“Verin has taken them to the castle.”
“Thank you, Elwin.”
The ranger nodded and turned his horse, riding back towards the canyon entrance.
“How is it that you mention talking to Hanna and two minutes later a ranger brings news of her arrival. I’m going to start talking about busty girls from Mykoznia. Let’s see if anyone brings word of their arrival.”
Nathan shook his head and looked over at Rayan. “Looks like you are going to be on your own for the rest of the afternoon. Best of luck with those Mykoznian girls.”
Rayan shook his head. “Look at Lord Ridgeback. He has no plans of going anywhere. He knows he has a couple hours until Rose is out of school. He’s going to stay here and enjoy the sun. Matter of fact, as soon as you disappear I think I might join him and do some sunning myself. Want to be nice and tan for those Mykoznian girls. They should be arriving any minute now.”
Nathan laughed. For all Rayan’s threats of being lazy, he was a hard worker and it was very doubtful he’d be napping in the sun. However, he was right about one thing. Lord Ridgeback had no intentions of moving. Nathan jumped down from the rock ledge and started heading towards the castle.
…
Nathan found Hanna and Magnus in the kitchen speaking with Verin and Avera. With them were two young women. The first was as big as Magnus, with long dark hair braided to one side. She had the look of a northern warrior. The second woman was petite in comparison to her companion, but she too had a look that said warrior. However, Nathan had a suspicion she would fight in an entirely different manner than her large companion.
“Nathan. Good to see you again,” said Hanna with a grin.
Returning her smile, he replied, “Yes. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. What brings you back?”
“Your grandfather. He has requested we escort these ladies to the east coast. May I present Lady Shayla and her companion Raven.”
“Greetings and welcome to Elderwood,” said Nathan.
“Thank you. It is a lovely kingdom. What you’ve done here in such a short time is rather impressive,” said Shayla.
“You’re too kind,” said Nathan.
“Shayla was just explaining her situation when you walked in,” said Verin.
“What did I miss?”
Shayla sighed. “A bit. I shall start from the beginning again for your sake. You have heard dragons have returned?”
“Yes. I’ve heard that rumor,” said Nathan.
“It is no rumor,” said Shayla. “They have returned and with them dragonbloods.”
“Dragonbloods?” asked Nathan. He knew of dragons, but very little of their history.
“Men and women who magically bond with dragons,” said Hanna. “You should understand that.”
Shayla gave Hanna a strange look.
Nathan noticed the look and explained. “I have a similar type of magic. I can bond with creatures and sometimes with other humans. I’ve recently bonded with a ridgeback wolf, although it’s a more complicated bond than I’ve had before, and he has more of a connection with Rose than with me.”
“A ridgeback?” asked Shayla.
“It’s a huge wolf, mostly found in the north,” said Raven. “Very rare, and dangerous. I’ve heard of ridgebacks killing bears and vraber.”
“I see,” said Shayla. “So, while you can bond with this wolf, some, like myself, have bonded with dragons.”
Nathan said nothing, letting Shayla continue with her story. He’d seen so many strange things in the last couple years that bonding with a dragon seemed entirely possible.
“There are at least three dragonbloods to my knowledge. Myself, my half-brother in Droll, and Queen Isabella. With the return of dragons to the land, our powers were triggered. Which would be a good thing, except for the Sacred Blood. Perhaps you mostly know the Sacred Blood as weapons dealers, but their existence has always been about dragons. There was a time when dragons ruled over man and the Sacred Blood were among the first to stand up and fight dragons. But when peace came the Sacred Blood felt betrayed. They believe the only true way for men to survive is to destroy all dragons. Between the Sacred Blood and the dragons who felt their rightful place was as rulers of the world, peace became impossible. The great dragon wars went on for centuries before man almost defeated them. Dragons, with the help of powerful mages who understood the need for balance in nature, went into self-imposed exile for a hundred years. To rebuild their numbers and to let tempers cool. Only a few of the dragons who left remain, the rest grew up in exile, and everyone who fought against dragons has died long ago. Dragons are now returned and wish for peace. However, the Sacred Blood have continued to teach that dragons must die. Even before the dragons returned, my family was harassed because our bloodline is that of the dragonblood. My father was murdered, and I was captured and tortured for it. I would’ve been killed as well if my dragonblood powers hadn’t kicked in at an opportune time. Queen Isabella was also hunted, and her home in Seron was attacked by the Sacred Blood. They tried to kidnap her, but something went wrong and the two Sacred Blood members along with Raven and I were magically transported to Northern Solotine. We were held captive by the brothers, two of the Sacred Blood leaders, until they left me imprisoned and I escaped and then rescued Shayla. They are likely following us now. They are very dangerous mages.”
“What is your plan?” Dragons and the Sacred Blood seemed like exactly the kinds of difficulties Elderwood didn’t need right now, but if Hanna needed his help.
“We ride through Tarnstead to the port city of Crasmere,” said Hanna. My crew will meet us there, and then I sail them home. I was thinking a small quick-moving group would be best.”
Nathan nodded. Things in Tarnstead were unraveling fast. Heading east through Tarnstead could bring war to Elderwood. Not something they could afford to risk. But a small group of riders could make their way to the coast and avoid conflict. After the way the king’s representatives had behaved during their visit, it would be best to avoid the capital altogether. Nathan turned to Verin and Avera. “What do you think?”
Verin and Avera exchanged glances then Verin nodded to his sister.
“It would be especially risky for you, Nathan,” Avera said. “After your duel with the king’s man, I wouldn’t be surprised if the king tried something less subtle than sending a hired assassin to duel you. He may be inclined to send an army after you if he finds out you are traveling through Tarnstead. However, Tarnstead is a large kingdom and there are ways to avoid attention. Please be careful.”
Nathan nodded and turned to Verin. “What say you, Uncle?”
“I know better than to try to talk you out of entering a dangerous situation. Take Kiana Clairmont and Rayan Rosa,” said Verin. “A traveling party with mostly women will avoid suspicion, and we know what Kiana can do, and Demarion Black tells me Rayan is quite the mage. I would take them.”
Avera raised an eyebrow. “You think he can be trusted. We don’t know much about his past.”
“We can trust him,” said Nathan. He knew more about Rayan’s past than the others did. Rayan had been the one who killed Duke Evollan and had come to Elderwood to decide if Nathan also needed to die as punishment for the death of his cousin. He didn’t know everything about the mysterious young mage with the purple eyes, but he knew he could trust him.
“Alright, Nathan, Kiana, Rayan, Magnus, and myself will accompany Raven and Lady Shayla to Crasmere,” said Hanna. “That is a small enough group that it shouldn’t raise concerns.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” said Avera. “King Parth has become even more unstable of late and if we learned anything from the festival it is that his underlings aren’t to be trusted either.”
“Lambert Symons,” said Nathan.
“Yes,” said Avera. “And, the king’s choice of representatives demonstrated not everyone in the Kingdom of Tarnstead has an open mind towards magic.”
Verin snorted. “That’s an underst
atement. The captain was openly derisive of magic and spent most of his time here looking for weaknesses in our defenses and trying to recruit spies. If he hadn’t been so ham-fisted about it, I’d be more concerned with his efforts. And you know he was behind the duel. It was his man and he pushed the matter hard. No offense towards your new friend Nathan, Camille is a beautiful young lady, but I rather doubt the man had any interest in her other than using her to pick a fight with you.”
Nathan grimaced, Camille certainly was a beautiful young woman, but Verin was correct. Even if Gadwell Maycott had been interested in her, he’d been far more interested in provoking a fight. There was no doubt he’d fought with intent to kill. The only question was, did Maycott act on his own, or on orders from Lambert Symons and the king? After, Lambert had claimed the duel was an honor matter, but that meant little. The situation was so eerily similar to what happened in Raumont with Captain Vatkin. Except in that situation, Captain Vatkin chose to be bluntly honest with Nathan and tell him he was considered a threat to Raumont. If Captain Vatkin had tried to kill him perhaps the king would’ve seen Elderwood as an ally against the revolting cities. However, Nathan preferred to deal with honest people. Captain Vatkin had no issue with murder, but at least he’d been straightforward about it. You could learn to work with a man like that. But when lies and deception are used to create an opportunity to murder it doesn’t inspire confidence. The trip into Tarnstead promised to be dangerous, but he’d never let Hanna walk into that type of trouble alone, not after all she’d done for him and Rose. Not to mention it had been his grandfather who offered help to the two women.
25
A knock on his quarter’s door woke Nathan. Groggily he replied, “Come in.” Since his room had no natural lighting, he used a magic spell that lit the rooms according to the time of day. Judging by how dark his room was it was still hours before day break. Slipping a tunic and a pair of leggings on, he exited his bedroom into the living room. There, standing in the dark, were Hanna, Magnus, and Katla. Nathan increased the light in the room with a wave of his hand.
“Morning?” Nathan said.
Hanna smiled. “Not quite. However, we decided it best to leave before dawn in case the Sacred Blood or King Parth have any spies in Elderwood.”
Nathan nodded. That made sense. “I’ll get dressed.”
“But before we leave we wanted to talk to you. To make sure you understand the risk you are taking.”
Nathan yawned and turned towards his bedroom door. “I’ll be going into hostile territory with minimal backup, possibly risking war with Tarnstead, and gaining a powerful enemy in the Sacred Blood. Let me get dressed and then you can try to talk me out of coming.”
As Nathan closed the door to his room, Magnus smiled smugly. “I told you he wouldn’t care about the dangers.”
Hanna gave him a dark look. “I don’t care if he chooses to ignore the dangers. I’m just making sure he understands what they are.”
Magnus raised his hands and turned away. He headed into the blacksmith shop to get away from Hanna’s glare.
With Magnus in the blacksmith shop, Katla spoke. “Seems like he understood them well enough.”
Hanna nodded. “Yes. It did.”
Nathan returned from his room fully dressed and with a small road pack he’d prepared the night before.
“Nathan, are you sure you understand how powerful the Sacred Blood are?”
“Religious fanatics, powerful mages, large armies with ties to pirates and armies everywhere. Yes, I’ve been informed of who they are, and it doesn’t matter. I am going to do what I think is right regardless of the enemies it might make. Nor am I going to put someone else in my place to face that danger. Let me remind you that you are facing the same enemies and helping them travel through Tarnstead could cause problems for you as well with King Parth. Just being related to me and traveling in Tarnstead will put you in danger.”
Hanna smiled. “It seems we all understand the dangers then.”
“Woah,” Magnus said loudly from the blacksmith shop. He then came out with the whip in his hand. “How in the seven hells did you make a whip out of black steel.”
Katla shook her head in disgust. “Are you always so dense first thing in the morning. He used magic. Let’s see this whip.” Katla grabbed the whip from Magnus. As soon as she touched it, it started to glow. She then gave a flick of her wrist, testing the whip. As the coils were released and started to slice through the air the whip fire activated. When the whip hit the table, it burned right through it. Sending the two halves of the table crashing to the ground.
Nathan stared at Katla as she sheepishly recoiled the whip.
“Sorry. Didn’t think that would happen,” Katla said.
Nathan didn’t know that would happen either. The flame from the whip was twice as big for Katla as it was for him. “You have training with whips?”
“I was a trained assassin. I have experience with every weapon you can think of,” Katla said.
Nathan took his dagger and walked towards Katla. He took her hand and pricked it with the tip of the blade.
“What do you think you are doing?” Katla said.
“Binding your blood to the whip,” Nathan said before poking himself and adding his blood as well. “There is a small bloodstone embedded in the handle. I thought the whip wouldn’t work for anyone but me until I activated the gemstone. But that certainly isn’t the case. But I don’t want anyone other than you using this whip.” Nathan finished binding his blood and her blood into the gemstone. He then pushed his magical energy into the bloodstone and cast his spell. Now only Katla and he could use the weapon’s magic. “Here, it is yours now.”
Katla stood wide-eyed. “Are you sure?”
Nathan nodded. “It’s either the world’s biggest coincidence, or this weapon was meant for you. I only made it yesterday and it wasn’t something I set out to make. The magic in me sort of took over and led me to that.” Nathan looked at his ruined table. “And even using all of my magic, I doubt I could get the fire as powerful as you just did without even trying.”
“Fire is an elemental magic, but it is also demon magic. I do believe you’ve inadvertently created a hellfire whip,” Hanna said.
Nathan looked at Katla. He’d forgotten about Hanna’s companion’s unique magical energy. Hanna also had a demon spirit connected to her but that was more than balanced out by the influences of her other spirits. As far as Nathan knew, Katla was only connected to a demon. “Well, at least we know Magnus doesn’t have any random demons hiding in him.”
“Ha ha. You’re so funny,” Magnus said.
Hanna grinned. “I think Magnus wished he did. His chin almost hit the ground when that table was sliced in two.”
“I’m going to check on the horses. You heathen magic users can find someone else to pick on.”
“Definitely jealous,” Katla said with a smirk that suggested she might like making Magnus jealous more than her new weapon.
“Alright. If we can’t convince you that coming with us is a bad idea, it’s time to get going,” Hanna said.
“I should get to the horses and make sure Magnus doesn’t put a burr under my horse’s blanket,” Katla said.
As Katla chased after Magnus, Nathan looked at Hanna. “I shouldn’t be worried that I just made a hellfire whip, should I?”
Hanna shrugged. “If you want to give a known assassin with a demon spirit connected to her a weapon of incredible power that is your business. It’s not like she’s ever killed anyone important to me, like my grandfather. Oh, wait.”
Nathan started to speak when Hanna slapped him on the arm.
“I’m just messing with you. I trust her with my life and you can too. She’s probably the only one of us skilled enough with a whip to justify having it. I know I would be too scared of hitting myself.”
Nathan shook his head. He was starting to see why Magnus was careful about what he said around Hanna and Katla. Both had sharp wits and were
not afraid to mess with a person. He was glad Magnus was likely going to be the target of their jabs for the journey. “OK, let’s get going.”
…
By noon, they were well into Tarnstead, and as far as Nathan knew the only people who’d seen them were the group of guards on duty at the canyon entrance and one older trader walking his donkey on the road between Salma and Elderwood. And when they’d passed him it was still dark so the likelihood of him recognizing any of them was small. But as a precaution, Nathan was wearing a hooded travel cloak. As he’d just recently traveled the road to Raumont, Nathan was taking the lead. He was a few paces ahead of the other riders until Hanna rode up beside him.
“You think it’s safe to travel to Raumont? Or should we avoid cities altogether?” Hanna asked.
Nathan had thought about it the night before and still wasn’t sure what the right answer is. “The Duke is suspicious, but after the duel he likely sees us as a potential ally. But even if he still sees me as a threat I do think the risk is justified. None of us know the roads east like they do in Raumont. They’ll know every village loyal to the king and which ones we don’t have to avoid, and they likely have an eye on all the king’s troops within a hundred miles of Raumont.”
“OK. But if they try anything funny I’ll let Katla loose on them. She’s itching to try your whip, her demon is probably purring like a cat at the idea of unleashing hellfire on an enemy.”
Nathan glanced back at Katla, who was cheerfully chatting with Kiana and Rayan. She didn’t look dangerous. She was a very striking and attractive woman, but sometimes when you looked into her eyes you could see the icy, cold, and calculating warrior. She wasn’t someone to mess with. “For their sakes I hope they don’t try anything.”
“I’m sorry we left so soon after the festival. I thought it best if we report back to your grandfather as soon as possible. Did the tea work?”
Nathan nodded. “Yes, it did. I can’t thank you enough for that. It was very good to see Ava once more.”
Treachery in Tarnstead (Stoneblood Saga Book 5) Page 24