The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (51 page)

When Oywen tensed and started to move forward, the guard noticed a women's voice pitched low uttering words that he couldn't understand.

"Quela, what do you think that you are doing?" the wizard on the ground said trying to get up, though her body was too drained to obey her quickly.

He turned to see the brunette wizard still covered in blood walking towards him muttering what he worried was a spell. Thinking the woman was preparing to get her vengeance for him killing her bondsman, Toman instinctively reached for her hands. Her right hand had a cut and she evaded his grasp with that hand to clamp onto his forearm.

Realizing that he had been cut a few times without his notice in the fighting, Toman felt a strange energy flow into him as if from her cut into his. The blood mingled and the much larger, stronger man pulled her hands away releasing the other's hold.

Quela sagged into him forcing him to catch the wizard.

"Quela, no, you didn't!" Oywen cried out sounding appalled. Nico's running footsteps closed from behind Toman and he heard Xerese hurrying towards him with the remaining passengers and drivers.

Strangely, Toman didn't feel anything negative. If he could gauge anything where magic was involved, the man actually thought he felt better.

"What did she do?" he asked holding the dark haired wizard up but nearly at arms' length. Her body had gone limp and Toman was considering either letting her go or pulling her closer as her weight seemed to keep increasing.

"She bonded with you," Oywen nearly spat in distaste. "We aren't supposed to bond to anyone without their permission and certainly not by surprise."

"What does that mean?" he asked with worry.

"It means that she shares a bond created by magic. She shares her power with you and you can draw it from her almost like a wizard."

Xerese asked in confusion, "Does that mean she controls him or something?"

Oywen settled back trying to get comfortable and in an attempt to conserve her energy. With food and drink being pulled from the bag Nico brought back from the coach, the wizard could resupply her faltering energy. Her brother seemed less fatigued, so Xerese was left wondering at how the bond worked even more.

After chewing a bite of a sandwich made by her brother, Oywen answered, "They outlawed servant bonds a long time ago, though I suppose if she was desperate Quela could have made one. If she used a normal blood bond, it just means she shares her power with him. If a wizard dies, a bondsman loses the magical protection. They would feel the connection severed, but beyond that nothing else would change.

"I have heard that when a wizard loses their bondsman, it is like losing a limb. Some wizards can't take the loss and have even killed themselves before they could get past it. Some look for a new bond to fill the loss." Oywen frowned at the dark haired wizard still held upright by Toman. "This is just wrong."

Easing the wizard to the ground, Quela knelt easily enough. Xerese wondered if the woman had collapsed because of her use of magic or the loss of her bondsman. Either way, the girl found a frown on her face and wondered if the feelings she felt had anything to do with jealousy. She had been with Toman for weeks alone and he had been her guard for years before that as well.

While Xerese was certain that she wasn't falling in love with the man, she did depend on him and relied on him like a child dependent on its parents.

Toman made the wizard look at him by placing a finger under her chin. Her face looked intensely sad, but her green eyes faced him steadily.

"Why did you do that?" he asked. "What do you hope to accomplish? I am with Xerie."

Still using the pretense of being a married couple, that would certainly make this magical bond thing even more awkward, Xerese thought. She was his lady as well. That left romantic possibilities open, but not a question of his loyalty; though she had often wondered how that loyalty could be tested so much and still he was there protecting her.

"You were stronger than Fethwer and he was a master swordsman. He had my magic as well, but you killed him. When you bested him, you bested me."

"So now you want me because I am stronger?" the man asked in frustration. He certainly had no intention of leaving Xerese for some wizard who had forced a bond with him.

She shook her head. "You won. I will follow you. If you want me to act as a servant, I will."

Pulling back in shock, Toman didn't even know what to say.

"He serves me," Xerese warned the woman.

"Then I will serve you too," was the simple answer. It was a voice of resignation, though no one had demanded this of her.

It was Oywen who looked most shocked to hear this answer. "You did place a servant bond, didn't you?"

Everyone looked at Oywen questioningly, but it was Quela who nodded and answered, "I told you. I serve him."

Oywen's hand slapped her forehead before shaking her head in disbelief.

"What does that mean?" Xerese asked once more.

Sighing at the question as much as the circumstances, the wizard replied, "I told you. Some wizards break down because of the loss of their bondsman. It's more rare, but sometimes they feel so empty they will just give themselves away as a servant like this.

"She's given up. With the new bond, Quela might recover; but she's given up control to him."

"Well, I guess having a wizard on our side wouldn't hurt," Xerese sighed trying to think positively.

The lady stood up and turned to look at the men standing awkwardly nearby. "Check the carriage for damage. It was hit a couple times, but hopefully there's nothing broken.

"Toman, should we gather the swords and search the bodies for anything valuable?"

The remaining brother shook his head and argued, "You can't go looting the dead. They need to have last rights and someone should bury them."

Ignoring much of the man's complaint, Xerese turned to look at Oywen and asked, "Do you have magic that can bury these bodies? If someone comes looking for you all, it might be better if they didn't find all these dead soldiers."

"Some got away anyway," the wizard argued wearily.

Quela suddenly struggled to stand and said, "I can use my magic, mistress. If I could get some food and drink in me, my power will return to bury them well enough that no one will find them."

"Just call me Xerie for right now," Xerese ordered the wizard and realized that their fortunes had indeed changed. "Ok, get her some food, Toman, and then we should take the valuables."

Staring down the brother, she added, "They don't need them anymore, brother. If you want to do their last rites, I won't stop you. We'll bury them and get going again." Noting a few horses remaining aside from the team still tethered to the coach, the girl added, "We'll take the healthy horses with us. They can eat the grasses along the way and drink when the team does."

With a set plan, everyone began to move as she had ordered. The drivers and other passengers helped gathered the swords and daggers. Even the captain's breastplate was taken. It would be worth money just as good metal if they couldn't sell it for the price of armor. Coin pouches found were an instant bit of wealth that could be spent on food or inns for the rest of the trip as well.

Five horses remained healthy. A few more had probably run off, but along with the soldiers many had to be buried. Those suffering were put out of their misery, though the magic damage had been quite thorough so there were few horses that needed such treatment.

Toman decided to ride alongside the coach for the rest of the day just in case the remaining soldiers decided to try and return. Quela's horse was one of those that had survived and the woman rode with the guard refusing to rest in the carriage. Xerese watched the two riding beside them. The wizard still looked sad and the two riders didn't speak to each other for the remainder of the afternoon until they stopped for a night's rest for the team.

As the group spread out bedrolls, Xerese moved closer to Oywen and Nico. She watched Quela following Toman wherever he went like a puppy wanting to know where its master was at all times. Xerese was pretty sure that he had to order her not to follow when he went to relieve himself, though that might have been her imagination.

"What was your plan when you took the coach out of Marta?" she asked Oywen as they sat by their campfire. "Is Daria any safer?"

Looking at her in surprise, the wizard shook her head. "It is hard to get any news between the cities right now, but from what I have heard Daria is likely more dangerous than Marta even. Nico and I had planned to either begin walking before reaching the city or tempt fate by looking for another ride there." Her face gave away her fears of entering the other city even more than her words.

Her brother could hear the conversation sitting next to her and added, "If we could maybe find a farmer willing to drive us part of the way or perhaps willing to sell some horses cheaply, I would rather avoid Daria. With the brotherhood suddenly in charge, everything has become too dangerous here. We are likely safer in Malaiy.

"We will head there and attempt to catch a ship back to Tristan. We can report on what is going on and let the king send an army or something to restore order."

Toman moved to sit near Xerese and jumped into the conversation. "This uprising occurring in every major town and city in the north means that it is more than coincidental. If the brotherhood set all this up, they might have the power to actually repulse a single army. Their reach goes beyond Tseult and I wonder if they will bring mercenaries to fight off King Tylus."

"There is also the distance," Xerese mused. "Moving an army so far makes it vulnerable. They will need supply lines to feed their forces."

"Supply lines that long would certainly be flimsy things at best," Toman agreed finding her ability to think of such things a bit surprising. A lady used to being in castles and at court wasn't expected to understand the delicacies of war.

"Shipping lanes are no better and if the cities are under enemy control, they will have trouble finding places to drop off men. Carrying siege weapons would be nearly impossible. It would require a massive fleet to be of any use retaking hundreds of miles of coastline. Even reducing the problem to just the cities and towns would require man power to push through them all," the lady stated holding the interest of the others.

No one spoke for a moment which led the girl's mind to another question. "If King Tylus sent enough wizards to make up for the lack of resources, how many will fight against him in the cities?"

It wasn't a question the guardsman could answer. Magic wasn't in his realm of expertise; but Quela, who had been pretty quiet due to the loss of her bondsman, said, "Even if the other wizards and bondsmen escape or are killed, there are wizards among the brothers or at least in these new militias. It is why most of the Tseult wizards are either in prison, dead or working with them."

Oywen looked angry at the other wizard as she questioned, "Is that why you joined them or do you believe that King Tylus had his soldiers attack all those temples? Do you follow this god of theirs?"

Staring at the blonde wizard, the green eyes of the brunette didn't appear to care about her anger. "I am not certain about Sordrian. The brothers have done a lot of good for the people. At first, when I believed it was just Marta that had been attacked, I believed that the king's soldiers had turned against the people.

"When the mob grabbed anyone who sided with Tylus and Tseult, Fethwer and I debated on fleeing the city too. Atan and many of the others weighed what was going on and agreed that we needed to stay to at least discover if it was just a few soldiers turning violent or the king having a vendetta.

"Atan and the others seemed to quickly join the brothers' army. We couldn't change our minds or risk being put in prison or killed."

"You chased us down, Quela!" Oywen accused the woman. "You could have chosen to resist or leave the pursuit squad. It could be called a death squad really. The captain and Atan didn't take very long to threaten us."

"But it was you who attacked us," the dark haired wizard stated calmly with a tilt of her head as if the woman was trying to decipher Oywen's mind.

"We asked for you to leave us alone. If we didn't attack first, there was no way that we could have hoped to win against you all." The wizard looked at Toman and added, "We would have lost anyway without help, of course."

Xerese interrupted the wizards and said, "It no longer matters who attacked who or whether you agree with each other on everything. Quela has joined our side. Toman and I plan to continue on to Malaiy as well no matter what is going on in Daria. If we need to avoid the town we will find a way to make it with or without picking up more supplies.

"We made it this far starting with literally nothing. Once in Malaiy we should try Solan for help. No more pursuit teams would dare try and take you from the marq's city. Solan has high walls and other defenses from the time of the old wars. Itan has a large force of soldiers there too from what I recall."

The others looked at Xerese with renewed interest and curiosity about how the girl would know such things could be seen in their faces.

Oywen didn't press but suggested, "We have the five extra horses now. We can stay with the carriage until we are near Daria before taking the horses to ride for Malaiy then. The only question would be the need for supplies."