Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The White Raven

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Provinces
Bryce Valley
Diamond (April) 26

The lead wagon had already spotted the assembled foes in their path, and the convoy slowed. They could not dare to try and force their way through; the very attempt would be suicide.
​“Hail, good sir, hail!” yelled the wizard as the carts came to a halt.
​Dust from the road hung heavy in the air, swirling at his feet as he bowed. The driver of the front wagon smiled, nodding a greeting to the wizard even as beads of sweat dripped down the side of his face. The wave he attempted betrayed a trembling hand.
​For a moment, the wizard looked in silence at the driver before cocking his head ever so slightly to the side. He appeared on the verge of speech when Jaden leaned out from the side of her center carriage.
​“Well, if it isn’t Valith,” she said, looking amused and happy to see him.
“Lady Jaden!” Valith exclaimed. “A truehonor.” He clapped lightly, moving closer to her carriage. “And how might we serve you this morning?”
“By getting the hell out of the way!” she said, laughing. “I have a schedule to keep.”
“A schedule, you say?” Valith looked puzzled. “I was not aware your Order had any business in Sindell.” He turned to the minotaurs. Beyond the steady heaving of their massive, obscenely muscular chests, they were motionless. The hooded figures arrayed behind them showed no sense of movement at all, each a reflection of the other, holding a barbed-wire staff the same steely gray color of the threatening sky overhead. “No?” he turned back to Jaden. “I fear my associates are also at a loss.”
“Your associates are dangerous,” she said. “And as I recall, bounding the minds of minotaurs was verboten after what happened in Fairlawn.” A look of concern washed over her features. “I’d hate to think of the consequences if Arkhelan learned you were ignoring one of his most explicit edicts.”
“Your concern moves me, madam,” Valith said, and he laughed pleasantly. “Although I do believe Arkhelan might be as equally interested in your attempt to pass through this valley. Surely you are aware that travel between the realms of this continent is prohibited without his permission.”
Jaden smiled. “Well, then we’re both in luck. For he is half a world away.”
Now Valith laughed loud and hard. “Yes, indeed!” he howled, the bellow of his voice echoing off the colossal rock all around them. By the time he calmed, there was nothing left of the artificial mirth on Jaden’s face. “But you are a traitor, m’lady, and I am not. Which puts you at a decided disadvantage.”
Jaden dismounted her carriage, standing tall. Refusing to be intimidated.
“All this fresh air makes me sleepy,” Valith said with a yawn, and reaching into his robe he withdrew a human hand to stifle it. “Excuse me.”
The driver of the lead wagon gasped, but the wizardess paid no attention.
“It’s an odd thing,” Valith went on. “That there is a shield protecting the capital city of Sindell, is it not? Took me a long while to decipher how that could be, or who might have provided the knowledge.” He looked off to the side of the road.
Jaden followed the wizard’s line of sight to a half-hidden corpse. It was covered over with some uprooted brush so that only Shane Bevan’s boots could be seen.
“And then I met our friend here,” Valith went on, gesturing to the body with the hand as if it were his own. “I admire his courage. Two days of torture before he told me everything.” His eyes went distant all of the sudden, perhaps recalling the devilish acts he had committed in that time. “Two whole days.”
“The only thing you admire is yourself, Valith,” Jaden snapped, no longer hiding her anger. “Your vanity shines brighter than the sun. Always has.”
Valith looked up from the ground, to the fury simmering behind Jaden’s violet eyes. “Fair to say,” he said with a smile, turning back to Shane Bevan’s body. “Yet still I commend his fortitude,” and his smile became a grin. “Let’s give the boy a hand, shall we?” He tossed the appendage to the corpse.
​ “You’re disgusting,” Jaden said. Valith was hardly paying attention to the wizardess, slapping his hands together as one might do when preparing to get to work. “And you’re a hypocrite,” she added.
​At this, Valith stopped to acknowledge her.
“Two illegally bound minotaurs and a single sky fire unit?” she asked. “Who do you think you’re fooling? You have no authority here.”
Now, for the first time, Valith appeared to be truly annoyed.
“Very perceptive, Jaden,” he said. “Alas, that’s where you come in.”
“Is it?” she asked.
“Indeed. I hand Arkhelan the traitor who has plagued him for years,” he pointed to Jaden. “He gives me this,” he gestured all around. “Which we both know is much more than just a valley.”
“You seem to have it all figured out, then,” Jaden said, doing her best to remain defiant.
“Yes,” Valith nodded to himself as if this was the first time the thought had occurred. “You’re right, I do,” and he reached up to his necklace to reveal a crescent shaped sapphire. “Find our friend yet?” he asked.
The aqua glow splashed the wizard’s chest.
“He fled,” a voice almost identical to his own returned. “Coward ran away.”
Valith snapped his fingers and smacked his lips. “Damn. I really wanted one of those rings.” He was looking at Jaden again. “Ah well,” he shrugged. “What more can you expect from those who only fight from the shadows?”
“You might be surprised,” Jaden said.
Valith made eye contact with her, but he did not speak.
“You forget that I read the truth in you,” she said. “I can sense your fear.”
Valith stormed towards the wizardess as if to attack, but Jaden did not flinch.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked.
Valith’s face calmed, slowly, and he took a full step back from her, touching the sapphire moon on his necklace once again. “You know, there was something else our friend told me that must have slipped my mind until now. Do you remember, Orinus?”
“Can’t say I recall,” the other wizard answered from high above.
“There was something about a family,” Valith said, rubbing his chin in thought, walking around behind Jaden. “Yes, there was supposedly a family on this convoy.”
“Oh, right,” Orinus said, and he came into view on the cliffs. Even from this distance, Jaden could see the faint flicker of the sapphire he used to converse with Valith.
“Human women have certain … uses,” Valith said, making his way past the first wagon and down the rest of the convoy. “And fewer means of resistance, to be sure.” He whistled, pointing forward, and the two minotaurs started up to join him, shaking the ground beneath Jaden’s feet with the impact of each step they took.
Just as they had during the course of the entire exchange, the wagon drivers displayed remarkable courage and discipline in the way they handled their horses and kept composure. It was no small task, she knew, and now they were tested further as the massive beasts walked past them to come to Valith’s side.
“The little one will go to Orinus, I think,” the wizard went on. “Although I fear he will have to wait some years to bear the fruits of thatenjoyment.”
​Darvin Nash and Ferris Lang stepped out from behind the last wagon, stopping Valith in his tracks. Then the wizard raised his hand, stopping the minotaurs as well. “Ah!” Valith clapped, delighted. “There are our Outriders!”
Neither Darvin nor Ferris moved a muscle, their crossbows trained steady.
“I was told by our friend that you would be riding with the wagon drivers,” he said. “When I saw you were absent, I feared you might have missed this morning’s festivities.”
“I decided it might be best to have them stay with the woman and child until we were clear of the valley,” said Jaden from behind.
“Hm,” Valith touched the sapphire again. “Plans have changed a bit, Orinus,” and now he was staring back into the eyes of Darvin Nash. “If you fire on me,” he said, “either of you, I promise your wife and daughter will suffer in ways you cannot even fathom.” The grin on his face had returned. “And I promise you will watch.”
Valith closed his eyes, savoring the mix of terror and rage directed at him, and when he opened them again he found the crossbows in Darvin’s hands far less steady. “Orinus,” he said again into the sapphire. “I think it might be time to come down.”
Another moment passed quietly, and the obnoxious grin faded slowly from the wizard’s face. “Orinus?” he tried again, looking up at the towering cliffs. There he could see, much to his relief, Orinus still standing there on the edge, and so he turned back around to the hooded figures standing frozen in place with their staffs. “You were meant to disable their exchange stones, you worthless charlatans! Just theirs!” he turned back to the outriders, smiling. “If you want something done right, I’ll tell ya.”
But both Outriders were staring up to where Orinus stood, each having noticed something that Valith apparently missed. The other wizard was still in view, but it had been some time since he had moved so much as a muscle.
When Ferris Lang’s eyes widened to saucers, Valith quickly diverted his attention back to the cliffs, and to his horror, saw Orinus starting to tip forward over the edge. “NO!” he screamed, the panic twisting his pitch.
Malcolm was revealed standing on the escarpment, no longer concealed by Orinus’ propped up corpse.
Valith screeched as he watched his brother fall.
Then an arrow whistled through the valley, landing just short of the road. Another one hit the ground a little bit further. Valith still hesitated; the Outriders did not. They began firing almost immediately, hitting the wizard twice before he managed to dive behind Jaden’s carriage.

***

Malcolm cursed when he realized he was out of range, picking up his bloody knife and not even bothering to wipe it off before placing it back in the sheath. Bow still in hand, he snatched the sapphire from where Orinus dropped it and took off on a beeline to the steep slope he had earlier sat atop.
There was only one option; he knew it, but having reached that sharp incline and staring down at the small ledge at the bottom, he hesitated as the chaotic action unfolded on the valley floor.
Malcolm took a step back, preparing himself, bouncing a bit to psych himself up, closed his eyes tightly. “To hell with it,” he finally said, and sprinted to the ledge. He fell into a speedy feet-first slide, lying on his back, arms outstretched, trying desperately to grab any part of the scant shrubbery or catch his boots on anything that might slow him down; terrified with the very real possibility that he would not be able to stop himself and slide right off into the valley. To those below, it would seem as if he had committed suicide.

But then he hit the ledge, and it was not so flat as it had looked from above. Extending his front foot, Malcolm was able to jam it hard against the uneven contour, transferring his momentum to rise fluidly into a kneeling position while reaching back to load his bow. In a heartbeat the world blurred, sound faded away, life slowed and then froze.

Malcolm loosed the shot.

Chapter Twenty  (E) Stepping Stones #2190515 by Dan Hiestand