Child of Fate

by Jason Halstead

  “You did,” Karthor reminded him.

  “Well, you’re here now, aren’t you?”

  “Only because you feared me spending time at the church of Leander.”

  “Rightfully so!” Kar declared. “Pedophiles and hedonists, the lot of them!”

  “Father!” Karthor snapped. “Leander would not allow such a thing amongst his followers!”

  Kar harrumphed. “Patron of growth all right—the growth a priest gets in his robes when he sees a new acolyte.”

  “Kar!” Tristam snapped. “We’re miles from allies, deep underground, and short on supplies. Try not to upset our healer.”

  Kar scowled but bit off any further comments. Karthor walked past Alto across the bridge, a barely contained grin on his face. When Alto raised his eyes to Kar, he saw the wizard wink at him. Alto risked a glance at the priest. He wasn’t sure what was going on between the two but he knew it wasn’t nearly as bad as their squabbling sounded.

  “Alto, up front with me,” Tristam called out. “William, take his place. You’re better with your crossbow than your sword.”

  William offered Alto a salute and waited for the others to move ahead so he could take the boy’s place in line next to Patrina. Namitus trailed after Alto as they moved off single file down the new tunnel.

  The cave twisted and went up; crude steps chipped out of the rocks made the passage easier in spite of the dampness coating the walls and floor. The mines had been dry once they’d gotten away from the back door Alto and Drefan had found, but since they’d left the mines behind and crossed the river everything, even the air, had a chilling moistness to it.

  The cave ahead of Tristam leveled out briefly and branched off into a small room. He swung his torch into the opening and jumped back as a goblin shrieked and leapt out at him. Alto reacted without thinking, stepping around his leader and hacking into the back of the goblin deeply enough to sever its spine and leave his sword lodged in its back. Alto put his foot to the goblin and wrenched his sword free, and then looked to the dark chamber, expecting reinforcements.

  “They’re down to the females now,” Tristam said after nothing attacked them.

  Alto glanced down and saw that Tristam was right. The goblin he’d killed was female. He stiffened, appalled at what he’d done. She hadn’t even been wielding a weapon, he realized. She’d leapt at Tristam with bared teeth and dirty fingernails.

  Tristam entered the small room while Alto continued to stare at her. The others gathered round, some following Tristam until the room was full.

  “It didn’t matter to her that we were men and she wasn’t,” Namitus offered. “She’d have killed us all if she could.”

  Alto nodded. It made sense, but it didn’t take away the feeling that he’d done something he shouldn’t have. He looked up and saw Trina staring at him from the entry into the chamber. Her eyes widened when their gazes met but only for an instant before she turned away.

  “Let’s go,” Tristam said as he emerged from the chamber. He climbed up the next staircase, favoring his injured hip, and forced Alto to hurry after him.

  They found three more small chambers. The first had some crude possessions, a goblin’s treasures that held no real value. The second had two more goblins in it, both of them female. They hissed and shouted at them but William’s crossbow and Tristam’s sword ended their protest. Even for goblins, they looked short. Alto wondered if all the goblin women were like that.

  The third chamber was the largest yet, but still not big enough for all of them to enter. The cave’s floor had scraps of crude clothing, tufts of hair, and a few bits of bone scattered about. It was a flat spot on the back wall of the small room that drew their attention most. Scratched into the stone was the picture that Alto thought was a giant bird at first.

  “This doesn’t bode well,” Kar muttered when he studied the crude art work.

  “This carving could have been here for ages,” Tristam said.

  Kar studied {it} closer and shook his head. “With the water running down the walls, it would be worn down were that the case.”

  “What are you saying?” Tristam growled.

  Kar turned and stared at Alto. “Come, boy, what do you think?”

  “This is no time for lessons!” Tristam snapped.

  Kar held up his hand to stall Tristam. “The lesson may be for you or for me; now let our young friend answer.”

  Alto swallowed and studied the picture again. The lines between the bird’s beak and the ground didn’t look like worms. For that matter, the mouth didn’t look much like a beak; it was more like the snout of a horse or a dog. Alto’s eyes widened. Birds didn’t have arms either, like the picture did.

  “Dragon?” Alto whispered.

  Kar nodded, confirming Alto’s youthful imagination.

  But dragons were big. Huge, even, from the tales he’d heard. None had been seen for years in the Northern Divide, at least not since he’d turned eight. Alto thought back, trying to remember the last time he’d heard about one. His father had given him Sebas and then had to ride out to tend to some business the next day. He’d been so caught up in caring for the foal and taking the lion’s share of the chores, he’d never paid much attention to why his father had been gone. It was a week before he’d returned. A week where his mother had been quick to snap at the slightest offense.

  “A dragon wouldn’t fit in these caves,” Alto offered. “If the goblin women live in these parts, maybe they draw pictures and tell tales to their children, just as people do.”

  Tristam and William laughed at his suggestion. Kar’s expression remained fixed. “Mayhaps they do, but I doubt their nursery rhymes are the same as the ones you were told.”

  Alto’s eyes were drawn to Trina. She glanced at him and looked away again, and then raised her face back up to meet him. Alto gasped. Trina was a princess! Didn’t dragons always favor stealing princesses and maidens in the stories?

  “Trina,” he blurted out. “Maybe she was taken as a gift for the dragon? She’s a princess!”

  “I’m not a princess!” she growled.

  Tristam and William looked at her, not because of her outburst, but because of the idea Alto had stumbled across.

  Kar chuckled. “She’d taste the same as any one of us, I fear. Perhaps a bit sweeter.” He paused as she turned her baleful glare upon him. He offered a grin and shrug before adding, “Or perhaps not.”

  “Gerald!” Alto whispered. He stared at Kar as his mind matched the events to justify his fears. “The scratches on the ground and the lack of signs.”

  Kar nodded. “Perhaps. We don’t know enough.”

  “This is what you were afraid of, isn’t it?”

  Kar nodded.

  “You suspected a dragon?” Tristam asked.

  “It’s a possibility, nothing more. A probability now, really, but at the time it was speculation and little more. I had nothing to support it.”

  “And now you’ve got a goblin’s sketch on the wall,” Tristam said. “I’m not convinced. Dragons don’t hide so well and we’ve heard of no sign of one in this area for years.”

  Kar smiled. “I hope you’re right.”

  The leader of the Blades grunted. “Let’s keep moving. My torch is starting to sputter. At least we’re headed up now. The goblins are sure to have another exit from these caves and I mean to feel fresh air on my face again.”

  The cave branched out several times; each of the side passages showed signs of being worked with crude tools. Crude and short—proof that the goblins had done the work to widen cracks and create small rooms. Rather than wasting time on the cubbies, they pushed ahead until the passage opened on the right into a large room even by human standards. It was lit by a pile of glowing coals and burning timbers that rested in a depression in the floor of the cave. The other item of interest about the room was that it was already occupied by four goblins and a single man that used a long walking stick.

  William’s crossbow fired with a solid cra
ck of the arms extending fully. The bolt hit the man with the staff high on his chest, spinning him around and knocking him to the floor. Tristam ran forward, rushing toward the handful of goblins that were gathered near the fire.

  Alto hurried after Tristam, angling to his left. He stumbled, a tingling sensation passing through him. He felt a strange lethargy gripping his legs and fought against it. Unable to make his legs move as fast as his upper body, he tipped forward, off balance, and slammed into the ground. His shield broke, the straps on his arm tearing free and sending the reinforced wooden disc skidding into the fire pit.

  “Kill the shaman!” Tristam howled.

  Alto looked up and saw that Tristam was on his knees and struggling to rise up. He put his arms down, struggling to move his numb legs so that they would support him. He was halfway up when he saw Trina rush past him and intercept a tall goblin with a curved sword. Alto stared, stunned momentarily by what he saw. The sword in the goblin’s hands looked to be worth more than his father’s farm.

  Trina reversed course and leapt back from the first swing of the goblin’s scimitar. She kept her knees crouched and ready, and then attacked with her own blade. The goblin blocked her strikes, deflecting her blade just enough to send it wide. It countered, slicing back at her but the curvature of the sword made the strike fall short of his intended mark.

  Namitus threw his sword to slow the two goblins that were rushing to finish Tristam off. He reached the kneeling warrior in time and snatched his blade out of his hand. Tristam cried out at finding himself disarmed. His curse died on his lips when he saw Namitus knock a spear aside with the sword and then thrust his dagger into the goblin’s throat. He jerked it out and circled around the dying goblin, keeping the other one from being able to attack him.

  When the goblin fell, Namitus flipped his dagger so that he held it by the tip instead of the hilt. He snapped his arm forward, throwing the dagger so that it bounced off the axe-wielding goblin’s head. The creature cried out in pain and stumbled to the side, right into Namitus’s sword.

  “Can you stand?” Karthor asked Alto, distracting the boy warrior from the fight that was raging before him.

  “If I could stand, I would be!” Alto hissed.

  Trina lashed out with her sword, drawing the goblin to try to knock her blade aside. Each attack was a little farther out, forcing him to reach and overextend. She waited until his blade was far out to her right and kicked her left leg into his side, sending him scrambling after his sword.

  The small cavern was lit up by a burst of brilliance. A jagged burst of white light left spots in Alto’s vision. A clap of air brushed over him, sucking a flare of flames away across his field of vision and ruining his vision again. When he blinked the colors and spots away, he saw a goblin laying on the ground and still twitching. Smoke rose from the body.

  Alto turned to give Kar an open-mouthed stare. The wizard was moving forward and working another spell, ignoring the stunned young man. Alto scrambled to his feet, eager to help Trina. He stopped when realized he had control of his feet back. The goblin Kar had killed must have been the shaman that had taken him and Tristam out of the fight.

  The man William had wounded was rising back up. He dodged the next bolt William sent his way and slammed his iron-shod staff down against the rocks. A burst of orange light leapt out from Kar and slammed into an invisible wall around the opposing wizard. The energy spilled around the shield like water over a rock but dissipated before it could strike the man.

  Trina cried out, injured by the goblin’s scimitar. Hearing her yelp pulled Alto out of his stupor. He ran forward, brandishing his sword, and drove it down in a crude but powerful overhand strike. The goblin raised his curved sword to block it but Alto knew he was strong enough to drive the goblin’s defenses out of the way. Rather than succeeding, Alto’s blade shattered at the point of impact, the tip spinning and tearing a hole in the goblin’s back before it fell free to the ground.

  Alto stood and stared at the useless weapon in his hands. The goblin hissed, baring its teeth. Alto realized the creature was laughing at him. His hand fell to his waist, finding and pulling his dagger free. The goblin’s laugh turned to a contemptuous sneer.

  Alto leapt to the side, away from the first swipe of the dangerous weapon in the humanoid’s hands. As soon as he moved laterally, Trina lunged forward from behind him and thrust her sword into the goblin’s chest. Her sword pulled free from the goblin as she fell, her robes preventing her from stretching her legs enough to keep her balance.

  The goblin staggered back. It fell to its knees and dropped the scimitar. A moment later it fell onto its side, dead.

  Alto looked past the goblin warrior to the dueling wizards. Kar’s spell had spread to surround the other man in a nimbus of orange and yellow light. Only the magical defenses kept him safe. Those failed a moment later, crumbling in as Kar’s focus proved superior. The offensive spell swept in on the defeated wizard and left him screaming in agony as it consumed him in a matter of seconds.

  Tristam was also on his feet by then. He turned back to the others, appraising the situation. “You okay?” he asked Alto.

  Alto nodded. “Same as you—when the shaman died, I could move again.”

  Tristam grunted and turned to Trina. “You?”

  “Cut my leg,” she said. She wiped her blade off and sheathed it, and then reached down to probe the hole in her robes. She frowned, and then looked up at Alto. “Turn around.”

  Alto frowned. “What? Why?”

  She sighed. “Fine, stay there then!” Trina turned around, favoring her right leg, and pulled up her robe. She inspected the wound and dropped her robe before turning around again. The fabric in front of her leg clung to her skin wetly. “Cut deeper than I thought,” she admitted.

  Karthor moved up to her. “I’ll bandage it,” he offered. She frowned as she looked at him and then her eyes went to Alto.

  “I’ll turn around,” Alto offered, understanding the privacy she’d wanted the first time now. It seemed a foolish time for modesty until he realized he wasn’t sure what he’d do if he had seen her legs.

  Trina still looked doubtful. She pressed her hand against her thigh, the placement showing the cut was high on her leg.

  “By the saints,” Kar scoffed. “He’s a priest—a naked woman is the last thing he’s likely to be interested in! I hope he does get an eyeful and proves me wrong—this is a fine test.”

  Karthor sighed. “You hold your robe where you feel safe,” he offered.

  Patrina nodded. “Go ahead.”

  Alto and the others looked away while Karthor examined her wound and bandaged it. “A clean cut,” he offered when he’d finished. “Not what I’d expect of a goblin.”

  Patrina lowered her robe and put some weight on her leg. She winced and then nodded. “His sword wasn’t a goblin blade. I’ve never seen its like.”

  “It came from the southern lands,” Namitus offered. “It’s a scimitar. I’ve seen them before; they’re a weapon of skill and elegance.”

  Tristam walked over and picked up the fallen scimitar. He swung it a few times and scowled. “Alto, your blade’s broken, do you want it?”

  Alto took the sword from Tristam and did as the elder warrior had, swinging it to feel its weight and balance. It seemed like a fine weapon, but it was one he had no idea how to use. He turned to Namitus and thrust it hilt-first toward the man.

  Namitus handed Tristam back his sword before taking the scimitar. He studied it, a smile spreading across his face. He swung it and nodded. “I’ll take it!”

  “It’s yours,” Tristam said. He grinned. “A fine blade like that counts as your share of the bounty, though.”

  Namitus shrugged. “A fitting deal.”

  “Here,” Tristam said, handing Alto the sword Namitus had thrown earlier. “It’s not a broadsword so don’t swing it like one; you’ll break it straight away.”

  Alto tried to smile through the redness on his cheeks. He sheathe
d it and felt how loose it was in his scabbard. He turned around and saw Trina testing her leg. He moved closer to her and asked, “Are you okay?”

  She jumped, surprised he was so close to her. She winced from the pain in her leg and then smoothed her expression. She looked at him and nodded. A redness spread across her cheeks beyond what even the glow from the fire pit imparted. “What’s next?”

  “Alto’s to be gathering trophies,” Tristam reminded the young man. “Then we’ll see where this passage takes us. My money’s on us reaching the surface before nightfall.”

  “Too late,” Kar muttered.

  “What?”

  “We’ve been hours in these caves; it’s well past dusk.”

  William yawned, drawing a glare from Tristam.

  “All right, we’ll rest here then. William, Alto, Namitus, get those bodies out of here. Kar, what are you doing?”

  Kar looked up from where he was using a knife to pick apart the charred robes of the enemy wizard. “It’s a wizard thing,” he muttered. He pulled out a few pouches that had escaped the immolation and inspected the contents. A moment later, they disappeared into his own pockets, and then he worked a ring off the dead wizard’s blackened finger.

  “Then do your wizard thing and help get rid of him,” Tristam said. “I don’t want to sleep next to a corpse. Alto, William, you’ll take first watch. Namitus, you’re with me on the second. Trina, you and Karthor take the third.”

  “What about Kar?” Namitus asked.

  Kar grinned. “I’m a wizard; we need time and rest to focus our energies.” He looked around, his smile changing to a scowl. “Not that there’ll be much rest on a cold stone floor.”

  “Hey! It’s not wet anymore!” Alto noticed.

  Kar chuckled at his excitement. “Proof the surface is near.”

  “Why stay here then?”

  “Because we know what’s here and we can defend this room—there are only two entrances. Out there we might find a goblin village or worse,” Tristam explained.

  Worse? Alto frowned. After the carving on the wall, worse might mean a dragon. The thought of a night spent curled up against a stone wall seemed like a fine idea to him.