Awakening (Telindell Book 1) (22 page)

Oryn studied her for a moment.  “What brings you here?”

Alisia looked around the room at each person before her.  “I do not wish to fight against the interests and wellbeing of Alinshahar and her people.”  Alisia looked to Teelia.  “May I?”

Teelia stared at her for a moment and slowly nodded.

Alisia approached Teelia and dropped to her knees, looking up at her with tears in her eyes.  “I beg your forgiveness.  Had I been aware of the truth, I would have come sooner.  A great atrocity has been committed against you.”  Alisia stood and turned to Oryn.  “I beg your forgiveness as well.  The blood of all these innocents is on my hands.  I carried out Adanna’s orders to attack the buildings and even our own soldiers.  Once he is defeated, I will happily stand trial for my crimes.”

Teelia shook her head slowly.  Tears welled in her eyes.  “My daughter’s…”  Teelia looked to Elinar.  “Our daughter’s murder was not your doing.  You have nothing to be forgiven for.  I do welcome your aid, anything you can provide to bring down Adanna.”

Alisia nodded.  “It would be my privilege…”  She looked to Oryn.  “And my honor to serve Alinshahar.”

A slight smile crept across Oryn’s face.  “You will have it.  What would you suggest?”

“I can take a small group,” said Alisia, “myself and two others, through the square.  I am experienced in the invisibility spell.”

Oryn crossed his arms.  “Hmm, it takes great power to cloak yourself, as well as others.”

“It does,” said Alisia, nodding.  “It will weigh heavily on my abilities… but if we can get through the square without spawning another conflict… maybe we can take down the illusion spellcasters… without the cost of more innocent lives.”

“Admirable,” said Oryn.  “Three of you will not be able to approach the gates undetected.  Conflict may be our only option.”  Oryn looked to his commanders.  “Do any among you volunteer to accompany the Command Sorceress?”

Elinar raised his hand.  Daleth glanced to Elinar.  “I, as well.”

“It is settled then,” said Oryn.  “Elinar and Daleth with accompany Alisia.”  Oryn looked to Teelia and Stala.  “Teelia, you will assume Daleth’s role as forward commander under my direction.  Stala, you will remain in command of your archers.”  Teelia and Stala nodded.  Oryn walked to a window and peered out to see his soldiers preparing for the next inevitable conflict.  “May Elintae guide us.”

Sunlight shined down on the southwestern border of Kynlynn.  Kane had tracked the slippery Sarath for nearly two days.  She had fled all through the region of Riverwood.  Kane and Lian had now found themselves in vast flat lands, surrounded by plains of tall grass.  Kane sniffed along the dusty road and then he looked back to Lian.

“What is it?” Lian asked.  Kane shook his head and continued walking down the dirt road.  Lian shook his head.  “I knew she would have a head start, but I thought we would have found some sign by now.”  Kane whined a bit with his next few steps.  Lian wiped the sweat from his brow.  “Is it me or is it getting hotter?”  Kane looked back to Lian and nodded his head.  “We haven’t passed a stream, lake, or any body of water for quite some time,” he said.  We don’t have much left from the village we stopped at yesterday.”  Kane snorted at Lian and continued on.  Lian nodded.  “You’re right.  We won’t last much longer if we don’t find something soon.”

Kane’s ears twitched slightly as the two continued down the dusty road.  Lian sighed.  “Are we even in Riverwood any longer?”  Lian looked around and studied the area.  “Far too dry for a river… certainly no woods around.”

Kane’s ears twitched again.  The wolf stopped and raised his nose into the air, sniffing rapidly.  Lian looked hopefully at Kane.  “You smell something?”  Kane continued sniffing.  He lowered his head and looked to his left across the plains.  “Well, what is it?”  Lian stared across the tall grass.  “I don’t see anything.”  Kane looked to Lian then back to the plains and growled.  He took a few steps in that direction and turned his head to Lian.  “That way?” said Lian.  “There isn’t anything out there.”  Kane shook his head at Lian.  He raised his paw in that direction.  Lian nodded.  “Alright, Kane, let’s go.”

Kane nodded and took off across the plains. Lian followed swiftly.  Grass brushed against the two, rising nearly to Lian’s chest.  In the distance, a cluster of trees slowly became visible in the blinding sun.  Lian took note of smoke rising into the air from within the cluster of trees.  “Is that where we’re going?”  Kane looked back and continued running.  “I guess that’s a yes.”

The two drew closure to the lone island of thick vegetation.  Kane slowed and crouched down.  Lian knelt behind him.  Kane looked back to Lian, then slowly started inching forward toward some bushes at the edge of the trees.

Lian and Kane heard voices coming from just beyond the bushes.

“You wanna know why you’re still alive, don’t you, bitch?” a man said.

A familiar voice quickly replied.  “I imagine I’d rather not know,” said Sarath.

Lian recognized Sarath’s voice immediately.  He and Kane peered through the bushes where she sat, bound to one of the trees with a thick length of rope.  Her clothes were torn from a struggle and her mouth was bleeding.  Lian observed the area to see two men.  One was butchering Lian’s horse away from the fire.  Lian smelled the meat roasting over the fire.

“Those bastards are eating my horse!”
thought Lian.

The men were covered in dust and filth.  They had obviously been in the area for an extended period of time.

The man carving the horse shouted, “You’re alive because with you, we might be able to go home!”

“That’s right,” said the other man.  “We ain’t been able to show our faces since you killed that miserable brat Arthur.”

Sarath’s eyes widened.  “Why would you be concerned with Arthur?  We’re beyond Kynlynn.”

“I knew we weren’t in Kynlynn anymore…”
thought Lian.
“And who’s Arthur?

The man looked down at Sarath and shouted, “We were part of Lord Draken’s security detail for Arthur’s wedding night!  We nearly lost our heads after you killed him!”

Sarath chuckled.  “Tough luck.  I suppose Draken didn’t reward slackers.”

The man snarled.  “I don’t know how you got in there.  We had the entire castle locked down.”

Sarath smirked.  “Magic.”

The man carving the horse turned his head and shouted, “Nonsense!  I listened to Draken and that wench babble on about magic and Elves for years!”

Kane looked back to Lian.  Lian nodded at the mention of Elves.

Sarath rolled her eyes.  “So, what do you plan to do with me?”

The man carving the horse stabbed his knife into the carcass.  He stood and walked over to his comrade.  “We’re gonna turn you in to Lord Draken and get our honor back!”

Sarath giggled.  “Draken’s dead.”

The man’s eyes widened.  “Dead?  When did this happen?  I had heard about the King but not Draken?”

The other man looked to his cohort.  “Don’t believe this bitch.  She’d say anything to get outta here with her ass untouched.”

Sarath sighed.  “Believe what you want.”

The man tugged at the belt holding his dirty, worn trousers.  “Well, I know what I want.”

“You got a good idea there,” said the second man.  “Arthur had her to himself all those years.  Now, we got her, all helpless tied to a tree.”

Sarath glared at the two.  “I’ll die first.”

“Then Draken will have to make do with your half rotted corpse by the time we get back,” he said.  “I can just slit your throat.  You’ll keep long enough for us to have some fun.”

Sarath turned her head.  “You disgusting bastards.”

Lian looked at the two and saw his sword slung on the hip of the second man.  He leaned over to Kane and whispered, “Wait until I get the first one.  Then you take the second.”  Kane glanced to Lian and nodded.  Lian slowly crept from behind the bushes with Kane right behind him.  Sarath saw Lian and Kane hunkered down, slowly approaching the two villainous men.

Sarath looked up at the two men and smiled.  “You know, I think your days are numbered.”

“Our days in this dry wasteland are numbered after we turn you over to Draken,” said the first man, as the second began to laugh.

“Just call it my woman’s intuition,” said Sarath, laughing.  “But you’re both about to be hurting.”

Lian was a few feet away from the two.  He looked to Kane.  Kane nodded.  Lian sprang toward the first man.  His right hand gracefully slid around the man’s neck and gripped his chin.  Lian placed a firm grip on the back of the man’s skull.  A spine-tingling snap was heard when Lian twisted the man’s head, snapping his neck.  The man fell limp to the ground at Sarath’s feet.

Sarath looked to the second man as he let out an angered scream.  Sarath’s eyes widened and she shouted, “Lian!  He’s got your sword!”

Lian turned to the second man just as he started to draw the sword.  Kane let out a deadly growl and jumped, latching onto his arm tightly and dragging him to the ground.  The man screamed in pain while he attempted to struggle against Kane.  Kane quickly locked his jaws around the man’s neck and clamped down.  Blood splattered into the air as Kane ripped the man’s throat out.

Drops of blood splattered against Sarath’s face.  She made a sour face and shouted, “Disgusting!”

Lian looked at her and turned away.  Sarath watched Lian walk away.  “Untie me!”

Lian knelt down next to what was left of his horse.  Kane approached Sarath and growled, blood dripping from his teeth.

Lian glanced back to Sarath.  “You let them eat my horse?”

Sarath glared and shouted, “I didn’t let them do anything!”  She looked to Kane.  “Get this animal away from me!”

Lian looked back to Kane.  “Easy, Kane.”

Kane looked to Lian then back to Sarath.  He snorted at her and sat down, keeping a watchful eye on her.

Sarath struggled against her bindings and shouted, “Untie me!”

Lian turned towards Sarath.  “Why should I?  You might rob me again.”

Sarath shook her head.  “From the looks of it, you don’t have anything to take!”  Sarath sighed and looked away.  “Besides, I didn’t mean to rob you.  I panicked.”

Lian stood.  “Panicked?”  He took a step towards her.  “You tell me you’re going to help me… while in the process of sleeping with me…  Then you panic and rob me?”

“Well…” she said before nodding her head.  “Yes.”

Lian sighed.  “Was sleeping with me necessary?  And robbing me?  You could have just said you changed your mind.”

“Honestly,” she said. “I didn’t want to even be near Kynlynn after the reality of what I had agreed to set in.”  Sarath sighed.  “And yes, it was all necessary.”

Lian shook his head.  “Why was it all necessary?”

“Because!” she said.  “The soldiers came in looking for someone.  Probably you.  If we went upstairs and we were ‘busy’ it wouldn’t have been suspicious.  When the reality of what kind of suicide mission you were on set in, I couldn’t be a part of it… and…”

Lian shook his head.  “And?”

Sarath stared at Lian.  “I didn’t want you to get killed.  That’s what would have happened as soon as you confronted Roxees.  I know it.”

Lian crossed his arms.  “And why can’t you be a part of this?”

“Well…” she said while chuckling.  “Assaulting a castle isn’t a good idea to start with.  Not to mention that it has an army guarding it….”  Sarath glared and shouted at Lian, “As well as an all-powerful manipulative bitch of a sorceress for a queen!”  She looked away from Lian.  “It’s suicide.  For us both.  I thought maybe you’d turn back if I wasn’t there to help.”

Lian raised an eyebrow.  “She truly is a human sorceress?”

Sarath shook her head.  “I really don’t think anyone with that kind of power can be human.”

Lian took a deep breath.  “Good instincts.  I don’t think she’s human either.”

Sarath looked at Lian, puzzled.  “But you’ve never met her?”

Lian shook his head.  “Don’t have to.  She has magic.  No known human alive can wield magic.  Not in a thousand years anyway.”

“A thousand years?” she said.  “What are you talking about?”

Lian slowly shook his head.  “You must have known what you were getting into.  Why offer to help me if you were just going to run?”

Sarath titled her head at Lian.  “Untie me.”

“Tell me,” he said, smirking.

Sarath glared and snarled, then shouted, “Untie me!”

Lian looked to man that Kane had killed.  He walked over and picked up his stolen sword, slinging it across his back.  He turned to face Sarath as he drew the sword and walked toward her.

Sarath’s eyes widened as she watched Lian approach.  She slowly shook her head. “Now… don’t do anything hasty…”

Lian remained silent as he raised his sword into the air.

Sarath shook her head faster.  “No! No, no, no, no!”

Sarath watched Lian swing the blade towards her.  She closed her eyes tightly and turned her head, letting out a blood-curdling scream.  Sarath opened her eyes a moment later to see the rope that had bound her to the tree lying on the ground, sliced neatly in two.  She let out a sigh of relief.

Sarath looked up to Lian with tears in her eyes.  “I thought… I thought.”

Lian laughed while he sheathed his sword.  “You thought what?”

Sarath stood and placed her hands on her hips.  “That you were going to kill me!”

Lian laughed again, shaking his head.  “No, why would I?”

Sarath threw her hands into the air while she ranted, “Oh, I don’t know… maybe because I lied to you.  Then, I stole your sword and your horse.  Then, I led you all the way out to the edge of the Bintol Desert.”  She crossed her arms and laughed sarcastically.  “And I got your horse killed.”

Lian smiled at Sarath, with a slight chuckle.  “Good reasons for some, I suppose.”  Lian shook his head slowly.  “But you didn’t actually hurt me, so no reason to hurt you. 

Sarath snorted.  “I guess not.”

Lian sighed.  “Where are we, exactly?”

Sarath gave a frustrated look to Lian.  “Don’t you know any geography?”

“I lived in a forest, remember?” he said, shaking his head.

Sarath sighed and rolled her eyes.  “So sheltered.”  She looked across the vast flatlands.  “These plains act as the border between Kynlynn and the Bintol Desert.   Half a day’s ride and all you will see is sand.”

“Why were you headed this way?” he said.

“When I lived at the castle, I read of a city just beyond the edge of the desert,” she said as she leaned back against the tree.  “Thought maybe I could start over there.  No more looking over my shoulder.  No more disgusting men.  Just me and whatever I wanted.”

“There’s a city in a desert?” he asked.

“Shinrok,” she said, nodding.  “I’ve never been there, but I thought it was worth a try.”

Lian looked around for a bit, he then ran his hand through his hair.  He nodded.  “We’ll take the rest of the day to rest, then travel by night to this Shinrok.”

Sarath took a step towards Lian.  “What?”

“If there is a city, there is water,” he said.  “I don’t have enough to make it back to a village.  I imagine you don’t have much of anything either, after coming all this way.”

“No, I don’t,” she said, sighing again.  “What if the city doesn’t exist?”

Lian chuckled.  “We won’t make it back to a village on foot, we’ll die.  If the city doesn’t exist, we’ll die.”