Bear Knight, page 30
With this shallow furrow finished, most of the party moved into the rocks with Teegan, leaving only Dag, Quinton, Baldomar, and the headmaster on the ox. Dag and Quinton stood at either end with their axes. Baldomar stood at the center, with his greatsword raised, tip pointed down. Master Jairun stood behind him, a hand on his shoulder.
The headmaster lifted his face skyward, eyes closed. “These are your words, High One. Let your will be done.” Then he prayed, and they all joined him.
Kelas osana po lelom krafana.
Thrivam beregana po morgom krafana.
Anah, ke’Rumosh, pal koth oltim mahesoth.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things.
Teegan opened her eyes to see the axes and Baldomar’s greatsword burning white as if they’d just been pulled from a blazing forge.
“Now,” Master Jairun said, and the three men struck the ice as one.
A great rending crack shook the mountainside. The guardians and Dag leapt back, and the ox tore free from its bonds. The massive formation slid downslope.
Quinton did not sit idle. He dropped his axes and lit a torch from one of the still white-hot blades. With the flame burning, he twisted his body, ready for a mighty toss. “Say the word, Avner.”
“Hold, my friend. Show me your patience.”
AARON
“Hold!” Sireth shouted.
Aaron doubted the companies could hear him anymore, not with the deep crackling and thundering of the giant ice block tumbling down the flow. It had already crushed many of the creatures. The rest fled before it, heading straight for the watchmen. But the signal still had not come.
“Hold!”
“Are you sure?” Aaron asked.
“Don’t question me, lad. Keep those feet still until I say.”
A long breath later, he saw it. The torch flew high over the battlefield. No watchman could have missed it.
Sireth lowered his war hammer. “Go!”
Aaron jumped out into the open beside his friend, gratified to see the long line of the companies, and Sireth seemed to put all the voice he had left into the next command, drawing out the cry. “Shields!”
Every man and woman crouched and raised a forearm parallel to the ground. The line lit up with radiant armor in a hundred colors. The dark creatures, blinded and terrified, let out a chorus of earsplitting screeches.
In the next instant, the first of them crashed into the shield line. So much was their speed, and so firm the wall of watchmen, that the first wave of goblins obliterated themselves upon it, bursting into snowy dust. The next sizzled and hissed at their impact and fell dead.
Not until the first troll reached the line, did a single watchman move. Two went down under the force of the iceblade’s hit, but the creature took the greater damage. Others fell upon it and finished it off with sword, axe, and hammer. Aaron saw similar engagements all down the line. These were short by necessity. The ox ran close upon the enemy’s heels.
Sireth pointed behind him with the hammer. “Into the rocks!”
The wall collapsed downslope into the terrain from which it had sprung, followed closely by the last of the dark creatures and the ox that pursued them. The ice block had broken up in the fall and gave itself completely when it struck the rocks. More creatures died under this final blow. The rest fell into the blades and shields of the waiting companies.
Aaron found himself nose to nose with a disgusting golmog—a rotund, lumbering blob almost twice his height with a wide mouth and horns. He ducked the creature’s three-fingered fist while Sireth smashed his hammer into its leg. The golmog buckled and fell.
Aaron finished it off with his axe. Watery gray fluid seeped into the gravel at their feet, sending up a horrible stench. “Disgusting,” Aaron said, holding a wrist to his nose. “What are these things made of?”
“Fear and sickness, or so Tiran tells me from his studies, held together with everything unsavory you might find in a Taneletharian cave. Best to stay clear of the remains.”
The golmog was the last of the creatures their section encountered. The two climbed up upon a high rock to survey the rest of the line. Sireth’s wall had held. Many were raising their blades in victory, armor still shining.
The sight brought joy to Aaron’s heart. “For the Rescuer!” he shouted, raising his axe high, and all the companies answered.
“For the Rescuer!”
60
LEE
TANELETHAR
EMEN KAR
“Well, your father got what he wanted,” Lee said as he and Zel walked up the steps to the ruin.
She gazed up at the high statues guarding the entrance, both Rapha, one holding a breadbasket and the other a pitcher. “How do you mean?”
“The quest for the Rapha Key and Lef Amunrel is no longer in the hands of an Enarian. The first part falls to you and me.”
Zel gave him a frown. “My father’s words are not mine. Nor are his opinions. To my eyes, Connor”—she glanced down at the journal Lee carried—“and his grandfather have proven their worth.”
Three long, joined buildings formed the Aropha haven—a large central hall with smaller structures on either side. According to what Lee had read in Faelin’s journal, this place served as a resting point for Lisropha warriors and Rapha servants in their journeys across Talania.
“The hilltop temples were centers of worship,” he said when Zel asked the difference between Emen Kar and Ras Heval. “And don’t be confused by the sanctuary we found in the Fading Mountains. That was built from the remains of Ras Heval after the dragon scourge began.” He waved the journal at rows of stone tables and benches rising from the floor—what might have been a dining hall. “Think of this place as a way station.”
“Where in this way station might the key be hidden? If Faelin failed to find it, what hope do we have?”
“Ah.” Lee raised a finger. “I don’t think Faelin came here. He wrote about this place—included a map, even—but only because he’d learned our magician-thief Kaliphan had sold a relic from Emen Kar to a nobleman. Faelin was looking for Kaliphan’s final resting place, not some ruin he’d robbed.”
“Yet now we think they may be one and the same?”
“That’s what the parchment we found at his treasure hold implied.”
They started with the item Kaliphan stole. Lee read the journal as they walked, with Zel steering him on occasion to keep him from running into tables or columns. “The thief sold the item as a talisman to ward off goblin looters. Goblins were a new threat in those days—an annoyance for a nobleman with cattle or sheep to protect. But Aropha do not carry talismans, so Faelin believes what Kaliphan stole was actually a decoration.”
He looked up from his reading to survey the walls. The Aropha had spared no space. Every surface seemed to be a canvas for works of praise to the Maker.
“Well,” Zel said. “That narrows it down. Is there a description?”
“The item was too large to wear and hung over the nobleman’s hearth.” He showed her the book, tapping the page with his finger. “This drawing, here. A diamond shape formed of water above and fire below.”
“You do realize we’re looking for an object that is no longer here, right? We’re looking for the empty space where it was before Kaliphan stole it.”
“Or are we?” Lee closed the book over his finger and lowered a lens to his eye. He quickened his steps. “This way. I think Kaliphan tried to make amends in his final days.”
They found the ornament placed among the carved murals on the north wall of the great hall. The rest of the mural was smooth and seamless—one continuous piece. But Kaliphan had clearly cut his diamond-shaped prize out with a hammer and chisel, then put it back sometime later.
“I think he tried to repair the damage,” Lee said, taking a closer look at the grout around the diamond. “That would mean Kaliphan found the noble he’d tricked into buying this piece and bought it back, probably at great risk.”
Zel looked from the restored artwork to the rest of the hall, scrunching her brow. “But why?”
“As I said. He wanted to make amends. From his note, we know our thief repented of his ways.” Lee stared at the carving, with its flames below and fountain above, then frowned. “But I think we’re dealing with something more. I think when he came back here to live, the broken space where he’d cut out this piece became a reminder of his past, and he could no longer bear the shame. That is what drove him to return it. That would mean he walked by this spot often.”
He left the restored artwork and walked along the mural.
Zel followed. “You mean Kaliphan made his final home nearby?”
“Correct. Emen Kar is vast. Had he made his residence in one of the other two buildings, he might have lived out his years never looking again upon this mural. But I think he walked the very pavers under our feet daily.”
He turned to pass under an open arch, looking up at its rippled stonework border. “I’ve walked under an arch like this a hundred times or more to enter the kitchens at Ras Telesar.”
“The kitchens?” Zel had to double her steps to keep up with him, hurrying between gaping cavities, still blackened from their ancient work. “You think Kaliphan took up residence in one of these giant ovens?”
“Not the ovens.” Lee stopped at the far end where he’d found another image of a Rapha servant holding a breadbasket. “The cupboard.”
61
CONNOR
SIL SHADATH
The ghouls had not let up during the party’s flight south toward Emen Kar. But neither had Kara and Tiran nor the bear who walked with them. Ioanu’s claws seemed specially purposed for destroying apparitions. The attacks centered around Keir and the former barkhide, who called himself Peram. It was as if the creatures sensed the frailty of these newly rescued Keledan. But Connor and the others defended them with passion.
The insects bothered Connor most. Bulbous spiders leapt at him from the pine boughs, worse than giant cave spiders because their size made them hard to hit with Revornosh or his crook. Droning horned beetles fluttered at his face. These exploded into burning goo against his Keledan shield and helmet.
They’d finally experienced a stretch of peace, with no attacks for at least a quarter of a league, when Tiran halted his bounding gait and gasped. He pressed a hand to his forehead.
Connor had learned early in their search for Keir that Tiran’s old wound flared up when evil approached. “Where?” he asked, placing an arm around his friend to support him.
Tiran aimed his sword at the trees to the southwest. “It’s strong. A single presence, I think, but dark. Very dark. A wraith, perhaps—or the dragon. I’ve not learned enough about this sense to say.”
Kara started toward the threat without waiting for Connor or the others, and glanced over her shoulder at Ioanu. “Stay with the new Keledan, Keir and Peram. Keep them safe. We’ll handle this.”
The bear lowered her snout in something between a nod and a bow to Kara as Connor and Tiran rushed to catch up. Together, the three cadets ran into the next clearing to confront the new enemy.
Connor jogged to a stop, as did the others, confused by what they’d found. There was no wraith, as Tiran suggested. And no dragon. “Shan?”
Lee’s brehna stood as if in shock with his stolen orc scimitar held up in a guard position. The approach of the lightraiders stirred him to life. “I killed them,” he said in a whisper. “I destroyed them both.”
Connor helped him lower the orc weapon. “Killed who?”
“The ghouls. Two of them. They came at me, so I shouted the name of the Rescuer and struck them down. They burst into mist and drifted away.”
Connor and Kara exchanged a look. The guardians had taught them that Aladoth did not have the strength to destroy dark creatures on their own. For that, any human needed the aid of the Helper.
“Does that mean . . .” Connor asked, not finishing the question.
“I believed. My brother spoke with me, and I believed.”
Connor stood amazed. Three new brehnan for the Keledan. Three lives the Rescuer had entrusted to him and the other cadets to bring safely to the Liberated Land.
“But where is your brother?” Ioanu asked, approaching with Keir and Peram. She bore a strange look in her midnight blue eyes. “How did you come to be separated from him? I would not have thought he’d let such a thing happen after years of waiting for your restoration.”
“I gave him no choice. I saw other prisoners from that ship of the sky. I wanted to save them too, and once we touched earth and grass again, I ran off to find them before my brother could stop me.”
The bear held that odd look in her gaze. “And where are these prisoners now?”
“Gone. I never found them. In my searching, I was accosted by ghouls.”
They did not linger for more explanations, but started south once again. Tiran, who’d been helping them hold their course with his compass, now spent more time holding his old rag to his wound.
Connor walked with him. “Talk to me, Brehna.”
“The burning will not stop. My head is a flame.”
“What do you expect in this forest, filled with so much evil?”
“That was not my experience before. I have other suspicions. One suspicion, I will not speak yet. The other is that this pain is a warning.”
“What sort of warning?”
“A warning that the greatest evil we’ve yet faced is heading our way.”
62
LEE
EMEN KAR
“It’s only a wall, Lee. Another mural.”
The scribe glanced back at Zel with a look that said, Oh really? “Did you learn nothing from our time at the underground sanctuary? Aropha minds do not work like our own. What seem to us like puzzles and mysteries were part of their everyday life here on Dastan.”
He walked to the corner between the ovens and the wall and reached into a recess. His fingers found a cool metal rod. He grinned. “Watch.”
Lee pulled the lever, and the wall sank into the floor as quietly as the slate door they’d encountered at the sanctuary. A steep stone incline lay beyond, carved with waving lines and set with footholds like recessed steps. He tilted his head. “Follow me.”
They climbed the incline, and not long after they passed the midpoint, it began to move, reversing its slope. Zel held on to Lee as the rising edge behind them cut off their exit to the kitchen. “What’s happening? Is this a trap?”
He laughed. “What use would the Rapha have for a trap? This is a storehouse.” The platform eased to a stop with a light clunk, revealing another chamber opposite the kitchen. “Ras Telesar has one like this, though we hardly use it at the moment. Master Belen thinks it provides a barrier between the heat of the kitchen and stores that must stay cool and dry.” He held his lantern out into the chamber ahead of them. “But for our thief, I think it offered the perfect hideout.”
Lee had guessed right. Someone, most likely Kaliphan, had converted the storehouse into a simple home. There were no treasures here, no chests of gold and jewels or fine clothes and pottery. The magician-thief had dug a hearth into the far wall and built a simple bed, chair, and table. That was all.
“He really did give up his former ways for a life of reflection and poverty,” Zel said, looking around.
“One man’s poverty is another’s wealth. According to his note, our thief traded the treasures of this world for those of the next.” Lee’s gaze settled on the wall above the bed, and he walked over. “Kaliphan vowed to serve the Maker as the Rapha had done.” A disc of what looked like pure garnet hung from a carved stone peg by a thick silver chain. On the face of the disc was carved the perot, an Aropha letter and the symbol for both bread and life.
Reverently, Lee lifted the artifact down from its resting place and held it out for Zel to see. “This is what inspired him. This artifact became the beacon that led him from an alliance with the first traitor king to a life dedicated to the Maker. This is the Rapha Key.”
Zel shook her head in disbelief. “We did it. We found the key that opens the lost Bread Gate of Ras Pyras. You hold in your hand a way to sneak into—”
“Shh!” Lee held up his hand. “Can you hear that?”
In the quiet, the tone became clearer, but no louder. It seemed like the ring of a bell far away.
Zel looked down at his hands. “It’s coming from the disc. What does that mean?”
“I think it means we’d better get out of here.”
CONNOR
Connor and his party raced out of the woods north of the Aropha ruin. He altered course to make for a corner of the structure. “They’ll be in the glade on the south side. That’s the only place with room enough to land The Starling.”
They didn’t need to run far. Lee and Zel rushed out from behind the ruin. The scribe held an object high—a disc. Connor recognized it from his patehpa’s journal. They’d found the Rapha Key.
A mix of elation and worry hit him. Either they’d brought the Keledan one step closer to ending dragon rule over Tanelethar, or he was about to continue the Enarian pattern of failure in this quest. His party may have led the enemy straight to an artifact that otherwise had stayed safely hidden for centuries.
Connor waved his arm back and forth, trying to signal Lee to stop and turn around. But the scribe already shared his worried expression and shouted what Connor was thinking.
“The dragon is coming!”
63
“How did he find us?” Lee asked when the two groups met.
Connor turned and set his gaze on the sky to their north. “I don’t know, but Tiran can sense him coming.”
