He came to a stop in his tracks as the tower came into view. There were people outside of it, and Kerys was not among them. Ari slowly drew his sword from its scabbard as he closed the last stretch toward them.
There were seven of them, and they were all dressed similarly. The one at the head of the group was a woman a little older than he was, perhaps in her mid-twenties. She had long black hair, moderately tanned skin, and deep violet eyes.
She wore a red and black leather tunic with flared shoulders, along with tight black leggings and brown knee-high boots with winding laces. A black cape studded with feathers hung from her shoulders, swaying slightly in the wind.
The woman was extremely attractive, with even more of a “wife body” than Kerys. She had large breasts and curvaceous hips along with a slender waist. Her face was sharp and elegant, with long cheekbones and a nose that curved slightly downward.
As easy as her body was on the eyes, what drew Ari’s attention was the spear in her hands and the bows he could see several of her allies carrying. They still hadn’t noticed him yet, and their attention was completely focused on the tower. The woman was apparently trying to talk with Kerys, though the words she spoke were in a language he didn’t understand.
“This is not a winnable fight for you,” said Eva. “I would recommend retreating before they see you. The tower should keep Lady Kerys safe as long as she’s inside.”
Ari scowled. Her logic made sense, but there was still the risk that the intruders might somehow manage to make it inside, and he wasn’t willing to take it. He let his fingers dance across the hilt of Azurelight and started forward with the sword angled to one side.
CHAPTER 23
“Who are you?” asked Ari. “And what business do you have with my tower?”
The woman turned to face him, as did the rest of her group. Ari had considered attempting a surprise attack to give himself an early advantage before dismissing the idea. It was possible that a fight might still be avoided, and that chance outweighed the slight benefit he’d achieve by sneaking up on them.
“Ah,” said the woman. “So you speak the slave tongue? Explains why the girl wasn’t responding to us.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” said Ari.
The woman smiled at him. It was a cat’s smile, full of mischief and playful violence.
“You may call me Rin,” said the woman. “What name shall I address you by?”
“Lord Aristial Stoneblood,” said Ari.
Rin stared at him for half a second before bursting into laughter, soon joined by the rest of her group. She had to hold a hand to her mouth to finally stop herself, and she pulled her feathery cloak about her as she stared at him and shook her head.
“The word ‘lord’ means vereshi in my people’s language,” said Rin. “The idea of you as vereshi is truly funny, chala.”
“And what does ‘chala’ mean?” asked Ari.
Rin’s smile widened. “Chala means… a not very smart person.”
“Suck on dirt,” said Ari.
“It isn’t so offensive of a word, chala,” said Rin. “Don’t misinterpret my meaning. I use it because it fits. You say this is your tower? This is no one’s tower. You say that you are vereshi? You stand here alone, in dirty clothing, against me and my cadre.”
“This is my tower,” said Ari. “If you don’t have polite business here, you should be moving on.”
Rin and her followers shifted position, moving to encircle him. There wasn’t anything Ari could do about it, so he kept his grip on Azurelight and did his best to stare her down. She moved closer toward him, taking steps until the tip of his sword was almost perfectly positioned between the cleavage that the open slit of her leather tunic so perfectly showcased.
“My business is simple,” said Rin. “I came to introduce myself, and allow you to pay your… hmm, what is the word? Price? Tithe? The tribute a lesser one pays to a greater one.”
“You came here to rob us, in other words,” said Ari.
“You aren’t being robbed, Aristial Stoneblood,” said Rin. “In exchange for your tribute, you’ll be left in peace.”
“What do I get out of this deal?” asked Ari. “Are you offering protection? Would this tribute mean that you’d lend us aid against the monsters?”
Rin let out a small laugh and shook her head.
“If it were that simple, there’d be many more of your kind established here on the surface, no?” She shrugged her shoulders. “The tribute is a small thing. A token of goodwill. You give us some food, or some other valuable resource, and gain a new friend.”
“That’s not how making friends works, where I’m from,” said Ari. “I refuse.”
“It might be best to just concede to their demands,” said Eva. “This fight will not go in your favor, given the odds.”
He was aware of that, but he also knew that bending to Rin’s demands would only lead to more extortion in the future. It had been the same with Harris’ gang back in the Hollow. There was no such thing as appeasing a bully.
“You are brave,” said Rin. “But you are also stupid.”
“A few people have mentioned that to me,” said Ari. “You seem like a reasonable enough person. How about this? I’ll fight whichever of you is the strongest, and if I win, you leave without causing trouble.”
Rin and the rest of her group broke out into an even more raucous round of laughter. It went on for long enough to make Ari’s face burn with embarrassment before finally coming to an end.
“I like you, chala,” said Rin. “Very well. You’ll fight the strongest among us, and we shall see if you can back up your words.”
All of the others in her group took a step back, and Rin lifted her spear into her hands. The tip was polished steel, and the sunlight gleamed off it in a way that emphasized its inherent danger. Ari tightened his grip around his sword, crouching slightly and preparing for her first attack.
She spread her feathered cloak out to the side, and then… flapped it, rising a foot or two into the air. Ari tried not to let his bafflement show on his face as he realized that none of them were wearing cloaks, at all. They had wings, which just happened to hang in a similar fashion to a cape or a cloak when not actively in use.
A single black feather came loose from one of Rin’s wings as she continued to flap them, hovering just high enough in the air to make attacking her impractical. The spear in her hands made more sense to him now. She could stab downward, or even throw it from above, and there’d be nothing that he could do about it.
That wasn’t to say that he was completely without advantages. If he could force Rin to stand and fight, Azurelight could easily cleave through the shaft of her spear. He circled around where she hovered, wondering what the best way to make her drop down would be.
“You’ve already lost,” said Rin. “Don’t make me spill your blood.”
She darted forward, letting her feet hit the ground and twisting to use her wings for an extra burst of speed. Ari started to perform a sweeping block with his sword before realizing that she was coming at him way too fast. He had to throw himself into a rolling dive onto the ground at the last second.
Rin landed next to him and lazily flipped her spear around to point the tip in his face. Ari swiped it away with his sword before she could thrust downward, but strongly suspected that she’d allowed him the liberty.
He scrambled to his feet and slashed at Rin’s neck. She ducked under the attack, and then hopped out of range of the reverse cut he followed up with. She jabbed the spear a couple of times at his chest with one hand, forcing Ari to take a step back.
Rin flashed a smile as she kicked a small dirt clod into the air and then flapped her wings, spraying dust and bits of grass into his face. Ari swore under his breath and swung his sword blind in her general direction.
“Behind you,” whispered Rin. She’d drawn near enough to him for her breasts to press against his shoulder blades, and her companions broke out into laughte
r as he whirled and tried to counterattack.
Rin simply flapped her wings and rose into the air again, flying higher this time and then coming to hover just out of reach of his sword. Or was she? Ari blinked and rolled out one of his shoulders.
“Can you sense what I’m about to do next through the bond?” he whispered under his breath.
“No,” said Eva. “But I do not need to for this. It seems like the obvious move.”
Ari grinned, He took a few steps back, trying to entice Rin into coming down to the ground again by lowering the point of her sword. She landed in front of him, gesturing with her spear.
“Are you ready to give up, chala?” she asked.
“Not a chance.”
Ari charged, swinging his sword in a slow, obvious strike. Rin shot up into the air to dodge, laughing at him, and he let out the most furious fake snarl he could muster and hurled Azurelight into the air after her. She dodged it easily, the blade sailing past her harmlessly.
“You reek of desperation,” said Rin. “Surrender, pay your tithe, and you can still—”
Eva slammed into her from above, catching the flying woman completely off guard. Rin dropped her spear as she fell. Ari picked it up and tossed it out of her reach. Eva shifted back into the sword as he came near, which he caught by the hilt and immediately pointed at Rin’s exposed neck.
“It’s your turn to surrender,” he said.
Rin glared at him and tried to launch herself back up into the air. Ari slashed, cutting a chunk of feathers out of her right wing. It was enough to throw her off balance, and she tumbled slightly before falling back to the ground on unsteady legs.
The rest of her companions had moved to intervene. Ari stared down an arrow notched into a bow pointed at his head. He was expecting the situation to devolve into total chaos when the sky darkened by a significant amount. A glance upward showed him that a dark, meandering cloud that hadn’t been there before was now blocking out the sun.
“Enough,” said Rin. “We’ll have to finish this another time, chala. The weather does not bode well.”
She locked eyes with him, flashing that curious cat smile again. Despite himself, Ari couldn’t help but smile back.
“Another time, then,” he said.
Rin gestured to her cadre, and they immediately took to the air. She struggled more than her companions to stay aloft, and the wing on which Ari had scored a hit left a trail of loosened feathers in her wake.
Ari held the sword out to his side, and light flashed as it transformed. Eva frowned as she observed Rin and the others leaving, shaking her head slightly as they faded from view.
“Ravarians,” she said.
“What?” asked Ari.
“That’s what her people are called,” said Eva. “The Ravarians were another race of slaves, much like you people, the Hume.”
“Interesting…” said Ari. “I guess that explains why she was able to speak the ‘slave tongue’ so well.”
“Yes,” said Eva. “The official term for the language of servants in the time of the Saidican Empire was Subvios, I believe.”
“Ari?” Kerys called down to him from the tower’s roof top, her voice echoing on the air. “Is it safe to unlock the door?”
“It’s safe,” he said. “And it would be best if we all hurried inside.”
CHAPTER 24
Ari had barely stepped through the door when Kerys pulled him into one of the tightest hugs he’d ever experienced. He hugged her back, feeling his heart race and only then realizing how worried about her he’d been.
“Idiot,” he muttered. “I told you that it would be dangerous for you to stay here.”
“Sorry…” said Kerys. “I really am. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did this morning.”
She pulled back slightly, but didn’t leave his embrace. Ari stared into her eyes and felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her. Eva stepped into the tower behind him before he could, and the moment slipped from his grasp.
“It’s okay,” said Ari. “I’m just glad that you’re okay. What happened?”
Kerys shrugged slightly, still looking more relieved than anything else.
“I was foraging for food down by the river when those bird people, or whatever they are, landed nearby,” she said. “They didn’t see me right away, so I grabbed what I’d gathered and sneaked back to the tower. I think when I closed the door and slid a piece of wood into the lock, they must have heard it, because they showed up right after.”
“They didn’t hurt you or anything?” he asked.
“No,” said Kerys. “The one who you fought against kept trying to communicate with me, though it was in a language I didn’t understand. I just stayed upstairs and hid from them.”
“That was probably for the best,” said Ari.
He pulled his pack off and set it down, closing the door behind them. It hadn’t started raining yet, but the threat was still there in the form of the clouds overhead.
“We found some stuff in the ruins,” said Ari. “Nothing that exciting, but I think I scored an enchanted cloak, along with a few scrolls.”
“Drakeskin,” said Eva, as she pulled the cloak out of the pack. “I’d been wondering how the cloak had managed to stay in such good condition after being abandoned for so long. It is made of drakeskin leather.”
“Is that good?” asked Ari.
“Extremely,” said Eva. “Drakeskin has one of the highest capacities for enchanting out of all pliable clothing materials. You’ll be able to find a use for it even if its current enchantment turns out to be a minor one.”
“Cool,” said Ari. “What about the scrolls?”
“They will be more difficult to find a use for, given the difficulty of identifying their enchantments,” said Eva. “Each one represents only a single use of a spell, so while you could attempt to cast them, it would be a gamble and a potential waste.”
“Could I even cast from one of these scrolls?” asked Ari. “You said that humans don’t have the power to use magic, didn’t you?”
“The essence is already within the scrolls, along with the enchanting pattern that focuses the magic into a usable form,” said Eva. “It would be no more difficult for you to use than it is for you to activate a ward.”
Kerys stood apart from the two of them, listening to the conversation, but pouting slightly. Ari walked over to her and set a hand on her shoulder.
“How did your day go?” he asked. “Did anything else happen while we were gone?”
She flashed a bright smile at him.
“I was productive, though in a slightly less exciting way,” she said, folding her arms. “I collected more of the berries, and I found some small crabs on the beach, along with river lettuce.”
“Is it edible?” asked Ari.
“Yup,” said Kerys. “I tested it already. And to top it off, I found this.”
She disappeared into the tower’s kitchen nook and reappeared with an old black cooking kettle.
“I scrubbed it as clean as I could down by the river,” said Kerys. “We’ll be able to make soup now!”
“Nice!” said Ari. “Good job.”
Ari looked out the window again. He breathed a sigh of relief as he caught sight of the sky. The clouds had continued past the sun and didn’t appear interested in coming down as rain for the moment.
“Lord Stoneblood,” said Eva. “We should take the scrolls to the enchanting altar without further delay. The essence within the scrolls should be enough for us to activate at least one or two of the tower’s defensive wards.”
“Right,” said Ari. “Good thinking.”
He headed upstairs with Eva and Kerys following behind him. The enchanting altar was just as he’d left it, though he noticed that Kerys had pulled a few of the old books down off the library shelves.
He carried the scrolls over and took a look at the ancient device. It was made of black stone, a different kind than what had been used in the construction of the tower. The top of
the enchanting altar’s table was a single ward in itself, with a complicated pattern that had been carefully carved and filled with strange, glittering gemdust.
There were wards along the altar’s side, too. Four of them, much smaller than the one on the top of the table, but each was clearly designed for a specific use. Eva examined the enchanting altar as she stood next to Ari, her lips moving in silent concentration.
“My recollection of wards is extremely hazy,” said Eva. “My former master, Lord Mythril, was a prolific enchanter, so I know the basics of how the altar works.”
“Just tell me what you can,” said Ari.
“One of the wards… I think maybe this one?” She pointed to a ward on the left side. “This will pull essence directly from the item you set on top of the table and store it within the enchanting table for later use.”
“What do the other wards do?” he asked. “Can you remember?”
“The one directly behind that one on the left will allow you to store your own essence within the altar or pull essence out of the altar and into your body,” said Eva. “That is what you’ll want to do once you’ve used the altar to drain an item, so you can then transfer the essence into the defensive wards.”
“That makes sense,” said Ari.
“On the right side, one of the wards will store the pattern of a mage’s mystica or the enchantment of the item currently on the table,” said Eva. “The other will transfer the currently stored enchantment to an item. The strength of that enchantment varies depending on the amount of essence currently stored within the table and the force of will you activate the ward with.”
“But you don’t know which one is which?” asked Ari.
“I do not, milord.” Eva glanced away from him, looking more affected by the question than he’d expected. “I apologize.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “There’s lots of stuff I can’t remember. Do you know how many times I’ve forgotten Kerys’ birthday before?”
Sword Sirens Page 15