by Hans Bezdek
Zeke didn’t respond. That wasn’t something he was hoping to see. Most of the Resistance wouldn’t stand a chance against her. Kriket seemed like a fairly good fighter, but he wasn’t confident he’d best the fae. Sloane, on the other hand, would give her a run for her money. Even Delvin would probably pose some interesting problems for Xylona. It’s not like there was any hope of those two coming to his rescue, though.
The two rode out to the west in silence for some time. They both realized talking is what distracted them from being on the lookout in the first place, and wanted to keep that from happening again. Zeke figured that he probably missed a golden opportunity to get away from the fae, and he decided to stop spending the majority of his time thinking about how to escape. Instead, he was trying to figure out what was going on with him and the Arcane Staff.
His mind wandered back to after the explosion he created from the Fourth Staff a few days earlier. When he looked at his reflection, he could’ve sworn he noticed his eyes flash a purple glow. At the time he thought he was just seeing things… but now…
He held his hand out to his side. Nothing about it seemed particularly different. He had felt exhausted after the explosion back with the demons but assumed that was from surviving the blast. Had his body somehow absorbed the power of the weapon?
Zeke smirked at himself. What a ridiculous idea.
Whatever it was, he decided he wasn’t going to be able to figure it out. If he somehow made it out of the coming conflict in one piece, maybe he’d spend some time trying to search out answers. If he was able to luck out and shoot a beam of magic out of his hand at Kutarm, he wouldn’t really care where it had come from.
Zeke was worried after running into the patrol that they would soon find another one. As the journey continued for a few more hours, it seemed like that wouldn’t be a problem anymore. An occasional wagon passed by them, but the people on it seemed far more scared of Xylona than he and the fae were of them. Maybe traveling with Xylona wasn’t all bad. He knew she’d get his back in a fight, to boot. That was, until they were done with the Kutarm business.
The forest began to thin around them, eventually ending altogether. A large valley spread out before them, dipping down and away from the forest edge. The horse came to a stop as Xylona and Zeke stared down at Stedforge with eyes wide and mouths agape.
“W-What?!” whispered Zeke.
“I-I wasn’t expecting this,” said Xylona, shaking her head in disbelief.
The city of Stedforge was towering in the distance, surrounded completely by high, spiked walls. Even in the dark of the night, the two of them could still make out intricate designs of dragons and other powerful creatures etched into the stone. Dozens of peaks rose above the walls, along with a raised flat platform in front of the wall.
Knowing that Stedforge was a major city for Kutarm’s empire, none of this surprised Zeke or Xylona.
The thousands of troops camped out in front of the city did.
A sea of blue and black standards filled the valley, catching in the light of dozens and dozens of campfires. More people than Zeke had ever seen in one place sat around the fires, horses and wagons dotting the landscape around them.
“I guess Zinovia did say Kutarm was moving a large chunk of his forces,” mumbled Zeke. She certainly wasn’t kidding.
“When she said that, I assumed there’d be less than half of what we see here,” said Xylona, scanning the horizon. “I’m not sure I like this.”
“Um, I’m sure I don’t like this,” said Zeke.
Xylona didn’t smile. Zeke wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but the wheels in her head must’ve been going crazy.
She pulled on the reins and their horse took them back and to the forested area on their right.
“What are you doing?” asked Zeke. “Where are we going? Are we running away?”
“Of course not,” scoffed Xylona. “We know that Kutarm is in Stedforge. We aren’t leaving until he’s dead.”
“Humans die of natural causes all the time,” offered Zeke. “I’m sure we’ve just got to wait him out another forty, maybe fifty years?”
“I have a feeling that Kutarm will live much longer than that if no one stops him,” said Xylona quietly.
“That’s not possible,” laughed Zeke. “He’s got to be-”
“We’re not running away,” said Xylona, cutting the elf off and changing the subject. “We’re going to camp out here for the night.”
Zeke was worried about what she wasn’t telling him, but she didn’t seem to want to talk about it. That certainly didn’t make him feel any more confident in the fight to come.
“Why don’t we just go down to Stedforge right now?” asked Zeke.
“There are too many people there to question us,” she said, shaking her head.
“I doubt they’re all going to leave in the morning.”
“I’m sure they won’t, but they’re going to be less suspicious of us moving through their ranks in the middle of the day. A fae and elf pushing through them in the middle of the night is going to draw significantly more attention.”
“I guess that’s fair,” conceded Zeke.
Xylona pulled the horse to a stop some distance from the road, but not too far away. “We’ll need to stay near in case Kutarm’s forces mobilize.”
“And then we run?” smiled Zeke.
“No. We’ll have to rush in and take our shot at Kutarm then.”
Zeke sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Yet another thing to worry about. How lovely.
“Assuming they don’t move out in the night, prompting our suicide mission, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” he asked as Xylona got off the horse.
“I’ve got one in mind,” she said tying the reins to a nearby tree.
“Feel like sharing with the class?”
“No.”
Zeke rolled his eyes and got off the horse. “Why not?”
“You don’t need to know what it is yet,” she said simply. “Besides, it’ll probably stress you out, and then you’ll have problems sleeping. We’ll both need to get a good night’s sleep.”
“Great,” mumbled Zeke, pulling his sleeping supplies out of the bag on his horse. Zeke wasn’t sure, but he felt confident that he wasn’t going to be getting a solid night of sleep no matter what. “That doesn’t stress me out at all.”
“Good. There’s no need to worry,” smirked Xylona. “It’s just that tomorrow will be the day that either we or Kutarm die.”
Now it was a certainty.
Zeke wasn’t going to sleep well at all that night.
Chapter 11
Zeke awoke early in the morning. It had not been a good night of rest.
The elf had spent at least an hour trying to quiet his mind and fall asleep. He kept thinking of all the horrible things that could happen in the night, and then all the horrible things that would happen the next day. He had no idea if he could beat Lord Kutarm with the Arcane Staff at full power, let alone when it didn’t seem to be working. He’d feel better about the magic he shot out of his hands if he knew it’d come back, and that it wasn’t going to give him some sort of weird disease. Or an extra head.
When he finally fell asleep, he kept waking every half hour or so. There would be some sort of noise caused by a forest creature to jolt him awake every time. He’d always worry that it was one of Kutarm’s men sneaking up on him. Whatever noise woke him up this time wouldn’t make him worried, though. He was determined to ignore it and go back to sleep.
But then a twig snapped nearby.
Zeke’s eyes snapped open, but he stayed perfectly still. Maybe it was just a squirrel’s friend running after him. Maybe it was a pinecone falling and coincidentally breaking that twig.
Another twig snapped.
Or maybe it was a murderous monster about to rip Zeke’s throat out.
The elf tried to sit up, but Xylona’s hand shoved over his mouth. He looked over at her with wide eyes. She slowly shook her head w
hile placing a finger over her mouth. Zeke normally hated being told to be quiet, but he was okay with it this time around.
“Get the Arcane Staff ready,” whispered Xylona.
That wasn’t going to help them.
“Uh, why not Lucky?” asked Zeke.
“No,” she whispered. “We’ll need something more powerful. Just do it.”
Zeke bit his tongue and reached for the useless Fourth Staff. He looked at the top of it, hoping against hope that it started glowing purple again overnight.
The fae slowly got to her feet, looking in the direction of the broken twigs. She moved silently towards it, her hands out and at the ready. Black orbs appeared in her hands the further she walked.
Zeke wasn’t sure what to do besides getting to a crouching position, holding the Fourth Staff with both hands. He took a few steps after Xylona but stopped as she did.
What couldn’t have been more than a few seconds passed, each one feeling like an eternity. Zeke gripped his weapon tightly, waiting for something to jump out at them in an instant. Time ticked by, but nothing happened.
Xylona lowered her hands, the orbs disappearing.
“Must’ve been nothing,” she sighed in relief, turning back towards Zeke.
“Whew!” laughed Zeke nervously. “I was starting to-”
Xylona’s eyes widened as she looked past Zeke, raising her hands up towards him.
“W-What are you doing?!” stammered Zeke, taking a step back.
“Bandits!” cried out Xylona.
Zeke jumped as he looked behind him. Half a dozen men wearing red bandanas over their mouths stood just a few feet away, each holding out two scimitars. The men were glaring at them, but not yet making any moves.
Xylona’s black circles appeared around two of their necks, tightening quickly around them. They tightened so much that… the circles disappeared into the bandits?
“Huh?” asked Xylona and Zeke.
Before they could learn anything more, Zeke heard Xylona grunt and get thrown to the floor. The elf turned back to see the fae tumbling around with another creature. She quickly bucked him, getting to her feet and summoning black orbs again.
Zeke’s view of the other creature was blocked by a large tree, but he could just make out two curved blades being pulled out.
“You…” snarled Xylona. “I knew I should’ve killed you back outside of Burston.”
“You’re going to regret that in just a minute,” wheezed the invader.
“Why does that voice sound familiar,” mumbled Zeke, unsure of whether to go help Xylona or focus on the six bandits near him. To his surprise, none of them had moved. He couldn’t figure out why they didn’t attack him during the scuffle between Xylona and the other guy.
With a blur of movement, the figure broke free from behind the tree and dashed at Xylona. The fae quickly raised her hands out towards him. The creature spun as he closed in on her, as if to fake out an opponent directly in front of him. To Zeke’s surprise, the enemy was able to dodge Xylona’s black circle, which now suspended harmlessly in the air.
Zeke also realized the enemy was no enemy at all.
The fae growled and pointed towards her opponent again. This time, the lizardman dove forward, going underneath two circles that appeared close to one another above him. Zeke was impressed that someone had figured out how to neutralize Xylona’s powerful attacks.
Xylona was more aggravated than impressed, summoning a black spear into her hands. With a shout, she chucked it out at the creature.
The lizardman hopped to the right of the attack, then pounced on the helpless fae. Xylona and the creature fell back again, but this time there was no back and forth. Pinning her arms under him, Xylona’s opponent was now in total control.
“You’re mine!” hissed Kriket in victory, bringing both blades up to finish the fae off.
“Stop, Kriket!” shouted Zeke, running towards them.
“Huh?” asked the lizardman, glancing back at the elf. “Why? She kidnapped you.”
“M-Maybe she’s controlling his mind!” offered a voice behind Zeke. A voice the elf thought he’d never hear again.
Zeke turned and looked down.
“D-Delvin?!” gasped Zeke. “W-What are you doing here? H-How?”
“Kind of a long story,” smiled the gnome.
The elf couldn’t help but smile back. He glanced over to where the bandits had been, but there was nothing. Of course. It had been one of Delvin’s illusions the whole time! How had he not guessed that after seeing so many of them?
“Why do you not want us to kill the fae?” came a third voice, this one even harder to believe.
Zeke looked up to see Sloane holding her bow towards Xylona’s head, a glowing arrow nocked and at the ready. A strange looking staff was on her back, but she otherwise looked exactly the same. She was really there. She had come back for him.
The elf was speechless. There was so much he wanted to say but knew he needed to save it for later. If he didn’t want Xylona to be executed on the spot, convincing the others was going to be top priority.
“Everyone calm down,” said Zeke, holding his hand and the Fourth Staff out. “Let’s talk before we do anything!”
“But she kidnapped you,” said Sloane, staring hard at the elf. “Why shouldn’t we kill her? She’s clearly against us.”
“It’s not like that,” said Zeke, shaking his head. “Well… I guess the first part is. She did kidnap me.”
“And I don’t regret it!” shouted Xylona, glaring up at Kriket. “If you let me go, I won’t let you take The Elf Thief back with you. Kill me if you must!”
“You’re not really helping,” groaned Zeke, rubbing a hand over his face.
“You still tell people to call you that name?” asked Sloane, raising an eyebrow.
“No, of course not!” he said. “It’s… it’s complicated.”
“Here’s something that’s not complicated,” said Xylona, raising her voice to a shout. “Finish me while you’ve got the chance, or you’ll regret it you lizard freak!”
“Calm down!” shouted back Zeke. Was she trying to get herself killed? Couldn’t she see he was trying to figure out a way to keep her alive?
“She’s not instilling me with confidence,” noted Kriket. “I’m not letting her go.”
“P-Probably for the best,” gulped Delvin.
“Can we speed this up?” asked Sloane. “Pulling back on my bow like this does take some effort, you know.”
“Right. Sorry,” said Zeke, taking a deep breath. He hadn’t expected any of this and wasn’t exactly prepared on how to handle it. He had hoped Kriket or someone would come to his rescue, but the addition of Sloane and Delvin had completely caught him off guard. While he had wanted to escape the fae, she had grown on him some. Plus, she was one less enemy. At least, for now. “This may be hard to believe, but Xylona is against Kutarm.”
“What’s a Xylona?” asked Kriket.
“The thing you’ve… mounted,” guessed Delvin.
“Fae have names?” said Kriket, sounding genuinely surprised.
“Xylona only kidnapped me because she wanted help killing Kutarm,” continued Zeke, ignoring the distraction. “She has a network of other fae that she’s been working with to help overthrow the tyrant, and as you’ve seen can be pretty strong. I think she offers the Linsuk Resistance a lot, and we’d be throwing it away if we killed her right now.”
The others looked down at Xylona quietly as they processed what Zeke said.
“You believe that she’ll work with us?” asked Sloane. “You don’t think she’s going to try to kill or betray us?”
Zeke walked over to the fae and squatted down closer to her. “What do you say, Xylona? I know you had a different plan, but working with my friends could help make this easier. Do you promise not to try to kill us?”
The fae rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever.”
“See? She doesn’t mean us any harm,” smiled Zeke, standing
back up.
The others didn’t seem particularly moved.
Chapter 12
Sloane kept her bow trained on the fae as Kriket got off of her. Sloane was willing to trust Zeke’s judgment enough to let the fae walk free, but not enough to completely lower her guard around her. Xylona seemed powerful and used a kind of magic that she was not familiar with. Better to be safe than sorry.
Xylona stood up, dusting off some of the dirt and grass as she looked around. The fae looked down at Delvin first.
“Those bandits couldn’t have been real,” she said. “I assume you’re the one that created them?”
“M-Maybe…” said Delvin, giving Sloane a nervous look.
“Delvin’s a great illusionist,” smiled Zeke. “He’s helped me out numerous times. I couldn’t have gotten the Arcane Staff without him.”
“Very well,” nodded Xylona, turning her attention to Sloane. The fae seemed to stare through her, which didn’t make the human feel any more comfortable. “Speaking of Arcane Staves… I see that you have one as well.”
“Nope, only me,” said Zeke.
“Actually…” said Sloane, finally relaxing her bow and putting it away. “She’s right. I do have one.”
“What?!” exclaimed Zeke, his jaw going slack.
“It was in the Lost Citadel,” explained Delvin, pulling out his mace. “Along with this!”
Sloane sighed but didn’t bother saying anything. The gnome was determined to spread the news as far and wide as he could. Apparently, he was completely fine with talking about this in front of a fae that a couple minutes ago would’ve killed them.
“Interesting,” said Xylona, crossing her arms. “I assumed the place was an invention by your people. I never would’ve guessed it existed, let alone that it held an Arcane Staff.”
“You actually found it?” Zeke asked Sloane. “The Lost Citadel?”
“We did,” smiled Sloane, nodding. “My informant turned out to be correct, and then Delvin was able to guess a narrower region based on the movement of the nomads out in the Juentes Canyon.”
“Right, and that’s where I got this mace!” said Delvin, trying to show it to Zeke a second time.