“That was the worst part,” sighed Fredrik. “The Great Hunt was an edict handed down by the Dark One. The Black Devils are supposed to be looking for children who were born in the year of the Collapse.”
“But that’s when we were born,” stated Niki. “What did they want with kids our age?”
“Death, mostly,” answered Fredrik. “It seems there is some old, moldy prophecy that the Dark One wants fulfilled and it requires the death of a couple of kids born in the year of the Collapse. Not just any kids, but two particular kids. The members of the Great Hunt were to determine the parentage of the individuals found. If they had a certain parentage, they were to be captured alive. If not, they were to be murdered, just in case they might miss the real ones that they were searching for.”
“Now I know why you are dreadfully afraid of being discovered by the Black Devils,” interjected. “Why didn’t you tell me that before? At least your demand that I not use magic so frivolously would have made sense.”
“Would you have stopped using it?” he asked.
“Probably not,” she conceded, “but at least your request would make sense. That still doesn’t explain about drawing power and why you never taught me to do it. You taught me everything else.”
“Exactly,” Fredrik laughed, “and look what trouble that has brought me.” Fredrik ignored her hurt scowl and continued. “One of the things that I learned up on the roof, was that power exists in everything, not just ourselves. You can use the power within yourself to accomplish something, but it diminishes you like running makes you tired and requires that you rest. If you can draw your power from other things, you can use your power longer and more forcefully. I didn’t feel right teaching you about it, because I’ve never really learned to use it myself. I tried it once and it was frightening. I thought I was going to burst open like a ripe melon.”
“But if we are going to have to defend ourselves against the Black Devils, we will need every edge we can get,” Niki stated.
“It’s not that simple, Niki,” Fredrik declared. “Not every magician can draw on the power of other things. It is almost like another gift in addition to the magical gift, but I’m not sure. I do know that most of the Black Devils were unable to attain any power outside themselves, at least the bunch that I observed. What we really need to find is a tutor who is not connected with the Black Devils.”
“Fat chance of finding one,” she said disappointingly. “Still, you could teach me or test me to see if I have the potential.”
“No,” Fredrik said too loudly. Softer, he continued, “I don’t feel safe using it, Niki. I would not forgive myself if I taught you and you blew up. After we get settled in Cidal, we will put feelers out for tutors, but in such a way that will not lead back to us.”
“You just don’t want me being as powerful as you,” she berated, “ . . . or more powerful. Well, if you won’t teach me, I’ll just find someone who will.”
Niki went and lay down on a blanket to go to sleep, covering herself with her old cloak, a white cloak with gold trim and a sunburst upon the left breast. Within moments she was asleep. Fredrik sat staring at her for a long time. She was a very beautiful girl with her flaming red hair and pert nose, but sometimes he wished he were traveling alone. She never seemed to listen to reason and never missed an opportunity to punish him with silence at some unseen offense he was supposed to have committed. Eventually, Fredrik went to bed still mystified about the ways of women.
The next day the pair wound their way back to the coastal highway and towards Cidal. There was very little traffic on the road and the people they passed did no more than acknowledge the couple. Several days later they reached the outskirts of Cidal and immediately proceeded to a less traveled street. Like most towns, there were some abandoned houses and Fredrik picked the one that seemed to be in the best shape and yet out of the way. They did pick up a few strange glares entering the house, but most people were afraid to say anything to strangers. Still, they could not stay here long before somebody reported their presence in the house to whoever passed as the authorities in Cidal.
After they got settled in, Fredrik went out alone to see what the town was like. Cidal was in much better shape than Forgum as no army had yet ravaged it. There was a fair amount of people and the businesses seemed to be doing rather well. Fredrik visited some of the inns, always blending in and keeping to the shadows, and picked up the local rumors. There was a local organization of mercenaries, which probably accounted for the fact that Cidal had not been plundered yet. The most important piece of information was of the Black Devils who had left town this morning. They had obviously killed an old sea captain and taken over his mansion while in Cidal. Fredrik learned the name of the sea captain and hurried back to Niki. Within moments, Fredrik and Niki were back out of town in the woods where they dressed in their finest outfits. Fredrik was dressed in gray flannel breeches with a fine white shirt whose wrinkles were covered by a gray flannel vest. Niki donned a violet silk dress with white frilled sleeves and a lavender sash around her waist.
Once suitably attired, the pair strode into town with Fredrik leading the train of six horses. This time everyone turned and stared at them as they walked along the coastal highway. Niki walked right up to a group of mercenaries that seemed to include an officer or at least someone whom the others deferred to. The men all stared at her and she had to push back images of drooling dogs else she would ruin her entrance.
“Excuse me, kind Sir,” she cooed, “but we are just in from Trekum and I am seeking my uncle, Amos Alrecht. “Could you possibly direct me? We’ve had such a dreadful journey with the wagon burning and all and I really wish to make an early night of it.”
The smiling faces all grew dim at the mention of the old sea captain and most of the group melted away. The authoritative man remained and appraised her. “Your uncle, you say?” he asked. “Old Amos never mentioned any kin to me.”
Niki had to strain her neck to look up at the man. “Well, that is quite a minor problem, Sir. I can assure you that I am his niece as I am sure he will also attest, but that is no concern of yours. I am merely asking for directions to his home so I might settle in with my brother.”
The man appeared suitably rebuffed, but eventually nodded. “All right, Mistress Alrecht, I can show you to his home, but you won’t be finding old Amos there, I’m afraid.”
“Well, if he is not in, I am sure he will return soon, Sir,” she smiled. “He is, after all, expecting us.”
“It is not that he is out, Mistress,” the man frowned. “Old Amos was killed a few days ago by Black Devils. They claimed he was a sorcerer. When we found out, it was too late to do anything for Amos and it didn’t make much sense to start a war with the Black Devils over something that could not be undone.”
The man lowered his head sheepishly; obviously ashamed of letting the Black Devils have their way within his domain. Niki collapsed in the street and Fredrik let go of the horses and rushed to her aid. He frowned up at the mercenary, but nodded at the man. “It’s all right, Sir,” Fredrik added. “Similar tragedies have occurred in the South as well. I’m sure you and your men would have done something if you had known before it happened. Could you have some of your men grab our horses and help us to his house?”
The man was only too eager to help Amos’ kin after not avenging his death. Fredrik and Niki allowed the men to fawn over them and see them safely put into Amos’ mansion. The head mercenary introduced them to the servants and scowled at any objections to the youngsters moving in. By the time the mercenary left, the servants were satisfactorily cowed to accept their new Lord and Lady.
Chapter 7
Escape
Arik and Tedi rose at first light and surveyed the area they had chosen to camp at the night before. “It’s a good thing we didn’t try to roam around last night,” Tedi commented, looking over the cliff to the sea. The promontory they were on was about eighty feet above where the waves crashed into the rocks below. T
he view was spectacular with long vistas of beach, both north and south. This was clearly the highest point for some distance and afforded glimpses of the coastal highway farther inland where the trees were sparse enough to see through or the view was not blocked by the plateau itself.
Arik fixed breakfast while Tedi stood inhaling the strong salt air. After a quick breakfast Tedi cleaned up the campsite while Arik checked out the surroundings. “Hey, Tedi,” Arik called. “I think I see something coming down the beach.”
Tedi ran over and looked northward. “I don’t see anything,” he remarked. “It’s too far to see anything, anyway. Maybe it’s just someone out for a morning walk.”
“Could be,” Arik muttered straining for a better view, “but not unless they’re on horseback and it looks like two people. Wait, they’ve stopped.”
Tedi looked once again, trying to make out what Arik was looking at. “I don’t know about seeing people or horses,” he commented, “but that looks like the area where we left the beach yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, they are, too,” Arik said hurriedly as he watched the tiny dots disappear into the forest. “I think someone might be tracking us. If they are on horseback, they’ll catch us for sure.”
“How do you know they are on horseback?” Tedi asked. “I can’t see anything at that distance.”
“By the relative size of the two dots,” Arik answered. “I think one of them got down for some reason and led his horse. I could be wrong, but can we afford to take a chance?”
Tedi thought for a while and said, “Horseback won’t help them that much on the trail we took yesterday. It was hardly more than an animal trail and not often used, at that.”
“Unless they swing out to the coastal highway,” declared Arik. Arik swung his eyes back to the only major road in the area and froze. “Tedi,” he whispered. “Look down at the road.”
Tedi joined his friend and looked where he was pointing. A large group of riders was gathered milling around, not traveling. “The trees are in the way,” Tedi frowned. “I can’t quite make out who they are or how many of them there are, but I am beginning to not like this.”
“I like it even less,” added Arik. “It looks like more than ten, but worst of all, one of them is almost assuredly a woman.”
“Okay, let’s keep calm,” instructed Tedi. “If they knew right where we were, we would have been dead on our blankets this morning.”
“You have a great way of making me feel calm,” Arik quipped. “We can’t outrun them if they have even one fairly decent tracker. We can’t go out to sea or to the road. A couple of them are coming in from the North. We really don’t have much of a choice on which way to go.”
“We do have the option of staying right here,” declared Tedi. “This place is pretty defensible.”
“I don’t think I’m ready to start killing people even if they turn out to be Dark Riders,” frowned Arik.
“Well, you better get ready, Arik,” Tedi scolded. “If they come for us, it won’t be to take us home to our fathers. Even if the witch is with them, Dark Riders don’t openly track someone just to ask questions. Oh, she may ask some questions before she kills us, but you better believe that we’ll end up dead no matter what. The Dark Riders don’t normally leave anything alive behind them.”
Arik stood staring at the milling riders on the road for several minutes. “Okay,” Arik finally said, “we’ll shoot if we have to, but staying here is suicide. We may kill some of them before they get us, but there are too many of them for us to win. We will head south trying to avoid them. If it comes to a fight, we’ll fight, but we’ll hide and avoid it if we can. We may kill fewer of them with this plan, but how many of them are dead will matter little to us if we are dead, too.”
Tedi nodded his head in agreement and they both began gathering their gear. Quickly, they started southward down the steep path. When they reached the bottom, Arik stopped suddenly. “I have an idea,” he declared excitedly. “Follow me.”
Arik broke through the forest undergrowth with no regard to hampering the trackers and headed for the sea. When they reached the beach he was panting, but he did not stop. Arik waded right on out in the surf while continuing south. “Is this your good idea?” asked Tedi frantically. “We drown ourselves and deny the Dark Riders their fun?”
Arik stopped and smiled. “Okay, now that they are convinced that we hope to erase our tracks the same way we did at Lorgo, we walk north through the water until we reach the rocks below the promontory to our north. We can circle the bluff behind them and cross the coastal highway.”
Tedi smiled at the idea until he looked towards the rocks that he had seen the surf crashing on from up above earlier. “You want us to cross those rocks?” Tedi blurted out.
Arik nodded. “Have you ever spent the night with Dark Riders?”
Tedi didn’t even bother to answer, but started wading towards the rocks. The rocks were slippery and coated with some type of green slime wherever they had remained submerged for long periods of time. The salt spray here was intense and soon the boys’ eyes were smarting. Several times they slipped and were submerged. Once Arik had to grab Tedi by the collar to keep him from being swept away or dashed on the rocks. Slowly the boys made their way to the base of the promontory and rested on the rocks. The effort of forcing their way through the surf had tired both boys. “Why did you head here instead of continuing around the North side of the rocks?” asked Tedi.
“Two reasons,” panted Arik. “One, we have to be sure that the two riders we saw along the beach have already passed before we try to get behind them and two, look at the cliff face. It is hollowed out enough that we can stay here and rest and we can’t be seen from the shore either to the North or the South. Three, I could use the rest.”
Tedi chuckled and leaned back against the cold stonewall. The boys wiggled as far back as they could go so they could remain dry. “We can stay overnight back here if we have to,” remarked Tedi. “I think it is about high tide now. This far back would only get wet on a moon tide.”
“If we get some sleep now,” commented Arik, we can move out at low tide and it will be dark. Wherever our pursuers are they will be camped for the night and we should be able to avoid them fairly easily.”
Tedi agreed and the boys were tired enough to doze off.
* * * *
“Where are they now?” asked Garth laying his bow on the seat of the wagon.
“They are sleeping at the foot of the cliff,” Kalina stated. “They are hoping the Dark Riders will pass them by and I think they might. Then they plan to cross over the road and lose the Dark Riders.”
“Nice if it worked,” Garth said simply. “The problem is the Dark Riders are not totally stupid. They will realize that they have been duped and that will lead them back to the cliff. It sounds like the boys have a defensible position, but they also have no reconnaissance capability. If they decide to leave their hole while the Dark Riders are near the cliff, they will be visible.”
“We could lose them before we can react to save them,” summarized Kalina. “This is not acceptable.”
“I agree,” Garth declared as he started moving. The bandit grabbed a coil of rope off of the wagon and retrieved his bow. “I want you to get the wagon about a half mile into the woods west of the coastal highway just north of the cliff. Avoid the Dark Riders at all costs. If you are not there when I need you, I will move directly south from that spot until we meet.”
“Where are you going, Garth?” she demanded.
“Me,” he laughed. “Why, I am going hunting. There are a couple of pigeons on the rocks, and I understand they are in season.”
* * * *
Wolinda screamed at the men, “What do you mean, they didn’t come this way? Are you trackers or slackers? You told me they came south. You said that they hadn’t left the water and now you’re saying that they didn’t get this far. Explain yourself.”
The head Dark Rider stepped between the two scout
s and faced Wolinda. “What they are saying is that the boys headed back north, Mistress. They must have done it very soon after they entered the water or we would have caught them already.”
“Now you’ve become a tracker, Klarg,” spat Wolinda. “I thought these two fine specimens were the trackers.”
“Enough, Wolinda,” Klarg cautioned as his men gathered around. Klarg was dressed like the rest of the Dark Riders in dark brown leathers with spurs on his boots and bands of metal spikes on their leather gauntlets, but he was also a massive hulk of a man. His imposing figure towered over the hardy witch. “My men wanted to check the area where the boys entered the water, but you were adamant about them heading south. You have no one but yourself to blame for this delay.”
Wolinda was stunned. She led this team and the stupid Dark Riders should know better than dispute her authority. She could destroy every man here with her power and their leader hadn’t even addressed her as Mistress. “You should have better control over your emotions, Klarg. I may be forced to punish you if you continue in this insolent manner.”
“Do not be a fool, Wolinda,” Klarg asserted, “and do not take me for one, either. You are in charge of this expedition and we have followed you without question, but it is the Dark One whom we both serve. If your actions jeopardize this mission, I would be within my rights to eliminate you, witch or no. I also have nineteen men to back my play. If you managed to kill all of us, you would still fail in your mission as you did back in Lorgo. And I’m sure you know that failure is death. My men and I are willing to follow your orders to accomplish our task, but do not blame them for your actions. If we must backtrack to capture these boys, let’s be about it without recriminations. If you are acceptable to our agreement, we are ready to serve.”
The color drained out of Wolinda’s face. She burned with the desire to kill every one of these maggots, but Klarg was right. Without them she was likely to fail and one did not fail the Dark One. “Lead the men north, Klarg,” she ordered.
Sapphire of the Fairies, Book 1 of Sword of Heavens Page 8
