Bitter sorrow made Nathan’s entire face droop, and he stared into the fire for a bit. He heaved a sigh, and then continued. “Makavel’s been a Grand General for as long as I’ve been alive. He’s perhaps the most clever and most patient Traitor hunter out there. While he comes ta Krute about twice a cycle, he always finds a Traitor ta hang. But just one. And, it’s as if he walks inta town knowing exactly who he’s going after. His reputation is enforced throughout the central cities where he does the same thing: he comes inta town and hangs a Traitor.”
Nathan rubbed his arms, which developed goosebumps despite the warmth of the early afternoon. “Not many men get under my skin as that Makavel does. He’ll act like your friend until the very end, and then the monster comes out. Word has it that he was the main orchestrator of the Eclamai Purge.”
Chills ran up Blaze’s spine. “The Eclamai Purge?”
“Aye, happened about nine cycles ago, when that Roving Historian rode with my da and me. The Traitors of Eclamai were wiped out. So you see, I have ta be convincing with him and make sure I don’t give him one speck of proof or need ta hang me.”
She could barely focus after his casual mention of what must have been the night her parents died. To keep in control, she focused on how he could be deceiving her. Nathan’s fear of being hung conflicted with his willingness for her to kill him earlier. “You are afraid of dying?” she finally asked.
“Yes.” He answered as if it was an obvious answer. “Most everyone’s afraid of dying.”
“Not the Traitors I grew up with,” she challenged. “Plus, you weren’t afraid to die earlier.”
Nathan remained somber, but she could see his excitement steadily building at her questions. “Well, they must be remarkable Traitors. If a noble death stands before me, and there doesn’t seem ta be any other options, I’m willing ta die. Or, at least, I’d like ta think I am. But, I don’t want ta die at Makavel’s hand. There have been too many good, devout Traitors that have renounced their allegiance ta the True King upon the gallows. He does something ta them before the trial, something that changes them. Once they go through the disgrace of renouncing the True King as ruler, he hangs them anyways.”
Blaze couldn’t eat any more, not after learning of this Makavel. She felt sick with anger, disgust, and fear; although, she didn’t want to admit the fear. The one rule Traitors held above all others was that the True King be the only one they called king. If they renounced his reign, he would renounce their existence. To cause a Traitor to commit their highest crime and then kill them was barbaric. And to learn that he was responsible for her parent’s death, her anger growled and she cursed letting him get away.
Noticing that Nathan was staring at her, she focused on her current dilema. He seemed to be telling the truth. Of course, he could be an exceptional liar, but many things didn’t match up with him being a spy. He could have tied her up at the first of the voyage, or knowing that the Chaser was behind them, he could have turned her into Makavel to guarantee his safety from the Grand General. Instead, he set her free to run and risked Makavel’s wrath by remaining with her. Why would he prolong her capture if he intended to turn her in?
“So, why would you want me to travel with you?” she questioned. “Being with me will only doom you to his punishment even more. It would be safer for the both of us if I leave now.”
“Because, I’ve a plan ta get you through the cities, and Makavel told me that he was stationing men every little way down the river ta try and catch you if you’re on land. Two set out inta the woods that way after they landed,” and he pointed in the opposite direction from where she and Lily had ridden.
Her skeptical side wanted nothing more to do with the captain, but her logic told her that she needed his help. Like it or not, his boat would be the fastest way to Breccrah. Not only was the speed important, but a lone woman traveling would raise suspicions on the road, especially if there were Urlificans stationed periodically. She’d felt that she could trust him in the beginning, and some of that feeling still remained.
Blaze wished that Obrae was there to tell her what to do; she was getting tired of trusting strangers’ words. For the first time, the thought that maybe she should have found the Traitors of Srift and traveled with them entered her mind. Where were they? Guilt riddled her heart as she realized how little she had considered Tawnya’s safety. Had she helped them jump from the frying pan into the fire? What were they doing? Were they still alive?
“So, will you listen ta my plan ta get you through Lebril and Eclamai?” Nathan asked, startling her from her thoughts.
Blaze knew exactly what Obrae would tell her at that moment.
Stop worrying over what you can’t fix and focus on what you can.
She had her own troubles to deal with at the moment. Resigning herself to the fact that she had to make a decision, she chose to follow her gut and trust Nathan, if only for the moment. “Very well,” she said. “Let’s hear your master scheme.”
A bright smile flashed across Nathan’s face, but it disappeared just as quickly. “Okay, and please tell me where you see any improvement that’s needed. It’s worked well in the past, though.” He stopped, getting more nervous to tell her.
“Well...” she pressed. “What is it?”
“Have you ever heard of the blue people of the Chanum desert?” he asked.
“No. What do they have to do with your plan?” Blaze strained to keep the frustration out of her voice, but a little escaped.
Nathan held his hands up and spoke quickly, “They’re people with blue skin who lived here before us. Canza City was their home; a glorious city on the lakeshore build of gems and a moldable stone. During the days of the True King, only the most daring of people would brave the desert ta get ta their city, but those adventurers were rewarded with sights, knowledge, and riches unknown ta our people. The True King asked for their help in building Eclamai, and after the capitol was finished, the Canza people declared that they wished for the True King ta be their king as well.
“Well, the moment Urlifec took the throne, he ruled that the blue people were undesirables and not true Lesirian. He captured their city and turned them all inta slaves. Their wealth was scattered ta Urlifec’s favorite men, and their knowledge was lost.
“But, that’s more background than needed. My plan’s ta stain your skin with crushed velvet leaf mixed with oil. It’s not uncommon for traders ta send slaves from Lebril ta Beccrah. So, I thought you could get off just before Lebril, and I would bring you back onboard as a slave; a public display as ta why you’re on the Wisp. Then, when we stop in Eclamai for two nights, you can help me sell skins and goods, like any other slave would. The blue people aren’t considered people, so no one’ll look twice at you, unless you give them good reason.”
Blaze had never heard of the velvet leaf, and she felt extremely uncomfortable being portrayed as a slave. How long did the stain last? What if someone tried to buy her? Or steal her? The variables with Nathan’s plan were as risky as being on her own. “I don’t want to be portrayed as a slave,” she said skeptically.
“No, I’ve done this at least once before,” Nathan reassured.
Blaze’s eyes narrowed. “Only once before. I thought you said you’d done it numerous times! So, we’re using a plan riddled with beginner’s luck?”
“No, no, no,” he held his hands up in honesty. “I didn’t mean ta mislead you. I just...”
Lily nickered, and Blaze looked up to see two Urlificans, one with a crossbow and one with a drawn sword, easing toward them from the other side of the mare. Her heart rate tripled as she leapt up with Obrae’s sword at the ready.
“‘Ands where I kin see ‘em, smacker” the long-faced crossbow barer ordered, “Or you’ll arrive in Eclamai less than ‘ole.”
Blaze lowered and placed the blade at her feet, exchanging a glance with a wide-eyed Nathan. Nathan rose to his feet with hands in the air. The Urlificans approached cautiously.
“Nathan, I
thought you was one’f us,” said the swordsman. Nathan’s face changed to a beet red.
“And after Grand General Makavel warned you of ‘er,” Long-face added.
The swordsman took a hold of Lily’s reigns and tied her to a stump. Blaze looked down at Obrae’s sword laying uselessly at her feet and inwardly cursed the crossbow.
“Oye, eyes up,” Long-face spat, and she stared him straight in the eye. “You’ve gotten quite the reputation. Killin’ a troop, Grand General with it, an’ tickin’ off a Domotrec. There’s more than a tipsy torr out for your ‘ead. Pike, tie ‘em up.”
That gave Blaze an idea. “Makavel is going to be so proud of you two,” she sat down just beside the fire, hands still up. “I’m sure a great reward is out for me, and it’s done Urlifec a great honor that his servants caught me instead of some half-witted bounty hunter from Lebril.”
“None’f your trickery, you bloody fox,” Pike growled as he pulled her hands behind her back, tying them thoroughly with a cord of leather. “You killed one’f my best mates in that troop. Ryan. Remember ‘im?”
She ignored the question and focused on Long-face. “How much is the reward for bringing me in?”
“A new life of luxury, that’s what,” he answered, clutching his crossbow in suspicion. “Now, stop your kaffin’ yammerin’”
“I’m just wondering if you’ll really get the reward, or if Makavel, being your Grand General, will claim my capture himself. Is he the sharing type?”
“Shut it,” but greed flashed in Long-face’s black eyes.
“But, what if I had a small fortune in my saddle?” she quickly put in. “You’d at least get something for your troubles. Maybe you’d feel a little mercy for a deal?” Pike moved to Nathan, sitting him down and starting to tie him up. Blaze lowered her hands as far as she could until the leather caught against Nathan’s knife, which she had sat on.
“Blaze! No, that was a gift!” Nathan exclaimed and struggled slightly against Pike.
“A gift I can’t use if I’m captured,” she spat back. Nathan gave her a look asking what she was doing, but she turned back to the Urlifican.
Long-face chuckled. “For all I know, you ‘ave a snake coiled in some bag.”
“Then let Nathan check for you,” she suggested, tilting her head toward the captain. “I may have a reputation, but I have gotten that reputation because the Urlificans weren’t smart enough to listen to my proposals. But, I can tell that you’re different. No one has gotten this close in my capture except you. I believe a man should be rewarded for his achievements, don’t you?”
“Hey! I was the one ‘oo suggested we go back!” Pike threw in as he struggled to securely tie Nathan’s bounds.
“Shut it, igit!” Long-face spat. “But you wouldn’t’f snuck up on ‘er but burst out like a kaffin’ mule.”
“And that would have definitely been the wrong thing to do.” She shook her head in a disappointed fashion. “So, just search Lily’s saddle bag for your reward.” The mare’s ear turned toward her at the sound of her name.
Long-face shrugged. “Well, you aint goin’ nowhere.”
“That I’m not,” Blaze agreed pulled her restraints along the blade and the leather gave a slight pop. Pike walked over to Obrae’s sword, which still lay uselessly to her right. “What a nice sword.” He picked at the leather until it unraveled to reveal the sword’s name. “A Grand General’s sword! You steal it from Kent?”
“No,” Blaze answered focusing on Long-face walking toward Lily.
“I’ll claim this as my prize!” Pike declared while looking the sword over. He gingerly grabbed the handle, then held the sword out in triumph.
Long-face reached Lily. He clipped the still loaded crossbow to his belt and started to untie the saddle bag on her left. “Oh, not that one,” Blaze informed him. “It’s the one on the other side.”
The Urlifican’s eyes narrowed. “You lyin’?”
“Why would I lie at this point?” She shrugged her shoulders with her hands still behind her back. “And why would I tell you about the leather purse that is in Lily’s other saddle bag if I didn’t want you to find it? You not finding it would make me a liar, which really wouldn’t help my situation right now.”
Long-face humphed in agreement and walked around Lily’s hindquarters.
“KICK!” Blaze shouted, and Lily braced herself for a double-legged kick. The Urlifican turned at Blaze’s exclamation, causing him to remain square in the mare’s line of fire. Before he could shout or brace himself, Lily sent him flying fifteen paces behind her. Blaze took that opportunity to leap up and grab Obrae’s sword from the surprised Pike. She had to take the crossbow away from Long-face before her advantage slipped away.
Pike recovered faster than she expected and attacked her with his sword. Forced to turn and defend herself, Blaze barely had time to block his quick stabs and slashes. Young, trained, and un-drugged, Pike presented as a challenging foe, and Blaze fought purely from instinct and reaction.
The Urlifican drove her all around the small beach, their clashing blades echoing off of the rocks and water. The stones rolled under Blaze’s feet, and the bare metal made her grip unfamiliar and difficult to maintain from Pike’s powerful attacks. She had to turn this fight, and quickly.
She thought of Obrae as he lay stabbed from an Urlifican’s blade. She thought of the pig, Ryan, and his attacks on both her and Tawnya. She thought of Jonathan’s house crashing down upon the healer. And she thought of her parents, dying at the hands of red-garbed murderers. She fanned the flames of her ever-raging inferno of pain, and a new power coursed through her veins.
Bracing her foot on a solid rock, she swung upward with such a force that Pain dug into the man’s sword, cutting a gash half-way through the metal. The Urlifican backed away in shock, but she wasn’t finished with him. Flying toward him with sword held high, she hammered down upon his wounded sword as he guarded his head. Another cut was made into the blade’s metal. Fear now whitened the mongrel’s face as his sword was destroyed at his desperate defense.
All Blaze saw was red, and she would destroy that red pain until there was none left. She was back in her dreams, fighting the evil Urlificans that dare challenge her life and happiness. They would pay, and they would pay with their own red pain.
A metallic scream blasted along the beach as the Urlifican’s blade shattered into pieces, and his eyes widened in fear as the last thing he ever saw was a red blade wielded by a raging monster.
Blaze turned as the Urlifican fell onto the cold rocks, never to get up again. The long-faced Urlifican was up and shouting, but she couldn’t hear his words. She ran, roaring toward him with Pain held high. Sunlight glinted off of a whirling object that sank into the Urlifican’s hand, forcing him to drop the front of the crossbow. An arrow sank into the ground just before her feet, and she leapt over it. Before he could ignore the pain and raise the weapon again, Blaze was upon him, and Pain sent him into an eternal sleep upon the bed of rocks.
Such power! Hissed an icy voice in her head, and she dropped the sword in shock.
Sssuch power.
The torrent of rage disappeared, leaving Blaze hollow inside. Sinking to her knees, shivering with cold and exhaustion, she felt as if she was about to faint. She gasped as her lungs and heart recovered from their strain, and she remained kneeling at the feet of the dead Urlifican. The same confusion as when she had helped the Traitors escape settled upon her; however, she hadn’t felt this exhausted and drained. What had just happened?
Such power.
I killed them. I killed them. She had killed all of them. The troop, Kent, and now these two. Blaze wanted to run, to get away from the monster that she was becoming.
She grabbed the sword and forced herself up. After cleaning the sword on the Urlifican’s pant leg, she sheathed it and looked at her hands. Pressed into her palm was the jagged letters of PAIN. Shivers ran down her back, and she rubbed her hand on her hip to wipe the word away.
And she did.
“Blaze!” Nathan cried out and rushed to her as she sank back to her hands and knees.
She tried to fight the black faint that was coming upon her like a suffocating flood.
Such power. The icy voice wouldn’t leave her alone.
“Blaze!” came Nathan’s voice again, but it was more distant this time. She knew he was right next to her, grasping her shoulder; however, she felt worlds away as the flood of unconsciousness overcame her futile struggle.
********
Nothing exploded into everything as she stood in the hall of the dragon of night. The torches remained a dull red, and Urlificans lined the room. The dragon, with his magnificent scales and fearsome teeth, lay upon his red throne. Only, this time, the throne was made of bodies clad in Urlifican red. She had to leave. Turning to run, she found that there was no door to the chamber, only walls and Urlificans around her.
No, Blaze. The dragon said with a smirk. You are mine.
Blaze froze with terror at the dragon’s statement. No, she couldn’t be, wouldn’t be his slave. She turned back around to find four Urlificans in front of her, the two in the middle holding the twisted sword, Pain, between them. “No!” she screamed. “I don’t want to be yours!” She stepped back until she was pressing against the cold stone wall.
Traitors (The Traitor King Saga Book 1) Page 21