Shepherds of Wraith: Book One

by Nyssa Renay

  “There’s many more of us than you think,” Nolmen boasted.

  “That may be true, but what about the shepherds at my father’s command? Even with all the power they have, the shepherds still obey my father and the Church. Now, why do you think that is?” The prince had managed to silence the room in a matter of seconds, employing the strategic talents of the Palpit sect impressively.

  Nolmen sat back in his chair. “But most of your father’s shepherds are away fighting in the war, and we’ve still got you. I’d say that’s still a pretty big advantage for us right now.”

  “True,” the prince replied calmly. “But you’re running out of time, and my father’s getting closer. You’ve said so yourself that your money and supplies will run out. And besides, my father knows that if you kill me, you’ll lose the only real thing you have to bargain with.”

  Nolmen banged his fists on the table. “Well, then, maybe we should kill your guardian first and send his body back as an example of how serious we are!” He grabbed his knife, got up from the table, and started walking toward me.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Raxis said firmly as Nolmen grabbed my hair and held his dagger to my throat.

  “Oh yeah? And why not?” he taunted.

  “Because Vigil is the one bargaining chip you haven’t realized you’ve got yet, and I’m offering him to you.”

  “Oh, really?” Nolmen sneered. “And what good is this sycophant gonna do me?”

  “He’s how I’m going to help you get a meeting with my father,” the prince offered.

  “Is this some kind of a joke?” Nolmen laughed. “What makes you think you can trust him not to go running back to the king the moment he’s free?”

  “Because he hates my father as much as you do,” Raxis admitted.

  “Then why the hell would your father make him a guardian?”

  “Because I asked him to,” the prince explained. “Vigil saved my life during the attack on the Divine Mountain. He was ready to sacrifice his life to save mine. So, if I were you, I’d let him try to save yours. I know he can convince my father to meet with you.”

  “I think it’s the best option we’ve got,” Begriff chimed in. “If Vigil can get the king to meet with us, he’ll finally have to listen to our demands. What do we have to lose?”

  “What about the rest of you?” Nolmen asked the others in the room. He was surprised to see almost every head reluctantly nod in agreement. “Fine,” he grumbled, turning back toward me. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll make sure he dies a painful death. You better not screw this up.”

  I nodded. “Where do you want me to tell the king to meet you?”

  “Tell him to meet us at the chapel here in Quelstren to discuss our demands in four hours. If he agrees, go alone to the center of town and wait by the well. I’ll send someone to meet you. Got it?”

  “Yes.” I had no idea what the prince had in mind, but I knew everything depended on me to make it happen.

  “All right, get him out of here!” Nolmen snapped, reluctantly commanding his men to carry out his orders.

  Some of the men grabbed me and lifted me, quickly shoving a black hood over my head. Right before my vision went black, I saw Eeliyah mouth Good luck to me.

  -81-

  The oppositionists dropped me off about a half mile away from the foot of the Divine Mountain. They removed my blindfold, threw me from the back of the wagon, and reminded me about Nolmen’s instructions to go to the well in the center of town after talking to the king. I continued alone and on foot.

  As I passed by the Ceremonial Gate of Telshakra just outside the viewing fields, I was stunned to see the once-prominent statue of King Lexani toppled to the ground and decapitated. Had I seen any other statue in the same state, I would have thought it was a random event, but because Lexani’s was the only one that had been vandalized, it was pretty obvious who had done this. Quelstren didn’t seem to be safe for anyone associated with the royal family and given that I was still wearing my guardian robes, I thought it would be best if I made my way to the Rectory as quickly as possible.

  Dozens of royal guards surrounded the checkpoint at the foot of the Divine Mountain. An enormous form stood at the makeshift brick kiosk, watching me carefully as I approached him.

  “Vigil Voronto, guardian to Prince Raxis,” I said. “I need to speak to the king and queen immediately.”

  The guard squinted at me, and I got the impression he doubted my identity. He turned and leaned across the desk area of the kiosk. He flipped through some papers attached to a clipboard, and I saw an image of myself on the page as the guard compared me to what was listed in his file.

  “Proceed,” he finally said as he stepped aside and let me pass.

  I began my climb up the Divine Mountain and I was exceedingly nervous. If they had a file on me at the checkpoints, then it wouldn’t take long for the news of my arrival to spread throughout the Divine Mountain. Sure enough, by the time I had reached the Rectory, the king and queen were already peering over the balcony, searching for me. When they saw me, Minkara shouted and jumped up and down with a joyful look upon her face, and Lexani quickly waved for me to come inside.

  The royal guards escorted me into the private royal living quarters, where Minkara immediately began badgering me with questions.

  “Are you all right, Vigil?” she gasped. “Have they hurt you? Oh, my goodness, you’re filthy! Why isn’t Raxis with you? Where’s Raxis?”

  “Minkara!” the king snapped. “For Ein’s sake! Give the boy a second to breathe.”

  The queen instantly fell silent, tears welling up in her eyes as she stood there trembling.

  “It’s all right,” Lexani said to the guards. “Leave him with us.” The royal guards exited the room, leaving me alone with the king and queen. “Vigil, what happened?”

  “The defiants ambushed us at the academy,” I explained.

  “I knew it! Those little bastards will die slowly by my hands.” Lexani was furious.

  “It wasn’t just the defiants, Your Majesty. It was the opposition, too. They’ve combined their efforts now, and they’re using the prince to get you to listen to their demands. That’s the reason I’m here,” I said nervously.

  “Demands? I’m the king of Telshakra! I will not be intimidated by the demands of traitors!”

  “I don’t care what they want. You just give it to them. I want my son back!” Queen Minkara wailed.

  “Please, Your Majesties. It was the prince’s idea. He convinced them to send me here.”

  “Raxis?” Lexani said, surprised.

  “Yes, Sire. I don’t know what he’s planning, but you should have seen him take command of the room,” I offered as an attempt to butter him up. “You would’ve been extremely proud of the leader he’s become.”

  Lexani flashed a brief smile. “That may be, but he’s in way over his head. Do you have any idea where you two were being held?”

  “It was a short ride in the wagon before they dropped me off about a half mile away from here. I’m sure it’s not that far.”

  Suddenly, Shepherd Talmari ran and pulled Lexani aside. “Your Majesty, we found them,” Talmari whispered. “They’re in a basement of the abandoned sawmill on Winterwell Street. We got a tip from the owner of a nearby tavern. She noticed a steady stream of people making their way to and from the old mill earlier this morning. We weren’t sure if it was the place at first, but then someone spotted Vigil being led out from the basement’s bulkhead. I sent a few shepherds to watch the mill from a safe distance. What are your orders, Sire?”

  The king rubbed his chin and took a deep breath, calculating the best way to take advantage of this new information. “Raxis convinced them to send Vigil here to get me to negotiate with them. I’ll agree to it.”

  “Wait…did you say Raxis got them to send Vigil?” Talmari replied, dumbfounded.

  “That’s what Vigil just told me.” A pro
ud smile spread across the king’s face. “The boy must have picked up a thing or two from his old man,” Lexani boasted. “I’ll stall them long enough for your men to rescue my son. Tell your men to surround the house and wait until their leaders have left to meet me. I’m sure they’ll keep Raxis behind as security so I don’t kill them the moment we meet. Once you have Raxis safely in your possession, signal me, and I’ll take care of the rest. Now, go! Quickly.” King Lexani grinned from ear to ear.

  “Yes, Your Majesty.” The shepherd bowed and ran from the room.

  “Is everything all right?” Minkara worried.

  “Everything’s fine.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Vigil, I want you to go back and tell them I’ll meet to hear their demands.”

  “Really?” I was surprised. “They’ve requested you meet them at the chapel in Quelstren in three hours.”

  “One hour,” Lexani said firmly.

  “Sire?”

  “It’s a standard negotiation technique, Vigil,” he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as he escorted me toward the door. “If they’re going to pick the location, then I get to pick the time. That way, we’ve already established a compromise, even before we meet. See?”

  “Of course. Thank you, Sire,” I said humbly as I left the room.

  As the door to the king’s private chambers closed behind me, I couldn’t help but feel as if convincing the king to meet the opposition was far too easy, but it was too late to turn back now. I hurried down the Divine Mountain toward the well in the center of town.

  -82-

  When I reached my destination, I noticed there weren’t many people out and about, which was understandable, given the current state of Telshakra. Every building around me was in desperate need of repair. The streets were cluttered with garbage, filling the air with a putrid smell of decay and neglect. This was no longer the beautiful place I’d known as a child.

  I stood there, alone, waiting for someone to arrive. I wondered what would happen if I stopped by my father’s house just for a moment to see him again, but I realized it was too much of a risk and might put him in danger if anyone found out we were related.

  Just then, an old man carrying a bucket slowly approached the well. He eyed me suspiciously, a look of anger and disgust on his face. He muttered something as he walked past me, but I had no idea what he said. My robes identified me as a member of the Church or the Crown, so I assumed his comments were most likely derogatory toward me, just because of my association. Even if I tried to explain that as a boy, I’d used that same well, just as everyone else who’d been born and raised in Quelstren had done at least once in their lives, it wouldn’t have mattered. To them, I now represented the very thing that made their once-happy lives a miserable hell.

  When the old man had finished filling his bucket, he scowled at me and walked away as quickly as possible, and he wasn’t the only one. Over the next ten minutes, three other people approached, filled their buckets, and rushed away in the same manner as the old man.

  I was beginning to think I’d been abandoned or deemed unnecessary in the planned negotiations until a woman wearing a dirty gray robe limped past me with a little boy in tow. As the woman lowered her bucket into the well to fill it, the little boy walked over and tugged on my robes to get my attention.

  “Excuse me, sir,” the boy said meekly, holding a folded piece of paper toward me. “The man said to give this to you.”

  “What man?” I asked, quickly looking around to see if anyone was watching me from the shadows of the nearby buildings, but no one was there. When I looked back down, the boy had already darted off to hide behind the woman, who had just hauled her full bucket out of the well. I was about to walk over to talk to him again when the woman flashed me a protective, angry glare, warning me to keep away as she took the boy by the hand and swiftly limped away.

  I opened the folded paper and read GO TO THE CHAPEL. I slipped the note into the inner pocket of my robes and started on my way.

  When I arrived at the chapel, I was met by a half-dozen of the same men and women I’d seen over the last few days in the basement. They were all lazing on the front steps, discretely flashing their daggers at me as I made my way toward the front door.

  As I walked inside, two large men quickly grabbed me and escorted me to the front of the room.

  “Is the king coming?” Nolmen sneered from behind the altar.

  “Yes, he is,” I replied calmly, “but he insisted on meeting earlier than you wanted.”

  “We figured he’d try to pull something like this, hoping to catch us off guard, but as you can see, we’re prepared.” A smug smile spread across his face.

  “I wouldn’t be too confident,” I urged. “Getting him here was one thing. Making him listen is a whole other matter.” I was still a little worried that the king had agreed to meet with the opposition so easily, but at this point, it was better than nothing.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he listens,” Nolmen stated boldly. “I’ve left three of my best men behind to watch over the prince. If Lexani doesn’t agree to our demands, the prince will die…today. If the king tries to stop us from leaving here, or we don’t make it back safely, the prince dies. Any way you look at it, we’re getting what we want, or the king loses his only heir to the throne.”

  “And the defiants agreed to this, Begriff?” I asked, somewhat unconvinced. “They’re fully committed to killing a member of the royal family, just to avoid going to war?”

  “Yes,” Begriff replied coolly. “It’s the king’s own fault for letting it get this far. If Raxis dies, his blood won’t be on our hands.”

  “Well…not your hands,” I scoffed. “I don’t see Eeliyah here, so I’m assuming you left her left behind to do the killing so you didn’t have to.”

  “She volunteered, Vigil,” he said defensively.

  “Did she?” I argued. “Because I know her pretty well, and there’s no way in hell she would ever willingly agree to kill someone in cold blood. In fact, I don’t think she knows about this execution plan at all. Does she?”

  I could tell by Begriff’s silence that I was right.

  Suddenly, the doors burst open, and a swarming legion of royal guards and shepherds quickly filled the chapel. The royal guards positioned themselves near the windows and exits, while the shepherds scattered through the pews with their staves poised, ready to conjure in an instant. With the room secured, King Lexani entered the chapel and slowly made his way toward us.

  I bowed before the king. The defiants and oppositionists reluctantly followed my lead.

  “Well, at least you people haven’t lost your sense of propriety,” Lexani said in a condescending tone. “Let’s get on with this. State your business.”

  “Your Majesty, I’m Nolmen Naverstadus, leader of the opposition, and this is Laureate Begriff, leader of the defiants.”

  “Laureate? That title is reserved for loyal potentials who are true leaders at the academy, and not for ungrateful traitors like you!” the king snapped.

  “Yes, Sire,” Begriff said as his face turned a dark crimson.

  “As you’re aware by now, Your Majesty, we have your son,” Nolmen said pompously. “Quite frankly, you’re lucky he’s still alive.”

  “You’re lucky I don’t kill you right now!” Lexani roared.

  Nolmen laughed off the king’s aggression. “Now then, seeing that we’ve all gone to enormous lengths to make this meeting happen, let’s get started. Our agenda is straightforward. Changes must be made here on Telshakra and at the Shepherd Academy. Should you agree and implement our demands, your son will be returned to you healthy and unharmed.”

  “And if I don’t?” the king asked impatiently.

  “My men will kill Raxis,” Nolmen explained, his tone stoic and cold.

  “Then you have my full attention,” Lexani forced a smile. “What are your demands?”

  -83-

  The three
oppositionists charged to stay behind in the basement were men who had already known a long life. They had seen their own children grow and have children of their own, and now these three had devoted the remainder of their lives to the cause of the opposition.

  With the prince chained and considering neither Eeliyah nor potential Goticko to be a real threat, the three men played cards at the table.

  “You, boy,” Belsek, a bearded, gruff old man, said to Goticko. “They didn’t trust you to go to the talks, eh? Doesn’t surprise me…you don’t look like you’ll ever be much of a shepherd anyway!” He laughed.

  “Yeah, I can’t imagine he’d be much of a threat, eh, Pentiff?” chuckled a stout bald man named Geltis as he nudged their third member, who stared silently across the room at Eeliyah, grinning.

  Goticko, a shy boy of sixteen, nervously shifed in his chair. He was at the far end of the table away from the men, reading a book he’d brought from the academy and pretending not to hear them.

  “Leave him alone!” Eeliyah snapped as she stood up from her chair. “Dammit, Pentiff, stop staring at me!”

  “Or what?” Pentiff smirked. “Maybe I should stop just looking and see what’s under those robes for myself…been wondering about that for a while now. Be a shame not to get a glimpse of what a pretty young girl like you has to offer.” He laughed, and the others followed suit, turning back to their card game.

  Eeliyah immediately backed down. Fighting, death, and blood, she could handle—those things were a part of her reality, and she dealt with them each day, but the advances of these older men had stopped her cold. She quietly sat back down in her chair next to the prince in the far corner of the room.

  “Don’t worry,” Raxis whispered to Eeliyah. “When this is over, I’ll have their heads for the way they treated you.”

  “You can’t solve all of your problems like that, Raxis,” she replied.