Dead Druid: Claire-Agon Ranger Book 2 (Ranger Series)
Page 27
“How limited?” Khan asked again.
“That’s rude,” Salina shot back at Khan, giving him a look of disapproval.
Khan nodded. “Rude, yes, but necessary. We must know how long we will have the use of his services.”
“Services?” Salina was getting red in her face now.
“Knowledge, then, if you prefer the change of semantics,” Khan said calmly.
“Now, now, my lady,” Elister said, trying to calm the Ulathan woman. “The Kesh is correct. We have limited time, so let’s get to business. You!” Elister turned and pointed a finger at Targon.
“Now what?” Targon sounded resigned to his scolding and completely out of place as if he were a child listening to the adults discussing grown-up business.
“You’ve wasted the better part of the entire summer season chasing those scoundrel . . .”—he paused to look at Khan, who nodded his permission—“those scoundrel Kesh brigands around, trying to kill them and nearly getting yourself fried in the process. Why didn’t you heed my counsel?”
“What counsel?” Targon asked, moving both hands now to his chest, demonstrating his innocence in whatever he was in trouble for.
“I took the time to counsel you and advise you to seek out the tools that will allow you to accept your calling as Zashitor and to save Ulatha and your family. Don’t you remember my instructions for you to retrieve the Shield of Ulatha?”
Targon looked sheepishly and shrugged. “Well, yes, I remember reading something about it in the red book.”
“Something?” Elister sounded perturbed, if not upset. “I also mentioned you’ll need the Draconian Rod of Agon if you expect to have any chance of living after the guardian wakes.”
“Ah, guardian?” Khan asked, surprised for perhaps the first time that day.
“You mean the green dragon that Targon keeps going on about,” Salina said. “Is it real?”
“You weren’t meaning to show them the guardian, were you?” Elister positively sounded like he was administering a scolding to his young Ranger.
“Well, they didn’t believe me, and I thought if they saw the beast, they would understand better that I was telling the truth,” Targon said.
“You at least destroyed the letter with the guardian’s secret name, right?” Elister sounded desperate.
Targon could only shrug as his companions looked on. Salina felt the urge to help the young woodsman. “Really, Master Elister, Targon was only trying to help.”
Elister sighed, throwing up both hands and letting his staff fall to the ground at his feet. “Let the ancients help me,” he said.
“Is it that bad?” Salina asked.
“It could be,” Elister said. “My protector, defender of Agon, has been dilly-dallying his summer away and not seeking the shield and rod like I asked him to, and he left the guardian’s name as plain as day for all to see and had the urge to bring his schoolmates to the lair of the guardian and show her off like some kind of gypsy freak show.”
“What is a schoolmate, master?” Dorsun asked.
Khan waved him to be silent. “It could be worse.”
“I don’t see how, Kesh,” Elister said, not being his usual polite self. “I die for a single summer and all my plans for many centuries hinge upon the dilly-dallying of a lone Ranger.”
“What’s a dilly-dally?” Dorsun asked, determined to understand what in Agon was going on.
“The dead druid seems to think that his Ranger servant has been wasting his time. That is what it means, Dorsun.” Khan took the moment to explain. “You never attended a school, but it is like the fighting camps where you were raised.”
Dorsun’s eyes widened as that seemed to make sense to the brigand. “I see, Master.”
“So now what?” Salina asked, trying to divert attention from Targon and ignoring the Kesh.
“So now we find your son Cedric and see if he knows where the Shield of Ulatha lies. Targon must have that first before he can face a wizard or mage,” Elister said.
“What does the shield do?” Targon asked, interested in its properties.
“Duke Uthor Tors commissioned it from the Initiate of the Arnen many years ago. It uses the power of Agon to thwart magic spells, and it has the side benefit of repulsing any dragon’s breath attack.”
“Really?” Khan asked, not believing the druid’s words. “That would be a most valuable and powerful artifact.”
“Yeah, why would this Duke Uthor leave his shield behind?” Targon asked.
“You mean why was it given to his nephew, Duke Andrew?” Elister asked.
“Yes,” Targon said.
“His nephew went off to fight the Great Red Drake and prevent the dragons from invading the southern realms. Andrew’s sword perished in battle, but his body was returned from the war on his shield and buried with him in the mountains near his family’s estate. I meant to travel there to retrieve it for the duke, but I was too late. Father Death came, and in the cataclysm, the Vandersot estate was lost to memory.”
“Except the book may have a clue to its whereabouts,” Khan stated.
“Exactly.” Elister tried to snap his fingers again and then looked forlornly at them. “At any rate, it is the only thing I can think of that would have any chance of helping us to stop the Kesh.”
“So we return to Targon’s home site and obtain the book,” Khan said, “though I think the book is incomplete.”
“If that is true, then you must find the rest of it and determine where the Shield of Ulatha can be found.” Elister nodded.
“So now we are talking about returning to Korwell,” Salina said.
“If you must,” Elister said.
“So the worst we must face will be Khan’s old master in Korwell and the Kesh brigands there.” Targon looked at Elister to confirm his biggest fear.
“Not quite,” Elister said. “There is something of a greater threat looming.”
“That doesn’t sound good. What would that be, Master Elister?” Salina asked.
“Soon,” Elister said softly, “very soon, the dragons will awake, and then things will get very ugly, indeed.”
The group finished their conversation and slept for a couple of hours before Elister woke them and readied them to depart. The first task was to return to Targon’s homestead and find Cedric and his book. Then they could determine if they needed to go to Korwell or not.
The journey back took an entire day. They had not gotten close to Elister’s home, and Elister refused to allow them to go there, neither would he go there himself. “It is much too dangerous in my current state,” the old man had said. “The guardian is liable to wake early if I don’t have full control over myself.” No one wanted to test that theory, and so the group headed back, feeling somewhat relieved and disappointed at not seeing the green dragon, though Targon insisted it was there and it was real.
When they returned, they learned that Marissa had gone off with Core toward the Border Mountains and no one knew why. The news that Argyll had returned was both welcome, in that their flying warning device had returned, and disappointing, in that the bird had taken off again.
The next morning, the Ulathans, especially the children, touched Elister several times to ensure he was indeed made of stone, and the adults mostly made signs of warding to keep whatever devilry that animated the old man from harming them. Agatha especially couldn’t help herself and made the gesture several times until Salina ordered her to stop. Agatha complied reluctantly.
The book was brought out by Cedric and perused by both Elister and Khan in great detail. In fact, it took most of the entire day for the two to review the book despite protesting from Cedric that he had read the book several times and that there was no mention of Andrew, a shield, sword, or any other great artifact. All that Cedric could do was shed light on the fact that another book, or part of this book, was kept by the king in a chest in his chamber.
Khan argued that no chest was found and that there was no way that the book
could be kept secret for so long and from his master or the assassins from Balaria. The Ulathans seemed to think this wasn’t so farfetched, the idea that the wizards would betray or deceive one another. Finally, Elister said they would have to search the king’s chamber in order to know for certain if the book was there or not.
“So we return to Korwell and sneak into the castle?” Will asked.
“I just got that big lout healed up and now you all are talking this nonsense about taking him with you back into battle?” Agatha protested.
The group sat on the porch, some on the grass, and another large bonfire was set to allow the group a comfortable evening to discuss their business. Elister assured everyone that no Kesh would find them.
“I’ll go,” Horace chimed in, nodding his head and smiling.
“No, you won’t,” Emelda said, giving Horace a shake of her head.
Will stood up and stretched his arms, swinging them about. “It’s all right, you two. I feel much better, and besides, I am the sergeant of the gate and bearer of the gate key. I know every culvert, gate, grate, and door in or out of that castle. I should go if you expect to sneak back in alive.”
“It’s not the sneaking in part that worries me,” Agatha said. “It’s you all making it out alive again that troubles me.”
“She is correct,” Khan said, stepping in to defend Agatha, which brought more than one Ulathan to stand and several eyebrows to raise. “The Ulathan defenders counterattacked by sneaking into the castle, trying to liberate it, when we were far to the south fighting for Fornz. We defeated the attack after it almost succeeded.”
“You said they snuck into the castle?” Salina asked.
“Yes,” Khan replied, “through the sub cavern culverts.”
“Only two people other than the king had keys to those locks,” Will said. “I was one of them.”
“My husband was the other.” Salina looked at Khan with anger in her eyes.
Khan was not delicate in his response. “The entire attacking force was killed to a man.”
“Yup, just the right amount of Kesh tactfulness there, if you ask me,” Horace said, shaking his head and closing his eyes.
“That was rather blunt,” Targon said, leaning toward Khan.
“Would she rather I lied or tried to provide her with false hope?” Khan asked.
“No,” Salina said, placing her hands on her hips. “I prefer the truth. Now count me in.”
“My lady, it’s too dangerous,” Olga said, pleading for Salina to reconsider.
“Yes, Mother, don’t you think you’d be safer here?” Cedric asked.
“Safer, yes, but Khan’s former companions have earned some payback for what they have done. I’m going, and that is final, my son,” Salina said.
“What about Karz?” Monique asked. Everyone noticed that Salina’s expression softened.
Salina walked over to her small son who sat in Monique’s lap near the fire, and she picked him up and hugged him. “He will be raised to fight the Kesh and remember the deeds of his parents.”
“Oh my,” Elister said, “that sounds rather pessimistic, if you ask me.”
“Well, no one’s asking you, statue man.” Agatha wagged a finger at Elister and warded herself twice for good measure.
Before Salina could scold her for her rudeness, a screech was heard high overhead. Everyone looked up, not seeing much in the dark, except for Elister, who pointed to the east while speaking. “Well, it’s good to see Argyll again.”
The bird finally appeared and landed on Elister’s outstretched arm. “Hello, my old friend. How are you this evening?”
The bird screeched, and most of the Ulathan’s looked furtively into the dark forest trees, half expecting a band of Kesh brigands to come running out and attack them. Elister seemed to understand. “Do not worry. Argyll assures me that there are no Kesh anywhere near us this night. We are quite safe.”
“Somehow I don’t feel that warm fuzzy feeling,” Horace said, scratching his head and eyeing the bird warily.
“You never feel a warm fuzzy feeling,” Emelda scolded Horace.
“That is more information than I care to know,” Khan said, his matter-of-fact tone adequately expressing his disdain for their conversation.
Elister ignored the banter, returning his attention to his old companion. “So you have news?” The bird screeched again and made a series of cawing sounds, much like a crow would do. “Ah, I see, so you found Master Terrel’s family, now have you?”
“What!” Targon all but ran to Elister’s side, getting Argyll to startle and flap his wings furiously in defense. “What did the bird say?”
“It appears that your family is held in Ulsthor,” Elister explained, “not far from the border, and that your mother is planning an escape.”
“My mother lives? What about my sister?” Targon asked.
Elister nodded as the bird bobbed its head up and down and made soft cooing sounds that sounded like a woodpecker hitting wood. “He thinks she is alive too, though he hasn’t seen her, but I have bad news, I’m afraid.”
“What would that be?” Targon asked, worry creeping into his mind and soul.
Elister frowned and placed a stone hand on Targon’s shoulder as gently as he could. “It appears your mother has been thrown into the dungeons and will be executed at dawn tomorrow.
Chapter 19
Children
The sound of boots seemed less ominous than before. Perhaps, after hearing them a half dozen times, Dareen was either becoming accustomed to them or she no longer cared what potential fate awaited for her.
Commander Dax had arrived not long after she was thrown into her cell and gave the order for her to be prepared to be executed in the courtyard at dawn tomorrow. Dareen wanted to cry, but tears would not come to her eyes, and she had to content herself with the fact that her life would end soon. The irony, she noted, was that it appeared she would come short by a single day with her escape plan. Poor Wally, Estelle, and Marge quite possibly would be waiting for her arrival the dawn after her execution, not knowing that Dareen would be dead already.
She thought the disappointment on her companions’ faces would be hard to bear. She dared not think of Ann or what they would tell her when the other children visited their parents the day after their escape failed. Her sons would never know of her plight and what became of her. She would suffer the same fate as her husband seven years earlier.
Dareen kept herself seated against the far wall away from the cell gate. Her knees were brought up to her chest, and she rested her head on her arms which crossed on her knees. She let a few strands of hair from her bangs cover her eyes, and the only thing peeking over her arms and legs were her eyes. She didn’t want them to see her.
Two soldiers appeared with a robed figure holding a metallic staff, along with Grimer, who had gone to the corridor gate to let them in. “Theres she be,” he said, pointing with a chubby digit at her through the gate. The four men stood there looking at her, and Dareen stared at them through her hair.
“Are you sure this is the wood-witch?” the robed figure asked.
“Yes, Master Alister,” Grimes said, pointing again.
“She does not look like a witch,” Alister said, peering through the iron bars. “She does not even have a staff.”
“She used her hands to make magic, or at least that is what the troops from the Bloody Hand told us when she arrived,” one of the soldiers said, nodding her way.
“That can be done, but the arcane would be weak and not very controllable. What was her status when she arrived?” Alister asked, looking to the soldier who spoke first. The soldier appeared to be special in so much as he wore a helmet with silver decorations and carried a wooden baton tucked into his belt. His armor was much more polished and his appearance more groomed than most of the soldiers and guards Dareen had encountered before.
“She was nearly dead, Master,” the soldier replied. “She spent months in the infirmary until s
he could be sent to the brick line.”
“Why was she kept alive?” Alister asked.
Dareen understood from the short time of her captivity that while the Kesh would squeeze the usefulness out of even the extreme elderly and the youngest of children, they would not waste resources on someone who was near to death.
“Master Khan ordered the Bloody Hand to send her to the Onyx tower for research,” the soldier said.
“Now, Commander Cruxes, you cannot have me believe that she was nursed back to health only to serve in the pits for . . . how long has it been?”
“Less than a week, Master.”
“Yes, less than a week, only to have her executed. Besides, Khan’s name is no longer to be spoken by order of the High-Mage, do you understand?”
“Yes, Master, but Khan’s order was relayed as the order from Ke-Tor. It appears that this witch may have information regarding the bloody forest,” Commander Cruxes said, his voice lowering when he mentioned the forest.
“You imply the Earlstyne Forest?” Alister asked, raising a brow.
“Yes, Master, that foul place has been the bane of our raids for years, and she was picked up at the only domicile near there.” Cruxes nodded.
“And you say Ke-Tor was involved?”
“Well, his apprentice invoked his name, Master.”
It was widely understood in Kesh society that once a wizard had issued an order, it took another wizard of equal or higher rank to dismiss or counter it. Alister was given something to think about now. If Khan had issued the order to keep the wood-witch alive, then his status as an apprentice could be countered by another apprentice. The fact that he was expelled from the order in absentia meant that even a Kesh commander could counter his order now.
However, if a full wizard was involved, it would be unwise to counter that order unless the wizard doing the countering was more than capable of standing up to the wizard who initiated the order. Add to this the fact that Ke-Tor had a reputation as one of the most ruthless wizards in all of Kesh, having killed or have had killed at least a dozen apprentices over the last decade, and Alister started to ponder the merits of killing the Ulathan witch.