Champions of Serenity: Destiny Fulfilled

Chapter 18

“Why does Meckin get to be the assassin? I’m the shadow.” Korol asked after Tris and her group had left for the evening.

“You were the spy, Korol.” Meckin said. “Besides, I owe this woman payback. She’s the one who killed my parents when I was a boy. Don’t worry; you get to kill your share of people as well.”

“It doesn’t matter the reasons, Korol and Meckin, what matters is that you can do the jobs you were given. Meckin, will your history with this woman cause you any problems?” Airidon said, watching the Wer carefully to see if he would lie.

“No, Airidon, I learned a long time ago not to let my emotions get involved with my fighting.” Airidon nodded with Meckin’s answer and turned to look back at the rest of the group. As no one seemed to have any more questions, he motioned for Tyra to get ready to transport them all into the night around Kreben.

Tyra studied the spell she had worked up with Tris earlier in the day and made sure she knew what was needed. “Okay everyone, the pebble I’m giving you will bring you to the rendezvous point on the coast, keep it with you at all times in case we get separated during the different tasks.” She waited until they had all stowed the pebbles in their belt pouches and she had secured Noshtra’s to a pouch around her neck. “Take hold of the thread and don’t let go until I say, even if you think we are safely where we need to be.” When everyone had taken hold of the thread, Tyra began her spell.

The walls of the cave were replaced by trees and the fire from the cave was replaced by distant lights from the nearby fort and town. Then the stone floor of the cave was replaced by the spongy moss and dead leaves from the scrub near Kreben. “Okay, we are here now. You can let go.” Tyra pulled the thread to her and wrapped it up and tucked into her belt pouch.

Airidon got down on his knees and felt the strength of the earth, making a determination of where to start his tunnel. He nodded to Fini when he found the right place. “After we take out the patrol, we will start from here and then meet by the coast. Tyra, after you have harried the second patrol as long as you can, get yourself, Noshtra, and Korol to the rendezvous point and wait for us. Meckin, I will wait to pull the final support about the central buildings in the fort until I have felt your magic user die. You will use your pebble and meet up back at the coast. Does everyone know what to do?”

“Yes, Airidon, we do. Can we get to taking out the first patrol? I’m eager to wet my sword on mercenary blood.” Korol said, rubbing his hands together.

Airidon waved them forward and they took up position to ambush the first patrol. They didn’t have long to wait until the ten man patrol rode through the scrub tree stand.

Noshtra sprang from the low brush around the trees first, and ripped out the throat of the lead horse as its rider took a swipe at her with his sword. With a shriek of metal, Tyra’s sword caught the leader’s sword up with hers before it could hit the she-wolf. Shifting its angle, she swung the edge up until it took the head of the man. Meckin dropped from above onto the horse of the rear guard and plunged his dagger through the back of the man’s neck. Wrenching it to the side, he nearly decapitated him. With a grunt, Meckin dropped away from the horse, and any possible reprisal. Fini spun his staff around his head a few times and then started wading through the middle of the patrol, knocking people off of their horses and onto the ground. Korol and Noshtra quickly moved from figure to figure, and dispatched those on the ground that Fini knocked off. Airidon and Tyra made sure no one was able to flank the others in the team. Meckin carefully stripped one of the horses of its tack, learning the different markings and the brand on the horse, so he could copy it perfectly.

The battle was over quickly and the remaining horses were driven northwest, toward the Trevos Mountains. Meckin then took the shape of the horse he was copying and had Tyra put the tack back on him. She slapped him on the rump when she was done and he sent a protesting whicker back at her before he trotted off toward the fort.

Tyra led Korol and Nostra away from the battle site, following the trail of the horses and left behind a few small traps along the path for when the second patrol would come after them. Airidon and Fini went back into the shadows of the trees and started their part of the attack.

Fini touched the clay soil of the area and spoke to Mother Sandeenai, explaining to her what they were doing. He felt her acceptance of them and now the soil and stone seemed to give way even faster and easier than with just their combined earth magicks. Airidon spoke to the earth, promising relief from the evil that rode on its back if it worked with him. The soil moved aside and the rocks created a safe tunnel for them to pass through. The two large men passed into the earth as easily as they would through air and made their way to the shore of the underground lake that fed both the town and fort wells.

Airidon then created a cavern under the fort and started to strip away the support under the buildings. He used his magic to make the stone denser so when the time was right and the final support was pulled, the whole center of the fort would sink into the ground rather suddenly.

Fini used his link to Mother Sandeenai and the echo of his scrying to find the anchor stone of Dreybrenic’s power cache. He located it at the bottom of the shaft of the well the fort used. He took his position, ready to take it when the ground caved in.

Tyra, Korol, and Noshtra positioned themselves along the trail they had set up, ready for when the second patrol would come to find out what happened to the first. All they needed to do was wait for Meckin to play his part, because he was the key.

A horse trotted up to the wooden palisade and dropped its head as if recognizing home. One of the sentries noticed it just beyond the light of the gate and called to the captain of the watch. The captain of the watch motioned for two men to go out and check out the horse and bring it in if it was indeed one of theirs. Two men broke away from the wall and walked out into the light, calling to the horse. The horse obediently came over to the two men and lifted its face to take the offered carrot one of them held.

“It’s one of ours, Captain. It was part of the last patrol that went out about an hour ago. There’s blood on the saddle and reins.” One of the men called up to the captain of the watch.

“Bring it in and turn it over to the stables.” Turning from the wall and into the fort, the captain called down to the next patrol leader. “Double your men and go out now, find out what happened to the last patrol. They were on the northwestern route.” There was a marked increase in the activity before the gate. The sound of yells, and orders filled the air as the size of the next patrol was quickly brought up to double what would normally be sent. With a call that carried as only a squad leader’s voice could, they were ordered out at a walk. None of the parting mercenaries paid any further attention to the wayward Wer as he was led by a groom into the stables to the side.

The stable was dark, and smelled of horse, and leather, with a wash of hay across the floor, to catch the worst of the rest. Nickering softly, Meckin was brought to the back of the stables, and placed in a stall. The groom quickly stripped him of tack and saddle, and with sure easy movements, finished removing the saddle blanket, and started brushing the horse down. Humming faintly to himself, the groom never realized he was taking care of one of their master’s enemies. After slopping a bucket full of water into a trough, and oats into another for the horse to eat on, he glanced around, and slipped Meckin a small tablet of hardened sugar. Patting the horse on its rump, he closed the door to his stall, and headed back to his regular chores. Taking his time Meckin waited until just the right moment to transform from a horse, into the small darting figure of a field mouse. Though the horse might be missed, no one would notice a mouse slipping through the back wall, and making his way away from the stables and towards his own objective.

Scurrying from shadow to shadow through the fort, Meckin’s thoughts turned to the magic-user he was hunting. In the flickering light of a torch on the corner of the headquarter building, he saw her shadow and heard her voice calling out to the captain of the watch to find out what was going on. He knew her well and had dreamed of vengeance upon her many times.

As a boy, he and his family had been driven from their home in Hades by Dreybrenic and his supporters. Some magic-users claimed to be sympathic to the Wers cause and joined with the fleeing race. Those magic-users turned on the Wer and slaughtered them in the name of Dreybrenic when they received the signal from their master.

The magic-user had made friends with the adults in the group by teaching the little ones more history about both their own heritage and Dreybrenic’s. She had personally shown Meckin, as a boy, how to mask his shape shifting from detection by other magic-users. Meckin as well as his own family had trusted her, until that night.

It had been the day of Meckin’s eighth birthday and she had given him his first real sword. His mother had complained he was too young and his father had shown him how to hold it. He had been happy and smiled at the magic-user who had smiled back. When the first scream filled the early summer night, Meckin reached for the sword only to find it gone. He crept from his bed and looked out to see what was attacking their caravan. His mother raced toward their wagon and hushed her two boys, Jonas and Meckin. Then she made them change shape into bats and fly into the night. Meckin hadn’t gone far and he watched from the tops of the trees as the magic-user used the sword she had given him to butcher his mother. Sobbing, he followed his brother into the night and vowed vengeance. Now, he could have it.

She stood a moment longer on the balcony of the building and then turned to go back in. Pausing, she looked toward the stables, shook her head and continued into the command center.

In the shadows of the building, Meckin changed from a mouse into a spider. Climbing the wall to the second story, Meckin replayed that night as a child over in his mind. He hadn’t been able to do anything then, now was another story. For just a moment, in his mind he felt Darin with him telling him he shouldn’t allow emotion to cloud his judgment. Meckin told Darin to butt out and shut him out as Darin entered the shower to start his day on Earth.

Entering the room, Meckin looked around and found her, sitting alone at a table set for two. Her eyes glittered blue as she watched the door to the balcony, waiting for something only she could sense.

“Let me see, is it Jonas? No, it’s Meckin. I should have known that one day I would be facing you down; I could feel your hate that night as you watched me cut off your mother’s head. I can feel your hate now as you remember that night. Please, come in and join me, let us talk like the old friends we once were.” She turned away and poured out two glasses of a deep red wine. “No? Well, it can’t be said I wasn’t willing to at least listen to what you had to say.”

Meckin dropped to the floor of the balcony in the form of the spider and in the shadows took his own form once again. He stepped into the room glaring coldly at the magic-user.

“My, my, my, but you did turn out handsome, much more handsome than your father ever was. And you remembered my trick of shifting without sounding any of the magical wards. I’m very impressed, any other Wer trying to get in would have tripped the alarm and the whole fort would be up in arms.” She waved again to the wine and shrugged when he didn’t even blink at the unspoken invitation. Lifting her cup to her lips, she took a sip and then set it back down. “I’m going to assume you know how to use that sword at your side. I am also going to assume you are here to kill me in some twisted attempt to get back at the Lord Emperor. Perhaps it would help if I told you I didn’t want to kill your family but I didn’t have any choice. Perhaps it would also help if I told you I was as much a slave to the Lord Emperor as the drudges that scrub his floor and test his food for poison. Then again, perhaps nothing will help. Are you going to say anything?”

Folding his arms across his chest was the only answer Meckin gave. He didn’t trust his voice at the moment; too many emotions were flooding through him. The deaths of his aunt and uncle and his cousins, especially Natalie with whom he had a special bond, were recalled to his mind as her voice washed over him. Natalie had screamed his name as this magic-user had plunged his birthday sword through her stomach and twisted, spilling the girl’s guts all over the forest floor.

Standing, the magic-user nodded. “Okay then, let us see who will come from this encounter alive and who will be taken out dead.” Without further warning, she hissed out a string of syllables and blood red streaks flew from her fingertips flying toward Meckin.

Meckin waited until the last minute and then side stepped them. He knew that she would be warded against a physical attack and he was prepared to use things other than his sword or his shifting to kill her. He and Fini had played around with some of the herbs and minerals found in the forest to create some interesting capsules. Tris had helped make some of them a little more deadly and Meckin carried a few different types in his belt pouch now.

Taking a step further into the room, he circled around, watching her, waiting for the right time to drop the one he had in his hand. He rolled the small green pellet in his fingers, waiting and watching. This time, she was going to be the one dying.

Drawing a dagger from her belt, she charged him, muttering another spell, causing the blade to glow and pulse an evil green. At the last minute, Meckin again stepped aside and dropped the pellet on the ground under her foot.

Screaming in pain, she crashed to the floor and cradled her foot in her hands. She pulled a wicked looking thorn from the soft tissue in the arch of her foot and saw her own blood glittering on it. Looking up to Meckin in question, she started to writhe in agony on the floor.

“Wolf’s bane, when enchanted with Demon blood, is deadly to any magic-user.” He said and watched as she died at his feet. Slumping against the wall for support, he reached down and pulled the poison dagger from his side with a pained groan. Muttering a curse, he collapsed on the floor next to her.

In his position, Airidon felt the death of the magic-user and pulled the final support out from under the mercenary command center. He and Fini felt the ground move before anyone else could. Then came the rumble as tons of dirt and stone crashed through the earth and fell hundreds of feet into a chasm deep into the bowels of Sandeenai. Screams filled the air as most of the fort also fell into the cavern deep in the earth and the men and women died as even more dirt and stone fell on them burying them alive.

As the well collapsed, and was buried, Fini thrust his arms into the earth. Forcing himself deeper into the stone, it was a few moments before he pulled that half of his body from the rubble, cradling the anchor stone in his palms. With a quick grin at Airidon, he and the tall redhead used their stones to vanish from the depths of Sandeenai to the coast and their rendezvous point.

The second patrol had made it to the scene of the first’s massacre, when Tyra first attacked. Using a bow and arrows for this attack, she picked off a couple of the lead riders and then faded into the darkness. As they followed the sound of her running, Korol came in behind and picked off a couple of those guarding the rear of the patrol. Regrouping, the patrol started to track the hoof prints of the horses from the first patrol, keeping watch to the sides for another attack.

A few yards up the trail, Noshtra sailed out from a rock outcropping and landed on a man, dragging him from his horse. As she dragged him into the scrub growth, Tyra and Korol both rained down arrows on the patrol. Noshtra then ripped out his throat and stopped his yelling for help.

Regrouping again, the patrol took stock of who was left and were about to start out once again when they felt the earth rumble. Realizing they were the diversion, they raced back to the fort to see what had happened.

Tyra, Korol, and Noshtra met up as the patrol raced away. Nodding in satisfaction, they allowed Tyra to spell them to the coast and the others waiting for them. Airidon offered Tyra and Korol a drink from his water skin as Fini was doing for Noshtra when they arrived.

“Where is Meckin?” Korol asked when he had his breath back.

“He isn’t back yet. Tyra, let Tris know we have the catalyst and we will be heading back as soon as Meckin has joined up with us.” Airidon said and sat down in the shadows of the cliff they were hiding against to rest a moment.

Chaos sat up as he watched the attack. He watched as Meckin took out the magic-user and then fell to her blade, but he was immortal, Serenity had promised that had already happened. Holding his breath, he turned to Earth to see if Darin had been affected by Meckin’s disappearance, that would give him the clue as to what happened.

“Darin? Darin!” Emily said, trying to get her brother’s attention. When he refused to blink, she tried to shake him. “Darin!” She yelled again.

Mike came out of his bedroom. “What’s going on, Em? Why are you shouting?”

“Look at him, Mike. And you tell me.” Emily said, pointing to her brother.

Darin sat at the table, his bowl of choko-nuggets getting soggy in light brown milk. Blood was running from his nose and his eyes were glossed over as he stared at nothing.

“What did you do to him, Em?” Mike asked, picking up a napkin and holding it to his cousin’s nose to catch the bleeding.

“Nothing, Mike. I tried to get his attention when I noticed his nose started bleeding. What do you think is going on?”

Mike shrugged, replacing the cloth with a new napkin. “I don’t have a clue. Give someone a call, maybe Grant or Jared or Debra can figure it out. This isn’t stopping, Em, we need to get him to a doctor if one of them can’t figure out what to do.”

Emily nodded and raced to the phone, calling all three of the people Mike suggested. Grant and Jared hadn’t left their apartment yet and said they would pick up Debra and be right over. Grant suggested they move Darin to the couch and tilt his head back to help slow down if not stop the bleeding, and that ice might help as well.

While they waited, Mike and Emily moved Darin to the couch and were able to stem the flow of blood using ice wrapped in a wet washcloth. Emily opened the door when the three of them knocked, she was still crying.

Debra knelt by his head, giving room for Grant to look Darin over. Jared stood behind the couch and stared down into the pale face of his friend. “He’s in shock, but I don’t know why.” Grant said and looked to Jared. Emily gasped and started and Debra looked up at her.

“Tyra, she’s asking me to have Darin get in touch with Meckin. He hasn’t met up with them at the rendezvous yet. I told her Darin was sick at the moment but that when he was better I would have him try. She asked us to hurry.”

“It’s dead.” Darin whispered, speaking for the first time since Emily noticed his nose bleeding. Licking his lips, Darin tried to sit up and was helped by Jared and Grant.

“What’s dead, Darin?” Debra asked.

“The connection, it’s dead. I was talking to Meckin this morning, I thought he was getting too emotional in his vengeance against the magic-user. He told me to butt out and shut me out. Then as I was eating breakfast I felt a sharp stab in my side and then everything just went dead. I can’t contact Meckin, there isn’t anything there to contact.”

Debra held her hand to her mouth to choke back a sob. “But he’s one of Serenity’s Champions…….. He can’t…….. Oh gods above and below what is happening?”

“That’s just what I would like to know, Lady Debra.” Chaos said. He looked through the rubble left behind from Airidon’s collapse of the Kreben fort. “No!” Chaos yelled as he found the battered and broken body, mangled beyond recognition, which smelled of Wer.

Gently drawing the body from the rubble, he activated the pebble in the belt pouch and sent it to where Tyra was waiting. The Circle should be able to bury their dead in peace, he thought and he turned Dreybrenic’s searching eye away from the Circle for a time.