Complete Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches

by William Robert Stanek

  “Never that vast, but at the end of the Race Wars, when only the five sons of the Alder remained in power, King Jarom the First controlled nearly all the lands from Neadde to Ispeth. It was his Blood Soldiers that pushed the enemy back to the sea near the mouth of the Opyl River, and it was he with his own bare hands that committed patricide and started the last Great War.”

  Adrina felt suddenly sick and sorry she had spoken at all. She said nothing more, and neither did Father Jacob.

  Upon reaching the coast, Father Jacob turned the wagon in a wide semi-circle and took the southerly route. Alderan was now only a half-day’s ride away. With luck, they would reach the city before dusk. Another question neither Adrina nor Jacob wanted to answer was whether this would be too late to stop what was already set in motion.

  The section of the coastline they traveled along became a series of rocky crags with sharp, jutting spurts that jumped out into the yearning sea. Rough-hewn, carved by the forces of nature that acted upon the waters and enveloped them at times, they seemed somehow alive.

  The wind, a steady gale with mixed patches of warm and cool, often carried with it a soft salty spray as waves crashed into the shore, and as the afternoon sun gathered itself full in the sky the day still held the promise of clear, cloudless skies.

  Adrina sat silently, her hands clasped tightly together. She reflected on earlier thoughts, letting her gaze wander as the wagon twisted and turned.

  The breezes became cooler as the sun began to settle toward the glossy blue waters of the sea, and the cool air felt good against Adrina’s skin. Still, Father Jacob stopped the wagon for a moment to retrieve two blankets from the rear. He searched through the satchels of foodstuffs and came up with a rounded loaf of black bread and a dark yellow cheese.

  The meal was a hurried affair. Soon after finishing, Father Jacob drove the horses onward. It was a quick start, followed by an unwholesome lull that hung in the air. Even the sea breezes seemed to be aware of it as they softened. Then the pleasant sounds of the great West Deep disappeared altogether. The calls of the gulls died out. The splashing of the waves became subdued. Even the rolling of the wagon’s wheels became secondary to the great quiet that was all around them.

  Father Jacob slowed the horses to a sedate pace. His eyes searched. Adrina remained silent, her thoughts mostly idle and insubstantial now, though she could not shake the voice of the lady from her mind. It unnerved her. It called out to her and the fact that it grew stronger the farther along the coast they rode did not make her feel any easier.

  A sudden change in the air around them came as a single, dark cloud passed in front of the sun, momentarily creating an eerie shadow across the land. With the momentary darkness came a spontaneous downward shift in temperature. Jacob and Adrina clutched the woolen blankets more tightly and subconsciously shivered to ease the sudden chill.

  The horses cast frightened whinnies into the air, their sixth sense warning that danger lurked near. Adrina’s heart seemed to stop beating in a temporary lapse until the sun’s brightness and warmth once more covered her. Yet even with the warmth’s return, the chill was not so readily cast away. Rather it lingered much, much longer. It was as if an evil hand reached out and stroked her, telling her, bragging to her, that it was near.

  Adrina cast a glance heavenward. The sky was as clear as it had been a short while ago. The dark cloud was gone, vanished, as if it had simply evaporated after it had passed. As her eyes returned to the horizon, she grasped Jacob’s hand and pointed to an object far in the distance. Jacob followed the direction her outstretched hand led, out along the coast and into the dark waters. However, what Adrina directed him to was not out amidst the darkening waters, but across them, back along the serpentine coastline. A cloud of dust arose and, it seemed a large group of riders rapidly approached.

  “Father Jacob,” said Adrina, “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

  Father Jacob seemed to still be shaking off the previous chill. He made a quick scan of the area, apparently looking for a place to hide, before he replied, “Rocks and squat grasses don’t offer much cover, child. This wagon is too slow and awkward to maneuver in this rough terrain…”

  Jacob paused in thought, Adrina cut in, “Perhaps, we could unhook the team and proceed on horseback.”

  “By the time we did that it would already be too late…” As he spoke, it seemed an idea came to Jacob. He had Adrina pull her long black hair back and tie it up in her scarf. Afterward he pulled the blanket around her so that it partially concealed her face and then he did likewise. The air was chilly and it wouldn’t have been all that unusual for them to be bundled against the cold and the spray from the sea.

  Jacob didn’t stop the horses as he had thought to do, but instead proceeded at a slow pace. The riders steadily approached. Adrina’s gaze grew gradually downcast until she was practically staring only at the dirt in front of her. The riders slowed as they passed for a cursory inspection, but quickly increased their pace and sped away.

  Not raising her downward gaze, Adrina saw only the riders’ mounts, a blur of hindquarters and forelegs, as they passed. She closed her eyes and nearly fell asleep until Jacob nudged her to tell her everything was all right.

  Adrina lowered the blanket, but still kept it about her shoulders. The danger was gone, or so it seemed. She cast a nervous glance over her shoulder at the group of riders and then watched as Father Jacob flicked the reins to hasten the team.

  They continued to wind their way along the serpentine coast, and Adrina cast her fears away. The trail became steadily rock-strewn, making passage over it rough and often very difficult. Large boulders that had to be circumnavigated sprang up in the middle of the trail and the width of the coastal road became steadily narrower.

  Adrina followed and wandered among the empty waters breaking the coastline with her eyes, searching for that which was not there. The voice in her mind had grown sullen and quiet, and now her thoughts wandered free with the waves, rolling and sinking with each as they turned under, rising as each new wave was born, racing as they crashed into the rocky shore.

  The emptiness was still present, however, and the sounds of life still void. This lifelessness played heavily on Adrina’s thoughts. With each new curve, she wondered what lay on the other side. The coastal highway they rode along wasn’t usually a bustling thoroughfare so she didn’t think it was odd not to see any other passersby. It wasn’t that she really wanted to see any, actually, but she wouldn’t have minded seeing a friendly face—she didn’t consider Jacob’s pensive stare friendly or comforting.

  Her thoughts slowly turned to the encroaching night. The sky was still clear but Father Jacob had told her storms here usually came suddenly and frequently.

  Adrina cocked her head and listened to a sound carried by the wind. “Father Jacob?” asked Adrina with a timid voice. “What is that?”

  “What is what?”

  “Can’t you hear it?” Adrina asked.

  Jacob pulled the reins taut and the horses slowed to a steady halt. “Can I hear what?”

  “The singing.”

  “Singing?” Jacob tossed her an odd glance then put his hand to her forehead. “Stick out your tongue child?”

  “Father Jacob, listen…”

  A puzzled frown crossed Jacob’s lips. “Maybe I do hear something, then again it doesn’t sound like sing—” A distant low rumbling came from behind them now. “It is only thunder, child.”

  It took both a moment to realize that the thunder they heard was hooves against the rocky ground. Frantically, they spun around and stared back down the trail behind them. A clump of dots trailing dust slowly became visible—the band of riders was returning.

  “Still, that’s not what I hear, Father Jacob,” Adrina said.

  “Wait a min—” Jacob gasped. “By the Father, I do hear something.”

  Adrina grabbed the reins from Jacob’s lap and whipped them. The horses took off at a gallop, causing the wagon to jolt
wildly. Adrina glanced behind them. She could make out single objects now, horses and riders. The group was gaining on them. “They’ll catch us before we can get away,” she said.

  Apparently, feeling suddenly inspired, Jacob shouted, “Give me the reins, child! We’ll give them a run for it!”

  Adrina didn’t give Jacob the reins, the strong presence of evil had returned. She didn’t know whether it was from behind her or ahead, but she knew it was there. She strained her tired eyes, trying to see what was ahead in the distance. A small sandy inlet settled where the ridgeline sloped down to the sea, forming a cove of sorts. This was the first place she’d seen where the road ran directly along the waters. The section appeared to have been washed away by the recent heavy rains and the inlet thus formed.

  “There!” she shouted. Adrina didn’t have to point to the object in the sand now, she knew Jacob saw it too.

  “Halt!” sounded a loud, masculine voice that appeared drastically close.

  Both Adrina and Jacob skewed their eyes left to see a rider that seemed to suddenly appear beside them. As a reflex Adrina halted the wagon. Her mind was filled with sudden panic. Why now when they were so close? She wanted to cry. Her eyes swelled with tears that slowly began to roll down her cheeks.

  “Father, why?” she sobbed raising her voice aloft, not really asking Jacob and not really asking Great-Father, rather addressing them both.

  The face that loomed over her, angry and fierce, seemed to lunge at her as it stepped from the horse to the wagon’s deck. Just as the man reached his hands out to grab Adrina, Jacob snatched the reins from Adrina’s hands and whipped them as hard as he could.

  “Go away, leave us alone!” shouted Adrina.

  The four horses dashed responsively forward and the rider, who had been struggling to maintain his balance as the wagon sprang forward, tumbled to the ground. A crunching sound an instant later said he struck the hard ground fatally. Adrina regained the reins from Father Jacob and a chase commenced with Adrina’s only goal being the sandy inlet not far ahead. She was certain something was there, but exactly what she didn’t know.

  “I don’t believe it!” shouted Jacob, “Look, there is another group of them ahead of us… Give me the reins back… We can’t outdistance them, we have to think through this logically.”

  “No,” shrieked Adrina. She slapped Jacob’s hands away.

  The wagon shook and rattled as it raced along the rough trail. Heedless, Adrina urged the horses on until the back end of the wagon was bouncing into the air. Jacob tossed nervous glances behind. It was clear he was more concerned about those that loomed up from behind than those that were ahead of them. The riders behind them were chasing them while, from what Adrina could see of the group ahead, they weren’t moving at all.

  “What are they waiting for?”

  “I wish I knew,” Jacob said. “Wait a minute, are those Kingdom standards?”

  “So what if they are.”

  Jacob stared long. “Great-Father, they are! It must be the column. We’re safe, Adrina, we’re safe.”

  Those were Jacob’s last words as a mailed hand cuffed him. His head struck the wagon’s deck below Adrina’s feet with a crunch that sent chills up Adrina’s back. Her terror-filled shriek was cut short as she fought off hands that sought to grab the reins from her. Panic gripped her mind. Her screams became wild and shrill. Suddenly, strong hands snatched the reins away from her and the wagon was brought to an abrupt halt.

  The same strong hands twisted Adrina and wrenched her from the wagon’s seat, throwing her roughly to the ground. Momentarily, everything went black as the wind was knocked out of her. Adrina scrambled backwards on the ground as the angry man swept down upon her. He picked her up again a moment later and began to shake her violently. Adrina’s head bobbed and her teeth rattled. Her thoughts stifled by fright. Even when the man stopped shaking her, still she trembled uncontrollably.

  “Treacherous murderer!” shouted the angry voice of the man whose strong hands squeezed into Adrina’s shoulders with increasing vigor.

  Frustration and despair lead Adrina to tears, but anger and pain soon took over. She clawed and kicked her captor, raking him across the face.

  With one hand the large man roughly pulled back her long hair as she struggled to break free, while his other hand groped for something, Adrina didn’t know what. Then out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glint of something shiny. She swallowed a heart-sized lump in her throat as a short, fine blade was applied to her upturned neck.

  “A-dri-na?” came a distant voice.

  Upon hearing her name, the terror-filled fog in Adrina’s mind cleared. “Let me go, let me go,” she screamed.

  “Adrina?”

  Adrina stopped kicking and clawing her captor. She turned. The first face she saw was familiar to her. “Emel!” she cried. She wiped the tears from her face, and reached her hands out to embrace him. Still, she shook uncontrollably. “But you were… that was… you then… Where is my brother? Has he already reached Alderan? Is it too late to stop him?”

  The large dark-skinned southerner holding Adrina did not let her go. Instead he returned the blade to her throat. “By the Father, her blood will stain this blade.”

  “Hush. Let her go, what are you doing you fool?”

  “But they killed Wrennyl!” The Southerner spun Adrina around and stared at her.

  Adrina saw fury in his eyes. “It was a mistake, a mistake. We didn’t know who you were and it was an accident that… that… he… fell, an accident.”

  Emel snatched Adrina away from the angry man. His free hand went to his sword in its sheath. “I said, back off, back off…”

  Menacingly, the large Southerner took a step toward Adrina. His blade poised ready to strike, he spoke, “Lord Valam will surely hear of this… Wrennyl was a good man!”

  “I trust he will,” said Emel, “especially since this is the Princess Adrina.”

  The man turned pale. “The Princess Adrina?”

  “Yes, the Princess Adrina.”

  The Southerner began babbling an apology. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. You must forgive me. I didn’t know… I didn’t know, I swear it.”

  The man was sniveling and in tears, but Adrina said nothing. Her shoulders ached where he had gripped them and she just now got her shivers under control. She wiped tears from her cheeks, and turned away as the man sank to his knees.

  “By Great-Father,” moaned Emel in a low tone, “say something to him please. If they think you took offense, he’ll get lashes. He is a family man. Do you know what that’ll mean to him?”

  Adrina just then noticed the press of riders around her. “Lashes?” she asked.

  “Say it now, please!”

  Adrina turned back to the man. “Rise please, stand true. I accept your apology. Though in the future, I would ask that you treat a lady as a lady should be treated.”

  The Southerner stood and straightened his hunched posture. Evident relief passed over his face moments later.

  Sadness and relief triggered something in Adrina. She looked around wildly, then started running. “Emel, come quickly!” she called back over her shoulder, “Come quickly, it is Prince William!”

  There was a low moaning from behind them now as the two raced away. Uneasily, Father Jacob settled back onto the seat of the wagon, a hand raised to his cheek. Several riders quickly came to his aid and helped him down from the wagon.

  Adrina ran across the sand. A single figure lay washed onto the beach, folded into the area where the recent storms had formed a sandy hollow. Wreckage lay scattered on the shore around him.

  Adrina ran to him. She knelt in the wet sand beside him, and touched a hand to his cheek. She expected him to greet her with his warm blue eyes, but, to her horror and shock, his skin was cold, cold and stiff with death.

  “He is dead,” Adrina said, “we are too late… Alderan? How far are we from Alderan?” She grabbed Emel about the shoulders. “Where is Valam?”
>
  “Our party from Quashan’ circled north around Alderan only a few hours ago. We expected to meet the column on the north side of the city, but we found nothing. His Highness sent our detachment north and another east to find the encampment. His aim was to proceed to the city outpost. Why aren’t you with the column? Did something happen?”

  Adrina explained as best she could what happened after Emel had left the column.

  Emel swept Adrina up in his arms. Caught up in the reassurance of his touch and the warmth of his embrace, she pressed her lips against his. For a moment, he returned the passion of her kiss, then he stood stiffly and turned away from her.

  “No doubt Captain Trendmore is our traitor,” Emel said, “and more likely than not, he ordered the column to turn north at the sea instead of south. I never should have left you… This is all my fault. I didn’t listen to what the lady said and look what has happened.”