“I promise that you will know what I’m planning when it comes down to it. I don’t even know exactly what I’m doing, but I have a theory. I need time to test and perfect what I know and to learn more that I only am able to guess at.”
“So Drakenhurst then?”
“Yup. Let’s go see if Sigrant left us a nice big bed to roll around in.”
“Now that is a plan I can get behind. Or in front of. Then again on the top or bottom works just as well too,” Sara joked.
Seth was glad to watch her plump lips spread into a wide smile that showed her absolute adoration for him. How she could still see him in that light was beyond him, but he supposed the same could be said for either of them. Forcing a smile in return, he fought the distractions in his head and neared the guards at the gate with Sara. Behind him, nearly half a mile, was a pair of men he had chosen to join them. Their purpose was simple—relay orders, and carry supplies Seth and Sara purchased. None of them was armed. They did not want to pose a threat. Even so, Seth would not sulk around dark corners and hide who he was either.
“Halt there, you on the trail,” one of the town guards cried out. “Who goes there?”
“I am Prince Seth Derringer, brother to the king of Valdadore, and a dark sorcerer of the likes you would do well to show some respect.”
“Yeah? And I’m a barmaid with a spoon as a weapon.”
Stepping forward, Seth reached out his hands before him as they were enveloped in green and yellow flame all the way to his elbows. With his own illumination, he glared at the puny guard and flashed a wicked grin.
“I’ve shown you mine, now let’s see that spoon.”
Seth nearly lost his resolve when Sara choked on a laugh she was trying to stifle, but holding it together he stepped even nearer the guard, who now began to sweat profusely as his legs threatened to collapse beneath his body.
“Um… I uh… You see… What I had meant was…”
“No need to worry yourself,” Seth reassured the guard. “We mean you no ill will, and simply would like to visit your town and resupply some friends.”
“Absolutely, Prince Seth,” the other guard said from across the entryway. “About how many friends are you accompanied by? That is, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“It’s your town,” Seth said with a grin. “Seven thousand, three hundred and nine, not including myself. Oh wait, there are more. Make that seven thousand, three hundred and twenty six.”
Both guards’ faces fell and Seth simply smiled as they waved him into the town without so much as another word. They assumed, of course, that he meant a real army, not the ragtag bunch that actually followed, but it didn’t matter. With the meager defenses they had, an army of fools throwing maggots could win the town in a few hours.
Walking through the gate and past the guards with Sara at his side, he led her through its narrow streets lined with tightly packed homes and shops in no particular order. Using his senses, he guided them to the nearest gathering of auras, and was not surprised to find that it was a tavern. Made of plain wooden construction, it was nothing to marvel over, but they entered nonetheless.
Scanning the room quickly, he located an empty table near the door and pulling out a chair for Sara he allowed her to sit before sliding her towards the table. Rounding it, he sat as well and no sooner had he removed the weight from his legs than a plump little woman of perhaps fifty trundled on over, with breasts and belly that nearly spilled out the bottom of her too-short tunic.
“Good evening to the both of you,” the woman began, “On the menu tonight is…”
“No need, good woman. Just pack up the entire kitchen and round up any chickens, goats, or other livestock you have available. We’ll take everything.”
“But surely you must be kidding,” the barmaid replied with a slack jaw.”
“No, m’lady. We’ll see to it that the owner is well compensated.”
“I… Um. I’ll just go get her and you can work it out together.”
“Very well. Could you bring us some ale when you return?”
“Yes, of course,” she replied as the room was suddenly flushed in whispers and murmurs.
Seth sat back in his chair and reached up to pull his hair back from his face. It seemed like forever since he had last sat down to eat. It was a simple thing, really, but one that he found he missed. Did he even need food any longer? He doubted it, but even so, he looked forward to a hot meal.”
* * * * *
Sara couldn’t believe how casually Seth was behaving. It was almost as if he had come to terms with what had befallen them of late, but she knew better. Maybe he was doing it to ease her worries and fears. Maybe he was simply burying the emotions that just hours earlier had threatened to consume him. She didn’t know either way, but supposed that at least for the time being she would simply enjoy his lighthearted demeanor.
Watching the older woman’s over-filled sagging flesh bounce away with her peculiar gait, she witnessed as the woman vanished through a door that slammed quickly closed behind her. Turning her attention back to her husband, she found him looking at her with an adoration in his eyes she had not seen in some time.
“And what, precisely, has gotten into you?”
“I’ve decided to change.”
“Is that so? And how to you propose to do that?” Sara raised an eyebrow.
“These last weeks have been filled with hurt and pain, but those things do not define who I am no matter how much Ishanya wants it to. They do not make me, they only make me stronger. I have been through more than any other mortal man can say. I have died, and I have been returned. With such a gift as a second chance, who am I to focus on all the negative that has happened when so much good has happened too? I have you. I have Borrik. I still have my brother, only he doesn’t exactly want to see me right now. Sure, I’ve made mistakes, but who hasn’t? How can I punish myself for doing the things I was forced into doing?”
“I don’t know,” Sara answered, unsure if he was actually expecting her to.
“I can’t. I see now that bad things will happen, especially knowing that it is the will of the gods to kill all of us. But good can and does happen too. From now on I will do my best to deal with the bad but focus on the good.”
“I like the sound of that. So what are you focusing on right now?”
“You and only you, Love. Well, I have to confess that it is difficult with the barmaid’s bosom bouncing out the bottom of her shirt. You must admit, she has a lot to offer.”
“You are something else, and I would bet that it has been offered to just about everyone here.”
“Something else, indeed. Now all I need to discover is what.”
“What do you mean?” Sara asked, her curiosity piqued.
“From shortly after discovering my abilities, I began to study the auras of those around me. Yours. Borrik’s. Everyone’s. They are all similar but different. It took time and sadly some experiments to begin to sort it out, but I began to recognized things within our auras. I can disassemble them and put them back together. I can mix two or more together, and all the while I have studied the results and never have I seen the same as I do when looking at my own aura.”
“How are you different?”
“For all my pieces, I cannot tell. They are all there. Everything is like nearly any other human besides my own alterations, but in me, the different pieces interact differently. In me they work together just like they do in you, only in myself they operate backwards,” Seth admitted.
“What do you think that means?”
“I’m not sure, but I intend to find out.”
“How?”
“Study more. Look deeper. Find out why those who are blessed can be and why those who aren’t can’t. We’ve both read the scrolls and books that tell of us being pre-selected before birth by a god to carry their blessing. We know that it is up to us to seek out that god and give our allegiance in order to become blessed.”
“Yeah,
but what does that tell you?”
“I didn’t have to seek out the god. She came to me. I am different. More about me is a mystery than anyone knows.”
“Okay, but how does that help?”
“It means that I’ve been looking for answers in the wrong places. They are here, within me. I need to discover why I am different. The answers have to be here.”
“And that’s why you want to settle in?”
“That’s part of the reason, the other…”
“Excuse me, master?” a woman’s voice interrupted.
“Seth,” he replied, having been cut short. “And this is my lovely wife, Sara.”
“Good evening to the both of you. My name is Tricia, and I am the owner of the Hen and Den.”
Sara looked the girl over. She was a small, delicate sort of thing. The type of woman who probably cried when she broke a nail or got a splinter. With a slender frame and no muscle tone to speak of, the woman barely stood five foot tall with ashy looking blonde hair that was braided from atop her head down to her waist. She was not unattractive, in a sort of plain, innocent way, but Sara turned her attention elsewhere lest she be tempted to bite the woman.
“My woman tells me that you want to buy everything we have. Has she finally gone off her rocker?”
“Sara, can you handle the details?” Seth asked. “There seems to be something that I need to see to,” he added, gesturing towards the ceiling.
Nodding to her husband as he quickly rose, she wondered why Borrik would be trying to get his master’s attention. Maybe it was trouble. Maybe it was nothing. Either way, she needed to seal this deal and get to his side where she belonged. Turning her attention back to the almost frail looking woman, Sara put on her game face and tried not to look too intimidating. Pulling out her most charming, fake smile, she looked up to the blonde who now stood with her head cocked to one side like some kind of dog.
“Yes, hun, we want all the supplies and food you have. Everything. Livestock, salted pork, onions, and barrels of ale. Everything. As a matter of fact, if you have a cart or wagon, I want that too.”
“But, that would cost you, I don’t even know, like forty gold,” the girl half stammered.
It was a good act, but Sara could see right through it. The woman had taken her time to come out and meet them in order to judge the worth of all her small inn contained. Likely she was asking more than four times its real value, but she assumed the rich folk in her establishment were either stupid or crazy. Sara was having none of it.
“Listen. I’m going to give you fifteen gold, and not slap the stupid out of you for trying to rip me off. That’s more than what your supplies are worth, and much more than you deserve after that little stunt you’re trying to pull. The next time you try to rob someone blind like that, you think of me and remember that tonight you could have had your eyes clawed out and fed to rats, but instead I was nice and let you go on seeing. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the woman said, turning on her heel before beginning to bark orders across the bar to the hefty maid and some man who appeared more intoxicated than his customers.
“We’ll be outside waiting, and don’t you try to keep something for yourself,” Sara added, pouring a handful of coins from the purse on her belt into her hand.
“You heard the lady, folks. We’re closed for business until further notice. Now get your tab-running, broke selves up out of here!” the woman shouted, turning to wink at Sara as if proving her power to cow drunken old folks.
Dropping fifteen coins upon the tabletop, Sara poured the rest back into the pouch and pulled its drawstrings closed. Turning, she made for the door, allowing the drunken patrons to exit before her.
* * * * *
Borrik swept low for the fifth time, hoping to garner Seth’s attention with his proximity. Watching below, he was caught off guard as a black mass rocketed up from the shadows between two of the town’s buildings. With a few powerful flaps his master rose like a bird of prey to level off nearly upon the same plane as Borrik himself now hovered. Though he himself had been altered beyond measure from the man he had once been, it was still odd to see Seth flapping his monstrous wings.
“What is it, Borrik?”
“There is a large contingent coming this way from the west.”
“Troops?” Seth asked.
“Many are armed, though not all. Perhaps some of them are mages. I figured you would want to check it out personally.”
“You were wise to retrieve me. I’ll go and have a look. You stay here and keep an eye out below for Sara. I know she can handle herself, but if we’ve somehow fallen into a trap, I want you to get her out of there. No killing if it is possible.”
“Understood,” Borrik replied simply.
Something in Seth had changed. He still looked like hell, but his demeanor was completely different. Kind of like when they had first met. He seemed happier, more carefree. Borrik could only guess what had gone on in the tavern below, but whatever Princess Sara had done to him, it had worked wonders.
Watching as his master winged away upon a stiff current of air, Borrik settled into a circling pattern and watched the streets below. Here and there people walked, but no sign of any plot was detectable so far as he could see. Sniffing the air, he tasted it for any signs of an enemy, but nothing to give him alarm was found. If there was a plot, it was well carried out and elaborate. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that someone tried to assassinate both the prince and princess. Last time, Borrik had been without blessing or enchantments. Though it had nearly killed him, he had managed to catch the perpetrator and certainly was better prepared for the task, were he needed again.
Scanning the darkness surrounding the inn, he noted a dull shine in the shadows and began to circle lower. There, in a narrow alley between the inn and its neighboring structure, Sara stood looking back up at him. Even from this distance he could see her predatory eyes reflecting the starlight from behind him. It was a wicked gaze, for it was both unnatural and beautiful. To be honest with himself, there had been times he feared Sara and thought her mad, but his worries were unwarranted. She had managed to pull herself back from the brink of madness driven by bloodlust, and had never once failed Seth. In the final battle to save Valdadore, Sara had volunteered herself to be the instrument through which a victory could be won. She had taken a risk to her own life to save those weaker than she — the very people she had fed upon. She had learned from her errors and had grown. She belonged at his master’s side and he was proud to know and serve her.
Having located Sara, Borrik scanned the air and ground in all directions looking for any sign that they were in danger. To the east he could see where a small dome of light was increasing in brightness where their makeshift army was camped. To the west, he could see the dark serpent-like movements of the ever nearing contingent coming down the road towards the town. He tried to estimate their numbers, but those in the body of the contingent were in constant flux. If he were to make a wild guess he would suppose there were near a thousand. If it was a trap, Seth’s army had the numbers, but lacked skill, weapons, or even fighters for that matter. If it came down to it, it would be hard to protect such a large gathering of ill prepared humans.
North and south Borrik looked, and found nothing in either direction that concerned him in the least. Something here seemed out of place, but perhaps it was a trick of the mind that warned him so. It had been months of seemingly nothing but battle after grueling battle and he had honed himself to always be on the alert. With his senses and those of his greatly diminished pack, he could see, smell, and hear things unlike any other being on Thurr, and even so, he didn’t trust those senses at this particular moment. Then the screams started, and Borrik turned back to the west.
Chapter Four
It had taken Garret several hours just to make himself leave Linaya’s crypt. He didn’t want to leave the city. He didn’t want to leave her behind. Knowing that he wouldn’t see or hear her for more
than a week was like twisting hot pins into his soul. She was all that held him together—her and his hatred for the foulness Seth had brought to his kingdom. And when he finally mustered the resolve to stride away, he first reached beneath her mask. Closing his eyes, he braced himself for what was to follow, and grasped a handful of her hair. Pulling, gently at first, and then more roughly, he both heard, and felt when the flesh of the scalp began to give way. With tears brimming in his eyes, he yanked free the memento with a silent promise to return it just as soon as he came back. He couldn’t leave without her. He couldn’t leave her behind, not all of her.
Rising from the granite slab that was her resting place, Garret scowled as he heard a rodent scamper somewhere in the darkness. Foul things, these rats. He couldn’t help but feel that they were the eyes and ears of his brother. When he returned, he would offer a reward for their eradication. His kingdom could not afford to harbor spies in its midst.
Turning to wish Linaya farewell, Garret bowed low before tucking the gruesome keepsake he had stolen into a pocket upon his trousers. He knew it was wrong. He knew it spoke ill of his mentality. He knew beyond a reasonable doubt that what he had done was disgusting on moral grounds, not to mention any other grounds. But he couldn’t help it. He needed her.
Holding his head high with his shoulders back, he strode away from her vault without another look back. As he stomped yet another path through the dust, his demeanor began to change as each step felt more labored. The further he got, the less he felt he could leave. Reaching the exit of the tombs, he looked back into the musk-filled darkness. There, beyond the edge of his vision, he could feel her looking back. He could feel her smiling at him, telling him it was okay. Reaching into his pocket to caress her silky hair, he closed and locked the crypts with his free hand. He had to do this. He had to take back his kingdom and protect it from the likes of Seth and others like him for all time.
Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) Page 176