Even Gods Must Fall (12 page)

Chadra

Bahr reluctantly admitted he took comfort in marching alongside so many fighters. He’d grown accustomed to sneaking across kingdoms with his brave handful, always doing their best to avoid confrontation, stealing when necessary. It wasn’t a comfortable lifestyle but one he ultimately felt best given the dire situation he’d been roped into. Anienam’s arrival on his front porch all those months ago was no accident. Bahr had been guided and played from the very beginning. He began to wonder if Badron wasn’t part of this entire operation. Maleela admitted to not being kidnapped, but Bahr suspected his brother was behind staging the episode in order to facilitate his war.

He glanced to his right, noticing how close Ingrid and her swarthy-looking bodyguard were riding. She was a striking lady, leading him to question why she’d lower herself down to Orlek’s level. Whatever he was now, Orlek was dangerous. No doubt if Bahr bothered to check he’d discover a checkered-past filled with acts of murder or worse. Not that it mattered. Orlek was more than capable of taking care of both himself and Ingrid. Hooking up with him might have been her smartest move since abandoning Chadra. The rebellion needed hard people like Orlek. Delranan needed him.

Thoughts of his ancestral home disturbed the Sea Wolf. A very small part of his mind admitted missing his estate, and especially the
Dragon’s Bane
. Rumors and accounts of what had befallen Chadra bothered him more than he was willing to accept. All of his favorite childhood areas were more than likely destroyed. If Ingrid’s reports were correct, all but the Keep was gone. Bahr suddenly understood what needed to be done in order to clear his conscience and liberate his dreams.

“Ingrid,” he called softly. As good as it felt to be back in the saddle again, Bahr found himself almost missing their beat-up wagon.

She fixed him with her blue eyes, sparkling in the midday sun. “Yes, Captain?”

“How close do you figure we are to Chadra?”

“You can’t be serious,” she replied as her face visibly paled.

I wish I wasn’t. There’s too much pain and heartache waiting for me back home. Sadly, I can’t see any other way out and I owe it to my friends
. “I need to see it. I need to know what Harnin and our enemies have done, if for no other reason than my peace of mind.”

“Peace of mind?” Orlek asked. His voice echoed traces of impatience and…something else Bahr couldn’t determine.

“Bahr, you don’t understand what happened there,” Ingrid replied with shaky voice. “The sheer horror of…Bahr, I’m begging you, don’t go back home again. You won’t like what you find. The old Chadra is gone.”

“I understand that, Ingrid, but it’s something I must do. I…I can’t explain why,” he stammered softly. An old hurt resurfaced, causing more pain than he was willing to handle. “I may have turned my back on my family and my rights as firstborn son, but, as you are fond of reminding me, I am still a part of this kingdom. The only way to clear my mind is to see my city.”

Orlek’s face darkened at the memory of his final look at what little remained of Chadra. The rings under his eyes from lack of sleep made him look decades older. “It’s a dead city, Bahr. You’ll be dead as well if you dare step foot there.”

“He’s right. Harnin is a monster. He’s lost all control and any sense of morality he once possessed. You’re wanted. I’m sure he has a special death in mind for you and your friends.” Ingrid shook her head, failing to understand what would possess a person as intelligent as Bahr to willingly stride into death’s grasp.

Bahr smiled weakly. “Death holds no promise for me. Lord Death will come at his own good choosing. Live or die, I need to ensure I’ve done all I can to help this quest succeed. I don’t expect you to….”

“To what? Understand? You old fool. I once thought you were the hope of our kingdom. Clearly I was mistaken. Whatever demons you’ve confronted on your quest, they have claimed the best parts of you and left a broken soul in your place. I understand more than you ever will. I was there during the plague. I was there during the Wolfsreik raids that killed scores of my friends. Where were you? Off pretending to save the world?” Ingrid was breathing so hard she found it difficult to speak. Her shoulders heaved from the exertion of her speech. That anger once gave her focus, but now left her feeling deflated. The sudden urge to break down and cry conflicted with her emotions. “I watched Chadra die even as I tried to salvage it. Bahr, whatever it is you think you need to prove, it is a lie. Focus on your quest. Perhaps then you will be able to deliver Delranan the salvation it needs.”

Rebuked, the Sea Wolf stiffened his back and rode forward. Too many times over the course of the quest he’d been forced to abandon his own good instincts in the name of the greater good. While he found it nonsense, knowing there were a great many things he might have done differently, Bahr decided the greater good was what was important. Personal desires meant little if the world was about to fall. Trying to convince Ingrid or Orlek of that would be a monumental waste of his time. Time he didn’t have.

“There is nothing you can say that will dissuade me, Ingrid. I need to see Chadra for myself. I’m not asking your permission or assistance. This is my personal quest. Anienam will keep the others in line and heading towards Arlevon Gale,” he said with a measure of defiance. “Don’t bother trying to change my mind. It’s made up. This is something I must do.”

“Bahr,” Ingrid called out as he was already riding away. “Don’t enter the city. You won’t like what you find.”

The ride to the capital city, rather, what remained of it, was relatively short. Bahr spent those few hours in silent thought, commiserating how far his life had spiraled out of control. The more he thought, the more he began to realize how dissatisfied he was. Dejection gradually transformed into raw anger. He’d been viewing the situation wrong from the beginning. There wasn’t room for sorrow, not with so much on the line. Bahr had been manipulated from the beginning, forced to perform tasks to another’s liking. That ended now.

The Sea Wolf took all of his pent-up aggression and knew exactly where to funnel it: Badron. None of this would be happening if not for his brother’s lust for power. Badron was the reason behind the ruination of Delranan. Behind Bahr’s loss of home and love. Behind Maleela’s disappearance. Behind the war. Behind everything. No other option remained but to remove his brother from this world. Only that would have to wait until after he dealt with the Dae’shan.

Vultures circled over the dying city in droves. Great flocks of the black-feathered carrion eaters hovered, making their roosts on abandoned rooftops, swooping in to tear strips of flesh from already desiccated corpses. Crows and lesser, smaller birds drifted in and out of the surrounding area. The city was quiet, reminding Bahr of a graveyard. Standing in a grove of trees to avoid being spotted by patrols, Bahr stared out on his birthplace. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes as long-forgotten memories rushed back.

He’d laughed here. Played and loved. Wasted his youth on dreams of fancy. Chadra was the one place he had felt comfortable enough to call home. The sadness of those memories tormented his already fragile ego. A time of reckoning was fast approaching. One in which he prayed he had the strength to outlast all else.

Sweeping his spy glass across the city, Bahr struggled to maintain composure. A large portion of the buildings had been burned to the ground. He spied stacks of bodies lining the main road like firewood for a cold winter’s night. Wild dogs roved the streets in packs, fighting over the bodies in order to survive. The inhumanity of it revolted him.

“What has happened here?”

Bahr’s question wasn’t an easy one to answer, nor did he expect one. Nothing as foul as the scene played out before him was capable of being defined by any singular explanation. Any thought he once entertained of entering the city in search of survivors or friends was dashed away. There was nothing left to the once grand city. To say that it was a skeleton of its former glory was being kind. Bahr tried but failed to find one redeeming quality of his home.

Eventually he shifted his focus to the massive, wooden fortress built atop the hill overlooking the city. Chadra Keep had stood for centuries, ever the watchful guardian of her people. Built by the first colonists of Delranan, the Keep was intended to house the entire population. Records said that nearly one hundred and fifty people had dwelled within the walls at one point. As time progressed, the inhabitants pushed out to build homes of their own. Soon the city of Chadra flourished under the Keep.

Bahr never understood how the wood didn’t rot. He’d meant to ask Anienam during one of those rare down times during the quest but something else always seemed to pop up and steal the thought away. From what he could see, the Keep was largely untouched. Small fire marks scored the lower walls by the gate. Arrows studded the walls but the exterior of the Keep appeared as strong as it had always been.

He lifted his gaze to the tops of the walls where normally at least a score of guards would be visible. Instead he found nothing. No smoke drifted up from the dozen chimneys sprouting across the roof. The windows were shuttered. Doors all closed. A handful of bodies dressed in Wolfsreik armor swung lazily from the makeshift gallows emplaced on the eastern point. Bahr grew confused.

“Could Harnin have abandoned the Keep along with the city?”

Again there was no answer. Bahr’s only option was to either try and sneak into the Keep or ride back to link up with Ingrid and Anienam. He didn’t relish either. The mystery of what had happened in Chadra Keep would have to wait, for his sole purpose now lay in stopping the Dae’shan from destroying the world. With heavy heart, Bahr closed his looking glass and turned back to his horse. He’d seen all he needed to. It was time to get back to the others.

He found them halted along a small stream several leagues east of their last position. Their spirits buoyed upon seeing Bahr again, so soon after his departure. Dorl secretly thought the Sea Wolf was gone forever and with good cause. No sane person would want to stick around to end of the quest. Only heartache and suffering awaited. The sell sword smiled and clasped Bahr’s forearm.

“Welcome back.”

“Dorl, did I miss anything?” Bahr asked. He carefully avoided any conversation that might lead to his discovery. Some pains were too near the surface to be exposed readily.

Dorl opened his mouth and shut it just as quickly. Whatever question he had on his tongue stayed there. “The wizard’s grumbling again. Something about a proper meal. Ingrid doesn’t seem inclined on stopping for the night, however. It appears dinner is going to have to wait until after this mess is ended.”

“We’re a day and a half away from the ruins,” Bahr said. “Far enough away to risk camp fires but close enough to begin worrying about scouts. Caution is prudent.”

“Clearly you’ve failed to be around the wizard on an empty stomach.”

“I’m old, not stupid,” Bahr said and laughed.

The casual banter lightened the dread in his heart. The silence of his long ride back left him eerily disturbed, enough to have him constantly looking over his shoulder as if enemy eyes were upon him. Clearly Delranan was no longer his home. It was a strange, violent kingdom in which life and death were mere whim blown on the wind.

Dorl shrugged. “That remains to be seen. I think we all need to be a bit touched. What other explanation is there for sticking around this long?”

Bahr looked deep into Dorl’s eyes. He’d neglected the sell sword’s personal feelings this whole time, intent only on his own.
Yet another oversight I must correct
. “Dorl, I’ve been wrong to you. I know you want to leave and I don’t blame you. This quest, I fear, will claim all of our sanity before the end. Hard times demand hard people. There are no finer people I’d rather have with me at this hour.”

Dorl jerked back, a minute gesture but enough for Bahr to notice. Doubts sprang to life, prompting Bahr to wonder if his friend and loyal companion was already too far gone. “I…I don’t know what to say. The gods know I am ready to hang up my sword and abandon this life. All we’ve done shows me that death is the only way out. How can we possibly succeed when so much hatred is allied against us?”

“It’s been my experience that all are mired with petty hatreds. Overcoming them will be difficult and, as we’ve theorized, some of us might die, but we owe it to the rest of the world to stand up and fight for our beliefs. I can go to war but I can’t win without your support. You and Nothol have been my two most valuable assets since I hired you in Stouds.” Bahr shifted his weight to his opposite foot. Too many long hours in the saddle left his back sore and his legs restless. “Do you still have my back?”

Dorl didn’t want to respond. He wanted to take Rekka and flee south. Avoid the terrible fate the gods had decreed for them. But as much as it soothed his fragile conscience to want to leave, Dorl knew he couldn’t. Too much of his life was invested in those around him. He glanced over at Nothol, who pretended not to be eavesdropping. Rekka stood quietly beside the wizard, both staring in the opposite direction. Only Skuld dared look him in the eye, at least until the young thief noticed Dorl staring back and quickly dropped his gaze.

These are my friends. As much as I’d like to claim otherwise, I know I can’t abandon them now. All of our hardships and pain will have meant nothing if I choose to leave
. Dorl scoffed at his cowardice.
What sort of hero left his friends in the middle of the night during their darkest hour?
He refused to be that person. Integrity still held meaning for the sell sword. Even if it was going to get him killed.