The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 02 - The Gathering (37 page)

“I don’t
understand."

“Me either. He
used to say that it helped him in the good times to be prepared for the bad,
and it reminded him that dark days always come to an end,” Anders exclaimed,
reciting his father’s words as he returned to his search. “He told me when we set
out that he didn’t take it with him, but to return for it if anything happened
to him.”

A moment later
Anders crowed in exultation. “Found it!”

Gaze moved to
stand beside him and read what was on the inside of the plain silver ring. In
clear flowing script were the words ‘
Remember the end.’
The phrase
resounded in Gaze’s mind for several seconds as he considered their meaning. As
understanding dawned on him of how the expression must have helped the king, and
he realized how many conversations he’d had with the old man where this ring
must have influenced his advice.

A low chuckle
came from Anders and he turned to see the prince with the first true smile he’d
seen since they’d been in the courtyard four weeks and forever ago. “Now are
you ready to go?”

Gaze flashed a
grin. “Let’s go.”

Their errand
completed, they hurried to exit the castle and get out of the city before the
army arrived. Stopping to swap their filthy clothes for clean garments and
refill their packs with scraps left in the storerooms, they exited the deserted
castle and walked into the hazy morning sun . . .

Gaze stopped cold
as he came through the gate and saw what waited for them. In a perfect semi-circle
around the main gate, twelve hulking Krakas stood like statues of impending
death. Although he’d seen one in the darkness, this was the first time he’d
looked at one during the day.

Each one stood
at least ten feet tall, and their heavy obsidian swords dragging behind them
were almost as big. On the outside of their black skin, white bone grew like
armor plating. Although there were several gaps, he doubted anyone could get
close enough to slip a blade through—or if it would even slow the massive
creature. His gaze crawling up their goliath forms, Gaze saw that the krakas
skulls were a sinister combination of bone, black skin, and red eyes. As still
as death, Gaze knew they moved far quicker than seemed logical, and that they could
close the gap in less than three seconds. His heart caved as he recognized
there was no way out of the ring.

They were
dead.

Anders whispered
something, too quiet for him to hear but he didn’t dare turn his head. “What?”
he hissed.

“They were
sent to kill us,” Anders said in a low voice.

“Why?” Gaze asked,
fighting to quell the panic bubbling inside him. “And why aren’t they
attacking? I have never seen them not attack.”

“They are staring
at you Gaze.” Anders said.

Gaze blanched
as he saw that his friend's words were true. Every single Kraka was looking at
him. “So why aren’t they charging?” Gaze demanded, his desperation cracking his
composure.

“These were
sent to keep us here.” Anders said, understanding coloring his voice. “We have
slipped through their fingers too many times, and I don’t think they want it to
happen again. Any chance you can strike them all at the same time?”

“Are you
crazy?” Gaze said. “It was hard enough to take one down, let alone twelve!”

“So what do
you—” Anders started to ask but then the Krakas shifted, leaving a small gap in
their center. Before Gaze could say anything, the most vile thing he had ever
seen filled the opening. Shorter than a human, the fiend looked vaguely like a dwarf.
Dry gray skin hung on a skeletal frame, giving the impression that the thing
hadn’t eaten in an eternity. Emaciated beyond the point of death, its stomach
sunk almost to the backbone, and each rib pressed through the flesh of the bare
chest. It moved slowly, as if it lacked the strength to walk, but a moment
later Gaze forgot all about his horror when the thing raised its arm.

Unimaginable
pain arced through Gaze’s body, and he doubled over, gasping for breath. His
stomach seized in the worst hunger he’d ever experienced and his whole body convulsed
at the demand. Involuntarily he clawed for his fallen pack and fumbled for the
food they had gathered, but the moment he pulled it into view he saw it molding
and wasting away.

He screamed as
the craving to fill his stomach arched his back, causing him to fall to his
knees and clasp his stomach with both hands. Images of bread, cheese, fruit and
every other edible food flashed through his mind, amplifying the craving to the
point of madness. Looking down he was astonished to see his stomach begin to
shrink, and for that brief second, despair engulfed him . . .

Then the
hunger stopped short, leaving a dull ache that left him in an agony of want.
Blinking at the sunlight, he fought to raise his head to see why. Forty feet
away he saw the wretched fiend that had caused his hunger, and he squinted to
see what looked different. As his vision cleared, he spotted something that
made his eyes widen. An arrow now protruded from the creature's thin arm, but
before he could focus enough to puzzle out where the arrow came from, the krakas
surrounded the fiend as arrows began to rain down on them.

An arm grabbed
his, hauling him to his feet and yanking him back inside the castle. Bleary
eyed and fighting the urge to gag he turned to see an armored elf dragging him
half stumbling away from the giant krakas. A few feet away another elf had
already succeeded in getting Anders inside the portcullis, and he shut the iron
barricade just before a kraka thundered into it.

The clash of
bone and steel caused the gate to shudder but it held—just. Its metal bars now
bent, Gaze doubted the barrier would hold against more than a few more
attempts.

“Get them to
the ladder,” his rescuer ordered with a light voice.

An elf maid
?

He tried to
ask a question but couldn't get the words out. His throat was so dry his
question came out as a cough. Ignoring him, the two elves shouldered their burdens
and hurried to the north wall. Gratefully, Gaze began to feel his strength returning
as they rounded the northwest corner of the castle. Sixty feet away Gaze
spotted a ladder leaning against the courtyard wall, and the elves hastened for
it.

The wall ahead
of them exploded inward, the impact throwing battlement bricks like they were
pebbles and knocking them to the ground. Adrenaline spiked through Gaze's body,
and he somehow managed to get to his feet a split second after the elves. A
huge fiend captain now stood between them and the ladder to safety. Whirling
towards them, it bellowed its fury as the gap he'd created filled with Quare,
their angry challenges filling the air.

“Back!” the
elf captain yelled. “Inside the castle!”

Without
argument, all four of them hustled into the citadel, slamming the main doors a
heartbeat before they shuddered from a blow. The elf whirled, her gaze
piercing. “Is there another way out?” she demanded.

“No,” Gaze
said, at the same time Anders said, “Yes.”

Gaze stared at
him in surprise, but he winked at him and said, “The drain.”

Snorting, Gaze
spun and raced down a hall. “This way,” he called, sprinting when he heard the
doors shatter behind them.

The drain that
Anders had referred to was a large drainage pipe that led from the kitchens to
outside the castle. At some point when the prince was young, he had figured out
a way to loosen the bars that covered it so they still looked intact. For years
they had used it as a secret way of escaping the confines of the royal house
whenever they wished.

Racing past
the dining hall and into the kitchen, Gaze hurried to the corner and yanked the
bars off the hole. Sweeping his hand to the elf captain he said with a smile,
“Ladies first.”

She gave a
short bark of laughter, and then jerked her chin to the other elf, “Loken, you
first, make sure it’s clear on the other end. Then the prince and his friend. I'll
go last.”

Both Gaze and
Anders opened their mouths to protest but she gave them such a fierce glare
that their words died on their lips. Amongst snarling echoes of fiends
searching the castle, Loken slipped into the hole, followed by Anders. Just as
Gaze crouched to drop into the drain, two Quare leaped into the room, heading
straight for the elf captain.

Before Gaze
could even think to react, the elf darted forward. One of the fiends lunged for
her, but she side-stepped and struck it as it flew past her. Before the body
had even crashed to the floor she’d dispatched the other one. Returning to the
gate she demanded, “What’s the delay?”

He flushed as
he realized he was staring and dropped into the dark pipe. In the blink of an
eye, she followed him in, but still managed to replace the gate before several
other Quare entered the kitchen. “Go!” she whispered.

Turning, Gaze
hurried down the long tunnel. Reaching the end, he dived through the opening and
into a covered culvert. Three dead Quare bore testament to a short battle, but
no other fiends were in sight. Gaze breathed a sigh of relief as the agile elf materialized
through the opening behind him.

“Who
are
you?” Anders asked before Gaze could.

She didn’t
answer until she had checked the perimeter and received a nod of assurance from
Loken. Satisfied, she turned to face them, “I am Lexi, Captain of the guard of
Lareith. It’s a small village in Numenessee. We heard about you trying to slow
them down and thought we would join you.”

“You were
sent? Or volunteered?” Anders asked, his eyebrows pulling together.

“We came on
our own.” Lexi said, her eyes going hard. “When the order to gather came, we
felt this was where we were supposed to be.”

“So how did
you find us?” Gaze asked.

“We saw you
enter the city, but we were too far away to catch up. By the time we got here,
we saw Famine and the contingent of Krakas setting the trap for you.” She flashed
a dazzling grin and added, “We discretely surrounded them.”

“Is that what
that thing is called, Famine?” Gaze asked, rubbing his stomach.

She nodded.
“His magic is the opposite of the kind farmers usually have. He spreads hunger,
a powerful draining spell.”

“So we are
lucky to be alive,” Gaze stated, and Lexi smirked.

“So what now?”
Anders asked.

Before Lexi
could respond, scratching and snarling echoed from the tunnel. Glancing towards
the dark opening, she said, “We’d better move. We have spare horses and the
rest of the Riverguard will have pulled back by now.”

She began to
move away but Anders raised a hand. “Hold on a second.” Then he looked at Gaze.
“Take down the tunnel, would you?”

Gaze nodded,
aware of the puzzled expression on Lexi’s face. Turning in the direction of the
tunnel, he raised a hand and clenched it into a fist. A bolt of lightning
streaked downward and struck the ground on top of the tunnel fifty feet away.
Muted cries of pain and a blast of air signaled the tunnel had collapsed and
Gaze turned back to Lexi with a satisfied expression.

Her thin
eyebrows were raised. “Lightning magic,” she said. “Impressive.”

Gaze shrugged,
a little abashed, but she didn’t seem to notice. With a jerk of her head she
said, “That won’t stop them for long. We need to get out of the city. They will
be flooding the streets by now, especially after one of my Riverguard injured
Famine.”

Anders took the
lead because he knew the city so well, but Loken followed close behind. As they
wound their way through the city, trying to avoid the increasing enemy patrols,
Gaze asked Lexi, “Who are the Riverguard? And what exactly is Famine?”

Her eyes touched
his before they went back to scanning doorways and alleys. After a moment she murmured,
“The Riverguard are the elven guard of Laraith. At some point, someone named
our village the guardians of the river, and our elven warriors are some of the
best. Famine is the name of one of the generals of Draeken.” She glanced at him,
her expression appraising. “The two of you must have been quite a thorn in
their side to merit a personal visit.”

Gaze felt his stomach
spasm at the memory of the magical attack. “I thought we were going to die,” he
said.

She threw a
sharp look at him, and he spotted a faint smile lighten her features. “He
appeared a few moments before we were in position. As it was, the only one
close enough to make the shot was a ranger, Arzai, and you had better thank him
for that later. He hit Famine from over three hundred paces, between
buildings.”

 “Sounds like
a great bowman. You said he was your ranger?”

“
One
of
our rangers, and he usually takes the lead,” she said with a curt nod. “A true
Riverguard, you will never see him unless he wants to be seen, and with his
longbow he is supreme.”

“Sounds like a
good guy to have around,” Gaze said, hushing his voice as he heard footsteps
nearby.

“He’s the best
of us,” she said candidly, but Loken grunted. She frowned at him but he didn’t
say anything so she added, “All of the Riverguard are good.”

“Let’s hope
they survive this war,” Gaze said.

“We’re nearly
to the horses,” Loken said, pulling up short. “But there looks to be some Quare
between us and the stables.

Lexi glided
past him and peeked over the wall they were hiding behind. She nodded to
herself and ducked back. Looking at Loken she said, “Go south until the shop
with the green shutters. Get to the roof and signal the others to draw them
south along the road.”

He accepted
the orders and disappeared back down the alley. A minute later Gaze heard an
owl hoot and a few other birds responded back. Then the unmistakable challenge
of an eagle pierced the air. Lexi flashed a fierce grin, “Good, Arzai is here
too.” She whistled in a brief series, and the eagle screamed back.