Five Kingdoms: Books 01, 02 & 03

by Toby Neighbors

  “I healed it, you fool,” Branock snarled.

  “Get away from him as fast as you can. Don’t stay between us.”

  “I’ll kill her,” he said bitterly. “I may not be able to hurt her with magic for some reason, but I can still snap her neck.”

  “With one hand?” Zollin said, having to shout now as the two armies collided not far away.

  “That shows how little you know about magic, boy,” Branock said, spitting the last word as if it were a curse. “I can boost my physical strength with a thought.”

  “Don’t believe him, Brianna, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about it.”

  “Fool!” Branock screamed. His face was red, and Zollin could see blood vessels turning dark through the white skin of his bald head. “I’ve been a wizard of the Torr for over a hundred years. I will show you my power.”

  He started to squeeze, cutting off Brianna’s air supply. She clawed at his right arm, the one holding her neck, but he only squeezed tighter.

  “Shall I kill her now?”

  “Hit his other arm!” Zollin shouted at her.

  She lashed out, and Branock tried to avoid the clumsy blow, but he was holding her too close. Her hand slapped his forearm, and he cried out in pain, grimacing but not letting go of her.

  “Hit him again!” Zollin screamed.

  This time she hit his arm, which he was now holding at his side, with a solid blow. He released her neck and dropped to one knee, cradling his broken arm. Unfortunately, Brianna ran straight for Zollin. He snatched her up and turned his back to Branock, throwing up a shield around himself, Brianna, and Kelvich. The blast he expected didn’t come. Just as he was turning around to face his opponent, the dragon roared. Like everyone else, Zollin turned to the mountains. What he saw staggered him like a body blow.

  A great, red dragon was rising from a mountain top on huge, bat-like wings. It had a long neck, with a squarish head and what looked like small horns above each eye. The body was large and muscular, and the tail whipped back and forth behind the beast. Zollin watched it rise up and up, then turn and dive toward the village. It was traveling so fast there was hardly time to think.

  “Inside!” Zollin shouted.

  He grabbed Kelvich and half dragged the old sorcerer into the nearest building. It was the tailor’s shop. There were neatly folded bolts of cloth and several garments in various stages of completion. Zollin didn’t wait, but pulled Brianna and Kelvich through to the back of the shop and out the rear door. He turned to his right, heading toward the next building.

  “Stay low,” Kelvich croaked.

  They ducked between the buildings and saw Quinn come riding out from around the Valley Inn. He was leading two other horses and towering above the townspeople and soldiers who were running for their lives.

  “Dad!” Zollin screamed, but in the pandemonium, Quinn didn’t hear him. “Dad get off the horse!”

  Quinn used his heels to get the horses moving down the street. He hadn’t seen Zollin or the others, but was looking frantically for them. The soldiers were in a panic, running over townspeople, dropping their shields and swords and running through the town toward the southern range of mountains. He maneuvered the horses through the throng, a bit surprised that no one was trying to get the other horses away from him.

  The dragon was now behind Quinn, who didn’t see it coming. It was swooping down, igniting the rooftops with fire and flying straight for Quinn and the horses. Zollin looked up and saw the beast closing in. There was no time to warn his father, even if his voice had been able to carry over the sounds of panic all around them. Instead he looked at Brianna so that she could read his lips, even if she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  “Stay here,” he screamed. “Stay safe!”

  She nodded, taking hold of Kelvich, who was slumped against the wall of the nearest building, coughing uncontrollably. Zollin stepped out of the narrow space between the buildings and held up his staff. His first spell was an effort to knock the dragon off course. The magic inside of him was an inferno. His fear for his father’s life seemed to feed the magical power, and he sent an invisible shove at the huge beast that nudged it off course a little. It wasn’t enough to hurt the creature, but it did succeed in getting the dragon’s attention.

  The dragon felt the push, the magic power leached into him like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. The wizards had turned to him now, using their puny skills to try and scare him away. The chuckle that thought inspired brought a billow of black smoke from the dragon’s nostrils. It was a frightful sight, and the dragon flapped its wings in a way that made the beast stall in mid air. It opened its mouth and belched out a plume of fire.

  Zollin saw what was about to happen and sprinted away from the alley where Brianna and Kelvich waited. He knew he couldn’t outrun the flames, but he wasn’t sure how strong the force of the blast was going to be. He didn’t want the fire to overlap his shield and burn Brianna or catch the buildings she was hidden between on fire. He slid to a stop in the mud and brought his staff up across his body, mimicking the magical shield he had thrown up between himself and the dragon. The fire rebounded up into the air.

  The dragon was not surprised to see the wizard deflect his attack. In fact, the fire had been more of a distraction than an attempt to take the human out. Now, the wizard was in a fixed position though, hopefully too intent on his puny spell to notice the dragon’s tail, which he was now whipping toward Zollin.

  The oily smoke made seeing difficult, the dragon was shrouded in the dark clouds, but Zollin sensed the attack. It was physical, and Zollin didn’t expect his power, raging though it was, to be strong enough to counter the beast’s move. Instead he dove, face first, into the mud. The dragon’s tail whipped harmlessly over him and slammed instead into the Gateway Inn. The two story building started to collapse inward, and Zollin saw his chance. He reached up with all his magical strength and pulled the building down on the dragon’s tail.

  Normally the dragon would have shattered the building with his hardened scales, but they weren’t yet solid. The red scales were still too soft, and the force of the building’s shattered timber pierced the beast’s tail in hundreds of places. The bone inside cracked, and the dragon roared angrily. He flapped his wings fiercely, causing a downdraft that sent debris flying. Zollin was forced to remain in the mud, covering himself with a protective shield.

  The dragon tugged its tail, causing pain to shoot through the tail and up into the beast’s shoulder and neck. It was agonizing, but the dragon had to somehow get free. It recognized that the wizard had caused the structure to collapse on it, and it wanted revenge. It also needed to land and use its powerful legs to pull its tail free of the rubble. He looked down and spotted Zollin lying prone in the mud. He dropped toward the wizard, but Zollin was able to leap away. The dragon struck at the boy like a snake, but Zollin was ready and sent a sizzling ball of crackling, blue energy from his staff straight into the dragon’s mouth. The beast howled in pain and jerked its head back even faster than it had struck.

  Zollin didn’t wait to see what would happen next. He turned and ran as fast as he could, hoping that Brianna and Kelvich had moved out of the little alley now that the dragon was on the ground. Quinn had finally spotted Zollin and was waving his arms to get his son’s attention. Zollin ran straight to his father and at the last minute jumped, boosting himself through the air and then softening his landing in the saddle of one of the horses his father held.

  “Where are the others?” Quinn shouted.

  “This way,” Zollin said, gesturing with one hand.

  He turned the horse and moved around the side of one of the shorter buildings. He could see the dragon over the building’s roofline. It was incinerating the remains of the inn to free its tail. Zollin slid off the horse and motioned for Quinn to do the same.

  “You stay here with the horses,” Zollin said. “I’ll go get Brianna and Kelvich.”

  “Have you seen Mansel?” Quinn a
sked.

  “No, we’ll find him next.”

  “Alright,” Quinn nodded. “Hurry!”

  Zollin sprinted away, his back bent and his head low. He was keeping the buildings between himself and the dragon, while trying to search for Brianna and Kelvich at the same time. Surely, he thought to himself, they hadn’t stayed in the alley where he had left them. He didn’t see them anywhere else, though. He slowed his movements as he approached the alley. He pressed his back against the cold, stone wall of the building and then peeked around the side into the alley. He could see the dragon’s glistening, red, scaly leg in the open street beyond. There was no sign of Brianna, but Kelvich lay face down in the mud. Zollin lifted his mentor without looking and levitated the sorcerer out of the alley. He set the old man down in front of him.

  Kelvich had been knocked senseless. There was blood on the back of his head, but as Zollin probed with his magic, he found the skull intact, the brain undamaged. He gently shook Kelvich and the sorcerer’s eyes fluttered open.

  “Kelvich, where is Brianna?”

  The old man, who was filthy and glassy–eyed, looked around him as if he expected her to be close by. Then he said, “I don’t know.”

  Zollin pulled Kelvich to his feet and led him back to where Quinn was waiting, supporting the older man’s weight as much as possible.

  “He’s hurt,” Zollin explained, “but not too badly. Help me get him on one of the horses.”

  They boosted him up, and he sat in the saddle but leaned against the horse’s neck.

  “Where is Brianna?” Quinn shouted.

  “I don’t know. She was supposed to stay with Kelvich, but someone hit him over the head. I think someone must have taken her.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know,” Zollin said, but he had an idea.

  Just then the dragon broke free of the collapsed building and, with a roar, jumped back into the sky, flapping its wings through the billowing smoke of burning buildings to get airborne again. Then it turned and flew back toward the northern mountain range.

  “Let’s mount up and find our people,” said Quinn.

  Zollin climbed up behind Kelvich and held onto the sorcerer to keep him from falling out of the saddle.

  “Where should we look?” Quinn asked.

  “Let’s start with the army,” Zollin said angrily. They were with the wizards from the Torr, and he expected that Branock was behind Brianna’s disappearance.

  Chapter 15

  The army was in total disarray. The soldiers who hadn’t been killed by the Skellmarians had scattered when they saw the dragon. The group of foot soldiers and archers on the enemy’s flank had broken and run for cover, including many of the officers. Mansel, though, was in a fit of blood fury and had continued fighting He was still on the plain between the river and the town, cutting down the Skellmarians who were retreating toward the mountains.

  Toag had seen first that his warriors were overrunning the foot soldiers’ shield wall. He had been confident of victory until the dragon appeared. At first the Skellmarians saw it as a sign that the mountain gods were blessing their invasion. Then the dragon attacked, and they, too, had been stricken with fear. They ran for cover or retreated back across the bridge. Toag had taken a place of safety, but when the dragon flew away, he began trying to rally his people and press the attack.

  Mansel had seen the big warrior and, without hesitation, had spurred his horse straight toward the small cluster of Skellmarians gathering around their leader. The horse’s thundering hoofs alerted the crowd and most of them scattered out of Mansel’s way, but a few were too slow or too stupid to move. Mansel cut through one with his sword, another fell under his horse, and a third was kicked in the face by Mansel as the horse charged past. He wheeled and turned back to find that the group had spread out and were urging their leader on.

  Toag was waiting for the mounted warrior. It was not the first time he had faced an enemy on horseback. He knew the horse would give the warrior strength and momentum, but there were ways to counter those skills. He braced himself and raised a huge scimitar, shouting curses that his foe could not understand.

  Mansel urged his horse forward, but not too quickly; instead of charging past, he reined up short of the chieftain and caused the horse to rear on its hind legs. The horse pawed the air, forcing Toag to leap backward. Then Mansel spurred the horse away from the big warrior. He slammed instead into the unprepared Skellmarians who were watching the battle. He pushed his horse into the mass of bodies, causing them to stumble back. Many fell, some were trod upon by Mansel’s horse, others by their own people, who were desperate to get out of the way. Mansel cut down any unfortunate soul unlucky enough to come within range of his long sword.

  The Skellmarians were not horsemen, and most harbored some type of superstitious fear of horses. In open combat, they could find the courage to face a cavalry soldier or knight, but surprised as these Skellmarians were, they gave into their fear and scattered. When Mansel at last turned his horse, he found the big clan leader hot in pursuit. He pulled hard on the reins again, causing the horse to rear back and buying Mansel a few seconds. It also caused Toag to hesitate and slow his charge.

  The big Skellmarian High Chief was outraged at what he considered a cowardly act. In his culture, to make a challenge and then turn away was the greatest form of cowardice. In his rage, he charged after the horseman, only to be stopped in his tracks by the animal’s flailing hooves. He swung his big sword in a level arc, but the horse danced back out of reach. He jumped forward with his sword over his head and brought it down in a mighty blow that should have cut the soldier in half, but Mansel parried the strike with his own sword.

  Quinn had taught Mansel about angles, and how to use one blade to deflect another without taking on the force of the blow. Still, it was all he could do to hang onto his sword after blocking the barbarian’s cut. The horse now sidestepped back out of reach, but Toag was in no mood to fight fair. He pulled his pick ax from his thick, leather belt and threw it at the soldier. It should have buried itself in the man’s back, but, instead, it stopped in mid-air as if it had hit an invisible wall.

  Zollin and Quinn had come around the last building in time to see Mansel block the vicious strike from the Skellmarian leader. They saw his horse dance away and then the ax was thrown. Zollin acted without thinking. He pushed out a defensive spell to block the ax and then shot crackling, blue energy at the barbarian.

  Toag realized that one of the riders approaching must be the devil who had slain his kinsmen, but before he could act on this knowledge, the wizard was casting a spell at him. Toag dove out of the way, sliding in the mud, which was now watery with blood. He rose hurriedly to his feet to see the mounted warrior riding after him again. Toag started to swing his sword at the rider, but it seemed to freeze in mid-air, just like his ax. The rider’s sword didn’t freeze, though. It was coming at Toag’s head.

  The barbarian ducked just in time to avoid the sword, but it went against his instincts to let go of his sword. So his arm was still raised, still tugging on the weapon that Zollin held tightly with magic. Mansel’s weapon sliced cleanly through the arm, just below the elbow. Blood fountained into the air as the Skellmarian leader fell back, howling in pain.

  Seeing their leader fall brought more of the barbarians rushing forward. Mansel wheeled his horse and turned back toward his friends. They were waiting, and as the barbarians approached, Zollin once again sent a blast of electrical energy surging toward them. Several were hit and burned, some shaking as the energy twisted their bodies into bone-crunching gyrations. Others were blown backwards, slamming into their companions by the power of the blast. They managed to drag their leader away, and Quinn led Zollin and Mansel back from the fighting.

  “Where’s the army?” Zollin shouted at Mansel.

  “The cowards fled,” Mansel replied.

  “Where to?” Quinn asked.

  “Back the way they came, I think.”

&nb
sp; The valley floor was a rolling plain, so that a slight rise blocked their view. Quinn spurred his horse forward in the direction the army had come from, while hundreds of Skellmarian warriors fled back across the river.

  Toag was in so much pain his vision was blurry, but he had the sense of mind to order his men to cut the lines that raised and lowered the bridges. Then he had his men chop down the support pillars that Zollin had set in place. The day had not gone well for the Skellmarians, but the southerners were in worse shape, their homes burned and their army all but destroyed. Toag would return, he swore it.

  * * *

  “What are you doing with that girl?” Billips asked Branock as the wizard rode into the camp, where his servants were waiting on him.

  “Form up your troops, commander,” Branock snarled. “Keep your mind on the task at hand. Kill anyone who tries to follow me.”

  “But where are you going?”

  “To report what happened here today to your King. You should establish a base of defense here to keep the Skellmarians from raiding down the valley. The snows will keep them from using Telford’s pass for a while, but not long enough. You’ll need to hold it as well.”

  “Against an army that size?” Billips said. “That’s impossible. My men were slaughtered by that dragon. You saw what happened.”

  “Yes,” said Branock. “I did see it, and I shall report how you divided your force and were overtaken by the barbarians.”

  “That’s not what happened!” the knight said angrily.

  “Oh, yes it is. If the dragon hadn’t appeared, you would have been wiped out to the last man. Now, do as I say, or you’ll find yourself in the King’s dungeons.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Billips. He was angry, but he’d learned long ago that his birth order had left him in no position to give orders. He swallowed his anger and began taking charge of the scattered remains of his legion. Only a quarter of their entire force had returned so far, most of them archers. Still, he would do what he could with what he had.