“Can either of you move as quietly as I can?” I said.
Tamara sighed. “Do you ever get tired of being right all the time?”
“Since I’m usually a pessimist, it does get exasperating,” I said. Tamlin snorted. “Be right back.”
I eased down the passage in total silence, my eyes and ears straining. I spent a long time as an urdhracos, the most powerful creature of dark magic the dark elves ever created. But I was also the Scythe of the Maledicti, their pet assassin, which meant I had gotten very good at moving in silence. Unlike the corridor with the stairs, this hallway remained narrow, though it did turn at another right-angle.
I peered around the corner. The corridor continued until it opened into a smaller hall with stone benches on the floor.
Two ursaars crouched in the center of the chamber, growling.
I swallowed, but I made sure to do so quietly. Ursaars are bad news. They look like a twisted fusion of bear and ape, and they were big, like the size of two full-grown stallions put together. The serrated claws at the end of their paws can go through steel armor like cloth, and despite their size, they are deadly quick.
And there were two of them.
I inched back around the corner, heart pounding, but the ursaars hadn’t seen me. But even as I did, an idea occurred to me.
“What did you find?” said Tamlin as I returned.
“Ursaars,” I said. Tamlin’s and Tamara’s eyes widened in unison. “Two of them. I think they dominated that urvaalg pack. Sooner or later, they’re going to wonder why their urvaalgs haven’t come back.”
“Damn it,” said Tamlin. “We’re going to need help. More Arcanius Knights, or…”
“I have an idea,” I said. “A way to solve all our problems at once.” I looked at Tamara. “The spell that Tamlin uses to go faster. Can you cast it on all three of us at once?”
Tamara frowned, but she nodded. “I can. It won’t last long, though. It’s hard to maintain that kind of continuous arcane focus. The augmentation spell of a Magistrius would be more effective, but I’m not a Magistria.”
“It won’t have to be long,” I said. “I’m going to run into there, lure the ursaars after us. And then…”
“And then we’ll let the ursaars chase us into the muridach camp,” said Tamlin.
“That’s insane,” said Tamara.
“Oh, probably,” I said, “but I think it’s going to work. And if the muridachs get mauled by a pair of ursaars, they’ll be too nervous to come back.”
“That should scare them off,” said Tamlin.
Tamara sighed. “Well, if we’re going to do this…be careful, Selene.” She began gesturing, silver light rolling up and down her staff as she called elemental air. “If you’re not careful, you’ll move so fast your legs will snap, or you’ll run into a wall and crack your skull.”
“That would be an embarrassing way to die,” I said, and she cast the spell. The silver light flashed around all three of us, and I suddenly felt lighter, much lighter. “Be right back. Get ready to run.”
I turned and ran up the narrow corridor. It hurtled around me, and I skidded to a stop at the corner. The spell let me move much, much faster than I would have expected.
Which meant that between the noise of stopping and the rush of wind, both ursaars saw me at the same time.
I grinned and waved my sword in a mocking salute. “Hey! Come get me!”
They didn’t understand, of course. Ursaars are not…hmm, what’s the word? Sentient? Sapient? One of those. They don’t have rational minds. But they are excellent hunters, and they are very cunning
When they saw me, the creatures reacted as I expected, and charged after me. Despite their size, they’re fast, at least as fast as the fastest horses bred on the plains of Caertigris to the east. I waited until the last possible second and then ran back to the throne room.
The ursaars slammed into the wall of the corridor, which didn’t hurt them and made them angrier. I stumbled to a stop next to Tamlin and Tamara. Tamlin stared at the ursaars, eyes wide, while Tamara’s pretty face was tight with concentration as she held the spell around all three of us.
“Oh, hell,” said Tamlin.
“Run!” I said.
The ursaars roared and charged at us, and we ran.
The three of us blurred down the stairs and stopped on the landing at the corner. The ursaars snarled and ran after us without slowing.
“Wait!” said Tamlin, glancing down the stairs into the pillared hall that held the muridach camp. “Now!”
We shot down the stairs and into the pillared hall, stopping amid the muridachs. The ratmen whirled and turned to face us, bronze swords flying out of their scabbards, and a half-dozen of the creatures snarled threats in their own tongue.
“Hear me, muridachs!” I shouted in their own language. I wanted their eyes on me and nothing else for a few seconds. The Maledicti had dispatched me to kill troublesome muridach kings and priests a few times, so I had picked up a good command of their tongue, though it’s impossible for a non-muridach throat to pronounce some of the names correctly. “You have stolen the property of Queen Mara of Nightmane Forest! You shall surrender the stolen ingots, and then depart Cathair Valwyn never to return.”
“Humans,” rasped one of the bigger muridachs in disgust, his beady black eyes fixed on me.
“Half human, to be accurate,” I said.
“You think to threaten us, human vermin?” said the muridach. “What can you do to stop us?”
“Oh, nothing much,” I said. “They can, though.”
I waved my sword in the direction of the stairs.
The muridachs turned just in time to see two very angry ursaars rush into the chamber.
“Move!” said Tamlin.
With one final burst of power from Tamara, we raced to the side of the chamber and concealed ourselves behind a row of pillars.
The ursaars crashed into the muridachs and started killing. Maybe a dozen of the ratmen went down in the space of about ten seconds. The rest of them broke and fled, dumping their sacks of ingots for greater speed, vanishing into the corridors on the far side of the pillared hall. The ursaars lumbered after their prey, killing more of the muridachs as they fled.
Silence fell over the hall.
“I’ll be damned,” said Tamlin. “It actually worked.”
“Now we can get the Anathgrimm,” I said, “and collect Queen Mara’s gift to High King Kothlaric.”
***
Chapter 6: Thieves and Thief-Takers
“That does not,” said Moriah, thoroughly amused, “count as a theft.”
Selene raised one silver eyebrow. “Oh? And just why not?”
“Because the steel ingots were already yours,” said Moriah. “Or Queen Mara’s or High King Kothlaric’s, anyway. The muridachs were the thieves. You retrieved your property. That doesn’t make you a thief, it makes you a thief-taker. Do they have thief-takers in Owyllain?”
“In every one of the Nine Cities,” said Selene.
“Though I imagine most of the thief-takers of Owyllain do not loose angry ursaars upon their prey,” said Moriah.
“No,” said Selene. She grinned. “But if I’m a thief-taker…then aren’t you glad Mara didn’t send me to find you?”
Moriah paused. “I will drink to that.”
They paused, clinked their cups together, and drank.
THE END
Thank you for reading SHIELD KNIGHT: TWO THIEVES.
The adventures of Ridmark, Calliande, and Third continue in DRAGONTIARNA: KNIGHTS (http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/writer/?page_id=11387).
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About the Author
Sta
nding over six feet tall, USA Today bestselling author Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair of a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.
He has written the DEMONSOULED series of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write THE GHOSTS sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the COMPUTER BEGINNER'S GUIDE series of computer books, and numerous other works. His books have sold over a million copies worldwide.
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Shield Knight Page 3