Alto brandished his sword before saying, "You're a fool to bring us here. You've no one to help you."
"And that is why I brought you here," Banadis said. He glanced at Alto's sword and then looked at the small pool of water. He waved his hand at it and the water rippled as though a pebble had fallen in it. "I need not be your enemy."
Despite his lack of trust, Alto found his eyes drawn to the water as it smoothed. He saw himself staring at Patrina and Namitus in a room in an inn. She was touching his face with her fingers.
"These are your companions. Captain Clovis and many of his men surround the inn and will capture them shortly if I do not give the order to stop them."
"You speak the words an enemy would use," Alto growled.
"I'm telling you what will happen if you insist on this foolish vendetta. As I said, I am not your enemy. Not yet."
"We killed your father," Garrick pointed out.
"You killed my sire," Banadis corrected. "He was no father to me. He raised me and plotted to have me killed so he could take my place and rule for another generation. I found enough power within my blood to escape."
Alto and Garrick glanced at each other, both men's faces a mirror of uncertainty.
"It could almost be said you have done me a favor," Banadis continued. "Almost."
"What of the Order?" Alto asked, turning his attention fully on the king of Peltarch.
"Ah, the Order of the Dragon," he said and then chuckled. "I won't deny its use to me in my younger days, but I've long since outlived the Order's usefulness. It's a tool for men who seek power. Those among the lower ranks wish the connections and affiliations of the Order. They hope to become wealthy knights, merchants, and nobles among a variety of nations of the world."
Alto's eyes narrowed when Banadis used the plural term for nation. "And the higher ranks?"
"The higher ranks are for those already endowed with some measure of power and influence. They seek things beyond the understanding of most of your kind. Arcane knowledge and the influence of a dragon to help them in their quest for immortality."
"Dragons aren't immortal," Alto said. "Sarya was nearly dead from old age."
"Nothing will last forever," Banadis said. "Even the saints and the Allfather will pass with time. But there are ways around that. Shazamir once confided in me that he knew the time of his passing was near when he was a dragon, and it coincided with the time he took the body and life of the first ruler of the nation he named after himself."
"I heard tell that Sarya's time was near when I killed her. Does that mean if I'd not come along, something else would have happened to her?"
Banadis chuckled. "Indeed, her body would have died and her soul would have infused the statue completely instead of partially."
Alto frowned and glanced at his friend again. Garrick offered a shrug. "What do you mean, partially? Is she not dead?"
"Her body? Yes," Banadis agreed. "But not her soul. Members of the Order have visited and seen with their own eyes that she still lives in the statue, but it is just that and nothing more. An eternal prison."
Alto stiffened. "What does this mean?"
The ruler held up his hands. "The Order wishes to study her and learn more, but the new queen has proved difficult. She allows only limited access, and none for quite some time now. She has spurned gift after gift, but it was thought that it would take months or years to try to break through the magic imprisoning her. They could feel her, though. Feel her anger and fury. She wants out, you can be certain, and she'll use whatever container for her soul that she can when she does break free."
Alto turned back to Garrick. "Goblins and ogres working together and building a city. Men aiding and educating them."
Garrick nodded. "That's what we've heard. I only seen the ogre war party bigger than any I've seen since we went to save Patrina."
"We've stayed away too long," Alto mumbled. Garrick raised an eyebrow but kept his mouth shut. Alto turned back to Banadis to address him. "You claim we need not be enemies, yet you are highly placed among the Order to know so much about them. I have sworn to destroy them."
Banadis chuckled. "So long as men are born and draw breath, some will crave power. You cannot destroy the Order of the Dragon, even if you were to travel the world and kill every man, woman, and dragon that has heard of it. It would rise again and work behind the scenes."
"Is that a threat?"
Banadis shook his head. "It is not. The saints play a game and watch us all. You are favored among some of them and that makes you dangerous. It also makes you a valuable pawn that others seek to control or destroy. I am no fool. I have no interest in playing that game. I will spread what word I can among the Order that you and your family and friends are to be left alone."
Alto studied the man with dragon blood for a long moment. "Why should I trust you?"
"Why would I lie? I have you trapped deep in my home, surrounded by stone and hundreds of guards. I have returned your weapons to you and given you knowledge you could not have acquired anywhere else. Now I offer you a chance to end the fear and suffering you have endured because of the uncontrolled and overzealous actions of some of the Order's associates."
"That's it? What's the cost? I came here with the plan of killing you, but your actions don't strike me as being motivated by fear."
Banadis smiled and then started to laugh. He stopped after a few moments passed and nodded. "Now that I've met you, I'm beginning to understand just how dangerous an opponent you are. Remember this, Alto: there is a first for everything, including defeat."
Alto digested the words carefully without letting his gaze waver. "You didn't answer my question."
Banadis shrugged. "For now, there is nothing. But a man such as you, if you remain as intelligent as I think you will, shall be in a position one day that could be of use."
"I'll never be a lackey of the Order!" Alto growled.
The ruler held up his hand to delay Alto's ire. "Indeed, you would be of little use if you were. But I know you are a man of honor and a man of your word. I think that such a gift as I am giving you today would be worth repaying down the road, should the need ever arise."
"Gift? What gift? You've told us things about the Order and about Sarya, that's all."
"Sparing your life from the interference of the Order is not a gift?"
Alto's eyes narrowed. "And in return you want the option to interfere with my life at some point."
Banadis blinked and then laughed again. "I suppose that's true, but it's the sort of interference that doesn't come with steel or spell."
Alto glanced at his tall companion again. He saw only the stone expression of Garrick's face as the shadows from the barbarian's flaming sword played over them. Alto turned back. "Call your guards off. We will leave Peltarch in peace. But know that if the Order interferes with me again, I will return."
Banadis nodded his head and said, "I would expect no less of you." He turned and motioned to the far wall. One of the bookcases swung open silently to reveal a dark tunnel in the rock. "Follow this passage and it will take you near the harbor. Gather your friends and go quickly. My word is law here, but I understand you embarrassed quite a few of my city watch before you let yourself be arrested. They might not be so quick to let bygones be bygones."
Alto and Garrick shared a final glance before they sheathed their swords and moved past the ruler of Peltarch to the new passage. With a final glance back, Alto stepped into it and began the long walk. Already his mind was turned to his thoughts of the north and what he would find when he got there. Would it be some new queen he knew nothing of, or would it be Sarya seeking to claim dominion over the north once again?
Chapter 20
The guttural roar of a nine-foot-tall behemoth crashed across the line of knights moving through the forest. As the ogre's war cry faded, it was replaced with the shrieking of hundreds of birds that leapt to the air as they left the field of the dead below them.
The knights joined
together as large rocks and spears crashed into their ranks. Shielded with steel and discipline, the Knights of Leander tried to shrug off the first wave, aside from a few unlucky men who were driven to the ground.
"Have faith, brothers!" Sir Celos shouted to his men as he brandished his great sword overhead. The blade caught a stray beam of sunlight that pierced the forest's canopy and seemed to shimmer with the reflection. "Leander's Light will drive these treacherous dogs back to their holes!"
A ragged cheer from the knights went up. They closed ranks to protect their fallen and then advanced up the hill that ambushing ogres stood upon. Aleena grabbed Moonshine's mane and swung up on the unicorn's back. Using light pressure from her legs and feet and the bond the unicorn and rider shared, she leapt ahead of the knights in a flash of white and silver.
Moonshine reared up before the first ogre and made the massive man stumble back. He swung his oversized axe but it fell short of the mystical mount and her rider. Aleena pointed her sword at the ogre and shouted, "Throw down your sword and I will show mercy! I am your rightful leader now, by decree of the queen. Graak is a traitor and a—"
The rest of Aleena's speech was lost in a grunt as Moonshine dropped and lunged away from a second ogre that lumbered up to them and smashed his mace into the ground where they'd just been. The paladin snarled and wheeled Moonshine around so she could cut with her sword and leave the first ogre staggering from a bloody gash deep in his arm and back.
He snarled and swung his axe again at her, proving her cut had not been deep enough. Aleena threw herself to the side and hit the ground rolling as she slipped free of Moonshine's back. The unicorn leapt away, distracting the mace-wielding ogre, and then stopped abruptly so she could drive both of her hind legs into the ogre's stomach. It grunted and fell back, stunned by the loss of wind as much as by the powerful kick.
Aleena's roll spared her as the ogre's axe descended where she'd just been. It hit the ground hard enough to let her feel the shock to the earth. Knowing it would take the ogre a moment to recover his weapon, she rose up and hacked down at the axe's handle. The axe blade tore up earth as her strike knocked the weapon out of the ogre's hands.
Aleena turned as the ogre straightened and started to look for a second weapon to use against her. She thrust up into his belly and then ripped her sword out, spilling his steaming guts onto the ground in front of him. He fell with them, grabbing at them and trying to stuff them inside as though it would help.
Aleena scowled and turned away. The other ogre lay on the ground, trying to protect itself as Moonshine delivered punishing kick after kick. Blood ran his arms and back where the unicorn's sharp hooves had torn flesh. She stepped up to the ogre and thrust her sword into its back. The ogre stiffened and cried out before collapsing.
"Aleena!" Celos called to her as he rounded a tree and strode towards her. "You fool woman, what are you doing? You know better than to rush ahead like that!"
Aleena looked past him and saw the knights defeating the small force of ogres. She counted and spat out some blood from where she'd bitten her lip when she'd fallen from her mount. "This is the third ambush in two weeks," she said. "And this time among the remains of the last elven village. They've killed them all now, unless some have fled and are hiding."
"That's no excuse for risking your life!"
"It's every excuse!" she spat at him. She gestured at the last ogre as he was killed with sword and axe by the knights who surrounded him. "This butchery makes no sense. Why are they doing this? Why are they reverting to barbaric savages that delight in only lust and war? And where is Graak? Why does he hide from us when he clearly knows that we're after him?"
Celos's brow furrowed and he glanced at the scene of the pitched battle. One knight would never rise again and three more had taken wounds that would slow them, if not leave them crippled. He looked back at her. "How does that justify you rushing like a fool without support? We are a unit. We fight together."
"I don't doubt the strength, resolve, or courage of these knights," she said. "But to see such butchery time and again and to be weakened by each assault is worrisome. I know these men have the strength of iron in their chests, but lesser people would begin to wonder why it is that their leaders never face danger."
"We face the same dangers," Celos interrupted.
Aleena held up her hand. "We do," she said. "And you and I know it. But that's not enough. We are paladins, Celos. The chosen of Leander. These men trust their lives with our wisdom and our strength. They must never doubt it, and that means we must always take a greater risk than they do. If I could, I would take all the risk and leave them safe and sound at home with their loved ones."
Celos stared at her for a long moment and then grunted. "I see your reasoning, but you must also see how important it is that you not be so willing to sacrifice yourself for your cause that both you and your cause are lost."
"My cause?" Aleena asked. She shook her head. "It is Leander's cause, my brother."
"We do Saint Leander's bidding, but do not think that we can know his heart," the paladin cautioned her.
Aleena stared into his unrelenting gaze for a long moment before she nodded. "I meant no disrespect, but we are on a mission to spread the light of knowledge and tolerance. By breaking down the barriers of culture and misunderstanding, growth unlike any seen in this world can happen. How can that not be a goal of our saint?"
"Perhaps it is," Celos offered. "I'm just a man serving as best I can. My faults are that I enjoy a game of chance too much and that I might be too structured by the laws of the church to see things as you do."
Aleena stiffened. "Celos, those aren't faults. You are a man. We're human—we make mistakes and we seek forgiveness and redemption."
He nodded and, without looking away, asked, "What are your faults?"
Aleena shook her head. "I—I don't know. Is that my fault? That I don't know?"
Celos snorted.
Her eyes narrowed. "I have been chosen by the elders of our church and by Leander, the same as you. I have also been chosen by Queen Rosalyn. My faults, if I have any, are forgivable."
"You can only be forgiven if you know what you've done wrong and strive to correct it."
Aleena sucked on her swollen lip and then turned and spat out the last of the blood in her mouth. "I will pray on what you've said when the time is right. Now we must send out trackers and find where Graak has gone."
She turned to leave but Celos stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Do not rush ahead so blindly again," he urged her.
"Why shouldn't I?" she demanded.
Celos's expression was unreadable as he stared into her eyes. "I have another weakness. A fault that I must confess. I don't want you getting hurt."
Aleena's breath caught in her throat and she had to look away from her fellow paladin. She felt the warmth in her cheeks rivaling the cool fall air of the forest. What was he saying to her? And why now, in the middle of the quest? She felt a thickness in her throat that made her swallow and then clear her throat. "Thank you, Celos," she said. "I—um, I don't want anyone to be hurt. Even these fools that keep throwing themselves at us. Every dozen ogres we kill isn't a victory; it's a sign that I failed to show them the light of understanding."
She heard the paladin's sigh and then the creak of his armor as he moved. She turned back to see him turning away from her. He stopped and, without looking, said, "I'll have the scouts start looking."
She watched him as he walked away from her and felt an itch in her eyes. She lifted her hand and stopped when she realized she still wore her metal gauntlets. She blinked and sniffed, and then glanced at Moonshine. The unicorn tossed her mane and looked away.
"I know, lousy timing," she said to her companion.
The horned steed snorted and stomped the ground. For the first time since she'd met the unicorn, Aleena found herself wondering what Moonshine was trying to say.
Chapter 21
"This infernal horse is older than I am
," Kar muttered as his horse shied away from him when he tried to mount it.
Other than a quick glance, Alto ignored the wizard and swung up onto his own mount. They'd left Peltarch behind five days ago and had ridden north through the land owned by the city-states called the Free Cities and were nearing the southern border of Kelgryn lands.
"Walk the beast," Mordrim suggested. "Might chase the morning chill away faster."
With the miles had come the rapid onset of fall and an early chill that left the grass tipped with frozen crystals that glistened as the morning sun warmed them.
Garrick chuckled and turned to say, "I'm sure Namitus has an extra dress you could borrow if you're cold."
"I didn't—"
"Garrick, that's enough!" Patrina's rebuke cut the rogue's protest off. "He was trying to help you!"
Namitus spurred his steed between Patrina and Garrick, and he glared at the imposing man. "And you two emerged dripping from the harbor before I had to put it on," Namitus reminded him.
"Wasn't our fault that fool's escape route led to a drop into the ocean!" Garrick said. "He said it led to the harbor!"
Patrina smirked. "And so it did. Right into the harbor." She glanced at Namitus and added, "It takes a strong man to be willing to risk so much for his friends. Would you trade your pants for a dress if we needed it?"
Garrick's eyes widened and his cheeks paled. Before he could answer, Alto spoke for him. "Never doubt the mettle of a man willing to strip off his loincloth and snap it in the face of armed and armored foes."
The barbarian closed his eyes and let out the breath he'd drawn to defend himself. Patrina stared at him and then looked at Alto and saw his confirming nod. She snickered before saying, "I'll never ask again."
"I'll ask that you never do it while I'm around," Mordrim added.
Garrick turned on the pony-riding dwarf. "Wouldn't be safe with you around—you might end up clubbed if I turned too fast."
Order Of The Dragon (Omnibus 1-4) Page 78
