Chapter 18 A Desperate Call on a Cold Wind
Pony pulled the blanket more tightly about her to ward the cold wind. It was wet, though, and the wind was damp, gathering moisture from the many pools and bogs that marked the Moorlands. Mud caked Pony's shoulder- length blond hair, and it seemed as if it would never dry in the perpetual gloom of the area. Tired from her exertion against Dasslerond and from the emotional battering just seeing the treacherous elven lady had given to her, the woman could barely find the strength to move along.
A big part of her simply wanted to slip down into the soft clay and die.
Dasslerond had told her to fight Aydrian, for the sake of them all, and Pony couldn't rightly disagree with that assessment. But how could she bring herself to do something like that against her own son? And how could she - or anyone else for that matter - find a way around the power that was Aydrian? Pony had felt that power, all too clearly. Her son could bend the will of Symphony. Her son could reach into the realm of death itself and pull Constance Pemblebury back from the grave.
It all seemed moot to her anyway, that gloomy day wandering the Moorlands. She knew enough about the region to understand the depth of her peril there. Most of the water about her was fetid, and there was little food to be found. Winter was fast coming on in the more civilized lands to the east; on the moors, the damp wind already had the bite of that cold season. She needed shelter and a fire, but there was little to be found and no wood about to burn. And this forsaken place was the domain of goblin tribes and of darker things.
Pony still held her hematite gemstone, but it would do little, she knew, to warm her or put food in her growling belly, or turn the spear of a goblin warrior.
She wandered along, stubbornly putting one foot in front of the other, hoping against hope that Dasslerond's gemstone throw had put her near the eastern edge of the Moorland wilderness.
When day turned to night, the woman huddled against the side of a clay overhang, shivering, as the Moorlands came alive about her.
The cry of a wolf was answered again and again, some of the howls uncomfortably close. Pony pulled her blanket up tighter about her, right over her head at one point in a futile effort to block it all out.
Eventually, she did fall into the inviting swirl of the hematite, at first thinking only to spirit-walk the area about her to see if any danger was closing in. But soon after, her spirit flying free of her body, she rushed back toward the east, seeking vicarious comfort in the warm fires burning in the countryside farmhouses.
And there, somewhere north of Palmaris, perhaps in the Caer Tinella region, the woman felt a sudden and familiar connection. It was a fleeting thing, just a feeling, and nothing that she had the strength to locate specifically.
Her spirit cried out for help in that flash of recognition. She imparted images of her surroundings, trying to be as specific as possible, trying to remember exactly that last real landmark she had wandered past.
But then the woman knew she had to fly back to her body, and quickly! She popped open her eyes and pulled aside the blanket.
And heard the goblins, snuffling in the dark, not so far away.
Frantically, Pony pulled herself from her hollow, gaining her feet and stumbling along the other way. She thought to discard the blanket, but immediately changed her mind, not wanting to leave a trail. Besides, that blanket was the only potential shield she possessed.
She came around the clay mound to find a pool blocking her way, the dark and still waters as murky as the sky above.
Pony glanced back, knowing that the creatures had caught her scent. But where to run? By all the old tales, some Moorland bogs were bottomless things; others served as home for creatures ancient and terrible.
With a steadying breath, the woman stepped ahead into the chilly water, moving slowly and smoothly to keep from splashing, and also so that she could test the ground before putting her foot down. Expecting to be swallowed up with every step, but knowing that certain danger was close behind, she pressed on.
She knew that she was making more noise then, splashing with every stride through the thigh-deep water, but she didn't slow. For the goblins were there, on the bank behind her, their lamplight eyes scanning the darkness.
She heard a splash close behind her and glanced back to see a spear bobbing in the darkness. Now hoots and shrill calls echoed out at her, and from the continuing sound, she could tell that her enemies were fanning out, left and right, about the pool.
Pony ducked low and lifted her gemstone, falling into it once more, using the portal to break her spirit free. She flew across the night air to the southern bank of the pool, where a trio of goblins was running. Right for the middle beast she went, charging headlong, with all of her willpower, into its corporeal form.
And there she struggled, both against the spirit of the goblin and against her own revulsion at this horrible act. Of all the powers of the gemstones, none was darker than this.
She had caught the goblin by surprise, obviously, for the creature knew nothing of gemstone magic, knew nothing of disembodied spirits, and knew nothing of such spiritual battles. Still, sheer instinct had the wretched thing fighting back against Pony's intrusion, immediately and desperately, struggling for its very life.
But Pony was still strong with the gemstones, and with the soul stone in particular. In her last weeks in Ursal, she had spent many hours tending the sick and the poor, using this same type of stone.
The goblin's spirit was expelled.
It would be a temporary thing, Pony knew, as she came to see the world through the creature's eyes. She stumbled and nearly toppled, for the balance of the body was very different from that of a human. Goblins were smaller and more wiry, and ran with a loping, low to the ground gait, often using their long arms to tap the ground for balance.
Still, despite that and despite the goblin's spirit trying to fight its way back in, Pony managed to lift the creature's crude spear and jab ahead, drawing a shriek from the goblin in front of her. When that creature pulled up, Pony jabbed it again, harder, right in the back. The goblin turned about, howling and lifting its own crude weapon.
Pony stabbed it again, and then again before it could settle into any kind of defensive posture. The creature spun desperately as it went down to the sand and Pony retracted to stab it yet again.
And then she felt a dull thud and then a burst of pain against her back and she was stumbling forward into the muck.
She managed to half turn as she fell, to see the third of the group bearing down on her, its cudgel lifted to smash her again.
At that moment, Pony relinquished her hold on the goblin's body, her spirit flying free and the goblin's disembodied spirit rushing back to reclaim its corporeal form.
It got there and blinked through its own physical eyes again, just in time to see the descending cudgel, just in time to feel the explosion as the crude club crushed in its forehead.
Pony didn't see it, her spirit flying back fast across the lake, past her body and to the far bank, where another pair of creatures was moving swiftly.
She went at the trailing one, thinking to possess it similarly. She got the upper hand almost immediately, as she had with the first creature, and managed to wrestle some control of the beast.
But possession was the most difficult and taxing of the gemstone magics, and in her already weakened state, Pony could not maintain the hold. She did wrest control enough to launch the goblin at its leading partner, diving onto its ankles and tripping it down to the clay. As it turned to respond, and with the spirit of the possessed goblin frantically assailing her in an effort to regain its body, Pony managed to punch out with the possessed fist, smacking the confused creature before her right in the face.
It responded with a snarl, its arms flailing, its face coming forward to bite at her - at the goblin, rather, for Pony let go as that horrid sight approached, her spirit bursting free and rushing back to her waiting bo
dy with all the urgency of a surfacing man who has been under the water for too long.
The woman charged the rest of the way across the bog, abandoning all attempts at carefully feeling her way. She pitched forward onto the muddy bank and tumbled down to the clay. She scrambled to her feet, balling her blanket about one arm and digging her free hand into the clay to scoop up a ball.
Two of the goblins from the south were almost upon her; the third, the one she had possessed, lay screaming in agony along that southern bank.
The two came in side by side, one leading with its crude spear, the other with its cudgel raised to strike at her. Pony threw that soaked and muddy blanket across the tip of that leading spear, then easily sidestepped and launched the ball of clay right into the face of the second creature. The stunned goblin continued its charge, but it instinctively straightened back onto its heels. Pony dove to the ground at its ankles, launching it over her into the mud.
The woman scrambled frantically, turning about to defend as she rose. But she was out of practice, her reflexes dulled by age and by the emotional turmoil that had commanded the last years of her life. She saw the first goblin stubbornly coming in at her, its spear unwrapped from the entangling blanket and leading the way. She knew that she had to turn about to get past and inside that leading tip.
But she could not.
Pony hunched away as the spear caught her in the side and began to slide into her. She grabbed the shaft with her left hand, slowing the progress, then grimaced and accepted the pain as she rotated forward a half step and lashed out with her right hand, smacking the ugly little creature right in the face. It fell back from the impact, and Pony took the spear in both hands and helped the retreating goblin along, pulling the weapon back out of her side. She didn't let go then, though the waves of pain nearly stole the strength from her completely and weakened her legs beneath her. Knowing that if she allowed the goblin to get free it would surely finish her, the woman called upon all her years of training and discipline and ignored the burning wound. Instead of following her instincts and falling away, she charged forward, shouldering the creature down to the ground before her. She continued to press down, driving her shoulder into the goblin's face - and it promptly bit her! - while tugging relentlessly on the spear with both hands.
The goblin let go of the weapon and began battering her about the head and shoulders, biting all the while.
But then Pony put one hand beneath her and tightened all of her muscles, and in a movement that could only be achieved by one who had spent so many years of her life in martial training, the woman shoved up suddenly from the goblin. She turned a complete spin above the prone creature, reversing her grip on the spear as she went so that as she came around and fell back down atop the goblin, the spear led the way.
With all of her weight behind it, the crude but effective weapon drove into the goblin's chest. She felt the resistance as it clipped past the creature's backbone. Still she pressed down, the tip sinking into the soft clay beneath the creature.
The goblin went into a frenzy, a macabre dance of the last fleeting moments of its life, and Pony didn't even try to block the many blows raining about her. She turned and scrambled off, putting her knees and hands to the ground and grabbing up more clay, then rising fast in a spin to meet the resumed charge of the goblin holding the cudgel.
She hit the stupid thing in the face with a ball of clay again, but this time, instead of diving at its feet, she charged right into it, slamming her body against it and turning as she did. She cupped her hand over the goblin's and bent its wrist down suddenly and brutally, and as the wave of pain rolled up the creature's arm, its grip lessened enough so that Pony could pull the cudgel free.
She took up the weapon, spun, and swung, smacking the goblin hard across the head. And then she went into a frenzy, battering the creature down into the ground, hitting it repeatedly long after it had stopped moving.
In her frustration and pain, she might have continued to batter it for a long, long time, but she heard the approach of the two from the north, and rose to meet that charge. One held a short sword and the other, the one Pony had possessed, carried no weapon but came at her hard anyway with open hands, raking at her with its long and dirty nails.
But now she had a weapon, and now she was set. She danced back, and back some more, in perfect balance and moving always just out of reach of the outraged, and quickly overbalancing, goblins. She had no doubt that she could defeat them, and easily, except that blood - and she hoped that it was just blood! - was pouring freely from her side. She grasped at her wound with one hand, literally holding in her guts, while she worked the club about the leading sword of the goblin attacker, every so often swiping it the other way to fend the second creature.
Her opponents started working more in harmony, and Pony's legs began to go numb beneath her. The woman knew that she was in trouble. She stumbled, leaving an apparent opening, and when the too-eager sword- wielder stepped forward to fill that hole, the woman sprang forward, slapping not at the attacker, but at the weapon.
The goblin staggered out wide, leaving Pony a clear path to its unarmed companion. She went in straight, stabbing with the club instead of swinging it from out wide, and the heavy head of the weapon got through the goblin's sudden curl to slam it in the chest. Pony retracted immediately, sending the cudgel into a spin down under her armpit and then back up high, extending her arm as she went so that the next strike came from on high, smashing down atop the goblin's head, smashing its skull and dropping it to the ground like a stone.
Pony spun about desperately, and instinctively let fly the club at the charging sword-wielder. She didn't score a significant hit, but tied it up enough for her to follow that throw, charging past the extended blade and slamming hard into the goblin. The pair went into a death clutch immediately, Pony grabbing the goblin's forearm tenaciously to keep its sword out wide. She worked her feet for perfect balance and used her greater size to drive the goblin back toward the water. Then she tripped it up and fell over it into the cold and murky pool.
Pony pushed down on the creature's head hard with her shoulder, ignoring the pain as it thrashed about beneath her. She held the difficult angle stubbornly, pressing with all her weight as the goblin went into a frenzy, kicking and flailing. It let go of its sword and managed to get its hand in enough to tug at Pony's hair, but she accepted the pain and continued her press.
It seemed as if many minutes had slipped by, but finally the goblin stopped its thrashing.
Pony held it there for a while longer, ensuring that it was drowned, then she pulled herself off of it, crawling back to the pool's bank. She staggered aside, holding at her still-bleeding side, all strength flying from her. She reached for the healing soul stone, needing its magical energy, but to her horror, she found that she had lost it somewhere in the fighting! She glanced around, knowing that she had to find it.
But she hadn't the strength, and after a few staggering steps, the woman fell facedown in the clay and drifted off into a dark, dark place.
She wondered if Elbryan would be waiting for her.
PART THREE WINTER Palmaris is mine.
The great river is secured now hy the fleet of Earl De Paunch, my chosen replacement for Duke Bretherford. He is a young and eager man, too concerned with his own ambitions to worry about any possible higher callings of morality and community.
He is the perfect undercommander.
As winter settles on the land, our hold on the great and important river will be strengthened and made unbreakable, and with that done, all will be in place for the next two thrusts: southeast to Entel, securing the heartlands of Honce-the-Bear; and the voyage of the armada north to Pireth Dancard and then Pireth Vanguard. I will have the whole of the kingdom by midsummer, and much of Behren as well.
The first reports coming back from Jacintha have been more than promising, and have silenced the critics among my advisors who f
eared that we had struck too far and too fast. Abbot Olin is in control of the Behrenese capital city now, and will have the entire southern kingdom soon enough, and it was none other than Brynn Dharielle who helped him achieve that initial victory. I cannot wait to see her again! Always have I cared for Brynn, and it will be through her eyes that I find my greatest satisfaction. Brynn will recognize me for what I have become and she will know that Lady Dasslerond was wrong about me. She will know that I am the epitome of the ranger, that I am more than the promise of my mother and my father, that I am more than the wretched Touel'alfar could ever have hoped to produce. Brynn will take pride in me; perhaps together we will rule the entire known world.
Perhaps not, but I will ensure that she is not forgotten in the maelstrom of Aydrian Boudabras.
Once I had thought that Brynn would ultimately become my bride, my queen.
Two rangers, ruling the lands in a manner that the men of the world have never known. Now, though, I see another who must rise beside me. Every day that passes moves Sadye farther from the arms of Marcalo De'Unnero and closer to mine own. I will have her singing the songs of Aydrian alone soon enough, and now, I believe, De'Unnero has come to understand this. I hear it in the agitation of his voice whenever he speaks to me. I see it in the looks he tosses Sadye's way, in the fists too oft clenched at his sides. But he will step back, I am sure, because that which I offer to him - all the Abellican Church and the complete control of the weretiger within him - has ever been more important to Marcalo De'Unnero than any woman.
He will be happy for us. Or if not, he will remain silent.
Either way, I do not care.
Similarly, De'Unnero will not be alone in his criticism of my forthcoming decision, I understand. He suspects that I am seeking something in the area to the west - oftentimes has he questioned me about sending Duke Kalas and his forces on such a wide western sweep of the region surrounding Palmaris. When I tell them of my intentions, there will inevitably be douhters, even more so than when I sent Abbot Olin to invade Jacintha.
This time, though, the prize is less apparent, for many of them do not even understand that the enclave of Touel'alfar exists. Aside from that, they will question my choice to go to war with an enemy that is irrelevant to the kingdom, and to any kingdom of man.
But nothing could be more relevant to me than the destruction of Andur'Blough Inninness and Lady Dasslerond! And nothing in all the world will taste sweeter than the moment of my victory over the elves! I will hear her surrender. I will hear her admission that she was wrong.
I will hear her proclaim Aydrian as worthy of the title "ranger," as more worthy than any who came before him, including his legendary father! And then I will stamp Andur'Blough Inninness flat.
It was not until very recently that I came to understand the depth of my hatred toward Dasslerond and her annoying little folk. I left Andur'Blough Inninness bitterly, to be sure, and after a struggle that would have cost me my very life had I lost. But still, for months and months, my feelings toward the Touel'alfar had been more along the lines of wanting to prove them wrong, of wanting to force from the lips of their pompous leader the honest admission that they did not appreciate me. The delicious irony of it all, of course, is that I have come to understand myself and my potential through Oracle, the elven gift to me, the discipline that Lady Dasslerond herself insisted that I master. At Oracle, I have come to see the selfishness of the Touel'alfar. At Oracle, I have come to see their unconcern for me, and for all humans. At Oracle, I have come to know their ultimate arrogance, their continual lies - not only to me, but to every human they have ever known. At Oracle, I have learned the darkness of Touel'alfar hearts, and the cruelty of Touel'alfar generosity. For they do nothing for the good of a human. They use that guise merely to gain full control, that they might manipulate their rangers to serve only the Touel'alfar.
But at Oracle, I learned to turn their duplicitous games back upon them. The large shadow in the mirror prompted me on, even as the smaller shadow told me how many wondrous things the elves might teach to me. And so I used them even as they tried to use me. I let them teach me the sword dance, the gemstones, and the way of the ranger.
How delicious will he the irony when I crush them! I wonder ifBrynn has come to see the truth of these wretched slavers. I wonder if, in her rise to the leadership of To-gai, she has been able to look past her personal gains to understand that she had merely been an instrument for Lady Dasslerond.
I wonder if she sees a shadow similar to my mentor in her darkened mirror at Oracle.
If she does not, then I will become her shadow.
I hope to see her in the summer. I hope to tell her in great detail of the fall of Dasslerond and the wretched Touel'alfar. I hope that she will come to see the truth.
For it would truly please me if Brynn Dhanelle, the Dragon of To-gai, walked this road beside me, willingly and with all of her heart.
But if not, then so be it. I will construct the road of immortality over the bodies of lesser men and lesser women. I will lead humanity to its pinnacle of glory and hope, but that can be achieved only through war.
Oracle has shown me this road clearly, and it is one I am prepared to walk. And Oracle has honestly shown me that this side journey I intend to make to Andur'Blough Inninness is not a necessary path to the conquest of the human kingdoms - as my doubting commanders will no doubt point out - but that it is a necessary journey for Aydrian the king nonetheless.
If for no better reason than to enjoy the sweetness of Lady Dasslerond's defeat.
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