by Ben Wolf
To his credit, Axel took it easier than normal too—mostly.
A few strokes into the match, Calum overreached with his sword. Axel sidestepped the swing and drove his shoulder into Calum’s, sending a bone-rattling shock throughout Calum’s whole body.
Off-balance, Calum tottered to one side, but by the time he recovered, Axel had already moved behind him. The next thing Calum knew, he’d fallen to his rear-end, and fresh pain ignited throughout his body.
“That is more than sufficient for now,” Magnus said. “We still have at least a half-day of travel until we reach the bandits’ hideout. Save your strength.”
Axel extended his hand down toward Calum, who grasped it and allowed Axel to help pull him up to his feet.
“At the end, there, what did you do?” Calum asked.
Axel smirked. “I grabbed the back collar of your armor and pulled you down. Once I had you, I could’ve done anything. Stabbed you. Cut off your head. Drove my knee into your spine. If you let your enemy get behind you, you’re in for a world of hurt.”
Calum glanced at Magnus, who nodded. I’ll remember that.
Despite his lingering aches, around noon the next day, Calum was the first to crest the edge of the gorge that concealed the bandits’ hideout. When they closed to within three hundred yards, Magnus yanked them both behind a row of pine trees and told them to be quiet.
“What’s wrong?” Calum stretched his back after the harsh jerk on his armor.
“The King’s soldiers.” Magnus snarled. “Have a look, quietly.”
Calum and Axel parted some of the conifer branches with their arms and peered down at the house. Even from far away they could see men with black armor patrolling the grounds, including one man on a white horse.
Magnus huffed. “They found the hideout.”
Chapter Twenty
Axel cursed, and Calum couldn’t blame him for doing it. He thought they’d struck a vein of good fortune—at least up until now. The King’s soldiers had complicated everything, as usual.
“What’re we gonna do now?” Calum asked.
“We cannot go down there,” Magnus said. “So put any such thoughts out of your mind.”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.” Axel rubbed his hands together and smirked. “Let’s take them out.”
“Are you serious?” Calum shook his head. Sometimes Axel came up with the worst possible ideas. “There are at least two dozen men down there, and maybe more inside. We can’t handle them, even with Magnus.”
“We just brought down eleven bandits without any problems.”
Calum eyed Axel.
“Alright, you got beat up, but you’re fine now.”
Calum kept eyeing him.
“Mostly fine.” Emphatic, Axel said, “Come on. We can take them.”
“Keep your voices down, both of you.” Magnus glanced over his shoulder. “Royal soldiers typically deploy a minimum of one scout for every five to ten men in a given area, so there is likely one nearby. If he finds us, we will quickly encounter a surplus of trouble. If you wish to discuss our options, we must find somewhere safer to talk.”
Axel frowned, but nodded, and Calum nodded too.
After a ten-minute walk to the southeast, all three of them hunched behind a boulder about half the size of Stavian and Reginia’s house.
Axel pointed toward the bandits’ hideout. “That’s our coin in there. Ours. We earned it. We can’t just let them take it.”
As much as Calum wished otherwise, he couldn’t deny the truth. “I don’t think we have a choice anymore.”
“We can take them by surprise, just like we did the bandits.”
Calum’s voice flattened. “Yeah, we know how that turned out.”
Axel shrugged. “Hey, you wanted to go in alone.”
“I went in alone to make it easier for you guys to get inside.”
“Yeah.” Axel looked him up and down. “And we know how that turned out.”
Calum scowled at him. “Maybe if you’d gotten inside faster, I wouldn’t be in this sorry state.”
“Not my fault you can’t fight worth a—”
“Leave him alone, Axel,” Magnus said. “He defeated four of them on his own before they overpowered him. I doubt you would have done as well.”
“I would’ve done better.” Axel folded his arms.
In fairness, based on how well he’d fought the other bandits once they finally did get inside, Axel probably would’ve done better, but Calum wasn’t about to admit that.
“The point is, we cannot engage twenty-five of the King’s soldiers at once. With only three blades, it is folly to think otherwise,” Magnus said.
“Come on. You’re as strong as ten of them, plus you can regenerate if you get injured, plus you have that incredible armor. What are you worried about?” Axel scoffed. “This should be easy. If there are twenty-five men inside, then twenty-five swings is all you’d need to end this, plus you’ll have Calum and me to watch your back.”
“I’m in no condition to fight.” That, Calum could admit. Even the thought of doing battle again sent fresh aches throughout his body. “Our sparring today proved that. I can walk or even run, but I’d rather wait a bit longer to heal up before I jump back into fighting.”
Axel raised his hands and smacked them on his thighs. “Then we wait a couple of days and then go in.”
“I warned you to keep your voice down.” Magnus hissed. He clicked his talons on his breastplate. “If we wait that long, the soldiers may be gone, but so will our spoils.”
“Then you and I can go.” Axel nudged Magnus with his elbow. “We’ll stash Calum somewhere safe and go in ourselves and—”
“Evidently, you have no understanding of what is transpiring down there.” Magnus squared his body and stared down at Axel. “Those soldiers are not there by accident. They have almost certainly been pursuing us since we hit the Rock Outpost. Before that, even—since we left your family farm. They are hunting us, Axel, which means they are on to our trail.”
A shock of terror filled Calum’s chest. “They’re tracking us?”
What did that mean? Were the soldiers going to catch up? If they got caught, would they send Calum back to the quarry, or would they just kill him outright?
Magnus nodded. “I have been tracked by the King’s soldiers before. They will probably stop at Pike’s Garrison next, and then they will head back into the forest to look for us again. As such, we need to disappear now. That means no more spoils.”
Axel’s jaw hardened. “That’s unacceptable.”
“It is reality,” Magnus countered. “If they find us, I expect they will surround and kill us. The best I could hope for in such a dire situation would be escaping with my own life, not protecting yours as well.”
Calum shuddered at the thought of fighting to the death, only to be the one dying at the end of the fight.
Magnus exhaled a long sigh. “It is not as easy as twenty-five swings of my sword. If it were, everyone would be a warrior. After all of our training, I thought you would have learned that.”
Axel glared at him. “I learned enough to take out half of the remaining bandits in that house on my own, without your help. I could’ve taken all of them had you not been there.”
“Your delusions know no limits,” Magnus muttered.
“Alright. That’s enough.” Calum held up his hands. Why did Calum always have to get between these two? “I’m sick of this pointless arguing. It’s not getting us any closer to a solution.”
“He needs to realize he is not as capable a fighter as he believes,” Magnus said, “or he may soon find himself wandering the afterlife with his ego in tow.”
“I said enough, Magnus.”
To Calum’s surprise, Magnus didn’t say anything else after that.
Calum refocused on Axel. “We’re not going down there, Axel, so forget it. We’d just get ourselves killed. There’s no scenario in which we’d win against those odds without serious
help.”
Axel shook his head. “You don’t know that.”
“I’m telling you,” Calum firmed up his voice, “we’re not going down there. Crystal?”
Axel stepped in front of him, his brow furrowed. “No, it’s not crystal, Calum. You want me to go with you to find some fairytale warrior that probably doesn’t even exist, but you won’t back me when it’s our lives and our livelihood on the line?”
Calum stood his ground, something he probably wouldn’t have done had they been back at the quarry or on Axel’s farm. “I’m not asking you to walk into an instant death-trap. That’s what you’re asking here. It’s just a bad idea.”
“And your little quest isn’t?” Axel spat.
“Why are you attacking me?” Calum held his hands out to his sides.
“Because you think you’re in charge, but you’re not.”
“No one is in charge,” Magnus said.
“Easy for you to say.” Axel scoffed. “You two always side with each other.”
Calum sighed. Why was this so hard? “We’re not trying to team up against you, Axel.”
“Well, it sure seems like it.”
Magnus snorted.
Axel held up his hand and started to walk away. “Whatever. You said we’re not going down there, so there’s no point in wasting time here. Gotta find Calum’s mystery warrior and save the world before the thousand years is up, right?”
As Axel disappeared behind some trees, Calum sighed again and looked up at Magnus. “What am I supposed to do?”
Magnus patted him on his back. “He will come around. Come on. The last thing we need is to lose him in the forest when he is upset.”
Axel exhaled a long sigh and tossed a piece of gristle from dinner into the campfire. The only reason he hadn’t left these two jokers behind was because he had literally no idea where he was. Without Magnus to guide him, he’d get lost in the woods.
Frankly, he was already lost in the woods, just with other people who weren’t. It frustrated him all the more to realize he was essentially trapped with Scales and Calum. He resolved to learn how to navigate using the stars so he’d never find himself in such a miserable position ever again.
“Do you intend to be sour all night?” Magnus asked.
Axel rolled his eyes. Didn’t the Saurian realize that asking questions like that just made him angrier? “Yes.”
Magnus shook his head and sat down next to Calum on the opposite side of the camp. “I suggest we set watches tonight.”
Back in Pike’s Garrison, before they’d tried to collect the rest of their plunder from the bandits’ hideout, they’d traded their meager amount of loot for the King’s royal currency—gold coins with his insignia stamped on them. Much easier to carry around a skull-sized leather pouch stuffed with gold pieces than a sack bulging with various trinkets and valuables.
“We cannot afford to get robbed again,” Magnus continued. “If we each sleep four hours at a time and leave one man up, we can all get a good night’s rest. I will gladly take the middle shift so you can both sleep without interruption.”
Calum nodded. “Sounds good. You want the first shift or the last shift, Axel?”
“Whatever.” If it mattered, Axel would’ve given a better response.
Magnus turned and stared into the dark forest. “Tomorrow we can head west toward the edge of the range again. We can continue our search for a way down.”
“According to Stavian’s map, we should be almost to Trader’s Pass by now.” Calum leaned toward the fire, extended his hands, and rubbed them together. “Why not just head straight to Kanarah City and use the pass?”
“Given our recent escapades, it is likely the soldiers there will be looking for us. If not, they will at least be aware of who we are. If they recognize us, it will complicate our journey, to say the least.” Magnus smacked a beetle that had landed on his leg, then he licked it off his hand with his long, red tongue.
Axel wrinkled his nose and frowned.
“Excuse me.” Magnus added, “Granted, I’m not certain they will come after us, but I’d rather not risk it unless we have no other choice.”
“I understand.” Calum looked at Axel. “What do you think?”
Axel rolled his eyes. “We all know that neither of you actually care what I think, so you don’t have to keep asking my opinion.”
“Axel—”
“Just drop it,” Axel snapped. “From now on, I’m just gonna cooperate and do whatever you guys want me to do, alright? Like a dutiful soldier. An obedient salve.”
And we’ll see how everything turns out then.
Calum sighed. “Fine, then. You take the first watch. I’ll take the last watch. I’m beat.”
Axel nodded. “Sure thing, boss.”
Now Calum rolled his eyes.
Something shook Calum awake. When he opened his eyes, he saw a big green hand on his chest, connected to a matching arm. An imposing reptilian face startled him at first, until he recognized Magnus.
“Your turn for the watch, Calum.” Magnus extended his hand and pulled Calum up.
“Thanks.” Calum yawned and stretched his sore arms, grateful that they felt better now than when he’d gone to sleep.
“It will be sunrise soon, but I intend to sleep my allotted four hours. If Axel wakes up early, please ask him to keep quiet.”
Calum nodded and yawned again, then he sat down on a boulder near the campfire. Despite the chilly night air, the fire warmed him up. The boulder, which had absorbed some of the fire’s heat also warmed his bottom.
“The bag of gold is right here next to you. Guard this especially. It is paramount. Wake me if you need help. I seriously doubt anyone or anything will come after it with the fire burning and with you awake, but those sabertooths came for us under these same conditions, so be on your guard anyway.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it, Magnus.” Calum waved him away and rubbed his eyes. “Go to sleep. I’ll be fine.”
Magnus nodded. “Good night, then.”
An hour passed. Calum stoked the fire, added a few more logs from the pile they’d gathered, and considered all that had transpired since he left the quarry.
He’d traveled the Snake Mountains. He’d fought and killed sabertooth cats. He’d run away from soldiers and raided one of their outposts, and he’d gotten clobbered by a group of bandits almost to the point of death.
And he’d killed people—at least two for sure. Granted, everyone he’d fought had meant him harm or wanted to kill him instead.
Magnus had warned Calum it would happen, that he’d have to make those kinds of choices, and he’d made them. Now those men would never draw breath again because of his blade. Still, he took comfort in knowing that he’d spared lives when he could.
On top of all of that, he’d had multiple dreams of Lumen. Perhaps when Calum finally found and freed him, all of this strife and violence would end. Maybe peace—true peace, not the kind manufactured by the King’s tyranny—would reign in Kanarah, and everyone would just—
A shadow moved beyond the campfire.
Was it a shadow? Or was he imagining things?
Calum stared at the spot, and his eyes traced around the camp in the direction he thought he saw it move.
Nothing.
Yeah, right.
Something was out there. Or at least that’s the stance he intended to take. He wouldn’t convey it, though. Better to give the thief confidence and let him try something.
Still, if this was a Wolf like Magnus had thought, how would Calum fare if he had to face off against it? Were Wolves vicious? Intelligent versions of the sabertooth cats they’d faced? Or did they prefer to remain in the darkness and avoid confrontation? Calum would soon find out.
If he’d actually seen a shadow move.
Calum patted the bag of gold with his fingers then leaned back and stared up at the stars for a moment. They shimmered against the night sky like glistening drops of water stuck in place, unable to fall.<
br />
Something rustled behind him.
Calum swiveled his head and peered beyond the darkness, but it was only Axel, shifting in his sleep. Calum turned back and stared at the flickering campfire for a moment. Again, he wondered if he’d actually seen a shadow move in the first place or if his mind and the flickering campfire were playing tricks on him.
It didn’t matter. He needed to behave as if he hadn’t seen it. Then he could get the drop on whoever was—
A twig snapped to his left. The thief—or whatever it was—wasn’t very quiet, and now Calum knew for sure that he wasn’t alone.
Calum turned his head and stared in that direction for a moment, then he thought better of it. Perhaps he was feeding into the thief’s plan. Well, as long as he kept his hand on the—
His fingers grasped only air where the pouch should have been.
When he looked down, it was gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Magnus! Axel!” Calum’s voice split the quiet night.
Magnus sprung to his feet and his sword sang into his hand. “What is it? Are we being attacked?”
“Someone took the bag.”
Axel stirred from his sleep as well, but much slower.
“What?” Magnus stepped toward him. “Did you fall asleep? Were you not guarding it?”
Calum shook his head. “I was awake the whole time. It was sitting here next to me. I heard a sound over there, so I looked. I didn’t see anything, and when I turned back, the bag was gone.”
“Wait, what?” Axel stood. “What happened?”
Magnus glared at Calum, then he turned to Axel. “The bag is gone. Someone took it.”
Axel’s eyes widened. He stomped toward Calum. “You let someone take our coin? All of it?”
“He stole it when I wasn’t looking,” Calum explained. “I didn’t hear any footsteps. I didn’t hear the coins clinking when the pouch got stolen. I didn’t hear or see anything. I couldn’t have known—”
Axel grabbed Calum by the sides of his leather breastplate and shook him. “I’m gonna kill you.”