Chapter 4
Stranger No More
Damien
“His name was Victus,” Warbill says. “The man you buried. The owner of the general store. He escaped with his children just before the silver coats lit the fires.”
“Silver coats?” Eloise asks.
“That’s what Banias has renamed the umbrae. They’ve all adopted the preferred white and silver colors of their queen. Elven colors.”
I wince, remembering what Banias was wearing when he visited Mount Damocles.
Umbrae warriors always dressed in black to blend into the night.
Elven warriors often wore dark green and brown to blend into the forest. The only reason for the New Stygarde troops to wear silver is because they want to stand out, to intimidate, to show superiority when they are bullying their way through the kingdom. It’s a brazen color.
“You were saying about Victus?” I ask Warbill.
“Lady Eudora and Lord Prandle received word the silver coats were heading to Bolvet and evacuated the village. Anyone who was strong enough to shadoweave left with them for Aendor. We have no idea how many made it out. Ariadne and I stayed behind to help those who had to ride. We managed to get a few on the road. Victus volunteered to lead the group out because his children were too young to shift.”
“Victus was no fool,” Ariadne adds. “Since his wife died and he started trading with the Rivertoads, he’d learned to sleep with one eye open.
No one was as travel-savvy as he. The shade understood how to avoid the silver coats.
He was meticulously careful and had friends in low places, friends he thought would protect him. We assumed they’d survived, until now.”
I scratch my cheek, remembering the man and the waif of a girl I’d seen standing behind him in the store the day I visited. “You say he had his children with him when he fled? I found his body strung up on the road to the Borderlands with a New Stygarde execution decree.”
Ariadne clutches her chest. “Then the silver coats have the children.”
I stare into the fire. “Most likely. How many children were with him?”
“Only two. His children. Anyone else with young ones had fled Bolvet long ago. There’s a girl, Zarissa, and a boy who is a year older, Zander,” Warbill says.
“I’ll get them back. I swear it.” A muscle in my jaw cramps as my teeth grind on the promise.
“Of course you will,” Ariadne says, leaning forward in her chair. The light from the fire reflects in her rheumy eyes. “You have the dragon! By the goddess, all of us believed it had died.”
“It did.”
They both look at each other and then back at me.
“Eloise practices spirit magic. The dragon was dead and now is animated by her ancestors. They are the source of her magic.” Although Eloise tried to explain this before, it bears repeating, considering the rarity of her abilities.
“Goddess, so she’s a witch?” Warbill shakes his head in abject wonder.
Ariadne’s hand flutters against her chest. “She told me she was a vampire. I tasted—” She cuts herself off, not wanting to admit directly to me that she once tasted Eloise’s blood. She clears her throat. “I am sure she was not a witch when I fitted her for her wardrobe.”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Eloise lost her powers temporarily when she came to this world, but she does practice magic, spirit magic. Yes, she is a type of witch, but she is much more. The goddess Thanesia has made her a shade.”
“Made a shade? How is such a thing possible?” Ariadne curls her lip.
“Through blood and death and quite dangerous magic,” I explain.
Warbill tucks a strand of his greasy hair behind his ear. “And when did you make her your queen?”
Ariadne stands, her excitement sending a flush into her pale cheeks.
“During our time in Dimhollow. Catarina, a high priestess of the coven, married us. It is binding and the manifestation of my greatest wish.”
Ariadne turns to the fire and angrily folds her arms.
“You don’t approve?” I ask. Strange. I always thought Ariadne liked Eloise.
“The dress, Damien!” She turns to me, hands spread. “I wanted to be the one to design her wedding gown. What was she wearing when these vows took place?”
I think back to that day. I see her eyes clearly, the look of joy on her face. I feel her hands in mine. “I don’t remember.” I shrug.
Ariadne grabs the sides of her head. “It’s a travesty! It’s a great miscarriage of justice.”
I give a deep, rumbling laugh. “I promise you she is my stars and moon, my beginning and end, blood of my blood, and my shade from the burning light. She is my destiny, my fate’s reward, my true and only mate, and your queen. What she wore is insignificant.”
“Insignificant? Oh, my heart!” Ariadne clutches her chest.
Warbill’s laugh fills the space. “Just save yourself some time, Damien, and promise her that once you take back Stygarde, you’ll host a proper wedding and coronation at the castle.”
I smile and look up at my old friend and her tear-filled eyes. “I promise you, Ariadne. We will have a proper wedding.”
“And you will allow me to design her dress.”
“Eloise would desire no one else, and there is no one better.”
Her shoulders finally relax, and she sinks back into her chair. “Good. As long as there’s a plan.”
“What is the plan?” Warbill asks more seriously. “How do you propose to take back the kingdom?”
I let out a long-suffering groan, frustrated with my lack of control. “We need more men. I have the allegiance of the mountain dwellers, but they number only a thousand, without an umbrae among them. Tempest has more. A network of rebels, but I’m unsure how many.”
“The mountain dweller’s weapons will come in handy,” Warbill says. “You know my sword is yours. I will get strong again once I’m able to feed, and I remember how to fight. There is power yet in these old bones.”
I nod. “Having a former umbrae at my side means everything, Warbill. I welcome your allegiance.”
“How many men can New Stygarde claim?” Ariadne asks.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “We’ve been cut off from the shadow network to avoid detection. Tempest sent word by raven occasionally, but we had to be careful.”
Warbill frowns. “Last I heard, Victus projected fifteen thousand.”
“Fifteen thousand?” Ariadne’s eyes widen. “How? That is more than even King Malek boasted.”
“That’s what Victus had heard from the Rivertoads, whose travels made them privy to more than we are in the west, but he never explained the number.
I suppose there are those like Banias, who simply saw an opportunity for profit and power among the new regime and stayed.
And don’t forget that New Stygarde has the allegiance of Willowgulch as well.
The dark elf king will spare no expense to support his daughter’s reign, and he will no doubt employ his own troops, including elven hunters, to defend and expand her rule. ”
“I don’t suppose Tempest is hiding another fourteen thousand men,” I grumble.
Warbill scoffs. “Her efforts are not without merit. Last I heard, she and Lord Thane had five thousand on board, a number that grows every day as people flee their ravaged villages. Many of them are former umbrae.”
“An experienced umbrae is worth three inexperienced soldiers, but it’s not enough.
Not with what we’re facing.” Although I hate the idea of hurting Stygarde’s children, there may be no other way to stop Brahm and Nevina than to go through them.
Highly skilled warriors are capable of keeping collateral damage to a minimum.
Umbrae are trained to neutralize rather than kill innocents.
But such discretion is only possible if we have enough men.
An overpowered army will be too busy surviving to protect anything in their path.
“What about the witches?” Warbill asks.
“Sworn to remain neutral.”
“Fucking cowards,” Ariadne spits.
I shake my head and hold up one hand. “I’ll have none of that.
The witches saved our lives. They are not indifferent to our suffering, but their numbers are few and they’re not soldiers.
Their magic and training are primarily defensive by nature.
We can’t judge them for being honest about what they are and where their strengths lie. ”
Warbill rubs the back of his neck. “You may find others like me who haven’t made it to Aendor, but who could be convinced to join the cause.
I’m afraid at this point, though, they will be few and far between.
Drawing them out will mean revealing yourselves, which will be risky.
There is one place to find more men, though. Strong ones, practiced in killing.”
“Where?”
“The Rivertoads.”
“Mercenaries,” I hiss. “Sure, they can fight, but they’ll turn on you the moment they’re tempted by more coin.”
Warbill settles into his chair. “You’ve been gone a long time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that old prejudices run deep.”
I cringe. “I harbor no prejudices. My feelings about the Rivertoads are based on facts and experience. It is known.”
“I’m not sure about that, Damien. It’s not always about money with them.
Victus said they helped him defy New Stygarde to keep the general store stocked, even when it was not profitable for them to do so.
Brahm betrayed them. Before your father died, Brahm ran up an enormous debt with them he’s never repaid.
And New Stygarde has begun restricting their movements.
They’re travelers. Have been since before I was born. ”
I stare into the fire, watching it crackle and sputter.
We’ll need more wood for the night. The logs are mostly ash.
Then again, the chill I’m suddenly feeling has nothing to do with the fire.
I don’t like Rivertoads. My father found them untrustworthy, unclean, uncivilized.
Only a month ago, a group of them, hired by King Entrydal, attempted to assassinate me.
I will never trust a Rivertoad to do the right thing.
“How many men do the Rivertoads have for hire?”
“According to Victus, thousands,” Warbill says.
I swivel my head to look at him, convinced he must be joking. “Impossible.”
“No.” Warbill’s eyebrows lift. “When Brahm rose to power, many individuals left the villages and joined up with the travelers. You have to understand that the Rivertoads made it possible to hide. They aren’t governed the way Bolvet was, the way any of the regions are.
More often than not, they slip under the radar.
That appeals to anyone trying to make a new start, even if it comes with constant movement and an expectation that one might have to perform the occasional act of service. ”
“Hmmm.” By act of service, he means killing or stealing in exchange for goods or money. Exactly what Rivertoads are known for.
As I look upon the two starving shades before me, I know why some would resort to joining the Rivertoads. And I know that if there are loyal umbrae warriors left alive, and they could not make it to Aendor, joining up with the travelers would have promised safety and freedom.
“Then it sounds like my next stop is to pay the Rivertoads a visit. Do you know the name of their current leader?”
“King of the Rivertoads? No. They’re secretive about their leadership, but Victus did tell me one thing after a bit of drinking in my tavern.
He said, if I ever needed help, to find the caravan and wait until it stopped for the night to approach.
A few of the wagons open in the evening to serve food and drink to anyone with quills.
All the Rivertoads gather there. It’s their social hub, the center of their community life.
Victus said to ask for what you want, and if someone can get it for you and you’re willing to pay, they do. ”
I shove down the sour feeling that churns in my belly at the thought of asking filthy Rivertoads for help with anything. But if there’s a chance some of my former umbrae are there, I have no choice. “Then it looks like our next stop is to pay a visit to the caravan.”
We’re interrupted when the door flies open, and Eloise smiles at us from the doorway. “Who’s hungry? I’m afraid you’ll have to come outside to eat. There’s no way this thing is going to fit through the door.”
She steps aside to reveal the largest stag I have seen since my return to Tenebris.