Wrath of the White Tigress (19 page)

"We would like to serve you, Kharos," Bakulus said, his voice cracking with excitement. "Take us with you. Let us be your new palymfar."

Jaska clenched his jaw. "I have no desire to train new palymfar."

"We ask that you take us with you nonetheless," Caracyn replied.

"I don't have the funds to pay you."

"We don't need money, and we will feed ourselves."

Zyrella asked, "Why do you wish to serve?"

"My lady," Bakulus said, "our dying mother foretold that if we sailed the seas and worked as mercenaries, one day we would meet a great man who would form an order that stood for justice and peace. If we were to achieve our destiny and serve all humanity, we must recognize and follow this man even unto death."

"I am not a great man," Jaska protested.

"Three times we thought we'd found him but were proven wrong," Bakulus said. "Each of those times we still had doubt. This time, we have none. Even my doubting brother believes in you."

"You are maddened if you believe in one such as me."

"When did your mother proclaim this?" Zyrella asked.

"While she died giving birth to us," said Caracyn. "Our father passed the tale down to us and saw that we were properly trained."

"Accept them," Zyrella said. "Trust me, Jaska. This can't be mere coincidence, and the prophecy of a mother dying in childbirth can never be ignored."

"Our service is freely given," Caracyn said. "We ask nothing from you in return."

"The twins are good men," Tieros said. "I've sailed with them before. You won't find more honest, hardworking folk."

"They are more than capable," added Daras. "I will have to add two archers and two swordsmen to my company to replace them."

Jaska groaned in disgust. "Then I will accept your companionship, Bakulus and Caracyn, but you are not palymfar or my servants. You are merely allies."

The twins bowed and spoke in unison. "That is good enough for us, Kharos Bavadi." Both, however, were already thinking that this path would lead them to something more than that.

~~~

The
Spindrift Cloud
dropped sails and under the power of oars alone navigated the reef-infested waters. Captain Rohl maneuvered them without a single hitch, and they gained several minutes on the palymfar. The galley stopped as near to the beach as possible without risking a grounding. Sailors lowered the single rowboat kept onboard. They would have no time to retrieve the boat but must head out immediately. Jaska, Ohzikar, Zyrella, and the twins Caracyn and Bakulus tossed their gear into the small boat. They said their goodbyes to the mercenaries and crew.

"They'll not waste any time with you as long as they can chase us," Jaska said.

Sergeant Daras bowed. "Are you sure you don't want my men to guard you on the way?"

"I think we need speed more than strength," Ohzikar said. "If it came to a fight the result would likely be the same with or without your men."

"Guard the ship," Jaska said. "We'll need it again."

Then he shook hands with Tieros Rowman and wished him well.

Jaska climbed down the ladder after the others. They rowed to the rocky beach and then ran inland.

Tieros told the captain to do as he saw fit in getting them out. He glanced once more at his departed friends, still amazed at the gift Jaska had given him, then returned to his place among the rowers. He was an oarsman, regardless of owning the ship. He would, however, claim the owner's cabin. As he began to row, he wished Jaska luck and called blessings from every god he knew.

Ten minutes later, the two ships crossed paths. Under Adynarh's orders, the palymfar harassed the
Spindrift Cloud
with light arrow fire as they sped toward the beach, intending to ground their ship. They had pinpointed Jaska through the Shadowland.
 

A palymfar arrow whistled toward the starboard oarsmen and neared Tieros. On instinct, he leaned back and the arrow's fletching brushed across his nose before the arrow thudded into the wood beside him. Looking at the arrow, an idea occurred to Tieros. He could do something to help Jaska. He left his partner in sole command of their oar and rushed to the captain.

"Sir, turn the ship around. We're going to help Jaska."

"Are you sure, Tieros?"

"We can't take on those palymfar," Sergeant Daras added.

"But they're not interested in us, right?"

"That's true," Rohl said. "But they might change their minds if we attack them."

"Aye, you're going to get us killed fighting palymfar," Daras said. "We're not heroes."

Tieros shook his head. "If we can't do one small, noble thing with our lives, what point do we have in calling ourselves men? We must turn back."

Rohl and Daras stood in silence for several moments, awed by the sudden power in Tieros's voice. Then Rohl said, "I see now why Jaska made you owner."

"What's your plan?" Daras asked.

"They're slowed from damage they've taken on the reefs. If we turn around and close on them, we can harass them with our bows, perhaps flaming arrows, and then ram them. They won't be able to turn around in time, and they won't be able to pursue us once we back away and retreat."

"We may suffer losses," Daras said. "But damn me, I think it could work."

~~~

Adynarh cursed as the first fire arrows crackled through the night sky and struck the deck of his ship. Sailors rushed to put them out while palymfar and soldiers returned fire. A few sailors and oarsmen died in the next wave of unlit arrows, but most of the fires were put out with little damage.

"They're charging us, my lord," the captain said. "Shall we turn and face them?"

Adynarh stepped to the side. An arrow sped through the space he vacated. "Can we beat them to the shore?"

"I'm not sure, my lord."

The attack was a clever surprise. They would have to choose. Either waste time facing this ship or pursue Jaska. Their enemy clearly counted on them taking Jaska as their priority. A wise assumption since he couldn't allow Jaska to extend his lead.

"Full speed ahead, captain."
 

~~~

As he scrambled up a rocky incline, Jaska looked back. The others took the opportunity to catch their breath. A trail of smoke rose from a fiery glow at the beach. One of the ships was burning, but they were too far away to tell which.

Zyrella looked to Jaska with concern. "Do you think it's the
Spindrift Cloud
?"

"I have no idea," he said. "I hope not."

"You could scout through the Shadowland," Ohzikar said.

"No, we rush on and trust that Tieros and the others are all right. If they've fallen, there's nothing we can do about it."

Two days later, exhausted and covered with small bruises and cuts from rushing across the treacherous terrain, the group stumbled into a farming village. Fog draped the land, even though it was late afternoon. The crops grew brown and limp since the soil of Vaalshimar was poor and full sunlight scarce. At a farmhouse they bought a hot meal and what few meager rations the farm could spare. Zyrella asked the old widow who owned the farm if she knew how they could reach the Farseer.

The woman spat and cursed. "Well, you can find her in the island's center right enough. Head on toward the mountains, two more days of walking, and find the old riverbed. Follow it north and you'll see a canyon that cuts into the mountain and becomes like a tunnel. Somewhere in the dark hollows, her people will find you. Gods rest your souls."

Ohzikar asked, "Are they unfriendly people?"

"If you can rightly call the Arhrhakim people. Not violent mind you, not when they come to us for trade. But trespassers aren't welcomed."

"What sort of people are they?" Zyrella asked.

"Don't rightly know. They come at night wearing hooded cloaks. Their voices are nearly growls and their eyes glow like those of a wolf. Fur on their hands, too. I can tell you no more than that."

They thanked the old woman and marched on with dampened spirits.

~~~

Adynarh and his warriors caught up with them in the canyon as they neared the tunnel. Jaska had observed their pursuers in the Shadowland while Zyrella rested. Once, he had spotted Adynarh there at a distance, but the palymfar commander had fled rather than confront Jaska. He feared what Adynarh's survival meant for Tieros.

The jagged canyon walls closed in and cloaked them in forbidding shadows. What lay in the darkness ahead, they couldn't say. A magic barrier blocked scrying attempts within the hollows of the mountain.

A palymfar arrow hummed through the sky, struck a rock, and skittered across the ground ahead. The group scattered and broke into a zigzagging sprint to avoid arrow fire. The soldiers continued to loose arrows while more than thirty palymfar charged ahead. Ohzikar ran behind Zyrella to shield her, or to pick her up if she fell. The palymfar closed to within fifty yards. Total darkness lay just as close ahead.
 

Suddenly, Ohzikar grunted and tumbled to the ground, kicking up dust and rocks.

Zyrella paused. "Ohzi!"

Jaska shoved her on. "Go! I've got him."

Bakulus and Caracyn hastily fired two arrows at the oncoming palymfar then flanked the priestess. Jaska lifted Ohzikar to his feet. An arrow had pierced the rim of the shield strapped on his back and had dug into his flesh.
 

"I'm all right," the templar said. "It's not deep."

As they ran into the tunnel, Jaska activated his darksight and spotted the Arhrhakim. At least fifty tall, broad-shouldered warriors in grey cloaks and armed with long spears and composite short bows lined the walls ahead. Another twenty stood in the canyon's center. Blindly Zyrella and the others ran on until Jaska halted them. He trusted that their pursuers would see the Arhrhakim and pause as well.

"We come in peace!" Jaska called out.

A warrior nearly seven feet tall, though only a few inches taller than the others, stepped forward. His voice was like a growl, his speech archaic and guttural. "You bring evil, Slayer, but we shall take you and your comrades to the Farseer nevertheless."

Having stopped as well, Adynarh shouted: "We have no quarrel with you! We ask only that we may pursue our enemies!"

"Unless you are fleet of foot," replied the warrior, "you will die for trespassing here."

His comrades unleashed a barrage of arrows. Six palymfar fell instantly. Seven more died on their way out.

"Give our guests light," the tall warrior said.
 

A dozen lanterns sprang to life in the warriors' hands. The light revealed more about them. Fur did cover their hands, and a hint of muzzle was visible within their large hoods. A golden ankh with a crimson eye at the center hung from the large warrior's neck, which was bound by a golden torque. "I am Hyrkas," he said. "See to your friend, Jaska Bavadi."

Ohzikar knelt and Jaska jerked shield and arrow away at once. Zyrella bound the half-inch deep wound. Caracyn and Bakulus carried Ohzikar's gear.

"Follow," Hyrkas said.

On tired legs they traveled deep into the mountain. The tall warriors made no sound except the occasional rustling of a cloak. A glow grew within the tunnel ahead, heralding a series of hanging oil lamps. A wall of iron bars with a central gate blocked access to the cavern beyond. There lay the fabulous city of Arhrha.

Two massive, spear-wielding warriors flanked the gate. Neither wore cloak nor hood, only a simple loincloth. In general, they resembled a melding of humans and jackals. Rippled muscles lay beneath charcoal fur. Luminescent eyes flickered above their muzzles. Tall, triangular ears rose from their skulls. Their hands and feet appeared human except for the padding on their palms.
 

 
Hyrkas ushered them forward. "Enough gawking."

The guardians' eyes tracked them through the gate. Bakulus and Caracyn stared ahead in quiet wonder. Ohzikar shivered, feeling as if he were going into an ancient tomb and seeing things long buried and not meant for the light of day. Zyrella took it all in with curiosity and interest. Jaska was unaffected. He memorized details and analyzed threats. Wonder and curiosity could arise later when he had time for contemplation.
   

The city occupied a giant, dome-shaped cavern. Lanterns burned on terraces and hung from walls and posts. Pathways meandered between fountains, statues, and gardens of strange slate-colored vines with violet flowers. Hieroglyphs in bright greens, reds, and gold decorated the smooth cavern walls along with painted reliefs depicting heroic scenes. Five balcony levels rounded the inside of the dome with passageways that led deeper within. Arhrhakim men, women, and children bustled throughout the city. Merchant stalls sat around the bottom edge. The scents of strange oils, sweet vine blossoms, and roasted mushrooms scented the air.

Both male and female Arhrhakim wore white linen kilts. The men went topless, and the women wore simple bands of linen that wrapped across their breasts. A few wore jewelry with rubies and emeralds.
 

"Stay together," Hyrkas said, "and speak to no one. You are the first humans allowed here within my lifetime."