Bastial Sentinels (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 5) (17 page)

“Tell me now!” Calvon’s hand only slightly moved, but it was enough to cause the skunk to shriek.

“Three miles.”

“Thank you.” Calvon let go and stood. “Where do you want it?”

The skunk’s arms had gone limp, his head resting as his breath came out in quick bursts. “What?” he asked, his eyes darting around wildly.

“You must realize there’s no hope for you.” Calvon adjusted the grip on his sword. “You’ve cooperated, so I’ll grant you a choice. Neck or heart?”

The question seemed to be too much for the young man. His eyes pleaded for an alternative option.

“Or we could leave you,” Calvon said. “Though, it might take hours for death to come.”

The young man’s eyes closed. Faintly, he began to weep.

Peter knelt over him, gently touching his shoulder. “Just keep your eyes closed.” He spoke in a calm voice, as if comforting a frightened child. “The pain will be over soon.”

The young man kept his eyes close, the murmurs of his weeping mixing with groans of pain as his tears wet the dirt.

Peter gestured at the man’s heart as he stepped back. Calvon took his spot, aimed his sword, and jabbed it hard through the young man’s tunic. His eyes popped open as he gasped, then they slowly closed once again.

“Thank you, Jek.” Calvon slowly swung his head to him. “For thinking to look behind us.”

But Jek was still in shock. He said nothing.

“What’s the matter?” Calvon asked, both he and Peter now concerned.

“Was that a normal occurrence for you two?” Jek was incredulous. “Getting attacked by five men?”

“It was six actually,” Peter corrected with a wry smile.

Calvon laughed. He actually laughed. Jek felt his jaw drop.

“No, six isn’t normal,” Peter said. “Usually we see someone in the distance, some arrows are exchanged, then we move on. This is the first time Calvon’s let anyone sneak up on us.”

Calvon folded his arms. “Oh, so I’m to blame?”

“Well we can’t blame Jek, now can we? And I’m not the scout here. I haven’t been trained by the King of Zav’s scoutmaster like you.”

“I’ve told you I only trained with him for a week. You don’t ever seem to remember that part.”

Jek interrupted them with a wave of his hands. “What are we doing now, reporting this?”

Peter knelt over the man dead in the dirt and grabbed his arrow. With a yank and a twist, he pulled it free. As he wiped it on the grass, he looked at Calvon. “Why don’t you tell the young mage what we’re doing next?”

“We’re finding that camp,” the scout said. His serious face was the same a child might make while holding water in cupped hands, ready to spill it with the slightest movement. “And I would expect more death before the end of the day.”

“What about the bodies?” Jek asked.

“What about them?” Peter put the tainted arrow back in his quiver.

Jek sucked in a breath as he stared at the brown stream oozing out of the skunk’s stomach, the stench of it filling the air. What was practical? Of course they couldn’t bury their enemies. Was there even a point of clearing them from the dirt trail?

“The animals will take care of them,” Calvon said. “And if any other skunks see them, that’ll just be a bonus.” He looked over his shoulder with a squint. “It’s unnerving when you find dead comrades.”

They pushed through the leafy limbs of trees and prickly bushes, following the direction of the retreating skunks.
Three miles,
Jek reminded himself.

Chapter 14:

JEK

With Calvon and Peter silent, Jek’s thoughts took over. He remembered how Raymess and Tobkin were considering giving up. If Calvon and Peter found out, it certainly would affect their efforts. Hungry and tired, they no doubt would welcome any excuse to stop hunting skunks.

Jek couldn’t help but wonder about the point of it all. What if they found a skunk camp and he managed to kill a few of them before taking an arrow to the heart? There would be some solace in the thought that Jek died fighting for a just cause. But if they were going to give up anyway, what would his death be worth?
Nothing but heartache for Lisanda and my family.

So he vowed he would stay alive and keep his comrades alive as well. It was the best he could hope for as his leaders figured out what to do about the siege,
and about Fatholl,
he thought, unable to forget the army of psychic Elves.

He wondered how the Takary women were getting along in the small house with his family. Kalli and Lisanda enjoyed each other’s company, but what was Sannil doing to keep the Queen entertained? Like Jessend, Vala was never one to sit still. But Jessend could make friends with the commoners in Facian. She could shoot an arrow, swing a sword, tell crude jokes, and share stories of nobility that made any audience cackle. Jek figured that by the end of the first day there, she would steal the hearts of at least five men.

But Vala, being the Queen, couldn’t embrace the same freedom as her daughter. She would take on impossible tasks, and somehow she would manage them. She would find a way to get a letter to Lake Mercy, making sure Micah had arrived and Raymess was there and safe. She would use her connections to get scouts into The Nest and even the palace. And somehow, some way, she would turn Sannil’s small kitchen into one fit for royalty, replacing his table, chairs, and curtains while he was out farming.

Sannil would hate the surprise redecorating, not because he didn’t care for nice things, but because he’d feel guilty that his house wasn’t good enough for Vala in the first place. It was a sad thought. He and Vala wouldn’t get along, though they would smile and regard each other with the utmost politeness.

Calvon’s voice interrupted Jek’s musings. “If we don’t find the camp going this way, we’ll at least find those who retreated.” He pointed to an open patch of dirt on the otherwise grass- and tree-covered ground. “We’ve caught their trail.”

There were footprints. Calvon picked up a leaf to hold in front of Jek. On it was a drop of blood.

“From Peter’s arrow,” Calvon said. “They’re probably waiting until they get back to camp to remove it from the skunk’s shoulder. Should give us a chance to surprise them.”

Jek couldn’t help but notice they weren’t whispering. “Should we keep quiet in case they’re waiting to surprise us?”

“The wind will cover our voices so long as we’re not loud,” Calvon said. “If they can hear us, then they’ve already seen us.”

“Are you nervous?” Peter asked him.

“No,” Jek answered.

They both looked at him in disbelief. “You don’t have to lie to us,” Calvon said.

“I don’t usually get nervous about things like this.”

“Then what do you get nervous about?” Calvon turned away from Jek and continued to lead them.

My darkness.
Jek didn’t feel right bringing it up, as there was no point. “What I can’t control, especially when it’s inevitable.”

Calvon and Peter both stopped to give him a look. “Bastial hell,” Calvon said. “You make it sound like death is hunting you.”

Jek shrugged, hoping that would be the end of the discussion.

“Our young mage seems like he has a secret.” Peter eyed Calvon.

“Who doesn’t?” Jek argued.

Calvon turned to lead them again. As he studied the forest ahead, he spoke in a soft voice. “A dog.”

“What?” Jek asked.

“They don’t have secrets.”

Jek chuckled with Peter.

“Calvon misses his dog,” Peter informed him.

“Are you both from Zav?” Jek asked.

“We are,” Peter said.

“Is it common for people there to have dogs?” It wasn’t in Goldram.

“No, but Calvon’s family is wealthy,” Peter said. “It’s more common for them to have pets.”

“My father’s in charge of the shotmarl stadium in Zav,” Calvon said reluctantly. “Working with the King’s high-ranking men has given him some connections. I think he wants me to prove I can be an officer, and so do they.”

“Is that why…” Jek stopped himself. He’d spoken without thinking but at least had the sense to realize what he was saying before it spewed out. “Never mind.”

“Whatever it is, just say it,” Calvon urged, swinging his leg over a fallen tree.

Jek tried to think of a better way of wording his question.

“Go on,” Calvon said. “Is that why what?”

“Why you tortured the skunk to find out where their camp was? Because you’re determined to be an officer?”

Calvon spun around and came right up to Jek’s face. Surprisingly, he was a forehead taller, his knob of a chin bending down to show Jek a hard look.

“If I was determined to be an officer, then I would lie to Tobkin about how many men I’ve killed. I would force my way into discussions of strategy, standing beside those with the rank I wish for myself in some hope of proving my worth. But I hate those kinds of men. I won’t act like them.”

“Which is why you’ll never be an officer,” Peter said.

Instead of anger, Jek was surprised to find Calvon nodding. “Exactly.”

“Then why risk your lives taking an enemy camp?”

“What’s your reason, mage?” Calvon retorted.

Jek cursed himself. He’d led them to a question he couldn’t hope to answer.

“Now that’s a good question,” Peter added, studying Jek. “All we know is that you just got here, yet no one new has come in weeks. Why are you here? It can’t be for your own purpose.”

“No, I didn’t choose to come here on my own. I came with…do you know Micah Vail?”

“He’s here now?” Calvon said.

“Who is he?” Peter asked.

Jek let Calvon answer, more to see what someone from Zav knew. “The highest-ranking councilman to Danvell Takary. And you came with him?” He pointed at Jek, his eyes wide. “Just the two of you?”

Jek nodded.

“Who
are
you?” Calvon whispered in a raspy tone, as if he no longer trusted Jek.

It seemed as if Calvon and Peter weren’t going to move until Jek answered them.

“Wait.” Calvon threw out his hands. “My Bastial stars, Jek…as in Jek Trayden. The Sartious mage!” His mouth fell open as he shook his head. “Of course that’s you. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. Hold on!” Again he waved his hands. “Death hunting you—that’s your darkness! It really exists?”

“It doesn’t really hunt me…”

“Is he famous or something?” With his arms folded, Peter gestured at Jek with a twitch of his elbow.

But Calvon was ignoring him. “Did you really take Lisanda Takary from the palace just before her wedding ceremony?”

Jek nodded.

Calvon’s eyes brightened. “And you managed to make her fall in love with you as well as convince her father to hire you instead of hanging you?”

“Well, it didn’t quite happen like that.” Jek felt himself blushing, incredulous that his story had reached people in Zav.

Calvon clutched Jek’s shoulder and turned his gaping mouth toward Peter. “This is the strongest Sartious mage in Greenedge.”

“But he’s practically a kid.” Peter didn’t believe it. “Show me a spell of Sartious Energy.”

The request brought Jek back to the time he worked with Drent, the blacksmith. Many people were skeptical of his ability. He’d ask them their name, then create the first letter of it with Sartious Energy. He never got tired of seeing their faces melt with awe when he handed it to them.

Unable to contain himself, Jek opened his palm and pointed his wand into it. Focusing, he pulled Sartious Energy to a single point, forcing it together so that it became dense, hard and cool. In less than ten breaths, he was done.

He handed the “P” shape to Peter, who took it with an expression that Jek couldn’t figure out. His imperturbable brown eyes were huge, his teeth clenched, his lip slightly curled. His hand came over it, pressing down to test its firmness.

With a slow turn of his neck, he met Jek’s eyes. “Can you do anything else?” While Peter looked impressed, his tone was mocking.

Jek glanced in each direction, making sure no one else was watching. The growth of the forest enclosed them. He figured another trick wouldn’t hurt.

He snapped his wand and shattered the “P” into dust. Peter let down his hand as he stepped back. Drawing in the Sartious Energy of the forest, Jek formed a cloud. He poured more and more SE into it until there was nearly too much for him to control at once. It had swelled around their small party.

Jek felt like he was using all of his strength to lift a boulder, and he couldn’t hold it much longer. But he wasn’t done. With all the energy already gathered and under control, what he had in mind just took one last drive of force. He grunted, loud and involuntary, as he snapped his wand to press the SE together.

It formed into a circle around them, a shield. Jek held it as long as he could. Catching a glimpse, he saw what he already could feel—it was thick enough to stop more than just a fireball. The emerald color was even greener than usual, reflecting the forest around him. Calvon spun with a fearful look, as if he thought Jek was going to crush them with the energy. Peter did the opposite, reaching out to push his palm again it.