Shadow of the Knight (The Orb Book 3)

by Matt Heppe

  The man who slept alone wore an aketon, although the buckles were undone. He had a crossbow at his head and an unsheathed sword lay on the floor next to him.

  Sulentis wore academic robes over plain traveling clothes. He had a sheathed sword at his waist but no shield or armor. Orlos frowned at the sight of the sword. He’d never seen the scholar wearing one before. Did he know he was pursued?

  Still cloaked by shadows, Orlos made his way to the front of the cottage. When he was just a few strides away he said, “Hello, Sulentis. It’s me, Orlos.”

  Sulentis jerked and raised his hand as if to ward off an attack. Orlos let the shadows fall and grinned at Sulentis’s wide-eyed surprise. “Nothing to fear. Well, not exactly true, there are inquisitors near here.” He knelt and gently placed the inquisitor’s weapons on the ground.

  “Inquisitors?” Sulentis’s gaze went out to the darkness. “How far?”

  As he spoke, the armed man from the cottage appeared behind him. Where Sulentis was tall and gangly, with a wispy beard and large eyes, his companion was short and broad shouldered. Neither man was old— neither could be older than thirty.

  “Did I hear him right?” the other man said.

  Sulentis nodded. “Orlos, this is Escalan. An old friend of mine.”

  “Orlos? Not the Orlos?” Escalan said, giving Orlos a long look.

  “He is.” Sulentis turned back to Orlos. “They’re near?”

  “There’s one, not fifty strides away. He’s asleep. These are his weapons.”

  “Asleep as in….” Escalan drew a finger across his neck. Orlos saw that he held his sword in his other hand.

  “No, asleep as in snoring.” Orlos grinned.

  “What if he awakens? He’ll call to his friends.” Escalan leaned out through the door, peering into the darkness.

  “He’ll get a surprise if he does. Look, Sulentis, I’ll hold them off, but you must get your friends to Landomere. There are four more inquisitors who will be here in a quarter night to take you.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I snuck into their camp. They know you have two elementars and they’re coming for you. Although they did say they had orders not to kill the men. Just to capture them.”

  “They’re just to kill the female elementars?”

  Orlos nodded.

  Sulentis looked to Escalan who just shrugged in reply.

  “Did they say my name?” Sulentis asked. “Do they know who I am?”

  “They didn’t. They only called you a smuggler and said that they weren’t sure if the child is an elementar. They know for certain one of the adults is.”

  “We have to go back to Del-Oras,” Sulentis said to Escalan.

  “Now?”

  “No, after we see them to safety. But… our other friend is in trouble if the inquisitors know of these two.” He nodded toward the sleeping trio in the cottage.

  “It isn’t safe for you to go back to Del-Oras,” Escalan said.

  Sulentis shrugged. “I have to do it.”

  “You should head for Landomere and safety now,” Orlos said. “You still have many arrowflights to go.”

  “I’ll get the horses ready,” Escalan said.

  “I’ll wake our charges and have them pack. Orlos, will you watch for us?”

  “I’ll check on my sleeping friend.”

  “What if he’s gone off?” Escalan asked as he stepped through the door. “You shouldn’t have left him.”

  “Even if he freed himself without alerting us, I’d catch him before he got far.”

  “You’re very confident,” Escalan said.

  Orlos grinned and took a few steps backwards. “No, not very confident. I am very spiridus.” With that he drew his spiridus shadows around him and turned away from the cottage. His grin grew wider at Escalan’s gasp of surprise.

  When he returned to the tree he found the inquisitor still asleep. Must have been a long ride, catching up to Sulentis and his friends.

  The inquisitor stirred at the sound of someone dropping something at the cottage. Orlos cursed under his breath. He had hoped that Sulentis would get away before the inquisitor awoke.

  The inquisitor blinked a few times and then frowned in confusion. His head suddenly lifted and he peered at the cottage. “Dromost!” he muttered as he looked about for his weapons.

  “Relax, Elrin,” Orlos said. “I mean you no harm.”

  The inquisitor tried to stand but flopped over backwards, grunting as he fell.

  Orlos laughed. “Not so fast. You’ll just stay here with me for a few moments.”

  The inquisitor looked all around. “Where are you?”

  “Behind you,” Orlos said.

  The man spun at the sound of Orlos’s voice. “I don’t see you.” He was a broad-faced, square-jawed man. He seemed a hard man to Orlos.

  “Would you see a spiridus?” Orlos asked. He walked around the man, keeping well back. He had his bow in his hands, but no arrow nocked.

  “There’s no such thing,” Elrin said. His hands felt at the lashes binding his feet together.

  “Odd, yet here I am.”

  Elrin turned his head, trying to follow Orlos’s movements. The inquisitor’s hand went to his missing dagger.

  “I’ve spirited your weapons away. I won’t have you harm a friend of the forest.”

  The man seemed remarkably calm given the circumstances. Which, to Orlos, meant he was dangerous. But he should be. He’s an inquisitor.

  “Why are you doing this? I’m on the queen’s business.” Elrin worked the knots binding his feet with one hand while supporting himself with the other.

  “Don’t do that. I’ll let you go once my friend is well away.”

  Elrin’s hand froze but didn’t stray far from the lashes.

  “Tell me, Elrin, why do you no longer wish to kill the male elementars? Why do you only want to capture them?”

  “Who told you this?”

  “Your officer, Jarham. Before I spirited off his weapons and those of your companions.”

  Elrin turned toward the inquisitor camp. Orlos could see the doubt on his face. “How can you think the murder of elementars is in Helna’s plan?” Orlos asked.

  “We don’t follow Helna in Salador. We obey our queen.”

  “So it fulfills Forsvar’s wishes?” Orlos continued to circle the inquisitor as he spoke, not wanting Elrin to have a good idea of where he stood.

  “These are false elementars,” Elrin said. “They are servants of Dromost come to usurp the throne of Salador.” For a time Elrin had turned with Orlos’s voice. But now he just sat still.

  “But now Queen Ilana only wants them captured?”

  “I’m her servant. I obey her commands.”

  “These new elementars are not servants of Dromost,” Orlos said. “They’re just people. Akinos blocked their elementar powers, but now they’re free.”

  “You’ve met them before?” Elrin asked.

  “I’ve met one. He is a good man but terrified of you inquisitors.”

  “We’ll find him.”

  Orlos laughed. “No… no you won’t.”

  Suddenly the inquisitor had a knife in his hand. He rolled to his feet and charged. Orlos dashed aside as Elrin came right for him. The inquisitor slashed wildly, just missing Orlos.

  Orlos’s spiridus shadows fell. Elrin was too close, and Orlos had lost his focus. Elrin’s charge had carried him past Orlos. Before the inquisitor could turn, Orlos ran. He tried to draw his spiridus cloak over him, but something struck him in the back, and he nearly fell. Orlos stumbled several steps, regained his balance, and ran harder. Brush and twigs snapped and cracked behind him.

  Shadows. Shadows! I need my shadows. As he ran he tried to calm his mind and forget the pain in his back. I am Orlos the Spiridus. I am one with the forest. The forest is my cloak . The Great Spirit is with me.

  He dodged left and risked a glance over his shoulder. Elrin had stopped running. He was a big man and wearing an aketon.
Maybe he’d tired. Orlos saw Elrin’s gaze dart left and right.

  My shadows. He’s lost me.

  Orlos stopped. He was far enough away that there was no way the inquisitor could see or hear him. Orlos reached over his right shoulder and felt for his wound. Elrin no longer had his knife.

  There was no blood. The pommel must have struck and not the blade. Orlos let out a sigh of relief.

  “We’ll find your elementars,” Elrin called out. “Landomere can’t defy the might of Salador.”

  Orlos stifled a smart reply. Talking and standing too close to the man had almost cost him his life. He must have followed the sounds I made. Orlos fingered one of the six arrows he had stuffed through his belt, but quickly put any thought of killing the man out of his mind. He was no longer a danger.

  Could I even kill a defenseless man?

  Orlos wanted nothing more than to return to Landomere, but Elrin would go back and get the other inquisitors. Orlos couldn’t let them catch Sulentis and his companions. With a sigh, he turned back towards the inquisitor camp.

  Chapter Three

  Ayja held her spear in a low guard and circled Cam, waiting for an opportunity to strike. They both wore padded aketons and helms, his with a visor, hers open-faced. Cam breathed heavily. He’d lost a step with fatigue. They’d been going at each other for some time now, and he was slowing.

  She feinted low and then struck high, but he didn’t fall for it and easily blocked her strike with his buckler. He countered with a slashing strike with his wooden sword. She parried it with her spear haft and then struck him in the ribs with the butt of her spear. He barely registered the strike and pressed close. Ayja leapt backwards, spear in a high guard.

  “No magic.” His voice was muffled behind the visor.

  “I didn’t,” she protested. It was true.

  “Sure.” He charged, buckler high and sword low. Ayja parried the sword and ducked the buckler. She short handed her spear and tried to thrust at his side, but his buckler smacked her spear aside. She ducked a sword strike at her head.

  She was low and went for a leg sweep—and Cam jumped it. For his size and his age he moved like a mountain cat.

  Ayja was in trouble. She desperately raised her spear overhead, catching a downward sword stroke. Before he could strike again, she dove and rolled. As she recovered her feet, she braced the spear for his pursuing charge.

  Cam wrenched himself to the side to avoid being caught by the spear. He aimed a weak strike at her, but she ducked it and then leapt to her feet again. He stood waiting, his buckler held out in a low guard.

  “If I let you hit me,” Ayja said, “can we finally eat dinner?”

  He stood a little taller and lowered his shield. “No. It has to be—”

  She struck. His buckler almost caught her spear tip, but then it was past his guard, and she hit him solidly in the chest.

  Ayja raised her hands in the air and let out a whoop. “Got you! Dinner time!”

  Then she saw the man watching them. She felt a moment of panic before she recognized him.

  “That was quite a fight,” the man said. Mellor was a neighbor—not that they truly had neighbors. He stood next to a saddled donkey.

  Cam pulled his helm from his head. “I let her get me,” he said after a deep breath.

  Ayja put down her blunted spear and took off her helm and arming cap. “What? You didn’t let me! I tricked you.”

  He waved his hand in dismissal as he drew in another deep breath. “Oh, to be seventeen again.” He looked up at their visitor. “What can I do for you, Mellor?”

  “I’m looking for my son, Nedden.” Mellor took off his straw hat and wiped his hand across his bald, sweating head. “He went off yesterday afternoon and didn’t come home last night.”

  Cam frowned. “And you thought he might have spent the night here?”

  “What? No!” Mellor held his hat in front of him, both hands grasping the brim. “I just know that he is a friend of Ayja’s, and I thought she might know where he is.”

  Ayja shook her head and wiped a few strands of hair from her face. “I haven’t seen him in a few days. He’s keen on Leva, though.”

  “I know. I’ve been there with no luck. Is there any other place he might be?

  “In town?”

  Mellor nodded. “That’s where I’m heading next. Sorry to bother you.” He stepped back to the donkey’s side.

  “Not a problem, friend. We were just finishing,” Cam said.

  “He might have gone hunting up on the ridge,” Ayja said, regretting it at once. She didn’t want to let on that young people sometimes made their way to the old hunting cave for trysts. “He likes it up there, hunting I mean. I’ll take a look for him.”

  “It’ll be dark soon,” Cam said.

  “I’ll hurry.”

  “Thank you, Ayja.” Mellor said. “I’m a little worried. My little one said she saw someone sneaking about in the forest.”

  Cam frowned. “What did he look like?”

  “She said he was scary. Pale with naught but rags on. I took my crossbow and went looking but didn’t find anyone.”

  “You think she saw something?” Cam asked.

  Mellor shrugged. “She’s one for stories. Even so, keep an eye open.”

  “We will,” Cam said. He waved as Mellor mounted his donkey and rode down the mountain track.

  Cam and Ayja walked back towards their sturdy farmhouse, unbuckling their aketons as they walked. Mellor was one of only a few people who knew how skilled Cam was as a warrior or that he trained Ayja at arms.

  Mellor had been there the day Cam had killed the bandit warlord Grim Axe and three of his men who had come to take control of the valley. They let the story be told that the two of them had ambushed the brigands, although that was nothing close to the truth. Ayja had only been a little girl at the time but remembered it like it had happened yesterday.

  Cam had killed the men with his big axe in a matter of heartbeats.

  Her friends thought it odd that her uncle Cam taught her the use of weapons, but the hill folk were rough people, used to taking care of themselves. Ajya was pretty sure that none of them knew just how much she trained or how good she was. There were other secrets, more important, that she could never let them know.

  “Nedden is sweet on Leva, is that right?” Cam asked as they entered their house.

  “They’ll marry,” Ayja said.

  “And what about you?” Cam hung his aketon on a peg by the door. Ayja placed hers next to his. They placed their helms on the table that dominated the room and rested their weapons against the wall.

  “Boys sweet on me? What would it matter? You’ve scared off any boy who comes around. You’ve told me I’m never to marry.”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “As good as. If I’m to be one of the hillfolk the rest of my life, why can’t I marry? I’m seventeen.”

  “It might not always be this way. Things will change under King Handrin.”

  “You say that year after year. How old is the prince now? I’m so tired of this half-life, Cam. If I’m hillfolk, let me be hillfolk. If I’m to be something else—”

  “You’ll be something else…when Handrin takes the throne. Until then, I will keep you safe. I promised your mother.”

  “It’ll never happen. The queen isn’t that old. She’s your age or near it.” Ayja turned back to the door. “I have to look for Nedden. I’ll be back before full dark.” She fastened her belt around her waist as she walked out the door. The belt held only a short knife and a small leather pouch. Her brown linen tunic and pants were still soaked with sweat, but she’d be running in the hills, and it made no sense to change out of them. She’d take a dip in the pond when she came back.

  “Wait,” Cam called from the door. Ayja turned and quickly caught the spear he tossed to her. Not her blunt training spear but her boar spear.

  “I don’t nee—”

  “Take it. You heard what Mellor s
aid.”

  “You think there’s someone out there?”

  “It’s the time you’re not prepared for a fight that you’ll find yourself in one.”

  “I’m an elementar, uncle. I can handle myself.”

  “I think we’re trying not to announce that to the world. Take your spear.”

  With a shrug, Ayja turned and marched out the door. She saved the sarcastic “uncle” for the times Cam most exasperated her. She’d known their true identities for years. There had been no way to hide it when her elementar powers had shown up in her childhood.

  She didn’t mind carrying the spear. It wouldn’t foul her legs like a sheathed sword might, and the shaft would help her balance on the steeper slopes as she climbed. After turning the corner of their home, she ran up the hillside behind the house.

  Over the years Cam had cleared more and more trees until they had five acres of usable land cut out of the mountain forest. She passed the fishpond Cam had finished last year and then came to the tumbling creek that filled it. She glanced behind to make certain no one was watching and then shifted her focus into the aether. All around her she saw the bright strings of magic that connected all things in an intricate web. With her free right hand, she plucked at the elemental strands of air and jumped.

  Wind flowed around her, launching her over the stream and up a rock face before gently cushioning her landing. She smiled at the pleasure of it. Of the four elements, air gave her the most joy. She loved the ability to leap up a cliff face, or to jump from tree to tree without fear.

  At least Cam had never tried to suppress her elementar skills. In fact he required her to use them, to train at them just as she trained with weapons. More so than with weapons, he made her do it in secret. Training with weapons would arouse suspicion, but openly practicing magic would certainly bring the inquisitors.

  Ayja scampered up the steeper slopes. Even with a long day working their farm and then training afterwards, she still enjoyed the challenge of the run. Only when she pressed the limits of her elementar powers did she feel truly tired.

  Nobody could keep up with her, not Cam or her friends. Cam said that one day the boys would get bigger and stronger, but it hadn’t happened yet. Well, they were bigger than she was now but not stronger.