Dawn of Man (Thanos Book 1) (27 page)

Jedek stared at the first two papers. “What in the world is an arachne that someone would pay one and a half gold crowns to kill?” he asked.

Ahnon shivered. “A spider that weighs about three hundred pounds, moves really fast, and is very dangerous.”

“Jedek, you ask any more about it, and I’ll hit you,” Kenna warned. “I’ve had enough bugs for one day.” She stood after emptying the last saddle. “What’s a cankle? And if it’s a bug, don’t tell me.”

“No, it’s not a bug,” Ahnon said, waving at her. “It’s a cross between a cat and dog. The snout of a dog and claws of a cat about the size of a pony with a long tail with a bony blade at the end,” he said, shrugging.

“Let me guess; the tail is poison?” Jedek asked.

“No, it’s very sharp, and it just cuts off arms and legs,” Ahnon answered. “It does have six eyes, three on each side of its head. It can see like we can, but it can also see body heat. They are real hard to sneak up on,” he said, folding the papers.

“Why are you taking the papers?” Kenna asked.

“Later, I will alter them so you two can have some kills. Plus, if I find the wizard, I want to hit him. If you can’t get your own supplies, don’t send others,” Ahnon said.

“Ahnon, I’ve seen you buy components in Velham,” Jedek said.

“I was kind of busy to be traipsing out in the wild, Jedek,” Ahnon said, kneeling down and going through the stuff they had laid out. “Bundle that stuff I pulled off them and put it on the mule,” he instructed, pointing to the pile he took off the bodies. “Kenna, keep that shortsword on top, and wear it,” he said when she picked it up.

Fifteen minutes later, Ahnon stood. “We’re leaving,” he said picking up an armload and started walking away.

“You are leaving some stuff you haven’t gone through,” Kenna said as they followed him.

Shaking his head, Ahnon said, “Company’s coming.”

The two started spinning their heads around, breathing deeply. “I smell several smells,” Jedek said, putting his hand on his sword.

“The smell with the high odor is a long tail bear. The smell like Minos is a pack of wolves coming, and the last one that smells flat is trouble. A pack of ilar tigers.” Ahnon picked up the pace. “This many bodies rings a dinner bell.”

“I wish we could’ve buried them,” Jedek said as they continued at a fast pace. “We can’t keep this pace up. The mule is really loaded down and telling me about it.”

“Don’t listen to him; he wants you to take some stuff off so he can run away,” Ahnon said over his shoulder. “I told him if he did, we would eat him.”

Keeping a hard pace for an hour, Ahnon slowed, and the kids came up beside him. “I smell something,” Kenna said barely loud enough to get past her mask.

“Look at Minos,” Ahnon said, scanning around him. Minos was walking in a crouch with the hair on his back standing up, and his teeth were bared.

“What is it?” Jedek asked.

“Goblin,” Ahnon mumbled.

Putting a hand on her sword, Kenna said, “That’s not good.”

“They’re following us. If you notice when the wind blows from behind us, the smell is stronger,” Ahnon said.

“They!” Jedek huffed.

“Yeah, humans with the goblin.”

“What does that mean?” Kenna asked.

“Only one thing,” Ahnon said, looking at her. “Bandits.” Looking back up, he said, “I think they were watching the bodies I looted, making sure the lecka wasps weren’t coming back,” he said.

“I knew we should’ve left the bodies alone,” Jedek said.

“Jedek, if you don’t get everything you can use, you will die. Understand? It was going to waste, and the purpose of life is not to waste anything. They are on horse, so they would’ve found us sooner or later. Goblins are excellent trackers. Fortunately, it’s daytime. They are much better trackers at night.”

Jedek looked down. “I’m sorry, Ahnon. This is just new to me.”

“I know, Jedek. I was the same way starting off, but almost dying a few times because I didn’t take what was available made me wake up fast.”

“What are we going to do?” Kenna asked.

Ahnon glanced over his shoulder and couldn’t see anything moving behind them. “I hope all those animals will run them off, but I doubt it,” Ahnon said. “Let’s move up till we can find a small clearing in the forest and set up. Jedek, you will put a shield over the camp area covering you, Kenna, the mule, and Minos like last time. Just don’t make it so big this time.”

“Sorry about that,” Jedek said.

“Hey, don’t be. You got a shield up; that’s all that matters. The bigger the shield, the more it takes out of you, which I’m sure you realize now,” Ahnon said.

They walked for another hour before Ahnon stopped. “We can’t go any further. They are catching up fast.”

“I’m getting tired of this mask because I smell something else,” Jedek said.

“Plecha rat. Don’t worry about it. They are about the size of a pig but eat worms. Get set up here in this clearing,” he said, stopping. “When they come, act calm. It’s not dark, so the goblin won’t see the shield.” He took off his bow and quiver and set them down.

“Want me to start a fire?” Kenna asked.

“Yes, but just use wood that’s close. We’re leaving after this is done.”

“It’s getting late,” she said, looking up at the sky with the suns close to the western horizon.

“Kenna, what doesn’t eat at the last set of corpses will be coming to this pile. I really don’t want to be here in case they want fresh meat,” Ahnon said.

Kenna smiled. “That’s what I like about you; you already know how it’s going to end.”

Ahnon turned his face to her, but she couldn’t see it because of his glasses and the shadow of his hat. “If you think I’m scared of a goblin and five human bandits, you need to try harder,” he said.

“Now you’re talking. That’s why I like you,” Jedek agreed, pulling Kenna to the site and throwing down the powder to raise the shield. Ahnon looked back, nodding with approval at the shield just the right size covering them as he walked away.

He counted twenty minutes until he heard horses moving behind them and was a little worried because he heard way more than six, putting it over a dozen. He heard the group stop several hundred paces into the forest, get off the horses, and move forward on foot. Relaxing his stance, he waited then heard bark falling off a tree. Grinning, he looked out into the forest, seeing a tree shaking as he reached behind, rubbing two bottles, rolling the liquid and powder together.

In a tree twenty paces into the forest, he saw a man ready a bow then looked back down to see four men walking side by side with swords drawn. A goblin was following them, holding the horses’ reins wrapped around his fist. Nodding, Ahnon mumbled, “You’ve done this many times before.”

The goblin stopped at the tree line as the four walked toward Ahnon. They were all smiling, so Ahnon smiled back behind his mask. “That’s close enough, gentleman,” Ahnon said, and they slowed their walk but didn’t stop. “I mean it. If I speak again, one of you dies,” he said, dropping his hand to his side, and they stopped fifteen paces from him.

“Friend, we really don’t want to kill the kids, so if you just drop everything, we will let you live!” one of them shouted, and the others chuckled.

Ahnon shook his head. “How about I let you walk away and leave your horses,” Ahnon said in a flat voice. This unsettled them. “I’m just a little too much for you, so just leave the horses and walk away. Last chance.”

“Friend, if you don’t drop your stuff, we will make the kids scream a long time before you die,” one said as Ahnon raised his hand, sending five darts zipping over their heads. All the men ducked and turned, following the darts. They hit the archer in the chest. He let out a scream and fell to the ground, not screaming much longer.

Ahnon dropped his right hand, grabbing a throwing knife off his pants then threw it at the goblin, catching him in the throat. The horses pulled away as the goblin grunted, so he couldn’t even grab the wound, but he did hold the reins. Seeing the goblin drop, the four turned around to see Ahnon holding two more blades in his left hand.

“See, you could’ve left and kept your pet goblin and archer,” Ahnon said. “Drop what you have, and you still might live,” Ahnon offered in a flat voice. The group looked at the foreboding hunter. Not seeing any skin, they were thinking this could be an evil spirit.

“Hey wait, we’ll leave!” one shouted as Ahnon threw both knives, catching one man in the throat and another between the eyes.

“You know that knife is ruined now,” Ahnon accused the last two, standing as they just stared at their dying comrades. “Hey, it was your move, and you didn’t make one, so that means I got your turn.” The two dropped their swords and raised their hands.

“I learned that playing in the dirt,” Ahnon said, quickly raising his hands. “Sag su du ina ur,” he said as his arms lifted. Ahnon released a glob of light from each hand, hitting the two in the chest. With their arms still raised, they both fell back like statues. Jedek flinched, having experienced that spell.

Ahnon walked past the men toward the horses, who were still trying to pull free from the goblin. “First horse that runs away will get cooked tonight,” Ahnon said, and they all froze. A large chestnut draft horse stared at him. “Hey, I’m not kidding, but if you stay, we will care for and protect you. Run, and we will just eat you,” Ahnon said, and the chestnut lowered his head along with the rest.

With only a quick glance, Ahnon knew which six horses belonged to the bandits: the ones covered in cuts and not cared for. There were four more horses with the chestnut and three pack mules. Ahnon stepped up to the chestnut. “Where is your old master?” he asked.

“The green one ate him this morning,” he replied.

“Well, the green man is fixing to get eaten by wolves, so what comes around goes around,” Ahnon said, rubbing his head. Prying the reins from the grip of the goblin took some work. Kenna and Jedek walked up behind him, staring at the goblin. It was shorter than Ahnon with dark green skin and long but narrow eyes. The eyes were barely yellow now, but they remembered them almost glowing as the goblin had stood back, licking its lips, exposing rows of sharp teeth.

Ahnon stood, holding the reins. “Take the horses over to where you were. We ride the ones that haven’t been beaten half to death,” he said. They grabbed the horses as he searched the bodies, taking weapons and money. He grabbed the archer’s stuff then walked over and handed it to the kids. Kenna was talking to a roan mare, wrapping it around her finger as Ahnon walked back to the two on the ground. Leaving only the clothes on their bodies, he carried their things over to Jedek then headed back.

Ahnon knelt between the two bandits, who moved their eyes to him. “Wolves are coming,” he said, and they started blinking rapidly. “I’ve watched a person magically bound get eaten before; it’s not pretty. I have an offer for you if you take it. The binding will leave before they get here, and you can hide in the trees. If you accept, blink,” he said, and they both blinked.

He ripped open their shirts and reached down, pulling out a single mini star. “You’ve killed hunters before,” Ahnon said. “This is your punishment; you must go through the land telling all what happens to those that kill hunters. I’m going to scratch your chest, and the pain will be with you the rest of your life and will only decrease when you tell others. Tell them all that the hunter Dark Talon did this to you,” Ahnon said, dragging a tip of the star across their chests. Tears poured out of their eyes as he stood. “This is my magic,” Ahnon said with his mask making his voice sound ominous, walking away as he climbed on the chestnut.

With the rest of the horses and mules tied together in a line, Ahnon led them away. As they left the clearing, he turned and waved, speaking the words, then two shrill screams cut through the air. The screams were answered by several howls off in the distance. Ahnon kicked the horse, breaking into a trot, leaving the screams behind.

Jedek reached down, pulling a small doll out that he found in a saddlebag that had blood on it. He stared at it for a second. Looking up, he guided his horse, following Ahnon through the woods. “Ahnon, you were right. Man can be the most evil species,” Jedek said, putting the doll back in the saddlebag.

Chapter 21

The next morning, the kids were doing exercises as Ahnon went through the saddlebags. Two horses and a pack mule said they were with two miners, and the rest belonged to a husband, wife, and a girl traveling to the capital. Ahnon stopped, remembering Jedek burying the doll when they had stopped at dusk. Shaking his head, he finished his search and moved back to the camp and found the kids starting breakfast.

“Well, look who’s growing up fast,” he said, sitting down.

Jedek looked up with a fake smile. “I’m glad what you did to the last two, Ahnon,” he said, wanting to be joyful about it.

“Don’t dwell on it, Jedek. It might save a few lives, but it can’t undo what’s done,” Ahnon said.

“No, I’m glad they are living in pain,” he clarified.

Ahnon sat up, looking at him. “Jedek, let it go. That will eat you alive. I let them go because I was tired of killing for one day. Granted, they deserved it, but I can find a few people that would say the same about me.”

Jedek dropped his plate. “Ahnon, the only people who would want you dead are evil people like that,” he said as Minos came over, cleaning off the plate.

Ahnon closed his eyes. “Sire, I have done my share of evil in this world, so don’t put me on a pedestal. I’m no saint, divine spirit, or God. Just a man.”

“You haven’t killed defenseless women and children!” Jedek shouted, and Ahnon opened his eyes, staring at him for a moment.

Kenna and Jedek gazed at him in shock. “Yes, I have, sire,” Ahnon finally said. “Both of you, come here and kneel beside me, please.” They both moved over. They couldn’t judge him; he had saved them too many times to count.

When they were beside him, Ahnon grabbed each one’s right hand, placing them on the lump at the top of his breast bone where his amulet was fused into him. “Open your minds,” he said, putting their fingertips on the amulet.

The two followed Ahnon through some of his memories for what felt like hours but were only a few minutes. They both leaned back, looking at Ahnon. Kenna leaned down and kissed his forehead. “What you have done was in battle and saved lives,” she said.

“Kenna, that changes little,” he told her as Jedek gawked at him with tears in his eyes. For the first time, he
felt
the commitment Ahnon had for him then felt it turn to love for Jedek. Through the vision, Jedek felt the love extend to his parents, Theobald, and Akene then finally to Kenna, Karme, and Michi—the only love Ahnon had experienced except for his mother. Jedek watched as Ahnon had grown closer to Kenna like she was a daughter and Jedek his son. Then he remembered all the things Ahnon had gone through to learn to protect him, following some type of plan related to the seeing stone.

Jedek dove on Ahnon, wrapping his arms around him. “Ahnon, you are the best man ever. If I can just be half as good, I’ll be happy,” Jedek said.

To say the least, Ahnon was shocked at the words. He had expected Jedek to be at least a little disgusted with him. “Did you follow my memories, or were you in Kenna’s mind again?” Ahnon asked.

“Yours, you big cow,” Jedek said, leaning up.

“Really, Jedek?” Ahnon asked, and Jedek grabbed Ahnon’s hand, putting it to his amulet. Tears filled Ahnon’s eyes at the care and love that Jedek had for him.

Jedek lowered Ahnon’s hand. “You know, if you would’ve shown me that earlier, I could’ve saved you some turmoil.”

“Some things must be figured out alone,” Ahnon said, smiling.

Jedek snickered. “Karme told Kenna,” he said.

“Jedek, if you haven’t figured out by now that Kenna can wrap anyone she wants to around her little finger, you have a serious problem,” Ahnon said, looking at Kenna.

“I do not,” she said. Ahnon just nodded at her. “I haven’t tried to wrap you around my finger.”

“Kenna, you had me the day you ran up to me with Jedek, asking me to make you walk on water. When I saw you stick your toe out, testing the spell on the water and giggled, I was wrapped,” Ahnon admitted.

“Hey that’s not my fault,” she said, crossing her arms.

Ahnon laughed at her as Jedek moved back to the fire to finish breakfast. “Well, what did you find in the packs?” he asked, praying for no more dolls.

“Enough food for a month if we hunt some. Ten pounds of gold nuggets at good quality, and if you count up all the coins we gathered from all of them, it comes to around fifty gold crowns. Then you have to remember all the weapons,” Ahnon said.

Kenna stood, nodding. “If we sell the white wasp puke, we could be rich,” she said, helping Jedek.

Jedek stirred the pot, never looking up, “Ahnon, I thought you had gold with you?” he asked.

Ahnon chuckled. “I have twenty times that in my pack,” he said, making Kenna’s eyes go wide. Seeing her reaction, he said, “Kenna, I have more money than your father,” making her eyes get bigger.

“How? He’s a king,” she asked.

“A little here, a little there, and it all adds up,” he said, taking a bowl of porridge from Jedek.

Minos crawled over on his belly, begging for some more food. Ahnon chuckled, giving him a piece of pork. “Chewy,” Minos said.

Jedek leaned back against his saddle. “I think I’m going to like riding horses better than walking.”

“Oh, I know I am,” Kenna said, rubbing Minos. “How far have we come by foot?” she asked, looking at Ahnon, who pointed at Jedek.

“We were staying close to ten leagues a day,” Jedek said.

“Leagues?” she asked. “That is for oceans, Jedek,” she said with a sassy tone.

“Yes, it can be, but a league is how far an average man can walk in an hour: about three miles.” Kenna added it up in her head, and her eyes got big again. “Your eyes are going to fall out if you keep doing that,” Jedek said.

“No, they won’t,” she popped off. “How far can we get on the horses?”

“With good ground, Ahnon and I averaged thirty leagues on Gratu, but that was on roads. I’m not sure about cross country.”

“We’ll get about the same,” Ahnon said, making Jedek’s eyes get big. “We aren’t going over broken ground, so we will do about the same,” Ahnon assured him. “If the other horses were more fit and we could swap out every few hours, we could get fifty to sixty leagues a day.”

They finished breakfast in silence and then packed up with Ahnon showing them how to check their horses and saddles. Keeping the best saddles, they left the rest behind to lessen the burden on the broken horses. Ahnon wanted to let them go but knew Kenna would have a fit, so he relented, hoping they improved so they could start to change out.

Riding hard, they reached the great caravan valley in a week with the Iron Mountains off to the east on the other side. Kenna now knew a shield spell and was working on two more spells, and Jedek learned two more. Ahnon started showing them basic sword skills just so they wouldn’t stab themselves if they had to fight something.

They saw many animals, but nothing attacked them as they rode east, stopping on a small hill looking across the great valley. The valley was beyond massive, and they couldn’t see the other side, but they could see the tops of mountains on the horizon. Heading down into the valley, they saw vast herds of cows and horses off in the distance of the Racor kingdom. During the ride, Ahnon learned he was the only one who had to change horses at mid-day to keep up the grinding pace. At one of the herds, they traded five horses for grain, leaving them nine. Ahnon wanted spares just in case as they pushed on.

Four days into the great valley, they crossed to the northern road on the eastern edge and could clearly see the tops of the Iron Mountains in the distance. It was late afternoon, and Ahnon spotted a stand of trees off in the distance and nudged his horse into a trot. Getting close, he smelled water and soon saw a lake behind the trees with a small knoll at the south end.

He circled the knoll and only found one place the horses could go and motioned to the kids. Pushing the horses to make them climb the step knoll, Ahnon saw it was full of trees with a small clearing close to the edge. Following a routine now, they set up camp, tended to the horses, and then Ahnon started supper as Jedek and Kenna practiced spells. Most of the time, they said the words flatly to make sure they were pronouncing them right and were projecting the thought right with Ahnon watching them. After supper, Ahnon would pull out a book—the kids were dying to know where he got it—and read to them until dusk.

The next morning, Ahnon finished his exercises and bent down to wake up Jedek but stopped. “No, they have been doing really well. They get a day off,” he said. He moved over by the fire, stirring it up and looking over at Kenna. Ahnon saw her curled up in a tight ball, having kicked her blanket off. Walking over, he covered her up and moved to the horses.

On the first night when they set up the shield stakes, the horses just watched with curiosity. When Kenna turned it on, they totally wigged out with one almost breaking his neck running into the shield. It took an hour to calm the horses down, getting them to accept the shield because to Ahnon, that was non-negotiable.

It was the third night the horses fell in love with the “wavy hard air” as they called it. A pack of wolves tracked them down and stood outside the shield. The wolves couldn’t see them, but they damn sure could smell them. One wolf ran at the shield, knocking himself out cold when he hit it. Ahnon had never heard of a horse teasing a wolf, but he sure watched a group do it that night.

The horses would put their heads against the shield and whinny, neigh, snort, grunt, blow, and nicker at the wolves, driving them insane. With the shield, the wolves heard what sounded like the horses were far off, but their noses told them they were right there, making fun of them. At one point, the largest wolf, the one Ahnon knew was the alpha, tried to dig under the shield only to have the shield fill in his hole.

For five hours, the wolves tried to get to them, and Ahnon started laughing, watching the wolves talk. Finally giving up, the pack left with each one peeing on the shield and the horses calling for them to come back.

As he walked over to the chestnut, the draft horse lowered his head, putting it to Ahnon’s chest. “Master, I have to say we like you and the little ones,” he told Ahnon.

“Not as much as we like you,” Ahnon said, grabbing a brush and brushing him down.

“We will carry you far today.”

“No. Today, we rest. We’re taking the day off. Tomorrow, we will be in the mountains,” Ahnon said.

“Where do we travel?” the horse asked.

“Don’t know yet. We have to find it,” Ahnon answered with the horse not understanding but not really caring. Ahnon brushed them all down and pulled out feed bags to give them some grains. “Today, you and the others can graze down on the field, but don’t go too far. If you see something or hear a whistle, run up here to the wavy hard air to stay safe.”

“We like the wavy hard air,” he said as Ahnon put the feed bag on him. Then the sho-ka walked back to the fire and threw some logs on. Pulling out food, Ahnon waited until the kids woke up before starting breakfast as the second sun followed the first in the sky.

It was two hours past dawn when Kenna sat up with her now black hair going everywhere. Alarm hit her face as she looked around then spied Ahnon looking at her by the fire. “We overslept,” she said groggily.

“I let you, sire. We are taking the day off.”

Kenna stood, wrapping her blanket around her, and walked over, sitting down beside Ahnon. She laid her head against his shoulder. “Thank you for being my sho-ka.”

Ahnon put his arm around her, pulling her close, “It’s my honor, sire,” he said, smiling.

“I can’t believe I’m really doing magic, Ahnon,” she said, looking up at him and grinning.

Ahnon smiled and turned her face away from him. “I’m glad, sire, but please brush your teeth. I think you ate some horse dung last night,” he said, and she slapped his leg.

“I do that after exercises in case I throw up,” she informed him, giggling.

Hearing giggling, Jedek sat up and noticed it was daylight. “Oh no, I overslept,” he moaned, sending the two into a chuckle.

“No, sire, I let you sleep,” Ahnon said, and Jedek looked at him.

Jedek walked over and sat on the other side of Ahnon then laid his head on Ahnon’s shoulder. “Ahnon, I want to make my first royal decree,” Jedek announced.

“Oh, are we invading someone, sire?” Ahnon asked, smiling.

“No,” Jedek said, grinning.

“Well, sire, what is this decree then?”

“You are to not call Kenna and I sire any longer. Just by our names,” Jedek informed him, laying his head back on Ahnon’s shoulder.

Ahnon froze in shock. “Sire—” he started, and Jedek lifted his head.

“You are more than my sho-ka, Ahnon. You are one of my two best friends and my savior, advisor, teacher, family, and now father. I talked it over with Kenna, and she agrees you are the same for her. Please, not anymore,” Jedek begged.

Ahnon’s whole body felt lighter than air as he pulled Jedek close then reached out, pulling Kenna up to him. “Jedek, I love you, and thank you.”

“Hey, what about me?” Kenna asked in a muffled voice with her face buried in his chest.

“Kenna, I love you too even though looking at you with black hair gives me the creeps,” Ahnon said.