Rise of the Serpent (Serpent's War Book 2) Page 8

  Namitus nodded. “Be careful what you search for, my friend. Ladies, talk to me. Jillystria, are you hurt?”

  She shook her head. “No…I…I stayed out of the way as much as I could.”

  Namitus nodded. “Good, that keeps us from having to keep you safe. Amra, Allisandra?”

  “Allie,” Allisandra said.

  “Pardon?”

  “You’ve been calling me Allisandra since you met me. Call me Allie. Please. We’ve fought together and, I think, proved our friendship. My friends call me Allie.”

  Namitus bowed his head. “Of course. It warms my heart to call you a friend.”

  “You said something,” Corian stated as he walked over to stand next to his sister.

  “I do that. Too much, some say,” Namitus agreed. Amra walked next to him, her eyes glassy with tears and shock. She hugged him and buried her face into his shoulder. Namitus wrapped an arm around her, uncertain of what else to do.

  The elf scowled and ignored their unplanned moment of intimacy. “Stop being dismissive. When you spoke to the splisskin swine, you said something I’ve heard before.”

  “Oh? What was it?”

  “When you spoke of not judging an entire people by the actions of a few,” the elf said. “I heard near the same words from Gildor, Allie’s father, before we raided Shathas.”

  Namitus nodded. “It’s true. I learned that while dealing with the different types of people in the mountains. Many are considered monsters, but for a time under Queen Rosalyn they changed and became more civilized. Some remain changed, but they are few and outnumbered by their barbarous kin. Splisskin are the same, I expect.”

  “These weren’t,” Gor pointed out.

  Namitus frowned. “No, they weren’t. And we’re many days ride from where the Order was. That tells me something.”

  “That all splisskin are like these, snakes in the grass?” Allie asked.

  Namitus turned to look at her and snickered at her unintended joke. “Perhaps they are.”

  Amra picked her head up and looked at Allie. “Snakes in the grass? Really? A joke?”

  Allie pressed her lips together and nodded. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

  Amra saw her genuine expression and relaxed against Namitus. “I’m…I’m sorry. This was…horrible! How are you all handling this? It was so scary and violent and…and…by the saints, the smell? It’s horrible! Worse than a butcher’s shop.”

  Namitus gave her a squeeze with one arm. “It is, but you learn what to focus on and what not to.”

  “Saints! I hope not,” she muttered.

  “Anyhow,” Corian snapped. “Now what do we do? Did we learn anything useful from them?”

  Namitus frowned. “They knew of Myskakroth. They knew of the Order and have some sort of alliance or allegiance to it. That’s why I didn’t use real names, but tested them in other ways. I’d hoped to learn more. I still hope to learn more.”

  “What? How?”

  Namitus disengaged himself from Amra with a smile and walked around the side of the hut. He stopped at the rear door of the hut and stooped down to wipe the blood from his blade on the grass before sheathing it. “Here,” he said, pointing at the opening. “Gor, help me out. I left the chief sleeping near the edge. With any luck, he’s still alive enough to answer some questions.”

  Gor grunted and hurried to join him. On his way, Corian asked, “What are you, Namitus? I don’t know of any warrior who has such tricks to use. Are you a wizard?”

  Namitus stepped out of Gor’s way and shook his head. “Far from it! I’ve picked up a few little tricks along the way. Things that don’t require the painful and rigorous changes necessary to make a person a practitioner of the magical arts.”

  “You seem to know a lot about it for not being a wizard,” the elf accused.

  “I’ve pestered Kar, our not-so-friendly wizard from our days of being in the Blades of Leander, at length. Get him talking about his one true passion, magic, and he’ll go on for hours, if not days.”

  “What I saw didn’t seem like simple magic,” Corian disagreed.

  “It was. Parlor tricks, much of it. Some powders and baubles filled with alchemical mixes. The only magic I used was a simple cantrip that set the powder aflame to create an intense flash of light.”

  Corian frowned and then let the matter drop.

  “Help me,” Gor grunted while he struggled to pick up the roof by one of the shaved trees used as beams.

  Namitus squeezed in beside him and grabbed a cross brace. He heaved with Gor and they lifted it up to Gor’s height. Namitus winced at the strain in his fingers and shoulders and was about to call for more help when Gor spoke again.

  “I’ll hold it—get under and pull him out.”

  The rogue stepped back and dropped to his knees. He slid under and saw the shape of a body nearby. He scooted under and reached out, grabbing the simple leather harness the splisskin wore. He reversed course and tugged, pulling the splisskin back slowly. He kept tugging until he was able to get both hands under the chieftain’s shoulders and drag him out.

  Gor let the roof drop and staggered back. He grunted and flexed his hands, working the blood back into them. He turned and looked at the pale splisskin. “He dead?”

  Namitus leaned down and felt for a pulse. He frowned and held his hand in front of the chieftain’s face. After a moment, he nodded. “Knocked out is all, I think.”

  “Or faking,” Gor said. “They do that sometimes. “Try to trick others into thinking they’re dead.”

  The splisskin’s eyes snapped open, startling Namitus and making him jerk his hand back. “You will die! All of you…die!”

  “Sooner or later,” Namitus agreed. “But later than you. Tell me about the Order.”

  “What Order?”

  Namitus opened his mouth to give the full name but he misjudged the defeated splisskin.

  “The Order is gone. Fallen. Weak. Cowards,” he continued.

  Namitus frowned. “Let’s try something else then,” he said. “What about half-bloods?”

  The splisskin’s eyes narrowed and his tongue flicked out to taste the air. Namitus noted the darker red tint on the splisskin’s tongue. The falling ceiling had hurt him on the inside. That or he’d bitten his cheek or tongue.

  “That meant something,” Namitus said. “I saw you react.”

  He shook his head. “I know nothing. Only to take them if I find them.”

  Namitus leaned close. “You failed,” he sneered at the splisskin. He lowered his voice and said, “Failed in every way, snake. I don’t know if the prophecy of a half-blood deciding the fate of the splisskin is true or not, but this half-blood just decided your fate.”

  The chieftain stiffened and tried to rise up. One arm was swollen and misshapen, broken by the collapsing roof. His other helped him shift but his legs remained limp on the ground. Breath hissed through his lipless mouth.

  Namitus nodded to Gor. “We’re finished.”

  Gor picked up his axe that he’d left leaning against the wall of the hut. He lifted it and let it fall like a guillotine blade on the splisskin chieftain. Namitus watched the snake man’s head roll free and forced his hands to unclench.

  “What was that about?” Corian asked.

  Namitus turned and studied the elf for a moment. “You heard him,” he said. “He didn’t know anything, just that he had orders. If he had orders, you can bet every snake in this part of Kroth has the same orders.”

  “You could have asked more,” Corian argued. “And what did you tell him at the end?”

  “I told him he’d failed,” Namitus summarized.

  “What about who gave him the orders? Who does he serve?” Corian asked.

  Namitus shook his head. “We know that.”

  “We do? I don’t think so. If you do, maybe you should share it. Instead of plunging us into an ambush and risking our lives for your own agenda.”

  “Corian,” Jillystria said, trying to rein
her brother in.

  “No,” Corian argued. “We need to know this. It’s our lives at stake! He wasn’t there, saving you from the splisskin.”

  Namitus drew himself up and faced the young-looking elf. “Look at what you’ve told me. This prophecy about half-bloods, your own trials, and the growing threat the splisskin pose. Now tie it into what I’ve told you. Our challenges with the Order of the Dragon and my own firsthand experience with the splisskin working for the Order. We know who they’re working for.”

  “The Order? But he said they were cowards,” Allie said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “No, that’s not who,” Namitus said. “Dragons created the Order. Dragons and the power-hungry fools who think they can exist on their level.”

  “Dragons?” Allie breathed.

  Namitus nodded. “There’s a rumored connection between splisskin and dragons. The truth, as I’ve heard it, is there’s no relation between the two. Apparently nobody told the splisskin, though.”

  The companions stared at him, digesting his news. Amra spoke first. “So…now what?”

  Namitus looked around at the carnage. “Search the village,” he said. “Tear it apart.”

  “Why?” Jillystria asked.

  “I have a hunch,” Namitus said.

  “A hunch?” Corian asked. “What now?”

  Namitus offered a humorless smile. “I have a feeling we’re going to find proof that this is more than a village.”

  “What…why?”

  Namitus drew his scimitar, causing the others to tense up at the surprise movement. “This is my weapon. You have a dagger and a bow. Gor has an axe big enough to cleave a hole in a Kelgryn ship. Allie has her talwar; Amra a dagger. None of us wield the same weapons, yet every one of them had matching swords and some had the same throwing spears.”

  “So? They’re made by the same smithy,” Corian said.

  Allie shook her head. “You think they’ve been outfitted.”

  Namitus favored her with a smile. “I do. And my guess is there’s many more.”

  “The chests,” Gor grunted and turned to look at the collapsed hut.

  “Not there, I don’t think,” Namitus said. “Why risk them? Besides, spears would not fit in those chests.”

  “If not weapons in the hut, what then?” Gor asked.

  “I’d love to find out,” Namitus said. “But I’m not willing to spend the time digging through it.”

  “I will,” Gor grunted. “You check the other huts.”

  Namitus pressed his lips together, considering the options. He nodded. “Sounds good. Amra, with me. Jillystria, with—”

  “She’ll be with me,” Corian snapped.

  “Of course,” the rogue said. “Allie?”

  “I’ll help Gor,” Allie said.

  Namitus shrugged. He sheathed his scimitar and turned to Amra. “Shall we, my lady?”

  “You’re mad.” Amra laughed.

  “You’ll not be the last to say it.”

  They split up into their groups and began to ransack the huts. Amra was shy about it at first until she saw Namitus pushing furniture out of the way and tipping barrels and tables over. She joined in, breaking a fresh sweat by the time they cleared their fourth hut. She met his eyes and shook her head. They hadn’t found much of anything beyond utensils and useless personal effects.

  “Namitus!” Corian cried.

  “Saints,” Namitus muttered. He rushed out of the hut and stared until he heard the elf call his name again. He hurried over to the hut the man called from and saw him standing next to a dark hole in the ground. The sleeping pallet was tossed aside, revealing the pit. “What’s down there?”

  “Weapons and armor,” Corian said. His words were clipped, as though they tasted bad on his tongue.

  “Ha,” Namitus cried. “You know what this means, right?”

  “There are stores like this all over the place,” Corian said.

  Namitus nodded. He looked up and glanced around. “Where’s your sister?”

  “She’s fetching the horses,” he said.

  Namitus frowned and turned to Amra. He nodded to her and she turned and ducked out of the hut.

  “Jilly can handle herself; she’s only retrieving the horses,” Corian said.

  Namitus walked out of the hut and circled it until he saw Amra heading towards Jillystria. The elf had gathered the reins of the horses and led two of them while the others were tied to the saddles of the horses in front of them. He smiled. His grandmother was calm and quiet. Shy or timid, perhaps. Whatever the case, she got along well with animals.

  He waved them over and pointed to the site of the battle. Jillystria waved back, signaling she understood. Satisfied, Namitus turned and headed to the hut to see what progress was being made. He glanced up at the sky as he walked. The mist had been burned off but a thin covering of clouds remained. They were thin enough he could see the sun was beyond the high point in the sky, marking a descent towards dusk.

  “Namitus!” Allie panted when she saw him. She straightened from where she’d been resting her hands on her legs and turned to point at one of the chests. “We got one!” she cried. “The others are broken. Nothing of worth, just pieces of leather, metal, and cloth.”

  “What’s in this one?” he asked.

  Gor grinned and flipped the lid back. Several bulging sacks were gathered together. Beneath them, the glint of metal could be seen. “Coins,” he said.

  Namitus bent over and pushed the small sacks around. “Copper and silver mostly. Some gold too.”

  “A fortune!” Allie cried. She patted her belt and stared at Namitus with rounded eyes. “Oh! I forgot, I pulled this out of the wreckage too.”

  Namitus smirked and took his dagger back from her. He nodded and then looked down at the chest again. “Just coins,” he said. “They come and go. True wealth is in the people who will stand at your side through the toughest of times.”

  Allie glanced at Gor and then back to Namitus. “Seems I’ve got both then.”

  Namitus chuckled. “Let’s fill as many sacks as we can. Favor the gold and silver. We’ll load the horses within reason.”

  “What about the rest?” Gor asked.

  Namitus shrugged. “Leave it or bury it, if you think you might come back this way.”

  Allie’s eyes widened. “Bury it,” she insisted. “I can’t bear the thought of giving it away to someone who hasn’t earned it.”

  Namitus kept his thoughts to himself about earning the money. He nodded instead and turned to see the horses nearly upon them. “Let’s be quick about it. We’ve many hours left and I want to be as far from here as we can be by the time the sun sets.”

  Chapter 8

  Allie rolled onto her side and stared across the dark and gloomy landscape of the swamp. She shivered now that the humid air had finally lost yesterday’s heat. Morning had to be close; she felt rested.

  No, she felt anxious. She was alert because her last time in a swamp had scared her more than anything she’d ever seen in her life. She’d endured worse since then, but her skin still crawled and ice formed in her belly when she remembered it.

  Allie rolled over, trying to get comfortable. The ground was soft but her bedroll was damp now. There was no comfort to be had. She sighed and looked around, trying not to get freaked out by the darker shadows the trees and clumps of weeds in the swamp formed. She kept looking and froze when she saw the unnatural bulge on the side of a tree staring back at her.

  Namitus nodded, freeing her chest so she could breathe again. He blended in with the tree so well she wouldn’t have known it was him if not for his eyes.

  Allie climbed to her feet and walked over to him. “Can’t sleep,” she said. “Figured I might as well help you keep watch.”

  Namitus smiled and nodded to the root he was sitting on. She moved next to him and sat down, facing away from the others instead of towards them.

  “Why is it only you, Corian, and Gor split the watches? The rest
of us can help.”

  Namitus turned on the log so he could see her more easily. He had his ready smile on his boyish face, putting her at ease and making her want to trust him. “Probably, but if you can sleep, why not sleep? I don’t sleep much. I never have.”

  “Why?”

  Namitus shrugged her question off. “Just the way I am. What about you, though? Why can’t you sleep?”

  She sighed and looked at the hanging moss and vines of the swamp. “The swamp. I had a bad experience in a swamp once.”

  “What happened?”

  “I was bound and gagged in the bottom of a boat filled with splisskin.”

  Namitus winced. “That’ll do it.”

  “That wasn’t the worst.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What could be worse than that?”

  “We stopped at a splisskin camp in the swamp, but there was a human there too. A wizard, I think. He talked to me a little, nothing much, just that he wanted to know where my grandfather took the elf and her half-blood child.”

  “Doesn’t seem so bad,” Namitus ventured.

  Allie shook her head. “That wasn’t. It was the dragon that scared me.”

  Namitus stiffened. He turned and glanced at the others and then back to her. “Dragon?” he asked.

  Allie shivered and nodded. “He was enormous and…well, terrifying. He told me things, but I was so scared I don’t remember what he said, just that I would give them what they wanted, I think. I would have done almost anything to stop him from talking and looking at me.”

  Namitus nodded. “They are powerful beyond our understanding. I’ve been present or a part of killing a few of them, and it takes a team of very skilled men and women to do it. Even then, truly defeating one requires some trick of magic that seems a one in a million chance.”

  “And you’ve done this?” she breathed.

  “I’ve seen it done,” he said. “Alto, now he’s the true dragonslayer of this age. Well, Alto and Garrick, perhaps.”

  “Your friend, the king and the…barbarian?”

  Namitus nodded.

  Allie shivered again. “He—the dragon—breathed fire on one of the splisskin that failed him. It burned to ash in the blink of an eye. The trees in the swamp, much like these, burst into flames and burnt out so quickly the fire had no time to spread.”