Fate Rides Wicked: Volume I of the Lerilon Trilogy (6 page)

“My father forbade it.” Suddenly she realized he
expected her. “You knew I was coming.”

“You love him and, sooner or later, the urge to hear
what happened would bring you to me. I have prepared
everything you’ll need.”

“I’ll need?” Lendril felt overwhelmed.

“Tych needs you. He left naked, carrying nothing. I
believe him to be innocent.”

Lendril was startled. “That is more than I expected. I
only came to hear the story.”

“Of everyone in the valley, only you know more than I
do about the forces which fight inside of Tych. Listen
carefully. You have powers inside yourself also, which
Tych will need. You were meant to fall in love and your
love is deeper than any before it.” Corl stood and went into
a closet between two bookshelves. In a moment he
returned carrying Tych’s leather armor, his sword and
scabbard, his boots and his daggers. On top of it all lay his
jeweled belt.

Lendril wore nothing to the castle, since the summer
heat had arrived. “What of my own equipment? What will
I tell my parents?”

Corl set the pile at her feet. He wore a light, almost
wispy cloak, which he removed. He handed it to her. “Put
this on and close your eyes.”

She did as requested and waited. She could hear Corl
weaving a spell. Suddenly she opened her eyes and could
hear her father cutting in the next room. Lendril knew what
to do. In moments, her crossbow, leather armor, axe, boots
and shield either sat in her arms or covered her body. She
closed her eyes and a voice entered her head. “Are you
ready?”

She thought, “Yes.” Her eyes came open and there
stood Corl.

“Strip. I have only one cloak like that and I need it for
the studying I was doing before you arrived.” Soon
everything lay at her feet and she handed Corl the cloak.
With a chortle he said, “It’s the only clothing I have which
enhances memorization and keeps me cool.” He put it on.
“Put your armor on while I put Tych’s stuff in a bag.”
Lendril began to dress. “I will tell a story to your parents,
but realize it may cause them grief. When you are done, I
will say some things to you that are quite mean. They are
necessary to activate the magic, which will take you from
the valley unnoticed. Once out there, you will have to look
for your love. Don’t use logic, just walk in the direction
you feel him in.” He stopped packing and looked her
squarely in the eyes. “Never forget this, always follow
instinct and do not question where it is taking you. Tych
will be naked and frightened, probably voiceless, but his
martial art ability and speed should be enough.”

Lendril had finished putting on her armor and her
weapons were slung and sheathed. She took the bag. “I am
ready. If he’s out there, I’ll find him.”

Corl smiled at the dramatic way this girl hid any fear
she might have. “That’s why I’m sending you. Remember
that what I do next is necessary.” Corl closed his eyes and
began to sway as he whispered. Lendril had seen Cert
doing this and Tych explained that it allowed the magician
to put the mind into the proper mood, usually one of
relaxation. This time Corl wanted an angry, judgmental
attitude towards Lendril.

Lendril watched in fear as his face became rigid and he
looked at her. “You are not welcome in this valley. Be
gone from it.”

Lendril found herself standing in the Great Northern
plain and looked up at the sun rising in the western sky, as
it did on Lerilon. She stood north of the valley. The
mountains around it reminded her of the harshness of
Corl’s words and what she had just done. Loneliness
overcame her and for a while she wept.

From the south a bit of warmth seemed to grab at her as
if beckoning her to follow it. All loneliness and fear left
her and she began to walk southwest to go around the
magic barrier, which might harm her. Her love for Tych
gave her a reason to move which made her forget what she
had lost.

For the first hour, Tych just lay there in disbelief that he
had been banished. All of it had happened so quickly. He
looked around him and decided he had been transported to
the meeting point of two hills. Created by the massive
winds blowing from the north shaving off earth from the
mountains, they lay to the south of the valley.

Finally, as the sun set in the east, he realized that he
wore nothing and needed shelter from the unpredictable
northern weather and the creatures, which roamed for food.
He set off to the west at a good clip and in a matter of
minutes found an abandoned cave, carved by one of the
huge, predatory beasts, which lived in the forests to the
south. He realized that his body demanded food. Deciding
to make sure the cave was empty first he slowly entered.
The smell of dead meat reached his nose. A storeroom, he
decided.

His hunger and desperation overruled his reason and he
set about building a fire. As soon as it lit the cavern, he
could see all kinds of animals, probably killed that day,
lying in pools of cold water. He went to a rabbit and
brought it back to the fire.

An hour later he stretched out on the floor of the cave,
unaware in his confused state that the beast watched him
from the shadows. Slowly the creature emerged. Long
claws came together in a shovel-like right hand. The left
hand had long fur-covered fingers that reached around
Tych’s legs and lifted him. With his arm extended, Tych’s
arms only barely rubbed on the hard floor. The beast took
a handful of long, sinewy vines and tied them around the
prince’s ankles. Then he tied the other end to a stalactite
and went for more vines in the back of the cave.

With the blood rushing to his head and the relaxation
sleep had provided, Tych woke, suddenly aware of trouble.
He heard the beast coming and he realized that his feet
were immobile. Panic began to overwhelm him. The
prince took a deep breath, relaxed his muscles and calmed
his nerves.

In a flash, the creature had him by his left arm. A thelf,
Tych’s mind screamed, big but silent and deadly. Another
vine wrapped around his wrist. Tych twisted with all his
strength and planted a fist in the thelf’s chest. Pain raced
through the prince’s body. He looked up at the blood
running from a long gash in his right side. Desperation
replaced the urge to be a warrior.

Tych fought back all emotions and cleared his mind.
Though he could feel his other arm being tied, he stayed
relaxed. The tall, shaggy creature grunted from his
grotesque face. Then a hideous laugh filled the cave as the
thelf shook with pure joy.

Much to Tych’s surprise, the creature spoke. “Imitate
from little, white things. Thelf hated ropes. Thelf hate
little, white things. Tie thelf up, torture him. Now I torture
little, silver thing.”

After the initial surprise vanished, the prince
concentrated once more on finding the floodgates, which
should be ready to burst now that Corl’s magic no longer
influenced him. He knew the thelf lived in swamps and
forests but sometimes men took them on displays. The
mistake men made rested on the fact that thelf adapt
rapidly.

Like a flash of bright light, it appeared. He could feel
the thelf approaching. The energy built up in his head and
the pain tested his will. The thelf’s long claws were spread.
Tych continued to let the energy build. To reduce the pain,
he thought about the next step. Suddenly the needles of
agony left, fleeing before his purpose. The thelf raised his
claws to strike. The prince threw all his energy out of
himself. A giant explosion rocked the cave. He had done
this before with smaller amounts of energy. As he hurtled
through the air, he wished he had used less. Then he
blacked out.

Hunger and the sun woke the prince. He rolled onto his
back and looked up into the virtually cloudless sky. His
muscles tensed and he launched straight onto his feet. He
crouched. Heavy breathing had alerted him to the large
animal lying next to him. The big, brown bear bled from
several large wounds down the length of its back. The left
arm laid broken, bones visible through the tears in the fur.

Tych guessed the creature bore wounds elsewhere and
would soon die. A shard of the cave lay nearby and, using
it like a sword, he removed the bear’s head. Other corpses
lay in the new clearing but after a quick check he
discovered that only he still lived. The prince gazed in
wonder at the trees that had been blown out, roots and all.
He guessed that since the energy came from him, its
continued rush had left him in an envelope, like the eye of
the storm. He had suffered only a full-body burn, which
pained him but had cooled rapidly.

Standing, the warrior tested his side. The huge gash
had sealed up in the heat, but a long, ugly scar ran down his
side. He knew his strength on that side had vanished,
several muscles cut. His left arm had swung the rock to
sever the bear’s head. With a vow to keep the scar forever
to remind him to be vigilant, he picked up a fallen branch
for a club and headed west in search of food. In short order
he devoured three apples and a handful of wild strawberries
and started west once more, now a little to the north.

The magic of the valley kept most evil creatures away
from the area surrounding the Shard Mountains, but certain
stronger beasts dared the edges. Tych looked upon one of
these dangerous monsters now. When Rangdor first
arrived, before the human clerics had the planes of the dead
sealed, he conjured up many demons. Each bore different
characteristics. This version stood taller than some
endarilan houses, with dark red skin and deadly spikes
covering its head like hair. His grisly humanoid face
revealed great satisfaction. Black blood flowed from
several places but a smile creased his leathery cheeks.

At his feet lay a small band of thrandrils. Tych watched
as the demon picked up one of their bodies and began
tearing off his limbs. The prince could feel the anger
building up inside him but knew that with the branch he
could do nothing.

The endaril dropped flat as he caught movement in the
corner of his eye. Two of them still lived, their leather
armor shredded by the beast’s claws. He knew
immediately that his senses failed to register the rest of the
party waiting in hiding for the demon to leave.

A scream of horror almost burst from his lips as the
demon began to look for more fun. The hell-spawn would
see the survivors any moment, his mind screamed. He
knew he had to do something quickly. Then the demon
turned in the direction of the living as they crawled towards
the trees.

With a silent battle cry and no further thought, Tych
charged onto the battle scene. Sensing the challenge, the
huge beast turned and bellowed in joy and rage. Tych
hoped for a moment that this demon saw more sport in him
than in the cousins of the endarils, but an overwhelming
sense of strength filled the prince immediately.

A soldier lay dead at his feet. Tych dropped to one
knee, removed the soldier’s dagger from his hand and
threw it. As it sped toward the onrushing demon, he took
the soldier’s sword. The beast simultaneously reached for
the knife in his chest and brought his claw down. Tych
dove forward through the beast’s legs. The sword came up
and sliced deep into the creature’s groin. The prince came
up standing. He spread his legs shoulder-width apart, his
right foot behind and perpendicular to the left, which
pointed at the turning demon.

Rage dominated the monster’s face. Then Tych began
to glow. The soft nimbus of light spread to the sword. The
beast smiled. Here it saw a chance for a great victory.
Tych meanwhile struggled to keep the energy flow from
crushing the power it fed him with too much force.

The demon charged. Tych swung. The watching
thrandrils gasped as the two combatants became tangled
and they lost view of their cousin. The mass of flesh
twitched. Then everything stopped. Everything, even the
wind, became silent. The three thrandrils rushed to their
companions but kept an eye out for movement from the
beast.

They jumped back as the beast seemed to move. It
rolled to its back, but by Tych’s force only. They stood
frozen while Tych, still holding the handle of the sword,
rose and pulled out the blade. A bright light hid his
features. Fear rose in the thrandrils’ as the prince turned
the sword point down and stepped onto the beast’s chest.
They watched him plunge it into the demon’s skull.
Instinctively they dove to the ground.

Blinding light filled the air. Then a putrid smoke
seared their nostrils and they began coughing. The female
and two males stood and struggled to get clean air into their
lungs. Then their surprise at what they saw next made
them draw a quick breath. Standing where the demon had
been, his silver skin blackened by smoke and blood, Tych
wavered in the sunlight. The sword hung loosely from his
hand.

The blade fell and the prince dropped to his knees. The
demon had been banished by the blast of good energy that
the weapon had carried into its brain. Now, however, Tych
lacked any strength. He fell on his face in the small crater.

Nandel watched in dismay as a lone spark fell from his
finger to the ground. Cursing, he drew his sword and made
quick work of the wolf. “This is the second time in two
days,” he spat. “Somebody is tapping the wells of energy
in enough quantity to fill the oceans.” Then, after a
moment of thought, he smiled. “It’s about time,” he said
quietly. “I and the other wizards and apparitionists have a
leader to follow. Our time has come.”

The three thousand year old wizard, young by all
appearances, turned east and headed up the mountain to his
home. The whole way he talked to himself. He felt such
joy at the idea of being accepted once more that the size of
his smile almost prevented his babbling.