Heirs of the Fallen: Book 03 - Shadow and Steel (9 page)

“Leitos!” Adham called.

Leitos swam toward his father. After a few strokes, his feet touched the sandy bottom. “We need to go back for the others.”

“There is no need,” Adham answered, pointing at what was left of the two ships, the reef holding them fast.

Moonlight played across the debris, and Ulmek stood on the highest point of the
Night Blade’s
ruined bow. He raised a firemoss lantern, peering about. Behind him, some of the Brothers began lining up Kelren prisoners on the tilted deck, while others tossed lines to those swimming nearby.

“Dealing with these bastards will make for a long night,” Adham warned, swiping a strand of seaweed from his cheek.

“We cannot kill them,” Leitos said. Adham gave him a sharp look, and he added, “As our prisoners told us, we do not have the seamanship to make the return journey. Besides, we will need them to build us another ship ... if that is possible.”

“He speaks the truth,” Ba’Sel said, gazing at the leaning palm trees growing above a pale ribbon of shoreline. Higher, a shadowed and dense forest guarded the way to a mountainous land.

“One of our prisoners,” Leitos said, “named these the hunting grounds. He always laughed when he said it, as if our coming here would mean our doom.”

“I would speak with this man,” Ba’Sel said.

Leitos shook his head. “Telmon will never talk to the living again.”

Ba’Sel grunted. “Then perhaps one of these others will.”

“Rest assured, they will talk,” Adham assured him.

“First,” Ba’Sel said wearily, “we must get our men and the prisoners ashore. Then we set a guarded camp. I do not know what dangers these lands hold, but we must be prepared to meet them.”

Chapter 11

Hours later, in a burst of gold and crimson, the sunrise brightened the leafy green foliage that climbed the flanks of sharp ridgelines and soaring mountains, the highest peaks of which hid amongst banks of mist. From Leitos’s vantage point, the curving shoreline gave way to a terrace of black rocks to the south; to the north, pale sands climbed out of the sea and became dunes covered in patches of tough grass.

Ba’Sel’s thoughtful expression spoke of vague familiarity. “If I do not miss my guess, we are standing on the shores of Yato, the largest island in a chain of the same name. I saw a map as a boy. Hundreds of isles stretch to the south and east, like a great claw cutting through the Sea of Sha’uul.”

“And how does that serve us?” Ulmek groused.

Leitos knew the man was happy to have rescued Ba’Sel and the others, but he did not know how he felt about relinquishing command. Without question, he was back to his usual ill-tempered self.

Ba’Sel fingered a scabbed lump at his hairline. “Poorly, unless Pa’amadin favors us. Even before the Upheaval, those who flourished on these islands were a warlike folk. By all accounts, the Yatoans were not given to trade, or forgiving of outlanders. They proved so hostile in guarding their islands that even the Suanahad Empire, with its hunger for conquest, gave Yato a wide berth.”

“Yatoans,” Ulmek murmured. “Where have I heard that name?”

Ba’Sel glanced at Leitos and quickly away. “Zera was of these lands.”

“So she claimed,” Ulmek said. “Only a fool would trust the words of a lying demon-born. But that is of no matter. We should double the guard at once. Telmon suggested these lands are a danger to us.”

“No,” Ba’Sel said. “Our scouts have found no spies, we have suffered no trouble, and so we will show no outward signs of hostility. If there are any watchers, we will show them that we mean no harm, and perhaps they will help us.”

Ulmek shook his head in disgust, and Leitos found himself torn. Fighting the Faceless One’s minions had left him with a sense of purpose and fulfillment—after a long year of training, he had finally begun his avowed quest. And the night before, when Ba’Sel had spoken of making ready, Leitos had been sure the encounter with the Kelrens had changed the man’s heart. But it had not, and his renewed passivity left Leitos deeply troubled.

In the uncomfortable silence that followed, Leitos avoided his father’s pointed look, and tried not to think about standing on the place of Zera’s birth. Unlike Ulmek, he had no trouble believing Zera in this matter.

Feeling more exhausted than ever, Leitos settled onto the sand. Through the night, while the tide was out, the Brothers had gathered every weapon they could find from both ships. After that, they hauled the prisoners ashore, along with a small stockpile of barrels, crates, and any other supplies they could rummage. After the tide retreated again, Ba’Sel intended for them to return to the ships, and retrieve whatever else they could find of use.

Between the battle on Witch’s Mole and that aboard the
Night Blade
, the Brothers of the Crimson Shield had lost a dozen men. Thirteen lost, if the murmurs about Ke’uld’s chances proved true.

Leitos looked down the shoreline. Ke’uld briefly thrashed about, and Halan stilled him with a gentle hand. His scimitar lay across his legs, and he eyed the roped Kelrens.

With all that had happened since departing Witch’s Mole, Leitos had nearly forgotten about Ke’uld’s wounds. Now the Brother’s occasional outbursts served as a stark reminder of his declining strength. A fever burned in him, and even at a distance Leitos could make out the sweat coating his skin. Fresh bandages covered his shattered leg. Those wrappings only served to keep flies away. Had the Brothers still been on Witch’s Mole, they could have used various healing herbs and potions to aid him. But in this strange land, they had not had time to hunt for anything that might help.

“If he has any chance,” Ba’Sel said now, following Leitos’s gaze, “we’ll have to take off his leg at the knee. Even that may not be enough.”

“Better to give him to the sea, than to make him a cripple,” Ulmek countered. “It is what I would want for myself.”

“As would I,” Adham said, using a thick splinter to pick his teeth. “I have seen such wounds before. No man can survive the corruption that has seeped into him.”

“Before … before we do that,” Ba’Sel said, “I will ask him what he wishes.”

“Try as you will,” Ulmek allowed, “but Ke’uld may never be able to answer. More and more, he raves like a madman. His blood spreads the poison, blackening his veins. Soon, he will fall into a stupor.”

“I will not kill one of ours without making the effort to find out what he would choose for himself,” Ba’Sel said.

“And what of these Yatoans?” Ulmek said, refusing to let the matter rest.

“We do not know if enemies await us here,” Ba’Sel said. “There is just as much chance we have unknown friends spying upon us.”

“With so much doubt as to what these lands hold,” Adham advised, “we should put a few of these sea-wolves to the question.”

Ba’Sel closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “In time, Izutarian, in time.”

Leitos looked away from Ba’Sel, trying not to hear the words that came unbidden to his mind.
Weak … indecisive … useless
.

Glaring, Ulmek abruptly jumped to his feet and strode down the shoreline.

Adham gestured to Leitos, and they walked to the surf. “I fear Ba’Sel has grown incapable of leading.”

Leitos thought to argue, but he found no words to counter his father’s observation. “What can we do?”

“What soldiers have always done,” Adham said grimly. “We follow his commands, until enough of us die that the living revolt.”

“Can we not reason with him?”

Adham toed a bleached shell half-buried in the sand. “Ulmek is his lieutenant, the man he should heed, and still Ba’Sel refuses to listen to him.”

“Maybe Ba’Sel refuses to listen,” Leitos said, “because Ulmek lives only for the destruction of his enemies.”

Adham shot him a quizzical look. “And all you have done in the last year, my son—the training, driving yourself beyond the requirements of even the Brothers of the Crimson Shield—you did those things because you wish to make amends with the Faceless One? Is yours not a heart bent on vengeance?”

Leitos frowned. “It’s different for me. I—”

“You lost your love,” Adham said bluntly. The breeze pushed back his gray locks, and he squinted against the glint off the sea. “Do you think Ulmek was born with rage and hate in his heart for the Faceless One … or do you suppose that he, too, has suffered loss?”

“I never thought about it,” Leitos admitted. In truth, he knew nothing of Ulmek’s youth, and only a little of how he had become a Brother.

“Do not judge Ulmek too harshly. He and the rest of us are fighting a war with small hope of victory. But we will fight it, because we must. As I have always taught, you must become strong and cruel. To fight against the Faceless One and his demon-born armies, a man must be hard and utterly merciless … and the leader of such a man, all the more so. If Ba’Sel cannot see that the loyalty of the Brothers is disintegrating, if he cannot accept that he must stand and fight, then I see no other choice than to replace him.”

“Would you lead?” Leitos asked.

Adham shook his head. “I am an outsider. They must choose one of their own. Ulmek is the rightful choice, and he will need supporters. You, my son, can be the key to making that happen…if you are willing.”

Troubled, Leitos rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. He had coveted the weapon a long and trying year before passing his tests. Now he had it, and had used it to prevail against the agents of the Faceless One … and now his father wanted him to betray Ba’Sel, the man he had entrusted with his life, the man who had taught him so much, even beyond waging war.

“I cannot stand against Ba’Sel,” Leitos said, making up his mind. “When the time comes, he will stand for us, and all men. I
know
he will. He must.”

“I pray you are right, for time is short.”

“How do you mean?”

Adham glanced back at the waking Brothers, then farther down the beach, to where Ulmek stood looking into the forest. “Ulmek
will
act, even if opposed, because he, too, feels that he must. If the change of power is not smooth, infighting will destroy the threads that hold the Brothers together.”

Leitos sighed “We have to give Ba’Sel time to come around. I will talk to him myself. If I say nothing, and let Ulmek overthrow our leader, then I become a conspiring scoundrel. Such a road can only lead to destruction.”

“I understand your heart, my son. And without the threat of the Faceless One, I would agree with you. But we live in an age where pity, softness of any kind, leads only to death. I will not command you to go against your convictions, but trust that the odds are against those beliefs bearing good fruit.”

With that weighing on Leitos’s heart, they returned to Ba’Sel and the others, who had gathered around Ke’uld. Ulmek looked their way, his lean face a brooding mask.

Ba’Sel knelt beside Ke’uld and took his hand. “Brother,” he began, “you are not well.”

Ke’uld’s dark eyes rolled. Sweat beaded his sable skin, dampened the brittle fronds beneath him. “Surely you jest?”

“Your leg is….”

“Rotten,” Ke’uld finished for him, “and must come off, if I have any chance to live. Is that the way of it?”

Ba’Sel nodded, his eyes wet with unshed tears. The Brothers shuffled their feet, some peering at Ke’uld, others looking away, perhaps fearing to ever have to make such a decision for themselves.

“You have been as a father to me, since my own was killed,” Ke’uld whispered. “I’m glad you found me, but our time together has passed. Pa’amadin calls me home.”

Ba’Sel acknowledged this with a silent nod.

“Give me to the sea,” Ke’uld urged. “The sea will take me the rest of the way.”

“Brother,” Ba’Sel said, “are you sure this is what you want?”

“There is nothing you can do for me. Quickly now, give me the death I choose.
Quickly
. I hear Peropis’s breath in my ears, I feel her unholy touch upon my soul. She will devour my sin … but I will be free.” He grinned then, lips trembling. “Unlike you sad lot of bastards.”

A few rueful chuckles met this, but Ba’Sel looked horror-stricken. “I…. No. No, I cannot.”

“I understand. I do. But if not you, then Ulmek will do as I ask.”

Ba’Sel abruptly stood and moved off, struggling through the sand.

Halan gestured to Ulmek, and the stoic warrior dear near. Face unreadable, he looked after Ba’Sel for a time, then down at Ke’uld.

“Are you ready?” he asked without preamble, though his tone was gentle. When Ke’uld nodded, Leitos thought sure he saw a flash of remorse cross Ulmek’s rigid features. Then it was gone, replaced by a visage of stone.

“Help me,” Ulmek ordered. Not waiting to see if anyone would, he caught Ke’uld under the shoulders. Halan and five others joined him, and they gently lifted their fallen brother.

Leitos glanced at Ba’Sel, who had fallen to his knees, head bowed, shoulders shaking.

“Go to him,” Adham said gently. “Though I wish you would not, tell him what you feel you must.”

“What of Ke’uld?”

“He is with his kindred. At a man’s end, there is little else he could ask for.”