.”
“I call it heroic.”
“I suppose. But that doesn’t make it any less crazy.”
“You didn’t fight in the war?”
“Not in the regular army, and not on the big battlefields. But the King’s Dark Lanterns, like the Order of the Emerald Claw and the Royal Eyes of Aundair, are an army in their own right. The battles I fought might have been much smaller, but sometimes I’ve thought that the armies clashing on the battlefield are just a distraction from the spies and guerillas who are fighting the real war.”
“An interesting theory,” Auftane said, nodding.
“What about you, Auftane? What did you do during the war?”
“Mostly I avoided it, I’m embarrassed to say.”
“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Janik said. “It’s what any really sane person would do.”
“Dania volunteered, didn’t she? She said that her father could have kept her out of the army.”
“Yes. Proof, I suppose, that she wasn’t quite sane even before the war.” Janik pointed to marks in the sand where a small launch had obviously been pulled out of the water. “Look, here’s where they came ashore,” he said. “Let’s find that boat.”
They followed the trench in the sand to where it curved between two dunes. Janik held up his hand to stop Auftane and looked around, scanning the tops of the dunes. Sure enough, he saw the top of a helmet glinting in the sun. Just as he silently pointed it out to Auftane, a shout came from the crest of the dune. “Now!”
Two crossbow bolts sprayed sand right where Janik had been standing, and a third one glanced off Auftane’s armor as he tried to see what Janik was pointing at. Janik was already running up the dune, hoping to close with the crossbowmen before they could reload. Auftane hurried after him, sinking into the sand with each step.
Janik crested the dune and found himself toe to toe with three soldiers wearing the bright green symbol of the Emerald Claw on their tabards. Two were pointing crossbows at him, while the third was already swinging a flail toward his head. He knocked one crossbow aside just as the bolt flew free, sending the shot wild. The other bolt bit into his upper arm, but fell out as Janik drove his sword hard into the belly of the soldier swinging the flail. The flail’s momentum carried it into Janik’s shoulder, but the strength behind it had failed. Clutching his stomach, the man with the flail sank to the ground.
Janik stepped back, trying to keep the other two soldiers in front of him as they dropped their crossbows in the sand and drew their flails. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another soldier on the next dune, pointing a crossbow behind Janik—at Auftane, he assumed.
All right, he thought, three more, one down. That’s not too bad.
He smiled as he saw the soldier on the next dune fall to the ground, one of Auftane’s crossbow bolts sticking out of his throat. Two and two, he thought.
“What did you do to make Krael hate you so much?” he said, seeing a nervous glance pass between the two who faced him. “Or did you figure that staying behind and watching the boat for four months would be the easy job?”
The soldiers—a man and a woman—didn’t respond. Swinging their flails menacingly, they tried to maneuver to flank Janik, but he kept moving to keep them in front of him. The longer he could keep them occupied, he figured, the more likely Auftane would even the odds.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Auftane crested the dune, running at the nearest soldier with his mace drawn back over his shoulder. Janik waited, then just as Auftane caught the soldier’s attention, he leaped at her. His weapon and Auftane’s connected at the same time, and the woman sprawled in a hollow of
wet, red sand.
The other soldier howled in anger and ran at Janik. Janik dodged—and managed to put his back between the flail and his head. The blow knocked the wind out of him and knocked him to the ground, but Auftane jumped over him and beat the soldier back. The man was in a fury, swinging his flail so fast Janik could barely tell where the head of the weapon was. Janik scrambled to his feet again, fighting to catch his breath. The soldier regained the offensive and was pushing Auftane back.
“Watch your step, Auftane!” Janik called out, but too late—the dwarf stepped backward and tripped on the fallen soldier. He landed hard on his back, his legs draped over the dead woman, her eyes staring accusingly at him. Janik sprang at the last soldier and slid the point of his sword between the back of his helmet and the shoulder plates of his armor, killing him instantly. The man landed on top of Auftane.
Auftane extricated himself from the dead soldiers, leaving the two of them in a grisly heap. Janik found himself wondering if the two had been lovers, and he was briefly tempted to leave them together like that, intimately entwined in death as he supposed they had been in life. But as he looked around and his eyes fell on the boat nestled between the dunes, he thought of a more fitting end for them.
“We’ll load the four of them on the boat,” he said to Auftane.
The dwarf was still catching his breath, but he shot a quizzical look at Janik.
“Then we’ll set the boat on fire and push it out to sea,” Janik continued. “And with any luck, it’ll hit their ship and set it on fire as well. But really, we’re just giving these four a fitting funeral.”
“We’ll keep them from continuing to serve Karrnath as zombies, too,” Auftane said.
“Exactly.” Janik grabbed the arm of the dead man and started to drag him down the dune toward the boat.
THE WASTING PLAIN
CHAPTER 12
Janik and Auftane stood at the crest of a dune, watching the blazing boat drift out to sea. It missed the anchored ship, to Janik’s dismay, but served its other purposes. Janik knew that Dania wouldn’t approve of simply hacking a hole in the boat’s hull, so this let them get rid of the boat without resorting to simple sabotage. It also provided the dead soldiers with a dignified end, rather than leaving them to rot on the beach and be picked apart by crabs.
