Kaelor Vex's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

Kaelor climbed the stairs first, hammer in hand. Ruby followed with the silver band tucked in her belt. The pup trotted behind them, blue markings faint in the daylight. Cold swamp air met them at the door. Kaelor stopped hard. Ruby bumped into his back. Men ringed the clearing. A dozen of them, maybe more, in dark armor. They held blades and spears leveled at the door. Kaelor knew their marks. These were the warlord's soldiers. His raised hammer in the swamp had drawn them, just as he feared. "Stay behind me," Kaelor said low. "Get back inside." "I'm not hiding in a hole," Ruby snapped. She stepped up beside him instead. "Ruby. Now." He shoved her toward the door. She shoved back. "Quit pushing me around, cat man." A figure parted the ring of soldiers. He was old and hooded, shorter than his men but wider through the chest. Red eyes burned under the hood. A crooked staff swung in one fist. His men lowered their heads as he passed. Kaelor's stomach turned to stone. He knew this face from his mother's stories. This was the right hand of the man who burned his family. "Malakar Bloodstave," Kaelor said. "The exile lives." Malakar's voice was dry as ash. He studied the hammer. "And carries his grandfather's toy. My master will want to see that." Kaelor gripped the handle. "Come and take it." Ruby moved before he could stop her. She lunged sideways, snatched a fallen branch, and swung at the nearest soldier. The branch cracked against his helmet. "Get away from him!" she shouted. "Ruby, no!" Kaelor reached for her. Two soldiers seized her arms. She kicked and bit. It did nothing. They dragged her toward Malakar, and her boots plowed lines in the mud. The old man's hand closed around her red hair. Ruby went still, chin up, breathing hard. "Let her go," Kaelor said. "She is nothing to you." "Then you will trade nothing for her." Malakar smiled. His staff tip glowed dull red. "The hammer. Yourself. Or I open her throat here in the reeds." Kaelor's mind raced. Twelve blades against one hammer. If he fought, Ruby died first. He looked at her face. She stared back, angry and scared, and she had swung that branch for him. He knelt in the mud. He laid the hammer down. "Take it. Take me. Let her walk." "Bold terms from a man on his knees." Malakar nodded to his soldiers. They pulled Kaelor's arms behind him and bound his wrists. But the old man did not release Ruby. "She comes too. My master enjoys guests." The soldiers hauled them both toward the trees. Behind them, the pup barked once and bolted into the reeds. Kaelor watched it vanish. The hammer lay in the mud, and his hands were tied. He was a prisoner now, marching toward the throne he meant to steal back, in chains and with Ruby beside him.