A glance out the windscreen told Richard that Tia’s assessment was correct. Several siege towers were already depositing hundreds if not thousands of attackers on the wall. The defenders were holding their ground, but they were vastly outnumbered. A large column of dust in the distance drew his attention.
“What’s that over by those hills?” Richard said as he pointed to a range of hills about ten kilometers away.
The gnome fumbled with something on his control panel. A portion of the windscreen switched to magnification mode. A large formation of cavalry was riding hard in the direction of the city.
“It’s another army,” said the gnome. “The orcs are getting reinforcements.”
The sight of a banner flying in the wind near the front of the cavalry told Richard otherwise. “Negative. That’s King Hamerstine’s cavalry. He must have sent them on ahead. I’m guessing there’s at least ten thousand horse with him.”
“They’ll never get here in time,” said Tia as she made another strafing run on a group of orcs massing outside the gates. “The orcs on the wall are already at the gatehouses. Once they take those, they’ll open the gates. It’ll be house to house then. There won’t be a Cantonsburg left for the king to save.”
Always one for action and feeling useless in the fighter anyway, Richard picked up the rifle dropped by the Tharg he’d killed. “Can you guys handle this ship on your own?”
The look Tia gave him over her shoulder told him she thought he should know full well they could.
“Fine,” Richard said. “Make a pass over one of the gatehouses. I’ll hold the gate. You guys take care of the orcs outside the city.”
As the fighter changed course for the main gate, the gnome jumped out of his seat and snatched a belt with pouches out of a side locker. He shoved the belt in Richard’s hand.
“Here’s some extra battery-spheres for that thing.” With a grin, Rembis added, “From the number of orcs on that wall, you’re going to need them.”
With a few more hurried words and a quick hands-on lesson, the gnome showed Richard how to switch out battery-spheres and the location of the weapon’s safety. By the time he was finished, Tia was on short final.
Reaching out with his mind, Richard used his telekinesis to retrieve his sword and dagger. Then he wrapped himself with Power and shifted into the void. After he’d levitated through the floor of the fighter-shuttle, he dropped his dimensional shift to conserve Power. He was about five hundred meters above the gate. He spread his arms and legs to try and glide for the left gatehouse. Since he was so low, he supplemented his glide with telekinesis.
Richard sensed another life form falling through the air. The life form’s frequency was his brother’s. Based upon his track, Richard figured Myers was heading for the right-side gatehouse.
At about two hundred meters, a stream of green balls of energy shot out from Myers and hit a group of orcs fighting what few defenders remained at the right gatehouse. Never ashamed to copy a good idea when he saw it, Richard fired his rifle at the orcs fighting the defenders of the left gatehouse.
Richard came in fast while firing all the way to the ground. Just prior to making contact with the wall’s firing platform, he wrapped Power around himself and levitated to a soft landing in the center of the thickest group of orcs.
The monster which was his anger rattled its cage.
Richard willingly let it out. In that moment he became the deadliest killing machine the Intergalactic Empire had ever produced. He was a wizard scout, and he was a time-commando. The orcs shrank back from the onslaught of rifle fire and sword thrusts, but they had nowhere to run. Some orcs chose to take their chances by jumping over the wall to the ground thirty meters below rather than face what had suddenly been unleashed in their midst.
A part of Richard’s mind heard rifle fire and screams from the direction of the other gatehouse, and grinned in his anger. The orcs, ogres, and trolls had no escape. They were caught between two wizard scouts. Only death awaited them at the gatehouses now.
Chapter 30 – The Oath
____________________
Richard remained quiet as King Hamerstine listened to the reports. The king was still dressed in the bloody and battered armor he’d worn during the battle. The charge of his cavalry had routed the orc army surrounding the city, but from the king’s frown, Richard knew the man was well aware it was only a temporary victory.
“I agree with the gnome,” said Colonel Dandridge. “The Dragars have left us alone in the past for the most part because we caused them no trouble. Things will be different now. We’ve captured two of their flying ships. They’re going to take notice. It’s only a matter of time before they send one of their larger ships to destroy Cantonsburg. They’ve done it before to cities in the south.”
The king’s right-hand man, General Onstott, backed up the king’s nephew. “He’s right, sire. Only I don’t think the Dragars will stop with Cantonsburg. I believe they’ll turn their wrath on every town and city in the kingdom to teach others the price of defying them.”
“Are you blaming us?” said Tam losing her cool. “If Rick and Gaston hadn’t gotten control of those Dragar fighters, they’d have blasted your cavalry to shreds. Your precious Cantonsburg would be smoldering ruins by now, and the soldiers in your army would be dead, or worse.”
For a big man, Richard thought the king had a knack for not losing his temper. He didn’t appear to take affront at Tam’s interruption.
“No one’s blaming anyone, Lady Tam,” said King Hamerstine. “The general’s merely pointing out the situation. The status quo has changed. It may take the Dragars a few days before they respond, but respond they will. When they do, anyone remaining in anything larger than a hamlet will be dead. A single blast from their larger ships can destroy an entire city. As the colonel pointed out, it’s been done before.”
“We need to evacuate Cantonsburg, sire,” said Colonel Dandridge. “It’s the people’s only hope.”
The king looked at his nephew. “Evacuate them where? Do you think the Dragars will find it more difficult to bomb a refugee camp than they would a city?”
Richard noticed Emerald whispering back and forth with the two gnomes during the meeting. At the king’s question, she raised her voice and addressed the room.
“Underground, sire. You need to get your people underground.”
“Ha!” said General Onstott not looking amused despite his laugh. “Leave it to a dwarf to want to hide underground. Perhaps you have friends who live underground, but we don’t. There aren’t enough known caves in the land to hold all our people. Even if there were, how would we feed them? There isn’t time to stockpile supplies.”
Richard had to give Emerald credit. He hated it when people put down suggestions without making one of their own. He’d have lost his temper at the general’s comment. Thankfully, the dwarf seemed nonplused.
“My father was King Lokanstanos of the Drepdenoris dwarves. We—”
“The kingdom of Drepdenor fell over a century ago when those blasted Dragars first came from the stars,” said General Onstott. “If any of your conquered people remain, they’re slaves serving their Dragar masters.
This time Emerald’s anger showed on her face, but was gone in an instant. Richard had a feeling she was a lot better at controlling her emotions than he was at controlling his. She was the daughter of a king. He wondered if that had something to do with it.
“My father’s cousin is King Graphon,” said Emerald ignoring the old general. “The dwarves of the western ranges have vast cities underground. They’ve no love for the Dragars. I’ve visited them often over the years. The Dragars’ minions raid them incessantly for slaves and sacrifices. Take your people there. I promise you’ll find shelter and food. More importantly, you’ll find allies.”
“Allies for what?” asked General Onstott. “We’re people of the light. Do you expect us to live the rest of our lives underground, living off the charity of others? I’d rather
face a quick, clean death than accept that fate.”
Richard hated politics and normally left the large-scale, strategic decisions to others. His specialty was small-group tactics. This time his temper got the best of him. “Then fight!” Richard stepped forward out of the crowd of observers. “Take the dwarf’s offer. Go to these western ranges. Save your people and find some allies. You’re going to need them.”
“Allies for what?” asked King Hamerstine.
Richard looked the king square in the eyes. “Rebellion. Your people have lived under the thumb of these Dragars long enough. It’s time to drive them out and send them back where they came. Portalis is your planet, not theirs.”
“Ha!” said General Onstott. “Rebellion’s been tried before. The shattered remains of half a dozen empires in the south are a mute testimony to the fate of anyone who rebels against those creatures. Our only salvation has been to stay low and keep to our own business. That’s the only way we’ve stayed alive until now.”
“That’s not life,” said Jerad coming to Richard’s aid. “That’s just existing. Emerald’s offered you a chance, sire. Are you going to take it?”
The king took a few moments to survey the crowd gathered around him. The officers and enlisted soldiers looked tired, but they were anything but beaten. “General Onstott’s right. Rebellion has been tried before. The Dragars have always crushed any sign of resistance. Why would a rebellion by us fare any different?”
On impulse, Richard stepped forward and bent down on one knee before the king. He raised his arm across his chest in a manner he’d seen a Roman soldier in an old picture from Earth do. Bending a knee and saluting wasn’t the wizard scout way. However, something inside Richard told him it was the right thing to do now.
“This time it’ll be different, sire,” Richard said. “You’ve got something the other rebellions didn’t have. You’ve got wizard scouts. I swear to you that I won’t stop fighting until every one of those Dragars is either dead or forced off Portalis. That’s wizard scout honor, sire, and a wizard scout’s word is their bond.”
Richard sensed someone drop to one knee beside him. It was Jerad. Others followed; Trinity, Tam, and Telsa. Even Tia, Matthew, Emerald, and Chancee joined them in their unspoken oath. A movement to Richard’s right caught his attention. His brother knelt down beside him and saluted as well.
Myers whispered out the side of his mouth. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Shepard.”
Richard hoped so too.
Chapter 31 – Fenmar the Armorer
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Organization wasn’t one of Richard’s skills. Consequently, after his spur-of-the-moment display of loyalty, he was pretty much left to his own devices. Jerad, on the other hand, was quickly put into service by Colonel Dandridge.
No, make that General Dandridge, Richard thought. He’s been promoted.
Bored, Richard went over what the others were doing. Except for Tam, everyone in his group had been assigned or volunteered for duties aligned with their skillsets.
Trinity was a protector. She spent most of her time maintaining large stealth shields to cover the movements of the refugees. Matthew and Tia were busy flying various groups of people in the captured fighter-shuttles from one place to another. Rembis and his sister Marstis pretty much stayed by the teenagers’ sides to explain the more advanced complexities of the Dragars’ equipment. Telsa and Myers were with the teenagers on the shuttles. Telsa went because she was inquisitive and wanted to know more about the Dragars’ technology. Myers went because he’d basically turned into Matthew’s shadow.
The reason for Myers’s protectiveness of the boy had confused Richard until a couple of days ago. Since Myers was a diviner, Richard had been teaching him how to protect and shutdown Power links. During one particularly intense training session, he noticed something about Myers’s Power frequency he’d missed during previous encounters. Whether he’d missed it before because he just hated dealing with Myers, Richard wasn’t sure. Whatever the reason for his previous lack of understanding, he now knew why his brother seemed so protective of Matthew. Myers and Matthew both had a common Power frequency. Not common in that they used the same Power pool, but common in that their Power frequency was similar at the base level. During his last year at the Academy, he had noted that Myers’s Power frequency had a commonality with the Power frequencies of his father, Commandant Thomas Jacobs, and his mother, Councilwoman Janice Deluth. Just like a child’s DNA could be traced to their parents, a child’s Power frequency could also be traced to their parents.
Richard had previously healed both Empress Diane Deloris and her son Matthew. He was familiar with their Power frequencies as well. What he’d finally noticed two days ago was that Matthew also had a common Power frequency with Gaston Myers. The enormity of the discovery had taken him a while to comprehend. However, the proof was indisputable. His brother, Gaston Myers, was the father of Diane Deloris’s son, Matthew.
When Richard had confronted Myers with the information, the discussion turned to near violence. His brother had threatened to kill him if he so much as breathed a word of his discovery to anyone else. While Richard wasn’t overly concerned about his brother’s threat, he hadn’t planned on telling Matthew or anyone else about his newly discovered revelation anyway. He was wise enough to know it would only cause problems.
* * *
As the days passed, King Hamerstine gathered his people and brought them to the lands of the dwarves in the western ranges. Considering the fact that the dwarves were suddenly asked to be the hosts to several hundred thousand unexpected guests, King Graphon and his dwarves were very accommodating. Before long, humans and dwarves alike could be seen working side by side in just about every aspect of life below ground. Naturally, there were administrative and personnel problems. Fortunately, the dwarves and humans had a common enemy and a common purpose. The populations of both races were put on a wartime status as King Graphon and King Hamerstine sought to train and equip an army powerful enough to attack the Dragars’ primary spaceport.
One day, he and Tam were exploring a particularly warm part of the dwarves’ extensive tunnel system. Even with the abundance of life forms in the tunnels, Richard’s passive scan was able to detect a strong magic emanating from the far end of a wide tunnel. When they followed the tunnel to its source, it opened up into a massive cavern filled with thousands of dwarves and humans working at forges stationed near glowing pools of lava.
“What are they doing?” asked Tam.
“I’m not sure,” Richard said, “but I seriously doubt they’re making plowshares.”
Richard noticed a couple of frequencies on his passive scan that he recognized. They belonged to the gnome mage, Master Garis, and his assistant, Master Diamass. They were talking to several dwarves and a couple of humans who were wearing thick leather aprons and carrying hammers. With nothing better to do, Richard and Tam wandered over. The dwarves in the group were in heated discussion with the gnome magic users.
“I tell you, it don’t matter what spells your mages throw on weapons and armor,” said a particularly muscular dwarf. “It won’t be effective against that winged-devil Cancontus and his servants. They’re vampires. If you’ve never fought them yourself, you’ve got no idea what you’re up against.”
“Have you ever fought them yourself?” Richard asked the dwarf. His fondness for gnomes automatically made him take up the side of the two mages.
The dwarf eyed Richard. “As it so happens, yes, I have, if it’s any of your business. I was with King Lokanstanos when he fell.” The dwarf paused as if reliving a memory. “Yeah, I’ve fought them, and I’ve even killed a couple. It can’t be done with normal weapons. Weapons with spells on them aren’t effective against them either. The spells aren’t powerful enough. The only thing that has a chance against one of them vampires is Holy Metal. Anything else will pass right through them. Don’t be thinking normal armor will stop them either. Their fangs will slip
past armor and rip a throat out before you know what’s happened.”
Tam looked questioningly at Richard. “Vampires? You ever fought them before?”
Richard shook his head. He’d heard about them, but never fought any. The truth was he didn’t want to start now. Something about the sinister creatures made his skin crawl.
“We’ve got more than enough bodies to form an army,” said Master Garis, “but we’re short equipment. Our new citizen-soldiers need weapons and armor. I’ve been trying to convince General Fenmar here to make us some.”
“You’re a general?” Richard asked the dwarf. He was curious why a general would be working as a blacksmith.
“Not anymore. I haven’t been for a very long time,” said the dwarf. “I’m just Fenmar the Armorer now. However, I still remember when those vampires attacked. I’ve got a lot of respect for Master Garis and his magic, but no matter what manner of spells his mages puts on armor or weapons, they won’t help against vampires unless they’re made out of Holy Metal.”
“Then make them out of your precious Holy Metal and stop talking about it,” said Tam. “What’s the big deal?”
“Ha!” said Fenmar. “You must think the stuff grows on trees. It’s rarer than chicken’s teeth, I can tell you that.”
Richard tried to explain to Tam. “What they call Holy Metal here is energized titanium.”
“You mean creallium?” asked Tam.
Richard nodded his head and pulled out his dagger. “Yeah. I’ve encountered magic weapons on quite a few of my Portalis missions.” He pointed at the blue gem in the pommel of his dagger. “These blue gems keep the titanium energized in order to transform it into creallium.”
Tam shrugged her shoulders. As an ex-mercenary, she liked to keep things simple. “Then dig up some more titanium and a few thousand of those blue gems and get your armorers to beating out more weapons. Problem solved.”
Wizard Rebellion (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 5) Page 29
