“Get up, Hyden Hawk,” he heard the echo in his mind as the image of the forest faded to gray. Then Talon leapt into flight, jarring him back to reality.
“Fight it, Hyden,” a familiar voice said from close to him. “Get up. You have to get up, Hyden.”
An odd scratching sensation raked across his cheek and his eyes fluttered open. The pain in his guts was overwhelming, but not so much that it kept him from trying to scrabble backwards away from the toothy thing that was crawling around his face.
“Ahhhhghhh!” he yelled as he managed to scoot barely a pace backwards. The creature before him hissed and hunched into a prickle.
“Thank the gods,” said Phen from beside him. “I thought you were gone. You have to get up and walk.”
Hyden tried, but couldn’t speak. The pain of moving was akin to being roasted alive from the inside out. Phen grabbed him under one arm and pulled him up into a sitting position. Hyden’s complexion went from pale green to ghostly white. Phen poured cool water over his head and let it run down his face. Then he helped him sip.
“We have to get out of here, Hyden,” Phen said. He didn’t do a very good job of hiding his fear, but he tried. “Mikahl took Princess Rosa from the tower, and the Dragon Queen’s priest caught them in a spell.” Phen shook his head, trying to clear the worry from it so that he could think. “I tried to warn them, but he didn’t listen.”
“Never does,” Hyden mumbled.
“I can’t carry you out of here,” Phen said. “You have to get up and walk.”
Hyden took a few long breaths, then the dragon’s tear pulsed a soothing blast of energy into him. It didn’t do much to quell his pain, but it gave him the strength he needed to climb to his feet.
“I have to find the darkness,” Hyden murmured.
Phen put his arm around his friend’s waist and helped him take a step, then another. “A moment ago you said you needed to find the light.”
“The light …” Hyden whispered. “ …is in the darkness.”
“Whatever you say,” Phen agreed with him. “We’re going to get you out into the daylight, if we can manage to get there without getting caught.”
“Aye,” Hyden put more effort into helping Phen help him. “Into the light.”
Phen found that he was fighting tears of sorrow as he helped Hyden along. His friend was dying, and he knew it. Even so, he would get Hyden to daylight. He wouldn’t let him die down here in the dungeon. If Master Sholt or Master Amill were at hand, Phen thought that maybe a healing spell of higher magic might help, but he doubted it. The thing that had pumped Hyden’s gut full of venom looked terribly wicked, even lying dead on the dungeon floor. The malformed breed giant’s leg was swollen to the size of a cask. Phen held little hope for Hyden. He fought his tears and concentrated on helping him take each step. It was all he could think to do.
***
Shaella was enjoying the swift rush of early summer air as it whipped through her long dark hair. Flick was a hundred feet away, perched atop the bat-like Choska demon’s neck. It was slightly larger than Vrot in body size, but not nearly as long. It didn’t have a sinuous tail or neck. Still, it was a fierce creature, with razor sharp claws, a wide mastiff-like head, and a mouth full of nasty teeth.
As always, clutched in Shaella’s hand was the staff with the Spectral Orb mounted at its head. As the thick blue winding line of the Leif Greyn River came into view in the distance, she saw a glimmering red light swirling around inside the crystal. She brought it closer and let Vrot guide them while she studied it.
The distorted image of one of the red-robed priests stared out at her with a perplexed, yet excited look on his face.
“What is it?” she snapped, bringing the man’s attention to bear like a whip crack. “This had better be good.”
“Queen Shaella,” the priest bowed.
“Out with it,” she snapped.
Flick heard her and urged the Choska closer to the black dragon.
“Kraw has commanded us,” the priest said excitedly. “We are preparing to bring him out of the Nethers.”
“Wait for me,” she said, feeling an electric tingle run through her belly. “I’m turning back now. Do not open the seal until I’m there.”
“Yes,” the priest said in a tone that made her think he might not obey.
“Flick!” she called out. “Go on! Aid the Dakaneese in my stead, then see what else Ra’Gren requires, at your discretion of course.”
Flick felt a sinking feeling inside as he nodded that he understood her orders. It was Gerard, he knew. He could tell it by the gleaming of her eyes. With only the grim satisfaction that she was happy to motivate him, he agreed. Then he winged the Choska away before his expression could betray his emotion. Flick found that he felt a little more for his queen than he should. He knew that she didn’t return the affection. She was in love with Gerard, but nonetheless, Flick loved Shaella.
Shaella wheeled Vrot sharply around and gave her dragon a loving pat on his sleek scaled back. “Fly, my dragon,” she ordered. “Fly as swiftly as you can.” The idea that Gerard was coming to her now filled her with an ecstatic hope. She was literally trembling with excitement. It was all she could do to stay seated as Vrot churned his way through the air with his powerful wings.
***
In a moment of clarity Hyden called out to Claret. Not for himself—he was done. He thought he understood now what the White Goddess meant about the light. Even if he succeeded, though, he didn’t see a way to get back from where he had to go. It was Phen who needed a way out of this place. Not just out of the castle, but out of Westland completely. As Hyden leaned heavily into the corner of a hallway just above the dungeon level of the vast castle, he struggled to get his medallion’s chain over his head. When Phen returned from scouting the hall, Hyden hung it over Phen’s neck then sagged into the floor.
Phen didn’t question the deed. It would have choked him up too badly to do so. As he struggled to get Hyden back to his feet, he suddenly had an idea of his own.
“Here,” Phen said, taking Loak’s ring and pressing it into Hyden’s hand. “Put this on.”
Hyden’s moment of clarity was gone now. He looked at the boy, then at the ring. It took his scrambled brain a moment to make sense of it, but he finally understood. He let Phen slide the ring onto his finger and saw that, even to his own eyes, he disappeared.
Phen got his arm under Hyden’s and pulled him back to his feet. He knew that he looked quite insane moving through the castle hugging an invisible person, but he figured that he could prop Hyden in a corner if he had to. He struggled to get them walking again. Once he did, he felt for his connection with Spike. The lyna was up ahead of them, scouting for danger. All of the guards and servants were either hiding or trying to find a view of what the red priests were doing in the garden. Something was happening out there now, Phen guessed, for the hallways were completely empty.
Without the magic of the teardrop to fill him with relief, Hyden knew that he couldn’t go much farther. “Go on, Phen,” he whispered. “Tell me where Mikahl is, and go.”
“I’ll not let go of you, Hyden Hawk,” Phen argued stubbornly. “You’ll fall into a heap without me.”
“Then get me to Mikahl,” rasped Hyden. “After that you have to get away from here.”
“Not until I destroy the Silver Skull,” Phen said. “I know how to render it useless Hyden, but it will only work while it is being used.”
Hyden found some strange relief in that. In the foggy mess of his brain he tried to untwist the thoughts that were tangled there. After few moments he stopped them in the middle of an empty passage.
“Aye, Phen,” Hyden whispered. “Wait until the seal is open, and then destroy the skull. But I have to be there.”
“You need to...”
“No!” Hyden cut the boy a off as harshly as he could manage. “I’m going to die, Phen. Do not argue with me.” He used all the strength he had left in him to grip the boy by the
shoulders and shake him. “Promise me, Phen. Promise me you’ll get me to the seal, and then destroy the skull while it’s open.”
Phen couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. He didn’t quite understand Hyden’s motives, but he understood the finality of them.
“Aye,” he whispered. “I’ll try my damnedest, Hyden. I will.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
The same day Lord Gregory and Lady Trella arrived in the Red City of Dreen, so did Queen Willa. The two parties, however, arrived in quite different manners. The Lion Lord and his wife came into the city on horseback, after spending many days of hard riding over the well-worn passage through the Wildermont Mountains. Queen Willa used a witchy device that was hidden in the depths of her castle, called the Wardstone Waygate. Used properly, the Wardstone Waygate could take its user, and a handful of others, most anywhere they could imagine. It was a one way teleportation though. No matter where you went, you had to use conventional means, or other magical ones, to return to Xwarda. Only a handful of people knew that it existed, and as far as anyone knew, the gateway was the only one of its kind.
Queen Willa had her hair pulled back into a fat single braid, and was dressed for battle. A knee length shirt of fine silvery chain mail was fastened around her middle by a plated leather girdle. Over her shoulders was a custom formed breastplate that maintained her feminine form. High, shin-plated, boots, a helmet of gold worked steel, and a long narrow sword completed her garb. She brought with her a small escort, four of her fiercest Blacksword warriors as a personal guard, and King Granitheart, the ruler of the dwarves. Several days earlier she had dispatched from Xwarda ten thousand of her Blacksword soldiers, and half again as many mounted pike men. King Granitheart sent the remainder of his force with them, some three thousand battle eager dwarves. The entire force was currently marching west and Willa figured they would be almost to Kastia by now. A pair of her Master Wizard’s apprentices, young men who barely qualified as acolytes, were with the troops. The idea was for Master Sholt, Master Amill, the apprentices, and herself to be able to communicate by way of spells and other magical means so that the separate groups of soldiers could work together.
Willa came because she was a capable, battle-tested sorceress in her own right. She had every intention of taking the place of an apprentice once things started to get bloody. Her excuse was that the youngsters had no experience. In truth, she just wanted to be there.
After dinner she called a war council. General Spyra gave his full cooperation; after all, he was Willa’s man.
Of course, Lord Gregory was invited, and the King of the Dwarves as well. Master Sholt had conveyed to her the Lion Lord’s unofficial rank and role as the High King’s adviser and friend. Lord Lion’s opinion wasn’t to be taken lightly. Attending, by way of being close to Master Wizard Sholt, were King Jarrek and General Diamondeen. Commander Escott was with Master Wizard Amill as well. It seemed that Queen Willa was going to take control of the situation until the meeting actually began. When it did, she made it clear that King Jarrek was the one in charge.
There was no way to get troops where they were most needed, not fast enough to do any good. Ra’Gren was about to attack at Seareach. Jarrek asked that the others concentrate on getting forces into Dakahn along the Valleyan border at Oktin and Lokahna. Diverting Ra’Gren’s attention from Seareach was a priority. The demon beast guarding the bridge at Lokahna had to be eliminated first, explained Master Amill. He conveyed commander Escott’s thoughts about attacking the hulking creature from the Dakaneese side of the river and told them that the bulk of his troops should be at Oktin very soon. Master Sholt told them Master Oarly and General Diamondeen’s plan, though he let Lord Gregory fill in the details.
The mood of the evening was somber. The fact that neither High King Mikahl, nor Sir Hyden Hawk Skyler had been heard from for weeks left little room to hope for their survival, much less their aid. To make matters worse, it turned out that they had underestimated the timing of Ra’Gren’s aggression. In the middle of the battle council, the Dakaneese forces charged the Seareach Passage with a full out attack. King Jarrek and Master Sholt assured the others that they had things under control for the time being. They would follow the plan they laid out, but they had to leave the others and attend to the matters at hand.
When Master Sholt ended his spells of communication the others were left feeling helpless.
“If your men are at Kastia now,” Lord Gregory said to Queen Willa and the King of the Dwarves, in an attempt to generate some positive action, as well as some hope, “then they should be diverted immediately toward Oktin. If they are allowed to march all the way here, then they will lose maybe two days.”
Queen Willa nodded that it would be done, and then went about casting a sending to the apprentices to convey the orders.
Lord Gregory had to laugh at himself. Queen Willa was a far cry from the twisted conniving witch queen that rumors had portrayed her to be. He couldn’t imagine the beautiful headstrong woman eating people, or feeding them to her armies. He could, however, imagine her trying to turn a drunken lecherous lord into a hog—something else she had supposedly done.
“If Commander Escott and Master Amill are still at Lokahna, then the troops they sent to Oktin will have no serious brass to direct them,” General Spyra said hopefully. He was suggesting that he get the appointment, and was blatantly eager about it.
“That’s a good point,” said Lord Gregory.
All eyes fell on Queen Willa to make a decision, but she was busy speaking softly to an apprentice mage who was nearly a hundred miles away.
***
Lady Mandary, General Spyra’s wife, was outside the service entrance that led to the council room where the meeting was taking place. Her ear was pressed to the wooden door. A moment before, her eye had been glued to the key hole, surveying the group. She was giddy with a devilish excitement. Queen Shaella would love to hear of all the scheming troop movements. She would especially want to hear the little bits that Lady Mandary learned about the trap Jarrek and the dwarves were setting at Seareach.
“What, pray tell, are you about?” a loud female voice startled Lady Mandary nearly out of her false skin.
A heartbeat later she flushed with anger. She was the Lady of this castle and her husband was the current ruler of the kingdom of Valleya. She didn’t have to answer to anybody.
“Mind your business,” she snapped as she turned to see who was speaking to her. She expected to find a servant, or one of the maids. Instead she found regal Lady Trella glaring at her.
“That is exactly what I would say to you,” Trella said before moving on.
Trella was hungry, had been since they arrived, so much so, that she left the General’s prying wife and continued on her journey to find something to eat before the kitchens closed for the night. As soon as she was gone, Lady Mandary’s ear was pressed back against the door.
“...of course, General,” Queen Willa was saying. “But you are doing such a fine job here. I will go. I have King Granitheart and twenty thousand men to protect me.”
Lady Mandary cursed under her breath. She’d missed something important. Why wasn’t her husband being sent to war, she wondered? He was a general after all.
During the interruption of her spying, she hadn’t seen the dwarven king move about the room. It was all she could do to keep from getting cracked in the face as he hurried out the door in search of a chamber pot. She squealed and put on her best face for him, feigning that she had just been passing by, that he had startled her. He was in no condition to question her. The gallons of wine he’d drunk during the meeting were about to flow out of him on their own. Frustrated that she’d missed an integral part of the planning, she decided that she had enough information to warrant a sending to Queen Shaella. As fast as she could, she hurried to her quarters, pricked herself, and squeezed a drop of blood into a finger bowl.
***
Shaella was just getting back to Lakeside Castle when
the orb at the head of her staff filled with the persistent image of her marsh-witch spy. She was in no mood for a gossipy chat. Her lover wanted to be let into the world. Gerard wanted to be with her, and she longed for him. Nevertheless, her curiosity wouldn’t let her ignore the calling.
Her spy told her that King Jarrek had a surprise planned for Ra’Gren’s troops in Seareach. She was in no position to do anything to stop it. Vrot was already coming down to land her in the bailey yard that had been set aside for the dragon’s comings and goings. All she wanted to do was hurry to the red priests’ temple garden and welcome Gerard from the Nethers. She ordered Vrot to fly like an arrow to Dakahn and to do as Flick bade him. The dragon could warn her wizard of Jarrek’s trap, but she figured that it would be too late by the time he got there. She could cast a sending to Ra’Gren herself, but that would take too much time. All she could think about was her lover. With a frustrated huff she decided that she wouldn’t leave loyal Flick unwarned.
As she watched Vrot leap back into the air and wing away eastward, she used her staff to call out to her friend so that he would be aware of everything she had been told. After that, her only concern was the coming of Gerard.
***
“Are you ready?” King Jarrek asked General Diamondeen.
“We’ll know in a moment,” the dwarf pointed to another of his kind who was approaching.
Jarrek greeted Oarly with a smile and a slap on the back. “Are we ready, Master Oarly?”
“As ever we will be,” Oarly nodded. “The relay is set. Just give one of those torch bearing dwarves on the hill the signal when it is time.”
“It’ll take some patience to draw them in,” Jarrek said.
“I hope it takes till dawn,” said the dwarven general. “I want to see the looks on their faces.”
“What of the tunnel? Is it cleared?” Jarrek asked.
“Since supper call,” Diamondeen answered proudly. “We’ve been sending a few through since then, but most of my dwarves are already at the far end.”
Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools Page 41
