Marked for Death

Chapter 15

“Where are the vampires?” Kandler asked Sallah.

Sal la h looked up at the justicar blankly and shook her head. “When your friend Burch and I arrived, we saw a handful of them massacring the townsfolk who dared to stand against them. We set to them and drove them off. Burch brought down two with his crossbow.” The lady knight hesitated for a moment. “Your daughter…?”

Kandler could tell by her tone that she feared the worst. He shook his head. “I thought she might be here.”

Sir Deothen and the three other knights arrived as Kandler spoke. “When we arrived, the vampires withdrew,” the senior knight said. “They were content to let their undead underlings soften us up first, but such creatures could not stand long against the power of the Silver Flame.”

Kandler looked around. The battle was over. The zombies either lay still or had fled. The survivors of Mardakine crept from the shadows to unite around the light of the pyre. In the distance, a pair of voices-human voices-shouted in agony.

Pradak knelt on the ground, cradling his mother’s body as he shook with tears. Kandler wanted to lend the boy some comfort, but he had his own tragedy to prevent yet.

“Have you seen Esprл?” Kandler asked the knights. “My daughter?”

Deothen shook his head gravely. “Find the wounded and tend to them,” Deothen told the other knights. “I must discuss with the justicar what will happen next.”

The knights nodded and padded off to execute their orders. Kandler saw Sallah stop near the weeping Pradak for a moment, but she continued on. There were others who needed her help more.

Kandler ignored Deothen for the moment. If the knight didn’t know where Esprл was, Kandler didn’t care to talk with him. He knew he didn’t have much time. He shaded his eyes from the firelight and peered into the darkness. “Burch!” he shouted.

The shifter appeared from behind a window set in a roof across the square. “Here, boss!” He waved his crossbow at the justicar.

Kandler’s heart leaped. If anyone could have seen Esprл here, it would have been the sharp-eyed shifter. “Did you see Esprл?”

Burch shook his head. “Not a wink. Thought you’d find her at home.”

Kandler felt ill. Perhaps he’d made a horrible mistake leaving the changeling alive. Maybe she’d lied to him about the telepathic link. He didn’t know what to think. “Rislinto?” he called. “Are you still out there?”

“Aye.” The blacksmith staggered around from the other side of the fire. He pressed his massive hand against his left leg, which bled through his fingers.

“Allow me,” Deothen said to Rislinto. The blacksmith nodded his permission and removed his hand. The gash oozed blood.

“Where’s Esprл?” Kandler asked as Deothen ministered to Rislinto’s leg. The knight lay his hands on the wound and muttered a quick but heartfelt prayer. The skin and flesh knit back together under the soft glow that emanated between Deothen’s fingers.

“Dunno,” Rislinto said. “Haven’t seen her.”

“Not the whole time?” Kandler asked. “Achangeling I met told me a vampire was holding her hostage here.”

Rislinto’s deep, humorless laugh rumbled through the square. “You trusted something a changeling told you?”

Ice water ran through Kandler’s gut. “Damn, damn, damn!” He turned and raced back to his house.

“It’s all right, dear,” Te’oma said as she stepped into Kandler’s bedroom. “You can come out now.” The changeling was bruised from head to toe, but appearances meant nothing to one as her. She used her shapeshifting powers to cover them up. To those who saw her, she would look as good as new, except she would look nothing like herself.

“Are you all right?” Esprл said as emerged from Kandler’s wardrobe. The girl’s blonde hair shimmered in the light streaming from the main room into the bedchamber. Her face was red as if she’d been crying-or at least trying not to. “I heard fighting.”

“More of those creatures,” Te’oma said. “Your father took care of them, but we have to leave now.”

“Kandler? He’s not my real father, you know.”

Te’oma nodded as she escorted the girl into the main room. In the light, Esprл saw the same beautiful, dark-haired elf who had shoved her into the wardrobe when they’d heard someone prowling around outside.

“I know. Your father was a fine elf. We all miss him.”

Esprл frowned. “I don’t remember him. He died before I was born.”

“I’m sure he’d be as proud of you as I am.” Te’oma gave the girl a hug, even though the effort sent blazing pain through her cracked ribs. She guided Esprл through the main room and out onto the front porch. As she went, she kept her body between the girl and the body lying against the main room’s rear wall. Once outside, she relaxed, but it didn’t last long.

“Aunt Arnaya?” Esprл asked. “Where’s Norra?” Te’oma heard fear creeping into the girl’s voice. She had to act quickly or the girl would begin to panic.

The changeling-elf sat the girl down on the porch next to her and wrapped her arm around her. A breeze carried a chill through the air, ruffling their hair like dark and light flags behind them. The girl shivered and snuggled closer to the changeling.

“We must leave soon,” the changeling said.

“How soon?”

“Tonight. Horrible things are happening in town, and we have little time to waste.” Te’oma wished that the vampires would hurry up and come back. She knew the justicar wouldn’t be fooled by her little lie for long.

Esprл thought about that for a while. “Is Valenar a long way?”

“It’s a safe ways away. You’ll love it there. You’ll be with family again.” Te’oma looked down at the girl as she spoke. The elf child’s naive nature was charming, and for a moment the changeling wondered how her life might have been different if she’d decided to pursue motherhood instead of… this. The thought unsettled her, but it evaporated when she hugged the child closer.

“What about Kandler?” Esprл looked up at Te’oma. “Isn’t he coming with us?”

The changeling frowned at the thought of the justicar. “His place is here. His job is here.”

Esprл smiled for a moment, then frowned again. “But won’t Kandler at least say good-bye?”

“Not tonight, dear,” Te’oma said. Lies came easily to her. As a changeling, most of her life was a series of lies as she changed herself about to look like something she really wasn’t. Any pangs of conscience she might have felt over this had been buried by the lies long ago. “He asked me to start out with you right away. He said he’d catch up for good-byes soon. He wants to make sure you’re safe and happy in your new home. But he has work here tonight. We must leave him to it.”

Esprл smiled and hugged the changeling, who winced at the pain but kept silent. “I’m so happy yon finally came. Aunt Arnaya.”

“I am too.” Te’oma stroked Esprл’s long blonde hair.

“You have her? Excellent.”

At the sound of the voice, Esprл jumped into Te’oma’s lap, and the changeling yelped in pain.

A man stood nearby, surrounded in mist. He was tall and thin with high, wide cheekbones set in a gaunt, sculpted face. His skin was the color of the crater floor, and something dark dribbled from his chin. He wore his long, shiny black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. His eyes glowed like dying coals.

Esprл screamed. She clutched at the changeling like a drowning dwarf.

“Look at me,” the figure said. “Look at me!”

Esprл buried her head in the changeling’s arms and continued to scream. As she wailed, she kept her eyes closed tight and kicked out with her feet.

Te’oma winced in pain as the child held on to her with all her might. She tried to pull herself free from the girl, but it proved impossible. She shot the man an angry look but kept her tongue.

The man snatched Esprл’s legs with one hand and grabbed her head with the other. He pulled her away from Te’oma and held her up before him like a prize fish just pulled from the sea. She struggled against his iron grip, but he forced her face around to point at him. “Look at me,” he said quietly.

Esprл closed her eyes tight and screamed again. “Aunt Arnaya! Help me!”

The impulse to leap to the child’s aid surprised Te’oma as it awakened in her heart. She shoved it aside, suspecting it was just a side effect of throwing herself so completely into her role as the girl’s aunt. Even if she wanted to do something for the girl, it was out of her hands now.

The man spit in the girl’s face, and she opened her eyes in rage. Her voice caught in her throat, and Te’oma followed her gaze. Two other pale-skinned figures stood behind the first. Each wore a long, black cloak embroidered with a red mouth filled with teeth as pointed as their own. They glared at the girl.

“Look at me,” the man holding Esprл said. Once the girl’s eyes locked with the monster’s, Te’oma felt Esprл’s will slough off like an old snakeskin. She no longer felt the urge to scream, to fight, to flee. She awaited his orders, nothing more.

“Sleep,” the man said, and Esprл did.

Te’oma caught the girl before she slipped to the ground. “Tan Du!” she said. “I had things well in hand.”

“Would the justicar agree with you?”

“He interrupted me.”

“We do not have the time to toy with our prey, no matter how pretty,” Tan Du said. He took Esprл from Te’oma’s arms and caressed her soft cheek.

“Where are the others?” Te’oma asked. “What happened to the foot soldiers?”

Tan Du grinned. “They were expendable.”

“You lost two score of the finest Karrn zombies? And of the seven of your kind we started out with we now have only you three? You call that a success?”

“We have what we came for,” said Tan Du. “That is all that should concern you.”

Te’oma steamed at the vampire for a moment, then turned away. She couldn’t bear to look at him.

Tan Du gazed down at the young elf in his arms. “Is your horse nearby?” he asked.

Te’oma looked back over her shoulder and nodded.

“Excellent. The others will lead you through the darkness.”

As Te’oma watched, one of the vampires transformed into a massive, slavering wolf with glowing red eyes. The other morphed into a monstrous bat and flapped high up into the air on its leathery wings. No matter how many times Te’oma saw this, it always disturbed her. The changes weren’t natural like hers. It was as if the vampires forced their new forms upon the world-as painfully as possible.

“They will cover the ground and the air,” Tan Du said. “All you need do is follow them from here.”

“What about you?”

Tan Du smiled. “I have business.” He nodded for Te’oma to lead the way, and he followed. He carried Esprл in his arms as if she were as stuffed with feathers. When they reached Te’oma’s horse, Tan Du and the other creatures stopped several yards away. The horse whickered at them. This brought a private smile to Te’oma, who felt pleased to be truly alive at the moment.

Te’oma continued on ahead. When she got to the horse, a massive black-coated gelding, she stroked his sides and face and whispered kind words to him. Once the horse was calm, Te’oma rummaged around in his saddlebags and pulled out a wax-sealed vial. She uncorked it with her teeth, which she altered to make as wicked as Tan Du’s, and swallowed the pungent liquid in a single gulp.

The potion burned down her throat like homemade liquor and formed a lump in her stomach. She waited for a moment until she felt the warmth spread through her veins. In an instant, she recovered from the beating she’d taken at Kandler’s hands, and she was ready to travel.

“Better?” Tan Du said as Te’oma walked back to him and took Esprл from his arms.

“I feel as good as I look,” the changeling-elf said.

Tan Du smiled. “Good enough to eat.”

Te’oma turned her back on the vampire and strode back to her horse. She pushed Esprл up onto the beast’s back and then hoisted herself up behind the girl. She steadied Esprл in front of her and then looked down at Tan Du grinning at her. Te’oma wanted to wipe that self-satisfied look from his face, but she reminded herself that now was not the time.

“ How long will you be?” Te’oma asked.

“Not long. Maintain your mindlink with me. I’ll use it to follow you.”

“As you wish.”

Tan Du stepped toward Te’oma, and the horse skittered away. “Be off,” the vampire said. “I can hear our guests arriving.”

Te’oma turned and spurred her horse to a trot. She and Esprл rode off after the bat flapping away in front of them. The wolf dogged their heels, goading the horse to a gallop.

Tan Du chuckled. Remembering his business, he leaped into the air and transformed into a bat. This was his favorite form. He loved to feel the breeze beneath him as he cut through the air with his light, lithe body.

The vampire flapped into the air until he had enough altitude, then glided down silently until he reached the roof of Kandler’s house. He perched there and watched as Kandler, Burch, and Sallah sprinted toward the place.

As the trio charged up the path to the house, Tan Du resumed his normal form. With all their attention on the house’s door, the three didn’t see him until he announced his presence. “She is gone,” he said from the edge of the roof.

The three stopped dead in their tracks and looked up at him. “Ah-ah-ah,” Tan Du said as Burch raised his crossbow to fire. He always enjoyed torturing the living, and this encounter would be particularly sweet. “I’ve seen you with that thing, dogface. Put it away.”

Burch held his weapon steady, still pointed at the vampire’s heart. Kandler pointed his sword up at the creature. “What do you want?” the justicar said.

Tan Du stood and smirked. He could smell the justicar’s fear rolling off him like a skunk. “To talk. Like civilized people.” He gestured around him with a flourish and said, “I realize that this is not a civilized place, but I think we can rise above that.”

“Where’s my daughter?” asked Kandler.

“Ah, right to the point.” Tan Du smiled, baring his fangs. “Very direct. I like that. It’s refreshing.”

“Answer me!”

Tan Du frowned, disappointed that the justicar didn’t seem interested in sparring with him. “The girl is safe. For now. One of my associates has her. I believe you had the pleasure of meeting her earlier. She was a bit worse for wear after the encounter.”

“I want her back here right now!”

Tan Du nodded, soaking up the justicar’s rage. He loved few things more than making good men lose their temper. Irrational people were easy to manipulate. “I’m sure you do. What father wouldn’t? But I’m afraid we can’t do that.”

Kandler shook his blade at the vampire in incoherent rage.

Tan Du spread wide his hands. “If you want to blame anyone,” he said, “look at your new friends. They led us here.”

“You blame the fox for running ahead of the hounds,” Sallah said. The light from the silver flames of her sword flickered across her implacable face.

“The hunt is over now,” the vampire said. “We’re leaving. If you follow us, the girl dies.”

Burch’s crossbow twanged as Tan Du finished his sentence. The bolt shot straight for the vampire’s heart, but it ricocheted off the creature’s chest.

Tan Du knocked against his sternum with his knuckles, eliciting the same tinny response as the bolt. The armor plating he wore had held, but he knew that the shifter wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “That was your last chance,” he said to the people below. “Leave us alone, or I’ll wear that sweet little girl’s heart on a necklace.”

Before Kandler could respond, the vampire faded to mist and floated away.