Frostborn: The False King

by Jonathan Moeller

  Yet it was not enough. Gavin and the others cut down any urvaalgs in their path, yet the creatures swarmed through the garden, killing at will.

  ###

  Calliande unleashed more power, flinging a bolt of white fire. The magic of the Well could not harm living mortals, but the urvaalgs were creatures of dark magic. The white flame ripped into the urvaalg, consuming it in a blaze of light, and the creature collapsed to the ground. Next to her Camorak followed suit, throwing more blasts of white fire. His attacks were not as effective as hers, but they still hindered the urvaalgs.

  The Red King’s court dissolved into chaos, with bands of manetaur warriors struggling against each other, Kurdulkar’s followers calling upon the shadow to make themselves faster and stronger. Packs of urvaalgs dashed at will through melee, maiming and killing. The manetaurs fought against the urvaalgs, but to no avail. Their weapons did nothing against the creatures of dark magic.

  Kurdulkar and his khalaths carved their way through the battle, fighting their way to the Red King, while Turcontar roared commands, gathering a knot of warriors around him. If Kurdulkar reached the Red King, the battle was over.

  “Sir Ector!” said Calliande. “We have to defend the Red King.”

  “Aye, my lady,” said the grizzled knight. “But…”

  She saw the problem. A dozen urvaalgs prowled towards them, preparing to surround the men-at-arms. Calliande called her power and blasted one of the urvaalgs to ashes, but the creatures continued their approach. Just one of the urvaalgs would have been enough to kill every single one of the men-at-arms.

  “Antenora,” said Calliande. “Lend me your power, quickly.”

  The ancient sorceress put her hand on Calliande’s shoulder, and Calliande felt the fierce surge of Antenora’s elemental magic. Calliande started casting a spell at once, drawing upon Antenora’s power and feeding it through the mantle of the Keeper, weaving it together with a warding spell of the Well.

  The urvaalgs moved closer, preparing to spring.

  “Keeper!” said Ector.

  Calliande slammed the end of her staff against the earth and released the spell. White fire blazed up and down the length of the staff, and ribbons of power burst from her hand, coiling around the swords and maces of the men-at-arms. Their weapons burst into orange-yellow flame, the magic of Antenora’s elemental fire fueling the spell.

  “Now!” said Calliande. “Strike!”

  The men-at-arms attacked, and their blades bit into the corrupted flesh of the urvaalgs with harsh sizzling noises. Two of the men-at-arms fell dead, their throats torn out by urvaalg claws, but the rest of the urvaalgs went down.

  “To the Red King!” said Ector. “Quickly!”

  Calliande hurried after the men-at-arms, Antenora and Camorak flanking her. Part of her mind focused on holding the spell of fire in place. Part of her mind tried to survey the battle and formulate a plan, but the fighting was too chaotic. Kurdulkar may have planned to unleash the urvaalgs at the Red King, but once the creatures had tasted blood, they rampaged free of his control, killing at random. Calliande saw manetaur females among the dead. That would cost Kurdulkar much of his support – the manetaurs considering it an appalling crime if a female was slain during a dispute between males.

  Of course, if Kurdulkar won, he could simply lay the blame for the dead upon Curzonar and Ridmark and Calliande.

  They hurried towards the Red King’s dais. Turcontar himself stood at the base of the dais, laying about himself with sword and spear as he fought Kurdulkar’s tygrai soldiers. Turcontar might have been old, but he had lost none of his skill, and he fought with the controlled savagery of a veteran manetaur warrior. Two of Kurdulkar’s tygrai came at him, shadows streaming from their claws and spears, and Turcontar met them with a roar of challenge, his spear and sword flashing. In a heartbeat, he left both tygrai dead upon the ground.

  Then the urvaalgs charged at the Red King and his retinue.

  A dozen manetaurs died in the first press, urvaalg jaws closing around their throats. Three urvaalgs went at the Red King himself, and Turcontar retreated, sword and spear flashing as he tried to keep them at bay. Calliande unleashed her power as she ran, and sent a shaft of white fire at the urvaalgs. It caught the urvaalg on Turcontar’s right and destroyed it, the magic of the Well scouring the corrupted flesh from the urvaalg’s bones. Camorak followed Calliande’s lead, casting an attack of his own. His spell was not as powerful as hers, but the urvaalg on Turcontar’s left danced away, snarling in rage as white fire danced along its body.

  Before Calliande could gather her power for another strike, the third urvaalg bounded past Turcontar and landed upon First Queen Raszema’s back. The urvaalg’s jaws snapped shut across her neck, accompanied by a crunching, tearing sound of hideous finality.

  Raszema jerked once and collapsed in a motionless heap, and Turcontar’s roar of rage rang over the courtyard like a thunderclap.

  Ector’s men-at-arms crashed into the urvaalgs, their burning swords rising and falling, and Calliande drew on as much of the power as she could hold, sending blast after blast of white fire at the urvaalgs. A moment later the surviving urvaalgs retreated, rushing to join the other battles raging through the garden.

  Turcontar stood motionless, gazing at the corpse of the First Queen.

  “I am sorry,” said Calliande.

  “You did all you could,” said Turcontar. It was strange to hear that deep voice speak softly, so softly Calliande could barely hear it over the chaos around them. “You…”

  “Red King!” Calliande turned her head as Curzonar and Martellar raced to their side, accompanying Tazemazar and a dozen arbiters. “The magic of the arbiters is proof against the urvaalgs. If we can drive them, we can reach Kurdulkar and…”

  He fell silent as he saw his mother’s corpse, his eyes going wide.

  “You were right,” said Turcontar in a dull voice. “You were always right. You told me the truth, and I was too blind to see it. This infection, this cancer has spread through our kindred, and I was too blind to see it!” He shook his head. “Cut me down if you will, my son. I will not oppose you.”

  “No,” said Curzonar, baring his fangs. “This is Kurdulkar’s work. Let us make him suffer for it.”

  “You are right,” said Turcontar, whirling to face the battle. “Kurdulkar! Come and face me, dog! I curse the day I laid eyes upon your mother, and I will slay you with my own hand. Come and face me!”

  There was no answer to his challenge, save the howl of the battle around them.

  And then a dome of shadows exploded from the other side of the pond, so dark that it blotted out the sun. Calliande saw the manetaurs and tygrai stiffen and fall when it touched them, the shadow’s power draining away their strength.

  It was a vortex of Incariel’s power. Both Tymandain Shadowbearer and Imaria Licinius had displayed similar abilities. The vortex of shadow would paralyze anyone it touched, leaching away their strength and leaving them helpless.

  The walls of shadow rushed towards them.

  “Keeper!” said Camorak.

  Calliande thrust her staff and cast a spell. A dome of white light leapt from her staff, covering the men-at-arms and Turcontar’s surviving companions, and the shadow crashed into her warding spell. Calliande gritted her teeth, trying to hold back the shadow. Her strength was equal to the task, and step by step she forced the dome of shadow back, the light shining brighter from her staff.

  But until the dome collapsed, she dared not use her power for any other spells. A second’s hesitation and the shadows would wash over them.

  Which meant, for the moment, they were trapped.

  ###

  A manetaur wrapped in streaming shadows came at Gavin, howling curses in his native tongue. Shadows rippled and danced around the manetaur’s sword, and Gavin ran to the attack, Truthseeker blazing in his fist. He felt the sword’s furious eagerness flow up his arm and fill him with wrath and strength. The soulblade had been forged to fig
ht creatures of dark magic, to oppose the shadow of Incariel, and the blade took a furious pleasure in fulfilling its purpose.

  After bearing the soulblade for over a year, Gavin supposed that he did, too.

  He caught the manetaur’s first swing upon his shield, the dwarven steel clanging, his shoulder screaming with the strain of holding back the manetaur’s fury. Yet Truthseeker gave him the strength to withstand the blow, and Gavin struck back. The manetaur’s sword snapped up in a parry, and Truthseeker clanged against the blade, the white fire blazing hotter. The shadows sheathing the manetaur’s sword recoiled, and the manetaur stumbled as the shadows mantling him rippled like a banner caught in a gale.

  Gavin seized the opening, slamming his shield across the manetaur’s face. The manetaur’s head snapped to the side, and Gavin drove Truthseeker into the opening, plunging the sword into the manetaur’s chest. He wrenched the soulblade free as the manetaur collapsed to the ground, blood pumping from the wound. His shield came back up in guard, his soulblade ready as he braced himself for another foe.

  But for a moment, he had carved himself a clear space in the storm of the battle.

  An instant of hesitation gripped him. He spotted Calliande and Antenora and Camorak and Sir Ector’s men-at-arms battling near the Red King and his warriors, their burning swords driving back the urvaalgs. Gavin started to go towards them, but they were holding their own. The combination of Antenora’s and Calliande’s magic let the men-at-arms wound and kill the urvaalgs.

  Gavin spotted Ridmark, Kharlacht, Caius, and Third fighting on the other side of the pond, driving through the urvaalgs and towards the knot of manetaurs and tygrai around Kurdulkar himself. He decided to help them. If they could cut down the leader of the shadow-infused manetaurs, perhaps that would turn the tide of the battle.

  He sprinted around the pond. Another urvaalg sprang at him, its red eyes flashing, and Gavin stepped into the attack, driving Truthseeker into the creature’s jaws. The soulblade crunched deep into the urvaalg’s gullet, white fire pouring down the blade, and the urvaalg collapsed. A second urvaalg came at him, and Gavin got his shield up in time to block the creature’s attack, its claws rasping against the dwarven steel. The urvaalg’s weight drove him back, and Gavin twisted to the side, pulling his shield tight against his body. The urvaalg stumbled past him and splashed into the edge of the pond, and Gavin thrust Truthseeker into the back of its neck. The urvaalg shuddered and went still as he pulled the soulblade free.

  Two more urvaalgs slain…but another hundred to go.

  He caught his breath and ran forward, drawing upon his bond with Truthseeker for speed and strength.

  Then Kurdulkar’s voice boomed over the garden, and shadows exploded everywhere.

  A dome of shadows rushed across the garden, and Gavin reacted on instinct, snapping up Truthseeker in guard. The soulblade snarled with white fire, and the tide of shadows washed past Gavin, blocking out the noon sun and cloaking the world in rippling black haze. Yet the shadows stopped six inches or so from him, driven back by the soulblade’s fire.

  The shadows would paralyze anyone they touched, draining away their strength and leaving them helpless before any attackers. With so many urvaalgs loose in the garden, it would be a slaughter. Gavin had to find and kill Kurdulkar as soon as possible.

  He started forward and saw another flash of white light in the gloom.

  Kharlacht and Caius had collapsed at the edge of the pond, the shadows crawling over them. Ridmark stood over the orcish warrior and the dwarven friar, Ardrhythain’s black staff shining with white symbols in his hand. The symbols upon the staff kept the shadows from closing around Ridmark, allowing him freedom of movement so long as he still held the weapon.

  “Gavin!” said Ridmark.

  “Gray Knight,” said Gavin. “The shadows.”

  “Aye, Kurdulkar’s doing,” said Ridmark. “We have to find him and kill him at once, else we are finished. Calliande can hold back the power, but not from everyone at once. If we don’t take Kurdulkar, it’s over.”

  “I can move as well,” said a woman’s voice, cold and clear. Gavin turned his head and saw a blur of blue armor and black hair and pale face. Third stood unprotected in the storm of shadows, but they didn’t seem to hinder her.

  “Can you travel behind him and cut his throat?” said Gavin. That seemed dishonorable, but with so many lives at stake, it was the quickest way to victory.

  “I cannot, Sir Gavin,” said Third. “The shadow of Incariel inhibits my power. I cannot travel so long as the shadow covers us.”

  “Fine,” said Ridmark, raising his staff. “We’ll do it the hard way. Come on!”

  He ran forward, Gavin and Third following him. Gavin wondered how effective Third would be without her power. Then again, she had survived for a thousand years as an urdhracos in the Traveler’s service. Ridmark ran deeper into the thickening shadows, holding up the staff of Ardrhythain like a torch.

  Then Gavin saw Kurdulkar.

  The manetaur Prince strode towards where Ector and his men-at-arms battled the urvaalgs, their burning swords like candle flames in the darkness. The shadows poured out from Kurdulkar like poisoned blood from an infected wound. The manetaur Prince wore his crimson armor and diadem, and in his hands he carried twin battle axes of red steel, both dripping with the blood of his fellow manetaurs.

  And Kurdulkar himself had…changed.

  The shadow of Incariel had altered him. He was bigger and more muscular than Gavin remembered. His golden fur was greasier and more ragged, and the shadows swirled and danced in his eyes like flies buzzing over a corpse. Black veins throbbed in his arms and legs as if the shadows had replaced his blood. At that moment he looked a little like an ursaar or perhaps a giant urvaalg, and Gavin wondered if Kurdulkar realized what the shadow was doing to him.

  Ridmark planted himself in Kurdulkar’s path, a half-dozen yards from the manetaur Prince, and Kurdulkar halted, the axes ready in his hands. Gavin stopped at Ridmark’s right, and Third at his left.

  “How did you escape?” said Kurdulkar in Latin. His voice carried a strange, rasping buzz as if the shadow has twisted his throat as well. “Ralakahr never failed me before. You must have had help.”

  “Perhaps the shadow made him a less worthy Hunter,” said Ridmark.

  Kurdulkar snarled. “Answer the question.”

  “He was sloppy,” said Ridmark.

  Kurdulkar tilted his head to the side, frowning.

  “He didn’t look up,” said Ridmark. “I jumped from a bridge, landed upon his back, and strangled him.”

  Kurdulkar sneered, showing his fangs. They had started to darken, turning the shade of an urvaalg’s claws. “A coward’s attack.”

  “Maybe,” said Ridmark. “Then come and avenge him.”

  “Fool,” spat Kurdulkar. “The Hunters shall become the news gods of this world, and even the Frostborn shall bow to us. I shall sweep you from my path like an insect.”

  “Stop talking,” said Ridmark, lifting his staff, “and do it.”

  Kurdulkar roared and charged forward, his axes a crimson blur as shadows streamed from his limbs.

  ###

  Step by slow step, Calliande advanced, holding the spells in her mind.

  A knot of defense had formed around her, Sir Ector’s men-at-arms and the warriors of the Red King and Curzonar retreating to the safety of her warding spell. Again and again, the urvaalgs charged them, only to be driven off by the burning blades of the men-at-arms or the blast of Camorak’s and Antenora’s spells. The arbiters unleashed their magic as well. Roots uncurled from the ground to entangle the urvaalgs, slowing them long enough for the men-at-arms to land killing blows, or pools of acidic mist rolled across the creatures, setting them aflame. Other arbiters cast blasts of fire or bolts of lightning or dagger-sharp shards of ice.

  Either Kurdulkar had ordered his urvaalgs to attack them, or the creatures had decided they were the greatest threat.

  That was jus
t as well. So long as they were attacking Calliande and the others, they wouldn’t hurt the manetaurs and the tygrai who had been left helpless by Kurdulkar’s storm of shadows.

  Another urvaalg bounded into the warding spell and drove a man-at-arms to the ground, jaws reaching for his throat. Camorak reacted first, hitting the urvaalg with a shaft of white fire. The creature reeled back with a furious snarl, and two other men-at-arms attacked, cutting down the urvaalg. The wounded man-at-arms writhed on the ground, clutching at his throat, and Camorak hastened over and healed him, his perpetual grimace tightening as he absorbed the pain of the wound into himself.

  Calliande took careful steps forward, keeping the light of the warding spell upon the others. If she could just reach Kurdulkar and shatter the vortex of shadows centered upon him, perhaps they had a chance of winning this fight.

  The battle raged, and Calliande focused upon holding her spells in place.

  ###

  Kurdulkar came at Ridmark first, his axes a blur.

  Ridmark had expected it. He had been a thorn in Kurdulkar’s side, and he had killed Ralakahr. Between Ridmark, Gavin, and Third, Gavin was the greatest threat, and Kurdulkar had to know that.

  Yet he came at Ridmark anyway. Maybe he didn’t think that a soulblade was a threat.

  Kurdulkar chopped his right axe at Ridmark’s face in a massive overhand blow, and Ridmark got his staff up in a horizontal block. Kurdulkar’s heavy axe, driven by the furious strength of a manetaur warrior, should have snapped Ridmark’s staff in half. Yet the blade of crimson steel rebounded from the staff of Ardrhythain as if it had struck an iron bar. The force of the blow knocked Ridmark back a step, but it also threw Kurdulkar off balance.

  Ridmark recovered first, launching a furious volley of attacks, driving the end of his staff towards Kurdulkar’s face. Kurdulkar retreated, raising his axes in guard, and as he did, Gavin struck from the right and Third from the left. The Swordbearer swept Truthseeker towards Kurdulkar in a blazing sweep, and the manetaur danced to the side. The soulblade rebounded from the armor covering Kurdulkar’s flank, and the manetaur swung an axe at Gavin’s head. Gavin snapped his shield up, and even with the enhanced strength of a Swordbearer the strike knocked him back. Third sprang at Kurdulkar’s left, flicking her short swords with the delicacy of needles. Her attacks should have opened Kurdulkar’s throat, but the manetaur reacted with a blur of speed, his axe deflecting her thrusts. The tip of her right short sword clipped the side of his jaw, and Kurdulkar leaped backwards, landing a few yards away. Crimson blood dripped from the shallow cut, but even as Ridmark watched, shadow welled up from the wound, healing it.