Chapter 26-Athala
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laugh. For that matter, I couldn’t remember ever laughing. It was cathartic, releasing all the pain and stress of the last few days, leaving me feeling surprisingly relaxed. Either that or Zimri and I had finally gone insane.
“Uh, are you guys okay?” a new voice spoke.
Zimri glanced up to see a tall young man about our age standing over there with a massive black bow in his hand. Reflexively, Zimri’s hand went to his hip, where his sword ought to be.
“It is okay, Zimri,” I quickly interceded. “This is Titan. I just met him in the forest. He is the one who shot the dragon.”
Zimri’s eyes went wide. “Nice shooting,” he complimented.
“It did the job,” Titan responded.
“You have my thanks,” Zimri unsteadily finally got to his feet. “I owe you a great debt.”
“I was hunting it anyway,” Titan shrugged. “I am just glad she found me in time.”
“Me too,” Zimri nodded, giving the archer an appraising look. “How tall are you?”
“Just under two meters,” Titan answered, a hint of a smile touching his lips. “I am the runt of the family.”
Zimri and I exchanged a look. Although clearly strong, he was more lanky than muscular, for now anyway. Already I could see signs of his muscles starting to fill out his incredibly tall frame. When he did fill out, he’d be a bear of a man.
“You guys look like you could use a bath and some food.” Titan appraised us again. “A lot of food,” he corrected. “I live not far from here and I am certain my parents would be happy to house you two for a few days. You know,” he regarded me curiously, “you look an awful lot like my mom.”
Zimri gave me a questioning look and I shrugged. “Ya, let us go,” I spoke for us.
After Zimri retrieved what was left of his sword, we followed Titan through the forest. About twenty minutes later, we emerged at the edge of a small village. It was remarkably clean and orderly; most Eisenberge villages were little more than shanty towns. Titan immediately led us to the blacksmith’s shop.
“Adler? Dad?” Titan called into the forge.
The man who came out was somehow even bigger than Titan, over two meters tall. He shared Titan’s intense, sapphire eyes, chiseled, square jaw, but had red hair to Titan’s blond and was far bulkier and more filled out than Titan was. Relief flooded his face.
“Titan! You are alive!”
“Disappointed, Adler?” Titan’s face tightened.
Adler rolled his eyes. “Of course not, Titan,” he said. “We just heard the explosion and well…”
“That was us,” Titan answered, gripping his bow tightly.
“You blew up a dragon?” Adler’s eyes went wide.
“Well, she did,” Titan pointed at me.
Adler regarded me with a look of awe and respect. I shrugged. “You are a blacksmith?” He nodded. “Then you are familiar with black powder?”
“Ya,” Adler nodded again. “Stuff is a plague if you are not careful.”
“I weaponized it,” I explained. “It was crude and I have better devices in my lab, but it worked.”
“Worked?” Zimri snorted. “I’ll be picking dragon bits out of my hair for the next week.”
For the millionth time, I wished Zimri had kept his mouth shut. Adler looked at the Alkite and narrowed his eyes. He then glanced back at me, then back at Zimri.
“A gebraten?” he muttered. “We had better see dad.”
Titan frowned and looked at Zimri, as if for the first time noticing that Zimri wasn’t an Eisenbergian. “Are you in trouble or something?” he asked.
“Or something,” Zimri nodded, “Definitely something.”
We followed the two giants into the smithy where another huge man was bent over an anvil, hammering at something.
“DAD!” Adler called over the pounding. “TITAN IS BACK!”
The man spun around, dropping his hammer in the process. A look of pure relief flooded his face and he fiercely embraced Titan.
“He brought friends,” Adler added sourly.
The father let go of his son and looked at us. He barely glanced at Zimri but studied me with an odd mixture of shock, hope, and recognition.
“Athala?” he asked hopefully.
“Ya,” I answered slowly, feeling uncomfortable under his familial gaze.
“Do you know her, dad?” Adler looked confused.
“Get your mother,” the father ordered, not taking his eyes off me.
“Dad?”
“Go!” he ordered sharply. Adler shrugged and went inside the house.
“Athala? Like the sorceress of Gletcher?” Titan frowned, looking at me again.
“Formerly,” I acknowledged, realizing lying would be pointless.
“I guess that explains how we blew up the dragon,” Titan said. “That had to be sorcery.”
My foot began tapping. “That was not sorcery,” I said with a sigh. “It was a potion of black powder that anyone could do.”
“Seemed like magic to me,” Titan shrugged. I just groaned under my breath.
Just then, an attractive, middle-aged woman came through the door connecting the house with the forge. She was drying her hands on her apron, wearing an annoyed and tired look on her face. Most strikingly was her coppery red hair.
“Rolf, what do you—”
She froze when she saw me, paling as if I were a ghost, hands going slack at her side. Taking a tentative step towards me, she reached out a hand to touch my cheek.
“Isolde?” she asked, voice shaking with emotion.
“Who?” I replied, backing away.
“Athala,” Rolf whispered.
“Right, of course.” The woman shook herself back to the present. “It is just you look so much like her.”
“Clearly,” I remarked sardonically. “Who are you?”
“My name is Liesl,” the woman answered. “I am your aunt.”
No one spoke.
“You’re her…what?” Naturally it was Zimri who broke the silence.
“Your mother, Isolde, was my younger sister,” Liesl said, voice cracking. “Until the Mistress murdered them and took you.”
“My parents gave me to the Mistress,” I answered. “No one took me.”
Liesl looked horrified. “No parent would ever willingly give up her child.”
“I have seen plenty do just that,” I snarled. “Why would my parents be any different?”
Liesl’s looked disappointed and Rolf’s face darkened. “You were only two when she took you so I will forgive you for not remembering,” he said tightly. “Almeric and Isolde fought off a dozen of her soldiers before the Mistress herself ripped you from the house and burned them to ash.”
“And what did you do?” Zimri asked sharply.
“I hid,” Rolf bristled. “I had to protect my son and pregnant wife.”
Zimri snorted in disgust but I understood; he’d never faced the Mistress. What good could Rolf have done, aside from getting himself and his family killed?
“We did not know what happened to you after she took you,” Liesl went on. “We feared the worst, until we heard that an Athala had been installed as the Lady of Gletcher.”
“I went to see if it was you,” Rolf added, “but you would not see me.”
“Of course not,” I responded. “Why would I have seen a blacksmith from Aidan’s territory?”
“That is what I was told,” Rolf said. “But what brings you here? And with an Alkite? Is it true you have been disowned by the Mistress?”
Foot tapping, I quickly considered my options, deciding on the most advantageous. “Ya, I have,” I truthfully answered. “It is a long story but the short version is the Mistress and I have had a, uh, disagreement over how to handle Alkilion.”
“She kidnapped Princess Ariadne and apparently that messed up the Sorceress’s plans,” Zimri bluntly clarified.
“You did what?” Lie
sl looked horrified.
“Not important,” I waved off. “I am trying to overthrow the Mistress, he is trying to rescue his princess, and right now we both are planning on getting rid of Aidan.”
All four of them stared at us with wide, unblinking eyes.
“While you are at it, are you going to touch the stars too?” Adler scoffed.
“I do not know,” Titan’s lips twitched into a smirk, “I think it is worth a try.”
“Of course you would,” Alder rolled his eyes. “Some of us have something other than being drafted into the Mistress’s army to look forward to.”
Titan shot his brother a dark glare.
“We are not asking you to fight with us,” I told them. “We simply need a place to rest until we strike.”
“We could use some weapons too,” Zimri added. “That dragon kinda ate my sword.”
Rolf’s blue eyes light up. “That I can do,” he greedily grabbed the hilt out of Zimri’s hand, examining it. “Single blade, I take it?”
“Yeah,” Zimri nodded. “It’s a pretty typical Alkite scimitar.”
“I have not seen one in a long time,” he replied. “I can make a blade for you, of course, and it will be better than what you had. But it will take a few days and I do have a couple swords here, if you want to take them. They are double-edged, of course.”
“You have weapons?” I cut in, indignant. “You are forbidden weapons!”
“Technically, no,” Rolf admitted. “I am one of the armorers for Lord Aidan. Occasionally I kept a sword or spear back. We have stored six swords, a dozen spears, and three shields.”
“DAD!” Adler exclaimed. “We should not be telling her this!”
“She is family,” Liesl snapped at her elder son.
“Besides, they are not exactly on good terms with the Mistress,” Rolf added. “Do you want to take one of those blades?”
Zimri looked thoughtful, biting his bottom lip. “No, I don’t think so,” he finally said. “I’m too used to a single-edge blade to switch now,” he looked pointedly at me, “Especially if what we’re planning is as insane as I think it is. How long?”
“Three, maybe four days,” Rolf estimated.
“That’s fine,” Zimri tiredly answered. “I think we could use the rest.”
He looked terrible. The burns from Wiese had only just begun to heal and now the dragon had added several fresh, painful-looking burns. He’d never been bulky, more toned than muscular when I first met him. Now his clothes draped loosely over him, while his cheeks were beginning to sink in and deep, dark circles hung under his eyes. Three weeks of non-stop travel, fighting, and running would do that. The Alkite’s resilience was impressive, but even he had to rest and recover.
“This is a bad idea,” Adler hissed just loud enough for us to hear. “They are fugitives of the first order. If they are caught here—”
“They will not be caught,” Rolf cut him off. “We have kept Titan safe all these years; we can keep two more hidden for another couple of days.”
“And if the rest of the town notices a gebraten wandering around?” Adler demanded.
“They will not say anything,” Liesl countered sharply. “That would expose a few other ‘illegal’ things going on.”
“MOM!” Adler exploded. “Stop!”
“They are family, Adler,” Rolf leveled a parental glare at his son. “We will offer them our protection and aide, especially if they will rid us of Aidan.”
“And if they fail?”
“We will be dead long before any of your secrets are revealed,” I pointed out.
“This is still a bad idea,” he muttered and stalked off.
“Where are you going?” demanded Rolf.
“There is work to be done,” he shot back over his shoulder.
“What’s his problem?” Zimri asked with a frown.
“Adler is a good man,” Rolf sighed. “But he is rather protective of Titan.”
“Of Titan?” Zimri looked like he was going to laugh. “He just killed a dragon; he can take care of himself.”
Clearly the Alkite didn’t understand but after giving Titan a quick once over, I knew why Adler wanted Aidan’s men far from his little brother.
“I am certain you will wish a bath and a meal,” Liesl changed the subject.
“Those would be welcome,” I acknowledged.
“Then follow me. And Athala,” she added with a warm, inviting smile, “welcome home.”
Chapter 27-Athala
Warm light on my face woke me up the next morning. Stretching and yawning, I sat up after the best night sleep I’d had in ages.
“Good morning, Athala,” Liesl’s warm voice greeted me. “I was wondering when you were going to wake up.”
Looking around, I saw that I was the only one still in bed. “What time is it?”
“About four hours after dawn,” Liesl answered. “Zimri said to let you sleep and you looked like you needed it.”
“Ya, I did,” I acknowledged. “I cannot even remember the last time I slept this well. Probably not since the Mistress condemned me.”
“I can only imagine what the last month has been like for you,” Liesl said sadly. “While you are here, rest assured you can sleep with both eyes closed. Do you want some breakfast?”
To my surprise, I did. After how Liesl pumped Zimri and I full of food the previous night, I didn’t think I’d want to eat again for a week. But my stomach growled its disagreement.
“Where is Zimri?” I asked, taking the plate and beginning to eat. “I need to check his bandages.”
“He and Titan went into the woods to practice,” Liesl supplied. “Go east of the house and you will find them.”
“Practice?” I looked up sharply from my breakfast. “Practice what?”
“Zimri said something about teaching Titan how to use a sword,” Liesl answered.
I let out a growl. “If he ruins his bandages…”
Liesl let out a laugh. “You two are very close, ya?”
I snorted. “Hardly,” I said. “I cannot stand him most of the time. I just do not like seeing my hard work undone.”
“Whatever you say,” Liesl gave me a knowing look and hefted a basket filled with tools.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I have some things to do in town,” she evaded.
“Uh-huh,” I grunted. “Just do not do anything foolish.”
The woman gave me an odd look, which I returned with an authoritative glare. While I may not have been the Lady of Gletcher, I still expected people to follow my commands, Zimri’s impudence notwithstanding. I was a sorceress after all. Wisely, Liesl bowed slightly and hurried out.
It took me a good half hour to find Zimri and Titan. They were in a small clearing well away from the town. Not wanting to interrupt their practice, I settled myself against a pine tree to watch them practice.
“Keep your sword tip up,” Zimri instructed through pants.
Titan nodded, raising up his wooden blade and Zimri struck again. He feinted right, striking at Titan’s head. Reflexively, Titan raised his shield and with lightning quick reflexes, Zimri flicked his sword around, swinging at Titan’s hip. With surprising speed, Titan spun, intercepting this strike with his own weapon. Zimri shoved his shield into Titan’s exposed back, knocking him off balance.
Instead of trying to regain his footing, Titan let the momentum knock him to the ground. Zimri pounced, bringing his weapon down on the prone Titan. But Titan had rolled into a crouch, bringing his shield up in time to intercept the weapon. Driving up, he thrust the sword at Zimri’s gut, which the Alkite deflected away with his own shield.
Titan sprang forward, suddenly going on the attack. He swung wide, forcing Zimri to move his to block. As soon as he did, Titan leapt into the open space, using his own shield to shove Zimri’s sword arm up and back. He let his own arm relax as Zimri shoved it away, only to tighten it and thrust straight at the Alkite’s gut.
Zimr
i was ready, though, bringing in his shield just in time to deflect the strike. He slammed the shield against the edge of Titan’s own, throwing it wide, opening up the Eisenbergian. Bringing his sword whistling down, Zimri went for the killing blow.
But when Zimri had deflected Titan’s thrust, he’d deflected the blade up, right into the path of his own. Titan stopped the blow mere millimeters from his neck and then swung back in his shield, driving the edge onto Zimri’s blade caught on his own sword. The sudden impact wrenched weapon free. Before Zimri could retrieve it, Titan slammed into him, shield first, knocking the smaller Alkite to the ground. The next thing Zimri knew, the tip of Titan’s blade was pressed against his neck.
“I am sorry!” Titan suddenly exclaimed. “Are you alright?”
Zimri started laughing. “Alright?” he hooted. “That was incredible! You’re sure you’ve never trained with a sword before?”
“I have messed around with Adler a couple of times,” Titan confessed, extending a hand to help Zimri up. “Nothing formal, though.”
Dusting himself off, the Alkite shook his head. “You’ve got some talent there, Titan,” he said, grinning. Looking up, he spotted me and waved a beckoning hand. “Athala! Did you see that?”
Somewhat reluctantly, I came forward. “I saw you getting my bandages dirty,” I grumbled.
“This kid is one gifted warrior,” Zimri beamed.
Titan flushed scarlet. “Me? I am not gifted at anything,” he muttered. “I fail at everything I try.”
“Not this,” Zimri shook his head, either oblivious to the kid’s discomfort or trying to cheer him up. “I’ve spent my whole life training to use the sword and I’ve trained with the best. That move you just pulled, I’ve never seen anyone do anything like that.”
“Beginner’s luck?” I suggested.
“No,” Zimri emphatically shook his head. “I know luck when I see it and this wasn’t it. It was like you were reading my mind. You knew what I was going to do before I even did,” he turned to Titan, shaking his head in awe again. “You made me do exactly what you wanted me to do.”
Titan shrugged awkwardly again. “I just did what came naturally,” he said.
The Sorceress's Apprentice Page 17