by Jordan Baker
"Everybody get back," Nathas said, and he pulled a piece of his cloak over his face to guard himself from the tendrils of purplish black smoke that were spreading around them.
Two of the soldiers grabbed the coughing man and dragged him away from the one who had fallen, whose eyes were wide open, already empty in death. A slight breeze wafted the smoke away from the dead man. Nathas drew his sword and with the tip he carefully nudged the man's fingers open. A dull, black stone with a purplish hue fell from his hand, and when it touched the ground, the grass and leaves around it withered and died, and more smoke began to emanate from it. The wind shifted and Nathas moved away as the smoke curled toward him, and the entire group backed further away as the dark patch on the ground began to spread.
"Look, sir," said one of the soldiers, who pointed at a tree near the fallen man.
The smoke curled around its massive trunk and the tree turned grey and faded, its leaves withered, and its branches began to creak. A crack appeared in the center of the tree and it looked as though it was beginning to collapse under its own weight.
"Let's move," Nathas said. "Get to the horses and ride separately for the city as fast as you can, and stay clear of that smoke. As soon as you reach the elves, report this to Quenta right away."
"We might not be as fast on our feet," said one of the soldiers holding up the man who had breathed in the smoke. His face had turned almost a shade of grey, and it was clear he could barely stand. The soldier turned and looked at the fallen man, who was now almost completely enshrouded in smoke. "What about him?"
"Leave him," Nathas said. "That smoke is too dangerous. You two, help this man to his horse, and one of you stay with him and make sure he makes it back safely. Everyone else, stay out of sight and ride as fast as you can."
"Hold," Kaleb hissed. "Down."
Everyone dropped low and backed into the trees as several Darga flew overhead, returning from the forest, the sacks they carried now empty.
"All right," Kaleb said, keeping his voice low. "Now's our chance."
The soldiers sprung to their feet and began running through the trees, making barely a sound. Kaleb took off at a run, then he stopped and doubled back when he saw that Nathas had stayed behind.
"Are you coming?" Kaleb asked.
"You go ahead," Nathas said. "I'll catch up."
"Oh no you don't," Kaleb said. "Our people need a leader they trust, so there's no point in getting yourself killed over some heroics."
"They trust you well enough," Nathas said. "Report to Quenta and make sure Laurana knows as well. I'll be along just as soon as those blackrobes are taken care of. It looks like they are using magic to poison the forest, so if we kill them now, perhaps we can buy a little time."
"I counted five of them," Kaleb said. "By the time you nock your second arrow, those mages will be blasting you out of the forest with their magic."
"General Nathas," said one of the soldiers who had also doubled back.
"Does no one follow orders around here?" Nathas growled. "You are Trevor from Allerston, if memory serves."
"Trevan, sir," the man replied. "I saw Lord Kaleb turn back and thought you might be in trouble."
"Right, Trevan," Nathas said, remembering his name, and he shook his head, trying to clear the dark fog that was clouding his thoughts. "What about the others?"
"They are already away, sir."
"Good." Nathas stared through the trees at the smoke that was already spreading more widely now, and withering everything it touched. "We've got one chance at this if we're to stop the poisoning of the forest."
The three of them crept through the trees toward the river's edge, as close to the group of mages as they could get without being seen. Another group of Darga had just returned and the mages were refilling the sacks they carried with the smoking stones, and Nathas motioned for Kaleb and Trevan to hold, their arrows targeted on the mage priests. The Darga took to the air once more, and as soon as they were out of sight, Nathas nodded and the three of them let their arrows loose. Nathas had barely nocked his second arrow when Kaleb was already on his third, and Trevan let loose a second arrow as well. Four mages were down and the fifth one had a shaft and feathers sticking from his shoulder. Nathas let loose another shot and took the man in the neck.
"Excellent shot, sir," Trevan said.
"Don't flatter me, boy," Nathas replied. "Now let's get out of here."
"Well that was fun," Kaleb said as the three of them ducked back into the trees. A moment later, they heard a growling roar and a Darga flew overhead, streaking toward the spot where the mages were. "All right, it's definitely time to go."
They ran through the trees as fast as they could, avoiding the smoke and further motivated by the shrieks and bellowing roars that followed behind them as more of the Darga returned to find the dead mages and set out in pursuit. Kaleb outpaced both Nathas and Trevan and made it to the spot where their horses had been tied and he readied all three mounts. Trevan arrived first and Kaleb sent him off ahead, then Nathas emerged from the trees and he appeared to be laboring rather badly, his breathing ragged.
"You're getting old, Nathas," Kaleb quipped with a grin.
"I caught a whiff of that smoke," he rasped as he pulled himself up into his saddle. "It's like the smell of death."
"Well, let's hope it isn't catching," Kaleb said, noticing the sickly pallor on Nathas' face.
They kicked their heels and their mounts leapt forward, racing through the forest. Clouds of purplish grey smoke were already spreading through the trees ahead of them and they had to alter their course several times to stay clear of it, which slowed them down considerably. Kaleb kept glancing behind them at the sky, hoping that they would make it far enough away that the Darga would not be able to track them, but he knew it was not very likely. It was not long before he caught a glimpse of a Darga flying above the trees behind them, and he heard a bellow from the creature, summoning the other Darga to join the pursuit. Kaleb nocked an arrow in his bow, turned around and fired a shot through the trees. Due to the movement of the horse beneath him, the shot went a little wide, but it still caught the creature on the underside of one of its wings and it fell, crashing into the branches of the trees behind them.
As they rode deeper into the forest, the trees were larger and provided better cover from the sky above, but beneath the tall canopy, there were a lot of open spaces, and several Darga dropped down, flying between the thick trunks and branches. A bolt thudded in the dirt just ahead of Kaleb's horse and he looked behind him to see a Darga fitting another deadly shaft into a crossbow. He reined his mount to the side, running under a large, low lying branch that offered some cover.
"They've got arrows," he yelled to Nathas, who had not followed him and he could see that the man was looking very grim, his face pale and his lips purple, the way some people got when they fell through the ice in wintertime. Kaleb ducked back out from under the branch and saw the Darga targeting Nathas, and he moved his horse over pushing him out of the way. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his shoulder when the bolt hit him, and he nearly fell from the force of it, but Kaleb gritted his teeth and held on tight. He turned and saw two Darga swooping down toward them, their swords drawn and he struggled to pull his blade free, with the pain in his shoulder making his vision blur.
"Turnabout," Nathas yelled, and Kaleb cut hard on the reins, driving his horse to the right, while Nathas went in the opposite direction. The two Darga shot past them as they circled around and pushed their mounts forward again. Nathas looked over at his friend, his face expressionless, and his eyes threatening to roll into the back of his head, but with his humor still apparently intact. "You've an arrow in your back, Kaleb."
"Just hang on!" Kaleb hollered back as another bolt narrowly missed him. "We're almost there."
The other two Darga had circled around and were coming in for another pass at them when, seemingly out of nowhere tree branches flew toward them, knocking them from the air. Kaleb c
aught the barest glimpse of several elves in the trees and looked over his shoulder to see the gaps in the forest closing up behind them. He breathed a sigh of relief, but somehow it only made the wound in his shoulder hurt even more.
They made it to a small opening at the base of an enormous tree, almost like a cave and there they saw the soldier who had helped the fellow who had been stricken by the noxious smoke, along with two horses. Kaleb dismounted and began to help Nathas down from his saddle and the soldier ran over to help.
"Did Trevan come through here?" Nathas asked him.
"He did, sir, just moments ago," the man replied. "You don't look well, sir."
"I don't feel particularly well." Nathas stumbled as his feet hit the ground.
"He breathed in that smoke," the soldier said as he and Kaleb slung each of Nathas' arms over their shoulders. Kaleb winced at the weight, with the arrow still protruding from his back, but he pushed through the pain.
"Just a sniff of it, I'm afraid," Kaleb said. "How's that other fellow doing?"
"He's dead, sir," he said. "The elves tried to help him, but it was too late. We should get the General Nathas inside."
They carried Nathas in through the opening in the tree and they saw the other man lying upon a stone slab. Several elves stood over him, in quiet but animated discussion and when they saw Nathas, they frowned then helped carry him to another bed of stone.
"Can you help him?" Kaleb asked.
"Perhaps," said one of the elves, who looked over Kaleb's shoulder. "You are in need of healing yourself."
"I can wait," Kaleb said. "He's been poisoned by that smoke, the same thing that killed that other man."
"We will do what we can here to slow the poison, then we will bring him to the city," another elf said, and she placed her hand on Nathas' forehead. "Please wait outside."
"I must ride for the city," Kaleb said to the soldier as they exited the tree. "Good job getting that other man here. You did well, even if he could not be saved. I am leaving General Nathas in your charge."
"Sir, don't you think you should get that arrow removed?"
"That, my good man, is what one might call painfully obvious, thus it is most definitely on my list of things to do," Kaleb said as he swung up into his saddle and spurred his horse onward, riding up onto a low branch that was as wide as a road.
When he made it to the elven city and dismounted his horse, Kaleb felt his head swoon, but he pressed onward, ignoring the stares of the elves as he marched along the tree branches that led to the inner part of the city. There, he found several of his soldiers, including the fellow Trevan standing outside the opening in the thick branches, apparently blocked by several masked elven guards.
"They won't let us past, sir," Trevan said, then his eyes widened when he noticed the arrow sticking out of his commander.
"Yes, yes, I know," Kaleb said before the man could comment. "I've got an arrow in my back." He walked up to the elven guards. "I am Lord Kaleb, General of the Maramyrian Army and I seek an audience with Lord Quenta and Queen Laurana."
"You are not of elvenkind," one of the guards said. "You may not enter the inner city."
"Nonsense," Kaleb said. "I have been recognized by the elven court as a Maramyrian representative, and I have urgent news that the forest is under attack. Now stand aside."
The three guards closed ranks and rested their hands on their swords. Kaleb sighed and stared at his feet, as though he was disappointed, then without looking up, he leapt forward and smashed his head into the mask of one of the guards. Surprised, the elf stumbled backward and Kaleb pushed him and dashed past the other two, then he ran as fast as he could toward the wood and stone pathways that led to the palace. He heard a commotion behind him and heard the voices of Trevan and the soldiers, and he realized that they were keeping the elves busy, preventing them from following him.
Kaleb made it to the palace and stormed into the court, where he saw Laurana and Quenta seated on a dais, with one throne sitting empty next to them. Sitting before them, the rows of the court were filled with elves, all wearing their customary masks, and they all turned at his entrance to the chamber and the sound of his boots thudding heavily across the polished wood and stone floor.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion!" yelled one of the elves.
Kaleb knelt in the center of the aisle between the rows, then he looked up at Quenta and the queen.
"I am Lord General, Kaleb Alaran," he said, giving his title. "I am the emissary of the Maramyrian people and thus am recognized by the queen and this court. I must speak at once."
"General Nathas is the recognized emissary, Kaleb," Quenta said with a smirk.
"Nathas has fallen and may be close to death," Kaleb told him. "He is with your healers now, and I hope they can save him."
"That is unfortunate," Laurana said. "We wish him well. What is it you wish to say to the court?"
"Nathas was poisoned in defense of your realm, Queen Laurana. Dozens of winged Darga attack the elven forest, your grace," Kaleb replied. "We encountered them at the river's edge, but they have breached the borders of this land."
"This we know," Quenta said. "In fact we were discussing that very issue when you burst in here."
"And you are aware that they are destroying the forest?"
"They have tried to set a few fires, but the trees have gathered groundwater in preparation for such an attack," said one of the court elves.
"I speak not of fires, or broken branches," Kaleb said. "They are spreading some kind of poison, conjured by mages and spread by winged Darga through the forest. It is an ominous smoke that withers the trees, the grass, anything living that it touches, drifting through the air and destroying life, like a poison. Two of our men have died from it and Nathas breathed only the smallest amount of it and he is close to death."
"The trees have said nothing of this," Quenta said. "They would give warning of such an thing. Perhaps your men foolishly ate some poison berries"
"I do not jest with you, Quenta," Kaleb replied, barely keeping his anger in check. "Nathas knew of the danger yet he chose to attack the black robed mages, in an effort to save this forest you hold so dear. The least you could do is to show some respect."
"General Nathas is an honorable man," Laurana interjected. "We will inquire of these events, yet it is strange that the trees have said nothing."
"Perhaps they cannot," Kaleb suggested. "If the poison smoke withers them at a touch, then perhaps they can no longer speak to you."
"You said the mages were responsible for this smoke," Laurana said. "Is it from some kind of magical fire?"
"No," Kaleb said. "From what we saw, the mage priests use their magic to create some kind of black gemstones, which the lizard men then spread from the air, scattering them through the forest. When the stones touch anything that is alive, they begin to give off a noxious smoke."
Laurana glanced over at Quenta, then she looked out toward the eyes behind the masks of the members of the court.
"If this is true, then it is most disturbing," she said. "You have our thanks, Lord Kaleb. Please allow our healers to treat your wounds, and you may rest in the palace until you have recovered." She nodded to the two guards who had shown up at the entrance to the court.
"Thank you, Queen Laurana," Kaleb said. "I will avail myself of your healers, then I must see to Nathas, if I may."
"He will be brought to the palace," Laurana said. "If what you say about these dark stones is true, then we must learn as much as we can about the effects of this poison."
"If Nathas lives, be sure to thank him," Kaleb replied as he rose painfully to his feet. "He is the one who insisted on saving the trees of your beloved forest."
He nodded to Laurana and glanced at Quenta and the members of the court, then he turned and marched out of the chamber as noisily as he had entered. When he got to the door, he recognized the elf he had smashed in the face, and he noticed a few droplets of blood at the bottom of the mask he wore, an
d Kaleb figured he might have broken his nose.
"Sorry about that," he said, but the elf said nothing and fell in behind him, along with the other guard, as they followed him out of the palace.
"Is what you said true?" the guard Kaleb had hit asked him. "These lizard men are poisoning the trees with dark magic?"
"Without a doubt," Kaleb said as they stepped out into the light of the elven inner city, then he stopped for a moment, blinded by the brightness outside the palace, and swayed on his feet. "Perchance, do you know where I might find one of those healers Laurana offered?" A moment later, he felt the ground rushing up at him as he fell down, face first. Kaleb felt the hands of the elven guards lifting him from the ground as a rush of blood ran from his nose.
"I suppose I had that coming," he mumbled as he lost consciousness.
CHAPTER SIX
The stone streets of Kandara were dark and empty save for a few guards and the occasional small group of people wearing robes of white or grey, in accordance with Mirdel's decree. Most of the people had been put to work, laboring in the mines, looking for a rare ore that Mirdel, with the help of the few black robed mages who remained in the mountain kingdom, had been sending by the wagonload to Maramyr. The most numerous among the Kandarans in the city appeared to be those robed in white.
"What is wrong with them?" Dala asked, looking at the dozens of prisoners who sat naked on the floor of the storehouse, bound with ropes.
All of their eyes were a kind of milky white, and though they could see, they simply stared straight ahead, barely noticing their surroundings. None of them had put up any kind of a fight either, allowing themselves to be herded like cattle, and stripped of their robes without so much as a fuss.