Odyssey (mgc-1) by Vance Moore

Author:Vance Moore [Moore, Vance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf_fantasy

CHAPTER 14

Kamahl and Seton drove themselves hard up the road, pursuing both Kirtar and Laquatus. It took days to finally flush themselves of the ambassador's animals. They had been relentlessly pursued, the beasts continuing long after the merman and his party departed. Only the combination of the barbarian's flaming barriers to impede pursuit and the druid's constant effort to break the spell finally won them through. Each time the druid erased the implanted commands, he turned the creatures back to the forest. The repetitious contact with the animals led Seton to suspect that something beyond the ambassador and his lackeys was affecting the creatures of the west. Riding in the wake of

Kirtar's forces confirmed that something was wrong.

They returned to the village where they had battled Laquatus and his minions, but the site was deserted. Kamahl found his horse grazing in a deserted field and moved to a narrower mount, much to the relief of his legs. They continued west, looking in vain for the ambassador and his minions. Whether by magic or good trailcraft on the part of Laquatus's mercenaries, they could not track the aristocrat and his murderous cronies.

Soon enough they did find the trail of Lieutenant Kirtar. Dead animals and markers for fallen Order soldiers began to appear. Within a day of leaving the village they came upon a gravestone. The marker was nothing extraordinary, a simple boulder with the sigil of the Order and the troop name.

"The warriors of Eiglin," Seton said, identifying the unofficial symbol of the lieutenant's command. The soldier was interred in frozen ground. The dirt was enchanted to be as resistant as iron, denying scavengers an easy meal. The resting place would be recorded for eventual reburial in the mausoleums of the Order or the graveyards of the soldier's people.

Filled with hope that they would soon meet Kirtar and their search would be over, the two continued on. Instead they found more of the Order's passing slaughter.

They followed long runs of animals hunted down by soldiers until there was nothing left alive. The barbarian and the centaur were forced to backtrack as the trails ended in piles of dead flesh. Soon they neared the edge on the plains and entered the realm usually ceded to the forest.

The killing of animals continued even as the villages were left behind, angering the druid to greater and greater heights.

"There is no sign that these animals threatened anyone. The Order destroys anything in its path. Perhaps," he said darkly, "the waves of animals are right to kill, with such enemies waiting to come within the trees."

The barbarian rode with his axes loosely tied to his saddle, instantly ready at hand. Such destruction seemed pointless to the mountain mage. The Order had the right to protect itself from attack, but such indiscriminate slaughter must provoke a reaction. Seton assured him that the peoples of the forest were not behind the current attacks. The killing would not curb further animal incursions, for the beasts lacked the intelligence to react to such dangers.

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