‘Is it not guarded by elves?’ Lex asked. ‘Good.’
‘Lex—’ I began, but he ignored me.
‘Thousand spears and swords. And are there maa’dark there?’ Lex asked.
‘It’s a pirate’s hold. I just told you. It’s not a high noble house with elven maa’dark cavorting around in abundance. But it’s held by men who don’t flinch easily and run around asking questions in panic,’ Ompar said slowly as if to an idiot, and the insult was not lost on Lex. He went on despite the fury on my friend’s face. ‘There are some thousand men in the fort and villages and all are good fighters. All will fight for me.’ He hesitated and shrugged. ‘Or for her, we will see. There are some few rogue maa’dark who have lost their houses, and I have brought them into mine. Former nobles. Not very good, granted, but good enough to call for wind and to hurl fire and ice at an enemy. Not many, but some.’
‘A few,’ Lex whispered. ‘And what will come at us?’
Ompar sighed and rubbed his face. ‘Strife’s army, and anything Danar brings. The one guarding the capital is sure to be there after us. There are a million elves in the Coinar lands and millions of humans, but the rest of the army is far, maneuvering. Shannon did not say it, but they are planning something with the Devourer in Himingborg and expect Shannon to help her. She will be very important to them. She can make one elf the legitimate Regent, and even if that will mean war, she is worth half of the Coinar army to my father. They will be strong, but they will keep it local. Say, six thousand elves, siege machines, maa’dark?’
‘Six thousand? This will be as easy as taking a shit!’ Lex laughed bitterly. Everyone looked at him, but he ignored them. ‘And maa’dark? How many.’
‘Hundreds of nobles of Gold Hall. But they were included in the six thousand,’ Ompar said mulishly.
‘Oh, good!’ Lex said. ‘Then that’s OK.’
‘Can we sneak out?’ I asked him. ‘If we are fast?’
Ompar shrugged. ‘We will see. House Vautan’s lands begin a hundred miles to the north of my hold, but as I said, they will try to silence us. I didn’t get anyone out to warn the fort to evacuate before we were … betrayed.’ He looked at the Tears suspiciously and went on. ‘Let us hope they have not sent word out over the smaller trails and gotten ahead of us. I sent some men riding ahead after we escaped, but gods know what they will find. There are very fast horses in Danar’s stables. I am not going to lie to you. It will be damned desperate.’
We walked and rode on in moody silence.
There were yellow birds flying above, and some settled on thick, huge branches above us. Something fell on the men from the trees, and I heard Bulathon groan. ‘Gods! Watch out you damned freak!’
‘All we need are birds shitting on us, everyone else does,’ Ulrich grumbled.
‘There are monkeys up there as well,’ Albine said as she squinted up to the greenery. She did so with a carefree laugh, and the crew broke out in snickers. They were an indomitable lot, most wearing long chain mail all the way to their shins, helmets that covered their faces, and steel striped gauntlets. They all had spears and shields, and they sweated like pigs as they marched.
‘With a thousand men like this? We can win,’ Albine said loudly and they all flashed a grin our way. The mood was lifted, and I was happy, no matter if Albine’s carefree attitude bordered on madness.
Ompar laughed. ‘Indeed. But let’s still hope we can get away. If not, we will hole up in my land until they rot in the jungle. But we will try to go, first. I will need to get you to Bardagoon, after all,’ he wondered. ‘Mad. Mad. But we will try.’
‘If we fail to leave,’ Anja said sullenly, ‘how about you get Bardagoon here?’ She said it weakly from behind, having ridden closer. ‘Surely that would do the trick.’
‘I don’t have any birds to get a message all the way there,’ Ompar said, musing. ‘Though perhaps some to friends in low places in Trad.’ He was nodding. ‘It will work. It might. A good idea. We only have to hold tight until that time.’ He nodded at Anja. ‘She is more than just a pretty face. You two should make up your quarrel.’ He bowed to Anja, who smiled like a ghost, still unhappy.
‘Sounds like a plan,’ I said with a grateful smile, but Anja still looked away.
We trekked all day and night. There were signs of life in the woods, and an occasional sighting of a lizard with rider, but none got too close. We passed villages of men. The first one was large with sturdy and tall houses, and the strange procession brought the locals out to greet Ompar. They asked no questions, but I saw Bulathon whispering, and the news spread like fire. Albine was looking at them gossiping, gave me a grin and rode to them, a hundreds strong mass of people, and soon she was speaking with them empathetically. In the end, one pointed at an elaborate house, set aside on a small hill and made of thick timber and subtly carved wood and silver. She looked at me and bowed, and I wondered what she was about.
She was, in fact, about to start a revolution.
‘They are her enemies, and yours,’ she proclaimed loudly, and before I could stop her, I felt she was channeling and braiding a familiar spell of destruction. Strands of fire left her hands and tore into the building. A firewall burst to life inside, and soon, the house was burning wildly. Hundreds of men stared at the house, the local elven lord’s mansion, and then they stared at her, a human who could Embrace the Glory. I rode to her and people scattered. I pulled her to face me.
I was whispering urgently. ‘Are you mad? You—’
She shook my hand off gently and leaned closer. ‘They respect you. Revere you. I showed them an act of defiance. They need to see such things.’
‘They will die, and their children will suffer,’ I hissed.
‘They would anyway,’ she hissed back. ‘Didn’t you hear Ompar? None who see us will survive this. The Coinar cannot afford a rebellion and discontent. But don’t worry. The house is empty. All the elven lords and their supporters left hours ago.’
I hesitated. ‘All I want—’
‘You were brave at Euryale’s,’ she told me frankly. ‘And now we fight for our lives. We need help. They need to help themselves, or die like lambs.’
I went silent, and the humans bowed to me. I felt awkward and foolish, returned the gesture and rode to the side to stare at the burning building. Ompar stared at it as well, unhappy and looked up to the sky that was filling with dark smoke.
Soon, we left the village. Ompar looked at me and spoke with worry. ‘They know. The local elves have been warned. Father and Strife move quickly. They have gotten word ahead of us. Tracks lead for Lowpass, and it is worrisome,’ he said as one of the pirates stared at a muddy track of ever-growing proportions. It seemed local levy had indeed been summoned.
In the next village, the same thing took place. Elves had left. But there was an even huger crowd of people out now, despite the late hour. People were there in their nightgowns, but I noticed many were men from the first village, and they were all armored and armed.
‘Is it really a human?’ asked a blonde girl, and her mother dragged her away, bowing at Ompar. That raised some unhappy whisperings from the crowd, and I realized we were putting Ompar at risk.
‘By all means, show them,’ he said, having noticed the unhappy mood. ‘Though this will end in bloodshed. I think we should have them follow us. Or scatter into the woods. But they cannot stay here. Show them you are for real.’
I removed the helmet, and they all stared at me in wonder. So did the crew, again. I spotted a woman with a bandage around her thigh and nodded at her to come closer. She did, slowly, with doubt and fear. I gathered the magic and saw the ice and winds of deep healing powers, weaved them together and released them at her. She gasped, so did others in the crowd with unseen hurts and pains, and she slowly unwrapped the bandage. There was a long white scar on her thigh. Albine rode up. ‘Spread the word. Humans are not mere servants. You are no victims. Follow us now or hide and leave the land. Hide. You are not safe after seeing this. An a
rmy is coming.’ Ompar flinched at that and ordered the crew to start marching, deep in his thoughts. When we left that village, there was a troop of five hundred men and women marching after us. Most were burly men of great stature, well-armed with spears and bows and wearing leather armor. The women were warriors as well, scarred and battle-ready. Some children followed us. Most of the adults had round shields with Danar’s symbol of a lizard still on them.
We passed hilly forests, many villages, and soon there were two thousand men and women marching with us. But what was disconcerting was the fact that all the elves were again gone. We crossed a humid ridge, then a cool, misty valley. We rested in the morning and marched all that day until that evening we spied an inhabited plateau in a valley, cut off from the lands around it by the sea to the east and steep chasms everywhere else. There was a fortress of white stone in the middle of the plateau, small villages and a precarious rope bridge to the harbor, guarded by towers. There were also squat towers guarding the three bridges into what I knew was Lowpass, and the closest one to us had been under attack.
The Coinar flag flew on top of it, a gray structure of imposing size, and there were corpses strewn about it.
Ompar stopped his horse to gaze at the place.
‘Lord!’ Bulathon yelled. ‘They have not taken all the forts in Lowpass, just this one. We might go around and take the western bridge.’
‘It will take half a day,’ Ulrich mumbled.
‘Indeed,’ Ompar said softly. There were also fires in the far woods to the west. ‘They will be under siege very soon.’
‘What shall we do?’ I asked him.
He rubbed his face and nodded. ‘We have to take it. Our salvation lies beyond it,’ he said softly. ‘But it will be impossibly hard.’ He turned to look behind. Far, you could hear the sound of horns. ‘My father is coming.’
BOOK 2: LOWPASS
‘I don’t understand love. It just … is. It’s born out of nothing and dies with a struggle.’
(Shannon to Ompar)
CHAPTER 7
We stared at the silver lizard flag on top of the tower guarding the way. Before the tower, there was a moat, and the bridge had been raised, though the mechanism was not inside the tower but in plain sight. There was a stretch of land between the tower and the moat. The garrison had been surprised and butchered. To pass the moat, to take the tower? It would be bloody. Dana and Bulathon were next to me. ‘Why won’t they hack down the bridge to the Lowpass?’ I wondered at Dana. ‘That would trap us here fully.’
Bulathon answered. He was chewing on a bit of dried meat and made an irritating smacking sound as he spoke. ‘Can’t. Not easily. It’s more than stone, and while thick, it was built by a spell of Glory to begin with. They don’t have the strength to break it. A truly powerful maa’dark might have spells to topple it, but perhaps not.’
I was thinking about the spell I’d used to rattle Euryale’s tower, the one of water and freezing ice that turned building materials to mush.
Bulathon went on, ‘I’d love to drop the shitty things to the chasm and show my hairy ass to our lord’s father. He would be impressed, no doubt. It’s very hairy.’
‘Any other ways over?’ I asked him after a while. I angled myself to look past the dark tower and saw another similar tower, with the red arrow flag of Ompar on top.
‘You saw it, Hand of Life,’ he said uncomfortably. ‘Up there. Fires to the west. Jungle full of spies. The harbor is under siege.’ It was, as there were several sleek warships bobbing on the waves, marked by lights, and some enemy had taken the quay and a small tower down below. He clapped my back like a father would. ‘Still cannot get used to that. Hand of Life. A human. And so young.’
‘I am young, but—’
‘You are young, a mere slip of a girl,’ he mused. ‘I was mightily impressed at the Scorpion’s Bridge. Not only by your skills, but also by your bravery. Striking Lord Strife with a sword? That was a thing to see. Sparks flew. He shat himself, probably. But now I am worried.’
‘Worried,’ I said softly. ‘So am I.’
He swallowed the last bit of meat, nearly choked and still smiled as his eyes watered. ‘And thousands follow you. Your small friend riled them up to help you. I wonder what you would do if you were my age?’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, annoyed.
He chortled. ‘Our Lord Ompar thinks he’s in charge still. Trying to save as many humans as he can. I love him, I do, but he’s not in charge. This whole matter of healing and human maa’dark will change everything in the south. It’s like someone pissing in a soup. Everyone will get upset. People will sing of your deeds, and they cannot kill us all. No, they cannot. Every human will know Scorpion’s Bridge. But I think,’ he said and smiled sadly, ‘that it would have been better if you’d been given to Tiria.’
I looked at him, feeling afraid. Had he told her about us? He saw how I tensed and snorted and shook his head. ‘No?’ I asked him.
‘No, I did not betray you,’ he said, amused. ‘But I think the death of the crew might have been better than the death of the tribes. You and yours will take us all to war.’
‘I only wanted to reach the north,’ I said miserably.
He was nodding. ‘But you did more. And you didn’t tell your friends to act calmly. You did not tell your Albine there,’ he nodded at my friend, ‘to shut her damned mouth. No. Now we have people dying, wives and children being speared in the woods, and now even some of the crew speak against Ompar. It will end up in tears for thousands. I think I’m just too old to enjoy this like your friend does. If you were as old, I think you would be tired of this too.’
I said nothing for a time, knowing he was right. I saw Albine speaking with people and knew she had found a calling for herself. ‘If we must, can we go around? Force a way to the west and over the gorge?’
He shook himself from his sad mood. ‘Yes, you saw the bridges to the west and north, but the route there skirts the canyons and gorges, and they would harass us to death in the woods. They are very stealthy, and we are like fat milk-lizards. It’s here. Soon. Or nowhere. But I suppose you will survive.’ He sounded sour and happy at the same time. ‘You should survive, I think. Makes it worth something for so many to die. It’s important; perhaps it is. You survive, girl if the rest do not. Bury us one day if you do.’
Dana stared up at him. ‘You are not dead yet.’
He looked down at Dana and shrugged, uncomfortable. ‘While she is a fine flower in our hat, the humans of Aldheim, I am a just a man,’ he nodded for the Lowpass, ‘I have a wife there. We are as good as dead and I cannot say I’m happy about it. We need a plan. We have none. That tower will kill us.’ We waited, and the rest of the Tears gathered around us and we waited for Ompar, who was speaking with someone in the tower. I saw him gesturing wildly by the raised bridge, but the response was far from favorable. An arrow thudded into the ground near Ompar’s foot. He went on speaking, but with a calmer voice.
Albine stared across the gorge, deep in her thoughts. Ulrich came to stand next to Anja, who was sitting silently on a rock. He spoke softly. ‘He won’t speak our way in.’
Bulathon shrugged. ‘Nope. He has no golden tongue. He swears more than I do. Might have sent a damned mute for all the good that talking will do. It’s going to get bloody.’
Soon, Ompar walked back, his face dark with fury. He was slapping his thigh as he cursed in elfish. He pointed a finger at the tower, and I saw there were many elves with bows and ballista getting ready up there. ‘They will not budge. There are hundreds of them. All the local nobles and their troops. Many can Embrace the Glory. My men cannot get in from the other side. They would be butchered.’
‘Can you break it like you did Euryale’s tower?’ Dana asked, having thought about the same solution as I had. Cherry appeared and was nodding; her thin face lit up with hope. I smiled at her, having nearly forgotten she was there.
‘You broke a tower?’ Ompar asked, wondering.
�
��It’s a draining, hard spell,’ I said. ‘But perhaps I can.’
‘That does not help with the moat,’ Ulrich said. ‘But we can build a way over. A small bridge. I might know how—’
Bulathon snorted. ‘We are damned sailors, boy. We can work wood. Do we look like tit-sucking babies to you?’
‘How close do you have to be?’ Ompar asked me. ‘And mind you, fire will not do anything to the stone. There are charms on the wall to protect it from fire, made by spells of Gift.’
I looked up to the tower. The moat was thirty feet from the doorway. ‘It is not a spell of fire. I cannot touch fire. And I have to be really close. Over the moat, at least.’
‘They will fillet us when we try to cross,’ Anja said tiredly. ‘There are a dozen casters on the wall. Ballista and archers.’ The tower had a high roof, made of dark wood. A flight of yellow parrots left the top as the elves yelled out commands. A ballista barked on the other side, and someone screamed in pain on the bridge beyond. The parapets were lined with troops. ‘If she crosses,’ Anja said softly, ‘she will be hurt.’
‘She has some protection,’ Ompar said. ‘But not against those ballista.’
I sat there and thought about it. Dana was frowning, and Ulrich was cursing. Lex did not seem to care about our dilemma, and I felt bad for having pushed him into such a mood. No, I had not, I reminded myself. He was being unreasonable. Dana pulled at Ompar. ‘When will your father be here?’ She squinted at Mar, the golden star of Aldheim riding lower and lower in the sky.
‘Sometime later in the night,’ he said tiredly. ‘We have but hours, tops. We have to charge them. This night brings death anyway. We will cut trees; carry them to the moat. Many trees, many ways over. Then cover you with shields, Charm Breaker will help, and you drop part of the wall. Or as much as you like as long it does not kill you. It will be butchery of epic proportions. But we have nothing else. We will lose too many.’ He breathed. ‘No, we cannot. I will not risk Shannon. We have to—’
Eye of Hel: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 2) Page 10