The Spirit of Revenge (12 page)

The sun slowly fell to the horizon, painting its bloody rays across a mural of opaque clouds. The travelers came to a small cluster of tree-covered hills and rode through them. As the light of day faded, they reined their horses to a stop and dismounted.

They led their horses over to the foot of the largest hill and removed their saddles. After tethering their horses to a tree, they climbed the hill.

They came atop the breadth of a great hillock, its far splayed crown stretching for hundreds of yards over flat fields. Miles of open countryside lay before them, endless hills, trees, and plains stretching far beyond the fading horizon.

They dropped their rucksacks and crumpled exhausted to the ground. Joshua passed a handful of biscuit between them and they finished this pitiable ration with a handful of dried fruits. They lay back on their mats with a flourish.

Adriel removed her armor and tossed it aside. A silk tunic and long skirt rippled in the breeze like fresh fallen snow. She sat down in the grass and removed her knee-high boots.

A discomfited silence enveloped them as they searched for something to break the lapse in conversation.

“My uncle told me what happened to all of you at Andaurel…I’m deeply sorry.” They looked up at her angrily. She immediately fell quiet, aware of what she had done.

“All right…remind me to never bring that one up again,” she noted under her breath.

The men slowly shook off the memories and fell quiet for several lengthy minutes. “Is there anything I can say that’s right?” The men continued to ignore her. “Come on…I’m trying here. First you’re mad because I won’t talk and now you’re mad that I am.” She fell silent, plucking her bowstring with tense fingers. She lifted her knees from the dirt and laid an arm over them, resting her cheek against it.

After a while, she lifted her head up and looked at them. “So what did all of you do before…this?” They acknowledged her continuous effort to communicate. They shrugged at each other and decided in their minds that it was a harmless question.

“Well,” Aaron began, “I was a farrier, for a time. My mother died in childbirth so I never knew her. My father, Sable Hayden, was always ill. I took up his carpentry practice but I could not afford to take care of him. Silas helped me get through between pay however…” He finished and glanced over at his friend.

“My brother,” Silas gestured toward Joshua, “and I never knew our parents. They deserted us when we were young, and Cain’s parents helped us through our rough childhood. We were Andaurel’s only blacksmiths, we made everything and anything for our people…I found a value in these skills and took an interest in fashioning weapons. I even made Joshua’s axe.” He picked up his Sitar from beside him. Its four pronged blades glistened in the starlight. “I made this as well. It took me several months to construct it but it is one-of-a-kind, an invention of my own.”

Adriel nodded and turned to Cain curiously. “And what of you?”

He looked back at her austerely. “I’ve always been a soldier, fighting this war is all I’ve known.”

“Surely there’s more?” Adriel asked with a blunt push of words.

Cain replied, “Aaron’s father and my parents were killed twenty two years ago in an attack on Andaurel. All the children, including the four of us, were evacuated. Our city was lost. I vowed to avenge my family’s deaths and when I came of age, I joined the Army to fight against Abaddon’s injustices.

‘My friends here joined a few years after I did. They were a part of the Andrus Defense Brigade and I was eventually transferred and put in charge of their battalion.

‘Circumstances later forced us to join the Kaanos Outriders. We have traveled our country for the last five years, defending her people and scouting for enemy forces. We have killed many Arzecs and lost many men, all in the name of this senseless war. I have always fought her battles with little self-doubt, but after this last attack on Andaurel…I couldn’t handle the loss.”

“What happened?” Adriel asked; curiosity now peaked.

Aaron shook his head hurriedly. “It’s best not to bring that up…”

“Why not?” She asked, perplexed.

“Don’t you take a hint?” Joshua snapped.

Adriel’s gaze fell, stricken by this fierce and sudden reprimand. The group drew quiet again. A constant breeze blew across the hilltop, grass rippling in the whispers of wind. They drew their cloaks closer, desperate for warmth in the bitter winter’s night.

Cain eventually stood up and left the group. “Cain…” Adriel started as he crossed the hilltop.

Cain turned and looked the girl over. “Look, none of us need you, we don’t even know you. We never asked for you to stay.” He stepped over the hill’s shoulder, the night engulfing him.

Cain stood amid a cluster of trees, cradled in the dark of night. He leered down the shaft of an arrow, bow trained on the knot of a nearby tree. His calculated breaths rose as a mist before him, carried softly away by a cold draft.

The cloth of his fingerless gloves tensed as he pulled his bowstring back to his cheek, and with a final exhale, he released the arrow. The projectile shot just shy of its target, embedding its broad head in the soft underbelly of the oak.

The rustle of leaves reached his ears and Cain turned to see Adriel approaching. He turned his attention back to the knotted tree and notched another arrow. He pulled the string back quickly, breaths now hastened. He released this second arrow, again missing its target.

Adriel appeared beside him, bow raised and ivory arrow pulled back to its neck. The girl flicked her fingers and sent the arrow center of its mark. She turned to Cain and smiled.

“Come to show off…” He asked as he began walking towards the tree.

“No,” she replied and followed him. “I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Of course not.”

“Honest. I let my curiosity best me. I’m sorry.”

Cain nodded and stopped before the tree, pulling an arrow from its breast before returning it to its quiver.

“Do you always shoot defenseless trees in your spare time?”

“Only when I need to think,” he answered as he pulled the second arrow free with a grunt. “And you can see where that gets me.”

Adriel laughed at this and retrieved her arrow. The two began weaving through the trees, walking silently through the still night.

“Did you mean what you said back on the hill?”

Cain thought for a moment. “No, no I didn’t. I don’t know anything about you of course, but regardless, we need you.”

Adriel nodded in satisfaction and returned her gaze to the moonlit trees before them. “Whatever happened to you in Andaurel must have been heartbreaking…”

Cain remained silent. Together, they left the trees and ascended the hill to their camp. As they reached the top, a brilliant glow awaited them.

Joshua and Silas sat around a campfire, bantering loudly at the other. Silas tossed a bundle of brushwood into the fire, its flames leaping up to engulf the fresh fodder. Joshua held a strip of venison over the flames, quickly burning his hand. He dropped his meal in the fire with a yelp and clenched his hand.

“What the hell are you doing?” Adriel screamed.

“Not freezing my ass off for once, that’s what!” Joshua replied.

“You idiots!” scolded Adriel as she kicked the fire, dispersing the burning wood. She began frantically stamping out the fire.

“I tried to stop them!” Aaron cried as he rushed over and poured his water skin over the blaze.

A distant horn suddenly rang in the night. Its strident note echoed over the hills, stopping the Warriors in their tracks.

Joshua lurched over the fire and grabbed the girl’s leg as she struggled to stamp out the fire’s remains. “Get off me!” The girl demanded.

The distant horn blew again, this time much closer. The Warriors could no longer ignore its presence. They dove to the earth as a great light appeared on the horizon.

“What is that?” Silas whispered.

Aaron turned to him with graven unease. “Torches…”

Through the darkness, thousands upon thousands of torches poured over the fields. Their radiant, ruddy lights amassed like the sun confound in darkness. Twenty thousand Arzecs marched across the plains, the earth bemoaning a mournful cry beneath the weight of so great a punishment.

The horn blew again as the Arzecs spotted the distant glow of the Warrior’s fire. Like a beacon in the night, it flashed atop the tallest of hills.

“We have to get out of here!” Adriel screamed over the now fierce blowing horn.

The Warriors bound to their feet and hastily threw on their packs, sprinting down the hill to their horses.

“I didn’t know they were so close!” Silas cried as he shakily untied the knot to his horse’s lead. “We were a day ahead of them!”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Adriel explained as she climbed onto the horse after Cain, “Abraxas won’t be expecting an attack of this magnitude. We have to warn them!”

The Warriors whipped their reins and broke into a swift gallop, the mass of Arzecs not far behind.

They rode throughout the night, the hours quickly waning by. The landscape around them soon began to change from endless knolls of heather and grass to furrow fields of blackened earth.

They rode through the morphing terrain, ash and stone flying, a gray pillar of dust billowing forth from their horses’ hooves. “We’re getting close!” Adriel screamed out to the others over the rush of wind. They lashed their horses’ reins, urging them forward with every ounce of their strength.

The ground ahead of them stopped and disappeared over the edge of a cliff. They let out a cry and pulled on their reins in alarm. Their horses skidded to a stop before the edge of the cliff.

“Keep riding!” Adriel yelled in Cain’s ear.

“Are you insane?” He cried back.

She kicked their horse in its sides in response. Their horse cried out and jumped over the edge, falling onto the steep sloping cliff face. The others peered over the edge after them and watched as they came to a stop at the foot of the precipice.

They looked at each other with unease and hesitantly ushered their mounts over the edge. They landed on the rocky slope and began sliding down the steep cliff. The slope gradually leveled out and they soon came to a stop, breathless with exertion.

Adriel laughed as they rode up beside her. “We’re here.” The others looked up, awestruck at the sight before them.

They stood in the basin of a great crater, two hundred foot cliffs circling all around them. The steep walls blocked out most of the sun, bathing them in shadow. At the base of this crater was the capital stronghold of Charun.

Abraxas stood in the middle of the basin, its back wall merging into the immense cliff face behind it. Large gray stones formed its walls, worn with countless years. The front corners of the stronghold appeared like the heads of arrows, their triangular structures designed for maximum liberty within a limited space.

A great gorge stretched across the front of the fortress, one end tapering off and melding into the right corner of the stronghold. The other end of the chasm followed the walls of the fortress and disappeared around the farthest end of the keep.

One narrow bridge of stonework stretched across the gap, forcing the travelers to ride across single file. They carefully traversed it and came out into a small, rocky area that separated the gorge behind them and the fortress walls ahead by only a few yards.

A large gate stood before them, its solid iron face gleaming dully in the morning light. They stopped in the shadow of the fortress and peered up at its towering walls. Several archers roamed the causeways, gazing out over the crater’s edge.

Several guards noticed the travelers and peered down at them.

“You there!” Adriel cried out to them, “Open the gate!”

“Lady Ivanne! Of course!” A soldier replied. “But who are these that travel with you?”

“We are the soldiers Ethebriel sends to your aid! We are the Warriors!” Cain called up to the man. The guards stared at them a moment before ripping their gaze away, talking quietly amongst themselves.

“Are you going to open the gate or not?” Adriel shouted with agitation.

“Yes, right away!” The sentry replied before hurrying off. The guards below removed the gate’s bracer and pulled the doors slowly open. The Warriors reined their horses forward and guided them towards the fortress