Night Queen (Elven-Trinity Book 6)

by Mark Albany

  “How do you think we’ll be able to do this?” Braire finally asked, directing the question to Aliana, who was sitting next to her.

  “Abarat would have put up barriers to keep us from doing precisely this,” Aliana said. “Opening portals can be tricky in that kind of situation, and I don’t think I would be able to do it alone. With some help, however, I think I would be able to manage it without too much trouble.”

  “Are you saying that we should be your familiars?” Lyth asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Aliana nodded. “It would be a relatively short process, opening a way to be able to push a portal through from here to the fortress that Abarat is hiding in. Once we are there, we should be able to get ourselves to the elf himself without expending too much power.”

  “You did say that there were elves there, defending him,” I reminded her.

  “Indeed, but not in any great numbers,” Aliana said.

  “Do we have any other choice?” I asked, looking around at the others.

  “Not really,” Braire pointed out. “Not unless we fancy heading out there to fight ourselves a hole through the horde.”

  Aliana sat, rubbing her temples gently. Being connected with her again meant that I didn’t need to struggle to read what she was feeling. There was a bit of dread in her over facing Abarat once more as well, and I could understand that. I was feeling the same myself, although her feelings were a bit more intense.

  Faye seemed to have a similar dread over the thought, but it felt somewhat less fresh and raw in her mind as it was in Aliana’s, or mine.

  It was a good thing. It meant that we weren’t going into this with any kind of false confidence. We were well aware of the dangers that we were going to be facing, and thus, it was something that we knew we had a chance of succeeding in.

  Confidence without arrogance. That was how it felt, anyways.

  I nodded, pushing myself up from my seat, heading over to where Aliana was sitting, placing my hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently, hoping to instill her with some confidence.

  Aliana smiled, covering one of my hands with hers. “Shall we begin?”

  We were ready to start, and with the empty plates cleared away, we sat in a circle on the ground, taking each other’s hands. I did recall doing something similar during our battle for the Imperial City against Cyron, but this was going to be altogether different. I could feel it.

  The feeling of being dragged towards Aliana was almost physical as the djinn took control of our collective power, drawing us in and allowing us to act as her familiars as she gathered energy, and immediately went to work. The sensation was similar to that of her constructing a portal, but it was suddenly met with an outside kind of resistance.

  It was like I suddenly wasn’t inside my own body anymore while being completely aware of what was happening around us. The tent filled with the smell of ozone, and I could feel the hair on my arms starting to rise as the energy around us grew in intensity.

  Aliana was visibly struggling, even while she was connected to us. Something powerful was fighting back at her attempts to open the portal. It wasn’t going to be easy, and I could see her face contorted in concentration, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead and trickling down the side of her face, with a gentle tremor showing in her hands and arms.

  I wasn’t sure how I was seeing that for a moment until I realized that the feeling of not being in my own body anymore was rather real, and somehow my spirit was free of corporeal bonds.

  How that had happened was still something of a mystery to me, but it was something to be studied, since something like this had happened the last time that we had tried to play familiar. It happened when I was asleep a couple of times too, which was how I had met Lyth for the first time, as she had been doing the same thing.

  The elf had never established how it was done and had been reluctant to teach me how to control the ability, saying that it was something that couldn’t really be taught, and needed to be felt out for each individual that was capable of it.

  It didn’t help that I didn’t know how to feel it out, or even take control of it, but there was really no point in insisting if she was set on not teaching me.

  What was that sound?

  I turned my non-physical head, looking around behind me, hearing something piercing the heavy silence that had fallen over the camp, needing a moment to recognize the pealing notes that were starting to get louder.

  Horns being sounded, alarms being raised as the roar of fighting could be heard getting closer and closer to our tent.

  I wanted to move outside, see what was happening, but I wasn’t going to be able to help in this form. Still, it was best just to see what was happening.

  Pushing myself up from the ground, floating gently into the air to look down at what was happening outside of the tent that I was suddenly floating free from revealed the source of the alarms that were being raised. A group of men on horseback were blowing into the horns as they came back to the camp, alerting the soldiers to the place of an emergency that needed attending to.

  And the emergency was clear. A substantial group of the undead had broken clear of the lines that were still in place, still fighting to hold their position, but those that had broken through weren’t bothering to try and flank the army that they had a position on, choosing instead to charge directly forward, into the camp that was comparatively unprotected.

  Archers were already lining up, and a group of men were quickly organizing themselves to attack, but the camp was going to be struck.

  The timing was too perfect for it to be a coincidence. Aliana was having her efforts to open a portal resisted, and a powerful attack had managed to get past the line and appeared to be charging directly towards us, trying to stop us. Abarat appeared to be fully aware of what we were doing and was not going to let it come to pass without a fight.

  I pushed myself back down into the tent, finding myself quickly back inside my body, eyes opening to see that Aliana was gripping my hand a little tighter. She was fighting to open the portal, but she too appeared to realize the danger that we found ourselves in.

  “Go,” she whispered in a strained voice. “We’ll be able to make it work on our own.”

  I nodded, regaining my feet, taking a moment to stretch and let the blood start flowing in my legs again before picking my scabbard up from where it had been discarded the night before. I drew my sword before stepping out of the tent to try and see where the attack was coming from.

  Soldiers were quickly arming themselves, trying to find points to defend, rallying around those officers and captains that they could find as the alarms started going up all around the camp.

  Interestingly enough, it seemed as though the monsters were only interested in engaging those that stood between them and where we were standing. It wouldn’t be long before the army managed to organize to fight this attack back. They were a comparatively small group, succeeding only because most of the fighting was focused elsewhere. They were hoping to reach out little group and overwhelm us first, however.

  Over my dead body.

  I calmed my heartbeat, watching the horde approaching the tent that I was meant to protect, gripping my sword a little tighter. Watching the monsters advancing on me was a terrifying sight, especially as I stood alone, but I needed to buy those inside the tent the time that they needed to break through Abarat’s defenses and open that damn portal.

  Even if it meant that they were going to be leaving without me.

  It hadn’t even occurred to me at the time, but somehow, I had made my peace with the decision. They were going off to make their move on Abarat and would not have the time to come back for me. And that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. My personal preference for being at their side at all times wasn’t important.

  Deep breath.

  The runes in my sword glowed a bright white as I looked up, facing down the creatures that were charging at me, feeling the burn in my left hand, pushing my power into
those runes, letting the spell of a shield take shape, launching forward when it was ready, rushing towards the line of creatures charging towards me.

  The first line charged head-first into the shield, just strong enough to knock them back into those coming behind them, slowing their momentum down a bit as I could see some of the army inside the camp starting to counter-attack already, horns still blaring, roars coming up as they pushed to retake their camp.

  But I was still alone for the moment, slashing my sword forward, unleashing a blast of energy to tear through the creatures in my path, pushing them back and crushing their advance for the moment.

  I stepped in closer, raising another shield to block a few strikes, slashing the blade across to behead a couple of the undead, but pulling my focus around to watch a pair of golems that were trying to close the distance between us.

  There was no way that I would be able to attack them head-on - not on my own, anyways - and so I would need to distract them, pull them away from the tent that the others were still in, and try to find a way to make them fight me in a battle of attrition.

  I jumped to the right, diving for the ground and rolling over my shoulder and coming back to my feet as the creatures tried to swing and strike at me. The ground shuddered as they swung and missed, hammering their fists where I had been standing not seconds before, gripping my sword a little tighter as I came up, swinging my blade to cut one’s leg off around the knee, letting it fall down onto one of the nearby tents with a roar.

  Whether the golems could actually feel pain or not was still a mystery in my mind, and one that wasn’t wholly important at the moment. I dove around a couple more strikes from the one that was still standing, swinging my sword to launch a blast to detach an arm from the one that was still on its feet.

  The heavy lump of clay struck the ground with a loud thud, the creature looking almost confused by its own sudden inability to attack me again. In the moment of distraction, I rushed in closer, feeling a scream coming up from my chest as I pushed my sword up through the creature’s head from beneath, watching the power of the beast disappearing as the scroll inside its mouth was torn by the sword run through it.

  I turned to look at the creature that had fallen over, pulling my blade clear of the one that I had just disposed of, advancing on it as it tried to regain its feet. The two undead monsters that appeared, trying to stop me were quickly dispatched with a blast of energy to knock them back, and a powerful slash decapitated the golem before I turned my attention on the remainder of the attackers.

  The rest of the army was rallying against the attack, but they were far enough away from me that I was all but fighting on my own, forcing the undead back with a wide slash, looking around for the larger monster that would be coordinating them.

  Aside from the two golems that I had done away with, I couldn’t see any. Was it possible that Abarat was coordinating this attack personally? I wouldn’t have put it past him, although wouldn’t he have to take his focus away from the rest of the battle? For myself, though, I wondered if stopping us from reaching him wasn’t more important than the rest of the battle.

  I could feel myself being forced back as more creatures attacked, throwing themselves at my sword which was quickly and smoothly weaving around, using my power sparingly and taking advantage of the narrow straits between the tents that allowed me to only engage the monsters two or three at a time.

  It wasn’t going to last, but then, it didn’t need to. I was still buying time for the women inside the tent.

  Suddenly, there was a blast of light around me, pushing the monsters back in a rush of energy, tearing and cutting through them easily.

  I turned to find the origin of the attack, and saw Aliana, Norel, Braire, Lyth, and Faye, standing and still connected. Aliana was reaching her hand out to me.

  There was no need for any other sign as I turned around, heading back to Aliana. I could see the portal already being opened as I took her hand, allowing myself to be dragged away from the fighting, through the portal.

  21

  Maybe charging into the portal might have had something to do with it, but somehow, this transportation had somehow been less terrifying and uncomfortable than previous ones. I had been expecting it to be a little more terrifying, considering the amount of effort that had gone into making it in the first place, but while it wasn’t a pleasant experience, I almost didn’t realize when we came through the other side.

  It wasn’t something that I wanted to make a habit of, naturally, but compared to my memory of the portals that I had gone through in the past, it was actually not too bad.

  Arrival on the other side was a little less pleasant, however, as we arrived where I could only assume was the deep, deep north. The chill that wrapped itself around my body was hard to ignore, of course, but there were other signs. Winter hadn’t quite arrived, but it was still early morning and I could see traces of frost collecting across the plants around us.

  Even so, there was no doubt in my mind that we were in the right place. Even with the looks of fall surrounding this place, it could not be forgotten as the location that had been replicated in that little pocket world that we had visited to help release Faye from Abarat’s control. It would be difficult to forget the place.

  And it was amazing how well it had stood up against the test of time. There was still no sign of it having been worked with tools, and the place looked like it had lasted for a thousand years, and would last for a thousand more, pressed up against the mountains as it was.

  “I still can’t believe that Abarat holed himself up here,” Faye grumbled, shaking her head with disgust.

  “I can’t believe that we came this far north without having been prepared for this kind of cold,” I complained, rubbing some feeling back into my arms. As gorgeous as the location was, I certainly wasn’t dressed for these kinds of temperatures. It was an odd thing to be worried about, considering the sheer scale of the other problems that we would be facing, but it still felt important, for some reason.

  “Should we start moving?” Faye asked, looking utterly untouched by the frigid temperatures.

  “Yes,” Norel replied. “Movement and battle should be enough to warm us up, regardless.”

  I couldn’t tell if she was mocking me or not, and we didn’t have the time to talk about it, electing instead to head through the light forest surrounding us and march closer to the fortress in question. There was little resistance this far north, and interestingly, no sign of the destruction that the undead army tended to leave behind. It seemed as though Abarat encouraged the destruction, but not around his own surroundings.

  “Don’t worry,” Aliana said, smiling and stepping in close to me. “I’ll keep you warm if you need it.”

  It was obvious that she was teasing me, but I wasn’t going to complain about it. I was cold, and she could tease all she wanted so long as her feverishly warm skin was there to keep me from freezing to death.

  As we approached the walls of the fortress, we could see that they were, in fact, manned. There was no chance of us breaking the tree line without being seen, and we convened to discuss our plan of attack.

  “Is there any way for you to open us a portal that can get us past the walls?” I asked Aliana.

  The djinn shook her head. “The whole area is enveloped in a field that would make any portal difficult to open, even one spanning such a short distance. It’s possible but shouldn’t be our first choice.”

  “Besides, we should be able to get break through the gates,” Faye said. “There’s no magic to keep them closed, after all, and we should be able to tear through them without any difficulty. That is assuming that we can get to them at all.”

  “I should be able to help with that,” Norel said. “If Aliana is right and all the mages on Abarat’s side are helping him with the battle, those on the walls should have nothing more than projectiles to attack us with. I should be able to erect a couple of shields that will protect us from that kind of a
ttack.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” I said, looking around at the rest. “Any objections?”

  There were none, and we were quickly on the move, heading out of the forest at a brisk run to reach the gates.

  It wasn’t long before alarms were heard from inside the walls and the elves on them started gathering to see if there were really only five people charging at the castle.

  Then again, the majority of these were probably aware of the kind of power that they were facing, since most were likely veterans of the same war that Aliana, Norel, Braire and Lyth had been a part of, and would know what those four could do.

  And even if they didn’t remember, chances were that Abarat had likely informed them of the dangers that they were going to be facing.

  “I still can’t understand why elves would choose to side with Abarat,” Faye said. “Don’t they, better than anyone, know how unbalanced he is?”

  “Again, I would say that their loyalty stems from fear more than anything else,” Aliana said. “They don’t necessarily agree with him, but they fear what will befall them if they don’t line up as loyal soldiers.”

  “Still no excuse,” I said, shaking my head.

  “I never said it was,” Aliana replied.

  Norel pulled the shields up above us as arrows started flying down from the walls. The elves firing were certainly sound archers in their own right, but there was little they could do to get through the defenses that Norel was providing for us as we rapidly advanced on the walls.

  Braire stepped in closer, pulling a couple of the runed pebbles from her pouch and throwing them up into the air. There was the sound like a soft thunderclap, and Braire’s beasts - her wolf and serpent - flickered into existence, rushing at the elves guarding the wall as Lyth, Faye, and I advanced on the gate.

  I could feel the power rushing into the runes on my left hand, making them burn as I pressed them up against the wood of the gate. The craftsmanship was exquisite, making me feel a little bad for what was about to happen. Faye and Lyth stood next to me as Aliana, Norel, and Braire worked together to keep the elves on the wall off of our backs as we joined with each other to push as much power as could be mustered to break through the gate.