In Defence of the Crown (The Aielund Saga Book 2)

by Stephen L. Nowland

  “They must have heard we’re coming by now,” Sayana stated between breaths.

  “Not one of them managed to make it down this stairway,” Sir William reminded her, wincing with pain. “Depending on how close their main base is, they may not even be aware of what’s going on.”

  “Surprise was our only advantage,” Pacian muttered. “If they heard the fight, they know we’re coming and we don’t stand a chance.”

  “How’s Nellise?” Aiden asked, running a hand through his hair.

  “She has a mild concussion, but she’ll be okay,” Maggie reported. “That blow came close to caving her skull in, and she’s lucky to still be drawing breath. I’m not as fast at healing as a priest of Kylaris, but I’ve done what I can for her. I think she’ll regain consciousness soon, but I can’t make any guarantees as to her ability to fight for the next few hours.”

  “I too am in need of your ministrations,” Valennia requested, for it seemed that even she had limits. Maggie went about the group, checking on their wounds and whispering quiet prayers. The difference between her technique and Nellise’s was that the wounds she treated slowly healed over time, and continued to do so after she’d moved on to the next patient.

  “How are you faring?” Ronan asked Sayana, who was sitting against the wall next to him.

  “Barely able to stand,” she whispered. “I’ve used just about everything I have to get us this far, and we haven’t even hit the main base yet.”

  “I too have seen better days,” Sir William sighed, looking worse for wear as he leaned heavily on his sword. Maggie had put his broken arm into a makeshift sling, and there was no telling how effective he was likely to be in a fight.

  “God hasn’t finished with my services quite yet,” Nellise whispered, drawing appreciate looks from all around as Pacian helped her to sit up properly. Her helmet had been removed and dried blood ran down the side of her head.

  “We don’t expect you to be in this fight,” Pacian told her softly, showing a rare gentle side to his personality.

  “Give me five minutes and I’ll be back on my feet, and then some,” she replied with purpose, taking out her crystal. Within moments, the air felt charged with energy as she channelled healing to the entire group, adding to the work Maggie had done earlier. Despite all they had been through on this ill-fated mission, they still had enough in them for one more battle.

  “Do you think you can manage one large burst of fire?” Aiden inquired of Sayana, pondering a plan.

  “If I do, that will be all I can contribute,” she warned. “I haven’t tried invoking such power when I’m this drained before, and I may not be able to do it at all.”

  “I understand, but if we do this right, it’s the only thing you’ll need to do,” he assured her.

  “What have you got in mind?” Pacian asked warily.

  “Nothing subtle,” Aiden suggested with a wink.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Aiden fidgeted incessantly while he awaited the return of his two scouts. Both Pacian and Ronan could see quite well in the dim conditions and Aiden could only hope it was enough of an advantage to allow them to remain undetected as they moved about the complex. When they finally returned to the antechamber, the news was better than he could have hoped for.

  “They definitely haven’t been here for long,” Ronan remarked, taking a swig from his water skin. “Most of the place hasn’t been touched, so we can move without being spotted - provided they don’t send out more scouts, in which case we can expect to hear from the rest of their friends upstairs.”

  “That’s the part that worries me,” Aiden warned. “I’d wager they should have reported in by now, and the longer we wait the greater the chance the main body is going to grow suspicious.”

  “Agreed, which is why we should get this over with,” Ronan said.

  “The other thing I want to bring up is that stone construct,” Aiden continued. “The assassins just stood back and watched while it did a lot of the fighting, which means that it was theirs, and that means they’re likely to have a wizard working for them because those things don’t grow on trees.”

  “Another rogue wizard?” Pacian spat. “The University seems to have a knack for driving them into the arms of people who want to kill us.”

  “I’ll be sure to mention that if we survive the next hour,” Aiden remarked dryly. “So you’re certain you know where they’re located?”

  “The only way out of this section is through a door fifty yards further down the corridor,” Pacian told him. “We didn’t get a chance to look through, but I’d bet a gold sovereign they’re in there.”

  “Okay, the plan is this. Pacian opens the door, I’ll use one of these scrolls to blanket the area in an unnatural darkness while Maggie does that ice thing she did earlier, followed by Sayana’s explosive blast. They’ll be hit hard and won’t be able to see a damn thing, and once all that’s done, I’ll dismiss the incantation of darkness and we charge in to clean up whoever’s left standing.”

  “You’re right, that’s not subtle at all,” Ronan remarked laconically.

  “Lead us to this door you found and we’ll finish this,” Aiden instructed. Ronan nodded and the weary group rose to their feet, checked their gear, and cautiously followed the sailor down the corridor. Aiden’s heart started beating faster as they approached the door in question, another ancient block of dirt-covered stone.

  “I could swear it hasn’t been used in years,” Pacian whispered as he removed gunk from the lock itself. The seconds went by slowly as they waited for him to get it open, until Sayana’s fingers started to dig into Aiden’s arm. Wincing with pain, he looked at her in the dim light and saw an expression of tension on her features.

  “I thought I heard something moving nearby,” she whispered, prompting Aiden to glance around alcoves in the corridor in fear. Though his sight was limited to the range of their lights, he heard nothing unusual and saw even less.

  “Keep an eye out, but when the time comes, don’t hesitate to get that fire happening,” he advised in hushed tones, wishing Pacian could get the damned door open. “What’s taking so long?” he hissed at his old friend.

  “It should be easy - this door is exactly the same as the other one we came through,” Pace complained. Aiden froze as a terrible thought entered his mind, and looking closely at the door, he realised Pacian was right – it was exactly like the last stone door they’d encountered… in every detail, down to the patterns of mould on its surface. The possibilities whirled through his mind, though there was only one explanation for such a bizarre occurrence.

  “You can’t open it because it isn’t a door,” Aiden whispered, barely audible. “Sy, shoot your ball of fire behind us, right now.”

  “I don’t understand,” she hedged, frowning back at him.

  “Just do it,” Aiden insisted through gritted teeth, the grip on his sword tightening as he prepared to act. The others had heard him and shifted uneasily, aware that something was wrong and readying themselves to respond. Sayana held her hands up and summoned the last of the energies within, then whirled around and unleashed the ball of fire that appeared in her hands, sending it sizzling through the air to explode twenty yards down the corridor. She promptly collapsed afterward, but her efforts had not gone to waste.

  The heat washed over Aiden and his companions, carrying with it the screams of men on fire. The scene around them changed in an instant, seeming to dissolve before their eyes as it was replaced with a plain, dark room, with no door, no alcoves, and a whole bunch of black-clad men and women. Some of them were on fire, and a few of their charred bodies flew through the air from the force of the blast.

  Behind them, a black-robed man recoiled from the heat. Aiden instantly fixed his gaze on him, recognising a practitioner of the magical arts and the one responsible for creating the illusion they had walked into. Another few seconds and the assassins would have completely surrounded the unwitting group, shielded from sight and sound b
y the power of the wizard’s false vision.

  Nellise was the first to react to this sight, sending crossbow bolts into the crowd as fast as she could. Valennia roared with outrage and charged into the fray, nearly splitting a nearby assassin in half with one blow from her axe before he could recover from the explosion. Pacian threw a pair of knives at the wizard but they bounced off his defensive magicks and clattered to the floor.

  The advantage of surprise helped Aiden and the others turn the tables on their ambushers, but it proved to be short-lived as they began to recover and press the attack. Half a dozen of their assailants lay dead and burned on the floor, but a similar number were still in the fight.

  The wizard incanted quickly and sent out a ripple of force through the air, smashing into Valennia and knocking her to the ground as a crossbow bolt penetrated his defences and struck him in the shoulder. Her weapon finally out of bolts, Nellise dropped it to the ground and brought out her crystal as the wizard narrowed his sight upon her.

  Aiden felt a brief sense of energies flickering between them as she sought to counter his magic, and the fight whirled around them as their companions engaged the remaining assassins. Nellise gasped a few moments later as her crystal suddenly shattered, rent asunder by the strength of her opponent’s unleashed power.

  Aiden raised his sword and charged the wizard. He slammed into something before reaching him however, and took a moment to realise he’d run into an invisible barrier, which was confirmed by the smirk on the wizard’s unshaven face.

  “Let me try mine,” Pacian growled from behind Aiden, raising his arm and activating the ring on his finger with a quiet word. The ephemeral fist manifested and smashed through the barrier, slamming into the shocked wizard, shoving him into the wall. Aiden didn’t hesitate, rushing forward to run him through with his sword before he could recover from the devastating blow.

  There were few opponents left, who quickly withdrew to the only exit once it became apparent that the fight had been lost. Aiden was barely able to catch his breath as he leaned against the wall, amazed they had survived the ambush. He looked around quickly to check on his companions, noticing that Maggie, Valennia and Sir William were lying on the ground, with Nellise tending to the tiny druid.

  “Are they alive?” Aiden asked, too tired to feel any emotion.

  “They’ve been poisoned,” Nellise replied in an equally exhausted monotone. “The same sleeping drug used on Criosa. I’ll do what I can with my herbs, but my guess is they’re going to be asleep for a while.”

  “We can’t stay here,” Ronan said as he staggered over to Sayana. “We need to finish this right now, or they’ll disperse into the city and we’ll never track them down.”

  “Do what you can for them, Nel,” Pacian advised with a snarl to his voice, “the rest of us are going to press on.”

  “Can you still fight, Sy?” the sailor asked of Sayana as he helped her up from the floor. She looked terrible – her fair skin was pale and dark circles had formed under her eyes. “You don’t have to do any of that fancy stuff, just hit people with your axe.”

  “I will try,” she whispered, drawing the mithral weapon and standing upright without aid.

  “Come on!” Pacian called, already halfway to the door. It was the same way they had come in, leading back out to the corridor they’d entered earlier, but as Aiden approached the doorway, he heard an odd scraping sound. As he stumbled into the hall, he jumped back in terror as the stone construct, crippled as it was, lunged at him with its remaining arm.

  Fortunately, it was so slow that he and Sayana were able to avoid its clumsy attack and rush down the hall. Aiden could see subtle differences in the surroundings that had been obscured by the wizard’s illusion, the most obvious of which was a previously obscured door about fifty yards along.

  Pacian was already there, peering through the goggles to spy on whatever lay beyond. It proved unnecessary, for even Aiden could hear the sounds of frenzied running and various objects being strewn about as their enemies sought to escape.

  Ronan heard this as well, for he rushed past Aiden and didn’t stop as he reached the door, pulling Pacian in with him as he went. Aiden cursed under his breath and forced his exhausted body into action once more. The sounds of battle echoed through the stone corridors once more as the two stealthy men cast aside subtlety and engaged the enemy in a frontal assault.

  Aiden sped around the corner into a room filled with simple beds, small tables and food lying around. Vials of dark liquid and various weapons were scattered on a large table. Ahead, his two companions were fighting two shadowy men who had fled the previous fight. Beyond them, another man in was escorting a robed warrior through a concealed door in the wall. This robed man seemed to be of great importance, so Aiden went around the fighting and charged straight for them.

  He expected the dark, leather-clad warrior to intercept him but instead, Aiden was blasted with a sudden torrent of dark lighting. Strength ebbed from his muscles and he staggered onto one knee as his energies were drained out of him by the crackling black energy.

  Aiden was slugged in the side of the head a moment later by the warrior, and crumpled to the ground. He was certain that death was imminent, for he didn’t have the strength left to defend himself. A flash of light from a shining axe tumbling through the air staved off the inevitable as Sayana leaped to his defence.

  Aiden managed to turn his head so he could see the fight, dimly aware that the wild girl was completely outmatched, yet unable to get back on his feet to assist. The warrior must have been Holister, the object of their mission, for his swordsmanship was simply brilliant. Sayana’s spectral armour flashed again and again as he repeatedly broke through her defences and stabbed her.

  Aiden could hear the strangled cries of Holister’s last remaining allies, falling at the hands of Pacian and Ronan nearby, before they rushed to Sayana’s aid. Holister drew a short sword in his free hand and backed up, the four combatants eyeing each other warily. The assassin glanced briefly at the still-open door, the only exit available to him and Aiden knew if they failed to stop him here he’d disappear into the night.

  Ronan sensed this as well, for he moved to stand between his opponent and the door. Despite their apparent advantage, they had been fighting for some time and were running on pure adrenaline at this point. Aiden’s strength had not yet returned to his body and his head was pounding from the blow he’d taken.

  The brief standoff suddenly ended with Holister whirling around and slicing at Ronan with his blade. The wily sailor brought both of his swords up and parried the attack, quickly dodging the assassin’s other weapon as it swept in low.

  Despite Ronan’s obvious skill, he too was outmatched by the master swordsman before him and quickly found himself pushed back from the onslaught. Pacian had kept up with Holister as he moved in on Ronan, but the man seemed to have a sixth-sense about what was going on behind him, for Pace stabbed at thin air for the most part.

  This ended abruptly when the assassin gave him a swift kick in the stomach which sent Pacian tumbling backwards, without disrupting the rhythm of his fight with Ronan in the slightest. Sayana had been unable to get close enough to Holister to take a swing at him until this moment, and with Pace out of the way she chopped and slashed at him.

  Unable to fight both of them at the same time, Holister was forced to back away from Ronan and deal with her threat. Once more he abandoned finesse in favour of brute force until her armour failed and winked out of existence. Blood flowed from several vicious slashes as he shredded her vest and shirt, and the only thing that stopped him from running her through was Ronan’s sudden distraction.

  The sailor had given up trying to outmatch his opponent with swords and instead picked up a nearby chair and smashed it over Holister’s head, sending him staggering to one side. Sayana was able to pull away without risk, using one hand to try and staunch the bleeding.

  Aiden gritted his teeth and managed to push himself over onto his s
ide, the effort of which sent his heart racing. He pulled the remaining scrolls out of their case and slowly went through them, hoping something useful would present itself.

  Despite the momentary setback, Holister recovered and regained his footing, only to have another piece of furniture narrowly miss his head as Ronan continued to improvise. With a flick of his wrist, Holister sent his short sword flying through the air to strike the sailor in the shoulder.

  “And what do you think you’re doing?” Holister growled at Aiden, who had unfurled the incantation of paralysis and was on the verge of speaking it aloud. The assassin quickly drew a knife and threw it at Aiden, hitting him in the arm and causing him to drop the scroll to clutch at the weapon protruding gruesomely out from his arm.

  “Enough of this,” came Nellise’s ringing voice from the door behind them. Everyone in the room turned to see the cleric standing in the doorway. Her helmet gleamed in the dim light. A trail of dried blood on one side of her face served only to highlight her determined appearance. Holister turned and looked at her with detached calm, drawing another dagger and glancing around to make sure this wasn’t a trick as the cleric spoke an ultimatum - “I give you this one chance to surrender.”

  “Or?” the assassin asked, walking forward carefully to face her from across the room.

  “Or I will break you and force your capitulation anyway.”

  Holister glanced towards the concealed door, noting that Ronan was standing before it, wounded yet unyielding.

  “Make me, little girl,” Holister grinned without mirth, clearly amused by this whole affair. Nellise didn’t say another word, instead raising her staff and moving in purposefully. The assassin awaited her approach and as soon as she moved to strike, sprang into action.

  Holister tested her skills with cunning strikes, feints and sheer brute force. Nellise was hard-pressed right from the beginning, and Aiden doubted she would be able to defeat him by herself. What she was managing to do, however, was to keep him completely occupied. Pacian was taking advantage of the distraction as he slowly crept up on the master swordsman.