Victim of Fate (5 page)

The wasp moved to the apex of the roof and
spread its wings. Alto ignored the wizard’s command to wait and
fitted an arrow to the string. "If it flies, the babe will be
lost!" He drew the string back even as he heard the wizard
chanting.

Alto's arrow struck the edge of the roof and
glanced off. It sheared through one of the wasp's wings, dropping
it back to the roofline and causing it to turn and drop the baby
over the edge. Kar's magic reached out at the same time, spraying
out silky strands that covered the house, roof, and the wasp and
baby. The magical spiderweb arrested the baby's fall but did
nothing to silence its cries. Alto fitted another arrow and took
better aim before losing it and killing the struggling wasp.

"First wasps and now a spider? Why has evil
fallen on us!" The woman sobbed. She tugged at her arms and tried
to escape the clinging webbing that trapped her in the window. Alto
could make out someone behind her pulling at her. After a few more
tugs, she fell free of it and disappeared.

"Seems the town's not deserted after all,"
Tristam said.

"That was Geraldine and, I'm betting, her
husband Evan. We must hurry and find out what's happened here,"
Baldwyn said. He was already guiding his horse closer to the house
until he stopped and eyed the glistening magical web.

"Not to worry, a bit of wind and rain will
wash it away. It'll burn right quick, too, but it might take the
house with it," Kar said.

"No more fires," Tristam growled.

Alto found himself nodding even as he led his
stallion, Sebas, towards the house. He unstrung his bow and tied it
to Sebas before drawing his broadsword and stepping close to the
front door. He raised his sword to clear the webbing away when Kar
cried out.

"Don't do that, you'll have a bundle of web
on your blade! You can't cut through a cobweb! Come, some wine
would melt it away, or water would suffice."

Namitus joined him with a skin of water. He
removed the stopper and flung the water on the spiderweb. True to
the wizard's words, the web melted away where the water touched it.
A few more splashes cleared a path through the sticky strands. Alto
glanced back to his horse where his shield was resting, and then
decided it was better to have his sword in hand than a shield. He
used his free hand to open the door and stepped into the shadowy
house.

"Come no farther!" a voice called out,
stopping him.

Alto squinted in the shadows and saw the
figure of a man standing in the room. As Alto's eyes adjusted, he
saw the man held a spear in his hand. "We're here to help," Alto
tried.

The man stepped to the side and shifted his
spear. "What was that stuff out there? Giant spiders, my wife
said?"

Alto saw how easy it would be to disarm the
man. Not only was the spear wielder unfamiliar with the weapon, but
he looked like he had no idea at all how to fight. Alto, on the
other hand, had been training day in and out so he could learn
better ways to handle himself in a battle. His experiences in the
Northern Divide and Highpeak had taught him well that if he wanted
to be a warrior who sought peace, then he needed to be ready and
able to fight for it.

"That was my friend. He's no spider; he's a
wizard. His spell saved the baby from the wasp."

"A wizard!"

"Yes. His name is Kar. I'm Alto and the man
beside me is Namitus. Tristam and Karthor are outside with the
wizard. We're here to help; your man Baldwyn came to us."

"You don't look like guards or soldiers?"

"Evan?" Namitus asked.

The man stiffened and raised the spear he'd
been lowering back up. "How do you know my name?"

"Baldwyn told us it was probably you with
Geraldine," the rogue explained.

Alto sheathed his sword before saying,
"Please put that down. We're called the Blades of Leander. Your man
came to us when he found the army was too busy with the troubles in
the north."

"We helped retake Highpeak in the spring,"
Namitus added.

Tristam walked in behind them and looked
around the room. "What's this then, just the three of you?"

"We were telling him of what we've done and
that we're here to help," Alto said.

Tristam frowned. "Where's the girl?"

Evan stiffened. "Hiding until I say
otherwise."

Tristam nodded. "You're a wise man. These
boys will have you believe they've supped with the king himself if
you let them. Mind you, we've been invited to dinner with the duke,
but we were at a small table far from his."

Evan let a chuckle slip. He picked his spear
up and leaned it against the wall behind him. He called out over
his shoulder, "Geraldine, it's okay."

A moment later, a woman came out hugging her
arms until she could stand behind Evan. "Where's Maxine?"

"If Maxine is your baby, then Karthor and Kar
are trying to get her down safely while your emissary clucks over
them like a mother hen."

"Your priest and your wizard?" Evan
asked.

Tristam glanced at Alto. "Yes, that'd be
them. Care to tell us what happened here?"

Evan and Geraldine looked at each other. Her
eyes were pulled away by a shadow blocking the light at the door as
Baldwyn entered, carrying the crying baby. She rushed over to her
daughter, ignoring the possible threat of armed men. She grabbed
Maxine up and smiled thankfully at Baldwyn.

"You're all wet?" she asked, confused by the
dripping infant.

"It's just water they used to get her down.
That spiderweb was sticky stuff!" Baldwyn answered.

"Oh, well I'd best get her in something dry."
Geraldine hurried deeper into the house, disappearing behind
Evan.

Baldwyn moved through their ranks in the
increasingly crowded house so he could take Evan's hand and clap
him on the shoulder. "Good to see you're okay! What of the
others?"

"Some were taken," Evan said in a hush.
"Maybe all of them. It started with a few farms, but after you
left, it grew worse. Those bees descended on us like a swarm! There
must have been a hundred of them. Sent us running when we realized
what they was. We locked ourselves up as best we could but they
found ways in. We heard screaming and crying but as the days passed
there was less of it. None of us went outside; that's why I think
we're the only ones left."

"Even..."

Evan grimaced. "Farther out, away from the
forest, they might not have had any problems. We've been trapped
here."

Baldwyn nodded. He turned as Kar and Karthor
entered the room. "These men said they'd help. That man in the
back, Karthor, he's a priest of Saint Leander. The lot of them
fought in the battles to the north earlier this year."

"How can five men hope to fight giant
bees?"

"Those weren't bees," Alto interrupted. "They
were wasps."

Everyone's attention shifted to the former
farm boy. He cleared his throat and continued. "Small difference, I
suppose, but a bee would sting once and die. Wasps can sting over
and over again, plus they've got a nasty poison in their stinger.
Giant-sized, I don't know what it would do. I once saw a boy stung
a dozen times by normal wasps and it left him so sluggish and
swollen he nearly died."

"You're not making me feel any better about
this," Namitus pointed out.

"Sorry, just trying to help."

"Stop helping," Tristam advised. "You say
these things came from the west? From an enchanted forest?"

Both men nodded.

"All right, stay put then. We'll search the
rest of your village and go from there. Take up that spear to
protect that baby and your pretty wife, Evan."

Evan nodded and grabbed the spear from where
it rested against the wall.

"I'm going to head to my farm," Baldwyn said.
"It's to the east. I need to know if my family is safe."

"Wait until we've secured the town," Tristam
suggested. "Then I wish you the speed of the saints."

Baldwyn offered a smile and then nodded
acceptance of the delay. Tristam turned to the Blades and tilted
his head back to the door. "Let's earn our keep."

They filed out and gathered in the road away
from the residue of Kar's spell. Tristam looked up and down the
street at the handful of buildings. "There's not enough of us to
split up so we'll go at it one place at a time. One thing, though,"
Tristam paused and turned to stare at Alto and Namitus. "This is
not the time or place to be boasting about what we done. These
people are a simple lot; they're scared and grieving. They're not
children you can impress. They need to be reassured we can do what
needs to be done, not that we've lain with nymphs or fought off an
army of trolls and walked away to tell the tale."

"We weren't—"

Tristam held up a finger to stop Alto's
protest. "Think before you talk, lad. You've good intentions but
there's a lesson to learn here. It's not just making them feel good
about themselves. I could care less about that; I'm talking about
spreading good word about us. It'll come back to us one day if they
share word of what a good job we done and how we were nice to boot.
It'll get you more than just jobs down the road." He flashed a grin
and added, "It brings the ladies in, too."

"Alto hardly needs help with that." Namitus
pointedly stared at the ribbon wrapped around Alto's arm.

Alto glared at his friend. Aleena had seen
them off, giving Alto the favor to tie about his arm for good luck
and adding a kiss that still sent warmth to his cheeks days
later.

"Neither do you, from what I hear," Tristam
added. He turned and gestured. "Let's get started then; not much to
the lumber mill here so a quick check and then on from there."

Alto and Tristam led the way into the mill.
It was little more than a barn open at both ends. In the middle, a
large saw was hooked up to a watermill for splitting and cutting
logs. They found more evidence of wasps chewing on wood, but there
was nothing beyond that of interest.

It wasn't until they'd cleared two houses and
the smithy that they saw any sign of the wasps. Namitus had been
the first to come out of the smithy and glanced up when a shadow
passed over him. He glanced up and threw himself back, but not
before the five-inch stinger of the flying wasp jammed into the
right side of his back.

Namitus fell away and rolled back to his
feet. He grabbed for his scimitar and pulled it free, only to send
it flying as his fingers cramped up. Namitus stumbled, surprised by
the agony spreading down his arm, and then had to throw himself
back farther when the wasp tried to land on him and sting him
again.

Alto smashed it aside with his sword, hewing
through the body of the wasp and sending it into a twitching spiral
on the ground. It spun in circles, legs reaching for something to
right itself while its pincers sought out something to bite. Alto
waited for the right moment and then kicked it into the wall of the
smithy and hacked its head off while it lay stunned.

Karthor had emerged from the blacksmith's
shop and was stopping Namitus from trying to climb back to his
feet. He rolled the part elven man over and frowned at the sight of
blood on the back of his shirt.

"You all right?" Alto asked his friend.

"You ever been stung by a bee the size of
your leg?" Namitus snapped at him.

Alto grimaced at the rebuke. "Sorry," he
muttered before turning to watch Karthor examine the wound.

"Not much blood," Karthor admitted. "The
poison swelled it shut."

"That's good," Namitus said through teeth
gritted against the pain.

"Not really; bleeding would have forced more
of the poison out."

"Oh." Namitus bowed his head and tried to
flex and relax his right hand. It remained twisted and contorted in
spite of his efforts. Sweat broke out on his brow in spite of the
cool weather.

"Use your magic," Kar snapped.

Karthor glanced up at him. "I can't heal what
I don't understand," he badgered back. He returned to studying
Namitus's injury and then admitted, "I don't have much experience
dealing with poison."

"Funny, me either," Namitus hissed back.

"All right, let me see what I can do."
Karthor placed his holy symbol against the puffy hole in Namitus's
back and began to chant. The amulet began to glow and then the
light faded from the pendant and merged into Namitus's wound.

The rogue gasped and stiffened, and then
began to shake. He grabbed his right arm with his left and pulled
it tightly against his belly. Several seconds passed where the only
sounds were Karthor's chanting and Namitus's labored gasps. They
knew it was over when Namitus slumped forward and let out a moan.
From the wound in his back, a mixture of blood and a clear fluid
seeped out and ran down his back.

"Hold still," Kar said as he swooped in and
held a steel vial under the wound. He scooped up as much of the
clear poison as he could and then pressed a wax stopper into the
end of it. He rose and looked at the others. "What? This could
prove to be valuable stuff! I've never seen a wasp this size, might
be potent venom. Useful for potions or other magical spells."

"I think I deserve a cut," Namitus
breathed.

"Nonsense, you already had a poke," Kar
cackled. Namitus groaned.

"Enough fooling around. Can you walk?"
Tristam asked.

"Yeah, my arm feels funny, though." Namitus
stood slowly and waited until a bout of nausea passed. He brushed
Karthor's supporting hand off and then picked up his sword.

"Your arm will be weak for some time, I
expect," Karthor said.

Namitus grunted.

"Should he wait here?" Alto asked, turning to
Tristam.

"I'll be fine," Namitus insisted.

"Let's hurry up and finish this," Tristam
said after nodding to Namitus. "And keep your wits about you. They
can fly and that's probably where they'll come from when they
do."