“Brace yourself, this might get a bit bumpy,” he muttered to Ryn.
Ryn pointed at his chest. “Dead and can’t be affected, remember?”
He took his sword out, and stuck it into the ground as the shockwave barreled toward them. When it hit, the strong amount of energy nearly set him flying, but his sword remained true and kept him rooted to the spot.
Ryn wasn’t so lucky. He saw him go flying backward out of the corner of his eye. Slowly, a grin spread across his face. He felt so much better now.
Apparently, Ryn’s corporeal form wasn’t as immune to the physical world as he thought.
The shadow shield was broken. Ulwyn would be weakened since his power had been linked to the dark magic that had conjured the shield. Now, it was time to storm the castle and kill the barbarians within its walls. It was time for him to reclaim his birthright—he had to become a Wylde-Whittier.
“Hey Prince Jackass, you okay?” he called out to the fallen form of Ryn. He watched as the man stood up shakily. He grimaced at Lucan as he strode quickly toward him.
“That wasn’t funny.”
“I wasn’t laughing,” Lucan admitted.
“I can see your shit eating grin, mate.” Ryn scowled at him. The pissed off look in his eyes made Lucan want to bust a gut laughing. He had a dark sense of humour, but once tickled it was hard to stop.
“Did you notice what big teeth I have?” he asked sarcastically, watching the intense gaze of Ryn’s intensify.
“Shut up,” Ryn muttered, staring back longingly at the Tavern. “I’d get your wolfish ass moving, our beloved just broke through your rickety spell.”
“Damnation. Can’t she take her time doing anything?”
“You obviously haven’t figured out what makes Neri tick yet, Lucan. I always knew I just never fully appreciated it until it was too late.”
They charged across the long grey stone bridge that led to the first building that was connected to the wall that surrounded the Inner Bailey of the castle. Had Ulwyn been in possession of men who actually had been trained to fight, this castle would be near impossible to take. It had been built to withstand sieges that would last for months, until reinforcements from allies could arrive.
“Are we sticking to your plan of kill them all? I want to be quite certain because I won’t be killing unless push comes to shove so to speak. If I have to do it in self-defence that’s fine but I don’t think the powers that be would look kindly on me simply killing for the sake of it, even if these sons of bitches are evil to the core.”
“You do whatever you have to do, Ryn, and I’ll do whatever I have to do. I’d rather not kill in extreme circumstances. As it is, Ulwyn’s men really don’t follow any code of ethics.”
Lucan stopped before entering the large guard tower that served as a lookout for the castle. Once he went through it he would be inside of the Inner Bailey and he fully expected to meet some kind of resistance between here and there.
He looked down across the hilly green valley, and his keen eyesight focused on Neri, Mother Spratt and Nell exiting the Tavern. Why they thought to bring Nell with them was beyond him, she couldn’t be any of any help, and she’d only get in the way. A farmer’s wife wasn’t equipped to deal with Ulwyn’s men.
Thunder shook the ground beneath them. It wouldn’t be long before the heavens opened up and starting raining buckets down around them.
He thought of the irony of it all. His backup was three women. One of the three was quite formidable in her own right and Mistress Spratt was trained as a warrior even though she’d forsaken that life. But that was it. That ragtag group was the only hope he had of having his ass pulled out of the fire. So, he’d just have to stick to his original plan and kill them all before those charming three could make it up here.
*****
Neri watched as Mistress Spratt silently surveyed the burnt out frame of the Temple. Lucan must have put out the fires for all that was left was blackened ash and the foundation.
“There’s absolutely nothing left,” Mistress Spratt said forlornly. “At least the cemetery wasn’t desecrated. We can thank the Gods and Goddesses for that small blessing. All of my life I’ve run from violence. I never wanted to hurt a single living being and all the while this kind of evil ran amok unchecked. I knew that the warriors of this realm, the Knight Mages and the like, served a purpose for keeping law and order but now, now, I know that I’ve been remiss. I was granted the gift of being able to fight and I shirked it. I smothered the warrior within. I won’t do that anymore. I will pick up the torch and run with it. There is just only one thing left to do. If I cannot be an instrument of peace, I shall have to be an instrument of destruction. I will take up the standard.” She looked to the heavens which had started to cry out rain. “I understand now, my blessed Rhiannon,” she whispered. “Come now, Neri, we have to go and lend your man a hand.”
“I have no shame in saying that I am scared,” Nell whispered. “I might not be any good anymore. I haven’t used my knives in such a long time.” In her hands, she held her folded up Hunter’s cloak with her battle daggers sitting on top of it.
“When you were young you were the most talented knife thrower in these parts, Nell. You can do it. Your father taught you how to use them and how to handle yourself in close quarter combat.”
“My dear grandfather was the warrior—not I. He was the Hunter. I am just a simple farmer’s wife.”
“Be that as it may, my dear, you have the hunter blood in you. You need to embrace it and make it work for you the way you want it to. They say the Hunter in all of us will take over, it will take hold of our bodies when we least expect it. Compared to you my Hunter blood is quite diluted, but I’m still hoping it will rear its beautiful head during the battle we face. Our mind will give in to the hunting instinct, and they say that even without any formal training we can turn into killing machines.”
“I don’t want to be a killing machine, Neri. All I have ever wanted is to be a wife and mother. I couldn’t even help my lad when he was in trouble. Sir Lucan had to do it. I let fear for Brett cripple me.”
“Don’t you want to avenge what almost happened to Brett? Don’t you want to fight for all that you’ve lost? We have tiptoed around for far too long, Nell. We’ve let bullies rule our lives, we can’t do it anymore. There is a time to stand and fight—and we’ve come into that time. We have what we need inside of us. You need to trust in that and know that you can be the warrior your grandfather was before you.”
“If you will wear the cloak, than so shall I.”
Neri looked down at the Hunter cloak she’d taken from the back of her wardrobe, she’d always kept it hidden away for the time when she would need it. This was all she had left from Avonry, reminding her that she’d come full circle in her life. This cloak had been woven, made and enchanted in Shardizar. And now, now, it would do what it had been made to do. It would bring down evil and defend those who could not defend themselves. When she was gone from this world, it would be her only thing she had left to give to Rhiannon and it was doubtful that Rhiannon would ever have the opportunity to wear it—in fact, she prayed her daughter would never be in the situation Neri was in now.
She could feel the strength of the dark magic emanating from the castle. It wouldn’t be an easy fight—and maybe Nell was right—maybe Nell wasn’t ready for what lay ahead of them but they had little choice in the matter. They had to stop Ulwyn before his darkness blackened the land.
“I will. Mother Spratt, are you ready?”
Mother Spratt held her staff in her hands, which shimmered with her magic. “I am ready to do whatever has to be done. I will not go down without a fight, and Sir Lucan needs us—I won’t leave him to fight the dark magic that Ulwyn wields alone.”
“In that case, ladies. Let’s go hunting, shall we?”
Neri put on the cloak and felt a comforting feeling wash over her. Strength flowed into her, as the enchantment on the cloak worked its beautiful white
magic.
Lord Ulwyn would beg for mercy by the time she was done with him.
They charged up to the castle. They were few in numbers but strong in faith. Lord Ulwyn had brought this upon himself and now he would have to deal with the consequences.
She glanced over at Nell. Her hands were shaky. “You’ll do fine, Nell.”
“Two daggers enchanted by the fiercest white magic will heed my voice and do as I bid. I don’t think I’ve ever prepared myself for this moment. I’m about to kill without compunction and I don’t think I can do it.”
“You can do it. Don’t you want to make the world a safer place for your son and daughter?”
Nell nodded her head. She searched for Lucan. Had he already gained entrance to the castle? If he’d breached their walls, then Ulwyn’s men were in trouble—and so was Lucan.
“I sense an overwhelming amount of dark energy emanating from within the castle walls, Neri. We’ve underestimated Ulwyn’s power. Lucan won’t be able to stop him—we might not even be able to stop him. If I’m not mistaken he’s summoned a legion of evil warriors to do his bidding, I am going to go ahead and see what he has done.”
Neri watched as Mother Spratt ran ahead of them to do reconnaissance. She was literally a blur. Her spritely speed would make her undetectable when she cloaked herself with her magic. Within a blink of an eye, Mother Spratt returned and her breathing was ragged, while her eyes were opened as wide as Neri had ever seen them.
“From whence has he summoned his legion of warriors, Mother Spratt? The Dark Underworld?”
“No, the benevolent Gods Ankou and Llyr keep those dark spirits where they belong. Unless he’s breached the River Essus then no, we’re good. From what I could see, I believe he’s opened a portal to the Hellish Dimension of Herne,” she shivered. Her eyes had a hardened glint to them, and Neri had never seen Mother Spratt look so determined.
Legends told of that dimension. The last time a portal had been opened to that dark land, Shardizar had been ravaged mercilessly. If they thought the Domnonee were a threat those barbaric warriors had nothing on the dark hellish monsters that lived in the Dark Kingdom of Herne.
Ruled long ago by the Demonic God, Braidius that Rhiannon and the other Gods had banished from the Celestial Kingdom, those in Shardizar had only been triumphant in pushing the demonic creatures back to their home dimension when Princess Alby had sacrificed herself in battle against Braidius.
Her sacrifice had gotten the Goddess Rhiannon’s attention and she had come down to Shardizar with a legion of her own Celestial Beings of Light to fight the dark intruders and push them back to where they belonged. They had no way of knowing if Rhiannon would lend them a hand this time around. All she knew—was that Ulwyn had to be stopped.
Ulwyn had to be stark raving mad to call upon such a dangerously dark power. Braidius would turn on Ulwyn and use Ulwyn’s weakness to take back Shardizar as his own breeding ground for evil.
Shivers of fear flowed through her. How could they possibly stand against such unholy evil?
How could Lucan possibly survive their onslaught? They had to move faster and get there to help him. Could they even fight such a force?
She felt like she was back in Avonry and facing her mortal peril again. Should she not survive this night, they had to at least make certain that the portal to Herne was closed so that no more creatures of darkness invaded their land.
Her land.
It was true—she’d once been a Princess of Avonry and now, she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Shardizar had its own flaws but it had been her safe haven—it had given her sanctuary and for that she would be eternally grateful.
A blinding blast of light flashed in front of them. Ryn materialized. He looked at her and then cast his attention to the heavens. “You have got to be kidding me! I need more help. I can’t rescue Lucan’s father when he’s being held by such an ungodly man. The odds are stacked against us.
Run, my love. You won’t win this night unless the Gods favour us with their Grace. Shardizar will fall. Ulwyn is a mad tyrant and he’s thrown his lot in with a being who is far more powerful and far more cunning. This might be the first time that I will lose a charge. I don’t want to go back into that castle. I can’t look at that kind of darkness again. It was literally soul sucking.”
“Is Lucan still alive?” she asked breathlessly, her heart pounding hard in her chest.
“For now, aye. He’s a valiant hero to the end, Neri but he won’t emerge victorious this time around. He is a mortal man—no mortal can stand against a God.”
“Has Braidius come through the portal yet?” Neri asked.
“His soldiers are coming first. Ulwyn said they are saving the best for last.”
“That means we still have time to fight and get that portal closed,” Neri said, resolutely. “I am staying, Ryn. I will do whatever I have to do to save this kingdom from the hell that Ulwyn wants to unleash upon it.” She had no other option. She wouldn’t run from this fight—she couldn’t allow Shardizar to fall into darkness.
This was their last stand. They would not fail—they could not fail.
Chapter Eighteen
Lucan believed he had gone through enough hell to last him a lifetime. Apparently, the Gods and Goddesses liked playing tricks on him because he’d been grossly mistaken. Fate wasn’t done fucking with him yet and now he was in the bowels of the worst situation he’d ever faced.
Ulwyn was crazier than he’d originally believed. He’d supposed that Ulwyn only coveted power here within Shardizar but it was worse—much worse, Ulwyn wanted to completely destroy the world they held dear so he could sit on a throne above the charred remains. His logic was terribly skewed. How he could possibly believe that the Demon God Braidius would share power with him was a conundrum upon itself.
He knew the legend of the Hellish Dimension of Herne all too well. As a member of the Order of St. Alby it was the story their Order’s foundation had been built on—and a story that all members knew by heart.
His eyes locked with those of his father’s. Despite being in spirit form, Brandyn Whittier looked like he’d been ravaged mercilessly, and was bound by some kind of spectral rope. He pitied his father for being in such a hopeless plight.
Lucan himself had been overwhelmed pretty quickly by the sheer number of Herne troops massing within the castle walls. He’d known he could never fight his way through and so he had surrendered, in order to plan his next course of action. He couldn’t hope to close the gateway to Herne alone. His magical power wasn’t enough, he was sorry to admit. That kind of undertaking had to be backed by at least three fully trained mages and he was just a force of one.
To know that Neri could possibly be walking straight into this kind of foul danger made his insides clench. He knew that Ryn would warn her to stay away, the only question was would the stubborn headed woman listen to reason?
Grifon and Ava’s reinforcements had to arrive in time—but could they even stop what was coming if they didn’t close the portal before the Demon God arrived through it?
He didn’t know if all of the magic in Shardizar could combat him. Only those from the Celestial Heavens had been able to combat Braidius and it was said that only the Goddess Rhiannon had been strong enough to take him on and win.
Princess Alby had fallen for a good cause, and her sacrifice had not gone unnoticed by the Gods. If he had her dagger he might have been able to use it to close the portal. He’d foolishly used it to break the power of the shadow shield when he should have taken another route. Now the dagger was lost and he was damned.
*****
Neri looked up as thick black mists engulfed the castle. Her heart was in her throat. She knew what they were walking into, and yet, she didn’t know if she wanted to pull Nell and Mother Spratt in with her. They were literally walking into hell and had no way of knowing if they’d return.
“Nell,” she said, as they approached the Motte. “I think you should go back.
Be with your children. Keep them safe and take them far away from here. Go to Tamar or Avonry. Mother Spratt, you should go with them. Nell will need help to take care of two free spirited children.”
“And let Shardizar fall?” Nell looked conflicted. “I can’t do that. If we don’t try to stop Ulwyn, thousands will die and our world as we know it will be gone. I might be the wrong woman for the job, that doesn’t matter. I’ll do what I can until my last breath.”
Mother Spratt grunted. “We will make sure you get out alive, Nell. Those children cannot become orphans. You will get out. In fact, once you help us breach the walls, I vote you run and fall back to the Tavern to tell the Prince and Princess about what they face.”
Something glinted on the ground. A dagger with a golden handle inlaid with rubies was laying in the grass. It had a residual magical ruby hue to it, telling Neri that it had been used recently against dark magic.
She knelt and picked it up. The warmth of it spread up her arm into her heart. “This dagger once belonged to Lucan,” she whispered.
“I’ve seen that dagger before,” Mother Spratt murmured. “It was in the books that I read as a young novice Templar Mage. That dagger was blessed by Princess Alby herself.”
Engraved along the blade was a fitting phrase: Justice is Divine.
Neri couldn’t help herself, she grinned. Carefully, she tucked it into her boot and stood up.
“You’re embarking on a foolish quest, my love,” Ryn declared. “As for Mistress Nell going back to the Tavern after she helps you breach the walls, that won’t work. You, young mother, need to return now. Once we go past this point, it is a point of no return. You and your children will be safe until my daughter arrives on the flying ships which are just about to enter the magical portals that King Marcus’ mages are conjuring. At which point, you must tell her to remain and hold the line in the village until her Uncle’s forces arrive. He is also on his way with his own forces, which, given what we are about to face, we shall need their numbers.”
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