Brianna was only half conscious of what was going on around her. She had been clubbed from behind, just like Kelvich. Then dragged back to where Branock had left his horse. The poor animal was wide eyed with fear of the dragon, but there was nothing to be done about it. Branock had thrown Brianna across his saddle, a job that took all his physical strength even though she was not heavy. Branock had relied on his magic and neglected his physical strength for years. But no matter what he tried, he could not levitate the girl, so he lifted her. Then, panting from the exertion, he climbed up behind the saddle and rode for his camp.
He was frustrated that he had been unsuccessful in getting Zollin to come with him back to Orrock, but the girl was just as good. He’d seen the way the boy wizard had looked at her, and he was certain that Zollin would follow him now. Right back to where Branock wanted him to go.
“Break camp,” he ordered his men. “Make haste.”
He didn’t stop riding. The servants would follow him if they wanted their gold. He would bolster their stamina and lace the girl’s water with drugs so that she stayed manageable on the trip back. If he rode through the day and night, he would be able to take a boat back down the river, which would far outpace any horse. Then he could take a ship down the coast and be within the castle walls, safe and sound, when he faced Zollin again. This time he would not fail, and then, with Zollin firmly in place, he could face his master and bring the old man to his knees.
* * *
They rode swiftly, passing soldiers who were making their way back to their camp. None of the men talked. Zollin focused his energies on healing Kelvich, even though he was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. He didn’t blame the older man for Brianna’s abduction, but he was angry. Someone had nearly given his mentor a concussion and had taken Brianna. He was sick over the loss, and he swore that he would never forgive himself if something bad happened to her. He probed Kelvich’s body. There was swelling around the head wound, but it was only skin deep. He was able to knit the cut back together rather easily, and then he did a more thorough assessment.
Kelvich’s lungs were the real problem. They were seared from the heat of the fire he’d been exposed to and were filling with liquid. There was also liquid forming around the sorcerer’s heart, making the muscle work harder than it should, and less efficiently, as well.
It was one thing to knit a clean wound back together, or even to mend broken bones, but he wasn’t sure what to do about the buildup of liquid. He was forced to levitate it out, a tiny bit at a time, up Kelvich’s wind pipe and out of his mouth. It was slow and painstaking work. If he bumped the lung wall or the wind pipe itself, it threw Kelvich into a coughing fit. He was not even half way done when the army encampment came into sight. The wide plain was littered with tents, equipment, and the remains of fires. There were wounded soldiers being helped, and others working to form up the healthy soldiers into some semblance of order.
“Do you know who is in charge?” Quinn asked Mansel.
“It should be a knight named Billips, unless he was killed.”
As they came closer, a small group of men came up and blocked their progress. They were haggard looking, their faces and uniforms soiled, their weapons stained with blood.
“You’ll have to turn back,” one of the men said. “No one’s allowed to leave the vicinity.”
“We’re looking for someone,” Quinn said. “A girl, dark hair, thin. I think she was wearing an olive colored dress today.”
The men looked at each other with knowing glances, but the one who had spoken before was the only one to respond.
“I’m sorry, there are no women here. You’ll have to go back.”
“There are no women here now,” Zollin said. “But have you seen her?”
“My orders are to hold the road, not to answer questions, now you’ll have to turn back.”
“The hell I will,” Zollin said angrily.
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew, boy,” said the solider. He was flexing his grip on his sword.
“He’s not a boy,” Mansel said with a smirk. “He’s a wizard, and he just fought off the dragon. I don’t think he’s worried about you and your companions.”
The soldier’s face drained of color.
“We aren’t looking for a fight,” Quinn said, as much to Mansel and Zollin as to the group of soldiers. “We’re trying to find the girl. Her name is Brianna, and we mean to find her. If you don’t want to answer our questions, then take us to someone who will. Is your man Billips still in charge?”
“Aye, he is,” said the soldier. “Follow me and I’ll lead you to him, but you’ll have to turn over your weapons.”
“That’s not a problem,” Zollin said.
Mansel didn’t look so sure, and Kelvich was just struggling to stay in the saddle. They rode toward one of the larger pavilion tents. It had several pendants fluttering in the morning breeze. Two more soldiers stood guard outside the tent. Quinn and Mansel handed over their weapons, and Zollin gave the men his staff.
“Is there a place where our friend can rest out of the cold?” Zollin asked.
“Sure, I’ll take him,” said the guard.
Kelvich was led toward another tent, not far away. Quinn turned to Zollin and Mansel.
“Let me do the talking. It won’t help us to lose our tempers.”
Zollin and Mansel both nodded. They stepped inside the tent and found several knights standing around a table. There was a chart of the valley spread out on the surface, and men were pointing to various spots while they discussed the arrangement of their men.
“Who are you?” asked one of the knights.
“My name is Quinn, and I’m looking for my daughter.”
“There are no women here,” said the knight. He was tall, with thinning hair and a large, hooked nose that had obviously been broken in the past.
“We believe she may have been kidnapped and brought here,” Quinn said in a gentle voice that Zollin recognized. His father used the same voice when Zollin was younger and had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have.
“And I said there are no women here,” said the hook nosed man. “Now be gone, before I have you thrown into stocks and beaten.”
Quinn sighed and spoke again. “Are you Billips?”
“No, my name is Aquil, and I’ve no time for questions from pathetic villagers. I’ve an army to assemble, and a war host to fight. Now get out of my camp, that’s you’re last warning.”
“I’m looking for Billips,” said Quinn.
“Old man,” said Aquil angrily, drawing his sword and stepping forward menacingly, “get the hell out of my sight.”
Zollin’s magic was churning and flashing inside of him. He couldn’t believe he was standing back and letting someone threaten his father that way, but Quinn had quietly gestured for Zollin and Mansel to move back, which they had done. But it was all Zollin could do to contain his desire to blast the arrogant knight into a smoldering heap.
“We’re not leaving,” said Quinn in a steady voice.
“We’ll see about that,” the man called Aquil said viciously.
He stood still for a moment, eyeing Quinn, who looked as calm as a man inspecting fruit at market. Suddenly, Aquil jumped forward, thrusting his sword straight toward Quinn’s stomach. But Quinn was faster, spinning out of the way and bringing his fist around in a punch that landed squarely on Aquil’s jaw. His other hand grasped the knight’s sword hand as Aquil fell to the ground, his body stiff and his eyes rolling back so that only the whites showed.
Quinn held up the sword by the blade with one hand, and the other hand was held open, palm facing out toward the other knights in a conciliatory gesture.
“We aren’t looking for trouble,” Quinn said in a tone of command. “We want to speak to Billips, and we want to find our friend. That is all.”
“I’m Billips,” said one of the other knights. “Your friend was taken by Branock of the Torr, but we can’t let you pas
s.”
“You’re King’s soldiers, aren’t you?” Quinn said. “Why are you letting this man take a young girl by force?”
“Our orders were to give Branock any assistance he might require and to follow his orders. Prince Simmeron gave us these orders personally. I may not like them, but I will follow them.”
“Let’s go,” said Zollin. “They can’t stop us.”
“I’m afraid I can,” said Billips.
He made a hand signal, and six soldiers entered the tent, all with weapons drawn. They blocked the entrance, and the knights drew their weapons as well. Zollin, Quinn, and Mansel were outnumbered more than three to one, and none of them had weapons except for Quinn, who still held the sword he had taken by the blade.
“Wait,” said Quinn, speaking to Zollin. “There’s no need to hurt these men, and the villagers are going to need them.”
“I’m not waiting,” said Zollin. “Branock can’t be that far ahead. We’ve got to rescue her.”
“Take them away,” said Billips to his men.
“Don’t kill them,” Quinn shouted.
Zollin was already acting. He didn’t move, but he pushed out a wall of magic that he formed around his father, Mansel, and himself. The magic jumped out, as solid as a wooden beam as it slammed into the unsuspecting soldiers. They were all knocked off their feet.
“Wow!” Mansel said.
“Let’s get moving,” Quinn said, “before they have time to recover.”
Outside the tent, they found their weapons in a pile. They scooped them up and swung onto their horses. The men inside the tent were stirring, the knights shouting orders to detain Zollin, Quinn, and Mansel.
“If we stay here, people are going to get hurt,” Quinn said.
“We can’t leave without Kelvich,” Zollin replied.
They turned their horses and rode to the nearby tent, where Kelvich had been taken.
“I’ll get him,” Zollin said.
He jumped off his horse and ducked into the tent. He never saw the wooden club that hit him. He fell into the mud with a grunt.
“Zollin!” Quinn said when he heard the blow. “Son!”
Mansel spun his horse, drawing his sword, but there were over two dozen men at arms surrounding them. Quinn rushed inside the tent, but was immediately disarmed and dragged back out. Billips came striding over to them.
“You were duly warned,” he said.
“Don’t be a fool,” Mansel said to Billips. “We only want to save our friend.”
“You’ve attacked the King’s officers,” he said in haughty tone. “You’ll have to be detained and tried for your actions.”
“This is a mistake,” said Mansel.
“We’ll see about that,” said the knight. “Put them in chains and hold them by the river.”
Chapter 16
When Brianna came to her senses, her head was pounding with pain. She was lying across a saddle, her legs numb, her hands tied behind her back. She could feel the crustiness of dried blood on the back of her head and on her neck. Her head felt like it was being hit like a drum with every jarring step the horse took. And there was a sharp, stabbing pain in the back of her head.
She had seen Zollin move away from the building they were hiding between. The air around her had been blowing hard from the dragon’s flapping wings and was searingly hot from the fire the beast had belched at Zollin. She had been paralyzed by fear for Zollin, even more afraid then when Branock had snatched her off the street and used her as a hostage. The dragon was so big, so incredibly powerful, and Zollin was facing it all alone.
Then, suddenly and without warning, her world had gone black. She didn’t remember anything else until she woke up stretched across the horse. She moaned and tried to move, but her body was too weak.
“Ah, you’re awake,” came a voice that sent icy chills down her arms and back. She could feel the goose bumps rising on her skin and tingling up her neck.
“If you will cooperate, no more pain will come to you,” Branock said. “If you struggle or try to escape, I’ll beat you or drug you. Do you understand?”
Brianna did understand. She was powerless to do anything about her awful predicament, and fighting was of no benefit. Even if her captor weren’t a powerful wizard, she simply was in no shape to do anything. But what she desperately wanted was for the pain to stop. She wanted to lie down, untie her arms, and rest. Still, she didn’t think that was going to happen either.
“Let me go,” she said in a weak voice.
“Oh, I can’t do that,” said Branock. “No, that would not serve my purpose at all. I need you, so you’ll have to stay with me. But there’s no need to be trussed up like an animal. I’ll cut you loose and let you ride with me, if you promise not to do anything stupid. We have to ride fast to stay ahead of your friends. Once we find a suitable vessel, we’ll travel down the river, which will be a much more comfortable way to travel, for both of us.”
“I won’t fight,” said Brianna, and she meant it. She only wanted the pain to stop.
She felt the cold steel of the knife slide between her wrists and felt an overwhelming sense of vulnerability that made her want to cry. She hated feeling so weak, but there was seemingly nothing to do about it at the moment. But she refused to let Branock see her tears. She held them back through a tremendous act of will.
The knife cut her bonds easily, and Brianna wanted to scream as her arms flopped forward. They were so numb she couldn’t move them. They felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds each, and she was surprised their weight didn’t pull her off the horse head first. As the blood began to flow through her arms again, they tingled and burned and ached almost as painfully as her head. Every bounce in the horse’s gait brought fresh waves of agony. Tears burned her eyes, but she didn’t make a sound.
Then Branock grabbed her arms and wrenched her upward. He wasn’t strong, but she had always been thin and didn’t weight very much. He huffed and puffed, out of breath from the exertion of lifting her upright. She sat sideways in the saddle, and only his hand on her arms kept her from toppling off the horse. Now the blood was running back through her legs, and her whole body felt as if tiny ants with red hot feet were running up and down her body.
“I’d help with the wounds, but for some reason you’re immune to my power,” Branock said. “It’s a bit of a mystery, but isn’t that what makes life so grand? We can’t know everything, and every new discovery is a triumph. I’m looking forward to solving the riddle you pose.”
Brianna wanted to spit in his face, but she still couldn’t control her body yet. Her arms were slowly becoming less painful, and her head, now that it wasn’t upside down and flooded with excess blood, wasn’t aching quite as much. She looked around and noticed that they were still in the Great Valley, with towering, razor sharp looking mountain peaks on either side. They were on a road, or at least what passed for a road. It was still muddy, but more of a packed, clay-like mud rather than the watery brown quagmire of the plain. The forest grew closer to the river here, where the rich soil hadn’t been cleared for crops. The river was muddy, too, brown with white bubbles that looked like spit. It was running fast and looked to be about as wide as it had been in Brighton’s Gate. She decided they hadn’t gone that far, and she chanced a look back over the wizard’s shoulder.
“How sweet,” he said in a mocking tone. “She hasn’t given up hope that her savior will come swooping down to rescue her. Are you imagining that you are Princess Everdale and the Falcon King will save you and make you his bride?”
She ignored him. She wasn’t strong enough to make a break for freedom herself. But Branock had said that she was bait to draw Zollin in, so she was relatively sure that he was still alive. She hadn’t seen what had happened to the dragon, or who else had been hurt. Had Branock killed Kelvich when he’d kidnapped her? She didn’t know, and the questions were like festering, open wounds that she was powerless to mend.
“The soldiers will at least slow him d
own, and I doubt his mount can keep up with us. I may not be able to help you, but our horse can benefit from my power. He’ll keep up this pace all day and night. I don’t think your young suitor can replicate that nifty trick. Zipple Weed doesn’t grow this far north; it’s not a fan of the cold. And neither am I. I’ll be glad to get back to a warm bed, a roaring fire, and plenty of mulled wine. Doesn’t that sound better than tramping through the mud and muck?”
Brianna ignored him once again. She felt like throwing up, partly because her body was still in shock from its poor treatment, but partly because she hated being so close to the dark wizard. He may have spoken like a gentleman, but she could sense that he was anything but. He felt cold, not just physically, but deeper down. It was like being near ice, the cold seemed to penetrate, and it felt like no amount of warmth could touch it.
“You’re a quiet companion, much like my last one. He underestimated me, but that was to be expected. He underestimated everyone and overestimated himself.”
“What happened to him?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“Zollin killed him,” Branock said with smile. “It was a fantastic battle, really. You would have been proud. He’s improved quite a bit since we last met in the forest. A bit raw still, perhaps, but he’s learning, I’ll give him that much.”
“You didn’t help your friend?” Brianna asked.
“Oh, he wasn’t my friend. No, not at all. Just an inconvenient problem that young Zollin helped me to eliminate.”
Five Kingdoms: Books 01, 02 & 03 Page 43
