Another turn. Another. If I could only stay out of sight a moment longer …
The wall to my left exploded outwards, flinging me through the air. I struck the wall of the building opposite and slumped to the ground.
Gasping in pain, I looked up. The troll loomed there, framed in the hole it had put in the building. Its eyes narrowed as it looked down at me, ears angled up. The earth trembled as it stalked forwards on stony fists.
The terror in my heart turned to rage. I struggled to my feet, leaving my bow where it had fallen and drawing my short sword. Sheer disbelief stopped the troll in its tracks.
“If I am to die, then I will die,” I said. “But on my feet.” In Tokana. Like my mother. Like Romil. That was a bitter thought.
The troll snorted. It took another lumbering step forwards.
There came a flash of metal to my right. Mag came rushing at the troll’s flank. Her spear leaped, the edge skittering along its stony side. It roared, turning to swipe at her. But Mag ducked with inhuman speed, and her spear slashed up again. This time the tip of it flashed dangerously close to the troll’s eye, and it reeled back in confusion.
“Your bow,” said Mag. Her voice was toneless, her eyes lifeless with her battle-trance. “That sword will do little good.”
I barely heard the words. I could only stare at her in wonder. She was covered in dirt and mud, but she was utterly unharmed. She did not limp, or hunch over like a fighter nursing a broken rib. I could not even see a bruise, though I imagined there had to be many beneath her clothes and armor.
“Mag, are you—”
“Your bow,” she snapped.
The words pierced my confusion at last. With shaking hands I stowed my sword in its scabbard and stooped for my bow, keeping watch on the troll. It was staring down at Mag, seemingly just as astounded as I was. But even as we watched, confusion turned to wrath.
“Mag—”
“Aim for the eyes,” she said, and attacked.
I was glad to see she had learned her lesson after the last time. The troll tried to bat her aside as it had before, but this time Mag ducked the swing. Her spear flashed up, and the troll recoiled as the blade passed across its cheek—not breaking the skin, but again drawing too close to the eye for comfort.
It took two stumbling steps back, but Mag followed. She slashed again and again. The long, bladed edge of the spear could not hope to pierce the troll’s hide, but it provided an ample distraction. I reached to my quiver and drew another arrow. With Mag occupying all of the troll’s attention, I had enough time to draw, to hold, to sight along the shaft.
A long, slow breath escaped me.
I loosed.
The arrow sank into the troll’s eye, deep enough to strike the skull behind.
It screamed and stumbled back, swiping at the air as if trying to swat away a fly. Black blood dribbled down its face, staining its teeth as it bared them. Mag tried to make another strike, but its flailing arms drove her back.
Something flashed in the sun as it flew towards the troll. A glass vial struck the beast in the face, and dark, oily liquid spilled all over its body.
We froze. So did the troll. It swiped at the oil, black as its own blood, and stared at it in confusion.
“Hail, friend.”
Mag and I looked up. Standing on the roof of a nearby building was Maia, Ditra’s lead ranger. He had thrown the flask. Now he stood in an almost languid position—but he had an arrow nocked, and its tip was wrapped with a flaming rag.
The troll looked up at him, squinting with its one good eye through the oil.
“Well met,” said Maia amiably. “You are covered in flammable oil, and I have a flame to light it. I highly suggest you turn and run.”
At first the troll seemed too angry to understand, but gradually it made sense of the words. It looked down at itself, smelling the pitch that covered its body.
It looked back up, and even I could see the fear shining in its remaining eye.
The troll fled from the village, climbing over a hill and out of sight.
Maia waited until the troll was out of sight. Then he turned as if to leave.
“Wait!” I cried.
He paused. I saw his shoulders heave with a sigh before he turned back and gave Mag and I an easygoing smile.
“Yes?” he said.
“You saved our lives,” I said.
“Oh, you seemed to be doing well enough,” he said. “I only wanted to make sure.”
Mag had let her trance fall away. Now she arched an eyebrow up at him. “I suppose we are grateful. Though I do question what you are doing out here in the first place.”
He gave another sigh and climbed down from the roof. I came over to stand beside Mag. As I neared her, I heard the padding of soft feet. Oku emerged into view, coming to take his place at our side. The poor hound looked almost ashamed, as though he had dishonored himself by fleeing, even though I had told him to.
When Maia reached the ground, he looked us over. “Are the two of you all right?”
“We are fine,” said Mag. “Though as I said, I have questions.”
“I was simply passing through,” said Maia. “I heard the commotion and came to help.”
“Are you not in troll territory?” I said. “I am surprised to learn that Ditra—that the Rangatira would send her rangers out this far, when they should be patrolling the lands that you are still trying to protect.”
“You yourself are beyond those lands,” said Maia.
“And the Rangatira gave us permission to be here,” said Mag.
Maia looked slightly uncomfortable. “As she did with me.”
“Yet she told us her rangers would be too busy to aid in the fight,” said Mag. “What purpose brings you here?”
Maia looked over his shoulder as though searching for aid. “I should be leaving.”
A realization struck me. “You are the one I have sensed in the wilderness. I felt as if someone was nearby. We found campfires. That was you.”
“I was not actually following you, if that is any comfort,” said Maia. “Our paths simply lay in the same direction. Indeed, I did not think I would encounter you at all in the mountains. But you are very skilled. I suspect one or both of you must have spent some time here before, though I do not remember you.”
“It has been … a long time,” I said. “In my youth. I do not remember you either, if that is any comfort.”
“No, I suppose you would not,” said Maia. “I came to Kahaunga some eighteen years ago as a boy, when my father wed the Rangatira. I became a ranger as soon as I came of age.”
I almost did not hear his last words. The realization struck me that Maia was Ditra’s son by law, and that made him my nephew. I might have lost members of my family since I left home, but it seemed I had gained others. I wondered what other new relatives there might be within my family’s stronghold.
Things had been quiet for too long. Mag was studying Maia as though she were trying to decide if he was a threat. I forced a smile. “That explains why you are so much more skilled here than I am. Though it does not explain what you are doing here, as my friend asked before. I suppose you have been sent to watch us.”
“Not at all,” said Maia. He gave another heavy sigh, but this time it looked as though he had finally come to a decision. “In fact, I was sent out for the same purpose as you—to track down the Shades. The only problem is that I was supposed to greatly outpace you in the hunt. In fact, I was strictly ordered to.”
“We are very sorry to have made your duty so difficult,” said Mag, giving him a wry smile.
“I am sure you are,” said Maia.
“Mayhap we could work together,” I said.
Maia’s mouth twisted. “That … is not quite possible.”
“Because the Rangatira ordered you not to,” said Mag. When Maia narrowed his eyes at her, she smiled. “I may not be as familiar with this land as either of you, but I have some understanding of soldiers, and those who
order them about.”
“Well, you have guessed aright,” said Maia. “I am sorry, but I cannot disobey my lord.”
“But Ditra—the Rangatira,” I said quickly. Dark take me for a fool, I have to stop doing that. “She gave us permission to find the Shades. You mean to tell me she did not actually want us to succeed? If we do, we will put a stop to your entire conflict with the trolls.”
Maia only shrugged. “I do not pretend to understand everything, nor to be privy to all of the counsel the Rangatira may receive. She is my lord. I do her bidding. Although …” His look grew crafty. “Although I suppose there is a way we could both achieve our aims, and better serve the Rangatira at the same time.”
“How is that?” said Mag.
Oku had come over to sniff at Maia’s boots. He knelt and scratched the hound behind the ears, and Oku stretched up to lick his face. “You mean to hunt down the Shades. I have been ordered to find them, but not to engage with them, and only to relay their location back to the Rangatira. If you can agree to do the same, I would not object to working with you. Our skills would be more effective if we combined them, and I would save myself a great deal of time if I could focus only on the hunt, and not on avoiding you in the wilderness.”
“If we find the Shades, you would wish for us to stave off our attack until you have informed your lord?” said Mag. She folded her arms, making their muscular lines more prominent. “That would imperil the success of our attack.”
“You would not have to wait long,” said Maia placatingly. “My lord wishes to end the threat of the Shades. It is her duty. I am not certain why she wishes to hear from me before she attacks, but she will attack. We can join the main Telfer forces in eliminating the Shades. I will have done my duty, and you will have what you want. Everyone’s aims will be satisfied.”
I thought hard about it, but I could see no reason not to do as he said. It seemed a wise course of action. Ditra was playing some game I did not understand, and it had hampered our search so far. This would solve the problem without harming either party.
“That seems agreeable to me,” I said. “Chao?”
Mag was still for a moment before she remembered that I had used her false name. But rather than nodding in agreement, she gave a grimace. “I suppose I might be able to. As long as when it comes to battle, I am the one to kill the weremage.”
“The Rangatira might not like that,” said Maia with a sigh. “Though I do not know what she could do to prevent you. What is your grudge against Kaita, anyway?”
I froze.
“Kaita?” I whispered.
Maia’s eyes went wide, and his face went a shade paler.
Kaita.
I was a child in my family’s stronghold, creeping towards Ditra’s room after having a nightmare. Suddenly, the door opened. Out came Kaita, cloaked in shadow. I could scarcely see her in the darkness. I did not recognize her face.
But Kaita saw me, staring at her wide-eyed in the moonslight. If the Lord Telfer found out that she had been caught in Ditra’s bedchamber … no matter how useful Kaita was, she would be flung out into the streets to beg for her food.
She fled in terror. I looked after her for a moment, before realizing that Ditra now stood in the doorway, and I forgot all about her retainer.
It was the night I fled from home, drunk with wine and pelted by rain. I had left the city already. I had reached the bridge.
I crashed into Kaita, and we both fell to the ground.
The clouds parted for a moment, and I caught a flash of moonslight. I saw Kaita’s face, but it swam in the darkness and my own drunkenness. Yet I screamed at the sight of my family’s colors on her cloak, and I backed away on hands and knees.
Kaita watched me scramble over the shelf by the end of the bridge. Then she saw me fall off the other side. She barely stifled a cry as she leaped forwards, expecting to see my broken body far below her.
Instead, she saw me sliding away on a steep, rocky surface slick with rainwater.
She looked on in wonder until I turned a corner out of sight. For a moment she debated going after me.
Then she smiled.
I was gone. The youngest Telfer child, and the most useless.
Kahaunga would be well quit of me.
She turned and carried on her way back to the city.
It was the day Romil found me in the mercenary camp. She stood before me, but behind her, by the horses, was a retainer. Kaita.
Mag struck faster than I could see, flinging my sister to the ground unconscious. I stared at her fallen form in horror and grief. Kaita reached for her weapon, but Mag stopped her with a look.
“That would be unwise,” said Mag. “Take your master and ride away with her. Go back to your lord. Tell her whatever you wish, but get this wretch out of my sight before I give her more than a headache.”
Kaita did as Mag commanded. I did not even watch them go, for I was sitting on the ground, arms wrapped around my knees, lost in my grief.
I was in the jungle with Victon and Mag. The bear turned and fled, limping on three legs to favor the fourth that Mag had maimed. Mag turned to me, the battle-trance like a mask over her expression. It shook me then, as it always did.
“You are all right?”
“Victon,” I gasped. “It is heading for Victon.”
She seized my arm and pulled me up, and together we pelted after the beast.
The bear fled from us, bleeding from wounds it had never expected to receive. Suddenly it lurched to the right and lumbered off into the underbrush. It carried on, heedless of the trail it left behind. Even Mag would be able to track it.
But it would not be there when she arrived.
When the bear had lumbered a span away from the main path, it stopped. Without even bothering to look behind to see if it was being followed, it hunched over.
Its eyes began to glow.
In a moment the transformation was done, and Kaita’s form emerged from the bear’s. She stifled a cry as she felt the wounds in her body seal up, lances of pain shooting through her as flesh and skin joined together.
She took two deep, shaky breaths that wracked her body. But she could not remain still for long.
Again her eyes glowed. She shrank, her tight clothing sinking into her flesh. Black feathers sprouted across her skin. In a few heartbeats, she had taken the raven’s form. She flapped desperately, winging up and away. She glanced down only once—to see Mag burst into the clearing where she had just been. Panic seized her, and she flapped harder, flying away from the jungle as fast as she could.
It was the battle of Northwood, and I knelt by Sten’s side. Across from me were Mag and the medica, whose eyes were glowing as she gripped the torn flesh of his throat, desperately trying to seal the wound. Mag and I held his hands, pulling them away so the medica could work.
And Kaita lurked nearby, hidden just behind the edge of a building. My back was to her. My attention was all for Sten. I was exposed.
“Try to be silent,” said the medica sharply. “It will only be worse.”
“Almost, my love,” said Mag. “Hold on.”
Kaita’s eyes glowed. She took the form of the mountain lion. In the long years since the jungle of Feldemar, she had obsessed over her first fight with Mag. She had made a mistake, then. She had sought power, rather than speed. The bear had been mighty, but it was too slow. She should have chosen the lion, long her favorite form. It was fast. Faster than Mag, or so she believed.
The medica finished her work. “It is done,” she said. “He is not out of danger, but—”
Kaita bounded out from behind the building and leaped for me. I saw the flash of movement from the corner of my eye.
“Down!” I dived out of the way, seizing Mag and the medica and taking them with me.
Kaita landed on Sten’s chest, her claws sinking into his flesh with a biting shunk. His fingers grasped for Kaita’s throat. And then he died.
“No,” said Mag. “No.”
&n
bsp; She rose to her feet, and her hands curled to fists at her sides. Kaita growled at her. Mag did not even have her sword. This would be a simple kill.
But it was not. Try as she might, she could not lay a claw on Mag. And as Mag screamed No! over and over, she took Kaita apart with her bare hands.
Kaita resumed her human form, recoiling and holding her wounds.
I saw her. And memories tugged at the back of my mind. But there was Mag, and there was Sten’s corpse, and the battle of Northwood still raged around us.
“Sow! You feckless sow!” screamed Kaita. Shades came running into view. “Kill her!” cried Kaita, thrusting a finger towards Mag.
She turned into a raven and flew away.
“You knew her!” cried Sun, her voice ringing with something between betrayal and triumph.
“I did not,” said Albern.
“You did!” insisted Sun. “You saw her in Tokana again and again, and probably another thousand times that you have never told me about. Yet you told me you had never seen her before.”
“I said nothing of the kind,” said Albern. “You asked if I knew her. I did not.”
“That is splitting hairs,” said Sun, folding her arms. “You know what I meant.”
“I do know what you meant,” said Albern. “But you have been thinking about it all wrong. Tell me: did you know every soldier who served your family?”
Sun frowned. “I knew our master of arms. Her name was Hilde, and she—”
“I said everyone.”
It felt as though she was being drawn into a trap, but Sun did not know how to get out. She waved her hands in irritation. “There were dozens of people running in and out of our kitchens,” she said. “I did not meet every baker and scullery maid, if that is what you are asking.”
“And we had dozens of rangers, of which Kaita was not one, not to mention hundreds of guards, not only in Kahaunga, but all across our lands,” said Albern. “And I have told you already that my mother strictly forbid us from becoming too friendly with anyone, least of all those who were not even of the nobility.”
The Tales of the Wanderer Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 4) Page 47