Dawn of the Valiant (The Valerious Chronicles: Book One)

by Julian Saheed

Kilthies placed his foot on the bole of the mighty tree and sprang silently into the air. He landed nimbly on a well hidden branch, halfway up the massive hundred foot pine. Taking slow steps to conceal his movement, he made his way closer towards the trunk to the spot where Fliethu sat holding a small black device to his left eye. The device was Feldonian by make and allowed the user to see things in the distance magnified to twice their true size.

  From their perch they could see down to the Dargonian camp. No scouts would normally risk moving so near to the camp, but the Thaldun Blades, who could mask their appearance and sounds through their magic, were no ordinary scouts. Kilthies concentrated and sent his thoughts to his lifelong friend.

  Fliethu instantly received Kilthies's words as though he had just spoken them aloud. "Have they settled for the rest of the night?"

  "They will camp here for at least a few hours by the look of it," Fliethu replied, sending back his own thoughts.

  "How many are left?"

  "It is hard to tell. I would say twenty, maybe more. They will put up little resistance against our men. Yet He is still among them," replied Fliethu.

  Kilthies knew who Fliethu referred to. With Novokai in their midst, the Primals held a chance of winning this fight. He leaned slightly forwards and peered down through the mass of branches. The assassins had travelled further than anticipated and were camped in the clearing that held the ruins of the old temple Mandigal had spoken of earlier. Kilthies recalled Mandigal referring to it as the temple of Gastonile. All that remained of the building was a rough square wall, broken and crumbling in most places, and a few shells of former rooms that once branched off to the sides of the temple. Some of the stone balconies on the main wall remained intact allowing the Primals walkways for their sentries. Kilthies looked over the camp position again and again, trying to memorize each section of wall. If they were going to succeed they would need to know exactly where to strike.

  "The southern wall is the most damaged and would allow the most of Errollan's men through," pointed out Fliethu.

  "But it has two sentries on it, whereas the east wall has only one."

  Fliethu glanced over to the eastern wall which by far was the most intact, with only one large opening on its left half. "That is a risky point to assault from. If they can get men into that gap in the wall and stop us from entering the inner square, they can use the stone walkway still attached to the inside of the wall to fire down upon us."

  Kilthies shook his head. The main force was inside the large square and had enough cover from which to hold a decent defence. They would need to make it through the wall and into the centre of the camp to inflict the most damage.

  "The Blades can make it into the square without any trouble," said Fliethu.

  Kilthies said, "We will still need the Feldonians though. We cannot risk fighting the Primals as well as Novokai. We must ensure Errollan and the others are not held outside the wall."

  Fliethu agreed and then signalled to his commander that they should return to the others. Kilthies leapt from the branch and landed on the moist ground without a sound. Seconds later he saw Fliethu fall from the forty foot height to land next to him. Together they ran through the forest to the spot where the rest of the company waited, southwest of the Gastonile ruins.

  Mandigal waited at the head of the company, an impatient look on his face. "You have been gone for almost half an hour," he complained.

  Kilthies simply waved the complaint away, feeling no need to explain himself. He motioned for Errollan, Guard Captain Harrinus and Ludvic to join them. They walked over and Kilthies told them of the area that the Dargonians were camped in. Once they all had a clear image of the camp in their head the discussion began.

  "Where is the Queen being held?" asked Harrinus.

  "In the very centre," replied Fliethu. "She is not heavily guarded."

  "And what of Thibalt's brother?" asked Harrinus.

  "He is being kept with Triel. From what we could make out he is in bad shape, but still alive," said Fliethu, loud enough for Thibalt to hear.

  Thibalt felt his resolve rise at the news that Christill was still alive and he was now more eager than ever to storm the Dargonian camp and rescue his brother. He could feel the blood warming in his arms as they ached to move. His skin began to tingle as a shiver ran down his body. The anticipation was growing. It was not long now.

  "What do you think?" Kilthies asked Errollan.

  The former General of Feldom's armies took a moment to consider. "Our strategy must be flawless. We cannot just attack them blindly if they hold such a covered position. We must make our plan of attack and strike as soon as we can."

  "Can't you simply use your magic to teleport into the camp, grab the Queen and the boy and zap yourselves back here," asked Harrinus, in a hopeful voice.

  "Under normal circumstances we might have been able to pull that off," answered Mandigal. "But if we tried that now Novokai would be upon us in seconds. He is not foolish enough to have left the Queen alone, without sufficient wards to warn him of magical presence near her. And if we used our magic to teleport the Queen out of there, we would leave ourselves unprotected against Novokai's wrath. I would not like our chances of leaving there alive."

  "That is why it is essential that you and I keep him busy, Mandigal," said Kilthies.

  "He's damned right," said Ludvic. "We will be unable to defend ourselves from his attacks. If you can keep him from attacking us, we can take care of the Primals and get the Queen out of there."

  "It will not be an easy task, but we will try our best," replied Mandigal.

  "Very well, from what you have told us I believe that the main assault should come from the south, given that we can get the most men through the wall there," said Errollan. The others nodded their agreement. "The two sentries will alert the rest of the camp of our attack, which will most likely cause most of them to run to the wall. Our one advantage is that they do not know how many of us there are."

  "And they do not know that the Thaldun Blades are amongst us," added Ludvic optimistically.

  "My point exactly," nodded Errollan. "We must use this to our advantage. If we are the only ones to attack from the south, the enemy will assume that they are being attacked by a large company of Feldonian troops. They will have no indication that the Karmanians have a hand in this rescue."

  "That is why we will strike from the east," said Kilthies, seeing Errollan's plan.

  "Yes," replied Errollan. "But from the north as well. The northern wall is closest to the tree line. Am I not correct?" Fliethu and Kilthies both confirmed the point. "Therefore Mandigal and Kilthies will take half of the Blades to the east and Fliethu and Luss will command the others in an attack from the north."

  "And you and I will charge head first into the southern wall with the soldiers from Precedin," said Ludvic with a smile. "I like the sound of that."

  Kilthies' look showed that he approved of the plan. "Tell the men," he motioned to Harrinus. "And may Nyrune watch over us all."

  "And Skiye guide our swords," replied Errollan.

  Thibalt strapped on his leather vest and grieves and tied a pair of metal plated bracers to his arms. He watched as Estallion buttoned his shirt over a thin suit of chain mail and said, "I will have to get one of those."

  Estallion smirked. "I would rather one of those suits," he said, pointing at the full body, golden green armour that Utith was checking. Thibalt glanced at the Blades that were preparing themselves. Some carried long spears and others readied bows and exotic blades. He saw Utith strap a huge sheath to his back from which a hilt, big enough for at least three hands protruded, and found it hard to believe that such a large weapon was wieldable.

  Fliethu walked past him, holding a long red staff, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Stay composed. I will be watching you out there young man," he said. He walked off to join Luss who hoisted a quiver of arrows across her shoulder.

  Thibalt found Fliethu's last word
s slightly strange, but thought better than to worry about them. He would need to stay focused and alert. With his sword in his right hand and a mace in his left he set off behind Errollan and Ludvic. The time had finally come.