“Are you all right?” Searon asked.
“Where is Berethana?”
“Who?”
“Her sister, the other dancer. She should be here with her sister if they were on stage together.”
Searon looked around but saw nothing. “I do not know, my friend.”
Karceoles began frantically looking around, moving around rubble as he searched. There was a determination about him that Searon knew he wouldn’t be able to mellow. Instead of fighting it, he began to look around as well, joining the search with the wizard; the other warriors began searching as well. A small group of men went up the creaky steps to search the rooms of the inn.
Within a few minutes, a man hollered from upstairs, and the team of them came down holding a naked woman with blonde hair who shivered in their arms. Tears fell from her eyes, and blood streaked her face. A few scrapes and tears fell across her naked body but nothing severe. It seemed she had survived the attack almost unscathed.
“Please…” she whispered. “Please, don’t rape me, please, please…don’t.”
Karceoles walked up and took her out of the warriors’ arms. “Quiet, girl, nobody here will harm you. I promise you.”
She looked up into his eyes and brought her shaky hand to his face. “Wizard? Is that you?”
“Yes, Berethana…it is I. Everything will be okay.”
“It was horrid, fire was everywhere, people burned—my sister…she screamed from the fire that consumed her before those creatures came in and…and—”
“The fire came first? Why are you not burned?” he asked.
“I-I don’t know. It was all around me. My clothing was caught on fire, but I didn’t feel the heat. When the creatures came, I hid, but the only place I could hide so they couldn’t see me was in the fire.”
Karceoles’s eyes flickered, and he looked around until settling his eyes on Searon’s. “Shh, it’s okay now. Everything will be okay.”
He brought her over to his horse and tucked her in blankets before turning around to look at Searon. After a long breath, he walked forward with his eyes glancing around at the others surrounding the warrior.
“Survivors…search the village for survivors,” Searon said. “Go, now!”
Everybody scattered out of the pub and into the streets. Searon took a step toward the wizard while glancing at the young dancer bundled up in blankets. He looked around at the carnage and the smoldering wood.
“What’s wrong?” Searon asked.
“She’s not burned. She hid in the fire…and she’s not burned.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means that my seed is inside of her. The seed of fire.”
Searon nodded. “So what does this mean?”
“She must be protected. Fire cannot harm her, but our enemies can. She is the first to hold the seed of a child in near a century.”
“What happened to the rest? I know for certain that she has not been your only conquest.”
Karceoles’s face turned grim as he looked toward Searon. “They have disappeared, or the seed hasn’t taken. It is already very rare that a seed will hold; not all wombs are suitable for wizards.”
“Disappeared?” Searon asked.
“Killed sometimes, or vanished. Wizards are a near-extinct race. Besides a few novices or those who keep themselves hidden, I am the last remaining wizard.”
“Will you protect her?”
“Yes, she will be safe with me.”
Searon nodded and walked out of the pub. He nearly walked into the mage in the chaos of the village. Everybody scurried from one place to another, and to Searon’s surprise survivors were being found everywhere. He watched as they were being pulled from crumbled buildings and rubble.
“How many survivors have been found?” Searon asked.
“Thirty one, five of whom won’t survive the night,” Sh’on said.
Searon nodded. “Give those five a tall mug of ale and some food, and make them as comfortable as you can with bales of hay. Then we march; there is no time to waste.”
“One is a small child, a girl, no older than the age of twelve.”
“A child…Charlotte…” Searon whispered.
“Charlotte?” Sh’on asked.
“Nobody, do not worry about it, she is not from this village. Is there nothing you can do? All this magic that both you and Karceoles have, and you can’t even save a small girl?”
“I am limited with healing, Lord Searon; what I can do I must save for those who can survive. Besides, I can only heal what is there…and some of her insides are…missing.”
Searon’s stomach twisted in disgust, and he spat on the ground. He sighed heavily until shaking his head and turning to the mage. “I will see to her, but you must take care of these other four. If there is to be any chance of Legain surviving, we must make haste.”
“As you wish.” Sh’on bowed and pulled his cloak to his side as he turned and strode off.
Chapter 34
Searon stared into the distance toward the gates of Legain. An army of daerions crowded its front gates, laying siege to the walls, and yet relief spread across the captain’s face. They hadn’t broken through the gate yet, and Legain’s defenses were strong. His brother had made sure of that. He watched in pride at the crossbow men along the wall’s crenellation as they fired down upon the creatures. He knew they wouldn’t be able to hold long as fires had begun on the stone. In the midst of all the blue creatures, he noticed something amiss. There was a lone person on a black stallion with a long staff who appeared to command them.
The number of daerions was more than Searon could have imagined. At least three thousand fought at the gate of Legain, and many of them tried climbing the thick walls. Whoever sat on the horse appeared to be a magician and used his power to create black fires on the walls of the great city. The gate seemed to be weakened, and a few hundred of the creatures carried crossbows that killed several of the humans atop the walls and towers. He watched as the hundreds of creatures trying to break down the gate suddenly moved away. The magician stood alone against the gate and shot magic from his staff that shattered the gate into a thousand pieces of metal and stone.
“A dark wizard?” Searon whispered.
“A warlock,” Karceoles said at his side.
The thousands of creatures began flooding into the gates of his home city. Rage pulsed through Searon’s veins. He was already uneasy as he watched the young girl die just the other day in the small destroyed village. There was little he could offer her except comfort and a small taste of the wizard’s last jar of peanut paste.
He turned around and raised his claymore to cavalry and infantry alike. “Men, these creatures are slaughtering your families. Show them no fear, show them no mercy! Destroy them all! Charge!”
Searon quickly sheathed his weapon and kicked the side of his striped stallion. He was hoping to delay for a time while the rest of the men on foot could catch up, but there was no longer time. The gates of his former city had been demolished, and to make matters worse, some sort of warlock appeared to be leading them.
Starlyn ran at his side and thrust her golden hammer into one foe after another. She pulled her shield up high to deflect scimitars as the strikes came at her. Rain began to fall from the cloudy sky and covered her in large droplets of water. Searon wondered why she cared so much. He knew that she was desperate to find her sister, but she had bonded with him and the rest of the humans. She would protect them with her life and he wasn’t quite sure why. Lightning illuminated her golden shield with scattered designs of blue leaves across the front. Searon fought by her side, making sure that she was well defended.
Searon slid on his crimson-and-gold helm before making his first slash with his glowing claymore. In the heat of battle, he looked like every other warrior, with no significance toward his leadership. He was careful not to be on the front lines to bring attention to himself, although his cunning swordplay as well as the striped stallion he rode gai
ned him enough unwanted attention. Starlyn stayed by his side on the ground and kept him well defended as well as a few of his guard. Karceoles the wizard wasn’t too far away, either fighting alongside the mage Sh’on with complimentary magic spells, though each focused on different directions.
The daerions were strong creatures in spite of how short they were. Most carried short swords, yet their brute strength was all they needed. Searon watched as one of the daerions reached and grabbed one warrior off of his horse by the neck and crushed the man with bare hands. Arrows soon took the creature, but it took nearly a dozen before it dropped to the ground with dark-sapphire blood pouring from its twisted mouth.
Etherond and Andron fought east of Searon and brought a lot of attention to themselves as Etherond blew through a ram’s horn. The sound rallied his men to him to fight in an oval, and yet at the same time it caused the creatures to suspect him as a leader. Searon wasn’t as worried about delivering deathblows as he would have been in the past. He knew there were warriors behind his ranks that had the sole task of making sure fallen foes caught their last breath. His mission was to injure them and knock them onto their feet.
No matter how hard they fought the creatures from behind, it did little to stop them from flooding into the gates of Legain. The warlock was in their center, but he stayed by the gate to usher the creatures in. He shot magic out of what Searon could only assume was his zylek toward any human that seemed to be a threat. Searon wasn’t so sure he could stop the magic, and was wary about approaching the dark magic user. He knew that some form of defense was needed to prevent as many of the creatures as they could from entering the gates. Noraes would have his defense ready for sure, but against the savage beasts the casualties would be hefty. There were a few thousand of them, and while Searon had at least four times the number, his men were still forming rank toward the city with many still a league away. He looked around until he spotted both the wizard and the mage.
Searon rode his stallion up to the mage. “Can you reinforce the entrance to Legain?” He half screamed to be heard.
Sh’on turned to look at Karceoles, who only nodded in response. The wizard clutched his zylek tight and shot a flame of orange energy into the daerions that caused them to separate long enough for both Karceoles and Sh’on to ride through the middle of their ranks toward the gate.
When he turned back around, he noticed Starlyn was fenced in by five daerions and having a tough time defending herself with only a hammer and a few humans around her that seemed to drop like flies to a frog. Searon jerked his stallion’s reins, causing his companion to gallop back toward the kheshlar.
He reached the kheshlar in what seemed like the nick of time as he decapitated a creature that she hadn’t noticed behind her. Her eyes bulged as she stepped over the severed head to dodge another strike. Six humans lay dead around her; that had died protecting her. Searon pushed a few of the creatures back, but it wasn’t until Leinard appeared by their side in his green-and-black kilt that the tide seemed to change to their favor. Leinard had a claymore similar to Searon’s except its hilt was silver and green in color and its blade didn’t glow crimson as Searon’s did in battle.
Half of the daerions seemed to be through the broken entrance before the wizard and mage reached it. A small flash of greens, oranges, and blacks appeared as they fought the warlock before the man garbed in black cloaks backed off with his black stallion. He didn’t appear to want to fight against two with magical powers.
Karceoles began weaving his zylek into complex patterns, creating an orange horizontal barrier in front of him in place of the shattered gate. Sh’on spent his time sending green flurries of power out in front of them to push oncoming daerions away. He didn’t bother using large amounts of energy when it appeared he would need to save his strength for whatever the wizard had planned. Searon knew that they would need help and Sh’on would eventually have to combine his powers with the wizard for a secure defense.
He galloped his striped stallion forward and grabbed Starlyn by the elbow as he did, lifting her onto the back of his steed. At first, she protested, but he didn’t allow her an opportunity to object further. Searon rode back north and away from the force of confused daerions.
“To me, to me!” he cried. “Create a path to the gate; we must defend it!”
With that order, Leinard broke off with his men, and a few hundred men in kilts charged through the center ranks, carving a path toward the mage and wizard. They didn’t bother killing anything in their path but focused on injuring to increase their speed. Daerions were driven back on each side while others stepped in to battle against them. Searon strode his horse right behind Leinard until he stopped in front of Sh’on and Karceoles. They were on the other side of the magical barrier, but no longer did Sh’on have to distract himself with the creatures.
Searon saw through the gate and saw his brother surrounded by a dozen men fighting inside of the city. A rapier was in his right hand while his left glowed a deep blue with magical energy. He seemed to toss daerions across the yard with his magical fist as he sliced others down with his rapier. His speed with the thin blade made all the difference against the heavier weapons and slower creatures.
A shriek and snarl shattered the battle cries, and the man on the rider with the black cloak reared back on his horse. His horse stood on two legs and kicked the air in rage as he shouted. “Kill them! To the gate, kill them, and destroy the city!”
“Now!” Karceoles yelled.
Searon turned back around and began holding the defenses of the gate with Starlyn by his side. Behind him, a flicker of green formed that seemed to intertwine with the horizontal magic in a vertical pattern that created a series of off-color magic boxes. Everything vertical was green while all the horizontal magic was orange. Where the two magic forces met, it was a mixture of the two colors – making it a black with green tint.
The daerions didn’t seem to consider the magic as they charged. There was little regard for the defenders and their weapons as the creatures seemed to charge right over them and into the magical gate. When they came into contact with the magic, they seemed to catch fire and freeze at the same time. They became a fire that shattered into a thousand pieces of broken ice. Searon thrust his claymore into any that came close to him, and soon the creatures turned away in fear.
A loud crackling of black lightning thickened the air and shot out in every direction. Searon watched as many of his men fell victim to the charged energy and fell to the ground, lifeless. Enough of the magic came toward him to cause him to stumble as well as those around him. Even Karceoles and Sh’on were affected and lost control of their spell. However, a cloud of black smoke appeared until it became a great fog, and when it disappeared – so did the warlock.
“Torches,” Karceoles muttered.
Most of the daerions outside of the gate were missing as well, and after their army slaughtered what was left, they entered the city. Searon stepped up alongside his brother, Noraes, as they finished off the creatures inside of the city.
Soon swords were raised, and men began chanting, “Victory!”
Searon took off his helm and attached it on his armor and clasped his brother in a hug. Noraes’s armor wasn’t so far different from his brother’s. Rather than crimson and gold it was silver and blue, but much of it was the same style. His rapier didn’t glow blue as Searon’s claymore glowed red, but his hand took care of the complimentary colors when it filled with magic.
Karceoles’s brow was full of sweat as he stepped up and shook Noraes’s hand.
“Well fought,” Noraes said.
“I’m sorry, Brother, I should have kept better scouts,” Searon said.
“Nonsense. You could not have foreseen this. They had a wizard with them.”
“Warlock,” Karceoles corrected. “Wizards are better looking.”
Noraes smiled. “Warlock. He probably saw you and waited until you were too far away before he began his attack. This is no folly of y
ours. However, Brother, I will need men back now. I can’t fall victim to this again and must reform my defenses.”
“Of course. As many as you need, both north and south men alike.”
Noraes looked at the army before him and seemed in awe. There were near twenty thousand men and the largest force to be under one banner that the land had seen in centuries. Small house flags were held by banner men, and yet most were the red flag and gold claymore. Searon Claymore they called him, and hung his banner high and proud.
Starlyn walked up next to Searon before removing her golden helm. Her lovely golden hair fluttered behind her head and sparkled in the twilight. Noraes seemed taken aback and turned to gape at her. Only when she finished untangling her hair with her hand did she notice him, and he lowered his gaze and coughed. Her cheeks seemed to turn a slight shade of red, if only for a second.
“My lady,” he shifted, “I am Noraes, captain of Legain.”
She smiled. “I’m Starlyn of Sudegam.”
He extended his hand to her, and when she took it he brought it to his lips and kissed the ring mail gloves upon her hands. She blushed as he nodded to her and smiled.
“It is a great pleasure to meet you, Lady Starlyn, to be sure,” Noraes continued, still not letting go of her hand.
Searon smirked. “I hate to shatter your thoughts, dear Brother, but our men are tired and hungry.”
“Of course, of course. There will be a huge feast to celebrate our victory,” Noraes announced, turning to his brother and finally releasing Starlyn’s hand.
Chapter 35
Searon sat at the crowded oval table, staring across to look at Noraes and Starlyn as they conversed with each other. He found it odd how quickly the two seemed to form a bond. His brother had always been quick to sway a woman in his direction that he had interest for, and yet it still surprised Searon that a kheshlar could be affected so. It was the kheshlars that were supposed to be the fair folk that all others toppled over themselves to please. Instead, it was Starlyn that seemed to blush with embarrassing smiles at his brother’s remarks.
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