Sunstone - Dishonor's Bane (Book 2)

by Guy Antibes

  “You are Lotto’s men?” Shiro said as he began to push back the guards back into the others.

  “We are. We need to get the gate open.”

  Shiro nodded and then realized that the man wouldn’t be looking at him. “Give me a little room.”

  The man fought to the side as Shiro began to fight more aggressively. His guard fell to the floor and the guard fighting his new ally dropped with Shiro’s sword in his side. With the three Red Roses on the other side of the guards, the fight lasted only moments.

  “My name’s Morio, this is Anton. Our stricken brother is Creeden.” Morio’s face held a shock of grief. “The mechanism that raises the gate is through that door. We couldn’t open it and then the guards—”

  “I am Shiro and these are my friends of the Red Rose.”

  “They’re women.”

  “We fight well enough, Bessethian,” one of them said.

  Shiro chuckled. “They do and they are all sorcerers.” He turned and blasted the door down with a pulse of power. “After you.”

  Morio ducked in and surveyed the mechanicals of the gate. “This decouples the chain from below and this wheel…”

  Shiro could see how the gate lifted “We can lift the gate from up here.” Shiro turned back to his Red Rose fighters. “Guard the door while Morio, Anton and I raise the gate.”

  In a few minutes the gate rose to let the first of Lessa’s men into the courtyard of the keep.

  “We will fight to the courtyard after I fuse the links.” Shiro said as he sent a stream of fire melting the links in place.

  “You are as good as Lotto,” Morio said. “I’m glad we are fighting together.”

  The man’s smile was infectious. Shiro returned it and led the way to the courtyard below. Fighting had begun to fill the keep and Morio and his companion went to find Lotto.

  “I want to find Captain Beech,’ Shiro said as they slashed and parried their way across to the barracks.

  The rooms had emptied out, but Shiro put his head over Rimmel’s bed. “Rimmel!” Shiro heard a yelp underneath a bed. “Stay in the room until the fighting stops. If anyone asks, say you are with the Red Roses.”

  “I will! I will!”

  Shiro shut the door and made his way towards Captain Beech’s rooms. He ordered his Red Rose to stand guard and opened the door to find the man stuffing valuables into saddlebags.

  “You didn’t ride out with your troops. Are you deserting your countrymen?” Shiro walked in and shut the door.

  “You!” Beech pulled out two long knives from weapons scattered on his bed. His long sword was across the room.

  “I must thank you for the information you gave me a few weeks ago. It sealed my decision to fight with the Valetans.”

  “You’ve got a contract with us.”

  “And you never included us in your battle with the Valetan princess so we couldn’t get paid. That is enough to break the deal. No gold, no Red Rose mercenaries.”

  Beech gnashed his teeth. “Peleor warned me. He thought you’d desert and he’s right.”

  “Where is Peleor?”

  Beech laughed as he threw a chair out of the way and then a table. “In Valetan. The king will soon be dead and your treachery will mean nothing when Valetan is ruled by Duke Happly.”

  He rushed Shiro who backed up against the door and slashed with one knife and then another. Shiro teleported to the other side of the room.

  “You damned Ropponi!” Beech rushed again, but this time Shiro had enough room to fight off each of the knives with his enhanced speed. He teleported again.

  “The duke will kill the princess and then you think there will be no one left to rule Valetan? She has brothers and sisters, does she not? I think your duke has been deluded by the Dakkoran.” Shiro said as he thrust his sword into Beech’s arm. The man backed up, with blood running down his arm and dripping from his hand.

  “I don’t care about any of the details. You won’t get us all. Three thousand of our best fighters have marched south to join the Red Kingdom.” Beech gloated as he said it, but Shiro already knew. The time had come to finish him off.

  “I’m sorry you treated us so poorly, but then I would imagine anyone who sides with Daryaku isn’t a trustworthy ally. It is a shame that you remove your best fighters when Lotto Mistad arrives with more than three thousand Prolans,” Shiro said as he backed up.

  Beech gnashed his teeth and came at him. His bloody hand held one knife low and the other gripped the other blade high. Shiro turned his back and levitated over Beech, brushing the ceiling, and cutting into Beech’s uninjured arm and then sliced deeply into the side of his neck as he landed and could put some power behind his slash.

  His opponent dropped both knives and clutched his neck. Beech turned around and looked pleadingly into Shiro’s eyes.

  “I don’t need the Sunstone to know how dark your heart is Captain. I will end your life now.” He thrust his sword into Beech’s heart and ran it sideways. Beech collapsed on the floor and Shiro jumped over his body to open the door.

  “We will find Lotto and his princess,” Shiro said to no one in particular.

  Morio ran past and turned around when he realized Shiro stood in the doorway. “We need your men to fight the Happly wizards.”

  Lotto could be found later, so Shiro gathered his remaining Red Roses. Bodies littered one-third of the courtyard, as Lessa’s men couldn’t advance towards the wizards. Magical shields deflected the arrows and Lessa’s swordsmen were cut down before they could get within ten paces.

  Shiro and his group advanced on the cluster of men throwing fire and blasting men apart.

  “They will be losing their power soon enough. Shield yourselves and then we will cut them down with our weapons when we are within range,” Shiro said.

  The fire bounced off of their shields and their blasts of air would push them back, but finally the shields weakened and they could advance on Happly’s wizards. Shiro nodded and they had to step over bodies as they advanced. The wizards tried to run, but in moments they joined the rest of the dead Happly Keep defenders in the courtyard.

  Shiro joined Morio at the gate as the last Happly fighters surrendered. Lotto came down the steps from the formal part of the keep dragging a sheet-wrapped body.

  “The Duke,” Lotto said.

  Shiro looked at Lotto and at the tall woman at his side. Princess Restella looked ill-used with angry red welts on her neck. She did indeed have the fierce look of a warrior now that she was free from her cell. He bowed to both.

  Morio gave them a quick bow and said, “Creeden didn’t make it.”

  Lotto must have developed a close relationship with these men because he clamped his lips in obvious grief. “What happened to Pillo?” He looked around and found another man dressed like Morio standing with his arm wrapped to his chest. “There you are. Thanks for keeping the guards off of my back.”

  Pillo nodded.

  “Their three thousand best fighters left a few days ago, heading south to the Red Kingdom,” Shiro said. “Are you interested in pursuing them?”

  Lotto shook his head and looked at Restella. “We have problems in the north to attend to. I’m afraid we will fight them on another day.”

  “Captain Beech said the generals have taken over and your Valetan king is in peril,” Shiro said.

  “That’s not good. We know we have to be careful on our way to Beckondale. Let’s round up the surviving Happlyan nobles and pick a leader. We need this domain on Valetan’s side. I’m not worried about the rest of the army. The villages probably can’t wait to get back to their families and we’ll give them all a share in the supplies that Happly stripped from their villages. There’s no use letting a domain starve.”

  A man with the posture of command walked through the gate and laughed. “Spoken like more than a Captain, Lotto.” He must be the Prolan general, Lessa.

  “I concur with Lieutenant Mistad,” the Valetan princess said as she put her arm through his. �
��If you wish to stay for a few more weeks, Armand,” she smiled as she said it. “I think that you can bring enough order to the domain to head back to Prola.” She looked at Shiro. “I suggest that you take your band of wizards and Morio’s scouts and head south. There is a narrow border between Happly and the Red Kingdom. It would be worth your while to close it up, working with the King of Learsea or the Duke of Gensler.”

  Morio brightened, “Anchor is down there. He’s a good man and we can start from our fort and set up defenses along the three domains.”

  “If nothing else, your wizards can create a barrier from the forests,” Lotto said.

  Shiro smiled. “We can do more than that, but we will be happy to help organize a frontier. We’d rather be on your side than Emperor Daryaku’s, who is behind the unrest in your land. You need to be wary of a Dakkoran wizard named Peleor.”

  “We will.”

  “Please excuse me. Depending on the condition of my people, we will leave as soon as possible.”

  Morio put his hand on Lotto’s shoulder. His look did, indeed, speak of a close relationship. “You need to head north now.”

  Shiro would have offered to teleport them, but he hadn’t been to Valetan and stayed silent. He yearned to find out how Chika and Tishiaki fared to the west and north of the keep.

  “Go to our camp and prepare it to receive the injured.” Shiro said to his Red Roses. They winked out as he walked out of the gate. The alley by the wall remained uninhabited. He didn’t waste any time and teleported to the north camp first. He now could worry about how Chika had fared. None of the Red Rose had accompanied Lessa to the keep.

  ~

  Men walked aimlessly through the camp. Shiro couldn’t find any evidence of conflict. He stopped a soldier.

  “Where did the Red Rose go?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I suppose the same place the yellow daisy did.”

  Shiro pursed his lips. “The Ropponi fighters.” He fingered his red robe.

  “Oh, them. They killed the guards, poor sods, and let us out. Most of our men grabbed the sharpened sticks you people call weapons and headed towards the enemy. A wild woman led them.”

  Chika. “Is everything all right up here then?”

  “I’ve had enough fighting to suit me for the rest of my life. I’m heading back to my farm while there is still something to harvest.”

  Shiro smiled and put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I am a farmer myself. The best in my little village.”

  “Then why don’t you go back?”

  Shiro looked into the man’s eyes and didn’t see any slight to his words. “Sometimes I wish I could.” He turned and ran toward the west. He’d scouted out the northern camp, but never the Happly soldiers on the west, so he couldn’t teleport. For a minute he considered levitating and flying and teleporting as he had done the night he met Lotto Mistad. No. Not with all of these witnesses about. He would keep that technique secret for as long as he could.

  Fifteen minutes later, he still hadn’t made it very far and decided to teleport in line of sight. His anxiety for Chika’s safety grew as he found evidences of fighting. He stopped at the few Red Rose bodies amidst many more Happlyan fighters and never found Chika’s face.

  Then he ran into the remnants of the Happly army. They sat in large groups on the ground surrounded by Lessa’s troops. The men looked more anxious than defeated. Perhaps Lotto had been right in that these men looked forward to going home, not any different than the Valetan farmer.

  Finally he spotted a large group of Red Roses standing in front of a few men in civilian clothes. His tension evaporated when Chika’s face came into view.

  “How did it go here?”

  “Oh! All of the best fighters had already headed south. By the way the Happlyan peasants fought, I believe it. Still, we lost some of our people.”

  Shiro nodded grimly. He yearned to take Chika in his arms and hold her safe, but couldn’t. “We are headed south ourselves as soon as General Lessa can get things organized. These troops have been told they will disband?”

  Chika laughed. “They can’t wait! Our biggest task was to keep the Valetans from slaughtering the Happly peasants. We lost a few of our people doing just that.” She sobered as she told him.

  “How many?”

  “We think eight dead. The injured have been teleported to camp along with those who can heal. I imagine the keep has been captured and the duke is crying like a baby.”

  “Lotto Mistad killed him. All of my ten survived. We killed the Happly wizards after they had slaughtered a good number of Lessa’s men. Beech is dead. Rimmel survived.” Shiro smiled. “Peleor is in Valetan and Lotto Mistad is heading there with the Princess. It is my hope that he will kill the wizard. I’ve had enough killing for today. Are you finished here?”

  Chika looked around. “I’ll give a few orders and join with you at the camp in a few minutes.” She took his hand and squeezed it, grinning.

  Shiro quickly teleported before Chika could see him blush.

  ~~~

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  ~

  SHIRO BROUGHT UP THE REAR OF THE RED ROSES as they rode towards the south. General Lessa had given them all of the horses and carts that they wanted to carry their goods along with a generous share of the duke’s gold. Shiro hadn’t been very comfortable about accepting the money, but Lessa assured him, Bessethians traditionally considered it as a reward for victory. It kept armies from looting.

  Such a thing never happened in Roppon. Looting would bring the bureaucracy, the emperor and the Guild down on any army that rampaged through the countryside. At least that was what Shiro had been told. However, he had learned to question much of what he had been told.

  Chika rode at the front and Tishiaki had been left behind in Happly to help Lessa with the setting up of an administration. He’d join them in the south later. Shiro would send a Red Rose back to Happly Keep once they arrived at the fort.

  With the passing of three thousand soldiers just days before, they wouldn’t get lost. Morio and his two companions rode on ahead and would meet them where they would camp that evening. They had told him stories about Lotto and the princess of the Red Kingdom in the evenings. Shiro had made the right choice and Morio, who was the son of the Duke of Gensler, pledged forest land for his Red Roses once the war had ended. Lessa had done the same thing. Shiro had to smile at the many choices he would have for his force, once the war had ended…if they survived.

  That night Morio joined him at his campfire. “Tomorrow morning we will intersect a road leading west. By afternoon we will be in Gensler territory and I’ll introduce you to Anchor. I’m sure you will hit it off. Anchor seems to be much like Lotto and you. He has hidden capabilities and has proven to be a remarkable leader. He doesn’t have any magic, however. I’m just along for the ride, but you three will help win the war for us. I can just feel it.”

  “With General Lessa’s men and, hopefully, the cooperation of the Learsea king,” Shiro said. “I only hope that Lotto will survive his return to Beckondale.”

  “That makes two of us. Don’t fear. He will.” Morio had a remarkably positive attitude.

  ~

  True to Morio’s word, the towers of a large keep emerged from the forest. They passed a village first and then stopped in a field by an arm of a reddish river that circled most of the Gensler outpost.

  A rider sped out of the outpost and headed towards Shiro.

  “Please come as quickly as you can. There is news from Valetan.”

  Chika approached. Shiro turned to her and spoke in Ropponi. “Get the commanders to settle the Red Rose. I want you with me in the castle. I hope I trust these people, but I’d like you there as my back-up.”

  “I quite like it as your back up,” she said with half of a smile.

  Even here! Shiro shook his head smiling as they rode towards the stone walls.

  The rider led them at a fair speed through the gate and to a large building. All o
f the structures were stone with thick tile roofs. Flaming arrows would have little to burn in such a place. It seemed that all of the men and the few women in the outpost stopped what they were doing and gawked at them as they dismounted and walked up the steps into the cold darkness of the building.

  They met Morio, who showed them through double doors into a large room filled with tables and benches. Shiro didn’t see anyone who looked like a commander and continued to follow Morio through a door in the back to a smaller room. Detailed maps of the surrounding lands covered the walls. A tall, well-built young man turned.

  “This is Shiro, leader of the Red Rose, Anchor.” Morio turned to Shiro. “Shiro, this is the commander of this outpost, Captain Anchor. He has just received a bird from Beckondale via my father’s castle in Crackledown.”

  “Indeed,” Anchor said. He waved a thin strip of paper. “The generals took over the castle and imprisoned the king in his own quarters. Lotto, Princess Restella and Mander Hart were able to rescue the king and kill the commanding general as well as a Dakkoran wizard named Peleor. This is good news and soon we will have more forces to battle the Red Kingdom.”

  Shiro peered at the man through his powers. His body wasn’t quite normal. A disguise? No, but his appearance was the result of an enchantment of some kind. He felt an echo of power within that body, but no current affinity to the nexus. Anchor was certainly more than he seemed.

  “I’d like a few words with Anchor. Alone.” Shiro said. If this Anchor gave allegiance to Daryaku, he would kill him on the spot. Chika and he could teleport out of the fort and leave. If Lotto had prevailed, they’d head back towards Valetan. At least this time he had options.

  “This way, Shiro,” Anchor said with narrowed eyes. They entered a small room with a well-used table and four chairs in front of a modest window overlooking the forest. Shiro noticed the thick metal-clad shutters that could cover the opening into the outpost. “Sit.”

  Shiro pulled out a chair and sat down, looking across the table at the now-seated Anchor. The man folded his arms.