Song of the wolf, p.19
Song of the Wolf, page 19
“I have more spies on the inside, ready to act on my order,” Kadis explained. “Vohlan was able to gain access to some of the city blueprints and memorise them before his capture. We know roughly what to expect; it’s only a matter of sabotaging the defences.”
“An interesting tactic. I like it.”
“I’m glad you do. We will discuss more at the next war council. For now, we must focus on transporting our supplies back to the den and trading them.”
“I’ll leave the battle strategies up to you, of course.”
“Please, don’t hesitate to provide input. I cannot hope to take the city on my own.”
“What can you tell us about the insurgents?” Talin asked. “We’ve been here for almost a month now. Apart from understanding that they’re cold-hearted Elitists who want nothing more than to rule the empire, we know nothing about them.”
“Most are warlords and nobility who are dissatisfied with my father’s rule, and Ve’Tehll is the one who rallied them together. They believe in keeping a strict social hierarchy which means the commoners stay poor while the nobility grows ever richer. Others are enemies of the state who share common purpose with the warlords in usurping my father. Either way, they got what they came for.”
“You said many warlords still support your father,” Talin said. “Why didn’t they rally when the insurgents took over?”
“They were afraid. The insurgents at the time had the support of three different mercenary factions. There were perhaps over a million troops at their disposal. But since taking over, they’ve spread thin, and the largest faction has left Ve’Tehll’s service. I’ve spent years finding and rallying those loyal to the true emperor. The insurgents’ hold on the empire is loosening, and even without our help, it will crumble eventually. People are growing bolder. More dissatisfied.”
“If I could make a suggestion—” Red Wolf cut himself off. Talin watched as his gaze swivelled to the bushes to their left.
Just in time to take an arrow to the chest.
His horse reared and threw him, forcing him into a roll to avoid breaking his neck on impact. He quickly scrambled to his feet and freed his weapon.
“Ambush!” Kadis growled, drawing his sword.
“Yep, we’d gathered.” Ettrias unsheathed his own weapon, Elven steel glinting gold in the light. Talin quickly realised that she’d left her bow back at the range.
“Take this!” Red Wolf drew a dagger and passed it up to her. He spun in time to parry an attack from a charging insurgent and slit the Drakel’s throat. The horses reared again at the scent of blood, and Talin found herself flying from the saddle, landing unceremoniously on the grass. She got back up without missing a beat and managed to parry a strike from an attacking Drakel before Kadis’ sword flashed past and dropped the man dead.
“Flank around, find that archer,” Kadis growled. His two guards steered their mounts into the bushes immediately. Talin turned as three more insurgents jumped out from their left. Ashera parried a strike and stabbed the man in the stomach, sending him toppling. Talin muttered a silent apology and drove her blade into the second Drakel’s chest while he was distracted. Kadis rammed his shoulder into the third before taking off his opponent’s head.
“Watch your right,” Red Wolf growled. Another two arrows sailed out of the air towards them, almost too fast for Talin to see. He knocked them both aside with his sword. Talin saw more movement in the trees. They were outnumbered here, far outnumbered.
“Here.” One of Kadis’ swordsmen returned and passed her a bow and a handful of arrows. She gave him a nod of thanks as he took up a position beside his prince. Red Wolf had backed up beside her now, completely covering her from any attacks from the right, and Ashera was defending her left, giving her an easy position to shoot from. She sent two arrows flying without hesitation and dropped two charging insurgents. On her right, Red Wolf took a slash to the ribs, glared at the insurgent who’d cut him, and took the man’s head off with his blade. He rolled his shoulders and scowled at his dead opponent as another insurgent watched on. The Drakel hesitated a second before turning and running. Talin let him go.
“Archer in the trees,” Red Wolf hissed. Another arrow sailed out and buried itself in his gut. He took the hit with a grunt. Talin scanned the nearby branches, found two archers perched there, and shot them both. Ettrias backed his horse towards them too and tightened the circle they’d formed.
“I should’ve stayed at the den,” he muttered.
“You can dream.” Talin saw a Drakel charging beside him and sent an arrow under the soldier’s helmet and into his eye. Another one came at her while she was distracted. Red Wolf stepped between them neatly and cut him down. Two more insurgents charged him at the same time. One Drakel managed to get through his defence and land a blow across his arm, but he took off the man’s head in retaliation, while the other took the opportunity to stab him in the side. He cut that one down as well, and the remaining insurgents finally seemed to get the idea and fled.
“An unusually small attack force,” Kadis said, dismounting to check the bodies. “Perhaps they hoped to catch me unprepared.”
“I’m more worried about how close they are to the den,” Red Wolf said. He tugged out the dagger in his side with a wince and dropped it. “If they’ve learned of your location, then you’re no longer safe there.”
“The insurgents could not have known about the den,” Kadis said. “More likely their spies recognised me in the area and sent assassins to kill me. It’s not the first time something like this has happened.”
“Either way, I recommend we take precautions,” Red Wolf said. He grabbed the arrow in his gut and was about to free it when Talin noticed that he was still bleeding.
“Red Wolf, wait!” she cried. His gaze snapped up to her.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t you have healed by now…?” Talin’s voice trailed off. Red Wolf stared at her for a few moments as if she’d gone mad before bringing his hand to the stab wound in his side. His fingers came away covered in blood.
“That’s new.” He fell to one knee heavily. “Very interesting.”
Oh, by the gods.
“Red Wolf.” Confusion quickly turned to alarm, and Talin ripped off her cloak to press it into his side.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t you healing?” Ettrias demanded.
“As I said, it’s…new.” Red Wolf hissed through his teeth. He let out a breathless chuckle. “Fascinating. Didn’t think I…could bleed like this.”
He slumped forwards, and Talin had to put an arm across his shoulders to stop him from falling face-first onto the grass.
“Get him back to the den, quickly,” Kadis said, helping Ettrias carry the bodyguard and lift him onto his horse. Talin snatched up some of the insurgents’ weapons before following, determined to find out if the blades had anything to do with it.
They managed to drag Red Wolf back to the den, where a few more of Kadis’ men rushed to help carry him upstairs. There, the healers stripped his gear and cut his tunic free, fully revealing the extent of his injuries. Talin watched them remove the arrows still lodged in his torso and bind his wounds. Ettrias snatched her cloak off the floor and offered to wash it for her. She didn’t complain.
“Bring those blades you took from the insurgents,” Master Celio said. She handed over the weapons silently.
“Come, come, we must take these to my lab,” the healer continued, rushing off without waiting for her. She glanced at Red Wolf before following.
“Will he…be alright?” she asked Celio.
“Time will tell.” He didn’t look back at her. “Your friend has informed me of his…shall we say…abilities. I may have some idea as to what is happening.”
“I thought the Drakels didn’t study magic anymore,” Talin said.
“Not magic, science,” Celio said. They rounded a corner and continued down another flight of stairs. “A great deal can be achieved with science nowadays if you’re willing to learn it. Magic is overrated. Powerful, yes, but unpredictable. Science is reliable.”
Talin wasn’t entirely sure what Celio was talking about, but she decided that the old Drakel must know his stuff. She kept silent as he led her to his laboratory at the bottom of the stairs. She recognised the glass flasks and tubes of an alchemist’s lab, as well as a number of odd contraptions and magnifying devices that she’d never seen before.
“You’re an alchemist as well as a healer?” she asked. Like Corvan back home.
“Well, I suppose that is what you elves would call us.” Celio flashed her a smile and turned to his equipment to tinker with the blades. “Interesting, very interesting.” He left his workbench and moved to his shelves to look for a book, occasionally muttering to himself. He found the right book eventually and began thumbing through the pages. Kadis and Ettrias soon joined them in the lab, and the three of them watched in silence as the healer continued his research.
“I can tell you it’s some kind of poison, but unless my records are wrong…” Celio scratched his head. “No, no, there’s nothing else it could point to.”
“What?” Kadis growled.
“Torslek,” the healer said, looking grim.
Kadis visibly paled. Talin hadn’t thought it was possible for a Drakel to go pale.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“A very rare kind of venom artificially produced by our brewers. They say a few drops can kill a man within minutes,” Kadis said. “We call it torslek. Deathbane.”
Talin felt a chill going through her. “Red Wolf…he’s…”
“Still alive, yes,” Celio said. “His healing is extraordinary, but this venom must be powerful enough that it is stopping his wounds from closing.”
“But he…” Talin wasn’t sure what she had wanted to say.
“We will do what we can for him.” Celio stepped away from his workbench. “Time will tell if he lives. I have seen this venom at work before, and I can tell you it acts fast. Any ordinary man would be long gone.”
“Don’t you have an antidote for it?” Talin asked.
“Torslek is expensive and the antidote even more so. We do not have the resources to make it or source it from elsewhere.”
Her head spun. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. “So…what? We just…hope that he’ll recover?”
“He’s dying, Your Majesty. There’s no denying it.” Celio sighed. “His healing may still take over, but I cannot be certain. I’m sorry.”
Kadis hissed through his teeth. “Celio, gather the generals and tell them about the torslek. I want a war meeting.” He turned and headed back upstairs.
Talin still couldn’t breathe. She felt as if an invisible force had grabbed her throat and cut off her airways, crushing her slowly from the inside.
This was never meant to happen. Red Wolf was never meant to get hurt.
“I’ll…go to the war meeting in your stead,” Ettrias said. “You should stay with Red Wolf.”
Talin gave him an absentminded nod and left the lab, quickly finding Red Wolf’s room upstairs. She took a seat at the foot of the bed. He’d tell her that this was part of his job, most likely, that he would die for her if he had to, but it didn’t make her feel any better. Here they were, so far from home, all because of her decision to go west. Red Wolf would be fine if she hadn’t left Belanore.
He would be fine, and my people would be dying.
She had to stop denying it, she supposed. She had let Red Wolf get close to her in these last few weeks; too close, perhaps. Now she couldn’t step away. Whatever happened now, she had to help Kadis take back the throne for his father and get the army she’d come here for.
If it’s not already too late.
Talin looked to the window, at the forests beyond the den. Far beyond those trees was the border between their two lands. They had come such a long way from Belanore. She wasn’t sure she believed it had been possible.
“I never thanked you for all your years of protecting me,” she told Red Wolf. “Protecting my father. Being a good advisor. For being a friend.” She hesitated. “Are we…friends?”
Talin was glad he couldn’t answer. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what he would say, or which answer she preferred.
After some deliberation, she headed downstairs for the war council. There was nothing to be gained from her staying with Red Wolf; it wasn’t as if she could do anything for him, not with her limited knowledge of healing. The guards at the door to the war room let her in without hesitation. Inside, Kadis’ generals had already gathered, and Ettrias was busy studying the map table. He looked up when he noticed her.
“Joining after all?” he asked.
“There’s nothing I can do upstairs. I can make more of a difference here.”
Ettrias shuffled to make room for her. The room fell silent when Kadis entered.
“Thank you for convening at such short notice,” he said. “As you may have already been informed, we are facing a new threat. The insurgents have a supply of torslek. We must find their stashes before they can strike again.”
“If they have torslek, how are we to win now?” one of his generals demanded. “I have heard stories of that venom. A simple scratch with a poisoned blade can kill.”
“From my understanding, it’s expensive,” Talin said. “They can’t possibly have a large supply of it. Enough for a small team of trained assassins, perhaps, like the group we ran into. Not enough to poison every blade in their army.”
“Her Majesty speaks the truth.” Kadis nodded. “We are not looking for a large supply of torslek, only enough that they might give to assassins sent to kill me and my generals. All of you.”
“A stash that small would be impossible to find,” Bo’Kata said. “Even if my scouts were to search every inch of the empire…”
“But we can find the brewers who make them.” Talin tapped the map table. “If it’s so expensive to make, it cannot be a task for any inexperienced brewer apprentice. We are looking for masters of their craft, most likely.”
“Again, very true,” Kadis said. “I will contact my spies in El’Vane and find out if there are any brewers producing torslek there. In the meantime, we must send word to the warlords who have agreed to rally for me. Their spies can also collect information.”
“You will need better armour in case you cannot find the torslek,” Ettrias added. “No offence to your armourers—they produce excellent work—but your current armour leaves too many gaps for small blades to get through.”
“I will talk to the armourers,” Kadis said. “Bo’Galesh, send out the messages to the warlords. The rest of you will continue to search for my father. This council is dismissed.”
The generals disbanded while Kadis remained behind to stare at the map table. Talin paused at the door to look back at him.
“The attack force that ambushed us was awfully close to the storehouse. I suspect they had a secondary objective.” Kadis’ brow furrowed. “I think it will be best if you and your brother accompany the transports tomorrow. Red Wolf’s squire, too.”
Talin understood. “Yes, a necessary precaution.”
They set off early the next morning after breakfast, this time properly armed to defend against potential attacks, Ettrias and Ashera with their swords and daggers and Talin with her bow. She wished that Red Wolf was here too; he was still breathing when she checked on him after breakfast but hadn’t shown any signs of improving. Celio had come in to change his bandages and she had been called away before he finished.
“Still thinking about Red Wolf?” Ettrias asked as they neared the storehouse.
“I…” Talin sighed. “Yes. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. We’re so far from home and he might not even survive.”
“I know.” Ettrias rubbed his chin. “How do I put this? You have feelings for him.”
Talin was about to protest when she stopped herself. “I don’t know, I—”
The two of them stopped at the same time. Behind them, the rest of the transport escort also halted.
“Oh, no…” Talin whispered. The guards whom Kadis had assigned to the storehouse last night all lay dead in pools of blood. Some of the crates left outside had been smashed and others were missing. Ashera ducked down to check the inside of the storehouse while Kadis’ soldiers rushed to secure the perimeter.
“Kadis is not going to be happy about this,” she said. Talin quickly joined her at the entrance, feeling her stomach drop and her blood turn to ice.
The storehouse was empty.
XXIII
“What do you mean, completely empty?” Kadis growled. He stopped and glared at them before continuing to pace in front of the map table.
“They raided it in the middle of the night, killed all your guards, and took the supplies,” Ettrias said. “Everything. They left a few swords behind but nothing else.”
Kadis snarled and slammed his hand against a box of map pins, scattering them everywhere. “Find them! I want those supplies back!”
“Bo’Kata’s rangers are already on it,” Talin said. “We will head back in a moment to help find some tracks.”
“Go. I want my supplies.” Kadis turned away. Talin took it as a sign to leave.
“Red Wolf could help us track them down,” Ettrias muttered, once they were outside. “How is he?”
“Still in no condition to be going anywhere,” Talin said. “We have to do this ourselves.”
“We should have known they were going to do this.” Ettrias cursed. “Without those supplies…”
“Yes, no need to remind me.” Talin knew what this meant. Without the supplies, Kadis couldn’t hope to get the siege weapons he needed to take the capital, and she wouldn’t get the troops she needed to save Kies Tor.
“They must have left something behind,” Ettrias said. “Those boxes would have been heavy. They must have left wagon tracks from their transports.”
The two of them met up with Ashera back at the storehouse. Bo’Kata’s archers had left already, following a trail.
