The Prince smiled. "Got their blood up, has it? Good. Still, wouldn't do to have them on edge for too long. We should set them to some task at once, burn off a bit of that energy."
"Very good, sir. I'll have scouting parties sent out at once to determine the likely route of the enemy forces. Perhaps you'd care to oversee the defenses in the fort? It could be that your presence there alone will be enough for the Star to reveal itself," Konowa offered.
"Excellent, Major, excellent. Have my headquarters set up in the fortress at once and then report to me when you've disposed of the scouts. I'll want to go over our defenses in depth," he said, clapping his hands together in conclusion. "Rallie! Someone find Rallie and have her meet me in the fortress. We have some exploring to do." He walked over to his steed, took the reins from a private, and mounted, spurring his reluctant horse through the gap and into a canter up the hill.
Konowa was momentarily speechless. He stared at the trees as they continued to squirm and entwine themselves, thickening the black wall that surrounded the fortress while leaving the gap intact. It sounded like bones being grated in a pestle.
"Has the magic taken your senses?" Lorian asked, coming to stand directly in front of Konowa. "You know as well as I do that retreating into that fortress is a death sentence." His voice shook as he spoke, his eyes slightly unfocused.
Konowa raised a hand and motioned for Lorian to follow him. They walked several hundred yards away from the trees before Konowa stopped. "We don't know who or what might be listening, so from here on out, watch what you say."
Lorian looked back at the trees, a new horror dawning on him. "You mean they can hear us? Did you feel that when you burned them?"
Konowa shook his head. "I don't know what they are capable of, but all the same, keep everyone away from the trees." He reached out a hand and rested it on Lorian's shoulder. The man's eyes widened, but he held firm. "If it comes to it, I can deal with the trees. In fact, I suspect you and the regiment will be able to as well."
"I don't want this, Major, I don't," he said, hanging his head. "I'm not one of those that fancies magic and all its dark mysteries. I'm already…sensing things, things around me. It's not natural. Rakkes and dog-spiders coming back are one thing, but men turned into trees…" The fear in his voice cut Konowa deeply.
"Which is why we have to hold together. What happened to the Thirty-fifth Foot will not happen to us. On that you have my word. I don't fully understand it," he said, his hand straying to his chest, "but we have a power to fight this. You have to trust me."
"I wish it gone. Tell me how to get rid of it."
Konowa realized with a start that there was no answer. "I made a vow when I came back, that I would protect the Iron Elves no matter what, and I intend to keep that promise. When we are done here, I will take this regiment back out of the wilderness, and we'll see what we can do about putting things right."
It sounded hollow, and Konowa could tell that Lorian was unconvinced, but the RSM pulled himself together and nodded.
"I'll hold you to it," Lorian said, saluting, then he turned and walked away. There was a thunderclap followed by a blade of lightning, and a hard rain began to fall.
FORTY-TWO
Konowa stood on top of the hill and cursed the rain.
A thunder cloud ripped apart directly overhead and the rain sluiced down in sheets. Shaking his head, he adjusted the collar of the riding cloak he had put on, a first since their little adventure had begun. It wasn't that he hated being wet, which he did, but the rain was no longer the warm steam bath it had been. In all the years he had lived in Elfkyna, he had never known a rain this cool, and his gaze automatically turned to the twisted forest that now surrounded him.
In the course of setting up camp and sending out scouts and dealing with the whims of the Prince, Konowa had passed through the gap in the trees several times in the past few hours.
Whenever he ventured outside the black ring, the natural chaos of the world murmured in the background, annoying but familiar. Within the ring, however, an eerie quiet prevailed. It was as if all life was muted, held deep within the folds of a thick cloak. It was different from what he had felt when Visyna wove her magic. Then, the murmurs of life had felt right, as if a broken bone had suddenly been mended. Either way, it gave him a peace of mind that allowed him to think.
Rallie emerged from the shadows to stand beside him. She pushed back the hood of her cloak to peer up at the cloud-laden night sky, not the least bit bothered by the rain. Lightning struck one of the trees, revealing the forest for a moment in all its grotesquerie. Gleaming blue flames flared up and then were quenched, the tree a pile of ash. Branches from other trees creaked and groaned as they began to fill the gap.
"I feel like things are slipping out of my hands," he said to her, turning away from the trees to stare at the remains of the fortress. The walls were smashed in several places, the mud brick construction disintegrating further in the rain. Two small five-pounder cannon, so named for the weight of the shot they fired, lay knocked off their wheels, but already troops were working to repair them. A short, squat, four-inch howitzer had also been found and was already declared fit to fire. Fortunately, the guns had not been spiked, and the powder room in the fortress still contained several barrels of dry powder and close to a thousand rounds. Standard tactics were to render an enemy's cannon inoperable, or at the very least smash open his powder kegs and soak the powder, but none of that had been done.
A thick cloud of smoke emanated from Rallie's mouth, only to be quickly torn apart by the falling rain. "Then best not hold too tightly, or you'll lose your grip even faster." She turned her head to the side to look at him. "The scouts are out in force, the guard is set, the Prince and I walked the fortress calling out to the Star with no luck, and the fortress, such as it is, is secure. I suggest you take the opportunity to get some sleep. Things always look better in the morning."
Konowa smiled in spite of himself. "Sleep. I've heard of that. Perhaps later. I should make another round of the sentrieseveryone is pretty jumpy." He caught the reflection of steel bayonets as a group of soldiers patrolled the line of trees. The RSM had set a path fifty yards away, but their unease at being even that close to the trees kept pushing their circuit farther away until a sergeant bellowed for the soldiers to hold their bloody ground. Arkhorn would have walked right up to them and started carving his initials in the trunks.
"The dwarf may yet appear," Rallie said, her reading of his thoughts so natural that he no longer questioned it. "But your running yourself ragged won't help one bit. If anything comes up, I'll be sure to have someone fetch you. Besides, little is going to get past Jir," she said, leaning down to rub the fur of one very soaked bengar.
Konowa started, unaware that Jir was there. He held out his hand for Jir to come over for a pat, but the bengar only sniffed at it and stayed by Rallie's side. "He can tell that I've changed," Konowa said, pulling his hand back and letting it rest against his chest.
Rallie spat, a gesture lost in the rain. "Oh, pish," she said, rounding on Konowa and poking her cigar at him so that he had to back up a pace. "You're wet, tired, and feeling sorry for yourself. I'm not about to write that the sub knight commander of the Iron Elves is a mewling milquetoast too soft to handle a little adversity. Get yourself out of the rain, find a nice dry place somewhere, and get some sleep."
"Is that an order?" Konowa asked, allowing himself a half smile. Rallie took a long draw on her cigar, the end glowing bright orange and showing no ill effects from being in the rain.
"Soon to be followed by a kick in the breeches if you don't follow it, and take this mangy ball of fur with you," she said, nudging Jir toward him with her knee.
He started to move off, then hesitated. "Have you seen Visyna recently? I'm not sure, but I think I owe her an apology…for something." Ever since he'd met her, Konowa had felt he was letting her down. It was bothering him more and more.
"Apology? No. You are doing what yo
u think best, and though she disagrees with that, she knows you do it from your heart. As does she. My advice," she said, turning and looking down toward the river, "is to get some sleep. Things will look clearer after a few hours of rest."
"Orders are orders," Konowa said, saluting smartly and bowing his head. Cold rain ran down the back of his neck and he quickly brought his head up again. "C'mon, Jir, let's see if we can't find someplace a little less wet." Jir looked up at Rallie, who pointedly turned her back on both of them. Jir seemed to give it some thought, then padded after Konowa, the bengar's olive eyes glinting in the dark.
"Well, it's not much, but at least it'll keep the rain off our heads," Konowa said a minute later, crawling under a half-collapsed cart. The sound of the rain pounding on the wood was loud, but at least it was dry. He removed his shako, adjusted his scabbard, and lay down. After a few seconds, Jir flopped down beside him, the bengar's back pushing up against his. Konowa reached a hand out and let it rest on the animal's fur, giving Jir a pat as he did so. "Almost makes me homesick for our little hut by the stream," he said, the last of his words slurring as he drifted into sleep.
A feeling of absolute tranquility washed over him.
Bloody hell.
This time in his dream, he was Wobblyat least, he thought he was the pelican. Unlike the clear thoughts he had had the other night when he dreamed about Martimis, this one was fuzzy, as if a cloth had been draped over a lantern…or the pelican in question was drunk.
He was flying, if weaving madly across a moonlit sky could be called flying. He felt no fear. In fact, he felt very pleased with the world. He was so relaxed that he started to drift off to sleep. It was a glorious feeling, the wind soft and tender against his feathers. Then the wind got harder, and colder. He opened his eyes and saw the ground rushing up from below. With a terrified squawk, he started flapping his wings again, slowly gaining height as he struggled to stay on course. Konowa tossed in his sleep, his own heart racing. It was amazing the bird had survived this long.
He settled back into level flight, more or less, and then looked around for Dandy. He saw a shadow off in the distance mirroring his course and felt relieved. He opened his mouth and was rewarded with deliciously cool air pouring down his throat. It was glorious.
A tree loomed up before him and he veered to the right. Branches slashed at him as he flew by, trying to bring him down. He squawked and flew higher. Another tree suddenly appeared before him, and again he veered away, only to find another tree in his path. Somehow he had flown into a forest and was now anxious to get out. Twisted black branches thrashed the air around him. Razor-edged leaves flew past him, and cries of insane fury echoed in his mind. He saw the silver Wolf Oak up ahead, its canopy snaking out in all directions, cutting off his escape. Somewhere below he knew the Shadow Monarch waited. He flapped his wings harder and pointed himself skyward even as he sensed the approach of something large and old and filled with malice.
He woke up screaming.
The air was cold, and the Viceroy was naked. Each breath drove tentacles of ice deeper into his lungs. He smiled and prayed for the air to grow colder still.
The Viceroy stood before the table, but not because he had been woken from sleephe no longer needed that luxury. She provided him with everything now, and through the table he was that much closer to Her power. And it was real, visceral power, not like the pathetic force the Queen of Calahr wielded. It pained him to think he could have been so blind, so petty, that he had once dedicated his life to such a hollow power as the Empire.
His new monarch was power incarnate, and through the table it flowed over him like a polar waterfall, penetrating every fiber of his being, until he sensed nothing but what the table itself saw.
And what he saw pleased him as few things could.
The Iron Elves, predictably, had chosen the perceived security of the fortress and Her forest wall around it over the open ground.
It would be their doom.
Even now, the rebellious elfkynan were closing on Luuguth Jor, walking into the trap the Iron Elves had already entered.
Soon, the Star would be Hers.
A flicker of regret caught the Viceroy by surprise, but it lasted only a moment. There had been a time, only recently in fact, when he had wanted the Star for himself, for its power, its meaning.
Now he wanted it only for Her.
He bent closer over the table, luxuriating in the feel of its surface, running his hands across it as he would a lover. Ryk faur, Her Emissary had called it, bond brother.
It was his now, and he its.
He traced the approaching route of the elfkynan army. It would be over in a matter of hours. He moved his hands and felt the cold force of Her power at his fingertips. The temptation to crush the elfkynan and the Iron Elves now was immense, but years of perfecting the art of patience won through, and he lifted his hands from the table.
The elfkynan and the Iron Elves would kill each other, and whatever remained would be cleansed from the face of the earth. The rest of the Imperial Army and whatever fool elfkynan chose to rise up would follow, and Her dominion would grow wider across the lands. It was a pleasure to finally serve a monarch who understood the true meaning of force.
There was the heavy flutter of wings at the window and the smell of blood in the air. The Viceroy never took his eyes from the table, barely motioning for the dragon to bring the latest messenger to him. He heard the table cry out for more, sensing the still-warm blood and the message within. A loud thump reverberated along the table and something brown rolled across it to stop in front of the Viceroy, temporarily obscuring his view of Luuguth Jor. It took a moment for him to understand what he saw.
It was the head of his dragon.
He jerked up, turning to see a short, fat, white pelican perched on the edge of the table, its feet doing a little dance as it tried to keep them from freezing to the surface.
Perched in the window behind it was a raptor of immense size, the silver tip of the bird's curving black beak sparkling with menace.
The pelican opened its bill wide and regurgitated liquid all over the table's surface. The smell of alcohol filled the air, and steam hissed and rose from the table so that the room began to fill with mist. The raptor leaned its head farther into the room, its beak poised just above the table.
Only then did the Viceroy understand the true danger this odd pair posed.
"Noooooooo!" he shouted, even as the raptor opened its beak and then snapped it shut. Sparks sprayed out across the table and came in contact with the alcohol. There was a whoosh and blue flames leaped upward, knocking him backward into the wall.
The pelican squawked and beat its wings furiously as it took off from the table trailing singed tail feathers in its wake, flying back out the window the raptor had already vacated.
The Viceroy looked around desperately for something to put out the fire, but there was nothing in the room.
Nothing, except him.
His screams echoed far into the night.
FORTY-THREE
The rain finally stopped, and in its absence, a heavy fog shrouded the night around the black forest. Few of the soldiers knew what a sauna was, but all on the scouting parties outside the ring of trees understood the effect. Sweat and fog mixed, turning their skin slimy with heat. Rubbing one's hands against a sopping caerna did nothing to improve the grip on a slick musket, the bare metal already blossoming with the first tinge of orange rust.
But it wasn't the wrath of a nitpicking sergeant that worried them. Scouts were coming back in with reports of something in the east that the soldiers on the outer piquets could hear for themselves.
An army was approaching.
Konowa stood on one of the short wooden docks that jutted out into the river and peered into the mist. It was still too dark to see anything beyond a few hundred yards, even with the benefit of elvish eyes and a full moon trying to shine through the fog. He stepped to one side as a group of soldiers brushed past
carrying an elfkynan kios, which they took to the end of the dock. With much grunting and cursing they lifted it down onto several other kios that had been lashed together and then planked over, creating a thin, precarious bridge that stretched across the river. It was a tenuous lifeline at best, but it would allow the outlying soldiers a quicker return after doing what they could to slow the advance of the enemy.
He felt something brush against his leg and looked down to see Jir standing beside him. "Get back up to the fortress," he said, gently ruffling the fur on the bengar's head. Jir looked up at him for a moment, growled softly, then slowly padded away, but not before lifting a leg on the edge of the dock.
The sound of soldiers working drew Konowa's attention back to the far side of the river. Over the fall of hammers and muffled oaths the sound of the rebels approaching could be heard. Konowa tried to force his senses out beyond the river, but found he could not. He placed a hand over his heart and tried harder. The temperature around him dropped and tiny shards of frost glistened from his cloak, but still he was unable to detect more than a vague presence. He gave up and turned his back to the river, staring hard at the reason.
The trees now rose more than ten feet in some places, their gnarled branches crooking back on themselves to interlock with the trees around them. Their growth appeared to have stopped, but Konowa knew better. Within the ring of trees, his senses were clearer than they had been at any time in his life. Even now the roots were twisting and stabbing their way deeper into the soil, deeper even than their branches reached skyward.
The dock began to shake, and Konowa knew without looking who it was.
"Getting a bit nippy around here, sir," Private Hrem Vulhber said, saluting as he came to attention in front of Konowa. It took a moment for Konowa to pull his stare away from the trees. When he did, he saw that Hrem was staring at the trees, too.
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