Red Axe, Black Sun

by Michael Karner

  She touched his amulet in the shape of a silver star embossed with a wolf’s head, a talisman and former badge of office of the shire reeves. The reeves were famed for their dedication to duty and the preservation of order and life.

  “But then you shouldn’t be wearing this,” she said.

  “The man this here belonged to is long gone,” Dryston said as if he was catching her drift. “This is just a souvenir from another time. It almost feels like I killed that man and just took it from him like a rogue in the night.” Dryston shrugged. “Who knows, maybe I did.”

  “You still have that talent, to bring order to chaos, to make people follow you,” Kyra didn’t mention the other thing Dryston did frighteningly well – killing people – but they both knew it would always be included in any conversation regarding Dryston’s talents.

  “I made the man I am today all by myself. It was a choice,” Dryston said. “You have a talent. What I have is not a talent; it’s beginning to feel more and more like a curse. I had to work harder than anyone else in the world to do what I did. But not being able to use that work, seeing it all thrown away by those above me, is depressing. At the same time, having the need to use it is frightening.”

  “I don’t feel any different, to be honest,” Kyra said. “I am one in ten thousand, just like you. The difference is, people understand what you do. You are a fighter. There is nothing more simple than that. But no one understands what I do, and people will always be afraid of what they don’t understand. I was not asked to choose. I was born that way and failed the path, but at least I found a profession in which to use my gift for good. Maybe you should try the same.”

  “You know,” Dryston said, “every one of those hooray patriots serving for the crown would probably say, ‘Thanks, King Tancred, it is an immeasurable honor.’ Everyone but me. I would say, ‘Tancred, you’re welcome, you have been telling your people for years they have the greatest man the gods ever made, and now, they finally do.’ You don’t have to be thankful to be in his service. He should be thankful to have you. There was a time when I would have given everything for him, but that time is over now. It took me a few broken bones to learn that much.”

  “Then prove you are above these things,” Kyra said.

  “Kyra, are you even listening to me? I don’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore,” Dryston said.

  “That is a sad statement,” Kyra said. “I think everyone should have something to prove, or else you should just quit.”

  Kyra earned a glance from Dryston, though it felt like she hit a soft spot with the truth.

  “I never quit”, said Dryston, despite all the evidence to the contrary. “Failure may always be an option, but quitting is not. Has life in the cities told you that quitting is acceptable?”

  “It’s graver in the cities than you might think,” Kyra said. “Entire settlements are cut off by natural catastrophes. The rule of law has broken down or is broken. Every township is on its own. Imagine a village in the darkest wood, cut off from the world around it.”

  “Sounds just to my taste.”

  “Dryston, crime and strife are wide-spread.” She swallowed to bite back her nervousness at the thought. “Tomorrow, I will be out in the streets looking for two criminals.”

  Dryston threw up his arms. “They are using you for chasing outlaws? They are completely wasting your potential!”

  “Are you trying to flatter me, Dryston?” Kyra looked up. “Someone has to do it. They and I know I’m the best for that job.”

  “You’re the best for every job,” Dryston said, stepping closer. “But this is destroying you. King Tancred uses you. If I learned one thing during my service to the king, it’s that it’s not worth it to put your life in danger for someone else.”

  “Oh really? Well that tells me a lot about you.”

  “I hope you didn’t come to me begging me to help you,” Dryston finally said. “Because I won’t, and I offer no apology.”

  “No. I just came to give you this.” Kyra gave him a small package wrapped in leather. “Because you were always there for me when we were together.”

  “Ah, it’s been four years since the day we met,” Dryston said with a smile. “You always manage to remember this date.”

  “Of course I do,” Kyra said. They were standing close, wallowing in memories till Kyra backed away. “It’s a one hour ride to my client at Wolf Pit Plains. I want to be there in a half.”

  “You should stay the night,” Dryston said. “Riding your horse fast at night is a good chance of broken legs.”

  Kyra shook her head, not falling for his trick. “It isn’t like that anymore. I’m engaged.”

  Dryston stared at Kyra in shock, and she smiled at him regretfully.

  “I’m sorry to have to tell you like this. I know we had feelings in the past, but a big part of the reason I couldn’t wait for you was because you gave up. I must continue with my life as best I can, and if you rot in a crypt, then so be it.”

  Kyra looked directly into her former lover’s eyes. “I’m sorry for what could have been, Dryston. But now I have to go.”

  SHE TURNED and he let her go, the small package feeling heavy in his hands. He was keenly reminded that some injuries could hurt much worse than an injury to the knee.

  Long after she was gone, Dryston stared into the blackness that Kyra left behind.

  Dryston fiddled with Kyra’s present in his fingers. He was sitting in the vast chamber were all crypt-dwellers had gathered around the fire.

  “Boy, this damn sure ain’t the same Dryston I once knew,” Cormack said.

  “I know, I know, me too. I am not quite myself when I talk to her.” He slid over to face Cormack’s huling form. “It’s like the language has a different meaning when she is around. Nothing makes sense, and we can’t understand each other’s words.”

  He then stared into the fire, weighing his next words before speaking them. The flames showed her face and flowing hair from his memories.

  “Are you still in love with that bride?” Cormack asked.

  “I guess,” Dryston said. “If ever there was someone I could say I was in love with, it would be her.”

  “Huh,” said Cormack. “And from the looks of it, she took your heart and yanked it right out of your chest. You usually hide your emotions pretty well, but right now it’s plain on your face. But you know what they say…” Cormack laid a massive hand on Dryston’s shoulder. “Once a witch, always a witch.”

  “Now she is engaged, to someone who can give her the cozy home she always wanted,” Dryston said.

  “That would not have prevented the Dryston I knew from going after her,” Cormack pointed out.

  “Hell, I’m not saying it is preventing me,” Dryston said, closing his gift tight in his fist. His jaw was trembling. “All it does is make me feel more determined to stomp that bastard and take her away from him. I’m not going to lose her.”

  Cormack nodded in sympathy. Dryston’s glance wandered over to the throne that was now occupied by Jade Cyrus. Slowly, she caressed the handles of the high seat and regarded them with shadowed eyes.

  Cormack cleared his throat and turned back to Dryston. “I think you have a decision to make.”

  “No,” Dryston said, getting up. The movement of his knee made him grimace in pain. “I already decided the moment she turned away and left. There is really only one way. That’s the whole beauty of screwed up situations like this. You don’t have to wrap your head around it. There’s only one way to go.”

  “Easy as hell, huh?” Cormack said. “Like always.”

  Dryston limped into the middle of the room, where Jade was sitting. With every step, his posture normalized, till he was standing straight.

  “There’s nothing like a healthy attitude,” Cormack said. “But one last thing.”

  Dryston turned and looked back.

  Cormack looked at Dryston from head to foot, seemingly searching for something. A smile carved itself into th
e giant’s granite face.

  “That edge you used to have, do you still have it?”

  Dryston returned the smile. “Don’t worry about it; I’ll get it back soon.”

  “Rather sooner than later, friend,” Cormack said.

  DRYSTON COULD SEE JADE eyeing him from her high position. He knew she was no fool. Coming from a far-off land filled with misty jungles and ziggurats, she had extensive experience surviving in places far more uninhabitable than this. Warmth and moisture acted like a magnet for diseases, parasites and predators. Surviving in places rife with such things took some tough qualities, and her physique showed that she had them. Dryston swallowed as he looked into her dark, shaded eyes. “I need you to do me a favor, Jade. To help me overcome my injuries.”

  “I’m not a cleric, Dryston,” she said.

  “I know, but I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t know you were able to do it.” He held Kyra’s present out to her and continued. “I know you won’t do it for free. This is all I have of value.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Jade took it.

  “You have no idea what you’re asking me to do to you.” The dark-skinned woman stared at Dryston with deep, probing eyes. “I can only poison you.”

  Dryston nodded to her. “Give me anything that doesn’t make me lose my mind, and I’ll be good to go.”

  Jade chuckled. “I cannot guarantee anything. I didn’t teach myself herbalism to save lives and make the world a better place. If anything, I learned it to take lives and make the world a better place. At least for me. But now you’ve realized you’re the same decaying organic matter as the ones I’ve killed, and you think my arts can help you. What I offer is a fine line between painlessness and death.”

  “If it allows me get what I want, I will walk that line”, Dryston said.

  “I will see what I can do.”

  “Much appreciated.”

  “Always a pleasure to intoxicate you, Dryston,” Jade said.

  “What’s in it for us if we, say, join you?” Cormack asked.

  “You get a breath of fresh air,” Dryston said. “Payment. Fame. The thrill of hunting criminals, if we help Kyra.”

  “Know what? I’m really thinking about coming with you,” Cormack said. “I was hoping to fight the dark monsters of the crypt, if they even exist, but they sure are taking their sweet time to rise up against the people intruding here. Maybe I can add a little variety to my saga by hunting human monsters for a change. I’m getting tired of sitting around.”

  “Well, listen, I am not your leader in this,” Dryston said into the round of the crypt-dwellers. “No one has to follow me or do what I gotta do. This is a personal matter. I’d rather keep it that way. But if you too have a goal or want to get out of here, I can only give you this one piece of advice: Don’t waste any time. Get in your shoes, and start right now.”

  “I want to join you, too,” Thaena Ashcroft said. “You all know I’m afraid of the darkness we feel in here, that I’m afraid the dead around us will rise one day. I want to earn enough money to take my kids out of here. This place is giving me nightmares.”

  No one laughed. They all knew by now that Thaena’s dreams were plagued by visions that often became real. The group had not yet made up their minds if she should be cast out because of her self-fulfilling prophecies of misfortune or if she should be kept as a lucky charm.

  “Good to have you, Thaena. What about you, Gabriel?” Dryston asked.

  Gabriel Werdum tucked his hands in the sleeves of his robe.

  “I’d rather stay here,” he answered. “This crypt has secrets yet to uncover. As you said, this is your crusade of redemption. I have a crusade of my own, and it lies here.”

  THEY GATHERED IN THE HALL the next day. Those who decided to stay were not saying goodbye. Four souls would go. They weren’t here to follow him, Dryston knew, since they each had their own agenda. But their individual agendas somehow was what held the group together.

  Dryston looked into the faces of those going with him, Cormack, Jade and Thaena. As long as they would get their share, they would stay, and as soon as fortune failed to grace Dryston’s endeavors, they would leave.

  Only Jade’s support was essential. She had given Dryston the first potions which would make his agony acceptable last night. It was nothing like a healing process that was setting in. Just plain painkillers that made him blind to the warning signals his body was sending him. Nevertheless, he was deeply in her debt. Being able to move around while your body slowly fell apart was better than not being able to move at all.

  They had all brought their gear. The night hours were filled with final preperations, sharpening of blades and making minor repairs to their armor. Now they all looked ready for business. They were lean and pale from months spent underground, but they had always stayed prepared, training and refining their skills. Now, they were ready to return to daylight.

  Dryston had his fist weapons sheathed at his sides. Jade with her mace on her shoulder and her bola wrapped around her waist. Cormack with a huge Vacomani war-scythe attached to his back. Thaena with her weapons fashioned into her clothes, a sling and a whip and a crossbow.

  Dryston took a glance back at the crypt hall, the entrance of which was illuminated by the bright morning light. He stared a moment at the place Kyra had stood, given him a gift and told him that she had found another man to love. He turned away to the east, blinking, knowing that he wouldn’t miss anything in the crypt he left behind. Knowing, that the hostile world he was once again going out into held only one thing he cherished.

  CHAPTER TWO

  WOLF PIT PLAINS

  THE LUSH FIELDS of the Wolf Pit Plains were a two hour walk east of the crypt. Dryston saw the dark green, wind-whipped grassland mixed with an assortment of rocky hills before his eyes. Stream-fed wooden mills and straw-roofed farm buildings lay scattered across the plain, but these signs of civilization were few and far between.

  Under normal circumstances, the plains were quiet and nearly empty, filled mostly by the howling wind. But for the past month, the center of the plains was occupied by the camp of Jarnsaxa Ornsdottir, a northern warlord, who had united several tribes and bands of mercenaries from Vacomany under a single banner to support King Tancred’s campaign.

  The camp was a place of trampled and dug-out grass, improvised palisades and a colorful forest of standard army tents decked out in the heraldry of the different guilds and factions residing inside. Rising above the tent pennants was a tall flagpole bearing the standard of King Tancred, with Jarnsaxa’s colors flying beneath. Jarnsaxa always took great care to show that she was loyal to the Crown.

  AS THE GROUP ADVANCED into the center of the camp, Jade uttered her disgust about having to leave her weapons with the guards.

  “Talk about being overcautious. They call themselves Vacomani? They outnumber us a hundred-to-one and still are afraid. Bunch of cowards, is what they are.”

  “You have enjoyed freedom too long,” Dryston said. “This is what will happen in every civilized place we go to.”

  “Wasn’t that way before,” Cormack said. “But now everyone acts this way, ever since the Kolanthel started raiding watchtowers and assassinating the mages.”

  Cormack paused to spit on the ground in disgust. “Now we are controlled by a few who claim the right to carry weapons. A few who use a position of power only to continue to expand their own might. Honestly, I feel safer when I have to look after myself. I feel more threatened by the guards than the non-human terrorists they are trying to protect us from. I mean, do I look like an orc to you? That’s ridiculous. All it does is decrease everyone’s freedom.”

  “One might even say the world isn’t free anymore,” a woman said to them, who awaited them with hands crossed.

  Dryston took in the appearance of the warleader. She wore a wolf pelt around her shoulders and her skin was tanned from long hours spent in the sun. Her hair was twined with leather bands in the northern style of a warrior maiden.
Clearly this woman held to the old ways. He thought at least Cormack would approve, even if she was the cause of the same security measures he had just been griping about.

  “Far as I know,” Dryston said, “it never was.” He eyed the sickle-sword on Jarnsaxa’s back, curved and slender like its wielder. “We want our weapons back.”

  Jarnsaxa chuckled. “There are two ways to do that. Work for me, or leave.”

  “That makes things simple,” Cormack said. “Let’s discuss business, then.”

  “Fine,” Jarnsaxa said. “Come into my tent, and we will discuss business.”

  Dryston, Cormack, Jade and Thaena followed Jarnsaxa into her tent.

  Once the tent flap was sealed, she turned to the group and said, “Join my army and fight for me in the end-war.”

  Dryston heard Cormack grunting with laughter beside him. The war at the end of time was a legend among the people of the north.

  “We’re not going to fight your bloody war,” Thaena said, earning a raised brow from Jarnsaxa. “But we will hunt down lost souls and criminals that corrupt the innocent.”

  Jarnsaxa frowned. “Your timing couldn’t be better, then. I had another lady, a supposed sorceress, in here offering the same services. I gave her a job, but honestly, I think she might need some backup.”

  “Well,” Dryston replied smoothly, trying to hide his true excitement, “we might be just the backup you need. What’s the job?” Dryston knew that the main reason his companions were following his lead was the promise of a healthy profit. He didn’t want to let the warleader know that following the sorceress was his whole reason for being here, and that he would follow her for free, if he knew which way to go.

  “I sent some scouts into the city of Skybridge about a week ago. They were five good men, all of them with a long history of service in my company. Three days ago, one of them returned and told me a crazy story about how two of my scouts had killed the other two, apparently over some girl.”