Math had just pulled his pants back up when he heard Thea’s horrified shout. He grabbed his shirt off its branch and pulled it over his head as he ran towards her voice.
“Math! Over here!” she yelled.
“I’m coming!”
He reached the clearing and saw her crouched on the far side. Not seeing any immediate danger, he slowed to a walk. A very faint, sweet, coppery smell reached his nostrils as he entered the glade. He approached Thea, a vague sense of unease keeping him alert. A light breeze rustled the grass, but nothing else moved besides Thea. The cloying smell stayed with him as he reached her.
He looked at the focus of her attention. Flies buzzed angrily around it, disturbed by Thea’s examination of the cloth. The body was withered and dry, skin pulled tight to the desiccated muscle and bone beneath. The face was nothing more than skin pressed tightly over the shape of a skull. It was impossible to make out the features. The eyes had shriveled inside their sockets, their color indiscernible. Long, thick blonde hair flowed incongruously from the head, fanned out on the ground beneath.
The body’s outfit looked to be somewhat fine clothing. It was an unusual outfit for the settlement, where the Sidhe tended to wear simple, practical clothing day to day. Except, there were those in the village who wore a different style of dress.
“This is an elder,” he said, shocked.
“What? Are you sure?”
“Look at what she’s wearing. She’s one of the women who arrived this week.”
Thea looked again. “Looks like she’s been dead awhile, how could that be?”
“I don’t know. But look at her hair. Look at her clothes. I don’t know why she looks like that, but she’s an elder.”
“Damn, I think you’re right. What do you think we should do with her?”
He put his arm around her, pulling her up. “I think we should go back. Right now.”
“Yeah,” Thea responded, rising.
He kept his arm around her as they stepped out of the clearing, then guided her in front of him. They walked quickly, some unidentifiable sense of urgency prodding them to haste. They were only a short distance from the village and were there in minutes. They went right to Catrain and Favian’s tent, calling out a quick but urgent greeting from just outside the flap.
“Come in, please,” Catrain called from inside.
Math and Thea stepped in at the same time. Catrian, Favian, Aleida and Ellyn were still seated, but all were looking up at them expectantly as they stepped inside.
“What is it?” Favian asked.
“We found a body,” Math said, then paused. He didn’t know how well these two elders knew the others, or how they would take the news. When they didn’t answer right away, he plunged on. “We think it’s one of your elders.”
All four of them were on their feet immediately.
“Who?” Ellyn asked, a look of concern on the older woman’s face.
“A woman I think. Blonde,” Math replied.
Ellyn and Aleida looked at each other grimly.
“Show us,” Aleida ordered.
“There’s a clearing, down by the river. We’ll take you.”
They exited the tent, heading back towards the river at a brisk pace. Math led the way, Thea right behind. Math checked over his shoulder and saw the other four keeping pace easily. Ellyn’s mobility continued to surprise him.
They reached the clearing quickly. Aleida stepped in front of them. “Stay here,” she said.
She strode across the clearing accompanied by just Ellyn. The others stayed and watched from a short distance away. The two elders crouched over the shriveled corpse, talking too low to hear but gesturing animatedly. After a few minutes they arose and walked back to the others.
“You were right, it is one of our elders,” Aleida said. “Her name was Helewys. And we have a bigger problem.” She looked pointedly between Catrain and Favian as she said the last few words.
“A bigger problem than that?” Math asked, gesturing towards the lifeless elder.
“What is it?” Khel asked.
“We are going to gather the elders together tonight.”
“That soon? We can’t wait to discuss it at the gathering tomorrow?” Favian asked.
“We can’t wait until tomorrow. By tomorrow, you will have evacuated this settlement.”
The group looked at each other, taken aback.
“What is it? What did you see on the body? Some sort of plague?” Math asked.
“If only,” Aleida replied. “That was the work of dark Kobali sorcery.”
“Sorcery?” Math blurted. “I thought they were just savage creatures?”
Aleida looked at him scornfully. “If that’s what you think, then you’re lucky to be alive,” she said. “Now let’s move. We’ll send someone for her when we get back.”
The group hurried back to the village. Ellyn immediately recruited a group of half a dozen Sidhe to go retrieve the elder’s body. As shrunken as the poor woman was, Math didn’t think it would take more than one person to carry her. He suspected Ellyn just wasn’t sending anyone away from the village without plenty of backup. Aleida sent a runner to gather the elders for an immediate conference. Catrain walked quickly to the center of the village. Several yards from the central area where the village collected around the large fire was a small gazebo. A rope hung down along one side. Catrain grabbed the rope and pulled. From inside the gazebo, a bell rang out loudly. Heads turned towards the sound as those walking or working nearby looked towards the source. She pulled again and the bell rang a second time. The walking and working stopped, and the eyes Math could see were all on Catrain.
She pulled a third time, and the bell tolled again. The settlement exploded into action. Bags were thrown immediately out of tents. Within minutes a tent had been collapsed. Math was astounded by the speed and efficiency with which the Sidhe started dismantling their village.
Math couldn’t get that sickly, coppery smell out of his nose. He tried to put it out of his mind and concentrate on what was going on in front of him.
“If the Kobali are attacking, why haven’t we seen more?” he asked.
“A good question. I don’t know,” Aleida replied. “But there is something foul with them, and if they’re not here now they will be soon. Nobody will want to sleep knowing something might come up underneath them.”
Math could understand that fear. He wouldn’t be able to sleep either, knowing the things were anywhere nearby. Not after what happened at Trey’s farm, and on the road there. As he shuddered at the memories, a small group of Sidhe approached through the bustle of the evacuating settlement. As they neared, the runner detached from the group, running off to handle his own affairs. Four remained and approached Aleida. Two men and a woman gathered around. Two elders were absent. One was accounted for already by Thea’s grisly discovery.
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“Where is Alys?” Aleida asked.
“We haven’t seen her since last night,” the woman answered. Nyla was her name, Math recalled. She was shorter than most of the Sidhe and slender, with brown hair cut above the shoulder. These things combined made her seem much younger than her title as ‘elder’ would suggest. Any innocent air that may have accompanied that look was belied by the Sidhe blade strapped to her back. She carried it comfortably, like an old and trusted companion.
Math stared at the men for a moment. He had never seen twins. They were a couple inches taller than him, and perhaps twice as wide. Broad torsos in sleeveless tunics stood on tree trunk legs. Bare arms as thick as Nyla’s legs bulged as the twins crossed them in front of their chests. A shock of disheveled red hair crowned both their heads, matching the close-trimmed but thick red beards covering their cheeks and chins. The swords strapped to their backs looked like a child’s toys. Arik and Brand were their names. Math didn’t know which was which, but one of the two noticed him looking their way and gave him a smile and a nod.
“Rumor has it we’ve found the scions,” one of the twins rumbled. “Is that why you’ve gathered us?”
“We have. Well, Khel here has,” Aleida replied.
“These are them, then?” the other twin asked, eyeing Khel, Math and Thea.
“Not me,” Thea put up her hands in protest.
“We lost one on the way. Kobali ambush,” Khel said. “Math here is the other.”
“And the third?” the twin asked, looking at Khel.
“We’ll deal with the third later,” Khel replied.
“Suit yourself,” he shrugged.
“So what do we do?” Thea asked. Nobody answered. Thea continued, “I thought you all came here because you’d know what to do?”
“Nobody knows what to do,” Nyla said, then looked up at Aleida. “Isn’t that right?”
“We know only bits and pieces of what we need to know.”
“Then how do we stop the Bringer of Midnight from escaping?” asked the left twin. The right twin was silent, standing still as if sculpted.
“You need to make your way to the key and retrieve it. Bring it back. You may not be able to repair it with only two scions, but we also know that it is not a key that fits into a physical lock. It can be moved.”
“It doesn’t look like a key, then?” ask Math.
“No. The key is a sword. The Emperor named it the Bane of Fire. It was supposed to kill the Beast, but he failed and instead imprisoned the Dragon under the mountain.”
“Where is the key now?”
“Under the mountain.”
“The same mountain that the Dragon is under?” Math asked, one eyebrow cocked.
Aleida nodded.
“So we bring it back, and then what?” asked the left twin. The right twin was still silent, eyes unfocused, lost in thought.
“We know it is attuned to the Emperor’s bloodline. We can only hope that the way will become clear once the scions have it in hand. Once we have it, we will be able to study it and hopefully figure out how to fix it.”
“What else do we need to know?” Nyla asked.
“Well, obviously the Kobali Dragon-worshippers will be a danger.”
“Obviously,” Nyla rolled her eyes.
“They worship the Dragon?” Thea asked.
“Oh yes. They are a regular cult, those creatures,” the left twin said.
“What about the Dragon itself?” Math asked.
“We believe it is still imprisoned. It is breaking free, and when it breaks free the fire will flow from the mountain a thousand times worse than it did. But for now, it cannot leave.”
“Well ok then,” said the same twin. “We just sneak through the Dragon’s maze of caves, avoid the swarms of razor-toothed Kobald sorcerers, not get cooked by the fire boiling out of the belly of the earth, hope the dragon doesn’t sneeze, and grab the sword and run. Did I miss anything?” He elbowed his brother, trying to incite him to join in the sarcastic mirth. His brother remained silent, still, eyes unfocused.
“Arik?” he asked.
So that made the left twin Brand, Math thought.
Arik didn’t answer. Brand put a hand on his shoulder. “Arik?” he asked, louder.
“What is that?” Nyla asked.
Math looked where she pointed. A red snake twisted and pulsed on the ground behind Arik. One end stretched off into the bushes. The other rose up the back of his boot and slipped inside a gap between boot and pants. It seemed almost fluid, swelling and shifting and writhing. Brand roared and in one lighting fast had drawn his sword over his shoulder and brought it down onto the snake, chopping the thing in two.
When he lifted the sword, the two halves flowed back together like water, unaffected. With a roar Brand kicked at it. Red droplets flew away from the blow of his boot like a spatter of crimson blood, but whatever it was simply poured back together. The thing was like a living snake of liquid blood.
Aleida stepped forward, drawing a small dagger from some hidden sheath. She slipped it into the leather of Arik’s leggings, and pulled it in a circle around the leg, separating it from the material above. Then she drew the dagger down, splitting the cut section to that it fell away from Arik’s leg. Math heard Thea gasp beside him and wasn’t sure he didn’t gasp himself.
The red blood-snake transformed where it reached Arik’s flesh. Once above the boot and on the flesh, the thing had become a red liquid tangle of tiny threads and branches wrapped around his leg like ornate ivy filigree. As Math watched in horror, the red lattice slowly worked its way up Arik’s leg, extending filaments and threads and slowly weaving a bloody net as it went. It was already just above the knee and rising.
Brand dropped to one knee and began slapping and wiping at Arik’s leg, with no more results than the boot and sword had provided. Every spot where he splashed ruby drops away, they reformed as soon as he removed his hands.
“No! Find the source!” Aleida ordered.
Math reacted first, darting to follow the sorcerous serpent. The tentacle twisted through the underbrush, but before he had gone three steps the end whipped past him, receding back to where it had come from. He ran a few more steps, but the thing was too fast and he lost it in the underbrush.
Turning back towards the other, he saw Arik’s leg was bare. The bloody rope was no longer wrapped around his leg, but his skin was now a latticework of bruises and pinpricks of blood. He slumped against his brother, who supported him by holding one arm over his shoulders. Math couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not.
A scream sounded from nearby, then others quickly joined it. Math looked and saw one of the Sidhe go down, three dark figures biting and clawing at the victim. Dozens of small shapes skittered and bounded through the settlement, latching on to unfortunate victims. Many of the Sidhe had swords in hand and were felling the creatures left and right. Some were able to fight free. Others, the kobalds swarmed over. Even if two or three were cut down, the rest launched themselves at their prey, bearing them down with their combined weight and the pooled force of teeth and talons.
Math and Khel drew their swords, about to rush in to help. Thea and Nyla did the same.
“No!” Aleida commanded, freezing them. “You six must leave. Now! Leave this skirmish to us. You have a more important battle to fight.”
Math and Khel hesitated. Math could see the displeasure in Nyla’s eyes, but she supported the Master’s order. “This way,” she said, and turned in the opposite direction from the approaching wave of vicious beasts. Math took Arik’s other arm over his shoulders, helping Brand take the weight of his brother. Arik was at least conscious enough to move his feet as they half-dragged him.
Nyla led the way out of the settlement, sword still drawn, Thea right behind her. One of the creatures came at her from her left, but it was alone, separated from the pack. She cut it down and kept moving. Khel followed the twins and Math, guarding their retreat. Aleida and Ellyn drew their own swords and strode purposefully toward the approaching swarm.
The village was virtually emptied by now. Most of the Sidhe had fled, with a surprising amount of their possessions. Their constant readiness had paid off. Some pockets of resistance were left, an unfortunate few that had been cut off from escape. As Math looked to the side, one of those pockets went down, swarmed under by a throng of kobalds.
He looked behind him as he helped Brand drag the stricken man away from the chaos. Aleida and Ellyn stood directly in the path of the advancing mob. They stood a couple yards apart, giving themselves room to swing their swords and, Math knew, covering more territory to block any potential pursuit. As he watched, a small handful of other Sidhe joined their line, all with swords out. Some of the blades gleamed wickedly. Some of them were well-coated with kobald blood.
The first of the creatures reached the waiting line. Aleida’s sword flashed out, and the thing’s head fell apart from its body. Seconds later more reached the defenders. Swords began to flash and whirl, faster and faster as more numbers reached them. The line tightened up, each Sidhe warrior stepping closer to the other as they assisted with lightning-fast sword strokes when the one standing beside them looked to be overwhelmed. The effect was like a wall of woven mesh, each sword’s reach overlapping the wielder next to it, leaving no way to pass through the barrier without meeting a razor-sharp end.
The weaknesses in the wall were the ends. With only one neighbor, they were fighting off a heavier assault than those in the middle. The creatures quickly realized they weren’t going to pass straight through and began swarming the edges. Many went around the wall altogether. Many more swarmed those on the ends. One fell under the pressure, then another. The wall became smaller.
Then the swarm scattered, and a fountain of blood curtained up in front of the desperately fighting Sidhe. The red liquid flowed up like a living curtain, undulating, groping with crimson tentacles. It paused overhead, rippling and shifting like a sheet in the wind. The last thing Math saw was Aleida looking up to face the malevolent red mass as it crashed down on the line like a thundering wave. Then the path turned and the trees behind were too thick to see past.