"All men, we are mustering at the central spire around the control room. Everyone form groups of ten and make their own way by different routes." Keyth ordered. "There are more than two of them. So let's find them as we go!" He had no time to spare to mourn Korigan. It would have to wait.
He watched as Thandria walked over to the one she had killed and began rifling about his body. She then rolled him over and pulled off the strange harness with the magestone in the center. "Could come in handy, assuming it does what I think it might..." She shrugged.
"What exactly do you -" he began, but was cut off by more sounds of battle in a nearby octant. "Come on men, let's rout out these intruders!" he yelled again, just realizing that the tolling bells had stopped in all but the two western towers.
As one, the remaining men - about thirty or so - himself and Thandria ran to the west, through the still open portcullis. Obviously, the man he had sent to have them dropped had not made it. They found themselves in the octant that housed the drake stables, and continued through it to find themselves in the more northern of the western octants. The one that led to the magegate room. Keyth's stomach dropped.
He ordered the men that direction only to find the archway blocked by two of the shadowy assassins. The men fired their bows and crossbows, but the attackers merely stepped back into the protection of the doorway. But he could see from where they were standing why. The magegate had been tipped flat onto the floor. Even if they made the control room and the magemirror he was trying for, there would be no way for any reinforcements to make their way through to Farad'avor.
"We have to get to the control room now more than ever - fast." He stated to Thandria. "We have to get to Nathariel and make sure he's safe." Nathariel was one of the two Shilaar stationed on Farad'avor, for the purposes of magegate travel, to monitor the citadel control stone, and move the citadel if necessary. Nathariel thought of it as a form of punishment, since the citadel had rested in this pass for decades. Other than activating the magegate, he spent his days reading. It was his night to monitor the control stone.
Thandria looked like she was thinking something through, and said "Come with me."
"But the stairs are that way!" Keyth responded, pointing towards the outer tower. There were no easy routes in this citadel, assuming the portcullises were down.
"We're not using the stairs," she replied as she stepped into the shadows under the arch housing the portcullis. Keyth followed her tentatively, confused by her actions. Once he followed her into the shadows, she hugged him close and whispered, "Take a deep breath."
"What are you doing? We don't have time for-" Suddenly everything went dark for a moment, and then the wrenching pain began as his muscles began to burn, feeling like he had been twisted and stretched in ways his body could not cope with. He opened his eyes to find himself on his knees, gasping for breath - on top of the wall!
He looked up at Thandria in surprise, seeing her standing slightly crouched, but as if nothing else had happened to her. "The first few times are tough, but eventually you get used to it," she said without turning to look at him. She was watching the entrance to the control room.
After several moments Keyth managed to get to his feet, his legs complaining fiercely, as if it was the day after a ten league march. He could still hear sporadic battle, and looked over the ramparts at the men still trying to get to the magegate room, but still not making any headway. Apparently the two shadowy attackers were enough to hold off his soldiers.
He looked at Thandria to notice that she had donned the harness that attacker had worn. When she noticed him looking, she said, "It was easier than carrying it." She turned back to her observations.
He followed her gaze and saw two more shadows guarding the door to the control spire. There were bodies of soldiers scattered all around. Looking left and right, he saw more soldiers approaching from some of the other bridges, converging on the wide walkway around the control spire. Two of the groups managed to get to the walkway and fire a round of bolts at the assailants, but they leapt high, and came down in a controlled descent, one in the middle of each group. They struck out like Valkiran asps, over and over again, and in moments all of Keyth's men were dead.
"We need ideas here Thandria. Got any?" he asked.
"None that you want to hear," she said with a little bitterness.
Suddenly a gale swept out of nowhere, and lightning cracked about the courtyard below, sending soldiers scrambling for cover. He watched as most of them made it to the walls or into a door opening, but several got hit by a bolt, tossing them high through the air to land as a charred corpse, twitching on the ground. Shadows began to coalesce in the center of the courtyard on each side of the wall he and Thandria were standing on. By the noise and shouts, he was assuming it was happening all around the citadel.
A small circle of swirling smoke and shadow appeared, quickly growing into a large two dimensional circle two spans across. The gale dropped to a light breeze, pulling in the direction of those swirling circles of darkness, lifting dust and debris into the air. The lightning stopped as the circles stopped increasing in size.
As Keyth was beginning to stand, to see better, Thandria pulled him down. "This is about to get much worse, it's time to go."
"What do you mean?" he asked. Before she could respond, he heard the yells of men as they appeared from out of each of the circles. He watched as Goralonian soldiers streamed from the circles of darkness in the hundreds. He watched as his soldiers ran out to meet with them in a futile attempt to drive them back, but there were too many.
"We have to get to the drake stables!" Thandria said quietly. "It's the only way off this rock."
Keyth looked up and saw the drake stables across the nearest courtyard that was quickly filling up with enemy soldiers. "Okay, let's go!" He stood up and sprinted along the wall, outwards from the center spire. Watching over the wall to his right as his soldiers fought the enemy, trying to bottle them up near the portal.
He flinched suddenly as a ball of fire erupted to his left amid enemy soldiers, reducing a huge number of them to charred corpses. Verdagrisha, the other Shilaar, must have woken and joined the battle. Keyth looked around and saw her standing on the outer wall, just past the tower at the end of the wall they were on. He shouted at the woman, and waved at her to join them. That just about cost him his life as several arrows whizzed by him. He ducked low again and continued to run.
They reached the end of the wall near the outer tower, just above the drake stable doors. The tower door burst open, three Goralonian soldiers bursting forth. Thandria didn't hesitate, stepping forward to meet them with her rapier and thin dagger. The soldiers all had heavy broadswords and wore chainmail. Two moved forward to attack while the third held back waiting for room.
Keyth drew his sword and moved to stand beside Thandria, but she stopped him with a look. "I have this," she said, as she slid into a combat stance.
One of the soldiers charged her, but she side stepped as he swung his sword down in a vicious arc, and drove her thin dagger into his lower back near the kidney. She moved towards the second enemy, parrying his quick slash with her rapier, driving it out wide, following with a sweep of her dagger across his throat. In three seconds two of the soldiers were dead or dying. The third, with a shocked look on his face, turned to run and fell forward on his face.
Stepping out from the tower was Verdagrisha, her dark hair in a messy bun, her yellow robes rumpled. She wore a delicate circlet on her brow that held her magestone glowing a deep blood red. "Can't let you have all the fun, can I?" she said as she looked at Thandria with a raised eyebrow.
"By all means, please join in." Thandria replied.
Several arrows sparked off a magical shield that Verdagrisha must have cast earlier as they surveyed the scene below. Most of the Imperial soldiers under Keyth's command in the courtyard directly in front of the drake stables had been cut down. It appeared that the influx of Goralonian soldiers had trickled down to noth
ing as the portals were beginning to shrink. Keyth was not uplifted though, as at least several hundred of the enemy were in each courtyard that he could see.
"We need to get down to the drake stables," he said to the Shilaar, gesturing to the large building below them and twenty paces away.
"Well then, let's get down there, shall we?" she replied. They watched as a contingent of soldiers in the courtyard below spotted them on the wall and moved towards the tower at the end of the wall, cutting off that route to the stairs.
"Any ideas?" Keyth said.
"Sure, Thandria said as she stepped up onto the battlements lining the radial wall. More arrows bounced off the magical shield, mere handspans from Thandria. She held her hand out for Keyth. He looked at her questioningly, but he did trust her with his life, as she had proven several times in the last bell. He stepped up beside her and she grabbed him in another rough embrace.
"A distraction if you will?" Keyth directed at the spell wielder.
"My extreme pleasure," she responded as she began intoning an incantation. As she finished, a small glowing orb of light flew from her hands into the middle of the ranks of soldiers in the center of the courtyard, and exploded in a huge ball of fire. Hundreds of soldiers were immolated, their charred bodies dropping to the ground. Dozens dropped to the ground with severe burns as the remainder scattered for cover.
"Will that do?" she inquired.
"That will do." He responded as Thandria threw them off the wall to plummet the eight spans to the courtyard below. Halfway down, Keyth felt his fall slow moderately, though they did land with a jarring sensation in his knees. "Huh?" he said. "Did you know that would happen?"
"I suspected these harnesses were the reason they were able to fall without hurting themselves, but I wasn't sure until now." Thandria responded with a smile. "Let's get going!" she finished, starting for the stable door twenty paces away.
"Suspected!" he yelled after her as they sprinted across the now mostly empty courtyard toward the stable doors. "What do you mean suspected?!"
She grinned at him as they got to the stable doors that were open slightly. Keyth pulled one of the rolling doors to the side, and dodged as one of the stable riders lunged with a sword. He gripped her wrist and slowly, carefully removed the shortsword from her grasp, and handed it back to her, hilt first.
"Sorry sir," she said as she saluted, sheathing her weapon. "Thought you were a Goralonian soldier.
"Understood soldier. You have a ride ready?"
"Yes sir, two of them." She gestured to the back of the large building that smelled of straw and leather. Another rider was holding the long reigns for two of the beasts, each wearing their saddle. They were obviously agitated, as they nipped at each other every once and a while.
A figure in yellow robes appeared at the doors and stepped through past the watching Thandria. "The surviving soldiers are regrouping. I believe they saw us come in here," Verdagrisha stated.
Thandria turned from her vantage point at the door, "She's right. We maybe have two minutes before they gather the courage to come in here. Time for you to go sir."
"Well then, you're coming with me," he said as he was helped up into the back saddle on one of the reptilian beasts and strapped into place.
"Not this time sir," she replied. "Got work to do. Don't want to make this too easy on them, do we sir? Thought maybe I would drop the portcullises on their snarkin' asses. What do you think?"
He looked her in the eye for a long moment.
"Besides," she offered, "I got this neat trinket." She fingered the harness that she had taken from one of the shadowy enemy. "To get away, I just have to jump." She winked and then moved into the shadows and vanished.
"Come back to me," Keyth whispered to himself.
He looked over to see that Verdagrisha was mounted on the other drake behind the second rider. The rider moved the drake into position in front of the doors, and crouched down on the beast's neck after Verdagrisha whispered something in her ear. The rider for Keyth's mount pulled open the right side door, then ran over and pushed the left door open. She then turned and sprinted for her drake as the other drake began its ungainly movement out of the building.
Keyth could see ranks of soldiers, weapons drawn, moving towards the stables. They stopped advancing as the large creature emerged from the stable, looks of uncertainty on their faces. Suddenly lightning spewed forth from the Shilaar's hands, arcing through the ranks of the enemy, causing some to drop, the rest to scatter. The rider leapt the drake into the air as soon as the lightning was done, and was given the all clear by her passenger.
The drake Keyth was on lurched forward, the rider now on and strapped in, and took to the air, climbing almost vertical as it gained altitude. Several arrows flew through the air, but none had any force behind, as the ones that hit bounced off the beast's thick hide.
As they levelled off, Keyth tapped on the rider's shoulder and made a circling motion with his finger. The rider banked the drake, and from about thirty spans above, got to survey the situation in Farad'avor.
Goralonian soldiers were swarming throughout the citadel in the torchlight, entering buildings and hauling out the soldiers that were resisting. They were cutting down his remaining troops like so much wheat. He felt guilt that he was escaping; felt he had betrayed his men by leaving them. But the Empire had to know what happened this night.
He noted that a group of enemy soldiers, along with the two shadowy assassins were attempting to break into the control spire, but were still held at bay by those within. Without warning, a loud screeching sound broke the darkness, followed by the sound of chains rattling as all eight of the portcullises in the radial walls dropped to the ground with a resounding boom, locking the citadel into eight separate sections. It would not stop them, but it would certainly make using the citadel inconvenient. Keyth smiled for the first time in over a bell - Thandria had succeeded.
The drake flew wider, circling the citadel away from its walls. What Keyth saw below was what he expected, but still could not fathom. Tens of thousands of Goralonian soldiers attacked the Fort below. He could see in the torchlight that the gates were just about sundered from the battering ram that was pounding against it. It was only a matter of moments before the pass was lost.
Keyth tapped the rider on the shoulder again, and signalled west. The drake turned and flew as hard as its wings could carry it.
Marisha’ilea
The sun was setting over the expansive forest below, shadows creeping east to west across her field of vision. Maricha'ilea loved coming up onto the walls of Mahad'avor ever since she had arrived. It gave her a sense of freedom from the confines of the stone walls. How any race would prefer stone walls to open forest bewildered her, and so she came to view the vista below that reminded her of her homeland. It was even possible that they were over the edge of the elven realm in the forests below, but she would never know. But it didn't matter, the vista soothed her.
Tonight would have no moon, and tomorrow was the Spring Planting Festival celebrated by the humans. Already some of the Shilaar were celebrating, drinking moon wine and toasting to the health of any passersby. It was a festive occasion, and she should be happy, but she was uneasy. Something was bothering her that she couldn't put her finger on, something ethereal, like a bad dream lurking in the shadows of her mind.
She left the wall and began to wander the stone halls of Mahad'avor trying to nail down the unsettling feeling in her mind. She was unsure how long she had been wandering when she thought to check the felia'shilaar rooms, to see if a message had been sent in that could explain her ominous sense of danger.
Moving quickly down the stairs and towards the nearest message room, she came around the slight bend in the hallway and came to an abrupt stop. The door had been blasted outward from the room, and was hanging by one hinge, most of the door cracked and broken. It was as if something large and strong had kicked it in the dead center.
She cast a protection
spell upon herself and stepped carefully and quietly to the door. Peeking around the doorframe, she witnessed a scene of horror. Carefully scanning the shadowy room by the light of the torches in the hall, she noted the body on the floor and the pattern of runes around it. Noticing no movement, she assumed the attacker was probably the one who had destroyed the door. Casting another spell, a small ball of amber light appeared over her right shoulder, casting enough light to light the room as she stepped inside.
She surveyed the entire small room. There was a desk to one side, on which sat the smashed ruins of the felie'shilaar, used to send and receive messages, its frame twisted beyond recognition. She could see the small quafa'shilaar dimly glowing, scattered around the room, not that she was actively looking for them. Two chairs were shattered and cast about the room.
In the center of the floor was the body, pale beyond what a dead body should look like. Dark candles were set at eight points along the circle drawn in black chalk along the floor around the body, and a dagger was stuck in the body's chest. Marisha'ilea recognized the body as that of one of the junior Shilaar, Griffan. It appeared that the body had been drained of blood, though there was no evidence of blood anywhere in the room. Something evil was loose in Mahad'avor.
She left the contents of the room as it was, and cast a series of protection spells upon her person before she began her hunt to track down whatever was now threatening her home. Leaving the room, she turned left, away from the direction she had come, now noticing that the torches had been knocked out of their brackets and had guttered out on the floor. Apparently this creature did not like the light. She continued along the circular hallway until it branched to the right to a set of stairs up. She looked down the hallway that continued further on, but it was lit, and the stairs were dark. Following the darkness, she ascended the stairs.
She came upon two bodies of servants also drained of blood several levels up, where the stairway emptied onto a more travelled corridor. The hallway was dark, her orb of light casting solid shadows. She followed the trail of guttered torches and dark passageways. She came around a corner and found Doretellan kneeling down, inspecting another drained body of a junior Shilaar.
Stones Unbound (The Magestone Chronicles Book 1) Page 29