by B. T. Narro
“Get ready to get on my back, though.”
“I am.”
More than a hundred symbols must’ve formed and disappeared in the next few moments. Diymas covered the forest floor in a circle around them, but only about half were watching Shara and Neeko. The silver eyes of the other half were focused south, at the army man and injured diymas.
Shara took a glimpse toward the army man to find the injured diymas now among another mob of their kin, more sartious shapes forming and disappearing above their heads. It was completely silent save the scuffle of their feet as they shifted about.
Soon the diymas surrounding Shara and Neeko all had the same sartious symbol over their heads. It was a short line that started north and went south, repeating this motion over and over. The diymas traveled in its direction, pushing out their gnarled hands at Shara and Neeko.
He took her hand, and they marched with the diymas toward the army man. The creatures kept enough distance from Shara and Neeko that she didn’t feel immediately threatened. But when they reached the army man, the creatures closed in, peering curiously with turned heads.
More symbols formed and disappeared as the army man spoke to them. “Who are you?”
Shara opened her mouth to answer, only to realize how difficult it would be to explain. “Friends of the army,” she decided to say. “And you?”
“I’m in the army. Do either of you have a knife?”
“Yes,” Shara said, but Neeko grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. Then she realized the soldier was about to ask them to cut him free. “Who put you up there?” she asked.
“Enemies. We were attacked.”
That didn’t make sense to Shara. He must be lying.
“What about the rest of the army?”
“They ran that way.” He motioned to the south with his head.
Shara ignored him for the moment to see what she could tell from the diymas. The two injured creatures seemed to be leading the conversation. Strange symbols appeared over each of their heads before they did over the others. There were maybe a thousand in sight.
Slowly, their silver eyes all seemed to shift to her and Neeko. She carefully drew her wand, raising her other hand to show she wasn’t concealing anything. All the symbols stopped as they watched.
“What are you doing?” Neeko asked fearfully.
“Trust me.”
“You’re not going to free him.”
She showed him a pointed look that should’ve made the answer clear. Neeko nodded in response.
She made an arc of sartious energy over her head. The diymas had no response, simply waited. She made another arc, this one over Neeko’s head. Again, the diymas had no response.
Then she pointed her wand at the trapped army man nearby. She made an X over his head, hoping this would be enough to tell the diymas what they needed to know.
The air just above them soon was taken over by symbols again. The army man hadn’t seen the symbol Shara had made over his head. He asked if it was an arc.
“Yes,” Neeko quickly lied for her.
Soon an X started appearing over many of the diymas’ heads, hovering there. The symbol spread to more diymas, slowly at first, then picked up speed. An instant later, all the diymas seemed to be in agreement, an X above every one of their small heads.
“What’s this?” the army man asked them.
“I’m not sure,” Shara lied, her voice wavering.
All of the diymas turned to the army man.
“Get me down!” he yelled.
A cloud of sartious energy circled over him like a low storm cloud. It grew wide, encompassing him and the trunk he was held to.
“Help! Get me down.”
“It’s what you deserve,” Shara said.
Panic filled his eyes as he noticed the shadow from the sartious energy above him. He thrashed and screamed.
Neeko took Shara’s hand and pulled her away. As the sartious energy fell to enclose the army man and his tree, she wanted to bury her face in Neeko’s chest. But she was unable to turn away.
As she watched the energy condense around his flesh, flowing down his throat and choking his scream, she knew she would see this again in nightmares to follow, yet she still couldn’t stop watching. The energy crunched together, squeezing, collapsing, hardening. The diymas didn’t even move as they wielded the energy with their minds.
The block of energy was finished a moment later. It was wide enough to encapsulate five people, taking much of the tree and all of the rope holding the man there.
He’d shut his eyes before being frozen. The face he made was as if he was in the process of coughing during his final movements. He’d been buried alive without even being beneath the ground.
She shuddered yet resisted the urge to turn away. The diymas were watching her and Neeko now, judging their reaction. She fought off her tremors to make another arc of sartious energy. The diymas replied with an arc of their own, all of them in unison.
The creatures then ran up the trees, clearing the area and leaving only the dead army man. Shara wondered how long he would hang there. Ten years? A hundred?
Neeko took her hand, and they walked south. The forest looked empty, though Shara would never trust her eyes to think that again.
She didn’t feel the least bit weak because of her new fear of the diymas. Even the terrislaks had avoided the creatures. The terrislaks—the most fearsome beasts in all of Sumar.
Night came soon after they left the encased army man. Shara tried to light their path with her wand, but hours in, she became too fatigued to go on.
Neeko lifted himself above the trees to see if he could locate army campfires. Shara shined light up from her wand so he could return easily.
“They look about five more miles from here.” He didn’t ask if she could light their path all the way there because he already knew the answer.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He kissed her forehead. “Nothing to trouble yourself with. We did all we could.”
“But if we don’t catch up tonight, we probably never will. Not without horses.”
“Tomorrow we’ll try again. Don’t fret; I’m glad for the opportunity to rest. I need time to let my pants and shirt dry over a fire.”
Soon they had one started, with Neeko’s clothes hanging on a branch nearby. Without pants or undershorts, he used their single blanket to cover himself, sitting up and waiting for Shara to join him.
Using the light of the fire, she removed one of the pouches Steffen had left with them. She found the one she wanted, full of blue liquid, and poured some into the flames.
She tried to remember how long Steffen waited before snapping his fingers. In her memory, it was the span of a few breaths. She counted down three…two…one…then snapped.
The fire remained its natural yellow and orange color. Two breaths later, streaks of blue danced out from its center.
“Horse piss.”
Neeko laughed. “You can try again tomorrow night.”
She removed her wet shoes and put them beside Neeko’s near the fire. Then she snuggled beneath the blanket, resting her cheek on his shoulder and her hand on his stomach, his hard muscles pushing through the soft fabric of her chemise.
“Have you gotten used to my dress?” The way it stopped at his thighs made her more inclined to call it a shirt. But there was less fun in that.
“No. I greatly look forward to wearing my own clothes tomorrow.”
“I’m going to try not to worry that we’ll never catch up to the army or see Cedri again.”
“Let me distract you.” He tilted her chin, guiding her lips onto his. She enjoyed the slightly tart taste of him that reminded her of unsweetened tea.
It wasn’t long before they were kissing with mounting passion. Shara’s hand drifted down past Neeko’s stomach, and he let out a soft moan of approval.
As she removed her clothes, she realized that even amid a mossy forest in Nymre that was inhabited by thousan
ds of terrifying diymas, she felt more at home here, in Neeko’s arms, than she had living in any house throughout her life.
*****
They walked two more days and slept two more nights. Shara was late snapping in time to turn the fire blue the first night, and she was early the second. Before each attempt, Neeko flew up into the sky to look for the army.
The king’s troops had gone from five miles away to ten at the end of the first day. So Shara expected them to be fifteen miles away by the end of the second. Instead, Neeko came down with a surprised look and told her that the army was just ahead.
“They must’ve stopped many hours ago,” Shara realized. “I wonder why.”
“I suppose you’ll find out soon enough. Promise you’ll return if you get the sense they mean to do you harm for escaping.”
“You mean for leaving.”
“For leaving…fine.”
They’d already discussed their plan many times, but Shara couldn’t help herself from bringing up the last part. “And if we don’t find each other before the next night…”
“Then we’ll meet at Sastien Village. I know.”
Shara tried to sneak their meager food pouch into Neeko’s back pocket as she hugged him goodbye, but he felt her hand and stopped her with a smile.
“At least take most of it,” she said. “They won’t let me starve.”
“I already have our water.”
She showed him a pouty look that worked every time.
“All right, fine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SHARA
The army seemed to be in the middle of something. They had guards watching the perimeter. As soon as Shara noticed them, one of them caught sight of her.
“Intruder!”
“I’m an ally!” She tossed up her arms. “My name is Shara Solo H. I’m here to tell you about an ambush.”
Another guard emerged from the shadows. “Keep your voice down and come here.”
He escorted her into the camp, leaving the panicky guard behind to watch for more intruders. Looking around, Shara saw countless archers and mages on guard. Campfires burned among the trees, though only a few people rested beside them. Everyone else was on their feet, busy and energetic as if preparing for a storm. It gave Shara an ominous feeling. Were they about to be attacked with her in their midst?
“I’m bringing you to Jaymes because you left without his permission,” her escort said.
Shara couldn’t worry about that at the moment. “How do you know about the ambush?”
“Cedri.”
Shara grabbed the man’s arm. “She’s here and safe?”
“Yes. We encountered her a while ago.”
After a short discussion, Shara learned that Cedri had navigated a boat down the river from Sastien Lake to Sastien Bridge, where she’d disembarked and walked north until she came to the army heading south. She informed them of the PCQs’ plan to strike as the army crossed the bridge, explaining that a spy was traveling with them. When the army was two days away, the spy would signal their enemies by shooting fireballs into the night sky.
Shara assumed correctly that the army was close enough to the bridge for the signal to have been sent.
“Did anyone see it?” she asked.
“No, which is why the psychic is questioning every man and woman,” her escort said.
“Do you mean Cedri or the other psychic traveling with you to question Darri?”
“Cedri. The other psychic has been dismissed after proving himself useless. He’d made no progress since we left the capital. Darri might’ve gotten away with poisoning the commander and lying about it if it wasn’t for you and Steffen. Everyone knows what happened by now.”
Shara felt too guilty to be proud. There was no point in telling this man the truth about the poison, though.
“Did the commander ever send men after Neeko in Cessri?”
“No, and no one has asked why, at least that I’m aware of. It’s a confusing matter for us, for the king has given a direct order, yet the commander isn’t following it. Do you know where Neeko is?”
“I can’t say.”
“I simply want to know if he’s safe.”
Shocked, Shara stopped. She checked and saw they were still on the outskirts of the camp, away from the countless campfires and tents ahead. “He’s safe.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
She’d never met this man, yet he seemed to care for her and Neeko as if they were old friends. “I apologize that I don’t know nearly as much about you as you do about me.”
“All of us here now know what Neeko did to be exiled by the king. We know about Swenn…your abduction.” A chill ran through her as his name was spoken. For a moment, she struggled to breathe.
“I don’t know how that’s possible.”
“We hardly do anything but walk or ride,” the man explained. “If one person knows of something interesting, then all of us do eventually.”
Shara remembered the way gossip spread in the castle. She figured it was no different among the marching army.
“Does this mean you wouldn’t shoot Neeko if you saw him?”
The man glanced over his shoulder to ensure they were far enough from anyone else. “I wouldn’t want to shoot him, but if the king heard that I let Neeko go free, it might be my head instead of his.”
Shara didn’t pry further, figuring this was the opinion of most of the army men and women. But what would Jaymes do about Neeko? Ultimately it was his decision.
The man escorted her deeper into the camp as she asked about the diymas.
“I can only answer with rumors. All I saw was that we were suddenly under attack by thousands of them. We fought and won with ease, but we were confused why the battle had begun at all. Jaymes questioned his officers about what they saw. It took hours for them to determine what sparked the battle.” Pain came into his eyes. “One man saw a diyma high in the trees. He shot the creature. I didn’t overhear his interrogation, but word has since spread that this abhorrent act was done out of amusement.”
Shara wiped away burgeoning tears. Thousands of diymas were slaughtered because one man wanted a bit of fun.
“So it seems like you saw their bodies?” he asked.
She nodded. “We...I mean I, also saw them take their revenge on the man who initiated it.”
He politely ignored her mistake. “Did he see you?”
“Yes. He wanted help, but I assumed he was tied up because he was responsible.”
“The diymas let you go after?”
“Yes.”
He asked her more questions as they walked, such as how she knew about the ambush. Shara decided to give up the farce about being alone and told him how Neeko had obtained the coded message, as well as everything that had happened since. He asked her what she and Neeko would do next. She knew whatever answer she gave would be spread among the rest of them, but she didn’t see any harm in telling him the truth.
“While you and the others march to the capital for battle, we’ll go to the city of Wertisall and kill Priest Elbick. Then we’ll go to the city of Tramberr and kill Priest Gamilt.”
He looked confused. “The two of you?”
“And Cedri, if she’ll join us.”
He rubbed his chin as he thought. “Why?”
“Why are you marching into battle?”
“Because I needed money three years ago and joining the army seemed like a good way to get it.”
Shara frowned. The tempo of their conversation slowed after that.
Eventually they passed by a line of thousands of men waiting for Cedri to question them to determine their loyalty. Officers, marked by the golden sigils of a dalion on their armor, were scattered around the line, watching it closely. Shara overheard one mage complaining to a nearby officer that he needed to relieve himself.
“Use that tree.” The officer pointed.
“Solid waste, sir,” the mage replied. “And I don’t think you want
it in the camp. I can feel some of the burn already. It’s going to be bad enough to scare away every animal in this forest.”
His comment earned some chuckles from the others waiting nearby.
“Fine,” the officer said, “let’s go.” He took the mage out of line and looked as if he’d stay with him all the way to the perimeter.
Shara asked her escort, “Are these just the archers and mages?”
“Yes. It will take all night to get through just them. Then it’s on to swordsmen. Who knows who might have a secret ability at manipulating bastial energy.”
Shara came to the front to find Cedri, Jaymes, and Laney. The three of them were seated on rocks. Cedri and Jaymes looked tired but focused, clearly aware this was only the beginning of a long night. Laney, however, looked like a bored child stuck at the market with her parents, playing with a stick. But as she looked up and noticed Shara, glee spread across her face.
Shara hugged Laney and stared at a scowling Jaymes—his face revealing that he’d hoped not to see her again. Cedri appeared to be too focused on questioning the bowman in front of her to notice Shara.
Laney kissed her cheek. “You look tired and hungry.”
“I could say the same about you.”
“What are you doing back here?”
“Yes, Shara.” Jaymes stood as he spoke. “What are you doing back here?”
It was difficult to keep from walking over and embracing Cedri. Shara had worried she’d never see her friend again. At last, Cedri turned and dipped her chin in acknowledgement. Shara smiled and gave a quick wave.
“I’ve been trying to catch up to you for a week to inform you about the ambush,” Shara told Jaymes. “But I just found out Cedri has already told you everything you need to know.”
Jaymes glanced at the man being questioned. Cedri asked him if he was a spy or an ally of this army, and then shooed him aside after he told her he was an ally. There seemed to be one woman for every twenty men in the line, each one a mage. Just being among so many men, with their unabashed glances, made Shara uncomfortable.