It was empty.
Beck stopped to look around, his face an inscrutable mask. Then, he gestured for Alric and Yurek to continue on the path through the mangroves toward the beach.
“Wait!”
Kiernan watched Beck spin around and peer into the swampy groves just outside of the clearing.
“What is it?” Kiernan asked.
“I hear something,” he said and stood still as he scanned the area for the source of the noise.
“It’s probably those crabs that are all over the trees,” Kiernan murmured. “I just hope it’s not a snake.” Her whole body convulsed involuntarily at the thought.
Beck moved toward the swamp and used his earthshifting to move branches and tightly woven bramble away. At one point, he disappeared entirely.
Kiernan was growing impatient. “Beck, we have to go.”
She heard him curse and instantly grew more alert. In the next instant, he was crashing back through the trees to the clearing.
Kiernan gasped.
He was holding a child.
Beck laid the boy on his side. A small crossbow dart was sticking out of his back between his shoulder blades, and his small mouth was coated with a red substance that looked like blood. Kiernan watched her husband lean in close to the boy. “I must remove the dart in your back and then I will heal your wound. You will not remember anything, I promise.”
The boy’s eyes fluttered nervously in response.
Beck then waved his hands over the boy’s chest and whatever he did put the child to sleep. Gently, he extracted the short dart and threw it the ground in disgust.
“Who could do this to a child?” Kiernan asked. “Does he have any other injuries?” She knelt down beside the boy and watched as his small body convulsed and arched from Beck’s healing ministrations.
Beck shook his head. “Shockingly, no, not even infection. Besides the wound to his back, extreme hunger pains, and dehydration, he seems fine.” Beck wiped the red substance from the boy’s face and brought his fingers to his nose. “Berries. He must have been surviving on berries. It is fortunate that he did not try to remove the arrow. If he did, he would be dead by now.”
Kiernan looked at Alric and Yurek who were crowding closer. “Do you know anything about this?”
Alric nodded. “I did hear about a missing child from the Ironfingers caste. It must be him.”
“We’ll find out soon enough. Stand back, I’m going to awaken him.” Beck brushed his hand once more across the child’s chest.
The boy’s eyes popped open and he let out a strangled cry upon seeing the strangers leaning over him. He tried to scramble away.
Beck held out his hands. “It’s all right. We are here to help you.”
The boy started to cry when he saw Alric and Yurek. “Get away from me!”
Beck picked the boy up into his arms and held his flailing body tight. “Hush now, everything will be all right. What is your name?”
“I just want Papa,” he moaned.
“I will bring you to him,” Beck assured him. “But, first tell me your name.”
“Tatum.”
“Who did this to you, Tatum?”
Silence.
“You can trust me.”
The boy shook his head, wiggled to get down, and sat on the ground.
Beck tried an easier question. “How long have you been out here in the swamp, Tatum?”
“Many days. Two weeks maybe.” He looked up at Beck with a sudden question in his eyes. “Are you the foreigner who was to bring the wormwood plants?”
Beck smiled and knelt in front of him. “Yes. Your island now has plenty of plants and can begin to harvest them once again.”
The boy covered his mouth. “Then, Mama will be well? She can have the draught?”
“Yes, Tatum. Your mother will be well now.”
The boy stood and threw his arms around Beck’s neck. “Thank you, sir! You cannot know what it means to me that you have come.”
“I’m still trying to figure that one out, Tatum” Beck said cynically and picked the boy up in his arms once again. “I will take you back to the city.”
“No! They will try to kill me again!”
Beck made sure that Tatum was looking directly in his eyes before he spoke. “I will not let anyone harm you, Tatum, I promise.”
Kiernan put an arm around Beck’s waist and looked up at the boy. “Trust me when I tell you, Tatum, that this man is very good at keeping his promises.”
“You’ll take me to my parents?”
“Yes. I will not leave you until you are in their arms.”
“All right.”
Beck led the way through the mangroves and onto the beach with the boy in his arms. He noticed that many people from the feast still lingered as they cleaned up the leftover debris, raked the beach or stood in small groups talking animatedly. Some still sported the elaborate costumes of the evening before. All stopped and stared as Beck made his way purposefully toward the wharf and the ship he hoped was still waiting there.
Kiernan and the two fighters trailed behind him silently.
A tall Ellvinian peeled away from one of the groups and started toward him, a scowl on his face.
Beck recognized him. It was Second Jarl of the Ironfingers.
“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded of the fighters behind Beck. “These trespassers are to be arrested at once! They are dangerous!”
Alric stepped forward. “With all due respect, Second Jarl,” he said in a tone that implied he had none, “I would like an explanation as to why we are treating the Massans in this manner. What have they done to deserve such offensive treatment?”
Nervous murmuring echoed as the people on the beach gathered closer to the confrontation.
Jarl took a step closer. “I was not aware that Seconds had to clear their decisions through you, Battlearm.”
Alric held his ground. “As a citizen of Ellvin, I think I have a right to understand your reasoning. That is all.”
A few people in the quickly growing crowd shouted their agreement with Alric.
“I just want to see Papa,” Tatum murmured in Beck’s arms.
“Who is that? Who do you have there?” Jarl demanded, peering around Alric.
The boy lifted his face for all to see.
“It’s Cullen’s boy! Run and fetch him at once!”
“Tatum! It’s Tatum!”
“I thought he was dead!”
Jarl’s hard features softened. “Put him down.”
Beck let the boy drop to his feet, and Jarl knelt and held out a hand toward Tatum. “We have been looking for you for a very long time, young man. Welcome back.”
Tatum bit his lip nervously. Even though the Second seemed genuinely pleased to see the boy, Beck could tell that Tatum did not trust Jarl.
Excited shouts in the crowd grew loud as a very large man with scars up and down his arms pushed through the line. As soon as his eyes fell on Tatum, he sank to his knees, covered his face and began to cry.
Tatum hurried over to the kneeling man. “Papa! Oh, Papa!”
The man grabbed Tatum around the waist and held him tight. “I thought I lost you, boy. They told me you died.”
A woman came forward, her face haggard and tear-stained.
“Mama! You had the draught?”
Tatum’s mother nodded and fell in the sand beside her family. “Aye, darling. I am going to be all right now.”
Alric lifted his hands to address the gathering. “I ask again! What have the Massans done except save the lives of Ellvinians?” He pointed to Tatum and his parents. “Look at this family! They have been reunited in health because of the Massans! What kind of people are we to arrest those that come to our island with such kindness?”
Jarl’s face mottled with anger as his motives were called into question so publically.
“Papa, lift me up,” Tatum asked his father.
The big man stood and did as his son asked. “This man
,” Tatum said in a shaky voice, pointing back to Beck, “not only saved Mama and so many others, but he also saved my life.”
“What happened to you Tatum? Where have you been?” someone from the crowd asked.
Tatum choked back a sob. “I…I was shot in the back with a quarrel from a crossbow.”
“What?”
“Who would do such a terrible thing?”
Tatum waited until the crowd grew silent once again. “I will tell you who. It was Premier Bane.”
Beck was just as stunned by the admission as the Ellvinians.
Tatum looked at his father. “I’m sorry, Papa, but my curiosity got the better of me again, and I heard something I shouldn’t have. So, the Premier waited until my back was turned, shot me, and dumped me in the swamp and left me for dead.”
The crowd erupted in horrified gasps and murmurs of disbelief.
“It is the truth,” Tatum said softly.
Even Jarl seemed shaken by the news. “Why would the Premier perpetrate such a heinous crime? Against a child?” the Second asked, voicing the question on everyone’s lips.
“I thought about that when I was in the swamp and I think it’s because he did not want me to tell people about the blood. The Premier said that the people would not con…, aye, that’s it, condone, his methods.”
The wave of murmurs turned into outraged shouts.
An Ellvinian male stepped out from the crowd. “Why should we be surprised? Hendrix Bane has done nothing for the people of Ellvin. He bathes in the draught while innocent women and children die of starvation every day!”
“Not only that!” one shouted out. “I have heard that he is already dabbling in the blood!”
“The blood? But, how?”
Beck had had enough. “By killing Massans, that’s how!”
“He is right,” Alric told the crowd. “The Premier has been keeping the Vypir alive all these years and plans to use it to milk the Massans of their blood.”
Beck held up his hands to quiet the vociferous debate set off by Alric’s words. “I realize that you have issues to resolve amongst yourselves, but you will have to do it on your time, not mine. My family is in danger from your Battlearms and this Vypir creature you created, so I am leaving this island right now. If you want a fight, so help me I will give you one, but we have done nothing but show the Ellvinian people respect and compassion.” His furious eyes scanned the crowd. “Tell me what it will be, because I have important matters of my own to attend to.”
Commotion in the back caused a gap to open in the gathering of people. “You shall have your fight, Mage Beck!”
It was Hendrix Bane and he walked behind four Battlearms prodding Airron, Melania, Rogan, and Janin ahead of them.
“Oh, this is ridiculous.” Beck stepped forward, flicked a wrist and the four fighters cried out as they were lifted off the ground. Invisible bonds that no one but Beck could see, slithered over the Elves and pinned their arms and legs tight to their bodies as they hung suspended in the air.
The crowd backed away with frightened screams.
Rogan snapped his bindings with a quick flame. “Well, I could have done that! I was waiting for the signal. You know, a nod of the head or a coded word. You do remember gooseberry, don’t you?”
Beck ignored him while Kiernan hurried over to help him untie the others.
The Premier waved his arms about. “Emile! Battlearms! Where are all my Battlearms?”
A bespectacled Elf next to the Premier coughed. “Uh, you sent them to Massa, Your Eminence. There are only a handful of fighters left on the island.”
Hendrix Bane turned to the people of Ellvin. “Don’t just stand there! Get them!”
Tatum’s father, Cullen, was the first to respond, his face a thundercloud of rage. “No! This is not our way! We do not shoot children in the back and we do not kill innocent people who are here to help us!”
“Here! Here!”
The Premier swung his elaborate robes as he raced toward the crowd. “Don’t you understand? We can have the blood again! That is the Ellvinian way!”
“The blood?” Cullen responded with disgust. “If drinking the blood makes you so despicable that you start killing innocents, I will drink the draught!”
“Take these people into custody!” the Premier raged.
“No!” Cullen shouted. “You are done, Hendrix Bane. We renounce you as our leader!”
Roaring applause rippled through the bystanders.
Hendrix stumbled back in shock. “What?”
“Go find a new place to live out in the countryside. If you so much as step a toe in this city or seek to rise to power again, you will be executed.” Cullen turned toward Jarl. “That goes for all the Seconds as well. The Ellvinian people will elect new leaders to help us recover from this dismal moment in our history.”
“You will be sorry!” Hendrix screamed at him.
The big man towered over the Premier. “You will be the one sorry if I ever see you again. For what you did to my son, you are lucky I don’t snap your neck right now. Now, go!”
The Premier looked around wildly for a shred of support, but found nothing. Finally, he gathered up his robes and, chin held high, walked away.
Cullen glanced at Beck and gestured to the hanging fighters. “Master Beck, if you will be so kind?”
Beck waved a hand and the Elves dropped to the ground.
Cullen stalked to the fallen fighters. “Where are your loyalties, Battlearms? With Hendrix Bane or the people?”
They did not hesitate to answer. “The people.”
“Good. Please escort Hendrix Bane, his Adjunct and Second Jarl to the city outskirts. When you are finished with that task, round up Seconds Anah and Balder and deliver the same message.”
“As you command, Cullen.”
Beck started toward the pier at a brisk pace. “Please come with me, Cullen!” he shouted over his shoulder. When the dark Elf fell into step beside him, he asked. “How many Battlearms are in Massa?”
“Almost all of them.”
“Give me a number.”
“Twenty thousand.”
Beck’s newly repaired heart skipped a beat. Twenty thousand enemy fighters and a blood-sucking beast stood between him and his children.
“Let’s move!”
CHAPTER 30
THE SHORT STICK
The black tide that raced forward seemed unstoppable. Kellan’s heart hammered in his chest at the sight of the dark Elves flowing toward them. He jumped up onto the parapet and searched out Kirby Nash. “Captain! There’s no more time!”
The Saber Captain gave him a grim look and flew into action, ordering the defenders into a protective perimeter around the fleeing citizens.
Kellan understood the meaning behind Kirby’s look. The defenders were going to die. They had no chance to survive the battle at the gates. With only five shifters, five protectors, two Draca Cats and the sixty or so men and women from the mayor’s estate who refused to leave the fight, they would be crushed underneath the onslaught. While he hoped fervently that they would be able to get the citizens out before the bloodshed began, there would be no such hope for the defenders. It was a foregone conclusion that all who stayed behind to hold the gates, were sacrificing their lives to allow the people of Northfort time to escape.
Kellan swallowed.
He would willingly give his life in protection of the people—that was never in question. It was just that he did not wish to die with so much uncertainty surrounding the fate of his family. Kane was still out there somewhere. Kenley was facing who knew what kind of danger in Callyn-Rhe and his parents were in the hands of the enemy.
But, there was no further time for reflection as the first Ellvinian fighters appeared at the north end of the city square. More than half of the citizens were through the gates as the Massan defenders raced to close with the advancing host. The Ellvinians did not bother to establish a formal line of attack and the two opposing forces clashed with t
errible force. With no room to bring weapons to bear, brutal hand-to-hand combat ensued and the grunts and screams of men filled the air.
Kellan looked for an opening, but the close quarter fighting made it difficult to direct his magic at the enemy. A quick glance at Jala where she stood along the wall, told him she was having the same difficulty.
Fortunately, Izzy could act and she did. Kellan heard petrified cries coming from directly below and looked down. Three black wolves from the Grayan Forest were slinking their way in through the horde of people storming out. Muzzles lifted in bone-chilling snarls, the three wolves burst out of the crowd and attacked.
Although, not quite as large as the Draca Cats, their formidable skill at pack killing wrecked havoc among the Ellvinians. Sharp canines sunk deep into flesh and ripped apart throats.
A hole opened up in the fighting as the Elves scrambled to flee the wolves, and this allowed one of the Battlearms to brandish his sword and sink it between the ribs of one of the wolves. The animal fell to the ground with a yelp.
The wounded cry sent the other wolves into a frenzied fury and they tore into the enemy with even more ferocious abandon. Several Elves brought their bows up and slammed arrows into the animals, but even with multiple shafts sticking out of each of the wolves, they continued their deadly slaughter for many minutes before finally going down. In the end, the wolves killed at least forty Elves. Considering the Ellvinian numbers, it was but a very small dent in their armor, but it did give the enemy pause at the powers of the shifters.
“They’re through!”
Kellan peered over the wall and saw the gates close on the last Massan.
The attack of the wolves caused the Ellvinians to give ground as officers bellowed, bringing their fighters into cohesive battle lines. The defenders, already exhausted and bloodied fell back to the gates for a moment to catch their breath.
When the Ellvinians made their next charge, it would be the end, Kellan knew, but at least the citizens made it out. Any additional time the defenders could buy would allow them to make their escape through the forest and out of reach of any pursuers.
From there, the citizens would flock to Bardot with news that for the second time in twenty years, an enemy invasion had breached Massa’s shores.
Island Shifters: Book 03 - An Oath of the Children Page 20