Redemption (10 page)

"Then it will be a good one," Prince Umal said with determination. "There are only twenty of them left, and they will find out that we do not die easily."

Another arrow arced overhead and landed a few paces behind Talot. The Lomite giant looked back, visually measured the distance, and shook his head.

"That was too close," he said softly, "but Prince Derri is returning."

Prince Antion turned and saw his friend crawling forward. He waved the Salacian to his side.

"What did you find?" asked the Arin prince.

"I am not sure," replied Prince Derri. "I found a manageable route around the mountain, but I am not positive that it leads anywhere. It heads westward and looks passable for horses, but I cannot tell if it ever returns to the forests. We could end up just wasting an entire day traveling through the mountains with no exit."

"That doesn't sound all that bad at this moment," shrugged Prince Antion. "Did you see any way for the Borundans to ride up here and flank us?"

"No," the Salacian prince shook his head. "Such a path would have made it possible for us to leave. Do you think that is what they intend to do?"

"They will be coming up here tonight, no matter what," nodded Prince Antion. "My question was whether or not they would be able to bring their horses with them."

"The only way that I could see to get horses up here," replied Prince Derri, "is the path before us."

"Can we ride on the path you found?" asked Prince Antion.

"I think so," nodded Prince Derri, "at least most of it, and the rest we can walk the horses through. My words only pertain to the section that I was able to see, though. I cannot guarantee what the other end looks like."

"Are there places along this trail that would be more defensible than this place?" asked the Arin prince.

"Most definitely," nodded the Salacian prince. "The path is very narrow in places. The Borundans would have to approach it single file."

"Then we must plan a retreat before dark," decided the Arin prince.

"And leave open this path for them to follow us?" questioned Prince Umal. "That is not a wise idea. We would be racing along this narrow path that Derri talks about. That is a rout, not a retreat. We must deny this path to the Borundans in some way."

"Tell me how we can do that," sighed Prince Antion.

A Borunda bowstring snapped again and everyone's eyes rose skyward. Talot rolled swiftly away from his position just in time to miss the sharp tip of an arrow as it bit into the rock. A cry from below caught the attention of Prince Antion, and he turned his gaze away from Talot in time to see a Borundan's body rolling down the mountainside. The prince's eyes swept far to the right and saw Monte perched precariously on a narrow ledge some distance away from the flat area.

"That takes some guts," Sandar remarked admiringly. "One misstep and he will fall a hundred feet and smash upon the stones below."

"Heck of a shot, too," grinned Prince Derri. "That should make a few of the other Borundans rather nervous right about now."

"I wonder just how nervous we can make them," smiled Prince Antion as he pulled an arrow from his quiver. "Signal my intent to Monte. I am going to try to make a Borundan jump away from his hiding spot."

Prince Antion crawled across the flat area as far to the left as he could go. He peered over the edge and could just see a Borundan leg sticking out from behind the boulder. He nocked an arrow and tried to gauge an arc that would bring the arrow close to the hidden man. He released his bowstring, and the arrow flew high into the air. The arrow missed its mark by several paces, but the leg suddenly disappeared as the Borundan realized the threat posed by the prince's new angle. The soldier backed away from Prince Antion, but that was exactly what the prince had hoped for.

Monte had already released his arrow, anticipating the soldier's move. The Borundan's scream rolled across the rock-strewn mountainside, and his body tumbled down the side of the mountain. The three other Borundans who had hidden behind boulders on the side of the mountain understood what was happening. They immediately turned and ran down the mountain as fast as they could. Monte tried to skewer one as they ran away, but it would have been only by luck if he had managed to hit the man.

"Are there any more on the mountainside?" Prince Antion signaled with his fingers.

Prince Umal replied negatively, and the Arin prince stood up and walked back to his spot behind the boulder. A few minutes later, Monte sauntered over and sat down next to him.

"That was a clever ploy," chuckled Monte.

"It could only have succeeded with someone of your skill," complimented the Arin prince. "You had to have shot before he was visible to you."

"It is no different than gauging where a deer will vault over a hedge," replied the archer. "All animals are somewhat predictable, and that includes men."

"Well, we need to be unpredictable," interjected Prince Umal. "Now that we can see all of the Borundans, why don't all of you leave on this path you mentioned? I will hold the path up the mountainside until nightfall and then catch up to you."

"No," Prince Antion shook his head. "I want to deny them the chance of bringing their horses up here and following us."

"And how are you going to accomplish that?" frowned Prince Derri. "Even if Prince Umal stays behind, he has to leave sooner or later, and when he does, they will bring their horses up here and follow us."

"I don't think so," Prince Antion replied as he rose and walked towards the horses.

The Arin prince walked across the large flat area and stopped in front of Jared.

"Have you practiced using the Talent today?" asked the prince.

"No," Jared shook his head, "and I will not use it to kill the Borundans. I am surprised that you would ask. You know how I feel about killing with it. I know that you do not share my feelings about this, but it is the way I am made. I cannot do it."

"Actually," smiled Prince Antion, "I don't want you to kill anyone. In fact, one could look at it as saving lives."

Jared frowned skeptically, but he accepted the prince's hand as Antion pulled him to his feet.

"I want you to collapse the path we rode up this morning," explained Prince Antion. "There are no Borundans left on it. We chased them all off, but they will ride up here tonight if they are able to, and you know what that means."

"That you will kill them," nodded Jared.

"Or they will kill us," replied Prince Antion. "All I want from you is to make the path break so that they cannot bring their horses up here."

"They will still climb up here," frowned Jared, "and you will still kill them."

"No, Jared," smiled the Arin prince. "We are leaving this place as soon as you are done. Without their horses, the Borundans will not be able to follow us through the mountains. That is why your actions will save lives."

Jared did not reply. He stood on the edge and gazed down the slope of the mountain. He saw the Borundans well away from the bottom of the slope and he nodded his acceptance.

"I will try to do it," declared Jared, "but I am not sure that I am capable."

"You are capable," smiled Prince Antion as he waved for the others to move back from the edge. "Draw on me if you need to."

"What do I do?" asked Jared.

"See the crack about a third of the way down?" asked the prince. "Try widening that crack the same way that you lifted the sea rocks. You said that you felt as if you were under the rock pushing up. Pretend that you are in the crack pushing outward."

"I can try that," nodded Jared as he focused on the crack.

Prince Antion put his arm around Jared to steady both of them. He knew that there might be some vibrations if Jared were successful.

Jared closed his eyes in concentration, and Prince Antion could feel Jared pulling the Talent out of him. Suddenly, a tremendous roar thundered across the land. Instead of the crack widening as Prince Antion had expected, the ground trembled violently, and a great cloud of dust shot skyward. The prince grabbed Jared tightly and pulled him back from the edge.

"Merciful Talent!" exclaimed the Arin prince.

"Did it work?" Prince Umal asked.

"Sort of," Prince Antion answered with amazement. "There is nothing left of the mountainside on the other side of that crack. It just disappeared. There is nothing but a sheer cliff for the Borundans to climb up now. They will not be bringing their horses up here. In fact, only the most skilled of them could even climb up here now."

Prince Derri could feel the sunset approaching, although he couldn't actually see it. Overhead the thick clouds hung on the peaks of the mountains like a heavy blanket, cutting off all sense of direction as well as the sunlight. The air had grown bitter cold as the Salacian prince led the group higher up the mountainside and around the mountain to a small trail that dipped between mountains before ascending again.

"It's going to snow," grumbled Monte. "We might have been better off fighting the Borundans than freezing to death."

"I think it will be safe to have a fire tonight," countered Prince Derri. "I have seen no sign of the Borundans following us."

"Perhaps they had better sense than to climb the mountains with winter coming," groused Prince Umal. "I do not see wood anywhere. Maybe you can conjure up a nice warm yurt for the night?"

"There will be wood up ahead," promised the Salacian prince. "This trail goes through some woods. I saw it from the mountainside this morning."

"How much further is this forest?" asked Prince Antion.

"I am not sure," admitted Prince Derri. "At the time I was not looking for wood, but rather a path for escape."

"And we aren't even sure that this path leads to an escape," commented Talot. "Isn't that right, Prince Derri?"

"It has to lead somewhere," the Salacian prince sighed glumly.

The path was a narrow ledge that wound around the mountain and as they rounded a bend they were blasted by a fierce arctic headwind. Prince Derri shivered as the raw wind assaulted the exposed portions of his body. His eyes narrowed to slits as he gazed at the trail before him. He was pleased to see the trail drop slightly in altitude as it once again passed between mountains, but he shuddered at the distance they would have to go with the cold wind ripping through them.

As the Salacian prince led the group down the incline, he was thankful that the wind had brought a halt to the questions and comments. Everyone was tired and cranky, and the prince could not blame them. The trail was windy and narrow, and it required constant attention to keep the horses on it. In places they had to dismount and lead the horses past an outcrop or risk going over the edge. It was a tense time for all and no one had a great deal of sleep the night before.

The sky was getting darker by the minute, and he was not entirely sure that he had seen trees along the trail. He had seen something green, but not necessarily trees. It could have been low bushes, which would not make much of a fire. When the group reached the low point of the trail, the snow began falling from the gray sky. It started as sparse giant flakes, but it soon thickened and began to cover the ground. The strong winds whipped the flakes into the air and drove them in blinding clouds through the valley. The Salacian prince heard several members of the party grumbling behind him, and he was thankful that he could not hear their words over the roar of the wind. The snow grew thicker and thicker, and the narrow trail became harder to see. He slowed the pace, fearing that one of the animals would step off the narrow path, a misstep that could very well be fatal. The sky grew completely dark, and the snowflakes were no longer visible. The Salacian prince pressed on cautiously, trying to reach shelter from the wind where the trail curved around the new mountain.

"We must stop," shouted Prince Antion. "We cannot see where we are going."

"If we can just make it a bit further," Prince Derri shouted, "we can get out of this wind. We won't last the night in such conditions."

"Then we will dismount and walk," ordered the Arin prince. "I will not risk losing one of us because we cannot see."

Prince Derri nodded and halted the group. He dismounted and started leading his horse forward. Behind him he heard Prince Umal quip about crawling the rest of the way so that they could feel the trail before them. The Salacian prince laughed loudly, and his spirits were suddenly lifted. He hadn't realized how tense he had become leading the group through unfamiliar territory on a trail with an unknown destination.

The pace was agonizingly slow, but Prince Derri was no longer agitated by it. It was as if the laughter had lifted a great burden from his shoulders. He also found that walking in front of the horse kept him warmer as the wind was now coming from behind them, and the beast blocked the worst of it. The Salacian prince suddenly began singing a song that the Odessians sang around the campfire at the horse camps. Prince Umal immediately joined in, and soon Prince Antion and Sandar did as well. It was a lively tune with a marching rhythm, and Prince Derri found that he was marching to its beat. He also felt warmer, which he was sure was entirely in his mind, but it felt good nonetheless.

After a few minutes, the wind ebbed and then died completely as the group moved behind the mountain. The snow still fell heavily, but it was no longer blowing about them and obliterating what small amount of vision they had in the darkness. Prince Derri smiled as he sang. He knew that Prince Antion would call a halt for the night now that they were out of the wind, but he could hardly do so without halting the song. When they reached the end of the refrain, Prince Derri started right in on another song. He wanted to find the spot he had seen from the first mountain. Even if it were bushes and not trees, the bushes would allow for a short fire, and a hot meal would go down easily on a cold night. Six songs later, Prince Derri saw the dark mass before him. He stopped singing and grinned broadly.

"I told you there were trees," he said triumphantly.

"I would still prefer a yurt," chuckled the Odessian prince. "Let's get a fire going. I do not care much for these northern climes."

"It will get worse," commented Monte as the group dismounted. "This is still autumn."

"If you weren't such a good shot with that bow," Prince Umal retorted humorously, "I would stake you out in the Odessian sands next summer so that you can truly appreciate heat."

"Monte," Prince Antion spoke seriously, "see if you can find some fresh meat. Do not stray far from the camp, and do not perch on the side of the mountain. If there is nothing available, we will eat our trail rations, but see what you can find."

The Caroomite archer nodded and moved quickly through the trees. Prince Umal and Sandar gathered the horses while Talot and Prince Antion searched for wood. Prince Derri and Jared gathered rocks and built a fire ring.

"How are you faring in this cold?" the Salacian prince asked Jared.

"It is beautiful," Jared replied. "I can't wait to see it in the morning when the sun shines upon it."

"You haven't seen snow before?" asked Prince Derri.

"It never snows in Capri," answered Jared. "I did see snow in Vineland last year, but it will be different up here. The mountains will make it different."

"It is beautiful," smiled Prince Derri, "but you must take care to keep bundled up."

After a moment of silence, Jared stopped placing rocks and looked at the Salacian prince. "Do you think I am wrong for refusing to fight the Borundans?" he asked.

Prince Derri gazed at Jared and hesitated. "A man has to do what he believes in," the prince finally said. "In our world, it is often kill or be killed. I choose not to be a victim of those who wish me ill. I do not enjoy killing, nor do I go looking for people to kill, but I will not hesitate to kill when the lives of good people depend upon my actions."

"So you do think I am wrong like Prince Antion does," sighed Jared.

"I didn't say that," replied Prince Derri. "I explained how I view the answer to your question in regards to my actions. I am the prince of Salacia. As such, I have been brought up to serve my people, and I will fight to the death for them. I will do the same for my friends, which includes you and Prince Antion. That is not to say that you must feel as I do. Each man has to make those decisions for himself, and neither Prince Antion nor I would normally try to get someone to go against their beliefs, but you are a special person, Jared. When you choose not to fight against Captain Xero and his men, we understand your reasoning and we accept it. It is not right according to our beliefs, but we understand that your beliefs are different, and we can live with that. I think what troubles Prince Antion is what you will do when you finally meet your brother. Do you know what you will do?"

"No," Jared shook his head. "I understand that I am supposed to kill him, but he is my brother. If I cannot bring myself to kill a stranger who is threatening my life, how can I possibly kill my own flesh and blood?"

"I don't know," admitted the Salacian prince. "I truly wish that I could do that for you, but from what I understand, you are the only one who can kill him."

"You would kill Zinan if you had the chance?" asked Jared.

"Without a doubt," nodded Prince Derri. "I would be sorry for your loss, Jared, but the peace of the world is threatened by your brother. Perish the thought, but I would kill my own brother in such a situation. Neither his life nor mine is worth the death and misery of thousands of others."

"Would you kill Prince Antion if he were Zinan?" asked Jared.

Prince Derri hesitated, and he suddenly knew what inner turmoil Jared was going through. Prince Antion was the closest person in the world to Prince Derri, and Jared knew it. Still, he slowly nodded.

'"I would," answered the Salacian prince. "I would prefer to lose my own life rather than Antion's, but that is not the question you asked. If Prince Antion were the one threatening the world, I would kill him. I would have to, Jared, just like you will have to. This is not about one man, whoever it is. It is about one man versus the world. It is about good versus evil, and I will not let evil win, no matter what the personal cost to me."

"I believe you," frowned Jared, "but you are a finer man than I am. Even if I managed to force myself to kill Zinan, I would not want to live afterwards."

"I understand completely," Prince Derri smiled thinly. "I would not want to live after killing Prince Antion, but killing myself afterwards would solve nothing at all, would it?"

"It would make it so I didn't have to live with what I had done," shrugged Jared.

"We have much in common," Prince Derri said, "yet we are different. Let me share with you the reason why you need to live after killing Zinan. You are a prince of Borunda, the same as he was. In fact, you were the first-born and the rightful heir to the Borundan throne. Right now, Zinan is destroying your country and its people. He has already moved on to destroying other countries. Someone has to put that all back together if the Great Peace is to be restored. You are that person, Jared. You will become the King of Borunda when Zinan dies. You will have the power to right the wrongs that your brother has committed."

"But I don't want that power," balked Jared.

"You will also have the responsibility to fix what he has broken," countered Prince Derri. "You cannot leave Borunda without a ruler. This is not about your personal power; it is about your personal responsibility. As a prince you are a servant of your people. You have a duty to do things in their stead. You may not like what you must do, but you must do them just the same. This is where we are alike, Jared. We are both princes and we both are servants of our people. We have obligations to fulfill that supersede our personal beliefs. You can refuse to kill the Borundans because you don't want to, and someone else can do it for you, but you must kill Zinan. No one can do that for you, and it is your obligation to your people. What you believe in no longer matters when it comes time to destroy your brother. That is what being a prince means."

"But I never asked to be a prince," frowned Jared.

"Nor did I," retorted Prince Derri. "Your mother was Princess Orenda. Her royal blood flows through your veins. You didn't ask to be her son, but you are. From her actions comes your duty and the responsibility to commit your life to the people of Borunda. To renege on your obligations is to besmirch her memory."

"That isn't fair," protested Jared.

"No, it isn't fair," agreed the Salacian prince, "but life can be unfair. I know that you are not a selfish person, Jared. That is why you will become the king of Borunda and restore the Great Peace that Zinan is destroying. All I can say is that Salacia will stand with you when that time comes. We will defend you against other nations that seek revenge for Zinan's dastardly deeds."

"As will Arin," Prince Antion declared as he placed a pile of logs near the fire ring. "I do not envy your position, Jared, but Borunda will be well served by your stewardship. I am not sure exactly what you two are talking about, but I want to apologize for my attitude earlier today. I snapped at you in a most harsh manner, and it was uncalled for. Please accept my apologies."

"You were angry with me for not doing my part in defending the camp," Jared said softly. "I understand why you were angry, and you had a right to be. I know that you think of me as a coward, but I just cannot kill. I just can't do it."

"I do not think you are a coward at all," Prince Antion smiled warmly as he knelt next to Jared. "I understand your aversion to killing probably better than you do, but at times I forget myself, like this morning."

"What do you mean?" frowned Jared. "How can you know me better than myself?"

"You cannot do anything destructive," smiled Prince Antion. "That is not because of fear or cowardice; it is because of the Talent within you."

"The Talent?" asked Jared.

"You exist for one purpose, Jared," explained the Arin prince. "That purpose is to kill Zinan and take his place on the throne of Borunda. To succeed against Zinan, you must be pure in the Talent. Even if you wanted to kill someone, you would be unable to. The Talent would prohibit it."

"But the evil affects me only if I use the Talent with evil intent," argued Jared. "That has nothing to do with using a bow. Audric said so."

"And Audric was right, as far as he knew," replied Prince Antion, "but I have dwelled upon this subject for a long time. Audric has never met a person like you, because I don't think anyone like you has ever existed before. I am convinced that the Talent is forcing you to be pure in all matters of your life, not just in the use of the Talent."