Lachlei

by M. H. Bonham

  This was not Lachlei. This was not the woman whom he had fought against in one-on-one combat for the crown. This was not the woman who spared his life. The woman he spoke with now was arrogant and aloof, something he had never seen in Lachlei. Nor had the war changed her — Lachlei had fought for Lochalan in battle before. Even when Lachlei had lost Fialan, she had not acted like this.

  Now, the one who claimed she was Lachlei had brushed aside Rhyn’s death as if it had been a non-event. In the past, Lachlei had not spoken of Rhyn in Council, and although Kieran knew little of the North Marches Chi’lan, Kieran knew that Lachlei had been close to Rhyn. He had seen Rhyn by her side at the coronation and in the Great Hall. She had even appointed Rhyn one of her commanders.

  Kieran tried to summon the Sight, but to little avail. Like most Eleion gifted with the Sight, the visions came unbidden and in flashes. Now he saw nothing, but he trusted his instincts as a warrior. Those instincts told him that whoever this was, it was not Lachlei.

  But who could he trust? Certainly not Laewynd, even if he had originally been against giving Lachlei the army. Kellachan was with the Chi’lan army — assuming he was even alive. The other Council members were dubious at best. Perhaps Moira could be trusted, but she was as political as the others.

  “Is something wrong, Kieran?” Laewynd’s voice came from behind.

  Kieran turned around. “I just spoke to Lachlei,” he said. “She’s behaving oddly.”

  Laewynd seemed to scrutinize Kieran’s features. “Perhaps she is weary from the battle.”

  “Perhaps,” Kieran agreed, but even to his ears, he sounded unconvinced.

  Laewynd smiled slightly. “Is there a problem?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Perhaps you should accompany Lachlei with her troops.” He paused. “For the Council.”

  Kieran nodded. “For the Council,” he said.

  “You will leave tomorrow before sunrise,” Laewynd said. “I suggest you get some rest.”

  *****

  It was late when Wynne awoke from a dream. The older Laddel woman, who had been Lachlei’s nanny, threw her robe on and slid from bed. Seldom did she have Wyrd-dreams, but when she did, she heeded them. This one had been especially vivid.

  The vision was disturbing. Troops were coming — Silren and Eltar troops from the north along with Undead and demons. They had taken Caer Lochvaren and put all to the sword. Wynne shuddered as she recalled the dream. It was clearly a warning — but how much time did she have?

  She had heard Lachlei had returned to Caer Lochvaren, but Wynne had not seen her. It was odd that Lachlei would not see her own son. Perhaps Lachlei was preoccupied. Or perhaps the battle was going poorly. Her mind drifted to Rhyn. She sensed that the enigmatic Chi’lan would do all within his power to stop that from happening. But maybe that would not be enough. The demons and the Undead suggested the old enemy of the Lochvaur and Laddel had entered this world again: Areyn Sehduk.

  Haellsil began crying in the other room. Wynne changed the baby, picked him up, and gently rocked him to sleep in her arms. His blue infant eyes had changed to silver now and he gazed at her with an intensity that she had also seen in Fialan. Haellsil had lost his father and would most likely lose his mother. And now, with the Wyrd-dream, Wynne suspected they were all in peril.

  She put the baby back in his cradle and quietly left. Opening up the door to the main hall, she nodded to one of the few Chi’lan left to guard them both. They were sitting around the table playing a game of dice. On seeing her, they rose.

  “Lady Wynne,” spoke Kerri. Kerri was a younger Chi’lan with very little experience.

  Wynne smiled. “Chi’lan, I will be out for a few hours. Can you summon someone to watch over the young prince while I’m gone?”

  “Certainly, Wynne,” Kerri said and paused, seeing the Laddel woman’s concern in her eyes. “Is something wrong?”

  Wynne shook her head. “I don’t know, but I’m about to find out. I will return in a few hours.”

  Wynne left the Chi’lan and hurried out of the main hall. The skies were overcast and threatened snow. As she approached the main gate, she hesitated. It had been a long time since she had invoked the Laddel blood-magic, but she knew if she did not, lives might be lost. She slid unnoticed out of the main gate and continued past the shops and the second gate. The lower town was teeming with Lochvaur soldiers preparing for the march that lay ahead.

  With so much chaos, no one noticed as the lone Laddel woman slipped out the lower gate and into the night. The air was cold and her breath rose as frosty steam. She glanced back once and then focused on her power. Wynne felt the characteristic twist in her stomach, and when she opened her eyes she knew she had changed.

  No one noticed the small gray wolf as she padded into the night.

  CHAPTER Sixty-Two

  Fialan stared across the plains and his heart sank. In the distance, he could see the walls and keep of Caer Lochvaren glisten in the last of Sowelu’s rays. He turned to Lochvaur, who sat on his mount, grim-faced. “They won’t have a chance against us, will they?”

  Lochvaur said nothing. There was really nothing to be said. The line of Braesan warriors stretched across the Darkling Plain like an impenetrable wall. The Lochvaur warriors would die at the hands of their ancestors.

  “Maybe you can tell Rhyn’athel?” Fialan said.

  Lochvaur shook his head. “Areyn Sehduk knows Rhyn’athel has entered the war. Areyn has focused his entire power on blocking me and shielding the Braesan from Rhyn’athel. His shield is impenetrable.”

  “Is that possible?” Fialan asked. “I thought Rhyn’athel was more powerful.”

  Lochvaur turned his baleful gaze at Fialan. “He is, Fialan, but Areyn is close to his match. The Nine Worlds are a universe of opposites, my friend. For every Rhyn’athel, there is an Areyn Sehduk. Such is the way of the Web of Wyrd. If Areyn were gone, another would take his place. The Wyrd strives for balance.”

  “But Areyn has grown in power.”

  “He has, but so has my father.” Lochvaur sighed. “If there was one mistake my father made, it was giving Areyn the dead. Areyn uses us to fuel his fight against Rhyn’athel.”

  “But he doesn’t use you?”

  Lochvaur smiled grimly. “He can’t. I’m too powerful, and I’d destroy him.”

  “What do we do?” Fialan asked. “Imdyr will bring my army and we will destroy them. Damn Laewynd! I never trusted him. I wish I had told Lachlei my fears.”

  “What’s done can’t be undone,” Lochvaur said. “But there may be other players in this the Wyrd has yet to reveal.”

  Fialan glanced at Lochvaur, but the godling’s face remained expressionless. “Other players? Have you seen something in the Wyrd?”

  Lochvaur smiled slightly. “Perhaps I have.”

  *****

  It was still dark when Kieran and Imdyr/Lachlei led the Lochvaur army out of Caer Lochvaren. Thirty thousand strong, they marched eastward toward the Darkling Plain into the glow of the rising sun. Once or twice, Kieran spied a small wolf or coyote following their army. It flitted through the grasses, barely noticed by anyone. Other than the wolf, there was no living creature for miles around.

  “Where are we going?” Kieran asked, turning to Imdyr/Lachlei.

  Odd, he thought. Even the magpies and camp-robber birds that normally followed a large army were absent. The sky was overcast, and a cold wind came from the north.

  Imdyr/Lachlei smiled as she reined her horse. “We’ll be meeting up with our own warriors,” she said.

  Kieran shivered slightly as he gazed on Imdyr/Lachlei. His suspicions were slowly being confirmed — whoever this was, she was not Lachlei. Her carriage was wrong for the Lochvaur queen, and he noted that she held the reins in her right hand. While Lachlei was typically ambidextrous, Lachlei held the reins with her left hand to have her right hand free for her sword. “Who are you?” Kieran demanded.

  Imdyr/Lachlei hesitated. “What do you
mean, Kieran?”

  “I’m tired of this charade!” he snapped, drawing his sword. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re not Lachlei!”

  “What are you saying, Kieran?” a Lochvaur commander named Rivalan spoke. He glanced at Imdyr/Lachlei. “Have you lost your mind? Of course, she’s Lachlei!”

  Kieran pointed his blade at her throat. “Are you?” he demanded. “Your game’s up, sorceress! I know the queen of the Lochvaur, and you’re not her!”

  Imdyr laughed. “Very good, Kieran,” she said, resuming her form as an Eltar. The Lochvaur soldiers gasped. “But it’s too late for you.”

  Kieran raised his sword to strike her, but she vanished in the wind. Rivalan stared. “What does this mean?” he asked.

  Kieran frowned. “It means we’ve been led out of Caer Lochvaren and have left the city defenseless…”

  Rivalan turned to speak, but his mouth hung open in shock. Arrows rained down onto the Lochvaur troops. Before he could shout his orders for retreat, an arrow penetrated his gorget and he fell. His last vision was of a hundred thousand Braesan charging towards them.

  *****

  Cara reined her horse and looked down at the Braesan as they charged towards the Lochvaur army. She rode beside Conlan at the head of the Elesil army. The king of the Elesil looked grim as they watched the charge. Cara glanced at the Elesil troops. Forty thousand strong, but they could not possibly withstand the Braesan’s full might. She compared the two armies.

  “Gods,” Haukel exclaimed, “Cara, there must be…”

  Cara raised her hand for silence. Haukel glanced at her, but did not continue. He did not have to. Cara knew what he was thinking. The same thoughts were on Conlan’s face as well. A hundred thousand Braesan were more than the Elesil expected. Even with the Lochvaur army, they were still outnumbered.

  “What do we do, Commander?” Haukel asked at length.

  Cara stared at the army as it advanced. “We’re outnumbered, but with the Lochvaur, we might be able to trap Areyn’s army between the two.”

  “If the Lochvaur don’t turn on us,” Conlan said.

  “Do you have any better ideas?” Cara asked.

  Conlan shook his head. “The Wyrd shows me nothing.”

  Cara smiled grimly. “I don’t see anything either. I wish Ni’yah were here.”

  “The wolf-god?” Conlan asked. “That old trickster? Why wish him here?”

  Cara made no reply. Instead, she gazed at the army. “Trickster,” she murmured. “That’s it, Conlan.”

  Conlan considered her. “What?”

  “We trick them. Make the Braesan think we’re bigger than we are,” Cara said. “You know any illusions?”

  “Battle illusions? Some, but they’re not very good.”

  “Mine aren’t either, but maybe together…”

  Conlan smiled, comprehending her plan. “Do you think we could do it?”

  Cara shrugged. “It’s better than nothing.”

  CHAPTER Sixty-Three

  “To me! To me!” Kieran shouted. The old Chi’lan warrior brandished his sword to rally the troops in the confusion that followed. Although most were not Chi’lan, they were still trained soldiers and quickly sought order in the battle’s confusion.

  The enemy looked like Lochvaur, but Kieran had never seen soldiers such as these. They were deathly pale and their silver eyes glowed with a red cast. Nor did they wear the red and gold colors of Rhyn’athel, but the black and red of Areyn Sehduk. Yet they fought like Chi’lan, and when killed their bodies disintegrated on the wind.

  It’s like they’re not alive, Kieran thought. He cleaved through several before his horse was taken from under him. Forced to fight on foot, Kieran led the retreat.

  A battle-horn rang out. Kieran saw several of the Braesan make a charge. Two of the Undead warriors stood out. One was a great warrior who rode through the Lochvaur army, swinging a great Sword of Power. The other was Fialan.

  Kieran stared. “Fialan?” he gasped. He parried a blow from a Braesan and turned to see the dead Lochvaur king ride towards him. “My king?”

  Fialan reined his horse; pain twisting his features. “Kieran!” he spoke through locked teeth. “Get the Lochvaur out of here!”

  “How? How can this be you?”

  A powerful force snapped Fialan’s head around and his eyes glowed red as he looked on Kieran. “I am dead. We are all dead — all Braesan. Areyn controls us now.”

  “Areyn — Areyn Sehduk?” Kieran stared. Another Braesan attacked, and Kieran was forced to retreat. If this were true, he wondered, how could they escape? They were not far from the Elesil lands — perhaps they could head deeper into the Darkling Plain and lose the Undead in its rolling hills. He grasped the reins of a riderless horse as it ran past him and swung into the saddle. At that moment, another battle-horn rang across the fields.

  Kieran looked towards the east and a large army appeared. But even as he hoped it might be the Chi’lan, he fell into despair. The warriors who charged wore the blue and silver of the Silren and Elesil. The army was huge — a hundred thousand warriors or more — standing amid an ethereal mist that swirled around them. The battle-horns rang in earnest now and the Braesan paused.

  Kieran stared and his heart sank. “Rhyn’athel,” he muttered. “May I die well.”

  *****

  Areyn gazed hungrily at the open gates of Caer Lochvaren. A few thousand soldiers were all that was left. He would feed tonight; relish in the final deaths of the Lochvaur. When they had destroyed Caer Lochvaren and razed it to the ground, he would turn on the Chi’lan and Laddel army and feed from them. And there would be nothing Rhyn’athel could do to stop him.

  His Braesan would finish the Lochvaur army. Imdyr was gathering his Eltar army. He would then turn on the other Eleion and eventually the Ansgar, finally destroying Rhyn’athel’s hold on Elren.

  What do you want us to do, my lord? Flayer asked. They are unprotected.

  Areyn considered the arch-demon in amusement. “Raze the city. Put everyone to the sword.” He paused. “But bring me Laewynd. Alive.”

  *****

  Wynne fled as quickly as her wolf legs could carry her. She did not stay to see the Lochvaur’s army obliteration nor did she pause until she entered Caer Lochvaren. Heedless of the guards who tried to stop her from entering in wolf form, she fled through the lower town and halted only when she entered an alleyway near the merchant shops. Wynne waited as the soldiers ran past and transmuted into her Laddel form. She continued past the main gates and into the great hall. The few Chi’lan who had stayed behind to guard Lachlei’s son were drinking and playing games.

  “Wynne!” Kerri said, spying the Laddel woman. “Where have you been?”

  “We have no time,” Wynne said. “The army is being destroyed as we speak. Caer Lochvaren is defenseless — we must leave now!”

  Another Chi’lan named Tragar laughed. “Wynne, what do you mean?”

  “We must leave now!” Wynne said, pushing by them and entering Lachlei’s quarters to pick up Haellsil and some items.

  Kerri followed her inside. “Why? I heard Lachlei was with our troops.”

  Wynne whirled around. “That was not Lachlei. It was a shapeshifter — an Eltar sorceress who serves Areyn Sehduk.”

  Kerri stared at Wynne. “Are you insane? Of course that was Lachlei.”

  Suddenly an explosion threw them to the ground. Wynne clutched Haellsil desperately to prevent him from falling. The infant began crying.

  “What in the gods’ names?” Kerri exclaimed.

  Tragar threw open the door. “We’re under attack!”

  “Attack?” Kerri gasped and glanced at Wynne who nodded.

  “We won’t be able to win this. There’s a secret passage that leads out of the city,” Wynne said. “Without the army, Caer Lochvaren is indefensible.”

  Kerri nodded. “Do you know the way?”

  “I do,” Wynne said. “Gather the Chi’lan and anyone else you can find and fo
llow me.”

  *****

  “What is going on?” Laewynd demanded as the demons dragged him before Areyn.

  Areyn smiled condescendingly. He wondered how blind Laewynd actually was to the true nature of what held him. The demons had assumed Silren bodies — the guise was incomplete, and even a Lochvaur without a drop of god’s blood in his veins would have seen it.

  But Laewynd was blinded by greed. Areyn had seen this before in many men and used their desires to twist them to his own end. At last, the death god would taste the High Council’s blood.

  “You promised!” he whined. “You promised I’d be king over Caer Lochvaren.”

  “And so you are,” Areyn said. “You are king over all you survey.” He laughed.

  Laewynd shuddered. “That Eltar bitch…”

  “Has done my bidding,” Areyn said. “As you will serve me one last time.”

  The roar of demon flame drowned out Laewynd’s screams.

  *****

  Flames engulfed Caer Lochvaren as the demons descended on the Lochvaur city. The Silren rode through the gates, slaughtering anyone who dared oppose them. Demons attacked from above.

  “There’s a portal that leads into the mountains!” Wynne shouted above the roar. People were following her and the few Chi’lan guard, hoping to escape the slaughter as the fire swept across the buildings.

  Wynne held Haellsil close to her. They had made their way through the back alleys to where the keep stood. “Tragar, there is a passage which leads from the keep to a cave within the mountains.”

  “To me! To me!” Kerri shouted as another volley of fire rained down and she saw people flee in panic. “Gods! We’ve got to get people out of here!”

  Wynne shook her head. “Chi’lan, the city is already lost.”

  “I don’t believe that,” said Tragar. “Kerri, Garhan, you take Wynne and Lachlei’s son to the passage. Zars, Niels, and I will round up whoever we can.” He led the other two Chi’lan warriors away.