The Line of Illeniel

Chapter 16

It did in fact take me quite a while to fall asleep, and no sooner had I done so than Cyhan began shaking me awake. “What?” I said groggily.

“It’s morning. Time to get moving,” he told me.

That didn’t seem possible, but the brightening sky confirmed what he said. If morning ever had an accomplice it was Cyhan. The two of them were definitely conspiring to rob me of sleep. I rose and began packing up our things. I wasn’t grumpy in the slightest. Honestly.

Penny had a nice hot pot of porridge going over the coals of our fire. My first taste told me that someone had forgotten to pack the sugar and spices. I neglected to mention that to her. After last night I doubted it would improve her mood.

“How’s the porridge?” she asked. It wasn’t clear if she was addressing me or everyone in general.

“It’s passable,” Marc answered.

“I’ve had worse… once,” Cyhan said.

“Sorry, I forgot to pack the seasonings,” she said apologetically.

“It’s not bad. I rather like it,” I said, hoping to make her feel better.

“Thanks for the sarcasm, it’s bad enough without you being a smart ass about it,” she glared at me as she said it.

My mouth dropped open in shock. I truly hadn’t been trying to be sarcastic. I looked at Marc for support; clearly I was being wrongly accused. He just shook his head at me in disappointment. Cyhan started chuckling under his breath. At least someone’s in a better mood, I thought sourly.

Marc offered to help me clean out the bowls when we were done. Since there was no stream nearby we had to use sand from a dry gully close by. “You didn’t listen to a thing I said yesterday did you?”

“I didn’t think it was too bad,” I lied. “No sense in being cruel about it in any case.”

“Wrong,” he stated.

“So I should have insulted the food? Like Cyhan did?” Now that I thought back, she had actually apologized after he had said that to her.

“No, she’s already mad at you. You should have stuck with a neutral response like I did. I don’t think you have what it takes to pull off something like what he said.”

“Well if being a jerk makes you more of a man then too bad… I’d rather be…,” my words tapered off. I could see no good in finishing that sentence.

Marc was too quick to waste the opportunity, “Don’t start looking at me like that! Just because I’ve joined the clergy doesn’t mean I like men!” He was laughing as he said it.

I started to reply with something terribly witty and clever, but I was saved by a distraction. Not that it was a good one. I stopped and closed my eyes so I could focus better. I could sense several men in the distance, at the very limit of my range. When we had left Washbrook I had been able to sense things almost a mile off, if I put an effort into stilling my thoughts. Now I found that a half a mile was the best I could manage.

“Hey don’t be like that!” Marc said, “…Mort?”

“Give me a second, there’s someone out there,” I held up my hand. I strained to extend my senses further but it was no use. The figures, there were perhaps five or six of them, moved even further away until I could no longer detect them. I opened my eyes to look at my friend.

“Well? What was that about?” he asked.

“There were people on the road, about a half a mile that way,” I pointed in the direction we would soon be traveling.

“Other travelers… or someone waiting for us?”

“No way to know. Let’s go tell the others,” I replied.

Cyhan and Penny were sparring when we walked back. This time Penny was more cautious, but the results were the same. No matter how quickly she moved and struck she couldn’t touch the older warrior. She wasn’t giving him a chance to throw her now however.

“You might want to save your energy,” I told them.

“Did you sense something?” Cyhan asked as they broke apart.

I explained what I had discovered. “It could be other travelers,” I said as I finished.

“It could be,” he replied as he began checking his weapons. “But we’ll be working on the assumption that there’s an ambush ahead.”

“Perhaps we could leave the road… circle around this part,” Penny suggested.

“Not practical,” Marc spoke up. “I’ve traveled this road many times. The terrain narrows at this part of the road. If we try to go around we’ll have to go several days out of our way,” he gestured at the hills which rose up steeply ahead of us. “I’m not even sure how to get back to the road if we try.”

“Better that than dead,” Cyhan said. “I know the wilderness to the north. If we circle the northern hills we’ll come to a deep gorge. It will take us tens of miles following it before we can exit, but it’s doable. We can afford the time.”

“I didn’t think you were the sort to avoid a fight,” I remarked.

“Then you don’t know me,” he said bluntly. “I only fight when the outcome is in my favor, or there’s no other option. We still have options.”

“I’d rather stick to the road,” I said, giving him an even stare.

“I don’t think you heard me,” he replied meeting my eyes.

“I heard you perfectly well. I’m taking the road. If you want to take another route you’re welcome to do so.”

The tension in the air was palpable. “You’re going to meet a bad end boy, and quite possibly hurt a lot of other good people on your way to it.”

I turned my back on him and headed toward my horse. Looking over my shoulder I replied, “I’ve already been promised a bad death, but my appointment isn’t for today.” I caught Penny’s eye as I said it. The only good thing about knowing when you’re going to die… is you can be very sure of when you won’t.

Penny spoke up again, “He’s right about that, we don’t die today.”

“One of your visions?” Cyhan asked. His question surprised me; I hadn’t realized she had told him so much about herself already.

“Yes.”

“That’s fine and dandy, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about when the two of you die. I’m more concerned with my own demise. I’ll bet your vision had nothing to say about me in it,” he responded.

“I didn’t know you then…,” Penny replied uncertainly. “He’s right Mort; we could be putting them in danger based on a vision that only concerns the two of us.”

Her quick reversal irritated me. A few days ago she had thought I was going insane, yet she would have followed me down that road without a second thought. Now I was supposedly ‘cured’ and she was my Anath’Meridum, yet she worried more about ‘his’ opinion than mine. Perhaps I was being irrational, but I couldn’t help the feeling.

“Tell you what,” I said, “Since I’m certain to survive I’ll go alone. I’ll come back for you ladies when I’ve made sure it’s safe.” Yeah it was a stupid thing to say, but I was starting to get seriously annoyed with two of my companions.

“If you travel more than a couple hundred yards or so from Penelope here you’ll both die from the strain on your bond,” Cyhan replied.

“What?!” Penny and I said in unison. No one had told either of us about that little drawback before we took the plunge.

“That’s ridiculous! Let’s undo this… we can’t live like this,” I said, raising my voice.

“Mort…” Penny said quietly.

“It’s possible Penny. We just have to both agree to it and it’s over,” I told her.

“No Mort. I won’t let you. I meant that oath… all of it. It’s important,” she said and I could see her blue eyes were glistening with incipient tears.

“Besides…” Cyhan started.

I was tired of his constant interruptions. He had already turned my future wife against me, “Kyrtos!” I barked at him. It was a spell to silence speech.

“That won’t work on me either,” he continued. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out the still glowing stone from our bonding ceremony. “As long as I carry this your magic cannot touch me.”

Today was just full of surprises. “Anything else I should know?” I bit out. I was angry beyond reason now. He had deliberately kept the consequences of our bond from me. Before he could respond Penny spoke up.

“Yes,” she said. “The gem is a keystone, a crucial part of the bond. It will glow for as long as the bond is in effect, but…”

“But what?!”

“She’s trying to tell you that if I decide you’re a threat I can destroy the gem. It’s an extra bit of insurance in case both of you desert your better senses,” Cyhan finished for her.

“What happens then?” I asked.

“We die Mort.” Penny said, she really was upset now.

“And you knew about this?” I was outraged.

“Yes. It was the only way Mort. You were losing your mind. I couldn’t bear to watch it,” she said plaintively. “I did it for your own good.”

“No need to bother giving me any say in the matter eh?”

Marcus stepped closer, “It isn’t as bad as it sounds, you…”

“Like hell it isn’t!” I shouted him down.

“Mort, I love you. That’s the only reason I would do something like this,” Penny added, as if that would make it all better.

“You can take your love and go to hell!” I snapped. I regretted it the moment I said it but I was too angry to let that stop me. “And you can forget about the marriage as well,” I pulled a small pouch from my belt. It contained the ring I had ordered over a month gone by. Rose had slipped it to me when she first visited us at the royal palace.

“Here, keep it. Sell it, I don’t give a damn. We’re done,” I tossed it at her feet.

She knelt to pick up the small pouch… her trembling fingers quickly told her what was inside. “Mordecai! No, you don’t understand! This doesn’t make any sense. I love you!”

“My father and I have one thing in common Penelope. Neither one of us can stand a damn liar,” my voice was colder than ice now. “Now unless you lied about your oath as well, you have a duty to perform. I’m going down that road, you’ll be coming with me… understand?”

“Don’t think your anger will change my mind boy or did you forget something?” Cyhan was holding the gem up between his fingers.

Cold rage swept over me like a freezing wind. Without using words I focused a blast of air at his hand and the gem went flying. “Grabol ni’targoth. Forzen!” I said immediately afterward. A hole formed in the ground beneath him and Cyhan fell into a shallow pit, the earth closed around him before he could react. I walked over to casually retrieve the gem.

“What the hell are you doing Mort?” Marcus exclaimed.

“You stay here and watch him. Make sure no one comes and cuts his fool head off before we come back,” I said, ignoring his question.

“Mordecai this is insane. Calm down, we can talk this out,” Penny tried to calm me.

I walked past her without caring, “I don’t recall asking for your opinion. Come with me. It’s time to take care of business.”

She looked at me blankly, unable to decide what the correct course of action would be. I kept walking. I paused for a moment, “What was it you said the other day? ‘My life is yours, to use as you wish’, I think that’s what you said wasn’t it? Time to start your job… unless you’ve decided that it’s time to end my life.” I started walking again, not bothering mount up. The horses might be a hindrance if it really was an ambush ahead.

She didn’t move to follow for several long minutes, till I was almost a hundred yards down the road. Finally she started running, and quickly caught up to me. “You’re an asshole,” she said when she was within a few feet of me.

“And you’re the asshole’s bodyguard and executioner,” I replied sarcastically.

We continued until we had reached the place in the road where I had sensed the men earlier. As we drew close to the spot I could feel them hidden near the sides of the road another hundred yards or so further on. A rough count told me there were nearly twenty of them. “Stop!” I barked at Penny.

She growled and turned to face me, gritting her teeth, “If you think…”

“Shut up. There’s a trap under the road ahead of us, a pit I think.” The road ahead was plain dirt, but I could sense a large cavity beneath it. I focused my mind for a second… I could feel the wood and canvas beneath the dirt at the surface. They had done a good job; even knowing it was there my eyes could detect little difference between where the road was solid and where the pit lay.

Feeling contrary, I created a flat shield across the area where the trap was hidden, and then I walked over it, confident it would hold my weight.

“You said there was a trap?” Penny asked uncertainly.

“There is, but we’ll see how they feel when they see we can walk across it without trouble. Come on, it’s safe,” I turned away and kept walking. Penny rushed to catch up.

“What are you going to do if we find them?”

“Talk to them, see if I can change their minds,” I replied. I hadn’t bothered to mention that they were only fifty yards away now. I used a quick phrase in Lycian to put a shield around Penny. Her mail would protect her from arrows but a lucky shot might still kill her if it struck an unprotected area.

“I think I hear them,” she whispered to me. Her ears must be better than mine now; I could hear nothing, though I knew they were less than twenty yards away now, on either side of the road.

“Yep… they’re…” I started to tell her they were on either side of us but the thieves didn’t wait for me to finish. Arrows struck us from several directions at once, bouncing harmlessly from our shields. Penny had her sword out before I could blink. She was so fast she almost cut one of the shafts from the air, but her timing was off.

“You’ll need to practice that later,” I remarked, pulling my small bag of stones out. I reached in and pulled out a rock the size of my thumb, rolling it between my fingers. “Who’s your leader? I’d like to offer you a deal!” I shouted at the trees on one side of the road. None of the bandits had shown themselves yet.

The only reply was another shower of arrows. “Very well,” I said, “Tielen striltos!” I blew upon the stone in my hand and it shot away as if it had been fired from a sling. The stone curved as it flew, following an invisible line I held in my mind, till it struck the head of one of the archers hidden in the trees. I heard a sickening wet thump and with my extra senses I saw the man’s body slump to the ground where he was hidden.

The arrows kept coming, so I repeated the process with three more stones. More bodies collapsed in the leafy darkness. “I really think we should talk! It doesn’t have to be like this!” I shouted again. Penny was watching me carefully, uncertain what was happening. She probably didn’t realize how effective the rocks were.

A few more arrows zipped out, I made note of their origins and tried to aim specifically for the men who had fired these. Three stones… four… five… I couldn’t be sure but I thought I had hit the ones firing. “I’m not going to make this offer again! Lay down your weapons and come out so we can talk!”

I could hear cursing as they began to realize how many of their comrades were already incapacitated. They began running away through the heavy brush. “Shit,” I said.

“What’s happening?” Penny asked, “Are they running, from stones?”

“It appears so. I didn’t want to injure all of them but I can’t let them get away. There may be more.” The fleeing men were still very close, as far as my magical senses were concerned. Even at a full run it would take them a minute or two to get beyond my range. I carefully sent stones after each of them, one by one, till at last they were all still.

“I think that’s all of them,” I said, putting the rest of my stones back in the pouch. “Let’s go see what they look like, maybe we can find out who hired them.”

“At once your grace!” she replied acerbically.

“That should be ‘your excellency.’ I’m a count not a duke,” I answered. There was no humor in my tone. Inwardly I felt my heart clench painfully, but I refused to give in to it.

Penny didn’t reply, but I could feel her flinch at my cold words. We began searching the roadside. She got to the first of our ambushers before I did. “Here’s one Mort… oh! Oh gods!” she turned away, a look of disgust on her face.

As soon as I reached her side I understood why. It was a gruesome sight. The man’s head looked like an exploded melon, blood and brains were everywhere. I had put more force behind the rocks than I had known. We searched for the others but it was soon apparent that the results were all the same. Each of them looked as though he had been struck by a slaughterhouse hammer.

At some point it overwhelmed me, and I began retching. I had seen death before, just a year ago in fact, but this was different. The last time I had been struggling just to survive, and I passed out as soon as the battle was over. The bodies had been removed before I saw them. This time they were fresh before me, and their deaths had been particularly brutal. There’s nothing quite like seeing a man’s brains on the ground to drive the point home.

Even worse, I had done it without being in any real danger myself. Sure I hadn’t realized how lethally effective my stones were, but I had picked them off calmly, one by one. They hadn’t had a chance. Eventually my stomach was empty and I realized Penny was stroking my back sympathetically.

“It’s not your fault,” she said softly.

Like hell it wasn’t. I knew what I had done, and now I realized even better what I had done a year before. I had killed over a hundred men then and hardly given it a second thought. If her vision was true I would do so again, many times over in all likelihood. I straightened up, spitting to clear my mouth. “It’s a good thing I’ve got you.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Mort. I thought you were losing your mind. I would have done anything to stop it,” her face was full of concern.

More than anything I wanted to accept her apology, to make up. I needed her love more than ever, but I was full of self-loathing at what I had done. It would have been so easy to let go of it. But I also knew death was coming for me, and I would do worse things before the end. I had the beginnings of a plan… to get rid of the bond before the end came, to save her. I would be doing her no favor by reinforcing her love for me, not when she would be left behind.

“That’s not what I mean,” I pushed her hand away. The hurt expression on her face was almost more than I could bear, so I looked away and then walked back to the road leaving her standing there. Once my back was to her I spoke again, “I mean it’s a good thing I’ve got you to finish me off… if I turn into a monster.” I headed back to our camp without waiting to see if she was following. I didn’t trust myself to speak again.