Engaging Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 2)

by Cary J Lenehan

  Cary J. Lenehan is a former trades assistant, soldier, public servant, cab driver, truck driver, game designer, fishmonger, trainee horticulturalist and university tutor (among other things). His hobbies include collecting and reading books (the non-fiction are Dewey decimalised), Tasmanian native plants (particularly the edible ones), the SCA and gaming. He has taught people how to use everything from shortswords to rocket launchers. He met his wife at an SF Convention while cosplaying and they have not looked back.

  He was born in Sydney before marrying and moving to the Snowy Mountains where they started their family. They moved to Tasmania for the warmer winters and are not likely to ever leave it.

  Looking out of the window beside his computer is a sweeping view of Mount Wellington and its range.

  Warriors of Vhast Series

  published by IFWG Publishing Australia

  Intimations of Evil (Book 1)

  Engaging Evil (Book 2)

  Warriors of Vhast Book 2

  Engaging Evil

  by

  Cary J. Lenehan

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters portrayed herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places, events or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author do not necessarily represent the opinions of the publisher.

  Engaging Evil

  Book 2, Warriors of Vhast series

  Cary J Lenehan

  Copyright Cary J Lenehan ©2017

  Scene break illustration ©2015, 2017 Cassandra James

  Maps’ lettering and illustrations ©2015, 2017 Marjorie Lenehan

  ISBN-13: 978-1-925496-22-2

  Version 1.0

  Published by IFWG Publishing International at Smashwords

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  IFWG Publishing

  ifwgpublishing.com

  Acknowledgement

  It seems so long ago and yet only yesterday that I launched the first book in this series. Now, not only is this the second book, but the third should be out before the end of the year. As well I now have a website (caryjlenehan.com.au) and a dedicated group of followers on Patreon who get monthly stories from Vhast as well as recipes, Tarot cards, character details, town details and many other things. Their support is letting me spend more time working at extending the universe and adding texture to Vhast while worrying a little less about bills.

  I would also like to thank the many people who have read iterations of this book. Most have been polite and said they liked it, but sometimes the readers have not enjoyed it and have been kind enough to say why, which has often told me things about my writing. Their criticism has been invaluable. Some have also offering some amazing insights that have led me to change sections and the way I write. In particular I wish to thank Pip Woodfield who has read this book so many times that she know it better than I do.

  I would especially like to thank Marianne de Pierres (a lot) who encouraged me on this journey many years ago.

  Once again I would like to dedicate this book to my mother, Eden and my beloved wife Marjorie, both of whom have shown incredible patience with me over the years as I have followed my dreams. I hope you both still enjoy it and are proud of how it has turned out.

  Map of the Lands East of Lake Erave

  Travellers come swift from the west.

  Find their way through forest and foes

  Strike hard slavers deep hidden nest

  With Mice now found, the mountains are free.

  Dwarven leader they did depose

  His minions they captured and slew

  No more terror will bandits impose

  With Mice now found, the mountains are free.

  Freed slaves with new life now imbue

  With hope that was torn from their hearts

  Bright futures perhaps now may ensue.

  With Mice now found, the mountains are free.

  Who knows what the future imparts?

  We all will give of our best

  For me, a new life now starts,

  With Mice now found, the mountains are free.

  A Kyrielle

  Ruth Hawker

  on the occasion of her freedom

  Chapter I

  Hulagu

  In a very literal sense, the sounds of conflict died quickly away.

  I have now passed the final test of being an adult while I am on my wanderjahr. I have now killed a man in open battle. If I wish I may now wed. In glee he let out a wolf-like howl of victory until Astrid held up her hand. He noticed her gesture and suddenly stopped in mid-cry. Might there be others? I should have thought of that. She is intently listening to find out.

  ~~~

  Astrid

  Astrid was re-assured. Apart from noise from where my people are further down the creek, I can hear the faint noises made by some horses that are stirring. They are nervous about what they have been hearing; the sounds of spells, of screams, and of battle. The beasts don’t seem to be kept all that far off, but other than the noise they are making there is no other sound that would tell of a survivor crashing through the undergrowth in an attempt to flee…That was a faint groan from somewhere among the fallen. One of them seems to still be, at least not yet, dead.

  The horses were not moving from where they were, and she heard one that softly whickered to another. There is no urgent pounding of hooves. They are probably secure in a line. They can wait. I want to look over the battle site first. She signalled Hulagu to give her cover in case there was someone left alive on the other side who could do more than groan, slung her bow over her shoulders, and leant over to pick up her spear. Soon she was wading carefully through the small stream. It was autumn and so the level came to just over her knees. By the standards of home the water is still mildly warm. It will soon run a lot colder than this as it comes down from the hills and mountains with the onset of winter, but it is autumn and the sun is still capable of warming the water when its path lies in the sloping rays. She could also see, from the marks on the bank, that it sometimes ran far higher than this, probably in spring after the melt in the mountains or after heavy rain.

  It was not long before she had Hulagu join her on the far side, and together they started recovering shafts and checking that their opponents were all dead as their bodies were laid out in a row. One stirred briefly as they bent over him, but his eyes glazed even as Astrid bent to check his pulse. All of them were men. I am sure that a couple are at least vaguely familiar.

  Stefan soon joined them, dragging a body, a gaping hole in it from the blast from an enhanced arrow, from somewhere nearer to the bridge. It didn’t take long to get the remains of their enemies gathered together as more of their people joined in. They could then start to see what had been dropped or left against trees to be quickly grabbed. By the appearance of this lot, their clothes and weapons, they were all used to violence. Several bear the scars that accumulate over time and the calluses of frequent practice. Their weapons are of good quality, but worn with use. Everything shows that we were lucky to turn surprise around on these men.

  ~~~

  Bianca

  Bianca looked around. My people are gathering on the other side of the creek and they are all ignoring their horses…typical. She moved to gather the animals up and took them over the bridge. Cautiously, looking for a place to tie them up, she moved past the line of bodies already laid out. Behind a thick screen of a small tree with glo
ssy dark leaves and the remnant of what could be sprays of tri-lobed brown seed cases, she found what she sought—two hands of horses already occupied it. Looking closer there were eight saddles sitting near the heads of animals while a small pile of pack frames stood beside the last four animals. She studied the campsite that stood a little further back from the animals when Astrid joined her.

  “Seems they have been here at least a couple of days,” Astrid said, as she looked at the well-set camp. “I had seen signs of movement on the road, but hadn’t realised it was this recent. I guess that, if they came from Evilhalt, they left well before we did.”

  “T’ey be coming from Evilhalt,” Stefan said, as he joined them. “I be a recognisin’ most of t’em an four’re local.” He paused. “I be tryin’ to remember when t’ey left…I didn’t see t’em go, but I do remember t’at someone who was on watch made a comment about how t’contents of t’packs must be real valuable with only four pack horses an’ so many to guard them. It would hast to be near two weeks ago. Unless t’is were accident, an’ on t’is road t’at seems unlikely, t’ey hast been a waiting for us all of t’at time. Someone hast sent t’em ahead of us an’ it be deliberate. It seems t’at t’ey do know we be comin’ t’is way.”

  Bianca listened as Stefan and Astrid moved from where they were talking across to the fire pit and the bivouac. She added to the pair what she could see from the horses and they nodded sagely and soon started moving around the campsite. They talked back and forth as they thought aloud. I wish I could see what they can see in footprints and broken branches. They are obviously seeing evidence of how long the men had been here, but it means nought to me. Gathering the salvageable possessions and the food was only of secondary importance. Reluctantly they came to the conclusion that Stefan was right in his speculation. From what they could see it had to have been at least two weeks. The men must have left Evilhalt, acting under someone’s instruction, and moved quickly along the path they were following and then waited. There was not even any sign that they had hunted while they were here. They had brought all of their supplies with them so that they were not distracted from their task. She could at least contribute something on how much they had brought and how much was left. As Stefan had thought, this meant that someone was expecting them to come this way. Someone knew, possibly better than they did, where they were headed and what they were doing and, what is more, their enemy wanted what they were doing stopped. According to the other two, it had been a well-laid ambush. If Astrid had not felt suspicious, then it was likely that they would all be dead now. As they gathered together what they found the two began talking about how they would have to learn to rely on their intuition. If they saw or heard something amiss, that was good, but even the slightest feeling that something was wrong could not be ignored.

  Astrid asked Stefan, “What else lays ahead? What didn’t they know about? Did the people where they were heading to already expecting them, or were these people sent by someone else?” I like it even less than them if the people who are experienced in these things are so full of doubt. I need them to at least sound confident for me to feel safe.

  Chapter II

  Gamil

  Once more the cycle turns, thought Chief Predestinator Gamil, and now it is my turn to be in charge of our race’s response to the plans of the Adversaries. She sat in the cool breeze that wafted from the airshafts that were placed over her desk on her race’s space station high above Vhast. Thousands of years ago her people had started this experiment and built the world that she could see through the window on the wall to her right. It was day below her at present and autumn in the northern hemisphere. Clouds raced along from the west to meet mountains that ran from north to south and so drop their load of water.

  She turned and looked down at the work of her people. Having built a world we had then peopled it in a way that should, if we are lucky, encourage the result we are looking for. Gamil cast her mind back over the details of the task she had ahead of her, reviewing it all in her mind once more as she looked at the results of the decision she had made that would affect what was about to unfold.

  Once more she studied the files and the ideas that her staff had assembled for her as they projected on her walls and screens. Originally there had been details of well over twenty young people here, and a variety of suggestions were given that should motivate them to act. Some of them had seemed cruel, but it was hopefully only briefly so and the gain for the races below was far more important than any single individual’s short pain. However, now the responsibility for success is mine and mine alone. I hope that I have chosen wisely among them, and, just as carefully, instructed the Motivators to construct the details of what I want to happen from my scripts. None could now over-rule me. The hope of my race in the struggle against the Adversaries sits on my shoulders. The die is cast and my chosen people have passed their first test as a group. How will they cope with the next? Will they divine what is happening and be able to interpret the hints I have left for them? As her race tended to do, she sat back for a few hours and contemplated the future.

  ~~~

  Coming back to her senses, as she stared at the unfolding planet from high in space above Vhast, Gamil shook her head and briefly ruffled her wings. No-one had disturbed her as she sat lost and far away in thought, even though a quick check showed that some time had passed. I have done all that I can and now I watch time pass and spend too long looking down at my people. I need exercise and a long flight. The Adversaries had, throughout their history, always been far better at destroying than building. Building is what my people do, but this experiment can never be repeated. My race has taken people and creatures from various times and places and from so many different planets that seemed to form a plasm that could be moulded. We have taken the animals, the plants, and the people from anywhere we wanted that seemed to bring out the traits we wanted to create and enhance among the people on this built world of Vhast. These had been bred, gene-spliced, transmuted and set down. New animals and plants are still occasionally added when they are developed. Whether there were enough, or even any, suitable intelligent beings left behind in their original homes to start again is another question that is unlikely to have a positive answer. It had been hard enough to find their starting stock.

  Both of the races now competing for control of the experiment are very long lived. Our conflicts had been held, first directly until the Treaty had been put in place by the other races, and then in proxy across a vast swath of space. Legends of my people and our opponents and our seeming eternal war grew and flourished on thousands of worlds. Few of them resemble the reality that is.

  Now what had to be nearly the final struggle had commenced as this project came to within a few thousands of years of completion. Wars had ravaged the project as proxy entities fought the battles that those outside could not themselves fight by the rules that had been imposed from outside. Then the un-looked for and unwanted plague of The Burning had come from somewhere—none knew where—to add another layer of destruction to their most advanced experimental area. None thought that it had been the Adversaries who had created that. It may have even interfered with their designs more than those of my people. However, with that now in the past, once again, the Adversaries were coming out into the open with their plots and their puppets and their twisted evil and it was up to the players I have selected to foil them. These beings who would hopefully act on my behalf without them knowing why they did it were now in place, despite the efforts of the Adversaries to stop them joining up. The free will of the chosen ones was an important random factor in the unfolding events. The last time such a crisis had occurred my predecessor had lost the proxy battle with her selections. This time I hope to do far better. What is about to unfold might be the last chance that I, and through me my race, would have to regain sole control of the project. A loss now could be final, at least in this, the main arena of conflict. The main game is about to start.

  Gamil had been preparing
for this moment for many years. She sighed and leant back in her chair again. Her wings fanned behind her slowly with their tips raised in an unconscious gesture of triumph and contentment. Around her, if she concentrated, the soft background humming of the life support system could be heard and there was a gentle breeze from an air return designed to play upon her comfortable seat. So far the most complex part my race’s greatest piece of art is now under way. Now it will be seen if what I have set in place will keep the experiment going under the control of my people, or if I will fail.

  Over ten thousand of the long years of this world, almost all of my adult life, has been spent in service to the project of Vhast. I hope to spend the rest of it engaged in the same way. The gamble is exquisite, the workmanship is complex. The limits of intervention are well defined and carefully prescribed by treaties and agreements that were many, many millennia old. The Adversaries might break them, and had in the past, but I will not. Now it is up to the chosen ones—and those that they will choose to help them—to either succeed or fail. I have done all that I can and all is going exactly as I have planned. It is certain that this will not last. The unfolding is about to happen. I contributed, we all did, but I had not been in a position to make final decisions on anything the last time this had happened. The failure of her subjects then had cost my predecessor her post. She had retired honourably, but far from here, for at least total disaster had been averted. Everyone realised that this had been more due to good luck than anything else, but it was the results that counted.