by Joe Jackson
“Kris, over here,” he heard Sonja whisper.
He whipped around and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said.
Only Sonja’s upper body was visible, leaning out of a slice of light that he suspected was some trans-dimensional portal. She ushered him through, and Kris stepped into something out of a dream. It was like he’d entered one of the archmages’ towers back home on Citaria. It wasn’t that large, but had enough space for all of their companions and a number of amenities, not the least of which was wash water. After punching Sonja’s shoulder playfully and receiving the same in return, Kris made his way directly to the wash bin.
“So, who is this girl?” Eli asked, looking over Katarina’s shoulder while the paladin administered her healing arts and washed the mallasti’s matted fur at the same time.
“No idea, but they had her walled up inside the tower,” Kris answered.
“Walled up?” Katarina echoed.
“Entombed,” he confirmed. “She either really ticked Arku off, or–”
“She’s a vulkinastra,” Sonja broke in. “I don’t know what Arku would have against her kind, but I’d bet that’s what landed her in prison.”
“Vulkinastra? Is that what they call the albinos?”
“They’re not albino, it’s something different,” the archmage said. “I’ll be back. I’m going to step outside and see if I can contact Liria.”
“Stay out of sight,” Kris commanded, probably unnecessarily. He turned to Corbanis, who was tending to the mallasti girl along with Katarina. “Were you able to get away without being spotted?”
“Near as I could tell,” he answered.
“Nothing has approached our hidden sanctuary, but Sonja informed us she can only keep this little pocket of home open for so long,” Markus said, stepping up beside Kris. “Hopefully, we have brought Arku’s hunters back toward us, but that does leave us in a precarious position, my friend.”
“Yeah, this plan went to shit faster than expected,” Kris agreed, snickering at the sudden surprised looks he received. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to rescue Erik. This isn’t about muscle anymore. I think some of you should head home, and the rest of us will try to slip through the lines and find Erik. Hopefully, Sharyn has caught up to him by now and can help lead him and his rescuers to safety.”
“That means you’ll lose Sonja, too, though,” Sherman argued, rising to his feet. “I must assume you’re planning to send those of us without the ability to see at night or keep up with you half-guardians home.”
Kris squared his jaw. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way,” he began.
“There is no taking it the wrong way,” Markus said, waving away Kris’ placation. “As you said, this is no longer about muscle. It is likewise not about diplomacy, nor a mission of mercy. Our skills are no longer of use to you, so it will benefit you if some of us leave those better suited to this task.”
“I just feel bad having asked you to come and now asking you to leave. That’s not how I want to treat my friends. You’re not my soldiers. But on the other hand, there’s only one other thing I could ask you to do, and it’s exceedingly dangerous.”
“Just tell us what you need done,” Eli said. “I don’t see any snivelers here.”
“Corbanis, Aeligos, Eli, and Katarina – you lot are with me, along with Liria when she gets back to us. Our goal is going to be to catch up to Sharyn, Erik, and whoever helped to rescue Erik.”
“Why do you want me with you, Kris?” Katarina asked. “I’ll be hard-pressed to keep up with the rest of you, and as was mentioned, I can’t see well at night.”
The Warlord gestured at the mallasti under the paladin’s care. “I need an accomplished healer. There’s no telling what condition Erik and his rescuers will be in when we find them, particularly if they’re being hounded or have even been attacked.” That sobered everyone up quickly, but Kris turned to Sonja as she returned. “Were you able to contact Liria?”
The archmage nodded. “She should be on her way to us first thing in the morning. To leave before then would be to invite suspicion with the city in the state it’s in.”
“Will this domicile hold until then?” he pressed, and Sonja nodded. “All right. Krycyd, this is where I’m going to have to lean on you, brother.”
“You want us to continue toward Dauchin-Rache and make a ruckus while we do so?” the terra-rir paladin asked.
Everyone sat up straighter at that, especially when Kris nodded. “Is that asking too much? I’m serious; to me, it’s the best way to make sure what we just did in Agivak works as we hope. And if things get dicey, Sonja can take you all home. Right, Sonja?”
“I can, but it will let everyone know,” she answered. “Once we left, it would be obvious to most that we were a diversion and little more.”
“By then, I think we’ll have Erik and be on our way out of Si’Dorra. And if this works as expected, there won’t be much in the way of pursuit anywhere near us. Normally, our groups’ roles would be reversed in this – Corbanis and I would be taking point on causing a ruckus and drawing attention away from the rest of you. But with the lead Erik and his rescuers have on us, we’ve got to take advantage of speed and stamina.”
“We may not be members of your esteemed group, but we are almost all war veterans as well,” Krycyd said. “I think with our paladin auras and the arcane expertise of Sonja, we can greatly multiply the effects of your covert strike and Liria’s work. If the worst should happen, I will simply bequeath my duchy to you.”
“Oh, to hell with that,” Kris laughed, giving his half-brother a dramatic dismissive wave. “I have to duck enough duties just being a prince.”
The others chuckled. “But what about the mallasti girl?” Eli asked.
Kris glanced at her. “We’re going to see if we can get her awake and fed, and then we can see if she has somewhere to go, whether she wants to lay low, or if she wants to come with us – or, more specifically, with Krycyd’s group.”
The paladin put a hand to his chin. “I suppose speed will not be that much of an issue for us, and if she is ambulatory and energetic enough, it may add another arcanist to our ranks.”
“We may have to leave her behind, though,” Kris admitted. “We’d find somewhere safe to do so, but…”
“The vulkinastra are considered blessed among mallasti. It wouldn’t take much to find someone to take care of her,” Sonja assured everyone.
“The question that remains is whether we continue to show mercy or seek to cause as much damage as possible,” Markus put in.
“A combination of the two,” Sonja said, and Kris didn’t miss the way Aeligos nodded before she’d even spoken her mind. “We show mercy, and then we try to turn them against their duke and king. We could possibly accomplish Kris’ tertiary goal.”
The Warlord made a gesture of agreement. “That’s an excellent idea, and makes me think you have the perfect selection of members to go with you. Unless… it’s not going to bother you two to be apart, is it? You can be honest.”
Markus seemed surprised. “Katarina and I will do as you ask, Warlord, there is no need to alter your strategies or plans to account for our relationship.”
“All right, everyone start bedding down, then,” Kris ordered. “This situation could get even uglier in a hurry tomorrow. Eli… do you want to go with us or to go cause trouble?”
The half-corlyps looked back and forth between the Warlord and Markus. “You know, I’m half-tempted to go with the paladins. I think my fighting style will actually help them more than it’ll help you, but getting Erik out of Si’Dorra is the priority. And we don’t know what kind of resistance we’re going to find at the border.”
Kris nodded and went to sit beside Katarina. He assisted with washing and tending to their wounded guest while the others got ready to sleep. The mallasti had been beaten severely before being walled up, and after that she’d apparently been starved while her wounds festered. Katarina had got
ten her cleaned up so far, but the real work on the wounds still lay ahead. Kris lent his aid for a while to calm his thoughts and keep focused on something other than waiting, and continued to feed the girl healing energy once Katarina went to sleep.
Sometimes, not having to sleep that much could be a curse…
The most difficult part of it all lay in waking the girl up. Apparently, she had been asleep almost since the moment Corbanis got her out of the tower. Kris needed to feed her, but if she wouldn’t wake up, that was going to prove impossible. Kris crawled over to Sonja and roused her as gently as he could. Once she got her bearings, he led her over to the sleeping form of the mallasti girl amongst the silence of their sleeping companions.
“We’ve got to get her to wake up and eat something,” he whispered. “Now, I don’t want people asking me about this, all right? But I need you to help me wake her up.”
“You want me to try reaching out to her telepathically?”
“Yes. I can’t do it myself, so I want you to help me do the same,” he answered, and the archmage regarded him curiously. “No questions, Sonja. Just do what you do, and I’ll be there with you.”
Sonja smiled softly and laid a hand on the mallasti girl’s shoulder. Kris mirrored her motions on the girl’s other shoulder. Within moments, he felt his feet touch down on the cool stones of a dungeon floor, and could hear the ragged breathing of something running endlessly and aimlessly. Kris understood immediately: They had freed her from her physical prison, but her mind was still trapped in one, and with her body weakening at an exponential rate, there was little hope of escaping…
…unless she had the help of an experienced telepath.
“Come to me,” Kris called into the darkness of the prison hallways, his voice echoing off the damp stones. It was helpful to be able to speak infernal, but Kris wished he could speak the less imperious beshathan language to her. The only answer was the drip of water and the huffing of his unseen mark as she ran on forever. There was the stench of decay, indicating that her wounds were festering and that, too, was helping to keep her trapped here. “Sonja, this might require a woman’s touch. For all I know, I sound like Arku to her.”
“Come to us, sweetie,” Sonja called, and Kris saw the archmage step out of the dark and beside him. “There is no need to be afraid. Your time of abuse is over, but we need you to come to us and let us nurse you back to health. Calm your fears and come to the sound of my voice.”
A lightning strike lit up the hallway, blinding Kris for a moment, but it had little effect. Sonja absorbed it even as Kris tried to turn it aside.
“All right, we’ll have to try something else,” Kris whispered. Sonja started to call out to the mallasti girl again, but stopped and looked at Kris when the hallway was bathed in a warm glow that was coming from him. He smiled at the archmage sidelong. “No questions, Sonja.”
Kris took a deep breath and looked off down the hallway, expanding the light until it exposed the haggard, terrified mallasti girl gradually. He held out his hand, but made no move toward her. “Come, little one.”
Sonja mimicked him. Slowly, the hyena-girl came out of the dim edge of the light and toward them. She said nothing, and her breathing was still slowing, but her wide golden eyes were fixed on Kris’ glowing form. She nearly slipped to her knees before him, but Kris took her hands in his once she reached them.
Sonja was staring at him. “Kris?” she asked.
He had no idea what he looked like to her, and rather than jokingly tell her no questions a third time, he simply smiled. “We’re done here; let’s get to work.”
The Warlord found himself back in his physical body, and placed a calming hand to the mallasti girl’s chest as she sucked in a deep breath and tried to sit up. Sonja lent her comforting touch as well, though her eyes remained fixed on Kris. The sound of the girl’s awakening roused the others.
“You are safe, and among friends,” Kris said as compassionately as he could manage with the infernal tongue. The hyena girl reached up and gripped his hand, her unblinking gaze locked with his.
Katarina approached without even being called and began tending to the girl’s wounds. Krycyd brought some of their rations to feed the girl, but everyone understood it had to be a slow process, or she’d just end up sick.
“Sonja, it may be late enough to go see if Liria is close or on her way,” the Warlord told her, and nothing more needed be said. He and Katarina tended to the mallasti girl, who wouldn’t relinquish her hold on his hand. The others returned to get what last bits of sleep they could, and Sonja exited their temporary abode.
Liria stepped into the false tower minutes later with Sonja behind her. The syrinthian girl marched right up to Kris and started to speak, but then stopped herself.
“Oh, go ahead,” the Warlord said. “I’ve got it coming.”
Liria seemed more interested in their vulkinastra guest. “You could’ve told me you were planning an attack,” was all the syrinthian said, and even her tone wasn’t that accusatory.
“It was better if you weren’t expecting anything,” he answered. “Trust me; it would’ve changed your demeanor while you were speaking to the people there. How did the subversion go? Did the people seem to pay attention to what you were suggesting?”
“Very much so. I think your plan is working, or at least going to work, but your attack had other consequences. We’re going to get caught here if we don’t find a place to hide. So it’s a good thing I found us someplace to hide.”
Kris straightened out. “Where’s that?”
“With some of my people living just outside the city. We can’t stay with them long, but they can point us in the direction of other hiding places.”
“We just need places to lay low when the returning traffic gets heavy,” Kris said. “We’re going to push hard for that eastern border, see if we can catch up to Erik and Sharyn. Some of us are headed toward Dauchin-Rache to continue the diversion, but you’ll be with me.”
“Understood,” she said, surprising him.
“Sonja?”
“We only have another hour at most before this pocket collapses,” she said. “Let’s make certain our guest is healed up and fed as much as we can manage in that time.”
They spent the rest of their time in Sonja’s pocket dimension tending to their guest. With five paladins and Kris nursing her, they were able to cleanse the rot and infection from her body. Despite being so sick, she managed quite an appetite, and they fed her as much as they could as well. The vulkinastra remained quiet other than to occasionally thank them for their efforts and aid. She still had a long road to recovery, but to Kris’ thinking – especially after what Sonja had said about them being considered blessed – she was worth the added risk involved in taking her back to Citaria if they could.
“Speed will not be all that essential to our goals,” Gabrius said. “She will be in good hands, Warlord.”
“I’ve no doubt,” he said. The girl almost never took her eyes off of him, and he had to smile as he turned back to his companions one last time. “I have complete faith in you all. Do what you can, and we’ll get to Erik as quickly as we can. Vaya con Diós.”
Krycyd barked a laugh at that, though no one else seemed to understand the phrase. And then their time in Sonja’s pocket dimension expired, and they found themselves once again in the woods of Si’Dorra. The groups took up their things and prepared to head in different directions.
“We’ll see you all in Anthraxis in a week or so. Sonja, if there’s an emergency and you need to take everyone home, just try to send us a message of some kind, whether directly or to Anthraxis, and we’ll meet you at home.”
“Understood,” she said, and then Krycyd led their group away, the mallasti girl doing her best to walk with them, though she was clearly in rough shape.
Kris looked around the forest, but then turned to Liria. “Lead the way.”
Chapter XIII – Decisions
Kari had all of her affairs i
n order. She was only planning to be gone for a week or two, but she still hated leaving her children behind. Fortunately, with Danilynn and Damansha being new mothers and the support they received from Kyrie, there was plenty of help to watch Little Gray and Uldriana. That left things rather thin at the house, but they also had Se’sasha and some of the other syrinthians to call upon as well, if necessary. Kari had few concerns about the kids being taken care of, much as she hated being away from them.
She had assigned several of her hunters to watch over the house, though. If there was any chance Taesenus was in the area, Kari didn’t want all the strain to fall on the priestesses to try to keep the Demon Prince at bay. Taesenus might be a match for any of her hunters, but if they had numbers, he would be wise to avoid showing his face. It wasn’t the ideal situation for Kari to leave her family or co-workers in, but it was the best she could do without staying home and standing guard herself.
And my place as Avatar is in the front lines, she thought.
Kari hadn’t told anyone of her ability to go to Mehr’Durillia on her own. That was a bit of information she planned to keep secret, all the better to let her enemies monitor Eliza or the other archmages here on Citaria to no avail. If she let anyone know, it would likely be Sonja, in the hopes her sorcerous sister-in-law could guide her through some of its other uses. Surely the ability to access “the dream” and go to Mehr’Durillia couldn’t be the only use of arcane power the mallestrem child passed on to her.
She wondered if Sonja might be able to figure out the child’s name. Any questions to that effect simply evoked the response that Kari already knew his name – which she obviously didn’t. Kari was certain this was her child with Morduri, somehow trapped within her after her transformation back to her normal terra-dracon form. But that “surety” only opened up more questions, ones she had no one to ask.