"K'san struck me," Fredrik groaned. "Is he dead?"
"He is dead," the king nodded. "I need to find you a healer."
"Tanya and Jenneva are not available tonight," gasped Fredrik. "Promise me that you will take care of Niki."
"You will take care of her yourself," cried the king. "You are not allowed to die on me."
Fredrik tried to smile, but blood flowed from his lips. The sorcerer's eyes closed, and his head fell to one side.
"What is wrong with the mage?" asked Prince Midge as he settled on the king's shoulder.
King Arik leaped to his feet, nearly tossing the fairy prince into the air.
"Go to Chaco now," commanded the king. "Send him to Elderal with the greatest speed. I want the elven healer, Zalaharic, brought here immediately. Tell him that Fredrik is dying."
The fairy prince offered no quip as he leaped into the air and sped off. With the sounds of fighting still raging in the temple, King Arik grabbed the Sword of Heavens and raced out of the room.
* * *
David Jaynes, leader of the Red Swords, entered the queen's study. As Queen Tanya disliked the practice of bowing, except in formal circumstances, David crossed the room quietly and sat with the others.
"Are you certain that you can get the women and children to leave on time?" Tanya asked Sheri.
"Positive," Sheri nodded. "I have already spoken to the leaders."
"You have?" frowned General Gregor. "Won't that tip off K'san that we are attacking?"
"Not at all," replied Sheri. "I did not tell them why they were going to have to leave. In fact, I told them that it was a secret and that they were not to discuss it."
"Do you trust them?" asked Prince Oscar. "Will they keep their word?"
"They will," insisted Sheri. "They are not religious zealots. They obey K'san because he tells them that things are going to be better and they want very much to believe that things will get better."
"Things have gotten better since the war," frowned Prince Oscar. "They have short memories if they can't remember back to what Tagaret used to be like."
"They remember," Sheri responded. "Most of them were on the brink of starvation. They know that things are better, but they want more. Is that so bad?"
"No," Tanya smiled, "and they deserve better. I only wish that I could promise that things will improve quickly, but I can't. In fact, things are about to get a lot worse if the Zarans are not stopped from invading us."
"They will leave when I tell them," Sheri repeated.
"Good," Tanya said with an air of finality. "David, how are things at the temple?"
"Tense," David Jaynes reported. "I feel confident that K'san knows that an attack is coming. As we expected, in addition to the six guards outside the temple, they have boarded up the windows. There will be no quiet way to get inside the temple."
"Six guards?" asked General Gregor. "I thought there were only two."
"There are two at the rear door," explained David, "but there are four on the roof as well. That has been true for two days now. You should keep more informed," he added with a grin.
"In fairness to the general," chuckled Tanya, "I have kept him and his men rather busy this week. Are your preparations complete, General Gregor?"
"Yes," nodded the general. "Every building on the block has been emptied. We had to use some rather thin excuses to get the people out, but no one is complaining. It is going to cost the treasury a few extra coins, though."
"Those would be my coins," sighed Prince Oscar, "and there are precious few of them left."
"If I know you, Oscar," grinned Tanya, "making the loss up will be just the challenge you need."
"Indeed," winked Prince Oscar.
"Alright," Tanya said as she turned her attention back to the assault plan, "I have one more task for you, General Gregor. Once the outside guards are taken down, I want your men to barricade both doors of the temple."
"Barricade them?" balked the general. "I don't understand."
"K'san has gone to great lengths to make it hard for us to enter his temple," replied the queen. "I intend to make it hard for him, or his people, to get out. I want this cult of Balmak wiped out by morning."
"Understood," the general nodded dubiously, "but I'm not sure that I like the idea of locking you in a building with the enemy. At least let me augment your force a bit. Going in with only twelve Rangers is not enough protection."
"Any more and we will be tripping over each other," interjected David Jaynes. "Twelve is the number that each team agreed upon."
"But that was agreed upon when the assaults were going to be a surprise," objected the general. "K'san is clearly expecting an attack."
"He still doesn't know when it will come," David declared. "We will succeed in taking most of the clerics in their sleep. After that, how many men can you cram in a narrow corridor?"
"Twelve is sufficient," stated Tanya. "Are there any last minutes things that need to be said?"
"Only that we all love you," offered Prince Oscar. "Make sure you come out of that temple."
"I will return," vowed the queen with a smile for Prince Oscar. "Sheri," she continued seriously, "you have one hour to waste before you get your people moving."
Sheri nodded and rose. She tugged on Wylan's sleeve when he didn't immediately get up to follow her out of the room. Wylan rose reluctantly and followed Sheri out of the study. He closed the door, but refused to go further.
"What is the matter with you?" asked Sheri. "We only have an hour to get ready."
"I am not going with you," Wylan declared. "You don't need me to get the children to follow you."
Sheri frowned heavily as she gazed into her husband's eyes.
"What are you up to?" she asked. "Are you feeling left out again? Is that it?"
"Perhaps," Wylan shrugged.
"You would never say that if that was the real reason," Sheri replied suspiciously. "You are planning on doing something stupid."
"Is protecting our queen stupid now?" Wylan retorted. "I am a Knight of Alcea. I am sworn to protect Arik and Tanya."
"Does she know that you are going into the temple with her?" questioned Sheri.
Wylan merely shook his head.
"It is dangerous to alter their plans at the last minute," sighed Sheri. "At least let her know that you are going."
"You don't mind then?" asked Wylan.
Sheri hugged her husband and kissed him. "I would be going, too, if I could figure out a way to do it and still get the children to move. Make sure that she knows you are in the group, and make sure that you return. If you die, I will never forgive you."
"I won't die," brightened Wylan.
Sheri broke the embrace and hurried off. Before Wylan could move away from the door, it opened. General Gregor left the room, closely followed by Prince Oscar. As the two men headed off in different directions, Tanya and David exited the room. The queen glanced at Wylan and smiled, but no one spoke.
Wylan let the queen turn the corner before starting to follow her. The Knight of Alcea knew the paths through the Royal Palace fairly well, so he was confident in giving the queen a healthy head start. He timed his pursuit well and managed to turn the corner just as she was turning another. For ten minutes he tailed her until unexpectedly he turned a corner, and she was gone. Wylan raced to the next corner, but he could not find either the queen or David Jaynes.
"Never try to follow a mage," giggled the queen.
Wylan whirled around and saw the queen and David smiling at him.
"Illusions are not my specialty," she said, "but I do have some basic understanding of them. Do I need to ask why you are following me?"
"I have to go in with you," Wylan declared. "If something happened to you and I did not go, I could never forgive myself."
"Does Sheri know?" asked the queen.
"I just told her," nodded Wylan.
"Go on ahead, David," instructed the queen. "I will meet you there."
David Jayne
s nodded and walked away. The queen smiled at Wylan again and started leading him in a different direction than David had gone. Wylan's brow creased heavily with suspicion.
"You aren't going to jail me, are you?" Wylan asked nervously.
"Of course not," laughed the queen. "We are going to the stables."
"The stables?" questioned Wylan. "The temple is not that far away. Why would we ride?"
"Perhaps I am a pampered queen," chuckled Tanya.
Wylan figured out that the queen was not going to reveal anything. He stopped asking questions and followed Tanya to the stables. Without the need to enter the stables, two horses came out and stood before the queen. Wylan recognized one as Frea, the queen's unicorn. Tanya grabbed Frea's mane and leaped onto her back. Wylan shrugged and mounted the other horse. With no reins to guide his horse, Wylan knew that he was riding a unicorn by the way the animal behaved. He wondered about that as they rode slowly out of the palace grounds and into the city.
It was extremely late in the night, and few citizens were about. The few people they did pass all bowed as the queen rode by. When they turned towards the temple, Wylan felt a shiver of excitement race up his spine. He knew that the queen was allowing him to join the assault team.
The queen detoured into an alley and dismounted. Wylan also dismounted and was surprised to see the unicorns immediately depart. Tanya held a finger to her lips as she opened the rear door of an inn. Two Rangers stood inside the door, and they tensed as it opened. Seeing the queen, they relaxed and nodded silently. Tanya led the way up the stairs of the deserted inn. When they reached the top floor, Tanya opened a door to one of the rooms and stepped inside. Wylan followed her in confusion. David Jaynes was in the room along with another Ranger. The other Ranger held a bow in his hands.
"Wylan is going in with us," Tanya said softly.
"I suspected as much," replied David. "He should stay close to you. Sheri just arrived. You can watch from the next room."
The queen nodded and led Wylan into the next room. It was identical in all ways except there was no Ranger in it. The queen moved to the window and gazed out at the temple across the street. Wylan moved alongside the queen so he could watch. The inn was a floor taller than the temple, and Wylan looked down at the sentries on the roof. Continuing to pan downward, he saw the ring of women and children surrounding the temple. Sheri wove her way through the circle whispering words that Wylan could not hear.
Slowly the ring of women and children started breaking up. There was no noise to the event. They all just walked away. Wylan saw the sentries on the roof looking around in confusion. He also saw the two unicorns approaching the rear door of the temple. The sentries obviously had no idea what was going on. The ones on the roof looked at each other and shrugged, while the ones at the rear door stared in confusion as the horses approached them.
Suddenly, the unicorns showed their horns. The rear sentries jumped back in surprise, but it didn't save their lives. The unicorns lashed out with their sharp horns and slashed the sentries open. At the same time, Wylan heard the snap of several bowstrings. The four sentries on the roof fell simultaneously.
"The showing of the horns was the signal to attack," Tanya explained softly.
"But won't the clerics know we are coming now?" asked Wylan.
"No," Tanya smiled tautly. "The fools boarded up their own windows. They seek to stop us from getting in, but they took away their own ability to see out. This works to our advantage. Come with me."
Wylan followed the queen out the door. Rangers were flowing into the corridor from every room on the temple side of the corridor. David Jaynes flashed a hand signal to the queen and smiled broadly. Wylan recognized the signal as a sign of success. Everyone flowed down the stairs. When they reached the ground floor, they continued onward to the basement. Wylan was filled with curiosity as the group maneuvered through the dark cellar and weaved their way through large piles of dirt. He understood when Prince Darok bowed low to the queen.
"Your tunnel awaits, your majesty," the dwarven prince declared.
"Have they broken through yet?" asked Queen Tanya.
"They are awaiting your command," Prince Darok replied.
"Excellent," Tanya said as she walked to the ladder and climbed into the tunnel.
Wylan stuck close to the queen, and the Rangers followed. Prince Darok went last. The tunnel ran under the street and ended at the temple's foundation, where a large square room had been dug out of the dirt. A dozen dwarves sat around drinking ale. They leaped to their feet as the queen arrived.
"Have there been any sounds from beyond the wall?" the queen whispered.
"Not since yesterday," replied one of the dwarves. "I am pretty sure it is only used for storage. We heard what sounded like barrels being moved about yesterday."
"That matches the diagram that Zack Nolan gave us," stated David Jaynes as he unrolled a document and held it for the queen. "The storage room is right here."
"Right next to the cells," frowned Queen Tanya. "I hope we didn't miscalculate. Breaking into a prison cell would not do us much good."
"We are dwarves, not mere human miners," winked Prince Darok. "You will be entering the storage room. You have my guarantee."
"Alright," nodded Tanya. "You should clear your people out of here as soon you break through, Darok. I do not want dwarves involved in this attack. Let the Zarans believe that they have created a rift between us."
"You think there are spies in Tagaret?" asked the dwarven prince.
"Undoubtedly," nodded the queen. "Whatever happens here tonight will reach the ears of the Zarans."
"Then we will stay in the tunnel," declared Prince Darok. "We will not fight in the temple, but if any of those clerics come this way, they will meet dwarven steel."
"Agreed," stated the queen. "Break open an entrance."
Chapter 30
Storming the Temple
Four dwarves approached the foundation wall of the temple. Two stood erect and used their picks to pry stones from the wall. Two others knelt and prepared to take the free stones away noiselessly. Within a few short minutes, the dwarves had opened a passageway into the dark cellar of the temple. David Jaynes held a Lanoirian star in one hand and grabbed a dwarven torch with the other. He stepped through the hole in the wall and silently looked around.
"My compliments to our dwarven friends," David whispered with a smile. "Rangers, move out."
The Rangers filed through the opening and disappeared into the darkness. When Tanya and Wylan entered the cellar, David tried to hand the torch to Wylan.
"We will not need it," Wylan said softly. "My eyesight is more like a dwarf's than a human's. I will guide the queen."
With a last look around the room to get his bearings, David Jaynes nodded and extinguished the torch. Wylan watched him slip away before leading the queen forward.
The cellar was orderly, and Wylan found the stairwell leading upstairs without difficulty. At the top of the stairs was a door, and Wylan paused to listen before opening it. The temple was silent and he eased the door open a crack. The corridor beyond the door was as dark as the cellar.
"We need to go to the left," whispered Queen Tanya. "Proceed slowly and silently. We are in no hurry unless fighting erupts."
Wylan nodded and opened the door far enough to slip through the opening. Tanya followed closely and closed the door. Wylan led the way towards the front of the temple through the total darkness that enveloped the building. He moved silently and slowly, but something was tugging on his nerves. A feeling of uneasiness pervaded his mind, as if something was not right. Half way to the front of the temple, Wylan halted suddenly. Tanya was alert enough that she did not bump into Wylan, but she frowned with concern and immediately drew her sword, turning around so that her back was against Wylan's.
"What is it?" she whispered.
Wylan did not immediately answer. He stared at the unlit torch on the wall and moved his hand towards it. The heat from the torch con
firmed his suspicions.
"Smell the air," Wylan whispered. "The torches were extinguished only a short while ago. They knew that we were coming."
Tanya turned and moved her hand towards the torch to verify Wylan's words. It was not that she did not believe him, but it was inconceivable that K'san could have been alerted. The secret of the tunnel was so closely held that almost no one knew of its existence. The heat on her hand convinced her of the danger they were in. She opened her breast pocket and roused Bantam from her nap.
"Fly, little hero," Tanya whispered. "Find David Jaynes and tell him that we have walked into a trap. They know that we are coming tonight."
The fairy leaped into the air and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.
"Do we withdraw?" Wylan asked softly.
"We cannot," Tanya replied. "Tonight is the chosen night for the attack, no matter what odds we face. We must go forward."
Suddenly a bright light flashed in the distance towards the rear of the temple. The sounds of shouting and fighting immediately erupted in the distance.
"That was a mage attack," Tanya declared. "We must go and help the Rangers. They will be slaughtered. Follow me."
Wylan turned around to catch a glimpse of Tanya racing off towards the rear of the temple. He clutched his staff tightly and raced after the queen, but he could not match her speed. Several more brilliant flashes flared to life, and Wylan saw the queen far ahead of him in the brief moments of brilliance.
As Tanya ran through the dark corridor, several robed men entered the corridor in front of her. They appeared alert, but also unsure of where they were supposed to be going. The first man turned towards the rear of the temple without a glance towards the front. The other two looked towards the front and saw Tanya running towards them. They bumped into each other as they shouted and tried to bring their swords up to attack. Tanya extended her long, two-handed sword and skewered the man on the right. Without slowing her pace, she intentionally lurched into the other man and knocked him to the floor. Pulling her sword free as she ran by, the queen focused intently on the man who had been racing towards the rear of the temple. He had heard the shouts of his companions and turned around to attack the queen.
Knights of Alcea Page 38