The Phoenix Ring (The Thunderheart Chronicles Book 1) (18 page)

              Borin silenced the girl with a glare, but the words had their intended effect as the boys looked guiltily down at their stomachs.

              Borin cleared his throat.  "As you may already know, Argentah is the closest major city to the Camp, at about fifty miles.  Normally there would be villages around a city that large, but Argentah hasn’t appealed to anyone but merchants and bandits since the road was built.  Farmers avoid the place at all costs.  Aaliyah has been to the city twice before, so she will be able to guide you.  You shouldn't have to spend any more than one night there, but if you do then don't stay at the same lodgings.  Just because you're a sorcerer doesn't mean you're safe in a city of thieves."

              On that cheery note, Borin handed Aidan the map and was about to say something else when someone started shouting from beyond the camp wall.

              The front gates were opened, and a troop of amoghs led by Joshua ran into the fort, bearing a slightly chubby yet still handsome boy.  He looked the same as he had last night, with one difference.

              There was an arrow sticking out of his heart.

              Cook was dead.

12

              The mages instinctively ran forward, dropping to the ground where they had lain the slain amogh.

              The moment Aidan saw the boy, he knew that there was no hope of saving him.  The arrow had struck true, and the heart had probably shredded itself trying to beat on the sharp barbed tip.

             
"Saneo,"
Timothy said, putting his staff tip against the arrow.

              "You can't save him, you know.  Magic doesn't work on us."  Aaliyah said, for the first time with a hint of emotion other than loathing in her voice.

              "Maybe not," Aidan said, dropping down beside his friend, "But we have enough of a heart to try."

              The girl pursed her lips as Aidan let his own steady stream of power flow towards the boy's chest.  It was obviously hopeless, the magic dissipated three inches away from the amgoh's skin.

              Borin watched for a few moments before stepping forward.

              "Enough.  This has never happened in all the years that I have been this camp's master.  This arrow was obviously meant for one of you."

              "How do you know that?"  Timothy asked innocently.

              "Because," one of the boys said, viciously ripping out the arrow, "this tip is Rakka steel.  It's too expensive to waste on anything but a sorcerer."

              Timothy looked like he was going to throw up, and Aidan felt a bit queasy himself.

              "What do we know about the attackers?" he asked, swallowing a wave of nervous anticipation.

              "They were obviously amoghs," Joshua said, "The things they did and the way they operated… no one else could have done that.  I managed to wound one with an arrow, but that is all.  I sent a small team to try to lead them away from the Guardian, but if they don't leave soon then Cook's sacrifice will be for naught."

              Borin thought for a moment.

              "Aaliyah, the main trail will be too obvious, try to deviate from the path as much as common sense allows.  What is the enemy armed with?"

              "Each has a crossbow, sword or axe, and countless knives.  They are more than proficient in each one's use.  We saw four of them," Joshua said, unsheathing his own knife.  "I've wasted enough time, I must join my scouts."

              With that, he ran out the front gate, followed by two silent bowmen.

              "You'd better hurry," Borin said, looking at the mages.  "Godspeed, Aidan Dragonslayer."

              The three of them ran through the woods, the boys barely keeping up with Aaliyah.  The girl had set off from the camp running, and hadn't slowed the pace since, even after leaving the main path.               

              The girl's body seemed to glide as she moved through the forest.  She easily vaulted branches that Timothy and Aidan would have to push aside, never making a sound.  Aidan and Timothy, however, constantly had to pause to untangle their staffs or robes, and consistently ran into thorns, vines, and branches.

              It didn't make it any easier that both of them were trying to read their books of magic as they ran. Timothy faintly remembered hearing about a spell that could detect amoghs, but he didn't remember the wording or the type of magic. 

              "How much further?"  Timothy asked Aaliyah in between pants.

              "How should I know?  Whenever we find a good spot to hide."

              She saw it a few minutes later, in the form of a huge bush growing around a tree.  She grabbed the mages arms and shoved them under it, then followed herself.

              They had just stopped panting when a crossbow bolt slammed into the tree above their heads.

              "I know where you are, mages.  Come out or the next one goes in your head." said a voice from about twenty feet away.

              Timothy tensed himself to stand, but Aaliyah caught him.

              "We already know this man isn't afraid to kill.  If he knew where you were, you would already be dead.  Any luck on that spell, magic boy?"

              "Yes," Aidan whispered, "Give me a moment.”

              The spell, like so many, only involved one word,
vahailen,
freedom.  That didn't make it easy.  In order to actually complete the magic Aidan would have to separate his
Arror
from his body and let it roam free.
  If anything happened to his
Arror
, or he became too separated, then his body would die, leaving his life magic broken yet stuck, bound to the place of his death.

              "Any time would be great!"  Aaliyah hissed through clenched teeth, a blade in each hand.

              Aidan closed his eyes and let the magic flow through his veins.

              "
Vahailen,
" he whispered.

              The spell's reaction was not immediate, but gradual.  Slowly Aidan's hearing faded, and then, though he did not open his eyes, he began to see.

              Everything was a shade of gray, even the vibrant leaves.  Aidan turned around, and saw his own body.

              He jumped, startled, and flew ten feet in the air, before slowly settling down.

             
I'm a spirit.  I can do whatever I want!
             
He tried to grab a stick from a nearby tree, but he found he had no arms.  Actually, his entire being consisted of nothing more than a ball of light.

              Now that he looked closely, he could see that all the living creatures in the forest had a little light inside of them, from the mosquitoes flying around Timothy's head to the mole underground that no one seemed to notice.

              Timothy had one too, but it was tinged.  Black lines ran up and down it that were identical in color to a little ball of blackness in the packs.

             
Grogg.

              Then Aidan looked at Aaliyah. He hadn't expected to see anything there, why would an amogh have life magic?  He was wrong. Her
Arror
was the biggest and strongest of them all, pulsing with a unique sort of power.

             
I must be looking at our very souls.

              Aidan suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing and jumped into the air, above the trees.  He saw four souls, hurt and pierced by anger and greed, three about a mile away and one only fifteen feet.

              He fell back to the ground, next to his body.  He knew that the information he had just acquired was important, but he couldn't remember for what.  And it felt so peaceful here, as if he could just lie down and sleep…

              "Ow!" he tried to yell, but a hand was covering his mouth.  Aaliyah had been twisting his arm.

              "Sorry mate, but you were getting distant.  Do you know where he is?"  Timothy whispered.

              Aidan nodded, his vision beginning to feel more normal.

              "He's fifteen feet that way.  There are three more a mile back."

              Aaliyah let go and slipped out from under the bush, immediately seeming to disappear.

              The two mages glimpsed through the leaves, where they could just barely see the head of the man.  He had dark hair, massive muscles, and some sort of strange clothing that covered most of his body.  For a horrible second, Aidan was reminded of a dragon rider, laughing as he stood over the broken bodies of Eleanor and Timothy.

              Aidan saw movement in the trees above the murderer, a moment before he did.  By then it was too late.

              Aaliyah dropped down, unsheathing a gleaming knife from somewhere on her chest in midair, and landed on his back, one hand around his mouth and the other already making the fatal blow to his neck.

              Aidan reeled back in shock.  He had been expecting the amogh to knock the other man out with a blow to the head, maybe even to strangle the consciousness out of him, but to murder him was inconceivable.

              The mage ducked out of the bush and ran forward, grabbing the enemy's hand just as the last of the
Arror
left his broken body.

              "Why would you do that?"  Timothy asked, sounding as horrified as Aidan felt.

              "He was a threat," Aaliyah said, her eyes cold steel, "This is the man that killed Cook.  I was avenging a friend and protecting my charges at the same time."

              She stood and wiped the blood off of her hands and blade.

              "Come, we have a long journey ahead of us."

              That night, as the sun set over the canopy, Aidan sat with his back against a tree, sharpening his staff's blade.

              Aaliyah was laying in her hammock, twirling a dagger, and Timothy was cooking something with jerky and a few herbs over a fire.  Grogg was probably sitting near him, unseen to the human eye.

              "You're doing it wrong."  Aaliyah said, almost offhandedly.

              Aidan gritted his teeth and kept trying to sharpen the knife.  He and Timothy had been slogging after the amogh all day, and she hadn't said a word, not even when they stopped for the night.

              "No seriously!"  Aaliyah said, standing up and walking towards the mage.  "That's Rakka steal.  It's way tougher than other metals.  Look," she sat down and put her hand on top of Aidan's forcing him to  push down far harder on the whetstone, right on the tip of the blade.  It would have cracked or bent any other material, but the steel held firm.

              "Thanks," Aidan said grudgingly, trying to let some anger flow out of his body.  "How did you know?"

              "It's anti-magic, just like me."  Aaliyah said, fondly touching the tip.  "We can feel it."

              Aidan held the button and used the whetstone to push the blade into the staff.

              "Listen," he said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible, "I don't know if I ever did anything to you to make you want to kill me, but we're in this together whether we like it or not.  Can you please try not to hate me so much?"

              Aaliyah opened her mouth, a sharp reply ready, and then closed it again.

              "You're right," she said, in a perfectly even tempered voice, "I won't pick any fights, in return for one thing."

              "What's that?"  Aidan asked, wary of the response.

              "When we get to the city, I lead.  No matter what.  Deal?"  She asked, sticking out her hand.

              Aidan hesitantly grasped it.  "Deal."

              It was the next night that Grogg made his appearance.  They were all sitting around a campfire, roasting a rabbit that Aaliyah had managed to shoot with her bow.

              It had been a long day, but they had finally managed to get back on the main path.  At this rate, they should have been able to make it to the city the next day.