A Gathering of Armies: Book Six of the Restoration Series
By Christopher Williams
Published By Christopher Williams
Copyright 2014 Christopher Williams
http://BooksbyChristopherWilliams.com
Other books by Christopher Williams
The Guardians: Book One of the Restoration Series
Ossendar: Book Two of the Restoration Series
Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series
Into the Wastelands: Book Four of the Restoration Series
Victory and Defeat: Book Five of the Restoration Series
Red Lightning
Nephilim
Long Shot: A Remnant of the Commonwealth, Book One
Kill Shot: A Remnant of the Commonwealth, Book Two
A note from the Author:
Hello everyone!
I had intended for book six to be the final book in The Restoration Series, but as I began to write it, I found that it was going to be an extremely long novel. As I had already gone beyond my personal deadline to release book six, I decided to split my writing into two novels, which means there will be a book seven. It will be completed sometime in 2015. I will release an estimated date as I get closer.
Thank you to all my loyal readers!
Christopher Williams
The Three Forms of the Mystical Arts
Magic
Magic is a learned art. All that is required to learn magic is a good mind. The magic users focus on their needs, then cast the appropriate spell. Spells can be as simple as single words or chants, or as complex as multi-person rites and rituals. Magic is by far the most common of the three forms of the Mystical Arts.
Sorcery
Sorcery, unlike Magic, is something with which person is born. It cannot be learned. Sorcerers are born with the unique ability to control their spirit and use it to manipulate things in the world around them. Touching other people’s minds and moving objects with just a thought are some of the more common uses of Sorcery.
Wizardry
Wizardry is the art of summoning through the five elements. Demons are summoned through fire. Spirits are summoned through water. Visions of the past, present, and future are summoned through spirit. Summoning through air allows wizards to travel great distances, but only to locations that they have previously visited. Summoning through earth allows a person’s life essence to be transferred to another.
Wizardry has been forbidden for two thousand years ever since the destruction of the Demon Lord War.
Chapter 1
Karina and Reega lay on their stomachs barely moving. Their hiding spot was in a line of bushes twenty yards from the Arium Highway. They barely dared to breath as row upon row of soldiers marched northward. Some of the soldiers were human, a tough mean-looking bunch. Most of the rest of the “soldiers” were goblins, although there were some giants and trolls mixed in.
The army had entered Dalar nearly a week ago but only reached the capital city of Dal-Arium the previous night. The city, forewarned about the host, was locked up tight. The monsters barely seemed to notice. The stream of monsters and humans had rushed up to the southern walls of the city and then split, half going around to the east and the rest going to the west. So far, the monsters hadn’t tried to scale the walls or take the city, but that was probably because of being in such a rush. It seemed they viewed the city as an obstacle in their path to be avoided.
Karina shook her head at the sheer numbers of those traveling the road. The Master of the Forest had been correct: they were heading to Telur. That meant that for better or worse, the world was about to change. The army marching past her would soon be fighting with the army of Telur with the world hanging in the balance.
Karina had a rather unpleasant view of most of her fellow humans, and that included those that lived in the kingdom of Telur.
She was a wildling, an outcast. She, and the others like her, had been changed, given something akin to their own unique form of magic. Each person’s talent was different but they were universally feared by Dalar’s citizens. When Karina had begun to change, the people of her town had attacked her family, killing her parents and brothers. They had dragged her to the forest and left her bound to a tree, clearing intending for the forest predators to make a meal of her.
Her talent allowed her to interact with the very plants growing around them. She could cause them to grow extremely fast and almost take on a life of their own.
Despite her loathing of “civilized” humans, she would fight this battle on Telur’s side. She knew what it meant for this army of goblins to win. The Master had told her that this army followed the Destroyer of Kelcer’s prophecy. If he won the war, then death and misery would follow behind him. It would only be a matter of time before the Wildlings were hunted down and killed.
Karina glanced to the south and resisted the urge to sigh. She couldn’t imagine how Telur could last one day against this army. Telur’s defenders would be swept away.
She turned at a touch from Reega. He motioned back into the forest and then began crawling toward the trees.
Karina glanced back at the road and the soldiers marching along it, and then she began following the boy.
Actually, it was a disservice to call Reega a boy. He was only seventeen, but he was maturing into a man quickly. He seemed to have grown a foot over the last several months and he was losing that boyish look.
They crawled along silently, no snapping of twigs or rustling of leaves to mark their passage. The forest was their home and they knew how to go unnoticed.
After several moments, they reached a grouping of thicker bushes. Reega climbed hesitantly to his feet and looked around; he remained hunched over. Seeming satisfied that the brush would keep them from being seen by those on the road, Reega started to straighten up, but paused to give Karina a hand-up.
“What chance does anybody have against them?” Reega asked. He spoke quietly, but still not quietly enough for Karina.
“Quiet!” she hissed. “Goblins have excellent hearing.”
Despite the harshness of her tone, Reega didn’t get angry; he only glanced back to the road and then nodded his assent. It was another sign the boy was becoming a man. Every since she had taken the boy in, he had been touchy – quick to anger. It was understandable. His family had been murdered when his talents began appearing. As he matured, his temper was coming under control.
Karina jerked her head deeper into the forest.
Reega smiled at her and moved off leading the way.
They walked quickly but left little or no signs of their passing. They were constantly on the alert, continually looking for anything out of the ordinary.
There were precious few animals on the edge of the forest. Normally, there would be a few small ones, but not many. The highway tended to scare most of the animals away but there were always a few that ventured close to the road, but not today. Even fearless animals knew better than to get near goblins.
As they got farther into the forest, Karina slowly relaxed. The forest was her home and she couldn’t help but be soothed the farther in they got. Still, her stomach felt like it was all twisted into knots.
Reega picked up the pace the farther into the forest they went; they still moved quietly, but there was less to fear now.
They walked in silence for nearly a quarter of an hour, finally coming to a stop in a small clearing where two men waited for them.
Reega stepped into the clearing first, but then he moved to the side, allowing Karina to approach the group first. It was a sign of deference, and she doubted whether it was even conscious on his part.
The two men who waited for them were as different as ni
ght and day. The first man Karina noticed stood back a bit, along the far edge of the clearing. He was tall and barrel-chested and had long graying hair past his shoulders. His nose was broad and twisted, giving him an evil appearance. His name was Seth and he had lived in the forest much longer than she had. Still, he wasn’t exactly someone she liked. She found him rude and rather revolting.
The second man was standing in the middle of the clearing waiting patiently for them to approach. He was short and a little pudgy. Certainly not a handsome man, his nose was too big and he had a short but scruffy looking beard. His black hair was peppered with gray and he had the unmistakable look of a man who had never worked a hard day in his life. He was Nathan Tanner, but few knew his name; most just called him the Master of the Forest. He had once been the spymaster and archbishop for the Church of Adel, but that had been a long time ago. Now the church would gladly execute him as they had branded him a traitor. Nevertheless, she had a fondness for him. Perhaps it was that he reminded her of her father, or perhaps it was just that he had taken her in and protected her. Regardless, she would die for him if necessary.
Karina stopped several feet in front of Nathan and nodded her head respectfully.
Nathan smiled at her. “Welcome. What news?”
She dropped her eyes, hating to be the bearer of such bad news. “I’ve never seen so many goblins. I can’t imagine Telur lasting more than one day against those beasts.”
“Peace,” Nathan said gently. “Whatever happens, remember that the gods are in control.”
If anyone else had said that to her, she would have snorted in derision, but she held her tongue. Still, it wasn’t so easy for her to just blindly accept the ‘will of the gods.’ “They continue to march north,” she said after a moment. “I can’t imagine how that many goblins and soldiers will get across the Adelion river.”
Nathan didn’t answer right away and another, more pressing thought occurred to Karina. “Have there been any goblins entering the forest?” she asked.
“A few,” Nathan admitted.
“But they’ll never leave again,” Seth said in his low, guttural tone. He punctuated the remark with a nasty leer.
Nathan turned and looked at Seth; that was all, just a look. Seth cleared his throat and began studying the forest as if he expected a horde of goblins to run out at any moment.
Sighing, Nathan turned back to Karina. “I believe strongly that our part in this is to help Telur win this battle.”
“But how?” Karina asked. “What can we do against that? Besides, if we leave the forest, then the goblins will enter at will.”
Nathan shrugged. “Unfortunately, most of us will have to remain here to defend the forest, but we can still assist with the battle.”
“How?”
“I intend to make the goblins curse the day they ever stepped foot on the Arium Highway. I want future generations to shutter at the very memory of their trip north. I intend for myself and the other wildlings to terrorize them for as long as they remain on the road.”
Karina nodded. “I understand about hampering their trip north, but what else can we do beyond that?”
“I do not know, but we must try something. I want you and Reega to follow them. Use your special gifts to hamper them.”
“Hamper them?” Karina asked incredulously. “What can we do against that?”
Nathan made a placating motion with his hands. “I want you to be careful. Follow them and see if there is anything you can do that will slow them down. Do not do anything foolhardy. Do you understand?”
Karina nodded but words failed her.
“Oh, and I want Seth to go with you too.”
Chapter 2
Anton paused in his long slow climb, and looked up to the mountains towering over him. He stretched his back, listening to the old bones creak. He was old and tired, but he couldn’t allow that to keep him from his duties.
He looked back down the way he had come, wishing he had been able to bring the horse further up the trail. Once, this mountain trail had been a road, but the ages had broken up the stones and made it all but impassable. King Zarum and the Prince Zalustus had sent him on this mission, and he knew better than to fail. Those two did not tolerate failure for any reason.
Prince Zalustus had used wizardry to send him a week’s ride west of Elem. From there, he had ridden his horse westward. He had no guards or escorts, but a magician rarely required them. The going had been easy enough, most of the lands were wild that he traveled through, but nothing bothered him. Nothing, that is, except for his aching back. He was getting too old to be riding a horse for weeks on end.
He paused, as the thoughts of Zalustus made him wonder if the prince had managed to find the dwarven shield Ocklamoor. One of the last things that Zalustus had done before traveling to Elem was to send Anton westward.
He pulled his attention back to the mountain towering over him, relieved that the end of his journey was in sight. He knew he was close now, although it was impossible to tell based on the surrounding landscape. A commoner would think that they were isolated far away from the nearest settlement. But Anton knew better; the dwarves were close.
That was the mission on which he had been sent. War was coming to Telur, and when it got there, King Zarum wanted Telur isolated and fighting the battle on their own. Which was why Anton found himself nearing the gates of the dwarven stronghold of Az’ha’rill’hadell.
Sighing, he began his slow ascent once more. It was steep, not too steep to climb, but steep enough that he had been uncomfortable riding his horse up the slope. One fall, and he would have rolled and tumbled for hours.
“Damn dwarves!” he muttered. Oh how he wished the dwarven kingdom could have been easily reached. Unfortunately, Zalustus had never visited the dwarven kingdom and so could not use wizardry to send Anton straight there. Wizardry only allowed a person to travel to a place they had been before, which was why Anton had spent the last week riding a horse.
The eastern gate of the dwarven kingdom was located high up in the mountains, and was nearly inaccessible.
Anton wondered at that, because in the distant past the eastern gate had been used for commerce between the dwarves and humans. He wondered how human wagon trains had ever made it to the gates.
Besides his aching back, he was actually in a fairly jubilant mood. His mission seemed an easy one. The dwarves had not ventured out of their mountain halls for nearly two millennia. Oh, there were stragglers that left the mountains – but they were mostly outcasts and exiles. The majority of the dwarves lived in isolation and they preferred it that way.
His task was oh so simple – make sure the dwarves remained in their halls. That’s all, that was it. He didn’t have to convince them to join the war on Zalustus’s side, all he had to do was make sure they didn’t join the war on Telur’s side. His hand automatically patted the leather pouch he carried, inside was the very thing that guaranteed his success.
He made his way around an oversized boulder and pulled up short. Before him towered the gates, ancient and made of steel. They were closed tight, as they had been for such a long time.
Anton wasted no time on the large gates, but instead headed toward the much smaller postern gate. It was located just to the right of the main gates, was about five or six feet wide, and six feet high. It too was made of steel. Reaching it, he raised his hand and pounded on the door.
Then he stepped back and waited.
He didn’t have long to wait, though, before the postern gate opened and dwarves spilled forth. They emerged from the opening and fanned out, surrounding the old man. The dwarves were all armed with heavy halberds and axes, and wore heavy chain mail. He seemed almost comical – all those dwarves pointing their heavy weapons at one frail old man.
One of the dwarves stepped forward, undoubtedly the leader. He was slightly older than the rest, the gray in his reddish-brown beard betraying his age. His hard eyes studied Anton for a moment, and then he said, “Humans are
forbidden here. Leave while we still let you.”
Anton bowed. “My name is Anton of Sirilia, and I was sent to speak to your king.”
“Were you now? And you think that we’ll let you pass these gates?”
Anton smiled. “Oh yes, I most certainly do.”
“And why is that?” the dwarf leader asked, moving a step closer.
Anton said a word quietly under his breath, that was all, and there was an explosion of light. It seemed to be brighter than the noon day sun, and the dwarves were blinded.
Confused now, the dwarves lost track of Anton. He calmly slipped between them and disappeared into the postern gate.
The cavern beyond the gate was enormous. The roof was lost in the darkness overhead, and it ran on as far as the eye could see. It was gloomy inside, but not as bad as Anton had feared.
More dwarves were assembled in the cavern, and they reacted quickly to the sight of the human entering their domain. Within moments, Anton once again found himself surrounded. This time he was more careful, as he noticed several dwarven bowmen in the shadows.
“Who are you? How did you get here?”
Anton turned to face the speaker. He was an ancient dwarf, shriveled and white-haired. He wore no armor, which indicated that he was in fact the leader.
Anton bowed again. “My name is Anton of Sirilia, and I was sent to speak to your king.”
The dwarf looked confused. “No human is allowed here. No one sees the king.”
“My king sent me,” Anton said. “And I must obey.” He dropped his hand to the leather bag and began loosening the buckles.
The dwarves moved closer immediately, raising their weapons threateningly.
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