The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest (20 page)

“
But. Your room is on the
third floor.”

“
Really? It didn’t seem that
high up to me.” She said with a grin, “Can you show me the
way?”

“
Uh yeah.” He turned and
hurried into the building with her following close
behind.

Chapter 17

After a week of travel, Callindra was once
again growing tired of traveling by horseback. Her new equipment
was getting a good breaking in due to excessive sweating and they
hadn’t seen any signs of civilization since leaving Arkasia. She
heard the sound of running water in the distance and called out to
Tryst.

“
Can we break for lunch? My
ass is killing me and I’m out of water. I think there’s a river
ahead, I wouldn’t mind a swim and a good scrub. I might start
attracting flies at this rate.”

“
I suppose, it is around
midday.” Tryst said, squinting at the sun. “We don’t have time for
getting side tracked though, we are close to the ruins of Lin
Lamorak.”

They left the roadway, which was really more
of a trail at this point, and found a beautiful little brook.
Bright green moss grew thick on rocks that surrounded a tranquil
pool overhung with weeping willows. Butterflies flitted from flower
to flower in a small partially shaded meadow and birds sang sweetly
from the trees.

Tryst had dismounted from his horse and was
looking around the clearing with a strange look on his face, “This
place has some kind of power to it. I’m not exactly sure what it
is, but the growth seems to be slightly unnatural.”

“
It looks like paradise to
me.” Callindra said, she dismounted and tied her horse’s reins to a
tree branch.

“
Yes it does.” Said Vilhylm,
“That’s what has him on edge.”

“
We haven’t seen anything
that looks this lush for days. You have to admit it’s suspicious.”
Said Cronos, loosening his bastard sword in the
scabbard.

“
Look, there is a trail
leading off in this direction. Let’s check it out.” Tryst pointed
with his hammer.

Callindra stared longingly at the cool water
before following the others. The trail wound around behind the
small hill all the way to the top. An ancient tree, gnarled and
bent by age, disease and a partially healed lightning strike seemed
to circle protectively around a small cottage.

Although the hill wasn’t very high the
absolute stillness of the winds made the hair on the back of her
neck stand up, “OK you are right. Something’s wrong here.” She
said, drawing her sword.

Vilhylm knocked on the door with the butt of
his spear and it shifted partially open. After glancing inside, he
looked over his shoulder at them, “Seems to be abandoned. It’s a
one room house.”

Callindra looked inside, there was a small
bed against one wall, a tiny wood stove and some cupboards and
shelving along one of the walls. “Something’s not right here; the
inside of this house is far smaller than the outside.” She
said.

They all moved in cautiously together but as
soon as Cronos, who was bringing up the rear, had entered the door
slammed, plunging the room into darkness. Mere seconds later the
floor dropped away beneath her and she fell with a frightened
shriek. Without any way of knowing how far away the ground was,
Callindra slammed into the ground much harder than she would have
normally only able to avoid a painful sprain by tucking and rolling
to fetch up awkwardly against a wall.

“
What a rough landing. How
are the rest of you?” She wondered how Tryst had fared in his heavy
armor. Callindra squinted, trying to see through the curtain of
blackness before her but she couldn’t see anything and her
companions did not respond.

“
Tryst? Cronos? Vilhylm?”
She raised her voice slightly, but still didn’t get a response.
“Absent Gods, they must have fallen somewhere else.” The wall next
to her was rough stone, she followed along it with her right hand,
Brightfang gripped in her left. After what seemed like hours she
saw a dim light ahead.

The light came from a hole in the ceiling
above her head, at least fifteen feet up. She could see the walls
of the cavern were indeed naturally carved out by some long since
departed river, now roughened with age. Voices came from above, too
faint for her to make out. Sheathing her sword, Callindra began
scaling the wall. As she neared the hole she could make out the
voices above.

“
-will be dead before you
can move.” A guttural voice said, dripping with malice.

“
NO, you can’t!” This was a
woman, she sounded near panic, “You’ve done enough haven’t you?
Without proper help he’s likely to die anyway, just leave us
be.”

“
I enjoy seeing you like
this Tyreen. Tears streaming down your face, near hysterical with
fear and grief. I can taste the despair as it radiates from you.
These pitiful children will not help you any more than you helped
your people when you abandoned them to live with this
hermit.”

Callindra braced herself against a large
stalactite, barely able to reach the edge of the hole with her
fingertips. Uncertain of whether she would reach it or fall she
gathered her body and made a wild leap from the wall, scrabbling
for grip on the rough stone and losing some skin and a fingernail
in the process. What she saw over the edge drove the pain to the
back of her mind.

Through a doorway surrounded by glowing
runes, a figure draped in tattered shadows and black silk was
standing with its back to her, facing a beautiful woman with pale
brown skin and waves of thick green hair. She was half draped over
the fallen figure of Vilhylm and Cronos lay in the center of the
room with a hole the size of Callindra’s fist in his chest.

Without thinking, Callindra moved toward the
doorway, but before she could reach it a hand landed on her
shoulder. She spun in place, drawing her sword and swinging all in
one motion. Only her extensive training allowed her to halt the
blade before it bit into Tryst’s neck.

“
Don’t try and pass through
the door.” He said in a low voice, “It’s protected against entry
with strong magic.”

“
I’m not going to just sit
here while that bastard kills my companions!” She hissed, turning
back towards the door. His grip on her shoulder tightened to
immovable iron.

“
You think I want to wait
and watch? That’s my brother in there lying dead on the floor, but
I don’t want either of us to join him.”

Even as he spoke, Cronos stirred on the
floor. His body jerked erratically as though it was a puppet being
manipulated by invisible strings. The motions smoothed out as he
struggled to gain a standing position. The hole in his chest was
now only a hole in his armor, his hands were steady and his voice
calm as he incanted a spell.

“
WHAT?” The black clad
figure spun to stare at Cronos, “You were dead before, I’ll make
you so again little worm!”

“
You shall not have him
yet.” The voice that issued from Cronos’s lips was deeper and more
guttural than it had been before. “For now this one is lost to
you.” The spell he had been casting was released from his hands as
he spoke and a scintillating bolt of energy burst from his hand.
The figure in black fled before it as darkness does before the
dawn.

“
You have already attracted
some powerful enemies younglings.” The voice continued as Cronos
turned to look at Callindra and Tryst, “Beware of Dergeras, he is
dangerous and I won’t always be here to protect you.” His eyes
narrowed, “Especially you daughter of Sol. He seeks to hurt you
most of all.” The shimmering runes surrounding the door flickered
slightly and ceased to glow.

“
Grace take me, what was
that?” Tryst said, rushing through the doorway to catch Cronos as
he fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Once he had been
lowered to the floor safely, he checked his vitals, “He’s alive.”
He said, his voice reflecting the disbelief on his face.

“
Of course I’m alive.”
Cronos croaked, “I feel too horrible to be dead.”

“
Your companion may live
now, however this one’s life is in grave danger.” Tryst turned to
look at Tyreen as she spoke, “I fear he has been poisoned; only my
presence is keeping death at bay.”

“
Who are you and what has
happened to Vilhylm?” Tryst demanded, turning to face
her.

“
My name is Tyreen. I am a
Dryad and you are currently within my tree.” She gestured to the
wooden walls and floor before continuing, tears streaming down her
face. “I grew him from a cutting of Grandfather Tree when I had to
leave. When we left to come east and serve as we could
here.”

“
What has happened to
Vilhylm?” Callindra asked, “How can we save him?”

“
In the nearby village of
Vonlar there is a healer known as Jasmine. She will be able to
provide you with the medicine that can help him.” Tyreen said,
“Jasmine is known in these parts for her healing
abilities.”

“
If it can help Vyl, I’ll do
it.” Said Callindra, her sentiments echoed moments later by the
other two.

-

It was a half-day’s travel to Vonlar, even
though they pushed the horses as hard as they dared. When they were
emerging from the forest at the edge of town they knew something
was amiss. The sounds of fighting reached Callindra’s ears and the
screams of terrified people split the air.

She dismounted and ran headlong into the town
square, drawing Brightfang as she ran. There were dozens of kobolds
in the street, hacking at villagers with rusted blades while the
people attempted to defend themselves with sticks and
pitchforks.

The battle was short and brutal, Callindra
and her companions hit the monsters from behind like a thunderbolt.
Trapped between the townsfolk and their makeshift weapons and the
experienced fighters the kobolds were slain in moments, only a few
escaped with their plunder.

“
Please sir, please help
us!” The villagers all gathered around Tryst, some of them even
touching the hem of his cloak in supplication.

“
Our families!”

“
The supplies we laid up for
the winter!”

“
My little boy!”

“
They took my
daughters!”

The clamor was deafening. Finally Tryst
raised his hands and smiled down at them with an aplomb that only
he would have been able to summon. Callindra was almost wondering
if they were going to have to defend themselves from the mob.
Looking at the expectant look on their faces and the way they
calmed down, she carefully cleaned Brightfang on one of the
Kobold’s corpses and sheathed him.

“
Please good people, do not
worry yourselves. We shall certainly assist you in your time of
need.” He paused and fixed them with that absurdly beautiful smile
again. “A friend of mine is ill and we must first see to him, but
you have my word we will not let your plight go unnoticed. If you
can help us find the herb woman Jasmine so that she can supply us
with the herbs we need to bring him back to health we shall return
forthwith and ensure your lost family and belongings.”

Callindra didn’t believe for a moment that
this crowd would just let them walk away during their time of
crisis but she had vastly underestimated Tryst’s powers of
persuasion. In less than a quarter hour they were riding from the
village with the herbs they needed in their saddlebags.

“
We aren’t really going back
there are we?” Cronos asked. He glanced over his shoulder with a
smirk on his face, “They really fell for it Tryst.”

“
Of course we are going
back.” He replied immediately fixing his brother with an indignant
look, “I gave them my word.”

While this made perfect sense to Callindra
she could see the significance was lost on Cronos. “We also owe
Jasmine for this medication.” Tryst continued, “She wouldn’t take
my coin, saying our attempt to save the village was payment
enough.”

Cronos rolled his eyes and opened his mouth
for a smart remark but Callindra cut him off, “I agree with Tryst.
We hit a dead end with Tyreen anyway. You aren’t scared of a few
Kobolds are you?”

“
Scared? Me?” Cronos
spluttered, and she knew she had him.

“
Well yeah. What other
reason would you have for ditching out on a village full of people
who need you?” She shrugged innocently, “Especially people who we
owe a favor to. If you aren’t frightened what’s your
excuse?”

“
We already saved them once,
we drove off those green skins like they were nothing. That should
be good enough for anyone.”

“
Not good enough for me.”
Tryst replied, his mouth set in a firm line. “Now we are wasting
daylight. Let’s ride!”

-

The sun was down by the time they made it
back to Tyreen’s tree. Now that she welcomed them, entrance was as
easy as opening the door and walking inside. Callindra stayed
outside to tend to the horses. The poor beasts had been asked for a
lot today and she wanted to look them over.

While she was walking them to cool their
bodies down before giving them water she saw a face appear in a
bole of the tree. “Young sprout! You may water your animals in the
stream without fearing for their health. It shall refresh them.
Perhaps you should water yourself also as you look a bit disabused
as well.”

Callindra did her best not to bristle at
being called a sprout. The implication that she looked dirty, tired
and worse for the wear didn’t really bother her though. It was the
plain truth. She had sustained a number of small cuts and bruises
during the fight to save Vonlar that weren’t deep enough for her to
bother Tryst with and nearly ten hours in the saddle was a lot more
than she was used to.