The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 01 - Elseerian (34 page)

Glancing at the moon, he guessed it to be about midnight. He had to keep watch for three hours, so he shifted to get more comfortable and checked his body to ensure that he was completely in the shadow of a massive oak. Rather than continue to ponder the host of questions that had been bombarding his mind, he focused on the darkness in front of him. Time crawled by as he checked and rechecked his quadrant for any sign of intruders.

—Without warning something caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. Casting about for the source, he neither saw nor heard anything—but the feeling persisted. Something or someone was out there. A trickle crawled up his spine as he felt an alien presence nearby.

There!
Behind him?
He'd heard something so quiet he almost doubted it, but in his gut he knew what it was . . . the whisper of skin on leather. Taryn whipped his head around and looked into the camp, scanning for anything out of place. One of the elves sat up and stretched—perhaps that had been it? But it wasn’t.

Then he saw it.
His
bedroll was occupied! Maybe another elf had taken his spot . . .? His instincts screamed otherwise, but he had to be sure. He scanned the camp to find what didn’t sit right.
What was it?
As the elf laid down again, Taryn realized what it was. There were twenty-one prone forms in the clearing. Denithir commanded a score of elves plus Ren. With Taryn and Liri that came to twenty-four . . . and there were four sentries.
Who was the extra person?

Taryn's eyes snapped to his own blanket beside Liri and he suddenly saw a slight movement of a hand moving in Liri's direction.

Adrenaline kicked in and Taryn charged into the camp, leaping over still forms and arriving at Liri's sleeping form a split second later. Amazingly the person had already gotten to his feet and leapt away, almost as if he'd sensed the sudden approach.
How would that be possible
?

Taryn wasn’t about to let him go. With the speed of thought Taryn raced across the clearing to overtake the intruder at the edge of the woods. Reaching out to him he snatched his hand back as a dagger flashed out and almost sliced into his palm. Without stopping he lunged and wrapped both arms around the figure's chest, pinning his arms. The intruder struggled and tried to bring his dagger up to cut the entrapping arms, but Taryn twisted his body in midair and tried to slam him into the ground.

Somehow the intruder got his feet under him and darted into the shadows with Taryn right behind him. Realizing his opponent had training in combat, Taryn sped after him more cautiously and began to overtake him again.

Whirling, the intruder flung an arm up, sending something spinning towards him. Instinct kicked in and Taryn reached out his hand without slowing down to snatch the throwing knife right out of the air. Flinging it straight back at its thrower, he heard a low chuckle from the fleeing form as he also caught it.

Out of nowhere an arrow zipped past Taryn and caught the thick cloak on the intruder’s shoulder, pulling him up short as it pinned him to a tree. Taryn bounded straight forward, knowing what was coming. Only Liri had the skill to shoot into darkness and hit a speeding target. He wasn’t disappointed. Two more arrows sped past Taryn’s head to embed themselves, further fastening the intruder to the tree—until he shrugged out of his cloak and bolted.

But Taryn had caught up.

Without preamble he drew his father's sword and smacked the flat of the blade against the side of the man’s head, expecting it to end there, but he managed to roll with the blow so it didn’t knock him out. Dazed, he struggled to keep moving.

Despite himself, Taryn was impressed by the person's sheer tenacity as he bounded after him. The man had dodged behind trees and begun to run in a zigzag to avoid more arrows. He certainly would have escaped then—except Taryn was faster.

Instead of chasing him directly, Taryn leapt to the side and raced parallel to his path. Seconds later the intruder passed Taryn and dodged in front of him. Coming around a tree, the man ran straight into Taryn’s outstretched arm, and the force caused him to do a back flip before landing flat on his stomach with a low "
Ooof
."

Not wanting to give him another opportunity, Taryn used the knife edge of his hand to knock the man out. Even then he'd already begun to roll over and get to his feet.

Taryn reached down and lifted the unconscious man to his shoulder. Checking to make sure he was truly out, he carried him back to the camp where Liri had roused everyone to full alert. When he entered the clearing he laid the man down and motioned for someone to tie him up before he could come to his senses.

Denithir darted to his side. "
By Skorn
, what was that all about?" he hissed.

Taryn took a moment to catch his breath as he shook his head. "I have no idea. I spotted him in the camp and ran him down." He glanced at the elf tying him. "Watch him, though, he’s wily and a good fighter."

A light touch on his elbow drew his attention to the opposite side. Liri looked up at him, her eyes full of gratitude. "Thank you so much, Taryn. He'd taken my mother's pendant!"

She bent and rifled through the man's clothes until she found the thin gold chain and reverently returned it to her neck. "I hope it hurt when he took you down," she said to the still form, her tone uncharacteristically venomous.

Questions bubbled around Taryn as more elves gathered around the thief, preventing Taryn from saying anything to Liri.

"Who is he?"

"What was he doing here?"

"How did he get into camp?"

"He didn't get past me!" Three different elves said in unison.

Denithir cut through the chatter with a growl, "He got past somebody." He glared at his soldiers for a moment. "Get back to your posts or back to sleep, we will figure this out in the morning. Kryll, put two on our guest. I don’t want him leaving us before we can have some answers."

Taryn slipped to Liri's side and whispered, "Thanks for the support earlier. It's always nice to know that you're watching my back."

She smiled and stifled a yawn. "You know I'll always be right behind you."

Unable to resist he added, "Thanks for missing me, too. A couple of those arrows came pretty close, you know."

Liri furrowed her brow and pursed her lips, but that only made her look cute. "Not close enough," she said in exasperation. Then she lightly punched him in the shoulder and laid down.

Taryn chuckled and returned to his sentry position. Their playful banter really had been their way of ensuring that each was all right. But their light conversation hadn't been able to dispel the tension that still blanketed the night like a fog. As he settled into his previous position behind the oak tree, he asked himself the same questions the elves had, and added a few of his own. Who would enter a heavily armed group of vigilant elves to steal something? And what was more, who had the
ability
? To Taryn, the latter question would be far more important.

*****

A light touch woke Taryn from a dream-filled sleep. Recognizing the touch made him smile before he opened his eyes. "Do I have to get up, Liri?"

A small fist slugged him in the shoulder; then its owner chuckled. Sighing, Taryn opened his eyes to the dim, early morning light. Stretching and yawning, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. His watch had ended around four in the morning, so he'd only been asleep for a couple of hours.

Automatically his eyes sought out their prisoner and found him at the edge of the camp, bound and gagged.

"Why is he gagged?" he asked Kryll.

The elven soldier shrugged. "They said he wouldn’t shut up. I think he got on their nerves."

Taryn smirked at his response and caught Liri’s eye, knowing she wanted some answers as well. She caught his raised eyebrow and nodded towards the food that had been laid out.
Food first, then answers
, he understood her unspoken suggestion, so they quickly ate a breakfast of dried fruit and nuts before approaching the prisoner. The two elven guards nodded in his direction, with newfound respect in their eyes.

Crouching in front of the man, he took a moment and looked him over. For a human he'd been incredibly agile the night before, and his instincts and speed had been more like an elf than a human—but his features held no trace of elven blood. A strong, firm jaw, handsome face, and the dark blue eyes of the human race looked back at Taryn without fear. Short black hair, at the same time trimmed and a little wild, hung freely without cap or armored helm.

 Taryn unbound the gag, and he immediately spat out the cloth. "What's with all the hostility?" he said and then pretended to glower at Liri. "I thought the elves were supposed to be peaceful?"

Taryn couldn’t help but smile at the true statement. "You could say that the times have called for more . . .
caution
than normal."

Liri leaned towards him, her expression intense. "Why did you steal my necklace?"

He shrugged even though his hands were tied behind his back. "It was pretty; I thought it would fetch a price."

Surprised by his frank honesty, Taryn exclaimed, "You're a thief!"

"Guilty as charged," the man said with a wide grin. "My name is Jack Myst, one of the best thieves you'll ever meet." He winked and smiled roguishly at Liri.

Something about the man's demeanor suggested that the ladies usually liked him, and for half a second Taryn thought Liri would fall for him as well. She didn’t disappoint him, however.

"Thieving scum!" she scowled fiercely. "I ought to gut you right here." A blade had appeared out of nowhere in her hand.

"Easy," Taryn said, although he was secretly pleased that she hadn't been attracted to the thief.

"Aren't you a feisty one," Jack said, chuckling without the slightest bit of fear.

She almost lunged at him, but something held her in check, and she managed to compose herself quickly. "You aren't worth it."

With that she stood and strode off, ignoring his parting comment.

"Yes I am." He half sang the words in amusement.

Taryn spoke softly. "How did you get into the camp?"

For the first time Jack became serious, eyeing Taryn shrewdly. "You’re the one that caught me, aren't you?" The thief's tone implied he didn’t get caught very often.

Taryn nodded in response.

After a moment where the two looked each other over, the man said, "It isn't hard to slip past sentries. Their eyes are always on the ground, and never in the trees."

Taryn grinned. Jack had answered honestly, again to his surprise, so he chose to answer honestly as well.

"Too true; it’s probably what I would have done."

The open humor returned to Jack's face as easily as it had gone. "It takes a fox to catch a fox.” Then he asked Taryn a question: "How did you know I was here?"

"I heard you and then saw there was an extra body in the camp," Taryn said.

"You
heard
me?" he exclaimed in genuine astonishment. "I'm truly impressed, my friend."

Suddenly the elven captain cut into their conversation, his low growl carrying across the camp to everyone's ears. "We march in five minutes. Ren, bring our guest—and watch him carefully. Kryll, take point, let us know if there is any danger. We should reach the Oracle by nightfall, so be on your guard. I don't want this mission to fail on the last day."

 "Their respect for their captain is the only thing controlling their fear," Jack said in an undertone that only reached Taryn’s ears.

Taryn looked back at him, intrigued by his statement. Meeting his gaze he matched his tone, "I know." He sighed and added, "I wish I knew the source of the fear."

Jack smiled without humor, "So do I, mate, it would make it easier to steal from elves."

The complete seriousness in his tone made Taryn snort loudly. Several of the elves nearby looked at him, but he shook his head.

"I guess you are coming with us friend, so we might be able to find out together."

"You know I could escape at any moment."

"I have no doubt, but I believe you are just as curious about this disease of terror as I am. You won't escape until you get some answers—now that you know who we are and what our quest is."

The thief gave him a knowing smile before Ren appeared at his side.

"On your feet, human, and watch yourself. I will end your life before you make a move to escape."

Jack nodded in mock seriousness. "I will obey," he said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Taryn nodded at Ren, trying not to grin at Jack's comment, before turning to grab his bedroll and take his place within the elven formation. He found himself pondering the unusual exchange. It was evident that the man had enormous ability and skill, both in fighting and stealth. After their conversation, Taryn oddly felt like he'd just been in a sparring match, with both of them testing their opponent.

However, that wasn’t the strangest thing about their conversation. The strangest thing was that in Jack Myst the thief, he'd found a kindred spirit . . . and probably a friend. The thought unsettled him more than a little, but he knew it to be true.

There was also something about the fight the previous night that kept nagging him, refusing to go away. When he finally realized it, he found it didn’t surprise him. The thief had thrown a knife at him, but it had been aimed low, rather than to kill. The implication was clear, and at the same time in line with the sense he got from Jack.

As he mulled the thought over throughout the day, he finally had to admit to himself that after talking to him, he knew that Jack would protect the innocent—and probably without an invitation. A thief he may be, but he had
some
code of honor that he lived by, and Taryn wondered where it had come from.

And where stealing had become part of it.

Chapter 21:
The Oracle

Reaching shadows deepened the gloom as the sun sank below the horizon. Dismal and dank, the forest of Orláknia contrasted sharply with the bright trees of the elven homeland. In place of flowers and vines, moss and decaying wood lent a darkness that could not be attributed solely to the heavy canopy. Instead of shrubs or other green undergrowth, mushrooms or fungus spread across stones and the spotted boles of trees.