Tarrin Kael Firestaff Collection Book 3 - Honor and Blood by Fel ©

by James Galloway (aka Fel)

  "Just go jump in the baths," Tarrin told her. "Changing out of those clothes would help."

  "Bah," she snorted, pulling the remainder of the shirt off and throwing it to the floor, leaving herself bare-chested. Kimmie may have been turned, but she had long ago adjusted to the Were-cat indifference to showing skin. "I don't have time to visit, Tarrin. I'm going back out in just a moment. They wanted you to come to where the fence was breached. That's where they're concentrating their forces, since it seems that the magic of the fence is still working everywhere else. If they want to come in, they're going to have to come through that hole."

  "I'm too tired to use magic right now, Kimmie," Tarrin objected. "I wore myself out fighting the Goblinoids at the wall."

  "I saw that," she grinned. "Tired or not, they want you there. Whether or not you go is up to you, of course."

  "Kimmie, don't leave that vile-smelling thing laying on the floor," Jesmind warned.

  "Sorry," she said, reaching down and scooping it up. "Is that water? Can I have some, please?"

  Jasana held out her tankard of water, and Kimmie advanced on them and took it with a grateful look. Jasana blew out her breath as Kimmie downed it in what looked like one swallow. "Go back over there, Aunt Kimmie!" Jasana ordered shrilly. "You smell too bad!"

  "I think I will go jump in the bathing pool," Kimmie said ruefully, putting the tankard on the table. "And maybe find a chain jack and a sword."

  "What do you need those for, girl?" Jesmind scoffed.

  "I had a Troll cut off one of my breasts with an axe," she said with a wince, putting a paw over her left breast defensively. "Trust me, Jesmind, that was not a very pleasant experience. I didn't think it would hurt that much."

  "You have to watch Trolls, Kimmie, they're alot faster than they look," Tarrin told her.

  "I believe you, trust me. It ticked me off, and I killed it. That's where I got the blood on me," she retorted. "Since I don't feel like grabbing heads and pulling them off, I think finding a sword or an axe would be a good idea. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go jump in the bathing pool. I'll see you after all this is over, alright?"

  "Be careful out there, Kimmie," Tarrin cautioned.

  "Kill a few for me," Jesmind called with a vicious look in her eyes.

  Kimmie gave her a wicked little grin, then padded out of the dining room holding what was left of her shirt. "Well, it looks like our kin are having fun without me," Jesmind grunted.

  "It's not fun out there," he told her. "I saw a few dead Were-kin, but no Were-cats. At least not yet."

  "We're alot tougher than our cousins," Jesmind shrugged. "What are you going to do?"

  "Go out and see what Camara wants," he replied. "I want you and Jasana to stay here, love. I'll be alright, and I don't want to take Jasana out onto a battlefield."

  "She's old enough."

  "She may be, but I don't want her out there," he said firmly.

  Jesmind looked about to object, and he realized why. Jesmind didn't want to leave Jasana, but she also didn't want to leave Tarrin either. The only way to keep both of them in sight was to keep the family together. "I'll be fine, my mate," he said assuringly, taking her paw and holding it. "I'm alot harder to kill than the average Were-cat. And the fighting is taking place in the city right now, love. I don't think I'll have to do any fighting for a while."

  She gave him a flat look, then sighed. "Alright. I'll take Jasana back up to our apartments, and we'll watch Jula for you. I doubt Miranda will want to stay there with Kerri being in the same condition."

  "That's fine. I'll be up as soon as I can, alright?"

  "Alright."

  He leaned over and gave her a lingering kiss, then kissed his daughter on the cheek and put her on Jesmind's lap. "I'll be up to see you in a while, cub," he promised her. "You go keep an eye on your sister for me, alright?"

  "Alright, Papa," she nodded seriously.

  He tapped her on the nose, which never failed to make her giggle, then got up and filed out of the room on the heels of Kimmie's scent. He didn't like the idea of leaving Jasana, but as tired as he was, he wouldn't be able to counter her magic anyway. She'd be much less apt to try to her magic if she was in the confined, controlled, safe environment of their apartments, so that was the best way to keep Jasana's power under control at the moment.

  The Tower grounds showed definite evidence of their unwelcome visitors. There were some bloodstains on the ground, but no bodies, and some of the smaller outlying buildings had been damaged by the Demons' passing. One of them was still burning, reduced to the blackened bones of thick wooden planks. He padded past hurrying servants and warriors, the servants carrying things to and from the fortifications and the soldiers either carrying messages in or out of the Tower or moving in small patrols on the grounds. Tarrin moved among them without speaking, and they all gave him a very wide berth. He cleared the outlying buildings and saw the fortifications, an impressive breastwork set behind a wide ditch dug just inside the fence perimeter, a ditch about ten spans wide, five spans deep, and lined with sharpened stakes. They had done quite a great amount in a very short time. The fortifications went completely around the Tower, but most of the manpower was concentrated where the fence had been breached. Tarrin had little doubt that there were reserves ready to rush to any part of the breastwork at a moment's notice. It didn't take Tarrin long to spot Camara Tal, wearing a breastplate with an eagle etched into its front and her pattern tripa skirt, but now she wore leg and arm greaves, a burgonet helmet, and was carrying a round shield in addition to that battered old sword of hers. She looked every bit the general, pointing with her sword as she rearranged her forces for some reason. Standing beside her was an Arakite man, bald and rather wrinkled, but Tarrin saw that he'd been wrinkled by the sun and wind, and not by age. He wore a very ornate, almost gaudy breastplate inlaid liberally with gold and silver, the design on the back a pair of lions facing one another, the design on the front a falcon with its wings outstretched. He was a rather small man, but it was apparent that he was powerfully built, and the sword hanging at his side looked to be a part of him. This was a high-ranking Arakite officer. Standing on the other side of them was a face he hadn't seen in a very long time. It was Sevren. The tall, thin Sorcerer was wearing what looked to be the very same brown robes in which Tarrin had last seen him, the wire-framed spectacles on his face slid down to the end of his nose, looking over the tops of them at Camara Tal.

  "It's about time," Camara Tal told him as he approached them. "What, did Kimmie stop to get something to eat before telling you?"

  "I was hiding," he replied blandly. "It's been a while, Sevren. Where have you been?"

  "Tor," he growled in reply. "I was sent there not long after you left, Tarrin. You're looking, tall, my friend. They said that happened to you."

  "Blame his Empress," Tarrin said, pointing at the Arakite. "She did it to me."

  "Empress Shiika is, unpredictable," the Arakite said with a light smile, in flawless Sulasian. "But she's honest. That puts her a rung above most of the Emperors we've had the last century."

  "Tarrin, this is General Kang," Camara Tal introduced. "The Arakite commander."

  "I heard some very impressive complements about you, General," Tarrin said with a nod. "From people who are very hard to impress."

  "I try, my Lord," he said with an almost outrageous bow, something that Faalken would have done. It made Tarrin like the man immediately.

  "You realize, of course, that Shiika was controlling all those Emperors?" he asked.

  "Of course, but we don't blame her for their ineptitude," he replied with a mischievious grin. "Since they're all dead, we pretend that the problems we had with them came from them, and not from her. It's a rather pointless game, but we play it nonetheless. Empress Shiika seems to prefer it that way."

  "How's she been doing?" he asked curiously.

  "Politically? She's rather heavy-handed," he replied honestly. "Empress Shiika lacks something of a gentle
touch. It took the Minister of Law three days to convince her that instituting a justice system that only had the death penalty as a punishment was a very bad idea. But she's learning. In about five years, she's going to be a very good monarch."

  Tarrin was a bit surprised at his honesty, but it did sound like Shiika. "And nobody minds that she's a Demon?"

  "After the last six Emperors we've had, my Lord, maybe getting a Demon as an Empress was a trade up," he replied with an absolutely straight face. "Besides, I think you of all people understand that our Empress is not your average Demon. She's much more than that, and I think that's why the people accept her."

  Again, it was blunt honesty, and again, it sounded exactly what he expected to hear. Shiika was alot more than just a Demon. She lacked that fundamental evil that made her kind so feared and reviled, and though she was no sweet maiden, at least she wasn't a psychotic killer. Tarrin wondered absently just what had made Shiika different from all the other Demons, so different that she could find acceptance among those not of her kind.

  "After the battle, I'll tell you that story," Shiika's voice called from behind. Tarrin turned to look, and saw her walking up to him, with two of her Cambisi, neither whose names he knew, just behind. She was still in her winged form, wearing a black haltar with an iron ring just under her collarbones to which the straps leading from the bust of the haltar and the straps going over her shoulders were tied, and a tail that formed a point straight down. She wore a pair of undyed leather trousers, rather thick ones from the looks of them, and a pair of soft knee boots. Kang and Sevren bowed deeply to her, but neither Camara Tal nor Tarrin bothered. "How is it, Kang?" she asked professionally.

  "It is going smoothly, your Imperial Majesty," he replied immediately. "We've finished redeployment here, and sent fresh troops to General Darvon at the Fountain of the Swans. I've not received any reports from them quite yet, so I don't know if they've engaged the undead forces quite yet. I have enough reserves on hand to be able to defend any part of the fortifications within three minutes of signals of an assault. It may come to that, for the Aeradalla report that the human forces attached to the enemy army are trying to circle around the undead and the defenders, looking for an unimpeded path to the Tower."

  "I see the fence is still active, despite being broken."

  "Yes, Empress. The magical protection of the fence was considered when we changed our deployment. It should slow down the enemy long enough to set up our defenses, if they do try to assault the grounds without support from the undead."

  She looked down at the smaller man. "I'm pleased, Kang. Bringing you is turning out to be a good thing."

  "I'm humbled by your praise, your Imperial Majesty," he said with a deep, flourishing bow.

  "I know he's not being sincere, but I just can't help liking it when he does that," Shiika said to Tarrin in a conspiratorial fashion. "Kang is the only general I have that will tell me I'm being a fool to my face. He keeps his head on his shoulders by being such a flatterer."

  "You asked me for an honest opinion, Empress. I would never disobey a direct command from you. I'd cut off my own head with a butter knife first."

  "See what I mean?" she told him with a smile.

  Tarrin let that slide. "Why did you call me out here, Camara?" he asked.

  "Because I want you out here," she replied. "I sent most of the Sorcerers and all of the Priests to Darvon. Priests can turn the undead, so they'll be more use there than here. That leaves me with about six Sorcerers, five Wizards, that mad mage Phandebrass, and you."

  "What did he do now?"

  "What hasn't he done!" she suddenly growled. "He tried to stop a Demon and ask it questions! I almost killed him myself!"

  Despite their situation, Tarrin had to laugh at that. "That does sound like something he'd do," he admitted. "Sometimes I don't think Phandebrass lives in the same world with the rest of us."

  "I think he's been snorting some of his spell components," Camara Tal grunted. "Anyway, if you don't mind, I'd like you to stick around, Tarrin. I've seen you use magic before. I can't think of any Sorcerer I'd want backing up my lines other than you."

  "For you, Camara, I will," he sighed, "but I should warn you right now that I'm very tired. If I have to use magic, I doubt I'll get off more than two or three spells before I'm totally wiped out. They'll have to carry me back inside."

  "From you, Tarrin, two or three spells may be all we need," the Amazon said confidently. "How is Triana? She looked about ready to fall over when she came out here."

  "She's probably resting now," he replied. "She used up most of her energy summoning that Elemental earlier, and she still hasn't recovered. I hated sending her out here, but she was the only person I could find to come out here and relay that message. The only one I could trust, anyway."

  "Are you going to stay and observe, Empress?" Kang asked.

  "I think I will," she replied. "I have my own magic, you know, so I may be useful if the fur starts to fly. Sorry, Tarrin," she apologized at the use of the saying.

  Tarrin realized that, again, someone had managed to avoid his attention so far. "Where is Sarraya?" he asked.

  "I borrowed her," Shiika replied. "Faeries are small, fast, and they can go almost anywhere without attracting attention. So I convinced her to go out onto the battlefield and kill enemy officers."

  "You got her to agree to that?" Tarrin said in surprise.

  Shiika nodded. "She did a damn good job of it, to boot," she said with a satisfied little smile. "That little Faerie is a strong Druid, and she was able to use her magical power to knock off quite a few of the enemy's officers. She caused absolute chaos in their chain of command." She looked at her fingernails absently. "She should be back pretty soon. She's probably out of officers to hunt down."

  Tarrin was surprised, but not too surprised. That was a rather clever thing to do, and Sarraya would be very well suited for it. It also explained why it seemed to take so long for the enemy to change their tactics. For all he knew, maybe the marilith did try to change the attack plan, but without many of her officers, it would have been very hard to implement her orders on the field. Sarraya, he realized, was the almost perfect assassin. She was tiny, quick, smart, and was a very powerful magician. She could go absolutely anywhere without being seen, strike from complete surprise, then fade away before the body hit the ground. And the people who found the body would never find out what happened. With Sarraya's Druidic power, she could make it appear like the victim died of a heart attack, or just about any other natural manner of death. They'd never know it was an assassination.

  There was little to do but wait and worry. Minutes, then an hour, passed without much activity. Runners came in from the city to keep Kang and Camara Tal apprised of what was happening out there, and the news was reassuring. The Sorcerers had managed to rebuild a large Circle using Allia and Jenna, and Jenna had woven a very powerful spell that had destroyed a very large chunk of the attacking undead. With what power she had left, she wove a Ward that trapped about a quarter of the undead inside a five block area, a Ward that did not allow anything not living to pass, not even clothing. The size of it came with a duration limit, and the messages said that Jenna told them they'd have about two hours to set up to destroy those undead before the Ward dissolved. That took about half of the undead out of the battle, and that made the numbers more even. Darvon and his army held the undead back, the messages reported, but they were taking some considerable losses. When one could only strike the head off a foe to kill it, it made it very hard to fight the opponent. A dismembered undead warrior would continue to fight, even its severed limbs seeking to grapple with foes, until the head was taken from the body from which the fighting limbs had come.

  After Camara Tal shared the latest report with Shiika, Sevren, and Tarrin, he and the specatcled Sorcerer spent a brief moment to catch up. Tarrin found out that not long after Sevren had started looking for the spy, he had been shipped off to Tor by the Council to investigate s
ome leads about the Firestaff. It had been a complete waste of time for him, and he wasn't surprised to find out that the spy had been on the Council. In that position, Amelyn could simply reassign anyone that was getting close to her secret, and there wasn't much the Sorcerer could do about it. Tarrin related again the reason why he was so much taller than the last time Sevren had seen him. "It took me a while to get used to it," Tarrin admitted. "But all in all, I'm not entirely displeased. It's hard to find a chair that fits me, but at least everything in my rooms are made for someone my size."

  "I think he turned out rather well," Shiika smiled, reaching out and grabbing him by the wrist, holding it up and running her fingers through the shaggy fetlock on the outside of his forearm. "Want to grow a little more?" she asked with a grin.

  "I don't think I'd like that, Shiika," he said, disengaging his arm from her grip. He rubbed at his wrist absently.

  "Strange that you two were enemies, yet Tarrin seems to tolerate you, your Majesty," Sevren noted. "It's not like him to be so forgiving."

  "We were never truly enemies, Sevren," Shiika told him. "We opposed one another for a little time, but in the end we realized we were both actually trying to do the same thing."

  "What was that, Empress?"

  "Keep the Firestaff out of the wrong hands," she replied easily. "That's why I'm here, you know. I don't want anyone but Tarrin finding that old pain the butt, because I'd have to kill them. And I have more important things to do than run around the world tracking people down."

  "I didn't know you had such an interest in it."

  "It's more of an intense desire to be able to forget about it," she grunted. "I was here the last time someone used that damned thing. I don't want to see something like that happen again."

  "Strange position for a Demoness. If you'd forgive my forwardness, your Majesty."

  "Oh, it's not about doing the right thing or being a crusader, Sevren," she admitted easily. "I am a Demon, after all. It's all about how inconvenienced I'm going to be if someone uses the Firestaff. I'd rather do a little work right now then have to do a whole lot of work later."