The Kingdoms of Laruta: Book 1: Campaigns Against the Olden (Grim's Labyrinth Series)

by Grim's Labyrinth Publishing

  “We should gather all of our troops, and throw everything we’ve got at them at the same time,” one captain proclaimed.

  “What if they can repel them with a few bursts of fire? We can lose our entire force in a single blow!” a commander objected.

  “Every moment we spend here arguing, dozens of our soldiers are dying out there. We must decide on something immediately. This is not the time for a philosophical debate!” an elderly wizard insisted.

  Sergeant Gerp had taken a seat at the table and was processing these conflicting ideas.

  “They’re hitting our ships with pressure waves below the surface! How are we supposed to fight against something like that! Since their last attack, they’ve increased the strength of all of their weapons and spells. It’s as if they mean to annihilate us off the face of the earth!” the captain exclaimed, throwing his hands up from frustration.

  “If they’re going to that extreme, perhaps we should consider using the water-manipulation spells we have been developing?” Sergeant Gerp proposed, with a bit of hesitation.

  The room fell silent for a moment. A few of the military leaders were outraged at the idea, while others brightened as if they finally saw a solution to their conundrum.

  “We can’t use it; it’s too diabolical; we’d be stooping to their level…” a captain summarized the objection on the mind of most people in the room.

  “It’s also pretty much the only weapon we have that would keep us from suffering more devastating losses. Hand-to-hand combat, or aerial engagements are at best going to lead to equal losses on both sides,” the old wizard agreed with Sergeant Gerp.

  “We’ll need the ten wizards that ran the earlier experiments with me to pull this off,” Sergeant Gerp pointed out.

  Everybody looked at the elderly wizard, who was called Reid, and who was the governor of the Teag Islands and the head wizard in charge of military magic in that region.

  “Yes, this is the only solution that might work,” Reid confirmed with a nod.

  Reid asked the nine other wizards and Sergeant Gerp to go with him into the laboratory that was a level lower in the underground tower. The laboratory was filled with cages for various animal experiments, and was heavy with the smell of potions that had been tested there. There were several lab assistants on duty, and together with them the wizards began reviewing their plans and props for the great task they were about to undertake.

  They began by running a few tests, making water swirl in small aquariums in the laboratory. They did a few wind manipulation spells. Then, they agreed on the exact portions of the task that each of them would be in charge of. There were several elements that needed to be controlled, and each of the elements would have to be manipulated by a few of them to achieve the desired effect. They all talked and planned quickly, aware that time was short. When all the plans were finalized they went up to the top of the hut that stood above the tower, and cast a spell to raise the roof of the hut high into the air, so that they could see the surrounding ocean and all of the islands. Sergeant Gerp cast a spell that created a loop bubble that enlarged the enemy fleet, so that the wizards could see exactly where the enemies were positioned from their hidden spot.

  The wizard stretched out their arms and cast a number of potions into the air to assist the magical spells they were casting. As they began making intricate movements with their fingers through the air, the wind started picking up speed across the Teag Islands, and the waves increased in height across the surrounding ocean. Then suddenly a strange set of small cyclones started spinning water and air across the sea, and burst through Kyllary’s ships, wracking and tossing several of them with their enormous strength. The wizards clearly had the ability with this magical spell to have wrecked every ship, beast, and soldier the Kyllaries had brought with them, but they had agreed to cause only enough damage to make the Kyllaries hesitant to attack them again immediately. So, after a few of Kyllary’s ships were lost, they stopped the spell and let the winds and tide die down.

  When the cyclones started, Queen Ronela was in her room and felt the strange magical swell of the sea. She went out onto the deck, struggling against the heavy rocking of the ship. The king was busy in a meeting with his wizards and admirals, trying to figure out how the Olden were executing such an extraordinarily powerful spell. He did not notice Queen Ronela hopping onto a flying beast and taking off for a part of the island that he and his commanders would never have suspected, but that Queen Ronela could feel was the cause of the devastation.

  She wasn’t certain what she hoped to achieve by finding the wizards responsible for the cyclones that were upturning the powerful Kyllary fleet, but she was certain that she had to explore this mystery.

  Queen Ronela saw the hovering hut from a distance, and spotted the wizards that were in the process of concluding their spell on top of it. They spotted her too, and a couple of them prepared their fingers to cast spells against what appeared to be a lone invader.

  “Please don’t fire!” Ronela called out to them through the dying wind. “I hope to help you out, and it would be difficult if you fire…”

  The wizards kept their fingers at the ready, but none of them was about to fire on a woman flying in soaked formal dress towards them against the beating wind. They all waited to find out what she might say or do once she was closer. Sergeant Gerp was the most anxious among them as his plan appeared to have been successful so far, and he hoped that this incoming stranger would not bear some bad tidings that might prevent what he hoped would be a speedy end of the battle.

  “Who are you, young lady?” Wizard Reid asked as she was landing on the roof of the hovering hut.

  “I’m Queen Ronela…”

  A couple of the wizards jerked their fingers back to the ready at this startling news.

  “No, no, I’m on your side. I helped the peasant rebels before, and I hope to be of help to you.”

  “Why are you only informing us that you want to help us now, when we are winning?” a wizard that was second in command after Wizard Reid asked with suspicion.

  “I was waiting until the right moment. If I had left the fleet at the wrong moment, I could’ve been stopped by the king’s guard, but your cyclones threw them off and they didn’t see me leaving.”

  “We don’t need your help. You saw what our cyclones did.”

  “That’s why I came because I thought you’d think that you’ve done enough, but you haven’t. As I was leaving I overheard the king’s meeting with his council, and they are planning a more aggressive attack. Only wiping the entire fleet out would fully stop them.”

  “You’re here to advise us to wipe your country’s fleet out?!” the assistant wizard asked.

  “No. I’m here to suggest a solution that can end this war on a stalemate, instead of total devastation of either of the sides.”

  “A stalemate will only mean that we’ll have to fight this battle again next week or next year.”

  “Perhaps not if Kyllary’s king is so embarrassed by this loss that he won’t want to show his face around here again…”

  “What do you have in mind?” Sergeant Gerp asked, curious to find out what miraculous trick could achieve this end.

  “Cast a heavy fog over your bases, and set firing devices that would fool the Kyllaries into thinking that you are still fighting them from the bases, but meanwhile evacuate all of your people from the Teag Islands under the cover of this fog and retreat to fight another day.”

  “Run away and abandon the islands that have cost us this dearly to defend!” Wizard Reid exclaimed.

  “No. If we time it all correctly, you won’t be running away. Your enemies will exhaust themselves to the point where they won’t be able to keep the islands, and they will abandon them for your resettlement.”

  “It’s hard to imagine that we could do it, but we’ll hear you out, as you seem to be genuine.”

  The wizards invited Queen Ronela to come down with them into the laboratory, and before he
ading down they took her advice and cast a heavy fog over the islands to avoid the enemy taking actions while they were holding their meetings.

  The Kyllaries were indeed exhausted by the cyclones and mended their wounds, refraining from taking any new offensive actions.

  Queen Ronela had left a note on her quarters’ door that she shouldn’t be disturbed, and miraculously nobody on her ship had noticed her absence.

  She explained the details of her plan to the Olden wizards, who added their own touches and innovations onto her plans, perfecting them with the military expertise that they had acquired over generations of fighting with the Kyllary.

  After all plans were finalized she was faced with the choice of returning to her quarters on the Kyllary ship or staying on with the wizards, and she was about to take the first option to avoid inconveniencing the wizards, when Sergeant Gerp said, seeing that she was preparing to leave, “I hope you don’t plan on flying in this fog.”

  “I was… I think I should return so there’s no chance I’ll be suspected of having left…”

  “No, you can’t just keep flying back and forth. It’s more likely you’ll be noticed. And we need you with us when we make our move.”

  “You need me?”

  “Yes… Your Majesty, I believe it is plain that you’re instrumental to this plan, and we definitely need you for its successful execution.”

  The other wizards had finished making their plans and seeing that Sergeant Gerp and Queen Ronela appeared to be headed for turbulent waters, they all left the laboratory to take a short nap before putting their ambitious plan into action.

  Sergeant Gerp and Queen Ronela suddenly realized that they were alone in the empty laboratory.

  “I simply can’t sleep now,” Ronela said, aware that the wizards had all gone to take a nap.

  “Neither could I. I’m too anxious. I guess some people need a bit of rest before a battle though…”

  “I’m just not a morning person, after I take a nap, it takes me hours to wake up fully…”

  “I’m used to waking up early from my work in the military. I just don’t like napping. If I go to sleep, I want a full cycle of sleep until I’m well rested…”

  “How about we stay up then… maybe you can show me something around these beautiful islands of yours that I should see… perhaps, I won’t be able to return to them again... if we succeed…”

  “Yes, there is a place I think you’d enjoy seeing,” Sergeant Gerp said, delighted to be asked to show a spot that had started to mean a great deal to him as he used it frequently to escape his own anxieties from his multiple jobs and practical commitments.

  They got on their flying beasts and Sergeant Gerp led the way through the sky to a spot that was deep in the interior jungle of the island they were on. They flew low through the fog. Queen Ronela flew within a few feet of Sergeant Gerp’s beast to avoid losing him due to poor visibility. It was a warm, moist night, and the wild cricket-like creatures were singing strange melodies across the jungle.

  Gerp landed gently next to a small purring waterfall and threw the reins around a tree. He stretched his hand out to help Ronela off her creature, and also tossed her reins to attach her beast in place. Then he led Ronela through the foggy night by a steep climb onto a little mossy set of rocks above the waterfall. While the spot was hardly the highest spot on the island, it offered a beautiful view of the waterfall, the river below, the jungle, and the starry sky, sparkling in the bright light of the four moons of Laruta. Gerp placed his coat on the moss and motioned gently for Ronela to take a seat on top of it. Ronela smiled coyly and took a seat elegantly and coquettishly.

  They sat in silence for a few moments when both of them were considering the beauty of that night and that place, and the irresistible, magical heat that was coming from their bodies.

  Both of them turned towards each other in the same moment, and as if drawn together by magnetism they fell into a gentle kiss, which tightened as if their bodies couldn’t stand to be out of contact a moment longer. Then they caressed each other with their hands, and soon their torsos were joined, and then they melted into each other in an embrace that was a necessity like breathing or eating, and both of them felt light and ecstatic with every touch, caress, kiss, and then their gentle penetrations and explorations of each other. There was magic to this encounter, as they both cast a bit of a spell on themselves and on their partner to lift their bodies out of the plane of ordinary existence and into the supernatural world of spiritual love. Ronela would never have attempted this strange lovemaking with King Lohsa, as he was too brutish, and he would’ve startled her out of a positive soul-melding. But, with this gentle soul, she could surrender her sense of physical self, and trust him with her soul.

  They almost fell asleep, almost slipped into the unconscious realm where they could’ve explored more of each other’s spirits, but then they both recalled where they were and the battle that was before them, and they helped each other up, and back into their clothing, and onto their beasts, and through the fog back to the laboratory, where the other wizards had also returned. Without losing a moment, they readied themselves with the potions, spells and weapons they’d need to execute the plan, and then they all spread to the various parts of the islands. Ronela and Gerp separated and flew solo, like everybody else, even though they both wanted to stay at least within hand contact for the rest of eternity.

  The preparations didn’t take too long, and soon, with the help of the queen, the Olden removed all of their troops under the cover of the fog and darkness from the islands.

  With the first rays of the sun, the Kyllary returned to their bombardments, firing on the abandoned bases across the following couple of days, without daring to engage in any hand-to-hand battles because they were afraid the cyclones would return if they did. They didn’t suspect the absence of an enemy on the islands because the Olden wizards had set numerous automatically firing weapons across the islands that successfully tricked the attackers into wasting their weapons pointlessly, and let the Olden regroup and get reinforcements for their other military positions on other islands and on their continental bases. Some of the automatically firing weapons were positioned so skillfully, that a few on the Kyllary side died from friendly fire during this period of empty warfare. Many of the Kyllary also developed tropical diseases, got heatstroke or fell for booby traps left behind, so that when they finally attempted to take the islands with a land invasion and discovered that the islands had long been abandoned, they were indeed completely exhausted and unable to stand staying on the Teag Islands to take advantage of their victory over the land they had been struggling to recapture. The Kyllary had to erect a small cemetery to bury many among them that perished in the fighting and they left without any spoils to show for their pain and suffering. Ronela returned to her quarters, after all of the Olden abandoned the islands, without anybody noticing she was missing. She felt more detached from King Lohsa than ever before, and suddenly even sleeping in the rooms near his was a repelling concept. She knew that she had to make a change in her life, and that she couldn’t continue disguising her antipathy with sly maneuvers.

  Chapter 4: Persecutions of the Olden

  Queen Ronela couldn’t find any peace once she was back at the castle. The drawbridge was lowered to let in the returning warriors, and when it closed behind the party, she wished she could saddle a flying beast and take off from the battlements into the countryside. Her rooms were inside the donjon tower by the great hall. She frequently escaped these quarters to sneak into the back houses, outside the inner bailey, which were used to keep the different exotic animals of Laruta. She found some comfort in feeding these beasts, bringing them water from the well, and grooming them, and as she worked with them she contemplated how she might escape to be with Gerp at the Country of the Olden.

  The days she most dreaded were when she had to sit on the smaller throne by King Lohsa’s side when he opened his court for judicial hearings and petitions. Sh
e kept trying to find applicants who she might help, like the peasant rebels or the Olden, but it was too difficult to pass a note in that great open hall to an applicant without being seen. There were red curtains behind the throne that covered the gray stone walls. Two columns stood at either side of the main throne. Two statues of bygone kings stood in front of these columns. The floor in front of the thrones was covered in luxurious painted carpets. The room was decorated with gilded ornaments, and both the king and queen had to wear the royal moon earrings and other gold and precious stone jewelry and decorations that symbolized their power.

  The dinners at the castle were also troublesome. The entire court, council, and various other foreign dignitaries and visitors would all clutter into the great hall, which had a marble floor, and a delicately crafted wooden ceiling, which was supported by lines of black columns. The tables were a rectangle around the walls of this enormous room. Food was brought out by the servants and laid out on each of the tables, and then scooped up by the guests on their plates. Only the king and the queen were served individual plates, which had to be tasted first, to avoid a poisoning, which, due to the frequency of assassinations, was as common as the cold. Even aristocratic guests were brutish, and grabbed their food over other guests’ heads, or shoving others’ hands aside, and frequently dropping a grilled leg or wing to the floor, or on their outfits before picking it up and finally getting it into their mouths.