The Crow King's Wife (36 page)

“Azashy, he threatened to cut off your
fingers last time you refused him. Do you honestly expect me to sit
idly by while he mutilates you?” Remedy objected. He could feel his
stomach coiling at just the thought of watching Azashy tortured.
There was a fragile friendship building between them, and he wasn’t
the sort to sit silently by while a friend was in pain.

“My suffering is a very small price if the
Bloody Huntsman succeeds today. Please Remedy. Please promise me
that you will help me in this. Myth is more powerful than both of
us. We can’t win against him, but others can. He won’t kill me. I’m
too useful to kill. He will try to break me, but with your help I
won’t be truly broken.” Azashy’s voice took on such a note of
pleading that he found himself nodding slowly.

“The Bloody Huntsman is your Godson?” He
asked softly. In the world beyond their shared dream he could hear
the sliding door opening followed by Myth’s soft footsteps. There
was a faint sound of bedsprings as Azashy sat up from the cot she
had been resting on. His own body was tucked safely away in the far
corner and well hidden by the mind fog.

“He is.” Azashy confirmed proudly. Her dark
eyes flashed as she smiled widely at him. “He is the most beautiful
mistake I’ve ever made. He is the sort of hero that Caspian himself
could never equal, and he will be one of the lynch pins that holds
this broken world together. If he survives today that is, and I
will do everything in my power to see that he does.” Her words rang
with promise as she turned her gaze away from him. She stared
toward the web filled window and her eyes locked on the slowly
crawling form of the Wraith spider. “Help me spin a beautiful web
of lies little one.” She whispered as her attention faded from the
dream.

Azashy hadn’t waited for more than his nod
before focusing on Myth. Perhaps she had glimpsed the resignation
in his eyes Remedy reasoned as he forced his own mind to stop
whirling. He had a lot to focus on and very little time to focus.
Myth was dangerous and he had to work quickly if he was truly going
to help Azashy protect her secrets.

“I have a few questions Azashy.” Myth’s voice
rang loudly through the small room beyond the dream.

Remedy closed his eyes and focused his mind
on Azashy. With practiced ease he moved past the dream they shared
and into her mind itself slowly gathering her secrets to him and
locking them beyond her reach. Once he was done she would not be
able to betray her loved ones no matter what Myth did. The
information simply wouldn’t be there. Even if Myth forced her to
gather it anew Remedy would be watching and the secrets would
vanish before Azashy could even open her mouth. This was not a new
game for him. He knew very well how to keep secrets from being
shared. He had performed this exact service for Vaze a hundred
times or more. Only then it had been against Lutheron, and if a
Divine couldn’t force the truth, Myth didn’t have a chance of
succeeding.

Rivana

The ship settled uneasily into the sandy
riverbed. It was far from an ideal landing spot but it was the
closest he could get to the city without risking his ship being
spotted by scouts. They would still have a substantial walk to
reach Prendington, but it was the only option he had seen that
offered any hope of stealth. With a sigh Shade leaned back from the
controls and turned to Caleb with a pleading look. He had tried to
talk reason to him before they left Delvay, but the man hadn’t
listened. Now was his last chance, and he had spent the entire
flight inventing ways to manage the day without Caleb dying. He had
several ideas and he was certain they would work even if they
weren’t conventional plans. The difficult part would be getting
Caleb to listen.

“No.” Caleb snapped before he could even open
his mouth to speak. The Arovan rose from his seat and stretched
with a look of mild irritation on his handsome face. He had changed
from his uniform the moment they had left Delvay and the chain mail
he wore now rattled softly as he moved. He wore no insignia on the
armor, and Shade couldn’t even determine where it had been crafted.
It had no special touches to it whatsoever and as far as Shade
could tell it wasn’t even magical. It seemed too common for a man
like Caleb, but when Shade had questioned him about it Caleb had
only shrugged in response.

“But Caleb we could…” Shade began
quietly.

“No Shade. There is too much you don’t
understand about this.” Caleb cut him off coldly before he could
finish. With a heavy breath he gathered his cloak from the back of
his seat and walked toward the door.

“I understand my friend is about to suicide
for the sake of his honor.” Shade snapped as he rose as well. No
matter how much thought he put into it, Shade couldn’t figure out
why Caleb was so set on the path of Kevala’drin. The knowledge that
his daughter was still alive should have given him a reason to
live, but it hadn’t.

“Leave off Shade. We do things my way.
Syrah’s life is at stake and I refuse to take risks of any sort.”
Caleb replied with forced calmness. With an angry snap of his wrist
he shook his cloak out and fastened it around his shoulders. “I go
into the city. You, Zoey, and Dray follow me through the gates
invisible. I will lure Derrick to us and ensure he brings Syrah.
Once Derrick arrives Zoey and Dray head off to find the prisoners
while you wait for a chance to kill Derrick. I will make it look as
though I’m sending Syrah away with magic but I will simply send her
to you, Shade. I can’t actually teleport her out of the country,
and even if I could I wouldn’t. I’m not strong in arcane magic and
there is a very good chance they will have several mages waiting
for me to send her off so they can snatch her from the transport.
She will be safer if you find her a place to hide before you kill
Derrick. The moment you have the man’s head gather Syrah and go to
meet Zoey and Dray. Once you have all of the prisoners on the ship,
you leave.”

“And just abandon you to die then?” Shade
snapped as his frustration with the plan crested. It was the same
thing he had done to Jala when she needed his help and the fact
that Caleb was suggesting he repeat the mistake was salt in an old
wound. There was no way for Caleb to know that however, and that
made the argument that much more difficult. He didn’t have time to
explain his objection to Caleb now, and when he had tried earlier
Caleb had ignored him. It was all so damn frustrating it made him
want to snarl and curse like Neph.

“Easier to argue with a stone and you would
have more chance of winning.” Zoelyn mumbled as she rose from her
seat. The expression on her face was one of defeat and Shade could
tell just from looking at her that she was already imagining Caleb
dead.

“I like the plan right up until the point of
me abandoning a friend.” Shade grumbled.

“I don’t care if you like the plan, Shade. I
care if you follow it.” Caleb snapped. His glowered at Shade and
took a half step forward. “And you will follow it. I saved your
life in our prison and I’m calling in that debt. You will pay me
back today by saving my daughter.”

“You are a stubborn ass.” Shade snapped
before giving a grudging nod. “Fine, if everything plays out the
way you expect it to then I will follow your plan. If something
unexpected happens I will make my own choices without wasting time
to consult you.” He added firmly and found himself silently praying
that something unexpected would happen. He had no desire to follow
the plan at all and today was quite possibly the only day he would
ever cheer complications arising.

“I suspect that is the best I’ll get from you
so I accept it. I will hold you to your word Christian Morcaillo.”
Caleb’s voice was low and Shade could clearly hear the hidden
threat.

“Fine, now explain to me how you are going to
simply walk into the city. I may not have recognized you as the
Bloody Huntsman, but I bet there are a few in Rivana that will.”
Shade said lightly. There was no real reason to press the point of
Caleb’s plan or his threat. Zoey was right, the man was
unreasonably stubborn.

“I find myself more concerned with how you
expect us to keep a very young child silent while her father is
dying. We will need her to be quiet to sneak off and I don’t see
how we can ask that of her.” Dray said calmly before Caleb had a
chance to open his mouth.

Shade seized the moment and pointed quickly
at Dray. “He has a very valid point. Are you expecting me to club
your kid to keep her quiet, because I won’t.”

A faint smile formed on Caleb’s lips as he
shook his head slowly at them. “Syrah is my daughter. She will
understand what I am doing.” He spoke with such sincerity that
Shade found himself at a loss of words. “As to the other question…”
Caleb began as he pulled a small black dagger from his backpack. At
first glance it looked like polished obsidian but as Caleb lifted
it free of the last leather strap on his bag it began to writhe in
his hand.

“Shadowsteel.” Shade breathed as he watched
the dagger elongate and shift until it was vaguely sword shaped. It
was nearly impossible to keep himself from reaching to touch it. He
had been obsessed with Vaze’s armor and only the thought of
actually touching Vaze without permission had kept him from pawing
over the Shadowsteel then. He wanted desperately to know more about
the metal, but now was not the right time to ask. Even knowing
everything that was about to happen and what he should be focusing
on Shade still found himself envisioning his ship covered with the
beautiful black gleam of the sword before him. With a mental curse
Shade forced his hands behind his back and clasped them tightly as
he watched the edges sharpen and small details begin to appear
along the blade until the object in Caleb’s hand solidified into a
long sword. It was a weapon unlike any Shade had ever seen before.
There was no groove where the blade met the hilt and the details of
the weapon were breathtaking. Each rune on the blade was too
perfect to have been crafted by human hands and the gleam along the
edge spoke with deadly clarity. He had no doubt that Caleb’s sword
would slice through armor as easily as a hot knife through
butter.

Caleb’s expression was guarded as the shadows
of the blade rose and swirled around him. The white tips of his
hair darkened to pitch black while his skin changed from pale to
sun baked bronze. His features blurred for a moment and then
reformed into something far cruder eliminating all trace of his
Elder Blood. The armor that had seemed too common just minutes
before now suited him perfectly. To the casual observer he looked
like nothing more than a simple mercenary. There was no trace of
Caleb Faulklin left at all in the leathery skinned warrior standing
before him.

“Won’t they see through illusion?” Zoelyn
asked hesitantly.

“This is Shadow magic. The only one that
could see through this disguise is Vaze and I highly doubt he will
inform the Rivasans who I truly am.” Caleb replied quietly as he
removed the common steel blade from his sword belt and slid the
beautiful Shadowsteel sword into its place. With a sigh he tossed
the steel sword onto one of the empty chairs and adjusted his cloak
to cover the fine black hilt at his side. Without a word he lifted
his bag from the floor and turned for the ship’s door.

“Caleb.” Shade said urgently as he
frantically searched his mind for some last words he could offer
that might save his friend.

“Leave it, Shade. Please.” Caleb’s voice was
soft and he didn’t bother glancing back or slowing his steps.

Shade closed his mouth and bit back the words
he had been about to speak as he watched Caleb step from the ship
taking the last opportunity to talk sense with him as he left.
“Well that’s that then. We have our orders.” Shade muttered as he
glanced back to Zoey and Dray.

“Stubborn as a rock.” Zoelyn mumbled as she
shouldered her own bag. Dray rose beside her and they both smiled
weakly at Shade as they headed for the door.

“Hate to do this to you buddy.” Shade sighed
as his eyes moved to the goblin. The creature was crouched near the
pilot’s seat and had stayed unusually quiet from the moment they
had landed. “What I’m going to be doing today is incredibly stupid
though and you will be better off staying out of it.” He crouched
down in front of the creature and it moved closer to him with a
hopeful expression lighting its dark face. “Is there ever a point
you aren’t hungry?” Shade muttered as he pulled a piece of jerky
from his coat pocket. He had taken to stashing the stuff everywhere
since the goblin never seemed to be full and he never knew when he
would need to offer it food to keep it on good behavior. The
creature took it greedily and was instantly absorbed in gnawing
small pieces from the dried meat. “Bet you are going to be pissed
when I wake you up again.” Shade muttered as he summoned magic and
stored the creature in a stone.

He stood slowly and dropped the stone into
his pocket as the loud screech of a hawk rose from just beyond the
ship’s door. Curiously Shade walked to the edge of the steps and
leaned against the door frame just in time to see a shadow pass
over the ground. He gaze moved upward as the bird circled once more
and after a moment he caught a glimpse of a second form in the sky.
It was slightly larger than the first but still birdlike in form.
The hunting screech rose again and to Shade’s astonishment he
realized it was Caleb making the noise rather than the birds. He
stood several feet from the ship as well as his companions and his
attention was focused entirely on the hawks above him. The shadows
passed across the ground once more as the birds circled lower and
Caleb lifted one of his arms in response. With a faint screech the
smaller of the two birds dove and landed heavily on Caleb’s
outstretched arm.