Tides of Blood and Steel (10 page)

The Sea Wolf gave the boy an approving glance. “I thought the book was the key.”

Anienam shook his head. “The book is merely an opening. Consider it a compass of sorts. You see, the ancients had little trust for any of the races. They knew the potency of the hammer and were unwilling to let it fall into the enemy’s hands. Good planning to be sure, but difficult for those in need. The answers we seek should be locked in here.”

“Can you decipher it?”

The wizard smiled smugly. “I can’t see why not. I am trained in most of the major languages. It should be a matter of finding the data.”

“That’s great,” Boen said, “but we have to move. Now. Harnin is coming.”

They drew swords, even young Skuld. Only Anienam remained still. Swords were of no harm to a man of his power. He could crush his foes with a thought if he so chose. That strength remained his most potent secret. Anienam had seen the devastation of that ability unleashed before and he was loathe to unleash it again. Too many deaths added up in the name of wizardly excess. He resolved to let his companions choose for themselves. They must find their own light at the end of dark paths.

“Follow me, quickly and quietly.”

Bahr took them down the deer trail as the blue wizard light faded. When Harnin’s men arrived they found an empty clearing with no sign of their quarry.

Reunion

Dorl narrowly avoided a decapitating swipe by Rekka’s blade on the porch of the abandoned house at the end of the lane. Normally he would have had a good laugh at the absurdity of it, but his darkened mood prevented it. He tried to laugh, wanted to find any measure of humor. Like the rest of them, life had become a very dark thing for him.

Rekka Jel offered a quick apology and sheathed her blade. Dorl stopped until his heart dropped back to its normal place. Only Boen offered a chuckle as he strode past. Gaimosian humor was lost on them. The group ate in muted conversation, washing the small meal down with mugs of ale liberated from Bahr’s pantry. Boen finished off his ale and found a pallet in the back of house. He was soon stretched out and snoring. The gentle crackling of burning wood soon accompanied him.

“Isn’t he the lucky one,” Bahr commented.

Taking a bite from a green apple, he tried to stifle a yawn. Only now did he realize how tired he truly was. The rush of adrenaline siphoned off, forcing him to realize just how old he had become. His body ached. The pain of losing everything finally struck. His estate didn’t bother him as much as the loss of the
Bane
. That ship had been his life for decades. And now it was gone, reduced to cinders smoldering in the harbor. Emotions threatened to get the best of him. Rage. Pain. Anguish and sorrow. All collided in a deadly cocktail that promised to rip him apart.

“Are you all right, Captain?” Rekka asked upon seeing the distant look in his eyes.

He refocused, noticing Rekka staring nervously at him. Conversation slowed to halt as all heads turned in their direction. Bahr struggled against a surge of helplessness. What was he supposed to say? The very title of captain felt like a dagger thrust into his chest. He was a captain of a rickety wagon and a handful of outlaws. Life as he knew it, treasured it, was over. The only place he had left to turn was to Anienam Keiss and his damned blood hammer.

He feigned a smile. “Fine. Just thinking is all.”

“We have all lost a part of ourselves,” Rekka told him. “Our only chance for survival is to band together. We need each other now.”

Bahr fought to hold back a grimace. He alone had lost everything, not just some small token of memories.
Easy for you to say
. Bahr knew better than to voice his opinions here. Doing so would serve only to foment animosity among the group.

“Something you said bothers me, Anienam,” Nothol said.

Anienam smiled patiently as all eyes fell on him. The twinkle in his eye suggested he already guessed what was coming.

Nothol took the silence as consent to continue. “You said that the book was merely a key.”

“Of sorts,” he agreed.

Nothol sat down, his mind racing through patterns he failed to comprehend. “If that is the case, what you are proposing to send us on is another quest.”

The wizard exhaled a slow breath. All of his ideations were falling into place. All but one. Anienam still had no idea why the servants of the dark gods had chosen Delranan and Rogscroft to begin their return campaign. Strategically it made no sense. Both kingdoms were too far removed to be of any immediate impact. That lack of knowledge left an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“I am not all-knowing, master Coll. As much as you would have me wave my hand and produce this token of power, it is beyond me to do so. There are rules to this game, even for me.”

“Wonderful.” Dorl rolled his eyes. “So you’ve stood by and let us stumble along into this mess.”

“Life is about the power of choice,” Anienam countered. “What good is a man without free thought?”

Dorl wasn’t convinced. “I feel like a puppet, or worse.”

“What are you saying?” Bahr asked.

“This. All of this! Can’t you see what is happening? He’s engineered this entire affair to get us to do his bidding. The only place he is sending us is to the grave.”

“I don’t think…”

Dorl cut him off with a wave of the hand. “Quests are the sort of thing that most people in this room aren’t going to return from.”

“Nonsense,” Bahr argued. “We have all been sent on adventures. This is no different.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Maleela shook her head. It was all falling apart. “How can any of us be sure?”

Anienam Keiss said nothing. Patience and prudence were needed more than all else at this critical juncture. He sympathized with their suffering even though it was more perceived than true. They were all individually strong, but together they posed a threat that might even cause the Dae’shan to balk. Anienam sat back and waited for them to work through this for themselves.

“Too much of this doesn’t make sense,” Dorl said.

“That’s life, kid. I’ve spent almost six decades and almost none of them made much sense to me, the least of which was last night. There is plenty I don’t know, but I can tell you all this: what happened last night was no accident. Badron has declared his war. If following Anienam blindly in search of this hammer is going to help us win, then I am all for it.”

Dorl froze in mid-thought, his argument stalled. The breaking point beckoned him and he wasn’t so sure he had the willpower to stave it off.

“While we are busy asking each other pointless questions, I would like to know why do all of your stories revolve around these dark gods?” Bahr asked the wizard. “What happened to the good ones?”

“The answers you seek might not be found, I’m afraid,” Anienam replied.

Nothol looked up. “Why not?”

“No one is really sure what happened to them. There are many ideas, certain theories set forth by the finest theologians and scholars. Some contend the gods of light left once their foul kin were defeated and imprisoned in the nether. Others would argue that they lost interest in Malweir and drifted off into space in search of a new world in need of their presence. For myself, I cannot say. Some think the gods of light actually died, thus leaving a void in which the dark gods found their purchase back in this world.”

“That seems impossible,” Dorl said. “How can a god die?”

“Much easier than you might imagine. The fastest way to kill a god is to stop believing.”

None of them were comfortable with the direction the conversation turned. Deicide was an alien concept and humbled them all. A few races still clung to their gods. The Dwarves waged war under the watchful gaze of their war god Krug. Even the foul, night-dwelling Goblins had their deities. But Men had lost theirs, and the world suffered for it. Malweir stood upon the precipice. Anienam had grave misgivings about the future.

“So we are doomed,” Bahr concluded.

Anienam disagreed. “No. So long as we hold hope there is the potential for victory. We just have to find it.”

Bahr thought it sounded like a load of nonsense, but he was just one man, not the spawn of wizards or their ilk. “You speak of hope, but threaten our end. I do not know what to place my faith towards.”

“Always in yourself, Captain Bahr. You have no cause for doubt. The journey is yet before us. Many things can happen between now and the end. There is no reason to despair just yet.”

His words seemed sound but for the neglect of the despair gnawing at them. Bahr was ready to give up on the old man. He suddenly felt the weight of his years. Bahr was tired.

Anienam used the pause to press his point of view. “This is the hour where we must decide. Our answers lie in this book. I ask you all to look beyond yourselves. Delranan’s no longer the welcome home it once was. Times have grown dark. Only through defeating the Dae’shan do we stand a chance at finding peace. Understand this: once we set upon this course of action, there can be no turning back. It is all or nothing. Success is not guaranteed, but there is a far greater chance of it if we band together. All of our strengths and weaknesses combined will lead us to victory.”

“How can you be so sure?” Nothol Coll asked. He was suspicious of the suddenly optimistic nature in the wizard’s words. There were too many secrets for his liking.

Anienam grinned. “Consider it an act of faith.”

The quip did not go unnoticed. Only Rekka made a weak chuckle.

“All right. If that is the way it has got to be, I say we vote now. Each of us must choose for himself. There is no shame on those who wish to quit.” Bahr went to stand beside the wizard. His gaze hardened. “You have not led us astray yet. I shall stay by your side. My brother and his puppets have much to answer for. If these gods do exist, I would see them before I die.”

Anienam bowed graciously.

Tension filled the tiny cottage. None of them moved until Rekka Jel wordlessly marched over to stand beside the two. Bahr raised an eyebrow. He had plenty of questions directed towards the golden-skinned woman as well.

Nothol Coll slowly rose and glanced over at his best friend. “It’s the only thing left that makes any sense to me.”

Dorl Theed followed his friend, just as he knew he would from the beginning. He passed Anienam a sharp look. “This had better work, wizard. I don’t want to die for no reason.”

“I have a good feeling,” Anienam replied calmly.

Skuld watched Maleela move beside her uncle. That left only him and Ionascu. Fear painted his features. It shone in his eyes, a mirror reflection of Ionascu’s hatred.

“Go home, Skuld. No one will hold it against you. You need not risk your life for this,” Bahr encouraged.

Ionascu held up his broken hands for all to see. “Let the boy choose his own path. Mine was made for me. I want to see Harnin hang from his own gibbet. I’m in.”

For all the wrong reasons, Bahr thought.

“I’ve never been a part of anything before, not even a family,” Skuld told them. “Dorl and Nothol gave me my first taste of a meaningful life. I won’t abandon them now, though I am afraid.”

Anienam felt proud. “It is good to be afraid from time to time. Take heart, Skuld. You will find the depths of your courage before this is done.”

“It’s about damned time you people figured all of this out. Maybe now you’ll shut up so I can go back to sleep,” Boen growled from his cot without opening his eyes.

Argis gave them a deadpan stare. Resolution etched his features. “This is not my path. The resistance will need help. They need a leader. I am too old to go running across the world. My place is here, with our people. Hopefully I can find a way to defeat Harnin and make Delranan safe again.”

“That is a noble charge,” Anienam approved. “I wish you good fortune.”

Argis smiled thinly. “I think I am going to need more than that. I shall take my leave when you do. Until then I may still be of assistance in your planning.”

The Sea Wolf thought for a moment, as if judging the turncoat standing before him. Traitors didn’t sit well with him, despite his intentions against his own brother. A man was nothing without loyalty. For Argis to turn his back on Badron, the man who allowed him to rise this far, said much for his lack of character. Bahr doubted the man had the gall to see the matter through. Even so, he nodded and the group set about their business.

A guard was posted with the instructions for everyone else to bed down. The coming days were going to be long and perilous, making today seem calm, uneventful. Bahr tried to follow his own instructions, but found only disappointment. Dark were his thoughts of late. Harnin’s face reached out to mock him every time his eyes closed. The insolence of it spurned him.

Bahr shifted uncomfortably and swept his gaze over his companions. None were truly close enough for him to call friend. Boen had known him the longest, but their relationship was sporadic and surprisingly violent. People died every time they got together. That wasn’t to say he felt uncomfortable around the rest. The fact was just the opposite. He trusted each with his life, but only Maleela he trusted with his heart. The bond they shared went unparalleled.