Blood of Innocents (Book Two of the Sorcery Ascendant Sequence) (14 page)

Caldan watched, willing himself to ignore the building pain in his head as he struggled to hold onto his link. The shadow disappeared among the rest. He held his breath. There was something… not quite right… His vision wavered and became blurrier than before. No, only a patch did, moving around the campsite. It had to be whoever was following them, concealed with sorcery of some kind.

He gasped as tiny white sparks twinkled around the blur then disappeared, revealing a man wearing faded brown trousers and a creased shirt. Whatever shield the man had been linked to had also effectively camouflaged him until he had revealed himself. Even in full view, and by the light of the fire, he had been hard to see.

Interesting and worrying at the same time. In the caverns, when they were fleeing Anasoma, he’d thought both Bells and Keys had evaded his sight because of the darkness, until his birds had revealed them, but now he wasn’t so sure.

The man slowly circled the camp, examining scuffs on the ground where their gear had been and where the soldiers had gathered. Then he went over to where the wagon had stood. Both his wrists had silver metal wristbands, and there was at least one medallion around his neck.

Caldan lowered his head to his hands and pressed hard against his temples. The pain had grown so he could barely contain it. He knew he had to cut his link soon, and then his
crafting
would be worthless. The man would have moved on by the time he could re-establish contact.

Taking a deep breath, he ruptured the anchor, and the forces from his well consumed his makeshift
crafting
. With a sickening wrench, his balance tilted as the pain subsided. He clutched at his seat for support.

Moments passed as he fought to prevent himself from throwing up.

Close by, he heard Bells laugh. “And what did that achieve?” she asked.

He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth then rubbed his eyes; they ached as well. “I don’t know,” he answered. With a start, he sensed she was holding her well open, the better to sense what he was doing.

“See something you didn’t like?” Bells said.

Caldan looked up, the sudden movement causing his nausea to return. He swallowed and breathed heavily through his nose, squashing the impulse to vomit. Elpidia and Amerdan were watching both him and Bells, Amerdan with his usual disinterest, while Elpidia looked frightened. He held up a hand to them.

“Don’t worry. I caught a glimpse of who’s been following us.” He turned to Bells with a smile. “And I saw something interesting: sorcery I dare say the man following us wouldn’t want us to know.”

“Really? Then tell me, my apprentice, who’s following us?”

“I’m not your apprentice,” Caldan growled.

“Then you don’t want to learn how to heal Miranda?”

“Of course I do…”

“Then you’re my apprentice, technically.” Bells smirked then glanced at Elpidia and Amerdan. “And you can’t unlearn something, which makes you one of us.”

Aware she was trying to distract them, Caldan, ignored her jibes. The sorcerer following them was a fair distance away, but he had to be coming after them to free Bells—and kill them.

“Who is this man following us?”

With a shrug and a tinkling of chains, Bells replied, “How would I know? My father, come to rescue me?” She laughed. “No such luck, I fear. He’s probably too busy at the moment with the invasion.”

“Your father is part of the invasion? What does he do? I mean, is he a sorcerer, like you?”

“Of course he is, without peer. It’s where I get my talent.”

Caldan hesitated. “I thought your God-Emperor was the most accomplished sorcerer you knew? You said he was without peer, and shelters you.”

“Yes, I did.” Bells’ teeth flashed white as she smiled.

“Then… he’s your father?”

“How astute of you. Possibly. Or a few times removed. No one knows for sure. There are many of us, his sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. Which is why he won’t be coming to rescue me. I’m on my own.” She made a mock sad face.

“You’re lying.”

“Why would I lie? His blood flows strongly in me, and I’m expected to survive without assistance. It’s the way it is; the strong survive, while the weak perish.”

“You might lie to distract us,” Caldan muttered. “Now isn’t the time for this. Who is the man following us, and what kind of shield does he have?”

“Poor little Protector, always fumbling for answers. When I begin your education, you won’t lack for answers… or power.”

He heard a sharp intake of breath from Elpidia and shook his head at her. “I won’t do it. I only need enough to heal Miranda.” He turned back to Bells. “Right now, I want answers, and I mean to get them. Who is the man following us?”

“What does he look like?”

“He was… average… I… He was nondescript, almost deliberately so. But he was a sorcerer, that much I know. His shield concealed him somehow.”

“I doubt your unfocused sorcery injured him at all. He’s coming for you.” She looked at Elpidia and Amerdan. “For you all.”

“So, you know who he is?”

“My brother.”

“What is his name? What can he do?”

Bells shrugged. “There are many of us brothers and sisters. The God-Emperor’s children. As for what he can do… He can kill. If they’ve sent him after me, then you’re all doomed. Your only chance is to release me so I can beg for mercy for you. Quickly now! Untie me!”

Caldan shook his head and gave a grim chuckle. “Not likely. We’ve lasted this long; we can get out of this on our own.”

“Well, it was worth a try. I can help you a lot more if I’m free, you know.”

“If Miranda’s not healed, then I’m not going to let you go. Remember that. You know what I can do, and you must realize there’s a good chance whoever they sent won’t be able to free you. We will either ward him off or defeat him. He has to act before we reach our destination, which means we know when he is coming, at least a time frame. Now I have your shield
crafting
, and you know better than I what it can withstand. I’m willing to wager I can use it to delay him until we reach the city and it’s too late. Too late for you, since he won’t be able to rescue you from hundreds of the emperor’s soldiers stationed there.”

“Then it’s too late for you as well. I won’t be able to show you how to heal your precious Miranda.”

“She has a point,” chimed in Amerdan. “Once we reach the city, they will take her out of our hands, and who knows what will happen to her? Miranda, the poor girl, might not make it out of whatever ails her on her own.”

“She won’t,” Bells confirmed.

“There you go. Caldan, you need to think of Miranda’s welfare.”

Elpidia stood and glared at Amerdan. “Why are you so interested in letting her go? She said she’d kill us all!”

“Hush, please.” Caldan held his hands out and lowered them, indicating to Elpidia to calm down. “This is what she wants: us arguing instead of planning, so please… let’s discuss this peacefully.”

With a glare at Amerdan and Bells, Elpidia sat back down and folded her arms across her chest. “What should we do, then?” she asked.

“I need to tell the Quivers what I saw. You two stay with Bells.”

Caldan left them and moved to the soldier driving the wagon. The others were riding alongside. They didn’t look happy when they learned they were being followed by a sorcerer. They still thought of sorcerers as relatively harmless, though after Bells’ display, they were coming round to the idea that sorcerers could be a force to be reckoned with. Caldan advised them to keep extra alert and to fetch him if they saw anything—anything at all—out of the ordinary.

Back with Elpidia and Amerdan, he felt the responsibility weighing him down. The Quivers would look to him to combat any sorcery; Elpidia and Amerdan were relying on him, and Miranda and Bells were his burdens as well. He needed to free himself from as many distractions as possible, or something would give.

“At first, I thought we could hand Bells over when we reached the city, but now I’m not so sure.”

Amerdan nodded at his words, and Bells smiled. He ignored them both. Elpidia was shaking her head.

“We don’t have much time left,” Caldan said. “And we need to get rid of the soldiers somehow, preferably in a way we won’t have them chasing after us as well.”

“If I may?” Amerdan said, and prodded the corpse between them with a booted toe. “With what this person following us can do, he might solve our problem for us.”

The shopkeeper’s words hung in the air. Elpidia had a look of horror on her face. Caldan wasn’t sure he had heard correctly.

“We can’t leave them to be killed or use them as a distraction,” he said.

Amerdan gave a quiet laugh. “Oh no, I wasn’t suggesting that.”

Caldan frowned, sure that’s exactly what he had suggested. He and Elpidia locked eyes, and she swallowed then looked away.

“I just want somewhere I can work without all of this,” she muttered.

“As I was saying,” continued Amerdan, “they are already a distraction. The man following us has to even the odds, does he not? Which was why he killed this poor man here and is likely to go after the others. They’re obviously common soldiers, not like us. We’re the ones escorting Bells, and if he’s been watching, he has to know this. We are the unknowns, and he has to be careful with us. After all, he knows we captured Bells and… defeated Keys. Surely he wouldn’t go up against us without knowing our capabilities.”

The shopkeeper’s words made sense to Caldan. “But I’m the only sorcerer,” he said.

Amerdan pointed a finger at him. “You are, as is she.” He also indicated Bells, then turned his finger on Elpidia. “But how is he to know what our talents are? For all he knows, he faces three sorcerers.”

“If he got close enough, he could tell,” Caldan said. “He could sense who has a well, if he has that talent.”

“There are different talents?” asked Amerdan. “Are all sorcerers different, then?”

“Not exactly. We can all do certain things, but there are distinct talents; some people are more adept at some things than others. I can sense a well in other people, and so can Bells.” She inclined her head, acknowledging his words. “But only a few sorcerers can; I would guess one in ten.”

“One in thirteen,” corrected Bells, to his surprise. “Don’t look so astonished. Talents have been extensively studied and catalogued. You would have studied them as a journeyman.” She shrugged. “Or so I would assume. Your sorcerers… well, let’s just say they’re not as good as they think.”

“Be that as it may, he might find out he’s only facing one sorcerer if he can get close enough to sense it and has the talent. And from what I saw, I think he could get close without us knowing.”

“One in thirteen,” said Amerdan. “I prefer to have greater odds in my favor. I can look after myself, but Elpidia and Miranda here won’t stand a chance.”

Bells scoffed at the shopkeeper. “Against a sorcerer, you wouldn’t last long.”

“Maybe not,” said Amerdan quietly.

“Knives won’t help you.”

Amerdan only shrugged.

“We need a plan,” Caldan said. He tried to pace, but the lurching wagon and prostrate corpse interfered, and he gave up. He looked at Bells. “What can this man do? How did he kill Breyton here?”

“How should I know? I don’t know who he is.”

“You must have some idea.”

“Must I? And if I did, why would I tell you?”

“Because he might kill us, and you want to savor that yourself.”

Silence followed Caldan’s words. Amerdan nodded, while Elpidia covered her mouth with her hand in shock.

Bells eyed him thoughtfully. “I’ll think about it,” she said.

After a few moments, he nodded. “All right. I—”

A strange noise, like a swarm of bees, filled the air, but only for an instant. There was a strangled scream followed by a thump outside the wagon, and shouts of alarm from the soldiers.

Caldan grabbed his sword then leapt over Breyton’s corpse, jumping through the canvas flaps covering the back of the wagon. He half-fell, half-dropped to the ground, opening his well and linking to Bells’ shield
crafting
. As the haze enveloped him, he flung out his senses in an attempt to pinpoint the Indryallan sorcerer’s position. There was something to their left, more of an absence.

Beside him on the side of the road lay Boyas, covered in small cuts like Breyton had been. Blood seeped from the wounds as the man clawed at the ground, writhing in agony. A mewling sound escaped Boyas’ lips, and he looked desperately at Caldan. Behind them, the wagon continued on for a few moments then stopped.

Amerdan landed beside Caldan, knives in both hands, scanning the darkness. Caldan could hear Elpidia sobbing inside the wagon. “Please, I don’t want to die… please.”

Light flickered above them for an instant.

Caldan grabbed Amerdan and the wounded Boyas by the arm and extended his shield to cover them.

The light burst, and the shield rippled as it blocked a hundred tiny strikes. Violet sparkles clouded his vision as Bells’
crafting
hummed, to be swept away in moments, the shield easily dissipating the energy. He frowned, puzzled by the small amount of sorcery involved.

“Get Boyas to Elpidia,” he yelled at Amerdan, who was staring at his own multicolored hazy hand in surprise. “And tell the Quivers to keep going. I’ll see if I can find this sorcerer.”

The shopkeeper nodded, and Caldan drew the shield back into himself, leaving them exposed. “Hurry,” he urged, as behind them the soldiers dismounted, booted feet thudding as they came to Boyas’ aid. Caldan turned as the remaining two soldiers reached them, eyes wide at the sight of their bloody comrade.

He grabbed Corporal Lavas by the arm. “Listen, you have to keep going. Get him into the back with Elpidia; she’ll do all she can to save him, then go!”

“No.” Lavas shook his head. “Whoever it is, they’ll pay for this.”

“He’s beyond you. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is; you’ll be going to your death.”

Cursing, Lavas glared at Caldan with fury. “Don’t tell me what to do. I’ll get this sorcerer, and you can’t stop me.”

Caldan shrugged.

Amerdan and Ettmo were carrying the wounded Boyas toward the wagon. Drops of blood spattered the road, leaving a dark trail in their wake.