The Marenon Chronicles Collection

Chapter Fourteen





The sun had barely risen when Silas felt a sheathed sword land on his chest, waking him from his deep slumber. The weight was heavy and the wind was nearly knocked out of him. Through blurry eyes Silas was able to make out the hazy shape of Lorcan Zamire staring down at him with Coffman towering behind.

“If you’re going to make it out alive on our mission, you’ve got to know how to fight,” Lorcan said.

What was he talking about?

“I just want to see if you can handle yourself. Get up, meet me out at the pit in five minutes.”

Lorcan then turned and walked out with Coffman close on his heals. Why was Lorcan giving him such a hard time? Silas didn’t want to be on this job any more than Lorcan wanted him to. Perhaps Lorcan was afraid of being replaced. This was something that Silas was definitely not attempting to do. He had much more pressing matters than to worry about the politics of a shady mercenary group. Silas unsheathed the sword that Lorcan threw at him, studying the polished blade. It was crafted well, strong, and the handle formed to his hand comfortably.

He sat up, sheathed the sword and placed it next to him on the bed. He put on the clothes that Alric had provided him the night before, along with a snug pair of boots. He walked lightly out of the room and through the hallway so he would not wake anyone in the log cabin.

His sleep had been nice and deep, but he remembered that he did not have any dreams. This was not uncommon, but something that made him think. Do people dream in Marenon? Was there some sort of cloud that fogged the minds of individuals while they slept through the night? Perhaps he was just so tired from the previous day’s events that his mind didn’t have the energy to think. His stomach felt empty. If given the opportunity he knew he would be able to stuff his face until he was sick. He wondered what sort of breakfast would be prepared. He rubbed his hands through his thick blonde hair. If he wasn’t mistaken, he had just been challenged to a fight. He wasn’t sure what Lorcan was trying to prove here, but Silas had the feeling that he would do just fine in a fight. He had not been in a fair duel in two years, but was confident he could hold his own.

His eyebrows furrowed when he heard loud snores coming from the room to his left, knowing it had to be Alric and thinking that it surely couldn’t be Inga. Such a beauty could never produce that hideous grating noise.

He made his way through the front of the house and onto the grass. He looked to his right and saw Coffman standing over the pit saying something inaudible to Lorcan who was swinging his blade, preparing himself to fight. They both stopped and stared when they noticed him. Silas looked down at the sword in his hands and silently hoped that Lorcan wasn’t planning to make this a fight to the death. He had no desire to kill, but if Lorcan tried to finish him off, Silas wouldn’t hesitate to run him through with the long blade. He made his way to the square pit, neither of them saying anything as he approached. Coffman shifted his weight awkwardly and Lorcan watched intently as Silas approached.

Silas wasn’t sure what to say, so he blurted, “Nice morning for a duel, eh?”

Lorcan simply stared harder. “Shut up,” he said. “I want to see what you can do before we take you out on a job.”

“Is there a reason you want to see this at sunrise while Alric and Inga are asleep?” Silas asked incredulously.

A sly smirked crossed Lorcan’s face. “I guess I can’t pull one over on you, can I?”

“What do you want from me, Lorcan?”

“I want you to prove yourself. I want to be sure you aren’t going to screw this up.”

Silas had had enough. “Fine,” he said as he threw the sheath off the sword onto the ground. There was a ladder into the pit, but Silas just jumped down, landing inches from Lorcan causing him to step back and bring up his sword.

“You want to duel with me? Let’s do it,” Silas said, holding his sword in a defensive position. He winced at the pain in his shoulder. He had forgotten about the deep cut he had received in the gauntlet and he hoped it wouldn’t slow him in this duel.

Lorcan smiled. “Gladly.”

Both of them circled each other; swords held up, ready to strike at any moment. Coffman stood at the top of the pit, occasionally looking toward the house to see if Alric or Inga were coming.

Lorcan struck first. It was a simple blow from the side that Silas was able to parry with ease. His technique might be lacking in finesse since it had been so long since he had dueled, but the muscle memory was still there. Silas knew what he was doing. He had been trained by the best.

Lorcan swung his blade downward, this time with a harsh force. He was strong, no doubt. Poised and ready, Silas parried the next attack and took a swipe that missed Lorcan’s shoulder by a few inches. Lorcan staggered backward, realizing his foe was not as untrained as he had previously thought. In Lorcan’s brief moment of vulnerability, Silas unleashed his fury – going at him with everything he had. The Erellen was able to parry the blows, but not without some difficulty. Silas had taken him by surprise and he exploited Lorcan’s exposure. Lorcan kept staggering backward, not fully knowing what move to make next until he twisted his sword around, catching the hilt of Silas’ blade, shoving both weapons deep into the dirt. The two struggled with who would pull out their blade first. As Silas pulled harder, Lorcan brought his elbow down on Silas’ right jaw, knocking him to the ground. His shoulder’s stitches split open with the impact against the ground and blood began to spill out. Weaponless, Silas rolled to his right and jumped to his feet. His sword stuck out from the ground almost five feet away while Lorcan guarded it warily.

“You cannot win without a sword,” he said, pointing his blade at Silas’ head.

Silas jumped to the balls of his feet, preparing to pivot. He faked to the right, causing Lorcan to swing and miss as Silas darted to the left, spinning and grabbing his sword from the ground. He spun around once more, his blade smashing against Lorcan’s.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Coffman said from above.

Lorcan’s eyes narrowed in anger.

“I’ve learned from the best there ever was,” Silas said. A slight smile crossed his face. While their swords pressed firmly against each other, Lorcan seethed, as if his desire to kill Silas continued to increase while the seconds passed.

“You really think you can survive the job?” he said.

Silas held his position. “I have to survive the job,” he replied. “There’s too much at stake for me not to!”

“I asked if you think you can!”

“Of course I can!”

Coffman watched as the two stood in a deadlock. He hadn’t even noticed that Inga was standing next to him. The fight had not gone well for Lorcan, and he felt sick at what he knew was about to happen.

“Then I suppose you’re ready for this!” Lorcan shouted triumphantly. Just as he finished speaking, a burst of red flame exploded in front of Silas’ eyes sending him flying to the other side of the pit. It was like a car had just hit him. He tried to get up, but was hit with the same blunt force again, and again. Lorcan was using some sort of magical power to crush Silas. Through the haziness of the attack Silas could hear the echoing blur of a woman’s voice yelling for Lorcan to stop. Before he lost his consciousness he knew it was the voice of Inga crying out for him. He loved the sound of her voice. He hated the feeling of his head being crushed like an egg against a rock. All went black.

When Silas awoke he was back in his bed, the sun was just rising and his head felt like it was broken. A fresh set of stitches throbbed in his left shoulder. He tried to sit up, but was shushed by a calming voice. A young woman, a few years older than he, was telling him to lie down, and that he had had a rough day. It was Inga.

She rubbed a warm washcloth across his forehead. “You shouldn’t try to get up yet.”

After a few moments of trying to calm the crushing pain in his head, Silas began to understand his surroundings a bit more. He had not been dreaming. Lorcan had really tried to kill him. And it wasn’t sunrise either. He could see through the window that the dim light outside was the setting sun. How long had he been out?

“We were getting a little worried about you,” Inga said. “You got a pretty good dose of Lorcan’s fury.”

“He tried to kill me,” Silas said.

Inga shook her head. “No, no. He wouldn’t try to kill you. He was just trying to see if you could handle yourself. Mostly, he doesn’t want you to go.”

Silas was still confused by why there was so much hatred directed toward him. He had done nothing, but shown up. “Why doesn’t he want me to go?”

“Frankly, I don’t want you to go either,” she said dabbing a small cut above Silas’ eye. “I think there is a better way than to bring in a new person. A job like this takes a trained professional. We’ve been doing this kind of work for a while.”

“You aren’t that much older than me,” Silas said.

Inga smiled; her teeth shone straight and white. Silas felt like he would burst just being so close to her, much less receiving all this attention.

“I am twenty,” she said. “But I’ve been in Marenon nearly my whole life. I know how to fight, and I know how to use magic. These are two things that a person must know if they are to survive a job like this.”

“Then why is Alric going through all the trouble of hiring an untrained person like me instead of getting somebody who knows what they’re doing?”

“We’re on a tight deadline,” she said. “Alric doesn’t have enough time to look, so he went to the place where only the strongest survive.”

“The gauntlet,” Silas said, staring at the ceiling as the realization dawned on him.

Inga nodded.

“Did you ever have to go through the gauntlet?” Silas asked her.

“I came here when I was six years old. The gauntlet has only been around for three years since the new king.”

“I’d like to meet this king and give him a piece of my mind,” Silas said.

“I think a lot of us would,” she answered.

Silas let his eyes travel to Inga’s. She met his gaze with a lingering look that overwhelmed him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to break it, but he did after a few seconds. Inga seemed to feel the same as she too turned away quickly.

“Where did you learn to fight?” she asked, seemingly trying to distract from the awkward moment.

“My grandfather taught me.”

“The one you want us to help you find?”

“That’s right,” he answered. Silas didn’t even know if his grandfather was in Marenon. “He would have survived the gauntlet.”

Inga nodded. “If there’s anyone that can help you find him it’s us, especially Alric. He was pretty angry when he found out what Lorcan did to you.”

Silas tried to sit up. “Really?”

“Yeah. He yelled at Lorcan for about an hour. I have never seen him so angry. Alric’s convinced you won’t come with us now and he’s not sure what to do.”

Silas said nothing. After the morning’s events, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go with them. How could he trust them after what had just been done to him? Coffman had just watched while Lorcan nearly did him in. In fact, Silas could remember Inga just standing there watching too.

“Why didn’t you stop Lorcan?”

She looked up, wide-eyed. “I had no idea he was going to do that. I thought the two of you were training! And I didn’t know he got you out of bed the way he did.”

Silas looked away. There was no way to be sure she was being truthful. This was a rough group and they were all mostly interested in the money anyway. Silas knew he would not be able to trust them, but he didn’t see any better way to find his grandfather. Silas knew no one would know Marenon better than they would. He had no choice, but to give them a chance.

Silas began to move from the bed, tossing the covers off of him. Inga tried to stop him, but he ignored her requests. His head pounded with each step down the hallway and the room spun around him as he staggered toward the staircase. When he came to the bottom of the steps, he found Coffman sitting at the table with Alric, smoking long pipes and playing some card game. Lorcan sat in a chair in the far corner, keeping to himself. All of them looked up when Silas entered, leaning against the wall to steady himself. Inga stood behind him not knowing exactly why Silas had made this trek. Alric stood as to show a gesture of welcome and remorse.

“Silas, I want you to know…”

Silas held up a hand to silence him. “You are my only way to finding my grandfather and it is really important that I do. A person’s life is at stake and my grandfather is the only one that I know who can help him. I need to know that if I do this job, that you’ll keep your word.”

Everyone waited silently, not knowing exactly what to say.

“And I want to know that I can trust you.”

Alric walked over to Silas and stuck out his hand. Silas grabbed it reluctantly and shook. “Of course you can,” Alric said smiling wide. “Coffman?”

The big man sat silent for a moment then spoke. “Sure, you can trust me.”

“Inga?” Alric asked.

“Of course,” she answered.

All eyes fell on Lorcan in the corner.

“Lorcan?”

He waited a moment, saying nothing. He looked as if he had something he really wanted to say, but just couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was on him whether or not Silas was going on this mission. He would not go if they were not going to help him find Garland. This was the only reason he had to be there at all. After a long moment, Lorcan looked at Silas.

“If your grandfather is alive, and we survive this mission, you have my word that we will help you find him.” At that moment he gave a glaring look at Alric. Silas wasn’t sure, but it seemed that it was one of disdain. He wondered what conversation had transpired while he was unconscious.

Silas looked at Alric. “Then you have me one hundred percent.”

Everyone but Lorcan stood for a moment in silence. Silas considered the gravity of his words, hoping his commitment to this band of coarse individuals was a good one. Alric silently left the room and the awkward quiet felt heavy. In a few seconds, he came from the other room with an arm full of parchments. He set them all on the table and spread them out in an order that only he could make sense of. The papers revealed descriptions, lists and other indecipherable transcripts, but Alric drew their attention to the detailed maps.

“These,” Alric said, “are the plans for tomorrow. Hopefully we can get in there and get out as quickly as possible.” Alric pointed at one of the maps. “The entrance we are taking is to the south, not far from here. There will be a few guards. Inga will hit them hard with her magic and with as little noise as possible.”

Inga nodded, knowing the plans well.

“We won’t be there to kill, just to get the object, Alric continued.”

“Is that right?” Lorcan said looking away in the distance.

Alric ignored him and pointed at a map of what looked to be the underground tunnels leading to the city of the Anwyn people. “Coffman and I will be moving ahead to make sure the lower levels are clear and Inga will scout the upper levels. Together we’ll be clearing the way for our exit to the east.” Alric looked behind him at Lorcan who was still sitting in the corner whittling away. “Lorcan will stay at the south entrance to make sure no one is coming in from behind and after fifteen minutes he’ll come around and meet us at the back exit with the horses.”

Silas was anxious to hear what Alric had planned for him.

“You will be the one that actually steals the staff while we are getting the other artifact and clearing your way.”

“What?”

Alric picked up a smaller piece of paper and handed it to Silas. “This is a map showing the direct route to the staff and to the escape to the exit. We will be clearing you a safe path for your escape and making sure no one comes up behind you.”

Silas shook his head. He had no idea they wanted him to do their dirty work. “This is why you want me? If I get caught you can just escape with all of your friends and leave me to bear the consequences?”

“Silas, if you get caught, we all get caught,” Alric said. “It takes the rest of us to make sure you aren’t caught. If you get caught then we haven’t done our job on the mission.”

Silas shook his head.

“I told you this was not going to be easy,” Alric said.

Silas spent the moment in silence, thinking and rethinking why he was even there. There was no guarantee that his grandfather was alive or could even be found. If there was no finding Garland Ainsley then there was no rescuing Kaden, and in that moment it felt like that was the only purpose that Silas had. There was no other option, he concluded. These people would either help him or they wouldn’t and right now they were the only ones offering.

Silas nodded. “I’m with you.”

“Good,” Alric said sharply. “Now, once you have the staff there will be a loud alarm alerting the Anwyns to our presence. I wager you’ll have about three minutes to make it to the east door and meet with us before any of the Anwyns can get to you. We will wait at the exit and be off.”

Silas nodded. He wasn’t sure he had just made the best decision of his afterlife, but he had made up his mind. He was going to find his grandfather or he was going to die trying.