The Lost Runes Saga [Epic Fantasy]

THIRTY-SEVEN

After gathering himself, Vidar continued to the house. The streets were empty, the house quiet. It rested right up against the wall around Halmstadt, so this next step needed to be carried out with care, or the result would be a hole right through it. After waiting a moment longer, thinking Tyv might emerge, Vidar drew upon his heartwell, allowing the dragon's essence into his body as he channeled it into the logiz rune. This would not be enough, for what he was planning, however, and a quick swipe at his satchel provided a handful of sowilo runes. After triggering them all, Vidar sauntered up to the house and placed them by the wall, before retreating to his position a little farther up the street.

"Anyone still in there by the count of ten will see the roof collapsing in on their heads!"

A few seconds later, the door opened and a man stepped out, thin with long matted hair, a nose broken somewhere in his past, and red eyes, like he'd been crying. He held his hands up in the air. "Wait!"

"Who are you?" Vidar asked.

The man trembled. "Tyv."

This frightened ghost of a person did not strike Vidar as the leader type. Not at all. "You're not."

"Please," the man said, putting his hands down and wringing them.

"Is he in there?" Vidar asked, his voice conversational, friendly, even.

The man glanced over his shoulder, into the darkness beyond the still open door. "He said he'd kill my family, my daughters. Please."

"Are they in there?" Vidar asked. "Your family, I mean."

He shook his head. "No, no. Thank the angels, no."

"But Tyv is?"

The man nodded, licked his lips, then sunk to his knees. "Please."

"Out of the way," Vidar said. "Go get your family and beg Fjodor's protection."

"Fjodor?" the man's eyes widened in fright, but he moved aside and scurried down another street.

"Tyv!" Vidar shouted. He waited a moment, but when no reply was forthcoming, he leveled his palm at the building and triggered the logiz rune. This was not the time nor the place for second guessing himself. Not when he'd just waded through bodies to get to this point. Fire gushed from the logiz rune in his palm, flowing out as an almost liquid heat that reached the building in an instant. The roof caught fire as Vidar moved his palm, directing the raging torrent of flames downward to the sowilo runes.

One explosion, then a second, a third, and many more, rocked the building with a deafening series of cracks. The blast forced Vidar back a step, despite the distance, and the sound was deafening. In one moment, the building, made of stone and timber, was reduced to rubble and dust.

Just as the building fell in on itself, the screeching above turned to a roar that made Vidar jump, turn, and look up. A flap of wings sounded so close he thought they would envelop him. The tips of two massive wings dipped beneath the clouds above, only to disappear a moment later as the enormous beast swept past.

Vidar let out a long, uneasy breath, waiting for the dragon to return. It didn't, but perhaps it was not the best idea to use dragon fire when dragons were circling above. After waiting another few moments, he approached the collapsed building to make sure the fire hadn't spread to the ones next to it. With the roof having fallen in, there was no searching the site for bodies, but he knew no one inside that building could have survived. Still, he waited a moment longer. Skulking men moved in the periphery as a crowd gathered, curious people, leaving their houses and looking up, perhaps thinking only a dragon could have brought such destruction. None approached, and Vidar left, satisfied, his task completed. With a little luck, this would make the others back off as well, once what happened here reached their ears.

###

Ida's part was already in motion, it turned out. The girls were out getting their hands on paint to craft the algiz runes. On Vidar's instruction, Ida promised her people would paint circles throughout Halmstadt and mark them on a map for the rune scribes' guild, so they could then send their people out to finish the task by crafting the runic symbols themselves, along with the styrka runes to rejuvenate them.

Before Vidar left, Ida stopped him. "Fjodor wants a word."

"Why?" Vidar asked.

"I don't know. You think he'd tell me?"

"Later," Vidar said. "I have to go back and make sure Alvarn talked to the rune scribes' guild into agreeing with our plan. Just make sure Fjodor's men help with the paint and the circles. We have a lot of ground to cover."

"Fjodor's men are dying in the street, Vidar."

He stopped and turned back, seeing Ida restring her bow. "But I eliminated Tyv."

She chuckled. "Hasn't anyone told you? Thieves are like cockroaches. They can survive almost anything, and even if their leader is dead, that will not stop the fighting."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"You could have told me that two hours ago," Vidar muttered. "So, how do we stop it?"

"Maybe that's what Fjodor wanted to speak with you about. I've heard murmurs of a meeting between the leaders."

"Murmurs?" Vidar asked. "You're one of those leaders. Aren't you invited?"

She gave him a look that told him everything he needed.

"You're not invited because you're a girl," he stated.

A nod.

Vidar sighed. "Where can I find him?"

Ida nodded to her second-in-command, who handed over a piece of paper.

"Can't you just tell me?" Vidar asked, too tired to even attempt to read the small lettering.

"I don't know how to read," Ida said.

Vidar gave the other woman a look, and she shrugged. "Didn't read it."

"Humor me," he said, holding it up for her.

She glanced at it and grunted. "It's a warehouse by the northwestern dock." She squinted. "Third one closest to the wall separating the rich folks from the rest of us."

"Thank you," Vidar said. Now he didn't have to spend the better part of an hour deciphering another note.

"Oh, one other thing," Vidar said. "Do you have any spears? The ones used by the soldiers, the sturdy ones."

"Looking to become a fighter?" Ida asked, looking like she was holding back laughter.

"Something like that," he said.

###

With a new spear in hand, Vidar made it back to the house and found Erik still guarding it, Rend sleeping, and no sign whatsoever of Alvarn.

"Did he return and then leave again?" Vidar asked.

Erik had stationed himself in front of the shop, peering out through the window. "Alvarn? Haven't seen him since you two left together." He pointed at the spear. "Is that for me?"

"No, it's for me," Vidar said, pulling it back and away from Erik's reaching hand.

"I wouldn't mind a spear, though," Erik said. "Some reach, you know?"

"I'll see about you getting one. Talking to the guild shouldn't take this long," Vidar said, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"You think he's in trouble?"

"I hope not, but this means I'll have to go check. We need those bastards to make this work."

"You want me to come? I can swing this dagger around."

"I need you to stay here and guard the shop and Rend."

"Fine," Erik said. "Gettin' hard staying awake, though. Nothing is happening. I'm even getting bored with the dragons making all that racket up there."

"I'm sure you'll be wanting to return to that boredom soon enough," Vidar said. "No more attacks on the shop, then?"

"None."

"Good. That's good," Vidar said, heading to the back in search of a saw.

Erik followed. "What are you doing?"

"A weapon."

"Like the stick you grabbed before. You owe me for that one, by the way."

"I'm sure I'll find a new stick to replace it when we don't have dragons breathing down our necks. And yes, like before, this time with something a little more sturdy."

"You going to keep this pointy part?"

"No," Vidar decided. "I'd rather have a rune up there."

"That makes sense, I suppose," Erik allowed, wincing as the dragons let out a massive roar up above.

Vidar frowned and stopped his rummaging, waiting to see if they would attack after all. Their roar was loud enough to make his chest thrum. In the end, though, it fell silent. They held their breath and waited.

"I think they left," Vidar said after a long moment.

"They returned," Rend croaked from over by the stairs.

Vidar turned toward him. "You should be in bed, Rend. Gather your strength for what's coming."

He moved down the steps and even put some weight on his bad leg without falling, quite the accomplishment considering they'd almost amputated it. "I help."

"Can't have you running around yet," Vidar said. "Stay here with Erik. We need you safe for the plan."

"Plan?"

"I'm sure we told you earlier. You're going to talk with the dragon riders from the top of the rune scribes' guild."

"They'll never hear him," Erik said.

"I will think of something," Vidar said. "I'm sure there's a way."

Erik leaned in close to Vidar. "Don't leave me with that strange one. What if he tries to eat me or something?"

"I hungry," Rend said, a small smile on his face. "Like a dragon?"

"A joke? Please tell me that's a joke," Erik said.

Rend looked back at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"See?" Erik asked.

"You better get him some real food, then, before it's too late." Vidar chuckled as he placed the spear in a vise on the workbench and began sawing. He paused, then looked back to Rend on the stairs before putting the saw back down to walk up to the dragon rider, holding out his palm.

Rend jerked back, but then steadied himself under Vidar's glare. Little dragon essence remained in Rend's heartwell, so Vidar channeled from his own, just enough that the leg kept getting better. Dragon's essence regenerated at a snail's pace, and he would need a lot more before the night was through.

With that done, and Erik and Rend having gone back up the stairs to find something edible, Vidar considered the situation while working on the staff. He weighed his options and found it wasn't much of a contest, not with his friend missing.

Fjodor would have to wait until this more important task was completed. Hopefully, it was just taking Alvarn a while to make Viktoria understand, but he would have to go there nonetheless to make sure.

But first, he needed to complete the staff. Once he sawed off the top and the rounded bottom, he carved the lines for a styrka rune on one end and stakra at the other before filling the grooves in with red paint. After adding algiz runes for protection in the middle, near where his hands would hold the thing, he added stakra runes pointing in all directions near the ends of it. The rounded shape of the spear shaft made for a difficult time keeping the runic symbols in proper proportions, but once completed, he looked at the staff with approval. Much better than his first attempt.

For a moment, he considered adding logiz runes as well, but decided against it. If he lost the weapon and it fell into the wrong hands, the logiz secret would be out, and there would be no reining it back in. Bad enough, Viktoria had almost learned of its design when she lunged for him back in her office.

Holding the staff once the paint dried enough was reassuring. Its weight felt good in his hands. He wouldn't go into the guild unprepared this time. Vidar was done being naïve, done allowing others to take advantage of him and his discoveries. It wasn't even about riches. It was about not letting people step all over him. With that, it was time to return to the rune scribes' guild.