by Tony Donadio
“Where, then?” Elena asked.
“I’ll try for a closer point in the Upper City. Someplace high up along the ridge. Once I land I can find cover among the buildings, and approach the Star from behind and above.”
Danor nodded. He pointed down toward the demons that were approaching the academy from below. “That’ll also let you avoid flying over that strike force,” he said.
“It’s a good plan, Gerard,” Elena agreed. “And it has another merit that you haven’t mentioned.”
The others turned to face her. They saw that her eyes were glistening.
“Yes,” Danor said, guessing her thoughts. “If Randia tries to climb down from the cliffs, she’ll re-enter the city somewhere near where you land.”
“That occurred to me as well,” Gerard said quietly. “I’ll keep watch for her, mother, and bring her safely to Grandfather if I can find her.”
Danor strode over to the parapet and looked down into the city.
“The demons are beginning to move,” he said grimly. “Companies of them are fanning out from the amphitheater.”
Elena and Gerard walked over to his side. The Queen nodded.
“Yes,” she agreed. “It’s started.”
The King turned to his son.
“If we attempt this plan, then we must be prepared to act now. Are you sure about this, Gerard?”
“I am,” he answered. “Let there be no delay.”
Danor reached out and folded him into a powerful hug. Openly crying now, Elena threw her arms around him as well.
“Go with all our love, Gerard,” she wept. “And our hopes.”
The King broke his embrace and held the prince away from him by the shoulders. They shared a long look.
“I cannot begin to tell you how proud of you I am, my son,” he said earnestly. “Save yourself, and save your sister.” His glistening eyes hardened. “And make these monsters regret the day they ever decided to come to our land.”
Gerard gripped his arms and nodded. “We will do that together,” he promised.
He turned to Elena and kissed her cheek. “I love you both.”
“Then let us make ready,” the King said. Without another word, he turned and strode resolutely toward the stairs to the palace below.
The Charge
“Are you certain about this, my liege?” General Banderman asked. “I’m spoiling to take the fight to these monsters as well, but it will be dangerous to assault such a large force.”
The two stood in the center of the palace courtyard. Soldiers and horses geared for battle were falling into formation around them. The King’s black warhorse, Storm, stood beside him, arrayed in barding of gleaming bluesteel. Danor nodded impatiently.
“The demons are finishing their muster,” he replied. “We have little time left to break the siege before reinforcements arrive. If we don’t act now, we will lose that opportunity.”
“But will the warrior priests stand with us?” the general asked skeptically. “The high priest has repudiated the royal family. Even now he refuses to join the sortie, declaring that he must remain here to protect the High Council. Will the Church side with us, or with him?”
“With us,” the King said. “The alternative is utter defeat at the hands of the demons. They know it.”
He turned to face the door to the lower level of the palace, where the Grand Inquisitor had gone to protect his charges.
“I cannot understand what has gotten into Salmanor Darden,” he added in a low voice. “He’s always been pompous, and a loose cannon that’s never loved the Crown. But this is strange behavior even for him. And high priest though he may be, I cannot believe that he speaks for the whole of the Church. Many defied him over the incident with Lord Zomoran and the Inquisition.”
“You think they will do so again?”
The King nodded. “With even greater vehemence than before.”
“I hope you are right,” the general agreed. “Cyrus looked ready to kill him after the battle, and Palanad like he’d offer to help. Despite the way he’s trying to cozy up to the rest of the council, he made many more enemies today than he did friends.”
Danor waved a hand. “That’s a matter for another time. Are your forces ready?”
“Everything has been prepared in accordance with your orders, my liege,” the general confirmed. “Four fifths of those who can still fight will join us in the sortie. The elite guard and I will accompany you and the Queen in the van. We will be the point of the spear that strikes toward the Cathedral.”
“And the others?”
“The rest of the soldiers will follow on foot,” he continued. “They will form a wedge around the wizards, who will shield their flanks and attack any demons that harry them with magic. The rest will remain to defend the castle under the command of Lord Rugon and Mage Lantar.”
The King nodded. “Very good.”
“What about the prince, Your Highness?” the general pursued.
The King shook his head. “My son has another task,” he said simply. “Working magic at the summit of the tower. Give orders that no one is to go up there, and that he is not to be disturbed.”
Banderman saluted and turned to one of his men. The cavalry stood mounted at attention, surrounding the royal couple. Danor turned to the Queen.
This is it, my love, she spoke in his mind. It may be that in moments, we ride together to our deaths.
Can I not convince you to stay at the palace? he asked. We need a wielder to remain here and defend it, and we cannot depend on the high priest. Palanad would gladly ride with the sortie instead.
Elena smiled. She touched his face gently with her hand.
Of course you can’t, she thought simply. Just as you would not abandon me to the demons. I will not leave you to fight without me now. We are one, lion of my heart. We live or die together. That is how it has always been with us, and it will not change now.
The King smiled as he felt his own words touch his mind. He took the Queen into his arms and kissed her, long and tenderly.
When they finally broke their embrace, the soldiers around them erupted with a deafening cheer. “For Danor and Elena!” they cried. “For the King and Queen of Carlissa!”
Elena grinned at them as the King blushed. Her voice rang clear and strong as she turned to the assembled warriors.
“With such valor on our side,” she cried, “we cannot help but prevail! Forth now, men and women of Carlissa! Fight for your lives and your homes! Fight for your land, your loves, your children, and all that you hold dear! Fight for your King, and the promise of all our tomorrows!”
The magic of the Queen’s voice unleashed was like a flame set to tinder. Hearts swelled with courage and determination as weapons clashed against shields. The men and women collected in the Great Hall exploded into wild cheering.
“Death to the demons!” they cried. “For Queen Elena! For King Danor the Defender!”
Danor vaulted into the saddle, and there was another burst of cheering as the Queen mounted at his side. Her steed, Lightshaft, bore no armor, only a coat that was as white as Storm’s was black. The two horses reared and whinnied as one, calling a challenge to their enemies. Other mounts around them responded in kind.
“To battle!” Danor cried. “Ride now!”
The guards in the gatehouse rushed to respond to his order. Arms sent wheels spinning, and the portcullis rose swiftly above the inner entrance. The bar on the outer gate was lifted and flung aside, and the great doors opened wide.
Down the hill and just out of bowshot from the walls waited the enemy. A company of battle demons had arrived, arraying themselves in a line along the tip of the valley. Winged creatures flew back and forth along it in endless patrols, ensuring that no one from the palace could escape. The bulk of their force was concentrated on the main road, where a branch forked from it to the south. There, the Divine Way ran into and through the vast estate of the Church in Lannamon.
The demons saw the
opening of the gate and began to jeer, jumping and prancing with monstrous glee. Their harsh voices bellowed in anticipation of slaughter.
With the suddenness of the shuttering of a lantern, the light of the sun was cut off. A storm cloud formed overhead, a dark ceiling that hovered low over the descending ground below the palace. Bright flashes of lightning arced within it, lighting the darkening city with sudden stabs of illumination.
Horns were raised all along the battlement. The sound of their challenge rang out in a harmony of different notes, echoing clear and strong along the walls of the valley. Thunder crashed, joining the horns with a rhythm like the beating of a gigantic drum. The cries and taunts of the enemy were drowned out as the City of Rainbows was filled with their relentless song.
And in the midst of that song, the storm at their shoulder and the Queen’s lightning in their wake, the King’s cavalry charged through the gate to descend upon the demons that had invaded their land.
Side by side, Danor and Elena led the charge. Straight down the palace road they raced, their sights set directly on the knot of monsters standing between them and the road to the Cathedral. The creatures scrambled in alarm, trying to move quickly into formation to meet the attack. Winged demons swooped in, abandoning their patrols along the line to reinforce them.
Then the storm struck. Bolts of lightning exploded from the darkening sky, striking again and again into the midst of the marshaling forces. Monstrous bodies flew flaming into their fellows, scattering like leaves as electric death rained into their ranks from above.
A powerful wind sprang up, blowing the winged demons along with it. Vortices of spinning air descended from the raging storm, their widening funnels emerging suddenly from the menacing cloud to stab down and envelop their foes. Flying monsters were caught and slammed into the ground. Others careened wildly through the air to smash against the rocky walls of the valley.
In the middle of the pandemonium the cavalry struck. Bluesteel spears lanced through the milling demons. Guardian thrust into one of the staggering creatures, piercing straight through its body.
Caught off guard and unprepared for the strength of the attack, a dozen of the enormous creatures went down in the first strike. But their line did not break.
The demons possessed magic of their own, and they brought it against the charging Carlissans. A gout of dark fire burst from the mouth of one; a knight fell, immolated. Battle demons that had avoided the cascade of lightning banded together and drove forward. Another bolt lashed down at them; it split into a dozen smaller strikes that grounded all around them, doing little damage. Flying demons buffeted by the wind dove earthward, furling their wings and rushing to join the battle on foot. Others flanked the cavalry, trying to surround them and attack from their rear.
“Mage’s Fire!” General Banderman ordered. “Forward and left! Now!”
Flasks flew from the beleaguered guards. Some struck the charging demons, while others struck the ground around them. A dozen explosions rocked the earth. Creatures were blown from their feet, and combatants on both sides staggered from the blasts. A sheet of blue flame shot up among the monsters, setting some of them alight. They ran, screaming, away from the line of battle.
Danor surged forward, calling to his men. He veered right as Guardian struck off the sword-hand of a demon that had leaped into his path.
“Forward!” he cried. “To Divine Way! We must win through to the Cathedral!”
The cavalry followed. Their flank protected for the moment by the conflagration of Mage’s Fire, they hit the creatures before them with the full force of another charge. More whirlwinds descended from the storm to ride at their head, trying to sweep the creatures out of their way.
But still the line of demons held.
Monsters surged forward to take the place of their fallen brethren and block the road to the Cathedral. A rider was impaled on a long horn that emerged from the snout of one. She was lifted into the air and flung aside with a shake of the monster’s head. Another creature, gigantic and grotesquely muscled, tore a boulder from the ground and threw it into the midst of the cavalry. It took a rider out of his saddle and crushed the warhorse of another that rode behind him.
“It’s no good, Danor!” Elena cried. “We can’t break through!”
“The priests aren’t coming,” general Banderman shouted bitterly. “We have to fall back!”
“No!” Danor bellowed. “We must hold until they arrive! It’s our only hope!”
Elena gritted her teeth. She was already taxing her limits, but she braced herself to try to draw more deeply on her power. A maelstrom of wind and ice whirled out of the storm above, descending into the ranks of creatures that stood in their way. Some were driven back, blinded, staggering against the arctic blast.
But still the line of demons held.
Storm reared wildly as the King slashed with his sword. Guardian slapped a red-glowing weapon aside; it missed his head by inches. The great blade struck again and again, lacerating a demon’s hide and scoring its dark armor.
The monster dropped to the ground and spun in a circle. A huge, spiked tail swung out, striking the King’s mount squarely in the side. The bluesteel barding withstood the spikes, but the blow knocked the warhorse to the ground. Danor flew from the saddle and landed hard on the stone road.
The tail rose to deliver a killing strike, but it never fell. The rest of the demon’s body followed it into the air, disappearing into the funneled maw of a descending whirlwind of sleet.
“Retreat!” Elena cried, galloping to his side. “Defend the King and fall back!”
“Belay that order!” Danor roared. He struggled to his feet. “Stand fast and drive on!”
Another demon surged toward him. The King ran recklessly forward to meet it. Guardian swept in a wide arc, and its blade opened the creature’s midsection. It staggered back with a howl of pain.
My love, we must withdraw! the Queen pleaded in his thoughts. If we don’t, we will be killed!
If we retreat, we will die anyway, his mind answered. A claw slashed at him; he pivoted out of its way, and Guardian severed the wounded demon’s arm at the elbow.
Gerard was right. They will storm the palace, or burn us in. If we stand alone, we will fall alone.
Shields of azure magic sputtered feebly into place around him. “The priests are not coming, Danor!” she shouted.
“Not yet. But our men are!”
Elena turned to look back. The mages and foot soldiers had finally caught up with the charging cavalry, and they were scattering the demons that tried to flank them from behind. A surge of men at arms with bluesteel pikes swarmed around them, forming a ring encircling the Queen and the dismounted King. They impaled the wounded demon and then set their weapons into the ground, bracing for another charge by the enemy.
“We can hold yet!” Danor called. “We have to give the priests more time!”
The enemy was regrouping as well. The storm lessened as the demons’ magic combined to counter the Queen’s power. The wall of Mage’s Fire had burned itself out. The line of monsters, at first spread out along the tip of the valley, was converging on the King’s force.
Danor could see, though, that their movements were oddly haphazard and disorganized. He frowned. They could be setting the jaws of a trap for his force, but they weren’t.
“The enemy doesn’t have a commander here,” he realized, speaking aloud. “They’re just charging in blindly, trying to force us back. There’s little strategy to their attacks.”
“I think you’re right, my liege,” general Banderman agreed. He had raced to defend the King when he saw him fall, and now stood at his side as well. “That may give us an opportunity, if we can seize it quickly. But can we?”
The enemy’s numbers were swelling as more of them reached the road. “Not on our own,” Elena replied, shaking her head.
“Attack, while we still have a chance!” Danor cried. “With me, men of Carlissa! Forward!”
/> Spells erupted from a group of tower wizards. The two forces clashed, blood and ichor spraying in a heated exchange. But still the line of demons held.
And then the bells of the Cathedral began to toll.
Again and again the bells rang. Their peals echoed, clear and strong, from the hills of the Upper City. The horns at the palace once again took up their notes in response, and the valley was suddenly filled with the sound of their music.
Danor looked up toward the Divine Way. A spurt of tears formed in his eyes at what he saw.
A wave of white magic was rushing toward them along the road. Even as the demons tried to turn to face this new threat the wall of light reached them, striking into their formation from behind. Panicked screams of rage and pain erupted from their forces. They recoiled from the blinding surge of power that had suddenly arrived to envelop them.
The Queen laughed. “For the Light!” she cried.
Her voice was a musical sound of surprise and relief that tore through the desperate mood of the Carlissans. The demons’ counter-spells shattered like crystal on stone. Her magic seized control of the storm once more, and bolts of lightning again began to descend from the maelstrom into the monsters’ ranks.
“Strike now!” Danor ordered.
Hope swelling in their hearts at the pealing of the bells and at the call of their King and Queen, the troops engaged the wavering demons. Caught between the hammer of their attack and the anvil of the priests’ magic, the enemy’s line finally broke. Blinded by the enchanted light and their skin burning from its touch, they scattered like leaves, running back down the palace road toward the center of the city.
The Carlissan warriors began to pursue them. Several of the creatures fell, struck from behind by pikes, arrows, or magic. But the King called them to a halt, and ordered them to regroup. The wave of light seemed to obey him as well, stopping to form a wall between them and the fleeing enemy.