Hammers in the Wind (25 page)

He nodded absently. “I think we’ve given our foe enough time. Let’s go.”

The war party stormed off. Vengeance continued to demand.

*****

Bahr let out a breath of relief when the bow of the Dragon’s Bane came into view. He would never admit it, but he had doubts about it actually being in the right place. Of course, they could just as easily have missed the mark during the retreat.

“I am impressed,” Boen announced from the wagon bed. “How did you know where to go?”

The Sea Wolf gave a devious grin. “I used to do a lot of coastal trading when I was younger. I’d use this cove to ride out bad storms.”

The Gaimosian laughed. “You’re a tricky old bastard.”

“I do what works.”

The wagon rambled on. He guessed they still had a little less than a glass before reaching the shore. That bothered him. He wanted to get on his boat and race away from Rogscroft as soon as possible. Bahr felt his troubles starting to get the better of him. He still hadn’t mentioned his plans for stealing Maleela away to a safe house rather than give her back to Badron. He guessed the wizard suspected a trick like that, but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. Bahr idly wondered how the others would react.

“We must hurry. Put the princess in my cabin. Rekka, guard the door. No one enters. No one,” he ordered.

Boen looked down at the sleeping girl. “I don’t think we need to worry much about that. The girl won’t be awake until we reach Stouds.”

Bahr nodded absently. “Even so, I won’t feel safe until we are away from here.”

“You have one of those bad feelings, eh?”

“Yes. I think Rekka’s Dae’shan is real. I’ve felt a threat growing in the back of my mind ever since we escaped the castle. It is like we are being constantly watched. I think these Dae’shan have more to do with us than we know.”

Boen grimaced. He had much the same thoughts but didn’t know why. “No one will get on the ship. I’ll defend the gangway.”

Bahr’s nagging feelings grew progressively worse the closer they got to the shore. More than premonitions haunted him. They hadn’t seen or heard from Ionascu and his men since Bahr had sent them off. He struggled with mixed emotions about sending them to their apparent deaths. They were men of Delranan after all.

Boen caught the sorrow in the corners of the Sea Wolf’s eyes. “You did what you had to,” he guessed. “Ionascu knew the risks. They all did. Don’t think they rode off without knowing that they stood a good chance they might all die.”

“Easy to say. What if they do all get killed?”

The Gaimosian shrugged, indifferent. “So be it. Do not forget they were as much of a threat as the enemy. This was the easiest way, Bahr. Your hands are clean of blood.”

Anienam Keiss absently listened to the conversation. He was amused that neither man seemed squeamish about spilling a little blood to accomplish their tasks and yet here they were arguing about sending bad men to their demise. Still, the wizard kept his mouth shut. He too had premonitions about the Dae’shan. Their return was the coming of a dark storm on the horizon. He felt lost, blind to their actions. A cold wind blew. Anienam Keiss shuddered at the portent.

Cold winds howled across the barren plains in stark contrast to the blazing inferno raging unchecked all around. The ground was split in a thousand places. Fissures gaped like leprous lesions. Death ruled here, hidden amongst the broken boulders and dead tree stumps. Ash and grit swirled in small funnels. The very ground bled in pain and eternal suffering. Acidic rain fell down from black clouds so thick they blocked out the sun.

Maleela awoke to the flash of lightning. Her head pounded. She was dehydrated and aching from head to toe. Her clothes were torn, burned through in some places. Small cuts crossed her palms and the soles of her feet. Maleela forced herself to get up. She had to find some way out of this nightmare. But every time she tried she wound up back in this same position. A series of nearby low growls forced her to move.

“Run Maleela. This way. Come to me.”

She paused. The voice was new. The tone was laden with urgency, despair. It was also soft and kindly. It wants the best for me, she reasoned without knowing why. Maleela reluctantly placed her trust in the voice and ran.

“Quickly, my dear. They are coming for you.”

A pair of demons burst from one of the larger fissures. Their bodies were enormous, covered in ripped flesh and boils. Both had overdeveloped muscles practically ripping from their bodies. They were the worst possible thing she could imagine, almost beyond accurate description. They were creatures of torment and pain. Tufts of black hair spouted across their ragged bodies. Glistening swords replaced hands. Neither had eyes or a mouth.

The larger of the two turned his head towards Maleela and pointed. She’d been spotted. The princess ran for her life. The ground trembled under the demon’s gait. Her heart quickened. This was the end. There was no way her legs could move fast enough to outdistance these monsters.

“Hurry child!”

Maleela pushed herself harder. Her only thoughts were of Aurec and the comfort of his embrace. Instincts made her look up. Her heart buoyed in hope. A figure stood upon a hill beckoning her. The source of the voice. The man raised his arms and the world blurred by in slow motion. Dark blue glowed from his fingertips. The glow built and shot outward in a series of jagged bolts. They raced past her head, wild strands of hair singed away. The first bolt struck the lead demon full in the chest, bursting it apart with raw power. Flesh and bone flew everywhere.

Maleela reached the feet of the stranger just as he unleashed his fury into the second demon. She collapsed from exhaustion. Darkness took her while the stranger began to glow a blinding white.

“You are safe now,” was the last thing she heard.

*****

Kodan Bak screamed in agony as his illusions were defeated. He hadn’t expected such a powerful counter magic. Up until now none of them believed there were any mages left in Malweir. It was a gross underestimation. This changed everything. He had to get back and tell Amar Kit’han of this new twist. All of their many long years of plot and toil now stood in jeopardy. The future was no longer certain.

Steam burned off of his black robes. What was left of his body was a mass of burns. The lightning had been real. He could have killed a lesser wizard outright. Kodan glanced over his surroundings, wary that his foe might somehow be near. Nothing. Satisfied that he was safe, Kodan Bak stalked off. A familiar tickle itched at the corners of his mind. He smiled. It was the woman from the forest. The one he’d spent the night hunting. She was back aboard their ship. The Dae’shan paused. She was a worthy opponent, but not the main target. If the woman was aboard so too must be the princess and the wizard. Informing Amar Kit’han would have to wait.

Kodan Bak wrapped himself in his shadows and disappeared.

*****

“Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Maleela slowly blinked the sleep away. The voice in her head was the same as from her dreams. She opened her eyes and waited for them to focus.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She groaned. Her body was a mass of pain. “Where am I?”

He smiled kindly. “Quite safe, I can assure you.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” she snapped.

Silence. She caught the faint shuffling of feet outside the door. The subtle caress of water sloshing against the hull. She was on a boat. But where?

“You can trust him, Maleela.”

She turned her head, eyes wide in shock and disbelief. “Uncle?”

Bahr smiled tightly. The moment was bittersweet. He’d wanted her to be safe, the sole reason for agreeing to Harnin’s mad quest. Now he looked into her brown eyes and found that he had merely succeeded in stealing the love from her.

“Yes. It is me.”

She ignored the sadness in his voice.

“I don’t understand. Why am I here? What are you doing in Rogscroft?”

Anienam Keiss picked out the pleas in her voice and selfishly thanked the gods that he was not Bahr.

“I’m afraid the answers are complicated.”

“Please Uncle.”

The Sea Wolf sighed. “You are aboard the Dragon’s Bane. Your father hired us to rescue you. I took my crew and sailed to Dredl to come and get you. Had I known of Badron’s plan beforehand I would not have agreed.”

She frowned. “My father wants to take over Rogscroft. He’d been planning a secret invasion. That is why I came up with the idea to kidnap myself.”

“I am afraid it goes far beyond just that,” Anienam added.

She considered the old man. “You are the one from my dreams.”

He bowed. “I am. Anienam Keiss is my name and the pleasure is all mine.”

She forgot her situation for the moment. “What were those things chasing me?”

“Very powerful demons summoned from the void. If they had killed you in your dreams you would be damned to wander that world for eternity. I had to save your soul, child.”

“My soul?”

Anienam cleared his throat. He’d forgotten that the old beliefs had fallen into the rotting pages of distant memory. The gods and all associated with them weren’t even childhood stories anymore. Of course she didn’t know about her soul.

“Ah yes. Your soul is the eternal essence of your being. A sense of moral conscience if you will. Each of us has one and we possess inherent traits that either lean towards good or evil. Those demons understood that killing you there would doom you forever. I did what I had to.”

Her confusion deepened, almost to the point where she forgot about her second kidnapping. She’d never heard of such a concept. The fact that there was some mystical eternal spark inside her wasn’t comforting. Her world grew that much smaller while opening a new theme in her mind’s eye. Worse, she now had demons stalking her.

“I have done nothing. Why would these creatures want me dead?” she asked.

“A question I have no plausible answer for. Unfortunately this is not the place for such conversations. I shall leave you with your uncle.” He laid a soothing hand on her knee. “We will talk later.”

The wizard bowed again and excused himself from the cabin. Uncle and niece stood in awkward silence. They were not especially close, much to Bahr’s regret. He loved her as his own daughter and would make any sacrifice to ensure her safety. Badron had done his best to keep them apart, denying him a family. He reminded himself of that and hung his head.

She sensed his sorrow. “Uncle, you have to take me back to Rogscroft. They need my help.”

“I am sorry, but it is too late to turn back. Fate has not been kind to either of us.”

“It is not too late. We can still save them,” she protested. “You know my father is not a good man. Help me, Uncle Bahr. Help me slay him before more lives are lost.”

“More?”

She forced down the lump in her throat. Memories of blood and violence drifted up to mock her innocence. She saw her brother lying in a growing pool of his own blood. “The night Aurec came and took me away was a nightmare. They were forced to fight. He didn’t want to, but my brother gave him no choice. There was so much blood. I can still smell the death. Every time I close my eyes I can see it. I have to go back, Uncle. I have to help him prepare for my father’s wrath.”

Bahr’s heart wept. The answers she so desperately wanted were not within his power to give. “I fear your father’s madness goes well beyond vengeance for the prince. The Wolfsreik has been mustered. Badron means to come and take Rogscroft by force.”

“Using me as the reason.”

“I am afraid so.”

She choked out a laugh. “The people will believe him. He’s managed to keep his hatred for me a family secret. This is all my fault.”

“Don’t speak of such. I don’t know why my brother wants Rogscroft so badly. He has lusted after it since we were in our youth. Though I am loath to admit it, Badron has a black heart. The Wolfsreik will not stop until the leadership of Rogscroft is dead and her people on their knees.”

She refused to acknowledge the easy defeat. “We must find a way to stop them. The people here have done nothing wrong.”

“Perhaps,” he admitted, “but there isn’t much we can do from here. Our best chance is to get you home and show the people of Delranan that you are safe and there is no justified cause to go to war.”

“But Aurec…” she protested.

“Must fend for himself. Maleela, I am sorry, this is the only way.”

She struggled to rise but her body hurt too much. She’d lost too much strength thanks to the wizard’s spell. Maleela fell back on the soft bed and whispered, “I hate him.”

Bahr replied, “I know. Rest now. I’ll have Skuld bring you some food. At least that way you can regain your strength.”

He excused himself, allowing the totality of what was about to happen sink in. It was the only way he knew how to get her to understand. Maleela struggled to fight back the wave of tears threatening to consume her. She failed.

*****

A brisk wind washed over the decks, pushing new life into the Dragon’s Bane. Bahr breathed in the sea air. He’d just done an unenviable task and was rewarded with an ache in his stomach. It was quickly becoming clear that he had underestimated the depravity of his brother’s intentions. That frightened him. Too many had already died in this mad scheme. Bahr feared for the future of both kingdoms. Unspoken frustrations dominated his conscience. He knew of his brother’s dark hunger when they were still children. Knew and did nothing about. Bahr almost blamed himself.

The notion was foolish of course. He was no more to blame than King Stelskor or the fickle hand of chance. Pain and perpetual suffering seemed the course of life here in the frozen north. He idly wondered if there was such turmoil in the south. Surely Averon did not suffer from the same. He could have wished for a different life, but that would be a waste of time. Bahr accepted his life for what it was and vowed to make it better for himself and for his niece.

“You look like a man with too much on his mind.”

He looked up to see Boen studying him. “Have you ever felt like the world was crumbling around you and nothing you did mattered?”

The words came out more as a sigh than significant question.

Boen leaned against the rail and stared off into the ocean. “I’m Gaimosian. The world has always been against me.”

“I just told my niece that her father wants to destroy everything she knows. Somehow I envisioned my life turning out a little differently.”

“Few of us get choices and the ones we do get we don’t like. Life is hard, Bahr. We struggle and fight from the moment we’re born until the day we die. Be strong. This will get better.”

“I hope so. She deserves a better life.”

Boen laughed. “Don’t we all?”

“Yeah,” Bahr roguishly admitted. “I suppose we do.”

“Good. Now you understand that we have a decision to make. We can’t wait forever for Ionascu to return.”

The Sea Wolf sighed again. “I know. I figure we can’t stay past midday. Who knows how many troops Aurec will be able to bring down on us by then.”

“I agree. I also believe that they aren’t coming back. He’s a quick man. There would have been a runner by now.”

Bahr wasn’t so sure. “I still don’t like the idea of abandoning my countrymen.”

“You pointed out that they all belong to Badron and his one-eyed flunky. Don’t make the mistake of thinking any one of them wouldn’t hesitate leaving you behind.”

They both knew the answer. A man like Ionascu would have already set sail. Bahr, however, chose to live his life with a sense of pride. Using that quality as his gauge, he made his decision.

“Midday we sail.”

Boen merely nodded. This wasn’t his ship or his mission. His singular purpose was to keep Bahr alive. It didn’t mean he approved of the call, but it was never his to make.

“Riders approaching!” Dorl Theed shouted.

All heads on deck snapped around to see the haggard forms of four riders coming at them hard. Bahr spotted Ionascu. The look on his face was pure terror. Bahr cursed. Four out of eighteen. That was all that returned. Even more blood had been spilled because of a madman’s dream.