El-Vador's Travels (26 page)

He
tossed the bag to Eihblin, who hefted it in her hand appraisingly.
'More than enough for what we need, I think.'

The
Elf nodded to her, not taking her eyes from the man. 'Good, tie up
our friend here and then we shall be on our way.'

'Honestly,
you don't need to tie me, I promise that I shall not report back to
my master until you have long fled the city.'

'Words
bind poorly on those who are slippery with them,' El-Vador replied.
'You shall remain tied in this alleyway, I can only hope the first
person to find you will show mercy.'

Judging
from the bulge of the spy's eyes he had either made some poor enemies
or wasn't expecting much charity from his fellow man.

El-Vador
now had chance to look back at Eihblin and Phaedra as they bound the
spy in rags, Eihblin seemed approving of the ruthless practicality of
this action, Phaedra seemed less enamoured.

He
didn't think hard about the morality of his actions, right now there
was a necessity to them. He had acted on impulse in a world that
seemed complex and difficult and it had paid dividends. Now they
could acquire horses and hunt down Anacletus with ease.

Sarvacts
clamped his eyes shut and focused hard, willing himself forth into
the mind of his servant. With the automatons under his control it was
easier than with humans, in spite of this the shifter he had sent to
recover the rogue had yet to report back. For all his summoning power
and concentration he couldn't seem to will the vision into place.
This meant only one thing, his servant had been slain in the attempt.

Instead
of getting angry or frustrated at this, he took the time to consider
the information. It would seem that his servant had found Phaedra,
and had been slain in the attempt to capture her. That could only
mean that she hadn't got far from his fortress. Which also meant that
her proximity gave him other options.

He
smiled, soon he would know exactly how she had dispatched of his
shifter, then her capture would be all but inevitable.

Anacletus
staggered onward away from the city walls and into the mountainous
region beyond. He still hadn't composed himself after his previous
fright from the rising smoke, realising he had only just escaped with
his life. Though it had no definable features, the fact that it
nullified his powers sent a terror through him the likes of which he
hadn't experienced in many years. There were now too many unknown
factors in all of this, he needed to lead the Elf and his friends
away from the city and hope that they didn't catch up to him before
he reached the fortress. Though their was no sense in continuing to
think of the incident by the city gate it still played on his mind
constantly and without remorse. As tempted as he was to make camp and
hope that they wouldn't catch up with him, he knew better than to
wait any further, if his pursuers did not punish him for dawdling
then Sarvacts would surely try.

No,
it was much better to arrive at the fortress and then deliberate on
matters, he could push himself into not stopping before reaching his
destination, if it saved his life it was a small price to pay. Then
he could watch as the Orc did what he pleased with his captives, that
in itself was a reward worth appreciating. After this he would depart
with a heavy sack of gold coin and no further problems.

This
entire journey had involved far too much uncertainty in its drawn out
nature, there was a lesson to be learned in all of this. Anacletus
smiled, his eyes imagining the bag of gold he would carry off from
the fortress. It was a lesson he need not ever learn.

El-Vador
galloped forth on the newly acquired mount, his companions flanking
him on their own beasts of burden, they were making good time if the
pace of Anacletus had remained the same since he had been forced to
flee on foot.

'We
have the luxury of ceasing in an hour or so and making camp.'
El-Vador shouted over his shoulder.

'Can
we not ride through the night? Anacletus is so close that I can taste
him.'

'No.'
he replied to Eihblin, 'if we ride through the shadows there may be a
chance that we miss him.'

It
was shortly before making camp that El-Vador reigned in, his keen
eyes spotting something altogether unnatural.

'It
would appear that we are not the only ones in pursuit of the
murderer.'

He
watched as Eihblin and Phaedra strained their eyes and peered into
the twilight.

'What
is it you see, Elf? My eyes cannot determine any form in this light.'

El-Vador
turned to Phaedra.

'I
see it,' she said quietly.

The
cloud of black smoke rolled on through the darkening skies, oblivious
to their watching.

I had spent so much time alone in the mountains that I had nearly
forgotten what it was like to be aided by others. Companionship and
favours were both foreign to me, concepts I slowly grasped with a
great deal of suspicion. You could say in this day and age that all
of humanity is my companion, a burden I continue to carry through
countless perils.

H
e
managed to release himself from the bonds easily, which the Elf had
not been expecting. Clearly they had planned to leave the city in
pursuit of this servant of Sarvacts, what they hadn't counted on was
pursuit themselves. One did not simply tie up a Caldalian spy and
think to walk away from it unscathed. No, there would be foul
repercussions for that young Elf's posturing, regardless of how deft
it was with a blade. It was both a personal and professional slight
that he had been subjected to, nobody had ever caught him in the past
and that this youngster had done so with ease disconcerted him. He
would hunt this disgrace down and slay it so that he may claim that
none that live had ever seen him for what he was. That he had been
robbed in the process was but a minor issue compared to this, he
would reclaim the gold in due course but it mattered not.

He
was a master of his craft and he had been made to look a fool, no
amount of money would change that reality unless his vengeance was
enacted. Such an endeavour was not without its cost but he still had
coin to spare stashed away elsewhere. There was a purity to what he
did and a pride that went with it, he could not allow that to remain
unsullied and would pay whatever it took to rectify it.

As
soon as the Elf lay dead at his feet, by his hand or by his
machinations, then he would be free to claim himself the greatest spy
that ever walked within the walls of Caldalia.

Soon
he would send out his hired forces, several to be sure, and they
would bring the Elf's head back to him so he may look upon it and
spit in its face as his honour demanded.

In
fact, he would depart with a detail of assassins as soon as he came
by coin, which would be very soon indeed.

The
first one he finally located was not the sort that he hoped for, but
ultimately appearances could be deceptive so it mattered not, it was
claimed that this fellow was the best killer in all the city and had
been for a great number of years. That in itself was more than a good
enough recommendation.

When
the dawn arrived and their mounts were ready, he had gathered a crew
of the finest Caldalian killers amongst him. He left the coin in a
safe place and made sure to remind them of this, should they attempt
to enact their trade upon him they would receive nothing.

There
were four of them now, all robed in black like a funeral detail,
which was in itself fitting for the acts they were about to commit.

Sarvacts
knew that the heirloom was drawing closer, with it came the Elf and
his vengeful nature. Soon his power would be manifested upon the
bloody spike and sever his greatest foe of it. He could not chance
that it would fail, even at the closing stage of this hunt. No, he
had methods to coax a resolution that would be in his inevitable
favour.

Closing
his eyes, he willed forth across the land and made contact with the
corpses of the shifter he had reanimated, within that he imbued a
lashing of his power to drive them on toward the Elf. Let them flow
swifter than the night itself and catch his foe in their deadly
embrace, they would reach his fortress sooner than any mount. The
thudding of his own heart rang in his ears as he felt the power
seeping from him and into the bodies of his creation, it was a
necessary sacrifice to certainty. Soon his forces would take to the
breeze and power their way unstoppably to the source of his future
might.

The
corpses thudded through the stormy air, slowly increasing their pace
as the malevolent force flowed through them. The wind and the natural
elements slowed them not as they gained speed and purpose, breaking
out into a loping sprint of gangly necrotic flesh. The distance may
have been great but the night was theirs with which to pound forward
in. As their targets slept they drew ever closer, not only to
reclaiming one of their own but now to capturing the Elf.

Sarvacts
smiled, certainty was a calming thing.

Anacletus
neither knew nor cared for the name of the village he had stumbled
into, all that mattered was it marked the proximity of the fortress.
It didn't matter to him that the people were enslaved by Sarvacts or
how the foul Orc used and abused them. Let the weak perish, he was
not going to be caught in a similar trap, that was for sure.

It
was almost always stormy around this region, every day Anacletus had
spent near the fortress had been drenched with a torrent of rain. The
village was a sodden and miserable place and the people within had
dead eyes and heavy hearts.

He
had not come to hear of their woes, he needed a favour before finally
returning to the fortress. For all its misery there were a few here
who may yet aid him in that, with some coin or his blade to motivate
them.

It
was on sore feet and with an irritable mood from lack of sleep that
he walked into the local inn. He could rest here for a time at least,
no person asking for him by name would ever find him, he had paid the
owners a substantial amount to keep it that way. Secrecy was his most
powerful weapon, men need not know his name to fear him. He could
afford some light rest for the time being, then would come a very
long day indeed of determining whether Sarvacts planned to slay him
or not.

Any
chance of gaining even further on Anacletus was thwarted by a huge
chasm that they encountered as the evening settled in. Eihblin and
El-Vador stared at it aghast, it ran as far as they eye could see and
there seemed no way to pass. How then had Phaedra escaped the
fortress?

'We
will have to dismount at this point,' she said, doing so and walking
over to the lip of the ravine.

The
others watched her with curiosity, it was evident that she knew
something they didn't.

'How
did you get past this on your way to Caldalia?' Eihblin asked,
staring at the expanse with disbelief. It was as if a great rent had
been torn in the world by some unnatural force. 'Is there some way to
bypass it that we are unaware of?'

Phaedra
shook her head. 'The hole runs as far as I can tell, there are other
ways to pass though.'

El-Vador
now dismounted and walked over toward the edge, feeling no vertigo
for having done so. 'You did not answer her question, how did you get
over this thing?'

She
smiled back at him. 'Watch and see.'

The
former slave of Sarvacts paced along the ravine, dragging one of her
feet so close to the edge to that it seemed to hang precariously in
the air. It was as if she were probing or testing for something that
El-Vador's senses hadn't picked up on. He hated this not knowing and
a semblance of distrust started to raise its head once more.

He
need not have feared, it was only a moment longer when he heard a
strange clicking noise as Phaedra's toe kicked against something his
eyes could not see.

He
had expected something more spectacular or illuminating to occur,
instead the gap seemed the same as before. What was it that this
strange woman was trying to do?

They
both looked on in disbelief as she began to float across the plummet
into darkness step by step.

'It
is an unseen structure that is triggered by those who know where to
look,' she called back, bidding them join her. 'It serves only those
looking to reach Sarvacts by foot, the mounts will still shy away
from it.'

El-Vador
and Eihblin removed what little was left of their supplies from the
horses and hesitantly proceeded to cross the expanse that Phaedra was
navigating in what they hoped remained a straight line.

It
would have been harrowing enough already had their foes not chosen to
strike.

What
looked like a group of men came running toward them at an impossible
speed, it was Eihblin's cry of alarm that alerted them to El-Vador.
As they drew closer it was clear that these were the same agents that
had tried to stop them back in Caldalia, yet to his senses there was
something that seemed fundamentally different about their aspect.

El-Vador
stood his ground on the invisible bridge and reached for his bow, the
narrow expanse that let them pass gave him an advantage here.

'Keep
moving!' Phaedra shouted back to him. 'we can remove the expanse from
the other side as they cross.'

The
Elf had seen how quickly they were moving though, and how long it had
taken Phaedra to find whatever clicking had been required to
terminate the invisible bridge. He couldn't take the chance of facing
all of them at once in close quarters should she not find it swiftly
enough.

He
sighted on his targets as they came closer to the ravine, there were
five of them and their limbs seemed unnatural in both swiftness and
movement. He began to wonder if he would be able to stall them long
enough to put an arrow in each of them.