A Warrior's Path Page 31

  “Life is only as long as you live it,” the Shionen elf said matter-of-factly.

  Without pause Kiusu, again, nodded in agreement and looked back out at the crowd. Though he knew Tilon was right, the old man started to feel the way he had when he and Urietsin had entered the general's camp near the forest two nights ago. How could he feel so alone with so many people about?

  General Etrusin looked over Marui's shoulder, feeling powerless, though he was surrounded by over six thousand warriors that were at his command. He stared down at his emperor, the man who had bestowed this power upon him, lying there close to death. He watched Marui as she unwrapped the cuff that Geilo had balled into one of his hands. The green color of the infection that oozed out of the puncture wound in that palm nearly made him sick. Etrusin was not normally a man possessed of a weak stomach, but standing here watching his emperor die, knowing that in moments he may be the most powerful man in Kesitul, wreaked havoc with his constitution.

  Marui dabbed at the wound, clearing away as much of the pus and blood as she could. She produced some herb from a pouch and wrapped it against the wound. She informed Etrusin that it would need to be changed every few hours, though the look in her eyes said that she doubted it would need to be changed once. With one last sympathetic and sorrowful smile to the general, the elf walked away to aid Su-Ni as she could.

  Etrusin took Marui's place by the emperor's side. He looked down at the pale, drawn face and could hardly recognize the strong man that pulled the empire together. It saddened him greatly to think that the man who was so loved by all the empire was expiring in a field in the middle of nowhere by the Ikiu'iu mountains. The man who he had ridden beside, and to whom he had pledged his sword in allegiance and friendship, Ushisorein, Most Beloved Emperor, his old friend, was soon to be only a memory. At this General Etrusin of Kilelu began to weep.

  “Do not lose hope, sir,” Komeris said comfortingly. “He is not gone yet.”

  Yet, still, at these hopeful words, Etrusin could not hold back the tears that surprised even him. At either the sound of his sobs or the tender touch that the general gave to Geilo's uninjured hand, the emperor stirred.

  “Sire?” Etrusin called to Geilo. “Emperor, can you hear me?”

  The emperor opened his eyes weakly, though he did not look at anyone or anything in particular. “Etrusin?” came his rasping, shaky voice. “Etrusin, my friend, are you here?”

  “Yes, sire!” he cried, taking up Geilo's hand in his own to confirm his presence.

  “Oh, Etrusin, I am so glad I have found you,” the emperor whispered haltingly.

  “Please try to rest, sire, you need to save your strength,” the general urged.

  Geilo shook his head, though the action seemed to pain him. “No, my friend, there is no strength left in me but that to deliver this message...”

  “Nay, emperor, your end is not here.” Etrusin wanted to believe it, but he heard the doubt in his own voice and it almost overwhelmed him.

  Again the emperor shook his head, but smiled weakly. “Please, Etrusin. Call me by my name before I die, like in the days long past.”

  “Yes, si-, Geilo. Geilo, my old friend.” Etrusin smiled as well, though tears rolled down his cheeks.

  The emperor's smile returned again, and he seemed to gain a bit of strength for the moment. He tilted his head up and looked directly at the general. “I know what you have planned, my friend, and that is what brings me here,” he paused to take a few breaths. “I beg of you, do not be the first to attack. I know it seems prudent, but by the word of Minotros, the aggressor will fall. I have seen...”

  Etrusin gave the faltering emperor a helpless look. “What shall we do?” he asked.

  Geilo's head fell back, though his eyes remained open. The only sign that he had not yet passed was the loud rasp of his breath. “Promise me!” he said in a cracked voice. “Promise me you will not attack first!”

  “Yes, Geilo, I promise,” Etrusin assured him desperately, hoping the promise would somehow renew him and wipe away his injury.

  Once more, the emperor smiled as he continued to stare upward. He squeezed the general's hand briefly, and his wheezing gulps of air slowed and faded away far too quickly.

  “Geilo?” Etrusin called. “Geilo! Emperor!” He called several more times and stopped only when Komeris laid his hand gently upon the general's shoulder. He looked up at the elder captain, his eyes no longer wet. For some inexplicable reason, he felt like that which gave him emotion had flown away with the emperor's spirit. How he wished that he, Etrusin, held the lower rank instead of Komeris. For just a moment, he considered relinquishing his title and walking off forever.

  The captain gave Etrusin a few moments and did, himself, pay his respects to the emperor. “What will your orders be, sir?” he asked the general quietly.

  “Prepare the emperor for his return home.”

  Komeris knelt down beside his general. “How shall we prepare him, Etrusin? We are ill equipped for anything but war,” he said solemnly.

  Etrusin put his face in his hands and remained that way for several minutes. He did not shake, or sob, or give any indication that he was mourning Geilo's passing with tears. When he finally looked back up, he no longer seemed sad, rather a determined fire burned in his eyes. “Bury him here,” he said easily. “Bury him on this very spot.”

  The general stood up fiercely and called out to all who were gathered around, “Weep not for Geilo, Emperor of Kesitul!”

  Word of the emperor's passing had filtered out very quickly, and several in the crowd managed to look incredulous, while still others wept openly, seeming not to have even heard the general's command.

  “Weep not!” Etrusin insisted, “Rather cheer for the man who has, once again, saved us. Geilo gave his life so that we may continue to live. We may yet fight, and many may die, but only to save our empire and our way of life! Though our beloved emperor has left us here on this field, he will be with us always, if we remain united in remembrance of him.

  “Here let us build Geilo's tomb, the place of eternal rest for his body. And let our people journey here throughout the coming centuries so that we may never forget his spirit. And let us never allow, on this ground hallowed by his death, those who would strive to erase his memory and his people. We are his people. Let us never forget him! Let us cheer for Geilo, greatest of men!”

  The gathering had fallen silent, every being's attention trained on Etrusin, entranced by his impromptu eulogy. Now they did indeed let out a great cheer. They clapped, and they yelled, and they waved their fists in the air, though their cheeks were still wet with tears. Even the Shionen joined in on the unexpected celebration. They cheered not that Geilo was with them no more, but that he was now with them eternally, in a way that meant more to them than they could ever fully express. Though Geilo had been truly loved by all of his people, that love was now strengthened and renewed by his last act of selflessness for them.

  “What are we to do now?” Komeris asked Etrusin. “What of this army? What of the hostile men we met beyond the pass?”

  The general gave him a look that sent a chill up his spine. “We will wait, forever if we have to. I will only move to defend the empire against imminent attack, as I promised Geilo. As such, I want sentries on the mountainsides along the pass. If someone does come, I want us to be ready. We will make camp at the mouth of the pass and stay there as long as we must.”

  Komeris nodded and thoughtfully watched Etrusin walk away. The captain found himself at a crossroad of emotions. He could not decide whether he wanted the fight that they had all been expecting to come and be done with it, or for this all to be just one big mistake so that they could all go home and finally rest. Never before had he felt so old as he began to feel in these few moments the emperor had been dead. He had ridden beside Geilo and Etrusin, and they had all been relatively young then. Geilo had been the eldest, Komeris the second and Etrusin the youngest. But that was twenty years ago. It may as well
have been a lifetime ago, when three young companions saved a people and built an empire.

  * * *

  “So tell me, when are we going to do this?” Laernus hissed impatiently as he glanced furtively around the single standing stone to the ranks of resting men and shapeshifters that lay no less than fifty paces away.

  The tip of Agucho's tongue coiled around one of his eyeballs, but it did not appear to interfere with his response. “Be patient, my friend,” he said quietly.

  The seer grimaced and stared unnerved at the Fiu-Het's tongue as it steamed in the cold air of early morning. “Surely you don't plan to march all the way to 'the enemy' before setting things in motion.”

  Agucho eyed his co-conspirator uneasily, switching his tongue from one eye to the other. He took a deep breath before answering, “I think that might be best, actually.”

  “What?” came the expected incredulous response, “Have you not even given these...your people any hint of your plan?”

  “I could not!” Agucho whispered fiercely. “When I went to my queen to ask this of her, and so many times since then, I have tried, but I feel the will of the king surge up, and I cannot. Besides, I do think it might be best to do this while the king and his army are otherwise distracted.”

  Laernus nodded his concession of the point, but his response showed a change in his focus. “So my charm did not work.”

  “Not completely, but I believe it did somewhat. Orbein's power over me is not absolute, else we would not be having this conversation,” the Fiu-Het pointed out.

  “Do you know what his device is?” the seer asked.

  Agucho nodded. “I believe so. He wears a strange ring on the small finger of his left hand. It looks like cloth secured with gold.”

  Laernus sighed. “My skill has never been prominent in much magic beside divination.”

  “Clearly not even in that,” came another voice that startled them both. From the other side of the stone behind which the seer and shapeshifter hid stepped Vethisir. “Bit of an early start, don't you think?”

  Laernus's heart was beating so hard it nearly ripped through his chest. He wondered how long the general had been standing there and how much he had heard. Even in the cold air, sweat beaded on the seer's forehead. His companion, however, seemed unruffled.

  “If it isn't too early for you to be sneaking around, then clearly it isn't early enough,” the shapeshifter shot back.

  “Watch yourself, beast,” warned Vethisir. “If anyone can be said to be sneaking, it is you two.”

  Agucho snorted, “Laernus concentrates best without distraction. This was the best place for him to retrieve more council that I may relay to the king.”

  The general did not catch it, but Laernus saw the shapeshifter hold his breath in uncertain expectation of the general's response.

  Vethisir looked from Agucho to the seer and back. “Council...” he sneered. “It is more likely that the two of you came here to conspire against the king.”

  The shapeshifter made a good show of bristling at that comment. “You have no evidence of that, so stop wasting our time,” he said making a shooing gesture at Vethisir.

  The general narrowed his eyes at the pair, then looked over his shoulder at the sleeping army behind him. When he looked back at them, his eyes gleamed wickedly. Slowly he drew out his sword and took a step toward Agucho. “The way I see it,” he said in a low, hoarse voice, “the king no longer has need for either of you. We are already on the road to victory, and you two are merely extra baggage. Once Orbein realizes this, I will be the one to cut you both free...happily.”

  The way Vethisir jabbed the sword forward with the word 'cut' made it clear that neither of them would enjoy the freedom that followed. Agucho and Laernus exchanged nervous glances, and both were afraid that the general was about to run them through then and there. Instead, he whipped his blade away and sheathed it forcefully. He said not a word, but glared at them one last time before turning to stomp off.

  Once Vethisir was out of earshot, Laernus took a deep breath. “Do you suppose he heard anything?” he whispered shakily.

  Agucho grimaced. “No. He was bluffing. If he ever did kill me, he would have all of the Fiu-Het to contend with,” he decided confidently.

  “What if he killed me?” Laernus clearly thought this the most likely possibility.

  “Never mind about that,” Agucho said dismissively. “Let’s just keep our focus on what we have to do.”

  The seer nodded absently, but he continued to think about Vethisir's blade penetrating his chest. Though skilled in divination, there were limitations to his power. He could not, for example, meditate on the circumstances of his own death and see exactly what they were. As such, he had no idea when or how he would die. He didn't even have any idea about how this march was going to end or if he or Agucho were going to live past the battle that was surely approaching. In fact, the battle was about the only thing he knew was going to happen for certain. It was this that made him suspect that he would not survive. For now, he had little choice but to trust in Agucho and go forward with their plan. At least if he died, he would die fighting.

  The sunrise came, and the human and shapeshifter army awoke to a red sky filled with small and puffy, but dark, clouds. The horizon looked like a wide, deep wound cauterized by the fiery sun. The men of Ionotu grumbled among themselves about the omen while the Fiu-Het regarded it stoically, thinking of the significance of their position in the ranks of this ambulatory force. Most of them were unsure why they were here backing up the humans, especially when they were backing it up by taking the front line. But they had orders from their queen, and every one of them knew of Gayossha's sacrifice.

  In the very lead of the gathered force were Agucho and Laernus. They had been up since their meeting that morning and were taking in the dawn with no small amount of trepidation. They didn't need the wizard's power of foresight to know what the sunrise signaled, though both of them wondered why he had not seen the coming of such a sign. It was Agucho, however, who was most curious about it.

  “Can you see anything more than I in such an omen?” he asked the seer.

  “No more than the wild speculations of my overactive imagination,” he replied nervously.

  Agucho gave a wry snicker of agreement. He turned away to take in the army behind him and gave an irritated sigh, “Here they come.”

  Laernus did not need to ask what the shapeshifter meant. Indeed, he did not even turn around to greet them. He simply stood there and continued to watch the horizon and listened to the sound of the hoofbeats growing louder. He prayed that they would just keep riding past them and onward, away from the army and off the edge of the world, but they did not.

  “Tell us, seer, did you not foresee this?” came Vethisir's sarcastic call.

  “Didn't you?” Laernus snapped back. “We are, after all, going to fight a war, are we not?”

  “The red dawn is for our foes, who await us somewhere on the road ahead,” Orbein said, staring at the horizon.

  'Clearly...' thought Laernus sarcastically, though he kept his lips, still swollen from his last encounter with the king, pressed tightly closed.

  “And with such a fortuitous sign of my impending victory, let us begin our march!” the king shouted these last five words loudly, and they echoed back and forth across the pass so that the whole army heard them.

  With a unified deep breath, the soldiers took the first step of the day toward the rest of their march. This had been one of the few rests they had taken on the journey, as the king seemed to be tireless in his quest to find his enemy. So, they did not doubt that it would be one of the last times they would camp before the battle. They were well into their fourth week, and according to Orbein, they were almost through the mountain pass. From there he was not sure where the enemy might lie, but he reassured them that it would not be far.

  So, on the army of Ionotu marched, and as the day grew brighter and the sky became clearer, it brought on a br
ight blue ceiling, free of clouds. By midday, the fears of that morning's red dawn were forgotten as they trudged along the hard earth of the mountain pass. They had lunch on their feet, and some groups joined in marching songs to take their mind off the long journey ahead of and behind them. Sometime around late afternoon, though, their march was halted.

  A flock of low flying birds came on squawking loudly and cutting maneuvers in the air. No one was surprised when they landed before the king and shifted into a small group of Fiu-Het. The leader of the group stepped forward holding some sort of bundle.

  “Greetings,” Orbein said importantly. “What have you there?”

  The shapeshifter let go of the bundle with one hand, and as it unfurled, two severed human heads tumbled out onto the ground. Orbein and Vethisir pulled their horses back as the heads rolled to a stop in front of them. The general looked disgusted, while the king appeared enchanted.

  “An army isss there. Beyond the passss,” the lead shapeshifter said with a heavy accent. He apparently did not have as firm a grasp on the language as did Agucho.

  “An army? How could they have known?" the king mused aloud. "How big is this army?” he asked the shapeshifter.

  “No big,” the Fiu-Het explained. He struggled to find the words to indicate the force he saw, and when he could not, he turned to Agucho. “Ssskt tck ehht't shssst.”

  “He says not much more than six thousand,” translated Agucho.

  Orbein grinned. “And how, pray tell, did he come upon these two trophies?”

  Agucho relayed the question to the flock leader, who responded in the odd hissing gurgle of his people's language. “He says they were wandering toward the pass on their own. He thinks they were sentries,” Agucho explained.

  “How far?” He asked the leader the short question directly.

  “Two daysss walking,” the shapeshifter answered.