The Emissary (Dawn of Heroes Book 1)

by H. A. Harvey

  Karen shook Ourei’s hand off her shoulder and darted off into the lengthening shadows of evening. David and Rowan started after her, but Kaesa held up a hand to give them pause.

  “I can see her, she’s not gone far. She’s stopped to sit on a stone and weep.” Kaesa turned to Malor. “If we have done all we can, den we should return to Autumn and Riona sooner, radder dan later. Can ye move de extra horse an two more in de same way we planned?”

  Malor paused. He didn’t doubt he could move them all. It was the prospect of having to tell Autumn the news so soon, especially after the questions Riona had asked. Malor half thought that walking back would be worth the danger to have a few days to decide how to tell her she was a widow. Finally, he sighed and nodded. Whether he had a few days’ walk or a few years, Malor was fairly certain he wouldn’t come up with a good way to deliver such news.

  Ourei nodded as well, “Get things ready then. I will go see to Karen.”

  . . .

  “You know,” Ates cleared his throat a little, drawing Riona’s gaze to the funny little Sattal-Buros. “The entire point of me relieving you on watch is that you go and, I don’t know, rest . . . sleep . . . sing to your egg . . . play with your fairy, you know, take a break.”

  Riona sighed as she stared back Spireward into the night. Malor and the ogre had jumped into the small watering pool this morning and vanished, but there had been no word since. Ates had shown up around mid-morning with a warning that General Ebal had found the end of their false trail and was rushing back to Kadis. Fat lot of good that did, aside from driving her crazy. The stupid wizard apparently hadn’t thought of leaving something with them so they could get a message through.

  There had been nothing to do but head after them on foot, but Autumn had stopped that. She’d been right of course, they couldn’t make up several days’ travel in time for the warning to be any good, and placing Autumn in harm’s way would have defeated the entire purpose to staying back. So, the best she could do is keep a sharp eye out for the moment they drew into sight.

  Autumn had sat with her for a bit, while Lally and her cousin came and went, mostly at meal times, bringing little trays of tasty snacks they ‘threw together’. They were good company, Kolel’s daughter and her odd, scruffy, half-breed cousin. When she got a chance to sit with them, Riona discovered that the little Ates, who preferred to be called Ace by his friends, was not diseased or balding, as she’d thought at first, but bore a wild array of small scars and discolored burn marks. Most of these, Ace attributed to the early days of his chosen craft of alchemy, while the rest he credited to his tendancy to be “easily bored”.

  While she normally would have found the company thrilling, Riona couldn’t help but watch the horizon and wish she were there helping. The chatter mostly became muted background noise, or an annoying distraction when people addressed her directly. As evening set in, Autumn seemed to suddenly grow weary and the two Sattal helped her to the cottage. Thankfully, she was left alone on her vigil for a while, until Ace returned as the stars started to emerge as her relief.

  “I said you need to sleep, Miss Riona.” Ace repeated, “It isn’t good to fret. It benefits your friends not at all, and risks your health. I can provide a tonic to help you relax, if you’ll take it.”

  “He has a point.” A familiar, male voice came from the camp behind her.

  Riona turned around to see Malor and Rowan standing before a small crowd of largely familiar faces. She screeched with joy and leapt onto Malor to deliver a vicious hug, mostly because he was the closest. The surprised wizard did more holding-up than hugging back, but Riona didn’t really care. They were back. Riona paused when she made out that the bulky shadow at the group’s rear was a massive new horse, not Axios, unless he were disguised again. She pulled back from hugging Malor and looked around at the group.

  “Where’s Axios . . . and Nian?”

  The weighted silence and grim expressions on everyone’s faces answered Riona’s query without the need for words. Riona scoured the group with her eyes, but found no one bearing anything that could be a body.

  “You left them?” Riona seethed, as her vision started to blur. “How could you not even bring them back?”

  “There was nothing to bring back,” Rowan replied mournfully, “Nian was inside a mountain when it collapsed.”

  “You have a wizard and a dwarf!”

  “And a shaken anthill of angry soldiers looking for us.” Rowan shouted in return, “It’s not like we didn’t look. Malor spent hours searching for him!”

  “What is all the shouting about? Why didn’t someone wake me when you all got back?”

  Riona froze at the sound of Autumn’s groggy voice. The company gathered turned to face the cottage doorway where Autumn stood mussing her short hair. No one seemed over-eager to say anything back. Riona guessed that, like her, they were trying to think of how to tell her. Riona ran over and threw her arms around the Dryad, holding her as tightly as she could manage.

  “We only just arrived.” Malor finally said quietly.

  Autumn hugged back a little heasitantly. “Why are you crying?”

  “I’m so sorry, Autumn.” Riona sobbed, taking a step back and forcing herself to look the Dryad in the eyes. “Nian’s dead. He and Axios didn’t make it.”

  Autumn stared back at Riona with her unreadable face. Riona couldn’t imagine what was going through her mind, but knew it had to be horrible. She reached out to hold the Dryad again when Autumn’s small, white fist shot up and caught her on the jaw. Riona fell back onto her haunches in a daze.

  “Why would you even say that?” Autumn blurted as Riona tried to get her vision clear. “If that’s a joke, it’s not funny.”

  “It’s true.” Rowan assured her as he hurried over to help Riona up and shield her from any more outbursts. “We only just told her, but Nian didn’t make it out of the mountain.”

  “Then why did I just wake up next to him?”

  Riona froze halfway to her feet and had to grab hold of Rowan, who suddenly let her go to look at Autumn. Karen flew past the group of them into the run down little cottage before anyone could move to stop her. Riona regained her feet and followed on Autumn’s heels with Rowan and the others close behind.

  The old miner’s cottage was quite cramped with half a dozen people clustered around the bed. Nian lay fast asleep on his back. He still wore his armored coat, but it was unbuckled and flopped open to his sides. He was covered from head to toe in chalky dust, and his pants were badly torn and soaked in drying blood. Karen was already at Nian’s side and, finding no cuts or sores on his legs, sat next to him on the bed and gently shook his shoulders. When he didn’t stir, she added a bit more strength to the shake and called his name, but still received no response. Karen turned to Malor.

  “What did you do to him?”

  The wizard puffed in surprise, “Me? I’m as surprised as any of you. Whatever plucked him out of that mountain is beyond my ken.” Malor turned to Autumn, “How long has he been here?”

  Autumn shrugged, “I don’t know. Around dusk I felt really fatigued, out of nowhere. I remember Lally offering to help me go lie down, but I don’t even remember making it to the cabin. When I woke up, I was nestled against him like that, with one arm around me and the other around Mitchell’s sword. I heard the shouting outside, so thought you had all gotten back and he’d been tired enough that he just flopped down without waking me. So, I set the sword in the corner and came out to see what the ruckus was about.”

  Malor moved to the side of the bed. After a short examination, he unbuckled Nian’s satchel and peered inside. Drawing out the torn purse of blue silk, the wizard waggled a finger through the hole and nodded to himself.

  “That answers two questions in one.” The wizard chuckled. “Between shaking off fairy dust and his injuries, I’m guessing he’ll be out for most of the night. I’
ll add some intentional magic and he should be alright, if still a bit stiff, by morning. Come, give him some space for now.”

  . . .

  At Autumn’s insistence, Malor had spirited the Ogre’s remains, and even his sword, back to the camp, along with the bodies of Earl Cirrus and Captain Gerizim. The abandoned mineshaft served well enough as a crypt, where they sealed off a section of old mine through the night while Malor recovered. Autumn wanted to have the work done by the time Nian woke, and no one felt much like sleeping. By dawn, just about everyone was ready for some sleep, but they had a completed crypt around the three fallen allies.

  Autumn went to check on Nian, while most of the others settled in among the sparse trees to rest. Karen took advantage of the opportunity to slip into the bunkhouse. Inside, she found Malor sleeping in the back corner and walked quietly across the room to his side. As she reached out to touch him, the wizard vanished and tendrils of shadow sprang from the ground to encircle her limbs and throat. Karen flexed and strained in vain against the bindings as she could feel the little strength left in her tired limbs being drained away at its touch. A moment later, the tendrils vanished and Malor caught her from behind, keeping her from collapsing to the floor.

  “Karen!” The wizard exclaimed in surprise. “You silly girl! Don’t ever sneak up on a sleeping wizard.”

  “W-what was that?” Karen gasped for breath as Malor eased her down to sit on his bunk.

  “Entropic magic.” Malor answered as he spread her eyes widere and peered into each carefully, “It erodes strength and energy from anything it touches . . . quite handy for softening up an unknown assailent. What in Ruin’s name couldn’t wait until I finished resting?”

  Karen shifted uneasily. The voices were quiet, but she could still feel them there, waiting. They’d grown quieter and more distant since the mountain collapsed, but they were still there. This was the first time they’d kept completely silent and it was almost maddening to figure out why. Were they just restraining their protests knowing she’d view them as encouragement to seek the wizard’s help, or were they hoping to somehow snare a new victim using her as bait? Finally, Karen decided it was worth the risk to enlist an ally against the fiendish voices.

  “I wanted to speak to you without the others around.” Karen began slowly. She felt a veiled reaction of anger, which encouraged her a bit. “I think, whatever dark gods the baroness and her master were dabbling with have somehow connected to me. I thought maybe a wizard could help sever that tie.”

  Malor arched an eyebrow, “What sort of connection?”

  “I hear them, and feel them. They were weakened by whatever happened at the keep, but not gone.” Karen rubbed her lips, only half-consciously, “The only way I can think of that they got to me when Gerizim spent more time in that area is the blood. I got some blood splashed on my mouth and that night was the first time I heard them.”

  The wizard leaned in uncomfortably close to Karen’s face, peering into her eyes. She might have thought Malor was moving to kiss her, had the look in his eyes not been so sharp and cold. Karen gasped, half in surprise and half in response to a sudden stab of pain, as the wizard’s stormy grey eyes suddenly shone with a white light from within his pupils. Malor’s surprisingly strong hand shot up to grasp her jaw between his thumb and forefinger, holding Karen fast and preventing her from looking away. Karen felt her skin crawl and fought the urge to strike at Malor. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Malor released his grip and stood, nodding to himself.

  “I’ve brushed against power like that before.” Malor observed aloud. “Though you seem to have had a much lesser exposure to it than the last person I treated with it.”

  “So, you can get it out?”

  Malor gave a hesitant nod, “Yes, though the process is anything but pleasant. Also, the presence is so minute within you that it is easy to miss. Unlike the young captain I treated with it, the corruption isn’t spreading within you, or growing. You seem to have at least some ability to resist the influence. Such a gift might be used to turn the fiends’ power against them.”

  Karen blinked, “You mean, I should keep it?”

  “I mean,” Malor cleared his throat, “You should consider the value of holding insight into an enemy so long absent that imperial records hold no mention of them, and powerful enough to move the Incarnates to direct action.”

  “You sound like you want to study me or use me as a weapon.”

  “Perhaps a little of both.” Malor replied plainly, “You’ve touched this enemy and, it seems, known it more intimately than I have. If it was not destroyed, then what do you believe the chances are of it not trying again and eventually succeeding?”

  Karen swallowed, but didn’t answer. She wanted desperately to object to the wizard referring to her and Legion as ‘intimate’, but their voices, their foul presence, were more violation than she could imagine a mortal man might inflict upon her. Karen suddenly and violently wanted more than anything to be rid of them. Yet, the dark corners of her subconscious reminded her of a warning, a glimpse of a reckoning to come. If the wizard were right, and she held a weapon that could tip the balance in such a fight, could she just discard it?

  “We are both lucky that this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with such influence.” Malor helped Karen to her feet. “It saves me the energy and you the anguish of expiramentation . . . if you decide to be rid of it. But it will take a while for me to get things prepared, so you have time to decide. Give me half an hour and meet me in the workshop with your answer.”

  The bunkhouse door clicked closed behind Karen before she fully realized she was being bustled out the door. She supposed she did need time to think. Karen looked over at the mine entrance, where most of the others lay dozing in Phoenix’ morning light. Autumn hadn’t returned from the cottage yet, so probably had lain down next to Nian and fallen asleep. Slowly, Karen wandered through the camp in silence until she reached the small watering hole. She gathered up a small handful of pebbles and absently skipped them across the pond as she thought to herself.

  . . .

  Nian became aware of a silky arm curled across his chest, and smooth, warm fingers cradling the side of his face and threaded up into his hair. He could smell Autumn’s sweet, woodsy scent, drifting into his nostrils with each breath. He was right where he wanted to be, but somehow it felt out of place. As he tried to think back, the last thing he could remember was tumbling into darkness with a horrific creature leering at him. Had it all been a dream? Or perhaps he was dreaming now, having one last, perfect memory of Autumn before opening his eyes and finishing his plunge into oblivion.

  After what felt like endless deliberation, Nian decided to risk opening his eyes. He let his gaze drift across the aged stonework of the old cottage, evaluating if its soft glow was morning light shining through the structure’s many holes, or evidence that he was in some manner of dream. Nian’s reverie was finally and instantly shattered by a screaming voice he’d heard in nightly dreams for months. He shot out of bed, nearly toppling Autumn backwards off the far side. The Dryad gave a shout of surprise as Nian found his legs violently protested against suddenly being entrusted with his full weight and deposited him roughly on the floor. Nian used the bedpost to pull himself up shakily and started to mutter an apology to Autumn when he heard another scream.

  “Karen!’

  Nian staggered out the cottage door to find the rest of the camp on their feet from the screaming. Their eyes were locked on the workshop, though Rowan and Eulailia both looked in his direction. Nian forged his way more than halfway to the workshop before Rowan reached his side. Gratefully accepting his friend’s help, Nian burst through the aged doors together with the Desaid. Inside, they found Karen, unclothed save for a blanket draped over her shoulders, leaning over the side of an old worktable while she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the ground. Malor looked up at them from his post
beside the table and waggled a hand at them dismissively.

  “Get out, both of you!” The wizard snapped shortly. “This isn’t a peep show.”

  Rowan balked at Malor’s rebuke and, quickly averting his eyes, backed out of the room. Nian wasn’t so quick to be shooed off.

  “Karen’s my sister,” He retorted just as sharply as the wizard, “And I’m not going anywhere until I know what you’re doing to her!”

  “Nian,” Karen paused to wipe the back of her hand across her lips, “I’ll be fine. Just wait outside, I’ll explain when I get out there.”

  Nian hesitated slightly, but Karen nodded toward the door and he deflated. Giving the wizard his best warning stare, he backed out the door, turning around just in time to nearly bump into David. It took a bit of convincing, but David was finally coaxed out of making his own entrance and took up watch, sitting outside the door opposite Nian while Roan perched on a stone a few yards away and traced shapes in the dirt with the butt of his spear. It wasn’t long before Autumn joined Nian and, after accepting his apology for knocking her out of bed, leaned against him to wait as well.

  Over an hour passed. At first, there were a few smaller exclamations of discomfort from inside, prompting David to try to check on Karen, but the door was bolted fast. Well into mid-morning, Malor finally emerged from the workshop, looking fatigued. The wizard hardly looked surprised that he was immediately surrounded.

  “She’s getting dressed.” Malor answered wearily before anyone could ask the question. “She wants to talk to Nian first, alone.”

  Nian took a moment to notice Malor and the others were all looking at him. “What, now? Or after she’s dressed?”

  “That didn’t make a world of difference earlier, did it?” Malor responded shortly, “She’s probably already more decent than when you barged in before.”