The Exodus Sagas: Book I - Of Spiders And Falcons (63 page)

“His Majesty, King Mikhail of Chazzrynn!”

“Enough!” the king walked beside his son, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Return to your ship,
now
.” Calmly, quietly, keeping the young Prince’s dignity, but the king gave an order, not a request.

Bryant breathed deep, sheathing his broadsword, and turned to his men motioning them to walk out. He turned and marched out, silent and noble, yet humiliated.

“Your majesty, what an
expected
visit to save your son from further….”

“Shut your mouth, nephew!” Mikhail stomped to the throne, up the red carpeted stairs, and directly nose to nose with Johnas. “Your ship attacked a royal navy vessel and fled north after the ship carrying fugitives entrusted with the scroll of Annar
, I know this
. Bryant may not, but I do. I also know you have dealings with the Altestani warship, and not over mere trade agreements for the kingdom. They avoided my hails and continued north, disregarding the king of the country, after meeting with
you
.” the king whispered, keeping it private.

“That ship was taken by a drunken city guard, who is most displeased with my not promoting him, and may have a grudge against the kingdom,
sire
. I have set a bounty for him and the crew, and will have your son’s vessel tended to at once.” Johnas replied with absolute sincerity, not a flinch or twitch in his eyes or words.

“And the carriers of the scroll said they were attacked by
your
guards while trying to escape this city, one was an honorable Knight of Southwind keep. Now, he is a Knight of Chazzrynn,
one of mine
. I have much reason to believe him over the likes of you.” the king stared at his nephew in disgust.

“I know not of why the Altestani tradeship did not hail you in return, but our trade agreements did fall through and they left
most
unhappy. As far as the fugitives from Vallakazz, they injured many of my men, the wizards Lazlette even ripped the dock to pieces with lightning. The wizards from the academy said that they would most like young Gwenneth returned, and
I was assisting
.” he bowed, slightly, maintaining eye contact with his uncle.

“And the rumors that you house Kaya T’Vellon, who is wanted for murder
and conspiracy
to the throne?” his words through gritted teeth, his gray beard and hair itching, every part of him wanted to throttle his own nephew right here.

“Your majesty, I know not of any sightings of the former lady, but should I, you will be informed as….” his throat was grabbed by a steel gauntlet.

“
You listen, you snake
! I saw a man today, cut wide open, carrying a woman that I have seen here before, in
your
throne room. He covered for you, blamed it on some wizard named Dasius, and tried to leave the city as fast as he could.” Johnas’ face was red, the king had been squeezing his neck tight, but he continued anyway. “I know you have illicit dealings with several countries, and have a hand in much of what goes unseen and unheard. Your city is rich on the dirty inside, and fearful and poor on the outside. I know, Johnas,
I know
, and I will catch you. Do you hear me?” Mikhail threw the Prince of Valhirst to the red carpeted stone floor.

His neck sore, trying to get air back into his lungs, Johnas stood up, thinking of the throbbing blade at his side and how it would look through his uncle’s chest. “Where is this man, and his
wife
, uncle? I can have my physicians see them now.”

“No! They are on
my
ship, I will tend to those you cast aside, Johnas Valhera. They recently left your castle by the north entrance, are you sure you know
nothing
of them?” the king stepped down the stairs, regaining his composure, and proceeded to walk, slowly, out of the throne room of Valhirst.

“I would like to pay for their speedy recovery. Messenger, yes,
you there
. Hand the king your pouch for their needs. I will repay you later
, rest assured
.” Johnas pointed to the young messenger that was in the stronghold of the White Spider with him, the
only
one that could have let anyone into his room to get Vanessa. The one that assisted in waking him and getting him up top for the meeting with Bryant. The Prince knew a payoff when he heard one, and the blade vibrating at his side told him there would be blood.

The young messenger trembled, handed the king the leather pouch with gold coins, two hundred exactly. That was enough for three years salary almost, and now, the messenger knew he was a dead man. The king looked at the bag, raised his hand at the last moment, refusing it. Now, for the young neonate spy, it weighed ten times more.

“Guard, you may bring it
here
then, we will donate it to any other families in the city that have suffered as of late.” the Prince’s eyes bore holes through the young man, who probably thought he had made the best deal of his life, and even helped out two lovers.

The king stopped, deep in thought at the stone entryway to the elaborate coastal castle, he leaned on the gray stone. “I am sending you my ten most loyal protectors, Johnas, to
assist
you in cleaning up the city, and to keep an eye on you. They will report to me weekly, and you will
not
interfere, understood?”

“Yes your majesty,
thank you
.” he bowed deeply, cursing under his breath.

“By the way, the man’s name was
Balric
, a Harlian. Does that help you remember?”

“Never heard that name before, my king, sorry. I wish them health
and
happiness in all their remaining days. Please offer my condolences for their accidental and unfortunate injuries, my leige.” Johnas bowed again, drawing his blade from behind the messenger that stood next to him with the pouch. He watched the king leave, his royal armed guard following.

“Men, you are dismissed! Post lookouts for Kaya T’Vellon, and post bounty for Farrigus Narminson at one hundred gold coins!” Johnas said it loud enough for his departing uncle to hear, though meant not a word.

They all bowed and marched out. Johnas stopped the young blonde messenger, grabbing him by the arm that still held the bribe from Balric D’Vrelle. “How would you like to handle this
, my little traitor
?”

“I would rather not, my prince. I’m sorry, but all that gold for a half dead woman with burns and scars? I-I-I will give you
half
? I can find you a much prettier toy than her, your highness,
maybe a couple
. She’s damaged trade and if some idiot wants to pay ten times what she’s worth, I figure, let him.” the boy, in his late teens, offered the prince a share, feeling better to die cocky than a coward.

The prince stared, right into his blue eyes, not believing what he had just heard. He began to laugh, hysterically, his blade in hand, his eyes welled with tears, and his stomach ached. He sat back in the throne, unable to catch a breath, his laughter echoing through the room. Soon, the young neonate agent of the White Spider started laughing as well. The two laughed till it hurt, for minutes, the young man having to sit next to the throne from going weak with hysterics.

“So, I guess your not going to kill me then?!” the young spy continued to laugh, tossing the coin bag into the air and catching it.

“
You’re wrong
.” the flawless blade of the enchanted kris sword pierced the man’s throat, the laughter mingled with gurgling and choking of blood. Then through the left side of his chest, then again through the lung the glowing green steel plunged. The laughter died away leaving only the fevered breathing of air and liquid. Then a fourth time, through the other lung, and the prince rested back in his throne, still laughing. The boy turned red in the face, trying to hold his hands over the wounds as he gasped for air, soaking the red carpet with his draining life.

“But, that was one of the
most
humorous attempts to live I have ever heard, eh he, thank you.
You have
brought some laughter to this dismal day boy.” the prince bowed to the boy, and continued to laugh in the empty royal chamber of Castle Valhera. All the way down to the underworld chambers he laughed. Echoes of insidious humor spread throughout the tunnels and passageways as the patriarch of the White Spider went to plan the search for his escaped spies.

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His dreams were hazy, like smoke had filled his mind against his will and the faces of all those he had killed simply floated toward him in anticipation. Farrigus wandered the fog, knowing he was dreaming, trying to get back to reality, to somehow wake himself up, but he could not. His sword was gone, his dagger too, even the hidden one in his boot. “Terrible dream this is, can’t even kill the bastards that haunt me.”

Women he had taken against their will, the husbands he had killed, even a few that were far too young to die, they all appeared before him. Just disembodied faces, thin, ghostly, visages with only red, gray and gold for color. He heard the jingling of coins, and smelled blood. It was dark as pitch everywhere, only the ghostly lights allowed him to see. His feet made noise when he walked in the gray haze of nowhere, and he looked down and felt at his boots. Coins, gold and platinum, everywhere he walked. Farrigus laughed, filling his pockets and pouches, and then he smelled it. Rain, heavy rain, but it smelled of blood when it fell, and it was. Blood soaked him as he walked with heavy coins in his possession, rain of red from unseen clouds in a place he could not escape. The faces smiled, and he smiled in return.

Hours it seemed he walked, and the faces turned to men, men aboard a ship, the Queen Sapphire. He saw the ship behind them, all of them walking off and wet with the same rain drenching them dull and red. They all walked past like he did not exist, looking for something, the ship half sunk in red waters. His mind started to remember, the hole in the ship, the landing on the island, the beach on a cloudy night. He followed the men, trying to grab them and stop them. He knew something had happened, not sure exactly, but he knew they had to stay away from the island. Farrigus grabbed again, his hand passing through them like they did not exist. The deadly assassin had no blade, not that one would likely help here, so he followed the misty forms of the crew he recognized. Dozens upon dozens of men, none of whom he cared about, save for that feeling that they should not go where they were going.

He heard them at first, the veteran killer of the White Spider crouched low in the mist, still dreaming. He saw the cats, black like shadows with green eyes, thirty, forty, maybe more. They came form the trees, the beach, the trail, and descended like a plague upon the men from the tree covered mountains. Encircling, killing, dragging the men off up the mountain screaming. They became men, and carried the dying, the dead, and the living, to the top of the trees on the mountain as the moons came out. Farrigus tried to scream, tried to stop it, but they passed through him like a ghost.

The blood hurt, pounding in his head, and the world was dark as he hung upside down from his feet, dangling over the valley. He was awake. He was alive. The dream was over. The cold night breeze chilled him, everything seemed strange, hanging there upside down, suspended by rope tied to some giant wooden statue, many wooden statues with cat eyes carved in them. Blinking, still waking to reality, Farrigus began to sweat. His dark short hair and scraggly beard were wet with blood. The line of bodies swinging in the wind, also hung upside down, was too far to see in the dark of the moons, to see where it ended. “Help! Someone get me down, help!”

His eyes and mouth froze as a giant yellow green eye appeared in front of him, at least six feet in diameter, round and feline, then the other eye opened. The glow lit the area around the assassin, revealing the men that had been panthers pouring something into the mouths of the struggling crewmen. The giant face of the lord of the panthers smiled at Farrigus, sniffing him, purring and blinking. “Will you join my children and worship me, murderer?” Bansa spoke deeply, purring a constant rhythm.

“Join what? Who are you,
and what is this
? Let me down!” Farrigus yelled into the eyes that glowed around him, he looked down to see how far the fall was. He saw nothing but a pile of bones, thousands of bones, skulls of men, cats, and other creatures over forty feet below. He heard hissing and screaming, the panther men were gutting one of the doppelgangers that had been aboard. They tossed it’s carcass into the pit, and then began to eat the organs that they had removed, three of them feasting like pigs at the fresh slop rail. Farrigus, in all his years of murder, felt sick at the sight of men ripping out and eating organs with their hands, sharing them with each other even. He vomited, trying to turn his head to the side as it washed into his eyes and nose.

“You are either
food
, or you are
devout
. You have the choice, since you killed one of my children. Die now, or live eternally, with me
and for me
, your lord Bansa.” the great cat, it’s fangs as long as Farrigus himself, smiled again that feline smile.

“Kill me, or I will find a way to kill you and all your diseased pets!” the Chazzrynn swordsman spit at the great beast, not wanting to live as a slave, not caring to worship anything, especially a cat.

“Give him the blood, for only the
brave
may worship me. We have lost many children tonight, and we are in need of more to sing the songs of the moons. You will awaken tonight anew, and hunt for me, and kill for me, and you will kneel before me every night, but you will
never leave
.” the panther spoke as the men, some were his crew, held him and forced the mixture of blood and something acidic and sweet into his mouth from a bone decanter until he swallowed. Yellow light shone from his eyes, whiskers grew on his face, he screamed until his voice hissed and went hoarse. His mind burned and went blank, his body ached, and he was Farrigus no more.