In that instant, they vanished. The tail of the tent they were in flapped in the breeze of their powerful disappearance.
Ruby felt the cool air when they arrived. She shook her head back and forth quickly to help her inner ear regain balance then opened her eyes. They were on the third tier. Everything was dark and silent. Men and women moved about. She recognized the uniform of the Blackguard and some mages in various colors of robes.
“Remain here, men. Ruby, if you will come with me?” He placed a hand at the small of her back, directing her from the crowd of dazed and moaning men. Traveling spells were often very confusing at first. Some looked at him as though he were mad.
Levielle had spotted Lady Aldemar in the crowd at the mouth of the Blackguard’s caverns. She had her back to them as she addressed another mage in whispered tones. The general guided Ruby forward. When they were behind Aldemar he looked to Ruby and nodded toward her mother’s back.
Ruby took a deep breath. Levielle reached out with his other hand and tapped the older healer on the shoulder. She turned.
Mother and daughter stared at each other, neither saying a word. Lady Aldemar looked at Levielle in confusion.
“In my travels, it seems I found something you lost, milady.” His tone was one of softness and a bit of mischief. Taking a step back, he watched the encounter unfold.
“My child?” Lady Aldemar looked at her in shock. “Is it really you? They told me you were dead.” She stepped forward, and without hesitation, pulled her into her arms. “Oh, my darling daughter.”
Ruby returned the hug and responded with just one word, “mother.”
Smiling toward the women embracing, Levielle spoke up after a moment. “It seems I need to find a certain Trench Lord now, but I thought it best to return this first.”
Lady Aldemar nodded. She reached out with one hand and squeezed her old friend’s arm. “Thank you Levielle. I will be forever in your debt.”
With a small bow Levielle moved away, back toward the men who seemed to be regaining their footing.
“Exhilarating, isn’t it?” He chuckled and was answered by groans of displeasure from most of them. “We’ve got work to do, come on.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sordith jumped, pulling two of his knives in a swift reaction to the hand on his shoulder, but when he turned to fight, it was Owen.
The big man held up his hands. “Don’t kill the man who came to help you,” he protested.
“You were supposed to wait with the others on the third tier.” Sordith hissed in anger as he sheathed his blades. He didn’t like surprises, and after the sight of the Daezun arrival he would have to admit he was shaken already. Every nerve was on edge.
“I thought you might need help.” His Second was not apologetic.
Owen had not been far from the Trench Lord’s side since he’d been found in Aldemar’s makeshift healer’s clinic after the storm. It seemed the Trench Lord’s ‘muscle’ attributed his own survival of the storm to Sordith’s sending him away to help evacuate the people to the third tier; he’d actually been on the third tier when the wave hit. This had given him a bird’s eye view of the event, and he shared Sordith’s burning hatred of the High Minister. When Alador was not sitting at his brother’s side as he healed, Sordith and Owen spent hours plotting their revenge.
Owen was already working on the Trench Lord’s manor when Sordith and Keelee were released from the healers to return home. He had no family, but he had friends in the trench and had hired the surviving children Sordith always spoiled on the first tier. They almost had the manor cleared of debris by the time the Trench Lord took residence once more. Sordith saw a whole other side to his muscle as Owen arrived each morning and proved himself adept with a hammer and saw. The two men’s bond grew deeper as they worked and plotted over their mid-day meals together.
Sordith shook his head, clapping the loyal man on the shoulder with a smile. “Let’s go meet our new friends.” He headed out on the plain to greet the growing horde of Daezun.
“Dorien?” he called in a stage whisper that could be heard over the silently moving crowd. For such a large group, they were very quiet, but Sordith reminded himself that these men and women were hunters, used to walking quietly through the woods.
“Here!” a stocky, well-built man at the front replied.
Sordith and Owen moved in closer. Loud voices on the plain would carry up the tiers, and might alert someone to the Daezun arrival.
“I am Sordith, and this is Owen. Alador sent me. We are to lead you to the third tier to join up with the Blackguard and the others who will fight on our side.”
“This is my brother Tentret,” Dorien said, placing a hand on the shoulder of the young man beside him. “He won’t be fighting; he is here to keep a record of this event. These are the leaders and the elders of the villages who have joined us.” He waved a hand over the men huddled closely behind him. “We will learn each other’s names after we rid ourselves of these tyrants.”
Sordith nodded. He pointed to the Blackguard’s cavern on the third tier. There was a half moon, and you could see the torches which always burned at its entrance. “We are headed up there. The first tier is all but deserted; if you encounter anyone there or on the second tier they are friendly and we should warn them to stay inside. We gather on the third to make the assault on the fourth and fifth.”
With those brief instructions, Sordith and Owen led the Daezun into the city, sprinting ahead onto the ramp from the trench to the first tier. The rubble from the stone wall which had blocked it during the storm was piled to either side in huge chunks. It slowed the large invading force as they made their way between the impromptu mountains of rock.
Sordith and Owen ran like prangs evading a hunter’s arrow across the first tier to the ramp up to the second. They were both amazed at the silent movement of the large group of men and women behind them. They were even more shocked when they took the turn onto the second tier - there were Daezun already there and working their way up to the third tier in front of them! The villagers had brought leather-padded grappling hooks with ropes attached, and now at least half of the Daezun, with bows and swords slung over their backs, were scaling the tier walls while the other half moved along behind the two men.
Sordith and Owen grinned at each other. If the villagers were as good with a bow as Alador assured them they would be, these people were going to be a formidable enemy.
The Daezun held back on the third tier, coiling up their ropes and slinging them over their shoulders as they waited for the Lerdenians to make it to the front.
The Trench Lord arrived slightly out of breath, and Owen patted random Daezun on the back in admiration as he passed the ones who arrived before him before he slumped onto a nearby barrel. Sordith smiled at this companion. He was a fighter, not a sprinter, but he would be fine once he caught his breath.
Finally, they made their way to the front of the cavern and the greeting party that awaited them. “Bariton,” Sordith held out his hand to the Master of the Blackguard.
Bariton clasped it and gave him a grin. “Looks like our Daezun friends will come in handy.” He had watched them flow over the walls like the water of the recent storm. Hopefully, they would do as much damage to the fourth and fifth tiers as the wave had done to the trench and the first.
Sordith waved Dorien forward. “This is Dorien, Alador’s brother. He leads the Daezun.”
Bariton nodded at the man. He was built like a bull and yet, the Blackguard leader had watched him scale the wall to the third tier with ease, as if he were one of the city’s rats.
Lady Aldemar stepped forward with a young lady who bore an uncanny resemblance to her. “This is my dear friend, Sordith, the Trench Lord,” she told her companion. “Sordith… this is my daughter, Ruby.”
Sordith looked at the healer with surprised eyes full of questions.
“I will explain later, when we have time,” Aldemar added with a shy smile. “Suffice to
say, she is not yours.”
Sordith nodded and hoped that he lived through the battle in order to hear this tale.
“Levielle brought her to me,” Aldemar said and graced the general with one of her smile.
Sordith had not seen the general in the crowd of Blackguards behind the leaders.
Levielle stepped forward and offered his hand. “I understand you are coordinating this assault.”
This statement awaked the Trench Lord to his duties.
“Alador did not tell me you would be here,” Sordith confessed.
“He did not know I was sent for. In fact, it was the High Minister who mistakenly assumed he could summon me to his side.”
Sordith had never seen the general smile so broadly.
“Well, with this development, I would suggest that I turn over the command to you, Sir. You are far more experienced than I am in these actions.” Sordith made a slight bow toward the general.
Levielle looked from one to the other of the leaders spread around him. Lady Aldemar nodded her approval, and Bariton did the same, but it was Dorien who said what all of them were feeling, “I care not who is in charge, let’s just get it done!”
“Indeed,” Levielle agreed. “Lady Aldemar what is the status of the mages you have gathered?”
“I have brought all of those who are with us to this level. If they remain on the fourth or fifth tiers, they are our enemies.”
“Very well,” the general declared. “We must be able to tell friend from foe.” He raised his hand and clenched his fist. Every man and woman, whether Daezun, mage, soldier or Blackguard on the third tier, felt a slight blow of energy to their backs, as if they had been thumped resoundingly by a friendly hand. When they looked at each other’s backs, where they had been blank moments before, a silver dragon was now embroidered there. The image shone in the moonlight as if enchanted. “Any who wear the dragon are friend,” Levielle declared. He nodded at Dorien. “Station your best archers at the far ends of the third tier. Have them work their way up higher as the opportunities arrive. The rest of your people can make a direct assault via your handy grappling hooks.”
He looked toward Bariton. “Your Blackguard must work on two fronts. Station your best trained mages down here to protect all of those on this tier and below. We’ll have no more deaths below the fourth,” he declared with conviction. “Send the rest up the ramps to the higher tiers to engage the enemy and protect any non-mage servants who are fleeing the fight.”
He turned his attention to Lady Aldemar and Ruby. “Wreak havoc on any mage you encounter.”
“And help the dragons rid the city of the fifth-tier scum,” Sordith added.
“Trench Lord…” the general started to instruct.
“I am sorry, Levielle…” Sordith interrupted. “I have an appointment with Alador.”
The Trench Lord turned and waved a beckoning hand to Owen. Or more precisely, I have an appointment with the High Minister.
Chapter Thirty-Six
At the first sign of attack Luthian had summoned Severent back to his side and sent an urgent message to Levielle that they were out of time. He instructed the General to bring the army at a forced march, but even as he gave the order he knew they couldn’t arrive in time.
Severent stationed his men in a protective perimeter around the High Minister’s manor. He personally took up a position in the lee of the garden wall, with a direct view and path to the front entrance. With four others scattered in the shadows, the front of the mansion was well covered.
There were two archers stationed on the roof. With the building two stories high, and the added height of a turret toward the back, the bowmen would have a wide area of surveillance.
The High Minister was a powerful mage, but as this battle escalated Severent could see why Luthian was concerned. He could hear shouting, sword clashes and the whine of arrows through the air. It was bedlam below the fifth tier, and headed up toward them. Even though Severent held no magical powers himself, he could feel the energy in the air. It was like another storm cascading ashore. The hair on his arms had risen, and even his scalp felt itchy.
There was a burst of flames on the tier below, and then a sound like a sheet whipping in a stiff wind. He looked up to see a huge red dragon glide over the city, followed by several other dragons. They were all raining fire down on the fourth and fifth tiers.
Severent crawled from his hiding place to the edge of the manor property and lay on his belly watching the dragons attack the top two tiers. Stone shattered and exploded around him, but not one dragon’s fire hit the High Minister’s mansion. It was as if it had a protective force around it, but when he reached out, he could feel nothing. Why was the leader’s home being spared? He put himself in the mind of the enemy. Why would he not assault the ruler’s home?
Because someone else was… One of their own was either here or coming here and they had been told to hold their fire. Most likely the human element of this battle was also being kept at bay.
Who would be the attacker? Severent had never liked or trusted the younger brother, Henrick. He was too amiable, and he reminded Severent of an actor in one of the plays you could see performed by the traveling bards on the plains during the summer.
Or could it be the nephew? Alador seemed young, but Severent knew Luthian was afraid of him on some level or he would not have needed the village girl for insurance to keep the younger mage in line.
There was an ear-splitting roar and the home just below the High Minister’s was hit, exploding high into the air in a fountain of debris. Rock shrapnel rained down on Severent, and he retreated to his place behind the garden wall to wait.
Sordith watched as the Daezun scaled the wall to the fourth tier. He stopped and turned back toward Owen.
“Give me a leg up,” he ordered.
Even in the pale moonlight he could see Owen’s questioning look. “You ain’t goin’ without me,” he protested.
“No, I am not,” he agreed, “I just think we could make faster time their way.” He waved a hand at the wall pointing out the Daezun successfully climbing up.
Owen bent his knees and cupped his hands for Sordith’s boot. The Trench Lord put his foot in Owen’s palms and immediately felt a surge which almost propelled him over the wall. The big man was more powerful than he’d imagined. Once on the fourth tier, Sordith quietly borrowed one of the Daezun’s ropes, and with the help of the stocky owner and one of his friends, they hauled Owen up.
The Daezun were all silently working their way to station themselves at the doors of each habitat on the fourth tier for a surprise attack, but it was not to be. A cry rang out - one of the city guards had shouted an alarm before they could be silenced by the Blackguards assigned the task of dispatching them.
Bedlam swiftly ensued. Swords clashed, arrows whizzed overhead and spells were being cast like spears through the air.
A powerful light erupted on the outlook off the Blackguard’s cavern. It wasn’t a fire, it was more like lightning. It was shortly after that when the dragons appeared and started to attack.
As Sordith and Owen fought their way up the length of the fourth tier to the fifth, they saw a stone mage start to throw up a wall against the invading force, but a dragon flew in close and raked it down, burying the mage in the process.
Two nature mages, one wearing the silver dragon and one not, fought against each other, each wrapping their opponent in crawling vines and slinging thorny armed branches at one another.
A fire mage and a water enhanced Blackguard were dueling one-on-one on the stairs to the fourth tier. Flames were raining down on the Blackguard, who was having trouble drawing enough water from the slough to overpower the defending mage. Unfortunately for the fire mage, he was so focused on the foe he could see that he failed to notice Sordith’s dagger coming. The knife caught him right through the throat and impaled him on the post behind him.
Sordith and Owen both slapped the Blackguard companionably on the back as t
hey passed. The Trench Lord retrieved his dagger and kept on running; they were almost there.
But they were immediately stalled just topping the stairs to the fourth tier. A young blue dragon was actually on the tier, furiously digging at one of the stone mansions. Its claws ripped and tore at the stone, which flew from its paws in great chunks; whoever was in that mansion was not going to live through the assault. It head-butted the stone on the front of the building, letting loose a mighty roar as the façade began to crumble.
The dragon did not see the man who had climbed up to the roof while he was busy with the door and face of the house. The mage took advantage of this distraction by sending a bolt of lightning straight at his head. It hit the beast, knocking him off balance and sending back over the edge of the fifth tier. Sordith and Owen dropped below the wall to keep from being pushed over by the tumbling young dragon.
They were about to raise their heads when a blast of dragon fire incinerated the mage on the roof and a huge red dragon plummeted past them down the tiers after the falling young blue. The blue struck the third tier, taking a portion with him, but the red caught him in his talons before he hit the next tier. They watched as the bigger dragon took the blue to the plain and laid him down gently.
The obstruction out of their way, the two men headed up the fourth tier walk toward the stairs to the fifth tier, and on to the High Minister’s mansion.
The fifth tier had not yet been reached by the human fighting force. It was eerily quiet compared to the fourth tier, where dragons swooped through the air, scorching everything they saw. But fire was not their only weapon. Some of the buildings on this tier were frozen into tombs; others had been shattered, and lay in rubble.
The mages were doing their best to defend the city, but they were losing to the more powerful dragons.
A silver dragon let out an ear-piercing roar, and the building behind them shattered into a million rock projectiles. Sordith and Owen were thrown to the ground and lay dazed for a moment.
Fallen Tiers Page 26