Uprising

by H. M. Clarke

  ‘Have you come to surrender, Bareskin?’

  Everyone heard the mind thought, and Ryn had a horrible realization that mind thought could travel a lot further than the several feet between two people talking. If they are sighted, an alert can be sent out faster than they could get away.

  “Now is the time you and your unit should cut through those hedges and get near that door,” Maluski hissed at Ryn, her voice think with irritation at Lorin for being forced into this course of action.

  “You will not conquer this city without a fight!” Lorin’s powerful voice caught back Ryn’s attention, and she looked on with dread at what she thought was about to happen.

  One of the Dymarki gestured to Magister Lorin with a pointed claw in silence, though Ryn knew an order had been given. She watched as the other warriors crouched and gathered themselves to surge forward to the lone mage.

  Lorin’s runestaff lit up in a flash of green fire and a swirling green ball of power instantly appeared before the Magister and hurtled up the avenue to strike the Dymarki leader in the chest and explode in a concussion of force. Four of the Dymarki that stood near him were instantly consumed by the explosion and the flames, and all that remained of them was ash floating gently to the ground. The rest were thrown to the flagstones.

  “Woah!” Ryn heard one of the Blackwatch warriors exclaim, though Ryn did not have much time to admire Lorin’s work herself because Ashe gripped her arm and started to pull her toward the gap between the wall and the hedge.

  Lily and Bron were already there, waiting. She did not want to leave Magister Lorin. There was still a fair few healthy Dymarki by the palace main doors. A thunderous roar deafened them all and one of the Magisters that was watching the action called out, “Lorin’s on his way back with company. We’re on.”

  “You need to go now!” Maluski jabbed her finger at the gap, while gesturing with her other hand for the rest of the men to get into position.

  Ryn turned tail and bolted with Ashe to the gap in the hedge.

  As they caught up, the runes on Lily’s staff lit up with a bright pink glow and as they ran to the guards door she quickly spun her hands and the power gathered in her staff flashed out to form a murky bubble large enough to cover them all. It was an Evanesce charm, one of Lily’s specialties, and their small group disappeared from the view of anyone outside the bubble that surrounded them.

  A concussive blast roared over them and Ryn rolled flat on the ground, rainbow bolts of power zipped past, and the full roar of magical ranged battle assaulted her eardrums. She heard the whiz of another power shot and covered instinctively, exhaling hard as the shock wave hit and what was left of the ruined hedge lurched aside. How do I always find myself in these messes? Shrapnel consisting of branches and gravel scattered as she pushed herself back up to her feet and looked through the covering smoke for the others. Ryn saw them through the settling dust and noted with grim pride that Lily had kept her Evanesce charm going. Anyone who thought ill of Lily’s battle instinct would get quickly corrected by her.

  Bunching closer to Lily, the group quickly approached the palace wall and then snuck up along its length to the small door Lorin had told them about. It was located in a hidden alcove out of sight from the main doors, but those guarding the main entrance would see anyone approaching the door. But as Ryn looked down the wall, she could see that there was now no sign of the Dymarki in front of the palace entrance. The sounds of battle now sounded down the avenue and as Bron moved in to pick the lock on the door, she looked back to see what was happening with the others.

  Magister Lorin had lured the Dymarki away from their positions and had led them down toward where the others were waiting, and now he was joined by the rest of the Tribunal and Blackwatch members and their entire area was now covered by multicolored fireballs and the movement of hand to hand fighting. They have to get in before any more Dymarki are called out of the palace to deal with them.

  “Got it.”

  Bron’s voice was low, but Ryn heard it over the sound of battle and turned back to follow the others into the corridor and closed the door behind them. Inside, they found the corridor deserted.

  With a last glance toward the fighting, Ryn followed the others through the door. They hurried up the hallway and stopped when it ended in a T section. Turning left would lead them in the direction of the door mentioned by Magister Lorin, turning right would take them further into the palace and very possibly to the hostages.

  “We need to split up. Ashe, you and Bron head for that door to let Darne Lorin and the others in, and Lily and I will head in and locate the hostages. If we are successful, we will need you and the others to keep one of these exits clear so that we can get safety out of here.”

  “Ryn,” Ashe said and she could hear the worry in his voice.

  “We don’t have the time, splitting up is the only way we can ensure that we succeed. And Lily here can keep us undetected,” Ryn nodded her head at the mage who gave them both a weak smile.

  Ashe’s lipped thinned, but he nodded and touching her briefly on her good shoulder, he then turned and lead Bron up the left corridor. Ryn nodded to Lily who still held her charm around them and they both headed off down the right-hand branch of the corridor.

  The two moved carefully, but quickly down the corridor which gradually turned into larger rooms with larger hallways and corridors leading from them. In each room and corridor, Ryn saw furniture, painting and tapestries that had been moved and organized into makeshift defensive positions. It seemed that this part of the building was where the fighting was, corridor by corridor. This might mean that they were on the right track to find the hostages; and on the right track to run into more Dymarki.

  “Lily, keep an eye out. I think we are getting closer to the lion’s den here.”

  “My Charm should keep us covered as long as you do not stray too far out from it,” Lily replied.

  They came out into another large room devoid of living people with defensive barricades set at each entrance to the area made from gilded furniture, statues and rugs. Between them was a large marble fireplace, its large logs still burning furiously. Bodies of guardsmen lay about the defenses. It was the first dead they had seen. Ryn slowed to stare at the bodies. If it weren’t for the blood, you would think them asleep.

  The screaming snarl brought her head snapping about. A set of yellow eyes appeared from the darkness of a side door and grew quickly closer. Ryn moved back to stand beside Lily and held her sword and dagger steady. In the back of her mind Dagan’s presence could be felt, worry and anger being his predominant emotions. Fire erupted from beside her flaring staccato pink light that blew across the hallway entrance. A squeal of pain and a furry body fell amid flames and erupting masonry. Ryn waited, but there was no more movement from the hallway. The Dymarki had been alone.

  Ryn looked uncertainly at Lily. “I thought you said we wouldn’t be detected?”

  Lily gave her a shrug. “The Charm doesn’t cover any noise we make. Your voice can be very loud.”

  A frown crossed Ryn’s forehead. The person with the high whiney voice is telling me to keep quiet? “Let’s get going before someone comes to find out what that blast was.”

  “Excellent idea.”

  At that moment footsteps from several people could be heard coming from the darkness of the destroyed corridor. Without looking at Lily, Ryn sprinted away from the hallway and they both ran through several more rooms that lead deeper into the palace complex. Noise close behind them caused Ryn to drop back and let Lily get ahead of her, and once through the next doorway, she ducked to the side, swapped her weapons to have her dagger up and ready in her right hand. The Dymarki had not seen her and was twisting his frame to go through a doorway not build for his size. Ryn angled her right arm out and up and at full sprint and slashed several rapid blows as she raced from one side of the door to the other. The cat dropped to the ground, blocking the door, blood gushing from a cut arterial vein in his neck and c
hest. Fire cut past from behind, shooting over her head and detonating in the room beyond. Ryn leapt to her feet and raced across the room to where Lily waited, her runestaff lit up with an intense pink glow, her eyes watching the room behind them. She tapped Lily on the shoulder.

  “Come on, let’s go.”

  They ran, taking a line of least resistance, passing wreckage in the rooms as more makeshift barriers became more and more frequent. Then the tone of the rooms and corridors began to change, becoming larger and more opulent with patterned tile floors in large rooms and wide corridors leading off to the sides. Both women used the smooth tiles to come to a sliding halt up against a wall, backs pressed hard against its silk lined surface. They glanced at each other, breathing hard, nodding to each other that they were okay. Ryn felt her injured shoulder burning in pain and knew that it was only the black of her uniform that hid the blood. Lily leveled her staff back the way they’d come, scanning the corridor for any close pursuit. Ryn looked around the door to check the way forward. It was clear. A set of ornate stairs lead up to the level above. She tapped Lily on the shoulder and jerked her head toward the staircase.

  “Looks like we’re heading up.”

  Lily grinned at her. “At least that’s one way of getting up in this world.”

  “You mean ‘come up in this world’ I think. Come on.”

  The two dashed through the door and quickly ascended the staircase, which on the second floor branched into two separate directions, one ornate and one more utilitarian. They took the utilitarian way. They climbed the stair, which turned and rose on several small landings. The pink glow of Lily’s staff was the only lighting they had and from what Ryn could see, this area of the palace looked untouched by the chaos occurring below and she hoped that they hadn’t gone the wrong way by accident. It was also quiet.

  “We need to find a way back down, if we are to find the hostages,” Lily said.

  “Yes-”

  Ryn halted mid reply as the sounds of many voices came softly to her ears. Human voices. She looked at Lily. “Do you hear it?”

  Lily nodded. “Barely.”

  They both continued up another small flight of stairs which leveled out finally to a small bare corridor, though the scuff marks on the walls showed that it had seen a lot of use and traffic over the years. The voices were growing louder and Ryn could now make them out to be the low pitched murmuring of men and women.

  “Maybe it’s the prisoners?” Lily whispered.

  Of course it’s the prisoners, Ryn thought but did not say it aloud. “We’re getting close, let’s see what’s ahead,” was all she said.

  The two women moved down the deserted corridor and slowly, a warm, orange light grew to drown out the pale pink glow of Lily’s staff. Ahead, the hallway looked to lead to a sizeable room.

  Ryn held up her hand to quiet Lily. If they were close enough to hear people, then they were close enough to be heard by unwanted ears.

  As they crept near the end of the hallway, it opened out into a large hidden catwalk, above them was the arching dome of a vast ceiling that enclosed a gigantic space and had a small hole in its center that let in the natural light. A solid barrier lined the walkway, which was deserted apart from them, so they both crept out of the hallway and peered carefully down on the room below.

  They crouched several storeys above what was happening below. On a raised platform stood an imposing stone chair made up of enormous blocks of stone the color of obsidian, a dragon with wings outstretched carved in relief on its back. This is the Throne Room. That was the DragonThrone, waiting for the Dragoncaester to return to warm its seat. They were on a viewing platform where the proceedings below could be observed without anyone being the wiser.

  A large group of people huddled against the far wall, guarded by Dymarki. Several of them were on their feet facing the Throne and calling out, “Where is the King Regent? Where is Emerick Auten?” The guards ignored them. Two large Dymarki warriors stood guard by the enormous entrance doors that dominated the wall opposite the throne.

  “The two of us will never get the hostages away from them.”

  “No,” Ryn replied. “We’ll need a diversion first.”

  “A diversion? Are you insane? We’ll both be killed!”

  Before Ryn could reply, movement near the throne caught her eye.

  Three Dymarki strode out from behind the throne that had blocked them from view. Ryn recognized the male in the center as Dhar Etha. In one hand he gripped a ball of some sort. She was not in a position to get a better look at what it was. The three stopped near the edge of the platform and the Dhar turned to face the hostages.

  The small group of people who had been calling for the King Regent fell quiet. The others huddled further back against the wall, casting nervous glances at the three towering Dymarki.

  The Dhar sniffed, making his thick whiskers twitch and his ears flicked forward, the chunk missing from one of them clearly visible.

  ‘Here is your leader.’

  Dhar Etha’s voice sounded loud and strong in Ryn’s mind, and the startled gasp from Lily told her that every mind in this area would hear the Dhar’s every word. Strangely, at the same time she felt her Link with Dagan grow stronger, as if he was closer to her.

  Ryn’s attention was pulled quickly back to the Dhar as the big cat stepped forward while moving the arm carrying the object and watched as it was tossed across the room toward the group where it hit the carpet with a wet thud and rolled another foot to stop at the feet of the nearest hostage. The man and those around him looked down at it and gasped. From this distance, she could not see clearly what it was, but the nausea that bloomed in her gut told her brain that her worst fear had been realized.

  “By Bellus, NO!” One of the men shouted and some of the others huddled against the wall began to keen in fear and grief.

  ‘Emerick Auten lost his head without a fight. He also abrogated the wrong he had done to my people. One of the Dharman Dymarki was killed while under his protection, and he had another make the apology for him. That is not acceptable, so we took blood for blood as is our right.’

  “You have started a war!” One of the men shouted back at him. Before he had finished speaking, one of the Dymarki guards stepped up behind the speaker and, in one fluid motion, grabbed the man’s head in both hands and twisted sharply. The crack of the man’s neck could be heard by Ryn from where she crouched on the observation ledge. The man dropped to the ground. Dead. The keening sound from those huddled bodies quickly turned into screams of horror and fear.

  “We have no time for a diversion. We have to do something now!” Lily hissed. “They’re going to kill them.”

  Thinking quickly, Ryn took in her surroundings and then turned to Lily. “Can you float me down then distract them at the main door with something ‘flashy’?”

  Lily opened her mouth to object, but Ryn cut her off. “Can you?”

  Lily shut her mouth and nodded.

  “Good. Get ready to float me down when I say ‘Now’.”

  The screams below were gaining in pitch and Ryn looked back down into the room to see what was happening.

  The Dhar and his two bodyguards had stepped down from the throne platform and approached the prisoners.

  ‘Enough of your whining!’ Dhar Etha chopped a hand through the air. ‘Look at you. Like fat murgots you feed and feed and complain only when your meal is interrupted. You do not look up. You do not see that the larder is bare. All you leave in your wake is misery. You are blind and I will make you all see.’

  Ryn climbed up on the banister as Dhar Etha spoke and as the sound of his threat trailed away in their minds, Ryn pointed toward the main doors. “Now!” She mouthed at Lily.

  Lily stood, letting her runestaff flash awake and something large thudded the outside doors of the Throne Room, drawing all eyes away from their side of the room.

  “Catch me,” Ryn said and then dropped down over the edge of the barrier. For a moment, she drop
ped like a stone and her heart leapt into her throat. Then something both soft and firm caught her and Ryn felt as if being cuddled by a cloud as her descent slowed to that of a floating feather, but she still released her pent up breath in relief when her feet hit the floor.

  CHAPTER TWENTY Five

  Another bang hit the doors and then the room fell silent. Ryn looked up to the barrier above her but saw Lily shaking her head and holding up only one finger. Ryn’s eyes widened in shock as she realized what she had done. In the heat of the moment she had forgotten to ask Lily if she had enough power left to support two people. Too late now. The mage will have to see what she can do to support Ryn from above. For the first time Ryn wished that Dagan was here. He would know exactly what to do. And maybe Donal. The dull throbbing of her shoulder seemed to tap out the cadence of his name.

  ‘Ah! We have a visitor.’

  Ryn spun around as the Dhar’s voice sounded loud in her head. Etha and his two guards were looking at her. The guards surrounding the prisoners were as well. The only people in the room ignoring her were the Dymarki guarding the doors, they still watched the entrance waiting to see if the thudding would continue.

  ‘Greetings, Blackwatch. I recognize you, though I had expected your friend Dagan Drake.’ The Dhar shook his head. ‘But, no matter. For all the might of the Blackwatch, you are no different from these cattle. You do not see what your people have become.’

  Ryn stepped forward, more to keep attention on herself than to have someone look up and spot Lily. In the back of her mind, she hoped that Ashe and Bron had found that side door to let in their people.

  “Dhar Etha, this madness must end.”

  ‘Madness you say? I call this justice.’

  “We delivered your justice to the person who killed your citizen, and we did it at the behest of the man you just murdered.”

  ‘Perhaps.’ The Dhar’s one black tipped ear flattened against his head. ‘You must prove yourself, or go stand with your brethren.’