“Very well,” he agreed.
Siri nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Tangarth,” then she took the young servant woman's arm and walked away with her, chatting quietly.
Thorel was sore now. Almost as sore and tired as he had been last night. His muscles burned like they would after a hard day's work on the farm. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed that feeling.
They tried to stop by Nigel's room so he could introduce Korin to him, but there were the sounds of a woman screaming coming from inside. Thorel was alarmed and went to open the door.
Korin stopped him with his hand on his wrist. “If that's your friend, I don't think he wants to be disturbed right now.”
“What?” Thorel asked in confusion. “It sounds like a woman is being murdered in there!”
“He might be murdering her virginity, but nothing more than that,” Korin said with a wry smile.
That didn't sound anything like it sounded with Ari. “Are you sure?” He said looking between him and the door.
“I'm sure,” Korin said with a laugh. “I almost had to call you ‘boy’ again for that question. Let's go.”
What could he be doing to her to make her scream like that? Thorel wondered. I'm going to have to ask him.
* * *
Gwin Lother stood upon the Manor's wall and watched the Holders and Hold below him. It was a typical Saturday night so far: nothing of note occurring. He was on roving duty, walking between the posts with the men and women, making certain each was still awake and alert.
It was nearly the twenty-third hour now; and he took this duty seriously. It was a sign of the Master Sergeant's faith in him that he'd been placed on this duty. Even though he was only a soldier, he'd been issued a speaking rod so he could report any issue. He hoped he'd been given this duty because he was being considered for promotion. But he wasn't going to get his hopes up.
He was one of the four rovers on duty tonight. He was on the west side of the wall now. Walking the Manor walls once completely was a six mile journey. He was the only rover who wasn't a non-commissioned officer. Quit getting excited about something that hasn't happened! He thought to himself. All he could do was do this duty to the best of his ability, and hope it gained the notice of his superiors.
He came upon the Sergeant in charge of the west wall. She was doing the rounds of her watch.
“Sergeant!” He saluted her, with his fist to his breast. He didn't know this woman’s name, but there were over 250,000 in the Dothranan Guard, so it wasn't surprising.
“Soldier,” she returned his salute. “How goes your watch?”
“Slow ma'am,” he replied honestly.
She nodded. “I have done your duty. It is rare to find someone slacking on their watch, but it is mainly because of you and the other rovers.”
A movement of light caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He looked and saw fire on one of the houses to the west. “Sergeant! That house is on fire!”
She pulled her telescope from the case on the back of her belt and looked. “It is more than that. People running out were taken by arrows!” She handed him the scope.
“I'm calling it in,” she said, pulling her speaking rod from her side.
Gwin put the scope to his eye. He saw two people down with arrows in them. He saw a pair of people run up and put swords through them while they laid there, then they engaged a pair of his comrades in the guard. He tensed as he watched them clash. These people were not simply malcontents. Not with the way they fought.
“Command, there is a fire near Twila lane just down from the Alchemist's shop. I saw two citizens struck down by arrows,” the Sergeant spoke into her rod.
Lother spoke up: “I saw two men stab the citizens on the ground with swords, and they are fighting our own now,” he winced as he saw an arrow strike one of his comrades in the leg. “One of ours just went down!” He cried.
The Sergeant updated their Command quickly.
He watched helplessly as the common clothed people cut down the man on the ground and flanked about the remaining guardsman.
Run man! Gwin cried in his mind. He wanted more than anything to run over there and help the man, but there was no way he could have made it in time unless he could have flown like he'd seen the Mistress do.
The guard he was watching did break off. He saw two arrows sprout from his back as soon as he did though. Lother winced in sympathy.
“Sergeant, they have archers along the way, tell Command! If we just rush in there, we'll be cut down!” He yelled in internal agony over what he'd just witnessed.
“Command, this is Sergeant Falle. There are archers covering ground units. We are under attack, this is not a simple crime,” she took the telescope from him and put it to her eye. “I can see four down from here, likely dead.”
“Understood Sergeant. Maintain position, and alert your command,” came the thin voice from her rod.
“Soldier, go north and alert my soldiers. I'll go south,” she ordered, as he saw three more fires break out in different places in his home, Dothranan Hold.
“Yes, ma'am!” He saluted and began running.
“Everyone! To arms! We are under attack!” He cried out as he ran as quickly as he could along the wall.
***
Ari walked into her bedroom from the bath. She had spent her time after Thorel had left with Kira and her son. She would let Kira know when Siri wasn't with her, and they would spend time together. She did not wish to spend her time with Kira with anyone else, she didn't want anyone to learn the truth about Kira's son.
That he was Ari's half-brother.
That was something that potentially could have been used against her. But now with Thorel's betrothal to her firmly in hand that danger was gone. She had no intention of letting the information slip though. It would put Kira in great danger if it did.
That final slight of her father's had pushed her entire plan into motion. Everything she had plotted against her stepmother before then had some kind of fatal flaw. But when she added his death to it, everything finally came together.
She looked at Thorel laying there in the bed. Only two of the glow stones remained on, and they bathed the room in a dim light.
Even asleep he was still beautiful to her. Her body shivered in anticipation of how she was going to wake him up.
Then she heard the large speaking stones on the Manor's wall towers activate.
“Citizens, we are under attack. Go indoors immediately and lock your doors. Arm yourselves, and beware of intruders,” the voice said as the alarm bells began ringing.
“What is the situation?” She thought immediately to General Tarsis's stone.
“Mistress! We have sounded the alert and deployed the guard. According to the reports I have been getting there are over one-hundred enemy groups in the streets. They are small groups striking and running, setting fires as they go,” Tarsis's thin voice came back to her mind.
“Mistress! I have just received General Tarsis's reports, we are under attack, several patrols and citizens have been killed,” Siri's thin voice came to her mind.
“What is happening right now?” She thought to Tarsis's stone as she quickly stripped from her bed outfit and pulled on the first dress she grabbed. It was black with white lacing.
“Thorel! Wake up!” She yelled at him.
“Huh?” He said as he started awake.
“We are fighting house to house, sending soldiers in to deal with bowmen who are positioned in Inn rooms on the top floors. The groups are gathering and making a running fight of it to the north gate,” he told her.
“We are under attack, Thorel. Lace my back up,” she commanded as she sat on the bed.
“What? By who?” He asked as he muzzily obeyed her.
“Who is attacking us?” She asked Tarsis.
“We're not certain yet. We have been too busy fighting to question the few captives we have,” Tarsis replied honestly.
“Thorel get dressed, quickly,” she s
aid as she heard a thunderous boom through the open window. If it was Magik, it wasn't that close to them.
“General, what was that noise?” She asked.
“Mistress! The enemy has been retreating to the north gate, I ordered it closed, but it has been destroyed! Just a moment..,” he replied.
Ari went to the window sill and grabbed her talismans and started putting them on.
“Feran, go to the Command Tower. You are to assist General Tarsis in any way he requires,” she contacted her only Wizard's mind directly.
“Yes Mistress. I will make haste,” Feran thought to her.
“The survivors report there is a Wizard outside the gate, Mistress! I'm pulling my men back until my flankers are in position,” he said.
“Have them seek safety, but keep them close. Feran is coming to you, and I am going to the gate,” she told him firmly.
“Mistress, with respect you are an Apprentice! I'll send Feran to the gate as soon as he arrives,” Tarsis told her.
No. She thought. I am strong enough and more skilled than most. It is time I proved it to everyone. Ari grabbed the fully charged lightning stone that had been the key to defeating her step-bitch just in case though.
“I will deal with the Wizard. Feran may second me if it comforts you,” she told him icily as she belted her dagger on and put the lightning stone in a coin pouch.
“...Yes Mistress,” he replied unhappily.
“I'm ready,” Thorel told her. He was fully dressed now and more alert than he was.
“Good. We have to move quickly. You will shield us,” she told him.
“Alright,” he said as he went to the door.
“Not that way,” she said as she activated her bracelets of strength.
He looked at her puzzled, “Um, what other way is there?” He asked.
She knew his fear of heights would be troubling now, but they had no time. She activated her bracelets of speed, grabbed him bodily and ran to the window.
“This way!” She yelled as she jumped through the open window with Thorel in her arms.
Thorel screamed like a girl as they plummeted quickly towards the ground over four-hundred feet below. He gripped her so tightly, she couldn't draw a breath.
“I can't breathe, relax!” She thought to him as she felt one of her ribs crack under the pressure.
Thorel was breathing so heavily, she feared he may pass out. No thought came in reply; he was so panicked he couldn't even form a mind touch with her.
“Just a few more seconds, no harm will come to you, love,” She thought to him. He had to get his fear under control if this was going to work. She needed him to shield her if she was going to make best speed.
They stopped with a whoosh as the vortex of air she evoked stopped their descent a scant twenty feet from the ground. She could feel his heart pounding against her breast.
“Thorel, you're crushing me!” She squeaked.
All he did in reply was pant breathlessly. His eyes were filled with a blind panic.
“Thorel! I have you! Quit crushing me!” She thought to him. This was bad, she had never been squeezed this hard before. This was a new kind of pain she was experiencing, which was a rare thing for her. She felt another rib crack under his great strength.
She hadn't anticipated this; he was useless in this condition. What can I do? She asked herself. In a frustrated near panic herself being unable to breath, she did the only thing she could think of.
She kissed him; putting as much passion as she could into it.
He didn't respond at first, but she thought to him: “Thorel, I love you more than anything. I would never let you fall. Please relax, I can't breathe. Please Thorel, I love you.”
Then, slowly as she continued to engage his mouth and pleaded with him mentally, he responded. His grip relaxed, and he returned the kiss.
“By the spirits, I'm so sorry Ari. Did I hurt you?” He asked with his eyes closed, his breathing slowing.
“No,” She lied as she healed her cracked ribs. “Can you shield us? We are going to be moving fast.”
“I think so,” he replied sheepishly, engaged in their kiss.
She disengaged him and said; “Shield us all around. There are enemy archers.”
“Alright,” he said, his heart rate gradually slowing.
“Don't be afraid. I won't run into anything,” she assured him as they hovered.
“I trust you Ari,” he said.
“Alright, hold on. We will be moving fast,” she said as she took off quickly, heading to the north gate.
He instantly squeezed her hard when she took off. “Quit squishing me! I'm not going to drop you! Get your shield up!”
“Sorry!” He replied as they whooshed past a fire wagon. His shield went up shakily, then it solidified. Thankfully his grip loosened as well.
“I'll be at the north gate in a minute! Tell our soldiers!” Ari thought to the General.
“Yes Mistress!” He replied.
She could see the destruction from here: the gate was burst inward with parts of the stonework that it had been attached to littering the area. The portcullis was on the ground, and the wooden doors were aflame. There were several dead and injured from the Dothranan guard among the debris.
She could see her soldiers gathering around the sides of the ruined gate and running up the stone steps to the walls. She angled them to the side when a bolt of lightning came right at her through the gaping gate. It passed close enough that it raised the hair on her neck. The Wizard had obviously seen her coming.
Good, he saw his death coming. She thought to herself excitedly.
She didn't want to test Thorel's shield with that. She knew it wouldn't have held.
She swept in quickly to the west side of the shattered gate so they would be outside the Wizard's direct view. She knew that would only give them a few seconds though.
She came to a stop and Thorel stood up on his own two feet. “What now?” He asked her.
She extended her senses before answering. She let the power from her strength talismans dissipate, and brought up a shield as she saw the Magikal tremor slide through the ground towards them. Stones in Vallad's inner wall exploded as the wave passed through it. Several guards who were running up the stairs on the west side were launched into the air by the force of the Magikal quake.
“Jump!” She yelled as she did so herself. She distantly noted the cries of the injured.
Thorel didn't react quickly enough and was bowled over as the ground heaved beneath him. She used her Magik to probe him quickly, he wasn't seriously hurt. It was good she'd shielded them both, or he would be as broken as the unshielded guards were now.
“Help the guards distract him!” Ari yelled as she launched herself into flight towards the remains of the gate. She carefully noted how much power she had remaining in the spirit she was drawing from: she could afford no errors here. The spirit she was connected to had less than half of its energy left.
When she passed through what was left of the gate under the full moon's light, she saw the Wizard. He was an older man with brown hair streaked with gray. He was unremarkable except for the staff he bore in his hand in Ari's opinion. He had five spirits attached to him by ethereal chains. She still held the shield she had erected firmly.
When she settled to the ground a hail of arrows struck her shield and shattered just a foot in front of her: there looked to be over one-hundred armed men and women out here. It was good she hadn't tried to come out here with only Thorel's shield protecting her: they would both be dead or seriously wounded now.
She saw the Wizard channel Magik into his foot. He stamped it, and she saw a shock wave rumble through the stones of the street towards her. She jumped into the air instantly to avoid the attack and evoked her vortex of air to gain altitude.
The Ground erupted beneath her and shot molten stone into the air; the red liquid rock came at her quickly. She was surprised at the power of his attack: then she realized this Wizard must
have an earth affinity. That would increase his earth-based powers by half. With his staff doubling his power, it would increase a major power's intensity to one-third more than a greater power, which is the strongest that can be naturally manifested.
She was able to evade the attack in the air and launched one of her own; she fired a greater lightning bolt into his shield. Even though that was the most powerful attack, she could muster, and she had an affinity for lightning it dissipated uselessly against his shield.
By the spirits, his affinity is definitely earth. She knew earth governed most types of shields. She had not anticipated this: she should be able to beat him, even though he had his staff. But her strongest attack couldn't even challenge his defenses.
Another volley of arrows struck her shield. If she made an error with this combined attack occurring, she was going to be killed and she knew it. She switched her shield draw to a fresh spirit to make certain it wouldn't run out. She came to the ground for a moment to conserve energy.
He struck at her again, this time with a vortex of his own. It picked up the shattered arrows and buffeted her shield with them. Bastard! She thought; the objects were obscuring her vision and were definitely taking a toll on her defenses.
When she saw some enemy combatants moving in on her side with their blades drawn, she channeled her own wave into the earth. It wouldn't be as powerful as his, but being able to channel greater powers as easily as she could was her only real advantage at the moment.
When the wave came up under the soldiers, she twisted the Magik: turning the stone into tall spikes that impaled them. She heard the screams of skewered men and women and moans of the dying. She smiled viciously at the Wizard, as the spirit she drew from dissipated leaving her ten.
She heard a thump behind her, then Thorel thought to her: “I got him, I won't let anyone hurt you,” Ari smiled inwardly at that.
She was about to reply when the Wizard struck her shield squarely with a fireball that he'd formed while she was distracted, and her vision was obscured by his vortex. Her shield caught the brunt of it, only enough passed through for it to be equal to a median power. It burned her, and her dress's frills caught fire.
Spirit of Magik (The Dothranan Chronicles Book 1) Page 46