Great Chief (Chains of Honor, Book 4)

by Lindsay Buroker

  “I’m taking them to the ocean,” he said.

  “Ah.”

  That must have been enough for her to get the gist, for she walked beside him without questioning him further. That was good because he wasn’t sure he could have spoken. Keeping his barrier up and levitating the plants at the same time was a lot of work, and his head was starting to pound. It would have been a lot less work to incinerate the vegetation. A depressing statement about existence there, that it was much easier to destroy things than to keep them alive.

  Now and then, Jhali coughed, and that distracted him. A couple of times, the barrier lapsed, and he hurried to reconstruct it. Maybe it didn’t matter. They’d already been exposed numerous times. But… if it was dose-dependent, more could make a difference. And Tynlee’s solutions had sounded dubious. A drug they would have to take for months, if they could even make it. And some charred vegetation floating around in his bloodstream. Would that truly do anything?

  Best to limit exposure.

  “I see the ocean,” Jhali said.

  Yanko had been walking with his eyes closed, his senses telling him about the dips and rises and obstacles in the terrain. He opened them to a vibrant sunset turning the water red far below.

  “I think I can guide them the rest of the way from here.” Yanko gazed toward the underwater mountains and located his chosen vent again.

  “Them? The, uh, plants?”

  “Yes.”

  He wondered if she thought he was insane for going through this much effort to transplant them. He thought about explaining how he didn’t like destroying things and also that he felt responsible—and guilty—for all the underwater vegetation and animals that had died when the lodestone activated and raised the continent. Even though he hoped that animals and lush surface vegetation would one day cover the land again, it didn’t make him feel like less of a murderer of those dead whales dotting the terrain.

  But it was too much effort to explain all that. He concentrated on completing his self-appointed mission and floated the plants past them and toward the sea and the vent far below. He sensed they were stressed from the transplant and hoped he could settle them sufficiently from afar with his magic.

  “I have something to tell you when you’re done,” Jhali said.

  Yanko nodded. He’d closed his eyes again and was concentrating on sinking the plants through the hundreds and hundreds of meters of water, pushing them down against the increasing pressure while also protecting them from that pressure. By the pantheon, why had he thought this was a good idea? His knees wobbled, weak from the effort this took, but he locked them, refusing to collapse in front of Jhali.

  Once he had the plants down there, stirring up the silt and sinking their roots gently into it was almost easy in comparison. But the required effort pushed him over the edge, and his knees gave out. He pitched toward the ground, unable to do anything to stop himself.

  Jhali caught him before he fell completely, a startled expression on her face.

  He smiled weakly at her. “Please don’t tell Tynlee about this,” he rasped, realizing he was panting.

  “That you put more effort into saving some plants than most mages do to sink enemy ships in a battle?” she asked.

  “Uh, no, I don’t think that would surprise her. I meant the part about me collapsing and being caught by a woman. That’s not something I’d like to read in her spy novels.”

  Jhali snorted and let him settle down to his butt so that he sat, looking out over the ocean. Sitting was good, though he also wouldn’t mind collapsing onto his back and dying.

  “I don’t think you need to worry about it,” Jhali said. “My understanding is that she’s far more interested in writing about a Dak character than a Yanko character.”

  “That’s distressing. I have two eyes. You’d think that would make me more alluring than him.”

  “You’re not bad.” She patted his chest.

  He noticed she still had an arm around his back and would have liked to return the embrace or kiss her or do something romantic that would make her remember this moment with him, the burnished sea stretching out below them. Instead, he collapsed against her and concentrated on not throwing up.

  Fortunately, she let him. He considered whether he wanted to try to replicate this feat with the plants in the other lake or if he would let the sun and nature take them over time.

  “What was it you wanted to tell me?” he asked as the sun dipped lower on the horizon.

  She gazed at his face, not answering right away. Some deep and profoundly emotional thing that would make her feel vulnerable to share? He waited patiently.

  Jhali lifted gentle fingers to touch his cheek, and a little zing went through his weary body. She opened her mouth, but her eyes shifted to something past his shoulder. “Uh oh.”

  Yanko made his beleaguered muscles turn his head to look. Three ships had sailed into view. They weren’t Turgonian steamers nor Nurian sailing vessels.

  He fought his pounding headache to reach out and see if there was a chance they were his mother’s ships and that he would sense her presence. No. He only sensed one familiar presence, the mage from the pirate ship.

  “It’s those privateers,” Yanko said. “We better get back to the camp.”

  A rifle shot rang out in the distance.

  Yanko? Tynlee spoke into his mind.

  Yes? Dread trickled into his gut.

  We have a problem back here.

  Pirates?

  Yes, the people you warned me about and a lot more that came in from the south. There are more of them than there are Turgonians. Usually, I wouldn’t think that would matter and that the trained Turgonian soldiers would easily defeat them… but half of the camp is sick.

  Jhali shifted away from him to cough.

  Yanko slumped with bleakness. Not only was he too exhausted to fight pirates, but he feared he wasn’t going to get time to make the special charcoal Tynlee had mentioned.

  11

  Yanko stumbled for the tenth time, too tired to feel embarrassed at his inability to easily move through the terrain now. Jhali walked ahead of him, but she paused to look back and offer a hand if needed. He shook his head and waved for her to continue.

  Even though he couldn’t read her thoughts, he could tell she was impatient. Full darkness had fallen as they hurried back, but gunshots roared, and now they were close enough to hear shouts. The battle was definitely engaged, the pirates attempting to storm the Turgonian camp. Yanko’s weary senses told him that the camp was mostly empty, with the soldiers firing from the rocky foothills where they had better cover than the tents provided, but a squad of men was shooting from behind the sturdy steam vehicles. They kept driving back attempts by pirate scouts to sneak into the tents.

  Yanko had a feeling they knew of that big chest of gold ore in there. Maybe that was what had prompted the attack, or maybe the pirates simply wanted to drive away the Turgonians, since they had delusions of claiming this land for their fleet.

  “Not going to happen,” Yanko growled through gritted teeth, forcing one tired leg ahead of the other. He had no idea how he would stop the battle, but he would. In addition to not wanting the pirates to have the continent, he knew Lakeo, Dak, and Tynlee were with the soldiers, and he couldn’t let them be hurt. Or worse.

  A fireball lit up the night as it roared across the rocky terrain. One of the soldiers near the vehicles screamed in agony.

  Jhali lunged forward a few steps, weapons in hand, but she made herself slow down and looked back at Yanko again. He didn’t know why she was so eager to join in a battle that wasn’t hers, unless she also wanted to make sure Lakeo—or maybe Tynlee—stayed alive, but he hated to hold her back.

  “Go ahead if you want to help.” Yanko waved for her to leave him as he tried to get his legs moving faster. “I’ll be fine.”

  Jhali shook her head and waited for him to catch up. “No. I’ll stay with you. There could be pirates in the foothills in this directi
on, too, and mages who collapse frequently need bodyguards.”

  “I only collapsed once.”

  “So far.”

  He glowered at her, but her words made him realize he should be checking around them for possible ambushes. Fortunately, the area was clear. One group of pirates had come over a pass between two mountains and the others had come around them from the south. Their main group was near that lake. He supposed they wouldn’t be kind enough to inhale deeply and succumb promptly to the plants’ toxins.

  When he and Jhali were a quarter mile from the camp, he sank down behind a boulder covered with the skeletal remains of some growth that reminded him of barnacles. He gripped it for support as he gazed out from his knees.

  Rifles fired from numerous locations in the foothills and from the steam vehicles. The pirates also had firearms, though some sent arrows zipping into the camp, silent and deadly in the dark. Yanko sensed rather than saw the ends quivering as they thumped into the ground or into tent poles. More fireballs streaked over the alien terrain, brightening the carpet of dead seaweed and kelp as they passed. One slammed into one of the tents, and it caught fire, illuminating the camp all around. A couple of Turgonians that had been crouching behind crates ran for better cover.

  Yanko’s head throbbed as he searched for his friends with his senses. Usually, so little of his power was required for such a task that he didn’t notice the effort, but now, it was as if he were doing squats with boulders on his back.

  “Lakeo and Tynlee are with the general behind a ridge in the foothills,” Yanko reported out loud for Jhali’s sake. “There’s a squad of soldiers with them, and they’re picking off pirates that come close. There are even more pirates out there than I realized. Is this their whole fleet?”

  Jhali didn’t respond. She was gazing toward the camp, perhaps picking out spots where she might be useful. Yanko was tempted to ask her to go again, since, with her assassin’s skills, she could likely sneak around and take out some pirates near the lake. But he also didn’t want to send her anywhere near that lake until he knew they could neutralize the toxins.

  “Dak is with…” Yanko groaned, finally picking up his aura. “A small party of soldiers that are trying to sneak around to the back of the main pirate group, it looks like. Maybe to take out their leaders?”

  “What will we do?”

  Yanko kept from groaning again. Barely. He leaned his head against the boulder. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t know if he could do anything at all until he’d had a good night’s sleep. Or ten. Why had he expended so much energy to transplant poisonous vegetation?

  “Idiot,” he grumbled.

  “Seek out the idiots and slay them? I concur.”

  “Jhali, if you want to do that, I won’t stop you. I hate to say it, but I need to rest before I can use my power. It’s my hope that the Turgonians can prevail without me.”

  Another fireball burned across the battlefield, this time slamming into the rocks near Lakeo and Tynlee’s group. Yanko cursed. If the pirates had mages, and fewer sick people, they had the advantage. And it looked like they might have figured out where General Aldercrest was. Did they think it would be easier to get the gold once he was dead? Why had Yanko’s friends chosen to stay close to the highest-ranking officer?

  “There aren’t any pirates in the foothills on this side of the camp.” Yanko waved at the rocks around them. “I’ll be fine.”

  “You will not leave this place?”

  Yanko had been thinking of making his way to Lakeo and Tynlee so he could protect them with shields of air if needed. That much, he thought he could manage, especially if he was motivated by a fireball hurtling in his direction. But he worried Jhali would insist on staying with him if he said he would move again. He didn’t want to keep her from joining in the battle if she wished. Right now, she had the power to be a lot more effective than he.

  “I’ll rest up until I think I can make a difference.” Yanko smiled and patted the boulder, hoping to imply he would stay without having to say it. He didn’t want to lie to her.

  “Very well. Do not move.” She pointed a finger at his nose, then disappeared into the night.

  Yanko closed his eyes, leaning his head against the poky dead growth on the boulder, and thought about complying. But screams of pain occasionally accompanied the cracks of firearms and the sizzling conflagrations of fireballs. As tired as he was, he couldn’t stay out of the fight and do nothing.

  He marshaled what energy he could and picked his way through the foothills toward Lakeo and Tynlee’s position.

  Yanko? Tynlee asked into his mind, perhaps sensing his approach.

  Yes. I’m coming to help, but I expended a lot of energy getting rid of the plants, so I fear I won’t be much help.

  After a brief pause, she replied with, I see.

  And she probably did. He wasn’t expending any energy to protect his mind, so she probably read his every thought. He hoped she didn’t think him a fool for working so hard to move the plants. It wasn’t as if he’d known a pirate attack was coming.

  Not a fool, she thought gently. You’re just an idealistic young man.

  Uh huh. Watch out. You’ve got a party of six pirates angling for your position from higher up in the foothills.

  Yes, I see them. I was trying to convince them that turning around and shooting their own people would be an excellent way to advance their careers.

  It doesn’t look like it’s working.

  No, I may be losing my touch.

  “Idealistic Nurian mage approaching,” Yanko called, sensing that one of the soldiers in the hollow with Lakeo and Tynlee was looking in his direction, a rifle in hand.

  “Is that supposed to keep them from shooting?” Lakeo called back. “Or cause them to shoot?”

  Aldercrest growled something in Turgonian. Maybe he hadn’t decided either.

  Assuming they had enough problems without turning on him, Yanko slipped into the hollow to join the party. On one side, a waist-high nodule of rock rose up like a stalagmite, and he sat on its rounded tip.

  Aldercrest said something that sounded sarcastic. Yanko didn’t care. He closed his eyes and used his senses to examine the area and check on Dak. He trusted that Tynlee had been keeping the Turgonians apprised.

  Yes, she said into his mind. I’m quite put out with these pirates, so I must assist the Turgonians however I can.

  Put out with them?

  That one we faced on the ship is here, and she hurled a fireball into the tent where I was working earlier. She burned all of the books I brought. Tynlee’s indignation came through in full force with the telepathic words. In a more subdued tone, she added, They’ve killed several of the soldiers, including some of the sick who were in their cots, too ill to get out of their tents in time.

  Yanko closed his eyes, regretting that he had played games with the pirate ship. Would any of this be happening now if he’d killed them outright instead of leaving them to swim to shore?

  Since he could do little else, he sent his senses out toward the main group of pirates again, examining them more closely. Maybe they had some weakness he could exploit. What if he brought up some of those plants and dropped them in the middle of the pirate formation? Unfortunately, he doubted that would do anything quickly enough. He gathered that it was relatively rare for people to die immediately from this exposure. It might take days for the pirates to fall.

  Although…

  He chewed on his lip as he focused in on one pirate at the back who was oddly bent over. And coughing.

  A few others here and there were moving slowly and coughing periodically. So, the pirates had encountered the plant-filled lakes too. Maybe they’d also camped near one, never expecting danger from the presence of salt water.

  “Some of the pirates are also sick.” Yanko wondered if they had lost any of their people. Was it desperation that had prompted this attack? Maybe they had decided that, for the health of their fleet, they had to leave the c
ontinent, but they didn’t want to go empty-handed. That could explain this abrupt attempt to get the gold.

  Tynlee translated, and Aldercrest said something gruff.

  He doesn’t think enough of them are sick to matter, Tynlee told Yanko. But he’s confident that his people will win in the end, that the pirates won’t want to risk their lives for this, that they’ll give in soon. His people are used to risking their lives in battle, and they’ll stand their ground.

  Yanko let his senses trail through the camp and took note of the dead soldiers in the burned tents and more that had been caught by fireballs. Maybe the Turgonians would win, but the toll would be high.

  Yanko spotted Dak’s strike team angling away from the foothills for their attempt at ambushing the pirates from behind. But would that truly happen? The pirates had mages, and they would sense people even in the dark, just as Yanko did. He saw one of the mages facing in Dak’s direction and feared the pirates were luring in the Turgonians, and that the ambush would fail.

  “No,” Yanko murmured, going over Tynlee’s words again. “I think he’s wrong. It does matter that they have people sick. That they’ve probably lost people to this poison, the same as the Turgonians have.”

  “Are you talking to yourself for a reason?” Lakeo asked.

  “I’m strategizing.”

  “Most people do that in their own heads.”

  “The pirates have lost people,” Tynlee said, speaking aloud. “The leaders are mages, and I haven’t had any luck convincing them to abandon their mission, but I could read some of their thoughts. They’ve lost a number of people these last couple of days and now believe this land is cursed. Their mages figured out that the Turgonians were here mining ore, and they intend to take it for themselves.”

  Yanko nodded, glad to have his suspicions confirmed by someone who was a far better mind reader than he.

  “In that case,” he said slowly, “I have an idea.”

  “Should we be worried?” Lakeo asked.