The Crimson Claymore (12 page)

She had smiled. “The world belongs to us, my love. Anything we want, it is within our reach.”

He had returned her smile and placed his hand just below her jaw to raise it up. Her swirling milk chocolate eyes froze him for a moment as they always had. Leaning in, he brought her face to his and gently kissed her soft lips. The sound of the ocean echoed in his ears as their lips melted together to become one.

* * *

“Searon?” A familiar voice seemed to come from nowhere.

He snapped out of his daze and turned to look at Andron. The man looked at him with concern in his eyes. “Are you okay, Searon?”

“Yes…I’m fine. It was just another fond memory. One day, I will have to come to reality that those no longer exist,” Searon said with a small smile.

Searon tightened his reins and sped Stripes forward. He had little patience anymore for idling. Revenge was the only thing on his mind after the memories of Victoria came flooding through. His teeth clenched, and his body tightened. He felt Starlyn grip tighter on his waist to reassure him, but he disregarded it.

Chapter 12

I
t was near dusk by the time they arrived at the hilltops to glance down at the draeyk camp. Searon brought his stallion to a stop and climbed from it to glance down upon the settlement. He was cautious to remain hidden, which was a difficult feat without any surrounding trees to hide behind. Still, he could clearly see the camp that still stood a league and a half away.

The camp was unsettled, as draeyks scurried about, tormenting each other and getting into fights. There seemed to be little control between the creatures, proving they were more like animals than men. Fires blazed in several areas throughout the camp where they carelessly cooked animals from bison to rabbits. They ate like they were complete savages, tearing the flesh with their sharpened yellow teeth and even devouring the bones.

“Less than a hundred armed,” Starlyn whispered.

He turned to spot her crouched down on the hill next to him. Andron was on his other side, squinting his eyes hard in an attempt to see anything. Searon shook his head, realizing the kheshlar came there to help be his eyes. He wondered how she would react if she knew he didn’t need her.

“Yes, but you are forgetting the fifty crossbowmen in the back of the camp. They spread out swiftly with an attack, and a retreat will be near impossible.”

Starlyn stared at him now with eyes wide. “You can see them?”

“I can hear them as well; they are uneasy shifting their loaded crossbows with loose bolts. I’m afraid this will not be an easy task to accomplish without much cover. There appears to be four hundred total including those in the tents.”

“We will need something creative,” Andron whispered.

“My turn for an idea,” Karceoles grinned as he walked up behind them.

He stood behind them, looking down at the camp. There seemed little concern for shielding himself. Searon eyed him warily before getting to his feet and gesturing the wizard back away from sight.

“We need something that will work. Not just something that you consider fun,” Searon snapped.

“Ah, but this idea
is
fun, and it will work. Draeyks are more animal than human. It is bloodlust that they crave. If we merely spook them, they will chase us as far as we want them to.”

“No, Karceoles. A plan must be discussed.”

Karceoles paid him no heed and walked past him to the edge of the hill. Searon tried to stop him but burned his hand when he touched the wizard’s zylek. An orange glow surrounded the zylek, causing the wood to steam. A sphere of light appeared at its tip that was at first blinding white but soon changed to orange before catching aflame. Karceoles jerked his zylek forward, releasing the magic, causing the fireball to swirl into motion at incredible speed toward the draeyks’ camp.

Searon knew he should have run like the wind in that instant. It would have only made sense to jump onto Stripes and pull the reins with all his might to take the horse on a full gallop. Instead, he took two steps forward and watched with interest at the speeding fireball. Andron stepped next to him with a gulp in his voice and a shudder flowing through his body.

The fireball struck at the main campfire, disintegrating everything in its immediate area. There was no longer a roasting bison there nor the dozens of draeyks that were crowding the fire. The gray tent that was behind the fire vanished in milliseconds as the flame devoured it. Ashes seemed to scatter the ground everywhere in the center of the camp. Weapons were lifted promptly as snarls echoed from the creatures. The creatures looked around furiously before staring directly at Searon. He felt hate flash into his eyes, and he cringed and took a step back.

“Time to run,” Andron whimpered in a hoarse voice. He clutched onto his sword’s hilt tucked tightly in its scabbard before turning the other direction and fleeing.

Searon was the first to jump on his horse, with Starlyn directly behind him, clutching her arms around him tightly. Stripes dashed off at a pace that nearly knocked them from their saddle. It seemed the horse knew danger as surely as they did and took no time to delay. He glanced back to see Andron and Karceoles saddling up before looking back ahead to steer his stallion. As long as the two were secured, Searon didn’t have to pay them any more heed. The fool of a wizard had really got them into a pickle now. There was at least a league of open terrain before trees could cover their tracks. At least without the cover of trees Stripes was able to run at full gallop, and without obstacles.

After traveling all day to reach the draeyk camp, now there was no time for rest. The fool wizard couldn’t even wait a day for them to rest before moving forward with his foolish
plan
. Searon had his full faith in his horse, Stripes, that had got him out of tight spots in the past. With a glance behind, Searon was glad that none of the draeyks had horses or four-legged beasts of any kind to ride and perhaps catch up with them. The creatures were fast enough on their feet that he could only imagine how quick they would be with mounts.

Searon shifted in his saddle, making Starlyn get in front to ride. She was reluctant at first, pleading that she couldn’t ride like a human. With much effort and dire need, he finally convinced her. She would not touch the reins, though, and tied them to the saddle. Instead, she gently caressed the horse behind the ear and whispered to it. Strangely enough, the horse seemed soothed by her words and continued at its hard pace.

Searon loosened the longbow that hung from his saddle and grasped a quiver that he hung on his back. He noticed that a few of the creatures were drawing close on Andron and Karceoles. Licking his lips, he notched an arrow and released. The arrow sped forward, missing Andron’s face by millimeters and struck into the skull of a leaping draeyk. It was two hundred paces away but not too far for Searon’s range. He didn’t like to use the bow that often, but he would in dire need. The creature tumbled harmlessly to the ground instead of reaching the wizard’s mare.

“Quite a shot for a human,” Starlyn whispered.

“Don’t watch me, drive Stripes forward!” Searon croaked.

He notched another arrow and looked hard before releasing it. There was a break between the wizard and the human that the arrow traveled between, missing both of them by millimeters and striking down another draeyk. Notching a third arrow, he studied the following party hard. He counted the creatures coming to a total of 338. That meant the wizard’s magic killed sixty and he killed two—but Karceoles didn’t have the luxury of using any more magic while he fought his horse hard to speed up. He settled on another target and released, watching with pleasure as the arrow struck two draeyks and both dropped to the ground. The arrow pierced the first through the throat and the one behind it through the eye.

Searon had spent a lot of time developing an arrow that could penetrate the creatures’ scales. He did have several years of hunting them to try new things, but it wasn’t something new that worked. Instead, he used their own scales to create arrows. They had to be sharpened for hours until they were sharp enough, but they were harder than steel and notoriously difficult to shape. The bow he used was specially crafted as well so it could shoot farther than most.

He released another fifteen arrows, dropping twenty of the creatures before he attached the quiver back onto the saddle. There were only thirty arrows remaining, and he didn’t want to waste them all in case there was a future need for them. They were still a long way away from being free and clear, and most of the night had passed, coming onto morning with them still running. The draeyks would not give up easily, if ever.

When they reached the wide river in the meadow, there was no time for magic. Besides, Karceoles was still several paces behind, and Searon wasn’t going to waste time reaching a decision. He nudged Starlyn and motioned her to get back in passenger position. She nodded reluctantly, still eyeing the approaching river. To Searon’s amazement, he watched as she stood on the horse and leaped into the air. He slid forward to grasp the reins and soon felt her arms back around his. An eyebrow arched in surprise, but he disregarded her acrobatics quickly.
Bloody kheshlars,
he thought.

The river in front of them was calmer than usual, and he could see a span of dirt amid the current, just past the grass on its nearest bank. Searon thanked the new moon from the night before. Goats scattered about as they neared, which explained the well-trimmed grass and shrubs in the area. However, rapids still furiously clashed against sharpened stones making the river treacherous. Searon stared uneasily at the roiling blue water and rubbed Stripes behind the ears.

“Come on, boy, I know you can do this. Leap hard, and tread fast.”

Stripes seemed to nod approval before Searon flicked the reins. The horse leaped far through the air by five paces, enough to bring jealously to any horse rider, before splashing into the river. They were only halfway across, and Searon urged the horse forward. He felt Starlyn release him, and he glanced in surprise to her swimming across with incredible speed. Within seconds, she was already across and standing to look back at them. Stripes pulled through, and after a few minutes they were across and soaked from head to toe.

After another few minutes, Karceoles’s mare approached the river, and to no surprise his zylek rose into the air to glow orange. His lips moved in a chain of words that caused the water to separate in front of him. His horse dashed through in quick strides before he released the magic to turn the river back into its natural state. There were draeyks trailing him too close, though, and several of them got through. Searon counted seven that snuck through the river’s opening. The rest watched the water in fury and began to spit hissing curses.

Karceoles kept on for a few paces until he reached Searon and turned his steed around to meet the draeyks. His zylek was attached to the saddlebags, and he pulled his sword out to strike down a draeyk through its skull. Searon grinned as he pulled out his claymore to strike at a creature, quickly decapitating it. Starlyn leaped from the saddle as Andron did, and the two of them together fought in unison side by side. Andron was using the fighting style Searon knew as fanning peacock, which consisted of a series of overhand blows that mirrored the range of a peacock’s spread feathers. Starlyn’s style, however, was strange to Searon. She used her hammer, but it consisted of only side blows to the left and right of the creatures with no overhead or underhand. It was peculiar to Searon but quite effective as he watched her drop three creatures with ease as Andron struck down two.

Searon slid off his mount and watched as the draeyks across the river scurried around its back farther away from them. They did not seem to want to risk a crossing but instead traveled alongside the river, hoping to find a path across. The bloodlust had not settled in them, and they were determined to reach them.

“They will not stop until they cross and find us,” Searon whispered.

“Or until they find someone to fight,” Karceoles grinned.

The sun was rising now in the horizon, and Searon yawned loudly. Tiredness could not be afforded, though, and he had to press Stripes forward. Soon, they would be in the cover of the forest where they could hide until the draeyks passed by. After they were clear of the creatures, they would be able to take a much needed rest, but not before. Searon’s eyes burned red with bloodshot, but he urged Stripes forward. Starlyn seemed to be the only one unaffected by fatigue, but even she didn’t hold onto Searon’s waist as tightly as before.

Rain began to crackle in the sky, and it first came in small drops that felt soothing in the morning sun. Soon, the rain picked up, and it began to pour frantically and with such ferocity that it was hard for them to see clearly. Searon, however, was still able to see quite far through the rain and spotted a cavern. He kicked the side of Stripes with his left foot, causing the horse to steer east. Stripes soon caught on when he saw the cave and fixed to a trot until they were safely inside.

It was dark but did not look very deep. There was a scarred area on the ground where another had used for a campfire. Searon and Starlyn slid off Stripes and unsaddled the horse. After several minutes, they had everything organized against the wall when Searon frowned to look around.

“Where did that bloody wizard go?”

“Try looking a little harder,” came a voice that echoed through the cavern.

Searon stared deeper into the cavern where the wizard appeared in complete serenity. His body was dry without a drop of rain covering him. He held his zylek tight and limped forward unsteadily. Andron appeared at his side as well as their horse.

“What took you?” Andron smirked.

Searon shook his head and stared Karceoles with anger swelling in his eyes. “If you ever do that again, old man…I will kill you myself.

The wizard’s grin only broadened.

Chapter 13