"We've got a change of plans," Cace said as they walked up to him. "And we need two horses that aren't Dweller's horses."
"We aren't taking our horses?" Rylen asked her.
Cace shook her head at him. "We'll probably lose them at the river, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to try to swim with my brain addled after losing a bond."
"That would not be wise for one not a Dweller," Jaron agreed with her. "What are thy change of plans?"
"Lord Rial's sent us this army to slaughter," Cace said. "They think they're here as allies. Which means if we hit hard and fast as soon as I give the signal, we can take them by surprise and get a good number of them out of the way first thing, then clean up the rest. My guess is they already outnumber us, so this will just even the odds."
"All of thy Lord's traps," Jaron nodded at her, obviously catching on to what she was referring to. While the Mo'ani and other soldiers inside the hold knew about the traps they were each in charge of or had helped to build, only Cace, Jaron, Rylen and a few other officers knew where they all were.
"All of them," Cace nodded at him. "At once."
"I shall give the orders once thy signal is given," he said. "Doth thee prefer any particular order?"
"The marshes first, after that it doesn't really matter. That'll just keep them from retreating and take out a few of those at the rear."
"As well as send any horses there stampeding," Rylen added.
"We'll head for the river once the archers fire the first round. Once we clear the river, we'll get back around and get into the fight as fast as we can," Cace told Jaron. "It's going to take us a few minutes to get back into the hold and our regular armor."
"We shall hold thy lines," Jaron assured her.
"Let's go get regular horses," Cace told Rylen.
They found two horses and rode out through the gate, making sure it was securely closed behind them before riding forward. The two riders still waited, though it was obvious they were growing impatient. The church guard army stretched far back behind them, covering the solid ground and taking up what they could find leading back into the marshes. A number had moved towards the trees to the east and towards the riverbank to the west just to find room to make their camp. They hadn't tried crossing the river to set up camp on that side, though, and Cace guessed the fast moving river and single bridge had been the deciding factor in that.
"You would make us wait that long, when we bear word from your lord?" the first rider demanded.
"You sat out here for two days," Cace returned. "I figured another half hour wasn't going to kill you."
"Which of you is Lord Valin's lieutenant?" The second man asked.
"I'm Governor Rylen, this is Lieutenant Cace," Rylen said, nodding to Cace. He deliberately left off that he was the governor of Garyn Hold, figuring they'd assume he was appointed by Rial to run Valin Hold while he was gone.
The man handed a sealed packet to Rylen first.
Rylen smirked at him, took it, then handed it directly to Cace. The confused look on the man's face made it worthwhile.
"You will confirm that is the seal of Valin Hold," the second man ordered her.
Cace took the packet from Rylen, then glanced up at the man, obviously noting his tone of voice. She turned the packet over, noting the seal. A large, solid raven in flight set against the outlined shape of a tower was firmly stamped into the wax.
"Aye, that's the seal of Valin Hold," she nodded her head, then showed it to Rylen. "Wouldn't you agree, Governor?"
Rylen tilted his head, looking at the seal.
"That is, indeed," he said, nodding to her.
Cace didn't bother breaking the seal to open the packet, but looked back at the men. "Unfortunately, My Lord made a slight alteration to the seal some few years ago to make it unique to him. But he hadn't gotten around to having an official seal made yet, so he adds it afterwards by hand. It's missing that particular feature. So for all I know, you've murdered my Lord, stolen his signet ring and forged these supposed orders for an alliance."
She offered the packet to Rylen again. "But just to be sure, it is missing that feature, isn't it?"
Rylen took the packet and examined it more closely. "Yes, it most certainly is, Lieutenant," he confirmed. "This seal would only be valid if it were coming from Lord Valin five years ago or Lady Valin sixteen years ago." He handed the packet back to her and looked up at the two men, both of whom suddenly looked very distraught as they realized Rial's betrayal.
"I don't think you'll be crossing Valin's borders today," Cace told them. She didn't bother turning, but only whistled sharply. From atop the wall, dozens of archers rose up. Carefully aimed bows fired flaming arrows, arcing high overhead. Cace and Rylen both turned and spurred their horses towards the river as the arrows flew, using the moment of distraction and shock of betrayal to get clear.
Rather than aiming the arrows at the army camped below, they were aimed further away. As they rained down into the marshes, some fell into the water and were extinguished, while others found their targets and ignited the low lying gases in the marsh. Flames burst out, sweeping over the ground and surface of the water, spreading and igniting everything in their path. When they reached ground, some died out while others found new fuel in the plants, effectively cutting off the rear of the marsh in a field of flames that quickly grew in height.
Cace and Rylen reached the river. They jumped from their horses and dove into the deep water, swimming for the bridge and cover it would offer them. Shouts in their direction brought a few arrows fired at them, but the current quickly swept the arrows away. Once underneath the bridge, Rylen released the levers that lowered the gates. It both trapped them under the bridge and kept them from being swept downstream, but also kept anyone else from following them. Over by the wall, they could hear the shouting and yelling of frantic orders as the archers now rained arrows down on the army. A few seconds later the first sounds of the catapults and ballista came from above as well. More screams could be heard from further back in the church guard ranks and Cace grinned at Rylen.
"They must have sent the snake traps first," she mentioned. They'd captured a large number of poisonous snakes and lizards from the marshes and kept them alive in small groups in special small crates. They just needed to toss a number of the crates into the catapults and fire them into the army below. The crates had been designed to break apart when they landed, releasing the now highly agitated creatures.
"This is certainly not conventional battle," Rylen said.
"We can't exactly afford to fight like the other holds," Cace shrugged. A few more arrows bounced off the bridge overhead, and she could tell the archers by the river were trying to flush them out the other side, not realizing there was a gate on that side, too. The bridge was wide enough and the plants around it thick enough that the only way to see them was to get down into the water, and the current greatly discouraged that. As it was, it made it hard to stay where they were without being pushed down. It was very easy to understand how Rial had nearly drowned his thirteenth summer.
She finally managed to move to a spot under the bridge, pulling open a metal grate hidden by moss and hanging vines, revealing a narrow stone-lined tunnel. She pulled herself up inside, crawling down the cramped passage as Rylen followed, closing the grate behind himself.
"Have I mentioned Lord Valin's a genius?" Rylen asked her as he locked the grate from inside.
"I think we all have," Cace said over her shoulder. She continued to crawl along, feeling her way in the dark. Water ran under her hands and knees, a shallow trickle that seeped in from the braced walls of the tunnel.
They followed the tunnel in darkness for some distance. Cace knew every inch of it, she'd overseen the digging of it personally. From the river it would go inland, rising up in a series of gradual braced steps to get above flood level except in the worst rain years. After about fifty yards, she knew they were under the new section of the wall. The blackness around them was c
omplete and there was no sound except for their own breathing and shuffling as they crawled along.
"I'm thinking we should have made this a little wider," Rylen said, grunting as he pushed through a narrower part.
"We tried, too many big rocks on either side," Cace told him. "We didn't have time to dig them all out, and there was no way I was compromising the walls of the keep buried down here to go around them."
"So just what is the extra mark Lord Rial adds to his seal?"
Cace chuckled. She hadn't told him, and was glad he'd gone along with it.
"Unfortunately, that's just between him and me," she said. "It's how I know when highly sensitive orders are actually from him. Any regular old orders and everyday hold business, the normal Valin seal suffices. That's why he hasn't had a new seal made. He only adds the extra element when it's something very important that's only going to me."
"That's not a bad system," Rylen said after a minute.
"Like I told Jaron, once he starts thinking about a problem, he likes to get his head around every angle," she said over her shoulder.
"So you knew immediately he'd sent this army just for us to take care of?" Rylen asked next.
"Before he left last spring," Cace paused as she turned sideways to push herself around a corner. "He told me if they came across an army too big for Nahtan's army to take on, he'd do what he could to divide it and send some of it north to us. Based on what Lord Mo'ani told us, I'm betting he played it out that he turned traitor to convince Thorvald to send part of his army here to join us, knowing I would know the order was fake."
"It seems he put a lot of faith in us having that wall finished," Rylen commented.
"That's where the 'arrogant son of a bitch' comment came in," Cace chuckled. "It probably never occurred to him that we might have fallen behind schedule. He left here knowing we had the blocks cut and his agreement with you was in good standing to help us with men, so he just assumed we had it finished."
Cace stopped, ducking and covering her head as several rocks fell from above. The ground rumbled and shook for several seconds. The deep thundering slowly moved away as a few more rocks fell around them.
"That would be Jaron and the cavalry," Rylen noted.
"Damn," Cace muttered. "I didn't think we'd feel them this far over where they had to go out the east gate and circle around." Once she was sure the rocks were done falling, she started moving again. She was glad they'd put in the bracing as close together as they had through here, or the vibrations from the cavalry's charge just might have caved in the passage around them.
"He had a lot of Dweller's horses in there," Rylen reminded her. "Even without riders, they make an entrance."
"Yes, they do," she agreed. She paused to feel her way around another corner. "We should be almost there, this should be the last turn."
"I'm glad one of us knows where we are."
They continued along the passage, eventually coming to the small hollowed out area with the ladder that would lead up to the building where they'd left their armor and cloaks. She climbed the ladder first, pausing at the top to pound a few times on the underside of the trapdoor there, then unlock it and push it open.
"Stand down, soldier," she immediately ordered the young Mo'ani who aimed a crossbow at her. She'd been expecting at least one guard to be stationed there. Unless the other gates came under attack, they wanted to make sure the small building was watched and their armor and weapons weren't disturbed just in case any of the church guards discovered the tunnel on accident.
"Just making sure it was you, Ma'am," he said, lowering the crossbow and offering her a hand up. She accepted it and he pulled her up, then he offered his hand to Rylen. She'd recognized the young Mo'ani. He'd only been cloaked a few months before, but had earned his cloak partly for his quick progression through the training. Part of his skill had been his ability with the crossbow he carried.
"Cavalry just charged a minute ago. Gates are holding, east and north gates are still not under attack, everything is down south," the Mo'ani reported as Cace and Rylen began pulling off their still-wet leather armor. "Archers and ballista are still holding them back, fires are still burning at the rear." He took their armor as they pulled it off, tossing it aside and handing them dry padded tunics to pull on.
"Snakes and lizards all sent back home?" Cace asked.
"Yes, Ma'am," the Mo'ani grinned at her. "They were quite angry at how they were sent there, too."
"Good, hopefully they took out some aggression on everyone around them."
She and Rylen started putting on their regular armor as the Mo'ani continued giving them a report of what was going on and where the rest of their armies were staged and ready to go. Jaron had moved each of the armies into positions so that both Cace and Rylen could move out at the same time. Though the Dwellers specialized in cavalries, Cace had to admit the Dweller lord had a good understanding of infantry and archer units and how to position them for effectiveness.
She helped Rylen finish buckling on his armor while the young Mo'ani came to help with hers.
"Any other traps set off yet?"
With her armor once more back on, Cace swung her cloak over her shoulders, pulling it to one side as she pulled her shield over her shoulder.
"Spike traps have got a bunch of them in the marsh," the Mo'ani said. "They're pretty well pinned in place until they either cut off their own legs, one of their own gets to them to try to free them, or we get there to shut them up."
"They're not going anywhere, we might as well let them sit there and let the animals have at them while we deal with the others," Cace decided.
"The sinkholes have swallowed up a few dozen more as well," the Mo'ani added.
"Good."
"I'll bring the Garyn Mo'ani straight down from the gates," Rylen told her. "I'll leave the marshes up to you."
Cace nodded. "We'll circle around and take them out along the tree line then move down and work our way across towards the river," she told him.
**********
Aiqho'il closed his eyes, searching the Well and land around him. There was still no trace of Valry anywhere. There had been no sign of her here since the night of the battle at Olorun. That troubled him more than anything. The Well had been bringing her dreamshade here in her sleep at even the slightest hint of danger as it sought to protect her. Now since her father had re-opened his link to the Well and used its power to destroy the fallen soldiers Zared's priests had returned to the battlefield, she had not returned.
He doubted there was any direct connection. But they did know the reason she'd been kidnapped was because Zared's high priest intended to use her gifts somehow to free Zared from the judgment Zakris had imposed upon his brother. Aiqho'il wondered if Zared could they have sensed it somehow through Valry when Daghr'il's link to the Well was opened again. Even if he had, the moment Valry had fallen asleep, the Well would have brought her here and Aiqho'il would have sensed her presence.
He opened his eyes again and turned to study the Well as he took a long, slow breath. The power within the Well continued to churn and twist, rising into crests then falling back and swirling into funnels and deep troughs. The colors shifted and twisted around each other, never mixing, but fading into each other and shifting.
The air was as still as always. The light the same half dusk light it always appeared to be with no obvious source. The rocky ground underneath him was solid, dark rock littered with shards of stone. Nothing grew here in this dead world, and nothing ever would again. It was why all of the few souls trapped here had asked him to help them cross to the new world Zakris and his daughters had created in the reality that sat just above this one.
Aiqho'il leaned over and let his fingers dangle over the edge of the cliff. Tendrils from the Well twisted up them, starting out a light blue, then changing to a bright green before falling away. Valry was scared when the Well had first brought her here. He'd shown her that to let her know she hadn't needed to fear the Wel
l, and she'd come to love doing it, knowing the colors would change every time she came. She'd learned to master all of the things he'd taught her so quickly. The Well had been so eager to finally have someone else use its power. Even though its connection to Valry was only through her mind while she was asleep, it had become very attached to her.
"Then why aren't you protecting her and bringing her here now?" he asked the abyss before him.
The Well only responded by churning and twisting, rising into red, yellow and violet-crested waves, then falling back into twisting swirls of color.
Aiqho'il knew the Well better than anyone even from his own long-dead world had known it. Unlike those born with the power to use it, he had been born of it, his own mother's soul sacrificed to it while still pregnant with him so that her body might live long enough to give him life. The Well had accepted her offer made at the moment of her death, and Aiqho'il had been born the Wellmage.
"Or are you?" he asked.
One of the last things Valry had learned was how to pass the guide's first tests. She had successfully been able to bridge to her father's link to the Well and see where he was at.
With that test passed, the Well would have an easy time creating a bridge of its own now.
Aiqho'il frowned. He closed his eyes and immediately started looking for Valry's link to the Well. It was simple enough to spot, and only took him a few seconds. There were only a few links to the Well anymore. He could remember a time when there were many thousands, so finding one specific person could take hours. Now there were only four of them: himself, Kutci, Valry, and her father. His and Valry's were the brightest, their attunement to the Well now making them the strongest users of it.
He drew upon the Well, pulling the power he needed, bridging his link to hers, then pushed himself into her link. The sticky cobweb type feeling was familiar to him, even after so long. He had passed the guide's tests back when he had still been a boy barely four or five summers old as Zakris' mortals measure time.
Basiyr: Chronicles of Nahtan: Book 6 (The Herridon Chronicles) Page 4
