The Brazen City Read online

  Ahren looked at Uldini in shock. ‘The Sun Emperor wants to kill a Paladin because he didn’t help him perform an act of treachery on an allied city? And now of all times? Nobody can be that stupid!’ Before he knew it, the apprentice had slammed his fist down on the table in an explosion of anger and frustration.

  Nobody reprimanded him, and when the young man looked around, he realised that the others shared his feelings.

  ‘Justinian doesn’t know that the Thirteenth Paladin is back’, explained Falk in a grim voice. ‘It makes no difference to him whether one or two Paladins are missing. Over the centuries some have even come to believe the misconception that HE, WHO FORCES won’t come back as long as there is no Thirteenth Paladin. Which is why there have been several misguided attacks on us. Another reason why many of us have preferred anonymity and seclusion in the last few centuries.’

  Ahren had to digest that information first. Of course, it was difficult to comprehend that the magic of the Pall Pillar was tied to the return of the Thirteenth Paladin. But the idea that you hunted down the other Paladins in an effort to always keep the number under thirteen was incomprehensible to him, and a shiver ran down his spine.

  Uldini spoke again. ‘Luckily, this misconception isn’t widespread. And if we talk to Justinian, hopefully he’ll see that Bergen will be needed in the coming war. My Emperor is stubborn but he’s not stupid.’ The Arch Wizard shook his head. ‘I’m absent from the court for one summer and everything immediately goes wrong.’

  Ahren vaguely remembered that Uldini was actually the Sun Emperor’s Court Wizard. The Ancient, however, had dropped everything the previous spring once Ahren’s prospective entitlement to the title of Paladin had been revealed, and had hurried to the completely unaware young man and saved him from an attack by Dark Ones. And so, the lord and master of the Sunplains was now without magical advice and without the assistance of one of the Ancients, who could tell him what had happened in the intervening time.

  ‘Did you not send him any news?’ asked Ahren, surprised. He couldn’t imagine that an immortal wizard could have been so careless.

  Uldini glared at him but suppressed a rejoinder. ‘Quin-Wa is a talented manipulator. She’s been plying the Sunplains with false information, bogus messengers and fabricated omens. Any news of consequence that reaches the Sun Emperor must be confirmed from several sources or examined by me before it can be considered genuine. And as I’m not there...’ Uldini let his sentence trail away, and Ahren understood the full consequences of the Arch Wizard’s hasty departure.

  ‘So, what’s the plan?’ he asked numbly. He hoped he wasn’t in for any more bad news. With all the complications he’d just been informed of, his Naming was sounding more and more like a walk in the park.

  Uldini shrugged his shoulders with feigned serenity. ‘We’re going to travel to the Sun Emperor, we’ll present you as the Thirteenth Paladin and talk him out of his idiotic plan to execute Bergen. Then we’ll find a way of saving the relationships with the Brazen City in such a manner that Justinian doesn’t lose face. As soon as Justinian is able to procure new weapons, we can prevent Quin-Wa from being victorious and ensure that the Sunplains remain stable.’

  Trogadon whistled through his teeth approvingly. ‘Well, we certainly have a mountain of work ahead of us.’

  Falk shook his head morosely. ‘That was just the version where everything runs smoothly. This whole mess could get considerably more complicated for us.’

  The old Forest Guardian’s warning hung like a cloud of foreboding in the room and nobody felt like adding anything as they stared into the open fire and considered what trouble the spring might have in store.

  They sat there for most of the morning and discussed the imponderables and risks of their undertaking and how they could be counteracted, but soon the little group realised they were going around in circles. Many things simply couldn’t be planned for and in the end, they were certain of only one thing – that they would travel south into the Sunplains.

  All the talking had worn Ahren out and he stood up wearily. He longed for the forest and a round on the northern course - something that would take his mind off things and occupy the whole of the afternoon. ‘Will we be setting off in the next few days, then?’ he asked his companions while he mentally ticked off all the things he needed to do before they left Deepstone. He didn’t want to upset his friends a second time with a hasty departure.

  Much to his surprise Falk shook his head. ‘Not before the Spring Ceremony in six weeks.’

  Stunned, Ahren stopped in his tracks. Was he hearing things? ‘I thought the situation was critical and we had to act as quickly as possible?’

  Jelninolan responded. ‘Uldini and I are still far from having regained our strength.’ And she pointed to the Arch Wizard and herself. Ahren could still see signs of exhaustion on their faces. Deep lines creased their cheeks and their eyes had the pallid look of tiredness common to those who push themselves beyond their limits for an extended period. He had clearly underestimated the high price the Ancients had had to pay for the Naming ritual and their subsequent flight.

  ‘Just because we’re a bit livelier again around here doesn’t mean that we’re ready to perform powerful magic’, she continued. ‘And when we leave, we need to be prepared to react to any eventuality we encounter.’

  Uldini pointed his index finger dramatically at Ahren. ‘And it won’t do you any harm if we stay here longer. HE, WHO FORCES feasted a lot on your blessing before Tlik put a stop to him. During the Spring Ceremony the connection with the sleep of the THREE is extremely strong. Jelninolan and I will be able to regain our own strength in that one day, and your Blessing can similarly be re-nourished.’

  Ahren still wasn’t convinced. Much as he wanted to stay on a little longer, the frantic race against time before his Naming had had too much of an effect on him. ‘We can take part in the ceremony somewhere along the way. There are bound to be temples of the THREE in the Sunplains’, he insisted.

  Falk chuckled at his apprentice’s stubbornness before he answered. ‘It was in Deepstone that you were recognised as a future Paladin. Therefore, the gods’ Stone contains a mighty power here in this temple. If we were to participate in a Spring Ceremony somewhere else, then its effect on our strength would be far weaker.’

  Ahren’s face clearly betrayed his discontent and so Jelninolan gave him an encouraging look while spreading out her arms in a calming gesture. ‘Please trust us in this matter. The rest will do Uldini and me good, and you will learn that sometimes you need to tarry if you want to reach your destination sooner.’

  The apprentice was about to protest again when Falk’s bushy eyebrows lowered, and the young man bit his tongue. It was being made clear to him that he would only be arguing for the sake of it if he continued, and so he nodded reluctantly.

  ‘If it’s of any comfort’, Uldini interjected, ‘This is the last such ceremony you will have to participate in. Then your Blessing of the gods will be as fresh and as strong as that of any other Paladin. And this time we won’t have to worry about a Glower Bear.’

  The others were familiar with the Arch Wizard’s black humour, but they still exchanged nervous glances as they remembered the enormous monster that had almost overpowered them during Ahren’s Naming Ritual. It had only been thanks to the goblin Tlik’s self-sacrifice that the spiritual connection between the dark god and his beast-servant had briefly been broken, and they had escaped with their lives. Ahren still didn’t quite understand why the spiteful creature had given up his own life, but he was determined to honour the goblin’s death by putting an end to the Adversary’s terror once and for all.

  ‘Are we finished now?’ asked Trogadon impatiently. ‘I’m needed outside, don’t you know.’ He smiled suggestively, and Uldini scowled, giving a dismissive wave of the hand.

  ‘Yes, we don’t want to hold you up while your beer goes stale or your girlfriend starts to miss you.’ The Arch Wizard’s tone was dripping with d
isapproval, but the dwarf ignored the implicit criticism, jumped energetically to his feet, punched one hand into the other enthusiastically and quickly walked towards the door.

  ‘Ah, the heavy weight of responsibility’, he called out laughing, and full of the thrill of anticipation. Then he swept out through the front door, which closed with a crash behind him.

  ‘You were right, old man’, said Uldini grudgingly. ‘You can’t but like him all the same, even if he does behave crudely at times.’

  Falk looked affectionately towards the doorway, where the broad figure of the dwarf had just been seen. ‘What you think of as crude is open honesty and pure unbridled love of life. Am I glad he’s decided to continue accompanying us.’

  A chill ran down Ahren’s spine. He’d never considered the possibility of any of his travelling companions leaving their little group. Uldini, Jelninolan and Trogadon were all Einhans, worthy representatives of their tribes, essential to the Naming ritual when he had been confirmed a Paladin. But their official duties had, in fact, ended there. If they wanted, they could go on their merry ways unchecked. Only Falk and he were Paladins and as such the only ones in the groups whose power could be dangerous to the dark god. He looked wildly at the others, but Jelninolan pre-empted him.

  ‘Calm down. None of us will leave you or the other Paladins in the lurch. We’re going to stay by your side. Until the end’, she said softly.

  ‘Whether you want us to or not’, added Uldini drily.

  Ahren nodded. He was touched, but Falk shooed him towards the doorway with an impatient hand movement. ‘Get out of here before everybody starts getting sentimental. Why don’t you show Khara the new circuit I’ve laid out in the north-east? It’s designed for nimbleness and speed, and all the targets are hung in such a way that they can also be reached by sword.’

  The apprentice scowled in surprise, but Khara was already up on her feet. She gave a thankful bow towards Falk and then threw the apprentice an impatient look. It took him a moment to recover himself. This was the first time that Falk had altered a training workout in such a manner that Khara too could profit from it. Of course he had involved the swordsgirl to improve Ahrens ability with the blade but he had customised it only for her. Ahren suppressed a wave of jealousy and nodded curtly. Then he stormed out without saying a word with an eager Khara close on his heels.

  Jelninolan looked after the pair with an amused smile and then placed a sympathetic hand on Falk’s forearm. ‘I don’t think your apprentice understands that you wanted to do him a favour.’

  Falk shrugged his shoulders impassively. ‘If he doesn’t appreciate an afternoon alone with a smashing girl in the forest, then he’s an idiot.’

  Uldini laughed grumpily, and the three continued with their conversation regarding preparations for their upcoming journey.

  Chapter 2

  The snow front had moved away much to everyone’s relief and had been replaced by a mild late winter sky casting a soft almost dreamy light that the surrounding snow reflected in a warm tone. Ahren and Khara were about to leave the village so that they could try out the new training course when they bumped into Likis, who had just come out of the merchant’s shop and was heading home.

  ‘Where are you two off to?’ he asked curiously. He looked critically at their martial outfits and continued: ‘is there trouble?’

  Ahren shook his head. ‘No, we just want to go training. Falk constructed a new obstacle course that we want to try out.’

  ‘Wow, that sounds exciting. Can I come too? There’s not much happening today, and a little exercise wouldn’t do me any harm.’ He was looking mainly at Khara when he spoke, and she gave him an encouraging smile.

  ‘Sure, if you trust yourself’, said Ahren in a warning voice. ‘Falk’s training runs are getting testier, just like himself.’

  ‘I’ll tell him you said that’, teased Likis, and the friends laughed and headed towards the forest.

  Ahren trudged sulkily through the Eastern Forest snow, searching for the starting point of Falk’s newest obstacle course. He kept ahead of his two chattering companions, who generally ignored him anyway. The old Forest Guardian usually tied a scrap of yellow material around the top of the highest tree near the starting point. After marching for an hour in a north-westerly direction he climbed up a tree to look around at the snow-covered canopy surrounding him. He spotted the yellow cloth atop a tall blue spruce to his right, clambered down again and gave a satisfied sigh. It wouldn’t be long now before he’d spot the marking from ground level too and he could finally begin his training. He tried ignoring the merry chatter behind him, but when Likis gave a loud laugh, Ahren turned around to face his best friend.

  The feisty little figure with his blue eyes and black hair was convulsed with laughter by some comment that Khara had just made. Ahren hadn’t been listening but he was convinced that nothing she had said could have said justified Likis’s reaction. Khara smiled at the flattery, and Ahren suppressed an urge to roll his eyes in disgust.

  He had intended to have a talk with the merchant’s son about their imminent journey, but he had been unable to get a word in edgeways during their walk. Khara now spoke the Northern tongue fluently albeit with an unusual singsong in her voice, which gave her words a melodious tone without disturbing her clarity. Quite the contrary in fact, as both Ahren and Likis found it undeniably attractive.

  Khara was savouring her newly acquired language skills, and Ahren was relegated to the position of listener as she and Likis had a lively discussion over, of all things, Ahren’s most embarrassing blunder from his childhood days.

  The Forest Guardian stared in silent disapproval at his friend, but Likis was completely oblivious to it. The young merchant’s over-the-top fit of laughter had finally died down and he threw Khara a mischievous look.

  ‘Did I ever tell you about the time when Ahren lost his fishing rod, his catch, his bait and his basket all in the one day? And all that when he was fast asleep?’ he whispered conspiratorially.

  Khara shook her head and hung onto every one of the lanky youth’s words as he told the story of one of his friend’s greatest misfortunes, embellishing it wildly.

  Ahren considered briefly whether to correct his friend, as he hadn’t in fact lost his fishing rod that time but decided to leave things be. Trying to get the better of Likis with words was as hard as trying to catch the wind with a net. And anyway he found it impossible to be angry with the feisty young man. What really surprised him more was how charming Khara could be. This was not the heartless girl that he had got to know, who would regularly slap him in the face, wear him out with physical exercises and criticise his every move. He could see clearly that this exotic visitor to Deepstone had left a lasting impression on Likis. And when Ahren remembered how he had made a complete idiot of himself at the Autumn Festival only a few years previously when in the company of Sven’s sister, he decided to give his friend some leeway. He would have plenty of opportunity in the years to come to tease him regarding his present behaviour towards Khara. Ahren turned away with a smile and walked onwards, leaving the dallying lovebirds in his wake.

  At last he found what he was looking for and pointed up a tall tree at a tiny yellow dot on top. ‘We’ve arrived. Are you sure you want to do this as well? Maybe you’d prefer to stay here and keep gossiping.’ As soon as he’d spoken, he cursed silently to himself for making the sarcastic comment, but it hadn’t seemed to bother the others.

  ‘Of course we’ll run with you’, said Likis with determination. ‘I’ll leave out the targets because I can’t handle a weapon, but I’m sure I’ll be able for the obstacles.’

  Ahren remembered that his friend had always been as nimble as a fox and gave him a challenging look. Then he looked over at Khara as he walked to the trunk of the tree. Falk had carved a small sign, just deep enough to be recognisable but shallow enough so as not to damage the tree.

  ‘Here is the start. We have to keep following the signs and always in a stra
ight line. Running around the obstacles is not permitted. Khara, wherever you see red dots on the trees, they’re the targets we have to hit.’ He pointed to a tree roughly fifty paces ahead which had a red marking on one of its lowest branches.

  The girl’s eyes followed the direction of Ahren’s hand, and the merriment disappeared from her face and was replaced be the look of serene concentration she always exhibited whenever she drew Wind Blade. The swordsgirl had hung the scabbard around her neck and the weapon slid out with a scraping sound. Then she nodded gravely in Ahren’s direction.

  He took his bow from his shoulder and indicated again into the forest.

  ‘Can you see the next marking?’ he asked in a concentrated voice. Khara’s almost ceremonial behaviour spurred his ambition on, and he was eager to test himself against her.

  ‘I think so’, responded Likis nervously. The sudden change in mood and the drawn weapons clearly made him anxious, but he pointed at the broad oak with its red dot, the tree weighed down by the heavy snow.

  ‘You have good eyes’, said Ahren encouragingly and winked at Likis. ‘Just try to keep pace and don’t end up between Khara’s sword and her target.’

  The merchant’s son laughed loudly but broke off nervously when he saw the intent eyes of the girl and realised that Ahren’s warning had been serious. Likis nodded uncertainly but the other two were already running. He immediately gave chase with a curse.