From deep within the shadows he waited. His men were hidden safely in the brush, well outside the range a human eye could see detail. More men were sent to circle the hill at a safe distance to ensure the prey could not slip away in the darkness.
They followed the prey all day, waiting for them to stop for the night. Now they sat patiently and waited. He knew if they left the safety of the deep shadows, they would be seen. If they were seen, the prey would run, and he was tired of chasing them.
“We should move in now and take them,” one of the men said in a low whisper from where he hid in the tall grass.
“Patience,” he said to reassure the men. “They have been ambushed several times, and always they have escaped. We can't rush in after them. We have to make them rush out to us.”
“How do you plan to do that?” one of the others asked.
He glanced to the man in all black whose eyes were all that could be seen in the dim light. In the assassins guild, there were no true ranks, but he was known as one of the orders best and often referred to as their chief hunter. The others all knew he was in charge, and his plan would be followed to the letter. Still, it would help keep order to explain his motives a little.
“We know in which direction they are heading. We choose a place where there is nowhere to hide and set a trap. When they walk into the trap, we shut the door behind them and leave them nowhere to run.”
“Is that why you sent word ahead?” the man in the shadows asked.
He smiled at the understanding. That was precisely why he sent word ahead. He knew this land well, and that five miles north of here, the hills and forest came to an end. It would be nothing but gently rolling plains for miles. It was here he planned to set his trap. The prey would have no choice but to stand and fight, and when they did, he would have them.
“Keep watch on the hill,” he replied as he sank deeper into the shadows. “Soon, the prey will be ours.”
Tavis yawned as he broke his meditation. Ayawa woke him a few hours before dawn to take over the watch. For the last couple of hours, his sight traveled around the hill and saw nothing but grass and weeds. He took this moment to let his weave drop, and look over his shoulder at Ayawa. Something about the woman's behavior was off. A strange mood had come over her that started in Eastgate. Now she was wrapped up in Gedris and determined to break or train the woman he wasn't sure. She seemed determined to shape Gedris into something more.
His gaze fell on Gedris with a heavy brow. She lay on her bedroll with her head on her backpack. For some reason, the woman latched on to them and was determined to stay with them. She even went so far as to try and entice him, but her plan backfired, or had it? He pondered that thought a moment. She was exactly where she wanted to be, and it was that display that led to it. He began to wonder if perhaps she was far more clever than he gave her credit for. Had she manipulated him and her knowledge of Ayawa's culture?
With a sigh, he put the thought away. All of this had become far too confusing. Gedris should have been sent north with the first man they made contact with. He and Ayawa would be two days further along and safely out of harm's way.
He closed his eyes and went back to his weave. With a low tone, he danced his fingers and produced the magical sight. Out it raced across the fields around the hill and saw more of the same. A quiet landscape of grass and shadows. At least tonight they would get some peace.
As the suns light began to drive back the night's darkness Ayawa stirred. She woke Gedris and put the woman through a brutal ordeal of poses and shifting poses. He'd never seen her work the woman so hard, but Gedris seemed to be accepting it without complaint.
He continued to watch the camp as the landscape brightened until Ayawa finally ordered Gedris to pack up their gear and get ready to move. To his surprise, she told Gedris to remain in her pants and shirt. Ayawa wanted to run today and didn't want Gedris fighting heavy armor the whole way.
When at last they were ready to move Ayawa led the way out. She took them north darting from one clump of trees to another. Several times she paused to look at the ground or a patch of grass. Tavis knew from experience this meant something was out of place. Ayawa had a keen sense for her surrounding, and she could spot the passage of man or beast in a field or forest.
“Somebody has been here,” Ayawa said as she studied a distinct path in the grass. “These were booted feet.”
“It could be farmers,” Gedris said. “Or hunters.”
Tavis watched as Ayawa stood tall and looked all around. He knew there was no way to be sure who had passed, only that they had passed. Ayawa glanced at him with concern apparent on her face. She went back to examining the countryside ahead and pressed on.
An hour later the clumps of trees ended at the rolling plains of the northern Commonlands. Their meeting place with Twocrows was over a full days run ahead. They needed to reach the meeting place by late morning of the next day. This meant crossing a vast open area with haste. Ayawa would never take such a risk, but too much time was already lost, and to go around would take nearly a week.
If they couldn't move invisibly, they would move quickly. Tavis wove his spell to make them lighter and touched them all. With haste, they dashed across the open ground determined to outrun the danger they couldn't see.
“Why do I feel so tense?” Gedris asked an hour into the dash.
“Because your senses are getting stronger,” Ayawa said. “Something is wrong.”
“I don’t see anything,” Tavis said.
Ayawa glanced back at him but never slowed her pace.
“We’ve not seen a single, deer, or bird, or even heard their calls, and we have crossed a dozen booted paths in the last hour. Somebody passed through here right before us,” she said.
Tavis began to look around now that she pointed it out. She was right. There was always a rabbit or a crow or something. The last couple of hours had been devoid of anything. That fact mixed with the trails could only mean somebody had searched this area recently.
“So, what does that mean?” Gedris asked as they dashed over a hilltop.
“It means we need to be wary,” Ayawa said. “It could still be villagers out hunting.”
“Or assassins out hunting,” Tavis added.
Gedris glanced at him, and he hid his worried eyes under the brim of his hat.
He went to reassure her when Ayawa glanced back at them and rapidly came to a stop as she turned about.
“Earth mother be merciful,” she gasped.
Tavis and Gedris stopped and turned to see what she was looking at, and Gedris's mouth fell open.
Twenty men in black stood in a line on the hill behind them. In the center was a tall, imposing man with a curved sword at his waist. He drew the weapon and pointed it and the men to his sides charged down the hill.
“Run!” Tavis cried, setting them back to motion.
“To where?” Gedris called. “There's nothing here but grass!”
“We need to stay ahead of them!” he barked. “We have the weave. We can run for much longer.”
Ayawa gave up trying to pick careful paths and choose direct routes over hills.
Tavis smiled at the tactic. She knew they could run up the hills with ease, but their pursuers would find them challenging. She was taking them directly over every hill she could to force them to tire. The tactic was sound but he knew this land. The hills would end soon and they would have nothing but flat land for miles.
“They knew we were there!” Ayawa growled as they crested another hill. “This was planned.”
“I watched with my sight,” Tavis said. “There was nothing out there.”
“Did you see any deer grazing in the night?” Ayawa asked. “A raccoon or a possum maybe?”
Tavis realized he hadn't seen any animals, and how strange that was. He wondered if their camp had been surrounded all night. It was this thought that made him jump with a start.
“If they knew we were there and didn’t move on us then they have a plan to snare us,” he said.
Ayawa nodded as she led them over the next hill.
“Snare us how?” Gedris asked.
“They are driving us,” Ayawa barked. “Forcing us to run blindly into whatever they have waiting ahead.”
“So what do we do?” Gedris asked.
“We look for a way to change course!” Ayawa shouted, and as they went down the hill slope, she veered to the right running between the hills.
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Tavis and Gedris followed as Ayawa set a terrible pace. She tore through weeds and brambles with careless abandon. For a moment he thought they escaped the trap, but as they rounded a hill, they saw ten men in black waiting ahead.
“Were inside the trap already!” Tavis cried as Ayawa turned to the left and raced away from the new enemies.
Ayawa's legs pumped, and she put a good thirty paces on him and Gedris. She went over another hill, and they quickly followed behind her. By the time they crested the top she was already at the base and heading northwest.
“What are we going to do?” Gedris cried as the men to their right joined the chase.
“We follow Ayawa and hope she can find a gap in their lines.
“And if she can’t?”
Tavis glanced at her and tilted his head so she could see his eyes. “They can't be allowed to learn where Gersius is. They can't take us alive.”
Gedris's face flushed white at his words, and he went back to focusing on the run.
They dashed over a series of low hills into the flat plains. From here there was nothing but a sea of knee-deep grass. Tavis glanced over his shoulder and saw his worst dreams come true. Nearly fifty men pursued them. They were behind them and on both sides, driving them forward. He was sure there were more waiting ahead. The trap was sprung, and they were already inside it.
He turned back and put his head down, determined to run as far as he could. All three of them dashed across the open plains, and then the chase came to an end.
Ayawa cried out as the ground before them erupted with men jumping out of carefully hidden holes. In a moment, there were five assassins among them, and Ayawa found her bow useless. She quickly went for her knives as Tavis went for his blades.
In the ensuing clash of blades, Ayawa proved her reputation as the best knife fighter her people had seen in hundreds of years. In seconds one man was down, and a second wounded. Tavis held up a third, but Gedris saved them by blessing the grass around the other two. Her blessing caused it to grow with frightening speed and tangled them taking them out of the fight. They cursed loudly as Ayawa helped Tavis finish off his assailant. They ran on, leaving the two trapped in the weeds, and Gedris cried out.
There was a shrill whistle, and a green glass-like substance formed in the air over his head a crossbow bolt bounced harmlessly away. Gedris let the protective shield she was channeling drop and raced to their side.
He quickly glanced back to see the pursuing men were barely a hundred paces behind them. Several of them carried small crossbows, and they were now in range. The tall man that was leading them motioned with his hand and several crossbows fired. Gedris sang a musical tune, and her green shield covered them as the bolts bounced away.
“Shoot the Ulustran witch first!” the man cried out in an irritated voice.
Ayawa grabbed Gedris and ran as the assassins reloaded but they only got another fifty paces before more men burst from the ground ahead of them. These fools jumped up too early, however, and Ayawa made good use of her bow.
Tavis fell into a weave and let out a bolt of twisting red lines. He aimed for the men behind them, hoping to buy some time. These men dived out of the way, but the sides were closing in fast. Soon there would be well over fifty assassins crowding around them and nowhere to go.
Ayawa fired another arrow, but the black figures darted out of the way.
“We cannot hope to fend off so many,” Travis yelled as he let loose another twisting red bolt.
“We can’t be taken captive!” Ayawa shouted back. “They will use us to find Gersius!”
Gedris held up her ward, blocking another crossbow bolt that flew their way.
“I won’t be able to keep this up much longer!” she yelled.
They fell back from the larger force behind them as Ayawa and Tavis tried to batter the foes away with arrows and spells, but it was clear there was nowhere to retreat too.
A bolt took Gedris in the shoulder, and she groaned as the shaft punched through her skin. Her ward flickered and winked away as she fell to the ground and lost concentration.
Tavis looked at Ayawa with a dire expression.
“We have no choice,” he said.
“No!” Ayawa said. “You promised!”
“Ayawa,” he said with a solemn voice. “There is nowhere left to run. At least I can ensure they won't take us alive.”
Ayawa nodded as she fired another arrow.
Just as Tavis was about to fall into his weave, the line of assassins stopped and stood by impassively. He paused and looked on with concern as Ayawa backed up to him so that Gedris who sat on the ground pulling at the bolt was between them.
The tall figure with the curved sword walked out from behind the line of assassins. He reached up and removed the cloth covering his face revealing the dark skin of a Sulithan warrior.
Tavis felt his blood grow hot to see the face of his people's age-old enemy. The cellic and the Sulithan had fought for centuries in a series of bloody wars. It was one of these wars that burned away the uses of his power and ultimately sent him looking for a better life elsewhere.
The man smiled and stepped out with his hands on his hips.
“You cannot escape,” his loud voice said. “You will soon run out of arrows,” he said gesturing to Ayawa. “You will tire of channeling, and the priestess is not cut out for combat,” he added with a nod of his head to Tavis.
Tavis fixed his eyes on this man. He wore the same armor as the others except for a chest plate of metal with a red blood drop over his right breast. He briefly wondered if killing him might scatter the others. He went to speak, but Ayawa spoke first.
“And who are you?” she called out defiantly.
“We both know I am not going to answer that,” he said as his smile broadened. “Drop your weapons, and we will turn you in for the bounty, you do not need to die here.”
“We will die anyway,” Tavis replied. “What does it matter if it’s now or later?”
“Your bounty is the same if your dead, I do not need to keep you alive.”
“You need us to lead you to Gersius,” Ayawa spat. “You can't afford to let us die.”
The man stepped forward a few paces and stood tall, his eyes locked in a deadly stare.
“I only need one of you, and I will have one of you.” His gaze shifted to Gedris. “The priestess likely doesn't have the answer I seek. We will kill her first. I will see to it that her screams haunt you the remainder of your life. If that doesn't loosen your tongues, we will dice to see which of you two goes next.”
All three of them studied the man with hatred. He was right; they couldn't run any further, and they would soon exhaust themselves. There was only one option that didn't end in enduring pain and torture.
“Tavis,” Ayawa said with a panting breath. “Burn them!”
Tavis went to fall into his weave again when a lone horseman appeared on the hill behind the assassins. He wore polished plate armor and a white sash. His face was hidden under the familiar full helm with a red star over its face.
“A priest of Astikar,” Ayawa hissed.
The man in the black armor turned to regard the knight on the hill as many more riders appeared to either side of him all similarly equipped. With a shake of his head, the Assassin began to laugh.
“Now you are doubly trapped, even if you could outrun us, you would never outrun the seekers,” he said.
“So your working for the priests of Astikar?” Tavis said in a dour voice.
“Who do you think is paying the bounties?” the man said in a laugh. “With the seekers here I can claim the prize in the name of our Lady. After I get the information I want, of course.”
The horsemen began to advance, slowly riding down and fanning out across the flat land as they approached.
“The Father Abbot is a cursed wretch to be employing assassins to do his work,” Ayawa said with a growl.
“The Father Abbot is a generous man. He has deep coffers, and a burning desire for the heads of Gersius and his dragon,” the tall leader of the assassins said.
“You will never take the dragon back to Calathen.” Ayawa retorted.
The man laughed. “We don’t intend to bring it back. They only want proof it is dead. We will bring him the head.”
Tavis scowled at the man with disgust. All of this was happening to stop Gerius from completing the prophecy. The Father Abbot would kill them and then Lilly, and anybody else that got in his way. He would do anything to keep the prophecy from coming true.
Tavis saw Ayawa tense her arms and knew what she was planning. A final stand for the princess of the warrior maidens like her ancient ancestor. She would draw her bow and try to shoot down the leader in one last act of defiance. He would fall into his weave in the sudden distraction and intentionally lose control. At the very least, as they died, they might take a good number of the assassins with them.
The assassins stood motionless thirty paces away, forming a half-circle. Behind them, the cavalry of Astikar was picking up speed as the horses clambered down the hill. It was then that he noticed they had drawn their weapons.
“Wait,” Tavis whispered to Ayawa, causing her to flinch.
With a sudden call, the leader leveled his sword, and all the riders broke into a charge. The men in black looked over shoulders just as horses crashed into them and blades dashed out, sending arcs of blood skyward.
Ayawa threw herself over Gedris and Tavis crouched beside them both as horses charged by. Howls of rage and curses mixed with the screams of dying men. Orange lights filled the air as hammers of Astikar raced out all around them.
In seconds the assassins were decimated, and the few who managed to dodge or roll out of the way found themselves fighting three or four heavy cavalry and were quickly slaughtered. The tall Sulithan yelled defiantly at a man with a golden eye on his shoulder.
“You betray us!” he cried as the priest of Astikar turned his horse to face him.
“No,” the man said calmly. “I stand with my God. You stand with a liar!” With that, the knight kicked his horse into a charge and trampled the man.
Tavis, Ayawa, and Gedris huddled into a tight cluster watching with shock as the priests of Astikar butchered the assassins on the grassy plains. The leader wore a white sash with a large red star that featured a white eye at its center. He turned and rode slowly to stand before them just ten feet away.
“It’s a seeker,” Tavis whispered to Ayawa.
“I know what the emblem means, just be ready to scatter when they attack,” Ayawa whispered.
“What a fine chase you’ve lead me on, how unfortunate it had to end in such bloodshed,” the man said his voice calm and with a hint of pleasure. He made no move to come any closer to them, and his riders stood behind him a further ten feet back.
“We won’t go to Calathen with you,” Ayawa said her voice strong and defiant.
The man locked her eyes with a glare of anger. “No, you will not. I have other plans for you. You're going to lead me to Gersius.”
Tavis snorted in a laugh. “We will die before we help the Father Abbot find Gersius.”
The man's horse danced about, and he took a moment to bring it under control. “How many crimes have you two committed against the order now?” he asked. “Dereliction of duty, stealing temple property. Aiding a priestess from an outlaw religion.”
They were silent as the man counted off the charges.
“I am sure you are responsible for the deaths of several brothers in the south, not to mention you are in league with the criminal Gersius.”
“Gersius is no criminal, the Father Abbot is,” Ayawa shouted back causing a rumbling of whispers from the horsemen.
The wind picked up, and the grass around them began to wave. There was a long moment of silence as they stared up at the captain on his horse. At last the man nodded his head.
“So it would seem,” he said.
Both Tavis and Ayawa reacted with surprise.
The man put his sword away and rode forward a few strides. He turned his horse so he could lean out over the side and address them all.
“I am told Gersius was ordered to Calathen, but he chose to go to Whiteford instead. I am told he murdered his men so he could make a dark pact with the dragon. I am also told he attacked Whiteford to try and sow chaos in the backcountry and cut supplies heading to the border keeps.”
“All of that is a lie!” Tavis yelled back.
The captain nodded and reached up with both his hands. He pulled his helmet off and let his long brown hair fall about his shoulders.
“You!” Ayawa said in shock.
“I am glad you remember me,” Jessivel said with a smile. “Now where is Gersius?”