All Things Impossible: Heartstealer, page 30
"Where is he?" Jakkobb's axe was unsheathed in his hand. He brought it on guard.
"Gone." Her voice was tired.
The elf narrowed his eyes. "He bit you."
She nodded and heaved herself off the ground. "Yes, sir, but I'm alright." She patted the sword at her side. "With this blade, I was."
"Are you certain, Der?"
"Yes, sir."
"What happened?" Mora asked.
"Where is he?" Jakkobb demanded.
She opened her mouth to explain everything, but suddenly a memory interrupted and she thought about what he said about not needing himself justified. She shook her head.
"Gone."
"That's it?" Mora said. "Just gone?"
She nodded.
"What do we do now?" Kelin asked.
"Now," the knight sucked his tongue, "Back to Thealith and the war, although I don't know what to do about that."
"How?" Der managed to croak. "How...get there in time?"
Kelin shrugged. "I have no idea."
"The river," Jakkobb said as he stared off into the distance. "It's not far from here. If it's cause of all this trouble, we can damn well put it to use for us."
* * *
"What do you mean, not there?" Of course they ran away! You were supposed to catch them on their way out!"
Corran, the Uraelian spy, ducked under the searing glare of the kingdom's wizard. He tried to keep his gaze nailed to the floor, but the little bird bouncing around on the wizard's head pulled at his attention. It was a fat brown and yellow thing, and its wings constantly flicked. The magician's other pets, the osprey and the falcon watched the other bird with unassuaged hunger from their perches across the room.
Alcomm felt the little ruby crowned kinglet dancing across his head. He slammed his staff across the wooden floor of the inn that he'd taken over as his current command. The tables and most of the chairs had been tossed outside; the floor had been swept; and now maps festooned the walls. But, it still felt like a seedy tavern to him. It wasn't proper at all.
"But, but there was a chemman!" Corran stuttered. He felt his stomach clench and he nearly doubled over.
The wizard snarled. "Don't let our own lies deceive you. There are no chemmen. Those stories are just for the commoners." Meanwhile, the kinglet chirped happily on his head. The birds of prey followed its every move intently. Of course, there had been that stranger in the cabin... and his master had told him in no uncertain terms that chemmen had existed. He shook his head. Impossible.
"No, lord, it was real! A dragoon knight and a chemman were working together!"
"Then it was someone pretending, fool! To scare you! And, I don't care what tricks Thealith has planned!"
"I don't think it was-"
"Of course it was! But, it doesn't matter because I don't care about Thealith!" The kinglet chorused along with his outburst. "I never told you, of course, but my spies in the village of Hughling have disappeared, and I need to know. This isn't about Urael, chemmen, dragoons, Thealith or the thrice damned river. This is all about a girl!"
Corran collapsed down to his knees and kept his head firmly facing the floor. His whole voice was a flinch. "I'm sorry, lord! I didn't know!"
"We have been waiting for her for over fifteen hundred years! The astrologers said that the stars had to move across the night sky before there was a chance for one to be born. So, we waited, passing on the secret. The stars came to their new places and they sent the power down to earth, and it just so happened that a woman was giving birth at exactly where the power arrived. Thus, the child was born. The stars continued to drift across the heavens, but in those few hours, their light was intertwined and shone their power here."
Corran shook his head. "I still don't understand, lord!"
"Of course you don't. But, know this, this child is deathly ill and I do not have time to waste capturing her. I must be there when she dies or I cannot capture that power. I made her ill - I knew that a child could not fathom, much less control, such ability. And, this way, she could not escape. Like fruit, she would be ripe for the harvest.
"I did not expect her to have such protection, and went unprepared. They must know. The secret must have been divined or overheard somewhere, even though those astrologers were put to the sword centuries ago. And, they want to protect her! That, I don't understand."
"Uh, yes, lord," Corran croaked through his bewilderment.
"We are bequeathed with orders to take this girl's power." He ground the end of the staff against the wooden floor. "This time, we'll take the army."
"But - but, the king won't allow it," the spy managed to blurt out. "He said we must try to talk first!" His voice felt like vomit.
Alcomm spat. "It'll be too late for the king."
* * *
"She's dying, Erastus."
Peyna tucked the blanket under the sleeping girl's chin. The old man slouched further in his chair. Sorrow scarred his wizened features.
Thalon kicked Peyna in the back of the knee. "No! You're supposed to be the best! You're the royal physician!"
The elf staggered forward and threw out his hand. Thalon dodged the slap. Peyna growled, "There are some things that cannot be cured, boy!" He drew in a deep breath. "This isn't a disease or a cancer! It's magic, which means that it is not a total illness of the body! It affects her mind and soul too." He felt his ears heat up all the way to the tips. "I can't snap my fingers and pull it out of her. That requires exposure to more magic, and I can't do that without killing her. Do you understand? There are some things that are impossible to cure."
"No, she's my friend!" Thalon kicked the physician's kneecap on the same leg, and immediately ducked behind his father.
Peyna grabbed the front of his leg. "How dare you, boy!"
Thalon wagged his pinky finger over his father's knee; the elvish equivalent of sticking out his tongue. The physician spat in his direction. Thistle nonchalantly loosened his sword in its sheath.
"You don't know how I feel, child, losing someone that I tried to save." He spun his back to him and watched the last strains of the sunset through the open door. "She most likely will never see the sunrise again."
Thistle deftly slid some supplies into his sleek backpack. He looked up sharply. "Pack. We can't remain."
Peyna held his head. "Why?"
The chemman didn't bother with what he felt was an obvious answer.
"You're going to fight, Dad," Thalon said. "You always do." He sat next to Chloe on the bed, and held one of her hands. Her brown eyes bounced open.
Thistle finished and swung the pack onto his back. Then, he looked at his son and nodded. "Don't follow me, this time."
"This time?" Erastus quavered.
Peyna snorted disgustedly. "Yes, last time the half breed-" He stopped suddenly as the point of Thistle's black sword pricked his throat. He never heard the weapon being drawn.
Thistle withdrew the weapon as silently as he'd almost attacked.
Thalon pulled Chloe off the bed. She leaned heavily against him to maintain her balance. The boy waved his knife. "We're coming with."
The chemman shook his head in no uncertain manner.
Erastus yelped, "What!"
Peyna jumped to his feet. "Absolutely not! You'll be giving that wizard what he wants!"
The boy nodded vigorously. "Yes! Look, we have to beat the wizard, and Chloe... could... use... her... power." He shrank under the mountain weight of father's stony glare.
Chloe stared at the floor, and whispered, "I want - I want to help my uncle." She hid her face behind Thalon's shoulder.
Peyna shook his head. "The last time she came into contact with magic, it nearly killed her, and you want to fight a trained magic user, who is also a follower of a dark deity? Who is after her?" He snorted and looked to Thistle. "He spends far too much time around Derora Saxen."
Thistle sighed and nodded. Then, silently and quickly, he took a seat on the single chair. He deliberately propped his foot against the table. "This is not your fight, children."
Thalon stamped his foot. "This isn't your fight either, Dad!"
A hush descended, like the echoes of silence after sudden thunder.
Peyna held up both hands and eyebrows. "Sage, lad, very sage."
Thistle closed his eyes for a long breath. "Do you want Chloe to have a safe home?"
"Yes," the boy replied, in the hesitant tones of someone who just felt the ground shift underfoot.
"Yes," Chloe repeated softly, behind him.
"Then, I must go." He rose like a ghost. He pointed to Peyna. "Keep them safe."
The elf looked as if to retort, but glanced at the grandfather, then to the children and finally just nodded.
Chloe doubled forward on the bed, coughing. Blood drops sprayed her blanket.
* * *
The raft bounced. Boats shouldn't bounce against the smooth flows of a winding river, but it did whenever a new current in the brown water pushed it. Unlike the elegant canoes they'd crafted in the Riverfall Mountains, this was merely green logs bonded together by winding a rope between them. The entire thing groaned and creaked.
Spike stood firmly in the exact center, tail firmly locked down, and he glared dead ahead, looking ready to bite the horizon. Beside him, Jakkobb stirred the river with his homely paddle. Goldie dozed on the unicorn's bare back, as usual. Kelin and Mora sat with the other paddle on the other side of the raft, while Der sat front and center.
She shaded her eyes. "Damn. Is it just me or is it really bright out here?"
Kelin quietly slipped his paddle out of the river and exchanged a glance with Mora. "Uh, Der, would you turn around and, I don't know, smile at us?"
After a moment, she didn't turn around. "Not funny, Kelin!"
"We're not laughing," Mora shot back.
Der, not turning around, snatched up her sheathed sword and waved it over her head. "Yes, I am a vampire who is still wielding a sword from the paladin empire!" She threw the weapon back into her lap and thrust her chin in her hands.
Jakkobb cleared his throat. "Ah-hem. Well, that's someone that I wouldn't ever want to mess with."
"If there ever was anything like that, it'd be her," Mora added.
Spike snickered.
Kelin covered his mouth with his hand. Jakkobb snorted.
Even Der's face twisted between a scowl and a chuckle. She coughed.
Soon, snickers evolved into chuckles, which grew into a cloud of laughter.
Mora, wiping her face, smiled. "I needed that. I really needed that."
Spike's lips flapped as he exhaled. Good, because it may be the last laugh we'll ever have.
"That's so heartening, Spike," Der muttered.
Jakkobb sighed. "Der, you shouldn't even be coming with us. You're so weak from what I'm laughably calling blood loss."
She tightened her jaw. "Just a little tired, sir, that's all."
"Of course, and I'm the petite princess of Pallens."
"I never knew that about you, sir," she replied without cracking an expression.
Spike stamped his hoof against the raft. Good disguise, uh, Camre? Cameroo? Caramel? He stamped his hoof. What was her name?
"Carme," Kelin answered shortly. "Don't you ever study the history that you supposedly lived through?"
Spike just snorted.
"You know that?" Der asked, surprised.
He nodded. "Yes, but, I don't think this is the time for a history lesson." He dipped his paddle into the current. Mora placed her hand over his against the paddle.
"I don't want to go either." She pulled her trailing skirt from the stream. Its edges frayed and dirt smudged the lacework. Meanwhile, Jakkobb and Spike turned their faces toward the opposite bank.
Kelin pulled her against his shoulder. "Don't come with us. You don't want to face him."
She rested her weight against him. "You shouldn't go either."
He almost smiled. "No, I don't, but I don't want to see the how this kingdom may fall if we do nothing."
"We can run away! To Tenmar or Alscane or some distant city!"
"No, we can't, Mora!" He tightened his grip. "We've suffered together, and if they're going to do this, I have to be there with them." On the front of the raft, he saw Der nodding in agreement.
"No, you - we - all of us - don't have to!" she protested. "Please! You're going to die!"
He smiled and dipped his fingers into her thick, black hair. "Perhaps, but perhaps not. Der, Thistle, Jakkobb and I survived Darkreign together; and I would have never considered it possible. I also know that if we don't stop this now, the little girl will always be in peril. I couldn't live with that."
She went almost entirely limp against him. "I wish I had some of your strength."
"I know you do." He chuckled. "I think I know who you really are underneath that frightened girl. Stay out of sight and stay safe, please."
She pushed herself away and tossed her hair behind her shoulders. "Then, I'm going with you."
"What? No!"
She squared herself. "I am. I'm the only magician here. I know that I can't match him, but I can most certainly keep his attention."
"But, Mora-"
"And don't you tell me about how dangerous it is. I want to go where you do. I love you."
"I love you too."
Jakkobb coughed into his hand. Kelin and Mora stiffened. The knight spoke as if he hadn't heard their conversation. "At least we don't have to worry about the vampire."
"He'd be useful now." Der shrugged.
"I can't believe you're saying that, after what he did to you."
"He won't come after us. He's got Chloe to save, and then he promised to leave the mortal world behind."
The knight grunted. "Good. Glad to hear it. Now, we've only got a wizard and a war to worry about."
Underneath them, the raft dragged them inexorably down the Dismal Horvath.
* * *
His wounds from the Pallens sword blazed like the sun. They still weren't healing, and Tom had no idea how long it had been. Time had been mere light and dark blurs. He had moved as fast as his body could without tearing itself apart.
His head swayed beneath his hood as he floated through the forest; it was finally looking vaguely familiar.
He continued to fly through the trees. He was close, he could smell it in the air. Before now, he half thought he was making that fact up, but smells were not as easily distorted as sights and sounds. He didn't bother to watch the last of the sunset through the trees. He paused to stare at the early stars, trying to figure his location. His hood dropped onto his shoulders.
He rested the butt of the iron rod on the forest floor. He sneered at the thought: he had to use a crutch to walk! He tried not to glance around in case any animals were snickering at him, and began to limp.
He was near faint when the small garden came into view. He jerked his head up, the cabin was there. He'd made it back!
"Chloe!"
He barely noticed the new door and kicked it in and jumped forward. But, as if he ran into a side of a window, he couldn't cross into the house. Pain from the impact sprinted through his body. He staggered back, his emerald eyes wide in disbelief. Slowly, he reached out with an open palm. It pressed against an invisible, tangible wall across the cabin's threshold.
"I may have to allow the chemman inside, but I don't have to allow you."
Tom pulled his hair out of his eyes to see an elf standing a few feet opposite of him. In reflex, he curled his upper lip. Beyond the elf, he saw Thistle, Erastus, and behind them on the bed were Thalon and his precious child. Thistle watched him insouciantly, and absently twirled a knife in one hand.
"Let me see her!" He lowered the iron rod at the elf. "I can still smell the sickness. I can heal her!"
The physician shook his head. "I think not, vampire. Why would you care? What's in it for you?"
Tom growled and looked over his shoulder to Erastus, and his eyes burned red. "Old man, invite me in!"
Peyna lifted a hand. "Your mind control will not work - I will not allow it."
Erastus held his head and moaned.
Tom leaned on his staff to keep his balance as another tremor of anger coursed through him. He growled again and looked to the chemman. "You! Why do they let you in and not me? Why do they trust you instead?"
Thistle shrugged.
"No matter. Let me in! I have not harmed your friend! She is safe with the others!"
He shook his head. "Not my home."
Tom fell to his knees at the door. "I built this house!" The thunder of his voice did not fade.
"But, you do not live here," Peyna shot back.
"No! You're killing her!" He drove the iron metal staff into the ground, where it stuck. He sagged against it, almost surrendering to the weight of his wounds and the weight of the fact that he might fail. He'd come this far...
"I - I never trusted you." Erastus trembled like a blade of grass in a thunderstorm. "I won't let you in."
"She'll die without me, old man! She's dying right now!" The red drained from Tom's eyes and he stepped up to the barrier. "Let me in. Then, I will leave and never return. I swear." He watched the old weathered face lock in indecision. "Please. You will never see me again."
The grandfather drew in a deep breath.
Peyna stuck his hand in the man's face. "It's a trick, you old fool." The physician rounded on the vampire. "Ah, I understand." He smirked. "You need her for some unholy contrivance. Her power is useful to you. Are you in league with the wizard?"
"No!" Tom lunged at the barrier again. He clawed at the invisible impasse, splitting his fingernails. His blood trailed down the air as if it was on a wall. Slowly, it slid down toward the ground, supported by nothing.
He drew himself up and stepped back. An evil grin crawled across his features, and he smiled very pointedly at Peyna. "You've made an enemy this night. If she does not survive, neither shall you."
