“Isn’t that the point? He will underestimate us in the future. Use it to our advantage. It will not last long.” Balinor got the impression that Em’risi was explaining something that she considered obvious.
“It must be in the bloodlines. You are as diabolical as he is.” Balinor mumbled, but his heart missed a beat when Em’risi spun on her horse.
“Who were you comparing me to? Reigns…? No… not him. Not my father either. Who else?” Em’risi had that piercing look that made Balinor squirm like he had when he was a child caught breaking a rule.
“It is just a saying. Nothing more.”
“Balinor… Who?”
“Your uncle. I now know why Reigns wanted all Gifts banned. Sometimes a man should be able to skirt the truth without being read like a book.” Balinor’s rant descended into a rumbling growl of frustration.
“Neither my father nor my mother had any siblings. How could you have known my uncle?” Em’risi reigned Raos up in front of Elmet and Balinor found his consternation was being telegraphed to the horse who was fidgeting rebelliously.
“I am cursed with having met your uncle. He degrades you by claiming you as his relation. It would be better if you don’t know his identity.” Balinor quailed as Em’risi’s regal gaze intensified.
“I will be the one that decides that. Now, please tell me who you speak of.” Em’risi’s icy tone sent shivers down Balinor’s spine.
“He is on your mother’s side. Her brother.” Balinor tried to placate her with only the vaguest of details, but knew from the set in her jaw that the full truth would be forthcoming.
“Balinor please, I would rather not be caught in surprise should he come forward of his own volition.”
“Very well… I beg you to remember that I tried to warn you. You uncle is Lord Uraken of House Safrym.” Em’risi was stunned for a moment as the pieces fell into place.
“It explains so much. Why he didn’t kill my father or why he has aligned himself with my cause. Reigns would choke to death if he knew. House Safrym you say…” Em’risi lapsed into silence with her fingers busy as if she were concentrating on counting out some complex arithmetic problem.
“You… you aren’t upset?” Balinor cautiously inquired a few moments later.
“With you, a little for not having told me sooner, but otherwise I am not upset. Please don’t attempt to protect me like that again. I am not so fragile as to be crushed like a lily. For some reason, I knew that I could trust him since I first saw him, but now I know why.” Em’risi smiled slightly to Balinor’s relief.
“What do you intend to do now?” Balinor refrained from using the title that he knew annoyed the Princess. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.
“I have an army to raise. Even if house Inarack defects to our side, then we will still be outnumbered close to three to one.”
“Forgive me if I seem blind to the obvious, but we have been trying to raise an army for years. As you know, we haven’t been terribly successful.”
“Balinor, you search for recruits with a very specific criteria. They must be strong, healthy, agile and fast.”
“What, pray tell, is wrong with those traits?”
“Nothing. I will start my search among our own men. I believe that a properly trained Gifted soldier can hold his own against a dozen enemies and should help tip the odds in our favor.” Em’risi turned Raos back towards the bridge and Balinor was forced to pull up beside her in order to continue the conversation.
“I thought that you sent all the Gifted that were among our troops with Urake? Not that I could deal with more than you being Gifted. Enough trouble to make a man wish he hadn’t been born.” Balinor subsided to muttering again.
“Now Balinor, am I so cruel?” Em’risi looked over with her soft purple doe eyes that could make ice melt with a glance and ignite a passion in a younger man’s heart. He knew better than to think of her as soft. He had been the target when those eyes could have bored a hole through stone or frozen a kettle of water in a blacksmith’s forge.
“My queen, perhaps blunt, direct to the point, and sometimes forcing us to be brutally honest with ourselves, but never cruel.” Balinor avoided looking into those accursed eyes that he knew he couldn’t resist.
“Is it so terrible to be honest with one’s self?”
“You must know yourself before you can know your enemy, but there are times that I think that you know me better than I ever have. It is unnatural sometimes. Now, back to what we were talking about, I thought that you sent all the Gifted people among our ranks with the Asgare?” Balinor was uncomfortable maneuvering on this field and tried to change the topic back to more familiar ground.
“I pointed out two of the strongest ones that I knew about. There are still a fair number among us to be sure. My bodyguard Alvin is one.” Em’risi laughed at Balinor’s surprised expression.
“What can he do?”
“I'm not sure entirely. I swear that he can find a hand grip on the smoothest walls, jump from a roof without making a sound or even suffering from the fall. His archery skills are phenomenal and I can see energy wrapped around his arrows. Almost like he can guide them after they leave the bow.”
“Perhaps, if you could find someone that could turn invisible…” Balinor thought about the possibilities that such a Gift could promise.
“I haven’t seen anyone with that Gift.” Balinor caught a twinkle in Em’risi’s eye.
“That is too bad… Oh, I understand. You can’t see them if they are invisible. Very funny, my princess.” Balinor found he couldn’t resist chuckling a little at the joke.
Chapter Ten: Plans
Incredibly, everyone at the Golden Thistle had lethargically picked up where they had left off without noticing the missing time. Only Fenar and the individuals that had escaped the effect seemed to have any idea. Cero, Inadar, Arken and Niman returned to their respective rooms and waited impatiently for Urake’s return.
When Urake did return, it was after a couple hours had passed. He carried Arken’s finished armor along with Cero’s set. He didn’t divulge what else he had been up to, but instead grabbed his pack and announced that they would be leaving town right away. No one asked any questions until they had left the last buildings behind and taken the northern road.
“What is the plan?” Torroth asked as he fell into step with Urake.
“We are going to throw a hammer into Reigns’ plans. Starting with the shipyards.” Urake still seemed upset about the recent events.
“What is our cover story?” Cero asked as he shifted his pack. Urake saw a little green snout peeking out of the flap on the top before Bani did his disappearing trick.
“A band of peddlers. We will be picking up a couple wagons of supplies at Cercha, then we will go to Shienhin and sell our wares. While we are there, we need to collect all the information that we can about the war. If we can, we need to find out all that there is to be learned about the imposter princess that Reigns has parading around. After that, we will scout out the shipyards and see what can be done about the fleet.”
“A fake princess. Em’risi is pretty unique looking so he must have had to search hard to find someone resembling her.” Torroth remarked offhandedly.
“That is an understatement. I have only seen a small handful of people with anything resembling that shade of purple in their eyes.” Urake laughed as he noticed the faint color on Torroth’s neck. He decided against commenting further as Torroth dropped back to where Inadar was walking.
“Inadar, what are you thinking?” Inadar hardly glanced up from examining the road a few feet ahead of her at the question. When she did answer, she was looking at Cero’s back.
“Not much really. He isn’t enslaving Bani like I thought.” Torroth paused for a second as he himself examined Cero’s back.
“How do you know that?”
“We sort of had a fight. More of a dual actually, but neither of us can remember what actually happened. Urake was pret
ty upset though. Anyway, I asked Bani and he got upset that I might think anyone could control him.”
“You asked him?” Torroth inquisitively asked. He didn’t ask what Inadar meant about a fight.
“Well, not talked like you can with Setur or Iradaemi. Talking with Bani is more like exchanging images and emotions. He is different from the dragons at home.”
“How so?”
“Well, Iradaemi told me that hatchlings can’t fly until they are ten winters old. I have seen Bani glide and he is barely a week old. I bet he could fly in a few more weeks at the most.”
“Well I don’t know. He looks like a dragon to me. Now that you aren’t worried about Bani, what is keeping us from leaving?” Torroth asked the last part after he had glanced around to ensure that no one was within hearing distance.
“I am nearly sure that Cero is the other Dragon Lord and I know that Urake has a Soul Forged blade. I think this is where I am supposed to be.”
“Inadar, they are dangerous. To many Gifted people together could draw attention. Not to mention that Urake is a hunted criminal. We need to leave before we get caught up too far in this mess.”
“This is why we left Dragon’s Hamlet. I can’t just run off now. I have to follow this through. Are you having second thoughts?”
“No… well I suppose I am. I don’t want to be on the run for my entire life. I am a blacksmith, not a soldier.”
“Why did you come with me if you didn’t want to?” Inadar looked up into Torroth’s conflicted face.
“I was ordered to protect you by dragons. I couldn’t exactly argue with them.” Torroth’s frustration was boiling near the surface.
“I would have argued with them if I had known.” Inadar looked hurt by Torroth’s confession, but she was still supportive and to his relief, didn’t seem to hold it against him.
“You are their prodigy or something. You could have gotten away with anything when it came to the dragons. Now I am oath bound to protect you and it won’t be said that I broke an oath.”
“I release you.”
“You what?”
“I release you from your oath. You don’t have to stay with me if you don’t want to.” Inadar choked and hurriedly looked the other direction to hide a traitorous tear.
“I can’t leave you with these people. We owe them nothing. They are fighting a losing battle that we have no stake in. Leave with me tonight before something bad happens. I can feel it in my gut. Something is going to happen.”
“I can’t leave them. I feel my place is here. They are all Gifted, like me.”
“I won’t abandon you.”
“I know. You owe me nothing Torroth. It is I who owe you for having saved my life from that hunter. Even Rothlt would understand if you did choose to go your own path.”
“I said that I'm not leaving.”
“I'm sorry if you feel like you didn’t have a choice.”
“Inadar, I don’t want to talk about it. I'm here and that is the end of the discussion.” Inadar wanted to say something else, but she respected Torroth’s wishes and dropped the conversation.
“How are you holding up Aleest?” Emeck had been plodding alongside the silent lad since leaving Warton.
“I'm all right. Just thinking. I heard Urake say that were going to get some wagons as part of our cover. Do you think we will have horses?”
“Probably not. Oxen would be more fitting with the traveling peddler idea.” Emeck noted the disappointed look on Aleest’s face.
“That is a shame. Horses are a lot more interesting. Oxen only think about food and flies.”
“Flies?”
“Yes, flies drive them insane.”
“I see. I'm sure that despite the flies, you will get along with them just fine.”
“Probably. I'm not sure about Bani though. I don’t think he likes me.” Aleest squinted at Cero’s pack.
“I don’t think Bani likes anyone but Cero. I punched him in the shoulder the other day when he made some sarcastic comment and the next thing I knew, Bani appeared out of nowhere and attempted to take my hand off before Cero calmed him down.”
“I wish I could have been there to see it.” Aleest started giggling as Emeck glowered.
“It wasn’t funny.”
“It sounds funny.”
“I will remember looking into those green eyes and feeling those little talons gripping my arm for the rest of my life.” Emeck was regretting having told the story.
“Bani isn’t even as big as a loaf of black bread and you were terrified of him?” Aleest was trying to stop giggling, but the mental image that Emeck picked up almost made him laugh also.
“I wasn’t scared of him. Just a little apprehensive. There is a big difference.” Emeck tried not to think of the image that Aleest was seeing of him jumping around screaming.
“How big of a difference?” Aleest grinned up at Emeck.
“For one, I didn’t scream.” Emeck had his mouth open in preparation for outlining another difference between apprehension and terror when Cero dropped back and joined into the conversation.
“Yes you did. You screamed like Akeli did whenever she thought she saw a spider.”
“Cero, no one asked you.” Emeck took on a mortally offended expression.
“I was just correcting you. Besides, Bani wasn’t going to hurt you. He just doesn’t like people threatening me, he is sort of overprotective like that.”
“Having a dragon snarling in your face is more than a warning. Those teeth are wicked looking!” Emeck tried to defend himself, although he had the feeling that he was trying to patch a sinking boat.
“I'm sure he will appreciate the compliment. Not that he needs his ego built up any more than it already is.” Cero rolled his eyes as his pack cover stirred.
“Compliment? You call that a compliment?” Emeck had his turn at rolling his eyes.
“He is quite vain, to tell the truth, and being told he is scary is quite the compliment.” Cero laughed at Emeck’s shocked expression.
“I didn’t say he was scary. I said his teeth were wicked looking.”
“Same difference.” Aleest was watching with a gleeful expression.
“Whose side are you on Aleest?” Emeck shook his head and decided that the conversation was over. He was already losing ground so no need digging the hole deeper.
“Let him have his compliment then. I am going to go walk somewhere where people aren’t making fun of me.” When both Cero and Aleest burst into laughter, he shook his head and stepped forward.
“Wicked looking?” Urake smirked over at Emeck.
“Not you too.”
“I would have called those teeth scary. A whole maw of those needle sharp things in your face is scary.” Urake nodded knowingly.
“Enough already. This is going to be a long trip.”
***
When the group arrived in Cercha, a few days after leaving Warton, they procured two wagons and as many teams of oxen to pull them. Few people asked many questions about the group of strangers that were purchasing trading supplies left and right with seemingly bottomless coin sacks. While no one was ready to question them, they were all eager to sell trinkets to the traveling peddlers. Three days after arriving, they set out fully outfitted and having only been approached by one suspicious petty officer in the local guard. Undoubtedly, he would be found recovering from his drinking binge with a throbbing headache and dim memory of what had actually happened in a day or so. One of Tusul’s sedatives did the trick quite convincingly.
The rest of the trip to Shienhin was conducted in relative comfort with the travelers taking turns riding in the wagons. Packed as they were with supplies, there was room for a driver and one or two passengers depending on how cramped they wanted to be.
Shienhin reared its walls in the center of a large plain between the northern reaches of the Vaulwar and the Garoche Mountains. The city proper was surrounded by walls that dated back to the beginning of the Millennium War
s. The castle keep could be seen with its soaring towers and ramparts. To someone who had never seen the city, the view was sobering. Especially if you consider that your enemies were within the siege proven walls. Huddled in the shadow of the city walls was the lower city. It was more akin to a slum than a city. Few of the building on the outskirts could even be called such. The poverty was incredible in its completeness. Further in, real buildings stood, but a pervasive smell clung to everything ensuring that the traveler never forgot where he stood.
“We split into four groups. Two in each. There is no reason for there to be eight people tending two wagons and doing so is sure to draw unwanted attention. Two groups of traders with the wagons and another two groups of travelers. Make your way to the Red Thorn, but don’t give on that we know each other when you make your lodging arrangements.” Urake had called a halt a few measures outside the lower city and gave his instructions. The group broke into the proscribed fragments and waited until the proceeding group had passed out of sight behind a small hill before going on themselves. Cero found himself in the last group with Aleest who longingly watched the last wagon rumble down the road with Niman and Arken seated at the front.
“So, what is it like? Your Gift that is.” Cero shifted his pack and swatted at a fly that still buzzed around.
“I don’t know too much about it. Sort of happens without having to think. It is like I can look at animals and know what they are thinking. If I focus, I can affect what they think. They don’t think with words like most people do, but with pictures. How is it like when you talk to Bani?” Aleest took the delay as an opportunity to find a pebble that had migrated into his boot.
“I suppose it is like that, but he can tell what I am thinking without me having to try. I don’t affect what he thinks, just let him know and he makes his own choice.”
“I should get myself a little pet to keep with me. A squirrel or something.” Aleest had found the pebble and was in the process of strapping his boot back up.
Chronicles of Den'dra: A land on Fire Page 15
