A Single Candle (Cerah of Quadar Book 3)

by S. J. Varengo

  As she opened the door she heard the sea cook’s loud voice. “Five of the gelatinous beasts surrounded me, and I was armed only with a tin-opener…” Upon seeing her, Garl broke off his story. “Lo! We are joined by a most distinguished guest!”

  Renton and Slurr turned in unison to face the door. Her husband held a huge mug of steaming jakta in his hand. His face, already smiling at hearing Garl’s tall tale, brightened even further at the appearance of his wife. He started to stand, but Cerah held out her hand.

  “Don’t get up,” she said. “I would pour as much jakta into yourself as you can before attempting that!”

  He blushed and his face took on a mask of embarrassment. “You know, then?” the big lad asked.

  “Tressida could smell your breath from a mile away,” she said.

  “Be fair, Cerah,” interjected Renton. “You have never been further than ten yards above the ship since we left Senchen.”

  “Still,” she said, “between the fumes and your visit to the ship’s rail, it was pretty obvious. I don’t think you’re cut out for a life of heavy drinking.”

  “I don’t believe I shall ever drink again,” Slurr said, looking at the galley floor.

  “Never mind,” said Cerah, placing her hand beneath his chin and lifting his face to look into his eyes. “As horrid as you feel, it will pass.”

  Slurr knew instinctively she was speaking of more than his current physical agony.

  “Darling,” she continued, “when we found Surok’s ice cave empty, my heart nearly burst with anguish. And then when we came to Niliph I was sure that my own grief would accomplish his goal of ending me.

  “But eventually I realized that my plan had been sound. Unfortunately, my burning hatred for the demon tipped my hand and caused him to move, perhaps sooner than he would have. Your plan was far superior to mine. You were a step ahead of him from the moment Ban returned to you until the very end. But though every ounce of rationality said that Surok should attack Trakkas, he did not. Because there is no rationality in him. Your strategy did not fail because of any shortcoming on your part. I’m afraid we just underestimated his hatred of me. I believe that before he runs laughing through the blood of the Free People, he wants to know that I will not be here to stop him. He still believes he can kill me.”

  “But the prophecy…” began Slurr.

  “Surok knows the prophecy, but I believe that between his mother’s anger and loathing, both toward the Green Lands and Ma’uzzi Himself, and his own blind animosity for all things good, he has convinced himself that it is wrong. Those two stand in opposition to everything Ma’uzzi is has made. That includes His word. He doesn’t believe he can kill me in spite of the prophecy. He believes he can because of it. He is so diametrically divergent to the Light that he believes if the word of Ma’uzzi says he will die by my hand, it means that surely I will die by his.”

  “So he’s gone to Kier to face us. He wants the battle,” Slurr said, his still-swirling brain struggling to piece together everything Cerah was telling him.

  “I don’t know why he would think he can defeat us,” Renton said. “We have gotten the better of his forces in every encounter we’ve had with them.”

  “Surok still has more tricks to play,” Cerah said with a surety that chilled Renton’s blood. “He is mad, but his madness has not yet worked to our advantage. I believe we will be tested at Kier.”

  “Then the army will need its general,” said Slurr, slamming the cup of jakta onto the table by which he sat.

  Cerah put her hands on each of Slurr’s shoulders and held him down. “It will,” she said. “So I don’t want him stumbling overboard and sinking beneath the waves. Come, I’ll have a cup with you, and you can tell me how much you love me.”

  Garl poured Cerah a hot cup from the pot and placed it on the table next to Slurr’s. She pulled a chair beside him and sat.

  “I do love you, you know,” Slurr said, gazing into his wife’s deep chocolate-brown eyes.

  “I have suspected that you do,” she teased.

  Slurr shook his head to indicate that he was being serious. “No, Cerah, I do. That’s why I am so damn furious with myself. I truly believe that I have failed the entire planet, but worse still, I feel I’ve failed you. I could bear the wrath of Quadar. But I don’t think I’d survive if I thought you were disappointed in me.”

  “Stupid boy!” she said, her wide smile belying her harsh words. “I could never look upon you with anything other than boundless pride. You are my hero! We have faced things neither of us every dreamed would be driven upon us when we were growing up in the Softer. And through all of it, every painful step of the way, you have made sure that no one has touched Cerah. How could I be disenchanted with you? Now stop being a damn foolish Lug and drink your jakta.”

  Slurr lifted his cup and held it toward Cerah. “A toast then. To the Chosen One.”

  “And her Rock,” she said, clacking her wooden mug against his.

  16

  Clouds on the Horizon

  Despite Puul’s attempts at easing his mind, Jessip found the final day of waiting for the Army of the Light to arrive almost unbearable. He knew that they would be landing near the village of Hallar, a seaside town even smaller than his home on the eastern coast. There was not sufficient docking there, but it was far closer to the Two Sisters, and the army had become quite accomplished at quickly loading and unloading in less than ideal conditions. It was not the logistics of his own reinforcements coming that was tearing him apart.

  Rather it was the uncertainty about where the black ships would land.

  They were coming from the west, it was believed. Although this intelligence was unconfirmed, he assumed it was correct, as no other explanation for the complete absence of any sighting of the black sails made sense. That meant they could reach Hallar as well. Although Renton was taking the armada along a course which gave them both the advantages of some friendly currents and stronger prevailing winds as well as being nearly a thousand miles shorter, Jessip had heard too many tales about the way the black sails had been sighted in places and at times for which there was no earthly explanation.

  And he could not shake the fear that Surok would bypass the western shore altogether and land at Orna. The thought of his beloved village being overrun by bloodthirsty monsters horrified him. His mind, despite his efforts to direct it otherwise, played scenes for him of burning thatched roofs and screaming people; people running for their very lives, but all in vain. He’d left far too many loved ones behind.

  When the burden and worry become too much for him, he retired to his small tent, closed the flap, and sat on a low bench to cry. Jessip took his duties too seriously to allow anyone see him this deep in despair, but he was so close to the limits of his ability to cope that he felt if he didn’t get himself out of sight and let his emotions out, he would collapse.

  Naturally, it was during his breakdown that Puul once again sought him out. The wizard was respectful of his privacy, and did not enter the tent, but rather called to him from outside. Jessip took a cloth and cleaned his face up as best he could. “I’ll be right out,” he shouted to the wizard, hearing too much emotion in his own voice as he did. Damn it, Jessip, he told himself, at least try to not sound like a toddler with a skinned knee!

  When he emerged from his tent a moment later he saw that Puul was standing with several other wizards. “These five riders have come ahead of the armada,” Puul said.

  “Does that mean our ships are near?” Jessip asked, his heart leaping in his chest.

  One of the new wizards answered. “They will begin unloading at Hallar late this afternoon,” he said.

  “But this is wonderful!” the commander shouted. Puul smiled to see Jessip’s spirits recover so quickly, as he’d known how much the older man had been suffering.

  However, before the elation was complete another of the wizards pointed to the south. “That still might not be soon enough,” he said ominously.

&nb
sp; Jessip wheeled around to face in the direction he indicated and saw the sky there was growing dark. Even as he watched the clouds could be seen to swirl and boil on the horizon. His heart sank once more.

  Puul turned to the other wizards. “Project this news at once. Bring the rest of the flight. We may have to wait for the ships before our ground forces can help, but wizards and the riderless dragons can be here far sooner.”

  Without a word one of the five riders closed his eyes and sent word to Kern and Cerah.

  Meanwhile Jessip, though more fearful than he had ever been in his life, ran to mobilize his warriors.

  Many had seen the appearance of the clouds themselves, and though everyone now knew what that harbinger meant, they determined to rally, rather than quail. As more and more become aware that the enemy’s arrival was eminent, they took up their weapons and moved to the positions that Jessip had already assigned in case of an attack from the south.

  Jessip, brandishing a sword that he’d always felt was a bit too heavy for him, ran to the front of the column. He could not banish the fear from his soul, but he could fight in spite of it.

  Since talking with her husband, Cerah saw that he had regained much of his confidence. Now as she flew above the Marta she watched him make his way around the ship, speaking with his warriors and with the crew that had once counted him among their numbers.

  Early that morning, their fifth at sea since leaving Senchen, Cerah, who again bore Ban as her passenger, had flown once more down to the rear of the Marta. She and Ban had hopped onto the deck. It was early, and Renton was preparing to take his shift at the helm. Before he did, however, Cerah asked for a few minutes of his time. Slurr joined them as well.

  “I just want to go over the details of our landing,” she said. “I know you have developed this process well, and it runs smoothly now, but ease my mind and explain your method to me.”

  “We are to anchor near the town of Hallar,” Renton began. “There are docks there but they are too few and too minor to do us any good, except in the case of our smallest vessels. Apart from these few, which will indeed unload in the little port, we will ferry the warriors ashore with the ships’ boats, much as we did when we reached the Frozen South.”

  “That process took quite a bit of time,” Cerah remembered aloud.

  “It did, but here we have an advantage. When we unloaded onto the ice, the shape of the bay there allowed us to only move our fighters from a handful of ships at a time, then move them to deeper water and repeat the process until everyone was ashore. The shoreline of Kier is long and straight. We will be able to move our ships in close, and unload them all at once. The boats will still have to make a few shuttles back and forth and may have to wait while those in front of them deposit their passengers onto the shore, but the process will be completed in hours, not days, as it was then.”

  “And there are fewer warriors to unload,” interjected Slurr. “Between our decision to increase the sizes of the various defensive units, and the losses we’ve suffered in the months since we began, we are moving closer to forty thousand now, as opposed to over fifty then. And that is taking into account the fighters who came from Xaxar and Harundy to bolster the main assault group.”

  “I would far rather have to deal with the unloading taking more time than to face the enemy with fewer fighters,” Cerah said, “but we are where we are, and it is what it is.”

  “Exactly,” said Renton.

  “That’s some deep philosophy,” said Ban, teasing his sister-in-law.

  Slurr poked his little brother in the ribs. “Show the Chosen One respect, churl, or I’ll hoist you on the yardarms!”

  “Listen to mister nautical,” Ban laughed. “’Hoist me on the yardarms!’ Did you teach him that, admiral?”

  “That’s not a practice I’ve had to employ among my crew, even when Slurr was a member of it,” the one-eyed sailor laughed. “He must have been listening to Garl’s stories again. People are always getting hoisted or keel-hauled in his tales.”

  “Regardless of where you picked it up, beloved, you’ll do no such thing to my copilot! I have grown quite fond of him.”

  Ban smiled at Cerah, then turned to his brother. “So there, Lug!”

  Slurr laughed loudly, and held up his hands. “Alright, alright! I surrender!” he said.

  “So, to answer the question that you haven’t actually asked me yet,” Renton said as the laughter died down, “your column should be able to join the defenders by late tonight.”

  Even as he spoke, the call of “Land ho!” echoed down from the crow’s nest on the main mast. All eyes turned to the southwest, where the shoreline of Kier was now visible.

  “We will skirt the coast for a few more hours before we reach our destination,” Renton said, “But we have a very good wind, and there is yet a current to ride.”

  “Good,” said Cerah decisively. Just as she was about to climb back onto Tressida, who was hovering to the port side of the ship, she began receiving an urgent projection. The others looked at her as she held her hand to her temple.

  “The riders we sent ahead report the clouds of Surok have appeared on the horizon south of the Two Sisters.”

  “If he is traveling overland from the south, the march is long,” Renton said, attempting to ward of the dread he saw in the eyes of his friends.

  “Yes,” said Slurr, “that may be. But his monsters travel at a sprint which they can maintain indefinitely. I fear they will reach the cities before we do.”

  As Cerah looked above, she saw the flight begin to separate from the armada as they raced on ahead to join the defenders. As they and the riderless moved overhead, their shadows passed over the ship. Like dark clouds, Cerah could not help but think, a shiver passing down her spine.

  “Ban, you must remain aboard the Marta for the remainder of the voyage,” she said. “Tressida and I will go with the others to join up with Jessip’s unit.”

  She turned to her husband. “Darling, again we must be apart. When your men are landed, push them as hard as you can. What we’d hoped would be a march must now become a footrace.”

  He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace. “I love you,” he whispered into her ear. “Be safe.”

  “You as well,” she replied, then ran and jumped off the deck onto Tressida’s waiting back.

  As the golden queen gained altitude and raced to the front of the vast flight of wizards and dragons, Slurr, Ban and Renton watched them recede into the distance. None of them said a word until the dragons were no more than tiny dots on the southern horizon.

  “Come on, Ban,” said Slurr at last. “The admiral has work to do, and so do we. You’ve just been promoted to First Brat of the Army of Quadar.”

  Ban punched his brother’s arm, and immediately regretted the decision, as he pulled his hand back aching badly.

  “What?” Slurr asked, feigning surprise. “That is a most prestigious rank! You’re in charge of all the other brats!”

  “There are no other brats!” Ban said as he and Slurr took their leave of Renton.

  Slurr smiled and messed his little brother’s hair. “That’s because we don’t need any others. You are brat enough for the whole army!”

  “I hate it when you do that to my hair!” Ban shouted.

  “But it looks better after I do!”

  “Then do it to your own mop,” he said, jumping up to try to reach Slurr’s equally unruly crop.

  “You’re short!” Slurr teased, running away. He headed to the hold where his troops were housed. Renton smiled as they left. He knew that Slurr had not completely forgiven himself. But clearly his young friend had rallied to the point where he could once again joke with his little brother. More important than the return of his good humor, however, was the encouragement he would soon offer his warriors.

  When they went to where the troops were gathered Ban watched with deep respect as his older brother addressed his warriors, informing them of the developments, while assu
ring them that he had no doubt they would prevail. Ban saw the playfulness give way to a seriousness that conveyed the reality of their situation, but did not lead the men and women to fear disaster, as Ban’s heart had when he first heard that the clouds had been spotted.

  Just as his brother’s good-humored bantering had rallied his spirit, now his speech to the troops was having the same effect. He really is a great general, the boy thought.

  After a fifteen-minute briefing, Slurr and Ban left the hold. “They will be ready when we arrive,” Slurr said. “They are a mighty bunch.”

  “They certainly love you,” Ban said. “You can see it in their eyes.”

  “I hope I can continue to be worthy of their trust,” Slurr replied. “I feared I might have lost it when Surok left Illyria.”

  “I don’t think anybody blames you for that,” the boy said. “I know I don’t.”

  Slurr’s blue eyes twinkled, perhaps with a little extra moisture, as he looked at his brother. “Thanks, Ban. That means a lot.”

  “Don’t get all mushy!” the boy countered, smiling.

  The two of them went back on deck and looked to the south. There was no trace of any darkening from their vantage. In fact, the day was quite beautiful. As Renton had indicated, there was a steady wind blowing, and it brought with it a front of warmth. A handful of kreel circled above the armada, now that the dragons were no longer there to scare them off. A few wispy clouds painted the highest levels of the atmosphere.

  “It seems wrong that a day could be so fair when creatures so foul roam somewhere on this land,” Slurr said, gazing into the distance.

  “It is wrong,” Ban said.

  Zenk watched from above as the monsters began to pour from the black ships onto the southern-most point of the continent of Kier. To his right and ahead of him, always ahead of him, hovered Surok.