Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) (23 page)

He paused and looked pained, took a breath as if to argue, and then let it drop. “As you wish, Lady.” He bowed stiffly as he retreated back to his men and horses. Belrothe watched him leave.

“Of course, he is not really my grandson,” she murmured. “More like the fortieth generation of Honalde since I bore a child. Still, he is of my flesh, non-the-less. The Honalde line has both living and non-living branches. Most of the current generation live in a village a day’s travel from here, as they chafe somewhat at being governed by someone as old as I, even if we are all family.” Her eyes were misty for a few seconds, then she snapped out of it and beckoned for me to continue.

“The fortress is ready for trade and a list of priority items will be sent with the healers, along with our current prices,” I said to Belrothe. “I am sure your people will find our prices very generous.”

She looked rather uneasy. “I…I am sure they will, but please tell me, how are you doing all this?”

I smiled, “My mind is linked to my mentor in a way that allows us to communicate over any distance with just a thought. As you can guess, it is very useful.”

She looked rather impressed and seemed to be contemplating what she could do with such a thing. “Yes, that does seem like it would be a wonderful tool but, sadly, out of our reach. As I was telling your fiancé, my guards and I need to retreat to a safe place where we can weather out the daylight. Where the forest ends at the other side of this road, there is a suitable place for a day camp; I will have the replacement wagons join you there. As soon as possible at dusk, we will rejoin you.”

We watched as her men started out, forming a vanguard in front of the wagons. As they approached the two warhorses that were still planted in the middle of the road, one of the vampires walked up and attempted to shoo them out of the way. When that didn’t work, he stalked forward arrogantly and attempted to grab their reins. When he was within five feet, the blue flames from the horses intensified, changing colors like in a kiln until there was more white-hot than cooling blue left. The vampire recoiled with a shout of pain and staggered back holding his arm, which was smoldering like it had been exposed to pure fire.

“Sorry about that,” said Maya. “We forgot to warn you that these flames are not just for show, and our horses don’t like vampires, even good ones.”

He glared at us and backed all the way to our position. Belrothe, on the other hand, seemed even more interested in us than she was before. “What are they?” she asked.

“They’re Vakhas,” I said. “Basically, they are very smart and very powerful warhorses and the only two in existence.” I looked at Somnus and motioned to the side of the road with my head. Silently, the two walked off the road and stood by the trees to allow the wagons to pass by unimpeded.

The old vampire canted her head as if remembering some old tale of her youth or the words to an old song or lullaby. “Yes, well, I will take my leave of you now and will meet you at the edge of the forest at dusk, good day.” And with that, she and her guards disappeared into the trees; in a blink they were gone. The wagons moved out, leaving us on the road with undead corpses scattered everywhere.

Jules walked up. “Do you want me to ask Reginaldo to take care of this mess?”

“No, leave it as a warning. Besides, the sun will be fully up an a few minutes and almost everything but the bones will burn off.”

We mounted up and headed down the road. Breaking out of the forest into low scrub, we made quick camp in a low, flat spot and finally had a hot breakfast. The group of us lazed about most of the morning; cleaning gear, brushing our horses, and taking the occasional cat nap. I could tell Maya was fretting about the delay in getting to the dark elf capital to warn them, but we really couldn’t back down from the course we had set for ourselves. Midday, the three wagons from the village, which we learned was called Yrvale, arrived and the teamsters made their own camp a short distance away. Maya and I managed to spend most of the afternoon together, with nothing much to do other than lie on our backs and gaze up at the white fluffy clouds.

“Alex, do you ever wish you had wings so you could fly? I do sometimes,” she admitted shyly.

“That seems like an odd ambition for a dark elf.”

“Yeah, I know; usually it’s the darker and the gloomier, the better.” Her beautiful face transformed from a look of awe into a grin. “You know, maybe we dark elves don’t take the time to ever just look at how beautiful the clouds and sky really are. Then again, it might just be your influence on me.” She took my hand and rested her fragrant silver curls up against my cheek; it was the best afternoon I can remember.

While we were cloud watching, Nia napped and the druid girls amused themselves by talking to the horses that the teamsters had brought. Finally, as it grew later in the afternoon, we packed up camp and readied ourselves for battle.

As if on cue, Belrothe appeared as if out of nowhere, dressed in older-fashioned regal robes bearing the Honalde crest and carrying some wicked-looking short swords. After speaking with her wagon drivers and going over exactly what she wanted them to do, we mounted up and headed toward the cave. The scrub lands turned into grassy hills, with the occasional pile of glacier debris left in neat piles. While it was not true winter, as soon as the sun went all the way down, the temperatures started to drop. A quarter-moon was rising, but a thick blanket of clouds was also stretching across the sky, so we didn’t worry too much about being spotted.

A short time later, we were prone on the ground peering over a small rise not far from the cave entrance. From the outside, it was nothing impressive, just a large fissure that had widened to the span of a good-sized wagon bed at the base of a large hill. The hill itself was grass-covered on top, but the eroded sides revealed its composition to be mostly rock. There were five vampire guards scattered around the front; most were attempting to hide themselves and failing miserably. One was even holding a branch in front of himself, apparently thinking that a bush with two human-appearing legs wouldn’t be suspicious.

“Um, I think that one has brain damage,” Nia said, and to be honest, I think she was right.

Belrothe shook her blonde head and snorted, “City-born idiots. You can tell they have no concept of how to conceal themselves in the country. They, no doubt, are also so full of themselves because of their new found strength that they are cocky and believe they can’t be caught by surprise and killed. It is a serious shortcoming in new vampires.”

“What a marvelous idea,” said Maya. “Girls, take Reggie and find out if there’s another exit and secure it, quietly; and if things go badly and it comes to a fight, let Reggie handle it. Remember what I told you, just because you can turn into a giant arctic wolf, doesn’t mean you have the thousands of years of fighting instincts they have. A mangy three-legged fox with some attitude would probably still kick both your butts in a fight.”

“Yes, Mom,” the girls giggled, as their green robes morphed into owl wings; and shrinking down to the proper size, their speckled brown and white wings silently beat at the night air, gaining speed and altitude. In a few seconds, they were out of sight.

Satisfied, Maya patted me gently on the head with her gauntleted hand and whispered, “I’ll just be a few minutes.” She activated her armor’s stealth mode and Winya transformed into the serrated dagger form, the least-used of Winya’s charms. Virtually disappearing from sight, she was gone in a heartbeat.

Belrothe’s jaw dropped. “She disappeared! Just…gone? What are you people? You even scare me!”

I chuckled quietly, “Just an enchanter with some skill with metals.”

“Can you do that?” she asked pointedly.

“Nope, her armor was drawn up by a master designer and a powerful wizard in her own right; Maya’s armor has all the cool enhancements. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing else like it anywhere in the world.” I could feel Nia fidgeting on my shoulder, probably embarrassed but pleased by my description.

“So what can yours do, then?”

“The armor? Not too much besides being really good at protecting me. But my hammer is a different story, and I think tonight might be a good night to try out some of its more interesting enchantments.” I dropped my face shield down and sealed the suit so my helmet couldn’t be ripped off. “Now, look alive, its time.”

She groaned and affixed me with a stern glare. “Young man, I may not look it, but I am at least a thousand years’ your senior, and that joke was old when I still breathed! Can you even see out of that thing with the visor down?”

“Don’t need to; now watch, it’s about time.”

We looked down the hill to observe, but I was the only one who could see Maya on a dark night like this. She quickly and silently snuck around the hillside and then used another skill that must have come from Winya and climbed the sheer rock wall to the top. Once there, it was a simple matter for her to glide up behind the guard. I watched the Winya dagger transform into the sword a split second before she removed the guard’s head from his body. Belrothe still couldn’t see Maya, but she did see the sword appear out of thin air and the head and body fall silently to the ground, with the sword disappearing again immediately. The old vampire hissed softly as she watched a second guard fall the same way, and then a third and fourth, leaving only the stupid one holding the shrub.

“How did she do that? I have been working with dark elves for centuries and I only know one woman who could even remotely pull that off!”

Nia chuckled, “Let me guess, she uses a spear with a blood red head?”

Her eyes widened. “In fact, she does! How did you know that?”

Wow, small world. “I believe you are talking about her mother,” I grinned.

Belrothe looked startled. “I was told Renalla had only one child, a girl, and she disappeared years ago; everyone assumes she’s dead. Of course, the same source also said the child was insane...” Her voice trailed off warily as she turned her attention back to Maya as we watched for the last vampire to go down.

By the cave entrance, Maya had apparently decided to have some fun with the last fool, as she decided to kill him with the same shrub he was hiding behind. Effortlessly, she ripped it from his hands and, reversing the broken stem, drove it through his leather armor deep into his heart. Surprised, the vampire crumpled bonelessly to the ground where a quick slice from Winya separated the head from the rest of the corpse. Suddenly appearing to normal vision, Maya came into view at the cave entrance holding a bloody sword, and her body language said she was having a great time. She waved us forward with a flourish and a grand bow.

Getting on my feet, I started down the hill with Belrothe and the two warhorses trailing silently behind; I also had an excited Combat Pixie on my shoulder. A couple minutes brought us to the cave entrance where Maya waited happily.

“Have fun?” I asked.

“Oh, you have no idea! It feels so good to hunt again.” She pulled off her helmet so I could see her mischievous face. “We should go hunting together some time; I hear there’s this lovely cave not far from here with hundreds of evil vampires in it, I think it could make for a diverting evening. What do you think, Magic boy?”

I laughed quietly and nodded. Belrothe, on the other hand, was not nearly as amused, and I could see she was truly beginning to question the sanity of both of us.

“What is wrong with you two? You’re both acting like this is nothing! As young as you both are, there is no way you should be this flippant about all this killing and death.” I nodded in some agreement and gave her the short version of what had occurred at Xarparion in all its gory detail.

“So you see, after the attack on our school and the thousands of undead we faced, three hundred or so doesn’t seem so daunting. Mind you, those were mostly skeletons, zombies and ghouls. Vampires are much smarter, tougher, and harder to kill; but still, it’s just three hundred.”

Maya grinned. “All jokes aside, this will be anything but an easy time. These guards were young and stupid.” She waved at the dead vampires around us. “But I’m sure there are much older ones inside.”

Belrothe smiled slightly. “If I hadn’t seen your performance at the attack on my caravan, I might be worried that you two weren’t taking this seriously. But hearing of the challenges you have already faced, I tend to believe that you both have wisdom beyond your years, and I believe we will prevail. Besides, you don’t need to kill them all, just cut your way through to Kotoch and destroy the amulet. Once that is accomplished, I will take control.

“Take control? Just like that?” Maya sounded skeptical and possibly a little disappointed as she replaced her helm.

Belrothe drew herself up regally, looking every bit the noblewoman she was, and smirked, “Yes, just like that. I am over twelve hundred years old and I am due some respect!”

She strutted in front of us as she entered the cave. Maya and I shrugged at each other. With a quick hand signal, Maya ordered our warhorses to guard the entrance and not let anything out. I didn’t foresee them having any trouble with that; vampires don’t seem to be able to get close to them. Nia, on the other hand, had a whispered comment to make about it.

“Why don’t we just ride them in? I mean, they can just burn all of them, right?”

Belrothe answered softly from just up ahead, “They probably could, but the cave gets too narrow for them to fit through, and there are some rocks to climb over and duck around. Besides, we would lose all the surprise we have.”

Maya chuckled, “Surprise? You want Alex to sneak up on someone? Ha, good one!” And we followed the old vampire into the cave.

Just as she said, the smooth worn path narrowed so much that I had to turn sideways to fit through, and there was perhaps fifty yards of very uneven ground. There were a couple places where you had to slide down on your butt between boulders. Belrothe was right, there was no way that Somnus and Kaima would have fit through the passage. Up ahead, Maya changed to stealth mode and ghosted out into a larger area with Belrothe and me following slowly. The nature of the cave was changing; what had been just fissures and holes for a path, was now opening up into progressively larger chambers. Most of them contained spikes of calcified stone that had dripped down from the ceiling and still glittered with moisture. Bat dung dripped conspicuously from the side walls and gave the place a pungent, damp ammonia smell.