Majherri trotted to the back of the wagon and looked at the rider. In the dim light, he saw no evidence of the whites of Sandra’s eyes. Instead, they were pools of darkness. He moved closer to the cage, but she backed into the center, where he could not get to her.
“Guards!” she cried out. “Guards come here! I’ll not soon forget this treachery from either of you!”
“I am sorry Osalon,” Majherri said.
“She is lost!”
“Then it is now up to you to find her,” Majherri replied and began a slow trot away from the unfortunate male. The humans had a saying about misery loving company. He now had more company. Danella would learn of this and he knew she would be angry, but not angry enough to kill him.
After a few short minutes of wandering around the damaged city, Danella called to him, compelling his presence. It was too soon to know about the incident with Osalon, so he wondered what was happening.
He met her outside the command tent and she handed him a peach saying, “There you are. Amir has sent for us and I wanted to wait for you, just in case.”
Danella’s words worried him and, as she stroked his mane, he saw the images moving through her mind. She plotted the death of the man, if he opposed her!
Startled, Majherri quickly recovered. Danella saw it as removing a rival for the Master’s ear. From his perspective, the man was very important to the effectiveness of the desert army. It would be a serious blow. For that reason, he gave encouragement.
“I see we are of one mind,” she said and mounted. “Good.”
She pulled at his magic and prepared herself for a confrontation.
As she passed through the parted fabric of the tent, Majherri sensed her eagerness. Powerful the wizard may be, but a surprise attack in close quarters would overwhelm him.
“Lady Rider,” he greeted her. “We have word from our liege.”
“What is it?” Danella asked, seconds away from unleashing her fury.
Amir looked up from his scrying crystal. “The girl who rode your unicorn, she was in Shiftla. The count wants to know everything about this Reese girl!”
As soon as Amir mentioned Kayleigh, Danella’s homicidal urges shifted to a new target.
Chapter 8- The Face of the Enemy
“Riders coming in!” a man to her right shouted. Kayleigh turned her attention to the tiny dots in the distance that were moving across the plains toward the city.
“Are they ours?” Captain Orsa yelled, climbing the stone steps and holding his hand out for the spyglass.
“Too far away to tell, sir.”
For two days Kayleigh had watched the ensorcelled birds circling in the skies. Each morning, Laurel had led a group of the fastest horsemen out of the city carrying messenger birds in cages. They would ride south for thirty minutes and release the birds to improve both the city’s and the birds’ chances of survival.
She’d revised her opinion of Orsa. He was still desperate, but by no means an idiot.
Glancing back down at the open area behind the gates, she saw Rheysurrah. He was looking up at her expectantly. She nodded to him to be ready. Kayleigh had been selected to man the main gate. Cities that had permanent garrisons of Battle Maidens had ramps to allow the unicorns up onto the walls. Unfortunately, Shiftla was not one of these and she had to leave Rheysurrah on the ground whenever she wanted to look out at the countryside. No one else had come from the north and people coming from the other direction likely saw the birds circling high above and turned back.
Cupping her hands over her eyes, Kayleigh tried to see her friend. One of the lookouts, a man who’d shown a bit too much attention to her, tapped her shoulder and handed her his spyglass.
She brought the device to her right eye and began scanning the area. The dots were slightly larger now and they were moving quickly, too quickly. Something seemed off and, when one of the horsemen in the lead group fell to the ground, Kayleigh knew there was a problem.
“More riders!”
A steady stream of cavalry came into view. There were hundreds of them and Kayleigh realized that it was probably the lead elements of the army belonging to the one called the Master. Concerned for Laurel, she returned her focus to the small group riding hard and fast. The second group of horsemen was trying to run them into the ground. She found Laurel riding lengths ahead of the lead pack. In between the two groups was a single rider on a white mount – a second unicorn rider!
She watched in horror as the trailing unicorn rider notched an arrow and sent the quarrel into the back of one of the horsemen in front. The man toppled from his mount and to the ground. He struggled to rise, as the battle maiden archer rode past, but died moments later as a nomad rider drove a spear into his back.
“Prepare to close the gate!” Orsa commanded.
“No!” she countered. “Laurel will make it. The others might as well. If we close the gate, they’ll be trapped.”
“If we leave the gate open, we might be overrun.”
“The bulk of them are too far away. We can get it closed when our riders make it in. I’ll hold the gate myself if I have to.” She set her jaw and stared him down.
Orsa scrutinized her and for a moment and Kayleigh wondered if she’d have to do something drastic.
“Get to your unicorn. Hold the gate.”
Nodding, she turned and sprinted down the steps and leapt into the saddle and moved Rheysurrah to just outside the gate before raising the spyglass once more.
Laurel had a long lead on the second rider because killing the others had slowed the pursuer down. There were only four besides Laurel left at this point. The other battle maiden was also an air maiden. She moved too quickly to be anything else. Kayleigh also couldn’t see the arrows she fired. The woman was obviously using an advanced technique Laurel had told Kayleigh of when she’d asked her friend about what an air maiden could do.
“Well, you’ve seen the dome shield of hardened air,” Laurel had said, trying to help Kayleigh make a small one the size of a shield. It wasn’t going nearly as well as her demonstration of earth magic with Tamera.
“You did that one really well in Mon Alder,” Kayleigh had said.
“It takes a lot of concentration to keep a shield up, so you have to really focus. Next year, I should be able to master the endless quiver.”
“Endless quiver?” Kayleigh asked.
“Just like an earth maiden can make stone weapons, an air maiden can form hardened air into shapes. It works well with arrows.”
“Can you make a sword?”
“You can, but the concentration required to do it would make using it during a fight almost impossible. That’s why arrows work. You’re not trying to use them in melee, so you can focus on keeping their shape in flight. They say General Jyslin was able to do some amazing shots with hers…split her arrow in two or make it go around a corner. Lieutenant Townsend can also summon arrows, but even she can’t perform trick shots like that.”
Watching the mounted archer’s unicorn burst forward at an unbelievable speed and closing the distance with the remaining Shiftla soldiers, she feared that the rider might be Sandra Townsend and wondered how she could face someone who’d surrendered to Danella to spare her life.
By the Goddess, she’s fast! Kayleigh cursed. The woman seemed eager to finish her task at this point and moved in to finish off the rest. At that speed, she might even catch Laurel.
Adjusting the limited armor she wore, Kayleigh only had a chest piece and her open faced helm. With her eyes, she inventoried the men around her. One had a medium sized circular wooden shield banded with metal that looked lightweight, but durable enough.
“You,” she said, pointing at him and trying to sound authoritative. “I need your shield.”
The guard complied, but didn’t look pleased. By the time Kayleigh had it on her arm, the remaining four riders were dead or riding on slowed horses. The deadly archer was already closing on Laurel despite her friend’s lead.
Orsa s
houted at Kayleigh as she bolted through the gate. Her friend’s safety meant more to her than his city. She coated her borrowed shield in flames and leaned forward encouraging Rheysurrah to ride as fast as he could.
Laurel and her unicorn were fast approaching, dodging on instinct and cutting back and forth as barely visible shafts of air sought to reach them. Kayleigh crouched and thrust the shield out to protect her and Rhey as they broke to the right. She wanted to approach the other rider from the left and keep the shield on their side.
The chase drew closer and Kayleigh readied herself for combat. All the worry she’d had over having to fight was minimized by the fact that her friend was in trouble.
Laurel’s unicorn staggered, struck by an arrow no one could see, but continued moving forward, though much more slowly. The air maiden drew her scimitar and spread her arms, creating a dome shield and urged her slowed unicorn toward the city.
I can’t even remember the name of her unicorn, Kayleigh caught herself thinking. She urged Rheysurrah forward. Laurel had no hope of outrunning the other woman. She obviously hoped to get close enough to the city’s archers. Unless the woman pursuing her was crazed, she’d have to withdraw.
Still, the wounded unicorn was greatly slowed and Laurel struggled to maintain her shield of hardened air. Kayleigh knew how taxing the shield could be and though her friend was the top air maiden in their class, she was still only a third year and not used to maintaining it while under a real attack. Horrified, Kayleigh saw the attacker catch and begin to circle Laurel and her injured unicorn, sending a series of arrows at her. The barrier held, but Laurel flinched with each impact and the stress was showing.
Kayleigh called forth a fireball and tossed it to get the attacker’s attention.
It fell short, but succeeded in its goal. The woman whipped around and tugged at her empty bowstring. Kayleigh ducked down behind her shield, and Rheysurrah dodged to the left. The magic arrow missed. A second one hit her wooden shield and Kayleigh questioned her earlier thoughts on the borrowed shield’s durability.
The young sorceress hurled a great swath of fire and the air maiden was forced to summon her own air dome. The flames splattered against the nothingness, as Laurel moved closer to Kayleigh.
“Thanks!” Laurel said. “I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d last. Give me a chance to catch my breath and I’ll shield us both.”
Kayleigh was ashamed to admit it, but she checked her friend’s eyes before saying, “Let’s keep moving toward the gate. We’ll be in range of our archers soon.”
The air maiden backed her mount up a few paces and Kayleigh had to thin her stream to make it cover the greater distance. The woman pivoted and burst into a gallop, faster than her flames could follow. The air maiden’s bowstring drew back and two arrows smashed into the shield Laurel hastily created.
Throwing restraint aside, Kayleigh pointed her dagger and sent a trio of fireballs at the woman, who was forced back on the defensive.
“Go ahead and hide in that worthless city! Those walls will be your tomb when the Master comes for you, little girls,” their tormentor shouted from behind her shield. Kayleigh noted that the rider’s unicorn bore the signs of recent injuries.
“Could you ask him to send Danella first? I have a score to settle with her,” Kayleigh replied. She didn’t know why she blurted that out. Even Laurel looked at her sideways.
“You must be Reese! Oh, I wouldn’t want to be you,” the air maiden shouted. “I just want to kill you. She’ll skin you alive if she has her way.”
“Danella already tried once. I’m no more scared of her than I am of you.”
The rider tilted her head and Kayleigh might have imagined it, but the woman looked slightly more coherent.
“Danella took her unicorn back. How is it that you ride another?”
“You’ll just have to guess, Sister. I’m not in an answering mood,” she said, continuing to back Rheysurrah toward the gate. “You could always surrender and come with us. Whatever spell you’re under can’t last forever.”
“I serve the Master!” the woman shouted as they approached the range of the crossbowmen on the walls. The air maiden no longer advanced and the swarm of cavalry slowed, unwilling to charge headlong into combat without infantry and siege weapons supporting their efforts.
Instead, she snarled, “You are barely a threat to me. How do you expect to fare when you face his wrath?”
“What is your name?” Kayleigh called out.
“Senior Lancer Penelope Garrett,” the woman answered. “Does this knowledge somehow help you?”
“No. But if you fall in battle, I will make certain those who care about you are informed.”
Kayleigh’s words infuriated Garrett. Laurel’s translucent shield blanketed them when Kayleigh’s flames could no longer reach Garrett and the female unicorn she rode.
The air maiden kept her bow at the ready, but did not fire on Kayleigh and Laurel as the pair arrived at the half-closed gate. Kayleigh’s eyes found Orsa and they exchanged angry glares.
While the gates closed, Kayleigh watched as the opposing cavalry outside formed a loose perimeter. There wasn’t nearly enough to capture Shiftla. Their presence was apparently meant to keep them trapped behind the walls until the rest of their forces arrived.
Laurel Whitaker was already off her unicorn and tending to the wound from the phantom arrow that had struck her mount. Kayleigh offered clean pieces of cloth from her saddle bags and a length of twine to bandage the wound.
The men around them were already closing the heavy doors and maneuvering the wooden beams they fitted into the metal cradles. How long it would hold against a battering ram or magic was a question that would soon be answered.
Noticing that Laurel’s hands were shaking, Kayleigh dismounted and helped her with the unicorn’s wound. In the air maiden’s face she saw the girl was fighting back tears.
“It was...horrible,” she sputtered. “She picked us off, one by one. It was like a game to her. With some, she’d just wound their horses and let the ones behind her finish them!”
“Easy, Laurel,” Kayleigh said, trying to reassure her. “Your ’corn is hurt and you’re getting this from the bond and your own feelings. Find your center and work through your anger.”
Her friend bowed her head and was silent for a few moments as Kayleigh removed the wax seal on Laurel’s vial of healing tears and let a few drops fall into the wound. As the magical water knitted the skin and muscle back together, Kayleigh replaced the seal and arranged the makeshift bandage.
The air maiden had seen combat and had even been blooded days ago when she’d killed a nomad. However, this was the first time she’d been on the losing side, where the only salvageable bit of her ride was that she and her unicorn were still alive.
“Laurel never loses,” all her classmates had said of the air maiden’s ability to turn challengers to her Lead Rider position aside.
Kayleigh had too much experience being on the losing side.
While helping, she sensed the bond between Laurel and her male unicorn and did her best to stay away from it.
Why does it always look like a rope? She asked herself. The connection between the two was thick and knotted in places. It looked very sturdy, but was stretched. Anxiety radiated from it.
Of course, my bond to Majherri looked much the same and Danella ripped it to shreds.
Still, she wished the two would relax. It was like trying to paint next to a blacksmith working metal on his anvil. Sighing, she tried not to let their problems become her problems.
“Kayleigh,” Laurel asked, with a hint of confusion in her voice. “Are you doing something?”
“What?”
“It’s just I could swear I felt your presence on my bond with Chindi, trying to calm us down.”
“Oh,” Kayleigh responded and immediately withdrew her hands. At least, she finally knew the name of Laurel’s unicorn. “It wasn’t intentional. By the Goddess, I swear it wasn’t!�
��
“It’s okay,” Laurel said. “I guess it worked. Just felt odd. I’ll finish up.”
Before she could say another word, Kayleigh spotted Orsa’s angry face. A few months ago, that glare would make her wish she was on the other side of the walls, but she swore she would never be that girl again and matched his anger with defiance.
Kayleigh told Rheysurrah to go get some water and walked up the steps, passing Captain Orsa. He put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her, and said, “You disobeyed me, but you fought well. I am glad you were able to save your friend.”
Giving him a surprised look, she replied, “Thank you...I guess. We’re surrounded now. If I go out those gates again, it’s because we won or we lost.”
From the walls, a man called to the captain and said, “The unicorn rider is still out there!”
Orsa made a distasteful face and bade her to follow. Back on the walls, she saw that Lancer Garrett lingered just out of bow range. The air maiden reached into her saddlebags and unfurled a messenger flag. She waved it and waited. It was a request to approach under a truce.
In the distance, behind the lone rider, the nomad cavalry had finished forming a long line, letting everyone know that escape by land was impossible.
“Give her the red flag. I have no interest in hearing what she has to say,” Orsa said, instructing one of his men.
Garrett approached anyway, under the visible protection of a conjured air shield. She closed to a hundred feet as Orsa signaled to a short, balding man with a crossbow.
The man fired a bolt that slammed off her air dome.
Garrett shook her head in disgust and shouted over the jeers of the men and opened a scroll. “The Sultan of Jaruciax has abdicated in favor of his eldest living child! If you do not open your gates by tomorrow morning, you will be declared rebels and subject to summary execution. The new Sultan has the backing of the High-King!”
“Don’t believe her!” Kayleigh said. “Her eyes are blackened, just like your saboteurs.”
To Kayleigh Orsa said, “I am no fool. Never have I heard of you Battle Maidens attempting to kill each other. This sorcery is most foul and I would bet every last coin in the town our new Sultan has the same bewitched eyes as your rider.”
Sorceress (Book 2) Page 10
