A Choice of Blades: The Blade Remnant, Book One

by D. N. Woodward

  Leon felt the proceedings might have been over within the hour if someone wasn't always interrupting someone else. By the time evening descended, the council had still only managed to create a verbal maze of rabbit trails.

  In fact, just as Leon dozed off a guard kicked him and ordered him up. "Where are we going?"

  "You lot will be held in the dungeons until a Fang delegation arrives to take you back to Hollinger to suffer for your crimes," the little man confessed in a soldier's cadence.

  Leon looked around. "Where's Sved and Haddie?"

  "On house arrest with the rest of the Haberkorn clan for their part in the disruption of profits. Move it already!" He poked Leon in the back with a long, pointy stick.

  Shortly after entering the underground prison, Leon felt Merle's presence. If nothing else, Leon drew comfort from the fact that his animals would be waiting nearby when they were locked away. Everyone was confused and angry, but no real answers were given.

  # # #

  Late that night, Leon was nudged from sleep by Fane. "Wake up, there's a light ahead. Someone's coming."

  Sure enough, a small candle drew closer and closer until a robed figure lifted a hood and a bundle of wavy red hair spilled out behind a sad smile. Haddie deftly worked the keys, releasing the dozen or so cells that held Leon and all of his companions, including the animals.

  "I'm so sorry, everyone. Follow me. Sved and I are going to get you out of here," Haddie whispered.

  Reed stopped her. "Are you sure you want to do this? Aren't you and your family on trial, too?"

  A coy smile split her cheek. "Oh, Reed, you have so much to learn about Otterkin politics. We may be small, but we aren't dense. Despite what Hagglesneed Boarbuttons may want to believe, Madam Hazzel carries more water on the council than he could ever hope to wield, yes? When she warned of conspiracies and an impending invasion, others listened. Over half the guards from the other clans have slipped away already this evening. The castle will be back under Haberkorn control within the week, but Madam Hazzel doesn't want to set you that far back in your mission. You're leaving tonight!"

  "Wait, you got all of that done during that complete meltdown in the courtyard earlier?" Reed sputtered.

  "No, silly. The argument was just for effect. The real negotiations were done behind the scenes, yes? You didn't notice all the notes behind passed back and forth that whole time?" Haddie looked genuinely worried for her boyfriend.

  Kyra thumped Reed. "I think this is where you say thank you and keep moving."

  A little way deeper down into the dungeon Haddie slowed her march. "Oh, here we are!" She led them into a dead-end corner cell at the very back of the dungeon corridor.

  "Thanks," Reed mumbled.

  Haddie winked at him, then fumbled around with the bricks on the back wall of the cell until a gear popped and the wall folded inward, revealing a well-lit corridor leading down a short flight of stairs. Sved was at the bottom of those stairs lighting a sconce.

  Sved hissed up at them all. "Took you long enough. Well, what are you all waiting for, a written invitation?" He mumbled as he turned and moved down and out of sight.

  Leon reached out and gave Kyra's hand a squeeze and the whole group clamored down the stairs and through the secret passageway that Sved had lit before them. The passage was surprisingly large. Even Grumpy and his bulk could fit between the sconces with room to spare.

  Sved led them around several twists and turns, followed by a long straight walk. Leon had no idea where they were going, and he would certainly be lost if he was suddenly abandoned. But the little man stopped when he came to a pool of water at a dead end.

  "Okay, everyone. I've got waterproof bags over here." He motioned over to a pile of sleek-looking bags. "Put anything you don't want wet in there, then climb down into the pool and dive down and forward. You'll feel it open up above once you pass the rock ceiling. From there, you can swim to the surface.

  "The bulk of your packs have already been moved to the small boats resting up top. We are standing beneath Glacier Springs Swamp on the north side of an island a good ways north of the castle. From here, I can take you to the plains of the Northern Pass. I believe that's where you need to go, anyway." He gave Ferschall a nod, and Ferschall returned his nod with a bow.

  Leon looked back at his animals and motioned for Sved to come near, "My friend, there's only one way I feel I can ever repay you."

  Sved's eyes grew large, and a greedy little smile split his beard when Leon laid his hand on the case carrying the gold on the back of the Thunderbird.

  "Ah ha!" Sved exclaimed. "I knew you wouldn't forget about your good buddy Sved!" He rubbed his hands together in glee and said, "Give it over, Leon. I'll take good care of it for you. May even make a little interest off it before you return!"

  Leon reached forward, grabbing the reins instead and dumping them in Sved's hands. "As you wish, good buddy! I hereby leave this mighty stinky Thunderbird in your care and deed her to you for the rest of her life!"

  Sved went pale. "What? You can't do that to me! What about the gold?"

  "Oh yeah. Well, I'm leaving that in Haddie's care. But I think you're definitely getting the better end of the deal, don't you?"

  Leon was still laughing when he packed Westley into an airtight bag and gave his other animals instructions on how to follow him down and up to the surface. All but the Thunderbird, at least.

  Chapter 30

  The next morning, when Sved dropped Leon and his companions off on the dry land of the north most tip of the Otterkin kingdom, all they could see before them were wide-open, straw-colored rolling hills. Way off to the northwest, hazy mountains rose, just peeking up over swaying grass. Closer still, immediately to the west of them, towering white-capped peaks dominated the skyline.

  “I believe that tall crest just to the right there is where we are heading.” Ferschall pointed to one of the small blips on the horizon, way off in the distance. Then he shouldered his pack, including a condensed repackaging of his odd collection of pottery, and trudged forward.

  Leon took one last look back at Sved. “I hope to see you again, my friend.”

  “Yeah, well, I still owe you for the gift you deeded me, so you had better show up sooner than later and reclaim her or I’m apt to take up cooking, yes? When I do, my first order of business is sure to be a culinary deep dive on how to roast a pair of giant drumsticks!” His feigned anger faded. “Take care of yourself and those with you, my friend!”

  Leon reached out and gripped the little man by the wrist. “I will, but drumsticks aside, you steer clear of any giants who come sniffing around. I know Haddie really wanted to come but tell her I'll do my best to send Reed back in one piece.”

  “You'd better or she'll be leaving you and me both in pieces. And don’t you worry about us, we’ll know how to deal with overgrown meatheads around these parts. Been doing it for years!” With that said, Sved turned and pushed off from shore. Leon watched his little friend scurry back to the front of his boat where he gave out a terse series of orders to the men manning the oars.

  He turned as well. With Kyra and his companions at his side and all their animals close at hand, he marched out onto the field, once more following the lead of Ferschall.

  The hills were endless. Up one and down another. On and on they marched. They weren’t necessarily moving with speed, but it was a steady, hurried pace. They kept at it until early afternoon when everyone agreed to stop and take a rest.

  Leon was just sitting down next to Kyra when a boom like thunder split the air from somewhere far to the west. Everyone instinctively dove to the ground, driving themselves into the side of the hill where they rested.

  That sounded like someone just set off a bomb!

  After several long moments spent waiting for something else to happen, Ferschall climbed to his feet and scrambled up for a better view. He called the others up after him.

  “I suspect the armies from beyond the western range have just b
roken through the Northern High Pass that separates Fayden from the rest of the world. If the sealed wall of the ancients is gone, we must hurry!”

  Leon asked the only sensible question that came to mind, “How far is the wall from where we are standing?”

  Though from the proximity and strength of the blast, they must have been close, Leon hadn’t seen a hint of the infamous wall at any point during their travels so far that day.

  Ferschall shrugged. “A half day west, maybe more, maybe less. Let’s go.”

  Once again, the whole group took off. Their pace grew a bit more urgent. Then, before they had even cleared the next hill, Shay asked them all to stop. “Do you feel that?”

  The others blinked until Rezz nodded back at her. “I feel it, too!”

  A few seconds later, and everyone felt it, as well as heard it. The sound quickly intensified. The earth itself shook, and an intensifying sound of pounding feet came heading their direction.

  “Impossible!” was all Ferschall managed to choke out.

  There was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide, so they all once more ran to the top of the nearest hill and looked west, prepared to face the new threat now bearing down upon them.

  Leon immediately noticed the heavy cloud of dust expanding outward as it approached. Eventually, those responsible for the dark cloud burst through the haze and into his field of vision over the top of a plateau, less than a quarter-mile away.

  The earth-rattling pounding of feet wasn’t from some supernaturally fast mob of marauding giants. Instead, the thundering emanated from the hoofed vibration of thousands of head of massive stampeding bovines!

  Just like every other creature Leon had encountered in Fayden, these cattle stood at least a full head taller at the withers than any of the men in his party. Like American bison, they all carried the majority of their bulk in their shoulders. The largest specimens in the herd were covered in thick red fur with a pure black strip down the back, while the smaller cows amongst them were colored a solid chestnut brown.

  All of them sported deadly sharp forward-facing horns, curved up like Spanish Fighting bulls. The herd gradually turned north, easing away from their position while still thundering up and down the grassy hills.

  Ferschall did not appear to share Leon’s relief. “That Aurochs herd must have been startled when the wall fell. I hadn’t heard the fall herds were grazing this far west this year.”

  “Is that a problem?” Leon didn’t see why Ferschall appeared so down about some stampeding cattle. Granted, they were huge and scary looking, but it looked like they were going to miss him and his friends by a mile.

  “This could set us back to the point where I don’t know if we can continue. By the time we make our way around the herd, giants could be swarming these hills!”

  Leon still didn’t see the problem. “Lighten up, Ferschall. Those cattle will be seven counties away before we make it to the next hill!”

  “Leon, you sometimes use words that make no sense, but you’re wrong about the ‘cattle’ being gone any time soon.” He pointed further west. Leon could see the same dust plume growing way off in the distance. It continued far longer than a mile or two in length.

  “Just how big a herd are we talking about here?”

  “I once knew of an Aurochs hunter who was separated from his companions on a long hunt. He found a small herd bedded down in a cold winter storm, between himself and his home. It took him three days and two fingers lost to the cold to skirt around the main body of the herd. These hilly plains extend to the north and east further than the area of all six kingdoms of Fayden combined. They are a no man’s land, and the size of the herds that wander here can be enormous. They have to be. The creatures that hunt them are dangerous as well.”

  Leon shrugged. “Fine, then we go through them?”

  Ferschall and all the rest of the Fayden natives simply laughed. Shay decided to answer, “Those horns aren’t for decoration, Leon. Even the smallest of the bulls amongst them would trample half our party to pieces and put up a good fight against that bear!” Even Kyra couldn’t stifle a laugh at his expense.

  Leon curled his upper lip and stood a little taller. “This may not make sense to any of you, but I’m a Texan, and not just any Texan, I cut my teeth on rough stock, both on the ranch and in the circuit. I may have been a calf roper on most days, but that doesn’t mean I never cinched up on a two-thousand-pound freight train of nasty for a full eight seconds! If it’s got horns on it, I can rope it, and if it’s got hide on it, I can ride it! I’ve seen plenty in this world that has given me reason to pause, but cattle are what I know, and I'm not about to start backing down to no high-headed arm jerkers!”

  When Leon finished defending his Texan heritage, he could feel his chest poking out just a little bit further than normal. Unfortunately, his impassioned speech didn’t have the effect he had been shooting for. Kyra gave him the eyebrow and Reed just rolled his eyes before turning back to watch the endless herd of cattle now slowing to a walk as it continued its eastern trek. The rest of them gave him looks like he might be just a bit unhinged as they attempted to make sense of all the mixed English phrasing he had included in his impassioned defense.

  Kyra eventually relented and gave his arm a sympathetic pat. She was the only one apart from Reed who had any idea what he meant when he talked about roping and riding, as he had educated her on such things during their time together. “Why don’t you just show us what you can do, love?”

  # # #

  Leon practiced throwing a loop over Merle several times to get a feel for the braided rope he had bought from Slim. Wysman Slim had claimed it had been made of the impenetrable hide of some Rock Goat from the eastern coasts. Leon had been skeptical at best when said goat's hide was presented to him in the sliced-up form of a rope, but it did feel sturdy, and it definitely resembled the same thickness of one of his old reata ropes from home. It wasn’t the stiff synthetic type of roping lariat Leon was used to using, but it was a tight rope that folded well and held a loop. It would have to do either way.

  Thirty minutes later, and he mounted Grumpy with sixty feet of rope tied off to a hole punched through the top of the bear’s saddle. A Honda Knot for a lasso finished out the other end of the rope. He sent a message to Grumpy through his Blade and they eased their way forward toward the now calm but apprehensive herd of cattle.

  Gradually closing in on the grazing beef, Leon could see that a good number of them stood taller than Grumpy, and though the bear likely had most of them beat in sheer bulk, it was a close call on some of the larger bulls. One bull in particular took immediate exception to their presence. Walking out in front of the herd to meet them, he pawed at the ground and slung snot bubbles in every direction, challenging them with a not-so-subtle warning to turn back.

  Leon eased Grumpy forward at an angle, aiming just to the left of where the bull stood. When they had just about closed the distance, the bull bellowed and made a bluff charge. It was what he had been hoping for. He spun the rope around and tossed a wide loop. It swallowed the head and luckily fell just right over both horns. It wasn’t his cleanest catch, but he flicked the slack away and prayed it would do for what he had planned.

  As expected, the bull put up quite a fight against the rope when it tightened around his neck. Leon sent Grumpy the opposite direction, but at an angle to keep from getting his leg pinched when the slack tightened.

  He slowly fought the bull as it left the comfort of the herd. By some miracle, the rope and the saddle held. Nearby cows bellowed in alarm but mostly just watched the foreign struggle playing out before them.

  Eventually, when Leon and his entourage were far enough from the herd, he attempted to send a message through his Blade to calm the bull. Only, it didn’t quite work like he expected. The bull just continued to fight against the rope as he had all along, completely ignoring Leon’s request.

  Leon gave Grumpy directives to keep the tension tight and hopped off the bear’s back. H
e approached the bull, talking to it softly, using his Blade, still attempting to calm the beast and win its trust. Only, instead of growing more docile at his approach, it grew more aggressive.

  Leon suddenly became a target. The bull gave up on fighting the taught line and charged right for him. It moved fast. Too fast for Leon to consider a way out of the predicament. Then someone pushed him aside, causing him to tumble down just before the bull could trample him.

  When Leon got up and dusted off his hat, his jaw about hit the ground! Standing there, talking calmly, and patting the nose of the biggest bull Leon had ever seen, was Dimples. He looked back and shrugged at Leon, “I am sorry to ruin your ro-de-o, Leon, but you looked like you needed help.”

  Son of a biscuit!

  It took them all a bit of head-scratching to finally realize that Dimples had finally discovered one of his gifts. It also became blatantly obvious that Leon had grossly overestimated one of his own. Kyra was the one who sorted things out in the end. "Dimples must be gifted at developing an immediate bond with plant-eaters, while Leon is gifted at doing the same for predators!"

  Once Leon came to terms with the fact that he would never be the horse whisperer he had always dreamed of becoming, he modified his plan, and he and Dimples went to work. In less than two hours, using Leon’s roping skills to separate the surlier individuals from the herd and Dimple’s gift to subdue and calm them, they managed to domesticate fifteen large bulls. Then Dimples used his gift to make certain each bull would be a willing mount for one of their companions. Shay's guard had been significantly decimated, but several of the guards remained.

  Leon stood by, amazed at how deftly Dimples took to exercising his gift until Ferschall quietly took him aside to explain. “I think Dimples always knew he had a gift for animals, yes? Even you, Leon, are likely going to be better on some level at working with those bulls than any of the rest of us. I’ve watched Dimples attempting to exercise that gift on all of your pets for days. It didn’t mean he wasn’t honing his skill at using his gift, just that he wasn’t applying it appropriately. Now though? Now we see what he was truly meant to accomplish!”