“Mages, get ready!” Tamara shouted.
Sylvie and Veronique hurried around the wall until they were standing along the southern edge, along with Tamara and Sebastian. All four were spread out across the length of the bulwark, about twenty feet of space between each of them.
Wise, Liliana thought. Less chance of more than one being attacked at a time.
She herself felt powerless as she watched the archers ready their bows and saw the two ballistae on the southwest and southeastern corners swing around to target the distant dragons.
Her skill with a bow wasn't very good and, as a paladin, she had no offensive powers that could be used against the dragons. The beasts weren't inherently evil and so she was limited to attacking them hand to hand. And the odds of her getting close enough to the attackers to do that was virtually zero.
I can try to heal anyone who gets injured, she said to herself, trying to rein in her frustration. But that's about all I can contribute unless one of the beasts ends up on the ground somehow. And I doubt that will happen.
“Here they come!”
The dragons arrowed down toward the castle with a sudden burst of speed that was terrifying. As they descended, they opened their maws and roared, sending a wave of sound and fear before them.
Several of the archers dropped their weapons and cowered away from the attackers. Liliana looked at them in sympathy. Not everyone could stand up to a dragon, and these were regular people just trying to do the right thing.
“Steady, everyone,” Tamara shouted. “Steady. Wait for them to come into range.”
Liliana hurriedly stepped away from the mage to give her room to use her powers. As soon as she did, Tamara invoked a spell and a translucent shield appeared around her accompanied by a strong smell of ozone.
All of the other mages cast their Shield spells at the same time and Liliana felt some relief. At least now they had some protection from the dragons attacks.
She slipped her own shield from her back and secured it on her left arm. Then she drew her sword and waited.
“Archers!” Malcolm cried. “Wait for my signal. Ballistae! Fire when ready!”
Time seemed to stand still as the dragons swooped down on the castle at incredible speed.
As the paladin watched closely, Tamara began to gesture with her hands, molding something out of magic that only she could see. The wyrms were no more than a hundred feet away, their mouths gaping wide as they prepared to launch their attacks. Liliana held her breath; had the mages waited too long to strike?
Tamara shouted and thrust her hands straight toward the monsters. From the corner of her eye, the paladin saw the other mages do the same. A flare of searing blue light shot straight up, accompanied by a crack of thunder, and the brown dragon was engulfed in a storm of electrical energy.
At the same time, burning projectiles of bright silver slammed into his chest and head. All of the mages, it seemed, had targeted the more dangerous of the attackers.
But the red dragon did not escape unscathed. The ballistae unleashed their enchanted metal bolts and the glowing missiles pierced the wyrm's neck and shoulder. As he screamed in pain, a hail of arrows followed, peppering his face with magical darts.
Liliana saw one of his great yellow eyes go dim as it burst, punctured by several of the wicked shafts.
The red dragon peeled away, laboring to put some distance between himself and the castle walls. Unfortunately for the brown dragon, he didn't get the chance to do the same.
As he writhed in agony, the mages unleashed a second wave of spells, striking him with a barrage of magic missiles. Tamara waited a moment and then cried out in a loud voice and shot a spear of glittering ice straight at the breast of the dragon. It pierced through the wyrm's scales as if it was tipped with diamond.
With a final screech of despair, the brown dragon wilted and tumbled from the sky, his body trailing smoke. It struck the ground just outside of the western wall and the castle shook at the impact.
There was a moment of silence as the defenders tried to process what had just happened. And then a cheer rose up as the guardsmen realized that they had won.
Liliana stepped forward, quickly sheathing her sword, and put an arm around Tamara as the mage slumped weakly.
“I'm...all right,” she gasped. “I just need a minute to catch my breath.”
“Take two,” the paladin told her with a smile. “You've earned them.”
Tamara managed to chuckle feebly and then stood quietly until she had recovered enough strength to step away from Liliana.
“Thanks for the support,” she said.
She looked around at the people cheering and laughing and shook her head.
“What's wrong?” Liliana asked her. “You won, didn't you?”
“The red dragon got away,” Tamara replied with a frown. “We've won nothing until we are sure that he won't return.”
She looked over at the celebrating ballista crew at the southwest corner. Malcolm was there laughing and slapping the guards on the back. Tamara gestured at him and he waved back, then turned to the crew and said something that made them laugh.
“I'll bet he just made fun of me,” Tamara said quietly.
Liliana grinned at her as she slipped her shield on to her back and secured it there.
“You have broad shoulders. You can handle it.”
Malcolm trotted over to join them and the smiled slipped from his face as he saw Tamara's expression.
“What is it? What's wrong?” he asked.
“What's wrong is that we are celebrating prematurely,” she snapped at him. “Have you forgotten that the red dragon is still alive? How do we know that he won't return once we let our guard down?”
The big man frowned at her.
“Tamara, we beat him. We hurt him badly. The whole point of the dragons' attack was to show their dominance, right? Well, they failed, miserably. Two of them are dead and the third is wounded. Why would he return? And if he did, what chance would he think he'd have against the people who killed his two collaborators? I think you may be overreacting a little bit.”
“Overreacting?” Sebastian said as he joined them.
Sylvie and Veronique had followed behind him and now were looking at the others curiously.
“Who's overreacting?”
“Your sister,” Malcolm said bluntly. “She thinks that we are being a little hasty in believing that we've won the day.”
Sebastian looked at Tamara.
“You do? Why?”
She growled in frustration at the array of confused faces around her.
“My God, what is wrong with all of you? We've just come into our powers again and you think that we own the world or something? Did anyone besides me notice that the red dragon survived our little skirmish?”
“Little skirmish?” Sylvie repeated in disbelief. “You call that a skirmish?”
“Yes! Cripes, Bastian and I killed dozens of those trash dragons back when we lived in London after the world fell. Granted, they usually attacked one at a time, but we did fight a few pairs over the years as well. They are stupid and arrogant and easily defeated if you know what you are doing. They didn't stand a chance against us.”
She glanced at Liliana.
“I don't want to sound ungrateful for Chao's help, but we probably could have handled all three dragons without his aid.”
“But, you seemed so worried about the imminent attack,” Malcolm said as he scratched his head. “Why worry if, as you say, the dragons weren't a threat.”
“I didn't say that they weren't a threat,” Tamara disagreed. “They were and they are. But if you have the skills to defend yourself from them, they are far from invincible. What I was worried about was just how rusty we all might have been, using our magic in battle so soon after recovering it. But, as we just saw, I was wrong about the rust. Still, that dragon got away and that is a concern. Yes, he's hurt. Yes, alone he isn't much of a threat, at least as long as we defend against hi
m as a group. I wouldn't put a bet on any of our chances against him if he attacked us alone in the wild though.”
“Then what are you really worked up about?” her brother asked. “If it isn't that red dragon?”
Tamara looked at the alert faces around her and lowered her voice, concerned that one of the guardsmen might overhear her.
“What happens if that dragon returns to his sire, the primal red dragon, hmm?” she asked them ominously. “What happens if the parent sees what humans did to one of his children? Simon O'Toole is gone, people, and I don't believe that even all of us together have the strength to defeat a primal. Do you?”
The group exchanged wide-eyed looks.
“I never thought of that,” Sebastian whispered. “Bloody hell.”
Veronique looked at her sister and then at Liliana.
“What do you think?” she asked her. “You've faced primals in the past. Would the red primal attack if his wounded child returned to him?”
Liliana had listened quietly to what Tamara had to say and was giving it some thought. How would a primal react? Well, she was well aware of how the old primals would have reacted.
They had been evil to their core, the offspring of Aurumallia, the corrupted queen. It was the primals who had led their followers against humanity, almost wiping out the entire race. And they had continued to hunt down the scattered survivors for years until her friend, Simon, had turned the tide and destroyed the leaders of the draconic race and, finally, the queen herself.
But these new primals were a different breed altogether. They had been raised by Argentium in the Void, away from the influence of the lords of Darkness. And three of them had returned to the Earth, not to rule it, but to bring back the flow of magic that the death of their forebears had cut off. That had been a very altruistic thing to do, she admitted to herself.
Would such creatures be vengeful?
“I don't know,” she answered as she pulled herself out of her thoughts. “I can't read these new primals yet. They are not evil, that much we know. But whether we consider them male or female, they are the parents of the new dragons and we have just killed two of their children and gravely wounded a third. As a parent, how would any of you feel?”
She looked at each of her friends and received no answer.
“Well, I know how I'd feel,” she continued. “Because it is how I felt after Moscow was destroyed and my children and grandchildren were killed. Rage. I felt uncontrollable rage. It kept me alive when everyone around me was giving up hope and accepting their fate.”
She looked down at her shining armor and the sword at her hip.
“Perhaps that is why the gods chose me as their champion,” she mused. “Because I will never give up. I live for them even now, you know, a decade after they were all taken away from me. It's strange; I never really realized that until now.”
She looked up at Tamara, who was watching her with tears standing in her eyes.
“I'd forgotten about your kids,” she told Liliana softly. “You look so young and I never met the person you once were, so I never think about your history.”
The paladin smiled at her.
“And why should you? That old world in gone. It is dust now. But my memories burn within me forever and they always will. When I fall, and one day I will, I will see my children's beautiful faces in my mind's eye as I go down into the darkness and they will light my way.”
“So you think that the red primal will seek revenge?” Malcolm asked.
Liliana shrugged.
“I think that we had better not let down our guard. Tell your people to remain on alert, Malcolm. And you mages shouldn't relax either, at least not for a few days. After that time, if nothing has happened, then we can probably assume that the primals have decided that their offspring died because of their own foolishness and that we are safe.”
She laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
“On the other hand, I could be completely wrong and something else could happen. Let's just not relax totally, okay?”
“Sound advice,” Sebastian told her. “Malcolm? Could you find Aiden, please? The two of you can split up and tell your guardsmen to remain on their toes for a while.”
“Will do. We'll work out a watch schedule to keep extra sentries on the wall for a few days.”
The big man walked away quickly while Tamara began speaking with her fellow mages.
“Stay alert and ready,” she told them. “We'll all sleep in shifts so that at least one of us is awake and ready at all times, all right?”
“Of course,” Sylvie answered while her sister nodded her agreement.
“Good. I will speak with all of you later.”
The small group split up and Liliana went back down to the courtyard to check on Chao. She stopped by Valiant's paddock to make sure that he was okay and found the big horse placidly watching people coming and going across the yard. He greeted her with a gentle nudge to the chest and she chuckled and scratched the soft spot under his chin.
“Stay ready, lad,” she told him. “We won this first round, but it just doesn't feel right. Tamara may be on to something. The primals may not let this defeat of their children pass.”
She checked to make sure that the stallion still had enough food and water and then trotted across the courtyard to the medical tent.
Inside, Katherine was sitting alone, knitting what looked like a scarf.
Liliana stared at her in surprise as she entered and the cleric grinned wryly in return.
“Yes, I knit. It calms me for some reason. We found a large supply of wool recently in one of the nearby villages and I was able to indulge my hobby again. Could you use a scarf?”
The paladin smiled at the offer.
“I'm Russian, Katherine, which means that I can never have enough scarves and gloves. We are always just waiting for the next snowstorm, even in the middle of the summer. So yes, if you have the time and feel like it, I would love a new scarf.”
“Excellent. I'll add you to the list.”
The cleric nodded at the cot where Chao had been resting earlier. It was empty.
“Our friend woke up a while ago and I sent him back to his quarters to get some sleep. He's fine. What happened above? I heard a lot of cheering but no one came by to tell me the reason.”
“I'm sorry about that,” Liliana told her contritely. “I should have thought of it. We've defeated the dragons. Two are dead and one has retreated, badly injured. So you can go back to your regular duties for now.”
“For now?”
Katherine looked at her keenly.
“That sounds a little ominous. Are we expecting a second attack?”
“Honestly, I don't know. The primals may want revenge for the deaths of their children, or they may consider it a lesson to the rest of them. Who can say? These primals may not be evil, but they are still dragons. They don't reason the same way that we do, so I have no idea what their reaction will be. Stay alert, that is our best tactic for now.”
“Understood. One of my people is always awake and on duty, so we'll continue with that schedule. Are you all right?”
“I'm fine, thanks. And thanks for the offer of the scarf.”
Liliana waved and left the tent. While she wasn't sure what to expect from the dragons, she had a feeling that the castle would have at least a brief respite, so she decided to head for the kitchens and get something to eat.
One thing at a time, she told herself. One thing at a time.
The day passed slowly. Tensions were high throughout the castle and Liliana decided to walk around and address any questions or concerns that the residents might have.
She wore a simple white tunic and brown trousers and, for a change, didn't even wear her sword belt. She thought that it would make her less intimidating to the population if she wasn't armed.
And it seemed to work. She spoke with dozens of people, calmly explaining the situation and trying to exude confidence at the same time.
> At one point she ran into young Steven and his parents. They approached her nervously and she told them what was happening. Both Mary and Jacob, the young parents, were plainly frightened at the news, but the boy was excited.
“Maybe you'll get to fight a dragon yourself, lady!” he exclaimed with a broad grin.
Liliana chuckled at the idea, her dark mood slightly improved by Steven's enthusiasm.
“Maybe I will,” she replied agreeably. “But I'd rather not have to try. Now, all of you stay indoors today, all right? We'll keep everyone updated as things develop.”
“Thank you, lady Liliana,” Mary said earnestly. “We appreciate you taking the time to tell us the truth. There is already so much speculation going on that it is hard to separate what is real from what isn't.”
“You are welcome. Take care now. And Steven,” she added. “You take care of Mum and Dad. Deal?”
The boy stood up taller while his parents smiled proudly at him.
“Deal, lady paladin,” he exclaimed. “No dragon will get by me, I swear it!”
“Good lad.”
Liliana waved at the little family and walked off, in a better mood than she had been all day.
That evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, the castle seemed to settle into an uneasy calm. Guards on the walls and at the gate remained alert, but everyone was, at least on the surface, keeping their fear under control.
Liliana had dinner with the magic-users, along with Malcolm, Aiden and Katherine. Conversation was muted and everyone seemed to be lost in thought.
For her part, the paladin looked up and down the table and thought how empty it looked. Where once almost twenty people would gather together to plan and look ahead to the future, the years had thinned out their ranks considerably and now there were only nine of them.
She remembered the quartet of friends that Simon had introduced her to years before. Virginia, Anna, Eric and Gerard; yes, that had been their names. The four had been saved by the wizard, who had learned that they shared a unique form of magic; they could only use the power effectively when all of them combined their talents. They had been remarkable young people.
The First Paladin (The New Earth Chronicles Book 1) Page 29
