The other man charged, twin daggers drawn. He leapt at Daemon, who effortlessly parried the attack, moving as fast as any elf, though Saida had been quite sure he was human.
She scuttled back through the sand as the men continued to fight, falling back onto her bound hands painfully more than a few times.
“Help Elmerah!” the cloaked man grunted, his feet kicking up sand as he and Daemon fell into a rhythmic, deadly dance.
Her eyes widened. It was Alluin, and Elmerah was here too? Sudden panic hit her. That’s who Egrin had gone after, and she wasn’t aware of his magic.
She scurried further back in the sand, then used her shoulder to roll herself up to her feet. If only her hands weren’t still bound, she could steal one of the immobile guard’s weapons, but there was no time to try to cut the ropes. Elmerah needed her help.
Elmerah
Elmerah silently retreated through the thick vegetation, slowly making her way toward the denser trees. She would attack the emperor—ye gods, she couldn’t believe she was actually considering attacking the emperor—soon anyway, after she lured him further away.
She stopped behind a shrub with wide, waxy leaves found only near the coast.
The emperor continued to creep along, oddly without a weapon drawn. She’d witnessed him finding the three unconscious guards—or maybe they were dead, the rocks she and Alluin had hit them with had been rather large—so why would he come after her without a weapon in hand?
She took a step back, wincing as a twig snapped beneath her boot. They were far enough from the surf now that he’d likely heard it.
Sure enough, his gaze whipped in her direction, his eyes narrowed to peer through the growing darkness. She froze, unable to tell if he’d spotted her, or if he was simply looking for the source of the sound.
Seconds later, an enormous weight seemed to crush her chest. Her hands groped the empty air as her eyes darted frantically about. She couldn’t breathe, yet nothing was touching her.
Through her panic, she heard footsteps crunching over the rocky earth. The emperor appeared before her. His pale eyes seemed to soak in the moonlight. She wanted to lash out at him, but her hands merely fluttered at her sides like dying butterflies.
“An Arthali witch?” he questioned, looking her up and down. “How . . . unexpected.”
She sputtered, but couldn’t form words. Was he somehow doing this to her?
Seeming to read her thoughts, he grinned. “Don’t worry, you’re not to die tonight. I need to ask you some questions first.” His grin wiped away as something tackled him to the ground.
Suddenly she could breathe again. She hopped back from the tussle, realizing it was one of the Akkeri atop the emperor’s back, smashing his face into the hard earth.
“Run!” the Akkeri hissed, looking right at her.
Though she was wildly confused, the creature didn’t have to tell her twice. She turned and ran back toward the beach.
Her lungs burned horribly as she stumbled through the dark vegetation. If the emperor had magic . . . the thought was horrifying. He was so much more of a threat than she’d imagined.
She ran blindly as she neared the beach, almost colliding with Saida. She skidded to a halt, blinked at the elf in shock, then grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. “Get back to Alluin,” she panted as they started running. “We need to get out of here.”
Elmerah reached the beach right behind Saida to find Alluin still fighting with the bejeweled blond man, obviously a better swordsman than his appearance would suggest. She glanced out toward the sea at the sound of guttural shouts just in time to see the Akkeri leaping from their boat into the tide to reach the shore more quickly.
“Alluin!” Elmerah shouted. They needed to retreat to the forest, now.
Alluin parried an incoming swipe of the blond man’s rapier, then jumped aside, rolling across the sand and coming up to his feet. He raised his fingers to his lips as he ran away, emitting a long, clear whistle.
The antlioch whinnied in reply, then both beasts came trotting out onto the beach.
As Alluin took a running leap onto his mount, the blond man, only a few paces away, thrust his rapier toward Alluin’s back.
Elmerah’s heart froze, then Alluin landed safely atop his antlioch and turned it away. Her attention was broken as the other beast charged right for her. It slowed as it reached her, and she leapt upon its back, barely able to cling to the wool and pull herself up. She turned around to grab Saida, but Alluin was already there, pulling her atop his mount to rest belly down across his lap, her bound hands sticking up awkwardly.
The blond man charged them again, heedless of their mounts, but they both urged the antlioch away from the surf and the charging Akkeri. They’d almost reached the abandoned carriage when Elmerah heard a shriek of fear. She saw a pale shape running through the darkness toward her, quickly realizing it was the Akkeri who’d saved her, running from the emperor.
Hoping she wouldn’t regret her decision, she spun her antlioch around and charged right for them. She held out a hand as she reached the Akkeri. Their palms connected, and she used the antlioch’s momentum to swing the Akkeri up onto its back behind her.
She then veered sharply to the left, taking off in the direction Alluin and Saida had gone. She leaned close to the antlioch’s neck, waiting for the moment when the emperor’s magic would hit her, but the moment never came. Maybe he couldn’t catch a quickly moving target.
She exhaled a sigh of relief as her mount galloped across the Emperor’s Path and into the woods. The Akkeri snaked its arms around her waist, making her squirm, but she didn’t push the creature away. It had saved her life, after all.
She caught sight of Alluin’s back and the other antlioch’s rump ahead. The creatures were far faster and more nimble than any horse. The emperor would not be able to catch them, at least not this night.
She wrinkled her nose at the scent of old fish coming from the Akkeri. She couldn’t understand why it had saved her, but it seemed to speak the common tongue—at least, it had known to tell her to run—so hopefully she would soon find out.
Alluin
Alluin eased the pressure on his mount’s flanks and patted its shoulder, signaling for it to slow. They’d gone far enough to not be found, and it was dangerous to run blindly through the deep woods, especially at night. It was the only reason the Valeroot settlement had gone unnoticed for so long. Not even hunters ventured into the deep woods. The prey there was reserved for trolls, wyrms, and other beasts.
Saida squirmed atop his lap, still belly down.
“My apologies,” he said, holding her biceps while she slid off his lap to the ground. “I didn’t see any other way to carry you without you falling off.”
He couldn’t tell in the darkness, but thought she grimaced before turning to Elmerah riding up behind her.
He narrowed his eyes in the darkness, realizing she had a second rider.
Elmerah’s antlioch halted, and the witch atop it spat on the ground. “How in Ilthune does Egrin Dinoba possess magic?”
Saida walked toward her. “I have no idea, but I experienced it myself. Now can someone please cut my ropes?” She extended her wrists behind her.
Alluin barely heard her. He was too busy staring at Elmerah’s extra rider, a scrawny Akkeri hiding behind her back as if hoping for protection.
“It saved me,” Elmerah explained at his look. “I couldn’t just leave it behind.” She swung her leg over her antlioch’s back, then slid down. She withdrew her cutlass, then cut Saida’s ropes.
As soon as she’d finished, Saida turned around and hugged her.
Elmerah stiffly accepted the gesture, awkwardly patting Saida’s back until she let go.
“I’m not an it,” the Akkeri muttered, its words hoarse and slurred. “I am male.”
Elmerah glanced at the Akkeri. “My apologies. Now might I ask, why did you save me?”
Alluin glanced around the dark, still woods. “As
much as I’d like to learn the answer to that question, we are not safe here. We should find shelter until morning.”
Elmerah snorted. “Any shelter out here is likely filled with trolls, and I imagine the emperor will have the militia combing the woods for us by morning. We should venture further in.”
“You’re mad,” Alluin argued. “We’ll all die out here.”
“I agree with Elmerah,” Saida interrupted. “At least for tonight. I have much to tell you both.” She turned her gaze up to the Akkeri still atop the antlioch. “And I think you have much to tell me as well. Are you the one who left the note?”
The Akkeri nodded.
Alluin had had about enough. They’d just attacked the emperor and his closest advisor, fled the Akkeri, and were now stuck in the deep woods late at night. Daemon might not be able to identify him by sight, but Elmerah and Saida were most definitely fugitives now, so they could not return to the city. At some point, he’d become honor-bound to help them both, and he had a feeling the Akkeri would soon be added to that list.
With that creature along, they could not return to the Valeroot settlement, nor to the tunnels. He could not risk it telling others of its kind about either location.
All this boiled down to one thing.
They were all utterly sunk.
Elmerah
The antlioch carried them deeper into the dark forest. Saida had volunteered to ride with the Akkeri, who’d introduced himself as Merwyn, leaving Elmerah to ride with Alluin. She was a bit uncomfortable straddling the antlioch behind him, but at least she didn’t have to smell Merwyn any longer.
Though there were a million things to discuss, they rode in silence, not wanting to attract any monsters. Elmerah flinched every time the gentle steps of the antlioch disturbed tiny lizards and rodents to skitter across the dead pine needles and fallen twigs. If they could find a defendable area, perhaps they could survive until sunrise.
After that, she was not sure what she would do. Part of her still wanted to best Rissine at her own game, but mostly she just wanted to get away from her. If Rissine truly believed Egrin Dinoba would pardon the Arthali, she’d lost her mind. Treaties with the Nokken and Dreilore would be far more valuable to him. As far as she knew, the Nokken had never warred with the Arthali, but the Dreilore detested their race . . . along with most races, save their own. Long lives and fearsome magic tended to fuel egos and incite competition. The Dreilore would never support the Arthali ruling over a region of the Empire. It could only mean Rissine would be betrayed at some point, and all other Arthali with her. The thing she didn’t understand was how Rissine couldn’t see the fate in store for her.
“Stop,” Alluin hissed.
The antlioch beneath her and Alluin halted, and moments later, so did the other. Elmerah peered through the darkness ahead for an explanation, then inhaled sharply and held her breath.
A massive wyrm, its black skin reflecting the scant moonlight, skulked across their path only twenty paces ahead. Completely blind, the wyrms of the deep forest used their four claws, tipped with razor sharp talons, to sense movement on the forest floor. The wyrm’s forked tongue, darting from a face that was a mixture of reptilian and feline, provided the beast with a sense of smell.
Elmerah glanced at Merwyn behind Saida, cursing their luck. If the wind shifted while they waited, the wyrm would surely scent him.
Long moments ticked by as the wyrm crept onward, its body, as tall as six men lying head to toe, undulated with every step, rubbing sleek scales across tree trunks with a spine-chilling hiss.
The antliochs were utterly still, no doubt sensing the wyrm.
Elmerah let out her breath as the wyrm’s twitching tail disappeared from sight, though they waited several long moments more before moving again.
“We are blessed to have a Valeroot hunter in our midst,” Merwyn muttered, his rasping voice entirely unpleasant to hear.
Elmerah could not see Alluin’s face as he glanced at the Akkeri, but she imagined he was glaring. “And what do you know of Valeroot elves?”
Elmerah thought the twisting of the Akkeri’s thin lips was perhaps a smirk. He asked, “And what do you know of the Akkeri?”
“I know you have killed many of my kind,” Alluin grumbled. “Weakening us so that when the Empire formed, Valeroot was destroyed.”
It was a history Elmerah knew well, though she felt little pity for Valeroot. At least the elves hadn’t been exiled and subsequently hunted down like dogs.
Merwyn was silent after that, unable to argue with the accusation, though the war likely occurred long before he was born.
“Do you think we have ventured deep enough?” Saida whispered. “Will Egrin’s militia truly search this far for us?”
“That depends,” Alluin replied. “Just how important are you to the Akkeri? Why were you to be given to them?”
He glanced again at Merwyn. They’d learned Saida was to be given to the Akkeri in exchange for their attack, but not why the Akkeri would want a Faerune elf, and Saida in particular.
Merwyn kept his reflective gaze ahead, not answering.
“Merwyn,” Saida muttered. “You must tell us why.”
Merwyn sighed, cast another wary glance at their surroundings, then replied, “There is a myth about how the Akkeri came into being. Some believe we were once Faerune elves, cursed by the goddess Ilthune to be her servants, sending our victims’ souls to the underworld. Every sacrifice made is a testament to our goddess.”
“Vile beasts,” Alluin grumbled.
Ignoring Alluin, Merwyn continued, “Some believe that if we were to regain the favor of the sky god Arcale, our true forms would be restored to us. They believe our existence is cursed.”
“That cannot be true,” Saida whispered, her reflective eyes peering toward the path ahead. “The Akkeri have always existed, as far back as the histories can remind us. Your lost temples are as old as the walls of Faerune.”
“I will not argue with you, priestess,” Merwyn rasped. “I cannot say what is true, only what many of the Akkeri believe. They believe if the Konnungar, our ruler, weds a Moon Priestess, Arcale will favor us once more, and our curse will be lifted.”
“A Moon Priestess?” Elmerah interrupted.
Saida looked like she might be ill, her pale face like a ghost’s in the moonlight. “That is what I’m called. Most of the high priests and priestesses are born with gifts of magic, provided by Arcale. They are favored by the sun. Occasionally, children are born to these gifted pairs, but are not granted magics. We are called priests and priestesses of the moon, favored instead by Cindra, the goddess of fate and wishes.”
“Cindra is the wife of Arcale,” Merwyn explained, “and you are the only unwed Moon Priestess alive today.”
That was news to Elmerah. She’d never even heard of Moon Priestesses before. “So your Konnungar wants to marry Saida because she was born without magic?”
“Born to a high priestess, and without magic,” Merwyn corrected.
Elmerah snorted. What a smoldering dung heap of an explanation. Myths and legends, nothing more. “And why don’t you believe in this curse lifting business?” she whispered.
Merwyn shrugged. “Who is to say I do not? All I can think, is that if we are to please the Sky God, we should help the Moon Priestess, not harm her.”
“I’m not sure if you’re all dense,” Alluin interrupted, “or if you all really want to be eaten by trolls, but we should stop talking.”
“What we should do is not go any further into the deep woods,” Elmerah countered. “This should be far enough. Let us find high ground and take turns resting.”
Though it was her idea, she shivered at the thought. At least atop the antlioch they could easily flee should more monsters happen upon them. Plus, it was as cold as the wild wastes of the North. She wasn’t looking forward to spending the rest of the night without a fire.
“You’re right,” Alluin conceded.
“There’s a crag off to t
he left,” Saida added.
Elmerah could see no crag, but Alluin seemed to take her at her word. He shifted, pressing his right leg against the antlioch’s side. The antlioch carrying Saida and Merwyn veered left and followed.
Soon the small crag came into view for Elmerah. It wasn’t exactly higher ground, but it would provide protection to their backs, allowing them to look out for monsters in only one direction.
Reaching the crag, Elmerah dismounted, stretching her legs and stiff back. She was thankful now for the new coat she procured. If she’d stuck with the old cloak she’d stolen from the inn, she’d be freezing. Unfortunately, Saida only had a thin magenta traveling cloak atop her crimson gown, and Merwyn wore even less, though she was not sure if Akkeri actually felt the cold. They swam long distances in the ice cold ocean after all.
She watched as Alluin checked over both of the antlioch for injuries, then patted their sides in seeming dismissal. After the pats, the creatures set to grazing nearby. Elmerah hoped dearly they would not startle and run off, trapping them with a full day of foot travel through the deep forest.
Seemingly unfazed by the cold, or late hour, Alluin stalked about, patrolling the perimeter of their temporary camp.
Saida moved to the rocky escarpment, then sat with her back against the cracked stone. She pulled her knees to her chest and huddled beneath her light cloak.
With a wary glance at Merwyn standing silently nearby, Elmerah joined Saida, sitting by her side. She supposed it was finally time they offer each other full explanations.
“I can’t believe you actually rescued me,” Saida muttered. “Not that I’m not appreciative, but how did you even know where I was?”
“Alluin’s scouts,” Elmerah explained, tucking her knees up against her chest, her shoulder nearly touching Saida’s. “We knew shortly after you had been taken to the castle too. We went to find Rissine for an explanation.”
“Ah yes,” Saida sighed. “I met Rissine briefly. I could see the family resemblance, and not in looks alone.”
The Witch of Shadowmarsh (The Moonstone Chronicles Book 1) Page 14