“Let him try. Maybe it’ll calm her down so we can shackle her,” said another.
Isha caught a quick glance under the hood of the man bringing the food and calmed herself. At first, the guards thought the food might have actually work, so they readied the shackles for an assault.
“Guard, this bread appears too hard to eat,” Jackabo exclaimed. “Can you give me your opinion?”
“What blinkin’ nonsense is this,” said the guard, losing his temper.
“It’s as hard as a rock, look,” said Jackabo as he held up a rock.
As the guard drew near, the rogue brought the rock down on his head with a resounding smack. The guard's eyes rolled back in his head as his legs gave way, dropping him to the stone floor. Elhan quickly rounded the corner, planting his mallet-like fist in the nearest guards face as Jackabo struck the remaining guard with the tray. With the guards down, they took the keys and made ready to escape.
“Good thing I used a rock in it instead of the bread. The blow would have killed him otherwise,” Jackabo said as he unlocked the door.
“The city is under Mano’s control,” said Elhan.
“I thought it strange that Bena is acting eldar,” Isha said. “What is Mano playing at?”
“No one I’ve met knows,” said Jackabo.
“Then let's find someone who does,” Elhan said with a hint of impatience.
They went down to the next corridor to the next guard stationed outside a cell. His arms were folded on his chest for a nap. That is, until Isha kicked the chair out from under him sending him crashing to the floor. Isha tied the guard while Jackabo unlocked the door, taking the guard’s bow and arrows for future use.
“Do you know how to use those?” asked Elhan.
“Wait and see,” said Jackabo.
Inside the cell, Elhan found what he was looking for.
“Eldar Ezro! Why has the refuge been put on lock-down?” He asked.
“Elhan my boy! I’m not sure,” said Eldar Ezro through bruised and swollen in his eyes. “We were attacked in the night and all the guards were replaced. These men that dressed as Shechem guards are strangers to me.”
Elhan's disbelief quickly gave way to anger.
“Who gave the order?” Elhan said.
“No one knows,” said Ezro. The old tomewright sat silently, grimacing with pain from his battered body.
“Hold to me, old one,” Isha said. “We'll get you out of this damnable place.”
“It's too late for me, my dear, but The Eternal sees your kindness, and will reward you,” Ezro whispered. Then the sound of ironclad feet began echoing down the hallway and grew louder. They quietly skulked from the cell into the chamber next door whose occupant had passed some time ago according to the smell. A squad of guards entered Eldar Ezro’s cell and unceremoniously dragged him from it and down the retreating corridor.
“He’s a family friend,” Elhan said through clinched teeth. “I have to follow.”
Jackabo put a firm hand on Elhan's shoulder.
“Fine, but use your head and don’t get us all captured in the process. We still have to find my wife and your other friend,” Jackabo said.
They timed the guards passing and crept into the hallway undetected. Some guards dressed in regular armor while others wore full hooded cloaks unlike anything Elhan had seen. They each carried a staff bound at the ends with iron, and not the traditional spear for a guard. A sickening smell of rot filled the air and seemed to rise from the very stones around them. Observing from the shadows, they saw the guards fall in line to congregate in another place, following their trail as it led downward into the earth where the air quickly grew stifling warm. After several minutes, they passed through a portal into a chamber with a large vaulted ceiling opening above them. The guards filed in, lining up on ledges that circled the room. Isha found a crack in the wall leading to a small shelf above the chamber where they could observe with relative safety. Far below them a pit glowed with molten rock, and yet, in spite of the heat an oddly cold breeze filled the chamber. The air felt like vapors of malice. Elhan glanced at her with uneasiness as a low humming began to echo off the walls. They both understood that this was a darkcraft ceremony of sacrifice. Isha began fidgeting with agitation as the memories of her demon ceremonies began flooding back. Beads of sweat rolled off her forehead as she pressed her back against the nearest wall and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. From the shadows, they watched as the final members took their place and the humming stopped. Oddly, a cold wind blew threw the chamber and a red hooded figure entered the far end stopping before a raised platform. Elhan skipped a breath as the hood fell back to reveal the face of Conner.
“Servants of Milcom, we are close to the moment we have waited for so long and a spy has been shown to us,” he said, holding high two halves of the ancient book. Shouts of adulation came from the robed participants as Ahaziz held the tube with exultant pride. “Let death grant us power and the joining of the Dim Skean.”
Isha quietly slid her hand to a knife at her waist but immediately felt Elhan’s grip on her wrist. Staring at him, she saw his stern eyes and quick shaking of his head. By now, she knew him well enough to realize he had just kept her from making a fatal mistake.
“It’s too risky…” Elhan whispered.
A cloaked figure stepped forward and pulled back her hood to reveal Malkandia.
“Bring the prisoner,” she said. Two men appeared, dragging someone between them by the shoulders. “Come weeks end, the stars will be highest in the sky beginning the sacrificial time. We begin with our enemies and then the native born of Pelan.”
With that, Malkandia grabbed the prisoner by the hair and yanked his head back to reveal the face of Eldar Ezro. Isha looked at Elhan who sat with jaws clenched tight and appeared ready to explode in a fit of rage. Ezro served in the Waring Guard with Elhan back in the days when Mano was a commander for the empire. In fact, Elhan could remember when Bena, Ezro and Mano celebrated victories with him in a local tavern in Pelan. Bena taught him all the hard skills of battle, pounding his body into a living weapon for the defense of the empire. In contrast, Ezro taught him the soft skills of diplomacy, strategy and defense of the helpless. To be sure, Elhan proved a better student of the hard skills but he never forgot Ezro’s compassion for others and love of Elyon.
In time, Ezro grew tired of the constant violence that defined their position in the Guard. So, he requested to leave the Waring Guard and study with the tomewrights. To his amazement, his petition was granted and he was accepted into the Tomewright Society. In time, due to intense study and dedication, he became a Master level Tomewright and Refuge Eldar. Elhan always thought of him as a second father after a fashion, and to see him treated this way was almost more than the warden could bear.
“Shechem Refuge is ours and soon all other refuge cities will fall as well,” shouted Malkandia. “With this sacrifice, the two shall be made one and then all will be undone!”
For a moment, Elhan stood up in the open with bloody thoughts of stopping the madness unfolding before him. Somehow, Ezro knew it. The eldar smiled in Elhan’s direction as he shook his head, sending an unwritten signal not to intervene. A moment later, Malkandia smiled to herself as she pushed the eldar into the seething furnace below.
“So mote it be,” replied the mancers as they gave a deep bow to the ground and began leaving the chamber. Elhan shook with rage as they crept from the chamber, gripping his axe with white-knuckled fury. Jackabo put a checking hand on Elhan’s shoulder and received a glaring look in return.
“You said it yourself, it’s too risky. The eldar knew it too,” urged Jackabo. “He probably saved our lives in there. Don’t do something that wastes his sacrifice.”
“There will be blood-for-blood for Ezro’s murder,” Elhan said through clinched teeth. Isha noticed a nearby guard looking in their direction.
“We’re discovered. There is no way out of here without a distraction,” said Isha.
/> “One distraction coming up,” said Jackabo.
He then set an arrow, bent the string to his ear and sank an arrow in the heart of a guard on the far side of the chamber. The guards dying shout and falling body caused a general alarm on that side of the chamber.
“A diversion down the other passage would have been better,” Elhan said.
Jackabo laughed as he ran to the opposite passage as fast as he could. Groups of the robed mancers grabbed their staves and dashed down the passage after him while Elhan and Isha shrank into the shadows in the opposite direction.
“That idiot,” said Isha. “Where does he think he's going?”
“Buying time,” Elhan said.
Underneath the cloak, a strange light began shining. She opened her cloak to find Nathan’s star-cloth glimmering blue.
“What does this mean?” she asked.
“There is no time to find out. We must go after Ahaziz,” Elhan said.
“I think it's showing us the way out,” said Isha.
“It's not that simple,” Elhan said.
For a moment, Isha battled her own desire to save Nathan, but then sounds of angry men echoed down the corridor. Suddenly, Jackabo appeared running full speed toward them. Passages branched off in all directions making it hard to tell which way to choose.
“This is a bad way to go,” he panted. “Let's try the other way.”
They hastily ran down the opposite passage, but suddenly Isha stopped.
“What's wrong,” said Jackabo.
“The light from the Nathan's cloth – it's fading,” Isha said. She ran back several yards and took an alternate passage. The light began to slowly grow brighter.
“This way,” she insisted.
“Are you sure? We know nothing about that thing,” Elhan said.
“True, but do you know a better way?” Jackabo asked.
“Lead on,” Elhan said as they sprinted down the corridor, and taking several turns up a long set of stairs before emerging onto the streets above.
“Follow me,” said Isha as she turned down an alley and then up a side street toward the meeting hall.
Shechem Refuge rested on a large rock hill standing alone on the Plains of Pelan, dividing itself into three districts that cascade downward in levels with winding pathways, connecting each to encourage controlled traffic between the districts.
With a quick glance, Isha knew they were in the mid-level business district due to the number of shops in the area, but that wouldn’t make getting to the next district any easier. All the gateways connecting the levels were guarded and all passers checked.
“The cloth points to the administrative district. What do we do now?” she asked.
“I have an idea, but you won't like it,” said Jackabo, pointing to a nearby carcass cart. “Any dead animals that fall within the city walls are collected and removed with these carts. They have open access to all levels of the city. This carts contents are particularly ripe for some reason.”
“Get in,” said Elhan in a stern voice. Isha stared at him in disbelief.
“Never mind, I'll fight my way through,” said Isha.
“And get us all captured or killed. Get in,” Elhan insisted.
“And how do you propose I do that?” she returned.
Whereupon, Elhan grabbed Isha and bodily shoved her face first into the pile of bodies, covering her with a goat carcass as she swore at him. Taking a deep breath, Elhan carefully entered the pile of bodies, wishing more than ever he could just fight his way out of this problem. Wrapping himself in some rags he found on the wagon, Jackabo led the cart’s mule up the path toward the civic level. Approaching with the utmost care, he stopped at the nearest guard station for inspection.
“Here we are sir, look all you need, there’s been a rash of animal deaths lately,” said Jackabo in a peasant accent. The guards stared at each other, each waiting for the other to do the inspection. Jackabo pushes a carcass toward their faces as they cover their noses and mouths with the palms of their hands.
“Seems these are a bit riper than usual. Does this look unusual to you?” asked Jackabo, but the guards began retching and trying to hold down their last meal.
“Move along,” said the guard, right before running to the back of his guard station and vomited.
“As you wish,” said Jackabo with a smile as he slowly pushed the cart up the winding pathway to the next level. When they passed several yards from the guard station, Elhan poked his head out of the stack of bodies.
“Hurry before we suffocate,” said Elhan from the back of the cart.
“I can't hurry or I'll look suspicious,” said Jackabo.
“If you don't hurry, you won't have to look suspicious because I’m going to stomp you into the pavement. That should look suspicious enough,” Elhan said with the sound of a caged lion. Jackabo pushed the cart up the main street to the Eldar’s Hall and, as fast as it began, the cloth stopped glowing.
“We're here,” he said.
Twenty-One
“Setting The Glue…”
“We’re here.” Jackabo stated with a quick breath.
The Infirmary lay several yards from the Eldar’s Hall. Jackabo pushed the cart into the alley behind the buildings, when he was suddenly interrupted.
“You can't put that here,” said an Assistant Mender as she exited the Infirmary's back door.
“I understand you have some things that need picking up,” Jackabo insisted.
“I don't care if Mano himself is in this cart, you can't park rotting corpses this close to the infirmary,” she said.
“Fine,” said Isha as she emerged from the bodies in the cart. “Feel free to move it anywhere you like.”
The Assistant Mender stared with utter terror as suddenly, her eyes rolled back in a faint as she fell to the ground.
"Wait here, I'll be right back," Jackabo said as he took the assistant's key, dropped the filthy rags he used as a disguise, and slipped into the infirmary unnoticed. Once inside, he scanned each room and hallway for any signs of Sapha while dodging questioning looks from healers tending to the sick. Finally, he noticed a room with two rather large guards standing at the door. Putting on a healer's smock, Jackabo casually approached the doorway.
“I'm here to inspect the prisoners wounds,” he said.
“Why don't you take a look at ours first,” insisted a guard. “She bit me twice and gave my partner a clout on the head that almost cracked his helmet. Are you sure this is the new eldar’s daughter?”
Jackabo bit his lip to keep from laughing for the guards appeared in earnest.
“I'll have a look, but my orders are for the prisoner,” he said as the guards reluctantly let him pass and followed on his heels as he entered the room. Sapha sat in the corner of an empty chamber chained to the wall with large shackles on her hands and feet.
“This examination must be alone since the prisoner must disrobe,” Jackabo said.
“No worries, we won't tell anyone,” said a guard with a chuckle.
“Suit yourself, but her chains must come off as well,” said Jackabo. One guard put a hand to his throbbing head where she hit him earlier.
“Your funeral,” said the guard. “But I’m locking you in with her.”
He backed away toward the door, handed Jackabo the keys and muttered curses under his breath as they left the room.
“Take advantage and I'll ring your neck,” blasted Sapha.
“It's me,” Jackabo whispered.
“I know.” She hushed in return. “Why do you think I dented that guards helmet?”
“That's why I love you so,” he smiled. “Where is that guy you came in with?”
“He's one hallway down,” said Sapha.
“Now, what to do with the guards,” he said. Waving her hand in with a gesture of assurance, she briskly open the door, slid her hands around their heads and slammed them together with a force that knocked them both cold. She pulled them out of sight before creeping down the ha
llway, motioning Jackabo to follow. When they arrived at Nathan's room, only one man stood guard, and the sounds of snoring came from under his tilted helmet. He never saw Sapha's fist before it put him motionless on the floor.
“I love it when you hit people,” said Jackabo.
“Hush and open the door,” replied Sapha.
Nathan lay motionless on the floor, staring into emptiness when they entered. Dark circles ringed his eyes. He gave no resistance when she picked him up and cradled him like a rag doll as they quickly exited the building before the alarm sounded. At first, they thought he may be dead, but when she lifted him Nathan moaned in pain. When Elhan sighted Sapha, he quickly backed away, taking his weapons in hand.
“No, no, this is Sapha, my bride-to-be,” Jackabo said.
“You're marrying a giant?” questioned Elhan.
“And what's wrong with that?” said Sapha with agitation.
“This is Elhan, the District Warden in Bero,” said Jackabo.
“My papa mentioned you often,” said Sapha.
“Your father?”
“Bena,” said Sapha.
“In all the years he trained me, he never mentioned a family,” said Elhan.
“He never said a lot of things,” said Sapha remembering the stories her mother told her of 'Blood-monger Bena,' as he was called among the giant nations.
During the Zumzummin War, Bena was feared as a merciless killer and hater of all giant kind. In the battlefield, his axe 'Bone Reaper' flashed death to all in his path, and as leader of the Waring Guard, always took the front line surrounding the then Imperial General Mano. They served as Mano's protectors, and with their protection he drove himself into the worse of the battles in order to make a name for himself with the people. He didn't care.
He walked over the dying bodies of his comrades for the chance to hack another giant to the earth. Shields and armor, no matter the quality, cracked and splintered under the blows of his axe. His hatred grew from the loss of his parents in the giant raids on Tekoa of years past, but that was before he met Euria, Sapha's mother.
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