‘What? Did I forget something?’ E’Jaaz made a pantomime of putting his hand over his mouth. ‘Oh yes: five, whisk Marsila off her feet and claim that kiss I’ve always been waiting for. What?’ he protested. ‘What better time for a kiss than the end of the world?’
The tower shook and in the distance someone screamed.
‘Enough tomfoolery,’ demanded Dridif. ‘Get ta it.’
‘Wait,’ urged Jensen. ‘The Winged Saddles. Get them out of storage; we’ll need them.’
Lady Dridif turned to the nearest footman. ‘Get them,’ she instructed. As the man scampered off with several soldiers and footmen in tow, the First Speaker gave the group a contemplative stare before her gaze rested upon Nibbler. ‘I won’t put all ma eggs in one basket,’ she muttered to herself.
‘What was that?’ asked Nibbler, who felt uncomfortable beneath the weight of her attention.
‘Charlie?’
‘Yes, Dridif?’
‘Give Nibbler the pendant.’
Charlie hesitated. ‘I don’t have a problem giving it to Nibbler, but are you going to tell me why?’
‘Should ya die today we need a second chance. A hope, no matter how faint, that Bellania will still recover from Bane’s shadow.’
‘You, ah … you lost me there.’
‘We don’t know if the pendant was intended for yer sole use or not. If ya perish then Nibbler is our one other hope of using that pendant and returning the Winged Ones ta our realm. If there are no other Keepers left then a Winged One would surely be the next logical choice.’
Charlie tentatively pulled the pendant from her pocket. ‘I’m, er, still not up to speed with what you’re trying to suggest.’
Dridif, her hard face a direct contrast to many of the other terrified people in the room, straightened. ‘I mean for yer companions ta split. Ya must send Nibbler and Jensen ta the Winged Mount with yer pendant. There they can pursue our hopes of reuniting the Winged Ones.’
‘Wot about Charlie?’ demanded Jensen.
‘Her chances are more than fair. She is a Keeper, joined by Keepers and she will have an army at her back.’
‘An army that might not be able ta match the might of the Stoman army!’
‘Precisely,’ said Dridif.
‘Huh?’ Jensen twitched his head to one side so he could better hear the First Speaker. He was certain that he had misheard.
‘Do not be naive, Jensen! Ya are the first Merchant Prince of Sylvaris. Yer wealth and business acumen is renowned across Bellania. Ya juggle figures and manipulate markets ta better reap profit. I know yer brain is not slow so open yer eyes and acknowledge the truth! We are more than dying! We, our people, our way of life, our hopes, dreams and fondest wishes are close ta extinction! We must prepare for every opportunity. We must allow every seed of our culture a chance ta take root. Charlie is but one seed. Nibbler, ya and the pendant are another. Two chances, two hopes, two dreams for our future are far better than a solitary gamble.’
‘Hang on –’
‘No!’ snapped Dridif, preventing any further protests. ‘I am the First Speaker and I have spoken!’
At that moment the footmen and soldiers returned dragging six ornate but overly large leather saddles.
‘We will only be needing three of those,’ commanded Dridif.
The exhausted footmen gratefully dropped three.
‘Where do you want these two sent?’ Marsila gestured at Jensen and Nibbler.
‘These three,’ corrected Crumble in an unexpected display of loyalty. ‘I’ll watch out for them, Charlie.’
Charlie, still perplexed by Dridif’s abrupt decision, nodded her thanks to Crumble Shard.
‘A day’s walk from the Winged Mount,’ said Dridif after a moment’s contemplation.
‘Wait!’ protested Jensen, a tortured look on his face. ‘Just wait a Blighted minute.’ He moved to Charlie’s side and with a frustrated expression on his face pulled her into a tight embrace.
‘Once yer’ve finished off Bane’s army – which I know ya’ll do – I want ya ta keep an eye out for me sister and that fat oaf of an Oak, Kelko.’
The clash of arms sounded closer.
‘I promise,’ whispered Charlie, clasping her friend as tightly as she could.
‘I love ya, me little Hippotomi.’
‘Charlie –’ began Nibbler. Behind him stood Crumble, eager to get one last word in too.
‘There’s no time for dis!’ said Dridif, brusque and formal. ‘Every second is someone’s life! Marsila, get ta it!’
As much as Marsila sympathized with Charlie’s tangled emotions, she couldn’t help but agree with the First Speaker’s prognosis. She opened a Portal. Fresh air, cool mountain scents and the call of birdsong flooded into the chamber.
‘Go!’ commanded Dridif.
‘Charlie come for us as soon as –’
‘Go!’ insisted Dridif, cutting Nibbler’s words short.
Nibbler, Crumble and Jensen forlornly made an exit.
‘If there be any man or woman here that cannot wield a sword I command that ya leave too.’
There was a rumble of vague protest.
‘This is no time for empty words. Survival is at stake! Hericho, Jaylance, Treddit. I know yer minds are sharp, but it has been years since ya took part in any sport. Go! Pheranice, Lago and Stupper – yer services over the years have been great, but it is time for ya ta take yer leave.’ One by one she singled out councillor and servant alike until there was a steady stream of old faces retreating from the room. ‘Captain.’
‘Ma’am?’
‘Send a third of yer men and the wounded who can walk with them. I would see that our young Hatchling has some protection on his quest.’
‘Ma’am.’ The captain barked some orders and soon armed figures joined the others on the far side of the Portal.
‘Charlie!’ cried Nibbler. ‘I –’
Marsila let the Portal go, cutting short any further goodbyes. Charlie scowled, but Marsila ignored the look.
‘Where’s this army of yours?’
Charlie stood tall, realizing that she had duties to attend to rather than bemoaning absent friends. ‘Let me show you.’
She opened a Portal then staggered beneath the sudden weight.
‘Be careful,’ muttered Marsila. ‘Open too many Portals too quickly and your energy will swiftly deteriorate.’
‘Uh,’ grimaced Charlie. ‘Yeah, I’m kinda familiar with that.’
‘Captain, take those saddles through,’ said Dridif.
Once the guards had deposited the saddles they tried to return, but Dridif held up her hand. ‘Stay with the Keepers, assist them with the saddles then aid them as best ya can.’
‘Is this it?’ enquired Marsila. ‘Are we good to go?’
Dridif nodded. ‘Ya are.’
‘Any last words of wisdom?’
‘Grind the enemy ta dust.’
Marsila gave the First Speaker a grim smile. ‘You’ve got it.’
51
Triad
It was still raining on the Great Plains.
The stone soldiers, standing in the long ranks where Charlie had left them, disappeared into the gloom.
‘Seven Heavens,’ muttered E’Jaaz, ‘those are big.’
Marsila spun around in a slow, disbelieving circle as she tried to count the gargorillas in their entirety. ‘It’s like one of those fairy armies the Winged Ones used to tell me about when I was a child.’
A roll of thunder boomed overhead.
‘Let’s get to it,’ said Charlie, a determined expression on her face. She could feel the seconds ticking by and with it came a helpless sense that Sylvaris, beyond the horizon and beyond her reach, was being crushed into oblivion.
The Treman captain instructed his men to fasten the saddles round three of the silent gargorillas. Once their task was complete he hesitantly approached Marsila.
‘Wot of us, my lady?’
‘Wait until we’ve gone t
hrough, then you and your men can take care of any stragglers that this lot leave behind.’
The captain nodded gratefully then went to attend to his men, leaving Charlie alone with the two Keepers.
‘All right, Charlie,’ began Marsila. ‘I don’t know what training you’ve had, if any, but working with two other Keepers to form a Triad is not something that is easily learned. And today of all days, time is the one thing that we don’t have …’
‘Just tell me what needs to be done.’
‘We need to share our Wills: one common goal, one shared ambition.’
Charlie, growing more and more impatient as each minute passed, had to subdue the urge to scream with frustration. She had to stay calm. She had to stay focused. If she lost her cool now people would pay for her mistakes. But knowing that didn’t help; if anything it only added to her overwhelming sense of burden. Biting her lip and digging her nails into her palms, she did her best to control her breathing. ‘OK: one goal, one ambition. I’ve got that.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Marsila.
‘No, of course I’m not sure!’ retorted Charlie. ‘But we’ve got no choice. Look, if you and E’Jaaz just start doing whatever needs to be done I’ll watch and see if I can learn.’
E’Jaaz shrugged. ‘That’s worth a try.’
The gargorillas on either side of the small party glowed with a warm reflected light as both adults summoned their Wills. Golden fists raised, they turned to face the east.
Charlie blinked. She could feel it. Something that tugged at her. A sense of wanting filled her and, not knowing quite what was happening, but realizing that she had to go with the flow she stepped forward and added her dark light to the Keeper’s warm glow.
‘Feel it?’ asked E’Jaaz, a smile of delight wrapped across his face as he revelled in the shared power.
‘Yes!’ said Charlie. The fine hairs along her arms and the back of her neck stood up as arcs of Will crackled round her. ‘Yes!’
‘Sylvaris! We have to open a Portal to Sylvaris!’ shouted Marsila as she struggled to be heard above the growing hum of energy.
The three were encompassed by a halo of light, predominantly yellow and gold, but in places dark and almost black as Charlie’s Will interlaced with the others’. The rain evaporated as it came into contact with the sphere of power. The gargorillas on either side of the three Keepers cast odd shadows and the Treman guards had to stagger back with hands held high to shield their eyes.
‘Got it!’ acknowledged Charlie as she felt a shared consciousness.
With a great crack a Portal shimmered open. It was far larger than Charlie had expected and stretched for metres in each direction. Bright daylight sheared into the gloomy rain and with it came the sounds and terrible sights of a rampaging battle.
‘Mount up!’ snapped Marsila.
Charlie, copying the other Keeper’s movements, scaled the back of one of the gargorillas and wriggled her way into the saddle.
‘Now what?’ asked Charlie.
‘You’re the one in control!’ snorted E’Jaaz.
‘I know that!’ said Charlie, ‘but what are we going to do? I’ve never been in a battle before.’
E’Jaaz cleared his throat. ‘I believe the traditional word is “charge”.’
Charlie gave him a dirty look. Standing in her stirrups so she could be seen she shouted, ‘LISTEN TO ME!’
The gargorilla army lurched upright and even though they had no ears they gave the impression that they were paying attention.
Charlie opened her mouth to issue her final commands, but as she looked through the Portal at the massed ranks of Stoman soldiers intent on tearing Sylvaris to the ground, she paused. The darkness in her chest pulsed. Anger, now a constant in her life, began to surge, filling her veins with tempestuous warmth.
‘Charlie,’ began E’Jaaz with a concerned look. ‘Don’t let that darkness consume you. You musn’t –’
‘This is a war, is it not?’ said Charlie, riding roughshod over his worries. ‘What better place for anger? Look at that – look!’
She pointed through the Portal to the backs of the armoured Stomen. Shades snaked through their feet in their eagerness to be the first to kill Treman children. Rhinospiders danced across spears and shoulders in their haste to carry their riders forward. Arrogant Stonesingers strutted about, urging behemoths to inflict more and more damage on the once beautiful city.
‘I can think of no better place for my anger. I will wipe Bane’s army from the face of this realm!’
‘Charlie –’
‘No!’ Once again Charlie cut E’Jaaz short.
The Keeper was shocked by the commanding tone in Charlie’s voice. He was twice as shocked to realize that he was obeying her.
‘E’Jaaz, you will take a third of our forces and push back all that you find in Deepforest. Marsila?’
‘Yes, Charlie?’
‘You’re with me. We’re taking the other two thirds up into Sylvaris.’
Marsila tried to say something, but Charlie turned to the Treman captain. ‘What’s the quickest route up to the streets?’
‘There’s a ramp about half a mile from here. It’s in that direction.’ He pointed past the Stomen still wriggling and churning like a mass of maggots fighting to be the first to chew on decomposing flesh. ‘Just stick ta the road when ya find it and it’ll lead ya there. It’s a main thoroughfare inta the city. It should take six of these big beasties marching abreast.’
Charlie leaned down to shake the man’s hand. ‘Thank you. Stay safe and survive today.’
‘Ya too, dangerous lady.’
‘Charlie –’ began Marsila, trying one last time to be heard.
Charlie, fuelled by the rising rush of bleak anger, ignored her elder. She fixed her army with an intent gaze. The long lines of stone soldiers, realizing that the time had come, stood even straighter.
‘Go to Sylvaris and drive out Bane’s soldiers!’ shouted Charlie. ‘Crush them and send them reeling back to the Western Mountains! Do not stop until Sylvaris is free. Go! Go! GO!’
She was almost jolted out of her seat as her gargorilla lurched into motion. Heaving forward on all fours, it was the first to leap through the Portal. A thunderous rumble accompanied Charlie as the rest of her army followed.
Accelerating to a gallop, the gargorillas erupted from the rift and exploded into Deepforest. Kicking up a flurry of leaves they charged towards the Stoman ranks. Several Shades turned to shriek in horror, but most never got a chance. With an almighty crash Charlie’s army struck and didn’t slow at all. Shades were flung through the air, armoured Stomen trampled underfoot, behemoths crushed to dust and the swollen abdomens of rhinospiders squashed with a squelchy ‘pop’.
‘Left! To the left!’ screamed Charlie as she saw the road.
The raging torrent of stone soldiers swerved round tree trunks and pounded their slab-like feet along the road. Seeing the ramp approach Charlie waved at E’Jaaz. ‘Good luck!’
E’Jaaz, powered with Will to the point where even his mount glowed, waved back. ‘Luck be with you!’ he hollered.
As Charlie and her troops clattered up the ramp, the tattooed Keeper angled off with his third of the army. The last Charlie saw of E’Jaaz before the trees hid him from sight was him and his gargorillas spreading out in search of further combat.
Charlie turned to Marsila and nodded. Not certain that she could be heard above the din, the fierce lady returned the gesture. As they crested the top of the ramp, Sylvaris swept into view. Shattered towers, flames and smoke filled the skyscape.
‘On!’ screamed Charlie, determined to save what she could of the city. ‘Onward!’
Fo Fum remained hidden on the rain-swept plains. Ducking behind the last line of gargorillas he patiently waited as the Keepers charged through the Portal. He hesistated for several additional minutes to ensure that there was no chance of being spotted. During that time many thousands of the stone soldiers thundered through the Portal,
the combined weight of their footfall causing the ground to shimmer and shake.
Fo Fum, holding the brim of his hat low over his face, rode the tempest calmly. Then, judging the moment to be right, he grabbed the shoulder of a passing gargorilla and leaped on to its back. Cloak streaming behind him, mercenary and gargorilla punched through the Portal into a chaotic world of war.
Stomen and Shades shrieked as they were pummelled into the ground, soldiers panicked and Stonesingers tried futilely to battle Charlie’s dark army.
Fo Fum ignored it all. Using his mount’s head to haul himself upright he bunched his legs beneath him and … jumped. Landing lightly on the shoulders of another gargorilla he repeated the motion again and again until he had built enough momentum to run across the backs of the stone soldiers. Gathering speed, he began to move in front of the army. Focusing on what lay ahead, he was finally rewarded with a glimpse of Charlie’s messy hair as she rode the lead gargorilla.
His empty grin growing wider and meaner, Fo Fum continued to push his way ahead. He was determined to grasp his elusive prey while she was unaware that she was being stalked and the advantage was his.
52
Battle for Sylvaris
At each junction a steady stream of gargorillas split from the main force to engage the enemy. Street by street and bridge by bridge Charlie’s army swept clear the Stoman army, leaving a carpet of armoured corpses, broken behemoths and writhing scraps of Shades.
But not everything went their way.
Gargantuan behemoths stamped, gnashed and thumped their way through great swathes of Charlie’s soldiers before they in turn could be brought to their knees. Shades working in wriggling, writhing packs pulled gargorillas beneath their shadowy embrace, never to rise again. Stomen fighting for their lives smashed clubs into stony heads, axes into barrel chests and maces into rocky backs.
Bit by bit the enemy was forced back, but in return Charlie’s army was diminished, leaving nothing more than a pile of shattered rock or a trail of fractured limbs to mark their passing.
‘The Jade Tower!’ called Marsila.
Keeper of the Realms: The Dark Army (Book 2) Page 27