“When I watched Vandarus die alone out in that damn snow today I knew it was because I gave the order to close the gates.” K’xarr paused for a moment he saw that bringing up their dead comrade was hurting Rufio, but he had to finish so he could make them grasp his point. “I swore then that if it was in my power I would never leave a friend behind again, the Queen and I aren’t sword brothers, and I don’t know if I even like her, but she had faith in me. In us, when not many would. I will not leave her in the hands of that evil bastard. If I thought I could get her out, I would go alone, even if it meant my life. The simple truth is Kian is the only one who even has a chance to bring her back.”
“It’s not going to mean your life, it’s going to mean his.” Endra angrily snatched her cloak off the back of her chair and stormed out.
K’xarr knew she would never agree with his decision, she loved Kian too much to see it was the only choice he could make. “Rufio, Cromwell, go get some sleep, you too Rhys, you look ready for the grave.”
The healer shook his head. “I can’t.” He quickly walked out of the council chamber with his head down.
Bishop Lyfair cleared his throat. “General, we will need to come up with a story to tell the servants and the people, when they notice they have not seen the Queen. I suggest trouble with her pregnancy, perhaps we could say she has been ordered by her physician to rest and have no visitors?”
K’xarr nodded. “That’s sounds good. Bishop, you can take care of keeping her abduction a secret.”
“I will do my best, General.” The holy man made the sign of his God and departed the council chamber without further comment.
K’xarr sat down in his chair. “Sometimes, I wonder why I ever wanted to command.”
“That’s easy to answer, you’re too arrogant to listen to anyone else,” Cromwell said slapping the Camiran on the back.
Rufio walked over to where their leader sat. “I agree with what you said about Vandarus. I made the same promise to myself this morning.”
K’xarr thought he could almost see the melancholy surrounding the Dragitan. Rufio and Vandarus had been close. The two had been traveling together even before they had joined the Birds of Prey. He stood and clapped Rufio on the shoulder. “Warriors must learn to live with their regrets, my friend. It is the life we have chosen.
“I will see you two in a few hours at the north wall, I think we upset King Havalon enough, he will come straight at us in the morning.” K’xarr swung his cloak around his shoulders and started for the door.
“Where are you going?” Cromwell asked. “To talk to the man I most likely just sent to his death.”
“You’re not going without me, Kian, and that’s final, there’s no way you can do it alone. Just think, you’re going to try and get to the Adorn Forest in the dead of winter. Deal with what might be in that cursed tower and fight the wizard who tortured and all but killed you. Even if you’re successful and steal the Queen away, you will then have to bring Raygan back, heavy with child through the snow and ice on your own. Is that what you’re planning to do?” Endra folded her arm across her chest and gave Kian a look daring him to challenge her reasoning.
“Yes,” he almost whispered.
Endra dropped her arms to her sides and closed her eyes. Everyone who said K’xarr was the most infuriating man to argue with had obviously never argued with Kian, but she was not ready to give up yet. “The weather won’t bother me, the Bandaran winter is like spring in Sorrack, and even you need someone to watch your back.”
“There is no one I would rather have with me than you, but this time I must go alone.”
“Why, Kian, just give me one reason.”
“I’m afraid if I fail, you could fall into his hands and he might do to you what he has done to me or worse. I could not live with that.”
“You expect me to live with what he might do to you?”
He looked at her with resolve. “Yes, I do.”
She sat down on her bed. “I don’t know if I can do that. I will stand at your side and if I’m killed I will die without regret, but waiting at home while you’re out risking your life is not the kind of woman I am.” She thought of telling him about the baby, but that would only strengthen his argument. “I’m asking again, take me with you.”
He turned, eyes flashing, his voice deepening. “Not against the Dark One, he is my nightmare, if I don’t face him and face him alone, it will never be over.” He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms, she felt the terrible strength he possessed. “I love you like no other, Endra, and I promise I always will, I never want to spend any day without you, but this is my fight and mine alone.”
Endra saw the look in his eyes. She knew she wasn’t going to win. He wouldn’t let her. She hugged him blinking back the tears. “Come back to me. I want you to promise me you will return.”
“I promise.” He kissed her softly and walked out.
Endra sat in silence. The night had suddenly grown very cold. “Be careful, my love,” she whispered to the empty room.
K’xarr caught up to Kian as the swordsman was walked out of the palace doors. “You’re leaving now?”
Kian slung a bag of provisions consisting mostly dried meat and cheese over his shoulder. “After the fighting starts tomorrow, it will be harder to get out of the city.”
K’xarr saw he wore his leathers and heavy cloak and a pair of fur-lined boots, beside his sack of provisions he carried only his sword. “Traveling light? Are the rest of your things on your horse?”
“I’m not taking a horse, it will slow me down.”
“How is a horse going to be slower than you going on foot?” K’xarr scoffed.
“The horse will need to rest a great deal with the weather like this, I will not.”
K’xarr didn’t say anything, he understood. Kian’s constitution had become incredible since the Dark One had worked his magic on the Half Elf. “How long do you think it will take to bring her back?”
“With the weather like this it may be spring before I return. She is with child, the going will be slow on the return trip.”
K’xarr rubbed his beard. “Spring, I hope we are here by spring. If the city has been taken when you get back, do what you think best.”
Kian looked at his feet. “You sound like there is no question that I will be successful.” K’xarr watched the swordsman slowly raise his head and look him in the eye. Kian’s eyes looked black in the darkness. “K’xarr, I’m not invincible or immortal, and in truth I don’t even know if I can get to the tower. You put too much faith in me.”
The general pulled his cloak tighter around him, the wind was getting stronger. “I know I’m asking the impossible, don’t think I don’t know the risks. You’re the only chance the girl has, Kian. She is little more than a child, all alone with a monster. You’re the man who can stop him, the only man.”
The general could tell his speech had done the trick. He could tell by the swordsman’s face that he had struck Kian’s soft heart a blow and brought out his sense of honor, a young girl the prisoner of a vile wizard. K’xarr knew Kian lived to plunge headlong into that kind of thing. It was just his nature.
“I will not let him have her, I can promise you that,” Kian said with conviction.
The general sighed, that was just what he wanted to hear. Still, he felt bad manipulating the Half Elf. “I know you won’t.”
K’xarr took Kian’s arm in a warrior’s grip. “Good luck, my friend.” Kian started down the steps then stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “Watch over Endra and the children for me.”
“Done,” the general replied. He watched Kian disappear into the falling snow.
K’xarr stood awhile on the marble steps of the palace. He felt like an ass sending Kian off alone on a mission that was near hopeless. There was no second guessing now, it was done. He hated it though, because he knew when Havalon attacked in the morning he would miss the Half Elf’s sword arm.
***
/> The sun was starting to rise as he passed the Abberdonian forces. The sentries he had killed never even heard him coming. Now he was in the open farmland of Bandara. The snow made the going hard, but his legs were strong. Kian was just glad the wind had died down a little.
Why had he agreed to go on this mad quest? The Queen thought little of him, he was in her words a monster. It didn’t matter to him how she felt. The young woman was an innocent and he would save her if he could. Gildor had taught him to always fight the darkness. Could a monster fight evil? He would soon see.
K’xarr was counting on him and so was Rhys and he owed both men a great deal. He would do his best to bring the Queen home for them if he could.
Kian stopped and looked out over the landscape. The virgin snow stretched out before him like an endless white sea. The Adorn Forest was hundreds of miles to the north. He would have to face the unforgiving weather to rescue the Queen and help his friends. He looked up at the dismal grey sky and his thoughts turned to the man who had nearly destroyed him. The wizard had to die. Was he on a heroic quest to save a young Queen or was his valiant crusade truly about his own revenge? Was he just a monster after all, seeking his own retribution? Kian gritted his teeth and ran on through the frozen countryside, moving faster through the snow than a horse ever could.
***
The catapults began firing an hour after sunrise; King Havalon’s crews were good, it took little time for them to find the range of the city’s wall. The huge rocks that hit the wall shook the foundation itself. A few even smashed into the battlements, doing a lot of damage to the merlons on top of the wall and K’xarr’s men.
The archers came next, they used flaming arrows, only a few men were hit but the arrows started countless small fires among the buildings below the northern wall.
Endra knew that was where the wounded were being housed. She wanted to help Rhys and the town’s people fight the fires, but K’xarr had ordered her to stay on the wall. This time Kian wouldn’t be there to watch her back. She put her helmet on and drew her sword as the siege towers began to roll forward.
The immense towers slammed into the wall. King Havalon had them brought to Turill in wagons and his soldiers had finished assembling them just a few days ago. The doors of the mammoth war machines opened. The Abberdonian’s front ranks emerged, thrusting long spears at the defenders to keep them back. It was working, the inexperienced Bandaran troops staggered back from the spearmen, letting the Abberdonians gain the wall. That was when she waded in to the fight.
She struck right and left, killing the men that had jumped down from the towers onto the wall. When she was close enough, a spearman thrust his weapon at her. Endra dropped her sword and grabbed the haft of the spear with both hands and yanked the Abberdonian spearman off the siege tower, she watched as his body plunged the forty feet to the ground. An ax glanced off her helmet as she bent to pick up her sword, seeing stars, she thrust her blade wildly through the ax man’s groin. The man howled with pain and went down. She spun and killed two more of the invaders. Endra let out a fierce war cry that rallied the Bandarans around her. The green soldiers followed the dark-haired lioness into the fray and began to slowly beat the Abberdonians back.
The ramparts were chaos, it took better than an hour for them to drive the Abberdonians off the wall. Slowly the towers were pulled away. K’xarr had his archers fire flaming arrows at them, but they did little damage. The towers were covered with hides soaked in water. The wet skins had turned to shields of ice in the frigid air.
Endra unstrapped her helmet and took a breath. She sat down and leaned back against the cold stone of the battlements.
“Well done, milady.” She looked up to see Rufio standing above her, covered with the grime of the morning’s combat.
“I don’t know how well it was done, but it was done.” She countered. Rufio reached out and pulled Endra to her feet. She tried to wipe her dark hair out of her eyes but gave up, it was too matted down from the helmet she had worn. “Will they try again today, you think?” Endra asked.
The Dragitan shook his head. “No reason, Havalon knows he has us. All he has to do is sit back and wait. He can pick his time to attack. Sooner or later, he will gain the walls and we won’t have the men to drive them back. He will just let us think about it for now.” Rufio took off his helmet and brushed its horse-haired crest. “K’xarr is a good general, we just don’t have the men, unless he has some kind of trick he hasn’t told us about. We may not even last the winter, unless we find a few more Sorrackan women with your gift for killing Abberdonians.”
Endra smiled and tucked her helmet under her arm. “If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I went to see Rhys.”
***
Rhys took her back into the storeroom of the warehouse he was using as a hospital. She was lying on a table as the healer felt her tight abdomen. “You shouldn’t even be up there; I should go up there right now and tell K’xarr about the baby.”
She pleaded with her eyes. “Please, don’t, I have to keep it secret. I don’t want anyone telling Kian about it until I do. It was just a slight pain.”
Rhys put his hands on his hips. “The baby is fine. I see you didn’t listen to me. I told you to tell him. Now you might not get the chance.” He saw the expression on her face change and she put her head down.
“I’m sorry, Endra, I didn’t think. I’m sure Kian is fine.” The healer turned away from her, so she couldn’t read the lie on his face.
Endra pulled her shirt down and put her hand on his shoulder. “I know it’s hard for you too. You miss her, don’t you?”
“It’s not just that. I should have gone with Kian. I feel like a coward standing here while he is out in this abominable weather trying to bring back the woman I love.”
She grabbed the healer by the shoulders. “You’re no coward, Rhys, at least no more than I am. I wanted to go with him too, but in the end I let him talk me into staying here. I don’t know if he made a better point than I did or I was scared he might say yes, in the end I gave up and let him win.”
Rhys lowered his voice. “Maybe we should follow him, even if I died it would be better than feeling like this.”
Endra perked up at the healer’s suggestion. “I don’t think one more sword on the wall would make a difference, but you leaving will cost men their lives. You know that, don’t you?” Endra gave him a look of compassion, she knew how Rhys felt about those under his care.
Rhys nodded. “I know.” He looked at his hands. “She’s that important to me, Endra. I will just have to learn to live with it.”
“We will leave out the south gate. K’xarr doesn’t have many sentries there.”
Rhys leaned on the table like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “I hope we’re doing the right thing, Endra.”
She picked up her helmet and shook out her dark hair. “We’ll soon see.”
***
K’xarr had gone to the palace late in the day, he sat on a bench in great dining room, looking into a mug of ale, he had worked up a thirst on the wall that morning. The Abberdonians hadn’t attacked again, they didn’t have to Havalon had made his point. The Bandaran troops were just too raw, they would never hold until spring. At least he had gotten the Abberdonian King to break the Church’s law by attacking in the winter. That had pleased Lyfair, now both sides would be guilty of defying the Church’s edicts.
K’xarr didn’t think it would matter what the Church thought. Havalon would be the one to answer for it. By the time the Church intervened, the old King would have taken the city. All he could do was hold on as long as he could. He would never surrender, that was out of the question, it was something he just couldn’t do. No, if Havalon wanted the city, he would have to take it.
“Any more ale?” Cromwell asked. He and Rufio had walked in. K’xarr had been so deep in thought he hadn’t noticed.
“There’s a pitcher on the table, help yourself.” Rufio retrieved two mugs from the kitchen and
poured a mug for himself and one for Cromwell. “It went well today, I think,” Cromwell said, nudging K’xarr with his elbow.
K’xarr sat up straight. “I suppose so, I wish there was more we could do. I hate waiting on Havalon to make a move.”
Rufio sat down on the other side of K’xarr. “I hope we have to wait on the old bastard until spring to make a move, Ansellus should be back and the Queen too with any luck.”
K’xarr drained his mug and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It will take more than luck to bring the Queen back, between us I don’t have much hope we will see her or Kian again.”
Cromwell stretched out his long legs and poured himself another mug of ale. “I wouldn’t count the Arradar out, he may yet surprise you, General, he took a palace, why not a tower?”
***
Endra finished tying her shield to the horse she had picked out. It was a short sturdy horse, not fast, but it would still be going in the snow when the big warhorses were finished. Her children had been left in the care of Nick Nock. She knew the servants in the palace would help the young cook look after them. She hated to leave them alone for so long, but it just couldn’t be helped. There was no way she was going to try and bring them along on this little quest.
“Are you ready?” Rhys asked, blowing into his hands.
Endra was glad Rhys had grown up in Tara, like her he was no stranger to the cold. “Yes, that’s the last of it; I don’t think the horses can carry another thing. Maybe we should have taken a pack mule.”
“Too slow, it would take forever to get there with pack animals; it’s going to be slow enough as it is,” Rhys said.
Endra could tell the healer was anxious to get going; just deciding to go had improved his mood. She just hoped he knew what they were getting into.
The sentries at the south gate had given them no trouble, they recognized Endra and let her pass without question. Rhys had kept his head down and in the dark and went through the gate unidentified. The sentries would not have liked K’xarr’s chief healer leaving the city during a siege. K’xarr would find out by morning they had left. Both of them knew they would suffer the general’s wrath if they returned, and so would the sentries when he found out what happened.
Gods Of Blood And Fire (Book 1) Page 39
