Son of the Dragon (The Netherworld Gate Book 3) (4 page)

Talon looked down and shook his head. “You would stake all of your hope in me?”

Jahre moved in closer still and nodded emphatically. “I have seen what you can do if you come down on the right side. I have already paid the price to give you another chance. So has your father.”

“Why?”

“Because I saw that you would kill Basei,” Jahre replied. “When your mother and father became pregnant, I saw that you would grow to slay the horrid demi-god. I saw that with his power you would heal much of the suffering in this world. That is the Talon I fight to save, even now.”

“But you also saw a version where I become something ‘worse’ as you called it. Where I use the position of a demigod for something else, becoming something even more powerful,” Talon pressed.

Jahre backed away and nodded solemnly. “I did. There are more than one such versions of the future, in fact. Some show you storming Hammenfein to release your father’s soul, thereby bringing the council down upon Terramyr centuries before it otherwise would. Other versions show that you become as bloodthirsty as Basei. Others show that you simply fade away, turning your back upon a dying world.” Jahre stopped then, his spirit trembling as he seemed to be fighting the words that came next. “There is one even more terrifying than any of those though. A vision of death and destruction that eclipses all known catastrophes conceivable in this world. In that vision, I saw—”

Talon didn’t need to wait for the explanation. He had seen it in his dreams during the first night of his death. “I use the Sierri’Tai army to destroy all of the gods.”

Jahre nodded. “It would mean the end of all life.” The two stood there for several moments before Jahre looked up and put on a forced smile. “That future is far from you, I think. You and I know you have a conscience, even if you won’t admit it to yourself. Otherwise you would kill women as easily as men.” Jahre leaned in for added emphasis. “Additionally, now that we are spirits, I have had the opportunity to look over your history in its entirety. Not only have you a rule against killing women, but you have never slain a child either.”

Talon smirked. He was not about to let Jahre win the debate so easily. “You are forgetting something, elf.”

Jahre knit his brow and tilted his head to the side. “Am I?”

“You fail to see how my starting a war between Shausmat and Zinferth has led to the death of many, including women and children.” Talon smiled to himself as he watched Jahre squirm and fish for a rebuttal.

Jahre’s mouth hung open. “But…you didn’t kill them directly.”

“Nor did I stop them from being killed. I did what was necessary to accomplish my goals. What makes you believe I won’t do the same on a much larger scale if it suits me?”

Jahre closed his glowing eyes. “I refuse to believe that you will. When the time comes, you must choose right. You must!”

CHAPTER 2

Kelden stumbled forward. A rough hand pushed his back while another seized his upper arm and yanked him onward. The chains connecting his ankles rattled and slithered across the stone floor. A faint bit of light managed to penetrate the bag over his head, but it did nothing to help orient the man while he was shoved and pulled.

He heard a metallic click, and then the squeaking hinges of a door. He was pulled forward and greeted by the sounds of cheers.

“Kill the spy!” someone shouted out.

“Death to the queen’s man!” another hollered.

A breeze swirled around him, alerting him that he was now outside. The rattling of his chains softened as they scraped along hardened dirt instead of stone with each step, as Kelden was escorted forward by a man on either side.

The bag was ripped from his head and the light assaulted his eyes. He staggered to his left and shook his head as he squinted against the brightness, but the men with him didn’t allow him any time to recover. The two escorts pushed and pulled with a sense of urgency that was unnerving.

When his eyes finally adjusted, Kelden realized where he was. He was out behind the prison, approaching the gallows. The platform was raised six feet from the ground, and was fifteen feet long and eight feet wide. The beam running over the platform was thick and sturdy, easily capable of supporting four or five men at a time.

Today, there was only one rope hanging down from the beam.

A two wheeled cart behind the gallows held a pile of bodies from the previous day’s hanging. Kelden had seen several officers taken from their cells over the last several days, never to return. Now, he was about to join them.

Kelden felt a knot grow in the pit of his stomach. How had it come to this? He had survived so much, only to be brought now to a grotesque end by a rope. This is not what he had ever imagined his final moments to be like. There were seven men standing before the platform, all wearing Shausmatian uniforms. On the platform stood Captain Vald, the commander responsible for Kobhir’s downfall.

If only Kelden had succeeded in his attempt to assassinate the man, perhaps the war would have gone differently. Kelden sighed and hung his head low, looking to the ground. The man pulling him along nearly dragged him up the stairs and onto the platform. He led him to the rope and then motioned to the stool below the noose.

Kelden tested the ropes binding his wrists. His skin stung instantly and the rope wouldn’t yield at all. There was nothing he could do.

“Up you go,” one of the men said sourly.

Kelden stepped up with his right foot, and then half-jumped the rest of the way onto the stool. The Shausmatians in front of him shouted and hurled insults.

Vald stepped over to stand in front of Kelden. The hard man narrowed his eyes on Kelden and tilted his head to the side, almost nodding. “I have a great deal of respect for what you tried to do,” he whispered. “I have talked with Queen Dalynn about you. It seems you were most loyal in all of your efforts. Your valor and courage is beyond question.”

Kelden looked curiously at Vald, wondering where this conversation was going, and why Vald would take the time to say any of it.

“The queen made an impassioned plea for your life, informing me of how you single-handedly put down an insurrection,” Vald said. “Then, you destroyed a network of human smugglers that had permeated through each one of your major cities. Truly you are an agent of value to your sovereign.” Vald set his jaw to the side and smoothed out the shoulders of Kelden’s shirt before smiling and bringing his hands down to his sides. His face took on a somewhat harder expression and his voice grew stern, but the smile still remained. “But then there is the matter of how you retook Rasselin. I won’t say I was sorry to learn of General Tehrigg’s death at your hands. I disliked working with the treacherous lout. However, your actions in Rasselin took an important foothold from my army. Now I will have to spend time hunting down all of the soldiers we had already captured that you released.”

Kelden stood firm, watching Vald, but saying nothing.

Vald shook his head. “Your actions were noble, from a Zinferthian point of view, but for me they are troublesome. You have made the roads more dangerous for my men. Supplies have to be well guarded now to avoid being attacked by marauders and guerillas.” Vald’s smile disappeared. “Then there is the fact that you had the audacity to try to kill me. I must say, it was a bold move. Had you succeeded, perhaps Kobhir would still stand under a Zinferth flag.” Vald sighed and glanced out to the men waiting in front of the gallows and then turned back to Kelden. “I am sure that Nage will reward you for your valor, but as a commanding officer, I cannot allow someone as dangerous as you to live.”

Vald offered a half smile and motioned for one of the escorts to leave. He then turned back to Kelden. “I almost regret needing to do this. A man of your caliber is nearly unheard of.” Vald shrugged and shook his head. “However, I know that if I let you go, you would only find your way back to make more trouble for me, and I can’t have that. Please know, that I have the utmost respect for you, Captain Ferryl.”

“You haven’t won yet,” Kelden said.

Vald made a puffing sound through his nose and pursed his lips as he shook his head. “String him up,” Vald told the second escort.

The coarse, thick rope scratched Kelden’s forehead as the noose was slid down into place. Kelden felt the escort’s hands work the rope, tightening the knot and centering it behind his head.

The next few moments seemed a blur. Vald exited the courtyard and closed the door loudly. One of the soldiers standing in front of the platform came forward and started listing the charges against Kelden.

Kelden eyed the seven Shausmatian soldiers and felt his anger grow inside of him. Then, he caught one of the soldiers winking at him. Kelden frowned and looked closer. The green eyed man slipped behind another Shausmatian and seemed to disappear into the small crowd as if he had only been a figment of Kelden’s imagination. Captain Ferryl scanned the group, searching for the green-eyed man, but the soldier who had been listing the charges against Kelden raised his arm and dropped it.

The escort closest to Kelden kicked the stool out from under Kelden, and for half a second everything moved in slow motion. At first he didn’t feel himself falling down. His feet flew out with the stool, and his torso lurched backward as if he had slipped on something. The soldiers cheered and threw their fists in the air.

Then Kelden felt himself descending. He tensed. His muscles stiffened and his eyes closed. He clenched his jaw. The air rushed up around him. His body was jerked violently upright and his legs swung back under him. His neck burned as the noose tightened and felt as if it were on the verge of breaking. His feet dangled only inches from the surface of the platform, but they were nowhere near close enough to support him.

CRRRR-SNAP!

Kelden’s vision blurred and darkened. He heard a loud thump and his head hit something solid. He gasped for breath, his whole body both numb and burning at the same time. He rolled over onto his side before he realized what had happened.

The beam over him had broken. He looked up to see one section over him. It looked as though the beam had been nearly entirely sawn through, with just a small section left intact. Kelden lifted his head and saw that the other half of the beam had come down atop the escort who had been on the platform with Kelden, splitting the top of his head open and laying him out on the wood.

A chorus of shouts erupted from the soldiers on the ground below.

Kelden gathered his feet under him and jumped up.

The other guard who had escorted him to the gallows was already running toward him.

Kelden leaned his shoulder forward and leapt at the other escort. The man let out a puff of air and lurched over Kelden’s back. Kelden then shot up with his head, connecting with the guard’s chin and rocking his head back. Before the disoriented man could recover, Kelden jumped up and lashed out with both legs. The two men fell to the platform with a terrible thud.

Shouting and cursing came from the crowd. Kelden knew he had to escape, but how? His legs were chained at the ankles. There was no way he could outrun the other soldiers. Still, he wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He rolled over, gathering his legs beneath himself again and stood. He shuffled, chains rattling fiercely, to the side of the platform and jumped down.

He hit the ground hard, barely managing to stay on his feet. A roar from behind him made him look up. One of the officers who had come to witness his execution had broken out from the group and was rushing toward him. He raised a sword and prepared to leap atop Kelden.

Just as he drew near, something poked through the man’s chest, spraying crimson blood out over the ground. A second later a hand yanked the guard back by the throat and dropped the lifeless body next to the platform.

Kelden’s eyes shot wide and his mouth fell open.

“Careful there, Kelden, your face might freeze like that,” Yeoj winked. Then the man flashed that devilish smile of his that had always unnerved Kelden as he knocked Kelden’s legs out from under him, causing him to narrowly avoid being hit by an arrow. Yeoj twirled away around the side of the platform, leaving Kelden in the dust near the slain officer. Kelden heard the clashing of swords and the screams of dying men as he struggled for a moment to right himself with both hands and feet shackled.

Then, it was over.

Yeoj walked around to the back of the platform, his green eyes alight with pleasure. “I think we’ve tried it your way long enough, Captain.” Yeoj dangled a key between the index and thumb of his left hand.

Kelden shuffled toward Yeoj, watching the man carefully. Kelden couldn’t understand it. The last time he had seen Yeoj, the man was lying in a bed with heavy, raised scars on his hands and a ghastly burn across most of his back. Yet, here he was, walking without pain and seemingly as healthy and strong as he had ever been before the devastating battle at the forge where he sustained his terrible wounds. “Your burns are healed?”

Yeoj nodded. “When the city was besieged, an old friend of mine came to visit me.”

“An old friend?” Kelden echoed questioningly.

Yeoj slipped the key into the lock holding the chains on Kelden’s ankles and then turned the man around to loose his wrists. “I’m afraid I can’t give you the name,” Yeoj said. “Just know that this friend’s heart is in the right place, and he was able to patch me up.”

Kelden shook his head as he rubbed his wrists. “No one patches up burns like what you had,” Kelden said sharply. “Unless there was magic involved.”

Yeoj winked and put a finger to his nose. “I’d love to stay and chat, but we must be moving.”

Kelden stepped around Yeoj to find six corpses on the ground in front of the gallows. “You killed all of them?” Kelden asked.

“There weren’t that many of them,” Yeoj said quickly.

“How did you find me?” Kelden asked.

“It would take too long to explain,” Yeoj said. “We should leave before the others figure out what has happened.” Yeoj ran to the cart laden with bodies and leaned his weight into it as he pushed it toward the door that led in from the courtyard. No sooner had he wedged the cart against the door, than someone slammed into it from the inside.

“What’s going on out there?” someone shouted.

Yeoj hurriedly reached between the corpses and pulled up a leather sack. He quickly opened the drawstring and began dumping a dark powder all over the corpses and the wagon. Then, he took some of the remaining powder and created a line leading away from the cart.

“You are going to want to stand back,” Yeoj said. The green-eyed man shook the last of the powder out of the bag and fished a tinder kit out of his pocket.

“It was you who sawed the beam, wasn’t it?” Kelden asked.

“Didn’t think I’d let you die, did you?” Yeoj replied.

“But how did you manage to sneak into this place?”

“Less talking, more walking,” Yeoj replied as he pointed toward an iron grate twenty yards behind the gallows.

The shouting behind the door became more furious now and men from the inside were ramming the door, shaking the cart. Yeoj worked his tinder kit and lit the trail of powder. It fizzled and sizzled loudly as gray smoke flew up into the air and yellow sparks shot off in every direction.

“Time to go!” Yeoj yelled. The man sprinted for the grate, grabbing Kelden’s arm and dragging him along. Yeoj bent down and pulled the barrier out and pointed down. “If we hurry, I can get you back with Queen Dalynn.” Yeoj waved impatiently to the open hole.

Kelden looked down. “No ladder,” he said.

“Yes, I noticed that while I was climbing up earlier. Still, shouldn’t be a problem on the way down. Come on then, off you go.”

Kelden shot Yeoj an incredulous look, but Yeoj grabbed him again and shoved him down into the hole. A moment later, Yeoj was sliding down the shaft right above Kelden. Kelden had to work his hands and feet quickly, pressing his back against the opposite side of the shaft to try to control his descent, but Yeoj was not making it easy.

A mighty explosion erupted above and vibrated through the shaft they were climbing through. Kelden’s hand slipped on a patch of thick, wet moss and he fell. A few seconds later, he plopped into a deep canal of cool water. The current took him downstream a few yards, until he resurfaced and managed to swim to one side. He pulled himself up onto the narrow walkway and swept the water from his face. He looked up to the tunnel and watched as Yeoj nimbly climbed down through the hole and flung himself toward the walkway. The man managed not to get a single drop of water on him.