Candlewax

by C. Bailey Sims

  “But why so pained, Sebastian? I am sure they will acquit themselves well. I am counting on it. Nothing will be sweeter. Imagine the horror that William and the rest of Cyril’s men will feel as they watch their old friends shooting arrows and drawing swords against them.” A thin strand of drool slid out of Kallik’s mouth and fell to the floor.

  “And you will have a wonderful view of the battlefield,” he purred. “It is part of my reward to you. Why, you will be able to witness the trodliks devour Cyril’s men on one side and our army butcher them on the other! How many men can say they have seen this?”

  Sebastian bowed low. “Thank you, my lord. It is a great privilege to serve you.” The back of his neck prickled. He rose quickly and fled.

  Catherine clenched her jaw. Oh, I will save Lackanay. But with a little help from Zekkarados and his pride, it will be on my terms and not Kallik’s. Or that traitor Sebastian’s.

  “Hurry! We haven’t any time to waste,” she ordered, goading her horse to canter up the trail. The six soldiers in her escort didn’t ask questions, but followed.

  She quelled the urge to look behind her. She could not let them see her distress. At the center of her heart was a calm space where she held Cyril close and safe. But swirling around that tiny, calm space was a whirlpool of fear. Fear of Cyril’s injuries... of failing to bring the fairrier cats safely through the Gate... of what would happen if the trodliks couldn’t be stopped. To make matters worse, Kallik’s and Sebastian’s threats kept twisting through her thoughts over and over again.

  Catherine reflected on the prophecy. Whatever would be required of her, she would need to do without the dagger. Someone else must have found it. The dagger is much newer than the amulet, so it is probably not part of the prophecy, but I miss it. She was certain they had already passed the spot on the trail where Sebastian had forced her to drop it. She pushed the loss from her mind and focused on the task ahead.

  She remembered that riding Spelopokos on the journey from the castle had taken from second bell to dawn, about three and a half hours. We’ve been riding since dawn. We must be close.

  She considered the handsome chestnut gelding that she rode and patted him gently on the neck. He’s not likely to live long. I doubt any of these horses will see another day.

  Catherine rounded the bend and her heart sank. Dozens more of Kallik’s men were waiting for them.

  “Dismount here unless you fancy falling into one of the pits,” ordered a tall soldier the group. His black hair was streaked with white. “You must be Catherine. Have you got the pendant?”

  “Of course I do,” Catherine retorted. She dismounted, turned her horse toward Candlewax, looped the reins on the saddle, and smacked it hard on the rump. The horse set off at a canter down the trail.

  “What’d you go and do that for?” complained the tall soldier, furious.

  Catherine ignored his question. “Where are the pits?”

  “There is one right in front of you.” The soldier regarded her disdainfully. “Twenty feet deep and twenty feet across. Three more just up the trail.”

  Catherine looked at the ground and gasped. They had done a good job hiding them; she easily could have walked right into one. The dirt and stones on top of the trap made it appear as if it were part of the trail. Its edges could only be seen upon close inspection.

  “Come with me,” said the soldier. He walked on a narrow path to the right of the pit. Catherine followed.

  The fairrier cats can fit on this path if they’re careful.

  “We’ve got nets for any that don’t fall into the traps, and if those fail we will kill them with arrows. Kallik doesn’t want any fairrier cats loose in Lackanay.”

  “Yes, and I suppose that whatever Kallik wants, Kallik gets.”

  The soldier’s eyebrows went up and his mouth thinned. “You will soon discover that no disobedience escapes Kallik’s attention.” The man’s voice sounded bitter.

  “Have you... I mean, don’t you...” Catherine looked into the soldier’s eyes.

  “Not me,” he whispered. “I’m not fool enough; I have a wife and seven children. But I have a brother who ended up in the Row of Bones. Fancied himself a hero.”

  Catherine blinked. “What’s your name?”

  “Nock. Short for Brennenock. Why?” He squinted at her.

  “No reason.” They crept around the pits and rounded the last bend of the trail. There before them stood the ancient Gate. Catherine ran to it, Nock following behind her. She looked to the trail on the other side. There were several blurry shapes, discernible only to those who knew what to look for. Catherine glanced over her shoulder at Nock. “Think like a hero, Nock, and you just might be one.”

  His chin tilted in toward his chest and he frowned at her. Catherine lunged through the Gate, feeling the familiar icy sensation. She took the pendant in her hand and put her thumb in the indentation. It was already warm.

  “What of these men? Can’t you get rid of them, Catherine?” came Zekkarados’s thoughts right away.

  “These men are here to capture you. They have dug pits, they have nets, and they will kill you with bows and arrows if any try to escape.”

  “We have been watching them cast aside the dirt. I thought as much. The pits are around the bend?”

  “Yes. Can you come through the Gate while you are invisible?”

  “I do not know.”

  “We must try. The trodliks advance.”

  “We feel their hunger. It is worse than our own.”

  “If this works, go around the bend and watch for the pits; they are covered with dirt and stones and look solid, but underneath are deep holes. You’ve got to be really careful. Once you have seen where the paths are, you can lead your pride around the pits. Then we will cross back and get the others. Now I will call out for the fairrier cats—to appease these men who are all watching. Make sure the cats do nothing. Then pass close to me and I will take hold of your tail and bring you through the Gate. We will see if you remain invisible.”

  “It is a good plan, Catherine of the Onyxes.”

  Catherine dropped the pendant and raised her hands to her mouth, shouting, “O fairrier cats of Cinna! Come to me! I am here to lead you to your new home in Lackanay! O come to me, cats of Cinna!” Catherine felt Zekkarados brush by her arm and ran her fingers down his back. He was moving fast. She grabbed onto his tail, spun around, and nearly stumbled trying to keep up with him. She ran awkwardly through the Gate with one hand outstretched, looking foolish, but Zekkarados remained invisible. When she let go, of his tail her momentum nearly had her colliding with Nock.

  “I need water. My throat is dry. And they have not answered me yet,” she said breathlessly.

  “You didn’t try very long. Are you sure that is what you are supposed to do?”

  Catherine drew herself up and glared at Nock as royally as she could. “I am Princess Catherine of the Onyxes. I think that if anyone knows what I am supposed to do, it is I.”

  Nock looked back down the trail to Candlewax. Hidden in the dry foliage of a stand of oaks were dozens of archers. He waved to one of the men and called out, “Water!” The man came running with a skin and handed it to Nock, who passed it to Catherine. She slowly undid the top and aimed a stream of water into her mouth. She pretended to catch her breath and wiped her brow. Zekkarados had to have more time.

  “I shall require something blue,” she stammered finally. “It helps the magic.”

  “Why didn’t you get something back at the castle?” demanded Nock. His expression did not bode well for stalling. Catherine would have to tread carefully.

  “Well, the needs of the Gate cannot be predicted. The colors change, you know. I could have guessed blue at the castle, yet the Gate might have demanded red. Then where would we be?” She raised her eyebrows.

  Nock sighed heavily and shouted, “Get me something blue!” There was a rustling in the trees as the archers searched their pockets. Catherine stifled a smile at the salty co
mplaints. None of them had anything blue to give her. The commotion moved down the trail around the bend. Finally, someone came running toward them with a lapis ring raised in the air.

  Zekkarados bumped her leg. She waved her hand in the air trying to find his tail, ignoring a strange look from Nock. As she took hold of it she lurched forward, Zekkarados nearly dragging her through the Gate.

  “Wait! Didn’t you want something blue?” Nock yelled after her.

  “We took too long—the Gate has changed! Now cease your interference!” she called back, desperately fighting the urge to giggle. The runner stood by Nock and both were staring as if she were crazy.

  Catherine fumbled for the pendant. “Were you trying to make me fall?”

  “I thought you were a strong runner, Catherine. I wasn’t going very fast, anyway.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Did you see everything? The pits? The nets? The archers?”

  “Yes. We will try to get past them unseen. What are those large, hoofed animals? Some kind of deer? Their scent nearly overpowered me with hunger.”

  “Horses, Zekkarados. People ride them.” The Cinnan fairrier cat had never seen a horse.

  “But how will you get us all through the Gate?”

  Catherine paused. She wasn’t sure her plan would work. If it didn’t, at least one fairrier cat could be gravely injured. She looked back. Nock and the runner with the ring were still watching her every move. The archers were poised to shoot. From where they were positioned on the bend of the trail they could shoot anything from the Gate to well past the pits.

  “It could be dangerous.”

  “Yes?”

  “I will pretend to call you while holding your tail. You will grab onto another fairrier cat’s tail with your mouth, and that cat will cross through. Then you let go and come back to get another. The cats must wait for you and not give themselves away. I know you will be fine, because I will be touching you. But I am not sure about the cat whose tail you will hold.”

  “I will tell them of the risk.” Catherine saw Zekkarados’s blurry shape mingle with the others. In a few seconds he returned. “We are ready.”

  Catherine touched his tail and stepped back so that she was very close to the Gate. “O fairrier cats, magnificent beasts of Cinna. Come now to your new home!” Her voice sounded tinny as it bounced off the walls of the narrow canyon. She felt Zekkarados jolt forward and held onto his tail even harder. He swung around. The first cat is through!

  “Mighty hunters of the field, show yourselves to me, Catherine of the Onyxes! I call to you to venture forth!” She concentrated on maintaining her hold on Zekkarados. They are moving fast! Four cats were already through.

  Nock nodded toward her, assuming she was looking at him and not the blurry shapes that now sniffed at his heels. Catherine reached for the pendant with her free hand and urged, “Don’t let them give themselves away, Zekkarados!”

  Six cats now prowled around the two men. She smiled at Nock. “You’d better... move back from the Gate; you might, well, you might frighten them off standing there like that.” Nock took the other man by the arm and tugged him away from the Gate, stepping on one of the fairrier cat’s paws as he spun around. Catherine held her breath until the blurry shape jumped back. The two men strode to the bend in the trail and disappeared. She looked up to the archers.

  They were focused on her and the Gate.

  Thirteen. Fourteen. I can’t keep track—they are moving so fast.

  “Lackanay has need of you, most honorable fairrier cats! I implore you to follow your destiny!” Catherine almost lost her balance as Zekkarados yanked her to the side. Those archers hiding in the trees must think me drunk.

  Catherine kept calling until Zekkarados brought the last of his pride through the Gate. She let him lead her underneath the stone arch; he moved much more slowly than he had before. She dropped his tail once they were through and took up the pendant as she strolled down the trail to Candlewax.

  “Just a bit hungry,” she explained to the grumbling archers. “I’ve worked up quite an appetite.”

  Zekkarados’s shimmering form bounded toward the bend in the trail and Catherine hurried behind. The other fairrier cats were ahead of them. Catherine passed the pits. The horses were neighing and tossing their heads back in fear while Kallik’s soldiers tried to control them. The fairrier cats, barely perceptible to Catherine, were pacing back and forth.

  “I can’t keep them back much longer, Catherine,” warned Zekkarados.

  “We’ve got to get out of range. The archers still have a clear shot,” she urged.

  One of the horses reared up, hooves pawing the air at an invisible fairrier cat. It suddenly broke away from its tether and bolted down the trail to Candlewax. Catherine thought she saw three blurry streaks run after it.

  “What has gotten into the horses?” asked Nock when he noticed her.

  “Scent of fairrier cats, no doubt. It won’t be long...” Catherine saw a shimmering shape tensing low as if to spring at Nock. She gripped the pendant and thought “NO!”

  “Well, we are ready for them. Let them come!” Nock looked up the trail, his back to the cat.

  “Nock, please walk with me to the Gate,” Catherine said with as much charm as she could muster. He looked at her curiously and then started up the trail. She sniffed at him, seeking the taint of evil, but there was none.

  There was a loud neighing that was suddenly cut short. The fairrier cats caught up with the horse. Nock looked around in alarm. He was standing right next to the first pit.

  Someone screamed behind them. The fairrier cats were now visible, circling the horses and men. The archers took aim and began to shoot. Snarls and growls made the whole canyon reverberate. Catherine didn’t hesitate. She pushed hard on Nock’s shoulder and sent him toppling over onto the trap. He screamed in surprise as he fell through the covering.

  “You’ll thank me later, Nock!” she called down to him. A billowing cloud of dust rose up from the pit from the loose dirt that had hidden the trap. She ran back down to the melee, happy that she had spared Nock, father of seven. It seemed as if the archers were shooting at anything that moved, including her, the horses, and their own men.

  “Leave me a horse alive! Don’t eat the men!” she shouted out loud, pendant in hand, so that both fairrier cats and men could hear. The men looked at her in utter panic.

  “Surrender now and jump into the pits!” she yelled at the men. “You archers up there! What are you going to do when you run out of arrows? Stop shooting while you still have a chance!” The rain of arrows lessened as some archers made a dash for the pits, jumping and diving to safety. Many of Kallik’s men chose to fight. The canyon shook with the sound of growling. Catherine could feel the sickening shock of it to her core.

  “STOP! Stop growling!” she commanded with the pendant clutched in her hand. In a moment the vibrations were gone.

  Catherine waved her arms. “Please! The traps will keep you safe!” she pleaded. She watched in horror as the fairrier cats took down man and horse, their powerful jaws crushing bones like twigs. The corpses of the men were left unmolested while the cats feasted on the horses.

  As long as I live I will never forget the bloodshed of this day. The fairrier cats gorged, their fur red with blood. Despite her revulsion, Catherine could not turn away. Only one fairrier cat had been killed and the fighting had ceased.

  I’ve done it, Spelopokos. Lackanay has its fairrier cats. Suddenly Catherine was filled with such sorrow, relief, and joy that she sank to the ground in a heap. After a few moments she sat upright and tried to calm herself. A queen would not behave like this.

  She rose to her feet and went to count the prisoners. Zekkarados came with her. They numbered fifty-three men. The captives called to her with their arms outstretched.

  Catherine spoke loudly so that all of the men in the pits could hear her. “Remember this day. The fairrier cats are free in Lackanay once more. Someone will come for you. If it is
I, or Cyril of Candlewax, your lives will be spared. If it is Kallik and he lets you live, go with him to return to your families.

  “But know this, men of Tabrek. You are stronger than you believe. Before Kallik, Tabrek was a good land, the land of my grandmother. It is your land, too. Once we rid Lackanay of Kallik, Tabrek will be free again.”

  Nock looked at her and nodded solemnly, his hands on his hips. Then he broke into a smile and called up to her, “Perhaps I can begin to think like my brother, Catherine.”

  “Perhaps you shall, Nock. You did not smell evil.”

  Nock looked baffled..

  Suddenly Zekkarados lifted his head and growled softly. Catherine wondered at the cause until she, too, heard a high-pitched buzzing sound blast repeatedly through the air. It was the same pulsing sound she had heard while locked in Rogard’s Chapel.

  The trodliks? How could this be? Nock and his men looked up at her, their faces white with fear.

  Catherine gripped the necklace in terror. “What is happening? I thought they’d be dead!”

  Zekkarados looked at her grimly. “Get on, Catherine. We must face the beasts.”

  The summons came from a red-faced runner who took big gulps of air between his words. He had to repeat his message before Conrad could understand him; such was his state of agitation. Conrad and his men were to prepare to take the front, on horseback. Sebastian’s orders.

  The message gripped Conrad by the gut, but he waved off the information and nodded as if he had been expecting it. The runner turned and retreated down the stairs. I am not afraid of fighting, but fighting for Sebastian and Kallik can only mean that William is returning! William, I wish I could explain all of this to you.

  Conrad and his men had regained much of the strength they had lost in Rogard’s dungeon. Cyril had galvanized them with his fortitude and leadership. It hadn’t hurt that they had eaten to their fill for the first time in days. Conrad almost felt normal. Almost. Raff was dead, and there was still no word what had happened to Peter. He thirsted for justice—the frustration of pretending to be Sebastian’s man was almost more than he could bear. His hands itched to take Sebastian by the throat and crush the life out of him.