Into the Desert Wilds

by Jim Galford

  Feanne’s stern face collapsed into that of a mother on the verge of tears. Now Estin knew for sure that others could hear the spirit when it came or at least anyone within the circle with him could. He had feared for a moment that she would be unable to talk with Atall if he did come.

  “Atall, is that you?”

  The spirit chuckled and the faintest silhouette of a fox wildling appeared in the dim light, standing within the circle.

  “So this is what it feels like,” Atall said, holding up a hand in front of his face. “I had wondered what Arlin felt when Arturis caught her.”

  “Son, I am so sorry,” gasped Feanne, her voice shaking as a tear ran down her cheek. “I…”

  “Mother, I made my own choice,” he cut in. “The mists were moving too fast. I had to do something, or we would all be dead, or scattered to the winds. Besides, I actually was hoping to use it to defeat Arturis, though I was just a little too slow. I regret nothing and could almost say I am happy now.”

  Feanne covered her face with her hands, trembling as she tried to hold herself back from weeping.

  Atall turned to Estin next.

  “You taught me how to stand up to things far greater than myself, even if it might get me killed,” Atall told him, the silhouette of his form beginning to blur into the rest of the room. “You will find a way to do the same with Arturis. We have faith in you. Both of you.”

  “We?” Estin asked, ears perking. “Who is with you?”

  Even in the shadowy form, Atall appeared to be smiling. “Concern yourself with the living, father. We’ll still be here when your time is over.”

  The image faded almost immediately, leaving the room empty aside from Feanne and Estin.

  “He’s gone,” said Estin, hanging his head. “I’d hoped we could talk to him longer.”

  Throwing her arms around Estin, Feanne clung to him a while, her face buried in his shoulder as she cried. Eventually, she sat back, wiping the tears from her face.

  “I will not weep for someone who is happy elsewhere,” she said as if to convince herself, smiling weakly at Estin. “We will gather our army and we will destroy Arturis. I am finished with mourning any more of those I care about.”

  “We don’t have an army, Feanne. Ten, maybe fifteen people are all Sirella can gather. In a week, maybe fifty, but that’s about all I could hope for.”

  Feanne nodded and sniffled, shaking her head in an obvious effort to dismiss the leftover sadness.

  “We are going to take the army that Phaesys and I trained,” she told him, standing up slowly. “Tomorrow morning, we are going to seize Desphon’s troops. Most will see that he is not the leader they need, even if they do not trust us. If he resists, I only ask that you allow me to be the one to kill him. He has almost one hundred men at his disposal and I intend to use them all against Arturis. Norum will back us and lead them, once we can stand up to Desphon.”

  Bowing his head to her, Estin wondered if he truly could manage not to kill Desphon outright. Memories of Feanne bleeding to death while that man stood by overseeing the carnage came to his mind, dredged from somewhere Estin had not realized existed.

  It would be difficult not to strike first, but he would allow Feanne her revenge, just as he wanted to be the one to rip the smile off of Arturis’ face.

  *

  None of them had been able to sleep that night, and judging by how Oria looked, Estin believed she had not slept a second since her brother’s death. She was clumsy, stumbling often as though she were barely aware of her surroundings.

  Estin had thought to talk with her, to attempt to ease her mind, but Phaesys did not leave her side. The male caught her every time she misstepped and watched her with concern. When he had no reason to touch her, Phaesys maintained a respectful distance, though his worried eyes stayed on her.

  Idly, Estin wondered if that was how he had been with Feanne when he had been forbidden to love her. It was a disturbing thought, but one he could not set aside easily. He promised himself that he would speak with Phaesys soon, to make sure his feelings were fair to Oria. If they were truly in love, he would not stand in their way, once things with Arturis were finished. Life was just too short to deny his daughter anything.

  Given where they were, standing just outside the tunnel that led to Desphon’s realm with the sun beating down on them, Estin had far more to worry about than his daughter’s first love. He would concern himself with that another time.

  “Are you sure about this?” Estin asked Feanne, as two elven soldiers dropped to a knee in the entryway, leveling spears at the group. Behind them, two more drew swords and waited.

  “Have you ever known me to back down from my own ideas?”

  He shook his head and Feanne grinned broadly, though she continued to watch the soldiers.

  “The spearman on the left has a sickly brother who he fears will be allowed to die if he does not continue to serve Desphon,” Feanne continued. Then, subtly gesturing to the soldiers on the right, she added, “The tall man has a bad leg, which is why he prefers the heavy spear. If he were to move too much, it would be revealed as crippling. He has fought against me several times and knows that I move a lot. He will be unwilling to face me except in the narrow tunnel, so we can use that to corner him.”

  “The others?”

  “Average warriors who I have taught to have a healthy degree of respect for a druid,” she answered, eyes gleaming. “Entering will be easy, my love.”

  “After you, Feanne.”

  Leading the way down the hillside toward the partially-concealed tunnel entrance, Feanne motioned for the soldiers to move aside.

  “We are here to talk to the miserable wretch that commands you,” she barked at them, only stopping when going on would impale her on one of the spears. “I have no desire to kill the four of you, so please stand down.”

  The men held their position, but Estin saw the resolve waver in the two that Feanne had pointed out.

  “Do you believe that if I wished to come here and kill, the four of you could stop me?” she asked, tapping her claw on the spear tip. “You were there when Desphon had me whipped practically to death, yet now I stand in front of you again, as fit as ever. I can assure you that all four of you would already be dead if I wished it. Now move.”

  The two men she had indicated during their approach both lowered their weapons and stepped aside, their eyes on the ground.

  “Master Desphon has ordered—” started the other spearman, whose weapon hovered an inch from Feanne’s chest.

  Snarling, Feanne wrenched the spear from the man’s hands and broke the steel tip off of the wooden shaft with her bare hands. Throwing it on the ground at the man’s feet, she took another step forward.

  Leaning toward the man, who still was staring at his broken weapon, Feanne told him, “I can either tell Desphon I defeated your group and walked in, or I can actually do that and then walk in. Do you have a preference?”

  Estin put his hand on his sword hilt, half expecting the men to fight back. Instead, all four backed themselves up against the walls of the tunnel.

  “Awful shame,” said one elven man nervously, pointing down at the spear. “Damned thing broke. We’ll have to go get a replacement. Hopefully no one sneaks in while the tunnel is unguarded. Good thing no one’s come by here all morning…”

  Leading the way as the others followed, Feanne marched into the tunnels as though they were her personal domain. She walked quickly, making it difficult for the others to keep up. After several turns, she brought them into a larger room.

  “These are the soldiers of…” she started, waving a hand toward the seemingly empty room. She had clearly expected the place to be filled.

  Hand falling back to her side, Feanne hurriedly stepped into the large room, which Estin recognized as being similar in design to the one where Atall had fallen. This one was in better repair though and he could smell dozens of humans and elves.

  A faint clapping off to the far end
of the room drew Estin’s attention. From where Estin stood, he saw only Desphon standing up on a higher section of the floor, but the pillars that supported the room made it difficult to see much. The male was dressed in finery from head to toe, clapping his hands together as he watched them enter.

  “I had thought you might come back,” Desphon announced, leaning casually against the podium at the head of the room. “I believed I had more time before you healed, though. I do need to stop underestimating you, woman.”

  Feanne centered herself in the room, facing Desphon. Flexing her fingers as she dug her toes into the packed dirt floor, she appeared ready to charge him on a moment’s notice.

  “You tried to kill me for not sharing your bed,” she replied, her tail flicking angrily.

  “No,” countered Desphon, smiling good-naturedly, as though he were in no danger. “I tried to kill you for refusing to be sold like livestock in repayment for your daughter trying to harm me. There is quite the difference, foreigner. Bedding you would have been a side-benefit.”

  Estin looked around, trying to gauge why the male felt he was so secure. The vast room was empty, with nothing between Feanne and Desphon. Even if there were archers, Estin would have felt very uncomfortable in the same situation. There had to be something.

  As he turned, Estin found that Phaesys was doing much the same, searching the entry halls and the high walls for anything. The younger male met Estin’s eyes and shook his head slightly.

  Oria was far less attentive, just staring at Desphon with what Estin would have described as loathing. Estin doubted she would attack before her mother, but the girl dearly wanted to.

  “I see you brought my dear son back,” noted Desphon, motioning toward Phaesys. “Son, you may return to my side. All is forgiven. You may even bring your little whore if you so desire.”

  Oria’s quiet anger changed instantly to fury and Phaesys grabbed her before Estin could, keeping her from running headlong at Desphon.

  Holding Oria as best he could while she kicked and snarled, Phaesys answered his father. “I would rather die an outcast at their sides than ever be associated with you again after what you did.”

  His humor dwindling to a scowl, Desphon shook his head slowly. “You do not understand, boy. Come to my side immediately.”

  Phaesys glanced over at Estin, his face unreadable. Still, he held Oria tightly, keeping her from running from the rest of the group. “Do what you will, father. I am not moving. I certainly will not stand between Feanne and you after what you’ve done. My place is with people I consider to be as trustworthy as family is meant to be…that would be here, not with you.”

  Soft laughter from behind them made Estin spin, facing a dark hallway into the room. As soon as he came around, the silhouette of Arturis appeared at the edge of the light. He wore a fresh robe and looked as though he had made a point of cleaning up after their last battle.

  “My little rodent friend,” Arturis said, gesturing toward Desphon, “was good enough to secure this place for me. He mentioned that he had set in motion plans that would bring all of you back here. I had doubted him and for that I should apologize. I was nearly ready to pop his little head off for failing me, when who should walk in, but the very people he promised me.”

  Estin drew both of his swords, shifting his position to put himself between Oria, Feanne, and Phaesys on one side and Arturis on the other. He growled as best he could, but Arturis just grinned. The instinct to intimidate a foe seemed trivial when facing an opponent who knew no fear.

  “How is the family, Estin?” asked the human, making a show of counting the people present. “I see you left your pet elf at home…but is another missing? Oh yes, the rug in my chambers…”

  Rushing at Arturis, Estin slid to a stop after only a few steps as snarling ghouls poured out of the passage behind the Turessian. As Estin scrambled to get back to the rest of his group, he saw that the other wildlings had bunched up as ghouls approached from all four entrances to the room.

  They were surrounded by at least fifty of the creatures.

  Estin backed away from the wall of open-mouthed walking corpses, until his tail hit Feanne. Glancing back, he saw that her attention was no longer directed solely at Desphon.

  “What happened to the army we were training to fight Arturis?” asked Feanne of Desphon, putting her back to Estin’s, as they had done in the past to fight off large groups. “This would seem to be rather counter to that plan.”

  Nearby, Oria and Phaesys were trying to protect one another, but mostly managing to get in each other’s way. Neither seemed willing to allow the other to face even one of the creatures that approached.

  Estin nudged Feanne, giving her the cue to move the group farther up the room toward Desphon. She moved with him, soon shoving Phaesys and Oria along as the ghouls followed.

  The undead hissed as they walked on all fours, the groups from all four doorways condensing into one mass with Arturis at the rear. Soon, the whole room other than the area where Desphon stood and a few feet in front of it was filled with the creatures.

  “Oria,” Feanne said softly as they backed right up to the stairs near the podium, “The wildling is yours to play with. We will deal with the rest.”

  Oria wasted no time, leaping onto the higher section of floor as Desphon shrieked loudly and tried to run from her. Having nowhere to go, he actually swung his fist at the girl, but she ducked it and punched him in the stomach, dropping him to his knees.

  “Oh, do play nicely with my pet,” Arturis called out, as he waved the ghouls to a stop. “He has served his part quite well and I would hate to see him killed by his own kind before he can collect on the rewards I promised him.”

  Feeling his way as he backed onto the platform with Feanne, Estin kept his eyes on the ghouls at all times. All it would take was a single command from Arturis and they would all be dead within a minute or two. Even if Estin called down every bit of magic at his disposal—something he would never have time to do before being overwhelmed—he could not hope to stop more than a quarter of the creatures.

  With the seconds ticking away and the sound of Oria roughing up Desphon behind him, Estin let his mind drift, trying to call to the strength Asrahn and Lihuan had given him. He remembered how it felt that day he had freed Feanne, but the magic eluded him somewhere inside himself, just as it had when he had lost Atall.

  “Why have you not killed him yet?” Feanne demanded of Arturis, though Estin could see that she was looking anywhere but at the human. She was looking for a way out and very likely stalling.

  “My pet?” asked Arturis, coming forward through the waiting ghouls, who snapped their broken teeth at the air, seemingly frustrated at the delay. He stopped two deep in the undead, leaving many between Estin’s group and himself. “Why do you think he was the only noble to escape Corraith?”

  Phaesys turned from his position beside Feanne, grabbing his father by the throat. “I want to hear you say it!” Phaesys ordered.

  “We couldn’t fight him,” croaked Desphon, trying to get his son’s hand off of his throat. “Everyone would have died. I made a deal to save the city. Instead of losing fifty thousand, only four thousand died. It was a good bargain.”

  “And what did you get out of it?”

  Arturis laughed and patted one of the ghouls on the top of its head, where thin strands of greasy hair flopped at his touch.

  “The wildling gave me names, places, and weaknesses of the city. He even provided secret ways past the walls, so that I could pick off actual threats before entering the city,” Arturis told them. “In exchange, I assured him that if he could find his way into the desert, I would allow him to be the ‘savior’ of the city once I left. The forces he built up out here are to be his honor-guard when he drives me off, at least in the eyes of the people.

  “I gave him his life and yours, as well as a chance to return as the ruler of this land, in exchange for his betrayal of the city. Once he is in charge, I can leave, know
ing he will act in my interests, with none of the citizens the wiser. This city then becomes a Turessian outpost in these lands. The only remaining loose end is a matter of all of your heads on pikes, before Desphon can ascend to the throne.”

  Estin began searching not just the walls for a way out, but turned his attention to the ceiling. The high arched roof of the chamber had several narrow window-like holes that let air in from the surface. They were too small for him or Phaesys, but he was willing to bet that Oria and maybe Feanne might be able to slip through.

  Backing the group up a little more, Estin saw Phaesys drag his father along like a sack of grain. The others followed Estin’s lead, moving closer to the wall. Likely, they thought he wanted the wall behind them to keep the ghouls from circling them, but in reality, he wanted to get closer to the wooden beams that ran up from the floor to the ceiling.

  “Drop your weapons and I won’t harm you…much,” offered Arturis. He walked up to the foot of the steps, with the ghouls at his side the whole way. “I would like my pet back. If you turn him over, I will consider letting most of you live. Which ones will be more random, but I do pledge not to kill everyone.”

  Using his tail to feel around without giving away his plan as he sheathed his weapons, Estin got himself close to the beam before answering. “You say that like you have a choice in how this will turn out.”

  Arturis scowled at Estin, then looked around at his ghouls, clearly misunderstanding. “I control them absolutely. Your statement is nonsense.”

  Of the people he had to get to the ceiling, Oria was the least of Estin’s concerns as he plotted. The girl had learned to climb at a young age and likely could shimmy up the beam without too much trouble. He had to assume she would follow his lead.

  Estin glanced over at Phaesys and down at where the male’s claws should have been. He would be unable to climb. Of the three that had come in with Estin, Phaesys was the heaviest, so Estin realized he would have to carry him or find some other way to get him off the floor.