Engraved - The Hunted Warrior

Chapter 30.2 - Ice and Blood

"Tajar!" Alam leapt over Clarisai's body with axe held high. Again the word filled his mind unbidden. "Fang!" he tried to shout and again it came out strange. Blue flame flared on the axe, shattering the darkness. Noldorae lifted his shield.

Too slow!

Alam landed on the shield. His blow went wide. Noldorae staggered back under the weight of Alam's body. Alam slid off the shield and collapsed to the ground.

Alam desperately rolled over. Noldorae's heavy mace smashed into the ground. Missed. Alam struggled to his feet, but he was off balance. The mace was being brought back for a killing blow.

Suddenly an arrow flew past Alam's head. Noldorae's head snapped back. The arrow protruded from his neck. He gurgled and clutched at his neck while looking past Alam in shock. Alam risked a quick glance over his shoulder. Gretch the Hunter threw his bow down and sprinted towards them. He raised his greatsword high, ready to strike.

Alam threw himself sideways to avoid the blow. Noldorae fumbled weakly to raise his shield. It was no use. The power of Gretch's blow was as a mallet hitting tin. Flesh, bone, armour shattered beneath it. Noldorae fell dead with the blade embedded in him. Gretch let go of his weapon without stopping. He sprinted towards towards the open doorway and kicked the sputtering torch that lay on the ground. It spun away leaving a twisting trail of light before landing in sparks and dying.

Darkness reclaimed the chamber. Alam gripped the axe tightly and then realised that the faintest blue flame still dance along its edge. He willed it to grow, and it did.

Sudden, excruciating pain coursed through him. His muscles bunched, his limbs locked. He screamed in agony though his mouth would not open. Unable to move, out of balance, unable to stop himself, he fell forward. Lights flashed in his vision as his head connected with the stone floor.

"He is mine, Emerek," said Gretch's voice from the darkness. "The barbarian, the box, and the girl are all mine."

There was no reply. Alam's pain grew.

Don't black out... don't black out...

"You are a coward, Emerek," Gretch sneered. The words came from a different location. He had moved. "If you can not see me you can not bewitch me. Instead you cower in the shadows. It is pointless for I am the greatest hunter of this age. I can hear you breathe. It is enough for me."

Again there was no reply. Alam's vision began to swim. The faint blue light from his axe grew fuzzy and blotched.

"I knew of your cowardice," Gretch spoke again from yet another location. "So I am not surprised that you hide in the dark while your knights fight for you. Yet there is one thing I am uncertain of. Are you stupid, or are you a traitor? Are you so stupid that you have not figured out that the barbarian you are killing is our Liege's son? Or do you know it and kill him anyway, seeing him as an obstacle between you and the throne?"

That got Alam's attention. It cut through the pain.

"Our Liege's son"? It can not be.

"You lie!" Emerek spat.

"Stupid it is," Gretch replied. "Our Liege's favorite slave was with child twenty one years ago. I have counted the years. You may not remember, for you would have been a child at the time. Our Liege blessed the unborn child with his power, and eagerly awaited its birth. But the slave disappeared before the baby was born. When our Liege found her the child was gone. Every attempt to find it failed."

"I know the story. It means nothing!"

Feeling was gone from Alam's legs. His vision was black.

"Consider this," Gretch's voice sounded closer to the open doorway. "He is the right age; he is a foundling; his features do not look like the rest of the barbarians; he looks to my eyes like a mixture of slave and noble. But there is one other trait that is to me conclusive even though it is nebulous - this barbarian carries the blessing by our Liege."