The Vitalis Chronicles: White Shores (24 page)

Alisia's eyelids scrunched up with her brow as she set her jaw and tightened her hands into fists. Then suddenly her eyes and fists opened simultaneously. Dozens of rocks varying in size from grapes to grapefruits flew from the bottom of the river at the pursuers, cracking skulls and thudding into stomachs.

She didn't wait around to see the full effect of her work. She was slower now, her energy sapped by the effort of lifting the rocks. She didn't see Ardin ahead and was momentarily distressed by his disappearance. She figured he would be waiting for her around the corner and near the top of the cliffs. It appeared there was a game trail through the draw; it curved into some tall rocks that sat on the one cliff in front of its taller neighbor.

“We almost have time to rest,” she said lightly as she got closer to him. She could only really see his legs. “But we shouldn't. Let's get out of here, Ardin. Ardin?”

She rounded the small corner to where she could see him better, sitting in the tall grass with his head on his chest.

“Stop sleeping, let's go!”

He didn't respond as she knelt next to him and noticed the darkened cloth around his shoulder. She frowned as she pulled him forward to find a deep hole in his back. Ardin Vitalis wasn't going anywhere.

A
LISIA FELT THE
urge to run but fought it back. She ran to the corner again to see where the Hunters were at, but it looked like they were busy tending to their own wounded. She ran back to Ardin and knelt in front of him again, pushing him upright to try and talk to him.

“Ardin?” she said gently. “Ardin, can you hear me?”

He was breathing shallowly. He groaned softly as she pulled him forward again. Blood curdled subtly through his teeth. The hole in his back was right by the shoulder blade. It looked painful, she thought, as she pulled at the torn shirt.

She hadn't developed much in the way of healing powers but she needed to do something fast if she was going to have any worthwhile effect. Alisia placed her hands over his shoulder on his back and closed her eyes. She had no idea how to get the bullet out. She couldn't very well rip his shoulder open to get to it.

She prayed for a moment, knowing there was little she could do. But as she did so she could feel the warmth enter her hands. Almost as if of its own volition, the sensation continued until it made her fingertips tingle, and then concentrated in her palms over the wound. She could feel the tissue quiver and before she knew it, something was protruding from his shoulder and into her hand. Surprised, she opened her eyes to find the spent slug ready to be pulled out. It was still hot to the touch.

She put it down hurriedly and worked hard to remember how to mend broken flesh. She focused as she twisted her flattened hands over the hole in his back. Ardin groaned as the heat built up and spread to his shoulder. She could feel it mend, slowly but surely the muscles were latching back onto themselves across the gap and blood began to flow.

She opened her eyes finally, exhausted but satisfied. The wound wasn't fully healed, it wasn't even entirely closed up, but he would live for now at least. Ardin sat up tentatively on his own, wincing as his shoulder blade moved back into place.

“Ow.”

“Happy to see you too.” She patted his knee and gave him the last of their water. He took it tenderly, spitting out a bloody mess with the first pull, but it seemed to revive him a little.

“I feel like I got stuck with a spear.” He tried to reach his shoulder with his good hand but she gently intercepted it.

“Could have been worse,” she said. “And it will get worse if we don't get going. Can you move?”

“Yeah,” he grunted as he tried to get his feet under him. “Just gimme a second.”

Ardin stood slowly, an inch at a time, but he managed to get up. Once he stopped teetering, he lifted his head and gave her a little smile. He said he thought he could move and started walking slowly down the trail, until she corrected him gently and pointed him in the right direction.

They got walking, and slowly he picked up the pace until he was moving fairly briskly. Not without an almost permanent grimace on his face, however.

“How'd you manage that?” he asked as they moved along the path that took them through the tall boulders.

“Manage what?”

“To get the slug out of me. I could feel it burning away in my chest until I passed out.”

“Oh. I don't know, to be honest,” she said.

They continued on in relative silence, broken only by Ardin's occasional grunt or gasp whenever he took a misstep. The path took them out onto a ledge that narrowed as it went around a cliff that bulged towards the river and soared over their heads. The Rent moved lazily along below to their left, as far below them now as they were away from it.

So far they hadn't seen any sign of Khrone's Hunters, but Alisia wasn't going to take any chances and pressed Ardin onward. It wouldn't take long for them to catch up if they regrouped before the day was through.

The sun began to lower itself towards the cliffs in front of them as they wandered west and south with the river. She didn't know how much time they had before the sun set. They would be forced to stop once it did. Any misstep in the dark could send them plummeting to their death.

Ardin seemed to be growing in strength despite the pain that was intertwined inextricably with his expressions. They rounded the face of the large cliff and were brought back in among a set of boulders. The path led up into a draw running to the right of some shorter cliffs.

“Let's take a break, eh?” he asked as he put his hand out on one of the boulders.

“We need to keep moving, Ardin.”

“Just a minute,” he said through panting breaths. “I feel like if I just get a few minutes, I'll feel a lot better for it.”

Alisia looked up towards the sun as it continued waning, then back at Ardin who was almost doubled over in an effort to catch his breath.

“Alright, but only a minute,” she capitulated to his need as she moved behind him to inspect his wound.

Pulling aside his torn shirt she could see that it was still oozing a bit but was looking better than it had a few minutes ago. How it was healing so quickly was beyond her, she had only known humans to take a long time to mend.

“Man,” he said as he stood up and arched his back, hands pushing forward as if to help. He seemed to have regained some range of motion with his arm.

“I always thought getting shot would hurt, but holy crap.”

Alisia laughed at that, half from relief. He was proving a lot tougher than she'd given him credit for.

“Well then, mister. I think it's time we get back on the trail. If we hurry we could make it to the Delta by nightfall.”

The thought brought a mixed sense of comfort and uncertainty to Ardin.

“Alright,” he said finally. “I'm just glad it'll be dark when we get there.”

“Why's that?”

“I have a feeling that our pictures are floating around by now.”

“Have you ever been to the Delta before, Ardin?”

“No.”

“It's not exactly the kind of place you need to be concerned with law enforcement if you're trying to avoid them.” She smiled as the thought took Ardin aback. “We'll be fine. But we need to move. Are you ok to get going?”

He stretched again and grimaced before saying he was ready. They were gaining ground as they worked their way higher into the cliffs, the Rent shrinking steadily below them as they continued on.

C
APTAIN ANDERS KEATON
was furious to say the least as he crouched over the burned corpse of one of his Hunters. It reflected the carnage back in the White Forests. It boiled any good Hunter's blood to find the handiwork of one of the hated Magi. Especially when it involved one of their own, and Sam had been as good a man as he was a soldier.

As angry as Keaton was, he worked not to show it. His demeanor had to remain calm. If not for his own sake, then for the sake of his men.

The last thing he needed was for them to feel his implied consent to their thirst for revenge. He had been ordered to bring the little Magess back alive, and that was what he would do. Lucius, on the other hand, he was certain, wasn't so keen on the orders.

He walked over to the lieutenant who sat on a log recovering from his own burns. He had been the lucky one in the mess, though Keaton thought that was unfortunate. He'd take a man like Sam over one like Lucius any day of the week. Hell, he'd take a donkey over Lucius.

“So are you ready to tell me what happened here?”

Lucius looked up tentatively over his hands before putting his face back in them, he groaned lightly. “I'm feeling pretty beat up here, Chief.”

“Not as beat up as you're going to feel if you don't start talking, Lucius.”

Keaton grabbed the lieutenant's shoulder and shoved him against the tree behind. The man groaned again as his singed leather armor stretched reluctantly, peeling away from his burns as it did so. He had been lying in the grass for the past few hours and stank to high heavens.

“I lost a great man today, Lucius, a great man that I'd trade you in for in a heartbeat. And by the looks of things your negligence is to blame.”

“What the hell are you talking about, sir?”

“Where's your
MARD
stick, you bastard?”

“Oh hell sir,” he coughed. “It wasn't the little Witch that we were on to.”

“Well you obviously found her in spite of the fact.” Anders Keaton shoved his lieutenant against the tree one last time as he stood up. “And since you didn't find it necessary to activate your damned
MARD
before approaching them I've lost another man!”

The captain knelt again. The moonlight glistened, captured by the radio antennae housed decoratively in the small wings that flew back from his temples.

“You realize I've never lost a man under my command, Lieutenant? And now your stupidity has cost me that record.”

Lucius glared daggers at his commanding officer. He hated the man; too straight for his own good. Besides, the only reason he had never lost a man was because this generation of Khrone's had hardly ever seen any action. He wished he'd never been transferred to Captain Anders Keaton's squad; he'd wished that often. If it wasn't for the other Hunters lurking around he would have been tempted to make an opening in the chain of command right then and there.

“You could be glad you didn't lose us both, sir.”

“I suppose I could.” Keaton looked off into the trees.
But I'm not.

Lucius had been a thorn in his side the past few months, he felt like he had to keep a constant eye on the man. He was always looking for new and creative ways to bend the rules. And he was cruel, to say the least.

“Why didn't you call for us, or at least wait for reinforcements?”

“Just wanted to get on with it, I guess, sir.”

What he meant was he wanted to do what he would without prying eyes, Keaton thought.

“Even after you got your heads kicked in back in the forest? You were supposed to be checking in on them, Lucius. Not leading death to their doorstep!”

“Guess we've just had a bad day.”

Keaton stopped himself, rubbing his eyes and working to regain his composure. There was no point in beating Lucius about the head now. It was a waste of time.

“Where were they headed?”

“Hell if I know sir.” Lucius almost took pleasure in disappointing. “I've been laying about for a while now.”

Keaton turned and ordered one of the other Hunters to escort Lucius to a nearby outpost. He hated to spend another man on this mess but he didn't have much choice if he was to make sure the lieutenant made it back alive.

He was down five men now, seven if he included Lucius and his escort. And though he was confident he could get the job done with the remaining four, he wasn't so sure that five men would be enough to handle the Magess and her friend. He hadn't been so sure that they were traveling together until now, but it complicated things. Especially if the kid was a citizen of Elandir or one of the towns under her protection.

After Lucius had hobbled off with the help of the other Hunter, Keaton ordered his remaining men to sleep. They'd been running through the foothills for the past few days with little rest and he figured they wouldn't have to work too hard to catch up with their prey now. Sleep was elusive, his dreams making it fitful. As was so often the case, the morning came all too soon. They packed up what little gear they carried as dawn warmed the horizon, and prepared to start off.

“Will. Come here,” he addressed the tall sniper in the early light.

Will was already wearing his specialized camouflage, covered in the area's grasses over loose cloth mesh that made him practically invisible when laying on the ground.

“I want you to stick to the plains, continue downstream until you find them and then pin them down. We'll work hard to keep up.”

“Aye sir.”

“And Will, don't kill them if you can help it. We're still under orders to take them alive so don't use your
MARD
rounds.”

“Aye sir.” The tall sniper started to run back up the draw with a smirk.

Anders hoped he could trust the man.

“As for us, we're going to follow and catch them.”

The remaining three men weren't happy to hear that, he could tell. But they maintained discipline. He lifted his gun's strap over his head and looped it across his chest, then fitted his leather helmet on his head and mask on his face.

“I know we'd all like to skin the pair of them, but we don't have authorization. We have our orders.” He dropped the tinted visor over his eyes. “So let's go fill them.”

The fugitives ran down the draw and into the forest that led to the river. Khrone's Ghosts never walked, and their pace was almost always at an ungodly speed. It took a lot to slow them down, as they cleared logs and ditches with ease. Their specialized leather was made to resist the blades often carried by the Shadow, but more importantly, the fire often used by Magi. It had saved them multiple casualties in this chase alone but sadly wasn't foolproof.