The Fall of Erlon (The Falling Empires Saga Book 1) Read online

  But even in Andrei’s dreams he couldn’t get any closer.

  He could see his wife on the doorstep, a tiny figure with hair billowing in the wind. He could see the children running around and around the house. But he couldn’t approach. He couldn’t find a path home.

  Another Scythe’s wolverine growled behind him while Andrei’s own mount sniffed at a bush they passed on the side of the trail. He wondered if the other Scythes and soldiers in Duroc’s army were as tired of war as he was. The Kurakin didn’t worship war like the northerners did, but they still praised glory and success on the battlefield. Everyone served, everyone wanted to fight and protect Kura.

  Duroc certainly didn’t tire of war, but the general was driven by his guide and their grand plans for the Continent. Andrei didn’t care for the plans of greater men.

  He only wanted—

  A feeling crept around the back of Andrei’s brain. He heard a faint caw through the canopy above and his drifting thoughts stopped immediately.

  “Halt,” he commanded in a low voice.

  The order was carried up to the line for Jerkal in front to stop the group as Andrei closed his eyes and felt himself soaring again. The Scythes would wait on the ground until he came back, hopefully with good news this time.

  Andrei knew it would be good, as his hawk wouldn’t have bothered him otherwise. The bird had seen something.

  The wind howled in his ears and the forest ripped by far below him. The bird banked and the wind’s whistling changed as they whipped around to pass back over a spot of trees a few miles in front of the Scythes.

  Andrei saw the flash as the bird cawed again. A bit of color passed between the gap in the canopy of the forest. The bird floated over the spot and Andrei waited for it again.

  The bird’s eyes focused just north of where the first flash had occurred. Andrei waited as the bird floated on the air and held position against the wind.

  The flash came again.

  It was unmistakable this time, blue against the dark green of the trees and a flash of white right after.

  His hawk had found them. And very close to the Scythes, too.

  Andrei fell back to earth and opened his eyes. The Scythes were all watching him. Andrei smiled through his beard.

  “We ride,” he said.

  His wolverine let out a growl and Andrei kicked the mount off the path to move up to the front of the group.

  They’d spotted the prey and his wolverine would soon have the scent. Andrei nodded to a grinning Jerkal at the front of the line and pressed on into the woods. His Scythes fell in behind him and they moved off towards the girl running from them in the forest.

  Chapter 8

  A Kurakin Scythe’s usefulness as a scout and in battle is almost unparalleled on the Continent.

  A Marshal’s Memoir

  Alexandre Lauriston

  Elisa

  Elisa reached as high as she could for the final branch of the climb. The tree was tall and would hopefully provide a commanding view of the terrain to the north. The branches thinned at the top and made the going tough.

  With a grunt, Elisa hoisted herself up onto the top. The canopy of the forest was below her now and the land stretched down from her position and ran away to the north along the border of the rolling forested hills in the east. Far to the east were the blue and hazy hints of mountains with the rolling hills of the Dune Forest in between.

  She took a glance behind her and instantly regretted it. They were still close enough to her old home to see the smoke from Plancenoit. It was small but unmistakable. A dark plume on an otherwise clear horizon to mark the sacking of the Erlonian capital.

  Elisa pulled her eyes back to the north. That was what Mon wanted her to scout. She didn’t need to look backwards.

  There were only a few clouds in the sky. A single hawk drifted lazily over the eastern side of the shallow valley. The forest was dense and Elisa could see nothing but trees and a single cut of what could be a river on the far northern end.

  Elisa climbed down without another look back towards the destruction of Plancenoit. The trip down was easier than climbing up and she made good time back to the forest floor.

  “How’s the path look?” Mon stood up from his resting place against a tree when Elisa reached him.

  “Dense forest. Hemmed in on the east by hills.”

  Mon nodded as if that’s what he expected.

  “The hills are lower in front of us. I could see the mountains far off. Looks like there might be a river at the end of the valley due north.” Elisa tried to remember if there was anything else she’d seen of note.

  “That’ll be a creek, I think.” Mon picked up his pack and slung it over his shoulder. “There shouldn’t be a river until we hit the Branch.”

  Elisa strapped her pistol belt back around her waist and picked up her pack.

  “We’ll try to stay towards the eastern side. I don’t want us up against the hills if the Scythes get to us, but they’ll be coming from the west. We don’t have much of a choice.”

  Elisa took an involuntary glance behind her. The now familiar feeling on the back of her neck that something was watching her returned. No matter how fast they moved, it always felt like some beast was in the trees and about to pounce out and take her.

  But the forest was peaceful and calm behind them as the pair started north once again. That didn’t make the chased feeling in the back of Elisa’s mind go away, though.

  She couldn’t stop thinking about a wolverine with blood-covered jaws hurtling through the forest at them. She shivered as she tried to keep up with Mon and felt shame come to her.

  She was afraid.

  What would her father say if he knew she was trembling at the mere thought of danger and despair?

  Elisa stared at the back of Mon’s pack and tried to push the fear away. She thought on the beautiful sky she’d seen while above the canopy. The forest hid the sky from them now, but when she’d been at the top of the tree, it had been a gorgeous day, with clear skies for miles around and the lush forest below.

  “Strange.” Elisa’s mind stuck on one detail that she’d forgotten until just now.

  “What?” Mon’s word was more of a grunt. He didn’t slow down his pace along the trail.

  “There weren’t many birds out.” Elisa thought back on her view over the valley. There’d only been that one hawk drifting lazily. “It’s still early fall. There should’ve been more flying over the forest. More hawks and crows. I only saw that one.”

  Mon stopped. Elisa almost ran into his back.

  “Only one?” Mon looked at her and Elisa saw the concern in his eye. Worry lines creased on his forehead.

  “Yeah.” Elisa didn’t know what was wrong, but her fear came back in full force.

  Mon looked back to the south. His eyes darted up to the sky, but the forest canopy hid their view.

  “What?” Elisa said.

  “We need to move,” Mon said. He slung his musket off his shoulders and held it in front of him. He took off down the same path at a jog and Elisa struggled to keep up.

  They reached the bottom of the hill’s slope and moved off over flat terrain. Elisa heard Mon’s breathing grow heavy, but the old farmer didn’t slow down.

  “Are your pistols loaded?” Mon said without turning back towards her. “Powder dry?”

  “Yes. Mon, what is going on?” Elisa couldn’t hide the strain in her voice. She felt more shame come to her, but it was quickly drowned out by an overwhelming fear of what had upset Mon.

  “You know the Scythes ride wolverines, but what else do you know?” Mon kept pushing them across the forest floor. They found a rocky creek bed where the trees were a bit farther apart and moved along it.

  Elisa tried to remember other things she’d read about the Kurakin and the Scythes. Her mind wouldn’t work. It was full of adrenaline and fear.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Their commanders, the leaders, they have a connection with
hawks.”

  A connection? The adrenaline pumping through Elisa’s body wasn’t helping her to understand what Mon was talking about anymore.

  Mon jumped over a rotting log on their path and kept moving. Elisa almost fell when the toe of her boot caught the obstacle, but she regained her footing and stumbled after the farmer.

  “You only saw one hawk in the sky. In the west, you said?” Mon glanced back at her.

  “Yes, but close.”

  Mon didn’t say anything else. Elisa could feel a stitch forming in her side from their running.

  They pushed on. The only sound in Elisa’s ears was the branches moving past her head as they ran.

  The ground rose again and Mon climbed faster. Elisa had already lost her sense of direction from the tree she’d climbed earlier. She could only hope Mon knew where to lead them.

  A sound broke through their flight. A single cry came down from the sky.

  The screech of the hawk hit them and Mon pulled up to a stop. Elisa skidded in behind him and struggled to catch her breath. Mon cocked his head and listened, but the sound didn’t come again.

  Elisa knew only one thing could’ve made the call, though. And she didn’t want to think about what it meant.

  “We need to keep moving,” Mon said.

  He didn’t turn to look at Elisa or wait any longer for them to rest. He ran deeper into the forest with his musket ready in both hands. Elisa took a final deep breath and ran after him, forcing herself to not glance behind her at the still forest that hid the beasts that chased her.

  Andrei

  Andrei heard the call come down from his sakk again. He felt the bird’s excitement pick up and his own feelings matched it. The prey was running now. Things would be over soon.

  Tracking in this landscape of trees and dirt and rocks was much easier for the Scythes than the tundra of the southern plains back home. There was an abundance of trails and nothing was covered in snow or ice or blown away in the wind.

  “Keep formation until we get closer,” Andrei said to the men around him.

  “Keep formation,” Jerkal repeated to his side of the line.

  “Break when I call break.” The nose on Andrei’s wolverine was working along the ground as it moved. Andrei could feel the breathing change in the lungs underneath him. The beast could smell prey close at hand. It could sense their target in front of them.

  “Quicken up now,” Andrei called out.

  The pace of the formation picked up in unison. Andrei looked up and found his hawk again. Another caw hadn’t sounded, but they were still on the right track.

  “Break.”

  The formation broke apart at a full gallop on Andrei’s order. He felt wind whipping by his ears as they flew down the trail. His wolverine snapped at the air and gave a rumbling growl that Andrei felt in the beast’s chest between his legs.

  His men would spread out through the forest. Andrei wanted to make sure they encircled the girl and gave her no avenue for escape. That would mean sacrificing their strength in numbers, but that shouldn’t matter. They were only hunting two people.

  A single Scythe could take them if needed.

  Andrei hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Once a wolverine found the pair, they would all converge quickly enough. They just needed to find exactly where the girl was in front of them.

  She couldn’t hide from Andrei’s hawk. And she now couldn’t run from the wolverines on the ground.

  They would shut off the flat lands to the west and force them towards the hills in the east. Then it would only be a matter of time before they were found and trapped.

  Escape would be difficult for Andrei’s prey now.

  Elisa

  Elisa heard the wolverines. Growls hurtled through the trees behind them. She stole a look behind but still saw nothing.

  “They’ll come from the sides,” Mon called over his shoulder.

  They pushed on at a full run. The ground became rockier. Boulders jutted from the ground between trees.

  Elisa saw her first wolverine out of the corner of her left eye.

  It ran parallel to them. The beast was low to the ground, with blackish-brown fur and a white strip on the top of its head. The rider was all in black with his head turned directly at Elisa.

  The wolverine roared and leapt over a boulder in its path, churning up dirt towards them.

  “On our left.” Elisa pushed extra effort through her legs and gained on Mon in front of her. She drew one of her pistols.

  Mon sped up as well. “Keep going.” He broke off their path away from the Scythe and Elisa followed. They moved up a slight incline through the trees on their right, heading east.

  Even through the adrenaline of the flight, Elisa had questions in her mind. The wolverines had found them now. How could they outrun them? What was Mon’s plan to get out of these woods to safety? Weren’t they heading towards the hills they wanted to avoid?

  Maybe there wasn’t a plan. Maybe there wasn’t a way to escape. Maybe they just needed to pray.

  There were other wolverines nearby. Elisa heard a growl to their right and turned to see a new Scythe leaping down from a large rock formation not fifty feet away. Another growl came from the first wolverine that still charged them from behind.

  Mon changed direction again to get away from the new Scythe. He broke left and pushed on, but Elisa could hear the wolverines gaining on them every second.

  The farmer realized the same thing.

  Mon threw his pack off his shoulder and slowed next to a boulder big enough for both of them to crouch behind.

  Mon pushed Elisa down and stood back up with his musket raised over the barrier. He fired. Elisa looked over the edge of the boulder, but the smoke from the shot blocked her view. She heard the thump of something hitting the forest floor and a gurgled yell.

  The sounds of galloping wolverines continued.

  Elisa rose and drew her other pistol and leveled both weapons in the direction of the sound. Her hands were shaking.

  The wolverine’s outline formed through the haze of Mon’s gun smoke. It roared and Elisa saw the rows of teeth clearly. She fired both pistols.

  Smoke poured out but was blown away quickly. Elisa’s ears rang from the shots. She’d hit the wolverine with both shots. Two splashes of blood burst from its white chest.

  The beast didn’t slow down.

  Mon leveled his own pistol over Elisa’s head and fired at the charging animal. This final pistol shot finally did it.

  The bullet cracked into the beast’s face. It stumbled with a growl and crashed into the forest floor and slid forward, dying only a handful of steps away from them.

  There was no time to marvel at this small victory. Another growl took the dead wolverine’s place.

  The second Scythe tore towards them on their right. Elisa ducked behind the boulder and started to reload. Her hands were numb and clumsy. The metal of the pistols felt foreign on her fingertips. She fumbled the first ball she tried to get in the barrel.

  Mon stayed upright and faced the charging Scythe. He reloaded his pistol while keeping an eye on the enemy. His hands were deft. He didn’t fumble.

  The Scythe rider pulled out his own pistol and fired towards them. The ball cracked against the boulder right in front of Mon. The old farmer didn’t flinch.

  Mon finished with his own pistol and pointed it at the enemy.

  The crack sounded far away to Elisa. She fumbled another ball and scrambled to find it in the dirt. She stole a glance up and saw the Scythe rider gripping his neck and falling backwards off his mount.

  The wolverine only charged faster. Its eyes glared red within its dark face.

  Mon dropped his pistol and drew his sword. The beast was too close for him to reload again. Elisa wasn’t going to make it in time, either.

  The wolverine only had a few more bounds left to close the distance.

  Mon stepped out from behind the boulder and between the monster and Elisa. She continued to reload but fel
t the hopelessness taking her already. The wolverine roared and Elisa felt the now familiar shame of fear hit her.

  The wolverine took one final bound. Mon pointed his sword out in front of him. The wolverine snarled and opened its jaws.

  A flash of movement came from behind Elisa.

  A spear.

  It streaked through the air in a blur and caught the wolverine in the shoulder. The weapon buried itself deep and stopped the beast in its tracks.

  The wolverine fell and slid across the dirt. Mon stepped aside and let it smash into the boulder.

  Feeling and noise came back to Elisa. Confused relief flooded her.

  Her legs were shaking.

  But it wasn’t from fear. The ground was actually shaking under her feet. Behind her, horses galloped towards them. A Lakmian with long hair led the group. The soldiers were wearing blue uniforms.

  The Lakmian frontrunner passed her and ripped his spear from the dead wolverine without slowing his horse. The other horsemen followed and spread out around Elisa’s position.

  Mon bent and picked up his things. He motioned for Elisa to grab her own pack.

  There was a new roar off in the forest. It was answered by multiple gunshots.

  One of the horsemen reined his horse up next to the boulder. “Mon.” He touched the tip of his cap towards the farmer and grinned down at them.

  The man’s uniform had the Erlonian imperial seal with swords crossed sewn onto the left breast. Short white feathers ran along the top of his bicorne.

  Elisa couldn’t believe it. This was one of her father’s marshals.

  “Lauriston.” Mon saluted and then nodded towards the Lakmian horseman. “Lodi’s still got his spear arm, I see.”

  Both men smiled. The marshal nodded and winked at Elisa as well.

  Marshal Lauriston. Elisa knew that name. The memories were far away now, though. She felt a heavy fatigue threaten to take her and she struggled to stay standing.