The Fallen (Book 1)

by Dan O'Sullivan

  ‘If you want me to help you Dale, you are going to have to hold still for a moment,’ Callian’s voice suggested. Dale stopped dead still not believing his ears. Callian turned back towards the second shadow. ‘Lias bring Danil over here,’ he said gesturing to the flat area near Aithne, who had managed to sleep through the commotion. Lias lowered Danil to the ground and Valeska dropped to her knees beside him. Danil’s eyes were closed and he didn’t move.

  ‘What happened?’ she cried, running her hand down Danil’s face, then she gave low cry as four more dark figures slipped silently up onto the rocks.

  ‘Sh!’ Callian ordered, raising his hand. ‘These men are from Tabulum. We’re honored to have their help.’

  Valeska sat back on her heels and stared at Danil, tears running down her face once again. ‘Callian what happened? Has he returned? I can sense nothing!’

  Callian put his arm around the distraught girl. ‘He’s still with us Valeska.’

  ‘Last we saw, you were surrounded by about ten thousand warriors,’ said Alexander in amazement.

  ‘Actually there were about fifty of them,’ said Lias calmly,’ and their leader was called Rarni. If they sent Rarni to guard the lake then they couldn’t have been expecting us to go that way. He’s a pathetic excuse for a warrior by anyone’s standards, apart from his own.’

  ‘Fifty!’ Enri stared suspiciously at the four Tabuls standing behind Lias. ‘You had help, didn’t you?’

  ‘That we did,’ said Lias emphatically. ‘To be honest I thought we would be returned in seconds, then out of the rain came one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen.’

  Callian stifled an atypical yawn. ‘There were hundreds of them,’ he said inclining his head towards the four men. ‘All carrying knives and spears and all covered in battle paint. They’re fine warriors,’ he said adamantly. ‘Apparently they were sent by Olwid. It seems he expected Kelian might try to come this way. So they’ve been watching the lake for quite a while.’ He leaned over and touched Dale’s shoulder then withdrew his hand. ‘It’s just a graze.’

  ‘The Elder that Kelian spoke of?’ asked Dale curiously, ignoring the blood that was running from the graze and wetting his shirt.

  ‘Yes. But I think Olwid is more than an Elder. If I’m correct, to the Tabuls Olwid is the equivalent of our Prince. You need to clean that wound.’

  ‘I’m sorry Dale. I tried to get between you and whoever was coming up over the rocks. I didn’t know who it was,’ said Valeska apologetically.

  ‘I’m sorry we were so sneaky. We were fairly sure it was you sheltering up here, but we weren’t entirely certain until we could see you,’ Callian explained. ‘You were doing a very good job of shielding them all, Vali.’

  ‘What happened to Danil?’ Valeska asked again.

  ‘He tripped backwards over someone’s body and hit his head on the edge of the jetty,’ Lias explained. ‘Everyone seemed to think he was gone, including me, but Olwid’s warriors knew he was still with us and they carried him from the battle. When he woke up he was as weak as a kitten. He’d lost too much blood from sword wounds and from the gash on the back of his head, and we weren’t even sure he was going to survive, but what we did know was there was no way he was going to run through the forest to the wasteland. So Callian sent him back to sleep and carried him out.’

  ‘I couldn’t sense you at all!’ said Valeska anxiously.

  Callian inclined his head apologetically. ‘I did everything I could after the battle to make sure none of our group could be tracked.’ He ran his hand over Danil’s face. Danil didn’t move and Callian frowned at him anxiously. ‘He should be awake now.’

  ‘I’m awake, Callian. I just don’t want to walk all the way across the wasteland,’ Danil’s voice was raspy and very quiet. ‘I thought if I stayed asleep you’d have to carry me.’ He opened his eyes. Callian rolled his eyes but sat back with relief.

  ‘Danil!’ cried Valeska, throwing herself over Danil’s body. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her gently. His mouth opened and he sighed tremulously from the pain.

  ‘I should have left you asleep,’ said Callian. ‘You’ll have to give your body time to heal.’

  ‘Callian, the last thing I remember is falling backwards in the middle of a battle,’ said Danil. ‘What happened-’

  Lias interrupted. ‘Danil you were covered in such terrible wounds that it took everything Callian had to heal you before you returned from loss of blood. You must both be exhausted. I’ll keep guard. I still have your sword King’s Marshall.’

  Valeska lay down beside Danil and within seconds they were asleep. Then Callian took Lias’ advice and lay down and slept.

  Chapter 44

  Choices

  ‘Hundreds,’ said Milgorry without waiting for Rudiger to ask the question. ‘The whole area is crawling with Nandul’s best. Kolass, Tarlin, Macardu, Joel, Ragin, Rendan, Leon.’ Milgorry marked them off on his fingers.

  ‘Macardu? I don’t know him,’ said Rudiger with a frown.

  ‘He came from Verenda. He’s the boy with the white beads in his hair. Well, he probably thinks he’s reached manhood, and there’s no doubt he can fight, but...those beads!’ Milgorry gave a derisive snort and chuckled sarcastically. ‘Marlea wasn’t there,’ he added.

  Rudiger whistled softly. ‘They must have been fairly certain you were going to try to cross the Ice. Marlea’s been gone for a long time. No-one’s quite sure where he went. Who else is up there?’

  ‘Daegan, Rhyse, Larund, Jerah, Benjamin-’

  ‘Ben is there?’ Rudiger interrupted, looking surprised.

  ‘And his scary little brother,’ Milgorry replied, inclining his head curiously as Rudiger’s face broke into a grin. ‘I don’t think that’s something to be happy about Rudi. I trained Ben and little Rezon and I did a good job. They’re as dangerous as anyone I can think of.’

  ‘You did a very good job,’ Rudi agreed. ‘I wondered why they weren’t here. So Nandul has them guarding the Ice. Interesting.’

  Milgorry broke into laughter. ‘You recruited Ben and Rezon! Supreme Majesty! By the time I finished with Rezon I was actually a bit scared of him,’ he admitted.

  ‘Yes, well Rezon scares us all Mil,’ said Rudiger, his eyes wandering over the horizon. ‘But both Ben and little Rezon absolutely hate Nandul.’

  Milgorry frowned. ‘What happened? I thought both of them would be among Nandul’s personal guards. What could possibly have turned them?’

  ‘There was another brother,’ Rudiger explained.

  ‘Surely we would have known!’ said Milgorry.

  ‘There was a human brother. Samil took a woman from the slaves at Fishing Point. She bore him Ben and Rezon and then he killed her. What Samil didn’t know was that the woman already had a human baby called Peter. He was brought up by the slaves at Fishing Point and he would have been about twenty-four years old when he came looking for his mother, a woman of whom the other slaves had spoken. I have no idea how he found Ben and Rezon but they worked out very quickly that Peter was their own mother’s son. Ben said the likeness between them was apparent. Ben and Rezon tried to get Peter back to Fishing Point, but Nandul found him and killed him before they could do anything to stop him, and before the similarity between the brothers was evident to him. Nandul never knew who the man was. He just knew Peter was an escaped slave so he killed him. Ben and Rezon didn’t say a word to Nandul, but either would be delighted to return the bastard given half a chance.’

  ‘I wonder how Ben would feel about joining my father’s personal guard,’ said Milgorry, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. ‘Or even little Rezon...’ He smiled at the thought.

  ‘If little Rezon scares you and me, then Nandul is probably terrified of him,’ said Rudiger wryly. Little Rezon stood well over six foot and eight inches with shoulders to match his height. He had been called little Rezon from when he was a child and stood head and shoulders over the other children his age. At fourteen years, Rezon st
ood over six foot tall and Milgorry began his training. He had proven to be a dangerous warrior, both strong and fast. He and his older brother were normally quiet, calm people, so it was quite a revelation to Milgorry the first time he had seen the brothers in action. He decided to train them in weaponless attack but the instant he demonstrated an attack on Rezon the two normally composed brothers disappeared and in their place Milgorry found he faced two ferocious lions that seemed to delight in the idea of thrashing him. It had taken all of his strength and training to subdue them and he was sure once they were fully grown and fully trained he would not want to wrestle with more than one of them at once.

  Rudiger led them almost directly east from Halling and they were now hidden in the edge of the wasteland. The southern half of the wasteland was made up of massive cliffs and impassable canyons. There was no water, no vegetation and few animals excepting around the very edges of the wasteland, where the rocky canyons gave way to miles of sandy scrubland. To the south, the cliffs rose and grew into the Ice Mountains which formed a barrier between the Great Wasteland and the Ice Coast.

  Milgorry rested with his back against the cold rocks as Rudiger picked up a huge branch and carried it to their camp fire. It never failed to amaze him how suddenly cold it became as they travelled south. The Ice Coast was a strange and beautiful phenomenon but its weather pattern defied explanation. Even when the land only one hundred miles north became balmily warm for the summer, the Ice Mountains and the Ice Coast stayed bitterly cold. Snow remained on two of the tallest peaks all year round and though the ice became cracked and dangerous there remained a strip which refused to melt. He watched through half closed eyes as the forceful wind blew gusts of sand across the ground, effectively erasing their tracks, and he wondered if they could come up with a better plan than the rash and dangerous idea of trying to sneak past such an array of warriors. Milgorry wasn’t at all surprised when Timbul and Araas appeared a second after this thought went through his mind.

  ‘Well?’ he asked. ‘Can you come up with a better plan?’

  ‘I don’t think I could come up with a worse one,’ said Timbul wryly.

  ‘No. That wouldn’t be possible,’ Milgorry agreed. ‘We need to put a bit more thought into this.’

  ‘A lot more thought,’ said Borgulnay as he leapt down from the rocks above Milgorry’s head. ‘Where’s Rudi?’

  ‘He’s stoking the fire and Eibhear is over behind those rocks teaching Kelian and Gil how to kill each other with knives,’ said Milgorry. ‘Though I doubt Gil needed any more training.’

  ‘Let’s interrupt their playtime,’ Borgulnay suggested. ‘I’ll wake up the girls.’ He vaulted over a ridge of rocks behind which the girls were sheltering.

  Milgorry explained to everyone what he had seen on his reconnaissance.

  ‘I can’t believe you went alone!’ Immosey’s anxiety was echoed in Elena’s and Louisa’s eyes. ‘You might have been caught!’

  Rudiger snorted. ‘They would have to get up lot earlier to catch Mil, Immy,’ he said chuckling. ‘What do you think Mil?’

  ‘I think we have to go alone,’ Milgorry replied and raised his hand as Rudiger frowned. ‘Nandul has no idea what you are up to and I want to keep it that way.’

  ‘You can’t get out of here without our help,’ said Rudiger folding his arms.

  ‘I think we can,’ said Milgorry. ‘Even with every warrior you can find, we still can’t fight our way past what is waiting for us at-’

  ‘What about a distraction?’ Borgulnay interrupted.

  ‘A distraction?’ said Kelian. ‘What a surprise...’

  ‘You know, take their attention elsewhere whilst everyone slips past,’ Borgulnay explained.

  ‘Idiot, I know what a distraction is,’ said Kelian. ‘I just wondered who the lucky victim would be, who gets to explain to Nandul why they were distracting him?’

  ‘If I get past I won’t need to explain anything to Nandul,’ said Borgulnay with a shrug. There was a moment of horrified silence before voices rose in objection to this statement. Milgorry, Timbul and Araas exchanged glances but said nothing.

  ‘Just calm down!’ said Borgulnay grumpily over the uproar. ‘Let me explain!’

  ‘Explain then,’ Immosey demanded, crossing her arms and craning her neck to glare up at the big soldier, her eyes flashing angrily. She didn’t look any happier when he had finished speaking. ‘Borg I have a bad feeling about this,’ she said apprehensively. ‘I mean, I have a bad feeling every time you come up with some crazy plan, but I have a bigger than normal bad feeling about this particular crazy plan. I don’t think it can work.’

  ‘I don’t think it will work either Borg.’ Milgorry was as worried as Immosey. ‘I think a distraction is a good idea, but I don’t think having Rudi chase you through Nandul’s army is something you would have any chance of surviving. Could you outrun me?’ he asked spreading his hands questioningly.

  ‘No,’ Borgulnay admitted. ‘But I’ll bet Nandul is still asleep somewhere. With him gone I might be-’

  Milgorry interrupted him. ‘You are probably the most dangerous human soldier I’ve ever met, you and the King’s Marshall also, but you can’t seriously think you could outrun hundreds of free warriors. And don’t think they’ll be any less dangerous with Nandul asleep. If anything they’ll be worse, determined not to be blamed for anything when he wakes up, and trust me, he’ll wake up cranky.’

  ‘We just need them to think we’re somewhere else, that we went a different way,’ Elena suggested. ‘We need them to leave the Ice Coast unguarded – or at least less guarded.’

  ‘How do we do that?’ asked Louisa.

  ‘Well, we’re already here in the wasteland, so I imagine the odd campfire left burning here and there would make someone think we were either still hiding in here or trying to cross.’ Elena squinted through the blowing sand and dust. ‘But it couldn’t work if the wind instantly blows the smoke away.’

  ‘But who lights the fires, and what if they can’t get away in time?’

  ‘Do you remember that wood Immy collected just before we crossed the Ice?’

  ‘The wood that was too smoky? And Mil had to get some that wouldn’t smoke? Oh!’ Louisa caught on to what her sister was suggesting. ‘How do we set up a fire so the smoky wood starts burning once the not-so-smoky wood is gone? Is that possible?’ She glanced at Milgorry who gave a tiny nod.

  ‘It’s worth a try,’ said Elena firmly. ‘But I don’t think that would be enough.’

  ‘We could go back down to Halling and make it look as if we took a boat south.’ Immosey’s eyes glinted in excitement.

  ‘Ah Immy, who’s going to row the boat?’ asked Louisa drily.

  ‘That’s the best part!’ said Immosey gleefully. ‘No-one! We just steal it when no-one is looking, leave a lot of footprints and then sink the boat in a deep part of the river. And run like crazy.’

  ‘And what about making it look like we gave up on the Ice Coast and turned south?’ Louisa suggested enthusiastically. ‘Do you remember when we first came into Nyinaku there were those old huts along the edge of the wasteland?’

  ‘Yes. I remember the huts.’ said Immosey curiously. ‘What are you suggesting?’

  ‘Well, I imagine if one of the huts was to mysteriously catch fire it would get their attention fairly quickly.’

  ‘And then? Even if they take the bait I doubt they will leave the ice entirely unguarded. Do you really think we could make a dash past?’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Louisa.

  Elena shook her head. ‘No. I think we should avoid trying to dash past altogether. I think we should do what they think we cannot do.’

  Immosey laughed. ‘Ellie, that leaves a lot of possibilities. What should we do, of the thousands of things they know we cannot do?’

  Elena didn’t answer but turned to Rudiger, Eibhear and Milgorry. ‘What are our chances if we went south from here and tried to cross over the Ice Mountains to get to the Ice Coast? Is t
here a pass? Does anyone-’ she stopped as Rudiger and Eibhear stared open-mouthed at her.

  Milgorry was smiling and leaning back against the rocks with his arms folded. ‘And that, Rudi,’ he said instructively, ‘is why Borg wanted to wake the girls before we had this discussion.’

  Rudiger ran his hand through his hair contemplatively and Kelian smiled as he could see Rudiger’s estimation of the girl’s abilities beginning to change.

  ‘So what do you think Mil?’ asked Rudiger. ‘Can you take them over the mountains? We can cross the mountains easily enough. You like to go that way in the middle of winter just to show off, but can you get everyone through quickly enough?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Milgorry. ‘Not so long ago I would have said no, but now…yes I think I can. It’s not particularly cold at this time of the year.’

  ‘You don’t sound so confident,’ Gilgarry observed.

  Milgorry sighed. ‘I would just prefer to be better prepared. Crossing the Ice Mountains isn’t a walk in the garden, though no-one would ever believe I’d take you that way. I would have to be crazy.’

  ‘Alright, let’s assume for a moment you’re crazy,’ said Kelian. ‘What preparations would we need to make?’