Five Kingdoms: Book 05 - Fierce Loyalty

by Toby Neighbors

  He felt his way to the massive gates and slipped through. The wide plain was before him and he began to run again. His feet hurt with each step, his knees ached and his hips seemed to grind in their joints as if someone had poured sand into the sockets. Still he ran, sweat dripping into his eyes, which he rubbed frantically. There was light in the distance, and he could make out the shadows of his the tents and the wagons of his army. Torches were being lit and a sense of relief flooded through King Zorlan. He would be safe, he though. He could hear someone barking orders, getting men into position. When he came close enough to be seen by the soldiers, several started yelling.

  “It’s the king!”

  “It’s King Zorlan, sir.”

  “The king’s returned.”

  “Silence!” roared the duty officer. He was an older man, his back as straight as a rod, his face a mask of cold fury. He marched toward Zorlan, who was bent over, his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

  “Sire?” the man said, the uncertainty in his voice evident.

  “Yes,” was all Zorlan managed to say.

  “Orders, sire?” the man said, falling back on his training when the uncertainty of conversing with his king overwhelmed him.

  “Name?”

  “I’m Gentry, sire, Century Officer.”

  “I want a horse, Gentry,” King Zorlan said. “Then I want a controlled retreat,” he panted. “I want to get as far from this place as possible.”

  “Aye, my lord,” the officer said. “You heard the man—sound the retreat. I want soldiers around the king at all times. First squad, move your lazy asses.”

  Soldiers surrounded the king, many with torches. A horse was led forward, but the animal was wild-eyed with fear. The sound of the thunderous approach was growing louder. There were screams coming from the darkness toward the city.

  “We need to move, Captain.”

  “I’m not a captain, sire, just a squad leader. Our captain was killed” the gruff man said.

  “You’re the general of my army if you get me out of here alive,” Zorlan promised.

  “Aye, sir. Let’s move men,” Gentry shouted.

  They had moved beyond the tents and rows of wagons and were heading toward the main north-south road when the creatures from the dark abyss struck. There were nearly three hundred troops behind Zorlan now, all armed and marching in formation at a quick pace. The back row was struck first, and was the furthest from the light of the torches that surrounded King Zorlan. When the soldiers began to scream, King Zorlan turned. What he saw filled him with terror.

  The centaur-like creatures were stabbing the soldiers with their long tails, using their stingers almost like spears, then flying up and carrying the men away. Zorlan could see the wounded soldiers writhing in pain as they were carried off. The gruff squad leader shouted orders. Half of the soldiers broke and ran in sheer panic, but the others were more disciplined. They had been trained to respond to the horrors of war by banding together. Shields were lofted, and swords drawn. They formed a shield wall that curved around King Zorlan.

  “Get off that horse, you dammed fool!” Gentry shouted, dragging Zorlan out of the saddle. The king fell hard and the horse bolted away. Fury contorted Zorlan’s face, but the soldiers crowded in on him, their shields held high just as a wave of the creatures struck. Stingers punched through the wooden shields, vile venom dripping from their barbs. The men that were stung wailed in pain, many falling to the ground, but the shield wall held.

  “Give ’em hell, men!” screamed Gentry.

  Swords lashed out. The tail segments were impenetrable, but the joints were vulnerable. Tails were severed, causing the creatures to roar in pain. Their voices sounded more like wild beasts’ than men’s. The creatures’ long pointed fingers were like daggers and they bit and tore any exposed flesh they could reach with their vicious fangs, but they had no defense. The soldiers on the front line struggled to hold back the powerful creatures with their shields while their comrades in the line behind them stabbed and hacked with swords, axes, and spears. The creatures were wounded and killed with each blow the soldiers made. They were like rabid cattle, striking without any concern for their own safety and without any sort of strategy or teamwork.

  “Fighting retreat,” the squad leader shouted.

  King Zorlan was on his feet now. Someone had handed him a shield, which he struggled to put on his arm. There were creatures all around them now. Many of the torches had been dropped during the attack, but some were still being used like weapons. Fire seemed to be the only thing that the creatures feared. Then help came roaring out of the sky.

  * * *

  Tears streamed down Brianna face as she rode Selix through the gathering gloom. She looked back and saw Zollin moving toward the castle. Deep in her heart she feared it was the last time she would ever see him alive. Tig and Ferno took positions on either side of Selix. Bartoom followed them, although the big, black dragon’s wounds made it move more slowly. They flew over the city walls and soon passed the camp of the soldiers.

  Brianna sent a mental image of the pride landing and of her healing their wounds. They were circling around getting ready to land when Bartoom, who had been with them a moment before, suddenly veered in mid-flight, swooping back up into the sky and flying away south.

  Brianna watched the black dragon flying away, but she no longer felt sorry for it. Bartoom was not a free dragon and they could no longer protect the ancient beast. She turned her attention to her pride. Ferno was hurt the worst. Bartoom had battered and clawed the hulking green dragon. Brianna, naked, but with her body covered in dancing flames, let her healing fire wash over the green dragon. It took several minutes to heal Ferno and the world seemed to crack while she was doing it. The massive noise was followed by a shaking and rumbling that made the ground ripple like waves in the ocean.

  The dragons took flight, preferring to be in the air rather than on the ground, which no longer seemed stable. Brianna settled on Selix’s back and began healing the golden dragon. She had just finished when the thunderous sounds of wings rolled across the plain. Brianna and her pride could see in the dark, their eyes zooming across the distance and seeing the sparks of light from the wizard battle on the rooftop. Then they could see the approaching hordes of creatures. The sheer amount of them was enough to make Brianna’s heart almost stop. She couldn’t believe Zollin was still in the city. Her hope for him was fading fast.

  She ordered the pride to fly higher. They rose up to the dark, smoke-like clouds that were blotting out the setting sun. The creatures below seemed not to pay them any attention. They flew, but seemed to prefer to move just above the ground. Brianna watched as they attacked the soldiers who were running in panic away from the city. She saw the creatures spear the soldiers and turn to carry them back toward the city.

  “Tig, find out where the creatures are taking those men,” Brianna shouted. “Selix and Ferno, attack!”

  The two big dragons dove, swooping toward the line of creatures. The dragons were higher in the air than the creatures, which still took no notice of them. They were like mindless monsters, with only one task fixed in their tiny brains. Ferno was the first to strike, spewing fire into the horde. Selix soon joined the green dragon. They lay down long blasts of fire, which incinerated the creature’s delicate wings and burned them. Some of the creatures burst into flames, but most were merely wounded by the fire and able to continue on their destructive charge, running like horses.

  Selix and Ferno wheeled in the sky and turned back for another pass, this time moving more slowly and concentrating their fiery attack. Ferno was in the lead and to Brianna’s right. Ferno’s pass wounded many, while Selix came in a little after the green dragon and destroyed those who escaped Ferno’s first pass. It was an effective attack, but the sheer number of creatures made even the dozens killed by the dragons seem inconsequential.

  Brianna was watching the battle, letting the dragons attack as they saw fit. She saw the swarming creat
ures pouring out of the city and watched for Tig to return. Then she saw the group of soldiers fighting the creatures and urged her pride to help.

  Ferno made a scathing run that set many of the creatures on fire. The beasts bucked and dropped to the dirt in an effort to extinguish the fire that was burning them. Selix swooped in and landed behind the beasts that were too close to the soldiers to blast with fire. Selix billowed fire at the horde still approaching while also using its golden tail to swat the centaur-like creatures off the shield wall.

  “Retreat,” Brianna shouted, and the troops obeyed. They hurried backwards, keeping their shields up. Then Brianna jumped from Selix’s back, flipping through the air and landing behind the golden dragon.

  Selix leapt into the air, and the hordes of creatures started to move toward Brianna. But when Brianna let the fire she controlled cover her body, the creatures tried to avoid her. She sent balls of flame flying at the nearest creatures and it was like she was a boulder in a stream. The waves of creatures broke around her, making her efforts almost futile. She ran and jumped as Ferno swooped low, raking the creatures with another fiery pass as Selix dove down and flicked Brianna up with its golden tail.

  Brianna shot up higher and higher, holding her arms tight against her body and keeping her legs straight. She rose up through the smoke-like clouds and saw the sun setting and casting the sky in a crimson red color. Below her, the black clouds hovered supernaturally and she dove back through them. Selix was waiting just below the cloud cover and swooped under Brianna just as she slowed her descent. She landed gracefully on Selix’s back and together they renewed their attack.

  They had just made another attack when Tig returned. Brianna saw an image of a giant crack in the ground. It stretched out as far as she could see and swarms of the creatures were spilling out in either direction. Her heart sank a little. Then she saw the creatures returning to the dark abyss with humans impaled and writhing on their huge, scorpion tails. They carried the helpless but still living humans down into the dark crevice.

  Brianna shuddered at the thought of what was happening to the people captured and carried away. The good news was that the centaur-like creatures could be killed, but there were so many that she simply couldn’t fathom the amount of destruction that would result in their being turned loose on the Five Kingdoms.

  Then another image appeared in Brianna’s mind. It was of Zollin, leaping over a pile of rubble in the streets of the city, shooting his unmistakable magical energy into the creatures that pursued him as he dashed into the tower of the Torr.

  “Zollin’s alive!” she said out loud, her joy at the sight of her beloved almost making her head spin.

  Before she could even think of what to do, Ferno was off. The hulking green dragon hurtled toward the city and Selix dove forward again, once again covering the retreat of the soldiers.

  Chapter 35

  Zollin ran from one heap of rubble to another, always looking over his shoulder for the next wave of creatures that swooped down to attack him. The rubble had become his greatest asset in the fight. Whenever the creatures took notice of him and swarmed down, he pelted them with waves of the loose debris around him. Sending the piles of rubble flying up took less magical strength than blasting them outright. Zollin was tired, but he also felt strong. His magic seemed to be holding steady, and while the waves of debris didn’t always take the hordes of awful creatures out of the fight, it seemed to give him the upper hand.

  He was making his way to the one structure in the city that seemed to be enduring the unending nightmare. The tower of the Torr was not as tall and majestic as it had once been. In reality, it looked like a lone fang whose tip had been broken off, but it still stood stalwart above the wreckage of buildings all around it. Zollin lashed out with magical energy at the last two creatures still pursuing him, just before he rushed into the open doorway of the tower. It was pitch-black inside the building, but Zollin could make out the mound of rubble.

  He kindled a small flame, illuminating the large interior of the room. Zollin saw the stairway leading up and the wreckage of the floors above him. It didn’t take much imagination to realize that several floors had collapsed. He wondered briefly if perhaps the structure was not a safe place, but after running and fighting for so long, he was glad for the chance to stop and catch his breath. He moved slowly up the stone staircase, which rose in a circling spiral up the wall of the tower. The climb was taxing, but taking it slow allowed Zollin to rest along the way. If the creatures knew he was in the tower, they did nothing to pursue him.

  After several minutes, Zollin finally came to the top of the structure. It was several floors below Offendorl’s personal rooms. Two men huddled in a corner where part of the roof was still intact. Zollin could feel the magic radiating from the two men, but both looked out with vacant eyes. Zollin guessed they were warlocks, and it only took a slight magical probe—which caused both men to flinch—to prove his theory was correct. Their minds were drawn inward so deeply that Zollin doubted they had had any idea what was happening around them.

  Zollin moved higher up onto the last floor, which was completely exposed. The only light he could see was the winking of the ring of fire on the rooftop of the royal palace, which seemed much farther way. Zollin could see a band of ragged blackness that he guessed was the crevice, and he thought he could see moving shadows far below, which he took for the creatures.

  Zollin wasn’t sure what to do now. He felt like he needed to strike a blow at Gwendolyn, but his magic had been unable to penetrate the powerful shield that encapsulated the ring of fire. Then an idea came to Zollin and he let his magic flow out. He was reminded of the night hunts he had gone on while spending the winter with Kelvich in the Great Valley. He would go out in the dead of night, letting his magic flow around him when he couldn’t see to find the animals he was hunting. Now he let his magic stream forth from the broken tower to the castle on the far side of the crevice. He started at ground level, then let his magic move upward through the building, until he understood exactly what was holding the broken structure up. He knew he couldn’t penetrate Gwendolyn’s magical shield, but perhaps he could strike in a different way.

  He heaved with magical effort, his power like a raging furnace inside him. Working magic at long distances was like holding a heavy weight with your arm extended. Every muscle in his body tensed with the effort, but finally the wall he was focused on collapsed. Zollin couldn’t see what was happening, so he let his magic stay in the castle, sensing what his effort had produced.

  There was a groan as the heavy upper floors of the building lost support, then a pop as a heavy timber beam cracked. Then another. Soon the castle was falling inward. Zollin opened his eyes in time to see the roof of the castle shake, then tilt. Then, as the castle started to fall, Zollin pulled. Sweat sprang up on his forehead and his breath grew labored, but he didn’t give up. The castle was collapsing, but Zollin knew knocking the building down wasn’t enough. He heaved in one last-ditch effort, his magic overflowing his self-constructed containment and leeching the strength from his body, but he didn’t stop. The castle moved, the rooftop tilted again, and then the castle tumbled into the abyss.

  Zollin sagged to his knees. He felt lightheaded. Hunger and thirst seemed overwhelming and he could hear his heart beating in his ears. Still, he had succeeded, although whether or not his efforts would make a difference only time would tell. The ring of fire was gone, but the abyss was still there.

  Just when Zollin was starting to hope that perhaps he had succeeded, flaming wings appeared. A creature that Zollin could only describe as a demon was rising from the crevice and flying toward the tower. The demon was a small, horribly disfigured creature, with tiny legs that were twisted at odd angles. Its arms were long and bone thin, the chest seemed to arch inward, and the neck was angled toward one oversized shoulder. The demon’s head was tall and egg shaped, with no hair. Its eyes were uneven, and one was larger than the other. The foul creature’s mou
th drooped open, revealing only a few blackened teeth. Its ears were large and pointed, and the nose was like a pig’s snout. Light from the flaming wings illuminated the horrific creature and it took Zollin a moment to stop staring and prepare to face the new threat.

  Zollin raised his defenses but the demon used Zollin’s own tactics against him. A shudder ran through the tower, then it began to lean. Zollin knew he could levitate down to safety, but he was so tired he knew that levitating would take all his strength and leave him defenseless.

  Zollin stepped up onto the jagged edge of the tower’s broken wall as the building swayed beneath his feet. He worried briefly about the warlocks below him, but he knew he couldn’t help them now. He jumped out into open space, away from the demon and away from the direction the tower was leaning. Time seemed to slow as Zollin fell. The tower was like one of the many tall pines he had harvested with his father. That moment just before the tree fell seemed to stretch out longer than normal. Then the tower was crumbling down and Zollin was falling. He used his magic to slow his descent, ignoring the burning sensation in his gut as he used his magic.

  He fell hard onto the cobblestones below. His ankle twisted on impact and pain shot up his leg, but he didn’t have time see to the injury. The demon was flying over him, directing a hoard of the centaur-like beasts to attack. They surrounded Zollin on three sides as the dust from the collapsed tower billowed over them. The creatures began to growl, and Zollin scrambled to his feet, placing his weight on his one good leg as much as possible.