Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series

by Williams, Christopher

  "Don't leave me!" Keenan called out, frantically trying to free his leg.

  For a moment, Trestus considered leaving the man. After all, it wouldn't do any good for both of them to get caught. This thought had barely crossed his mind before he was sprinting back. Keenan had got them out of the torture room, and he deserved better than to be left to be killed.

  Trestus slid to a stop beside the prince.

  "Help me!" Keenan repeated.

  Fool, Trestus thought. Would I really be coming back if I didn't intend to help? "Can you run?"

  "Yes. I don't think it's broken."

  Reaching down, Trestus grabbed the saddle horn and heaved with all his might. The horse barely seemed to budge but it was enough. Between Trestus heaving on the horse by the saddle and Keenan pushing the back of the horse with both hands, his leg slid out from beneath the horse.

  "Hurry!" Trestus said, pulling the prince to his feet. He paused only long enough to point straight ahead. "Enstorion seemed to be going straight. You follow him and I'll try to help Kara." Then, without waiting, he turned and ran northwest into the forest.

  Trestus had seen where Kara entered the forest and he did his best to follow her. In some parts of the woods, it was easy to see where she must have gone, because in those places, the trees had grown so close together that he knew she had to have gone through the small gap where a tree had fallen over. There were other places, however, where the forest opened up and there were multiple paths she could have followed. While trying to move as fast as possible, Trestus paused at these places and looked for any clue to where she had gone. Broken limbs, bushes pushed askew, and a couple of shoe prints all helped him follow her path. Elated as he was to find her trail, he was nevertheless horrified at how easy it was. If he could follow her this easy, then so could their pursuers.

  He pushed through a couple of thick bushes and broke into a small clearing. Knee high grass covered an oval area maybe twenty yards long and another ten across. The ground gradually sloped upwards and the far side of the clearing looked to be becoming a small hill. Movement off to his right caught his attention and he turned to look, and then dove to the ground. A small sapling, several inches thick, shot upwards at an angle and he felt the small tree tug on his shirt as it passed over him.

  Hitting the ground hard, he rolled over, trying to pull his sword from its sheath.

  "Trestus!" Kara called breathlessly. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were one of those men. You scared me half to death."

  We're even then, Trestus thought as he allowed himself to slump to the ground. The girl had nearly killed him and he was rushing to help her. Maybe he ought to ask her to protect him instead.

  "Why are you following me?" Kara asked as she helped him to his feet. "I thought we were supposed to split up."

  "Well, we are, but I thought that you might," he trailed off, not finishing the sentence. Her left eyebrow was twitching and that was never a good sign. She must have guessed that he had though" wt she would need his help. He reached down and took her by the hand, "Listen. Berate me all you want, just do it later. We have to get moving before they find us." He took a step into the clearing, heading towards the small hill on the far side, but Kara didn't move.

  "Too late," she said quietly.

  Trestus turned and saw that she was quite right. Four men were working their way through the forest twenty yards behind them. "Run!" he shouted.

  Derek stepped away from the edge of the gulley and faced the three armed men. They had the look of soldiers who were out of uniform. They wore simple enough clothes, the like of which would fit in perfectly along the highway, but these men were muscular and too well armed to be ordinary farmers or caravan workers. They didn't have any armor on their arms or legs but signs of chain mail poked through tunics. They had dark hair and a week's growth on their cheeks.

  The soldier in the middle stepped forward, "It doesn't have to be like this. We don't want to hurt you. Just come with us and you'll be fine."

  Derek smiled. "A truly pathetic lie. Did you forget that I escaped from a torture room?"

  The two soldiers on the sides were moving forward slowly, all the while moving farther to his sides. They had their swords out to, but there was a hesitation.

  "Remember our orders," the middle guard said, ignoring Derek and focusing on the other two soldiers.

  Derek could guess what those orders were. They wanted him alive.

  The guard on the right jumped forward but it was only a feint. No sooner had he started forward, then he immediately retreated.

  Not fooled, Derek had started to turn in the guard's direction but stopped even before the guard began his retreat. He did a quick downwards slash with his sword but not to the right where the supposed attack was coming from, instead he slashed his sword to the left.

  There was a clang as Derek's sword hit the sword of the soldier on the left side. He had guessed right, the attack from the right was a feint to distract him from the real attack which was coming from the left.

  As his sword deflected the soldier's sword downward, Derek jerked his belt knife out and up and felt the satisfactory feeling of warm blood hitting his skin. His blade cut diagonally across the soldier's face and the man's left eye exploded. That soldier fell to the ground screaming, but Derek was already moving in the opposite direction.

  As soon as his knife hit home, he swung his sword back to the right. He swung the sword in a fast arc, more to drive the soldiers back away from him and it sort of worked. The soldier on the right had taken several steps towards him and he jumped back out of the way of the sword. The middle soldier was smarter. Seeing what Derek was doing, he waited for Derek to cut the first soldier and make his unbalanced swing. He did not start towards Derek until after the sword passed him and then he jumped forward hitting Derek hard in the chest and the two of them hit the ground hard.

  Derek landed on his back and the soldier came down on top of him. A sharp pain burst through his right leg which was bent at an unusual angle. The impact with the ground loosened his grip on the sword and it went flying but he managed to hold on to his knmovife with his left hand. He quickly raised the knife, intending to stab the soldier in the back but his forearm was grabbed by the third man, who had quickly knelt down beside them.

  Panic began to rise up in Derek at the thought of losing this fight. He tried to roll but the two men were ready for this and kept him from losing them.

  The kneeling soldier punched him hard in the face, possibly breaking his nose. His eyes blurred and he couldn't see, but he kept right on fighting, twisting, trying to pull his knife arm loose. He twisted hard, trying to roll to the right and gave a hard tug with his left arm, and miraculously it came free.

  Surprised by the sudden freedom of his arm, he nevertheless knew what to do and plunged the knife into the back of the man lying across him.

  The soldier's eyes widened and his mouth opened in a silent scream. After a moment, the soldier was nothing but dead weight and Derek shoved him off.

  He pulled himself into a kneeling position and desperately tried to clear the blood and tears from his eyes. His vision cleared quickly but he knelt there blinking at the scene laid out before him.

  Ten feet in front of him, the first soldier he had cut was still moaning on the ground. To his right was the corpse of the soldier he had stabbed in the back. Several feet in front of him and slightly to his left was what had to be the corpse of the third man. It was barely recognizable. It was shriveled and all shrunk up, reminding Derek of the way a grape becomes a raisin. Even more astounding, was the woman standing five feet in front of him.

  She had dark brown bushy hair that was nearly black and it contrasted with her white pale skin. Her eyes were the brightest green he had ever seen and they only accentuated the paleness of her skin. Her clothes were brown and rough looking. Both the shirt and pants were made out of an animal hide, perhaps deer. Her hands rested on her hips and she regarded him solemnly.

  Derek
looked all around for what could have done the damage to the soldier, but he could see nothing.

  The strange woman still had not said a word and she turned and strode to the first soldier, the one who had been cut across the face. Slowly, she reached down and touched his forehead, ignoring the blood which covered the man's skin and clotted in his hair.

  After a moment, a mist formed around the two of them and then the soldier began to shrivel. There wasn't any other way to put it. His skin dried out and began to crack, the plumpness of his skin disappeared until it looked like skin stretched over bones, and his whole body seemed to fall in upon itself. After another moment or two, the woman released what was left of the corpse and it fell back to the ground, breaking into multiple pieces.

  Derek's eyes bulged at the sight and he tried to stand. His right leg was hurt though, whether broken or sprained he did not know, but it wouldn't support his weight. He gave up trying to climb to his feet and returned to his kneeling position. He tried to crawl to his sword but that too caused an unbearable pain to run up his leg.

  Turning, the woman met his gaze and Derek looked around hopelessly. His mind flung around for any possibility of escape and then his eyes fell on the edge of the gulley. Better to take his chances with quicksand than let the woman touch him. He flung himself into a laying position and began to roll

  He hadn't even covered half the dn uistance when the strange woman stepped between him and the edge of the gulley. She smiled down at him.

  "Can't have you falling into the muck. It probably would kill you." Like a viper, her hand shot out and grabbed his left wrist. It was the wrist that still held the knife.

  Looking up at the woman, Derek relaxed. At least his death would be over quickly. The mist formed around them and a warmth spread through his body. It took him a moment to realize the dull throb in his leg was gone. Must be nearly dead, he thought, closing his eyes.

  The dark haired woman released his wrist and stepped back.

  Derek's eyes popped open in surprise. He wasn't dead. The woman was standing there grinning at him.

  "You must be Derek. Flaranthlas described you to me." She stepped forward and held out her hand. "My name is Leela."

  He took the offered hand without thinking and she pulled him to his feet. His mind seemed to be working slower than normal, and Kara frequently said his mind worked pretty slowly under normal circumstances. It was then that he realized he was standing on his damaged leg and there was no pain.

  "What did you do to me?" And then he remembered what she had said, "Did you say that Flare described me to you?"

  Leela's smiled broadened. "I did say that but I can actually sense his presence on you. That is how I knew you."

  Okay, Derek thought, whatever that means. "When did you see Flare?"

  "He passed through here some time back. He said that he and his companions were headed to Helum. I assumed he was planning on meeting you there."

  Nodding, Derek sighed. "We were delayed." Urgency settled in as he remembered what had brought them here. "Listen, my friends are in the forest as well. Can you help them like you helped me?"

  Leela's eyes fluttered and they half closed and it was like she was actually somewhere else. "Two of them are to the north of us and the other two are to the south. Your pursuers have found both groups."

  "What? You have to help them."

  "Remain calm. I can not reach them in time, but they will be helped." She turned and started north along the edge of the gulley. "Come, follow me."

  Five steps into the forest, Keenan lost Enstorion's trail. It was rather surprising, not to mention embarrassing, that a magician was able to lose him that quickly but Enstorion was an elf and they did have a certain connection with trees and forests. There were several different ways that Enstorion could have gone but there wasn't so much as a disturbed leaf to mark which path he had picked.

  Keenan paused, considering which way to go. Shouts and a commotion a little ways behind him caused him to pick a course at random and start forward. Their pursuers had reached the point where the five of them had entered the forests. It wouldn't be long before the men entered as well.

  The going was slow. The trees grew close together and where there wasn't any trees, there were bushes, briars, and brambles. He forced his way through, trying to disturb as little as possible.ve About a hundred yards into the forest an enormous oak tree had fallen and lay running north to south. Its fall had crushed a number of smaller trees and bushes. Struck by a sudden inspiration, Keenan climbed up on the tree and began moving quickly south.

  After a couple of minutes, he found what he was looking for. The massive oak tree he was walking along had fallen up against a smaller tree. Reaching up, he was just able to grab hold of one of the second tree's branches. He pulled himself up onto the branch and then climbed towards the trunk of the second tree. Once he reached the trunk, he climbed down to the ground and then being careful not to leave tracks, he moved farther west into the forest.

  Enstorion knelt in the crook of a small tree watching Keenan move away into the forest. The prince may have been a good soldier, but he was no woodsman. Keenan had done an okay job of using the fallen tree to help hide his trail but the problem was that he was making enough noise for the king of Telur to hear him.

  A cracking noise back the way they had come caught his attention and he moved his eyes without moving his head. He knew that unexpected movement would mark him out quicker than just about anything.

  Five men were working their way along the trunk of the fallen oak tree. At various points along the length of the tree, a soldier would jump down and head west. In this manner, four of the men jumped down, leaving the last soldier to follow the tree.

  He watched the four men as they fanned out, moving slowly and studying the ground. He wasn't worried about them finding his trail, but as he expected they soon found signs of Keenan's passing.

  One of the soldiers paused over a spot in the ground and then he cupped his hands to his mouth and made a strange bird call. The other three soldiers quickly joined him and they drew their swords and headed off in the exact direction that Keenan had gone.

  Enstorion said a silent curse. Everything would have been just fine if Keenan had gone his own way, but instead he had to follow my trail. Probably thought he was helping me, Enstorion thought.

  The thought of letting the man take care of himself occurred to Enstorion but he dismissed it. Normally, he didn't go looking for trouble and he didn't volunteer to help others, but the prince had saved him from a horrible fate. It would be poor repayment to let him fend for himself now.

  Sighing, he dropped from his hiding place and followed after the soldiers. He moved so silently that not even the trees seemed to notice his passing.

  Trestus jerked Kara into a run, shoving the girl across the clearing and drawing his sword at the same time. Four of them! He thought bitterly, I could see dealing with two, maybe three, but not four.

  Kara stumbled and Trestus grabbed her by her left arm to keep her from falling. They crossed the clearing and began climbing the small hill. He glanced backwards and saw the four soldiers at the far edge of the clearing. "Damn." He said to no one in particular. This didn't look promising.

  The four men spread out in a semicircle but still advanced quickly.

  Trestus frantically looked around for a defensible position. He had hoped that the hill would give him the advantage of high ground and that he could find a pht=lace to keep their backs to a boulder or something, but no such luck. There were plenty of small trees growing across the hill but none of them would give them any protection from the soldiers coming from all four sides.

  Reaching the top of the hill, he looked around for anything that might offer them some protection. It wasn't so much a hill that they stood on, as the clearing had been in a depressed low-lying area and the hill was the sloped side of the depression. There was nothing that would help them.

  He glanced down the slope and sighed
deeply. The soldiers were almost upon them. "Kara, get ready. Here they come!"

  Kara stood beside him, still panting from the climb. Taking a deep breath, she drew the short sword that Keenan had provided for her. It wasn't a weapon that she particularly liked but it was better than nothing.

  The two soldiers in the middle of the slope stopped climbing at the sight of Kara and Trestus at the top of the slope, but the outer two soldiers did not. They continued the climb and reached the slope, fifteen yards or so to either side.

  "You're outnumbered," one of the two guards on the slope said. "You can't win." It was the leftmost of the two soldiers. He looked like he had seen thirty or so years, and he had black hair and a thin beard. He was a muscular man and held his sword like he knew how to use it.

  Trestus feared the man was right but it was better to die here today than return to one of those torture rooms. Trestus and Kara stood there, shoulder to shoulder, watching the four men slowly approach. Hating what he needed to say, he whispered quietly to Kara, "If they overwhelm me, I intend to save the last blow for myself." It would be quicker and cleaner than going back with these men.

  Kara was silent for a moment, "I can't do that," she said finally. "The church says it's a sin."

  He didn't know if it was a sin or not but he knew he would take his own life either way. He swallowed hard, if it came to that, he would have to try and do Kara as well. Tears formed in his eyes at the very thought.

  The two soldiers on the slope were slowly working their way towards Kara and Trestus while the outer two had put up their weapons and were digging out ropes. For the briefest of moments, the two men on the top of the slope had their weapons put away. Trestus seized on it immediately. "Kara, attack the man in front of you."

  He didn't wait to see if she did it or not but sprang forward. The soldier in front of him had a pack open and was digging through it.

  The soldier realized what was happening at the last moment and slung the pack at Trestus and at the same time tried to dive out of the way of Trestus' sword. He almost made it.