Across the city, one fire burned then another. Demelza had done her job, and he and Olroth had to do theirs. A tense moment passed as they climbed to the street. They were few and vulnerable. After several minutes passed, enough thanes had exited the tunnel to attack the villa. Larz was the last to climb to the street, and they set out toward the cart. Archers shot a thane on the wall, and a moment later, horns sounded.
Olroth and the thanes rushed the four guards at the gates where the cart sat. A small brawl broke out, and everything went according to plan until a green-robed sorcerer stepped out of the villa. Larz and Lahar raced toward him while Olroth’s men dealt with the clansmen. Meanwhile, the knights grabbed the cart and pushed it toward the tunnel entrance.
Larz hit the Sea King with a lightning bolt, which the Sea King managed to shield, and then Lahar was on top of him. He hit the man from his blind side, tripping the back of his knee and smashing the back of his head with his pommel.
Larz shouted at Lahar, “We need to go!”
Lahar agreed but threw the sorcerer over his shoulder.
Larz said, “The food is more important.”
“I want to know more about them.”
More horns sounded, and they could hear clansmen running down the streets. Two knights were busy tossing food into the tunnels, and Larz Kedar lobbed hellfire at multiple buildings. He set the street ablaze, and Lahar wasn’t sure if that would work as a distraction or not, but the heat warmed his face.
Olroth and his men jumped into the tunnel, and the cart soon emptied. The knights and Larz jumped down, too. Lahar tossed the unconscious Sea King into the tunnel and was the last through.
They splashed around, grabbing what they could and running home. They no longer tried to be quiet because the race had begun. Lahar threw the sorcerer over his shoulders and followed. Behind him, Larz sent multiple fiery orbs racing down the tunnel. The bursts of orange light made Lahar stumble, and each time, his eyes needed a few seconds to readjust to the gloom.
They passed the people waving them through junctions and ran, but Lahar had no idea where they were going. Thanes and knights outpaced him, and without Larz at his back, he might have been lost in the tunnels forever.
Angry shouts and splashing followed them. Larz stopped lobbing spells but was right beside Lahar, fiercely whispering to hurry. Smoke began to fill the tunnels, making them cough. They raced around twists and turns, seeking out the archers they had left behind, but they had followed the thanes back to King’s Rest.
Larz pointed the way for Lahar, and they had to double back only once. More shouts filled the tunnels, and Lahar feared all of Breonna’s clansmen would fall on them, but as they hurried home, he noticed the noises becoming more distant. After a couple of junctions, they had lost the men pursuing them.
They found King’s Rest and hurried into the cellars. Lahar tossed the sorcerer to the ground, and after they bolted the doors behind them, he took a quick head count. They had not lost anyone, and they had stolen most of the cart for one of the villas. Everyone was a muddy mess from the tunnels, but they smiled and bent over to catch their breath.
IV
Breonna responded to the raid by building siege engines. The Islanders had brought in engineers from the Armana Empire of Kelut, and they set to work erecting trebuchets. Most of the wood had to be scavenged from the older siege equipment outside Shinar because the only trees near the city were in Paltiel, and no one dared to cut them down.
Breonna waited for the first engine to be built. The engineers placed it several streets away from King’s Rest, and the thing looked strange. Fearful of betraying her ignorance, she said nothing as they erected its poles. It looked more like the frame of a hut at first, and she didn’t understand how it could hurt the fortress from so far away. A team of three engineers worked with chisels and saws and ropes to build the thing, and she found the process tedious to watch. An A-frame was built with a brace and a long arm. They attached a counterweight and a pulley with a crank. Finally, the thing was ready to test.
The Islanders attended the first test. They enjoyed talking about the machine, and Breonna realized many of its parts were similar to their ships. She could see how the arm and a mast might be similar, and the crank for the anchor versus the counterweight. Such things had never interested her, but they excited the Islanders.
The engineers loaded a large stone into a sling and raised the counterweight. Breonna waited to be impressed, thinking of the lands she had given up for the device, and then they slung the boulder. The counterweight fell, the arm smacked against the crossbar, and a stone weighing hundreds of pounds flew through the air as quickly as an arrow. Breonna gasped as it cleared the smaller buildings to smack into one of Shinar’s walls.
The engineers cheered. They made adjustments, and after four more launches, the stones hit the side of King’s Rest near the main door.
Orfeo asked, “Worth the price, I trust?”
“I want more of them.”
Breonna could not contain her happiness. Her eyes danced at the turn of events. The siege engine was like the giants in the far west. They could pick up such stones and hurl them at walls, but unlike the giants, the machines wouldn’t eat any of her people when they grew bored. She clasped her hands as another boulder flew through the air. Each time the arm smacked the cross guard, her heart raced.
Her people could break stone walls. Once they broke King’s Rest, they would take the engines to Ironwall and exact generations of revenge upon the Kassiri.
She asked Orfeo, “How long until the fortress breaks?”
“King’s Rest has powerful wards. We don’t know.”
“I want more of them. As many as it takes to end this.”
“There isn’t much lumber, but we can send a ship for that.”
“Do it. I want my sons back.”
“Of course, my queen.”
Later that night, a fiery orb arced through the night sky to destroy the device. She discovered the burning mess the following morning, and she cursed the filthy sorcerers of the Red Tower.
Orfeo assured her his students would protect the next one, and over the course of several weeks, the battle for King’s Rest changed. Sorcerers dueled to destroy the devices, and engineers worked at multiple sites to erect more of them. Ships brought trees from the north down the coast, and the Islanders helped the Armanan men build more of the things.
When the engines were working, many of the rocks bounced off an invisible shield. Breonna cursed the Tower again. Each time they changed tactics, the sorcerers found a new way to frustrate them.
Breonna told Orfeo, “This is taking too long.”
“We can force their attention elsewhere.”
The assault became bigger. Teams of sorcerers bombarded the keep from three different locations while siege engines launched stones from five other locations. A semicircle of forward positions formed around the keep, and they spent most of the hours of the day bombarding the main doors. Many of their attacks failed, but enough got through that the fortress began to change.
Breonna saw it wearing down. Walls dented, and pieces broke off to join the pile of boulders at the base. She listened to the Islanders complain about Jethlah’s Wards—it sounded as though breaking Ironwall would be a much simpler task. Day by day, the attack took its toll, and Breonna sensed the crown within her hands. She would own all of Shinar, and the city would be the stronghold from which she conquered all of Argoria.
V
A thunderous clap echoed down the hallways as another boulder smashed into King’s Rest. Lahar had become so accustomed to the sound that he didn’t flinch. The bombardments had grown worse. Larz and his students were outnumbered. They could not defend all day and night, and they lacked the people to take shifts and be effective. They had given up on counterattacking and focused their efforts on defending the keep.
The red robes stood before the main d
oors and chanted their sorcery. The sorcerers weakened as though they were doing manual labor. Lahar had watched Demelza spend three hours protecting the keep. Her hair became matted with sweat, and her shoulders stooped. At one point, she fell to one knee. She kept going until another sorcerer relieved her.
They needed time to recover from the runes, too. Larz claimed sorcerers must not touch the source for long periods of time. Opening a gateway to the other worlds came with the risk that unpleasant things would come through. Lahar didn’t understand, but he imagined monsters racing through the keep.
He busied himself scouring the keep for something to fight back with. They had no siege equipment to target the trebuchets, and they had never needed such things. The sorcerers were the deterrent against siege engines. Breonna must have spent a fortune to bring a small army of sorcerers and trebuchets to Shinar. He respected her tenacity.
He found Larz with a wineskin. The man’s robes were open and sweat stained. He looked as though he had been running up stairs.
Larz Kedar said, “The wards on the keep are the only reason we’re not dead.”
“There’s nothing we can do?”
Larz took a long swig of wine. “I’m open to suggestions.”
“I wouldn’t know how to help.”
“The math is simple. There are five of us versus dozens of them, so we stop maybe a quarter of their attacks.” Larz shrugged. “That bit gets a little more complicated, but they’re able to rest longer and hit harder than we can, so the longer this goes on, the weaker our defenses.”
“How long do you think we have?”
“I’ve run out of ways to say I do not know.”
Lahar nodded, and another boulder slammed into the keep. Neither of them reacted to the loud thud.
Larz said, “The keep is one of the wonders of the world. I’m surprised at how strong the wards are. I wish Jethlah had taught us how to use them.”
“I doubt he wanted someone building their own Shinar.”
“Yes, but with such runes, Ironwall would survive the year.”
Lahar didn’t have the energy to think about where the Norsil horde would march next. He didn’t care, either. His own people had died—and he was about to die—and whatever wars that followed were problems for someone else. Other people had to fight for themselves. His own battle was about to consume him.
Larz wanted to talk about the Islander they had taken hostage. Lahar listened as politely as he could, but the schemes of Breonna to build her new empire didn’t matter anymore. The Islander spoke of settlements, trade routes, sorcerers, and thanes rebuilding the Shinari Kingdom—all those things mattered to Larz Kedar. He still cared. He sent messages to King Samos and tried to anticipate the next campaign the Norsil would launch.
Lahar said, “There’s only one fight that matters now.”
“I know, and I’d like to get it over with.”
“There’s nowhere to run, so we must decide how we meet them when they break through. Do you and your sorcerers wish to rest beforehand? There are hallways and secondary doors.”
“You intend to fight room to room?”
“I’ll make them earn my home.”
“I suppose that matters.”
“It is the last thing we’ll ever do.”
Larz sighed. “We have time yet, to make such decisions. If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to drink alone.”
“Anything good?”
“A Kaldoan Red—fitting, I suppose. We lifted it during the raid. I may hate their sorcerers, but they know how to make wine. I’ll grant them that much.”
Larz offered him a swig, but Lahar wasn’t interested. With all his runes, it would take several flasks before he could enjoy himself.
He left Larz on the stairs leading to the throne room and went to find Olroth. The thanes had stopped training. The throne room was empty, and Lahar later found most of the Ghost Clan spending time with their families in one of the inner halls. Lahar had never seen so many of the thanes together with their families before.
He asked Olroth, “What is this?”
“We are saying goodbye.” Olroth left his family behind and walked with Lahar out of the family area. “An old tradition—when a clan is about to fall, we fight to the last. Out on the plains, with a purim pack digging at the walls, when a clan knows they are about to die, the elderly and infants are given mercy killings. After that, the gates are opened, and those that are left fight to the last.”
“That’s horrible.”
“The purims like to eat people alive. And the little children can’t defend themselves. Sometimes people escape, but it is rare. You’ll find burned-out villages, and all the little ones died peacefully in the main lodge.”
Lahar grew depressed. He had accepted his own death, but the thought of the families killing each other robbed him of energy. The idea of dead infants repulsed him, but that was about to happen. Breonna would kill the Ghost Clan.
Olroth said, “When you and the sorcerers are ready for the last fight, we will prepare ourselves. It won’t take long.”
“I’m not making that decision.”
“When the doors break, then.” Olroth stopped walking. “You are like Tyrus. You don’t like our ways, but it is better to have a loved one do it. The death is cleaner.”
“I’d rather not think about it.”
“Breonna will make examples of any prisoners.”
“I know.”
“You need to fight hard. You do not want to be taken alive.”
“I’ll make them earn my head.”
Olroth clapped him on the shoulder and returned to his family. He spoke about their last stand as though it were just another day in the throne room. Olroth approached the end with calm purpose, and Lahar envied his demeanor. He could not stop obsessing over the little details, though. He wanted to erect barricades in the halls and use archers to punish any of the thanes charging the door. He also wanted to set up fallback positions after that, but at some point, the planning became impossible.
They were outnumbered and would be overrun. He couldn’t barricade the entire keep, and their ability to fall back assumed enough survived the first wave to continue the fight.
More boulders pounded the keep. Lahar listened to the rocks bounce into the courtyard below. He wanted to open the doors and charge the trebuchets. The Norsil would drop him with hundreds of arrows, but he wanted to take away their engines before he died.
As the doors began to crack, the defenders gathered in the main entrance. They had erected barricades in front of the stairs, with plenty of arrows resting on the steps. After the wives took care of their children, they would fill the stairway with archers. If the red sorcerers could hold back the Islanders, they had a chance to punish Breonna’s clan, at least until the arrows ran out.
Larz Kedar came down the stairs to stand beside Lahar. “I sent the last of the birds. King Samos knows the siege is ending, and I told him to build his own trebuchets.”
“And my message for Annrin?”
“My students will ensure she gets it.”
“Thank you, Larz.”
Lahar had not sent much, only a regret that their time together had been so brief. He told Annrin he didn’t regret staying with Marah, and he refused to flee his ancestral home a third time. The tiny pieces of paper they tied to the birds did not afford much space for long messages, and Lahar had never been talented with words. He wanted Annrin to know he chose his fate. He had accepted what had to happen next.
His knights sat at the bottom of the stairs. Against the thanes, they would act as a shield wall to protect the archers and sorcerers. Everyone tried to relax and rest for the coming battle. Thanes and knights alike sat with their weapons sheathed. A few sharpened blades.
Sir Lexand said, “Shouldn’t be long now.”
Sir Khobb said, “You keep saying that.”
“I�
�ve never seen a door take such punishment before.”
“It is a lovely door,” Khobb said. “Too bad they had to break it.”
“Rather rude. We’ll have to discuss that with them.”
“Did you bother to learn Jakan?”
Lexand said, “Never had the knack for it.”
“Neither did I.”
“Shame.”
“That it is.”
Lexand said, “Shouldn’t be much longer.”
Lahar watched Olroth. At some point, he would send a runner to fetch the archers, and the families would do their mercy killings. The idea of it still bothered Lahar—it felt backward. They would suffer the worst losses before the fighting started. He thought the families might inspire the thanes to fight harder, but Olroth said they would fight with abandon when they knew their loved ones would not suffer at the hands of Breonna’s men.
Lahar shook his head. He had to focus his anger on Breonna’s clan. He wanted to punish his gaolers.
Lexand said, “Shouldn’t be much longer.”
They waited for the thud of a rock… and they waited some more. As the silence dragged, they all looked at each other, confused. Lahar wondered why the attacks had stopped, and they hurried to the battlements. As Lahar climbed the stairs, horns sounded from within Shinar.
Olroth said, “She raises the alarm.”
They found out why when they reached the top of King’s Rest. A small party was traveling across the plains. They were tiny shapes hundreds of yards—maybe a mile—away, but large men were escorting a little girl in white robes. Olroth let out a triumphant shout.
Marah had returned.
VI
Marah had used the stone song to reopen the tunnel to the Shinari plains. Unlike the foul-smelling burrow they had descended almost a year past, her passageway was orderly, with a semblance of stairs. When she breached the surface, the sudden burst of sunlight blinded her. Everyone flinched and ducked as though it were a fiery orb.
Dance of Battle: A Dark Fantasy (Shedim Rebellion Book 4) Page 51
