“I see. I am Isana Dayrest, daughter of Lord Karlo Dayrest,” the noble replied, bowing her head. “I was enslaved four years past. May I ask who rules this city, then? The dungeon?”
“I’m glad to meet you, Isana. I’m Alissa of Galewater, former Royal Guard of Sifaren,” Alissa replied, surprise flooding her. Dayrest had been a fairly large and important town until it’d been betrayed and was sacked by Kelvanis. “The Queen is former princess Phynis Constella. Welcome to Beacon, reborn capital of Everium, Isana.”
“Thank you. I am glad to be here,” Isana replied, and smiled. “I’ll get on my way, then. You have plenty of people to deal with.”
Chapter 53
“The scouts were right. That isn’t a mountain,” Reva said calmly, looking at the distant city from the top of the ridge, the crimson light brilliant even in daylight.
“No, no it isn’t,” Vendis agreed, while Sergeant Berys simply gawked.
They were miles from Granite Point, but the mountain, and the city on it, were perfectly clear. No one had been expecting the sight, and it took a few minutes before anyone spoke further.
“Do you think that was what the light last night was from, sir?” Berys asked, looking at Vendis, then Reva.
“I can’t think of anything else it might’ve been. I suppose it’s possible that a meandering god decided to light up the night like a lightning bolt, but I can’t imagine why,” Reva replied, shrugging helplessly. He wasn’t entirely sure he was happy with the development, and dearly hoped that the city he was seeing wasn’t held by Kelvanis. If it was, he had almost no chance in hell of carrying out his task. After a minute, he spoke again, though. “We’d better get moving. I don’t want to let Kelvanis get the initiative.”
“Yes, sir!” Vendis acknowledged, and gestured the troops forward, down the slope toward the city that was ahead of them.
Sistina finished going through the brand on the elven noble, frowning as she did so. This made six distinct types she’d encountered, and the pink crest was an unpleasant piece of work. It was purely sexual, which the succubus part of her liked, and the part of her which believed that others should be given choices despised.
“Done,” Sistina said clearly, nodding and gesturing the woman to the side. “Next.”
“If I’m freed, can I go to the walls? Maybe take a few shots at the traitor who enslaved me?” the woman asked, her voice a mask of icy calm, but even Sistina could see the rage in her eyes.
Blinking, Sistina nodded and replied calmly, “Yes.”
“Thank you,” the woman replied, bowing her head for a moment before turning to walk away at a brisk pace.
Sistina shrugged and turned her attention to the young human who stepped forward, his face coloring as she gestured and asked, “Brand, please.”
“What the hell do they think they’re doing, anyway?” Evrial asked, drawing her coat closer around her.
Desa shrugged and replied calmly, “I have no idea. A single volley of arrows and they gave up, but didn’t run? That doesn’t make much sense to me. The commander is probably trying to decide what to do.”
“Idiot,” Evrial muttered.
“Not necessarily,” Desa disagreed, shaking her head slowly as she gestured at the group. “They have been watching the mountain all winter, so they probably have a pretty good idea of how many of us there were last winter. If nothing else because of the captives who were released, and they probably know we didn’t have reinforcements. So, they could be trying to figure out just how to get up at us. They don’t know about the defenses like we do.”
“True, but… oh, look, that elf down there is coming up, with a couple of guards.” Evrial peered down, shaking her head. “Think he’s a traitor?”
“Probably. He’s properly armed, and a lot of people have been talking to him. By the way, remind me to ask Sistina for earcaps when we get back? I feel like my ears are about to freeze off,” Desa asked, shivering. Her ears weren’t in any danger yet, but she idly wished for the yarn sleeves her mother had made to cover her ears when she was young.
“Gods, that would be lovely,” Evrial murmured, glancing at the nearby enclosed guardroom wistfully. “I wish we’d had time to get the fires and such going, but the city is so damned big that getting anywhere takes ages.”
“That would be one way to put it,” Desa agreed. The way the city was designed, the roads leading to the palace essentially required circling the entire city once in order to get there. There were stairs at the edge of each of the terraces, allowing people to ascend the mountain directly, but they were steep, and it was a lot of stairs.
The man finally got close enough, and Desa leaned forward as he called out, anger in his voice. “Inhabitants of Beacon, I’ll order our departure as soon as you give back my wife!”
“What the hell?” Desa asked, looking over at Evrial. “I don’t think we kidnapped anyone.”
“Me neither. Which gives me a sinking suspicion of what happened,” the other guard agreed, scowling.
“One way to find out,” Desa murmured, then leaned over and spoke in return, her voice clear. “Who is your wife, and why would we even have her?”
“Isana Evansly! Her name is Isana Evansly, and you people somehow abducted her this morning!” the elf bellowed, and Desa could practically see the vein throbbing on his forehead. “You had better give her back!”
“That would be me.” A quiet voice came from the guardhouse, and Desa started slightly as a dusk elf woman stepped out. She was fairly tall, and swathed in clothing to keep her warm, but her eyes were icy as she bowed her head slightly. “My apologies for keeping quiet, but I wondered if he would come after me. My name is Isana Dayrest. Might I request the opportunity to deal with this?”
“Do you hear me?” Evansly’s voice echoed up over the rampart, and Desa gave him a look, then Isana, and shrugged.
“Certainly. I was trying to figure out how best to deal with him,” Desa replied, wondering how the primly proper woman would handle the man.
“Thank you. May I borrow your bow and arrows, miss?” Isana asked Desa, then paused and asked softly, “You don’t mind if I deal with him appropriately, do you?”
Evrial was hesitant at the request, looking at Desa with some worry.
“Ah… no, not at all.” Desa blinked, taken aback by the woman’s demeanor, but unslung her bow and quiver, offering them to Isana. “Go right ahead.”
“Thank you, ladies.” Isana smiled warmly for a moment, taking the items, and carefully secured the bow before approaching the wall. She leaned over it and called out, her voice even clearer than Desa’s own over such a distance. “I was not kidnapped, Aric. I left of my own volition.”
“What? Isana, get down here! We’re leaving!” Evansly yelled incredulously.
“No. I’m not going with you.” Isana’s tone didn’t change, but Desa saw her hand tighten on the grip of the bow. “You can leave, and good riddance to you. I’m staying here.”
“What? But you love me! You can’t stay here!” Evansly seemed honestly surprised when Desa peeked over the edge at him, but Isana’s impassive expression turned to a scowl as he continued. “I love you!”
“What, in the name of all the gods, makes you think I would ever love you?” Isana demanded, rage seeping into her voice at last as her words cracked like a whip. “You betrayed Dayrest and my father to Kelvanis, and delivered most of the citizens to slavery! You were a minor guard, and you betrayed all of us so you could bed whomever had caught your fancy. After enslaving me and the others, you thought that I would forgive you? That I would love you, when you’re a raping, traitorous bastard? If I was able, I’d give you the same torment that you’d delivered so many others into, but that failing, I can put you out of my own misery!”
Isana whipped out the bow and nocked an arrow, her arm straining slightly to fully draw the bow. She should have tested it beforehand, but it was too late now, and Desa leaned forward as Isana took aim and fired.
“W
hat are—aah!” The man down below dodged as the arrow barely missed him, shattering on the stones. “What’re you doing? You can’t do this, Isana!”
“My name is Isana Dayrest, and you are a traitor!” Isana cried out, nocking another arrow and taking aim. She loosed it, and only one of the man’s guards shoving him out of the way kept it from hitting the elf’s arm. The trio began to run down the path, trying to escape.
Desa interrupted as Isana drew another arrow, her voice soft. “Isana? Take a deep breath and steady your aim. It’s throwing you off. Lead the target, let your breath out, and gently loose the arrow.”
Glancing at Desa in surprise, Isana hesitated a moment, and then followed her instructions. Moments later, she loosed the arrow, which hissed through the air toward the retreating soldiers. The arrow hit Evansly in the back of his knee, and Isana smiled at Desa, nodding and speaking softly. “Thank you.”
Then she turned and took aim again, targeting the fallen man as the soldiers tried to pick him up and carry him.
Pain lanced through Evansly with every heartbeat, and something hot was spilling down his leg from where the arrow had hit him. He was grappling with what had just happened, unable to believe that Isana had just shot him. They’d been together for years, and her open defiance had vanished after the first year, giving way to the icy demeanor that had been what had attracted him to her to begin with.
The idea that Isana had actually attacked him was almost too much for him to comprehend, and he gasped out, “Help me! We need to reach the healers.”
“Right away, sir!” one of the guards said. Rick, wasn’t it? Evansly wasn’t certain, but both of them were helping pick him up.
“Have to reach the temple… they don’t have the relics needed to revive newly dead yet. Can’t die,” Evansly muttered, shivering as he kept going. “Come on, we have to—”
He didn’t even have time to be afraid as another arrow hit his neck with freakish accuracy, severing his spine and cutting off his pain forever.
“Gods, that stupid idiot!” Captain Marath growled, shaking her head angrily. “What the hell did he think he was doing?”
“I’m not sure, Captain,” Lieutenant Garath replied respectfully, looking at the massive wall in concern. After a moment, he spoke carefully, not watching the two drag their former commander’s body away from the city. “You’re now in command, ma’am. What are your orders?”
“Pull back the soldiers and put out scouts. I want to know if they have reinforcements on their way. I have a suspicion that that elven army we heard about may be on their way here,” Marath ordered, scowling.
“Really, ma’am? I thought they were suspected to be trying to cut off Grayhold from Westgate?” Garath asked, blinking in surprise.
“Look at the timing, Garath. They broke through the lines, and then this appears? I doubt that this is a mere accident. I think this was planned,” Marath replied humorlessly, shaking her head. “If they manage to trap us here, it’ll be like being stuck between a hammer and anvil. Get the scouts out, now.”
“Yes, sir!” Garath saluted, and quickly moved to carry out her orders.
As he did so, Marath looked at the two soldiers who’d gone with Evansly, and at the sightless, surprised eyes of the elven mayor. After a moment, she sighed, shaking her head at the man, then told the two, “Take him to the barracks and try to give him at least some dignity in death. Then get cleaned up and get back out here.”
“Yes, Captain!” they replied, starting on their task.
As little as Marath had liked Evansly, she felt some pity for how he’d died. After all, if her suspicion was right, she might be in a similar position soon enough.
Chapter 54
“What’re we going to do, Guildmaster?” Dorn asked, sitting back in his chair in the room. He gestured at the wall leading out of town as he added, “The locals are about to get run down by the elves, and who knows what happened to the dungeon.”
Essentially all the guild members in town were gathered in the guild house. Most of the civilians were hiding out, waiting to see what was going to happen to them, while the soldiers were preparing to defend the town. Personally, Daniel was unsettled about everything and worried about Sina.
“We’re going to stay out of the mess between Kelvanis and Sifaren. I’ve done my research, and Kelvanis has been sharpening their knives to stick them into the back of Sifaren for years,” Albert replied seriously, running his hands through his hair as he paced. “It’s an ugly political situation, and you all know the rules on that. The Adventuring Guilds stay out of politics, that’s the only way we can keep operating regardless of national borders.”
“But isn’t the leader of Kelvanis a former adventurer?” one of the others asked, her voice soft and her hair light blond. Daniel didn’t know the woman, but he thought he’d seen her with the alchemists. “Isn’t that getting involved in politics?”
“Ulvian Sorvos is a former member of the Southern Adventuring Guild. Former being the operative term. He was part of a group of six that attempted to eliminate the Road to Hell dungeon, only to lose half of their group before they barely managed to escape via a risky planar jump,” Albert told her soberly, shaking his head. “He retired, and hasn’t had anything to do with the guild in over six decades. It’s in part because of him that we really can’t afford to get involved. He knows our rules well enough that he could destroy our reputation if we got in the middle of this.”
“Who cares about some war? What about the dungeon?” Darak asked impatiently. “It up and vanished! What’re we going to do about that?”
“I want to talk to the people in the city to find out what’s going on, but we have to wait until the conflict dies down. My sensors, those that survived that spell, still detect the dungeon, so we know that it’s there,” Albert answered the dwarf, his voice tart. “The problem is that we’re in the middle of a damned war zone. Until we can figure out what’s going on, we’ll just keep our heads down and stay out of the way. Even if we could end the fight between these groups in an afternoon.”
“Umm… could we really?” Eric asked, blinking in surprise. Daniel frowned as well. He didn’t see how they could do that much either. Most of the other adventurers chuckled, smiling as they looked at one another.
“Eric, look, how much stronger have you grown since you started delving into the dungeon?” Darak asked, grinning at Daniel’s friend.
“A lot stronger? I don’t know, I haven’t really done the same sort of stuff,” Eric admitted.
“Yup, that’d do it.” Darak nodded, smiling as he quickly explained. “You’ve grown a lot stronger than you were. At this point, I bet that you could take on three of yourself from back when you started training with Penelope. Now think about it this way, you’re among the least skilled individuals in this room. Most of us have been going on delves for years, not a few months. Believe me, we could rip through one of those companies like it wasn’t even there if we really wanted to.”
“The point is, we don’t want to. The guild tries to stay out of these conflicts and focus on dungeons,” Albert interjected, looking at Eric as he told him seriously. “I don’t mean to seem like a tyrant, but we can’t afford to get dragged into something like this.”
“Alright. I was just curious whether you were actually serious about what we could do,” Eric told them, raising his hands and giving a nervous laugh. “I still can hardly believe that’s possible.”
“A fair point. I don’t think Eric’s seen a powerful mage really cut loose before,” Penelope interjected, smiling slightly. But then her smile vanished as she added, “That being said, I agree. We need to stay out of the next bit of conflict. Everyone should stay in the guild house if at all possible. Don’t start anything, but we are more than justified in defending ourselves.”
A deep rumble of agreement filled the room, which slightly disturbed Daniel, but he kept quiet anyway, glancing up to meet Joseph’s eyes. The friendly smile the cleric gave him put
Daniel more at ease, and he returned it as best as he could.
“Isn’t that Sifaren’s banner?” Evrial asked, peering toward the oncoming soldiers.
It’d been nearly six hours since Evansly had died within sight of the walls, and after Isana had explained what the man had done, Desa’s slight pity for him had vanished without a trace. Someone willing to betray a city of five thousand other souls for their own benefit wasn’t deserving of pity. The soldiers had backed away from the walls and sent out scouts, only to have their scouts return soon after. Not long after that, Desa and the others had seen the signs of a force on the horizon.
Only now was the group close enough to get much detail, and Desa nodded as she looked over the group. It looked like nearly five companies from Sifaren, and she spoke softly, “It is. The question is, why are they here?”
“No idea. What do you think we should do?” Evrial asked, warming her hands on the fire that had been lit in the guardhouse. “I’d rather help them, to be honest.”
“Mm…” Desa didn’t reply for a long moment, debating the problem. She could always go up and ask Sistina’s opinion, or try to get all the way up to the palace and ask Phynis, but that didn’t sit well with her. Phynis had put Desa in charge of Beacon’s defenses, so the responsibility laid with her. So, she frowned for a long minute, staring out at the battlefield, then nodded. “I’m going to take out some of the army and pincer the human force. You take command here.”
“Are you sure, Desa? I wasn’t entirely serious!” Evrial asked, standing upright suddenly.
Spells of Old (Ancient Dreams Book 2) Page 37
