“Is there anything more you can share with us?”
He looked back out the window, then he bowed his head and closed his eyes. “Advent promises or not, I think we both understand the emperor’s invitation is a risky business in its own right.”
“I do understand. I can guess he’ll be glad to help against the Advent if my dragon and I help him in his conquests. Not an obligation I’m keen to. Of course, if it turns out Jegeru is harboring nismerdon, I might end up having to abet their kingdom’s fall. Either way, I need more information.”
Turning back to me, he said, “I regret I could not provide it.”
“Don’t be, guild master. You’ve given us the lay of the land and my next plan of action.” I bowed. “Thank you for your time.”
He returned the bow.
Not liking the idea of staying in one spot for too long in what might be enemy territory, we quickly returned to the guardsmen and the steeds they kept for us. Assuming at least one part of the city was reserved for northerners and outsiders here to do business, I asked Jing to lead us to it.
Jing and the others took us to a slovenly northeastern corner of town that reminded me of Kaspista. Even the style of buildings here did not resemble most of Tawahori, though wood rather than stone still prevailed. Giving him the reins of my horse, I told Jing to leave us be and that I would look for him in the same area we met if I ever needed a guardsman’s assistance. He seemed pleased that I would trouble myself to find him for future assignments, even if he sensed I was being more polite than realistic. As we watched our escort leave, my group did our best to hide in a crowd of people that looked more like us.
For a few minutes all we did was scurry between streets and alleys, making sure no one followed us. On being convinced no one espied our movements, we searched for an inn to eat and rest in. A decent enough establishment called Helen’s Laughing Baboon provided both. No baboon laughed when we entered, but an old minstrel did sound like a monkey trying to sing. We squeezed between those looking for a midday meal and sat at the end of a table to order our food and drink.
Only picking at her cold scrap of rawboned chicken, Odet asked, “Do you really know your next plan of action, or did you say that for its own sake?”
Finished with the scrap if meat on my chicken leg, I tossed the bone at the paws of a short-haired brown dog with a wrinkled face. “I’m going to Eperwist and Riko’s Forest.”
“Without seeing the emperor first?” asked the vampire, who had one eye on the large dog, which sometimes looked at her funny.
“The emperor, the guild, Jegeru, it doesn’t sound as though they’ll work together if we have nothing solid on the Advent. I don’t want to accept any emperor’s stipulations if I don’t even know if he’s helping them. Even if he’s not, those same stipulations could limit what I can do for who knows how long. No, we first find out if I have to deal with the emperor at all. Anyway, Riko’s Forest sounds promising to me.”
“To me as well,” said Ghevont. “There are few large settlements near the woodland, so it’s far from prying eyes and the immediate threat of Wregor incursions. Of course, that’s assuming Wregor is a threat to the cult.”
Sighing, Odet said, “Well, keep in mind that if we do find the Advent in a forest, it doesn’t necessarily mean the corresponding leadership is conspiring with them.”
“It doesn’t,” I said. “But it does mean I won’t meet with the leadership under their terms, and I’m already wary about doing such a thing under ordinary circumstances.”
“How insulted would you be if someone ignored a royal invitation?” Clarissa asked the princess.
“Depends on who is ignoring me.”
“Has it ever happened?”
“Not from a dignitary, though I don’t send out many solicitations. Beatrice has sent quite a few already, but no one refuses a new queen unless they’re stricken with illness. Or else, I do know my sister will take a refusal quite personally. I hope a dragon knight has more leeway than others when it comes to both the emperor and my sister.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Three days later put us over the southwestern edge of Eperwist Woods. From there we flew eastward in a zigzagging pattern. I had not noticed the change of the season on my skin, but a handful of leaves told a different story. Seeing so many trees at once allowed me to take notice of the blotches of canopy that were in the middle of losing their green color and replacing it with browns, yellows, and oranges. It would take another month for the colors to really stick out beyond a smattering of leaves.
I worried the onset of autumn and winter could muddle the fact a nismerdon was absorbing a forest’s life force. However, on the second morning of our aerial hunt, seeing fifty acres of bare, shriveled trunks lying on the ground showed that winter might not hide the effects after all. The first indication this had not been caused by a natural incident was the almost perfect circle the devastation formed. Aranath landed on the pile of dead twigs so we could inspect the disturbed region up close.
I kept the dragon in Orda as Ghevont roamed the area with the staff. With Aranath sniffing the air behind me, I hunkered down to pick up a branch. The wizened wood looked burned and rotten at the same time, and simply pinching it between my fingers split the two inch thick branch in half. Stepping anywhere produced a crunching noise that came from the desiccated underbrush.
“Smell anything?”
“No flame caused this ruin.”
“And there’s no ash,” said Gerard. “Anything from the staff, scholar?”
“I believe so, though it’s more of a tingle up my arm than a definitive reaction.” Ghevont stabbed the end of the staff into the ground. After a moment pretending to be a statue, he said, “Yes, I’m quite certain the nismerdon crystal is responding to residual prana in the area.”
“Then the Advent were here,” said Clarissa. “We can’t accept the emperor’s invitation.”
“This still confirms nothing,” said Odet. “If they were being supported by the emperor, then where are they now? There’s still plenty of forest left to absorb.”
“Maybe they found better feeding grounds.”
“Exactly how a vampire would put it,” said Gerard.
Said vampire stuck out her tongue at the green knight.
“Focus,” I said. “They might not have gone very far. Ghevont, let’s take the staff closer to the living trees and see if it does more than tingle.”
Aranath crawled behind us as we circled and penetrated the perimeter of healthy trees. The exploration did not have the staff reacting with any greater strength. To be sure, Ghevont sensed less and less the farther we went from the center. Concluding no Advent lingered here, we jumped back on Aranath and look for more signs of life absorption.
Near the end of my limit, we found another dead patch. This one lied closer to the Jins Mountains and near an offshoot of the Iunt River. As unsettling as it felt, we made camp in the middle of this lifeless wild once we determined no Advent or their spells hid nearby.
I spent much of my training wondering what the Advent were trying to accomplish by moving. Did they somehow know we were on their trail? Could it be a coincidence? Were they going east or west? What did it mean if we found more evidence in Riko’s Forest? What the fuck would I do if both Wregor and Jegeru aided the Advent?
It was hard not to think answers were coming. I did not like that augur wallowing in my mind. I preferred the Advent remain a far-flung problem. My attitude became a taut and withdrawn one. My left hand idly gripped my blade’s pommel more often, and as I feared being caught with my guard down, I halted my heart meditations. Clarissa showed that she detected my internal tension by glancing at my hand almost every time it gripped my pommel. I removed the hand and she held her tongue, but she knew the upper half of my serious side had bobbed up to the surface.
The dragon and those on his back crossed into Riko’s Forest before noon the next day. Our flight path took us nearer the mountains, which we kept a hu
ndred miles away. I instructed Aranath to fly as high as he could without losing too much detail of the woods. Expecting someone or something from the cult to dwell nearby, I wished to limit the chance the Advent seeing us and beginning a battle we were not yet ready for. Nevertheless, flying two days in northern Riko aggravated no one and revealed no new desolate circles. So we headed south.
Sometime in the early afternoon, with the sun never looking so close, I discovered the end of Riko’s Forest lying less than half an hour away. I was confused, disappointed, and glad no Advent showed themselves. I presumed one of those sentiments would conquer the others by the time my feet touched land again, but those feelings jumped off Aranath and splattered on the forest floor when Clarissa shouted, “Mercer! Ghevont senses something! He wants us to go west!”
I looked behind me. Behind Clarissa sat Ghevont, staff in hand. He waved its tip from right to left, endeavoring to find where the strongest reaction originated. Odet sat behind Ghevont, looking ready to catch the staff in the event the scholar lost his grip. I signaled Aranath to go the requested direction.
Moments later, Clarissa, with equal parts excitement and trepidation said, “Keep going! It’s working!”
With my earlier emotions now on the forest floor, the vampire’s excited nervousness filled my vacant temperament.
Minutes later, she said, “Go south!”
We did. Then we went more south. Then a little more. We were running out of forest, yet no physical signs of dying trees could be seen. So where… Shit. Rising puffs of smoke divulged the existence of a settlement outside the forest’s edge.
Why had the possibility never crossed my mind before? Humans had plenty of life force to give. Why would the Advent ignore that bounty? People fought better than trees, but the cult had ways to make them helpless. Of course, entire communities disappearing would doubtlessly draw the attention of those not complicit with Advent objectives. Then perhaps the town were sheltering Advent, not providing nismerdon nourishment? Or maybe being ousted from their base made them more prone to desperate tactics. Whatever the exact cause, we finally had an active lead to pursue.
The settlement that emerged looked to be smaller than a mature town and bigger than most villages. Aranath stated that he could still see a few villagers roaming within, apparently unaware of a nismerdon’s ancient aura pervading the area. Afraid of someone spotting the dragon, I led Aranath upward, getting high enough for the bottoms of mid-level clouds to obscure us from prying eyes.
Around five miles beyond the town, Clarissa said the aura had almost faded away. Taking this as my cue, I beckoned the dragon to descend toward a grove of elms and maples. He landed near the grove, which my group dashed into to keep out of sight of roving villagers.
“Damn, damn, damn,” said Clarissa. “Why are they so close to a town? Are the townspeople helping them? Or are they prisoners?”
“They might not even know the Advent are there,” said Gerard.
“That only makes the situation more complicated,” said Odet. “How can we confirm what we’re dealing with without inciting violence?”
“Violence might be the only way to find out,” I said. “The town is not large enough for foreigners to enter unnoticed.”
“Then we sneak in at night,” said Clarissa.
“And if we’re caught? We may end up fighting who knows how many Advent on our own. I’m not risking our lives without an army to support us.”
“Though it’s likely they’ll notice a slow moving army coming,” said Gerard. “They’ll flee to the woods or take hostages if they expect to be overwhelmed.”
“And that’s if the whole army isn’t helping the cult,” the vampire pointed out.
“I doubt it’s the entire army,” I said. “Maybe part of the leadership is aware of the Advent’s presence, but to convince every general to protect a cult planning to absorb the life forces of their own people is a stretch. Being so close to a forest might also mean they’re ready to flee from an unfriendly Jegeru army. As for the slow problem, not every division of an army is slow.”
“Griffin squadrons,” said Odet.
I nodded. “Ghevont, where are the nearest Jegeru forts?”
“Several line the Iunt River. Even pushing yourself, the closest will likely take two days to reach, so I do not recommend pushing yourself.”
“You want to gather griffin squadrons before speaking with Jegeru’s leadership?” asked Odet.
“We can’t risk alerting the Advent by first telling any aristocratic thrall of theirs what we found. Convincing a general or two to lend us a few hundred of their griffin riders shouldn’t be difficult, especially if I promise to help them against Wregor.”
“You’re going to fight Wregor?” asked Clarissa.
“Not Wregor itself, but I recall the guild master saying something about pirates and bandits being a problem for Jegeru. And who would protest a dragon knight returning a favor by curbing such criminal activity?”
“Ah, how diplomatic of you,” said Odet. “Still, I’d have Jegeru send a message to the Wregor forts on the other side of the river.”
“Concerning?”
“Your intent. Wregor will discover that griffin units are suddenly on the move and might act impulsively.”
“Ah, noted.”
“And something else. I realize you won’t approve, but I have to ask that you and Gerard go to the fort while the rest of us wait here.”
I held in my sigh. “If I knew all you were going to do was wait, I would approve, but I know you’ll run right for the first scream you hear.”
“Perhaps, but it feels wrong to leave innocent people to fend for themselves if the Advent choose to absorb their lives.”
“I don’t feel great about it either, Odet. I wish the five of us was all we needed to stop them. Really, I wish I was all that was needed to stop them, but we need the help.”
“I know, I’m aware. I simply had to ask it aloud.”
“Sure. Listen, we can’t train this close to town. Let’s rest and sleep for as long as we can. We’ll leave before dawn. No one get out of this grove until then.”
Apart from Ghevont, respite did not come easy with our enemy only a few breaths away. And without being able to cast my flame or any spells for fear of being detected, my nerve-quakes persisted for several hours longer. I spent that vexed time on unyielding watch at the fringes of the grove. I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a coincidence, but the trees here were devoid of the chirps of birds, and no squirrel or rabbit bounded out of a hole or bush. Clarissa had to make do with the older blood stowed in her vials.
I did eventually fall asleep, though still somewhat worried Odet and Clarissa would tiptoe out of the grove and into town. My concern went unfounded. Both girls had not budged from the last time I saw them. Using the waning darkness, I summoned a dragon as covertly as one could and left with the same clandestine design in mind.
Thinking there might be more forest-hugging settlements being used by the Advent, Aranath stayed above the forest’s border. The fort we headed for also happened to lie right at the point where the Iunt exited the woods, so tracing the boundary made for an easy route to follow. On that first day of rest, everyone without the scholar’s calculating compulsion found some relief for our overwrought states by training harder than normal. Odet was getting to the point she could bend and flex her ward into a cylindrical shape, though it always shattered after she tried forming it too fast or too tightly.
As for the unflustered Ghevont, he figured out the town we left behind must have been one called Furubiro, at least if the sharp southwestern curve of the forest made a good marker for our position. Villages smaller than Furubiro were quite plentiful along the border, but none emitted nismerdon magic.
Compelling Aranath’s wings to flap a little harder had us seeing a Jegeru fort near noon the next day. Four pagoda watchtowers stood over each corner of the fifty foot wall of gray stone. A mile northeast of the unspectacular fort was a small far
ming and woodcutting village. Likewise, a fishing community rested a mile to the south.
Under a light rain, Aranath landed in a clearing two hundred yards east of the fort. If no one noticed the dragon before his landing, a couple of roars undoubtedly snatched the interest of the soldiers on the watchtowers. I trusted someone was using their spyglass to recognize the humans on his back.
It did not take long to hear bells ringing within the fort. Seconds after that and I saw four griffins fly out of the defensive edifice. They circled the fortification for a few moments as they waited for another ten griffins to join them. Those fourteen griffins then split up into two equal groups and flew for our flanks. I told the others to stay on Aranath in case we needed to make a quick getaway, then I jumped down and walked a few steps in front of the dragon.
Most of the griffins circled five hundred feet above us, but two of the beasts dove to the short grass ten yards ahead of me. One of the griffins belonged to the umber colored whiptail species, which was ridden by a petite woman wearing dark leather armor and who sported a black bun of hair almost as large as her head. A thin black cloth masked her nose and mouth.
The second griffin, a kingclaw, stood two feet taller and stouter. While its wingspan spread out less than its compatriot’s, it looked thicker. The same could be said of its beak. Its main body was an apricot color, with its mane fuller and brighter than that of its smaller cousin.
Two people rode the kingclaw. The middle-aged rider stayed on his winged steed as a younger, clean shaven man dismounted. Tucked beneath his silver chainmail was a thin red gambeson. Including the griffins, we each took a few steps toward each other. On getting within easy listening distance, the younger man bowed. I returned it.
Doing an admirable job of not staring behind me, he said, “I am Kinzo Ryuk, acting commander of Khovastu-ozur while the general is away.”
“I am Mercer Eberwolf, acting dragon knight. You don’t look too surprised to see me.”
The Dragon Knight's Soul (The Dragon Knight Series Book 4) Page 26