The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest

by Benjamin Fisher-Merritt

  “We need to take care of those gashes across your stomach at very least.” He said, “Now that they’re clean I can stitch them up.”

  Callindra sighed, she’d been hoping to get away with just a quick bandage and then be able to go and eat but wasn’t surprised at his insistence. She was only wearing her chest wrap, having anticipated Tryst wanting to patch her up and sighed again as she lay down on a rough wooden bench in the changing room.

  His hands were deft and gentle and she was able to relax in spite of the pain of the needle and thread. She wondered at how comfortable she was with Tryst, even in this state of undress and vulnerability. There was no question in her mind that he was treating her as an equal; as he would his own brother.

  This was what she had wished so hard for during her training. Callindra felt her eyes sting with emotion, she had never dared dream that she would actually find true companions like these and now more than ever she knew she would fight to the bitter end for any one of her friends.

  “All done. Now go and get some food. Red meat, hearty ale, bread and vegetables.” He said, pulling her from her reverie. “Nothing strenuous for at least a day.”

  “You’ve told me all that before.” She said, her voice muffled from beneath the tunic she was pulling over her head.

  “And you’ve ignored every time, at least the part about taking it easy.” Tryst said with a smile, “That’s why I feel the need to repeat myself.”

  Callindra laughed, “Fair enough my friend. Thank you for your help, as always.”

  “You bleed with us Callindra, it’s the least I can do.” Said Tryst, putting his needle and thread away carefully in a small cedar wood box. “Now let’s get food together. I’m worried about what I’ll find when I get to the infirmary.”

  The others were already in the main hall, enjoying a meal with Iason and a few others they hadn’t met before. Apparently there was an abundance of cattle and a dearth of fodder, for the meat was plentiful and fresh but there weren’t many vegetables. The meal was largely consumed in silence for Callindra and her friends were hungry and the folk of the keep seemed to be intentionally keeping to themselves. After the plates had been cleared away, Tryst rose and turned to Iason.

  “If you would lead me to your wounded, I will see what I can do for them.” He said.

  “I’ll … just come to see where you’ll be.” Callindra said. She was getting a strange feeling and decided she wanted to see where they were bringing her friend.

  The infirmary wasn’t far away, and it only had four occupants. They were all children though, laying on beds heaped high with blankets and large fires roared on both ends of the room. The children shivered in spite of the heat and the extra coverage.

  “I will be fine Callindra.” Tryst said, “Go and get some rest. I think you took the worst of it out there.”

  She nodded slowly and retreated, moving back to the main keep and finding her bed. Her body was screaming for sleep and she knew if she didn’t rest she wouldn’t be able to be worth a damn the next day. Even with a good night’s rest she would barely be able to dance the Korumn the next day.

  Removing her boots, she fell into bed, laying Brightfang’s hilt on the pillow next to her. When sleep came, she wrestled with troubling dreams filled with green eyed monsters and strange children who left burning footprints wherever they walked.

  -

  The sunlight streaming through her window awakened Callindra, and she sat up, disentangling herself from the twisted mess of her sheets and blankets. Her room had a mirror and she glared at her reflection, hair looking like she’d spent the night in a gale, not in a quiet bed, eyes with dark circles underneath them…

  She stretched and grimaced at the tightness in her abdomen. After running through some basic Stances, she went to look for some breakfast, and her friends. Cronos was eating a hearty breakfast, and Callindra sat next to him and poured a mug of tea.

  “You look like shit.” Cronos said.

  “And a mighty fine morning to you!” Callindra retorted, “When did Tryst get to bed?”

  “Eh? What do you mean come to bed?” Asked Cronos, “He’s been at it all night again.”

  Callindra shoved the rest of the bread in her mouth and stood, grabbing her teacup. Adjusting Brightfang’s scabbard over her shoulder, she headed for the door. The feeling of unease was back and she needed to see Tryst to set herself at ease. Cronos shrugged and returned to his breakfast.

  Hurrying across the courtyard, Callindra paused briefly at the door to the infirmary and took a deep, calming breath. “It’s just your imagination fool girl.” She muttered, “These people have been nothing but hospitable after the initial unpleasantness at the gate.”

  Opening the door, she was hit by a wave of heat. The air had a strange, sweet scent that made her nostrils burn. Beneath that sweet smell was the unmistakable reek of brimstone. Tryst knelt by one of the beds, an assortment of medical supplies arranged about him. Callindra approached him on cat’s feet, not making the slightest sound. When she put her hand on his shoulder, he started slightly and looked up.

  “Oh, Callindra.” He said, his voice thick with weariness. “You startled me. I was nearly done here. Nearly done.”

  “Tryst.” She hissed, “You need to get out of here!”

  The closest figure sat up in bed. He was a boy of perhaps twelve or thirteen, one strongly built but now his muscles hung loose on a frame ravaged by fever. He looked at her and she saw his eyes for the first time. They were pools of emerald fire. “Water.” He croaked.

  Callindra whirled, rising from a kneeling position, drawing her sword and striking in the same motion (Dance of the Coiled Viper) and removed his head from his shoulders. “GO damn you Tryst, they’re infected!”

  “No, no, I was praying. I used magic. I’m sure…” Tryst trailed off. In spite of their size difference, Callindra hauled him to his feet and shoved him to the door grimacing at the pain as the cuts across her stomach tore their stitches open. He seemed disoriented, as though he had no idea what was going on.

  The second bedridden figure was struggling to rise against the heaps of blankets, and so was the third. She panicked, turning from Tryst and only waiting long enough to see the shine of scintillating green beneath their eyelids before killing them as well. A crash sounded from across the room and Callindra turned to see a nurse standing there, staring at her in horror with a tray of breakfast scattered on the floor at her feet.

  Callindra ran to her, flinging the drops of blood off Brightfang’s blade with a practiced flick of her wrist. Grabbing the nurse’s head she looked into her eyes and saw a flicker of burning green.

  “No, it’s not in me.” The nurse whispered, “I swear it’s not in me.” She broke into tears, “Please, my fam-” Callindra didn’t hesitate any longer, she couldn’t allow herself to. She cut the woman down.

  Shaking with suppressed emotion, she went to where Tryst was leaning listlessly against the wall. Reaching a trembling hand out, she lifted his face to look into hers. Her heart nearly stopped. His eyes had an emerald sheen to them. Not a flickering flame like the others, but it was unmistakable. Callindra let out a strangled sound, releasing him and raising her sword in both hands.

  Could she do it? Was he infected? What if she didn’t kill him? Once it took him over… She gripped Brightfang so hard her knuckles hurt. Her sword wavered in her grip and finally she let out an explosive breath.

  “I can’t do it.” She sobbed, letting her arms fall to her sides, “Gods and Demons, I killed them for the same but I can’t do it to you.”

  Tryst shook his head and stared up at her, “What’s that?” She looked at him again, his eyes were clear. Dropping her sword, Callindra pried his eyelids wide and stared intently at them. There was no sign of the green tint. She couldn’t doubt herself. The others had been infected, they HAD been. She had done the right thing.

  “We have to go.” She said, “You need rest and these people… we need to go.”
<
br />   “Callindra!” Said Tryst, “Callindra what have you DONE?” He was looking past her at the carnage she had left in her wake.

  “They were infected Tryst.” She said, “They would have killed you, killed me, killed us all!” As if in response to her cries, one of the corpses began moving.

  “Get out!” She shouted, “Get out NOW, you’re in no condition to handle this right now!”

  “I’m not leaving you.” He said quietly.

  “Go. Get. The others.” She said, her voice deadly quiet. “You don’t even have a weapon or a shield, let alone your armor. I can hold them but only for a short time. GO!”

  Tryst nodded grudgingly and ran as best he could. The monsters that had been children threw off their bedding with violence that belied their size. None of the former weakness remained, as if they had been storing the power taken by the fever and waiting to release it now. Callindra grimly took Brightfang in a two handed grip and faced her enemies.

  -

  Callindra closed her eyes and wove Brightfang in an intricate pattern, keeping her breath measured and even. She called the arcane power that drove the very world to spin into herself and harnessed it. Her eyes flashed open and she rushed the creatures, moving faster than she ever had before. She was the wind and she danced between her enemies, Brightfang cutting huge rents into their bodies.

  Pausing at the far side of the room, Callindra realized that the corpses hadn’t fallen and that they now stood between her and the door. Cursing in fear and frustration she gathered herself, looking for a way out. A had grabbed her ankle in a vice like grip. She had forgotten the nurse.

  The door burst open, Cronos and Vilhylm coming through nearly at a run. Vilhylm leapt through the air, smashing both hands down with brutal force and bludgeoning one of the monsters to the floor. Cronos was incanting arcane words and bolts of power flew from his fingertips to strike another.

  Two still remained, both focused on Callindra. One had her leg and continued to hold it, clawing at her unprotected calf with its other had but she kicked the hand away, managing to stumble out of the way of the other’s clumsy attack.

  “Hurry, they’re getting stronger!” She warned, hacking awkwardly at what had been a nurse.

  Behind her friends, shouts of alarm could be heard. Soldiers came through the, weapons drawn and eyes angry. When they took in the scene, their horror was strong enough to send two of them running back out the door screaming in panic.

  “Help her you thrice cursed cowards!” Cronos shouted at their retreating backs. The others seemed too shocked to do more than hide behind their shields.

  Vilhylm took one of the heavy beds and hurled it at the only creature still standing. The frame cracked from the impact and the monster was crushed beneath it. Callindra shrieked in pain as the one remaining enemy raked her leg with sharp claws. With a sharp double swing of Brightfang she severed both its arms (Dragonfly Lands on the Pond).

  “This is what you were hiding?” She demanded, “You had infected here the whole time?”

  “I didn’t know.” One of the soldiers said faintly, “They never told us…”

  “Well you certainly could have guessed!” Cronos shouted, “Or perhaps you could have god rotting CHECKED!”

  “They said it was contagious, that only those with special protections against the illness could hope to enter.” The soldier said, “How were we to know?”

  “My brother was exposed to this.” Cronos said, his voice dark with anger, “If it truly is contagious and he’s infected it will be a very bad day for you.”

  Vilhylm had removed his mask and returned to a more normal size and demeanor, but his anger was also apparent. “This was a grave mistake. I will speak to the Mayor about it.”

  The measured tramp of feet came from outside. The last creature that Callindra had hacked into pieces was still writhing on the floor but she left it there. Let them see what evil Mayor Iason had been hiding. The soldiers stopped outside the door.

  “I’m afraid I must ask you to leave.” Captain Luca said, his voice flat and emotionless. “We shall give you provisions and horses for your assistance, but you must leave now.”

  “You’re all mad if you stay here.” Callindra said, looking at the ranks of soldiers behind him, “You’ll all die. There’s something here that’s spreading THAT!” She pointed at the figure that still moved on the floor in spite of not having a head or hands.

  “This never happened to people before you came!” One of the soldiers in the back shouted, “Get gone and be thankful we’re giving you anything!”

  “We aren’t thieves.” Luca said, “We have brought your belongings to the front gate, along with provisions and horses. Your priest tried his level best and we appreciate that, however he only made things worse. His presence seems to aggravate the condition.”

  “You may not be thieves.” Tryst’s tired voice said from behind the ranks of armed men, “But you are fools if you think you can hide from this behind walls. I do not know what this sickness is, but if it ravages the world there is no wall that can possibly keep it out.”

  Callindra looked in Luca’s eyes as she moved to join Tryst, and she could see the despair in them. He knew they were right and that he had no way of keeping his people safe and he knew it, but he didn’t know what else to do.

  “Good luck.” Callindra said quietly to him as she passed, “You are going to need it.”

  Chapter 22

  They had been making much better time now that they were mounted again, after three days the forest began to thin and give way to rolling hills. Vilhylm began to get more and more tense the further they traveled. He began to ride ahead when they approached taller hills in order to get the lay of the land before allowing the others to continue. After a day of this, Cronos finally lost his patience.

  “What in the hells are you doing?” He demanded when Vil had returned from one of his forays, “It’s going to take us forever to get to the High Forest at this rate.”

  “The lack of any human presence is disturbing me.” Vilhylm said, “We should have at least come across a patrol by this point, but we haven’t seen anyone.”

  “What city are we approaching?” Callindra asked, wondering why there would be patrols this far out in the wilderness.

  “We are only about a day or two from Dagger’s Falls.” Vilhylm replied, “That smoke is also worrisome.”

  “Smoke?” Tryst said, “What smoke?”

  They all scanned the horizon and Vilhylm pointed to what they had all thought was a thunderstorm. Now that they looked, they could see the black and gray smoke rising from a fire of unimaginable proportions.

  “What could possibly cause that large of a blaze?” Callindra whispered, “There’s just… no way….”

  “I’m afraid it’s the city.” Vilhylm said.

  “That’s impossible.” Said Cronos, “There are over a million people in that city, the guards alone number in the hundreds of thousands. Nothing could destroy a city that large. No army in the known lands could possibly lay siege to it.”

  “True enough.” Tryst said, his voice grim. “Unless that sickness or whatever it is has spread.”

  The idea stopped all of them cold. It was almost too much to contemplate.

  “You don’t think that’s possible do you?” Callindra asked, “I mean, wouldn’t we have seen… something?”

  “Exactly my point.” Said Vilhylm. The rest of them fell silent.

  “All right. So we continue cautiously until we can see the city.” Callindra said, “If I recall what I’ve seen of the maps, it’s on the coast right? We should have the high ground, it ought to be easy enough for us to see what’s happening there.”

  “Yes, but until we get there we must be careful. If the city is truly besieged the odds of us running into hostile forces are high.” Vilhylm said, “We do not number nearly enough to survive such an encounter, so I am being careful.”

  “If the city is under attack, how will we cross
the river?” Callindra asked, “I thought the only bridge of the Morodava River this far south was at Dagger’s Falls.”

  “We might be able to find a ford.” Cronos said doubtfully, “I don’t remember this part of the world very well though.”

  “No, the Morodava River is far too swift and generally runs through deep ravines that it has carved out of the landscape.” Callindra said, “If we can’t cross at Dagger’s Falls then we will be forced to backtrack for days, or maybe even weeks before we find a safe crossing.”

  “Well, we will just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.” Tryst said without a trace of amusement. After a moment, he added, “Or not I suppose.” He was so deadpan that Callindra broke out laughing in spite of herself. Cronos’s laugh was surprisingly mellow, reminding her that he was younger than she was, even if not by much. Even Vilhylm smiled, the first time she had seen him do more than quirk up a corner of his mouth.

  “We’ll get past it one way or another.” Tryst said, smiling. “It can’t be as bad as all that, else we would have heard of it.”

  -

  “I don’t believe it.” Vilhylm muttered for the tenth time as he stared through a spyglass at the city far below them. The rest of them were too speechless to utter a single word.

  The city of Dagger’s Falls was burning. All of the farms outside the walls were nothing but charred stubble and beyond the Third Circle wall there wasn’t a single house standing. Fighting raged between the wall of the Second Circle and the First Circle walls, but the entire First Circle was covered in a huge translucent dome crafted of pure arcane energy. None of that compared to what was above.

  An immense winged shape, black as midnight glided above the dome of the First Circle. As they watched, it breathed a jet of liquid obsidian streaked with flickering emerald fire that splattered thickly against the dome, evaporating into a sickly fog that burned as it touched down in the Second Circle. They were too far away, but Callindra imagined she could hear the screams of the dying.