Honourbound: A Progression Fantasy (Surgecaller Book 3)

by Todd Herzman

  Huon scratched the underside of her chin and she cooed loudly and proudly.

  ‘How did you find me?’

  Shurie chirped again, flapping her wings wider.

  Huon couldn’t help but smile.

  All the stresses, the worries, that he’d fallen asleep with the night before fled him in that moment. He stood, and found that Shurie had grown to be as tall as him. ‘You’re almost big enough to ride, aren’t you?’ He wondered where she’d been since he’d left Glenhaven with the Immortal of Fire. Had she been circling, looking for him? How in the world had she found him? Perhaps there are more bonds in this world than oath and soul. The way Master Inan had spoken about bonds between human and beast… it seemed more than just friendship, more than just camaraderie. Huon tilted his head to the side. ‘Can you feel where I am?’

  Shurie tilted her head back at him.

  He still wondered if the bird understood him. She certainly seemed to. He was reminded of the stories of the dragons of old—like Arahan. They could speak in the human tongue. And the School of Druina—a school that no longer existed—had been named after a beast who’d grown so powerful it could converse with humans.

  If Huon were to grow as strong as he could, as strong as the Immortals…

  No. Huon stopped himself. He shut his eyes, bringing to him the image of the Celestial he’d spoken to. Immortal was not the highest level of advancement. He wasn’t even sure if Celestial was. But he couldn’t simply reach to match an Immortal’s strength—he had to surpass it.

  And if he did, surely Shurie would grow in strength with him.

  ‘We’re going to do great things together, Shurie.’ Huon smiled. ‘No limits.’ And, for the first time in a while, those two words felt like the truth.

  Huon looked around the area he’d found himself in. He picked his sword and shield up from the ground, and searched for water, finding a river stream that ran from the top of the mountain. He didn’t know this area, but it seemed secluded. There’d been no sign of buildings when he’d run here—no sign of anything. He’d been in plenty of places like this before in his life, in his time in the wilds. He’d been alone a lot, too. For years. He looked over at Shurie as he knelt by the water cleaning his weapons. He wasn’t as alone as before—but there were still people missing.

  Liona.

  She was alive. Somewhere, in the Queendom of Arisalon, she was alive.

  As he cleaned his sword and shield of blood, then stripped down and cleaned his Honourbound plate one by one, he wondered what he was going to do next. Habits formed over the years came to him. Find water, food, shelter.

  Water, he’d already found. His stomach grumbled. Not only had he been running for days, he hadn’t been eating for days. His body was exhausted. Knights needed to eat more than Squires, and Squires more than Pages—though they could safely take longer between meals if they needed to. Still, he couldn’t let it go too long. He put his armour aside, to dry on the rocks by the stream with his sword and shield, and waded into the water. He cupped it into his hands and drank. He probably should have done that right away. He hadn’t noticed how thirsty he was until he did—his mouth and throat dry and rough.

  Find food, find shelter.

  Those weren’t the only things he needed to do.

  Find Liona.

  How could he save her? The longer he waited, the higher the chance was that she would be taken by the Everlasting King. She’s probably still at the arena… He had no idea how far away Caralor was, or if the Everlasting King’s army had already attacked it.

  That can’t have been the queendom’s entire army. They wouldn’t have sent everyone at the Honourbound all at once, would they? He remembered how large the walls of that capital had been. How strong the metal had looked—it must have been reinforced with essence a thousand fold. Why would they meet the enemy on the field? Why wouldn’t they hide behind those fortifications?

  Hiding doesn’t show strength.

  Speculating was useless. It would get him nowhere.

  Liona could be at the arena, or she could be somewhere else. The queendom could be sending refuges away, those too weak to fight. They could still have a massive army back in their capital, strengthening the defences, waiting for the Everlasting King’s army to lay siege.

  Or, they could have won. The Honourbound could have been turned back…

  That last thing, he didn’t believe.

  Huon came out of the stream feeling clean, but… conflicted.

  What should he be doing? Where should he go?

  I’m finally free again. I could stay out here, cultivate, grow in strength…

  But would that be enough? He may not trust—or even like—Jakob, but that man had been right about one thing: advancement came through facing challenges. And the biggest challenges he’d face out here would only be beasts. He wouldn’t have anyone to instruct him, either. Danieja had helped him become a Knight faster than he’d ever thought possible.

  He needed that again, needed guidance. He couldn’t do this alone.

  And I need to find Liona.

  That thought kept coming back to him.

  The queendom’s capital was the last place she’d been—it would have to be the first place he looked.

  Huon surged wind, drying his armour and clothes before putting them back on.

  As he did, he noticed his binding for the first time. His mind had been in such a daze he hadn’t thought to look at it, and with his armour on while he ran, he hadn’t glimpsed it.

  The oath binding was gone, that he’d known. But it no longer showed the perfect circle—one thick black line, empty inside. Now, the circle had been filled.

  The binding was solid black.

  What… does this mean? Huon stared at it a long moment, then shrugged off the distraction. It doesn’t matter—it’s done now. He let his left arm drop, his mind returning to what he needed to do next.

  Patting Shurie on the head, Huon sighed and started on his search for food. Whatever decision he made, he still needed to eat. He didn’t have much physical essence left in his core, but he wasn’t hunting for beasts. He could fell any animal he found—even a bear—with his elemental essence or his natural strength. Before he recultivated, he needed food.

  Huon set off, really taking in his new surroundings. He’d travelled around plenty of mountainous areas before—the Shurin mountains only being the most recent. He raised his chin, staring up at the mountain’s heights. This mountain wasn’t as tall as the Shurin mountains had been, but it was close. I wonder how much faster it would be for me to climb now…

  There was a small, forested area beneath the mountain. He headed toward it, Shurie padding quietly by his side. He’d never hunted with the beast before. Would she scare potential prey away? ‘We’re hunting, Shurie.’ He scratched under her chin again. ‘So remember, be stealthy.’ The eagle tilted her head to the side, then bobbed.

  Huon blinked. Was that a nod? He shook his head, then kept walking toward the trees.

  He tried not to think as he stepped over roots and ducked under branches. He tried not to think about the tugging sensation in his core whenever he cultivated his breath—or anything else.

  Tried not to think about the deal he’d made, the bond that could only be broken upon his death.

  Or so the Celestial said. Who knew if the man had been telling the truth? Though, Huon rather hoped he wasn’t lying. Not because he wanted to be stuck in a soul bond, a bond he didn’t understand, but because if he lied about that… what else could he lie about?

  And Huon certainly didn’t want to think about that aspect of soul he’d given up. He hadn’t had time since making the bond to… examine himself, his feelings and thoughts. He didn’t know if something was missing—or what that something could be.

  Would he become cold, like Jakob was cold?

  What would he lose, in this bargain he’d made?

  Thinking.

&nbs
p; He had to stop thinking.

  Instead of thinking, he surged his hearing. It was still a new surge, but somehow, during the battle, he’d grown to control it more than he’d imagined he could.

  The sounds of the forest threatened to overwhelm him the moment he surged—but he didn’t let them. He searched the sounds, found something to focus on. It didn’t matter what he hunted—he just needed something.

  He heard the scritch, scritch of claws tapping against stone, and focused in on it. The acute hearing surge didn’t just give him the ability to hear—it seemed to tell him how far away the thing he was hearing was.

  Huon walked quietly toward it. He’d learnt to be even more stealthy since being taken by the Honourbound, and could only hear his own footsteps because of his Knight-level perception coupled with the hearing surge. Whatever animal he’d heard—and he hoped it was an animal, not a beast—wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Shurie was still beside him, her steps quieter than he’d expected. The eagle understand what was going on. It would have instincts for hunting, just like any other beast of prey. Though she would have probably preferred to be in the air.

  It only took a few moments for Huon to reach his quarry. A wolf, by a rocky outcrop near the base of the mountain. A normal wolf, not like the giant white wolves he’d seen back in the forest below Landor.

  Huon paused, briefly, when he saw it. Hunting didn’t seem fair, not anymore. The poor thing stood no chance against a Champion.

  But Huon needed to eat.

  He surged a fireball, felling the wolf before it had even noticed he was there, then he threw the thing over his shoulder and looked for somewhere to make camp. Before he’d turned away, he noticed a small cave. He surged his hearing again, wondering if the rest of the wolf’s pack were inside—but it was quiet. Nothing stirred within. No animals, no beasts.

  Huon ducked under the entrance. As he walked through the narrow tunnel, it expanded into a larger cavern. He surged fire and looked around. It reminded him of many places he’d been before—the cave he’d stayed in the day he’d met Bern.

  And the cave he’d been in with Liona.

  Liona.

  She was one of the things he’d been trying not to think about.

  Before he lay the wolf on the ground, he surged earth, covering the entrance with a door. Much easier than moving a giant boulder into place.

  He’d come so far since being there…

  Why did it feel like he was starting over?

  I escaped. I’m oathbound no more. I’m a Knight.

  He dropped the wolf onto the ground, then pulled the dagger from his belt, dressing the poor animal in the quiet of the cave.

  Chapter 16

  Huon ate, trained, slept, then ate again.

  He still didn’t know what to do, but he’d wasted an entire day here in the mountains.

  His core was full again—he’d even found a way to cultivate his sharpness essence. He didn’t have a whetstone, but he found another rock about the mountain that looked good enough to sharpen his sword, and earth surged it into a rectangular shape.

  Shurie went hunting on her own, coming back with rabbits, foxes—even a deer, once. Huon didn’t understand how beasts advanced, but he imagined Shurie was at least at the level of Squire.

  I got lucky, when I defeated her mother.

  The sky-eagle had never been trying to kill them, had it? It had just wanted its egg back.

  The longer he stayed here, the more the pit of guilt inside him grew.

  He wanted time. Time to be free. To make his own decisions. To think.

  Cultivating essence felt different now. The more he did it, the more he felt that tug on his core.

  There were other things, too. It wasn’t just the cultivating that had changed—it was his surges.

  He hadn’t noticed it before, because there had been too many things going on—and too many things in his head. During the battle, when he’d surged acute hearing to find Jamison—everything had clicked into place. He’d instantly known how to use the surge, even though he hadn’t trained with it before, and had only used it once.

  It had seemed strange at the time, but now he’d been able to think about it, it was more than just strange.

  There were some essences, like sharpness, that were inherently easy to use. But hearing? That hadn’t felt like one of those…

  And it wasn’t just acute hearing that came more easily.

  When he’d been at the river, cleaning weapons and armour, he’d surged water to help him do it. Water had never been a surge he’d spent much time on, and he’d been in a daze.

  But it had felt easy. He’d barely needed to think about it.

  Since then, he’d tried surging water and wind both—

  Using them felt not only easy, but natural—like using fire and earth had become. He couldn’t do what Liona could with wind and water—not without more training—but that baseline level of proficiency he’d yet to gain? He had it now—with no effort.

  And it had to be because of the soul binding.

  Was that what the Celestial had meant, when he said the benefits of the bond would become clear?

  Or was Huon still not thinking clearly, and all of this meant… nothing?

  There was one way to test it.

  Huon stepped out of the cave on the morning of the second day since he’d arrived here—the fifth day since he’d escaped being oathbound—with a plan.

  He would go after Liona, but he wanted to discover if what he thought was true actually was. Had the bond made it possible for him to gain proficiency with new surges in an instant?

  Or was he imagining things?

  There was only one way to find out—he had to hunt for another unique surge.

  ‘You should stay in the cave today, Shurie.’ Huon nodded toward the entrance. ‘I wouldn’t want you coming into danger.’

  Shurie chirped, and flapped her wings.

  Huon nodded toward the cave again.

  The eagle gave a final flap and another chirp—one that somehow sounded sad to Huon’s ears—then returned to the cave.

  Huon watched her disappear into it, a thought occurring—something he hadn’t realised before.

  Shurie had grown, again. He knew, because when he’d first reunited with her—only two days ago—she’d been exactly his height.

  Now she was taller.

  The more she eats… the more she grows? He frowned, wondering if that were true. Obviously, there had to be a limit to just how big the bird could grow.

  But soon—sooner than he’d realised—she would be large enough to ride.

  Maybe that’s how I get Liona out of Caralor—on the back of a giant sky-eagle. The thought made him smile—and he hadn’t smiled much.

  Huon let the thought drift from his mind as he stalked through the woods. There were beasts around this mountain. He hadn’t ventured outside the cave except to hunt, but he’d heard them.

  He hadn’t had reason to fight a beast—now he did.

  With his acute hearing surged, he ran through the forest, pinpointing the closest beast he could hear. It was roaring, and sounded like it was fighting something. Was it hunting, too?

  He should probably be stealthy, quiet, like he’d been when hunting animals, but he didn’t want to wait. Every moment spent lingering here was a moment he wasn’t going after Liona.

  Maybe he didn’t need to do this—maybe he should go after her now.

  No. I need to understand what’s happened to me.

  He’d tried, in the darkness of the cave, before he’d fallen asleep the night before, to contact the Celestial. He’d surged his thoughts into the universe, as he had before, but there’d been no answer.

  He had to figure this out on his own.

  It didn’t take him long to come across the beast. A tiger. A big one. It looked similar to a sabre-tooth, but had different markings.

  It was fighting one
of its kin.

  The two tigers clashed in the middle of a clearing, claws slashing at each other. Huon observed from the trees. His Knight-level perception couldn’t pierce their veils, but from the speed at which they moved they looked to be…

  Champion-level.

  Huon swallowed. He shouldn’t have been running so fast. He’d gotten lucky. He’d been foolish, rushing this. If the beasts hadn’t been fighting each other, they would have heard him—come after him.

  Champion-level…

  Huon still wore his Honourbound armour. Still wore the pauldron—the Core armour. He looked inside it. He’d used much of the essence it contained in the battle, and all the speed essence when he’d run away from the battle.

  But there was still some left. And he’d fought Champions before.

  He could do it again.

  Surging breath, he watched as the tigers fought, trying to identify what their unique surge—or surges—might be. It was hard, tracking their movements. Another reason fighting them might be a bad idea…

  Perhaps he could look for another beast. He didn’t have to fight one of these.

  No. He had to start fighting battles he didn’t think he could win—and he had to start doing that by his own choice. Because that’s what his life was. A battle he thought he couldn’t win.

  Advancing to Immortal… to Celestial, was an impossible task. But Huon had no limits.

  He believed that now.

  The longer the two tigers fought, the weaker they’d become. He could see one of them flagging, a hitch in its back leg. It was the bigger of the two, but that didn’t seem to be making a difference.

  They roared, swiping at each other’s faces. Then the smaller one backed up a step, its back arching up, hair standing on end.

  It roared once more—far louder than it had before. The sound pierced Huon’s ears, right into his mind. The world went white. It was as though he were surging acute hearing again for the first time. The noise was just… too much.

  Huon surged essence, but it did no good. The noise overwhelmed every part of him.

  Then it passed. Huon’s vision, hearing, everything, returned. He stared at the two tigers.