by Billy Wong
She looked up at him and managed a smile. "But it's okay. I won't begrudge the loss of mere steel and lead, when I have you to go home with. So let's leave this place now, and there'll be plenty of time to forge new arms later."
Finn gently touched her cheek, wiping away a lone tear that had escaped her eye. "When we get home, we'll make your new weapons together, so that even if you fight alone, you'll carry some of me with you. How's that sound, Rose?"
She laughed then, and yelled, "That sounds like the sentimental rubbish bards and artists are into!" More softly, she added, "I'd love to do it." They took each other's hands again, and without another look back, continued down the road.
Chapter 9
"Wow, back at last," Rose breathed as she and Finn topped a hill overlooking Hullel, the peaceful hometown she had returned to with him after the events at Bifford. "More than once, I thought I'd never be here again. It's a great feeling, don't you think?"
"It is. No disrespect to you, but I'm looking forward to your mother's cooking!"
Her parents would surely be happy to see their daughter again, and she looked forward to telling everyone about her adventures. Boy, there was some story to share! She felt a little nervous about how her parents would look at her wounds and worry over her. Still, her spirits were high as she began the final steps through the gentle breeze towards town, her love at her side. It was time, at last, to rest.
"Rose!" A familiar voice called her name already, though for a moment she did not recognize it. She turned to see Loreen behind her. The one-armed woman approached on horseback, leaning heavily on the beast's neck. Exhaustion weighed down her features, and blood soaked her clothes in several spots.
"He's alive," Loreen gasped, "Prince Wilner that is. He came with reinforcements and routed the Kayland army, and took Derrick. Rose... he wants you. To destroy you."
Wilner was alive? Rose supposed it wasn't too much of a surprise—they had only assumed him dead from the wound she'd dealt, without any real proof. She felt surprisingly calm, if resigned to hardship, when she replied after a short pause.
"Must be the healing magic that restored him after every other fight. It just took a lot longer this time. I guess fate allows no rest for weary warriors, huh? I know, though, that after the next battle between me and Wilner one of us will rest forever. I'm not quite at full strength, and don't even have my best sword and shield. But I'll make do with yours. It won't disgrace your treasured blades to taste the blood of that fiend."
Loreen smiled at the words. It didn't last long, though. "You can't possibly go up against Wilner now. He has defeated the Kayland army, driven them into full flight. Even you can't fight his thousands alone. You've already seen that he cares nothing of honor in the pursuit of victory. He will not hesitate to send his army against you."
Finn answered for his love, with characteristic bravado which lightened Rose's heart. "Alone?! Rose won't do anything alone as long as I'm here. Thousands? Who would be stupid enough to fight the entire army at once? Wilner can't be surrounded by his troops all the time. Certainly, he doesn't house his whole army in his castle. As long as you can help us get inside, that's where we'll strike and finish him for good. As for getting back out, well, I hope you can help us there too. If not, I'm sure we can figure something out. The walls aren't too high, are they?" He said this last with a wink at Rose, who chuckled though she knew it was only half jest.
Loreen hesitated. "Sounds dangerous as hell, and I'm not looking forward to jumping off the walls... but it's about time I got some revenge for me and my brothers. Besides, I'll be with the woman who beat him before, even when he had help, and her near match. There are no other two I'd rather have."
Finn looked sidelong at Rose. "Did you tell her that I was your near match?"
"Hey, I just told her about our endeavors together. She drew her own conclusions."
He grinned. "Maybe this time, I'll finish off the bad guy and outdo you for once."
"I'll still be ahead... but who's counting?" Rose turned serious then. "We need to pick some stuff up in town before we go. Loreen, come with us and get some too. We'll need all the weapons we can get this time."
So they entered Hullel, and equipped themselves from Rose and Finn's personal armory with many a new instrument of war: ranged weapons such as throwing axes, daggers, a crossbow for Finn, and Rose's great bow capable of punching fully through a man in plate; a new suit of armor for Rose, as hers was quite too damaged to be of much use; and a couple of spare melee weapons for each of them.
True to what Rose said before, she held onto the sword Loreen had lent her. While not as comfortable to her as the blade she had lost, it was as good as anything else in her armory, having been the trademark of a giant northerner before Loreen won it in a drunken dart game. But she traded in her borrowed shield for a larger one she kept at home, which would suit fighting Wilner better—a double-layered shield whose outer bowl curved sharply outward, designed to keep the force of blows away from its bearer.
Satisfied with their armament, Rose said a short goodbye to her parents, who cried to see their wound-weary daughter go right back into battle. Finn and Loreen's assurances that they would take care of her gave them little comfort, but there was nothing else to do for them. Then the warriors were on the road again, this time on horseback, nervously anticipating the struggle that loomed ahead.
#
Derrick looked around his cell and realized he'd had it easy compared to some of the men who shared it. He had been captured after taking a strong blow to the head, which still gave him occasional bouts of dizziness. However, two of his cellmates were missing limbs, and another bore a deep abdominal wound. He watched and listened miserably as the men suffered, and wished nothing more than to be away from here.
Shuddering, he remembered how Tom had fallen in the Kayland forces' last stand, when a great swarm of enemy reinforcements had pinned them against the walls of Armand. The young soldier had taken a dozen arrows trying to rally his unit after Peter surrendered against Lipner's orders, and died slowly in agony. Courage had done nothing to save him from his horrible fate.
One of the few men not delirious with pain or fever crawled over and grabbed Derrick by the shirt. "College boy, my brother's dying, help him! Save him!" He paled as he realized his supplicant was pointing at the gutstabbed man, who seemed able only to alternate between moaning curled up in pain and lying mercifully unconscious after passing out from it.
Reluctantly, he moved beside the wounded man. He didn't want to see this, and wasn't exactly a surgeon either. A forced look confirmed his fears. The wound was deep if small, and the smell of bile rose from the gash. The man's insides had been soiled, and nothing could be done for him.
Derrick didn't know how to break the news to his supplicant, who already seemed dangerously unstable. He ran his hands over the dying man, as if continuing to examine him. He doubted this would buy much time, but couldn't think of anything else to do, not even to ease the man's pain. Just when he didn't think things could get much worse, the man became aware of him, screamed some unintelligible phrase, and tried to claw at him with bloody hands. Then he flopped to his back, dead.
His brother gave Derrick a murderous stare. "You killed him!" The man lunged at him and bore him down, and he hit his injured head on the hard stone. As his consciousness drifted away, he thought that at least it wouldn't hurt.
#
He awakened in a soft chair, his arms and legs bound to its limbs. In the black-walled room before him, empty but for some decorative vases and tapestries, stood a smirking Prince Wilner. "Well, aren't you going to thank me for saving your life?"
"What... the man?" Derrick asked groggily.
The prince waved a dismissive hand. "Would I let my personal bait be killed by some worthless trash sharing his cell? That would be careless of me. That man now shares a pool of entrails with his brother, for your blood will only spill when I feel inclined to see it. Your soft-hearted friend will kn
ow the pain of being helpless to save her closest friends and allies, right before I take her life with her own sword." He swung Rose's immense blade lightly through the air, smiling as he regarded it. "Its weight took some getting used to. But victory will be all the sweeter for it."
Derrick shook his head, and the act almost made him pass out again. "She'll kill you. She is the greatest warrior, not you."
Fury flashed across Wilner's face, and he tilted Derrick's head back at a painful angle to look up at him. "You have some nerve. That woman blocked the path destiny set forth for me, and I must admit to being impressed by her steadfast resolve. But no person can stand against the tides of destiny for long, as my unbroken chain of victories over the last two decades can attest to. It is my fate to bring Coblan into worldwide prominence, and your friend's strength is of no use against that."
"But she beat you before," Derrick said without blinking. "What makes you so sure your fate isn't merely to die at her hands, and be remembered as her greatest conquest?"
The prince slapped him, and this time he actually blacked out. When he woke, Wilner still stood there and calmly continued, "I know my fate shines bright for such was foretold to me when I was a young lad, younger than you are now. In those long-ago days I was a reckless youth, who had thoughts for naught but flirting and horseback riding.
"But then my father was killed through treachery, shot down with a cowardly arrow at my sixteenth birthday! As he lay pierced through the neck, somehow, as through divine intervention he managed to speak last hopeful words to me. 'You will carry our line into the halls of emperors,' he whispered, and gave up his hold on life. Since then, I've pursued the fulfillment of that prophecy, and it has not failed me yet. As long as I strive with all my heart, I do not believe it will."
"So all you've done was in the name of avenging your father?"
"Ha! I avenged him long ago, when the traitorous merchant who had him assassinated was hung with hooks from my castle wall. What I do, I do to gain respect for Coblan as a nation in its own right. That is something it never had since it broke away, as a mere merchant daring to assassinate its monarch can tell you. The first ruler of Coblan may not get his due for acting in the name of justice, but I will correct that."
"Justice? I thought Coblan seceded from Kayland because of a dispute between their rulers, but never what exactly. What happened?" Though Derrick didn't quite trust his captor, he wanted to hear his take on history nonetheless.
Wilner smiled, as if eager to tell the story to anyone who would hear it. "The governor of the province of Coblan, my ancestor, fell in love with the king's cousin. But she was the same woman coveted by the king himself, who forced her to marry him and kept her prisoner in his castle. So the governor used nearly all his wealth and hired a group of great warriors to storm the castle and save his love. They succeeded, but the king found out who was responsible and sent the army to take back his wife.
"The governor beat back the army with the help of his hired warriors, and declared Coblan an independent nation. Those warriors who had at first fought for money stayed there out of loyalty, and became his personal guard. The magnificent men you see serving me now are their descendants." After a pause, he added sadly, "Dedicated men your friend has slain most of. Though she will pay dearly for it."
"If you have no desire to see your men die, why must you continue this senseless war? You have already greatly expanded your nation and made many strong allies. Your father's prophecy has been fulfilled. There is no need for further strife."
Wilner actually seemed to consider his words, as he looked downward at nothing for a time. "No, I cannot rest. Though I have had similar ideas, I am in the midst of taking the Brushknoll and will not retreat from a battle already won. Besides, my setbacks at your friend's hands leave a sour taste in my mouth. I won't be satisfied until I kill her!"
Derrick spat at him. He missed, but followed his cast with a verbal attack. "Your arrogance and pride will be your death, as with so many would-be conquerors. Rose is going to rip you in half!"
"Your words mean nothing. Though she is strong, your friend cannot stand against the forces I array against her. And once her strength ebbs so that only the last trace of her great will keeps her standing, I will deliver the final strokes and prove to all that my will is undeniable."
"What happened to your warrior honor, with all your bemoaning of cowardice and treachery?"
Shame made itself visible in Wilner's eyes before he averted his gaze. "Every man has limitations, and the ways to overcome them are not always pleasant." He turned and left the room.
Derrick tried to wiggle free of his bonds, but found them extremely tight. At least, he felt, he'd won the battle of words. If only he could help in the battle of arms to come!
#
"I'm not sure what we're going to do," Loreen said as she and the lovers approached Armand, the smoke from the city visible in the distance. They'd fought a few patrols of Coblan soldiers along the way, but gotten the feeling their enemy wasn't really trying to stop them from reaching his black-walled stronghold. "Prince Wilner probably figures I'm with you, and knows the secret ways into his own castle better than I do. I don't trust him to let us sneak in unharmed."
"Well," Rose said, "he hasn't been too hard on us so far. Maybe he wants to face me personally again. But I agree we shouldn't go in the way he expects. Any ideas?"
For a while, they pondered this in silence. Hesitantly, Finn asked, "What if we came in through the front door? I'm sure he wouldn't be expecting that." Both women looked at him as if he was completely crazy, then Rose started to laugh.
To Loreen's wide-eyed shock, she stopped quickly and said, "All right. At least we won't have to worry about traps there, just whatever guards are posted in front of the castle. It's not like we're getting in there undetected by other paths, as Loreen pointed out. We'll sneak into the city first, and then raid the prince's house."
Happy she approved of his idea, Finn blurted out another one. "And we'll sneak into the city through the sewers!"
"That's disgusting," Loreen said, scrunching up her face. "Have you ever been in a city sewer before? Not only do they smell horrid, they're also full of disease."
Rose shook her head. "No smell matters a lick when our friend is in danger. As for disease, I'm sure we'll be fine. We won't be there for long, and we're all hearty folk besides."
"I hope we don't drown in there."
The big woman smiled. "Not to worry, I know a thing or two about navigating watery places. Remember, my last adventure involved hunting down giant squids!"
So the warriors found their way to the river where Armand's sewers emptied out, and steeling themselves began to wade up the putrid waters. Loreen's fears turned out to be unfounded, as the water never got higher than waist level. The smelly trio soon pulled themselves out onto the street behind a noisy tavern, the one drunk who saw them merely waving with a smile as he sat content against the wall.
They looked to see Wilner's great castle looming not so distantly over the city, and Finn squeezed the handle of his mace in anticipation. Here, now, was his chance to help his Rose fight the battle of her life, and he wouldn't fail her again if it cost him his own. They advanced.
Finn smiled as he watched a wagon cross the drawbridge and enter the castle. Only four guards to deal with on the ground, and two watching from above? Probably more than the usual number, but they didn't seem all that tough. Rose would shoot the two up top, and he and Loreen take care of the rest.
He hoped the one-armed woman could handle her end of the fight, but Rose seemed to trust her, and that had to be good enough for him. Besides, he expected he could down at least one of the four with a thrown axe before the melee started in earnest. He didn't think they would get close without the guards seeing them, but as long as Rose took care of the ones above, his shield could protect Loreen and himself from any crossbow bolts shot at them.
So the plan was hatched, but before Finn and Loreen even
joined battle, Rose had dispatched not only the ones on the roof, but also two of those on the ground with a single well-timed arrow that pierced them as one. The other two ran crying for help, and Finn killed one with his thrown axe while Loreen cut down the last from behind.
Finn looked back at Rose. "You have to make it that easy?"
"Got to save our energy, right?" she answered matter-of-factly.
Two more guards rushed to the gate, and to Finn's surprise Loreen was able to hold her own against both before he came to her aid and they went down quickly. He wondered at the ease of their fights thus far. "Wilner's castle guards used to be the best of his army. What happened?"
As Rose jogged over to join them, Loreen looked at him and said, "You did, I guess. The ranks of his personal guard must be so depleted that he's resorted to using regular soldiers to watch the front door. Probably figures no one would try to come in that way—too bad for him. Anyway, let's pull up the drawbridge so reinforcements from outside won't bother us, at least for now."
Loreen dropped a solitary guard coming to the aid of his fallen comrades while the two big warriors pulled the drawbridge back up, and Rose nodded with satisfaction. "It's only a matter of time now before we find Derrick, and Wilner. I just hope we're not too late." Just then, they heard a scream of pain from upstairs. It sounded a lot like Derrick, and they ran towards the sound.
An axe spun through the air at Loreen, but glanced from Rose's shield as she interposed it to save her. Rose glared at the tall figure who had thrown it, and turned to run even as she saw him. She recognized the segmented armor immediately. "Wilner!" she cried as she started after him, then stopped to look back at her friends.
Finn nodded at her to go. "We can take care of ourselves. We'll be better off knowing you're handling that monster anyway." Rose smiled, and raced away after the fleeing prince.
