by Narro, B. T.
“Quiet!” he interrupted.
She took an annoyed breath, then whispered, “Can you use the lamp?”
“I didn’t bring a lamp,” he said tersely.
“You were supposed to bring a lamp.”
“Don’t tell me what I’m supposed to do. You are supposed to light our path so no one has to worry about carrying a lamp for ten miles. We’re already carrying two bird cages.”
Wilfre made it easy to forget that he was their leader. Conversing with him felt like walking through mud.
“Something’s coming closer,” Reela whispered and pointed to their right.
Effie aimed her wand and held back a scream as a massive bear emerged from the darkness. She lost her focus, and her light went out.
She drew in energy for a fireball as Steffen hurried to aim an arrow, but Reela jumped in front of them and extended her arms.
“It’s not aggressive.”
The bear made a gravelly moan, sounding like it was in pain.
“Just kill it!” Wilfre said, fear heavy in his voice.
“It’s not aggressive!” Reela said more firmly this time. “That must be why I didn’t sense it earlier. I was trying to pick up signs of intelligent beings or creatures that might attack, but there’s something strange about this bear.” She took a couple steps toward it.
“Just leave it, then!” Wilfre said through his teeth.
The bear groaned again, then huffed loudly. Reela didn’t startle as she continued closer. “Come here. We’re friendly, too.” She spoke to it as if it were a dog, and just like a dog it ran toward Reela excitedly.
Steffen grabbed Effie in what seemed to be a reflex, pulling her to his side. She tripped over something, but he caught her as he called for Reela to move, too. Wilfre had gone the other way and screamed in what sounded to be pain, not that Effie understood it. Reela cowered, for the bear looked as if it wanted to leap into her arms.
“Stop!” Reela pushed out her hands. The bear tried to stop but tumbled over itself and skidded across the wet grass. Reela dove out of its path.
As Reela got back on her feet, the bear walked over to her. She stood rigid as it nuzzled her with its nose.
“What’s wrong with it?” Effie asked.
“He wants companionship.” Reela sounded puzzled, so Effie figured she wasn’t going to get much more of an answer than that.
“My back is bleeding!” Wilfre complained in a panicked voice. He showed his bloodstained hand to them. “Look! I need treatment.”
“First we need to move,” Steffen said. “We just made a lot of noise.”
Everyone seemed to silently agree as they gathered themselves and made sure they had their bags. Steffen picked up the two bird cages and led everyone from their current spot. The bear followed Reela like an obedient pet.
“Did you do something to make him act this way?” Steffen asked her.
“No, but someone else must have.” She patted the bear, and it groaned in delight. It swung its head into her, knocking her over. Startled, Effie drew her wand, while Steffen reached for his bow. But Reela’s laughter stopped them.
“Relax,” she said as she noticed their weapons. “He’s just excited. Whoever altered his mind to make him this way was the source of his affection. I believe he thinks I’m that person.”
“Here’s far enough.” Wilfre hastily unbuttoned his shirt. “Look at my wound, Steffen. I might need the caregelow.”
“I’m sure you don’t. Everyone’s too eager to ask for the caregelow these days. That’s the downside to having such a powerful substance. No one wants to settle for anything less.” Steffen positioned himself at Wilfre’s bare back. “What did you fall on?”
“I don’t know.”
Effie aimed light onto the gash as Steffen poured water down Wilfre’s back, clearing some of the blood so he could get a good look.
“You’ll be fine,” Steffen said with certainty. “It was probably a rock or a root. Just let me clean and bandage it.”
Reela put her hand on the bear’s head. “The spell’s strong. It could last for a month, maybe even be permanent. The psychic who did this is as powerful as my brother.”
“Sanya,” Effie muttered through gritted teeth.
“That would make sense,” Steffen agreed as he poured some sort of potion onto Wilfre’s back, causing the man to hiss. “She probably came this way when she fled from the Academy.”
“So what are we going to do about the bear?” Effie asked.
Reela came toward them, but everyone backed away as the bear followed her. She looked behind her, then turned back to them with a laugh. “I’m certain he won’t attack any of us.”
“Even so,” Steffen said, “his noise could alert Tauwin’s men if we come close enough to them. Can you send him away Reela?”
“I might be able to make him leave temporarily by enticing him with the thought that there’s food out there, but he’ll look for me again after a short time.”
“Can’t you scare him?” Effie asked.
“If I make him afraid of me, he might attack instead of run. In fact, he might attack us if I try to undo the spell at all. As soon as I used psyche on him, he thought I was Sanya. I can maintain his affection easily enough, but I don’t think I can make him stop following without attacking us.”
With his back bandaged, Wilfre eased into his shirt. “Then just kill him.”
“You can’t be serious,” Effie said in disbelief.
“Effie, I agree with him.” Steffen spoke flatly, then calmly dabbed his hands with a cloth.
Effie turned to Reela, who would certainly take her side. “There must be some other option, right?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think there is,” Reela said.
Effie was incredulous. How could she be the only one against the idea?
Wilfre nodded at Steffen. “Go ahead, then.”
Steffen readied his bow and took an arrow from the quiver on his belt.
“Just wait!” Effie put herself in front of the bear. It sniffed around her shoulder and neck, tickling her, though she was in no mood to laugh. “All of you are so quick to take a life!”
“What else can we do?” Steffen asked indifferently.
“He’s hungry, Eff,” Reela said, “yet we don’t have food to feed him. I don’t know what will happen if the pains in his stomach outweigh his affection.”
“Sanya has done enough damage,” Effie argued. “We can’t just kill this bear because of her, not when we have the choice to let him live.”
Reela opened her long arms and enveloped Effie in a hug. She knew Reela wouldn’t use psyche to change her mind, so she let herself become supple against Reela’s warm body as she relaxed.
“I miss him so much,” Effie admitted, knowing full well why Reela felt the need to embrace her.
“I do, too.”
The bear whimpered, possibly sympathetic to Reela’s sadness.
Just then, Wilfre screamed and fell forward. Effie and Reela jumped apart to find an arrow sticking out of Wilfre’s shoulder. Another one zipped past Effie’s face and sunk into the bear’s side. He roared and thrashed.
“This way!” Steffen called and ran while half dragging, half carrying Wilfre. Before Effie had moved two steps, a third arrow came out of nowhere and found a home in Wilfre’s leg. He shrieked as he fell out of Steffen’s arms, but the chemist got him right back up.
Steffen made it about two steps before Wilfre slipped out of his grasp again. “You need to help me move you!” Steffen yelled at the man.
Figuring more arrows were coming, Effie ducked just before she felt one whizz over her head.
Must be Tauwin’s men, she realized.
She ran as fast as she could to catch up with Steffen, who had left Wilfre lying flat on his stomach.
“Help me!” Wilfre yelled after them, but Effie knew she was too small to carry him anywhere.
Arrows flew by as Reela and the bear came up on Effie’s side. Wilfre
cursed at them, but Steffen called back, “Stay low and shut up.”
Steffen stopped behind a tree, and Effie, Reela, and the bear met him there. Effie could hear no more arrows for the moment.
“Help me, you cowards!” Wilfre yelled.
Steffen shushed him, and Wilfre’s shouts turned to moans.
“We’re just going to leave him?” Effie asked, not keen on the idea but not totally against it, either. She had no idea where the archers were, but it seemed as if they were in no position to shoot behind this tree, at least for now.
“Reela, can you—”
“No, Steffen, they’re too far for me to sense anything with psyche.”
“Can you make the bear attack them?” Steffen pointed in two directions. “They’re this way and that way based on the direction of the arrows.”
“Yes, I should be able to. Give me some time.”
“Come back. I’m hurt,” Wilfre whined like a helpless child. “Please, you can’t abandon your leader.”
“Quiet!” Steffen cupped his hand around his ears to listen for their enemies.
“I’m ordering you to help me!”
“Shut up,” Effie hissed. “They might be waiting for us to help you.”
If Wilfre heard her, he didn’t care. “Get out here now!”
Another arrow seemed to impale Wilfre, though she couldn’t see exactly where it had struck his twisted body. He screamed and then moaned and cried. So at least he was still alive.
“There,” Reela said as the bear rumbled off in search of the archers. Effie strained her ears to listen as the animal’s heavy footsteps trailed off. Then she heard a roar in the distance. Screams followed.
“Everyone out,” Steffen said, running to Wilfre. Effie and Reela quickly followed. They grabbed the liaison by his limbs and carried him back toward the tree. “Keep going past it,” Steffen instructed.
So they carried him for a while longer, Effie’s arms burning from the weight. Soon they set him down on an even stretch of grass in a copse of trees. Effie made light. There were arrows stuck in him near the shoulder, low on his leg, and deep into the meatiest part of his arm.
“All right, now you’re going to need the caregelow,” Steffen said in a calm yet hasty tone. “But I have to get the arrows out right after you take it, and you must keep quiet so they don’t find us, if they’re still alive. Reela, can you keep him from feeling pain?”
“Not completely.”
Steffen sat Wilfre up and held a small vial with a gulp of caregelow in it to Wilfre’s mouth. He slurped it down noisily in his haste, then whimpered like a scared child as Steffen laid him on his good shoulder. Effie began to empathize with him when Steffen slowly and strenuously began pulling out the arrow in his shoulder, and she could hear his muscle tearing.
“I can do this without the light, Effie,” Steffen said as he closed his hand around the next arrow. “Just make sure nobody is coming after us.”
Effie gladly looked away from Wilfre and into the darkness surrounding them. He groaned loudly as Steffen worked.
“You need to be quieter,” Steffen instructed.
Wilfre took a few breaths and sounded surprisingly strong when he spoke. “Give me something to bite on.”
Effie unstrapped her belt, folded it, and put it up to his face. He strained his neck forward and clamped his teeth down onto it.
The belt worked wondrously. His sounds were muffled while Steffen pulled out the third arrow. Then Steffen promptly retrieved his bandages from his bag as if this was an ordinary ordeal. He had Reela put pressure on the open wounds as he worked on them one at a time.
As Effie strained to peer into the darkness, she heard something. She pointed her wand at the sound and began drawing in energy, but when the bear showed himself, she let the BE disperse. The beast had taken three arrows, and both hind legs were stained with blood.
He trudged over to Reela’s side and collapsed with a grunt, though he was still alive. Effie could feel his hot breath on her as she walked to stand in front of him. The bear groaned loudly, clearly in pain.
“We have to help him,” Effie said.
“Eff,” Reela chided, “he’s going to die.”
“He might’ve just saved our lives! We should at least give a moment of thought to helping him.” The bear’s groans became louder. “Reela, can you tell him to be quiet for now?”
Before Effie could react, Steffen drew his dagger and impaled it deeply into the bear’s head. The creature’s moans ceased instantly.
“You bastard!” Effie swung at Steffen with one fist after another, but he moved into her and pushed her down, pinning her so she couldn’t get up.
“We don’t know whether he killed Tauwin’s men, Eff,” Steffen said, practically emotionless like the cold bastard he was. “He was making too much noise, and I don’t think I could’ve saved him.”
Feeling how much stronger Steffen was, she was forced to give up. “Get off me.”
He obeyed and hurried back to Wilfre, who finally looked to be relaxing somewhat, most likely from the caregelow.
Reela helped her up. She saw that Steffen’s hands had left bloodstains on her arms and shirt.
“Even if the caregelow had saved the bear’s life,” Reela said, “I don’t know what it would’ve done to his mind. It could’ve undone Sanya’s spell, meaning he might’ve turned on us.”
Effie found herself petting the bear’s corpse. She fell into a heavy depression and had to stifle sobs with a clench of her stomach.
“How many more are going to die before this is all over? We had a great king. We were happy. He was going to choose someone who would rule as well as he did.” She forced herself to step away so she would stop petting the dead animal. “Tauwin deserves to suffer for eternity for what he’s done. Sanya as well.”
As exhaustion caught up to Effie, she realized that everyone else must be just as tired.
“Wilfre’s still bleeding too much,” Steffen said grimly. “I need to cauterize the wounds. First we need to move again, and then we’ll make a fire.”
Reela sighed. “We’re not going to make it to Trentyre before daylight, then.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The sound of Basen’s footsteps was lost in the echoes of everyone’s whispers behind him.
“What can you sense with psyche?” Alabell asked Annah with her hand firmly holding onto Basen’s.
“Not much. There are too many minds all around us.”
Jackrie’s voice came from the back of their group. “You must be sensing the Fjallejons within the mountains.”
Or it’s our enemies, if they killed the Fjallejons to take these mountains.
The threat of soldiers coming up on their heels forced them to hurry up the interminable stairs, and Basen’s legs were beginning to tire while his back was aching from hunching to avoid hitting his head. But then the tunnel opened enough for him to stand upright. He picked up speed with great relief.
Finally, he led them up one last turn and saw the end. “Almost there,” he called over his shoulder. But as he got closer to the top of the enclosed stairway, it looked as if there was nothing but a wall after a few steps on even ground.
“Jackrie,” Basen called softly, some panic coming out through his tone.
She pushed through, took one glance, and her face fell. “There must be some way through.”
“Could we have passed the right route?” Basen hadn’t been watching the walls for a hidden passageway like the one that led them into this enclosed stairway.
“Terren told me just to follow the stairs to get to the top of the mountain.”
Basen heard the distinct sound of someone in their group unsheathing his sword. They all fell quiet to listen.
He couldn’t see past Annah and Alabell behind him, but the two women seemed to be speaking with Cleve and Peter farther below. Suddenly Alabell turned and put a finger over her lips. She motioned with her other hand at Basen’s wand. He stopped making light.
In the darkness, they waited. Basen heard approaching footsteps, the echoes deceiving him into thinking the source of the sound was already upon them. The dim glow of light barely reached them as it twisted up from down below. He started to push his way around Alabell and Annah to get to the front so he could fight, but when he came to Peter, the warrior shoved him back.
“Stay,” Peter whispered aggressively.
Basen grudgingly obeyed.
“Cut that light,” someone said from below, and darkness descended upon them.
Basen could make out only whispers. Whoever they were, they were close.
Then Basen heard nothing for a while except Annah’s sharp breaths. She was standing on a step just above him, her mouth right at his ear. She sounded terrified.
He folded his body sideways until his ear touched the cold stone step. He heard soft clicks of what had to be footsteps. They’re treading carefully now. They must realize we’re here.
Echoes in this enclosed stairway were so severe that he feared even a whisper might be heard, but he had to risk it.
“They know we’re here,” he murmured with his ear still pressed to the ground.
Someone roughly pushed his hand down on Basen’s back to quiet him. He assumed it to be Peter.
“I found a way through,” Alabell whispered.
“Where?” Jackrie asked.
“There’s some space at the base of the wall.”
“Then let’s go.” Basen rose to a standing position, wobbling in the darkness and finding Peter’s muscular shoulder for balance.
Before they could take two steps, light burst on them. It was just as Basen feared—a swarm of enemies standing within the same short straightaway of stairs, but too far to engage in melee combat, a mage at the front. They were well prepared for this distance, while Basen’s group had put their warriors at the front, and they had no time to load arrows on their bows.
“Jackrie!” Cleve yelled, but she was already leaping over Basen and Peter to get to the front, flicking her wand in the process. Cleve caught her by her stomach and legs and held her as she formed a sartious energy shield.
The fireball everyone knew was coming exploded into the floating green energy. It sizzled like meat falling onto a hot pan, yellow sparks washing over from the middle out.
