Deathsworn Arc: 01 - The Last Dragon Slayer

by Martyn Stanley

  The riders continued on their way, Korhan trying to continue his mental exercise - though with some difficulty. Keeping ones stray thoughts under control was far easier to say than actually do. Vashni did not offer him any assistance; she merely rode a few feet ahead of him allowing him to continue his attempts in solitude.

  Conversations bounced back and forth - the group rearranged itself several times, allowing them to get to know one another better. Korhan for his part avoided speaking to the others, focusing on his task instead. Vashni likewise kept herself to herself. As the afternoon wore on the shadows started to grow longer. A cool breeze whipped up, rustling the leaves on the forest floor and howling through the branches overhead.

  Eventually the group came to large area of cleared forest. A rushing but narrow river passed through the clearing, a small timber frame mill sat on the side of the river, its water wheel turning slowly. Animals were penned in a grassed area a short distance from the mill and crops were growing in a field to the north. Saul raised his voice above the sound of the gushing water so he could address the group, “We should stop here, rest the horses and see if we can procure provisions.” This was met with a murmur of agreement and the riders rode up to the mill. As the party dismounted and tied their horses up against a fence, Korhan found himself taking Vashni’s reins, much to her amusement and tying both their horses up, before filling nose bags with feed and fitting them to both horses.

  As Saul, Votrex, Silus, Harald and Brael walked towards the mill Vashni sat herself down on a large rock protruding from the earth. As Korhan approached, she pointed to the floor, “Come Ri§ine, sit and tell me how you found this morning's exercise.”

  Korhan went to sit on the rock alongside her - but before he could plant himself down she raised a palm to him, “No Ri§ine, it is fitting that you sit on the floor, remember our bargain - no questions?”

  Korhan paused, looked at the patch of ground in front of her and obediently took his seat cross legged on the floor, looking up to her, “My apologies Mir§a Vashni... I found the task... Difficult... To maintain focus on something so mundane as riding a horse - to the exclusion of all other thoughts is not easy.”

  She leaned forwards looking down at him, “No it is not... But it is a good exercise to practice, if I am to improve your mental discipline. Now Ri§ine, shuffle closer, sit at my feet and bow your head to me - I am going to invade your mind, your task is to expel me as quickly as possible.”

  Korhan slid towards the large rock so he was sitting cross legged at her feet, then he felt her fingers press on to his temples gently. As he felt her fingers caressing his temples he felt an alien presence enter his mind. He was immediately overcome; Vashni was probing his mind, with curiosity, exploring memories past, and memories of thoughts about the future. He tried to shut the memories down. In seconds he’d lost all sense of his physical being and was trying, but failing completely to stop her storming around his mind unhindered. Having his mind invaded in this way was a truly strange, almost brutal experience. She stumbled upon memories of his childhood, watching his father work the forge... Killing a wolf with a short sword, which was attacking his father’s flock, when he had seen little more than ten winters. He tried to force her out, but it was like an immovable force was rampaging through his head. She then stormed on through more of his memories, his opinions, each turn he tried to push her out, helplessly. He was internally almost in tears as she wandered through his innermost thoughts and feelings. She dwelt for some time on his memories of only the previous day when they had first met. This he was desperate to hide from her, not wanting her to know how he... Desired her... But again he was helpless to prevent her gleaning every ounce of emotion from the memory.

  Eventually she withdrew and pulled her hands away from his temples, “Ri§ine, you did not expel me at all, I had complete freedom in your mind. I could have planted or altered memories at will - your mind is very weak. I am glad I explored it thoroughly though - I know and understand the full depth and scope of your desire for me... So I can make it clear right from the start - there is no future for us Ri§ine, I shall never take you to my bed. The very best you can expect for our future together is for the continual of our Mir§a, Ri§ine relationship... Are we clear? Do you accept this?”

  Korhan sighed, he hadn’t wanted her to know how he felt, he never expected her to reciprocate his feelings. However already he was convinced he could learn from her and that he wanted to continue this bizarre relationship, “I understand Mir§a Vashni... And I accept it.”

  “Good... Now stand up, it is time to test your willpower. Offer me your ear, that I may whisper to you, then try to resist.”

  Gingerly Korhan rose to his feet then offered his ear to Vashni, who whispered into it, her words as smooth as silk, sliding up and down the range of possible tone and reverberating right through him, “§ara Shoriuda di§airm §uisquira shom..”

  Without thinking, almost unaware that he was doing so, Korhan knelt down at her feet and kissed her suede boot. As he was doing so he sensed her chortling at his obedience and heard the others gasp as they exited the mill to watch him perform this humiliating act. However, despite his displeasure, he found himself unable to resist. Once he’d kissed her outstretched suede boot he rose and glared at her. She giggled, “I told you I would make you look foolish Ri§ine... We will repeat this exercise, amongst others - until such time as I can whisper the instruction to you, and you do not kneel before me and kiss my boot. You should treat the degrading nature of the instruction as an incentive for you to work harder to resist. When we return to the saddle, I want you to repeat this morning’s exercise, keeping your mind focused on what you are doing, and clear of stray thoughts.”

  “Yes, Mir§a Vashni.”

  The miller and his wife had been only too happy to refill the saddlebags of the party with bread, cured meat, fruit and other provisions, including oats for the horses. The offer of gold, Saul’s gold meant they would not need to perform their usual weekly trip to the nearby market at Briem. Of course initially the sight of a dwarf, a dark elf, a grizzled veteran, a barbarian and a wizard had caused him to reach for his halberd... When Saul had explained the situation and produced his coin purse, it had brought a collective sigh of relief. While Vashni was outside exploring Korhan’s mind the rest of the group had been inside being given tea by the miller’s wife while he gathered their goods together, as they sat and drank, the miller’s wife warned them to beware of bandits who had been operating in the area recently. When they finally exited to see Korhan, a mighty barbarian warrior kneeling at the feet of the elven maiden clad all in black, kissing her boot there were gasps of astonishment, followed by chuckles all around - except from Brael.

  Saul looked at Brael, “What is - “

  “This is normal practice when learning to resist whispering. The whisper is often undesirable in some way, but ultimately harmless. Even the strongest of mind fail at their first attempt. It will be interesting to see how much success she enjoys, in training my Avil’s mind.”

  Saul raised an eyebrow, “Avil?”

  “Avil means simply ‘the one to whom I am indebted’ or something to that effect. Come, the horses are rested, and loaded, we should follow the road to Briem now, if we are headed to the foot of the Sky-Cleavers.”

  Votrex overheard the conversation and when as he mounted he grunted to Brael, “Hmmph! I doubt you’d catch me kissing her boot - whatever she ‘whispered’ to me...”

  As he took up his reins Brael nodded, “You may be right master dwarf, the dwarves are renowned for being very resistant to enchantment and to having iron willpower.”

  As they prepared to ride, more eyebrows were raised at Korhan removing Vashni’s horse’s nosebag, untying the steed and leading it to her before sorting out his own horse. She leapt silently into the saddle, and began to trot, Korhan once he’d sorted out his horse taking up his place, a respectful distance behind her. The scenes unfolding were baffling Harald more than anyon
e.

  He took his time allowing the others to ride ahead, then rode up alongside Korhan, “Brother, what in Ishar’s name do you think you’re doing, playing handmaiden to the elf?”

  Korhan shuddered at the insult, “She has agreed to train me in the ways of mental defence, her price is that I act as a sort of ‘apprentice’ to her.”

  Harald screwed his face up, “You’re a warrior, not a magician - why do you need to hone your so called ‘mental defences’ anyway?”

  “You do not understand, yesterday, after she’d sent the Berger of Trest on his way and we tussled - she did something to me... When she suddenly overpowered me? I wish to be able to prevent others from the doing the same.”

  Harald laughed, “Hah! She’s making a fool out of you! Are you sure you can trust her?”

  “She is a strange one I grant you, I cannot understand her - but I do trust her... Given time, I believe she can teach me and I will be less susceptible to fall under the blade of foes who have mental skills.”

  Harald paused for a moment, then sighed, “I hope you know what you’re doing Korhan son of Brian, for I fear she is simply abusing your trust and making a fool of you... But if you trust her, then that is your choice... Just be careful, and beware of allowing your lust for her to guide your judgement.”

  “Lust?”

  “You’re even more fool than you look if you think it hasn’t escaped everyone's notice... The way your eyes are constantly stray towards her, the way you hang on her every word when she speaks... Do not let her make a fool of you Korhan.”

  The road from the mill eventually joined the main road, where the dried up mud was more churned up than the track down to the mill. Deep ruts caused by cart wheels criss-crossed over the road.

  Bandits

  As they were riding, without warning Vashni snapped her reins and trotted up alongside Saul, “Saul Karza, I thought you might be interested to know this, but there are a band of brigands hiding in the bushes about half a league from here. They will probably attempt to ambush us.”

  Saul looked at the elf, whose expression could only give the impression that she found this situation not a cause for concern, but mildly amusing. “How do you know this mistress elf?”

  “They are smelly, and noisy... They have heard our hoof beats and are busy stringing bows as I speak.”

  Saul groaned audibly, there was no easy way around, despite the skill of the party they would not fare well against an ambush of archers. Saul considered his options, gallop past? Attempt to fight them? It seemed likely they would be seeking coin, in which case simply paying them off might be the action least risky to the mission. “Lady Vashni, raise your hood and try to conceal yourself at the back of the group. I will try to pay them off - explain to the others what is happening.”

  She looked disdainfully at him, “Pay them off? Our party is setting out to slay an almost invulnerable, mythical beast - yet we allow ourselves to be bested by a mere band of brigands?”

  “I do not wish to risk injury to any of our party, coin is of little consequence, I have the bulk of our available gold hidden safely away. The gold in my coin purse should placate them and paying them will hinder our progress less than any other action.”

  “As you wish master wizard... Though I fear this will prove to be a poor decision.”

  With that Vashni pulled her hood up high over her head, hiding her face and allowed her horse to fall back in the group. Brael had already alerted the others as to the danger, when Vashni explained Saul’s plan and reasoning, it was met with some contempt. Harald, Korhan and Votrex were the most vocal about their dislike or ‘giving in’ to brigands - but they understood Saul’s logic. A stray arrow could injure or kill even the greatest warrior. The forest was thick in dense bramble and undergrowth at the side of the road - making circumventing the ambush difficult at best.

  As the horses trotted on, Vashni now her face covered and trying to remain inconspicuous at the back, with Korhan close behind - the mood became tenser and tenser. The road turned up a hill and approached a short wooden bridge which seemed to cross the river which would wind its way around before arriving at the mill where they had procured provisions. As soon as the entire group was on the bridge, four bandits leapt out in front of the horses, bows drawn and arrows nocked, and three jumped out behind sandwiching the companions on the bridge.

  The man who appeared to be the leader, aimed his bow at Saul, who had purposefully put himself in a position where he would appear to be the leader, “Well, well... What have we here? Trespassers on our toll bridge... Keep your hands away from your weapons!”

  Saul smiled at the man, “A toll bridge? How unfortunate that the Berger of Briem has forgotten to put a notice up to warn road users that this is a toll bridge... It matters not, what is the ‘toll’ we shall pay and be on our way.”

  Then man edging closer with the bow cackled evilly, “Everything you got I think... Hand over your coin purse while I check your saddlebags that you haven’t forgotten any loose coins...”

  Saul reached for his coin purse carefully, then handed it over. The leader took it, then started patting the saddlebags of the horses for the jangle of coin. As the leader went about Vashni struggled to stay incognito. Eventually, after satisfying himself that there was no more coin on the horses his attention was drawn to the shadowy rider with their hood hanging low. He’d also seen the gravian and the dwarf, which probably only peaked his interest.

  Stepping back he gestured towards Vashni, “Who’s the assassin? Pull back your hood cut throat.”

  Saul glared at the man, “In case you haven’t noticed, we are not merely travellers or market traders. Up to this point we have been willing to hand over our gold without a fight, in order to allow us to continue our mission with haste. If you pursue this line of enquiry, I may change my priorities.”

  The bandit leader grinned at Saul showing a mouth full of black and yellow teeth, “What are you old man, a wizard? We’ve got so many bows trained on you - you’d all be dead before you were out of the saddle or could utter a spell... I ask again, remove your hood assassin...”

  Saul was now getting concerned, “Sir, this is a noble under my protection, I have some more gold coins magically concealed, If you allow us to leave in peace, then I will give you an additional one hundred gold pieces.”

  The bandit chuckled to himself, “Good of you to say old man but-”

  At that moment Vashni pulled back her hood, revealing her flowing blonde hair, sharp features and tall pointed ears, “Enough! There I have revealed myself to you - now step aside...”

  The bandits all gasped, the presence of the gravian and the dwarf had been shock enough - but an elf also... “Well, well... Haven’t we made just the find here then... A dwarf, a gravian an elf and their escort... I don’t know who you are, but I’d wager my lions share that you are all important, important enough to warrant a handsome ransom perhaps? Kidnapping is not normally my game, but if three of the fabled magical races are not worth a king’s ransom then I do not know what would be... Dismount elf, and come here that I may bind your hands.” At that point he turned to his comrades, “Watch the elf, if she tries anything - shoot her, forget my safety, any sign of insurrection - kill them all.”

  Vashni sighed and deftly dismounted. Votrex and Harald exchanged nervous glances; Korhan looked at Saul pleadingly, questioningly - as if to say ‘What now?’ Silus cast his eyes around for signs of an easy escape or anything to help their situation. Only Brael, the dark elf seemed to keep his composure. When Vashni offered her wrists to be bound, the leader swirled his finger in the air gesturing for her to turn, “Behind your back elf, and open your mouth - I think we’ll take the precaution of gagging you - after all we don’t want you uttering a spell do we?” Until this point Vashni had looked composed, confident. Now she seemed panicked, but before she could do anything he was binding her wrists with a length of twine he’d been concealing about his person. When she opened her mouth to whisper
to him he grabbed her, clamping a hand roughly over her mouth, then tied a gag tightly around her neck.

  One of the others glared at Brael, “The same goes for you gravian, open your mouth to utter a spell and I put an arrow in your belly.” Brael nodded understanding. The horses were lead off the path, through the trees. The leader was pushing Vashni forwards, occasionally so roughly, she fell on her face, while leading Saul’s horse. The others followed; the bandits’ bows trained on them constantly.

  Eventually the party had been lead to the bandits’ camp, about half a mile away from the road in a deep gully. Ramshackle huts littered a clearing, and surrounded a well-used fire pit, with a steep cliff of granite dominating one side. Throughout the short trip, the party had all been within their own heads running ‘what if’ scenarios, trying to work out a way of escaping unharmed. Embarrassingly, they all had nothing. Only Brael seemed calm. When they stopped, the archers surrounded the group. At the same time the leader was dragging Vashni to one of the huts, calling over his shoulder mockingly as he did, “I reckon I’ll have some fun with this one, as long as I don’t damage her too much... It shouldn’t affect her value.” Vashni was clearly in fear now; she was making muffled cries through the gag as he dragged her into the hut.

  The party were looking from face to face in despair now. Brael however caught Korhan’s eye and gave him a knowing look. There were six archers surrounding them, Korhan glanced at Saul, then Harald, then to Silus, Silus’s spear and the archer who had an arrow trained on him.

  What happened next was almost a blur; Brael manoeuvred himself in such a way that only the one bandit training an arrow on him could see him. He moved in such a way that it appeared his horse was merely getting restless. Once positioned Brael locked his eyes on the bandit nervously pointing a bow at him. He then reached into his pockets with both hands and withdrew the tiny wooden darts he’d spent the night whittling the previous night. When he threw them, his arms were a blur, almost imperceptible to the human eye. At exactly the same time the man holding him in his sights screamed, dropped his bow and clamped his hands over his eyes.