The Vaetra Chronicles: Book 01 - Vaetra Unveiled (26 page)

We eventually reached the clearing with the fire pit. As we approached, a mental image of Tam lying dead with his father's dagger in his chest made my steps falter. I started to rethink my insistence on going this way, and I was about to stop Meldon when he dropped into a crouch. He waved his free hand behind him, motioning me to get down and be quiet.

We were just a few paces back from where the trail opened up into the clearing. My view was obscured by the undergrowth, but through the branches and leaves, something moved in the clearing. I didn't need to see the whole animal to recognize the unmistakable reddish coat of a whitetail deer.

Meldon pulled back his arrow part way and shuffled forward a step for a clearer view. A stick snapped beneath his foot, and we both froze.

We were too close. The deer heard the snap and leaped out of the clearing, its white tail flashing upward. Meldon stood and pulled the arrow back the rest of the way in one smooth motion. He took aim, but then immediately released the bowstring tension and pointed the arrow at the ground. I stood up behind him.

"Did it get away?" I asked.

"No. I might have been able to take her down, but it was a pregnant doe."

I nodded my understanding. It was spring, and fawning season was very close. Most responsible hunters only took bucks this time of year, giving the herd the opportunity to raise their young until autumn.

"We still have a ways to go. We may get lucky yet," I consoled him.

He nodded and walked forward into the clearing. I followed more slowly.

We both stood looking around the clearing. I found myself holding my breath as more memories of Tam and that day came flooding back. I could see no evidence of the struggle. Even the glass from the shattered potion bottle had been cleaned up from around the fire pit. Jergen and Alain had been thorough in their cover-up.

"Good place to camp." Meldon commented.

"Yeah, it would be," I said heavily. "Let's keep moving."

We continued toward the road. I noticed small wedge-shaped divots along the trail, left behind by the running doe.

As we approached the road, Meldon dropped into a crouch again and signaled me to do the same. I was thinking we might get our deer yet when the clop of approaching horses and a man's voice floated into the trees. Outsiders? The Protector spell from my amulet flared and my hand went immediately to my sword hilt.

Meldon readied his bow again and eased forward. I followed him a pace behind. He peered carefully through the trees at the riders on the road.

He sat back and turned to me. "Five riders that I see. Looks like three guards, a woman, and an old man. One of the guards could be real trouble, and the woman is wearing armor too."

I nodded and whispered. "Take out the guard that worries you first. Do you think you'll have time for more than one shot?"

He nodded back and held up 2 fingers.

"Two shots?" I asked, and he nodded again. "Okay. Try to get the two most worrisome guards. Do any of them have range weapons?"

"Yes. One of the men has a bow, and the woman has a crossbow, but neither is ready," he whispered back.

I could hear the horses getting closer. We had no time to lose.

"After your first shot, I'm going to step around you and charge them from the side. I'll go for whichever guard remains after your second shot. Then you drop your bow and get out there to help me."

"Got it," he said.

Meldon moved forward and started to take aim. As I got into position to go around him, a woman's voice echoed across the road to me.

Sulana?

Meldon had said he saw three men and a woman, plus an old man. I didn't know who the old man might be, but I started to feel pretty sure that I knew who the three men and the woman were.

The Protector spell surged through my mind again. They were outsiders. They were armed and dangerous; a clear threat to the village. I tried to fight the spell's influence and reach for Meldon, but I could hardly make my arm move. I started to panic as I realized that I wouldn't be able to stop Meldon from taking his first shot.

With outsiders so close, I was finding it nearly impossible to overcome the amulet's influence. I had no choice. There was only one thing I could do. I grabbed my amulet and said, "Stop," in full voice, loud enough for Meldon to hear. I successfully severed my channel to the amulet at the same time.

My command startled Meldon just as he released his arrow. My heart sank as it arced away toward the riders.

My amulet went silent and disorientation hit me for a moment. As my head cleared, I heard a shout from the road, and then I realized Meldon was staring at me. He dropped his bow, pulled his dagger, and leaped toward me.

"Outsider!" he shouted in my face as I grabbed the wrist of his hand that held the dagger. He tried to strike me with his other fist and I blocked the blow with my forearm. His rush had caught me off guard, and I tripped as I took a step back from him. We both fell to the ground struggling.

Meldon was far stronger than I imagined. I had to use both hands to keep his dagger away, which gave him the opportunity to get in a punch to my face, which made my head ring and my cheek throb. During our struggle, his amulet slid out from under his tunic. The amulet swung tantalizingly in the space between us as he raged over me.

My target in sight, I took a calculated risk. I grabbed his amulet with my right hand, leaving just my left to hold back his dagger. I tried to yank the amulet free, but I had no leverage and the chain was too strong.

Meldon growled when I pulled on his amulet. He took his free hand and grabbed my neck, his fingers digging into my throat. Right away, my vision darkened and I started to see stars.

This was not at all how I imagined this confrontation would go.

If only I could tell Meldon to stop the flow of vaetra to his amulet as I had. But even if I could get the words out with his hand around my throat, I wasn't sure he was capable of controlling the flow. Sulana had said I was a Channeler. I was able to channel vaetra into the Seeker, and now I had control over my amulet as well. Was Meldon a Channeler in addition to being a Sensitive?

Several thoughts converged at once. In my mind's eye, Lord Thoron placed the vaetra-draining device under Sati's shoulder and activated it; he was able to control devices that worked on other people. I remembered starting and stopping the Seeker. I knew the sensation of controlling my channel with the amulet, which now sat impotently on my chest. Could I shut down Meldon's amulet
for
him?

I focused my thoughts and stared straight into Meldon's glaring eyes. I imagined stopping his flow of vaetra into his amulet, which I still held tightly, and I said, "Stop." But the word came out as a grunt as Meldon leaned in to put more pressure on my neck.

I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness. With the last of my fading strength, I pressed the fist that held the amulet hard into Meldon's chest. I pushed him back just enough to release some of the pressure from my neck. I focused on shutting down Meldon's channel to his amulet and tried to stop it again.

This time the word came out as a hoarse croak, but it was clear. Meldon's amulet fell silent.

Meldon's grip loosened and I quickly pushed him off me, scuttling back away from him on the ground. He sat down hard and dropped his dagger, putting both hands up to press on the sides of his head. He swayed for a moment, and then he slowly looked up at me.

We both sat there panting and staring at one another for a few moments.

"By the spirits, Jaylan. What did they do to us?"

***

My head was still spinning, but I was so relieved to see Meldon in control of his own thoughts again that I nearly hugged him. But before I could answer his question about what had happened to us, another voice spoke from the trailhead a few paces away.

"Jaylan?" I looked up to see Sulana, lowering her crossbow as she said my name. Daven stood next to her with his bow still drawn and aimed at Meldon.

"He seems to be more capable than you let on, Sulana." The words came from the deep voice of a tall old man standing just behind Sulana. The old man was dressed in a flowing tunic and pants.

Sulana looked back and forth between Meldon and me. "So it seems. Are you alright?" she asked, eyeing my disheveled appearance.

I stood up and brushed at my clothes. I rubbed my neck, which felt raw and bruised. "I think so. My attempt to rescue Meldon didn't quite go as planned." I stopped suddenly and looked at the newcomers, noting that Talon and Barek were not among them. "Meldon's arrow didn't hit anyone did it?"

Sulana shook her head. "No, but it barely missed Barek."

Good. My warning shout as Meldon released the arrow must have spoiled his shot.

Meldon pulled the amulet's chain over his head and threw it down the trail. He looked over at Sulana and the old man, his gaze lingering on the man. He put his head down between his knees and muttered helplessly into the ground. "Great. Another sorcerer."

The man looked at Sulana with a grimace. "How does everyone know that? Do I have 'sorcerer' written on my forehead?"

Sulana laughed. "No, but you do look the part." She motioned for Daven to drop his aim, and she handed her crossbow to him. She walked past Meldon and bent to retrieve his amulet. She brushed the dirt off of it and looked it over before walking back to the old man and handing it to him. "Jaylan, this is Ebnik, a friend of mine and a wizard of the Archives. Ebnik, this is Jaylan, the man I was trying to find in Northshore."

"Good to meet you," I said, uncertain if I really meant it.

"Hello Jaylan," he said. He looked at the amulet around my neck and then back to the one in his hands. "What can you tell me about these amulets?"

Meldon looked up at Ebnik. "They're evil!"

Ebnik glanced at Meldon and raised his eyebrows, but waited for my answer.

"This is Meldon," I said. "I won't disagree with him about the amulets being evil. Once Lord Thoron activates them, they take over your mind."

"Lord Thoron?" Sulana and Ebnik said in unison.

Sulana looked at Ebnik and narrowed her eyes in thought. "Paeter Thoron?" she asked.

Ebnik snorted. "Who else? That explains a lot. Paeter always was rather good with mind control incantations. And his skills as a Smith are uncontested." He shook the amulet in emphasis.

"Smith?" I asked.

"Yes, a few of our kind are able to create vaetric implements, or 'magical devices' as some would have it, like this one. Those sorcerers are known as Smiths. Without them, Channelers like Sulana, and yourself, would have no way to create vaetric manifestations. You provide the vaetra; the implement provides the incantation."

"Like the Seeker?" I asked.

"Exactly. Seekers are also vaetric implements, enchanted with a seeking incantation." He held up the amulet. "Could you describe the effects of these amulets?"

I nodded. I was all too familiar with "the effects of these amulets."

I explained how Lord Thoron had activated the amulets with two trigger words and what had happened to my mind as each enchantment took hold. I told him about how I had finally disabled my amulet that morning, and how I had come up with a plan to release Meldon as well.

Ebnik listened carefully, asking a few questions along the way. When I completed my story, he took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm impressed you were able to accomplish all of that with no training. But then, if you'd had training, the amulet would never have been a threat to you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You are just learning to channel. If you had full control over your own flow of vaetra, you could have prevented the amulet from activating. Even if you had allowed it to activate, the 'separation of awareness' you spoke of would have been present from the beginning, and you could have disabled the amulet at any time."

My cheeks grew warm as I considered the unnecessary risk my ignorance was creating.

Ebnik seemed to read my thoughts. "Don't feel bad, Jaylan. You did quite well, actually. In fact, I'm surprised you were able to disable Meldon's amulet. How did you know to do that?"

I explained how my memory of Lord Thoron draining vaetra from the village woman made me realize that he was able to control a device that worked on someone else. In retrospect, I realized that was essentially what he had done when he put the amulet on me as well.

"Besides, Meldon was about to kill me and I had nothing to lose by trying," I concluded.

I looked over at Meldon to find that he was staring at me, an incredulous look on his face. "You're one of them?" he asked. "You're a sorcerer?"

I opened my mouth to deny it, but stopped myself and shook my head. "I honestly don't know, Meldon. I have these abilities I didn't ask for. Ignoring them hasn't been working out very well so far."

T
he five of us went out to the road and met up with Barek and Talon at the entrance to the trail. We made introductions and then settled into the business of deciding what to do next.

Barek looked around the group. "We have plenty of strength for a frontal assault. We could end this quickly."