by Ben Wolf
Then a spearhead pierced out of Kumba’s chest, and he cried out, his face crumpled with pain. His axe clattered to the floor behind him, and he dropped to his knees and face-planted onto the floor next to Calum.
Twenty feet behind Kumba, Axel drew his sword from its sheath and charged the rest of the bandits. Magnus followed him into the room and skewered one of the bandits with his own spear then cut down another with his broadsword.
The bandits spread out and engaged them in battle, leaving Calum behind on the floor. Axel and Magnus each took on two of them at once. Clashing swords and hollers filled the house as bandit bodies fell, one by one.
Axel must’ve been telling the truth when he’d told Calum he was holding back in their sparring sessions, because he looked like he’d morphed into a seasoned fighter overnight. He ducked under a careless swipe from one of the bandits then ran him through the next instant, and then he proceeded to move on to his next foe without missing a beat.
Just behind Axel, Magnus parried an attack with the blade attached to his tail armor then whirled around with his broadsword extended. The hack leveled the bandit, nearly cleaving him in half.
The remaining two bandits regrouped and stood together, their weapons at the ready but trembling in their hands. Axel feigned an advance, then Magnus barreled forward and felled the one on the right with his sword.
The remaining bandit brought his sword down on Magnus’s forearm, but the blade glanced off his Blood Ore armor. Magnus turned toward him as Axel closed in for the kill.
His eyes wide and desperate, the final bandit swung at Axel, who parried the blow, dodged the next one, then drove the tip of his sword deep into the bottom of the bandit’s chin. The bandit slumped to the floor, unmoving.
After a quick scan of the room, Magnus and Axel darted over to Calum.
“Are you alright?” Axel dropped to his knees next to Calum and set his sword on the floor.
Magnus joined him. “He needs help. I’ll carry him, you gather up those…”
The sound of Magnus’s and Axel’s voices slowed to garbled nonsense. Darkness encroached on Calum’s vision until it was all he could see.
Chapter Nineteen
The scout arrived only two hours after Commander Anigo and his men finished setting up their campsite in the forest. Commander Anigo read the report in the light of the campfire and, at first glance, he frowned. A group of bandits had been killed near a small town called Pike’s Garrison.
Nothing in the report definitively indicated the involvement of the fugitives he’d been searching for, but when he reread the words scrawled on the dry parchment, something about them aroused his suspicions.
Pike’s Garrison was south of their current location. If the Saurian with them was trying to make his way back to Western Kanarah, then it would follow that he, at least, would be heading south to Trader’s Pass, the only known route across the Valley of the Tri-Lakes. If the others had stayed with him, then perhaps the three of them might’ve been responsible for this event after all.
Strictly speaking, Pike’s Garrison was out of Commander Anigo’s jurisdiction due to his appointment to Commander Pordone’s old post, but Commander Anigo’s superiors had tasked him with the unconditional capture of the missing fugitives.
That meant he had the King’s authority—at least by extension, via his commanding officers—to do what needed to be done, regardless of where his search led him.
It wasn’t much to go on, but it might be just enough.
“Corporal?” he called.
Corporal Bezarion approached. “Yes, Commander?”
“Rouse the men and ready my horse. We’re heading south.”
Corporal Bezarion’s mouth opened, and he glanced back at the campsite. “Commander, we’ve only been at rest for two hours. I think it would be wise to—”
The stern scowl Commander Anigo leveled at Corporal Bezarion shut him up.
“Right, Commander. You don’t care to repeat yourself. Apologies. I will go fulfill your order now, sir.”
Within fifteen minutes, everything was repacked. Under the moonlight, Commander Anigo mounted Candlestick and led his men even deeper into the wilderness, heading south.
As with every other time he’d appeared to Calum, Lumen crafted the living map with his irradiated sword.
“Calum.” Lumen’s eyes flickered with white fire. “Release me.”
But this time, something about the dream changed. Lumen did something completely new: he extended his sword and touched Calum’s chest with its tip.
A warm sensation spread throughout Calum’s body, and he sucked in a deep breath. Starting in his chest, strength returned to his exhausted muscles. The sensation extended into his limbs and ended in his fingertips and toes.
By the time it had saturated his entire body, Calum felt totally renewed—almost reborn, in a sense—and infinitely powerful.
“Rise.” Lumen’s unmistakable voice reverberated throughout the space around him and within him. “You must set me free.”
Calum’s eyes opened, and he promptly squinted and sat up in bed. Morning sunlight streamed into the room through the solitary window set into one of the walls to his left.
Bed? Windows? Walls? Where am I?
Definitely inside someone’s house. A brown wooden chest with six drawers sat in the corner next to the window. Also to his left, beside the bed, a small round table held an unlit oil lamp and a wooden cup of water.
Calum patted the poofy pillows and the heavy quilt that covered him up to his stomach. Where was he? How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was—
“You have awakened.”
Calum swiveled his head.
Magnus sat in wooden chair nestled in the corner of the room to Calum’s right. He held a thick leather-bound book in his large hands. He still wore his blue armor, minus his helmet, and his tail tapped the floor at random intervals. His broadsword leaned against the wall next to him, still in its sheath.
He shut the book, sending a plume of dust into the air, and grinned at Calum.
“How’s the book?”
“Engaging. A fantastical tale about a ghost haunting a mine on some distant world. Truly fascinating.” Without standing, Magnus replaced the book in an open slot between two other books on a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf behind him. “How do you feel?”
Calum stretched his limbs and twisted his back, and a litany of aches and pains awakened throughout his body, followed by a pervading sense of weakness and exhaustion. So much for Lumen’s sword restoring his strength. Then again, it was only a dream.
“Sore,” he replied. “My ribs hurt, and my face does too. Actually, pretty much everything hurts.”
“You took quite a beating from those bandits. Do you feel like you can move around?”
“I’m not sure. My limbs feel stiff, and so does my back. I feel like I could stay in bed for a few days.”
Magnus nodded. “You have already been in that bed for nearly three days, in and out of consciousness. We managed to get you to take a little water and some food a few times, but we endured long stretches where we feared you might not wake up.”
Calum rubbed his neck. His head throbbed as if someone had dropped a boulder on it. Multiple times. He closed his eyes to try to ward off the pain, but it did little good. “Where are we?”
“We are back in Pike’s Garrison, inside Stavian and Reginia’s house,” Magnus said. “I carried you back while Axel carried as much of the treasure as he could, in addition to his supplies and yours.”
“You really carried me all the way down the mountain?”
“Yes.”
Calum’s mouth hung open. “Why?”
Magnus tilted his head and blinked at him with scaly green eyelids. “Because you are my friend. My only friend.”
Satisfaction swelled in Calum’s chest, and he smiled. More than once, he’d wondered if Magnus was merely tolerating his presence in the group. After all, their initial partnership had
been founded on little more than begging and convenience.
And once Magnus got free of the quarry and got his armor back, he had little reason to stick around Calum and Axel, at least from what Calum could tell. Why he’d bothered to stick around was a mystery to them both, but now more than ever, Calum was grateful that he’d done so.
“Thank you,” Calum finally said.
“You would have done the same for me.”
Calum chuckled at the thought of him carrying Magnus down an entire mountain. Maybe in Calum’s dreams, but not in reality.
“Are you hungry?”
Calum nodded. “Yes. Very.”
Magnus stood up, but he had to hunch to fit under the ceiling. “I will return with some food imminently. The good news is that we will not go hungry for awhile. Even with handing over the loot we recovered for the villagers, there is plenty left over for us.”
“That much?”
“Yes. Stavian sent a group of villagers to bring their share of the spoils back. Even after they claim their share, there is much, much more to be collected from the bandits’ hideout. When you are well, we will venture there together and retrieve more.”
“What about Axel? Where is he now?”
“As soon as we arrived here, I sent him back to the hideout to recover more loot with the villagers. He should be back with the others sometime within the next day.”
Calum lay back against the pillows again. Aside from nearly being pummeled to death, everything else seemed to have worked out. “Good.”
“Rest. I will find you something to eat.”
When Axel reached Pike’s Garrison with the villagers that afternoon, Magnus met him at the edge of town, grinning.
“Calum is awake.”
Axel dropped the huge sack of loot that hung over his shoulder and charged past Magnus toward Stavian and Reginia’s house. He didn’t stop until he made it inside Calum’s room and stood at the foot of the bed, his heart pounding as he stared at Calum’s bruised and battered face.
But his eyes were open, and he was sitting up in the bed.
“You’re… alright?” He couldn’t help but smile.
Calum nodded. “Yeah. I’m alright.”
Axel pointed at Calum as he came around the side of the bed. “You had me really worried. After you killed that last bandit, I didn’t know what was gonna happen to you.”
Calum sat up and scooted back against the bed’s headboard. “That makes two of us. Thanks for helping Magnus get me back here. I can’t ever repay you for this and everything else you’ve—”
“Don’t start that with me.” Axel held up his hand. “We’re best friends. Brothers. That’s what we do for each other.”
“Well, I owe you.” Calum smiled.
“I’ll be sure to cash in later on.” Axel whacked his shoulder, and Calum winced. “Oh, sorry. Still sore?”
Calum nodded and rubbed the spot. “Might be for awhile.”
“I know what you mean. After that last fight, everything hurt.” Axel sighed. “Of course, since I actually know how to fight, I didn’t get the sap kicked out of me like you.”
“Keep it up, and I might die of laughter,” Calum said, his voice flat. “Anyway, I had another dream about Lumen.”
Axel glanced back at the door. “Did you talk to Magnus about it yet?”
“No. It was just before I woke up this morning. I forgot to mention it, and he’s been outside helping people with odd jobs around the village.”
“And?”
Calum shrugged. “And I think that’s a nice thing for him to do. I’d be doing the same if I were able to get out of bed.”
“No.” Axel rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “The dream, Calum.”
“Oh. Whoops.” He gave a quick chuckle. “It, uh… it was basically the same as last time, except that this time he touched my chest with the tip of his sword. It felt like fire was spreading through my veins, strengthening me, and then I woke up.”
Axel raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s…interesting.”
“Anyway, he said we—he said I am supposed to go release him.”
“So you’re still on that, huh?” Axel folded his arms. A part of him had secretly hoped one of those bandits had knocked some sense into Calum during that beating. Then maybe he wouldn’t have to waste time on what would ultimately be a fruitless quest with a disappointing end.
“Definitely. I feel it inside of me. It’s something I need to do,” Calum insisted. “And if Magnus was right about the thousand-year legend, then we’ll be doing Kanarah a favor, too.”
Oh, Calum. You and your delusions of grandeur. “If he’s even real.”
“You’re still skeptical?”
Axel shrugged. “In nineteen years I’ve never even heard of him, and neither had you.”
Calum chuckled again. “Yeah, but we didn’t exactly get out much.”
“Hm.” Axel had to concede that one. “True.”
“Think about it—it’s been a thousand years since Lumen was locked away. Plus, the King doesn’t want him released because Lumen’s gonna overthrow him and free us from his oppression. So there’s the issue of a lot of time passing coupled with the idea that the King is probably stifling any murmurs about Lumen’s return.”
Axel supposed that made sense, but it still all sounded too farfetched for him to believe. If this ancient warrior was supposed to be so powerful, and if he was going to awaken in a thousand years anyway, what did he need the help of someone like Calum for?
Calum leaned forward. “It all sounds like a good way to hide someone as important as Lumen, if you ask me.”
Axel cleared his throat and put his hand on Calum’s shoulder, much gentler this time. “Look, Calum. I know you want all of this Lumen stuff to be true, but it’s pretty unbelievable. I don’t want you to get your hopes up and then find out that you just imagined the whole thing.”
“I know you don’t,” Calum said. “But I’d rather take the chance and see if we can change Kanarah for good rather than keep scraping by every day. I mean, if Lumen is real, and he really will save Kanarah from the King, can you even imagine what’ll happen to us if we’re the ones who set him free?”
The only thing Axel knew for sure was that he was growing weary of this conversation. He shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Calum glanced at the window. “We’ll be heroes. If we set him free, we’ll be heroes. We could become generals, or princes, or nobility. We could rule Kanarah with him.”
Axel held up his hands. “Alright, even if he is real, we don’t know that any of that would actually happen.”
“So we just shouldn’t try?” Calum’s blue eyes locked onto Axel. “You have to admit that just making the journey, seeing the Tri-Lakes up close, and visiting the Blood Mountains is gonna be the adventure of a lifetime. That alone is worth the effort.”
Axel narrowed his eyes. Though they didn’t agree about the whole freeing Lumen escapade, Axel had to admit Calum was right about the adventure part. Traveling and exploring Kanarah was exactly what he’d always wanted to do.
But Calum’s irrational desire to go even farther, to venture across the valley to an unfamiliar land in hopes of finding something that may not even exist had less appeal for Axel. What did Western Kanarah even have to offer someone like him?
Wolves, Windgales, and more Saurians. The one he had to travel with was enough of a burden already, thank you very much.
“You don’t have to believe it’s true to come,” Calum said. “I just want you there if we do find him. I want to free Lumen with my best friend at my side.”
“Tone down the sappiness, will you?”
“Sorry.” Calum chuckled. “It’s true, though.”
Axel sighed. How could he refuse? At least it was a plan of some sort. He could follow it… for now. At least until something better crested his horizon.
“Then you’d better get healthy soon,” Axel said. “I’m not getting any younger, and neither is Scales.�
�
Calum beamed. “Give me a day or two, and we can get out of here.”
Axel pointed to him. “You got it. Two days. If you’re not up by then, I’m gonna haul you outta that bed and drag you across the valley myself. Crystal?”
Calum nodded. “Clear.”
Within a day and a half, Calum made it to his feet again, walking and even jogging a bit. The swelling on his face had gone down, and his bruised ribs didn’t hurt as much. His limbs still ached, but far less so. By the next morning, he was ready to go on his way with Magnus and Axel.
They said their goodbyes to Stavian and Reginia, their newest and only other friends in Kanarah. Calum shook Stavian’s gloved hand, and when he hugged Reginia, he couldn’t help but think of her as his mother again.
She’d taken care of him while he recovered, let him sleep in one of her beds, and showed him kindness and compassion unlike anything he’d ever experienced. As they embraced, he realized he would miss her the most.
The journey back to the bandits’ hideout took longer since Calum had to walk slower than normal and needed to stop more often. As dusk settled around them after their first day, Magnus began working on the campfire, and Calum unsheathed his sword and challenged Axel to spar.
“Take it easy, Calum.” Magnus stacked chunks of wood over a small pit he’d dug out. “It is senseless to risk re-injuring yourself.”
“I know, Magnus. I just want to gauge where I’m at in my recovery. You never know when we might run into trouble.”
Calum squared his body with Axel’s, and the sparring began. He circled Axel and threw a few quick jabs—though not as quick as before he’d taken his beating. His body just refused to cooperate exactly as it had before.
He wondered if he’d sustained any permanent damage. Hardink’s bad foot came to mind, but that was an injury. Calum was just sore and needed to loosen up and reeducate his body in the ways of fighting.