To Be Chosen (45 page)

One of the differences between yetis and sasquatches that struck him, beside the color, was that yetis tended to be solitary, only coming together to mate, occasionally join a hunt, or when compelled to do so by a member of the Serpent Guild. Since linking with the sasquatches, he learned that they had a more developed social order than did the yetis and often formed packs with alphas, male and female, leading the group, similar to wolves. Another difference was that yetis hibernated during the hot summer months, except when members of the Serpent Guild revive them, while sasquatches remain active all year long.

They arrived at the dry open area and Jonah signaled the halt. Men dismounted and began eating and taking care of whatever physical needs held priority. Daniel had been casting Melodies virtually nonstop, drawing moisture from his body, and was thirsty. It would be a while longer before his bladder was full. He drank from one of his two canteens while eyeing everyone and everything surrounding him,
desiring to keep them all safe.

The river continued its meander south and swimming in its gentle waters along with the regular inhabitance were nine gators, ten pythons, three water moccasins, a pair of frogs, six turtles,
a grebe, and an egret, which sometimes flew and then would walk lively for awhile before taking back to the air. Amazingly, none of the major predators attempted to eat those of the group that would normally be prey. Daniel had not compelled them to follow him, like the sasquatches, they did so of their own accord.

“Are you going to stay on Sprinter’s back the whole time?” Cale inquired after dismounting.

“The view is better,” Daniel replied. “But if you want to spar, I might find that more interesting.”

“Then dismount. I want to see how many times I can slap you with some wood,” Cale joked while holding two practice blades.

Daniel swung down and took up the lath sword. He and Cale went through one form after another in the dance of swords. They had been doing this for so long it was not hard to anticipate the master’s moves. He was fast, wooden blade moving in a blur, but Daniel parried every offensive strike with the solid smack of wood on wood. Pruning the Hedges met Raking the Leaves. Parting Kiss met Crack of the Whip. The Lieutenant increased his speed and varied the forms. What started out to be Fanning the Flames ended up being, Parting the Waves, and had to be countered with Twisted Rapids instead of Falling Rain, which was good, seeing as this is what would happen in a real fight. It was the first time Cale fought that way, yet he still did not get through Daniel’s defenses. The problem is defense alone does not win, and at the moment, holding off Cale’s attack was the best Daniel could do. His only hope was to tire the man out; made possible because the Lieutenant lacked the extra life force energy Daniel was born with. This was not a fair fight so Daniel slowed down just enough to allow Cale’s blade to slip past his guard and strike him in the chest, which did not hurt because Daniel was shielded. Being unshielded in the Whetstone was one thing, being unshielded while in the wilderness and chasing Aakacarns was something else entirely. Fool hearty comes to mind.

“You did quite well, but your moves will have to be more aggressive if you ever hope to prevail against a Master-of-the-blade, especially one as good as me, of which there are few,” Cale stated pompously, after catching his breath, the way he spoke most of the time. The man had the talent, so no one called him down for the superior attitude, and he was a good teacher, which is why Daniel resisted the urge to prick the man’s colossal ego, and remind him that he had lost once.

Sergeant Keenan walked up, eyeing the cavalryman as he approached. “But you had to work for it this time.”

“Would you like to spar with me?” Cale asked him with a sneer.

Keenan smiled. “That would be a waste of your time and mine. It would take a rare twist of fate for me to beat you.”

“It would not take all that much time, but at least you are man enough to admit who is the better,” Cale replied and then took Daniel’s practice blade.

The huge guardsman cracked his knuckles. “You’re better with the blade, but not necessarily a better man.”

Those two would never come to like each other, not that such was required, but they did need to work together. “Cale is correct. I do need to be more aggressive to win and if he had been a little slower, I might have had the opportunity to attack him,” that should soothe one ego. “Sergeant, is there something requiring my attention?”

“Time, we have been at rest for nearly a full mark, and I appreciate that you have granted us a longer break, but I was wanting to know if we will be leaving soon,” Keenan replied in an overly patient manner, one giving the impression that had he not been addressing a Royal Knight of the Realm his tone would have been quite different.

“Time is valuable,” Daniel agreed and then vaulted into his saddle “Form up the columns.”

By the time Daniel counted to ninety, two neat columns were formed and ready to go. Cale, Silvia, David, Jonah and Sergeant Zaccum all took their customary places behind him and ahead of the guardsmen. Daniel urged Sprinter forward and the procession began again. The Lieutenant wasted no time coming up beside him and beginning a rambling monologue, as usual.

In late afternoon Samson Kaypen caught up to Corporal Duwin, who reported to Sergeant Keenan, who rode up to the head of the columns with the scout at his side. Daniel already had a strong notion of what would be in the report, seeing as he was sensing every creature within a five span radius of where he sat saddle.

The scout matched his horse’s pace with that of Sprinter. “We are being followed by sasquatches. I counted six,” he reported.

Momma sasquatch and her baby had joined up with the part of the pack that was lagging behind, and evidently chose not to rejoin the beasts Daniel had sensed her with before she stopped to give birth. The six sasquatches never slowed, having kept up a good pace. Their thoughts and imperatives were probably similar to those of the four adults D
aniel already had in his swirl.

He had been on the point of sending Duncan Hawk to bring the scout forward, for safety sake. At least he did not have to worry about that anymore. “Good job Samson that was a timely report. Now we’ll have to do something about the sasquatches,” Daniel replied, and then turned to Jonah. “Keep the men moving. David and I are going to drop back and deal with the threat. Four spans ahead you will find an area large enough for us to make camp, stop there for the night.”

Then the resistance came. “Why are you excluding me?” Silvia wanted to know, especially since she was the only one with a crossbow, although in miniature.

“If you are excluding the only person among us with a crossbow, such as it is, that means blade to claw and you will need me,” Cale insisted.

“I can take a squad and deal with the threat. You need not involve yourself,” Sergeant Keenan stated, concern written all over the big man’s face.

“Keenan is right,” Zaccum added his opinion. “I have experience killing the beasts. Allow me to ride with his squad. There is no reason for you to place yourself in unnecessary danger.” Keenan was nodding his head vigorously
at the suggestion.

“You are the Chosen Vessel,” Jonah stated. “If you die in a minor skirmish, there i
s no one to take your place.”

All good points, except Daniel did not need any of them to deal with the situation, and only chose David for appearances, he did not want to be seen as a lone hero taking on the beasts by himself. The Teki was shielded, in little danger of being hurt, and was one of the few who knew Daniel could summon potential.

“Silvia, you have a baby to protect,” he told her, even though she and Sheila would be just as safe as David. It came back down to appearances. “Do you remember the night we met?”

“Of course, you helped us fight off a band of yetis. What is your point?” Silvia answered.

“He killed them with arrows,” David reminded her. “If you lend him your crossbow and some bolts, I probably won’t even get a chance to throw a knife.”

“May I?” Daniel asked while extending his hand.

Silvia handed the baby to David and then relinquished her crossbow and removed twenty bolts from her belt. She clearly did not think much of Daniel’s ability to shoot, giving him so many bolts to strike what she believed to be so few targets. “These will not be effective against sasquatches beyond fifty strides, so don’t even try shooting before then. I want all twenty back and clean, so don’t be leaving me a bloody mess,” she added after taking back Sheila.

This is how she speaks to the Chosen Vessel, a Six-bolt Accomplished who could kill every living thing within a ten span radius with hardly more than a trickle of potential and a few moments of concentration. She knew him too well, that he would never do such a thing, and he laughed. He enjoyed the fact that she was not the least bit intimidated by him. Her attitude was a sharp contrast to the reaction of his parents and the residents of Bashierwood when they first learned of his ability to summon potential.  

“I would not dare bring back soiled bolts,” he told her and then placed the miniature bolts in his saddlebag. “Cale, Sergeants, Lord Jonah, if I miss a few, David will kill them. You saw how fast he and Silvia can kill a sasquatch.”

They reluctantly agreed, not that they had a choice. Daniel was in command and had the final say. He and David turned their steeds and headed south.

“Our commander is the Chosen Vessel. Those sasquatches don’t stand a chance,” Lonni Carper spoke in a voice he no doubt thought was only loud enough to be heard by the guardsman next to him.

“He ain’t even sweatin,” Long-jawed Fentnor Thrush commented back to him.

Daniel ignored the remarks and was not surprised in the least that every man knew he had confirmed the rumors of his being the Chosen Vessel. What surprised him was that they took his word for it. He would have laughed at anyone who made such a claim, before meeting Ruth.

When the last supply wagon was a hundred horse-lengths away, David cleared his throat. “You’ve never handled Silvia’s crossbow, is that why you want me along, in case you are not as proficient?” he asked, showing he also had doubts about Daniel’s ability to shoot the thing.

Daniel was sensing the six sasquatches moving closer and summoned the potential for Mind Touch, but only held the energy. “I don’t intend to use it.”

The Teki nodded his head. “You’re going to take them the Aakacarn way. I had a feeling this outing was going to leave me with nothing to do.”

Daniel glanced at him. “Actually, I’ve been looking forward to this all morning.”

“Looking forward,” David began to say and then paused. “You knew the sasquatches were following us.”

Daniel nodded his head. “A total of sixteen and if I accomplish what I hope, they will be added to those in my swirl.”

David blinked. “You referred to Sheila being in your swirl, exactly how big is your swirl?”

“Look over at the river and tell me what you see?”

David’s head swiveled to the right and his eyes widened. “I didn’t know gators and pythons would come this far north,” he stated and then shook his head as if trying to make sense of something strange. “Why are they all swimming in the same direction we’re traveling?”

“Gators and pythons are not confined to the swamps, they can also be found in rivers and lakes, almost any body of water like the Tollus. But these particular ones have taken a liking to me and are caught up in my swirl. The birds, turtles, and frogs were really just experiments to see if I could link my mind to theirs. The gators, pythons, and water moccasins I linked to for safety reasons. They were all too near the horses and most of them were seeking prey,” Daniel explained.

“Does this mean you control them?”

“Yes. I can, but I am not doing so now. They are following me of their own volition,” Daniel admitted.

David cocked his head sideways and the light of comprehension shined in his eyes. “When you talked about the sasquatches and Sheila just now, you said something about adding the new ones to those in your swirl. Does that mean she is not the only sasquatch in your swirl?”

“Terroar is directly east of us. Gerowel, Croka, and Korilla are coming up behind the ten sasquatches trailing these six. They were all under a Serpent Guild compulsion to kill and eat anything that tries to leave the Ducalin estate,” Daniel chose to finally share the information with the Teki.

“But now you control them,” David said with a trace of concern in his voice, perhaps wanting reassurance.

“I suggested to them that humans are not food and we should be avoided, so the sasquatches are staying out of sight, yet seem to have a desire to be near me. For now it is fine, but I might have to make a few more suggestions in the future.”

David burst out laughing, likely from relief rather than actually seeing anything humorous. “I can imagine you entering a town with a score of sasquatches following like lovesick puppies.”

“Not to mention a few gators and pythons,” Daniel went along with the silly notion, but it was time to get serious. “The first six sasquatches will be in sight in a few moments.”

David sobered immediately, in a blink of an eye, a pair of throwing blades appeared in his hands, and he was focused on the target area. “When should I start throwing?”

“Kill anything that gets within fifty strides, if I haven’t linked to the sasquatch by then, it means the compulsion to kill is stronger than my suggestion.”