The Phoenix Ring(27)

The man only laughed. "That's quite cute, mage. No, I have a much, much better idea."

And then Aidan heard a sound that made his blood run cold. The rasp of a sword being pulled from its sheath.





13





Aaliyah thought about a net trap a moment before Aidan put his foot  forward. She dove away from the hapless boy the moment she heard the  click, though the net nearly snagged her foot as her body flew through  the air. She instinctively corrected herself in midair and landed  rolling, coming up with her bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.  She heard a man's voice, followed by Timothy, who was bravely but  stupidly yelling out a defiance. The young girl took a deep breath and  braced her back against a tree, slowing her heartbeat and quelling the  battle rage that stirred in the heart of each and every amogh, waiting  to be awakened.

She opened her eyes and stepped out from her cover, pulling back her bow  as her newfound enemy unsheathed his sword. He, like his friend, was  dressed all in black, and even wore a black headscarf.

"Touch 'em and die, traitor," she said, her arrow aimed to pierce the man's heart.

The other amogh stopped moving at the sound of her voice and slowly turned, a confident smile on his face.

"I was wondering when you would show up. I owe you for what you did to  Seoul," he said, letting his sword swing loosely at his side.

Aaliyah kicked herself inwardly. The man was standing directly in front  of the net. If she tried to shoot him and he avoided the shot, which she  was sure he would, the arrow would hit one of the mages. She heard a  rustling in the brush behind her and knew she was surrounded, so there  was no escaping into the forest either.

Then she saw it. A large, flat stone, lying against a tree at just the  right angle. She took aim and released the arrow, letting her instincts  decide where to shoot.

Of course it flew true, past the amogh's head and deflecting off the  rock. It brushed past the upper strands of the net and nearly hit her  enemy, who ducked before it could end his life, before finally embedding  itself in a tree.

"You missed," he said, seeming to enjoy himself.

"No I didn't," Aaliyah countered.

Her adversary raised an eyebrow a moment before the net snapped, sending  the mages sprawling onto the forest floor. The arrow had frayed the  strands just enough to allow the net to break.

The black-garbed warrior spun around, sword at the ready, but Aidan was  already standing with his staff in hand. Now it was their enemy who was  stuck. If he tried to attack Aidan, then he would end up with an arrow  in his back. If he tried to attack Aaliyah, then he would be assaulted  by the mage, who seemed to understand that his retractable blade would  be more effective than spells and was brandishing it accordingly.

Slowly the man turned from front to back, sizing up each threat and giving Timothy time to find his staff and stand.                       
       
           



       

"Get out of here," Aaliyah said, never taking her eyes off of her enemy.

Aidan shook his head. "I'm not going-"

"Now, you stupid mage!" Aaliyah yelled, feeling the body heat of another person rise behind her.

Timothy understood the urgency in her voice and grabbed Aidan's shoulder, half dragging him into the trees.

Aaliyah let her muscles relax. Her charges were safe for the moment, and that was what mattered.

The older amogh laughed darkly. "That was impressive. It's been a long  time since I've seen one of us that can predict the immediate future.  It's quite a shame. You do know you're on the losing side, don't you?"

"Probably," Aaliyah said, "But I plan to go down swinging."

Aaliyah let the arrow fly before ducking underneath the fist that swung  at her from behind, sending her knee into her attacker's groin. She had  the extreme satisfaction of watching his eyes widen before he dropped to  the ground clutching his gut. She had taken the first step into the  forest when the first man hit her from behind, pinning her to the  ground. She felt something close over her mouth and instantly held her  breath, struggling to get out from under the far larger amogh, but to no  avail. Eventually, unable to hold it any longer, Aaliyah sucked in,  tasting the poison rush into her lungs. Dark dots swam over her vision,  and then she saw no more.





Aidan and Timothy crashed through the last of the trees, scratched and bruised but otherwise unharmed.

"Why …  why aren't they following us," Timothy panted.

"They don't have to," Aidan said, his own lungs ready to burst. "They know we'll try to rescue Aaliyah."

"What?" Timothy asked, starting to regain his breath. "Are you insane?  They'll kill us all! We should leave the amogh. And don't you think this  would go faster if we walked to the shore instead of flying on a  griffin?"

Aidan could only stare at his friend. The mage had been so hopelessly  possessed by the goblin that he could no longer think for himself.

"We're going after Aaliyah. She's as necessary as we are." Aidan said.

Timothy's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

Aidan finally caught his breath and looked out towards the city.  Everything was so different from the dark, green forest just a few feet  behind them. The dirt was red, the sun hot, and the air dry. For a  moment, Aidan wondered what had happened to make the land so desolate,  and then he notice the fields. Starting in the distance and stretching  as far as the eye could see, fields of wheat, barley, and other plants  crisscrossed the land. They were left untended, full of weeds and  thorns. Aidan picked up a clod of red dirt and smashed between his  fingers. There was no nutrition in the ground. It had probably once held  its own well grown fields, until the plants had sucked the soil dry.  There were only two remarkable features in this land. The first was  Argentah itself, the structures rising three, sometimes even four  stories high. The buildings were created of very kind of material, and  the entire city was surrounded by massive stone walls. From where they  were standing, Aidan estimated that the city was about five miles away.

The second structure of any importance was a road leading to the city.  It was an unremarkable road, dirt paved and uncared for, yet it was  filled with people. On horses, wagons, and just walking, all types of  people traveled that road.

It was this road that Aidan and Timothy headed for, occasionally looking  over their shoulders to ensure they weren't being followed. They fell  into line with a caravan of shirtless men, sun tanned and bearing  tattoos.

Sailors, Aidan thought.

Normally it would be strange to see them so far from the shore, but it  could only be expected in Argentah. Often, sailors would work for a  group of merchants that traded between the dwarven and elven kingdoms,  and were trained to sail any ship in the merchant's fleet. They would  often travel with valuable goods, so that only one crew came in contact  with any liabilities.

These particular men bore swords and were surrounding a large wagon,  which had the added protection of four armored guards donning spears.

Aidan was about to dive into the throng of people when something  happened that he hadn't expected. The sailors parted, allowing room for  them on the road.

Aidan nodded thanks to the men who had stepped aside, but they only  averted their eyes. The two mages joined the group, but there seemed to  be a bubble of space around them that no one else would penetrate.

What's wrong with these people? Aidan thought.

And then he remembered. This was the first time he had been around  ordinary humans since the fair all those months ago. Then, he had been a  fatherless peasant, more likely to be kicked out of the way than to  have a path made for him. Now though, he was a King's mage, capable of  slaying or saving any of these people with a single word.                       
       
           



       

Eventually, as the road got closer to the city, the mash of people  became closer and moved slower, except for around the two boys.  Eventually, the people stopped moving altogether. Aidan was about to  stop, but Timothy kept walking forward, his back straight and head held  high. The other people on the road continued to move out of their way,  some moving entire wagons off the road to let the young sorcerers pass.  Aidan and Timothy passed every type of person possible, from street  urchins to the only person who didn't step out of their way, a fat man  in a carriage holding a governor's scepter.

At long last they came to the gates of the city, where fifteen soldiers  stood at attention. Five were armed with swords, five with pikes, and  five with crossbows. Those with swords were having a heated conversation  with the owner of a wagon stacked with at least three dozen cages, each  housing a chicken.