46
A PEACEFUL INTERLUDE
“Kale, isn’t there a little picturesque pond close by?” Lyll pointed north. “I believe in that direction.”
“Baltzentor’s Pond,” said Kale. “It’s fed by a cold spring.”
“Ah yes, just as I remember.” Lyll set off down the street. “I can’t be sedentary for too long. I begin to age.”
She smiled at the mariones she passed and stopped to pet a friendly dog. The minor dragons flew ahead, making a beeline toward the water.
As she and her companions walked down the main street, Kale saw some of the citizens avert their eyes from the sight of a stately o’rant woman, a strange monk, and a tiny doneel. Now that Kale had traveled, she could see prejudice in her hometown.
In this region of the country, only kimens and mariones mixed. Because of the scarcity of the five remaining high races, mariones looked on them as peculiar. Most of her village friends extracted information about those who lived in the distant parts of Amara from fables and fabrications. Some didn’t even believe all the high races actually existed.
Their distrust of strangers flowed out of ancient history with no clear ties to the reality of present times. Kale tried to remember specifics about why the other races were to be shunned and could think of none.
She did know that mariones farmed well and fought well. For fourteen years, her owners drilled the significance of these virtues into Kale’s thinking. She still admired her friends for their industry and fortitude, and she now knew of other virtues.
But still, Lyll Allerion managed to evoke smiles from some villagers. Kale thought instantly of Dar’s charismatic appeal. The doneel could charm the most unlikely people. Toopka had some of the same quality in her personality.
And they seem happier than I am. I’d like to know what makes them different. It can’t just be the smiles.
They reached Baltzentor’s Pond. The body of water covered almost two acres. A small stream flowed out of one end, and the surface constantly rippled from the pulse of a spring beneath.
The village men had built several wooden benches around the shore. Many used them for fishing, and some of the fancier ones were used for courting. Bentleaf trees lined one edge, and late-blooming bushes of ernst brightened the view with tiny, starlike, pale yellow flowers. Their cinnamon fragrance mingled with the smell of autumn leaves crunching under the comrades’ feet as they walked.
Kale thought the scene was as peaceful as she remembered, but the waters looked darker. She glanced at the sky to see if a cloud had cast a shadow on the pond, but the skies were clear.
Lyll sat on one of the carved benches and pulled Toopka into the seat beside her. Bardon and Regidor stood, but Kale sat at her mother’s feet.
Lyll smiled at the standing men. “You, no doubt, want to hear all about the battles. For details you’ll have to consult Cam. Of course, Brunstetter and Lee Ark will join us at some time, and they’ll have more precise information. I can tell you that three forces converged on the Creemoor spiders’ favorite haunt and wiped out as many as they could before the creatures disappeared into the depths of the Dormanscz caverns.
“Now I know from my work in the Creemoor region—mind you, I wasn’t in the mountains but among the populace—that Crim Cropper is intent on developing means to control all beasts. He figured out how to gather the spiders without injuring either those who herded them or the spiders themselves. He bred them in captivity, producing many more than nature would have allowed. You see, as soon as the little spiders emerge from the egg sack, the parents devour them. About one-third escape the feast and skitter off to hide and mature.
“Much to his disappointment, Cropper couldn’t control them. He wanted them to march as an army under his direction. He got tired of the experiment and decided to be rid of them. But instead of releasing them back into their natural habitat, or slaughtering them, he thought it would be more entertaining to drop them on a city. Then word came that Kale was at The Hall. He chose Vendela, because he didn’t want the Dragon Keeper to interfere with his plans to subvert the dragons.”
Regidor threw back his cowl. “So it was an attack on Kale.”
Lyll nodded. “Basically, yes.”
For a moment, Kale found it impossible to draw a breath. She flexed the fingers of the hand that had been poisoned by the Creemoor spider. Her stomach lurched.
His plan almost succeeded.
She turned to Bardon and saw his expression of concern. She swallowed hard but could not speak.
Bardon—
He abruptly looked away. “May we ask what your mission involved, Lady Allerion?”
Kale consciously took a deep breath. Bardon’s question had released the overwhelming grip of fear that had squeezed her lungs.
“I gathered information, which I sent to Paladin, and I encouraged those few poor souls who follow Paladin in secrecy in that region. Of course, I was imprisoned during my entire service.”
Kale gasped. “Imprisoned?”
“Yes, a nasty place. But it was the most wonderful place to foil Cropper’s plans and, of course, Risto’s.”
“I don’t understand,” said Regidor. “If you were in jail and could not move around the country, how could you be of use?”
“All the information came to me. Right under Cropper’s nose. None of our underground workers had to figure out where I was. I was always in the same place. Cropper’s soldiers guarding the prison also were a fount of information. Don’t forget that I mindspeak.”
“Didn’t they realize you were a wizard?” asked Toopka.
Lyll laughed. “I told them I was Lyll Allerion, a great and powerful wizard, but then when they asked me to do something to prove it, I…well, I just never did. So they thought I was a bit loony. To them I was a meddlesome old lady who liked to visit all the other prisoners.”
“But why did you have to stay there?” Sympathy crumpled Toopka’s face.
“Because, as wonderful as Paladin’s army is, they’re woefully inadequate in communication. But then Risto’s forces have the same problem.”
“Why did you get out?” asked Toopka.
“Because Crim Cropper is brilliant, but not very focused. His wife, Burner Stox, is not quite as smart, but more practical. The last time she visited the southern castle, she noticed me. That was the end of my usefulness.”
“And the last job you had to do before you could be rescued?” Regidor tilted his head.
“Arrange for my replacement to be accepted by my network of contacts.”
A thought invaded Kale’s mind, and she tried to shake it off. She looked to her mother and saw the woman watched her closely.
“Leetu Bends?” Kale whispered.
Lyll nodded.
Kale shivered. She rose to her feet and pulled the moonbeam cape closer.
“Ugh!” said Toopka. She pointed to the reeds growing at the edge of the pond. “I saw something ugly in there.”
Everyone turned to look. The water on this side of the pond glinted black like a sheet of rippled ebony. The water on the other side sparkled blue under the sun’s rays.
The entire pond was dark before, but not as black as it is here.
Metta, from the nearest bentleaf tree, called out a shrill warning. Gymn echoed the alarm.
Lyll rose from her seat. “Mordakleeps.”
Regidor shed his clerical robe and drew his sword. Kale and Bardon also unsheathed their weapons. Lyll took two steps forward, twirling as she did. Her dress transformed into formfitting leggings, tunic, and shirt. Oddly, these garments suited for fighting were still the blushing pink color.
Kale stared at her mother. Lyll held out her arm as if ready to wield a sword, but her hand held nothing.
Three creatures sprang out of the water. Black, huge, and menacing, they covered the few feet of grassy bank in a bound.
“Cut off their tails,” shrieked Toopka as she dove over the back of the bench.
Regidor and Lyll each fought a monster. The third rushed at Bardon. Kale and Bardon fell into a pattern of synchronized attack. Bardon attracted the mordakleep’s attention and angled it around so that Kale could wield a savage blow to sever its tail. The huge body dissolved into a puddle and disappeared into the ground.
Another monster loomed out of the pond. Kale ran to confront it. This time, she managed to maneuver the creature so that Bardon had a clear swipe at its tail.
Regidor danced around his opponent. He flipped into the air, landed behind the monster, and severed its tail. The mordakleep melted away.
With the stance of a fencer, Lyll approached a mordakleep intent on the o’rant woman’s demise. The lack of a sword diminished her credibility as a warrior. Kale tensed, ready to rush to her mother’s side.
Lyll leapt forward and swung her arm. A gash appeared on the mordakleep’s hand. Its mouth opened in a soundless roar. Lyll skipped back and circled to the left. She plunged the invisible sword into the monster’s side, then withdrew and circled to the left again. The nightmarish creature turned with her, keeping its tail away from the swift and deadly blade it could not see. Lyll twirled with blurring speed to the right. Her arm swept downward over the snakelike tail. It fell away from the mordakleep’s body. Both the deadly creature and its separated tail oozed into the earth.
Two more mordakleeps surged out of the watery reeds.
Kale and Bardon took on one, and by the same method of distraction, killed it. Lyll and Regidor dispatched the other. The four warriors moved to form a group. For a moment they stood alert and ready.
Toopka peeked out from behind the bench. “Are they gone?”
Lyll answered, “For now.” She took out a cloth from a small satchel attached to her belt and made the motions of wiping a blade. It looked as though she laid the sword carefully across her chest, cradled by the other arm. She whirled. When the blur became recognizable again, she wore the dress she had donned that morning.
Regidor turned to look directly at Lyll and bowed with the same grace Dar often displayed. “I admit I held some doubts as to Lady Allerion’s ability. I beg your pardon.”
She nodded graciously.
He paced to the edge of the pond and peered into the reeds. The sandy bottom showed through the water now sparkling and clear. “Although we know the enemy is encroaching upon this territory, with no bodies it will be difficult to convince our hosts that danger is imminent.”