The Spirit of Malquia (In the Absence of Kings Book 2)

by Lee LaCroix

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next morning, Kayten, Novas, and Garreth dined on a breakfast of bread and a medley of berries and nuts and then made their way through the Lower Quarter to the courtyard. The two men planned to see Kayten off to her work and then rally the troops to move northward to Bouldershade. They came to the great iron gate, and the keeper’s slat opened after a firm knocking.

  “Aye there, Kayten. And is that Garreth and Novas? Been quite some time, masters,” the doorman commented before opening the door and showing them through with a wave of his hand.

  Kayten passed with a smile, and Garreth and Novas nodded, and together they passed through the alleyway and into the courtyard. The training yard was as busy as ever. A second sparring ring was erected where they once had passed out reclaimed Blackwoods treasures, and it was filled with blade-wielding acolytes who practiced their stances and strikes. The trainees in the newly erected ring were being led by a swordsman whom Garreth did not recognize. The former garden was occupied by more advanced pupils of the blade, who sparred against each other, lending each other forceful strikes against padded armour with blunt arms.

  “Well, I’ll be off now. Don’t be gone too long. And come back alive and well,” Kayten addressed them with a smile and walked off towards the smithy.

  Garreth smiled and nodded and Novas gave a slight wave. They began to peer around the courtyard in search of Berault but did not find him, and they walked over to the overseer’s rotunda where Eyrn was watching the proceedings.

  “Ah, the bearers of the blessed blades return. It is good to see you both,” Eyrn welcomed with an outstretched hand, shaking both their grasps with a firm grip.

  “How fares the old training yard?” Garreth asked, looking around.

  “It is what it is. Trying my best to keep them from lopping each other’s arms off, shaking the rust off of old sword arms, and ensuring it doesn’t build on the new. So many new recruits, we moved them out to the pavilion south of town. It is much less cramped than here, and in the summer, the sea breeze will be very welcome,” Eyrn explained as he twitched his fingers against the desk. “I’d much rather be out and about putting my sword to better use like you two, but I know I’m needed most here.”

  “Patience,” Novas stated with a chuckle. “Bad business is brewing in Deepshine. We’ll need good soldiers like you before the end, I’m sure.”

  “There is a good cause to all this. All will know it before long. Now where are those soldiers that Berault promised me,” Garreth inquired.

  Eyrn rose from his chair and swiveled his head around.

  “I’ll go collect them now. Just wait here and have a seat,” Eyrn offered before he strode away.

  Novas shrugged and had a seat, and Garreth soon did the same. One-by-one, the soldiers began to show up, equipped in a thick cloth pant and long-sleeved garment with a leather jerkin over top. Over top of the uniform, the tabard of blood red billowed in the wind, and the troops began to socialize in loose groups. Eyrn arrived with the last man at his side, and soon the group was complete.

  “For-ma-tion!” Eyrn announced, and the unit scrambled into rows with three rows of five swordsmen, and two rows of five archers behind them.

  Eyrn gave the soldiers a salute, and a snappy one was given in return.

  “This is your commanding officer, hand of Berault the Regent, Garreth. He is one of the finest swordsmen and bravest of the Crown Aegis that I have met. This is his son Novas, unrivaled in the talents of archery. Without further ado,” Eyrn introduced.

  Garreth and Novas stood up from their chairs and strode forward from the rotunda to meet with the squad. Garreth stood in front of them and clasped his hands behind his back.

  “I know some of you are new to the Crown Aegis, and some of you are veterans, but all of us have recognized the danger of leaving our families, our homes, and our people vunerable to plunder and destruction. You have answered the call to defend what matters most to you. You’ve seen that others share your beliefs, and that we fight together to safeguard what matters most. We leave today to defend a town in dire need of our aid, for it lies on the brink of a coming storm. Steel yourselves. You will likely face all the terrible reasons that brought you here before we are through,” Garreth explained and then unsheathed his sword and drew it high into the sky, the sunsteel rays glinting resolutely around it.

  “But fear not, you will not face this terror by yourselves. No man or woman will bear the sting of the sword, or the crash of a mace, or the bite of an axe alone, and fall deep into despair and death. We will meet it together! By the strength of our hearts and our arms, we shall overcome all who wish to take from us!” Garreth concluded as he became flush from his speech.

  The squad raised their fists and arms to the air. Eyrn took his seat in the rotunda again and watched as Garreth led the troops out of the courtyard and disappeared from sight around the corner of an alleyway. Domminal was waiting outside the iron door, and he fell into rank with Garreth and Novas and continued along. The squad continued through the Lower Quarter and left the city through the southern gates while the citizens gathered on the streetside to watch the military procession march through.

  Garreth caught a glimpse of the new pavilion that lay just south of town, and it was indeed filled with more of the Crown Aegis than the courtyard could hold. It was a far more spacious area, for two shelters stood on its north and western faces that offered protection from the sun and wind. There was also wide benches for the exhausted with two Crown Aegis banners on each roof. Parallel to the southern end of the pavilion were two rows of archery targets with three in the front and five in the back that were constructed from wooden supports and circular hay bales. Even then, Garreth could feel the sea breeze rise up to touch him, but it had lost its refreshing touch in the week that had passed and in turn became a salty chill. Garreth marched the troops up the road bordering Amatharsus, beyond caravans and merchant stalls, and then past those people who chose to rest outside of the urban center and looked out over the great plains as the wind made waves of the grass.

  They continued in formation until they were a ways down the Great North Road where Garreth ordered the troops to be at ease, and they rearranged and conversed with each other. They were still all courteous to the passing of carriages or wagons, moving out of the way as needed. The day was crisp but it was not chill, and the sun still shone bright through the clouded skies. The light came down in great pillars and landed upon the open fields like radiant columns holding up the sky. It was not a bad day for traveling, Novas thought. It was Novas’ first time wearing one of the tabards, and he felt its texture with its bare hands and found it to be smooth and silky. He liked the way it billowed in the wind around his form. They must have been created with utmost care and a conscious design as well as a measure of pride, he thought.

  The unit reached the rocky terrain bordering Bouldershade before noon and found their initial passage to be quite a dusty affair as the wind’s kicked up particulate matter and scattered it around the low region. But as soon as they began to be annoyed by it, the winds had ceased almost all together, and everyone breathed easy.

  As they were not far from Bouldershade, Novas could see the plumes of smoke from atop the road at a point of high elevation, and he could just catch a sliver of the glinting rooftops. Garreth beckoned the troops to the right side as he heard galloping ahead, and one horseman sped by at breakneck speed. He was followed by two more riders, and then another two, both racing as if their lives depended on it. Soon, a carriage drawn by two horses drove past with a similar hurry as the driver whipped the reins over and over. They were soon approaching one of the final bends in the Great North Road before the land leveled out and revealed the town. First, a woman and two children appeared around the corner. The younglings were upset with tears and anguish, and the mother sped her child along with one hand while she carried the second in the other.

  “They’re coming!” the woman shrieked to the soldiers
as she fled past.

  By the time the woman came alongside Garreth, other citizens began to appear around the bend. Men mostly carrying goods or pulling carts filled with possessions, and the women carried children or burlap sacks on their backs. The trail of people started as a trickle, but soon it was clear there was an evacuation underway as rows of folk filled the road from side to side. Ilsa was leading her family out of the town near the head of the pack.

  “I’ll lead the rest of them to the city but help the Crown Aegis!” she shouted as she ran by.

  Garreth raised his clenched fist, and his troops fell in line behind him. They marched towards the bend and made their way around the corner. The clattering of stone and steel had not been from the smithy or the stable like Garreth had presumed from afar but from the collision of swords, shields, and armour. The Crown Aegis of Bouldershade held the road on the south edge of the town’s border while the remainder of the town’s citizens fled through the alleyways beside them. A Vandarian force, with bronzed helmets as far as Garreth could see, pressed south down the road from the town’s center and met with the remainder of Behn’s soldiers. The smoke plumes Novas had seen were not from smokestacks but from wood and hay burning, and flames licked at the sky from many of the houses in Bouldershade. The panic was evident as the last of the villagers made their way south onto the highway, and Behn’s unit appeared to be holding a staunch defense, covering the retreat.

  “Domminal, I want you to take the archers up on these walls and stay out of sight. The rest of you, we need to relieve our comrades at the front. With me!” Garreth shouted as he withdrew his sword and rushed towards the blazing town.

  Out of the twenty-five soldiers Behn had arrived with, fourteen had still remained. They were making their stand between the two most southern buildings on the main road, preventing the enemy from flanking their position and forcing the Vandari to fight them head on.

  Behn had formed his unit into a triangle and positioned himself at the very peak; if the wide strokes of his giant sword could not cut down the waves of Vandari that rushed against him, then his allies could move forward to cover his flank, inverting the triangle without sacrificing their position. If the soldiers to his side found themselves overwhelmed, they would fall back and restore the original formation that would place the Vandarian troops between the walls of houses and the Crown Aegis’ weapons, allowing Behn to cleave at their flank. They had held this position for quite some time, but Behn feared that his foes would soon use the side streets and cut off their retreat.

  Garreth, Novas, and the fifteen Crown Aegis moved forward to join their comrades in the burning town. Garreth’s unit soon fell into position with Behn’s warriors and replaced the exhausted soldiers, giving them a chance to rest at the back ranks. Garreth and Novas made their way to the front of the melee and were briefly stunned by the shear thickness of the bloodshed. The Vandarian troops were packed shoulder to shoulder and burst forth from the wall like a tumultuous current from a ruptured dam.

  “Behn! Behn! Behnnnn!” Garreth shouted above the chaos of clattering steel.

  Lost in the tides of battle, Behn was focused in rhythm, momentum, and reflex. His helm was nowhere to be found, his hair was soaked, sweat flew around as he moved, and his breathing was long and deep like waves breaking upon a shore. His armour was dented in several places but did not slow him. It was his duty to protect these people, and that duty burned him like the fires that consumed their homes. Trying his best not to get cleaved in the process, Garreth knocked upon Behn’s armour, which finally prompted a response from the steel-clad warrior. Behn turned his head for a moment, caught sight of Garreth and Novas, and then swung his sword around in a wide slice, knocking over two Vandari who had tried to take advantage of his distraction.

  “Ah! Garreth! Novas! It’s about time!” Behn shouted.

  “Behn, we need to get out of here! I see no end to these villains, and we only have so many swords. Let us flee while we still have strength!” Garreth argued.

  “The villagers have to leave, all of them! They are still fleeing. We can’t retreat until every last one is behind us!” Behn called out.

  Garreth looked to the south road. Indeed, there was still a trickle of escapees making their way. Garreth looked at his son and pointed to Behn’s left, and Novas nodded. Garreth moved up beside Behn’s right, and Novas to his left, and the three continued to stem the tide of the armoured aggressors.

  It seemed no one, not Garreth, Novas, Behn, any of the Crown Aegis, or any of the Vandari were prepared for the presence of the twin swords Darkbreaker and Dawnbringer that day. The bewilderment began with Novas when three Vandari moved in arm to arm. Their bunch hugged the streetside like a flailing wall of swords. Novas saw them advance and enter his melee range, and he inhaled a long breath. For that brief second before he exhaled, time seemed to move slowly, and he glimpsed the sword of the right most Vandarian move to strike him. He withdrew that breath and brought Dawnbringer up to deflect the blade but did not have the time to notice the sword’s flashy glint before it moved onto its next target. Novas swung the blade down against the left most Vandarian who had lunged in with a stab, and Novas put both of their blades into the dirt. However, Novas saw the intended effect that time when the soldier covered his eyes with his left hand and fell back against the house. The middle-most opponent brought his sword up high, planning to pierce Novas’ neck as he retained his low stance, but Novas recovered with a strong upwards slash and dismembered the warrior’s hands, cutting right through the heavy leather gauntlets. Novas kicked the injured Vandarian back and brought his blade down upon the right Vandarian, who raised his sword to deflect the blow. As the swords collided, the blade glinted golden again, and the bedazzled soldier appeared to lose all his strength. Novas’ blade slid along and plunged into a division in the right shoulder of the armour. Those downed Vandari seemed so blinded by Dawnbringer that the right most one tried to scramble away but was plowed over by Behn’s blade while the left one was frantic in disbelief before he was made still by Novas.

  Garreth found his new blade to his liking as well and was finding new ways to unleash its shining effect. While another three Vandari approached Garreth, they were hesitant to engage him and waited to imbalance him after his opening strike. Garreth chuckled to himself and dove forward at the middle one, bringing his blade down from up high. When the Vandarian moved his blade up to deflect, instead of bouncing his sword off, Garreth dragged Darkbreaker from the middle of the Vandarian’s blade to its very tip. He grinned as he saw the glowing spark flare up on the blade’s edge where the two swords met. The Vandarian’s sword, gauntlets, helm, and chest armour reflected a bright light as if bathed in the light of a new day’s sun, but the maintained brightness was so effective that each of the Vandari grasped at their eyes. Garreth took his blade into a high stance and delivered three powerful slashes, digging deep into the necks of his opponents. Garreth looked over to see Behn with one hand rested on his bent knee, eyes wide not in blindness but disbelief.

  “The battle is ours! They begin to thin!” Behn shouted and raised his sword to the air.

  After a short cheer from the Crown Aegis, a voice rang out from behind.

  “Captain! They’re coming from the sides! To the flanks!” one of the Crown Aegis yelled.

  Behn yanked his head up high and looked to the south. Indeed, the Vandarian ranks were beginning to form and try to cut off their escape.

  “Behn, get back there and lead them out of the town. Novas and I can handle the rearguard, now go!” Garreth commanded, pointing his shining sword southward.

  Behn nodded and began to push through the Crown Aegis to get to the south line. Behn’s claymore began to rise and fall beyond the height of the crowd. Slowly, the Malquians began to force their way out of the burning village. Novas and Garreth still faced a wall of Vandari that pushed forward with various groups and tactics. However, the Vandari came completely unprepared for the blazing assault on their
visual senses. They could only make a small combination of strikes before they would be suddenly interrupted by a wave of bright light that flickered upon their armour like a raging wildfire.

  Eventually, Behn’s front broke through the Vandari, and the path of the retreat was clear. Behn kept the troops in formation and moved back to stand beside Novas and Garreth again. Regardless of how many soldiers the Malquians had stunned or slain, the Vandari continued with a fury and fervency and numbers unceasing as if thousands of warriors were marching from Deepshine. They seemed to be angered by the weapons of light, for they shouted terse bursts in their native tongue. The Crown Aegis made a slow retreat, pacing backwards with Novas, Garreth, and Behn at the center of the battle. The Crown Aegis led their enemies around the bend into the canyon where the angered Vandari continued to chase. Garreth had remained patient in leading his enemy this far, and he began to resolve the length of the canyon around him. Garreth stopped moving backwards and raised up his sword.

  “Archers!” Garreth called out.

  His silhouette sharpened by the sunlight, Domminal appeared on the hill first. The unit of archers leapt up from the canyon wall beside him. Following Domminal’s lead, the archers began to fire arrows onto the road that the Vandarian soldiers stood upon. When the first volley had struck front ranks of the Vandari, Garreth pointed his sword forward and sprinted.

  “Charge!” Garreth ordered as he dashed into the thinned out ranks of the Vandari.

  The Crown Aegis responded with a roar and charged into the mad melee of blades and bodies. Their archers were careful and precise, sending their volleys into the groups of Vandari just ahead of the Crown Aegis unit. When Garreth’s unit moved forward, Domminal moved the archers forward along the cliff wall as well. Moving behind the archer’s rain, the Crown Aegis returned to Bouldershade, finishing off the crippled, injured, or outnumbered. Before the archers had reached the edge of the canyon wall, the Vandari were retreating in great haste; even their great numbers could not withstand the Malquian’s ambush. Garreth ran to the bend in the road to see their escape, and the Vandari had formed up their soldiers in tight rows along the southern border of the town with their length still farther than Garreth could see.