Rising Vengeance (The Anarian Chronicles Book 1)

by Stephen Trolly

  Both Daken and Ranny nodded silently. It was true, and it was no secret. Daken had taken many of the Dragon Hearted north to fight alongside Marrdin in Rista, and he had sent over five hundred of the Eagle Eyed to help Daliana’s Half-Elvin hold the line of the forest. Ranny had taken over half of the strength of the Army of the Sun, a force of over fifty thousand, including most of the Rayed Sun, to Noldoron with Guinira.

  * * * * *

  Galeth left Ra-Diavere two days later, with Daken and three other Riders. His own men had taken command of Meclarya’s army, and would bring it back to Airachni. Ranny spent several long days in thought without leaving the suite of rooms that Taren had insisted Edya give the Morschcoda.

  She spent most of the time trying to convince Edya to release her or manipulate the guards any way she could. It was only when Edya revealed that Ranny was not actually confined to the rooms that Ranny started to consider the choice before her.

  Identity Revealed

  Far to the west, Gelida Mectar rode slowly through the mountains. The cause of the slow journey was not the rugged terrain, but the need to conserve what strength they could on their long march from the border of Torridesta to Galzeen, a trip that, even in a straight line, was over three hundred leagues. Having been forced to travel along roads, through the mountains at least, Gelida’s army had already marched nearer to four hundred, and they were still at least two days away from Galzeen. There were other reasons for her desire to march slowly. Many trade caravans had been raided along the route by El Darnen and the Serpent’s Fang. She had no desire to run into an ambush. She knew that he would have someone watching the road, but she fervently hoped that the thirty thousand soldiers that she had with her would be enough to avoid a fight with the criminal warlord. She was completely surprised, therefore, when five horsemen rode out of a small cave and hailed her.

  “Greetings, Lady Mectar.” She reined her horse to a stop, and placed her hand on her sword hilt. But the man kept speaking. “You have come far enough for this night, and further than you should have.”

  “I don’t wish to kill you, but I will if you bar my way.” She had learned from experience that the only way to negotiate with bandits was to threaten the only thing they cared about: their lives.

  “You can’t threaten me, nor would I be so hasty to do so, my lady. You are not yet in Noldoron. Even if you were, your word counts for little enough there.” He paused, but added a last remark mentally. ‘I know you will not kill me. You can’t afford to alienate the army I represent.’

  “What do you want? I’m in a hurry.”

  “We know. We’ve been watching you since you entered the mountains. That is why I think it would be to your benefit to go no further.”

  “I have to be in Galzeen in time to save it from Guinira.”

  The other four men shifted uneasily. The speaker’s voice seemed sorrowful as he spoke. “If you came for that purpose, you have come far too late with too few men. The bridges fell sixty days ago. The city is forty five days Guinira’s.”

  Though Gelida suspected as much when Erygan had told her that her father was dead, she was still shocked to hear it, especially in the present circumstances. “She has had the city for that long?”

  The man in the lead slowly nodded. “Your people fought bravely, and none more so than your father, I’m told. I am sorry, but there’s nothing you can do for either the city or your people. Not with men in this state. And certainly not alone.”

  “My father is -”

  “Your father is dead. Dalasin is dead one month at least. Some of our comrades in the city managed to get his body out before it was dishonoured. Many others of my people died trying to hold the palace from Guinira. They felt that we owed him that much.”

  This left her speechless. She did not know what to say, nor even what to think. El Darnen Greshida recognized no authority but their own, unless it was Taren Garrenin, and only then occasionally. And yet, his men, likely men who were not Noldorin, had died for her father and her country. That they held themselves in debt to her father was something she could not understand. “You have my father’s body?”

  “We do, Gelida. I told you it would be beneficial for you to stay here through the night. I mean it. Your men, if you hadn’t noticed, are ready to drop. What horses you have aren’t the kind meant for this rough road, and night falls quickly here, as you no doubt noticed. Even if none of that were so, the first thing Guinira did after taking Noldoron was close the Garuthen Road. You would not get out of the mountains unmarked and without a fight, and then you would still be over two miles from the city. Near to the walls, maybe, but too far away to surprise Guinira’s forces.”

  “I can’t wait longer. If I -”

  “If you march on the city as you plan to do, it will cost you the lives of almost every one of the men you have. There are still men of ours in the city, and we can get yours in also. Not all of them, but some, enough to make a difference. Here, your men can repair their equipment and you can replenish your supplies. You would also have time to rest and think, and plan a course of attack.”

  “That still leaves us with the problem of the closed road.”

  “All I ask is that you trust El Darnen.”

  “You want a Morschcoda to trust a criminal?”

  “You are not Morschcoda, not yet.” He stopped for a moment, clearly dreading what he had to say next. “And yes, I want you to trust me.” Gelida could only stare at him. “I am El Darnen, but if it will help your decision, there is more than one way out of these mountains.”

  * * * * *

  Gelida wondered that night if she had made the right decision. El Darnen could easily have her men butchered during the night, but she could not help but think that he would uphold their bargain. He owed allegiance to no one, though, and especially not to her. Too much could go wrong for her to spend the night in peace, even though she knew that if El Darnen turned on them, she would likely be taken alive to be ransomed off to the highest bidder, if not worse. Still, the words he had said rang in her ears. “We felt we owed him that much.” Obviously they meant her father, but she could not imagine why a band of criminals would owe her father anything. Too deep in thought to sleep, she pushed herself off of the rough bed El Darnen had insisted on giving her. She had protested, but he had stated that it was his law that no woman in his camp be without a bed. She rarely thought of criminals as having any kind of morals or civility, but El Darnen most certainly did. He was an enigma, so she decided, partly because of the rough bed, that she should find out as much as she could about the criminal warlord with whom she shared the Garuthen Mountains. She wandered through the camp of caves and tents, hidden well away from and high above the road. El Darnen himself was standing guard at the entrance to the hidden mountain pasture.

  “Sleep doesn’t often come easily within the mountains, daughter of Dalasin, even in high summer. And that is over one month gone.”

  Gelida was almost shocked that he had known it was her without even turning his head. To make it seem like she had not been disturbed by that, she pretended count up the time on her fingers. High summer had been gone seventy days. Just under one and a half months. Almost the whole last month, nearing fifty days, her army had been marching to Galzeen. After three years of war in Rista, she had spent five long weeks on the road without adequate rest in her desperation to reach Galzeen before it fell. Even though she had known her father was dead, there had still been a fading hope in her that her home had not been taken. “Ten days to a week, five weeks to a month, ten months to a year. Five hundred days between the Red Sun and the Silver Moon, and in all of that, I do not have time to waste. It is not the night or the mountains that trouble me, Serpent. It’s the feeling that no matter what happens now, it will be too late.”

  “Some argue that late is better than never, and any help is better than none at all. I disagree with them. But that’s not what really keeps you awake tonight. You fear me, don’t deny it.”

 
“Yes, I do. But that isn’t the whole reason that I came looking for you. I could think of no reason why you would hold yourself in my father’s debt.”

  He never took his eyes off of the road far below, or the entrance to the easily missed, winding path that lead from it up to the camp. “How long has it been since you could truly call Noldoron your home?”

  She paused for a moment. This man knew much about her. “I’ve lived in Toredo for the past eighteen years. For the past fifty, it has been more my home than Galzeen or Noldoron has really ever been.”

  “Well, you would have no reason to know this.” He straightened, rolling his shoulders. “For the past fifteen years, your father sought to win my loyalty, or maybe just my friendship. He knew we were in these mountains. I don’t know how he found us, or how long he knew we were here. I don’t care either. For fifteen years, he supplied us: weapons, armour, and other things that we couldn’t get easily. Food, especially, is hard to come by up here, even for a small hunting party. An army of refugees needs quite a bit more than these mountains were willing to produce. Dalasin traded us the food we needed desperately for the security he didn’t feel. He was afraid that Erygan would have Norrin march in force against him, and he was certain that they would march through the mountains, or, in the last five years, that they would use the Garuthen Road. We provided a defence. If we attacked any army marching from the north, it would be because we assumed that they were marching against us. It would never have been believed that we were defending Dalasin. He could never give us much armour or many weapons at a time, not enough to be noticed anyway. They had allegedly belonged to convoys heading north to arm Erygan’s soldiers. Certain groups had orders to empty their wagons, hide the goods where we would find them, and then make it look like we had attacked.”

  “Wait, you said fifteen years. My father was only Morschcoda for five.”

  “And yet, your father was always a rich man. And a paranoid one. He hoped that if Norrin did march, we would feel obligated to come to the aid of the one who have aided us. And he also hoped that if Noldoron survived the Eschcotan attack, that we would find some way to ensure he took control of the country.”

  The two of them started walking back towards the camp. “I have something that belongs to you now. I didn’t understand why he sent it, but it came with the last delivery, just as the bridges fell.”

  “What is it?”

  “You will see.”

  El Darnen led Gelida to a small cave she had not seen before, hidden behind a spur of the mountain that still loomed high above them. One of the last things she had expected stood before the entrance: five Tall Dwarves. She could tell that whatever they guarded, her father had been desperate to protect.

  “They will take orders only from Dalasin’s rightful heir, you, and they were ordered to guard what lies beyond with their lives. You will face whatever other things guard this treasure alone, for they will not let me pass. And none of those who pushed their way through came out again.”

  Gelida nodded slowly, and then took a step forward. The Tall Dwarves did not tense as she might have expected them to. She took that as a good sign. As she went to step into the cave, one of the guards spoke. “You have the right to pass, Gelida Mectar. Your weapons do not. You must leave your sword and any other blade you possess here on the threshold.”

  It was a strange request, especially since El Darnen had seemed to indicate that there might be other things in the cave. She looked back over her shoulder at El Darnen, for some reason needing this man’s conformation that everything would be alright. He nodded slowly. Reassured, she unbuckled her sword belt and handed it to one of the guards. Pulling two knives out of her boots, and another from inside of her jacket, she went to step forward again.

  “Gelida Mectar, you must leave all weapons outside of this cave.”

  She reluctantly nodded, and pulled a long dagger out of her jacket, from where it had hung hidden behind her neck. As she went to step forward again, the guard put up his hand to stop her. “It is not for our protection that we require you to leave all of your weapons behind, my lady. It would be dangerous, to say the least, for you to take even what you still have with you.”

  “Captain, I promise that what you sense is not a weapon. But to leave it behind would be like leaving a part of my own body out here. I can’t do that.”

  The guard thought for a long time, too long in Gelida’s mind, and his eyes, filled with suspicion, dropped to her gloved right hand. “I do not know what will happen to you in there, if you will not leave whatever this is behind. You only increase your own danger.”

  “I will go in with her.” Gelida had almost forgotten El Darnen already. The prospect of the cave was scaring her more than ever.

  “No, you will not.” The guard’s voice suddenly seemed harsh and cold in a way that it had not before.

  “Well, none of you will, and now you think she shouldn’t. Someone had better go in to make sure she survives.”

  “You are not worthy.”

  “Get used to that idea, captain. I have lost six men to that cave since you came here. I think you owe me. Now, tell me what is in there, or let me see for myself.”

  “El Darnen, you don’t have to come with me. Captain, you will let me pass. What I bear is not a weapon. Surely whatever guards this place aside from you will be able to tell that.”

  Unsatisfied, the guard let her pass. As she stepped into the darkness of the cave, she became aware of a number of large creatures, a second defence against any unworthy being who got passed the Tall Dwarves. She understood, now, why she would need no weapons. If someone had forced their way passed the guards, they would have a sword at least. Since she had none, the beasts, or whatever they were, would know she had been allowed to pass. ‘Clever,’ she thought, not daring to say anything. She continued forward, drawn by something she could not see, until she rounded one last corner. A single ray of light somehow managed to find its way through the rough cliffs and crags above her so as to illuminate a pile of steel. The closer she got to it, the more she could feel the silent watchers closing in behind her. The light grew steadily darker, as outside of the cave the moon was beginning to set, but the stars still shone. And finally, she stood at her father’s grave. The place was marked only by a single upright stone, deeply scratched with the runes that made up her father’s name. And beside it, that which she had entered the cave for, not knowing what it was: her father’s armour and sword.

  El Darnen waited with the Tall Dwarves the entire time that Gelida was in the cave. Their pets would not harm her as she had no weapon, but since no one who had gone in had come out, he did not know what would happen once she put on her father’s armour. ‘She might not put it on at all,’ he thought. ‘Dalasin was not small, and if she were to wear it, it would have to be altered.’ Altering armour to fit another person was no small task, not even for Noldorin Morschledu. It could be done, but not until they reached the city. Something like that needed a proper forge.

  “My lord,” whispered one of his men, suddenly close behind him.

  “Curse these Dothrin, they can move too quietly,” he said under his breath. Louder, he addressed the man. “Well, what is it?”

  “The scouts just reported in. The city is deserted. No one saw Guinira’s army leave, but the road is no longer blocked. Some scouts even went as close to the walls as they could without being seen. There was no one on the walls, no guard at the gates. Galzeen has been abandoned.”

  El Darnen was confused. Guinira had to know that somewhere in these mountains, the daughter of the man that no more than one month ago she had had killed was leading an army. An army made up of common soldiers, yes, but an army nonetheless. And from what he knew of Guinira, she was not one to hand back something without getting anything for it, especially not a country. Maybe she thought that fear of her would keep the city in line. Or maybe … “Rouse the camp. Everyone armed. Anyone who goes within one mile of the road before I give the order, I sw
ear I’ll kill myself and have their guts hung from a flag pole. But by Lasheed’s Throne, do it quietly.”

  The man went dead white, knowing how bad it must be if El Darnen had invoked a god’s name, so white that even dark as the night was, he would have been a choice target for any archer worth his bow. “What’s wrong sir?”

  “Guinira is coming for us.”

  * * * * *

  Guinira’s small force, one of a half of a dozen, crept stealthily towards the high mountain pasture. She was not surprised when she encountered no guards, nor was she surprised when she saw that almost no one was stirring yet in the camp. “I thought criminals were the most watchful of all types of soldiers” she said sarcastically, barely loud enough for her two guards to hear. They both frowned in response to her statement. Both were Tai-Aren Coda. It was their duty to protect her, but they were also indoctrinated with the morals and codes of their kind. They would not fight an unarmed foe. They would not kill anyone who did not have the chance to defend themselves. The only instance that those did not come into effect was when fighting others of their kind. A Tai-Aren Coda was never considered ‘unarmed.’ For her to order them to charge in to the camp with her and kill without remorse would be harder for them to obey than if she ordered them to take their own lives. But they had their duty to her, and if they were lucky, there would be enemy Tai-Aren Coda in the camp. It was the only way. “Captain, send the signal to the other groups, as well as the decoy army on the road. Remember, I want Gelida alive.”