The First Paladin (The New Earth Chronicles Book 1)

by J. J. Thompson

  Perhaps that is the one thing in the universe that is immortal, she thought as she scanned the horizon. Beauty, in all of its almost infinite varieties.

  From this side of the hill, she spotted a large herd of heavy, cow-like creatures. There must have been hundreds of them. They could very well have been cattle; cows had Changed considerably when magic had returned to the world. It was strange that she hadn't seen any of the animals while she and Grom were crossing the plains. They must have smelled the wolf and avoided them both.

  There were also deer aplenty, scattered around the hill for miles in all directions. But no horses and, happily, none of the predators that she had seen in her vision.

  But if this hill is real, she thought, then the horses were too. Whether or not they had survived was another question.

  Grom was waiting patiently, standing on the steep slope easily and sniffing the wind.

  “I can't see them from here,” Liliana told him. “So I'm going to circle the hill and take a look from the other side. That's assuming I don't slip and roll back down to the bottom, and break my neck in the process.”

  He yipped at her in an encouraging way and then followed along as she made her slow way around the hill.

  Every fifty feet or so, the paladin would stop and scan the plains again. At one point in the distance, she thought she caught a glimpse of something large and glittering racing across the sky. But it was gone before she could identify it and she shrugged and carried on.

  Probably a wyvern or something, she thought as she moved cautiously. It couldn't have been a dragon. The only dragons left in existence were Argentium and the five young primals, and they hadn't been seen since Simon O'Toole had retreated into the Void. Where they were was anyone's guess, but the mages believed that they had left the Earth entirely. No one really knew.

  I wonder if the dragons' absence really was related to the weakening of magic, Liliana thought. That's what Sylvie seemed to be saying when she spoke of her sister's investigation into the cause of the loss of arcane power.

  She stopped moving and Grom looked at her quizzically as she frowned at the idea.

  Was that actually possible? If dragons were conduits for magical energy and there weren't any left in the world, then that would explain why the mages were failing. She considered that for a moment, shrugged and began moving again.

  One problem at a time. After I finish my search, I'll give it some more thought.

  It took about half an hour to circle the hill and reach its eastern slope. By that time, Liliana was drenched in sweat and shaking with fatigue. She kicked at the soil to make a depression in the slope and sat down gingerly to rest while she drank some water.

  Grom sat down next to her and stared out at the vast grasslands. He looked like he was having a great time.

  That makes one of us, the paladin thought sourly.

  She put away her water bottle and began to scan the grasslands. More wildlife and birds and, several miles away, a drake.

  Liliana stood up abruptly and stared at the monster angrily. Next to the dragons that had served the Chaos lords, she despised drakes the most. Many of her countrymen had fallen to those draconic servants, including a small group that she had taken under her protection several years after Moscow had fallen. It was a failure on her part that she would never forget. It still gnawed at her and her hatred for the drakes burned as hot as ever.

  But the monster was slinking off into the distance and disappeared from sight as she tracked it. She took a deep breath to calm herself and released her anger.

  You're hunting for horses, not drakes, she reminded herself. There will be many opportunities for vengeance in the future. After all, they breed like rats.

  Grom nudged her shoulder to get her attention and Liliana turned to see what he was staring at.

  About a mile from the bottom of the hill, there was an area of the plains where the grass had been flattened and crushed in a roughly circular pattern. She narrowed her eyes and focused on the trampled area. Was something moving in the middle of it? What was she looking at?

  Her eyes were drawn away from the flattened section by high, thin cries echoing over the prairie. Grom began growling and Liliana could suddenly see why.

  A pack of hideous hyena-like creatures was slinking through the grass. She could see the tops of the green stalks moving and occasionally a fleshless skull would rise out of cover to look around. The predators were obviously heading toward the clearing.

  The paladin looked back at that area and gasped as the unmistakable figure of a horse slowly rose to its feet. That was what she hadn't been able to identify. The horse had been lying on its side in the field, whether injured, exhausted or both.

  She hesitated for a moment and wondered if she would be able to make her way down from the hill to the horse's location before the pack reached it. Grom had no such concerns.

  The wolf threw back his head and howled, a bone-chilling challenge. He gave Liliana a fierce look and then leaped down the hill, straight toward the distant predators.

  The paladin cursed at his impetuousness but began to hurry down the slope, trying hard not to trip over her own feet as a small avalanche of dirt and weeds followed her descent.

  She had to hop awkwardly several times, leaping over large rocks and a few thick bushes, but somehow Liliana made it to the base of the hill without falling on her face. She dropped her pack as she began to run and whipped her shield off of her shoulder to settle it on to her left arm.

  A loud screeching could be heard up ahead, like high-pitched laughter mixed with screaming, and she knew that Grom had engaged the hyenas.

  Damn it, wait for me, she thought as she tried to pick up the pace.

  But after the climb around the hill and her hasty descent to level ground, the paladin was running on fumes. She was just trying not to fall over at that point.

  She reached the clearing in time to see Grom leap out of the tall grass on the far side and whip around to face the hyenas. The pack, five of them, slunk out into the open and stopped, growling and slobbering. Two of them were bleeding from bite wounds, one quite severely.

  While the wolf had the pack's attention, Liliana looked closely at the horse. She noted with relief that it was the stallion that she had seen in her vision. He must have been the lone survivor of his herd. But he wasn't quite the noble steed that she had seen earlier.

  There were bleeding gouges in his flanks where the hyenas had ripped out chunks of his flesh. Several of the bony spikes along his neck where a normal horse's mane would have been were broken or missing. And, most worrying to the paladin, he was limping, favoring his left hind leg. If the horse was lame, in the dangerous world that they were living in now, he was as good as dead.

  One worry at a time, she thought as she drew her sword and hurried toward Grom.

  The stallion, whose red hide blended in with the dried blood that coated him, whipped around clumsily on three legs, holding his hind leg off of the ground, and stared at her, wild-eyed.

  “Easy, big fellow,” she called out while keeping her distance. “I'm on your side.”

  The horse's shoulder was higher than Liliana's head and he could have trampled her even as wounded as he was but, at the sound of her voice, he raised his ears and watched her, looking almost curious.

  “Stay back and let us deal with these creatures,” she told him loudly. “You've done enough.”

  She wasn't sure why she was bothering to tell the stallion what she was doing; even if the animal was intelligent, and she assumed that he was, surely he couldn't understand her. Or could he?

  The horse snorted loudly and shook his head, making his bony mane rattle. He glared at the hyenas but remained where he was.

  Liliana smiled at the stallion's bravery. His stance spoke volumes; he wasn't going to run from the predators, wounded and alone or not. She admired that.

  A horrid shriek of almost laughter made her tear her eyes away from the horse to look at the hyenas.
One of them, larger than the others and obviously the leader, had leaped sideways while the other four had rushed forward as a group, trying to overwhelm Grom.

  But the wolf was too agile for them. He jumped to one side and slashed at the closest creature with his razor-sharp fangs. There was a scream of pain and one of the hyenas collapsed as its belly was ripped open.

  The leader of the pack had raced around the wolf while he was distracted, apparently determined to finish off the stallion. Either it hadn't noticed Liliana or had dismissed her as harmless. She changed its opinion as she rolled to her left to put herself between the hyena and the horse and smashed her shield into its face.

  The animal rebounded from the blow and backed away, shaking its bony head as blood dripped from its nose. It snarled at the paladin and lowered its body, preparing to pounce.

  “Come on then,” she said with an eager smile. “Come on.”

  The heat of battle was upon her and the joy was welling up inside of her as it always did.

  This is what it feels like to really be alive, she thought as she awaited the hyena's attack. This is what it feels like to be useful.

  The wind whipped her short hair around her ears and she cursed as she was reminded that her helmet was still in her pack. She would have to protect her head, a distraction that she didn't need.

  The leader began to circle to her left, trying to force her to turn her back on the rest of the pack. Liliana smiled again and sidestepped left as well, countering the animal's attempt. By the sound of it, she didn't have to worry about them anyway; Grom seemed to have their undivided attention.

  Snarling in frustration, the large animal leaped forward and tried to race around the paladin, apparently eager to get to the wounded horse. If it was choosing the safer of two opponents, it had made a bad decision.

  Liliana swung at the hyena and missed her blow, her reaction speed slowed by her fatigue, and the predator reached its target.

  The stallion reared up, ignoring his injured back leg, and brought his heavy front hooves straight down on the hyena's back. A horrible snapping, grinding sound was followed by a shriek of agony as the horse broke the animal's back. He reared up again and smashed the writhing body into the ground, killing the leader instantly.

  The paladin nodded grimly and turned to look at the rest of the pack.

  Two of the hyenas were dead and the other two, seeing their leader fall, turned tail and raced off into the deep grass, hooting in fear as they went.

  Grom watched them go and seemed to be satisfied that they were routed. Liliana could see no wounds on him and was pleased that his speed and thick fur had saved him from harm.

  She sheathed her sword and then jumped in surprise as something soft bumped against the back of her head. It was the stallion; he was nuzzling her hair with his nose.

  Liliana stepped back and looked up at him.

  “Well, thank you,” she said softly, trying not to make any sudden moves. “I'm glad that we got here in time to help. I am sorry though that we didn't arrive soon enough to save the rest of your herd.”

  The horse looked at her and heaved a heavy sigh. Her hair was pushed off of her forehead by his sweet breath and she noticed that his eyes were brown but flecked with spots of green as well. She could see the intelligence in them as he watched her.

  “I wish that I could do something for your wounds,” she told him as she moved back far enough to examine his entire body. “But I have no way to tape bandages to your cuts and I think that your ankle is sprained. I can't do anything for it. I'm so sorry.”

  She shook her head helplessly.

  “If I still had my powers, I could attempt a healing, but I haven't been able to do that for years now.”

  Grom walked up to her and stood to her right. The horse and wolf stared at each other, both looking rather unsure about the other.

  “Oh, sorry,” Liliana spoke up. “Allow me to introduce Grom. Don't worry, he's a friend.”

  The wolf moved forward and looked up at the stallion. The horse lowered his head and they briefly touched noses. Then Grom turned his head and gave the paladin a quick glance before trotting across the clearing and into the grass, disappearing from sight.

  The horse watched him leave, snorted softly and returned his attention to Liliana as she was slipping her shield over her shoulder.

  “So the question is,” she remarked, “what happens now?”

  She took off her gauntlets and wiped the sweat out of her eyes. She wasn't surprised that the wolf had wandered off. He was probably going to patrol the area to make sure that the predators had actually retreated. Or else he was hungry. It was hard to tell.

  “I can't just leave you here like this,” she told the horse, who seemed to be listening attentively. “Until your leg heals, you are going to be a target for carnivores like those damned hyenas, or whatever they're called. On the other hand, I can't stay up here in this part of the country for a month taking care of you, as much as I'd like to. I have obligations down south, and my own home to take care of.”

  Liliana tried to puzzle out a solution but nothing came to mind. Even if the horse wanted to follow her and Grom back home, which she thought was doubtful, he was too beat up and lame at the moment. She doubted that the beast could walk more than a hundred yards at a time.

  As she pondered the situation, the stallion stepped forward slowly and extended his large head toward her. Liliana dropped her gloves at her feet and carefully put her hand on his nose, marveling at how soft it was. He whickered softly and closed his glittering eyes at her caress.

  How is it possible that a wild creature like this, so strong and aggressive, and so wounded, would allow any human to touch him, she wondered as she stroked him. It was delightful and strange in equal measure.

  As the stallion leaned into her touch, Liliana found herself praying for his well-being. It would be unjust if he fell to predators after fighting valiantly for his herd. Surely the lords of Light, weakened as they might be, could extend their blessing for such a noble deed.

  Her palm felt warm where it rested on the side of the horse's head and he opened his eyes to catch hers. The world around them fell silent and they shared a moment of absolute stillness.

  How long that moment lasted was impossible to measure, but when Liliana stepped back, she almost fell to her knees as a wave of weakness dropped upon her like a heavy weight.

  The stallion threw back his head and snorted loudly. His eyes widened in surprise and he swung his head around to look at his own flank. The paladin moved stiffly to the side to look as well and gasped in awe.

  The gaping wounds that the hyenas had inflicted were now just jagged scars. They looked months old, not fresh and bleeding as they had been. And when the horse shuffled his hooves, bouncing from one to another, it was obvious that his hind leg was healed as well.

  “Wow,” she murmured as she watched the stallion almost dancing with joy as he realized that he was free from pain.

  She had never seen a healing so complete before. Not to mention the fact that her prayers had gone unanswered for at least four years. What had changed?

  A rustling from the tall grasses to her left made her spin around, hand on her sword hilt. But it was just Grom. He came loping out of the undergrowth and Liliana laughed as she saw him. He was carrying her pack in his mouth and he looked rather pleased with himself.

  “Ah, thank you, my friend,” she exclaimed as the wolf dropped the pack at her feet. “I was just about to go looking for that.”

  Grom shook his tail briefly and then sat down and stared at the horse, who was still prancing around the clearing, whickering to himself happily.

  Liliana opened her pack and took out her water bottle. She drank deeply and then used a cloth to wipe off her face and neck. The sun was beaming down on her and she felt like a lobster in its shell inside of her armor.

  “I wish that there were trees around here somewhere,” she said as she scanned the horizon, a hand shading her
eyes.

  Unfortunately there was no cover for miles in any direction. The only relief from the sun would be when they reached the southern forest or after sundown.

  She smiled as she watched the horse enjoying his newly-healed body. At least now she was assured that he would have an excellent chance of surviving. There were very few creatures in this part of the world that would be able to challenge such a large, fearsome animal now that he was healthy again. It was still very sad that he had lost his companions, but perhaps there were other herds roaming the plains that he could seek out and join up with. One thing that she did know was that her work here was done.

  She put her things away inside of her pack, slipped it over her shoulder and put on her gauntlets again. Hot day or not, she wasn't going to tempt fate beyond not wearing her helmet.

  The stallion stopped his prancing and watched her closely. She returned his look and smiled again.

  “Well, my friend Grom and I have to be going, I'm afraid. I am happy that we were able to help you and I wish you all the best. Take care of yourself.”

  She looked at the wolf.

  “Ready to head home?” she asked him.

  Grom's answer was to stand up and trot across the clearing toward the south. Before he got lost in the tall grass, he looked back a the horse and yipped once, clearly saying farewell. Then he plunged into the grass and disappeared.

  Liliana followed him and also stopped when she reached the edge of the clearing. Looking back, she raised a hand and waved at the stallion.

  “Goodbye to you. Keep an eye out for those damned hyenas. I hope you find another herd someday soon.”

  The horse whinnied loudly and dipped his head in acknowledgment and the paladin grinned and turned away. Time to go home.

  It took the rest of that day and part of the night to reach the edge of the southern forest. Liliana and Grom kept traveling late into the evening; she wanted to reach the trees as soon as possible. She depended on the wolf's keen night vision to steer them true in the darkness and, as always, he did exactly that.