“I think ith thafe now. We can go down,” Sir Ralph told her.
He led the former queen down to ground level. The smells intensified and disturbed Emilia’s nose and she felt ready to throw up. Her side rounded up all the prisoners and started to march north. She found Ali-Samuel and his father but her smile quickly faded as she neared the men. She noticed Ali-Steven holding two blood-soaked hands over his abdomen. He had refused to wear armor or mail and only two thin layers of boiled leather couldn’t weather the storm of The Man’s golden blade. His off-white surcoat had run red and he appeared to be holding the bottom part of the wound in place.
Emilia couldn’t stand to see it for another moment. She ran for the southern gates. She got outside and looked around in a panic. She found a few counts and dragged them over to Ali-Steven. She waited nervously as the men checked out the future king. The faces of the attending counts told her that the situation was dire. They needed to get to the Duke’s Castle immediately to get proper supplies to sew up the wound. Ali-Samuel flagged down a wagon and in an amazing feat of strength, he carried his much larger father over to the wagon.
Lightning looked like tree roots in the sky Ali-Samuel and the two counts used the added illumination to help the elder Wamhoff into the wagon. Emilia shook the rain off her face and jumped onto a white pony. Everyone surrendered as they moved north. As soon as she started to bounce up and down on the horse, her chest ran short of air again and she felt like someone was constantly squeezing her.
This is exactly how the plan is supposed to go. We pick up more soldiers as we go along. However, if we lose Ali-Steven, I don’t know that the Histoman will carry on. I can’t believe they would follow Ali-Samuel or me. They hate us. Seven Hells, I don’t even know if I want to follow Ali-Samuel anymore. This helps our effort but it’s still meaningless if Ali-Steven should die.
Ali-Steven had hatched the plan to stuff her and his son into the wooden fox to open the southern gates. The fleet had sailed away only to return several hours later. They stealthily killed their way to the southern gates. A single blow of a bull horn had signaled to Ali-Samuel that the Histoman were ready outside the gates. She arrived at the castle and waited for the wounded Wamhoff to get there.
The castle workers were all on their knees, begging for mercy. Emilia wanted to calm their fears and tell them that they would be safe, but she couldn’t be sure of what Ali-Samuel would do. She hadn’t been able to control his streaks of cruelty and only hoped they would stop at some point. Ali-Samuel started to explore the castle and Emilia followed. She tried to ignore the pain but just breathing hurt.
They found a giant bedroom and Ali-Samuel pulled her in and said, “We almost have our dreams in hand now. The Man with the Golden Sword is gone, my father is terribly injured and he probably won’t make it. We shall rule as king and queen before too long, my sweet.”
Emilia said, “Your father is dying and you are dancing on his grave?”
He stared at Emilia with a look of excitement that faded quickly. “No, I just said he was terribly injured.”
She couldn’t understand and said, “You don’t seem very broken up over the possible death of your father.”
Ali-Samuel turned away and responded, “My father has lived much longer than he ever should have. He should have died forty years ago when he was slashed across the face. The man has been a warrior his entire life. Most warriors don’t make it close to my father’s age. He had his chance and came up just short. Now it’s our turn. I feel sorry for the man, but unless I can work miracles, his time might be up. The counts will have their work cut out for them on this one.”
For some reason, Emilia was still surprised at his callousness and disregard for sympathy. They went back downstairs as Ali-Steven was being carried in by some of the bigger guards. Four guards took coordinated steps to hustle their leader to a room on the ground floor. Emilia cleared off the wooden table and they laid down Ali-Steven. He finally moved his hands and Emilia gagged and looked away. She wanted to stay in the room for support but her stomach wouldn’t allow it. She paced around the outside of the room and cringed as she heard the shrieks of pain coming from one of the strongest men she had ever known.
The counts used an extremely thin metal wire to sew his stomach shut like they were doing needlepoint. After about an hour, the screaming stopped and the counts started to talk to Ali-Samuel.
She went back in as a count said, “I’ve never done anything like this before, but the procedure seems to have gone well. I cannot say with great certainty that this will heal properly but we have done all we can. He needs rest and lots of it.”
Ali-Samuel told the counts, “He will have plenty of rest in the back of a cushioned coach when we leave tomorrow.”
One of the counts immediately objected, “No, no, no. He cannot travel until the large gash heals. The constant movement will pull the wound apart again. He must remain stationary.”
Ali-Samuel looked to Emilia and commented, “Then he can stay here while we leave and try to catch up later.”
Emilia said, “Let’s discuss this elsewhere. Gentlemen, thank you so much for your service, it’s genuinely appreciated.”
The conquerors started flooding into the castle, and were in awe of the construction and furnishings. The Histoman had never seen anything like the statues and paintings that lined the hallways.
Emilia and Ali-Samuel went back to the big bedroom. Feels good to be back in a castle, even if I can barely breathe and I am in extreme pain. Enough of the tents and pavilions already. Too bad we leave tomorrow if Ali-Samuel should have his say. I’m not sure the Histoman will follow him without Ali-Steven, good luck with that.
She jumped into the bed in her soiled clothes and planned to relax for a few moments. She fell fast asleep and didn’t wake up until sunrise. Ali-Samuel was nowhere to be found and she went downstairs to see Pariah and Princess. Pariah had been crying since Ali-Steven’s injury and Emilia tried to comfort her, but nothing seemed to work. They went for a walk around the castle and Princess came along. Winter seemed in a hurry to arrive as a light flurry of flakes fell from the cloudy sky and Princess tried to catch them. The mud beneath hadn’t frozen yet and Emilia slipped on some moist leaves. Pariah grabbed and held up her smaller friend. Emilia noticed a plant on the side of the path that still had bright yellow flower buds. She couldn’t believe that the petals hadn’t fallen from the plant.
“Is poison,” Pariah warned her and Princess nodded in agreement even though she didn’t understand the common tongue. Pariah added, “Take and make dry and make powder to eat and die.”
Hmmm. Who knows when I might have the need for something like this?
She ripped two buds from the dull green stem and shoved them into her carrying pouch. They went back to the castle and heard that Ali-Samuel had reluctantly agreed to wait an extra day before leaving.
DAMIAN
The leader of the demons watched from above as the final three ships broke through the circular tide and moved south. The anomaly had caused him to lose several ships with valuable coldomores, weapons and animals. Copulon flapped his wings slowly as Damian held onto his neck and looked down at his iron fleet. They were finally back on track to reach Gama Traka but the ships would still take several days to arrive.
“Back to Venom Island,” screamed Damian and the dragon started to move his wings faster. They reached the ashy isle and Copulon landed with a thud.
Damian carefully got down and went to talk to the highest-ranking coldomores.
With a devious grin, he announced, “We’ve finally broken the trap. In less than a week we should be crashing the shores of Gama Traka.” The mood of the demons spiked as Damian stared at his dragons. He looked around as he spoke to everyone, “We will send a dragon or two out to track the progress of our ships. When they get close to land, we will mount our dragons and unite with our ground force. If we can get our feet on firm land, there will be no defense for the humans.”
&nbs
p; Most of the demons went to take a brief rest and only Ephesi remained. Damian looked at the man who was like a brother to him and said, “Our time is close. I know your meeting with Travibero was cancelled but when all this is finished, I am going to recommend you be appointed as a Plade.”
Ephesi cocked his long, narrow head to the side and asked, “What? Are you certain? I am thoroughly honored but I don’t know if I deserve the reward.”
Damian put his bony hand on his friend’s shoulder and said, “You’ve been right by my side for hundreds of years. My name is always mentioned when credit is thrown around for building this army but it couldn’t have been assembled without your dedicated service. I sent you on dangerous missions to overtake a human’s body to gain secret information. I sent you because I didn’t want to go myself. I didn’t know the after-effects it would cause but I still sent you away. I should have been more concerned with your safety but I thwarted caution to benefit the greater cause, but it was I who sent you away. At the time, I took your dedication and value for granted, but now it is all so clear. I could never defeat the humans on my own, but WE can and will. The information you’ve obtained over the years has been instrumental in making this moment possible. You were the first to invade the body of the leader of the School of the Learned Warrior and lay the foundation for Hellgan to permanently infest Kazu. That information alone is the only reason we have the confidence to launch this attack. I will not overlook your tasks any longer. I know I shouldn’t even think this but if you were to die in this war, I will fight for you to become a Plade. Now if you live, as I plan to do, I will talk to Travibero to make sure the ultimate honor will be waiting when your time comes.”
Ephesi stared at his leader and said, “I can do nothing but continue to praise you.”
Damian looked at his best friend and reminded him, “You don’t have to do anything. You’ve already done plenty.”
Five days later, Damian paced back and forth near the southern end of Venom Island. The coldomores were gathered in a cluster by the dragons. Everybody was restless and ready to attack. Copulon appeared in the sky and the normal wind bursts from the dragon pushed Damian’s head back as the winged creature landed close to them.
Copulon bellowed, “Tis time, tis time. The ships are close.”
Damian ran over and addressed his followers, “We’ve been planning this assault for five hundred years. We all know what needs to be done. The earth shall be ours once again.”
A unified scream came from the warriors as they got up on their dragons. The dragons waved their wings and prepared to leave. Damian was almost thrown from Copulon’s back so he sank his hands under the dragon’s scales and into the soft neck flesh. The dragons ascended and moved south. Nervous excitement coursed through Damian’s body as he wondered what the humans had constructed as a defense. He assumed he would be able to get an overhead view and understand the humans’ plans before they could take effect. Several hours passed and the excitement reached a fever pitch as he spotted the shining fleet from a distance. They appeared to be close to the shoreline, but their progress was being impeded by something. The ships appeared to be at a standstill. He got closer and swooped down for a better view. He noticed several huge objects, just below the emerald waves, pushing his fleet back out to sea.
He rose back up and whispered something to the dragon. Copulon turned around and swooped down toward the ships. Damian held on for dear life as he had never flown at this speed before. They zoomed right next to the ships and dove into the water, feet first. Damian felt the chilly liquid as his dragon wildly flailed his wings. Damian was thrashed around until his dragon started to rise slowly out of the water. Copulon struggled but emerged from the Sea of Green, clutching a green water dragon in his sharp talons. The captured dragon flopped around so mightily it almost threw Damian from his mount. Copulon steadied himself and sank his claws deeper into the bleeding green dragon. They started to reach the streaming clouds and Damian smiled as Copulon released his grip. The green dragon fell like a boulder until a red and a black dragon moved in and simultaneously shot fire from their noses and mouths, completely engulfing the water dragon in flames. The burning body fluttered helplessly through the air before crashing into the sea. The water extinguished the fire, but the dead, charred dragon sank to the bottom of the briny deep. Damian’s dragons started to pluck more water dragons from their home and repeat the process of setting them on fire. Damian started to get hungry from the smell of burning dragon flesh and licked his dry lips.
The rest of the water dragons disappeared and the blockade was lifted. His fleet charged ahead, with nothing to stop them from hitting dry land soon. Damian flew higher in the sky and looked ahead at a sight so sweet he would have blushed if he had the ability. Damian inspected the entire northern shore and couldn’t find a single human waiting to defend the earth.
A-SUNNY
The Wamhoff boy was preparing to make another reconnaissance mission as he secured his sword belt. He slid the shining steel blade into the sheath and walked toward the southern door. A group of about thirty students, along with Dioneer and Dragon-Eyes, had assembled to join Sunny and Muriel. He watched Shireez finally pull herself away from her dwarf lover. She slowly backed away and stopped. She looked at Muriel and said, “I suppose you will be staying here with me?”
Muriel looked down at Shireez and just laughed. The six-year-old said, “If the other little girl can go on a rescue mission, I’m pretty confident I can too.”
Muriel grabbed the ivory handle of her knife and pulled it from the holder, exposing the blade serration and clipped point design. She inspected the object and ran a finger down the spine and up the belly, stopping just short of the serration.
He looked at the Imp Wizard and wondered if he was truly a wizard. The dwarf had the fiery eyes of a dragon, sure, but Sunny also knew the craft of magic and spirit lending. He wasn’t sure he believed all the stories about Dragon-Eyes or even the ones he had told him about his birth. Sunny worried that if magic was his only defense, the little man could be in trouble. How could the spirits be borrowed by two people at the same time? He couldn’t imagine magic being useful in a huge battle as he glared at the little man.
Dragon-Eyes gently asked, “Why the disgusted look, friend?”
Sunny was brutally honest and said, “I’m just not sure how much help you can be in this effort.”
The dwarf raised his eyebrows and spoke, “Oh really. Shall we put it to task? Why don’t you try to attack me?”
Sunny replied calmly, “No, I would never do something like that.”
Without warning, he clenched his fist, raised it and went to swing down and stop just short enough to scare the smaller man. However, Sunny was frozen, still as a stone castle, with his right fist raised above his head. He could still form thoughts and hear everyone around him but his body wouldn’t move.
The Imp Wizard looked at him with a smug smile and asked, “What seems to be the problem? Why, you are much stronger than I am. You should be able to pulverize me with ease, but for some reason, you cannot.” He became more serious and continued, “The spirits, they are stronger in some preferred souls.”
Sunny tried to invoke the spirits with mental summoning. He called for strength, invisibility, speed and even tried to reverse the ability to overpower another person. He frantically chanted the words that had always activated the help before.
Nothing worked and he remained frozen in place as the Imp gloated, “I’ve been underestimated my entire life, so I can understand the reasoning behind such thoughts. The belittling has helped form me into the man you see now. Please move over here for a moment.” Dragon-Eyes motioned to a group of students next to Sunny.
Everyone jumped back as Dragon-Eyes filled the vacated space with a flash of flame. The fire stopped and Dragon-Eyes looked back to Sunny and said, “Imagine if you had been standing just a few steps to your left. Oh, the horror it could have caused. Never underestimate someone you don’t kn
ow. Would you underestimate Muriel? Not me, and I feel sorry for the bloody fools who do because they shall be just that, bloody and foolish.”
Muriel blurted out, “I won’t feel sorry for those fools.” She finished with an awkward chuckle and looked down at the ground.
Dragon-Eyes continued, “Alright now, I am going to release my grip but remember the spirits are stronger within some, and never assume victory will be easy because of the size of your opponent.”
The dwarf closed his eyes and his big lips started to move. He didn’t say a word but suddenly Sunny stumbled forward. Sunny appreciated the lesson but was embarrassed that it had to happen in front of his fellow students. He jumped back as a loud hammer-like pounding came from behind. He whipped around and saw the door bending inward as the deafening knocks continued.
This could be the demons. We would be trapped with the other exit buried.
Dragon-Eyes carefully moved closer to the door and shouted, “Who goes there?”
A deep dark voice that Sunny recognized sliced through the door, “It’s the Army of Undead Kings.”
The Imp Wizard looked around and rhetorically asked, “The what of undead who?”
Sunny told the dwarf, “I know them. You will too.”
Sunny opened the door and hoped it wasn’t a trap by the demons even though it would have been already too late. The sun blazed in and all the students pulled their weapons. After Sunny’s eyes had readjusted to the glare, Ali-Ster Wamhoff came into focus.
The former king said, “They’re here.”
Sunny turned quickly to Muriel and said, “Go ring the bell seven times. Hurry.”
The little girl scurried off and the nearby students started to move out the opening. Sunny started pushing students outside as the bell rang for a final time.
Six Heads One Crown (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 3) Page 35
