by J. M. Kearl
Luckily, she found a short sword and worn plain clothes in the barn that probably belonged to an old solider. The pants are a little large but the belt keeps them on. The blade has slightly rusted yet it’s better than having nothing since her magic wanes with her energy.
A desert hare tears from one sickly looking bush to another, and Madison reaches her hand out, halting the creature with her magic. She jumps from the horse, pulls her sword and slits the brown rabbit’s throat. If there is wildlife then there must be a water source nearby. She ties the rabbit to the horse and carries on.
A pair of vultures circle above. “Don’t count on me dying!” Madison shouts at them. “Dying alone in the desert is not how I’ll go. A battlefield-- stabbed in the back by someone I’ve offended more likely,” she says to herself. “You vultures would be wise to head north where the war will soon take place.” Although there are usually plenty of dead left to rot in Nordia.
After days of riding she thought she’d have found some sort of civilization by now. While she stares out ahead the ground appears to move from the heat waves and the desert plays it’s best trick; a mirage of water that is gone when she gets close.
This is punishment, isn’t it? For the way I treated Daelyn. For letting my husband down. She thinks, talking to God. Madison isn’t the praying type, she doesn’t believe that He would send help to someone like her, but reprimand…
A shadow appears in the distance and she squints. It seems to be the outline of a rider. As much as she hopes it’s someone she can rely on to give her water and directions to the next town, she doesn’t think she’ll get so lucky. One rider turns into a pair moving toward her.
She stops Shade and waits for them to either pass or approach her. The two men halt their horses and seem to gauge Madison. “You’re not from here are you?” one of the men says in Nordian.
“Does it matter where I’m from?” she asks in their language. It’s been awhile since she spoke Nordian but it flows out of her mouth as if that’s all she’s ever known.
The man smiles showing brown stained teeth and Madison rolls her eyes knowing where this is going to go. She speaks before they can, “I need to get to the next town. I assume there is one nearby.”
“I’ll give ya directions if I get something in return,” the man says.
“Why am I not surprised that I couldn’t just get a simple direction and estimation of time from the two of you.” They look at each other as if they aren’t sure what she said. Madison smirks. “Too many big words for the likes of you?”
“I ain’t stupid but it seems like you are.” He slides down from his horse and takes a dagger from his belt.
Madison holds up her hand. “I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you.” He doesn’t pause so Madison kicks Shade and pulls her sword. She rides at the man and slashes her blade across his chest and bolts at the other man. His horse pops up and he waves his hand at her, a blast knocks her to the ground.
Magic. Damn. She rolls to her feet, breathing heavily, and gauges the man who is staring at her from his horses back. Her lack of rest, food and water has left her weak and a magic duel isn’t what she expected. It’s likely she’s better than he is, given that she’s a woman and trained at the academy, but that’s when she has her usual energy capacity.
“What do you want?” Madison asks, trying to see the face shadowed under the hood the man wears.
When she’s about to ask her question again, he says, “I want what any man wants.”
Eyes narrowing Madison twists her mouth. “I’ve come to find men want only a few things. Either they are driven by greed, so coin would be what you seek. Lust, I’ll assume it’s my body. Or power, perhaps, though you don’t look like you have much of a status.”
“Your generalization of men is interesting but quite right in this case. At first I wanted your coin but now seeing your beauty, what was it you said? ‘Your body’ is more appealing,” he says and dismounts.
Madison tenses with his movement toward her. “Come any closer and it will be the last thing you ever do.”
His gait doesn’t slow and his eagerness seems to increase with momentum. Madison throws an energy volt at the man. It hits him in the gut and he doubles over dropping to his knees with a groan. While he’s vulnerable she runs at him, sword point ready to drive into his chest but at the last second he knocks her weapon to the side and out of her hand. He then springs to his feet and tackles her to the ground.
“Get off of me!” Madison screams, his heavy body weighing down on her. His hands are wrapped around her wrists at her sides, pinning her in place. Hot wet lips press against hers and his nasty breath floods her nose. Madison chomps down on his bottom lip, blood trickles into her mouth and he yelps. When he pulls back to smack her, she throws her body forward and head-butt’s him in the nose; the bridge of it splits.
“You stupid bit--”
Madison spits his own blood in his face, and with her fading energy she musters up the strength to wrap a taut invisible cord around the man’s neck with her magic. It won’t take long before he passes out, hold the spell!
He grasps at his throat, face turning red. “Release me,” he painfully chokes out.
He falls onto his back writhing on the ground and Madison scoots away, keeping her concentration on the spell but white spots erupt in her vision and dizziness overwhelms her. With no other choice, she lets the incantation go and scrambles on her hands and knees toward her sword.
The man coughs, catching his breath and moments later he crawls after her. “I wasn’t going to kill ya, but now I am!” the man shouts in a raspy voice, grabbing onto her foot.
He drags her backward, pulling her underneath him. His strong hands rip her cloak from her back then he jerks at her pants. With a wild swing, Madison slams the hilt of her sword into the man’s cheek, causing him to wail in pain. She rolls over and thrusts the blade through his belly and heel kicks him in the chest, forcing him to the flat of his back. Then she lies there, staring up at the circling vultures, chest heaving. I guess you were in the right place, she thinks to the birds who will soon be enjoying a meal of man flesh.
After what feels like hours have passed, and she’s regained some energy, Madison crawls towards the closest dead man’s horse, who thankfully hung around. A weak arm reaches for the leather canteen and she pulls herself to her knees. With a shaky hand, she tugs the top of the bottle and dumps the contents into her mouth; cool water washes over her tongue and soothes her dry throat. When every drop is gone she stands and digs through the bag tied to the horse. In it she finds bread and dried meat, enough to sustain her for at least another day. So she and Shade ride on.
When the sun has set, she builds a fire and cooks the hare she’d caught earlier that day. While it roasts on a shabby spit, barely holding together, her mind drifts to a time she hadn’t thought of in years.
∞∞∞
Sitting at the dinner table, nine year old Madison, carefully placed a thin piece of quail meat into her mouth and chewed silently. She could feel her mother’s glare baring into her, but she didn’t dare look up.
“Why do I find the way you eat so aggravating?” Her mother, Melody asked, setting her fork down. “It’s as though I’ve raised a barbarian without an ounce of manners.”
Madison stared at her plate unsure if she should take another bite.
After a few moments Melody tapped her fingers on the table. “What? You don’t like our food?” Melody asked. “We have some of the best cooks in Delhoon, and you think you are better than that?”
Hesitant, Madison poked another piece of meat and slowly brought it toward her mouth.
“Now you can’t speak?” her mother said.
“It’s wonderful food, mama,” Madison said and just as the fork reached her mouth a large hand smacked the utensil across the table. The metal clanked over and over again until it finally fell to the floor.
“If you can’t be respectful to your mother then you don’t get to
eat,” her father said and then his hand slammed down on the table rattling everything.
“May I be excused?” Madison asked, still not looking up.
“Herald, I don’t understand why we were cursed with such a child. I mean, what did we do to deserve this?”
Tears stung Madison’s eyes and her chin quivered. It’s not as if this treatment was new but she’d done nothing wrong that day. Every chore was finished, her tutors praised her efforts and told her mother what a gifted child she was, her hair was combed and not a strand was out of place. After the sparring match with her instructor, she’d cleaned up and put on a nice dress to look proper for dinner…
“Get out,” her father said. “You’ll go to sleep hungry tonight and maybe tomorrow you’ll do better with your swords.”
Madison rose, her stomach rumbling, and bowed to each of her parents. With light footsteps she hurried toward the exit.
“She’ll never succeed at the academy,” Melody said, pouring herself a drink. “Why do we even waste our money?”
Madison hadn’t seen her parents since the day she joined the academy. When the students had breaks and could go home, she stayed at the castle. When parents were permitted to visit, hers never came. On graduation day, her parents showed and only because they walked over with Lord Everon did she permit a civil conversation. He commended Madison and told her parents she was one of his favorite students and expected great things from her.
As soon as he walked away, a scowl crossed her mother’s face. “I’m sure he’s only saying that to make you look good in front of us.”
But this time Madison wasn’t a scared little girl, she’d evolved, trained for years and was confident in her abilities. She grabbed her mother by the throat and squeezed until her nails dug into flesh. “If you ever come near me again, I will kill you.”
Her father looked around as if worried about the scene she was causing more than what was happening to his wife. “That’s enough, let her go,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Or you’ll hit me? Cut my hair? Take my blankets away on a cold night?” Madison asked loosening her grip on her mother. “I dare you to try, you son of a bitch. Don’t come looking for me, don’t even ask about me. As far as we’re concerned, you don’t have a daughter.”
She walked away that day and never looked back.
5. Daelyn
After eating breakfast, the three of them head out and ready the horses. Daelyn notices that Boaden’s coin bag appears to have gotten much smaller while he purchases the saddles and reins for the horses from a small shop next door to the inn. Then it’s time to carry on; after a full days ride and they are stopped at the gates of a desert city surrounded by a great wall, as is everyone who wants to enter. They wait in line while the hot sun beats down on them. Boaden and Jordane insisted on stopping here for supplies since they don’t know how close the next city or town is.
When it’s their turn, a large man wearing a turban wrapped around his head, holds up a hand, stopping them before they can ride through the gates. “What is your business in Moor?”
“We seek food and shelter,” Boaden answers. “And we have business here.”
“Where are you coming from?” he asks, eyeing each one of them. His gaze lingers longer on Daelyn.
“Collweya.”
Daelyn knows Collweya from a map. It’s a kingdom centered north of Delhoon and Hesstia said to be a land of winter dragons and strange creatures. There is always ice and snow there and it’s said when outsiders go there they won’t come back.
The guard’s mouth twists. “Never met someone from Collweya. Did you come through Hesstia or Delhoon?”
Boaden shrugs. “Does it matter?”
“Not really,” the man replies. “What’s your business?”
Boaden shifts in his saddle seeming to be annoyed with the line of questions that no one else entering the city had gone through. A man pulling a goat, who had been behind them, was allowed through as was a woman and her two children. “We’re traders of mythical goods. Dragon's scales and such.”
The man smiles revealing several gaps where teeth should be. “I want to see a dragon’s scale.”
Boaden shakes his head. “No offense but you could never afford anything I have and we have people to meet with.”
The man tilts his head with a scowl, and then waved at the guards. “Very well, you may pass.”
As they ride through the gates, Daelyn is hit with the smell of rotting flesh. She covers her face with her airy cloak, looking for the source of it. To the right are three men hanging off the wall, even from this distance she can see a mass of flies and their skin decaying in places. “Disgusting. Why do they leave dead men like that?” While they ride through a crowd of hundreds, Daelyn can’t seem to pull her stare from the corpses.
“Nordia is a harsh and dangerous place. I told you that,” Boaden says. “We’ll go to the Burda Inn to stay for the night.”
He had told her but it is different seeing it than hearing about it. Different smelling it.
They find the Burda Inn and upon entering the loudness of the place nearly startles Daelyn. She hadn’t expected it to be so busy, but it seems to be a tavern and an inn. They find an empty table that still has dirty glasses on it and sit down. Many people turn and look at them periodically, as if the crowd knows they are outsiders. “It might be awhile before we get anything to eat,” Boaden says, glancing around the room. “I didn’t expect it to be this crowded.”
“How did you know about this place?” Jordane asks, pushing the dirty glasses into the center of the table.
“I came here on a mission once. We stayed at this place so I knew for sure it had clean rooms. I wouldn’t trust too many dwellings in Nordia. Moor especially.”
“Good evenin’,” a man says, approaching the table. “What’ll it be for the three of ya?”
“What’s on the menu?” Jordane asks. Daelyn can tell he’s eager to eat again, but who wouldn’t be after the last ten years he’s had?
“We have--”
SLAM. The door bursts open as if it had been kicked and crashes into the wall. “We’re looking for a group of Delhoon,” The apparent leader of the group says.
Everyone sitting in the room looks to the table with Daelyn, Boaden and Jordane. How does everyone know it’s us? With that thought Daelyn looks around and sees brown skin and dark hair of most everyone. A dagger flies past Daelyn’s head and sticks into a man’s shoulder behind her. Then the place erupts into chaos. Tables and chairs fly through the air.
“Daelyn, run to the room and barricade yourself in!” Boaden shouts.
Jordane flips the table, sending it soaring toward the group of five men coming at them. Daelyn runs for the stairs where the rooms are located, but just before she can make the first step, a man comes out of nowhere to block her. “The king of Hesstia put a pretty price on your head. You’re coming with me.”
Heart racing, Daelyn turns to find another assailant stands behind her. She pulls her dagger and rushes him, hoping to catch him off guard. His hands fly up to protect himself but her blade pushes through his fingers and drives into his neck. He falls and the other assailant bashes her hard on the side of the head. Pain bursts, spreading through her forehead and she screams. On it’s own her magic explodes out around her, knocking her attacker through the next wall. She looks back at the commotion one more time to make sure her father and Boaden are alive. Her eye catches long blond hair dangling from beneath the cloak of a woman coming through the door, a sword in hand. It gives her pause, but she doesn’t linger to see the woman’s identity or the outcome of the fight, and hurries through the kitchen and into the alley, hiding in the shadows.
Chest heaving with her back against the wall, she thinks, I should go back and make sure they don’t need my help. What if something happens to them while I cower in the darkness? Yet her magic feels wildly out of control and she doesn’t trust herself to not hurt them herself, not until she calms down
. The hum of her power causes her hands to tremble, her skin to burn, and the magic feels like it may burst through her skin at any moment. She already knows what happens when it takes on a spirit of its own.
Daelyn isn’t sure how much time has passed, but by the quiet, she assumes the fight is over. She waits several more minutes and listens, hoping that it’s safe to go inside and hoping she won’t find Boaden or her father dead. The door creaks open, blade in hand, she’s ready to attack.
“Daelyn?” Jordane calls as he steps out the door.
“I’m here,” Daelyn says, letting her sword hand drop to her side. The buzz of her magic begins to subside in her father's presence. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Her father shakes his head. “No, I’m fine... But there is someone here who wants to see you.” He looks back at the doorway, waiting for this person to come out.
Daelyn can’t think of anyone she would possibly want to see that isn’t Jordane or Boaden. Who would want to see me that isn’t an enemy? Her mind races at the possibilities, is it Enden himself? Had he found them? But her father is so calm, this person can’t wish them ill.
It’s the golden hair that she sees in the pale light of the moon first, then her vision falls to the flawless face of Madison Magnevara, a face so much like her own, one she thought she’d never see again except perhaps in her dreams. She blinks a few times, her pulse beating irregularly; suddenly her legs might collapse. Her hand darts out for the building to catch herself. “Mother?” She questions what she is seeing; they watched her die, watched her take her last breath.
Madison steps closer, face pulled tight with concern. “What happened to your head?”
Daelyn blinks several times. “You died.”
Madison grins. “Well if that were true I’d be a ghost but I assure you I’m very real.”
Tears stream down Daelyn’s face, as she wonders how this could have happened, and then guilt hits. They left her there all alone in enemy territory; left her with nothing and no one.