The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest (22 page)

“
You take care of the small
fry.” Callindra said with a determined grimace on her face, “That
shaman is mine.”

“
Wait!” Tryst shouted, but
it was too late. She had already ran straight at the guards, but
instead of trying to cut them down, she dodged to one side at the
last minute. Taking three quick steps up the wall of the cavern,
Callindra sprang off and ran lightly over her foes using heads and
shoulders as momentary foot holds. Turning a neat flip off the last
one, she landed with a flourish in front of her intended
opponent.

“
Foolissshhh chhhild.” The
shaman hissed and waved a hand at her, hissing more words in a
sibilant language she didn’t recognize.

She readied Brightfang to spring for his
throat but before she could, he vanished and re-appeared on the
other side of the raging bonfire. Her sword hilt quivered in her
hand, almost feeling too warm. It was strange but she focused on
the scene instead, trying to find a way across the flames to her
quarry. A quick glance showed her a possible route. With a short
sprint Callindra slid between two approaching Kobolds, digging her
toes into the ground and regaining her feet as the monsters smashed
into each other. With a grin she covered the remaining distance
between her and the shaman easily. It was only then that she
noticed the pain in her hands.

Steam was coming from her thin leather gloves
and the skin beneath was close to blistering. The shaman fixed her
with a gleeful smile and opened his mouth to taunt her. This was
almost nothing compared to the pain of her training. The smile
faded off the creature’s face as she tightened her grip on
Brightfang in spite of the sizzle of burning flesh.

“
You think this is going to
stop me?” She asked, twisting her face into a smirk in spite of
Brightfang’s hilt now glowing red hot. “All it’s going to
accomplish is that my blade will hurt more when it slices through
your flesh. You’ve taken the blood of innocents. Now it’s time for
you to bleed.”

“
Sssso be it.” The shaman
raised a spear tied with bones and totems from his side and swung
it in an arc. Black wood met shining steel in a shower of sparks.
The two fought back and forth over the floor, neither able to find
advantage. Callindra found herself with her back to the lava pool,
the shaman raised his spear for a strike that would surely send her
into the molten rock.

“
Callindra down!” Cronos’s
voice rang out behind her. Without thinking she dropped to her
knees and a wave of flame seared the monster before roaring over
her head. It didn’t seem to have much effect on him, but the
momentary distraction was enough to create an opening.

Brightfang slashed across the monster’s
thighs in a left handed swipe and she followed up by grabbing the
spear with her right hand and pulling back with all her strength.
She allowed herself to fall backward, planting a boot in the
shaman’s chest and flipping it over her head into the lava.

“
Thanks Cronos.” She said
rolling smoothly to her feet. They looked in satisfaction at the
burning remains of the shaman.

“
Yeah. Nice job on that
one.” He said, nodding at the lava. They turned and looked at the
remains of the battlefield. Tryst and Vilhylm were cleaning their
weapons and binding some minor wounds. All the Kobolds were
dead.

The few remaining human slaves cowered in the
slat sided pen, not even moving until Tryst spoke to them at
length. Eventually they regained enough confidence to follow his
directions on how to escape the tunnels. The likelihood of them
running into any more of the monsters after the number that had
been in this cavern seemed slim and they would certainly have a
better chance of escaping that way than following along.

“
This was bad, but I don’t
think it could account for all we’ve seen. There must be someone
else behind their organization. I don’t think this… priest… would
have the resources to provide them with armor and training.” Tryst
said grimly.

“
Perhaps we should follow
these stairs then?” Vilhylm pointed to a steep set of steps that
twisted up the side of the cavern. “They’re bound to lead somewhere
important.”

“
I’ll lead. I think I’m the
most surefooted.” Callindra said and started up the stairs two at a
time, not waiting to see if the others followed. As she got close
to the top her pace slowed. Sunlight shone down from above and she
could smell fresh air but more importantly there were voices up
there. Human voices.

“
I tell yeh, we gotta run.
There’s people down there killin th critters left an right. They’s
gonna make it past th priest any time an then they’s gonna come fer
us.”

“
We got plenny a loot boss.
We should split while we can.”

“
Yeh cowards, I say let ‘em
come. Get yer bows ready. As soon as yeh see a head come up th
stairs fill it wi arrows.”

She was going to leap out before they could
draw their weapons, but Vilhylm’s hand came down on her shoulder.
“Wait for Tryst to catch up.” He whispered, “He and Cronos are up
to something.”

The other two came up quietly and put their
heads close. “We all come out at once and scatter. There will be
less targets that way. Callindra, you go for their leader since
you’re the fastest. Cronos, see if you can distract them. Vilhylm,
you and I will take care of the archers.”

“
Just a second. If I’m fast
now, I can double that speed with a touch of magic.” Callindra said
with a wide grin. She whispered a few arcane words and called the
North Wind to speed her feet. “All right, let’s go kick some
ass.”

As one, they all leaped from the staircase
and ran in separate directions. An arrow buzzed past Callindra’s
neck, the loose fletching causing it to buzz like an angry wasp.
The winds whirled around her as she ran, sending up clouds of dust
and dead leaves. The men she saw were dressed in a variety of
armor, but in spite of being slightly mismatched it was all
relatively new and in perfect repair. She saw the only one who
didn’t have a bow drawn and made for him as fast as she could. He
calmly drew a scimitar and waited for her to approach with a smile
of anticipation on his face.

They met in a clash of swords, but no matter
how fast Callindra struck, he was faster. After a few moments she
was covered in a myriad of small bleeding wounds, none of them were
dangerous on their own but combined they slowed her down. She
pushed harder, waiting for him to misstep, trying to find an
opening but only succeeded in earning a few more cuts.

The ferocity of her attack had driven him
back to the edge of a cliff but now he was on the offensive. They
danced close to the precipice as he slammed blow after blow down on
her, a series of strikes that ended with a massive overhand stroke
that drove her to her knees. A confused expression crossed his
face, and she saw an arrow stuck in his chest. His sword blow had
saved her from being shot in the back.

With a complicated motion of her sword,
Callindra summoned a blast of wind that knocked her still surprised
opponent over the edge of the cliff. She spun on her knees to see
her friends dispatching the last of the men. Sitting back with a
weak laugh of relief she wiped Brightfang on the hem of her cloak
and sheathed him.

“
That was too god rotting
close.” She said, wiping the blood out of her eyes.

Tryst was pulling an arrow out of Cronos’s
arm with a grim expression on his face. “I couldn’t agree more
Callindra. Far too close.”

She laughed in relief finally able to relax,
but as the adrenaline wore off she realized she might have overdone
things a bit. “Gods and demons. Tryst when you get a moment I could
really use some of that healing magic of yours. I think I’m going
to just … if it’s all right with you I’m going to rest my eyes for
a second.”

Chapter 18

It was a dream. Callindra knew it was a
dream because Glarian was standing at her side, one hand holding
that monster Sakar over one shoulder and the other resting on hers.
Even though it wasn’t real she felt like she could really talk to
him and damn if she didn’t have some things to say. She opened her
mouth to give Glarian the rough side of her tongue for running off
or maybe to beg him to come back to her but he spoke first.

“
How do you feel?” He asked,
his voice rough with … was it concern?

“
What do you mean
Master?”

“
You’ve had to defend
yourself apprentice … you’ve killed and not just monsters now
either.” He said, “So I was wondering how you felt.”

“
Scared. Tired. Devastated.
Exhilarated.” She turned and looked up into his face, her eyes
sparkling, “Dangerous.”

“
Oh you’re dangerous all
right.” The concern was clear now, “Has the Weave been behaving?
You’ve been keeping up with the Korumn?”

“
Master … it’s OK. I’m OK. I
practice every morning with the sunrise. We’re on a quest
for-“

“
Yes, I know. You’re looking
for Gode. We’re all looking for Gode. If you find him, let us
know.”

-

“
Callindra?” She tried to
focus on the voice, her vision swimming. “Hey, welcome back.” It
was Tryst she realized.

“
Thanks.” She was lying on
the ground and staring up at a perfect sunset streaking across
wispy clouds.

“
You had me worried there
for a moment. Usually the healing prayers work with more
alacrity.”

“
How long was I out?” She
struggled to a sitting position, testing her limbs for stiffness
and smiling at Tryst, “I feel as good as new, or almost anyway.
It’s a miracle for real!” Most of the cuts she had gathered during
the fight were healed to faded scars and her hands had a growth of
new pink skin. Re-growing the swordsman’s calluses on them was
going to be murder but at least she didn’t have to wait for the
blisters to heal.

“
You have only been
unconscious for about ten minutes. Don’t push too hard yet, the
euphoria is only temporary. Only half of the healing comes from
prayer, the other half comes from your body.” He gave her an
encouraging smile, “The real miracle is that your body knows how to
heal itself in the first place; I just help it along.”

The clearing they were in was a sheltered
bowl at the top of a tall hill. From here they could see the
village of Vonlar below far in the distance. They could also make
out a winding trail that made its way down the hills steep sides.
The men had made a few rude buildings that blended into the
landscape, one housed a few rather tired looking horses, another
rough looking accommodations but the third and largest one had
piles of boxes and stacks of supplies. Unless she missed her guess,
Callindra believed they had found the missing goods stolen by the
Kobolds and perhaps more.

“
We should return to Vonlar
and tell the villagers where they can go to recover their things.”
Tryst said.

“
Yeah, the sooner we clear
our debt with these backwards muckdwellers the better.” Cronos
muttered.

“
I feel like we should get
back to Tyreen.” Said Vilhylm, “She’s a Dryad, if anyone knows
about legends like Elves she would.”

Callindra levered herself to her feet with a
reluctant sigh. “I suppose we should at least get back to Vonlar…
or maybe we could just stay here tonight. I mean it’s not like
there’s anyone left to mess with us right? Besides, I don’t know
about you but I’m exhausted.”

“
No, we are all tired and
that’s exactly why we must return to Vonlar before dark.” Vil said,
“There we will be assured of at least some rest whereas here we
would be forced to post a rotating watch.”

“
I can see the village from
here, it won’t take long.” Cronos said with unusual kindness, “He’s
right, and the faster we get there the sooner we can all
sleep.”

“
Ok, ok…” Callindra sighed
again and settled Brightfang more comfortably on her back, “Let’s
go then.”

-

The sunlight blinked and flickered on the
surface of the pool in what Callindra now thought of as Tyreen’s
Grotto.  Callindra was having a hard time staying focused on
the conversation at hand, it was just too beautiful out.  She
couldn’t believe how fearless the wildlife was when the Dryad was
around.  Before, butterflies had landed on her, but now there
were deer drinking from the pool and a mountain lion had even spent
a half hour letting Tyreen pick burrs out of its coat and rub its
belly.

“
If you are looking for the
Elves, you must go to the Grandfather Tree in the High Forest.”
Tyreen said to Tryst.  The big man sat in his gleaming white
surcoat, not seeming to notice the small birds that were flying
around him and occasionally landing on his shoulders.  “I know
very little of the things you seek, but I know the mistress of all
Elvenkind resides there.  The Goddess Jorda herself is
there.”

This made Callindra sit up and take notice,
“What?  You say an actual Goddess lives there?  I thought
the Gods were…”

“
Myths?  Tryst asked,
sounding amused.  “Where do you think the magic that healed
your wounds came from?”

“
I… “ She didn’t have an
answer that wouldn’t make her feel stupid, “I haven’t met a God
before so it’s hard for me to think about them.  Besides,
knowing my upbringing it’s not too unusual.  Either peasants
like me believe absolutely in the Gods or we don’t.  I happen
to be of the second kind.”