Haven Keep (Book 1)

by R. David Bell

  “Ahh! That’s freezing. You trying to kill me?”

  “Just trying to get rid of the smell.” Dell was at Kaiden’s side with another bucket of water. How did he get that so fast? Kaiden didn’t wait for an explanation. He emptied the second bucket over Von’s head.

  Von screamed worse the second time. “Alright, alright. I’m awake already. Just lead me to the horses. I think I remember where we are going. I’ll wash in the stream, just don’t throw any more water at me.”

  The crowd was in an uproar now, laughing and smacking each other’s backs. It had probably been a long time since they’d seen something this entertaining. Kaiden ignored them and grabbed for Von’s sword.

  “Let me hold that. You go get some dry clothes before you freeze to death.”

  Von pulled the sword close to him in a protective embrace. “I’ll hang on to it. Bring the horses around so I don’t have to walk any farther than necessary.”

  Kaiden laughed when his friend started to limp off.

  “Is that it?” Dell asked. “What you were working on?”

  Von nodded and held the sword out for Dell to inspect. For some reason he allowed Dell to take it from his hands and look it over.

  “It’s beautiful,” Dell whispered, holding the sword with awe as he turned it over in his hands.

  “So he gets to see it?” Kaiden asked accusingly.

  “I promised him.” Von grabbed the sword back from Dell. Dell’s expression was one of awe and he didn’t appear to notice Von’s foul mood.

  “You can look at it later,” Von told Kaiden.

  “What about the other thing you promised?” asked Dell, excitement still in his voice.

  “They’re on the shelf in the forge,” Von answered. “Corren can show you where they are.”

  Dell and Reece exchanged an eager glance, then bolted into the forge to find Corren.

  “What was that about?” Kaiden wondered.

  “I promised to forge them something,” Von explained. “I just haven’t made delivery yet.”

  “Oh,” Kaiden said, wondering what it could be. He thought of the spear head Von had given him and what a masterpiece it was. Whatever Von had made for Dell and Reece was probably the most valuable thing those two had ever owned in their life. It would be nice to get his hands on that sword Von was caressing, just to examine the workmanship. If Kaiden knew Von, it was exquisite.

  Kaiden watched as Von staggered across the courtyard shivering, the dogs following him like obedient servants. Kaiden hoped he didn’t have to go in after his young friend. They’d wasted enough time already. It would have been entertaining to watch Von limp all the way across the courtyard again, but Kaiden had had enough fun with his friend. He was anxious to get going, so he brought the horses around to the front of the Hall and waited.

  Von soon emerged in dry clothes and a thick dark cloak. When Von got closer Kaiden realized the cloak was actually green. His sword was at his hip in a half scabbard of worn leather. The weapon made him look more mature, more dangerous. Kaiden had never really thought of Von as dangerous. He sure looked it now. His scruffy unshaven face added to the look. On his other hip was a long dagger. Kaiden couldn’t ever remember seeing him with that either.

  “Nice cloak. Where did you get it?”

  Von glared at Kaiden and mounted his horse.

  Kaiden chuckled. He wagered Von would forgive him after they had ridden half a league.

  Von winced sitting in his saddle. “I’m too sore for this.”

  “That’s your fault,” Kaiden chided. “Staying up all night working in the forge. You probably near killed yourself.”

  “I think I nearly did.” Von groaned hoarsely.

  Kaiden realized Von wasn’t kidding.

  “Just lead the way.”

  Kaiden was still laughing to himself when he rode out the gate and passed Zared, who was still standing guard. Or maybe he had gone home and was already back for another shift. If that was the case they really were getting a late start. Kaiden couldn’t believe he’d just returned last night and was already leaving again. He felt like a southern nomad, never staying a night in the same place.

  Isk and Jen decided they were coming too. The dogs trotted along beside Von. Kaiden thought it odd they hadn’t left Von’s side.

  Von trailed a little behind, sitting stiff in his saddle, but when they got out onto the road he rode up beside Kaiden.

  “Your sister made it for me.”

  “What?”

  “You asked about my cloak.”

  “Anora made it for you?”

  “She did,” Von said. His hand went to his pocket like he was fumbling with something.

  Kaiden didn’t ask him what it was.

  “Wow that must have taken quite a bit of time. She must like you more than I thought.”

  “I guess some guys just have what girls like,” joked Von.

  Kaiden laughed. “That’s my sister you’re talking about. I normally don’t let bond servants speak about her that way you know.”

  “What way? I didn’t even say anything.”

  “I know. I’m just kidding. But seriously, how appropriate would it be, a lady and a former bond servant. There would be more than just a little talk.”

  “I know,” Von said. Kaiden noticed Von sigh a bit.

  “Don’t worry. I think my father knows how you two feel about each other. I think he could be convinced.” Kaiden laughed as he talked. “And don’t think my mother won’t get involved. She’s noticed the way Anora looks at you. All of Azmark has.”

  “What? She doesn’t look at me. Your making that up.”

  “Am I?” He reached over and flipped Von’s cloak. Kaiden was having fun with this. “Anyway, if it doesn’t work out we can just marry those two sisters from Orlenc. Then we’ll still be brothers by marriage.”

  “What sisters?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. Sayra and Stormy. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about them.”

  Von’s face broke into a huge smile. “Oh yeah, I thought they were Celten.”

  “No, trust me, they are from Orlenc. I wouldn’t forget that.” Kaiden whistled softly.

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “Then how come you couldn’t remember them?”

  “I guess I just have one girl on my mind.”

  “I think I’m going to puke,” Kaiden said, “and it’s not because you still need a bath.”

  “What, you’ve never had a girl on your mind.”

  “I thought I was in love once,” Kaiden chuckled. “For about five minutes.”

  “Five minutes?”

  “Yeah, then I found out she was married.”

  “When was this? I know I haven’t been that oblivious to the happenings in Azmark.”

  “No, this was last week. I forgot to tell you.” Kaiden couldn’t believe he was joking with Von about girls and hadn’t even told him about the men from the south.

  “Tell me what?”

  Kaiden wondered where to start. “There are armed men from the south in the Iron Mountains. Remnants of the army of Evenfelle.”

  Von’s hand went to his sword hilt. “Why wasn’t I told?”

  “I wasn’t aware I was reporting to you. Anyway it isn’t like it’s old news. Only my father and his councilors, and now you, know about it. And what’s with my father appointing Berkler. I go away and you let everything fall apart.”

  “Your father has already let me know that is none of my business,” Von sounded irritated. “These men, have they started raiding?”

  “No they want the help of the north to fight the Horde.” Kaiden wanted to smack himself for not asking Von about them earlier. “I think they know you. Did you ever know anyone by the name of Oded or Tostig?”

  Von sat up even stiffer in his saddle. “Oded you say?”

  “Yes, Oded. And he has a son named Tostig. I think Tostig was particularly interested in you. They are both clerics. I think Tostig has had dreams about y
ou.” Kaiden left out the part about Tostig also dreaming of him. Kaiden didn’t like the thought of being in some clerics dreams.

  Von just nodded slowly. It looked to Kaiden that he was deep in thought.

  “So you do know them.”

  “You could say we have met before.”

  “Your kidding. My father said Oded was advisor to the emperor himself. Don’t tell me you knew the emperor and never told me.”

  “That was another life,” Von said sadly. “It’s over now. I have a new life and a new purpose.” Von’s hand went to his sword and Kaiden thought he was about ready to draw it.

  Kaiden was in near shock. “But you never said anything.” Had Von actually known the emperor?

  “I was just a slave boy.”

  Kaiden wasn’t sure what Von meant by that. “Do you mean here or in the south?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Your father always treated me well. Took care of me.”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t a slave.”

  “Whatever you call it, that’s what I was. But, that’s over now too.” Von fingered his sword hilt. “My new life starts today.” He spurred his horse hard in the ribs. His mount leaped forward into gallop.

  Starts today? What was Von talking about? Kaiden had no choice but to chase after Von.

  Von had the jump on him, but Kaiden thought he could catch up. He leaned close to his mount’s neck and rode hard. He had forgotten how fun this was. They raced over the hard packed earth, thundering away from Azmark on the old well road. The crumbling cobblestone and gravel soon turned to mud in the melting snow. The horse’s hooves sent snow and mud spraying behind them as they ran. Trees whipped by on either side. The dogs barked after them in protest, doing their best to keep pace. Kaiden was soon closing in on Von. He leaned lower urging his mount on, receiving snow and mud kicked in his face for his effort. He wasn’t going to let that stop him. Von had never beat him in a horse race and he wasn’t going to today.

  Von twisted in his saddle and saw Kaiden gaining on him. He spurred his horse on harder, leaning low toward his horse’s neck. The wind whipped at the horse’s mane. Von’s cloak streamed out behind him. Kaiden was losing distance. He chased on, but Von continued to pull away, spreading the gap between them. Finally Von slowed to stop at the old well Kaiden had rested at the day before. He dismounted and used the water from the well to pour another bucket over his head.

  Kaiden finally galloped up.

  “You’re losing it Kaiden,” Von chuckled. “By the mud on your face I could say you needed a bath more than I do.”

  Kaiden laughed. He hadn’t had this much fun with Von in a long time. “Have you smelled yourself?”

  “Yeah, I think I’m pretty ripe.”

  Kaiden dismounted too and used water from the well’s bucket to wash his face. It was near freezing. He looked around and saw Isk and Jen trotting up to the well, barking their excitement. They’d actually kept up pretty well.

  “So, your life in Evenfelle, what was it like?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Tell me about this girl you met.”

  Kaiden had never been able to get Von to talk of Evenfelle. The little bits he did find out just made him more curious. Someday he was going to force Von to open up. “Well she was beautiful.”

  “But married?”

  “Yeah, with two kids.”

  “Wow, you know how to pick them.”

  “I guess I’ll just have to marry Sayra or Stormy. And since you don’t want either one I’ll have my choice of the two.”

  “What’s her husband like?”

  “Never met him. The funny thing was, one of her son’s was named Bo, just like my dead dog.”

  “What do you mean dead?”

  Kaiden slumped down next to the stone well and sat with his back to it. He didn’t care about the mud getting on his clothes.

  Von looked at him patiently, waiting for an answer.

  “They are all dead Von,” Kaiden confessed.

  “Who’s all dead? What are you talking about?”

  “The hunting party,” he said at last. “The beast killed them all.” Kaiden was grateful to have left Azmark so soon that he would not have to tell this story to everyone that asked. Most people would probably think him crazy. Soren said no one believed him as a child, just the clerics and old men. He was surprised how easily his father believed him, but he’d had Oded and Tostig there to back him up.

  “Beast?” Von asked, sounding very puzzled. “I thought you were after an icebear.”

  “I did too. We hunted it for days. Then it began hunting us. It went after the dogs at first, then took Lester.” Kaiden didn’t know how much he should tell, how much Von would believe. “The men began thinking of it as a demon or a wraith. Some kind of monster, a scourge come to life from legend. Soren said he had seen it before. He called it a vyr.”

  “A vyr? Those are just stories.”

  “That’s what I thought, but I saw it myself. Saw what it could do.” Kaiden left out having his mind invaded, taken over by that thing. “If Oded and his men hadn’t happened upon us, we would all have died.” Oded hadn’t actually happened upon them, he had tracked them, almost from the time they’d left Azmark. “They saved my life at least twice. Soren finally killed the thing, but was killed himself.”

  Von didn’t say a word. Kaiden wanted him to say something. Anything. Something to let him know at least Von believed him. Finally Von sat down next to Kaiden. He winced a little from his sore muscles. Kaiden would have laughed under different circumstances. The two young men just sat there in silence for a while. Kaiden had never actually properly mourned his men. No one had. He tried to stop the tears, but they came anyway. He didn’t want Von to see him like this, to know he was a failure.

  “It’s alright, Kaiden, it wasn’t your fault.”

  Kaiden looked up and saw Von standing over him with an outstretched hand to help him up. There was a tear glistening in the corner of Von’s eye. Maybe Von did understand.

  “Come on, let’s go. We have wasted enough time already.”

  Kaiden grasped Von’s hand and pulled himself up. Von was right. They had wasted enough time. The horses were rested enough from their long run. They should get going.

  “You know,” Von said, “there were troubles at home while you were gone too.”

  “You mean Roren and Jordy? Yeah, my father told me. I knew those Halfen were no good, but I did not expect this from them. Nothing so blatant and obvious.”

  Von didn’t say anything else. What else could be said? Maybe some things were better left unspoken.

  “Remember when we used to explore caves as kids?” Kaiden asked. Von just nodded and Kaiden continued. “We used to fantasize about having adventures, hunting demons in the Rift and fighting dragons.”

  Von smiled. “Yeah, we did spend a lot of time in those caves.”

  Kaiden sighed. He remembered exploring the caves down by the shores of the fjord. The cave paintings always made him dream of having adventures of his own.

  “I always thought it would be different. More exciting. Not like this. Those cave paintings always looked so inspiring. More majestic. I don’t think I am much of an adventurer.”

  Von laughed. “That remains to be seen. At any rate we won’t get much adventuring done sitting around here.”

  Kaiden went to his horse and checked its’ hooves. A run like that could cause potential problems. “Who do you think painted those cave scenes anyway?”

  “I don’t know. I thought we agreed they were from the time of the Dragon Lords.”

  “Yeah, but that was just boyhood fantasy. I doubt they are older than a couple hundred winters.” Kaiden was a little disappointed. Disappointed his boyhood fantasies would never come true, disappointed he did not turn out to be the grand adventurer he always dreamed he would be. Oh well, he needed to grow up some day. True life wasn’t like dreams.

  “Hey, what’s that,” Von pointed up toward the hills. There wer
e riders, barely visible over the crest of the hill, obscured by the trees. “Who do you think it is?”

  “I don’t know, but they know we’ve seen them. Next time don’t point.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “We need to be careful, they could be Halfen.”

  “I counted at least six,” Von said. “How many did you count?”

  “About the same. There could be more. I’m glad you brought the dogs. They will warn us of anyone approaching.”

  The two men mounted and rode in silence. Both kept their eyes open. They traveled in a direction away from the riders, but that didn’t mean those men would not follow.

  “Do you think it was men from the south?” Von asked.

  “Possibly,” Kaiden answered, “but we don’t have time to find out. We have a long ride ahead, and I don’t think I am going to sleep well until we get back home.”

  “I’m going to sleep like a rock,” Von said.

  Kaiden thought if Von knew what was out there, what could invade his nightmares, he wouldn’t count on sleeping at all.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Von ached. His sore muscles throbbed with every motion, making even simple morning tasks uncomfortable. Every part of his body felt bruised, any movement at all was painful. His back protested every time he bent or twisted. He must have slept on at least twenty rocks. His limbs cramped from overuse and his stomach still felt empty.

  Kaiden was enjoying Von’s discomfort, telling him he moved like an old man and slept later than one. Von couldn’t help it. Last night was the first full night of sleep he had in at least five days. His first sleep at all, if you didn’t count the few hours yesterday morning before Kaiden barged into the forge. He still didn’t know exactly what day it was. If he asked Kaiden he knew he would just get more razzing.