by Justin Sloan
After they had settled down at the table and begun eating from the plates of fruits and nuts the lady provided, they were joined by Kia’s father and the old man who had confronted Mae. Soon they were all discussing the plans for Roneland’s defense, including Kia and Lannis, almost as if they were adults. More clan members from nearby villages came in, since Mae had sent her men to spread the word. This was getting serious now, and by morning, Mae assured them, they would have the majority of the clans in the middle of Roneland on their side. After that, they could move on to the north and the outer highlands and coasts, but this was a start.
Considering the fact that they had no idea when the sorcerers would attack, it was a very good start.
Kia was glad to see her father sober up as the night went on, and proud of him for not touching another mug of any liquid other than water. When everyone had finished and agreed to rest for the night, she snuck over to the side of the room where he had curled up on a thick wool blanket, and sat down beside him.
“You still up?” he asked in a whisper, opening his eyes to see her.
“With everything going on…” She looked out through the back window at the night sky and the myriad stars. “I haven’t had much of a chance to ask how you’re doing.”
For a moment, he just laid there, then finally sat up and looked at her, eyes wide and sad. “Darling, that’s a question I should be asking you. That’s my job, looking out for you, not the other way around.”
She nodded; she got that. “Still… How’s everything?”
He smiled. “Given the circumstances, perfect. Do I miss your mom? There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t wish she was still here with us.”
“And Rhona?”
“There isn’t a day goes by that I’m not glad she’s in our lives.” He reached out and took Kia’s hand. “Thank you for understanding, by the way. I should’ve talked to you about it more, asked how you’re holding up.”
“Hey, she’s probably my friend more than she is your lover,” Kia joked.
He laughed. “You shouldn’t think of the situation like that. She can be equally your friend and my lover. Once this is all over, anyway.”
“It doesn’t have to wait ‘til then. There’s got to be a way to go into this fight with her at your side.”
He nodded, contemplating this. “And if that’s the case, you’ll be…understanding?”
“As long as you never forget about my mom.”
“Never,” he confirmed, squeezing her hand and then pulling her in for a hug. “There’s not even the slightest question. I see her in your eyes every day, and in your smile. She had that same smile, did I ever tell you that?”
Kia shrugged, pretending not to care even though his saying so filled her with a tingling warmth. “Only about a thousand times.”
“A few more times won’t hurt, then.” He kissed her forehead and motioned to her bedding. “Now get some rest. We’ll need it.”
She gave him another hug, and then pulled her blanket over to him. “I’d rather be right here,” she declared, and curled up next to her father to let sleep take her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
While Lars led the group, Alastar made sure to not be too far behind. His head was still swimming with everything he had learned, and he wanted to ensure they found this sword, got out of there, and had the chance to confront the High Paladin.
Hell, with the sword, he might not even need the High Paladin, if the sword’s magic was as powerful as stories said.
They passed fields of green, untouched areas of land closer to the coast that he imagined had once been dry but were now flooded, and soon spotted what looked to be a small castle in the distance. Only one tower still stood, but it was majestic as it glowed in the moonlight.
A glance back showed Tina and Rhona deep in conversation and Stone’s eyes half-closed as he walked, as if he were already asleep but kept pushing on.
“If we don’t rest soon, I’m afraid your friend will simply keel over,” Lars remarked, following Alastar’s gaze.
“The castle?”
Lars nodded. “We’ve holed up there before, although it’s not always safe when there are paladins or wandering remnant about. Since we haven’t seen either of those following us, I think it’s worth taking the risk.
Alastar nodded, then followed the change in direction toward the tower.
“This sword: you say you know where it is?” he asked.
Lars nodded, glancing back at Kim, who followed a couple of strides back. “Aye, but we don’t speak of the place if possible.”
“Another legend of curses and ghosts?”
“Exactly.” Lars slowed, leaning in. “When you’ve lived among the dead as long as we have, you come to believe more stories than you ought to.”
“And when you’re bored and senile, like Lars here,” Kim cut in, “you might as well have a bit of fun.”
Alastar looked between them, confused now. “So…you don’t believe in them?”
Lars chuckled. “Of course I do. That’s the fun!”
“See, what he isn’t telling you,” Kim continued, “is that we search out the ghosts. We seek to connect with them.”
“Maybe they can save us from this hellhole,” the boy, Crete, added.
“Speaking of saving you,” Estair began, performing a double-step to catch up with them. She nodded back to the other boy, Andreas, where he walked with two others at his sides, like bodyguards. “You have a Storm Caller, so why not just build a raft and have him get you out of here by controlling the waves or something?”
The others shared a look, but no one offered an answer.
“You must be anxious to return to Kaldfell, no?” Alastar asked.
“They likely proclaimed us dead long ago,” Lars replied. “Took our homes, our belongings… But aye, if we had the opportunity to be done with this place, we would, in a heartbeat.”
“Otherwise we wouldn’t even consider going to the Lost Tombs,” Crete said, earning scowls from the others. “What? It’s true, and I’m not afraid to name them. I don’t believe in curses.”
“So you believe you’re here like this by chance?” Alastar asked him.
He glared. “I believe I’m here like this because of paladins like you.”
Anger flared in Alastar, and he shook his head. “Let’s get one thing straight, boy. I’m nothing like them. The men who did this to Sair Talem are evil, pure and simple. The fact that they do their evil in the name of paladins makes it even worse.”
“Watch who you’re calling ‘boy,’ old man,” Crete spat, his glare intensifying.
“No need to see whose sword is longer here,” Kim said, waving the two off. “We have a mission and a way off this island, if their boat’s still where they left it when we get back, and these people are the best shot at survival we’ve had in a long time. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
“Speaking of food,” Stone exclaimed, suddenly perking up. They all turned and waited for him and the others to catch up.
“You haven’t eaten?” Lars asked.
“We had supplies,” Alastar answered. “Unfortunately, we left Roneland in a bit of a rush.”
“In the tower,” Kim said. “We don’t have much, but we’ll help as we can.”
They continued walking, but Alastar noticed Kim glancing back occasionally. When he looked, he didn’t see anything, but the worry on her face was clear.
“They’re back there, aren’t they?” he asked.
She nodded. “The paladins, most likely, though I can’t tell at this distance.”
He squinted into the darkness. “You have magic sight?”
With a laugh, she shook her head. “Our diet here consists largely of potatoes and carrots. You’d be surprised what an effect the latter have on your eyesight. At least, that’s the best we can figure. Others who eat only potatoes don’t seem to have the same benefits.”
“I’m great in bed,” Estair winked at Alastar, “as you know
. Doesn’t mean I use magic to make it so.”
Kim frowned at her, shook her head again, and picked up the pace to give them distance.
“What’s up her butt?” Estair asked.
“Nothing is up her butt.” Lars stopped now. “Where does this strange talk come from?”
Estair stood there, mouth open. “No, it’s a saying. Like, why’s she such a prude?”
Lars brow furrowed. “I don’t think we understand your ways, but you don’t seem to understand ours either. At least in our village, we don’t discuss issues of the bed in public, and we certainly don’t walk around with anything in our butts.” He glanced down at her midsection and wrinkled his nose. “One would hope nobody does.”
“It’s a saying,” she protested.
He just shrugged. “Do what you need to do, but don’t broadcast it to all of Sair Talem,” then turned to catch up with Kim.
“Is he messing with me?” she asked Alastar, who was as flabbergasted as she.
“He’s got to be, right?” He took her hand and squeezed it, then pulled her along to keep up with the group.
“You know, I wondered, though.”
She looked distracted, but asked, “What’s that?”
“If you were using magic or something to make it better,” he replied with a smile. “I mean, no way it’s that good without a little magic.”
Her smile returned and she pretended to bite his hand playfully. “You want some magic, wait until I get you alone again. You’ll literally burst into flames, it’ll be so hot.”
“But not really, right?” he asked nervously. “I mean, I don’t actually want to be on fire while…you know.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ll just have to wait and find out.”
“I’m keeping a bucket of water nearby from now on.”
The group glanced back at her laughter and she quickly quieted down, covering her mouth with her hand.
“You’d think the fact that we’re surrounded by death and are apparently being pursued by paladins would make you two stop all that,” Rhona said, as she and Tina paced to the lovebirds’ right.
Estair shrugged. “You could think whatever you want, but you’d be wrong.”
“What she means,” Alastar clarified, “is that we’re pretty much always in a state of chaos, so that state has become the norm.”
“That’s depressing,” Tina replied.
“It means it can only get better,” Estair offered.
“Or that we could all die.”
Rhona turned to her friend with a frown. “Wow, way to keep up morale! I think I prefer the twelve-year-old boy jokes from those two to that.”
Tina shrugged. “I speak the truth.”
“You don’t have any stories to add to the levity?” Estair asked. “Come on, I mean, how’s he doing that?” She motioned to Stone, who was basically sleepwalking now, eyes seemingly closed all the way. “He ever done that in the sack?”
Tina giggled. “No, and I’ll let him tell the stories when he’s awake.”
“I’m…I’m awake,” Stone broke in, eyes still closed as he stumbled past them. “Just point me at the food.”
They all shared a look and then stayed behind him so they could catch him in case he fell. He didn’t, though, and soon they were at the ruins that surrounded the castle tower, waiting while Lars found the way in.
“Over here,” Lars hissed as he motioned them over.
“We’ll be sitting ducks,” Kim said with a glance back to where she could supposedly see paladins following.
“She’s right,” Rhona agreed. “Wouldn’t we be better off staying on the run or finding somewhere to hide until they passed?”
Lars shook his head, continuing his trajectory. “The fact is, they’ll find us; they always do. We have a better shot at defending ourselves within those walls. It’s happened in the past, and we were able to hold them off long enough that they gave up and moved on.”
“Giving up doesn’t sound very paladin-like to me,” Alastar grumbled.
“Does anything they are doing out here sound paladin-like?” Rhona asked. “I think it’s safe to say the answer to that is no. From now on, let’s assume these people aren’t real paladins, or that what we had built up in our mind as the base characteristics of paladins was never real to begin with.”
A thought hit Alastar, and he felt his mouth go dry. “Imagine if I had been sent on the holy quest! What would have happened?”
“They likely would’ve kept you on guard duty at the ships,” Stone replied, opening his eyes halfway to look at him. “At first…”
Rhona nodded. “But they would’ve shown you what they were really up to eventually, and you would’ve been forced to partake or die, I imagine.”
“I would’ve chosen death, no question.”
That earned him a look of respect from Lars, though it was hard to tell in the darkness. He worked hard to move a heavy stone slab away from a doorway, finally able to shift it with Crete’s help. After a moment, the old man motioned them in and they entered the tower. Stairs were missing in places, but they soon made their way to the top.
“It helps with the defense,” Kim explained once they had entered the top floor, which consisted of one stone room with a low ceiling. She pointed to a corner of the room where a stone had fallen and smiled. “That, and the weapons stashed there.”
Already the other two, with help from Crete, were moving the stone aside. Sure enough, they pulled out bows and arrows, several blades, and bundles of crackers. The crackers were stale, but good enough for Alastar.
“This won’t hold us through a siege,” Stone commented, chewing on a cracker as he sat down, back against a wall, and closed his eyes again. He put another cracker in his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and started snoring.
“My sleeping friend has a point,” Alastar agreed. “But I don’t imagine the paladins are planning an actual siege.”
“They’ll attack, sure enough,” Crete replied. “Might even try to make it up those stairs. But a full siege? No, nothing here’s important enough to them for that.”
“All they want is to kill as many of us as possible,” Kim explained. “Our goal, by that standard, should be to keep as many of us alive as possible.”
“I’d vote for all of us,” Alastar responded.
A grim look passed between the other group, and finally Andreas spoke. “That’s never happened. We always lose someone, if not a couple someones.”
They were all looking at each other now, and Alastar knew everyone was considering who they might lose that night.
No way was Alastar letting anyone die.
He went to one of the windows, staring out at the night in the direction of the approaching paladins.
“If each of you stand your ground, I promise that not a single one of you will lose your life tonight.”
“You can’t make that promise,” Lars said. “Don’t you get our hopes up.”
Alastar turned to him and focused on his magic, letting his eyes glow, and he waved his hand across the group, so that a golden light formed near the ceiling and started to sparkle down upon them. It was like a gentle dew or a morning mist, but it was warm and tingled on their skins, healing them and helping them recover from their run here.
Even he felt the stitch in his side and numbness in his legs dissipate.
“That’s…” Kim took a step away from him and nocked an arrow. “You’re the High Paladin!”
The others took up arms too, but he held up his hand to calm them, letting the gold fade from his eyes.
“If I were, you would all be dead,” he replied. “I most certainly am not.”
“I feel…more alive than ever,” Crete said, looking at his hands in amazement.
Lars hadn’t lowered his sword, though. “How is it you can do this…this magic?”
“He’s not the only one with magic,” Rhona interjected. “But I’ll reserve mine for when it’s absolutely necessary.”
“A
nd to answer your question,” Alastar replied. “It was a matter of coming to understand that what all paladins do is magic. Many, including the ones down there, don’t understand this, which gives us an advantage.”
The others stared at him, then turned to Rhona.
“And your magic… It’s the same?” Kim asked.
Rhona shook her head. “Let’s pray you don’t have to find out.”
“Let’s not pray,” Lars said. “Instead, let’s fight, and let’s win.”
“Let’s not forget,” Rhona pointed at the young man, “that you have a Storm Caller, too.”
Andreas’s face went pale and his knuckles went white as he gripped his staff. “If only we had water from the sea nearby,” he said. “Then aye, but as it is…” He looked around, making a show of the fact that they had no seawater.
“Is that how it works?” Rhona asked. “I’ve always wondered.”
“So have I,” Alastar admitted. “You’re saying you effectively have zero magic ability unless you’re by the ocean?”
“Or have seawater,” Andreas said with a nod.
“So you’re useless,” Tina grumbled with a frown.
“I can fight like the rest of you,” he said. “Just get me near water, and we’ll have a different situation on our hands.”
“Tina tends to speak her mind,” Rhona told him, scowling at her friend before turning back to Andreas. “We’re sure you’ll do your part here.”
Alastar turned back to watch the paladins, now clear in the moonlight. Only a handful, he noted. Still, he was unsettled.
“If we beat them off,” he said slowly as he thought the words over, “what then?”
“They look for more of us to kill, though I don’t think they’ll find any on this side of Sair Talem. We haven’t seen anyone other than ourselves, paladins, and the remnant in months.”
“Or return to their ships,” Kim offered.
Alastar nodded; that was what was bothering him. “And if they return to their ships, they might spot ours.”
“They’d either sink it or take it with them,” Rhona replied, now on the same page as him.
“What would you have us do?” Lars asked.
“We have supplies now, and weapons.” Alastar considered a moment, then said, “I have a plan, but,” he turned to Rhona, “we’re going to have to use a bit of your magic.”