Thread Skein (Golden Threads Trilogy Book 3)

by Leeland Artra

  Closing the slot, he glanced at the guard next to the cell. The guard nodded and ran out to execute the new instructions.

  He then motioned for the other door to be opened. The vision that greeted him made his heart leap in sympathy. Lady Sula was spread out on the floor with dried purple blood around her. Her hands and head had large gashes, and her clothes were dirty and caked with more blood. He stepped into the cell and said, “What have you done to her?”

  Two guards stepped into the room with him. “Nothing, First Warlord. She did this herself. About a cycle ago, she went berserk, screaming and pounding on the doors and walls with her hands, head, and feet. She would do it for marks before knocking herself out. As soon as she wakes, she starts all over. We can’t open the door when she’s awake. We asked our commander what to do, and he ordered us to ignore her until she regained some composure.”

  Maru-Ashua was sickened to see that blood spatter decorated the entire cell. He lifted her hands and saw she had been clawing at the stone walls, rending the ends of her fingers into bloody nubs.

  “Has she eaten or drunk anything?”

  The guards looked at each other. “We’re not sure if she drank. She hasn’t eaten.” They pointed to a corner, where a pile of rotting food had been thrown.

  Gently, he lifted her head and examined the bruising. She had given herself multiple concussions, at the minimum. Her neck had deep scratches where she’d apparently tried numerous times to force off the golden collar.

  I don’t think I need to tell her that her mother is dead. She’s clearly aware of that. I can only hope she’s still sane.

  “Bring me Magus Cune NOW.”

  The guards rushed to fetch the Magus. When they brought him in, he let out a cry of anguish upon seeing the condition of Sula and her cell. He fell to Sula’s side, touching her neck and checking her wounds.

  Maru-Ashua touched the Magus’s shoulders. “I will put you in the same cell with her if you swear to me now on your honor as a Dagger that you will not attempt to escape.”

  Cune looked up, tears running into his thick beard. “Why? What has happened? I heard her screaming; I thought you were torturing her. But...” He paused, looking around. “...this...is self-inflicted. Tell me, please, what is going on?”

  “I cannot tell you all, but Lady Dalpha was killed in the assembly chambers after they voted to declare war on the Nhia-Samri. Lady Sula is now the Lady of Healing for Niya-Yur, and she must have somehow felt the truth.

  “It appears she started these insane attempts to escape, or to kill herself, at the moment her mother was killed. This should not have been possible with the prisoner collar.

  “I need her alive and sane before her father and the other Gods come. Will you serve her in her time of need?”

  Magus Cune gazed down on the broken form of Sula, pain evident on his face. “Forgive me, Lady, I must.” Looking directly into Maru-Ashua’s eyes, he said, “I serve Lady Sula. I swear to you, on my honor, I will not attack or cause the guards any trouble or attempt to escape.”

  Maru-Ashua nodded. “Quickly, before she awakes. We need to move her to a better cell and clean her up. I want a full set of mage chains to hold her in place. I cannot allow her to continue like this.”

  When the guards moved to pick her up, Magus Cune held up a hand. “No, she is my responsibility. I will carry her.” He gently picked her up and cradled her in his arms, placing her head against his neck.

  Although Cune was standing, Maru-Ashua noticed the man was a little wobbly as he stepped out of the cell, so he followed close behind to catch both of them if he fell. But Cune surprised him; he carried Lady Sula the entire distance, and even grew steadier as they progressed.

  He put Magus Cune and Lady Sula in a set of store rooms. It was still a prison cell, but those rooms were easily made far more comfortable. They even had narrow windows. The instructions were carried out, converting the chambers into a space fit for a royal visitor.

  Sula was attached to the wall by a few mages who sealed the special chains, which Maru-Ashua was sure would hold her. She wouldn’t be able to go far, but at least she could move around her room, to the toilet, and to a small reading or dining room. Maids were summoned to strip Sula down and clean her and then to put her into a comfortable set of silk robes.

  Once all was taken care of, Maru-Ashua looked at Cune. “You know she needs magic, yes?”

  Cune nodded.

  Maru-Ashua held out a bottle sent by Shar-Lumen. “This is sharre. If you give it to her in small sips, the collar will not hurt her. If she drinks too much of it, the collar will drain the energy and punish her for attempting to build up the power to do something. Your chains and collar will do the same. This is old enough to heal and to give her the magic she needs to live. When you run out, the guards will provide more.”

  Cune took the bottle. “Why do you do this for us and offer up such treasure?”

  “I am not a monster.” Maru-Ashua took one last look at the sleeping form of Sula in her new bed, then turned and left the room. He heard the guards close and lock the door as he walked away.

  - - -

  Outside in the training fields, Maru-Ashua found his generals waiting. He followed them to where his warriors were assembled. Looking over them, he nodded in approval. His armor was waiting in a nearby tent. He prepared himself for battle and then stepped over to the wall, where a gate was built.

  He wanted to use the gate closest to the palace. With 300 warriors already there, he only needed to place his additional 300 warriors close to the palace to take the city as quickly as possible.

  Taking the control from the niche next to the gate, he held the wide, almost flat, silver bowl in one hand. As he touched the large red gem set in the center, the inlaid pattern on the bowl started to glow. He tapped the patterns, indicating west. Six symbols appeared in the air above the bowl, and he selected the one for the city of Allornia.

  A semitransparent model of the city rose up out of the control, and with it, five pulsing spheres, each of which was at the relative position in the view of the city where a gate was. He touched the sphere for the one he wanted in a mansion closest to the palace, and it changed to glow blue. He pressed the large one in the center, and the magic gate arch before him shimmered as it established the link.

  Placing the control back into the niche, he turned, drawing his swords, and said, “You will kill only combatants. You will inform all warriors you contact that full rules of engagement for formal armies are to be used. There will be no destruction of property. Stop anyone taking advantage of the situation to loot. Do you understand your orders?”

  All 300 warriors saluted by tapping their odassi together. His generals, although surprised by the altered orders, wisely stayed silent.

  Yes, I’m interpreting the command differently than most would have.

  To his two generals, he pointed and said, “You take half the division to the city districts and police the area.” Pointing to the other, he said, “You bring the other half with me. We will take the palace and end this before nightfall.”

  The portal showed a large empty room with a pair of closed double doors. Maru-Ashua signaled for the scouts to go through. Five warriors ran full tilt, drawing their swords as they leapt through the gateway. Each scout had angled in a bit differently, landing either on their feet or rolling on the ground. The result was a precision team circle, covering a complete 360 degrees, both high and low. The scouts paused to listen, and then they moved as a team off to the right, out of view.

  He patiently waited as he considered the possible scenarios that lingered on the other side of the gateway. He wanted to examine the warrior structure there, but at that distance, it would be better to do it when he could enter.

  The scout team came back into view of the gate from the opposite side and signal
ed all clear.

  Maru-Ashua stepped through into the huge entry foyer and examined the rest of the area he had been unable to see before. The room had a pair of graceful spiral staircases leading up to the second floor. The ceiling was domed with a crystal chandelier. The gateway residences close to the palaces were usually extremely opulent.

  Surprisingly tasteful.

  Windows looked out over the front courtyard and carriage house. A circular drive led to a tall fence with a pair of ironwork gates to the street that had been left open. Random items were scattered on the floor and stairs, indicating that whoever had lived there had left in a hurry, trying to take as much as possible with them. The scouts had moved to cover all the entries to the room, with two watching the front of the house.

  Maru-Ashua picked up a baby pacifier from the floor. Looking at the evidence of children, he sighed before dropping the pacifier back to the floor.

  “Scouts, check the nearby houses and streets and report back in ten minutes.”

  The scouts moved out through the front door as a well-coordinated team, checking for any possible attackers, with a speed Maru-Ashua noted with pleasure.

  A breeze brought smoky-flavored air through the open front door. A dozen identifiable burning smells were on that wind, and each one was a vital part of any community. The waste and destruction weighed heavily on his heart as he signaled for the rest of his divisions to cross over.

  Standing aside, his generals began staging the divisions into the front courtyard. Warriors streamed past, efficiently grouping into their teams. In less than two minutes, teams were moving out of the gates and into the city on their assigned missions.

  Maru-Ashua concentrated on feeling the area. Gripping his odassi, he pushed his mind out along the connecting streams to every warrior in the area. As First Warlord, he could not only see the command connection streams provided by the odassi, he also had direct control over those connections.

  Pulling all the connecting streams into a reasonable order took far more time than he liked. He saw that his generals noticed his frown, and they also looked in on the command streams as he worked to correct them.

  What angered him wasn’t the time it took to correct the organization of the in-theater warriors. It was that he had to do such a complete reorganization in the first place. The hundreds of warriors present were organized poorly. Instead of being grouped into triangular sets of five warrior teams designed to support each other, the entire area was set up in paired teams, based on time in service and rank. Worse, all twelve mages were lumped into one team that was following the local commander around, doing little good for breaking the palace defenses or securing the city.

  He was able to accomplish the complete restructuring in only ten minutes, and he acknowledged more than a few senior and junior warriors’ feelings of relief at the revised structure. Across the city, hundreds of teams broke away from losing battles and started connecting with their newly assigned teams, which they were able to find through the connection links Maru-Ashua had built between the odassi blades.

  The feel of the battle was better. The whole theater was functioning with a proper order.

  He communicated openly for all Nhia-Samri warriors in theater to hear, “Commander Herno-Grie, you are relieved! Report to General Yedo-Onu at once.” He let some of his annoyance filter into the announcement.

  Turning his attention to the mages, he reviewed who was there and their skills. Choosing three with strong wills and imagination, he called them to his personal unit. He assigned the rest of them to various teams around the city. He didn’t need to check their feelings about the new assignments; the fact that they moved faster than his scouts to connect with their assigned teams said all he needed to know.

  Satisfied that the fundamental organization was in place, he connected the theater regiment to General Yedo-Onu. Again communicating to all warriors in theater, he delegated responsibility and authority. “General Yedo-Onu, all city forces are yours. Begin pacifying the city properly.”

  The general acknowledged him as well. “Yes, First Warlord!” he said, and started issuing orders to his division.

  Maru-Ashua ignored them and concentrated on his own division. Looking at the mage-gate, he saw that all his warriors were in theater, so he called on the gate to close. As he waited, he watched its energies fade, and the staging field of Hisuru Amajoo turned into a marble-tiled wall with no hint of the gateway embedded under its stone surface. Satisfied that it was secure, he stepped out into the courtyard. The three mages were standing next to General Alamal-Zura.

  “General, surround the palace. Do not attack it. Hold a strong line and pacify all surrounding neighborhoods. I require your four strongest strike tri-teams. Have them meet me at the front gates to the palace.”

  It was a short distance, with many dead bodies belonging to warriors, Daggers, guards, and citizens lining the streets to the palace gates.

  The palace wall sported the ancient defenses of all old cities: Impenetrable walls of white towered thirty meters high, topped by another five meters of steel-like plating, with silvery balls on spikes every five meters. Lightning danced on and between those silver balls. Using the magic sight provided by his odassi, Maru-Ashua looked upon the glowing dome that surrounded the air over the entire palace and extended to the base of the metal plates.

  Before him was the shiny, perfectly smooth metal surface of the palace gate door. He knew from his studies that this ancient door was slotted into all three sides of the gateway and held in place by something with more power than even all of his mages could overwhelm.

  He ran his hand over the mirror-like surface, feeling the cool metal. His fingers didn’t even leave a blemish on it. Every attempt to melt or force such a door failed. Even the immortal gods could not breach the doors or walls of the ancient palaces and cities.

  Our ancestors made these walls. And it was human engineers who forged this door, built the machinery that moves it, and installed it here with such precision. Now, we might as well be cattle.

  His fingers curled into a fist in anger as he considered the implications.

  Stepping back, he looked up at the only weakness in the palace defenses. It wasn’t visible, but he knew it was there. The silver spheres glowed with their own power, and lightning danced over them. It was suicide to attack the spheres, but if done correctly, a sphere could be damaged. However, it would repair itself eventually if allowed.

  He motioned for the mages and General Alamal-Zura to step in close. To the mages, he said, “Two of you, shield the four of us from those things. You must use numerous shields of varying design and change them rapidly. Those things understand magic and will penetrate your shields.”

  He tapped another mage and pointed at the sphere on the right side of the gate. “You are to lift all four of us up in front of that sphere and keep us there. When the sphere is damaged, a hole will form in the shield. Put me down inside and bring all the teams over the wall as fast as possible. Watch the sphere, and if it starts glowing, blast it again.”

  Facing General Alamal-Zura, he continued to explain the plan. “All warrior teams are to shield from archers as they’re being brought inside the defenses. The mages are to concentrate on moving the teams only. Once inside, this is a capture mission. Kill only whom you must to ensure victory.”

  Addressing the mages, he said, “With all teams inside, you’re to provide standard combat support to any team of your choosing. It will be a hard fight to take the palace.”

  He looked each individual in the eye to be sure he or she clearly understood the assigned roles. Satisfied, he stepped over to the teams General Alamal-Zura had assigned to him. “We do not stop to engage. We must strike like the arrow through armor. They will put all their defenses between us and whoever is in control here. We must capture the highest authority quickly. You will suppor
t me.”

  Again, he looked each individual in the eye, ensuring their readiness. He then moved between the mages.

  As he drew his odassi, so did the 200 other warriors. The sound, no doubt, carried well over the wall to alert the defenders.

  You think yourself safe inside this fortress. Oddly enough, I wish you were.

  The mages took his cue, and the four of them lifted into the air. Maru-Ashua braced himself and steeled his will.

  I cannot waver.

  As he pointed with his odassi at the ball, the mage controlling their flight brought the group right up to the edge of the shield. The defenses reacted, and lightning and fire lashed out at their group.

  Maru-Ashua called on all the power of his mighty blades and thrust them at the sphere. The first attempt failed; the shielding was back before his strike landed, a small portion of the attack succeeded in getting to him.

  He ignored the pain and pulled on his odassi for more speed.

  The lightning built up, and he timed his thrust. Lashing out just as lightning, fire, and a blaze of light cascaded around the group, his blades struck metal.

  Lightning danced on his swords and arced to his arms. He pressed harder on the device and felt the tips of his blades penetrate the outer lining.

  Sweat ran down his face and his arms as his muscles burned with the effort. As the blades made it through the device’s armor, supplementary lightning from the internal defenses flashed down the blades and over his arms. He could smell his own flesh burning. Letting out a battle cry, he pulled back and struck forward, putting all his strength and willpower behind the thrust.

  His blades broke through the sphere’s skin and plunged through the device, only stopping when their tips hit the far side of the sphere.