by Eric Ugland
Seeing someone out in the middle of the wilderness could be nothing. It could be just a happy coincidence, and we would come upon fellow travelers. And yet, it seemed like an awfully big coincidence. A coincidence made even more unlikely given that they seemed to be headed directly for our camp. I knelt down, realizing I’d been a fool to present such a massive silhouette for anyone to see. Granted, I’d mostly thought I was on the look out for beasts and monsters, not anyone intelligent.
I scrambled down the cliff, dropping the last few feet, and tiptoed through camp until I came to Nikolai.
As soon as my hand touched him, he was awake with a dagger at my throat.
“Easy boss,” I said. “We’ve got company.”
The dagger disappeared as quickly as it had come out, and Nikolai popped up.
“Show me.”
I crouched-walked him up to the top of the cliff, and pointed in the direction of the movement.
“I see nothing,” he said.
“Do you have dark-vision?”
“Night vision.”
“It’s pretty far out there,” I said, “I’m guessing half a mile or so.”
“Tell me what you see.”
“A hooded lantern. No, two. Plus five, ten figures. Humanoid. They’re walking single file, heading our direction.”
“How direct?”
“Pretty much a straight fucking line. Now they’re pausing at a tree.”
“Point to the tree.”
I extended my arm and pointed with a finger, and he laid his head on my arm so he could sight on the tree I meant.
He watched like that for a moment until the figures appeared on the other side of the tree, continuing on. There was no lantern with them this time.
“Wake your hirð. Leave the others.”
Chapter 74
Ragnar went with Nikolai, circling way around to the north so they could get behind our pursuers. Skeld and I hurried from the camp, aiming for a small stand of trees about a hundred yards south, where we could ambush the enemy if necessary.
I knelt down, and tried to keep perfectly still.
The eastern sky was lightening. There wasn’t a whole lot of time before daybreak, a point at which we’d have to get hiking again. When Cleeve, Teela, and Lee would be up and ready to go.
But nothing happened.
I was getting bored.
Antsy even.
“It will happen or not,” Skeld whispered. “No sense getting anxious.”
“That obvious?”
“You are bouncing the leaves like there are deer rutting here.”
“Sorry.”
He shrugged.
A moment later, Nikolai and Ragnar came tearing down the rise. Nikolai slid to a stop in camp, and Ragnar ran over to us.
“Big mistake,” he hissed as he approached the trees. “But we need to go.”
“What?” I asked.
“Act normal,” Ragnar said over his shoulder as he pushed passed. “Need to go.”
Nikolai woke the others up, getting everyone to their feet and explaining that it was time to move.
It took us maybe two minutes to break camp and start westward.
I walked up next to Nikolai.
“Want to explain all this?” I asked.
“More than we can handle.”
“Are you sure they’re enemies?”
“Definitely. They wear the tabard of Duke Itvars Blaus.”
“Yeah, dude, not from here. That means nothing to me.”
Nikolai nodded. “True. Remind me to school you in the court.”
“No time like the present.”
“There are many better times than when we are being pursued by those who wish us dead.”
“Cliffs Notes version?”
“What does a cliff have to do with notes?”
“Short version.”
“How does cliff mean short?”
“It’s a publisher of — ah fuck it. Just tell me what I need to know.”
“Itvars Blaus is a lazy sack of shit and a poor excuse for a man whose holding is far to the south, near the border with the Great Erg. He sits on a fortune controlling one of the major ports of the Empire. He is content with his station and lives a life of excess and privilege.”
“Okay, so—”
“These are not his men. They wear his tabard because Blaus is unconcerned with the courts. He never plays in those games, and cares little for those who do. He has his gold and his palaces. Whomever is after us, methinks ArchDuke Valamir Glaton—”
“Wait—”
“Kin to the Emperor. His younger fool of a brother.”
“I’m not following.”
Nikolai chanced a look over his shoulder. I followed his gaze. Men crested the slight hill, and definitely saw us moving along, because they immediately ducked down from the horizon. They didn’t want to be seen.
“Many want the crown. Valamir thinks it should be his. That his brother must step down and anoint Valamir as ruler. But the Emperor has a daughter, and she is next in line. Before she is crowned, Valamir must make his move. He must kill the Emperor, kill or banish the girl, and crown himself. But, should he do that, Valamir will likely find his uncle opposing him. And there are others who oppose him. Factions sit ready to rally. It is likely the foundations of the very Empire will shake should he succeed with his treachery.”
“Okay, so, Valamir Bad. Destroys the Empire. Got it. Why is there even a question of succession? Doesn’t it just go to the Emperor’s daughter?”
“She is young and impetuous and has done foolish things.”
“Haven’t we all?”
“We are not all crown princesses. She has said she plans to abdicate, that she prefers to live in luxury and not deal with the ‘horrors’ of being the ruler of the lands. No one thinks she will be a good ruler, so everyone plans for another contingency.”
“But you think otherwise?”
“I do. There is no means of knowing what being the Emperor is like until you are in that position.”
“She’ll rise to the occasion?”
“That is as I believe.”
“Okay, so all that nonsense as it is, why is Valamir after us?”
“I only guess it is Valamir who sent those men. If he did, it would be because he has found out about what Cleeve has done. Many suspect the Emperor had assistance surviving the last war, and they are correct. It would not take much to connect the dots between Cleeve and the Emperor.”
“Got that, but why are they out here? How’d they find us?”
“Only one way,” Nikolai said, grim. “We have been betrayed.”
I stopped in my tracks. Nikolai kept going. I watched our small party move along past me, Cleeve looking marginally better now that we weren’t wet and cold all the time, Teela a bit haggard, Lee exhausted but determined, and my two hirðmen at the back keeping an eye on our pursuers.
Obviously it made zero sense for Cleeve to be the traitor. Why would he betray himself?
Nikolai would just kill us all himself if it were him.
My hirð only existed for, like, a week, so it’s not like it could be either be Ragnar or Skeld. Plus neither one had any connection to the Empire.
I knew it wasn’t me.
There were the other members of the caravan, the ones who were driving the wagons around the long way, but how could they have known where we were going to get out at the other end of the lake? Possible, but unlikely.
So that meant it had to be either Lee or Teela. Lee was new to the world, and I suppose he could plan on betraying Cleeve to set himself up in his new life. But that seemed really unlike Lee.
Teela, though, she was of Vuldranni. She had the connections and the means to betray us. But Cleeve and Teela had served together, and it seemed like there was a real bond between them. Could that really be torn asunder just to get money or land or power?
Chapter 75
The men following us hung back, intent on avoiding a direct co
nfrontation. They were probably waiting until we were sleeping, which I could understand. Nikolai was a higher level than anything I’d encountered, so I wouldn’t want to mess with him. And that wasn’t counting Cleeve. I’d seen him in action, and he was scary. Granted, he was a bit close to death at the moment, but he’d probably be able to rally.
To the north and the west, mountains soared into the sky, massive and terrifying. To the south, there were no mountains, but a downhill slope instead, with trees and hills in the distance. Behind us were bad guys and a big lake.
Naturally, we were going west-northwest. More fucking mountains. The high plains were slowly changing, and the grasses were giving way to trees that looked a whole lot like aspens. There were a ton of them. There was enough space that we could walk through them without too much in the way of trouble. But, I realized, we’d be harder to spot as soon as we got a little deeper into the woods. My mood lifted a little.
As soon as we hit the trees, Nikolai started moving faster. He weaved us further north, and about fifteen minutes in, he broke into a light jog, and steered us almost due north. The trees stretched out as far as I could see. Birds called out all around us, and I saw plenty of small creatures darting about, living their lives. Lots of squirrels hunting nuts and weasels hunting squirrels. It was nice to see so much that was calm even if we were being chased.
Noting that Cleeve and Teela were breathing heavily, Nikolai called a break. He told everyone to kneel down and rest for a moment.
He whispered to me that I should stand guard, then disappeared into the woods. My guess, to check on our pursuers.
I got the axe out and knelt in what I presumed to be ready position. I noticed that Skeld and Ragnar spread out, positioning us in a light combat line.
The minutes passed, and Cleeve and Teela finally started to relax, breathing more regularly. The birds stopped chirping, and a heartbeat later, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Let’s move,” Nikolai said.
We started off again, heading north, weaving uphill through the trees. The ground was tilting increasingly upward, and the hike became much more intense. The trees were also growing tighter together, and finally began to deviate from being just Aspens, or whatever the local variant might be.
Nikolai called for a halt again, and Cleeve basically just dropped to the ground. He was tapped out. If we continued running the way we were, our pursuers were going to take Cleeve down without even needing to confront us.
The rest of us gathered around Teela as she doled out some food.
I noticed my two hirðmen took the proffered food, and then surreptitiously dropped it.
I got Ragnar’s attention with a raised eyebrow, but he held up one stubby finger, indicating we should wait to talk about whatever was bothering them. Skeld did a little wag of his finger, letting me know I shouldn't eat the food either.
I turned my attention back to Nikolai, but needed a way to dispose of my own food, so I wandered a bit. I noticed a bit further up the hill that there was a particularly large tree, one with massive claw marks in it.
“I think there might be something big and nasty living around here,” I whispered, pointing at the tree.
Nikolai sprang to his feet, and before no time he had his hand on the tree in question. Then he circled the area, sniffing. He took a branch and scraped something nasty off the ground, bringing it over to me.
“Dude,” I said, “that’s disgusting.”
“Probably a wyrm of sorts,” he said, “nearby.”
He sort of played with the stuff for a minute, then tossed it to the side.
“I need you to watch Cleeve,” Nikolai said. “He should be carried. I worry he may not be able to walk much longer, but he is too proud for that. Be his crutch.”
I nodded as we walked back to where the rest of our comrades sat.
“We need to move quickly,” Nikolai said, addressing our little band. “The group that is after us is large, and they are closing in on us. I have a plan, but it requires luck and speed. Take one more moment to drink water, and then we are back on the move.”
We were off, moving uphill at a quick pace, and mostly to the west. Nikolai stayed in the lead, following some sort of trail no one else could see. Often, Cleeve would slip or stumble and I’d be there, keeping him upright, helping him over branches and logs. I could tell things were really weighing on the man — he was hurting bad, sweat coming down his face in fucking sheets — and he looked like absolute shit. This didn’t look good.
Chapter 76
Nikolai waved us to a stop. We saw a cave ahead of us. A massive hole loomed in a cliff at the top of the slope we’d been hiking on. A cave I could have just walked right into with no problem — you know, provided I was willing and able to step over a multitude of animal remains. Just bones, but there was a wide variety to choose from, including several from creatures significantly larger than me. I made out deep footprints in the mud around the cave’s entrance, from something large and six-toed. A foul odor wafted down to us, a mixture of decay, rot, and animalism.
Nikolai weaved carefully back along the group, moving with absolute silence until he got to Cleeve. He leaned in and whispered something into the older man’s ear.
I noticed there was very little noise in the forest around us. No birds, no squirrels, no animals of any kind. It was almost deafeningly quiet.
Finally, Cleeve gave a little nod.
Nikolai had a dagger in his hand immediately. I reached for my axe, but before I could even get my fingers to it, Nikolai weaved some complex pattern.
A symbol I didn’t recognize hung in the air, and then dissipated into sparkles that wafted across the space between Nikolai and Teela.
The sparkles rushed Teela and sort of glommed onto her. Her body tensed, and then she fell over.
Nikolai grabbed her arm to keep her from hitting the ground too hard or sliding down the slope. He balanced her against a tree.
He slid the dagger back into its sheath, and then pulled out a small book from a pocket hidden somewhere. It looked like a thick version of an old-school little black book. Lots of fine writing inside. He flipped through the book, muttering to himself until he found the page. Then he searched through his pockets, coming up with a small flower. He crushed it, and dusted Teela with the remains.
A purple haze came over her, and she was weirdly iridescent for a second before turning to normal.
“I am sorry to do this, Teela,” Nikolai said, “but I need to know where the tracking device is.”
She smiled at Nikolai.
“It is sewn into my corset,” she said.
“Thank you,” Nikolai replied.
“Of course.” She had a wide and genuine smile on her face, the first one I’d seen this whole trip.
While Nikolai carefully cut the corset off the woman, I watched Cleeve drink from a small red vial. Color and vitality returned to the man immediately.
Teela just leaned against the tree, not moving and still smiling to herself. Nikolai ripped her corset apart, revealing a circular gold medallion. It was about two inches across with a red jewel in the middle, and had runic markings on both sides. Nikolai only touched the metal with gloved hands, never making contact with his skin.
“You want to drop it in the bag?” I asked, thinking back to the theory that bags of holding were just portable portals to pocket dimensions.
“Thought about it,” Nikolai said, “but I have a better plan. If we drop that in the bag, there is no guarantee we won’t be tracked, but, if we give it as a gift to a, well, new friend, our pursuers will be led in a vastly different direction. Cleeve, any questions for Teela before this wears off?”
Cleeve looked at Teela with obvious hurt in his eyes.
“Why?” he asked.
Teela looked to Nikolai who nodded at her.
“You abandoned us,” Teela said. “You chose this Thingman over the Legion. And these,” she paused, searching for the word, “outsiders. You were despera
te to find an heir, but you never once looked to those who you used to call a family. I knew then all your promises were lies.”
“And what were you given for your treachery?” Cleeve asked.
Again, Teela looked to Nikolai, and he nodded.
“A barony.”
“Baroness Teela Buiseid,” Cleeve said softly, “ I wish you had come to me.”
Then Cleeve nodded at Nikolai.
So much was being left unsaid. I wondered if I’d ever understand all the ins and outs of this world. Seeing how I was never allowed to ask any damned questions, it seemed unlikely.
Nikolai pulled Teela to her feet, bringing her into a kneeling position in front of the cave.
“Poppet,” he said, “I need some gold.”
“Is that me?” I asked. “Am I Poppet today?”
“Quickly now. I would prefer not to die here today.”
Ragnar was right by my side already, holding the bag open. I reached in and thought about gold coins. I got a big handful of coins, and brought them out to Nikolai.
“Down there,” he said, pointing to the ground in front of Teela. “In a pile.”
“Is this enough?” I asked.
He shrugged.
“Better to be careful. More.”
I got a second handful, and put the pile of riches in front of the woman, starting to get more than a little concerned about what was about to happen.
“Cleeve, Lee, Ragnar, Skeld,” Nikolai said, “get moving.”
After a nod from me, my hirð started hiking parallel to the cliff face.
Nikolai leaned down and whispered something into Teela’s ear. She nodded and smiled at him. He took the medallion, and, as hard as he could, threw it into the cave. Then he grabbed me and pulled me off to the side. When we got to a very dense bit of foliage, Nikolai dropped to his knees.
I followed suit.
He pulled a small pebble from a pouch, and softly muttered at it. Blue runes glowed in the air, then settled across the surface of the pebble. The small rock split into two pieces: one pointy and the other chevron-shaped. Nikolai pushed the pointy pebble in my hand.