Aurix the Bold

“Who’s with you? The archer?” Aurix asked, his voice thick.

“Inanna is quite good with a bow,” Regulus said. As if in answer another whisper whipped past them and dropped a Raspula making its way up the mountain path toward them. “She’s below, with the mounts.”

“Why are you here?”

“We’ll explain later,” Regulus said. “Now isn’t the best time. Will you lend me your sword?”

Aurix unsheathed it and stretched the hilt out to him around Aoni. Regulus took it and dispatched the wounded Raspula in front of them with a ferocious blow. He knelt and retrieved the arrow from where it had embedded in her chest, careful not to touch the fizzling, now poisonous tip.

“She’ll need these,” he said. “I’ll hang on to your blade and clear the way until we’ve reached the bottom. But we still have to make it out of the vale. The Raspula aren’t going to make that easy, and I doubt Xu’ul’s warrior came alone. Are you prepared to run and fight if we must?”

“Yes,” he said, wishing he’d had more time to learn from Shlee. “But I’m not very good.”

“It will be good enough,” Regulus said.

“How do you know?”

“Because it has to be.”

“You sound like he did.”

“Shlee was a wise man. I’m very sorry for your loss, Aurix.”

They encountered only two more Raspula on their way to the foot of the mountain, and Regulus quickly dispatched them with Aurix’s blade.

Inanna met up with them at the path’s end with the caples in tow. She immediately wrapped Aurix in a hug that left his head swimmy. He was glad for the darkness and muted light of the glimstone so she couldn’t see the tears that still coursed down his face, though he was sure she must have felt them with her cheek pressed to his.

“I don’t like it,” Regulus said looking around cautiously. “That was too easy.” He handed Inanna the arrow he’d retrieved, and re-armed himself with a pike that was strapped to the side of his mount.

“Maybe my shooting is just that good,” Inanna said, and nocked the arrow.

“More likely, they went to help Xu’ul’s man in the cave and plan to ambush us later. We need to decide where we’re going next. Aurix, what was your plan?”

“We were to ride for Glynn once we had the Helm of Ulixes.”

Inanna reached up and smacked Regulus’ shoulder. “I told you!”

“I gather you didn’t find it?”

“No. Banjax beat us to it. He was waiting for us. For Shlee, and the Ring.”

“What do you want to do, bold one?” Regulus asked. “The decision is yours, and we will follow.”

“With or without the Relics, I’m going to Glynn.”

“That’s suicide,” Inanna said. “You can’t beat him, we should turn back. Return to Cragshadow and regroup.”

Aurix felt compelled to agree with her, even though it was not at all what he wanted to do. Even in the semi-darkness, her influence over him was strong.

“Inanna, let him decide,” Regulus said. “We’re here for him, not he for us.”

“That doesn’t mean we need to be in a mad rush to ride to our deaths,” she said, sulking.

“I’d rather not put Cragshadow at risk,” Aurix said, the spell broken. “I’m riding north.”

“And we will accompany you, if you’ll allow us,” Regulus said. “But be warned, we will not get out of Grimvale without a fight. The Raspula are only part of the problem. This Banjax, he will have come with other men.”

“How do you know?” Aurix asked.

“Because the Raspula aren’t much for conversation,” Regulus said. “I certainly wouldn’t have traveled here without company.”

“Good company,” Inanna interrupted.

Regulus pretended to ignore her, but Aurix saw him stifle a grin nonetheless. “A small squad, probably. Half Raspula, half human, I’d guess. So we can expect two to three men, and all of the Grays in Grimvale once they get organized. And possibly your new friend, Banjax, if he lived.”

“I don’t see how he could have,” Aurix said.

There was a sound above them, outside of the light of the glimstone. Inanna swung her bow up blind and let the tainted arrow fly. There was a grunt and a tumble of rocks as her target stumbled and fell.

“Wherever we’re going, we need to get moving, Regulus,” she said. “I have maybe a dozen arrows left, and that’s not going to last long standing here.” She easily and elegantly leapt up onto the back of a chestnut-colored mare she called Destra.

“Aurix, you should probably ride Shlee’s mare,” Regulus said. “The Shapebreaker will follow you.” He mounted Archaeon, a massive white, spotted stallion that still looked dwarfed with the colossus in the saddle.

As much as Aurix was uncomfortable with the change, Aoni was more so. She whickered and snuffed and stepped to and fro even before he’d managed to swing himself onto her back. It took him a full minute to get her under control and into a steady gallop. As Regulus had predicted, Nyx stayed right beside him as they rode.

After they’d put some distance between them and Skypierce, they slowed and came abreast of one another.

“We need to keep moving,” Regulus said to them over the rhythm of the caples’ hoofbeats. “If we stay to the middle of the vale, they’ll have further to travel out of the mountains and it will be harder for them to surprise us. We can walk and water in the morning. Daylight won’t stop them, but at least we’ll be able to see them coming.”

“Unless the fog falls,” Aurix said.

Regulus nodded. “True enough, but that’s no more their advantage than ours. They might be able to see in the dark, but not the fog.”

“How are we supposed to fend off an ambush from Banjax’s men and an army of Raspula?”

“Maybe we won’t have to,” Regulus said. “They did get what they came for, and Xu’ul is hardly known for his patience. We aren’t the priority.”

“Maybe not, but there’s no way they’re going to let us go unopposed. Not after what just happened up there.”

“No, I’m sure not.” He didn’t elaborate further.

They spent the next several arcs riding in silence.

Aurix was jolted out of a semi-sleep at dawn. He’d grown used to Shlee’s prayer schedule at first light and couldn’t help but wake at the same time. They were traveling at a slow trot. Regulus was still high in his saddle, alert and wide-awake. Inanna had slumped forward on Destra, and looked, miraculously, to be out cold.

Aurix looked around at the mountains that surrounded them, but all seemed still and quiet. “Where are they?” he asked, more to himself than anyone.

Regulus heard and answered, but tried to keep his rumbling voice low so as not to wake Inanna. “In the caverns, getting ahead of us, if I had to bet. They’ll wait for us at the end of the valley. Try to surround us.”

“How do we beat them?”

Regulus looked at him seriously, “We don’t. At best we outrun them, and even that will take more than a little luck. Xu’ul’s men will have stags. They’re fleeter than our mounts.”

“Then what can we do?”

“I see only two options available to us. Cragshadow, where the people will stand with you, or the Wraithwood, which would be a fine bit of insanity that not even they would attempt. But there’s no chance of riding straight on to Glynn and staying ahead of them.”

“I told you, I don’t want to bring my war to Cragshadow. Yes, they’d fight with us, but that’s not what I want for them. I’d rather take my chances with the Rilx.”

The colossus frowned, lines carving his face as if chiseled into stone. “You know that no one has ever come out of the Wraithwood sane? Most never return at all.”

“You don’t have to follow me Regulus. Neither of you do. I won’t ask you to risk your lives for me.”

The colossus grunted. “That’s precisely why I will do so.” His face softened. “Inanna must make that decision for herself, but I suspect she’ll say the same.”

“Why did you follow us? Did Shlee ask you to?”

“No, Gods rest him, he didn’t. I first met Shlee when he boarded Aoni five revolutions ago and paid me a king’s ransom to care for her until he returned. He couldn’t tell me when he’d be back, only that he would be. When he returned with you and a Shapebreaker in tow, I didn’t know what to think.”

“You knew Nyx was a Shapebreaker all along?”

“I’ve stabled braka and caple and stag alike for thirty revolutions, Aurix. I knew.”

“Because she was black?”

“No. Because all animals have a certain spirit to them. Nyx doesn’t share the same spirit as a braka, or a caple for that matter. A Shapebreaker doesn’t actually become what they break into. They become an approximation of it. A replica. But she retains her own spirit, and hers is unlike any animal I’ve ever encountered.”

Aurix looked over at Nyx, trotting along next to him and wondered what it was that her spirit said about her. She snuffed softly through her nostrils, as if to suggest she knew they were talking about her.

Regulus continued. “I had my suspicions about Shlee just after word came of The Cleaving. It hardly seemed a coincidence that he arrived in Midian just before the war with a well-bred mare and a small fortune at his disposal.”

“Why didn’t you fight in the war?” Aurix asked him.

“I wasn’t much older then than you are now. My father left me in charge of the stable and never returned.”

“I’m sorry,” Aurix said.

“It’s a fate many shared. Inanna lost both of her parents as well.”

“Me too.”

Regulus nodded. “An entire generation of children had to learn to fend for themselves. That skane took so much from Valeria.” He shook his head. “Anyway, after the two of you had come and gone, I wondered what the old man was playing at. Then a family arrived a few days after you left. Two boys, mother and father. They told me what you’d done for them. And after what you’d done for Inanna and the beggars in Midian, I decided that it didn’t matter who you were or where you were going. I wanted to be a part of it. There was nothing keeping me in Midian, except for the stable. I left it to that family for safekeeping. Inanna wanted to know where I was going. When I told her I planned to follow you, she insisted on joining me.”

“Wow,” Aurix said. That kind of fealty was something he almost couldn’t comprehend. “I’m very glad to see you both again. And had you not come when you did, I would surely have died on Skypierce. Did you come through the desert?”

“No. We circled the desert and followed the Jag and then the Jaw until we arrived at Cragshadow. At that point, we were only a day behind you. The two of you were still the talk of the town. Jizizoo told us we would find you in Grimvale. He believes you’re going to lay siege to the throne. Is that your plan?”

Aurix wasn’t sure how to answer. “Honestly, Regulus, I have no idea what I’m doing now. I won’t bring another army to Glynn for Xu’ul to slaughter. I guess I was just planning to go and confront him, until Shlee got involved. The Helm was really our only plan.”

“Well, you will not be alone. But you must have some kind of strategy, Aurix. You can’t hope to take Glynn with only a Shapebreaker, an enchantress, and me at your side. Maybe we should regroup and think it through.”

“What do you know about the Relics?” Aurix asked.

“Not much,” Regulus admitted.

“Shlee told me that if they’re brought together, the wearer would possess all the power of the Gods. Imagine Xu’ul as a God, Regulus. He could destroy all of Valeria. When Banjax returns, he’ll have at least five of the eight pieces. And once he has the Helm he’ll know where the other Relics are. Plus he grows more powerful with each one. Time isn’t on our side.”

“No. Perhaps not. The smartest thing to do would be to keep Banjax or his men from reaching Glynn in the first place. But they’re faster, and as much as I would like to tell you otherwise, I might only beat Banjax in an arm wrestle, and even that would be a long shot. Inanna might provide a brief distraction to the men, but that won’t help us with the Grays. And if I were Banjax, I would keep the Helm away from the battle anyway.”

“How so?” Aurix said.

“I’d split up. Send the Raspula and his men to finish us, and get the Helm to Glynn by another route. The desert maybe. But there’s no way for us to be sure when, from where, or how he might depart. And we can’t know for sure how many enemies there are. A squad seems reasonable, but there could be more. Five men, ten. It’s anyone’s guess. We have to proceed under the assumption that the Helm is already out of our reach.”

“I don’t know where any of the other God-Forged are,” Aurix said. “If Shlee knew, he didn’t tell me. Is there anyone else who would?”

When Regulus shrugged his massive shoulders, his chin vanished into his chest. “Jizizoo may know some of the legends. The bard in Midian was a fair foon, I doubt he knew much more than his own name.”

“You still think we should go back to Cragshadow?”

“I don’t know, Aurix. They may be your best hope, but as you said, you may not be theirs. You might well be putting them in harm’s way. But then again, even knowing the risk, they would bear it for you. It’s hard to say. I’m glad it is not my decision to make.”

Aurix thought of Dera and Skean and the way that the whole town immediately came together as one to save them. He thought about how idyllic it was there, and knew it was something that he didn’t want to see spoiled by unnecessary death and destruction. “No. Unless we find that they’re in danger, I think we should leave them out of it. Let them have their peace for as long as it lasts.”

Regulus nodded his head once. “All right.” If he believed it was the wrong decision, he didn’t give the slightest hint. “Then we will hope they simply ignore us, and if not, we’ll try to break through. If they give chase, we ride west for the Wraithwood.”

“Say what?” Inanna said groggily.

“Good morning, Shurashine,” Regulus said with a grin. “We’re going to go meet the Rilx.”

“You don’t have to, Inanna. This isn’t your fight. I’d unders—”

She waved Aurix off. “Oh, just shut up already. I’m coming with you.” She sat up in the saddle and stretched her back gracefully. All of her curves pressed against the fabric of her clothes.

Aurix and Regulus gawped at her, transfixed.

“Besides, you’d have no chance without me. And what else would you boys have to stare at?” Her smile was radiant and teasing.

Aurix looked away, his cheeks burning.

Regulus cleared his throat and went on as the color in his face returned to normal. “The good news is that they won’t likely follow us into the Wraithwood. We’ll head north through the forest until we’ve crossed the Stryk and we’ll exit where the wood ends at the Red Plain. Provided, of course, we haven’t all lost our minds. Glynn is a day’s ride from there.”

“Then what?” Inanna asked.

“Then it’s all up to Aurix,” Regulus said, giving him a look.

“We have to get to that point first,” Aurix said, mostly because he didn’t have an answer to the question. He changed the subject. “It was two and a half days ride into the valley, if we go on without stopping or slowing, we’ll reach the end of Grimvale in the middle of the night. I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Nor do I,” Regulus said. “Darkness is not our friend here. It may help against the men, but the Raspula will have the advantage.”

“I can’t help with the men much in the dark, either,” Inanna added. “I’m only an effective distraction if they can see me.”

“We should plan to exit the valley by tomorrow’s first light, I think,” Aurix said.

“I agree,” Regulus said. “That will take away the Raspula’s visual advantage, but they’ll almost certainly still have us well outnumbered. I’d expect dozens, if not hundreds. I have no idea how we’ll get past them.”

In his mind, Aurix heard Shlee’s voice, and he realized that even in death the old man was still with him. “I think I might,” Aurix said, with a smile. “We should make camp and start again at dusk.”

“I’ll take first watch,” Inanna said with a smile. “I’m wide awake now.”

Something about having her nearby as he slept made Aurix both comfortable yet extremely nervous at the same time.