World in Chains- The Complete Series

by Ryan W. Mueller

"You should probably head to Crayden. Maybe you'll find out something."

  "Will you be okay here by yourself?" he asked. "You seem kinda lost."

  Her stomach began to feel strange. Was it just her nerves? "Well, I could use some help finding a place to stay. I feel kind of foolish now."

  "Don't worry about it. My parents have a place about five minutes that way." He pointed toward a path off to her right. "They're good people. They'll help you out."

  "Thank you. I hope you find Markus." Her stomach gave an odd twinge.

  "And I hope you manage to kill Warrick. It's about time someone did."

  He nodded farewell, then grabbed his axe and marched off into the trees. A sudden wave of nausea hit Nadia. Maybe those green berries hadn't been such a good idea. She gritted her teeth against the pain in her stomach and started down the path.

  The pain intensified with every step. Soon she could barely stay on her feet. Sweat had drenched her from head to toe, a cold sweat that seemed at odds with the sweltering air. Her legs felt weaker and weaker, her entire body ready to collapse.

  She fell to her knees and vomited. Tried to move. Vomited again. Why couldn't this have happened a minute or two sooner, when Rik could have done something for her?

  She tried to stand, but her body refused. Her arms felt like wet noodles. She vomited again and again, emptying her stomach before darkness overtook her.

  Chapter 21: The Search Party

  Rik had started out heading toward Crayden, but then he decided he might need Markus's uncle to deal with the Imperial Guards.

  While Rik walked, he thought of the strange encounter with Nadia. Something had seemed off about her. The anxiety was expected, but there was something else, almost like she was sick, but it was probably nothing. Markus liked to joke that Rik's imagination was too vivid.

  Rik normally would have whistled a cheerful tune, but he couldn't get his spirits high enough. He reached Markus's cabin in a few minutes and knocked on the door.

  Theo answered it a few moments later. "What're you doing here, Rik?"

  "Looking for Markus. Any idea where he might be?"

  Theo scratched at his thick brown beard. "He left nearly a day ago. I expected him to be with you. I don't know. Maybe he made the right decision and presented himself to the Imperial Guards in Crayden."

  Rik held back a laugh. "You know he wouldn't do that."

  "Yeah. I know him too well. Stubborn to a fault."

  "I figured he might be somewhere in Crayden," Rik said. "Maybe you could ask some of your old friends. He was supposed to join them today. Maybe they forced him."

  "And you want me to find out," Theo said. "I know how you think, Rik."

  "Well, yes."

  "And then you probably want me to save him from the consequences of his foolishness."

  "Yeah, that too."

  "No point arguing. You'll just pester me all day." Theo went into the cabin and returned shortly with his sword.

  As they started walking, Rik said, "What would you do if you found out Markus was dead? Would that make you mad?"

  "Why should I be mad? I made a horrible deal, I know, but Markus has to abide by that deal whether he likes it or not. They have the right to kill him."

  "How can you say that?" Rik demanded. "Markus is like a son to you."

  "I wouldn't like it. But what can I do? Besides, you know they wouldn't kill Markus, at least if what Markus heard was right." Theo shook his head. "I still have no idea why Warrick would want you and Markus alive. His ways make no sense to me."

  "And yet you served him?" Rik said.

  "Not by choice. I did what I had to do."

  Theo fell silent, and Rik knew better than to bother him.

  Soon they crossed the bridge into Crayden, then marched toward the Imperial Guard garrison in the center of town. They passed from clean cobblestone streets to narrow dirt paths marked with deep runnels. This seemed the kind of place Rik would end up if he moved to the city. He didn't have the patience to learn a trade like Tomas, and adventures didn't pay well.

  They passed dirty people in frayed clothing, many of whom cast them curious glances. At the door to the garrison, Theo said, "Stay out here. I'll see what they know."

  Rik took a spot far enough away from the garrison that he didn't look suspicious. He kept his hand ready to reach for his axe. Thieves in this part of town could often steal from commoners without facing stiff penalties. Not from nobles, though.

  Of course, Rik didn't have anything worth stealing. Even his axe had seen better days. How would he ever make a living? There were few things he wanted to do.

  The wait stretched endlessly. People were giving him strange looks, making him feel exposed and vulnerable.

  At last, Theo emerged from the garrison, looking troubled.

  Rik grabbed Theo's arm. "What did you find out?"

  "They came for Markus early. He refused to become an Imperial Guard, so now he's in prison. I'm gonna try to talk some sense into him."

  "You don't think that's gonna work?"

  "I have to try. I've done him wrong, I know." Theo cast a stern glare at Rik. "You can come, but don't even think of trying to break him out. Yes, I know that was your first thought."

  "Well, it did cross my mind, but there's no chance."

  They walked to the prison at the north end of town. When they entered the building, Rik felt the suffocating closeness of the walls. He couldn't imagine being stuck in a prison cell with nothing but his thoughts for company.

  Behind the warden's desk was a rack containing a number of large keys. The bottom level of the rack held one key, while the others contained at least three or four. Off to their right was a display case with some swords.

  "I'm here to see a prisoner on the lowest level," Theo said to the warden, handing the man a small slip of paper. "This contains Commander Glenn's seal of approval."

  The warden frowned as he examined it. "This seems in order."

  Theo took the paper back, then led Rik toward the stairs far at the other end of the prison's main level. They went down the spiraling stone steps, arriving at the lowest level, a place lit by a solitary torch.

  They stepped around to the cell.

  Markus came to the bars. "Rik? Uncle Theo? What're you doing here?"

  Theo cleared his throat. "In my case, I'm gonna try to talk some sense into you. Rik's just here because he wants to see you."

  "You're not gonna make me change my mind," Markus said. "Warrick wants me alive for some reason. He's not gonna let me die in here. I'm just biding my time."

  Rik looked toward the back of the cell, where another man sat in the shadows. "Who's that with you? I didn't think there'd be anyone else."

  "That's Berig. He's okay." Markus's tone sounded more defeated than Rik had ever heard. While Markus had never shared Rik's enthusiasm, he'd never been the kind of person to dwell on negative thoughts either.

  Rik had to do something.

  "So, you gonna get me out of here?" Markus asked.

  "I can't do that," Theo said. "You know I can't."

  "Then I guess I'll just spend the rest of my life in here. Maybe life will throw something unexpected at me. Who knows?"

  Theo glared at Markus. "Why can't you just accept their offer?"

  "I can't serve Warrick. He doesn't deserve to rule. I don't care what excuses you make. It's just not who I am. I can see it in your eyes. You can't live with yourself after some of the things you were forced to do. I wouldn't be able to live with myself either. I'd rather die. I'm sorry, Uncle Theo."

  "Well, you're making a big mistake," Theo said. "I hope you like it." He turned to Rik. "We're leaving now, and I don't want you thinking up any insane plans."

  Rik couldn't think of anything at the moment. There was too much security, too much risk. Even for him. He followed Theo up the steps, afraid he was giving up on his best friend.

  * * * * *

  Tylen returned to the castle to find High Lord Cray in a terri
ble mood. The man was sitting in a chair at the side of the large foyer, looking down at the floor and drinking from a glass of what looked like whiskey, his face already red. Not his first drink.

  Tylen forced his face into a sympathetic expression, though in truth he was disgusted by the man. "What is wrong, my lord?"

  The high lord hiccupped. "She's gone, Tylen."

  "Who's gone?"

  "Nadia. She went out through her window sometime last night. None of the guards saw her, and now she's gone." He spilled some of his drink but ignored the mess. "I'm never going to see her again. What did I do to deserve this, Tylen?"

  Tylen's stomach twisted. He could not ascend to high lord himself without marrying the high lord's daughter. "She is simply a misbehaved child. It is not your fault, my lord."

  "But what can I do? She could be anywhere."

  Tylen settled down on a gold-framed chair near the high lord. "We need to think through this logically. She doesn't have many options. If you were your daughter, where would you go?"

  "I've already had the guards check the obvious places. She isn't with any of her friends. None of them have even seen her. Maybe she's gone to Riverside."

  "Why Riverside, my lord?"

  "It's on the way to what she wants to do. Ever since her mother's execution, she has harbored this silly notion that she can kill Emperor Warrick. I'm sure you can tell how much she hates the man."

  "Yes, I have, my lord," Tylen said. "But are you sure she'd go to Riverside? She obviously didn't go with her friends because she knew you'd look there. Riverside seems fairly obvious, too, and whatever faults your daughter may have, she strikes me as an intelligent person. She wouldn't go where we expect her to go."

  "Yes, that does make sense now that I think about it."

  Tylen smiled. He'd always had a strange knack for convincing people to accept his ideas, probably because of his good looks and charm. This ability had served him well.

  "So where else might she have gone?" he asked, faking sympathy again.

  The high lord stroked his chin, his expression pensive. "She might have gone to the forest east of the city. She met a young man there yesterday, and he helped her out of a tight spot. It's as good an idea as any."

  Tylen felt suddenly lighter. "I would love to lead a search party. Perhaps then she will see how much I care for her."

  "Good. I've already had some volunteers for a search party: a few guards, Captain Davis, Lord Ander Franklin, and Aric and Kara Miller."

  Tylen disagreed with some of the high lord's other choices. He and Ander had never seen eye to eye. Not to mention, Nadia showed a lot of interest in Ander. Tylen couldn't stand competition for his prize. Nadia would be his.

  Then, when the high Lord died, Tylen would become high Lord. Maybe he'd even speed up the process. He had no respect for the high lord. Any man who allowed his wife and daughter to join the Order was not fit to rule the city.

  "I shall have some of the guards inform everyone involved of the new search," he said.

  "And I will find her, my lord. You can trust me."

  An hour later, the entire search party had assembled. Tylen avoided Ander, Aric, and Kara if at all possible. He had not met Aric and Kara, but they were friends of Ander's, so he had an idea what kind of people they were.

  The guards would all defer to Tylen, who was leading the party. Even Captain Davis, a man Tylen suspected was involved with the Order, couldn't order Tylen around. Being the high lord's chosen successor had its advantages.

  The orange glow of evening was fading to the west, but Tylen didn't mind the dark, though it could make their search more difficult. The longer Nadia remained hidden, the more his chances for power would fade. He couldn't allow that to happen. Not because of a spoiled little brat.

  A spoiled little brat that he liked for some odd reason.

  They crossed the bridge and ducked under the canopy of trees. Even with the heat of day fading, the air remained steamy.

  "Should we stick to the path?" Captain Davis asked.

  Tylen stopped to consider. "No, she'll have left the path."

  He couldn't explain this intuition, but he trusted it. His instincts had helped him many times before, often leading him right to an animal he was hunting. A target.

  He chuckled silently. Nadia was just another target.

  They left the path. Tylen remained separate from the people he didn't like. Yes, they were concerned about Nadia, but not for the right reasons. He knew their type. Though he couldn't prove it, they were Order members.

  Night fell as they searched, and with it came a strange chill.

  Tylen turned to a guard. "Does it seem cold?"

  "No, it's really muggy."

  "Strange. It seems cold to me." Tylen tried to shrug it off, but when he saw his own breath, he knew he wasn't imagining it.

  "Now, that's strange," Ander said from about ten feet away. "How can your breath be showing? And why is it that only you feel this cold?"

  "I don't know." Tylen tried to keep his teeth from chattering. He didn't feel like engaging in conversation, not with Ander.

  "Could be something to do with Woodsville," Aric said

  "You don't believe the tales, do you?" Tylen struggled not to laugh. "It's just an old city. People make things up to scare others."

  "I've been there," Aric said. "Believe me, it's haunted."

  Tylen gave him a derisive look. "As if I should trust your judgment. I don't even know why the high lord sent you people out here. You'll probably just help her get away."

  Ander advanced on Tylen. "You know, maybe we should. I can't stomach the thought of her being forced to marry you. Not because she wouldn't marry me, but because you are simply a horrible person, Tylen."

  "In the future," Tylen said, "you might want to control that tongue of yours. When I'm high lord, I'll have the power to make life miserable for you."

  Ander's hand moved to his sword. "You'll never be high lord if I have anything to say about it. Nor will Nadia ever marry you."

  "Not willingly, maybe, but she will marry me. If she has a problem with it, she can run away then. Once we marry, I'll be high lord no matter what happens to her."

  "You bastard!" Ander gripped the hilt of his sword. "I bet you'd turn her in to the Imperial Guards if it suited your purposes. Your own wife."

  "I have to protect myself," Tylen said with a smile. He wasn't sure he meant what he'd said, but he enjoyed seeing the horrified expression on Ander's face. He'd let them believe he was everything they hated. Maybe then they'd fear him.

  Ander advanced on him, eyes narrowed. Tylen's hand drifted to his sword, for he'd heard Ander had a temper.

  Captain Davis stepped between them. "Let's just calm down. We all want the same thing here."

  "You're right." Ander backed away. "No need to lose my head here."

  Chapter 22: The Dagger in the Forest

  Nadia woke in the middle of the night, shivering in a heavy chill. She felt dizzy, disoriented, and stabbing pain shot through her stomach. Her body refused to move as the cold intensified and her chest tightened with fear. Why fear?

  An icy wind rustled the leaves. Something whispered in the wind, perhaps the voices of ghosts. Colder. She shivered uncontrollably, her teeth chattering. Her leather sack lay beside her, and she barely summoned the energy to retrieve her traveling cloak and wrap herself in it.

  She felt a presence in the air, ancient and evil, like nothing she'd experienced before. A quick glance revealed nothing, but she could feel its cold embrace closing in on her.

  Something whispered in her ear, and she jumped.

  "You can sense me," it said.

  Her voice sounded weak. "What—who are you?"

  "I am the Spirit of Malavia, and I am Warrick's servant, but I do not wish to be."

  The Spirit of Malavia. Nadia had come across it in her reading. According to the sorcerers of old, it was an ancient being that had dwelled deep in the jungles of Malavia long before hum
ans arrived on this world. Why was it in the forest?

  And why did it serve Warrick?

  "W-why are you speaking to me?" she asked, trying to quell her fear.

  "Because you are one of the few who can free me. You can sense me, which means you are capable of magical abilities. Only one such as you can defeat Warrick."

  "How did he get control of you?" she asked, but she got no response. The spirit's cold had faded. Weak and nauseous, she fell asleep.

  * * * * *

  Tylen led the search farther into the forest, keeping well away from Ander and allowing his instincts to guide his path. He thought again of the strange chill. Why had he felt it when no one else had? He didn't like to dwell on things he didn't understand, but this was perplexing.

  "Do you have any idea where you're going?" Ander asked with exasperation.

  Tylen glared at him. "It is not your place to question me. I'm the leader."

  Ander returned the glare in the flickering torchlight, but Tylen turned away. Exhaustion had taken hold, and he wanted to return home where he could take a bath and settle into his soft bed. How could poor people live in perpetual discomfort like this? He almost felt sorry for them.

  Of course, they'd done it to themselves by choosing not to support Emperor Warrick.

  The rest of the group followed Tylen, talking quietly, but he paid them little attention. When he stepped into the next clearing, he saw a shadowy form on the ground.

  He motioned the others to him. "I see something."

  Two of the guards stepped forward, torches in hand. On the ground lay the crumpled form of a woman with curly brown hair.

  "We've found her!" Tylen said. But why was she lying on the ground? Surely she would have heard them by now and woken up. Was she hurt?

  Ander, Aric, and Kara rushed forward and knelt by Nadia. Tylen watched with narrowed eyes as Kara placed a hand on Nadia's forehead.

  Kara turned to the rest of the group. "She has a fever."

  "Why is she sick?" Tylen demanded, stepping toward Nadia. He didn't relish the thought of transporting a sick person back to Crayden. He was tired enough already.