Caracara's Hunt

Arawn would have laughed at such a sight if the man hadn"t sat on his horse with extreme aplomb. His posture was straight, and he looked like an iron puppet rather than a human. The man"s vizier was down, so Arawn couldn"t see any stretch of flesh.

"You"re trespa.s.sing," the horned man rasped. His voice had a strange breathiness to it, and he p.r.o.nounced words in a manner that made Arawn raise his eyebrows. Who spoke like that? "Lay your weapons and come peacefully if you want to live."

"Who are you?" Corwal asked, not showing a hint of fear. As if on accident, he let the ether materialize around his fingers so it would flash with bright light. "It"d be better if you didn"t try to obstruct me."

Unlike the bandits, the armed men didn"t flinch, let alone back off. They kept on staring at Corwal through the holes in their helmets without any emotion.

"You"re in Lord Katalan"s territory. Come with us peacefully, or you"ll regret it."

"Katalan…"

There was recognition in Corwal"s voice, but the name meant nothing to Arawn. He was sure he"d never heard it before.

"Let"s fight then," Corwal said as if he was suggesting to have dinner and opened the waterskin he"d borrowed from Eliot.

A water snake rushed out and went for the armed men without a second"s hesitation. They slashed at it with their swords, but the cut off pieces swiftly reattached to the original. The snake chose the leader"s horse and covered its face.

Terrified, the animal bucked, almost throwing its rider off. But the water still covered its eyes, nose, and mouth, and the horse began running wild. It bucked, threw its legs to the sides while shaking its head, and even reared up.

When that didn"t work, it fell on its back and began rolling around. The leader tried to jump off, but his armor was too heavy, preventing him from any great feats. He could only fall with the animal and hope he"d survive it.

The chaos brought by a single attack stunned Arawn. He"d thought Corwal would fight like before, aiming to kill his opponents straight away, but he went to sow disarray instead. While everyone was dodging the wild horse, he pulled out his sword and stepped forward, engaging anyone that came too close.

His moves were swift and precise, blocking the armed men"s strikes and managing to deal damage in return. Sometimes he went for their arms and legs, and sometimes for their animals. When he couldn"t pull back his sword fast enough to block another attack, he used a handful of water controlled with ether to distract his opponent.

Everything was done with such smoothness that Arawn had no doubt it was practiced a thousand times. But wasn"t Corwal a mage? What was he doing waving a sword?

"I appreciate that admiring gaze, but do you mind helping out a little?" Corwal asked between the clang of swords. The look he threw at Arawn was full of distaste.

Suddenly reminded of his duty, Arawn noticed that the main force was slowly regaining its order. The mad horse was subdued, and the soldiers had went down to help their leader stand up. In a few moments, they would come on their little group in full force.

Ether flocked to Arawn"s hands. He waited a moment, letting it reach its burning point, then slashed with his arms in the direction of the soldiers. The moment he let go, he realized what he"d done.

Those people didn"t want to kill them. They were just soldiers doing their job, protecting their lord"s home. Was it really necessary to kill them all? Who was he to do so? Was there not enough blood on his hands already?

But it was too late to stop the ether. Once released, it was no longer under his control. If he was Corwal, he could disperse it, but he had no idea how that worked. It couldn"t be too hard though, could it? He was a monster with unparalleled powers, so how could it be out of his reach?

Without thought, he reached for the ether flying toward the soldiers with his mind. It was about to go straight through them, and he didn"t have time to hesitate. He had to stop it!

The ether fought against him, not wishing to let go of the form it had taken. It was like a pit bull who"d closed its jaws around something. Death alone would part it with the thing it was holding.

"So be it," Arawn hissed through gritted teeth and formed a bolt of ether right before the soldiers.

The two powers clashed and burst into a shower of sparks. The impact threw the soldiers off their feet, sending them to the ground with a loud clang of their armor.

They were still alive though. "Alive…" Arawn whispered to himself, his hands shaking. He did not kill innocents. He wasn"t going to go down that path again.

Yet familiar words echoed in his mind, "You"re an abomination, a mistake." Hadn"t he been locked away because it was his fate to cause calamity wherever he went? His cursed power was just too much. It—

"What are you doing?" Corwal hollered at him, a note of worry entering his voice for the first time. "Before you!"

Arawn raised his head to look at him, then movement in the corner of his right eye caught his attention. He looked up and saw a man with a raised sword above his head. The soldier had lost his helmet somewhere along the way, and Arawn was presented with a mad grin.

"Die wretch!" the man screamed as his sword went down.

Ether rushed to Arawn"s hands, but he was too stunned to use it. Hadn"t the soldiers only wanted to take them in for questioning? He had barely saved them from his own attack, so why was one of them attempting to cleave him in half?

Something rammed into his shoulder at that moment, and the blade landed on it instead of Arawn. When he finally regained his senses, he saw Corwal already on his feet, his sword in the man"s throat.

"What were you thinking blanking out in the middle of a fight? Do you want to die that bad?" he asked in a harsh voice. There was fury in his eyes, but he didn"t have time for anything more as two soldiers rushed over. He pulled out his sword from the soldier"s throat and engaged the others.

Sitting on the ground, Arawn tried to blink his confusion away. His mind was a mess, and he couldn"t make heads or tails of what had just happened.

But the next moment he realized that it didn"t matter. Corwal was bleeding, a deep gash on his left arm inhibiting all his movements. Without help, he wouldn"t last more than a couple exchanges.

Guilt reared its head, and Arawn rushed to his feet. He would have time to examine everything later. Right then, he had to save the only person that had ever mattered in his life.

Yet as ether rushed to his hands again, he heard movement behind him. It wasn"t loud, but since he was standing a few meters away from the main fight, he noticed it. "Eliot!" he shouted and turned around.

It was too late, however. Gauntleted hands wrapped around the boy"s waist and a sword came to rest against his throat. "Seize or I"ll gut him!" the man shouted out.

His words went unheard in the general clamor.

Arawn wished to hammer him with a dozen slashes of ether, but he didn"t dare with Eliot so close. If he tried, the boy was as likely to be hit as the soldier behind him. Corwal however…

Whirling around, Arawn sent two bursts of ether into the men next to Corwal. He wasn"t aiming to kill them, just blast them away in case his aim was bad and he hit his friend.

It went true though, and when Corwal turned to him, he pointed behind them. Noticing that he had everyone"s attention, the soldier holding Eliot shouted out his demand again.

The other soldiers slowed, no longer rushing over. There were nasty grins on a few faces, but their owners didn"t dare to come closer by themselves.

"What do we do now?" Arawn asked in a whisper, taking a few steps back to stand by Corwal.

The man turned to him, exhaustion and annoyance on his face. "What can we do? Unless you have some spell I don"t know about to make him disappear, our options are limited to one." He dropped his sword and straightened up. "That"s why I told you it was a bad idea to bring him along."

He didn"t say more, but he didn"t have to—Arawn could finish it himself. "You"re enough deadweight already."

"We surrender!" Corwal called out in a clear voice.

There was mocking laughter and jeers from the soldiers, but the leader shushed them in a moment. He went to his dead horse and went through his saddlebags until he found two black handcuffs. They were sculpted without any skill, with many uneven edges.

"Raise your hands," he ordered, and Corwal did as told. Arawn hesitated for a moment, but upon seeing Eliot"s situation did the same.

The moment the onyx settled on his hands, he basked in its familiar presence. Like in the Gutter, ether distanced itself from him, even if only slightly. It was still there, only a hand"s reach away, but it no longer threatened to burst through him at a moment of inattention.

One soldier rushed forward, and before the leader could stop him, he punched Corwal in the face, sending him to the ground. Ether rushed to Arawn, but the leader grabbed the soldier and pulled him back.

"What do you think you"re doing?" he asked in his raspy voice, holding the soldier in an iron grip. "They"ve surrendered."

"He killed Telan!" the man growled. There was respect in his stance for the leader, but his eyes were killing Corwal a thousand times over. "Wretched mages, murdering anyone they don"t like."

"He was about to kill me," Arawn said with more than a little anger in his voice. "He deserved what he got."

The leader took off his helmet, revealing a grey-haired head. "You"re not helping your case, boy," he said with a frown. He then turned back to his soldier. "They"re prisoners and will be treated as such, no matter what happened during the battle. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir," the soldier said after a moment, but there was no conviction in his words.

The grey-haired old man frowned, but didn"t say anything, He motioned for the soldier in the woods to bring over Eliot and bound his wrists as well. Their horses were collected and brought into the squadron while the cart was left on the side of the road.

The trio, however, weren"t allowed to ride their horses. Only Eliot because of his age was taken by one of the soldiers while Arawn and Corwal were to walk in the middle of the group. Their handcuffs were wrapped in rope whose other end was held by the leader so he could drag them along if they decided to stop walking.

Soon, Arawn was out of breath and panting, even if the pace wasn"t fast. He didn"t have a great const.i.tution to begin with, and he"d walked earlier as well. His legs felt like they had bricks attached to them, but when he saw Corwal still moving, he didn"t dare to say anything. There was a long gash down the man"s arm, yet he didn"t say anything, just asked for it to be wrapped up so he didn"t bleed to death.

By the time they reached the lord"s mansion and were ushered into the dungeon, Arawn couldn"t feel his body. He lay on the ground, not caring for the cold or dampness. All that mattered to him was that he didn"t have to take another step.

Corwal was a bit more conscientious and found a straw bed in his cell to rest. His eyes closed in pain as he lowered himself, but that was all he allowed himself.

"Why did we have to fight?" Arawn suddenly asked from his cell. "We could have just surrendered straight away."

There was no answer for a time, and he thought Corwal had fallen asleep. He had already closed his eyes too when he heard him speak.

"These people are most likely the ones who kidnapped the princess. I didn"t think they would let us live the moment they put onyx handcuffs on our hands."

"Why did you believe them now then?"

"I didn"t. I just had no choice with Eliot in their hands." He sighed and his breathing evened out. "Confinement seems to agree with you. The moment I bring you out of one dungeon, you find a way to land us in another."

Arawn refused to give answer to that statement. He turned and resolutely fell asleep.