The Halfblood King: Book 1 of the Chronicles of Aertu (14 page)

“I’ll do my best,” Aleron replied, as he dismounted with bow in hand.  He winced as the bow forced his forearm to twist against the shaft piercing it. 
I’ll have to remember not to do that again. 
Luckily, he was wearing a Chebek forearm buckler, with an arrow pass cutout, so he did not need to remove it to shoot.

The goblins jeered at him, one yelling, “What you gonna do, Man-child, kill us all with your little bow.”  That one died with an arrow up one apelike nostril and a second one went down with a shaft through the eye.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” he replied, as a third took an arrow through the heart.  With three of their comrades down in just a few seconds, the goblins began shouting in their own tongue and scurrying for cover.  The dogs still circled the perimeter and Aleron picked them off, one by one, as he circled just within the blue light.  A goblin tried to climb into a tree and Aleron shot him through the armpit.  It fell squealing to the ground.  It was then, that Aleron noticed something, tendrils of blue light connecting every living thing in the vicinity to Hadaras.  The energy the old sorcerer wielded was life force, concentrated and directed.  He was even drawing it from the goblins.  He saw too, that the dead and dying goblins and dogs had a different energy about them.  Along with their actual blood, there was a crimson glow about them and as he looked about, the faint crimson was present all about him.  It was the color of death, just as natural as that of life, the two existing side-by-side.  He stretched out his hand toward the pool of red about a recently deceased goblin and found he could move it to his will.  He set down the bow, closed his eyes, felt for the red energy all around him and began drawing it to himself.

“Aleron, no!” Hadaras shouted, finally noticing what the boy was doing.  “You cannot wield that magic, it’s too dangerous!”

“Trust me, Grandfather; it’s as natural as rain, just a little unruly.”  He drew the red energy to himself and formed a vision in his mind.  He directed the red magic and it obeyed, forming a deep pool along the bottom edge of the blue dome and then sheeting up the dome, combining with the blue to form a deep maroon color.  “Do you remember what I used this color for in my dream, Grandfather?”

After a moment, he replied, “Yes.”

“Good, on the count of three, let go of your magic and let me take over, all right?”

“All right, Aleron, on the count of three,” Hadaras agreed, raising his sword to guard, ready for the worst.

“One…two…three!” Aleron counted, shouting the last number.  He took control of the power, as Hadaras released his grip.  The maroon dome reformed into a torus and flashed outward. Trees uprooted as a wall of earth and timber moved outward in a wave.  They heard the muffled screams, as the remaining goblins were buried and crushed.  The unmounted horses spooked, but quickly discovered that there was nowhere for them to run.  They stood upon a small flat island, at the center of a massive crater, plowed into the bedrock.  Aleron dropped to one knee, a sudden wave of dizziness overcoming him.  As was common, his first time wielding magic left the boy physically spent.  Eventually, he would need to learn to meter the flow of energy through his body, to be able to maintain sorcerous effort over time.

Hadaras leapt off the horse, then quickly cast about to sense for any remaining goblins.  Those he could sense were rapidly expiring beneath the heaped mass of soil, rock and timber.  “Buried alive,” he muttered aloud, “damn sad way to go, even for a goblin.”  Sensing no imminent danger, he hurried over to Aleron.  “Let’s have a look at that arm now.  How do you feel, lad?”

“I’m a little woozy, Grandfather, but I think I’ll be all right.”  After the effort of speaking, he lurched forward and emptied the contents of his stomach onto what was left of the road.  “Or not,” he added, between spitting.

“If you can talk, you will be fine,” The old elf assured him.  “Wielding magic is tough on the body, until you learn to control it.  That was a massive amount of energy you just directed.  With that much coursing through your body at once, it’s difficult to conserve your core life-force and use only what is around you.”  He knelt down and took up Aleron’s shield arm.  With a flicker of blue radiance, he sliced the splintered shaft off smooth.  Carefully, he unbuckled and removed the shield and laid it aside.  “It’s a barbed point, so I need to pull it through; all right?”

“I’ll be all right, Grandfather,” he answered, but looked away as Hadaras prepared to remove the object.  He felt a sharp pinch as he yanked shaft free, followed by a dull throbbing ache in his forearm.  “That wasn’t so bad,” he said looking back to see the blood welling through the hole in his leather vambrace.  He looked away again, narrowly avoiding losing the remainder of his breakfast.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t poisoned and the bleeding is good; it cleans out the wound.  Also lucky it wasn’t a broadhead, or you would be bleeding a lot more than you are.”  Hadaras removed the vambrace and said, “Let me get something to wrap the wound.”  As his grandfather moved to the horses, to retrieve a dressing from the baggage, Aleron took a deep breath and looked back to his injured forearm.  An idea occurred to him and he formed a mental image around it.  Hadaras sensed a fresh unleashing of magic and turned to see Aleron, his face set in concentration, with a golden yellow glow emanating from the wound on his arm.  The glow then infused his entire body for a moment, before winking out.  Hadaras grabbed a water skin and, foregoing the bandage, strode back to his grandson.

“I think I’m good now, Grandfather,” the youth told him as Hadaras returned.  “I feel pretty good now, actually.”  Hadaras noticed the paleness he had seen earlier on the boy’s face replaced by its normal healthy glow.  The forearm was still bloody, but the wound appeared to be gone. 

“Let me wash off that arm and take a look.”  He poured water on Aleron’s arm and scrubbed the blood away, rinsing his hand and the forearm clean.  He saw barely a trace of the puncture left on the boy’s arm.  “Can you move it and roll your wrist like before?” 

Aleron rotated his wrist several times and stated, “Yes, it seems fine and doesn’t even hurt at all now.  I think I feel better than I did before I got shot.”

“That was healing magic you just used and you likely healed everything that was amiss, including fatigue,” Hadaras informed him.  “I’ve seen it used in the past, but only by the Aelient and Aelir, never by a mortal.  You are full of surprises this morning.  Now we need to get the path back in order, so we can move along.  When that raiding party fails to return, the goblins will send out another, to find out why.

With the coaching of his grandfather, Aleron once again harnessed the maroon colored energy and dragged the soil, rock and debris back into the crater, more carefully this time.  Unfortunately, this action unearthed most of the goblin and dog carcasses, along with much splintered timber.  Hadaras used his blue fire to dispose of the corpses and debris.   Aleron helped with the burning, though he was not as efficient as the elder sorcerer was.  He also used the maroon energy to reduce some of the larger rubble, in order to clear a path.  When the work was complete, a large ring of rubble and ash surrounded their little island and Aleron was once again exhausted.  “Saddle up lad,” Hadaras called to him, “We need to put some miles between us and those goblins.  They will know something is amiss when they find that patch of burnt ground and there is no hiding from their wolves.” 

***

Xarch ran as if his life depended on it, for he was quite sure it did. 
Elves, damn bloody elves, they had to be,
he thought as he ran, on all fours when he came to hills and obstacles.  Goblins can move like wildfire when the need arises.  He had narrowly escaped the exploding wall of earth that had engulfed his party, lucky to be far enough back and behind a massive hickory when the debris hit.  He lost his bow, but still had his knife, his wits and his feet. 
They might whip me for surviving to bring bad news, but the Chief needs to know about elves travelling in disguise through the lands of men. 
Xarch was sure the Chief would welcome the information and he would be rewarded in the end, even if he was in for a beating first.

***

Eilowyn sat in her chamber, escaping the heat of mid-day.  A terrible feeling of unease came over her and she worried for Aleron’s safety.  The feeling passed as suddenly as it came and she was left to wonder about her feelings for the young man.  Doubt crept into her mind as she thought;
Do I only like him because I know he will be King someday?  No, I liked him when I thought he was a commoner.  I was trying to find a way to sneak around the guards and kiss him when the thing with the sword happened.  No, it’s not that he will be King, but it does make it better. 
Knowing her father would not forbid a union put it into the realm of possibility, rather than fantasy.  She could actually marry him some day, which would never be allowed were he common. 
I just hope he is safe.  That feeling was too real
a moment ago.

***

Hadaras and Aleron rode along at a brisk trot.  They would ride through the night, for if they stopped, they would certainly deal with more goblins.  They would reach Freemarket by early morning, possibly with a horde of goblins on their heels.  Hadaras knew it to be a well-fortified frontier town, with a large garrison to defend it.  The goblins would be unlikely to attempt a frontal assault, unless they massed at far greater numbers than the usual scattered raiding parties.  They should be safe at Freemarket.

***

Zormat sat alone in his cabin, deep in thought, as he often spent his days and nights at sea.  Thirteen days into this leg of the journey, they had still a month to go before they would reach the port city of Corin, capital of Thallasia.  His sleep was interrupted by another premonition.  It was very much the same feeling he felt two weeks before that, only this time, it came in the form of a dream.  The dream was of vague flashes of power, the flavor of which, he was not familiar. 
Someone is unleashing powerful magic in the world, someone dangerous. 
He was certain that was the case.  The question at hand was, is this someone a potential ally or a foe?  He felt that the time was near, that he would find out.

Chapter 15

Carpathday, Day 10, Haymaking Moon, 8760 Sudean Calendar

Dawn brought them to the walls of Freemarket, after a hard night of riding.  About two bells prior, the horses were near collapse, with the riders not much better.  Hadaras said, “We need to stop and rest before we kill the horses.”  They had come to a stream crossing and the pair dismounted to allow the horses to drink. 

As the thirsty animals drank, Aleron reached out and placed his hand upon the neck of his own mount.  The same golden radiance he had used to heal his arm infused the exhausted animal.  The horse jerked its head up in surprise, snorting and pawing the ground with newfound energy.  The boy grabbed its bridle and rubbed its neck to calm it down, saying, “Easy there, old girl, keep drinking, we have a ways to go yet.”   He continued on the other horses, with similar effect. 

Hadaras watched as his grandson healed their tired mounts and packhorse.  When Aleron came to place his hand upon him, Hadaras said, “Not me lad, I’ll be all right.  Save that for the horses.  You don’t want to wear yourself out.”

Grandfather, this one makes me feel better as I use it.  Let me help you.  I feel as if I’ve slept the whole night through, right now.”

“Very well, but nothing comes without a cost.  That magic must come from somewhere.”

Aleron placed a hand on Hadaras’ shoulder and concentrated.  Hadaras felt the warm glow infuse his entire being.  Suddenly he was no longer tired, thirsty or hungry.  It seemed like he felt better than he had in years, though that was likely due to the extreme fatigue he had recently been experiencing.    Aleron broke  his concentration,  replying, “This one seems to come right out of the ground.   It’s especially strong in the water here.  I can feel it going back upstream to the springs that feed this stream.”

Now they found themselves at the gates of the last village of men, with relatively fresh mounts. As for themselves, they felt as if they had slept the night through and simply had an early start that morning.  Hadaras thought,
Were this magic in common use, armies could march night and day across the continent and the wounded would be healed and sent straight back to battle.  Forget spreading comfort among the masses, this would make mass warfare seem that much more affordable to an ambitious tyrant.  The Allfather must have had a reason to limit our access to the two forms allowed us, but why should it be different for this boy?
  “Try to look tired,” he instructed Aleron, as they approached the gatekeepers.  “Good morning to you,” he hailed the guards.

“And to you Sir,” answered one of them, through the heavy bars of the gate, “State your business…What brings you to Freemarket?”  The pair was, judging by the livery they sported, Sudean General Infantry, likely here on a six-month rotation to guard the outpost.

“We simply seek lodging for a few days rest, my good man,” Hadaras replied.

“On your way to the South Kingdom then, you come from Arundell?”  The one speaking wore a silver chain, denoting sergeant’s rank; the other wore none, signifying he was a private.

“We came through there, yes, but originally from down Ellesfort way.  Just to let you know,” he continued, “we had a run in with a band of goblins mid-day yesterday.  We’ve been riding ever since, to put some distance between us and we’ve no idea whether or not they have been following us.” 

“Well, if they are following you, it won’t be anything new here.  They test us nearly every night.  Odd for them to have attacked you during the day; they usually wait for dark.”

“I agree; they must have thought us an easy target, being only two.  We managed to drive them back and break contact.”

“How did you manage that, with only two o’ ya?” the private inquired.

“It was a small party and we’re both good with a bow,” Hadaras answered, “so after we killed a few, the others backed off.”  Aleron remained silent throughout the exchange.