Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) (15 page)

There was a long pause as the companions digested the new information.

“I have a couple of questions,” Dantes said. “You said you were contacted by survivors of the City of Silver.” Lady Ellyn nodded. “Where have these survivors been for the past centuries? Why haven’t they come forward before?”

“The answer to the second question is easy,” said Lady Ellyn. “They have been on the Mountain of Frost.”

“It can’t be,” said Dantes. “I have sailed past the Mountain of Frost, and there is nothing on it. The mountain top is covered with snow year-round.”

“That is true,” Lady Ellyn replied. “The
peak
is covered in snow, but what about lower down on the mountain?”

“I don’t know,” Dantes answered. “The lower half of the mountain is always shrouded in mist or smoke. No one knows which, because sailors won’t go within several miles of it.”

“Nor should they,” Lady Ellyn agreed, “as that is the abode of Scylla, and Charybdis looms nearby, as well.”

“Wait a minute,” John interrupted, “I’ve heard of Scylla and Charybdis. That is a myth we have on the world where I am from. One of those is a sea monster, I think, and the other is a whirlpool or reef or something.”

“Interesting,” said Lady Ellyn. “That is also what Sir Luce, the knight that escaped the island, said. There is a whirlpool that completely encircles the island. In fact, that is what causes the mist that rings it, preventing anyone offshore from seeing that the island exists. There is, however, a finger of land that goes over one part of the whirlpool before going back into the sea. Underneath that is the lair of Scylla, the many-headed. It is a monster that eats anything that approaches the island. If you somehow escape it, the odds are that you will be swallowed up by the whirlpool, or Charybdis as the locals call it.”

“How would I have known that?” asked John.

“No one knows where people that are sucked into the maelstrom end up,” said Father Telenor; “perhaps there is a portal to your world.”

“So you know about this island, too?” asked Dantes.

Father Telenor nodded. “I was there when we recovered Sir Luce,” he said.

“Father Telenor is being modest,” said Lady Ellyn, “as it was his healing spells that saved the knight, at least for a little. An elderly man, he passed away soon after, but not before he completed his mission.”

“His mission?” asked John. “What was that?”

“He told us all of the things that I’ve already told you about the island and the war, and two things more,” said Lady Ellyn. “First, he mentioned something about ‘the Keeper,’ a mystical being that lives high up on the mountain.”

“The keeper of what?” asked Ghorza.

“No one knows,” said Father Telenor, “although Sir Luce said that it was supposed to be something very powerful. Sir Luce also said that many people have tried to obtain it over the ages, but all have failed...failed and died. It is said that only the Chosen and the Unchosen, the champions of both sides, can pass his trials.”

“That’s comforting,” said Dantes. “What is the other thing the knight told you?”

“After the Sundering, the people that survived thought that they alone had escaped the devastation. They could not leave the island, due to Scylla and Charybdis, but they could climb up the mountain and see that the continent of Halidar no longer existed. They thought that they alone had survived the cataclysm, so they had no reason to brave Scylla and Charybdis.”

“And yet Sir Luce did,” said Dantes. “What changed?”

“Over 200 knights set out from the island with Sir Luce, along with their retainers and support personnel; Sir Luce was the only one that survived long enough to make landfall in Tasidar. The island has no trees, so building a ship was challenging, and it didn’t survive Scylla’s attack. Sir Luce was the only person who lived long enough to gather enough pieces of the ship to form a raft and float it to our shores.”

“That he lived that long is nothing short of incredible,” added Father Telenor. “He should have perished long before reaching Tasidar. Only his incredible will kept him going, long past the point where anyone else would have given up and died.”

“His will, and the blessing of the one true god,” said Lady Ellyn. “Without her aid, he never would have made it to Norlon to give us warning.”

“What warning?” asked Dantes, dreading the answer.

“A knight arrived on the island six months ago, riding a red dragon,” said Lady Ellyn. “He captured and tortured some of the island’s population. That knight was wearing black armor with red gauntlets.”

“The Dark Lord Kazan,” said Fitzber. “Aye? Wasn’t that what you called him?”

“Yes,” replied Lady Ellyn. “That sounds like the Dark Lord Kazan. If he tortured the civilians, he got the information from them. He knows the last Item of Power is on the island, and it is just a matter of time before the enemy tries to claim it.”

“It’s almost daylight,” said Dantes, “and Harbortown is a long way away. If what you just told us is true, we need to get going. We don’t have a moment to lose.”

“They’re still closing on us,” said Fitzber as he materialized next to Dantes.

“
By the gods!
” swore Dantes. It was the fourth time in three days of traveling that the gnome had done that to him. “Didn’t I tell you not to do that?”

“You did, laddie?” asked Fitzber. “Sure’n I don’t recall you
not
wanting a status report on the enemy forces. In fact, I thought that was what you said to do. ‘Now Fitzber,’ you said in that gruff devil voice o’ yours, ‘we want you to go find out where the enemy is, how far behind us they are,’ and so on and so on. To me, that meant you
wanted
a status report. My apologies; my wee mind must have misinterpreted your meaning.”

“That’s not what I meant,” said Dantes, steam starting to rise from him in several places.

“So the enemy is catching up?” asked Ghorza, stepping in between the two. “How far behind us are they?”

“Sure’n they’re not more than four hours behind,” said Fitzber. “Three and a half if they take to hurrying.”

“How do they keep gaining on us?” asked John. He stifled a yawn. “We’re barely getting any sleep, and we’re going all day. How are they catching up to us?”

“It helps that most o’ the beasties are twice as big as us,” said Fitzber, “and more like three times bigger than you and me. They can take big steps and move a lot faster.”

“They’re most likely being magically aided, too,” said Dantes, “and fear probably plays a part. You can get people to do a lot more than they ever thought possible with the correct application of a little fear.”

“What do you recommend?” asked Lady Ellyn, who was used to working with rangers and knew their skills.

“Well, lassie, if we push hard the rest o’ today and tomorrow, we can be there by midday. They’ll be closer, but should still be two hours or so behind us. Is that enough to get us through town and onto a boat?”

“It should be, yes,” said Lady Ellyn.

“Then you ought to get the devil to stop standing around. He needs to get going,” said Fitzber, looking in Dantes’ direction.

Dantes opened his mouth for a retort, but Fitzber faded into the forest and was gone.

“I forget what we decided last time,” said Fitzber, materializing next to Dantes. “Were you a-wanting a status report or no? Sure’n I remember having a wee bit o’ discussion o’er the topic, but for the life o’ me, I don’t remember what was decided.”

Dantes tried to grab the gnome, but only succeeded in grabbing a handful of air.

“Which way was the right of it?” asked Fitzber from the other side of Dantes.

Dantes stopped and growled, steam coming from his nostrils in two big clouds that smelled of sulfur.

Ghorza gave him a little push to get him moving again. “You know you only encourage him when you do that, right?”

“What’s up, Fitzber?” asked John, who was coming to like Fitzber’s pranks. Things had a way of going missing when he was around, and then turning up later in unexpected places. For example, Dantes’ pack had been about 20 feet up in a tree when they woke up in the morning. Although Fitzber swore he didn’t do it, John saw a glint in his eyes when he said it. He may not have done it himself, but he probably had a hand in it.

“Sure’n I don’t know,” replied Fitzber. “It’s the darnedest thing I’ve ever seen. The forest ends about 15 minutes from here, and you wouldn’t think that there was any sort of hostilities going on. Farmers are out in their fields, working at a normal pace, doing the things that they always do. Confused I am about how they don’t know there is a giant army, no pun intended, just a couple o’ hours from here. It’s almost like they didn’t know…or didn’t care.”

“It must be that the word has somehow failed to reach here,” said Lady Ellyn. “It cannot be that they don’t care. When the enemy arrives, they will all be killed. Of that, there can be no doubt.”

The group continued on and found it to be as Fitzber had related. A farmer, along with his wife and son, were picking beans in the first field they came to, looking as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The woman wore a white dress to reflect the sun as she worked, the man a brown tunic.

“Hello there, gentle sir,” said Lady Ellyn in greeting. “Can I ask what you’re doing out here?”

“Good day,” said the man, wiping sweat from his brow as he looked up from a bean plant. “There’s a water barrel over there if you need it.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand your meaning,” said Lady Ellyn.

“Well, it’s pretty obvious…to me, anyway…that I am a farmer out working in my field,” he said, holding up a handful of beans. “If you can’t see that, then I figured you were having some sort of heat stroke and needed water. I wanted to render what assistance I could.”

“Are you not aware that there is an army no more than two hours from here?” asked Lady Ellyn in frustration. “Has no one given you the warning?”

“Of course we know there’s an army coming,” replied the man. Both he and his wife were wearing large straw hats; he removed his to fan himself with it. “We were told about that a couple of days ago. In fact, I was starting to get worried that it wasn’t going to come. You know, what with all the talk that the forces of Salidar are on the move, it certainly calms one’s mind to know that there is a big army around to protect you…even if they do tend to eat up all of your crops and only pay you a pittance of what it’s worth. Still, that’s better than having trolls and such around, you know?”

“But sir, the enemy following us
is
the army of Salidar. No more than two hours behind us is a huge force of trolls, giants and ogres. You must flee now to Harbortown or you will be killed.”

“I’m sorry, but you are mistaken,” replied the man. “The mayor of Harbortown, himself, was out here in the fields just a few days ago to tell us that the Norlon army would be passing through here. He personally assured us that everything was okay, and that it would be even better once the army got here. Now, you’re wasting my time, so if you could please move along, I have a lot of work to get done before the sun goes down.”

The companions started down the road, all except for Father Telenor. “Can I ask your names for a prayer?” he inquired.

“Name’s William James Rysanek, just like my dad and his two dads before him,” said the man, “and this here’s my wife Angie and my son Will.”

“Thank you,” said Father Telenor. He extended his hands in their direction, saying a prayer over them.

“Why did you ask their names?” asked John as Father Telenor rejoined the group. “Was that some kind of blessing?”

“No,” Father Telenor replied, “it was their last rites. They’re already dead; they just don’t know it yet.”

“This is craziness!” said Lady Ellyn as the group continued once more down the road. “They’re expecting an army from Norlon? There no longer
is
an army of Norlon. There are probably soldiers on the run, maybe even a few scattered units that got out in one piece, but an army? I don’t believe it. Where did they get that idea?”

“I don’t know,” said Fitzber. “He can believe what he wants to, but I’ve seen the army that’s following us. It is not an army o’ Norlon. They have been tricked somehow. The army that trails us is the army o’ Salidar.”

“We must hurry,” said Dantes. “If this is the state of the outlying fields, I’m worried about whether the city is ready to receive an enemy army.”

It was as Dantes feared. As the group neared Harbortown, they could see the gates standing open. Four soldiers on guard duty lounged nearby, watching people pass back and forth through the gates. “I am going to do a little scouting,” said Fitzber. “Something is very wrong here.” He faded out.

The companions continued to the gate.

“
What in the name of the one true god is going on here?
” exploded Lady Ellyn when the soldiers waved her through, without even getting up to acknowledge her status. Although they looked a little chagrined at getting yelled at, they didn’t appear to be terribly worried about any additional consequences of their actions.

“Uh, sorry ma’am, but what do you mean?” asked the soldier with the most stripes on his rank insignia.

“
What do I mean?
” asked Lady Ellyn. “I mean, there is an enemy army no more than two hours from here, and you are all sitting here like you have nothing better to do. You should be preparing for war!”

“Naw, you heard it all wrong,” said the leader. “There is an army coming, but it’s coming from Norlon. They threw back the forces of Salidar, and now the army is coming to help defend Harbortown.”

Lady Ellyn drew her sword. “There is an army coming from Norlon, but it is a Salidarian army. Norlon was sacked four days ago. I know because I was there!”

“Naw, you couldn’t have been there four days ago; it’s a five- to six-day march to get here from there,” said one of the men.

Lady Ellyn walked over to the leader of the men and put the point of her sword on his chest. All of a sudden, he didn’t look bored anymore; now he looked scared. Lady Ellyn looked at the rest of the men. “Which one of you would like to spare this soldier’s life by going to get the Sergeant of the Watch,
right now
?” she asked.

“Me!” said two of the men, not wanting to be in her presence anymore. They jumped up and ran inside the gate. Lady Ellyn removed the sword from the leader’s chest, but kept it close by to let him know she was serious.

Within five minutes, the two men came back with the Sergeant of the Watch, who was armed only with a turkey leg. By the ruins of it on his face and hands, it was obvious that he had been interrupted at lunch. He had the foresight to bring along another six men in addition to the two that had gone to get him. All of the new men were armed with halberds, two-handed pole weapons that had an axe blade topped with a spike on one side and a hook on the other for grappling mounted warriors. The eight soldiers had on pieces of armor, but none had on a complete set. Even though their weapons were deadly, the men looked sloppy, just like their sergeant.

“Now, what’s this all about?” asked the sergeant between bites. “These men ‘ere said someone’s been threatenin’ the watch. We can’t be havin’ that in this town. We’re an orderly sort, here.”

“I was the one threatening him,” said Lady Ellyn. “I wanted to know what kind of worthless piece of animal dung was running this watch. Now I know. For your information, oh piece of dung, there is a Salidarian army that is an hour and a half from here, and if you don’t start organizing right
now
, you will all be dead within two hours.”

“Hey now, for guests, you’re not being very nice,” said the Sergeant of the Watch. “Men, arrest the foreigners and take them down to the jail until they learn some manners.”

The men with halberds lowered the points and advanced on the companions.

“By the seventh level of hell,” spat Dantes. “This is not helpful. We should all be preparing for war, not fighting with each other.”

“There is not going to be war,” said the Sergeant of the Watch. “A knight arrived here a couple of days ago, and he let us know that not only were the Salidarian forces driven back, but the army of Norlon took so few casualties doing it that they were sending a contingent to help defend Harbortown, too. You are wrong, you have no manners, and you need to cool off. Men, take them to jail.”

“Perhaps you’d like to re-think that last order?” asked Fitzber, materializing in front of the Sergeant of the Watch. His dagger was within a hair’s breadth of the sergeant’s crotch. “If you have any intentions of having children in the future, anyway, that is.”

“All right, men, no sense getting hasty,” said the Sergeant of the Watch. “Perhaps we might be better served by taking these people to the mayor’s office and letting them hear it from him. Maybe then they will believe it.”

“That would be fine,” replied Lady Ellyn. “I would also like to meet this knight that came from Norlon.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, ma’am,” said the sergeant, sounding more comfortable now that the dagger had been removed from his privates. “The knight hasn’t left the mayor’s side since he arrived, I don’t think.”

The group headed through the gates and into the city. As they cleared the gates, Dantes felt a slight tug on his sleeve. “I will meet you on the other side of the merchant’s quarter,” said Fitzber. “At the base of the hill prior to the port complex.”

“Aye,” whispered Dantes, wondering where the gnome was off to. It was information they needed most, though, and the gnome was able to get it best on his own, so he let the ranger go.

The companions were led through the town to the new mayor’s office. “Things have changed since the last time I was here,” said Dantes, looking up at the official-looking building. The white structure was as big as the king’s castle in Norlon.

The Sergeant of the Watch didn’t answer. He had dropped his turkey leg on the way and spent most of the journey trying to wipe the grease off his hands and face, with limited success.

“No weapons inside the mayor’s office,” said one of the two sentries at the door going into the building. Unlike the city watch, these men’s uniforms were crisp and their weapons spotless. “You can leave all of your weapons in here,” he added, pointing to a table in a small anteroom.

“Do we trust them?” asked Ghorza.

Lady Ellyn walked over to the sentry that had spoken. Taking hold of the front of his uniform lapel, she pulled his face close to hers. “This sword was given to me by my father,” she said in a voice laced with menace, “who got it from his father, who got it from his father. I will be back for it. If anything happens to it, I will kill you, then have Father Telenor raise you from the dead so that I can kill you again. Slowly. Am I clear on this?”

“Yes, m’lady,” said the sentry. “I will guard it as if my life depended on it.”

“See that you do,” she said, “because it surely does.” She glanced at Ghorza while still holding his uniform. “I think we can trust them,” she said. The man nodded, and she let him go.

After the companions had stacked their weapons, they were led into a large open room. All of them drew a breath as they entered; the room was an exact replica of the throne room in Norlon, complete with a throne on which the mayor sat.

A majordomo stood at the door. He took their names and announced them, and then they were led forward to stand in front of the mayor. They got their second surprise in quick order as the mayor’s advisors walked out to stand next to him. His chief advisor was a halfling, who stood to the right of the mayor’s throne; to the left of the mayor stood a knight in dark armor. The man was easily six feet tall and looked incredibly strong. His dark hair, dark mustache and dark eyes complemented his dark aura. Lady Ellyn didn’t need a Detect Evil spell to know the knight was evil; he radiated it from every pore of his being.

She also knew instantly that this wasn’t going to end well. “We should leave now,” she said under her breath.

“Kneel,” said the majordomo.

“Why should we kneel?” asked Dantes. “He is the mayor, not royalty.”

“In Harbortown, the mayor
is
royalty,” replied the majordomo.

“We will not kneel to the mayor,” said Lady Ellyn, eliciting a smile from the dark knight.

“If they will not kneel,” said the mayor, “throw them out of town.”

“We come with information that is vital you hear,” said Father Telenor. “It would be best if you take a minute and listen.”

The halfling leaned over to the mayor’s ear and whispered something that the group couldn’t hear.

“Take them outside of the gates,” said the mayor. “If they won’t go, kill them. If they try to come back in, kill them. If they try to talk to any of the city’s inhabitants, kill them. They are known agitators that go around trying to incite riots. If they do anything out of line,
kill them!
” Before they could move, the companions were surrounded by ten men who had been standing guard in the room, each carrying a halberd. It was obvious that they weren’t the first people to be expelled from the city; the men performed the drill better than anything else the companions had seen any of the city’s soldiers do.

“Should we attack?” whispered Ghorza. “Even unarmed, we could still probably take these buffoons.”

“No,” said Lady Ellyn. “These men are basically good, they are just poorly led. I will not kill them. The city will need them soon.”

“Soon?” asked Dantes. “They’ll be dead inside of an hour.”

“That is true,” agreed Lady Ellyn, “but it won’t be by my hand.”

“How are we going to get to the port?” asked Ghorza.

“I don’t know,” said Dantes, “but we’ll figure something out.”

The soldiers escorted the companions out of the audience room. Although they were initially worried about getting their weapons back, the soldiers stopped and let them pick them up, perhaps to prevent problems with them in the small room.

The companions were then marched to the gate, very much aware of the passage of time.

“The mayor said that I wasn’t allowed to talk to the citizens of the city, correct?” Dantes asked the Sergeant of the Watch, who had been put in charge of their expulsion. “He didn’t say that I couldn’t talk to you, right?”

“That’s true enough,” said the sergeant. “But if I were you, I’d be watchin’ my tongue.”

“Okay,” said Dantes, “then I won’t talk badly about the mayor, or the fact that his chief advisor looks to be the brother of the halfling that led the attack on Norlon. I won’t even talk badly about the dark knight that is advising him.”

“That’s good,” said the sergeant, “because if you do, me boys will have to stick you with their halberds.”

“Okay,” said Dantes. “Good to know. I won’t mention that you are being led astray and are probably going to be dead inside of an hour.”

“What? What’s that all about?” asked the sergeant. “That almost sounds like you’re doin’ that instigatin’ thing that the mayor warned me about.”

“Nope, not me,” replied Dantes. “I won’t say a word about the fact that you’re all being tricked. I also won’t tell you that the city of Norlon is no more, nor that the army that is approaching is led by dark knights that are dressed just like the dark knight in the mayor’s audience room. I’ll just keep my lips shut about all of that.” John could see that his words were having an effect on the men. The sergeant hadn’t noticed, but some of them were starting to look
very
nervous.

The group reached the gate. In the distance a dust cloud loomed over the forest, the kind of cloud made by thousands of marching feet.

“I’ve got another question for you,” said Dantes. “The mayor said to expel us, but he didn’t say that you had to do it right away, did he? Maybe it would be better if you waited to see who was in the army drawing near. If it is an army from Norlon like he said, we’ll leave, just as nice as can be. If, however, the army turns out to be one from Salidar, I’m sure you’d like to have our assistance in helping to turn it away.”

“Gee, Sarge, a devil would be awfully handy to have in a fight,” said one of the original soldiers. “I hear they’re really hard to kill.”

“That’s true,” said Dantes. “I am pretty handy in a fight.”

“I don’t know...” said the sergeant, not wanting to lose face in front of the men, but also not wanting to give up six experienced fighters. Wait. He counted again. “Where did the other one of you go?” he asked. “Where’s the one that threatened me family life with his dagger?”

“To tell you the truth, I really don’t know where he went,” said Dantes. “He was going to try to find out what was going on in town. Does it matter? He wasn’t with us in the audience room, so the mayor didn’t really expel him now, did he?”

The sergeant looked confused. Although the mayor had expelled the group, the gnome hadn’t been with them when the mayor had done so. Still, he was part of the group that had threatened the soldiers (and he had definitely threatened the sergeant), so he probably should be expelled, too. But how could he expel the gnome, if he wasn’t around to kick out? In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen the little troublemaker.

Dantes smiled to himself, he could almost see the wheels in the sergeant’s head turning. Before he could pose his next question, the sentry on top of the wall called, “Sergeant, I’ve got movement in the distance.”

“Well what is it?” asked the sergeant. “Tasidaran troops or Salidarian?”

The sentry peered harder into the distance. “Sergeant, I can’t rightly tell. They don’t even look like soldiers at all. If anything, it looks like a couple of farmers walking their dogs.”