The Blade Heir (Book 1) Read online

  Siegfried met them outside on the steps of the marble building. His face did not display any hint of anticipation or curiosity about the outcome of the proceedings. Lucius was certain he knew the outcome before he had walked out, just as his father did. Their incredible foresight had always amazed him, but at the moment, both father and son probably wished their predeterminations had been wrong. The three walked down from the Council House and headed for their home in silence. Lucius felt a growing need to say something—anything—to lighten the depressing mood, but he failed to find any words.

  "I suppose we should move forward with our next move, Father," Siegfried broke the silence.

  Lucius raised his brow and eyed his brother quizzically, "Next move?"

  Helmer chuckled. "I suppose it is time to employ more forceful measures upon the situation, Siegfried."

  "What?" Lucius shot his head to the right, meeting Helmer's eyes.

  "You didn't honestly think this was our only plan in sending you to Sylvania, did you?" Helmer asked.

  "I thought it to be the most reasonable," Lucius answered.

  "Indeed, it was," Helmer agreed. "But you are the Ellyllei, Lucius, the Elf Son prophesied about long ago, and we cannot sit idly waiting for any intervention from the Council."

  "What are you suggesting we do, then?" he questioned anxiously.

  "We must sneak outside of Verdania unnoticed and travel to Sylvania," Siegfried said confidently with his usual calmness.

  Lucius’ eyes widened. "Sneak outside? We shall be arrested for treason and imprisoned. And if by some miracle we make it to the bottom of Breninmaur's trunk, the Protectors would capture or kill us before we could ever come within a mile of the Marble Gate."

  "Do not trouble yourself over such matters, Lucius," Helmer placed a hand on his shoulder. "I have meticulously planned your escape from this enchanted city. You shall fulfill the quest that Yéwa, your God, has placed before you—unless, of course, you willfully choose to stay behind."

  Lucius stopped on the road to ponder the choice before him. The idea of this adventure to rid Azuleah of a vile terror excited him, but frightened him to death as well. He envisioned facing an enemy as hellish as Kraegyn, and the fear swept over him again.

  "The decision is still yours to make, brother," Siegfried said emphatically.

  He took a deep breath, expelling fear and doubt from his mind, "My heart is willing. Tell me what must be done."

  FIVE

  A Grand Escape

  The stars above Evingrad shone brightly in the darkness of the city as a chill wind wisped through the narrow roads between all of the egini. Lucius walked outside from within the warm confines of the Silverhart estate carrying a full backpack with supplies for his long journey. Siegfried followed him, carrying their weapons and a bag with scrolls slung on his shoulder. Lucius frowned as the wind whipped his hair. He buttoned the collar of his coat and threw the hood of his cloak over his head. The chill weather surprised him since the cooler autumn season was still months away.

  Siegfried handed him his yew bow and sword. He took them, placing the sword in its leather scabbard and attaching the bow to his backpack. Helmer suddenly appeared at the top of the steps of the atrium. He held a scroll Lucius immediately recognized. It had been the duplicated heirloom of the Nostra house since the time of Cervantes. Lucius had studied its opening passages, which chronicled the dawn of man at the hands of Yéwa. But time had grown short, and in his haste, Lucius had forgotten to pack it.

  "Remember to take the eastern tunnel once you've reached the Great Tower." Helmer handed him the scroll.

  Lucius tucked the scroll inside a sown pocket in his cloak. "How will we get past the sentries inside the Tower?"

  "Leave that to me," Siegfried said as he wrapped himself in a dark green cloak.

  Helmer looked at them solemnly, and Lucius saw a slight sadness in his eyes. "This quest will be perilous. Trust only those whose hearts seem worthy to you, and look to each other for help in desperate times. The light of D'arya and the grace of Yéwa be upon you both."

  They both bowed in his presence and set off down the narrow lane leading toward the western road. Lucius recalled Helmer's instructions to veer off the road when they reached the intersection. He and Siegfried cut through the houses and stayed within the shadows lest they be seen by anyone. Siegfried jogged swiftly ahead of him in absolute silence, a difficult skill for Lucius to mimic as he avoided the crunch of leaves underfoot.

  A few yards ahead of them the Tower of Breninmaur loomed in the moonlight. Sentries making their rounds stood inside the tower, watching the stillness of the city from diamond-shaped windows. Torches lit the inside of their posts and revealed their faces to Siegfried's far-reaching gaze.

  "Six sentries are keeping watch from inside. Their sight will catch our movement in a yard or less," the elf whispered. He crouched behind a tall bush and signaled Lucius to stay behind him.

  "How will we ever get past them?" Lucius asked, calculating the odds of successfully escaping the sight of six trained elf-warriors and not liking the result.

  "Fear not, Lucius, the magic of D'arya will deliver us from their sight," Siegfried said.

  "I do not know any of the magical elven songs, Sieg. And even if I did, men do not inherit the magical abilities of the elf clans," he said resentfully.

  "No songs are needed." Siegfried pulled out two transparent spheres from a pouch on his belt and handed one to him. "Put this in your mouth, but do not swallow it."

  Lucius raised his brow, but at Siegfried's insistence, he took the small sphere and placed it in his mouth. He immediately felt a slight prickling on his tongue, which surprised him. The feeling spread throughout his mouth and his insides. He began to panic, wanting to spit the sphere out of his mouth, but Siegfried assured him nothing was wrong. The prickling reached all of his insides and then his skin. His right arm itched from the prickling effect, and he reached with his left hand to scratch it. But as he looked down, he realized his hand was gone. They had disappeared from sight. The itching spread to his left arm, and he watched it vanish before his very eyes.

  "Do not worry, brother, you will be restored once the diaphanousphere has been removed from your tongue," Siegfried promised. "Once I have disappeared, I will go down to the door of the Tower, while you stay here. Keep your eyes fixed on the door. When it opens, run quickly and enter."

  Lucius nodded his head, forgetting Siegfried could not see him.

  Siegfried placed the diaphanousphere inside his mouth and in seconds disappeared from sight. The bush they hid behind suddenly moved as Siegfried ran through it, making his way through the last stretch of egini and into the open square of the Evingrad.

  Lucius watched the empty square, searching for any trace of Siegfried's flight, but found none. He looked up at the sentries inside the Great Tower. Their pale faces showed no sign of alarm, and they continued to watch the cityscape in complete ignorance. Lucius smiled mischievously. He steeled himself and darted across the darkness.

  He looked up at the sentry watching the main square. The elf didn't flinch in the least as Lucius reached the green seal and hurried inside the opened door. The door entered into a large chamber inside the Tower. A spiral staircase at the center of the room climbed up to the guard room where the sentries kept watch. Small torches were placed all along the circular room, which gave it a warm, inviting light despite the fact they were unwelcomed visitors.

  Suddenly, the door closed behind Lucius. He turned quickly and saw a diaphanousphere appear from thin air. It hovered in the air for a few moments and was quickly swallowed up by Siegfried's right hand. The rest of the elf's thin figure soon reappeared.

  "You may release the diaphanousphere, Lucius," Siegfried said as he tucked the small sphere in his pouch and approached him.

  Lucius grabbed the transparent sphere from his mouth and, to his surprise, found it was neither wet nor warm to the touch. The prickling feeling, which had emanated from his insid
es, began to fade and his entire body came into view.

  "That's quite a tool." He handed the diaphanousphere to Siegfried, who slipped it in his belt.

  "We must go down the east tunnel, through that door," he pointed to an arched door nestled at the rear of the chamber.

  "Where are all the guards?" Lucius looked around suspiciously.

  Siegfried walked past him to the door, "There are none assigned to this room since the door is always locked, but I managed to pick it with relative ease."

  "Do your skills know no bounds, brother?" Lucius shot him a wry smile.

  Siegfried ignored the witty remark, "If Father is correct, there will be one or two elves guarding the exit of the tunnel below, but we must not tarry any longer."

  Siegfried opened the arched door slowly and crept inside, motioning for Lucius to follow. He looked up at the spiral staircase, wary of any sentries who might descend or look down. When he saw none, he ran to the door quietly and followed his elf companion.

  They entered a small room with two large holes in the floor. Unlike the last room, the interior of this room was not marble, but entirely wood. A small torch hung on the far wall past the holes and flickered as a breeze blew from the openings. The top rungs of ladders stuck out from each tunnel, allowing passage to the descending hollows of Breninmaur.

  "Which is the east tunnel?" Lucius asked.

  "That one," Siegfried pointed his slender index finger toward the tunnel on his left. He grabbed the small torch from the wall and began to climb down the wooden ladder.

  Lucius followed him and peered into the dark pit. He swallowed hard, fears pouring into his mind. What lies at the end of this dark tunnel, I wonder? His hands clutched the topmost rung, and he began to descend into the darkness.

  The descent was shorter than he had expected. The tunnel was humid and filled with the smell of wood and tree sap. In the torchlight, he saw the knotty walls of Breninmaur's trunk. Beetles and other small bugs crawled in and out of crevices in the wood. The wind howled inside the tunnel from the entrance hundreds of feet below. It would take them about a half hour to get to the forest floor, but Helmer had told them to make it out of Verdania before dawn lest they be caught.

  Siegfried led the march down. The tunnel descended in a spiral, but at some points leveled out. It was a dreary walk due to all the bugs and sticky tree sap Lucius kept stepping on. They both remained silent as they walked. Lucius' thoughts were scattered most of the time. For a while, he thought about Aldron and the great kings who had reigned in the legendary city. Would he ever be accepted as a king? He seemed so insignificant and unfit to sit on the throne of Cervantes Nostra, but if it was Yéwa's will for him to do so, then perhaps the role of authority would come naturally.

  Lucius ... the time has not yet come for you to enter the door.

  He recalled the words of the light in his dream, who he understood to be Yéwa. When would the time come for him to assume the kingship as the prophecy foretold? Perhaps the elven seer, Lumiath, would know the answer. Helmer had been very discreet in revealing any details about the D'aryan exile; a fact that raised questions about Lumiath and whether or not the seer could be trusted.

  "We are nearly there," Siegfried said, interrupting his thoughts.

  "How can you be sure?" he peered ahead, seeing no change in the winding hollow they'd traversed for the last few minutes.

  "I can smell the grass and humid air in the forest below. A few yards more and we shall be at the bottom." Siegfried quickened his pace, and the torch flickered wildly, casting eerie shadows along the tunnel walls.

  Lucius followed in suit with a sudden surge of adrenaline. He was excited to see the world below Evingrad and perhaps meet another human for the first time in Sylvania.

  As they hurried onward, the tunnel walls began to widen around them, and the ceiling rose above them. Lucius saw a dim light forming at the end of the tunnel. The torchlight quickly became useless as the wooden walls were swathed in the fading moonlight coming from Breninmaur's large entrance. Siegfried muttered something in the elven tongue, and the torch's flame immediately dissipated, leaving a small trail of smoke.

  The elf stopped a few steps before the entrance, peering through the fading darkness outside. Lucius crept beside him, seeing nothing but trees and shadows.

  "What do you see, Siegfried?" he asked quietly.

  "There are two Protectors in the forest, ten paces south and twelve paces east," his eyes twinkled in the dim light

  "Should we use the diaphanouspheres?" He cringed at the thought of the prickling sensation the small sphere caused on his body.

  Siegfried remained still and quiet for a moment. "No. The diaphanouspheres will not aid us."

  "Why not?" Lucius looked out into the forest, thinking he saw a flicker of movement.

  "They already know we're here."

  Lucius searched the forest, looking for any sign of the Protectors. How had they spotted them so easily? And while they still stood inside the dark tunnel?

  "We must go, Lucius—now!" Siegfried dashed outside in a split second, heading for the nearest tree.

  Lucius quickly ran after him, adrenaline pumping in his veins. They ducked behind the nearest tree as an arrow whizzed by them, hitting the soft grass near their feet. Lucius grabbed his dagger, but Siegfried grasped his wrist.

  "These are my brethren. They are merely serving Evingrad and protecting this sacred place," Siegfried tightened his grip as he said it.

  Lucius snapped his hand free. "Well, who's going to protect us?"

  Another arrow flew by them, landing a few inches from Lucius' torso into the tree trunk.

  "We must flee to the Marble Gate. It is a few miles from here. The darkness can aid our escape, but not for long—the dawn is nigh. Follow my pace, brother." Siegfried ran from behind the tree and into the gray forest ahead before Lucius could protest.

  He followed his elf brother, trying hard to keep up. Trees and dense foliage whipped past him, leaving small cuts on his face and arms. He looked behind him a few times during the chase, searching for their pursuers. They remained hidden in the shadow of the trees, but he heard the sound of arrows piercing the cold air and smacking on the barks of the trees all around him. Siegfried was swift, ducking to and fro in a zigzag pattern. Several times he lost sight of his brother's flittering green cloak among the trees, but seconds later he would reappear in front of him.

  The sky overhead was beginning to illuminate with the coming dawn. The verdant colors around him burst into view, and for the first time, Lucius saw the beauty of the forest of Verdania. He wished he could sit and marvel at the landscape, but it would have to wait for another day.

  A few yards ahead, he saw a small clearing rapidly approaching as they ran full speed. He looked behind him, fearing to spot an elf with a bow fixed on him, but he saw no one. They reached the clearing, and Lucius stopped abruptly. His knees ached, and he took labored breaths, feeling as though he might collapse at any moment. Siegfried continued to run through the clearing, but stopped a few feet away when he noticed his brother stooped over at the edge of the clearing.

  "Have you been hit?" He ran over to him, keeping his eyes on the trees they had run through seconds before.

  "I'm alright; I just needed to catch my breath." Lucius continued panting and looked up at the sky. The stars and moon had disappeared, and the sky was erupting with the sun's orange glow just below the horizon.

  "The dawn is approaching, Lucius. Let us fly." Siegfried sprinted through the tall grass of the clearing.

  Lucius, still out of breath, followed, despite the immense toll the chase was bearing on him. He hoped such long distance pursuits would not become common on this journey. The ability to sprint over long distances without experiencing fatigue was a natural gift endowed only to the elves, but he sorely desired it right now.

  As he and Siegfried approached the center of the clearing, a sudden jolt struck Lucius in the back. The force of the blow knocked him to t
he ground. He realized he'd been shot with an arrow, but no pain accompanied it. The arrow was lodged in his backpack and hadn't pierced all the way through to his back. Siegfried helped him up, pulling out the arrow in one quick motion. Lucius looked toward the edge of the clearing and saw the shining armor of two Protectors. He could not make out their faces, but one was unusually short for an elf. Lucius immediately recognized him; it was Kiret.

  He ran hastily, with Siegfried leading the way once again. They entered the claustrophobic space of the forest once more, hoping to gain some distance from their pursuers. Protruding roots from the ground and dense thickets were more abundant on this side of the forest, and Lucius found himself stumbling many times over them. He continued to follow his brother at a breakneck pace, afraid another arrow would find its mark more accurately than before.

  "How much more?" he puffed at Siegfried, who did not seem tired at all.

  "A mile or less," the elf said, avoiding a low branch in his path. "They will not continue the chase once we've reached the doors. Their concern is only for Verdania, not the lands beyond it."

  "That's a relief." Lucius glanced over his shoulder again.

  The sun suddenly came into view in the east, and its light splintered through the forest canopy. Lucius knew they would be easy targets for the Protectors now if they chose to slow their pace or stop before reaching the Marble Gate. A horn sounded behind them.

  "What was that?" he gasped.

  "More Protectors have joined the hunt, probably from the North." Siegfried pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it.

  "I thought—"

  "If it comes to it, I will only wound them," Siegfried cut in, darting his head from side to side.

  Lucius hoped it would not come to that. His lungs burned from labored breathing, and his leg muscles ached tremendously. He worried he might collapse at any moment. A glint of white light became visible through the gaps of the trees. At first, he thought it was the sun, but as they raced closer to it, he realized it was the gleaming white marble of the Gate of Verdania. The Marble Gate was about a quarter of a mile away, and it joined with a great marble wall surrounding the southeastern border of the province of Verdania. The Gate stood on a hill just outside the forest's edge.