Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools

by M. R. Mathias

  “Oh, he will come get you, love, and start away, and then—oop!” Shaella giggled, causing Rosa to sob even louder than she had been. Phen had to put forth great effort to keep from bashing the Dragon Queen in the face for torturing the poor Princess this way.

  “You saw my Gerard the other day, didn’t you?” Shaella immediately regretted letting her mind go to her lover, but she finished the thought before stepping back into the lift. “Once I’m done dismembering the High King, I think I’ll feed you to Gerard. He’ll be hungry after taking over the hells for me.”

  Shaella stepped onto the lift, her mood ruined by her own gloating thoughts of Gerard. It made her a little jealous that King Mikahl was coming for this miserable wretch. Gerard wanted power more than he wanted her, and the tiny void of doubt that left in her confidence made her angry.

  “Some food will come up soon,” the Dragon Queen said before speaking the command to lower the lift. “Eat it all,” Shaella added as she sank into the floor. “Get fattened for the kill.”

  Phen hoped that Shaella wouldn’t notice anything amiss in the library below as she passed through it. He waited until the lift had time to clear the floor beneath the library before he pulled off Loak’s ring and went to the Princess. He put his arms around her hesitantly and let her cry into his shoulder.

  “Don’t worry,” he told her. “We’ll find a way out of this mess.” At least I hope we will, he added to himself.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Oarly was in the middle of his sixth or maybe seventh toast to the return of the dwarves of Doon. For centuries they had been underground. During that time, the few hundred dwarven families remaining on the surface dwindled in number, down to barely a score. All of them resided in the hills east of Highwander where Oarly had grown up. Why the dwarves had gone under was hard to determine. If you were to ask one of them, you were likely to receive an hour-long spiel that told you nothing. The most common response was that the sun affected their skin. This couldn’t be true because anybody who looked at them would know that the only part of the dwarves’ skin that ever saw the light of day was their hands and their big bulbous noses. For the most part, the rest of them was covered in hair.

  The dwarves brought bad news to the surface with them. The Hammer of Doon, one of Ironspike’s counterparts, had been lost in a great molten sea of lava when the King of Dwarves used it to kill an elemental. It was a sad affair, but it happened so long ago that the dwarves who’d returned to answer Queen Willa’s call thought of it as just another story.

  Bzorch was half asleep with his dragon gun crew near at hand. A watch had been posted among the breed in their area of Jarrek’s encampment. Lord Gregory’s sudden presence had eroded away most of the bridge of trust that Bzorch and the King of Wildermont had built. The hate between Westlander and breed beast was far too personal to let go of. Westland lords, just like Lord Gregory, had hunted down the breed as if they were vermin. They were mutilated and tortured, the remains left on display for months on end in the bloody snow.

  Lord Gregory had about as much tolerance for the breed giants as Bzorch had for him. The breed had come out of the mountains in Northern Westland and raided, pillaged, and plundered for years, until finally they’d grown bold enough to attack a troop of Westland soldiers stationed at the Frozen Outpost. Lord Brach’s sister had been there attending a wedding. Thus what had previously been only occasional violent skirmishes between the races graduated in to a hateful, bloody war.

  Lord Gregory spent his time with King Jarrek discussing the situation at hand, and what the possible courses of action were. An escort to take Lady Trella through the Wildermont Mountains to the safety of Dreen was already being assembled. Lord Gregory hadn’t told her he was going to stay with Jarrek to provide logistical aid. Both the Lion Lord and the Wolf King were of a mind to take full advantage of the current situation in Dakahn. Diamondeen, the dwarven general, had hinted at some possibilities that put their minds to churning. They were just waiting on a few messengers and scouts to return with current information before calling a full battle council.

  It was late in the evening when the single breed giant that survived Queen Shaella’s attack, came stumbling into the camp. The bloodied creature found Bzorch and told the tale. King Jarrek and the badly scarred Sholt both hobbled out to hear the news. Lord Gregory watched and listened from a distance. He wasn’t welcome, nor did he want to go into Bzorch’s area of the camp. He found himself wincing at the gruesome details he heard, and he even grew angry at the idea that the breed had been melted away with acidy dragon’s breath. He imagined how he would feel if it were Westlanders Shaella killed that way. Oarly came to his side but said nothing, choosing to listen to the story from a distance as well. The celebratory mood of the encampment dissipated quickly, and the harsh realities of the war they were entangled in strangled the life out of the evening. After King Jarrek and Bzorch spoke in private for a while the breed began gathering their things to leave. Bzorch swore before them all that he would kill the Dragon Queen and her pet wyrm, or die trying. Then he and his troop loped away northward, intending to cross back into Locar on the ferry.

  For the first night since Jarrek’s soldiers had taken back the bottleneck, the encampment was quiet. At least until Lord Gregory told his wife that he wouldn’t be traveling to Dreen with her. Lady Trella’s anger rang through the night like a shrill bell hammered by an ornery child. Her rage was soon replaced with sobs of disappointment and worry. Eventually, though, the Lion Lord made her understand. He wasn’t going into battle, he was just staying to help make plans and advise King Jarrek as the High King would expect him to do. Despite her anger and disappointment, she made love to him. His ever dutiful sense of loyalty to the good of Westland and the realm was one of the things that had attracted her to him in the first place. He promised to come to her just as soon as things were worked out and the battle plans were made.

  “You’d better,” she told him severely from his shoulder. “I didn’t suffer that crowded ship and that smelly dwarf just to be sent away once we got to the mainland. I would have been plenty safe back at the Lost Lion with Zasha and Wyndall.”

  “Aye, m’lady,” Lord Gregory sealed his promises with kisses. “I’ll be with you again before you even get settled.”

  “You’d better be,” she repeated, as she gave in to temptation and kissed him back. They made love again, and she managed to convince him to let her stay at Low Crossing with him for one more day. That way she could take the messages for General Spyra herself, at least that was the excuse she used to get him to agree. He didn’t like the idea of her staying, but he couldn’t resist her.

  Two messengers arrived in the morning, one with news that made Jarrek swear and Sholt shake his head in disgust. Oarly and Lord Gregory, as well as General Diamondeen and a few others, hurried over to find out what had the normally reserved King of Wildermont cursing loudly in this pavilion.

  “More Dakaneese cavalry arrived at Seareach during the night. Four, maybe five thousand men, and thrice as many are coming behind them.” Jarrek looked to the other messenger, who was holding a scroll case bearing the mark of Queen Rachel of Seaward. “Ra’Gren’s going to try and take back what we’ve just regained. He’ll have the men to do it this time.”

  “And most likely a dragon riding wench in the sky too,” added Oarly.

  Jarrek looked at the seal on the scroll he pulled from the case. The impression in the wax was one he didn’t recognize.

  “Come on, General,” Oarly suggested to the leader of the dwarves. “Let’s go have a look at those tunnels you were telling me about.” He and General Diamondeen excused themselves while Jarrek opened the scroll and read it to himself.

  At first Lord Gregory thought the Wolf King was laughing, but then the man wiped a tear from his cheek and sniffled.

  “What is it, Majesty?” Sholt asked. He gave Lord Gregory a look. “As if we needed any more bad news.”

  “Enough of the ‘Majest
y’, Sholt,” Jarrek replied with a strange smile on his face. The tears were flowing freely now. “It’s not bad news this time. It’s amazing. Sir Hyden Hawk Skyler truly is one of the greatest wizards to ever grace this realm.”

  “What?” Lord Gregory asked, not sure if he’d heard the Wolf King correctly. “According to the High King and Master Oarly, Hyden has yet to cast a spell that worked properly.”

  “Let me see,” Sholt took the parchment from King Jarrek’s hand, and after skipping over the formalities, began to read it aloud:

  “ ‘688 women and children of Wildermont, formally held in Dakahn, have arrived in Seaward City. Other ships carrying similar numbers have left Dakahn and are en route as well. Already we have negotiated the purchase of several thousand of your people’s freedom. As soon as the great treasure that Sir Hyden Hawk’s party found is recovered, we will proceed to extricate as many of them as possible. The transportation of such a number of freed slaves has become an issue, but I assure you that we are working on that problem as well. We were concerned that the wealth Ra’Gren is amassing because of our purchases might work against your other efforts, but after his vicious actions against innocents were reported to us, we decided to free as many of your people as we can, as quickly as we can, in order to save them from a similar fate.

  Queen Rachel and Queen Willa are working to fund and provide food and shelter for them.’

  “There’s more, but you get the gist.” Sholt shook his head at the wonder of it. “It’s signed by a Lord Northall, of Salazar.” He handed the curling parchment to Lord Gregory.

  “Northall must have acted on Hyden’s initial suggestion with coins out of his own coffer,” Lord Gregory told them. “Captain Trant and Master Biggs couldn’t possibly have recovered any of the pirate booty yet. We just left them on Salazar Island a week ago.”

  “It doesn’t matter why, or how,” King Jarrek said. “With ideas and words alone, that mountain boy cast a spell that has freed thousands of my people.”

  “He is a remarkable young man,” Sholt agreed.

  “I wouldn’t wish the burden he carries on the Dark One himself,” Lord Gregory said.

  “How so?” asked Jarrek.

  “He holds himself to blame for everything the Dragon Queen has done as of late. Apparently he had the chance to kill her once and didn’t do it.”

  “We must call a war council, Your Highness... King Jarrek,” Sholt corrected. His expression showed that he didn’t like breaking the hopeful mood with the matters at hand. “We must be ready in case Ra’Gren or Queen Shaella try something. Far too many men are amassing to the south of the Seareach passage for us to do otherwise.”

  “It would be a shame for all those who’ve just found freedom to not have a land to return to,” Lord Gregory observed. “It’s bad enough that they will have to come home to ruin, even if we do keep Ra’Gren out of Wildermont.”

  “I tend to agree with what you were discussing yesterday evening, Lord Lion,” Jarrek said with a huff of defiance and some newfound determination in his voice. “I think it’s time to take the fight to the Dakaneese.”

  ***

  Later, in a pavilion tent, around a couple of tables that had been pushed together and covered with maps, King Jarrek gathered his war council. Sholt, Lord Gregory, Oarly and General Diamondeen, along with several captains from the Seaward, Wildermont, and Valleyan forces, all stood in the crowded canvas structure listening to the sad count of troops, and the dire news of the preparations that the Dakaneese were making. The only good news was that Queen Rachel’s Seaward army would soon cross the Kahna River into Dakahn and hopefully give King Ra’Gren something other than the passage at Seareach to worry about.

  “It’s not just the men you’ve got to worry about,” said Oarly dramaticly. “It’s the fargin dragons, and demons, and all them bald-headed wizards.” He was more than a little drunk.

  “And don’t forget the Dragon Queen herself,” Sholt added. “She’s more powerful than any of her minions, I assure you.”

  “How do we defend against them?” one of the cavalry captains asked. “Our archers have little effect, and we have no real defense against the spells they cast.”

  “Unfortunately, my colleague Master Amill is with the Seaward army,” Sholt said. The heat of the bodies all crammed into the pavilion had him sweating. The salty perspiration was finding its way into the burns on his back and legs that hadn’t healed yet. He looked as uncomfortable as he felt. “I’ve asked Queen Willa to send some of our more accomplished apprentices, and any others who might be able to help shield the men from the arcane, but it will be days before they arrive.”

  “If only High King Mikahl and Hyden Hawk were here,” one of the captains of the Highwander Blacksword said, “they would keep the wizards and demons busy so that we could handle our own bloody business.”

  A round of agreement, and some argument, followed the remark. The captain who’d spoken was hoping to learn that one or both of the heroes were on their way. They weren’t.

  “We have to work and plan under the assumption that they won’t be able to help us,” said Lord Gregory coldly. “If either of them do happen to return, it will just be a boon.”

  “Are we putting too much faith in Queen Rachel’s army crossing the Kahna?” asked Oarly.

  “We’re the finest fighters that ever lived, dwarf,” one of the big tattoo-covered Seaward captains said defensively.

  “Calm down, man,” Oarly returned with as much aggressiveness, if not more. For a moment it seemed that the dwarves and the Seawardsmen might go at it, but General Diamondeen gave Oarly a look that caused him to step away.

  “What Master Oarly means, is that the Dragon Queen still has Princess Rosa. If she wants to aid Dakahn, then she can use the girl to halt Queen Rachel’s advances.”

  “I guess we’ll have to settle for defending the passage,” King Jarrek conceded, his hope deflating visibly. He so badly wanted to take the fight to Dakahn, but the situation didn’t seem to allow for it. He didn’t have enough men. The risk was just too high.

  “No! No! No!” Oarly barked as he shouldered his way up and crawled onto the map strewn table. “What you need to do is funnel all of your troops through the tunnel General Diamondeen showed me today.” Oarly scowled at Lord Gregory, who was looking up at him as if he were daft. “The tunnel comes out in the Dakaneese hills north of Alliak.” Oarly turned toward King Jarrek and continued. “As a matter of fact, as soon as the Dakaneese charge the passage, you should retreat. Let them have it.” The dwarf was grinning from ear to ear while everyone was looking at him as if he had gone insane.

  The truth be told, he was as drunk as he had been in weeks, but a grand idea had struck him.

  “Have you gone mad, Master Oarly?” King Jarrek asked over the murmurs of disappointment and disapproval.

  “He’s just drunk,” Lord Gregory said.

  “No, lads,” General Diamondeen called out as Oarly’s brilliant plan came clear to him. “Oarly’s got it right.” He went on to tell them what he and Oarly saw while roaming the mine tunnels under the southern foothills during the day. Then, as he told them what the observations meant, what Oarly had so cleverly figured, both King Jarrek and Lord Gregory burst into laughter. It was an insane idea, but it was the best plan that either of the two formally educated military battle strategists had ever heard.

  “I suppose I owe you an apology, Master Dwarf,” Lord Gregory said to Oarly after the laughter died away.

  “No, Lord Lion,” Oarly spoke more of his drunken wisdom. “You owe your wife a trip to Dreen. The plans are made, so now you can go with her on the morrow.”

  Everyone in the pavilion, and the entire encampment, had heard Lady Trella the night before, and each and every one of them murmured their agreement.

  Strangely enough, Oarly’s plan of attack was so solid that Lord Gregory actually felt he could leave the situation behind and enjoy the trip through the mountains with his wife.

&nb
sp; Chapter Forty-Three

  Swimming in the darkness, out to the base of Lakeside Castle’s wall was terrifying. Both Hyden and Mikahl felt extremely vulnerable as they swam, mostly underwater, beneath a windy gray sky where the moon was bright enough to backlight the clouds. Talon circled above them as they went, but there wasn’t much the hawkling could do to help. Every time they came up for air they expected arrows to come flying down, or shouts to ring out. Luckily no one noticed them.

  The long night of clinging to the wall, and paddling in place, was tiresome. Thankfully they found the oddly chiseled keystone before the sun was fully risen. A dozen feet below the marker, under the surface of the water, was the promised tunnel. They emerged into a dark sizable chamber. The faint glow of daylight refracting through the water was detectable, but it wasn’t enough for them to see by. Mikahl started to draw Ironspike, but Hyden stopped him.

  “Watch this,” Hyden said proudly. He cast his plum-sized orb of light into existence, just as Phen had taught him. It appeared, hovering just above his palm, and emitted a warm yellow glow similar in radiance to an oil lantern. “The sword’s power will draw attention, Mik,” Hyden told him, as he willed the orb to hover up to a place just above his head. “Don’t use Ironspike unless you absolutely have to.”

  “So you can cast a spell?” Mikahl shook his head at the wonder of it.

  They took in the big stone-walled chamber they were in. The dark, slick-looking block walls were covered with a thick moldy moss. A few rusty torch sconces hung precariously from the sides of an open archway big enough to drive a wagon through. The water they were standing in was very deceptive. From the archway it appeared that the whole floor was just a shin deep pool of water. The hole they had swum up through was undetectable. An unsuspecting person walking across the span would fall right into it. Hyden didn’t figure many people were roaming the lower levels of Lakeside Castle’s dungeon, though.