Heir To The Nova (Book 3)

by T. Michael Ford

  She smiled. “Then let’s get going. I want to see this fortress with my own two eyes before I’m an old lady.”

  Leaving the city, it appeared the wall guards who gave us so much trouble the first time around, had lied to us. There actually was a gate through the main outer wall. It was just hidden out of the way and, supposedly, you had to be a dwarf to use it. With the Princess with us, getting permission to leave wasn’t a problem. Once past the kill zone of the siege engines, we hit the trail, moving as fast as our overworked jennies could handle. Somnus repeatedly snorted his disgust and yearned to leave the overtaxed wagon in the dust. I would have liked to as well; suddenly, I was feeling an overwhelming imperative to return to the dark elf capital and get some answers.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t just leave my friends unguarded either. Undead were starting to appear occasionally, and the donkey cart was just too slow to outrun the faster ghouls. I remember Darroth mentioning that he had gotten into some trouble on the way in, that was how he met Elsa in the first place. Nia and I agreed that we couldn’t leave them undefended until we reached the crossroads from the dark elf capital and the road that led to Belrothe’s farms at the earliest. At least those roads were swept clear of undead regularly. So we plodded along at the steady pace of donkeys, deep in our own thoughts.

  Chapter 4

  Maya

  Winya and I parted the low undergrowth covering the sides of a small hillock that rose above the dark elf compound. A quick glance confirmed that this was no rural village just outside the capital. There were no homes, shops or schools; no, this place had an entirely military aspect about it. There were two large longhouses roughly in the middle with a healthy number of barracks and stables surrounding them. What looked like a food hall and training circles dotted the open areas, and the entire fort was encircled by a ten-foot high wooden palisade. Rising above it all in a central location was a tall guard tower manned by a single guard who paced relentlessly, scanning in all directions.

  The compound was located in a hollow at the bottom of a circle of heavily-wooded hills, and there was only one road leading in and out. From where Winya and I crouched, it was perhaps two hundred yards to the fence and probably three hundred to the base of the watch tower. Having scanned the situation, I crept back to the tree line behind us and our waiting group.

  “I counted forty visible guards inside the fence line, and there’s sure to be more in the buildings. The only concern I have is the tower guard raising an alarm and someone killing your parents before we could get to them,” Winya said.

  “Bel’s information is that they are being held in the smaller of the two longhouses, so we need to get in there and secure that first.” A quick trot brought us back to a parallel farm road on the other side of the hill where we found the wagon. Sitting on the back were Lin, Jules, and Ryliss chatting quietly and swinging their feet like they were waiting to go to a picnic. Dawn and Dusk were waiting quietly off to one side, as were Belrothe and her people. The last person in the troupe was my grandfather, who sat perched on the wagon’s bench seat.

  I picked up a stick, and motioning for everyone to gather around, drew a rough approximation of the compound in the loose sandy soil. It was a pitch black moonless night, but I knew everyone could see just fine, with the possible exception of the two human girls. But that was solved when they approached and I noticed that in place of their usual blue and brown eyes, their irises and corneas now looked decidedly catlike.

  They were the first to crowd up next to the map. I was concerned that they weren’t taking this seriously, and I probably let a little irritation seep into my voice when I blurted, “Remind me again why you girls are along on this fight?”

  Normally, Lin does most of the talking, but this time Julia surprised me and answered grimly, “Maya, I know you still think of us as just children, but we are also wizards and pretty good ones. If your parents are hurt, we can heal them. We have spells of our own to defend ourselves or assume animal form, and don’t forget, Reggie adds a lot of weight to the equation also. Besides, you and Alex are our family now; this is our fight too.”

  “Reggie is here?”

  Jules laughed. “Of course, where else would he be? He is my protector. Besides, if it’s anything to do with Alex, you would have a hard time keeping him away. He is very keen to have the Child of Light and the Child of Darkness back together again.”

  I’m pretty sure my face heated up as I took in that information; yeah, well, Reggie wasn’t the only one! Looking at Ryliss, I raised an eyebrow as she came walking back from the wagon carrying one of the largest bows I had ever seen. She smirked and presented it to the group.

  “It’s a dark elf siege bow. I found the plans in some old texts I was researching and recreated it. Our people used it extensively up until a thousand years ago, but then it fell out of favor because of its size and the skills required in aiming it. It’s not a direct fire weapon, it requires the archer to calculate and arc the shot. Fortunately, I am very good at math.

  “How can you even pull that monster back? It must be ten feet tall.”

  “You brace it on a tree and use your full body weight to pull it. Honestly, it’s easier than it looks and I’m really good with it. My father is a professional soldier and even he is impressed.”

  Knowing Ollis, I had no doubt that any child of his would be proficient with any weapon they desired. I did have to stifle a chuckle as I considered the poor man who would end up courting her some day, and her choice of a personal weapon.

  “And you, grandfather?” I asked as he walked slowly up to the group. He actually surprised me as we left the city. There he was waiting on the far side of the gate and then just hopped into Belrothe’s wagon. The twins and I were, of course, hidden under some tarps at the time to avoid being seen. I’m still not sure how he figured out what was going on, or knew to be standing out there at that exact time.

  “If you think I’m going to let my granddaughter do a father’s job all by herself, then you have another think coming. And before you say it, I know I’m old and not well-suited for this fighting crap anymore. I’ll stay up top here with Ryliss and rain down fiery hell on these fools if you need me to. I’m old but I can still cast spells like no one else can.”

  I think I actually smiled at that or maybe it was at Lin’s comment of ‘then you haven’t seen Nia’. But either way, we quickly outlined a plan. Ryliss and my grandfather would stay at the hillock where I had done my reconnaissance. Ryliss would use her bow to take out as many guards as she could, and my grandfather would hold his fire spells in reserve if we got into trouble.

  Lin, Julia and the twins would go in as ferrets and secure the room holding my parents, while Belrothe and her people, along with myself, took out as many guards as possible in the yard and compound. A good plan, I thought.

  “Meh, it should work,” Winya replied to my rhetorical question.

  “Meh? Is that really all you have to say?”

  “Yes, what can I say? I’m a fan of the simplistic.”

  “Yes, but aren’t you also the best female military commander of your time as well?”

  “Well, duh. But in case you haven’t noticed, I was the greatest female military defender of my time. Not so good with the assaults. Besides, we could take them all ourselves anyway. All we need to do is free your parents, get them back safely, and then we can find Alex.”

  “Valid point. Alright, you ready?”

  “I live in your armor, when am I not ready?”

  We prepared ourselves and readied our assault from the hillock. Despite my misgivings in trusting a weapon I knew nothing about, I agreed to allow Ryliss the opportunity to fire the first shot. She had shown so much confidence and enthusiasm that I couldn’t say no; besides, I was anxious to see what it could do as well. Since she would be attempting to take out the tower guard, I reasoned that due to the height of the tower, if she missed, it was likely that the six foot long arrow would land outside the compound
on the other side anyway. Ryliss settled her weapon in between two small oaks and selected an arrow that was entirely black. Setting it aside, she pulled up some grass and tossed it into the slight breeze, gauging the speed and direction. Then she quickly made some mental calculations, finger drawing in the air, and took a last few seconds to squint down into the compound to watch the guard and his pacing pattern.

  With an excited glance and a formal bow in my direction, Ryliss picked up the arrow, set it across the massive bowstring, and dug in her heels to pull it back. She might be a bookworm, but Ryliss was a dark elf and a warrior in her own right. Her muscles straining, she took careful aim. Behind her, I saw Lin make a small gesture at the trees, and suddenly the arrow disappeared into the night. Whatever Lin had cast masked the sound of the bowshot completely. Swiveling my head, I watched in fascination as the missile arched high into the night air, reached its maximum height, and began angling back down. Picking up velocity, it dropped and impacted precisely between the shoulder blades of the tower guard just as he turned to make another walk around and he collapsed instantly. I was certain there was no way that was a survivable wound. Ryliss bounced back from the bow, flushed and excited and I gave her a quick hug and thanks.

  “Good work, Ryliss; your father would be very proud.”

  “Thank you for allowing me to serve you, my Queen,” she whispered happily.

  I tousled her hair a little, grinned, and whispered back, “Well, thankfully, if we do this right, you won’t have to call me that much longer.”

  Cloaking, I descended down the hill with the six vampires and four rodents hot on my heels. Reaching the outer wall, the ferrets dived under the fence and were gone. Winya activated my gecko-climbing ability and I was up the wooden fence and down the other side in seconds. Twenty yards to my left was a sally port guarded by three lightly-armored elves. Winya, in her dagger form, had slashed the throats of the first two before the third was even aware there was anything wrong. Before he could raise any alarm, my gauntleted fist put out his lights permanently. Sliding into the sally port, I raised the bars holding it secure and swung the door open to the outside. Quickly, the vampires silently glided past me and fanned out.

  Seconds later, we were spreading throughout the compound at will. I have to give Bel credit on this one; she knows how to train her people. I was pleased to finally give Winya’s dagger form the workout that had been denied her. This was exactly the situation where she could shine. A part of me, the Jag’uri-influenced part, wished we could do this more often, even knowing that Alex would probably be shocked at the bloodletting; or more accurately, my enjoyment of the bloodletting. For perhaps ten minutes or so, I allowed my inner puma to hunt, and I lost track of the number of guards I downed. Normally, I would feel some remorse about taking this many dark elf lives, but I reminded myself these people had all willing participated in the attack on their true King and, as such, their lives were forfeit anyway.

  Every so often I would run across a corpse pinned to the ground by a six-foot almost ballistae bolt through his chest. Ryliss was still apparently picking her targets and continuing to strike where possible. I was happy that this wasn’t a real village so I didn’t have to worry about non-combatants. Satisfied that Bel’s people could take out the remaining guards, I broke off and headed to the longhouse that she had previously indicated held my parents.

  With the added weight of my armor, kicking in the door was a simple task. I immediately covered all the inhabitants with my crossbows as I stepped across the threshold. Directly in front of me were four statues sitting around a rough wooden table, apparently playing cards. Oddly, the table, chairs and even the tankards of wine on the table were fine, but each of the guardsmen was frosty white and quite dead. A large pot of simmering stew hung over the fire on one side of the room, and there was a wheel of cheese and some chunks of brown bread on a side table near the fireplace.

  Ignoring the rest of the scene, I kept going down a wooden-planked corridor to the back of the longhouse. Opening up into a larger area in the back was a wide open dirt floor covered in filthy straw. Two more frozen dark elf guards stood in opposite corners, their weapons at the ready, but never to be used again. In one corner was a ten-foot square metal cage, and I immediately identified my parents slumped next to each other on a low wooden bench inside. Lin and Julia were already casting healing spells on them, while Dusk and Dawn, now in their dark elf personas, nervously paced back and forth on full alert.

  Taking this all in with concern, I heard a slight sound behind me and glanced back to see Belrothe enter the room behind me. She had my parents’ weapons with her; the side sword that Alex had forged for my father, and Gwiwence, her blood red spear tip gleaming in the dim light of a couple of weak glow orbs. She stood silently as Winya returned to her bracelet form and absorbed into my armor.

  I rushed forward, the weight of my armor snapping the lock off the cage with a twist of my wrist. I cast it aside and opened the door. In a second, I was at my mother’s side.

  “Mom, are you alright?” I asked as I supported her with my armored gauntlets. She was disheveled, dirty and covered with hundreds of deep cuts and dark bruises, but already some of the lighter ones were starting to fade from Julia’s work.

  “Maya…honey, is that really you?” Tears were running down both of our faces as I raised my face shield so she could see my face.

  “It’s me, Mother.”

  She hugged me with what strength she had; but even as we hugged, I could feel her getting stronger. “What are you doing here?”

  “What kind of stupid question is that? If you think you’re going to stick me with the crummy job of being Queen forever, you’ve got another think coming,” I growled, lovingly brushing the hair out of her face. By this time, my father was regaining consciousness and I turned my attention to him.

  “Father!” If anything, he looked even worse than my mother. He had the same or worse injuries, but it also looked like he hadn’t eaten in days. It didn’t appear their captors bothered to feed or give them much in the way of water. Knowing my father, he would have made my mother eat any food they were offered and never take a bite or a sip himself. I looked over at Dawn, pantomimed eating and drinking, and pointed back up to the front of the longhouse. The dragon nodded and immediately raced way.

  “What’s going on?” my father demanded, still in a daze. He then actually looked around before speaking. “Oh…um…never mind; jailbreak, I hope?”

  “Yes, Dad, we are getting you both out of here.”

  He spotted me and his eyes widened. “Maya! You’re alive! We thought for sure they killed you, too.”

  I smiled slightly. “Believe me, for the past few days, I was wishing they had. But now is not the time; we have to get you both out of here. The way is clear; we will help you up the hill to the wagon. Grandfather and Ryliss are waiting up there for our return.”

  He straightened up from his slouch against the wall. “Oh no, that’s not happening! I see you brought our weapons, and we will kindly take them from you and cram them into the chests of these traitors. Holding the King and Queen prisoner! How idiotic can you get?”

  Lin and Julia drew back, all their healing spells exhausted, as Dawn entered the room carrying a tray with bowls of stew, bread and cheese. With a deep, respectful bow she learned from the nebulia, she served the Queen first, followed immediately by the King. That accomplished, she winked and handed each of the druid girls a large cheese sandwich. The two girls retreated gratefully to the far corner of the cage and sat cross-legged eating their food. Dawn hurried away once more and refilled her tray with more food and tankards of fresh water.

  “Brave little girls,” my mother said warmly between eager bites of stew. “They do fine work, too. I still feel like I got run over by a herd of elk a few dozen times, but I’ll manage.”

  I smiled. “Reginaldo? If you can hear me, would you kindly take Jules and Lin out of here and back up to the wagon?”

  �
��As you command, Child of Darkness,” a rough, gravelly voice intoned from the very ground beneath our feet; and a cone of earth rose up, swirling like a brown whirlwind. “Hold your breath, Lin,” Jules laughed. The two of them giggled and held onto each other tight as the dirt encased them and then drew them down like water in a drain. Just like that, it was as if they had never been there.

  “Ok...that was just incredibly weird,” Mother said, her jaw dropping. My father just looked slightly dazed, but he still continued to eat quickly, shaking his head in disbelief. “Bel? Do you know about all this?”

  The noble female vampire stepped closer to her friend and shrugged. “I know enough not to dream of challenging your daughter, or her intended mate. I have also received credible reports from some of my human staff who have journeyed to their fortress, and they confirm much of my suspicions of what she is capable of.” She reached down and pulled my mom to her feet and gave her an uncharacteristic hug. “That said, Renalla, I have grown rather fond of your daughter, and Sir Alex, of course. You raised a very smart girl, and right now I suggest you step back and allow her to finish up this operation.”

  Mother looked both puzzled and taken aback by her friend’s advice. “If you say so, Bel.”

  Smiling to myself, I reached down to pull my father to his feet and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “This should be fun! Dawn, Dusk…” The twins drew close and, with a quick bow, stood waiting for their orders. “Alright, you two, we will take the main building. Effective immediately, you are off guard duty. I want you to let loose and have some fun; basically, I don’t want to see a building left standing in this place.”

  They both smiled gleefully and changed their appearance back to the silver-eyed human girls that I was used to seeing at Xarparion and Sky Raven, chuckling as they bowed and left the room. It didn’t take long for the sounds of massive leathery wings and keening screams to fill the air outside, along with the panicked shouts of the few remaining compound guards. I could literally feel the air pressure from their flights pressing inward on the walls, and the mud chinking between the logs began to loosen and fall like rain. The whole place sounded like it was starting to shake itself apart. Even as familiar as I was with the twins, deep in my bones I still felt a visceral twinge of instinctive primordial fear.