The Exodus Sagas: Book II - Of Dragons And Crowns

by Jason R Jones

  “He said, Seek and you may find the life, follow and be true to yourself, love without hesitation in all you do, and bring honor to those of the moon and earth. I have never felt anything like that, but a divine sign cannot be ignored. Alden be praised.” Cristoff looked around at the others. “What did you hear, good priest of the dwarves?”

  “The same, exactly the same words down to the last syllable. Elf?” Zen was amazed, but had far more acceptance for such things than most, being raised a priest for the majority of his life.

  The highborne noblewoman turned toward Azenairk, “The same. It was a soft mans voice, speaking in elven, comforting and smooth like a song in a temple.”

  “I could not have said it more perfect. I know not for certain who it was, but it was speaking to me directly and in my native tongue. James?” Ansharr looked to the troubled knight of Chazzrynn, for he seemed confused to say the least.

  James looked at them all, having heard something entirely different, not just in the soft voice of a woman, but in message as well. “She told me, abandon what you know, believe in what you do not understand, feel with my blessing upon thee, I await your spirit to unite with mine. It was not Alden, it was not what you heard, and I do not care to talk of this any further. She told me that pain and suffering--” James walked outside, hoping the cold breeze would bring some clarity to his foggy mind.

  “I will have my servants from within the mountain bring you food, let us rest.” Ansharr walked over to the passage to the stairs beyond her treasury, scroll in hand. She stopped, the blue light rising and fading as if to say good bye. The dragon unrolled it, looked down and gasped. In every place that Annar was mentioned, every psalm and page, a name was written that had not been there before. Saberrak.

  She whispered something in her tongue, and handed the scroll to a man with an outstretched hand, hidden from the rest save for his shadow on the wall from flickering torchlight. The shadow of the man bowed to the dragon, and she bowed her head in return. He kept hidden at the top of the steps.

  “There is one among them that should be one of us, great dragon. We have heard the name whispered since they arrived. The stones, the wind, they all speak of it.” the man whispered to Ansharr.

  “Should I tell him to meet with you then, Larens?” she asked in a presumptuous whisper.

  “No. You know that we must be sought out after the calling and much pain, as unfortunate as that may be. When he comes to us and in what matter is up to her, not us. I will have food set here on the steps, some for now and for their journey.” the man called Larens bowed again, and walked down the stairs with the holy artifact, the scroll of Annar, in hand. “Annar is coming, we have heard him and so has She.”

  “I pray He comes soon, and that She perhaps keep her eye on all of them, not just him.” Ansharr went to her treasury, admiring the things she planned to give away, and maybe never see again. Thoughts of divine intervention went through her wisened mind. Never in her two thousand years had she felt or seen anything like what had just occurred. She thought it best to stay calm and keep that fact to herself. Ansharr worried now, much more so, for these brave souls than she had already.

  Exodus II:X

  Road to Saint Erinsburg, Harlaheim

  Four soldiers protected the former lord of knights and the rescued king and queen; they were silent and nervous, not knowing what to make of what had transpired. The morning sun beamed in large rays over and through the misty pine forests and farmlands near Saint Erinsburg. The uneasy quiet was not just the men from Cristoff’s army, but Savanno, Richmond, and Rosana as well. There was a tension that would take a mighty axe cut to break, none of the three felt all too comfortable in the current situation. Savanno had held himself back from kissing the queen, and Rosana restrained herself as well. Richmond seemed scared and nervous, perhaps due to them and the fact that he was out of power in his own kingdom.

  “We near Saint Erinsburg, I need one soldier to ride ahead and send word that we are here, and another to fall back and see if we are being trailed.” Savanno motioned his hand to the front and rear of the foggy road they traveled, and two of his four remaining soldiers did as they were told. “Almost there my love, then we leave for Shanador, the house of Azarris, together.”

  “Savanno, I must tell you something.” Rosana turned her tan angelic face toward him, her long dark hair wisping across her face and eyes. She smiled and reached out her hand to his as the horses kept at a walking pace next to one another. “I am with child, three months or more.”

  “I know my queen, I know.” his hand reached hers and he returned the smile, his shaved head and face still splattered with small spots of blood from the fight a half day behind them. Savanno turned to see Richmond stop his horse and bow his head. Despite his love for Rosana, the fact they were free now and safe, the former knight felt shame at showing his love in front of the king. There was still the sense of fear and guilt that much of what had happened was his fault for not taking his wife from Caberra years ago and avoiding all of this. He let Rosana’s hand go, and turned his horse around to meet with the troubled king who had stopped on the road. “Protect the queen and carry on men, I will be back.”

  Rosana smiled still, having no lost love or care for Richmond, king of Harlaheim or not. Somehow she had known that Savanno knew she was with child, just an intuition that he had been waiting for her to tell him out of respect and great patience. The fogs lowered and drifted off into nothingness slowly as the sun warmed the ground, and for the former queen of Harlaheim, the daughter of the king of Caberra, and the wife of a former lord of holy knights, Rosana felt the world stop with the joy of her beating heart.

  It was shortly sped up once more, as the screams of the soldiers and thuds of crossbow bolts into them broke the brief perfect peace and serenity she had been gifted. The two Harlian soldiers in front of her fell with their steeds, a dozen projectiles through their armor and horses alike. Galloping back toward her on the road was the man sent ahead to the city, his sword raised as he charged in to save the queen. Before he reached her his chest was showered with arrows as well, and he fell off the side of his brown mare that continued on, dragging the dead soldier as his foot caught in the stirrup. From the forests and fog came the forms of twenty footmen from ahead, and both sides. Rosana turned her stallion around to flee back to Savanno, and then she saw him. On the ground beside his horse, sword in hand, riddled with arrows; her husband struggled to get to his feet.

  Dismounting quickly, not concerned with the soldiers or the king, Rosana knelt over her beloved lord. Tears choked out any chance for words from the queen, and blood prevented any from escaping Savanno’s lips to the ears of his wife. Her hand lay across his cheek and her face rested on his chest, she sobbed as his body twitched and spasmed in the last moments as life left him. The unspoken words were interrupted again by the thundering of hooves and armored men from all around. Savanno smiled as his eyes met those of Richmond and Florin standing over them. He tried to raise his rapier to at least point at his enemies before death, but the tip of the Seneschal’s rapier dove into his heart before he could manage.

  Savanno Lisario’s body went still, yet Rosana clung to him like it was her only chance at life. She feared to look up, to think of anything but him. Overtaken by sorrow and grief, the queen was taken from her dead husband by soldiers and bound. Florin’s hidden ambush came streaming from the forest and surrounded the former queen. She was numb, eyes closed and sobbing uncontrollably as they cut her long hair to but a few inches. Her cloak and dress were taken off of her in the cold, leaving her in her undergown for a moment. Other clothing and armor was placed upon her by the soldiers, who were silent. She had no idea what was going on, only that she was being disgraced somehow in front of many, but the only person she loved or cared for was ten feet before her, dead.

  An hour passed, maybe more, and her eyes could not produce any more moisture nor could her chest heave any more sobs. Breathing was difficult and her head p
ounded with pain. Rosana felt she had been lifted onto a horse, and strapped tightly to it in several places. Her eyes saw the black tabard of the Seneschal upon her own body, along with the armor and boots. She felt her short hair in the wind, and began to understand. Despite the horror of what Richmond and Florin were attempting, her gaze fell once more to Savanno. She had hoped he would get up, try something, return to life and save her. She knew better in her head, but only her broken heart had control now.

  The seamstresses and chambermaids backed up a few steps and bowed to the king, signaling to him that they had finished. “Let me see, my queen.”

  Florin turned to him, dressed as the escaped fugitive queen had been, the hair of Rosana tied in well from the ladies that had served her, giving her the image and façade of the queen herself. The bits of shade and accents of feminine vanity placed well upon her face, so well that the beautiful Florin looked just like Rosana from as close as ten feet. The crown fit perfectly, the jewelry helped for finishing touches, and the impersonation would fool most anyone. Florin, the false queen of Harlaheim, bowed to Richmond the Second who reached his hand out to one of the royal guards and took his crown that they had brought. He placed it on his head, and bowed to his new queen in return.

  “I thank thee for my daring rescue, great king. However, this Florin woman that tried to take the throne from us would not have surrendered so easily I think. I feel that a few cuts and bruises would add to her vicious reputation, don’t you? She did in fact start several deadly riots last night, and nearly killed a bishop. I believe that she and Savanno there have been at the root of a political mutiny, and shall be punished as such.” Florin smiled wickedly at Rosana, who looked much like her with the short hair and formal uniform.

  “Indeed my queen. Men, the prisoner and traitor to the throne, Seneschal Florin, requires a lesson in manners. Rough her up a bit before we parade her through the city. And send word ahead that the bishop Javiel is to be arrested for his treasons. The former lord, Savanno, has been killed. His treachery at kidnapping the ruling nobility will stain his name forever.” Richmond ordered the cosmetic beating that would ensure that the ruse would be believed, for no one would see Rosana behind her garb, her short hair, and the bruises and blood that was to follow. After a few screams and moments of inhumane brutality, Rosana was placed back on the horse.

  Her left eye swelling rapidly, nostrils bleeding, and her cheek cut; the Caberran woman felt numb of heart and broken of spirit. She prayed to Alden for mercy, quietly in whispers through her swollen jaw and bloody split lip. “Why are you doing this, why could you not just let us go?!”

  “Because, prisoner, the people despise me and love you. The knights I inherited along with the bishop, the mighty wizard in his tower, and the adulteress queen I was forced to marry, have all been nothing but obstacles. The kingdom views me as a young villainous king, which I am. But with the bishop about to be viewed as a conspirator to the throne, the knights slain and replaced, and the mastermind symbol of treason executed for it, the people will have a new villain to blame for it all. You, Florin, are the lynchpin and true wickedness that has led our people astray and corrupted the throne. Before the Cardinal returns with the Crossguard Legion from Shanador, the populace will have been cheering in the courtyard up at Rosana and Richmond, as the two young rulers faced such adversity to bring peace and justice to the kingdom.” Richmond smiled at Florin, who cackled out a small laugh herself.

  “You are insidiously evil, God will punish you more than any words I can speak in your presence. You are sick Richmond, you are the devil himself and I curse you to the same ends that you have caused so many others.” Rosana spit in his face, then in Florin’s. She received a strong backhand from the woman impersonating her, but at this point she felt very little in her face to begin with. “You will never get away with this, someone will talk, someone will find out.”

  The king’s horse, tied to Rosana’s, started forward and Florin followed. Heading back south to the capital, the men remained in position. “You men have your orders to check all who travel this road, you will be relieved tomorrow at noon.” Richmond received the bows from the soldiers and chambermaids he expected, knowing full well that they would not live another hour. “Your army is ready?”

  “I have three hundred approaching now, when they see us round the turn ahead one mile they will move in and kill them all. No witnesses my king, not one. Well, besides your unfaithful wife with another man’s child in her belly, but she faces the guillotine tomorrow in grand fashion after Javiel. I am curious how loud the crowd will cheer for Florin’s beheading. The riots, the taking of the throne, the war on Kalzarius, you have indeed made me into quite a monster.” Florin laughed at the thought of Rosana being beheaded as her, and that Richmond and she had planned it. Johnas will be most envious, she thought.

  “You are a monster my queen, but no more than I. Let us ride ahead and meet the army that will carry us into the city. How many did you pull from the siege?” Richmond quickened their pace.

  “I have two thousand ready outside the city, leaving the siege with just one thousand under Sir Sebastian. If any loyal to Bishop Javiel make a stand, the Order of Saint Tarumin would only be able to gather perhaps a few hundred. I am certain his faithful will surrender, and then he gets the guillotine; quick death versus torture for his conspiracies. Also, my king, I have sent three hundred men to Saint Erinsburg to bring Lord Cristoff to us on counts of treason and conspiracy. I have confirmed that some of those men were definitely his that assisted Savanno. All will be in order soon.” Florin looked back at Rosana, checking to make sure she was still there on the horse, and still bleeding a bit.

  The three steeds passed a hidden soldier on the turn in the road south to Harlaheim, and many men went into motion to kill the small band of supposed traitors. Richmond sacrificed his ambush party for the sake of silence. The nobles continued on to the city to return victorious and gloriously united with the royal army behind them.

  The soldier lay still in the brush, his horse tethered half a mile from the road. He had seen something in the fog when Savanno sent him to protect the rear, and had hidden to avoid notice. The soldier had seen it all happen so quickly, but remained hidden knowing he could do nothing against thirty or more men. His heart burned from seeing what they did to the queen and Savanno. He had heard that she was to be executed as Florin, and that Cristoff would have a trap waiting for him when he arrived back from the mountains. The soldier went to his horse, trying to think of how to get to Cristoff before he arrived in Saint Erinsburg. Though young and merely a guard at Castle Bradswellen, Norrice Fevrand was not about to let his lord or the queen be killed. The brave soldier moved as the sounds of murderous battle ensued up the road from his position, and untethered his horse. Norrice rode hard to the north and east, in hopes of reaching Lord Cristoff and those he traveled with before anyone else did. Someone had to know what had happened, someone had to stop the execution, someone had to save the kingdom of Harlaheim. Norrice rode to the only man he knew that had never lost a battle.

  LCMVXIILCMVXIILCMVXIILCMVX

  The stewed lamb and flame roasted root vegetables were delicious along with the breads and fresh fruits that were brought to them. None of them saw who had left the food, and the dragon refused to reveal it. Rested, fed, much food packed and waterskins full of fresh water, the six companions knew that lingering here more would only delay the start of the journey they had promised Azenairk to begin. They also had to meet Savanno Lisario in Saint Erinsburg, which James was eagerly awaiting.

  “So great dragon, how is it that we find the mines in the Kaki Mountains?” Zen asked as he finished donning his plate armor and tightening the straps.

  “From what I know, the route through the west will be most dangerous if taken directly. Since you are all so very hunted, stay off the main roads. Travel west, but stay clear of the rotten city of Devonmir. Be careful through the free cities of Willborne, strange folk I have heard of th
ere, but they should not bother you. From there I would head across southern Shanador, but again stay hidden and head into the Misathi Mountains. There is a pass through there that is most dangerous to travelers less skilled than you in battle, Deadman’s Pass. Go through the valleys of the Misathi but be cautious, even warriors such as yourselves should be concerned. Going through that valley will keep you from ogre entanglements of Bloodskull, which are far worse than dealing with a few giants.” Ansharr looked over to James Andellis who seemed a bit perplexed.

  “So you would rather us go through a deadly pass with giants than deal with a few ogre? I do not follow your reasoning, ancient one.” James looked to the others, then to the dragon again.

  “It is not a few ogre, good knight. The city of Bloodskull borders Shanador, a city of tens of thousands of ogre, a small kingdom in fact. You do not want to draw their attention, I assure you.” Ansharr paused, watching James go blank in the face at the mention of an entire city of his most hated creature on the continent. “You will have a rest in the dwarven city of Marlennak, then carry on to the end of the Misathi Mountains and turn north. When you reach Evermont, the western fortress city of Shanador, you will turn west and seek the Kaki Mountains. Somewhere in those mountains are the mines of Kakisteele and the city of Mooncrest, but I could not tell you where.”

  “How long a journey is this, exactly?” Gwenneth looked to the dragon’s wings, then to her feet, and then back to her.

  “If I were on foot, I would think more than a few months, perhaps three or so if you travel hard and do not get delayed.” Ansharr walked over to her treasury and lay in front of it.

  “I wish I could go with you to seek this famed and majestic place, truly, I am envious. I will have the best horses, equipment, and supplies for you.” Cristoff smiled, then looked at the minotaur. “I do not have anything big enough for you to ride, my horned friend, I do apologize.”