The Undying Champions (The Eternal War Book 1)

by Brennan C. Adams

  “Thank you,” the healer replied to the empty air.

  He remained staked in place for a minute more, tsked, and spun away to discover what the Council would hand down as punishment for his disobedience.

  * * *

  He knew exactly how fucked he was based on the meeting’s designated location and the general mood of the room upon his arrival. The weighty gazes of all four council members followed Kheled as he took his seat on the simple wooden chair in the room’s center. He crossed one leg over the other, rested his clasped hands on his knee, and defiantly lifted his chin toward the platform where the Council waited.

  He experienced a brief wave of déjà vu. For an instant, time reversed a decade, and Kheled carefully justified his decision to refuse commission to a slightly different council. That meeting had ended mostly in his favor. He hadn’t been forced into the Zrelnach ranks as he’d asked, but he’d become the Council’s whipping boy ever since, serving them as healer in whatever capacity they desired.

  Half of the council’s members had resigned or passed away to be replaced by relative unknowns in the time since, and the closed nature of their deliberations made it impossible to know which person had voted for or against an issue. Kheled would have to guess their political inclinations and how each of them would rule on his case based on what he knew of them personally.

  Yrit, the eldest, was a known factor. The man had an irrational hatred for anything that didn’t come out of Allanovian, including Kheled, which was only exacerbated by his role on the Council as both chief arbitrator and treasurer. He’d presided over so many trials against foreigners and dealt with so much human gouging and manipulation while attempting to trade that he refused to see anything good in the outside world. He’d argue for the harshest possible punishment that could be applied to Kheled’s case.

  Hemly, to the right, was relatively innocuous to most that met him. He ensured that the city’s young people were educated, provided, and prepared for a hostile adult world. Kheled normally wouldn’t have concerned himself too highly with the man’s opinions except that Hemly’s cousin had been the Zrelnach commander at the time of his training. The loss of what he’d seen as a bright and powerful recruit, in some ways a protégé, had driven the commander a little crazy. He’d left Allanovian soon after Kheled’s drop-out and had never returned. Hemly wouldn’t soon forget that Kheled had caused his family such disgrace.

  Ferin had replaced Hemly’s cousin on the Council after a short interim where a civilian had occupied the seat. As the Zrelnach’s commander, Ferin should hold nothing but contempt for the only drop-out recorded in the army’s history, but in actuality, she and Kheled were rather close. They’d been in the same trainee class back in the day, and early in their career, she’d expressed desire for him. If Kheled hadn’t lost interest in romantic entanglement long ago and if Ferin hadn’t accepted his rejection with the grace that she had, current circumstances might be different, but as it was, Kheled knew he could count on her support unless it interfered with her perceived duties.

  The last Councilman’s responsibility was solely to feed Allanovian’s citizens. The job’s difficulty steadily increased each year as the Esela were forced to emerge from their caves with less frequency and as humans became increasingly hostile to negotiations for grain and other food products in exchange for rare items retrieved from the tear beneath the mountain.

  The current Eselan holding the seat was a relative unknown, Shafoth. He’d ascended to the seat a year ago when the previous Councilor had passed away prematurely from a combination of stress, lack of sleep, and anxiety. Kheled had tended to that woman daily and had urged her, more than once, to break tradition and retire, but she couldn’t bring herself to commit such a shameful act even if it might have saved her life.

  Her successor was already beginning to show signs of stress. His hair had grayed considerably in the year he’d served. Of all the council members, Shafoth seemed the most logical and least likely to be carried away by emotion from the small amount of time Kheled had spent with him. He would most likely side with whoever presented the most rational argument.

  They’d certainly kept him waiting long enough. Perhaps they’d expected him to lose his patience and lash out at them, and he couldn’t blame them for the attempt. He’d only ever shown his hotheadedness around them, never the vast well of patience that hid beneath it.

  Unfortunately for them, the only activity Kheled was currently tempted to engage in was sleep. He’d been awake for a little under two days, and his body quietly complained about the deficit. He started humming a nostalgic tune to stave off the exhaustion.

  “Healer Kheled!” Councilor Yrit snapped, starting the proceedings. “Has the seriousness of your situation not been impressed upon you?”

  “Of course, honored Councilman,” Kheled replied, respectfully placing both feet on the ground and sitting ramrod straight. “We’re in the chamber where only the most severe crimes are adjudicated, I’m in the judgment seat, and the four of you are my judge, jury, and executioner. I understand my situation perfectly.”

  “Would you care for someone to assist you in arguing your side of the story?” Ferin asked, her eyes pleading with him to accept the help.

  “Thank you, Councilwoman, but that won’t be necessary,” Kheled replied, shooting her that quirky smile that let her know he knew what he was doing.

  “In that case, we’ll give Yrit the floor to explain the situation as we see it.”

  The older Councilman precariously rose to his feet and cleared his throat before folding his hands in front of him.

  “After clear delivery of the Council’s desires, Healer Kheled deliberately disobeyed orders, incapacitating several Zrelnach troops during his abscondence. He then proceeded to bring two injured humans past Allanovian’s borders which have remained painstakingly hidden from the subspecies for generations. With these actions, he has destroyed the trust engendered between him and us in the last decade, breaking a previous agreement made in this very chamber as payment for another serious crime, and brought our greatest enemy within our walls. With their return, Allanovian’s very way of life is threatened.

  “My fellow council members, if I was to follow the intensity of the emotions I feel for this coward, I’d move for his immediate execution. As it is, I reluctantly realize his value as a healer, and so I recommend a removal of all of the liberties he’s enjoyed in recent years, including his experimentation, as well as constant supervision by the Zrelnach not only in his everyday excursions outside of his clinic but within it as well.

  “I now open the floor to my fellow Councilors’ comments before we allow the defendant his fair turn.”

  Yrit returned to his seat with difficulty.

  “If I may?” Ferin asked, lifting two fingers.

  She rose upon acknowledgment from her peers.

  “My only contribution to my fellow Councilman’s diatribe is that Kheled’s actions may have resulted from a failing of this council. I will again insist that if we’d told him the full truth, Kheled would have had enough sense to stay put-”

  “You mean the truth that Eledis is back and gathering troops which can only mean that he’s finally found his prophesied child?” Kheled quietly interrupted, looking straight at Ferin while he systematically destroyed her defense of him. “Or that a deliberately instigated forest fire in the vicinity of his family’s farm meant that one of Doldimar’s minions was after that same child? Or that sending not a single person to aid the afflicted population meant that this council was going to allow an innocent eighteen-year-old boy to die along with countless others because it was too afraid of the changes that he might bring? I was aware of everything long before I decided to leave.”

  Ferin’s face had collapsed into grief as Kheled dismantled what she must perceive as his only viable defense, and Yrit, by some miraculous burst of energy, jumped to his feet triumphantly.

  “You see? He as much as admits his guilt!” he trumpete
d. “Do we need anything more to deliver judgment?”

  Hemly vehemently nodded agreement, his support of Yrit coming as no surprise. Kheled had eyes only for Shafoth. Ferin wouldn’t say another word in his defense after he’d so thoroughly humiliated her, and he was curious if the unknown Councilman would point out the obvious.

  “Technically, Healer Kheled never asked for permission to take the floor from Ferin, so by our own laws, anything he may have said can’t legally be considered when we pass judgment,” Shafoth mumbled amusedly from his central chair. “By law, we must listen to his defense.”

  Yrit sputtered and gasped, unable to speak around his anger.

  “If the esteemed Councilman has nothing else to add, I suggest he take a seat,” Ferin gleefully suggested, seizing on the unexpected opening.

  The elder statesman reluctantly returned to his chair to sulk.

  “I assume that Healer Kheled has something to say in his own defense,” Shafoth promptly mumbled.

  “Indeed.”

  Kheled slapped his knees and rose.

  “Esteemed members of Allanovian’s Council,” he began with exaggerated deference and respect, “I have two items to bring to your attention before your deliberations, so I pray you give me your patience and attention. I promise to be as brief as I can to ensure that everyone here may return to dealing with the individual problems that this crisis has brought into our midst.”

  He paused for a moment as if gathering his thoughts while ensuring that each Councilor’s attention, whether furious or intrigued, was locked onto his words.

  “My first point rests fully on the identity of the humans whose presence has supposedly violated this Eselan sanctuary. While it is true that Allanovian has rarely known the privilege of the presence of humans within its borders, Councilor Yrit’s suggestion that humanity has never stepped foot within the city is blatantly false. Even in the short time I’ve lived here, there have been exceptions to the rule, most notably that of the Audish royal family.

  “I left the safety of Allanovian’s walls with the intention of assisting said family in whatever capacity they required of me. Unless I’m mistaken, the family’s members-Eledis, Aramar, Samantha, and Raimie-were welcomed into our city with open arms up until nine years ago, and Allanovian never revoked their invitation after their unexpected disappearance.”

  All four Councilors seemed to follow his logic although some seemed irate about his assumptions and conclusions. Kheled blazed on.

  “I’m curious how a family that’s visited Allanovian in the past and befriended its citizens could violate it with their mere presence. Because of their identity, I’d say I’m blameless of bringing enemies into this sanctuary. If anything, I brought home friends.

  “As for disobeying this Council’s orders, of that, I am guilty, technically. I remind you, however, that I’ve never officially become a citizen of Allanovian. You took me in as a refugee and have harbored me ever since. Every day, I attempt to show my gratitude in the best way that I can, fixing as many of your citizens as possible, but I still claim the nationality of my home country. My actions have only been in service to her.

  “If this Council had asked me to wait until morning to assist Auden’s ruling family, I might have complied because such an order was not in direct contradiction to my loyalty, but you told me to ignore a direct threat. Instead, I ignored the command. On the count of disobeying orders, I say not guilty if only because this council doesn’t have the authority to issue such an order to a visiting non-citizen such as me.

  “Now, if during its deliberations, this council finds that it agrees with my conclusions but cannot publicly admit it because to do so would mean losing face, then I propose a solution. In the time that I remain here, determine an appropriate punishment for my perceived crimes, and I’ll undergo it without fuss. I only ask this council to keep in mind that when the humans leave to face Doldimar, I’ll be going with them.”

  He’d do anything to tear himself from this place without further complication.

  Kheled took his seat and calmly waited for dismissal.

  “Thank you, Healer Kheled. That was an… interesting argument,” Shafoth mumbled. “Does anyone present wish to make a counter-argument?”

  Hemly and Yrit certainly seemed to desire it from their irate expressions, but they must have realized that it wouldn’t be politic to rain curses down on the healer in front of the other Councilors.

  “In that case, you may leave us, Healer. I would predict that our decision will not be made in a timely manner,” Shafoth mumbled, casting an irritated glance at Yrit and Hemly, “so please remain within the city until that time.”

  Kheled knew no more words were required from him, but he made sure to bow as low as was proper before he departed. Once he’d rounded a few turns, he found a private corner to lean on.

  Damn politics. Magic and politics, those two concepts could go rot in hell.

  He took a deep breath and continued down the passage. One more errand required his attention before he could sleep. The heat of the Zrelnach smithy awaited.

  * * *

  Two hours later, Kheled dragged his weary body toward his clinic. The smith had taken an unreasonably long time to understand his request, that Kheled wanted the order completed by tomorrow, and that it was for a human boy.

  The old biddy had been working even at that late hour, taking advantage of the night’s cool air flowing through the caves to stave of the forge’s blistering heat. After her initial protestations of impossibility and laments of the blow to her integrity, she’d commenced haggling. In the end, Kheled had agreed to an outrageous sum in order to get her to take the order so that he could, at last, partake in that most blessed of activities, sleep.

  Only when he turned down the hallway to his clinic did he remember his promise to Raimie to inform Aramar of his son’s condition. Half of his brain screamed at the healer that the promise didn’t mean anything. Sleep was life.

  Kheled reluctantly made the journey to the Zrelnach barracks. He found Aramar in Gistrick’s quarters, sound asleep on a cot shoved into a corner. Quietly picking his way around the cramped room, he nudged the human’s shoulder.

  Aramar was instantly awake, hands reaching for a bow and quiver that weren’t there.

  “It’s only me,” the healer said reassuringly while keeping his hands up to block potential strikes from the half-asleep man.

  The human’s eyes cleared and just as instantly as his body had entered defensive mode, it relaxed.

  “Kheled!” he sleepily yawned. “Do you need something?”

  “I wanted to let you know that Raimie woke up earlier today, and he’ll be ready for visitors as soon as he wakes again,” the healer told him. “I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”

  “That’s wonderful news!” Aramar quietly exclaimed.

  He snuck a glance at Gistrick’s sleeping form on the bed nearby.

  “Would you mind helping me dress? I’d like to be there when he wakes, and I’d rather not rouse my host.”

  It’d be a simple thing to refuse the man on grounds of his own physical needs, but Kheled well understood a parent’s worry of an injured child.

  “Where are your clothes?”

  Aramar indicated a pile of clothing folded on the seat of a chair at the cot’s foot. Kheled brought the human the pile and helped him drag the pants up his legs and over his hips. Aramar donned his tunic himself. Once that task was complete, the human realized the enormity of the conundrum before him.

  “How do I get myself from here to there?” he asked with frustration. “I can’t ask people to haul me around for the rest of my life.”

  Fortunately, Kheled had dealt with enough patients in Aramar’s condition that his supremely slow brain could come up with an answer to the question.

  “Hang on. I have something that will help.”

  He retrieved the item in question from a supply room off the beaten path and left it outside Gistrick
’s threshold.

  “I’ll have to carry you into the hall,” he told Aramar, “but once we’re there, you’ll be able to maneuver around on your own.”

  Aramar gave his consent, and soon, Kheled was lowering the older man from his shoulders and into the waiting wheelchair. The human quickly grasped the concept. He gripped the wheels and flung himself backward, whooping with exhilaration.

  “This is fantastic!” Aramar enthusiastically exclaimed as the chair thunked into the opposite wall. “How do I turn?”

  “Spin one wheel forward and the other backward,” Kheled instructed, pointing at each in turn.

  Aramar rolled the chair around in a circle and whooped again.

  “If you like that, you’ll love the chair we’ve modified specially for archers,” Kheled said with a smile. “The backrest folds down to allow for the draw.”

  Aramar faced the healer, tears glistening in his eyes.

  “Thank you,” he said earnestly. “You’ve returned to me my son, my mobility, and one of my greatest passions. How can I ever repay you?”

  “Keep the nature of your injury away from Raimie for now,” Kheled replied, immediately cashing in the favor. “He’s about to undertake the Council’s trials which will entail all manner of physical and psychological hardships. Adding guilt and distress to his burdens beforehand will do him no favors. If you can wait to share until after Allanovian is far behind us, I’ll call us even.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Aramar reluctantly replied, “but I’ve never been good at keeping small secrets from him.”

  Kheled shrugged.

  “I can only ask that you try. Now if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your son.”

  Once they’d reached the clinic, Kheled had waited outside while the two humans greeted one another and had resigned himself to the beginning of a third day without sleep. As he’d expected, he’d had to intervene in the humans’ conversation in order to hold Aramar to his promise. From there, he’d had a litany of Raimie’s questions to field as best he could and then came a drawn out explanation of what would come next.