The False Prince (Fall Of A King Book 1)

by Fuller, James

  Pavilion had to rely purely on his keen senses and instincts now if he was to make this work. He heard the soft grunt from behind and knew a deadly knife was now loose in the air coming rapidly toward him. With speed faster than man was meant to achieve, Pavilion jerked slightly to the left just as the blade struck his cloak where his heart would have been. The movement was so precise that it would be impossible for anyone to know he had not really been hit. Letting his body go limp, Pavilion crumpled to the ground hard. The ruse looked perfect. He listened as his enemy approached cautiously, wondering if she would embed another knife into him just in case. No, she was too proud to believe her shot did not kill him - and she had every right to think that - she was good. She would believe her throw had slipped through the left side of his rib cage and entered his heart, killing him instantly.

  She was only yards away from where his crumpled body rested - he could just see her black leather boots from the corner of his eyes. He wondered if she was going to get closer to look at his face. He always looked at the face. As if satisfied, she turned and walked away without a second glance. Pavilion grinned at his masterful ruse, his hand snatched a dagger on his belt and he sprang onto his feet, in the same motion snapping the blade toward Vashina's heart.

  Vashina spun around a circle and a half, snatching his blade mere moments before it would have struck home, and was now looking back at him, holding his blade as if it were a mere child's toy.

  "How did you…?" Pavilion mumbled, dumbfounded at what he had just witnessed.

  "You underestimated me, again." She smiled arrogantly. "You would have run right into the more wooded terrain had you not been setting me up. But I must say that was a very tricky feat you tried - anyone else would have fallen for it," Vashina cooed, cleaning under her nails with his blade.

  Still, Pavilion stood off guard and uneasy, not sure of what his next move would be. Never in his life had he underestimated an opponent like this. Then again, never in his life had he met someone with skills that matched his.

  Starting to walk nonchalantly around him, Vashina inquired plainly, "I must ask how you became so skilled? That kind of agility and awareness does not just happen to anyone."

  He followed in suit, keeping his eyes on hers and matching her step for step. "I was about to ask you the same thing," Pavilion replied, visibly unnerved by the whole situation.

  "You know it is rude not to answer a lady when she asks a question. And it is a question I do ever so want to know," she mocked.

  "Well, I apologize - my upbringing was hardly high class," Pavilion mocked back, his adrenaline pumping hard and his unnerving feeling turning into a form of excitement.

  "So why were you spying on me, stranger? Who are you and where do you fit in all of this?" Vashina asked, stabbing his dagger into a tree as she passed and pulling two of her own finely crafted blades from the sheath strapped to her upper right thigh.

  "What makes you so sure I was spying? Maybe I was just passing by and you attacked me for no reason?" Pavilion replied, knowing she would hardly believe that.

  Vashina stopped and let out a hearty laugh. "Tell me your name at least - I do hate to kill strangers."

  "So if I do not tell you my name you will not kill me?" Pavilion asked, his tone confident.

  "I am afraid not - I have to kill you either way. But I would like to know your name so I can put it on your grave," Vashina explained, beginning to stalk in a circular motion again, her knife sheath full once more.

  "I underestimated you again then. I would not think you were the type to dig an enemy's grave, let alone mark it," Pavilion said to her with a hint of respect in his voice.

  "Do not get me wrong - normally I would not," Vashina responded. "But you are a worthy opponent, and that is something I respect."

  Pavilion smiled and nodded. "Well, Vashina," he said with a wink, "My name is Pavilion." He gave a slight bow, letting his Gift flow through his body - at the ready.

  "I shall tell anyone I meet who knew you where they can find you to pay their respects," she said and then launched the two blades in her hands at him.

  He easily avoided the blades with a quick side step and drew both of his well-used scimitars and charged forward. His blades deflected a barrage of her viciously thrown knives as he cleared the short distance, the blades slashing in a scissor motion. Vashina jumped back, the tips of his blades missing her throat only by a finger-span. Before Pavilion could bring his blades in again, Vashina was in the opening of his arms, her knee found his groin and her elbow found his nose. He stumbled back - stunned - and again caught off guard by the attack. He had no time to react when he saw her foot kick up under his chin, lifting him off the ground and onto his back.

  "Come on, Pavilion - I know you can do better than that," she teased, stepping away from him. "Stop underestimating me - it will get you killed!"

  Pavilion got to his feet, pushing aside the pain from his groin and face, never letting his eyes stray from hers. Never in his life had something like this happened. He had underestimated her twice now and by rights should be dead had she chosen to, but she was making a point first.

  He was back in his stance now and spat the blood from his mouth - putting one of his swords back in its sheath - thinking it might be wise to have a free hand with this one. He stared hard into her eyes - they were remarkably beautiful, full of energy and glimmering with life. He stepped forward in a rush, his sword down low, ready to sweep upward, his other hand slipped behind his back at the last moment, freeing one of his many hidden daggers. She stepped to the side and spun in a circle, dodging his sword and coming around hard with her own dagger in hand. She had taken her eyes off him for a second - and in that time, he had pulled his dagger. He ducked down low as her knife swung in high for a fatal blow to his neck. His dagger cut in deep on her right thigh, and the hilt of his sword slammed in hard in her abdomen sending her off balance. Soon he was behind her - he kicked his leg out, catching her in the back of the knees sending her forward to the ground.

  "Well, well, Pavilion, that is what I want to see," she moaned, rolling over on her back staring at him, holding her side.

  Before she could make another move, he had his sword to her neck. "Do not move or I will kill you," he told her sternly.

  "Come now, Pavilion, do you really believe you have the upper hand?" Vashina laughed, throwing her hand up, releasing her innate Gift and a current blasted Pavilion back into a rock face. "Did I forget to mention I had the Gift?" She laughed bitterly sweet, getting to her feet and limping over to him, healing her leg as she went. By the time she was in front of him, the gash he left on her thigh was gone.

  "I knew you had the Gift," Pavilion coughed, trying to recover his breath.

  "If you knew then you should have known better than to play with me," she teased.

  "Why?" Pavilion remarked.

  Before Vashina could even form the first word, Pavilion's hands snapped up, throwing dirt and gravel into her face and his Gift made it all the worse, blowing her back half a dozen paces. Giving her no time to recover, he focused underneath her; the ground around her turned soft and muddy and she sank down to her shoulders as if she was standing on water. The ground then firmed again before she could begin to free herself.

  Pavilion's victory was short lived, before he could finish her, a handful of arrows streaked down around him from a group of sentries coming to investigate the noise.

  "‘Til we meet again," Pavilion yelled back to her as he ran off into the darkness of night, vanishing like a ghost.

  "I said we attack shortly!" Valka screamed at the massive warrior that stood before her.

  "But need supplies, need more arrows, spears and better weapons to win fight," the warrior replied, hoping his life would be spared.

  Valka glared into the man's eyes, anger flaring through her. She wanted nothing more than to kill this simple-minded mass of muscle and sinew. But she knew it was not his fault - he was only telling her what she already knew but d
id not want to admit. It was true - their supplies had not been coming in lately and what they did have was fast depleting. Their main source of strong, crafted weapons and food were from Mandrake, but the refugees and the Lord of the castle had formed an army that continued hindering the supply trains. She had not expected Dragon's Cove to hold out this long, and now it seemed like it would take another half fortnight or more to wear them down. But they did not have enough supplies, not for an army this large and growing.

  "Their Wizards must be exhausted after that vast display of their powers. Now is the time to attack, when they are weak and cannot help." Valka reasoned.

  "We have other problems, too many warriors die before they get to fighting. Have to climb over dead comrades to make it to walls before we can fight," the brute added, seeing that he would live another day.

  Valka paced her tent for a while deep in thought, considering the brute's words. Yes, he was right, she knew better than to doubt this one-he had fought in many battles and in some, and he had even been the one to tip the scales to victory.

  "I understand. How many wounded are there that cannot fight again?' Valka asked, a plan forming in her evil mind.

  The warrior cocked an eye at her. "What you thinking?"

  "We need time to replenish our supplies, do we not? And we need to clear the field of the dead," she cooed. "And how do we dispose of the dead?" she asked.

  "We burn them," the man said, his face beaming with understanding.

  *****

  "Hey Dan, you think we can hold the wall and win this war now that the enemy has their Gifted involved?" a young burly soldier asked his friend while they patrolled a part of the southern side.

  "I do not know Mick, I sure as hell hope—," Dan started to reply but stopped short, staring off into the night.

  "What the heck is going on out there?" Mick muttered. "Are we under attack?"

  "I do not know, but we had better sound the alarm - this cannot be good." Dan ran off to ring one of the large warning bells.

  "How many are coming?" another soldier asked, running to the edge of the wall to see.

  "I can only see a couple hundred at most, and they do not seem to be armed," Mick replied, squinting into the night.

  "It has got to be some kind of trick or something," the soldier murmured, straining his eyes to see.

  "What are they doing?" Mick questioned the veteran soldier. "It looks like they are throwing something every few steps."

  Soon Dragon Cove's walls were alive with soldiers ready to fight back the enemy hordes once again, but battle had yet to break out.

  "What in the Keeper's balls is going on out here?" Rift and Barkel both barked together.

  "We do not know, sir," came the reply.

  "They are dumping something on all the bodies out there," Dan added.

  "Maybe they are bringing their dead to life, to attack us," someone cried out, leading to whispers and murmurs from all over.

  "Do not be stupid," Barkel barked out. "And even if they were bringing back the dead, we killed them once - we can do it again!" He cheered, raising a shout of appreciation from everyone, trying to keep their morale high.

  "What do you make of this, Wizard?" Rift asked Antiel. Two soldiers were holding her up and bringing her to the wall to observe the oddity taking place.

  "I do not know, but they are using their wounded and dying to do it. Once they are within range of our arrows, kill them," Antiel said weakly, and the two soldiers holding her up turned to bring her back to her bed. She was the only Wizard who was awake yet, but she was hardly able to help. If Dragon's Cove fell under an attack now, they would have no Wizards to help defend it for a time still.

  Before Antiel had made it a few steps, the sky behind her lit up and all he could hear was the gasps and curses from everyone on the wall.

  "Everyone inside! Shut and lock all doors and windows that lead outside," Rift ordered.

  "Rift, what is happening out there?" Lady Jewel asked, watching people left and right stuff all the cracks and holes in the doors and windows with rags or wax.

  "They lit their dead ablaze with the aid of some sort of fuel. I think they intend to smoke us out," he informed her grimly.

  "Will it work? We will be safe in here, will we not?" Jewel asked, getting a little frightened.

  "As long as we can keep most of the smoke out, we should be fine," Rift replied.

  "How long will it burn?" Uvael asked.

  Rift stopped yelling orders for a moment and thought about it. "I do not know if you have seen the field of dead outside the castle walls, but I would say there are more than ten thousand dead out there. Most not far from the castle walls, which also means things are gonna get warm in here," Rift said.

  "How long, Rift?" Jewel asked.

  "Well from our last reports, before the smell and smoke got too thick, they were adding to the blaze, throwing trees and anything that would burn to the pile. I would say it will burn hard and hot for two or three days, then smolder for another day or two before we could safely go out there," Rift answered, frustrated.

  Jewel was now pacing the hallway, biting her lower lip. "But we will be safe in here right?'

  "If we can keep the smoke out and stand the heat, then yes, I believe so," Rift said, already smelling the gut-wrenching stench of burning flesh. "They have forced us to a standstill for the time being - we cannot leave and they cannot come at us."

  Talena's eyes slowly opened, and even though they were blurry, she knew the person she saw standing before her was Ursa.

  "What happened to me?' she asked roughly, her throat was sore and dry.

  "You almost died, that is what happened," Ursa told her. "You were hit with two arrows," he said, handing her a cup of water.

  Ursa had only been awake for a little while and he still felt drained and weak - he had taken some Venenum once he had heard about what was happening outside. He wanted to be able to help if he was needed.

  "All I remember is standing up there fighting, and then a wave of pain came over me so fast." She stopped and took a sip of the cool water.

  "You are okay now," Ursa told her, true compassion in his voice. "You will need to be more careful out there - you are too valuable to risk like that."

  Talena grimaced at the reminder. "I need to tell you something now." Ursa's brow raised in interest. "I knew Meath was taken. I am sorry I could not tell you, but you were needed here and if I had told you, you would have gone after Meath and then who knows what might have happened here." She put the water down and sat up in the soft bed.

  "Why did they take him? Who took him? Where is he going?" Ursa asked, nearly pleading, doing his best to suppress his rising anger.

  "I truly do not know why he was taken - Solmis' vision was bleak on that. He was taken by a strong Wizard and a druid - they are from a place called Salvas, and that is where they are taking him," she finally told him, wishing she could express everything to him.

  "Salvas? I have never heard of it." Ursa exclaimed, finally shaking his head as if it did not matter. "Where is Salvas?"

  "To the northeast just past the borders into the wasteland not far inland from the Misty Sea," Talena told him. "I am not sure its exact location but he is still alive."

  Ursa's mind raced and nearly overwhelmed him. He wanted to yell at her for not telling him earlier, yet reason held him in check. She knew things he did not and he had to trust in Solmis' plan. Meath was alive, and he now knew where he was going.

  "What are you thinking, Ursa?' Talena asked, seeing his mind at work.

  "We need to get out of here."

  Pavilion stood perfectly still, camouflaged in a group of dark trees as a quad of scouts passed by him no more than an arm's reach away. Silent as death and as swiftly as the wind, Pavilion stepped out behind them, grabbing one that was lagging behind the others. Pavilion held his hand hard over the savage's mouth so he could not make a sound. In the same motion, he ran his dagger across the victim's throat. Before the
dead barbarian hit the ground, Pavilion was gone again. The other three turned to investigate the noise of their comrade gurgling and thrashing on the ground. Before they could react, Pavilion's hand appeared out of nowhere, snatching another scout by the head and with a quick twisting motion, snapping his neck. The other two turned to see another one of their brethren fall lifelessly to the ground. They both looked around just in time to see their stalker upon them.

  This was the fourth scouting party he had eliminated this night. He dragged the bodies off into the woods and did his best to hide the corpses. Day was fast approaching, and Pavilion still had much he wanted to accomplish.

  He looked over to the clouds of smoke rolling to the west, though the wind was blowing east. The enemy Gifted were fuelling the flames and blowing the smoke straight at the castle.

  Yes, he had a great deal to do before the sun came up. He was sure the priests and priestesses would be taking turns fueling the smoke and flames, which meant the ones who were resting would be vulnerable.

  19

  Prince Berrit sat in the study again, fidgeting with the gold ring on his right hand, listening to the ladies of Draco Kingdom, their eldest sons, General Miller and the castle's only remaining Wizard, Keithen. They had only just heard news of the siege that had befallen Dragon's Cove and a meeting was called to discuss reasonable a course of action. No suggestion went unscrutinized.

  They had been in the study nearly half the day now and Berrit wanted nothing more than to show his true self and unleash his growing wrath upon the roomful of simple-minded fools. But no, he still had to play things with a step of caution - he could not risk such an act, not enough of the plan was in place to be so bold. He hoped Dragon's Cove would fall soon, but with there being four Wizards there to defend instead of the original two, he knew it would take longer to wear them down. It had been one of his main reason for sending Vashina, that and to ensure that conniving Priestess Valka did not betray them.