The Exodus Sagas: Book II - Of Dragons And Crowns (29 page)

“The warlock mirror
s please, have them brought now
. We must mak
e contact with the patriarch.” h
er stern composure was backed by the hot breath of Chalas Kalaza over her head.

“Surely, I can have Cadius perform all that you need. Is there something the matter, my lady?”
t
he eye contact was playful and seductive.
His charms and winks were natural of men from Caberra, as passion, deception, and romance all played part of the upbringing in most well-to-do males of his country. Charming women was second nature to him.

“I can operate them fine myself. And the matter, well let’s just say now that your payments have been off
a bit.” Kaya stood and waited as one of the servant guards was motioned by Rinicus and Cadius to bring the heavy marble tablets of arcane scribing to the private arena suite.

“I assure you that our accounting is not off by much, my lady. I
perhaps
could introduce you to some of my agents and since it is your first night here, you and your bodyguard would like to-“

“Your accounting is far from true, and I have already spoken to some of your agents that handle the counting of coin.” Kaya paused, hearing the voice of Chalas speak from behind her.

“If speaking is what you would like to call
what we did to them, that is.” t
he minotaur smiled a sinister grin from behind the lady assassin.

“And also, we have been here three weeks as of yesterday, Rinicus.”

“You have? Well then I would gesture we have a deal to strike between us then. Let us say, you are put up in the finest manorhome for your time here and we start this anew. You could show me exactly what Johnas would like from us here in Devonmir, and those that have been acting
incorrectly will end up in the Karnassos M
arsh. Agreed?” a
s rinicus gulped his saliva with much strain and trembling eyes, his servant returned with two other
s
carrying a heavy chest. The young man whispered in the ear of his master for a good length, and the news brought his tan complexion to
a pale visage of one struck with terror and shock.

“There will be no deal, Rinicus. You know exactly what percentage you should be sending to the web in Valhirst. I know there is an underground arena, right beneath this one. And down there is where the real money changes hands, where the nobles and sorcerers from many kingdoms spend their coin on fights with magically altered men and beasts from all over this and other continents. You have been stealing from Johnas and living well. Let us hope, for your sake, that he allows at least the living part to continue.” Kaya walked over to the chest, many eyes and blades were honed in on her every movement, and those eyes and blades were watched by the savage horned killer behind her.

“You
know how to use them, my l
ady J
ade
of the
West? It requires much training in the arcane to activate the glyphs and symbols in order to make contact with the other warlock mirrors, in addition to knowing the secret key language to decipher what is to be read.” Cadius made a gesture to assist her, seeing she appeared to be more of a soldier than anything else.

“I am one of the E
merald
E
ight, Cadius. I am well trained in the arcane
arts in as much is needed here, and I know the secret language by heart.
If I were you, I would concern myself with Chalas here behind me. Should your men get any ideas, this room will look like the penthouse suites a few floors up from here.
If there is one thing I have trouble with, it is keeping him from spilling blood.” Kaya T’Vellon opened the chest and began to place the black and white m
arble slabs out on a table,
inspecting the gold inlays of runes and arcane language etched upon them.

Chalas Kalaza dre
w his two-handed serrated blade
and leaned both hands upon it, then rested his chin upon his knuckles. He stared at down at
Rinicus with his eyes fierce and his grin wide. “You should go and see for yourself. Your servant’s words cannot begin to describe the beauty of that room. I am overcome with pride at that one for sure.”

“Where did you find this demon and why is he here?” Rinicus, the domenarch of Devonmir for the White Spider, had to look away from the minotaur
that had slaughtered and hacked apart six of his men and women on the eighth floor. His servant had told him that the heads were all lined in a row on the vanity, and that the entrails were in a pile on the bed. He had nearly vomited into his gobl
et
after hearing that the arms and legs were torn and cut from the bodies and arranged to appear as a smiling mouth on the stone floor.

“Only he and Johnas know the answers to those questions, Rinicus. I will try and keep a closer eye on him, but your corrupt agents will have to be punished somehow. I will leave that up to you from here on. I think we have made our point, yes?” Kaya smiled as the runes and symbols glowed after her tracing them in the proper order.

“Yes. Your point is very clear, my lady. Very clear indeed.”

“Good. I was hoping this would be civil and easy
. The changes necessary to your operations here will requi
re your complete cooperation.” t
he lady assassin pulled up a chair next to the two glowing warlock mirrors.

“I was hoping you would make it diffic
ult. Difficult is much more enjoyable for me
.” t
he minotaur gladiator rubbed his horns and laughed. He laughed harder seeing the men squirm and whisper in his presence. He watched the arena from the wealthy balcony room, and felt that old lust for the crowd and for blood. Chalas wanted nothing more than to be in front of these twenty thousand in the stands, and rip the horns off of Saberrak the gray. His mind wandered to the fantasy of it, envisioning every cut of his sword into his most hated enemy.

Exodus II:VIII

Soujan Mountain, Harlaheim

Lord Cristoff stood still in the night sky on the side of the mountain, his eyes fighting to stay open from hours of labor
and battle
. He heard Azenairk whispering prayers over the ten graves he, the dwarf, Sir James, and Saberrak had dug for his men. Gwenneth watched over them with her dark wooden staff aglow to provide them light, as the sun had set behind the mountain in the east some time ago. Lady Shinayne, he knew, was scouting the slopes for surviving salisans or anything else that may have followed them here. The veteran lord bowed his head as Saberrak laid the last stone at the head of the tenth burial pile. It had been many years since he and his men had fa
ced anything besides the
hordes of mindless and slow
vagabond undead from the swamps of Karnassos. He was rarely outnumbered and always had time to plan the attack, organize the archers, and lead the cavalry. This time was different, he had been the outnumbered one and t
ime gave him
nothing to plan with.

“May Alden bless you and keep you my brave men. I pray that your brothers fare better with Savanno than
we did here this day. Amen.” h
e lowered his head and stood silent.
His hand held tight the golden feathered cross of Alden that Savanno had sent to him.

“They fought hard
Cristoff, you should be proud. They killed many enemies and not one ran or surrend
ered. You trained them well.” t
he gray minotaur huffed as he climbed up the slope to stand next to the armored lord.

“And what did they die for Saberrak? A holy relic? My cousin’s love affair with the queen of our kingdom?”

“If we were meant to know it now, we would. No soldier dies for nothing, not out here. Where I am from
,
man and beast die for entertainment and money every hour. If I were to die, I would want it here, on this m
ountain, facing a wicked enemy just like your men di
d. That is far better than what I was raised to believe death was.
I thank you and them for fighting with us. You should h
onor them.” Saberrak walked to the pool on the plateau by the entrance and washed his hands and face from the dirt and blood.

Azenairk
and J
ames put their hands on Cristoff’s shoulder guards for a moment in silent respect to the lord of the men who had given their lives
to save them. Neither could have said anything better than what the minotaur had just told Cristoff. James thought of his days fighting alongside noble lords and knights in Southwind. Zen thought of poetic
phrases and eulogies in dwarven
that probably were less than poetic in Agarian. Both of them left the Lord of Saint Erinsburg to his time alone with those that he had lost, and then follow
ed the horned warrior’s lead to clean
up at the pool.

“You men do realize that you may be washing yourselves in a sacred pool of an ancient dragon, right?” Gwenneth had her staff propped up next to one of the strange tall trees next to the water on top of the mountain. She was examining the ring that Kalzarius had given her, memorizing and repeating the words of arcane power that would activate it, and wondering how much energy she could absorb with it. She had glanced over into the treasure piles, before Ansharr had asked to be left with the scroll alone, and saw that the dragon had several staves that could be
of a magically empowered
nature. Gwenne hoped she might be able to trade or purchase one from the dragon, and hoped that it contained mighty energies or strange enchantments.

“If this pool is sacred or something, I am sure the dragon would have told us
,
wizard.”
Saberrak snorted his reply back to Gwenne.

“If you start feeling like her mindless and helpless servant, don’t say I did not warn the three of you.” Gwenneth turned away from them, admiring the closeness of the moons and the stars
up this high in the night
. “Minotaur, you are
already mindless, nevermind.” s
he said the last part under her breath where no one could hear, since she was being ignored anyway.

“That was less than polite young lady.”

Young Lazlette jumped from her seat next to the tree, her green eyes wide having heard a whisper right next to her in the shadows. “By Aldens bloody wings, Shinayne T’sarrin! If you ever sneak up on me like that again, I will…!”

“What? Say nasty comments behind my back, too?
I am hurt, truly.” Shinayne laughed until her eyes were damp from holding back tears. Gwenne’s hand still shook from the surprise of having the elven woman pop out of nowhere and whisper into her ear. The highborne elven woman found it hilarious, no matter what the wizard called her.

“Hey! Men and beast, that pool is a sacred pool for Ansharr to pray with on nights of the full white moon! What in the hells are you doing washing in it?” her voice went from hysterical to seriously angry in just a flash.
She was toying, her feelings lifted since they had made it to the mountain with the scroll. Feeling Lavress close assisted in her nature as well.

“Nice try, did Gwenne
put you up to that one
?”
James just laughed and continued to wash off his armor and tabard.

“No! Ansharr told me, and I have a pool just like that in my home
back in Kilikala
, except smaller. Fools, that is a place to pray when Carice shines full from above. Kilikala still pays homage to the white moon. You are dirtying an altar to the old Carician Gods and Godesses! Get out before she sees you!” Shinayne stood next to Cristoff and Gwenneth, her aquamarine eyes wide in amazement.
She needed some laughter in the air after so much travel and the quests that had claimed many a life.

The dwarven priest, the minotaur, and James all splashed and rushed out of the pool, grabbing armor, weapons, gloves, shirts, and nearly tripping over each other in the process. “I thought Gwenne was kidding with that?” Azenairk had no idea about the old customs of anything but Vundren, and if the God of the mountains put a pond here, he felt he was meant to use it.

“
I told you
that it was a bad idea, but no one listens to me. I hope she doesn’
t incinerate
you for it or anything.” Gwenneth winked at Shinayne, who winked back.

Lord Cristoff noticed the sly ladies and shook his head as the three of them walked back up to the entrance to Ansharr’s home. Hopefully
she was done reading the scroll
and would be able to shed some light and finality to the whole ordeal surrounding it.
Even Cristoff was curious to know what it all meant. He looked back at the graves of his men in the starlit night, t
hinking that they
too
,
deserved some answers.

LCMVXI
ILCMVXIILCMVXIILCMVX

Savanno touched his crown and rose emblem of golden weave and his feathered cross armband each once as he prayed. Sir Sulian, his nephew, knelt in prayer as well. The other men clad in chainmail and black cloaks followed the brave knights they had heard tales of glory about or served with
over their years in the Harlaheim army. Only Lord Savanno remained in uniform, as he planned not to return once the queen was found and their escape successful. The sewers reeked of decay and sulfur,
dead rats and rancid waters ran through the center while the men knelt on the stone walkway next to a set of rusting stairs. The moonlight and glow from lanterns above the streets beamed down sporadically through grates, casting an eerie set of shadows throughout the underground tunnels.