The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (2 page)

“
What did this Mage
do?” I asked.

“
You don’t know?”
Lady Sandra asked, confused.

“
I do not get much
news out here,” I answered.

“
You live out here?”
she asked.

“
Yes,” I
said.

“
That makes sense
then,” she replied. “You’re the Hermit of the Forest.”

Cathy laughed in my
head.
Hermit of the Forest? Is that for
real?

“
You are the one the
villagers talk about?” Lady Sandra continued. “You guide the
caravans, hunt the bandits and trade with the farmers.” I nodded.
“Davalin owes you its thanks then.”

“
You never answered
my question,” I stated.

Lady Sandra smirked,
but her face quickly returned to normal. “No, I didn’t. Davenport
murdered the royal family and tried to seize control of
Balendar.”

The news hit me hard
as I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I had
only met the king once on my trip around Kalenden. He seemed like a
fair ruler and pleasant man and was very well liked by the citizens
of Balendar. I couldn’t help but wonder what was in store for the
province now.

Get away from those
thoughts,
Cathy said.
No politics. Remember?

“
You better start
from the beginning,” I said to Lady Sandra.

“
We don’t have time
for this,” the giant snapped.

“
I assure you I can
help you,” I countered. “If Davenport is in this forest, you are
going to need me as a guide.”

“
We could just burn
this forest to the ground and be done with it,” the giant
snarled.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw
Huntress Fawna tense up and take a step forward. I rested my hand
on her shoulder and she relaxed slightly.

“
One more outburst
and I will send you back to Davalin,” Lady Sandra said raising her
voice. She turned back to me. “You’ll have to forgive, Ser Wilson.
It has been a tense few days. He is right, though, we have to be
quick.

“
Alfred Davenport was
the advisor to the king. Since the Tower’s destruction, things had
been tense between Mages and civilians. King Victor wanted to help
create harmony and brought in Davenport to help. Davenport repaid
that kindness by poisoning the entire family during dinner. He
seized control of Thurlborn Peak and started a campaign against the
Lords. He invited them all over and tried to poison them during
dinner. My father saw through this and he and a couple of the Lords
escaped before Davenport and his guards could have them killed.
They gathered their armies and took back Thurlborn Peak.

“
Davenport escaped
before he could be sentenced and I gathered this group to hunt him
down. We followed his trail to this forest before he gave us the
slip. Now we need to get out of the forest and try to pick up his
trail before he gets away.”

I nodded slowly and rubbed my chin as
she told her story. She was holding something back as if the
memories brought her great pain but I knew she wouldn’t say
anything. She seemed too proud and driven to show any sign of
weakness.

I like her
already,
Cathy said.

What do you make of the story?

Mages sure do love to
cause problems,
Cathy answered.
It’s not like there aren’t enough
problems.

There are still some who believe they
are entitled and seek power.

Well, if he was in
here, we would have already known it,
Cathy stated.

I nodded. “That is quite the story and
I understand the need for speed.” I turned to Huntress Fawna. “What
do the other Huntresses say?”

“
No Mage has entered
the forest,” she responded. “There were reports of a Human male
running west. He was observed, but nothing could be done unless he
entered the forest.”

I nodded and turned back to Lady
Sandra. “He wouldn’t risk entering the forest if he knows the Nao
are watching. Heading west is an even bigger mistake. The Evenawks
will not greet him with open arms. It may be safe to say that
Davenport will be dead shortly.”

“
Until I plunge my
sword into his chest myself, I will not believe he is dead,” she
stated. Again, the feeling of something hidden crept into my mind.
Or it could just be Cathy creeping around.

Sure, blame me for
everything,
Cathy said.

“
Then I offer my
services as a guide,” I said.

“
We don’t need your
help, Mage,” Ser Wilson said, keeping his tone
civilised.

“
I know the forest,
plains and mountains very well,” I countered. “We will make up the
lost time and my friendship with the Evenawks will be
invaluable.”

“
A Mage that is
friends with the Evenawks? That is hard to believe,” Lady Sandra
said.

“
It was easy enough
to achieve. All I had to do was liberate Scert’chak from the
Mages,” I stated, crossing my arms.

Lady Sandra’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What do you want in return for helping us?”

“
Winter is coming,” I
answered. “I could use some extra supplies.”

“
Easy enough,” Lady
Sandra said. “You have a deal...Kairu, was it?”

I nodded and pointed out of the forest.
“You can get out of here through there. I’ll meet up with you after
I grab my things.” I turned to Huntress Fawna. “Inform Mistress
Carlia of where I’ll be.”

“
Yes, Kairu,”
Huntress Fawna said, slightly bowing.

The Davalin guards were already filing
out of the forest as Huntress Fawna led the Nao away. This was
definitely a change from what I had expected.

Yes, but a good
change,
Cathy said.

Do you think this is going to be an
easy trip?

Oh, Void no,
Cathy exclaimed.
Knowing
our luck, we’ll be fighting a dragon by the end of this.

I laughed and headed for my house.

Chapter
2

There wasn’t much to
pack at my house. I threw some extra clothes, my maps and my water
flask into the backpack, but still had tons of extra room. When I
grabbed the ritual book from the bookcase the final shelf
collapsed, sending the few fiction books into the
flowers.

“
I’ll take care of
that later,” I said looking down at the squished
flowers.

Is it really worth
it?
Cathy asked rhetorically.

I started for the door but stopped and
headed back to the dresser. Hidden amongst the clothes in a drawer
was a shard of the old white staff from the Forge of Kings. It was
the only piece I could find after the Tower’s destruction and I
kept it around as a good luck charm. I wrapped it in an old shirt
and placed it in my bag before heading out the door.

Lady Sandra’s group were exactly where
I had directed them and I pulled out the map to show them the
easier route. If Davenport was tracing the outside of the forest to
get to Ghanlar, he would still have to travel south before heading
up the mountain. I showed the route through the Archanion Field
that would help us make up for lost time.

“
I’m not too keen on
crossing Archanion,” Ser Wilson said, studying the map. “If you
follow the rumours, the local wildlife has become more aggressive
since the Tower’s destruction.”

“
It is still the best
route to Ghanlar,” I responded. “It would be more dangerous to stay
close to the forest if wildlife is your main concern.”

“
Then Archanion it
is,” Lady Sandra said, taking the map from Ser Wilson. “We are
losing time.”

“
My Lady,” one of the
guardsmen called out. “We have been marching all night. We need to
stop for a few hours’ rest.”

“
We have lost enough
time already,” Lady Sandra said, annoyed.

“
I agree with the
men, my Lady. If the...Mage,” Ser Wilson said, flashing me a look,
“is accurate and we can make up the time, a rest will keep the men
alert.”

“
We can rest after we
kill Davenport,” she responded, starting to walk
westwards.

“
My Lady...Sandra...”
Ser Wilson said softly, stopping her by grabbing her arm. “I know
this is hard, but...” his voice became really quiet and the stone
like look that had been on Lady Sandra’s face melted into something
almost Human looking.

She looked away. “We’ll make camp when
we are more into Archanion,” she said firmly.

She started walking again with Ser
Wilson staying close. The guardsmen followed after them without
another word. I stuck close to the guardsmen in an attempt to avoid
Lady Sandra’s frustration and Ser Wilson’s attitude.

And she seemed so
nice in the forest,
Cathy said.

“
Yeah, what a quick
change in character,” I responded.

“
Don’t worry about
it, Mage,” one of the guardsmen responded. It was the same one that
asked for the rest. “She is a bit up and down these days. If she’s
acting nice, it is because she wants something.”

Right, we are with people now. I have
to remember to talk to you in my head.

“
These days? What
happened?” I asked him.

The guard looked at me, opened his
mouth and closed it again without saying a word. He smoothed out
his moustache as he looked forward again. “Out of respect to our
Lord and Lady, it is not our place to say. Maybe she will… if she
does ever talk about it.”

Interesting...
Cathy said.

The cryptic answer
intrigued me, but I didn’t press it. I’m sure everyone was already
a little uncomfortable with a Mage being amongst them and I would
only make them more uncomfortable by being nosey.

I nodded. “Fair enough.”

“
I’m curious about
something, Mage,” Moustache continued. “We have all been told about
the Szwen Forest. It is a kind of boogeyman story for the children
as they grow up. How were you able to live amongst the fairies in
peace?”

I noticed the other guardsmen slowing
down so they could hear my response. “A couple of cycles ago, I
helped them defeat a forest guardian that had been corrupted by a
demon.”

“
What does a forest
guardian look like?” a guardsman with a crooked nose
asked.

“
It was like this
weird... black blob thing,” I answered.

“
That doesn’t sound
too bad,” a guardsman with freckles said, sounding a little
disappointed. “What kind of guardian is that?”

“
The guardians are
ancient magic from the Spirit Plane manifesting itself on the
Physical Plane,” I explained. “Their strength lies in their ability
to change shapes. For me, it first turned into an eight metre long
bear.”

The shocked stares I received from the
guards meant I had gained their full attention. Most of these men
looked like they hadn’t seen much action. A good war story might be
what I needed to break the ice and help me get back into the
routine of talking to people.

Wasn’t the bear only
five metres long though?
Cathy
asked.

Nothing wrong with a little
exaggeration for the sake of good story telling.

“
How do you fight an
eight metre long bear?” Freckles asked.

“
The bear was all
strength and no speed,” I explained. “I was able to out manoeuvre
it and hit it with some magic from my staff. It became frustrated
and lunged at me, so I drove my staff into its head and launched it
into the ground...but that only made it angrier.”

“
What happened next?”
Crooked Nose asked.

“
It turned back into
a blob and attacked my staff, destroying the focusing crystal I was
using to make it more powerful,” I continued, sliding into story
telling mode and moving my hands a lot. “The staff went flying off
and I couldn’t find it. I heard a bark and turned around to see the
blob become a giant wolf.” A few jaws drop. “And that wolf was very
angry and very fast.”

“
How’d you defeat
it?” a guardsman with bushy eyebrows asked.

“
Long story short; it
bit down on my arm,” I said, using my hand like teeth and grabbing
my other arm. “So I wrapped it up into a headlock and cooked it
from the inside with magical fire.”

A few of the guards laughed while a
couple groaned and twisted their face at the thought of fire
hitting them on the inside. The guards loosened up a bit and took
on a more relaxed posture as we walked. The story worked out
perfectly.

Except you down
played MY part,
Cathy said.

It’s not like I could explain our
situation to them so they could understand. I’ll make it up to you
though.

You better,
Mister,
Cathy said playfully.

“
If that doesn’t earn
those fairies’ respect, I guess nothing will,” Moustache chuckled.
“I suppose, for us normal folk, it is impossible to earn their
respect.”

“
I’ve never
understood how they got the name ‘fairies’,” I said. “They are more
like trees than fairies.”

“
Yeah, with hot
bodies,” Eyebrows said. “Did you ever...you know...” He wiggled
those bushy things quickly.