I was inspecting the inventory of clean bath supplies in the guest room when I heard someone enter the connected room. I assumed it was the lavender that I had sent for clean towels so I paid no more heed. It wasn’t until I heard the heavy footfalls that belonged to men that I looked up. My heart faltered when I recognized two of Oscarion’s blackguard friends along with the fiend himself. There was no good intent in their eyes, but I stood my ground and gave them a withering glare that made them pause.
I yelled for Petrick the porter when they rushed me at Oscarion’s goading. The struggle was brief. I was able to claw and scratch while my hands were free. The one thug had a shaved head that I left three neat red gouges through. It reminded me of the bald man that had purchased me from my mother all those years ago. The scars would look similar when they healed. I started laughing as I thought about how that man had earned them. His death at the bandit’s hands was probably justice for far worse deeds than selling innocent children into slavery.
I stopped laughing as they pinned me to the floor. The humor was lost as I heard what Oscarion was saying and doing. My disheveled white hair was pulled back, revealing my elvish ears. There was stunned silence for a few seconds as they gawked. Then Oscarion began raving about what he was going to have done with me when he got to Shienhin. My blood chilled as he described how they would kill an elf. It ran pure ice as I felt a calloused hand run up the inside of my leg beneath my dress. I tried to scream, but a filthy rag was stuffed in my mouth preventing any chance of my calling help. I struggled despite knowing I was no match for the three ruffians that held me. The one tried forcing my legs apart, pulling on my undergarments while muttering something about how it would be like to be with an elf when the door opened.
Estavo stood silent for a moment with his face a mask of pure livid rage. The three men shrank from him as he advanced, shaking from the intensity of his temper. I was relieved by my rescue. I couldn’t have been happier to see the master of the house than at that moment. My joy, however, was short lived. The one with the shaved head, freshly adorned with the three red gouges that still oozed blood, had a knife secreted in his shirt. He drew the blade and I watched in horror as he thrust it into Estavo’s heart. I wanted to scream as the fiend pulled the blade free and stabbed Estavo again and again until the old man fell to the floor bleeding his life’s blood from a dozen mortal wounds.
I was so shocked that I didn’t even realize that I had been released until I found myself on my feet unable to stop shaking. The bald man calmly wiped the knife off on Estavo’s cloak before returning it to his shirt. He withdrew it again when he turned and saw me.
“I’m the Lord of house Loneka.” Oscarion looked down on his dead father and repeated his realization a couple more times. He must have liked the way it rolled off his tongue because he smiled. Reality struck me and only the fact that I had not yet eaten anything saved me from vomiting. I was now the property of Oscarion who hadn’t a flicker of emotion in his body other than that greedy grin.
“What about her?” The burly knave that had accompanied Oscarion and the bald murderer inquired. Oscarion coolly informed them that I had just murdered his father and that I would be subjected to a punishment equal to the crime. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. That he would watch his father murdered, then frame me. His line about no one believing my word against theirs echoed in my ears just before I heard him say that they could have a little fun before my sentence should be carried out. I hoped that I would wake up momentarily and find it all to be a bad dream, but knew in my heart that I was about to die. The bald murderer was unbuckling his belt while the other two grinned at me. I was horrified that they could be so calloused and depraved. Enraged at the depths to which humanity was capable. I felt a rush of malice and only wanted to deprive the three of them their lives. I wanted nothing more than to see them bleeding like Estavo. To free the world of their taint.
A darkness blinded my sight. Only a prick of light remained. It grew stronger until it was before me. A lily of a thousand colors. I seized it in my rage and hurled myself at my assailants. I could almost feel myself tearing their minds asunder with my bare hands. I don’t know that happened next other than that some stranger with straw like hair and piercing blue eyes was looking down on me when I woke and that I knew everything would be all right again.
Chapter Fourteen: Misdirection
The small party somberly followed Urake. He had given only the vaguest of hints as to what his intentions were. He didn’t appear to be tracking any of the deserters, but was instead headed in a south by western direction. He seemed to know where he was going so no one bothered him with questions. Aleest had gained endurance over that last few weeks and had no trouble keeping up. Emeck, Inadar and Cero plodded along in silence. Each was deep in thought. A common theme was the value of the bounty that must be on their heads at this point. To begin with, they had been keeping company with the most wanted man in the Braebach Empire, let alone all of Den’dra, but now they had been involved in a public attack on the High Chancellor. Stealing his false princess was sure to invoke his deepest passions and unwavering attention.
As grim as the future looked, it was hard to keep a melancholy attitude with the fields green and wildlife out in full force. On multiple occasions, they saw foxes with their litters of young pups going out on their first hunts. There were clutches of wild turkey and quail about the tall grasses that grew wherever the land went untilled. Urake didn’t comment when Aleest tamed a little vixen. Aleest was more than happy to take the silence as permission and so he named her Sasha. The little fox wasn’t so pleased to discover that one of her new traveling companions was a dragon. Despite Sasha already being larger than Bani, she felt intimidated and kept to Aleest’s side after the first unsettling introduction. It only took a couple days before they were standing on a small rise overlooking a town of no insignificance. It was near the size of Warton.
“Loneka.” Urake nearly growled the word under his breath. “Not a smaller farming community.”
“This is Loneka?” Cero inquired.
“Both town Loneka and house Loneka. The most minor of noble houses other than Safrym now is. So small a clan that they couldn’t afford to build a proper castle. The shifty beggars flipped sides during the Clan Wars when they thought that Illiad was gaining the upper hand. Even after the war when their fortunes surged, Illiad didn’t trust them and decreed that they would serve as an example of the future peace he would build among the humans by living in an unfortified estate. Code for saying that if they considered moonlighting with anyone else, they had no walls to stop his troops from marching into their halls and hoisting an oak banner.”
“Why are we here?” Inadar asked as she brushed a particularly tenacious ant off her leg.
“There is someone here that needs help. I have no idea who or why.”
“How do you know that? I haven’t sensed anything.” Emeck frowned and scanned the area.
“Eld’or told me to come here.” Urake looked down at Ice Heart, scowling slightly.
“Eld’or? But…” Inadar followed Urake’s line of sight and stopped when she saw the glittering bejeweled hilt exposed from his cloak.
“It is a long story. The short version is that like Sarina and Skeln, I seem to have developed a dual personality. Eld’or told me that I need to find this girl before people die. He was quite adamant about it.”
“Did he mention us being siblings?” Inadar crossed her arms.
“You aren’t brother and sister. Not in that sense of the word. Eld’or explained that you were both blood forged from dragon eggs, human blood and his elemental essence. The dragon eggs were sired by different dragons and the humans were not the same so you really aren’t related beyond how you were made. I thought you should know.” Urake shot a warning glance at Cero.
“Why did you feel that we needed to know that? It isn’t like I have any plans of restoring the race of Dragon Lords with Inadar.” Cero crossed his ar
ms and made sure that Inadar was not in his field of vision. Urake noticed a peculiar scarlet tinge to the tip of his ears.
“Oh, but my darling, there are some dragons that will be very upset to hear we won’t be making little Dragon Lords.” Inadar made an elaborate display of pouting.
“What is with you two? I was under the longstanding impression that you hated each other.” Emeck broke in as Cero’s tan took on a general reddish shade.
“There were certain… misunderstandings that we cleared up.” Cero made the mistake of glancing over and seeing the sultry look that Inadar wore.
“I… ah… Stop that Inadar! Why don’t we just find this girl and get out of here.” Cero started marching down the hill before Inadar had a chance to retort.
“Did Torroth tell you to say that before he left?” Inadar abandoned her seductive pose and stormed down the hill after Cero.
“Why would he want me to say that?”
“Because he said that whenever I teased him.”
“Have you considered that he might have had a point?” Cero still refused to look at her.
“No! It is just a little harmless fun.”
“Harmless! You should do that thing you just did in front of a mirror.” Emeck caught up and joined the fray.
“You should just… whatever. Cero, I was just teasing you. Say you won’t be upset with me my one true love.”
“You are doing it again!” Cero shook his head in disgust.
“All right! Fine. I will stop doing it, but I have to know, is there another girl? All right, all right. I’m stopping. I said that I am stopping! Don’t you dare! Wait… how are you doing that?” Cero was distracted enough that he stopped and looked at his hand where fog was condensing into a rippling ball of water.
“How should I know?” The water destabilized and rained to the ground.
“You were the one doing it!” Inadar looked resentfully at the patch of wet soil at Cero’s feet.
“Whatever. I… I am going to the town to see if we can find the girl. If you can manage that, then let’s go.”
“I am sorry for teasing you. I can try behaving if it would make you happy.” Inadar made a point of acting contrite.
“Now, now children, we have work to do. You can stop playing games.” Urake clapped them both on the shoulders. This time even Inadar colored a little.
“So what are we going to do?” Emeck provided a welcome distraction.
“Eld’or made a point of saying that we had to find her before people die so I think we are looking for either someone who has a dangerous ability or someone who has some unstable power. Either way, it could be somewhat difficult to find unless they are actually using their Gift.”
“Either way, there are going to be at least a few hundred people down there. Maybe even a thousand. It will be like finding a needle in a haystack, except we can’t be asking about the needle.” Emeck observed wryly.
“You could just scan everybody and find the one that is Gifted.” Aleest commented.
“It doesn’t work like that. I'm not Em’risi.”
“Oh… This is going to be harder than I thought.” Aleest scratched an adoring Sasha behind the ears.
“That would be true.” Cero grimaced before stepping on down the hill.
“Well, we have to start somewhere. I can scan people and see if they know anything. I might get lucky and find something.” Emeck shook his head and followed Cero.
“Hey… You guys should see this.” Cero hunkered down on his heels at the edge of a bank looking down on the road below.
“What is it? Oh… That is unusual.” Urake stopped to appraise the scene with a raised eyebrow. They all assembled and looked down at the spectacle below. A full squad of soldiers were sprawled in various attitudes of camp making, all sleeping soundly in the middle of the road. There was a cook leaned against a cauldron that was suspended over a few dry twigs. The soldier next to him had a tinderbox cradled in his arms and was resting his head against a log that looked destined for the fire that never got lit. There was a soldier still tangled in a tent that was only partially erected. The rest were in sometimes comical states of labor.
“Before we go on, is anyone tired?” Emeck glanced around.
“I am, but it might have something to do with that rock I slept on last night.” Aleest received a round of blank stares for his trouble.
“That isn’t funny. These soldiers didn’t just decide on an impromptu nap. Something happened to them.” Emeck remained at the bank edge without moving.
“I thought it was a little funny. Should we go and see if they are alive?” Aleest’s response invoked an awkward silence.
“What if they wake up? We are wanted criminals if you haven’t noticed.” Cero glanced around.
“It is a risk. What if the same thing happens to us?” Inadar chewed in her lower lip thoughtfully.
“Eld’or wouldn’t have sent us unless he thought we would be able to succeed.” Urake cautiously stepped off the edge of the bank and slid down to the bottom. When none of the soldiers stirred, the rest followed. The first soldier that Urake shook mumbled a little and rubbed his eyes wearily before settling into a more comfortable position. The next behaved a little more irritably yet dropped off again mid curse.
“Are you all sure that you aren’t feeling sleepy?” Urake scrutinized the party intently.
“No, but Sasha is.” Aleest cradled the little fox that was trying to tuck her nose into her tail.
“Bani is all right.” Cero lifted the flap and let the little green dragon out onto his shoulder.
“Be careful. Someone could see him.” Inadar cautioned Cero with a scowl.
“There isn’t anyone around to see except for us.” Cero scowled back.
“You can’t know that.”
“Oh whatever, let’s go into town.” Cero retorted as Bani scrambled down to the ground and stretched his wings. There was a farmer slumped in his wagon on the side of the road behind his dozing set of oxen. Further on a milk maid was awkwardly laying across a basket of eggs. She only opened her eyes a moment before returning to sleep as Emeck lifted her into a more comfortable position against a nearby clump of grass. Around the next bend, a half dozen children were laid out with fishing poles in hand by a stream that bent near the road.
“This is strange.” Aleest laid Sasha down on some grass before going to the creek edge. Wading in, he reached into the water and pulled out a limp fish.
“The fish are dead?” Emeck queried with a puzzled expression.
“No, just sleeping.” Aleest had no need of further explanation as the fish began wiggling lethargically. A moment late, Aleest dropped it back in the water and waded to shore. Tying his boots on his pack, he went on barefoot. They all stopped uneasily as they approached the town. There was no sound to be heard. None of the usual stray dogs that announced any visitors. No birds chirped and even the insects were eerily absent. When they finally made up the nerve to go into the town, they paused to inspect the guardsman slumped in his shelter. Everywhere, people were sound asleep in the various attitudes of daily life.
Urake left the group a moment to look into a tavern. Inside what looked to be a busy establishment, an odor of stale food and cloying wine tainted the air. There were several patrons snoozing with their faces resting in their food. Cringing, Urake stepped back out onto the street. Wherever they went, it looked as if life had been arrested in its track.
“We should split up. We can cover more ground that way.” Emeck declared that he and Aleest would be a good team. Urake agreed and told Cero and Inadar to behave themselves if they were going to be on their own team. Cero made it clear that there was no reason for Inadar to start giggle before he stormed off down the street in one direction with Inadar in tow. Urake was about to go down another street when he happened to glance over his shoulder at Emeck and Aleest. They were walking and chatting one moment, but then they collapsed a moment after. Rushing to their sides, he was relieved when shaking
returned them to the land of the waking.
“What happened?” Urake inquired as the two at up and rubbed their eyes.
“We were just talking about how hard Cero is trying to make everyone believe that he doesn’t like Inadar when Aleest started yawning then the next thing I knew, you were shaking us.” Emeck shook his head.
“I am not tired anymore.” Aleest stood up after inspecting Sasha for any injuries that might have been sustained during the tumble.
“We need to find Cero and Inadar. They could be asleep already.” Urake briskly strode off in the direction that the two had disappeared with Emeck and Aleest hurrying to keep up. After that point, they vied for the position between Urake and his shadow. Turning a corner, they were struck with a wave of putrid odors the same time they discovered Inadar and Cero picking through the market. There were stalls of food and wares with evidence of a bustling midday trade by the number of people strew about.
“Oh good, you are here. Look at this fishmonger’s stall.” Inadar pointed them towards the aforementioned merchant and his moldering wares. Fighting down the urge to lose his breakfast, Urake stepped close enough to see that the fish had once been fresh, but a couple days in the sun had reduced them to slimy baskets of scales and fish eyes.
“What is a fishmonger doing this far inland?” Neither Cero nor Inadar seemed affected by the odors. Cero prodded a particularly desiccated whiskered fish after asking his question. Urake opened his mouth to answer the question but had to close it in order to stop gagging as the eyes fell out of the fish’s face and began oozing a vile smelling liquid.
“The river is only an hour ride further on through town. These are all freshwater fish.” Urake noticed that Emeck and Aleest were affected worse than he. There was a greenish cast to their faces.
“I see what Eld’or meant when he said people were going to die. This smell could kill anything if exposed long enough.” Aleest had to stop mid comment to choke back down a gag. A nefarious twist of the breeze set Emeck to dry heaving and running for the market exit with ardor. Urake followed close behind with Aleest. Inadar and Cero ambled out a moment later.
Chronicles of Den'dra: A land on Fire Page 25