Into the Wastelands: Book Four of the Restoration Series (25 page)

Chapter
21

Flare broke through the surface of the water and stood there,
bobbing in the water and
shaking slightly.
His mind was trying to absorb nearly eighty years of memories and his body only recognized that a few short heartbeats had passed. It was rather disorientating, but not as bad as the first time. True, his head was throbbing but it paled when compared to
his initial journey to Sha’al
. He took a deep breath and then another. The pain was already starting to ebb.

He grasped the edge of the pool and pulled himself out of the water. He waited another moment and then hesitantly pushed himself to his feet. There was a brief moment of vertigo, which soon passed, and then he felt well enough to dress.

A soft footfall was his only warning. He turned and had to dive back to avoid being gutted by an axe. Before he could even see who had attacked him, another body hit him hard and they both fell to the ground.

The second attacker began pummeling him with blows
and
whoever it was hit like a mule.
A particularly hard blow landed to Flare’s midsection, and he felt the air forced from his lungs.

Using his spirit, Flare threw his attacker away from him. He heard a splash as his assailant landed in one of the pools.

The first attacker, the one with the axe, jumped forward and brought the axe down in a massive overhand blow. The axe slammed into something a foot above Flare’s head. There didn’t appear to be any reason for the axe to have stopped, but
the axe rebounded off of an invisible barrier.
Flare had mad
e a shield of spirit and used it to save himself from being split in two.

Dismissing the shield, Flare yanked the stone bench from across the room and slammed it down on the axe-man. He crumpled and there were several snaps and pops that sounded dangerously like bones breaking.

Climbing to his feet, Flare looked down at the remains of the axe-man, or perhaps axe-dwarf was more correct.
Both of his attackers were dwarves.

The other attacker, the one that Flare had thrown across the room into a pool, was not moving. He was just floating on the top of the water.
His head was bent at an unusual angle, most likely from having hit the side of the pool.

The door behind him burst open and Flare spun and dropped into a fighting stance. His two dwarven guards rushed in and stopped, staring open-mouthed at the scene. Slowly Flare relaxed. These two did not appear to be in on the attack.

“Go get Belgil,”
Flare said to the nearest guard
and then looked back at the bodies.

The guard looked highly affronted. “I don’t follow order
s
from humans.”

Flare turned back quickly, anger blossoming through him. “You get Belgil now, or you can explain
to him
how you failed to report an assassination attempt on my life.”

It wasn’t the words that Flare used that got results, but the unvoiced threat that he projected.
His words seemed to vibrate with energy.
The
guard jumped and charged out of the room and the second guard took several steps back.
His eyes kept shifting from Flare to the two dead dwarves.

It
took
nearly half an hour for Belgil to arrive, which wasn’t bad considering the guard had to find him and
then
they had to make the return trip. The dwarf was a little out of breath as he stepped into the room. His eyes were constantly moving, soaking up each and every part of the scene. After several moments he looked up at Flare, “You all right?”

Flare nodded. “These two tried to kill me. Any idea why?”

Belgil didn’t answer right away, instead he studied
the
two attackers. The one who had been crushed by the stone bench was clearly visible, but Belgil had to use his foot to turn the head of the dwarf floating in the pool. After a moment, he looked up from the dead dwarf, “Leave us.”

For the briefest of moments Flare didn’t understand what Belgil meant. Then he realized the two dwarven guards
were leaving through the open door, pausing only long enough to close
it behind them.

“What is it Belgil?” Flare asked quietly. Whatever it was, he was sure he wouldn’t like it.

“These two are followers of Councilor Emlin.”

“Emlin is trying to have me killed?” Strangely he wasn’t overly surprised.
He was beginning to think that everyone he met wanted him dead, and since he was linked to the Kelcer prophecy, that might be the truth.
“I suggest you inform the king.”

Belgil sighed deeply before he shook his head. “I don’t think it would be wise to accuse Emlin.”

Flare looked incredulous. “What? But you said these men are his.”

“They’re his followers, but not his soldiers or servants. Undoubtedly he will just say that they acted on their own.”

Rubbing his eyes with his hands, Flare considered Belgil’s words. “So if we accuse Emlin, we have no real proof and we’ll just come off looking petty. Is that about it?”

Belgil nodded
,
his expression becoming thoughtful. “However, if I brought this
attempt on your life
to the king’s attention without implicating Emlin, then perhaps I can convince him to give you an audience.”

Flare nodded, “Then by all means, make the king aware.”

“All right,” h
e motioned for the door. “Let’s get you back to your room and then I’ll go and seek an audience with the king.”

It was mid-morning when Heather led the small group back through the plateau to their campsite. Atock and Enton were not going to like this plan. Hell, most of her group wasn’t going to like
it
, but it was the only plan they had.

She stopped just short of the mound where they
had made camp the night before
and motioned for those following her to wait
t
here. She stepped beside the mound and climbed up
on
several piled stones. A quick jump and she caught the top of the wall and pulled herself up to look over. She froze at the sight of the deserted camp.
No one was there.

She dropped back down and looked around. Suddenly she was getting a bad feeling about this.

Warren and the others were watching her and she shrugged. “They’re not here,” she said, or started to say, but she never finished the sentence.

Warren and his men dropped their hands to their swords as the Guardians and the rest burst from hiding and surrounded them. Everyone of her people held a weapon, except Dagan and Cassandra.

Enton was first and he pointed his sword at
Warren
, “Surrender your weapon.”

Heather scrambled to try and stop an unnecessary fight, but Agminion beat her to it. He stepped in front of
Warren
and stared down the length of Enton’s blade. “Lower your weapon
,
fool.”

Enton blinked in surprise and his forehead was just drawing down in anger when Heather reached Agminion’s side. “Do as he says
,
Enton,” she said quickly.

Enton took a deep breath and then lowered his sword.

“Everyone,” Heather called to the rest of the group, “lower your weapons. These men are allies.” She was careful to not call them friends. Just because they fought a common enemy did not mean their goals aligned.

Dagan pushed his way past the fighters to stand directly in front of Heather. He studied the men for a moment before he spoke. “Who are they?”

Heather ran down their names and then the names of her group. She quickly recapped the night
’s events, starting with the goblin assembly, the humans from Mul-Dune, and ending with the armor being hidden in the mine. At this Dagan gasped.

“The mine? Do you mean the dwarven mine of El’alador?”

“So you have heard of it?” Heather asked, not really surprised.

“Of course I have,” Dagan said quickly. “I’ve heard of most of the dwarven mines and outposts in these mountains. I know a little more about this one since it’s tied so closely to Saprasia.”

“Does this have to do with the dwarves and Faerum being so closely connected?” Heather asked.
The old man’s
look of surprise irked her just a little. He wasn’t the only one who knew things.

“Yes it does,”
Warren
said, speaking for the first time. “It has been my job to guard Nerandall and these men and goblins are putting my mission in jeopardy. I can get you into the mine and then you will help me retrieve the armor.”

Several of the Guardians looked surprised at that and Heather spoke quickly. “I have agreed to help
Warren
because it is in our best interest to keep the armor from both the Church and Zalustus. This seems the best way to do it.”

“We can’t trust them,” Enton said. His tone was gruff and he didn’t even bother hiding his disdain for this plan.

“No, we can’t,” Heather agreed causing looks of
surprise on
Warren
and his men, “b
ut they do need us.”

“All right,” Atock said, “and how exactly will you get us in?”

“The mine has several secret entrances
. Several of them the goblins have already found, but I know of
at least one that is still safe,”
Warren
said. He stepped forward to stand next to Heather. “While you may not trust us, I have given my word to you to get you into the mine. Once we’re in, then we’ll be in just as much danger as you are.”

Atock and Enton shared a look, nothing was said verbally, but after a moment they reached some agreement. “And what happens to Nerandall once we get out of the mine?” Atock asked.

“We are its guardians,”
Warren
answered, “we will protect it.”

Enton sighed deeply and looked at Heather, “This is your decision?” She nodded
and he shook his head slowly
. “All right. What do you need us to do?”

Warren
smiled. “We need to get moving. Travelling by day is much safer than travelling at night. We’ll travel northwest to the mountains and to the secret entrance. Please, if we tell you to do something, please do not hesitate.”

Judging by the looks on the Guardians’ faces, they were making no such promises.

On a mound several hundred yards away, Tristan and Henry watched Heather’s group meeting with the five strangers
through small spyglasses
.

“What do you think?” Henry asked
.

Tristan didn’t answer immediately. It was strange to see those bastards meeting with the outlaw Guardians. “I think those five men are taking the outlaws to the mine.”

Henry lowered his spyglass and stared at his friend
and commander
. “How? I mean how will they get through the goblin hordes?”

Shrugging, Tristan looked through the spyglass again. “They must have some secret
way
of getting in.”

“But why take the criminals?”

Actually it didn’t seem like a bad plan to Tristan. “If it was me,” he began, “I could see taking the outlaws as a diversion. Let them distract the goblins that are infesting the mine, while the others retrieve the armor. The goblins will most likely kill the Guardians and those men get away easily.”

“With Nerandall?” Henry asked.

“Yes, but they don’t know we’ll be waiting for them.
We’ll follow them into the mine and wait on them there.
”

Henry nodded, “As long as we don’t use sorcery
, they shouldn’t realize we’re there
.”

Belgil did not return until late afternoon. He knocked once on Flare’s door and then opened it and stepped inside.

Flare looked up from where he lay on the bed. When he was in his room, it was pretty much all he did. “Well? Did I get an audience?”

Belgil closed the door before he answered, “You did. Old Emlin wasn’t happy about it though.”

“You think he had anything to do with those two who tried to kill me today?” Flare asked. He was tired of waiting and now he had a way out. Using wizardry, he could create a portal and leave. The only problem was that it meant leaving Ossendar behind and that wasn’t something
he
intended
to do.

“I would bet everything I own on it,” Belgil answered. “I think he was waiting on me to accuse him of trying to kill you and he was taken a bit by surprise when I didn’t. It follows that he was also surprised to hear that you still lived.
”

Flare pushed himself to a sitting position. “When do I get to meet the king?”

“Now. He was very shaken by an assassination attempt in his kingdom.”