The Darkness Within (A Lythinall Novel) (Book 2)

by Michael Nadeau

  "Marshal Savar, we need those three horses, now!" Karsis's voice was ice, and his eyes were dark points of hate.

  "What is it Karsis?" Liss was afraid to ask, but it came out reflexively. She saw Caerlyn automatically take a horse from a wounded Armsman, and mount without a second thought, like she trusted him completely.

  Karsis, took the horse from the other man, just as Aeric dismounted in front of Liss. "The sorcerer knows about the old tunnels, this was to delay us, not detain us. He's going for Rhoe, we have to ride NOW!" He leapt up into the blood stained saddle and kicked the horse around. He couldn't use the winds to speed up all three of them, it was too dangerous to control that many, going that fast, so they would just have to push these great beasts as much as they could, but he could make them quiet at least, so he whispered again as he rode to mask the sound of their hooves upon the road.

  Liss got into the saddle and turned the horse in one fluid motion, and with a last salute to the Kings Marshal, she bolted out of the city. Hold on Rhoe, were coming! Her thoughts were spinning, she just wanted to get home to see her mother and father. They thundered down the road as fast as the horses could manage, and then she noticed that they weren't making any noise. "Is this you Karsis?" She looked over and saw his determined look and realized that he really was that dangerous, just like all the stories said. She didn't ask again.

  Miles up the road, a pile of broken branches in the dry river bed moved aside and two figures emerged. Graf came through first, testing the air like it could be poison. He held up his finger as if testing the wind, then nodded and motioned for Rhoe to come out. Rhoe stepped out in his tattered grey robes stained with blood, and squinted at the sun rising in the sky.

  While the flora was beautiful, the tunnel was dark and cramped, and he was glad to see the sky once more. "Is that the old Dry Bridge?" He realized that they had walked in relative silence, and didn't even know this man's name.

  "Yes, now stay low." Graf snuck quietly towards the bridge, using the dry river bed as cover from anyone on the road, then he jumped with a start as the young boy was right next to him out of nowhere. How did I not here this one coming? Is he that good? His thoughts had been distracted, maybe that was it.

  "By the way." Rhoe whispered. "My name is Rhoe, what's yours?" He was trying to be quiet, and didn't mean to startle the man, but he also wasn't sure why they were hiding, or from who. He still felt drained, but he could walk with ease now, and his thoughts were clearer than in the city. He still didn't dare try running just yet.

  "Pleasure. Mine is Graf, now shush, someone might hear you." He looked up at the bridge and caught a glimpse of something that he had seen when they came out of the tunnel. He didn't want to scare the boy, Rhoe, but something was on the bridge, and he didn't think it was this kids friends. He noticed some scrub under the bridge and leapt into it when he heard a man's voice up above them.

  "Well, I was expecting the Princess to be smuggled out by that old tunnel, not a young boy......." The sorcerer stood tall upon the bridge, at least twenty-five feet above Rhoe. He was dressed in all black, with his southern style cloak, and his short blond hair blew in the spring breeze. His scowl showed his annoyance that his plans had not gone as he thought, but he loved to improvise.

  "I guess you will have to do young one, you may have been a decoy, but I'll use you to slay the Princess." He laughed a little when he saw Rhoe crouch down, as if ready for a fight. "Oh come now little one, I'm just going to take over your mind, like I did to that irksome Duke." He closed his eyes and felt the power come alive within him, it's dark festering throb a reminder that it had grown around his heart. "Obren Ethir mist dosit a'ren!" He shouted so the Ether would respond quicker, and cloud the young man's mind so that he could be controlled.

  Rhoe knew what he was facing, even if he couldn't fully see him with the sun at the man's back. It was a sorcerer. He crouched, waiting for which element he was going to face, and was shocked when he heard the elven word for Ether. Oh crap, now I'm up a creek, oh wait, I really am. He pushed his thoughts aside and concentrated. He would have to fight Ether, and there was only one way he could think of. "Ash'anti Ethir, Sran Ea!" Rhoe called for the Ether to shield him, and grinned when he heard the sharp gasp from the sorcerer. He rolled under the bridge then, trying to stay out of sight, and immediately regretted it. Walking was one thing, but this made him dizzy.

  The sorcerer was dumbfounded. This young whelp knew how to call upon magic? Not only that but he had countered him? Angry, the man just gave in to his rage and decided to wipe the earth clean of this upstart. He would collapse the earth down around the boy, caving in both sides of this dry riverbed. "Obren Dir frein dwoen!" He heard the earth obey and start to shake and collapse, then he heard the boy chanting as well.

  Rhoe knew he was in trouble. The man, Graf, was nowhere to be seen, and he heard the sorcerer speaking again, Without waiting to hear what was coming, he ran out the other side of the riverbed and whispered to the air. "Ash'anti Fra hadar ea ubel." He rose fairly quickly, supported by the air itself, and he grabbed the rail of the bridge and canceled the air once he had pulled himself over the side. He landed softly, but stumbled, his legs still pretty weak. The man spun around and raised his hands ready to cast again.

  "You!" the man almost spat this as a curse. The bridge was shaking with the earth sliding down the sides, and the man had to cancel it before the bridge went as well. He reached inside his coat and drew the black blade he had held in a stone sheath. The blade never came out, the stone needed to be broken to free the cursed blade, and once out , the blade would hunger for a soul. He pulled that darkness from his heart and felt it pulse down his arms, he hadn't fought with weapons in a long time, but already it felt like an old friend.

  Rhoe saw the blade and was cautious, but not worried. He had fought the Incarnation of Death and Corruption, what could one sorcerer do to him without magic. That's when he noticed that the blade was whispering, loudly. This is just not my day, wait, no, month. He took a defensive stance, but worried now about what that blade could do. Come on legs, don't lose it now.

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  Karsis had his Sight out as far as he could while riding this fast, and it was giving him a headache. It was the bouncing. His Sight was fine when running, because he could control his own balance, on a horse, he was getting dizzy whenever the horse would bounce him and his Sight would go up.

  Then suddenly he Saw them, and his heart fell. "Caerlyn get ready, the sorcerer has a Xalrin Knife!" She would know what to prepare in case Rhoe got cut by that blade, if there were anything to prepare. Gods know it didn't go well the last time they encountered one.

  "NO!" Caerlyn screamed and started a prayer to Davalar. She hadn't done this astride a horse in decades, but her need outweighed her worry. She didn't save that boy to lose him now. She prayed for speed and swiftness, and then suddenly, in a burst of light from the clouds above, she was away. The wind flailing her hair and cloak, she was moving faster than any bird could hope to fly, and probably any dragon as well. She had to hold on with everything she had, but she would get there faster than the others. She had to. It felt almost surreal, galloping that fast with no sound, but after a few minutes she saw the two people come closer and closer through windswept tears. Then Rhoe, the one with the long white hair, was forced back against the railing of the bridge. The sorcerer had broken the stone that kept the blade hidden, she could feel the evil radiating from the blade from here, and he cocked his arm to throw it at the young monk. Closing her eyes, she grabbed her small wooden shield and rode straight through the both of them, trying to intercept the blade. With a dull thud, the Xalrin blade was stopped.

  Karsis saw the burst of light and knew she was going to try something stupid. Brave and courageous, but stupid. The worst part was that she had left him out of it, and he loved those kinds of plans. He looked at the Princess next to him, her mouth open wide at everything happening at once, and nodded to her. "Just
keep going and meet us there." He tossed her the reins of his horse and closed his eyes. He had never tried this moving quite this fast, but that was the best part of magic for him. The 'What can I do this time' feel of it.

  He spoke clearly and precisely, asking for Ether. "Ash'anti Ethir, sistren ea car'cen!" Asking the Ether to bring you somewhere, in this case 'there', needed the Sight to work in conjunction. It used the image you had formed in your mind when you asked, and if you didn't keep a level head and calm mind, you could end up torn apart by conflicting images. Riding a horse at full gallop was foolhardy, and he was loving every minute of it. A grey tunnel appeared in front of him and he went right through it, disappearing from the horse, and reappearing past Rhoe and the sorcerer. Unfortunately, he was still traveling as fast as the horse. He hit the road hard and rolled over and over, bouncing to a stop as he hit a boulder on the side of the road with a sickening crack. He probed his side and shoulder with delicate fingers. At least six ribs, and I think the shoulder is dislocated, that's a new record I believe. He thought, as he tried to stand upon shaky, damaged legs. His leg was bashed but whole, and his head was a bit dizzy, but all in all not bad. He got up just as the fight ended, and forgot all about the cool thing he just survived.

  Once the stone sheath was broken, in the first few seconds of the fight, Rhoe could feel the evil pulse out and thirst for him. That thing was wholly evil. Rhoe knew he was in trouble. As the fight went on, with him parrying the sorcerer's arm rather than the blade, he came up with a plan. With his stamina was fading fast, he needed to end the fight quickly. He leapt back, feigning flight against the railing, and had planned to lure the man after him and flip him over the rail, but the sorcerer cocked his arm back to throw the blade instead. Well, I didn't think of that. I need more sleep I think. He thought as he felt a wind pick up. he looked just in time to see Caerlyn, or what he thought was Caerlyn, fly by him on a horse.

  The horse was moving faster than he had seen anything move, and then the knife thudded into her side, missing the shield and she slumped over. "Caerlyn!" Rhoe's gaze settled on the man without a weapon, and his eyes spoke volumes. He couldn't go to her and leave this man to escape.

  The man turned around to flee, saw another horse coming and thought to jump over the rail. He was going to utter a command to the air, when he felt a sharp pain in his side, right in the middle of his ribcage. He looked down and there, hanging on the rail of the bridge, was a man. How did he get..... and that was the last thought the man had. Graf leaped over the rail and onto the bridge and let the body fall, "Sorry, I climbed up when the earth started to shake and was waiting for him to lean over." Then he saw the commotion and knew something bad happened. "What was that evil I felt?" He asked as he saw Karsis limping from the other direction, and the Princess coming at them from the city. Rhoe was running to stop the lady's horse, and she was slumped over.

  Karsis was there first, easing her out of her saddle and onto the ground in his lap. He could feel the evil siphoning her essence away with every ragged breath. "Hold on Caer, I'm here and you know there isn't much I can't do right?" He tried to get her to respond, to keep her engaged while his mind ran in circles trying to think of what he could do.

  She coughed and tried to smile, barely conscious. "Is Rhoe alright?" She had her eyes closed, knowing to save what strength she had, and lay still. She could feel it trying to dig in deeper, and her will was focused inward, fighting the growing darkness spreading like a sickness throughout her body.

  "I'm here Caerlyn" He pulled up, his breathing ragged as well, that fight drained what little he had saved up, and walking was tough again. He knelt down hard in the dirt and brushed her hair away. "By all the Gods above why did you do that?" First his parents, then Tanan, now Caerlyn. Why was everyone close to him being taken away?

  "Rest easy Rhoe, I've got her and I think I may have a plan, but you're not going to like it very much." He squeezed her shoulder anticipating what her reaction was going to be. When they had first encountered this type of blade, wielded by the sorcerer Xalrin, Tanan had gotten sliced by it. A little cut really, but they had found that it resisted healing. When it started to get worse, Karsis took the wound upon himself and tried to purge it with magic from the inside. That time it was only a small cut, and it almost killed him; This was going to be much worse.

  "N...no, Karsis, I can fight it in here." She tried to get him closer, to whisper. She was losing her strength fast. She pulled him down to her face with the last of her strength, then let go. "Come in h.....here and......he.....help me...fight." She turned inward fully then, trusting that he would listen to one of the best healers in Lythinall, next to Ralavin.

  Karsis sighed and turned his gaze upon Rhoe, and saw that Liss and Graf were coming over slowly, fearing the worst. He waited till they were all there before he caused them to start shouting their concerns over what he was going to do. "All right, this is going to be bad. To save her I have to either take the wound into me and fight it with magic, and I could die horribly doing that mind you, or Caerlyn thinks I should go inside her and help her fight the evil leaking into her very soul, possibly dying horribly."

  "So shot or hung?" Graf tried not to sound callous, but he hadn't been around people for a long time, at least those that weren't in his head, so he wasn't used to it yet. Give him a couple of weeks and maybe. He pulled the rags up and over his head. The wind was picking up again. Great.

  "He's not wrong." Karsis said, when he saw Allissana's head snap around towards him. "I have to do something right now, so listen up all of you." He used his 'Listen or I'll stab you' voice. That was his favorite. "I'm going to be out cold, and she will too, so it's up to you three to get us to Caerlyn Hold in one piece. I'm not even sure we will be better by then, but that's a start. You guys will do fine, you survived the faeries right?" He laughed and gave no more time to the living. I'm coming Caer, hold on. He channeled his thoughts inward as well, but when he got to his inner self, he stopped and whispered softly to the Ether to take his soul into hers. Not just anyone could do this, but he wasn't just anyone, thank all of the Gods above that Caerlyn knew that.

  Rhoe saw Karsis go limp and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, then wiped a tear from his face. He had just met Caerlyn, but she had fought hard for days to keep him alive, and knew him when he was born. Then there was his teacher. The bard Karsis had never been anything but alert and ready for anything, and to see him like this....."Ok let's get them on a horse or two. It's like thirty miles to the hold, and we'll be walking slow." He hugged Liss and she smiled for him.

  "It's been so busy, I haven't had time to say thank you." She held him tight, feeling close to him regardless of how little they've known each other. It was like she knew him all her life.

  "For what?"

  "For saving me from that wolvren, for saving me in the river, for coming to my rescue on that bridge. All of it. I may have been trained to be a great warrior, but I've never actually done much of it till now." She laughed at how stupid that may sound to the man standing beside them, but he wore rags soaked in wine and urine, what was he going to say?

  "Well I've never had to do any of this either, I just knew that I wasn't going to let you face that thing alone. After everything we've been through, we don't have to say thanks anymore." He felt complete with her, and if that felt weird, well, so was the fact that he was learning magic from Karsis himself.

  "So you guys met faeries?" Graf was enthralled by stories of faeries, and if they were real? Well he needed to hear this.

  "Let's get these guys up and we'll fill you in as we walk, I hope you like a good story?" Rhoe didn't fully trust Graf yet, but the man had ample time to attack him when he was at his weakest, and hadn't. Then again, maybe he was waiting for Karsis to be out of the way.

  "Yeah it will do us good to take our minds off of what is going on inside these two." She shuddered at the thought of the evil that was sticking out of Caerlyn. Even the Incarnation didn't feel that w
rong, and he was death incarnate. They walked and talked, keeping an eye out along the way for any danger that may try and stop them, all the while the bodies lay there fighting for their very souls. Rhoe and Liss never noticed how Graf would hide behind the horse when the wind picked up.

  Chapter Four: Common Ground

  Lan stomped down hard and raised his shield just in time to absorb the blow. Even though his timing was good, it still rocked him back on his heels, but he rolled with it to keep his balance and came around sword at the ready, poised to strike if there was an opening. Unfortunately his sparring partner wasn't leaving any openings. He shook the sweat out of his short curly hair and pursed his lips in determination, advancing once more. His practice armor felt heavy on his lithe frame, but he swung his sword with skill nonetheless.

  Thrust, step, slash, parry, back step. He was just about to thrust again when he saw the sword coming at him from an impossible angle and speed. In the seconds he had to think, he went for impulse and ducked into a forward roll towards his opponent. The sword arced over his head, barely missing and he brought his sword up as he tried to steady himself on one knee. He met a firmly planted boot to his chest instead.

  "Good thought Lan, but your roll was too predictable and slow in that armor." Carana sheathed her practice sword and held out a hand to the winded boy. He took awhile to regain the air she clearly knocked out of him, and when he took her hand he winced, grabbing his shoulder once he stood. Another injury that I didn't give him, I just know that some of the knights are beating him for not being noble, and God help them if I ever catch them. She was furious, but couldn't prove anything, mainly because the boy refused to implicate anyone. "Fall down again? You may never make it to knighthood if you keep hurting yourself." She saw the horror on his face and couldn't help but laugh. "I'm kidding Lan, take it easy."