Evil Within

by Richard S. Tuttle

"How much Talent do I hold?" asked the prince. "Could you draw enough out of me to protect me and still have me function as a warrior?"

  "Easily," nodded Winona. "The amount of Talent inside you is impressive. It is easily ten times the amount within me. Maybe more. It is hard for me to imagine Jared using all of that to combat his brother, but Orro insists that he will need it all when the time comes. What are you thinking?"

  "Such protection might come in handy long before we reach Zinan," mused Prince Antion. "If it could be applied without weakening either of us, it just might give us the edge we need to protect Jared."

  Chapter 61 - The Coming Spring

  The Coming Spring

  The servant picked up King Zinan's pack and departed from the king's chamber. Zinan gave one last glance around the room to see if he had forgotten to pack anything. Satisfied that he was ready to depart, he entered the queen's chamber. Queen Tamil rose from her chair with a broad smile on her face. She hurried across the floor and embraced her husband.

  "Must you leave?" she asked.

  "We have been through this already," King Zinan replied softly. "There are some things that only I can do. We will meet in a few weeks in the Castle of Capri. I can no longer stand the horrible masses of Tarent."

  "My father said that you vetoed my plan for a festival," frowned Queen Tamil. "Perhaps if the people here had more to look forward to than just paying taxes, they would be friendlier towards you."

  "I do not need their friendship," scowled King Zinan. "I am the king. They must do what I want them to do."

  "Of course," sighed the queen, "but there are more pleasant ways of getting things done. It would not cost much to hold a festival and the people would see that you care for them."

  "I do not care for them," retorted the king. "They live by my sufferance. I do not need their permission for anything."

  "Zinan," pleaded the queen, "you are a strong ruler and you can keep the people in line, but what about your son? If you turn the people of Borunda against you, they will seek revenge upon your son when you are gone. Is it asking too much to throw a bone to the dogs once in a while to keep peace within your kingdom? Will you conquer the world only to leave it to your son who will be hated by all? Let me handle the people of Tarent. I will turn their black hearts away from hatred and make them happy. I am sure that I can do it. Let me help you build a future for our son. Please?"

  King Zinan sighed and stared into his wife's face. Her large brown eyes and elfish smile brought a smile to his stubborn lips, and he began laughing.

  "Sometimes I wonder who truly rules this palace," he chuckled. "If your father is not trying to bend my will in the meeting room, you are twisting it in the bedroom. You may have your festival, Tamil, but be gentle with my purse. The wars are not over just yet, and I shall have great need of the gold in the next few months."

  "Couldn't you stay home for a few weeks and enjoy the festival?" pushed the queen. "Surely whatever task is dragging you from Tarent can wait a while?"

  "Actually," frowned the king, "it can not wait at all. The timing of my trip is incredibly important. I have waited all winter for this precise moment to arrive. I must leave immediately."

  The king kissed his wife goodbye and hurried through the palace to join his waiting escort.

  * * *

  The huge Oasis was packed with Odessian warriors and their beauties. Thousands of men milled about waiting for the call that would send them over the river and into Vineland to foil the attack on Caxon. They had been waiting for over a month and were growing very restless.

  Inside a large yurt the King of Odessia and his advisors were just as restless. King Rihad sat and stared at the map spread out before him. While his eyes focused on the features of the map, his thoughts were elsewhere. Kanior paced the floor of the yurt, the impatience of his youth demanding a physical release of his pent up energy. The other advisors were detached from the crisis. Some sat near the wall of the yurt discussing mundane thoughts, while others slept upon the beds lining the walls of the yurt. Finally Kanior halted in front of the table with the map on it.

  "The witch was lying," he said accusingly. "If the Vinelanders had any thoughts of using the frozen river to cross into Caroom, they should have begun their march already. The spring melt is upon us and soon the Vine River will be flooding its banks. She has lured your armies to the far eastern section of Odessia to lay bare Oran for a Borundan attack."

  "That is a possibility," King Rihad nodded calmly, "but her voice was one of reason. I could have ignored her warnings and let Caxon fall, but I chose not to. We will wait another week to see what the Vinelanders do. If there is no move to the north as we suspect, we will head back to Natura and make alternate plans, but I still believe that Naveena was speaking the truth as she knew it."

  "As she knew it," echoed Kanior. "I suspect that she was fed worthless information to draw us away from Oran. Our city lies unprotected and our armies are a world away from helping to defend it."

  "Understood," sighed King Rihad. "Odessian warriors are not city defenders, Kanior. Our strength lies on the sands and the swiftness of our mounts. Would you truly want to see your brothers standing on the ramparts trying to defend a city? That is not the legacy of our civilization. Even in the olden times, Odessians were the attacker of cities, not the defenders. Let the Borundans seize Oran and then we shall see how long they keep it."

  The Odessian king revealed nothing about his knowledge of his neighboring allies, but he knew that the Salacian army sat poised on their eastern frontier ready to ride through Oran and attack Capri. If the Borundans were foolish enough to attack Oran, they would be facing the armies of two great nations, not one. The Odessian and Salacian armies would easily overwhelm the Borundans.

  The king and his advisors were distracted by the sounds from outside the yurt. As a rider raced towards the door and dismounted in a hurry, the advisors dropped their quiet conversations and stared at the flap of the yurt. Those who had been resting on beds sat up and waited expectantly. The flap was drawn back and a warrior swiftly entered the yurt. He bowed to King Rihad and hurried to the table to report.

  "The Vinelanders are cracking the ice in the Vine River," the warrior reported. "It is as if they know what we are planning."

  "What area of the river are they removing the ice from?" asked the king.

  "All of it," answered the warrior. "They must have been working on it for weeks, but no one thought it was important enough to report as it was not in the area where we planned to cross. I sent scouts all the way down to the mouth of the river. The river flows free everywhere south of the upper bend. If they complete this last section, we will not be able to cross the river unless we use the bridges down by Laborg."

  "Did your scouts check those bridges?' asked Kanior.

  "They did," nodded the warrior. "Both bridges are heavily guarded. There are also engineers camped nearby each of them in case they have to be dismantled."

  "So there is truth in the witch's words," the king declared as he glanced at Kanior. "Can the Vinelanders be stopped from breaking the ice cover completely?"

  "I don't think so," the warrior shook his head. "We would have to fire upon the Vinelanders to dissuade them from continuing and that would be an act of war. Even if we chose that path, the flow is free below the bend. They need only crack the ice enough to separate it. The flow of the river will take care of the rest."

  "Have their armies started moving northward?" asked Kanior.

  "Not yet," the warrior shook his head.

  "Then to attack the river workers would be an unprovoked act of war indeed," frowned the king. "We would be giving Borunda a valid excuse to attack us."

  "And our attack would be insufficient to halt the destruction of the ice," added Kanior. "They have outsmarted us."

  "I do not understand their timing," mused the king. "In another week the river ice would break up on its own. If they intended to use the ice to cross into Caroom, why wait until the
very last minute to do so? Was the timing such that they needed the thaw to halt our advance across the Vine River, or is there a more important reason for cutting things so closely?"

  "If we hurried," interjected the warrior, "we could get our armies across by going through Lom. None of the Vinelanders appeared to be working around our boundary with Lom."

  "The Lomites would not let us ride through their country," Kanior shook his head. "There are still memories of the ancient wars between our two peoples. The only way we can aid Caroom now is to ride around Lom and join forces with those defending Caxon."

  "I will not take our armies so far from home," declared King Rihad. "Besides, by the time we got there, the battle would be over. Send a runner to Caxon, Kanior. Tell King Justin that the Odessians will be unable to help in the upcoming battle. Make sure that he understands that we desire to help, but are incapable of crossing the river. If his family needs to flee, Natura stands ready to welcome them."

  * * *

  As Prince Derri reached the crest of the hill, he slowed his pace to view the trail behind him. He had intended to search for the Borundans tracking him, but his eyes fell on Winona who was only half way up the hill.

  "Winona is in trouble," the Salacian prince said as Prince Antion reached the summit. "I think her horse has gone lame."

  The Arin prince turned and looked down the hill. Winona had dismounted and was walking her horse up the hill. Prince Antion turned his horse around and rode down to help her.

  "What is the problem?" the prince called as he neared her.

  "She cannot keep up with the Odessian beauties," replied Winona. "She will die if I continue at your pace."

  Prince Antion halted and dismounted as the rest of the group came down the hill to help.

  "We need to rest a bit," declared Winona.

  "We can't," replied Prince Derri. "The Borundans are only an hour behind us."

  "You saw them?" Prince Antion asked with alarm.

  "You can see them from the summit," nodded the Salacian prince. "They are moving at a decent pace. Within an hour they will be here."

  "We do not have far to go," offered Monte. "The next big hill after this one is the last before Caxon. We can be in the city by nightfall. Surely the Borundans would not dare to chase us into Caxon."

  "They have followed us doggedly for days," mentioned Sandar. "I would not put it past them to try to kill us in Caxon."

  "My brother is in the army," retorted Monte. "I will alert him to the presence of the Borundans. No Caroomite soldier will stand for a foreign army in his land."

  Prince Antion looked at Monte and nodded his agreement. "I will stay with Winona," he declared. "The rest of you must get Jared to Caxon. We will meet you there tomorrow."

  "I think not," frowned Prince Umal. "We are not going to leave you to the Borundans. Derri can escort Jared to the city while the rest of us plan a defense."

  "No," Prince Antion replied strongly. "I have no intentions of fighting the Borundans if we can help it. They are an hour behind us. That is sufficient time for all of you to get into the city and alert the Caroom army. Winona and I will hide in the woods until the Borundans have passed. By then my horse will have had sufficient rest to carry both of us on to Caxon."

  "His plan makes sense," offered Talot. "There is a rock-strewn path at the summit of this hill. Winona and Prince Antion can veer off the trail without their trackers taking notice of it. They will pass by quickly to try to capture us before we reach the city. It can work."

  "If it must be done this way," nodded Prince Derri, "let us do it and stop wasting time with arguments."

  Prince Umal reluctantly agreed and the six men turned and raced for the summit, leaving Prince Antion and Winona to climb the hill on foot leading their horses behind them.

  "Why did you demand to stay with me?" asked Winona. "I could just as easily have hidden in the woods alone."

  "Your horse is exhausted," replied the prince. "It will take much more than an hour's rest for it to recuperate. We will abandon her as soon as we are well away from this trail. My Odessian beauty, however, will be ready when we are. It made sense that one of us had to stay with you, and I could not assign that to someone else."

  "Because you fear that we might have to fight after all?" questioned Winona. "That is the truth of the matter, isn't it?"

  "Prince Umal chose the very best horse in Harangar for you to ride," replied the Arin prince. "She has done well, but not well enough. How do you think the Borundan horses are holding up under the pace that Prince Derri has set?"

  "They must be equally exhausted," frowned Winona. "Do you fear that the Borundans will give up the chase near the summit of this hill?"

  "The thought crossed my mind," nodded the prince. "If they do halt near the summit, we will be in great danger. I could not ask one of the others to assume a risk that they might not be aware of."

  "You are a strange man for a prince," Winona smiled thinly. "I could almost believe that your parents disowned you."

  "Your people have been gone from the Land of the Nine Kingdoms for too long," chuckled the prince. "Your views on the character of royal families are antiquated. Someday I will introduce you to my father so you can see how a true Arin king behaves. You will find him refreshing."

  Although Winona was sure that the prince had meant his invitation as a joke, her reply was sincere. "I would truly enjoy meeting your father," she smiled. "Perhaps Harangar has been isolated for too many generations."

  They reached the summit of the hill and immediately turned off. Prince Antion led the way into the forest with Winona following closely. There was no trail to follow, but there was a strip of broken and weathered stones that appeared to have been part of an ancient wall. They chose their steps carefully and moved slowly to avoid leaving any imprints for the Borundans to follow. The pace was agonizingly slow, but they finally came to a clearing where it was safe to move off of the old wall.

  "Let me protect you with the Talent," Winona suggested. "If it comes to battle, at least you will be better equipped to deal with it."

  "Can you protect yourself as well?" asked the prince.

  "I cannot," Winona shook her head. "I only have the capacity to protect one of us."

  "Draw from me," suggested Prince Antion. "I want both of us protected, and I cannot afford for you to faint. Orro has taught me how to cut off the flow of Talent should I ever need to."

  Winona drew the Talent from the prince's body and when she was done she asked, "Did you need to cut off the flow?"

  "Not at all," the prince shook his head as he ran his fingers over his arm. "The skin feels normal. Are you sure it worked?"

  Winona drew a knife from her belt and handed it to the prince. "Try it," she suggested. "Stab either your arm or mine."

  Prince Antion took the knife and hesitantly put it to his skin. The skin dimpled under the point of the knife, but the blade did not pierce the flesh. He pushed harder and his eyes widened in amazement. He handed the knife back to Winona.

  "How long will it last?" he asked.

  "I don't know," admitted Winona. "It is something that Orro taught me. I could hardly practice it on myself. When I used it on you the other day, that was my first time."

  The sound of thundering hooves forced the two warriors into silence. Although neither of them could see the trail, they both turned and stared in that direction. The noise came closer and closer as the Borundans rode up the hill. Unexpectedly, the sound distorted so that it sounded like horses galloping up both sides of the hill. Prince Antion and Winona stared at each other questioningly.

  Sudden shouts ripped through the air and clashes of metal upon metal rang out loudly. The screams of dying men drifted on the winds and then everything became silent. The sounds of boots trampling over broken stones cracked loudly, and Prince Antion drew his sword. He tried to push Winona behind him for her protection, but she stepped aside and drew her own sword. Together the two warriors waited for the enemy to app
ear.

  "Prince Antion?" called a voice from the old rock wall. "Are you here, Prince Antion?"

  The prince did not answer and the footsteps suddenly halted. A distant whispering was heard, but the words were unintelligible.

  "Prince Antion?" the voice resumed. "Do not attack us. I am Captain Laron of the Caroom army. I am a friend of Monte's brother, and Monte said you were in trouble. The Borundans are dead except for a few that ran away. It is safe for you to come out now."

  Prince Antion and Winona looked at each other questioningly. Winona shrugged with indecision. The prince hesitated a moment before speaking. He tried to think of something the Borundans would be incapable of knowing.

  "Name the person with me and where that person hails from," Prince Antion demanded loudly.

  "You are with a woman named Winona," came the reply. "Monte did not say where she was from, but I assume she is from Hyrem. If you do not wish to trust me, that is understandable. I will return with my men to our patrol. I just wanted to make sure that you were alive and safe. Beware of the Borundans that might have escaped. I cannot afford to have my men chasing them right now."

  The footsteps retreated along the old stone wall.

  "I believe him," Prince Antion said softly. "I am going out to make sure. I will whistle if it is safe."

  "Save your breath," smiled Winona. "I will be right behind you."

  The two warriors grabbed the reins of their horses and started back along the stone wall. When they could see the trail, they saw scores of Caroom soldiers milling about. Prince Antion called out to them and a tall dark-haired man separated from the group and approached the edge of the woods.

  "Thank goodness that you are still alive, Prince Antion," smiled the officer. "I am Captain Laron."

  The prince exited the woods and surveyed the battlefield. Dozens of bodies littered the group and thankfully most of them were Borundan. The prince saw several wounded Caroomites and he nodded towards them for Winona's benefit. She nodded in return and rushed to their side.

  "Winona is a wisper," Prince Antion declared. "Perhaps she can help your wounded."