Balestone (5 page)

The wagon rumbled over the soft turf, and after an hour they were nearly three miles from the camp. Everyone was exhausted. Tiberius was asleep already, slumped against Lexi. When they stopped, Lexi and Olyva stretched out on the ground.

“Dancer, you’ve got to keep watch,” Lexi told the little animal. “Wake me up if someone comes this way.”

The little animal chirped and trilled, then bounded up the wagon and perched on the tallest part. Lexi closed her eyes, trying not to feel how badly her body ached or how scared she was of what would happen in the morning. She prayed silently that Tiberius would be stronger and that Olyva could heal Rafe, but she fell asleep before she could finish her plea.

Chapter 6

As morning broke, Tiberius came around. It was thirst, more than anything, that woke him up. He stirred on the bench of the wagon, his body aching as he stretched. The little furry animal with big eyes looked at him from the back rest of the bench. It tilted its head and stared curiously.

“Hello there,” Tiberius said, his voice still dry and cracking.

The animal trilled, then went back to staring across the plain toward the camp, which was little more than a dark blur on the horizon now. Tiberius found the canister of water he’d been drinking from the night before. He slowly climbed down from the wagon. He was tired, but he felt better than he had in days. His head was clear, and while his body felt stiff from sleeping on the hard, wooden bench, he didn’t feel sick. Just weak from hunger and thirst. He could still smell the roasted meat from the oxen the raiders had butchered, and it made his stomach rumble. He would need to eat soon, but first he needed more water.

At the back of the wagon, Tiberius found Rafe. His friend was very sick — one look told Tiberius that much. He dipped water from one of the barrels with the pitcher and then dribbled water into Rafe’s mouth. His lips parted, and a swollen tongue protruded, but Rafe didn’t wake up. Once Tiberius had drunk his fill, he leaned onto the wagon, breathing deeply and letting the water refresh his body.

Two things were painfully obvious. The first was that the raiders would soon attack. Tiberius remembered that things were going well the night before. He had thought he was on the verge of success when someone had blindsided him. He was lucky that Lexi had come along when she did. Most of the raiders were under his sleeping spell, but not all of them. The raiders would be waking up soon. Once they realized their captives were missing, Tiberius guessed that Bu’yorgi would send his men after them. It wouldn’t take long for the enemy warriors to find them and attack. When that happened, Tiberius needed to be ready and he needed Lexi, Olyva, and Rafe far enough away that they wouldn’t get hurt if Tiberius accidentally lost control of the magic he would have to unleash to stop the raiders.

Secondly, Rafe needed help. Tiberius wasn’t sure if his spells would really help his friend. There wasn’t a spell to counteract poison, but he had to try something. Olyva’s concoction had helped Tiberius, but it was a slow-acting cure. Tiberius needed Rafe strong enough to protect Olyva and Lexi if Ti failed to stop the raiders.

Ti gave Rafe some more water as the sky brightened overhead. Then he closed his eyes and began to chant his spell.

“
Sano Frebricula Reducto
,” he said softly.

It was the spell for reducing fever. The magic seemed to swirl between Rafe and Tiberius. Compared to most magic, the fever-reducing spell was easy, but it still required Tiberius to will it into his friend’s body. Ti felt his own temperature seeming to rise as he poured the magic into Rafe. Soon Tiberius felt as if he were standing too close to a fire. His face and hands were so hot they were almost burning, but he stayed focused on chanting the words of the spell and directing the magic into action.

“
Sano Frebricula Reducto
,
Sano Frebricula Reducto
.”

Rafe’s eyes opened, but Tiberius kept reciting the spell. It would take his friend time to regain his strength, but he was coming around. Tiberius felt his own body cooling off, and when he felt normal again, he released the magic. His chanting over, he looked down at Rafe.

“I feel better,” he croaked.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Tiberius said, ignoring the angry rumble in his stomach. “The raiders pillaged the camp and tried to burn Olyva at the stake.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, Lexi rescued us. I failed in my attempts.”

“You’re awake,” Olyva said. She had moved to the side of the wagon so quietly that Tiberius hadn’t heard her approach.

“Tiberius worked a healing spell,” Rafe managed to say.

“It was just a fever reducer,” Tiberius said. “I don’t know if the symptoms will come back or not.”

“Here,” Olyva said, reaching for the pitcher of water. “I scraped some of my bark into this barrel last night. It won’t be at full strength for several more hours, but it might be enough to counteract the poison.”

She took the pitcher and dipped it into the barrel. Then she helped Rafe drink. He was weak and trembled with the effort to sit up.

“Olyva, the raiders will be coming soon. Do you think you can take the wagon away from here?”

“Yes,” she said.

“What are you going to be doing?” Rafe asked, his voice barely more than a hoarse whisper.

“I’m going to stop the raiders, if I can.”

“I’ll stand with you,” Rafe said bravely.

“My good friend,” Tiberius said. “You are a strong warrior, but at the moment I doubt that you can stand on your own at all.”

“He saved my life,” Lexi said.

Tiberius turned. He hadn’t seen her wake up, but she was standing behind him with her new pet perched on her shoulder.

“Did we wake you?” he asked.

“No,” Lexi said. “Dancer alerted me. The raiders are coming.”

“Dancer?” Tiberius asked.

The little animal chirped proudly.

“Okay, well, we need to get you all away from here. Olyva?”

“I’ll lead the horses,” she said.

“I’ll stay with Ti,” Lexi said.

“No, it isn’t safe,” he urged.

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“It’s better if you stay with Rafe. He can protect you if I fail.”

“The horses are exhausted, Ti,” Lexi said. “We won’t get far if you fail. We have a better chance of surviving if we stay together.”

“She’s right,” Rafe croaked. “Olyva, help me up.”

“You should rest,” Tiberius said.

“There isn’t time. I may not be strong, but the raiders don’t know that. I beat Bu’yorgi once. He won’t soon forget it.”

“Okay,” Tiberius said. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

The wagon was led away, and Olyva stood with Rafe. He was still drinking from the pitcher of water that she had given him, and Tiberius was amazed at how rapidly his strength seemed to be returning.

Lexi had thrown the little creature she called Dancer high into the air, and Tiberius watched the animal rise higher and higher on invisible air currents. He was amazed at what Dancer could do and its strong attachment to Lexi, but he would have to wait to learn how the two had come together. A small group of raiders were jogging toward them.

“
Ultimus Conspectus
,” Tiberius said.

His vision shot forward, and he could make out the men moving toward them. There were six in the advance group, all carrying clubs. The rest of the raiders, nearly forty in all, were spread out behind. Tiberius guessed they would wait and see what would happen.

“What’s our best case scenario here?” Rafe asked. “I mean, are we ever going to rest while these bastards live?”

“I don’t know,” Tiberius said, still studying the men with his magical sight.

“How many are coming?” Rafe asked.

“Six to begin with. They look nervous.”

“They should,” Rafe said, drawing his sword.

“Save your strength,” Tiberius said. “There’s almost forty waiting to see what happens.”

“Lambs to the slaughter,” Rafe said.

“They think I need Moswanee’s staff to work magic. I let them take it from me last night.”

“And what happens if your big show of power doesn’t stop them?” Rafe asked.

“Then we fight, I suppose.”

“We could leave,” Lexi said. “They might not want to chase us, and we have the wagon.”

“But the tribe,” Olyva said. “They’ll die without fresh water.”

“Won’t the raiders save them?” Rafe asked.

“Only to make them slaves,” Tiberius said. “I don’t like the idea of leaving.”

“We could leave the water and take the horses,” Lexi explained.

“Let’s see how they respond to this first,” Tiberius said.

He let his sight return to normal. He was still very hungry, but he felt stronger than he had the night before. He walked forward, leaving his three companions and focusing on the approaching hunters. They were brave men, and Tiberius guessed that they had been so successful in their raids that they had grown overconfident. Te’sumee, leader of Tiberius’ own Rogu, had argued that killing wasn’t the Hoskali way. Yet Bu’yorgi had tried to kill the entire tribe by poisoning the water supply. If Olyva hadn’t been able to make her medicinal draught, Tiberius would have surely died. He had been helpless, and the raiders obviously had no concern for their fellow Hoskali, so Tiberius would have no concern for the lives of the raiders.

“
Accendo, accendo, accendo
,” Tiberius chanted.

He felt the invisible realm of magical power opening and he clamped his mind down hard on the portal, ensuring that nothing escaped his control. The magic heaved and bucked; it reminded Tiberius of a houndsman with all his dogs on the leash. He had seen how the hounds, eager for the hunt to begin, would tug at their leashes and their master would struggle to hold them back. Tiberius was the master now, and no matter how badly his fiery hounds wanted to be set free, he couldn’t allow it. Magical might was all about control, and Tiberius was determined not to fail.

He moved the portal in the sky. It was tricky pushing the portal with his mind, trying to gauge the distance. The further the portal moved away from him, the harder it was to control, but he didn’t give up. Sweat poured from his head, and his legs felt weak, but he continued to chant the spell.

“
Accendo
,” he said slowly, “
accendo.
”

Then, when the small group of raiders were only a hundred yards away, Tiberius opened several small holes in the barrier between the magical realm and the physical world. Flaming balls fell like hailstones from Rastimus’ death forge. The fire burned through the air, leaving trails that marred the amber sky with oily black smoke.

One of the first fiery balls landed just in front of the raiders. They stopped running, frozen with fear. Tiberius raised his arms so that the raiders could see that he was the source of the fire. Then the fire was dropping all around them. One of the raiders was hit squarely, and his whole body was consumed in flame. The screams were horrific, and for a moment Tiberius’ resolve wavered. But the raiders were racing back toward the camp, and the entire episode only lasted a minute. Several of the men were burned, but alive. Two had been consumed by the firestorm. Black smoke and small fires obliterated the open plain between Tiberius and the raiders.

He turned back to his friends. Olyva looked horrified. Fire had become a fearful entity to her, and she was shocked to see it falling from the sky, even if she knew that Tiberius had conjured it. Rafe and Lexi both looked stunned. They had never seen Tiberius work such powerful magic and they were shaken by the sight.

“Come on,” Tiberius said. “We haven’t got much time.”

The others nodded and hurried back to the wagon. The poor horses were beginning to look weak after their hard journey, but Tiberius knew that Rafe couldn’t walk far, and the tribe needed the fresh water.

“The smoke will hide our escape,” Tiberius explained.

“What if they follow us?” Rafe asked.

“I don’t think they will, not for a while anyway. We can move a few miles away, then circle around and drive them out of the camp.”

“I wouldn’t follow that,” Lexi said. “I would run the other way.”

“They might,” Tiberius said thoughtfully. “But the sick tribe members are their best defense. They know we won’t risk killing our own tribe, so they’ll feel safe in our camp.”

“What if they kill the tribe members?” Rafe asked.

“Then there’s nothing to stop me from raining fire down on their heads and killing all of them.”

“Could you do that?” Lexi asked. “I mean, I know you can do the magic, but would you kill them all?”

“They tried to kill us,” Rafe said.

Rafe was sitting on the bench seat of the wagon, while Tiberius, Lexi, and Olyva walked beside it. The horses moved slowly, but they were moving, and Tiberius felt like his plan had at least a glimmer of hope.

“I don’t know,” Tiberius said. “It’s hard to think about killing people.”

“I killed the man who clubbed you last night,” Lexi said softly. “When I came into the camp, he didn’t see me. I stabbed him with my dagger from behind.”

“They all deserve it if you ask me,” Rafe said. He was drinking from the pitcher of water that Olyva had concocted in the night and he seemed more himself every moment. Even his voice was growing stronger. “When a man picks up a weapon and attacks another man, he puts his life on the line. When those Rogu raided our camp, they forfeited the right to live. Every soldier knows he could die — it’s the cost of taking another man’s life. You have to put yours on the line, as well. Otherwise it’s just murder.”

“But I was too far away from the raiders to be harmed,” Tiberius said. “My life wasn’t on the line. And Te’sumee says that killing other Hoskali isn’t their way.”

“We’re not Hoskali, are we?” Rafe argued. “No, we’re from Avondale. We’re free men of Valana, and maybe you weren’t in danger at that moment, but you certainly have been. They could have killed you in their raid. They would have tried to kill you if I had lost the Tuscogee. And they almost killed you with the poisoned water.”

“What bothers me about the water is that they must have poisoned it before the Tuscogee,” Lexi said. “They were planning on this.”

“She’s right,” Rafe said. “You got sick too soon after the fight for it to have been retaliation for losing.”

“Bu’yorgi set things in action as soon as his raid failed,” Olyva said. “He’s a vile man.”

“You should have let me kill him,” Rafe said.

“Perhaps, but that wouldn’t have saved the tribe from the poisoned water,” Tiberius said. “And we’ve been trying to operate according to the traditions of the Hoskali.”

“But now we’re in a fight for our lives and theirs,” Rafe went on. “I don’t see how we can keep from slaying all of Bu’yorgi’s men. If we let them live, they’ll follow us. They’ll get past the fear and come after us again. I know how men like that think.”