Ruby Morgan Box Set: Books 6-10

by LJ Rivers

  “What’s the current situation?” I asked.

  Brendan took a position next to Taryn. “Scouts from the north report that twenty ships are approaching the harbour. I sent them back, with orders to report every half awr.”

  “Let’s hope they can bring news that Captain Morien and the rest of our fleet hold the port. What about the archers at the pass?”

  “No activity so far,” my boyfriend replied. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to coordinate with my sword commanders.”

  “Go.” I wanted to give him a kiss, but this was not the time nor the place. I pointed at the curved horn in Taryn’s hand. “Could I borrow that, please? I wish to address the troops.”

  He gave it to me. “The scouts from beyond the hills report that Auberon’s army will reach the south end of Dehul Gefell in one awr.”

  “That’s the southernmost part of the Twin Hills, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “Are the manticores and griffins ready?”

  Taryn motioned with his head to the west. “Lady Carolina and some twenty civilians are loading liquid fire into the barrels as we speak.” He took a couple of steps back. “Norlian?”

  “Commander?” A bald, stocky man emerged from the group behind him.

  “Give me a status on Lady Carolina.”

  “Who?”

  “The little Don Hekal girl with the wired eyes.”

  “Right away, Commander.” Norlian, who reminded me slightly of a police officer friend of mine from what now seemed a distant memory of a life, ran along the riverbank.

  Taryn turned back to me, his brows raised, and I had to stifle a laugh.

  “She’ll love that description,” I said.

  “I suppose it’s of no use asking that you not relay it to her?”

  “We’ll see, Commander. Now, I might need a hand to get back up on this magnificent creature.” I patted Rhiannon on her belly.

  “Certainly.” Taryn bent down and held out his right palm.

  I had expected him to fold his hands and make a platform, but said nothing. Instead, I looked up at the golden horn at the front of the saddle. It was at least five feet beyond my reach.

  “Pardon me,” Taryn straightened, “but this is much faster.” He plucked me into his arms as if I were a toddler and heaved me into the saddle. “Maybe not the most elegant way to mount a unicorn, though.”

  “You think?” I grabbed the reins with my free hand and slid my feet into the stirrups. “Well, I’m up here, at least. Thank you, Commander.”

  I made Rhiannon move along the front row of soldiers so I could look them in the eyes. First, we passed the wolves and the foxes, half of whom had already donned their four-legged attire. Next to them stood several groups of Fae, carrying spears, swords, and axes. Most also had a bow across their chest, but only a few had quivers with arrows. A shiver ran down my spine as I connected the dots. When one of the quiver-carrying soldiers fell, another would grab their arrows.

  My army didn’t count enough Sorcerers to form an entire group of one hundred and fifty, but together with Rowan’s Dodger friends, they filled at least six rows of ten.

  I continued until I reached the end, passing the eighteenth group of soldiers; Pixies, as far as I could tell. Most of them donned arrows and quivers in addition to small, curved daggers in their belts.

  As I turned, I steered Rhiannon a bit closer to the riverbank, so that when we trotted back, I also rode by each of the commanding officers in front of every group. I couldn’t let go of the surreality of it as I passed some of the most legendary figures in British lore. Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, and Lancelot’s son, Sir Galahad, each sitting astride a unicorn, holding their helmets under their arms. I continued, nodding at Sir Agravain, Sir Lamorak and Sir Ector. Finally, leading a platoon of unicorn-mounted Pixies, Sir Bedivere smiled atop his pitch-black unicorn. The golden spiral on the animal’s forehead shone like a beacon. All the knights bowed deeply and held their free hand to the embroidered chalices on their chests.

  I stopped and turned towards the army.

  My army.

  Straight ahead, a hundred pairs of eyes stared at me, with another hundred behind them and so on until the last row. On each side stood more files and ranks of men and women, thousands upon thousands of Magicals of all kinds, waiting for the vastly bigger army from the north.

  What the fudge was I going to say to them? This was not a well thought through plan, I told myself. I raised the ivory horn to my lips. My hand was shaking, and at one point I thought I was going to drop the horn.

  “Many of you have never seen me,” I shouted. My voice boomed out from the other end. How such a small contraption could amplify a sound so many times was beyond me, but it was clear that I didn’t have to shout. A couple of the soldiers in front held their hands to their ears.

  “Many of you have never seen me,” I repeated, this time in my normal speaking voice. A spear-carrying soldier behind Sir Galahad smiled and jutted his chin out encouragingly.

  “And many of you may think of me as an outsider. That is to be expected. I was not born in Avalon, after all. But in my veins, the blood of Morgana runs true. I can assure you, there is nothing I want more than for the Avalonians to reclaim their land.”

  I was rambling. These were not the right words.

  I cleared my throat. “But today is not about me. It is not about the throne in Morgana’s castle in Avalen. It is not about who has the right to call themselves king or queen.” I raised my left hand and pointed at the young man who had smiled at me.

  “Today is about this young man,” I said, lowering the speaker horn from my lips. “What’s your name, soldier?”

  “Graeme of Pixilen, Your Highness.”

  “And yours?” I pointed to the girl next to him.

  “Beca, Your Highness. Of Pelles.”

  I raised the horn again. “Today is about Graeme of Pixilen and Beca of Pelles.” I inclined my head at the group to my right. “Today is about these ten brave soldiers. And the ten behind them. It is about all of you. And your families. Today, a frightening foe awaits on the battlefield.”

  “Kill the usurper!” shouted someone at the far back. They were rewarded with cheers and shouts to the same effect. I waited patiently, and after a little while, silence returned.

  “But most of all,” I said, raising my voice slightly, “today is about tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow. And the next. I have seen the future of Avalon, the future of all of Gwyn Fanon. I have seen what will be if Auberon is allowed to rule the realm.”

  Part of me wanted to tell them how my father actually wanted to be a just and fair ruler, even if his fist would be more of the iron kind than mine. Something told me that this angle wouldn’t fly with these people.

  “Today, we—you and I—have one chance, and one chance only, to secure the future of Avalon and her neighbours.”

  I lowered the horn again and took a few deep breaths before raising it.

  “Soldiers of Morgana!” I couldn’t help but raise my voice once more. “Don’t fight for me. Don’t fight for the throne. Fight for tomorrow!”

  The response was shockingly loud, and I nearly fell off Rhiannon’s back. Ten thousand soldiers raised their weapons and cried out in unison.

  “For tomorrow!”

  “For tomorrow!”

  For tomorrow!

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Brendan and I stood next to a boulder, around which two loops of plaited rope was tied, securing the bridge across the river. The only sound in the air was the babbling from the river, thirty feet below the Queen’s Crossing, the only bridge for ten miles in each direction.

  “It’s quiet.” I hadn’t planned on whispering; it just came naturally.

  “This is where I would say ‘yes, too quiet’,” Brendan replied. “And some violas and cellos would play a slow, pulsing rhythm.”

  “Wow, that’s cheesy.”

  He chuckled. “Which is why I didn’t say it.” He retri
eved a brass tube from his belt. “Remember that leather tube Morgana lent me, at that castle in Mynyddlen Hollow. Forgot the lord’s name.”

  “Lord Wadlow.”

  “That’s the one. Anyway, I took those Egyptian prisms from the tube and brought them to Feeney, along with a rough sketch. He hammered out a few sheets of brass, and with the help of Elwood’s giant, but surprisingly nimble fingers, this was the result.”

  He expanded the five-inch-long brass on both ends, lengthening it to three times its former size. The ends were plugged with the green glass that Morgana had said would “pull things closer to your eyes.”

  “A telescope,” I said. “That’s awesome.”

  “I know, right?” He handed it to me. “Take a look.”

  I rested my elbows on the rock and looked through the thinnest end. It worked, although not nearly as well as modern versions, as far as magnification went. Everything turned green, and the viewing angle was quite narrow. But this telescope had a feature that only the most expensive modern-day ones had. The queen’s herbalists had dipped the glass in a potion that enhanced night vision.

  “This is at least a thousand years ahead of its time, B.” I was about to hand it back to him when something appeared in the round, green lens. “Riders!”

  Brendan snapped the telescope and peered through it. “Not ours.” He pushed it back in his belt and looked around. “Sod etiquette.” He grabbed my hips and pulled me flush to his body.

  His lips found mine, and it didn’t occur to me to protest. I kissed him hungrily, as if it were our last kiss.

  “Better get ready,” I said as we let go, my voice nothing but a whisper.

  “We’ll make it, Ru,” Brendan said. “Promise.”

  As I walked over to Rhiannon, who patiently waited next to the other bridge-securing boulder, I noticed the carts lined up by the path. The master of arms, whose name escaped me, stood next to one of them. I made a quick detour.

  “I need a sword,” I said.

  “Certainly, My Queen,” he replied.

  “One like Swordmaster Brendan has. Not too long, and not too heavy.”

  The master of arms sped over to a cart further down the line, rummaged for a short while, and returned with three belts. “These are fine craftsmanship, every single one. Sharp, well-balanced, and deadly in skilled hands.”

  “Excellent,” I said, grabbing one of the hilts. The sword slipped easily out of the sheath with a metallic ringing sound. It fit perfectly in my hand, and the blade was short enough for me to wield it and long enough to hurt anyone I hit. “This will do nicely.”

  “Swordsmen of Morgana!” Brendan called out behind me.

  Feet stomped and swords clanged as his soldiers fell in line.

  “The time has come to let our enemy taste our steel!”

  “Hoo-ah!” his soldiers responded in unison.

  Eejit! I stifled a smile. Who but Brendan O’Callaghan would make his platoons of medieval sword fighters quote Al Pacino before going to war?

  “I guess it’s time,” I said to the master of arms.

  “May the Lady protect you, My Queen,” he said.

  I sheathed the sword and fastened the belt while I returned to my unicorn. I climbed onto the boulder and got in my saddle. Rhiannon let out a little nicker to greet me as I ran my fingers through her thick, soft mane. Hidden underneath the bright white hairs were strands of purple, violet and pink.

  “And here I was, thinking you couldn’t look any more magical.” I shifted my body and used my legs to turn her around. “This is it, girl. Point of no return.”

  With my right hand on the hilt, I rode over the bridge to join Brendan and his swordsmen on the other side. Thousands of soldiers had already spread out along the riverbank. Eagles took to their wings, each with a sword or a curved blade attached to their backs. The lead eagle, Commander Taryn, looked down at me as he soared into the night. If it were at all possible for an eagle to smile, I decided it would look exactly like he did.

  Pixies and Fae followed behind the eagles, flying over Zuwar Gwyll, who gave a loud howl to his wolf pack. As if choreographed by the Royal Ballet, the remaining twenty or so wolf Shifters who were still in their human form, dropped down on all fours. Naheena and Evonny, who stood in front of their pack, also shifted into wolves. Further down, the foxes had already changed, and were running towards the northern entrance to the Culach Pass.

  I didn’t need a telescope to see the enemy soldiers anymore. Through the green lenses, I had seen them exit the pass, three men wide. Now, as they were only half a mile away, the dark silhouettes formed an increasingly wide front line, with more soldiers moving in rank and file behind. There was no way of telling how many Cynthia and the archers had stopped at the south entrance. All I knew was we were facing thousands.

  “Good luck, Red,” Jen called on my left. She was still Jen, standing between two wolves.

  “You too,” I replied. “All of you.”

  Erica and Jack wiggled their tails in response. Jen winked and changed into her own battle gear. The three wolves sped away, aiming to catch up with Naheena’s pack, judging by their direction.

  More voices yelled orders down the riverbank, and one by one, the platoons of soldiers, two or four legged, stormed towards the pass. My army covered at least the width of the silhouetted army charging against us, a mile or so south.

  “Or-Tu-Allan!”

  I turned to my left, where my brother sat atop an umber-coloured unicorn, his sword pointing south. Behind him, his Dodger friends from the streets of Nidra—the Or-Tu-Allan—had drawn their weapons. There were curved daggers, axes, and swords. Two of the girls had spears, and behind them, standing at least seven feet tall, a grinning young man with bulging biceps slung a sledgehammer over his shoulder.

  “Let’s have some fun, shall we?” Rowan said.

  The motley, but terrifying, crew had no war cry to fill the night sky with. They smiled, grinned and howled, though, as they marched—somewhat—behind my brother. One of the Dodgers vanished, only to reappear on the other side of the gang. Three of his friends did the same, popping in and out of reality several times.

  “They shouldn’t be wasting their magical energy,” I said.

  Rowan turned in his saddle. “Don’t worry, sis,” he said. “Just warming up. We’ll clear the way for you.”

  I tried to smile, but my lips wouldn’t stop quivering. Rowan leaned forward and bumped his heels against his unicorn’s sides. The animal neighed and sped off in a gallop.

  “Keep up, you lazy sons and daughters of the Nethers!” he yelled, and got a multitude of roaring laughs in response.

  “Our turn,” Brendan said. “You want to do the honours?”

  “No, you’re their commanding officer.”

  He smirked and drew his sword. Like mine, Brendan’s blade was almost half the size of what seemed to be the standard, giving it the same balance of speed and deadliness.

  “Make haste, swordsmen,” he shouted, “or there will be no enemies left for us!”

  “Hoo-ah!” they replied again while unsheathing their blades, most of which were the same size as Brendan’s. He had taught them well.

  I gave a gentle command by adjusting my legs and body in the saddle, and Rhiannon jerked forward, falling into a trot.

  “Don’t go too far up front, Ru,” Brendan cautioned.

  But I had to. The whispers of my soldiers echoed in my mind. They had thought me a coward, hiding in my chambers back in the castle. My presence seemed to have had an effect on them, and judging by their war cries and sheer speed across the plain towards the enemy, I figured my speech might have carried some weight.

  They deserved to see their queen fight, too.

  For their tomorrow.

  For ours.

  I added pressure with my legs and leaned forward, and Rhiannon responded as if I had floored the gas pedal on a sports car, before I released the pressure again. I smiled against the push of the air and had to bite
my tongue to keep from screaming in a mix of delight and fright.

  We flew past Rowan and his Outsiders, before catching up with a group of foxes heading for the left flank. As my presence hadn’t been planned out on the war map—Taryn had even placed the crown-shaped piece inside the walls of Pelles—I figured I was free to choose my tactics as I saw fit. So, I steered Rhiannon further left. She upped the pace even more. We were only three hundred yards away from the leftmost enemy soldiers.

  I called on my fire magic, but couldn’t risk letting go of the reins at this speed, so I let the heat linger just underneath my skin. In my left hand, my force field power awaited my command.

  Two hundred yards.

  As I had expected, a lot of Auberon’s soldiers were Sorcerers, which meant they could withstand my fire better than any other Magicals.

  A hundred and fifty yards.

  I adjusted my position in the saddle, pushing back against the cantle, and relaxed my breathing, making Rhiannon slow to a third of the pace, which was still as fast as any horse I had ridden in my life.

  Screams and shouts filled the night air, as well as the clanging of metal. My instinct was to look at what my soldiers were accomplishing, but that would mean taking my eyes off my targets, of which there were plenty, all barrelling towards me.

  I raised my left hand, pushing my force field out to shield Rhiannon and myself. Not a second too soon, as an arrow smashed against the translucent film, skidding out to my left. The black-clad archer wasn’t alone. At least ten more had raised their bows, all aiming at me. As they loosed their arrows, I pushed all ten off their paths with my telekinesis force. But I couldn’t spend all my magical energy on defence alone. I had to strike back.

  With a rapid series of flicks with my right hand, I sent half a dozen fireballs at the archers, who were reloading their bows. The glowing red orbs found their targets, exploding into the chests and heads of at least four of them. As the flashing light of the impacts dimmed, only six archers remained.

  And six new ones took the dead ones’ places in an instant.