by K. C. May
“No doubt. He has my wife, and I want her back.”
The Caller tilted its head for a moment. “He wishes me to relay to you that he has traded your people to the Baron Flisk Neldkmod of Nostthmosf. They’re being held in capitol of the Strihblye district of northern Lynnrdild. You’ll need to negotiate with him.” After a moment, it added, “The Baron Hexx Gnorglsht offers to assist you in your negotiations in exchange for one of your companions.”
“Why does he want one of my companions?”
“It is always wise to have zhi essence on hand. One never knows when one will be injured by an invader’s assault or sickened by the diseases he carries.”
The blood drained from Gavin’s face. They wanted to suck the zhi essence from Edan or Calinor. That would kill them, probably painfully. He would give himself up before he let that fate befall either of his friends. “Take us to the Baron Flisk whatever his name is. And tell Baron Hexx that if he takes either of my companions against their will, he’ll find himself summoned to my realm and tortured for as long as it takes to get my people back safely.”
Chapter 53
“Tortured?” Edan asked with a sardonic expression. “Truly?”
Gavin shrugged. “They’re kho-bent. I got to talk to them in ways they can understand. Hold on. We’re going for a—”
A strong wind whipped through him, loud and stinging against his face and neck. When it was gone, he was in a large room, surrounded by people of all nationalities.
“Move out of the circle,” a Nilmarion man said, pointing to a crudely drawn circle on the ground. “That’s where the new ones arrive.”
Gavin guided Edan and Calinor out of the circle, and others moved away to make room. Though he stood a head taller than most, there must have been eighty or ninety people in the room, many with honey-colored hair. With his hands cupped around his mouth, he shouted, “Feanna!” Heads turned towards him, but none with his wife’s face.
“King Gavin,” someone yelled. He recognized Tennara’s gray-streaked brown hair as she made her way over. Others gaped at him in awe. Whispers of “It’s him!” and “King Gavin is here!” began to ripple across the room, followed by, “We’re saved.”
He shook hands with Tennara. “Jophet’s worried about you.”
“Norna and I were taken maybe six or seven hours ago.”
Gavin looked around at the people gathered around. “Where’s Norna?”
“Dead,” Tennara replied. “They killed her almost right away. The only reason they’ve not slain me yet, I believe, is because others have come, and they were chosen first.”
“Chosen for what?”
“We don’t know, exactly,” she said, “but we hear their screams.”
He continued to scan the tops of heads for his wife. He envisioned a joyful reunion. He thought she would run joyfully into his arms, and he would sweep her up and kiss her passionately. “Feanna!” he shouted again, louder this time.
“I haven’t seen her,” Tennara said. “She’s been missing since yesterday, though, I hate to say.”
“You’re King Gavin of Thendylath?” The man who’d spoken was brown-skinned with long, black hair tied back and intelligent eyes. Though he spoke the common language, he wore a foreign style of clothes that Gavin didn’t know. As King of Thendylath, he probably should be able to identify people’s nation by their clothes or accent or tattoos. Or maybe he should hire another Supreme Councilor to worry about foreign relations.
“Kaoque,” Edan said. “And Tokpah. I’m glad you’re both still alive. King Gavin, I’d like to present—”
The slender man bowed. “I am Kaoque Ewhirk, Twelfth Emissary to Lord Ruler Cicoque of Cyprindia, and this is my protector, Tokpah Woksu, Warrior Chief of the Eighteenth Battalion of the Cyprindian Force.” At that, the tall, muscular man behind Kaoque inclined his head. He was half-naked, wearing only a leather skirt and boots and a small breastplate held in place over his heart by leather straps. Such a thing wouldn’t protect a battler from other fatal wounds, and so it puzzled Gavin why a warrior chief would rely on that as his sole source of protection. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Kaoque said.
“Likewise.” Gavin didn’t have time to play the gracious host. People’s lives were in danger here, not the least of whose was Feanna’s. He used his hidden eye to scan the captives for her haze, but he didn’t see her. Even when he raised his mystical vision to view a wider area, there was no sign of her.
Two others appeared within the circle, dizzy and disoriented. The others beckoned them to join the rest of the crowd outside the circle. The fact that people were still coming and the room wasn’t yet overfull worried Gavin. He had to put a stop to this, but first he had to understand what was going on.
“People arrive in that circle, but how do they leave?” he asked.
“A door opens,” Tennara said, “and three men come in—two battlers and a mage. They choose someone, and their target is unable to move. He gets dragged away by one of the battlers, and that’s the last we see of him.”
“One of them isn’t like the other two,” someone else said. “It’s... dead. It has no life force.”
“He said the creature that comes for us is dead,” Kaoque said. At Gavin’s surprise, he explained, “I was born with a magical ability to understand and be understood. This is a requirement to begin training as Emissary, though I have also learned to speak eight languages.”
Gavin gaped at him with awe. Kaoque had the same magic for understanding that Gavin had received from the Rune Stones. “You don’t need to translate for me. I got the same magic.”
Everyone watched him with hopeful anticipation. Everyone except a group of men at the other side of the room. Their attention was on something on the floor. Gavin heard soft thuds and grunts of exertion—the sounds of someone being beaten.
“Over here,” he said to Edan and Calinor and made his way through the crowd towards the group. He began pulling people out of the way to get to the heart of it. A few people were hunched over, punching someone. Others were kicking.
“Hey now, what’s going on here?” he asked. Had they overwhelmed a Clout?
“Those monsters are responsible for us being here,” one man volunteered.
Gavin continued to pull people back and push his way through them. There on the floor, bloodied and lifeless, was a golden-furred Elyle. “No. Stop.” He stood astride her broken body possessively, commanding everyone with his sheer size to back off. “This creature was brought here like you were. She’s not o’this realm and had no part in any o’this. She’s a victim, first o’whoever brought us here, then o’you. Back the hell off.”
Some of them grumbled, and others hung their heads in shame. When he saw that the mob was obeying, he knelt beside the Elyle and put a hand on her shoulder. It heated immediately to a blazing fire. At least she was still alive. He used his ring’s connection to Daia to tap into her conduit, and he healed the Elyle. She was zhi-bent, and as far as he could tell, here without her complement. When at last she was healed and conscious, he helped her sit up. His muscles quivered with exhaustion, reminding him of what Jennalia had told him—that his body was refilling the essence he’d spent to heal the Elyle.
She cowered away, her hands up defensively and her eyes brilliant yellow. She began to emit a shrill, frightened whistle.
“It’s awright,” he told her. “I’m the Wayfarer, and I’ll protect you. I won’t let them hurt you anymore. Where’s your complement?”
A bit of green came into her eyes when she looked at him, but returned to yellow when she gazed around at the onlookers. “He’s silent. I don’t hear him.”
Gavin wondered if this mob had already killed him. “Was there another like this one?” he asked, looking around at the curious, watching faces.
“Two,” a woman said, “but they took them right away.”
“How long ago since the last was taken?”
“Hard to tell,” a man answered, “but m
aybe half an hour ago. Some of us were here afore the cat-people came, but they ain’t taking people in the order they arrive.”
“Neither o’the other two Elyle taken were your complement?” he asked the female.
“No, he didn’t come with me. Why can I not hear his thoughts in my mind?”
Gavin figured it was the same reason that kept him from finding Daia’s conduit without their rings. “We’re in another realm—the yellow realm.” The Elyle gasped and shrank back. “I’ll try to get you home.” He offered his hand as he rose to his feet, and she took it hesitantly, eyeing the other humans with fear-filled yellow eyes.
Amid the sudden gasps to his right came a heavy rumbling sound as part of the wall split open and pulled apart. Two Clout stood in the doorway behind a Caller. From where he stood, Gavin didn’t see whether the Caller was wearing a mask, so shadowed was its face by its hood. Only its yellow eyes were visible, peering out from the blackness.
Aldras Gar, whispered Gavin’s sword in his mind.
“Please don’t let them take me,” the Elyle said. She ducked down so that her height wouldn’t give her away.
The Caller floated towards them, attention on the Elyle. The Clout stayed close behind, leaving the doorway unattended. Gavin put himself between the Caller and its target and backed up, forcing the Elyle to back up as well. People made room for them.
“Bring that one forward,” the Caller said in its raspy voice. It sounded like every other Caller he’d heard speak. “The zhi-pure one.”
“Can you understand him?” Edan asked. “Gavin, is he asking for you?”
“No, not me. The Elyle.” If they took the Elyle first, then they were probably taking people in order of their khozhi balance. The more docile people would go first.
With the Clouts’ attention diverted, someone darted out the door. Gavin winced. Bad idea. Moments later, they all heard screams.
“We have a volunteer,” the Caller said with amusement coloring its tone. “We’ll return for the zhi-pure next.”
To Gavin’s surprise, they turned their backs on the crowd and headed for the door. His instinct was to attack right then, but he had a better plan. When they were gone and the wall was closed, he used his ring to connect to Daia’s conduit.
“You’re the Wayfarer,” the Elyle said, her eyes greenish blue. “You were not brought here as we were.”
“Yeh. I came to find my wife, and I found you people here instead.”
“You came here on purpose?” someone asked. “Can you leave whenever you want?”
“I can take two at a time, but the Elyle’s in danger. She’s got to go first.”
“If you rescue cat-person first,” a Farthan woman said in a thick accent, “they take another instead. Leave her and save your own kind.”
He wouldn’t sacrifice anyone if he could help it, but he saw her point. He identified the two most zhi-bent.
“You have the Nal Disi. How did you get it?” the Elyle asked.
Gavin didn’t have time to answer a thousand questions. “It’s a long story. Let’s get you—”
“You must leave the Nal Disi in the midrealm,” the Elyle said. “It does not belong here.”
Then the screaming began. Everyone hung their heads, and a few covered their ears. It was heart wrenching to hear.
With his hidden eye, he saw the man who’d escaped strapped down to a table, surrounded by four Callers. Each of the callers had one hand on the man, and the other on a barbed rod, which connected to a pair of huge crystals suspended roughly twenty-five feet above them: an amethyst and a carnelian. The essence flowed through the Callers and into the crystals—zhi to the purple and kho to the red—brightening their natural color and radiance bit by bit.
He had to hurry.
“Save us,” cried the woman beside him. “I’ve five children at home. Please.”
The most zhi-bent had to go first. “You,” he said, taking the Elyle by the wrist. “And you.” He took the Cyprindian emissary whose essence was strongly zhi-bent.
“Take the women first,” Calinor said. “We’ll hold ’em off.”
“No,” Gavin said. “They’ll be taken in order of zhi. Don’t draw your weapons unless they choose you.” He didn’t think Calinor would be chosen for a while yet, nor Edan, presuming he was right about the Caller’s order of selection. “If you try to fight them, they’ll kill you.”
With Daia’s help, he opened a portal to the green realm and pulled his first two rescuees through.
Chapter 54
“Wait,” Feanna called. “I’m here.” She was too late. Gavin vanished. A stunned hush fell over the room. Immediately, people began to clamor, demanding or begging to be returned home. People bumped and jostled her as they advanced on Edan and Calinor.
She was certain they’d had no mail or weapons when they arrived. Tokpah’s pole-arm and knife had been confiscated right away, but now Edan and Calinor were armed, their disguises gone. People reached for Edan’s bow, still unstrung in a special sheath on his back, and for his sword, and even the arrows in his quiver. Calinor was fighting them off as well, swinging his fists. Tennara grabbed people and pulled them off the men, flinging them into the crowd.
Feanna shrank into the back of the room. The captors would be back soon to choose their next victim. Let them take one of the lesser people. She was the queen, and she only had to survive long enough for Gavin to return for her. She pressed her hand over the amulet, reassuring herself it was still there. She would go unnoticed, and those floating wizards wouldn’t choose her.
“Stop!” Edan shouted. “King Gavin will be back.” He turned first left, then right, swinging with his fists like Calinor did, until he was able to clear enough room to draw his sword. He and Calinor moved to the back corner of the room where they pointed their weapons at the panicked crowd. Feanna watched excitedly. If they killed someone, the floating mage fellow might punish them.
“Listen to me,” Edan shouted. “King Gavin’s coming back for us all. He can only take two at a time, so we must all be patient. Let’s await his return. He knows the order people are being chosen, and so he’s saving you in the order of danger.”
Someone said, “That only puts someone else in danger who could’ve been saved if he worked in the reverse order.”
“The king’ll do as he thinks best,” Calinor said. “If you get the power to save everyone here, then you can make the decisions. Until then, shut up and wait your bloody turn.”
Calinor was often a jackass, but sometimes Feanna liked him. Perhaps when they returned home, she would reward him. Right now, she had to make sure Gavin took her home before he saved the rest of these boors.
The rumbling crank of the wall opening drew everyone’s attention away from the battlers and their weapons. The floating fellow in the black robe hesitated a moment before speaking in a raspy voice. What was he saying? Feanna looked for Kaoque in the crowd, expecting him to respond. Though she spotted Tokpah—his height made him plainly visible over the heads of the others—she saw no sign of the emissary. The captor spoke again, and again he was answered with silence. As the only one in the room who understood them, Kaoque should have stepped forward to answer Floaty. How pathetic. The only man present who could serve as translator was probably hiding behind his battler, pissing himself in fear. Some emissary he turned out to be.
“Kaoque Ewhirk,” Feanna shouted. “Tell us what he said.”
Now all heads turned to her. Edan’s mouth dropped open, and Calinor’s eyes widened. Still, Kaoque didn’t step forward.
“My Queen,” Tennara cried. The battler started pushing her way through the crowd towards her with an expression of fierce determination.
Floaty raised a black-robed arm and pointed at Feanna with a long, bony finger. He said something unintelligible.
“No, I’m not the one you want,” she said. A glimmer of apprehension raised the pitch of her voice. “It’s Kaoque. He can understand you.”
The crowd
parted and shifted away from her, leaving her exposed. Tennara stepped in front of her, guarding her from their captors with her fists raised as though to engage them in a brawl. The floating wizard tamped his staff on the floor. Tennara stopped in place, and then a cold breeze hit Feanna. She felt heavy and thick. She couldn’t move, couldn’t cry out.
One of the two bare-chested brutes pushed Tennara out of his way, and she toppled over like a wooden toy, landing with a thud and a soft grunt.
“No,” Edan cried. In the blink of an eye, he had an arrow knocked and his bowstring pulled. Just when his fingers released the string, the arrow shot forward and stopped, hovering harmlessly a few inches from the smooth, perfect chest of one of the brutes, who then plucked it out of the air. Edan’s bow flew through the air towards Floaty, who caught it deftly, as did Calinor’s sword and then Edan’s. Calinor’s hand closed on air. Edan reached for the knife strapped to his calf, and it, too, was pulled from his reach, confiscated by the mage.
Floaty’s attention returned to Feanna, and with that bony finger, he beckoned her. A brute took her by the arm and, still unable to move, she slid across the floor towards the opening in the wall. She tried to push against the force that immobilized her, but she had no strength to resist it. No, this wasn’t supposed to happen. She was the queen, damn it.
Gavin, help me.
Chapter 55
Gavin and his two rescuees found themselves in a forest of blue-green shrubs and trees and very little grass. A hush settled over them, and he felt the eyes of forest inhabitants eyeing them suspiciously.
“I hear him!” the Elyle cried. “My complement is here.” She trilled a laugh. “He was worried about me, but he pretends he was not. Now he’s only angry that I was gone.”
Kaoque spread his arms to regain his balance, though he dared a look around. “Is this the midrealm?”