Witch Bane (9 page)

Though the sun only peeked through the
canopy on rare occasions, its heat penetrated without effort.
Beneath his tunic, Sebastian sweltered. He’d taken his cloak off
long ago, its length rolled and stuffed through his belt. Once
through a cluster of bushes, he paused and looked to his father.
Darius smirked with cruel abandon, mouthing words but not saying
anything aloud.

Sebastian didn’t need to hear to know what
was said. “Get used to it, boy. This is what warriors do,” he
muttered, mimicking his father’s inflection. He’d heard the saying
a million times during his training, Darius repeating it every time
Sebastian complained. It was like a mantra these days, reminding
him to keep his tongue in his mouth and his grievances to himself.
He did just that.

By the time the sun began its descent, the
trees had thinned a little, easing their effort and speeding their
pace. Their shadowy companion still behind them, Darius called a
halt, raising his hand but saying nothing. Sebastian drew up beside
him and peered through the branches ahead and spied what had
brought his father to a stop.

Off in the distance he saw what he presumed
was Cammpras, a number of small buildings marking the edge of the
village. Distorted sounds drifted past, harsh voices raised in
anger. He listened closer but could pick out no words. He looked
between the closest homes and saw flickers of movement, red and
silver passing in flashes.

“
Red Guard,” he whispered, shaking his
head. “Damn it.”

Darius nodded, casting a glance toward the
trees behind them. Sebastian split his focus, keeping his ears to
their back and his eyes on the village. Their follower had stopped
his advance just as they had, so Sebastian felt fairly confident it
wasn’t a minion of the witches on their trail. If it were, he
wouldn’t have gone silent at the sight of his fellow Red Guard. It
was a minor comfort to know something of the man at their
backs.

Another burst of voices echoed from the
village, followed by a storm of motion. Sebastian clearly
recognized one of the Red Guard as he hovered in his line of sight,
his sword in his hand. The man shouted at someone he couldn’t see,
but the tone was clear. It was an order. The village was under
siege, just as Deliton had been.

Sebastian’s stomach rumbled and he growled
back. He’d been looking forward to food and sleep, not a fight.
With the Red Guard occupying the village, the only way they would
be able to gather supplies would be to take the squadron out. As
tired as he was, he wasn’t sure he had it in him. Frustration
building, he thought it best to scout out the situation. His father
would expect it.

He crept to the side, clearing more of the
town to his view. As he looked for the Red Guard’s transport, he
caught a shimmer of movement from one of the nearest homes. He
ducked deeper behind his cover, motioning for his father to do the
same.

Darius dropped at the hand signal, a
lifetime of military training making the action instinctive.
Sebastian stared off at the hut, the shuttered windows cracked but
a few inches. Between the slats he could see flesh; a face peering
from the crack. It sat low, in an obvious effort to be
surreptitious. The face dropped from sight an instant later.

Sebastian glanced off toward the rest of the
buildings near the edge. He sighed when he saw that all of the
shutters facing the forest were open just a tiny bit, just enough
to allow someone inside to see out without giving themselves away,
if they were careful. He let his eyes drift over the windows and
after a few moments, he saw the nearly imperceptible flutter of a
face at another. A moment later he saw yet one more flash of
movement, catching a glance of red through the slats. The soldiers
were impatient.

Sebastian stayed low and returned to his
father’s side. “While I can’t be sure it’s for us, this is a trap.”
He pointed to the row of homes, marking the windows where he’d seen
the lookouts.

“
I saw.” Darius marked two more
houses. “There was one there and there, as well, and who knows how
many are stuffed inside.” He motioned over his shoulder with his
eyes. “Our tail hasn’t moved since we stopped, so I don’t think
he’s a part of this.”

Sebastian nodded, his father echoing his
earlier thought. “What now?”

“
It looks like we’re going hungry
tonight.” Darius moved off low, circling away from the village,
keeping a safe distance from where they believed their follower
hid.

Sebastian grumbled and followed after. Had
they not been so close to the village they could have hunted for
dinner, but with an obvious Red Guard ambush set up at Cammpras,
they had no certainty as to how far the watch extended. They would
have to travel well away from the village before it became safe
enough for them to set up camp without fear of detection. It would
be another long, uncomfortable night with the follower at their
heels and the Red Guard on the hunt. Sebastian could feel his anger
rising.

They stayed low for a long way before
Darius straightened and their movement sped up, the earliest part
of the journey a tedious crawl. Even at speed, it was still many
hours before his father brought them to a halt with a weary wave,
under a dense overhang of interwoven branches. Sebastian came
alongside him as Darius settled to the ground with a tired
thump
.

“
Our friend has edged closer,” Darius
noted in a quiet voice. “Though whether it is from fear of the Red
Guard or he grows bolder, I do not know.”

Sebastian stretched, having noticed the
same. “We need to do something about him before we’re too worn
down. Another day or two of this, and we’ll be walking
unconscious.”

“
I agree.” Darius gestured toward a
mass of low-lying foliage that clustered at the base of one of the
larger trees. “That looks like a good place to sleep.” He got to
his feet and swept his cloak from his shoulders. “Good night.” He
took no effort to keep his voice down.

Darius slipped into the mass of greenery and
lay down inside, pulling his cloak over top of him. Once he settled
beneath the foliage, he was nearly invisible to Sebastian despite
knowing exactly where his father lay. Sebastian grinned as he
followed suit.

He might not get much sleep tonight, but
certain of what his father had in mind, morning would be the dawn
of a brand new day. He could sleep tomorrow.

Ten

Sebastian’s rest was meager indeed. His
father had let him sleep for but a short time before rousing him.
His eyelids like stones, he eased out from beneath his cloak,
trying not to make a sound. Darius met his gaze and signaled which
way he should go. Sebastian nodded and drew in a slow, tired
breath. He let his frustration and weariness bleed away as he
centered his mind. After a few moments, he drew upon his will.

His skin tingled as his magic came alive,
albeit somewhat slowly. Grateful defensive spells came to him more
naturally than offensive ones, he let it wash over him without
resistance. Warmth bathed him in its embrace. With a wave his
father didn’t react to, confirming that the shadows had draped him,
Sebastian collected his sword and slipped through the covering
foliage, doing his best to disturb them as little as possible. Once
past the barrier of shrubs, he moved off into the trees and further
into the woods, traveling in silence.

The forest was dark, but Sebastian had no
problem seeing. His magic dancing in his veins, he could see almost
as well as if it were day, the darkness chased from his vision. He
walked in a wide circle, first moving away from the camp where his
father remained, then swinging about to move back in the general
direction of it but from the other side. As he darted through the
night, he listened for the man who’d been following them. A few
moments later, he heard the tiniest of sounds a short distance
ahead. He loosed his sword from its sheath and continued on,
slowing his pace. He approached the spot where he’d heard the noise
with his senses open and could hear the quiet crunch of humus
pressed beneath a heavy boot. He could smell a subtle musk in the
air, the remnant scent of smoke. Then at last, he could see someone
and moved up behind.

The man wore a tight fitting tunic that was
tied tight about his wide waist, the darkness doing nothing to hide
the muscled thickness of his back and shoulders. He held a short
sword in each hand, using his left to ease aside the branches that
hung in his path. He moved with the grace of a hunter on the prowl,
crouched low yet moving forward with ease, ready to strike.

Sebastian calculated his direction with a
glance. Without a doubt, he was heading toward the bushes where his
father lay in wait.

Sebastian drew closer and noticed the man
had streaks of white in his hair, their brightness standing out
against the blackened rest. Recognition hit and Sebastian felt a
hint of anger warm his cheeks. He sped his pace again, timing his
movement to catch the man as soon as he reached the tiny clearing a
short distance before his father’s hiding place.

Though he knew he should sneak up on him,
slit the man’s throat and leave him to bleed out, Sebastian wanted
answers. He let his will drop. The shroud of shifting shadows that
concealed him broke apart and drifted away, clearing like fog in
the light of day.

“
Come to see us off again,
Jonas?”

The man spun about, his eyes wide. His
startled gaze locked onto Sebastian’s glare, and he raised his
swords before him. He settled an instant later, adjusting his
footing to meet Sebastian’s advance. His eyes scanned the
trees.

“
I knew there was more to you than you
than you let on, but I didn’t think you were a murderer. What were
you planning?” Sebastian moved even closer, stepping between the
trees into the clearing.

Jonas shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to
kill you, boy. You gotta believe that.” He didn’t try to deny it
had been him who tried to set the hut ablaze back at Deliton.

“
Do I?” Sebastian inched forward. “I
don’t have a lot of faith in a man who would dress up as Red Guard,
using the armor of the soldiers I killed to save his people, I
might add, and attempt to burn me and my father out.” He laughed.
“Doesn’t seem like a welcoming gesture.”

Jonas’s eyes darted about and Sebastian
watched him close. The man was readying to bolt.

“
It’s about more than you, warlock.”
Jonas glanced left and shifted his weight, suddenly running
right.

Sebastian spotted the feint immediately. He
leapt forward and swung his sword, its silvery death cleaving the
air ahead of Jonas. The man stumbled to keep from falling into it
and spun about, weapons readied. His hands were steady, but his
frantic gaze was everywhere.

“
The next one kills you,” Sebastian
told him. “Why are you following us?”

Jonas faced him. There was obvious fear in
his eyes, but from the way they shifted about, as though searching
for something, Sebastian didn’t believe he was the one causing it.
Jonas said nothing.

“
Fair enough.”

Sebastian lashed out, his sword arcing
toward Jonas’s neck. The old warrior moved to parry but blocked
only air. His eyes narrowed as Sebastian snapped his wrist about.
The direction of the attack changed almost too fast to follow and
the edge of the quicksilver blade cut a red groove on the inside of
Jonas’s forearm.

Before Jonas’s scream could leave his
throat, a near identical wound split open his other arm. Both
swords tumbled from his numb hands as his voice finally broke from
his mouth. It was cut short when Sebastian kicked him square in the
chest. The blow knocked the breath from Jonas’ lungs with a loud
whoosh and he flew backward, his windmilling arms shedding drops of
blood in a speckled trail behind him. He hit the ground hard,
sliding a few feet across the moist humus until his back slammed
into a tree trunk. His head lolled and his eyes spun in their
sockets. He rolled to his side, his face slumping against the soft
earth.

“
You should have answered my
question,” Sebastian said as he stalked forward.

A quiet groan oozed from Jonas’s lips, a
line of spittle trailing wet down his chin. He tried to get his
arms beneath him, but Sebastian reached him before he could. He
grasped Jonas by the throat and lifted his head, pressing the back
of it against the tree. He held his sword just inches from his
cheek.

“
Why are you following us?” Sebastian
stared into the man’s eyes, knowing Jonas was likely too stunned to
realize he’d been asked a question, let alone answer it coherently.
Sebastian shook him, hoping to bring him to his senses. As the
man’s eyes whirled blankly, Sebastian spied a shadowed reflection
in them.

He shoved Jonas down and ducked, spinning
away just as something cleaved the bark from the tree right where
his head had been. Sebastian darted through the foliage and around
a thick tree trunk, coming to stand just outside the clearing. The
shadow pulled its sword from the tree with an easy twist and turned
to face him, a second long blade in his other hand.

Dressed entirely in black, his attacker was
thick about the torso, the obvious heft of armor protecting his
vitals. Corded muscles defined his arms and legs as he came forward
with sinewy ease. Only the bluish gleam of the eyes, which peered
from the concealing mask, broke up the monotony of darkness.
Sebastian met the shadow’s gaze and saw what lurked within. It gave
him pause.

This was no mercenary for hire, no soldier
who played at assassination. What stood before him was a true
killer; one of the art.