The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel by Martin V. Parece II Read Free Book Online Page B

closer than he realized, as hundreds of arrows found openings in armor. A shout came from the darkness ahead.
    “Dahken Cor! Do not stop now! You are very nearly safe!” the voice implored as another volley of arrows was loosed at the Loszians behind them.

3.
     
    “However, Dahken Cor, Her Majesty did not inform me that you would be bringing a nursery with you,” Thom said. Cor and Thyss sat with Thom in his private quarters, eating their first hot and hearty meal in days. Though he was loath to admit it, Taraq’nok did set a fine table. The rest of the Dahken were eating in one of the mess halls.
    Thom had explained to Cor the receipt of Queen Erella’s message and orders, and that he and his best men had come across the mountains. As it turned out, Thom was a fair strategist, and he had surmised that, though the Loszians would have been confused by the sudden attack from beyond their wall, they would not stay that way. He assumed they would pursue in force, and before leaving Fort Haldon, Thom had given orders to his second in command to follow with nearly the entire garrison. He had hoped to rendezvous with his garrison before the Loszians could chase them down. The children had caused him some grief however.
    “Believe me Thom that when I left Aquis I had no idea that I would find them.”
    “They are all,” Thom paused, not sure how to continue, “like you then?”
    “They are Dahken, yes,” Cor answered, bringing a laugh from Thom.
    “My apologies then! I thought your name was Dahken Cor, but Dahken is your? People?”
    “I suppose Dahken Cor is my name as much as anything else. We spring from Dahk, the Blood God,” Cor explained. “We are a race, essentially, but we come from all over the world. As all people have blood, you have as much chance of having a Dahken son as I.”
    “Dahk the Blood God,” said Thom, leaning back in his chair. “Sounds nefarious.”
    “I thought as much myself when I first found out,” Cor replied. “How did the queen know I was coming back to Aquis?”
    “Oh, Dahken Cor, don’t ask me such questions. As someone who cannot exist without a god, you of all people know the gods have their own wills in our lives. I am not a particularly pious man, but I know Her Majesty occasionally has words with Garod,” Thom explained with a shrug. He changed the subject without a second thought. “What are your plans now?”
    “If its all the same to you, Commander Thom, we’ll stay for a few days to let the children rest. Then I suppose we’ll make for Byrverus. I believe the queen and I have some matters to discuss. Is that acceptable to you, and can you can send a message to her?”
    “Yes to both questions,” Thom answered, pausing before he continued. “What of the poor girl?”
    Once the garrison had repelled the Loszians, the group had taken a few moments to regain their wits. Thyss allowed the Westerners to remove the bolt in her thigh and treat the wound. Amazingly, no one else was injured in the party with two exceptions. A crossbow bolt had shot through the flesh between Cor’s thumb and index finger on his left hand. He remembered it happening, but had paid it no mind. The bolt had continued on and into the back of the little girl he had scooped up off of the ground, and she had died at some point in their flight from the Loszians. When they discovered the cause of her death, it had taken several moments for Cor to fully realize what had happened. His vision turned red as rage consumed him, and Thom had to very nearly throw a bucket of cold water on him before he calmed down. Her name was Liya.
    “In their history, the Dahken always buried their dead warriors together in catacombs under their strongholds,” Cor explained, to himself as much as to Thom. “But, we have no strongholds or catacombs anymore, and she wasn’t a warrior, just a little girl. Perhaps you have a suitable place for her here?”
    “We will find her a resting place, Dahken Cor.”
     
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