by Wil Ogden
*Did you just hit an Abvi with me?*
“Not now, sword,” Pantros said. “But, yes.” He sheathed the blade. The smooth white marble that every building in the Sorcerers College seemed to be made of made climbing difficult, but he managed to get atop one of the smaller towers. He then looked around, trying to see where Mirica would be with the gathered Elders. He could see them in a courtyard moving together towards the tallest tower. He slid down the wall and rolled to his feet then sprinted.
“Mirica!” He called when he was in sight of her.
She stopped. The others with her stopped as well. “What are you doing here?” She asked. “We are just going to discuss whether to fight or not.”
“There’s no time to discuss anything,” Pantros said. “Reginald is riding out now to assault the Vulak by the gate. We think they are going to use the stone immediately.”
“We’re not going to rush our decision,” One of the men with Mirica said. “Using magic to kill is against our code. Breaking that code is not something we do lightly.”
Mirica said, “The code is not an oath, it’s a guideline. Pantros is right; we don’t have time to debate. I’m going to help the Prince. Any others that would help, come with us.”
“You’d risk losing your post at the school?” The man said.
“When the alternative is losing my world to demons,” Mirica said. “There’s really nothing to debate. Of course I would risk my post.”
“I’m taking this to debate, we’ll discuss this deviation from the code later,” the man said then nodded with his head towards the door to the tower. “Come, Elders, lets decide like civilized Abvi.”
Mirica cast a spell and Pantros’ feet lifted off the ground. She said, “I can’t teach you to fly, but I can make you light enough to carry. Let’s go.” She grabbed Pantros’ hand and flew off towards the north gates of the city.
Pantros looked back to see that all but three of the Elders were following Mirica. Ahead, Pantros could see the city gates were open. The Abvi soldiers, however, were not leaving the city. Reginald and his knights were visible over the walls. They had already engaged the Vulak by the monuments surrounding the gate. The Vulak had surged, however and were defending the gate.
“There!” Pantros pointed with his free hand to the Vulak in the red and gold armor. “He has the gem.”
Mirica alit atop the Gatehouse then cast a quick spell returning Pantros’s weight. She then started casting a spell that Pantros recognized as the same one she’d used against Robirt. When the wake flew out across the battlefield, it stopped a few paces before the Vulak. The Vulak in the red robes stood nearby holding out both hands toward Mirica.
“The Vulak in the robes,” Mirica said. “I don’t know what kind of magic he’s using but it’s not of this world and it’s strong.”
“Is he a god?” Pantros asked.
Mirica cast another spell and her eyes glowed with a violet light. “He’s a demon,” She said. “Not a god.”
The well-armored Vulak produced the stone and the robed Vulak gestured then the key floated into the air. The gem glided into a socket above the gate and the gate flashed, leaving a shimmering portal. Immediately, dark creatures emerged from the portal, one after another.
“Demons,” Mirica said. “We’re too late.”
Sheillene ran to the edge of the wall and drew her bow then released it. Her arrow flew out the hundreds of paces to the gate and struck the gem but failed to dislodge it. Two more of her arrows hit the gem. “It’s magically held,” she said. “Our only hope is for Reginald to make it to the gate and recover that gem.”
The demons continued to come through and all anyone could do was watch. Sheillene and the other archers who could shoot that far managed to hit a few of the demons and some of those fell to the ground. They didn’t vanish like the hellhounds had.
Realizing even the Vulak were all watching the gate, Pantros wondered if he could get close enough to take the gem and run before anyone could react. “Mirica, are you sure you can’t make me fly?”
She shook her head. “Flying takes training and I see crossbows among the Vulak. You’d be a floating pincushion before you ever got there.”
“Then can you make me light, but not weightless?” He asked. “About a quarter my weight?”
“Are you going to do something stupid and heroic?” Mirica asked.
“I was thinking I would,” Pantros said. “I can get the gem, likely without being noticed. Being light would just make it easier to climb the gate quickly.”
“I don’t like it but I can’t think of a better plan,” Mirica waved towards Pantros and he could feel his mass decrease.
“I can’t let you,” Sheillene said. “Your sister would kill me.”
“Stop me if you can,” Pantros said and then leapt from the wall toward the battle. He scurried along the ground on all fours to be less noticeable and avoided the area where the knights were still fighting.
When he came to the backs of the Vulak he stood upright. The Vulak were clamoring, bumping into each other, constantly trying to get a better view of the gate. Pantros used the chaos to remove a Vulak’s cloak and wrap himself in it. Getting to the gate then became simply a matter of pushing and shoving and squeezing through gaps. The pushing and shoving were harder than his usual crowd handling because of his decreased weight, but he made it to where the Vulak stood in a circle, giving the demons and the gate room. He took a deep breath then sprinted to the gate. Without allowing himself to be distracted by the Vulak howls of alarm or even the demonic screams. He scurried up the gate’s frame, drew his boot knife and pried the key free. The portal closed, bisecting the demon that’d been coming through.
Pantros then leapt off the gate, diving onto the crowd. He ran along the tops of the densely packed Vulak towards where the Knights were still fighting through the Vulak forces. Only a handful of knights still stood and only two were still on horseback, David and Prince Reginald. Pantros headed towards the prince but as he got close a Vulak cut one of the horse’s legs off with a glaive. The horse fell, trapping the Prince. Pantros drew his sword and dove, but couldn’t reach the prince before the Vulak with the glaive swung again, cutting deep into the Prince’s breastplate.
Landing at the fallen Prince’s side, Pantros sliced open the throat of the Vulak that had killed the prince. He then put himself back to back with the few knights who still stood. “I have the key,” he shouted. “To the city!”
A hand grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him into the air. David set Pantros behind him and spun his horse. He sprinted out of the fray, straight for the city gates.
“The other knights?” Pantros asked.
“They understand that we won the battle,” David said. “They get to know they are dying as heroes. There’s nothing we can do to save them. Protecting that key is everything.” They passed into the city and the gates began closing behind them. Two dozen Unicorns rushed out of the city at the last moment before the gates closed.
“What are they doing?” Pantros asked.
“I don’t know,” David said. “I just hope Kehet had a plan before running out like that.”
CHAPTER 27: DARIEN
The Portal opened without warning but Darien had been waiting for days. He sent Murdread’s High Guard through first to make sure that it wasn’t a trap and that if it were then the High Guard should be able to out-fight any ambush.
Darien then followed. Kirvel, dressed as a Vulak high priest welcomed him to Mealth. His human servant, Robirt was nowhere to be seen. “Where is that Mage?” Darien asked.
“Dead,” Kirvel said. “He let his guard down and a Sorcerer from the city killed him. She’s a potent one; I could barely hold a barrier against her wind strikes.”
More demons followed Darien through the portal. Kirvel assigned each a Vulak Tribe. Arrows started to rain down around them. Most missed, and most that hit a demon didn’t even penetrate their armor. A few were deadly even to the demons
.
“Scatter among the Vulak!” Darien ordered. “Find your assigned groups. Make sure they know who is in charge.”
Over a hundred demons had passed into the mortal realm when Kirvel yelled “No!” and pointed at the top of the gateway. A man was pulling a knife from his boot.
Darien didn’t need to contemplate the inevitable. “Retrieve the stone and re-open the gate,” he yelled at Kirvel as he rushed back through the portal. He barely made it before the gate dissipated. A demon passing the other direction wasn’t as lucky, half of that demon fell to the ground in Demia. Darien wondered what would become of that demon. A demon that died in Demia respawned at the pools. A demon that died in a mortal world didn’t always make it back to the pools. His worries about the gate re-opening overcame his curiosity. He waited.
It shouldn’t have taken Kirvel long to kill one human man and reopen the gate. That the gate hadn’t reopened after an hour made Darien’s heart sink. How had one man escaped an Army of Vulak and a contingent of demons? Kirvel would pay for that failure if he didn’t recover that key soon.
If the human made it back to the city, it could take weeks to prepare a proper siege. Kirvel would be mostly on his own, though a few communications through ritual would be possible.
How would he explain this to Murdread? Could he convince his lord that everything was going as planned? If only he could think of a reason to not send the two thousand demons he’d had at the ready all at once.
Positioning? He was saving the bulk of his force for another battle and would be summoning them when they were needed to prevent having to travel with so many demons? That Abvi city was small and the Vulak army was huge. The city would fall. It was just a matter of time. There would be other, larger cities, and it was economical to save the majority of the demons for those fights.
Everything was going according to plan, even if that meant he had to change the plan.
CHAPTER 28: KEHET
While rallying the soldiers at the north gate, Kehet had been approached by Silon and Chelle in their human forms. The Unicorns from the Gypsies had run to the city, arriving just ahead of the Vulak armies. Silon apologized for not participating in the battle at the Gypsy camp, as did Chelle. They were pacifists, but that shouldn’t have kept them from defending their god, they said. After they’d thought about it, they felt they had to come to Melnith and make amends.
Kehet assured them that he thought no less of them for avoiding combat. It was Silon who’d suggested they leave the city walls and rally the Unicorn population. When Kehet saw Reginald engage the Vulak and began to understand the futility the Abvi faced with the scale of the armies, he knew that Silon’s suggestion had merit.
“We have to charge through the Vulak,” Kehet said. “I can see some thin area’s in their lines. I could go alone, but I wouldn’t know where to find the other Unicorns.”
“We’ll go with you,” Silon said. “We Unicorns don’t often like to admit it, but we do all serve our god.”
“I’m not very good at the fighting,” Chelle said. “I’ll do my best for you, my Prince.”
“Just stay in my wake,” Kehet said. He planned to run point first through the enemy lines and not slow down to let any Vulak swing at him.
“I should let you know, it won’t just be the three of us,” Silon said. He gestured at the people around him.
Kehet hadn’t noticed them. But there were scores of people around him, all kneeling with their heads bowed. Instinctively, Kehet knew they were all Unicorns, disguising themselves as humans and Abvi.
“Okay,” he said, “Everyone get up and get ready, we’re going now.”
“Follow me,” Kehet yelled. “Don’t stop to fight, don’t impale anything. Threaten with the horns but hit with your shoulders. Shoulders and trampling are our weapons today.”
“Don’t hit them too fast,” Silon said. “I know we can move fast, but impacts at those speed will hurt us.”
Kehet hadn’t thought of that, but it made sense. He nodded in agreement then shifted. Most of the people around him did as well. The street, which had already been crowded with the thousands of soldiers, was suddenly packed even tighter. Kehet didn’t even try to count.
He just turned and bolted out the gate. He noticed Pantros and one of Reginald’s knights come in through the gate. He didn’t know why the boy had been outside the gates, but assumed that his returning was a good thing. Whatever the reason was, it wasn’t as important as making it out of the siege.
Outside the gate, Kehet took a sharp left, away from the monument and away from where a couple of Reginald’s knights still fought. The Vulak were converging on the knights and Kehet wanted a shallow place in the battle line.
The first rank of Vulak had time to prepare. They set spears and locked shields. Just before he would hit the spear points, Kehet turned sharply to the side. He cut into the spears, allowing a few to cut his flank, but using his horn to push the hafts of the spears aside. He ran through the hafts of the spears then pushed into the Vulak force, jumping the locked shields. The Unicorns behind him did the same, though some of the larger ones just hit the shields sending the Vulak behind them sprawling only to be trampled. The Vulak behind the first line scattered. When they were clear of the initial battle line, Kehet glanced back to see not a single Unicorn had fallen though many had bloody wounds. He turned again and ran towards the next group of Vulak. All but one of those scattered. The remaining one held a crossbow level at Kehet.
Kehet increased his speed heading straight towards the crossbow, but the Vulak didn’t falter. He remained steady in his aim and released the missile when Kehet was only a few paces away. Before Kehet could react, a white form passed before him. Kehet heard the scream and Chelle fell before him. Kehet, unable to stop, leapt over her and pierced the crossbow wielding Vulak through the throat then tore his horn out. He stopped and looked back at Chelle, but could sense she was dead. There was nothing he could do for her.
He ran on, seeing no other Vulak before him, he increased his speed to one he knew Silon could keep up with. After a few minutes, he stopped and changed form. The other Unicorns did so as well as they approached him.
Silon approached him and said, “Remember what she did for you, please. That’s all I ask.”
“Why did she do that?” Kehet said. “I would have healed.”
“Maybe,” Silon said. “But such a wound would have dropped you long enough for the other Vulak to get close and strike you with their weapons. You might heal from all those attacks too, but you’d never make it away from them. They’d just keep wounding you. In the best case, we’d have been forced to defend you until you could run again. Others would die. We lost one Unicorn; it’s tragic but not as bad as it could have been.”
“I’ll remember Chelle,” Kehet said.
Silon nodded. “Our first stop will be the Unicorn Meadows, our country. There will be Unicorns there that have fled from the Vulak incursion.”
Kehet turned to the other Unicorns present and said, “I don’t have time to run across the continent and introduce myself and rally our people. I need each of you to run to where you know the local Unicorns and have all of us meet…” He didn’t know where to have them meet. He tried to think of somewhere everyone would know.
“At the Spire, in the Meadows.” Silon finished for Kehet.
Most of the other Unicorns assumed their natural forms and darted off. A few remained with Kehet, including Silon.
§
The Spire was a modest tower compared to the towers of Melnith. Silon explained it as Kehet’s palace. It spiraled upward like a Unicorns horn, reaching perhaps a hundred paces into the air and gleamed pearly silver. Inside, the palace was bare other than a single dais in the center of the large main room that took up the entire ground floor. A stairway spiraled up the outside wall leading to rooms above. The walls of the palace were just translucent enough to allow the sunlight to illuminate the hall.
“There aren’t even
doors,” Kehet said.
“Unicorns in their native form cannot turn doorknobs,” Silon said. “What use do we have for doors?”
“I suppose I’m the type of guy that doesn’t care to keep people out?” Kehet said.
“Keep who out?” Silon asked. “The nearest town is forty leagues from here. There’s nothing to take here and no food other than the particularly tasty varieties of grass we’ve cultivated in the Meadows.”
“Have I done anything like this before?” Kehet said.
“Not in my lifetime, but there are probably a couple dozen precedents in the last ten thousand years,” Silon said. “Pacifism is not usually the nature of Unicorns; we are a passionate race often prone to rash decisions.”
“So, what do we do now that we’re here?” Kehet said.
“You wait here, the rest of the Unicorns are spreading the word of the call. As they arrive, you greet them.” Silon said.
“Should we send scouts to Melnith, to keep apprised of the enemies’ placement, their strong points and their weaknesses?” Kehet said.
“I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Silon said. “I think you should go ask for volunteers.”
The four hundred league journey to Melnith would take a Unicorn four hours to run, so Kehet assigned the scouting missions on two day rotations. Everyone present volunteered, but Kehet only sent twenty.
He didn’t know how many days it would take to gather the Unicorns, nor did he know how long he had until the Vulak pressed the defenses of Melnith. All Kehet could do was hope that his actions would ultimately help the Abvi.
CHAPTER 29: PANTROS
Again in possession of the Key, Pantros found himself sitting alone in the best cell in the King’s dungeon. He had three rooms and a private bath with running water. The two servants insisted on assisting him in everything he did. If he went to sit down, one would fluff a cushion and thrust it under him as he sat. When they brought him food they set his table and offered to cut his meat. He’d tried to send them away but they told him they served the King. The two guards standing by the doorway day and night ensured Pantros couldn’t even sustain an illusion of privacy. He’d spent the morning on the battlements, watching the Vulak’s progress in building their siege towers. The sight was depressing.