Wielder's Awakening (49 page)

“No, there were no smears on any of their bodies.  It appeared that the man who killed the three used a piece of one of the attackers’ clothes that had been cut off in the struggle to clean off his sword before continuing on.”  The Captain shook his head before continuing on.  “I do not see the relevance of your question.  Most swordsmen will clean their blade after a fight.”

“Was the piece of cloth from the sleeve of the attacker’s sword arm?”

The Captain of the Watch thought for a few seconds and then called for one of his messengers.  Blaize waited impatiently for the messenger to verify if the cloth was indeed sliced from the sword arm of one of the attackers.  The messenger returned shortly with a smile on his face.  The cloth was indeed sliced from the sleeve of the sword arm of one of the attackers.

“How did you know that . . .” the Captain began before Blaize cut him off.

“It does not matter,” Blaize stated firmly.  “Now I am sure.  I need to know what your trackers have discovered since yesterday.”  A look of frustration came over the Captain’s face but he answered.

“We have traced the bandits to the marsh.  I have had my best trackers out all night around the perimeter looking for the place of entry and any other signs.  They will be here soon to make a report of their findings.”

“Thank you for your help,” Blaize said as he turned to leave.

“If you will wait until they get here . . .”

The rest of the Captain’s words were cut off as the door shut behind Blaize.  He hurried out of the small building and swung up on his horse.  He now knew where to begin his search.  He would find Traven and the Princess quickly.  Blaize didn’t have time to wait for the City Watch to discuss and make plans.  He would act immediately.  He had a strange impression that if he waited, he would never see Traven again.  Blaize dug his heels into his mount’s sides and galloped away though the city northward towards the marsh.  As he flew through the streets, the first rays of dawn struck the tops of the city towers.

* * * * *

Wraith waited patiently for Filner to unlock the tower door.  He fingered the hilt of his new sword.  He really had outdone himself this time.  He had captured the Princess of the grand country of Kalia and found the boy who was the reason that Kadrak had sent him here in the first place.  It was interesting how he had run into the boy by chance.  He could now return to Balthus having completed his task.  The capture of the Princess had just been a personal indulgence.

Filner finished the last lock and swung the door open for his master.  Wraith strode into the room, his eyes darting.  He did not expect the kid to try anything, but Wraith was still alive because he always expected the unexpected.  Sunlight streaming through the large window illuminated the room brightly.  The boy and the Princess were already awake and sitting next to each other against the wall.  They hadn’t been up for long, however, for the Princess was still wiping the sleep from her eyes.

Wraith was delighted to see the fear in both of their eyes, but was also pleasantly surprised to see the determination mirrored in the boy’s eyes.  Wraith noticed immediately that the boy’s muscles were tense, that his hand was resting on his calf just above his boot, and that he was ready to spring at any moment despite being seated.  It would be fun killing this one.  He knew that the boy had a dagger in his boot.  Wraith had left it there to make things more interesting.  He had been surprised that the boy had not tried to use it the night before but figured that in all of the excitement the boy had forgotten about it.  Wraith could see that he had remembered the dagger now.

“I expect that you slept well,” Wraith said, flashing his prisoners a smile.  They didn’t answer, not that he had really expected them to.  He had only stopped by to leave them with one last thought before he headed into the city.  “I just wanted to let you know that the night’s sleep has not changed my mind.  I will be killing you both personally today.  You have several hours of life left.  Enjoy one last meal!”

Wraith tossed two stale biscuits at the two of them and watched with pleasure when they made no move to catch them.  He waited while Filner stepped away from the door and set a bowl of water on the ground near them.  Still neither made a move.  Wraith grinned at the two one last time and moved to the door.  He turned his back to his prisoners daring the boy to try something stupid and said loudly to Filner, “Well, you can’t say that I didn’t offer my guests a meal.”

When the boy didn’t try anything, Wraith continued through the door and waited for Filner to close it and relock all of the locks.  The boy was not as stupid as he had thought.  He would kill the boy first for the Princess to see, and then he would finish her off.  He could barely contain his excitement at the thought as they descended the stairs.  When he reached the front room of the tower, he unbuckled the fancy sword and slid it into a bag of odds and ends.  He then pulled on his older one.  He didn’t need to attract any unnecessary attention.

He was sure the High King’s trackers would be out and about.  Eventually they would trace the kidnapping to the marsh and find the tower.  They would be surprised when they finally found the Princess’ dead body.  He would leave her in such a way that there would be no mistaking her identity.  Rumors would spread and fears would rise.  Calyn would be ripe with fear when Kadrak moved against Kalia.  Wraith chuckled to himself as he strutted out into the courtyard.  His horse was ready and waiting along with two off his small band.  He gracefully swung into the saddle.

“You are in charge, Filner,” he said to his loyal second.  “I trust that you will have everything ready by the time I return and that the prisoners will be ready.  Remember that the rewards for success will be sweet, but the reward for failure is death.”

With that, Wraith swung his horse around and headed off the small dry island and into the swampy marsh.  By midday he would be back with the materials, and Filner would have everything else ready.  He would dispatch of his prisoners quickly but thoroughly.  By the early afternoon, he and his band would be on their way to Balthus.  A grin once again crept onto Wraith’s face.  Sometimes things were just too easy.

* * * * *

Traven relaxed his tense muscles as the footsteps of the two men faded away.  He pushed himself to his feet and taking a deep breath, walked over to one of the windows and looked down.  In the morning light, Traven saw that the tower was on a small island of dry land.  All around the tower lay the ruins of an ancient city.  Most of the buildings had long ago sunk into the murky depths but several were on patches of dry ground and still stood.  He could see clearly the guards that were in the courtyard far below, but farther out into the marsh it was impossible to see much.  A shroud of rolling fog covered the majority of the swampy land.  The tower rose above the fog, and in the far distance he could make out the sprawling city of Calyn.

Traven watched as the two men who had just left the room walked out from the base of the tower.  The leader mounted his horse and after saying a few words to the other turned and headed off into the marsh with two others.  Traven watched until the men were lost from sight in the fog.  He turned from the window and looked at the Princess.  They only had a few hours before the leader would return.  They needed to be gone before he got back.

Traven had remembered the jeweled dagger hidden in his boot when he had awakened earlier.  He had stayed still so as not to awaken the Princess who was still asleep against his side, but his mind had been racing.  He had formed several plans for escape by the time the two men had approached the door.  Traven had gently shaken the Princess awake with the memory of the previous night still fresh in his mind.  He had thought about attacking the evil man, but had decided against it since the man had a sword and he only had a dagger.  He was sure the man would have easily disarmed him and ended his life.  He had decided that it would be best to wait to try to escape until after the dangerous man was gone.

“Traven.”

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the warm caress of his name from the lips of the Princess.  He stared at her in shock.  How had she known his name?

“That is your name, is it not?”  Traven managed to nod his head in the affirmative.  “I just wanted to say I am sorry for the things I said last night.”  He was surprised at what he was hearing.  “I also wanted to thank you for trying to save me yesterday.”

“You’re welcome,” Traven mumbled back.

He couldn’t believe the change in the Princess.  The night before she had seemed so different.  Maybe she was not that bad after all.  The Princess stood up while he continued to stare and tried to fix her matted hair.  She then turned her attention back to him.

“We need to figure out how to get out of here before that man returns,” she stated.  “If we are still here when he gets back, I am sure he will kill us.”

Despite the Princess’ calm exterior, Traven could read the fear in her clear blue eyes.  He opened his mouth to say that he had a plan, but nothing came out under the intense stare of the Princess’ mesmerizing eyes.  He turned away from her and cleared his mind.

“I have a plan,” he said, surprised by the steadiness of his own voice.  He turned back to the Princess to find her intently listening with a spark of hope in her eyes.  “I have been thinking about something, but it is pretty risky.  I don’t think we have any other choices, though.  We could die trying to escape, but at least we’ll have a chance.  If we wait around, I’m afraid that we will die for sure.”  Traven paused to let what he was saying sink in.  When the Princess urged him to continue, he pulled the dagger out of his boot and laid out what he had in mind.

* * * * *

Blaize took one last survey of the dry island from his position in the tall reeds.  All of the guards were lazing around in the front courtyard.  There were only ten guards left in total.  Three men had left in the direction of the city a little earlier.  Five were posted outside of the only entrance to the ancient tower, while five others milled around on the inside of the adjacent building.  He had thought about going in through the front but didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks when other options were available.  He could possibly take on all ten at once, but one true arrow could end the rescue attempt.  It would be easier to face them with Traven’s help once he and the Princess were free.

It hadn’t been difficult for Blaize to find them once he had reached the edge of the marsh.  He first slipped past the few trackers that were still at the edge.  He had then plunged into the marsh and began to cut back and forth through the swamp as he pushed deeper into it.  It didn’t take long for him to come across a recently traversed trail that led directly into the center of the marsh.  He had followed it swiftly until in the distance he had seen the ancient tower rising out of the mist.  Since the path led directly to the tower, Blaize had left the trail and headed slowly out into the perilous marsh.  When he was far enough away from the trail that he couldn’t be seen from it, he had headed directly toward the tower once again.

The closer he had gotten to the tower, more and more ruins of ancient buildings had begun to appear.  He was surprised at how large the ancient city must have been.  As he neared the tower, Blaize left his horse on a mound of dry ground beside the low remains of an ancient wall.  He had continued the rest of the way on foot.  He had silently slipped through the marsh to the edge of the large island that supported the still standing ancient tower.  Hidden in the reeds, he had seen someone look out the window near the top of the tower.  He was almost certain that it was Traven.  A man had soon therafter exited the tower and commanded the others to make sure the prisoners in the tower were taken care of.  Blaize’s gut instinct had been confirmed.

He took one last look at the guards and silently made his way around to the back of the tower.  He took a deep breath and suddenly burst from the reeds.  As he ran across the solid ground to the tower, he whipped out his war crescents in one fluid motion.  Upon reaching the base of the tower, he slipped the crescents into the chinks in the ancient stones and began to pull himself, hand over hand, up the back face of the tower.  He had no sooner begun to scale the tower when three frantically shrill cries escaped from the room at the top of the tower.  He pushed his arms to move faster.  If only he was not too late!