For the Love of Elves (World Walker Book 1)

by Shawn Keys

  Ajax grunted, uncertain. “If needs be, yes, but such places are often watched and guarded. Not easy to gain entrance without being seen.”

  Callistia exhaled slowly, adjusting to the idea that the castle was no longer her home. Indeed, might be a hostile place that wanted her ruined. “Give me a few minutes. I have an idea. You’ll have to trust me in this.”

  Ajax’s mouth spread into a wide smile. “Given what I am asking of you, a little trust is a small price.”

  She floated from the room. In her absence, Helleanna provided him the parchment he needed, and Ajax penned the note. The maid watched him shape the flowing script with deliberate crudity. “You can craft the letter far better than that.”

  Ajax admitted, “All ‘mud-knights’ learn what is necessary to survive in an elfish court. You are worried that I might kill elves as we escape. But honestly, I’m more worried one of my brethren will rise in front of me. I know what human knights go through. Slaying one of them who is serving Lyvarress just to benefit his family would be… difficult for me.”

  They finished the work just as Callistia returned. She bore with her a blanket-wrapped bundle, which she placed on a long table. Tossing off the fabric, she revealed the weapons below.

  Ajax approached with a sort of awe. The most impressive was a long, thin, curved blade affixed to a handle made of polished bone. The blade itself was patterned silver and steel, folded together so that strength built on strength within it. The edge was along the inner curve, like a scythe, though the shape was more akin to a sword. The handle was nearly half a quarter-staff in length, shorter than the whole blade, but meant for a two-handed swing. Long enough that even his meaty hands could grasp onto it comfortably. “What is this?”

  “A rhomphaia. Its name is Skyreaper, one of my brother’s favored blades.” The normally refined princess allowed a touch of mischief to show on her features. “If we are to be hunted, may as well be for every reason imaginable. Taking this from his wall will rouse his ire.”

  Ajax wasn’t totally sure he wanted the King that angry, but he suspected Callistia wanted to strike back at him. She deserved the revenge, and he decided he had no problem helping her with it. Besides, if it meant he could wield this gorgeous blade, then it was worth a little risk. He noticed a half-sword and a kukri knife in the folds of the blanket, also fine quality weapons with the same bone hilt. “This is a set?”

  She nodded. “Made from the remnants of a griffon, the first one that Lyvarress trained from an egg until it died. They live for around 300 years, and they were pair-bonded much of the time. In his youth, the King was one of the best sky-riders in the realm.”

  Oh, he is going to hate me, Ajax grinned inside.

  Callistia stroked along the outside edge of the rhomphaia. “They are sharp beyond measuring, and will cut through steel and stone as easily as hemp or grass. Proper weapons… for a knight worthy of them.” She shared with him a smile that showed her belief in him.

  Helleanna placed a warm hand on his other shoulder, bracketing him. “They could not be wielded by anyone more worthy, in my opinion. You’re risking your life for us, no matter what you say. Thank you.”

  Ajax fought past the welling emotion in his throat. “I have no words.”

  Callistia patted his arm. “None are needed. Other than to finish the conversation we started. We have our path, and we have the means to fight free. We know what is next. But now, the question is… what step do we take first?”

  Anticipating the reaction he would get, Ajax smiled and said, “First? Why, My lady, first I must tie you up.”

  Helleanna let out a gentle peal of laughter.

  A little more scandalized, Callistia objected gently, “Is this for your fun, Sir Knight? Your kidnapping of us is not for real! We come willingly, you know.” She ended with a light tease.

  Ajax inclined his head in a small bow, acknowledging her joke, but continuing nonetheless, “If this goes flawlessly, then it wouldn’t be necessary. But if anyone glimpses us, seeing you running free and unbound will break the illusion. Our ruse would be useless.”

  Helleanna reasoned, “And when we meet anyone, if we are restrained, perhaps we can leave them alive. If not, then any who see us must be killed.”

  The two arguments convinced Callistia. She sighed, “So be it. What of Helleanna?”

  Ajax’s smile grew a touch heated. “She must be tied as well. And since I must carry you both…” His large hand opened against both their backs and guided them into each other with a firm push. He took no small delight in seeing their breasts press together through their dresses. As lovers, their arms came instinctively around each other and their legs mingled.

  Callistia’s surprise showed again, though she did not pull away. “What sort of wicked man have we gotten ourselves mixed up in?”

  Helleanna’s face lit with a mischievous grin. “Our very own brute.” Then, she leaned forward and kissed her mistress deeply.

  Binding the two moaning women together was difficult with the distraction. Ajax would be lying if he said his touch remained professional the entire time. The elfish women weren’t fooled, and they reacted by shifting against him and beckoning his hands to touch more and more intimately.

  When we get out of here, Ajax swore to himself, these two are going to reap the reward from all this teasing. For now, he restrained himself to only a few more caresses and gropes. Soon, he had them tied into a package he could lift and carry easily enough over one shoulder. He left multiple knots that could be quickly undone, many of them in reach of the women’s own hands. If trouble brewed, they should be able to escape if needed.

  Taking a final breath to steady himself, he asked them, “Are you ready?”

  Callistia gave Helleanna one last loving kiss. “Yes.”

  He fixed the last element in place, the white gags between their lovely lips to technically silence their cries. He did his best to banish the mental image of holding the back of those gags, muffling their cries as he rode them from behind. Later… much later. Live first.

  Tilting them up onto his broad shoulder, he settled their light weight in place. Checking into the servants’ side corridor, he trundled them off, heading for the bowels of the castle.

  Chapter 6

  As usual, things went wrong almost immediately.

  He rounded the first corner, and ran smack into the arms of another moon elf servant making the rounds. The young elf looked like a page, his arms spilling over with missives and other parchments. His gaze tracked up past Ajax’s broad chest until they locked eyes. The elf’s went wide, and he emitted a tiny little, “Meep.”

  Ajax felt for the lad; fate wasn’t being kind to him, that was for sure. He heard his elfish ‘prisoners’ making protests through their gags. They need not have bothered; he wasn’t going to slay the lad for innocently walking around the wrong corner. Ajax smashed his sledgehammer of a first into the boy’s face, dropping him like a stone. Dragging him by one boot, he shucked the lad into a nearby storage closet, then jammed his knife into the locking gears and twisted. Hopefully, it would take him a good couple of hours to summon help or get himself out.

  He huffed, “Hope that’s the worst of it.”

  Helleanna made a sound of sympathy for the lad, but was clearly pleased Ajax had not jumped to stronger violence.

  Ajax smiled inwardly. He was fond of them, but he had to remember: elves thought of humans as little more than orcs. A little more pleasant, perhaps more docile. But they expected boorish behavior. These two might have shared his bed and think relatively highly of him, but it would take time before they would reverse their instincts regarding all they were taught about humans. Not their fault; it was just the world they lived in.

  Striding onward, he took care to check cross-corridors and pause at the top of stairs. Slowly, he worked his way down through the levels of the castle. At first, he dodged a few sun elves. Soon, he had left behind their normal haunts. Favoring the areas where nobles never tread,
he saw only moon elves and a rising number of humans.

  He paused at the summit of a narrow set of steep stairs. This was the only real choice along this path. Helleanna had described them: ‘Continue down the hall, and you will spill out into the courtyard. It is open, but there will be other humans to mingle with. Sun elves never come here. But there will be hundreds of eyes. Taking us through there will be a challenge. And even after you pass the gate, the wall guards will be watching as you cross the cleared area before entering the forest. But you might find carts to hide in, boxes to stow us in, or various other ways to slip outside.”

  She had continued, “If you go down the stairs, it will lead to the dungeons. Murky and dark, but much fewer walk there. But the maze of twisted corridors may get us lost. The choice is yours.’

  Both were possible. Both held their dangers.

  Ajax was not a man to regret his choices. Success hinged on not being seen, and he wasn’t scared of dark places. He turned to the stairs and strode down them, his long legs taking them two at a time. Crystal walls quickly gave way to shaped bedrock worked by elfish earth elemental mages centuries before. The stairs dumped out into a cloistered corridor tunneled out of the rock like a rat’s warren.

  He wasn’t alone.

  It was a chance meeting. No alarm had sounded. Pure bad fortune mingled with equally bad timing. The knight facing him was imposing for a human, though half-a-foot shorter than Ajax. The knight was not in full battle dress, but the chain-mail and scattered plates on his shoulders and hips was a decent shroud of protection.

  Worse yet, he was no stranger. His dun-brown hair and hollow eyes were damned familiar.

  Ajax lurched to a halt, not quite believing what he was seeing. “Adamat?”

  The other knight’s eyes bugged out, filled with surprise.

  But no confusion.

  He knew I was here. Fucking bastard! Adamat was a mud-knight of King Tyvanthelam. He couldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be here!

  Adamat’s expression swept from surprise into a sneer. “You’re making a habit of sneaking away, Ajax.”

  “You did this! You’re the reason I’ve been hunted from the day I crossed into Lyvarress’s realm! You sold me out to a different king!”

  The turncoat knight’s sneer now twisted into a fierce grin. “And think of the reward when I haul your ass into the Sun Tower today.” His chest swelled, getting ready to shout for the guards.

  Ajax snarled and launched a vicious kick into his ribs. The other knight wasn’t ready for the sudden violence. Two of the fragile bones cracked. Any breath he had was robbed. Following through, Ajax shouldered him to one side, crushing him against the wall…

  …and saw two more human knights walking out from a cross corridor. They had not been close enough to hear the first, furtive exchange. But they couldn’t miss the half-ogre’s looming presence, the two elfish women swing over his shoulder, nor the pained groans of Adamat pinned against the wall.

  Miserable timing. Ajax knew that the sleeping quarters of the mud-knights tended to be deep inside sun elf castles. He had lived in a warren like this whenever he stayed in barracks. He knew the layout, and had hoped to slip past. Was this a shift change for wall duty? Or were they simply heading out on a mission or an assigned task or to join a raiding Fist under the command of a moon elf squire? It hardly mattered. His whole flight was about to go straight to the elemental fury.

  At least my conscience is clean. Didn’t want to kill any knights, but fate’s decided otherwise. But I’ll take pleasure in slaying this treacherous fucker. With that vicious thought, Ajax tugged free the bone-hilt kukri on his belt and stabbed through the turncoat knight’s chainmail like it was paper. The blade plunged in just below his ribcage, leaving behind a fresh gout of blood as Ajax pushed off him.

  Adamat slid down the wall, gurgling around the hole in his collapsed chest and trying desperately to hold the wound closed. “You’re dead, Ajax! I’ll see you hung!”

  Ajax didn’t know if the wound was lethal, but he could hope. There wasn’t time to make certain. He stormed down on the other two knights who were fumbling in the tight corridor to draw their longswords.

  Bad choice, he smirked. Jamming his knife home, he unsheathed his half-sword. He couldn’t afford to parlay with the inexperienced knights. Odds were good that they would prove loyal anyway, hungry to make a name for themselves with the elves. Such favor was always fleeting, but Ajax had once treasured the kind words, gold and favor dribbled down to him from Tyvanthelam. Was I really so pathetic as this?

  Time was short, so he struck hard. His first slash sheared through armor and flesh, opening the knight’s torso like holiday ham before the man’s sword even cleared its sheath. Slamming the dying lad with a kick to clear the battle space, Ajax turned on the second.

  This knight had managed to get his blade out. He struck ably enough, but he swung at the side away from the elfish women, perhaps scared of hurting the hostages.

  A valiant thought, but it was going to get him killed. Ajax took the advantage. He parried the strike, chuckling darkly as a piece of the other knight’s sword was chipped away by Ajax’s magical griffin half-sword. Trusting in his blade’s power, Ajax reversed his block and chopped right at the other knight’s sword rather than trying to slip around his defenses. He cut through the man’s steel, then carried the swing deep into his neck, cleaving collar bone and spinal chord together. The knight crumpled, dead before he hit the ground.

  Breathing deeply from the sudden exertion, Ajax listened into the silence that followed. He heard a few questioning shouts. Others had heard, but didn’t know what was happening or where. Search parties would be out soon.

  Returning his sword to its home, Ajax gave a quick stroke of reassurance to his charges. “The chase is on, you two. Hold on tight. I fear the trouble ain’t yet ended.”

  Behind him, too far away to hear Ajax’s whispered words, Adamat gurgled after him, “…d-dead… see… see you dead… mark me!”

  Ajax left him to choke on his own blood. He didn’t owe Tyvanthelam anything. Not anymore. But a traitor to a tyrant was still a traitor. Ajax had stormed out, taking one of the King’s most precious items along the way. But Adamat had eaten his food and taken the King’s gold all while selling information to his rival. He had sat around the dining table with the other knights as brothers, knowing the information he was giving away would get some of them killed in the next skirmish. That… that, Ajax could not abide.

  For the first time in his escape, Ajax ran. He couldn’t let any searchers see where he was going, or he would be fighting off pursuit the whole way. The pattern of the labyrinth might be confusing to a total outsider, but as it turned out, it matched the layout of Tyvanthelam’s castle almost perfectly. He left behind the shortest path Helleanna had described to him. This part he knew. This part, he could improvise.

  Turning a few extra corners to cut off sight-lines, he found three guards standing in front of the portcullis blocking the entrance to the dungeons themselves. All were on edge, considering the noise filtering toward them. But they were too far off to know what was going on. Neither was ready for an assault. That wasn’t their job. They were there to keep the prisoners in, not to prevent a raid.

  Ajax surged into their midst. He grabbed one of their clubs, happy to give them one less weapon. He cracked the first across the jaw with the thick wood, then pummeled the second with the butt.

  The third started to scream for help, but Ajax dropped the club and choked him with his meaty hand. Slamming him twice against the wall, the guard’s skull bounced off the stone hard enough to knock him out. By then, the second was recovering, but staggered in a daze. Ajax hammered him with punch, ending his resistance.

  Grunting in satisfaction, Ajax turned the spindle to crank open the gate. It squealed a little, but hopefully not enough to summon anyone from below. Once high enough to creep under, Ajax shoved the guards through one after the other. They rolled awkwardly down the spiral stair
s, hopefully not taking too much more injury. A risk worth taking, he thought. He knew the type of person that drew dungeon duty. He was sure they had enjoyed inflicting their fair share of pain on the King’s behalf. They could suffer a little in turn.

  Reaching back through the gate, he unhooked the release. The gate rattled back down into place. Ajax wedged two clubs into the gate recess on his side, hoping it wouldn’t be visible. They would jam the gate shut. The puzzle wouldn’t delay anyone for long, but every minute counted.

  Stomping over the fallen guards, he took their sets of keys to ease his passage and delay them further if they managed to follow. He regained the path Helleanna had laid out for him, murmuring to his ‘captive’, “You two doing alright?”

  Both returned mumbled approximations of ‘yes’. He could hear a little pain in the replies. They had probably taken a few bruises from the fighting. Carrying them through battles wasn’t comfortable for any of them.

  He rumbled a deep chuckle, “Sorry for the mayhem. We’re almost clear. Once we’re past the castle tunnels, I’ll cut you free. No sense keeping up the ruse after that.”

  He considered cutting them free immediately, since the odds of running across anyone who could describe what they were seeing was rapidly becoming zero. That changed as he reached the first pit of cells. He realized there was going to be an audience after all.

  The space in the center was open, shaped from a natural cavern, resulting in several tiered platforms connected by carved steps. The cells were scattered about, some high and some low. The worst were down in the pit’s lowest level, half-swamped by the dripping water in this foul place. Others were up higher, dry but so tiny that the prisoner couldn’t even stand. It all depended on what way the castle’s guards had decided to torment the prisoner to suit their tastes. Several more tunnels broke off and disappeared into darkness.

  He scoured his memory, for the first time needing to go completely by Helleanna’s directions. He had never been to Tyvathelam’s dungeons. Even if this followed some pattern, he had no experience to draw on.