by T Nisbet
Chp. 31
We started moving forward again. Ivy moved her horse over beside mine and reached out offering me her hand. I took it without looking into her eyes. My fear and anxiety lessened for a moment before I let go.
As I thought about it I was sure Guldan and Bronn were right, my duels were rigged. I felt nauseous. I had slaughtered them like sheep. Even if they had volunteered for it, what I’d done was disgusting and immoral. I tried to put it out of my head.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Gill returned.
“It’s’ clear!” he said, wheeling his mount around.
“Ride!” Guldan shouted, spurring his mount into a gallop.
The slap of the leather reins on the mules’ backs echoed out through the dead forest of trees as Bronn forced his team into the mule version of a gallop, calling on them for more and more speed. Ivy and I let the wagon pass and settled our horses into a hard canter behind it next to Toby and Carla. The burnt trees around us slowly gave way to saplings and then a large meadow. Out in the center of the verdant meadow, just across a small stone bridge, another road crossed the one we were traveling on, running alongside a narrow creek. We sped out into the open towards the bridge following the speeding wagon, with Guldan and Gill in the lead.
I looked down into the vast meadow. Lush grasses and flowers grew on either side of the creek that wound lazily through the blossoming landscape. Just beyond the crossroads at the far end of the meadow, our road wound its way up into pine-coved mountains.
It was several anxious minutes before we crossed bridge, passed the intersecting road, and found the cover of the trees leading into the mountains.
We continued riding hard as the road traversed upward into the mountains through tightly packed pine trees. We had just crested a small rise and started into a vale when Guldan signaled a halt. The narrow roadway widened a bit before us and the ground flattened out into a clearing on both sides. Guldan left the road, moving towards a group of immense dark granite boulders to our left. Behind the boulders, a thicket of broad-leaved trees stood before a small gray shale cliff. Bronn followed Guldan, pulling the wagon off the road over a thick layer of pine needles.
As we drew nearer to the gargantuan bronze and black granite boulders, I noticed that they formed a natural cul-de-sac more than large enough to hide the wagon from the road. We rode behind the mammoth rocks into a moss-covered depression. Bonn turned the wagon around so the mule team faced the open end of the dead end. I dismounted and tied my reins on the running board of the wagon.
The boulder-protected dell had obviously been used as a camp in the past. Someone had arranged several large logs in a circle around an old fire pit near the back of the rock alcove. Toby and Carla walked over to one of the logs and sat down. Toby was already pulling off his boots off as Ivy and I sat down on a log opposite them.
“Always take care of your feet,” he growled, doing a pretty good impression of Coach.
I grinned and shook my head. Leave it to Toby to break the tension.
“I’ll get some food out,” Gill offered, pulling some things out of the wagon.
“Spill it lad,” Bronn grumbled, sitting down on one of the rocks that ringed the fire pit. He placed his huge battle axe on his lap and began to sharpen it slowly with a whetstone. “Do the dark elves know about our quest?”
I nodded.
“Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure they do,” I said nervously, wiping my sweaty hands on my pants. “According to Brianna’s father, when I touched the Cardinal Ruby, every vampire that could be judged and imprisoned by it, knew I had the stone. I’m guessing that includes this King Zildain guy. While I was listening to you guys talk, things started falling into place.”
I took a deep breath and began.
“When Thallium brought the Demon into the world, he was punished by the high council of mages. Somehow, they pulled his soul, essence, whatever you want to call it, from his body and connected it to a sword, and it will remain connected to that sword until the demon is destroyed. That sword is Gwensorloth, my sword.”
Guldan and Bronn both nodded as if they already knew. They both had slightly amused expressions as they looked at me, waiting.
I shrugged un-nerved that they knew my secret before I had a chance to tell them. Taking another deep breath I continued.
“The first time I pulled Gwensorloth out of its scabbard, Thallium’s essence poured into me and somehow gave me the weapons experience of everyone who has ever held or fought with the sword. Several thousand years worth, I guess.”
I looked over at Gill embarrassed.
“Sorry Gill, I shouldn’t have kept that from you.”
Gill shrugged at me and smiled.
“No need to apologize Jake. It was never my business before.”
I felt a wave of relief wash through me that the guardsman wasn’t mad. I smiled back, and then looked over at Guldan, then Bronn.
“That’s not all. Thallium’s alive, if you can call it that. He talks to me occasionally when I’m really tired, or have been drinking.”
Bronn started laughing loudly.
“That manipulative devil.”
Guldan shook his head, but said nothing.
I did my best to ignore them, though I was secretly pleased that they apparently didn’t know this part of my story.
“Thallium told me the Ruby is losing its power to hold evil. The longer it is in this world, the weaker it’s getting. If we trap the demon inside of it, and don’t leave this world in time, the stone will fail and release the demon into this realm empowered by all of the evil that is already captured within the stone. Thallium said that would be a very, very bad thing.”
“Holy God! Armageddon,” Bronn whispered.
“So I was thinking that that’s probably why the blood elves are letting us through. This King Zildian guy probably wants us to trap the demon, because after we trap it, all he has to do is kill us, take the Cardinal Ruby, and then just wait for the stone to loose its power to contain the demon. Since the blood elves love demons, they probably want this one released.”
“That, young immortal, is an understatement,” Guldan sighed. “Their worship of the Demon is nigh feverish, and all encompassing. The ultimate goal of their race is to serve the Demon.”
“Why don’t they just take the Cardinal Ruby from us and trap the demon themselves then?” Gill asked.
“The prophecies are all extraordinarily vague, but all of them say, quite clearly, that an immortal shall be the demon’s bane or deliverer, depending on who is doing the interpreting,” Guldan answered. “And not just any immortal…”
“The Light-Bearer,” Ivy interrupted.
“Correct,” Guldan agreed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Slowly, he smiled as if he’d just figured out a puzzle.
“I didn’t know what that name meant until now,” he said laughing quietly. “In all honestly, I’ll admit that I’ve wondered all along whether or not any of us could actually capture the demon using the stone. I assumed since the young immortal here was sent on the quest by Sir Nisbet that he might be able to do it. Now I’m sure.”
“How so, you pointy eared bastard?” Bronn growled at the handsome elf. “Speak elf!”
“When Thallium was a young man he lived for a time amongst my people at Lor Lorenith studying and learning magic. We called him ‘Lithril’. It means light.”
I sighed and ran my hands through my perpetually unruly hair. Was I ever going to escape this predestination crap?
Bronn slapped his hand on his knee laughing.
“Light bearer!”
“There’s more,” I grimaced, feeling hope slipping away with each word I was about to utter. “Thallium believes that we have fourteen days to get the ruby out of this world before it loses its power to contain the Demon. That was four days ago…”
“By the blood of the child!” Bronn roared, his face clouding over with rage. “There’s not enough time!”
“How far away is Grimshome?” I asked quietly.
Guldan’s brow was furrowed, and he shook his head. “Three days at this pace unless we are delayed.”
“That’s nine-and-a-half to the demon, and four-and-a-half to get the stone out of this world,” Bronn growled. “Impossible!”
“Forgive me, but it’s possible with these horses,” Gill said, offering the rest of us half a smile. The scar turned his attempt at comfort to something more akin to an evil smirk, but I knew him well enough to see it for what it was. “A rider with two or three of these mounts could make it back from here to Lockewood in roughly three days, add another half a day to the elven forest, and a day or so from Grimehome… I think it can be done, but it will be a close thing.”
Bronn shook his head regarding Gill. “That ‘rider’ will have to escape the capital city of the blood elves, dodge patrols, and somehow make it past an army clogging the main pass through the mountains. Not to mention that an entire nation of dark elves will be hot on their trail after the ruby. It can’t be done.”
Guldan stood up and strode into the center of clearing beside the fire pit, holding his hands up for quiet.
“Knowing that orders have been given to let us through gives us an advantage of sorts. Perhaps we can use that advantage not only to travel more quickly to our destination, but to aid our escape as well.”
“There will undoubtedly be a trap awaiting us,” Bronn grunted.
Guldan nodded at Bronn.
“We are still left with a critical decision however and the fate of creation itself, hinges on our choice.”
He sighed loudly looking around at each of us in turn.
“Do we continue on, trap the demon, somehow escape the trap awaiting us in Grimeshome and attempt to make it back to your world before the stone fails? Or do we sneak back and take our chances with the dark army and the underworld spawn called up by the demon?”
“That’s nay a choice. The evil bastard King has us right where he wants us.” Bronn spat angrily, his face even redder if that was possible. “We can’t turn around because he’ll destroy Ceneria with the demon’s help. Once the council of mages is defeated, he’ll set his sights on the other nations, picking them off one at a time until this world falls into ruin.”
Bronn paused to take a bite of bread. “On the other hand, if we continue this quest, it’s almost certain we will be responsible for Armageddon, since we won’t be able to get the stone out in time.”
“True my friend,” Guldan said, folding his arms before him, “but with each horrible war it causes, the demon gains strength. You and I both know that it will eventually grow strong enough to break free of the fairy enchantment and bring on Armageddon anyways, unless of course, it is stopped for good. I doubt we will we have another chance such as this.”
“Not much of a chance,” Bronn grumbled. “With King Zildain knowing we are coming.”
“Excuse me,” Carla interrupted, “but does this King you’re talking about actually know we are coming? I’m mean, he may know someone is going to come, but does he know it is us? I didn’t see anyone leave that camp headed this direction during Jake’s fight, and no riders passed us earlier going this direction, unless it happened last night while we were off the road.”
“None passed us during the night. I watched the road,” Gill offered.
Carla continued. “Unless they have some way to communicate over long distances… maybe this Zildian guy doesn’t know we’re getting close.”
“Right,” Toby agreed. “And does he even know how little time we have?”
Guldan began pacing as he considered what had been said.
“He might have an idea regarding the timing, his knowledge of demons and their ilk is great, but I doubt he knows as much as Thallium about the ruby. And like my wine addled friend said, the group we encountered at the crossroads outside of Brighton had been camped for several days waiting for us and looked like they had enough supplies to last for several weeks. That leads me to believe that King Zildain is unsure of the exact timing,” Guldan offered.
I thought back furiously trying to remember my conversations with Thallium’s spirit. He said something about the timing of the attack being moved up because Ivy had the stone.
“Thallium said that the plans to attack Ceneria had been moved up because I gave the ruby to Ivy. He seemed pretty sure it was causing a lot of confusion though,” I said, hoping that was helpful.
“Interesting,” Guldan said. “King Zildain must think the council has the ruby then and is trying to force the council’s hand into action.”
“Mud! He’s trying to get them to send a party in before the pass is closed by his army,” Bronn growled.
“Probably. I would guess the first sorties into Ceneria will begin tomorrow at the latest,” Guldan answered. “Which means he’s expecting us, but maybe not so soon.”
“Agreed,” Bronn said, slamming a fist into his hand. “We’re in it up to our necks now.”
The dark elf nodded grimly. “There is no time to waste, we need to get back on the road at once. Mount up, we will…”
“Not without Brianna,” I interrupted, coming to my feet. My hand absently went to the hilt of my sword, and I moved it onto my hip instead. There was no way I was leaving Brianna to a horrible fate.
“Sacrifices need to be made during a war,” Bronn growled, though I could sense a long festering sadness in his voice. “The whole of creation hinges upon our…”
“I’m not leaving Brianna.” I said feeling the rush of adrenaline that signals an acute panic attack. “She’s not a sacrifice.”
Toby stood up and walked over to my side.
“I’m with you Jake.”
“Me too!” Carla said standing as well. “How can we serve good by first condemning someone innocent to evil.”
Guldan turned away and kicked at the dirt.
“Humans,” Bronn said with an exaggerated shrug. “They do have some redeeming qualities.”
“Gill, grab your bow and cover the road,” Guldan ordered. “Take our righteous friends here with you. Don’t let any riders past that are heading towards Grimhome.”
Gill handed Carla the bag of food he was carrying and ran to his mount to retrieve his bow.
“Can you shoot a crossbow giant?” Bronn asked, looking at Toby.
Toby grinned back at the former King of Thuunderhome. “Point and shoot. How difficult can it be?”
Bronn grinned at him.
“I like this one.”
“The mage and I will get as close as we can get to Memron’s castle and see if she can sense your friend. We will be back before sunset. King Hammervil, guard the wagon,” Guldan said, with a angry smirk.
Bronn growled.