Evil Within

by Richard S. Tuttle

  "I was concerned about the number of personal bodyguards he had," nodded the queen.

  King Gregory raised his hand to silence the queen. He gazed at Belon with disbelief. "Tell me exactly what happened, Belon."

  "I posted men at key positions around the palace last night," explained Belon. "It was just a precaution based on a feeling that something didn't add up with the Borundans. About an hour ago, the Borundans crept out of their barracks and entered the palace. They split up and began to make their way upstairs. When the first group was surprised by my men, the fighting began. Fortunately, I had the foresight to make sure all of the corridors were darkened. That left our men knowing the palace well and the intruders at a loss. That alone saved the lives of many of our men."

  "We can get to the self-congratulations later," sighed the king. "Tell me about King Garrick."

  "It appears that two divergent plots were in play by the Borundans," explained Belon. "King Garrick had brought a great deal of men with him to aid in overthrowing the royal family of Vineland, but it appears that a small contingent of those men was working for someone else in the Borundan government. The six Borundan guards assigned to watch over King Garrick turned on him and killed him in his chambers. I think it was supposed to look as if King Garrick died while overthrowing you."

  "Mercy!" exclaimed the queen. "Borunda will not look favorably upon this."

  "You have a knack for understatement," the king shook his head. "There will most likely be war over this. How are we to talk our way out of it?"

  "Perhaps we can blame it on an internal power struggle?" suggested Belon. "It is obvious that bad blood existed between King Garrick and the Borundan prince. Suppose the prince paid to have the king assassinated?"

  "That might work," the king shook his head, "if the person we were explaining this to was not Prince Zinan, but he is the most likely Borundan to arrive here in search of King Garrick. You must also realize that he will inherit the crown?"

  "True," nodded Belon. "Perhaps we should send a runner to Dulga and speak with General Wikner before the prince arrives for the wedding. It is the Borundan army that we must worry about. If they are convinced that the prince sought to steal the throne, they most likely will not follow him into battle."

  "Don't wager your gold on that," replied King Gregory. "General Wikner will do whatever the crown tells him to do, and that crown will soon pass to Prince Zinan."

  "What if Prince Zinan were to meet a similar fate when he arrived?" posed Belon. "Who would rule Borunda?"

  "A good question," mused King Gregory. "There is no other blood relative. You may just have found the answer to our problem. I assume that there would be a three-way fight for the crown. General Wikner, General Ortega, and Naveena would all seek the crown. It is doubtful that the three of them would join together to lash out at us, and none of them could afford to turn their backs on the other two."

  "Then we must carry on as if nothing has happened," smiled Belon. "We will merely wait for the Borundan prince to show up for the wedding."

  "I am loathe to do something so despicable," frowned King Gregory, "but none of the Borundans will believe the truth, and I refuse to subject my people to a bloody war through no fault of their own. Wait until the Borundan prince is inside the palace before you seize him."

  "What if he does not show for the wedding?" asked the queen. "You turned him away at the gates once already. He might have just returned to Tarent."

  "He will have to show up sooner or later," reasoned the king. "I don't quite swallow the explanation that King Garrick gave for not wanting Prince Zinan to arrive here before him. There is some bad blood between those cousins. While I do not know what the nature of it is, Prince Zinan will definitely show up here. We shall do nothing but wait. Belon, I want the Borundan uniforms mended and washed. Burn the bodies, and distribute the Borundan uniforms to men of like stature. There may be a need to portray Borundan soldiers to lure the prince into the palace."

  "I will see to it, my king," bowed Belon.

  "And remove the guards from my doorway," the king commanded.

  "Allow me some more time to verify that all of the Borundans have been accounted for," pleaded Belon. "I promise that they will be removed within the hour, but I will take no chance of a lone assassin remaining unaccounted for."

  * * *

  A horn blared from the ramparts of the royal palace in Laborg. Soldiers raced to defensive positions, and King Gregory hurried up the stairs to see what had caused the alarm. Belon followed the king and together they gazed down on the river and the massive army approaching along the Dulga-Laborg Road.

  "How is this possible?" the king asked with alarm. "Garrick's body has not even cooled yet, and already the Borundan army is drawing to our gates? They would have to have left Dulga days ago."

  "You are correct," Belon agreed calmly. "Perhaps that is why King Garrick's men killed him. His death was meant as an excuse to invade Vineland."

  "Seal all of the city's gates," the king shouted to the officers who had gathered around, "and destroy the bridge immediately. Belon, I want riders sent north to rally all of our troops to the city."

  "I already sent riders early this morning," replied Belon.

  "You knew this was going to happen?" asked the king. "I thought we were expecting Prince Zinan to show up for the wedding?"

  "I saw no reason not to prepare for the worst," shrugged Belon. "Fear not, King Gregory. We will stall the Borundans at the river and demand to speak to Prince Zinan. There is still a chance that this can all end peacefully."

  "Perhaps," the king mused anxiously, "but I fail to see how. The Borundans have used treachery to bring their armies a great distance from their homeland. They will not willingly withdraw without some compensation."

  "Their army sits on Odessian land," an officer pointed out. "Can we not send a rider to King Rihad and ask for his help? With the bridge destroyed and an Odessian army threatening their flank, the Borundans would surely flee."

  "The Odessians would already be aware of the movements of the Borundan army," King Gregory shook his head. "The fact is, King Rihad is not very happy with me at the moment. He pleaded with me not to sell weapons to the Borundans, but I never imagined those weapons would be used against my own people. No, the Odessians will not come to our aid. They will be fortifying the Natura-Laborg Road in case the greedy Borundans decide that Vineland is not enough plunder for themselves."

  King Gregory watched as the many gates of the city of Laborg were closed and barred. He followed the progress of the engineers as they rode towards the bridge to dismantle it.

  "What is going on down there?" frowned the king as he pointed to the bridge joining Vineland with Odessia.

  A large horde of civilians had massed in front of the bridge and the engineers could not get through the crowd.

  "Borundan cavalry is charging!" shouted one of the soldiers on the wall.

  "More treachery," spat an officer as he gazed at the bridge. "The people are not letting the engineers get to the bridge. Unless we get soldiers down there immediately, the Borundans will be across before the engineers can destroy the bridge."

  "Get soldiers down there and kill that mob!" shouted the king.

  "It is no use," said Belon. "The city gates are sealed. By the time we unseal them and get our troops down to the river, the Borundans will already be across the bridge."

  "He's right," sighed an officer. "Fortunately, we can yield the bridge and still defeat the Borundans. The palace is obviously their goal, and they have no siege engines that I can see. They will have to climb through this city to reach us and each step of the way will bring death to thousands of their men. There are, after all, six successive walls that they must breach before they reach this palace. Each one of those walls will prove to be unassailable as our archers rain death upon their troops from above. The best they can do is lay siege to the city, and that will bring time for our northern troops to assemble and encircle the Borundan
s. Even though their numbers be greater than ours, we shall prevail in the end."

  As the Borundan cavalry galloped closer to the bridge, the engineers turned and fled. As the vanguard of the Borundans crossed the bridge, the mob dispersed. There were no cheers of welcome, nor shouts of victory, only the simple act of dispersal.

  "They were paid to block the bridge," commented an officer. "That mob was not made up of Borundan sympathizers, merely paid traitors."

  "Despicable," snarled King Gregory as he watched the Borundans secure the bridge. "Selling out your country for a few gold coins is the act of man without a conscience. I want them rounded up when this business with the Borundans is over. I will make an example of them to make sure this never happens again."

  Belon's eye twitched, and he turned away from the king as if looking to see if his men were all in place. He had not anticipated events turning out as they had. For the first time in his life, Belon wondered if things might not have gotten away from him.

  "That is General Wikner and Prince Zinan riding in the vanguard," announced an officer.

  * * *

  "Amazing," frowned General Wikner as he started to cross the bridge over the Vine River. "I would have expected them to destroy the bridge as their first act of defense."

  "They tried to," remarked an officer alongside the general. "The group we sent on ahead reported that a group of citizens prevented the engineers from destroying the bridge."

  "Why?" puzzled the general. "Are we riding into a trap?"

  "No," smiled Prince Zinan. "I would suppose there are many citizens in Laborg who would welcome Borundan rule over Vineland."

  "Why?" asked the general. "King Gregory has never been a harsh ruler from all that I have heard."

  "Borunda is destined to rule the Land of the Nine Kingdoms," the dark prince declared. "There are people in all of the lands that would welcome such a unifying proposition. Petty nationalistic pride will become a thing of the past. Obviously some Vinelanders already see that."

  The general shook his head in disbelief, but he was not about to argue with the Crown Prince, especially since King Garrick was dead.

  "I want the army to halt on the Laborg side of the river," commanded the general. "There will be no attack until all of the men are on Vineland soil. We will need to build siege machines to get through the many walls of Laborg."

  "There is no time for that," objected the dark prince. "We must strike before the Vinelanders get a chance to organize."

  "With all respect, my prince," General Wikner shook his head, "we cannot climb to the royal palace without passing through each of the walls, and each wall has only one gate. The Vinelanders will concentrate their defenses on any force we send against one of those gates. If we attack without siege machines, we will have no army left to take back to Borunda."

  "The bulk of their defense will be at the first wall which protects the marketplace," retorted Prince Zinan. "Those defenders will not retreat to the second wall until it appears that the first gate will fall to us. If we can get fast riders through that gate to the marketplace, we will have cut off the bulk of their defenders."

  "Agreed," nodded the general, "but first we have to get that gate open, and that is not an easy task without siege engines. We will lose thousands of men trying to destroy that first gate, and it will probably take days to accomplish. In the same amount of time, we can build the siege engines that we need and not lose the men."

  "Get the riders together, General," commanded the dark prince. "Make them half archers and half swordsmen. Once they secure the marketplace, they are to turn and attack the defenders from behind."

  "I protest," retorted the general. "If anything, the riders should sleep while we attack the gates. To form their party now would make them weary by the time we need them. If we must throw the lives of thousands of men away in haste, at least let the cavalry rest before battle."

  "You have spirit," smiled the dark prince. "Not many officers would dare to object to an order from their king, but there is a limit to my patience with you. I will merely override your objection this time, but do not tire me with continual doubts. I value your service to Borunda, but no general is irreplaceable. Gather the riders. I will see that the gate is opened promptly."

  Prince Zinan rode off into the city as the general frowned and watched him leave. General Wikner shouted orders for a portion of the cavalry to form up while the rest of the army spread out to secure the lowest level of the city.

  * * *

  "What are they doing?" scowled King Gregory. "They should be building siege engines or attacking the archers on the lowest wall, but instead they have the cavalry forming ranks as if they are just going to charge up the hill. It makes no sense."

  "None whatsoever," agreed an officer. "If that cavalry charges the gate, they will be destroyed while they mill around in front of it."

  "Prince Zinan is approaching the gate alone," Belon said as he pointed at the dark prince. "Perhaps he is coming to negotiate."

  "Bah," scowled the king. "If he thinks we will fall for opening the gate to admit him while his cavalry sits behind him waiting to dash through the open gate, he is sadly mistaken. I will not fall for such treachery. Send word down for our archers to skewer him."

  "Is that wise?" asked an officer. "I can understand not opening the gates to speak to him, but killing him would dash all chances of a peaceful settlement."

  "There will be no peaceful settlement of this conflict," replied the king. "The battle will end when the Borundans take their wounded back over the bridge on their way home."

  A sudden clap of thunder shook the hillside as the lowest gates disappeared in a flurry of wooden splinters. Dozens of defending archers were tossed from the wall in the vicinity of the gates. The loud roar of war cries quickly followed as the Borundan cavalry galloped through the shattered gates. The defenders tried to shoot at the horses speeding through the gates, but the Borundans dashed to the marketplace, which was out of range for the defenders.

  Even as the cavalry flowed through the broken gates, the Borundan archers moved forward and began engaging the defenders on the wall. The Vinelanders were caught between the two forces. The Borundan cavalry archers slowly moved towards the defenders of the first wall. The Vinelanders' position on the wall left them exposed to the cavalry archers, and the cavalry swordsmen cut off their path of retreat to the next wall. Hundreds of Vinelanders died in the first few minutes of the battle, and the rest soon surrendered.

  "We are in trouble," remarked an officer near the Vinelander king. "If they go through the other gates as quickly as the first one, they will be up here before the sun sets this day."

  "If the Borundans can duplicate the destruction of the first gate," nodded another officer, "it will be even quicker than that. Most of our defenders were protecting the first wall, and much of the defense of the other walls depended upon their retreating. We should surrender."

  "Get out of my sight," snapped King Gregory. "I will not be surrounded by such pessimism."

  Belon watched as Prince Zinan approached the second gate, which led up to the first of three residential sections of the city. He noted that the dark prince halted just outside of bow range. He watched the Borundan prince as the second set of gates exploded. He never saw the prince move an arm or even make a gesture. Once again the Borundan cavalry charged through the destroyed gates and turned on the defenders. The Vinelanders at the second gate surrendered without much of a fight. They threw down their bows and quickly raised their hands over their heads in a show of submission.

  "Cowards," snarled King Gregory. "Where is the army that is supposed to protect me? Pass the order that no more soldiers are to surrender. They are to fight to the death. Anyone who surrenders will have his family executed."

  Belon's eyebrow rose as he backed away from King Gregory. He moved along the wall to where one of his men was standing and whispered to him. The soldier nodded and moved quickly down the stairs. Belon returned to the
king's side and watched as the third gate splintered and disappeared. Again the defenders surrendered quickly, and the king flew into a rage. He started shouting orders for groups of soldiers to prepare to kill other soldiers if anyone tried to surrender. The enthusiasm for defending Laborg evaporated quickly.

  As the fourth gate disappeared in a spray of splinters, the king heard female screams coming from behind him. He whirled to find soldiers dragging the queen and princess from the palace.

  "What treachery is this?" snarled the king. "Kill those men."

  The officers who had been hanging around the king had slid off while everyone watched the fourth gate disappear. The only officer left was Belon. The king turned to Belon with fury in his deep red face.

  "I want those men killed immediately," he demanded of Belon. "No one touches the royal family. See to it."

  "I can't," Belon replied calmly. "Those are my men, and I ordered them to seize your family."

  The king looked at Belon with disbelief. His face contorted, and the look took on a pained expression as he glanced down at the knife in Belon's hand. It was covered in blood, the king's blood. The king's eyes rolled upward as he sighed his final breath. Belon dropped the knife and caught the king's body as it pitched forward. He hefted the body of the king and tossed it over the wall to the barracks area below. As the body hit, soldiers dragged the queen and princess to the wall. With a nod from Belon, both of the women were thrown over the wall to smash upon the stone street below.

  "Raise a white flag," commanded Belon. "Enough of us have died today. Tell the men to open the remaining gates and let the Borundans in. "

  The soldiers on the level below looked up and saw the flag rising. Silence rippled through the soldiers as they dropped their bows and unsheathed their swords and placed them on the ground. Belon descended the stairs to the courtyard of the palace. He walked across the courtyard to the open gate and waited for the Borundans to arrive.