The Ogre Apprentice (39 page)

Gwyrtha let out a low growl and approached the man steadily.
Not an elf
.

“He’s not an elf,” Justan told the protector.

Xedrion nodded as if expecting that. “What does she think he is?”

The finely dressed figure heard the growl and looked up. His eyes widened and he backed towards the wall. “Guards! Guards there is a beast here!” he said with an aristocratic sounding voice.

She continued her approach and he threw up the pudgy arm that held the book. A shimmering curtain of water coalesced in the air, separating him from Gwyrtha. The rogue horse settled low to the ground, ready to pounce through the shield of water.

Kill it
? she asked.

What is he
? Justan asked her. She replied by sending Justan an image that he recognized right away as the group of attackers that had helped the Roo-Dan on the day Yntri was killed.

“He’s a merman,” Justan told the protector. “A fat merman.”

Xedrion snorted and turned away from the peep hole. “You can tell her to stand down. I just wanted to be sure that he wasn’t your nightbeast or a disguised wizard.” He started down the walkway grumbling, “Fat merman. What an insult. How dare he retain water as if our people would not be able to provide him water here. He might as well have called us all dry feet!”

You can come back
, Gwyrtha, Justan said, turning to follow the protector.
Leave the merman be
.

Jhonate frowned, keeping pace at Xedrion’s side. “Who is he, father?”

Xedrion scowled. “He calls himself Elder Qelvin. He showed up last night claiming to be an ambassador for the new Mer-Dan Collective. I had your brothers place him here until I decided whether to see him or not.”

“The Mer-Dan Collective?” Jhonate said in disbelief.

“It is ridiculous, isn’t it? He says that the merpeople and the Roo-Dan have joined together and plan to create a new nation encompassing over a third of Malaroo, including most of the coastline,” Xedrion’s hands tightened into fists. “He wants to negotiate a peace treaty with us and begin work on a border agreement.”

“They wish to split Malaroo?” Jhonate said, aghast.

Justan didn’t see why that was a problem. The Roo-Dan and Roo-Tan had split nearly a thousand years ago. The Roo-Tan had settled the land around the Jharro grove and the land westward and southward to the troll swamps. The ‘Dan had spread out into the eastern side of Malaroo and the coastline. Geographically, what would change?

“Would that be such a bad thing, Protector?” Justan asked. “The ‘Dan have always been a thorn in your side. Wouldn’t it be better if they were part of a stable nation? Someone that policed themselves? Someone you could deal with?”

Xedrion gave him that assessing look again. “That is one side of the argument, Sir Edge. There will be strong proponents of this once word gets out. Others will say that this is a very bad idea for us. The Roo-Dan outnumber us by a great deal. Our latest estimates have their numbers as twice ours. As a thousand independent savage villages, they aren’t much of a threat to the grove, but unified? Given advancements in culture by the merpeople?” He shook his head. “Knowing their past hatred for us, that could be very dangerous indeed.”

“You speak of this as if this ambassador’s proposal is legitimate,” Jhonate said, her tone unbelieving. “Yesterday you were planning for war. Your spies said the Roo-Dan were building for an attack.”

“Our preparations haven’t stopped, Jhonate,” Xedrion replied. “But the warnings of attack are old. The only true skirmish we had was on the day you arrived and that was Alexis’ doing. Our spies have been quiet of late. All they speak of are gatherings of villages and the strange disappearances of some of their people. They say that their leaders are waiting for something. Then, without warning, this Elder Qelvin arrives at our gates.”

They left the guest section of the palace grounds and arrived in front of the gates where the rest of the family was gathering in preparation to lead the funeral procession.

“Do you think this merman ambassador is merely a stalling tactic?” Justan suggested as the thought occurred to him. “To keep you mired down in negotiations so that your forces don’t strike until they can gather strength?”

“Perhaps, but . . .” Xedrion waved a weary hand. “Enough talk of the Roo-Dan. Today we have a friend to say goodbye to and an assassin to kill. We can worry about the treachery of our savage cousins tomorrow.”  

A short time later, the procession started out from the gates and headed down the main road. They were led by a score of the finest elf-trained guards, followed by the highest ranked members of the six Roo-Tan families living in Roo-Tan’lan. Xedrion and his wives came next, followed by his children and their families.

Jhonate walked next to Justan and his bonded at the tail end of the Leeths family and just before the bulk of the military leaders. Jhonate held his hand and Justan realized that she had been right about her father’s feelings towards him. The fact that he was allowed to walk with the rest of the protector’s family was proof enough.

“I do not like this,” Deathclaw complained as he did every time they entered the city proper. He was receiving a large number of open looks from the solemn crowds, but it was more than that this time. Justan sensed added stress to his thoughts.
There are too many possible threats. The nightbeast could attack now and it would be very difficult to protect you
.

Lots of smells
, Gwyrtha agreed.

Justan looked out at the crowd with a new, chilling, perspective. He hadn’t considered that Vahn might strike during the procession on the way to the funeral. The more he thought about it, the more tempting a target it seemed. If Vahn did know about Xedrion’s plans, this would be the easiest time to do it. How spectacular would it be to kill Justan at this point, right in the middle of the Leeths family and in front of hundreds of spectators?

Just keep as alert as you can
, Justan said, feeling terribly exposed. He still doubted that Vahn would decide on arrows shot from afar, but was suddenly grateful for the protection of the vest he was wearing. Perhaps he should have taken Jhonate up on her offer to wear the protective ring. He shrugged off the thought. He was a named warrior and bonding wizard with a powerful set of weapons and skills. This was not the kind of battle he had been trained to fight, but fear was unbecoming.

Do not worry, great grandson
, said a cool soft voice.
We can protect you for a short time
.

Artemus? You are aware today
? Justan asked, feeling a sense of relief. With the Scralag’s ice magic available, there would be little Vahn could do. Justan doubted that the nightbeast knew of the elemental’s power.

The wizard’s battle for control over the elemental within him had been marred with its own series of ups and downs over the last several weeks. The nights were the best times to try. After he was finished speaking with Fist, Justan was usually able to coax Artemus out to talk. Sometimes, Artemus was coherent hours at a time, but then something would happen between him and the elemental and Artemus would be silent for days.

We have an agreement in place, Justan
, said Artemus’ weathered voice.
The elemental and I will help to protect you against this assassin. After all, an end to you would be an end to both of us. However, I should warn you that I fear that the elemental will break our agreement once you are close to the grove. It’s hatred of the magic of the trees is too strong
.

I understand
, Justan said.
Thank you, great grandfather
.

That is good
, Gwyrtha said, feeling a sense of relief.

Deathclaw wasn’t as impressed.
I do not trust that thing. It is too wild for the likes of one old man to control
.

You may be right, dragon
, replied Artemus to Justan’s surprise. This was the first time he had spoken to one of Justan’s other bonded directly.
I will depend on you to help Justan if I should lose my grip
.

Deathclaw nodded, attempting unsuccessfully to hide his own surprise.
This was my plan
.

Me too
, Gwyrtha agreed.

Jhonate watched them with searching eyes, unable to completely follow the conversation through the ring’s connection. “The Scralag is with us?”

“For now,” Justan replied. “Though let’s hope he’s not needed.”

Justan’s hope was that his initial assessment of the nightbeast was correct and that Vahn’s pride wouldn’t allow him to strike early. Surely the fact that so many precautions had been made during the funeral would make it a challenge he could not resist.

This nightbeast is a prideful creature, is it
? said Artemus thoughtfully.

Yes
, Justan said.
I don’t know a lot else about him other than that he is over 1500 years old
.

Pride is a common weakness, but one a creature as old as this should have learned to overcome by now. I wonder why it still lives?

The further they made it through the city, the more confident Justan got that he had been right about Vahn’s intentions. They made it through the marketplace without incident and soon arrived at the blood testing stations set at all the routes into the grove.

These tests were designed by Xedrion years ago specifically to weed out basilisks. Nightbeasts, like basilisks, did not have blood in the same way as the other species. Their entire body composition was made up of a changeable plasma. Basilisks would not be able to duplicate the consistency of blood. If a nightbeast was able to manage to change some of their plasma to the consistency of blood in order to fool the test, that blood would turn to stone a few seconds after being separated from the rest of its body. 

Each station consisted of two Roo-Tan guards and one elf. The elf carried a small Jharro wood knife and a jar of Jharro tree sap. As each person came to the station the elf would pinch the skin of their forearm and make a tiny cut with his knife. A sample of blood would be tested and the elf would smear a dab of sap over the wound. The powerful magic in the sap would stop the bleeding immediately and heal it within minutes.

The procession was slowed down considerably at this point as everyone had to wait for their turn to be tested. Several high ranking members questioned this at first, not being privy to the nightbeast’s threats, until Xedrion stepped up and did it himself. Things went faster after that and soon it was Justan’s turn.

The elf was a young looking female with smooth dark skin. Like the rest of the elves that worked with the Jharro trees every day, her head was hairless. She pinched Justan’s arm and cut him quickly. The Jharro sap tingled as she put it on and the scent of it wafted up, filling Justan’s nose with the heady scent of the grove. He immediately felt a stirring within the frost rune and held his arm out away from his nose.

Be careful
, whispered Artemus, his voice strained as he worked to control the Scralag.
That scent . . .

Hold on
, Justan replied.
There is still a short trip ahead before we get to the grove
.

Deathclaw was next in line. The elf had some difficulty cutting through his scaled skin, slicing twice to no effect. Deathclaw rolled his eyes. The raptoid lashed out with one sharp claw, cutting a deep gash in his own arm. Blood dribbled onto the ground. “Is that enough, elf?”

The two human guards winced, but the elf’s reaction was unexpected. She laughed and clicked, “You are a funny lizard!” Deathclaw didn’t understand her words, but let out a hissing laugh of his own, pleased that someone understood his humor. It took more than a small dab for the elf to cover his wound, though the raptoid’s body had already stopped the bleeding on its own.

The journey through the forest to get to the grove was a relatively quiet one. Even though it had been a month since Yntri’s death, the mood was solemn. Only a few of the Roo-Tan held conversations above a murmur and those were soon quelled by the shushings of their neighbors. The silence increased and by the time they had arrived at the grove, the intoxicatingly sacred nature of the place combined with it to form an almost tangible weight over them.

Justan reached out to say goodbye to his grandfather then and found that Artemus had already been forced to retreat back into the rune.

The procession moved to the center of the trees and stood among the wide interlocking roots where the funeral would take place. The elves soon appeared, most of them watching from the tree limbs high above or stepping right out of the tree trunks to perch on suddenly formed ledges. The humans milled quietly about for a bit while they waited for direction to come.

Surrounded by the ancient trees, Justan was overwhelmingly aware of just how great a loss Yntri Yni’s death had been. He could feel Jhonate’s sorrow. She had been one of the elf’s pupils. The wise old elf had been the caretaker and defender of this place for two thousand years. He had also been the one to shepherd the Roo-Tan, teaching them the ways of the trees and training hundreds of their young warriors.

“Good afternoon,” Beth said loudly, walking up to them. She was wearing a green lace bodice and a long flowing pair of white baggy trousers with multiple pleats. To Justan it looked like she had taken a fine dress and had split it down the middle, then sewn it back up to make trouser legs. “My, but you all look glum.”