by Tony Donadio
It turned to look toward the palace. What it saw made his eyes narrow dangerously. The remnants of the second strike force were being driven back by a disciplined line of soldiers with gleaming pikes. A fusillade of arrows rained down on them from the upper walls. Alchemical bombs and bursts of magic launched from the tower above exploded in their midst.
Many of the monsters were already leaping from the lower walls to escape. The attack was quickly turning into a rout.
“So much for the ‘decapitation strike,’” it growled angrily. “Thad’s fleeing and we’re losing the bailey. It won’t be long before the rest come limping out as well.”
It took less than a minute for it to be proven right. Demons began to appear around the corner from the north side of the castle, where the walls of the conference room had been breached. Some were so badly wounded that they could barely fly. By the time they appeared the rest of the attackers had taken to the air as well. They were fleeing the palace, wings beating away from it to the east.
Gorath raised a scaly hand, and a burst of flame erupted from it and flew into the sky. Immediately some of the demons began to bank toward it. Before long many of them had landed nearby, regrouping around its position on the road.
One of the larger demons stepped toward him with a salute. Gorath did not return it.
“Report, Barzoun,” it ordered.
Barzoun bowed, eyes lowered. “The strike force has been repelled, Captain Gorath,” it said.
Gorath grabbed the demon’s head and slammed it into the ground. It grunted in surprise and pain as its face struck, hard, against the paved stone of the roadway.
“Do not tell me what I can plainly see for myself, worm-brain,” it hissed. “Tell me what I do not know. And tell it quickly, lest I become even more displeased with you for wasting my time. What resistance did you encounter, that forced you to withdraw, instead of readying the palace for my forces to secure?”
Barzoun had been with the group that assaulted the conference room. Face held in the stone and dirt of the palace road, it explained what had happened, up to the arrival of the rescuers. It told the story with remarkable speed and conciseness.
Gorath released the demon’s head when it was finished, and it rose unsteadily to its feet. By then more of the creatures had landed around them. Others had run up along the road from behind.
“Barrier formation,” Gorath ordered. “Form a line across the valley here. Nothing gets out of the High City.”
“Should we not send forces to surround the palace on all sides?” one of the winged demons asked.
“No. The cliffs and the mountain will keep them in.”
“What about the pegasi?” the demon countered.
Gorath turned to glare at it. “Explain,” it demanded impatiently.
“We slew a pegasus in the air above the palace,” it said in a suddenly shaky voice. “We thought it might have arrived to try to carry off some of the royals.”
Gorath smiled with interest. “You saw only one, then?” it queried. “And it wasn’t mounted?”
“No. It came in over the ridge to the south and slew one of our scouts.”
“And then flew right to the palace?” Gorath demanded. Its grating voice was incredulous. “While it was being attacked by your force?”
“Yes,” the creature replied.
“Bring me one of the wyverns to serve as steed,” Gorath ordered. “You will show me where it attacked this scout.”
It turned to one of the others as the demon flew off.
“Nagoth, you will remain here,” it commanded. “Carry out my orders while I investigate this incident.”
Nagoth grinned. “Just the blockade?” it asked.
“Just the blockade,” Gorath confirmed. “Any attempt to escape by flight has already been accounted for in Lord Borr’s plan.”
Chaos in the Streets
Orion and Diana ran along the eastward road. This part of the city was dominated by homes, mainly for the more well to do of the capital’s inhabitants. They sprinted past an estate on their right. High hedges blocked their view of it, and the city below, as well as the academy they had left behind.
The panic in the marketplace was beginning to reach the streets of the Upper City. Piercing shrieks and terrified wails rose around them. To their left, they could see people looking out of windows or standing on porches and lawns, staring into the air and pointing in horror.
Winged shapes circled above, laughing and mocking them with fell war-cries. Occasionally an arrow or a ball of fire would arc down, striking an unwary soul or igniting a conflagration. Flames were spreading as the people ran for cover, afraid to come out into the open to fight them.
There was no concerted attack, however — at least, not yet. Aside from the force moving on the academy the demons seemed content to harry the city’s people, spreading fear and panic.
A bow twanged to their right, and an arrow shot up from behind the hedge. It flew true, striking a demon as it passed overhead. There was a harsh cry as one of the creature’s wings twisted awkwardly, and it began falling toward the ground. A cheer went up from those who’d witnessed the feat.
The celebration was short-lived. With a bellow of pain the demon forced itself to spread its injured pinion and arrest its descent. It righted itself, and then yanked out the offending arrow with a clawed hand. Black ichor dripped from the air as another demon circling nearby turned to join it.
The pair banked toward the source of the shot. Twin balls of fire rocketed down and exploded with a deafening roar behind the hedge as Orion and Diana were running past it. The verdure absorbed the brunt of the blast, but the concussion still staggered them as they ran. Shrieks of death rose from behind it as demon-fire rained again and again on the grounds within.
“They’re sending a message,” Orion gasped. “Resist, and die.”
Diana huffed agreement.
“We’re sitting ducks, running out in the open like this. We need to find cover!”
“Not here,” he said. “We’re still too close to those troops coming for the academy. We need to get further away.”
She spared a glance to their right. The burning hedge ended as the road curved south toward the edge of the terrace. They were running past the lawn of a small park now, and the Lower City was once again in full view.
She pointed. “Trouble,” she panted.
Small groups of Hellmen were out on the streets below them. Some were racing eastward as well, parallel to the street they were running on.
“They’re making for the road up from the docks,” Orion huffed. “If we don’t get there first they’ll cut off our escape.”
“It’s all or nothing, then!” Diana cried. “Run for it!”
They sprinted for all they were worth. They passed the park, and their street began to run right along the ledge of the terrace. The ground to their right fell away in a forty foot drop, and they could plainly see the chaos in the Lower City below.
People ran, screaming. Most of them were headed east, away from the amphitheater. Smoke and fires dotted the marketplace and the docks. The sky was thick with winged demons.
The next few minutes faded into a haze of pain and terror. Orion once again found himself grateful for his time at the Silver Star. He would never have been able to run as fast or as far before his adventurer’s training, with its strict regimen of physical conditioning.
Yet Diana was still outstripping his pace. She held her skirt hiked up above her knees, her muscular legs pumping as she ran. She pulled ahead of him despite his efforts to keep up with her.
A fork appeared in the road before them. One way ascended steeply to their left, rising to the next level of the Upper City. The other descended in a switchback that wound downward over the lip of the terrace to their right.
Diana came to a stop and turned, heaving huge gulps of air. She tried to speak as Orion caught up with her. She barely managed to get out the words.
“Wha — wha —
whay?” she gasped.
He raised his hand to point to the right. He didn’t even try to speak.
She followed his lead. Always chaperoned and kept mostly to the High City near the palace, she was completely unfamiliar with this part of Lannamon. She had no idea where they were going, but he clearly did. Surprised at her developing confidence in the quiet scholar she had just met, she fell in at his side without a word as he turned onto the fork.
When they reached the intersection they saw that they were about halfway up the terraces on the north side of the city. The road dropped away in a series of winding coils that traveled all the way down to the docks and the firth. The first level of the Upper City cut across it below them to the east and west. Its streets intersected the winding road as it descended the hill. Flights of stairs ran down the center of the switchback.
Diana pointed down and to their right. On the level below, a group of Hellmen was jogging toward the nearest of those intersections. They were about to be cut off.
Orion didn’t hesitate. Bypassing the stairs he ran along the first length of the switchback to the far side. Then he turned, vaulted over the low railing, and launched himself into space.
The jump was nearly eight feet to the next curve of the road below. He hit the ground hard and rolled, coming back to stand in a single, fluid motion. He started to turn, to help or catch Diana as she followed, but there was no need. She had already landed on her feet beside him.
They ran wordlessly together across the road and jumped again. They were both nearly exhausted, and Orion knew this was the most dangerous part of their flight. One bad leap and landing, and they would be finished.
Three times they jumped and rolled, crossed the street, and jumped again. In less than a minute they’d descended most of the way to the terrace below.
After the third jump he caught her arm and turned to the left. They ran a short distance to a bend in the road, and stepped over another guardrail. On the far side they found a steeply descending hill that ended in a ledge.
They looked down. A copse of trees grew along the face of the sheer rock-wall that lay beneath them. Twenty feet below they could see the yard of a house nestled under the shoulder of the terrace. The boughs of several trees were within jumping distance.
Diana understood what he meant to do and raced ahead. She clambered recklessly down the slope and leaped, grasping wildly for the nearest branches. For a moment she felt suspended in space, falling, out of control. Then, one of the boughs caught under an arm. It held, and her body swung. One of her legs landed on another branch, and she came to a painful halt amid the leafy limbs.
She looked back at Orion. He’d stopped at the ledge to search carefully for a safe branch to jump to, and found one while she was scrambling to catch her fall. He leaped to follow her, and landed neatly in the nook between a large branch and the bole of the tree. He saw that she was safe, and began to climb down toward her.
They descended as quickly and quietly as they could. As they did they heard the yells of the approaching Hellmen grow louder, and the harsh sound of boots on the roadway. They stopped and waited, desperately trying to quiet their labored breathing.
Long, tense seconds passed. The noise didn’t continue in their direction. Instead it receded again, clattering up the stairway and fading toward the road above. They finished their descent carefully and dropped to the ground. Orion took her by the arm and pulled her into a run across the yard. There were no sounds of pursuit.
Eventually they reached a gate. Dizzy with exhaustion, they climbed over it. They saw that the little wood ended on the other side, and that a series of densely packed buildings blocked their way forward.
The cobbles of an alley ran to their right. With no other way to go, they followed it. When it ended they found themselves on Tribute Street, a main road running to the east.
Orion looked around. They were on the lowest level of the Upper City, in a commercial neighborhood dominated by shops and peddlers’ stands. Their owners had abandoned the carts and there was no one in sight. Deprived of the cover of the trees, he could once again see demons circling in the air above.
“Hey! You!” a voice hissed.
They turned, startled. The door of the building next to them was slightly ajar. All of the curtains were drawn, but a hand was gesturing to them through the crack. Above it hung a sign that read: The Smiling Nymph Inn and Tavern.
“Come in out of the street!” the voice called softly. It sounded panicked.
“The monsters are killing anyone they see in the open. If they spot you, you’ll bring them here!”
Orion and Diana exchanged glances.
“It’s as good a place as any,” she breathed, her lungs gasping for air. He saw her suddenly sway unsteadily. “My legs are like lead and I’m about to collapse.”
He nodded. Taking her arm protectively he guided her toward the door.
The Sky Chamber
Palanad Lantar knelt at the King’s side. He laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Your Highness,” he said, trying to make his words gentle. “We need to see to the defense of the palace.”
Danor looked up through tear-stained eyes, and nodded. Slowly, he released his wife and surviving son. He rose unsteadily to his feet, still swaying with exhaustion. The court mage slipped a shoulder under his arm.
“Are you injured, my liege? I can provide you with healing if you require it.”
Danor shook his head.
Gerard rose beside him and helped his mother to stand as well. The Queen looked broken and exhausted. She had difficulty staying on her feet without leaning on him.
“Thank you, Palanad,” the King said gratefully.
He turned to his son. “And you too, Gerard. Never in history did a rescue arrive so in the nick of time.”
Gerard shook his head. “I’m glad we were able to save you and mother,” he said simply. He looked down for the last time at his brother’s body. “But in the nick of time? I can’t call it that.”
Danor embraced him fiercely.
“I know,” he replied. “But not now. There’ll be time enough for grief later.”
He turned to face an officer who had come forward to stand next to him. The King took a deep breath, forcing himself to recover his bearing of command.
“Report, General Banderman,” he ordered.
“The demons have retreated for now,” the general replied with a salute. “But they remain nearby. We are cut off from the rest of the city.”
“A second flight of demons struck at the gates and drove into the great hall,” Gerard added. “They blocked reinforcements to the conference room until Palanad and I arrived with the general and broke through. There weren’t enough of them to hold it against us.”
“Then you and the council were the main targets of the attack,” the court mage opined.
Danor nodded.
“I suspected as much. They intended to cut off the head —”
He stopped abruptly, stricken by the analogy that had come unconsciously to his mind. “To eliminate the leadership of the Carlissan government,” he corrected. “They had only a limited window of time to accomplish that before the palace defenses were mobilized.”
“The Captain of the Horde said they were here to kill the royal family,” Elena said thoughtfully. “Whether they intended to kill the council or merely capture them, we still don’t know. Nearly all their attacks were focused on us.”
“So once they realized they’d lost the element of surprise, they gave up,” Gerard offered.
“Perhaps,” Danor mused, frowning. “But I still think we’re missing something. For one thing it’s clear they didn’t expect the strength of the resistance they encountered. Had the creatures that attacked us been able to sweep through the conference room and into the rest of the palace, you’d likely have been overwhelmed.”
“And they would have succeeded, had it not been for your magnificent stand against them, my liege,” Lord Rugon pu
t in. He was sitting on one of the few chairs that hadn’t been smashed during the battle; a medic was fussing over him, dressing his wounds. “And the Queen, and Prince Aron, may his soul rest in the Light of the Divine. It was like a scene out of the Age of Legends. The Defender herself could not have matched what you did here today.”
Palanad Lantar’s eyebrows rose. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “What happened?”
“Yes, I’d like to know that too,” Gerard said. “I sensed an eruption of magic here unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Mother is strong, but even she couldn’t have done this by herself.”
He paused to look around the decimated room. Soldiers were busy heaving the enormous bodies of slain demons toward the riven openings in the wall, dumping them out and down the mountainside.
“I agree that their plan seems to have been based on speed and surprise, and that they didn’t expect to be defeated or driven off. Whatever was unleashed here killed a dozen elite demons, and gave their strike force such a bloody nose that they actually ran when we came to your aid.”
“That was the King’s doing,” Lord Rugon said.
“So I gather,” Gerard said. “When the door opened, Father, I half expected to see the Archmage himself standing here in pitched battle. Instead I saw you, immolated in magical fire.”
The court mage frowned, looking at Gerard.
“I can see that some powerful sorcery was at work here,” he said. “But I didn’t sense any magic except the Queen’s, and the high priest’s.”
The King shook his head. “You wouldn’t have,” he said reluctantly. “Only another of my bloodline could.”
“Danor,” Elena interrupted. Her face was still pale, and there was a concerned look on it.
He turned to her, surprised. “What is it, my Queen?” he asked.
“I think explanations about that can wait,” she replied. “We need to see to the defense of the palace, and to find Randia. And we should get out of this conference room. Half the outer wall is gone, and the enemy has archers and spell casters.”
“I concur, Your Highness,” General Banderman said. “My officers are already fortifying our position and searching for the princess. We can do little with this room, though. It’s not safe to remain here.”