The Outlaw's Quest (Keeper of the Books, Book 2)

by Jason D. Morrow

  “Seems interesting this all happened at the same time,” Nate said.

  “It’s not so much of a coincidence as you might think,” Droman said. “The moment Kellen learned of your arrival and what you were after, he sent word to me by hawk. We knew it was time to get the book.”

  “Why is Kellen helping you?”

  “He agrees with my vision,” Droman replied. “He thinks that men have grown too powerful over the years, just as I do.”

  “So, that’s your play? Get all the books and hang them over the heads of everyone in Galamore?”

  “Well,” Droman said. “It would be far more effective if we gathered the relic keys from them first. Or even just one of them. The one that is on a train, headed our way.”

  “Only as far as you know,” Nate said. “We’re just half of the group. The others might have caught up with Kellen and gotten the book already.”

  “Perhaps,” Droman said. “But I doubt it. Kellen is a powerful Sentinel. Arguably the most powerful of them all. I do not fear for him.”

  The way Nate saw it, this was just a classic case of two outlaws going after the same thing. Nate had seen it plenty of times, and almost every time someone ended up dead.

  “So, why aren’t you just attacking people and using this grand army you’ve gathered?” Nate said. “Wouldn’t that drive fear into people? Wouldn’t overtaking them be just as good if not better?”

  “War is inevitable,” Droman said. “There will be conflict, you can be sure. But having a relic key would give us an edge over the others.”

  “Might give them more of a reason to fight,” Nate said. “They might fight harder if they believe they’re trying to stop you from using the relic keys.”

  “There is a lot to consider, isn’t there?” Droman smiled when he said this, revealing a row of sharpened teeth that made him look deadly.

  “Sure is,” Nate said. “That’s not to mention the whole fact that no one has ever gone into one of The Ancient Books and come back. How does that play into your plan?”

  “I have thousands of willing soldiers,” Droman said. “Surely one of them could make it back. Even so, Kellen believes it takes a powerful being. Someone with a power as his own.”

  “Kellen will go into the book?” Nate said, shaking his head.

  “The book will be surrounded by my soldiers and me. It will be in a safe place while he is there. No chance of an enemy meeting him outside of the book when he returns.”

  “If he returns,” Nate said.

  “No Sentinel has ever tried this,” Droman said. “We are confident of his chances.”

  None of this really mattered to Nate except that it all just got in the way of him getting back home. He shook his head at the gray elf. “I don’t understand why you brought me in here. Either kill me or let me get back to the other tent.”

  “I brought you in here to let you know that I’m not going to kill you, though I probably should. You saved my sister’s life, and she has in turn petitioned for yours.”

  Nate looked at Marum who still stared at the ground. She’d petitioned for him? “That’s interesting,” he said, “considering she’s the reason I’m kneeling here in the first place. My plan was to avoid you altogether. Catch the train before it got to you. We would’ve gotten the book and been long gone before you even found out something wasn’t right.”

  “It’s unlikely you would have made it past Kellen. Believe me, you’re lucky you came across me first. I’ve saved you from Kellen’s wrath.”

  Nate didn’t say anything to this, but cocked an eyebrow and looked away. Droman was in a spot to make himself feel as dominant as he wished. Anything the gray elf might say would be to keep himself in a position over Nate. There was no arguing with him.

  He looked back at Droman. “I don’t suppose your men thought to grab my clothes before they snatched me from my bed? It’s awfully cold sitting here in my drawers.

  Droman turned away and grabbed a pile of clothes Nate hadn’t seen upon entry. He tossed the pile on the floor. Nate looked at it and found his hat, coat, and everything else except for his guns.

  Droman then walked to the other side of the tent, held Nate’s gun belt in his left hand and pulled out his six shooter with his right. He pointed it at Nate’s head and pulled back on the hammer. “You make a wrong move and I will quickly forget that you saved my sister.” He then nodded at the guard behind Nate to free him from the ropes.

  Nate was allowed to pull on his pants and socks and other items, so long as he was slow and didn’t make any sudden movements. This whole time he had his own gun pointed at him as well as the guard’s gun behind him. There was a brief thought of trying to make a move, maybe a swift kick and a tackle, but he would be dead before he could lift his leg high enough. And he didn’t doubt that Droman left him alive only out of respect to his sister. All he needed was a small reason to blow Nate’s head up like a watermelon.

  When all his clothes were on, the guard kicked Nate’s legs out from under him again and tied his wrists behind his back tighter than before. Only this time the guard decided not to tie his feet together.

  “I trust my family,” Droman said. “I love them. Alban and Rachel mean more to me than they can ever know. That said, I can’t afford to jeopardize my mission by letting them or you go free before I get that book. So, for tonight and the next night, all of you will remain tied up and left in the tents. You’ll be guarded at all times. If I even think that you might be trying to escape, know that I will kill you.” Droman took a deep breath and looked past Nate toward the tent’s opening. “Truth is, this mission is vital to my people’s existence. Without this book, without the power and influence we need, we will die out just as man wants. If you turn Alban and Rachel against me, and they try to escape, know that I will kill them as well. Your actions determine the outcome for yourself and your travel companions. Nothing…no one…is more important than my cause.”

  Gwen

  Winter, 903 A.O.M.

  Gwen felt weak, but she didn’t know if it had more to do with the use of her powerful magic or the fact that Kellen had truly betrayed them all. She felt worse that the Sentinel had slipped by them. If they had only been a couple of hours faster. If they had only slept a couple of hours less.

  Each of them was on the brink of total exhaustion as it was. She couldn’t have imagined trying to be any faster than they had been. But what disturbed Gwen the greatest wasn’t the fact that Kellen had stolen the book and was taking it to Droman, though that was plenty cause for concern, but it was the simple fact that ravagers traveled with him.

  Elise and Jesse tried to make sense of it as well but failed. The two seemed as distraught as Gwen as they stood on top of the hill. Gwen looked at Lorne in the distance, angry that she hadn’t planned this better.

  “He must have sent a post ahead of him to signal the ravagers to be ready,” Gwen said.

  “A bird wouldn’t go into the Dark Canyons,” Jesse said. “Everyone knows that.”

  “A messenger hawk will go anywhere for the right price,” Gwen said. “And on the assurance of a Sentinel no less.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure what Kellen is planning, but it isn’t good. It has been in the works for some time, that much is apparent.”

  “There was something about Nathaniel that set him off,” Elise said.

  Gwen thought Elise was right, but she wasn’t sure how or why. Regardless of why Nate might have been Kellen’s trigger, Kellen was in league with the ravagers and Droman’s Shadow Clan. In no conceivable way could this be a good thing.

  “Come,” Gwen finally said. “We should go into the caves and see if Arlo there. He might be able to give us some clue about all this. I’m particularly interested in how the ravagers got on that train.”

  They each got back on their horses and trotted toward the caves. They took a slower pace now, knowing it was pointless to hurry too much. Yet, Gwen suspected their part of this quest wasn’t finished yet.

&
nbsp; It would have been next to impossible for a group of ravagers to cross the river without someone in Lorne seeing them and raising the alarm. That left only one option, and that was that Kellen had somehow unsealed the caves and allowed them to come through. If that were the case, then the ravagers would have unfettered access to Gnome Country. And the poor gnomes had no idea.

  It was also curious how the ravagers traveled through Lorne unnoticed. Had any of the gnomes seen them walking through, they would have fought with whatever was in their hands. There wouldn’t be a single gnome who would hide away from them, whether they traveled with a Sentinel or not.

  But that seemed to be the key. Kellen was a master of battle magic and he wasn’t limited to damaging magic such as fire. If Gwen’s memory served correctly, Kellen could also use his magic for deception. It was possible that he clouded the ravager features from view—that any gnome looking at them might only see tall figures walking by, and not the enemy ravagers they hated so deeply. It was only a guess, but an educated one.

  When they reached the mouth of the cave, they dismounted and tied their horses to a nearby tree. The cave was dark and hollow, but it went deep into the ground. Elise conjured a white ball of light that floated above their heads, following them and casting a bright glow all around.

  For the first twenty minutes or so, everything seemed normal. The cave was as it should have been, empty and cold. Gwen led them deeper and deeper, and when she knew they were getting close to the blocked passage, she called out a name.

  “Arlo!” she said. “It’s Sentinel Gwen, are you down here? Arlo!”

  There was no answer, only the faint echoes of her voice bouncing off wall after wall. She glanced at Elise and Jesse. Elise seemed nervous, her hands clenched into fists as she walked. Jesse held his six-shooter in front of him, ready to kill the first thing that jumped out at them.

  When Gwen spotted blood on the ground, her insides turned to ice. The others saw it too, but said nothing as they crept forward. The blood left a glistening trail through the corridors and Gwen feared the worst. A left and a right. Twenty more steps.

  The boundary now stood before them, only there was no boundary to speak of. Instead, there was a large, gaping hole where a rock wall had once been. It was the wall the Sentinels had set in place to keep the ravagers from getting into Gnome Country. It was large enough for a group of twenty ravager fighters to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. Left without a barricade, the evil creatures would be able to come through the caves by the thousands. It made no sense to Gwen how Kellen brought it down on his own, but Gwen knew she did not possess the strength to raise it back up.

  As terrible and frightening the aspect of the missing wall was, it was the body of the dead gnome that troubled Gwen the most.

  Arlo rested against the side of the cave, his big eyes staring straight ahead. His throat was cut out and a dried river of blood had spilled over his clothes, his long white beard now soaked a crimson red. Gwen knew this was the work of a ravager. Immediately the sight of it reaching out and ripping the throat from the train attendant entered her mind. She wondered if Kellen watched this happen. She wondered if he condoned it, or if he stood there, pretending he didn’t know what was going on just like he had on the train.

  There was no time to mourn the gnome. There was no time to talk about it. For in the distance beyond the crumbled wall were the faint echoes of angry screeches. The ravagers were coming.

  Elise killed the light above their heads and they were engulfed in darkness. There was only the faint glow of a light from the coming ravagers who held torches in their hands. They screamed for battle. They lusted for blood. They were excited. They were hungry. To them, gnomes made the best feast. To them, the blood of their most hated enemy was sweeter than honey.

  “What are we doing?” Jesse asked in a hushed tone.

  “We fight them,” Gwen said.

  “But we need to warn the gnomes! We don’t know how many there are.”

  Gwen looked at Elise. “Are you ready?”

  “I’ve never fought a ravager before,” Elise said. “But I can do my best.”

  Gwen could sense the fear in her voice. All Sentinels knew some basic magic for defending themselves, but Elise was still in the stage of learning the basics. Conjuring a light or a campfire was not a problem for her. Conjuring lightning or a fireball that could incinerate the head of a ravager was a different magic entirely.

  “We’re not staying to fight them,” Gwen said. “We’re going to block their entry. Are you ready?”

  Elise hesitated, then nodded. “Yes.”

  Gwen looked at Jesse. “Stand back, and aim for any ravager that might get through.”

  He nodded as he took a few steps backward, his pistol firm in his hand.

  Gwen turned toward the oncoming ravagers as Elise took her spot next to her. Gwen knew most of the magic would have to come from deep within herself if this was going to work. Elise’s strength would help, but the pupil needed some time to gather it.

  Elise stood in a trance, her arms held out in front of her. Slowly, pebbles on the ground began to rattle and Gwen could hear the cave begin to rumble. Elise would provide the shift, Gwen would bring the cave in on itself.

  The ground beneath their feet cracked and Gwen closed her eyes, focusing on the roof of the cave. With her added concentration, the earth quaked beneath their feet. She knew the ravagers were within view now. She knew that they saw the three of them and were hungry. Human blood would satisfy their hunger. Elf blood would do just fine.

  The walls crashed in front of them. The roof fell in piles and heaps. Rock broke into rock as the ravagers in front of them screamed out in terror and were suddenly engulfed by a crushing force.

  Gwen opened her eyes and Elise was on the ground panting, Jesse by her side. When she looked ahead, a new wall had been formed, but it was made loosely, and it was only a matter of time before the ravagers broke through.

  She knelt beside Elise and took her hand. “Do you have the strength to move?”

  Elise nodded, though it was just a brave front. She got to her feet and limped forward slowly. Gwen looked at Jesse and set a firm grip on his shoulder.

  “Get to your horse and warn the gnomes that the wall has fallen,” she said.

  “You’re not coming?”

  “We will be behind you,” she said. “They will trust you. The elves are their most trusted allies.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Go!”

  Jesse took one last look at Elise before running back through the cave. It was dark and difficult to see, but the elves had sharp eyes and could see better than most in the darkness. Gwen desperately hoped the gnomes would take heed of the elf’s warning. Their very lives depended on it.

  Elise was slowly regaining her strength by the time they reached the mouth of the cave. Gwen felt the weakness within her too, but it would be more pronounced in the pupil. Though crumbling a cave brought about a fascinating physical outcome, the magic it took to do such a thing was nothing like the magic of entering someone’s mind. Trying to locate Kellen and seeing what his thoughts and memories were, left her more drained than a hundred collapsing caves.

  Their two horses waited for them at the cave opening and Gwen helped Elise up. “Can you ride?” she asked.

  Elise answered with a nod. Gwen handed her the reins then mounted her own horse. With a harsh kick, they were off toward Lorne.

  When the two of them reached Jesse, the city was already in an uproar. Gnomes ran in every direction, securing their homes and grabbing their weapons.

  “Did you tell the Mayor?” Gwen asked.

  Jesse shook his head. “I have no idea who that is.”

  Gwen suppressed a curse and shouted for Jesse to look after Elise as she galloped away toward the mayor’s house. She should have had Jesse stay back with Elise and Gwen should have come to Lorne in the first place. She slapped the reins against the side of the horse until it was in a full sprint, pr
aying she didn’t hit any of the gnomes as she tore through the streets. Finally, the mayor’s office was in view. When she reached the front steps, she jumped off the horse and continued in step with a run.

  Gwen ripped open the door, her breaths coming now in heaves as about ten gnome heads shot up to look at her. Each of them stared at her wide-eyed and startled.

  “Where is Mayor Farron?” She said. Sweat dripped down the sides of her face despite the cold outside. The gnomes still stared at her blankly, unsure of how to proceed. Gwen supposed she understood their reaction. Some giant of a woman who could barely fit through the door was screaming at them. She closed her eyes briefly to calm herself and regain her composure. She swallowed slowly and then opened her eyes. “I am Sentinel Gwen and I need to speak with Mayor Farron. It cannot wait. It is a matter of life and death.” She swallowed a second time. “For all of you,” she added.

  This turned a few heads as the gnomes looked around at each other, fear creeping its way into their little hearts.

  One brave gnome, however, raised a hand in the air and came running toward her. “I will take you to him, Sentinel Gwen. Follow me.”

  “Thank you,” she said as she followed.

  The gnome led her wordlessly into a hallway in which she had to hunker low in order to keep from bumping her head. They made two turns and were at the back of the building in front of the mayor’s door.

  “I’ll see if he’s available, m’lady,” the gnome said.

  “I don’t care if he’s taking visitors,” Gwen said as she shoved the gnome to the side. “Didn’t you hear me?” She pushed open the door and found herself in a large office. Well, large by gnome standards. She still had to duck through the doorway, but was able to stand straight once in the room.

  The gnome behind the desk fell back in his chair when she slammed the door behind her, leaving the other helpful gnome alone in the hallway. She could almost sense him pressing his ear against the door to get a better listen, but she didn’t care. Anything said here needed to be heard by all the gnomes.