The Eighth Warden Bk. 02 Ch. 01-02

Book 2: Warrior-mage Corec and his companions head to the far reaches of the north, the Storm Height Mountains, determined to find clues about the mysterious runes that plague their existence, while continuing their search for the lost city of Tir Yadar.

Prologue

The Lady strode through the dark chamber, the glow that surrounded her lighting up the room—a light that wouldn't be seen by any observers. She'd come, as she often did, to look upon the face carved into the limestone sarcophagus. Reaching out, she trailed her fingers down the figure's cheek.

Moira. A simple child, but The Lady still fondly remembered the years she'd spent watching that child grow up. Moira had been the first crack in the plan. A first-generation godborn—or she should have been. Instead, she'd been born fully human. Still, that meant a one in four chance that her own child would be godborn. The Lady had played longer odds than that over the years, and she had ways to improve the odds, so she'd continued her work.

Then, Fox had meddled, and Moira never met the Prince, never bore his child. The strands of fate that The Lady had been weaving for centuries split in two, and Moira's only child was born human, ending The Lady's last hope that something might be salvaged from the plan. It would take years for all the circumstances to align again, and it was unlikely that she had that much time left. Whatever Fox's intentions had been, there were eight wardens now, and his tampering might well have caused the very events The Lady had been trying to prevent.

"Until next time, Daughter," she said, with one last look at the carved face. She turned to leave, but to her surprise, someone stood behind her.

"Herasis," the figure said.

"Don't call me that, Demesis."

"If you insist, Lady. I'm on your side, you know."

"It's not a matter of sides. You can use your false name if you like, but I will not."

Demesis sighed and shook her head, then peered around the burial chamber. "Why do you come here and torture yourself?"

"I want to remember her. Someone should."

"She had a family."

"Not the one she was meant to have."

"What's done is done. We don't know what'll happen in the future. Pallisur may still fail for any number of reasons. For instance, did you know Arodisis has a pawn in play?"

"A pawn? Who? And since when does Arodi show any interest in anything that happens outside of her temples?"

"She wouldn't tell me who it is; she just says she wants to keep an eye on things."

"I don't trust her."

"She's not that bad. She was just as fooled by Pallis as the rest of us. She hasn't spoken to him in five thousand years."

"We have to stop him."

"I agree, but I'm glad your plan failed—it was dangerously close to what Pallisur is attempting. For all we know, it could have had the same effect."

"The risk was small. Combining the four sources of magic isn't what caused the Burning."

"You don't know that. Any risk of another Burning is too great, and now those threads you wove are still out there, unanchored."

"That's a problem for the future. For now, we need to deal with Pallisur."

Pallisur was closer to getting what he wanted than at any point in the last five thousand years, but The Lady had come up with a new plan. Moira's son was useless, wandering aimlessly around the countryside without any understanding of what was happening in the wider world, but he wasn't her only pawn. There was another that still held some promise. An unlikable man, but one who was already scheming in ways that would work to The Lady's advantage. She couldn't interfere directly, but she was an expert at manipulating the odds. The danger was greatest when there were eight wardens. An obvious solution suggested itself.

###

Chapter 1

"And then I woke up," Corec said.

He was sitting with his companions around a morning campfire, a day away from returning to Circle Bay, though they only planned to stop long enough to buy supplies before continuing north.

"Are you sure it wasn't just a regular dream?" Treya asked. Despite her question, the young blonde woman looked hopeful. The things Corec had learned during the dream were their first real lead on how to get rid of the binding runes.

"It was a dream, but it didn't feel like a normal one. I'm sure that it really happened, whatever it was, but the man was crazy, so I don't know if I trust what he said."

"But he said there's a way to banish the runes?" asked a silver-haired elven girl, as she rubbed at a spot on her forehead where her own rune was likely to appear within the next few days. If anything, Ellerie hated the thought of being subjected to a binding spell even more than Treya did, and she hadn't softened her stance in the nine days they'd been traveling together.

"He said someone called Three has done it before, but he doesn't know where to find her."

"Why the numbers, do you think?" Bobo asked. "Three, Six, Seven...and calling himself the First. I take it that means he goes by One?"

"He didn't call himself One, but maybe. I guess it means there aren't very many of them, whoever they are."

"But you're one of them?"

Corec hesitated. "I hadn't thought about that. He says they're chosen somehow, but I was never chosen for anything. Maybe they got the wrong person, and what happened to us is all just a big mistake."

"Chosen for what, though?" Katrin asked. "Is the man I met in Tyrsall one of them?"

"I don't know about him, but the man in the dream said they were supposed to protect a group of people who are no longer around, so now they just do whatever they want. I got the impression he doesn't like the others very much."

"Protect them how?" Bobo asked.

"I don't know...wait. There was one thing—he said the bond enhances our magic."

Ellerie leaned forward. "Enhances it? How?"

"He didn't say. I haven't noticed a difference, but I never really used my magic much before all this, so I don't have anything to compare it to."

"I was able to use a bardic trick without singing or playing," Katrin said. "I was just talking. That was back in Tyrsall, with that thief. Remember that, Shavala? I don't know if that's important—I'm not sure what real bards can do."

Corec shrugged. "Neither am I."

Shavala held her right hand cupped in front of her. A small flame appeared, dancing over her palm. "I haven't cast any spells in weeks, except for lighting our campfires. I haven't noticed a difference, either."

Treya said, "My healing magic has gotten stronger, but I was told that would happen if I used it more, which I have been."

"For which we all thank you," Boktar put in. She grinned back at him.

"What about that thing you did with the bear skeleton?" Corec asked.

"I don't even know what I did," Treya replied. "I just shouted, and there was a white light, and then...it stopped moving. It must be a new blessing, I suppose. I should ask Priest Telkin when we get back to Tyrsall."

"Whatever it was, it was handy. I wonder if it would work against those red-eyes."

"I...I don't think it would." Her voice sounded hesitant. "Not without more practice, anyway."

"Then you do know what the spell was?"

"It's hard to explain. Sometimes I just...know things. Telkin called them healing senses—I use them to know what's wrong, so I know how to fix it. When I'm using them to heal, I have to concentrate on it, but sometimes I feel other things whether I'm concentrating or not. The skeleton was wrong, unnatural. The red-eyes are wrong too, but not as much as the skeleton."

"That sounds like a druid's elder senses," Shavala said, "but the red-eyed men seemed like any other men to me, and I couldn't sense the skeletons at all. Can you feel those trees over there? Or the river below us?"

Boktar eyed the ground suspiciously.

"No," Treya said. "I can only sense the rest of you. And just barely—I'd have to touch you to know if you needed healing."

"Each type of magic works differently," Ellerie said. "I'm more interested in what he said about enhancing your magic. I don't think there's a way to do that. Was he lying?"

"He may have been," Corec replied. "And besides, he was crazy. I don't think he understood my questions any more than I understood his answers."

"Hopefully he was telling the truth about undoing the binding spell. If he's talked to this Three woman in these dreams, why can't he just ask her where she is?"

"I don't know. I woke up before I could get any more answers out of him. If it happens again, I'll ask him." Then, Corec sighed. "And I guess I should mention this—he said the runes are my fault, and I should be able to control them."

"We already knew they were your fault," Ellerie said.

"I know, but I was still hoping..." He trailed off, and Katrin squeezed his hand. "But maybe that means I can keep it from happening again."

"This person called Six is planning to kill you?" Ellerie seemed far too interested in that part of the dream.

"I couldn't tell if he was going to ask her to kill me, or if she had asked him for permission. I would prefer if she didn't go through with it."

Ellerie actually smiled at the joke, which Corec would have considered a good sign if it hadn't been about him dying.

He continued speaking. "Oh, and Six must be an elf. He said she was three hundred years old, or almost three hundred—something like that."

"But he isn't?" Bobo asked.

"No, he was human."

"Did he say anything else about Three?"

"All I know is that she's a she, and that she's ended the binding spell before."

"It's not much to go on."

"We could look for the man in Tyrsall again," Katrin suggested.

"We'll have to," Corec said. "If the rune was on his forehead, I guess he must be like one of you, but I wish I knew which of them he was working with."

#

They stopped when it grew dark, which put them about two hours outside of Circle Bay. That would give them an easy ride the next morning, and then they'd have the rest of the day to buy supplies before setting out again.

Ellerie and Boktar had taken to handling the first watch together. While the others retired to their tents, Ellerie walked in a wide circle around the camp, setting an alarm ward. When she reached the spot where she'd started, she whispered the words to the last part of the spell, completing the ward. If anything larger than a raccoon or a rabbit crossed the boundary, an alarm would sound, waking everyone up. They would still keep a watch, but after being attacked by those red-eyed men, she thought it was a good idea to take extra precautions.

She returned to the camp and joined Boktar as he walked in a long loop around it. They'd split up later, to cover more ground, but Ellerie liked having the chance to talk to him without all these other people around. For almost three years, after the job was done for the day, it had always been just her and Boktar. Having a group of near-strangers traveling with them was throwing Ellerie off balance, and it didn't help that Boktar seemed to fit right in, easily making friends with the new people. He'd always been good at that—it was how he'd gotten them the job with the duke—but it seemed out of place this time.

"You're doing it again," he said as they walked.

She cursed, and forced herself to stop scratching at the spot on her forehead that had been affected by the binding spell. "Thanks."

"Warding spell all set?"

"It's done. If anyone comes through, we'll know about it."

"Let's just hope we don't get another coyote," he said with a grin, referring to a job they'd done a year ago. The ward had woken up two squads of soldiers, who were all set to fight for their lives until they found out it had been set off by an animal that ran away as soon as the sound started.

"I don't know if they have coyotes here," she said absently. "Maybe wolves."

"What, you're not even going to crack a smile tonight?"

"Do you have to be so friendly with them?"

"With who? What are you talking about?"

"Them!" she hissed, pointing back to the tents. "Except for Bobo, you're treating them like you've known them for years."

"They're decent people and they saved our lives. You get along with Treya and Shavala, don't you?"

"Treya, at least. Shavala is...harder to get to know."

Boktar glanced around to make sure nobody was close enough to hear. "Because she figured out who you are?"

"No. I don't think it even occurs to her that that's important." Ellerie wasn't sure why that annoyed her—she'd given up that life, after all. "It's just...she's dorvasta and a druid, and that means something, even in Terevas."

"I'll take your word for it, but what's really bothering you? Corec?"

"Yes!"

"Look," Boktar said, "I don't really understand the spell he cast on you. You say it's bad and I believe you, but it seems like everyone already agrees with you and wants to do something about it. That's what that whole conversation was about this morning, right?"

"If we can trust anything a crazy man says in a dream. If the dream even happened."

"You think Corec's lying about it?"

"I don't know. Think about it—a man accidentally casting a binding spell four times, on four women. Doesn't that seem suspicious?"

Boktar shrugged. "As suspicious as anything with magic. Isn't it just because the binding spell only works with other mages? That's what the others seem to think."

"Then what about all the wizards they spoke to? All men, and no binding spells. He's only binding women. How is that an accident?"

"I hadn't thought of that. So, you don't think the dream happened?"

Ellerie stopped walking and considered that for a moment before sighing. "No, I guess I believe him about that. We should at least try to find this Three person."

He nodded, then studied her face intently. "Elle, I think something's happening."

"What do you mean?" she asked, then realized that the constant itch on her brow was slowly fading.

"There's a blue light, like their runes, but it's moving around."

"I need a mirror."

She returned to her tent and dug through her pack for the little mirror she carried around with her. As she held it up before her, she saw blue lines moving under her skin until the sigil took shape. It glowed with a pale blue light like Katrin's, Shavala's, and Treya's, but took the form of three rounded arcs of different sizes, arranged near each other but not touching.

Boktar had followed her. "Are you all right? Does it hurt?"

"No, I don't feel it at all, but what's it supposed to mean? The shape doesn't make any sense."

He looked at her curiously. "Does it matter?"

"I guess not. At least the damned itching stopped. Let me see if I can do what Treya said." She concentrated on hiding the sigil, then locking it away in a corner of her mind. The glow faded and disappeared, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Hiding it feels like my arrow shield spell—I can hold it in place without thinking about it."

"That's good, right?"

"Well, at least nobody will see it on me," Ellerie said. For now, she could deal with it the way Treya did, by concealing it and pretending it wasn't there. It was a better solution than Katrin's hat. Shavala was nearly as good at hiding her own sigil as Treya, but she'd stopped doing so once they'd left the city. She'd never mentioned why.

"So, what happens next?" Boktar asked.

"Let's get back out there—we're supposed to be on watch. And then tomorrow, I try to figure out that banishing spell again."

#

Katrin peered down at the maps Shavala had borrowed from Ellerie. One of Corec's mage lights hung in the air above them, giving them enough light to see inside the tent.

"Where do you want to go after the Storm Heights?" she asked the elven woman.

"I'd originally thought to go west across the northern plains, then down the coast to Terevas," Shavala said. "Ellerie is considering the northern plains, but I don't think she plans to go as far as Terevas."

"What are the northern plains like?"

"I haven't been there," Corec said. "I've heard there's a lot of fighting, and sometimes the snow beasts will attack villages."

"Snow beasts are in my book," Shavala said, referring to a book about exotic animals that she'd purchased in Tyrsall. "Bobo read the page for me. I would like to see them—no one I know has ever seen one, not even Meritia."

"They can be dangerous," Corec said.

"I would be careful."

"Going down the coast would take us through Larso, wouldn't it?" Katrin asked. She glanced at Corec, but he was staring at the side of the tent and didn't seem to have heard her.

"Yes," Shavala replied.

"Do you want to go to Larso?" Katrin asked Corec.

"What?"

"What's wrong? You're barely paying attention."

He sighed. "I just keep thinking about the man in the dream. The things he said."

"About undoing the spell?"

"No, about how they—whoever they are—were chosen to protect some group of people that don't exist anymore. Who were they? And if they're no longer around, who's doing the choosing?"

"Maybe Bobo can find out, but why is that bothering you so much?"

"When they kicked me out of the knights, I was just a few months away from taking the oaths—to protect the people of Larso, protect the king of Larso, and protect the Church of Pallisur. I'm glad I didn't complete the ceremony, after everything that happened, but what he said reminded me of that."

"You think the guy in the dream is some kind of knight?"

"Well, maybe not a knight, but he looked like he knew how to fight. He said he'd chosen to protect his own people. It made me wonder what I'm supposed to do with my life."

Katrin took a guess at where he was leading. "You want to protect your people?"

Corec laughed. "I don't even have people anymore unless I count you two, and maybe the others. But I need to do something. I was a caravan guard because it was an easy choice. I knew how to swing a sword, and I didn't have to think about anything else. Being a courier or bodyguard are easy choices too, but I'm not sure an easy choice is enough anymore. But what else is there? Matagor used to have knights, but that was a hundred years ago, and Larso's the only northern kingdom that still keeps a real army. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do."

"Well, if we help Ellerie find her treasure, that'd be something different."

He laughed again. "If she tolerates us for that long, sure."

Shavala said, "She's not a bad person, she's just very angry right now."

"I can't blame her for that. These bloody runes have messed up everyone's lives."

"Some good things have come out of it," Katrin said. "The three of us wouldn't know each other without them."

"That's true," Corec said. "When you put it that way, it's worth it."

That was nice to hear. Corec wasn't prone to romantic gestures, so Katrin had to pay attention to his actions to determine how he was feeling. She considered it for a moment, then took off her hat. She'd have removed it for bed soon anyway, but perhaps it was time to stop wearing it, at least when they were away from any cities. She'd grown accustomed to the glowing blue symbol on her brow, and maybe it was silly to keep trying to hide it—or hide from it.

Corec took her hand, and Shavala smiled at them both.

"And I know you like the others too," Katrin said. Then she grinned. "Even Bobo. We'll figure out a way to get along with Ellerie."

"You're right. I need to stop feeling sorry for myself." He stared at the side of the tent again. "There's something else that's been worrying me, that I didn't tell everyone earlier. The First had eight runes on his arms, but only four were glowing. The other four just looked like scars burned into his skin."