The Ruens of Fairstone (Aeon of Light Book 2) (40 page)

“That’s what I thought,” Deet says, “never mind. Go back to keeping a lookout behind us.”

Pard shakes his head and turns back toward Cray and the others.

The carriage reaches the crest of the hill and is barely moving as it rolls over the lip to transition down hill.

“They’re closing in,” Pard says, “they already closed half the distance on us since we started up this hill.”

Tor grunts and tries to turn around and see but he’s too big to move more than just to look sideways.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Miles says, “I think we may be too heavy.”

“
You think
?” Deet says.

Pard’s eyes narrow as he makes out a faint line of train smoke poking out if the forest off in the distance. “How far are we from Ravin now?”

Deet sighs. “Like I said, too far, maybe ten miles.”

“What about those buildings we’re coming up on?”

“Just an old mill and some grain silos, maybe a couple other buildings. But it looks abandoned or seldom used.”

“I may have an idea,” Pard says.

Deet turns around and stares at him. “Let’s hear it, kid, we don’t have much time.”

“If Alexa was threatened, do you think she would connect to me and cast a spell against you the same way she did in the cathedral?”

“That’s an affirmative. But that’s definitely not a good idea.”

“I never said it wouldn’t be dangerous.”

“All right, sorry, go on, let’s hear it.”

“I remember Professor Ames recounting the Battle of Muro the other day, and I read on this subject extensively before his lecture. There was a Lasteane general who was defeated in a larger battle a few days prior. He fled with what few survivors he had left. But he knew the terrain and his enemy well and successfully lured a much larger Erden force into a favorable position for him to counterattack under the guise of weakness. Once the small force found themselves in dense forest and in a shallow, narrowing gorge, with numerous smaller cuts in the rock creating a maze-like patchwork through the landscape, the general exposed himself in the open in the largest of these corridors, the Muro Corridor, the one the enemy force would use to traverse the forest. He waited alone for his enemy to come upon him, as if to give up, knowing that the general, his arch rival, wouldn’t kill him right away which gave the rest of his men time to prepare and maneuver in place to attack; and the enemy, already overly confident in their assured victory if they could simply catch and corner the small force, they let down their guard thinking the general was giving up to buy time for the rest of his men to flee. So for us, the plan would be for me to expose myself right away and they’ll focus on me. This will give you guys time to maneuver and come up with something where we can even the odds. Then after I draw Alexa away from her men, attack the men in the rear first and then Alexa. Once she realizes it’s a trap, and she’s in danger, she’ll connect to me and cast a spell, but the key is we need to make sure when she casts the light, it is directed as much against her own men as us, the same she did in the cathedral. She cast the light, but that didn’t mean you or Star or Eeva were safe. I saw her warn you to get out. This tells me she has little control over the magic once it’s unleashed, and that her spell could harm her own people. So we need to place her in a position to do just that, have her cast the light to our advantage without her realizing it.”

Deet rocks his head as he contemplates Pard’s plan. “May work. But we’d still have to somehow get between her men and then close in on her directly so she casts the spell in the direction we want. Besides dealing with a lot of very armed and very skilled men, wouldn’t that also put the person or persons who are doing the threatening in the direct path of her spell?”

“I didn’t say it would be safe or easy,” Pard says.

“I will do it,” Tor says in his slow, deep voice.

Deet squints at him. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“I heard you.”

“You understand the risk could be death?”

“There is always a risk of death in life and in battle, it is out of our hands. But as long as the woman casts her spell through Pard, I will be in no danger from this light. Our magical bond means I cannot harm Pard, and he cannot harm me, even if he is simply being used as a vessel through which the woman casts her evil spell. It is still Pard’s essence that is generating the power, therefore, her intention will not have her intended result, in fact, it will have the opposite. Any of Pard’s light that hits me will be amplified many fold when my body absorbs the energy, and it will give me even more strength and protection as it finds its way back home, me which is Pard, and Pard which is me, esen’er.”

Deet nods. “That helps, good to know, so you’re the perfect instigator and second decoy.” He turns to Miles as the carriage pulls into the abandoned grain town. “Go all the way through to the other side and park the carriage out of sight.” He glances at Pard. “I’m guessing our general’s trap worked.”

Pard cringes. “Yes—but—”

“
But
?”

“The small force destroyed the larger force as intended, but the general died.”

Deet purses his lips. “I see, well, let’s hope for a better result this time.”

Miles zooms forward past the buildings and silos and then yanks the wheel hard to the right. The tires skid and slide then slow, entering snow and grass off the road. He yanks back the brake lever, and the carriage comes to rest between two towering grain silos.

Deet hops out of the buggy and jogs back to the road and surveys the avenues of approach. He turns back toward the carriage and waves for all of them to come to him as he huddles next to a grain silo.

Pard and Miles grab their things and run to Deet.

Deet fishes out two pistols from his pack and hands one to each of them. “Be careful with these, they’re loaded. Have either of you ever shot one of these before?”

“Yes,” Miles says.

“I haven’t,” Pard says.

Deet tilts his head around Pard and stares at the carriage rocking back and forth as Tor, appearing to be stuck, is still trying to get out of the buggy. “Come on, big guy, we don’t have all day.”

“Sorry, I’m coming,” Tor says, and he slams his body into the door and it flies off the carriage as the hinges explode.

Deet eyes Pard and talks to him in a calm voice. “Hold the pistol steady with both hands, breathe slow, when you’re ready to fire, cock the hammer back, aim, and squeeze through the trigger. It will kick, but it won’t hurt as long as your arm is firm and you go with the flow. Do you understand?”

Pard nods. “I think so, but I won’t know until I try.”

Deet pats Pard on his shoulder. “You’ll be fine, kid.”

Tor lets out a frustrating sigh as he joins them. “I would prefer next time we commandeer a bigger mode of transportation.”

“Noted,” Deet says, and he extends a pistol toward Tor.

“No,” Tor says, and he raises his enormous battle-axe with one hand. The face of the shiny metal glistens as the rays of light reflect off the polished steel.
 

Pard squints as the bright light partially blinds him.

Deet sketches a crude map of the town in the snow with his boot. He draws four squares representing buildings, two on either side of the road and across from each other, then he draws eight grain silos, two on either side of the road across from each other as well as at both ends of the town. He points at Pard. “All right, here’s the plan. Pard, you enter the middle of the road so they can see you and stop before they enter town. Lord Marlow and I will head behind the right side of town together and take the carriage with us. Once they enter the town and completely stop, Lord Marlow, you charge them in the open right away and fire a few rounds, if you hit something, even the better, but really it’s to get their attention off Pard and to scatter for cover. Once they’re locked on to you, you turn around and hightail it back toward me and hide in a spot we designate before you do your initial attack. Hopefully this will draw a few of them away from the main group and into my kill zone. I’ll take up position inside the building at the end where I can pick off a bad guy from distance with my pistol. Once we take them out, I’ll send a little surprise Cray’s way that should cause even more confusion, then I’ll double back and wait for Tor.” Deet nods at Tor. “You head around the opposite side of town and slip into the alley between the first and second buildings and wait for Alexa and Eeva to pass you.” Deet points at Pard. “It’s your job to separate the group and draw Alexa and Eeva forward to our side of the town. They only care about you while the others want Tor. So this means you’ll have Alexa’s and Eeva’s full attention.” He nods at Tor. “Then wait for my signal to attack.”

“And what is the signal?” Tor says.

Deet nods. “You’ll know, once it goes off, count to five after the mayhem and attack, kill them, wound them, or scare the living breath out of them, it doesn’t matter, make them even more confused than they already will be. Once you do, Lord Marlow will provide covering fire on Cray and the others to keep them pinned down while I fire at Alexa, which will make her even more on guard. Tor, then you move forward the best you can toward Cray and the others so Alexa will get them in her light window. Lord Marlow, you transition your fire to Alexa, then I’ll run across the street between Tor and her and fire a few times. This should get Alexa’s full attention and she’ll likely react by connecting to Pard. But Tor, once she casts the light, if you say it can’t hurt you, continue your attack if you can. I’ll get into a building and do what I can to cover you.” Deet looks at all of them. “Questions?”

No one says a word. “All right, move out and good luck.” He nods at Pard. “Get in the middle of the road so they can see you. And once they move toward you on foot, draw them into our guise.”

Pard forces a smile and nods.

“You’ll be all right, and good luck, kid.”

“Good luck to you too, Deet.”

Deet grins. “Right.”

Pard strolls into the middle of the road with Tor by his side.
 

“Be strong, esen’er, we will rule this day, and take the glory from this battlefield.”

“You two, Tor, you be strong too.”

Tor growls, raises his battle-axe, and jogs across the road and out of sight.

Pard strolls through the middle of the street and stops in the center between the two opposing alleys on either side of the road. Ahead, black smoke and white mist rise from the approaching carriages and huffing horses. Pard takes in the old abandoned town, alone.
I guess this is it. My final stand. Not sure I ever imagined I’d be here with Lord Miles Marlow, Deet Penter, and Tor the tena, and I never would’ve thought this is how it all ends. But at least I helped expose my parents’ murderers and got to kiss Selby Barrow before I die. And she’s alive.
He peers down the alley, and Tor in position, thrusts his battle-axe in the air, then Deet waves at Pard out of a broken window on the second floor of the end building, then Miles, next to a silo and pile of brick and rubble, steps out in the open and holds up his fist and yells, “You got this, professor, they’re gonna wallow in our wake of death and destruction.” Then Miles ducks back behind a silo. Pard smiles. “
Miles
.” He sighs.
They’re all here with me, doing this for me, willing to give there lives to protect me. I’m not alone, not anymore.
An engine backfires and snaps him out of his reflection. Pard’s eyes narrow.
Here we go.

The carriages come to a stop in the middle of the road, right before the first set of silos, just as Deet had planned.

Alexa and Eeva slide out of their buggy, followed by their gaggle of Dregs, and then Cray and Hawke and the Larin constables dismount their horses.

Alexa and Eeva quickly move forward as they cautiously scan the broken windows of the buildings as they pass them.

Cray squints his right eye and scans the silos and then the piles of rubble and debris of old farm machinery next to the first dilapidated wood and brick building. He looks at Pard and raises his chin in the air. “We came for the tikba, no need to be frightened, boy. Where are your friends?”

Pard yells back and points at Alexa, “And what about them? Should I be frightened of them?”

“We have no affiliation with the others.”

Alexa continues to stride forward, tall and proud and unfazed. Her brown duster flaps in the gentle breeze, and small swirls of snow cyclones twirl behind her as the wind lifts the light snow and sweeps it through the town. Her eyes lock on Pard as if more annoyed than happy that the prize she’s been chasing for the better part of two weeks is now easily within her grasp. “You’ve wasted a lot of my time, Wenerly.”

Pard shrugs. “Not my problem.”

“You should have—”

Bang—

Miles fires his pistol over and over in the open at the men still by their mechanical buggies and horses.

Alexa crouches and peeks back.

Eeva flings open her battle-hardened duster coat and flings out her silver whip.

Bang—

Bang—

Bang—

Cray and the others draw their weapons and either drop to the ground or dive for cover behind a buggy.

Bullets ricochet off of the snow and carriages. One nicks a Dreg in his arm, and he tumbles to the ground and grabs his bloody shoulder.

Alexa scowls and catches Eeva’s eye. She flicks her head toward Pard and they both move forward with purpose, crouched over and heads on a swivel searching for Tor and Deet.

Miles lets out a barbaric howl and whirls around back toward the building. He yells, “Screw you!” Then dives behind a pile of rubble, disappearing.

A Dreg with a red beard points to a tall, gaunt man then gestures at the rubble Miles just disappeared behind. They move forward tactically, leapfrogging, one taking the lead, covering, and the other one moving forward.

Hawke and Cray both scan the building’s windows through the scopes fixed on their rifles.

The two Dregs slip around the machinery and rubble and are met with a hail of bullets, both of their bodies, riddled with iron, they both collapse limp against a pile of bricks.