by JD Franx
Ember frowned as she watched Kasik slide from his horse. Handing the reigns to Saleece, he jumped into the wagon and sat cross-legged across from Ember.
She stared at him for several seconds. “You gave me this?” she asked. He nodded. “Why?”
“My people are not Elvehn. A life-debt does not exist in Northman society. When you save the life of a Northman, though not mandatory, he or she is within their right to offer this oath of loyalty. We call it the Kreeda Oath. The lengths of hair we exchange are also called a kreeda. Both are a symbol of unbreakable loyalty in Northman society.”
Ember nodded. “The kreeda you gave me is only nine inches, your father’s is eighteen,” she said, lifting Kasik’s longer braid from behind his left ear.
“Yes. The longer braid and left side represent the solidarity of family and the strength of their protection. It is customarily a Northman’s shield side. The right side symbolizes allies and the reliability of your right hand, your sword hand.”
“You Northmen are complicated, Kasik” Ember said, shaking her head. “What does it ultimately mean?”
“I have already told you what it means for you when you were at death’s door. You tell me.” Ember closed her eyes. Several minutes passed before they snapped open.
“I remember. Like a hazy dream. You told me you’d defend Kael, even against Giddeon if need be.”
He nodded and gave her a slight bow. “Were you not Fae, you could be of Northman blood,” he said, smiling. Standing, he gently squeezed her shoulder and hopped from the wagon onto his horse as Saleece led the big mare closer to the moving wagon.
“Thank you,” Ember whispered, as she lay back to rest.
Two hours later, and with the Kazzador City entrance visible in the light of the two shining moons, Ember felt much better, and her heart raced at the realization that Kael was likely only hours ahead of her.
They rode into the small clearing at the foot of the small passage’s entry stairs, noticing two horses standing nearby. Though they were not tied to the trees, two of the mounts Kael brought with him and Cassie had yet to wander off.
Climbing down from his horse, Max walked over and examined them as they grazed on the damp grass.
“These must be Kael’s and whomever is with him. They left nothing behind, Ember,” he offered as she walked over.
“It matters little,” Giddeon said, frowning. “Except for the fact it means we are closer than we have ever been before. Come on,” he ordered, as the others grabbed their travel packs, readied their weapons, and entered the doorway to the city.
“Look, Father.” Saleece gasped once they were inside. “These drawings and writings, what are they? I have never seen anything quite like it,” she called back over her shoulder as she hurried to the west wall. Joining her, Giddeon and Kasik stood staring at the mural of a huge battle depicted on the wall.
“What is it, Giddeon?” Kasik asked.
“I’m not sure. I don’t recognize the writing,” he answered, looking to Yrlissa with a raised eyebrow.
“One is a rare dialect of the Dyrranai Elvehn,” she replied. “The other two, I’m not sure of. Aravae, do you know them?”
“No,” Aravae acknowledged from behind them. “I recognize some Elvehn in the one you were talking about, but the rest are unfamiliar.”
“Can you read it?” Max asked Yrlissa, joining them.
“No,” Yrlissa lied. “It hasn’t been used by the Elvehn people for well over ten thousand years. I already looked at the other wall. It is written in only one I understand, an outdated vernacular of the common tongue. It’s very old as well.”
After stepping across the room and looking at the eastern wall alongside his wife, Giddeon rubbed the back of his head as if he knew there was no way he would be able to read any of the archaic languages.
“What does it say?” he requested.
Yrlissa had to think hard before answering. “Most of it is worn away as you can see, but it speaks of something sealed away down below,” she pointed out, truthfully.
Nodding his head, Giddeon said, “All right then. We know where Kael went. If we are going to make any headway in talking to him like we’ve agreed, then we all need some sleep and clear heads. We should make camp here inside this hall. It will be easier to defend if we need to. Kasik, Saleece, myself, and Niky will cover the first set of watches, the rest of you can follow on into dawn, then we’ll go see if we can talk to Kael without all of us dying.”
“Okay,” Max agreed. “Kasik and I will do a quick check below us to make sure we can sleep soundly. Kasik?”
“Lead the way,” the Northman nodded. The others got busy setting up the camp, though they all agreed to go without a fire and have their late supper meal cold instead. It took Kasik and Max well over an hour to return, having reached the bottom of the stairway with the ninety degree turns. They found two sets of prints heading into a destroyed city, but no threats. Everyone quickly settled in and were soon asleep.
After waiting two hours for everyone to be in a deep sleep, Giddeon silently asked the others sharing watch to meet with him outside the hall in the clearing at the bottom of the entry stairs.
Once they all arrived, he began. “I think we need to discuss what our plan should be. I was all for trying to talk to Kael before, but with the massacre of your sisters, Niky, that changes things. It’s pretty clear Kael’s lost some of his faculty for rational thought.” Saleece shook her head, disagreeing, but it didn’t stop Giddeon from continuing. “We burned those bodies, Saleece, there were young girls, ten and twelve years of age among his victims. When he finds out we lied to him about Ember and Max, he’s not going to listen to us, is he?”
Kasik stayed silent, as if waiting to see what the others would do.
“I’m not sure, Giddeon,” Kyah said, carefully. “My sisters deserve justice, but the earth mother preaches patience and respect for all living creatures. We believe that forgiving your worst enemy is the path to true peace for one’s soul, but my soul screams for justice for what was done to them. I’m not sure what to do, but I will go along with whatever you all decide should be the proper course.”
“Fair enough,” Giddeon said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “You are true to yourself to speak so openly. I think Mylla would be proud, and so would your sisters who died that night. Saleece, how about you?” he asked.
“I can’t, Father. I would never have made it out of the Wildlands if not for Ember. I cannot betray her by doing this. I’m sorry, but I won’t,” she said sadly. Kasik put his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her.
“She has earned our trust, Giddeon, and we hers,” Kasik warned. “If you betray that now, it will never be regained. I owe her my life, and I gave her my kreeda the night we thought she would die. I carry her braid now. I can’t stand against her. The code of the Kreeda Oaths make that very clear.”
“I understand, but we have to consider what he has already done. If given the chance, he could very well kill us all,” Giddeon argued.
“Could, Father. The reality might be very different,” Saleece debated, refusing to back down.
Taking a deep breath and sighing softly, Giddeon tried one more time. “What if there is another way? One where we can talk to Kael without having the others there?”
“What do you have in mind, Giddeon?” Kasik asked suspiciously.
Pulling a finger sized vial and a cloth from the pocket of his robe, Giddeon showed them. “I stole this vial from the Taktala herbalist I worked for when we were slaves in the Wildlands. It’s full of their sleep poison. There is more than enough for us to hit every one who would defend Kael with it and then go after him by ourselves. That way we can decide whether he is the threat that I suspect he is. If he is, we can deal with it without having to fight Max and the others. I understand how you all feel. My wife will lay her life down before she allows us to hurt Kael. It is too big of a gamble to do it any other way,” he stated firmly.
“Father!�
� Saleece exclaimed. “You realize you are talking about possibly creating the exact situation Zaddyk warned you about. If we make a mistake, all of Talohna will suffer for it. Are you sure its worth that risk?”
“What choice do we have?” he replied, as he looked at everyone with him. “I’m sure between all of us, we can make the proper decision, right Kasik?”
Kasik stared hard a Giddeon before answering. “Are you ready to accept that if we act incorrectly, then we will have destroyed everything we have tried so hard to save?”
“I honestly believe that if we take the others to speak with Kael, things will go very badly, very fast.”
“We agree on that much,” Kasik said nodding.
“Are we agreed then?” he asked.
Kyah merely nodded as Saleece answered. “Yes, Father, I think so.”
“All right then, everyone take a dart and dip it in here,” he instructed as he held up the vial of Taktala poison and unrolled the cloth, revealing a handful of darts.
“You better give me at least a half dozen, Giddeon,” Kasik requested. “Max seems to shake off the first three or four.”
“Good idea, hold them between your fingers and use a slapping motion. One at a time won’t work, he’ll remain awake too long. I almost forgot about his strange resistance. Remind me to tell you about a theory I have about him when we are finished with all this,” he smiled.
“I will. I have nothing against him and he has earned my respect, but there is something not right with him,” Kasik pointed out as he took the six darts from Giddeon and the others took their coated darts as well.
“Remember: the side or back of the neck works the fastest. I’ll take Yrlissa,” he offered. “She’ll need two as well. Saleece, you want your mother or no?”
“I will take Ember. Sister Niky can have mother,” she said. Turning to Kyah, she placed her hand on her shoulder. “Please, don’t hurt her.”
Kyah smiled and gently reassured her with a hug. “I promise, I’ll be careful.”
“All right then. Let’s get this over with,” Giddeon ordered, leading the way.
Using the poison-tipped darts worked perfectly as Ember, Aravae, and Yrlissa never even woke from their normal slumber.
Max woke up swinging the instant the darts pierced his neck. Floored by the first punch, Kasik crashed onto his back and slid over ten feet, dazed.
Only managing to get to his knees, Max cursed. “Bastards. I knews sit,” he slurred before falling face first on his sleeping mat. Giddeon helped Kasik to his feet, a trickle of magic helping to clear the bright stars and bring him back to his senses.
Within only minutes, the two of them led the way down the stairs and into the city after Kael, leaving the others defenceless where they lay.
APPROACH TO KAZZADOR CITY
Nekrosa and Sephi Kohl had been running for over an hour when the dawn of the day’s sun crested the eastern horizon. The group of warriors pursuing them were immune to nearly every kind of magic they had tried, if their magic managed to work at all. There were far too many to stand and fight.
Though they were not aware of it as they travelled, they quickly discovered that Sythrnax had left a large force of his men hiding in the mountain forest with clear orders to move forward and kill everyone they saw before dawn. They were to continue forward until the ruins were devoid of any life. The one warrior they had managed to catch alive happily told them his orders as he died smiling, convinced his fellow fighters would avenge him during the ruins’ purge.
Luthian Bathory, Nekrosa’s childhood friend and leader of his spy network, was out front leading the way and watching for dangers ahead. As Nekrosa and Sephi raced into the clearing leading to the Dwarven ruins of Kazzador City, Luthian was already deep into a ritual casting that would regurgitate three buried skeletons from the earth under their feet. Nekrosa recognized the tell-tale scent of death as raw earth burst up from beneath his feet. The DormaSain king jumped back and the skeletons crawled forth from the ground, clawing their way out of their ancient graves. The scent they brought with them told Nekrosa there were many more dead below where they stood.
“That’s it, my lord,” Luthian gasped. “The last of what I can draw from the Void before the enemy gets here went into these three,” he offered, clearly exhausted from the hour-long fight and flight.
“Come on then, old man. Let’s go. The bones can slow them down,” Nekrosa said as he limped over and tried to drag Luthian onto the entry stairs. Sephi finished a second summoning as two more skeletons dug their way out of the earth. She grabbed Luthian’s other arm and started to help as well.
“Stop, my lord. Please, my queen... Stop,” he begged. “You go, both of you. I’ll stay here and try to hold them off for as long as I can. It will give you both the time you need to get in there and make sure that young Fae stays alive. It is the least I can do.”
“Stop talking foolish, Luthian,” admonished Sephi. “We cannot leave you behind. I refuse to leave you behind. You are all we have left from our childhood. The war for the throne took everyone else. Now, come on,” she said, her lower lip quivering with emotion.
He quickly stepped up and gave her a hug. “It’s all right, Sephi. I’ll be right behind you, I promise, but you and Nekrosa go finish what we came here to do. I’ll be fine.” He smiled, in a clear attempt to make her feel better.
Nekrosa limped over, and grasping Luthian’s hand, he shook it. “Are you sure that this is what you want, old friend? You know I would never ask this of you.”
“The fact that you would never ask it is the reason why I offer, my lord,” he said.
Nekrosa grabbed him forcefully. “Cut that lord shit out right now, do you hear me? If you’re going to say goodbye, then you do it as the brothers and friends we have always been, you understand?”
“Yes, brother, I do. Goodbye, my friend. You make damn sure you get that girl out of here safely, do you understand?”
With his eyes shiny from moisture, Nekrosa whispered, “I will. I promise you, I will.”
Letting go and shoving Luthian behind him, Nekrosa yelled, “Know get outta my way so I can give you some help.” Holding his hands out, Nekrosa stared at the earth, feeling for the touch of corpses that tickled his mind. Drawing massive amounts of power from the Void, he pushed his shaking hands towards the ground.
“Na gravasay, corpagra nava!” Nekrosa screamed with rage as he tapped more power from the Void, releasing waves of pulsating magic into the earth across the entire clearing. For seconds, nothing happened, but then the ground began to shake vigorously as a growl awoke deep beneath the earth.
Skeletal hands tore their way through the earth, surfacing everywhere in the clearing. The flat earth over the ancient battle ground gave birth to the walking dead, animated by the raw power of a prodigal necromancer as Nekrosa tried desperately to give his friend a fighting chance of survival. With Luthian and Sephi managing to summon five skeletons together and Nekrosa’s horde of more than fifty, all of which were armed with the rusted weapons they had died with, Nekrosa had given his friend the only advantage he could. Luthian bowed to his King and Queen and drew both of his swords as Nekrosa tossed a small charm his way.
“The tether, brother. The horde answers to you,” Nekrosa yelled. Luthian slid the charm around his neck and went to join his undead warriors, intent on granting his King and Queen the time they would need to save Ember’s life from the forces that Sythrnax had left hiding in the forest.
Racing up the stairs and into the entry hall, both the king and queen of DormaSai nearly tripped over the bodies of Ember and her group as they lay there in a drug-induced sleep.
“What the Nine Hells...” Sephi cursed as she knelt to feel for a pulse on the side of Ember’s neck. “Thank the gods. She’s still alive, Nekrosa.”
“Yeah, so is the big man,” he added, as he started to stand back up. He only got half way as Max exploded back to consciousness, grabbing Nekrosa by the neck with his left hand and in thr
ee big strides, slammed him into the mural on the western wall.
“What have you done?” he roared into Nekrosa’s face. With his airway completely compressed and his boots a full three feet off the ground, the DormaSain king could only grunt as he struggled.
Sephi quickly drew her weapons and approached the two from the right, where she stopped just short of impaling herself on one of Max’s Elloryan blades.
With a twitch of his blade he growled, “You have five seconds and then I snap his neck.” His intense brown eyes seemed to stare into her soul, as she responded instantly to his demand.
“Max, it’s me. Sephi, remember? I gave you the cure in the forest so you could save Ember. Remember?” she demanded as he shook his head. She could see that whatever was clouding his mind refused to clear. “I don’t know what happened to you, Max, but this is my husband, Nekrosa. We’ve come to help you, just like I promised we would.” She spoke fast, but her words slowly sunk into his disoriented and confused mind. He gently released Nekrosa and touched his own head.
Nekrosa coughed, wheezing in a panicked attempt to draw air into his deprived lungs.
“Are you all right, husband?” Sephi asked. He nodded, so she turned to Max.
“Where are Giddeon and the others?” she prodded easily.
“Giddeon?” Max replied. “Goddamn, that fucking son of a bitch. I am gonna wring his skinny wizard chicken neck. Oh, Jesus, my head hurts.” He cursed as he sat on the floor holding his head.
“Giddeon did this? Are you sure?” Sephi asked, hoping for verification at the same moment a groan from across the room told them that Yrlissa had just woken up.
