They reached the king’s tent and followed him in. The interior wasn’t nearly as nice as you’d expect given who was staying there, but at least he didn’t have to share. A woman in deep-red robes rose and bowed to them. Callie guessed she was about forty, with fine lines around her dark eyes and streaks of gray in her brown hair.
When the wizard straightened, she said, “I bring you greetings from King Carttoom. Like yours, our capital city has been destroyed. My lord offers an alliance until the threat of the new Dragon Empire has been dealt with.”
“And what form does he suggest this alliance take?” King Rend asked.
“Since the battle will no doubt be fought on Carttoom soil, it is only natural that we would take the lead.”
“I don’t think so. My people would never follow the commands of a Carttoom leader. I suggest we coordinate only and let each side handle its own forces.”
“That is acceptable,” the wizard said. “Do you have a plan?”
“We intend to dispatch a small strike force to eliminate the enemy leadership. Fighting the dragons head-on is a fool’s errand.”
She nodded. “Our generals came to a similar conclusion. We have the locations of the enemy’s main bases. Shall we combine our forces then advance together to strike them?”
“It might be better if our people hit the central tower while yours dealt with their citadel.”
“That is not at all acceptable. We must be certain you don’t seize the tower for yourselves.”
Callie looked from one to the other. She understood both their points. Neither would dare allow the other to seize the tower on their own. Did Carttoom know that the one actually controlling the dragons was a Rend citizen? She doubted it and if they ever did find out it might lead to another war, at least after the current one ended.
“What about the satellite towers?” Moz asked.
King Rend and the wizard both looked at him as though surprised anyone would dare intrude on their conversation. He had a good point even if he shouldn’t have butted in to make it.
“Our investigations indicate that dealing with the central tower will also cause the peripheral towers to deactivate,” the wizard said.
Moz nodded and fell silent. Callie doubted he’d just take the wizard at her word, but for now he had no other choice.
“What if we meet up outside the city?” the king said. “We can make plans, then move on to the tower. If our groups attack from opposite directions it might give us a better chance of success.”
The wizard nodded. “That is agreeable. Who will lead your strike force?”
The king jerked a thumb back at them. “Moz will handle it. He’s our most decorated ranger.
Her lip curled in distaste at the mention of rangers. Not an uncommon reaction among the people of Carttoom given their history. If she accepted Moz as their group’s leader, it meant they were really desperate for an alliance.
“Well enough,” the wizard said. “We have withdrawn our border forces so you will have no trouble crossing over. How long will it take you to reach the citadel?”
King Rend looked back at Moz who thought for a second and said, “About a month assuming the weather holds.”
“Sooner would be better, but that will do. I shall return and inform my king that we have an agreement.” She bowed, brushed past Callie, and stepped out into the night.
Callie caught a glimpse of her shooting skyward through the swinging flap. When she’d gone Moz asked, “Do you trust her?”
“Of course not,” King Rend said. “But under the circumstances I’m not about to turn down the help. Whatever happens, Carttoom must not gain control of the tower.”
Moz nodded. “We should sleep. At daybreak I’ll figure out who to take north. We don’t have any time to waste.”
Chapter 5
“There it is,” Mom said. “Kranic’s citadel.”
The fortress was built on a ledge that jutted out from the mountain. The stone of the building so perfectly matched the color of the surrounding mountains that if Yaz’s mother hadn’t pointed it out, he might not have spotted it on his own. They’d lucked out that the fortress wasn’t that far from the Tower of Punishment. They’d made the journey in the flying sleigh in only a day and a half.
It was a good thing they had the magical transport. The mountain snows were several feet deep. On foot it might have taken weeks to cover the fifty or so miles. As they flew, Yaz sat in the back with his mother while Brigid sat up front with Silas. Brigid hadn’t said more than a handful of words to him since they learned the secret of his birth. Yaz feared she might be having second thoughts about the two of them, not that he could blame her if she did.
To take his mind off Brigid, he tried to talk to his mother about what she went through in the tower, but she only shuddered and said she preferred to forget all about it. If whatever happened affected his mother that strongly, it must have been bad. In their own way, it seemed both of his parents had suffered a great deal. He only wished he could have gotten to them faster.
Silas landed the sleigh in front of a massive set of iron-banded double doors. They were so tall a dragon could have passed through them with room to spare. Assuming the doors were locked from the inside, how were they going to get in?
He was about to ask when his mother trudged over to the doors and grasped the knocker. The last thing he wanted to do was alert the entire place to their presence. Before Yaz could say anything, she twisted the knocker a full turn to the right then two rotations to the left. When she released it, the doors opened silently on their own.
She looked back and flashed a smile. “Kranic didn’t want to have to wait for a servant to let him in, so he set this bit of magic up to do the job. Guess he was too lazy to change it after I left.”
Yaz, Brigid, and Silas followed his mother inside. The doors opened into a great hall. The floor was done in smooth, gray stone. A huge, cold fireplace dominated the far side and heavy red tapestries hung from the walls. A door on the right side of the fireplace led deeper into the fortress. Aside from the echoing of their footsteps, silence filled the air.
“Shouldn’t there be at least a few people here?” Silas asked.
“There should,” his mother said. “Even if Kranic is away on Dark Sage business, there’s always at least a handful of servants to keep things tidy and a trio of researchers busy working on various projects. If the fortress is as empty as it seems, then something is very, very wrong.”
Yaz glanced at Silas. “Can you sense anyone with your magic?”
Silas closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. “There’s something, but I’m not sure it’s human.”
“I think I preferred it when I thought the place was empty.” Brigid hugged her ironwood staff as she tried to look in every direction at once.
“You two can wait in the sleigh if you wish,” his mother said. “We can make a quick run to the lab, get what we need, and be back in five minutes.”
Silas shook his head and Brigid said, “No way are we letting you two go alone. Let’s grab whatever it is you need and get out of this creepy place.”
Yaz grinned, not at all surprised that his friends wouldn’t let him go on alone. After everything they’d been through, it would take more than an empty castle to scare them off.
His mother just shrugged and set off toward the inner door. It opened easily at her tug revealing a long hall beyond. It was pitch black so Silas summoned light for them.
Mom seemed to know exactly where she was going as they passed a handful of doors without her giving them so much as a passing glance.
Eventually the hall opened into a square room, this one featuring a staircase to the next level. They started climbing. About five steps from the top his mother froze. Yaz smelled the rancid stink of rotting meat a moment later. Beyond his mother, a corpse lay sprawled on the second-floor landing.
It was a mess. It looked like something had grabbed the unfortunate person – given the state of the body
he couldn’t tell if it had been a man or a woman – and crushed them into a ball before throwing them through the door to end up on the landing.
He shuddered. Who or what could do that?
“Are you okay, Mom?”
She swallowed hard and nodded. “The body just startled me. Let’s keep going. The lab is on this level. We don’t have far to go now.”
Yaz looked back at Brigid who was still too far down on the steps to see the body. “Don’t look too close when you get up here. This mess is nothing you want to see.”
He followed his mother up to the landing, stepping carefully around the pooled blood. Just inside the second-floor door, Yaz waited to help Brigid inside. She was shivering when he took her hand to guide her around the body. Silas managed with nothing more than a scowl of distaste.
The hall beyond the door was dark so Silas increased the glow from his spell. It might have been better if he hadn’t. A streak of blood ran down the center of the hall, staining the stone and dotting it with specks of flesh. His mother hooked a left at the first intersection, toward a long, straight hall.
Three-quarters of the way down, a thin boy dressed only in ragged, knee-length pants stood facing them. Blood dotted his thin face and chest. He stared at them with a delighted smile.
“Hello, big brother,” the boy said. “Do you want to play?”
Shade hadn’t gone on a recruiting trip in a while. The Dark Sages had troops they used on a regular basis, but the only group the boss employed had been wiped out in the dragon’s attack when two of their flying ships went down. Not that Shade expected much trouble convincing the other groups to come on board. When Lord Black asked you to work for him, there was only one answer.
At least they didn’t have far to go. The nearest group of mercenaries camped a day’s ride from the ruined city. They were called Roebuck’s Raiders and they’d worked with various cadres off and on for years though never in any important capacity. Moving between groups meant no one trusted them with any deep secrets.
The sun hung high in the sky when the first tent appeared on the horizon, jutting out of the snow like a square mushroom. The sun glinted off the tips of the perimeter guards’ spears, easily marking their location. Had Shade been thinking of sneaking into the compound, that would have made his job easier.
“What sort of greeting should we expect?” Rondo asked.
Shade glanced back at his nervous traveling companion. “Don’t worry, we’re coming to offer them an easy job with regular pay. They’ll welcome us with open arms.”
“I hate it when you say things like that. It’s like you’re trying to jinx us.”
Shade grinned. Trust Rondo to turn his best attempt at offering reassurance into one more thing to worry about. Still, if Rondo wasn’t worried, then Shade would be.
Thirty yards from the outer pickets, Shade spotted crossbowmen watching them with loaded weapons. At least they didn’t raise them so that was good. A squad leader in polished mail and carrying a drawn longsword over his shoulder raised a hand.
Shade reined in. “Morning. I’m Shade Carmine from Most High Black’s cadre. The boss is looking to hire. Is your commander free?”
The squad leader nodded. “We’ve been between jobs for a month. Not much work in winter. If you’ve got a paying job, Commander Roebuck will be happy to see you.”
“That’s reassuring. I assume his tent is the one with the pennant flying over it.”
“You got it.”
Shade shook his reins and urged his mount deeper into the camp. Off-duty soldiers were gathered around fire pits, throwing dice and generally killing time. To a man they shot Shade and Rondo sullen glares as they passed. At least they didn’t look half starved. That was good. The boss wouldn’t want worn-out weaklings.
They dismounted in front of the command tent and tied their horses to a makeshift hitching rail outside.
“Do we knock or what?” Rondo asked.
“Hello!” Shade said. “Anybody home?”
A few seconds later a scarred, bearded man poked his head out of the tent flap. “Hell are you?”
“Shade Carmine. I—”
“I know who you are. Forgive me, it’s been a rough few weeks. Come in and warm yourself.”
Shade brightened. “Thank you, I believe we will.”
He stepped into the tent and sighed as the heat from the small iron stove soaked into him. The commander settled gingerly into a rickety camp chair.
“I’ve never worked for the Most High’s cadre,” he said. “What brings you here now?”
“We need men and your band was the closest to our headquarters. I’ll be visiting others as well. In fact if you could direct us to your closest neighbors when we’re finished I would be grateful.”
“That’s easy enough. McGregor’s heavy infantry is twenty miles south of here. So what’s the job?”
“Lord Black is building an army to occupy Rend and Carttoom. He’s already softened them up with dragon fire so there shouldn’t be much actual fighting. Mostly you’ll protect our agents as they seize control of various cities and strategic locations. You’ll get paid from the taxes we collect. Understand, this isn’t a looting exercise. Lord Black is rebuilding the Dragon Empire. You’ll become regular soldiers in our army.”
“Do we get a down payment?”
“If you agree then Lord Black will offer your first week’s pay when you report to him.”
“That’ll do. Roebuck’s Raiders are at your service.”
“Excellent. Your first job will be to join us when we go to hire McGregor. I assume you know the man.”
“Unfortunately. He’s a stubborn jackass, but his men are the finest heavy infantry I’ve ever served with. We did a job for High Sage Kranic last year. They know their business.”
Shade nodded, showing more confidence than he felt. If McGregor was associated with Kranic’s cadre, he might be difficult. “Shall we depart?”
“Sure. It’ll take a couple hours to break camp.”
“I’m sure your men can handle it while we go see McGregor.”
Roebuck shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
Three hours later Shade, Rondo, and Roebuck rode up to a tightly packed collection of tents. They were greeted by a wall of twenty men in banded mail carrying spears and shields.
“State your business,” one of the soldiers said.
“We’d like to speak to McGregor about a contract,” Shade said.
The soldier’s head turned a fraction to address Roebuck. “You sign on with them?”
“A few hours ago. Sounds like easy enough work.”
The soldier spat. “Just the kind you like, Roebuck. Wait here while I fetch Commander McGregor.”
“Charming people,” Rondo muttered.
“I warned you,” Roebuck said.
“I don’t care about their personalities, as long as they can get the job done,” Shade said.
They didn’t have long to wait before a short, barrel-chested man between forty and fifty came stomping their way. He wore a green-and-red checked shirt and matching wool pants. The hilt of a long sword jutted up over his left shoulder.
He stopped in front of his shield wall and planted his fists on his hips. “Well?”
“I’m Shade—”
“I know who you are. What does one of Black’s lackeys want with me?”
“Lord Black would like to hire your heavy infantry. You’ll be working with other groups of mercenaries to provide security for our agents as they seize control of Rend and Carttoom. Your pay will—”
“Me and mine will never work for the likes of Leonidas Black. We’re loyal to Lord Kranic. You can tell your master that. Now be off before I have my men run you through.”
Shade shrugged. He’d been given ruder send-offs over the years. “Suit yourself. I just came to make the offer.”
He turned his horse around and led the others off. He trotted for about a mile before reining in.
“What is it?�
�� Rondo asked.
“Give me the mirror. The boss is going to want to hear about this.”
Rondo pulled the enchanted mirror out of his saddlebag and unwrapped it before handing it to Shade. The assassin nicked his finger and touched the bloody digit to the mirror’s frame. “Are you there, Boss?”
Half a minute later Leonidas’s face appeared in the reflection. “Trouble already?”
“Don’t know if it’s trouble, but McGregor’s heavy infantry told us off, claiming to be loyal to Kranic. Figured you’d want to know since that’s the sort of loyalty that might be trouble later on.”
“Indeed. Are you still within sight of their camp?”
Shade craned his neck but couldn’t see anything beyond a thin trickle of smoke from their cook fires. “Sorry, boss. We’re about a mile due east. You want us to ride back?”
“No, that’s fine. Where’s the camp in relation to the tower?”
“Twenty-five miles southeast give or take a mile.”
“Okay, when you see the dragon, point towards their camp just to be sure we get the right one.”
“Shade.” Rondo pointed toward a knoll about a hundred yards off the road. “I bet we could see them from up there.”
Shade nodded. “We found an observation point, Boss. We’ll be ready when the time comes.”
“Excellent.”
The boss severed the connection and Shade handed the mirror back to Rondo. The horses forced their way through the snow and up to the top of the knoll. Below them McGregor’s camp was clearly visible.
“What was he saying about sending a dragon?” Roebuck asked.
“Just wait,” Rondo said. “I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
The surprise appeared out of the northwest only minutes later. The boss must have really wanted to show off. He’d sent the big black dragon to deal with McGregor.
“Gods’ blood!” Roebuck nearly fell out of his saddle.
The Dragonspire Chronicles Omnibus 2 Page 39
