A movement caught her eye. Tethea stood at the far end, inclining his head toward the box beside him. Artemi led the bay mare to an empty stall, unsaddled and locked her in, before stalking up to the soldier’s choice. This animal was beautiful. In truth, he quite closely
resembled Tyshar but for a white diamond on his chest. She tacked up the stallion and raced him out of the stables at full speed.
The mount surged for longer bouts through the plains and hills of southern Calidell, until they reached the bluff rocks and outcrops of Giant’s Stepping Stones. Here, Artemi had to slow their pace considerably to avoid breaking the horse’s legs. At least it was daylight again, she pondered, as the soft illumination of the sun made the rocks glow gold. They passed ancient monuments and statues to kings long-forgotten, trotted through an impossible overhang of canyon walls and picked through a deadly pavement of dark green limestone.
When the going was slow, she built a rudimentary bow from a slice of yew and some threads from her dress, trying desperately to ignore Plodia as he complained that she’d made it too taut. The arrow had to be shaped from a pointed stake in the absence of flint, but she knew that Cydia would have approved of her attempts. She was glad for the incredible endurance of her horse, for it wasn’t until the early hours of the following day that she had an opportunity to find a new one.
Ever-dependable, Tethea found her another mare with an overarching desire to go as fast as possible. Artemi saddled-up and mounted the horse inside the stable, ready to charge out, but before she could, Helico crawled round the corner of the door. “Stay quiet, girl! Someone’s coming.”
She lowered herselfalong the horse’s neck and slowed her breathing. Then again, her current smell was probably as bad as a wailing scream for attracting attention. The horse stamped in impatience. Two men walked out into the stable yard, chattering noisily. “... more blasted rain tomorrow! I’m sick of the stuff-” The portly one turned as he noticed the open door.
There was nothing for it. Artemi kicked the horse hard and charged out of the stall. The men shouted out at her and yelled obscenities even Plodia would have blushed at, but she ignored them and rode from the town as fast as the animal would take her. None of the other horses they had would even come close to matching this one, in any case. She would be safe from their attempts to bring her to justice. Artemi’s new mount took her into a blossomfilled orchard, spraying petals like snow as they passed, and then through to the dense woodlands that would stretch for another three-hundred miles. Several of the weathered signs she passed already included Cadra in their vast list of destinations, which was a frequent reassurance. After a bout of galloping, Artemi reduced the mare’s gait to a trot.
“Tsk. You need to eat something,” Neleum admonished.
How did he follow her when he didn’t even have a horse? “I don’t have time to stop.”
“You’ve got no strength in you, stupid girl. Have some bloody food!”
Artemi looked around. There were quite a few little juicy rabbits hopping about in the clearings. Sensing that the ground was dropping to a river, she followed it down to refresh the horse and dismounted. A
particularly fluffy rabbit bounded out of the bushes, and Artemi lost no time in whipping out her bow. She shot it smoothly, before sprinting to her kill. It had been a clean death, but now she had the problem of eating it.
There was simply no time to set up a fire or prepare food in any sensible way. Artemi retrieved her sword from the saddle and began skinning the game. Once done, she took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She bit into its warm, raw flesh.
It was disgusting, utterly bitter and acrid. “Argh!” She breathed deeply again. Neleum was right; she was far too weak to be of much use in a fight, and needed to build her strength. Artemi ate as much of the rest of the bloody rabbit as she could, and then washed herself off in the river. It had been disgusting!
Surely no intended Queen of Calidell ever lived like this?
With some shame at her actions, she pulled herselfback into the saddle. The subsequent gallop was a welcome return to routine, and each time the horse slowed she performed exercises to strengthen her wasted muscles. The animal became very confused when she attempted several handstands on its back, or jumped down to run alongside it.
When they stopped for the second watering, Artemi completed only a paltry number of pull-ups on a branch before she became exhausted. She needed more food.
The fourth horse was a dun gelding in a smoke-filled village with the most gracefully slender body that she had ever seen. The animal looked too delicate even to carry her,
but Tethea was insistent that this was the one she needed. Artemi bit her lip while she thought about it and toured the new village in search of something to sate her appetite. At the back of an especially raucous bar, she found a cobbled courtyard filled with containers for refuse. “Perfect,” Helico cooed at her.
She dived into the first one, and succeeded in finding a chicken carcass. Artemi chewed on it fruitlessly for a few minutes, before digging through the next bin for halfrotted fruit. Some of it was actually quite edible, so long as she ate the better-looking bits. A further search revealed more partly eaten meat and several raw vegetables. Happy with her haul, she skipped off into the night to collect her new horse. They cantered and galloped and trotted through the woodlands for more hours than seemed possible. Artemi knew she had very little time left to reach Cadra, and all the while the roads she used were becoming busier. She could not risk being seen by any of Febain’s men, for as far as she knew they could have leapt ahead on a Sky Bridge and were lying in wait for her somewhere along the way. She had to stick to the shadows and stay out of sight.
Artemi radically decided to head straight through the trees. It would cut the distance and ultimately mean she could avoid recapture, though it could slow her progress. Her dun gelding didn’t seem to mind, however, and trotted excitedly through the undergrowth. As the fourth night closed in, it began to rain heavily. The shower felt wonderful on her filthy skin and hair, but it transformed the next
section of their journey into mire. She was forced to dismount and run alongside the animal through the mud to prevent him from sinking into it any farther. It sucked heavily at both sets of feet, causing them considerable fatigue. Artemi gritted her teeth and pressed on until the ground began to harden. Once free, they galloped through the increasingly open woodlands and into daylight.
“You need a new animal!” Tethea warned.
“You think I don’t know that?” she yelled back at him. “I know you’re trying to help, butI have a country to save here!”
“They’ll have one.” He pointed to a group of men amongst the trees ahead of them. How had she not seen them?
Evidently they had seen her, for all ten
of them stood and lifted their swords. Artemi’s weakened muscles knotted and her heart sank. She knew from their attire that they were woodland bandits, who cared nothing for anyone but money or themselves. And she had nothing to bargain with, except an exhausted, shaking horse.
She drew her sword and readied her spear; this was not a fight she was strong enough for.
“The woodlands provide generously, do they not?” One of the bandits nudged his friend. They guffawed between themselves in a strange echo of Febain’s men. Then again, perhaps Febain’s ‘Free Men’ were formed from groups of bandits like this.
Artemi fuelled herselfwith the anger she’d felt at them, and launched into an attack.
The nearest man was slow to react, and she beheaded him quickly. The second man bore down upon her with a daring slash, but she speared him, dismounted and parried in time to deflect his attack. She made short work of finishing him off, and quickly met the blade of a third man whilst dodging the attacks of a fourth and fifth.
“Go for his midriff!” Neleum shouted at her from behind the row of shoulders.
Artemi followed his instructions, desperately evading the flurry of blades that fell
like rain over her body. Tethea, Plodia, Helico and Laothoe soon joined the other soldier in shouting encouragement at her, until they started to make her more confused about what to do next. She cut down a further two bandits.
“Would you shut up so I can
concentrate on killing these idiots?” she called at them.
Her enemies briefly wore expressions of puzzlement, but continued to slice at her from every direction. She was tiring quickly she had to finish this soon. Artemi leapt over a slender bandit’s shoulders and cut through his neck from behind. The next two men practically fell onto her blade. Only three left.
She spun sideways with her sword held at an odd angle, feigning injury. A black-haired bandit fell for her ruse, and she relieved him of his left arm with a quick up-thrust. Artemi readied herselffor the other two men. One of them barrelled straight toward her with the full momentum of his size, but she was too slow to fully avoid it and too weak to push it away. She knocked the sword from his hand, sending it
spinning into the bushes, but his shoulder pushed her hard onto the ground. She landed there with a grunt.
“Laothoe, take him!” Artemi shouted as she vaulted back to her feet and rallied towards the final man, slicing his head off quickly. But Laothoe failed to deal with her other opponent, and just as she ended the life of the one-armed bandit, the surviving man thrust his blade fully into her abdomen. She fell backwards, clutching at the hilt of the weapon. It was covered in the black, oily poison of pinh. Artemi’s sight began to dull, and her skin began to feel hot. Someone was shouting something at her - a blurry figure to her right. She couldn’t quite make out his features.
“Get up, you stupid girl! Fight him! We didn’t die for you so a half-witted bandit could
end your life! Blazes, MOVE YOUR SKINNY ARSE!” It could only have been Neleum. Artemi laughed wildly, stood and brandished her sword at the bandit. He stared with his eyes wide as she dragged his weapon from her stomach.
Ignoring the pain, for it was nothing in comparison to quenching, she spun the bloodied blade quickly in her hand and then sliced cleanly through his neck. His body remained upright for an inordinate amount of time, and then it fell. Artemi dropped to her knees, aware that her injury had put her in a dire situation. Laothoe and Neleum came running to her aid.
“Some help you bloody were!” she shouted at them.
Neleum hissed, “You need to get that
cleaned up now. There’s water in those skins over there.”
“Why don’t you go and get it then?”
The soldier folded his tattooed arms. “Because I’m dead. Go and fixyourself, girl.”
Did they have to keep reminding her of that? As if she didn’t feel guilty enough about it! She crawled over to the water and poured it into the wound carefully. Blackened liquid swirled around in it as a sickening ooze. Artemi poured more water in and drank some for herself. She only had a day and a halfto get to Calidell. Or was it just a day?
“Good, now soak it up with that towel.” Neleum pointed to a dirty rag hanging near the campfire.
Artemi grabbed it and pressed it against the deep cut. “You are getting very
good at giving orders.”
He merely raised an eyebrow at her. “Wrap it up tightly with the bits you cut from that dress. And then get moving!”
When Artemi had finished tying off the white fabric, she thought of a quip that would amuse her soldiers. She looked around for them to give it, but they were gone.
Impossible men! The choice of horse was obvious to her: a white stallion with improbably muscular legs. She turned the other animals loose and carefully mounted the new one. Her wound stung as the horse moved from a trot to a brisk gallop, but she bit down on her lip against it. She had to get to Cadra soon. The woodland rapidly opened out into sandy heath, and the animal was permitted to stretch its gait across the soft ground.
The rush of air felt wonderful against the heat of her skin, and she found herself becoming drowsy in the rocking motion of her mount. When they stopped for water, she sat down against a tree to consider the best route to Cadra from here. If she took the main road, she risked being caught by Febain. But if she cut through the Cadran woodland, she risked being slowed by thick undergrowth or mud again. Speed or safety, she thought, and the sky grew dark.
“Wake up!”
Water splashed into Artemi’s face. The men stood before her, hands on hips. Had they thrown the water, or had that been the horse? Perhaps she was growing as mad as her king.
“You can sleep when you get to Cadra. Come on!” Laothoe growled.
Artemi groggily clambered onto the horse. Her wound ached terribly; so did the muscle and tissue all around it. She began the gallop-trot-walk routine again and decided to make for the road. She had lost too much time to be cautious. At a small town named Irfendh, she made the final horse change to a chestnut gelding. The night was growing light, and she desperately wished she had more time, but Tethea promised her that this horse would be very fast indeed. True to his word, the animal rocketed away from the houses and through the final stretch of Cadran woodland. Artemi cared little for maintaining the horse this time, and she pressed him hard along the road. By the time full light had illuminated the green canopy and painted the skies blue, her whole body ached with the poison from her wound. There was a
very real risk of pinhatar, she realised, but none of that would matter if Morghiad gave his kingdom to Febain.
The horse began to pant desperately, and she dismounted to run alongside it. Laothoe joined her with his long, stride-eating legs. “Not far now. Can you smell it?”
She could detect the scent of something different. It was a peculiar mix of burning fires, cooked food, wisp-root flowers and something else she didn’t recognise.
“Ah, I have missed this place. Not the most beautiful city by any stretch, but it is alive!” The long-haired man grinned inanely.
An hour later, the massive walls of the great capital of Calidell came into view, and Artemi could have screamed with joy. She probably would have, if it hadn’t been for the
numerous merchants walking by in the other direction. As she was about to push the gelding into its final gallop, her guards lined themselves up on the hard-packed road before her.
“We wanted to say goodbye, Artemi,” Neleum said.
Artemi felt a tear form in the corner of her eye. “No.”
Laothoe smiled. “Our duty is finished.”
“Just don’t forget all that stuff we spent years teaching you!” Helico warned.
She couldn’t fight the tears any longer. “I won’t,” she whispered. Within a blink, they were gone. Filled with emotion, and with water streaming down her cheeks, Artemi kicked the horse into a ferocious gallop across the grasslands that bordered the city. She willed him on through the final stretch, repeatedly
urging the animal to save every second available. When she could see the guards at the gate, she hauled on the reins and fell from the saddle with very little grace indeed. Stumbling toward the men on duty, Artemi opened her mouth to speak: “I need... to see... the king.”
The soldier studied her with a frown and then, slowly, his eyes widened. “Bloody Blazes alight!”
His companion came to join them. “Artemi?” he said in disbelief.
She nodded. She felt so very exhausted. Had she made it in time? “Is he here?”
“Of course he’s here - tearing his hair out over you! Come with us.”
She followed them with faltering steps until they placed her on one of their own
mounts and trotted through the apparently endless innards of the wall. Artemi struggled to stay upright on the animal. She had to remain awake long enough to prevent him from making that ridiculous deal.
Dull green light swallowed them as they entered the city proper, and she could not help but marvel at its construction. Layers of houses sat upon houses, upon houses, upon houses. They were linked by sweeping roads and arcing brass railings. I
t all seemed so... impossible. Several of the city’s inhabitants stopped to stare at her, and she dropped her head in embarrassment. They probably thought her some sort of vagrant or captured criminal. After traipsing past what felt like miles of green stone buildings, they stopped at the metal gates of a dark grey castle. More soldiers ran
forward to gawp at her, and she was quickly extracted from the horse’s saddle.
“Blazes, girl. What happened to you?” an attractive man with hazel eyes asked.
Artemi raised an eyebrow. “I was kidnapped.”
The soldier smiled and turned to his men. “Thank you, lads. I’ll deal with this from here.”
“Lieutenant.” They saluted and went back to gossip between themselves.
“Are you alright to walk the rest of the way?” He frowned at her dishevelled appearance.
Artemi gritted her teeth. “There’s no time to lose.”
The lieutenant, a real one this time, nodded and began to walk briskly across the
courtyard. Summoning the last scraps of energy, Artemi picked her feet up to jog beside him. The motion sent spasms of sickening pain through her, but she clenched her jaw against it. Not far to go now. They climbed seemingly endless series of steps, enough to scale a mountain, and walked through miles of darkened corridor. Soldiers along the way variously smiled at her, stared or gawped with their mouths open. She felt like slapping a few just to knock some sense into them. If only she’d had the strength to do it!
The Fireblade Array: 4-Book Bundle Page 59