The Silver Arrow (8 page)

He ran in the direction Jayden
went, trying to find him, but he was gone, lost in the crowd. After
several minutes of searching, Samuel gave up.

“What am I going to do with
this?” he thought and slid the ring into his pocket.

“I wonder when he’ll discover
his necklace is missing,” he said to himself. “Maybe he’ll stop by
the inn.” Hoping to meet this stranger again, he began making his
way back to the magic show.

All that had happened as a
result of his attempted aid left him bemused. The competition he
had been looking forward to and had trained so hard for was now of
no real interest.

He wasn’t sure he could talk to
anyone about it, not while he was still trying to figure it out
himself. The unexplainable experience was hard to deny and he knew
it. And if he was finding it hard to comprehend, then how could he
expect anyone else to understand?

Unaware of the time, Samuel
made his way over to Elye, consumed by his own thoughts.

Iseac and the Ackalans rode
through the night and continued the following day, heading
southeast toward the town of Tru’tia. It was a clear night on the
second day and the moon was at its highest point in the sky when
they stopped for the night, about a quarter of a mile from the main
road. Tru’tia was going to be another full day’s ride.

They had navigated through the
densely forested area to this open space. The area had a few fallen
trees, and on one of the corners stood four boulders that rested
against one another, forming a jagged tooth-like shape. Iseac set
up his tent in front of it.

Clearing a small area, they
built a campfire close to one of the fallen trees. Horses were
unsaddled and they settled in for the night. Several of the men sat
around the fire talking, as images of their shadows stretched
across the ground. While most of the men stayed in the open field,
a few of them kept watch around the site, hidden by their cloaks in
the night sky, away from the main group. It was a quiet night, and
only the normal sounds of nocturnal creatures could be heard around
the camp.

Inside the tent, Iseac sat
down, crossing his legs. He placed the tip of his right finger on
the ground and began the process known as yosterio, or mirror
boarding. As instructed, he did this every night before going to
bed, remembering the words of Gabram:

“While people go to sleep
assuming their night will be safe, you must go to sleep knowing
yours is.”

Concentrating, he touched at
the core of his mind, causing the amulet on his chest to unlace
itself. With the crystal unveiled, he placed the image of a human
at the core, which set off a vibration from his fingertip to the
ground. He saw nothing out of the ordinary outside of the people in
his vicinity, and with this knowledge, he lay down, closed his
eyes, and was soon overcome by sleep.

As the fire in the camp died
down to an orange glow, one of the Ackalans rode out from within
the trees, passing the horse stand, which was several feet from the
main group. He stepped off his horse before it came to a complete
stop and rushed straight to his commander.

A few minutes later, Tremay
rushed out of his tent with the same Ackalan following behind. He
knocked on Iseac’s tent, but did not wait for an invitation before
stepping inside.

“Sorry for the intrusion, but I
just got report from one of my scouts; over five hundred Agoras are
heading our way, south of our position, and they are about three
leagues from here.”

“What?” Iseac thought, his
expression giving away what he was thinking. Agoras hadn’t been
seen for over seven generations. These soulless creatures were in
the form of a man. They had white bloodless skin with
thin flesh pressed to their skulls. Their eyes
were dead blue and had teeth jagged like the
Se’monia fish. Agoras were fast and ate anything with blood. They
normally hunted at night.

“At the pace they are coming,
we can’t outrun them, and the Agoras’ vision is better than humans
at night,” Tremay said.

“True,” Iseac replied, “but
your men are no ordinary men, either. Another one of your scouts, I
believe, is here with more news.” Someone tapped his tent.

“Come in,” Tremay said, and the
man saluted with a bow as he stepped in.

“I have news from the field,
Ashra.”

“Speak!” Tremay commanded.

Glancing at Iseac, the man
turned to face his commander. He spoke with a sense of urgency, but
without any sign of astonishment or fear. He explained seeing
people come out of flames that dropped from the sky as if it were a
common occurrence.

While the Ackalans were
talking, Iseac was already spreading his mind again across the
area. Images of people like smoke flowed through his mind’s eye as
he scanned around them. People came from all corners. Three figures
in the group heading from the west seemed to be aware of his
presence; one of them, with his face like dry clay, turned to look
straight at him from within his hood.

The creature’s awareness of his
presence took him by surprise, causing him to retreat. He
immediately spoke, cutting into their conversation as Tremay and
Ackalans turned to look at him.

“They are not just in the south
and west of us, but also in the east. The heavier force is coming
from the west, and they are just as far away as those coming from
the east.”

No one had to say it, as it was
clear that they were been ambushed; somehow, someone knew exactly
where they were, and they were coming for them.

Dismissing his scouts, Tremay
commanded one of them to have the men ready to leave and the others
to get Hildra, his second in command. Hildra showed up a second
later, and Tremay explained what was going on and how they had been
cornered.

A plan was formulated before
they made their way out of Iseac’s tent, and it wasn’t long before
the men were all ready to go.

Iseac could not help noticing
how efficient the Ackalans were in preparing to leave, as if it was
always their plan. If it wasn’t for the horses, no one would have
known they were ever there. Since he had no time to pack properly,
Iseac broke his tent and hurriedly hid it between one of the
boulders. The anticipation of what was to come, even after all his
years of training and practice, still made his heart race, even
though outwardly, he was calm.

Getting on their horses, now
saddled, they rode south in the night sky. Based on Iseac’s
calculations using yosterio, he immediately started counting down
the distance between them and the group heading their way.

A few minutes into their ride,
Iseac gave the signal, and they broke into different groups with
Tremay and Hildra each leading a team of Ackalans as planned.

They broke to the right and
left of Iseac, fading into the night, while Iseac led his group
straight, riding to meet what awaited them.

It wasn’t long before they
heard the sound of stomping feet, and they rode closer to one
another in a tighter formation. Swords and axes were drawn just
before their assailants came into view.

Once the Agoras were in sight,
Iseac saw they were spread across the plain, creating a wall of
people that, from a distance, were the size of an ear of corn. A
small group of horsemen armed with bows and arrows rode behind the
wall of Agoras.

They launched a volley of
arrows at Iseac and the Ackalans while others rushed to meet them
with their weapons drawn.

Stretching his hands in front
of him, the thumb of his fingers almost touching, Iseac recited an
incantation as he spread his hands out:

“The crystal within I call to
seal,

Cast the path upon the
wind,

Hold the air as firm as
seal,

Follow the path my hand will
lead.”

The air above Iseac seemed to
stir as he spread his arms apart. The arrows that rained from the
sky were suddenly deflected by an invisible shield several feet
above them, even as they rode with Iseac at their head.

The Agoras, too, had spotted
them at a distance and charged like bees to a hive with their
weapons raised. At the distance, one could see their beady eyes
drawing close in what looked like a fog of black smoke. Iseac held
his quarterstaff firmly in his hand while loosening the tension in
his body, and for a brief minute, everything was quiet just before
it exploded into chaos.

An Agora rushed up to Iseac on
his right and was struck down by his quarterstaff. The metal ring
at the end of his quarterstaff cracked the creature’s skull on
impact. As it dropped to the ground, another Agora was rushing in
to take its place. Iseac’s quarterstaff was still in motion when he
struck another one to his left. It fell backward, causing the Agora
behind it to stumble. It pushed its dying companion out of the way,
snarling as it charged forward.

The Ackalans swung into action,
moving with grace and speed as they came off their horses. They
moved in and out through dozens of Agoras, sometimes working in
pairs, and Agoras died all around them. These creatures, however,
were determined to overwhelm the Ackalans with their sheer numbers.
Their thirst for blood seemed to mute everything else; for them,
the death of humans was worth the cost.

A few feet in, Iseac jumped off
Durack for a better balance on the uneven field and to be less of
an easy target. He struck another Agora that swung at him as others
rushed forward to fill in its place. Iseac’s quarterstaff was in
constant motion, like a wagon wheel spinning from a horse in full
motion. Its rotation slowed only when it came into contact with an
intended target.

Now all they had to do was hold
on while Tremay and Hildra attacked from their flanks, hopefully
creating enough uproar and confusion to give them the room they
needed. They had a short window to get this right, since the other
groups were closing in from the east and west.

As another Agora dropped to the
ground, Iseac glanced up. At the crest of one of the hills in the
landscape, he caught sight of the silhouette of several horsemen
watching.

They did not appear to be
advancing, and two banner men stood on opposite sides of the
figures.

Just then the sound of the
first horns went off; some of the Agoras turned to face it, as they
had hoped. A few minutes later, the second horn went off on the
opposite side, giving the illusion that there were more Ackalans
than their enemy had anticipated. It created a brief confusion, as
some of the Agoras turned to face the second sound while others
kept their attention on the fight in which they were already
engaged.

At the crest of a hill, a man
dressed in full battle gear sat on his black stallion, watching as
the battle unfolded. He wore a finely crafted black and gold alloy
helmet that was woven at the end into chain mail that extended to
his shoulder. His chest was covered in a metal breastplate. The
breastplate was crafted in brass, polished to a shine. The emblem
of a two-headed serpent twisted around the sun was on his left
breast. His feet were covered by metal shin guards.

**************.

“I see the council still uses
those fools to run their errands,” the man on the stallion said.
“No matter. By the end of this night, we shall have one more piece
to this puzzle.” He could see the Ackalans appear from the right
and left flank of his men.

“While their futile attempt to
escape is entertaining, we have more important matters to deal
with. Rohac and Abojan!”

“Yes, my lord.”

“See to it that the those who
survive tonight swear fealty to our lord and master, and take care
of any that don’t,” the man on the stallion said. “Now release the
ladies of deep.”

“Yes, my lord,” the soldier he
was looking at said before hurrying off.

As instructed, the soldier made
his way to a wagon covered in a black tarp.

He untied the tarp around the
wagon and pulled it off to reveal a cage that held two dark masses.
The figures rose from where they were lying, their scaled forms
expanding like dough underneath the night sky. They stood over five
feet tall and had to hunch forward for their heads not to hit the
roof of the wagon. The two identically scaled creatures looked
almost bat-like in their form. Even in the dark, you could not
mistake their eyes−black lenses that were wider than those of an
owl as they blinked, taking in their surroundings.

Both creatures looked alike in
every way and the only distinguishing feature between them were the
gemstones that rested on their foreheads. One was blood red, and
the other bright yellow. The wagon swayed from right to left as
they made their way to the closed wagon door.

The soldier unlocked the barred
cage on their approach and took several measured steps away from
the door.

Once outside, the creatures
waddled over to the man in command while most of the horses
twitched nervously as they approached.

“Bring me the amulet of the
Anamerian, and then do with him as you will,” said the man on the
stallion. The creatures blinked once without saying a word, turned,
and took to the air, blending into the night.

****************

As steel rang and blood from
the dead and severed limbs stained the field of battle, Tremay
called out to those in his company, speaking out loud enough for
them to hear, “We are running out of time and need to get the
Messenger moving faster before they catch up.”

The Ackalans knew exactly what
he meant; time was running out and the other groups would be
closing in on them soon.

So they picked up their pace,
moving in a triangular formation.

Agoras fell around them.

A strange uneasiness began to
build in Tremay. He was trying to shrug it off, even as they
maintained their pace, when suddenly two things dropped from the
sky, landing several feet from Iseac. The gleaming reflection from
their black scales could only mean one thing: “Ladies of the deep,”
Tremay thought in disbelief. He cried out, “Star formation after
me.” The three Ackalans closest to him did as he commanded, with
two of them moving to the right and left side of him while the
third stood in front of him.