“Roger, what happened?” Ellyssa asked.
“When I ran through the portal I hit a tree,” Roger said, embarrassed.
“What’s everyone doing out here?” Wolf asked, startling the others as he stepped from behind one of the larger trees.
“We’re going into the city to rescue some kids from a mean fat man,” Ellyssa said sharply, aggravated at her own jumpiness. “What are you doing out here?”
“Ghost said you all probably needed my help.”
Ellyssa looked at the black wolf who cocked his head and looked back innocently.
“Do you want to come with us?”
“Sure, sounds like fun,” Wolf replied.
The squad of children and one big wolf tromped through the woods to avoid being seen by whoever was on the walls. It was a dark moonless night, so it was very unlikely anyone would have seen them even at half the distance, but Ellyssa was not taking any chances.
It was well after midnight when they finally reached North Haven’s outer wall. Ellyssa did not have another long step scroll, and it was highly unlikely that they could sneak past the guards. The main gate was closed, and the guards would have to open the sally port to let anyone in or out of the city. Ellyssa figured it was best not to even try to sneak past and strolled boldly up to the gate with her retinue in tow.
“What are you kids doing outside the city this late?” the guard standing in front of the postern door asked as he leaned on his spear.
“My father won a bet with a man in the city, and he sent us to collect it,” Ellyssa said.
“What kind of bet? What are you supposed to collect, and why so late at night? And why did he send you kids and not come himself?”
“Please, sir, let us through. Pa’s been drinking, and he gets real mean when he drinks. He told me to come get the hog he’s owed, or he would take a strap to me,” Ellyssa whined, letting tears come to her eyes. “I’m afraid to walk at night, so my friends came with me so I wouldn’t be scared.”
The guard looked at the group of children, his eyes lingering on Wolf and Ghost. “Is that a wolf?”
“No, sir,” Wolf spoke up. “He’s a wolfhound!”
“Don’t look like no wolfhound I ever saw before,” the guard replied, scratching his head under his bascinet.
“He’s a special breed used to infiltrate the wolf packs and destabilize them from within their own ranks,” Wolf replied without missing a beat.
The guard looked at Wolf and blinked a few times. “Open the gate!” he shouted to his man inside.
With a clank of iron, the postern door swung in and let them through the thick, wall. Once inside, Missy gave Ellyssa directions, telling her which way to go. The children drew a few curious and possibly hostile looks from other street people, but one look at Ghost made them decide to keep to themselves and let the kids pass without incident.
Missy guided them through the streets and across the city into the wealthy part of the district near the castle. It got slower going the closer they got to the fine manors and mansions since they had to avoid the increased number of watch patrols.
“That’s it over there,” Missy said, pointing to a large white manor with the same blue clay tiles with which the castle and the rich liked to roof their homes.
“How many guards?” Ellyssa asked.
“Just two at night, one during the day, and never in the house. Potsworth is too cheap to hire more, and he probably does not want too many people to know that he buys children and how he treats them.”
“How are we going to get past them?” Roger asked.
“We need to get one of them to open the gate,” Ellyssa said. “Missy, do the guards know you and know that you ran away?”
“I’m sure they know I got away, but I doubt they would recognize me. The guards aren’t allowed inside, and we hardly ever got to go out.”
“I think I have an idea,” Ellyssa said and told everyone her plan.
A minute later, Ellyssa and Missy walked across the street from where they were hiding and strolled up to the gate. It was made entirely of wrought iron bars, so the guard spotted them as soon as they stepped into the light of the lamp burning brightly atop the square brick columns on each side of the gate.
“What are you kids doing out here?” the guard asked.
Missy stepped forward. “My name is Missy. I ran away from Lord Potsworth a couple of days ago, but I’m hungry and cold. Would you please let me back in?”
“He told us one of you ran off night before last. Didn’t say nothing about there being two of you.”
“She’s my friend. I told her Lord Potsworth might let her stay too.”
“Yeah, I suppose he would. All right, get you both inside, quick now.”
Ellyssa looked into the man’s eyes and spoke the words to her spell.
“Hey, what’s she do—,” the guard collapsed as the sleep spell took hold of him.
Wolf led the rest of the gang across the street and inside the gate. Wolf, Roger, and another boy dragged the guard into the small open guard shack where he normally sat watching the gate while Ellyssa pushed it back shut.
“Get ready to take care of the other one if you see him,” Ellyssa warned.
She had barely gotten the words out of her mouth when the other guard stepped around the corner. “Hey, what are you kids doing out here?”
Two of the girls both gesticulated, rattled off their spells, and dropped the second guard onto the grass dead asleep.
“Try not to have everyone casting a spell all on the same person at the same time,” Ellyssa advised. “We don’t want to waste the few spells we can cast.”
They left the second guard lying in the shadow of a large hedge where it was unlikely anyone walking down the street would see him. The kids sprinted across the grass, cut through a flower garden with no consideration of the damage, and stopped outside the front door.
“It’s locked. What do we do now?” Missy asked, trembling as she tried the door.
Coming back here even with the support of her new friends was terrifying for her. For almost half her young life, Lord Potsworth had been the ultimate authority and had broken her to subservience by the most cruel and painful methods just as he had with all the children in the house.
“I got it,” Roger said and stepped forward.
Roger cast his spell, and the lock on the lock clicked. Ellyssa pushed the door open and led her troops inside. The foyer was large with an enormous crystal chandelier hanging from the twenty-foot ceiling but was unlit. The floor was tiled in alternating black and white squares each a yard across like a giant chessboard. Rich tapestries decorated the walls, and busts and small statues stood atop fluted pedestals.
“Everyone lives upstairs,” Ellyssa whispered, pointed up a grand set of stairs that swept out to take up almost half the width of the floor at the bottom but narrowed to perhaps eight feet wide at the top. A red carpet with gold embroidery split the stairs in half, just slightly narrower than the top of the stairs.
They slowly crept up the stairs with as much stealth as they could muster, fearing with each step that one of the steps would squeak and alert Potsworth to the intruders. They need not have worried. The stairs were made of stone and marble veneer and would not make a sound if every child in the school jumped up and down on them.
“The kids are in those two rooms. My brother is usually in this one,” Missy pointed out.
“They’re locked too. Can you open them, Roger?” Ellyssa asked.
“I only had the one opening spell prepared, sorry.”
“Potsworth has the keys in his room somewhere,” Missy said, dropping the honorific as a show of defiance.
Ellyssa walked over to the door Missy said led to Potsworth’s room. She tried the handle and jumped back in surprise when the door flew open and a large man glared down at her with a stout cudgel in his hand.
“What is going on out here?” Potsworth bellowed.
Ellyssa sprang backward to st
and with the rest of the group as Wolf stepped forward with his bow drawn and Ethan, one of the larger boys, advanced with Wolf’s sword gripped in his sweating hand.
“You better put that little poker away, boy, before I brain you and take it,” the fat lord warned menacingly.
The master of the house may not have been intimidated by a bunch of children, even if one held a sword and another a bow, but the snarling, hundred and fifty pound wolf that stepped through the group of children was enough to make even the bravest of men take a step back.
Ellyssa had known Wolf and Ghost for a year now and, in that time, she had only seen Ghost as a sort of friendly dog that always followed his half-elf friend about. She had never even seen his teeth except when he was gnawing on a large bone. But the animal that now bared a huge set of fangs and rumbled a terrifying growl from deep in his chest made even her nervous. Ellyssa always supposed Ghost was capable of hurting someone, but this was the first time she saw that the wolf was quite willing to do it as well.
“Drop the club, fat man, or Ghost tears your throat out,” Wolf ordered.
“How dare you threaten me with weapons and a vicious dog in my home!” Lord Potsworth railed indignantly. “Do you have any notion of what it feels like to take a man’s life, boy?” Potsworth asked, regaining his courage from the fact that no one had harmed him yet.
“Yes I do. I’ve killed two men, and I sleep like a babe,” Wolf replied and loosed his arrow, taking off the top of the fat lord’s right ear.
Potsworth screamed, dropped his cudgel, and slapped a hand to his bleeding ear. He looked at Wolf who already had another arrow knocked before the one stuck in the wall stopped quivering.
“Now tell us where the keys are, fat man, or the next one goes through your beady eye and we’ll find them ourselves!”
Potsworth ran into his room with Wolf and Ellyssa right behind him as he fretfully dug through the drawer of his nightstand. Lord Potsworth found the keys and thrust them at Ellyssa. Ellyssa handed them to Missy.
“Missy, Go unlock the bedrooms, tell the kids to dress for the night, and take whatever they want to carry with them. Potsworth will have no more need of his fine possessions.”
“What are you going to do to me?” Potsworth blubbered.
“I’m going to fulfill a promise,” Ellyssa replied as she pulled out a scroll and a length of rope.
***
The entire house was up at dawn. Mother was in the kitchen fixing breakfast, Pa was still shaving and getting himself ready for the morning chores, and the oldest boy, Chet, went out to feed the animals. Pa always said that the animals eat before the people since they ultimately provide the food.
Chet rubbed his eyes and looked out at the pigsty again. “Pa, did you get a hog yesterday and not tell us?” Chet shouted back at the house.
Pa leaned out the window of his bedroom with shaving soap still covering half his face. “Chet, you know we ain’t had a sow since Matilda done died last winter. Why ask such a fool question?”
“Cause we got one now, Pa, and the way Chet’s a goin’ at her, we’s gonna have a bunch of piglets real soon.”
CHAPTER 17
King Jarvin sat upon his throne trying his best not to let his emotions show as the lords from Brightridge and the mayors of Langdon’s Crossing, Edmonton, and several other small burgs spilled forth their tales of woe. He forced his face and voice to remain calm despite the seething turmoil that churned and burned his very core.
“My Lords, my Lord Mayors, please rest assure that I will do everything in my power to see to the apprehension of these scoundrels who prey upon my citizens.”
“But what of Brightridge, Your Majesty? We must have someone appointed regent until young Thomas is of age,” Lord Whitfield beseeched.
“Do I have the word of every lord with claim to Brightridge’s throne that they will abide by my selection without causing calamity?” Jarvin asked, already knowing that should he choose one over the others all will call foul and create havoc.
“Your Majesty, if I may make a suggestion,” Bishop Caalendor interjected.
“Of course, your council is always most welcome.”
“The prelate who heads the church in Brightridge might be willing to sit the throne for a time until we can find a more peaceful solution and at a time less hectic.”
Jarvin rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully for a moment. “Please forgive me, my friend, but I am hesitant to put a ranking member of the church as a head of state. We have worked long and hard to prevent such a conflict of interests.”
“I understand, Your Majesty, and it is a wise course to maintain, however, in this time of turmoil it may be the wisest course of action for the short term. He is well known and well-liked by the citizens. If you are concerned about the prelate’s qualifications, I can personally attest to him. He has taken many studies on governmental policies and even military deployment and strategies. It has long been something of a hobby of his, and I trust him to the fullest extent.”
“What say you, My Lords? Were I to place Brightridge in the hands of the prelate for the interim, just until a proper lord can be agreed upon and the lands settle down, would you accept that decision? Would the other lords of Brightridge do the same?” Jarvin asked, almost pleading with the obstinate lords.
“I believe we could all agree to that, for the interim of course,” Lord Kendrick replied.
“Excellent, I will write up the proclamation tonight, and you may return with it in the morn. I will speak to my advisors and my military leaders and decide the deployment of my own soldiers to protect the countryside. If there is no further business to discuss at this time, I bid you good day, gentlemen.”
Jarvin waited until the lords and mayors were escorted from the audience hall before slumping in his seat, thoroughly exhausted. “It is true what they say, the throne is the most uncomfortable chair ever created by man and ordained by the gods.”
His wife, Annette, reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “I think you acquitted yourself with fairness and wisdom, as you always do, darling.”
“Then why do I feel so sick to my stomach?”
“Because you actually care what happens to your people. It is the one horrible fault you have as king and I love you dearly for it,” Queen Annette told her husband.
“Captain, please send for General Mayweather and my company commanders, and have them attend me here in the hall. On second thought, have them come to the library,” Jarvin commanded then turned to his wife. “I am ever so much more comfortable there. Perhaps I should replace this dreadful throne with one of the library chairs.”
The queen gave him a wry smile. “You know as well as I that it is not the material of the chair but the responsibility with which it is padded.”
“Gods how I know, dear.”
Thirty minutes later, Jarvin sat in one of the high-backed library chairs across the table from his four most senior officers and his two personal advisors.
Damned if this chair is not more comfortable than that throne. Perhaps I should start holding court in the library, Jarvin mused.
“Your Majesty?” General Mayweather asked.
“Yes, forgive me, General, I was momentarily lost in thought. Issues of state you understand. Now then, as you may have heard, at least two large parties of renegades are terrorizing the southern cities up to and including Brightridge. Due to the dreadful assassination of not only Duke William but his seneschal as well, the state is headless and running around, please forgive me, like a chicken with its head cut off.
“What I intend to do, what I must do, is to send out three battalions to patrol the three primary states and their surrounding towns. My reports tell me we need not divide our forces in fourths to protect Southport. Duke Ulric has already fielded nearly a thousand men and horses and is actively pursuing the larger of the two known groups of raiders. He has already driven them off twice as of last report and inflicted heavy casualties, though he has yet to be able to
achieve a decisive victory.
“It would appear that the raiders are entirely mounted and flee battle rather quickly before they take substantial losses. Even so, Duke Ulric deserves our highest praise for engaging them and driving them away before the raiders could inflict even more damage. As all of you know, with the exception of Ulric, none of the states currently has any standing armies of consequence due to the fiscal impossibilities of maintaining such large forces in times of relative peace. Since the conclusion of our last war with Sumara, it did not make military sense either.
“It is my plan to have Colonel Rutherford use his companies to patrol the roads around Brightridge until such time as they can rebuild their army after suffering their disastrous defeat. Captain Cooper, you will take your company to secure the roads west of Duchess Paullina’s city of Argoth and for Captain Haywood to guard the roads around Brelland. Your input please, gentlemen,” Jarvin invited once he laid his plans out.
All the officers began speaking at once, but General Mayweather stood and took control. “Your Majesty, you are sending the vast majority of your military might outside the castle walls. Given the precariousness of your throne, I highly advise keeping at least one or two companies here in case of insurrection.”
“I understand your concern, General, and I quite agree with you, but I do not fear my people rising against me, and I have my home guard to protect me from any attempted coup from my less than enamored lords. However, if I do not at least make a show of force to put down these rabid raiders like the dogs they are, I will have an uprising on my hands.”
“It is your home guard that worries me the most, Your Majesty! So many of your loyal men have been lost these last few years and replaced by men whose loyalties neither of us can personally attest to.”
“General, I assure you that my personal guard is as loyal as it has ever been. Any replacements that have been made have been confirmed by Bishop Caalendor, Magus Illifan, or myself. Unless any of you can come up with any better reason than my own safety, those are your orders, and I expect you to carry them out. Goodnight to you, gentlemen, good hunting, and gods’ speed.”
The Sorcerer's Path Box Set: Book 1-4 Page 101
