The Daylight War

Arlen sighed. ‘Sometimes I think that I’m the one the world would be better off without.’

‘Say again?’ Renna asked. ‘You can’t seriously be comparing yourself to that …’

‘Ent excusing Jardir,’ Arlen said. ‘But try as I might, can’t help but think none of this would have happened, not to you, the Rizonans, or anyone, if I’d just kept our promise and stayed on the farm. Everyone’s looking to me to put things right, but how can I, when I’m the one made it all wrong?’

Renna gritted her teeth and slapped him in the face. Arlen recoiled, looking at her in shock. Evey and some of the patients looked up at the sound, but Renna ignored them.

‘Don’t you go looking surprised, Arlen Bales,’ she said. ‘You’re the one told me to slap the fool out of any not helping shore the wards, and it’s almost dark. You ent done nothing but true by anyone I seen, and we don’t got time for another lick of this nonsense.’

Arlen shook his head as if to clear it, and then suddenly he was smiling at her. ‘Love you, Renna Tanner.’

Renna felt a thrill rush through her, but embraced the feeling and let it pass. There was business to attend to. ‘Scrounged and made enough posts to go three-quarters of the way around the camp. Had to draw wards in the dirt to close the circuit.’

‘Never trust dirt wards,’ Arlen said.

‘Ent a fool,’ Renna said. ‘Posted guards with warded spears, but half Varley’s men are dozing like they’re playing possum on the road, and the other half are ready to piss themselves.’

Arlen nodded, and that hint of smile was back in the corner of his mouth. ‘Don’t worry. I’m getting good at this next part.’

Renna led the way to where the guards stood, and just as she’d said, there were half a dozen who gripped their new warded spears with shaking hands, and then another group, Varley’s bandits led by Donn and Brice, lounging on the ground playing Succour. Their warded weapons lay nearby, half forgotten. The wagons and warded tents were all shut, but there were plenty without such shelter that watched in fear as the sun set. Varley stood nearby, but still he held no weapon. He wrung his hat in his hands.

Everyone looked at Arlen as he passed. There were whispers from every part of the camp, and Renna even saw some of the wagon shutters and tent flaps peek open.

Arlen walked right over to Varley’s men, kicking a shaking cup of dice right from Donn’s hand.

‘Ay, what’s that about?’ the man cried.

‘The sun is setting and you’re playing at dice is what it’s about,’ Arlen snapped.

‘You crazy, Donn, talkin’ back to the Deliverer?’ Brice asked.

‘He ent the Deliverer,’ Donn said. ‘Said so himself.’ He turned to Arlen. ‘Sun ent gonna set for ten minutes, and there’s wards right there in the dirt for all to see.’

‘Can’t trust wards in the dirt,’ Arlen said.

Donn looked up. ‘Don’t look like rain to me.’

‘Ent just rain you got to worry about,’ Arlen said, going to inspect the wards. ‘Anything can scuff out a dirt ward.’ With that, he reached out with his sandalled foot and rubbed out a yard of Renna’s carefully drawn wards. She gasped, but Arlen laughed as the men scrambled to their feet, grabbing their weapons.

‘Ten minutes doesn’t feel like such a long time any more, does it?’ he called loudly, for the whole camp to hear.

‘Creator, are you cracked?’ Varley cried, but Arlen ignored him, striding back over to the dicers.

He nodded to Donn, now gripping his new warded spear tightly. The others, too, had quickly grabbed their warded weapons. ‘Now, you show respect for the coming night.’

Donn glared at him. ‘You’d best be the Deliverer now, ’cause if you ent, you are made of crazy.’

Arlen smiled and moved to face the other men, who now seemed doubly terrified – and with good reason. Already it was dark enough that Renna’s warded sight was coming to life. Luminescent wisps of magic, invisible to the others, were beginning to seep from the ground, pooling in the shadows and strengthening against the light. Soon the paths to the Core would open fully and the demons would rise.

Jered, who was barely sixteen, clutched his spear so tightly his knuckles showed white. ‘Why’d you go and do that? Don’t wanna die.’

‘Everyone dies,’ Arlen said. ‘It’s how we die that matters. Do you want to die because you were too piss-scared to defend yourself? You want your family to die because your knees buckled when you were supposed to protect them? Or do you want to take a coreling with you? Maybe more’n one?’

‘You need to let demons into our camp to make your point, boy?’ Varley demanded. He pointed as he did at the shapes of demons beginning to form just outside the clearing as full dark fell upon them.

‘Ent no demon getting in this camp,’ Arlen said, and he drew a deep breath. Renna watched as the soft glowing mist at Arlen’s feet suddenly rushed towards him like smoke sucked into a bellows. The air around him grew dark as Arlen absorbed the magic, then brightened again as the wards on his skin flared to life. Even the unwarded eyes of the Oatingers could see it, and they gasped as one.

A field demon solidified and ran towards the gap in the wards. Somewhere in the camp a woman screamed. Arlen swept a hand through the air, drawing a large ward. It flared to life as the demon struck the spot, its leap checked in mid-air with a crunch. The magic rebounded, throwing the demon back away from the camp.

‘Creator,’ Varley whispered.

‘Mind if I borrow your spear?’ Arlen asked Jered, snatching the weapon from the boy’s nerveless fingers.

Arlen stepped out beyond the ward, pointing to the recovering demon with the spear. ‘See how the field demon had to thrash to get to its feet,’ he called loudly for all to hear. ‘There ent nothing faster on four legs, and their sharp scales can blunt the attack of even a warded spear …’ The demon leapt at him, but Arlen stepped nimbly to the side, striking the demon with the butt of the spear. Impact wards flared, flipping the demon onto its back. ‘… but put it off its feet, and you expose its belly, which ent armoured for spit.’ He struck hard, putting the spear directly into the demon’s chest.

As he spoke, Renna moved to confront the next demon taking form. She inhaled as Arlen had, willing the ambient magic into herself. The air about her did not darken, but Renna could swear she felt something. The day’s weariness was gone. She felt strong.

The field demon swiped at her, its arm like a whip, but Renna saw the move coming and was well ahead of the flashing talons. She darted in before it could recover, whipping her beaded necklace around its throat. The wards painted on the brook stones flared to life, crushing inward. The demon tried to scream, but it came out a hoarse gasp. Renna locked her legs around it, carefully tucked in behind the claws as it rolled and thrashed about. Another moment, then a flash of magic as the beads came free with a jerk and the demon’s head fell free. She drew Harl’s knife and watched the other demons that stalked the area as Arlen continued his lesson.

It was nearly morning when Arlen approached the healing tent. All the Oatingers were asleep except for the guards patrolling the wards. Renna had finished the remaining wardposts, and Arlen had given Varley a map to Deadwell. He drew a little skull over the town well.

‘Sure you gotta do this?’ Renna asked.

Arlen nodded. ‘Can’t turn a blind eye, Ren.’

‘Don’t suppose you can,’ Renna said. ‘So do it quick, while no one’s looking.’

Arlen knelt by the young girl, armless and dying of demon fever, and drew wards in the air. The girl breathed in sharply as the magic swept through her, then relaxed again. The redness and blisters faded from her face, and a healthy pallor began to return to her skin.

‘Where’d you learn healin’ wards, anyhow?’ Renna asked. ‘You pull that from the demon’s mind?’

‘Sort of,’ Arlen said. ‘Ent exactly healing wards. Body wants to make itself well and knows what to do. The wards just give it power to do it fast.’

Arlen moved from one patient to the next, working quickly. He had charged himself with as much energy as he could hold, but it faded quickly with the healing. Soon he was swaying. Finally, his eyes half closed and he stumbled.

Renna was there in an instant to catch him. ‘That’s enough,’ she whispered. ‘Done what you could. Will you kill yourself to heal the rest?’

‘Sneaks up,’ Arlen said. ‘Feel invincible one second, and like I’m drowning the next. Need to learn my limits.’ He drew a deep breath, and again all the magic pooling across the ground like fog was drawn to him. The glow of his wards brightened, but it was nothing compared with the power he had radiated just a few minutes before. He looked haggard, and there were dark circles beneath his eyes.

‘Time to go,’ Renna said.

They galloped for several miles before Renna pulled up. Arlen wheeled Twilight Dancer around when he noticed her fall behind.

‘Go,’ Renna said.

‘Eh?’ Arlen asked.

‘Hunt something,’ Renna said. ‘Ent light yet, and you need more than just the magic in the air to get back up to speed. This ent the time to be getting sloppy.’