Hero Cast Trilogy Omnibus

by Adam Carter

  Moya looked at him sympathetically. “You really are dense, Crenshaw.”

  “No, Kastra. I’m a hero.”

  “In that case, what’s the one thing folk like to see more than a hero succeed?”

  He well knew the answer to that one and braced himself for her attack. Moya did not break her gaze from him, but something happened in the garden. Canlin, standing frozen with his axe raised, disintegrated in moments. Valok, whose magic had failed him and who had fallen into a soul-destroying pit of mental despair, tried to run but his limbs turned to dust before he had taken even a single step. Wren stirred where she had fallen and Moya smiled as the captain turned to dust without even having properly woken.

  “Stop this,” Crenshaw said. “Stop killing people.”

  “Oh Crenshaw, but I like killing people. It’s what I’m good at.”

  With a bestial cry, Asperathes launched himself through the air, his wicked sickle coming down in a swift arc, but Crenshaw watched in horror as he turned to nothing mid-air. Asperathes had been Crenshaw’s friend for so long, was in reality the only friend he had remaining. And now he was gone in an instant, slain by the being the apepkith had always warned him of.

  “Now do you understand, Crenshaw?” Moya asked. “Now do you understand what I’m capable of?”

  “You won’t kill me. Karina’s still in there somewhere and she won’t let you kill me.”

  Moya slowly shook her head, a glimmer of her old self still clinging on. “Joe, you never really understood women, did you?”

  And with those words Crenshaw felt his body come apart.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Well that was unpleasant,” Asperathes said.

  Canlin finished his swing, smashing a rock to smithereens, while Valok ran into a tree. Wren sat up, rubbing her head and clearly wondering where she was. Crenshaw stared ahead vacantly, as though he no longer cared what happened to him.

  “We’re alive,” Valok said, rubbing his nose. “She didn’t kill us.”

  A smile broke Crenshaw’s face, which made Asperathes wince at what he knew was about to come. “She didn’t kill us,” said the old soldier. “That was Moya, fighting for us. Kastra tried to incinerate us but Moya’s still fighting for us.”

  “Or this Kastra/Moya hybrid wants something from us,” Asperathes said. They were all standing in a valley Asperathes vaguely recognised as being about ten miles from the castle. “She gathered us and had us assault the castle for a reason, and I can’t see as we’ve yet to fulfil it.”

  “You believe what you want, Asp, and I’ll keep my faith in Karina.”

  Asperathes had been afraid of this ever since they had discovered Moya was in the castle. Their intelligence about Moya had been sketchy, based on nothing more than rumour. Asperathes had been hoping Crenshaw would see the woman’s true nature and agree she had to be killed. Instead, this had happened, and Asperathes could not imagine a worse result.

  “We have to go back,” Wren said. “We have to get back there and finish this.”

  “Finish it?” Valok laughed. “Moya, Kastra – whatever you want to call that thing – brushed us off without even looking our way. Mannin’s dead and that we’re all still alive is a miracle I’m not about to toss away so lightly.”

  “You finished?” Wren asked. “Because if so I have some orders for you.”

  “This isn’t the time for orders,” Asperathes said. “I think we all need to agree on what we’re going to do, but being ordered to do it isn’t going to help anyone.”

  “We can’t agree,” Wren said. “We all want different things.”

  “Which is why I’m suggesting we put aside what we want and do what’s best for everyone. Wren, Canlin, Valok; you want the baroness free of Moya and the status quo restored, correct?”

  There were some nods.

  “I want the baroness dead,” Crenshaw said. “Kind of a confliction there.”

  “Which would you prefer,” Asperathes asked, “the baroness dead or Moya saved?”

  “Karina always comes first.”

  “And I want both of them dead,” Asperathes said. “I have no stake in this other than that. In fact, Moya can survive for all I care. Now I know it’s Kastra in charge, I can understand some of what she’s done. Kastra never had a problem with me, other than my being an apepkith, but even if Kastra goes after my entire race I’m still going to be way down on his list.”

  “That doesn’t leave much room for compromise,” Wren said.

  “Which is why I’m getting all our feelings on the table, so to speak. We need to come up with something we’re all comfortable with.”

  “I’m saving Karina,” Crenshaw said, “and that’s all there is to it.”

  “Killing her may be the only way to save her,” Asperathes said.

  “I’ll agree to that,” Canlin said quickly.

  “Asp,” Wren said, “I get what you’re trying to do, but it’s not going to work. I’m going back to the castle and we’re going to figure out a way of defeating Moya. That’s not up for discussion.”

  “Then we take her alive,” Asperathes said. “If we can capture her, that gets her away from the baroness, and it also allows Crenshaw the opportunity to get through to her.”

  “And what about you?” she asked. “All you want is the baroness dead; how does this help you?”

  “It doesn’t. But with the baroness back in her own frame of mind, that puts her back to being what I’m used to. It means if I want to plan her death I can know precisely what I’m facing.”

  Wren exchanged a look with Canlin, who shrugged. Canlin was a soldier, but his first loyalty was to his captain and he would do whatever she asked of him. “All right,” she said. “Jobek?”

  Crenshaw grunted. “So long as no one harms Karina I don’t much care what we do.”

  “So,” Wren said, “the big question is how do we fight her?”

  “The amulet,” Asperathes said. “Valok, I need it back.”

  “If that amulet is the only thing that can stop her,” Valok said, “I think I’d best hang onto it.”

  “You’ve had all this time to pry out its secrets and have achieved nothing.”

  “Only because I’m wary of Moya realising I have the thing.”

  “That’s still an issue,” Asperathes said, “but I think it’s about time we put that aside and admit we have a weapon which might actually work.” He held out his hand, hoping Valok would be reasonable about this. The old sorcerer’s shoulders sagged and he withdrew the thing from a pouch at his belt and handed it over. The amulet was exactly as Asperathes remembered it, and as he held it in his hand it seemed to glower at him.

  “What are you going to do with it?” Wren asked.

  “I’m not magic sensitive,” he said. “I’m hoping in an ironic way that might give me some advantage.”

  “I’ve seen you do magic,” Canlin said.

  “You’ve seen me do tricks,” Asperathes corrected him. “I sometimes pretend I dabble in sorcery, but all I’m really using are chemicals and sleight of hand.”

  “If you go against her without magic,” Valok said, “you’ll die.”

  “I’m the only one here who doesn’t hate Kastra. I’m willing to bet that could stand me in good stead against him. Her. Whatever.”

  “That’s a pretty big risk, Asp.”

  “Please, if anyone uses the word hero in their next sentence I’m liable to hit them.”

  “Hero?” Valok scoffed. “There’s nothing heroic about stupidity.”

  “We use Asp as a distraction,” Wren said. “He flashes that amulet, gets Moya all fired up; then we set some trap on her. Valok, can you contain Moya somehow?”

  “I don’t know. Faerie magic is beyond human understanding. They’re such an ancient species. Before the human race even existed, the faeries had perfected sorcery we still don’t even comprehend.”

  “That would be a no, then?”

  “I’m saying I can’t guarantee Asperathes�
��s survival.”

  Wren glanced at the apepkith and shrugged. “I can live with that.”

  “Lovely alliance we have,” Asperathes said. “I’m willing to give it a go, but there’s a problem. Kastra wanted to talk to us before, which is why we were able to get so close. If he still wanted to talk, he wouldn’t have teleported us all out here. And I don’t want to even consider that Moya’s fighting Kastra here.”

  “You’re saying we might meet heavy resistance when we go back?” Canlin asked. “It’s what we planned for the first time, so it’s not something we should worry about.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Wren said. “We’re not slaughtering everyone. Asp, I think you should talk with Moya, but not with the rest of us. I’ll go with you, just the two of us.”

  “I thought you wanted Valok to surprise her or something?”

  “That was before I knew we had no chance of that working. I’m still thinking like a soldier, because I am a soldier. This is bigger than me, bigger than anything soldiers face; but it’s also bigger than anything sorcerers face. We’ve been coming at this problem all wrong. Truth is, we don’t have a clue what we’re up against or how to fight it.”

  “So you think the best chance we have of winning is for the two of us to walk in peacefully?”

  “I think it can’t push us in any deeper.”

  Asperathes had never known what to make of Captain Wren. She was a soldier, which made her disciplined and loyal, but not necessarily a good person. That she was a soldier of the baroness did not concern Asperathes overly, for even Crenshaw had served the baroness at one time. He had seen evidence of Wren’s courage many times over their year together, although this was the first time he had seen her willing to leave what remained of her regiment behind and entrust her safety solely to one of the two fugitives she had been chasing.

  “It’s a bad plan,” Asperathes said, “but I like it.”

  “I’m coming too,” Crenshaw said.

  “You’re not,” Asperathes told him. “If Moya wanted to talk to you, she would have done so.”

  “That was Kastra.”

  “Crenshaw, there’s no difference any more.”

  Crenshaw stared off down the valley. Asperathes could not say he knew what the man was going through. Asperathes had never known love, so consequently had never known the loss of love, or heartache or whatever it was people called such things. He considered lying, inventing some tale for Crenshaw so the man would know he was not alone, but Asperathes could not see how lying to the man would help their situation any.

  “I’ll check the perimeter,” Crenshaw muttered and walked off down the valley.

  Asperathes watched him go. “Perimeter of what?” he asked the air.

  “The man’s a soldier,” Wren said, staring after him thoughtfully. “He fights his way out of a situation, or follows the orders of his superior. This is something he can’t fight his way out of.”

  “It’s been a long time since Jobek Crenshaw was a soldier, Captain.”

  “I think it’s been longer since he was a man.”

  Asperathes knew Crenshaw wanted to be alone, but that was not necessarily what the man needed. Following an angry bear back to its cave was a foolish thing to do, but the two had been friends for a long time and Asperathes feared nothing from Crenshaw. The man had lost everything, even his youth, yet Asperathes did not pity him. Crenshaw would have hated nothing more than another man’s pity.

  He followed Crenshaw at a distance, seeing the old soldier was indeed gazing up at the high mountains which formed the valley. Even when distracted by grief, Crenshaw’s mind was still alert, still at least with half a thought as to what was important for the present. Asperathes did not approach him until Crenshaw stopped to sit on a rock, overlooking the forestland farther down the mountain.

  “I hadn’t realised we were so far up,” Asperathes said as he sat on a rock close by.

  “We’ve had other things on our mind, Asp,” Crenshaw replied distantly.

  Asperathes did not speak, just looked down at the many thousand trees, knowing Crenshaw would talk when he needed to.

  Absently, the old soldier began tossing pebbles down the mountainside. They sat there listening to them clatter down the rocks, causing mild flurries of sand to cascade after them.

  “She’s gone, isn’t she?” Crenshaw said at last. “That’s what you want me to accept.”

  “Kastra planned all of this too well, Jobek. I’ve never liked faeries, never much understood why they had to come over to our side of the world in the first place. If life in faerieland is so good, why do they bother coming over here, eh? Just to make our lives miserable.”

  “If you’re trying to cheer me up, get to something funny.”

  Asperathes wasn’t sure whether that was meant in humour but felt safer assuming it wasn’t. “Kastra’s after something, Jobek. I don’t know what, but whatever it is it’s big. To control events this precisely? Moya, the heroes, me and you? The baroness, Wren, all of them? Have you ever heard the saying ‘When faeries plan, give up’?”

  “They’re not all-powerful. Nothing is. I mean, look at who’s supposedly in control in society. The apepkith rule over everyone, Asp, because they’re stronger, more agile and live longer than the rest of us. But toss one in a meat-locker and it’ll fall asleep and die.”

  “I’ve done that once or twice, in my bounty hunting days.”

  “And look at you. If the apepkith are so superior, why are you down in the gutter with the rest of us lowly humans?”

  Asperathes’s smile was wry. “I’m sure that was meant well.”

  “No. It wasn’t. And the magic users. They’re supposed to be better than the rest of us as well, lording over everyone with their abilities the rest of us don’t understand. Turns out they only keep together like that because they’re all terrified what will happen if someone with truly great potential happens to learn sorcery without their help.”

  “Yes. What happens is someone gets possessed by a faerie and threatens everyone.” He paused. “You do realise we could bring the magic users in on this? The powerful ones, I mean. The ones who run the academies, who run the lands in all but name. If they knew the baroness was being controlled by a faerie in human form, they would annihilate Kastra.”

  “Sure they would. And we all want to see Kastra annihilated, don’t we? Body and all.” Crenshaw tossed another pebble. “This plan of yours. I don’t like it. Whatever Kastra’s doing, waving his amulet in his face isn’t going to help much. You need me there, you need us all there.”

  “I’m hoping Wren will be enough.”

  “To do what?”

  “If I can distract Kastra with the amulet, Wren might be able to get through to the baroness, get her to realise what’s going on. With her on our side, Kastra’s hold is broken and we could gain a powerful ally.”

  “So the baroness is our friend now?”

  “A resource.”

  “You still intend on killing her once this is over?”

  “She stole years of our lives, Jobek, and she’s never going to stop hunting us for something we didn’t do.”

  “We could admit to her we’re not the people who attacked the castle. Once everything’s explained to her, she’ll realised we’re not because we couldn’t have been in the cell and attacking the castle at the same time.”

  “I don’t see she’d much care.”

  “You ever get the feeling pretending to be the heroes was a bad move?”

  Asperathes smiled, mainly because he could see Crenshaw was at last no longer looking quite as dire as he had. “We could still be heroes, Jobek. Real ones, I mean. We can do good for this world by ridding it of Kastra.”

  “I don’t care about being a hero.”

  “That’s tosh and you know it. Why did you become a soldier? To kill people?”

  “A soldier’s job is to protect civilians.”

  “Then protect them. Stand up to Kastra, help us with this plan and save
the world.”

  “Save the world? What are you talking about now? This has nothing to do with saving the world.”

  “No, I was being overly dramatic. But it would save this entire kingdom and, since I doubt you’ve ever been out of the kingdom, it’s pretty much your entire world.”

  “Asp, you’re blathering again. How is us taking out Kastra going to save anyone?”

  “The magic users we mentioned. The powerful ones, the ones in charge. If they had any idea what Kastra’s done they’d come here and sort everything out, all right. And do you know what they’d do? They’d cleanse the entire area for miles, making sure there weren’t any witnesses to their fear. Everyone would be dead, Jobek, everyone. The baroness would be killed, sure, but where’s the worth in killing your enemy if you just happen to kill everyone else at the same time?”

  “You’re sounding like Serita now.”

  “Then maybe sometimes Serita talks sense.”

  Crenshaw had another rock in his hand, but had ceased tossing them. He was too busy thinking to be doing anything like that. “Do you have a place for me in this grand plan of yours, Asp?”

  “As if I’d leave you out of anything, my friend. I’ll need you to work with Canlin and Valok.”

  Crenshaw veritably growled at that. “You know I can’t stand those two. They murdered Sooty.”

  “And they’ll pay for that, believe me. But not today.”

  Crenshaw shifted his weight, petulantly surrendering. “What do you want me to do?”

  “The most difficult thing of all, Joe. I need you to live.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  It was dark; then it was light.

  It was a simple statement, but Mannin could not think of any better way of putting things. She was standing in a room without any memory as to how she had got there. The room was richly furnished, with expensive drapes over the windows and doors, a four-poster bed which could have done for her entire family, and even some rugs spread across the flagstones. As she looked behind her, Mannin could see the last traces of the green cloud departing like a whipped dog. She remembered the cloud and wanted very much to run after it, to embrace it, to blanket herself in its softness. But she did not. The cloud had brought her to this chamber for a reason and it would have been rude to have run away so soon.