The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth

by Jason R Jones

  “Stranded where? And why have you returned in such fashion?” Jehrale questioned the odd former agent with the strange behavior.

  “Cat’s Eye Island, lives up to its name. The trrrailing vessel of your entourage came close enough for us to hail, my men and I waited, and like the Harlian fools they were they rrrescued us. They were focking delicious.” Farrigus licked the back of his hand and wiped his face. “You two have the same scent, related are we?”

  “You killed over three hundred men alone? Besides your unexplained changes of a feline nature, you must also have gone insane.” Johnas slowed his steps as Farrigus opened his eye and smiled at him with his head turned to the side.

  “No, no, no, my prince. Aboard your empty Harlian vessel are my men, nearrrly two hundred, all loyal to me.”

  “You return to me with gifts then, why?” Johnas nodded to Jehrale, ever so slightly.

  “Let me say the journey over the water was most terrrifying, and I remember saying a few words when I received this.” Farrigus ripped his ragged tunic off and turned his shoulder. Despite a mess of curly black hair, the brand of the White Spider was visible on his flesh, as were other scars of blades and claws, too many to count.

  “You seem, how would I say this, a bit odd and inefficient for my tastes, Farrigus. You also failed me twice which resulted in the loss of those that carried the Scroll of Annar, my fastest galleon, and ten expensive doppelgangers. I admire loyalty, but failure does have its consequences, old friend. Once, you were one of the best blades in Valhirst, but now you are but a cursed rag of a man.”

  “Then kill me, you and your brrrother, go ahead and try.”

  Crash

  Crash

  The sounds echoed far above with yells of soldiers, the drumming impact of castle walls being bombarded rang into the underground.

  Farrigus drew his blade and dagger in a flash, Johnas feinted to lunge, and Jehrale weaved his twin shortswords toward the growling feline man before him. Steel sparked for a few rapid parries then Farrigus leapt backward and landed on a table twenty feet away. He crouched, heard each and every one of the crossbows aimed at him, and sprung toward the pit by the main doors to the sanctum. Before anyone was close in the dark underground, he scampered into a hallway and was gone.

  Johnas looked to Jehrale, then the brothers Valhera glanced at the fifty crossbow bolts in the table, and then back to each other.

  Crash

  Crash

  Crash

  “My prince, we have no time for this. We need to get above ground and---“

  “I can be of grrreat assistance, and with two hundred of me, our organization would be stronger. I would think Jade of the West a fitting title, since I hear Kaya T’Vellon is no more.” Farrigus whispered as he strode in the corridor from the other side, on all fours, covered in black shining fur and sporting a tail.

  All agents looked to the massive black panther with a patch over its eye that silently appeared over the stairs, impossible it had gotten all the way around that fast and unchecked.

  Crash

  “That position has been filled, Farrigus. If I were to offer you a rank of that esteemed nature, where would your vengeance take you?” Always dealing, Johnas watched as the oversized panther stood upright and painfully shifted back to Farrigus Narminson. He smiled, gold could not buy things like this, he was impressed.

  “I will leave Balric to you, matters of the heart and all. But, besides Prince Bryant, there is a cerrrtain elven woman that left her marks upon me, they still sting my fur. Shinayne T’Sarrin, if you have been tracking them, I would like to know.” Farrigus gestured to a wicked scar on his stomach, then two on his thighs, and another on his forearm.

  Crash

  Crash

  “My prince we must---“

  “And our war above, you can get your men ready from squatting on my Harlian galleon, and ready soon?” Johnas sheathed his kris blade as Farrigus approached.

  “Do I get to at least torture the heir prince a bit before you hang him from your walls, my patrrriarch?”

  “Surely.”

  “And my title?”

  “Domenarch of Valhir---“

  “Too small, morrre.”

  “Crimson of the North, perhaps? Vermillion of the South here could train you and that title is recently available.” Johnas put out his hand to the panther, now a man again. It was taken respectfully as Jehrale scoffed and sheathed his blades.

  “Perrrfect. I am at your service my prince and patrrriarch, always. Who is it you need me to kill?” Farrigus knelt before Johnas Valhera. He was home again, and his men would likely be very hungry, for blood and human flesh.

  Lavress IV:I

  Eastern Piers of Valhirst, Chazzrynn

  “Your taking of this Brotherhood and Order is no light matter, and it is for the length of your living days. Ensure the protection of those that follow the ways of Seirena, in secret. Hunt relentless those that would harm the Whitemoon and her children. While you will act alone after your training in the Hedim Anah, remember that you are righteous in any endeavor on Her sacred ground.”---Words of Mirash, the Great Sphinx of the Whitemoon, upon honoring Jevendial, the Hiroon Wolflord of the Greenbanyan Packs into the sacred Order of the Hedim Anah. Circa 307 A.D.

  Like floating ghosts from a shipwreck, two sets of eyes moved below. The crash of catapults alerted them war had begun, sending them into motion without sound nor ripple of water. They weaved under the wooden docks and between stone columns, around seaweed and debris, and fought the currents and slick footing as if life depended upon it. From time to time they would stop and listen. Every few minutes they would slowly submerge and search for an entrance to the underground. The Carisian Sea was frigid, even in late Shaltyn, the warm harvest month of the Agarian calendar. They rose just enough to breath through their noses and froze still, more boots passed overhead, the movements of armies of men had seemed neverending this morning. A second time the eyes and the tip of a longbow in front dipped below the waters and returned moments later. The amber eyes in the lead blinked twice upon surfacing, telling the blue eyes behind that a tunnel had been found.

  Nostrils flared wide, deep breaths were taken by both, and under the foaming filthy waters they went. Their hands grasped lodged driftwood beams, pushed off granite columns covered in centuries of barnacles, and pulled onto slimy chains. Their chests ached from the releasing of air and the inability to take more in. Up they swam and pulled, the light from outside unable to reach where they now headed. The darkness engulfed them in the tight corridor of sharp stone underwater. Just as second and third thoughts began to take hold, the moment panic for air began to tremble, the hand in the lead pulled his companion up and out over a ledge.

  Lavress Tilaniun, savage elven hunter of the Hedim Anah, put his hand quick over the mouth of his partner to silence the gasping for air he knew could alert anyone close. Sir Liogan Andellis took rapid breaths through fingers he felt, rested his arms on the ledge in the dark, thankful they were alive and had found their way in. Neither spoke, the elf from Gualidura nor the young knight from Southwind, as they let their eyes and chests adjust to their new environ.

  Like snakes slithering closer to their prey, Lavress and Liogan crept over the ledge and out of the bone chilling bay. The elven hunter could see, faintly, the outlines of the corridor around them. He knew his partner, the one who had volunteered them both for this mission, could see nothing.

  “Ssshhh.” Lavress put his finger over his mouth, forgetting momentarily the blackness of the tunnel. He whispered in the sylvan tongue as he drew his curved kukri dagger, his enchanted gift from the Hedim Anah. It glowed a faint yellow, flickering as if a candle burned from inside the steel, and then drew his falcata.

  Liogan unsheathed his broadsword carefully, nodding to Lavress that he would be silent and was ready to move ahead. His white tabard dripped salty water, his heart was racing, yet all he could think of was finding the heir prince for his king, before it wa
s too late.

  Soft steps ahead revealed a twisting tunnel that even the shorter elf had to crouch to traverse. Snails of sizes up to that of small boulders retracted their eye stems as the faint light grew near. Moss that moved and had never known light curled tight to the walls. Besides the occasional slosh of a footstep, the two invaders made not a sound, yet the ever hidden life in the tunnel knew that strangers approached.

  Lavress slowed and stopped, placing his back to the wall as the tunnel widened and raised in height. He saw a grate ahead in a chamber, and stairs leading up to it and beyond. Torchlight flickered ever so far away, but enough for him to know that somewhere ahead their would be someone that needed light to see. He raised his chin to Liogan, then eyed his blades, getting his attention. The young knight of Chazzrynn watched and nodded.

  First, Lavress mocked slashing his blades out to the sides, horizontal, diagonal, and wide cuts in slow motion. He tapped the stone, just barely, and furrowed his brow. Then he shook his head from side to side. Liogan nodded that he understood. The wood elf shot his kukri forward, then up and down, followed by the falcata, in vertical cuts and thrusts that did not come near the walls. He nodded to the young human knight. Liogan Andellis wiped the sweat and saltwater from his face, took his blade in two hands, one over the other. He cut upward slowly, then down diagonally, and thrust ahead with the point of his blade. He smiled, receiving the same nod and smile from his elven companion.

  Black mold and mildew greeted their noses, the slick steps down into stagnant water once more met their feet, and the torchlight beyond the grate was now flickering. Men were moving past and around the lights beyond, they were close. Lavress led them in, then up again near the steel grate covered in rust and mold. He waited for the far off sound of men moving in other passages to dwindle, then motioned for Liogan to take the right side of the bars and sheathed his blades.

  Both of them pulled slow, testing the resistance and possible noise, it seemed ready to fall as it was. With a quick creak and pop of old worn steel, the grate came loose on the left side. Lavress set it down behind them on the steps, carefully watching that it would not slide and cause noise, then he saw a ripple.

  He tapped Liogan on the shoulder, right as he was about to head into the next chamber and continue their infiltration and rescue. Just in time, Liogan turned, then dove to the right as the water erupted toward them both. Lavress sprung to his left, and then the grate was covered in saltwater and scales. Then it was gone, leaving only washed up bones and broken shards of shells upon the stairs where they had just been. The water turned and rippled, then calmed, neither elf nor man moved a muscle as their knuckles kept tight on their weapons.

  Seconds passed, the soft yellow glow of the kukri showed only shadows on the walls and a black pool of water that neither wished to give their back to. The grate tipped out of the water, as if something dangled it as bait, yet neither Lavress nor Liogan moved beyond short breaths. The young knight nodded to Lavress, put his toe behind a jawbone that had but three teeth remaining, and flicked it into the pool. Small a ripple as was made, it was all the creature needed to emerge, searching for a meal.

  Two clawed feet landed on the stone from the aquatic explosion, dark green and webbed with claws as long as a mans arm. The serpentine body had yellow spots and black stripes on the scales and was as thick as an old maple tree, how long it was with but twenty feet exposed, neither could tell. Four flaring sets of red gills opened and closed fast beneath a cold staring pair of gray eyes. The mouth opened from a long curved smooth head resembling a distorted fish, revealing hundreds of overlapping curled fangs that were transparent and moist. Clear slime dangled like strands from its bared teeth and its rough black tongue felt something less than pleasurable upon it. The low hiss mixed with gurgled water shot the jawbone high into the air, then its head turned down to Liogan, unblinking eyes looking at the one that had tricked it.

  Two arrows pierced through the soft gills from the left, the hum of vibrating bowstring echoed in the cavern as a hiss of pain rose toward Lavress. A third, then a fourth arrow plunged into cold flesh, and then the elven hunter slung his bow and dove back toward the stairs over the sweeping fast claws of the serpent. Back again to his right, leaping over the biting head, he drew his blades. Lavress had no room to maneuver, the slick ledge was barely enough for his feet. He feinted left, then right, the claws of the giant sea snake planted on either side. There was no escape, it blocked any route, and Lavress waited to face it blades to fangs.

  Slash, chop, thrust, and oily blood ran down the side of the serpent as Sir Liogan drove his sword deep a fourth time from behind. The beast whirled with fangs bared, plunging over Liogan, who at the last moment raised his blade up and cringed. The point dove through the skull and open mouth, yet it bit down hard. The knight placed one fast hand between two fangs on the lower jaw, his sword wielding elbow wedged between two on the upper, blade still lodged through the roof of its mouth into serpentine skull. His face reddened, he exerted all he had, trying to keep his chest open and not be swallowed alive as the creature reared into the air with a mouthful of knight.

  The falcata sliced clean through in the distraction, then again, and both clawed hands splashed into the water, cut off at the wrists. Lavress spun to his left, anticipating the fall of the beast that had held itself up with what he had just chopped off, and slashed the kukri up hard. As it fell forward, Liogan still pinned in its salivating maw, its innards spilled all over the ledge. Like a pail being dumped down an alley, the slosh of inside organs and blood splashed onto the stone as its head thrashed from side to side.

  Liogan tried not to yell as the head hit the ledge and his arms now held the fangs but hairs from his face. Its body whipped and spasmed relentlessly as it began to slide into the pool of backwater. The blood and more poured onto his legs from where his sword still stuck, the tongue frantically tried to wrap around his waist, and he had nowhere to go. He breathed deep in the dark, feeling the water come up fast, and Liogan went under and down with the dying serpent.

  Lavress looked for where to place his edges, not knowing how much life in the beast there was left. The creature sank slowly, and the elf drew his bow and nocked an arrow. He hoped that Liogan had not been swallowed, waited one moment, then fired below the gills and into the chest. The serpent sank more, now submerged and out of sight, and Lavress looked around for Liogan Andellis. He found nothing, not his blade, not a drop of blood. Lavress turned left toward the grate, yet there was no knight there either. The water stilled. A cloven claw floated up, then the other, but nothing else.

  Lavress dropped his bow and quiver, closed his eyes in silent prayer, and stood over the edge to dive in. His senses saw something moving up, something shiny, moving back and forth under tha water. He drew his blades.

  A broadsword emerged and clanked loudly on the edge of the pool, then a hand, and then Liogan pulled himself up and gasped for air. “Help please.” He whispered.

  Lavress smiled, thanking Seirena in thought for his companion’s survival. He pulled Liogan out of the water, checked him over, and noticed he was barefoot but otherwise unharmed.

  “It got my boots. Bastard serpent, I liked those boots.” He stifled a laugh and let Lavress help him to his feet.

  “Ssshhh, well done, but quiet now, it could come back and we need to move.” Lavress whispered and motioned toward the opening where the grate had once been.

  Liogan shook his head. “It won’t come back, I killed it, trust me. What did you think I was doing down there?”

  “I don’t know, I..I was coming..how did you…?” Lavress was surprised, assuming his young companion was caught in terror of things he had never seen.

  “How? A good teacher I suppose.” Liogan thrust his blade forward, recreating a slow stabbing lesson, one which he retained while underwater in the deathgrip of a dying sea serpent.

  Lavress smiled again and the two cautiously stalked ahead through the small opening. The tunnel and chambers a
head were much more dry, dimly reflected the torches beyond, and the sound of men could be heard talking in the distance. Corner to corner, passage to dark passage, the two dashed in quick steps through the underground of Valhirst.

  The elf paused, raised his hand, and motioned with a sideways nod for Liogan to get close to him. The knight followed his eyes beyond his pointed ears, and saw two men ahead by an alcove. Both dressed in black, both with masks up over their noses, and both taking turns at an underground latrine. Then, both men, the one relieving himself and the one waiting for the same, came to attention as more men arrived. Lavress listened close while he and Liogan watched a group of ten men, led by an immense panther and a man in shining gold armor and a flowing cape, stop before the two masked guards.

  “My prince, what an unexpected visit. And master Vermillion of the South, master Oggidan, and his…pet…” The guard stood while the other pulled his trousers up and buckled quickly, both staring at the strange black feline.

  “You may call me Crrrimson of the Norrth, now open the cells.” To the surprise of the guards, the panther with a patch over one eye spoke to them. Farrigus smiled at the looks in their wide eyes.

  “One hour, Farrigus, no more, then you gather your men and meet me in the courtyard. I have a warring king awaiting. Jehrale, stay with him, Oggidan with me.” Johnas turned, ignoring the bows and formalities, and marched back the way he came.

  “Yes, Prince Johnas.” The panther and cloaked man beside it spoke in unison.

  The keys jangled nervously, the bars were unlocked, and the panther that spoke strode in with the dark robed man, silent as the grave. Lavress motioned to Liogan with his eyes to back up. They went round a corner, and the blades came up again from the wood elf hunter. He made a motion with his falcata and kukri opposed and horizontal, his arms wrapped around an invisible foe. His elbows were high, then his blades cut in and across, as if he were slicing a throat from behind.