Empire's Edge (Path of Light Book 2)

by N. A. Oberheide

  So they went, up into the woods and onto a suspiciously well-maintained track only wide enough for one horse. This path abruptly ended after a half mile, but Rahlo hardly broke pace as he followed a line through a gap in the trees. They came to a rocky hill, covered in moss, vines, boulders and shrubs. Rahlo halted at one particular boulder then dismounted.

  “This…this didn’t use to be here.” He seemed to ponder out loud, staring at the wagon sized rock as if he was deciphering a puzzle.

  Suddenly, a hazy shimmer engulfed the boulder from the ground up. It disappeared in a matter of seconds, revealing a ragged cave entrance.

  “You’re right! It didn’t use to be there!” A voice shouted from deep within.

  Rahlo laughed, realizing he was had and Naurus followed in his ever-present confusion. Inside, the cave was well lit by a fire burning in the round chamber. Sitting by it were two elves, their large ovoid ears giving it away at a distance, easily seen with their tightly braided hair. They stood up to greet the guests.

  “So what the hell was that all about?” Rahlo hiked his thumb back at the entrance.

  “Oh, just a little trick we had to borrow from our druids!” One of the elves, his large, expressive gray eyes combing over them. “Just an illusion, but a damn good one huh?”

  “Sure got me! So, is everything here?”

  “Yes…yes, it is. This is the operative I’m assuming?” The other elf said in their characteristic haughty smoothness, pointing a long finger at Naurus.

  “Indeed, it is!” Rahlo replied with some excitement.

  “Not quite what I was expecting…but it shall have to do.”

  Naurus burned to ask what he was expecting but decided prying into the situation was probably not going to help him much at all. The elves walked over to a large, square chest and motioned them over. Once they were there, the lid was swung open. Inside was several bundles of dynamite, the sticks tightly bound in wire and fuses braided together with tight twists.

  “Wow wasn’t expectin’ this sort of firepower!”

  “Neither were we, but our informant led us to a mine that was soon to be blasted out, and so we made off with as much as we could grab!”

  “I’d say so. What’s the schedule?”

  “We don’t know, but at least we can go get set up.”

  So they did, most importantly by making the foreign guest do the heavy lifting to get the chest out of the cave. Along the way, he secretly hoped that he would trip and fall, tripping the explosives and vaporizing all of them before bringing the cave and half the hill down with it. He forgot this wasn’t a chest full of nitroglycerin for just a few seconds, but he out was out of the cave before he had a chance to trip. For some reason the gang decided not to make their indentured servant carry the chest any further. Instead, they broke out large burlap sacks and filled them all with explosives. The sacks were brimming full, then slung over their backs as the elves led the way.

  Once they neared the edge of the tree line, they stopped suddenly, and the elves put down their sacks. They then poked around the leaves and dirt with their feet, Naurus looking on in great confusion as they seemed to be achieving absolutely nothing. Soon he was proven wrong, they grabbed what look like some dirt, but it turned out to be a camouflaged tarp and flung it up from the ground. Underneath were several neatly buried shovels, wrapped in canvas as if a surprise present at Yule. This wasn’t such a joyous occasion though, and soon it became abundantly clear that the idea of a good time around here involved burying explosives under railroad tracks.

  All four of them toiled into the dying light, carving out a sizeable bowl out of the earth under the tracks. The last vestiges of the sun’s orange glow cast itself on a bull elk standing on the edge of a copse, eyeing the shoveling with a suspicious eye, then turning back and disappearing from whence it came. Soon, the digging was complete as indicated by the now totally cleared space under the tracks that were now suspended in air. The explosive bundles were all carefully laid out, with their long fuses unwound and carefully braided together to link all of them in one thick cordage. This braid of fuses was carefully laid out above and outside the digging pit, which was then filled back in with the loose dirt. It was dark now, but it mattered little. Naurus was painfully aware that this plan was certainly going to cause no small amount of damage, yet he didn’t know for what purpose this was.

  “Alright guys,” Rahlo wiped the sweat from his brow, “back to the cave we go! Could use me a nice strong drink now.”

  The congratulatory tone of the announcement elicited a laugh from the elves, but the humor of the situation was lost on the Astranian, far from home and stranded in a land that seemed to follow no rules or laws. Back at the cave, a wine skin was passed around until empty, then promptly replaced with yet another one. Dinner wasn’t to be had, only stale wine and vapid conversation between the three conspirators who had all but forgotten of the existence of their guest. He was all too happy to go lay out his bedroll in the corner and drift off in a drunken haze.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  He sighed so loud every corner of the earth could have heard it. Here we go again…no this it’s different. I’m in charge. The thoughts fleeted through his mind as he stared down the sheer drop to the rocky beach below.

  “Don’t care to see me again?”

  “As if I had a choice.” Came his terse reply.

  The figure had to be there. Of course it was. There was no reason it wouldn’t be. Who else would haunt his dreams and stalk him in the ether of the dreamscape.

  “You know this won’t stop until I find you.”

  “I can’t wait.” Came his even more acidic reply.

  “I know you don’t trust me. You’ve always been stubborn like an ox.”

  He continued to look out upon the ever changing, all heaving breath of the sea. The white crests and shimmering ripples of the wind were pleasant. The wind would have felt pleasant, but no feeling was to be had. He was numb. Numb and angry. Angry and confused. Confused and reticent.

  “I’m still here.”

  “Of course you are.”

  “I will find you.”

  “Of course you will.”

  “I know you don’t like where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re seeing, but I promise you I will save you.”

  “Save me from what?”

  “From your captors.”

  He bristled, suddenly feeling hot and flushed. The figure knew more about him than he thought. He still couldn’t decipher the raspy, scratchy voice. He crossed his arms. He could feel his arms. He looked down, seeing himself in his battle dress uniform. He hadn’t worn that for months. He hadn’t ever seen himself in this dream either. He hadn’t ever thought to look down.

  “You clean up nicely, have I ever told you that?”

  “What are you, my mom? Fuck off!”

  “You kiss your mother with those lips?”

  “I sure do! Come over here and do something about it!”

  He could hear the figure cackling, it threw its head back and clutched its abdomen. The hood defied the laws of physics, clinging as if it was nailed on.

  “You always knew how to make me laugh.”

  “Can’t tell you how little that means to me…”

  His hands went exploring, finding his baldric devoid of the usual hilt he would expect to find there. Instead, he found the handle of a revolver. He cursed silently, realizing it was on his weak side. But it would have to do. His fingers tightened around the grip. He itched his thumb against the checked hammer. It felt nice, almost as nice as the feeling of redemption. He yanked it out its holster, cocked the hammer, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. The report, the smoke, the figure at the end of his sight post. The only result was sudden and crushing blackness.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “What in the hell are they doin’?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like the looks of it. What would four elves be doing here anyway?”

  It was a question that h
ad no answer yet asking aloud helped clear the annoying thought from his head. He put down the spyglass and sat up from the log he was leaning up against. A shaft of light coming in through the treefall gap felt nice and warm but didn’t ease the feeling of something foul being afoot.

  “Well…what now?” Gully asked, scratching himself.

  “Now we wait to see what all this is about.”

  “But your son ain’t here I thought?”

  “I don’t know that yet. Even if he’s not, I’d rather not catch the attention of whoever these elves are. Sneaky bastards they are, damn near invisible amongst the trees. Yet here they are out in the open, poking about whatever the hell that is.”

  “Yeah…looks like a track for miner’s carts…but huge!”

  “I’m glad your eyes still work.”

  “Piss off!”

  The four elves paced about casually, sporting no armaments and all adorned in neutral clothing, covering their hair with bandanas that didn’t conceal the rounded points of their ears. They were fiddling with something in the ground and seemingly waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes, one of them appeared to point towards something off in the distance. Trevin couldn’t make out anything down that way and didn’t want to leave the forest to try to find out. He didn’t have to wait long though. Three of the elves scampered back into the tree line behind them and one laid down, throwing a net sewn together with leaves, brush, and twigs over himself. Classic…some things never change. Now what are you up to you treacherous little bastards. Trevin thought, flashing back to an ambush that he narrowly escaped, almost falling victim to the same tactic he was seeing yet again just now.

  This time, however, he was no longer on seek and destroy missions trying to root out insurgents. This time, much had changed. This time, he was a free man. A man who heard a low rumble that slowly, steadily picked up in volume and tempo. The curiosity started to get the better of him. He motioned to Gully and slowly started creeping towards the edge of the tree line. By the time they got there, the rumble was more of a roar and something could be seen hurtling down the tracks towards them. Thick clouds of white smoke billowed out from the top of a smokestack on top of a cylindrical steel machine. This steel beast came closer with a constant huffing and chuffing overlaying the rumble and clatter of the iron track underneath being beaten by the massive weight.

  Now it was within bowshot. Trevin and Gully melted back into the trees, unsure of what this thing was or what its goal was. Neither of them was ready for what happened next. The first sign something was wrong was the elf hiding under the camouflage net bolted up and ran back into the trees out of the blue. Several seconds passed before the steel beast passed by where the elf was hiding. The two foreigners admired the mechanical steam engine and its massive smokestack roaring by. They hardly could enjoy the moment, before the earth beneath it heaved up with a massive explosion, bucking the beast and its towed cars upwards, arching like the back of a startled alley cat. The former sapper knew exactly what was coming, seeing the split-second expansion of the bubble of air forced out by the shock wave. He grabbed Gully and pushed him down just before the roaring wind slammed into the forest around them, bringing with it a torrent of earth, rocks, sticks, branches, and twisted metal.

  An incredible silence fell over the land. Trevin hadn’t realized how much of the fauna he was hearing before which was now silent. The two leapt to their feet and brushed themselves off. They went back to look upon the once magnificent machine, now derailed in a mangled mess of steel and wood, partially submerged in a smoking crater where the explosion had torn the earth asunder. They could see the four elves run out of the woods on the far side of the tracks and all of them were visibly armed now. Two of them had rifles, which struck Trevin as terribly odd given the elven penchant for only using ‘weapons born of the Mother Terra’s womb’ as they called it. The cylindrical steel steam engine that led the procession of tracked cars hadn’t flipped over, but was resting askew, nearly perpendicular to the tracks and belching steam from the now twisted steel body.

  From the flipped and rolled car behind it, some heads and arms started poking out from the now broken windows. The four elves each clambered onto the car, yelling something at the passengers that were beginning to crawl out.

  “What the fuck is goin’ on…” Gully drawled out, reading Trevin’s thoughts to the letter.

  He pulled the spyglass out and saw someone clamber out the back of the car. He saw an impressive beard, even more impressive table muscle, and a scowl like a bulldog. Dwarves. The whole car was full of dwarves who slowly started clambering out, one by one. Some bloodied and rather disheveled, yelling back at the elves who were on top of the car. Three of the elves jumped from that car to the box cars behind it, flinging the door open and digging around inside at whatever cargo hadn’t already spilled out the splintered wooden car. The one elf on top of the passenger car looked very uneasy, glancing around nervously and fidgeting with the bandana on his head.

  The sun reflected off the brass receiver of the long, lever action rifle in his hands. Trevin knew he was outgunned but planned on doing nothing anyway. That was, until the nervous elf seemed to look directly at him. Trevin dropped the spyglass, feeling like he was hallucinating. He picked it back up and looked again. The elf was now looking at the crumpled hull of the steam engine, which was whistling violently and venting steam at incredible speed, rivets popping off like bullets. The belly of the beast tore open in thunderous explosion of steam and shrapnel. The last thing Trevin saw was the elf get blown off the top of the car in the ensuing shockwave, his bandana fluttering like a butterfly in the violent breeze.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  He wasn’t comforted at all by the fact he simply couldn’t focus his eyes. Nor by the fact he could hardly hear anything but a terrible, dull ringing in his ears. He gasped for air, tasting blood and iron. His body felt as if it was cast in lead. Every movement was a struggle, yet he finally managed to roll over. Something grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up into a sitting position. The person stepped in front of him, but he could hardly focus his eyes. Everything was blurry, the man’s mouth was moving yet nothing but a monotonous, warbling drone could be heard. The man let go of him and disappeared behind him.

  He rubbed his eyes. His hands were wet, and he didn’t know why. He blinked hard and sucked in air even harder. A sharp pain filled his chest. He coughed violently and spat, tasting even more blood. His vision started coming into center, no longer dancing with strange shapes and blurred lines. The first thing he could see was his hands, the left of which was sticky with a sheen of dark blood. He looked over to the trees, and they swayed with a gentle breeze that he couldn’t feel. He thought all that odd but paid it little mind as he rolled over to get his feet under him. This was successful, until a sharp pain shot up his left arm and shoulder, burning into his brain. Through this he finally got a leg under him and stood up with a laborious effort.

  The pain still seared his left arm, and he unconsciously went to rub it with his other hand. He felt something warm and wet, then something hard and jagged. He looked down to see a twisted piece of steel that had pierced his arm just above the elbow. He grabbed it, pulling gently but the pain was too much to bear. The pain, however seemed to pull him into the current moment and he looked around now that his vision was mostly back to normal. One of the elves looked at him quizzically, then went back to pointing his bow at a dwarf who menaced him with a mattock.

  Dwarves? Elves? When did they get here? Wait…what is this thing? Where am I?

  Naurus could only talk to himself in his own head, the confusion was too great to process. His hearing started to slowly come back, and he could hear distinct words being shouted from multiple directions.

  “Stop! Don’t take that or I’ll kill ya!”

  “I’m bleedin’!”

  “Nay, not me! Women and children first!”

  “I think we got somethin’ guys!”

  That last vo
ice was uncomfortably familiar. As he walked towards the voice, the elf shot the dwarf, who hardly paid any mind to the arrow that was now impaled through his shoulder. Instead, he roared with fury and ran after the elf who scampered away through some wreckage as they both disappeared. The wreckage he walked along side was little more than a twisted, broken mass of iron, wood, and steel that looked vaguely familiar. What looked even more familiar was the man who stepped out from the remains of a box car that had derailed. Stepping over several broken boxes and scattered luggage, he cradled a small chest in his arms. He looked straight at Naurus.

  “Well buddy, thought we lost ya back then!”

  Who is this? Why does he look so familiar? Wait a minute…”

  “Well come on partner, come grab something here before more of them get out!”

  Something felt like it sparked inside his head. He blinked a few times, now realizing who it was.

  “Uh…yeah sure!” Naurus wheezed out, not realizing how scratchy his throat was until now.

  Rahlo pointed him into the ragged hole in the top of the car, out which cargo spilled. He stood there, not sure what he was supposed to do. He stepped forward and a glint of the sun caught his eye. He looked down, seeing a crate that had busted open. It was full of rifles, with shiny brass receivers. Another brain jolt. Another realization it was the same kind of rifle he had just minutes ago. He was empty handed now, so he felt it right to pick one up. Maybe that’s what he was supposed to do. He heard some sharp popping sounds not far off from where he was standing. He couldn’t see out the car he was standing in, though. A commotion could be heard, and several dwarves started running in the direction of the forest.

  Rahlo turned around, bewildered at the sudden rushing of dwarves into the woods and dropped his chest. He swung his rifle from his back to his front, holding it at low ready and scanning around. Naurus suddenly saw a cloaked man dash in front of him, brandishing a revolver which he emptied in Rahlo’s direction without hesitation. The latter fired from the hip, quickly beating a retreat into the woods as his bullets slammed holes through the wooden wreckage. Naurus ducked down, pointing his rifle at the cloaked man. He aimed at his thick mop of dark hair and squeezed the trigger. Absolutely nothing happened. He reflexively worked the action and tried again. This noise alerted the man, who wheeled around and locked onto Naurus with an ugly smile.