by David Wells
One by one, Jack and Anatoly moved the light away from the spot on the ground where Alexander could see the dark aura of a nether wolf, and one by one, he took their heads. Only one managed to strike out at him. It became solid at a different angle than he expected and was able to spin around and attack. Its huge jaws snapped at his midsection but slipped off his dragon-steel chain shirt. A moment later the nether wolf fell.
“Good plan,” Anatoly said.
“It’ll make for a great song,” Jack added. “Of course, I might have to embellish it just a little.”
After an hour of travel with the aid of the night-wisp light, they doused their magical lanterns and moved the rest of the way through the dead-black forest. It was slow going and treacherous, but they made it to the wood line well before dawn. Alexander breathed a sigh of relief that the sky was cloudy enough to blot out the light of the moon.
They started toward the Keep moving slow and low. It was a painstaking three miles. Alexander kept track of the wyverns from the colors of their auras while he and his friends moved toward the Keep under the cover of darkness. There were dozens of the pseudo-dragons perched on towers and battlements all over the Keep, but they didn’t seem to notice the platoon of Rangers creeping through the tall grass toward them.
They reached the broken gatehouse and silently crept inside the twenty-foot-wide and thirty-foot-high passageway that led into the courtyard. The outer gates were long ago torn from their hinges and the portcullis that once barred passage had rusted into nothing more than a stain on the floor. The inner gates were smashed and the courtyard had been open to the creatures that lived on the Reishi Isle for millennia. Once in the dark of the gatehouse, Alexander stopped cold in his tracks and his men froze with him. In the middle of the courtyard stood a wyvern guard in front of the Keep’s main gate, which was also smashed and open.
Alexander knew that the moment he engaged the wyvern, the alarm would sound and they would be in a very dangerous fight. He much preferred to slip by unnoticed in the dark, but he doubted they would be able to accomplish such a thing. The alternative was either an outright attack or a diversion. The trouble was he had to be totally silent, so he couldn’t discuss his plan with anyone. Alexander thought about it for a moment before he came up with an option.
“Can you draw them out, Little One,” he thought to Chloe, “without getting hurt?”
“I can go outside the gates and make light,” Chloe thought back to him.
“Good, but be careful. They have magic,” Alexander thought to his familiar. “Let me know just before you do it.”
She flitted off without a sound or so much as a flicker. Alexander had watched her over the past several weeks and it seemed that she could become completely invisible or glow brightly at will. He held his breath and waited.
“Now!” she thought to him.
At first, nothing happened, then one of the wyvern riders caught sight of the brightly glowing ball of light in the grass several hundred feet from the Keep. The rider coaxed his wyvern, and the beast let out a roar that sent the rest of the wyverns into the air—all except the one in the courtyard. It held its ground, but at least it was alone. Alexander whispered to the Ranger nearest him, “Arrows.” The man whispered to the next man behind him and they began setting up a line of archers under the cover of the shadows, while the other wyverns searched out in the grass for intruders.
Chloe buzzed into the cover of the gatehouse and whispered in Alexander’s mind, “How was that?”
He thought back to her, “Perfect, Little One.”
A few moments later, a dozen archers were lined up shoulder to shoulder facing the dim silhouette of the lone wyvern standing guard. Just before they were set, a light flared high overhead. No doubt they were using magic to help them search. The glaring light was enough to give away their position. The wyvern roared and started forward when the line of Rangers fired a volley of arrows. The beast screamed in surprise and pain and launched into the air with one powerful stroke of its giant wings.
“Run!” Alexander shouted and everyone sprinted for the door of the Keep. It seemed like a very long way under the threat of a wyvern descending on them, but they made it through the door and into the Keep before the injured wyvern could drop back down to the courtyard.
They ran down the broad hallway that led from the courtyard into the giant entry hall and stopped to see the wyvern thrust its head inside, but it was too big to risk crawling in after them; in the confinement of the hallway, it would be far too vulnerable. It retreated and gave a terrible roar which was answered by dozens of other wyverns, but Alexander didn’t care. He was in the Keep and that was all he needed for the moment. He would worry about getting out once he’d retrieved the Sovereign Stone.
As the darkness of the Keep closed in around them and they gained distance from the enemy, Alexander brought out his vial of night-wisp dust. The broad corridor leading from the courtyard ran for a hundred feet before it opened into a giant reception hall that was too big to see fully, given their limited light.
Jack held up his light as well and they tried to get some perspective on the room they’d just entered. In the shadows, it looked like it must be a hundred feet wide and easily twice as long. The ceiling fifty feet overhead was arched with rock ribs running from the floor up the walls to the apex of the arch in the center. Between the support ribs in the arched ceiling were broken windows that had once allowed natural light to fill the room.
Alexander scanned the giant reception hall looking for some indication of which way to go. The Keep was huge and would take forever to search room by room. The legend of the death of Malachi Reishi said he was directing the defense of the Keep from high atop the battlements when Nicolai Atherton, possessed by the shade, made his attack and pushed them both into the aether. Alexander had to find that place.
From overhead, through one of the broken-out windows, a javelin came hurtling down, just missing one of the Rangers and driving several inches into the stone floor. It was time to move.
“Run for the far end,” Alexander commanded, and the platoon of Rangers surged forward into the darkness. They were fifty feet from the far wall when Alexander saw the telltale colors of three living auras. He’d seen colors like these before. They were twisted and tortured by magic, but radiated great power.
One by one, three gorledons leapt up on top of a pile of rubble that was pushed into one corner. They made the strange hunting call that was a cross between a growl and a scream. The Rangers stopped and drew weapons.
Alexander handed Lucky his night-wisp light and drew the Thinblade.
“Gorledons,” Alexander announced. “Remember, they have armor on their backs and sides.”
Jack and Lucky fell back and held the light high. The Rangers fanned out in two ranks. The rear group nocked arrows while the front rank drew swords. Alexander stepped up into the center of the first rank with Anatoly at his left. The gorledons were still shrouded in shadows and hadn’t yet made their move to attack.
It was possible that they were confused by the fact that nobody ran. They were one of the most fearsome predators around and most of the creatures on the island, at least the living ones, probably avoided them. They growled again. When the Rangers held their line, the gorledons charged.
“Here they come,” Alexander said calmly but loudly enough for everyone to hear. The Rangers with bows drew and took aim in the general direction of the enemy and waited a few moments until the three giant predators came into the light. On command, they targeted one of the creatures and loosed their arrows. Ten arrows found their mark high in the gorledon’s chest, penetrating through to the bone carapace covering its back. It didn’t even make a sound as it fell dead.
The other two came fast, both leaping high in the air to come down on top of their prey. Alexander moved quickly to intercept one. He knew it would try to pin him with one of its huge hind feet but he was ready. He also knew that once it was committed to a path through the
air, it was almost impossible for it to change course.
At the last moment, he spun quickly to his left and brought the Thinblade around to slice the beast’s leg off at the knee. Anatoly was ready and waiting for it to fall. It came down with a scream as it toppled over behind Alexander. Anatoly flipped his axe around and brought its eight-inch spike down into the gorledon’s skull. It died quickly.
The final gorledon jumped over the first Rangers and landed squarely on top of one of the Rangers in the archer rank, pinning him to the ground with its giant clawed foot. The beast’s bony armored back was facing the sword rank, and the archers couldn’t get a clean shot. The only two farther back were Jack and Lucky, who were both unarmed except for the light they held.
The gorledon grabbed the injured Ranger by his arm, lifted its foot off his chest and whipped the doomed man in an arc over its head, impaling him on the row of spikes running down its spine. It roared in triumph, leapt over Jack, and sprinted off into the darkness.
Another man had fallen. The now all-too-familiar feeling of the weight of command settled on Alexander. Yet another life was gone by his order, another family torn asunder because he had sent their loved one into harm’s way.
It made him think of Isabel and Abigail. The thought of losing them drove him dangerously close to madness. The crushing pain of such loss seemed too much for anyone to bear, yet there was another family that would suffer those terrible feelings.
For the thousandth time, Alexander silently wished that none of this had been thrust upon him. All he ever wanted was a little ranch and a herd of cattle. He just wanted to live his life. Most of all he didn’t want to feel the crushing weight of responsibility and guilt for sending good people to their doom. He stood stone-still, looking off into the darkness where the gorledon had taken the latest victim of his unwanted duty as he struggled with his feelings. It was Chloe who brought him back from his dark thoughts.
“The suffering you feel from the death of a single man under your care is why it must be you to lead this struggle, My Love,” she thought gently into his mind.
Alexander closed his eyes and silently offered her his thanks. He didn’t feel any better about the death of the Ranger, but his resolve to succeed against Phane hardened. He took a deep breath and pushed his sorrow into the dark corners of his mind.
“We’ll mourn him properly, but not today,” he said to the Rangers.
They were already regrouping and assessing the situation. Lieutenant Wyatt was clearly saddened by the loss of another of his men but that didn’t stop him from doing his job. Within moments of the battle’s end, Wyatt had his Rangers ready to move.
They pressed into the interior of the Keep, moving slowly and carefully. Alexander relied on his all around sight to peer through doors before he gave the go-ahead to enter. He knew the Keep was probably inhabited by far more than gorledons. It had been open to the creatures living on the wild Reishi Isle for far too long. There was no telling what they might encounter.
They were also cautious to guard their rear; the wyvern riders were probably hunting them as well. While they didn’t pose nearly the threat dismounted that they did riding their wyverns, they could still be a danger, especially if they managed to attack by surprise. Additionally, at least one of the wyvern riders had demonstrated skill with magic. If there was one, there were probably more.
The Keep was huge. There were myriad passages, halls, corridors, staircases, chambers, public areas, and private quarters. It had been abandoned for so long that the artwork and much of the furniture had rotted into piles of moldering dust. Yet, even in a state of such disrepair, the place had an air of grandeur. It presented a mixture of practical functionality with just enough ornamentation to create a sense of subtly understated authority.
They moved cautiously, looking for any sign that they were close to the inner chambers. But traveling through the Keep was confusing. They got turned around several times and found themselves entering rooms on the periphery.
They entered one of these rooms just before dawn. It was a large lounge with an open-air balcony jutting out the side of one of the central buildings. The windows were long ago smashed out and the furniture was little more than lumpy stains on the floor, but the balcony did offer a view of the front of the Keep and the main courtyard below.
Alexander carefully crept out onto the balcony and up to the stone railing. He peeked over just as one of the wyverns perched on the gatehouse gave a deafening roar. His first instinct was to retreat back into the room, but then he saw a number of wyverns come off the Keep from perches even higher than where he stood.
They were headed toward the forest. He looked out across the gently sloping range surrounding the Keep and saw a platoon of Andalian Lancers led by Jataan P’Tal headed toward the Reishi Keep. The wyvern riders were lining up for an attack run against them.
Anatoly came up beside him and looked out toward the impending battle. A smile slowly grew across his face. “Huh, I guess luck is breaking in our favor this time. I say we have breakfast while we watch our enemies kill each other.”
Lucky and Jack both chuckled. The Rangers came up along the railing to watch as well. Lucky handed Alexander a hard biscuit and a piece of dried apple. He took it with a nod of thanks as he puzzled over his enemies. The Reishi Protectorate he understood. And the Andalians had made a deal with Phane. But the wyvern riders seemed intent on killing anyone who set foot on this island and were especially offended when intruders tried to enter the Keep, yet they didn’t even live there. They could have cleared the island of most of the predatory creatures and tamed a large part of it if they wanted to claim it as their home, but they hadn’t. Instead they left it wild and extremely dangerous while living on the fortress island and sinking any ship that got too close to the shoreline.
He didn’t understand their motives and that worried him all the more because he was pretty sure that his wife and sister were their prisoners. He needed to know more about them, but the only way that was going to happen was to capture one of their riders and interrogate him. So far that had proven difficult. Maybe if they ventured into the Keep to search him out, he’d be able to turn the tables on them, but as long as they stayed on their wyverns, his chances of capturing one were slim to none.
The Andalian rhone mounts charged across the range toward the Keep with alarming speed. They were nearly twice as fast as a horse and moved with fearsome power. Watching them charge, Alexander knew that he’d made the right choice in surrendering on the southern shore of Ruatha.
He worried about the army he’d sent to southern Ruatha. They would be facing this enemy soon. The battle would be terrible. He just hoped that General Talia could come up with a way to fight them that didn’t involve meeting them on an open field where they could bring the strength of the rhone and their force lances to bear.
The battle happened quickly. The Lancers had fanned out, so the wyverns could strike only one at a time. The first wyvern whipped its tail down at a Lancer. Even at this distance, the wyvern’s deadliness was clear. The rhone and rider were both crushed into carnage in an instant by the powerful blow from the bone blade at the end of the wyvern’s tail.
The next Lancer was more prepared for the attack. He brought his lance up and pointed it at the tail of the wyvern as it snapped down toward him. A moment before it struck, the Lancer released a burst of magical energy that caught the tail and forced it up and over the Lancer’s head. Alexander knew from personal experience that the burst of force projected by a force lance was formidable. The wyvern roared in pain and rage.
The rider of the next wyvern to attack directed a blast of light and heat from her hand down toward another Lancer. He toppled off the back of his rhone, tumbled through the tall grass and never moved again.
The next wyvern rider in line hurled a javelin at Jataan P’Tal. He deftly caught the weapon, spun in his saddle, and launched the javelin back up at the soft underbelly of the wyvern. It struck home with such for
ce that it penetrated through the wyvern’s body, came out of its back, and flew thirty feet into the air trailing a streamer of blood. The wyvern screamed in pain and crashed to the ground, skidding to a halt. The rider was tied into his saddle or he would have tumbled off the dying beast into the tall grass.
The next wyvern targeted the giant, but he hurled a javelin so hard that the wyvern rolled to the right at the last moment to avoid the attack and missed its opportunity to strike.
The rhone thundered toward the Keep with such speed that the remaining wyvern riders were only able to launch attacks with javelins as the Andalians passed beneath them. Two more Lancers were killed in the barrage of javelins that rained down on them, but the rest reached the Keep before the wyverns could line up for another pass.
They rode through the gatehouse and into the courtyard. The first three charged the waiting wyvern with their force lances, each unleashing a magical blast of energy into the wyvern as it thrust itself into the air and whipped its tail beneath its body. It took the force lance blows, roaring in anger from the assault, then used its tail to tear one of the Lancers in half at the ribcage. The remaining Lancers charged into the Keep.
The wyverns regrouped and returned to their perches all over the high points of the Keep. It appeared that they intended to wait for the enemy to leave and then attack from the air rather than dismount and fight. Alexander watched two of the wyverns break off from the main force and head southeast. More would be coming.
Anatoly frowned. “That was fun to watch but not nearly as satisfying as I thought it would be.”
Alexander nodded and motioned to the Rangers to follow him into the dilapidated lounge.
“Listen up,” Alexander said. “The Andalian Lancers are dangerous when they’re mounted, but when they’re on foot, their lances are too big and unwieldy to use very effectively. On top of that, the men will be slowed down by their heavy armor, so I’m not too worried about facing them.
