The New Guard (Crossroads Book 1) (19 page)

The thing
had long pointed ears, more pronounced than an elf’s. Its skin was pulled tight
across its body, giving it a skeletal look. The skin around its mouth and eyes
was discolored and stained red. When it opened its mouth, repellent breath
washed over Nic and he spied two long sharp teeth. Nic’s heart beat faster as a
single word echoed in his mind: vampire.

Instinctively,
Nic swung his right arm up and the rock therein began to glow. When it
connected with the vampire’s head there was a sickening crunch, and the
darkness was banished in an explosion of blinding white light.

Nic
flailed and sat up, his heart racing and head aching.

“
Wha
. . .” He grabbed his head and pushed on it with both of
his hands. “What just happened?” he finally asked, taking in deep breaths as if
he had just returned from beneath the water.

Yero was
kneeling beside him. He began to examine Nic as he spoke. “You got hit in the
head, hard.”

“How?
What? I was in a tunnel?”

Yero held
Nic’s chin in one of his hands and held his eyes open with the other. “No, you
had your back to a wall most of the fight and were holding me at bay quite
handily. That doesn’t matter though, because you tried to make a push through
my defenses and moved from the wall, exposing your back.”

“Eve hit
you hard,” Mel broke in. He too was kneeling next to Nic.

“Please,”
Eve let out an exasperated breath. She stood against the wall, her wooden sword
still in her hand. “First Thunder told me to keep everybody on their toes.” She
puffed out her chest, turned to them with a serious look, and dropped her
voice. “‘You keep reminding them about their blind side.’”

A long
metal sword suddenly appeared at Eve’s throat. Fleet of Foot smiled as he
leaned in to whisper in her ear, “He told me the same thing.” He removed the
sword and sheathed it before continuing in a normal tone. “Now, nowhere in his
instructions did he say knock people unconscious. You need to watch your power
before you seriously harm somebody.”

“Too
late,” said Nic. “She hit me so hard I thought I was in a tunnel fighting a
vampire.”

Fleet of
Foot froze and Yero’s grip on Nic tightened. Nic tried to pull away, but Yero
locked eyes with him. A feral light burned in the captain’s eyes, and Nic could
have sworn they momentarily changed color.

“Explain,”
was the only thing Yero said.

Nic
recounted the dream. While he did, Yero’s hands dropped to his sides and he
stood. Once Nic was finished, Yero looked over at Fleet of Foot.

“Take
care of them,” Yero said curtly. “I must oversee my company’s shift change.”

As Yero
left, everybody stared after him. Fleet of Foot watched him with a suspicious
eye.

“What was
that about?” Nic asked.

Without
taking his eyes off the retreating soldier, Fleet of Foot answered. “Vampires
are real and quite deadly. There exists an elite guard to combat their
incursions into the Crossroads. I think Captain Yero may be part of it.”

“Well, he
got awful worked up over Nic’s dream,” Eve commented.

Fleet of Foot
turned to her. “Vision,” he said. “He got worked up over your brother’s vision.
Nic didn’t have a dream; he saw something yet to be.”

“What
makes you say that?” asked Mel.

Fleet of
Foot looked down to Nic and locked eyes with him. Nic nodded slowly and
answered. “I experienced it with my entire being. It was reality, just not
current reality.”

Mel and
Eve stared at their brother and Fleet of Foot nodded. Then, with Mel’s help he
lifted Nic to his feet. With the support of the other two men they began walking
back toward Way House. Eve followed, twirling her wooden sword. As they neared
the rear entry of Way House, Fleet of Foot finally broke the silence.

“We will
square you away, and then you can ask Zilda all about vampires and those who
guard against them. I will talk to your father about all that has transpired.”
He turned to look directly at Eve. “From now on, a poke to the back or tap on
the arm will suffice to remind people about their blind side.”

Eve
rolled her eyes, but nodded her understanding.

*

“No, what
are you doing? Stop!” Zilda was exasperated and grabbed the pencil out of
Jeremiah’s hand. “You cannot do it that way.”

Jeremiah
looked over at the dwarf tutor and tilted his head to the side. “It works that
way, too.”

Zilda took
the paper Jeremiah had been working on. There were many lines of math figures
on the page. Using the
pencil
she had also taken, she
began marking out numbers and segments of his computations.

“Cutting
corners,” she said more softly, “will end you in disaster. You must follow the
road you know leads to the proper destination, or you could fall afoul of the
darkness. Arithmetic has rules as created by God and discovered by His
creations. Look.”

Zilda
handed the paper back to Jeremiah and he saw she had marked out four different
parts of his problem. He studied the paper for several seconds before looking
back to his teacher. He then looked at another set of papers beside him and
pulled out a similar set of problems. Zilda looked over this paper and then set
it down in front of him. She took the pencil and circled a segment of the
computation in the middle.

“Yes,”
she said, “you got it right. However, look there in the middle; you had to jig
and jog to get back on track. If you had been using this computation to design
a foundation for further research or to build anything, your work would have
crumbled. Trust the method I showed you. It has helped build vast empires and
ships that sail from planet to planet.”

Jeremiah
perked up, his eyes glowing with intensity. Several of the other children
looked up from their work, as well.

“Here,”
Jeremiah asked with awe, “are there such ships here?”

Zilda
shook her head, “No, as far as we know this place is a space in between our
worlds and the realms of Heaven and Hell. We’ve never been able to confirm that
with instrumentation, though, for most technologies were ruined long ago and
any attempts to recreate them have failed.”

“This
place once had technology, like computers?” This question came from Ruth, who
had been listening in.

Zilda
turned and saw that all the children present were paying attention. She moved
to the center of the room so as to see them all at the same time. “It still
does,” she said, and smiled at the wonder washing over their faces.

“However,”
she continued, “there is not an overabundance of such things as there is on the
worlds outside the Way World. The Coterie, who ruled first, has never relied
much on technology, and the nisse would not bring technology here. The dwarves
built up the Crossroads and recreated many of our technological innovations
when we did. When the avian took over, they also brought in much of their
technological knowledge. Their expertise is what keeps the Twelfth Kingdom
floating around somewhere out there.

“Keeping
all of this technology was not possible, though, after the war between the
limnaid and the avian. The limnaid are well advanced in their own right, but
using different power sources and configurations. They designed and released a
biological contaminant within the atmosphere of the Crossroads that crippled
nearly all the existing technologies at the time. It was not until the elves
and the weald brought in their perspectives that some semblance of technology
truly returned to the Way World. In deference to the nisse, who were the first
to dwell within the Hub World and the restrictions imposed by the limnaid’s
weapon, technology is used sparingly.

“The
avian have ways of monitoring many places within the Crossroads at once.
Communication between the castles of the ruling family is kept open using
something similar to what you might refer to as computers. The limnaid still
have their own technologies, and the dwarves in the deep mountains have adapted
weald technology to suit their needs.

“Therein
lies the key word that we have all come to understand: need. Nearly all the
technology that is in place now is a matter of need, not want. It is a lesson
that many of our worlds have not yet learned.”

For a few
moments the children processed this information. Before anybody could comment,
though, Mel, Nic, and Eve entered. Nic was holding a compress to his temple
and, without wondering if he was interrupting, spoke up.

“Hey,
Zilda I have a question to ask you about vampires.”

Zilda
shook her head and clicked her tongue at the impetuous young man.

*

Well into
the second week of the true council meetings, fights were breaking out daily
and at times hourly. All of the local lords had arrived, and with more men than
could be comfortably accommodated. General Kolk was using every one of his
soldiers, rotating them in six hour shifts in order to keep them fresh.
Normally he would have relied on the local lords’ militias, but they were the
problem. They were full of hot tempered fools, sell swords, and they owed more
loyalty to their lords than the crown.

The
fields from Council Rock to Ven thus became an assortment of foreign camps.
Local lords were taking this opportunity to visit ills upon the other lords
with whom they disagreed with. Skirmishes ranged from small (a few men
sabotaging other camp grounds) to large (battles involving armed men trying to
kill one another). General Kolk even had to beef up the constabulary of Ven
with his own soldiers, as drunken brawls were becoming a nightly occurrence.

 David
was not getting much rest, as he had made himself available to General Kolk.
Throughout the day he was overseeing the council meetings with King Avrant.
Most of the night was spent working with disputing lords. Progress was not
easily won. However, David saw that his presence was creating more unity.
Slowly over the course of the long weeks, the landlords started putting aside
their minor differences and began to form agreements on major points. This
wasn’t necessarily a good course of events, though.

*

Duke
Dweller was standing, surrounded by a group of like-minded landlords who were
nodding and smiling at his words. He drawled, “We feel it is in the best
interest of the council to start fresh. Recognize that there have either been
crop shortages, deliveries never reached their destinations, or the gaeder have
cut back planting. We should take note of this and move on. Inventory the
kingdom’s expected yields, assess a fair market value, and wait for the
harvest.”

As if on
cue, the lords around Dweller started bobbing their heads, mock looks of
sincerity plastered on their faces. Across the room Brogene, the only gaeder
landlord in the Seventh Kingdom, stood with his posture rigid. Avrant smiled a
wicked smile and spoke up.

“The
crown recognizes Brother Brogene.”

Brogene
bowed to the king and then faced Dweller. “It would not be to the benefit of
the kingdom to ignore the current crisis and go about our business in hopes
that it does not recur with the next harvest. I have documentation showing
consistent planting in my region. In fact, I’ve confirmed with my neighboring
lords, and we have all asked for increases due to the escalating Void activity.
Our tax revenues have not dropped by much, and our yields have lessened only
marginally. You ask for a clean ledger; why? My own ledgers document every good
and ill and can withstand the scrutiny of the crown’s top accountants. Can you
say the same about your books?”

A third
lord stood up and without being recognized, started to speak. “I ask you all:
why are we debating ledgers? We should be seeking solutions to our problems.
Where are the extra guards some of us have requested? How do we put a stop to
highwaymen stealing goods? What aid can we be given when brokers short us the
agreed-upon price, or the king’s own collectors overestimate taxes?”

“Enough,
Count Merrin!” the king shouted above the rising din. “The procedures for
grievances to the crown are clear and known by all. As for your request for an
increased troop presence in your holdings, that can be arranged. Truth be told.
. .”

“Your majesty,”
David said as he stood. His tone, though respectful, held a hint of warning.
“Perhaps some things are best left unsaid. In addition, as I am beginning to
see some cohesion in the council’s thinking, I would suggest each group create
a detailed plan of action. When next the council meets, we can discuss the
merits of each plan.”

David’s
comments were met with silence, and all saw the king starring lividly at him.
With cold disdain the king finally responded.

“Truth
Blade, while the crown appreciates your aid, we would ask that you observe the
rules of council and not speak before you are recognized.”

The king
then stood and addressed the rest of the council. “It has been suggested that
the like-minded groupings of the council convene and draw up a plan to move
forward from our present climate of discord. As lord ruler of the Seventh
Kingdom, I agree and second the motion. Therefore, the council will be recessed
for two days, in which the amicable parties within the body politic can create
a document that discusses the ills that currently affect the kingdom’s primary
resources and presents a plan to rectify the situation and produce a more
robust kingdom henceforth.”