Rise of the Serpent (Serpent's War Book 2) (11 page)

“I don’t—”

“Dat’s okies, Thork does,” he said. He gestured with his fingers again and got her to hand it to him. Thork held it over his green campfire and twisted it back and forth. He nodded and held it back to her, palm first.

“Um...so now what?” she asked.

Thork turned and pointed at his campfire. “Stick da blade in dere.”

“That will ruin the temper!”

“Do it,” Namitus urged her.

She frowned and stared at her blade. The desert rose engraved in the hilt marked it as hers. That had been a nickname her grandfather and father called her as a child. “If you ruin this...”

When neither Thork nor Namitus relented, she sighed and plunged the blade into the flames. She held it and waited, but nothing happened. She turned to Thork. “Is this working? What am I doing?”

“Deeper,” he urged.

“I can’t! I’ll burn myself!”

“Dat’s da point.”

Her eyes narrowed. She glanced to Namitus and received a reassuring nod from him. Allie looked down at her sword again and took in a deep breath before she thrust it in deeper and saw the green flames licked at her hand and surround it. She gasped and let out a strangled cry before falling to her knees.

Gor started forward but Thork held out a hand, stopping him with the gesture instead of a spell. Allie whimpered and collapsed, falling free of the fire and coming to rest on the ground. She groaned and rolled over, and then sat up and looked around. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked and wiped them away.

Allie gasped and stared at her hand. The flames hadn’t burned her. She picked up her sword and noticed the rose petals were filled with color now. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Thork. “What did you do to them?”

Thork grinned. “Nobody did nuffin to nobody. Dat was all yous. Dat knife is got yous mojo in it now. Long as yous isn’t scared of using it, dat fing won’t fail yous.”

Allie climbed to her feet slowly, her body shaking a little from her experience. She stared at the blade in her hands again and twisted it, catching a green flash off the blade from the fire. She took a shuddering breath and nodded. “Thank you,” she mumbled and sheathed her sword.

Thork turned to Gor. He opened his mouth but Gor shook his head.

“I don’t want anything,” Gor said.

“Dat axe isn’t gonna help much against some of da fings out dere,” Thork warned.

“They won’t kill me. They can’t.”

Thork chuckled. “Some of dem can. Thork can. Dat curse isn’t da worstist fing out dere.”

Gor’s eyes widened. “You can lift the curse?”

“Can? Maybe,” Thork said. “But dat’s not Thork’s job. Yous is da one dat can do dat.”

Gor clamped his lips shut and glared at the troll. “I gave up searching years ago.”

“Don’t give up, yous is almost dere,” Thork said.

Gor snorted and looked away from the green-skinned shaman.

Thork turned back to Namitus. “Dat was sumfin,” he said. He stiffened and grinned, waving at Corian. “Ey der, elfy! Hows dat dagger working? Yous hasn’t been bashed yet. Dat’s good.”

Corian had recovered enough to nod.

“Yous must be da treehugger’s sister. Yous’s pretty. Glad yous didn’t get bashed too.”

Jillystria blushed and bowed her head. “Thank you, um, sir. For your help and kindness.”

Thork chuckled and looked at the girl hiding behind Namitus. He nodded and glanced at Namitus before winking at him as though they shared a secret.

“Thork,” Namitus said, ignoring the troll’s lewd behavior. “What of our search for Lariki?”

“Go souf, to Rosekeep,” Thork said.

“Lariki’s there?” Namitus asked.

“Da Vultures is living dere,” Thork said.

“A half-dragon,” Namitus repeated. He shook his head. “All right—we have to kill him?”

Thork tilted his head and then chuckled. “Stoopids,” he muttered before shrugging. “Lariki is da one dem snakes is looking for. Dem needs a leader, but if dey can’t git dat, dem dey want Lariki bashed.”

Namitus nodded and saw the confused expressions on everyone else’s face. Thork’s speech was worse than usual. “The prophecy, they seek a half-blood—Lariki—but if they can’t get him, then they want to kill him to keep him from stopping them.”

Allie gasped. “We have to find Lariki first! Find him and convince him to fight for us.”

Namitus nodded. “Our goal is the same as our enemy’s. We find our champion...or we destroy theirs.”

“Den git going,” Thork urged. “Unless yous stoopids want some Trolwerkz potions?”

“No!” Namitus said loud enough to echo under the bridge. He winced at the hurt expression on the troll’s face and tried to soothe the shaman’s feelings. “You’ve given us so much already. Counsel and a gift for Allie. We’re in your debt.”

“Yous sure?” Thork asked.

“I am,” Namitus said. “I’ve got a few leftover that Karthor brewed, after you showed him some of the arts of alchemy.”

Thork nodded. “Him’s not a bad potion brewer. Almost good ’nuff to work for Trolwerkz as an apprentice.”

Namitus smiled and nodded. “He speaks highly of your teachings.”

The troll smiled, mollified by Namitus’s words. Then he belched and patted his belly.

Namitus turned away to his friends. “South?”

“Southeast,” Gor said. “We follow the river to Crystalwood and then the coast for a way until we head inland to Rosekeep.”

Thork grinned. He spun around and picked up his spear from where it was leaning against the bank. The faint green glow emanating from the blade flared brighter in his hands. Everyone watched, fascinated, as he thrust his spear in mid-air and caused a spark of brilliant white light. He lowered the spear tip, cutting the blade through the fabric of reality and leaving a radiant line of light floating in the air.

When the blade of his spear reached the ground, he pulled it back and leaned the spear against the bank again. He turned back and thrust his hands into the line of light. He pulled the line apart, spreading it and blinding them with the brilliance that poured out of the split in mid-air. Thork leaned into the light and rummaged around until he cried out and pulled out a barrel. He turned and held it up, grinning.

Namitus forced his eyes into slits and asked, “What is that?”

“Barrels! Yous can ride down da river in barrels.”

“You’re mad,” Namitus said. “We’ll be drowned or crushed.”

Thork frowned and turned around. He tossed the barrel back in and rummaged around some more until he grabbed something else. He pulled and pulled on it, backing up and tugging a large canoe out of his extra-dimensional rift. The canoe soon turned into a shallow-bottomed raft large enough to carry close to a dozen men. Thork grunted as it became too heavy for him to carry anymore and began to drag it across the ground.

“Hey stoopids, help,” Thork grunted. “Pull da front.”

He moved back to the magical portal he’d created and continued tugging on the raft. Namitus tried to help him and motioned Gor to join him. Between the two, they managed to help the troll pull it free. He used his spear to close the portal and leave them all blinking until their eyes adjusted to the darkness under the bridge.

“Well dere, now yous has a boat,” Thork said.

Namitus nodded. “The current is swift; we’ll need help launching it.”

Thork nodded and worked with the two to drag and push it so that the front half of the boat was in the water and the latter half was on the shore.

“Oh, and Thork?”

“What?” the troll asked.

“What about little Tommy and his goat?”

Thork grinned. “Dat was a baby goat.”

Namitus winced. “You didn’t, um—”

Thork’s laugh echoed under the bridge, causing them all to cringe. When he stopped, he shook his head and pointed downstream. “Thork saved dem from falling in da river. Dem den ran off down dat way.”

“Are you telling the truth?” Namitus asked. “You didn’t eat them?”

Thork grinned. “Thork doesn’t eat kids.”

“What about the go—oh saints!”

Namitus shook his head while the troll howled with laughter again. He turned to the boat and pointed at it, afraid his directions wouldn’t be heard over the troll’s laughter. Amra leaned in close. “Did he eat them?”

“No, he doesn’t eat kids,” Namitus said. “And a baby goat is called a kid too.”

Amra stared at him and shook her head.

Namitus nodded. “Let’s go, before he hurts us with his jokes.”

“You’ve told some bad jokes yourself,” she pointed out.

Namitus shrugged. “Then let’s go because I don’t like the competition.”

Chapter 10

“I’ve never seen so many guards before,” Allie muttered as they passed a merchant caravan of four wagons bound to the northwest, for Crystalwood. “Four guards, at the most,” she said. “My dad said any more and the merchants were just wasting money.”

“I counted eight, all armed to the teeth,” Namitus said.

“Down here, any less and you invite trouble,” Gor said. “Sometimes from within.”

“From within?”

“Bandits posing as guards,” he explained.

Amra sucked in a breath. “The guards at Crystalwood warned us about bandits!”

Namitus eyed the passing wagons and the men riding horses with them. He smiled and nodded at a few, but received nothing in return but a cold glare. “A cheery bunch down here,” he observed.

Gor chuckled. “There’s money to be had down here, but it does you no good if you’re dead.”

“I don’t understand what he means,” Amra whispered.

Namitus turned his head and saw her face was right next to his. He smiled rather than pulling away and alarming her. “Trust the wrong person and you get a dagger in your belly for it.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh! My father has had dealings like those a few times. Expensive fabrics that he knew better than to ask too much about the origin of.”

“Aye, much the same I imagine.”

They rode past the merchants and continued for another couple of hours until it was past high sun. The trees were thinning and falling behind them, leaving them in slow rolling hills covered in green and brown grasses.

“Feel better with the sun on your face?” Amra leaned close and asked.

“What’s that?”

“You relaxed as we left the forest behind. It is a little warmer here, out of the shade.”

“Fewer places to hide,” he said. “Bandits could be lurking in every tree. Out here it’s not so easy.”

“Oh!” She pulled back and looked around. She sighed. “I don’t know if I could ever get used to living like this. Always worried and searching for the next attack.”

“It’s not always like this,” Namitus said. “We just happen to be fortunate enough to have fallen in with a few people who have been bound to a troubling path.”

She lowered her voice further. “And we’re going with them.”

Namitus grinned. “This is where the greatest stories are learned. Would you rather hear a song of a great triumph, or see it firsthand?”

“I’m leaning towards the song,” she admitted.

“And miss out on the details?”

“Like sleeping on the hard, cold ground? Sore muscles from riding perched on half a saddle for weeks at a time?”

“You won’t remember those,” he said. “I mean the shared experiences. Forging bonds of companionship that will never be forgotten. Understanding yourself and what life really means to you. Finding the answers to the questions that no amount of time spent staring into a cup can bring you.”

“You truly are a poet,” she said.

He chuckled. “I don’t know about that. I think I’m a man in need of a quest. Without it, I find ways to get myself in trouble.”

“What sort of trouble?”

“Seeking out whatever takes my fancy. Wandering. Searching for something new to experience and learn.”

“I see. Has a woman ever taken your fancy?”

Namitus smiled. “I have those stories too, but they aren’t as exciting as you might hope. I know my flaws. I keep it in mind to avoid getting myself caught up in something that would leave someone hurt and angry.”

“But what if it worked out? What if you didn’t need to leave?”

Namitus was silent for a moment. “Have you ever heard of the man who married a woman in hopes that she would never change? And the woman who married a man she hoped she could change?”

“What? No. Who are they?”

“Look around—there are many everywhere you go. The thing is, the woman is upset because the man doesn’t change. The man is upset because the woman does.”

Amra fell silent and, when he risked a glance back at her, he saw a thoughtful frown on her face. At length, she nodded. “I want to pinch you for being rude, but I think I see something in your words.”

He chuckled. “It’s funny, because it’s true as often as not. No fault to either partner, merely a misunderstanding. To be fair, many a man has risen to greatness because of the woman in his life. Even if that wasn’t what he wanted, that’s what he became.”

“And you never wish to risk becoming more?”

“I fear I don’t have it in me to be someone better,” Namitus said. He shrugged. “Whether that’s true or not, I also fear hurting someone with noble intentions in their heart.”

Amra considered his words and said, “In a way, this makes you even more likeable.”

“Truly, I am cursed twice over.” Namitus moaned.

This time Amra pinched him.

* * * *

Over the following two days, the hills grew taller and the roads more difficult. Namitus’s shoulder grew tense again, but as the sun began to drop behind them they saw signs of civilization beyond heavily guarded merchants. For one, spears lined the road with the rotting heads of both humans and humanoid races.

Birds and insects feasted on the remains, plucking eyes and tearing tissue before shrieking at the disruption the riders passing by caused them. Skulls, many broken but some still whole, littered the ground at the base of the poles.

“This is horrific!” Amra whispered. “And the stench!”

Namitus grunted and looked back at the others. “Keep your wits about you. Don’t make anybody mad.”

“These are trophies,” Gor said. “Bounties.”

“What’s that mean?” Allie asked.

“They’ve done something to upset the lord of Rosekeep or more likely, someone with enough money put a bounty on their heads.”

“Anybody?” Allie asked.

Gor nodded. “If you’ve got the gold, yes.”

“That’s horrible!” Allie said.

Namitus glanced at Amra and winked at her. “See, you two think alike. You really should be friends.”

“Stop it,” Amra hissed.

Namitus shrugged and raised his voice for the others. “All the same then, let’s not give anyone a reason to put a bounty on our heads.”

Nods and grunts showed they agreed with him. He turned back and put the poles behind them, leaving a few hundred feet to the closed gates. They rode up to it and stopped outside. Guards manned towers beside the gates and, he could see, walked the twenty-foot wall that ringed the keep.

“Ho there! We’re travelers from the north seeking passage.”

“Then pass on by,” one of the guards called down. Another guard laughed at his rude response.

“Passage in,” Namitus corrected. “We have business to conduct.”

“What sort of business?”

“The profitable sort,” Namitus said.

“Why won’t they let us in?” Amra hissed.

Gor moved his horse closer. “Vultures still here?” he called up.

The guard disappeared from view for a moment. When he returned, he asked, “Why?”

“Got business with them. The kind of business that they’re very interested in. We’ve got news for Ramesh.”

Namitus glanced at Gor but the warrior kept his gaze up at the guards in the tower. The guards conferred for a moment and then the one speaking to them called down. “Stand back from the gate.”

Gor grunted and motioned for everyone to move back. Namitus pulled his horse around and circled them back to give some room. Once they’d backed up a dozen feet, the doors creaked open on their heavy iron hinges. Both swung out towards them and revealed an iron portcullis that had been cranked up. The entrance was a full ten feet deep, forcing a chokepoint barely wide enough for a wagon to fit through. Four guards wearing chain armor stood in the gate. On the inside, four more waited with crossbows cocked.

“Ramesh?” Namitus asked.

“Wasn’t sure he’d still be with them,” Gor admitted. “Either he still is, or he isn’t and we’re in a barrel after all.”

Namitus chuckled. “Well, at least we’ll know.”

The guards motioned for them and Namitus put his heels to his horse. They rode forward and passed between the guards and into the keep with glares from the soldiers, but no more troubles. Once they were through, the guards pulled the gates back and barred them. The portcullis stayed up as they returned to their posts.

“Now what?” Namitus asked as he looked around. The courtyard was small, large enough for half a dozen wagons arranged in an orderly fashion. From there he could see a smithy, a building that had the looks of a barracks, a baker’s shop with an outdoor stone oven, a tavern, and a healer’s building. Along the walls to the east of the gate, stables were built.

“We can’t take the horses in any farther,” Gor said. “I expect the Vultures have one of the private houses turned into their headquarters. We can find out there,” he said, pointing at the tavern. The sign had a broken sword on it and the words Broken Blade carved into it.

“Good enough for me,” Namitus said. He glanced at everyone and then tapped Amra’s knee with his hand. He slid off the horse and offered his hand to her. She took it, smiling and blushing a little, and stretched her legs after she landed beside him. “Head into that tavern. I’ll board the horses.”

The others dismounted and followed Gor. Corian hesitated and then nodded to his sister. “I’ll help Namitus,” he offered.

Namitus hid his groan. After the troll’s disclosure, he’d admitted he was part elf, but hadn’t said anything more than that. They’d been on the trail and too busy. Now, of all times, looked like the end of his peace and quiet.

“Thanks,” Namitus said as Corian led three of the horses alongside the three Namitus had the reins of.

Corian grunted and left it at that. They walked the horses to the stables and haggled a price with the stablemaster that Namitus was sure was outrageous. He paid it without complaint and turned away.

“I’ve always wondered about half-blooded elves,” Corian said as they walked. “What with my sister’s bastard daughter.”

Namitus grunted, hiding the sudden desire to punch the elf in the face.

“I can’t say I approve or agree of a lot of your methods, but you are a man to contend with. What elven blood you have serves you well.”

“You know, I’ve danced with some arrogant men and women in my time. Holy and righteous or evil and tyrannical. I can’t recall ever meeting anyone as conceited as you are. I’m sure I have—I just can’t remember such a meeting right now.”

Corian’s eyes went from being big and round to narrow and angry. “I compliment you and this is the response I get?”

“I know a lot of humans and even a dwarf who are ten times the man I am. I feel pretty comfortable saying that even I have you beat.”

Corian’s lips moved and noises came out, but they were half-formed words that he couldn’t turn into proper thoughts.

“I’ve watched men stand and fight when they had nothing left to give. They fought and fell because if they broke, someone else would die. They made the ultimate sacrifice for their wives, their children, their sisters, and their brothers. You don’t strike me as that type. You’d let the rest of the world burn as long as they weren’t elves. And even then, if you came out on top it might be okay.”

“No!” Corian managed to finally get a word out. He stood still and glared at Namitus. “I risked it all to save my sister and Gildor’s daughter. And elf and a human! And what of you? A thief and a con artist, you claimed.”

Namitus ignored his deflection. “I don’t know much about elves, I’ll grant you that, but I’ll have you know that you’re not better than any of those people. You talk down to them and disregard your tasks as if they are beneath you. That’s not the case.”

“I have done my share,” Corian defended.

“Try doing more,” Namitus suggested. “Prove to them that they mean something to you.”

“I’m here—isn’t that proof?”

“Not by the longest shot your bow can take,” Namitus said.

Corian glared at him and then glanced away. “You don’t know who your ancestors were?”

“What?”

“You said you don’t know much about elves.”

Namitus chewed the words over before he admitted, “No, I don’t. I’ve seen wild elves once or twice, and a rare elf in passing in Mira or the realms north of there. My mother was half elf, but she never spoke of them.”

Corian nodded. “My people frown on children of mixed blood. It is impure.”

“See, there you go again,” Namitus said. He glanced around and hissed. “Keep in mind you’re in a place where the next closest elf, outside of your sister, is hundreds or thousands of miles away.”

“I’m telling you what my people believe,” Corian growled. He took a deep breath and let it out. “And yes, I once believed that way too. I’ve learned much since I left my homeland. Gildor opened my eyes to many things. Gor and Allie continue to do so. Even you, when you’re not busy trying to push me aside.”

Namitus stiffened. Was he doing that? He relegated Corian to a support role whenever he could, but he was an archer. Someone best suited to being in the background. And he tried to keep him away from him for other, complicated, reasons. “You’re right, I do. I will try to be better.”