The Journey of the Marked (The Miyran Heir Book 1) (17 page)

Ampal examined the well-crafted
coffin, built in less than a day by a very skilled Raptan, an old friend of the
family. The craftsman had begun carving an intricate woodcut design, which when
complete, would tell the story of Ishta’s life. Ampal traced his fingers over
the beginning of the pictorial story of his sister’s short life. In retrospect,
she was the obvious choice among the family to be marked and he berated himself
for not having realized it sooner. He chuckled sadly to himself as he
remembered how much trouble she caused at school when she punched the school
bully or retaliated harshly against an opposing sports team that played
unfairly. Ishta honored the family with her fierce loyalties. He wondered if
the news had reached his parents yet. How distraught they would be at the loss
of their only daughter!

Plinte culture revered a male
child, a strong warrior. They honored male children outwardly and because of
this, most species believed the Plintes preferred male children. In fact, quite
the opposite was true. While male Plintes were necessary for protection, Plinte
society prized female children as special gifts. The Plintes believed Ampal’s
parents were among the blessed for they delivered two strong male children,
followed by one daughter. Ishta claimed even greater praise for being a strong
female fighter. While women Plintes learned to fight, few exhibited the skill
Ishta had demonstrated. The entire town of Banston would be devastated by the
loss. Ampal sighed heavily and rested his head on the top of the wooden box.

*******

Arith studied Ampal while they
waited for the trader to finish his negotiations with another customer. As
carrying the dead aboard an air transport was against the law, they would have
to travel by wagon, which would be a long journey. Arith trusted Tshillek, the Bruner
trader they selected to ferry Ishta’s body to Banston. However, their passage
would be closely watched. To ensure their cargo’s safe arrival, Arith and Ampal
would accompany the trader, along with the Raptan, who would continue working
on the carving. To ensure the undergrounders were not singled out, they hired
four others to travel with them for camouflage.

Tshillek returned from his work
with a smile, which quickly faltered as his eyes fell on the anguished figure
of Ampal. He looked to Arith, who quietly signaled him to wait a moment, and
then Arith gently placed a hand on Ampal’s sagging shoulders. When Ampal failed
to move from the coffin, he leaned over and spoke quietly, “We’re ready to go
now. The journey will take three days by foot and we must reach Banston by the
end of the third day.”

Ampal slowly raised himself from
the box, brushing a single tear from the corner of his eye. He nodded and moved
to take his place beside the wagon. The coffin lid was opened and several of
the undergrounders carried Ishta on their shoulders in a slow procession from
the doctor’s office where they had cleaned and prepared the body. She was
dressed in a regal red, silver, and orange formal gown, a gift from one of the Plinte
undergrounders. They placed her body in the open coffin and stood to the side. Arith
then arranged the two cleaned swords next to her, one on her left and one on
her right. Ampal removed the red and black necklace from his pocket and
fastened it around Ishta’s neck. He ran his hand over her silky hair and closed
his eyes for a moment. Then he kissed her forehead. The box was closed and
Arith signaled the driver that they were ready.

Tshillek urged his beast onward and
the party began its long journey, which would cover a few streets in the
southwestern portion of the city, then the countryside between Caldot and
Banston. The wagon rumbled and rolled slowly through the streets, as hundreds
poured from their homes and businesses to pay their respects to the dead. Scattered
throughout the streets were the undergrounders. By prearrangement they had
spread themselves across the city both to pay their respects and to ensure the
party reached the outskirts of the city safely. Arith wondered if the mass of
onlookers would continue through the entire journey or only through the city
streets. He also wondered if the crowd would diminish if they learned she had
been marked. While the Tyrnotts took pride in killing the marked, they no
longer flaunted this to the general population. Perhaps they feared an uprising
over the spilled blood of youth. This was something to consider, though not
today. Today was for Ishta.

As the party reached the city’s
edge, they saw that Lady Anyamae had planned a tribute of her own. At least a
dozen warriors in royal attire lined the procession path as they left the city.
The warriors each held a musical instrument unique to his or her own species
and these were now being played harmoniously in a traditional Plinte dirge
honoring the dead. Arith glanced at Ampal, whose face shone with a fierce pride
Arith had not seen in days.

They passed through the warriors
and Ampal and Arith nodded their heads in thanks. As they reached the last of
the Lady’s performers, another warrior approached Ampal and motioned for Arith
to join them. The warrior was a female Raptan.

She spoke quietly. “Lady Anyamae
wants you to know that she grieves with you. This is not the end she expected
for such an honorable child.”

Ampal waved his hand. “Ishta wanted
to be a warrior more than anything else. That was her dream, her future. I know
she fought well and would be pleased Lady Anyamae honors her.”

Tears rose in the Raptan’s eyes as
she placed her hand on Ampal’s arm. “You bring honor to your sister, even in
her death. Lady Anyamae cannot change what has transpired, but wishes to ensure
you reach Banston safely. I’m afraid, however, no warriors in such grand attire
can be spared.” She looked at Arith as she spoke these words.

Arith nodded his understanding as
Ampal muttered, “We understand. The city needs the warriors.”

She bowed her head and moved aside
to allow the party to pass. Tshillek urged his beast onward and the party
continued through the city gates and onto the path toward Banston. The crowd
thinned outside the city and soon the party found itself alone. A mile along
the road, they came upon a group of four travelers, two Human and two Plinte,
all going in the same direction. After a discussion, they decided the travelers
could join their small party. As they continued the journey, Ampal looked back
at Arith with a smirk. He caught Arith’s eye and pointed his chin toward the
travelers’ well-made boots, obviously those of the Lady’s warriors. Arith
chuckled as well.

With breakfast eaten and the
campsite packed into the nearby wagon, the party was ready for its trek across
the wetlands. One of the old men fetched a sturdy mountain beast, an Eaoz, that
had been tethered nearby. The animal was no taller than some of the men, but
its legs rippled with muscle and its lean torso was massive with bulk. As was
characteristic of the Eaoz, the animal’s shaggy hair covered its eyes and face,
and its thick tail swished back and forth. Prizene watched as the man hitched
the wagon to the beast and they started their journey, which would consume most
of the daylight hours.

The old men had explained to
Prizene and the others over breakfast that there was only one safe path through
the wetlands. Venturing off the path would alert the rizon, the water creatures
that lived there. Shiny scales covered a rizon’s long, narrow body. Their short
legs, which they used for paddling, easily fit flat against the creature’s body
to ensure faster movement across the water. The long, slim tail helped them
navigate when moving fast. These creatures traveled at amazing speed across the
surface of the wetlands. Furthermore, the creatures’ razor-sharp teeth could
devour a grown man in minutes, if given the chance.

As the group neared the wetlands,
the ground grew softer, sinking beneath Prizene’s feet. Tall reeds, most standing
several feet high, grew within the water all across the wetlands. Spotting a
moving rizon took little skill, since the wind rarely blew here; any movement
among the reeds likely indicated a rizon. As the beasts stayed hidden without
movement until an opportunity to attack presented itself, only venturing deep
into the reeds carried a serious risk. She hoped she wouldn’t have to wade into
the water.

The group formed a line, walking
two by two with two of the older men leading the group, followed by the wagon,
Prizene and Tip immediately behind it, and the others in the rear. The water
level clearly deepened farther away from the path they followed. No water
creatures were visible.

Prizene grew weary as they
continued walking without a break throughout the day. She occasionally saw the distant
reeds move, but no creatures ventured close to the path. As they neared the end
of the walk, she spied drier land ahead and the reeds began to thin out. They
picked up speed as they focused on finishing the journey. She would enjoy
relaxing that evening when she didn’t have to worry about stepping off the
path.

While excited to be near the end,
Prizene heard a sound from the patch of trees fifty yards to her left. The
trees appeared to be part of the forest that grew into the wetlands from the
far side. She stopped to listen more carefully in an attempt to identify the
noise. Tip and the others walking behind her stopped as well.

“What’s wrong?” Azetan asked.

Prizene scanned the trees. “I hear
something. A whimpering. Do you hear it?”

The group listened, but no one
other than Prizene claimed to hear anything except the heavy rolling of the
wagon.

Azetan said, “You must be mistaken.
Look, we’re almost there. We should continue out of the wetlands.”

Prizene refused to move. After all,
the sound might be important. Azetan reached out to nudge her, when Eros
stopped him. “Krystics frequently possess remarkable hearing. Prizene,” he
asked, “do you often hear sounds others don’t?”

Prizene nodded, still listening
intently. “My father used to say there were no secrets in our house because I
could hear through walls.”

Aston called to the wagon driver to
stop. He asked the driver to show Prizene the bag where the magnifier had been
packed. Prizene collected the magnifier from the wagon and stretched it out to
its full length. Holding the device to her eye, she pointed it toward the trees.
She scanned the area slowly, noticing ripples in the water. As she shifted her
position to see the water more clearly, she spotted it: the nose of a rizon
bobbing up and down underneath one of the trees. She raised the magnifier
slowly and saw its intended prey — a little animal struggling to hold onto one
of the low-hanging branches. It whimpered every time its injured back leg
struggled to push it back on top of the limb.
Could it be?
She turned
the magnifier to focus more clearly on the little animal.
Is that a flibbit?
But, I thought they were extinct.

Her stomach clenched. “We have to
help it,” she said urgently. She lowered the magnifier to look at the others
and described what she saw. “The poor little thing is tiny and helpless. It
must have fallen off one of the higher branches.”

“Can you tell what it is?” Aston
asked.

She hesitated. They probably
wouldn’t believe it was a flibbit and she wasn’t certain. “No. Brown and small.
That’s all I can see.”

Azetan threw his hands up when he
said, “You must be joking. Risk our lives to save a little brown creature you
can’t even identify?”

Prizene looked at Azetan and then
the others. They all seemed to agree with Azetan. But Prizene remained
steadfast; she couldn’t leave the animal to face certain death and she needed
their help. She only believed in using the Krystic charm in special
circumstances, but dire situations called for drastic measures. Long ago, she
had learned how to leverage her charm, and with a group of mostly men, they
would yield quickly. She turned her eyes toward the ground to compose herself. When
she lifted her face, her eyes held the requisite amount of tears and she
projected her desperation to the men as only a Krystic female could do. Her
voice shook as she pleaded, “Please. We have to help it.” She batted her eyes
slowly, lowered her head, and let her lower lip start to tremble.

Prizene saw Kenrya roll her eyes,
then shake her head. At least she didn’t interfere. Tip succumbed more quickly
than the others, but one by one they buckled. The group agreed to try and save
the poor little animal. Prizene awarded them all with a grateful smile. They
contemplated the best way to reach the trees, grab the animal, and make it back
to the safe path before more water creatures sensed their presence. Luckily,
the reeds here were few and only the one rizon was currently visible. Because
the old men moved slower than the marked ones, they agreed the men would
position themselves on the wagon with powerful crossbows and the marked ones
would venture into the water. Tip had proved the day before that he was the
fastest, not to mention the only one unable to use a sword effectively. He was
chosen to save the animal and dash back to the safe path. Eros would go to the
tree with Tip to fend off the rizon and Azetan, Kenrya, and Prizene would
position themselves between the path and the trees to watch for any other
creatures nearby. Eros tried to convince Kenrya to wait in the wagon, but her
stubbornness had resurfaced full force during the day and she refused. Their
plan hatched, they removed their packs and other loose items besides their
swords and tightened their shoes. The ground below the water was sometimes
rocky and slippery, so their shoes would be necessary to protect their feet.

Prizene insisted they hurry, as the
animal’s cries were sounding weaker. Eros and Tip looked at each other and
nodded. Eros pulled his sword and they stepped into the ankle-high water.

The water level deepened to their
upper calves a few feet from the safe path and Eros and Tip strained to shift
their legs through the water’s increasing resistance. They waded as quickly as
they could without splashing to minimize the risk that the rizon would realize
they were in the water.

The other three drew their swords
and stepped more gingerly into the water, watching for movement of any hidden
water creatures. Kenrya followed directly behind Tip and Eros, though far more
cautiously and alert. Prizene and Azetan followed, Prizene moving out toward
the right and Azetan to the left. The creatures wouldn’t venture close to the
safe path due to the slightly lower water level, and the old men could guard
the area of wetlands behind the marked ones. Hence, they focused on the water
in front of them.

As Tip and Eros neared the trees,
the rizon under the low-hanging branch sensed them and sprang out of the water
toward Tip. He let out a loud shriek, lost his footing, and almost fell into
the water. Eros kept moving forward and swung his sword, slicing easily through
the creature’s neck, severing the head. Tip quickly regained his footing and
held his hand to his chest, calming himself.

“What is he, a five-year-old girl?”
Kenrya said with loud exasperation. Azetan chuckled.

Tip stayed motionless for only a
second and then the little brown animal lost its grip on the branch. Tip lunged
and caught it. He came down on his knee in the water, soaking his pants up to
the thigh and making a loud splash. With his mission accomplished and the rizon
likely aware of their presence, he stood and turned at a run back toward the
safe path. Eros watched the water for a moment, then followed Tip.

Tip and Eros had to lift their legs
high to run through the water toward the safe path. Tip gained distance from
Eros, better conditioned to withstand such a physical challenge. As Eros neared
the water where Kenrya stood, a rizon sailed across the top of the water toward
them. The creature’s speed was phenomenal.

“Water creature right behind you,
Eros,” Kenrya yelled. “Run!”

As Eros passed her, the rizon
sprang out of the water. Kenrya swung her sword, catching the creature’s open
mouth and splitting it straight through its torso. Then Eros and Kenrya started
backing toward the safe path, as did Prizene and Azetan. Prizene trailed behind
Tip ten yards, while Azetan would meet Kenrya and Eros twenty yards from the
safe path. As they neared this point, Prizene called out another rizon
sighting, this one coming from the far side of Azetan. Azetan continued backing
up with his eyes on the creature. He was a few feet from the others when the
creature vaulted out of the water like a rocket. Two of the old men shot bolts
from their crossbows, one lodging into the creature’s back and the other
directly into its eye. Ripples started appearing all over the water and Aston
yelled at them to run for the path.

Tip reached the path and leapt out
of the water nearly three feet into the air. He landed in the middle of the
path and placed the wounded animal on the back of the wagon. Prizene came next
and Tip pulled her onto the path with such force that he fell back, caught by
Prizene as she fell on her knees. They both turned to help Eros, Kenrya, and
Azetan, only to see the horror of at least two dozen rizon chasing them. The
creatures were obviously moving faster and would overtake them at least ten
yards from the safe path. They needed help.

Prizene was about to jump back into
the water, when one of the old men, a Human named Henry, stopped her. “No,
child,” he said, grabbing her arm, “the young shall not die today.” His dirty
gray hair was slicked back from his crinkly face, but his eyes were sharp and
knowing. He winked, drew his sword, and yelled, “To battle!”

Several of the old men jumped from
the wagon into the water, drawing their swords in the process. While they were
slower than the young ones, they reached the others shortly before the rizon
attacked. A few of the men stayed in the wagon with their crossbows at the
ready. Prizene looked at Tip, who shrugged helplessly, as neither knew what to
do but watch.

Aston had warned them that the
creatures’ strategy was to knock a man off balance, causing him to fall into
the water. Once down, they attacked as a group, savagely ripping limbs and
flesh. If a man fell, he was lost. Maintaining one’s balance was the key to
survival.

Half a dozen rizon attacked in
unison with others close behind them. Each of the lead beasts hurled itself
into the air toward one of the potential meals standing in the middle of the
wetlands. Swords hit their mark many times, while bolts from the crossbows
felled others. As soon as one group of rizon was defeated, another attacked. When
a rizon overshot its mark, it found itself unharmed and in the water between
the group and the safe path. The old men in the wagon targeted these rizon,
fighting to protect the backs of the others.

The supply of rizon seemed endless.
Henry turned to help one of his companions only to have a second rizon ram his
left side full-force. The old man lost his balance and fell into the water. The
force of his weight hitting the water alerted the rizon and they turned from
the others to attack their downed prey.

“Eros!” Prizene yelled, as he was
closest. “You have to help him!”

As the rizon focused on the fallen
old man, the others realized what happened. Fierce splashing indicated his
location, as well as the ribbons of red seeping into the water. Eros rushed to
Henry’s aid, slashing as many rizon as he could manage. Kenrya, Aston, and the
others joined him as he fought to save the old man. With one chosen prey, the
rizons’ concentrated efforts were powerful and frenzied. Henry screamed as the
razor-sharp teeth sunk into his limbs.

Prizene and Tip watched
horrorstruck from the safe path. “We have to do something,” Tip cried. “Give me
your sword, I will save him!” He held out his hand to Prizene for her sword.

She stared at him with the look a
mother would give a small child. Tip reached for her sword, but stopped when a
far-away look glazed her eyes. Then she focused on him again with
determination.

“Cover your ears!” she ordered.

The others failed to hear her over
the screams of the man and the beasts. Without waiting, Prizene filled her
lungs, knelt near the water, and hit a note so high that not even the strongest
glass could endure it. The sound waves from the note penetrated the water and
halted the creatures’ attack mere moments before the end of old Henry’s life. All
the rizon screeched in pain and thrashed in the water, desperate to escape the
sound. The others fell to their knees and covered their ears as quickly as they
could. The rizon abandoned their prey and retreated swiftly in the direction
opposite the safe path. Prizene held the note long enough for Eros and Aston to
pull Henry from the water and the group to cover the remaining ten yards back
to the path. Once her breath ran out, she stood to give the others a hand.