Chapter 6 Part 5

It was just after sunset when Armegon and Tyson returned to the inn. They socialized in the commons area for about an hour where Tyson discussed a business proposition with a lady of the evening for an evening of pleasure. Armegon, however, was more interested in looking at the maps he had copied earlier that day.

After arriving at their suite, Armegon opened the door and found the lights were out and the interior was dark. His elven vision saw three heat sources in the room. One source, a very small fading source was probably the recently extinguished candle, while two other sources were larger and in motion. They were crouched and slowly circling each other. One was smaller in stature and definitely female. Armegon summoned a spell. Marlena was human and was at a disadvantage in total darkness. Her attacker obviously was aware of this and was taking advantage of the situation. By its movements, Armegon could tell that the second heat source knew exactly where Marlena was as well as the fact that he had just opened the door. Armegon released his spell as the assailant made a lunge. In rapid succession, a dozen bolts of light slammed into the assailant. It fell to the floor in a lump at Marlena's feet.

"Armegon?"

"I am here, Marlena, let me get you some light." Summoning another quick spell, he pointed his finger at the dim glow his elven vision identified as a recently extinguished candle. A thin red beam reached out and touched the wick re-igniting the flame. As the flame grew, Armegon entered the room to inspect the body. He glanced up at Marlena at the same time she flashed him a reassuring smile. Before his very eyes, he saw her smile fade as her eyes focused behind him.

Had Armegon been a monk, he would have evaded the attack. But just as he was about to turn he felt a strong hand clamp over his mouth and pull his head back. He felt something warm against his throat and suddenly the front of his chest was warm and wet. Dizziness clouded over him and he felt detached as he slid to the floor. Lying prone on his back he watched a red liquid squirt up into the air. Armegon's perception grew dim as the last thing he saw was the flash of metal above him.

Marlena watched in horror as the assassin hastily moved from the hallway behind Armegon. The assassin effortlessly caught Armegon unaware and slit his throat as if butchering cattle. Horror gave way to rage and Marlena took the initiative. In one smooth motion she scooped up the dagger the first assassin had carried and heaved it at the second. Years of hanging around monks and an ex-thief paid off as the dagger slid home through the right eye socket of the assassin. The look on his face as the point of the blade penetrated his brain was one of shock and surprise. That look would be etched forever as he toppled over dead on the floor.

Marlena sprinted to Armegon's side. "Don't you leave me too," she whispered as she placed one hand on the cut and the other on his heart. Her druidic healing powers had returned to almost full strength. She sensed Armegon's life force ebbing.

Quickly she plunged into her most powerful healing magic, as meager as it was. She sealed the cut arteries and used her own strength to keep a tired heart beating. The forces of nature were aligned against her as the ultimate fate of all nature, death, tugged greatly on the spark of life that was Armegon.

Marlena knew that she was not strong enough to fully heal Armegon. For Avery this would have been a simple task, but her druidic powers could only bend and weave the natural forces of nature, she could not directly oppose them. Death pulled even harder and Marlena knew she would soon lose her patient.

There was one chance. Armegon was a healer too, just like Avery, but to a lesser degree. If she could bring his own formidable healing powers into play together they could thwart death. She altered her tactics. Instead of trying to heal the physical damage, she began strengthening the spiritual damage.

Slowly she nurtured Armegon out of shock and back to consciousness. "I can only hold you conscious for so long," she whispered. "I need you to save your own life. Be quick!" Armegon's jaw moved slightly and a few garbled words bubbled from his mouth and throat. Then he passed from consciousness again.

Marlena broke the contact. She had done all she could. She watched as the blood flow from the wound slowed then stopped and Armegon's breathing steadied. Within minutes his eyes opened. It was obvious that he was far too weak to move, and his throat would probably keep him from speaking for some time, but he was alive. And as if to reassure Marlena, and to thank her, when she moved into his view, he focused his eyes on her and winked.

Wearily, Marlena washed her hands and then made her way down to the common room where she found Tyson at a table in a dark corner. He was busy entertaining a young woman. Marlena would like to have left him alone, but recent events disallowed that luxury. Marlena approached the table and cleared her throat--this was no time to be civil.

"Tyson." The couple disengaged in their personal business and faced her.

The young seductress clung possessively to Tyson's arm. "Who’s this," she hissed in an tone that displayed little effort in being nice.

Defensively Tyson prepared a counter. "Oh that’s just..."

"His wife," Marlena finished bluntly.

The lady turned to Tyson with fury on her face. "You said you weren’t married!" She laid her right hand smartly across his face. "Bastard!" And with that she disappeared into the crowd.

Tyson rubbed the red cheek and watched her go. Then he turned an angry eye at Marlena. "Wife," he said, "this had better be good, because you just cost me a good piece of..."

"Armegon's been hurt." Marlena cut him off. Tyson was immediately on his feet. All thoughts of nighttime activities were erased from his mind. "How bad?"

"He’s unconscious but I think he’ll live."

Tyson breathed a sigh. "What happened," he asked. "Two assassins attacked. One attacked me and when Armegon took him out, the backup man took him by surprise."

Marlena and Tyson hurried back up the stairs to the suite. Marlena recounted the whole story for Tyson as they went. When the door was opened it revealed a scene collaborating her tale. Tyson inspected the bodies of the assassins for a moment to ensure they were dead. Then he looked over Armegon. Other than a pool of rapidly drying blood, the only evidence of his injury was a telltale bright pink scar running across the front of his throat.

"We have to get out of here," Tyson declared. "I’m certain that these two are not the only ones out looking for us and I don't want to wait for their friends to come and check on them."

"I can be ready to leave within the hour," Marlena said.

"Okay," Tyson agreed. "I need to go and get the team and wagon ready. Will you be okay?"

"They won't surprise me again," Marlena assured him. "Now that we are on to them."

Tyson quickly left the room leaving Marlena to pack. This would have been a lot better if those assassins had been more competent. If he returned to the room, he could very well kill off Armegon in his present condition and in catching Marlena by surprise, he felt confident that he could take her out as well. But something inside him rebelled against that idea. He may lead his ex-comrades into a death trap, but it would not be by his hand that they meet their doom.

Tyson reached the stables and found the stable keeper very quickly. Within minutes he had their account settled and the team was prepared for travel. With that done he returned to the inn and helped Marlena with their baggage. Carefully, and with the aid of a simple telekinesis spell, they placed Armegon and Seymore in the wagon. Armegon groaned and fidgeted a little at first but soon settled down as the gently sway of the wagon sent him deeper into a dreamless sleep.

"His healing has accelerated," Marlena observed.

"I noticed," Tyson replied. "Within a few days, he’ll be back to his old nasty self. He was lucky to have you near."

Marlena glanced around nervously. Moonlight from the newly risen moons replaced the setting suns giving the town a different mood. The buildings they passed showed no signs of malice, but she knew that any one of them could be sheltering a bowman or an assassin's blowgun. "I'll feel much safer when we're out of town," she said.

Tyson agreed. "Do you know which direction we’re supposed to take?"

"I think his maps were of a region to the southeast from here," she told him remembering the charts she had cleared from the table earlier.

"Southeast it is then."

It took almost an hour before they passed through the tent city that surrounded the metropolis. Marlena's spirits lifted visibly with the return of trees and wildlife. They rode on through the night stopping around midnight to take a rest. Tyson built a small fire by which he roasted some of their preserved rations while Marlena chatted with an owl she had coaxed down from its hunt.

"We can both sleep tonight," she said. "I have regained enough power to arrange for a guard until morning." She indicated the nocturnal bird of prey. "Nothing will escape her notice."

They enjoyed a warm meal and bedded down soon after. They slept quite soundly until Marlena's guard's screech brought them fully awake and alert. Marlena whistled and the owl descended from above to land on a lower tree limb. Tyson watched curiously as she spoke to the animal. It had been a long time since he had last spoken the language of the wild. He listened only catching bits and pieces of what was being said, but it was enough for him to gather that the bird had discovered other humans coming up the road. Marlena listened as well, but her grasp of the speech and language was far better.

"Many humans," she translated. "Ground slow flying from direction of many manys of humans." Marlena addressed the bird again and the creature flew off. "Animals don't really have a concept of numbers beyond 'more than, less than, alone, and many'."

"Normally I would argue that there is no reason for alarm," she added, "but the only people who travel at night are those who are being chased and those who are doing the chasing."

Tyson agreed. "And we do not want to meet up with either of those categories."

"Is it possible that we are one of those categories?"

Tyson kicked out the fire. "I didn't want to say that, but yes."

Marlena packed their small camp as Tyson hitched the team. "Armegon should be conscious by morning," she observed. "He’ll still be very weak, but if we can avoid conflict for another day, he’ll be recovered enough to help fight if necessary."

Tyson boarded the wagon and snapped the reigns and urged the horses into the sparse trees. "I think we’ll turn east here for a while," he said. "If it isn’t us they’re after, we’ll avoid the conflict altogether."

"And if it is?"

Tyson looked back up the trail they had come down. "Well," he said, "at least we’ll know."

They rode for a few hours until the suns broke the eastern horizon. Marlena requested a halt to give the horses a breather from their near trot pace weaving in and out of the trees. She took a moment to speak with a raven and sent him off to the west.

"Checking out behind us?" Tyson asked as he knelt by the rear hooves of one of the horses. He inspected the animals feet for signs of damage.

"Yes," Marlena replied. "I’m going to put up a barrier to prevent us from being too easily tracked as well." She took some vines and uprooted them careful as not to cause damage. Then she wove them together and transplanted them on the trail directly behind them. She then took some mistletoe, powdered it and mixed it in a bowl with rainwater from her water skin. She made a few gestures over the concoction then irrigated the vine sprigs with it. As she finished the incantation a gentle breeze sprang through the glade and a fresh scent of wildflowers drifted on the breeze.

We can turn in any direction now, she said at last. "Within an hour there will be fresh growth of vines as far as the eye can see. They will cover our tracks so well that even a ranger will be hard pressed to follow us."

"I doubt if anyone chasing us will be able to gain the confidence of rangers. They are notoriously picky about who they work for and why they track a mark." Tyson checked the last hoof.

"I don't think we have to worry about that either," Marlena agreed, "but just in case, this barrier should stop them for a while."

"Stop who?" Armegon sat propped up against the buckboard of the wagon. He rubbed his head.

"Welcome back from the dead," Tyson said as he mounted the wagon. "I take it you’ll live."

"The way my head hurts makes me believe otherwise," Armegon commented. "And I have an unbelievably sore throat. What happened?"

"Remember the assassin?"

Armegon faced Marlena and thought back to the scene in the room. "Yes, but I thought I got him."

"You did," Tyson said. "But you didn't get the backup man."

"Oh. I guess I should’ve thought of that." Armegon rubbed his throat. "What’d he do to me?"

"He tried to take your head off with a dagger." Tyson informed him. "But Marlena interrupted his plans permanently and then she saved your neck...Literally"

Armegon bowed his head to the druid. "My thanks dear lady."

Marlena smiled and climbed aboard the vehicle next to Tyson. "Forget it my friend. There’ve been many occasion when you have rendered aid to us."

Armegon questioned them further to get more details, until he had a good idea as to what had happened to him and how they were faring. "Yes, southeast is the general direction to go, but it won't hurt us too much if you went due east a little ways. Just turn due south for about half a day."

"Isn't that pretty obvious," Tyson questioned. "Well we still don't know if the humans Marlena's friend saw were after us." Armegon pointed out.

"We do now," Marlena interrupted. She held forth an arm and the large raven descended to perch on her wrist. She listened as it cawed and whistled. Then she flung it back into the sky bidding it farewell.

"Well?" Tyson and Armegon waited.

"We are being followed."

"Wonderful," Tyson cursed. He snapped the reigns and the wagon lurched forward.

"This barrier will stall our pursuit," Marlena said, "but we have another problem. The raven claims that there are more hunting parties to the south and east of us."

"They are trying to heard us north," Armegon asked.

"So it seems," Tyson agreed.

"Then that is the one direction we can not go."

"South?" Marlena suggested.

"Not yet," Armegon advised. That is our original course. They will be looking out for that one. I suggest southwest for half a day then due west for another two days. That would logically be the most unlikely direction for us to travel. We may elude them completely."

"And if we don't?"

"Then that is where they will be the weakest. And we’ll just have to deal with them as best we can."