Black Scarlet

by R A Oakes

  Adding to the enemy’s confusion were the 50 attack warhorses that the king’s men were now setting free from their corrals. The enraged animals saw the almost 200 enemy warriors still gathered outside the ranch compound and went berserk. They plowed into Ridgewood’s men and Zenaruka’s gargoyles with ferocious intensity, knocking many off their horses and charnuks. Being under the hoofs of half-crazed warhorses was not the healthiest or safest place to be. Death did not come easily to those being trampled on the ground. Most lay maimed and screaming as the attack horses now ignored them, rose up on their hind legs and flailed away at other men and gargoyles that were still mounted. In short order, Tarlen’s horses reduced the number of fully-functional enemy warriors to a much more manageable number.

  That’s when King Tarlen, Captain Polaris and another 60 of their warriors climbed out of a third tunnel which exited 150 yards away from the ranch buildings. These elite fighting men, the remnants of the personal guard of a long-dead king, ran to get closer to their enemy who were trapped between King Tarlen’s warriors and the burning buildings. By now, the ranch had turned into a raging inferno, and the enemy warriors found themselves silhouetted by a background of flames. King Tarlen’s archers began picking them off.

  Back inside the compound, Zenaruka and a few senior commanders had climbed to the top of the ranch’s observation tower and were watching the debacle. “How could all this have happened?” Zenaruka asked.

  The answer should have been obvious. They had gone up against the son of King Ulray Kardimont, the true heir to the throne of Dominion Castle.

  After Lord Stallington had died and General Zarkahn had left to go to Firecrest Castle, King Tarlen had had him followed. Later, when Lord Ridgewood had sent 100 of his warriors, the dregs of humanity, along with Zenaruka and his 300 gargoyles, the king’s scouts had reported back to the ranch immediately. By the time the enemy had approached the ranch, King Tarlen and Captain Polaris had been waiting for them. The battle was a typical example of Kardimont military genius.

  It was also an example of Kardimont courage. Earlier, when Captain Polaris had reported that 400 enemy troops would soon be converging on the ranch, he had said, “Tarlen, we should fall back to Skybrook Castle. There are too many of them.”

  But King Tarlen had replied, “Captain, the men are tired of running. So, we’ll stay here, fight here and die here, if we must. But we run no more.”

  As it was, the battle was going off as planned. The underground tunnels, which had been in existence for years, had served their purpose well, and Tarlen, his men and the riderless attack warhorses were quickly gaining control of the situation.

  Sensing victory, King Tarlen smiled when he saw Chen, Lord Pensgraft, Marcheto and 30 warrior women riding hard in his direction.

  “I appreciate your concern, but I think we have everything under control,” Tarlen said as Chen rode up next to him.

  “Dylancia and Genevieve have been kidnapped by General Zarkahn and his men, and they’re heading for Firecrest Castle,” Chen said bluntly.

  Upon hearing the devastating news, the king’s legs suddenly felt weak, and he stumbled and nearly collapsed before catching himself. Although he’d just fended off 400 warriors, he’d been expecting them. But the loss of his future wife, his queen, as well as Dylancia, came as a total shock.

  King Tarlen looked over at the burning ranch buildings and saw a majestic warhorse galloping through the field in front of them. This was the best of the attack horses, and it was also Tarlen’s warhorse. When the king gave a loud whistle, the animal changed direction and ran towards its master.

  “They’ve taken Genevieve and Dylancia,” the distraught king told his horse, and though the animal couldn’t understand what his master said, it sensed the anxiety in Tarlen’s voice.

  Grasping the horse’s mane with both hands, King Tarlen leapt onto its back and said, “Captain Polaris, I want you to take charge of the battle. Take any prisoners back to Skybrook Castle and lock them in the dungeon.”

  “Sire, allow me to come with you. I can delegate command of the battle to one of our men.”

  “No, I need you to be in charge of Skybrook Castle.” Next, the king turned to Chen and asked, “Are you comfortable with Captain Polaris assuming command of the castle’s defenses?”

  “Yes, my king,” Chen said. Then to Captain Polaris she added, “I’ll send back one of my warriors with you to convey my orders to the rest of my women. Be careful not to rile them. Some have a problem with male authority.”

  “Some?” Lord Pensgraft said. “They all have a problem with male authority.” He looked at Captain Polaris and added, “What you just went through will seem like a picnic if you get those women mad at you.” And the giant wasn’t kidding.

  “All I care about is that, while you’re away, they help keep control of Skybrook Castle for Genevieve, the chosen heir and rightful sovereign. That’s all that really matters. And since they’re already so devoted to the future queen, it’s fine with me if they function autonomously under their own leadership. Whom did you leave in charge of your warrior women, Chen?”

  “Malavika is in charge.”

  “That’s fine. Years ago, I knelt in submission to a six- year-old king. What counts is talent and ability, not age or sex. Malavika is a good, solid warrior. I’ll have no problem getting along with her at all,” Captain Polaris said.

  “I know you won’t,” Chen smiled. “But I’d advise you to tell her what you just told me.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  With that, King Tarlen, Chen, Lord Pensgraft, Marcheto, Gwendylln, Andrina, Corson and 30 warrior women galloped off into the darkness.

  Chapter 23

  Skybrook Castle. Earlier that evening.

  Aerylln, Baelfire and Zorya shot out of the castle in a stream of prism light. The young woman was determined to rescue Dylancia and Genevieve. In one bold stroke, Aerylln felt sure she could quickly bring those responsible to justice and save the day.

  “Too little, too late,” Aerylln had told her father right before bolting out the window. From the teenage girl’s point of view, Lord Pensgraft’s concern for her safety had come years after she needed it. When Aerylln was growing up, she had longed to see her father. But now, at 19, she viewed herself as being a fully-grown adult and had little use for her ever- watchful parent.

  Yet Lord Pensgraft’s parting words still rang in her ears. Before she flew away from Skybrook Castle, the giant had shouted, “You don’t have much practical experience with the Trinity. Things can go wrong. Seriously wrong.”

  Father is such an alarmist, Aerylln thought. And what does he know about the Trinity? Father never really wielded Baelfire. He just held her in trust for me. It’s my sword, not his. I’m heir to the Sword of Light. I’m the one who owns Zorya. I’m a woman in the rightful line of succession.

  But she was also one more thing.

  “Ohhh, I’m sick,” Aerylln said as her stomach suddenly felt queasy. “Zorya, I’m not feeling very well.”

  The young woman quickly put a hand over her mouth and one on her tummy. Zorya thought, It’s been a long time since I’ve had a baby throw up on me, let alone a teenage girl. And Baelfire thought, I hope she turns her head to the right. I’m hanging from her hip on the left.

  “It’s motion sickness,” Zorya said. “That’s another reason we should have waited and gone with the others. You’re not used to such high rates of speed.”

  “I rode you this fast once before.”

  “As White Angel you did, but not as Aerylln.”

  At that moment, they found themselves flying over an enormous castle. Aerylln forgot her nausea and thought, What’s that? I’ve never seen anything so gigantic.

  In the moonlight, Aerylln looked down upon Dominion Castle. Even shrouded in darkness, it was the most majestic, awe-inspiring building the young woman had even seen. She thought, It’s as beautiful as Chen’s Crystal Castle, but it looks ten times bigger.

  “Zorya,
do you know who lives there?”

  “King Tarlen should be living there. It once belonged to his father, Ulray. The Kardimont family ruled Dominion Castle for 500 years, up until Swarenth conquered it. It began as a wooden stockade used to keep out trolls that were pillaging the countryside at the time.”

  “And that’s also when people turned to Dynarsis, the first Kardimont king. In fact, he was the first king ever,” Baelfire said. “While he was young, Dynarsis had experienced a huge loss when his mother and father were captured and eaten by trolls. In a fit of temper so extreme that it shocked the local villagers, he swore a great oath to avenge their deaths.”

  “When he grew up, Dynarsis waged an amazing campaign against the beasts,” Zorya said excitedly as she jumped back into the conversation. “Prior to that, there were no castles, only small villages scattered across the land, but they united as one under Dynarsis. His desire for vengeance was all- consuming, and people recognized this young man as their savior. His courage was so great that people flocked to his home village for protection. That’s when Dominion Castle came into being. It started out as a wooden stockade and grew from there.”

  “The people made him king after that?”

  “You can’t make a person into a true king. Greatness was just in his blood. No one made him king. He just was king,” Zorya continued. “From the very first moment Dynarsis picked up a sword, climbed onto a borrowed horse and charged out of the village alone screaming in rage, people knew he was either the most foolish young man they’d ever known or the bravest.”

  “How did they find out if he was foolish or brave?” Aerylln asked, excited over a piece of history she had never heard about before.

  “Dynarsis had come back covered in blood, but trolls never bothered his village again. Some say they found over two dozen dead trolls scattered around a bridge leading over a ravine.”

  “He had so many wounds and lost so much blood that they didn’t know whether he would live or die,” Baelfire said, piping up. “However, when a neighboring village was ransacked by trolls a few weeks later, Dynarsis rode out alone once more to do battle. He was a solitary warrior. None had the bravery to follow him into what everyone felt was certain death. The young man could hardly stand and was just recovering from his wounds.”

  “What happened?” Aerylln asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

  “Dynarsis rode into the village just as the trolls were about to slaughter all the children for a feast,” Baelfire said. “The trolls were laughing at the horrified residents and joking about liking fresh meat, especially veal. Dynarsis calmly approached the leader of the trolls and slew him with one blow. What happened next was so incredible that the villagers could barely believe their eyes.”

  “He faced down almost 30 trolls,” Zorya said excitedly. “Forgetting his wounds, Dynarsis exuded so much energy and power that some trolls ran as soon as they caught sight of him. Dynarsis Kardimont killed ten trolls single-handedly, and the rest scattered.

  “However, his body wasn’t as strong or as great as his courage,” Zorya added. “Along with the fresh wounds he’d just sustained, Dynarsis tore open several others that had partly healed, and he was again near death. When he began to get back his strength, and it was apparent that he would recover, many villagers cried out of sheer relief. After that, he never fought alone.

  “More and more people from surrounding villages came to pay homage to Dynarsis and wouldn’t leave. He told them to go home, that he’d killed enough for now, but the villagers refused to listen,” Zorya said proudly. “By then, the area around his home village was given a wide berth by the trolls. As the population grew, residents cleared huge fields and planted crops. When the next fight with the trolls came, Dynarsis rode forth with over 100 armed villagers behind him. After that victory, people were swearing allegiance to him left and right. King Dynarsis switched from defending villages to attacking enemy strongholds. In his first major assault on an enemy position, he had over 200 villagers under his command.

  “No one made him king, Aerylln, he just became king,” Zorya said, concluding her history lesson.

  “It sounds like you were in love with him,” Aerylln

  smiled.

  “We all loved him. And remember, I wasn’t always a

  horse. I was once the Lady of the Well, a powerful sorceress. I fought by his side, as did many other women.”

  Zorya looked down at Dominion Castle and said, “Knowing that Swarenth and his gargoyles are living there makes me want to be sick.”

  “What can we do?” Aerylln asked.

  “I don’t know, but we way overshot Firecrest Castle. We had better head back. Even with King Tarlen to lead us, there’s no way we could face 10,000 gargoyles, at least not yet.”

  “What about now that I can become White Angel?” Aerylln asked.

  “I don’t know if even that will be enough. Not against so many.”

  “Is there nothing we can do?”

  “Let’s go after Dylancia and Genevieve.”

  “I still don’t feel very well,” Aerylln said.

  “We should stop and rest for a while,” Zorya said. “But not in gargoyle infested territory.”

  “I want my father,” Aerylln moaned quietly, unaware of what she was saying.

  ◆◆◆

  In the badlands, on a trail leading to Firecrest Castle, Zorya and Baelfire were standing guard waiting for General Zarkahn and his men. The trail wound its way along the bottom of a canyon with vertical, rock walls on both sides. After a few hours, and upon waking from a nap, Aerylln was feeling much better and said, “We really should be heading on.”

  “What’s the rush?” Baelfire asked. “We’re days ahead of everyone else, including General Zarkahn. All we have to do is stay put and let the general bring Dylancia and Genevieve to us.”

  “Sometimes doing nothing is the best course of action,” Zorya added.

  The magic horse and sword looked at each other and smiled. Who could possibly disagree with such a reasonable plan?

  Who? An impatient teenage girl, that’s who.

  “Firecrest Castle is still a day’s ride away, at least for a conventional horse and rider. And this trail we’re watching isn’t the only way there. The general could slip by us,” Aerylln said.

  “Oh, are you saying that if there were more of us, we could cover the other routes?” Baelfire asked innocently.

  “Yes, good idea, Aerylln. Let’s wait here for your father and Chen,” Zorya said.

  “General Zarkahn will probably be getting to the badlands first, so that won’t help. Anyway, we’re not waiting,” Aerylln said.

  “What would you like to do?” Zorya asked. “All the other routes are longer and pass through more difficult terrain. General Zarkahn will want to take the quickest path back to Firecrest Castle. He’ll ride right past us. Then, we can create some sort of natural disaster.”

  “A rockslide,” Baelfire suggested.

  “Yes, a rockslide would be good. The mountain cliffs on each side of this trail don’t look too stable. With some help from us, several tons of rock could fall across the path blocking it completely. General Zarkahn and his men might be able to climb over it, but their horses couldn’t,” Zorya said.

  “Why not just confront them directly? We could take them prisoner and turn them over to Chen and my father when they get here,” Aerylln said.

  “We don’t want them to hurt Genevieve or Dylancia,” Baelfire said gravely. “All we want is to slow them down so that Chen and Lord Pensgraft can catch up to them.”

  “Oh, General Zarkahn wouldn’t actually hurt Dylancia,” Aerylln decided. “Regardless of what they’ve said, no one’s going to hurt a baby.”

  “Are you sure? Are you willing to bet Dylancia’s life on it, and Genevieve’s?” Zorya asked.

  “We’d kill them if they hurt Dylancia,” Aerylln declared.

  “If she was seriously injured or killed, how would killing those responsible help?” Z
orya asked. “If we want to be sure Dylancia is kept safe, we don’t want General Zarkahn, or any of his men, to even suspect we’re responsible for a rockslide blocking their way.”

  “Chen is Dylancia’s mother. Let her be the one to decide how best to handle it at that point,” Baelfire counseled.

  “Well, how about this?” Aerylln asked. “Right now, we’re near the entrance to the canyon. If a rockslide blocks the trail, General Zarkahn and his men will just take another route. But if we go far enough down the trail, then when the rockslide blocks their way, they’ll have to backtrack a considerable distance. Before they can get away, my parents will catch up with them. Why just slow them down when we can trap them as well?”

  “If General Zarkahn and his men feel trapped, they could become desperate,” Zorya said.

  “But as you said, why not let Chen and my father decide what to do at that point?”

  Zorya and Baelfire glanced at each other, and then the magic sword sighed and said, “I guess that makes sense.”

  “Great, let’s get started.”

  “Not so fast. After we’ve ridden down the trail for several hours, keep your eyes open for a narrow space where the canyon walls converge. When we reach a place where a rockslide will completely block the way, we’re going to stop,” Zorya said firmly.

  “Okay,” Aerylln agreed.

  “Even if we get closer to Firecrest Castle and create a more effective trap, it could still be several days until General Zarkahn reaches us,” Baelfire reminded her.

  “Oh, I know,” Aerylln said, relieved to be doing something besides waiting around.

  After a few hours, Aerylln, Zorya and Baelfire came upon a spot where the vertical sides of the canyon formed a particularly narrow passageway.