Obed readied an arrow though he would have to wait until they got in range. “We can’t let them get close to us because it’ll be a massacre. I’m wishing we had Stone with us.” He was tempted to tell the princess the quest was a bad idea but didn’t.
“Stop whining,” said Alexa. “Just make sure that not a single one reaches us uninjured.” She put her hand on the pummel of her sword and thought if they were all killed by those damn niiwu Stone would blame her, and rightly so she supposed.
The niiwu commenced to run in short bursts, conserving their energy in case they had to give pursuit, quickly approaching the range of their arrows, getting further away from one another so as to not all be grouped in one location. Less than half were carrying battle axes while the others had swords, and such ugly faces that showed they meant business. The first two arrows missed their mark, sticking into the ground, but then Obed caught one in the throat taking him down. It was necessary to launch the arrows rapidly but also important to be accurate as he didn’t have an endless supply.
The princess readied her sword as she watched their advance; their knees, thighs and shoulders commenced to take arrows. Two of them stopped, wondering if it was a good idea to continue forward. One made it to the princess, both heads screaming at her with saliva flying out of both mouths, spittle ending up on the side of her face. It had an arrow through its shoulder but it hadn’t slowed it down much, launching itself it kicked Alexa knocking her down. She got up and threw her sword into its chest, killing it from internal bleeding, but she had a difficult time to remove her sword from it, even in death it appeared to cause her trouble. Another made it to her and while trying to chop her in two with the axe, missed and amputated the dead niiwu’s left leg before two arrows went into its neck from behind.
But three made it through without taking arrows and they all knew that even one was too much with their strength; they could cut down fairly large trees with a single blow from their weapons. And with a single blow from the hilt of a sword Merrill was knocked unconscious. Obed’s bow was grabbed from him like a father taking a toy from his son and tossed to the ground. Horrid faces displayed their ugly teeth.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ASHER, AEWYN AND KAPANO made their way through the extensive tunnel system, passing an offshoot that led to the small village of Pequebo where less than three hundred people lived and flourished. Asher continued to limp and was conscious of protecting his broken toe with each step but somehow managed to hit it once again causing him to scream out in pain and the other two to laugh. They had left the catapult near the end of the tunnel but not so close to the exit that people couldn’t get out; they were far from finished with it. One of the eight-headed ochoids exited from the offshoot with two silver coins in its mouths and hissed at Kapano as it realized it had been spotted.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass, not my coins that you’re stealing,” Kapano said to it and then watched as it quickly ran down the tunnel, jumping on the wall. He was unaware that they could jump though he was aware that some spiders could do so.
A little further down they came to a solid oak door on the right, no handle but with a wave of Aewyn’s hand it opened. Inside the vestibule the walls were covered with row after row of magical ingredients, big and small colored bottles, small wooden containers and a few made of silver. There were ingredients and spell books in every room of the dwelling, seven chambers in all, all chiselled by enchantments and they had all contributed to the place. Asher went into his sleeping chamber and looked through a small black book with stars and a moon on its cover: Simple Curative Concoctions was emblazoned in gold on the first page. He went directly to the section of Healing of Bones and put together a paste of three ingredients, dried frogs eyes, dust from a dragon’s scale and a pinch of a black dragon flower. The ingredients were mixed with his saliva to create a paste and then he added a drop of his blood. He rubbed his toe with the mixture, when he wiggled it it felt a lot better. And then his big toe simply fell off.
Asher picked up his toe and stared at it, smelled the fungus that was under his nail. “Oh no!” He checked the ingredients and realized that he had made a mistake; it was the spell beside it that called for wizard’s blood. A moment of inattentiveness had cost him his toe.
Back out into the main chamber both Aewyn and Kapano were in hammocks as Asher approached them, examining his toe as he walked.
“Did you heal your toe?” Aewyn asked.
“Here see for yourself.” He handed the toe to Aewyn.
Kapano thought it was such an ugly toe. “You removed your toe? It’s a nasty looking thing. Why did you do that?” He laughed as did Aewyn.
“Oh I made an error in the ingredients and it is irreversible. It’s my own fault for not paying proper attention to what I was doing.”
Most enchantments were formulated long ago by trial and error and had cost more than a few sorcerers their lives. A sorcerer could try to come up with new spells but it was now quite risky, especially since magic’s potency has increased over the centuries.
Kapano laughed. “Well if we ever need a wizard’s toe for a spell we have one.”
Aewyn lit up a small skinny pipe and commenced to smoke it and then started to cough; he coughed and coughed until he finally spit up what just might be a part of his lung. “I do my best thinking when I smoke.”
Kapano shook his head. “If you continue to smoke that stuff you will be dead I think.”
Aewyn tried hard to clear his throat but there was so much mucus that he couldn’t and very unpleasant for the others to hear.
Asher who now had his toe back continued to examine it. “If an inn was burning down you would flee the smoke and yet here you are putting smoke into your lungs.”
Aewyn thought about that and then snapped the pipe in two and threw in in the corner. “So do you think the wizard’s curiosity is sufficiently peeked?”
Kapano nodded. “Oh it’s peeked he’s going to want to destroy us now.”
“You don’t have to worry about him destroying your big toe.”
“Aewyn you shut your mouth.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ALEXA RAN TOWARDS THE NIIWU shouting gibberish as if she was some powerful sorcerer casting a spell. She knew they were not the brightest beasts and at times could be tricked and easily deceived; her bravado in the face of certain death gave them pause. They stopped and stared at one another, waiting to see what was going to happen, to see if their skin would burn or their eyes might pop out, and then they suddenly bolted. They could not face the might of a wizard and so decided to run for their lives, looking back as Alexa continued to make gestures toward them, and seeing a red dragon approaching from the east they assumed that she had summoned it and ran even faster.
Merrill returned to consciousness with a lump on his head and an excruciating headache, starting to wish that Marcus could somehow destroy all of those two-headed bastards and be done with them; he couldn’t imagine that they held any purpose in nature. They took a full day and a night to recover, deciding whether to head back or to continue on and when Merrill’s headache departed so did they for the Dark Forest; he insisted that he was healthy enough to move forward although he thought that perhaps he should have feigned otherwise.
Obed nodded. “If only they weren’t so damn strong.”
Princess Alexa knew that Knightshade’s sword was as least a league into the forest and perhaps a little further. She also knew that they had to go through a portal which was sometimes guarded and sometimes not; the portal really didn’t lead anywhere but not going through it was a sure way to get lost, and had been there as long as anyone could remember. She thought it was one of those aberrant things that didn’t make much sense but with pockets of magic all over the place it was just another thing they had to deal with. When people went around the door they could be lost for days though they did usually find their way back.
Merrill was the first to enter the realm of the Dark Forest, suddenly ensconced
in darkness while the others were still under the hot sun. His horse had hesitated at the strangeness of it but was encouraged to move forward. He lit his torch with a flint as he looked around. “It’s cooler in here.”
Alexa entered and then Obed followed and they started down a path that didn’t exist in daylight, it had glowing leaves and twigs on it here and there. Merrill looked to his left and saw a pair of glowing eyes staring at him, fairly low to the ground and then guessed it was a black panther; it turned and ran off further into the woods. And for a time the trek was mundane, the path moving forward past tree after tree with the sound of something moving off to their right, a tree branch cracked loudly but whatever it was didn’t approach. Maybe it was stalking them and then again maybe not.
Merrill was moving with the flow of his horse and staring up into the night sky. “The stars are quite something in here.”
A crow cawed from somewhere, sounding like it might be high up in an oak tree that they were now approaching around a bend, and then another cawed as well. White crows were sounding the alarm that humans were in the forest, letting everyone and everything know that they weren’t alone. One of the crows landed on Alexa’s horse, on top of its head. The crow bobbed its head in greeting and the princess gave it a piece of bread and then it flew off, all the crows now becoming quiet, as if the gift of bread had appeased them. She thought the best approach was always to be nice until circumstances dictated otherwise.
Merrill was always searching for danger as he rode, scanning the area left and right. “So princess how far until we get to the so-called portal?”
“Not far now it’s directly across the path so we can’t miss it.”
Obed noticed that a white crow was keeping pace with them; perhaps it was the same one that Alexa had fed. And then suddenly they could see the portal in the distance; he could have sworn that only a moment ago it had not been there. He had wondered if they were going to be able to fit through the door with their horses but the thing was huge, a battalion of knights would have no problem walking through simultaneously. The princess thought the heavy wooden door looked different, a different color of wood than she had remembered.
They trotted toward the door and then Alexa halted and dismounted. Merrill had readied his bow just in case and aimed it at the fellow that appeared from behind the door, startling all of them by his sudden appearance, and the knight almost launched his arrow. He was wearing leather armour and was practically covered in knives and daggers but mostly throwing knives. Obed counted ten of them and he supposed that he could have some on his back that he couldn’t see.
“Might you need a few more knives sir?” said Obed.
That comment made Alexa giggle but then she caught herself.
Although he had considered it a bit of a disparaging remark he was not so delicate as to be overly affected by it. “You can never have enough knives. I am now the keeper of this portal.” He wore a helmet with silver wings and was a rather handsome fellow and that did not go unnoticed by the princess; she thought his blond stubble made him appear even more handsome. “There is no cost to go around the portal.”
Merrill dismounted and went behind the door to see if there were any others lurking back there and was in a panic as he suddenly felt that he was unable to find his way back even thought he was only several feet behind it. The feeling departed as soon as he touched the door and then he made his way back around.
Alexa was not impressed. “What is your name?”
“Knife.”
Merrill glanced at Obed and nodded.
“And who made you the keeper of the portal?” Alexa asked.
“That information doesn’t concern you,” said Knife.
Things were often not what they appeared to be and so Alexa didn’t want to aggravate the fellow too much. Obed met the so-called keeper’s eyes; he looked confident for one that was facing three.
“I’ll need all of your horses to permit entry into the portal. They’ll make good stew for our men.”
“Are you daft,” said Obed. “You’re not getting our horses and we are going through.”
Alexa noticed that Knife had a slight smile. “Easy Obed.”
One of the white crows cawed from high up in a tree and then Merrill noticed the glow of someone’s eyes up there, aiming a crossbow that was ready to launch a bolt. “A few gold coins won’t allow us entry?”
“The toll is a horse. I guess I would be willing to take a single steed as payment. Either give me the horse or move along. My patience tires of this.”
Silence ensued which turned into a dangerous moment, peculiar how silence could be more dangerous than the harshest words. The one in the tree had the advantage; his arrow was ready to do its damage. Merrill knew he would have to move before launching as it seemed to him that he was the crossbow’s target.
Without saying another word Knife threw one of his weapons at Alexa’s neck, and it was accomplished with such speed that no one had time to react. They had not anticipated such a brazen attack.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A FATHER AND HIS TWO TEENAGE SONS came out of the forest; they had a cabin and were living off the land. They liked to explore after dark because some magical items glowed making them easier to locate after the sun went down, but they only did it occasionally because it was even more dangerous at night when things wandered unseen. All three had bows and quivers with plenty of arrows and liked to explore, giving them a sense of freedom and the possibility of a fantastic discovery. The previous year they had discovered a cave that contained a skeleton lying face down with a bag in his bony hand containing seven gold coins which had seen them through most of the year. That treasure made them hope that there was something great to be discovered that would allow them to buy their way into nobility.
As they left the forest they could see an encampment where none had existed before. It was quite a distance away and flames from a huge bonfire were rising from it, the father wondered if it wasn’t some sort of travelling band passing through. He had no way of knowing if the inhabitants were friendly or not. If they were they could perhaps trade with them but it was risky to approach, though it would be satisfying to learn of distant lands, and one could always use more friends but what if they were enemies?
“Wot do you say boys?” said Scion. “Do we approach?”
“Too far away to see who they are,” said Wother.
Horus didn’t know what to think. “Those dwellings look too big for humans.”
They moved out further away from the concealment of the forest, nervously heading toward the fire and they would be cautious in their approach but curiosity had them all by the scruff of the neck.
The nine grass huts were held together with dried mud and branches; they stood with the mountains towering in the background, the moon’s light helped to make them visible as did the huge fire. The huts surrounded an open pit full of discarded bones, some of them human. There was a pond nearby where three of the two-headed entities were drinking; the male child was skipping rocks across the water. Niiwu’s tended to stay away from humans because of their numbers and so this was unusual. They discovered that there were things to eat out here as well, moose often made their way from one forest to another, passing not far from the village and deer too. There was occasionally a human adventurer that wandered too close that was never seen again.
The niiwu were covered in straw as they danced, looked peculiar as they were apparently enjoying some sort of celebration. A cow moose wandered through the village on her way to the forest; she had stopped to feast on grass that was sticking out of one of the huts when suddenly two of the niiwu males were on her, stabbing and eating the animal alive, tearing huge chunks out of mammal. Finally a bite to the throat suffocated her and put it out of its misery.
Scion got a view of a niiwu near one of the fires and it made him stop in his tracks. Had the niiwu killed all the humans in the village? But no, humans would not need such huge huts. He knew they were ter
rible things to try and battle; he had only seen one once and from quite a distance, holding its own against five or six knights. They started to slowly back away and head back but it was too late, the niiwu had caught their scent and two of them were already running toward them, not easy targets in the dark as they faded from the light of the fire.
“Grab your poison arrows and don’t hesitate!” said Scion, trying to remain calm so that his sons might remain so as well but he feared death was imminent.
They fumbled for the arrows and the two niiwu went completely unseen. One howled a call like a wolf, informing the others that they had human prey in the area, advancing rapidly on the three of them. The two-headed monsters emerged out of the darkness on the run; Wother caught one in the left leg but he still managed to grab the father and rip his arms off before succumbing to the poison. Three others were on them, their screams quickly silenced, the sounds of bones being crunched and eaten. In no time all that remained were fragments of bones and blood.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“We should get plenty of essence out of that wand. I’ve read about TarCranian wizards but I never thought I’d see one. We need to take advantage of him before it’s too late.” Kapano selected several pouches of ingredients, adding a drop of his own blood to each one; he was sure to use the proper ingredients knowing what happened to Asher’s big toe.
Asher changed into his black robe and Kapano and Aewyn were in grey with golden highlights. “Come on, one attack won’t do what we need to accomplish.”
As they opened the door that led down into the tunnels Leander’s knights readied their bows and when Asher climbed out arrows were released but all the bolts stuck into an invisible shield erected with a wave of his hand, accompanied by a self-satisfied smile. A ball of mist served to disorient the golden knights.
Knight of the Sword (of Knights and Wizards Book 3) Page 6
