The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (27 page)

“I serve Alden,
the
father of sacrifice. Now let my friends go!” James sidestepped, the ghost and he walking circles in the ruins under gray skies.

“The son has no power here, you are mistaken, knight. And you must not enter.” The haggard woman with one arm rushed in flight toward James.

He
swu
ng his griffon blade, yet she had vanished and reappeared behind him. He rolled to the left, stood and swung again, yet she was inhumanly fast now with a strange fear in her dark eyes. His blade caught air, and she dove straight for his tabard, hand grasping for the red feathered cross on his chest.
Just as she went to pass through him, he grabbed for her head with his glowing blue hand. His thumb was on her ear, fingers across her face, he felt her as if she were real
, and
the blue glow intensified.

“I release you, tell your mistress you are forgiven and at peace!” James focused on healing the woman, the ghost with no flesh, and the blue light smothered her body. Starting with her head, the ghostly visage became dust that poured to the stone at his feet. He felt her power fade, heard her screams of agony and ecstasy the same, and watched as her form solidified only to disintegrate by his hand.

“
The mother! Tell the Knights of the Crescent
that
Seirena comes
for her son
and revenge
! She is guised as
…tell
….
Aaaahhhhhhhh!”
The spectre of the woman screamed warnings to the empty air as she turned to dust, then she was gone.

The blue light faded from his hands and blade. James was frozen, his hand grasping what was no longer there, sword ready in a high guard. He blinked, then looked over to his friends. They shook their heads and blinked as well, then they stood quick and turned around.

“What happened, where did she go?” Shinayne twirled her blades and searched with her senses and eyes, she saw nothing of the old woman.

“James, ye’ allright son?” Zen spun, hammer in one hand, hammer and moons in the other. He heard it,
howling and screams far in the city, not in any language he understood.

“She is gone, I released her.” James relaxed, yet heard the sounds as well.

“What are they chanting, that noise I hear?” Saberrak huffed, still shaking his head to clear his mind. For many moments, he had felt being here was hopeless and that he would die here, or was already dead. He looked around for the old woman, growling, knowing she had done something to him and his friends. The chanting was louder now, mens voices.

“
Sssshhh
.” Gwenne listened closely. “It is in ancient Altestani, they are preparing for war. They are praying to Yjaros, praying to be blessed in battle by God against the invaders that have dared cross the storm.
Five
…invaders…to be exact. Servants of the one eyed…
mother
?”

“We need to seek cover, and no more talking to ghosts.” James pulled his shield from his back and marched up with his friends.

Stomping boots and opening gates of steel could be heard from the inner ruins, sound that denoted this was no apparition. Horses whinneyed, men yelled to other men, and sandstone dust kicked into the air from near the temples. No one waited to see what it was. The five companions ran to a nearby inn, partially collapsed, and entered through the missing door.
More yells and battle cries in a tongue only Gwenneth could understand went out through the ruined city.

“They are calling to the one who masks himself with deception, that hides with the torn one yet worships a woman? And---“

“---And the one that killed the priestess of Arabashiel, the one that committed blashphemy against God. I understand it perfectly, and I do not care for this place.” Saberrak Agrannar the gray put his back to a wall inside the structure. He looked at James with a serious curiosity as to what he had done to the ghost. The minotaur received the same look from his friends, especially Gwenneth, as to how he could know what was being spoken in the ancient tongue of Altestan.

Hidden in the shadows of a a forgotten inn, just inside the outskirts of Mooncrest, the five waited for an army they had not yet seen to come for them. No one spoke, but everyone was praying to someone or something, even Gwenneth.

Underground Sewer Tunnels, City of Harlaheim

“Should heroism be based on the sum of one’s failures, the world would have no hope.
Men would then fear to stand.
Heroes are made from
their
defeat
, it is why we carry on when no one else would dare.”
---words of Sir Foltaires the Pure, Holy Knight of Alden, last bearer of the Shield of Shanador. Spoken while Saint Tarumin knighted his forty three remaining men at the Battle of Arouland
, one hour before they
face
d
the
surrounding
Altestan Armadas numbering
over two hundred thousand
strong
.
Circa 0
A.D.
day of the reckoning flood.

“What do you mean
he is gone
, where did he go? Damn it all!” Balric D’vrelle
even
ran faster through the unlit tunnels
, seeing nothing besides the two men beside him
.

“If I knew that, I would not be searching every tunnel by torchlight, now would
I
,
Harlian? And no cursing.”
Lord
Rodreigo dell Amarr swished his torch to the left, nothing. He kept on ahead
, curved and decorated shamshir in hand
.

“Tracks, I see muddy tracks on the stairs there, to your left.” Sir Sebastian
Caunerier
, the recent Lord Knight Errant,
sprinted a
head, spotting muddy bootprints, a recent sign
of passing
.
While ascending the lower steps to fetch their meals,
Richmond the Second had slipped out from
the tower of Kalzarius
this morning, had ma
de it through the ancient tombs
and found a
secret passage into the sewers.

“I see them, hurry.” Balric
turned left and ran harder. He
had stopped Richmond,
the
former king o
f Harlaheim
, from slitting his wrists twice this past
two
week
s
. His misery at hearing of Phillip taking his throne, rumor of war with Willborne, and his drinking
as result,
had been exhausting
for those that protected him in hiding
to deal with.

Up the stairs they went, far from the safety of Kalzarius
’ tower
and
the wizard Cilano. Covering their faces, following torchlight, they
now
all
reeked
of all the delights the sewers had to offer.
The trail was easy to follow in the thick sludge, whether moist or hard, and after almost and hour they could hear footsteps ahead. Another three turns and climbs of stairs and there was a glimmer of torchlight not far off.

“Richmond!” Balric yelled down the corridor which was now leading up to central Harlaheim. He knew these tunnels well from his early days undercover in the White Spider.

“My king, stop!” Sebastian called out, still loyal despite all that he now knew of his sire.

Bright light blinded them, the light of a sunny day poured in as a sewer grate slid open to the city streets above.
The tunnel crawled with roaches, rats, and things one would not notice without such light. For a moment, it was horrifying.

Smash!

Clank!

Darkness reigned once more as the three men reached the ladder, their feet crunching on broken glass from a tossed bottle of wine
, empty for certain
. Rodreigo climbed first, passing the torch back to Sebastian and drawing a curved dagger and placing it between his teeth.
Sir Sebastian passed the light back to Balric and climbed next. The Harlian swordsman spy did not hesistate, dropped the torch as Sir Rodreigo slid open the metal disc, and rushed up the ladder. They all squinted a second time as daylight and fresh air hit them square
in their faces
.

Up onto Meudaives Street, the northern district of the city, the three scuddled into an alley behind the merchant bazaar. Jewelry and charms to their right, exotic furs to their left, and everywhere there were thousands perusing and huddling in and out of shops and carts.

“We will never find him here, impossible.” Sebastian muttered.

“I am more worried about someone finding
us.
There are likely five
hundred men at arms throughout the northern markets on Solumday
morning
. Everyone in Harlaheim knows the best prices are today
, before the end of the week when
the pubs overfill with
lazy
merchants spending their coin.
Guar
ds and people will be double normal.
We need to blend in
.” Balric looked to Rodreigo and eyed the Caberran man’s bracelets, chains of gold, jeweled earrings, and small but full coinpurse.

“Very well, as you
noble
Harlian men of the feathered cross are with less, Cab
erra will offer assistance.” Lord
Rodreigo crept out of the alley and skulked over the to carts with robes, furs, and everything made of cloth and exotic animal pelts.

Sebastian rubbed his shaved head and stroked his goatee.
His king was getting further away by the moment.
He pulled the
tabard depicting the crowm and rose of Harlaheim off, drew his heavy rapier, and marched out of the alley. A firm hand on his arm stopped him. He looked up to the ominous shadows of the sky rising buildings, feeling smaller than ever under the immense construction of his ages old city. With a shrug of his shoulder, the once knight
,
now wanted vigilante
,
spun away from Balric.

Slam!

Balric anticipated the del
ayed maneuver and planted Sir Se
bastian into the wall, forearm under his chin, held tight.
“You go out there, crown and rose or not, and you will be noticed.”

“I will not hide away forever while my king tries to take his life, or worse,
to
be found by those that will take it for him.”

“He is no longer king, and the three of us are all that remain loyal to keeping him alive.
Kalzarius helps, but he is not going to fight for Richmond.
If you are found,
we are found
, and the guillotine is the best offer we could hope for then,
knight
.”

“Then the blade and the basket it is
, spy
. I do not fear death, and the last shred of honor and chivalry I have left is with---“

“Do not try upon my conscience, I know what ideals you serve. I serve the same, just by different methods. I pray for forgiveness from Alden,
I have loved, served, and lost all,
same as you, Sebastian.”

“Then why do you hesitate, why am I the one that feels to run after him and to hell with the chances of capture?”

“Because that illusion, the
dream
of knowing you serve something better than any other, has left me. Long ag
o in fact. I sought to bring that
corruption down, so that I may feel it again. You still search for it in
Richmond
.” Balric lowered his fierce gaze from Sebastian’s eyes and breathed out. His clenched jaw relaxed, just a bit. “I wish I felt as you did, unfort
unately I have replaced hope with
fact
.”

“Then let me go after him.” Sebastian let his tension down a notch as well.

“We will all go after him, just wait.
You have led half the men in Harlaheim in one form or another, your fame
as a knight and as a wanted man
will be our ends should you be recognized.
”

“
Why
? Why do you wish to save him? You and Rodreigo had missions to do just the opposite, one from the Aldane and one from Caberra.”

“I do not know why, but if either of us wished him dead, it would have been done.
I know the alternative, I know Johnas Valhera, and I will be damned if I sit and let him rule my homeland
, whether here on the throne or the shadow behind it
.
You cannot do this alone. We wait for Kalzarius to return from his friend in the mountain
, as agreed. No one needs die here, not yet.” Balric turned toward the street, a man in brown monk robes lined with fur approached, hood covering his head in the heat and a walking stick in his hand.