The Spirit of Revenge (11 page)

Silas leaned back against the tree and began stabbing his knife into a root in habitual thought. “Why were there so many Arzecs in the first place?”

In the heat of the moment, this fact had gone unnoticed to them. Yet as they pondered the question, they realized the peculiarity of it.

Arzecs have been in Kaanos and Charun for over four hundred years. They have always fought the Arzecs, yet never in such large numbers.

“They’re marching for Abraxas…” Aaron muttered with sudden realization. The greatest amassing of Arzecs any of them had ever witnessed could only mean this.

Abaddon intended to finally crush the capital of Charun and lay waste to the resistance of the South. If Abraxas falls, so too would Charun, and without the aid of Charun then Kaanos would fall as well. The Warriors returned each other’s gaze with widened eyes.

The woman on the edge of the camp suddenly stood up and notched an arrow. In the silent of the night, her stable breaths were easily heard. A faint plume of mist rose from her lips as the bowstring strained in her fingers.

With a slow release of her fingers, the scarcely visible projectile pierced the night and met its unseen target with a thud. A dying gasp reached their ears as the body of an Arzec fell dead to the earth.

The next morning the Warriors rose from their mats, eyes red with little sleep.

They ate a small ration of dried mutton and packed their rucksacks. As they prepared their horses for another day of riding, the girl walked over to them, having been gone since they had awoken.

“I found a trail that will lead us back to the river, but we will have to stay on higher ground for now.” The others nodded fervently in agreement, keen to avoid the Arzecs.

Cain saddled his horse and held his hand down for the girl. She smirked and jumped nimbly into the saddle behind him, his hand still extended in rejection. He pulled his arm back and shrugged lightly before flicking his horse’s reins, leading the group across the knoll.

The travelers followed a small path that ran down a steep hillside before leading them to a stream. They crossed the brook, their hooves plodding through its shallow waters.

They soon rode into a wooded dell. Their steps were instantly stifled in the moist forest floor. The earth around them was covered in a thick blanket of fallen autumn leaves. Brilliant hues of orange, yellows, and scarlet painted across the forest floor as if a great brush had swept them across the canvas of this early dawn.

Surrounding them were the skeletal remnants of trees, long since made victims of the shifting seasons. Dew clung to their overhanging branches, raining down on the travelers as they rode.

“So,” Cain said to the girl as they guided their horses through the trees. “Why are you still with us? You already saved our lives. That should be enough.”

She thought for a moment. “Why not? Always being lost, chased by Arzecs, constantly cheating death…you’re too much fun. Besides, I was told to find you and stay with you.”

“By who?” He asked with raised brow.

“You ask a lot of questions…” She answered in return. He opened his mouth to comment but shrugged off her newfound revelation.

“Well why don’t you talk to us?” He began anew.

She smiled at this. “I’m talking to you now aren’t I?”

“Aye…”

“You seem sad. Why is that?” Cain shook his head and reined his horse around the last of the trees. “I’m beginning to wish I didn’t save your lives…”

The travelers came to a rise in the road, and through the barren branches of the trees, they saw a ridge of hills looming in the distance.

“We’ll follow this path to those hills there, we’ll be safer on higher ground. The Arzecs have no choice but to follow the ravines.”

They followed her command and continued down the leaf-strewn path. The barren trees rained mist upon the riders that softly kissed their skin. Leaves sailed the wisps of cool wind that trickled into the gully, vivid shades of autumn brushing past. After following the dell for several minutes, it began sloping upwards at a steeper angle.

Their horses began fighting to ascend the slippery slope as mud clawed about their hooves. After several minutes of labored climbing, they reached the crest of the hills.

A vast stretch of rolling knolls splayed before them and rolled over the horizons. A sea of grass danced in the morning gale, waves of emerald rippling across the rolling landscape. A large river poured from the mouth of the Crossroads on their right, its waters now flowing calm and languid into the north.

“Three more days of riding will put us at Abraxas. The Arzecs we had the misfortune of meeting are certainly marching for the capital. We have to warn them in time.”

“You know of our destination?”

“I know a lot of things, Cain Taran,” she replied.

His eyes lit up at this, befitting the reaction she anticipated. “How do you know my name?”

“Again, you ask too many questions,” she curtly retorted. Cain tore his gaze from her, struck with the same blunt edge for the second time. The girl laughed and said, “We need to get moving. We have a country to save.”

Cain threw each of his friends a strip of salted venison and sat down on his saddlebag. The five of them stretched dramatically, weary from another day of riding.

They had traveled several leagues in short work, riding west over the ever-changing countryside of Charun. The wilderness encompassed them for hundreds of miles, not a village to be seen.

The four of Andaurel had long since tired of this constant force of solitude, ever present and forever indomitable. It seemed beneath the stars and silver clouds that they were alone in their endeavors. What they felt beneath those stars that night was not too far from truth.

The woman approached the group. “Mind if I sit?” Cain shook his head and she stabbed her sword in the ground before sitting down beside him. She crossed her arms, unable to mask the unease in her eyes.

“You ready to talk?” He asked her.

The girl nodded and looked at each of them in turn. “My name is Adriel Ivanne…I was sent out to guide and protect you on your way to Abraxas.”

“We don’t need protection,” Joshua retorted.

“Oh really!” Adriel chided with a denouncing cry. “I think since you-”

“Calm down, both of you!” Cain ordered, cutting her reproach short. The group fell silent.

Aaron turned to the girl and bowed his head. “I think what our friend here means to say is that it’s nice to meet you, Adriel.” She smiled in return.

“Continue,” Cain urged.

She glared at Joshua a moment before continuing. “I was informed that you were traveling to Abraxas,” she began. “I was told nothing more than that…only that you needed a guide to cross Charun safely. So I set out to find you. I’ve been tracking you since.”

Cain looked at her curiously. “Who told you this?”

“My father,” she replied. Cain returned her gaze as if gesturing for elaboration. “Ethebriel, the king of Kaanos.” The Warriors stared at her in bewilderment.

“Ethebriel is your father?” Silas asked.

“I just told you that didn’t I?” Adriel replied sharply. “The day you left Dun Ara, he said I needed to follow you and guide your way so you can do whatever the hell it is you’re doing.”

Joshua glowered at her and grunted with discontent, “We’ve been soldiers for over ten years; none of this is new to us. We don’t need your help, girl, you’ll only get yourself killed.” Adriel opened her mouth to comment but Cain interrupted her.

“Yes Joshua, I think we do need her. She saved our lives once already. She guided us through the Crossroads and she has kept us from the Arzecs this far. She may prove invaluable.” A cautious smile pulled at her lips as he finished.

“If we can trust her…” Silas added.

“Trust is hard to find,” Aaron finished, “need is the only thing we have, and we need a guide.”

Cain nodded at him. Silas shrugged his acceptance at this and Joshua tossed his hand, relenting.

“Good, now that that’s settled,” Adriel said after a tense silence. “Now you have to talk.”

Cain glanced at his friends before replying, “I’m sure Ethebriel has his reasons for not telling you what we’re doing.”

“I knew you would say that,” Adriel replied airily. “All right…well, I will see you in the morning,” she said as she stood up. “Good night.” She walked away and stopped at the edge of the hill. She pulled her cloak close and lay down in the grass.

The others lay down on their mats with a wearied sigh. Cain passed a hand through his hair and glanced over at the girl before returning to his bed.

The next morning they woke to Adriel shaking them violently from their sleep. “We need to get moving,” she ordered as they stood up and stretched with displeasure. “We’re about two days from Abraxas. We have to get there before the Arzecs.”

Joshua ignored her plea for urgency and dug through his rucksack. “Dried food again…” He muttered as he stuffed a slice of crusty bread between his portly cheeks. Silas glanced at him and blinked tiredly at his food, stretching dramatically for a moment before tossing the bread over his shoulder.

As the sun rose over the horizon, they packed their rucksacks and loaded them onto their saddles before mounting their horses.

Cain held out his hand for Adriel and she looked at him for a moment and slowly accepted his hand. He lifted her into the saddle behind him, her long legs whipping over his back. He nodded at her and spurred his horse away from their camp. They descended the knoll and guided their horses around a series of hills.

“Ethebriel told me much about you,” Adriel whispered into his ear as they rode on through the morning.

“And what did he say?”

She paused a moment before replying. “He said you were very pigheaded.” Cain laughed at this. “He was always able to look at someone and know who they really are…but he said you’re a hard man to figure out. If even my father cannot make sense of you, then you must be a very complicated man indeed.”

“Well if I’m complicated, then you’re impossible,” he jested. She glared at him with crossed arms and fought a smile.

“What else did he say?” He asked after a while.

“He said you are filled with hate…and that if you continue on the path you have set for yourself, revenge will surely destroy you.” Cain’s smile quickly faded. He turned from her and looked up at the cloudless sky. The thing was; he could see the truth in that.