by John Goode
“God, I knew you were just another mean girl waiting to pounce.” He helped Ferra up. “This woman is my friend, and anything you say or do to her, consider it done to me. Now, let’s start over again.”
Kane’s eyes flashed, and Olim stepped back a pace.
“Do as you wish. However,” the queen said, turning her stare to Ferra, “understand me clearly. No matter your beliefs, I am the source of your power. Logos is not.” Without another word, she signaled to the ice giant and walked away from them toward the castle.
Ferra looked down at Kane. “You didn’t have to do that.”
He smiled back at her. “And you didn’t have to defend me against the council of smelly old men either, but you did.”
“The infuriating part was that I planned on taking an embankment when the fighting started,” Ferra admitted.
Kane shook his head. “Nope, I have something else for you and Molly to do.” He glanced at Ater. “In fact, all three of you have a mission.”
HAWK WAS talking plans with Adamas and Ruber when Olim stormed into the throne room. “Your mate has a lot to learn about manners.”
Hawk smiled. “I’ve found that he doesn’t react well to royalty and its trappings.”
“What are you discussing?”
“I will be setting up a conduit from my realm to here,” Adamas explained to her. “It will function as a troop transport as well as a fallback in case the battle goes badly.”
She looked at the diamond as if he was insane. “I am not going to abandon my realm, no matter what happens!”
The answer didn’t seem to faze the gemling at all. “And I don’t care if you use it or not. It is a fallback for those who wish to use it.”
“If the first thing we prepare for is failure,” she observed, annoyed, “then we shall fail.”
“It’s not the first thing,” Hawk said cryptically. “You were too busy bullying an ice barbarian when the first things were being discussed.” She shot Hawk a withering look. “Where is your sister? We can use her power.”
Olim did a double take, startled. She had no idea where Demain might be; that much was obvious. “Milo?” she whispered, fog slipping past her lips as she cast a summoning spell.
There was a small explosion of snow, and the rabbit appeared in front of her. “Oh dear,” he said, looking around. “She left!”
Olim didn’t seem that surprised. “Let me guess, she is going to wait to see how it plays out?”
Milo nodded. “If Oberon can take the secret from the prince, then she will attack him to get it herself. If you can defend against him, then she will most likely attack you once your forces are weakened.”
“I told you,” Olim said to Hawk. “My sister is desperate to save her realm. She will stop at nothing to rescue it.”
The prince tried to control his emotions. “If she wanted to save her damned realm, she would fight alongside us and allow Kane to return the tree to its rightful place. Once the energies begin to flow again, her land will heal itself.”
“Everything you just said doesn’t give my sister what she wants: power. I assure you, she wants the tree in her realm to assure it will never be in danger again.” She paused and gave Hawk a look. “Don’t tell me you would do any different.”
He ignored her question and watched Adamas set up a stable gateway.
“I assume your father knows about the secret to ascension?” Olim tried again to bait Hawk, but he’d had the seconds he required to defeat his anger.
“He does, but I have already made arrangements to protect the secret from him….”
“So the might of the Crystal Court and my ice warriors against the Arcadian army? That does sound bleak. You do know the odds of us defeating him are infinitesimal?”
Kane had walked in quietly; in the silence after Olim’s dark announcement, he said, “Never tell me the odds.” Only Hawk smiled at the joke. “Okay, do we have a layout of this place?”
Olim stared at him with all the starchy disapproval of a maiden aunt facing an uppity teenager. “Who, exactly, put you in charge?”
Hawk spoke up. “I did.”
“And you think he has enough experience in combat to direct a battle of any magnitude, let alone this? Are you insane?”
Hawk tried to keep the anger out of his voice. “My father knows my mind too well; he trained me. Kane knows everything I know about fighting now. He will call the shots. Anyone who has a problem with that can leave whenever they want.”
No one said a thing or moved.
“Awesome,” Kane said. “A map, please?”
Sighing, Olim waved her arm, and an image of the castle and the surrounding lands appeared. “My people are setting up ice embankments here, here, and here.” A few spots began to glow as she talked.
Adamas floated up to the map. “My people can handle this flank,” he said, gesturing to the western area. “That line will not break.”
Hawk peered at the map, his mind going over the upcoming combat. “Oberon is his own enemy. He’ll use superior numbers in a frontal assault. He already assumes that the Arcadian army can break through whatever defenses you’ve erected. He will also have a secondary force ready to attack us from behind once we are in the thick of the main battle.”
“Well, what are we going to put there?” Olim asked. “A sign saying ‘please don’t attack here’?”
Kane ignored her. “Our rear will be guarded. If he has been using Puck, do you think he will have lied to the Dark to get them on his side?”
“I would,” Hawk said grimly. “He will waste those on the flanks since he knows they will be heavily guarded.”
“The western flank is guarded,” Olim reminded Kane. “The eastern is wide open.”
Kane ignored her jab again. “The eastern flank is covered. Our odds will be better once the height of the embankments reaches one hundred feet. But that still doesn’t win us the battle.”
Hawk shook his head. “No, once he believes he has us surrounded, he will keep pouring troops in until something gives. And something will.”
Olim looked at Kane. “And you have a plan for that as well?”
Kane looked at Hawk and shrugged. “I’m counting on the kindness of strangers.”
IT TOOK three days for Oberon to gather his forces.
He had called in every political favor he possessed to get extra soldiers to storm the ice queen’s castle. He had used his wife’s name, saying his wishes were hers, and came up with the excuse that his son had been captured by a demented Olim and he needed help rescuing him. He felt safe doing this since he had made sure his wife was where no one could find her. He had even promised the Dark the right to be counted as equal citizens if they were successful on the battlefield.
He said everything and anything he needed to, and he succeeded. He’d handle any unpleasant loose ends after the battle had been won.
His main force appeared less than a mile away from the castle proper, transported by the five battle mages who served the Arcadian crown. All were fiercely loyal to the throne and masters at what they did. As soon as they fully materialized, they conjured a shield around them that covered their presence from other spellcasters and created a null field in which memory of their presence was forgotten. Within twenty minutes, a tent had been constructed that would serve as their base camp for the attack.
Oberon met with the minotaurs in command of the Dark’s forces, as well as with the two intelligent tigers in command of the squads sent from the Wolflands to assist in the siege. Grimm, the ruler of that realm, had generously donated two squads from his army. Each consisted of different talking animals, highly trained in combat and skilled in siege tactics.
One of Oberon’s aides laid out a blank sheet of parchment in the middle of the table and moved aside as the fairy king approached.
“Show me Olim’s castle and the surrounding grounds for one mile in all dimensions and directions.”
Lines began to scribble out on the parchment, seeming to
move randomly until a rough image made itself clearer. Within seconds, a highly detailed map of the countryside lay on the table.
Looking up to his mages, he said, “We need to know their defenses.”
The eldest mage nodded and looked to the other four. They closed their eyes and concentrated, and an image of the tent they stood in appeared over their heads. After a quiet, single word among the mages, they ordered the image to move, their five voices one. The tent-image rose another two hundred feet or so before charging rapidly toward the castle as if propelled on the wings of a great bird. As it crossed a ridge, the ice embankments in front of the castle became visible; the heads of the ice giants manning them could be seen as the spell flew over them.
With each foot shown by the spell, the map updated itself, adding the new land features, embankments and the like, and troop placements, automatically. The mages directed the vision to move around the west flank and were surprised to see nothing there.
“That’s impossible,” Oberon declared. “They can’t be so stupid as to leave an entire quadrant unguarded.”
“It’s a trap,” one of the tigers snarled, tail lashing, ears folded flat.
The king gave the creature a withering glare. “Well, thank you for that. I would have never guessed.” The cat growled but said nothing more. “Bring the spell around to the rear. Are they deliberately baiting us to that side?”
The rear was as unguarded, and Oberon began to worry.
“Maybe they fled?” one of the minotaurs ventured. “Left a small force behind to distract us?”
Oberon mused on that thought as the spell continued to the east flank. “That would be the wise choice: use these beasts to slow us while they got farther away.” When the east flank proved just as empty, he knew he was being made a fool of. “Hawk possesses his mother’s arrogance. He wouldn’t run. This is just his idea of a clever trick.”
“Shielded?” the other tiger asked.
“Let’s find out. You!” he ordered, gesturing to the mages. “Detect concealment spells in that area.”
The mages, eyes still closed, held the spell still and cast their detection spell through it. The moment it tried to take effect, the image in the air changed to Kane’s face smiling at them.
“Spoilers,” he said as his eyes flashed.
And just like that, the ley lines the mages were using to cast their spell reversed on them.
The magic energy they were using surged through their bodies like bolts of lightning. The mages barely had time to scream before they were burnt alive. Seconds later, five piles of smoking ash fell to the ground.
Kane’s voice echoed throughout the tent. “You want to see my hole cards? See my bet and come on over.” The assembled people looked at him in confusion. Sighing, the boy clarified. “You want to see what kind of troops we have? Be a man and find out yourself.”
His face vanished, but an echo of his laughter stayed for a few seconds more.
“That boy does not know who he is dealing with!” Oberon raged. “Get the troops ready. Have the Dark deploy….” He looked down to the map to point out where they should set up, and he saw the perfectly detailed map was gone.
It its place lay the image of a hand written message:
Surrender Dorothy
Oberon ripped the paper into shreds. “Who the hell is Dorothy?”
OBERON’S TROOPS attacked the ice embankments head-on.
Their enchanted armor and weapons allowed them to slowly advance as the ice giants bombarded them with huge chunks of ice. Without the battle mages to provide it, there was no cover, so each inch they advanced was agonizingly slow and extremely costly, but advance they did. As they made a frontal assault, the Dark attacked the east flank while the animal squads from the Wolflands attacked the west. A squad of Oberon’s troops approached the rear, making sure there was no way of retreat possible.
Oberon’s aide waited until they had word each squad was ready and then signaled the king.
“Tell them to attack,” he ordered.
So began the siege of the ice castle.
The tigers brought their squad of bears and stags up the front while their eagles soared overhead, looking for troops. As they neared the clearing, their advanced scouts of squirrels came back and reported there were no scents of men or beasts ahead.
“Did they really leave it unguarded?” the first asked the other.
“They ran,” the second said. “This is a waste of time.”
“I agree, but we have orders.” He growled to the troops, and they knew it was time to charge.
The Dark advanced on their flank slowly. Half a dozen gnolls’ hyena-like eyes moved slowly ahead of the army to sense an ambush. Their sensitive noses uncovered only the smells of ice and water and cold and that no humans lay in wait. The minotaurs didn’t trust the silence; they had been promised blood and expected to find it. Instead, all they got was an empty stretch of land that led to the castle.
“If they wish to hide in their castle, let them die there,” the minotaur said as he blew the horn for the troops to charge.
The rear squad came up on a snowdrift that had collected behind the castle. It had to be three feet of freshly fallen snow. There was no sign of any troops or traps. The lead guard put his hand up to halt the squad behind him. They had all been trained by Oberon and were the best his army had to offer. They were ready to die for their leader. There was nothing they weren’t ready to do for him.
He opened his hand and readied the troops to surge forward.
The animals went first.
The big cats and stags charged across the clearing with the bears and wild boars on their heels. The first stag hit a magical barrier, his horns crumbling as he collided at full speed against the field. The cats were barely able to slide to a halt, but it was too late as gems came shooting out of the snow and attacked.
Three Days Earlier
“SO HERE is my plan,” Kane began to explain to Ruber and his sister. “Oberon is going to expect us to have actual troops out there defending our flank. Instead, your people are going to be there. Is there a way you guys can just shut down? Be completely undetected by magic?”
Ruber explained to him the process of withdrawing their energies into themselves, making them little more than actual gemstones to the outside.
“Awesome,” Kane said excitedly. “Can we have, like, a trigger? They get so close, and boom, you guys all wake up?”
“Easily done,” Ruber confirmed.
“Perfect. Now I need you to teach me how to turn off their mages once they get here.”
They spent the next few days doing just that, among other things.
AS SOON as the minotaur’s horn blasted, the chimera charged out into the clearing, leading the way in. It traveled two steps before an overly cheerful male voice began to speak. The chimera froze.
“Hello there! You’ve just stepped on a Tinker and Jones Press-o-matic pressure plate. Thank you for agreeing to participate in this combat demonstration of the brand new Shivaluxor 6000, the latest in hand-to-hand combat, new this season from Tinker and Jones.”
The chimera looked back to the minotaur for guidance, since it didn’t have any idea what the disembodied voice was saying beyond “combat demonstration” and wasn’t sure if it should proceed or not.
“Go!” the minotaur roared back at him.
The chimera raised his paw, and a blur of silver burst out of the snow. The clockwork creature was in the form of an eight-foot-tall woman with six arms. Each of those arms ended with a hand whose fingers were talons, and each hand held a razor-sharp blade. The torso leaned forward until it was parallel to the ground, and its arms clicked out straight from its sides. Slowly at first, and within ten seconds at vision-blurring speed, the arms spun around the torso as it advanced on the Dark.
Three days earlier
“THE INFURIATING part was that I planned on taking a position on that same embankment when the fighting started,” Ferra admitted.
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Kane shook his head. “Nope, I have something else for you two to do.” He looked over to Ater. “In fact, all three of you have a mission.”
Ferra eagerly said, “Anything.”
Kane gave her a grim smile. “Listen to my plan first. Molly, do you think there is anything back in the workshop we could use?”
“I am sure there is, but how can we get it back here?” she asked.
“Caerus knows where the workshop is; she can make a gateway back here. The problem is that no one knows how to make those things work. You will need to set them up for battle.”
“Me?” Molly exclaimed, making the idea sound insane. “I don’t know a thing about combat. I’m useless in a fight. I may be able to construct them, but I can’t program them to do anything but serve tea.”
Kane looked like he was going to argue, but Ferra held a hand up to stop him. “Give us a second.”
“Don’t go far,” Kane said. “I have a task for you too.”
She nodded and led Molly away. Once out of earshot of everyone, she turned to face Molly, never letting go of the clockwork’s hand.
“You can do this,” Ferra said to the companion.
“I am not a combat unit!” she protested. “What can I possibly do?”
Ferra took a deep breath. “Molly, back in the workshop, you saved us.” The brass girl tilted her head a bit and stared at the warrior, obviously not believing her. “I’m not sure what happened, but you took out those machines with ridiculous ease. You didn’t remember it, but it was you.”
Molly shook her head.
“I know you don’t think so, but you’re more than just a companion. I have faith in you. I know you can do this.”
“You have faith in me?” Molly asked, awed by the admission from the normally stoic barbarian.
“Complete and utter.”
“I thought you only had faith in Logos.”
Ferra smiled. “I do, and he brought you into my life. And now, you’re going to save us all.”