by C. E. Swain
"Why do the Siege weapons fall behind?" Chidren asked. "You said they would keep up."
"It is the green wood placed on the tower platforms." Mareston replied. "It causes the wheels to sink too deep for the horses to pull easily."
"Then use more horses." Chidren said. "We will not reach the castle within the time allowed at this pace."
"We have no more horses in which to pull them." Mareston explained to his commander. "All of the horses are used by the
cavalry."
"What are our options?" Chidren asked, but knew the answer before it had been given.
"We will need more horses, if we are to reach the castle in time." Mareston said. "All other options will require a delay in the attack."
"You will have your horses, just see that there are no more delays." Chidren said. "Or you will be held responsible."
"I will see that they keep up with the army." Mareston said, "The ground should level off again in a few days, and we will not need the extra horses once we are within two weeks of the castle. That is where the land begins to fall, and it is downhill the rest of the way to Argnon."
"Keep them until we reach the castle." Chidren said. "I do not want to lose anymore time than we have already."
Gaston arrived as Mareston was leaving, and waited until the old solder was gone before speaking.
"All is clear for several miles." Gaston reported. "There is no sign of the enemy that we can see."
"I need fifty of your worst riders to give up their horses, to help pull the siege weapons for the next few weeks." Chidren informed his captain. "When we reach the castle, they will be given back to you, along with the horses that pull the wagons and siege weapons now."
"I will see to it right away." Gaston said. "Fifty men will not make much difference in the march to the castle."
"You can use the outriders again if you wish." Chidren said, "We are close enough now that the empire may get brave and try another ambush."
"We will be ready for them if they do." Gaston assured his commander. "We will not be caught off guard again."
The next morning, the siege weapons and the wagons were moved across the ford early with the help of magic. The men followed, and the army was several miles away by the end of the day. With the extra horses to pull them, the siege weapons had no problem keeping up with the army, and Chidren appeared content.
The army of the mage king now traveled at the pace Chidren wanted, and they encountered no resistance along the way. Chidren believed he would reach Argnon weeks before the empire expected him, and would catch them unprepared when he did. He would be the one who delivered the lands of the empire to Arnoran, and he would be richly rewarded for his deeds. Soon, the beginning of the end for the empire would begin, and he would be the one who had brought them to their knees when it was over. Soon, he thought.
*****
Fagerin watched in fear, as the warriors dressed in the purple and gold of the empire appeared on the road in the east. He was making his way to the road from his camp, to travel farther west, but only reached the brush at its edge when the warriors appeared. He quickly crawled under the brush to avoid detection, and was unable to move until they had passed.
He looked around as he crawled from under the brush, and made sure the warriors were out of sight before he stepped out onto the road. He could no longer continue on in his intended direction, because the warriors of the empire now stood between him and freedom. The north was empty and not an option, and he could not return to the east for fear of being recognized, so in the end he traveled south. That was a place where he could hide for a while, and wait out the changes the empire was going through.
It may be the time to change professions he thought to himself, as he walked to his camp to retrieve his horse and supplies. He had enough gold to last him for a very long time, and good information was harder to get lately. After carefully looking down the road in both directions, he crossed to the southern side, and disappeared into the trees. He had never been to this part of the empire, but knew there were towns farther south and east, and that is where he headed.
This part of the western realm was one of the thickest and overgrown areas in the empire, and little progress was made for several days. Fagerin worked his way southeast as best he could, but found himself leading his horse more than riding it. The farther southeast that he went, the thicker it became until he was making less than a mile a day. He began to worry that he would be trapped in the thicket, and in desperation, lunged through a wall of brush and brambles.
What he found beyond the wall of brush caught him off guard, and he stood there, frozen in amazement at the sight. The brush and brambles ended abruptly, and he could see the golden trees that grew in a ring in the middle of the glade. Deer and antelope grazed among the trees all around him, and a feeling of peace and tranquility came over him as he stood there. It was the last thing that he expected to find in this wild and overgrown region of the western realm, but it was a welcome sight after the last few days. It was a place of peace and beauty, and it made him feel much better about his plight, but it seemed very out of place with its surroundings. He did not know it then, but the glade would change his life forever, and he would become what he had started out to be in his youth. He would be known all across the empire within a few years, and in the lands beyond as well.
*****
Saesic watched from his window as the dragon landed in the garrison, and dropped the captured man to the ground. The sight of the dragon earlier that morning had caused him to worry about his plans to rule the realm, and now the messenger from the ruins had been captured.
The prisoner would talk, he had no doubt about that, and all of his plans would be found out. He would have to leave the castle for a while, but he would return when the battle was over, and take his place as the regent.
He walked from the window, and opened the secret passage beside the fireplace that he had found as a boy. Closing the door behind him, he made his way to the small door at the back of the castle, where he gathered the supplies he had stored there for just such an occasion, and walked to the horse he had hidden in the trees. It did not take long for him to saddle the horse, and he was soon ready to ride from the castle, but was not sure where to go. The battle was coming, and he wanted to be close enough to return when it was over, but far enough away to avoid being captured, himself.
Saesic rode south across the great road, and through the town of Argnon, before riding into the trees and turning southeast. He rode to a camp he had hidden on a hill several miles from the castle, where he could watch the coming battle in relative safety. The trees had been cleared well back from the castle, to create open ground for the enemy to have to cross to reach the walls, and give the defenders a larger kill zone. From his vantage point on the distant hill, Saesic could see the entire area around the castle, and would watch the battle as it unfolded.
Three escape routes were planned for if the battle was lost, but he did not believe the empire could stop the forces that would face them. The dragon was a big problem, and the warrior that was his rider proved hard to kill, but he believed the forces of the mage king to be too strong for even the dragon rider.
He had not been able to get the information to the messenger before he was captured, but the camp in the northeast did not know that. As long as the messenger was dead, he could tell them anything he wished and no one could dispute it. Everything seemed to be proceeding according to his plans, except the capture of the fool at the ruins, but it was a minor set back he thought. Soon his father's reign would come to an end, and his would begin, all he had to do was, wait.
He had several camps hidden south of the great road, and most had enough supplies in them for several weeks. He gathered them all together and returned them to his camp on the hill. Now he had enough supplies to last him for several months, but he did not expect to be there for that length of time. He expected the castle to be taken within days of the arrival of army in the nort
h, and his father's fate sealed soon after.
As the days passed, and the battle drew nearer, he would not be so confident as he was now. The events he would witness in the days to come would change everything, and he would have to make a choice, but it would not be an easy choice to make, and he would find that out soon enough.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Menimeth walked through the doors of his rooms, and out into the courtyard where his dragon waited, as the gray of early morning began to chase away the darkness that shrouded the land. Several minuets later the dragon was in the air, and headed for the entrance to the city. Danorathin landed in front of the Sword and Dragon as he usually did, but did not sit above the gates of the city to wait for his master. Instead, he disappeared into the wild lands in the north, and did not return for some time. When he did, he went to the Dragon Tower to curl up in his favorite corner, and go to sleep.
Menimeth followed the aroma of Blackbeer as it drifted through the morning breeze, and entered the tavern of his friend. Farlin worked behind the bar, getting the mugs cleaned and ready for the morning crowd, and he greeted the dragon rider when he entered.
"You look like you could use a steaming mug of Blackbeer." He said, as he poured the mug, and walked to the table Menimeth used when he was there.
"You are right about that." Menimeth replied, following the innkeeper to the table. "It was a long day yesterday, and a short night."
"This will help to get the morning started." Farlin said, as he placed the mug in front of the chair that the dragon rider always used. "It is from the latest batch brewed this morning."
"Just what I needed." Menimeth said, as he lifted the mug. "Thank you Farlin."
"Anything for the king." Farlin replied with a smile, and walked back to the bar, and his work.
Menimeth sipped from his mug, and the weight of the empire seemed to melt away for a time. The aroma of the drink, and the warmth of the fire which burned in the fireplace, added to the peaceful atmosphere of the tavern, and the dragon rider enjoyed every second of it.
Eventually the tavern began to fill with the usual patrons of the morning, and Litlorn was the first of his friends to find him there.
"Where in Donderan?" Menimeth asked, as the elf took his seat, and sipped from his mug. "I have not seen him since before the battle in the north."
"Who knows? That dwarf disappears all the time." Litlorn replied. "He could be anywhere."
"I had hoped he would join us in Argnon." Menimeth said. "But one dwarf will not make that much of a difference, I guess."
"You never know with Donderan." Litlorn said. "He may yet show up."
"If he does, he had better do it soon." Menimeth said. "We will be leaving for the west when the solders of the remaining realms arrive."
"He will turn up again when you least expect him." Litlorn said. "He is funny that way."
Feran, and the men he commanded through Commander Fracher, rode from Glansford later that morning. Two days had passed since the ambush on the raiders, and Menimeth needed them in the west as soon as they could get there. He believed that they still needed training to fight from the back of a horse, in the way the Dragon Guard would fight, but it would have to wait until they arrived in the west. He did not know when the forces of the northern and eastern realms would reach Glansford, and he needed warriors near the castle at Argnon in case the enemy arrived early.
The solders from the southern realm had arrived, with the horses Menimeth needed to replace the ones taken by the men of Feran's army. All of the warriors of the empire would ride into battle, for the tactical advantage that it gave them, as well as for the mobility, but that would leave too few horses for the men who still trained at the garrison. With the horses being sent by the eastern regent, and the ones being sent by the northern regent, they would have more then enough for the newer men to train with.
The land around the dragon rider capital that was once overgrown from the walls to the great river, was now only dotted with trees, and the remains of many fires. The tents of the solders from the defeated kingdoms, replaced the brush and bracken that once filled the space east of the walls of Glansford, but even those had disappeared when the second army rode west. The men of the southern realm set up their camp close to the city walls, when the warriors Feran commanded were gone. Captain Quinly, as well as the other officers that were with him, were given rooms in the officer's barracks, while they waited for the solders of the other realms to arrive.
Menimeth walked through the Dragon Tower, and into the offices that Brylen used to conduct the business of the empire. The prince of Davinly sat behind the desk, with a stack of parchments in front of him, and went through them methodically.
"I am sorry I have kept you so busy." Menimeth said, as he walked through the door.
"It is nothing." Brylen replied, and stood from his chair. "Just the daily business of the empire."
"That stack of parchments is a daily occurrence?" Menimeth asked with a look of horror.
"Well, yes, but they do not take that long to complete." Brylen replied. "It is the ones on the table, which take all my time."
"There are more?" Menimeth asked, as he turned and looked at the table against the wall.
The table was more than six feet long, and was stacked with various parchments from one end to the other. Each stack was three times taller than the one on Brylen's desk, and Menimeth could not believe his eyes when he saw them.
"You cannot do all this by yourself." Menimeth said. "And there are people in the refugee camp that could help. You should use as many as you can."
"I could use the help." Brylen agreed. "But I do not have the time to waste looking for them."
"I will send them to you, and you can decide where to use them." Menimeth said. "Those you do not need in the offices, you can have
assigned to other positions elsewhere in the castle."
"We do need the help." Brylen said. "In many different areas of the castle."
"Then I will start sending people as soon as I can."
"What I need is someone who knows from experience the kind of people we are looking for." Brylen informed the dragon rider. "Someone who has lived in a castle."
"I think I can find someone with that background." Menimeth replied. "And that should help you to take care of the empire while I am in the west."
"As long as you are not gone too long." Brylen said. "There are decisions only you as king can make."
"I have taken care of the ones that you sent to my office." Menimeth informed Brylen. "And you can send someone to pick them up when you get the time."
"What do I do in the unlikely event that you do not return from the west?" Brylen asked. "It is something that all kings who go to battle, must consider."
"If I do not return form the battle, Chanry will become the king."
"The boy?" Brylen asked, surprised by the choice.
"He is more than he appears." Menimeth replied.
"Then it will be as you command." Brylen said, and wrote down the information on a parchment he took from the desk. "But still, it would be best if you returned, to keep the empire running smoothly."
"I will try to survive the battle." Menimeth said, with a very serious look. "If it will help to reduce your stack of parchments."
"You are not so funny as you think." Brylen said with a grin. "Now go find me some help."
"Yes sir." Menimeth said smiling and turned to walk from the room.
"Great, I come to work for the king, and he turns out to be the court jester." Brylen said. "With a dragon."
Menimeth was laughing when he walked from the offices of the Dragon Tower, and made his way from the city. It was not long before Menimeth found Caladon and Banadar in the market, looking at the items for sale, as well as the girls who sold them. It was the first place that he looked, because it was where they were always found during the daytime.
"You two can always be found here." Menimeth said, as he walked up behind them.
"Did you know that you could purchase magical items, here?" Banadar asked with wide eyes. "They even have different powders and potions for almost everything you can think of."
"I have seen things I never knew existed." Caladon added. "And things only heard about in stories back home."
"Yes, the marketplace in Corlindum is the best in the empire." Menimeth said. "And everything in the empire is found here."
"Everything is so grand in the empire from what we have seen, and we like it very much." Caladon said. "The cities are built to keep enemies out, and are much stronger than any cities we have seen before."
"The defenses are well thought out, and any army that attacks these cities would not survive long." Banadar added. "Yes, it is very impressive indeed."
