The Call (25 page)

Vaantrepfa
. The dulling fog. That ancient powerful spell. They pieced the secrets behind it back together. Extracted it from the past and turned it into a weapon in their hands. A weapon which would bring them the land.
Lands
.

Tovar Savaren was alone when he finished the task and wrote the final rune on the final page. And he laughed.

Power. Glory. Revenge!

“Whaaaat... is... the dulling fog?” Katja stammered. The words came slowly and reluctantly as she gained her bearings.

“Dulling fog?
Vaantrepfa
?” Serdra asked.

“'Yes. Some old trick they relearned. What is it?”

Serdra was silent for a moment before replying.

“An old, powerful spell. One of the ones that made invading Vendyha so difficult. It summons a great fog that puts those within it to sleep. It is supposedly not dissimilar to the trick the Lojhan-monster tried to use against you before attacking, but much more powerful. This is what we have been sensing. This threat which looms over Baldur's Coast.”

The woman stood up.

“If they put all of Baldur's City to sleep the mercenaries can simply stroll into it and kill as they please. They can utterly eliminate the government, torch houses, burn every single ship in the harbour and then stroll out unopposed.”

Katja gaped.

“Wh... we must stop this!”

“Yes.”

“So Savaren and his men have gone to the city?”

“According to the stories I was told the spell is only limited to the field of vision of the one casting it. They really only need to be somewhere high up.”

“The mountain!” Katja said. “This 'nest' must be there!”

“Yes. Come. We have no time to lose. If they manage to conjure the fog nothing will save the city in time!”

The city. Baldur's Coast. How will my country be if these villains seize power?!

Yet again she thought of the 'experiments' of the sorcerer of Flat Top.

They felt their way to the stairs, went up, closed the trapdoor as carefully as it had been opened and crept out.

Then she felt it. From within the manor. Sorcery. Like at Longwater. They were summoning something. Katja froze like a statue. She looked towards the manor but the storehouse blocked it completely from view where she stood.

“Go!” Serdra hissed. “Quickly!”

She nudged Katja and they hurried to a spot on the wall not visible from the manor. Serdra again flew over the wall and extended her hand to Katja. She leapt up after her mentor and felt something slip into the world.

They landed together on the other side of the wall.

Katja looked back. There was something in the manor. No. ON TOP of the manor. Something was perched on the roof. Something large and powerful.

“Stay calm,” Serdra said soothingly and grasped her shoulder. “Don't fear. It senses fear. Breathe slowly.”

Katja obeyed.

Precision. Concentration. Concentration!

They crawled north in the grass, until the manor vanished from sight. Then they crept carefully until the demon's aura was a bit less detectable. Only then did they dare run uphill.

Ronald was at the edge of the forest, with two horses. They were even saddled.

“Where is Thorkell?!” Katja asked.

“Here,” came the pained response from beyond the trees.

“Did you find anything?” Ronald asked and handed them the reigns.

“Return home,” Serdra said and mounted, “and tell your leader that Tovar Savaren has reclaimed
Vaantrepfa
. He is on his way to use it on Baldur's City as we speak. If Katja and I don't manage to stop it your chapter must try to stop the following power seizure somehow.”

The horse given to Katja was a bit jumpy and she had to calm it. The delay was maddening but she knew her own stress would infect the horse and so kept a firm grip on herself. Finally the beast accepted her and they rode west, towards the Nest.

Chapter
18.

They turned north. At first they went carefully out of fear of being noticed, but sped up soon after leaving Mooncape behind. They stumbled on a rough path which led upwards, among bushes and rocks. Serdra dismounted shortly after the slope became severe, and found fresh horse manure.

“We are on the right track.”

She looked upward.

“I don't sense whether they have started the ritual. Let us hurry.”

She mounted again and drove the horse up.

Will there be guards on the way?
Katja thought.
Serdra doesn't seem to worry about it. Perhaps it's true that we pushed this into motion by our arrival. Perhaps they didn't have time to organise this whole thing properly.

The horses weren't pleased with the journey but they managed to force them on. Up, up, up. The peak grew nearer. Katja couldn't see it, but she felt it more and more.

Here the Brotherhood had been able to work in peace and seclusion. Here there was no need to hide anything or exercise restraint. Dark deeds hung in the air here, old and fresh alike. This mountain was evil.

Katja's skin tingled. The Call was very strong. This soft, gnawing sensation which had haunted her for weeks had turned into a fire. They were running out of time.

Finally they began to see the peak, just as the slope started to severely slow the horses down. Serdra leapt down off the horse and didn't bother tethering it. Katja followed her lead. Then they ran.

“Katja,” Serdra said. “Healing you weakened me considerably. You can't rely on me to take care of everything and protect you as well. You must battle with the ferocity I have hopefully taught you.”

“Yes.”

Serdra drew her sword when the slope began to recede a bit and Katja did the same. They soon arrived at a relatively flat ledge, before an almost vertical slope. There was no visible way further up, but when they drew nearer Katja saw an opening. Bushes grew around it, and probably hid it from a distance, and an earthen-coloured curtain hung from a ceiling beam.

Serdra turned to her and held her gaze fiercely.

“Now there will be a reckoning, Katja,” her mentor said. “Hiding games are done for now. We must charge straight ahead and slay anyone in our way. The sorcerers performing the ritual have priority, but the others will most likely throw themselves at us.”

“I understand,” Katja said and was frightened and excited. Now she could finally cut loose after all the cloak and dagger stuff. Now she could make up for the forest ambush. Assuming things wouldn't go the same way this time.

“Follow me,” Serdra said and ran at the curtain. She threw it aside and Katja ran in after her before it settled back.

They had entered a well-made tunnel. The ceiling was high, the tunnel widened as it stretched inward and unlit lamps hung on hooks in the walls.

“Onward.”

They ran towards the glimmer of light up ahead. Katja still felt like she was running into darkness. Ugly sensations poured over her from every direction. Many things had happened here.

She shut them out. It was time for battle, and she felt her blood begin to churn. Combat, death and blood. Just like in her dreams and urges ever since she was a little girl. Now she could feed this strange monster that lived within her.

Come!
she thought with fury that surprised her.
I need to wet my sword!

The tunnel split in two and they selected the way upwards, towards the light and the sorcery. Katja wasn't startled when two men with spears sprang out from separate hiding places and attacked them.

Serdra sidestepped a spear and struck one of them in the head. The other one tried to stab her but Serdra batted the tip aside, and Katja came and cut him down.

“
What was that?
” echoed a voice from up higher.

“
What do you think that was!?
” echoed the reply.

They ran out into a small hall. At a glance Katja saw three doorways. At least one lay up and another one lay downwards. This was no cave or mine. This was a true stronghold. She felt a light draft coming from the opening leading upwards and Serdra ran for that one, but stopped when a strongly-built door greeted them.

Serdra pushed on it. The door barely budged and a chain rattled on the other side. The woman took a deep breath, took a stance and delivered a powerful kick. The door was undamaged.

“It's the longer way then.”

They ran back and used another upwards tunnel. Chatter echoed down it and Katja felt sorcery ahead, as well as something else and more.

A metallic scream resounded through the tunnels; filled with hate and bestial rage and louder and more drawn out than anything a human could produce. Katja sprouted goosebumps and felt something in her nature lurch. A demon awaited them.

Light from many sources received them just before they ran out into a large chamber. The area was some sort of centre or perhaps meeting place for this hideout. The floor sloped upwards, the ceiling was supported by many beams which also held all the lights and Katja saw four tunnels in the upper portions. The demon stood in the way, though.

The monster stood stooped in the centre space, like a cat about to snatch an unwary bird. If it had been upright its head would no doubt have scraped the ceiling, but it was so misshapen that Katja doubted it was even capable of straightening out. But oh, how big it was. It stood on two limbs and the other four ended in long, sharp fingers.

The Brotherhood men stood in formation behind the monster they had summoned, all of them armed. Behind them, at the top of the chamber, stood Tovar Savaren. The man wore mail armour, had a sword belted at his hip and held a flaming torch which illuminated the hatred in his face.

Katja took a fighting pose and examined the situation for a moment before everything went crazy. She was in danger. She was in terrible danger. And she loved it.

I am insane.

“Attack!” Savaren shouted. “For the future! For our people!”

The demon roared again and rushed down towards them. The men followed behind it and three of them hurled javelins. Serdra took two steps forward and smacked two of them out of the air and dodged the third one. It flew past Katja and smacked into a wall. Then everything went crazy.

Serdra lit the Sentinel Flame right in front of the demon. The monster snorted and stopped immediately. The woman stepped through her own Flame and struck and wounded it. Katja followed and slashed at one of the deadly, groping limbs. The flesh barely gave in, but the demon growled and turned towards her. Serdra seized the opportunity and struck it in the head.

“Go, go!” Savaren shouted and more weapons sailed through the air. Katja took cover behind a support pillar as the volley passed, but had to step out again when the men advanced to support their monster.

Most walked downwards hurriedly and split into two groups, but three were more bold. One ran at Serdra with the only remaining javelin and tried to thrust at her while she was dealing with the demon. The other two ran to Katja with large axes.

She roared as she slashed one of them in the belly. The other one managed to swing at her, and when she dodged he reacted quickly and tried to hit her with the handle. She sidestepped slightly and swung low, cutting the leg almost in two.

“Where is Vajan?!” their leader shouted.

Katja glanced to the side before the rest came at her. Serdra had been wounded in the shoulder, the spearman was collapsing with a wide open throat, and the demon now had a spear lodged in it and at least six terrible wounds.

Four men tried to surround her and Katja leapt to the side to escape the enclosure. She tried to attack the one on the far left but his nearest comrade stepped forward and defended him.

Katja felt sorcery travel from the top of the chamber and hit Serdra. The woman grimaced a bit beneath some unseen effect and her movements stiffened. The demon seized upon it and swiped at her, sending the woman flying backwards. She rolled once on the floor before springing back up, and now fought both the demon and Savaren's sorcery.

I have to stop this.

Katja made a feint which held the men back for a moment and then tried to run around them and towards Savaren. It didn't work. A man with an axe and shield intercepted her with the shield held out.

Another man thrust at her but she slashed him in the arm and retreated before the others could overwhelm her. Then she unsheathed her knife with her left hand and held it up in a throwing position. The men hesitated and the one with the shield stepped in front of her again.

She threw the knife over their heads and towards Savaren. The throw wasn't very good and couldn't of course penetrate his armour, but he flinched and lost control of whatever he was doing.

A sword-wielding Brotherhood man charged with a victorious cry on his lips and struck. He gaped when she managed to parry the attack and then ended his life with a counter.

Two of his comrades were two steps behind and attacked simultaneously. Katja frantically retreated and defended. Metal hit metal and wood, stroked against flesh, and something smacked into her head. She wasn't sure what it was, but it dazed her a bit and she lost her balance for a moment.

The demon roared with anger and pain and suddenly staggered into Katja's field of vision with only five limbs. He bumped into one of her enemies and the other one flinched away in fright.

Katja slashed the demon in the leg, and Serdra came running and slashed it in the back before it could swipe at her student.

From the corner of her eye Katja saw Savaren send the two men by his side down into the fight.

“More!” the man shouted and began chanting feverishly. Katja felt power leap from his words, raw and unharnessed. This was some desperation manoeuvre, just as Serdra had spoken of.

This can't be anything good!

Serdra stabbed the man who'd fallen at the collision and prepared for yet another attack from the frenzied demon.

“Kill him!” she said hurriedly and jerked her head in Savaren's direction. “I will finish this.”

Katja charged at the men who still stood between her and their leader. Just then she felt a cold wind blow through the space and the lights flickered. Six man-sized misshapen horrors entered the world in the middle of the chamber, all made from teeth and claws and exposed flesh. The group howled and shook themselves and each looked in a different direction. One Brotherhood man was grabbed and torn apart before anyone could react.

Katja glanced at Savaren. His face was hard with focus, and he was sweaty and held his hands out in an odd position while he muttered something through clenched teeth.

The demons sounded a deranged chorus and turned towards Serdra and Katja.

Katja readied the sword and looked at her mentor.

She felt Serdra draw on the Sentinel Flame again, but now something was different. It didn't appear as a glowing rune in the air, but as a brightly burning flame around her sword. She raised the shining blade for a powerful strike and hit the wobbly demon right in the head.

The monster was almost torn in two, as if a flame had been put to a strip of paper. There was little left of it when it hit the floor, and when Serdra struck down a stunned Brotherhood man there was no sign of it.

“Go up,” Serdra said without looking at her. Her eyes glared at their enemies with downright terrifying intensity.

Katja glanced quickly over the room and then focused on the closest doorway. It didn't seem to be closed and the way was almost clear.

“Go!” Serdra hissed when the demons headed for them. The woman then let out a dreadful, piercing shout and shook her sword. It seemed to get their attention.

Katja sprinted towards the doorway, the demons shrieked and Savaren turned on his heel and ran for the door he'd been standing in front of.

One of the demons headed for her but she was too swift for it and sped past. He gave chase, and once she'd entered the tunnel she turned around with her sword raised. The demon walked right into the Sentinel Flame which appeared between them and was badly burned.

Serdra didn't look at her but Katja understood, and turned back around. She saw her mentor meet the terrible pack with the blazing sword and a gleam in her eyes. Then she just heard screams and the sounds of combat as she ran along the hall.

Don't die Serdra,
she thought.
Don't die.

The way led upward. She felt the Call pull her and felt positive she was on the right way. The hallway led her out into another wider one. Only one lamp burned in this place but she still caught glimpses of at least six doors and openings.

Just how big is this place?! Are they moles?

She took the lamp from the wall and kept on going upwards. The tunnel had a proper floor made from wooden boards, and the ceiling was as high as in most houses so she made good speed until she arrived at an intersection. Her options were to run to the right or the left or through the door right in front of her.

She kicked the door but it only opened by a few centimetres and Katja heard the jingle of a chain.