The Crimson Claymore (20 page)

“Yes, we have. Too long,” Searon smiled.

“It is but fate that we traveled so long and far to stumble into this place. Both of you are so skilled with graceful dance, and beautiful faces, that it puts our minds at ease after such long traveling. We may now rest easy this night knowing that we sleep in an inn where there are kheshlars or angels, for surely you must be one of the two because your beauty and grace surpasses all,” Karceoles said.

Searon turned to glare hard at the wizard, but he seemed not to notice as his attention was turned toward the dancers with a courteous smile. There seemed to be an aura of charm about the wizard, and he seemed to glow. His face was stern and his smile genuine, but no wrinkles stained his face as Searon had thought did on the road. It was a clean face, still without beard or mustache, and it seemed to be mature, as if he knew more about the world than anyone.

“You are too kind,” the blonde said, curtseying at her knees. “What is your name?”

“I am Karceoles, and what are such fine women as you two called?”

“I am Berethana, and this is Annettera. We are both pleased to meet you,” the blonde said.

“My name is Searon,” he said, but neither seemed to notice him in the slightest.

Both were blushing as they looked at Karceoles with large smiles on their faces. Searon shook his head and took another long drink of his whiskey.

“Perhaps we’ll see each other again,” Annettera said shyly.

“I count on it.”

The two women giggled and walked off, with glances over their shoulders at him, and holding hands to whisper in each other’s ear.

“That’s it, I’m ready for bed,” croaked Searon as he finished his whiskey.

“So soon? I believe Berethana and Annettera are going to sing next.”

“I’ll pass this time, be sure to tell me how they do, as I’m sure you will anyway.”

With that, Searon rose from his seat and stumbled past the bar to the stairs on the south side of the tavern. He held the rail carefully as he made his way up, and he walked down the hall, searching for his room with heavy eyes. Finally, when he found room sixteen he opened it up and crashed headfirst on the bed without bothering to remove his chain mail.

Chapter 20

S
tarlyn awoke in the morning to smoke coming from Andron’s pipe. She yawned and noticed the sun not yet rising to the east. Andron kept the bandage made from Starlyn’s torn cotton shirt secured on his pinky. She had brought the clothing to change into while in towns and cities so she wouldn’t have to always wear armor. It seemed that fancy had gone and passed after the attack the night before. Andron seemed to barely notice his half-bitten off pinky as he smoked his pipe. Though Starlyn assumed the pipe weed took some of the edge off.

The four panthers were gone to hide during the day, and she got up to sit next to Andron. They were between two small hills at the bottom, so rest would come easy leaning back against the slope. He smiled at her as she sat down, and she returned the smile. Erenuyh was still asleep with a fever that was beginning to break. He clutched at his left hand with his right, feeling his index finger and thumb, which were the only two fingers left on his left hand. Starlyn had wrapped the hand tightly to prevent any more blood loss, but she knew that the kheshlar would not be comforted without his fingers. She also knew that despite how weak the fever and loss of blood made him, he was a kheshlar, and would not let any weakness show.

She was uneasy about being in the open without the cover of trees. All kheshlars stayed in cities in the forest and seldom traveled outside of the wilderness. Yet among her race she was considered the most adventurous. She never imagined herself to one day journey so far but since her sister has been gone many things had happened. Andron seemed to be studying her, and she turned to him with suspicion in her eyes. He wasn’t like most men, or at least men of the kheshlars, that stared at her body with eyes barely straying from her bosom. Andron seemed captivated by that as well, but he was inspecting her entire body from head to toe as if trying to study her as a person. When she thought about it, she realized he always seemed to do it when looking at her.

She pulled her hammer from her belt and studied it carefully, grazing her hands across the handle up to the golden steel neck to the large face. The face of the hammer was as large as her palm and deadly to the strike. It had been her weapon for many years and was dear to her. The handle was long and crafted of beautiful oak with carved designs. At the neck, it transformed from a large hammer to a sharp thick spike a long span with a sharp point. She sighed heavily and turned back to Andron to see him still staring at her.

“Must you always stare?”

“I’m sorry…I don’t think I can help it sometimes.”

He turned away shyly and began to play with the rocks by his feet.

“What is it about me that intrigues you?”

She wasn’t accustomed to someone so content to study her. Most of the time in the kheshlarn capital of Sudegam, the male kheshlars studied her, but their eyes didn’t stray too far away from her bosom. This human in front of her, while his eyes did stray there from time to time, were content with studying her movements, face, hair, and anything else about her. She never felt she had much to offer besides a pleasant body for male kheshlars to look at. After all, her body was a bit more complementary in areas than most of the female kheshlars. Still, most of them found her as flawed, with too high of an ambition for adventure, or too high of a temper. Also, her mind wandered too much about other parts of the land that didn’t concern the kheshlars.

“Everything really. The kheshlars are so mysterious to me. Your beauty, I’ve never seen anything like it. Most humans’ beauty is like a flawed gem, where so much is so beautiful, but there are a few imperfections that make them who they are. Yet with you, you are a perfect gem, flawless in every way.”

Starlyn blushed and turned her head away. She had never heard such words from anyone. “I have many flaws.”

“Not that I can tell.”

She smiled. “If you have any questions, ask.”

“Is the armor you wear custom made for you?”

She wasn’t wearing her helmet, so her beautiful blonde hair was exposed but tied behind her back, with the exception of a few long strands that fell forward onto her bosom. Above electric silvery eyes on her forehead was a gold circlet that hung low in the middle, falling down toward the center of her thin eyebrows. Her upper body was covered in midnight-blue-silver chain mail with gold lining. Plates of gold covered her upper and lower arms over the chain mail but left her hands bare. Her shoulders had thin gold pads atop them outlined in blue steel. Two beige plates covered her bosom with swirls of gold on each to hide what the nearly see-through chain mail would not. Her chain mail below the plates extended outward nearly a span with cleavage. Two small thin plates covered the sides of her stomach appeared as if two mouths were to eat her exposed bellybutton through the see-through chain mail. Her belt was in a tilted v shape where her hammer was clasped securely. Past her waist, she wore a brown metal skirt clad with blue and gold armor draped down in patterns that enabled her to move freely. Only part of her thighs were visible before her blue and gold steel boots began at the knee.

“Yes, each kheshlar must go to a blacksmith to be fitted. This chain mail would be loose on any other kheshlar who may try it. We choose our own colors and style that we wish. It is something we do on our hundredth name day.”

“What about your weapon? Your hammer, did you get that from the blacksmith as well?”

“No…this was made by my sister,” she felt at the thick gold hued steel. “It is enchanted, though I’m not sure how. She gave it to me before she fell to the shadow. I keep it with me as a memory of her. A memory of how she once was.”

“Are we to continue traveling at night, or shall we head out now?”

“Let’s get a few hours of traveling before midday since we are now behind. It is only a few more days to the villages of the north, and a day beyond that to your village, if Karceoles wasn’t mistaken.”

She nudged Erenuyh, who awoke with a start before slowly getting to his feet. He looked at the two of them and sighed, still weakened by his fever, before securing a few things into his pack.

* * *

The next few days, they pushed themselves harder since they were getting close. They knew they could take rest in the human villages once they reached them, and so they took little rest during the day. According to Andron’s memory, they would have to pass through only three villages before coming to Guerettos at the edge of the sea. It was a bay that the village rested on, with more villages nearby. Larger cities headed northwest along the bay until reaching the ocean.

When nightfall approached on the eleventh day, all three were growing weary from traveling and decided to take a short break before continuing. The hills were a day gone, and they were to travel on flat terrain for the remainder of their trip. For some unknown reason, the flat ground seemed to take more energy from them than the hilly slopes they had come from. Andron supposed it was because without any changes the mind became drowsy faster. He led the group now, for his knowledge of the area was beyond Starlyn’s, as she only knew which direction to travel, and he knew the land.

The sunset to the west was beautiful to say the least with pink and purple hues glowing across the horizon. Andron stared at it for a long moment as he smoked his pipe next to Starlyn. Erenuyh sat a few paces away, lost in his own thought. The ranger didn’t seem to socialize and appeared as an outsider. Andron had tried to start a conversation with him several times, but each time the responses were but one word, and so he eventually gave up.

“How is your hand?” he asked, trying to spark a conversation with the ranger once more.

“Fine.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Mine does as well. I’m beginning to grow accustomed to being without my pinky.”

Erenuyh sat silent, staring at the sunset without as much as a glance toward Andron.

“Can you still use your bow well?”

“Yes.”

Andron sighed and began puffing at his pipe once more. The night was silent besides the few chirpings of crickets and hoots of owls. When the stars came out, he noticed Starlyn immediately staring upon them. She truly loved the stars, and he could tell when each night she spent most of her free time gazing upon them.

“I suppose we’d better get—”

Andron closed his mouth and listened with his ears. There was a sound like cracking fingers from the darkness. It didn’t come from either Starlyn or Erenuyh. He stood and fingered his sword, grasping the hilt and looking around.

“What is it?” Starlyn asked.

“I don’t know, but I heard something.”

Erenuyh stood to look about and grabbed his bow with his two fingers of his left hand. His eyes snapped from one patch of darkness to another as if hearing something. Andron knew his hearing wasn’t as toned as a kheshlar, but he could hear something out there.

Suddenly, he was tackled and fell to the ground, rolling several feet. He kicked at whatever it was, seeming to knock it off. Getting to his feet, he looked around but saw nothing. Unsheathing his sword, he ran back to where Starlyn and Erenuyh were fighting unseen foes. Andron blinked in surprise and tried to focus hard, but he still could see nothing. Suddenly, a warp in the air came toward him that appeared as if he was looking through bent glass or crystal. He shoved his sword upward and felt a force slash against it. His eyes widened with horror as he could hear the foe but could not see it.

No matter how hard he tried to study the warped crystal shape, he could still barely see it. He flinched with every blow that came upon him. There were only a few strikes that he was able to land true. Erenuyh dove backward and glanced at Andron, firing three quick arrows his way. Each arrow embedded into an invisible foe: one at a span from the ground, another midway, and the last a span higher than Andron’s head. The creature appeared tall, and besides the warped darkness that could not be seen of its body, Andron now had three markers that moved with each strike it made. He was able to defend himself with better effort, though the creature still landed several attacks upon Andron’s chest and stomach.

As Andron fought, he noticed there were only two of the creatures. There was one attacking Starlyn and the other in front of him. Erenuyh shot arrows at the two, making the two targets easier to spot, but still no complete shape was distinguished. Starlyn was fending hers off well with her large blunt hammer causing good damage, making the creature fall pack several paces with each true aim. Andron’s sword didn’t have the same power as a blunt weapon, and without knowing where fatal spots were to slash he was fighting blind.

An arrow pierced the front of the creature before Andron, and it shrieked out in pain. A loud humming growl came from in front of him, and Andron found himself flung back a dozen paces with what felt like a steel bar against his face. Blood trickled from his mouth as he crawled back toward Starlyn and Erenuyh without his weapon. He had no idea where his sword flew off to, but he couldn’t leave the two of them there without his help.

When he finally got to his feet, he saw Erenuyh without bow in his hands, and instead his long dagger defending as many strikes as he could. Andron fished for his throwing knives in his sash, but was too late as he saw Erenuyh’s head ripped from his neck and thrown into the darkness. The creature went for Starlyn next as he found his pack of throwing knives. He threw one after another with only two striking the creature. The strikes were true wherever they hit because the crystal creature came to a stop only a span from Starlyn and tumbled to the ground at her feet. She gasped as she saw it and leaped back as she delivered another strong slam to the invisible foe in front of her.

Andron ran to the invisible body and studied it careful to see where his knives hit. Even as it was still without movement it was as clear as crystal, but defined traits could now be seen. It was a large creature but humanoid in appearance except three times the size. The head was enormous with large clear eyes shaped like horizontal diamonds that didn’t blink. One was pierced with an arrow that Andron assumed was what made the creature angry with Erenuyh. It seemed to have a large pointed beard that was a slightly darker crystal than the rest, but besides that it was still mostly unseen. One of the throwing knives appeared to be in the arm of the creature as far as he could tell, but the other was below the beard in what he assumed was the neck.