Necromancer Falling: Book Two of The Mukhtaar Chronicles (35 page)

When they’d finished loading, Nicolas joined Aelron and Kaitlyn on the driver’s rooftop seat, and Aelron got the carriage back on its way to Caspardis.

They traveled several miles before Aelron broke the silence.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Aelron said.

“They’ll never make it to safety without us,” Nicolas said.

“I understand the priestly charity. But that’s not what I was talking about. Even if you look past the fact they’re foreigners of questionable origin, we’ve broken an axle already. This carriage wasn’t made for carrying this many people.”

Kaitlyn had been chatting with Philomena through a small, sliding porthole on the carriage top. Nicolas leaned back and stared down into the cabin.

“Everyone okay down there?” Nicolas asked.

The dog let out a howl. It seemed happy enough. As happy as a dog missing two legs could be, at least.

“A cichlos,” Robert said. “I’d heard tales, but I’ve never met one. Now I can say I have a cichlos friend.”

“Roger that,” Toridyn yelled. “Everything’s ducky down here!”

“Seriously?” Kaitlyn asked, looking at Nicolas. “You spoke like Rambo trapped in a fifties sitcom when you were here? Do you even
know
any soldiers?”

Aelron didn’t even understand some of the words, much less the order in which they were used.

Nicolas smiled and shrugged.

The carriage creaked, and before Aelron could steady himself, the world did a somersault.

Robert yelled.

Aelron landed next to Nicolas, missing his face by scant inches, placing him closer to the wagon than Nicolas. This wasn’t good.

The Arinwool in Aelron’s pocket heated up, and something rebounded off of it. Someone must have tried using magic on him.

The adda hitch snapped, and the adda scattered into the field to the north.

Nicolas spun and grabbed Aelron by the wrist. A moment later, Aelron felt himself being dragged out into the field with Nicolas behind the adda, leaving a wake of mud behind them.

After a few near misses between dwarf trees and Aelron’s tail bone, the adda stopped.

Nicolas dusted himself off and stood.

Aelron glanced back at the carriage.

It was all but demolished, and the wagon had rolled over, dumping everything into the mud.

Nicolas ran to the carriage. “Kait!” he yelled. “Kait!”

“Here!”

“Is Toby with you?”

“Yeah. He’s fine. A little scared.”

“Toridyn and the others?”

Kaitlyn poked her head out through the side of the carriage, which was now the top. “Everyone’s okay. I think Robert may have a broken leg, though.”

It took them several minutes to climb out from the wreckage, and Aelron had to help Nicolas with Robert. When everyone was accounted for, Nicolas approached Aelron.

“What do you know about the Shandarian Rangers?” Nicolas asked.

Aelron did his best to suppress the surprise that wrapped around his spine and set his pulse racing.

“What’s to know?” Aelron said. “They protect the union. They can’t tell a falsehood.”

“They can’t
lie
. Huge difference.”

“They have eyes like an adda-ki and ride the very same as mounts.”

“And magi can’t use magic on or against them.”

Aelron looked away. This situation was complicated enough without his relationship to the rangers coming out.

Nicolas stepped closer. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“About the rangers?”

“About
you
.”

“We’ve only just met, Archmage.”

“I’m not an idiot. I know the effect of Arinwool when I feel it.”

Festering hells!

“What’s Arinwool?” Aelron asked.

Nicolas rubbed his forehead. “My concern is to get these people
safely
to Caspardis.
All
of these people. If you do anything that runs counter to that purpose, I’ll find the deepest, darkest pit at the Pinnacle and have them prepare a sleeping pallet for you.”

That’s the archmage I was waiting for.

Aelron raised his hands. “I’m just here to help.”

“Nick,” Kaitlyn said from the other side of the carriage. “I think you need to see this.”

Nicolas and Aelron jogged around to Kaitlyn’s side and found her kneeling next to a large hole in the dirt road. Dirt and rock were scattered away from the hole, as if something had burst its way out from underneath.

The hole was precisely were Kagan would have been standing at the time the carriage rolled.

“This is bizarre,” Kaitlyn said. She pulled a small statue from the hole.

It was a statuette of a man. The man had a wicked grin on his face, and his arms were folded behind his back. It looked familiar…

Jacobson! It’s the very same statue Jacobson had held!

“Why would someone bury this in the road?” Kaitlyn asked.

Nicolas took the statuette from her. His expression grew dark; eyes narrowing, mouth curling into a snarl. For a brief moment, he blinked and looked at Kaitlyn. “Do you want to…”

The expression returned.

“What?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Nothing,” Nicolas said, his voice lower than before. “I have an idea for this wagon when Tor gets back with the adda.”

“Are you okay?”

Nicolas nodded.

“Then you should check on Robert,” Kaitlyn said.

“It’s just a damned leg! He’ll be okay!”

“Nicolas!” Kaitlyn stared at him with wide eyes.

Nicolas massaged his temples. Where the hell was this coming from?

“Sorry,” Nicolas said. “Something’s…I’m not sure what I was thinking. Must be the stress from everything.”

Aelron followed Nicolas to where Robert was stretched out on a sleeping pallet next to the overturned wagon. He was grabbing his right ankle.

Nicolas knelt beside Robert. An expression of deep concentration formed on his face.

“It’s not like me to say I told you so, but,” Aelron said. “That carriage wasn’t built for that much weight.”

“I don’t think the weight had anything to do with it,” Nicolas said. He held the statuette up for Aelron to see.

“That’s the second time I’ve seen one of those,” Aelron said. “First one we found in a ditch.”

“We?” Nicolas asked.

For the love of each and every one of the gods.

“Some people I used to travel with,” Aelron said.

“Who’s it supposed to be?” Nicolas asked as he turned the statue over in his hand.

“No idea. You thinking about using the wagon still?”

Nicolas nodded.

“I’ll get Toridyn to help me flip it over,” Aelron said.

The less talking I do…the less
talking
I’ll do.

“No need,” Nicolas said.

Kagan headed in the direction of the wagon. Nicolas must be sending him instead.

“How’s my Robert?” Philomena asked.

“Pretty sure he has a busted ankle,” Nicolas said.

“That poor man,” Kaitlyn said. “Is there anything you can do?”

Nicolas shook his head. “I tried. I just don’t know how. Mujahid’s the healer, not me.”

Mujahid.
Aelron knew that name from somewhere. Though it
was
a common Religarian name, he supposed.

“We can put him on the wagon,” Nicolas said.

“Was it the spirit warriors, Archmage?” Robert asked. “Like the army that took Blackwood? An army of the dead?”

“What did this army look like?” Nicolas asked. “Did you see them?”

“They looked like you and me,” Robert said. “It’s the way they came and went that gave up the lie. They appeared from out of the air, like the way a necromancer’s penitent appears. Then they disappeared once the job was done.”

A snap and loud crash came from the middle of the road. So much for the archmage’s wagon idea. It was useless. And in the process of turning over, it had destroyed everything that wasn’t made of metal. Except for a small hand cart at the rear.

“Looks like we’re on foot,” Aelron said. “Too bad for poor Robert. He was a decent guy.”

“Was?” Nicolas asked. “He’s sitting right here.”

Aelron shrugged. “We can leave him some rations. Someone will probably be along before they run out.”

“I know you’re not suggesting we leave him behind because he can’t walk,” Kaitlyn said.

“Holy one, no!” Philomena yelled.

“That’s not an option,” Nicolas said.

“There’s nothing for it,” Aelron said. “You said yourself you can’t heal him. He’ll slow us down too much. You think that army is going to slow down because we’ve got a cripple along for the walk?”

“Hey now,” Nicolas said. “You can’t talk about people like that. He’s a man, like you or me. A living, breathing man.”

Aelron didn’t understand. This wasn’t a question of Robert’s humanity. It was a question of getting to Caspardis as quickly as possible.

“But he’s of absolutely no use to you,” Aelron said. “None of these people are. We don’t even know them.”

“We don’t know
you
either,” Nicolas said. “And where I’m from, you don’t abandon people because you don’t find them
useful
. If I have to carry him all the way to Caspardis on my shoulders, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

Kaitlyn smiled.

Aelron was at a loss for words. On the one hand, he didn’t understand how Nicolas couldn’t see the foolishness of this decision. Sometimes you had to leave people behind…people you cared for, even…for the betterment of all. But on the other hand, he had yet another of those
answers
he was seeking.

An archmage who doesn’t want power, accepts he doesn’t know everything, and shows compassion when it isn’t politically convenient.

But the coin wanted him dead.

Toridyn jogged over from the wreck.

“Slow down, amigo,” Toridyn said. “Aelron may have the compassion of a feral crag spider—”

“Hey, now,” Aelron said.

“But he’s right about that army,” Toridyn said. “Now sit tight, and don’t let your bed bucks bite.”

“That’s
sleep
tight,” Nicolas said. “And it doesn’t even fit the…never mind. What’s your idea?”

“How quickly we forget,” Toridyn said.

A haunting melody filled the space around them with soothing notes as Toridyn’s penitent began to sing.

When the song ended, Robert grabbed his leg. His eyes were wide.

“The pain’s gone!” Robert said. “I think I can walk, if I tried!”

Robert began to push himself up, and Philomena and Kaitlyn each took an arm to help. But Robert shrugged them off. In a moment, he was standing on his own and walking in a circle.

“I can’t believe it!” Robert said.

“I know that feeling,” Nicolas said. “But Tor, why didn’t you just heal him yourself?”

Toridyn’s eyes spun in a circle as his chest heaved with laughter. “Me? I can’t carry a tuna in a bucket!”

“
Tune
, you goof,” Nicolas said.

Robert tried to gather his sleeping pallet and satchel, but Nicolas stopped him.

“You’ve been through enough,” Nicolas said. “Just carry your
self
for now. I’ll get the rest.”

Robert smiled, though it was clear the arrangement made him uncomfortable.

“Kagan,” Nicolas said. “Gather anything from the wagon that’s still useful and put it in the hand cart. I’ve got a new job for you.”

“You were serious,” Aelron said. It wasn’t a question. “You were going to carry that man all the way to the gates of Caspardis. Why?”

Nicolas placed his hand on Aelron’s shoulder. “I told you. He’s a human being. We’re not worth more than him just because we outnumber him.” Nicolas pulled his chain of office out from behind his scapular. “And I’m not worth any more because of this damned chain. If we don’t take care of each other, what does that make us?”

Nicolas squeezed Aelron’s shoulder. He leaned over to pick up Robert’s belongings, but Aelron stopped him.

“No,” Aelron said. “I’ve got that.”

Nicolas smiled and nodded, then caught up with Kaitlyn and Philomena.

Aelron picked Robert’s pack off the ground and followed.

But the coin wants him dead.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

¹⁶
In the days of the Reestablishment of the Lords, Zafir Mukhtaar looked into the Abyss of Nehem and stepped over the threshold, becoming Zafir Lord Mukhtaar.
¹⁷
The world trembled as he emerged, burying the nearby tribesmen in salt and sand.
¹⁸
When the light shone forth from his eyes, the priests bowed and gave thanks, for Zubuxo had not abandoned them.

¹⁹
And it came to pass that Shealynd appeared to Lord Mukhtaar and marked him.
²⁰
He built her shrine and ascended with her to the heavens.

- The Mukhtaar Chronicles, attributed to the prophet Habakku

Reestablishment of the Lords 5:16-20

The “Abyss of Nehem” is likely metaphorical in nature. Nehem, one of the first thirteen priests, preached a message of self-knowledge and reflection. From this, we can conclude that Zafir’s ascension took place after achieving a certain degree of enlightenment.