Chapter 22

The Two Brothers

"Marching feet! Get off the trail!", Marinae whispered loud enough so that the others could hear.

The four quickly took cover, hiding behind the boulders that were scattered about on either side of the road. Cautiously Lynn peeked over the rocks. Coming up the path she could see the familiar designs of Falkovnian armor. Even more striking was that the faces beneath the helmets matched those of the phantom soldiers she had seen in the obsidian field. Even the colonel and his unarmed body guards were present. A man at the head of the column called for a halt when he noticed tracks on the path ahead. Lynn watched as the soldier knelt to examine them.

"Sir, four were here recently!", the soldier called out. "They left the path for these rocks."

Lynn looked at the others. They were ready to fight. David's muscles were taught, Weamar was slowly drawing a pistol from his belt, and Marinae had her crossbow cocked and loaded. Lynn began to get a bad feeling about what was going to happen next. She felt that they were all going to die if they tried fighting. So remembering what she had done the last time they faced the soldiers and how that had turned out all right. Slowly she stood up and stepped out from behind a rock.

In a commanding tone the colonel shouted, "Draw your weapons. Keep your eyes ope...", and then he saw Lynn.

"Well, that was easy.", the colonel muttered to his body guards.

Lynn walked slowly towards the soldiers with her hood drawn back. The rank and file soldiers were dumbfounded by the emergence of a beautiful young woman and parted to allow Lynn to pass. The two unarmed officers, however, moved to interdict her. The men could have been brothers, they looked so much alike. The colonel watched calmly as Lynn approached him.

"I've got your back, sister, but I'm not moving.", Marinae thought. David and Weamar got ready to spring into action.

Lynn walked up to the two body guards, who held out their hands and stopped her from getting too close.

"You may stand down for the moment, gentlemen.", the colonel ordered. The two men beside him stepped aside. "I am Colonel Marcos Vedarrak of the Falkovnian Army, glorious arm of my Lord Drakov.", the colonel said to Lynn. "Who might you be, my dear?"

Lynn was stunned for a moment. She remembered his exact words from the obsidian field.

"Lynn.", she said softly.

Marinae cast a spell silently and looked at the soldiers on the road. To her disappointment they were not illusions, but she did see that several of them had magical weapons and armor, and those the colonel wore shone especially bright. Then Marinae noticed a wave of magical energy wash over the soldiers. She could see that it was an enchantment of compulsion of some kind, meant to influence emotion, but she couldn't tell who had cast it. The spell seemed to have come from somewhere farther up the path and so Marinae wondered if it was Jonathan's doing. She was right.

"What reason does a young woman such as yourself have for wandering these dreadful peaks?", Marcos asked.

"A quest.", Lynn said softly. "For my true love."

The expressions of some of the soldiers softened as they heard her words. Jonathan's spell had taken hold of them and their eyes were filled with sympathy for the poor young woman. But the officers were not so easily influenced, and Vedarrak's face and those of his body guards remained stern and determined.

"It is a dangerous place to travel. Not a place one would travel alone.", Marcos advised Lynn. Then his eyes narrowed. "Where are your three companions?"

"I know. But I must", Lynn replied, answering only the first part of the colonel's remark.
 
"And the rest of your party?", Marcos insisted. "The tracks say there are four. I see only you."

"Please don't hurt them.", Lynn said softly.

"Yes, please don't hurt us.", Marinae thought to herself.

The two brothers shared a look of malicious amusement at Lynn's pleading. The colonel didn't notice as he grew dizzy for a moment. Marinae saw an enchantment flow around him. It was another compulsion, this time focused only on the colonel.

"Let her pass.", Jonathan whispered on the wind.

"I feel as though I should let you pass.", Marcos said uncertainly, as if he was a little confused by why he would say such a thing.

"Ah, some things become clear.", Marinae thought. She hoped that Jonathan would be able to pull them out of the mess that they were in.

The brothers' amusement turned to disapproval. In unison they asked, "Sir?"

Lynn hid her confusion and quickly moved to take advantage of the colonel's uncertainty. She reached into her bag for a chocolate bar and broke off a piece. "I don't have much to give you. But I thank you.", Lynn said, giving the colonel a piece of chocolate.

The colonel accepted the young woman's gift with a dazed smile. His subordinates frowned deeply.

"Sir, our orders are to detain anyone found in these mountains.", one of the brothers said. The other picked up the thought and added, "For questioning in regards to the tomb and the artifacts it holds."

Marinae saw another enchantment wrap around the colonel. Marcos' eyes fluttered.

"I've met this girl before, captains. She is harmless.", Marcos insisted with more conviction. His feelings were starting to make sense to him.

"Come on, come on, come on.", Jonathan whispered from his hiding place up the path. She cast another spell on the colonel.

"Our orders...", one brother began. The other finished the sentence,  "...were quite specific, sir."

Marcos' face grew stern. "She may pass and will not be harmed. Is that clear?", he ordered.

The brothers both began to speak but were cut off. "I'll not have you questioning my orders.", Marcos barked. "Be silent and obey or you'll find yourselves before a firing squad."

Lynn turned her head and looked around behind her. Her friends were nowhere to be seen. She took a few steps up the path and hoped that they would soon be following her. The brothers shared another glance and seemed to be discussing something though no words were spoken. The colonel and the lesser soldiers stepped aside and allowed Lynn to pass. Lynn looked around at the soldiers, avoiding their eyes, and took a few more apprehensive steps.

"Come on, Lynn.", Jonathan whispered to himself. "Hurry up."

Lynn closed her eyes and saw the area in her mind. She carefully walked up the path through the soldiers who let her through.

As Lynn cleared the end of the column the two officers called out. "Colonel Vedarrak. We believe your mental faculties have been compromised by some witchcraft. In accordance with Article thirty-four of the Falcon's code, you are hereby relieved of command. Sergeant, detain the colonel and the woman."

Tension and uneasiness grew among the soldiers. The enlisted men were divided, unsure of whose orders they should follow. The sergeant turned his head to hear the colonel's reply. Marinae readied her crossbow and Weamar took aim at one of the two brothers. Lynn kept walking. She listened for the sounds of soldiers following her, but no one was.

Marcos was furious. "How dare you! Sergeant, arrest these men!", he said pointing to his two subordinates. "Kill them if they resist!"

The sergeant moved to comply with his commander's order but was stopped short by the glare of the two dissenting officers. The enlisted soldiers were beginning to take sides. Half were rallying around the brothers and the other half were supporting Marcos.
 
Further up the trail Lynn heard Jonathan's voice whisper to her, "Let's get out of here before they get wise.", then he corrected himself. "Well, before they get less stupid."

"No.", Lynn replied. She opened her eyes and turned towards the soldiers, hoping to see her friends past them as well. But they were nowhere to be seen.

Weamar sensed what was coming next. He put his weapons away slowly and quietly and got ready to run. The sergeant made the first move. Unfortunately for him, it was his last. The brother that he attacked turned the sergeant's blade aside with his hand and, with the same smooth motion, snapped the sergeant's neck. After that all hell seemed to break loose as the soldiers and officers clashed and battled amongst themselves.

"Let's go.", Jonathan pleaded as he tried to pull Lynn up the path. Lynn was torn. She resisted and pulled her hand away, but she still followed along behind Jonathan, looking back in the hope that somehow her friends were right behind her.

"They'll catch up.", Jonathan pleaded. "Come on."

Upon seeing the fight break out, Weamar ran from boulder to boulder down the hillside, making his way around to the path on the other side. Marinae and David followed him and after several minutes of hasty but careful scrambling they were on the other side of the fray with the sounds of gunfire, clashing steel, and dying men covering their escape. As they neared the path they could see Lynn in the distance hurrying away, but just before they made their move back on to the path the sounds of fighting came to an end. Weamar turned to look. The dust had settled and only two men remained standing after the furious melee, the two brothers. They seemed only slightly injured, while all the other men lay dead around them. One spotted Lynn and shouted to the other one. Then both brothers took off after the woman, running with inhuman quickness.

"Crap!", Jonathan shouted and broke into a run. Lynn ran after him but the two men were moving with amazing speed, gaining quickly on their prey.

Jonathan cast a spell as he and Lynn ran. A chill wind swirled around them and a cloying mist gathered nearby. Slowly, it took on the form of a dark and beautiful horse running alongside them. Lynn remembered seeing it before when she had met the drow, Kiri. Jonathan became visible as he leaped into the running mount's saddle and pulled Lynn up to sit behind him. Lynn didn't have time to think about what was happening, she just climbed up on to the horse and held on.

Weamar lurched out of his hiding place, ran after the brothers, and drew his pistols. He fired one shot into the air as Marinae fired her crossbow at the nearest soldier. One of the men spun on his heel in time see Marinae's incoming crossbow bolt. He tried to smack it aside but he misjudged its speed and the projectile pierced his hand. With an angry curse, the man ripped the bolt from his palm and threw it to the ground.

"Okay, that was impressive.", Marinae said to herself. She began to cast a spell.

Weamar fired his other pistol at the soldier but his shot missed completely. He put away his pistols and drew his rifle as Marinae's spell hit its target. Three flashes of light slammed into one brother's leather clad chest. He grunted at each impact. The other man stopped, realizing the futility of chasing the shadow mount, and ran back to aid his brother. The wounded officer locked eyes with Marinae. With a wicked grin he leaped into the air in an arc towards her. Marinae gasped, and quickly cast another spell at the flying man.

Jonathan reined in his steed as he saw the two men stop their pursuit. He turned his mount around so that he and Lynn could watch the battle unfold. Weamar's rifle shot barely grazed the leaping monk's shoulder, tearing leather, cloth and flesh. Marinae's spell brought more pained grunts from the wounded monk but she could not prevent him from landing his blow. The Falkovnian dropped to the ground in front of Marinae and struck her with both hands. The blow landed in the middle of her chest with fearsome force, cracking her breastbone and several ribs.

Lynn winced as she watched Marinae stagger and groan. "We need to go back and help them.", she told Jonathan.

"They chose to fight.", Jonathan replied unfeelingly.

"But they're my friends.", Lynn pleaded. "I can't leave them."

"Getting the hands to Kendra, that's what matters.", Jonathan said sternly. Then his voice softened. "And then you can be with Eliza.", he added.

Seeing the second brother running towards him, David drew his weapon and charged out to meet him. The two clashed with a titanic noise. David's enhanced strength from the gloves gave him the advantage and he drove his blade into the flesh of his opponent's side. The cut was deep but not fatal.

Marinae was in too much pain to cast another spell. She staggered away from the monk who moved towards her. But the Falkovnian's mocking grin was wiped away when he felt the sting of Weamar's acid blade across his back.

"I'm going to take my pain out in teeth on this bastard!", Marinae thought to herself.

Marinae grabbed for her staff and attempted to swing it at the monk, but the pain in her chest caused her to miss wildly. Ignoring Weamar, the officer pressed his attack on the wounded sorceress. He easily turned her staff aside and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground. Whether by rage or hubris, the man left himself open to Weamar's continued assault whose enchanted blade bit deeply into his flesh.

"Glaaack...rrrrkkkk...", Marinae gasped as the monk slowly choked the life out of her.

Marinae dropped her staff and put her hands on her attacker's ears, palms-inward. A bright light burst from the warrior's mouth, nose and eyes as Marinae released the fury of her magic directly into his brain. The influx of energy caused the man to collapse in paroxysm of agony, dropping Marinae as his body shook uncontrollably. Soon his twitching body lay still and Marinae sagged to the ground, close to death. She lay there stunned as the pain wracked her body, and though they were no longer touching her, she could still feel the monk's steel fingers wrapped around her throat.

"We have to help them.", Lynn pleaded again.

Jonathan frowned, but he knew that if he wanted to have any chance with Lynn that he'd better do what she wanted. He nudged his phantom mount towards the group but rode slowly, hoping that they wouldn't quite make it there in time.

Marinae's head was spinning. She felt hands on her neck and saw a double-image of Jonathan's caresses and the attacker's choking. Then the double-image of the face was consumed by flames. Marinae tried to cry out and ended up coughing instead. Weamar rushed to her side and examined her wounds. There was nothing that looked fatal, but he knew that she needed help soon, and that she couldn't be moved for fear of causing worse injury.

The frenzy of battle caused both David and his opponent to make risky moves. David's short sword cleaved a deep gash down the right side of the officer's chest but the young man received nothing more than a powerful punch straight in the face in return for his troubles. Stunned and bleeding from his freshly broken nose, David overextended himself on his next attack and the Falkovnian drove his knee hard into David's stomach. The prematurely aged man fell to the ground gasping for air.

"David!", Lynn called out.

Lynn jumped off the phantom horse and raced to David's side, drawing her purple katana and standing between David and the soldier. Lynn closed her eyes and saw the area in her mind. The monk stood menacingly in front of her. She held her ground with her katana in front of her, but she wouldn't attack first. Jonathan sat on his mount nearby, watching, and ready to rush to Lynn's aid or grab the Hands of Balican off of her if he needed to.

The remaining captain snarled fiercely. "I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart, little girl.", he sneered. Then he spun around on one foot, bringing the other up in a kick aimed at taking Lynn's head off. But Lynn's supreme awareness allowed her to duck the attack easily.

Lynn ignored the captain's taunts and pretended that she was back at her old school doing sparring practice again. She moved her blade to block his attacks but the captain was not easily discouraged. So Lynn decided that she was going to have to hurt him to make him stop, although it hurt her to do so. As the captain threw another punch, with a grace fitting her surname, Lynn smoothly deflected the thrust of his arm while drawing the edge of her blade deeply along it. The captain cursed as blood flowed down his arm.

"Please. I don't want to hurt you.", Lynn said calmly. But instead of discouraging the captain, she only enraged him.

Jonathan giggled at Lynn's remark and pointed his finger at the angry monk. Kiri was surprised that Lynn was so good with a blade and was glad about not having tried anything with her.

"I'm going to kill you, you fucking bitch!", the captain shouted as he attacked her with renewed vigor.

Weamar ran down the path towards Lynn, David, and the remaining Falkovnian. When he arrived he saw that Lynn seemed to be holding her own and so he knelt down to check on David's wounds. There was blood all over David's face, and as Weamar gently wiped it away he noticed that the one-eyed man's nose was very, very broken. David was lucky that no bone had been driven into his brain. Weamar did what he could to help him.

Lynn and the monk continued to battle. The captain couldn't find a way through Lynn's defenses and was growing desperate. Like an animal, he lunged at Lynn, heedless of her words and seemingly only intent on her death. But he only found his own demise in such a reckless act as his charge forward caused him to be impaled upon Lynn's stone blade. Slowly, the rage and hate faded from the man's eyes until only a dull reflection of his last sight remained.

Lynn saw nothing and kept her eyes closed as she felt the captain fall to the ground. She slowly pulled her katana out of the dead man and wiped it off quickly. Then she put it away and knelt down next to David, opening her eyes once more.

Jonathan made a shooting sound and 'fired' his finger at the dead soldier. "Should have listened to the lady.", he chuckled.

David's face was swelling up from the punch. Through labored breaths he asked, "Lynn, are you alright?"

Lynn nodded. "Are you going to be all right?", she asked with a worried expression on her face.

"You know me. I take a beating and come right back for more.", David said grimacing, but there was no humor in his voice, only pain.

"I shouldn't have left you alone to fight them.", Lynn said, guilt filling her voice. "I shouldn't have walked away."

"Looked like it provided the opening we needed to me.", Weamar said in all honesty.

"I ran.", Lynn confessed, brushing aside Weamar's comment. "I was scared. I should never have listened to Jonathan."

David pulled off his gauntlets and gently took Lynn's hand in both of his. He said nothing.

Lynn let David hold her hands and kept confessing, "He wanted to take the hands back to Kendra. But it isn't that important. I would have given them the hands if keeping them meant that you and Weamar and Marinae were going to end up dead. I know that the hands were our part of the deal, but I would've done another quest. I would've gone back into that awful tomb if that's what it took to get Eliza back."

"I can't bear to see you hurt.", Lynn said and she began to cry.

"Nor can I.", David replied.

Jonathan groaned and rode far enough away so that he didn't have to hear Lynn any more. Weamar likewise left the two alone and walked back to check on Marinae. Jonathan rode next to him.

"Is Marinae dead?", Jonathan asked, not seeming to care very much.

"No, she's not, though she's not in good shape.", Weamar replied.

"Wonders never cease.", Jonathan said with a little smile, but he was the only one who found that at all amusing. Jonathan stopped and Weamar kept walking.

Weamar knelt down next to Marinae. She was badly hurt. The hand prints around her throat were now a blackish purple in color and her breathing was shallow. Marinae was starting to come to and she was wondering where she was, and who she was. Weamar pulled a few bad smelling herbs out of a pouch and managed to get Marinae to swallow them.

"Just keep as still as you can, moving could make it worse.", Weamar advised.

Marinae gave up trying to move her head to look around. "Did you get them?", she whispered.

"We did. The other guy almost leapt onto Lynn's sword.", Weamar grinned.

"Knew...should...r...r…retired...last...adven.", Marinae tried to get out while coughing.

"You there?", Marinae thought to Rambis.

Rambis crawled out from behind a rock and nuzzled her cheek. "I'm sorry. I was so afraid.", he apologized.

"You were smarter than me, silly cat.", Marinae said. "I wish I could just use mind speech for anyone. It hurts to talk."

Marinae spent a little energy and brought her hand up to rub her kitty, then she concentrated on digesting the nasty smelling herbs.

"Bleh!", she managed to get out. The herbs tasted as bad as they smelled.

"No...human...ever seen...elf make face like...this...and...lived.", Marinae gasped as glared at Weamar. "Kill you...later...k?"

"Deal.", Weamar said smiling.

"Am I...only...injured?", Marinae asked.

"What else would you be?", Weamar replied.

Marinae hoped she looked frustrated. "Any...else?", she said, clarifying what she'd meant.

The light came on in Weamar's head. "David's nose is badly broken. I don't know if he's more badly hurt than that."
 

David cradled Lynn in his arms and brought her head to his chest. The awful feelings began to surge inside Lynn and she remembered the night the spirit used him to attack her. Quickly she pulled back and looked at David's forearms. The bandages had come loose in the battle and the wounds underneath could be seen clearly. Lynn shivered and pulled away from David, looking around for the spirit. David let Lynn go. He closed his eyes and let his head fall to the ground.

"No!", Lynn shouted. She listened to see if David was still breathing. To her relief he was.

David's breathing was very shallow. His eyes opened a little and he looked up at Lynn sadly. Lynn felt guilty about pulling away from David and knew what she had to do.

"Eliza, forgive me.", Lynn whispered. Then she bent down and kissed David with all the love and passion that she had kept inside for so long. As David's lips met Lynn's he felt young again. He felt like that nervous, awkward young boy that he'd thought that he'd left behind so long ago. The passion and the softness in Lynn's touch reminded him of that night they'd spent together back in his home town. David softly touched Lynn's face as he returned her kiss with an equal measure of love and passion. All the pain, present and past, seemed to melt away and a comforting darkness covered his vision. As the kiss ended David's mind drifted off into unconsciousness.

Lynn sat next to him and felt through her ring. She felt guilty about kissing David and needed to feel Eliza's love to make her guilt go away. She felt Eliza on the other side, far away, but as strong as ever.

"Eliza.", Lynn said softly, filled with anguish. "We'll be there soon. We'll be together soon."
 

"Jon'than...still...'roun'?", Marinae said, growing drowsier.

"Yes, still with us.", Weamar replied. "Acting a bit weird, but that's probably understandable. Now shut up and rest."

Marinae didn't need to try. The herbal mixture was causing a pleasant numbing sensation to spread across her body.

"Tell him...sorry.", Marinae said before going to sleep.

Weamar nodded.
 

Jonathan paced back and forth on his mount. "Come on. Come on.", he said to no one in particular. The woman he was imploring to hurry up was many days' travel away, and although Kendra's power was great, pulling the Beast out of Eliza took a lot out of her, and she needed time to recover.

Weamar strolled up to Jonathan, carrying Marinae's message. "Marinae said to tell you she's sorry for things earlier today.", he said apologetically. "So am I. We came to the wrong conclusions and acted rashly."

"Well, to some extent, apparently.", Weamar added to himself.

"Is she sorry that she tried to kill me, or sorry that she didn't kill me?", Jonathan said, looking as annoyed as Weamar had ever seen him look.

"You look unharmed to me, that's unlikely if she was trying to kill you.", Weamar said, losing a little of his apologetic tone. "I'm sorry I shot at you, I was trying to injure, not kill you, when you ran."

"What-ever.", Jonathan replied in a huff.

"She didn't have much time to explain her motives to me before she passed out.", Weamar continued. "Perhaps you can ask her when she wakes up."

"I think that I know.", Jonathan said with a brief smile, remembering the way he'd mistreated her and then dumped her for Lynn. Then he frowned and started pacing back and forth on his phantom steed again. Kiri was bored with this group of people. She figured that she'd done as many of them as she could get away with without forcing them to do it with witchcraft. She was anxious to get back to the castle and try her luck with the young priestess.

Jonathan looked up into the sky. A big smile came across his face. "Ah, it would seem our transportation has finally arrived.", he said cheerfully.

Weamar looked up along with him as did Lynn. Circling above they could see a rather large, black bird. Its path circled the sun. With each pass, the bird, which Weamar now recognized as the raven he'd seen twice before, grew larger. Eventually its wings were large enough to block out the sun. The unnatural eclipse plunged the path into a night-like darkness which grew deeper by the moment. Lynn clung to the hope that it was all just a spell that would take her back to the castle and Eliza.

In the darkness a tingling at the edge of Lynn's senses tugged at her attention. There was some movement near the bodies of the other soldiers. Lynn turned to see a hazy, man-like form standing over the body of Colonel Vedarrak. It reached one of its arms down and the misty form flowed into the nose and mouth of the dead Falkovnian. Then Lynn could see no more as the blackness became all encompassing.

"It's...", Lynn said out loud but didn't finish her thought. She reached out and held David's hand.

When light was restored, they found themselves in the courtyard of Kendra's grand castle. Jonathan dismounted and snapped his fingers. The horse disappeared.

"I'll get someone to help with your friends.", he said and hurried up the stairs of the castle.

As Weamar watched him he wondered why someone who was a slave in Kendra's castle would be so eager to return. Then he realized that Jonathan had been working for her all along.