Thork forced the man to stand up even though one of his legs was broken. He clenched his teeth but his whimpers could still be heard. The troll gestured again, waving with both his arms and pulling his free hand and his spear apart as though he was pulling curtains aside. The man howled as his arms shot out to either side as though he was holding them straight out. A strangled gasp later and both arms ripped free of his body. Thork released the magic on him, and he fell forward to spurt out his life's blood into the dust.
"Dere's more where dat came from!" the troll bellowed.
Motes of purple magic cut through the air from Thork's right and slammed into him. He was hit seven times and staggered by the magical assault before he turned and threw his arm up. His magical defenses in place, the attacking spell was blown away and the wizard who cast it grunted.
"Dis is getting fun!" Thork said as he turned.
The royal guard, bolstered by the display of resistance, shouted and charged down the stairs towards the outnumbered companions.
Kar brought his new staff up and used it to help channel his spells. Flames burst from the enchanted wood and knocked the first rank of veteran guards to the ground. As soon as the spell lifted, Mordrim charged in with his hammer and set to work finishing what the wizard had started.
Namitus drew his scimitar and dirk and stayed near the wizard while Kar prepared another spell. The guards surrounded them and pressed in against them. They were unprepared for the rogue’s magical blade parting their steel-plated chain and leather tunics as easily as it did.
"Just like Highpeak," Namitus called out to the wizard.
Kar finished releasing a spell that had two men dancing as magical energy coursed through their bodies and burned them from the inside out. He grunted at the rogue and turned to see the locked doors of the palace. A grin slipped across his face as he recalled the spell he'd used to great effect before. This time, he hoped his new staff would help him control the power of it better.
Everyone heard the occasional laughter of the troll as he dispatched someone in a particularly gruesome way. Bonky's shrill victory cries rang out as he surprised the human guards with his strength and skill. The main palace gates opened to allow another dozen guards to join the fray. The doors were shut again as the companions lost sight of each other.
Mordrim felt many blows land on his armor, blunting the strikes but leaving aching bruises. He staggered from a strike to his back that rattled his chest. He grimaced and swung, using the pain of his freshly broken rib to add strength to his hammer. Everywhere he turned, swords and snarling guards faced him.
Namitus was running out of room as his opponents pressed ever closer. The nimble rogue had nothing except his blades and his agility to keep him safe, but already he'd been kissed by the edge of a few swings that shaved too close for comfort. As horrifying as the troll's magic was, he hoped Thork would come up with something soon to spare them the inevitable doom they faced.
Kar relied upon his magic for a moment as the soldiers rushed him. They hesitated when they approached, seeing him holding only a staff and obviously focused on bringing some arcane effect into the world. One man rushed forward and thrust his sword at him, only to find himself moving slowly as he came within a few feet of the wizard. His sword was tugged aside and he stumbled after it, missing the wizard to the left. He spun away, moving normally again, and glared at the wizard through narrow eyes.
"He can't push us all away!" the royal guardsman snarled. He waved to his comrades in arms and drew back his sword to try again.
Kar swung the staff around his head twice before he brought it to a stop, pointing at the palace gates. A bout of flame erupted from the end of it, driving back two guards and leaving them slapping at the flames that clung to their arms. With the flames, a comet of fire streaked through the guards and struck the doors. The explosion sent a shock wave across the courtyard that knocked the closest guards to the ground and left the others reeling and stunned. When the flames cleared, the gates lay blown clear of the entrance, one of them smoldering down the hallway from where it had fallen on top of some unlucky guards.
The wizard turned and smashed his staff into the stunned face of the guard who had attacked him. He fell to the ground, spraying blood, air, and broken teeth from his mouth. Kar spun back around and spread his fingers out as he released a spell that sent bolts of blue magic that struck and froze solid the parts of the men they struck.
"Flee for your lives!" Kar shouted and struck the butt of his staff against the ground. A pulse of power burst from it and spread out around him. The ground jumped as though hiccupping and kicked up dirt and dust while the men still standing upon it were knocked from their feet. Bonky cried out as he was thrown from his rat.
Namitus was one of the first men to spring back to his feet. He struck out at the fallen guards, wounding or killing them as quickly as he could. By the time they rallied, he'd taken three of them out permanently and left two with wounds that they'd carry the rest of their lives.
The three friends made their way through the confused guards and stood near the entrance. Thork waved to them with his spear from where he stood, surrounded by a pile of bodies. He looked at the guards who were orienting themselves and let out a large toothy smile. He waved his spear in the air with the green glowing blade pointing to the sky. It kept going around and around until the swirling winds grew strong enough to break away and rush across the courtyard in a miniature cyclone.
The twister kicked up dust and blinded the guards, but stayed far enough away from the three companions so that they could see the troll pointing at the palace gates behind them. Kar grunted and turned and saw the way lay open.
"Let's go," he said as the other two nodded and moved through the open doors of the palace. "Thork can handle this lot."
Chapter 24
Alto set Patrina down on the floor next to where Caitlyn was resting. Karthor looked at the blood leaking from her belly and then up at her face to see how pale her complexion was. He moved closer to her and took a deep breath before reaching for his amulet. Caitlyn moaned behind him.
Alto looked over at his sister and saw her move her hand to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open and then she squeezed them shut and blinked a few times. "What? Where? Oh saints," Caitlyn groaned. She squinted and looked around, seeing Garrick towering nearby and a large and ruggedly handsome-looking man with two empty scabbards on his back standing only a few feet further away.
"Garrick?" she whispered.
Garrick glanced down at her and offered her a quick flash of a smile before he glanced to his right.
Caitlyn followed his eyes and saw Karthor kneeling between her and Patrina. Standing over Patrina was her brother. "Alto!" she gasped. A smile came to her lips and then it faded. "Oh no, Alto! Sulim, he's one of them! You have to—"
Alto shook his head, killing her words with the gesture. Didn't she know what she'd done? She was talking to them and sounded more like herself, but what about the woman in the dungeon who she'd turned into? The one who had tried to kill Patrina. The one who may yet have killed Patrina.
"Lord Badawi is dead." Lord Shazamir's deep voice washed over them. "By your own hand, no less."
Caitlyn jerked her head around and sat up. She stared at the king of Shazamir with wide eyes and an open mouth. Her hand came up to cover her lips before she turned to stare at Alto and then down at Patrina. "'Trina!" she breathed. "Oh saints, it's true! Oh no! I didn't...I mean, I'm sorry! I didn't know what I was doing. Karthor, heal her! Please heal her. Don't let her die."
Lord Shazamir's chuckle pulled the distressed woman's gaze back to him. Alto clenched his fists for lack of a sword to hold. "Ascension by assassination is not an unheard of practice," the king said. "Truth be told, I could not care less. Sulim was a sniveling idiot who thought far more of himself than he deserved. Lacking any witnesses who wish to claim otherwise, you would have every right to fill your late husband's shoes, Lady Badawi."
Caitlyn's
eyes narrowed as the king spoke. She shook her head. "I was not myself," she stated. "But I do remember what happened. There was no one else."
"Indeed, there wasn't. No witnesses to see the crime. No one to cry for justice or deny you your rights."
Caitlyn rose to her feet and ignored the dirty and bloodstained sleeping gown she wore. "But you imprisoned me," she accused, "and then had me try to kill this woman, my sister by all but blood."
The king chuckled again. "I'd say there's been plenty of blood. It will take slaves hours to scrub it out of the floor and remove the stain. You served a purpose, Lady Badawi. You did exactly as I planned."
"What treachery is this?" Alto stepped forward and risked several guards raising their crossbows to point at him. "You tricked my sister into doing all of this?"
Shazamir shrugged. "You've made a name for yourself in the north, Alto of kelgryn."
"I'm from the kingdom," Alto growled.
"But you are a noble, a baron I believe, by grant of the kelgryn lord," Lord Shazamir said without being distracted.
"Thane," Alto corrected.
Shazamir waved the amendment away. "Yes, of course. I care little for the titles and posturing of your kind. The point is you've done some things that upset me. I understand the passage of time and of power, but even with that there are certain things that cannot go unpunished."
"What are you talking about?" Alto spat at him. "You promised me a chance to heal Patrina—what of that?"
"Ah yes, what of that?" the king said. He looked at Patrina and sighed. "Such a pretty maiden. Very tasty indeed. I've never understood why it is that maidens are so special. Their purity is refreshing, even if it is often in deed and not in spirit."
"What of saving her?" Karthor demanded from where he knelt with his hand held over Patrina's wound.
"Lady Badawi used an ancient blade that I'm most curious about. Last I knew, it was lost to the world. How did you come by it?"
Caitlyn glanced at Alto and received a curt nod from him. "My brother gave it to me."
"I see," he said and turned his cold gaze on Alto. "And you, Hero of the North? Whence did you come by it?"
"A friend gave it to me when I'd lost everything I had. I used it to kill my first knight."
Lord Shazamir snapped his fingers. "Beck! Yes, I met him once many years ago. Promising young man, considering his limitations. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a farm boy was his undoing. He was ever so sure of himself."
"He was a rapist and a murderer," Alto snarled as he took another step closer. "And the first of many who I have vowed to kill."
Shazamir raised his hand and pointed his finger at Alto. "That is the heart of the problem. You are far too lucky. Plans that have been set in motion for hundreds of years undone in a blink of an eye because an upstart like you got in the way. I cannot allow it to happen any longer."
"You can't stop me," Alto promised.
Shazamir's nostrils flared and his back stiffened. He let out a breath in a chuckle and gestured at Patrina and Caitlyn. "Oh? What of these two? Haven't I shown you what I can do? That blade strikes a wound that cannot be healed. Even a simple scratch will seep and ooze until the end of days. Until the knife claims a life, that is."
"That's why I can't heal her," Karthor announced. "I can't feel her wound. It's like it's not there. I can help her in every other way, even restoring the blood she loses, but then she loses it again."
"Indeed," Lord Shazamir said. "So, Alto, Slayer of Dragons, Champion of the North—if you would save your beloved princess, take the dagger and plunge it into your own heart. Then your priest can heal her."
"No!" Patrina cried out amid the startled gasps from the others.
"Carson, give me the dagger," Alto ordered.
"You can't do this," Patrina said as tears ran from her eyes.
Caitlyn turned and stepped closer to him. She shook her head. "Alto, wait."
Carson held the dagger out and looked from one face to the next. "There has to be another way," Carson said.
Alto took the dagger from him and looked at it. Patrina was sobbing and begging him not to do it as she grabbed his leg and pulled at him. He did his best to ignore her as he considered Lord Shazamir's words.
"Of course, you could kill one of your friends," the ruler offered. "But I doubt they'd much care for that. And the longer you wait, the more the princess suffers."
"Alto," Caitlyn said, drawing his attention. She stepped up to him and laid her hand on top of his. "This is my fault, all of it."
He shook his head. "No, Cait, it's not. It doesn't matter how this started, only that it's happening. And I've always said I have to put an end to it. I do wish Thork had never given me that dagger, though."
"What did you say?" Lord Shazamir demanded. His dark gaze was so intense Alto felt as though it hit him with a physical force. "Who gave it to you?"
"A friend of mine," Alto answered. "A troll named Thork. He's a sha—"
"He's no shaman, you fool!" Lord Shazamir snarled. "He was in the northlands then, in the mountains?"
"He was." Alto nodded. "But he's south of here now, in a swamp. He helped us reach the Havara Mountains and destroy the Order there. We brought some of the dragon's treasure here to give to the people to rise up against you and prevent your armies from traveling north."
Lord Shazamir's finger curled into hooked claws. "You foolish human," he snarled. "Even now, at the end of your time, you complicate my plans. I suggest you choose quickly if the girl dies and you languish in my dungeon for the rest of your days or if you die and I let your friends go free. You have a way of making me very angry, something I haven't dealt with in a very long time."
Alto stared at the angry king and wondered at his choice of words. He remembered Myskrakoth had looked like a splisskin. Was it possible that Shazamir wasn't as human as he appeared? "I could just kill you," Alto offered. "Seems like that solves everything."
Lord Shazamir sneered at him. "Keep talking, human, and I'll just kill the lot of you. If your friends in the north put up more of a resistance, it is of no matter. The lives of your kind mean little to me."
"Alto, stop," Caitlyn pleaded. She drew his eyes to her and he noticed that she'd pulled his hand with the dagger closer to her. Was she going to take it and stab him herself? She hadn't finished off Patrina yet. Was her true desire to kill him instead?
Alto turned his attention away from his sister. If Shazamir was more than he seemed, could he have coerced her just now? "What are you doing?" Alto demanded.
"I love you, brother," Caitlyn said. She moved quickly and he jerked his arm back in fear she might try to take the dagger. Rather than trying to pull it away from him, she anticipated his reaction and spun herself inside his reach. She pulled the dagger towards her, aiding his own strength and directing it to plunge deep in her chest.
"Caitlyn!" Alto howled as his sister stiffened against him and then sagged down to the floor. She pulled the dagger with her, leaving it plunged into her breast.
Lord Shazamir's eyes widened and a smile curled his lips upwards. "As irritating as you people are, sometimes your spontaneity amuses me."
"Caitlyn, what have you done!" Alto asked as he sank to his knees and reached out to his sister's cheek.
She coughed and swallowed before she whispered, "I wasn't meant to outlive our family." Blood flecked her lips and stained her teeth. "You'd never let me do this, but I must atone. I love you all. Live, Alto. Live."
Caitlyn closed her eyes and clenched her teeth together. Alto stared down at her and shook his head as his own tears fell on her. "This isn't supposed to happen like this," he whispered.
"Saints, this hurts," Caitlyn whimpered. She coughed again, spitting blood into Alto's lap and staining her chin and cheek. "The dagger. It's so cold!"
Alto jerked his eyes up to the laughing Lord Shazamir and blinked away the tears. He glared and opened his mouth when the doors to the throne room burst open behind them. As one, they all
turned to look and saw their three missing companions, all of them dirty and bloodied, standing ready.
"I leave you on your own for a few hours and this is what you get yourselves in to?" Kar said with a scowl.
The guards looked back and forth between the two groups of men. The ones with crossbows shifted their aim towards the three armed men at the doors.
"Karthor, help them both," Alto demanded as he rose to his feet.
"I can't heal either wound!" the priest hissed.
"Not yet you can't," Alto said.
"What—"
Alto held his hand out and stared at his sword. It was bound to his soul and was as much a part of him as his arm or his leg. He called to it and felt the connection strengthen. He closed his fingers as the blade disappeared from the table it rested on and reappeared in his hand. The physical reconnection with his blade flushed him with a vigor and made him feel the hope that he'd been pretending to show the others. He looked at his sword and then stared at the shocked outrage on Lord Shazamir's face.
Kar was the first to react. He held his staff up and summoned magic to it while he shouted, "Alto, be careful; he's a—"
"Kill them all!" Shazamir roared in a deafening voice.
Crossbows snapped taut and sent enough quarrels to kill a dozen men towards the reunited companions. Kar's magic caught the bolts in mid-air and sparked and flamed, knocking them aside. The spell fizzled with the last defeated quarrel. Kar staggered and shook his head. "Go get 'em, boys," he said to the other two.
Alto swung his blade and gutted a guard who rushed towards him. The man fell to the ground and spilled his blood and organs on the tile floor beside Alto's gasping sister. The warrior ignored the carnage and the other guards who rushed towards his friends but veered away from him. "It's time to kill another dragon," he declared.
Chapter 25
Garrick turned to the nearest guard, his fist leading the way into the man's face. The guard shifted to the side out of instinct, but was off-balance and unable to draw his sword. Garrick's elbow crashed into his throat and knocked him flat on his back. Before he could pursue the fallen man, he had to leap back from the thrust of another guard's sword.
Order Of The Dragon (Omnibus 1-4) Page 63
