The Elf King (40 page)

Qenn saw the look Wix gave
the staff just before he looked down into the valley below them. It
was quick, merely a second, but noticeable nonetheless. Kandish was
right. He would snatch the staff the moment he had the chance. Qenn
clutched it tightly in both hands. Wix would not catch him off
guard. He allowed Kamen and Wix to walk several paces ahead of him
before he followed.

It was light for over an
hour before the sun was seen rising above the tree tops. The
foliage was thick overhead, the forest flush with plants and trees,
with small birds skittering from one branch to the next. The
morning was growing hot already, and in the deep woods, there was
very little breeze offered to cool the group. Sweat flowed freely,
bringing with it bugs that fed off it.

It was mid-afternoon when
the group came to a small river and took a well-deserved rest. Wix
dropped to the ground as soon as Kamen said they could stop, the
others either sat against a tree, or sat on the river bank. Prevost
used his sword and speared some fish and they made a small fire to
cook them. Kandish and Qenn found some berries and nuts to offer
the group as well. Once they were finished eating, they discussed
again the direction they would take to the
LifeWaters
. Wix told them they were
heading in the right direction. Another day, maybe two, and they
would be there.

They all questioned Wix’s
sincerity, but none of them said anything out loud. None of them
enjoyed his company. His eyes were shifty, and uncertain at best
when asked questions about the territory and what he knew of it. He
was lying, or hiding something, they each thought. Kamen had
threatened him several times, but Wix knew as well as the rest of
them that he was their only guide. And for now, at least, they
would have to trust him.

When the sun set ahead of
them and the land fell under darkness again, Kamen Ode brought the
group to a halt for the night. A leafy dinner, with more nuts and
berries, was prepared, and after that they slept. Kamen took the
first watch, as usual. Kandish and Qenn slept close to one another,
with Prevost not too far away. Wix complained about their sleeping
grounds, the temperature, and the bugs, before finally shutting his
eyes and mouth, a few yards away from the group. Kamen sat perched
atop a massive rock embedded within the dirt overlooking them. The
night was still, and he could see for several yards around them.
Nothing would get close enough, he thought.

A few hours had passed when
Kamen Ode quietly slid down from the rock and stretched his tired
body. The forest was still, save for the insects and the biting
bugs. Kamen walked over to sit near his companions. As he made his
position comfortable, he made eye contact with Qenn. Seconds later,
the elf was up and sitting close to him.

“
I can take over.” Qenn
offered, keeping his voice low enough to not wake anyone else. “Get
some rest.”

“
I might do that,” Kamen
said in the same fashion. He was tired. His body and mind were
exhausted. He stared at the staff in Qenn’s hands for a few moments
before a deep frown washed over his face and he looked away to the
ground.

“
Thinking about your
mother?” Qenn asked the question without giving it a thought
first.

“
So much of my life was
spent trying to make sure it didn’t happen.” His words were slow,
his voice melancholy. His large hands fiddled with a small stick as
he spoke, his gaze drifted down to the dirt between his feet. “I
failed.”

“
You protected her as long
as you could.”

Kamen shook his head
slightly. “She told me it was going to happen, and how. I became
obsessed. Protecting her gave me purpose. But the demons are
something that I cannot kill. I’m fighting a battle that I cannot
win. It will be the death of me. But my anger now is so strong that
I cannot let go.”

Qenn heard the twig in his
hands snap. They were quiet for a little longer. Each of them lost
in thought. By the time Qenn was ready to talk again, he could see
the big man staring at him. “I never thought of my mother dying.
Not even when I saw that it had happened. If she had told me as
your mother told you, then I would do everything I could to prevent
it, too. I wish I had had the chance to. It was very
unexpected.”

Qenn stared at Kamen with
teary eyes. “I hate the
Takers
for killing her. I hate them for what they are.
I’ve taken the quest given me by the sorcerer because I wanted to
avenge my mother’s death. I could not protect her. But by
destroying them, I can protect someone else. It’s my
purpose.”

“
I will make sure that you
get your chance to destroy them all. Every one of them. Use your
staff and do what it takes to make them all die.” The vengeance in
Kamen’s eyes was not lost in the dark. “You give me purpose again,
elf.”

Qenn turned his head so
Kamen would not see his tears. “Thank you, Kamen.”

Kamen patted him on the
shoulder, before lying down to sleep. “It is I who will be thanking
you, Qenn.”

Qenn wiped the streaming
tears from his cheeks. When he turned to Kamen again, the big man
was asleep. With his mind overrun with so many troubles that sleep
was not permitted, Qenn walked to the massive rock and climbed to
the top. Holding his staff, he let his thoughts drift away on
it.

In the grass ahead of him,
a set of beady eyes fixed on the stick in Qenn’s hands.

When dawn broke, the group
was up and already marching again through the woods. There were no
conversations between them, no one said anything. Even when they
questioned their route it was with curious looks and answered by
finger pointing. A night’s rest may have done their bodies some
good, but the journey itself was depleting them.

Qenn trailed Kandish
slightly, behind Wix and Kamen, with Prevost behind them still.
Qenn’s thoughts were on his mother and brother, switching to Kamen
Ode and what he said about his mother. He understood the big man a
bit more than he had before last night. Not being able to save his
mother was absolute torment. Kamen would never be free of his
anger, Qenn thought. Even if all the
Takers
were killed, the big man
would still have to live with his self-proclaimed failure. Maybe in
time he could learn how to forgive himself.

A look from Kandish’s
wondrous eyes made Qenn suddenly forget what he was thinking about.
His pace had slowed, she noticed. And she had looked back to make
certain he was alright. It was a way of showing that she cared, he
thought. He would have done the same for her.

It was late afternoon when
something crunched underneath Qenn’s foot. As he looked down, he
saw the outline of a small bird’s skeleton. He looked back up to
see Kandish pointing to another one just off to their left. Bones
of animals were seen lying in the dirt as well. The group stopped
walking at Kamen’s command. The big man stared straight ahead. More
skeletons were seen littering the ground like snow. Kamen ordered
them to continue slowly.

Then Wix yelled.
“Look!”

Bones. Full skeletons were
everywhere along the ground. Wix turned and tried to run away, but
Kamen grabbed hold of his coat and held him in place.

“
We can’t stay here!
Something is killing everything!” Wix cried, his face stricken with
panic.

“
Calm down.” Kamen growled.
“Is there a way around?”

Wix’s answer was less than
convincing. “Yeah. Yeah, we should walk around it. Way
around.”

“
I wonder what happened,”
Qenn said, kneeling down to inspect the various bones. None of them
were broken; most of them were complete skeletons of all types of
animals and birds.

“
Or what is still
happening,” Prevost offered. He pointed a few yards to their right
where a large bird lay unmoving.

Kandish looked worriedly to
Qenn. “He’s right. These animals didn’t just die on their own. I
think they were all poisoned.”

“
We need to get out of
here!” Wix snapped. He looked terrified.

Kamen moved over to get
within an inch from Wix’s face. “This is not the last of the death
we will find! Get moving!”

With weapons drawn, the
group moved parallel to the stretch of bones, until their way
forward ended at a steep drop into a ravine. There was no safe way
down. They decided to back track then, and it wasn’t long before
they were running into skeletons again.

“
Skirting this could take a
while,” Prevost grunted.

“
We don’t have a while,”
sighed Qenn.

Then Kamen got mad. “We’re
going in!”

“
We can’t just run reckless
in hopes that we’ll survive!” Wix cried.

“
Is
the
LifeWaters
still that way?” Prevost questioned Wix, pointing past the
bones. Wix nodded reluctantly. “Then that is the way.”

As they began their
intrusion, Kamen pulled Wix along. For the first fifty yards in,
all they saw were bones. There didn’t appear to be a pattern; there
were infant skeletons as well as mature ones. The animal kingdom
didn’t fare any better. And all the skeletons were facing the same
direction. They had been looking to escape, Kandish said earlier.
It was appearing as though she was right.

The group was on their
toes, moving carefully, eyes scanning everywhere, ears listening
intently, waiting for something to strike at them. But then the
skeletal remains began to clear out, and all but disappear. Soon
there were no bones at all. Whatever had ended the lives of so many
things, the group thought that they had passed it. Their sweaty
faces showed relief.

When it was too dark to
move forward, Kamen brought them to a halt. A shallow stream
trickled nearby and they thought it best to camp for the night.
Kandish passed a water can to Qenn and Prevost, who both drank, but
Kamen refused and it wasn’t offered to Wix. She told them to drink
up and she would refill at the stream. As they found suitable
resting positions, Wix rose and settled in uncomfortably close to
Qenn. All eyes were fixed on Wix then. Qenn sat upright and stared
at the other.

“
What do you want?” Qenn
asked him, his irritation showing.

“
Tell me about your staff.”
Wix’s eyes were wide, sparkling with desire. “May I hold
it?”

Kandish sat up then,
followed by Prevost. They would be on top of Wix if he tried
something. But Wix kept to himself.

“
What I know, is that it’s
mine. And only mine to use.” Qenn answered. He sat waiting for Wix
to reach for it, feeling the other’s want, seeing it in his beady
eyes.

“
Go to sleep, Wix.” Prevost
said quietly. The look he gave him said it was an order.

“
It’s magic. I can smell
it. What does it do? Please, tell me.” Wix pressed, paying no
attention to anyone else.

“
I don’t know what it does,
Wix. I just know that it will not work for you.”

Wix smiled. “Let me see for
myself. Let me touch it.”

“
No.”

Now Kamen was up, too. “You
will not have the staff, Wix. Not now. Not ever.”

Wix blew up in frustration
then. “It’s not fair! Why can’t I see it? I have nothing to defend
myself with! Why not let me carry it? Is it a power that I could
use against you? Is that why you’re afraid? Let me see it just
once.”

“
Back off!” Qenn stood and
moved to the other side of Kandish before lying back down
again.

Kandish smiled at Wix, a
dagger in both her hands. “If you try to take it, I will bleed
you.”

“
You’ll have plenty of
help,” Kamen said to Kandish, eyes gleaming at Wix.

“
Why are you here, Wix?”
Prevost asked in a calm fashion. The question seemed to trouble
Wix.

“
You need a guide, and I
need to leave the city. And for all I know, you’re the only people
left alive. You asked me to join you. You need me!” Wix sounded
desperate. He looked panicked. “I can take you where you want to
go.”

“
Or are you here because of
the staff?” Prevost pressed.

Wix jumped to his feet,
screaming quietly, flailing his arms around as if he had no idea
how to use them, then stormed to the stream. They could hear him
splashing water onto his face for several minutes, cursing to
himself about them all, whispering something about magic as he let
his frustrations out with a scream. When he returned, he lied down
in the same place and went to sleep.

“
I wasn’t going to hurt
you,” he mumbled before falling asleep.

Kandish stood directly over
Wix. Her daggers were still out for them all to see. “I’ll take
first watch.” The others agreed and were out in minutes. Kandish
remained where she was, weapons ready.

I
t
was still several hours before
sunrise when Qenn’s screams awoke everyone. His staff was gone and
something had stung his forehead. He yelled for help as he waited
for the dizziness to fade. The others were up instantly, hearing
something tear through the woods, running back the way they had
come. Kandish had been on watch, and she too had been knocked down,
rubbing a spot on the side of her head, wincing in pain. She
complained about hearing something move next to her, then she was
out. Kandish checked Qenn’s face and saw a bruise already forming.
He had been hit with something hard. Then Kamen announced angrily
that one of them was missing.