Enchantress Awakening: Part One of the Book of Water (The Elemental Cycle 1) (15 page)

The nearest of their number, a long-haired warrior holding his axe high, rushed into the clearing and Penric surged forward to intercept, blocking the first hack with his shield then deflecting the follow up and ramming the butt on his shield into his attacker’s nose. At the same time another got past Penric and came straight towards Ellie still scrambling for her sword. This female warrior lifted to strike her crouching form but Ellie struck first plunging her short sword into her belly. For a moment the woman halted in shock then slid backwards off the blade leaving Ellie quivering and dumbstruck.

Caleigh had no time to consider her friend’s anguish as two further warriors advanced towards her and Dana. Acting almost on instinct Caleigh summoned her charm and looked directly into the eyes of the double-handed axeman coming for her. An image of a young daughter came into her head and at once Caleigh directed her charm at the man with this thought. He stuttered to a stop and his arms went loose “See me, and see your daughter thus I bedazzle thee.” Caleigh flung her hand outwards and it seemed to her a faint dust went from her hand into the axeman’s face at which he stopped dead still, as one in a trance. The second went for Dana and this time Caleigh focussed her charm to divert his attention her way in the manner she had done with Ellie back in Connlad.

As then a smoky cord seemed to form between them dragging the warrior’s gaze in her direction and away from Dana. At once panic took hold, she had not thought what she would do once the warrior’s attention was on her. Fortunately, the warrior was similarly unsure how to act and in his moment of indecision Dana took him unawares, striking him across the shoulder blades with a thick log from the fire. He stumbled and Dana hit him again on the spine until he crumpled on all fours.

From behind Caleigh two more warriors sped out from behind the trees while another three rushed at Ellie with screams of vengeance. “Ellie, stand up!” Caleigh screamed.

“Caleigh!” Dana warned in turn. Caleigh span and backed away from the spear lunging her way. The new warrior just as suddenly buckled on the spot and let out a screech of pain. Staggering away he reached behind his back to where a hatchet was imbedded in his shoulder blade.

At the same moment a blur of movement to her right caught Caleigh’s eye. From out of nowhere a shimmering icicle flew through the air and impaled on of Ellie’s would-be attackers. Then Gideon was there appearing out of a haze of rippling air and with a gesture causing another of the warriors to scream and shudder so that he dropped his weapon and fell to the ground like one racked by cramp in every muscle.

The bedazzled axeman stirred and at once was hit on the bicep by another flying hatchet send from Ceol’s hand. The last uninjured warrior broke off his run at Caleigh and Dana and charged at Ceol instead. Caleigh knew what was going to happen before it did and cried “No” vainly but it was too late to stop the fall of Ceol’s axe cleaving through neck, shoulder and sinew, splitting the man to his breast in a wash of blood. “Cease this!” Caleigh cried and with an expansive gesture felt her power fly out all around her. To her amazement, all did as she asked and to her great relief when she looked round all her friends were still alive and unhurt. Six of the warriors who had attacked them lay or sat upon the ground, another one stooped clutching his shattered nose and the two injured by Ceol’s hatchets swayed blindly clawing at their wounds. Together Ceol, Gideon and Penric shepherded these three to sit beneath a tree where they were joined by the warrior injured by Dana, who herself helped him stumble into place. More roughly, Penric dragged the second warrior he had bested to add to their company while Gideon guided the shivering wreck of his spell to crawl alongside.

Left in the middle were the dead and Ellie sobbing among them. Caleigh put aside her shock and went at once to her friend guiding her away from the corpses and sat with her arm around her quivering shoulders. Gideon put down his staff and with Ceol took these three bodies and laid them out unceremoniously before the foot of the tree where the surviving attackers huddled. Ceol departed directly after back from where he had first emerged into the fray. Immediately it became apparent that there was more to his brutality than the mere coldness of one who had seen battle before. “Where does he go?”

“He goes to bring back Halda and Saebald.” Gideon answered wearily.

“They are hurt?”

“They are hurt, grievously so. We could not attend to them as we were needed here.” The survivors moaned in pain and Gideon reached for his staff. “Silence your cries! You have earned this hurt!” He spat.

“Gideon, these ones are in no state to give further fight, we are safe for now and Ceol will need your help.” Gideon looked at her sharply then relented with a nod and moved off in pursuit of Ceol. Penric took position in front of the wounded warriors who, injured and unarmed as they were, knew that their only hope of survival lay in the mercy of their intended victims. The oldest of the group, the one Caleigh had bedazzled, croaked something in a language that was not the common tongue of Sommerwold in her direction.

“Be quiet!” Penric barked.

“No, Penric. Let them speak, I wish to know why they set upon us.” At a nod Dana replaced Caleigh at Ellie’s shoulder and Caleigh walked to the centre of the clearing.

“Be careful, Caleigh. They might…”

“They won’t hurt me.” A few of them nodded in agreement. “Can you understand me?” The elder spoke again in the unfamiliar tongue.

“They can understand your power.” Dana said from behind.

“Know you what they say?”

“No, but I think if you use your gift and listen closely you may.” Caleigh turned back to their spokesman.

“Why did you attack us?” Caleigh concentrated on the man’s response and felt fleeting emotions and memories, a sense of desperation, a journey, an order to find someone. “You were told to capture us?” The man half-nodded and pointed to her, Dana and a gesture in the direction of where Gideon and Ceol had gone. Caleigh understood well enough. Someone had told them to take Dana, Gideon and herself; the gifted three of the party. “Who told you to do this?” Another sentence, this time Caleigh did not grasp the meaning. He repeated the words more slowly but their matter remained elusive.

“He said ‘our lady’, meaning a woman of authority.” Gideon translated. Caleigh looked round. Gideon was slowly pulling Saebald through the air and setting him to rest on a log while Ceol was supporting Halda to walk back into the clearing. 

“There are more of them. They took the horses.” Ceol informed them. Caleigh looked again on the surviving warriors.

“Then it seems we both have something to return to the other.”

16. An Intimate Ritual

The images swirled about in the water as they came to their conclusion. “That is deeply interesting.” A voice remarked at the part where Caleigh impelled the fighting to cease. “This was as you saw it?”

“Yes, this vision is accurate.”

“How is it that we knew nothing of this one afore?” There was no answer from the other for the question was rhetorical. With a twitch of a long dark wood wand the vision repeated again from the beginning. “Tovrik’s apprentice has grown in power too, a shame, otherwise I should contemplate a direct intervention.”

“They have not left the forest. We could waylay them ere they leave.” The first speaker looked up into the pale face and glassy eyes of the second. Then she switched her gaze at the four painted acolytes standing a way off from the pool, as if to contemplate the proposal. “The old fool has sent out a party to meet with them. Alas, today the numbers go ill with us. There will be other days when this is not so.” The vision in the pool faded and was replaced by a reflection of long dark hair and a face of cold beauty. “We shall continue this talk when we are all thirteen as one.”

“There are riders approaching.” Gideon stated and set off down the track from the clearing to the main path of the road. A short while later he returned followed by a group of ten horsemen all in the same light blue as Gideon’s cloak. Underneath their capes and surcoats glinted fine, interlinked mail that also covered most of their heads, atop which sat steel cap helms resting upon a solid circlet. Across their breasts they bore an insignia of a golden eagle above a key and a scroll. Foremost of the riders was a dark-haired man in his late thirties who to Caleigh’s great surprise, she recognised. He, along with all, dismounted and approached at Gideon’s side. “You are all unharmed, this is good. Well met Caleigh, I am not sure if you will recall I am…”

“Sir Edgar of Minerva, I do recall. Was Tovrik concerned for us?”

“Yes, he was troubled last night when he noticed a fog drifting over the woods and sent us out at first light to look for you.” Sir Edgar looked at the bloody group of warriors by the tree. “Forgive us for not being here sooner. Gideon tells me that your horses have been stolen. Please allow us to take you now to Elevered.”

“We cannot leave yet, kind as your offer is.”

“What should cause you to tarry?”

“There are wounded here and folk who need to be sent thither their homes.”

“They attacked you, why should you care what becomes of them?”

“They have paid the price for that attack; there is no need to cause further misery. If you would help us please loan us two of your steeds so we might speed our wounded to Elevered.”

“I will go with the wounded.” Dana volunteered. “Maybe some of my remedies will prove useful.” Looking at Saebald it did not seem that remedies would help him much. His breathing was laboured and he had coughed blood several times. Nonetheless, she could see that what Saebald needed was people to stay with him and help him through the pain.

“Ceol, I think you should go with them too. Your presence will do the most good.”

“I cannot leave you to face the peril you propose. You will need every warrior who can be spared.”

“No, I need neither axe nor sword to do this for there will be no further bloodshed.”

“What do you propose to do?” Sir Edgar asked in concern.

“To return these men to their people and in turn take back the horses that were stolen.”

“Sir Ceol is right. You should not attempt this without the protection of many men.”

“I will not go unprotected. Penric, I venture, will not allow me to send him from my side and Gideon shall be with me.”

“And I.” Ellie added.

“You are sure?”

“Yes, it is right that I should stay with you.”

“There you go, I shall not be unprotected. If you need further assurance let those who loan their steeds stay with us also.” Sir Edgar looked at Gideon for confirmation of the plan.

“I believed the greatest danger has passed. I see no reason not to follow Caleigh’s plan.”

“In that case, mine shall be one of the loaned steeds so at least I can be at hand should all go ill.”

The prisoners had been allowed to tend to their wounds and now lined up according to their ability to move with the least injured taking the lead and the slowest at the rear so that none could easily slip away. The foremost two, who had suffered only cramp and a broken nose respectively, were followed closely by Gideon. Between their wrists and ankles and his staff he had lashed them together by means of magical cords that were invisible to all but him and Caleigh walking just behind. Behind Caleigh was the group’s spokesman with his arm in a sling and another limping from a leg wound bought from Penric’s sword. Ellie and Penric followed them in turn separating them from the final pair staggering from their back injuries caused by log and hatchet. After these two Edgar and another of his knights formed the rear-guard of this straggling procession.

"You realise this is madness, do you not?" Gideon remarked casually as they wended their way through the trees. "We have no notion of how many await us when we reach their camp or they will react seeing their wounded brethren proffered before them."

"If you think this why did you assent to the plan?"

"In moments of fear and peril the wizard may sometimes push his skills to a new height, when we were attacked you began to use your powers with greater fluency and presence of mind than ever before. I'm curious to see what you will do next."

"You do not think it is the right thing to see our prisoners home?"

"It is a generous act, for sure, whether they deserve this generosity is another matter."

"How did this all start?"

"Seabald and Halda had finished their watch and Ceol and I took over while they went with the steeds to a nearby stream to refresh them. A while later, I sensed trouble approaching the stream and, rather foolishly perhaps, ran to their aid. I know not what happened precisely but I think they were able to surprise Halda and clubbed him over the head. His helm saved him from great harm yet it was harm enough to render him senseless. Saebald was not caught unawares and slew two of his attackers before being pinned to a tree by the chest by a blow from a heavy mace." Caleigh tried to recall which of the wild men had borne a mace and quickly recoiled from the memory when it showed her the man split open by Ceol's axe. "That is how we found him, ribs shattered and piercing his insides. I did what I could to extract some of the splinters but could do no more for it was then that I realised that we had left the camp unprotected and thence a new danger drew near."

"Was it you who warned me to wake up?"

"Ah, so that worked did it? I hoped someone would be alert enough to receive it. We were lucky; I hope you can forgive me for leaving my watch post. It nearly cost us dear with a little less fortune more than two of us would be lying injured or worse now."

"It is forgiven. Were you supposed to leave Saebald and Halda to fate? What I do not understand is why someone ordered this attack. Do you think our coming was known ahead?"

"I know not. This is the part that troubles me most."

At last the procession came upon a wide bowl in the forest floor and here the leading wild men drew up to suggest they had reached their destination. In way of confirmation the cart and steeds were resting a short way off on the far side of the depression. The moment they entered into this space the cramp afflicted man leading the party called out a warning cry and attempted to yank himself free of his invisible shackles, tumbling down the incline in his bid for freedom. From all around figures emerged from behind the tree trunks and thickets forming a crescent around the group. In all Caleigh counted fifteen warriors, possibly too many if it came to a fight but a fight was not her intent.

The warriors did not come any closer once they had taken position and from behind the bowl a woman and man in long green robes strode to the fore. The man was middle-aged with a thick greying beard the woman was noticeably younger though by no means a youth, her hair was strawberry blonde and curly and her jaw was firmly set sitting beneath a face that was both fierce and feminine. In spite of her hard expression, there was no anger in her green eyes and Caleigh sensed that she no more wished to see blood than her. At a gesture from this woman the warriors fell back slightly and eased their stances. Gideon spoke a few words in the western tribal tongue which she returned then facing Caleigh spoke to her in the common tongue.

"You have come for what is yours? I am glad it should not have been taken." She looked upon the prisoners shuffling forward and berated them harshly, again in their native language.

"She is displeased with them, why?" Caleigh asked Gideon in a low voice.

"She says she did not order them to attack us or take our things and wants to know why they did."

"What do they say?" Gideon listened for a moment before answering.

"They are sure she told them to do as they said to us, to take the magically-gifted or at least prevent us leaving the forest."

"How can that be? They cannot both be speaking true."

"She seems equally perplexed."

"Perplexed?"

"Confused, she does not understand. She is asking them to describe the moment in every detail." The woman turned to the man at her side and they spoke in urgent whispers for a while. Eventually she looked up and addressed Caleigh and Gideon again.

"There has been some foul work here. Some ill spirit sent these men on an errand I did not wish. I beg that do not consider us enemies. We have been wronged alike. I thank you for returning our people to us, it was good and brave of you to do this. Come, join us in our camp. I must learn more of what happened then afterwards we will speak for a while if you wish."

"Yes, we wish to learn more too." Caleigh answered. The group was led into a camp beyond the deep bowl and beckoned to log benches where they sat in the middle of the company. The warriors around regarded them with grim stares that, as unsettling as they were, did now fall short of outright hostility. Upon the edge of the camp the chieftainess still interrogated the less injured of the returned prisoners trying to unravel what had happened. "Do you have any answer to this riddle, Gideon?"

"Yes, but it is not one I wish to share until we are safely in Elevered." The chieftainess finished her questioning and came before them again.

"An imposter has been among us it seems. I hold them to blame for the injuries we have both suffered. I pray that you can forgive us for our part."

"We wish for no ill will with those who are not our enemies."

"I can believe that from you. My name is Galenna." Caleigh introduced herself and her companions in turn.

"May I ask, why are you here in these woods?"

"Well, when the imposter told my warriors to find some who are gifted she was not so far from my intent, although I never wished for anyone to be taken by force. We come from the land of Calderon beyond the western borders of Sommerwold. Here my people have been ravaged by a terrible blight on our crops for many a month. Once we had druids and druidesses who would perform rituals of renewal that always ensured we had fertile soils but no longer. The gifted among our people have been slain or scattered over the years so that only Gethin and myself remain." She said indicating the greying man she had spoken with afore. "We are too few even to perform the simplest ritual of fertility now. We hoped that if we could find some among the gifted to take part in the ritual once more we could bring life back to Calderon. It is rumoured in these parts there dwells a great wizard and so we have journeyed far in the hope that there may be others of his kind who would help us in our plight."

"Why not approach this wizard directly? Can he not help you himself?"

"He may have the lore but not the form for this ritual."

"Have I?"

"Verily. Yet I fear we cannot ask you after what we have done."

"If I can help then I wish to. What must be done for this ritual?" With an embarrassed smile Galenna leaned into Caleigh's ear and softly whispered what was required.

"I understand if you are unwilling." She added at normal volume.

"No, I will do it and Gideon will aid me."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gideon asked as they wound up the moonlit trail to the site that the ritual was to take place.

"Yes, are you?"

"Though I may not be completely comfortable with it, the rewards outweigh my discomfort."

"That is good to know." Caleigh said with a teasing smile. Behind Gideon only Ellie and Penric now kept them company. Earlier, after retrieving their belongings, they had returned to their own camp and met with the waiting Librarians. Sir Edgar and the others agreed to go on to Elevered once Gideon convinced them that the Calderans would not risk their ritual by harming them.

"What does this ritual involve?" Penric asked. Ellie giggled and took him by the arm.

"It is better that you know not." She assured him.