The Fighters: Ghostwalker

by Erik Scott Debie

  "I wouldn't do that," said Greyt with a wave of his hand.

  "Do what?" He clutched the edges of the tub and jumped into the water.

  Or rather, Meris jumped onto the water with a painful thud and immediately clutched at his smarting bottom. His flesh was cold where it touched the water, water that was now ice.

  "Impressive, father," spat Meris as he snatched up the towel to gird himself.

  "There are consequences when you ignore me," Greyt said with ice in his voice.

  "I never thought you much of a wizard, father," said Meris. "It seems you've abandoned the man's sword for the little boy's Art."

  "How little you know," replied Greyt. "In fact, the tub is not my doing." Meris raised an eyebrow, now curious. "I would not have shown you this—yet, any way—but I have run out of time and it has become necessary. Talthaliel!"

  A cloaked and cowled figure stepped out of thin air beside Greyt. Meris gave a shout and reached for the discarded shatterspike, but he found the handle burning hot to the touch. Cursing, he let the blade lie and turned to face his father and the mage.

  "Rest easy, Wayfarer," said the cloaked figure. Talthaliel stood tall and gaunt, even for a moon elf. "The time has not yet come for violence."

  "A secret wizard, father?" Meris asked, the approbation in his voice mocking. "I never would have guessed." Privately, he thought about all the mysteries that explained.

  "You have your secrets, I have mine," Greyt said. "And now let me share another secret, which is neither of ours. A second courier has been dispatched, who rode from Oak House. She left not long ago and cannot be far yet. I knew the druids could not be trusted." He growled under his breath. "Unddreth sent this message, but don't worry—I dispatched Bilgren and six of my best rangers to handle the good Captain."

  "And what does any of this have to do with me?" asked Meris, though he already knew the answer.

  "Talthaliel will transport you by magic to the edge of the forest, where you will intercept this courier at all costs," said Greyt. "My spies report that she carries a document damning and condemning me as the source of the murders and attacks."

  "That's not true, is it?" Meris could not resist.

  The Lord Singer growled. "Of course not, but there are certain other activities we do not want Stonar or the Silver Marches investigating, right?"

  Meris shrugged. "Do your own dirty work for a change, old man," he said. He wiped at his eyes. "I have spent a day and a night running errands for you—I'm tired. Send another."

  "No one else can be... trusted with this," said Greyt.

  He was hiding something, which made Meris more wary.

  "Your pet wizard then," snapped Meris. He had expected to see Talthaliel bristle at the insult, but all he could see on the moon elf's face was resignation.

  "I... cannot," Greyt replied, shooting Talthaliel a look.

  "Why 'cannot?'" pressed Meris.

  Greyt stared at him for a long moment, perhaps fight­ing the urge to lash out, perhaps worried. Had Meris just found a sensitive point? The dusky scout filed the emotional response away for future use.

  "Go yourself, then," Meris said. "Or must the high-and-honored hero Dharan Greyt, Lord Singer of Quaervarr, keep his yarting fingers dry of blood?"

  Greyt took a step toward Meris as though to strike but stopped, as though realizing something. The Lord Singer took a moment to compose himself, then stared murder at Meris.

  "You are my pup. You do as I command," snapped the Lord Singer. "You leave shortly. Ready your gear." He waved and Talthaliel disappeared. Greyt opened Meris's door to leave. "For now, I shall go open those presents you brought me."

  "Careful not to open them too much," said Meris, his tone evoking a wince from Greyt. "Leave some of the fun for me."

  * * * *

  The first sensation she knew was shivering chill. It was dark and bitterly cold, and she found that she was too weak even to huddle into a ball. Manacles encircled her ankles and held her wrists behind her back. Her throat was parched. She could see nothing but blackness. In the distance, she heard something dripping. She hoped it was only water.

  Arya found that her captors had stripped her armor and left her in a torn tunic and breeches. Fortunately, she was not damaged beyond rough handling, and for that Arya thanked Torm and Tymora. With her toe, she felt along the wall until she had traced a rough mental sketch of her enclosure. Small and cramped, the room possessed only one entrance: a cell door with thick bars.

  A dungeon cell, then.

  Ignoring the wet, slipperiness of the stone floor, Arya sat and waited.

  Then, after a long time—she couldn't see the sun, but it felt like half a day—Arya heard a door open with a long, rusty rattle. It slammed shut a moment later. Arya flinched at the bang and her head exploded in sharp aches. An involuntary gasp escaped her lips.

  There were footsteps in the dark, and she became aware of a tiny spot of light slowly approaching as though down a long hallway. Arya had no choice but to stay still and try not to suffer any more pain until the light arrived.

  When it finally did, she looked up to see a dim lantern held by a gaunt man in Greyt family livery. Arya's heart fell further when the man swung the lantern a little to the side and illuminated another familiar face, this one wear­ing a cruel smile.

  "Ah, my darling niece," Lord Greyt said. He turned to the lantern holder. "This is the one, Claudir." He took the lantern and waved the steward away. Claudir padded off. If the butler felt any unease about wandering back through the lightless tunnels, he did not express it.

  Arya scooted away from the cell door as Greyt opened it. She huddled back into the farthest corner of her cell, ignoring the damp and sticky feel of the wall behind her. She tried to scream at him to leave her alone, but her tongue felt thick and dry. Instead, she extended her feet to ward him off, though she realized she probably could not have injured him with a kick in her weakened state.

  "Now, now," said Greyt. "What kind of monster do you take me for? You are my niece, after all." He reached into the folds of his robes and Arya's eyes widened. Then, to her vast relief, Greyt withdrew a skin and uncorked it. He held it out to her.

  Arya looked at him suspiciously, but Greyt only smiled. Hesitantly, she edged closer to him, keeping her eyes locked on his face. When he had not moved, she brought herself into a kneeling position and looked up. He tipped the waterskin and cool water rushed into Arya's mouth. She drank fran­tically. To her parched throat, it tasted like the nectar of the gods. She could not catch all the water and a great deal splashed over her dusty face and undertunic.

  "I'm so glad you could rejoin us, little Nightingale," said Greyt as he took the waterskin away. "We have so much to discuss, you and I."

  "What do you want from me?" she asked coldly.

  "Merely to explain myself," he said. "And it seemed meet to tell you of your defeat. Walker is dead. Amra and Und­dreth are gone. Stonar is alienated. I win, little knight."

  Arya looked up at him. "You wish to gloat over me?" she asked. "Save your breath, Lord Singer. I am a Knight in Silver. More than that, I have justice on my side." She set her mouth into a wry, bitter line. "And more than that, I'm a stubborn, defiant daughter. You think my father could break me, much less you? You will not vanquish me until the last breath leaves my body."

  Greyt smiled at her jest. "Humor in the face of certain death? I respect such courage," he said. "Until you breathe your last, eh? Such could be arranged, even 'ere you be hanged ..." He reached for the dagger at his belt.

  She did not flinch, even chained and helpless before him. She may as well have been standing over him with a drawn sword for the look in her eyes.

  "You won't do that," she said. "You can't."

  "Is that so?" he snapped. He bent down, putting his face not a hand's breadth from hers. He drew his knife and pressed it against her cheek. "You know me so well, little wench? Then you must know that I am a hero—"

  "Not a hero," she said.
<
br />   "A villain, then!" Greyt roared in her face. "Bane of all that draws breath! Nothing but pain and death!"

  "No." Arya prepared herself, body and mind. "A coward. You are nothing but a coward."

  As she had expected, Greyt's face twisted in anger. He drew the knife up and back…

  "Get away from her!" came a shout from outside the cell door.

  Greyt was startled, distracted for just an instant. But that instant was enough for Arya to attack with the only weapon she had left—the one atop her shoulders. She slammed her forehead into his face with all the force she could muster, and the Lord Singer staggered back, his nose shattered.

  Her world spinning, Arya managed to make out a huge body moving in another cell across the hallway. A man banging meaty fists against thick cell bars.

  Cell bars...

  "Bars!" she shouted.

  "Me too, lass!" came Derst's weak voice. The short knight stood at the hulking paladin's side and shouted at the Lord Singer. "Stay away from her, Greyt! Attacking helpless, bound women—some hero you are, Quickwidower!"

  Greyt whirled at the mocking nickname. With his nose splattered across his face, his graying hair disheveled, and his eyes burning, he looked more a monster than a man.

  "Hero?" he snapped. "Hero?" He grabbed Arya by the hair and threw her aside like a sack of flour. The knight slammed into the cell wall and lay stunned. "There is no such thing!"

  Arya had just managed to raise her head when Greyt lifted her again and stared into her face. She prepared for another attack, but this time he merely shook her and shouted.

  "How can you believe in heroism?" screamed Greyt. "How can you believe in heroism, when the heroes you worship are murderers such as your beloved Walker, men who seek ven­geance over justice, violence over peace, death over life?"

  Arya struggled to respond, but he was choking the retort out of her. Then he released her, and she fell gasping to the ground.

  Greyt paid her no mind as he stood over her shivering body and roared at Bars and Derst. "The closest thing this world knows to a hero is the one I'm sending to murder that courier!" His voice grew quiet. "Meris, my son."

  There was a chilling silence.

  "Greyt," asked Arya in one last entreaty. "Why are you doing this? You play hero for these people—why can you not be one?"

  Greyt's delicate facade broke and he lashed out, slapping her across the face with the back of his hand.

  "Me? A hero?" he growled at Arya. "If these fools believe that, in spite of what I did to her, who am I to break them of that illusion?"

  " 'Her?'" mused Derst under his breath. "Who's 'her?'"

  Arya, reeling, could say nothing.

  Greyt spent a moment recovering his self-control before he addressed her again. He was rubbing his gold ring. Then he lifted Arya's chin and examined her. "I could take you out of these chains, you know. You and I—"

  "I'll never touch you," Arya said, staring into his eyes, "except with a sword."

  Greyt smiled. He let her head fall again and turned away. At the cell door, he paused.

  "As you will," he said. "You've had your chance to do your prancing, now your feet will do the dancing... under the gallows."

  Chapter 17

  30 Tarsakh

  As the clouds obscuring the morning sun grew darker and denser, a single rider galloped hard along the road to Silverymoon. Keeping a hood pulled low, the rider urged the steed on in the secret tongue of the druids. A forest green cloak whipped in the wind like the wings of a griffon flying low to the ground. Lightning cracked and flashed, but the rider paid it no mind, driving the horse on and on.

  Camouflaged and invisible in one of his hiding places—he did not claim the Moonwood as his home ground for nothing—Meris hid a mocking smile inside his black cowl as he drew a bead with his light crossbow.

  This courier would be the last victim of the "Ghost Murderer."

  When the druid galloped within range, Meris almost lazily let the crossbow bolt fly.

  The bolt took the druid in the face, blooming from the right eye socket. A hand clutching at the shaft, the druid went limp. The steed whinnied and bucked, and after a few steps the rider slumped off. Seeing its rider lying unmov­ing on the ground, the horse panicked and bolted down the trail toward Silverymoon.

  Meris sighed. How disappointing. His aim had been too good. He had really been hoping for the chance to inflict some good old-fashioned terror and pain.

  Well, he might as well go down and make sure the courier was dead.

  He slid down the shadowtop trunk and landed deftly on both feet. Hooking his crossbow back on his belt, he drew his trusty hand axe. He had lost his old long sword in the forest, but he had Walker's shatterspike to replace it. He kept the fabulous weapon—spoils of war, he figured—sheathed at his belt. He would not need both weapons to handle a weak and helpless druid who was probably already dead.

  The druid lay like a discarded doll, legs grotesquely bent. The quarrel, standing out from the druid's face, pointed straight up at the sky. Sighing at his own perfect aim, Meris raised his axe high and bent low to pull the hood aside.

  When he did, he found Amra Clearwater's very alive eyes staring at him. She had been holding the quarrel up to her face, but now moved it aside and smiled at him.

  "Well met, Meris Wayfarer," she said with a wink.

  ''Bane's blood!" Meris shouted.

  He swung the hand axe down at that smile, but Amra caught it. The blade made not the slightest nick in her palm and Meris felt as though he had swung at solid rock. What was more, reddish magic flowed from Amra's palm and traced its way along the axe blade. Meris watched, horror-stricken, as the fine steel rusted over, corroded, and fell apart in his hand.

  Suddenly unarmed, he leaped back and reached for the shatterspike. He was too slow, for Amra extended her hand toward him and a lightning bolt shot from the sky to strike at his feet, throwing him to the ground. Shivering with electricity, Meris tried to scream but found he did not have the breath. His legs, however, still worked, and he took full advantage of them to remove himself from the druid's presence.

  As he ran, Amra rose up into the air, borne aloft by roil­ing lightning and wind. "You will pay for slaying Peletara, bastard!" she shouted.

  "Everyone calls me that," muttered Meris as he hurled a dagger at the floating druid.

  The tiny blade, flashing through the air, seemed incon­sequential compared to the fury of nature's power coursing through his opponent. Sure enough, the dagger skipped off her shoulder.

  Stifling a curse, Meris beat a hasty retreat to the cover of the trees and yanked the light crossbow free of his belt. Hands still twitching, he fought to load a quarrel into the weapon.

  "You cannot run!" Amra shouted. "You cannot escape!" Words of power flowed from her mouth like a torrent of rain as she cast another spell.

  At first, nothing happened. Then the trees behind which Meris hid twisted and curled, reaching gnarled branches toward him. Cursing, the wild scout struggled and squirmed free before they could grasp him.

  "Beastlord's breath!" he growled as he fumbled at his belt pouch, staggering away.

  He possessed a valuable—and expensive—item for just such an occasion: a last stand against a spell hurler. Nor­mally, he never would have considered wasting such power for Greyt's sake—he would have preferred to run and leave the task incomplete. How, though, could he escape a woman at whose command the trees bowed and the very weather served? The choice was between much wealth and his life, and Meris was a survivor.

  Even as Amra glided through the swaying, animate trees, lightning sparking from her eyes, Meris pulled the cloudy gray stone out of his pouch. It was plain and without ornament—it could have been any river-smoothed cat's eye, seemingly worthless. Within it, however, pulsed the spark of antimagic—a power he needed desperately.

  As Meris leaped aside, narrowly dodging a bolt of lightning, he crushed the stone in two and hurled the pieces back. Not watching
where he ran, he tripped over a slithering tree root and fell away from Amra. Even as he went down, he turned in the direction of his enemy, watching the stone's pieces fly toward her.

  An aura of golden energy, pulsing with red sparks, burst from the broken stone in the air and struck Amra like a shock-wave. She started and collapsed to her knees as Silvanus's divine power abruptly left her and her magical protections dropped for an instant. She looked up at Meris in shock and incomprehension...

  Right down the length of a loaded crossbow.

  Even as he fell backward, Meris fired and the druid threw herself aside. The bolt grazed the side of Amra's head, sending a small splash of blood on to her light tunic. With a gasp, she collapsed, moaning, to the ground. At the same instant, Meris slammed into the turf with numbing force, and shivers of pain ran through his right leg.

  After a long, agony-filled moment, the scout drew himself up. His leg was not broken, but it certainly did not appreci­ate being moved. Biting his lip against the pain, he dragged himself over to where Amra lay. The antimagic field had faded by now—the stone only dispelled all magic for a short breath—but the damage had been done. Amra lay squirm­ing and gasping, clutching at the side of her face where the crossbow bolt had struck her.

  Perhaps she was still protected by her accursed skin of stone, but Meris wondered if her magic would stop Walker's shatterspike sword. If it did, there was always smothering.

  "Now, you little half-breed strumpet," spat Meris. The shatterspike came out of its scabbard and Meris admired the gleam along the mithral blade. "You've given me enough trouble, and it's time to—"

  Too late, he caught sight of her eyes. Where they were usually soft blue, now they were stormy, and he thought he caught sight of tiny flickers of lightning.

  Too late, he understood their significance. Too late, he heard the thunder overhead.

  Too late, he realized that his antimagic stone had only suppressed, not dispelled, her connection with the lightning storm.

  Amra shouted a word in Elvish and pointed. In reply to her call, a crack of lightning struck Meris full in the chest.