Fate Rides Wicked: Volume I of the Lerilon Trilogy (27 page)

Ofeldar’s grief weighed heaviest the next morning, as
Aquendar had not returned. With hearts of lead, the group
mounted up and headed into the thin forest of trees that
formed the border between the two kingdoms, like a finger
stretching out from the mountains. In half an hour they
reached the Kingdom of Unlo, almost treeless compared to
Efrenbont to the north and Rambestar to the south.

The sun baked the air below a clear sky and the
morning dew lasted only a short while. Instead of breaking
into a dead gallop as usual, Tych brought them to a stop. “I
think we should take a day of rest. This is as close as we’ll
come to the ocean before Quelak, which is over two weeks
away.”

Ofeldar objected, “But what about Aquendar? He may
still be coming.”

“He will go straight to Unlak. There we will find him
and punish him with some horrible duty. Until then, we
should not avoid doing what needs to be done. Rest will be
infrequent until the Kingdom of Quel and Greenhaven.”

“Tych is right,” added Tendelbro. “Besides, we have
seen the man take good care of himself. I’ve longed for a
day on my rear on something that doesn’t move, especially
that doesn’t bounce. If we have to ride hard until Quel, I
want to recover.”

“I have only one last thing to consider,” persisted
Ofeldar. “He is not welcome in Unlo.”

“As Tendelbro said, he can take care of himself. If a
rescue is in order, we had best arrive later than sooner. We
shall vote.” The neftir and darils nodded, but the humans
looked puzzled.

Loktaro asked, “What is involved in a vote?”

Nandel laughed. “You must realize, Tych, that most
humans have never known the word because voting hasn’t
been practiced for as long as I can remember.”

Tych frowned. “A vote is when we all give our choice
and the choice with the most votes wins. Now, shall we go
straight to the capital, yes or no?” He counted the opinions
and said, “We ride to the ocean, then.” The expedition
turned into the rising sun and rode to the western shore of
Li.

For hours they just lay about, played and swam. Only
the hiftnuvin proved to be too shy to undress, but the armor
and clothing of the rest lay piled up on the beach. As the
sun set behind the mountains, they built a fire and cooked
dinner. The laughter quickly subsided as the tension
released by the relaxation brought on a great sigh of
exhaustion. Findra scheduled shorter watches so that they
could sleep and the night passed uneventfully. They would
ride for Unlak the next day.

In the middle of the day they raced past a town,
changing course to pass almost half a mile away. Still, a
group of riders charged out of the city in pursuit. Almost
all of Unlo’s army consisted of cavalry, but these riders fell
behind almost before they left the gates. Soon they
vanished from sight.

Only a short time passed before the walls of Unlak rose
up on the horizon. Nestled on the edge of the foothills of
the Efres, it too could easily protect itself. Many gates
opened out to release the riders and any army facing them
would have to be riding also or be trampled by the Unloan
forces.

A small detachment of riders came out to meet them
and the pemilons left the expedition. Immediately the
horses slowed to a normal gallop and they quickly came
face to face with the other riders. The ten soldiers walked
their horses around the group.

The captain wore his usual ribbon, striped brown and
blue. “Do not touch your weapons.” The soldiers raised
crossbows at the expedition. “My men are very good at
firing from a moving base so don’t try anything. We’ll
bring you to the gates. Move forward at a slow walk.”

Tych turned around enough to see everybody. “Don’t
try anything. We’ll see what this is about at the city gates.”

“Well advised, devil man. Move it!”

The soldiers kept their bows trained on them all the way
to the gates where they stopped. Some soldiers came
forward on foot, pulling a cart along which appeared to be
more of a cage. A figure sat limply inside. The humans
came to the gate and pointed their bows and crossbows.
The tension grew thick as butter.

Suddenly, like a breath of fresh air, and only because of
his clothing and the bounce in his step, a short, fat man
emerged from the bristling points. The colors in his tunic
and pants could not be counted, but it was clear this outfit
had been worn many times since the last washing. To wear
such a gaudy outfit on a continent short of colored dye
seemed obnoxious, but apparently this man held some
power and wealth.

They found out almost instantly. “I am Plotef,
Governor of Unlak, seated on the king’s right side. I knew
of your arrival because Aquendar here would not come
alone to a place where he is not welcome, even with his
skills.” He gestured towards the stirring figure in the cage.

Ofeldar began to object but a look from Tych stopped
her. “I am Tych di Corl. I trust the Commander of the
army of Efreiden, Lieutenant Commander of the army of
Li, now represented by three kingdoms has not been
harmed. The twelve thousand soldiers or more would be
very displeased with this kingdom.”

Plotef had gone white as snow. “I had no idea.” Then
quickly he added, “We haven’t laid a finger on him, except
to knock him out so that we could move him to the cage.”

“The offense will not be reported if you answer a few
questions. For starters, why is this kingdom on such a high
level of vigilance?”

The governor hesitated for a moment, and then decided
it wouldn’t make any difference. “For over two months, in
addition to the problems with forangen migration, an evil
magician has been coming here and stealing women. The
queen and my wife are but two. We have no proof that you
do not serve him.”

Now Tych paused. “So the king would be grateful if I
were able to restore your women to you,” said Tych when
he finally spoke.

Laughter rumbled through the soldiers. “Surely you
jest. The reason Aquendar is not welcome here is because
we sent him to do just that and he never even confronted
the wizard, saying he was too powerful.”

“One correction, then I will prove myself no liar. An
evil, powerful magician is called a ‘sorcerer.’ Good
magicians are called ‘wizards.’ Now it just so happens that
I beat Aquendar in a fair fight and have some other skills
not so subtle.” With a quick motion, Tych dropped to his
feet off the horse. He went to Nandel and without a word,
took his staff. “Lendril and I will return in less than an
hour. The rest of our group and the commander will be
hostages. Lendril, please join me.”

The warrior touched the staff, Tych concentrated a
moment and they vanished. For just a second, nobody
breathed. Then the bows stretched and bent and the
expedition froze stiff, afraid any movement would kill
them. Finally, with a shaky voice, Plotef said, “Don’t fire
until the sun hits the top of the mountains. That gives them
two hours.”

Between the planes of the gods and the plane of
mortals, a thin area of space existed. From here a person
could see any part of the plane of mortals with just the
desire to see it. In almost no time, Tych traveled east in
relation to Li and found a small castle nestled in the arms of
the mountains. With more concentration, they returned to
the ground a few feet above the dirt, five yards from the
castle.

As they fell to earth with a small thump, Tych said,
“You get the prisoners out of there before the castle
collapses. I’ll take care of the sorcerer.”

Lendril nodded and went to the man-sized door in the
north side of the castle. With a big windup, Lendril kicked
the door off its hinges. She entered cautiously and
proceeded down a long corridor, which was narrow for a
castle. Torches burned low on each side, spaced so as to be
almost ineffective.

The beast pounced before she saw it. Her axe came up
and she dove into a space in front of her. The blade cut the
thelf just below the groin. She wheeled around, having
forced the monster past her. Thoughts raced through
Lendril’s mind. This creature could only be a creation of
the sorcerer, she thought, he gives off no heat. The beast
lumbered back towards her as she got an idea. She pulled
down one of the torches. The ‘thelf’ rushed headlong
towards her. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a
vial of oil.

As the beast closed on her, she threw the oil and it
broke on the creature’s chest. With a yell of triumph, she
followed with the torch. Now she had no problem seeing
her opponent. He lit up the corridor. In pain and anger the
beast stumbled forward. Lendril had her axe ready. The
thelf’s head dropped low enough for a moment. From the
ground, she brought the blade around in one powerful
stroke. She realized at this moment that she would soon be
on fire underneath a moving rug.

A sigh escaped her lips as the beast reared back enough
before losing its head that she could use her agility to avoid
both the head and the body. The warrior planted the axe in
the beast’s back and drew a dagger. With a deep breath,
she spun and finished the walk of the corridor. Here she
opened another door.

The courtyard flashed between day and night as the two
magicians warred above her. At this moment she realized
that the sun did not shine here and knew that the magic of
the sorcerer allowed this. The pyrotechnics of the
combatants, however, made it bright as day. She looked
around her.

On the other side of the courtyard stood three towers.
One had a light in it and two had the sound of chains
rattling coming from it. The endaril thought for a moment
and used the wisdom that was her gift. She picked up a
fallen timber from the battle and ran towards the door with
a light in the room above it.

The door opened in, and fearing traps, she lay flat on
her stomach, reached up, and opened the door. Two spears
flew by overhead, slamming with a thud into the other side
of the courtyard several yards away. She paused, fearing
retribution but then realized that the combat had been loud
at the same moment as the spears’ impact with the wall.
Picking up the timber, she walked to the stairs and began
up. Before going onto each step, she hit it with the timber
and waved the wood up and down. Several times stairs fell
through or darts or spears fired across the path in such a
way as to impale her to the opposite wall.

Finally, she reached the top and faced a door. She
turned the handle but kept the door from opening. Using
the piece of wood as an arm, she pushed the door open. A
blade wide enough to use the doorframe as its guides and
tall enough to reach Lendril’s knee, slammed into the floor.
It would have split her in half. Instead, she stepped over it
and the light in the room dimmed.

She could make out the faint images of three skeletons
on her right, and then a voice came from the left. “What
trickery do you practice this time, sorcerer?” croaked the
woman.

Lendril turned to her left and saw three figures, only
two of which emitted heat enough for her to see it. “It is no
trick. I am a warrior here to rescue you.”

“I’ve survived your many perverse sexual tricks you
bastard, but posing as a woman warrior, of which there are
none, is one of the lowest.”

“I’m an endaril.” Lendril crossed over to stand close to
the naked prisoner. “What has he done to you?”

The pause hung a moment longer before she said, “How
can I trust that you aren’t the sorcerer?”

A cry of agony came from the air outside. Lendril
began to pry the base of the chain from the wall. “Either
that was my lover winning or losing, or I’m the sorcerer
and I made it up. Either way, we’re leaving.”

“The keys are hanging on the back of the door, just to
tempt us. They open the shackles.”

With incredible haste, Lendril fetched the keys and
unlocked the bands around the woman’s wrist. “We don’t
have much time. Do either of these other two still live?”

The woman slumped to the floor and pointed at the one
in the middle. “Plotef’s wife does, though how after over
one hundred rapes I don’t know. She had to watch the dead
woman get raped, as many times as she and then watch me
get beat. I am the king’s wife.”

The unconscious wife of Plotef fell into Lendril’s arms.
“Can you walk enough to get out of here?” As if to
punctuate this, the walls began to shake. “Either we’ve
been found or the sorcerer is dead.”

“I can stand a little. I may need your help later.”

As the queen stood on wobbly legs, Lendril shifted the
weight of the other woman to carry her. With careful speed
they made their way down the stairs and into the courtyard.
Pieces of the walls began to fall around them but the queen
wobbled less as they made their way to the corridor and
freedom. They entered and walked as far as the dead thelf.

The queen covered her mouth and tried not to throw up.
“You are indeed a warrior if you did this.”

“I...” Lendril started to say, but the ceiling began falling
on them. She laid the governor’s wife down and pulled
down the queen. Then she covered them both as much as
possible and thanked Lendela for her magic armor. As she
covered her head with her hands, the castle came down on
them and she fell unconscious. Only rubble and silence
remained.

Tych waited for Lendril to enter the castle then called
out, “Sorcerer, I claim your castle!” It took mere seconds
for the giant face to appear above the castle walls, a
hovering image. Tych laughed. “Surely you jest if that is
supposed to scare me! You’ve seen me, now come fight
me.”

The face vanished and a man appeared in the sky
wearing a burnt red robe and holding a gnarled wand in his
hand. Quickly Tych used the one of the staff’s spells to fire
a lightning bolt at his opponent. The sorcerer seemed to
absorb the blow, pointed his wand and fired his own. It hit
the shield, destroying it as the sorcerer vanished.