Prophecy's Quest

by A. S. Hamilton

  Nathan turned as Captain Haverell entered and bowed deeply.

  'Thane Curtin, my lord thane,' he announced.

  Nathan nodded, indicating the other thane could enter.

  'Thank you for your accommodations,' Nathan said, his satisfaction smoothing his normally gruff tone.

  'I can only hope they are adequate. At such short notice, I did not have time to prepare, else I would have met you at the gate.'

  Nathan ignored the subtle jibe. 'I've found myself in unforeseen circumstances,' he retorted.

  'I have heard.'

  Nathan snorted. 'I gather they all laugh behind my back.'

  Curtin shrugged. 'Those very few who dare. However, there is talk. It is not every day a thane turns up at the gates on foot, unescorted.'

  'I woke up to an empty camp, those snivelling trackers left, hiding their cowardice beneath the cover of night.'

  'Are these the trackers led by the man you said you 'demoted'?' Curtin enquired in an expressionless tone.

  Nathan glowered.

  'They must have worked it out...' Curtin concluded. 'It is extraordinary to see such loyalty in these times. It is equally unfortunate that you found yourself at the wrong end of it. Never-the-less, this only adds to the calamities we have had here.'

  Nathan raised his brow in silent question.

  'If you have a care to hear the details, I can relate them over our meal, for it is a long story.'

  'How can you even contemplate eating, right now?' Nathan asked, the thought of food made him feel ill. But then stress often had that effect on the Thane.

  'The body needs sustenance regardless of the mind's preoccupations,' Curtin said, mildly amused by Nathan's incredulity.

  As they left Nathan's room Curtin said, 'I understand you also have misgivings about the gemstone in the crest. Our human mages can detect nothing amiss, however, I have managed to recall Akileena without having to completely reveal the circumstances here.'

  Nathan gave the other thane a look of respect. It was not easy to get a hold of Akileena once Malithorn requested his presence. Perhaps the attack on Dematica by rebels was enough. Dematica had been the mage tasked with tracking down Gareth's attacker and just as she was getting close, the thief had incapacitated her. Since then, she and two other slaves had gone missing, but that was a matter for Curtin. But an outright attack on an Abbarane mage had to be responded to aggressively or the rebels would do it more often, thus, Malithorn would relinquish Akileena to hunt the attackers down.

  'You will have to report the missing harem eventually,' Nathan pointed out.

  Curtin nodded his agreement. 'Technically, I have reported in. I just did not provide any details and explained that once I have fully investigated the circumstances, I will follow up with a full report. If, during my investigation, I am able to track down the harem, or the thief,' he added judiciously, 'then that can only provide me with a more positive report.'

  Day 1 – Afternoon

  At-hara Desert

  Jador continued to wait. He was balanced in a tree sitting stock still in the blazing heat of the desert sun as only a seasoned tracker and hunter could. Almost an hour passed before another guard tramped out to look for the first one. He was calling half-heartedly and if the first man had been alive, it was likely all he would have heard was an indistinct call that vaguely resembled a person's voice.

  Again, Jador raised his crossbow, steadied his breathing and took aim. In moments the guard would reach a point where he could see where the first man now lay. Jador released the bolt. Again, the shot was good, the man falling to the ground after a surprised grunt. His father had been right, all those hours of practice had gifted him with real skill. Until working for Thane Kennelm, Jador practiced every day. When Daniel had asked him to take over the accounts, Jador suspected the request had been made to shield him from Nathan. Doing the accounts kept him mostly in his room or the tiny office assigned to Daniel, reducing the chance he might encounter Thane Kennelm to almost zero.

  Four men still sat at Daniel's feet, drinking and joking. Jador could not decide which was the worse crime; dragging a man out here to die an excruciatingly slow death being eaten alive by scavenger birds. And as beauteous as they looked, dhire-ghi were still scavengers. Or killing the men who had dragged their victim out to die so horribly. Right now, it served his purpose to think their crime was the darker one. He knew later, after this, he would condemn himself and question his decisions. Hopefully, Daniel would be alive to help him come to terms with it.

  Considering how long it had taken the second guard to start searching, Jador decided he could risk shallowly burying the bodies. He needed to put off the scavenger birds and for the next two searchers to string out behind each other so he could pick them off.

  He moved as fast as his body would allow, disconcerted by the way his joints creaked and the swift development of an awful burning in his back. His heart was marching at double time by the time he finished. Returning to his position in the tree, Jador listened to his wheezing breath and felt the sweat pouring down his face like rain. Slowly, the burning in his back subsided and breathing became easier. He allowed himself some water and looked up at the sky, well over three quarters of an hour had passed, and still no more guards. He frowned, Daniel's men would have come looking for him if he was gone unaccountably for ten minutes.

  Finally, two more men emerged. Jador smiled sadly. 'A hunter,' his father had said, 'could always rely on the predictability of instinct.' If you waited long enough, they eventually followed their routines; down this trail to water, down that one to seek food. Humans were as prone to the same instinctive drives as animals.

  As he had hoped, one of the soldiers dropped back to walk behind the other as they came away from the trees. It would give Jador the chance of shooting the one at the back and then getting a second shot ready before the one in front realised what had occurred. Still, getting them both without an alarm being raised was going to be difficult.

  Jador fired, but the shot was off, getting the guard in the shoulder. He jerked to the side without a shout. For a long moment he was frozen in shock, his mind trying to figure out what had happened. The first guard turned as Jador swiftly reloaded. Without thinking he shot at the lead guard before he could register the other guard's situation. Although his shot was good, it was a mistake. The wounded guard started to yell and turned to run.

  Jador started to count. The counting meant nothing, it just quelled his rising panic. His father had taught him to count when shooting wild boar. If you missed the first shot, you had the solid mass and sharp tusks of an enraged beast charging at you. Boars were known not just to maul their hunters, but to trample them repeatedly. The chances of getting up from an attack like that were non-existent. Being able to reload and fire without wasting seconds panicking or letting that panic mar your skill was essential.

  Jador fired seconds after the wounded man started to yell, this time making a killing shot and cutting off his cry. The old tracker slumped back and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his face. Two more left. Had they heard the yell? he wondered. And were they on their way?

  Day 1 – Sunset

  Nearing Sal-Cirus

  Akileena glared at his escort. Each of the sixteen men kept their eyes straight ahead as they waited for further instructions. Akileena had been most of the way to Denas when Colnba contacted him and told him to return to Sal-Cirus.

  It felt like a lifetime had passed since his failed pursuit of the rebel mage who had attacked his brother. It was fortunate he was a mage and not a seer, for he would bring the profession to shame. That very morning, the one when Andarin was attacked, he had been speaking to his brother about Dematica coming to take his place at Sal-Cirus so he could go to Denas and carry out an assassination for Malithorn.

  Akileena's service to the self-proclaimed great lord was obtained through threats to the lives of his daughter, Lea-ryn, and his brother, Andarin. Akileena was forced to serve in Sal
-Cirus as well as being Malithorn's assassin and Andarin was forced to serve in the city of Venshui. Lea-ryn was often kept in Denas, but was randomly moved to prevent rebels from extracting her. The brothers paid Dematica to protect Lea-ryn against those who might harm her and had been planning to pass on a payment to the mage when Akileena met her to hand over his duties before leaving for Denas.

  Then, later that day, he felt his brother's distress from across the planes. Upon investigation he found out that an elvan rebel mage had robbed a smith, almost killing him. The Thane of Venshui, who just happened to be visiting Sal-Cirus, had heard about the attack and decided it required further investigation. He had commandeered Dematica and set about tracking the rebel mage. Dematica must have succeeded in not only identifying the rebel mage, but also in locating him, because the rebel mage had attacked Dematica in order to stop her. Unfortunately Andarin had gone to Dematica's aid, hoping to protect the mage who watched over his niece. The rebel mage had then targeted his brother. That was what had prompted Akileena to get involved. And he, too, had succeeded in tracking the rebel mage. Not that it did him much good. Just as he had turned aside Dematica and Andarin, the rebel mage had also thwarted Akileena's attempts to corner him.

  Akileena had pursued the thief and a female warrior that was accompanying him to the gorge separating the hills from the desert. He had planned to pin the thief with the gorge at his back, but it turned out the thief not just a mage, he was a highly-skilled mage. One capable of using his talent to help his horse and his companion's horse jump the gorge and then put up an invisible wall to prevent pursuit. As if that was not enough of a failure, the thief had used mind-will to implant a command in Akileena's subconscious preventing Akileena from tracing him or his companion.

  When he returned to the city, Akileena had been directed by Thane Curtin to continue on to Denas as the Great Lord still had need of him. Then, Colnba had contacted him, instructing him to return to Sal-Cirus to assist in tracking down the rebel mage. Colnba said that even though he could not directly track the rebel mage, he could assist Curtin's less-experienced mages in doing it. 'A mage capable of taking down both Dematica and Andarin as well as thwarting one of your skill, Akileena, is a threat that must rendered harmless,' Colnba had informed him. 'You are our closest, available, elvan mage, and, while it is not ideal to have you attempt to track him, it is the best we have, for the moment. So why do you not spend the time travelling back to Sal-Cirus figuring out how to remove the command?' Colnba had suggested. And so, he had turned around.

  Akileena looked to the horizon. The sun was setting. He could not decide if they should set camp or continue on to the city. On one side of the scale, getting to Sal-Cirus and beginning the pursuit for the thief as soon as possible would mean he would be able to go on to Denas to perform the Great Lord's task sooner. Not that he was anxious to murder the poor soul that had fallen from Abbarane's favour — that part was survival, which came at a very high and terrible cost. After, they would let him see his daughter. It had been sennats since his last visit.

  On the other side of the scale, Akileena sensed it might take sennats to complete the task of catching the thief. Just finding a way to get around the thief's command not to follow him was going to take time. If he set camp now, he would not have to deal with Curtin and the more aggravating Greyson until tomorrow, giving him one more night of rest before the thanes started to drain him with their incessant demands.

  Only after he had completed these tasks did he have a chance of aiding his brother. If Andarin could hold on long enough, there was a slim possibility Akileena could convince Curtin to let him travel to Venshui to see to his brother. Curtin had already allowed him to contact Venshui. His brother had been found in a coma-like state, and the healer could not determine the cause, nor get through Andarin's personal barriers to investigate further. As kin, Akileena had the best chance of achieving such a feat.

  Akileena looked about, decided this spot was as good as any.

  'Set camp,' he directed, dismounting without further consultation.

  The escort remained silent, dismounting and unpacking their gear. As long as Akileena was fulfilling Malithorn's orders, his instructions were followed.

  Day 1 – Evening

  Sal-Cirus

  As soon as he opened the door, Ko-rayen found himself engulfed in mage fire. It was a good thing he had put up talented shields before stepping in, Ko-rayen thought. But then, this was Linuk they had captured. They? He. He had captured Linuk the matriarch and heir of the House of Dai-tur. She was also one of a rare few mages who had planes-walker training.

  He could not believe that it was just a sennat ago that she had managed to steal Leyhera from Nisari. The journey-walker had been Colnba and Nisari's prisoner in Denas, but they had decided to transfer him to Sal-Cirus so Ko-rayen could examine Leyhera's dreams. Toormeena had warned him that he would be in a confrontation that could end in his death, and Linuk had come very close to killing him. That was why he had, initially, let her take Leyhera. But then Colnba had instructed him see if he could track her down. After expending so much energy getting Leyhera and fighting Ko-rayen, Colnba thought that she might be too exhausted to resist a second attempt to corner her. He had been right. It had taken him a day and half, but he had finally tracked Linuk to the southern arm of the Khira Ranges. Leyhera had not been with her; she must have left him with some trusted rebel colleague, Ko-rayen had surmised. But after all her talented exertion, she was greatly diminished and Ko-rayen had been able to subdue her. This was the first time, since bringing her to this hidden room, that he had entered the room, so he had been expecting a fight, after all, Linuk had had time to recover.

  Ko-rayen did nothing to stop the mage fire. He needed her to exhaust herself again so he could tighten the wards he was using to keep her captive and prevent her from sending for help. He looked placidly through the blue haze created by the flame. He reconsidered his estimation on how long it would take for her to tire herself out, the Dai-tur mage already looked like a wreck. She must have been fighting the wards. Her face was an unhealthy pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her gold-blue hair was damp with sweat and her body was trembling, the muscles over-wrought. Only Linuk's eyes did not radiate weariness, the blue flecks in the gold irises were practically ablaze. Her body may be weakened, but her spirit was still ready for a battle.

  'Do you not think it would be more sensible to stop trying to breach your wards and enjoy a soothing bath?' he asked calmly.

  The mage fire diminished and Linuk paced back, one hand holding her side.

  He had stabbed her there, that was how he had caught her, the wound had been mortal. He had healed it, partially. Enough so she would not die, but not enough that she would immediately be strong enough to attempt an escape.

  'Sensible, you say?' Linuk looked off to the side as she seemed to consider it. She turned her gaze back to him. 'I think what you mean is, I should make things easy for you. But, I have no such intentions.'

  With that, Ko-rayen found himself engulfed in mage-lightning.

  It crackled and snapped around his talented shields. It was not physically harming him, but it was draining him — fast. He struck back. With the wards restricting her, Linuk had no shields and as the lightning wrapped about her she passed out, dropping to the floor near the bed. For a long moment Ko-rayen hesitated. She could be feigning unconsciousness. Then, deciding that with the wards he would be safe enough, Ko-rayen moved over to her to scoop her up and place her on the bed.

  The Ko-renti mage went to the bathroom and prepared a bath, adding a mix of salts that helped ease the aching muscles that was often caused by extended use of talent. He also checked the cooler, the salad and vegetables he had left in there were untouched. He sighed irritably. When mages used a great deal of talent, but did not eat enough, their bodies robbed their muscles for energy. She could make herself very ill.

  He could not force her to eat, but he could use a trick healers
employed. It was considered indirect healing and so would not be a matter of his will dominating hers. He triggered the release of hormones into her system that would make her feel hungry.

  The mage took a seat on the chair near the desk. He was going to be here a while. Then, grimacing, Ko-rayen shifted to the plane where he could see the wards restraining Linuk. They obviously needed to be much tighter. Ko-rayen started a new set of wards, leaving a glowing net of talent about the Dai-tur mage, closing the gaps so Linuk could not use them to access the planes.

  Day 1 – Evening

  Sal-Cirus

  Toormeena sat placidly in the wicker armchair as Thane Kennelm paced around the room. Well, he was marching, really, each step moving in time to an inaudible drum. Inside, she was nervous. Ko-rayen had not been in contact for days — in fact it had been almost a sennat. The last time she had been left alone with an interrogator she had been extensively scarred, both mentally and physically.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the Thane's sharp tone, 'You can hide behind courtesy all you like, Toormeena, but I will have answers.'

  'I have told you all I can, Lord Kennelm.'

  She felt the Thane's breath by her ear. 'Oh, I doubt that,' he murmured harshly.

  A moment later Nathan snatched up her hand and twisted her wrist. The searing, sharp pain that lanced through her body brought Toormeena out of the chair and on to her knees.

  Nathan retained hold of her hand, ensuring the pain continued.

  'When The Prophecy speaks of silver and black hair, does it refer to two elvan, one with black hair, one with silver?'

  Toormeena gasped as he twisted her wrist a fraction more, triggering a new spasm of pain, 'I do not know, my lord.'