“You have a very good point there,” Xaris agreed, a frown crossing his face as he leaned forward again, the legs of the chair making a sharp clack as they hit the ground. “Your method may be the best chance we have to get up to the palace. Once we try, we’re pretty well committed if the palace is part of the dungeon’s domain.”
“Should we ask around a little more? I heard that more people are coming, too,” Rene asked, smiling as she added, “We might be able to use them to get in closer. Maybe even replace some of them if they’re going to be going to the palace.”
“An excellent idea, Rene. Any objections?” Xaris asked the other two. When neither raised any protests, he nodded, running a hand over his head. “We’ll wait a week for an opening, then. If we don’t find one, we’ll take advantage of the academy.”
A decision made, each of them went about making certain that everything they needed was in order, their movements sharper and clearer than they’d been before.
Chapter 14
The roads to Galthor had been more difficult to follow than Justicar Ivan Hall had hoped, but less difficult than he’d feared they would be. Baron Galthor had evacuated as many people from the towns near the border as he’d been able to manage, placing scouting forces in each to harass and harry any attackers. While they inconvenienced the Justicar’s army, the flurry of minor attacks had been little more than an annoyance, and over two dozen skirmishers had been dealt with. Nearly a third of the raiders had ended up branded.
Once enslaved, the captives had proven to be of limited use, since the Baron had possessed the foresight to keep any important information from the scouts. The only benefit had been that they’d been able to track down several of the attacking groups before they could disappear into the forest once more. At last they were almost to Galthor itself.
The city of Galthor was surrounded by a series of rocky ridges and hills that were difficult for large numbers to travel through in the best of times, but when the conflict with Kelvanis had begun ten years before, Baron Galthor had employed his druids and nature magi to make them even more impassable. Immense walls and clusters of thorns and trees blocked most of the routes through the hills, and the venomous vines were fire resistant as well, which meant that burning them wasn’t an option. A full decade of growth meant that unless Ivan was willing to spend several weeks hacking a new passage through miles of natural barriers, he had to take one of three roads to Galthor, and two of them would leave his flanks exposed to the rest of Sifaren.
Skythorn Fortress blocked the road that he was following, and the structure was very different than those that Kelvanis or Yisara favored. Galthor had built up several dirt hills around the road, then reinforced them with a series of ironwood palisades. Trying to break through those would be difficult. They had dozens of towers with archers, and Hall was grimly certain they had other traps should his men make the mistake of trying to breach the road, with how the fortress was on either side of the three gatehouses blocking his path forward.
“That’s going to be unpleasant, sir,” Colonel Vane murmured, frowning slightly as she drummed her fingers against her saddle. Her dark hair was short, but hidden beneath her helmet, and the Justicar knew that she fancied him. He also knew that the Colonel had no chance of getting what she wanted, but wasn’t going to bring that up unless he had no other choice.
“You might say that, but that fort can only hold a thousand soldiers at most,” Ivan told her, a thin smile crossing his face. “We have significantly more than that with us.”
Vane’s weathered face creased with her smile as she nodded. “True enough, sir!”
They both looked at their army, and Hall couldn’t help but wonder if the elves were intimidated by the sight. A full legion of enslaved elves was their vanguard, with their supply train made up of hundreds of additional slaves. Also with them were three thousand orcs, trampling the bushes and ambling forward behind the elves. Following both groups came Kelvanis’ own soldiers, twelve thousand strong and far more disciplined than the others.
As Hall watched, the siege engineers began assembling the ballistae and trebuchets, and his smile widened still more. Glancing toward the fortress, he spoke confidently. “They’re going to be a royal pain in the ass, don’t get me wrong, but we’ll deal with them soon enough, then it’s on to Galthor.”
“Of course, sir!” Vane replied, saluting as her eyes glittered with excitement.
“Damn them to the hells!” Arise hissed in outrage, looking at the short note she’d been sent.
Agent Spire,
The demands that your contact have made have been judged acceptable, as long as he continues to cooperate. Your sister’s safety is in your hands. As your service is nearing its end, she will be freed the day that you fulfill your part of the agreement.
Spider
Arise almost couldn’t suppress the boiling rage that flooded through her. It was bad enough that Kelvanis had been blackmailing her into playing the part of a spy for half a decade by dangling her sister’s safety in front of her, but now this? They were going to let that brat Farren enslave her as part of their payment to him? The very thought utterly enraged her, and for a moment she hesitated, struggling with her anger as she thought back to her one meeting with Iris.
It had been difficult to reach the meeting place on the border, but she’d managed it, expecting to meet her sister after she’d escaped Kelvanis’ captivity. Escaping as a slave was difficult, and Arise hadn’t been surprised that Iris hadn’t managed to make it all the way back to Galthor. Her anger on walking into Kelvanis’ ambush had been nearly as deep as her rage was now, as had her horror on seeing her sister kneeling and bearing a brilliant pink brand next to the masked soldiers. The pleading and desperation in Iris’ eyes had forced Arise to agree to be their agent in Galthor, a role which she’d mostly grown numb to. Until now.
“What would Iris think, if she knew?” Arise mumbled, pacing back and forth in the nearly-dark room. The answer was actually fairly simple, she realized after a moment, and the dressmaker slumped slightly. Her sister, if she was even still safe, would be horrified at what she’d done. Iris wouldn’t want her to go through with this. So Arise took a deep breath, grabbed her cloak, and slipped out of the building, heading toward the headquarters of the city guard.
Chapter 15
Ducking the blow of the Kelvanis soldier, Vendis heard the human woman grunt as her sword bit into the tree. Quickly sidestepping and straightening, the elven warrior struck without pause, driving her scimitar through a crease in her attacker’s armor before the woman could dislodge her sword. As the woman gasped and crumpled, leaving her sword stuck in the tree, Vendis quickly looked around, her lips pressing together tightly at the sight.
The Kelvanis force had rushed their ambush, and more soldiers were still emerging from the forest in small clusters, adding to the chaos around her. Her people were giving a good accounting of themselves, with only a handful of them having fallen, but the melee was brutal chaos.
A deafening crack split the forest air as one of Vendis’ magi unleashed a lightning bolt into a cluster of Kelvanis’ soldiers, sending most of the heavily armored humans to the ground smoking. In the brief lull the thunder caused, Vendis spotted Lieutenant Calvor. A trio of illusory copies of himself surrounded the younger man, but his leathers were scarred by a near miss as he slipped past the guard of an opponent confused by his copies, gutting the man mercilessly.
Vendis caught a glimpse of a man aiming a crossbow at her and began to dodge, only to see him fall as an arrow plunged into his throat. She nodded her thanks to Private Alaina and quickly made her way across the battlefield, pausing to give the occasional assistance to her subordinates. They were winning, but part of her was worried that they weren’t seeing the full enemy force.
“Calvor!” Vendis called out as she approached, kicking an enemy soldier hard and letting one of the lieutenant’s men finish him off.
“Captain, to what do I owe the plea
sure?” the man asked, pausing to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and inadvertently leaving a thin trail of blood in its place. Calvor looked a bit tired, but not exhausted. That was good.
“We’ve got these bastards, but I don’t see their commander around. Hunt them down and deal with them,” Vendis ordered, her eyes hardening as she continued. “We can’t afford for them to get near our caravan.”
“Yes, sir!” Calvor saluted, understanding and resolve flickering across his face, and he gestured for the rest of his squad. “You heard the Captain! We’ve got an enemy command to kill.”
They let out a chorus of acknowledgements and the group rushed off, leaving Vendis to deal with the main force of attackers. Vendis flinched as an enemy mage launched a fireball at her soldiers, the flickering crimson orb blazing through the air toward her lines. An instant later, a net of blue light launched from the hands of one of her magi and enveloped the spell with a sizzle, extinguishing it before the flaming sphere could devastate her troops. Letting out a sigh of relief, Vendis smiled and began to lead her soldiers on the attack this time. Her oversized company wasn’t built for defense, it was built to hit the enemy hard and fast. So that was what she was going to do.
It took only about a quarter of an hour for her soldiers to shatter the morale of the Kelvanis army. The moment only came more swiftly when word came that Calvor had intercepted the enemy commanders well short of the caravan.
“Good job today, Calvor. You saved a lot of people,” Vendis told the Lieutenant later, a smile on her face as she nodded toward the main camp.
“It was the least I could do, Captain. They’ve suffered enough, it’s about time that someone gave them a chance to fight back,” he replied softly, following her gaze.
Vendis’ company was the vanguard of seven full companies that had been dispatched to guard a caravan of former slaves on their way to Beacon. At first Vendis had been skeptical of just how many soldiers had been gathered for the task, but that was before she’d learned the sheer number of former slaves in the caravan.
She’d never realized that nearly ten thousand inhabitants of Sifaren were living in fear of their slave brands being controlled. Only half that number were with them, but two out of three had been members of Kelvanis’ slave legions before being rescued. If they could manage to get through the lines later on, Vendis imagined that most of the remaining escaped slaves would come to Beacon as well, as it was one of the few places that offered the hope of true freedom.
Even so, the caravan wasn’t composed of solely former slaves. A handful of Sifaren’s nobles, largely children far down the line of inheritance, and several hundred common folk and merchants were with them as well. It was a huge caravan, and even the companies Vendis had been given had difficulty screening it as they crossed the border.
“Captain?” a young private sitting nearby inquired, a blanket across her shoulders.
“Yes, private?” Vendis asked, raising an eyebrow at the young woman. She was too young to be in the army, Vendis realized with a pang of guilt. The need to build up the army against Kelvanis meant that they had to recruit soldiers well below the usual age of forty. While elves were about as mature as humans at any age below twenty-five, they normally gave their youth plenty of time to decide what they wanted to do with their lives before risking death in battle.
“I was wondering how many more days it’ll be before we reach the city, ma’am,” the young woman replied, looking up at Vendis nervously. “Will we face another fight like that again?”
“Ahh. We actually should reach Beacon the day after tomorrow, possibly one beyond that,” Vendis replied, nodding as she asked, “You see that faint crimson light, almost like a star on the horizon?”
“Yes?” the soldier replied peering toward the light. It was only a bit brighter than the stars, but Vendis nodded and smiled at her.
“That’s the beacon atop the palace,” she explained. “With the speed of the caravan we won’t make it tomorrow, but unless the weather is particularly foul, we should be there by the day after. I also don’t think we’re going to have another fight like that until we drive down toward Westgate, since I doubt Kelvanis would have their people lurking this close to Beacon. Besides, our scouts should have spotted signs of any others.”
“Oh, good!” the private exclaimed, then blushed and apologized. “S-sorry, ma’am.”
“Don’t be sorry. That was a nasty fight, and I’m glad they rushed the ambush. We could have lost a lot more people than we did,” Vendis told her, sadness welling up inside her as she thought about the casualties they’d taken. “We lost enough people as it is. Still, at least we’ve got a fighting chance.”
“Of course, ma’am.” The young woman nodded, turning back toward the fire.
“Do you think Yisara will join the war, Captain?” Calvor asked, looking thoughtfully to the south.
Sighing, Vendis shrugged helplessly. “That, I have no idea on. I’ve heard that the Queen is in negotiations with them, but who knows if something will come of it? All we can do is pray for good news. They did lose their old queen to Kelvanis, after all.”
“Well, here’s to hoping they do join us. Every bit of pressure on Kelvanis helps,” Calvor murmured, raising his flask of brandy and taking a solid gulp. Vendis smiled and shook her head. She wanted her head clear, but she certainly agreed with the sentiment.
Watching the massive number of elves approaching, Desa couldn’t help her surprise. Oh, they weren’t all elves. There were humans and a handful of half-elves as well, but she shook her head in disbelief, looking at Vendis as she spoke. “I know we had a message about the caravan beforehand, but seeing it is an entirely different thing. You realize that with everyone out there, we’re going to have something like twelve times the population we did when you and Reva left, right?”
“More, I’d think. Don’t you have those rebels as well?” Vendis asked, smiling at Desa impishly.
“Very true, but the situation with the rebels is weird. Who knows whether they’ll end up staying? Still, I think we’re going to have something like fifteen thousand people in the city. That’s an enormous population jump,” Desa replied, sighing as she rubbed her eyes. “Security is going to be a bitch, though.”
“It’s a hell of a difference than the first time we stopped to camp. Right over there, isn’t it?” Vendis agreed, then nodded in the direction of a copse of trees about a mile from the gates. “I remember it like yesterday, but it still feels surreal.”
“Heh. Yeah, that’s the place. Sistina walked right past the guards, completely ignoring them,” Desa chuckled, grinning at the taller soldier. “You were a bit angry with her, as I recall.”
“Of course I was! I was already almost jumping at shadows, then she appeared out of nowhere. How else was I supposed to react?” Vendis protested, glaring at Desa.
“I don’t blame you at all. It’s just amusing in hindsight,” Desa replied, leaning on the wall as the first of the former slaves started up the ramp. “I don’t think I can ever express how grateful I am that Lily decided to go out hunting that day.”
“On that, I totally agree,” Vendis chuckled, smiling. “Speaking of Lily, what’s she doing now?”
“Oh, she’s the Royal Gardener. She protested at the title, but when Phynis and Sistina put their foot down, she gave in,” Desa said. “She’s good at it, too. She just seems to think she’s not very important.”
“In that case, I suppose we should leave her alone. It’s rather endearing that she doesn’t want fame,” Vendis murmured, and smirked. “How do you think she’d react if I snuck up on her?”
Desa couldn’t suppress her own laughter at the thought of the shy woman’s reaction, and just shook her head. “Never mind that, let’s take you up to the palace. You said Alissa’s with you, right?”
“She is. She’s been accompanying some of the nobles,” Vendis explained, and grinned as she added, “I think she hasn’t been terribly pleased with that, but better her tha
n me.”
“That is a lot of escaped slaves,” Oliver murmured, pausing on the street to watch the swarms of people entering the city. The east gate of Beacon was the one that was used the most, and the road from the gate led straight into what had been dubbed Dungeon Plaza. They were out gathering information, and had been looking forward to telling the others when the first handful of soldiers had entered the city, but now he was taken aback.
“You’ve got that right,” Edward agreed, his eyes narrowing. “In fact, that could complicate Xaris’ plans. I know he planned on mixing in with outsiders, but that many people could get in our way.”
“True enough. We’ll have to let him know and figure out what he wants to do.” Oliver sighed and shrugged helplessly. “Still, this might give us a chance to get the seerstone close to the dryad and figure out whether she’s our target or not.”
“That’s a thought! Let’s go back and ask him. There’s just enough humans among them that one of us wouldn’t be out of place.” Edward smiled at the thought.
Oliver nodded, then went ambling back toward the house, whistling brightly.
Phynis smiled and nodded at Vendis, her voice bright and friendly. “Vendis! It’s good to see you again. How are you? Don’t bow, I don’t need that from you.”
“I’d be better if Kelvanis up and surrendered, but that isn’t going to happen, Your Majesty,” the warrior replied with a grin, straightening from her respectful bow and looking curiously at the odd pair of humans in the room, Slaid and Umar. “That being the case, I’m doing as well as can be expected. May I ask who your companions are? I recognize Farren, Ruby, and Sistina, of course, but I don’t recognize your other guests.”
“Ah, yes. This is Slaid Darkeye and his second-in-command, Umar Sharptongue. They command Kelvanis’ Crown Loyalist faction in rebelling against the Archon and his subordinates,” Phynis explained, her smile broadening as she continued. “They’ve allied with us to take down the current regime and agreed to return our people and lands to us if we succeed. This is Captain Vendis Cascade, gentlemen. She commanded the scout force who rescued me from Kelvanis after I was captured last year. She’s skilled and I trust her implicitly.”
Halls of Power (Ancient Dreams Book 3) Page 9
