Bloodless

by Roberto Vecchi

  "There is no need for that. Borinth has been aware of your connection to them since our meeting with Du'tothin. Now be silent and follow me. We have only a short distance to go," said Dianali as she led the three captives through a short series of unlocked doors and corridors, all of which were unguarded. Finally, in the middle of a hallway, she paused, tapped the wall with her finger a few times at intermittent intervals and locations. When she had found the sound she was looking for, she stepped back, placed her feet in two specific locations and pushed on one of the stones with both of her hands. Rony, Zyndalia, and Liani watched as the stone effortlessly slid backward into the wall. Then, there was a faint pop from behind it allowing a very small section of the wall to be moved aside revealing a hidden passageway. It was little more than a crawl space, but it was large enough even for Rony whose shoulders barely fit inside.

  They crawled for what seemed to be an eternity before they noticed that it sloped upward and slightly to the right. "In all my years in this land, I have never heard of anyone who has successfully escaped the dungeons of the stone keep. You three are surely being watched by something greater than only those wolves of yours. If we survive long enough, you will have to tell me what it is," Dianali said as she continued to crawl toward the faint light at the end of their very long and very small tunnel.

  "Who do you think made this tunnel?" asked Liani.

  "Frankly, I do not care. I am just glad your collective fortunes lead us to it," she said. "The end is just up ahead. But we must still be cautious. It is likely the wizards already know of your escape and may have set patrols in the area."

  They emerged for the underground tunnel though a small, well hidden, wooden trap door underneath the thick foliage of the surrounding forest floor. The air was cool, light and refreshing when compared to their most recent confines. The sun, though hidden behind a thin layer of high and wispy clouds and the forest’s shelf, still shone brightly enough to hurt their eyes causing the three of them to squint. All four of them inhaled deeply, filling their lungs with the cool morning breeze and the freedom of escape.

  "Silent now!" ordered Dianali. "Something approaches. Find cover." But as thick as the forest was, it did not yield many adequate places of concealment apart from the trees. While Dianali and Liani each climbed one, Rony and Zyndalia looked to each other and grinned, but not the grin of relief or joy, rather a grin of a predator on the hunt. Reaching their respective perches, both of their climbing companions watched in silence, too wary to call out, as brother and sister assumed low and readied postures. They stepped away from each other as if seeking to circle around a quarry flanking it on both sides. A few moments later, after their slow and silent stalking had ended, they both crouched low to the ground, and readied themselves like coiled vipers seconds before striking.

  In a burst of shattered leaves and branches, from behind a densely formed layer of green plants burst forth two enormous shapes. Before either Dianali or Liana could react, they collided squarely into the brother and sister below. Each couple formed a mass of rolling and tumbling limbs and bodies, indistinguishable as two separate entities. When both pairs' momentum was sufficiently dissolved by the laws of nature, they came to a halt with both large beasts pinning Ronialdin and Zyndalia to the ground. But instead of sinking their teeth into the exposed necks of the siblings, the beasts began licking their faces fiercely. In response, both Rony and Zyn erupted in huge bouts of laughter while they struggled to remove themselves from underneath their large wolves, Inglorca and Xunmerco. Quickly, but much relieved, both women descended out of their protective perches and walked up to each hugging pair, Dianali to Zyn and Inglorca, and Liani to Rony and Xunmerco.

  "I should have known those two would not have been far off. They seem to have the same talent you both do for getting into trouble," Dianali said as she calmly scratched the large wolf behind its ear.

  "Ok, ok. That is enough Glory," said Zyn as she managed to slide from underneath her wolf.

  Rony did the same continuing to pet Mercy underneath its large neck, "Both of you seem to have grown while we were in the dungeons. How is it you got so large?" Xunmerco nuzzled its great head into Rony's hand seeking more affection.

  "I wish I could give all of you more time for affectionate reunions, but I am afraid that I need your help. Or rather, Borinth needs your help," said Dianali as she stopped stroking Inglorca's thick fur. At the sound of his name, both the great wolves turned their heads, attending to her words.

  "What has happened to Borinth?" asked Liana, "Did he not escape with you?"

  "No. He did not. He was, however, the reason why I am able to stand before you now. When we were being taken into the dungeons of the Stone Keep, he created a diversion, along with the rest of the mercenaries that ultimately allowed my escape. I came to find you so you could help me rescue him," she said.

  "Of course, we will help rescue him," said Liani before the others could respond.

  Rony looked to his sister and then back to Dianali, " We must go to the Gabbon Swamps. We cannot help you, Dianali. I am sorry."

  It was Liani, not Dianali, who responded to Rony first, "What do you mean? We most certainly will help her rescue Borinth."

  "Liani, we cannot. Both Zyndalia and I must go to the swamps of Gabbon if we are to find the answers we need," he said as he stopped scratching Xunmerco.

  "We are helping her," she said as she squared herself to meet his response.

  "Liani, please. What Zyn and I have to do is larger than anything else right now," he said as he stepped closer to her.

  "Larger!" she exclaimed. "Larger! What could possibly be larger than repaying a debt of life?"

  "You know that something has been happening to me," he retorted, but before he could finish, she cut him off.

  "Something has been happening to you? To you? What about what has been happening to all of us? To Me?" she shouted. "I was dead, Rony! Dead! And so were you until Borinth saved us. No, we do not have to go to the Gabbon Swamps. We need to save Borinth."

  "Liani, you are free to do as you choose," he said, but before he could finish, she interrupted him again.

  "Free! You say that I am free?" continuing to shout, "How can I be free when I am bound by servitude to my honor and my heart? Or do you not understand either of those two things? Right now, I find them standing on opposite sides of a fence while I am being pulled by each of them. So no, Rony, I am not free!" she said, calming her yelling. When she finished her shouting, with tears in her eyes, she abruptly turned away from him and stormed into the woods.

  "Well, now that all manner of creatures know we are here, I suggest we collect her and be on our way," said Dianali calmly. "Really Rony, if you wish to bed that one, you should have handled it much better. I am going to rescue Borinth and the rest of them. You do what you want, but my chances of success will be much greater if you both decided to help. You have five minutes." She sat down, rested her back against a tree, and closed her eyes.

  "That was nicely done, my dimwitted brother. Your skills are on a whole other level," said Zyndalia as she walked over to her brother, hit him in the shoulder, and trotted off following Liani.

  "I guess that means you are coming to help," said Dianali as she stood up.

  "We have not yet," but before he could finish, she interrupted him.

  "Never underestimate the resolve of a woman's will. There is nothing that can stand against it. And since there are apparently now three set to the purpose of rescuing Borinth, I suggest you tuck your little lupine tale between your legs and follow lest we hogtie you and carry you the distance," she said as she stood up and began following Zyndalia. Rony was about to protest further, but before he could, Dianali cut him off a second time with a sharp interruption, "That was your only warning. Do not test us" she said as she left him standing by himself wondering what had just happened.

  When the women returned, Liani with reddened and swollen eyes, Rony offered a meek apology to which Zyndalia and Dianali
silently nodded in acceptance. Liana, however, did not acknowledge Rony's presence let alone his apology. She kept her distance from him and intentionally oriented herself away from him to avoid his sight. He had always been affected whenever he saw his younger sister cry, but never had the reddened eyes of a woman struck as deeply as Liani's had. Not even on the day their father died and Zyn cried into what seemed like eternity, had it caused his stomach to turn over and over as it was now. It might have been a little easier to manage except for two things; firstly, she clearly blamed him, but for what, he did not know; and secondly, her avoidance of him was allowing his mind to fully understand just how much she had been hurt.

  By now, they had undoubtedly been marked as fugitives by the wizards of The University, so they decided to stay off the roads preferring instead to make their trek across country, taking care to avoid any signs of civilization. The pace Dianali had set in the beginning was fierce, often times jogging ahead. Under normal circumstances, neither Rony nor Zyndalia would have had difficulty keeping up with their pacesetter. However, even their enhanced physical abilities could not prevent the weariness from their time in the dungeons of The University from lingering. While the signs of their struggle remained subtle, Liani was not so fortunate. When she had fallen far enough behind that they could not continue for fear of losing her, the three others stopped and waited. Perhaps because he felt remorse regarding their last real interaction, or perhaps he was trying to avoid the ire of Dianali who had become increasing irritable with each rising of the sun, Rony volunteered to fall back and assist her. Well, at least try. But Liani had apparently resolved to accept no assistance from him. So, when she cursed him away, amidst his vocal protests, they had no choice but to slow their travel.

  As the days dragged on, and the weather persisted with its light rain, everything around them and inside them reflected the dismal setting of a mud-soaked terrain that faded into a hazy horizon offering no reprieve from a blanket of endless grey. Though the wolves provided them with an ease to their despair, even they were not immune to the downtrodden effects. Di’s thoughts focused on every good moment she had with Borinth but were laden with a hopeless revelation that they may have experienced their last. Rony was struggling with the necessity of traveling to the Gabbon Swamps and the negative thoughts of its potential delay. Zyndalia’s mind returned home, but not to its past memories of her mother. Instead, it favored the contemplation of her current condition. Although she hoped her mother was thriving, she knew, deep in her heart, the difficulty of the land would be wearing on her as well. In the first part of their journey, Liani had fallen into memories of her family and village and the revelation she may never experience a family life again. Now, however, she was using every bit of herself just to keep up with the other three. And she did not want to be the cause of an arrival that proved to be too late.

  However, on the morning when the clouds broke waking all four of them by the gentle and warm rays of the sun, their hopes were met with a sight they had forgotten to hope for, The Stone Keep. Standing just as formidably as it had been before it was taken, its large outer wall, followed by an even larger interior wall all dwarfed by keep itself reminded Di of how Borinth had been a foundation of solid constancy. Never bending under the changing weather of their lives, never affected by the winds of change regardless of how demanding they were, he had always been there for her, and she resolved to always be there for him.

  "Where do you supposed they are being held?" asked Rony.

  "I do not know. I do not know if they are even still here. But this is where I know they started, so this is where we need to be until we find out more," Dianali answered.

  "What are your plans for finding them?" asked Liani. "We cannot just walk up to the guards and ask."

  "I plan on spending some time in the taverns, provided they are still open. From what I could gather before I left to find you, the city seems to still be running as it did before, with some minor changes though. But those changes appear to be only aesthetic," she said as she watched the city in the distance.

  "At any rate, we are not going to gather any more information standing here," said Liani as she left the other three to watch. Emboldened by an unseen energy, she had shed her fatigue and made a quick pace toward the city.

  They had decided they would pretend to be on a merchant trading mission from the nearby village of Someric when they were attacked by bandits. Their carts, full of animal pelts, along with all of their supplies had been stolen. Their uncle and father had been killed and all that remained was their aunt (Dianali), their aunt's daughter (Liani), and the two of them (Rony and Zyn). After the attack, they decided to continue to The Stone Keep to seek refuge while they regained their strength for the return trip back to their home city. It was not uncommon for merchant caravans to be attacked by bandits, nor was it uncommon for merchants and traders to conduct their business within the larger cities as they had more access to greater quantities of all types of commerce.

  As they were approaching the outer gate, the remnants of the recent battle were still lingering on the wind the way a great vulture hovers over a dead carcass making sure there are no predators in sight before it dives to its feast. The ground, still blackened in areas from the repeated lightning strikes, contained the bodies of the fallen keep soldiers whose feet had been immobilized within the rock-hard clenching of the solidified mud. Many of them had been removed, but many could not be pulled from their boots resulting in a haze of foul odor that blended seamlessly with the scorched earth. And where the lightning had not struck the ground, the darkened remnants of mortal blood had. Though, instead of the bright red pools, it had crusted into splotches of a deep red, almost black.

  Even though the signs of death and desolation surrounded their approach, they did see some small indications of life from atop and behind the keep walls. There saw regular guard rotations walking the ramparts of both the outer and inner walls along with several stationary soldiers bearing bows and swords. They also heard the faint sounds of city life, but those sounds were much subdued compared to their first approach days before the dark army launched its assault. When they were within about one hundred yards of the outer gate, they saw it open. Out from it emerged a long column of armed soldiers lead by a single rider sitting atop a large brown steed. Behind the twenty-armed guards was a barred wagon carrying several men shackled inside. The four of them quickly identified the captives as their mercenary brothers. As the wagon passed, they saw a lone man shackled around the ankles and wrists, tied to the carriage by a thick twined rope, but forced to walk behind. Dianali strained to identify any of Borinth’s defining characteristics, his proud posture, his masculine grace, and his innate lethality; however, nothing about these men suggested the mission would end in a battle outside of the city.

  Rony instinctively moved to follow, but Dianali stilled him quickly, "We cannot follow," she said.

  “Why not?” asked Rony.

  “Think,” she responded.

  Rony took a small moment before saying, “Because those guards have already been watching us. If we deviate from our path of approaching the city, they will become suspicious.”

  “Correct,” answer Dianali.

  “Can we follow after they have left our sight?” asked Liani.

  “No,” answered the elder mercenary.

  “Why not? Should we not save them too?” asked Liani.

  “We could. And with the help of your beasts, we probably would. But if we do, security within the keep would be elevated to such a level that we would likely never even find Borinth, let alone save him,” she said.

  “We cannot just let them go?” said Liani.

  “We can and we must,” answered Dianali as she watched the caravan disappear over a small rise.

  All four of them were noticeably conflicted to say the least, and Liani was downright visibly disturbed with the choice facing them. By pursuing the caravan with their captives and successfully freeing them, they ma
y indeed gain more information regarding Borinth’s whereabouts; however, they would be sacrificing the potential success of rescuing him. Dianali turned back toward the keep first, followed by Rony, then Zyndalia and lastly, Liani.

  Though they had been bolstered with a small portion of hope when they saw the Stone Keep in the distance allowing for a momentary elevation in their collective morals, seeing their companions, nay, family packed into a small cell being led away to who knows where as if they were common criminals evoked within each of them the need to act. However, knowing that whatever actions they took, even if just to follow, would be scrutinized closely, tempered their instinctive reaction to protect and defend. And, as willing as they were to leave their companions to whatever outcome fate had dealt, they were equally determined to change the fate Borinth was facing. As such, there simply was no decision to make, even if it meant the worst. However, though they made the decision collectively and without protest, it did not mean they were reconciled to its potential consequence with a lighthearted demeanor. In fact, when they reached the gate, they looked and acted every bit the part of their story. Indeed, they had lost something that day. While it was not the provisions necessary to sustain their falsified lives, it was every bit as important. As they walked under the gate, a metaphor sealing the lives of those they left behind, they each lost more than just their brothers-in-arms, they lost part of themselves.

  Cossos

  (Scribbles)

  There was not much he could do anymore. Sure, he still possessed the power to thwart any opposition he faced from the upcoming gathering of wizards. And yes, he still possessed the link required for his power's activation; and no-one would dare question the depth of his knowledge behind it, but while he wore the shackles placed on him by Esthinor, he was unable to touch it.