Chronicles Of Aronshae (3 Book Omnibus)

by J. K. Barber

  Jared once again saw the strange look of pride on Talas’ face, as the former priest nodded simply and said, “Well done. I have not made my final decision, but the question of my place in the world has come up.”

  “What do you mean entering the priesthood again?” Sasha asked from behind them, as she urged her horse forward again to join them. Jared and Talas moved away from each other to allow Hoarfrost to canter up between them.

  “That, I’m afraid is a long story,” Talas said in reply.

  “We seem to have plenty of time,” Sasha said ruefully. Katya moved closer to her sister on the saddle and kept a wary eye on Jared, as he rode beside them.

  Talas poked at the fire as Jared finished burying the remains of their dinner. Walking a short distance away from edge of their camp, the woodsman had pulled a small spade from his pack and laid the carcasses of the rabbits they had eaten to rest. Talas saw Jared speak a few words and then return to the fire.

  “What are you smiling about, old man?” Though almost twice his years, Jared knew the veteran was still an able fighter and as hale as men fifteen years his junior. The epithet of old man had become a term of friendship, and Talas took it as such. Jared wished that Sirus could have warmed to the same designation, but the younger woodsman had not really meant it kindly then.

  “Well whoever raised you, and I’m not asking so don’t get all tensed up,” Talas waved his hand dismissively at Jared, “it’s nice to see that they taught you about things spiritual as well as temporal.”

  Talas had fallen into the habit more and more of speaking like a priest as they traveled. Jared did not even think Talas himself realized it, but Jared had noticed the change and was still undecided as to his feelings on the subject. The twins were divided, as they often were on certain subjects, on Talas’ change in demeanor. Sasha was perplexed by Talas’ decision to change life paths again, and “so late in life” as she put it outside of Talas’ hearing. Katya had no opinion really, as she had only met Talas recently and had not traveled with him as much as Jared and Sasha. Granted, their time traveling with the Trades Guild caravan had been brief, but both Jared and Sasha had taken a liking to the older man right away, and the change in his behavior was easily noticeable to the two warriors, trained as they were to assess opponents at a moment’s notice.

  Jared looked over to where the two young women were settling in for the night, exhausted after one of their nightly sparring sessions. Sasha had been teaching Katya to use her staff as a weapon, in addition to it being a channeling tool. Katya was learning quickly, but she still bore bruises from the lessons. The tent, in which they now rested, had until recently, been his. He just shrugged and sat down by the fire. Tents were easy to replace, he had had many over the years. Friends were a different story.

  They had traveled slowly that day, knowing that they could not reach Binford’s Bluff for a couple more days. So, they had ridden at an unhurried pace, resting themselves and their horses for the trials that lay ahead. A passing traveler had told them that Binford’s Bluff was safe, but that anything around or north of the Trade Star was suspect. With the possibility of conflict and the certainty of rough terrain once they reached the World’s Edge Mountains, that had yet to fully give up a thick blanket of snow even this late in the spring, the travelers had decided to ride at a more comfortable rate of travel. They would pause briefly in Binford’s Bluff the next day to restore their supplies but would not stay any longer than necessary. Understandably, the twins were in a hurry to get home, if their home even existed anymore. Jared shuddered at the thought and went back to tending the fire.

  Though they had traveled slowly, they had traveled long, and it was fully dark now. Talas nodded to Jared and then towards the veteran’s tent. “I’ll take first watch, son. You get some sleep, and I’ll wake you around midnight for second.” Jared nodded consent, rose and walked over to the older man’s smaller tent. Getting himself situated for the evening, Jared laid his sheathed sword and unstrung bow beside him in the tent and then stuck three arrows in the ground just outside. Jared looked up and noticed Talas watching him, as he stuck the last shaft into the ground. The former priest nodded, got a sad smile on his face, and then placed his hand to his chest and then his forehead speaking softly under his breath. Jared nodded back and then went to sleep.

  Chapter 24

  Jared was awoken by a scream. He threw back his blanket and rolled from the tent, sheathed sword in hand. In the light of the still blazing fire, he saw Talas laid out on the ground, blood seeping from his bald head into the soil. A quick look told Jared that the older man was still breathing, evident in the rising and falling of his chest, but a more thorough examination would have to wait.

  Jared’s eyes were drawn to the movement in the darkness just beyond their campfire, and he saw Sasha struggling with a shadowy figure that was achingly familiar. Grappling with the swordswoman, her opponent’s hood had fallen back, revealing the same sickly white eyes Jared remembered. One of the creature’s hands, blackened with frostbite, grabbed Sasha’s left wrist while the other tried to tear Talas’ mace from her right hand. Jared heard the screaming again, but it was not Sasha’s voice he heard. Further off in the darkness, he heard Katya’s cries for help.

  “Help Katya!” Sasha screamed at Jared, who whipped his head back to face her. “Another one grabbed her after…” The rest of Sasha’s sentence was lost in a grunt, as she fought with the dead man that was twisting her arm in an effort to get her to drop the mace she held.

  Jared snapped his arm back, flinging the sheath from his blade and raising the sword high above his head. I can’t help Katya, not with Sasha in danger, he thought. Rushing forward, Jared brought his weapon down with all his strength, yelling his defiance. Sasha’s arm flew back, mace in hand. Still wrapped around her wrist, the creature’s hand clung to the swordswoman. Jared had removed the dead thing’s arm below the elbow, and thick, black viscous liquid began to drip slowly from the stump. Looking down at his severed arm with as little expression as Jared would have spared for some dirt he had picked up on his boot, the abomination lashed out, striking Jared in the face with its stump, sending the woodsman flailing backwards towards the fire. Jared yelled out in pain, yet he managed to keep his footing. It was at the expense of stepping into the flames behind him though. Agony shot up his leg, and he smelled the stench of burnt flesh. In his pain, he dropped his sword into the fire. Not wanting to spend the time or attention it would take to retrieve it, Jared drew his dagger and his hunting knife from his belt.

  Fueled by fear, pain and anger Jared rushed forward once again, an inhuman growl rising in his throat. His senses heightened by the combat, Jared smelled the odor of long dead flesh rising from the creature, the sweat from Sasha as she brought the mace into contact with her opponent’s head again and again, and above it all the smell of blood in the air. Talas’ blood, the woodsman recollected.

  Jared gave over to his anger and rage, embracing the red haze that covered his eyes. He flung himself at the creature, launching himself several feet into the air and drove his blades into its neck and chest. The dead man brought up his arm to try to pluck Jared out of the air, but only managed to aim his stump at Jared’s head, which the woodsman easily dodged. The force of the impact toppled both men to the ground. Jared attempted to roll away but could not.

  Faster than Jared had expected, his adversary released Sasha and grabbed the front of Jared’s shirt. In his effort to turn his forward momentum into a roll to his feet, Jared had only managed to place himself beneath their attacker. Jared felt the heat being drawn from his body, as the creature pinned him to the ground, the cold from the man’s dead touch seeping into his bones.

  Despite the heat of his rage, Jared felt himself begin to shiver, as the thing’s face moved closer to his, the stench of rotting flesh filling the woodsman’s nostrils. Jared’s strength began to give out, and his fear overrode the anger that had caused him to attack like a wild animal. Jared looked into mi
lky eyes, devoid of light or life, and wondered if he would end up the same if the creature killed him.

  Jared did not have long to wonder before the creature’s face slammed into his own. Stars filled his eyes, and he heard the sickly crunching of his nose giving way. Stunned, he felt the creature collapse upon him like dead weight and then fall off to the side.

  The creature was drug off of him, and Sasha’s face appeared and was yelling, “Get up! The other one has Katya! Get up!” Jared shook his head to clear it and immediately regretted it. Pain rushed into his nose, as blood rushed out. Tears stung his eyes, and he tasted blood at the back of his throat. He crawled away from the now, truly dead man and got unsteadily to his feet, stars still streaking the edges of his vision. He saw their attacker lying face down in the dirt, the back of his head caved in. Looking up, he saw a weary Sasha, panting to catch her breath and black ichor dripping from the mace in her hand.

  Talas’ mace! Jared realized.

  Stumbling over to the fallen veteran, Jared quickly checked his breathing and neck. Both seemed fine. Feeling the back of Talas’ head, Jared did not feel any breaks in his skull and uttered a quick prayer of thanks. The old man was visibly intact, although with head wounds, there could be internal bleeding that might go undetected.

  “Jared, come on!” Sasha yelled again. “We need to save Katya.”

  “We can’t just leave him here like this, Sasha. He could die…” Jared retorted.

  “We can’t just let that thing have Katya either. Please…” Sasha begged.

  “I could care for him,” a small voice said from the darkness. Still on edge from his fight, Jared jumped to his feet, hand darting into the fire to retrieve his sword, which he immediately dropped. The weapon had become too hot to hold in its short time in the fire. Shaking his hand, he quickly pulled a dagger from his boot and stared into the darkness, from where the voice had come. Katya’s black bird came waddling into the firelight and looked at Jared. “I’ll take care of him for you,” the bird repeated.

  Jared’s mouth opened and closed several times before he finally said. “What?”

  The bird’s black feathers melted away, its beak retracing into its face and long brown hair sprouted from the top of his head. Standing in front of Jared was a small man, no taller than the woodsman’s ankle. This creature, with its pointed ears and dragonfly wings, was definitely not human. Jared peered at him trying to take it all in, but between the blow to the head and the sudden transformation of Katya’s pet, Jared’s mind was swimming in confusion.

  “Great,” Sasha said, her voice reminding Jared of her presence. Speaking now to the woodsman Sasha said, “Niko will tend to him, let’s go.” Sasha had retrieved her sword and shield from her tent and was slipping a dagger into her belt. After a moment’s thought, she placed her sword next to older man’s prone form and kept his mace.

  “Who is Niko?” Jared asked. “What is Niko?”

  “He’s a friend of Katya’s,” Sasha replied.

  “I thought he was Katya’s pet.” Niko scowled at the woodsman, taking offense to the undignified denotation. “I mean… I thought he was a bird. What is going on here?” Jared’s confusion grew, even as the spinning of his head began to recede.

  Sasha strode over to Jared and put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Look, we don’t have time for this. My sister is in danger. She was carried off by one of those things. Niko is Katya’s friend, and I trust him. Talas is in good hands, but Katya is not and we need to help her.”

  Jared took several deep breaths. There was a lot going on that he did not understand, but he did understand Katya’s peril. Squaring his shoulders, he went to his tent, gathered up his bow, quiver and his gloves. Quickly donning his gloves, he picked up his sword and slipped it into the belt he wore over his leather jerkin; there was no time to hunt around for his sheath. He had to hope that his sword would be cool enough to use, if he needed it.

  “All right,” he said to Sasha. “Let’s go,” and jogged off into the night, vainly trying to ignore the pain that shot up his right foot and calf with every step.

  Stopping to look at the tracks left in the dewy grass, Jared cursed himself for not remembering to bring a torch. They could barely see in the night’s gloom, and his mistake was costing them precious time. If only I could… the woodsman’s thought trailed off, as he scanned the wood.

  The flutter of wings in a nearby tree caught Jared’s attention and he smiled. Uttering a silent prayer of thanks to the Great Mother, Jared signaled to Sasha to be quiet and reached out with his mind. Not a stone’s throw away, an owl landed in the branches and studied the two humans crouching in the woods. Asking as politely as time allowed, Jared’s request was rewarded, and the dark woods suddenly became as bright as day before his enhanced eyes. Although mostly drained of color, Jared’s sight was able to easily detect the footprints and broken branches the creature and its struggling captive had left in the wake of their passing. Wait, a minute, he thought, as he ran along with greater confidence in pursuit of the assailant. Why is there a trail at all?

  “I thought you said these things could vanish,” Jared whispered to Sasha, after pausing and allowing the swordswoman to catch up to the tracker. She seemed to be having difficulty keeping up with Jared at his accelerated pace.

  “They can,” Sasha whispered. “That’s what Katya told me.”

  “Then why is it dragging your sister through the woods? Why not just teleport them back to where ever it came from?” He asked and started forward again, just walking.

  “I have no idea,” Sasha growled, as she stumbled over a root hidden in the darkness. “Maybe we can ask it when we catch it.”

  Jared considered their predicament for a moment and then said over his shoulder, “We’re not going to catch it at this pace. It can obviously travel faster than you can in the darkness.” Jared waved off the indignation that he knew was about to come from Sasha. “You asked me to trust you about Niko watching Talas, and now I need you to trust me concerning your sister. I can catch this thing, but it will mean leaving you behind.” Jared stopped and turned to face Sasha. “Can you do that? Do you trust me?”

  Sasha stumbled up to Jared and thought for the briefest of moments before nodding her head. “Yes,” she said. Covering her own nervousness, she added, “…but don’t hog all the fun for yourself when you do catch this thing,” she smiled. “Save some for me.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Jared grinned, before turning to take off at a full sprint through the woods. As sure-footed as if it were full daylight, Jared strung his bow as he ran, dodging around trees and jumping over the roots and other small hazards that littered the forest floor.

  As he ran, Jared’s thoughts had time to catch up with him. He knew he couldn’t take the creature on his own; it was too strong. It was only through sheer luck that he, Sasha and Talas had survived their first encounter with these creatures. A tiny hitch hit Jared’s stride as he thought of Talas, but he quickly pushed his concern aside. If Talas was here, he would have done the same thing. But what can I do against this creature? The woodsman thought. He knew its weak spot was the back of the skull, where the animating gem was imbedded in the thing’s head, but even then it had taken both he and Sasha to fell their previous attacker. He had to hope that Katya was in a state where she could aid him once he reached her.

  No sooner had the thought entered his head than he saw movement up ahead. Fast moving but shrouded in a darkness that even Jared’s enhanced sight had trouble piercing, Jared saw a tall black-robed figure running through the woods, a struggling young woman tucked under one arm. Jared marveled at his opponent’s strength. To carry a fully grown woman under one arm, with no more effort than it would take a normal man to carry a small keg of ale, and still be able to keep up such a pace through the woods took far more than the strength of a human. Jared knew firsthand how these creatures’ supernatural brawn could crush the life out of a person, if he was unfortunate enough to let the creatu
re get a hold of him.

  So, Jared thought, I will have to make sure the creature does not get a hold of me. Calling out after the creature, Jared hoped it would pause to fight him, delaying enough for Sasha to catch up. “Katya!” he yelled.

  Katya raised her head at the sound of her name. In the darkness, she could not see who had called her name, but Jared hoped that she would recognize the sound of his voice. “We’re coming Katya! Just hold tight!” Jared voice was swallowed up by the forest. Hopefully, Sasha would hear it and be able to figure out where they were.

  Unfortunately, the creature showed no sign of slowing; it continued to pass soundlessly through the woods, a dark wraith absconding with its captured prize. Even as fast as the abomination was, Jared was slowly gaining on it. Eventually, he would overtake the dark figure, but to stop it he would have to engage it. He feared that Sasha was too far behind to aid him.

  He had to slow it down somehow. He called out again to the captured sorceress. “Katya, I need you to slow it down! Kick it, bite it, do something!” Jared listened for Katya’s reply but got none. She was looking right at him, but she said nothing. Looking closer, Jared saw that her mouth was moving, but he could hear nothing over the distance and the wind in his ears as he ran. She wasn’t yelling out; she seemed to be saying something. She was speaking continuously, but no sound reached Jared’s ears. Raising her hands slightly, she showed Jared her bound hands, looked plaintively at him, all the while continuing to speak in low tones.