They left the rocky passage not long past dawn as Alayne had hoped and they were met with a dirt road that lay shadowed under a canopy of forest as far as they could see. Alayne could only tell the passage of time from the odd glimpse he got through well placed leaves, at one point he'd had AJ climb up for a better view as he'd lost all sense of time.
Despite his warnings he'd looked directly at the sun as he pointed out its position, which was near to setting. The poor boy had spent the rest of the day rubbing at his eyes and complaining of spots.
They travelled in silence as Alayne was aware that dark roads like this were perfect places for ambushes to come from bandits and their ilk. But the first day passed without incident, they saw no trouble and in fact saw no one at all, which wasn't unexpected. No roads connected with this one yet, it only went to the Valley they had just left and most locals gave the area a wide berth due to superstition.
On top of that, Alayne imagined word had spread of a war camp settling there and that would hardly increase foot traffic.
The first night was just as quiet, Alayne had made a small fire despite his better judgement as he watched his ward shiver in the cold and Raven couldn't afford to let the cold grab him in his weakened state. He was pale as a sheet and had been barely responsive throughout the day.
He'd sat at the edge of the fire trying to watch all avenues that a potential threat might come from, he wasn't used to being this wary or this tired. His eyes were trying to betray him and he found himself drifting off for moments at a time and waking in panic, checking on his companions before returning to his watch.
"I can wa...wa..wa"
Alayne was startled as he turned to look at Surrich, cradled in AJ's arms as he lay on his side.
"You need rest. I do no...no...no"
He really did not want to entrust the watch to a disembodied head he'd known for a day, but he knew he couldn't keep this up the rest of the night let alone the rest of the journey.
Alayne sighed and got to his feet, gently easing the skull from AJ's sleeping grasp and trying to not grimace as his hands made contact with the dry flaky bits of leftover skin and chipped bone.
"Put me up hi...hi"
Alayne had the manners not to bring up the speech issues, but he did find them a tad annoying as he slipped Surrich on top of the trunk and between two branches above where Raven and AJ had bedded down for the night.
Taking the wide brimmed hat from his head he sat down low against a long and bulky root, letting his head rest against it and placing the hat over his face before taking it off just for a moment to shoot a look at the eyeless skull
"The slightest noise..."
"I will wake yo..yo...yo"
He let the hat drop and quickly fell into a much needed sleep.
The next day went much the same as the first, with very little conversation although Raven was slightly more agile with a little of the blood returning to his face, every few hours he managed to walk unaided using his sheathed blade as a support before returning to rest on Alaynes almost unfeeling shoulders.
He even managed to carry conversation whilst moving and despite his slow pace and occasional gasp, it started to feel a bit like how they'd started their journey together months ago walking with the army around them, marching towards nothing.
"Why did you come back for me?" where the first words he spoke around midday on the 2nd day.
"I assumed you were doing something reckless and naïve, was I right?" he'd almost fallen into the room and watched the old farmer slice into Raven, he hadn't had time to process what was happening, just act.
Raven let out a weak single chuckle.
"I thought I could end it all, stop the battle, save those men, redeem my name"
"But you weren't expecting Jaycob," Alayne added, not as a question. The farmer had done a lot worse to a lot of the noble born judging by the blood Alayne had half paid attention to, although his sympathy was hard to find.
"Jaycob was a good man who has had a hard life that I haven't helped with. But that wasn't him-" he clenched a fist and drove the top of his sheath into the mud with more force than necessary. "I needed more time, something had happened, something that could have been avoided...his family...All these mistakes, all my fault"
He was a young man, Alayne forgot that sometimes, and he had made the mistakes of a young man but he also carried the responsibilities of those well past him in years.
"Maybe it was your fault Raven, maybe it wasn't, either way nothing can change now. But try and think what would have changed had you taken different paths. Would more people have survived, I don't think so, not really, and you'd still be able to blame yourself just in a slightly different way."
"Is that supposed to console me? My actions were unimportant as fate conspired against me"
Alayne let out a laugh and AJ did the same although he was scampering around showing Surrich every tree for some reason and had only laughed to feel included.
"I don't believe in fate, although if Greymen are real then who's to say Fate isn't as well, some old crone sat spinning webs each one of us must trace along before we die. No, none of that Orc shit." He held a hand up to reel himself back in "In a roundabout way Raven what I am saying is stop looking back at mistakes and look forward. We have been set an impossible task but this would redeem your name, this would save more than a small army, it would save an entire species of people, more than one in fact."
This had not been when Alayne had expected to sell the journey to his fallen friend but it had come up naturally and he may be more inclined in his weakened state.
"You have been set the task bard"
There was a choice here, play to his naivety or play to the hero Raven expected himself to be. He rolled the dice in his mind as there was no time for logic to pick one.
"Then I set you the task Raven, save me, save the world, help me kill the ruler of the Red Empire"
Play to the hero, everyone wanted to be one really and Raven had been forced to play that role for so long; would he be drawn to it once more?
They walked in silence for what remained of the morning, Alayne could see the thoughts playing through the mind of Raven as they sat down for a midday break.
"What's left for me in Rha'Vander?"
"Sod all my friend. A life in hiding or behind bars, or a very short life on a gallows. If you must go home then do it as a hero, Raven Broken Oath, Ender of Empires, they will sing your songs for centuries"
Raven hung his head, Alayne had won but he hid his grin.
"I don't want songs"
Alayne waved the comment away but said nothing.
It was a lie surely, everyone wanted songs sung about them.
Alayne had travelled this part of Rha'vander some time ago and he knew there was a crossroads that he had hoped to meet towards the end of the 2nd day, he was disappointed but not surprised that they didn't and it wasn't until the middle of the 4th day that they finally came across it. He knew from there it was a day at normal pace to the town of Shale, but at their current pace it was more likely 2 or even 3.
It was more likely they'd find more people now they were on more travelled roads, this was the main path that the lower eastern towns and cities could travel to get onto the Kings road and get to the capital or Stonehold or any other major holding. If luck was on their side then maybe a merchant would be coming along and would give them a ride in exchange for a song.
But until such a time they continued on foot, resting frequently where Raven needed it.
Whilst they hadn't yet found transport, things did pick up slightly, now they were well away from the army and their end goal not too far away spirits began to brighten slightly. Alayne allowed AJ to jump into the weeds alongside them as they walked to chase insects and Alayne pretended to inspect them when he excitedly brought a particularly juicy one to him. The boy's natural unkillable childlike wonder and joy was nicely contagious and, despite his muscles aching and the knowledge of his duties crushing down on him Alayne found himself with a slight spring in his step, even Raven managed the odd laugh when AJ choked on a particularly unwilling butterfly.
As the day turned to dusk Alayne had somehow been talked into letting AJ ride atop his shoulders when his feet had gotten tired, despite the fact he had to check his shoulders were still there as he'd not had feeling in them for days. Luckily Raven was pushing himself and using his sword more and more to make his own way although he was still far too pale and unable to go without resting for very long. AJ was using Surrich's mouth to catch fireflies and mosquitoes and laughing as they flew out the bottom of where his neck should have been.
Despite his laughs he grunted in a serious tone to Alayne
"Yes, I have...parts of a plan"
Curious grunts from above
Stolen novel; please report.
"Very dangerous, but think of the story we will be able to write" It seemed AJ hadn't fully grasped the nature of the Greymen's request and Alayne would allow him to live in blissful ignorance for as long as possible.
"Kant rit if dead"
Alayne stopped in his tracks, he had hoped for the longest time that eventually AJ would be able to pick up some common, but to have his first words be so macabre was a slight shock.
"I was really hoping you'd say something more optimistic or inspiring with your first words in the common tongue. But let's just get to Shale, we'll sort Raven, get a drink and we'll talk about this properly. Ok?"
Silence from above, he trusted Alayne, and if nothing else Alayne was determined to make sure that trust didn't go unbroken.
He wouldn't leave AJ, he knew what that kind of abandonment did to a child all too well, he'd just be putting him in someone's care for a short time.
There was a short grunt after some time from above;
People
"Go into the bushes and follow alongside us, do not come out unless I say so."
With his ward secure Alayne pressed forward to the wounded former stoneoath and together they continued as calmly as they could, Raven doing his best to straighten his posture and not rely on his blade. Alayne unslung his lute for the first time in days and looked as unsuspecting as possible.
This was Alayne Ducard at his finest though, putting on a mask and causing a scene, hopefully they were just travellers on the road like they were, maybe a farmer and his wife, although not that farmer, perhaps even a petty thief the three could intimidate and steal from as a cruel twist of fate.
As they moved forward, an entertainer and his guard, nothing more, the figures AJ had seen came into view for the two humans.
He stepped ahead and pressed his fingers onto his lute with confidence, straightening his posture, shushing his screaming bones and muscles and putting on his best charming bardic grin.
The further his legs carried him the more he could make out ahead of him, shadowy figures forming in the distance, one, two then three, he stopped as they began to close the gap themselves and 2 more figures became clear as they did, Alayne was sure they weren't moving until he stopped, they were either scared as they were or they'd been waiting for fools to cross their path.
Should he be strong or should he be playful, he had to think of his companions as well what part they....
His lute dropped to the ground as he was forced to take a step back, half turning as he did so as another bolt grazed his cheek and flew behind him.
He could feel the warm blood trickling down his face and more along his ribs, he managed a glance down to see a thin bolt from a crossbow with dazzlingly white fletching now flecked with his own admittedly gorgeous blood.
He looked up and took a step forward not sure what he was planning to do, he was in shock, unable to think or hear beyond his own heartbeat thumping in his ears. Raven dashed forward, longsword drawn and wounds clearly forgotten for the moment as adrenaline took over.
Alayne moved to follow, the only thing he could think to do when another bolt hit him low and sent him flying onto his lute in a heap, he heard a crack but there was nothing he could do about it, his hands slipped as he tried to move himself, his legs no longer answered his call.
Raven was alert, hand tightly on his sword ready to draw in an instant, his shoulder ached and had started to burn recently but it was fading as adrenaline began to take over, let the bard talk, he reminded himself, this could be nothing.
The bard stopped.
Raven was barely 2 steps behind.
There was a moment of tension, what was the bard waiting for....
Click
A tiny sound Raven wasn’t even sure he heard, until the dull sound of the bolt hitting its target followed it up, the bard spun.
Click
Another impact but Raven was already away, moving past the bard, his sword drawn in one hand and the pain pushed far into the recesses of his mind, along with the shame, the guilt, the fear, the self hate, all saved for a later day.
Click
Another bolt, this time Raven saw it fly past him and heard the crunch as Alayne dropped, he was alone and there were 5 enemies in front of him, but these weren't exiled farmers seeking revenge for abandoned oaths, these were petty criminals looking to take down unsuspecting travellers, this was the kind of fight the Flock trained for, this was were he flourished.
He closed the gap, no more bolts had followed, so 3 were using crossbows, he needed to take them before they could redraw them or stay close enough to their party that they became useless. He got to the first, he didn't see if it was a man or a woman, he couldn't have recounted what clothes they wore or the colour of their hair, Raven simply ended them with a deep slice, ripping them apart like he had the rabbit AJ had hunted for them the night before. A simple act of nature that Raven was already past, looking at the second and closing the gap.
Click
He ran, turning and raising his sword for the second, not two steps from the first but half facing his living companions deciding whether to run or fight, this one was a young man holding up nothing more than a dagger, Raven meant to smash through his sad defence and split his head like firewood but he stumbled to the left, the bolt sticking out of his side, his sword toppled from his grip and fell behind him clattering on the dry dirt road they all stood on.
Now the knife came for him, the boy had found his confidence again now his foe was hurt, Raven tussled and wrestled, he was a thin but strong man, even injured he would get the better of his opponent.
There were screams coming from behind him, not Alayne or AJ, the shooters, but there was no time to look, the knife was-
Click
-Close to both their throats, Raven pushed it a fraction more towards the young mans when another thud, this time in his back sent him flying with all his weight onto the boy and they both toppled into the bushes, Raven felt the life leaving him, the blood running down his side already pooling in his well worn boots and more running down his back and grouping at the ringmail tied at his waist.
There were shouts all around now, but Raven couldn't move, all he could see was the young man in front of him, scared and dying as his knife lay impaled in his own throat. Raven's vision started to darken and they locked eyes as they both faded.
Alayne lifted his heavy head from the ground, AJ was running towards him, a small knife in his hands and the red blood of humans not the dark green of his own kind covering him. He grabbed Alayne by the shoulder and tried to drag him away, Alayne struggled but managed to get out a strained
"RUN!"
Cliched as it was, Alayne had no time to spout something more uniquely Alayne in the moment.
Another bolt smashed into the lute Alayne had managed to drag from under him and it now lay between AJ and his own barely lifted head, the bolt now sticking out the side.
"Leave AJ"
Alayne tried to push him away but he had no strength, the boy was stubborn, Alayne was weak and he realised far too late that they were out of time. Only 3 of their attackers remained, one hobbling alone behind the others gave Alayne a swift kick in the ribs as he reached them.
They surrounded AJ who was trying his best to defend them both.
Alayne tried to rise and would be kicked or stepped on as AJ stabbed at them with a nasty looking serrated knife, where had he got that?
Alayne knew it wouldn't be enough, they were toying with him.
When AJ stabbed at one, another would push him from behind with the butt of his crossbow or the tip of their boot.
They were angry but they were enjoying toying with him
"What is it? Well trained dog?"
Kick
"Nah it's gargoyle, must be cursed or summet."
AJ missed a stab.
"Could be a kid? All deformed and like."
Smack.
"We could keep it, cage it and have fools pay to hit or...ahh."
AJ finally caught one, the knife driving deep into the calf muscle and he screamed like a dropped baby when he jumped in and ripped it back out again.
This was the turning point, no longer a game and AJ knew it, he tried to run now, but it was too late, they surrounded him again this time with more malice, no more jokes or laughing.
Alayne could hear his cries and see them slicing and beating him.
He tried to get up.
He fell again.
His vision faded from the pain but he forced himself back, no time for blackouts.
Save the boy, the only thought in this head.
He reached for his lute, cracked and impaled, just out of reach.
Save the boy.
He managed to get his fingers to find the familiar ground of its strings and play one simple note.
Just one simple note, a note played a hundred times for thousands of different people, each one leaving happy and enthralled at his performance. But this one simple note was changed now, he didn’t know how he did it or why it had come to him, but he knew that he could change it.
It was their, in front of him, like a leaf in the breeze, not heard but seen and with his little remaining strength he plucked the note out of the air in front of him, held it low and then with every ounce of strength he raised his hand, and as the tune rang through the scene of death and brutality it changed as he moved it.
As his hand rose higher as did the note
Higher
Higher
Higher
The 3 had stopped now, they dropped their weapons, putting their hands on their ears , using their fingers to try and block out what only they were hearing.
Higher
Higher
Panicked speech they couldn't hear, a small trickle of blood running from their ear drums to line the edge of their jaws.
Higher
Higher
They started to scratch, claw, gouge, using anything they had to cut the sound out, mutilating themselves to save themselves but the sound was inside of them.
Higher
Higher
The screams stopped, the bodies dropped and Alayne Ducard let the note be carried on the winds, one simple note played a hundred times for a thousand people, no different now then when he'd first plucked it.
He collapsed as he let go, the last thing he saw was the little body of AJ, his chest rising slowly and slower and then slower still.
Alayne finally drifted off as he reached for AJ, no more energy left to spare as his fingers reached impotently out a hairs length away from the boys, he never saw AJ take his final breath, never saw his chest stop moving, for a long time the only thought that crossed Alayne's mind as drifted at the edge of eternity was;
Don't leave the boy.
Jaycob stood on a small wooden box sat in the bottom of a cart. He was looking out over the marshlands that contained hundreds of men and women who now lay dead or dying after what could barely be described as a battle.
He looked at the abbey where he knew the bodies of his lords now sat in their own filth and blood, at least they wouldn't walk away from this.
The man in front of him had a heavy accent that wasn't Rha'vandian and had been speaking for some time.
"-last living leader of the treasonous-"
He'd already heard most of this when General Kale had been hung.
The former war hero was still dangling beside him, he'd cried silently and kept a brave face where possible, just like Jaycob he'd just wanted a quiet retirement after the horrors of Broken tooth beach.
"Just slap the horse and get it over with, as a favour to me for doing in those lords who started all this."
There was an uncomfortable shifting of feet from a few of the soldiers near the speaker, the ones who had found Jaycob hacking at the bodies of the long dead after Raven had left him.
Jaycob didn't care to explain himself, he was happy to go, he had just wanted to grow old and watch his family thrive and he never would so he may have well try to find them in whatever accounted for the next life.
The non Rha'vandian flicked a hand and a man Jaycob couldn't see smacked the backside of a horse and the cart beneath him started to roll forward.
He tried to picture his son, long lost to him, before he went mad.
He tried to picture his wife, long suffering who had stood by him.
He tried to picture his little grandson, a ball of energy and trouble.
All he could see; as his vision faded and his toes instinctively reached for a ground too far away, was the faces of the lords who had cost him everything and who'd he'd been more than happy to return the favour too.