The Vitalis Chronicles: Tomb of the Relequim (34 page)

And then Ardin was on his back, wrestling with the last of the Woads. It had him, he was done. Cid the Cleaver kicked his feet free of the stirrups and brought them up under him. He abandoned his horse with a leap from the saddle and exposed the monster's spine to the elements before he reached the ground. The thing was sliding to Ardin's side by the time Cid had turned around.

“
Water!” He was yelling. “Get the lad some water!”

Branston had picked himself up already. Scratched and scared, but little worse for the wear.
Too bad,
Cid thought before he caught himself. At least he had made an effort.

Rain came running forward, peeling the Woad off her savior and shaking him as he slid out of consciousness. She was fierce, almost angry as the tears flowed down her cheeks. Branston's expression in that moment spelled murder, and Cid took note.

But Rain was focused on the bloody boy on the ground. “Ardin,” she said calmly at first, brushing hair from her face. “Ardin you need to stay awake. Stay awake, Ardin.” She shook him lightly and pushed his blood-caked hair from his eyes. “Stay with me, hey? Don't go, Ardin. Don't go!”

It wasn't until Cid's massive gloved hand rested on her shoulder that she sat still.

“
He'll be fine lass.” Cid hoped it was true. “Just let him go for now.”

But the trouble was only beginning. Shill wanted to know why Cid had never mentioned any of this to him. Branston screamed for the boy to be killed before he could harm anyone. The questions and accusations flew until Cid thought his head was swimming in them. And all the while, Rain sat by Ardin's side, refusing to let them touch him, which only served to fuel Branston's crusade to have him killed.

“
We aren't killing him, Branston,” Shill finally moved to silence his insistence. “He saved Rain's life. Probably saved all of ours as well.”

“
Saved her?” Branston was beside himself. “He probably brought those things down on us himself. If anything he was saving his own common hide!”

“
If anything can be said about the boy's hide, it would be that it is most certainly uncommon. But if you want to try and kill him, go ahead. I'd love to see what her Highness and the Cleaver have to say about it.”

That only sent Branston into further impotent rage.

“
Cid.” Shill turned back to the Captain of the Old Guard. “You should have told me; you should have told all of us. Having a Mage changes everything.”

“
He's not a Mage.” Cid was dancing on thin ice again. “And we left it at the discretion of her Highness as to whom and when to tell what.”

That set Shill's jaw on edge, but he knew better than to air his thoughts then and there. “Her Highness knows what's best, I'm sure. In the meantime, our entire plan could have been altered t–”

“
To what?” Branston interrupted again. “Send the Mage in and fry them all? We could still do that, you know. Get him awake and walk him right into their camp. It doesn't change anything, Shill.”

“
It changes everything.” Branston's tall, bald companion spoke up. “Especially now that he's unleashed so much magic. Look at the place, there's still white mist hanging around everywhere.”

“
Shut up, Mal.” Branston was sulking again. “No one wants to listen to your common tongue
dish out common ideas.”

“
I do,” Shill said. “Go on, Amalgus.”

“
Sir, the Dunmar and other low-bred creatures are designed to sense and hunger for the magic of
the Magi.” He looked down at the unconscious Ardin, eyebrows drawn together as he turned his horse in place. “If they didn't sense that display of force, then I'm a Titan.”

“
You're a Titan, then.” Branston said.

Cid was studying Amalgus. He didn't trust the lad, but he spoke truth. After a minute, he said as much. “Even then, I don't think they'll have caught wind o' this. If anyone is monitorin' the Woads, they might notice somethin' awry in a few days. But I think Ardin managed to cloak everythin' he did here.”

“
How is that possible?” Shill looked sideways at the unconscious boy on the ground. “That column of fire alone had to be visible for leagues!”

“
I'm not sayin' it's certain, but I am sayin' I felt the veil when we entered this draw.” Cid looked at each of them in turn. “It's something the Magi used to do when we were strivin' for stealth. I still remember how it felt. Walkin' into this clearin' was like stickin' a hand in puddin'. Now it's a matter of decidin' if we're to trust that or not.”

“
What's the point?” Branston sat down to sulk. “I don't even have a horse any longer. We can't possibly hope to carry out our mission short horses and dragging his useless corpse around behind us.”

“
Gella is just over there,” the Fisherman pointed out as the courser appeared over one of the hills. “You can stand to ride a girl's horse, can't ye?”

Branston snorted in response.

“W
hat if there are more Woads roaming about?” Amalgus didn't seem so resigned to quit as his friend. “We can't hold off so many, especially in this kind of territory and as lightly armored as we are. With these tall grasses and shrubby trees we'll never see them coming.”

“
We'll be havin' the same problem whether'n we advance or retreat,” Cid said as if the discussion were already decided. “You can turn back, if'n you like. But once the lad wakes, I mean to make fer that slave camp.”

“
Assuming he ever wakes up,” Shill pointed out.

“
He'll come around. Lad always does.”

But he didn't come around. They made camp that night under the stars a hundred yards away from where Ardin had scorched the draw. But he didn't wake up. And though he seemed stable enough, he was weak. Even the cuts on his face made no visible improvement after Rain bandaged them up.

The next day they decided to move on. Staying near where Ardin had revealed himself remained too great a risk. To Cid's surprise, no one left their party. Ardin was slung as gently as possible over the back of one of the larger destriers on a litter made from tree branches and long grasses, but it was far from ideal. The day dragged on as their pace lagged. Thankfully no threats presented themselves. It was near dusk that they crested a hill to discover what it was they were wandering into.

The entire landscape before them shifted from a vibrant collection of greens and yellows to a desolate brown. As if a blight had struck the world, so did the plants appear on the horizon. The party stopped at the crest of the hill. Observing. Wondering.

“
I thought you said no scouts ever returned,” the Fisherman ventured as he reigned up next to
Shill. “Seems like we could use more caution.”

“
They always come back from this point,” Shill said curtly. “But never from beyond.”

On the horizon stood the blackened remains of what looked to be a town. Shill told Cid the name, but it didn't stick. He didn't really care, he just wanted to get Ardin back on the ground. It took them a painfully long time to reach the ruins. Shill sent scouts to scour the area long before they did.

They walked between the broken walls and amongst piles of rubble as the last of the daylight faded from the sky. The moon was nearly full, casting long jagged shadows from the stone remains.

Only a few low stone buildings remained standing. They looked old to Cid, and unremarkable. Some of their roofs had partially collapsed, others completely. Loopholes had been broken in their walls, but they would provide some shelter.

Shill chose the remnants of a strange-looking temple to stay in. Faces like animals were carved into shallow square recesses that ran around the base of the walls.
Crude at best,
Cid thought. What strange deities or powers they represented was beyond him. The cold shadows cast over their eyes by the moonlight drew a shiver across his shoulders. The temple itself was more than large enough for all of them and still had most of its roof. He quietly commanded the men to keep their horses with them for the night. No one was to go outside save the watch.

Cid was off his horse and lifting Ardin from his makeshift saddle before anyone else had dismounted. The litter they had created was already starting to fall apart, and Ardin looked worse for the travel.

Shill walked over to look down on the boy he was convinced was a Mage. “Get some sleep. We'll need to head out before dawn. We're about to go farther into enemy territory than any of us has in years.”

“
We need to figure something else out for the lad,” Cid started to say. He stopped when he turned to see that Shill was no longer standing there but had walked away. He turned back to his charge. “Why did you have to go and do that, then, lad? It was brave, 'n you saved the lot of us. But they don't get that, or at least they're tryin' not to.”

Ardin's swollen face didn't move beyond the subtle parting of his lips for breath.

“
Aye, you sleep then. I'll do my best to get you out o' this mess. But you'd best take a turn for the better or I'm gonna find myself up a right nasty tree with no low branches to drop from.”

T
WENTY-
T
WO

“
I
SEND YOU TO SEAL THE CITY AND KEEP WATCH FOR THE DAMNED
S
HADOW
K
ING, AND YOU FORGET TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE REST OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD IN THE PROCESS
?”
Merodach's eyes looked like they might burst from his skull. If the veins in his neck could only get a bit more pronounced, the necessary pressure might have actually been attained.

“
Sir, how was I supposed to know that Liscentia would attack? We had no warning...” Colonel Gredge stood alone in the Mayor's office. Not truly alone, as his superiors and the strange man they called Bill stood to the outskirts of the room. But their presence only made him feel that much more isolated.

“
It's your job, Colonel! You're the Captain of the City Guard and you can't even keep the city guarded!”

“
Sir, it was unavoidable. It was practically the perfect time for them to strik–”

“
Are you making excuses for your inability to do your job, Colonel? I thought you were a man to
take responsibility for his mistakes. Your predecessor, Ryan was his name? He may have been old and feeble, but at least he could do that much.”

Gredge swallowed hard against the fit of rage that threatened to erupt from his gut. He was a man to own up to the things he was responsible for, which was exactly why he wasn't owning up to this. He had been set up, he was sure of it now. But he had no hope of proving it, and less of finding an audience that could actually help him.

“
Damn it all Gredge,” Lucius couldn't help himself. It made Gredge hate him all the more. “Can't you just take responsibility for this already?”

“
Why don't you go find a teat to suck on, you whelp? The men are talking.” Gredge would keep his head, even if he couldn't mind his tongue.

“
That's no way to speak to a superior officer, is it, sir?” Lucius appealed calmly to Rast.

Rast was straight as a rod and revealed nothing in his expression. He simply shook his head and then looked out the giant wall of windows behind Merodach's desk.

“
You see? You should learn to mind your manners in the presence of your
superiors
, Gredge.”

“
You should learn to respect your betters, Lucius. Though considering that would include all of mankind I find it hard to belie–”

“
Enough!” Merodach slammed his fists on his desk. He hated how petty officers could get. “This isn't the time for mindless bickering. Gredge, I have a mind to relieve you of your duty.”

“
Sir?” Gredge was caught more off guard than he should have been by that.

“
But I need you where you're at.”

It was Lucius's turn to balk.

“
We have an assault to mount. Quickly. Our losses were thankfully quite light considering they achieved total surprise. But I'm going to need someone to reorganize the garrison. You'll report directly to me from now on, Gredge. And you'll do a good job of it or I'll have you shot.”

“
Yes sir,” Gredge wasn't certain how thankful he should be. It read as such on his face. “Thank
you, sir.”

“
Don't thank me too quickly. I won't be leaving you much to work with. Keep what remains of the City Guard, and you can have half of one of Rast's battalions to make up the difference. Everything
else I'll be sending with the assault.”