Sworn To Transfer (26 page)

Grimly, Julius nodded. “It’s not only smoke. We haven’t received trade from the villagers in many days. Usually they would have brought their shares of milk, cream, and meat in exchange for our fabrics by now.”

“Have any of your people seen them?” questioned Vana.

“No,” replied Julius stiffly. “They prefer to come to us. We meet at the forest edge and barter there once a week.”

“This is troubling, Julius,” said Alexandra, coming forward.

“I seek permission to ride with four of my best warriors to survey the village,” Julius said while looking at the patriarch of the Panen.

“Permission given,” replied the old man, raising a stalling hand before Julius could take off. “The representatives from the Algardis Empire will ride with you.”

Thank the gods
, thought Ciardis,
We need to know what’s going on with those villagers. If they’ve been attacked by the
kith,
heaven help us.

“Very well,” replied Julius, looking to Vana and Meres. “Are you ready to ride?”

Meres turned to looked Vana, Alexandra, Ciardis and Terris, “Are we?”

Various affirmations met his inquiry.

“Then let’s ride. Everyone gather a pack and meet at the entrance in twenty minutes. We don’t know how long we’ll be gone so pack necessary items but keep it light.”

As Ciardis and Terris trailed Vana back to their homes Vana spoke to them, “I know it’s been an action-packed time for the two of you in just a few days. I hope you’re holding up well.”

They nodded as Ciardis commented, “I can’t imagine it getting even busier but Maree should be here within a day. A lot of the responsibilities will fall to her.”

“And you’ll be trailing behind her the whole time,” murmured Terris in commiseration.

Ciardis sighed. There was nothing she could say to that. She wasn’t looking forward to more of this.

Gathering their things the group was soon on its way to the village that was a mere hour’s ride from the forest border. Even before they reached the village, Ciardis could smell the smoke. As they drew closer and her eyes began to water, she drew up a scarf around her nose and mouth. There was nothing she could do for the sting in her eyes, however.

Riding onto the village main road, they were met with a stillness that was uncanny. There were no children in the streets or people going about their daily shopping in the market, and the homes had the empty look of abandoned buildings. Ciardis couldn’t help but shiver. Meres motioned for them to keep moving forward. Julius’s demeanor was alert. They rode toward the village square not knowing what they’d find.

In the center over what had once been the village’s pride and joy—a central stage for entertainment—rose a pyre at least ten feet tall with smoke still rising from it and flames that flickered in the vast pile. As they dismounted, they took in the horror before them.

Hundreds of bodies were thrown haphazardly onto the huge pile, wooden logs interspersed between bodies. Some of the flesh had escaped the inferno by falling to the base. The bravest of the group, including Julius’s warriors and Vana, took a closer look at the pyre. Even they couldn’t stay near it for very long – the stench of the burnt bodies lingered even now. But they all reported the same thing – slashes from that thrice-damned shadow creature marked every visible body.

“This must have burned for days,” whispered Vana, her mouth covered by a cloth.

“We would have known about it,” said Julius in denial as he walked around the pyre.

“No,” said Vana. “A Weather Mage has been here. I can see the remnants of the spell. It contained the blaze with walls of wind to this spot.”

Ciardis trained her eyes on the ground where a perfect large circle was outlined on the ground with black scorch marks.

“After they were through with their torch,” said Alexandra, “the wind was shifted, right?”

She looked to Vana for confirmation. The woman, who had turned a ghastly shade of white, nodded.

“There are very few villages between here and Sandrin,” Meres said thoughtfully as he dug a finger into a clump of ash on the ground.

“No one would have seen the smoke or alerted the courts,” he continued while dusting off his fingers. “Not from so far away.”

“What did you find?” said Alexandra as she looked at him sharply.

“The dead. The living dead,” he said finally.

“What?” whispered Terris.

Straightening his shoulders with a weary look, he said, “This mage, whoever it is, has trapped the souls of the dead in the ash of their bodies.”

“Mother light,” cursed Alexandra, backing away.

“Impossible!” said Vana. “No Weather Mage could do such a thing.”

“Which is why it wasn’t just a Weather Mage,” he said. “There’s a necromancer among us.”

O
n the other side of the empire, Maree Amber lit a large torch. She was two stories below the Imperial courts in the catacombs reserved for members of the Imperial families. She watched as the flames threw long shadows on the high walls and tombs around her. In front of her a gatekeeper brought out a large set of keys. She could see at least a dozen iron keys dangling on the large ring he shifted around. Finally finding the one he was looking for, he thrust the key into the old, iron gate. It opened with a long creak as he waved her through.

Shutting the gate behind him Maree Amber and the gatekeeper walked down a narrow slope to the banks of the underground river. Maree knew this river supplied all of Sandrin’s water supply as well as acted as a secret network of transportation under the city. While this was the main branch, a vast number of smaller rivers existed across the city. Many, she had no doubt, lay unexplored or were used by criminals for nefarious purposes. As long as the criminals left her alone she had no cause to inform the guard about them. Besides, she needed to keep the river network open. It was one of the many ways she was able to get informants and special deliveries in and out of the city.

Taking her seat on the old boat, she directed her power to push the skiff along. After some time she came to another dock, this one much more elaborate than the last. It had been landscaped with steps carved into the cliff, and a stone entrance awaited her at the top. When she reached the top, she noticed a pike man in passing. His gray attire and stiff stance made him appear to be part of the wall. Maree ignored him and waited for the door to open.

Swiftly she walked in and climbed the stairs, removing her hood. An empty room awaited her with a roaring fire at the head. Maree Amber took off her gloves as she moved forward to rub her hands before the fire. Minutes later she heard steps behind her. She turned to meet the brown eyes of the Emperor of Algardis, and dropped to the floor in obeisance.

“Get up, Maree Amber,” he said quietly. “Much is to be discussed tonight, and time is of the essence.”

Well, I guess formalities are out the window
, she thought.

“Very well, Sire.”

She hesitated briefly before continuing on, “If I may ask—why are we meeting here? The Shadow Council has always met in secrecy, but never in such darkness.”

“The answer is very simple. I do not trust all of our council.”

“Milord, they are all loyal and would die for the cause of the empire.”

He chuckled. “I think their definition of ‘the empire’ might not always consider myself or my heirs necessary.”

“I’m certain—”

“The Sahalians heard of the
kith
concerns from someone in this empire, Maree. I will not have further concerns spread beyond those necessary. What I’m about to show you could destabilize all that we have worked for.”

She waited for emperor to say anything further, but he just stared into the flames, watching the red, the gold, and the orange colors flicker.

He turned to face her, his face lit in profile by the flames, his high-collared military uniform cast in shadows with every movement of the fire, but nothing touched the weariness in his eyes, and the grim set of his lips.

“Milord?” she said.

“Let us go,” he said, leading Maree to a small door on the far side of the room. It was built in the stone and had escaped her notice before. A shadow peeled off the wall, one of the night
gardis
that protected the emperor from dusk until dawn. They were mages with the ability to blend and merge into any shadow, taking their weapons with them, and as such were well-suited to being the night guardians of the Imperial family. Without a word, the shadow man preceded the emperor to the door and then slipped underneath. A second night guardian smoothly opened the door to allow the emperor and Maree Amber to pass through to the small room beyond.

The room was filled with bodies. Humans laid out on tables in neat rows. They were at every stage of decomposition.

“How many?”

“Ten women and children,” the emperor said solemnly.

He pointed to the urns that lined the opposite side of the room. “And twenty-four men.”

Maree turned her eyes from the bones and fragments of hair still attached to the decayed skin to the urns that the Emperor had pointed to.

“Do you mean...?”

“They burned the men until they were nothing but ash and then tied their souls to the remains. I called in the Ashlord to confirm.”

At that name Maree turned pale as snow; the Ashlord was one of the most feared men in existence, a necromancer with command over the dead and dying.

“I thought he was ordered to the battlefields of the North.” A question that was really a statement. As close as she could get to reprimanding the man who ruled the entire empire.

If the emperor noticed the reprimand, he didn’t say anything about it. “Extraordinary circumstances,” he said in a voice that was too quiet.

Pursing his lips, the emperor continued, “Furthermore, the Ashlord was quite clear: he’d never encountered anyone with the power over the living and dead like this. Other than himself.”

“There’s another with the power to reanimate the dead and their souls?”

The emperor shook his head. “As far as we can tell, this person is only able to manipulate souls. They are living dead only in the sense that their souls have been trapped in the ashes of their corporeal forms.”

A quiet pause as Maree Amber took this in. “Are you saying a Shadowwalker has risen?”

“I had hoped otherwise, but—”

“Is this a killer that you wish the Shadow Council to remove?”

“Rather a systematic murder that I wish you to solve. All of these bodies come from the village of Borden ten miles west of the Ameles Forest,” he said.

“May the heavens protect us,” she whispered.

“They were sent as a warning from the
kith
that if the killings among their people don’t stop, the deaths of humans will continue.”

“Does anyone else know about this?” she asked quietly.

“I’ve brought my son here. He will go with you to the Ameles Forest. This must end before more blood is shed.”

She nodded, and as he turned away she asked, “Sire, does Sebastian know? About the Shadow Council?”

He gave a heavy sigh and replied, “Not yet. It will be time soon, but that time has yet to come.”

*****

I
n the palace the Prince Heir in question was staring down at a book on the legends of the
kith
. For centuries researchers had learned what they could about the inhuman races that lived in the empire, but most were reclusive creatures and preferred to keep their secrets. The books held drawings, diagrams, and written backgrounds on all those who had been catalogued but he had yet to find a creature who killed in the manner of the ‘shadow man’ described in Meres Kinsight’s missive.

Perhaps if he could see the wounds up close it would be easier to diagnose. Perhaps they were wrong and it was a form of mass hysteria; there were more than enough potent flora and fauna in the Ameles Forest to cause such a disturbance. Shutting the book with an angry sigh, Sebastian rubbed his tired eyes and sat back. He’d been at this since dawn, when his father had shown him the human village that had been massacred and given him the letters to read.

He knew full well that if the
kith
murders weren’t solved soon, then this could blow up into another mage-
kith
war. In fact, he was surprised news had yet to get out about deaths of all of the villagers in Borden. It had been an act of retribution, and the only reason he thought hysteria hadn’t spread was because the bodies had been dumped on the emperor’s doorstep—literally. The guardians on watch had been smart enough to secure the scene and await orders from the commander of the Imperial Guard. It had only taken one look to assure the Imperial healers than every person in that courtyard was long dead, and then the remains had been whisked away underground until it could be determined where the bodies came from, who they were, and why they were sent.

Now it was up to Sebastian to figure out how to stop it. His father was deploying a regiment—ostensibly to guard the Prince Heir outside the capital of Sandrin, but really to ensure that no skirmishes erupted between the human settlers and the
kith.
He packed up a book and grabbed several maps of the region. It was time to meet with the regiment commander.

As Prince Heir Sebastian was heading through the palace into the military barracks, the regiment commander was making some decisions of his own.

*****

R
egiment Commander Gabriel Somner stood at the head of the table poring over a map of the empire of Algardis. It was richly detailed with depictions of natural occurrences, major villages, and cities, as well as the largest thoroughfares. To his left stood Stephanie, a nervous look on her face. To his right stood Christian, his younger brother.

“Even if I wanted to take you with me, what’s so important that the two of you need to come on an official Imperial visit to the Ameles Forest? Hell, there’s nothing out there but trees and
kith
.”

“Perhaps I just wanted to spend some quality time with my brother,” Christian said, giving him a winning smile.