The Contention (15 page)

“You’re welcome,” Sara began. “I am sorry, though, for the price of your survival.”

“No matter the cost, I thank you,” Borrik replied in his deep feral voice. “I think I yet have much to do here.”

Sara nodded her understanding, and together they went to Seth’s side, waiting for him to regain consciousness. Daniella, after the shock of what she witnessed, began pacing and speaking to herself aloud once again. Borrik called off the search, as the assassin was no more. However, he posted his men all over the city and ordered them to watch not only for anything odd, but also for shadows that were out of place.

Chapter 8

 A Gruesome Gift and a Harbinger of Death

Seth opened his eyes to find himself laying in Sara’s lap with a ring of worried onlookers around them. Seth’s troops, along with the knight Jordin, watched anxiously, all of them feeling they had failed the pair of young royals. One man in the circle had wrought success for that failure, and seeing his master’s eyes open, Borrik separated himself from the crowd. It took the large beast of a man only a few strides to close the distance. Towering over his master, Borrik reached out and dropped something upon the ground with a thud. Seth, not understanding the gesture, up righted himself from Sara’s lap, and turned to see what it was that his most loyal servant had discarded. There upon the ground, lying upon its side, was the disembodied head of a man. It had not been severed or cut so much as ripped from its owner. Muscles and vertebra, along with blood vessels and flesh, still hung from the base of the head, a mass of mutilated gore. Though the object in his vision disgusted him no end, Seth looked up to the large gray beast of a man and smiled in understanding. Borrik had brought him the head of the man who had hurt Sara, and for that Seth swore to himself that his most loyal follower would be greatly rewarded. Ishanya had promised Borrik great power and an unnaturally long life through service to Seth, and the man had earned that much and more.

“Thank you Borrik,” Seth said and then turned to face his own personal angel in a life filled with demons. “You saved that which means the most to me in this life, and for that I am grateful.”

“Yes my prince,” Borrik replied simply.

“It seems to me that each day in my service you stray further from the path of a priest, and I am concerned that it is I who leads you astray,” Seth said, obviously thinking aloud. “I should like to hear your thoughts on this.”

“My prince…” Borrik began and then paused as if pondering the best way to approach the subject. “I fear there are no eloquent words with which to phrase my response, your majesty.”

“Then speak plainly, Borrik,” Seth replied.

“I have put the path of a priest behind me, my prince. I feel I am no longer a suitable man to claim such a position,” Borrik started. “The life of a warrior, a fighter and a killer seems much less complicated to me, and it shames me to say that I believe I have a natural talent for it. So if I would better serve you, Master Seth, by being a warrior than a priest, then that is what I choose.”

“I had hoped as much Borrik,” Seth admitted. “I do not trust Ishanya, though I must serve her. You, on the other hand, serve me, and by your own choice. You have been a loyal friend. You have been a wise teacher. You have….”

“Killed yourself to save us,” Sara added, cutting Seth’s speech short.

“That too,” Seth questioned more than stated, having not witnessed the deed. “For that, Borrik I am more than grateful. In fact I wish to reward you by making you into a warrior unlike any other upon Thurr, if you wish it.”

“Whatever you deem me worthy of, master. I will gladly accept and in return, as I have done already, I will continue to serve you even unto death,” Borrik replied, his feral voice becoming barely a whisper.

Seth watched as hundreds of fur-covered heads bobbed in agreement around him. Theirs was a loyal race of men. Seth thought it sad that in order to make them so, he had had to strip them of much of their humanity. Though he supposed every race had its flaws, he had thought as he grew up that somehow humans were superior to other races. As he experienced more of life, he was beginning to see that there was a lot about the world he did not yet understand. Even so, Seth had much more important things to do than sit here in the grass pondering the differences between the many races of man. The first of which was to give his men their orders as they were now prepared to carry them out.

“Borrik, send two hundred of your men west with orders to harass and impede the progress of King Sigrant’s army. I do not want them to openly attack. Have them ambush at night, burn supplies, kill horses and oxen, and break the wheels upon the carts in their supply lines. Slow down that army in any way that does not get them killed,” Seth commanded, pausing until Borrik nodded. “Also send as many men as you need to stand post between here and the enemy to relay messages from the front lines back here to me. Dispatch only as many as necessary for this, as you will be needing the remainder of your men here.”

Again Borrik nodded, and this time the majority of his troops turned and strode away leaving only a couple dozen men. Seth and Sara watched them go, though Borrik seemed not to notice. After the sounds of the many werewolves’ clawed toes upon the stone had faded, Seth rose to his feet and, turning, gave Sara his hand. With very little aid, Sara too came to her feet to stand beside her husband, each of them only an arm’s length from the massive leader of the werewolves. All three of them very nearly died this night, and all because they had felt safe here within the castle walls. Seth had to remind himself that this was not just a simple war between nations. This was an intricate game played out by the gods, and their reach was vast, including the whole of the world. No place on Thurr was a safe haven from those blessed by the gods, but Seth had a plan to even the odds a bit.

“Borrik, I want you to take your remaining troops outside the castle. Go wherever you see fit, though time is limited. Think of what attributes would make you a more efficient killer. Think of what abilities you could possess that would make you like a chosen champion of the gods. Then think of what animals in nature possess those abilities. Capture them, as many as you can. Bring them alive back here to the city,” Seth said, watching realization dawn on his most loyal servant. “Many think me a god, and every god has to have champions. It is time I create my own.”

Borrik did not respond. Instead he dropped to one knee, bowing his head low to the ground. Pausing only briefly, Borrik how the bite from Sara might affect him already, then stood once more, before turning. Then he and his remaining men fled into the night, a mass of nocturnal predators. Seth and Sara watched them until they passed through the gate into the city beyond before Sara stepped forward and turned to face her husband.

“As usual I have questions, my love,” Sara stated with a slight grin on her lips.

“As do I,” Seth replied. “You can go first though.”

“What did you mean by creating champions of your own?” Sara asked hesitantly.

“I have at my disposal fewer than three hundred soldiers,” Seth began. “They may be some of the most ferocious fighters upon Thurr, but against a single opponent blessed by a god this very night they were at a loss. Had the assassin wanted them dead, I would have had no troops left. I have two options then. I can imbue all of their weapons and armor, and through melding them each with other beasts make them all a bit stronger. This option will take substantial time and energy, and will still not make them equal to a blessed opponent. My other option is to take just one or two of them, and create out of them my very own champions with abilities unlike anything else Valdadore has to offer. What those abilities might be, well, we will just have to wait and see what Borrik brings back.”

“Is that even possible?” a voice from behind them asked. Both Seth and Sara had forgotten about Malik the knight, and Daniella the healer who now both approached.

“With my capabilities I believe it is, Lord Malik,” Seth answered honestly. “Yet even I am still learning the limitations of my abilities.”

With that Seth looked up towards the sky. Already the darkness was being washed away as the night was at its end.

“We need to be getting some rest, if you will excuse us,” Seth said to the healer and knight. “But please return again this evening so Sara can continue her training.”

“As you wish your majesty,” Malik answered for them both.

Without so much as a goodbye, Seth grabbed Sara’s hand and dragged her from the sparring field towards the mages’ tower. Sara waited until they had some distance between themselves and those they left behind before she spoke again.

“You said you had questions too,” Sara stated. “What is it you were thinking?”

“Do you know how I got to you on the sparring field so quickly?” Seth asked.

“No, my love,” she answered.

“Me either,” Seth replied. “At least not exactly. I teleported again somehow, yet had no control over it. It is something I really need to look into, yet I dare not experiment. Who knows where I might end up if I make a mistake?” Seth finished with a grin.

Both Seth and Sara reminisced about their last experience with teleportation the rest of the way to the mages’ tower. Once there, Seth let Sara go on ahead of him and up to the floor that was once their home. He on the other hand, had more duties to attend to. Fortunately these would be brief, as all he had to do as the acting head of the battle mages was given an order. It concerned an idea he had had when fighting with the black horde. He was now going to try it as a tactic for the upcoming battle. The mages would need armor instead of their robes to blend in with the rest of the army. To make armor the blacksmiths had to heat metal repeatedly while they shaped it, a process that would be made much faster if each had a mage who could produce and concentrate fire for him. Seth needed to speak to the mages and the blacksmiths.

Smiling to himself less than an hour later, Seth began to climb the huge spiral staircase up the many flights to the top of the tower. Believing himself a genius, Seth had solved two problems at once that would not only spare the lives of the mages but also speed production of the blacksmiths, and thereby save lives of those who got the armor they might not have otherwise. Reaching the topmost floor, Seth did not believe he could be more satisfied. However, that was before he saw Sara down the hall, clearly awaiting his arrival.

*****

Horace yanked hard on his mount’s reins, forcing the beast to veer to the left. Keeping his eyes on his previous path, off to his right, the Knight of Valdadore watched as three arrows lanced past him just a few feet away. One and a half seconds. That was generally the amount of time he had to react between receiving a premonition and it coming to reality. His was a blessing of two parts, and Horace had mastered the use of both many years ago. Not only could Horace see events that would adversely affect him a moment before they actually occurred, but he also was as strong as any two non-blessed men. Through the graces of his god, Gorandor, like all of the other knights, Horace aged a little slower than average as well, and though he was now over a hundred years old, he was a man who appeared to be in his mid-fifties.

Again Horace’s vision rippled, and again he veered his mount off course as another round of ballista sailed past. Hollow Lake was no more than another hour’s ride, but being pursued for an hour could feel like an eternity. With his long red hair trailing behind him in the wind, Horace turned in his saddle to see if he could determine who or what it was that wanted him dead. Personally the veteran knight would prefer to kill the pursuers now, rather than spend the next hour dodging arrows flung at his back from the darkness, but looking back he could see nothing. Whatever it was that chased him could either see much better than he in the darkness, or was invisible. Even with his premonition, the veteran knight of Valdadore dared not take a risk if he could avoid it. It was better to lure the pursuers to his fellow knights, where together he and his brothers could make easy work of them, whatever they were.

For another hour Horace rode, all the while being pursued and threatened with injury. Time after time a ripple in his vision would occur, and seeing himself about to be struck by his enemies shot, he would alter course slightly so that the arrows sailed past him. The nearer he got to the lake, the more complicated the ride became. His pursuers were getting smarter as multiple shots were fired within a fraction of a second not only at him but to either side as well. These became increasingly difficult to dodge, but time and again Horace managed the feat, if only barely. Horace was not only fleeing his pursuers and dodging their attacks, but he was also learning. The most shots fired at him in a wave were five, leading him to believe that there were multiple attackers on his tail. Luckily for Horace it would only be a few more moments before he could find out for sure.

*****

Garret stood, a giant of gleaming metal, inside a huge trench that was nearly as deep as he was tall. Being below the surface of the soil, even with all of his fellows digging like there was no tomorrow, an odd, out-of-place sound seemed to reverberate off the walls of the trench. It started as a mute buzzing, but as the minutes passed it became louder and a rhythm was established where before it had all blurred together. A few moments later the sound was not only distinguishable, but recognizable as well. A horse charged headlong, directly towards them. More minutes passed as the sound of the nearing horse grew louder and louder within the confines of the trench, and then the sound of the horse was accompanied by a buzzing once again. Another horse followed the first, and Garret was only expecting one arrival. Garret was not the only one to notice, and as he strained his ears to listen, his comrades alongside him also ceased their labors to focus upon the sounds.

“Riders,” Garret stated in a voice just loud enough to be heard. “Armor up.”