The Sleeping King (61 page)

She pressed the tiny opening as hard as she could, “The Tribe has ever been your friend, Kerryl Moonrunner. If murder these innocents you do, see to it I will that the Tribe of the Moon knows of your crime. Turn on you we will. After you we will come.”

The nature guardian guffawed. “It is the Tribe's work I do, Sha'Li. They will thank me one day when they understand what I do. But I do owe you. As a favor to you, I give you their lives. All but one of them. Choose which one I shall take.”

She stared at him, appalled. He was unquestionably insane. “Choose I cannot—”

“Take me,” Kendrick demanded. “Kill me. Spare the others.”

Sha'Li's head whipped around to stare at him. He was a spoiled rich boy. Son of a noble. Why would he volunteer himself to die?

“Why you?” Moonrunner challenged.

“It is my right to do so. I am a noble and these others are commoners. It is my
duty
to protect them. To sacrifice myself if called upon to do so in their behalf. Kill me, you crazy freak.”

Moonrunner hesitated, and Kendrick launched into what could only be described as a creative tirade of insults questioning everything from Moonrunner's parentage to his body odor.

But instead of infuriating the nature guardian into attacking, Kendrick's invective made Moonrunner burst into merry laughter. “I like you, boy. I like your spirit. Enough to take you, I think. And you are skilled with a sword. Yes, you will do nicely.” He glanced over at Sha'Li. “We have a deal, then? I take him and you may have the rest. And my debt to you is repaid in full.”

She looked over at Kendrick doubtfully. He glared at her, battering at her with his words. “Take the deal, Sha'Li. I insist. It is the right thing to do. You and I both know it. I mean it. Do it.”

“All right!” she burst out. “Fine. Your deal I accept, Moonrunner.”

“I have one last request,” Kendrick announced.

The nature guardian paused in the act of reaching for him, whether simply surprised or acquiescing she could not tell.

Either way, Kendrick spoke quickly, with terrible urgency, directly to her. “Tell the others not to come after me. Understood? I am young and strong and will resurrect. Who knows? I may catch up with all of you, later. Tell Eben of the Kithmar slavers moving in the forest, but tell them to finish Will's quest, first. Above all, they must finish the quest. You understand me, Sha'Li? Do
not
follow me.”

“Oh, I do not plan to kill you, boy,” Kerryl purred. “Oh no. I have better plans than that for you. Plans you will thank me for.”

She frowned, not understanding at all as Moonrunner swept forward and slapped an open hand on Kendrick's chest. He incanted a spell too quietly for her to hear, and the human youth slumped, unconscious, within the magical restraints upon him.

Sha'Li said quickly, “Magic I do not have to heal the others. Let them die you cannot. Not our deal that was.”

Moonrunner reached into his waist pouch and tossed something small and glittering at her. She caught it with one hand as he growled, “Use that wisely and they will live.” With that, he grabbed the young noble's sword, heaved Kendrick over his shoulder, and jogged off into the night.

Frantically Sha'Li examined what he'd thrown her. A glass vial holding a potion of some kind.
Please Lunimar, let it be a healing potion.
She noticed the vial was color coded and silently thanked Brother Lizmorn for color-coding this one.
Now how did it go?
She swore under her breath, trying frantically to remember. Blue for life potions, black for spirit forms. Yellow to cure diseases. She could not remember what green stood for. This one bore a strip of white … straight healing. She ran over to Raina, rolled the girl over, and poured the clear liquid down the human's throat, praying that it worked.

The healer coughed. Opened her eyes, disoriented. “What happened?”

“Attacked we were,” Sha'Li bit out. “Heal the others.”

Raina jumped to her feet and moved fast around the fire, healing everyone. Eben was the only one who'd been killed outright, but the healer lifed him as easily as she woke Rosana from Moonrunner's sleep spell and roused Cicero from the unconsciousness caused by the blow to his head. Will was declared dying but not dead, and Raina dumped a bunch of healing into him last of all. He leaped to his feet like the others, wild-eyed and looking for an enemy to attack.

Chaos ensued as everyone demanded to know what had happened, bombarding her simultaneously with so many questions she could not answer any of them. But eventually she got a word in edgewise.

When she got to the part about Kendrick telling them not to go after him, though, the party fell totally silent. She finished delivering his message as close to exactly how he'd said it as she could.

After a long, heavy silence, Eben finally burst out, “That sounds just like him!”

Raina replied, “What will we do?”

Sha'Li was inclined to go after Kendrick. As annoying as he'd been and as often as she'd argued with him, she had to respect the way he'd insisted on being the one Moonrunner took. He didn't have to do that, but he hadn't hesitated. His heart was nobler than she'd given any human credit for.

Will and Raina reluctantly admitted to wanting to continue their quest for the sleeping-elf guy. Rosana was for giving chase to Moonrunner and rescuing Kendrick. But then, she was Heart. It made sense she would feel that way. Sha'Li was glad for the support. Cicero threw up his hands and said he'd do whatever the party decided. He was only along to keep Raina safe.

They all turned to Eben. It fell to him to break the tie. She did not envy him the choice. His best friend or his best friend's last request.

 

CHAPTER

24

Raina woke with a heavy heart in the first gray light of dawn. The others seemed equally depressed as they choked down strips of dried meat and erased the signs of their camp preparatory to moving out. She noted that Eben was quietest of all. In the end, he'd honored Kendrick's request not to chase after him immediately. But to have lost both his sister and his best friend who was like a brother to him … it was a heavy burden to bear. She worried that he still might do something impulsive and draw down their little party by yet another skilled sword it could not afford to lose.

When she was not fretting about her traveling companions, she fretted about how she was to convince the Boki to let them wake the Mythar. She must find a way to appeal to the Boki's honor, which they seemed to hold so dear. If only she knew more of their mythology regarding the one they guarded. Mayhap she could find a way to use their own Boki legends to prove it was time to wake the sleeping one.

The group had promised one another stoutly that, if Kendrick was not back in Dupree waiting for them when they returned, they would come back here and rescue him. She sincerely hoped that was not necessary. She'd liked the landsgrave's son. Although a bit impetuous, Kendrick had seemed to have a brave and good heart. Much like his father.

Cicero and Sha'Li took turns erasing the party's tracks and serving as rear guard as they moved out in the gloom. Most of the time, Will took point, leading the way. Or rather, Bloodroot's spirit led the way, unerringly finding the least difficult path through the increasingly rugged terrain.

How much longer Will could go on like this was anybody's guess. Raina's training suggested that he should already be dead. She could only assume that some combination of her magic and Rosana's, Bloodroot's stubbornness, and Will's determination was what kept him going.

The deeper they journeyed into the Forest of Thorns, the more frequently the front or rear guard signaled for the group to halt and hide. Late in the afternoon, they crouched by a trickle of water sluggishly seeping up out of the ground to drink and refill their water skins. Eben and Cicero slipped away into the woods while the rest of them rested to scout for a spot to bed down.

Without warning, Eben burst into the little clearing, panting. “We've got a problem.” Cupping his hands around his mouth, he let out a caw that sounded like one of the local grackles.

Raina started at the harsh noise. “What was that for?”

Sha'Li muttered, “Calling in Cicero.”

Sure enough, the kindari burst into the clearing at a dead run in a moment, sword drawn. “What's amiss?” he demanded.

Eben replied with a single word that struck terror into Will's heart. “Anton.”

“How far?” Cicero asked the jann tersely.

The jann hummed urgently, “Maybe two hundred yards behind us, I spotted a scout. He'll be working ahead of the main force by a bit. I estimate a half mile to Anton's main force.”

Raina looked at her kindari guardian and said in dismay, “I'm going to have to run again, aren't I?”

The elf nodded grimly. She groaned under her breath as she shouldered her pack and tucked her skirt up around her knees. If Anton caught her, at best he would send her home to her mother and the Mages of Alchizzadon. At worst, the governor would make her his slave. She'd heard Eben and Kendrick muttering about how Anton fed women love potions and then engaged in lascivious orgies with his love slaves. She shuddered at the thought and panic beat at her ribs.

The good news was that an army was not likely to move fast in terrain this rough. Cicero set off at a steady jog that had Raina chomping with impatience to go faster. But the wisdom of the kindari's pace was evident when they were still jogging along an hour later. The elf finally called a halt when full dark made the forest floor totally impossible to see. She was grateful to stop tripping and stumbling every few strides.

The group huddled together over the napkin Rosana unfolded. It held the last of the calorie-dense cheese bread they brought with them. She tore off big hunks of it and passed them around. Raina approved of Rosana's decision to feed everyone well. This was no night to be stingy with sustenance. They'd been going a day, a night, and another day with only a few hours of rest.

Cicero spoke quietly. “I'd suggest we sleep for a few hours, and then move on. We'll need all the head start we can get on Anton if we're to stay ahead of him.”

Eben nodded grimly. “From what I make of the man, he'll move fast and drive his troops mercilessly. Patience is, mmm, not his greatest virtue.”

Wry humor hung in the air from the obvious and unspoken retort to that comment:
Anton Constantine
has
virtues?

Rosana burst out, “What does that snake want out here?”

The kindari shrugged. “Don't know and don't care. I just don't want to get caught by the viper.”

Raina fervently agreed with that sentiment. For all she knew, her mother and the mages had already reported her missing to the Imperial Army. And for all intents and purposes in Dupree, Anton Constantine was the Empire.

She passed the last of her healing into Will and then hunkered down in her bedroll in the cold and dark, the night sounds even more ominous than usual. Every twig snapping or leaf rustling made her heart jump with trepidation. She napped, but it seemed like she'd just closed her eyes when Rosana gently shook her awake.

Every time she woke up, she felt miserable. The amount of healing she was doing on Will and Bloodroot was straining her mind's and body's abilities to recover. She did her best not to complain, but each day she felt weaker as her magic grew stronger. She consoled herself with the fact that Will undoubtedly felt much worse than she did.

She eyed the youth surreptitiously as she packed her bedroll and tightened her boots. Will staggered through each day seeming not to care much where Bloodroot led them all. She only wished their journey would end soon. Before they all collapsed of exhaustion and the constant, gnawing fear.

Cicero issued strange instructions prior to their moving out tonight.
Build a fire. Leave signs of a camp. Stoke the embers well.

“What are you about?” Sha'Li growled, sounding surlier than usual.

The kindari answered, “If Anton's soldiers find our camp, they will think it only recently abandoned and believe us much closer than we are.”

Raina approved of the cunning. What would she have done without her faithful protector? She certainly never would have made it this far. Not once had he complained of the hardships helping her had brought him, nor had he once mentioned compensation of any kind for his service. All she could pay him with was her friendship, and that she gave the kindari without reserve.

The group got into the spirit of deception immediately, laying out hasty beds of boughs and pine needles to indicate that they'd slept in this place. Then, moving carefully, and with their countertrackers meticulously erasing their trail, they slipped out of the clearing. When Cicero judged them well clear of the camp, they moved out more quickly.

Night travel was slow and hard going. But better that than death at Anton's hands or in an Imperial slave galley, however.

Raina pondered whether or not Anton was hunting them, specifically. Their little party could not possibly be that important to him. Surely Anton had not gotten wind of what they sought.

In her more grim moments, she wondered if it was possible that Anton was out here for the same reason they were? To find the Sleeping King? Although, as he was the Emperor's man, Anton's goal would no doubt be to destroy this supposed king and any threat he might pose to Maximillian.

Or mayhap Anton was merely looking for a fight. Stars knew, the Boki would give him one.

Night became morn and morn became day, and still they trekked onward. It was moving toward sunset and everyone was staggering with exhaustion when Eben threw up a fist ahead of them, signaling frantically for all of them to get down. Raina, almost too numb to comprehend the signal, stumbled, stared stupidly for a moment, and belatedly dived behind the nearest clump of brambles.
Now what?