by Susi Wright
The afternoon shadows had merged to dusk when the six warriors came to their feet, ready for action. None of them were ready for the hooded figure that suddenly emerged from the darkness of a nearby alcove, so quickly there was a deadly blade at Zenth’s throat before anyone could blink. The mysterious attacker used his captive as a shield. Churian and Sumar were astounded—they’d both been completely unaware of his approach. Even during meditation their perception and reflexes were usually razor-sharp. With two fully sentient warriors protecting the group, the intruder must have been most capably concealing his approach. . .
Incredulous, Churian asked the question he had only needed to ask but a few times in his early training and never in the last hundred years. It was rare for an Elite to succeed in blocking him. “What is your intention?” and something he had never asked a fellow Gaian, “Are you enemy or friend?”
The wiry assailant said nothing. Instead, he pressed the dagger closer to Zenth’s jugular, just nicking the skin, while retaining an iron grip with the other muscular arm around the smaller man’s chest. His face was still obscured by the dark hood, but angled towards Churian for several moments as if trying to assess him. He shook his head before he asked his own question. “Which are you?”
Churian and Sumar exchanged glances. At least their mental guard still held and the intruder must have come upon them by accident rather than purpose. Still, in this stand-off, Zenth’s life was under threat. The attacker could kill him in a second. Xandor was tense, feeling the responsibility to protect his friend. He had practiced his mental guard more in recent days and felt an improvement, but he was aware of his limits. He could only hold it for moments—not long enough to get himself out of a sticky situation yet.
He did trust his combatant skills, which had got him out of trouble many times. Standing motionless, his eyes flicked briefly to Sumar’s; yes, he was well under his friend’s protection. In less than a blink, he somersaulted towards the intruder, grabbing the hand with the knife and using the momentum to flip him away from Zenth, to land flat on his back. Here, Xandor had his opponent pinned for a heartbeat, easily matching him in strength and size, his arm across the enemy’s throat. He forced the knife-hand deep into the dirt with his other hand, but the iron grip would not loose hold. A second later, the stranger wrested his body out from Xandor’s death-grip. In another, with a lightning-fast, twisting roll, both combatants moved as one. Xandor held on like a dog on a pig. Zenth was safe, on his feet and back in the fray; those two seconds were enough to allow the others to move in to help and the plucky intruder was soon overpowered and disarmed. He now found himself the captive, his arms bound behind his back, though he was still struggling mightily between Xandor and another equally strong warrior. He had put up an extremely good fight but had been outnumbered after all.
The stranger’s hood had fallen back during the tussle, revealing shortly-cropped but unmistakably bright blonde hair. He stopped struggling, breathing heavily, but his eyes sparked with green fire; he regarded his captors defiantly, one by one, finally stopping to glare at Churian. There was a flicker of frustration in the man’s gaze, as he encountered Churian’s iron-clad mental shield, but he quickly resumed his unyielding stare. Churian exchanged a glance with Sumar, shaking his head slowly with reluctant admiration. This young man’s block had remained intact through the entire incident and held even now. That was good for all of them. It would not have done to have this skirmish give them all away to the enemy. The intruder was well-cloaked. Churian suspected the whole thing might be a misunderstanding. That he was also hiding from Xian.
Xandor kicked the dagger well out of reach, not leaving anything to chance with this contortionist, despite the fact that the captive’s hands were bound. The weapon was snatched up by Troyan who stood a couple of metres away with a relieved-looking Zenth. The young man dabbed at a trickle of blood, oozing from a small, harmless gash to his neck. Xandor was relieved it had not been worse. Handing over his hold to another warrior, Xandor stood facing his captive. “You are obviously Gaian! Now – without the blade between us – it’s time to get the answer to the question you were asked! Don’t you agree?”
Silence. For long moments, the stranger studied each of his captors in turn. Xandor’s patience was wearing thin. They had an urgent mission to get on with. There was no time for mind games. An impasse like this wasted valuable time. He was considering a punch to the head to get a reaction from the stubborn man.
With a sigh, the man seemed to come to a decision. But instead of answering the question, he asked one, refusing to give up his mental stand. “Who is your lord? You can’t be Xian loyalists. . .I would be dead by now!”
Xandor was relieved he’d not needed to hit the man; he had respect for such a worthy opponent. He had to concede that now they were getting somewhere, albeit slowly. He wanted to pick up the momentum of this exchange, making a statement and a demand in one breath.
“Lord Luminor is our Supreme lord. You obviously don’t know this! We are loyal only to him. What is your name . . and who, in all the Realms, is Xian? I have answered your question. Now you will answer mine!”
“My name is Dak. Lord Xian controls everyone I know. They have all lost their minds to his cause! I can’t reach a single one of them. In the beginning, I had thought I was alone in my rebellion. If you’re not with Xian. . .if you resist his edict. . . you must be against him. There is no ‘in between’. That makes us, apparently, on the same side!” Dak had answered his own question and Xandor’s at the same time, smiling in self-reproach. He seemed to relax.
Churian and Sumar both saw the bitter humour in it. Ironically, their immovable mental shields had not worked to anyone’s advantage in this encounter.
Except perhaps to protect them all, for the moment, from their common enemy.
After a brief consultation with Churian and Sumar, Xandor tended to believe Dak. As far as they could sense it, one of Xian’s thrall-warriors was unlikely to be out here, working alone. He approached Dak, who was still bound by the hands and restrained by his guards.
“If what you say is true. . .and you know we can only guess – ” Xandor gave Dak a reproachful look. “But our intuition has served us well in the past, and it urges us to believe you now. So. . . it does look very much like we should be working together, instead of fighting. Dak, your knowledge of Lord Xian would be very helpful to us, if you would share it.”
Dak’s expression remained guarded. “As you say, I do know a great deal about the Dark One, his evil plan – and most useful to any plan of rescue – the layout of the palace! I was already planning to rescue other clansmen and the Lady Saria.” Xandor’s ears pricked at the name. “Thank the stars, that you all turned up!” Dak grinned. He turned to offer Xandor his bound hands, a mirthful twinkle in his eyes as he spoke over his shoulder. “So then – if you untie me – I will let you join my resistance movement!”
“Where are the others?” Xandor peered cautiously into the surrounding darkness.
“I am alone, there’s no one else!” Dak grinned again.
Xandor was amused. The cocky warrior had a sense of humour. He was too clever for it to be otherwise. Untying the bonds, Xandor replied to the jibe. “By all means, lead the way. . .it seems you – and we – have much to do!”
Xandor was thoughtful as he and Dak joined the others. Is Saria really here? How mysterious was Fate. He wondered why he didn’t feel at all excited at the idea that he might have found his betrothed. His errant mind’s eye looked longingly into a pair of flaming golden orbs.
There was little else to be said before the chosen group left the monastery, under cover of the darkness of a moonless night. There was ample mental shielding, now they had another capable mind to hide their approach. After a quick flight part of the way, they continued on foot, heading for the palace on a scouting mission which had been made a great deal easier. . .now they had Dak’s help.
Or he had theirs.
CHAPTER 30
A mighty pain to love it is,
and ‘tis a pain that pain to miss;
but of all pains, the greatest pain
it is to love, but love in vain.
(Abraham Cowley)
Xian entered his private chamber to think, slamming the door behind him. Feeling particularly frustrated despite the recent sating of his lust, he had left his new bride of three days, once again sobbing into her pillow. For some reason, it disturbed him greatly, knowing that though he had subjugated her body and even her mind, he would never have her heart. He had long yearned for something that always seemed just out of reach. When he had first laid eyes on her, she seemed to be one embodiment of that thing. A love he craved, but had never known. Not since his parents were taken from him. But, she had chosen another and it pained him deeply. Why, when he could control so much, could he not do the same with love? He couldn’t even stop her human lover in that respect. Their attraction had continued, despite the edict.
Yesterday, he had given Saria a chamber of her own where he would continue to visit her to claim his conjugal rights. Not to afford her privacy. It was a place where he could leave her when he grew tired of her body; he could shut the door and go to his private quarters to meditate and find his own rest. Then, he did not have to look upon her endless tears, a constant reminder of the wrenching lack of affection for him there. That reminder was a painful noise in his head, one he could well do without. He had much need for quiet at this moment for there were things of more import to consider.
For days, the huge Salmat palace and its larders had housed and fed Lord Xian’s new clan and the crusts had sustained his human slaves, which together totalled in the hundreds. The slaves slept in the dungeons and, being human, were so easily controlled under his edict that it was just a token measure to lock them in at night now. The palace was the only large habitable structure left in the entire region and had been extremely well-provisioned when they took up residence here. That had been a stroke of luck as all the crops and farms and any wild game within a ten league radius had been decimated by Xian’s secret blunder. Every individual that joined the clan was already starving. As their new lord, he had felt obligated to adequately assuage their hunger in return for their loyalty. However, with so many hungry mouths to feed, supplies were dwindling. Even the meagre food-stores from recent conquests would only buy them an extra few days here. Culling all the human children had only helped a little.
Xian paced his chamber restlessly. For some time now, he had been intending to move his warrior force towards Baram,. He was eager to draw out this famous Lord Luminor from his stronghold in the Capital so he could engage in the conflict on open plains. There would be much fire and smoke and he wanted to have the best chance of seeing his formidable enemy at all times. Besides, cities, buildings and nearby farms were valuable commodities to the new kingdom and should be preserved. The time for that march had arrived, but it looked as if he would have to move the entire company of Xians in his wake, unless he could provide the promised food and protection to sustain them in his absence. A real nuisance. He could not afford distractions, nor to be slowed down. He had already sent a party of warriors out to the areas beyond the burn-zone to hunt for anything edible. They were due to return within hours. He sensed they had been quite successful, but they had been gone for days. Perhaps, he would leave a small group of hunters to keep up the clan’s morale, even if they could only provide a bare subsistence diet. Then he could leave and concentrate on the battle.
With all his recent accomplishments, he had thought victory was so close. That he had managed to avoid discovery by the Guardians and to continue to do so, was a miraculous achievement. The Supreme Power almost within his grasp! But recently, this lord, who by some obsolete tradition seemed to own the access to Fire, had become unreachable. He could not detect a trace of his energy anywhere. He was perplexed. At first, with his exceptionally well-developed mental powers, it had been easy to tune in to the powerful presence, evidently loved and respected by all his subjects. Well-disguised as a figment of imagination, Xian could infiltrate his subject’s dreams. He had done so more than once, accessing extra power to add to the stolen portion of the Flame.
In these forays, he had realised just how powerful his nemesis was, but it only served to feed his growing ambition to wrest that control from him. Assisted by his personal necromancer, he had felt the stirrings of the affinity with Fire, had experienced the heady elation of control. He had found something to believe in at last. Fire was wonderful – at times confusing – full of opposites. Perhaps, in addition to its destructive might, it held the secret to healing. It had certainly begun to assuage the yearning in his own soul. He had lost all love and belief as a child. Fire warmed that cold emptiness. But, a mere taste of the Supreme Power was not enough. Like a dangerous drug, it beckoned him. . .to want more. To want it all!
Walking to the open window, he shivered, feeling inexplicably apprehensive for the first time in this campaign. He stared out over the city of Salmat, its rubble a constant reminder of his initial mistake; how precarious was his hold on that power. He reached out with his eyes and senses towards the darkening skies of the northern horizon, absently stroking the pet wraith. Draped at the moment around his shoulders, part of his cloak – part of him – it should have been a comfort. But the questions which had nagged for the last three wakeful nights, dogged him still. There was also the possibility that the one he challenged had seen him, despite his clever mask. Does he now not sleep at all? And. . . where is he?
Arching sinuously, feline-like, into its host’s caress, the insidious bond between them deepened even more as the wraith intimated the assurance that Xian lacked.
All will be well. . .you shall be Lord of Fire. . , it whispered into his mind, Just keep me with you . . .always. I will never leave you!
The four men moved like shadows over the ashy, treeless terrain. Garbed in dark, hooded cloaks, they used the night and the deep gullies and boulders for cover. Soon, they were close to the base of the palace walls. They crawled the final hundred metres on their bellies, dropping flat to the ground whenever the sentry on the parapet passed above them. Reaching the darkest shadows of the wall unseen, they crouched for one last, brief conference. Churian offered some whispered advice, making sure that all low sounds were whisked away on a gentle, sloughing breeze. “Xandor, you are protected by me. Zenth will be shielded by Dak – ” he looked askance at their new friend and received a nod. “Like this, we should not be detected even if we have to split up. But we are not invisible – we must stay out of sight. Sense-wise, we are working blind. Xian has a strong mental cloak and edict over all these people. We cannot see his intention. We have to find out what exactly we are dealing with.” Once again, it was ironic that sense-sight could not give them vision here, when they needed it most.
Dak’s whisper was urgent. “Everyone in here needs our help! But Lady Saria needs to be rescued – above all others. She has been very cruelly treated, physically and mentally. While she remains under Xian’s hold, her torture will continue. I don’t think her mind can stand much more! She is also my cousin. Under normal circumstances, we have a strong familial Link. That has been weakened to almost nothing by the edict. Even so, I feel waves of her pain, which proves how intense it must be!
“There are secret tunnels throughout the palace. Since I escaped, I have spent days memorising every one of them, planning my next move. I know where her chamber is. It would be easy to get in there undetected – make a new tunnel – if our energies were well-shielded. But even if we were standing in front of her, offering our help, she would be powerless to choose to come with us – ” he hesitated. “I had considered raiding the palace medical stores first and drugging her with lubio. . .” Dak winced, doubting the wisdom in the idea. “It will not be a simple thing. Lord Xian will know if she is taken – our combined shields might not be enough. And even if we could cloak her and somehow remove h
er, we don’t know how often he goes to her chamber to check on her. We will need to find out more before we try. Perhaps a better opportunity will come up!”
With a secret smile, he beckoned to the others, leading them towards a large crack between the massive granite blocks at the base of the wall. It was just big enough for a man to squeeze through, sideways. Sharp-edged and un-weathered, it looked suspiciously like a little earth-magic had been employed in recent days. Dak went in first and his comrades followed one by one.
Dak led the way quickly through the dark labyrinth as if he had spent his life here. The narrow, dusty tunnels were barely head-height, winding and curving through fissures in the ten-metre-thick palace walls. Enhanced night-vision allowed them to move without torches, though it did not show up every detail of the uneven passageway. Dak signalled to them, if he knew a particularly low ceiling was coming up, so they could duck their heads and move fast. In some places, the path dipped sharply down a vertical step the height of a man; in others, it climbed up several metres. Luckily, such leaps were easy, using their cloaks and the natural eddies of air circulating through the tunnels. No undue energy disturbance – no sense-sign. In minutes, they reached a narrow slit in the interior wall of the palace. It afforded one person a view of the main hall.
Dak peered through the crack first, then stepped aside to allow Xandor a look, while Churian and Dak focussed on keeping the four of them protected.
Xandor assessed the proceedings. His eyes were drawn instantly to the tall dark figure addressing his warriors in the hall below. Even shielded by his elder, he could feel the power emanating from Xian. It reminded him of the time he had been summoned into the presence of Lord Luminor to be dealt with, after he’d stupidly gotten himself into trouble in the Capital. That had felt right. . .fitting. . . but this did not.