Exodus: The Windwalker Archive: Book 3 (Legends of Agora) (8 page)

As a Vald of Volnoss, I learned to distrust the elves. With forked tongues we repeat what we do not know. But in heart of hearts I was curious about their magic. Now I feel kinship to them. On Volnoss I am one of few with spirit magic. Here on Elladrindellia I walk among peers.

-Gretzen Spiritbone

The Skomm, now free from the sickness that had plagued them, said their farewells to the elves and reluctantly boarded the boats that would bring them back to the two waiting ships. The elves had been excellent hosts, providing not only relief from ailments, but also food, drink, and clean garments. They had invited the Skomm to bath in their springs as well, which left the people looking and feeling as though they had been reborn. Many of the women left with intricate braids in their hair and a flower behind their ear. The men held their heads high, with eyes no longer hopeless and desperate, but rather with a light of hope.

Talon stood on the dock and bade Gretzen goodbye once more; she had decided to stay with the elves for a time, even though she would soon be forbidden to see Azzeal.

“You come see me again when you have found Akerri,” she said and surprised him with a kiss on the cheek.

Azzeal shook Talon’s hand and also surprised him with a brotherly hug. “I have a gift for you. Something to keep you safe in the coming battle.” He handed Talon a sack that clanged with the tell-tale sound of armor.

Talon peeked inside and saw the chain mail and leather. “Thank you. I wish I had something for you.”

“Ah, but you have already given me so much. Until next time, Talon Windwalker. Walk with the sun in your face, and may Kyrr keep you well.”

“Thank you for all you have done, Azzeal. I shall never forget you.”

Next, Talon bowed before the queen and Zerafin, who stood with hundreds of elves behind them who had come to see their newfound friends off.

“I wish you good luck in your quest to find your loved one and free the Skomm. Know that you have our blessing,” said the queen before handing him a bundle wrapped in leather.

Talon’s heart leapt.

“A gift,” said the queen.

“But you have already given so much,” said Talon, though he took the bundle and slowly unwrapped it.

Both Araveal and Zerafin looked on with a smile.

Talon unwrapped the gift and marveled at the sheathed elven daggers. He pulled one out, and the blade sang out of its sheath with a sharp ringing. Runes covered the sides of the steel blades, which ended in a dark, leather-bound handle.

“They are magnificent. Thank you, good Queen Araveal. I don’t know how we can ever repay you for all that you have done.”

He offered another bow and boarded the sailboat with Argath and Eaglewind. As they sailed toward Freedom, Argath rested a hand on Talon’s shoulder and watched the waving crowd.

“I see they let you keep the ring,” said Argath with a glance to Talon’s hand.

“Yes, in the end I convinced them that I would do good with it.”

“You’ve made us a powerful ally. Our people are now healthy and strong.”

“Gretzen and I spoke about the revolution, and she brought up an interesting point. Where will we go? Once we’re free, I mean. And how are we even going to get that many Skomm off the island? Our two ships can hold less than a thousand, and Gretzen said that there are tens of thousands of Skomm.”

“Once we get a large enough army and get the Vaka on our side, we won’t need to evacuate, we can simply take over Volnoss.”

“
Simply
take over Volnoss. Are you mad?” said Talon.

“Yes,” said Argath with a wide grin. “Yes to both.”

They reached Freedom and climbed onto the deck to the cheers of both the crew and the passengers. Cheers went up for Talon, and he was even hoisted up to ride on Crag’s shoulders as the big man danced around the deck.

When the celebration finally died down, Captain Argath ordered the crew to drop sails and begin out of the harbor. Talon watched Elladrindellia fade into the distance at the back of the ship, and he couldn’t help but smile.

Crag came to stand beside him. Talon glanced up at the looming man, whose childlike face was filled with wonder.

“Did you enjoy meeting the elves?” Talon asked.

Crag’s eyes lit up and began to water, and a serene smile spread across his face.

“The
alfrs
are nothing like the Vald make them out to be. They’re…they’re…it’s hard to say. You know?”

“I know what you mean,” said Talon.

“Last time Crag sleep like that he was a baby. Did you see their lights, and those towering crystals, and their magic? Talon, did you see their magic?”

“I saw it.”

“I wish I had magic like that,” said Crag.

“What would you do with the elves’ magic?”

“Me?”

“Yeah,” said Talon. “Say you had magic like the elves. What would you use it for? What would you do?”

Crag’s brow furled under the intense contemplation. “Well, I guess I’d make it so nobody could pick on nobody no more.”

“And how would you stop people from picking on other people?”

“How? Well…I guess, you know, with my magic.”

“You mean you would physically force them to stop?”

“Well…No, if I did that then I would be the bully.”

“What if that was the only way? Through force, I mean,” Talon asked, liking the insight of the special man.

“I’d find a way,” said Crag.

“But what if that is the only way?”

Crag looked troubled. His once jolly red cheeks had become blotchy in their pinkness, and his mouth was made small and turned to the side as he thought about it.

“I’d find another way. There ain’t ever only one way to do something.”

Now it was Talon’s turn to be stumped. The line of questioning and answers that followed had enlightened him, when in truth he was trying to teach the big man a small lesson. As it turned out, the small man was taught a big lesson.

Talon had the combined power of Kyrr and Chief, and all he could think to do to free the Skomm was fight.

Something occurred to him then; if he followed his present course, thousands of Skomm, if not all, would die in the fight for freedom. Argath was too war-minded. Talon realized then that the Skomm could never win a direct war. Even with his magic ring and spirit wolf, even with the help of the skilled gladiators aboard, the Skomm would lose in the end. Talon understood then that he could not fight fire with fire, for the Vald were too big, too strong, and had spent too many years practicing the art of war.

We have to beat ‘em with our minds.

Majhree’s words came back to him then, and once again he listened.

“Thank you, Crag. You are indeed a wise man. It seems as though a little bit of the elf magic
has
rubbed off on you.”

Crag glanced at his own hands with wide-eyed wonder.

I wonder sometimes, what have I taught the Skomm? What kind of nation will come of them if it is indeed their fate to be free? The Morenka would argue that I have made a grave error. Perhaps I have. All I know is that I have stopped the suffering of thousands of innocent children. That is enough for me.

-Azzeal, Keeper of the Windwalker Archive

“Sir, Captain, may I come in?”

Argath looked up from the scrolls on his desk and smiled when he saw Talon standing with a foot in the doorway.

“Please, come in, come in,” said Argath. He rose from his chair and moved to the bar as Talon knew he would. He remembered Captain McGillus doing the same thing a half dozen times. It seemed as though the captains had always been contemplating a drink, and the formality of company was the only excuse that they needed. Indeed, Argath seemed to have already put down a few, for he grinned from ear to ear, and there was a sleepy quality to his smile.

“You served your people well in Cerushia,” said Argath as he laid the drinks and the bottle on the desk. “I’d like to drink with the man who helped cure, feed, and clothe so many of our brothers and sisters.”

He raised his glass and tapped it against Talon’s, causing a clean, piercing ring to issue forth. Talon drank and took a seat in the plush chair across from Argath—the same chair he had sat in while dealing with Captain McGillus.

“Captain,” said Talon. “I think that a direct war against the Vald will end in tragedy.”

The joviality and celebration left Argath’s face in an instant, not to be replaced by anger or indignation, but with sober consideration.

“Why do you say this? Has a vision come to you in the elven lands?”

Talon considered the captain, who sat before him, drunk on dwarven whiskey and elven magic. He thought for a moment to lie to the man, to tell him an outlandish tale about a dream, and perhaps even Thodin himself deeming him a prophet.

He shook away the notion, disappointed with himself for thinking such a thing.

“It was not so much premonition as it was consideration. We’ve got what, a dozen or so well-trained gladiators between the two ships. The others might have eaten well in Cerushia, but they are still starved Skomm who never fought for themselves. We know nothing of war, not to mention how to protect tens of thousands of Skomm who are surrounded on all sides by giants bred to kill.”

“I’ll not hear any words that might discourage me from my course,” said Argath, easily dismissing Talon’s warnings as he poured another drink.

“How will we train them all? And even if we have years, they will still be no match for the Vald.”

“Since when have you lost the nerve for battle?” Argath asked.

“I’ve not lost my nerve. But we cannot win this fight going head to head with the Vald. We have to use
our heads if we are to defeat them.” Talon thought of Crag then, and the big man’s words of wisdom. “There is always another way.”

Argath considered his words and tipped back his glass. Talon ignored his.

“Then what, tell the gods, is this other way you speak of?”

Talon opened his mouth to speak, but found that he hadn’t really thought of another way, he just knew there was one. But of course, he didn’t tell the captain that.

“We need to be smart. We need to play off the Valds’ weakness.”

“They have a weakness?”

“Yes, of course,” said Talon, growing excited. “They’re overly superstitious and superficial. They take everything at face value.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, just think about why we’re here, why we’re Skomm; they have placed ridiculous and often times untrue and unfair restrictions on who they think is strong and who they think is weak. They see someone lame, they immediately discard them, never knowing what that person has endured, or the struggles they’ve had to face. And they believe in the gods, which obviously means—”

“You don’t believe in the gods?” Argath asked, raising his head to glance down upon Talon.

Talon gave a small snort of a laugh. “Am I to believe in Thodin, who presumably wanted me to never be born, who unleashed a hurricane upon Volnoss to be rid of me…but failed! Am I to believe in a god who supposedly dictated those many centuries ago to discard the weak and small of stature and make them his slaves?”

He shook his head.

“If that is what you call a god, then I would rather be godless.”

Argath considered Talon with a wild light in his eyes. He was not angered by Talon’s words, but rather saddened. It wasn’t uncommon for the Skomm to renounce the Vald gods.

“Did you ever believe?” Argath asked, sipping his drink slower now.

“Maybe, when I was younger. But with that belief came self-loathing. But as I said before, I think that the Vald beliefs can be used against them.”

“Go on.”

“Well, consider Chief. Many of the Skomm already believe that I have been chosen by the spirit animal of Timber Wolf Tribe. And we can use that to our advantage. As much as I hate to deceive the people, it is the safest way to set them free.”

“You mean to convince the crew and the freed slaves that you are indeed chosen, that you have been sent by Thodin to even the scales?” said Argath, intrigued, if not slightly crestfallen—Talon realized quickly that he had been a believer.

“Yes, but not only them, the other Skomm as well. We do not have to wet the ground with blood to achieve our revolution. It will take only one Skomm, defeating one Vald, to turn the tide in our struggle.”

“You mean to defeat Chiefson Winterthorn.”

“Yes. It is the only way. With Kyrr I believe that I can defeat Fylkin, and with Chief there as well, I can solidify my claim as Thodin’s prophet. Then the Vald will have to go along with my doctrine, else challenge me. They will have no choice.”

“And in doing so, you prevent mass casualties, but also the true revolution,” said Argath.

“Look,” said Talon. “I know that you want nothing more than to kill them all. To take over Volnoss and exterminate the Vald, but that is the kind of thinking that will turn you
into
a Vald. There is always another way…a better way.”

Argath looked to Talon with newfound understanding. His face and body relaxed, and he drank the remainder of his liquor.

“I like your plan, and think it perhaps the wiser route, but the problem remains; how do we get the Skomm off the island, and after that, where do we go?”

That was the big riddle, one for which Talon had no answer. He told Argath as much, and together the two began thinking of a way.

“Well…let us start at the beginning,” said Argath, filling their glasses anew. “By many estimates there are over twenty thousand Skomm on Volnoss. A ship such as Freedom can carry perhaps five hundred. Packed to the rafters, mind you. That would require a fleet of forty ships as big as this one to ferry us to our yet unknown location.”

Talon tried not to show his discouragement at the grand estimation and hid his face with the glass.

“Perhaps the elves will help us, or Shierdon,” he found himself saying.

“Perhaps,” said Argath. “You spent more time with the queen than I. Can you speak for them on such a matter?”

“I think that if we outright asked them beforehand, the answer would be no,” said Talon.

Argath’s hope withered, and he poured another drink.

“But,” said Talon, “if we went to them saying that we desperately needed them to help us evacuate, I believe that they would be helpless to offer support. They are good people, if only jaded by scholarly dogma that preaches caution and non-intervention.”

“Alright, say your plan works out and they bring the fleet at the opportune moment, and we all sail into the sunset. The question remains…where will we go?”

Talon considered the question, and the only answer that sprouted into his mind was Shierdon. But the city of Del Harred could not hold that many refugees, and he did not want his people to have to split up to make ends meet. He wanted a unified nation. A land of their own, as he had promised Zerafin would happen.

“We will find a land of our own,” said Talon. “I do not ask for much, but on this I ask that you believe me…I will find us a place of our own.”

Argath considered him over the rim of his glass. “I believe like your amma believes,” he said finally. “I believe that you will do great things in your lifetime. And this is one of them. You find us a place to live, and I’ll support you in your scheme. But know this; the moment the plan goes awry, we fight. And we fight until the bitter end.”

“Agreed,” said Talon, and together they toasted.