Fate Rides Wicked: Volume I of the Lerilon Trilogy (32 page)

At the gates, the sun nearing zenith, a window next to
the gate slid open and a heavily armored soldier held up a
feather pen. “What is your business friends?”

“An expedition from the Army of Li wishes an
audience with the king,” answered Tych.

“That can be done.” The soldier lifted up a tablet and
began writing. “By what method and from what direction
did you come here?”

“By horse from Unlo on the Efre North-South
Highway.”

The soldier looked up at them with a laughing eye.
“No.”

This was all he said and seemed to wait for a different
answer. Sir Xalt made his way to the front. “We tell the
truth. A knight cannot lie.”

The soldier seemed to be unsure how to react, then
shrugged and said, “Not that important.” He wrote for a
moment and picked up a second tablet. “We can fit you in
tomorrow afterzenith.”

Aquendar began to object but Tych held up his hand.
“Fine. We’ll find an inn and be back then. Good day, sir.”

Lendril objected as soon as they left the hearing range
of the guard. “How can we afford to wait another day?”

“As our current pace we’ll be back in Polentair before
the winter starts by at least two weeks. One day for
diplomatic concession will not be terrible.” The others
seemed to agree with this so they dropped the question.

A few blocks down they came to the Green Dragon Inn,
a wooden carving of the extinct lizard mounted over the
door. Tych indicated the others should wait and went
inside. A few minutes later he came out leading a young
boy. “They have enough lodging for us. This young man
will stable the horses, but remove all your belongings.”

In a few moments the expedition entered a smoky
foyer. Torches lined each side of the hall to a set of stairs
going up and to the back wall of the inn. The innkeeper, a
man of average height but light as a feather, greeted them
and led them up the stairs to another hall. The passage took
a left turn and to another set of stairs. At the top of these,
he pointed to the four doors on the left and left without
saying a word.

Tych called after him, “We need at least ten beds.”

“The room around the corner is also yours, two beds in
each room. Dinner is in three hours,” said the man with a
grunt and without turning around.

They split up into the five rooms and came together in
the hallway, five of them with keys in their hands. They
locked the doors and turned their attention to Tych. “Feel
free to wander the city. Just don’t get arrested or lost. Be
back here for the dinner.” The expedition marched down
the stairs to the ground floor.

The neftir, hiftnuvin, Aquendar and Ofeldar entered the
bar/dining room. The rest left the inn and split up. Nandel
joined Tych, Lendril, Findra, Buynar and Xalt. The rest
split up into two other groups in search of shops and
entertainment.

Tych’s gang turned towards the main square. Upon
arrival, they ran into a dozen or so drunken sailors partying
their way towards the castle. A skirmish almost erupted as
they got in each other’s way but Tych quickly diffused it by
crossing the street just in front of a wagon.

Past this trouble, the smell of food and people accosted
their nostrils. In the heat of the day, the food cooked and
rotted in the sun. Only the breeze from the ocean made it
less than deadly. For about an hour they passed by the
various stands, not seeing anything worth weighing down a
horse. Soon they came around to the street up to the castle
again and made their way back to the inn, hoping for some
conversation with the others there.

When Tych and his group were within two buildings of
the inn, a figure came crashing through the wood and glass
of the front window, back first, arms and legs trailing.
Shards lay everywhere and as the others ran to see what
happened, they saw Reichet standing up. He shouted in
triumph, a strange action considering his flight.

Tych and Lendril charged into the inn ahead of the
others, almost running into a patron running for the city
guard. Reichet tried to push past them, saying, “Let me
back at those lugs. I’ll show them to mess with me!”

Tych, however, would have nothing to do with it and
jerked Reichet up against the wall. “Leave it be. I’ll end it.
We are guests here. Sir Xalt and Buynar, see that he stays
here.”

The wizard/warrior and Lendril entered the dining
room. The drunken sailors had the others at a slight
disadvantage, though Aquendar and Tendelbro had two or
three unconscious at their feet. Quickly taking stock in the
situation, Tych noticed one of the sailors about to plunge a
dagger into the neck of Vilmar. With a wave of his hand,
the endaril sent the attacking sailor flying into the wall,
knocking him out. Vilmar scrambled over to Tych’s group.

The prince waved his hand again, this time towards the
ceiling. All the weapons flew up and embedded themselves
in the wood. Totally bewildered and barely able to think to
begin with, the sailors stumbled back before the unusual
foes in the doorway. Tych stepped between his men and
the ship’s crew.

“What is going on here?” he asked the sailors.

One of the larger ones, a scruffy beard on his face,
answered, “They brought in child...ren to the...bar. That is
not allowed.”

Tych smiled and a look of rage began to spread across
the sailors’ faces. He, however, had a weapon and they
didn’t. “These are hiftnuvin, not human. And, each is
twice as old as any of you. Now I suggest you be on your
way before I send you on your way more harshly.”

They hesitated, confused and wavering, the blows from
earlier taking their toll. Finally, one of them spit out, “NO!
Why should we believe you?”

“Here’s the other option,” said Tych, as he hauled off
and with magically assisted strength sent one of the sailors
flying out through Reichet’s hole in the window. Before
the other sailors could act, two more joined him in the
street. The four remaining bent over and picked up their
unconscious mates and dragged them out of the inn as the
city guard arrived.

The sailors attempted to lay the blame on Tych, but the
endaril had followed them out and interrupted with
laughter. “These cretins tried to kill the royalty of another
race in my group. I feel the innkeeper will back this up.”

The innkeeper came out right behind the prince and
nodded. “The sailors challenged the right of my paying
customers to drink here. This man showed some unusual
talents in throwing them out, however, though I will give
him credit for not drawing a weapon.”

The captain of the guard turned to his men and said,
“See that this group gets back to their ship and attach a
detail to see that they stay there. I’ll talk with the other
patrons to see what happened.”

A dozen soldiers pushed the sailors down the street
while the captain followed the innkeeper and Tych. During
the half hour of questioning, the rest of the expedition
arrived and Tych sent them upstairs to be out of the way.
The stories of the patrons supported the belligerence of the
sailors and the captain went on his way, apologizing to the
endarils for the inconvenience.

Tych turned to the innkeeper and said, loud enough so
that everybody could hear, “Here’s money to repair the
damage,” and handed the human three gold pieces, more
than enough. They pulled their weapons out of the ceiling
and gave the sailors’ to the innkeeper, putting away their
own.

The expedition waited patiently in Tych’s room until he
returned. The Prince of the Endarils took a deep breath and
entered, ready to be commanding. Instead, he sat down on
a chair near the door and said, “Any suggestions?” He let
the tone of his voice show his frustration with the whole
situation.

Blard started to say something inappropriate but Nandel
interrupted, saying, “I thought you handled it very well.
Whether in a liberal or harsh kingdom, all human males
seem to respect strength. You showed you wouldn’t back
down, yet nobody came out of it injured.”

Before Aquendar could begin his sentence, Tych turned
to Quez and asked, “Your people are intimately tied in with
what happens to this kingdom, Quez. What is your
estimation of the king’s response to today’s events?”

“I have to agree with Nandel. We originally convinced
the former king to form a partnership with us by a show of
resolve. He tested us by making all sorts of demands
joined with bribes and other trickery. We would have none
of that. Those that honor the law here succeed. You broke
no laws and kept the sailors from breaking any.”

“Very well. We’ll assemble for dinner in an hour.
Leave your weapons here. I’ll use my mental powers to
defuse any trouble. Understood?”

Aquendar stood up, a little bit enraged. “Now, wait a
minute! When did you start commanding again?!”

Tych stood. “When sailors who could barely stand took
you to task enough to trash an inn!” Tych’s fury increased.
“Must you all be so easy to insult? You jeopardized the
expedition’s goals when you could have said, ‘We’ll be
leaving,’ and been done with it. I’m not taking over
completely, but the danger of losing the support of the
navies of this country, which happen to be important to my
strategy, demanded that I take control of the situation!”

Aquendar had calmed down. “I request permission to
go find out the word on the streets.”

Tych said, calmly, “Permission granted.”

The rest of the expedition followed Aquendar out until
only Tych, Lendril, Findra and Andri remained, the
residents of this room for the night. They discussed options
for getting out of town quickly while the hour passed.
Aquendar came back bearing good news and they changed
their conversation to lighter topics, discussing the different
sports played by the two races, and the time went quickly.

A rapping on the door woke the mountain-dwelling
neftir early the next morning. Tendelbro rolled out of bed,
picked up his axe and requested the identity of the visitor.
Tych responded and the neftiran commander let him in.

Wiltev, Rendind and Worlef sat up as Tendelbro asked,
“What brings you here so early, Tych?”

“I placed you four in this room for a reason. I’m
sending you on a special mission. Get dressed
immediately, we have to act quickly and you must be gone
before the sun comes up. Here’s what I want you to do...”

Wiltev pulled them up just outside the city. They had
reached the top of the hill they rode in on, but this time on
foot. The black of night had turned grey and they knew
their time shrank with each passing moment. “Hold up,”
said the human soldier. “I think I hear riders.”

Rendind, the hiftnuvin commander, nodded. “You do,
but they are still a little ways off. Close to thirty of them.”

The human said, “Let’s move forward a little bit more.”

They walked until the hoof beats sounded close then
stopped and stood in the middle of the road. The riders
came on at top speed, but slowed to a stop in front of the
four. All of them wore hooded cloaks, leather armor and a
sword at the waist. The color of their steeds matched new
snow. The leader asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

“Our lord wishes to speak with you before you go to the
castle,” answered Wiltev.

“Come closer so I can see you. One of you looks like a
mere child.”

As they came closer, Rendind laughed out loud.
“Closer to fifty actually, but probably much younger than
you, fine warrior.”

The thrandril warrior threw off his hood and jumped off
his horse. “Rendind!” he shouted. “It’s been almost
twenty years since I came to the island to train your
soldiers. It’s good to see you.” He paused, his face
twisting as if trying to remember something on the tip of
his tongue. “Then, your lord would be Prince Tych di Corl
of the endarils. Yes, we will ride to him first.”

“You will find him in the Green Dragon Inn. He’s in
the first room on the left on the third floor. You mustn’t let
the city guards think you’re the group from Greenhaven, so
four of you must dismount and walk into the city as normal
travelers. Us four will don cloaks and join this group and
ride in one hour from now. The others will ride in the
middle and I will take the lead. Acceptable?” Worlef’s
tone indicated it had to be.

The thrandril picked three men and they removed their
cloaks, giving them to the expedition members. “Once we
get there, how will we rejoin the group for our audience?”

“We will stop at the Green Dragon and all of us will
enter. The four of us will leave these cloaks hanging and
make no protest when you walk out with them. Leave any
explaining that has to be done to Tych. After talking with
you, he will bring you down to the dining area, which we
will enter when we arrive.”

“We had best get going. To your health, servants of
Li.” The leader and his companions began the short walk
to the city. Worlef, Wiltev, Rendind and Tendelbro put the
cloaks over their leather armor and swords and climbed
into the saddles of the empty horses. After some shuffling,
they moved off the road to wait for the sun to come up.

The sleepy guards at the gate mistook the thrandrils for
the four that had left earlier and let them in without
question. The leader knew the location of the Green
Dragon from passing by it on the way to the castle on his
last visit. A few minutes before the sun broke the horizon,
they arrived at Tych’s room and knocked.

The endaril let them in and said, “Commander Entil,
thank you for changing your course for me. Let me begin
right away on why I brought you here first.

“I am building an army from every kingdom of every
race and disposition. This kingdom, however, has
something special: the best navy on the continent of Li.
Therefore, if there is any kingdom I won’t be able to recruit
it can’t be this one.