Sorceress (Book 2) (24 page)

“Hello, daughter, and do my borrowed eyes deceive me? Is that you, Althea? Amazing how you parlayed a few victories into a generalship. I applaud your determination.”

“You should have stayed dead, Ian,” the woman replied, making Kayleigh wonder about the relationship between the two.

“I suppose that would have made everyone else’s dreams come true. Unfortunately for you, I have my own dreams and those do not involve my death, but my time is short and you are not worth a second more. Kayleigh, however, is. Let me take a good look at you, my dear. Ah, yes! I do see Brianna’s beauty mirrored in you. I’m curious why she never told you your heritage.”

“How do you know she didn’t?” Kayleigh bluffed.

Amanda’s lips curled in a predatory grin and the man’s voice said, “Your former unicorn shared his knowledge at Danella’s behest. You couldn’t have hidden it from him. But now I see you seated in the saddle of another unicorn. Amazing! Simply amazing.”

“What do you want?” Kayleigh demanded.

“Ah, to the point I see. Ultimately, I’d like you by my side as befitting your status as my heir, but the chances of that happening anytime soon are rather remote. Therefore, I propose a truce between the two of us. Do not oppose me and I will not actively seek to harm you. In fact, I will not attack any city, save Talcosa of course, where you reside as proof of my good intentions.”

“You tried to kill me in Shiftla,” Kayleigh countered. “I’ve been told you probably tried to kill me and my mother long ago. Why in the Goddess’s name should I believe you now?”

“When we fought, I had no idea who you were. You opposed me and I deal harshly with those who make themselves my enemies. As for the past, my quarrel was with Brianna. I am impressed that she managed to fake her death so convincingly and I do intend to ask her about it...very soon.”

Kayleigh sputtered, “Leave her out of this!”

“That is one request I cannot honor, daughter, but when I do acquire her, I will keep her safe, which is more than those around you can guarantee.”

Flushed with anger, she opened her mouth to speak, but felt the grip of General Hawthorne on her forearm.

“Don’t let him rattle you,” she said to her. “She will consider your offer, Count Darius, but there will be no answer today. If you really want to show her your good intentions, release your hold on the girl.”

Amanda dumped the poison onto the ground and said, “I was planning on it anyway as a gesture of goodwill to Kayleigh as soon as our conversation ends. Amanda and I had several long discussions concerning you, Kayleigh. Between what I learned from her and what Danella gleaned from Majherri, you were treated rather poorly. I see Danella’s sister with you. Make you peace with your Goddess, Meghan Lynch. Even if Kayleigh asks for me to spare your life, I’ll not do it.”

“I’m not afraid of you!” the woman shouted. “I’ll see you dead for what you’ve done to Danella.”

Amanda broke something off from a circle of rope dangling from her wrist and tossed it at Captain Lynch. The object swelled into a trio of arrows speeding toward the Battle Maiden.

Kayleigh was stunned, unable to react, but someone else managed to respond. General Hawthorne’s outstretched hand willed a column of earth to rise from the ground, and the arrows slammed into it, just short of their target.

“A pity,” Amanda said. “Your reflexes are as good as ever, Althea.”

The dismounted general looked drained from her exertion, but replied, “I remembered you’d used that bit of sorcery before and knew to look for the charm. You’re predictable, Ian, and that’s why you’ll fail every time.”

“If that is what you wish to believe, oh mighty general, please cling to that foolish notion. I look forward to besting you and proving to all that your accolades are truly undeserved. If the powers that be continue to favor me, you will sport eyes like this girl does one day, and I will listen with utter delight when you first call me Master. Farewell, daughter. Hopefully, the next time our paths cross, you’ll be in better company than this rabble.”

Amanda collapsed like a puppet with her strings cut, falling from her saddle, and went into a series of convulsions on the ground. When she looked up, her eyes were clear again.

“What happened? Where am I?”

“Help her to her feet and keep her under watch,” General Hawthorne ordered. “Reese, if anything he says is true, you need to ride now or you’ll be imprisoned in Salif, or any other city that learns of his promise to leave you alone – even if he has no intention of abiding by it. Captain Lynch will escort you.”

“My things? What about the scry block?”

“Get down the road! The others will be sent along as soon as they are ready to travel. You should be able to rendezvous with them in a few days,” the general said and removed her coin purse from her belt. She tossed it to Captain Lynch. “This should be enough to see you on her way. You should make for The Academy.”

Casting an, uncertain, sideways glance at Meghan Lynch, Kayleigh nodded. “General, my friend Rahzir…”

“I will send him as well. Safe journey, cousin. Give my regards to Andrea,” she said and extended her hand.

Kayleigh grasped it. “I will. Safe journey to you as well.”

Majherri fought the urge to become sick. His horn was visible now, smeared with the blood of the two male unicorns. Danella had ordered the wholesale slaughter of everyone and the nomads proved eager to carry out her orders.

Some might have made it to the safety of the woods. He hoped so, but Majherri sincerely doubted it. Other than Danella and the nomads, now reduced in number by two, the only other living souls left alive were the stunned guide and a single Battle Maiden - Iarisha’s rider.

Humming a tune, Danella dumped a bucket of water onto the unconscious prisoner. The warrior sputtered and choked. Majherri watched her eyes dart around and survey the bodies sprawled all over the square as she tested the strength of the ropes binding her hands.

“What kind of monster are you?” she demanded.

Danella threw her head back and laughed. “A monster you say! Perhaps you are right? Then again, maybe I’m just a simple storyteller. I am Death’s right hand and my story will be written in blood all over this land. Passages will be carved in bone and verses left in the ashes of places just like this one.”

The rider fixed her gaze on Majherri and said, “And what dark perversion is that thing?”

“Majherri is a new kind of unicorn, reborn into power. He is the face of the future. Your order will be swept aside and replaced with a new one that serves a greater master than that so-called High-King.”

“All I see is a handful of warriors and a murdering fool, drunk on her delusions. Am I alive just to listen to your hollow boasting, or is there some greater design?”

Majherri gave the Battle Maiden credit for her courage, even if it served no purpose other than to hasten her own death. Even so, he remained impressed at the prisoner’s fortitude.

“I need you to call your unicorn back,” Danella said.

“If I could have called her, she’d already be here and her horn would have impaled you.”

“Doubtful,” Danella said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “However, you probably just need some encouragement to try harder and I happen to know of a way to motivate you.”

At Danella’s order two of the nomads hoisted the flailing Battle Maiden from the ground. When Danella was close enough, the prisoner spit on her.

“I hope you die a thousand deaths!”

Brushing aside the spittle with her gloved hand, Danella gripped the woman’s hair and yanked it back. As the prisoner opened her mouth to scream, his rider shoved their faces together and expelled that same dark smoke directly into the other woman’s mouth.

The prisoner went limp, and then convulsed violently.

“That would mean I’d also lived a thousand lives. Now, call your unicorn!” Danella commanded.

The other woman appeared dazed and unfocused, causing Danella to repeat the process. This time there was less of a struggle and she signaled to the men to drop the bound warrior, who fell in a heap and made no attempt to rise.

When Danella raised her foot, Majherri thought she was going to kick the prisoner. Instead, she held it close to the woman’s face.

“Kiss it!”

Majherri saw a brief moment of hesitation before the warrior lifted her head enough to kiss Danella’s boot. He disliked seeing her control anyone else just as much as when she did the same to him.

“It’s a pity I can’t bind you to my will for more than a few hours. You’d make such a delightful thrall. Now, call to your unicorn. Command her to return!”

“Yes, mistress,” the woman whispered and held her bound hands outstretched. Majherri considered trying to kill Iarisha’s rider and wondered if he could do the deed before Danella reacted.

There was a pause before the ensorcelled woman spoke, “She’s too far away. I barely sense her.”

“Where is your unicorn?”

“She rides south and east, I think, but the distance is too far, mistress. I can’t make her come to me.”

“Bring her back to us. Do it now!”

“She’s too far away,” cried the woman.

“Try harder! Do not disappoint me.”

“I...I can’t. Iarisha’s beyond my reach.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Danella said and drew her belt knife. “There is only one thing left to do then.”

“Please, mistress, I did not mean to fail you. I can do better!”

“No you can’t,” Danella said and slit the thrall’s throat. It broke the spell over the warrior and the air maiden sneered in defiance at her murderer. The dying rider tried to say something, but the words were drowned in her blood as she fell to the ground.

Turning to Majherri, she said, “Her death, in fact all of this, is because of you!”

Drawing on his inner strength and the courage displayed by the fallen Battle Maiden, he snorted and dragged his hoof in the ground, while lowering his horn at Danella in defiance.

I regret nothing!

“Still rebellious, eh? Don’t think you’re safe, Majherri. There may come a time when I decide your power is no longer worth your acts of betrayal. I spared you from fighting unicorns until today, but no longer. From this day forth, I will make you attack your kind and we will leave their carcasses in our wake.”

His rider turned to face Kuresh and walked over to where the nomad held their guide. “Have the men drag the bodies into one of the buildings and set it on fire. Make it look like the savages did this. Also, since these people no longer have use for their horses or anything else for that matter, gather whatever you think we will need.”

Kuresh repeated her orders to his men as she addressed the captive guide. “You will either take us to your Yar friends willingly, or I will do what I did to that dead woman back there. Either way, you will take us there. Choose wisely.”

Majherri listened to the guide and learned that the Yar were made up of eleven separate tribes. The nearest one to the village that had just been slaughtered was known as The Clan of the Ice Claw.

“The clans have a ranking system,” the man explained. “Their chieftains possess the power of animal spirits and are measured by how long they have had their spirit with them. The Ice Claw leader is third of eleven, meaning only the Tundra Serpent and the Silver Hydra outrank them. If the chieftain is slain, the spirit is said to attach itself to the most worthy warrior present, but then he and the tribe fall to the bottom of the rankings, becoming eleventh of eleven.”

“Are these spirits powerful?” Kuresh asked, clearly interested.

“Yes,” the man answered, blinking his darkened eyes. He’d chosen to willingly guide the group, but Danella had never intended to allow him freedom. “But they rarely risk themselves in battle. The loss of status for the tribe means a higher situated tribe could claim their lands.”

“Do the spirits inhabit only males?” Danella inquired.

“Mistress, there are two tribes where the spirits sometimes choose females. The Glacier Hawks and the Snow Cats. The leader of the first is currently a woman.”

“That is very useful information,” Danella said. Majherri didn’t have to see his rider to picture the cold and calculating look on her face. “And the powers these spirits impart are?”

“I only know of Harik of the Ice Claw. He can take the form of a great, hairy, snow beast for a period of time. In that body, he stands nine feet tall and it is said that wounds from Harik’s claws take weeks to heal. The time grows longer with each passing year. When I last was allowed among them, Chief Ice Claw could stay in his beast form for two straight days before being forced to become human once more.”

“I suspect this beast magic may make this man able to resist your compulsions, Lady Danella,” Kuresh cautioned.

“If he will not become our ally, his successor will, or the one after that,” Danella stated plainly, as if there was no other option.

From the unicorn’s point of view, the snow beast sounded as formidable as a troll, or perhaps an ogre. Harik would make a worthy challenge, but even if the beastman rivaled an ogre in strength, he would burn just the same.

As they maneuvered through the beginnings of the mountains, Majherri gleaned as much as he could about the Yar. Somewhere, in a hidden part of the mountain range, was a sacred site where the chieftains gathered to settle disputes or plan raids together.

When asked if the animal spirits ever bonded with someone who did not belong to any of the clans, the guide did not know.

Majherri took a grim satisfaction in watching the desert warriors struggle with the falling temperatures. His enjoyment was cut short when the first human, still trying to remain mounted, toppled along with his mount off the slick trail and down forty feet into a chasm. The horse survived for a few minutes before succumbing to its injuries, whereas the rider died on impact.

The fool had been trying to match my climbing skills. His arrogance proved to be his downfall.

Even so, Majherri slowed his rate of ascent, but he did briefly entertain the idea of going off the edge and taking Danella with him.

The irony would be poetic,
he mused.

Dark thoughts, such as that, trotted through his mind until the group located an area large enough for the humans to stop and rest. The air was noticeably thinner here and it would be cool enough by sunset for the unicorn to see his breath. It seemed to the unicorn that the primary advantage to fighting in these mountains was how exhausted the attackers would be as they attempted to overrun the entrenched defenders. Even so, it was a miserable place and Majherri could think of no reason he would ever wish to stay.

Onward they traveled, taking breaks every two to three hours. On the third such break, Majherri noticed that they had acquired two sets of eyes watching them. The unicorn decided to alert Danella while noting that his skills as a scout had not diminished.

“Majherri has spotted our first Yar,” Danella said calmly and addressed her current thrall. “I suspect the two are hunters. Tell me what they will do.”

The man answered, “One will continue to shadow us while the one who runs the fastest travels ahead to warn the rest of the tribe. They will meet us at a location of their choosing with numbers greater than ours.”

“Kuresh,” Danella said. “What do you recommend? Majherri and I could easily run them down, but as I am forced to remind myself, we are here to make allies.”

The nomad leader appeared pleased that she did not simply give in to her bloodlust. “Lady Rider, given the treacherous conditions these savages deal with on a daily basis, I suspect one or both are carrying some type of signaling horn or drum which they would employ before you dispatched them. Since you have sought my counsel, I advise that we continue as we are and let them watch.”

“What business do you have with the Ice Claw tribe?” a warrior demanded. He stood on a rocky outcropping surrounded by others brandishing weapons.

Majherri noted the guide’s previous assessment had been correct. The area where the Yar met them was a natural choke point and gave the defenders the high ground on two sides. Roughly forty warriors, twice their number, faced them. The rest would be with the tribe.

“I seek an audience with Chief Harik,” Danella shouted.

The large barbarian laughed loudly. “All these dark skinned warriors and it is a woman who speaks for them!”

Howls of approval met his declaration. Danella remained impassive and spoke with the guide who confirmed that this man was not Harik. She spoke, “It is because my men know what I am capable of. You, on the other hand have no idea who you are dealing with. I intend to speak with your chieftain. If I must go through you to achieve it, I’ll make certain to clean your blood from my weapons before greeting him. One does need to be polite.”

The spokesman returned a calculating look and opened his mouth to speak. Danella interrupted him and said, “I grow bored of this. I suspect we would go back and forth for another hour, so if it is a demonstration of my power you desire, let us pretend that pathetic shrub is you.”

Danella gestured to an unkempt mass of greenery roughly a dozen paces from her and called forth a fountain of dark flame and bathed it for a good ten seconds. From there, she thinned the stream and slowly moved the flames across the ground until they had traveled halfway to where the man standing on the rock stood, sending a clear message.

Of course, Majherri knew that she was cheating because of his disguise. They obviously believed her to be a sorceress instead of a Battle Maiden. With a flourish, Danella finished and dismounted. She held her open palm in front of her and stared down at the smoke curling up from her fingers.

“So now you have at least a vague understanding of who you might be dealing with,” she said in a bemused tone. “And you are quite possibly wondering if you should’ve brought twice the number of warriors with you, because then you might actually stand a chance against me. Fortunately for you, I am not here to fight unless provoked. And, if I were to slaughter all these warriors in front of me, then I would have no use for what was left of your tribe and would have to seek out another group.”

The spokesman, who now adopted a cautious tone, replied, “I will send a runner to our chieftain.”

“A wise decision,” Danella commented and turned to Majherri. She fished a shiny object from his saddlebag. “We will withdraw a short distance and await his answer. Please have your man take this gift to the Mighty Harik of the Ice Claw Tribe as a gesture of good will on my part.”