Oathbreaker: A Tale of the Wilds

by R J Murray

  Stone rained down around Mia as a wave of air with the force of thrown iron crashed into the stalagmite she cowered behind. She risked a glance and caught a brief glimpse of the minotaur as he was thrown against the wall. He dropped to one knee, chest heaving and nostrils flaring with his rising anger.

  “Let those other fools die!” Wynn called. “We can leave here and know wealth and power like none before us.”

  A scream sounded as Kristdor was caught in a blast of fiery magic and he lay on the cavern floor, his breastplate hanging loosely from torn leather straps and his goatee smoking gently. He coughed once and then passed out.

  “Gods be with me,” Mia whispered as she formed a spear of air. It was the last of her magic and she could feel how drained she was.

  She reached into her satchel and pulled out her last iron nail. With a heavy sigh, she formed the spell and the nail crumbled in her hand. She rose up from her hiding place and threw it towards where the mage was hidden but it stopped short, caught against a shield of air and then dropped to the ground.

  “That is the best you can do? Pathetic.” Wynn rose to his feet, an evil grin on his fat face. “Can you not feel it, girl! The sleeper awakens!”

  Mia shook her head and raised her dagger. She’d have one chance and one only.

  “Come now, girl. Watch with me as one of our companions dies and seals that ancient fool in a trap it shall never escape.”

  “I’ll fight beside them once I gut, you,” she snapped back, and his laughter rang out.

  The pressure against her skull was almost too much to bear and she pressed her hands against it. The mere awakening of the ancient being was pain beyond any she had known before, she had no idea what it would be like to be in his presence when he was fully awoken.

  “Last chance, girl. Join with me or face the same fate as them.”

  “I choose them,” she said dashing from her hiding place and running straight at the mage.

  As soon as she began to move, Braphus lifted a chunk of fallen rock that was larger than Mia’s head and flung it straight at the mage. He ducked to the side but in doing so, his aim was off and the spell he loosed sailed harmlessly past her.

  His eyes widened as she came towards him, dagger raised high.

  Syn heaved himself to his feet and using the shaking stalagmites for support, he hobbled over to where his friends stood. They had been the first to call him friend in the strange northlands and he wouldn’t let them die alone.

  Amina flashed him a smile that soon faded as a sound like thunder echoed through the chamber. The ancient ascendant's eyes began to open, slowly at first revealing golden orbs that glowed in a way that caught her breath.

  She raised her own golden mace and sent one last, final prayer to her goddess.

  “Is it supposed to do that?” Syn asked as silence fell with an abrupt suddenness.

  The ascendant sat where it had been, but its eyes had stopped opening and as they watched, they closed once more, the creature falling back into its slumber. Amina, eyes wide, turned to scan the cavern with her gaze and gasped as she saw Mia, standing still, a bloody blade in her hand.

  “It is done,” Braphus called. “The oathbreaker is dead.”

  Epilogue

  Amina wiped the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her grubby white robe and pushed herself to her feet. She wobbled slightly and Jochum was beside her immediately to hold her, his arms slipping easily around her waist in support.

  “My thanks,” she said with a weary smile.

  On the ground before her, Syn rubbed at his leg. The healing had been arduous but the power the priestess could bring to bear was not small. He flexed his leg and pushed himself to his feet, doing a little hop as he tested it.

  “Be careful!” Mia snapped at him. “You need to take your time.”

  “I’m good, lass.” He grinned his thanks at Amina. “Always a pleasure to have you with us, priestess.”

  “That’s high priestess these days,” Amina said with a smile that soon faded. “Or it was anyway.”

  Her healing magic had worked wonders on the group and even the injuries Braphus had gained from before the fight in the cavern had been healed fully. He watched the priestess with something close to awe. His people had no gods to pray to, just the mother of their race who had died long ago.

  “What now?” Mia asked and was met with blank looks. “I mean, the oath you made is done. That… thing, is trapped for eternity.”

  “Or until some other adventurer finds this place and figures out a way to release it,” Kristdor said.

  “Which is why no one else shall ever learn of this place’s location,” Amina said sternly, and the former captain nodded.

  “Well, it has been exciting, but I have a city to return to. My absence has no doubt been noted. They will need to hear of the killer’s death and who its real master was.”

  “You can ride back with us,” Jochum offered. “Tis the least we can do as thanks for your aid.”

  “My thanks, but I was hoping for a more direct route.” He looked at the high priestess who shook her head slowly.

  “It would need more power than I have to make another bridge. Was only due to the stolen lifeforce that monster carried that I could make the first.”

  “Ah, now that is a shame.”

  Kristdor scratched at the burnt hair of his goatee and looked away. A swift return would have allowed him to plead his case before the council. They could have called in a truth seeker to confirm his story and he could have saved himself.

  Not knowing where exactly he was but well aware it was somewhere in the wilds, he knew it would be a seven-days journey at least to the city from the edge of the wilds. Ample time for his mother to draw up a warrant for his arrest.

  There would be no easy return for him and the longer he was away the more likely he would be killed on sight. His mother would do everything she could to maintain her ambitions even if that meant the death of her only son.

  Elva pushed herself up and stretched, pressing her hands against the small of her back and easing the muscles there. The damage had been healed but the tension remained and all she could think about was returning to her family.

  “What of you, my friend?” Jochum asked the minotaur.

  “I shall return to the place where my kin lie.”

  Mia reached up, placing her hand on his arm. Whenever he spoke of those he had lost there was such pain and sorrow in his voice that it made her heart ache to hear it. She glanced at Jochum, a pleading look in her eyes.

  “You should come with us,” she said.

  “I would not be welcome where you travel,” Braphus said. “And my journey is here, in the wild lands.”

  “To be fair, we’ll be coming back,” Syn said with a grin he directed at his warrior friend. “I’m certain that while Wynn offered to cover your expenses, he didn’t actually pay you anything.”

  Jochum's eyes widened and he looked over to where the fat mage lay, his body still and open eyes staring sightlessly at the cavern ceiling. It hadn’t even occurred to him to think that far ahead. He owed coin for the cargo he had sold, and he had debts of his own that came from running an airship.

  “Corruption take his soul!” he snapped as Syn laughed.

  “See, we’ll be back sooner than you might think. There’s wealth aplenty to be found here for those who can risk the journey. Though it would help to have a warrior like you with us.”

  “We owe you an axe too,” Mia added as she watched Jochum mutter curses beneath his breath.

  In truth, the warrior hadn’t thought much beyond reaching the cavern. He hadn’t even imagined that he would survive. Now that he had, he was left with the realisation that he had an airship, no real crew, no cargo and no coin.

  “Tis the least we can do,” he said finally as he fought for calm. “Come with us, at least to the edge of the wilds.”

  The minotaur considered their words. There was little but memories to keep him near the
village and the longer he remained, the more weight those memories carried. If he stayed too long, he could not be sure he would have the strength to ever leave.

  Besides which, there was word to spread amongst the clans. Samel was alive, if in slumber. While they could not kill him, they could hold to their own oath to their mother and ensure no one else ever had the chance to wake him.

  “I will travel with you, for a short ways at least.”

  “Excellent,” Syn said and looked at Amina. “What about you, pretty one?”

  Kristdor turned to look at the priestess too, intensely curious about her decision. Knowing that she wasn’t the mastermind behind the killings had brought back those feelings that had been stirring since he’d met her.

  Knowing that the large and undoubtedly handsome warrior she clung to was the loved one she had fought lost to her, was a challenge, but not one that he was willing to avoid.

  “My temple is empty, the faithful dead. I have to return and clear my name and restore Ysnir’s presence to the city.” She looked at the large warrior beside her and her eyes were full of a love she had long lost any hope of having again. “But it is no longer my home. I would travel with you a ways.”

  “My daughter needs my presence,” Elva said before Syn could speak again. “But no doubt I will see you again sometime in the future.”

  Mia smiled at that. She had come to love each and every one of her new friends in just the short time she had been with them and she had no real desire to return to the little village and its inn. Besides which, she had seen some wonders and just begun to learn of the magic she could wield. She had no intention of leaving the others.

  “For what it is worth, my friend,” Syn said as he tossed a small leather pouch to the warrior. “This is all the coin he had.”

  Jochum weighed the pouch in his hand, feeling the comforting weight of gold and managed a smile. It wasn’t anywhere near enough but it was a start.

  “I’d like to go home,” Corporal Snorri said into the silence. “If it’s all the same to you fine folk, I’m a little old for adventure. Besides, this little one needs her family.”

  “I’m afraid she is an orphan,” Amina said, her smile fading as she looked at the child. “The only survivor of that killer.”

  Snorri looked over at the still body of the former constable and nodded glumly. He lifted the girl higher against his shoulder. “Still, she might have some family back home.”

  “We will take you home,” Jochum said. “We can do that much for you at least as thanks.”

  There was little left to be said and they gathered their few belongings and headed towards the door. The artefacts went untouched, no one wanting to risk crossing the line of the seal to risk taking them.

  Besides which, there was a deep unease about taking anything belonging to that great evil and it was an unspoken agreement amongst them that they would leave well alone.

  Syn fell in beside Mia and handed her a leather satchel with a wink. She took it and lifted the leather flap to peer inside, eyebrows rising.

  “Some expensive reagents in there,” the thief said. “And his book of spells too. Makes sense for you to have them.”

  “Thanks,” Mia said, not quite sure how to respond.

  “Way I figure it, the sooner you learn some real magic, the more chance we have of surviving,” he said with a wink. “Best get started on that.”

  Their shared laughed echoed through the cavern as they left, headed up the tunnel and back towards the surface. They still had a ways to go to where Til would be waiting with the airship and after that, untold adventures awaited them.

  An evil had been defeated, lovers reunited, and a young woman had found herself a purpose. Each of them walked with their heads high, knowing they had triumphed against all the odds and that whatever came next, they would face together.

  None of them saw the corpse of the former corporal shift, body shuddering as the limbs trembled. Roving hands searched the cavern floor for the head. Once found, they pulled it close to its severed neck and the darkness reached out, seeking to re-join the body parts together.

  In moments, the head was once again attached, and the black armoured form rose to its feet. The dark armour fell away, the smiling face of Corporal Asa showing once more. She crossed to the body of the dead mage and reached down, patting at his robes until she found the secret pocket and the small black stone it contained.

  She pulled it out and looked at it for a long time as the light from Wynn’s spell finally began to fade. Her hand closed around it, squeezing hard and it shattered. She let the shards fall, smile widening as she found herself, for the first time in over a thousand years, completely free.

  Note from the Author.

  I hope you enjoyed this story, I know I did. The Company of the Raven will be around for some time and there are adventures aplenty to come. The world is a large place and in this book we have visited a small part of it.

  When the adventures continue, you will find them announced here: https://www.facebook.com/KillingtheDead/ where you will also find information on my first series of books and all the others I have written. You might like to take a wander over and have a look if you enjoyed this story.

  Thank you for reading and I hope to keep providing stories for you to enjoy for some time yet. I have a pretty full release schedule and full details can be found at the link above.

  Richard Murray.