“No, I’m quite used to Buttercup’s attempt to avoid being saddled properly. What I want to know is why you’re mounted and bear the appearance of a man who’s about to take a journey.” I returned to the cinch and gave it a hearty tug. Buttercup sucked in even more breath, puffing out her sides.
“Probably because I am a man about to take a journey. Didn’t you hear Exodius? Thorn the staff wants to go with me. Which means I am to go with you. Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“Quite ... sure ... ” I said through grinding teeth, alternately poking Buttercup in the sides and pulling the cinch tight. “You can’t ... seriously, Buttercup? How can you hold that much air? ... can’t come with me. Deo wouldn’t ... gah! ... like it.”
I was panting by the time I got the cinch sufficiently tight that the saddle wouldn’t slide around the second I mounted.
“Perhaps not, but I don’t see how you are going to keep me from accompanying you. I’ll simply follow you to where you’re going, and it’s much nicer if we travel together. Safer, too.” I saw the silhouette of his head turn as he glanced around. “The word from the scouts is that the Harborym have packs of Shades patrolling the South Road.”
“They don’t worry me,” I said, attaching my bow and quiver to the saddle. “What about Lord Israel? Does he know you intend to join me?”
“No,” Hallow answered, his voice filled with something that sounded a good deal like remorse.
I glanced at his dark shape, wishing I could see his face better. “You would break your fealty to him so easily?”
“Break my fealty?”
“He’s your overlord, and you know he wouldn’t want you to come with me. At least, I assume he wouldn’t want you to.” I had a moment of suspicion that he was acting on Lord Israel’s orders, but that suspicion evaporated with Hallow’s next words.
“Oh, he will definitely not be happy with my actions tonight.”
“Well, you are breaking your fealty to him.”
A curious note was evident in his voice. “Does that bother you? That I would forswear my oath to my overlord?”
“To Lord Israel? No.” I tightened the cinch again, uncomfortably aware that I was lying. “But most people feel that when they take an oath, they hold true to it.”
“You are a priestess of Kiriah. They don’t allow you to become such without oaths, and yet here you are a long way away from your temple, with weapons on your back, and the intention to fight,” he pointed out.
“I was given to the temple as a child,” I said quickly, filling my waterskin and attaching it to the saddle. “An oath was taken, but it was not by me.”
“And you don’t honor that oath because you didn’t make it?” he asked, his voice free of judgment, but I bristled nonetheless.
“Oh, I honor it. When I am done helping Deo, I will return to the temple and continue to serve there. I’m doing this first, though.”
“Just so you know, my decision to leave Lord Israel’s company wasn’t made lightly,” he said in that same neutral tone.
“Then why do it? There is no need for you to come with me.” I bit my lip, wanting to argue more with him but knowing it would serve no purpose. I did feel disappointed in him, though. He seemed like such a man of honor that finding out he could easily cast aside an oath simply to follow a whim tarnished his character a little.
“On the contrary, there is every need. I can’t let you travel by yourself. I know you are well versed with your swords, and you bear two kinds of magic I can’t use, let alone understand, but I could not live with myself if I let you travel these dangerous roads alone.”
“I told you that the Harborym and their Shades don’t frighten me.”
“No,” he said softly. “But they should.”
I finished gathering my things and mounted Buttercup, let her do her traditional “Get rid of the person on my back” dance, and, once she settled, rode forward a few paces until I was next to Hallow. His horse snorted and shied, swinging his back end around.
Buttercup bit him on the ass.
“Sorry,” I said when Hallow’s horse protested, giving a little buck in the process. “She’s kind of cranky around horses.”
Hallow broke into laughter. “You have a mule.”
“I do, but I don’t see what’s so funny about it. She’s very sturdy, and once you get to know her ways, she’s not bad. So long as you don’t leave her unhobbled. She does try to run away a lot, and she bites, and she tends to steal food, but all in all, she’s quite ...”
“Reliable?” Hallow said while I struggled to find a word that summed up Buttercup.
“Noo,” I said slowly.
“Pleasant?”
“Not really.”
“Tolerable?”
“Eh.” I urged Buttercup into a fast walk. “Give me some time, and I’ll find a word that wouldn’t make Kiriah want to smite me for blasphemies.”
His soft laughter seemed to surround me in a cocoon of happiness. Which was an odd feeling considering the mix of emotions I had concerning him. I had enjoyed my interlude with Hallow, but the emotions he stirred in me made me nervous.
I didn’t really want him with me, I told myself. I didn’t want him to see Deo.
I just didn’t want him around.
I sighed softly to myself. I really was not any good at lying.
CHAPTER TWELVE
They came out of the bushes at the exact moment my attention wandered.
We’d been riding for almost two days, following the South Road to Starfall City, engaging in occasional skirmishes with small packs of Shades, but not encountering any real trouble.
Unless you call resisting the lure of Hallow when I was supposed to be sleeping trouble, but that was a personal battle, and evidently not one he shared when it was my turn to sit watch.
But on the afternoon of the second day, Buttercup was clopping along the road, her head bobbing rhythmically, clearly daydreaming in the warmth of the fading day. I’d fallen into my own reverie, alternating between desiring to talk to Hallow about his knowledge of arcane magic and determining that he wasn’t going to use me as a way to get to Deo, as he so obviously intended. I would leave to Hallow the unenviable task of explaining to Deo just why a liege man of his father was now in his company.
Hallow was riding ahead of me, and just as I was forming a very pithy explanation of why I wasn’t going to help him with Deo, a sudden cry of warning snapped me back to the present. With horror, I saw the green-and-blue-clad figures that must be the Harborym as they rushed from the tall hedges that lined this section of the road.
Worse, they were accompanied by several Shades, the pale creatures who were formerly Starborn, but who had withered away to a shell of their former selves under the control of the invaders.
“By the grace of Bellias!” Hallow bellowed, throwing himself off his horse, the black staff in his hand. Amazingly, the wooden bird at the top of it took flight, while Hallow began drawing runes in the air and clearly summoning arcane power.
I didn’t wait to see how he used the blue-white power that crackled around him—with a cry of my own, my bow was singing in my hands, the arrows catching the first couple of Harborym in their respective throats. The others leaped over their bodies, the pack of about twenty swarming forward, with at least as many Shades. I dropped a few more before they grew too close.
“Go!” I yelled to Buttercup when I slid out of the saddle, and slapped her on her glossy butt before whipping my swords out of their scabbards. Buttercup didn’t wait around to be told twice—she bucked as she ran, kicking out at a couple of Shades as she did so, taking both of them down.
The chaos magic came to life with the nearness of the Harborym, immediately fighting me for control. I jumped and slashed, spun and sliced, separating arms and heads and, in one case, both legs from their body. But even though I was holding my own against the attackers, more poured in from the hedge. To my right, Hallow was flinging balls of arcane power through the
oncomers, sending them screaming to the ground with melon-sized holes in their middles.
I spun around and removed three Shades from their heads, yelling at Hallow, “There’s more coming your way!”
“I’ll take care of them,” he shouted back, and with a cry in a language I didn’t understand, he held his hands skyward for a moment before slamming the staff onto the ground in front of him. The ground itself cracked, a deep rumble sounding a second before fissures opened in front of him, the biggest of which swallowed up a half-dozen Harborym.
I would have loved to watch him fight, the blue and silver cloak flying out as he spun and swung the staff against a pair of oncoming Shades, while the small black form of a bird darted back and forth, weaving a net of arcane magic that bound others, causing them to fall to the ground screaming in agony.
But I had my own fight to focus on, and just as I cleared away three Shades and two more Harborym, a rumbling could be heard from behind the hedge, and suddenly it was gone, a smoking black mass of burned matter, over which strode the largest being I’d ever seen. He was like a parody of Deo, a massive man the height of a giant, with streaming black hair, his dusky skin glittering with sweat, his eyes red with chaos power. The others parted in front of him, clearly giving way to their lieutenant.
A surge of my chaos magic sent me staggering to the side, falling to my knees, and dropping my swords in order to clutch at my chest in an attempt to hold the power inside me. The mammoth Harborym stomped toward me, the ground shaking, a low grating sound emerging from his chest. The monster was laughing.
At me.
Hallow screamed something, and I caught sight of him fighting toward me, a sea of Shades threatening to pull him under. He called for Thorn to assist me, and I watched dully as the little black wooden swallow dove at the Harborym leader.
I struggled to hold the chaos magic, to form it the way I wanted it, but it surged again, slipping my control to spill out of me in an impotent blaze of red light.
The giant approached, and still I knelt, stunned by my own struggle, unable to even move. In one giant hand he held a bloody object that was dragged alongside him. With a horrible shock, I recognized the tunic on the mangled body. It was a banesman, most likely Deo’s missing scout.
And still the rumbling, grating laugh continued, mocking my feeble attempts to master that which I’d so eagerly embraced. It was clear that my fate would soon be that of my fellow banesman. There was no way I could fight the beast.
“Allegria!” Hallow cried, and before I could turn my head to look on him one last time, a heavy rush of air and light slammed into me, sending me flying sideways, out of the Harborym’s path.
I landed at least thirty feet away, bouncing painfully on the road, but the arcane blast had served its purpose. It shocked me out of the chaos power’s control, and allowed me use of my body again. I pulled hard on the power of Kiriah, my hands lighting up gold as I got to my feet. “By the goddess, I will make you pay for the death of that banesman!” I yelled, golden red light crawling up both my arms and across my chest.
I ran toward the Harborym lieutenant, Hallow with the same objective from the other side. There were no other Harborym left alive, the area littered with the mangled remains of their force, and the stones slippery with blood. Several Shades chased after Hallow, but with a backward sweep of his hand, they exploded in a brilliant ball of white.
I leaped as I reached the Harborym, using the strength given to me by Kiriah to form the chaos power inside me, throwing it straight at him. Red and black vines began to grow upward from the broken ground, twining themselves up his thick legs, growing higher to encompass his chest and arms. At the same time Hallow thrust both hands forward, sending a massive blast of pure arcane magic at the lieutenant, rocking him backward. I had no swords left, but I did have my eating dagger, and without hesitation, I yanked it from the sheath at my hip and slashed at the Harborym’s neck before I tumbled to the ground.
The chaos magic continued up his body, spreading its tendrils until it held him in a virtual net. The Harborym, clearly not believing his eyes, at first tried to pull off the vines, then began cursing us in a horrible cracked voice.
“Are you harmed? Did I hurt you? Goddesses of day and night, if I hurt you—” Hallow was there at my side, helping me up from where I’d fallen. “It was the only thing I could do. I had to get you out of his way. Is that blood? It is. You’re bleeding.”
“I’m not harmed, just shaken. And angry,” I said with a voice that quavered noticeably. I allowed him to hold on to me while we both watched the chaos magic wrap itself around the Harborym, the long fingers of red now crisscrossing his head, silencing him, until all that was left was the glittering hate in his eyes.
And then even that was gone, the monster having been consumed by the magic. For the time it took for one second to pass into another, a red shape stood before us; then dissolved into the ground and evaporated to nothing.
“My power ... the chaos power ... it was trying to sacrifice me,” I said, pushing back my hair and noticing my hand came away red with blood. “I couldn’t control it at all, not until you knocked me to the side. What am I going to do? How can I be a banesman if the power I’m supposed to wield so easily turns against me?”
“I’m afraid I have few answers,” he said, lifting a hand when the last three Shades rushed us. They shrieked and burst into flames before racing off trailing cries and smoke. “But I will point out that you destroyed the Harborym. Not me—it was all you. Whether or not you first had control of your powers, you certainly did a few minutes later. It’s probably just a matter of you getting used to using it.”
I glanced at the red stain on the earth, all that remained of the Harborym. I wasn’t feeling nearly as confident as Hallow, remembering all too well how easily the power held me in its grip, ready to let me die.
The moon was rising by the time we finally found Deo, first encountering a pair of guards on the road. They were clearly going to object to Hallow’s presence, but I brushed their objections—and them—aside with a perfunctory, “We have to see Deo. We have news.”
Deo’s camp wasn’t nearly as large as was his father’s but, to my eye, looked much more effective. Deo stood next to a table, over which were spread several maps. Rixius hovered nearby, while Hadrian was clearly in consultation with Deo.
“Which one is the boyfriend?” Hallow asked in a whisper when we approached.
I poked him in the side with my elbow. “I was fourteen! And we did nothing more than exchange an awkward kiss.”
“Hmm. I wonder if he’s still a bad kisser.”
“No. Definitely not,” I said placidly, enjoying Hallow’s startled glance my way. We approached, Deo looking up when we stopped in front of him. His gaze settled on Hallow, a frown pulling his brows together.
“My lord,” Rixius announced in a loud voice. “The priestess approaches with a stranger.”
“I can see that just as well as you can,” Deo said irritably. “I thought the runeseeker was an old man. Lief said he was quite aged and slightly mad.”
“This is Hallow,” I said, gesturing toward him.
“Of Penhallow,” he said, bowing. “Of the region of Hallow.”
Deo just stared at him.
Hallow gave a little sigh. “My parents had an odd sense of humor. I come from your father’s company.”
Deo’s eyes narrowed, and I could feel a quick flash of anger roll off him. “So the rumors are true? Where is he?”
“Two days’ ride from here,” Hallow said.
“Is Borin not here?” I asked, glancing around.
“No. He has not yet returned from his patrol.” Deo frowned. “I expected him by now, but perhaps he is still gathering information.”
“He wasn’t at Lord Israel’s camp,” I said slowly, the sight of the mangled remains of Lief still horribly fresh in my memory.
“I’m sure he will return soon.” Deo eyed Hallow. “You look familiar, althou
gh I cannot place you. Have we met?”
“Not formally, although your father did save my life. Twice, actually. He found me in the road and sent me to be apprenticed with an arcanist.”
“Ah, you were the boy in the road.” Deo’s frown grew. “That does not explain why you are here now, in place of the runeseeker.”
Briefly, Hallow and I took turns explaining the happenings of the last few days, including the fact that we’d buried the remains of Deo’s third lieutenant a short while before finding his camp.
Deo looked somber at the death of Lief. “His loss will be felt by us all. It is good you destroyed the Harborym who killed him, though, as it saves me from hunting him down.”
“He was a monster,” I said with a little shudder.
“The death of the banesman aside, it is as I warned,” Rixius interrupted, shooting me black looks. “Word has been given to your father of your intentions. I believe we know who was so free with your knowledge.”
“You odious little slug,” I said, anger making my runes fire up. “I did nothing—”
“Just so,” Rixius said smugly. “I said all along that you would have no real use, and now you have admitted the very same yourself.”
“Listen—” I started.
“Quiet, both of you!” Deo bellowed.
“I’m not going to stand here and let your servant insinuate that I’m a traitor,” I snapped.
“Woman, do not push me!” Deo turned a warning look on me.
“Then tell your little minion to leave me in peace!” I glared right back at him.
Hallow swallowed a hiccup of laughter.
Deo took a deep breath. “Rixius, go attend to your duties. Do not argue with me! Just go do your work, and leave Allegria be.”
“He’s an officious little mud skimmer,” I told Hallow in an undertone. “We have a history. A brief one, but he doesn’t like me at all.”
“You don’t say,” Hallow said with a suspicious quiver of his lips.
“No doubt my father seeks to gather the Council of Four Armies, believing he can cover himself in glory and be named savior of Alba.” Deo’s jaw tightened for a few minutes before he managed to add, “He is mistaken. It is my banesmen, and my banesmen alone, who will bring down the Harborym and free the Starborn.”