Shield Knight Ridmark's Tale Read online

  “Did you recognize that?” I said. “Any of you?” From that distance, it was hard to tell. It might have been a frost drake. It might have been a wyvern. Or it might have been a large bird.

  No one did.

  “It seems the prudent course of action,” said Caius, “would be to retreat back to Nightmane Forest.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “As soon as we’re ready, we’ll move.”

  Chapter 3: The Urdhracos

  That afternoon, we reached the hidden ford and crossed the River Moradel.

  By the time it flows past Tarlion, the River Moradel is over a mile wide and is slow and lazy. In the Northerland, it is still several hundred yards wide, and the current is swift and strong. The Anathgrimm had piled several hidden fords with centuries of labor, but it is still a challenging task to cross that river.

  Qhazulak and I waited until the others had crossed, and then we waded to the western bank. My staff came in handy since I could plant it against the rocks of the ford and use it to keep my balance. Qhazulak did the same thing with the haft of his enormous axe. The Anathgrimm tend towards the practical when not thinking about a glorious death in battle.

  When we got to the far bank, we found Queen Mara waiting for us.

  “My Queen,” said Qhazulak with reverence, dropping to one knee. All the Anathgrimm revered Mara, and with good reason. When she killed her father, she saved them from slavery more profound than anything you can likely imagine.

  Though you wouldn’t know it to look at her. Mara is tiny. She stood barely five feet tall, with pale blond hair and enormous green eyes. She looked delicate, like a strong breeze could break her. Nothing could be further from the truth. She had been an assassin of the Red Family for years and knew how to handle herself, and she had the same kind of power that Third possesses, the ability to travel from place to place in the blink of an eye.

  “Rise,” said Mara, and she smiled. “You were victorious.”

  “Yes,” I said. “And with six dead.”

  Mara looked at me. “How are you?”

  “I came through without any wounds,” I said.

  But that wasn’t what she meant, and we both knew it. I wasn’t entirely in my right mind back then. I had lost someone important to me on the day the Frostborn invaded, and what I wanted, more than anything, was to find those who had murdered her and to kill them. I didn’t particularly care how I did it, or if I got myself killed in the process.

  Sometimes I look back on those days and wonder how the devil I’m still alive.

  “We wiped out the medvarth column, my Queen,” said Qhazulak, “and allowed the survivors to escape to spread the tale of their defeat.”

  Mara nodded. “If they keep to the pattern, the Frostborn will reinforce that village and search for us there.”

  “And we’ll cross the Moradel somewhere else and hit them again,” I said. “Is Jager here?”

  Mara shook her head. “He’s a few miles south, I think. Some more villagers fled from the Frostborn and sought sanctuary here. Jager went to take charge and to make sure that the Anathgrimm didn’t kill anyone.”

  Mara had opened Nightmane Forest to anyone fleeing from the Frostborn, so long as they swore loyalty to her. Given that the Traveler had stored thousands of years’ worth of supplies within the warded storehouses hidden throughout the Forest, we weren’t in any danger of running out of food. Mara usually decided what to do, and then Jager convinced, bribed, bullied, persuaded, or cajoled people into doing it.

  And when that didn’t work, Qhazulak and I were there to force them to do it.

  “Probably wise,” said Qhazulak. “The Anathgrimm are most vigilant for the Queen’s security.”

  “And I am grateful for that,” said Mara. She looked at the dark, green wall of Nightmane Forest, the trees sheathed in the blue haze of the Traveler’s warding spells. “Let’s return to the Forest. We can rest and plan our next moves when Jager returns.”

  “Aye,” I said, glancing at the sky. I feared that the winged creature, or whatever it was, had followed us. If Mara was killed, the Anathgrimm would go berserk, and the Frostborn knew it. If the chance came their way, they would go to great lengths to kill her.

  I was looking at the sky, so I saw the winged shape shoot towards us, moving with terrific speed across the gray sky.

  “Look!” I said. “To the east!”

  “Defend the Queen!” roared Qhazulak. “Defend the Queen!”

  The Anathgrimm rushed into position, forming a guard around Mara. Mara herself drew her weapons, a short sword of dark elven steel and an enspelled dwarven dagger. Kharlacht readied his greatsword, and Caius hefted his mace, while Camorak started a spell.

  A heartbeat later the winged creature drew close enough that I realized it was an urdhracos. I raised my staff, and then the urdhracos folded her wings and plummeted towards Mara.

  “Back away!” I shouted. “Surround it when it lands!”

  The Anathgrimm obeyed, creating an open space around Mara, who watched the urdhracos dive without alarm.

  At the last possible instant, Mara disappeared in a swirl of blue fire. You’ve all seen Third do that often enough, so you know what it looks like. The urdhracos wasn’t expecting that, and she slammed hard into the ground with a clatter of armor.

  “Kill it!” shouted Qhazulak, and the Anathgrimm surged into motion.

  But the urdhracos was faster. She bounded to her feet in a single smooth, serpentine motion, a longsword of dark elven steel in her right hand. We’ve all fought urdhracosi before, so you know what she looked like. Like all the urdhracosi, she wore black metal armor that fit close to her body, her hands covered in clawed gauntlets. Leathery black wings rose from her back, and she had a pale, gaunt face of unearthly beauty. Her eyes were like pits into the void, utterly black, and that face was twisted with madness.

  “Death!” said the urdhracos. “Death for us all, and death for me at last!”

  Then she went on the attack.

  Urdhracosi are creatures of dark magic, and the Anathgrimm had no weapons that could hurt her. But there were dozens of Anathgrimm around her, and I expected them to overpower her and pin her to the ground until I could cut off her head with my dwarven axe. We had to kill her quickly. Some urdhracosi can use dark magic, and the older ones become powerful wizards. If she brought dark magic to bear, she might kill several Anathgrimm before we could stop her.

  But she had no dark magic. Instead, she had sheer skill with her blade.

  The urdhracos went into a furious dance, the blue dark elven longsword a blur, and the Anathgrimm fell back. She dodged and danced around the attacks of the Anathgrimm, and she even used her wings as weapons, knocking the orcs back and using brief flaps to propel herself forward. The Anathgrimm are formidable warriors, but none of them could touch her.

  If they weren’t such formidable warriors, I think the urdhracos might have killed them all.

  I rushed into the fray, stabbed my staff towards the urdhracos, and then brought my axe sweeping towards her head. She whirled to deflect my strike, her clawed gauntlet pushing my staff out of line and her sword catching my axe. I caught her gaze for that instant, and I saw the emotions seething in her face – madness and rage and bloodlust and crushing despair.

  Then she laughed and leaped into the air, her wings beating.

  “Sister!” she shouted. “Sister, where are you?”

  I spotted Mara standing behind the Anathgrimm, her sword and dagger in hand.

  “What do you want here?” called Mara.

  “Death!” the urdhracos said. “You slew our father, and his song burned away from my blood. Now I must die, you must die, and we all must die together!”

  She was an urdhracos, but she was also a half human, half dark elven daughter of the Traveler. That’s one of the ways dark elven lords create urdhracosi – they impregnate a human woman, and once the hybrid child reaches maturity, he or she transforms into an urdhracos, utterly enslaved to the will of hi
s or her father.

  But Mara had killed the Traveler in Khald Azalar, and when her father fell, his control over his creatures of dark magic had been broken. They had responded in different ways. Some had fled. Some had set out on their own. Others had gone berserk and killed everything around them.

  It had been months since the Traveler had fallen in Khald Azalar, and it had taken the urdhracos this long to make her way south from the Vale of Stone Death to Nightmane Forest. She had been stewing in her own madness that entire time, and she had finally decided to come south to kill the woman who had slain her father.

  Or to get killed in the process. That, likely, was what she was hoping would happen.

  “No!” said Mara. “Our father is dead. There is no need for you to kill for him any longer. You can be free, you can…”

  The urdhracos let out a wild laugh. “There is only death for us, sister. You freed us from him, and soon we shall be free of the curse of life!”

  She swooped towards Mara again, and once more Mara traveled away at the last instant. The urdhracos was ready for the movement this time, and she beat her wings, turning and hurtling towards the Anathgrimm like a thunderbolt.

  I was there to meet her, staff and axe in hand. Our weapons crashed together a dozen times in half as many heartbeats. It took every bit of speed and skill I had to keep up with her, and if I had faltered even once, she would have taken off my head in the blink of an eye.

  But I held her at bay, and the others rushed to aid me. The urdhracos leaped back into the air, and Camorak cast a spell. A blast of white fire hit the urdhracos, and she reared back with a shriek. Camorak wasn’t powerful enough to kill her or even hurt her seriously, but he did hurt her.

  “Come find me, sister!” said the urdhracos. “Come find me in our father’s domain! It will become our tomb.”

  She whirled and flew into the dark mass of Nightmane Forest, vanishing between the trees.

  “How did she pass the wards?” said Qhazulak. “They ought to keep her out.”

  “They would,” said Mara, “but she is of the blood of the Traveler. She can pass the wards.”

  “We’ll have to go after her at once,” I said to Mara. “If she forgets about you, she might decide to start attacking the Anathgrimm or even the villagers who have sheltered in the Forest. God knows how many people she might kill before we can take her down.”

  “Yes,” said Mara. “What do you suggest?”

  I looked around, thinking quickly. Of everyone here, only Kharlacht, Mara, and I had weapons that could hurt the urdhracos. Camorak could wound her with his spells, but not severely.

  “All right,” I said. “We’ll go into the Forest. I’ll stay with the Queen, along with Kharlacht and Caius. We will draw the urdhracos out, and we’ll kill her. Qhazulak and the Anathgrimm, stay back. You don’t have any weapons that can hurt an urdhracos. Camorak, stay with them, and use your magic to drive her off if she attacks.”

  Qhazulak was not happy with this plan. “We will not forsake the Queen.”

  “You won’t,” I said. “Once we’ve engaged the urdhracos, I’ll try to wound her wings. If she’s stuck on the ground, we can overwhelm her and kill her. Stay back, and once we’ve knocked her to the ground, attack. Understand?” Qhazulak was not happy, but he nodded. “Let’s go.”

  “Ridmark,” said Mara. “I want to save her if I can.”

  I looked at her. “How?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “But I would have been like her if you and Calliande hadn’t helped me. I would have turned into an urdhracos like her.”

  I didn’t think it was possible to help the urdhracos, but I nodded. “If there’s a way, we’ll take it.”

  “Perhaps if she is baptized and repents,” said Caius, “that might be enough to force her to face the dark half of her spirit, as you did at the Iron Tower, Queen Mara.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  We proceeded past the warding spells and into the gloom of Nightmane Forest.

  Chapter 4: Nightmane Forest

  The realm of Nightmane Forest is a terrifying place if you’re not used to it.

  Even if you are, it is still strange and eerie.

  The Traveler fled there thousands of years ago to escape from the urdmordar, and over the millennia he built it into a fortress of magical wards. Wards upon wards, until the entire Forest was an impregnable citadel of them. Even the Frostborn never managed to break their way into the Forest. They would have worked it out in time, if they had been able to turn their full attention to the Forest, but the war was over before they got a chance.

  But that came later.

  The inside of Nightmane Forest was a strange place. No sunlight ever penetrated to the Forest’s floor, but that was all right, because the strange blue glow of the Traveler’s wards illuminated everything. Here and there stood menhirs of white stone, their sides glowing with symbols of blue fire. Camorak said those were anchor points for the warding spells, like the stitches holding together a garment. Throughout Nightmane Forest the Traveler had scattered hidden cellars that held supplies and weapons. He had been certain that his enemies would find him and wage war upon him, so he had prepared the Forest for a siege.

  Then again, his enemies never touched him in the Forest, but when he left to claim the Keeper’s power for himself, Mara killed him, so maybe his first plan was the best.

  “Where?” murmured Mara. “Where would she have gone?”

  “Perhaps to one of the Traveler’s old thrones?” said Caius. “If she wishes to ambush you, that would be the logical place to do it.”

  Kharlacht frowned. “Should we not be quiet?”

  “No,” I said. “She’ll find us regardless of what we do. And she doesn’t want to kill Mara, not really.”

  “You understand,” said Mara.

  Kharlacht’s frown widened. “The urdhracos did say she wants to kill you.”

  “She wants to die,” I said. “The life of an urdhracos is an unrelenting hell. The Traveler’s chains filled her mind. Then he died, and she was freed. So now she sees a chance to kill herself. Except the urdhracosi cannot kill themselves and were made to fight…”

  “Therefore she has come to those certain to kill her,” said Caius. “Those who slew her father. The poor creature.”

  “Do not let pity sway you, Brother Caius,” said Kharlacht. “Her tale is a sad one, aye, but she will kill us all if she can.”

  “I know,” said Mara. “I wish we could help her. But perhaps we cannot. And Ridmark is right. She will come for us soon.”

  “It will be nearby,” I said. “She won’t be able to wait much longer.”

  “And she will use terrain that offers her maximum advantage,” said Mara. She wasn’t a soldier, but she had been an assassin, and she understood killing. “Her biggest advantage over us is her wings. She’ll want open space, so she can fly…”

  She paused as she thought it over.

  “The creek,” Mara and I said in unison.

  There were many creeks and ponds in Nightmane Forest, some of them natural, some of them engineered by the Traveler to provide water for his warriors in the event of a siege. Most of them drained into the River Moradel, and the nearest one was just a mile to the west. The creek flowed through a shallow valley, and the trees around it were high enough that they almost formed an arch overhead.

  “Aye,” said Kharlacht. “That would be a good place for an urdhracos to attack from above.”

  “She’ll be waiting for us there,” I said, and we hurried to the west, the Anathgrimm trailing behind us.

  A few moments later we arrived at the little valley and the creek. We descended toward the bank of the creek, making no effort to hide ourselves. There wouldn’t have been any point. The urdhracos knew where we were. She had likely followed us from the Moradel, lurking unseen in the upper branches of the trees.

  We reached the bank of the creek and waited. I tried to look in all directions at onc
e, scanning the trees, the gentle slopes of the valley, and the canopy overhead. Almost certainly the urdhracos would attack from above.

  A dark flicker of motion caught my eye.

  The urdhracos was indeed attacking from above.

  “Move!” I shouted, and we scattered as the urdhracos plunged towards the earth like a raptor, her wings folded, her sword leading.

  Mara remained motionless until the last possible instant, and then she traveled away in a flash of blue fire. The urdhracos struck the ground where she had been standing, her sword plunging into the earth. I charged, staff and axe in hand, and Kharlacht and Caius rushed after me. I hoped to take the urdhracos before she recovered, but she was too quick for that. She leaped back to her feet, her sword slashing before her, and I just barely got my staff up in time to keep her from taking off my head. Her wings swept out behind her, and her right wing caught Kharlacht across the face, knocking him back.

  I went on the attack, and the urdhracos retreated. She could use both her sword and her clawed gauntlets to parry, and she did. I drove her towards the creek, hoping to knock her into the water and use the uneven footing against her. But she leaped back into the air, circled overhead, and landed a dozen yards away, sword held ready before her.

  Kharlacht got to his feet, and blue fire swirled as Mara appeared next to me, sword and dagger in hand.

  “Come, sister!” called the urdhracos, and she let out a shrill laugh. “Come and let us die together. Let us be free of our torment together!”

  “I am free of my torment!” said Mara. “You can be, too. Let us help you. Let…”

  The urdhracos screamed and leaped into the air again.

  “The wings,” I said to Mara. “See if you can go after the wings. If she can keep to the air, we’ll never take her down.”

  Mara nodded, her face solemn as she watched the urdhracos flying overhead.

  Again, the urdhracos folded her wings and plunged, sword hurtling towards Mara. Again, Mara waited until the last minute and then traveled away in a swirl of blue fire. I anticipated the attack and swung my staff, and I caught the urdhracos across her armored stomach. The impact of the blow almost knocked the staff from my hands, but it did throw the urdhracos off balance. She hit the ground, rolled, and leaped back to her feet, but I was already attacking.