Read Victim of Fate Online

Authors: Jason Halstead

Tags: #tolkien, #revenge, #barbarian, #unicorn, #sorceress, #maiden, #dwarven mines

Victim of Fate (3 page)

BOOK: Victim of Fate
3.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Alto opened his mouth but the taste of burnt
wood and an itching in his chest forced him into a fit of coughing.
When it subsided, he managed a groan and collapsed back on his bed,
exhausted.

"I heard that Namitus talked some of the
townsfolk into helping him bring the hero back to his room," Aleena
said with a smile. She reached into a bucket to wet her rag again
and then brought it back to wipe his face. "You look a sight."

"If I look like I feel, I don't doubt it," he
managed in a raspy voice.

"Don't talk. Tristam sent for Karthor."

Alto stirred at the mention of the other
members of the Blades of Leander. Tristam was their leader and had
become Alto's mentor ever since he'd taken him on without any
experience or training with a blade. "I don't need a priest. I'm
not hurt," he said. "Just breathed in too much smoke is all. A
little exercise and I'll get my wind back."

"Your hair was singed and your skin burned
and blistered in a few places! You ran into a burning house not
once but twice!"

Alto nodded. "I don't feel burned."

"Thank Namitus for that; he had me mix up a
cream to rub on the wounds. It's taken the sting out of them."

Alto grunted and raised his hands to look at
them. They were wrapped in bandages. He struggled to sit up and
winced at the pain in his back. "Did my back get burned too?"

"No, but from what your friend said it's no
wonder it hurts!" Aleena admonished him.

"Why? What did he say?"

"You hoisted a barrel of water on your back?
By yourself!"

"It was only half full."

"You're a man, not a bull. Bullheaded, maybe,
but men aren't meant to lift such things by themselves."

Alto frowned. "It's that kind of thinking
that stops men from doing what they could or should do."

She frowned and wiped away more dirt and soot
from his neck and chin. "Clean enough, I think."

"Clean enough for what?"

Aleena leaned in quickly and placed her lips
on his. Alto's eyes widened but the feeling was nice. Very nice. He
started to press back against her when she sat up and touched her
lips with her fingers. She smiled and dropped them to her lap. "I
need to get back. I've overstayed already."

Alto bit back a groan. "How late is it?"

"Middle of the night, or near enough to have
my father tanning my hide for being out!"

"He's a good man, your father. He worries
about you is all."

She dropped the rag into the bucket
forcefully. "You always take his side," she muttered. "You can be
such a stupid farm boy at times!"

Alto watched as she stood and hurried to the
door. She opened it and stepped through, but not before he could
call to her, "Aleena, wait."

She paused but didn't look back at him.

"Thank you," he said.

She nodded and turned to smile at him. She
shook her head and sighed. "Get some rest, hero. You know I can't
stay mad at you no matter what your fool mouth says."

Alto grinned as she shut the door behind her.
Aleena was the first girl he'd met when he left his father's farm
and journeyed to the city of Portland. It had been an accidental
meeting when he'd gotten lost trying to find the headquarters of
the Blades of Leander, but one that had stuck with him. Now they'd
become fast friends and she was pushing for more. Alto was
interested, but he kept stopping himself. It wasn't that he didn't
like Aleena. Far from it! Aleena was a great girl if a bit
headstrong and forceful at times. No, Alto's problem had nothing to
do with Aleena; it had to do with another girl he'd met and had to
part ways with. A lady far above his station.

The door opened and Karthor stuck his head
in. "Still awake and the young barmaid just left. Did she kiss all
your hurts and make them better?"

Alto felt the heat in his face that had
nothing to do with the fire. "She kept me company, that's all."

Karthor chuckled. "I believe you. You're
daft, but I believe you."

"Why?"

"Because you've the morals of a priest of
Millesius, the patron saint of marriage! The girl's crazy about
you," Karthor said. "She's feigned interest in Namitus and me both,
sure, but that was just to make you jealous. She gave up on us when
it didn't work, but you probably didn't notice."

"She's just a friend," Alto said.

"You're one of a kind, Alto. One of a kind,"
Karthor said while shaking his head. "Now lay back and relax while
I see what you've done to yourself."

"Where's Namitus? Is he all right?"

"Some minor burns and short of breath from
the smoke, but he's fine. He wasn't fool enough to run back into
the house."

"The lady of the house collapsed!" Alto
protested.

"And so did you a few minutes later. I hear
she's recovering and will be fine after some rest, by the way."

"Good," Alto said. He lay back on the bed.
"Did Namitus tell you what happened?"

"That you two saw a merchant slip and drop
his lantern outside his house?"

Alto stared at him for a long moment. "Um,
yeah, that started the fire."

"And then you two ran in to save his family
and sent him to bring help."

"That's all he told you?"

"Is there more?" Karthor held his holy symbol
in his hand, paused, as he held it over Alto's chest.

There was more, but now that Alto thought
about it, he was confused. Why had the girl's brother known Namitus
had been there when her father hadn't? The young man looked older
than Alto by a year or two. "No, that's all of it," Alto said. He
had questions for his roguish friend. Speaking before he had
answers was bound to cause problems.

"Then lay back and close your eyes; this may
take some time."

 

* * * *

 

"Her father didn't know?" Alto challenged
Namitus the next day when he joined him at a table and broke apart
a loaf of bread.

Namitus shrugged. He chewed a bite of his own
meal and swallowed before answering, "She's old enough."

"Not unless he says she is," Alto pointed
out. "This isn't the southern realms or even a Kelgryn city."

"The southern kingdoms are far worse, trust
me," Namitus chuckled.

"What then, an elven city?"

Namitus shrugged. "Never been to one and the
elves I've met don't speak much of where they come from. Just
because my grandmother is an elf doesn't mean I'm privy to their
customs."

Alto sighed and chewed on his simple
breakfast. "Was she worth the risk?"

Namitus chuckled. "You're still dancing
around the lass from the bar? When are you going to bed her and get
it done with?"

Alto frowned. "I'm not. I mean, I
don't...What about you? Falling out of a window?"

Namitus laughed at him and took a drink from
his cup. "The kiss of a young lady is a distracting thing."

Alto thought back to Aleena’s kiss while he
lay recovering in bed the night before. "Aye, that's true
enough."

His friend chuckled at the young warrior's
distant expression. "So, why cut my night short? Are we to spend
another fortnight keeping traders company on the roads?"

"You haven't spoken to Tristam yet?"

"Haven't even seen him yet," Namitus
admitted. The sound of a boots on wood drew their eyes up to the
stairs that led to the private rooms.

"Seems you two had a rousing night," the
leader of the Blades of Leander said as he entered the room.
"Sounds like there's more to it than what I heard last night,
too."

Alto and Namitus glanced at each other. They
both turned back to Tristam, mouths opened to explain but he waved
them off. "First off, there's two types of men in the world. Those
who run out of a burning building and those who run in. I'm of a
mind that I want those who run in on my side, but that don't mean
you're not fools for doing it."

The two young men shared another glance.
"Alto tells me we've another job?" Namitus asked.

Tristam smirked. "The crown's being tight
with work these days. You'd think after all the lives we spared
last spring they'd be a bit more trusting with us. Well, boys,
that's not the way of royalty. They've got to have their fingers in
everything. Mark my words, control and power is all they're after.
Makes living like simple men such as you and me seem like a far
better fate."

Alto frowned as Tristam droned on. "We live
well enough with our laws, don't we?"

"True enough, but that don't mean I'd want to
be running this show! Too many things to keep track of, the way
they do things. And so much of it's nonsense, stopping us from
getting good contracts when we're better suited than the rank and
file of their armies."

"So, um, what job did you get?" Namitus
reminded their leader. "Babysitting another caravan through roads
that haven't seen a bandit in years?"

"There a problem with those?" Tristam asked.
"We come back alive and with coin in our pocket."

Namitus chuckled. "Fair enough. Just a bit
boring is all."

"You'd rather be spending time wooing a
merchant’s daughter?" Alto teased.

Namitus's cheeks flushed red and he clamped
his mouth shut. Tristam laughed and reached to carve off a block of
cheese from a wheel on the table. He found a loaf of bread in a
basket to go with it and then sat down at the end of the table. He
chewed a bite of the bread slowly while both of his men watched
him. "We're headed into Kelgryn lands," he said after he'd
swallowed the first mouthful. "See if there's any work to be had
there. If not, then we head north."

"North? Back to the Northern Divide?" Alto
asked.

"Into it, and beneath it."

Both men groaned and shared another look.
"Our last time under those mountains didn't go so well. We lost
Gerald and Drefan," Alto said.

Tristam nodded. "I know, and I miss them
still. Well, most of the time. We're not searching for mines taken
by trolls and goblins and such."

"What then?"

"What indeed?" a fresh voice said as a man
wearing black robes came through the door from the street. The
wizard eyed the food on the table and walked over to help himself
to it.

"Kar, I trust you're ready?" Tristam asked by
way of greeting.

"As ready as a man about to set foot in
dangerous lands can be," Kar muttered around a mouthful of
cheese.

"The Kelgryn aren't dangerous," Alto
protested. "We're welcome there!"

Namitus laughed and found a chance to poke at
his friend. "At least welcome in the halls of the jarl's
daughter!"

Alto's eyes mirrored his mouth, both wide
open at the rogue's comment. Tristam and Karthor chuckled at the
warrior's embarrassment. "I meant the depths Tristam means to take
us, the very bowels of the mountains."

Alto turned to Namitus, expecting to share
another look of confusion with his friend. Instead, he saw Namitus
staring at the wizard until his lips curled up into a smile. "Have
you found them? The mines?"

Alto groaned. More mines. The other three
ignored him.

"I've studied enough I think I can locate it.
When the dwarves were driven out, they brought down the side of a
mountain on the main entrance. Rumor has it this was to contain the
things they'd unleashed from escaping."

"And you want to go in there?" Alto blurted
out.

"Only rumors, lad," Kar reassured. "No dwarf
that escaped ever spoke of it. There were precious few that
escaped, though. Even the village of Rockwood outside the mines was
buried by the avalanche."

"You just said they were driven out!" the
young warrior protested.

"Did I? Well, they were. Out as in killed. A
few emissaries or merchants were away, but they had no idea of what
transpired."

"What about the dwarves nearby, or did the
mountains swallow them, too?"

"Man, woman, and a child," Kar said. "Dwarves
live in the mountains, not like you and I would in a city of house,
but underground. There's more to a dwarven mine than just mining,
lad! They have great halls, kitchens, underground housing, and
much, much more."

"That's impossible!" Alto refuted.

Tristam held up his hand to stop the wizard
before he responded. "It seems a far stretch, to be sure. I've
never seen such things myself but for once we'll trust Kar."

"For once?" Kar growled. He sat up and puffed
out his chest. "I'll have you know that I've studied abroad and the
dwarven underground citadels are some of the most amazing things
not created by the saints."

"He's right," Namitus said. His assertion
halted the conversation and drew everyone's eyes to him. "In the
south, I spent some time in the dwarven city of Deep Glimmer."

"Deep Glimmer?" Alto echoed. "What kind of
name is that?"

"It's a translation," Kar said. He spoke in a
different language, the phonetics of it crashing against Alto's
ears like steel against rocks. "That's how you say it in
dwarvish."

Alto blinked and shook his head, confused by
the dwarven language. "Deep Glimmer it is," he managed after a
moment to the laughter of the others. "So we're off to find a
buried dwarven city then? Who's put out a contract for this?"

"No contract," Tristam muttered. "The only
jobs here pay squat and offer pointless tasks. We might as well be
farmers."

"Hey!"

Tristam winked at the former farm boy. "If we
can't find something worth our time in your lady's home city of
Holgasford, then we'll set north for this. Not what I prefer, but
our wits and our swords grow dull with nothing better to do than
setting fire to buildings."

"We didn't set fire to the house!" Alto
protested.

Tristam waved him off. "Ready yourselves,
lads. When Karthor arrives, we'll set out. Kar, where is that boy
of yours?"

"Probably servicing one of the priests," Kar
muttered.

"I'm sure he'll be along soon," Tristam said
with a chuckle. "He's come far for a young man in the service of
Leander."

BOOK: Victim of Fate
3.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Truth about Us by Janet Gurtler
Kid from Tomkinsville by John R. Tunis
ShouldveKnownBetter by Cassandra Carr
Say You Love Me by Johanna Lindsey
My Little Armalite by James Hawes
Her Texas Family by Jill Lynn
Pirates of the Thunder by Jack L. Chalker
Egg Dancing by Liz Jensen