Leoht (BloodRunes: Book 3) (11 page)

“I don’t know,” she said, her tone rather
more snippy than she had meant for it to come out, “But the man
claimed not to have been sent by Jezebel. So assuming he was
telling the truth, we can add another mysterious person to the list
of people trying to kill me,” she paused, considering, “Or us.”

She glanced back over her shoulder at the
Lady Aria, who seemed to be drinking in all of the attention in the
limelight of her firsthand knowledge of the events. Maybe she
really had meant to kill her, after all, that would have given her
a clear path to Gryffon which was obviously what she wanted.

They were able to make their way to the
stables without being accosted but they waved the three they had
come to see into a more secluded section to talk just in case.

“We’re going to try and sneak out of here
quickly, but we wanted to touch base with you before we go,” Layna
informed them.

“We also just got attacked in the courtyard,”
Gryffon put in with a tone that conveyed that he thought that this
information should have been the conversation-starter.

“What?” exclaimed all three in unison.

“By who?” asked Aileen.

“We don’t know,” Layna shrugged, “I asked him
if he worked for Jezebel seeing as how she has already set up an
elaborate plan to kill me once, but he denied that it was her.” She
explained the attack.

“Did you get rid of him?”

“No, he stopped attacking so I let him go.
I’m not going to just kill a man.” The idea left a bad taste in her
mouth. She was trying to steel herself for the possibility of
needing to kill the King, but until she was forced into that
situation, she didn’t want to do any more killing than was
necessary. In the midst of the attack, her power-high brought her
perilously close to having done just that, but she knew she would
have felt incredibly guilty afterwards. All these attempts on her
life were starting to make her extremely nervous, however, not to
mention confused as to why anyone - besides Jezebel - would want
her dead. She was even a little taken-aback that Jezebel could hate
her that much.

“He would have just killed you, hopefully
your kindness won’t come back to bite you.”

“Layna suddenly has a lot more power than she
did when she’s connected to the Three,” Gryffon told them, speaking
about her as if she wasn’t there and heat rose to her face.

“It’s not that my power is greater, I just
have greater control of it with their advice,” she defended herself
and the Three. Aileen watched their exchange with growing concern
in her eyes and Layna steered the conversation away from that
topic. “So anyway, we know that we need to head towards Gelendan.
Any advice?”

“Don’t get killed,” Charles said. Layna gave
him a thin smile.

“Try not to use power, there are a lot of
mages gathered, especially at the border, who will be actively
watching for it. You won’t be able to put on a show like you did
back there without a hundred mages and soldiers descending on
you.”

-
Do you have any thoughts on how you might
get into the palace?-
Echo inquired.

“Actually, I do,” Layna answered. She had had
the thought rolling around in her head since this morning and had
decided that it just might work.

But just as she was putting her thoughts in
line to share the idea, Gryffon suddenly gripped his chest, a
grimace of pain appearing on his face.

“Oh no,” Layna said and moved forward to open
his shirt, fearing the worst.

He pushed her hand away roughly. “It’s
nothing,” he growled through gritted teeth.

“It’s not nothing,” Layna argued, “It’s your
life-sucker isn’t it.” She turned to Aileen. “You said it wouldn’t
happen again. Does this mean that Jezebel has finally figured out
what she did?”

Aileen shrugged noncommittally. Layna tried
once again to get Gryffon to let her look at it, but he pushed past
her and walked briskly away, hunched over in pain.

“Fine, don’t let me help. Maybe you should go
crying to the
Lady Aria
, I’m sure she’d be more than happy
to let you cry on her shoulder!” Layna shouted angrily, tears
forming at the corners of her eyes at his rejection.

“Maybe I will!” Gryffon shot back over his
shoulder and the tears flowed freely down Layna’s cheeks. She ran
into the middle of the field and covered her face with her hands
ignoring the shocked looks that the others gave them.

She called silently to the Three, asking if
they knew how to get rid of his life-sucker, hurting at his words
but still worried that if Jezebel had found out that she wouldn’t
stop until he was dead. He wasn’t allowed to die…

Her queries were met with silence. Whatever
their other problem was, it must be keeping them all too busy at
the moment to respond.

“Could this get any worse?” Layna shouted to
the heavens.

In a horrible cliché, they opened up and
unleashed a downpour on her in answer.

CHAPTER 7

Nathair opened his massive wingspan and let a
burst of flame erupt from his jaws into the air in answer to the
priest’s challenge. His people were less behind him than he had
thought. Out of the immediate region of the capital where the
worshipers had almost all turned to the Sleeping God even before
his coming, most of the commoners still prayed to and believed in
the Three. The Priesthood, though tightly under his control in and
around the capital, apparently had a hard time controlling those on
the outskirts of their power.

Even those noble manors who had converted
themselves out here practiced the will of the Sleeping God only
within their halls, but allowed those who held fealty to them to
practice in whatever pagan manner they saw fit.
How dare they
still be following their antiquated ways
. Nathair knew that
Nuko got a fair amount of pleasure out of the fact that the people
had started regarding the dragons as gods when they had so
vehemently opposed this relationship, but still, they were
worshiping the
wrong
gods.

They needed to worship HIM.

Nathair turned his eyes onto the priest and
brought his massive head inches away from the man’s face. His eye
was almost as big as his head. To his credit, the man didn’t
flinch. Instead he repeated again, “You are not our god, you are a
power-hungry charlatan who has learned how to change his form. It
is not unheard of. The priests in Naoham commonly use such
practices, though not usually to this degree.”

Nathair’s instinct to simply cut short the
man’s complaints by chomping on his head to prove he wasn’t an
illusion were tempered by the hostility in the growing crowd around
them. Eating their priest might make them afraid, but it would also
make them angry, and it certainly would not convince these people
to follow him. They were a sturdy bunch, and their fear and anger
would turn into revolt.

So, he transformed back into his human form.
“Alright, then follow me as your King. Treymayne has secretly been
gearing up for war against us, they recently threw my emissary into
prison and she has now mysteriously disappeared. Do you not want to
defend your country? To defend your brothers and sisters and
husbands and wives?” He spread his hands wide and spun in a circle,
indicating that he was speaking to all of the people present. “Do
you want me, as your King, to simply stand by and watch as my
people are slaughtered?” There was a murmuring amongst those
gathered and Nathair grasped at his opportunity. “No! I will not
stand by, and I would ask that you stand with me…Treymayne is also
our brother, though they have lost their way. It is our duty to
bring them into our empire and show them that they are family!”

“And you propose that we go to war with our
family?” asked an old woman from the crowd, waving a gnarled fist
at him.

“Sometimes you have to show a little tough
love,” he answered, shrugging his shoulders, “It’s not always easy,
but it is necessary. If we refuse to fight, then we will watch as
they overrun US, and their morals have become twisted. No doubt
they would rape, pillage, and burn all that stood in their way.
Their depraved actions are a cry for help, and we cannot deny them.
They need the strong leadership that we have developed here, need
to be brought into the modern civilization, shown the ways of the
future!” He left out the part about the future holding blood-magic
in this particular town. Sometimes he included it as an added
incentive in those areas where the thought would be accepted. Right
now, he just needed the people behind him, he didn’t necessarily
need them to want what he was planning for their future. His plan
for them would be what they got in any case.

He was getting rather tired of people
challenging his godhood, however, and decided that he might move
ahead with some of his plans to get rid of his opposition. He
wasn’t going to bother with the death-camps or trying to cleanse
the people as the Dark King had done. He was thinking more that
he’d make a law, and those that didn’t follow it would be executed.
He smiled at the thought. And perhaps he’d start right now, by
declaring several regions convert to the ways of the Sleeping God,
or die. All this negotiating with people rather than swoop in and
gain their loyalty by way of being their god was getting tiresome.
The experiment would be enlightening. He wondered how many would
remain alive. It would only take one or two communities being wiped
out before the rest of them realized that he was serious. Then, the
conversions would begin in earnest.

Nathair said a few more words to the crowd,
until he had them cheering his name, and then he transformed again
and took to the sky. He preferred to stay in dragon form and sleep
in the woods rather than bother with an inn. That way, he didn’t
have to deal with the adoration of those he’d already convinced,
nor the annoying assassination attempts that had been unnervingly
frequent. He had to admit, that his advisor had been correct after
all. It was a very good thing that he was spending the time
cementing his leadership.

And, since things with Katya were going so
smoothly, there was nothing to worry about on that front. He had
spoken to Katya again just last evening and she had no new news.
The others in her party had not even contacted her yet, and though
Nathair was curious where they were, he was not overly concerned
with them at present. He had not had the chance to make contact
with Devon lately, now that Jezebel’s memory had returned she was a
bit peeved at him and was watching Devon’s movements like a hawk.
Nathair was sure that she suspected that he was in league with
himself, but that didn’t really matter. As long as she continued to
find the books and Devon eventually relayed the information to
him.

Katya’s information
had
been initially
disturbing, and it had caused no small amount of worried pacing
before he figured out how to make it work to his advantage.
Apparently the Three had made contact with Layna through their
stones. Nuko’s essence stirred and growled within him. They had
given her quite a bit of information which had greatly surprised
Nuko, usually they were opposed to getting involved in such
matters. Which meant that getting rid of him was a higher priority
than letting this civilization flounder its way along like they
usually did. That was not an encouraging thought. However, they
were at a significant disadvantage seeing as how Nuko had been at
least partially aware of the intricacies of this world for the past
few millennia, and Nathair had spent the majority of his own albeit
much shorter life span researching the magic of this world.

Now, they had a plan in place that would
ensure that whatever the Three might try and do to stop them, they
would be rejoined with their body and together would rule. This
world today, and tomorrow…who knows.

*

Katya hefted her bag into a more comfortable
position on her back. She unclipped her water skein and closed her
eyes, drawing water from around her into the sack. It felt heavier
in her hands and after a moment she stopped and opened her
eyes.

Pausing to take a drink, she looked around
her. The journey so far had been eerily uneventful. Stories of the
Plains always included attacks by monsters, so why hadn’t she seen
any yet?

Emptying the skein, she hooked it back onto
her bag. The landscape was much the same as it had been when she
had started this trek. If it had not been for her following a
straight line using the sun and the stars, she would believe that
she was going in circles. She could have sworn that she’d seen that
cactus before…

A little lizard darted out from beneath it
and she moved towards it quickly. It would make a good meal.
Instead of evading her, however, the thing stopped dead in its
tracks and turned towards her, a large flap of skin extending
around its head. It made a rattling sound shaking the mane of skin,
followed by a sharp hiss, and a huge glob of something green and
gooey shot out from its mouth and hit her on her forearm.

It stung immediately, and Katya hurriedly
tore out a piece of fabric to get it off her skin. The thing was
coming towards her and Katya’s head was suddenly feeling a little
fuzzy, her legs didn’t want to move…

She felt Marak on her arm unwinding himself
and as her head hit the sand, sending up a shower of tiny particles
glinting in the sunlight, she saw him slithering towards the
lizard. The lizard eyed him warily, and the frills slowly laid flat
once again on the head. It scurried quickly away.

Marak hastily made his way back to her and
wound himself on her arm right above the poison blob. He squeezed
so hard that it made her gasp, “Ow!” she exclaimed, “That hurts!”
but as her head slowly cleared, she realized that he was keeping
the poison from using her own pumping heart to spread itself.
Taking advantage of her clearer thoughts, she quickly fell into a
trance and cleansed the toxin from her system.