She was beautiful, he thought as he got closer, with dark soulful eyes and thick dark hair that cascaded around her face in waves and curls. Under a silken dress, he couldn’t help noticing how womanly she was, although he tried not to dwell on this. He had come to see Shaala to discuss the possibility of her aiding Ensari and her allies, not to give her lingering gazes.
“Oh, come in!” Shaala said, guiding him with a slender arm placed upon his shoulder. “You must be soaked. Let me take your cloak for you.”
She took him inside and closed the door.
Karn handed his cloak to her without argument. He was surprised despite himself. Shaala seemed very down to earth, not at all how he had expected her to be. “Thank you.”
“Come,” she told him, leading him to a tall stairway. “I must take you to your room and give you some dry clothes.”
“I’m Shaala,” she added in case he was wondering. “As you no doubt already know. What’s your name?”
“My name’s Karn. Karn Zell.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Karn,” Shaala replied, favoring him with a smile.
“Likewise,” Karn said, returning the smile as best he could. But it was a poor imitation.
He then followed Shaala up the stairs, heading for the highest floors of the tower.
XII. A Skirmish in the Woods
As Karn prepared to rest after his long journey, there were others for whom that luxury was still far away; for at the Orishelm garrison, a brutal skirmish was taking place.
“Keld!” Tal called from the door to the guardhouse, holding a large coil of rope in one hand. Keld put his bow down and made for the doorway, keeping low to avoid the occasional arrows that sailed through the windows.
“Be careful!” Gandon called out to him.
“You too,” Keld replied before he headed out. He then followed Tal along with another group of men to the other side of the garrison. As they ran along the battlements and walkways of the fortress, they watched out for stray Angdar but they reached the other side without incident. There were no entrances on that side of the garrison and the wall was too high and too smooth for any attackers to climb them.
Tal let the rope he was carrying down the wall, holding onto it as his companions climbed to the ground one at a time. When the last man had descended from the battlements, he pulled it back up then leapt down from the wall himself, using the gift to bring himself to a soft landing.
“Come on!” he said, leading the others into the cover of the forest.
They jogged in silence, circled the garrison to the foothills where the enemy soldiers were positioned and attacked.
In the confusion, Keld was separated from his companions and was soon outnumbered with a large group of enemy archers doing their best to skewer him. Not wishing to make it any easier for them than he had to, he ran for the cover of the woods.
He rested for a moment behind a tree. Then a second later, another Angdar warrior ran past and he stepped out, slashing the beast through the chest. A few yards away, several more ran past, grunting things to each other and oblivious to their fallen companion. Keld chased after them and as he did, he wondered where Tal and the others had got to as he was now alone in this forest with a large group of Angdar who were trying to kill him.
“Well, this is great,” he muttered.
Then, somewhere close by, a loud horn was blown. It was a glorious note and it echoed around the foothills, the garrison and the mountains above them with great clarity. A short distance away, Ishtvan and his companions had arrived.
Ishtvan looked at the scene before him, taking in everything that was happening. There was a lot of fighting in front of the garrison and many arrows being fired every which way. As his side held it, the Angdar could be shot at easily from above but the enemy’s advantage in numbers more than made up for this. Also, Ishtvan saw that there were very few arrows actually being fired out of the garrison.
Despite this though, the Angdar were in disarray and there seemed to be nobody in command. Ishtvan supposed that after finding out their enemies held the garrison, the handful of lesser mages who had assigned themselves to this group must have abandoned the area and left their soldiers to sort the mess out themselves.
Beside him, Lorial shuffled. He smiled at her. “The tides of the war may be hard to turn but we can turn this battle.” He then turned to the other soldiers. “We’ll take them from the foothills. Follow me!”
They charged into the fight, staying together as best they could so as to overwhelm the enemy. With the advantage of organization and surprise, they killed many enemy soldiers. However, the Angdar regrouped quickly and soon a large group of them had halted their advance and scattered them.
“Stay together!” Lorial shouted at the others but they were now broken up into small groups. She looked around in horror. Ishtvan had told her how terrible the Angdar were but his words had not prepared her for the enormous creatures she was now facing. Monsters that fought with the strength of wild animals, with unbridled hatred in their eyes.
Then one of the beasts came right at her and she dived to the ground with a cry of alarm.
The creature was powerful and fearless, driven by its irrational rage. She, on the other hand, was frightened out of her wits and if she were to clash blades with the thing, she knew she’d be no match for it. However, she was fast, both in her thinking and her movements. With swift speed, she pulled a curved knife from a strap on her boot and in a moment, it was all over.
“What am I doing here?” she muttered as she scrambled to her feet. It had seemed so right in Ensildahir that she should come here with Ishtvan but now...
She jogged over to the now lifeless body of the Angdar and retrieved her knife from its neck. Then she headed for the cover of some nearby trees and hid behind some as another Angdar ran past. Once it had gone, she stepped out but, not a moment later, someone else leapt out of the forest.
She reached for her sword but stopped. It was Ishtvan.
“Stay together, remember?” he reminded her with a quick grin.
He was sweaty and covered in dirt and grime and Lorial wondered if she looked as filthy as he did.
“Come on,” he told her. “This way.”
She followed him higher up into the foothills below the mountains. There were still several other men with them. As they ran, a stray Angdar jumped out at her but she managed to duck to the side and decapitate it before it could take a swing at her.
She ran on, taking down two Angdar from behind and then stopped to catch her breath.
“They seem scattered now,” she said.
There was no reply. Frowning, she turned around. “Ishtvan?”
A lump came to her throat. Ishtvan was lying on the ground a few yards away with an arrow in his chest.
Close by, Keld was still fighting but by now, most of the Angdar in the area were retreating and he heard the sound of the enemy’s horns fading in the distance. He then ran up a small embankment to see if there were any more of the brutes nearby. Then the sweat that he had worked up grew cold against his skin.
Lorial looked up at him with glazed eyes and he walked over and knelt down beside her.
XIII. Dominicon
The next day, Karn enjoyed a simple breakfast with Shaala, sitting on the balcony of her room and looking over the open plains of the wide valley that encircled the palace.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Shaala said.
Karn nodded as he took in the view. He loved being so high above the ground, especially above a valley as picturesque as the one that lay below. He marveled at the small rivers that wound their way across it, sparkling in the sun, the clusters of forests scattered throughout it and the small but rugged mountains that surrounded it.
“Did you sleep well last night?” Shaala asked him.
“I did,” Karn replied. “So, you believe you can help us in the war against the Cirreone and the Angdar?”
“I’m still not sure, mind you,” Shaala told
him, taking a sip of a drink. “But I might be able to. However, I have only just learned of your conflict and there’s a lot I don’t know. What’s happened so far?”
“I’ll tell you everything I knew at the time I left Ensari.”
Shaala then listened as Karn recounted the recent events. He told her how they had stopped Vlaxan and his men at Berring’s Cove and how the Ilara and Maharei fleets had defeated the Aracean fleet in the Strait of Hellesa. Shaala didn’t interrupt him while he spoke and after he had finished, she remained silent.
“Well?” he asked her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I think I need more time to consider. Can you stay for a few days? If you can’t, I’ll understand. And I’m deeply sorry if I’ve disappointed you... but I need some time.”
Karn contemplated his options for a moment. It was strange though for he thought he was still making up his mind when he spoke. “I’ll stay a while longer.”
“Thank you,” Shaala said.
Inside, Karn felt a little ill at ease. Shaala showed nothing but kindness in her eyes but she seemed disappointed by something, as if she didn’t want him there, and he wondered why. She had asked for a mage and a mage had come.
Shaala smiled, drawing him out of his private thoughts. “Perhaps in the meantime though, I could show you what it is I do. Then you will at least know that I have something to offer and that you’re not wasting your time here.”
Karn folded his arms and leant forward. “By all means.”
Still smiling, Shaala rose to her feet, stretching out her hands. As she did, several exotic and quite colorful birds flew over the balcony, landing on her arms and on her shoulders, while others gathered on the railing.
Shaala’s smile broadened, lighting up her wondrous eyes. “This is my own unique version of the gift. Through my mind, I can communicate with birds and beasts. And I do not control their minds either. I am blessed in that I can persuade them to please my will and they do it of their own volition.”
Karn stood up and looked around him. Now there were hundreds of birds on the balcony and they had all come within a few moments of Shaala’s silent call. He had seen this ability in only one other mage and, even then, it was a pale reflection of what Shaala had just done.
“I can communicate with many different creatures,” Shaala explained. “I could summon a falcon, a pack of wolves or a herd of the antelope from the plains of Saharei.”
“There’s a mage among us who can communicate with us when we’re far apart,” Karn told her. “And she can summon wild animals as well. But not like this.”
“You’re talking about Morgiana Kyndeera, I take it,” Shaala said.
“You’ve heard of her?”
“I know of her, yes. I think on occasions, I’ve sensed her mind. And, I suspect, on some of these occasions, she’s sensed mine.”
Karn smiled. “And what about me? Have you heard of me too?”
Shaala smiled back. “I have now.”
Again, her expression betrayed nothing but Karn was left with the sense that she was hiding something.
Meanwhile, far to the north, Keld stepped into the gatehouse of the garrison. Pleasant sunlight drifted in through the windows, making it hard to believe that the previous night had been one of the worst in his life.
He saw Tal leaning against the doorway. “What now?”
“We need Lord Adeus to send supplies so we can leave some men to hold our new garrison for us,” Tal told him. “I’ve already sent riders to Ensildahir. Then, once his men arrive, we can leave for Kalishar.”
Where everybody expected the enemy to launch its next offensive, Keld thought. It wasn’t a comforting thought but as he reflected on all the death and mayhem of the night before, he knew most of the men would be happy to see the last of the garrison at least.
He looked at the mage again. For a moment, he hesitated to speak but the worst Tal could do was say no.
“I wonder perhaps if I could take a small detachment of men and head north.”
Tal raised his eyebrows. A wry smile creased his lips. “You wish to aid Valahir. I’ll gladly provide you with what men and supplies I can spare.” The smile faded. “However, if the enemy does attack Kalishar, we will need all the men we can get. So your group may be quite small.”
“A small group is all I’m after,” Keld said. “I want to see where the enemy soldiers are positioned. I might try a series of small attacks, taking on a handful at a time. But I won’t try to take on the whole lot of them myself.”
Tal nodded as he saw what Keld was driving at. “And if you get through the lines and reach Arvenreign, you can let King Aurth know we’ve taken this garrison. And you can tell him all our other news.”
“And,” Keld added, “with the Angdar army weakened after Ensildahir and the fighting last night, the men of Valahir may well be able to end the siege that’s hemming them in and then there’ll be one more army that can join the fight against both the Angdar and Cirreone’s allies.”
In the late hours of the night, Karn awoke in his room. All was not well in the palace of Bellasaire.
Making no sound, he climbed out of his bed and dressed quickly. A lofty breeze was blowing the curtains around and soft moonlight illuminated the room. He went out of it and walked across the corridor to Shaala’s. As her door was open, he saw that the covers of her bed were pulled back and that she wasn’t there.
His curiosity driving him on, he searched the upper levels of the tower and worked his way down until he found her.
She couldn’t see him as she was facing away from the door, semi–clad, crouched down in front of a small furnace with a hot fire burning inside. He watched and saw that she was holding a sword, heating its blade. Behind her was a flat stone that had been raised above the floor with a hammer on it that she would use to shape the sword once it was soft enough.
As she would have to turn around to do this, Karn couldn’t stay where he was without being seen. And he didn’t want to be seen spying on this woman. Before retreating though, he noticed that Shaala had a large number of completed weapons in this room and it looked as though she had made them all herself. He wasn’t sure if he liked this or not but on the other hand he also knew it was none of his business right then.
He turned to leave but stopped and glanced at Shaala once more. Her smooth skin glowed in the light of the furnace and he knew then that he desired her. He physically and emotionally longed for her. He lingered another moment and then, knowing he was courting danger, he left.
Outside, he considered what he would do next. On the face of it, there didn’t seem to be anything else to do but return to his room and go back to sleep but the warning in the back of his mind was still there.
Relaxing, he took a deep breath. He had always had an intuition for danger – a ‘danger sense’ as he thought of it – and it never awoke without a reason.
He concentrated on his feelings until he could sense where the danger was. Then, letting his instincts guide him, he discovered a series of stairs that descended underground.
As he worked his way down, he noticed that the rooms and passages around him now were much older and cruder than those in the tower and were little more than caves. It was in one of these rooms that the danger lurked.
Karn entered it with caution and looked around. He couldn’t see anybody inside but his impression was that the place was some kind of lair. And seeing a few unfamiliar items scattered about it and a fire burning in an alcove in the far wall, he knew it had been recently occupied.
Then the warning in his mind grew stronger and he turned around to see an enormous man lunge at him. However, even with his naturally fast reflexes, enhanced by the gift, he was too slow to react.
The man grabbed him in a vice–like grip, sending agonizing jolts through his body. Then he hoisted Karn above his shoulders and threw him at the nearest wall.
Winded and immobilized with pain, Karn collapsed to the ground. With some effort, he held
his head up so he could see his attacker.
The man had a mane of dark hair, a short beard and a stern, cruel face with venomous eyes set back beneath heavy eyebrows. He was easily over seven feet tall as well, far larger and stronger than any ordinary man.
As Karn looked at him, he felt a tinge of regret. He had made a terrible mistake in coming down here and most likely, it would be his last.
Then a familiar voice rang loud and clear. “Dominicon! Don’t you dare harm this boy.”
The giant turned around to face Shaala, who stood in the entrance to the room. He was breathing heavily now, but from frustration as opposed to exertion.
Ignoring him for the moment, Shaala walked past him and helped Karn to his feet. As she held him, Karn felt an incredible sensation of pleasure. It felt magical to have this woman holding him in a way the gift could never be.
Dominicon for his part was still. In fact, right then, he appeared bored more than anything else.
“I don’t care if you want a companion in your palace,” he told Shaala. “But this is my room. Keep your pets out of it.”
Karn turned to glance at Shaala when all went dark.
A little bird singing its simple tune on the balcony outside his room woke him. He felt groggy as he pushed back the sheets from his bed, which was unusual for him. He never really felt groggy in the morning, even after his most strenuous days.
He got dressed and went to see if Shaala was awake. She was.
“Good morning, Karn,” she said in a cheery voice. “How did you sleep?”
“Not bad,” he lied. “How about you?”
Shaala looked at him with concern and ran one of her tender hands through his hair. “Are you all right?”
Karn smiled. “I’m fine. I just had a bad dream, that’s all.”
However, as he said the words, vague images of a lair in a cave ran through his mind.
XIV. Solace
“What did she call him? What did she call him?” Karn asked himself aloud as he made his way to the lower levels of the tower that night.
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