Westhaven by Rowan Erlking (ebook audio reader .txt) 📖

to the washbasin. Kleston noticed his unease then got up to follow him.

“What’s wrong?” Kleston asked as he reached his side. “You have been abnormally tense for the past few days. Something’s bothering you. Spill.”

As he turned, Key gazed up at the man he admired the most just below his father. He weighed his words for a few moments then said, “I just have a bad feeling.”

“Do you have any specifics on that feeling?” Kleston asked, peering at him with an inspecting look.

Shaking his head, Key murmured low. “No. Well…maybe.”

Kleston waited.

Lifting his face then taking a breath, Key said, “You’re using the Cordrils, and they are using us. I don’t like an alliance like this. Being used. It doesn’t feel right. That, and I really think we are underestimating the Sky Children—or at least they are.”

“They are?” Kleston echoed, leaning closer. “I know they’re impulsive but—”

“Not just that,” Key said, whispering low. “They act like they can just storm around and succeed against the Sky Children. But General Winstrong used to say that to rid an area from insurgents one had to study their behavior and think ahead of them. I bet right now the general or at least his captains are already waiting to ambush any Cordril attempting to sneak into their cities. I bet those demons are walking into a trap. And the Sky Children will figure out how you got them into the town and trace them here.”

Kleston drew in a breath. He looked back up the hill. “Oh, cr—Key! Come with me.”

Kleston grabbed Key by the wrist and rushed up the hill.

“Where are we going?” Key scrambled to keep up with him.

“Back to Herra,” Kleston said. “Now I have a bad feeling.”

“Let me at least take a sword!” Key pulled towards the smithy shop.

“No time!”

“Let me come too.” The witch climbed up after them, wrapping a fur coat around his shoulders. He obviously overheard the conversation.

Kleston just continued on, passing the guards in a rush with Key. The three of them hurried through the bare trees and snow near Herra. The trip took over an hour, passing through to where they had designated a meeting spot. The humans on watch let out an eerie night call. Kleston answered it.

Taking Key by the wrist, Kleston pulled him towards a snow-topped grave monument and pointed up to the town. “Ok. See that?”

Blinking, Key squinted in the dark at the lights of the higher town area. There was something in the distance that looked like a bat. But to scale of the area, the creature had to be larger than a bat—several times larger.

Key nodded. “I see it.”

“That’s where a Night Stalker is hunting.” Kleston then pointed over a ways. “Near there is where the Cordrils will be killing their prey.”

Nodding again, Key whispered back. “So what do you need me here for?”

“If things have gone bad, if they have been ambushed, I need you to help negotiate,” Kleston said. “They trust you.”

“They what?” Key was in shock.

Kleston nodded, a tight grin on his lips.

But they did not hear anything from the Cordrils for several hours after that. It was late into the night when the men saw the tall shadows and blue eye glow coming into the graveyard. One of them lifted his head and made call, holding up another who was limping.

“Where is the fifth one?” one of the men asked the Cordrils hanging back.

Lesar helped Gregor to sit on a grave monument. “He got killed.”

Key looked around, peering up into their shadowed faces. Ben was the only one not with them.

“I think we should change plans,” Kleston said, rising from his hiding spot also.

Yadis sheathed his sword and shook his head. “No. We keep going.”

“Until what? Until you’re all dead?” Kleston asked, looking the brawny Cordril right in the eye. “I’ve led enough men against Sky Children to know when a war tactic doesn’t work.”

“We will keep killing them,” Yadis repeated through his teeth, shoving his nose just inches from Kleston’s face.

Lesar nodded. “We have no choice. We have to cleanse this place of them before they overrun the entire world. They’re already shoving west into the fields of Poris of Kitai.”

“And how do you intend to accomplish that enormous goal?” Kleston asked, stepping back though glaring at Yadis who was now eyeing Key as if he wanted to swat him. Key pulled back but did not take his eyes off of that Cordril either.

“Like we’ve always done,” Lesar said. “One of them at a time.”

“How many of you are there?” asked the witch. He inspected Gregor’s wound at a distance.

“Who is this?” Lesar asked, pointing to the witch.

Kleston let out a tired sigh as he gestured that they walk from the graveyard. “He’s a newcomer. An herbalist.”

“You mean a witch?” the lean Cordril said, taking a step back from the man.

Tilting his head, Kleston glanced at the witch. “If you want to be crude about it, yes. Herbalists have a powerful, useful magic skill. They are incredibly useful for healing blights as well as wounds.”

“I don’t want him touching me,” Gregor said also taking a step back.

“Likewise,” the witch replied, casting the Cordril a dirty look. “I don’t want to touch you either.”

The four Cordrils all narrowed their eyes at him.

“What’s he here for?” Donal snapped.

“I’m just curious,” the witch said with a sharp nod. “I’ve never seen your kind before.”

Yadis drew his sword and inch from his scabbard.

Kleston stepped in between them, sharing a glance with Key who was gazing towards the town with discomfort.

“Not now. You can discuss your grievances later. We have to move from this spot.” Kleston waved for them to follow him. They towards the north back into the edge of the woods, but away from the camp. “Besides, I think we ought to strategize a better entrance into the city this way.”

“The one they’re building?” Donal asked. He hurried to help Lesar prop up Gregor as they walked. The other men followed behind them, keeping an eye on the town and any possible Sky Children that might be following them. Key remained close to Kleston, though he glanced back at the town. He was sure he had seen something as they walked from graveyard.

The conversation lowered to whispers as Kleston relayed Key’s concerns to the Cordrils along their journey. They glanced back at the boy a number of times as they talked. Some of them considered the portion of information they had already taken from his head, as they listened. Only the icy crunch of snow under their feet and panting of their breathing as they labored up and down the hills made noise as they walked through the trees together.

“So you’re saying that this general instilled in this kid a lot of military stuff without realizing he did?” Lesar murmured, peeking at Key who was looking again at the shadows behind them. “And you trust this?”

Kleston nodded. He tugged his coat collar closer to his neck for warmth. “General Gole—uh Winstrong, is without a doubt the most successful and devious of the Sky Children military. I heard a rumor that he’s retired now. But this entire area used to be his. He practically destroyed all our efforts to stop Sky Child expansion into our cities. And if Key picked up on any of it, I think we ought to listen.”

Yadis snorted. “So what does the kid say?”

“That if the Sky Children know you are coming and if they are better armed than you, you’re all dead.” Kleston then pointed to the hill city the Sky Children were building. It was near dawn. “That should be our next target anyway. Not Herra. Key says you people have a passed on memory full of this technology his general claims will beat magic. What do you propose we do to stop its construction and get rid of its builders?”

Lesar lifted his eyes. He squinted then glanced back at Key who was staggering from exhaustion.

Lesar touched Yadis on the hand.

Yadis nodded.

The thought already passed along to the two others holding Gregor up, their thoughts together as if they were in council. Blinking as he received their consensus, Lesar then looked up to answer Kleston.

“We rest. We will plan when we wake up.”

Nodding, Key had already dropped and scooted into a dry spot under a bush. He curled up with one eye on the hill where the light was beginning to show. He was sure he had seen something. He just didn’t know what it was.

The others made camp.

*

The Sky Lord had summoned him. That meant a long road trip up the mountains to Danslik in the snow. Normally he would have loved the invitation, but his age was catching up with him and rides in his automobile were not as enjoyable as they had been previously. Perhaps it had to do with frequency they had to stop along the way for him to relieve himself. Or more with how antsy his boy got, constantly asking if they had arrived yet. It was one of those rare moments when Gailert wished that this boy were like his former one—silent.

They arrived at the gates of city in the clouds while the sun was still up. Everything was blinding white.

Passing the guards, they lowered the shades in the auto to block out the blinding whiteness of the stone reflecting the sun. His woman put on a pair of newly made spectacles with tint on them, sitting fashionably with her leg crossed to show her ease as they went up and up. The boy sat with his hands clapped over his eyes, moaning that he was blind. Gailert merely shut his eyes, glad his driver also had a pair of shaded spectacles to block out the sun.

“Welcome, General,” said the palace porter the moment they parked. He opened the door to the vehicle.

Gailert stepped out after his woman had, peering over the glaring white square surrounded with the same white stone walls. It hurt his eyes.

“Is all this white necessary? What was Captain Callins thinking?”

The porter passed a mild chuckle. “He was thinking in terms of awesome majesty.”

“I consider that overkill,” Gailert muttered. He then followed the porter who handed him a pair of broader shades for his eyes. Tinted eye-wear was a must for the city.

The boy staggered behind them, almost weeping because he could not see. Another porter grabbed the general’s footman’s vest by the collar and dragged him to the doors.

The doors were just as overdone as the expansive white front square. And the hall it led to was just as incomprehensibly ridiculous in its size, from floor to vaulted ceiling. Obviously everything had been built to impress weak minds of the magnificence of the Sky Lord. It was a good thing he was not among the weak-minded.

“Welcome! Welcome! General Winstrong!” A man broad in his belly and rotund in his face stretched out his arms with an open gesture for an embrace and approached him. His clothes were perfectly fitting for his size, shape, and station. And his smile revealed that he was merely a man sent to pander to the general while the Sky Lord prepared to meet him with dignity. “Have you had a comfortable journey?”

Drawing in a breath, Gailert glanced at the ornate carved awnings and windows then said, “I wish I could report that I did, but in my old age I am afraid that I am quite exhausted. Is the Sky Lord waiting for me? Or am I allowed to freshen up first?”

His grin widening, though his smile was not in his shining blue eyes, the round man replied with a dramatic gesture, “Of course you are allowed to freshen up first. I will escort you to your room where you will stay while you are with us. The porter will get your bags.” He then glanced at the boy who was staring goggle-eyed at everything. “Unless, of course, you want your footman to do that.”

Gailert let a smile crack on his face from amusement. “No.