by Justin Sloan
Stepping forward, Alastar said, “Bale, is that you?”
“Alastar?” Bale stepped forward, peering at him, and smiled. “By the Saint, we’ve finally found you.” He lowered his sword and knelt and held the blade out horizontally with both hands, his head bowed. “We’ve come to fight at your side.”
“Excuse me?” Alastar stared in amazement as the other six paladins did the same. A woman and boy slid off the unicorn a moment later and she led the magical animal over.
“This is them?” the woman asked the boy, then looked around. “Where’s this girl you speak of? The crush?”
“It’s not a crush,” the boy argued, then joined her in looking around. “Kia? Kia!”
Alastar frowned, now totally caught off guard, especially when Kia came running past him and leaped into an embrace with the kid, shouting, “Lannis. By the spirits, how did you… What?” She pulled back, looking him up and down, and then stared at the woman and the paladins. “How did this happen?”
“What do you mean?”
“How… How did you find us?”
“I’d like to know that and then some,” Alastar commented, sheathing his sword. He was fairly certain he wouldn’t be needing it. “Bale?”
Bale stood, as did Gerin and the others.
“We didn’t know,” Bale started. “How could we have?”
Gerin nodded. “The High Paladin didn’t tell any of us, and by the time the attack was happening, there was magic everywhere. We were all confused.”
“Sir Gildon gave us orders and we followed them,” Bale continued. “Only after the fact did we come to see what had happened, that we’d been on the wrong side.”
Alastar nodded. He had known these men and trusted them. “Only seven?”
Bale nodded. “Regretfully.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you found us.” He lowered his voice, still not sure he believed this part. “Or…the unicorn.”
“I sensed their presence, actually,” the mystic Volney said as he approached. Larick followed closely behind with an amused smile.
“I thought I felt something guiding me!” Lannis said, and gave the mystics hugs as well. “It’s great to see you all.”
“Aye, and it’s just a horse,” Bale added, pointing to the woman and whispering, “She’s a bit crazy. Tied the horn to its head.”
“Rose,” the woman said, holding out her hand to Alastar.
He shook it, frowning. “I hope this lot wasn’t too much for you.”
“These?” She laughed. “They’re like little puppies. Just rub their bellies and throw them a bone from time to time.”
“Is that so?” Alastar turned to the paladins, but Bale was glaring at her and shook his head.
“You know us, Alastar. Not a one of us would break our vows.”
“Pity,” Rose added with a sensual glance his way.
“I, uh, will introduce the boys to the rest of your group,” Bale stated, and then led them off.
“Stone, see that none of our clansmen try to take their heads, would you?”
Stone bellowed out a laugh and then agreed to do so, quickly spinning on his heel and marching off, leaving Tina with them.
“Come on, I’ll get you situated and find some food for the, uh, unicorn.” Tina took Rose by the arm and led her to join the others.
That left Alastar to contemplate their new situation. Rhona, Donnon, Kia, and Lannis stood nearby.
“You know we can’t take him,” Alastar stated, nodding to the boy. “It’s bad enough we were considering taking a little girl on this journey.”
“He’s right,” Donnon agreed. “Thing is, I’ve been considering, it and… Maybe I’m not thinking with a clear head.”
“Dad, no.” Kia looked from him to Alastar, then to Rhona. “I want to be part of the fight!”
Rhona’s face looked pained, but she made eye contact with Alastar and he could see she agreed with him.
“You’ve proven yourself more than once,” Alastar told the girl. “But the real war will likely be right here. What we need to do is move fast, to warn the king of Gulanri what’s coming and be ready to get out of harm’s way should it come to us. I know you’re powerful, but we’ll move faster with just the two of us.”
“Two?” Rhona bit her lip, realization dawning. “Ah, yes. I agree.”
“It’s settled then.” Donnon took her hand and pressed it to his lips. “You two find a way to get an audience with the king and let him know what’s coming. Have him send troops if he can. Meanwhile, we’ll take to the tunnels and set up as much of a defense as possible.”
“That leaves the enemy unchecked,” Alastar noted. His eyes roamed to the two mystics, who were conversing between themselves. “Unless…”
Larick glanced at the group and saw Alastar staring. His eyes flashed white, and then he held up a hand. “Wait, no. No, that’s too dangerous.”
“What is?” Volney asked as his eyes went white and then returned to normal after a second. “No way in hell.”
“Reading my mind, I take it?” Alastar asked.
The mystics nodded in unison, then Larick spoke up again. “And it’s insane. There’s no way it’ll work; not if they have mystics, anyway.”
“We don’t think they do anymore,” Alastar countered. “Even the one they had was some sort of weird abomination, and we took him out.”
“Mind filling me in on what we’re discussing here?” Rhona asked.
“Your idiot brother here wants us to infiltrate the sorcerers’ camp,” Volney explained. “Use our powers to mask ourselves, and be ready to report back when there’s trouble.”
“It’s brilliant.” She turned to Alastar, ignoring the other two as she began to scheme. “Only, we should have one of them on the inside and the other close enough to receive mental messages. The one on the outside can quickly make it to the tunnels to prepare everyone, should it come to that.”
“Perfect,” Alastar agreed.
“Excuse me! No, not perfect,” Volney argued. “This is risky. It’s dangerous, it’s stu—”
“Stupendous,” Rhona finished for him. “See, I can read minds too!”
He glared. “Stupid. It’s a stupid plan. You know we could just leave you all, right? Just march on home to the Arcadian Valley and be done with this mess.
“You certainly could,” Alastar agreed, “but you won’t.”
“And why the hell not?”
“Because you love us too much. You know you’d be wondering the whole time if we had all been killed off, and if we were you’d feel partially responsible.”
“Oh, good grief,” Larick scoffed. The way he was scrunching his face showed he was thinking about it, and then a long sigh evinced that he had realized they were right.
“Not you too,” Volney whined. “Don’t do this to us.”
“I’ll be on the inside,” Larick volunteered. “You’ll receive my messages and be ready to move if needed.”
“You’re only saying that because we both know I’m too heavy to move fast, so of course I’m going to offer to switch places and take the inside role. It only makes sense.”
“Only if you want to.”
Volney glared at him, then turned those narrowed, pissed off eyes on Alastar and Rhona. “You all can go eat a rat’s arse, you sheep-loving maggots.”
And with that he stormed back to camp, mumbling to himself.
Larick chuckled, then nodded to Alastar. “It’ll happen. Rest assured, we’ll know when they’re going to attack, or what move they’ll make.”
“Good.”
Alastar turned to see the group preparing to move into the tunnels. A hodgepodge of clansmen, now with eight paladins including Stone. Kia certainly didn’t look happy, but she and Lannis were talking as they headed back toward the fire. Donnon lingered.
“We should be able to hold our own well enough,” he commented. “Don’t worry about us.”
“Against the sorcerers?” Alastar shrugged, un
sure. “If everything works out with our mission and with the mystics, we might stand a chance.”
“Stay, just tonight,” Donnon advised. “Alastar, you need to touch base with the paladins, see what you can learn. Make certain they are on our side.”
“He has a point,” Rhona agreed, though Alastar couldn’t help but notice the way she was looking at Donnon as she said it—with large, hopeful eyes.
“Fine, we leave at first light,” Alastar conceded. “Not a moment later.”
They agreed, and Alastar made his way back to the paladins. He was anxious to get underway, but had to admit he wasn’t a hundred percent sure he trusted a group of paladins who randomly showed up, even if Larick and Volney vouched for them with their mindreading abilities. He couldn’t imagine how the clansfolk must feel, so he had to be sure he eased the tensions.
In the meantime, he’d start coming up with ideas about ways to make it south as fast as possible.
CHAPTER TEN
The first night in the tunnels was a mixture of paranoia and celebration. After traveling quite a way down and through various catacombs, they set up base in an area that had been opened up by old machines mining for fuel sources, as Lokane told the others.
Guards were appointed at specific lookout points along the way, and more were sent to search out other tunnels that could allow them to be attacked without warning.
They set up other fallback locations along the way, ensuring they had escape routes to get above ground if need be.
Alastar found that after the experience at the fortress, Laird Summers didn’t bother to keep as close an eye on him and Estair, and soon they had found a quiet corner of the tunnels to be together.
While he held her tightly, they listened to the two groups of mages—Lokane’s and Summers’—figure out a strategy for how best to attack with the different elemental mages they had at their disposal. It was a peaceful moment, and those seemed rare these days.
Her hair tickled his cheek, but he loved her presence too much to even want to move the hair aside. Right now, he would get every moment he could with her.
“This might actually work,” she said, rubbing her thumb along the back of his hand.
“Clans partnering? Putting aside their differences for the survival of our lands and freedom?” He sighed and then kissed her head. “Damn, I hope so.”
“And if not, just unleash your sister on our enemies.”
He laughed. “If we could get her close enough with me there to heal her and everyone else around to keep the enemy from getting to me, aye. Imagine what she’d be capable of if she had full mastery of her powers.”
“You don’t think what we’re seeing now is the extent of it?” She turned to face him. “That’s terrifying.”
He nodded. “You don’t have to tell me. I thought magic was completely evil most of my life.”
She smirked and let her eyes cloud over in black, but didn’t go farther than that. He countered by letting his glow gold and she bit her lip, moving in to nibble his ear and kiss his neck.
“Whoa, whoa!” He pulled back, staring at her in confusion. “That does it for you?”
She laughed, letting her eyes return to normal. “You sent the tingle and warmth, didn’t you?”
“I…don’t think so.”
“Huh.” She sat back, then glanced over, curious. “You ever wonder if your magic acts on a subconscious level, like your sister’s, and what that could do during…well, you know. I mean, you do have healing, right? Maybe that translates into…”
“Forms of pleasure?” He felt his cheeks redden at that. “Damn, Estair, I think we’re going to have some experimenting to do when this is all over.”
She smiled, bit her lip again, and glanced around. They were alone. She raised an eyebrow. “Why wait?”
He couldn’t have kept her off if he had wanted to. But then, why would he have wanted to?
***
While the adults were strategizing or sneaking off—as Kia couldn’t help notice was happening with her father and Rhona—she and Lannis went out to visit the unicorn. It was more fun for everyone to keep referring to it as such, and Kia thought it was especially cool.
“Shame she can’t do actual magic though,” Kia said.
Lannis shrugged. “Riding a horse, or rather a unicorn,” he corrected with a laugh, “is magical enough for me.”
“Thanks for finding us,” Kia said.
He shrugged. “After you headed off, I just couldn’t put it together in my mind. If there was going to be a war and I knew magic, what if we lost and I’d been sitting at home the whole time? I wouldn’t be able to stand against them on my own, and no way in hell would I live under their rule. It was the only realistic choice.”
“You’re still a kid!”
“Says the slightly older kid.”
She smiled and shrugged. “It’s all relative, isn’t it? I bet we’re more valuable in a fight now than many grizzled warriors.”
“And more fun too,” he replied, running along a ledge with a small drop off nearby. “Catch me!”
“That’s not funny,” she shouted after him. He turned and smiled, then fell backward.
She screamed, lunging for him, and he flew back up, his wind spirit there as if pushing him to safety.
“That’s not funny,” she muttered. “I take back everything I ever said about liking you.”
His face froze. “You…like me?”
“What?” She laughed. “Of course! You’re my only friend anywhere close to my age. But that ends if you ever pull another stunt like that.”
“Deal,” he said, beaming.
“Stop smiling like that. It’s too much.”
“I’ve just…never had a real friend aside from Stormy.”
She sighed. “Just get used to it.”
It was getting dark the way they went, so Kia lit a small fire in the palm of her hand and took the lead.
“I want to be there when it all goes down,” she admitted. “I mean, next to you, next to my father. Everyone I care about—if they’re in trouble and I’m not there to defend them, I don’t know… Could you ever forgive yourself?”
He glanced over, all sense of joy now gone from his face.
“Oh,” she muttered, realizing she had said something wrong. Then it hit her… “Who was it?”
He glanced away, then at the floor as they walked. Stormy had still been floating at his side, but now faded.
“I mean, you don’t have to tell me,” she corrected herself. “I really didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It was my older brother,” he admitted. “Not even a battle with the paladins or sorcerers or whatever, just an accident.” She glanced back at the ledge, and he shook his head. “No spirits, no. If it’d been that, you think I’d be able to joke the way I do?”
“Good point.”
“Swimming accident. A friend of his had drunk too much and figured he could swim out to this island. My brother wasn’t even drunk, and from what my cousin who was there too said, he tried to talk the drunkard into not going. When he started to go down, shouting about his legs not working, my brother swam out to him and the guy panicked, pulling my brother under.”
“Shite…” She walked for a moment in silence, envisioning that moment and how horrible it must’ve been for Lannis’ brother. “And your cousin?”
“Never learned to swim. I hated him for a while after that, made sure I knew how to swim right away, even before I knew I had Stormy here. Actually, that’s how I found out. A bunch of idiot kids were jumping from the cliffs. One almost did it wrong and I reached out for him, as if I could reach over there and push him so he missed the rock. Turned out I could, in a sense. Stormy appeared and shoved the kid aside with a mighty gust of wind, just barely.”
Kia shook her head. “Wow. You’ve had an…eventful life, for someone so young.”
“You too, from what I hear.”
“Oh, my village…and Mom?” She glanced at him and he
nodded. “I didn’t know that was public knowledge.”
“I don’t think it’s widespread, but aye, people know.”
She lost herself, staring into the flame on her hand as she walked. She remembered her mom’s laugh, the way she had jumped to Kia’s defense in the market one time when Kia, young and not knowing, had taken a cinnamon roll that wasn’t hers. The shopkeeper had actually apologized for yelling and given her the roll. That was the sort of mom she’d had, and now? Now it was just her and her dad.
“By the time all this is over, there will be a lot of people with regrets. Let’s just do the best we can to ensure we have no more.”
“Deal,” he agreed.
A shape moved in the shadows ahead and Lannis jumped back with a shout, but it was only Rose.
“Oh, you two—you almost gave me a heart attack!” she said, scolding them. “You came for a unicorn ride, didn’t you?”
Kia couldn’t help but laugh at the hopeful, childish look on Lannis’ face as he nodded. Hell, she probably had the same look on her face.
“Come on, then.” Rose gestured for them to follow her. “After that, I’d like to set up a game of hide and seek. This would be the best location ever.”
“Hide and what?” Kia asked.
Rose laughed. “Oh, this is going to be the most fun we’ve ever had waiting for a bunch of sorcerers to come kill us all.” She glanced back. “Oops, probably not supposed to joke like that around kids.”
“Since we plan on being the ones to save your life when the time comes…” Kia shrugged. “I’d check the attitude if I were you.”
Rose laughed again. “Oh, I like your girlfriend, Lannis.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Lannis argued.
“Sure, sure.”
“Rose, why don’t you find yourself a boyfriend first and then you can joke like that,” Kia interjected.
“Wow, ouch. For your information, I think the paladins like me.”
“The…paladins?” Kia asked. “You mean, the guys with the vows, right?”
“Aren’t you a little young to know what those are even about?”