Beyond the Hell Cliffs

by Case C. Capehart

  “I accept,” Raegith stated.

  “Bullshit! I accept on the boy’s behalf!” Boram bellowed. “Bring your whips to my back, you skinny pissweed. I have an itch I haven’t been able to reach.”

  “That is not the deal…” Falfa began to shriek.

  “No, it isn’t,” Raegith said. “You think Onyx is not worth the pain, right? That’s why you made this deal; because you cannot imagine anyone that would suffer for someone like her. I accept the deal.”

  Raegith slept in a make-shift brig and was awoken at dawn by Hemmil and a group of guards. No others from the group were present and once again he longed for their companionship. Raegith was marched through the camp to the center, where a crowd had gathered. Nearly every Faeir was huddled in a group to the right and they began shouting as he drew near. The crowd parted way for Raegith and his escort, but several Twileens shoved through to get a look at him, staring in wonderment and exchanging words. As they reached the center of the crowd, Raegith saw a cleared area with two poles jammed into the ground and ropes threaded through the top. Boram, Tavin, Ebriz and Zakk were to the left, across from the angry Faeir. Their faces were like stone.

  Raegith was led to the one on the left, his shirt was removed and his hands were lashed over his head to the pole. Hemmil then approached him and leaned close, putting a soft bit into his mouth.

  “This will keep you from crying out, boy,” Hemmil said in a hard voice. “If it’s a statement you intend to make here today, screaming in pain will ruin it.”

  Raegith nodded his understanding and Hemmil walked back to the captain, who was standing to the rear of the clearing with the other officers. Hemmil stood before the captain and did not move. The captain, clearly a bit flustered, breached décor and leaned in to the thick Paladin.

  “This is completely unnecessary, Hemmil, no one holds you at fault here. You bear too much responsibility for things beyond your control; you always have,” the captain said. When Hemmil did not reply, the captain changed tone. “You will not be dissuaded, will you?”

  “He is my charge, sir,” Hemmil said flatly. “Honor and discipline.”

  “So be it,” the captain said and resumed his position in front of the officers. “Detail, detain the Paladin, strip his tunic and lash him to the pole.”

  Raegith was not the only one who stared in shock as the guards pulled Hemmil’s shirt from his chest, led him to the pole and lashed him as they did the prince. The Faeir protested, clearly confused by the event, but the captain raised his hands for silence and all fell still. Zakk started forward but Boram reached down and held him fast by the shoulder, solemnly shaking his head. Zakk looked up at the big man with astonishment, but remained where he was.

  “For the crime of assault on an officer of the Rellizbix Army and attempting to free a detained prisoner, the squire Raegith is hereby sentenced to twenty lashes!” Laurent announced, to the apparent dismay of the Faeir.

  Laurent ignored the cries of denial from the Faeir gathered and continued. “For the crime of negligence of command, Paladin Hemmil shall hereby share the punishment for his charge in its entirety.” The captain lowered his voice to little over a whisper. “This is his wish.”

  The Sabans among the company must have respected the hell out of Hemmil, because as soon as his punishment was announced, every one of them came to attention and went silent. The sight of hundreds of soldiers at attention and eerily motionless spooked the Faeir and silenced them immediately. Two Sabans in leather armor walked out to the center of the clearing and unfurled long, ribbed whips.

  “Commence,” the captain said. Raegith closed his eyes and focused on remaining silent. He managed to prevent any screams from escaping his lips, at least until he blacked out.

  When Raegith awoke, he was inside his tent and it was quite dark. He was face-down on his cot and his back felt numb. He did not move, for fear that the pain might hit him. Instead he lay there and thought of what was going to happen to him now. Had he messed up all of his plans? Would the Faeir go back on his word? Would he need to rally the group and make a break for it? He wouldn’t do that until he knew Onyx was safe. What had become of her since this morning? He had not seen her among the crowd at his punishment. He felt matted hair against his face and reached up gingerly to sweep it away. When he did, someone in the tent moved.

  “You’re awake?” a sultry voice asked. It was Onyx. Raegith forgot about his back and turned to try to find her. “No, don’t. You are injured and… I don’t want to be seen right now.”

  “It’s me, Onyx,” Raegith said, easing up to a sitting position. “You’ve nothing to be afraid of with me.”

  “Captain Laurent has released me,” Onyx said from the dark. “I am to be confined to this party and we must keep a certain distance from the main camp. He told me of the deal you made. You are such a fool, Raegith.”

  “So I’ve been told,” Raegith said. “It’s actually pretty logical. You’re the healer. Damned if I could do anything about your wounds if you were the one taking the punishment.”

  “You could have been killed, Raegith,” Onyx said. “Your body is not used to that kind of pain. You could have gone into shock or bled out before I got to you...”

  “You worried about me? That takes the pain away,” Raegith replied. “You are my friend, Onyx. I will not allow my friends to suffer.”

  “And I would not have you suffer either, my prince,” Onyx whispered into his ear, drawing close to him in an instant. Her hands glided over his chest and she rubbed her cheek on the side of his head. “I wanted to let you know that I have reconsidered your offer.”

  Raegith reached up to touch her and his hands found bare skin. She was no longer wearing her robe and might not be wearing anything at all for what he knew. She leaned back and stroked his hair away from his face and he wondered if she could see him in the dark.

  “I was wrong to turn your affections and kindness away, prince,” Onyx said softly. “I thought that I was doing it to keep you safe. To everyone in this world I am seen only as a Stone Seer; a flawed and incapable creature unworthy of sentiment. You are the only one who has seen me as something more. The way you called Falfa’s bluff… you’re the only one who would do such a thing and it was for me.”

  “Trust in me, Onyx,” Raegith whispered, barely able to contain his eagerness for her. “I will make a place for those like us, I promise.”

  “I trust you, Raegith,” Onyx said, easing him back against the cot. She removed his pants and shorts and then climbed atop him. “You have done something very special for me. Now I wish to do something very special for you.”

  Chapter 7

  The next morning, as the group packed up to leave, Pyrrhus drove the second carriage to the group and dismounted, walking up to Hemmil.

  “Onyx will need to take this carriage,” Pyrrhus stated. “Skirt the camp’s west side and continue on to the south. I will meet you in two days.”

  “What is this, Mage?” Hemmil asked. “You’re not ditching this mission…”

  “Falfa is furious that the boy accepted the deal and lived through it,” Pyrrhus said, trying to keep his voice down. “Raegith made him look like a fool in front of the other Faeir and as far as he knows, the boy is nothing but a disowned peasant.”

  “Are you saying you don’t believe that we are safe leaving here this morning?”

  “I’m saying that I would not set anything to chance. I have already distanced myself from this group in his eyes in order to save face. I will keep an eye on Falfa and once I know the danger is past, I will break away and rejoin you.”

  “I don’t like this idea,” Hemmil said, rubbing his hands nervously.

  “I’ll be fine, Paladin,” Pyrrhus said with a smile.

  “Yes, because it’s you that I’m worried about.”

  Pyrrhus was right to be cautious, as the group found out on their second night away from the 9th Regiment.

  After leaving the regiment, Hemmil took the group on
a southwestern route, to give the appearance of heading to Galveronne, but late in the afternoon, once they had several miles between them and the 9th Regiment, Hemmil turned them back due-south, straight for the Hell Cliffs.

  Raegith was still sore and weakened from his punishment, as was Hemmil, but the rugged Paladin showed no sign of discomfort. Onyx drove her cart during the day and Raegith walked next to her. They did not speak during the day. It was enough for him to be near her and exchange glances here and there. He spent the hours daydreaming of his life with her after the journey.

  He already felt he had earned his place in Rellizbix. He had stood before an entire regiment and taken a punishment that should have disabled him for months. He did not know what would await him in the Greimere, but it could not be as bad as what he had already endured and his father would not have sent him on anything so dangerous. His path to freedom would be downhill and once he returned, he would be able to stand before his father proudly.

  He would be given land up on the Cerulean Coast and Onyx would be given a reprieve from whatever duties kept her subservient to Pyrrhus and the other Faeir, in exchange for his continued discretion. He was fine with that arrangement; he did not want to be royalty or placed in any important role. Like the Twileens, he lived for relaxation and recreation. He could keep his identity a secret from the locals along the coast. He could tell them a fascinating story about how he and Onyx fell in love and escaped to the north to flee a cruel master. There, along the beach and facing the crystal blue waters he had only read about in books, he would spend his days fishing and swimming and his nights in bed with Onyx.

  As the two of them lay together at night, inside the cart she drove, he told her of all of his plans and she smiled and kissed him.

  “Just don’t get your hopes too high, Raegith,” she whispered to him, stroking his hair in the dark. “The Council has great power, even in Thromdale. It may be out of the king’s hands. Stone Seers are destined to serve the Faeir of other elements.”

  “I will find a way, Onyx. I could pay Pyrrhus to bring you to me and release you to my custody,” Raegith replied. “We’ll find a place where the Faeir do not go; we’ll live among the Twileens! They would welcome you, I think.”

  “The Twileens hate my kind.”

  “They hate the pretentious Faeir of the other elements,” Raegith corrected. “They would accept you, Onyx. You are too sweet and kind for anyone to hate.”

  “Raegith, you are young and I am the first and only woman you’ve known. I have lived a life in servitude and will be fine returning to it and you will have a much easier time finding a Twileen or Saban girl; one that is closer to your age and is not forbidden for you to marry. Unlike the Twileens, Faeir blood does not mix with Saban; I could bear you no children… ever.”

  “Like I care about that?”

  “Oh, but you will, Raegith,” she replied. “No boy your age thinks of such things, but when you’re older and have a wife, you will.”

  “I don’t think I could feel about anyone else like I do for you, Onyx. Nothing, not even age, will change that.”

  The next day, as the group moved southward through the Wilderness and Raegith strolled along the road lost in the memories of the love he and Onyx made the night before, Tavin called out a warning.

  “Men ahead!” he exclaimed, leaping from his mount to the top of the cart as it moved. Carver returned to him and he bent his ear close to the bird. “Lots of them.”

  “Bandits?” Boram asked. “Is this some poorly planned ambush?”

  “I see armor,” Tavin replied. “It looks like they’re in formation.”

  “Dammit, Laurent, you meddling fool,” Hemmil cursed under his breath.

  “If they’re waiting for us here, then they know we’re not heading to Galveronne,” Ebriz pointed out.

  “They must have been following us and got ahead of us last night,” Tavin said.

  “What’s going on?” Raegith asked.

  “Best be quiet, Raegith,” Ebriz replied. “Armored men are ahead and it could only mean a grim situation. Someone is on to us.”

  “Keep moving forward!” Hemmil growled. “No matter what happens, the mission comes first. All of you remember that!”

  Tavin counted out fifty men as they drew near, with two small groups in the flanks, probably waiting to close in behind them once they were stopped. As they drew near, Raegith recognized the emblem of the 9th Regiment, the Summer Guard.

  Hemmil was the first to speak.

  “What is the meaning of this ambush, Lieutenant?”

  “You’re off course, Paladin,” the officer in front of the formation said. His armor was highly buffed and scratch-free, like Zakk’s, and the thin beard trailing his jawline gave him a young, arrogant look. “You’re not going to Galveronne as you told our commander.”

  “We’re dropping the boy off, you imbecile, now quit holding us up!”

  “Our commander is skeptical, Paladin,” the lieutenant replied, approaching the group. “My orders are to escort you back to the camp of the Summer Guard, where you will be taken to Fort Augustus. A messenger has already been dispatched to Galveronne to confirm your mission.”

  “This mission is time sensitive, Lieutenant. I would show you the official paperwork if you had a bit more rank on your shoulder…”

  “And I would still be under orders from my superior,” he cut in. “Don’t make trouble.”

  “Trouble?” Boram asked, riding to the front of the group. “You brought fifty armed men to intercept seven. That’s not a friendly escort.”

  The lieutenant turned to his men. “They are resisting orders. Restrain the men and search the carts.”

  “Son, I’m only going to give you one opportunity here,” Hemmil said pointing a gloved hand at the officer. “Any man who draws his sword at my men will be treated as my enemy.”

  “If any of your men draw steel on us you will be an enemy of Rellizbix! Men, detain the Paladin first!”

  The men of the Summer Guard came forward towards the group, spears and swords drawn. Boram dropped off of his ox and cracked his neck to the side.

  “You should have brought more men, asshole.”

  The men in front of the giant Saban braced for an attack and the sergeant at the front of them roared only to be silenced with an arrow to the throat from Tavin. Boram reached out, grabbed the dying sergeant and hoisted his armored body over his head. With a mighty heave, the warrior flung the soldier at his subordinates, knocking several of them over. One charged him with a spear, but Boram snatched it aside by the shaft and rammed the other end back into his gut, doubling him over. A kick to the face sent the man spiraling backward as others came forward.

  Boram pulled the massive broadsword from his back and slammed it into the ground, spewing dirt and thunder at the oncoming men. Hemmil held off several men at a time with his shield and hammer. None of them could get inside of his defense and the first soldier to press him got his head caved in in reward. Zakk was beside him, shielding his flank and deflecting blows with sword and shield. The inexperienced boy never countered, though. He stayed on defense, missing every opportunity for a blow to the oncoming men.

  Raegith jumped up on the cart with Onyx, determined to protect her, but he did not know how. He had no armor or weapon and the Sabans surrounding them meant to kill him. Unlike the time in camp, where he faced only physical punishment, the thought of dying seized his body and he could only look on as his companions fought.

  “Raegith, run!” Onyx said, grabbing him by the shirt.

  “Not without you!” he replied, keeping his eyes on the men and standing low in the front seat of the cart.

  “Get the boy out of here!” Hemmil yelled.

  At first Raegith thought he was yelling at Onyx, but in the next moment Zakk was grabbing him by the arm. Raegith grabbed Onyx, yanking her out of her seat as Zakk yelled at him to follow. He gave his love no choice, dragging her away from the battle.

  The thre
e of them ran, breaking away from the fight and the path and dropping down into the forest to the right. Raegith zipped past trees, leaping fallen debris with the agility of a cat. He moved so swiftly that Onyx could not keep up and her hand fell from his.

  He heard the crunch and fall behind him as he felt her grip slip from his. Onyx screamed and Raegith spun on his heels to see her hit the ground. Behind her was a hole in the ground, no bigger than a small bucket, which he had missed. Inside the hole was her leg, bent at an angle as it came out.

  “Raegith, go!” she pleaded.

  Saban pursuers were right behind them, but Raegith ran back.

  “She’s down!” Zakk yelled.

  Raegith ignored him, refusing to leave his love behind. He reached down and grabbed Onyx under the shoulders and pulled. She was light enough, but the effort slowed him down tremendously. There was not enough space between him and the soldiers anymore and they were on him before he could get her on his back.

  As the first Saban reached them, Zakk slammed into him from the side with his shield, knocking the man to the ground. Zakk parried the next sword that came at him and bashed the soldier in the face with his shield.

  There were five men surrounding them and Raegith could not even move against them for fear of being cut. Two of them ganged up on Zakk as the last one came right for Raegith.

  He set Onyx down and looked around for something to fight with, but there was nothing. The man came at him with sword and shield and Raegith did not even have gloves.

  “I’m unarmed,” he yelled at the man.

  “Your fault, half-breed.”

  Raegith tried hastily to fein an attack, but the man took his attempt seriously and brought his shield up into Raegith’s hand. He felt one of his fingers snap with the force and pain shot through his arm. Then the man was right in front of him, his short sword rearing back to run him through.

  Gouts of water flared up around him, grabbing his arm and slowing him. The water formed spirals and whirred like saw blades around the man’s armor, sending sparks everywhere. Raegith looked down to see Onyx concentrating with her hands extended.