by JD Franx
She quickly forgot about the strange young woman, realizing that after all this time their luck had finally turned for the better. Raising her hands, she opened her mouth to yell at Kael for help. Two feathered darts struck her throat. The immediate disorientation darkened her mind for a few seconds and she came to face first in the dirt, clawing the grass and desperately trying to scream. Her voice was paralysed by the poison’s effects; only a harsh croak escaped her lips. Her legs refused to push her from the ground, so Yrlissa used her arms to push herself up against one of the tents. With every ounce of will power she possessed, she focused, slowing her heart to a dozen beats per minute in the hope she could delay the effects of the sleeping poison. Calming herself further, her pounding heart slowed to a half dozen beats. Any further and she would lose consciousness. Hopefully, it would help her remain awake long enough to see what would transpire on the camp’s far side. Helplessness ate at her heart as she thought about Ember, injured inside one of the tents, only a dozen feet from where Kael stood.
Yrlissa sat back and watched as the warriors from the tribe moved to confront Kael and the young woman he was with, but she could not understand how they had just walked into the camp without the tribe being warned. It finally dawned on her fuzzy mind why the missing scout had not checked in with a report. Her lips curled into the smallest grin even though she beamed inside. The effects of the poison were spreading. Yrlissa had a clear view of Bala Nohkta as he challenged Kael. The tribal scout was over twenty feet away from the two intruders and backed by the remaining Taktala scouts and warriors.
Already clearly furious, Kael yelled at the Taktala scout leader. “We watched you beat that slave half to death. Free them all or we’ll do it for you, you god damn coward!”
Yrlissa assumed he was talking about Ember, but for some reason he had not recognized her. As of late though, Ember had always been wearing her hood, her eyes had taken on a subtle glow to their bright green colouring that was getting brighter in very slow increments. It was something they all hoped was caused by her Fae magic as it increased in strength. Giddeon recommended the hood in the hopes it would hide the increased brilliance in her eyes from the Taktala. Their paranoia of northern magic could mean her life if the tribals noticed.
Nohkta, not understanding the common tongue, barked the command for his furthest men to shoot their sleep darts. The woman dodged behind Kael to shield herself from the half dozen darts that struck his neck and throat. Nohkta smiled at the successful attack. Even though the paralysis from the sleep poison was almost complete, Yrlissa still twitched with surprise when Bala Nohkta died before completing his smile. Kael had vanished, leaving being a shadowy black haze, before reappearing twenty feet away in the blink of an eye, where he lifted Nohkta off the ground, impaled on both of his blades.
As he pulled them free from the scout leader’s body, Yrlissa blinked in wonder as she recognized the weapons. The Vai’Karth reaper-blades were in Kael’s hands. Her mind whirled at the revelation. The potent weapons had already begun augmenting his powers. They were weapons Yrlissa knew well. Most scholars who studied the DeathWizard’s history believed them to be a pure mythical fabrication, but she knew better.
Losing her focus, Yrlissa nearly passed out. The struggle to stay awake was becoming more difficult as the poison continued its slowed migration through her blood stream. Control of her meditative state wavered. Yrlissa refocused with more determination and witnessed the outcome of the fight between the remaining twelve warriors and Kael.
She was surprised as the first to act was the woman with him. While Kael let Nokta fall to the dirt, he pulled the last few darts from his throat. It was obvious they left him with no ill effects. The woman emerged from behind Kael with a spinning, bright silver chain Yrlissa strongly suspected was made from kinrai. The small blades attached to the chain flashed, reflecting in the sunlight shining through the thick leaves of the trees. One of the tribe’s scouts jumped forward to attack, and in two quick seconds, both of his arms were flayed wide open, confirming her suspicions about the metal. Yrlissa had seen such weapons before. Like most scholars who had studied the bladed chains, she believed they were Fae weapons. The long chain was full of circular, razor-sharp blades with three inch daggers at both ends and at the middle.
They were devastating and the young woman was a sight to watch as the chain spun and darted out, striking so fast the attacks were difficult to see. Another spin of the chain and one of the circular blades sliced through a warrior’s throat. Blood sprayed as he crashed into the bushes to bleed out.
Though the woman fought extremely well, Yrlissa could see that the real threat to the tribesman was Kael. Black lightning from his left hand tore through two men at once while two others charged him from the opposite side. Both died at the exact same time, cut down by the scythed blade in his right hand. Refusing to stand still, three more tribesmen fell from a single swipe of the reaper-like blades as again Kael shadow-walked twice in as many seconds.
With seven of their fellow fighters dead in almost as many seconds, the other five dropped to their stomachs begging for mercy, chanting the word ‘katak’ and ‘sarak’ while on their knees prostrating. Yrlissa tried to smile as the tribe chanted the words “god of death” over and over.
Losing the fight to control the poison ravaging her senses as it forced her closer to sleep, Yrlissa continued to observe the situation at the camp’s far end.
Kael pointed to one of the warriors, shouting. “If you move, you will die.” Looking to his female companion, he added, “Watch them, let me know if they attack.”
She nodded as he started to walk through the camp. Yrlissa could see Kael’s eyes searching the camp. She hoped it was for a slave who might be capable of speaking the common language of the land. As he crossed into the north half of the Taktala camp, he saw her lying half against the tent and partly sprawled on the ground. He raced over and sat her back up against the tent’s wall. Checking her for injuries, he found the two darts and yanked them out, even though it wouldn’t help.
She was still conscious, though likely not for long. She ached to speak, but nothing came out, not even a gasp.
He held her face with his hands. “Do you speak the common tongue?” Yrlissa tried with all her heart, again, trying to will her voice to work, but all that came out was a small squeak followed by the slightest of nods as she tried desperately to spit the word Ember from her numb throat and tongue, knowing it would get his instant attention and stop him from leaving the camp.
“I’m sorry that you can’t speak,” Kael said. “The darts have no effect on me, but I don’t know how to clear it from your system. Please, listen instead. First, this poor excuse for a Gyhhura collar must go. Be grateful. A real one is pure hell,” he said, and with gentle fingers, removed the collar, tossing it far into the forest.
“If these tribesmen are like the ones we came across days ago, then you will wake long before they stop prostrating themselves against the ground. I recognize you from my dream, you were with Giddeon. We freed him and the others a couple days back, and now you are free as well. These savages call me Katak Sarak, I think that it means Death God. Should they try to stop you from leaving, then you tell them I will return. Any of the slaves who would freely go with you are welcome to. It is the best I can do for you now. We must go to the Dwarven Mountains and we have very little time to spare. I’m sorry I can’t help more, but I will get Kyah to heal the woman that bastard beat. I’m sorry.”
Yrlissa screamed with internal rage at her inability to do more, but the words Dwarven Mountains caused her eyes to open wider for just a second, she felt them, and Kael stared at her, as if looking for any sign that she would speak. Finally, Yrlissa could see the hope dim in his eyes, he got up and left, waving at Kyah to join him.
“Kyah, the slave that piece of sh... Check her and see if you can help her. I’ll watch these animals, but at least do what you can for her.” She nodded and jogged to the tent where she’d been
taken.
No! Yrlissa screamed inside her head. Go yourself! It’s Ember! She’s in there. You must. A tear of frustration ran from the corner of her right eye when he refused to move, standing guard over the prostrate tribals. With a sigh, she said a silent prayer and hoped it would be enough to keep Ember alive. Kyah returned several minutes later.
Kael glared at her but said nothing. “She will live. I healed her broken ribs and stopped the bleeding inside her head and that in her lungs. Without the increase granted by... I couldn’t have saved her without it...” Kyah stopped herself and glanced at the semi-conscious Yrlissa. “That poor girl would have died had we not shown up here. The rest of these tribesmen should not be allowed to live. They are slavers, just like the Dead Sisters.”
“You’re sure the girl we saw beaten will live?” he half asked, receiving a nod in return.
“She could use more healing over the next few days, a week even...”
“Then we’ve done enough,” he interrupted. “It’s not my place to fix everything in this world or to pass judgement on the way these people live. The useless gods from this screwed up world can do that, if they care to bother. Let’s go.”
Yrlissa stared after the two as both wasted no time leaving the camp. They grabbed some of the dried meat from the rack along with some bread from a nearby table and faded from her peripheral vision as they exited the camp’s north end. She was heart-broken at the missed opportunity and knew Ember would be crushed. No matter what they seemed to do, they were unable to catch themselves a break.
Kael, Yrlissa was happy to see, looked more than capable of doing whatever he needed to get by, somehow even managing to find the Vai’Karth, weapons forged for his kind by unknown hands during a lost era. Not surprisingly, it seemed the Vai’Karth were created for Kael’s hands alone. The time was fast approaching for her to tell Ember and Max everything she knew, yet she feared it and welcomed it with equal abandon.
The reaper-blades would continue to enhance Kael’s abilities as time went on, but Yrlissa had also sensed the growing darkness within him. It would be getting stronger just as quickly as his skills were. His time in captivity had been explained in great detail by Ember when she had seen him months ago while dream-casting. It was a miracle from the gods above that the darkness hadn’t taken him over completely. Few DeathWizards had ever held out against the corruption for as long as Kael had, especially under torture.
They needed to go after him as soon as it was possible for Ember to travel once more. With luck, the Taktala would no longer be a problem. Free of the Pogahna collar though, Yrlissa no longer cared if they were. There was nothing else to see and no longer any reason to fight the sleep poison’s effects, so she let go of the meditative state that was keeping her somewhat lucid and slid into the dark dreamworld brought on by the sleep darts.
Kael and Kyah left the Taktala camp by the north end, passing the Taktala’s horse corral. Stopping, Kael turned back to the corral.
“Are you sick of walking yet?”
“Yes, why?”
Kael pointed to the horses. “Can you ride without a saddle?”
“If it means walking no longer, I can,” she smiled. As she hopped the fence into the horse pen, Kael joined her and approached a sleek, but strong looking white and brown Pinto. After sliding a set of reigns over its head, he picked up another set and secured a second dark brown mare. Kyah also grabbed a second Pinto after finishing with the reigns on her first. Both horses were a bit smaller than the ones he chose, but looked like good, fast mounts.
Opening the gate, they walked the horses out of the pen, jumped up and were gone from sight in a matter of seconds, with spare horses for trade when they reached Dasal.
Chapter Nine
“The prejudices in this world never cease to disgust me. Wildland Tribals beat their slaves and keep them in abhorrent living conditions. To give them credit, though, killing a slave is at least punished by removing the murderer’s hands. Yet in Dasal slaves live better, but are treated horribly. They don’t even have real names, just a label. I guess it’s not surprising, seeing as how Talohna’s last ancient slave market is located there. I hated Dasal, but the two wizards and a certain artist who live there will always have a friend in me should I survive this world for any length of time.”
Kael Symes From journal pages found on the shore of the Sea of Storms during the Days of Light, 5025 PC
FREE LANDS
Thanks to the horses, it only took six days for Kael and Kyah to be within sight of the small city of Dasal. Kael could just make out the towering Dwarven Mountain Range to their left. The mountains’ outline was just visible as the last rays of Talohna’s third moon cast some light on the dark world before finishing its decent. With no light radiation like there was back home on Earth, Kael found the utter darkness around them unnerving, even six months after being in Talohna.
Kyah’s voice jarred him back to the present as she explained that the city lay many miles into the unclaimed Free Lands of what had once been the Dwarven Kingdom countless millennia ago, and that Dasal was a small, but tough city controlled by even tougher people.
Too restless to sleep, Kael had pushed hard for Dasal. As always, Kyah gave no complaint, and they hoped to arrive by dawn. It was only an hour before sunrise, and they were still thirty minutes from Dasal’s northern gate when Kael first sensed a small group of riders leave the city and head in their direction. The fact they rode straight for them in the pitch dark, suggested the group from Dasal had a wizard accompanying them.
Fifteen minutes later, the small group were close enough to make out. They called out immediately.
“Hail, riders! You approach the free city of Dasal. Please identify yourselves.” Adorned in wizard’s robes, the speaker held an aura of confidence that bothered Kael.
“Fair enough, riders from Dasal. Though I find it disturbing should this be the normal way you greet visitors to your fair city,” Kael replied.
Again, the wizard spoke for the five riders. “I assure you that this is not a customary welcome from our city, but I must ask you to identify yourselves one more time. If you refuse, you will not be allowed entry. Our circumstances require such safety measures for the time being,” he said, his tone brooking no argument.
“Fair enough, wizard. My name is Kael. This is my wife, Kyah, and we do seek entrance to your city for a day’s worth of trade and rest.”
The two had decided earlier fewer problems would arise if everyone in Dasal thought Kyah was Kael’s wife. She had warned him Dasal paid tribute to no king. The city was located outside of the Blood Kingdoms’ borders and home to the last of Talohna’s old slave markets. As his wife, if someone tried to take either of them for the weekly auction, Kael and Kyah would be within their full rights to retrieve the other by any means necessary. It was rare, but such things could happen. Desperate people would often do desperate things.
None of the other riders from Dasal said a single word, but the wizard looked both Kael and Kyah up and down, immediately interested in their rugged appearance.
“If you don’t mind my saying so, it looks like you and your wife have fallen on hard times; you don’t look like you have much to trade, and with the problems the city is having, you will have little to benefit us.”
Puzzled, Kael wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “I’m sure I don’t have tell a wizard about making the mistake of judging someone by how they look do I?” Kael asked. “I’ve no issue with telling you the truth of our circumstances, wizard, if you would do the same,” he offered.
“Forgive me, but for some reason I cannot sense anything about either of you, and that worries me. Also, I am not a novice wizard, so I would appreciate it if you quit implying that I am. Your condescending attitude does little to make me want to invite you into my city.”
Vaguely remembering that Lycori had once told him that those just beginning their training were referred to simply as wizards, Kael realized he’d insulted the likely
high-ranking wizard several times.
“My apologies. I meant no offence. We’ve been away from civilization for too long it seems.”
“I understand, Kael, I do. How about we start over, and both of us be more courteous? I am Master Wizard Seifer Locke.”
“It is good to meet you, Master Locke, and though I’m afraid I can do nothing that will help you sense me, as a show of faith you should be able to sense my wife now.” Kael said, remembering Lycori’s instructions on addressing high ranking wizards. “As for our tale,” he continued, “we were shipwrecked during the storm eleven or twelve nights ago. We lost everything but our travel packs, weapons, and a small amount of food. Trying to get out of the Wildlands was not an easy task. We had a few encounters with the tribals, but the last scuffle earned us a couple horses each. So, you see, we do have a little to trade, though not much.”
“Fair enough,” Seifer said. “We’ve had many like yourself brought to us by the wrath of the Sea of Storms over the years. It’s amazing that I can now sense the magic your wife controls. How do you mask yourselves like that, young man? It is truly remarkable. A family gift?”
Kael shook his head. “No mystic reveals their closest secrets, Master Locke. You should know that by now.”
“Forgive my curiosity. I meant no offence. Your wife’s magic, it is mostly healing, no? That could be of help to us.”
“You will be hard pressed to find a better healer.”
“Good, then I will offer you the only deal I can. If you will permit us to escort you to the city watch barracks and allow a search of your person and other belongings, should we not find what we are looking for, I promise to welcome you both to our city and to offer an explanation for the added security.”