On Blackened Wings

by James E. Wisher

  How were the chain fighters so much more powerful than him? They all drew their power from the same source. Given that, the paladins should’ve been stronger since they all had their own partners. But what should be and what was were seldom the same thing.

  It didn’t matter now anyway. Soon enough he would gain the dragon’s power and with it his place in legend.

  Sir Collin shoved the tasteless food aside and stood. “I’d like to see this path you mentioned.”

  Abbot Feng smiled. “Surely you need more rest after your ordeal? The path isn’t going anywhere.”

  “We haven’t time to lounge about. The world needs us to act.”

  Feng rose and bowed. “As you wish. Please follow me.”

  Sir Collin choked back a snarled reply. Cursing someone so unfailingly polite would only make him look petty. He had no cause to complain about a man that helped save all their lives. His paladins grumbled as they abandoned their meal and filed out behind him.

  His jaw clenched. There was a time not so long ago that no would’ve dared utter a squeak of complaint about one of his orders. Life was better then, it made sense. Now he didn’t know what was happening half the time.

  Outside the dining hall, the open square was empty. The wind kicked up a swirl of dust as they passed. Where was everyone? He cocked his head. From the central temple distant chanting emerged. The structure stood a good fifty feet tall and tapered from a wide base to a narrow spire with gold tile covering everything. There must have been some sort of religious ceremony going on.

  Feng led them past the temple toward the rear of the compound. The temple grounds butted up against the mountain and the outer wall merged with the stone, completing the fortification. A single closed door led out into the mountains. Guarding the exit was a lone, unarmed monk. Despite his simple robes and lack of weapons, the monk’s soul force was among the most powerful Sir Collin had ever felt. It was divine, but not angelic in nature. He must have gained it from the dragon.

  Sir Collin’s heart leapt. If a monk could become that strong, just imagine what he could do.

  They stopped in front of the door and Feng bowed to the guard. “Brother Ko. Our guests wish to see the path.”

  Ko nodded and swung the door open. Beyond it waited a narrow path carved into the mountain stone. No rail prevented you from falling a long way to your death and nothing offered protection from the fierce mountain winds. It looked like an all around miserable way to reach the summit. Lucky for Sir Collin, paladins could fly.

  Ko shut the door again.

  “It is a long journey to the top,” Abbot Feng said. “And only Brother Ko decides who gets to make the attempt.”

  “We don’t have time to go the long way,” Sir Collin said. “I can fly to the top and be back within the hour.”

  “Wait!” Feng raised a hand, but Sir Collin ignored him.

  His conjured mount appeared and he leapt onto its back. With a mental command the construct shot into the air. Symbolism and mystic journeys were all well and good, but Sir Collin had a world to save.

  Three hundred yards above the ground, he sensed something. Instinct and long years of trusting it made him slow down a second before he slammed into an invisible barrier. The impact jarred his head and he kept his seat only with great effort.

  He charged his fist with soul force and punched the barrier. It didn’t so much as ripple.

  “Ahhh!” He screamed his frustration to Heaven.

  Sir Collin returned to the ground and let his mount vanish.

  “I tried to warn you,” Abbot Feng said. “The dragon does not welcome visitors. The path’s purpose is to ensure only the most determined can reach her. Brother Ko’s task is to ensure only the most worthy attempt it.”

  “Fine.” The other paladins were watching so he kept the rest of his thoughts to himself. “If I have to climb the damn mountain, then climb it I shall.”

  He marched to the door, but Brother Ko moved to block his way. Sir Collin glared at the silent monk who looked impassively back.

  Sir Collin growled like an angry beast. “Step aside.”

  The monk didn’t move.

  “I’ll warn you one last time. I will not be denied.”

  Still no reaction. Fine.

  Infusing his body with soul force he reached out to shove Ko aside.

  The next thing Sir Collin knew he was lying on his back staring up at the sky. He hadn’t even seen the monk move.

  Scrambling to his feet, Sir Collin shifted his shield from his back to his arm then drew his sword.

  Ko showed no concern at the threat. Arrogant bastard! He’d learn soon enough the price of impeding their holy mission.

  Sir Collin swung a heavy overhead chop. Ko raised his arm and the sword struck his wrist. The fine steel shattered into a hundred pieces without leaving a scratch on Ko’s skin.

  Soul force gathered around Sir Collin’s empty hand and he turned to Feng with murder in his heart. “Make him move!”

  Feng shook his head. “The decision and responsibility lie with Brother Ko and no other. He has deemed you unworthy to pass. Nothing will change his mind.”

  Unworthy! No one was more worthy than him. Sir Collin took a step toward Feng. He’d show the abbot just how mistaken he was.

  Marie-Bell stepped between them. “Sir Collin, stop. You’re insulting our hosts and embarrassing us all.”

  “How dare you! From the start of this quest you’ve done nothing but undercut my authority. I should have killed you and thrown your body overboard the day we set sail. That’s a mistake I can remedy right now.”

  He drew back, ready to punch her skull in. She looked at him with this sad, resigned look. It was a look of pity. The brainless, insignificant wretch dared pity him. Hate more powerful than anything he’d ever felt surged through him.

  His fist raced toward her face.

  Marie-Bell made no move to defend herself.

  Inches from her nose his fist stopped as though it had struck a brick wall. His shield grew so heavy he let it clang to the ground. In the back of his mind something vanished, a presence he’d carried with him for fifty years.

  His partner had abandoned him.

  He wasn’t a paladin anymore. His former comrades looked at him with varying degrees of pity and shame.

  Sir Collin screamed and tore at his hair. How could she do this to him? Him! The greatest paladin of this age.

  He ran for the temple gates, not caring how he’d get them open. All he knew was that he had to escape.

  “Sir Collin!” Jenkins called.

  He ignored his bodyguard and ran on. Somehow the gate was open when he reached it and Sir Collin ran out into the mountains. He didn’t care what he found out there. Anything would be better than the emptiness filling his soul.

  Chapter Seventy-Five

  Marie-Bell couldn’t get Sir Collin’s outburst out of her mind. In all her reading and study, she had never heard of a paladin losing their partner. She’d felt it when it happened, like a shift in her perception of him. Sir Collin suddenly felt like he was less than he had been, diminished in an almost physical way. It seemed the loss had driven him over the edge into true madness.

  “I’m terribly sorry, Abbot Feng,” she said. “I don’t know what happened to him.”

  The abbot’s smile held a sad tinge. “It’s not your fault. Since your arrival I have felt the brittleness in him. I had hoped it was simple exhaustion and a night of rest and safety would repair some of the damage. Apparently I was overly optimistic.”

  “Should we go after him?” Cella asked. “The chain warriors are still out there.”

  “Anyone we send would be in more danger than Sir Collin,” Jenkins said. “He’s not a paladin anymore and therefore no threat to them. They probably won’t even be able to sense his presence.”

  Mallory scowled, but didn’t contradict Jenkins. Given the situation, Marie-Bell was inclined to let him go as well. Perhaps he’d eventually gather himself and retu
rn. Or maybe he’d wander these mountains forever. Either way it was out of their hands. Someone needed to climb that path.

  “Who wants to try next?” she asked.

  When no one spoke Marie-Bell said, “Okay, I’ll go.”

  She took a breath and strode up to Ko. He blocked her path, but instead of standing still, he pointed at the hilt of her sword where it jutted up behind her head. Next he pointed at the ground.

  “I can’t take it with me?”

  He shook his head.

  Marie-Bell shrugged the sheathed blade off her back and laid it on the ground beside the door. “Okay?”

  Ko reached out and flicked her mail sleeve before pointing again at the ground.

  She turned to Feng and raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “The challenge is for you alone,” Feng said. “It is a spiritual as well as a physical test. You can’t take anything with you that might lend assistance.”

  So Ko considered the holy artifacts cheating. Well, she couldn’t really blame him considering how much they increased her strength. She dragged the armor over her head and arranged it beside the sword. If she succeeded she could reclaim them and if she failed, it wouldn’t matter.

  She looked at Ko and the monk’s stony expression finally cracked into a faint smile. He opened the door and moved aside. You couldn’t ask for a more explicit invitation than that.

  Marie-Bell took a step then turned back. “If Sir Collin had dropped his shield would he have been allowed to make the attempt?”

  Feng shrugged. “Only Ko can answer and he has taken a vow of silence. Best of luck on your climb.”

  Marie-Bell frowned at the unsatisfying answer, but didn’t dwell on it. She had more pressing matters to focus on, like the mountain far above them, so far that she couldn’t see the peak. How long would it take to make a climb like that? She didn’t have any experience at this sort of thing.

  Remember, I am with you.

  Her partner’s mental voice calmed Marie-Bell. He was right. Together they could accomplish anything.

  She stepped out onto the path and began the long climb to the top of the world.

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  The Lobster Trap Inn hadn’t changed since Jen’s days in the city guard. It still leaned to the left, lacked patches of shingles, different ones but still, and it sported a battered lobster trap over the door. As the group approached she noted the silence at once. Lights still burned inside, but no sounds of merriment emerged.

  Jen had visited the place at least ten times over her year-plus in the city and never once was it this quiet. If she’d needed any more proof that things were off in Port Valcane, this proved it. At the top of a single step she pushed through the door. Two groups sat in the common room. One clustered around the fire burning in the back fireplace and the second with full mugs at the bar. Everyone from both groups shot them the stink eye.

  “Friendly bunch,” Alec said.

  “They usually are.” Jen glanced around for the owner, Captain Nick. The old man usually perched on a chair near a checkerboard ready to take on all comers. Tonight there was no sign of him. Who was running the place?

  She angled toward the end of the bar and leaned in to the nearest patron. “Where’s the captain?”

  The bearded fisherman scratched his stubble and squinted at her. “Who wants to know?”

  “An old friend.” Jen raised her voice a little. “He owes me a rematch after I caught him cheating during our last game.”

  A hidden door behind the bar burst open and a bony, five-and-a-half-foot-tall man with a bald head and dressed in a stained gray tunic emerged. “I never cheated a day in my life! I’ll have words with anyone who says otherwise.”

  “I thought that would bring you out, old man,” Jen said.

  Captain Nick squinted at her a moment then his eyes went wide. “Jennifer! Heaven bless me. How long’s it been?”

  “Too long. I’m impressed you remember me.”

  “I’m hardly apt to forget the most beautiful woman to ever grace this dump. What are you drinking and why are you dripping on my floor?”

  The other guests went back to their drinks, the sullen gazes turned a fraction friendly now that Captain Nick had given her his okay.

  “We’ll have whatever rotgut you’ve got in the barrel back there.” Jen leaned in closer and in a whisper added, “We’re here to find out what’s happening with the Binder cult in the city. Any chance you can help us out?”

  Nick stiffened and sent a furtive look around the room. No one was paying them the least bit of attention. “Not here. I’ve got two empty rooms upstairs you and your friends can use. Go on up and get dried out. We’ll talk later. I’ll bring you something to eat.”

  If Nick was nervous it must’ve been worse than she’d thought. Nothing short of a hurricane usually fazed the old captain. “Sure. I don’t suppose you have any of that crab stew I like?”

  “Afraid not, but I can heat up some chowder. Go on.”

  Jen led her team upstairs. The inn only had two rooms and the doors were unlocked. The guys went into the left-hand door and Jen took the right. The room only held a bed and nightstand. The sheets looked clean enough so she used them to finish drying off. Her uniform was another matter. She ended up spinning it at warlord speed. That got the bulk of the water out.

  When she’d finished up a knock sounded on her door. “You dressed?” Talon asked.

  “Yeah, come in.”

  Her squad filed in and took up positions around the perimeter. Twenty minutes later Nick came up with a heavy tray of food. Steaming bowls of chowder were passed out and as they ate he said, “Things have gotten tricky since the Binder folks took over. They kicked everyone not part of the cult out of government, including your old boss Tosh.”

  Jen grinned around a mouthful of soup. Getting rid of Tosh could only be an improvement. “What did he do?”

  “You’re not going to believe it, but he started a resistance movement made up of guards that refused to convert and escaped before they could be rounded up. They don’t actually do much, but once in a while they’ll help someone in trouble with the cult. Mostly they sneak around spying. If you’re keen to know what’s happening, Tosh is the one you need to see.”

  Of all the things Jen wanted to do, talking to Tosh was at the bottom of the list. Still, if that’s what had to happen to complete her mission, she’d clench her jaw and do it.

  “Do you know where to find him?” Jen asked.

  “They move around a lot, or so I’ve heard. Let me put the word out. I should have an answer for you by morning.”

  “Thanks, Nick. Be careful you don’t get yourself in trouble.”

  He smiled and patted her knee. “They can’t do much to an old man like me.”

  Jen hoped he was right. She’d hate for anything to happen to one of the few people in the city she actually liked.

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  Marie-Bell had barely covered a quarter mile when the clouds closed in around her and she could barely see the path. She shivered and brushed a hair out of her eyes. The damp air weighed on her and made it hard to breathe. It really was going to be a challenge if the entire climb passed through fog like this.

  Gravel crunched under her feet as she marched onward. Caution was important, but she also felt like there wasn’t much time to waste. Maybe Sir Collin had gotten in her head. His almost mad rush to reach the dragon struck her as excessive. She shook her head. Hopefully he’d come to his senses. Marie-Bell might not have liked the man, but she still wished him no harm.

  Whatever fate had in store for the former grandmaster, it was out of her hands. She had to complete the quest. After that she and the others would figure out what to do about Sir Collin, assuming they could find him.

  Ahead of her the path narrowed so that she had to hug the wall to keep from falling off. As she inched around a sharp bend she found herself grateful for the barrier that kept them from flying up. It should serve to ke
ep anything that might want to attack her at bay as well.

  A high, shrill shriek from above mocked her confidence. Twisting her head as much as she could, Marie-Bell tried to see what had made that cry. The clouds blocked everything. She should be as invisible to whatever was out there as it was to her. Or so she hoped.

  After a hundred or so yards of inching along, the path widened again allowing her to walk normally. Whatever she’d heard earlier hadn’t cried out again. Probably just a passing eagle that lived above the barrier.

  She studied the haze again, but it revealed nothing. Definitely an eagle. Behind her the clouds shifted, closing off the return path. She felt like the only person in the world. Another shiver ran through her, but she shook it off and pressed on. It was a big mountain and she had a long ways to go.

  A few hours of silent trudging passed and she moved from anxious to bored. Marie-Bell hadn’t spent a lot of time hiking alone. She traveled alone when she first left the fortress, but that was only for a day now and then and there were almost always other travelers on the road or at least birds to keep her company. She’d never felt so alone as she did on this path.

  Maybe that was part of the test, to make sure she had the strength of will to make the journey. That would explain why she couldn’t bring anything that might help her. The reassuring warmth of the armor would have been welcome.

  Hours passed and everything looked the same. Gray clouds, brown stone path, yard after yard, mile after mile. Sometimes she doubted she was even moving. Only the growing pressure in her lungs assured Marie-Bell that she’d gotten higher.

  An infusion of soul force reduced the discomfort, but didn’t keep every step from taking more effort than the last. No one without at least warlord abilities could even attempt this trek. Even with divine soul force bracing her, Marie-Bell’s doubt grew.

  Could she make it? Was Sir Collin right and she was really too weak for this task? Her jaw clenched. No! She would make it to the top. Nothing short of dying on this path would stop her.