The Dreaming Hunt (50 page)

Will had no more time to notice details for sharp claws raked across his thigh. The cuts were not deep but were intensely painful as he stumbled back. He reversed his hold on his staff and snapped the tip forward once more, this time in a neck-high blow that connected solidly with the one who'd sliced him. He didn't waste time swinging at the badger but just jabbed hard with his right-hand staff tip directly into the beast's face.

A crunch of bone told him he'd scored a serious hit. A painful shot of magic slammed into his back, and he hissed as Raina's combat healing found his leg wounds and cauterized them with searing, magical energy.

He jabbed back left with his staff, this time sending a blast of force magic down the copper veins of his weapon. His opponent staggered. From the left, Eben hamstringed the attacker's far leg, and the man went down, making horrible gasping noises.

Will half turned to finish off the badger, but Rynn had apparently already taken his opponent and was sweeping the badger's legs out from under him with a foot and then smashing a powerful fist into the side of the changeling's skull. The creature dropped like a rock.

Will was arrested by the look of complete serenity on Rynn's face as the paxan spun, fists held in front of him, seeking more opponents to crush with those fists of his. It was as if the paxan fought in some sort of trance. He had to give it to Rynn, though. The man was shockingly fast. And strong.

Will, too, spun, in search of more threats. But five shapes lay on the ground, two moaning, and three utterly still. “Let us tie them up before you start healing them, Raina,” he ordered.

Sha'Li, who knelt over the last body on the end, pulled back the creature's cloak. “Bah! Dominion scum,” she announced.

Dominion?
Will stared down at the black tabard on the changeling's chest. A clawed, white paw shone in the upper-right quadrant of the beast's chest, and four jagged red lines trailed down the tabard as if the claws had slashed their way up the fabric.

Will's jaw dropped. “What is
the Dominion
doing here?” The group held its own nation-state on the continent of Kentogen formed entirely of animal changelings bent on world domination. And they'd come to Haelos? Why? Surely with the intent to conquer and subjugate. Great. The Empire and the Dominion were going to end up fighting over his home like dogs over a bone.

“The Dominion landed one of their floating islands somewhere in the north of Haelos a while back. They brought over an expeditionary force to join the already-existing colony,” Rynn commented as calmly as if they discussed the weather.

What
already-existing Dominion colony? Why didn't all the colonists know about this supposed Dominion foothold on Haelos?

Quickly, they worked together to truss up their attackers tightly enough to immobilize them. Interestingly, Rynn tore off strips of the attacker's cloaks to blindfold and gag them, as well. Come to think of it, that was a good idea. It would limit the amount of information these Dominion creatures could tell their superiors about their little party of humanoids, and it would hamper their efforts to yell for help, assuming anyone was close enough to hear their cries.

Raina healed each of their attackers just enough to make sure none of them would die. After all, her mission was to defend life, not blooming health. Her tabard required her to keep any and all living beings alive, but no more. Sha'Li efficiently knocked each changeling unconscious as soon as Raina stabilized his or her health. They appeared to be two badger changelings, a wolf changeling, a bear changeling, and maybe a wolverine changeling. Will wasn't sure about that last one, but the fellow had two broad stripes of lighter-colored hair running from his temples to the back of his head that reminded Will of one of the secretive and aggressive creatures.

He and the others packed up their camp as the rain intensified, and they set out cautiously over the ridge. They found the Dominion party's camp perhaps a half mile beyond the ridge in a small depression that protected the spot from the wind, but it had also collected a fair bit of water. Slogging through the mud, they retrieved the changelings' packs and searched them, taking all the food they found, along with rope, another tarp, and a stash of healing potions.

They were all too keyed up to go back to sleep after the fight, and besides, it was probably for the best that they got well away from the changelings before those claws of theirs sliced their bindings. Rynn and Raina had done their best to angle the creatures' fists so their claws would not reach their own bindings. But eventually, the five would rejoin one another from where the party had dragged each of them, and then the ropes would be dispensed with in a few quick slashes.

Perhaps the tactic of tying up the Dominion changelings would buy them a few hours to lose the patrol. Sha'Li conferred briefly with Rynn, and the two agreed that the intermittently heavy rain would make tracking them nearly impossible. Instead of moving slowly enough for the lizardman girl to countertrack, the party opted to maximize their speed.

They'd learned long ago not to let Will set the pace. His long legs and tendency to forget that the others did not have his stride made him run away from the party too often. That and the Bloodroot part of him reveled in moving fast. It was probably a novel experience for a tree accustomed to spending its entire life rooted in one spot.

Rynn set off at an entirely sensible jog, while Will chafed behind him. The logic of Rynn's pace became apparent as the others maintained the steady pace for the next two hours with only short rest breaks every quarter hour or so.

They stopped when a leaden dawn began to lighten the east. The rain gave way to drizzle and finally to just a damp chill. They stopped to eat, and Rosana broke out the rations from the Dominion packs—surprisingly tasty hardtack bread and strips of peppery jerky.

Reflecting back upon the night's attack, Will had to say that the party had performed admirably well. He hadn't seen how everyone else dropped their attacker, but it had been efficient and fast, well within their capabilities. His own reflexes had been faster than ever, no doubt thanks to Krugar's tutelage.

He commented to the party at large, “I guess all that training we had to endure the past few months paid off.”

Eben offered him a palm, and Will smacked it with his own. The jann grinned. “Those Dominion fur balls won't be messing with us again.”

Rynn burst out angrily, “You have no idea what we've just done. The Dominion will come back with more warriors and crush us!”

“C'mon, Rynn. Don't be such a killjoy,” Will cajoled. “We won. Be happy.”

“We won nothing this day. We just made an enemy we cannot possibly hope to defeat. You are thoughtless
children
.” He spat the word out like it was a curse. “You have no concept of the forces you're up against. The risks you face. You have
no idea
how much rides on you succeeding out here, and yet you're crashing around picking fights you cannot win and crowing about how great you did.”

“Sheesh. Who tied your breeches in a bunch?” Will complained while the others stared at Rynn in stunned silence.

The paxan stared down each of them in turn. “Don't you understand?
Everything
depends on you. Centuries' worth of work is at stake here. People have died across multiple continents for generations to make what you're attempting possible. If you six complete your quest, maybe—just maybe—a rebellion has a chance of succeeding. But if you fail, all is lost. Everything will have been for naught. You hold the fate of us all in your inexperienced, naïve hands.”

Will stared as Rynn paced in his agitation, continuing to lecture, “So forgive me if I cannot share your enthusiasm over having kicked one of the most dangerous hornets' nests in existence. The Dominion is huge, powerful, and aggressive. They also happen to be one of the few armies on Urth who hate Maximillian as much as any of you.” He spun to glare at them all. “And you just made an
enemy
of them. How in the name of all that is blessed am I supposed to fix that?”

The party was silent in the face of his outburst. Will didn't know what to say. He'd had no idea that so much depended on them.

Eben frowned. “I thought we were just supposed to find some old elf and wake him up. And then our part will be done and this Gawaine guy will be in charge of organizing the whole rebellion thing.”

Rynn said in a terrible, low voice, “Don't you understand?
You are the rebellion
. The six of you. Everyone is pinning all their hopes on you. Just you.”

Will's jaw actually fell open a little. He glanced around at the others, and they all looked similarly shocked. He'd taken this quest seriously from the beginning—after all, his parents had died to set him upon it—but the whole rebellion was counting on them? They were the linchpin to it all? He caught himself gulping along with the others.

They were silent as they finished eating their cold breakfast and huddled together behind a quick, makeshift windbreak. The weather had turned cold overnight and felt as if it was going to get colder rather than warmer as the sun came up.

They took turns napping, and then they broke their mini-camp.

Sha'Li ribbed Rosana quietly about getting lucky and hitting one of the Dominion changelings with a curse spell, and a subdued chuckle passed among them. Will was abjectly relieved that the lizardman girl had broken the thick tension that had hung between them after Rynn's outburst.

In addition to the much-needed comic relief, Will was glad to hear that Rosana had actually hit a target in the stress of combat. When he'd first met her she'd panicked easily and tended to cast her magic wildly. Frankly, she'd been a menace to her friends in a fight.

Despite his lack of weapons, Rynn had been blindingly fast with his feet and hands. The paxan also had nerves of steel and demonstrated an ability to think on his feet. And despite the paxan's forecast of gloom and doom, the group had fought extremely efficiently. Everyone had gained more skill. All in all, it boded well for their safety and success going forward.

He should be pleased, right? Then why, as he lay down for a short nap, did a deep-seated sense of disquiet vibrate through him? As if the hornets' nest they'd just kicked was about to become very, very angry.

 

CHAPTER

25

Raina was sad when the open meadowlands gave way to light forest and more hills as they trekked east. Mostly they came across small farms scratched from the land by dint of grueling labor and sheer determination. The people were generally poor, dirty, and defiant. They would rather die out here of injury, disease, or simply working themselves to death than live under the fist of the Kothite Empire.

Her healing was a source of jubilation for most of the settlers they came across. A few expressed suspicion over her Heart affiliation, but nobody turned down her magic in the end. Health was too precious a commodity out here on the thinnest fringe of civilization.

When Sha'Li came running back to them from where she'd been scouting in advance of the party on a gray, drizzly afternoon with news that a village lay ahead, Raina was as stunned as any of the others. The forest around them was nothing like the mighty Forest of Thorns or even the dense tree stands of the Wylde Wold. This light forest was interspersed with clearings and small meadows. Sunlight and blue sky were visible, although today the view was silver strings of rain and clouds in varying shades of gray.

Weapons drawn and magic powered up, they rounded a bend in the rough path they'd been following. Indeed, an actual village sprawled in front of them. A lone man wearing a broad-rimmed straw hat trudged away from them pushing a handcart. Perhaps twenty structures huddled together along the muddy widening in the path.

“Is that a pub I see?” Eben murmured in glee.

Raina made out a wooden panel swinging from a post that might be in the shape of an ale barrel with a rough spigot. Smoke threaded lazily into the air above the shingled roof.

“We're being watched,” Rynn muttered.

Eben crowded Raina a little closer to Rosana, and they passed the first cottages in a tight, defensive cluster. These were lawless lands, and their safety rested upon their own alertness and skill.

They ducked into the building, named simply Pub. It was low ceilinged and dark, with a sluggish fire losing its battle to hold off the damp chill. Two long, narrow tables with bundles of straw for seats filled the space. Half the bales, the ones closest to the fire, were occupied. A human woman of improbably large height and girth came out of the back room with six brimming mugs clenched in her fists. She plunked them down in front of a cluster of patrons, splashing foam and ale on the table. If any humans were descended from giants, surely this woman was one of them.

She looked up, and surprise came across her features. Her stare locked on Rynn, and she smiled, revealing a nearly toothless grin. What teeth still clung to her gums were blackened and rotted. “'Ey now, pretty boy. Come close. Let Mama Flora look at ye.”

Raina smirked as Rynn winced faintly before pasting on his most dazzling smile. He said something inane about the barkeep being the most beautiful flower he'd ever beheld, and the woman simpered like a lass before laying a rib-cracking hug on the paxan. Raina faked a cough and threw a hand over her mouth to disguise the grin that broke across her face at seeing Rynn manhandled by their formidable hostess.

“Well met … madam … and might we … have some of … your fine ale?” Rynn managed to wheeze from the confines of Mama Flora's powerful arms.

“By all means. Park by the fire, my pretty boy. You scurvy dogs, scoot over,” she ordered the patrons nearest the fire.

“That will not be necessary, my lady,” Rynn interrupted. “Our vestments are warm, and we will be more comfortable over here, well away from the heat.” He moved to the back corner of the room hastily. Probably avoiding another bone-crushing embrace from the proprietress.