Eventually, John found himself at the main guard barracks, just in time for his meeting with the general, who told him he would be leaving by week's end to Jordache, where he would meet with representatives of the other allied nations. Accompanying them would be the Princesses Alicree and Milsanna. Then with the king present in secret, having taken the connecting passages, promoted John to general of the king’s armies with all rights and privileges hereto. The last was anticlimactic, as John already informed of the crown’s full support, felt a simple notice to the effect would have sufficed, versus the two-hour long celebration after the announcement. Still, it was nice to see the king again, although he would rather be writing up a training schedule for his new company.
Finally, he was back in his old quarters, having declined a larger and more luxurious room that befitted a general of the guard. Eventually, he would accept the new accommodations because they came with a separate room for waste and bathing, along with a decently large meeting room for staff. The new gold-chased general's armor he found awaiting him in his quarters he was not too keen on, as he felt it painted him as a big bright target for the enemy to aim at. Another argument for another time, he thought as he finally lay down for bed.
[John, get up! You must hurry, the princesses are about to be attacked.] Ares firm voice was in his thoughts just as he was about to fall asleep, causing him to sit up groggily.
What?
[John, there is no time, Mother witnessed the disturbance in the time stream, and it is to happen within a short period. You must reach the princesses in time.]
Roger that, Ares. Adrenaline surged through his body, waking him fully as he rolled out of bed, pulling on his pants and boots. A curse, then a quick grab at his new armor, and he was dressed within minutes. Directing thoughts to Korth and Kirth, he instructed them to go to the princesses now and protect them until he arrived. Both wolves woofed and took off at a fast lope as John grabbed his sword in one hand and helm in the other, running fast behind with the six Sotar stationed outside his door joining. John was already feeling a spike in his awareness, indicating the impending attack, and as he dashed through the small anteroom of the captains’ barracks, he shouted at the guard stationed there.
"Guard, sound the alarm. The princesses are about to be attacked."
"What? Since when?" the guard sputtered as he rose to his feet, confusion replaced by concern as he finally remembered the first task the gods had given John as a champion. That news had spread quickly after his initial meeting with the king. Quickly, the guard pulled a red rope hanging from the ceiling, and distantly, sharp bell peels resounding through the area, then the sounds of more bells that were picked up around the city. John had no time to get Shadow, nor did he want him, for close-quarters palace fighting was no place for a monstrous war horse. Instead, just outside the barracks were another score of the Sotar, stationed there by Ulf in case of need.
The Lorr wolves were nowhere to be seen, but John could feel them up ahead as he approached the entrance to the castle grounds, where a group of obviously confused guards milled about. Barreling through them, he slapped his helm on then grabbed the one nearest to his left, demanding, "Where are the princesses’ rooms?"
"The royal bedchambers are through the main hall, doorway at the end on the right, but you're not allowed up there, Sir. No one is," the guard cried out frantically as he pawed at the iron fist gripping his surcoat.
"Thanks, but that doesn't apply to me, or when there is danger to the princesses. Keep sounding the alarm, don't let anyone in but other guard or Sotar, and kill anything or anyone that doesn't belong," he growled as he pushed the man away.
Quickly, he ran through the courtyard then into the anteroom where two more guards tried to stop him as they stood over the great ornate doors that were now broken splinters littered across the floor. Obviously, Korth and Kirth had something to do with that. Completely ignoring the guards, he ran through the opening, and then to the doorway he remembered the older princess had taken. It also lay in splinters, and he heard the clash of arms and growls coming from atop the stairs he found just in front of him. These he took three at a time, reaching the top in seconds to find the large hallway in turmoil.
He must have arrived just in time. The king stood with drawn sword, but wore nightclothes, fighting alongside four guardsmen near the end of the hall where they held back at least a dozen black clad figures trying to make headway against their barricade of sharp steel. The two Lorr wolves fought alongside them, lunging forward to chomp onto an arm or leg and then jerk the helpless antagonist out into the hallway where they could be finished off with either sharp teeth or a blade. Idly, John noticed all the attackers appeared to be large black skinned beings with tusks. He spotted both the princesses and the queen poking frightened faces from their chambers to see what was going on.
"Two men on each and get them to the lower hall. Set up a defensive parameter around them, send the rest of your people to seal all the passages," he commanded of the Sotar closest to him, pointing at the female faces still framed in doorways. The man nodded once and issued commands in his own language. Within seconds, the Sotar was running forward towards the indicated doorways to secure the royals.
"Fall back," John shouted as he made the defensive line in the hallway in a large leap, then grabbed the king by the back of the robe to toss him away from the battle, while taking his place. Instantly, his blade licked out to take what had to be a Jugazi in the throat then an overhead slash took another while the guards with him dispatched two more, only losing one of their numbers. Deflecting a slash aimed at his face, he took the brunt of the blow on his forearm gauntlet then backhanded the Jugazi while spearing the next through his armor-covered midsection before pushing his way into the middle of the enemy, igniting his sword. Two more quick slashes, and the Jugazi were defeated, causing John to extinguish the Chaos wrapped along his blade, lest he hit one of the guards by accident, or the king who apparently was trying to get back into the fight. It was only then he heard the din of more arms clashing coming from the entrance at the end of the hallway, and with an oath, he took off running in that direction.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he growled as he saw even more of the black clad figures surrounding his Sotar, several of whom lay still across the forms of the princesses and queen. Each motionless Sotar seemed to have been shot by short crossbow bolts, and even more lay dead upon the marble floor as the plains warriors desperately battled superior numbers. Where are they all coming from? thought John as he leaped into the fray, then ducked as a bolt flew past his head, narrowly missing. Straightening, he saw an even dozen black forms with small crossbows crouched around the room, firing on its defenders while even more streamed from a wide doorway on the opposite side of the room.
Feeling the king bump into his back, holding his sword and a flimsy chair as a shield, its wooden surface already adorned with two bolts, somehow, John knew instinctively what he needed to do. Grabbing the king, he threw him down with the Sotar covered forms of his daughters and wife then, stepping on his back to hold him in place, he raised his blade, igniting the Chaos and bands of Order. A bright wild glow of multi-colored fire erupted along the length of the blade while flickering bands of a dark Order held it in place.
"My Sotar, attack!" he shouted in their own language as he concentrated on the raw power held to his blade then quickly rotated the Order, while multiplying and expanding it. Within moments, John had a huge cage of rotating Chaos above his head with an open top and bottom, high enough to slice through the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. His men charged the enemy as ordered, and only he stood over the fallen forms of the royal family and dead warriors. Gauging the size once again, he dropped it downward, enclosing those around him in ever faster rotating strings of Chaos, held tightly by those of Order.
Faster and faster, the bands continued to rotate until they resembled the spinning round turbine of a farmer's windmill, and then faster still until they blurre
d into a semi-translucent shimmering globe around them that no bolt or weapon could penetrate. John felt the power radiating from his body, controlling what in effect had turned into a very large force field. He knew he would soon need to reduce the size before the drain overcame him.
"Stay down," he commanded the king, who was trying to throw John's boot off in order to rise. John pressed down even harder, getting a yelp from the king before the monarch subsided. Holding his concentration intact, John saw those defenders around their position were down, but more Sotar and guards poured through the broken remnants of the shattered outer doors to engage the attackers in their place. Crossbow bolts tried to penetrate the barrier of Chaos, and as John watched through the kaleidoscopic surface of the globe surrounding them, he saw several of the attackers attempt to leap through the barrier with drawn blades in an attempt to reach him before being destroyed.
The dark ones’ efforts were to no avail as their bodies exploded on contact, showering the room with blood and bits of muscle and bone, the majority of their forms having incinerated. Soon it was all over. The last of the attackers disappeared under a pile of defenders near the far entrance that John later learned led to the kitchens, where the entire cooking staff lay slain.
"Lower the barrier, Sir John," shouted a voice he recognized, and peering through the curtain of fire, he saw Adrostos motioning for him to let go of the Chaos. He nodded in an exaggerated way and concentrated, moving his sword upward to raise the barrier from the ground. The cage of Chaos and Order rose, but was still spinning in a blur, even though he was desperately trying to slow its rotation.
"Get the royals out of here," shouted John as sweat beaded upon his forehead. Again, he tried to slow the spin as he felt guards crouching and helping the family move away then out the doors. Soon, the room was empty, apart from a presence by his side. It was Adrostos, and he was standing beside John while critically watching the pulsating shell above them.
"John, you can't slow it down, can you?" Adrostos asked.
"Nope."
"Okay, you have created what we call wild Chaos, or crazy Chaos some call it. It's so big, it's feeding off itself and all available energy in the area. Really hard to control, but I'll walk you through it, ok?"
"Adrostos, just evacuate the castle. Get everyone out of here. I can hold it that long."
"Not a chance, Sir John. I will not abandon my service to a champion of the gods. Now, do this in order, do it slowly, and hang onto your concentration. You ready?"
John simply nodded. It was becoming harder and harder to keep the forces of Chaos from exploding outward. Briefly he felt his sword wobble. The Chaos above their heads flared brighter, but Adrostos didn't even flinch, saying, "Now, increase your bands of Order. Make them three times thicker, slowly, then four. Do it now. Good. Now shrink them into your blade. Yes, I realize it is still spinning but you can't slow the spin until you reduce the size. Did you not notice the bigger it became, the faster it spun? Right, just like that. Keep going until it's wrapped around your blade.”
John concentrated for all he was worth, and it was hard. Soon, he had the bands encased around his sword like a glowing sheath. Beside him, Adrostos nodded and smiled in a pleased fashion.
“Great, Sir John! Now simply stop the spin. You should be able to do it now. The Chaos will flare, but stop it, do not release the Chaos yet. Simply stop it from spinning," he said in a low voice, and as simple as that, John brought the Chaos to a halt. Once again, he was holding his blade wrapped simply in Chaos like before. He sighed heavily and released the Chaos after disbanding the Order, and the fury encasing the blade winked out.
"Whew. Thanks, Adrostos," he sighed, almost collapsing, but the helping shoulder of the wizard propped him up.
"You're welcome. You did not do anything we have not done before, simply on an extraordinarily larger scale. We had the same problem in trying to spin a fireball and lost a few wizards before we learned how to control it. I must say that your strength is incredible. How big do you think you could have made it?" asked Adrostos.
"Good question, when I felt it feeding off energy other than mine, I knew I could easily expand it to the size of the castle grounds, perhaps larger. I would hate to try it, though," he said, and the wizard laughed and clapped him on the shoulder with his free hand, the other around John's back to provide support.
"Please don't, Sir John. I don't want to blow up the city, which likely would happen.
"Aye, no kidding. Now let's get out of here and make sure the royals are safe, and I need ale in a bad way," croaked John.
As the two men exited the outer anteroom, cheers rose up from around them in the brightly lit courtyard. There must have been over a hundred torches and lanterns burning, and John was amazed at the number of guards present. There were thousands. More came, and small parties of twenty to thirty ran everywhere, searching for more invaders.
Belatedly, John sheathed his sword as the general and Ulf ran up to him, then the queen was there with her two daughters, and suddenly everyone was trying to shake his hand or hug him. Even Adrostos received his share of congratulations, but started shouting when the queen released him from her latest squeeze.
"Sir, John needs an ale and quickly," he shouted. A cry answered, "Coming right up!"
"I think we all need an ale," the king said as he shook John's hand for what had to be the fourth time. "Let's go in and sit down. It looks to be a long night.”
So, how did I do, Ares? He asked the god, feeling him lurking nearby in his thoughts.
[Lucky you did not explode, but the princesses are safe, and Mother says she sees no more ripples in their timeline for the near future,] answered the god, satisfaction evident in his voice.
Honestly, I did not know what else to do. Those crossbows caught me by surprise; all I could think of was creating a barrier.
[Yes, you did that. It was actually quite ingenious. Those bolts were tipped with poison, so the slightest touch would have killed the royals. Now, go celebrate. You have earned it.] Then the god was gone, and John pulled himself back to the real world.
"Talking to one of the gods? Ares perhaps?" asked General Vendele who still stood beside him while trying to guide him back into the castle.
"Yeah, I suppose the tattoo glowed?"
"Yes. Now, let's get inside and figure out what happened,."
"Yes, General," answered John.
Minutes later, he was seated on a freshly cleaned sofa, a full tankard in his hand as Alicree stood across from him, one arm draped around the neck of each Lorr wolf, guards bustling about. The king was in deep conversation with General Vendele. Seated across from John was the queen, holding tightly to Milsanna, and beside John sat Adrostos, while Alvaldi stood at their backs. Scattered throughout the room were Sotar and guardsmen in defensive positions.
It did not take long to figure out how the dark ones had gained entry. They had flown in on the leathery beasts they used as flyers, each capable of carrying three Jugazi. They were similar to the eagles the Lorr flew. The difference being, the Jugazi's flying beasts were reptilian, and the Lorr's were giant birds.
The Jugazi dropped off a couple dozen of their people on the roof battlements, taking the guards stationed there by complete surprise, then even more had landed in the back gardens, those Jugazi storming the castle from the rear entrances, primarily the kitchen and washroom entrance. All staff in those rooms were quickly murdered, and from there it had been a simple matter to either descending from the roof or entering through staff hallways. Last count had the death squad numbering over a hundred. The dark ones did not intend to return, as the flyers had left as soon as they dropped their passengers off.
Korath and Sotar casualties were higher, numbering over a hundred dead Korath and almost forty Sotar. The crossbow bolts had taken a huge toll on the defenders, a fault that the king ordered remedied by the inclusion of shields while in the castle or on entrance duty. John felt disappointed in his performance. He was responsible
for the deaths of only seven of the attackers. However, the general pointed out that without that shield of Chaos John erected, the dark ones would surely have killed the entire royal family with their crossbows.
Then, with the royal family escorted back to their rooms and Princess Alicree giving John a last hug and kiss on the cheek, he was told more reports would be available in the morning from guardsmen specially trained in investigation. The king gave a strict admonition to Princess Milsanna to stay put and out of trouble for one night, and though she pouted and winked at John, who ignored her advances, she agreed. If he ever did find a lady friend on this world, it certainly would not be a spoiled teenage princess. Besides, he was picky that way, and if the truth were told, he still missed his wife.
Finally, allowed to retire to his quarters, he only had to tolerate the company of over a hundred Sotar. At least they allowed him a modicum of privacy, even though over a dozen squatted just outside his bedroom door. Sleep hit him hard. He did not even remember his head hitting the down pillow, and if he had any dreams, he did not remember them.
Morning came bright and early, but it was eight bells before John rolled out of bed to strap on his armor, somehow cleaned during the night. He then set off to the dining area with dozens of Sotar in tow. Ulf joined him as he was working his way down the breakfast line, stuffing his plate with sausages, sweet cakes, thick slices of bacon, and a huge tankard of ale. By special request, John was able to get a half dozen eggs fried and delivered to his seat at the long table near the entrance. His body was starving from its expenditure the night before. He needed energy, and he completely ignored those around him as he shoveled food into his mouth as fast as he could. His attempt at replenishment was working. The shaking he had started to experience walking into the dining area was diminishing. He finished sopping up the last of the bacon grease and egg yolk, sitting, staring at his empty plate for a moment, while contemplating another trip to the food line, when a large hand friendly clapped down on his shoulder.
The God Warriors Page 22
