Sworn To Transfer

“Then I suggest you recall them,” said Meres with a sigh. “There’s no point.”

“We received the bodies of thirty-four men, women, and children at the courts weeks ago,” said Sebastian. “But we cannot discount the fact that the rest of the population may be in danger or dying as we speak.”

“They’re dead,” said Julius flatly.

“Who’s dead?” queried Sebastian.

“The people of Borden. We went over a week ago to check on the population after seeing signs of smoke rising in the area,” Julius explained.

“Every home, every workshop was deserted,” he continued. “It wasn’t until we got to the village square that we noticed. Bodies piled to the sky. All with the same marks—the slashes on all of the bodies.”

“We’ve seen some of the same at court. Were your bodies burned as well?” questioned Maree Amber. “All of our victims were burned in some way but not with a natural fire. It was as if they were electrocuted.”

“Some of the victims in Borden suffered the same,” said Meres. “But most, we suspect, died of blood loss.”

“Near the base of the pyre, Milord, there was blood,” said Vana. “While we’ll need spells from your mages to confirm that it was your same group of bodies, at this time it might be safe to assume it was.”

“So we have a shadowwalking mage who can control the shadows,” said Prince Heir Sebastian slowly. “But as far as we know, he can’t raise the dead and has a vendetta against the Ameles Forest and the surrounding communities.”

“Correct, Sire,” said Kinsight, “I would also add that he has picked his targets well. Killing kith in the forest and humans on the border.”

“He has also seemed to be sending messages,” said Vana thoughtfully. “All of the kith were killed in the bloodiest way possible. Not a single one had a merciful killing or an immediate death with their throats slashed.”

“We can’t tell as much from the bodies in Sandrin,” said Maree Amber, “but it does appear that those who weren’t burned to ashes received fatal slashes to different parts of their bodies.”

“He’s trying to start a war,” Ciardis said softly.

“Most likely he wants to take over this forest,” interjected Vana while twirling a knife.

“Which is not necessarily that far removed from starting a war to wipe out its inhabitants,” retorted Ciardis.

“It’s certainly a thought,” said Prince Heir Sebastian. “But what’s more important is who he is and what he’s capable of.”

“Death,” said Meres flatly.

Looking over her shoulder, Vana spied the man that Julius had said he would bring.

“Sire,” she said, addressing Prince Heir Sebastian, “another village was recently attacked. All of the occupants died except one man. He has said he wants to speak with the Weathervane, but I suggest we all be present.”

Prince Heir Sebastian nodded. “Bring him forward.”

As the man slowly approached, hobbling on one foot and uncertain in the face of so many soldiers, the Prince Heir signaled for his healer to come forward.

To the man he said, “Please sit. I’ll have a healer attend to you.”

To his manservant he said, “Bring some food and water for this man.”

After he had been healed and taken some food and water, he quickly said, “Thank you, Milord.”

When Maree Amber stepped forward to announce whom he stood before, Sebastian held out a halting hand. He didn’t want his title to influence what the man had to say.

“Speak, please,” said the Prince Heir in an encouraging manner after the man looked at Maree Amber, clearly frightened.

The man licked his lips.

“I am Askave,” he said. “I come from the town of Nine Falls, no more than twenty miles away. My people are—were—farmers and herdsmen. Two nights ago, as darkness fell, a man approached town. He gave no name and partook in no ale from the town bar.”

“He just stood at the counter for an hour,” he said shakily, “and then left. But when he left, I followed him to the street.”

Nervously he looked around. “I just wanted to know who he was and if he had heard any news from the capitol – pronouncements from the Imperial court, new trading routes, gossip. That kind of thing.”

As Alexandra gave an encouraging murmur, he continued, “He stopped in the street all still-like. Didn’t say a word. Then he started asking me questions. About who I was, how long I’d lived here, and what it was like for me. I told him the truth.” He said the last word with a shrug.

“Which was?”

“I told him I grew up here my whole life, have no family—was orphaned when I was young you see—and live on the outskirts.”

“What happened then?” said Meres.

“He smiled, touched my shoulder, and told me I wouldn’t be harmed tonight.”

He looked up and touched the shoulder where the mage had touched him.

“I got chills right about then,” he said. “I went back inside the bar and never saw him again until the moon rose high in the sky.”

Shivering, he looked into Sebastian’s eyes with fear in his own. “That’s when the killing started. Everybody died. There was blood everywhere. I did haven’t any friends here, lived on my own, but there wasn’t one person in that town I’d have wished that kind of death on.”

The healer touched him again – checking his vitals.

Shaking off the shivers, he said, “I’m fine. I just—the memories...those memories will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

“And what did the man ask you to tell the Weathervane?” asked Prince Heir Sebastian softly.

“That’s it,” he replied honestly. “I’m supposed to tell her exactly what I told him.”

Looking around at the gathered group, he asked hopefully, “Is she here? Did I tell her?”

“She’s here,” confirmed Vana before Ciardis could speak.

Catching on to her warning, Meres said to Sebastian, “Perhaps we should now speak in private, Milord.”

Nodding, Sebastian told two surrounding soldiers to take the man to the healer’s tent and see that he had what he needed.

Turning back to the others, Alexandra asked, “What could the mage possibly gain from a story like that? What’s so important about his life that the Weathervane must know?”

They all turned to look at Ciardis to see if she had caught a message that they had not.

“It’s my life. My life before I came to court,” she replied.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Maree Amber asked forcefully. “You’re not that man and you never will be.”

Ciardis thought so, too, but she had to wonder.

Just before a minute had passed, the man came hobbling back, “Milord, there’s one other thing. I forgot when the shadow man asked me details. I told him that I had found some family on the other side of the forest. Was planning to move before...you know...”

Ciardis missed the hard looks exchanged within the group around her as she flashed back in her memories to the man she’d met in the bookbinder’s shop. The man she thought had been her brother.

I had to have been mistaken, she said to herself.

“Milord,” ventured Meres, “we either have a shadowwalker or a necromancer on our hands.”

“The only Necromancer in existence is one the Imperial family has complete trust in,” Sebastian said with steel in his voice.

“And a Shadowwalker has not walked this Earth since the Initiate Wars hundreds of years ago,” said Vana.

“Forgive me, Milady,” said Alexandra. “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t real.”

“That is true,” conceded Maree Amber. “We must prepare for the worst.”