The High-Wizard's Hunt: Osric's Wand: Book Two (17 page)

“No, Sir. That is exactly how it occurred. It would be my pleasure to hunt down Osric and his men and return to you with their heads for their insolence.” Dredek’s eyes narrowed slightly at the obvious blood lust in Thom’s voice.

“If your story is true, I doubt very much that you would be an effective weapon against such a wizard. However, I may have some use for you.”

“Please, Sir.” Aron rubbed his neck while he plead. “Anything you ask, I will do. I want to redeem myself for my failing you.”

“I can’t trust your ability as a commander, but I will have need of information about Osric and his men.” Dredek gestured for Aron to sit in a chair before the desk. “When I kill Osric, and I assure you I will kill him, would you like to be there?”

“Yes, Sir, of course. I wish to serve you any way I can, and I would very much like to see that man’s death for what he has done,” Aron replied assertively.

“In that case, I will give you the opportunity to redeem yourself. My power grows daily; soon I shall be in a position that no man, even the likes of him, can defeat. When the time comes, he will die for his actions against us. I think you men have the proper motivation to be a part of that.” Dredek pulled a map from a desk drawer and spread it open on the surface before Aron. Thom leaned in to get a better view. Dredek traced a long finger over an area of the landscape. “My troops are stationed here. They are in position to serve my purposes, but they are not yet well enough armed to fulfill their mission.” He shifted his gaze to Aron. “We will soon receive another shipment of the Dwarven blades you so skillfully lost, and then we will be able to move forward. Do you think you could manage a few dwarves making a weapons delivery?” Dredek asked snidely.

Aron thought back to the first time he had seen Osric’s companion, the dwarf that had made the delivery of weapons to Braya, and he had to force a lump from his throat.

“Yes, Sir, of course I can.”

Reunion

Osric and Kenneth stood carefully, peering over the edge of a sheer rock cliff. Salty water beat against the rocks below. Kenneth stared into the distance and took slow, deep breaths of ocean air. Osric stepped away and expected his friend to follow, but Kenneth did not notice him move.

“Kenneth,” Osric said as he waved for him to follow, “let’s get going, they can’t be too far away.”

He didn’t move, but stood with a dreamy look in his eyes, watching the waves smash against the jagged rocks below.

“Kenneth?”

Growing concerned, Osric put his hand on Kenneth’s shoulder, and flickering light caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

“Ah!” Kenneth began to leap from foot to foot, running around in a circle, eyes locked on his feet. Blue flames danced on his boots as he ran.

Osric looked around quickly, trying to find a source for the flames. They seemed to have come from nowhere. Laughter rang out from behind him, but Kenneth was too occupied trying to put out the flames to hear it. Osric turned to see Machai’s head, a smile covering his face, peeking out from a small rock outcropping. He signaled Osric to stay quiet, so Osric turned back to watch Kenneth flail about, sitting down and beating at the eerie flames with his shirt, with a grin.

“Quit ye’r squawking or all of Rowain will know where we be.” Machai lowered his wand and stepped out from the rocks.

Kenneth looked up in surprise as the flames died out and noticed the jolly faces of both Machai and Thamas for the first time. He frowned up at them. “I think I ruined my shirt, thanks to you. What if you burned my feet, how would I be able to help stop the shipment?”

“Be assured, me friend,” he slapped him on the back, “there be no burn in me flames, unless I be intending it. What help will ye be, anyway? Ye still cannot be fighting with both of ye’r hands, if I do not be mistaken?”

“We should probably move somewhere less conspicuous before we talk about our plans.” Osric interrupted the two of them.

Machai held a hand out to help Kenneth up and turned back toward the rocks. “Aye, there be a fitting cave just over there.”

Kenneth pulled his shirt over his head, looking a bit annoyed. “Good, I’ll have a place to hide his body,” he said with a smirk.

The cave was lit with the same flame that Kenneth had frantically tried to put out on his feet. It was a small chamber with no other passages and looked like it had been home to an ursidae. Machai levitated several large rocks into the center of the cave for them to sit upon.

Osric sat and turned to Thamas. “I am glad to have you back with us. Your wisdom from your years as Contege may prove invaluable.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. Seems a wise man could have spied on Braya without getting caught. You seemed to do that well enough.” Respect for the younger man was clear on his face as he took in Osric. “I mean, look at you, a fine Contege. You’ve come a long way from the lanky recruit you once were.” Osric looked over at Thamas with surprise. He hadn’t realized that Thamas remembered him from his time as a recruit in Stanton. Thamas winked over at him. “Of course, I remember you. And that big friend of yours too.” He glanced over at Kenneth.

“A fine Contege?” Osric questioned, “I would still be in office if I had been a fine Contege. Instead, all the Vigiles are disbanded, and I can’t even go back to discover why.”

“Ah, that’s not your fault, boy.” He waved his hand in the air, nearly brushing the top of the chamber with the motion.

“Darn right, it’s not his fault,” Kenneth spoke assuredly as he joined them in conversation, “there was nothing he could have done. I’m sure they planned this all along.”

“Yes, but I bear some of the blame for this, or the Vigiles would still patrol Stanton.”

“Ye humans be doing too much of this.” Machai crossed his arms and leaned back. “When ye be done, can we be getting back to work?”

“What do you mean?” Thamas inquired.

“Eh, this be foolish talk. Ye be good men.” He leaned forward and pointed a crooked finger at each of them. “Ye should not be feeling sorry for yerselves for what be in the past. We have work to do. Ye did not be causing the trouble. Ye be wasting time professing ye’r guilt when ye should be making a plan. If ye be making mistakes, do not be dwelling on them, be learning from them. Ye be a leader, so lead.” Machai pulled out his axe and gripped it firmly, a look of determination on his face.

Osric nodded as Machai’s words began to resonate. He had no control over what had happened, and yet it had happened. All the time he had spent feeling sorry for himself added up, and his mind would have been better used if he had found some answers rather than dwelling on his mistakes. Osric fortified his heart as he lifted his head to look into the eyes of the other men.

“What do we know about the arrival of the shipment?”

“We be a day ahead of ‘em. Me kin would not be staying on a boat longer than needed. Ye cannot be trusting the water. We should be meeting ‘em on the northern road by nightfall.”

“How many will be in the caravan?”

“A dozen. Ye willn’t be needing more dwarves than that to be guarding a caravan.”

“Should we expect a fight, or do you think you can reason with them?” Osric knew his duty, and Machai was right. Their time was best spent finding answers and laying plans.

“Aye, I can be making them see reason.”

“We will need to find cover while we wait. We should head out as soon as we can. Travel by spell to keep from being seen. We will
travel
as far as we can see each time, so long as we can move safely. If we get started soon, it will give you two enough time to recover from the spell before we meet the dwarves.” Osric looked at the men. “Kenneth and I will stay hidden in case you need help. Machai, you and Thamas can try reasoning with them as soon as we make contact.”

*

Osric and Kenneth crouched in the tall grass to either side of the road and watched the caravan approach. Machai stood in the middle of the wide, gravel road with his weapons sheathed and his arms crossed. Thamas stood just behind him, praying silently to Archana that everything would go as planned. The caravan halted fifty paces from where the men waited and dwarven armor creaked in the chill dusk. Eight wagons, pulled by two sturdy horses each, were flanked by four battle proven dwarves on either side. Machai knew several of them well. Leading the procession, a dwarf nearly as wide as he was tall took a few steps toward them, and Machai noticed two crossbows rise up from under the canvas coverings on the wagons.

“Who be there, and what be ye’r business?” The dwarf’s hand rested on his weapon, but he did not draw it.

“Ye can be calling off ye’r arrows, Kablis. I be Machai, ye’r FireFall brother.” He took several steps forward and the archers followed his movements. “Ye need to be knowing the fate of these blades ‘fore ye be handing them over into wicked hands.” Kablis eyed Machai’s tall companion wearily.

“Machai, be ye aye, or be ye nay?” Machai grinned at the inquiry. Kablis was discreetly asking him if he was acting of his own free will, or if he were being coerced by another.

“Aye, Kablis, he be a friend and ally.” Machai nodded as Kablis motioned with his hand and the crossbows retreated back under the canvas coverings.

“Many lowly men be wielding Dwarven blades. What makes these hands so vile that they should not be grasping them?” Kablis challenged Machai.

“These be the worst of men. They be seeking to make war with men for wrongs that they be committing on their own. They be enslaving the entire race of dragons by holding their eldest kin at Braya Volcano, until a nobler man be freeing them less than a month ago.” Murmurs erupted from the dwarves guarding the caravan.

“Enslave the dragons?” Kablis stared in disbelief as he questioned Machai. “Have ye gone mad?”

“Nay, I be seeing it with me own eyes, and I be fighting alongside the wizard that be freeing them!” Machai indicated behind him in Osric’s direction.

“It’s true. Every word. The same men that held the dragons captive kept me imprisoned in the volcano. I have traveled with Machai since he helped to release me, and I beseech you to listen to us now. We cannot allow these men to engage in war armed with your superior weapons. You must not complete your delivery!”

Kablis’ expression showed more irritation than concern as he addressed Machai. “What interest of ours be human wars? I intend to be feeling the weight of the gold for this shipment in me hand.”

“The humans be gathering a large army. With Dwarven weapons in hand, they will be launching a war of greater scale than Archana has ever seen before. If ye think it will not be having an impact on our home, on our kin, then ye be the mad one.” Machai’s serious tone carried both fear and determination. “When Osric freed the dragons, he be slowing the army’s movements. Now we must be causing them to doubt their likelihood of victory. Do not be delivering these weapons.”

Kablis gazed at Machai with doubt and scratched his bearded chin. He glanced back at the convoy of wagons and his companions awaiting his orders and sighed. “Machai, ye’r tale be hard to swallow, but ye be as stubborn as a hill troll and I do not want to be hurting ye in order to be getting past. Another night’s sleep will not be making the gold any lighter, if I do not be thinking ye speak true by morning.” He turned to the other dwarves as he continued. “Clear the road. We will be making camp here for the night.”

Machai sighed in relief, grinned at Thamas, and turned toward their companions crouched near the side of the road.

Osric’s muscles tensed, his heart raced, and his hearing sharpened at the sound of hoofs approaching. He could hear the jingle of the horses’ tack and a cold, familiar voice issuing orders with anger.
Aron,
he thought with a panic as his skin began to heat, indicating imminent danger,
why do we have to run into him right now?
From the sound, the approaching troops were still a ways off and in no hurry. Osric reacted quickly, leaping out from his place of concealment and rushing up to Machai and Thamas.

“Men are approaching on horseback,” anger and fear flashed in Osric’s eyes, “I recognize that voice, Machai. Aron leads them!”

The dwarves were positioning themselves to defend the wagons if necessary, and Kablis looked startled at Osric’s sudden appearance and dire tone. An expression of rage washed over Machai’s face and the grass smoldered under his boots.

“Aron be the foul commander that kept the dragons caged. He be lucky he survived. He willn’t be so lucky twice.” Machai pulled his heavy battle axe from his back and stepped behind the first wagon out of sight. Kablis nodded at Machai as he passed, his expression turning from surprise to grim acceptance. He rested his hand on his weapon and stood in the middle of the road awaiting the approaching men. Osric moved behind a wagon as Kenneth crouched back down into the grass with his bow drawn. They watched nervously as two dozen horses rounded the curve and approached the caravan, with Aron in the lead.

Aron’s horse came to a stop a short distance from Kablis, and he signaled a halt. He looked over the dwarves with disdain.

“Why are you stopped? We are growing impatient waiting for our delivery.”

“The horses be spooked. We be wary of an ambush,” Kablis responded calmly.

Aron grunted and turned back to his men. “It seems these dwarves are incapable of controlling their beasts. Relieve them of the burden and get these wagons to the city immediately.” He urged his horse forward and shoved the saddlebags from his mount’s back onto the ground. They clinked heavily and Kablis flipped them open to reveal a fortune in gold coins. He smiled wryly and paused before looking back up at Aron.

“We be ordered to deliver the weapons to Rowain, not to gold laden bandits on the road in the dark.”

Aron laughed and signaled his men forward. “You have your gold, dwarf. Now call your men off the weapons while you still have your life.”

Aron’s men approached the wagons, wary of the heavily armed dwarves. Suddenly, the horses began to shy, eyes rolling with fear. A thin line of fire snaked toward Aron, moving eerily forward rather than spreading to consume the nearby grass.