“Jin favors you in her features, but she must have her father’s coloring,” he ventured.
“Yes, and nothing else,” Sera replied, ice in her voice.
Immediately Dain regretted his comment, realizing he’d touched on a sensitive subject. He wanted to speak further, to apologize for bringing it up, but while he stumbled for the right words Sera quickened her pace to rejoin the lead guard.
Within the hour the group remounted, this time trotting their horses directly east, aiming for what Dain guessed was the boundary. They spent most of the afternoon winding through dense forest groves and crossing occasional creeks before finally stopping just before nightfall.
“We part ways here, paladin,” Sera said. She had appeared by his side without a sound.
Dain straightened. Even though he’d known he couldn’t ride on with them indefinitely, he felt his heart sink at her words. A sense of loss settled over him. He couldn’t say why he felt it. She was beautiful to be sure and he felt an attraction there, but there was something more as well, a feeling of closeness. It made little sense, feeling that way, but he couldn’t dismiss it. He smiled at her, trying not to let disappointment show on his face.
“Tonight,” Sera continued, “you must cross the Wessen. Stay on this trail and it will lead you to the river. At the water’s edge there is a lightning-scorched tree. A tree like it stands on the opposite shore as well. Lead your horse in a straight line between the two and you will find a shallow crossing. Although the water looks deep, it is an illusion. Beyond the Wessen, the trail continues for another four miles before swinging north and rejoining the main road. By then you should be well beyond any pursuers. The Golden never leave these lands.”
“Surely they haven’t found the body yet. I would have been safe on the main road until I got clear,” Dain said.
“No. Make no mistake, they will know Haldrin is dead—they have ways of knowing. And they will have used their patrols to stop all traffic along the main road. You would not have made it.” Sera drew her shoulders back and met his eyes. “I thank you for saving Jin, and I thank you for ridding us of the monster, Haldrin. It seems that my people and I owe you twice now. I fear this is a debt we will never be able to repay, however, since you must flee. The Golden will use their mages to try to find you, and you must be clear of their lands before they do. If you wait in Galena, perhaps for a few months, you should be safe to pass back through along the old road. Do not stay here, Dain. And do not stay in Galena any longer than you have to. Return to wherever you came from.” She spoke these last words with an air of finality that left no room for argument.
“It seems I should thank you, then, for helping me escape,” Dain said. “Would you answer something first, before I leave?”
“Ask.”
“You said Jin spoke of many other things concerning me. Things you wouldn’t talk about. What else did she say?”
Both mother and daughter looked at him. Jin wore a child’s wide, innocent smile. Sera’s face wore the same solemn expression he’d seen earlier at the campfire. He could see she wrestled with her thoughts before finally answering.
“Jin has a prophetic gift. An ability she inherited from my mother. She sees not what will surely be, but what will likely be. There is a difference, you understand?”
Dain nodded. He knew a bit of seers and prophecy, most had proven frauds and hoaxes.
“She spoke of the future… your future. She said you and I would meet again when we needed you.”
“I’m not sure I believe in prophecy or visions,” Dain said. “Perhaps I should have asked for a kiss instead. Isn’t that what men ask of beautiful maidens in storybooks?”
“Storybooks are not real, and besides, in elven storybooks humans are fools, always in need of a wise elf to get them out of one trouble or another, usually of their own making,” Sera answered with the faintest of smiles.
“Well, I suppose that last part is correct, at least. I’m pleased to have met you, Sera, and you, Jin,” Dain said. He bowed his head to them.
“And you, Dain,” Sera answered.
With a nod of his head, he turned Boon and headed off toward the boundary. He thought he could feel the two elves’ eyes on him as he rode away.
The winter sun had set when Dain first heard the river, and with only pale moonlight to guide him, he rode on slowly. Soon the tree line stopped and he pulled Boon short. Off to his left he found the first lightning-struck tree, and on the far bank, the second, just as Sera had said.
He looked down into the water but could see little. It didn’t seem shallow.
She said it was an illusion.
At his nudging, Boon hesitantly stepped out into the current. He could feel the horse’s nervousness with each step. Boon hadn’t liked the golden elves’ bridge, and he seemed to like this even less. But true to Sera’s promise and contrary to the river’s appearance, his hooves splashed only lightly in the Wessen’s waters, and they reached the far bank without incident.
The temperature began to drop as they traveled away from the water, and Dain put his warm jacket back on. By the time they had traveled another half mile, Boon walked in deep, powdery snow.
“Sure didn’t miss the cold, did we?” Dain said.
Knowing the animal was tired from the day’s taxing pace, he found a large juniper to camp beneath before the pair rejoined the main trail.
“No tender grass for you tonight, big fella,” Dain patted Boon’s neck in apology. “Although, I might still have a few oats left for you.” He poured the last of a small bag of oats into his palm and allowed the horse to eat. Then he started a fire to try and hold the cold at bay before drifting off to sleep.
In his dreams, a dark-haired woman with silvery eyes waited.
Koren heard her father as he paced in the royal audience chamber. His voice echoed through the lower levels of the castle. Most men mellowed with age, but not King Elam. He roared out orders just as he had when she was a child, though not quite so frequently. Then, as now, she dreaded his anger.
“Damn Haldrin. Damn him for a fool!” The king bellowed when she made her way down the hallway leading to his audience chamber. From the hall, his heavy steps thundered as he stomped on the granite floor inside.
Koren glanced at herself in a passing mirror before entering. It wouldn’t do to face him without being composed. She didn’t want to face him at all, not in one of his rages, but her curiosity got the better of her.
What has upset him so?
She regarded herself. Not a single blond hair hung out of place, and her sharp blue eyes were clear and bright. She favored the queen in her features and short, athletic build, or so she had been told. The queen had passed away years ago, when she was barely older than an infant, and she had no memory of her.
The princess took a brief moment to smooth the wrinkles from her turquoise dress before proceeding.
She eased open the spacious room’s mahogany doors and stepped through. Chairs stood in the room’s center and warm light poured in on them through stained glass windows, bathing the room in reds, greens, blues, and golds, the expertly crafted images depicting battles and glories long past. On an elevated platform stood the throne, dominating the room. The king paced in front of it.
“What does my dear brother need damning for, father?” Koren asked. Elam’s eyes blazed for a second until he recognized her. She was one of only a handful who would dare approach him in one of his rages. But even she had her limits.
Elam’s blue eyes gradually softened for her. Tall for an elf, an ornate crown of glittering gold and sparkling red sapphires adorned his proud head in contrast with his pure white hair. Koren couldn’t recall a time when it was darker, although her brothers, Haldrin and Gallad, both older, claimed they could.
In the audience chamber, he always wore his royal armor. Even from a distance, Koren could see her reflection in the polished steel breastplate. For as long as she could remember, her father had adhered to his stubborn tra
ditions and refused to enter this room without it. In here he seemed vital, strong, well short of his almost sixty years.
At his side, slung high around his waist, was their family sword. Forged by the finest of armor smiths and enchanted by the most powerful of mages, the weapon had been handed down through the royal line for more than a dozen generations. In its day the folded-steel blade and shining silver pommel had led thousands of golden elves to war. And it wasn’t purely ornamental. Koren had seen her father wield the blade to deadly effect, against his enemies.
“Koren,” the king spoke, “I have sat on this throne for over thirty years. I am far too old to be cleaning up after your brothers. We are at war with the orcs to the west. Cursed humans and other bastard races pass through our borders daily, and in the south, the wood elves continue to rebel against our rule, yet between Gallad’s little monster and Haldrin’s foolishness I cannot focus on any of the kingdom’s real problems.”
“Yelling in here, scaring the guards and maids, only upsets those who love you, father.”
“Was I that loud?” he asked her. His tone softened.
“Loud enough to wake the dead. I passed by Councilor Alpere on the way. He ran on as if the executioner himself were after him.”
Koren knew instantly that she shouldn’t have mentioned the councilor. Her father’s eyes blazed anew and his voice rose.
“Good, I hope the old cur drops dead of a heart attack. I appointed him to the Council of Nobles after he proved a capable tutor to you and your brothers. His service to my father also weighed heavily on his behalf. In gratitude, Alpere now leads the opposition to my policies.”
“He is just a senile old man speaking to a council of other senile old men,” Koren said lightly, hoping to diffuse some of the tension now crackling in the room. “Those fools may try to influence you, but none would ever dare to challenge you directly. You are their king. It is their duty, their sworn duty, to obey your rule. Now, what foolishness does Haldrin need damning for?”
“Somehow the monster managed to escape and he hunts for her, alone, through the southern woods,” Elam answered, rubbing his temples. “That would be enough if he had not lost her near the old road and then sent the other huntsmen back. He should have taken a few scouts with him.”
“Father, I am certain Haldrin will be fine, and I am confident he will return with the girl, dead or alive,” Koren said. Haldrin was more than capable in the woods, ruthless and absolutely dogged when he was on the hunt.
“Dead, let us hope. The half-breed is an abomination. Were your older brother Gallad here, I would have made him kill her and burn the body himself to cleanse the dark stain on our honor. All evidence of the sin must be removed. And if Haldrin had less pride and more sense he would have taken several other hunters with him and our honor would already be restored.”
Koren favored her brother Haldrin; their ages fell much closer together than the older Crown Prince Gallad who she had never been close to. Haldrin was merely trying to clean up Gallad’s mess. He certainly did not deserve her father’s wrath. Gallad did. Knowing her father’s volatile moods, though, she held her tongue, deciding against defending Haldrin for the time. She had no desire to turn his wrath against herself. Instead, she sat down in one of her father’s audience chairs and began working on her needlepoint.
Working with needle and thread pleased her. The neat, even stitches and predictable patterns appealed to her sense of order. If only her father’s kingdom could be so orderly.
She watched from the corner of her eye as the king continued pacing back and forth across the granite tile, mumbling under his breath now instead of yelling. His hair seemed to change colors as he walked in and out of the soft, tinted light.
An hour passed in silence, save for the king’s muttering and the steady whisper of Koren’s needle as it passed through the stiff canvas.
Finally, Elam tired and sat upon the elevated throne in the chamber’s center. He cupped his chin in one hand while staring into the captured glass images that surrounded them. Koren wondered if he was reliving the battles depicted in their scenes. She could hear his breathing slowing, becoming more even, more relaxed. She had always been able to weather his rages better than her brothers. A practical skill, one she must have inherited from her mother.
It had been Koren who had suggested turning the girl into a deer. The half-breed would have made an excellent sacrifice with which to bless the golden armies after they defeated the vile orcs.
“How goes Gallad’s campaign?” she asked, breaking the silence. Perhaps she could divert his banked anger elsewhere, away from Haldrin.
“Not well. The orcs have used the wealth taken from the humans to buy better weapons and armor than they have had in years past. The brutes are well fed, and they appear to be more organized. They’ve grown bold and, for the first time in a long time, they’ve dared to invade our lands,” Elam said.
“Gallad has your top generals and mages, along with several thousand troops at his disposal. I am sure he will drive them back,” she said without looking up from her work.
“We need… a decisive victory. We need to shatter them and teach them a lesson so they will never again cross the Wessen but, from your brother’s reports, there may be too many to destroy completely. He asks for more troops. Troops I cannot afford to send, since I have to fend off the rebellious wood elves at the same time.”
“You aren’t suggesting Gallad will fail?”
“With the army he commands, he should be able to drive the green vermin back into the mountains. I have given him strict orders not to chase them beyond the Wessen. On their own ground they will fight twice as hard, and our troops are not equipped for winter fighting.”
“What can be done to keep them out once Gallad’s driven them away?”
“I have not yet decided. At a minimum we will double the patrols along the river’s edge,” her father said, rubbing at his brow wearily. “According to his reports, the orcs are fighting differently this time. Many tribes have united under one banner, that of some nameless master. And with every gold shipment they steal, they grow stronger. We need the miners to approve our plan to transport their shipments using our mages. Keeping a quarter of their gold works doubly to our advantage, as it keeps the shipments out of orc hands and increases our own coffers.”
“Surely the humans will realize that your proposal is the only way to get the gold out safely. Once they accept we will have access to anything we need, then we will crush the orcs like we’ve always done,” Koren replied.
“The miners are fools. Their greed works against us, and it may take months before they finally decide to meet our price. I have started wondering if there isn’t some other way to get at those riches.”
“If they continue to lose shipments, will the humans give up?”
Elam laughed. Koren missed a stitch and pricked her finger. She hated being surprised, left unable to predict the actions of others.
“No, no. You can always count on greed, especially among the humans. There will always be those willing to risk themselves for even the slimmest chance at great wealth.”
“Father, I’ve never seen an orc or human close up. Could you arrange to have an orc’s head sent here so that I can study it?”
“Of course, my dear. I’ll have Gallad send a whole basket of them for you to study,” he answered, raising his head to smile at her. Koren glowed at the attention. “Perhaps I’ll get you some human heads as well—there are always fresh miners traveling along the road. I’m sure an accident can be arranged for one, and no one would ever miss a human.”
“I have heard they are resilient and very trainable. Maybe I can have one for a pet.”
Koren hoped a human would prove more durable than her previous pets. Wood elves seemed to break rather easily. Even her own people usually failed to survive her attentions and affections for very long. Two of her proposed suitors, both arrogant men, had died in her special little room. The first she had c
hained up and hung from the ceiling before slicing him open and allowing his organs to spill out. The second she’d strapped to a table and then stripped naked. Koren had removed his manhood and watched him bleed out. She smiled faintly, remembering their screams. Torture was so much more pleasurable than the poisons she had favored in her younger years.
The door flung open with a bang, the heavy mahogany straining against the iron hinges, interrupting another stitch. Jakob, head of the royal guards, rushed into the throne room in the door’s wake then threw himself on his knees, eyes locked on the floor.
“What is this disturbance!” Elam yelled at the guardsman. He had half-drawn his sword.
“Please pardon me for my intrusion Your Majesty, Princess,” Jakob stammered. The guardsman gasped for breath. Koren tilted her head to study him. He must have run the entire flight of stairs.
“Jakob, you have served me for over ten years now. Never in all that time have you acted so disrespectfully. If you lack a reason for this, a good reason, I will take your life,” Elam said.
The words grabbed Koren’s attention. It had been some time since she saw her father execute someone.
“By your sword then. I can only claim that I am not in my right mind as I bring you the direst of tidings.”
“Give me your news then, and be judged.”
“My king, the body of your son, most honored Prince Haldrin, lies in the courtyard below,” Jakob said.
“The body?” Elam hissed, taking a step forward. The sword inched further from its sheath. “What do you mean the body?”
“My king, one of our patrols along the gold road found him hours ago, just off the roadside. There were signs of a struggle and an overnight camp nearby.”
“Who? Who has killed my brother?” Koren dropped her needlework and rushed to her father’s side. She glared down hatefully at the kneeling guard. White-hot rage boiled in her veins. She could see the guard’s pulse jumping rapidly in his throat as he swallowed.
“We don’t know for sure, my Princess. The wood elves are suspect, but the overnight camp was one of the miner’s. A human could never have bested a swordsman like Prince Haldrin alone though.”
Kingdom's Forge: Book 01 - Paladin's Redemption Page 4