Siege of Night (6 page)

He could still remember the little boy leaping on top of his fallen dad, crying and begging for him to wake up; the woman who dropped to her knees, wailing for hours on end as friends and family tried their best to calm her. She swore over and over to give anything to trade places with her fallen husband. Only seven?
Seven too many! Seven, who were my fault—seven who will never be forgotten.

The paths remained mostly untraveled this hot, sticky morning. The few crytons he ran across either bowed repeatedly before scampering out of the way or lowered their gaze, not wanting to look the legendary Gate Keeper squarely in the eye. Eric found their behavior annoying and bordering on absurd. After all, who was he to gain such fame for simply doing what had to be done?

As far as his strange control over gateways and the very energy that allowed them to function as they did, he didn’t know how he did it at all. In fact, all the achievements that had earned him this undeserving fame had been accomplished during an emotional surge. He had no idea how he had accomplished such things, yet alone if he could ever do it again. It seemed as involuntary as sneezing—not something a person could do on command, but just happened when the conditions were right.

He continued down the path until he reached the pearl-white steps that seemed to gleam in the scattered soft light—a light that seemed to have no real source at all. He slowed his pace considerably as he ascended the steps, not really looking forward to the assembly. Eric paused a moment in front of the dark, wooden door, clearly stalling. He took a deep breath and caught himself wishing Jade were here with him, before flinging it open and entering.

He glanced around the white-walled room as if seeing it for the first time. Nothing in this building had been touched during the battle. All the same wood-framed oil paintings of odd rituals being performed, as well as the polished bone furniture, were all still in place.

“We’re in here,” came Jacob’s familiar call from the other room. “Come on, hurry up before it gets cold. I’m not waiting for you two.” It never ceased to amaze him how Jacob could be so relaxed no matter the situation. It would seem that the man was completely immune to pressure.

Eric walked into the room and headed straight for one of the white bone chairs. Only once he was seated did he look up and take in the scene around him. Silver water goblets with colored jewels encrusted around the rim had been placed all around the white bone table. Serving girls were busy filling people’s plates with some sort of breakfast casserole made from eggs and an assortment of brightly colored vegetables.

To Eric’s relief, there weren’t even that many people here. He was concerned he would be speaking to a large council or something, which would have been more typical of a human-based society, but Jacob, Shantis, and a very large male seated next to her were the only ones in the room. He also found it odd to be discussing such serious business over breakfast; but again, who was he to question their ways? This also spoke highly of the complete authority Shantis had over the crytons. It was clear her word was final.

“And where is Jade?” asked Shantis in that slow but youthful drawl that took some getting used to.

“Huh? Oh, she will be along shortly. She just needed to...uh...take care of something,” Eric mumbled with his shoulders slumped forward.

Shantis’ bright yellow eyes grew large as she raised her thin white eyebrows. “I ssssee. Well then, sssshall we get sssstarted? I would like you all to meet my champion, Brinkton.” She gestured to the large cryton as he stood and gave slight nod. He was bald and muscular, with rather small yellow eyes compared to the other crytons. His nose was wide and flat, which made his eyes seem all the smaller. A rather severe underbite made him appear to be constantly frowning. Well, who’s to say he wasn’t constantly frowning?

He barked out several sentences in his native tongue before smacking his own chest solidly with a closed fist, resounding with a hollow
thud
before finally returning to his seat. Shantis smiled widely at both Jacob and Eric as her yellow eyes flashed a sense of pride. “He said you and your friends are true warriors. He was honored to share the field of battle with you.”

Another wave of guilt shot through Eric.
I brought this evil to their doorstep and he was honored
? But all he could do was shrug while waving his hand in a dismissive flick. “Tell him I said ‘thank you’.” Shantis turned to him and strung together a series of energetic sentences.
There appears to be a little padding on that thank you
.

“Now then,” said Shantis. “We have ssssuccessfully repelled this evil once, but we need to be prepared for the inevitable retaliation.”

“We beat them once...we will do it again!” said Jacob as he leapt from his seat while raising a fist, spilling his water goblet in the process.

“Well, that’s all fine and good,” said Eric, rolling his eyes in Jacob’s direction. Then he turned to Shantis. “But those things didn’t come here to kill your people and wipe out your race.” He raised his head high as his voice became hard and sharp. “They came here for me. I’m the one they want, and I’m afraid your people aren’t safe as long as I stay here.”
I bring danger wherever I go
.

“All the more reason for you to sssstay,” said Shantis sharply while sitting up in her chair as her yellow eyes flashed once more. “We are now ssssworn to you. You are the very one the ancient books ssspeak of, the very one who can sssave us all!”

“I can’t save you by leading death right to your doorstep!” Eric shouted as he leapt from his seat. The serving girls all backed away at the aggressive movement. Even the ones who were about to set more trays on the table suddenly seemed to decide the table was plenty full already.

“Then why did we even come here?” came the surprise response from Jacob. Everyone seemed a bit startled. The man who never took anything seriously seemed to have a strong opinion all of a sudden. “Berkeni forced us to live that horrible vision—whatever it was—just to gain a full understanding of what was happening in our world. We trekked through the Dead Forest just to find these guys and gain their loyalty to help serve our cause.” Jacob looked hard at Eric. “We lost Morcel during this quest.”

That statement stung Eric hard. He winced at the painful, fresh memory. Yet another life lost because of him. But he could see where this was going, and Jacob certainly had a point.

“You can’t do it alone, Eric,” his friend said while softening his tone. “We came here for their help, and now they have offered it. You can’t just fly into the sky and hope all the evil in the world follows you. You might be the key to all this, but if the world wants to be saved, then it better be ready to help.”

“Jacob’s words ring true,” came the familiar voice from the doorway. Jade stood tall with her arms crossed, her crystal-blue eyes filled with command and authority. Eric didn’t know why, but in that moment she reminded him so much of Queen Ilirra. “The time will come soon enough when crytons and humans alike will have to work together. Divided we stand no chance. True, we won’t be staying here much longer, but when the time comes to act, the crytons must be ready.”

“Then we are in agreement,” said Shantis as she raised her beverage in the air. Silver goblets were raised around the table as she proposed a toast with two simple words: “To victory.”

* * *

Later that evening they built a roaring bonfire for the whole village to come gather around. It wasn’t exactly a celebration—tough times were ahead and everyone knew it— but for now it just seemed like a nice distraction for everyone to get their minds off the impending darkness, even if only for one night.

The crytons gathered around in their own little circles, talking and laughing amongst themselves, but the wandering eyes that constantly fell on Eric while he sat alone were hard for him to ignore. The looks were not of distrust or anything of that nature. They just had no idea how to talk to him, or what to say to the deity they had only heard stories about. To see him in person, here in their village!

Jade strolled up to him in a mockingly seductive way, shaking her hips from side to side in an exaggerated fashion as he remained slouched on a tree stump. “Why so glum?” she asked with that mischievous smile that promised she was in the mood to tease him. “Are you upset you haven’t saved the world yet? Don’t worry, the night is still plenty young,” came the sarcasm he more than expected as her mischievous smile changed into a pouting face; her head tilted and lower lip fattened. He tightened his lips hard, trying his best not to give her the satisfaction of making him laugh, but he made the fatal mistake of looking up at her.

She maintained her sulking mask, looking like a spoiled child who hadn’t gotten her way, and it was simply all he could take. Snatching her by her hips as they both laughed, he pulled Jade to his lap and held her tightly. “I honestly have no idea what I would do without you.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder for a long while as they watched the crytons go about their family-type business. Men trotted around with children on their shoulders, holding their arms out wide as if they were flying through the air. Wives huddled in tight, chatty circles flailed their arms about as they spoke, no doubt complaining about the men.

Both Eric and Jade couldn’t help but think about how minimal the differences really were between crytons and humans. They had families and people they loved, just like anybody else, and they displayed an animalistic rage when their families were threatened. Could that
really
be perceived as being different from humans?

They watched as Jacob seemed to be conducting some kind of instructional class or something. He had several of the children standing in a row, each one holding a staff similar to his own. He paraded back and forth in front of them, barking out instructions they no doubt didn’t understand a word of, but they all wore smiles on their faces and seemed to be listening intently anyway. “Now, what could he possibly be telling them?” wondered Jade as she watched the spectacle while shaking her head.

Eric glanced over at her and replied, “I am the most wonderful thing that ever existed. Following me to the bitter end will be the greatest decision you will ever make!”

Jade laughed as she patted his chest while snuggling harder against him. After a moment or two she leaned up a bit, wearing a more serious expression. “You know we have to leave soon. We have to report back to the Queen and figure out what to do next.”

Eric just nodded. Everything was just so peaceful right now. He had been putting off thoughts of leaving the village, but he knew they couldn’t stay here much longer. “Come on, let’s find Shantis. Maybe they can supply us with some horses.” Jade lowered her eyebrows and flashed him a puzzled look. He answered her unspoken question as if he could read her mind. “I can’t even feel the energy of a gate right now. It just happens; I can’t do it on purpose. For all I know, I’ll never be able to do it again.”

“Well, let’s hope that’s not the case,” Jade said as she reluctantly hopped off his lap. “I see her over there,” she pointed toward the fire. The two marched over to the cryton leader and explained their situation: that they would be leaving soon and would need horses, if they could indeed be provided.

“Follow me,” she said as her bright, yellow eyes seemed to shine and flash while reflecting the flickering light from the fire. They considered getting Jacob, but seeing him laying on the ground all turtled up while the children continued to whack him with sticks was just too entertaining to break up; plus, they were fairly sure he would survive the ordeal. The three of them walked past the small temple toward the back of the village.

They approached an unpainted stable assembled solidly from wooden planks. The roof seemed to be the only part made from the bamboo they used so often, each shoot bound tightly to the next using that odd, yellow, fibrous twine.

Two large black horses stood there, shin-deep in the yellow hay that blanketed the dry dirt floor. They continued to chew on nothing as their tails swished back and forth. However, these horses did not look normal at all. They seemed very large and muscular, for one thing—far bigger than any other breed of horse the companions had ever seen before. Their eyes were odd also, blue in color, and seemed extremely large for the horses’ heads, almost giving the horses the unbalanced proportion of insects’ eyes.

“Our horses are sssome of the fastest you will ever find,” said Shantis as she smiled with pride. “They will make the journey to Taron in only a few days’ time.”

“Thank you for everything,” said Eric as he curiously eyed the two in the stable. “Can we bother you for another one?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said as she motioned to one of the young-looking horse handlers pitching hay in the back. “I will need four horses saddled and ready to ride by morning,” she called out in the cryton tongue.

Understanding, Jade looked over to Shantis and said, “Oh, we just need one for Jacob to ride. We don’t need a packhorse as well. We don’t really even have all that many bags.”

“Of course you don’t,” she replied as her smile became wide enough to show all her teeth, like a tiger. “I’m coming with you.”

Chapter 4

Dragot leaned back in the undersized yet sturdy wooden chair provided by the briggit, who had now scampered back inside the dark, crystal tower. It would be suitable for now, seeing as he just wanted to enjoy his lush, private paradise for a while.