by BJ Hanlon
Despite the far-off cries and hollers of some revelers—what they were reveling in Edin didn’t know—the street was silent. Up here there was no one, no homeless or refugees.
Ahead, he saw a man starting to come around a corner to their left. Berka waved them to the right and they dipped into an alley. He was looking around and saw that there were lights in nearly every window and at least in every home and shop.
“The candles are to keep away the unwanted,” Berka said somehow knowing what Edin was thinking. “If they think someone is there, they won’t try to break in.”
Edin turned his gaze back to the gate and the new person standing before it. It wasn’t a Por Fen monk but it was a guard.
“Unless they’re really desperate and on the verge of death.” Continued Berka.
The guard moved up toward the portcullis and Edin realized that despite the fact this was his second time in the city, he hadn’t personally walked through the gate once. It almost made him laugh.
Then the guard said something that could’ve been ‘I’ll see you later’ or ‘I’ve seen you naked’—in the male humoristic lexicon, the latter could’ve been valid.
The guard turned and began to head out. He bobbed his head and was whistling. It was a happy tune. One with an upscale beat, the type of song that left you with a smile and a good feeling in your chest.
Then the man disappeared back around the corner.
“Let’s go,” Berka said and took off again with a quickened pace. They tried to keep out of sight of the walls and the archers on those walls as they moved closer to their escape, to the exit, and to a skirmish with some demons.
At least they had two magi and a trained Por Fen monk, well a Por Fen adapt, Edin corrected himself.
Ahead, there was an open space of about fifty feet between a tall gray building and the gate. They’d easily be seen by someone on the wall. The real question was, were they being hunted by the entirety of the law-and-order folk of the city or just the church’s arm?
Edin hoped it wasn’t the former but couldn’t be sure.
Berka was looking up toward the west wall. His eyes were unflinching and after about thirty seconds he said, “Keep low, be silent and speedy. Walk on the balls of your feet; Now.”
Berka ducked and jogged off and caught both Edin and Dorset by surprise. Then they all were out in the open, crouching as they ran.
It was barely twenty seconds, but it felt like an hour. They crossed the open space and ran right up next to the closed portcullis. To the right of it was the spoked wheel that was used to open it. Leaning against it was a guard, a rather shocked guard by the looks of him.
“Hi there,” Berka said standing straight up and smoothing out his cloak. “We need to get out of the city.”
The guard had his hand on his own sword but when he saw the three men before him were armed, he lowered it. “The gate stays locked until the morning.”
Edin felt the signet ring in his fingers and pulled it out. He stepped up in front of Berka so it was just him before the guard. Edin opened his hand. “Your captain gave me this a few days ago.” The guard eyed it for a moment, looked up at Edin, and then turned to a barred window set in a closed door that Edin missed a few moments before. “Captain Feldspart!” He shouted startling Edin.
“What?” A voice shouted back, though he didn’t sound to far away. Then a man appeared. He was thick in the neck and broad shouldered. He looked a bit like a brawler, someone who’d be seen in street fights. Edin thought that until he saw the way he held himself. His shoulders were back and his chin was up. A confident man and a proud warrior.
“These people want to leave, and he has your ring.”
Captain Feldspart opened the door and looked down at the ring then at Edin. “You’re the one sent by Sinny?”
Edin nodded.
“A bit ill the last time I saw you. Did the healer help?”
“Lots of mintweed,” Edin said and grimaced. “I hope I never fall ill again.”
He chuckled and Edin felt relieved and then the old duke’s cousin—who knew what the relation was called to the new duke—nodded.
Edin felt grateful. “Any other word from the duke?”
“None, and there have been no refugees today.”
Edin felt Berka and Dorset both looking at him. They all knew what that meant.
“May I inquire as to why you’re leaving the city at this time of night, especially with,” he paused, “the things out there.”
Edin took a breath. He’d already sent a messenger, or hoped Yassima did, to the duke to inform him about the two tunnels he’d found out about. He had no reason not to tell the captain. Edin looked over his shoulder. He thought he saw the same face from below in the shadows of another doorway. Was it one of the Por Fen who were with Merik in the village?
“There is a cave that is an access to an old dwarven tunnel system.”
The younger guard started to laugh. A great moronic belly laugh that seemed to be far too exaggerated for it to be real. And he laughed until the captain swatted him with a leather glove.
“Go on.”
“The dematians are using it to travel unimpeded.”
“I see,” Feldspart said, his voice cautious and curious.
“We’re going to close it,” Berka said stepping next to Edin. A moment later, Dorset did too.
“Close it? How?”
That was a hard question to answer if the questioner was a mundane who probably hated magi. Though a thought crossed Edin’s mind. Something he remembered Dephina say long ago: ‘magi are used by nobles and Por Fen monks.’
“We have our ways,” Edin said hoping the nobleman would understand and not try to kill them. Edin really didn’t want to hurt able bodied men. Especially ones who literally held the gates between the hordes of demons and humanity.
“Simms, go rouse the day shift.”
“Captain?” Simms said.
“Now.”
“Sir?” Edin said.
“My second cousin trusts you. Though I’m not one of Sinndilo’s biggest fans, I know he holds the people’s wellbeing close to his heart, magus. I believe you do as well, otherwise you wouldn’t have destroyed that many dematians and exhausted yourself to near death.”
Edin didn’t react. He didn’t have to. Feldspart gave a half-hearted smile and moved to the wheel. “This is a bit heavy; I could use a hand.”
Berka stepped up and took control. The portcullis opened slowly and loudly. A wall guard appeared through the doorway wondering what was happening and Feldspart told him, “We’re going to stop the dematians.” He turned to Edin. “Where is this cave?”
“Falic Mount,” Dorset said. “It’ll be guarded by many dematians.”
“It’s going to be dangerous,” Edin said.
“It’ll be less dangerous with more than three people.”
Edin looked at the wall guard. “Well, let us hope to succeed. Or the city will be short a heck of a captain.”
There were twelve guards including Feldspart who walked behind the three men. For a few moments, he felt great. Like a general of men leading people who feared and respected him into battle. Despite everything, Edin grinned.
“What?” Berka said. “Why are you smiling?”
“Who would’ve thought we’d be here a year ago?”
“You mean heading to fight some of the scariest beasts ever to walk the earth? Possibly heading to our own deaths?” Berka said, eyebrow raised.
Edin looked toward the mountain in the distance. “Yes.”
“Certainly not me,” Dorset said. “I would’ve thought I’d be teaching more snobby youth.”
“You’re a teacher?” Berka asked.
“Yes,” Dorset said.
“That’s why I never liked you,” Berka snorted.
They went barely a quarter of a mile when Feldspart spoke up. “I say we turn off here and cut cross country if we’re to go straight to the mountain.”
They had cross
ed the bridge and river that was heading almost southwest. The river was to their right. It moved quickly and made hearing difficult.
Edin nodded. “Let’s spread out,” he yelled. “I’ll take point. Everyone pair in twos and spread out behind me.”
“So, does that mean I’ve got the ginger hammer?” Dorset said.
Edin grinned, that was a good one. “The ginger hammer is yours.”
“Blasted teachers.”
Edin heard them all fall back as he started across the open field toward the tall mountain a few leagues ahead of them. It would take a few hours to get there and as they walked, he thought about fighting the dematian in Glustown. How it seemed to be near blinded in the dying sunlight. Hopefully the rising sun would do the same and give them an advantage.
They walked well into the night. Crickets and other bugs were out, though it seemed a bit early in the year. Or it would in Yaultan, but they were further south.
Heck, it was early to be planting though Yassima was doing that already.
Edin only caught glimpses of the others who had fanned out behind him. He heard Dorset trampling through the brush as if he were some sort of a wild oxen. The teacher couldn’t keep quiet if it were that or his life. Edin just hoped that no dematians were around.
The moon disappeared behind Falic Mount effectively making nearly everything black. He could see barely a few feet in front of his face and as the grass became sparsely interspersed with gravel, he whispered for everyone to surround him. He heard Feldspart and a few others call the pairs together. When everyone was around, he looked at their faces. Some of the men were young, no more than fifteen or sixteen. A few others were of a decent age, their thirties, but none looked to be in their prime.
“We need scouts. If this is Falic, we need to know what cave the dematians are coming from.”
Someone cleared their throat and Edin looked in that direction. It was one of the kids.
“Yes?” Edin said.
“My family farm is over yonder.” He pointed to the north a bit but Edin saw no house. Though he could barely make out the forest a few miles away. “The only cave on Falic is to the northwest. The entrance is almost fifty feet off the ground.”
Another said, “It’s a climb, a rather easy one.”
Edin glanced toward Dorset. He didn’t want to ask him right there if he could do something to close it up but Dorset just shook his head. Edin said, “We’ll have to climb I suppose.”
“Are you still afraid of heights?” Berka asked.
Edin didn’t respond to him. “They may have scouts or a camp around the mountain. We should split up and circle it from both sides.”
“And eliminate any demons we find,” said Feldspart.
Edin nodded. “You take the left; I take the right.”
“How many of my men do you want?”
“None,” Edin said. “We’ve got this.”
Someone snorted. “They’re bloody kids. They think they can handle—”
“Don’t worry about us.” Berka interrupted.
“It ain’t you I’m—”
“Don’t attack until sunrise,” Edin said. “They have poor vision at that time.”
“Are we certain of that?” Dorset asked.
Edin nodded, though he really wasn’t. He looked at Feldspart. “Good luck.”
“You too.”
They split off and began to cross through the field north. The land fell toward the river and the quarter moon blinked in and out from the mount like a bobbing boat on the sea. He could hear the river and smelled the damp earth all around them. They stayed low as the mountain loomed large to their left. It was an eerie feeling. Fieldstones then began to appear in the land and they crossed over what at one time had to have been a small rock wall to denote someone’s property, though it didn’t look like anyone had tended this place for a long time. They easily vaulted the stone wall and came face-to-face with a cold, black river.
“Anyone know where the headwaters of this thing are?” Edin said. It seemed to him that the river came directly from the mountain.
“I think we follow it and it circles around to the north.”
“Better than going across,” Edin said. He thought of the freezing trip across the Crys and his time in the water of the fjords. He did not want that repeated.
The moon was back out offering a bit more light on the landscape, though it still wasn’t much.
They followed the river again and after a bit the moon fled beneath a wash of clouds. Off to the left on a slightly higher rise, Edin heard the cracking of a branch.
Without a word, he began jogging toward the ridge. Edin kept searching, though without the moonlight, it was nearly impossible to see.
Behind, he could tell where his friends were and the dark outline of the ridge. To the left he could see a faint glowing light on the mountains. He thought it was a reflection of the moon on the snow caps.
The dark figure of Berka turned a bit to the right and began following the ridge. Edin looked up and saw sharp, jagged rocks hanging precariously over the edge of the embankment. Almost like murder holes filled with shrapnel. Suddenly, Berka stopped and Edin nearly crashed into him. Dorset crashed into Edin, smacking him in the kidney.
“What the heck?” Edin grunted.
“Shhh.” Berka hissed. He raised a hand and pointed a bit north. Edin followed the eye and saw something rounded above them. He couldn’t make it out, but then a moment later and just above them, a rock fell down rebounding off the wall and thumping Edin’s hip.
It wasn’t very heavy but it hurt and he fell to the side.
“Dematians,” Berka yelled and Edin looked up. A beast was standing above them on two legs. It was big. Too big.
Just then, the clouds seemed to part and he saw them. A line of them. Then the rounded figure stood; it too was big and he felt the wind picking up. The mage dematian…
Weapons were drawn and the dematian’s bared their needle-like teeth. Edin locked eyes on the one directly above them. The huge magi.
Dorset yelped but neither he, Berka, or Edin made any more movement toward the weapons. “How is your connection?”
“I feel it,” Dorset whispered. “There’s a lot of stone here.”
“Make it rumble.”
“I’m not Rihkar.”
“Just rock then,” Edin whispered. “And huddle up on me.”
It happened. Dorset raised a hand and suddenly, the ground in front of them shook. There were furious and confused chattering cries as rocks began to fall. Edin raised a hand as soon as the dematian above leapt toward them. Edin felt the culrian surround them. A moment later, the dematian landed on the shield and bounded off and into the rock wall. Other’s leapt down to their side, including the great rounded one. It was bigger than the others, easily nine, possibly ten feet tall and held a staff in one hand and a longsword in the other. The longsword looked almost like a knife in its grip.
Edin drew his sword and heard Dorset and Berka do the same. He released the culrian as the dematian that had been over them started to stand after being clattered into the wall.
It opened its mouth to call out something.
“No more from you,” Edin said and stabbed his sword through that mouth.
Berka backed up into Edin. The sound of a weapon whipping through the air came from that way. Edin glanced over and saw the giant dematian approaching. Its clawed toes ripping into the ground like they were pudding to his fork. “Take the others,” Edin said and put himself between Berka and the giant.
Edin felt the talent in this one. It was strong, the leader of the locals he guessed.
It roared. The bone breastplate, greaves, and gauntlets all rattled. Its coarse hair was braided and there were thin bones in it, forearms and ribs.
The gust attacked him. A large, powerful one and Edin nearly lost his balance. It was that or the thing’s breath that nearly knocked him on his butt.
Edin was able to hold it with his own talent, thou
gh this guy was strong. Very strong.
Behind, swords rang out and the ground rumbled.
The dematian grumbled and chattered then attacked. It was fast and strong. Edin dodged the first slash down with the sword. Then it followed by spinning and bringing the thing’s staff up and around like a cartwheel. Edin saw it and prepared to block it with his own sword and then counter.
As the staff hit his blade, Edin’s hand stung and went numb. The sword nearly fell from his hand as Edin dropped to a knee.
The dematian’s sword was whipping around again in the same overhead cartwheel attack that’d brought the powerful staff down. Edin dove off to the right. There was a roar behind and he heard metal crush stone.
He got back to his feet a couple of feet from a smaller dematian who just seemed to have been watching. Edin screamed and slashed upward, catching the demon’s side and drove the blade up into the ribs. It dropped and Edin kicked it off.
He turned back as the giant one bull rushed toward him with its head down. Edin held out a hand and summoned a culrian around him. Or tried to. A moment later, there was a soft glow at the end of the staff. It was a slight red color and suddenly, the culrian seemed to break and the dematian swung its blade and staff in a scissor like motion.
For a split second, almost long enough to guarantee he was cut in two, Edin gawked. Then his instincts took over and he fell backward like a tree being felled. Then he began rolling. He spotted the blade and staff being adjusted toward him. He rolled again and then felt a rumbling. Rocks exploded in front of him and the beast leapt backward.
Edin kicked himself to his feet and heard a pained human scream. Fear rose up but Edin couldn’t even look that way. Not with the beast trying to kill him.
Edin felt a gust of wind trying to rise and fight him. Edin used his connection to the talent. He felt the wind coming and heard the large roar of a tornado. But Edin felt it, he sliced his blade upwards; with it and the talent, he split the tornado into two as they passed him. The dematian was concentrating on it, concentrating on holding it.
Edin roared and attacked.
The thing’s eyes opened and went wide. He brought the ironwood staff around again to try and batter Edin off into the ridge ten yards away.