by H. A. Harvey
. . .
“If we are separated,” Gerizim murmured to Karen as they made their way out onto the balcony of the main hall and down to the main floor. “Jonas is waiting outside the side gate to tha training ground. He’ll lead you and tha others to a mine that lets out onto tha Clockward face of Dragonfang Mountain.”
Karen nodded. She had no intention of splitting up, but knew better than to question the captain when he used certain tones. Besides, she was more than a little distracted by the chaos outside. Their limited view passing through the upper windows of the keep looked like chaos reigned outside on the walls. Stone drakes were rampaging along the parapets and the courtyard. Though heavily outnumbered, the drakes were devastating the keep’s defenders, as their steel weapons were only marginally useful against the beasts’ stony scales and chainmail armor barely seemed to offer much resistance at all to tooth and claw.
“What are you doing here?”
Karen’s train of thought was interrupted as the baroness’ harsh voice called from near the back of the hall. Karen looked up to see the wicked Fae standing up from the fur-lined, marble throne at the hallway’s end. Her entourage had been seated under the balcony they just departed and quickly stood to face Karen and her companions. The heavy front doors to the keep swung inward as Ebal stalked into the hall, leading a collection of perhaps a dozen soldiers escorting several nobles. The baroness repeated her question impatiently.
“The captain is betraying his homeland.” General Ebal rumbled darkly as he stalked toward them. “Isn’t that right, brother?”
Karen shifted uneasily. Her discomfort wasn’t from the unpleasant presence of Gerizim’s brother, but quite the opposite, she found herself feeling a sort of kinship and relief at his arrival, as well as with the repulsive baroness. Suddenly, she realized what it was and gripped the captain’s wrist to get his attention.
“He’s with them.” She whispered as she unsheathed the ebon sword hanging on her back, “I can feel Legion in him.”
The captain’s face darkened as he readied his maul. The soldiers escorting them also prepared for a fight. Despite her training, Karen knew she was far short of a tactician, but she didn’t like their odds. Six of them stood against as many of the baroness’ panting slaves and a dozen hardened fighters, plus Gerizim’s brother and the barons. Ourei had made it clear that any magic she knew was hardly up to a real fight, and her father still was barely able to stand, so they wouldn’t count for much in a last stand.
“We shall see about that, Karen.” Ourei was clearly more than a little offended at being discounted. “I may not be able to char people to cinders, but I can be creative, and in here, my father has room to fly. You will see what a Windlord is capable of. EVERYONE! Shield your eyes!”
As Karen clapped an arm over her eyes, she just caught sight of the torches and chandeliers around the hall begin to flare brightly. The next moment, Ourei’s thoughts signaled Karen, and she supposed the others, to charge. When she lowered her arm and opened her eyes, the room was bathed in shadow. The morning light had not yet reached the keep’s ground floor, and even the higher windows barely trickled feeble light across the upper levels. Her eyes only just made out the shapes of the baroness and her pets as they staggered about clasping their faces. The light from the courtyard illuminated the barons and their soldiers comparatively well, and they also seemed to have been blinded by the flash of firelight, all save for Ebal, whose reflexes and instincts seemed to be as keen as his brother’s. The two Dracis commanders leapt toward each other and his four soldiers loyally rushed to engage the barons’ men.
“Watch your footing!”
Ourei’s warning seemed intended for the soldiers, but she didn’t seem to take the time or focus to redirect her thoughts to just them instead of the group. Light from outside glinted subtly off the tile floor beneath the feet of the enemies near the door as puddles of water appeared and spread across the smooth, polished stone. As the first ranks of the blinded soldiers fell to blades, those behind collapsed into chaos on the slick flooring. Karen hurtled toward the nearest group of the baroness’ thralls as a winged shadow leapt into the air beside her. Her heavy blade sang through the air and bit effortlessly through the skull of one man before burying itself into the chest of a second.
The dim light didn’t seem to hinder Earl Cirrus, who scooped a decorative spear off a coat of arms along the upper wall. He dove and drove the point of the spear into the chest of the lead noble, the force of his dive pinning the man’s body to the unfortunate baron behind him as the Falon recoiled and climbed back into the air over the doorway. The wind from his wings’ downbeat caused more than a few of the recovering soldiers to again lose their footing on the wet tile and tumble back onto the floor. Some of the soldiers attempted to hurl daggers and one even tossed his sword after the Windlord. Earl Cirrus slid easily around the projectiles. Catching the sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left, he hurled the dagger down to bite into a baron’s unarmored shoulder.
Though their initial foray went well, the momentary distraction began to ebb as the baroness recovered her senses. She tossed what looked like small, flaming sparks into the air, where they drifted along the hallway and emitted a steady glow. In the renewed light, her eyes fell on Karen and her features twisted in anger. A coil of shadow, laced through with veins of dark crimson light, twined its way down her arm and shot out toward Karen as it took the shape of a web or hurled net. As the web of magic encircled Karen and drug her to the ground, panic seized her mind. She could feel the terrible power of the dark legion coursing around her and calling to their kin within her blood.
As Karen collapsed to the floor, half-mad with terror and fighting within herself against Legion, the terrible clash of the two Dracis brothers tore past her as Gerizim flew onto the raised dais and cracked the throne with the impact of his body. As the captain staggered to his feet, Ebal idly tossed the massive hardwood table from his path and leapt to land before his brother on the stone platform. Karen knew that Gerizim was outmatched. The brothers might have been equals before, but Legion had given Ebal dark gifts to buy his loyalty, returning his youth and making him stronger and faster than he was even in his prime.
“Surrender to us, Karen, and we will give you the strength to save the pitiful creature.” The voices cooed in her ear. “We will even release you from our daughter’s construct, and place her beneath you so you might punish her.”
Construct! The last sane corner of Karen’s mind seized hold of the word. Remembering her dusk sliver blade, she twisted it so the double-edged blade pressed between her and the netting. The padded armor of her gown was enough to protect her from the deadly edge, but the spell gave way almost instantly and the entire net dissipated into smoke, the voices of Legion screamed in rage and agony as the spell vanished. Karen struggled to her feet and started to rush to Gerizim’s aid, but the captain’s training gave her pause. Instead, she assessed the situation around her.
Their escorts were not faring well. The barons had also regained their footing from the initial surprise. Two of the soldiers on her side were down, while the last two had fallen back into the hall and taken up a post at the base of another pair of stairs to avoid being flanked. Ourei’s father seemed to have claimed at least one more victim, but a nimble young soldier had managed to catch hold of him in his last dive, and the two grappled near the ceiling as the Windlord worked to keep out of reach of being overwhelmed. Ourei herself seemed to have taken up the sword of a fallen slave and stabbed one of the baroness’ pets, but the remaining three had drug her to the ground.
As one of the thralls regained his feet and prepared to finish off the noble girl, Karen decided that was where she was most needed. She sprang to the struggle and drove her black beak through the upright man’s spine, kicking him to the side and clear of her blade as his two companions hurried to regain their feet. Ourei’s quick mind bought her the perfect o
pening as her white wings flapped up in a quick motion to smash into the men’s faces. Their momentary daze was more than enough for Kaesa to open both of their rib cages with a sweeping blow.
A screech of rage drew Karen’s attention back to the baroness. The Fae snarled at her and clapped her hands together, sending over a dozen missiles of her strange black magic toward her along wild, arcing paths. Then Ourei’s father was there, landing with a sickening crack that sounded like his opponent’s back and the Falon’s leg both shattered against the tile floor. The earl encircled both girls in his wings and gave a shudder as his flesh blackened and cracked before he collapsed onto the floor.
Ourei gave an anguished cry and rushed to her father’s side as Karen’s attention was caught by Gerizim landing on his back a few feet away. The captain was bleeding from several wounds on his arms and legs, but a deep, seeping canyon in his chest looked to be the blow that he wouldn’t rise from. Karen roared with fury and launched herself at Ebal.
The Dracis commander chuckled at the Human girl’s charge. He easily ducked her opening swing and came up with his glaive to send Karen to join his fallen brother. Only Raven had not failed to learn a thing or two from the captain’s instruction. She’d been ready for him to avoid her first blow and launched her weight forward at the last moment, snapping the arc short and driving the sword’s pommel into the big warrior’s face. As Ebal reeled backward, Karen managed a weak strike against the side of his head in the process of recovering her balance. Though there was little strength in the blow, the keen blade still left an angry gash down the side of his face.
The lord general howled in rage and returned a vicious strike with his glaive. Raven struck at the side of the blade as it arced toward her and even with the heavier weapon, it took all her strength to deflect it enough that it only lightly cut into her shoulder. Before she could recover her balance, Ebal’s armored foot struck her in the sternum with force that would certainly have shattered her ribs had it not been for the armored gown she wore. Still, the impact stole her breath and sent her almost a dozen feet backward to slide on the tile floor.
Karen’s vision lost focus for several seconds. As she lay trying to catch her breath and force her body to get back up, she saw Ourei kneeling a few feet to her right. She became aware of the general’s shadow sliding over her as she saw the baroness stalk up behind the mourning Falon girl, summoning another dark surge of magic, whether to ensnare or destroy Ourei Karen could not say.
Suddenly, an arc of pearlescent light leapt from between the wings on Ourei’s back to strike the baroness in her chest. The cable of searing bright light tethered the two together and Karen’s eyes widened in horror as she watched the baroness age a thousand years in a moment then collapse into a pile of dust. At the same instant, an armored figure hurdled over her and clashed with General Ebal, forcing the Dracis back several steps.
Still in a daze, Karen watched as the short, Human knight battled with axe and shield against the demon-empowered Dracis. Not only did he give no ground even when catching the full force of the general’s blows, but the knight was gradually forcing Ebal back further. The clash came to a head as the armored fighter caught the Dracis’ deflected glaive with his shield and sheared off its bladed head with his axe. Ebal roared in outrage and seized hold of the shield, spinning and flinging the knight across the room to slam into the stone wall behind the throne. The force of the knight’s impact sent cracks through the stone and dislodged his helmet . . . to reveal the red-haired visage of a dainty, almost petite looking woman somewhere in her mid-twenties.
Ebal closed the distance between himself and his fiery-haired in a single bound and, gripping the stunned woman around the throat and hauling her off her feet. The woman gripped desperately at the general’s wrist and lifted her legs to twine one over his shoulder and another under the arm that grasped her. Karen fumbled about and found her sword, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her from rising to help. She looked up to see the hand belonged to a surly-looking Dwarf. To either side of the short, bearded fellow stood Nian and Rowan, looking somewhat the worse for wear, but both in strikingly more regal and adventurous attire than she remembered.
“He probably wouldn’t have done that if he knew Kaesa.” Rowan said simply.
Karen looked back to the struggle to see the triumph gone from Ebal’s face. It was replaced by a sudden visage of concern, then desperation as he brought his other hand up and started to slam the girl’s back against the wall. The might of the Dracis’ blows battered down the wall that concealed the secret path to the rear wing, but the woman held fast. In fact, she seemed to steadily win out over the general’s muscle, and as the wall collapsed, the general’s tactic shifted drastically. His free arm gave up trying to slam the girl about and scratched and pried uselessly at her legs as his own quivered and deposited him on his knees. The pale woman peeled the Dracis’ grip from her neck and steadily bent his arm back until it gave a loud snap. The breaking of his arm evoked a feeble gurgle from Ebal’s throat, which was the last sound Karen heard him utter before there was a cascading sound of cracking bone and the Dracis fell limp, his limbs twitching in a morbid dance.
Karen stared at the now horribly frightening little woman for several seconds before looking around. A host of strangers had swept into the great hall behind her. Most looked like they’d just come from the slave pens, save a young man a little older than herself wearing a voluminous robe embroidered in golden thread with strange shapes and symbols. The stranger knelt next to Ourei, who threw her arms around his neck and wept openly. Karen winced a little as Nian helped her to her feet. When she’d managed to catch her breath, Karen smiled at Rowan.
“Okay,” She mused, “This one time, I needed a little rescuing.”
Rowan laughed, “I promise not to tell a soul.”
The three of them joined in the mirth, as much from relief as actual humor. Nian took a breath from laughing and suddenly launched forward, wrapping Karen in an embrace tight enough that she felt it through her armor. Karen returned the hug happily, then found herself pulling free as she caught sight of another familiar face.
“David!”
Karen ran to her fiancé as he emerged from the crowd and threw herself on him. The surprised David made an effort to catch her, and might have succeeded if he’d expected her to be wearing a coat of steel under her dress. Instead, they found themselves sprawled on the floor, which Karen decided was fine for the moment.
23
The Maw of Shadow
“How about that.” Rowan chuckled, “We come all this way recruiting mercenaries, fairies, and the prettiest abomination anyone’s ever seen to fight dragons and armies, and we barely get a hello. I didn’t even get a hug.”
Nian smiled, simply happy to see his sister. He could tell Rowan wasn’t really offended, but there was another reason that while his face smiled, Nian’s eyes watched his sister with an almost mournful look. They’d done it, Karen was free, and in short order, she’d be safe, but that meant it was time for his service. Almost as soon as he found Karen, he had to let her go again. Rowan nudged his shoulder to get his attention before walking over to where Kaesa sat listlessly amid the rubble where she’d beaten General Ebal.
“The Wolfbreaker strikes again.” Rowan joked as he knelt next to Kaesa, drawing some bandages from his satchel to hold against a split in the back of her head and another to dab blood from beneath her nose.
“He was tougher dan a wolf,” Kaesa muttered a little groggily. “An’ from now on, I wrestle on snow, not stone.”
“I hear leaves and grass can be fun too.”
Kaesa eyed Rowan blearily, “I’m going to punch one o’ ye, Rowan . . . maybe kiss de oder one. Ye just stop shifting about to find out which.”
Nian stood by silently for a moment, reveling in his friends’ moment as much as quietly letting them enjoy it. When Rowan managed to staunch the bleeding, Ka
esa slowly seemed to regain her wits. She didn’t punch Rowan, nor kiss him. Though, when he helped her up, she may have clung a bit longer than was needed to steady herself. Nian cleared his throat as the others started to gather themselves and head over.
“Kaesa, if you’re feeling up to it, I need you and Rowan to do something for me.”
“I’m on my feet.” Kaesa replied staunchly.
“The soldiers outside are likely awake by now, and it won’t be long before they and the rest of the garrison get here.” Nian nodded toward their small force of liberated slaves. “Malor can’t possibly transport that many, and we can’t just leave them to face the storm alone. Take them and my sister and see if you can’t find another gate out of this place.”
“There’s a tunnel, and another secret route out of the valley that Captain Gerizim arranged for our escape.” Karen answered as she took Ourei from Malor’s charge and held her consolingly. “But we can’t go yet. Kelly is that way, with Tyvus and his masters. We have to get her out.”
Nian stiffened a bit. It hadn’t occurred to him that there would be more captives from the village still at hand when they found Karen. He remembered David’s sister Kelly. He was even more surprised that they’d taken Kelly. She was so young, though he supposed if he thought about it, she had been starting to notice boys, and get noticed by them. Yet, if she were in there . . . did that mean?
“No.” Nian stepped in front of the passage. “There isn’t time. Everyone needs to go now and try for that escape route that your friend arranged. This part is for me . . . just me. I’ll take care of it.”
Karen started to protest, but Ourei looked up suddenly, staring at Nian like he’d slapped her. He wasn’t sure how, but he felt sure she knew what he had to do and from her expression it didn’t look like she was willing to go along with it. Couldn’t she see that he had no choice? The Incarnates all agreed that everything needed to be destroyed everything in that foul place along with anyone who came with him.
