A Child of Two Worlds
Page 24
They searched the wreckage for the other three packs but were unable to find them. It was only by pure luck that the one they had found was Terra’s and that the remaining Eye was still in it. Alex hoped their luck held out for some time more.
“That should be enough for a week or so. There also have to be things to hunt,” he said.
Caitlyn nodded. “There are. But some of them hunt you too.”
“At least it’ll be fair,” Alex joked.
“Fair be more interestin’,” the Dwarf said gruffly. “More dangerous too. Though some wild boar would be delicious, an’ they’re some o’ the most… interestin’ I’ve hunted.”
“Any of you ever hunt a ten foot yeti before?” Terra asked. They all shook their heads. “Well, they are most likely already hunting us. Let’s keep things from being too interesting.”
Five days passed, and the rain still drummed down. Every day Terra created the giant floating umbrella above them, and every night she created a large earthen tent from the ground to shelter them. Alex monitored her closely to make sure she wasn’t pushing herself too hard.
“We are going to need to find you a doctor or a mid-wife when we get to the castle,” he said that night. Terra was using her magic to lift two large rectangles of earth and set them together to make a tent.
“I’m fine, Alex. I use magic every night to make sure everything is going as it should be. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine; baby’s fine.” Terra set the two pieces in place and yawned. She felt concern spike along the link and sighed. “We need to talk,” she said as she led him away from Brahm and Caitlyn setting their things down in the tent. The changeling started to stand to follow them, but she stayed when Terra shook her head.
They walked about fifty feet from the tent. Ugh, she thought, I don’t feel well. Terra took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The crisp air steadied her stomach. Rain drummed down on the barrier above them.
“What do you need to tell me?” Alex asked when she stopped walking and faced him.
“I love you,” she said.
He smiled at her in the twilight’s gloom. “I love you too. Is everything OK?”
Terra nodded. “Alex, I don’t want you to worry about me so much. I know it’s a hard thing to ask,” she said quickly when he opened his mouth to interrupt. “I pushed myself harder than I should have while we were on the Silverwing. We should have spent more time looking for a place to land so I could rest. Because I didn’t, we’ve lost time.”
Sad eyes looked to him. She was worried. “What if the same thing has happened at Icethrone Castle because we were too late?” Terra asked. “What if I’ve failed everyone because I wasn’t strong enough?”
Alex ran his hand through his brown hair. It was getting longer, she noticed. “I’ll try to do better, Terra, but you’re right. It’s hard for me not to worry about you and the baby. I will try though.” He wrapped her in a warm embrace. “These bears and barbarians are supposed to be the most ferocious warriors on this entire world, right?” She nodded against his cheek. “I don’t think they’ll be dealt with so easily.”
Alex put his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm’s length. His green eyes searched hers. “You did everything you could to get us as far as you did. Brahm told me you cut how long it would take us to get there down to a fifth. You didn’t fail anyone. You did more than anyone could ask, and if anyone says otherwise, I’ll beat ‘em up.”
Terra laughed and shook her head. He had a knack for making her feel better. “Thank you, Alex. No matter how bad things seem, you are always able to brighten them up.” She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
Alex lifted her chin and smiled. He started to lean in to kiss her when his eyes shot up, looking above her head. “Get down,” Caitlyn shouted from behind him just as he started to dive to the side. A large black shadow sailed over them. Caitlyn had changed into her primal form. A near-human roar of pain accompanied the crunching slam of the changeling knocking the white yeti to the rain-soaked ground.
Terra shot to her feet and illuminated the area with a ball of brilliant white light above them. They were surrounded by a large band of at least thirty huge, snowy-furred bi-pedal monsters. The one on the ground stopped roaring and started gurgling as its throat was ripped out. Caitlyn roared over her kill. The yetis charged as Alex drew the Guardian’s Blade.
Bellows and more roars filled the air from nearby; the yetis ran from the sound, now ignoring the people they had surrounded. Too confused to unleash the Wrathblade, Alex stood protectively in front of Terra. Caitlyn changed back into her panther form and stood beside them.
“What would make that many run like that?” he asked as the monsters disappeared into the night.
Alex felt Terra’s anger rise. “There’s only one thing yetis fear more than fire,” she said. “Bears.”
Brahm’s hammer dripped gore onto the soaked and soiled earth. “I do no’ think…” The others didn’t find out what the rest of his sentence was going to be as they were surrounded by the hulking forms of armored bears. Alex tried to take a quick count in the darkness. There were more than fifty. A large polar bear wearing spiked platemail stepped out of the pack and stood before them.
“What brings a man, woman, Dwarf, and kitten,” he said with a sneer, “up to the north?”
Terra stepped forward. “I am the Nexus, and I would speak with your chieftain.”
The Bear eyed her up and down. “Sure you are, lass. Maybe you have the King of the Dwarves with you too!” Laughter roared from all those around. She clenched her jaws tightly. Alex could feel her quivering rage. “Is that you, little digger? Are you the storied Dwarf king?”
Brahm began to take a step forward but was restrained by Terra’s hand on his chest. “You would like proof I am who I say, cub?” Her insult caused an abrupt halt to the laughter. Terra’s clenched fists shook at her sides.
She seems angrier than she should be, Alex thought. He groaned when he realized what was happening. He tightened his grip on the Guardian’s Blade, unsure of how this would all end. Mood swings…
“You will not speak to me so disrespectfully, Woman.” The Bear started to take a step toward her. Its paw never touched the ground. Terra lifted her arms, and every one of The Bears floated a few feet into the air. Her wings shot out behind her, their blue light almost blinding in the sudden gloom as the light above winked out.
She crossed the few feet to The Bear that had been talking. Reaching up and grabbing either side of the helmeted head, she pulled The Bear’s head down to eye level. “I am the Nexus, and you will not speak so disrespectfully to me, Bear,” she roared from inches away. The Bear gulped in unmistakable fear at the rage in her eyes. “I am here to see your leader, Chieftain Rageclaw, and you will take me to him now.” Her voice dropped down to a deathly whisper. “Do you understand?”
The Bear nodded, and she dropped them all to the ground none too softly. “If you will follow me, Nexus,” it said in a cowed voice. The polar bear stood still until she nodded. It turned to lead the way. Alex waited for The Bears to put some distance between them before talking to her.
“What was up with that, Terra? You were so angry I thought you would just kill them all.”
“The thought crossed my mind,” she said, venom dripping from her voice. She was so angry that he thought she might try.
“What’s wrong?”
“They never came,” she said. The glow from her wings gave Alex just enough light to make out the fire in her eyes.
“Who never came where?”
Her enraged hazel eyes met his confused green. “The Arcane City. After the siege began, we called for aid from all of the peoples of Dae. They all came to our aid. Except for the Changelings of the Claw.” Her clenched fists shook. “And I intend to find out why.”
Alex nodded. Not mood swings then, he thought. “I understand.”
“I don’t know if we could have held,” she said. “But we could
have finished the evacuation with their aid. Thousands died needlessly because they did not answer our call. Michael would still be alive…” The aching pain of loss swirled beneath the blazing rage screaming across the link from her.
Alex did his best to keep his emotions under control so she wouldn’t sense them. How am I supposed to measure up to him, a dead man that she feels the loss of as sharp as a knife through her heart?
A woman’s voice whispered in his head.
Maegan? he wondered.
she whispered in his mind.
Why are you in my head?
She laughed softly.
“So?” Alex asked. Terra looked at him curiously, but he didn’t notice.
“Yeah, I got that,” he muttered. “I’ve put my life on the line more than once, you should know that.”
“Selfishly?” the Guardian echoed. Anger seeped into his voice. “How do you risk your life for others selfishly?”
“Stop talking,” he growled. She continued to harangue him. “Shut up!” he roared. “Those entanglements are people I care about, and I will place them above everything else every time!” A painfully loud silence settled both in his mind and outside it. Everyone stood still and stared at him.
“Alex,” Terra whispered. She looked at the polar bear. “Keep going.” The Bears kept walking. Brahm and Caitlyn followed, giving the two of them some distance. He could feel her concern on the link like it was a palpable thing. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “Before when it talked, it wasn’t talking to me. In Adorac, it was like I was seeing through another person’s eyes. This time though… She was talking to me. Said I was being selfish by risking my life for you. Maegan said that the Guardian had to be above one person, that I had to live for everything.”
Terra walked in silent contemplation. It seemed her anger had subsided. “She’s right. You are more important than any one person. It’s your job to restore balance to the world. To all the Nine Realms. If you die protecting Caitlyn or Brahm or me, then we have died anyway.”
He shook his head vehemently. “I refuse that, Terra. I will not let any of you die. Not without giving my life first.” He looked at her, a relentless strength in his eyes. “‘My life before a drop of your blood is spilled.’ That was my oath, and I will not break it. Not for you, not for me, and not for some bodiless voice in a sword.”
She nodded. Terra knew there was no way to make him see the truth. She just wished it didn’t have to be true.
Chapter Twenty - Everyone is Needed
The rain stopped when they made camp with the bears that night. The next morning, it snowed. Strong flurries covered the ground with pristine white powder. Padding through the snow wasn’t difficult for Caitlyn in her birth form. She didn’t want anyone to know of the primal strength that resided inside of her.
The power of it scared her. She had never felt so able to do anything in her life. It was as if there were no limits when she was in the terrifying form the sprites had forced upon her. The seductive attractiveness of that strength made her lie awake at night.
Alex and Terra walked side by side shivering. Brahm trudged along through the deepening snow without complaint. Caitlyn had gained a kind of begrudging respect for the Dwarf. He was a stalwart fighter and a good friend to her and the others. She spied the Icethrone Castle through the snow and picked up her pace to walk beside her odd group of friends.
“They only respect strength,” Terra said. “We will have to convince them to come with us. It likely won’t be easy.”
Alex grabbed the hilt of the Guardian’s Blade. “We’ll show them just how strong we are,” he said. “They’ll have no choice but to answer our questions and follow us.”
“They do have no respect fer magic, lad,” Brahm said gruffly. He always sounded like he was in a grump. “If ye want to show ‘em strength, it’ll be with yer arms an’ fists.”
“He’s right,” Terra said, nodding. They walked in silence for a time. The rising battlements of the castle rose high above them before Dain Strongpaw, the polar bear that had been leading them since the day before, spoke up.
“Welcome to Icethrone Castle, Nexus. The fortress of the north stands open to you,” he said as he led them through the open gate. This place is aptly named, Caitlyn thought. The entire place is made of ice. She sensed a very powerful preservation cast over the entire place. Even with her increased magical power, she wasn’t sure if she would have been able to break it. She wasn’t sure if Terra could, and she was the most powerful sorceress Caitlyn knew of anywhere.
The dimensions of the castle were huge, having been made to accommodate large bears walking in wide columns. She saw bears of every size and type. Small brown and black bears, young cubs rolling about wrestling with their mothers looking on, large polar bears and huge grizzlies crashing into each other in contests of strength. All of the humans she saw were tall with large muscles and blond or brown hair. Barbarians, she thought.
The shortest of them were as tall as Alex and had muscles larger than his, but most of them lacked the definition he had in his arms. She looked from him to the male barbarians. They seemed to lumber about. He moved with a fluid grace. It seemed that they would rely on their large muscles in battle, planting themselves and meeting the enemy head on. She knew from experience that he could flow across a battle like a reaping whirlwind. He fights like a hunting cat, she thought proudly. Terra is lucky to have such a strong man to sire her child. She felt an inexplicable emotion flutter through her.
Before she could examine that emotion, a giant of a man, taller and with bigger muscles than any of the other barbarians she had seen, stepped in front of Alex and stopped. The barbarian eyed Alex head to foot. “Watch yourself, little man,” the huge man sneered. Anger flared in her at the slight. She dug her claws into the snow.
Fat snowflakes fell in his hair as the Guardian regarded the big man. Alex showed no more emotion than he would eyeing a stump in his path. “Move,” he ordered.
The barbarian roared in laughter. “Why don’t you make-” The end of his sentence was cut off when Alex slammed the hilt of his sword into the big man’s middle. The barbarian bent over with a wheeze. An uppercut flattened his nose against his face and laid him out on his back. The humans watching the exchange all erupted in laughter.
The large man lifted himself up on an elbow and shook his head in a daze. “Looks to me like he’s big enough to make you move!” one of the women shouted. The laughter grew louder. Alex looked at Terra and shrugged. He offered his hand. The man took it and stood.
Blood gushed from the barbarian’s nose. “Well met, stranger! The name’s Erik.”
“Alex,” he said, a little confused. The man nodded respectfully and walked back to his friends. They still roared with laughter and patted Erik on the back.
“It’s like I said, boy. This lot do only respect the strength o’ fists an’ arms.” Brahm looked at the group of laughing barbarians. “I think ye made a friend, an’ a good reputation already.”
“Crazy people,” Alex muttered under his breath as they kept following Dain. Caitlyn laughed to herself as she padded along.
They walked through the open air of the castle passages before drawing to a stop in front of two massive doors. She couldn’t tell if they had giant claw marks engraved in them, or if one of the residents had clawed them in a rage. Dain pushed them open. Snow fell in the courtyard.
The largest grizzly bear she had ever seen paced back and forth in front of a throne of ice as clear as glass. The Bear wore a set of unadorned plate from head to paws and was missing his left eye. The pacing stopped, and he looked at them. “Nexus,” the grizzly rumbled. He did not sound pleased.
Terra nodded curtly. “Chieftain Rageclaw,” she said displeasure clear in her voice as well. “I have come to call on you once again. And this time you will answer.”
“We have no care for the affairs of those below the Great Range. We have troubles of our own here. The Gap of Druun is being overrun by demons and the undead. We are harassed by efreet in the sky, and we do not march at your command.”
The Nexus strode up to the leader of the Changelings of the Claw. “I am calling you to account, Chieftain. You were summoned for the defense of the Realm before. I now call you again. If you do not answer the call, you will be replaced.”
Rageclaw snorted at her. “Strike me down with your magic, woman. You will not leave the castle alive. Only the strong survive in this place. Now leave and do not return.”
Terra glared at the giant bear. “How did a whimpering cub like you end up leader of this noble race?”
This will end in blood, Caitlyn thought. Alex must have had the same thought because he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
The great bear lifted a paw to swipe at her. He hesitated and lowered the paw back to the snow covered ground. “I have been leader of this clan for years. An honor only gained through battle of tooth and claw. Something you do not have nor understand.”