The Crooked Knight (The Path of Zaan Book 2)

by C. K. Rieke

  “That’s right,” Lily said. “But the riddle of the tale is that a bird is a Tangier’s prey, so why would a bird help its predator? Because the Bloodlark wanted to get revenge on the snakes that had driven it from its home, the Silver Lake, which the snakes had overtaken. But the Bloodlark did not have the power to kill all of the snakes herself, so it went out to find something more powerful to reclaim its home. The Bloodlark made a pact with the Tangier, and the Bloodlark lifted the Tangier by its great antlers, lifted it from the fire and ash and dropped it into the Silver Lake. It held to its side of the bargain, killed the snakes, and left out into the world.”

  “Yes. That’s right. That’s how it goes,” Elindrill said, and smiled.

  The Bloodlark spread its wings and leaped off of Lily’s shoulder. It glided with its strong wings off into the distance and faded away into the forests that surrounded the rolling plains. The three women watched the magnificence of the legendary bird as it left, as quickly as it had come.

  “How did you feel, Lily?” Zelestiana asked, she stood tall and straight, and her arms were behind her back.

  “It felt . . . strange, in a good way, I suppose.” Lily said, trying to recollect her thoughts. “I’d never felt anything like that before. It was like, there was someone standing right next to me, no, like someone was standing underneath me. Someone who I had never met, but had been with me my whole life. If that makes any sense.”

  “You’ve done very well, Lily. Excellently done,” Elindrill said.

  “What was that about the spider’s webs that Stave brought over?” Lily asked.

  “All of us who carry the Azulūz, have a strength. Something that builds our Azulūz, making it more powerful. Yours may be a spider’s silk,” Elindrill said.

  “A spider’s silk? That does make more sense, why I’ve been going to that cove in the woods every night.”

  “This is essential knowledge to have, as a bearer of the Azulūz. However, you must cautious, as we all have a weakness as well. You must find this weakness, and learn to cope with it the best you can. You don’t want to find it in the midst of battle,” Elindrill said.

  Lily looked up at her with innocent eyes. “This is a lot to take in.”

  “Yes, it is. But as a bearer of the Azulūz, it is your responsibility to care for it,” Elindrill said.

  “I understand,” Lily said. She turned her head back towards the town and saw her friends approaching through the vibrantly green grassy plains. The easiest to recognize in the distance was the Major, with his stout stature and broad shoulders, and with him walked Astor and Gar.

  As they approached, Gar gave Lily a wry smile. She cocked her head, not knowing what to take from such a thing. He put up a finger, to insinuate for her to wait. Elindrill and Zelestiana were silent as the trio walked up to them. “Well,” the Major gruffed. “It is possible. Stupid . . . But possible.”

  “What have you come up with my friend?” Elindrill asked, and placed a delicate hand on Lily, standing close to her.

  The Major shook his head, and snickered, looking at the ground. Astor took a step forward. “We have devised a plan based on the premonition that everything will work perfectly, on our end. The culmination of all of our devices, working together.”

  “Everything has to be perfect for this to work,” the Major said. “Which never happens.”

  “It is going to work,” Gar said in a stern tone.

  “Well?” Elindrill asked.

  “We are going to light small fires around the city, and Zelestiana will make people appear throughout. The dragons swoop will in, hopefully all at once. And then . . .” The three looked to Lily. “Then . . . it’s her turn, and we fight.”

  “Me?” Lily asked.

  “What of the children, and elderly?” Elindrill asked.

  Astor’s face gave a grim look. “Either we can take them back out into the woods, or the foothills, hoping to find refuge, or . . .”

  “Or what?” Elindrill asked.

  “The Black Cave is just south of here,” Astor said.

  No one responded. “It should be empty,” he added.

  “Well, I don’t approve of that,” Elindrill said.

  “There’s plenty here to not approve of,” The Major said disparagingly. “The mere fact that scores of bloody dragons are going to reign down from the sky like a scourge looking for death. And not to mention, and no offense here, girl . . .” He looked to Lily. “We don’t even know for certain if she’ll be able to accomplish her end.”

  Lily stood up tall, and took long, confident strides towards the Major, she took both of his large hands in hers and she looked into his beady eyes, framed by his scarred face. “I can do this. You must let me try.” The Major nodded in belief, and Zelestiana smiled standing behind her. A subtle wind gusted past. Lily’s eyes harbored a deep, iceberg blue.

  PART VI

  War

  on Two Fronts

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  AFTER two days of searching: libraries, bookshops, asking scribes, and even peering in any windows of homes that had books on the shelves, they had found no trace of the headmaster. It was if the old man had up and vanished with the wind.

  Zaan didn’t doubt his own mind that he’d seen him, but he could tell Tilda didn’t fully believe that Palanzal would appear as he did— in the middle of the night— and not come looking for them, to help them. This was greatly troubling them. She had known him for a good part of her life, and if he was indeed in the city, there would be no reason for him to be reclusive. After all, they were a family. What had the stone created in him?

  The more people they asked about the headmaster, and his odd features and style, the more they would hear about a drifter that flew through the alleys like a ghost. They heard he would subtly walk around a stone corner of a passage and drift down and out of sight before anyone got a good look at him. It was becoming a bit of gossip in their corner of the city.

  Tilda, after becoming concerned with this gossip, decided it would be worth taking a risk. She told Zaan she wanted to approach a patrolman and ask if they’d seen the old man with the small spectacles and golden robe.

  “I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Zaan said, scratching at his arm, and rubbing his wound. “There’s still a bounty on my head.”

  “I have to know if there is any truth to this. I have to find out. It makes no sense why he would be scouring the city and not come and see me.” She turned and gave a sigh. “I have to know,” she said softly.

  “Okay, but I’m going to be there though. Just in case you get into trouble. If something happens, we’ll probably have to leave the city. I won’t risk you being taken because of me.”

  “There is always the other great city down south, Vallenhalen.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re joking, that’s quite a trek from here,” he said with a puzzled look. A hot pain shot through his shoulder, and he felt the puss welling up inside of it.

  “I can’t tell if I am either. I think I was being serious.” She played with a small blond braid.

  Less than an hour later, they easily found the local sergeant patrolman. He was almost always in plain sight, and usually had two guards to a dozen with him. This time was the latter. She approached nervously. They were in the middle of the market square, and the town was bustling that early afternoon.

  The smell of clean linens and flowers was mixed with that of dirt and sweat. The sun was almost directly overhead, cooking everything around and whirling those smells, and meshing them into an odd cocktail. It was an odor similar to that of the Grumblane Market District in Auracity, so many miles away: fish, alcohol, pungent body odors, and hay were the prominent smells.

  She continued walking straight to the group, she counted sixteen soldiers, and the sergeant. Her hands were at her sides, she made sure to keep them visible. Holding her head down, but not completely hidden, she took calm strides towards the group as Zaan watche
d nervously from behind.

  Suddenly she heard the uttering a word from one of the guards, she didn’t quite make it out, but it caused an alarm to go off in her body. It stopped her in her tracks. Looking up at the collection of soldiers, she stood just outside of the group of blue-clad patrolmen. Their silver armor reflected sporadically in the sunlight as they shifted around uneasily.

  Zaan watched as Tilda took a couple of slow steps closer, and had the guards been more focused, any one of them would have seen she was standing only a few feet away from the circle.

  “How long ago?” one of the men said. They were whispering in a frantic sort of way.

  “Well that’s a relief,” said another.

  “How’s that a relief?” another said in a louder voice.

  “It’s a relief because we are safe here, you moron,” the first yelled to the other.

  The group began to sway back and forth with action, as the two guards began to lunge at each other, and the others were attempting to hold them. Tilda took a step back.

  “Enough, stand at attention,” the sergeant said in a strong voice. She was not a large woman, but her armor was thicker and stouter than the others. She had a scar along her cheek, with short black curls flowing out from her hood. The soldiers quickly stood up and faced her. Her eyes glanced at Tilda, but she seemed to pay no mind.

  “No,” the sergeant said. “They do not appear to be heading towards us. However, that doesn’t mean the city is safe. We will prepare for an attack, and we will guard the city. Make no mistake, if they make it this way, we will defend out city, even if it means our lives. We will man every wall, and we will prepare to arm every able-bodied man in the city. That is the word of the king.” Her eyes glanced at Tilda, who was combing through her hair, acting as though she wasn’t paying attention.

  “Where are they going? Do we know?” one of the guards asked the sergeant quietly. Zaan had meandered closer so as to hear.

  “The dragons are heading south from Barrier Cliff, to where exactly, we will soon see.”

  Tilda gasped and turned her head away to cover her mouth. She slowly began walking away from the party, playing with a braid the best she could, as she tried not to run. While she walked away, she grabbed Zaan’s arm and pulled him with her. He heard one last thing from a guard that troubled his greatly, “Whoever they are after, they don’t stand a chance.”

  They crept around an alley, and Tilda said to him, “Zaan, the dragons are moving.”

  “They are heading south,” he said. “I know, I heard. What’s down south? Are they going to attack Auracity? They came from the north, so that means they aren’t heading back to where they came. Where are they going then?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Could be Auracity, could be a small town. Only the devil knows.”

  He clenched his fists tight. “What should we do?”

  Tilda looked troubled at that question. “You know what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to stay here. If they find you, they would assuredly surround you and that would be the end. We are safe here, for now.”

  Safe here? Just sitting around while my arm rots off? This whole thing is starting to wear on me. “I’m not okay with that,” he said, his shoulder ached with stinging of a thousand hot needles, poking and twisting. He dropped to a knee. Zaan could sense eyes watching him from the group of soldiers.

  “You are a target Zaan, maybe the target,” she said, helping him to his feet. “You, Gogenanth, and Palanzal are the ones Armoz wants most. You would only attract destruction, and what use would you be fighting dragons now?”

  “But destruction is sure to happen, and death is going to follow. I can help, we have to leave and fight,” he retorted.

  “We can’t. We have to find out more information. The headmaster will know what to do, we have to find him.”

  “Hey, what’re you two doing over there?” Zaan heard from behind them, as Tilda helped him walk down the long alley, littered with trash with iron awnings above filled with clothes drifting with the faint breeze.

  “Let me do the talking,” Tilda whispered to him, and they turned around to find three soldiers walking up to them.

  “I asked what you are doing? What’s wrong with you, boy?” the soldier said in an aggressive manner.

  “My friend is ill,” she said with a smile. “Must’ve eaten something last night that doesn’t agree with him. I’m not a great cook.”

  The soldiers looked at each other. “What were you doing over there next to us? What did you hear?”

  “Nothing, sir. I was looking at the wares from that merchant with the horns of exotic beasts,” she said. Zaan felt another strong pain coming back, and fought with all his might to resist it, but it overcame him, and he winced in pain again, gripping his shoulder.

  “Doesn’t look like rotten gut to me,” the soldier said, and started to walk towards them.

  Zaan was fighting the pain, and didn’t notice that Tilda’s eyes lit with a blue hue, and he began to hear the creaking and bending of metal overhead. He looked up to see the soldiers looking up in surprise and awe as the awnings started to droop and twist downwards.

  “What in the world?” one of the soldiers said.

  A ceramic vase fell from one of them and crashed next to one of the soldier’s feet, startling him. Zaan looked up to see the awnings above had quit shifting and creaking, but out toward the market square, their iron was twisting and bending. The small crowds began to yell out in confusion.

  “What’s going on?” a soldier said, still startled. The three soldiers ran back out to the market, squeezing through the crowd, that was collecting in the road.

  “Time to go,” Tilda whispered to Zaan, lifting him again to his feet.

  “I didn’t know you could do all that with your Azulūz,” he said.

  “I’ve never had to bend that much iron before,” she said. “Come, let’s get you out of here.”

  She helped carry him down the alleyway, with the yelling of the crowd behind them. Zaan again, felt eyes on him, not from behind, but from above. He looked up to find no one there, but a voice drifted faintly in his mind. “Give me the stone, Zaan, I need it, give me the stone.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  THUNDEROUS horn’s blows echoed off the many, jutting walls of Auracity. Down in the winding streets, the sounds would normally be deafening, but with the streets lined with every citizen, the city was louder than it had been in a generation.

  King Hollon sat at the entrance to his tower with his many sons at his sides, but no queen, as he had never married. He sat in his golden thrown, decorated with every jewel and stone imaginable, except the one he most desired. Soldiers stood all along the main street that led from the city entrance to the main tower of Auracity.

  Down the street, came the entourage of King Rôagn from the fortress city of Garmos Castle. He sat in a black throne of burnt wood and obsidian. He had bright blond hair under his black crown with white jewels. His banner men carried his symbol of the black flag with the sun, half eclipsed by the red moon. They strode down the road, handing out single slits to children as they casually paraded down. King Rôagn looked up at King Hollon and nodded— King Hollon nodded back.

  King Rôagn and his council entered the main tower after some time, and the envoy of Dillengrad entered the city entrance under an hour later. With King Manice Mordoth at the middle, an elderly man with a long, bitter face. He sat in his thrown of heavy, exotic furs. He eventually made his way down the city street, in the same fashion as King Rôagn, handing out small coins to children and the poor.

  An hour later, Queen Brie Seleste II arrived from the great city Vallenhalen. She had long red and grey hair, and wore an elaborate silver and gold dress, with a tall crown of silver, sapphires, and diamonds. Not on a throne herself, she sat mounted upon a mighty Elotterel steed, twice the size of any other horse the people of Auracity had ever seen. Her envoy handed out coins in the sa
me fashion.

  Immediately afterwards entered the Presidix from the House of Publica and Excise from Vallenhalen as well. Presidix Evilen Rin was not seen, but was in a heavy, fortified-iron carriage pulled behind eight strong, white horses. Her entourage of monaters dressed in black robes and soldiers in heavy, silver armor didn’t hand out a single coin.

  “There hasn’t been a meeting like this in many years, Erolos,” King Hollon said. “It is always entertaining to watch history repeat itself. History is like life, it’s really just a cycle. I despise these weak impostors. Look at our lands, at the brink of ruin by a damned god, and these people want to sit and talk about it. Where’s the action? Where are the heroes of long lost? I would easily take the five-hundred-year King Dür over a hundred of these regencies any day. The goddamned Essillean Wars brought down the greatest age this country has ever known.”

  ***

  In the long, lavish King’s Hall of Auracity. White marble walls were lined with fine statues of kings and queens past. Lifelike oil paintings lined the walls of what cities looked like ages past and swords of great heroes were laid on granite platforms. At the center of the room was a long mahogany table with soft silks and velvet laid across it. King Hollon was poured a glass of wine by a servant, who went around and nervously poured glasses for the other regents at the table. Around the table sat the three kings and one queen of the four kingdoms of Essill, and the Presidix of the House, who in essence, controlled all of the wealth of the continent.

  “Formally, I welcome you all here to my kingdom of Auracity. I hope your travels treated you well. If you require anything at all, please refer to each of your own personal attendants,” King Hollon said. The faces on the regents around were expressionless, especially that of Presidix Rin. She sat at the other end of the long table, refused wine from the servant with a dismissive wave of her hand. She had blond hair pulled tightly back, and wore no makeup, her face was indeed elegant, yet stern. Her skin was as pale, it looked like it hadn’t seen the sunlight in her roughly forty years.