Assassin's Apprentice

by S. R. Vaught; J. B. Redmond

  Good boy. Keep it up. Hold on to yourself.

  She didn’t think Aron could hear her mind to mind, but maybe he could sense her encouragement.

  Zeller clenched both fists. “I’m a Guard veteran, retired now fifteen years. I gave my youth and the better portion of my life to the service of Brailing, and now I wish only to see to the needs of my friends and family.” He raised his chin. “No principled soldier would starve the very people he claims to defend.”

  Murmurs broke through the clump of armed farmers, and Dari saw expressions brighten as the big man bellowed at the insult and started to heft himself down from his saddle. Only a stern grab from his captain kept him in place, and this with some struggle.

  “Please do not challenge the honor of my men, Dolf Zeller,” Captain Brailing said as he kept a grip on his second in command. “Least of all Lieutenant Hoch, who has twenty years’ service himself. We’ve been long on the road to meet up and form ranks, and longer still in search of grain and stock to build our own stores.”

  Stormbreaker eased over to Zeller so fluidly Dari was surprised to realize he had moved. Aron now stood exposed, glaring at the Brailing Guard, shaking, fists clenched like Zeller’s. Dari realized Zed had Aron’s arm much as the captain had hold of his promise-brother Lieutenant Hoch.

  Before anyone could react, Stormbreaker spoke to Zeller in a voice so quiet she figured only Zeller could hear.

  Zeller looked briefly surprised, then seemed to relax a fraction.

  “Very well, Captain,” Zeller said as Stormbreaker moved back to Windblown’s side and once more shielded Aron. “Take what you will, but we have no children old enough to send with you. Our village has been hard struck with Wasting Fever, and I fear we have nothing to offer but those you see and a few babies and little ones not yet old enough to wield a blade.”

  At these words, some of the guardsmen actually yanked back on their reins. Dari could see only their frowns and open mouths, but her spirits rose like a spirit on its way to the heavens.

  She knew old, dark fears were stirring in the depths of the fighting men now. Despite years of education about the condition, many in Eyrie raised outside of dynast bloodlines and education still believed Wasting Fever was somehow contagious. Common superstition held that men exposed to Wasting Fever had their very loins polluted.

  Forever.

  Zeller’s flush was receding and his tone grew even more earnest as he continued. “We were considering posting plague warnings on the town’s boundaries, but I was sorely distracted by the death in my own house.”

  Captain Brailing cleared his throat. “I see. If you’ll appoint someone to show us to the stables and granary—”

  But his request was drowned by the mumblings and grumblings of his own men. Horses pranced nervously beneath equally nervous riders. Some mounts actually broke a lather in response to the rising distress all around them.

  The captain had to shout, then finally bluster, pull off his helmet, and draw his sword to regain control of his own ranks. The well-crafted blade flashed in the low afternoon light, giving its smooth edge a menacing glint.

  Dari noted with some unease that his second in command wasn’t among the soldiers showing fear and a desire to make haste out of the village. Lieutenant Hoch’s big head was turned solidly toward Stormbreaker and Windblown. His visor hid his eyes, but Dari felt certain the brute was glaring at the Stone Brothers.

  Or was it Aron?

  Had the dirt-eater caught sight of the boy?

  Did he know something?

  Suspect?

  It took all of Dari’s self-control not to find out.

  The farmers began to disperse, satisfied that their town elder had defended at least their children, and likely their winter supplies as well.

  Indeed, a few moments later, Captain Brailing took Lieutenant Hoch and the rest of his men, and they rode away without making another address to Dolf Zeller. Dust swirled in the wake of the horses, and Zeller and the Stone Brothers didn’t move until that rolling cloud was a street or more away.

  “Come,” Zeller said, once more patting his waist as if searching for a weapon. “You must get far from here, and quickly.”

  Stormbreaker’s only reply was a bow, and Zeller led them away from his home with a brisk, purposeful stride.

  Dari fell in beside Aron and Zed, who looked as tense and mistrustful as she felt. “You did well,” she said to Aron, who didn’t acknowledge her.

  Zed gave her a fast grin. “I’d say High Master Stormbreaker did the best.”

  “They haven’t gone far,” Aron muttered, looking left, then right as they plowed past a set of dirt-packed cross streets. “Men like that—they’ll be back after sundown, at least some of them. And they won’t be kind.”

  “Their commander ordered them off.” Zed sounded genuinely surprised. “How could they come back against his command?”

  Aron gave Zed a sharp look, but his expression softened after a few more steps. “Not everyone is as honorable as you, Zed.”

  Those words, coupled with a tone that suggested genuine respect for Zed’s good heart—not to mention a bit of guilt over his own actions—gave Dari a little more hope that Aron might not yet be lost to his own rage.

  Zed grunted, as if not quite believing Aron, and she was left wondering once more if Zed was more brawn than brains, and not cut out for the life of a Stone Brother.

  “Dolf Zeller seems like a capable elder,” Zed said, apparently to soothe away Aron’s unpleasant suggestion that the town would suffer this night, despite this first small victory. “I’m sure that once he returns, he’ll post lookouts and keep the families and livestock someplace safe, if he thinks they’re in danger.”

  Dari didn’t try to correct this perception, and she was relieved Aron left it alone, too.

  Dari estimated that they had less than three hours before full dark. She hoped Zeller had been truthful about the quicker route back to the main byway. She truly didn’t want to camp in the nearby woods, so close to the Brailing guardsmen, and risk the manes or other havocs some of them might create in vengeance for their humiliation. She also didn’t want to think about Zeller being away from his town should some of those soldiers return under cover of night.

  Zeller let out a whistle when he saw the large group of Stone Brothers, Harvest prizes, wagons of supplies, goats, oxen, and mules collected along the road. Dari saw that the group was larger still than when they left it. A covered, barred wagon now stood in the back—a wagon of accused, likely collected from nearby towns and villages, heading to Stone to be judged.

  Even in war, the law must continue, she realized.

  “This group will move as slow as snails,” Zeller said, and Stormbreaker agreed with him. “If you’ll give me a mount, I’ll see you to the first turn, then explain the rest. I think it best if I’m back in the village before full dark, though mockers and manes are few around here.”

  “Thank you for your assistance,” Windblown said, beckoning to a nearby group in possession of a few horses. “Any guidance will be much appreciated.”

  Dari watched as Zed took command of their two wagons and hitched in tandem so he and Dari could ride together comfortably in the lead buckboard. She climbed aboard as Aron went to Tek, and Dari heard the affection in his voice as he stroked the little talon’s scales, gave her water, and checked her straps. When he mounted, Tek gave a whistle of delight, and Dari felt a rush of the creature’s joy at Aron’s presence. The boy must have treated the talon well, to have such affection and loyalty from her.

  Zeller took his borrowed mount to the head of their column, waited another few minutes, then stood in his stirrups and gestured toward the road before him. On horseback and talon-back, in wagons and on foot, the column of bound for Triune lurched slowly forward.

  Dari glanced at the sun as unease rose anew in her belly.

  “I hope we get back to Triune before the first snow,” Zed said.

  When Dari glanced at him,
he was grinning, but she thought he might have realized how long it would take them to cover the distance at this pace. A single horseman could probably reach the Stone stronghold in a day, maybe two. But this unwieldy column—it might be days upon days, even weeks yet.

  Aron, who rode beside them, keeping Tek under careful rein and back from the bull talons, grumbled his agreement.

  Dari studied the boy and thought how hungry he must be, and how stiff and sore his muscles must feel after lying in a stupor for so many days. She also thought of the perpetual chafe on his tender legs, still toughening over the weeks of riding. He couldn’t possibly be comfortable, yet Aron rode without complaint or question.

  A mixed bag, this boy. One minute, he’s fast at work on becoming an oathbreaker, and the next he’s training to be a strong, silent hero.

  What is his true nature?

  Minutes plodded by, seemingly at the same slow speed as the mules and oxen walked. Zeller led them over several hills and around a large turn. At the next fork, he took them in the opposite direction from what Dari expected, into a wide bunch of fields that spread away from the tree line like fine spun rugs of the purest green. He explained to Stormbreaker and Windblown about a traders’ route over the next rise that would take them directly to the byway, saving almost half a day’s travel.

  The Stone Brothers thanked their guide and were just about to discharge him when the sound of hoofbeats hammered away the polite good-byes.

  “Horses,” Zed said, handing her the reins and standing, hands on his daggers. “A lot of them. Coming fast from the northeast … and from the west. Behind us, too.”

  As he spoke, Dari saw a dull ripple of copper rush over Zed’s skin, and knew it as the sign of a weak Altar graal. Tracking, sensing of prey and predators—no doubt this boy was a formidable hunter and fighter, even with such a small measure of that mind-talent.

  Aron pulled Tek up behind the bull talons and steadied himself in his stirrups.

  Up and down the column, Dari heard the mutterings of Stone Brothers giving instructions to apprentices and Harvest prizes, and even the rattle of weapons being readied. Her heart took the rhythm of the approaching horses as they ran, galloping with them, wondering what she should do, if anything.

  She could reach out to the horses and turn them from their task—but that would likely get the animals killed, and it wouldn’t delay the arrival of their riders for long. They were too close already, if they could be heard so clearly.

  The horsemen broke into the open, and cold fingers of fear gripped Dari’s heart.

  She caught her breath as she saw the banners flapping at the head of the columns. Banners showing an eagle with an all-seeing eye.

  “Brailing Guard,” she said aloud. “Only in twice the numbers we saw in the village.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  DARI

  Moments later, their traveling column was surrounded by Brailing guardsmen who had burst from the tree line beside and behind them. Mixed into their ranks were soldiers wearing the steel and copper colors of Dyn Altar. Dari saw at least two standards with the Altar symbol of sword crossed with arrow, held in the talons of a great white Roc—the giant birds who made their home in the stone outcroppings of Altar’s deserts.

  Still more hoofbeats bore down on them from the northeast, no doubt to reinforce the Guard’s already superior numbers.

  She quickly picked out the two helmets sporting eagle wings, and the build of the men confirmed her suspicions. Once more, Captain Brailing and his promise-brother Lieutenant Hoch had them at their mercy. They wasted no time coming to the head of the column, where Captain Brailing addressed Stormbreaker from only a few horse lengths away.

  “You were clever in the town, robbing us of our necessities.” He tapped the hilt of the sword at his side. “Since my men will have none of their grain or livestock, we’ll relieve you of yours—and as permitted by law, we’ll take the accused for conscription.”

  Stormbreaker’s jaw clenched and unclenched once before he spoke. “You would interfere with the Stone Guild as we return from Harvest?”

  The captain snorted. “Wartime law allows my men to claim supplies and conscription from any within our borders, Stone or otherwise—as you well know.” He glanced toward Hoch, who pumped a fist as if urging him onward. “You could fight us and perhaps even win, but you would make an enemy of Lord Brailing and his heirs, as well as Lord Altar and his. I doubt that’s a price you’ll pay.”

  Dari ground her teeth. They had so many innocents to protect in this column—how many Stone Brothers would die because they wouldn’t leave their charges?

  Too many.

  And yet if they surrendered their supplies, could they make it to Triune without starving along the way?

  Stormbreaker seemed to be considering this, and since he was the guild member of the highest rank, the rest in the column awaited his decision.

  It came swiftly enough.

  He lifted his reins to his teeth, never taking his eyes off Captain Brailing or the treacherous lieutenant. With his hands free, Stormbreaker drew his swords and lifted them above his head.

  At that signal, the rest of the Stone Brothers drew their weapons, as did Zed and Aron, who had his talon’s reins in his teeth as well. Responding to his distress, Tek’s neck scales flipped up into a battle ring almost at the same time as the bulls raised their neck scales.

  Tek whistled.

  The bull talons bellowed.

  Some of the Guard horses, likely animals confiscated from farms and without proper battle training as yet, sidestepped nervously away from the big predators, leaving their riders to struggle for control.

  Zeller wheeled his horse toward Zed and Aron, his wordless request obvious on his angry features.

  Zed changed his grip on one of his daggers and held it out, hilt first.

  Zeller hurried over to grab it, then wheeled about and once more took position beside Stormbreaker.

  Now the captain seemed less certain.

  He had yet to draw his own sword and give his soldiers the signal to ready for battle, but Hoch seemed to have no reservations as he yanked his blade free of its scabbard.

  Many of the Brailing soldiers followed his lead.

  The rest looked from Captain Brailing to Hoch in confusion, then at the Stone Brothers. This was obviously not the response they had been led to expect.

  Stormbreaker let his reins fall to his lap. “It’s nearing sundown,” he said to Captain Brailing, the cold resolve in his voice no doubt obvious to anyone within earshot. “Let’s finish this so the dead can be dispatched before full dark, shall we?”

  Captain Brailing’s hand moved toward his sword. Hesitated. Rested on the hilt.

  “Don’t be spineless,” Hoch growled at the captain, yanking his mount’s reins until the horse’s head bobbed. “Don’t slight our honor a second time this day.”

  Dari wished she had a bow so she could fire an arrow directly into Hoch’s mouth. Listening to him strangle to death on the tip of her arrow would have given her immense satisfaction.

  If it comes to a fight, I can’t let these innocents die.

  She slowed her breathing, readying herself to go through the Veil and make the change to her true form, if it came to that.

  There would be consequences, dark ones, but she couldn’t watch murder, even Fae murdering Fae, and do nothing.

  The horses from the northeast burst into view over the nearest hill, dozens of them, and dozens and dozens more, some manned, some bare but charging along nonetheless. They rode so hard into the fields that the grass and dirt seemed to explode around them.

  Dari experienced a moment of disorientation.

  The colors were wrong.

  The uniforms and standard should have been blue and yellow, but instead she saw the obsidian and ruby of Dyn Cobb—and banners that bore the emblem of a great black stallion, winged and rearing.

  Beside her, Zed didn’t seem to know whether to lower his daggers, attac
k something, or slit his own throat. Tek let out a whistle of surprise and confusion, and Windblown shifted his bull talon to get a look at the new arrivals.

  “Dun,” was all he said, and all he had to say.

  Stormbreaker’s gaze moved to the newcomers, now less than two miles away and closing ground fast.

  The Cobb soldiers had weapons drawn, and their attack column wheeled on the Brailing Guard without the slightest rein or break in ranks.

  Dari couldn’t draw a full breath. There had to be a hundred of them, maybe more—but how? And why? What in all of Eyrie would make Lord Cobb risk his forces in Dyn Brailing?

  Though deep in her heart, she thought she knew the reason.

  Over the madness of the approaching army, Dari heard Windblown shout to Stormbreaker, “I suppose we know better where Cobb’s allegiances lie.”

  And that was enough for Captain Brailing.

  “Retreat!” he shouted to his men, who could see nothing but doom streaming toward them, or awaiting them at the tips of Stone Guild swords. They were outmatched, and now outflanked, and they didn’t have to be urged twice. Even Hoch wheeled his animal around so fast he almost lost his seat.

  Seconds later, the marauding guardsmen thundered away, shouting, almost in complete disarray.

  Less than a minute after that, the Cobb Guard reached the traveling column.

  Two captains broke away from the main group, leading their men in a chase of the fleeing soldiers. Cobb’s rear contingent, at least fifty strong and paired with saddled but riderless horses, pulled up short in front of Stormbreaker, Windblown, and Zeller.

  Their captain urged his ebony mount to the forefront, his black helmet shaped in the form of a stallion’s head. Something about his size, his posture, and bearing struck Dari as familiar, but at first she couldn’t place him. When he removed that helmet, though, she almost slipped straight off her wagon seat in surprise.

  She knew that face only too well. Older than most soldiers, lined with a few battle scars. Dimpled chin, thick brown hair with white streaks at the temples, and a rogue’s gleam in both eyes.