'I honestly don't know what to say,' he finally said to them. 'I don't have much influence outside of the inn, otherwise we could go back and get this thing straightened out.' He rubbed his chin in thought. 'I sneaked into your Dad's cart and joined the party that was hunting you down.' Turning to Jakob, he shook his head. 'They'll probably realise Ella is missing and think whoever it was that killed Solomon also kidnapped her.'
He watched realisation eventually dawn on Jakob, he'd been so busy fleeing that he had never considered the possibility of a hostage situation. Jimmy glanced over at Ella and she was smirking, had she planned this, or was this just a further unexpected bonus that somehow forced him to keep her by his side?
Jimmy held Jakob's stare, an uncomfortable silence grew. 'There's something else I need to tell you.'
'Something else?' Jakob said. He looked at Ella, her expression had slipped into a frown of worry.
'The Warden and his party ran into trouble on the road. Some strange bandit that killed one of the dogs and one of the men. He said they weren't allowed to follow you and Thom complied.'
Jakob raised his brows in disbelief. 'Thom let himself be dissuaded by a common bandit?'
'This was no common bandit.' Jimmy replied. 'I... I can't describe it. It was like his words were inside my head. There was something magical about him.'
Ella let out an unconvincing laugh. 'Magic? Sounds like the heat of the moment got to you.'
Jakob held up a hand, she frowned at his attempt to silence her. 'Magic or not, nobody ever gets Thom to back off. Did he mention us by name?'
Jimmy shook his head. 'I think we're being watched.'
They stared at the forest surrounding them in uncomfortable silence after that, finally Ella spoke.
'Why did this bandit let you find us then?'
This brought an odd smile from Jakob. 'He's meant to be here, otherwise this bandit would have picked him off after waylaying the search party. It may be that we have an unexpected ally, though if whatever is following us is as lethal as you say then I suggest we keep moving forward.'
'Well that's a relief,' Jimmy said, cracking a brittle smile. 'We'll head to Urial and plead our case with Lord Kelgrimm, he'll set things right.'
'Kelgrimm?' Jakob and Ella asked in union.
This brought a chuckle. 'You mean to tell me you were going to go all the way to Urial to escape a hanging and you don't even know who the benevolent Lord Kelgrimm is?'
They both stared at him blankly, he flung his hands up in the air.
'He's the governor in charge of the entire Urial province, he keeps everything knitted together, from the outlying farmland to the inner city ports. All of my father's friends speak very highly of him. Most importantly, he is Justice.'
Jakob looked sceptically at his pontificating gestures, he knew he had a habit of elaborating more with his hands than his words. 'So this Kelgrimm has the power to proclaim us innocent?'
He nodded. 'He's a regional Justice, technically he's in control of the Wardens, you plead your case and he'll have the power to grant you mercy, I'm sure of it.'
Jakob looked more than a little suspicious. 'So all we need do is tell him what we've told you and he'll override Escana law?'
'That's not all, you'll get an armed escort home too, I've seen it happen before,' Jimmy replied.
To them it must have felt too easy, they looked to be desperately searching for a catch somewhere, but neither of them knew anything about Urian law like he did. Compared to these two, Jimmy seemed a veritable expert, a fountain of information waiting to be used.
'I assume you'll be coming with us to do this then?' Ella said, trying to smirk at him, the tension still filled the air.
Jimmy responded in kind. 'As if you had a choice in the matter my lady. You need me!'
Jakob raised an eyebrow. 'We need someone that didn't even bring a pack? Are you going to fly us to Urial perchance? Or were you expecting to share our meagre supplies?'
He looked around him somewhat deflated, as if noticing the forest for the first time. 'I didn't really have chance to pack... Besides, it's only a days walk from here to Urial. Then we shall have a hearty breakfast while we await judgement.'
Ella shook her head in mild amusement. 'Well, you've never been wrong before when it comes to your beloved seaside city, let's go and see the innards for ourselves.'
23
Thom
'What would they think of you now, my plucky human friend?'
He knew the voice, but couldn't open his eyes to put a face to it. The mere presence of it had caused the numbing to spread through the whole of his body, leaving him powerless.
'Lying at the side of the road, completely helpless, prey to the whim of any mere brigand travelling these lands. Is this the arrogant one that once called himself a man?'
Its light leather shoes glided alongside him now, agonisingly out of reach.
'Or has time taken its toll on your pride as well as your body? Unable to contain a child in your custody, what a wasted potential you are.'
Another foe would have kicked him at this point, or laughed at his plight, all he sensed here was disappointment and disinterest.
'In a sense you are fortunate, as it is through my own actions that you will most likely not be ravaged by one of the former brutes that I had the misfortune of encountering. They are desperately dull and there was no hope for them. The petty ones in Upper Levanin would have me be subservient to even more rather than extend the security of the realm through effective human enforcement. I dealt with those too, but that is beside the point.'
Thom just listened, there was nothing else he could do, paralysed as he was.
'You should see Sisead now, swanning about the whitened walk as if he were the Emperor himself, which he may as well be given his protection by the very man. No doubt Alissandra would send her regards if she knew that you were out here. Their games continue unabated in spite of your absence, do you not wish to join them again instead of stalking this backwater? Old Everalm would love to bandy words with you over a cup no doubt.'
He listened to all the familiar names from a great distance, for that was what they were to him. Distant people from another time long-forgotten. They had taken Mary from him, they were nothing to him now.
'You could have been more than that rabble, you were afforded opportunities to become so in your previous exploits and yet you rejected them. You could have flown across the peaks of the land empowered by a will unlike any others,' the voice dropped to a whisper then, 'you could have become Emperor yourself.'
He hadn't wanted it, he hadn't wanted anything but to go away and leave all the schemers and grandiosity in the hands of others. He had died that day and yet his rebirth still haunted him with the memories of what could have been. There was no sign of the solace that he had sought for so vainly in his enforced departure.
'There is one opportunity remaining for you, Warden Thom of Escana. Should General Thom of Sah'kel, the Skull Cleaver himself, recall who he once was then there is an opening in the line of work that I must now maintain.'
He didn't want it then and he didn't want it now. They would make him claw his way up on hands and knees to attain the position he was in before, more out of fear for the consequences and self-preservation than any desire to benefit the Empire.
'Well, I shall take my leave of you now,' the voice said. 'If your addled mind ever recalls what it was, or if you just wish an end to this suffering, meet me at the bridge.'
No. He couldn't go back, he wouldn't go back. They couldn't make him.
El-Vador. The one that mocked him so, the one that brought a fire to his chest unlike any prior. It must die, he must kill it. This was his final opportunity, but not for what the creature suspected.
Thom slumped back into unconsciousness.
24
Thom
Garth didn't know whether to feel relieved or not as he checked Thom for a pulse. The Warden had dashed off with his usual fervour, i
t beggared belief that he'd been left by the wayside to die. Yet there it was, the signs spoke to a lack of embellishment in the tales as much as Harvester's fearful face. Nothing scared that man, yet this had him spooked. The accuracy of the shot that pinned poor Quail to the cart spoke of the cool and measured attack of a practised marksman.
He was alive at least. His breathing seemed normal and aside from the punctured leg he didn't have a scratch on him.
Garth shifted him into a sitting position and poured a little water over his head. 'Thom, are you there?'
The man woke with a start as if from a bad dream. 'El-Vador,' he said, looking up at him. 'It was El-Vador, I'm sure of it.'
Garth's eyes widened. 'Thom, you've taken a nasty wound, we need to get you back to Escana, I have a horse.'
Thom's right hand shot out and cracked the smith full across the cheek. 'I'm not delusional you witless fool. It was El-Vador, it's here. It's going to meet me at the bridge.'
Garth visibly reddened, and it was a few seconds before he chose to respond. 'Fine. Let's go to the bridge and find your damn lost ghost.'
They made their way in silence down the winding forest path that led to the bridge in question, the tension between them growing with each passing step in which they didn't speak.
'I'm sorry,' Thom said into the stillness.
The smith blinked. 'Since when do you apologise for anything?'
He stopped in the middle of the road, looking at him. 'This has been a long time in coming. I don't know what's going to happen when we make it to the bridge. I didn't want our lives to end on bad terms.'
Garth shrugged. 'Apology accepted, I mistook your daze for a hallucination. Should have known you wouldn't dream up such a thing after everything that has happened.'
'Yeah, well it's been a long time since this has come up, you can be forgiven for thinking I had gone mad.'
They nodded at each other and set off again, knowing that they were headed into a potentially lethal situation and perfectly fine with doing so.
'I have to do this. You know that don't you?' Thom said as he walked alongside his big smith friend.
'Some things a man has just got to do. It'll bring you peace one way or another.'
A quiet understanding fell between the men as they kept their weapons ready. There was nothing more that need be said, no great pontifications or illuminating conversation. They knew each other like a walking man's foot knows the soft leather of a well-worn shoe. The man didn't need to espouse the greatness of the shoe or the comfort it delivered, it was simply a given.
The bridge was made of sturdy oak and was ten feet wide, they knew they weren't walking into a bottleneck but couldn't shake the menace of the absolute silence that greeted them.
Thom drew his sword. 'I have arrived. Show yourself!'
Silence.
'I was told to meet at the bridge, I am here.'
Garth inspected the banks with a worried look on his face. 'Thom, the water is completely still. There's no current.'
He looked back to see Thom talking to himself.
'You should have come alone,' the voice told him.
'You told me to meet you here, you said nothing of who I may bring.'
Garth's concern grew. 'Thom? Is someone there?'
Thom ignored him.
'It's just you and I, there are no others. Send the smith away.'
Thom turned to Garth with great deliberation, as if trying not to attract unwanted attention. 'You need to leave, didn't you hear?'
Something in the way Thom spoke made him realise that this wasn't a request, Garth backed away, leading the horse back down the road.
'He can't hear what was said, can he? If I kept him here he'd just think I was possessed.'
El-Vador chuckled. 'The only thing that has possessed you over these many years is finding me. Then you stopped. You didn't stop to lure me into revealing myself, why did you cease your efforts?'
Thom's mind closed in on itself. 'Why I stopped is of no concern. After all, if you wanted to be seen by me you would have been.'
There was a thoughtful pause. 'I gave you the perfect opportunity, I spoke in front of others, I even demonstrated my power yet still you walked away like a wounded animal fleeing a fight. Why?'
Thom turned his back on the voice. 'Life gets in the way, no matter who you may be.'
Slowly he felt his head being pried open, spilling out the years in a matter of seconds. He tried to stem the tide but the inexorable need triumphed.
'You have seen much pain, Thom, much death.' The voice no longer carried through the air, it had a more substantial quality to it. It was calling him by his name, it was standing in plain sight, it was engaging verbally, after all these years all he need do was turn around. 'Yet still it is not too late for you to come to us.'
Footsteps, he heard actual footsteps.
'Your flesh can be willed otherwise in time, your mind is still as sharp as ever. I have felt it.'
Thom's knuckles grew white on the grip of Skullcleaver, he let out a cry and swung round, there was nothing there.
Sunlight blinded him from above, a figure cut down and parried inside the swipe. Thom recoiled and brought up his guard. A bolt shot past his head and into El-Vador's shoulder. Thom charged but found thin air greeting him. Garth sprinted over, discarding crossbow for axe. 'What in Torr's name was that? Where did it go?'
It was then that Thom noticed all the small cuts along his sword arm. It had planned to make it slow then.
'That was El-Vador, I want it dead.'
25
Hern
He knew he was in trouble this time.
There was no reprieve from the endlessly spiralling staircase winding deep into the bowels of the earth. Faint torchlight from behind lit the way but its flickers spoke of only two things. Firstly it was scant light for such treacherous footing and secondly the gleam it cast painted the unwanted silhouette of the sword that continued hovering an inch from his back. No turning back it would seem, one wrong move and he was dead. The sword wasn't going to be too discriminate, the various bones he passed echoed that sentiment with perfect clarity.
He wasn't considering going back anyway. For once in his life he knew they had no reason to drag him down here. Soon he'd find out just how far the rot had sunk in, they couldn't sentence him otherwise, as much as they'd want to of course. These scattered observations didn't ease his sense of foreboding any, something was severely amiss and recent actions had attested to that. He had to assume the worst, there was no love lost here.
The spiral ended, widening out into a large domed chamber with a small circle of light in the centre. The source was known to Hern, a small vertical passage that led straight to the surface, though why it provided illumination at night was unknown. He felt the tip of the blade push at his jerkin and quickened his pace towards the beam of light.
As he approached he was greeted by the familiar mahogany horseshoe they sat behind, surrounding the illumination at a considerable distance. Nothing had changed, on the surface at least.
'Step into the light,' a voice from his far left spoke. No honorific in sight, an ominous development. He did as instructed and was blinded by the beam, not that the council needed it, hooded and cloaked in darkness as they were.
'Do you know why you have been brought here?'
Hern smiled grimly. 'No I don't.'
There was the slightest of pauses, a hollow victory.
'You are here to atone for your gravest transgressions, you were already informed by the gate master what you have done.'
Hern customarily turned to the voice on his middle left. 'I am aware of the supposed violation that you seek to punish me for. I shall tell you what I told him, I killed both of them in self defence and have proof as required by guild council statutes.'
This caused a more profound delay in reaction, the muttering was audible, Hern didn't want to push his luck too much.
'We have decided to allow the presentation of
your alleged proof.'
The sword at his back hovered round to rest upon his throat.
'Should you attempt any unwanted transgressions your services will be terminated.' This voice came from the central Arbiter.
Hern turned with great care, watching the seemingly prescient blade follow his every move. Sweat beaded his brow as he undid his jerkin, this precarious scenario was far too convenient for his more vocal opponents.
He let it fall to the floor and raised his arms with palms outward.
The ugly wound in his back gleamed in the light for all to see. He heard several intakes of breath as he carefully turned half circle to display himself. 'As you can see, the only explanation for such handiwork is a scarcely evaded attack from behind by two of your operatives... Or a single master.'
The voice from the far left cut in immediately at this implication. 'Or you lacked the grace to evade more than one operative. Or you thought to dispose of a single detractor but miscalculated in eagerness.'
Hern knew that was a bold-faced lie rather than speculation, he was also privy to the voice's identity. To reveal either fact to the council would mean certain suicide, their strict codes of secrecy overrode any further information he could impart by breaking them. Hern awaited Arbitrary judgement but it was a far right interjection that cut through the silence.
'Nevertheless, this new evidence casts a shadow of doubt over the perpetrator of the attack. You cannot condemn this man to death in light of it.'
Another tremulous voice from the right added to the debate. 'His skill is without question, a single operative would have kept his back hidden from the two and would have sensed a second opponent in shadow if he did attack the first operative. Furthermore, he would not have sustained such an injury from a single operative.'
A second voice from the left rose in opposition to this. 'There was an eye witness that invalidates your theory, there are no other possibilities.'
The first voice from the far right returned with a snort of derision. 'Are you forgetting that the eye witness also reported that the assailant kept his back from harm? The witness has given false testimony and this wound is very real.'
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