The Phoenix Ring(57)

The amogh warrior wasted no time lamenting his little brother, but ran to the fallen girl.

“Leonor, where is the baby?” he asked. He knew she didn’t have much time.

“Th-they took her,” she mumbled, struggling to keep her eyes half opened.

“Who? Who took her?” he asked, pressing his hands against the wound in her stomach in a futile attempt to staunch the blood flow.

“I don’t know. He-“ she had to stop to cough up even more blood, “he was dressed in deer skins. Go find her, now,” she said, feebly trying to push him away.

“I will, I promise,” he answered, keeping his face as straight as he could. “Just tell me one more thing. What was her name?”

“A-Aaliyah,” Leonor said, and then breathed her last, joining her husband in silence.

Borin stood slowly. “I’ll find you, Aaliyah,” he said, as his hands clenched into fists. “I swear I’ll never stop searching until you are found.”



And so he did. It was three months later that he killed the man clothed in deer skin and all his followers. He used poison to do it, making sure to let the solution be diluted enough to keep them in pain at least as long as they had let Leonor suffer. By the time he found them Aaliyah had already been sold, but to whom he never learned.

From there he spent six years of his life tracing the girl, always one step behind, leaving a string of bodies in his wake. Then, one day, she vanished.

He searched a whole year with no luck. It was then that he started drinking in the bars of Argentah. Fate would have it that he was sitting at the corner table of one such bar when he looked up and saw her. He was so used to seeing her in his dreams, in the face of every little girl he met; especially when he was drunk, that he was no longer surprised. The apparition would go away in a moment, and she would be replaced by a perfectly normal girl sitting with her wizard father.

Wait, a wizard? Borin thought, his senses suddenly on full alert, or at least as alert as they could be in a drunken stupor.

He looked up again. Though he had never seen her in the flesh, he had seen so many drawings, so many “Slave for Sale” posters, that her face would be forever ingrained in his memory.

For a moment he just watched her, feeling excitement replace disbelief. She was strong and graceful, even at seven years old. She was as beautiful as her mother, and as confident as her father, though her life had been filled with misery.

The wizard, also drunk, was having a very loud conversation with another man. Eventually, both ran out of ale and pushed their mugs into the girl’s hands. She turned and walked to the keg, her face devoid of any expression.

Borin saw his chance and stood, though it took him a moment to steady himself, and made his way to the girl’s master, politely waiting for a break in the conversation.

“Sir, I was wondering, is your girl for sale?” Borin asked.

The wizard barely even glanced up. “No, I’m afraid not. Took me a while to get one of her breed, and a lot of silver as well. I hear there are some fine children in the square, though.”

It took all Borin had to not clench his fists in anger. “I’m willing to pay in gold. What could one girl possibly mean to you that three other slaves couldn’t?”

“I told you, she’s a rare breed,” the wizard said, sounding a little frustrated. “Her blood is worth its weight in gold amongst wizards.”

Borin was horrified. “You’ve been taking her blood?”

The wizard finally stood. “Why should you care? Come Aaliyah,” he said as the girl returned, “we’re leaving.” He grabbed the girl’s wrist and was about to turn away when Borin desperately reached out and grabbed his arm.

The moment their skin made contact, it was as if all movement in the bar stopped. Borin could only assume that the energy coming from the wizard was strong enough for everyone else to feel.

“Amogh,” the sorcerer whispered.

Borin leaped back and unsheathed a dagger at the same time as the wizard, who also released his wand with his other hand.

Had both men been sober, then most likely the battle that would have ensued would have left every man, woman, and child in the bar slain. As it was, the wizard made the first slash, causing Borin to nearly fall over a table as he avoided the knife.

Borin’s physical prowess was far superior to the wizard’s, and he was fairly certain he could hold his ale better than his opponent. Unfortunately, he couldn’t fight back without risking hurting Aaliyah.

Someone yelled “Bar fight!” and chaos broke out. Borin found himself avoiding a punch from a stranger as he watched the wizard pick Aaliyah up with one arm and run for the exit.