Spiderhunter (Ages of Argainen Book 1)

by Robe

  The pair glanced at each other, and after a silent agreement, they began to creep down the street after him. They let him get ahead so as not to be noticed but stayed close enough to keep him well within sight. Suddenly, the figure stopped, and Joan pushed Ziem against a nearby building and leaned on it next to him as if loitering innocently. The man was still for a moment, and then he inclined his head as if trying to detect a scent through the evening crowd. He looked around, his gaze stopping on Joan and Ziem for a moment, and then he began moving again, this time much more hurriedly and less proud.

  Joan and Ziem walked forward again but had to rush as the man gained speed, almost losing him from their sight. He ran sideways through an alley, and the two companions stopped at the entrance and watched him turn right before following. When they got through the tight passage, there was no sign of the man they were chasing, and a moment of panic took over before Ziem pointed as the person of interest darted through another alleyway down the road. The pair ran to catch up, and when the two of them made it to the opening, the man was already out of sight again. Both of them were nearly sprinting through the alley, and Ziem almost toppled over Joan when she halted him abruptly. The man was knocking on the door of a nearby cottage. A moment later, the door was answered by a young woman. She looked confused at her visitor, and the man only said a few words before forcing his way into the house.

  A startled look was exchanged between Joan and Ziem, and they both dashed to look into the window by the door of the home. The man was backing the woman against a wall. He reached his hand out toward her, and she tried to recoil. With his other hand he held her still, and then his first hand touched her cheek. The woman went white, and her eyes stared, the life gone from them. She dropped to the ground, unmoving, and a radiance emanated off of her body. Standing before her, the man went very still, and the glow moved from the dead woman to him. After a moment, he staggered, and the light was gone. He turned back toward the door, forcing Joan and Ziem to duck behind the other side of the building to escape his path. He exited the house and began to walk down the street, his superior gait returning.

  Joan and Ziem gave each other grave looks and began to follow the man again, even more carefully this time. He walked down the dirt path as if he were a king until he reached another house, one of the rental homes available in Rode. He drew a key from his pocket, opened the door, entered, and shut the door behind him.

  -

  “Slow down, slow down!” Auric shouted. He and Dalk had stalked the market of Rode the entire day with no luck. At dusk, the three pairs were to meet up outside the tavern. Veese and Reon were already waiting for them when they arrived, but there was no sign of Joan and Ziem. The group waited, and as the sky blackened and the stars became visible, there was little doubt that Joan and Ziem had been held up by something. Auric was about to organize a search for their missing companions when the pair showed up, sprinting toward the group out of the dark streets. They were out of breath and looked panicked.

  “We found him!” Joan cried. “He’s here!”

  “Where?” Veese spoke.

  “He’s killed someone!” Joan panted. Her legs trembled and she looked about ready to collapse.

  “Take a breath. Try to settle down,” Auric said, lending her his arm for support. Joan and Ziem sat on a nearby bench and drank from a bottle Reon offered them.

  “We watched him kill somebody with just his touch,” Joan said, having finally stopped heaving. “He looks like a normal person, but there is no doubt that he’s the one.”

  “Where did he go, Joan?” Veese demanded.

  “We followed him to the residential district and watched him go into one of the rental homes. He used a key, so he must be staying there,” Joan replied.

  “Take me,” Veese said.

  “Wait, we need to think this out before we go breaking down doors,” Auric said. “This being is clearly powerful, and he doesn’t want to be sealed away again.”

  “There is no time for planning,” Veese said. “If he moves, we may not get another chance.”

  Reluctantly, Auric nodded, and after he asked if Joan and Ziem were fit to move, Joan led the way to the place where they had seen the Evil God. The streets were very dark by now, and only by the light of lamps and stars could they navigate the roads.

  “It’s just around this corner,” Joan said, coming to a stop.

  Veese pulled his sword from its sheath and the others readied themselves. They slipped around the edge of a building and Joan pointed to a small house up ahead. There were no candles within, and it seemed to be vacant.

  “Shouldn’t we knock?” Reon asked in a hushed voice.

  “Knocking would alert him,” Dalk replied.

  “Maybe he left the door unlocked,” Joan suggested.

  Auric nodded and approached, the others right behind him. As his fingers wrapped around the knob of the door, Veese poised his blade to strike. After taking a sharp, almost inaudible breath, Auric twisted and pushed. The door didn’t budge more than the quiet tap of the latch against its socket.

  “What do we do now?” Reon whispered.

  Veese walked toward one of the windows and smashed it with the hilt of his sword. The shattering sound seemed to ring out thunderously through the quiet street, and the whole group winced, expecting to be discovered. There was a grate that the glass had been affixed to, and Veese jerked on it. After discovering the flimsiness of the metal, he pulled himself onto the windowsill and kicked the grate in, creating an opening into the house. Without a look behind him to see if his companions were following, he jumped into the room.

  It was very dark within. The only source of light was the stars shining through the windows, but most of the light was blocked by drapes. Veese’s eyes adjusted very quickly to the lack of light, and he could see that the room was nearly empty, aside from a fireplace and a set of stairs. He crept forward silently into the blackness, farther into the house.

  The other members of the group had pulled themselves into the room and were squinting through the darkness, but they could see nothing.

  “How about a little light, Reon?” Auric whispered.

  Almost immediately, the room became illuminated as a small fire ignited in Reon’s hand. He held it out in front of him, a beacon in the gloom. Slowly, they moved through the bottom floor, each of them with a sword ready. The group spread out and searched the house, but there was no sign of the man Joan and Ziem had seen, and no sign of Veese. They met back and gave each other uneasy looks.

  “Where is Veese?” Joan hissed, and they all turned to look at the stairs. Carefully, they made their way to the wooden steps and began to creep upwards upon them.

  “Lower the flame, Reon,” Auric said, and the fire in Reon’s hand shrunk down to just a tiny flare that danced in his palm. Auric led the way with Dalk right behind him. The steps were creaky and old, and no matter how light on their feet the group tried to be, there were still groans from the wood beneath them. As Auric reached the top, there was a sound from ahead, and Auric thrust his sword forward just before Veese appeared to nearly startle them backward down the stairs.

  “This house is empty,” Veese said, looking at Auric’s blade point.

  “You shouldn’t have gone ahead like that. We wouldn’t have known where you were if you needed help,” Auric said.

  “Are you sure this is the right home?” Veese asked Joan.

  She looked at Ziem, and he nodded. “Yes,” she said. “This is definitely where he went.”

  “He is no longer here,” Veese said. “He must be roaming the streets again.”

  “What do we do now?” Reon asked.

  “He has a key,” Joan said. “He must have purchased the rent on this place, which means he’ll be back.”

  Auric nodded. “Then we’ll stake this area out.”

  -

  The group of companions gathered near the door of the house they had broken into. Upon remembering how they had entered, Dalk suggeste
d they move the shattered glass of the broken window and return the grate to its original position so as not to attract attention. Hastily, they picked up the glass and brought it into the house, and Joan and Reon replaced the metal grate while Ziem kept watch of both sides of the street. Hours passed, and there was no sign of the Evil God. Joan recounted every detail she could about what she and Ziem had seen.

  “Is it possible he was aware of you following him?” Veese asked Joan as he watched the dark street outside through the glassless window.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she replied. “He did look around and see us once, but we didn’t look suspicious at all.”

  “He is clever, he may have known we would show,” Veese said.

  “Well,” Joan said, “how long are we going to wait here should he not return?”

  “I will remain here. The five of you can rest back at the tavern if you wish,” Veese said. The night was growing quite late, morning not far away, and although the thought of a bed was quite comforting to the group, they decided to endure with Veese.

  Another hour went by with no activity and the group was nearly ready to give up. The temperature had dropped quite quickly, and even through the cloaks Veese had leant them, the cold was unpleasant. Reon pleaded to make a fire, insisting that he wasn’t cold but that he wanted to practice his new talent. Nevertheless, he was shot down by Veese.

  “Do you not think firelight would alert you if you were expecting to return to an empty home?” Veese countered.

  “I don’t see you coming up with any fun activities to pass the time!” Reon replied.

  “I told you to go if you were not up to the challenge,” Veese said. “Maybe you should just leave before you burn the place down.”

  Reon frowned at Veese and then sighed as he realized his sleeve had caught fire.

  “Maybe,” Auric interjected as Reon patted the flames off of himself, “we should get some rest while someone keeps watch.”

  The group was nodding in agreement when a distant screaming came from outside. Without hesitating, they dashed out of the house and up the street to where the screams were coming from. They weren’t the only people who’d been alerted, and doors flew open on either side of the road with troubled looks on the faces of homeowners illuminated orange by the lamps they held. It was a night pub, almost vacant of customers, and Veese led through the doorway. A man was standing in the back corner, perfectly still, while a radiance emanating off of him faded away. At his feet, a woman lay dead. The few people in the pub were backing away from the man, their eyes wide and some with their hands over their mouths.

  “That’s him!” Joan cried, and immediately, Reon produced a flame at his hand and hurled it forward. The ball exploded against the wall after a quick dodge by the dark-haired man, unmistakeably the same person Dalk’s portrait depicted. Veese and Auric had drawn their swords and were advancing forward as the man glanced up to see who had attacked him.

  The murderer looked confused, and his face had an ardent grimace of disgust as he gazed upon his purseurs. In the blink of an eye, he was dashing past them to their left. His speed was unmatchable, and he rammed through a window bordered by a heavy metal frame. The material bent like hot wax, and the man landed on the street.

  Dalk, who had not been able to enter the pub past his companions, saw the man crash through the window. The stranger rose and began to run, but Dalk was upon him. He tackled the man out of his sprint, grabbing him around the waist. The two fell, but only Dalk hit the ground. After a moment of confusion where his fingers grasped around what had been there a moment ago, Dalk saw the dark-haired figure inexplicably running away down the street as if he had never been touched. Baffled, Dalk pushed himself onto his knees and brushed the white flecks of dust from his palms and fingertips.

  8

  Although they had pursued the Evil God, the group of companions never managed to catch sight of him again. The morning light had begun to illuminate the edges of the sky before exhaustion finally forced the party to return to their rooms at the tavern. Veese declared he would stay out and search until he dropped, but even as he said it, he winced from the pain of his injured ankle. Auric managed to persuade him that without rest, he would be useless even if he managed to find the man again.

  Most of the group could not sleep that day; between thoughts of the Evil God roaming about, and cramped muscles from their journey, the majority of them laid uncomfortably in their beds, desperately tired, yet wide awake. Auric, in particular, did not sleep. Even if he could have, he decided his time would be better served keeping his ears open for anyone who might wish to bring his companions harm in their dormant states.

  The group stirred at spread-out intervals the next day. Joan left her bed first, followed by Ziem, and then Dalk. They gathered in a dark corner of the tavern, having evening food for breakfast and talking quietly about what had happened the previous night.

  “I don’t think we should alert the public,” Dalk said. “One of two things could happen in that case, the first being that nobody believes a word we say and we lose all credibility with these civilians, and the second that it will cause a panic, which would make tracking down this villain an even more impossible task.”

  Ziem nodded, but Joan protested, “He’s out there killing people one-by-one. Don’t you think they should be warned?”

  “It is outside of our power to protect every individual right now. We need to focus on the bigger picture,” Dalk replied.

  “You yourself said that you would not kill him if you thought there was a chance you could save your friend. I’m sure everyone he’s killed had loved ones,” Joan pointed out.

  “That was before I knew he was so dangerous,” Dalk said. “More people will get hurt if we go to the public about what’s going on.”

  “We could at least tell the peace officer that there’s a killer about,” Joan said. “At least someone would be keeping an eye out, then.”

  “Very well,” Dalk said, “but wait until the others have awoken. We’re a team now, and we shouldn’t be making moves while the others sleep.” Joan agreed to this and said she was going to visit the apothecary again to pick up supplies in case they had to make a quick departure.

  “I’ll go with you,” Dalk offered, but Joan refused him.

  “I can still walk the streets of my home without an escort, Dalk. Thank you for your concern though,” she replied.

  “Alright, but be careful,” Dalk said. “The last thing we need is for someone to disappear on us.”

  Joan exited the tavern, and Dalk and Ziem were left sitting at the table alone. When Dalk made eye contact with Ziem, the boy looked away as if he were afraid. Dalk stood and walked to the bar where he purchased a drink before returning to settle himself back into his spot.

  He took a sip and then set his mug down and stared piercingly at Ziem. “I know who you are,” Dalk finally said, making Ziem nearly jump out of his seat.

  “What?” Ziem asked nervously, his shoulders tensing.

  “A drawing of your face was brought to the Institution of Peace back in Lanair, where I live,” Dalk explained. “I recognized you immediately when I first laid eyes on you,” Dalk continued, “but there were more pressing issues, then. Having spent plenty of time with soldiers and guards, it’s, to me, not the most welcoming idea letting these good people travel with a Rathelstatian fugitive.”

  “You can’t tell anyone,” Ziem begged, his eyes wide and his brow upturned. “Please.”

  “I’ve been watching you closely the past few days. It seems to me you’re not interested in harming us in any way,” Dalk said.

  “Of course not,” Ziem said. “I only want to help.”

  “Regardless,” Dalk said, glaring at Ziem, “I’m going to keep my eyes on you. If you do anything that makes me think twice about my decision to keep your secret, you’re going to need more than lightning to save you.”

  Ziem nodded hastily, and after Dalk downed the rest of his drink, the man r
ose and strode out of the tavern.

  After a while, Joan returned with a satchel full of remedies under her arm. She sat beside Ziem and tried to start a conversation with him, but she found he was even more timid than usual.

  Auric and Reon woke before Veese, much to the surprise of the present company. The sun had begun setting when finally Veese emerged from the room. Auric was paying the tavern owner for another night with the two rooms when he saw Veese enter the dining area of the inn. He had a look of grim determination about him. As he walked, he limped more noticeably than ever before.

  “Veese,” Auric said, falling into pace beside the forester while the other members of the group looked up at their companion. “Are you alright?”

  “I am fit to continue the search,” Veese said as he and Auric walked over to the table where the others sat. The tavern owner watched them, an interested and somewhat suspicious look on his face as he examined the strangers.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to rest longer?” Auric pressed. “We can handle matters tonight.”

  “I apologize for sleeping so late. I lost control of my will and cost us the afternoon,” Veese said. “We should resume our duties as soon as possible. Splitting into pairs seemed effective for our task. I propose we do similarly again.”

  “Before we do anything,” Joan cut in, “I think we should tell the local peace officer that there’ve been slayings recently commited by the same man. An extra set of eyes keeping a lookout could be helpful.”

  “I disagree, but do as you will,” Veese said. “I am anxious to return to my duty.”

  -

  “I worry about Veese,” Auric said as he walked with Dalk through the streets of Rode once again. They had decided to meet up twice as often that night to ensure the safety of their group. The Evil God had escaped them before due to his superior speed, but unless he managed to disguise himself, he would still stick out like a red flower in a field of green grass.