He would never give himself to Althea. He would fight her for the rest of his days. He would bend all his power to destroying her any way he could. Right now, he had to find a way out of this castle. Nothing else mattered.
He closed his eyes to rest when a screaming streak of fire rocketed past his window. He jumped to his feet to see a sizzling jet of burning flame course across the sky heading west. Another two jets followed on its trail. They curved over the landscape and landed in the forest far away.
Men’s shouting voices echoed around the castle. Stamping feet pounded up and down stairs. Fergus leapt off his bed and rushed to the window. Smoke rose out of the forest where those fiery jets landed. His heart pounded against his sternum. The assault had begun.
Chapter 24
The first flaming rocket zoomed over the forest canopy and exploded somewhere far behind the Faery army. Hazel spun around in her saddle and pointed down at her regiment. “Quick!” she shouted to Faing. “Get the men off to one side. We have to take the flank.”
Faing touched his spurs to his mount’s sides, and the animal shot forward. He bellowed to the troops. “Flank regiment, hard tae the right. Break off and down wi’ ye!”
Some two hundred Faery soldiers responded to the command. They veered off and bolted down a side gulley into the deep dark woods. Hazel urged her horse into a canter to take up the rear. She and Faing herded their men away from the main body of the Army into a different part of the forest.
More jets of fire whizzed overhead. They struck closer and closer to the Army. Shouts and screams followed Hazel away, far away from the mayhem and death about to ensue. She refused to turn around. She couldn’t watch what happened next. She had to focus on her own men and her own mission.
She held Althea in her mind. Althea, the Stone, Fergus, Faing, her regiment—these things occupied all her senses. She couldn’t control the Army or what happened to them. Her power welled up inside her, just splitting to get out. She wanted to unleash her most devastating abilities on Loch Nagar. She wanted to level the castle and take the Stone and Fergus back to Urlu.
Faing galloped ahead. He turned off at the head of the regiment to steer the men eastward one more time. The regiment followed the gully parallel to the main Army, but neither Faing nor Hazel could see their friends anymore. They were on their own out here in hostile enemy territory.
The gully cut up into the hills. Thick forest obscured their view, but when they gained the top, the woods thinned out. Faing trotted onto a bald peak overlooking all Loch Nagar. The lake lay smooth and serene down below. The castle stood up tall and black and foreboding far away.
More of those fiery streaks erupted from behind the castle walls and bombarded the forest. Hazel couldn’t see the Army, but voices drifted on the wind. Explosions shook the terrain. In front of Hazel’s eyes, thousands of Burgees sprang out of the ground around the lake. They galloped into the trees, and the noise of battle rose to a fevered pitch.
Some of Hazel’s regiment stamped their feet to surge forward. Faing raised his hand. “Stand where ye are! No mon move until I gi’e the order. They’ll all fall if we dinnae hold our ground.”
Hazel’s heart pounded. She itched to join the fight, too, but she had her own orders. She had to wait until the last possible moment. Then she could rush in and turn the tide of battle in favor of the Faery troops. If she attacked before her time, she would leave the Faery Army unprotected.
Faing’s horse pranced back and forth. He tightened his reins on it to make it stand still. The whole regiment tensed in anticipation, but they all faced the same agonizing decision. They had to stand firm and wait.
While they watched, more magical weapons erupted from the castle. Smooth, slithering tubes of headless flesh snaked into the air from behind the walls. They arched over the landscape and hurtled into the forest. Just then, a wave of Faery soldiers rushed out of the trees toward the lake. They flooded the gravel beach with Burgees all around them.
The men fought, ran for their lives, only to turn and fight again. More men raced into view. They smashed the Burgees to the ground and disabled their horses. Faery men fell on all sides.
Hazel’s arm shot out. “There! Look!”
Every eye strained to see a host of brown-clad figures stride out of the trees. They drove the Burgees before them and lined up at the water’s edge. They raised their arms in unison, and every Burgee on the field flattened to the ground in a puff of white powder.
More of the snake tubes zipped out of the castle. They curved over the lake, but before they could land, the wizards aimed their arms at them. The snakes plunged into the lake. The water splashed the beach. The next instant, a massive wave surged out of the lake to tower over the Faery forces. It craned over sideways and cast the Army in darkness.
The wizards never moved. They held their arms aloft. The wave inched another micron toward the Faery soldiers before it changed direction. For an endless moment, it wavered there in the middle of the lake. It drifted first one way and then the other.
At the last moment before it collapsed into its bed, the wave rocketed backward. It hurtled toward the castle and rose to an even more menacing height. It sloshed onto the beach and lapped at the drawbridge before it broke and fell with an Earth-shattering concussion. The impact shook the ground under Hazel’s feet where she watched on the far-off ridge.
The wave smashed into the castle. Its highest crest pounded over the parapet, and the lake water cascaded over the whole castle with incredible force. The water rushed down the walls and out through windows. It gushed over the drawbridge and overflowed the moat.
Hazel couldn’t hear screams or cries coming from the castle. It was too far away, but the drawbridge lifted out of its groove and closed on the invaders. Crawling insects covered the parapets. More fiery streaks and snaky tubes launched from somewhere out of sight.
A blazing white light puffed out of nowhere. It sailed into the clear sky and exploded into millions of razor shards that rained down on the Faery soldiers. Several wizards fell under the assault. Into this maelstrom of confusion, the Faery King galloped to the lake side on his grey stallion. He waved his saber over his head, and his crown glittered in the sun. He aimed his sword at the castle and set off at a gallop for the drawbridge.
The soldiers rallied to their sovereign, and the whole Army flocked toward the castle. More of the witch’s magical defenses went off all over the place. The ground imploded under the soldiers’ feet to swallow them, but the witch couldn’t fight them all.
At the King’s appearance, wagons laden with cannons and battering rams trundled out of the woods. They barreled up to the castle and set to work on the walls, the portcullis, and the outer perimeter barriers. Spears and arrows hailed down on the soldiers from the parapets, but the soldiers erected their shields to defend themselves while they worked to breach the walls.
The rank of wizards remained standing along the lake’s opposite shore. They directed one magical attack after another against the Loch Nagar soldiers fighting on the upper roof. A deafening pulse of invisible power thumped across the valley. It knocked several dozen soldiers to their deaths and left the battering rams and cannons free to pound the walls to powder.
Hazel struggled to breath. When would her moment come? When would she get down there and face the last epic battle of her life? Fergus was down there somewhere. Why didn’t he appear to fight the witch’s battle for her? The witch would be a fool not to make use of a fully grown Urlu at her disposal.
Fergus must be here under duress. Hazel had to get to him. She had to free him and unleash his power against the witch. More than once, she found herself lifting her hand to use her power against the castle. Each time, she held herself back. She had her orders from the Faery King himself. She had to stand in reserve and let the wizards do their work. Only if that failed could she decimate Loch Nagar and leave it a smoking wreck.
Just then, one of the battering rams punctured the wall. It punched a h
ole in the stone masonry, but it took several more blows to break a hole wide enough to let the soldiers through. The soldiers rushed into the breach, but the next moment, Loch Nagar forces drove them back. Enemy fighters poured through the hole and attacked the Faery troops. They hacked the battering rams to pieces, chopped heads and slashed limbs right and left, and routed the Faery invaders in no time.
More Loch Nagar soldiers appeared on the parapet. They pounded their adversaries with massive stones that crushed the Faery men to pieces. They shot them full of arrows and pinned their bodies to the ground with their spears.
At that moment, a howling scream echoed out of the forest. Hazel and her friends spun around to see a regiment of Loch Nagar fighters rush out of the woods behind the wizards. In seconds, they overran the wizards and hacked them to death. The wizards never had a chance to face their attackers before they fell en masse. A few scattered into the shadows and left the Army undefended.
Hazel’s arm shot out. She bellowed over her shoulder. “Now! Attack!”
The regiment lunged forward at her word. Faing touched his spurs to his horse, and he and Hazel rocketed down the mountain on a bee line for their friends. The flank burst through the trees to the lake shore when another massive wall of water seethed out of its bed to loom over the onrushing soldiers.
Hazel drew back. Without the wizards to stop it, it would crash over her men and destroy them. They would never get a chance to render the Faery Army aid. What was she thinking? She didn’t need the wizards to stop it. She could stop it herself with her power.
The wave teetered in mid-air. White foam touched its crest. It curved over to break. Hazel raised her hand and flicked her fingers at it. It swished away from her heading for the castle. If it broke there, it would wash the rest of the Army away in no time flat.
Hazel reined her horse to a halt at the lake side. She scooped her hand through the air, and the wave jumped out of the lake into nothing. Droplets fell from its bottom. She closed her fingers to form it into a ball. She raised it above the castle. She had to drop it in exactly the right place so it wouldn’t harm the Faery but cause maximum damage to Loch Nagar.
Soldiers on the ground and along the parapet gaped at the lake water churning and rolling over their heads. Some cowered under their protecting arms. Others screamed and ran for cover. Hazel narrowed her eyes in deadly hatred. This was what happened to anyone who messed with her or someone she loved. She would give them this and a whole lot more.
She waited until the last possible moment before she flipped her hand over and smashed the glistening ball of water onto the castle roof. She pressed it down so it flowed through doors and vents to flood the castle itself. Frothing waves swept men over the parapet to their deaths far below, but most of the water sucked into the castle to disappear.
The men who destroyed the wizards charged up the hill to attack the Faery Army from the rear. The soldiers manning the cannons and battering rams left their work to defend themselves against this new threat. Hazel stayed where she was. She didn’t need weapons to fight. She could do everything here without going near the castle.
She closed one eye and winked at a cannon limbered on a wagon chassis. She pinched the image between her thumb and forefinger and lifted the cannon off the ground. She slammed it down on top of her foes and crushed them to death. She got a sick thrill out of smashing their frail bodies under her unusual weapons.
She picked up a battering ram next, but she didn’t drop it. She closed her hand into a fist and chopped the empty air like a hammer. The battering ram tipped up on end and pounded down on the Loch Nagar men, one after the other. Now that she let herself unleash her power, she started to enjoy this. She started to enjoy it a little too much.
Then something changed. Something changed inside the castle, something out of sight. Something moved in there, and it moved toward her. She couldn’t see Fergus or the witch, but they could see her. They became aware of her and what she was doing.
She dropped the battering ram. This was it. This was the moment she waited for, the moment she would confront her destiny in all its fury.
Chapter 25
Fergus closed his eyes against the noise coming from all around him. He couldn’t watch the Faery Army falling outside his window when he couldn’t do a thing to help them. He raced around the room, but he couldn’t find a way out.
He stopped in the center of the room and clamped his eyes shut. He had to concentrate. He couldn’t get out through the window or the door, so he had to find another way. He summoned all his powers to shift into his dragon form, but nothing happened. Not all the trying in the world would accomplish it.
The witch would have thought of that. She would have sealed this room in some spell to stop him shifting. She wouldn’t want some dragon marauding through her castle. She had him right where she wanted him.
His eyes snapped open. This couldn’t continue. He couldn’t sit in this room and do nothing with the assault going on all around him. He rushed to the door and yanked at the handle. As he suspected, it remained as locked as ever, but this time, he didn’t leave it.
He studied the door all around. Stout pins thicker than his thumb held the heavy iron hinges embedded in the oak timbers. The latch appeared flimsier, but the witch wouldn’t rely on that to hold him in. She enchanted this door. It would open for no one but her. He could be certain of that.
At that moment, a cannonball smashed through the outer wall of the room. It crashed past his head and pulverized the wall next to the door. Mortar and stone crumbled before his eyes. Fergus’s spirits soared. What a lucky break! He dove through the gap into the open passage.
Now that he was free, he hesitated. If he escaped the castle now, he could get outside. He could change into his dragon form and help the Faery Army against their enemies. On the other hand, the Faery Army might mistake him for one of the witch’s minions. They might attack him and kill him without knowing who he was.
If he went to the roof, he could fight the Loch Nagar soldiers from within. Yet again, the Faery troops might mistake him for the enemy and kill him just the same.
While he fidgeted in indecision, a bunch of soldiers hurried past him on their way upstairs to the roof. He recognized members of the north faction. What were they doing here?
He hailed them. “Ye’re meant tae be defendin’ the north, men. Ye’re off yer post.”
The nearest man doffed his hat to his supposed commander. “Aye, Sir. There’s naught fer action on the north. We’re heading tae the west side tae help out. Our Mistress instructed us tae.”
Fergus frowned. “Did she just?”
The soldiers hurried on their way. So Althea diverted her defenders from north to west. That’s what came of leaving a woman in charge who knew nothing about battle. He assigned troops to defend every side of the castle and she changed his orders to leave herself unguarded.
Fergus hurried on his way, but he made sure to head downstairs, away from the men who just passed. He had to get out of this castle. He had to pass word to the Faery attackers that Althea left the backside of the castle defenseless and wide open.
How could he do that? How could he get close enough to the Faery to pass that message without getting himself killed by one army or the other?
He rushed downstairs to the main entrance. When he peeked out into the courtyard, he saw the drawbridge closed. He wouldn’t get out that way. He ducked around to the kitchen. A small door led out into the gardens. He could change into a dragon there and launch into the air.
He raced down the narrow passage, past the servants’ quarters. He threw open the kitchen door and rushed inside without taking the time to check first. He barreled into the kitchen and came face to face with Althea.
She wore her riding breeches and a saber at her side. She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you doing here?”
Fergus drew himself up. “I’m leavin’ ’ere, Althea. You had yer chance wi’ me, and ye lied tae me. Ye tried tae tric
k me, and I’ll no ha’e naught tae do wi’ ye again. I’m leavin’, and I’ll do me level best tae defeat ye and yer forces out there. Ye’ll get the worst o’ me on the battlefield, and ye’ll ne’er become Urlu as laing as I ha’e ought tae do wi’ it.”
A sneer twisted her mouth, and her eyes sparkled. “Is that what you think? You think you can just walk out of here and throw me away? You’ve chosen the wrong woman to mess with, boy. You’ll never leave this castle alive. You’ll pay the price for resisting me.”
“I think no,” he replied. Nothing could ruffle him, now that he beheld his freedom in sight.
Althea advanced on him. Fergus skirted the kitchen table toward the door. She stopped short where she was and lifted her hand. She cinched her fingers shut in a tight fist and jerked her hand sideways. At the same instant, shattering pain snapped his leg out from under him. He crumpled to the ground, and he couldn’t stop the agonized scream ripping out of his throat.
Althea strolled over to him. She stood tall above him and snarled down into his stricken face. “It really is too bad. I had such hopes for you, Fergus. I would have crowned you a King in your own right, with a golden crown and a sable cape. You wouldn’t submit, though. That’s your problem. You would never submit to anyone. You Urlus always were stubborn, going all the way back to your ancestors. The Urlus have given Loch Nagar trouble for eons. We’ll never know peace until we get rid of you, so I might as well start now.”
She passed her hand horizontally in front of her, and a blazing path of excruciating pain tore through his guts. Fergus doubled over in agony. He let loose piercing screams, but it didn’t help him any. He had to get out of here. He couldn’t let her destroy him like this, with the free air just inches away beyond that door.
He glanced around the kitchen. He couldn’t see a single weapon with which to fight her. He couldn’t even get to his feet without her lashing out at him. He raised his terrified eyes to her face and saw…
Destiny Stone Page 18
