by James Wisher
The queen reached over and took her husband’s hand. “Perhaps we might send Adam, just until the current crisis is settled.”
The king glared at Col, a deep frown creasing his face. “You believe he will attack us?”
Col nodded. “Given what happened in Catalandan I can’t imagine any other possibility.”
The king turned to the second lightcaster. “Fetch my son. Tell him he’s going to have an adventure.”
Before the lightcaster could get out of the throne room she stopped and looked back. Alana stiffened beside Col. “What is it?”
Power crackled and a black disk appeared in the center of the throne room. A familiar black-armored form stepped through followed a moment later by a smaller man in black robes. Col had his sword out in an instant. This was his chance to kill the man that murdered his mentor.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Everything in Col screamed at him to rush in and cut the black knight down, but the voice of his mentor warned against charging in blind. Col didn’t fear facing the knight in battle, but the threat of getting blasted to bits before he even reached his opponent brought him up short.
“We need to get the royals out of here.” Beside him Manes had his sword out, for all the good it would do against these enemies.
The guardsmen must have read Manes’s mind because they formed a circle around the king and queen and started for the nearest door. Jonas stood between Zarrin and the fleeing group. He held out both hands and summoned a circle of white energy. Zarrin raised his hand and black flames flickered around it. A stream of flames shot out, hammering into Jonas’s defense. Beside him Alana raised her hands and reinforced Jonas’s shield. Col didn’t think it would be enough, but to his surprise, when the torrent of flame ended the shield still held, albeit with dozens of cracks.
Zarrin must have sensed Alana helping. He turned their way while the Black Prince rushed toward the fleeing royals. On the other wall, forgotten by all, the second lightcaster fled the throne room, Col hoped to collect Prince Adam and get him to safety. Speaking of getting to safety, Zarrin pointed at them and the flames swirled to life again.
“Scatter!” Col shouted. A moment later flames blasted through the space he had just vacated. No one screamed, so he dared hope they’d all leapt clear.
He rolled to his feet in time to see Zarrin turn back towards the fleeing royals. Four guards had stopped to engage the Black Prince. The massive sword rose and fell, cutting one of the guards in half. A second thrust at his chest. The guard’s sword screeched like nails on slate across the black breast plate, leaving not so much as a scratch. A moment later the giant sword rose and fell a second time, bisecting the unfortunate guard.
Zarrin’s next blast shattered Jonas’s shield. It tore through his body and continued on to kill three guards behind him. The king and queen had almost reached the door when a wall of black flames sprung up between them and the door.
Col grimaced. He hated to leave them, but his only hope now of saving the sword was the prince.
“Alana.” The lightcaster looked toward the trapped royals then back to him. “We can’t help them. Do you know where the prince is?”
A pained look crossed her face. “I can find him.”
“Good, let’s go while we can.”
Manes and his rangers followed Col and Alana across the throne room to the door the lightcaster had exited earlier. No black flames impeded them as they fled the slaughter. The door led to a paneled hall. Manes slammed the door shut behind them as if it would slow the darkcaster for more than half a second.
Alana concentrated for a moment then pointed right. “He’s that direction and moving further away.”
“Let’s go.” Col ran down the hall beside Alana. “Can the other lightcaster open portals like you?”
“I didn’t get a very good sense of her power, but if she was high ranking enough to serve at the king’s side I suspect she’s strong enough to open one.”
“If she has the prince why didn’t they portal out of here?”
She glanced at Col. “That’s an excellent question.” Her brows tightened as she concentrated. “Zarrin raised a barrier around the castle. He must have conjured it the moment he arrived. We’ll have to get outside the walls before we can escape.”
“Shit! I was afraid it was something like that.”
Alana grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop in front of a heavy oak door. “They went through there. She sealed the door behind them.”
“I can kick it down.” Manes moved to the front of the group.
Alana put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “She didn’t lock it, it’s sealed with magic. You couldn’t knock it down with a battering ram.”
“Great.” Manes gave the door a kick for good measure. “So what do we do now?”
“We’ll head to the courtyard. Hopefully we can catch them there.” Col turned to Alana. “If she gets out will the lightcaster be able to open a portal to Celestia?”
Alana shook her head. “You have to open the portal a specific way to get past the wards. No one trained outside the country knows how. I can’t even guess where she might go.”
“Let’s hope we catch them in the courtyard.” An explosion shook the hall. A moment later the grim form of the Black Prince stepped through the ruins of the throne room door. “We’re out of time. Run!”
They ran, Col in the lead, down the hall and around a corner, out of sight and hopefully out of range of Zarrin’s blasts. Dim afternoon light shone through windows lining the hall; they’d reached an outside wall.
“Can you enlarge those windows and get us to the ground?”
“No problem.” Alana raised her hand and blasted the window, its frame, and a good-sized chunk of wall out into the courtyard. “Everyone gather around.”
They all huddled as close to her as possible. A bubble of white light surrounded them and a moment later they flew through the ruined window and down to the courtyard. The bubble vanished when they reached the ground and Alana bent over, gasping for air. A hemisphere of Dark energy surrounded the castle. Col assumed the dome prevented them from opening a portal out; he only hoped it wouldn’t stop them from walking out.
Col knelt beside Alana. “You okay?”
“That took more out of me than I expected. I need to catch my breath.”
Col looked up at Manes and the rangers. “Fan out and find the prince. We’ll see about getting the portcullis open.”
Manes looked like a drowning man offered a life preserver. No doubt the ranger commander felt relieved to get a task he could accomplish without having to worry about magic. Using silent gestures he divided up his men and they ran in opposite directions around the castle.
Alana straightened up and wiped the sweat from her brow. “I’m ready.”
They ran toward the gatehouse. Alana’s breath rasped as they went and Col feared she might not have strength enough to open a portal even if they escaped the castle. Halfway to the gatehouse a pair of saberfangs emerged carrying blood-soaked scimitars. The guards wouldn’t be opening the gate for them.
Alana raised her trembling hand and a glow formed. Col grabbed her wrist. “I’ll handle them, save your power.”
Col moved away from the exhausted lightcaster and raised his new sword. Time to see what the royal blade would do in a real fight. One of the saberfangs raised his curved sword and charged. Col leapt to meet it, their blades crashing together. The vibration he expected from the hard impact never reached his hands. Perhaps part of the magic protected him.
He stepped back and counter slashed, the royal sword moving twice as fast as his old sword. Before the saberfang could react Col slashed it across the chest deep enough that it fell down dead.
He moved to engage the second monster, who had sufficient intelligence to look nervous. Col slashed high at the saberfang’s head. When it raised its sword to block he reversed his momentum, spun, and slashed low, taking the saberfang’s legs off at the knee. A thrust through
the chest finished the snarling monster.
They left the dead beastmen bleeding in the dirt and headed toward the gatehouse. Col couldn’t stop his grin, danger be damned. He’d never used a weapon as perfect as the royal sword. It moved as much by his thoughts as his muscles and the edge cut like nothing he’d ever seen. If he could face the black knight without Zarrin interfering Col thought he had a chance of killing him.
“Can you make a light?” Col asked. “It’ll be dark in the gatehouse.”
Alana smiled. “Focus on your sword and imagine the blade glowing.”
Col did as she said and a moment later a pure white light radiated from the blade. His smile broadened. “What else can it do?”
“If we get out of here alive you can ask King Jarod. That was the only trick I knew for sure.”
Col resolved to do just that. “Wait here while I check for more beastmen.”
He left Alana by the door and ducked inside. The coppery tang of blood reached him a moment before he saw the two dead guards lying by the busted windlass. The saberfangs had smashed the handle in half. How would they open the portcullis now? He searched the bloodstained room and found nothing useful until he opened a storage locker. Inside he found a rope ladder with hooks to attach it to the top of the wall. He snapped his fingers. That was their way out.
“Col!” Alana shouted to get his attention.
He grabbed the ladder and rushed out. From the side of the castle he spotted Manes, the rangers, and Prince Adam and his guardian running toward them. Col rushed up the stairs to the top of the wall. It took only a few seconds to set the ladder in place and toss it over the side. Manes’s group had covered half the distance to the wall, but behind them Zarrin and the Black Prince were emerging from a hole blown in the wall. Zarrin raised his hand. Col pointed behind the fleeing group, desperate to warn them out of the way.
Manes glanced over his shoulder and jumped toward Prince Adam and the lightcaster. He knocked them to the ground an instant before black flames screamed over their heads. Two of the rangers disintegrated in the blast. The moment the fire stopped Manes lifted his charges to their feet and they ran for the wall.
The lightcaster pulled away from Manes and turned to face Zarrin. She had to know she had no chance. Manes, the prince and the surviving rangers reached the stairs and rushed up to join Col and Alana.
“Belle!” Prince Adam stared down to where the female lightcaster stood facing Zarrin and the Black Prince. Belle’s body glowed and almost appeared to vibrate. Col had never seen a lightcaster look that way.
Col knelt beside the prince, a blond boy about ten years old. “We need to go, Majesty. Belle’s buying time for you to escape.”
“I won’t leave her. Belle!”
The rangers started down the ladder as fast as they could go. “This is all for nothing if you can’t get the kid down the ladder,” Manes said.
“I’ll get him down, you go first and get ready.”
Manes raised an eyebrow then nodded and started down the ladder. Out in the courtyard Zarrin sent a blast at Belle who raised a shield and blocked it. Col blinked, surprised she survived even one blast.
“We’re down!” Manes said.
“Time to go, Majesty,” Col said.
The boy shot him a fierce look. “I told you I’m not leaving her.”
He shook his head, picked up the prince, and walked to the edge of the wall. Manes stared up at him, eyes wide. “Catch.”
Col tossed the wriggling boy off the wall.
* * *
Zarrin finished the king and queen then turned his attention to the boy. He sensed the prince fleeing a little ways away in the same direction the squire from Corinthia had run. The sight of the squire had startled Zarrin, but didn’t really surprise him. It seemed the boy meant to make a permanent nuisance of himself.
He left the still-smoking bodies of the royal family and their pathetic guards and started toward the prince. Zarrin blasted the door to splinters, not because he needed to, but just for the sheer joy of destroying it. He stepped into the hall in time to see the squire and his companions flee around a corner. Cowardice or wisdom, he could find no fault in the boy’s reasoning.
Halfway down the hall Zarrin sensed Light energy blocking a door. So, the prince had gone this way and his would-be rescuers couldn’t follow, how convenient. He placed a hand on the sealed door and Dark fire burst from his fingers, reducing the door to ash in an instant. Behind the door a stairway led down to the ground floor. They made their way down the stairs, the only sound the clanking of his servant’s boots on the stone steps.
At the bottom of the steps they came to another sealed door. Zarrin shook his head, stairways and doors, perhaps the next people he killed he’d take to a field or forest first, this was getting tedious. The second door lasted no longer than the first and when Zarrin stepped through he found a short hall leading to the courtyard. A little ways ahead he spotted the fleeing prince and a lightcaster of middling power. He judged their path and pointed at the wall. When they ran past it he blasted the wall and sent jagged shards of stone flying toward the prince.
No bleeding bodies greeted him on the other side of the hole. In fact, he found more targets, some of the squire’s troops had joined up with the lightcaster and her charge and they now hustled them toward the castle wall. Zarrin raised a hand and called for the fire, more targets were always more fun. The stream of Dark fire killed two of the soldiers, but everyone else dove under it.
The survivors leapt to their feet and raced toward the wall. Halfway there the lightcaster pulled away and turned to face him. He would have laughed if he thought the woman worth the effort to draw a breath. Her body glowed then grew blurry as it vibrated. Well, the girl had courage, tapping her life force to increase her power, not that it would matter.
Zarrin sent a blast of Dark fire at her. She raised a shield and the flames splashed against it. When he ended his assault the lightcaster still stood, steaming and singed, a determined scowl on her face.
“I won’t let you have him.”
“Let me? That implies you have the power to stop me.”
Zarrin raised both hands and summoned a ball of Dark fire. It grew until the ball was the size of his head before he loosed it at the pest. The ball hit her shield, shattered it, and detonated. When the dust settled, a hole ten feet deep and thirty around graced the courtyard. Nothing remained of the lightcaster.
He looked up to see his prey’s reaction, but found the wall empty.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Col followed Alana down the ladder. At the bottom he found Manes on the ground with an unconscious Prince Adam sprawled on top of him. Col hopped off the ladder and landed beside Manes.
The ranger leader frowned at him. “I thought you would convince him to climb down the ladder.”
“Ran out of time. Is he hurt?”
“No, he just fainted. I think I’ve got a few new bruises.” Manes slid out from under the prince.
“My heart bleeds for you,” Col said, drawing a laugh from the three surviving rangers. “Can you carry him in your delicate condition?”
Before Manes could offer a comeback a huge explosion shook the ground and sent clods of dirt flying over the wall. Col suspected their reprieve was over. He turned to Alana. “Is it safe to walk through that dome?”
She pursed her lips and Col got the impression she was annoyed with him. “I can’t say. You might have killed the prince, tossing him off the wall like that.”
“It was only twenty feet. Worst case scenario he breaks both legs. Besides, I had faith Manes would catch him.”
Manes gave an annoyed grunt. Before Alana could respond, Col steeled himself and stepped through the barrier. It felt cold, like something tugging at his soul, and then he was through. He felt none the worse for the wear. He poked his head back across, a headache pounding at his temples. “You can live through it, come on.”
The others crossed over and when they caught their
breath Col said, “Portal time.”
Alana raised her hands and the familiar glow formed between them. A few feet away a disk about the size of his face appeared in the air. Alana collapsed to her knees and the little portal vanished. “I can’t do it. I don’t have enough power left.”
“Shit! Let’s get out of sight.”
Manes led them to a grove of oak a couple hundred yards from the castle. He laid the prince down in a clear spot and sat beside him. “What now?”
Col looked to Alana. “What do you need to get your power back?”
She sighed. “A good night’s sleep and a few hours of meditation.”
“Right, well I don’t expect Zarrin will give us that long. What else?”
She shook her head. “I’m drained. I can’t just wave a magic wand and get my strength back.”
Magic wand? Col thought back to the ritual where they destroyed the soul box. “What about a focus?” Col held out his sword. “The other lightcasters used this to help them focus their power. Would it help you?”
Alana touched the pommel then jerked her hand back. “I can’t touch it.”
“Michael put his hands on Rain’s back and worked the magic through her. Can you do that with me?”
Her eyes got wide. “I don’t know. I’m not as advanced as Michael.”
Another explosion reached them and Col glanced around the trunk of a tree. Zarrin stood in a gaping hole in the wall and the dome had vanished. Zarrin turned and stared at the grove. They were out of time.
“It’s time to find out. Zarrin’s coming and if this doesn’t work I’m out of ideas. Tell me what to do.”