Spiderhunter (Ages of Argainen Book 1)

by Robe

  “What…?” Kandon muttered when he returned. “How did you get the fire going already?”

  “I’ve recently developed a knack for making quick fires,” Reon said, making the other members of the party chuckle. “It’s really helpful! Bread?” he offered.

  “You know, if you feed mercenaries, you can’t get rid of them,” Kandon warned.

  “I think we’ll manage to be rid of you if we need to,” Reon said, grinning and tossing him what remained of the loaf.

  Kandon caught it and nodded to Reon in thanks. The evening was quiet. Only the sound of nearby insects and other night habitants could be heard against the crackling of the fire. Eventually, Reon and Veese fell asleep, followed by Kandon, and the others drifted off as well. Auric pulled his cloak tighter around him and got closer to the fire. Part of him wished Argain would just reveal himself and he could be rid of this mission of tracking down the Evil God, but another part of him was enjoying the task he and his companions were challenged with. He had traveled alone much in his life, and for the first time, he had company that not only tolerated him, but seemed to look to him as a friend.

  -

  The blackness around Ziem was startling as he was shaken awake by Dalk. It was a bitter morning, and the cold stung the bare skin of his face.

  “I trust you know what to do if our tracker starts to make any trouble,” Dalk said. “We have no time for interference. Stay by the fire. The others are shivering in their sleep.”

  Ziem nodded, and Dalk tossed himself to the ground near Joan and quickly passed out. Ziem moved closer to the fire and settled in for the last few hours of darkness. It was dreadful; minute after painful minute of weariness and boredom filled the time, and only a sound from a nearby animal gave Ziem any excitement. The stars were bright as he looked up into the canopy above, and he could smell the familiar scent of the Western Barrier trees, the natural scent that filled up the nose, now that all had gone quiet.

  Finally, the night finished, and a glimmer of light appeared behind the trees. Ziem rose from his position and stretched his legs. After making sure no danger was present, Ziem stalked toward the stream to splash its water on his face.

  A handful of the icy fluid stripped the last of the sleepiness from him and caused his spine to quiver. Kneeling beside the stream, he looked into the crystal clear water. Tiny fish were swimming around beneath the surface. He suddenly wondered what would happen if he would release a shock of his power into a body of water, but he decided now was not the time to test it.

  Although he hadn’t consciously heard anything, Ziem felt someone watching him and turned to see Kandon. The tracker was standing still, his hat on his head, squinting directly at Ziem. Ziem stared back until Kandon turned away, and it was almost as if the hired help hadn’t even seen him. Narrowing his eyes, Ziem walked back over to the camp to wake the others.

  He tensed up as he approached Kandon. The man was bending over, readying his things for the day’s travel. As Ziem passed, he relaxed. A moment later, he was slammed to the ground and pinned, a clump of bitter grass and dirt filling his mouth. He tried to yell to the others, but his attacker pulled a cloth around his lips. The boy struggled as he felt his arms being bound, and he managed to wriggle away. Rolling, Ziem got a look at his attacker and saw Kandon’s gruff face lunging at him again. He kicked out, but the mercenary anticipated the blow and grabbed the boy’s foot before spinning him around and pinning him a second time. Through the grass in his face, Ziem saw his companions had been awakened by the tussle.

  To his relief, they immediately rushed to his aid. Auric was charging, Dalk right behind him. They were slow though, their suddenly awoken state impeding their movement, and Kandon had time to speak before they reached him.

  “I’m doing you a favor!” Kandon shouted.

  “I fail to see how attacking our own while we sleep is a favor!” Auric exclaimed.

  “He’s a wanted criminal,” Kandon said, and Ziem’s stomach dropped.

  “What?” Auric said, stopping in his tracks.

  “He’s a murderer from Rathelstat,” Kandon continued.

  “Unbind his mouth,” Auric said, and when Kandon tried to stop him, he pushed the man aside and helped Ziem up. “Tell us this is nonsense,” he said, looking expectedly at Ziem.

  “Kandon speaks the truth,” Ziem muttered, unable to meet Auric’s gaze.

  “What?” Joan cried. Veese glared suspiciously at Ziem, but Auric looked unconvinced. Reon was standing and watching, but having been so quickly thrust from sleep, he was able to do little more than scratch his head.

  “But it is not as it sounds,” Ziem pleaded. “I was falsely accused.”

  “And I’m the Queen of the Harou,” Kandon said sarcastically.

  “The tale is complicated… I had hoped to hide it awhile longer,” Ziem said. “I didn’t want you to mistrust me.”

  “Regardless,” Kandon said, “the Institution of Peace will pay good gold for this boy.”

  “Be silent, you,” Auric said, eyeing Kandon in distaste. “Ziem, you have never done us wrong. Quite the opposite. I am willing to disregard your past if you explain to us what happened.”

  “But he lied to us,” Joan said.

  “It is as Auric told it,” Dalk said. “Ziem has been true despite what was held against him in the past. What is more, I knew of Ziem’s history, but at his request I did not say anything. If he wanted to harm us, he would have done so by now.”

  “You knew?” Joan asked, gaping at Dalk. “You knew and you didn’t tell us?”

  “This is time wasted,” Veese spoke. “We stand here arguing while Argain grows farther away.”

  “The cryptic one is right,” Kandon said, looking up at the sky.

  “We do not need another distraction,” Veese continued. “Leave them both here and let us continue. We are all aware of the fact that Ziem will win the fight.”

  Kandon and Auric looked equally offended. Kandon began to retort when Auric cut him off, “Veese, without Ziem, who knows where we would be. Would you be so hasty in forgiving a life-debt?”

  Veese scoffed, “I should never have allowed you to travel with me. I would have this deed finished by now had I left you to the Raugen,” he said and stalked away in his crippled gait.

  “Veese, wait,” Reon said and jogged after him out of sight.

  “So, are we going back to Lon Gairdas?” Kandon asked, and Auric glared at him.

  “You have caused far more trouble than Ziem has,” Auric said. “I would not complain if you desire to sever our contract.”

  Kandon chuckled and showed his palms in submission.

  “Why don’t we all have some breakfast and calm down,” Auric said. “We’re hungry and tired. That alone is enough to put us at each other’s throats.”

  Auric helped Joan unpack provisions from her satchel and pass them around, but they did not share any with Kandon. Reon and Veese returned, yet the latter’s face was still stony and displeased. Reon tried to raise the groups’ spirits again with his carefree antics, but the only reactions he got were glares sharp enough to cut down trees, so in silence they sat and ate their food.

  When the meal was done, the party stood and looked at each other, none of them quite sure what to do. Dalk stamped what was left of the fire, and Reon re-packed all of the food they had left.

  “So,” Joan said, “our situation is still unresolved.”

  “May I suggest,” Auric began, “that nothing has changed. We learned something about one of our companions. It doesn’t directly affect us. Why don’t we just focus on finding our man, and then we can argue about this some more.”

  The group grudgingly agreed with Auric and set off for another long day of travel. Because their progress was slow and they had to stop before the sun had completely set, Auric calculated that it would take them until midway through tomorrow to reach their destination. The day proceeded much like the first had; there was little talking as they followed the lead of the t
racker, and they only stopped for lunch when the group could no longer stand.

  They ate in silence. Looks were exchanged, some angry and others sympathetic. At Kandon’s request, they packed their gear back up and continued onward with their journey. It was terribly dull, and each member of the party was uncomfortable, seemingly in every way imaginable. Tired, hot, and hungry again after a while, they barely trudged on at Kandon’s demanding pace.

  “Is that a man?” Reon asked suddenly. Indeed, it was a man Reon had spotted. He was directly up ahead, and the group began to make their way toward him.

  “Unusual,” Kandon said. “It’s rare to find anyone out here.” The man was standing upright against a tree, and he was facing them. As they grew closer, they could see he was not standing upright, but rather bound to the tree.

  “He’s tied up!” Reon said with a surprised glance at the others, and the group rushed to aid the captive. He was an older gentleman, from what they could see of him, and he looked scared, but relieved that help had arrived.

  “Wait,” Kandon said quietly, and Joan stopped to see what he was looking at. He bent down to the ground and examined something strange and naked to the reckless eye. It was a glowing mark, a rune carved into the dirt. The unusual and unworldly look about it made Joan immediately suspicious.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kandon said, and he brushed the nearby leaves away to get a better look. As Joan stood over him, she realized there was not one symbol, but many. In fact, they were spread out in a circle around the bound man, and their glowing seemed to be intensifying collectively.

  “Stop!” Joan cried just as her companions reached the man tied to the tree, but a wave of energy exploded toward them from every rune. It collided in the center with a flash, right where the group was gathered, and sent each of the party members tumbling. She screamed out as she watched them fall. Desperate to help them, she looked down to see that Kandon was still sitting safely next to her, although his eyes were wide and he was stunned in disbelief. Before him, the runes were still carved into the dirt, but their odd glowing had ceased.

  Joan decided it was worth the risk to enter the circle of runes and leapt over the markings to aid her friends. They were sprawled about on the ground, most of them unmoving. Reon was still conscious, but he was moaning and squeezing his eyes shut.

  “Reon!” Joan said. “Reon, are you alright? How are you ill?”

  Reon shook and spasmed, and then he began retching. Joan, frantic to help him, pulled her bag open to find something that would stop his nausea. She removed an ointment made for calming an upset stomach and rubbed it carefully on his throat. It had no effect, and he continued to retch even after there was nothing left to vomit. Trying to keep herself from panicking, Joan dug further into her satchel until her hand closed around the bottle she was looking for. Within the bottle was a mixture that would force a sleeplike state upon the consumer, and she knew that if his spasms continued, he would end up hurt. She tried to get him to drink the liquid but had no luck.

  “Kandon!” Joan yelled, remembering she was not quite alone. “Help me!”

  Kandon snapped out of his shocked state and ran over to where Joan and Reon were, kneeling beside her.

  “I need you to hold him while I get this down his throat,” Joan said, and Kandon quickly got a hold of Reon and held his head so that the liquid could pour into his mouth freely. “Reon. Reon, can you hear me?” Joan cooed. “I need you to swallow this, Reon,” she said as she let the liquid spill from the bottle. To her surprise, Reon did swallow the solution, and after a few more moments, he grew still and peaceful.

  11

  Joan’s mind raced on what could possibly be affecting her companions. Ziem was still conscious and suffering from similar, terrifying symptoms as Reon. Although her trust in him was shattered, she could not leave him to suffer and administered the potion to allow him rest. Dalk was in and out of sleep, and although he did not have the same spasms as Reon and Ziem, he seemed completely unaware of Joan or Kandon kneeling over him and could not answer their questions.

  Auric and Veese had been knocked out cleanly by whatever evil magic Argain had used, and the man who was tied to the tree was now dead. Joan could make out no cause of what had killed him, but she feared that if she could not come up with a cure for her friends, they soon would share his fate.

  Kandon was quiet and compliant with all of Joan’s requests, and Joan was silently thankful for every second he was beside her. Without his help, she didn’t think she could have accomplished anything.

  “Well?” Kandon spoke finally after Joan had sat for the better part of an hour ransacking her satchel and checking the conditions of her companions. Raking her brain over and over, she was desperately empty of ideas that might help her companions.

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “I’ve never seen a sickness that involved nausea but did not originate from the stomach.”

  “Perhaps it’s something unnatural then,” Kandon said. “Since it was rather unnatural how it happened. Speaking of which, you didn’t seem too surprised by that.”

  “It’s a long story we don’t have time to discuss,” Joan retorted before taking a breath and calming herself. “I promise I’ll tell you when the situation improves.”

  Kandon accepted this, and the two continued to think on what could be causing their companions’ condition. They had no fevers, which indicated that whatever ailed them was not actually a sickness, but something wrong internally. Yet, when Joan tried to calm them with regular cures for an upset stomach, no clear comfort was provided.

  “Maybe it’s not something natural,” Kandon repeated. “Maybe you should try something you haven’t before.”

  “Many of these medicines have consequences when administered,” Joan countered. “It would only make matters worse were I to fill them with the wrong antidotes and remedies.”

  The pair was quiet once more, rushing through their thoughts and trying to come up with any possible answer to their problem.

  “What about a head-related nausea?” Kandon suggested several minutes later, and when Joan frowned in confusion, he briskly clarified. “It’s rare, but more common in the Kingdom of Martin, where the sun shines down brightly. Some of the people there get head pains that make them feel sick. Perhaps this is a similar case.”

  Joan turned to her bag and pulled out a small bottle with a single, withered plant stem in it. “Airknot,” she muttered. “It helps to cure trauma from within the skull. Do you think it’s worth a try?”

  Kandon nodded, and Joan unplugged the stopper from the bottle. She removed a mortar and pestle from her bag and dropped the stem inside of it, then began to grind it rhythmically until there was only a fine powder left in the dish. Picking up the bottle again, she gently tapped the powder in and then let a few drops of water into the bottle from her flask. She recorked the container and shook it gently until the water and powder became a single mixture.

  “There isn’t enough here for more than two treatments,” Joan said, holding the vial up to the light. “I’ll need more, if it works at all.”

  “Does it grow around here?” Kandon asked.

  “It should,” Joan said. “It’s commonly found growing in damp places all over Lon Gairdas.” Kandon stood and gathered his supplies. “What are you doing?” Joan asked.

  “I’m going to find more airknot,” Kandon replied. “What does it look like?”

  “What if I need you?” Joan asked.

  “I won’t be long,” Kandon said. “How do I find it?”

  “It’ll look like a small stalk with little white flowers. Look for it near mushrooms.”

  Kandon nodded. “Good luck.”

  “You too,” Joan said and turned back to her unwell friends. They were all weak, and their states were worsening. After checking on all of their vital signs, she determined Auric and Veese were in the poorest shape. Having not even woken yet, their welfare worried Joan the most, and she decided to med
icate them first. Luckily, all she had to do was place the solution into their mouths and it would absorb on its own. Joan administered the dosage to Auric and Veese, and then she sat with them and waited. It was a while before Kandon returned.

  “Any luck?” Joan asked, and Kandon held out an assortment of white-flowered plants. Joan looked up at him and took the plants he had collected. “These aren’t right,” she said. “The flowers are much smaller, and the whole plant can’t be bigger than your hand.”

  Suddenly, Reon roused again and he cried out in agony. Joan and Kandon rushed to his side.

  “Isn’t there anything you can do?” Kandon asked as they tried to comfort Reon.

  “We’re out of nightbring. I can’t calm him anymore,” Joan said.

  “We have to do something,” Kandon demanded. “We can’t just let him suffer.”

  A stirring caused the two to turn and see Auric sitting up. He looked dazed and held a hand on top of his head. “What’s happening?” he asked, his face concerned as he watched Reon writhe.

  Joan rushed over to him and laid him back down. “You need to rest. Try to go back to sleep,” she said.

  “Is he alright?” Auric asked, looking nervously at Reon.

  “He will be,” Joan said. “Close your eyes.” Auric, too disoriented to do anything other than what he was told, shut his eyes and remained still.

  “The airknot worked!” Joan exclaimed in a hushed voice. “Kandon, we need more. The stem is small and the flowers are white. Make haste if Reon is to live!”

  -

  It seemed so quiet to Kandon as he rushed through the woods. In the short time he’d known the group who was employing him, he had grown strangely attached to them. The thought of one of them dying wasn’t a happy one, which was odd, as he’d cared little about others for as long as he could remember. Regardless, their terrible illness had him worried, and he found himself straining to find the airknot.