The Melaki Chronicle (12 page)

She turned to face ahead. “I could never be ashamed of what
I had earned.”

“No, I will not remove them. You are right; I earned them.”
He felt better with himself in saying it.

*  *  *

Melaki heard the commotion as he puffed his pipe. He stood
up from the bench around the well and peered down the road.

“What is it?” said Tila.

“Talin, and soldiers.”

“Soldiers?”

“Come to inspect the pacification, I expect.”

Talin rode at the head of a dozen pikemen on horses. Behind
them all, several carts.

Bena came out of their dwelling and stood next to Tila.

“Gramm?” Tila said.

“Going over his inventories. Imagining what he might need.
It is endless. Sometimes I wonder if he is going to stop to eat.”

“A wise man,” Melaki said, “considers his ways.”

Bena waved as if at an insect.

“Melaki,” Talin said. He stopped his horse a few paces away.
“All is well?”

“Indeed.”

“Who are these people and why are they here?”

He indicated Tila. “The mercenary Tila, you recall?”

“Hmm, yes, I do remember her.”

He indicated Bena. “This is--”

“Yes, a merchant. I saw them in Balis Port. Why are they
here?”

“Tila's husband was killed in Tolam's Ford.”

Tila the horse nickered from the stable.

Talin rolled his eyes. “How very tragic.” His tone said he
would yawn any second.

“She offered to help me--”

“You are here to help me.”

An imperial officer stopped beside Talin and looked them all
over impassively.

“And she will help me,” Melaki said.

“We do not need a woman around--”

“She will help me.”

“I will not be sharing with her--”

Tila stood taller and looked up at Talin. “I do not need
your share.”

Talin's eyebrows rose and then a small smile crossed his
face. “Oh. Well, then. As long as you are useful--”

“She will be fine,” said Melaki. “Gramm and Bena are here
having already worked the line to Kellerran. They wish to follow after us to
see if there is anything of salvage.”

“Salvage?”

“Carvings, peculiar tools. I do not know. Something to sell
back on the mainland.”

Bena was nodding.

Talin flicked his robe. “Oh, very well then. All seems in
order. This is Imperial Officer Moko. He will sweep the area tomorrow.”

“I will need to speak with you, Moko,” said Tila. “After you
settle in.”

The officer said nothing, but he nodded. His eyes were
constantly searching.

Melaki took Talin's horse and tended it. When he was done,
he stepped out of the stable. Talin was waiting, hands clasped behind his back.
“Something the matter?” he said to the wizard.

“Matter? No.” Talin looked down his nose as if expecting
something. “I want to know what progress you have made.”

He pointed. “We have five chickens there in that coop--”

Talin tilted his head.

“--and we have a small flock of sheep--”

“No, you fool. What progress towards Kellerran?”

“Kellerran?”

“Yes, Kellerran. Did you think I meant you to become a
farmer while I was gone?”

“We needed food and supplies--”

“I brought some. I did not bring you along to grow beets in
the mud.”

Melaki sighed.

“Well? What of Kellerran?”

“I have done nothing except patrol the stake--”

“Pah! You could have scouted Kellerran--”

“I detected evil there.”

“Of course there is evil there, you fool!” Talin's face was
turning red. “I can feel it from here.”

“I suppose you wanted me to clear the way to the next
cachement?”

The wizard sighed as if repressing his emotion.

So I was right.

“You could have found ways into the city most advantageous--”

“We ride in. Shelter the horses. Kill the evil thing.”
Melaki's tone was dry.

The wizard pursed his lips and breathed heavily through his
nose. “I will expect better out of you.”

You ass.

“Come and prepare our supper.” Talin strode away.

*  *  *

Melaki's fire roared in the fireplace of the tavern. He had
brought in the casks of mead and rum they had found.

Cups were raised in the hands of soldiers and jokes were
told in the once-dead village.

The mead was awful. The rum was good.

The soldiers had carted in their own supplies, but they were
pleased to partake in Talin's generosity.

“Neret died while pacifying the stake,” Tila said to the
officer. The man noted her words down on parchment for delivery to the imperial
offices.

Melaki puffed his pipe.

Even Gramm and Bena were there. It almost felt like a real
tavern. It was, though. A bartender and some skimpy-clothed barmaid would have
finished it off.

“Do not get too comfortable,” Talin said in a low voice to
him. “I want you preparing for our venture into Kellerran.”

“Throw a few things in the cart--”

“Do not be impertinent.” The wizard's finger pointed and
wagged at his nose. “When they leave the day after tomorrow, I want to be on
our way immediately.”

“On our fastest horses?”

Talin's eyes drew down at the sarcasm. “Be ready.”

Melaki nodded, letting the argument go. He would go over
what they might need later that night.

“Did you find any cachements in Tolam's Ford?”

“And if I did?” He puffed on his pipe, eyeing the wizard
through the smoke.

“I will expect it added to our share--”

“Neret took it all.”

“He is dead.”

“What an astounding bit of deduction that was.”

“Do not test me--”

“Or what? Neret took it all. He gave me a trinket. I bought
tobacco with it. Are you going to have me flogged over a trinket? Only the gems
are subject to the imperial share--”

“You have none of the gems?”

“I only have the cachement from that white thing in the
field the day before you left.”

“Oh.” He sat back. But his chin came up. “Did you touch--”

“Shut your mouth. I grow weary of your endless accusations.”

Talin blinked. “You what? How dare--”

Melaki leaned close to the wizard's oily countenance.
“Talin, the cachement is in your room right now, untouched, under your tent
satchel. Do you not want to go cast your gaze upon it even now?”

The wizard shot to his feet, greed in his eyes.

Melaki rose, slower.

“And just what do you think you are doing?”

“Coming to claim my share.”

A sneer flashed across Talin's face. Then a quick nod. Beads
of sweat were popping out of the wizard's forehead. “Let us.”

In the room, Talin frantically heaved the tent satchel to
the side. He gripped the box and felt the weight. Only then did a smile cross
his lips. He opened the lid under Melaki's light. A gasp erupted from the
wizard's throat. “Four gems.”

Melaki remained silent.

“How do I know you did not--”

He snorted. “There are four indentations in the velvet.
There are four gems. Or are you too stupid to notice--”

“Cease.” Talin's voice was a snap. He plucked out the
smallest gem and handed it to Melaki.

He suppressed a sigh. “My thanks to you, wizard.”

“As it should be. Now leave my room.”

*  *  *

Melaki watched the soldiers ride out in different
directions. He saw Tila poke her head out of the manor doorway. He called to
her, “Tila, here.”

His horse nickered from the stable.

“Your horse does not like me,” she said when she got near.

“She likes you just fine.”

“I believe she is laughing at me.”

“She likes you.”

“What do you need?”

“Another mind.” He started walking towards the stables.
“Talin has it in his head to leave immediately upon their departure tomorrow.”
He indicated the backs of the soldiers as they rode out, pikes out and ready.

“That was expected.”

“Indeed. He wants to travel to Kellerran and pursue a claim
for it without regards to anything else.”

“That should not be possible. His next claim would be a
town.”

“Under the rules, yes. Which would mean we should be heading
northeast to Rejah.”

“But he wants... gems?”

“I believe that is all that drives him. He does not want to
build anything here, only plunder.”

“This sounds familiar.”

“He had dreams of setting himself up as king in Dramlos.”

She laughed, but it was bitter. “Oh, that sounds very
familiar.”

He did not want to hurt her feelings by telling her he had
seen it in Neret's eyes. The man was dead. A better legacy would hurt no one.

“Then...” she said. She pursed her lips. “Then he will want
to abandon everything here and just move in to Kellerran.”

He grunted. That sounded more like Talin – move and plunder
rather than using Soam's Crossing as a base. He would not lose Soam's as a
stake now that it was being inspected as pacified. He imagined Talin would sell
his stake later. The wizard had no interest in holding a village. “Yes, you are
right, of course. My thanks to you, Tila.”

His horse nickered from the stable.

He slapped his forehead and drew his hand down over his
face.

“What?”

“Nothing. I realize we need to prepare to move as if to a
whole new location – which it will be.” He looked around at Soam's Crossing. He
had been starting to like it here. He heaved a sigh. Whether he agreed with it
or not, Talin had been right to tell him to prepare.

What neither of them knew was how quickly death would visit
their little party of adventurers.

Melaki led the procession over the last hilltop. The land
had steadily risen in undulating hills and vales. Past the scene of destruction
of the white thing, the land rose to a broad and treeless height.

In the far distance to the east was the town of Rejah. They
were bypassing it. Nothing in the charter prohibited what they were doing, but
the charter had been written for pacification, not plunder.

Behind him was Talin. Behind the wizard was Tila and the
rest of the train of animals and carts, including Gramm and Bena at the very
tail.

Topping the ridgeline he reined in Tila the horse. Below, at
the end of a swooping valley and up against the sea, was Kellerran.

The city was large and constructed in the Altanlean fashion.
Broad avenues, columns and statues could be seen even from this distance. The
living areas were a jumble of large structures, some of them three levels high.
Being on the ocean, the columns and stonework were almost a stark white –
constantly scrubbed clean by the salt air.

Over the city hung a taint of evil strong enough to make
Melaki want to heave.

“Let us make haste.” Talin rode ahead, robes flapping in the
breeze of his passage.

He sighed, stopping the attempt to sense anything. He waved
at everyone else and rode ahead. Back in Soam's Crossing he had released the
chickens to forage. The sheep were free to range. He had pegged the doors with
notices that the village was under confirmed claim of Talin the wizard.

The imperial forces had found nothing. The officer had asked
if Talin wanted to stake additional claim. He had been surprised when the
wizard declined.

Soam's Crossing was once again a town roamed by nothing but
ghosts, waiting for the return of life – if it ever happened.

As the caravan of animals, carts and people descended
towards Kellerran, he felt as if the future was swallowing him.

*  *  *

Melaki blew apart another skeleton. “We are getting
overwhelmed.”

Before them, a wave of skeletons pressed forward. Talin and
Melaki obliterated dozens at a time. Tila worked solo on their exposed flank,
dancing among reaching bones, destroying all that she faced. In the rear, Gramm
swung his ridiculously enormous two-handed sword, plowing through skeletons as
if through weeds.

“We can not keep this up,” Melaki said. Sweat was on his
brow.

Sala turned and delivered a perfectly-aimed kick to a
skeleton that had gotten past Tila.

Talin grunted. “Perhaps you are right. We need to be in a
better position to defend.”

“There's a gated structure through that archway,” Tila
called. She pointed, then went back to dancing around the skeletons, sword
slashing and shield smashing. She was sweating, too.

Talin sighed. “Melaki, make a force shield here so we can
turn to that structure.”

Melaki did not complain or object. Making a force shield had
been very difficult for him. Very draining. Almost as difficult as healing. He
patterned the shield, feeling the drain. He was at his end.

The skeletons battered against his shield of something
unseen. The column of animals and humans shifted towards Tila. She drove
forward, beginning to scream out in effort. Bones flew as wildly as her braid.

Melaki felt the power drain from him faster than water
through a broken vase. Spots swam before his eyes. A buzzing filled his ears,
growing louder. He lost feeling in his limbs. His vision spun and tilted. Then
he was resting on the cool paving stone of the courtyard.

Such sweet rest.

He was lifted, causing all sorts of nausea.

A roaring growl filled his ears from a distance. A flash and
swing of a huge sword ran in and out of his vision. He seemed to be looking
down a long, dark tunnel. Everything was so distant.

He felt himself being moved.

*  *  *

“-- a failure.” Talin's voice said.

“He saved us, gave us time--” Tila said.

“He is weak. Barely able to pass the tests.”

“He passed them,” she said.

“Any initiate could have stood there and endured where he
fell.”

“Is that so?” said Bena.

“What do you know of wizardy, woman?” Talin's indignant
voice echoed.

“My wife knows much,” Gramm growled.

“My brother is a wizard of the fourth rank.”

Talin laughed at Bena.

Melaki groaned, trying to focus. He had drained himself to
exhaustion.

“The fool awakens.” Talin's voice was mocking.

Hands touched his face. Tila's hands. She smoothed his hair
back and leaned over him.

They were in a large hall of some sort. A plaza within a
building. He could hear the rattle of bones against a shut gate. He moved his
head and looked over to the gate. A cart was against it. Nearby stood the mule
Sala and the horse Tila, ears forward, facing him. Bones littered the ground.

He groaned again and tried to sit up.

“The fool will wet himself trying to gain his feet.” Talin's
head jerked back and forth in mockery.

He stood, though slowly, and retained his breakfast. He also
stood dry in his robes.

Talin sneered. “Check everything. Make sure nothing can get
in. We will kill whatever controls these in the morning.”

Melaki sat down heavily after Talin stalked off. Tila
stroked his hair.

*  *  *

Melaki spooned up his soup.

“Do you want mine?” Talin offered with a sneer. “You might
need it.”

“I am fine.”

“At least you could lick my bowl, then.”

“I said I was fine.” He felt weak.

The curl to Talin's lip showed Melaki that the wizard was
getting enjoyment out of insulting him.

Tila bristled. “He is doing fine and he saved us--”

“Oh please,” said Talin. “Any initiate can hold a force
pattern for at least twice as long as he without fainting.”

“But he had been battling so many skeletons--”

“Irrelevant.”

“Why? Just because you say it so?” Tila's voice was fierce
and defensive. She looked ready to fling her bowl at Talin.

“Of course. I am above you petty mercenaries.”

“I am not a mercenary--”

“No, of course not.” Talin glanced at his fingernails in the
air.

“Neret was of noble birth--”

That startled Talin. “Was he?” He dropped his hand. Then he
raised it again. “Well, he is dead now, is he not?”

“He was still noble--”

“And now dead. As weak as Melaki here, if not weaker.”

“You dare!”

“Oh, plug a hole with your outrage.”

Tila glared menacingly at Talin.

“Leave it,” Melaki said to Tila. “He thrives on dissension
and insult.”

“I do no such thing,” said Talin. “I merely demonstrate my
intellectual superiority to you lessers and--”

“Lessers?” Melaki said.

“Do you not understand the term?”

“I understand the term, you dumb ass--”

“Dare you call me such!”

Melaki smirked at Talin. “I dare.”

“May I have a bit more soup?” Gramm said. His voice ws
pleasant, but his eyes watched.

Tila handed him the pot without comment.

“If I did not need you tomorrow to hold light--”

“That is all you wanted me for.”

“Well, of course,” said Talin. “You are not worth anything
else.”

“Such as destroying skeletons.”

“Exactly. Worthless.”

Melaki cleared his throat. “I seem to remember killing more
skeletons than you--”

Talin's voice drowned out everything else. “Nonsense. I was
the one who—”

“Who what? Who can now kill two or three skeletons at a time
because I showed you how to do it?”

The sneer on Talin's face became hate.

Tila tugged on him. “Maybe you should sleep.”

Talin's lip curled. “There you are. Right. Drag him off to
lick his wounds. After all, they are so huge.”

Melaki growled, but he was clay in Tila's hands.

She deposited him in a room and lit a fire on her own. She
left and returned a little later with their gear. She even wiped his face with
a wet rag, removing the grime of combat.

Her eyes gazed down into his.

That night, in the middle of an evil city, she removed her
clothes and slipped into his blankets with him, naked.

Finding his sleepiness receding while other things grew, he
caressed that warm, bare skin.

Their lips met. Their passion flared brighter than the fire
in the fireplace.

*  *  *

Melaki nodded. Again.

“Are you sure.” Talin glared at him.

“I am sure, wizard. I am rested.”

A wordless growl from Talin's throat promised punishment if
otherwise.

But Melaki did feel well. He was rested and had eaten enough
to carry him through the day – if the evil taint in the city did not make him
heave it up.

If it does, I will aim for Talin's robes. The thought made
him smile. Then the smile fled. He would just make me clean them.

“Gramm,” Talin said. “You should be safe here. We should
return before the end of the day.”

“Have no worries, wizard. The camp is secure.”

“Let us go, then.”

Gramm lifted the bar and the gate swung inward from the
weight of the skeletons pushing against it. The wood was gouged and scratched from
a night of clawing.

Melaki formed his patterns and went to work. He centered his
thoughts on efficiency, trying to conserve as much power as he had. His ears
rang and then ceased hearing anything. His vision was unfocused. His arms
stabbed out and swung and when they did skeletons fell in an explosion of bone.

Talin worked next to him until the tide of skeletons
lessened, and then finally ceased. Bones littered the alley outside the gate up
to knee-height.

“Fool,” said Talin.

“What?” His thoughts were hazy as he began concentrating
again on other things. His power had flowed more efficiently and used less of
himself in the process. He would need to note this discovery down later.

“You did not need to try impressing me by killing more
skeletons.”

“I did?”

“I told you to conserve your meager--”

“I did conserve.”

“You did no such thing.”

He sighed. Talin would not believe him. “Are we going to go
get a cachement or are we going to listen to you brag about your abilities
again?”

Talin's mouth snapped shut and he strode forward and out the
gate.

“You handle him well,” said Tila.

“You believe so? I am not sure most of the time.”

“You poke his greed and he shuts up.”

Melaki nodded, thoughtful. Turning to his animals he said,
“Come, Sala.”

The donkey's ears stood up and she turned a head to Tila the
horse to show some teeth. Tila nickered. The donkey trotted forward and
followed Melaki. As she came forward, she swished her tail into the face of the
horse. Tila tried to bite it.

He sighed.

The gate was barred shut behind them and they began climbing
over the bones until Melaki grunted in frustration. He formed a couple
patterns, oily and force, and blew the bone pile out of their way.

“I told you to conserve yourself.” Talin's voice itched.

“It was nothing.”

Tila gripped his arm, gently.

He recalled her eyes in the firelight, the shine of her
hair, and their passion from the previous night. He smiled down at her.

Talin led the way. Their walk along aged columns was
uninterrupted. The city was dead around them, only seeing life when a bird
fluttered through. The ocean breeze was very slight, but enough to ruffle
curtains through open windows.

Melaki reached out his senses a few times to see if there
was anything right around them. Now that they were drawing closer to the
palace, he could discern three evil entities. One was very strong.

“Stop that,” Talin said.

He sighed.

“When we face them down, I want you at your best and a
shield in place.”

“Yes.” Melaki glanced at Tila.

She twisted her mouth.

“Think of the gems,” he said.

Her eyes got big.

“What?” said Talin. “What of them?”

“Think about how they will be glowing--”

“You are not getting more than your share and I am generous
for giving you what I do.”

He was right, but he was still an ass.

“Think of the wealth.”

“Oh, I see. You attempt to insult me by claiming I harbor
greed.” He thrust his nose in the air.

“Are you not?”

“Am I not what?”

Melaki shared a look again with Tila. “Are you not greedy?”

“Of course not. I could never fall to such base levels.”

“Oh?”

“I am simply taking what is mine.”

There was little warning. “Undead.” Melaki formed a shield
against magic, feeling his power drain – but far less than maintaining a
physical shield of force.

Zombies ran forward from a building on their left, their
eyes rolling in their heads, looking all around. Zombies were far more powerful
than skeletons, allowing the controller to use their bodies from a distance.
Much more than mere puppets, like skeletons, these were deadlier, smarter,
faster and very strong.

There were six of them.

Talin worked fast, obliterating two with the trick Melaki
had shown him. Two more went down just as they reached for the wizard.

Tila barreled into one with her buckler and Melaki formed a
force and threw the last one back. That gave Talin enough time to kill them
both.

He released the patterns. He still felt fine.

Talin dusted off his robes though he had gotten nothing on
him. “The controllers must be powerful.”

The palace was ahead, partially in ruins. One side had caved
in as if something large had struck it. They walked slower towards it, careful
now of their surroundings.