“No,” said Lady Ellyn. “My challenge. I will finish this. No helping.”
Both knights made it to their feet at nearly the same time, but Lady Ellyn fell into the throes of a violent coughing fit and leaned forward, her hands on her knees. The black knight couldn’t take advantage, as he had lost his sword when he flew over his horse. He searched through the water near his landing spot and, after a couple of moments of looking, found the saber. Picking it up, he turned and charged the paladin, drawing his dagger as he ran.
Lady Ellyn overcame her coughing fit and took a defensive pose, drawing her sword and dagger to meet the dark knight, who was similarly armed. Although difficult to determine in full plate armor, the dark knight appeared to be at least six inches taller and a good deal more massive.
Disdaining finesse, the dark knight came in fast, hoping to overwhelm the paladin before the cleric could help her. He tried an overhead slash, using his momentum to try to break through Lady Ellyn’s defense. Used to fighting men that were larger and physically stronger, Lady Ellyn knew that her best defense was speed and maneuverability, not meeting the dark knight in a battle of strength versus strength. She feinted right and then dodged left, guiding the knight’s saber to the side with her sword.
The knight hadn’t expected her maneuver and overextended himself, and she stepped forward and thrust her dagger up into his right armpit where there wasn’t any armor. Sensing what she intended, he used his momentum to roll away, but was only partly successful. She wasn’t able to stab him deeply enough to kill him, but the blow still landed. Blood began flowing down the side of his armor.
The dark knight disengaged, so that he could switch his sword to his left hand. Having made the swap, he came back in on the attack. Wounded, he moved more cautiously this time. He knew time was on his side; the rest of his unit would crest the hill shortly. When that happened, they would slaughter all of the people trapped in the port area.
Lady Ellyn saw the knight’s eyes twitch toward the hill and knew he was expecting additional forces. Regretting her choice to come and fight the knight, she advanced on him to end the battle. Recognizing her intention, the dark knight began backpedaling to stay out of reach and stall for time. This worked for a bit, but there was too much debris in the shallow water and he stepped on something, lost his balance and went down.
The knight twisted as he fell, landing on his left side, rather than his back. He rolled to his stomach and pushed himself up, trying to rise before she could get to him. Lady Ellyn knew she was out of time so, disdaining protocol, she stepped forward and swung her sword with all of her might at the defenseless knight. Killing the knight from behind was against her code, but that was not her intention. Instead, she turned the sword as she swung. With a loud ‘clang,’ the flat of her sword hit the knight’s helmet, putting a large dent in both the helmet and his head. Unconscious and concussed, the knight fell face forward into the water.
“M’lady, we’ve got to go,” said Father Telenor running up. Lady Ellyn looked up to see civilians streaming down the hill…and three more dark knights coming over the crest.
“Yes, I believe we should, at that,” she said, reaching down to take the knight by the collar. “By the one true god this knight is heavy,” she added as she pulled him forward three steps to get him out of the water. Dropping him to the sand, she broke into a jog.
More screaming ensued as the knights on the hill began slaughtering the town’s citizens. Lady Ellyn tried to shut out their shrieks, but they went through her ears and into her soul. She knew she would hear them for the rest of her life.
“Run faster!” yelled Dantes as she reached the pier. Lady Ellyn could see that he was looking behind her, and she put on a last burst of speed. With a splash, the top half of the Pole Dancer’s mainmast was hacked loose and fell overboard, righting the ship. She reached the gangplank and slowed to go up it. When she reached halfway, the mooring lines arced over the side of the ship to the pier, and the ship started to move.
The gangplank started to slide off the ship and Dantes didn’t think that Lady Ellyn would make it aboard, but with a small jump, she cleared the side of the ship as the plank fell away to splash in the growing gap between the pier and the ship.
“Couldn’t wait for me?” she asked.
Dantes was once again staring behind them. “No,” he said. “Look!”
Lady Ellyn turned. The three knights were no longer slaughtering the town’s inhabitants; instead, they were galloping toward the ship. “They’re not going to make it,” Dantes asked. “Are they?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she replied.
As the knights reached the pier, the two trailing ones pulled up short, but the one in the lead only spurred his mount faster, urging it to greater speed. A massive warhorse, it was black as night and was moving swifter than anything of its bulk had a right to go. Halfway down the pier, Lady Ellyn realized it wasn’t a horse. She could see flames wreathing its hooves, and smoke streamed from its nostrils with every giant breath. Two strides later, she saw its bright red eyes…which matched the gauntlets of the knight riding it.
“Oh gods,” she swore softly. “Kazan!”
She knew he would never give up. It wasn’t in his nature. “He will make the jump,” she forecast, drawing her sword.
“He can’t make that jump,” said Ghorza, judging the distance and the ship’s rate of movement. “We’re 10 feet up, and the gap is going to be easily 20 feet across when he gets to it.”
“He will make the jump,” repeated Lady Ellyn, drawing her dagger.
“Not if I can help it,” replied Dantes. “Globus Incendi!” A bead of fire streaked toward the knight, detonating into a fireball just in front of him. If the knight noticed or cared, he didn’t give any indication, nor did his nightmare steed; the two took three more strides and, reaching the end of the pier, launched themselves into the air.
“Boarders incoming!” yelled Dantes. All eyes turned in time to see the dark knight and nightmare soar over the port rail of the ship, smoke trailing from the nightmare.
The horse and rider crashed to the deck. Although they made the jump, the ship was narrow, and the nightmare immediately began skidding as it tried to stop itself from going over the opposite railing. Trailing flames from its hooves, the horse turned left to change its momentum, but there wasn’t enough room. It hit the side rail, its momentum carrying it overboard.
The knight, however, was more agile. Seeing that his steed was going over, he pulled his feet from the stirrups and pushed off the saddle, vaulting from the beast. As the nightmare went over the railing, the Dark Lord Kazan landed next to the starboard rail. He still had some of the momentum of his steed, and he flailed his arms to regain his balance. It looked like he was going to make it.
“Molaris!” Dantes shouted, and two force missiles shot out from him. The large missiles didn’t have enough room to grow to their full size, only achieving eight inches before striking the knight in the chest, but they were big enough. The missiles exploded simultaneously, denting the knight’s armor and overbalancing him. He followed the nightmare overboard, making a large splash as he hit the water.
The companions looked back to see the knight treading water. Although they couldn’t see his eyes, they could feel the heat and force of his gaze as he stared at the ship. After a moment, he turned and began swimming toward shore in the wake of his steed. “Shouldn’t he sink in all that armor?” asked John.
“No,” said Lady Ellyn, a far off look in her eyes, “it’s magic armor and barely weighs anything.” She turned to Dantes. “You should hope that you never meet him again. You have just made an enemy of the most powerful man in the world.”
Chapter 42
“You took time off during the attack to go swimming?” asked Solim, walking into the former mayor’s audience hall to find Kazan removing his armor. Water dripped from all of it. A piece of seaweed dangled from one of his boots. “Did I have the attack planned out so pe
rfectly that you had time to sun yourself on the beach, too?”
“No,” replied Kazan, dumping out a boot. “I tried to kill the outlander for you, but only ended up in the bay for my troubles.”
“You let them get away?” asked Solim. “I thought you were so tough, you and all of your dark knights. You can kill anything.” Sarcasm dripped from every word. “I heard the paladin bested one of your dark knights, too.”
“I no more let them go than you did, every time you had the chance to kill them but failed,” said Kazan. He pulled off his other boot and turned it over, dumping out several ounces of water that hadn’t drained out on their own. He glared at the seaweed, and he removed it, before looking back at Solim. “Be warned, pipsqueak, that my patience has limits. Even though our masters have bid me not kill you out of hand, if you sneer at me again, I will kill you, regardless of my instructions.”
“Really?” asked Solim. He met Kazan’s eyes and focused his power through the crown. “You will not do anything to harm me.”
Kazan dropped the boot, stood up and walked over to stand in front of Solim. “I will not do anything to harm you,” he intoned.
“That’s more like it,” said Solim.
Kazan laughed, long and hard, before reaching over to take the crown off Solim’s head. He inspected it for a minute and then threw it aside. It made a soft tinkling sound as it came to rest against the wall. “Don’t ever try to control me again, either,” he said, looking down at Solim. “It won’t work because you are not my intellectual equal. All it’s going to do is piss me off.” He started to turn away, but then faced back toward Solim. “One last thing,” he said. “If you ever say anything disrespectful about my troops again, I will personally pull off each of your limbs and beat you to death with them while you watch. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”
“I hear what you’re saying, Kazan, and you may scare everyone else, but you don’t scare me. I have power, too, and am not afraid to use it on you.”
“This power that you speak of... is it the same power that you’ve used to kill the outlander? If so, I’m confused, as it hasn’t worked very well. How many times have you tried to kill him now and failed? I’m afraid I’ve quite lost count as there have been so many.” He poked Solim in the chest with his index finger. “We are supposed to co-rule...for now. At some point, though, something unfortunate may happen to you, and there’s nothing your ‘power’ is going to be able to do to save you. Don’t. Piss. Me. Off. Again.”
“My mistake was counting on others to kill him for me...like you, who failed so miserably that you were tossed into the bay. This time, I am not going to rely on anyone else. I have a ship coming that I will use to chase him down before he reaches the Mountain of Frost. After I kill him, I will claim the prize he is after as my own, and I will bring it back here. When I return, all will bow down before me.”
“If you return,” said Kazan.
“When I return,” said Solim, “even you will bow before me.”
Chapter 43
“Now that we have made it to open water,” said Captain Meyer, “what direction do you need to go?” he asked.
“Southeast,” replied Dantes.
“Southeast?” asked a female half-orc sailor that Dantes had seen directing some of the sailors earlier. “There be no land in that direction. In fact, there be no land short of Salidar, and we not be going there.” The half-orc had a full sailor’s accent, which seemed odd coming from someone with her heritage.
“She’s got that right,” said a tall broad-shouldered man standing behind her.
“That is not entirely true,” said Dantes, “The Mountain of Frost lies in that direction. That is our destination.”
“No,” said the half-orc. “It cannot be done, and we won’t be doing it.”
“She’s got that right,” the tall man behind her added.
“And who are you to say what will and won’t be done?” asked Dantes.
“The woman’s Tanja Cilia,” replied Captain Meyer. “She’s my second mate. She used to have her own ship, and she sometimes forgets that she isn’t the one making the decisions onboard the Dancer.”
“I’m the first mate now, though, aye?” asked Cilia.
Captain Meyer pursed his lips in thought as he stared at the half-orc. “Aye, ‘tis true,” he said, “but don’t be getting a bigger head than you already have. If you do, I’ll throw you overboard myself.” Captain Meyer turned back to Dantes. “Tanja just got promoted to first mate. The dragon you saw in the harbor carried off our first mate and dropped him in the middle of the bay. Even if he survived the fall, he couldn’t swim, and I saw him go under. The tall man behind her with more muscles than brains is the new acting second mate, John Rowntree.”
“Okay, first mate,” said Dantes, “why can’t this ship go to the Mountain of Frost?”
“There be two reasons. Firstly, the Pole Dancer is too light to take out across the ocean. “She’s made for speed and maneuverability inshore to get her goods to port. She’s not made for the storms that lie out on the open seas, and it’d be extra dangerous now to try it without her main mast.”
Dantes couldn’t help himself. “And what goods are we transporting?” he asked.
“Legitimate goods,” replied the captain. “If you must know, we’ve got a full cargo of none of your damn business, comprised of equal parts of piss off, sod off and bugger off. You’re not a policeman on this ship, you’ve got nothing on us, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to make this ship seaworthy again. Keeping your nose out of our business would be a good habit to get into if you want us to even consider what you’re saying.”
Dantes nodded to the captain, acknowledging the point. “Sorry,” he said, “old habits die hard.” He looked back at the first mate. “And the second reason?” he asked.
“The second reason is that, even if the Dancer was whole, you wouldn’t be getting us to go there,” replied the first mate. “Those waters be haunted. No one that goes there ever returns.” Several of the sailors that were working in the area spoke up in agreement, while making signs to ward off evil.
“Still,” said Dantes, “that is where we must go.”
The captain cleared his throat. “The first rule of leadership, especially with this crew, is never to give an order which you know won’t be obeyed. I have a hard time believing that I will be obeyed if I tell the helmsman to steer toward the Mountain of Frost. Unless you’re hiding a big bag of coins that’s going to make it worth our while?”
“Unfortunately, no, I don’t have a bag of gold for you at this moment,” said Dantes, “but if we accomplish our quest, I’m sure there will be rewards aplenty when we return.”
“Aye, it’s always good to risk your neck for people that are likely to die, on the hope that; one, they somehow won’t actually get themselves killed; two, they will be successful in their quest; and three, they will remember to ask the king for your reward when they’re done. When I said that I would take you where you needed to go, I meant somewhere in the civilized world. I never intended to go on a trip with no return.”
“We are the only hope Tasidar has,” said Dantes. “If you don’t take us to the Mountain of Frost, there won’t be anything to stop the forces of evil from killing everything that is good in this world. What you just saw in Harbortown isn’t going to stop. The forces of Salidar are on the move, and they won’t stop at anything short of Tasidar’s complete destruction. They have been ordered to take over the world...and they intend to do it.” He lowered his voice. “We have information that there may be a way to stop them, and we are on a quest to figure out how that may be done.” He nodded to John. “This boy is the key to it although we’re not sure how yet.”
Captain Meyer could tell that many of the members of his crew were listening even though they were pretending not to be; one of the sailors had been swabbing the same patch of deck for five minutes now. Those crewmembers that weren’t actively listening would probably be told about i
t within a couple of minutes of the conversation ending. He knew he’d have to be careful with how he handled it. “Even if I believed you, which I’m not saying I do,” he said, “we certainly wouldn’t want to help save the world, only to find ourselves penniless in it. I, for one, could use a new mast for my ship. While masts may come from trees, they don’t grow on trees, if you take my meaning.”
“I’ll pay you 1,000 gold crowns if you take them to wherever it was that they wanted to go, prior to dropping us off,” said a new voice. Dantes turned to find a man standing in the doorway of the captain’s cabin. Two little girls could be seen standing behind him, hiding behind his legs.
Captain Meyer sighed. “I’d like you to meet our cargo, the merchant Gary Mathison and his daughters Samantha and Shelby. We had just taken them aboard when the dragon attacked the port.”
“I heard about what happened in Norlon and knew Harbortown would be next. I decided it was time for my daughters and me to leave.” said Mathison. “I had contracted with Captain Meyer to take us to Evenfar to avoid the Salidarian hordes. If what you say is true, though, they won’t stop with just Norlon. They’ll keep coming until they have killed us all. There’s no place that we can run that will be safe.”
“Unfortunately, that is true, Merchant Mathison,” said Dantes. “If we are unsuccessful in our quest, there is nothing that will keep them from taking over the entire world.”
“Then it is worth what money I have left to aid you in your quest,” said Mathison. “I can always make more money. What is the value of money, though, if you aren’t around to spend it?”
Chapter 44
“Hey, Fitzber,” said John, “can you show me how to use all of this?” He had opened the parcel that Fitzber had given him to find a chain mail top to go along with the sword and dagger. Asking Fitzber for assistance made sense; not only had the unassuming gnome given the gifts to him, but he was even shorter than John and less intimidating than some of the others in the group. All of the others in the group, actually, if the truth were known.
Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) Page 17
