Once We Were Kings (Young Adult Fantasy) (The Sojourner Saga) (27 page)

Then came the sound of a muffled explosion.  And a sudden cooling of the air.  Render lowered his arms, forgetting any shame, and blinked.  The stone door had materialized again.  He struggled to catch his breath.  "Whoever...whatever that is in there, it must have killed the Elders."

// I HAD NOT ANTICIPATED THIS.  WHAT SHALL WE DO? //

"I don't know, I've been following you.  You're supposed to know!"  How could she be so uncertain? 

But it was a futile debate.

From the inner courtyard, at the center of the building, more fireballs launched out and arched down towards them.  The eagle's shriek resounded over their heads.

This time, there was no escape.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

The only warning came from the fiery projectiles, but even those were not enough to prepare Render for what happened next.  So quickly had the eagle swept down upon them that he could not warn Greifer.

The bird fell upon her, knocking her to the ground, her paws making a heavy thud.

Render leapt forward.  But before he could reach her, two projectiles struck him simultaneously.  One in the belly and one in the head.  He fell to the ground, his newly acquired sword clanging onto the cobblestone.

His shirt had been singed, his head a bit burned as if by standing in the sun too long.  But he was still alive.

From the ground he could only see and hear Greifer shuffling about and snarling.  When he looked up, he marveled at how she had overcome the eagle's clutches and had sunk her fangs into its neck.

"Get up!"  Someone said, apparently a second assailant standing above him.  Young but fierce, she spoke in a strange accent.  Furtively, he reached for and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the sword.  Then he leapt up, and to his amazement, flew well over the trees, and landed a short distance from his attacker.

An exotic young lady, who stood poised to strike. 

From her open palms, a circle of white flames smoldered at her fingers.  Raven hair fell half over her face.  Her chest rose and fell, anger seething in her large, almond-shaped eyes.  Somehow, he felt captivated by her.   But then she let out a shout and hurled another fireball at him.

Barely reacting in time, he ducked.  The fireball screamed over his head and struck a tree trunk, splitting it into two.  The burning halves hung limp as they disintegrated into ashes.  Greifer's struggle and the brown-eyed beauty—every bit as mysterious as she was dangerous—vied for Render's attention.

Now, the girl, whom he surmised was Tianese—for the Tianese, he'd been told, were darker of skin and peculiar in an alluring way—approached him in a threatening posture.

Render raised his sword.  To his surprise, it crackled and glowed with energy.  "Who are you?"

"Murderous barbarian!"  She hurled another fireball at him, this time aimed straight at his face.  Render swung the lightning-charged sword and deflected it.  Her entire body began to glow.  Hot red, then blue. 

Then white.

"I should have known it was a Torian swine!"  She stretched out both hands and shot a line of fire onto the ground.   The flames circled around him and rose up as a wall, entrapping him.

Apparently, she knew not the extent of his abilities.  Render smirked and leapt straight up out of the blazing snare.

Only to meet her fist.

The blow to his jaw surprised him almost as much as her deadly beauty and strength.  Dropping his sword, he hit the ground with such force that he slid across the ground, stopping between Greifer and the eagle.  Still fighting, the giant bird's talons flew straight down at his face.

He rolled out of the way, but could not escape without incurring a gash in the ear by the bird's razor claws.  He gasped in pain.  With his eyes shut, began breathing rapidly. 

And then stopped. 

His vision blurred.  A burning sensation gripped his throat, cutting off his breath.  All he could see was the white hot figure of the Tianese girl standing above her.  Pushing down on his throat with force.

Greifer growled and snapped her jaws.  The bird let out a shrill cry.  Not far from his bleeding ear, claws and talons scraped on the ground seeking purchase.  The sounds of struggle began to fade.  Nothing stood in his vision but the blazing white before him. 

Even that faded.

Weakly, he reached out clutching for his sword.  She pinned his wrist down as well.  Searing pain coursed through his entire body.  For a moment he heard that voice.  His own voice.  His doppelganger.  The curse.

// YOU CAN'T BEAR THE PAIN.  END YOUR SUFFERING BEFORE YOU ARE
BURNED
TO DEATH.   GIVE IN, COWARD!  DIE QUICKLY!  //

CHAPTER SIXTY

// DIE...//

That ghastly voice.  Most frightening to Render was that it was his own, only darker.  It echoed in his head, knew intimately his thoughts, his fears.  Knew just how to accuse him, reducing him to a frightened child. 

// DIE!//

No!  Render struggled to speak.  But the Tianese fighter's hand clutched and pressed down on his throat with even more force.  It felt as though his eyes, his blood, his innards were boiling.  Was this how she had murdered the Elders in the Assembly, burning them from the inside?  Then Greifer's words came to him:  Even His name hath power...

The Tianese continued to send searing heat into his body.  He could not die here, not when he had come so close to meeting his destiny.

// DESTINY?  THEY ARE ALL DEAD! 
THAT
IS YOUR DESTINY //

Even his name...

And then, from deep within, it emerged.  Flooded Render's thoughts.  The words formed.  And a tingling surge enveloped him.  The ground trembled and the rolling of thunder filled the sky. 

Stop.

Stop!

"In the name of Valhandra!"

A blast of pale blue light.

A roaring crash.

As if swatted away like a gnat, Render's attacker flew off of him.  For a moment, a blinding wash of light and floating sparks flooded his vision.

He rubbed his eyes and blinked.

All fell silent.

When everything cleared, he found the girl lying on her back, stunned and moaning.  Her hair bloomed outwards, smoke rising from her clothes.  Render got up and grabbed the sword.  Before she could arise, he pressed the tip against her throat.  "Be still, treacherous assassin."

She gasped and hissed and spoke through clenched teeth.  "Blasphemer of His name!  You killed them!" 

"I've killed no one..." 

She tried to lift her hands, but Render pressed the sword in ever so slightly. 

"...yet."

Rising to her feet—human feet—Greifer brushed the long black hair out of her face and gazed with amazement down at the ground.  The giant bird of prey was gone, but in its place... "Wait, both of you!" Greifer shouted.  "Strive no further."

At her feet, an old Tianese man, perhaps this girl's grandfather, sat, rubbing his bald head, his eyes wide and staring up at Greifer.  "Is it...?"

Her mouth fell open.  An incredulous smirk stretched across her face.   "Lao-Ying?"  She reached down and helped him to his feet.

"So it is you, Greifer!"  They were holding each other's arms now.  "I cannot believe this.  We had all thought you'd—"  He turned to Render and then back to her.  "Is that him?"

Greifer nodded.  "Render.  Pray release the girl.  Methinks a grave misunderstanding hath occurred."

The girl turned her eyes to the old man.  "What's the meaning of this, Lao-Ying?"

"They are not our enemies," he said.  "We share a common cause."

"But they killed—"

"No, Ahndien."  The old man sighed.  "That is not possible."

Render withdrew the sword and offered a hand.  "As I said, we killed no one."

She glared at his hand as though it were a fetid piece of carrion, then by her own efforts stood up.  "Nor did we."  Like the final flames of a log, flickering and refusing to die, the anger in her eyes continued to burn.

Until a sudden noise alerted the four of them.  Each whirled to the trail, ready to strike.

"No, wait!"  Branson cowered and shielded his face.  When they realized it was only the boy, the lowered their hands and weapons.

"Oh, it's you," Render sighed.  The incessant coward had a way of popping up like a weed at the most inopportune moments.

"I say!  What goes?"  The boy looked simultaneously apprehensive and annoyed.  "That cat—that is to say—that panther, and that enormous bird.  How did they all do that?

A short interval of silence.

Then the four carried on as if Branson had never appeared.  Ignoring him, they gathered together and told the stories of their respective journeys to the now defunct Sojourner's Council.  Render marveled at how this frail man could transform into that formidable bird of prey.  And that Ahndien had ridden him as an archer rides a horse.

As Lao-Ying spoke of the moment he and the girl had arrived, Ahndien, who heretofore had seemed to possess a heart of granite, began to weep.  Bitterly, she sobbed and shook her head.   Render turned to Greifer and the old man.

"Xing Bai Juang, the fifth and newest elder, who was murdered with the rest of them, whose sword you hold..."  Lao-Ying pointed to it.  "He was Ahndien's father."

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

“But how do you know this was your father's sword?" Render stood guarded, but his heart softened when he saw this lethal and altogether beautiful girl weep.  Nevertheless, the fact that she had nearly incinerated him encumbered the fullness of his compassion.

Ahndien reached for the sword at her side.   It rang out as she unsheathed it.  Out of instinct, Render stepped back and swung forward the sword in his hand.  Almost quicker than he could see, Ahndien slashed at him and their blades clashed, making an otherworldly, almost musical sound.

"Behold the chord struck." Greifer pointed to the symbols carved into the blades of both swords.  Behold the markings.  They bear an uncanny resemblance."

"Like those."  Render pointed to the ones she had touched to open the portal to the Assembly Hall.

Lao-Ying nodded and regarded him gravely.  "They are of the Ancient Sojourner lexicon."

"Can you read it?"

The old man gazed at the writing and read as though reciting.  

First, Render's sword: "Two weapons of war..." 

Then Ahndien's: "...One instrument of peace."

The last symbol of the phrase on Render's blade looked identical to the first on Ahndien's.  He pointed to them.   "What does this say?"

"It means: United."

Two weapons of war—UNITED—One instrument of peace.

With a grunt, Ahndien threw her sword down.  It stuck a rock on the ground sending sparks into the air.  "If they didn't kill them, then who did?" she shouted.

At that moment, a frightened but very determined Branson stepped forward.  "Killed?"

"Who is this child?" Lao-Ying said, asking aloud what everyone else seemed to be thinking.  Render explained as much as he could before growing weary of Branson's terse and haughty interruptions and corrections.  But then the boy said something that drew an unexpected reaction from both Lao-Ying and Greifer.

Lao-Ying cleared his throat with a raspy cough.  "Agon?  The Lord Agon, son of Refalla, son of Lusera?"

"Yes, yes.  It's all public knowledge.   Why should this surprise you so?"

"Was not his coat of arms the Red Gryphon?" Greifer said.  Branson stepped forward and lifted his closed fist.  On his finger, he wore a signet ring.  Render leaned forward and saw the icon.  A winged lion, with the head of an eagle.

Lao-Ying and Greifer regarded each other with unspoken understanding.  "Yes, I did see it," the elderly man said.

"Alas, Agon."  Greifer lowered her head. 

"What are you all blathering about?"  Branson pushed forward and rushed to the portal.  He began to slap the etched markings on the doorframe, “He's in there, isn't he?"

Neither of them replied.

"Take me to him, now!"  Now with both fists clenched tight, he pounded on the stone door.  His voice broke into a shrill cry.  "Right now!  Right now!"

As always, demanding, condescending.  Render had just about had his fill with this child, spoilt by indulgence and privilege.  "Oh, do shut up, you petulant little beast!"

But Branson only buried his face in his hands and leaned his head against the wall.  For the first time, in all the time Render had known him, Branson wept.

"You're as callous are you are obtuse!"  Ahndien hissed at Render, as she brushed past him and bumped his shoulder.  She went over to Branson and put a consoling arm around him.  Her words were hushed, but her demeanor soft, compassionate.

Soon, Greifer and Lao-Ying gathered around the boy and they spoke so quietly that Render could not discern a word.  After a brief exchange, Greifer opened the door once again and Branson along with his entourage walked in.

"That's just wonderful."  Render heaved a sigh and followed behind them, hoping whatever it was that had so engrossed them with Branson's outburst would eclipse all else.  Before he reached the end of the hall, which opened to the courtyard where all the fallen Sojourner Council members lay dead, Render heard Branson let out another cry.

"No!  Father, no!"  And the weeping resumed.  At the entrance to the courtyard.  Greifer took the boy who wept into her embrace.  Ahndien stared away, angry tears rolling down her face.

It seemed the only person willing or able to speak with Render was that old eagle-man.  He was crouched down with his hands upon the heads of two fallen Elders, his eyes solemnly shut.

"What has happened?" Render asked, with quiet humility.  In response to his presence, Ahndien whipped around, trudged away from him and sat upon a stone bench with clenched fists.

Lao-Ying opened his eyes and stood.  "We arrived shortly before you, Ahndien and I, expecting to seek counsel from the Assembly.  Her father had been taken prisoner by...we are not even certain who it was that took him after the raid on their village.  The last thing we expected to find was her father dead, along with all the Elders here."