The Path of Ashes [Omnibus Edition]

by Parker, Brian

  The clan’s Teaching echoed in Scratch’s mind as he stared in disgust at the waste of potential. He pushed himself up and sauntered over to the prisoner. Besides fighting, wrestling and swordsmanship, the Teaching was the only formal education that the Vultures’ youth received.

  Vultures are warriors. The land belongs to us. Your sworn enemy is the Traxx, they are the reason the land is sick, and they are the weak. You are not afraid. Vultures are true men; all others are weak and seek to pass their weakness on to their children. A true man destroys the weak and fights until his dying breath. Your life is worthless if you do not fight for the clan. The future is ours for the taking. Vultures are warriors.

  The Teaching continued to echo through Scratch’s mind. “On your knees, you piece of shit,” he ordered.

  The man complied, pushing himself up awkwardly with his shoulder. He sat back on his lower legs, still almost as tall as Scratch, who stood in front of him.

  The Vulture leaned in close, studying his enemy. His face was pockmarked, evidence that he’d survived some illness long ago. Tears streamed down over strong, prominent cheekbones. His shoulders bulged against the pressure of having his hands tied behind his back and his thick clavicles were exposed.

  Scratch had learned that the bones of the Traxx animals were much harder to break than those of the Vulture warriors. He’d cracked them open, compared them to those of fallen Vultures; their bones were heavier and thicker than those of his people. It didn’t make sense to him. How did an obviously weaker race like the Traxx have stronger bones than the righteous Vulture clan?

  “Why are you so different than us, Traxx?”

  “I… I’m not a Traxx!” the man sputtered.

  “Yes, you are. Do not try to lie to me.”

  “I promise you. My surname is Anderson. The Traxx live in Homelake. I—”

  Scratch cut him off, slamming the pommel of his dagger into the liar’s temple. The Traxx collapsed onto the floor once more, knocked senseless. He untied the rope around his pants and pulled his dick out. His urine splashed across the Traxx’s face.

  “Wake up, worm. Wake up!”

  The pathetic creature gagged and spat, turning his head to try to avoid the hot liquid streaming down onto him. His only respite came when Scratch ran out of piss.

  “I’ll ask you again, Traxx. Why are your people different than mine?”

  He blinked away the remnants of the humiliation and looked around the room at the gathered Vultures. “Different?”

  Scratch lashed out, kicking him violently in the stomach. He was tiring of this man’s games. “I will explain it so even a simpleton could understand, which obviously you are. We are shorter, with ropes of muscle like old world steel. You and your kind are tall, often lumbering giants with large, useless muscles, and your bones are as hard as concrete. Why the difference?”

  “I don’t know!” the prisoner cried. “I’m as tall as my father was.”

  “So your Seers have nothing to do with making you this way?”

  A look of confusion spread across his face. “I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never met a Seer before.”

  The man was worthless. Scratch smiled wickedly at him. “Did you see our cooking fires?”

  “Uh…”

  “Those are for you. See, you Traxx may be bigger, but that just means you provide more meat for the true warriors and masters of this land.”

  Scratch flicked his wrist at the Vultures who’d brought the prisoner inside and they grabbed him, pulling the struggling man roughly back toward the outside.

  I hate them. I hate them all.

  TEN

  The Keep’s hallways were cold and dark. It shouldn’t be this cold, Tanya thought, pulling her robe tighter around her small frame. She clutched the hilt of the dagger that rested in its sheath inside her pocket. She always had a weapon of some type with her these days; the threat from the Vulture army outside the walls was too great to risk being unarmed. She’d found that the small knife was especially useful if she had to fight in close quarters, like the building’s hallway.

  She walked from her private chambers toward the nursery where her baby, Michael, slept. She’d been woken by a nightmare, a dream of her children being murdered when the Vultures attacked the city. The princess knew that her imagination tended to run into overdrive this time of year. It had been twenty years since slavers attacked the old Traxx compound in the middle of the night. In the attack, her cousins, Caleb and Varan, were abducted, her uncle Luke was killed and her grandfather’s brother was killed by a demonbroc. It’d been a traumatic night for a seven year old girl.

  Tanya arrived at the nursery. The heavy steel door was closed, as it should have been, and she contemplated not disturbing her children since the Guard was in place, but the feeling that something was amiss wouldn’t leave her. She nodded to the man sitting beside the entrance and tried the handle. Locked.

  A slight sigh of relief passed over her lips. The baby was still secure inside. She tapped gently on the doorframe, rewarded with the sounds of the nursemaid stirring inside.

  Clarissa followed the protocols and asked, “Who is it? The prince is sleeping.” She sounded annoyed at the late intrusion on her own sleep.

  “Clarissa, it’s Tanya. Something felt wrong, so I wanted to check on Michael.”

  “He’s sleeping, My Lady. You’re the only visitor that we’ve had tonight.”

  “No one has come to see you? Not even his brother or sister?” she clarified.

  “No. Once we locked the door for the evening, there have been no disturbances. Do you want me to remove the locks?”

  “No, thank you. Go back to sleep, my mind is just playing tricks on me.”

  “Yes, My Lady,” Clarissa responded.

  Tanya waited for a few more seconds and then turned down the hallway to go to the twins’ room. They were six, which meant that they were loud at night as they protested their bedtime, so they’d been moved from the nursery once Michael was born. Otherwise, the baby would have never slept.

  She peeked around the corner and saw the two Guards sitting attentively beside the door to the adjoining bedchambers.

  “M’Lady!” the older of the two Guards whispered, jumping to his feet when he noticed her.

  She placed a hand on his arm. “Good evening, Frederick. I had a strange feeling, so I wanted to check on our babies.”

  “They are secure inside. I wouldn’t let anything happen to them.”

  “I know.” Am I being paranoid? She hesitated, then after a moment’s pause she said, “I wish to check on them.”

  “Of course,” Frederick replied. “James, can you watch the doorway? Secure it behind us.”

  “Yes, Sergeant. Tap the code when you’re ready to leave.” Tanya nodded her approval of the Guard’s protocol. Since the attacks by the Vultures, security of the Traxx family had increased even more than it had before. The Keep felt like a true fortress these days.

  Once the door was secure behind them, Tanya grasped Frederick’s hand and they walked side-by-side through the entryway to the twins’ bedchambers. “What do you think is wrong?” Frederick asked.

  “I don’t know. I just have a feeling that something is.”

  He squeezed her hand lightly. “It’s been twenty years, right?”

  She nodded and wrinkled her nose at the sour smell in the twins’ suite. She’d have to have the maintenance man examine their bathroom. The toilets in the building were still operational, flushed by pouring water into the reservoir behind the seat, but it was far from a perfect system. The refuse went into a gigantic underground tank far from The Keep that had overflowed before, causing a disgusting, smelly mess inside the building and out in the field. It had taken a crew of ten men several weeks to clean the filth out of the tank, using buckets and hauling the night soil off in carts to be used as fertilizer.

  “Yes,” she acknowledged, making a note to have the septic tank examined. “Twenty years ago today, my cousins were abdu
cted and we’ve never known their fate. They’re dead, in all likelihood, but I wish we knew for certain.”

  “It’s just your mind playing tricks on you, then, dredging up memories of the past. The Keep is secure. See?” He gestured to the bricked-over window in Jensen’s room. The small space at the top that wasn’t sealed to allow in fresh air was firmly locked for the night. The boy slept soundly on the old, worn mattress, small noises escaping his lips when he breathed out.

  She nodded in the darkness. “Looks like you’re right. I guess I’m feeling nostalgic.”

  “It’s okay; you’re allowed to, Tanya.”

  Tanya bumped her shoulder into him, “Sorry to make you leave your card game.”

  “Mmm…hmm,” he murmured, turning toward Jade’s room “What’s that smell?”

  “I noticed it too,” she answered, relieved that at least one of her senses wasn’t going crazy. Maybe I’m pregnant again, she thought in a panic. Michael was only three months old. It was much too soon for her to have another child.

  A thump in the next room made her jump. Frederick slowly drew his sword so as not to make more noise than necessary. “What is it?” she asked.

  “Stay here,” he ordered, taking charge of the situation as a trained Traxx Guard.

  “I’m not staying here if something’s the matter with my daughter,” she hissed back at him, pulling the dagger from her pocket.

  He sighed and his shadow moved away from her toward the shared bathroom that led into Jade’s room. The smell of stale sweat, assaulted her nose when he opened the door. Frederick glanced back at her and motioned for her to stay once again. She shook her head furiously at his suggestion.

  He pushed open the door into the second bedroom slowly, peeking around the corner. Tanya jumped when he yelled and charged into the room, sword lifted above his head. Tanya didn’t understand what was happening. She heard the sound of metal hitting against something hard, like wood and then a loud crash.

  She rushed into the room and stopped. The room was much too bright. Moonlight shone through the open window. Frederick lay bleeding from a wound to his head amongst the bricks that had once sealed the room from the outside world. A tall man with an oversized backpack stood with one leg on the windowsill, preparing to jump. In his arms, he held her daughter.

  Tanya screamed, running at him with her own weapon held in front of her. He turned toward her and hissed.

  What looked like scales of some type covered the man’s face and he wore a type of close-fitting armor that was nothing like the Vultures wore. She had a moment to think that his yellow eyes looked much more snakelike than human, and then she was upon him.

  Tanya thrust outward, attempting to come in low with the knife, under his guard, but he easily batted her arm away. She allowed the momentum from his defense to turn her around and crouched as she spun. He swung a brick at her head and she ducked under it, stepping inside his defense and burying her dagger deep into the man’s leg.

  He cried out in pain and almost dropped Jade, who somehow remained asleep through the ordeal.

  Tanya’s weapon was gone, stuck in the kidnapper’s leg, so she dove to where Frederick’s unconscious form lay, grabbing his sword before standing up. She wasn’t as well trained with a sword as she was the dagger, but she was decent and could hold her own against most of the Guard.

  “Put my daughter down.”

  He pulled the knife from his leg and it clattered to the floor. “You are doomed, but Gaia will protect this child from your war,” he rasped, the words misshapen in his mouth.

  The kidnapper pulled himself completely up on the windowsill and leapt into the night.

  Tanya screamed and rushed to the window. They were six floors up; the fall would kill them. Far below, a set of triangular wings appeared above the man’s back and the contraption caught the wind current, lifting them higher into the air.

  The princess watched helplessly as her daughter disappeared into the night.

  Near the walls, the alarms began to sound and her heart dropped in her chest. The Vultures surrounding the city had finally chosen to attack.

  *****

  “Prepare yourself. The time is near.”

  “Mistress?” Darci asked in confusion.

  She’d been eating a biscuit and egg sandwich in the kitchen, preparing for her shift on the observation platform. Her coffee was strong and hot to keep her warm on the winter morning. The Vulture army plaguing the kingdom of Homelake hadn’t ventured over the mountains yet, but Darci believed it was only a matter of time. As their attack continued to stall, they’d become interested in settlements further from the walled city. Vigilance was more important now than ever.

  She’d had the cup of coffee to her lips, sipping lightly, when Diane glided into the kitchen silently, announcing that the time she’d prophesied so long ago was now at hand.

  “Why now, after all these years?” Darci asked. “The Vultures have been fighting in and around Homelake for over a year with no luck.”

  “I don’t know what’s happened there. I only know that your services will be required before the next cycle of the moon.”

  Before the new moon? That meant that sometime in the next two weeks, Traxx would ask her to leave the Valley Lodge and go to Homelake. Her specialty was defensive tactics; did the king think that the Vultures would begin their assault once again? They’d failed miserably the last time they attempted to siege the city. I can’t leave the lodge now, with an army of madmen roaming the foothills.

  “Mistress, it isn’t safe for me to leave anymore. You and the others will be vulnerable here.”

  “Did I not tell you many years ago to begin preparing yourself and Garth? Have you been doing as I directed?”

  “Yes, of course,” Darci replied hurriedly. “But—”

  “There must be no hesitation. The time prophesied is upon us. Either you’re prepared or you aren’t.”

  She dropped her eyes in submission. Diane would not tolerate the statement that she’d almost uttered. The Seers are blind to their own deaths. If I go, they will only have the small guard force—none of which have my natural talent at fighting from a distance. They’d have to rely on the new defenses that’d she’d built. “Yes, Mistress. I will do as you command.”

  Diane’s feet slid closer and she looked up into her eyes. “You have a great destiny to fulfill. I have seen it, Darci.” The Mistress’ hand rested heavily on her shoulder. “You have prepared us for what is to come. Garth is a competent leader and the men have trained hard in the defense of the lodge. We will be fine.”

  “Will I come back?” Darci asked in a rare moment of vulnerability. She genuinely liked living and working at the Valley Lodge.

  “I don’t know. The future isn’t set in stone and is always changing. I have seen you return…and I have seen your death.”

  Darci nodded curtly. Death came quickly in this world and she was lucky to have made it this far. Every day beyond the plague that had wiped out her village as a child was another day granted by the gods.

  She’d become an expert bowman and a competent swordsman over her lifetime, somehow knowing that her skills would be needed. She’d seen it, her own touch of the Gift that she kept locked away. Not that she’d had delusions of grandeur, but she’d always known that there would come a time when someone would take her on a journey of great importance.

  Darci smiled sadly as this chapter in her life seemed to be coming to a close. “I’m ready, Mistress.”

  ELEVEN

  “I’m not going to stay barricaded behind these walls while my child is out there,” Tanya screeched, jabbing her finger toward the city’s walls.

  “Honey, please,” Garrett soothed. “Screaming at everyone won’t change things. We can’t—”

  “I don’t want to hear about what we can’t do, father. We need to go after that thing right now!”

  “Princess, please,” Nicholas said. “We all feel Jade’s loss; but we must think of everyone’s
safety. I’ve seen firsthand what those savages are capable of doing; they’d butcher all of us without a moment’s hesitation. There’s too much risk in opening the gates right now.”

  “Then I’m going after that creature myself and I’m going to get my daughter back if the men from this city are too scared to go after it.”

  “Tanya, I forbid it,” the king bellowed. “You aren’t trained in fieldcraft; it would be like handing the Vultures a gift. The Guard will try to sneak a force out through the back gate.”

  The commander held up his hands. “Garrett, please. Listen to reason. If we open those gates during their attack, the enemy will pour through and then we’ve lost the city. All of your grandchildren—not only Jade—would be in terrible danger. The prudent thing to do would be to use archers to clear away the scum. After a few days, they’ll retreat back to the tree line and we’ll have room to maneuver our forces. We’ll mount an expedition as soon as the siege is over.”

  “We’ve been under siege for years!” Tanya cried. “Are you really foolish enough to think it will end any time soon?”

  “I mean this latest attack, Tanya. Don’t—”

  She cut Nicholas off. “No, you don’t get to tell me what to do about my children. The last time I checked, I was a member of the royal family, not the other way around. I’m going after my daughter. That thing flew west, toward the mountains, so that’s where I’m going.”

  “Tanya, listen to yourself,” the king joined in. “The kidnapper flew over the Vulture army and went west. Even if you could make it past the fighting outside the walls—which you can’t—you wouldn’t have any way to track him because he was using mechanical wings! That means he’s not leaving tracks for you to follow. And westward? We know that there is another half a continent ‘west’ of here. But what’s left of it, no one knows.”