The lookout on the balcony above Guard’s Keep loosed a trumpet blast, and the combined dragon forces of Alleble and its allies soared up from behind the castle. They had been waiting for the signal, waiting for Paragor to send his dragons into the skies.
Trenna’s stomach did a flip as her white steed streaked straight up to get over the castle and then swooped down into formation. Queen Illaria led the team, most of whom flew with her in the Battle of the Blue Mountains. In seconds, they saw the enemy circling above the thoroughfare of Alleble like vultures.
When the Paragor dragons saw the force of Alleble approach, they wheeled about to face them. Trenna fitted a black shaft to the bowstring and took aim. The first enemy rider came into view, but just for a brief moment. The sight of the rider’s skull helmet threw off her aim. He dove quickly and Trenna’s shot went wide.
Just then, another enemy rider flew in from the side. He brought his scythe down hard, but Trenna drove her steed out of the way. There were more of them than she thought. Every time she attempted to turn and shoot, several enemy riders attacked and forced her to evade. But Trenna was not to be outdone. She urged her dragon to fly right into the path of several enemies and then turned to run.
“Come on!” she cried, looking over her shoulder. When they followed, she smiled. Trenna’s dragon was far swifter than those of her enemy, but she let them close the gap. “You think you are going to get me!” she said, and then she turned her dragon and led them right past the southwest wall.
Nock heard the trumpet blast and saw the dragons come swooping down from over the castle. “There they are at last!” he yelled. “Archers, spearmen! Our dragons have joined the fray!”
Nock ran to the nearest tower and ran inside. He went to a huge cabinet and replenished his supply of Blackwood Arrows. On the way out, he saw that a siege tower had lowered its drawbridge. A huge warrior was coming across it. Nock fitted a shaft to the string and was about to fire when he realized it was Mallik and not an enemy. Nock ran over and greeted Mallik just as he stepped back onto the walls.
“Oh, hello, my archer friend!” Mallik said. “What brings you to my side of the party?”
“I almost put an arrow in your hide!” Nock answered. “What were you doing in that siege tower?”
“Oh, just fixing a few things,” Mallik said, a mischievous smile curling beneath his coppery mustache. “Watch!”
Mallik turned and took a mighty swing with his hammer, bringing it down on the edge of the drawbridge. The whole siege tower began to shake, and then it collapsed upon itself in a great cloud of debris.
“How did you do that?” Nock asked.
“Remember,” Mallik said, “we Blue Mountain folk are good at building things, but in the process, we learn how to knock them down!”
They laughed, but then Mallik turned and pointed. “A white dragon is coming this way. Is that not one of your kin?”
Nock looked, saw the chase, and called over two more archers. Trenna brought her steed down right in front of the archers with the enemy directly behind her. They let Trenna pass, but not the Deathreapers. The archers timed their shots perfectly and loosed their shafts.
When Trenna looked back, there were three riderless dragons following her. The technique worked so well, Trenna tried it again. The archers upon the walls picked off five more enemy riders. But eventually the Deathreapers grew wise. They had watched Trenna and knew what she would do.
Two waited in ambush high above the parapets for Trenna to soar in front of the walls. She did so exactly as before. And just as before, she looked over her shoulder to see if her pursuit had been eliminated, and then she started to wheel about. The two Deathreapers who had been lying in wait streaked down toward Trenna. She didn’t see them until it was too late. The enemy riders kept Trenna between them and swept down their scythes for the kill. In a split second when she recognized the threat, she tried to pull away. The blades missed Trenna but clipped both of her dragon’s wings. The loyal white steed tried valiantly to maintain control, but it could not generate the lift it needed. Trenna’s steed fell awkwardly about a hundred feet and slammed into the roof of a cottage.
“No, Trenna!” Nock had watched from the walls. “Come, Mallik!”
“Do you think there is a chance?” he asked.
“I do not know,” Nock answered grimly. “But we must try.”
40
THE THREE WITNESSES
F alon carved a bloody streak through Paragor’s forces. Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby, shielded by Falon’s enormous bat-wing ears, held on for dear life. Archers opened fire on her, and a strange horn rang out, but there was no slowing the mortiwraith’s charge.
At last, she came to the foot of the hill and began to climb. “Ready your weapons, young ones!” she called back to them. Huge guards were at the fence where the torches stood. They rushed down the hill swinging battleaxes and massive spiked clubs. Falon brushed them aside, incurring dozens of deep wounds, but still she climbed. She drove over the ring of torches and then slowed to a crawl. She held out her foreleg to let her riders down.
“It is best that you stand on your own two feet from here,” she said. “Stay close behind me, hmmm? I will shield you as much as I can, but be wary.” Falon clambered up the incline. Careful to avoid her giant footfalls, Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby followed right behind.
The top of the hill was a huge expanse, but in the exact middle was an enormous carriage drawn by a massive blackhorne. There was a warrior seated upon the front of the carriage. He was clad in shining black armor and wore a red cloak that flapped heavily in the gusting wind. At his side was a long sword, and in his hand was a heavy mace that swung like a pendulum when he stood.
“Hail, Falon firstborn,” said the warrior. His voice was rich and melodic. “After your efforts on behalf of Mithegard, I have so looked forward to our meeting.” Thunder rumbled and the storm clouds swirled slowly over his head.
“You have always known where I dwell, Paragor,” Falon replied. “I wonder why you never visited my little labyrinth. We could have had such fun… in the dark, hmmm? But it was kind of you to veil the sun and moon so that I could come to you.”
“And it was kind of you to do so much of my work for me,” Paragor said as he tilted his head to see the approach of Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby. “Very kind… you have even brought me back those I did not know I had lost. Antoinette, I take it you grew weary of the confines of your cell?”
Antoinette’s tongue cleaved to the roof of her mouth, and she said nothing.
“You will not harm these little ones,” Falon said, growling. “Your business is with me tonight.”
“Save your bluster, mortiwraith!” Paragor said, suddenly commanding. “My business is of my own choosing. If these three are of interest to me later, what is that to you?”
Aidan’s skin crawled and he stared at Antoinette. Robby looked at them quizzically.
Falon emitted a low, rumbling growl that shook the hilltop. She bared her fangs and hissed, “Paragor! You have stolen from these three as you have stolen from me-all in the name of a crown you will never wear! You owe us a price in blood, hmmm? And we have come to collect!”
“Enough of this!” Paragor exclaimed. He whirled his mace above his head, and suddenly it caught fire. The clouds above him swirled faster. A shriek cut through the wind.
“The Wyrm Lord!” Antoinette cried.
From the darkest blotch in the clouds a large winged shape flew. He dove right for Falon. She reared up like a cobra waiting to strike. Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby raced out of the way.
The Wyrm Lord crashed into Falon like a comet and the two rolled backward down the hill. They came apart at the bottom. The Wyrm Lord loosed a stream of fire at Falon, but she coiled away. Then Falon snapped her tail section like a whip, and many of her talons slashed across the Wyrm Lord’s armored chest. The Wyrm Lord shrieked but recovered from the wound faster than Falon expected. The firstborn dragon unleashed a horri
ble spout of fire. Overcome by the blaze, Falon rolled backward down the hill and lay in a heap.
“No!” Aidan yelled, and he drew Fury from his sheath and turned to Paragor.
But Paragor swung his flaming mace faster and faster. The clouds above began to funnel. They swirled down and engulfed the mace and Paragor’s arm. The flames from the mace spiraled up into the clouds. And Paragor began to laugh. “Leave them alive!” he cried. “We have business later!”
The tornadic clouds surrounded Paragor and lifted him high in the sky. Then the Wyrm Lord swooped down and carried him in the direction of Alleble.
“Leave them alive?” Aidan thought aloud. “Who is he talking to?”
Then they heard the steady march of many soldiers. Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby found themselves staring at a surging mass of Paragor Knights, a thousand or maybe a legion strong. The ring of soldiers closed like the tightening of a noose. There was no escape.
Kaliam quickly found Lady Merewen. She ran to him. “What news, m’lord?” she asked.
“The main gate is lost,” Kaliam said. “We have managed to contain Paragor’s horsemen, but they may break through the ranks and win the fountains-especially if the Seven Sleepers are loosed in the city. But no one has seen them since Warriant’s venture into the murk. The battle in the skies is slowly tilting in Paragor’s favor. He has so many riders, and they wield fear along with their blades.”
“It is time then,” Lady Merewen said, taking his hands into hers.
“It is time. But, m’lady,” Kaliam objected, “what if I am wrong?
“It is the King’s will, my husband,” she said. “You will not be wrong.”
“But without the Scroll of Prophecy? There is so much more-”
“You have known in your heart without the Scroll! How often have you told me of their visions?”
“But-”
“Cast away the doubts!” Lady Merewen implored him. “Did not King Eliam say that one would come who would call them? Kaliam, you are the Herald of the Three Witnesses!”
Kaliam shook his head to argue, but there came over him then such a tangible sense of peace that all doubts fled. Kaliam nodded, embraced his wife, and departed the barracks. He sprinted through back ways and hidden avenues until he came to the bell tower behind the northern wall. Aside from the ninth level of the Library of Light, the northern tower was the tallest vantage in the city. Kaliam raced up the staircase and found himself in an open-air room with a huge bell and a balcony on both sides.
He looked out over the kingdom. The strange ethereal darkness of the Wyrm Lord was beginning to dissipate, and he could now see the size of Paragor’s army. Kaliam was amazed. Already there were more than a thousand enemies within the walls, but there were still tens of thousands teeming, railing to get in. And somewhere out in the shadows lurked the Seven Sleepers, the Wyrm Lord, and Paragor.
“King Eliam,” the Sentinel said aloud. “By your power, I herald the Three Witnesses to come forth and be known throughout The Realm.”
Then Kaliam took hold of the chime rope in both hands and gave it a tremendous tug. The bell sounded a clear note that traveled through the city and out into the plains. And to Kaliam’s astonishment, it seemed as if the battle halted below. Fires still burned, smoke trailed into the sky, and dragons still flew, but the fighting had stopped. Kaliam felt as if the eyes of The Realm were on him.
Kaliam stepped to the edge of the balcony with no thought for what might come out of his own mouth. “Children of Alleble and of The Realm!” he said, and his voice resonated and traveled like that of the bell. “I speak as Herald for the mighty King Eliam of Alleble. I speak with his authority. And I speak with his conviction. Today, I call forth the Three Witnesses of Alleble! I call, and they shall come forth and rid the land of darkness!”
It became deathly silent-even the storm seemed to calm.
“I call forth Lady Antoinette the Child of Storms! I call forth Sir Robby the Dragonfriend! And I call forth Sir Aidan the Seeker of the Lost! Come forth, Witnesses! Throw down evil and declare truth by the might of King Eliam the Everlasting!”
The Paragor Knights had tightened the noose around Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby when the bell tolled. All heads turned toward Alleble, and it seemed that the entire Realm was suddenly hushed. A bell-like voice rang out from within the kingdom, and all wondered how it could be heard from such a distance. Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby knew it was the voice of their Sentinel.
When Robby heard his name, the sword began to tingle in his hand. “I am the Dragonfriend,” he whispered.
“I am the Child of Storms,” Antoinette whispered.
“I am the Seeker of the Lost,” Aidan whispered.
The Paragor Knights froze at the call but soon regained their wits. They brandished their weapons and closed in.
Suddenly, Robby yelled out, “I am the Dragonfriend!” He raised his sword in the air and charged the Paragor Knights, confident that King Eliam was with him. It looked absurd to the enemy: one lone knight rushing recklessly toward more than a legion of foes. But before Robby reached the first enemy, there came the noise of many wings flapping. And up from the back of the hill flew a hundred dragons. No one knew from whence they had come, but they slammed into the ranks of the enemy, obliterating their front line.
Antoinette stepped forward, trusting King Eliam, and declared, “I am the Child of Storms!” And she held her sword aloft. At that moment, lightning streaked down from the sky and struck Antoinette’s blade. But it was not the sickly green lightning that had come from the prior storm. This lightning was as pure white as the white stone of Pennath Ador. Antoinette raced toward the enemy knights, and they charged up to greet her. She swept her sword across them, and electricity jumped from the blade, striking each enemy in turn.
Aidan put his hand inside his tunic and felt the parchment touch his hand. “I am the Seeker of the Lost!” he cried out. And then he charged at the enemy knights, and they were sorely afraid.
In only a few moments, more than a hundred enemy soldiers were laid low. Three of Robby’s dragons came and bore the Three Witnesses away to the city of Alleble.
41
BATTLE AT THE SEVEN FOUNTAINS
W hat has happened?” Kaliam asked the moment Nock and Mallik emerged from the stairs.
“Lady Trenna and Queen Illaria,” Nock replied, “their dragons fell in the aerial assault-”
“And King Brower,” said Mallik. “He was overcome as he defended the gate.”
Suddenly, a mournful howl rose over Alleble’s outer walls. Sir Warriant looked out from their vantage point atop a wide turret near the fountains. “What is that sound?” he asked. “Wolves?”
“Worse,” said Thrivenbard. “They are the Seven Sleepers!”
“If those beasts are coming now,” said Warriant, “it was wise, Kaliam, to order the knights on the front walls to fall back to the fences.” Kaliam nodded, but pensively looked upon the fences.
In the days before Paragor’s attack, the crafty Glimpses of Yewland and the Blue Mountains had erected special palisades. These fences they made tall with extremely sharp points on top and no gaps between poles so that, unless airborne, none could see beyond them. They stretched north to south all the way across the main thoroughfare of the city.
“Will they see what we have planned?” Nock asked apprehensively. He pointed to the Deathreapers still in a chaotic dogfight with the combined dragon riders of Alleble high above the city.
“Nay,” Lady Merewen replied. “The riders of Paragory do not have the keen eyes of Yewland’s Braves. And Queen Illaria’s riders will keep them too busy to search behind our palisades.”
“I hope you are right,” Kaliam said.
Suddenly, the shriek of the Wyrm Lord shattered the silence.
“The walls!” cried Mallik. There was a tremendous flash and an agonizing cry, but the wall split and began to crumble. “I hope the faercrag killed that foul serpent!” Mallik groused. Then somethin
g grabbed the first murynstil portcullis at the gate and tore it from the stone. Then the second was gone… and the third. The combined forces of Alleble gasped, for Paragor now wielded fire hot enough to melt adorite and might strong enough to tear murynstil!
With the gate torn and a wall thrown down, legion after legion of Paragor’s main army entered the city of Alleble. Seven huge yellow-eyed wolvins came too. But they did not press forward like Paragor’s infantry. Rather they stalked behind the legions of Paragor’s Knights, restless, chomping, salivating, wanting to attack, but restrained by an unseen hand. Then the Wyrm Lord perched on one of the towers. He shrieked and clawed at his eye. Then his body shook and it began to wreathe itself in garments of darkness. But he too seemed to be waiting. Behind all of this came one lone, defiant warrior. Standing on the rubble of the wall, he held up a flaming mace.
The legions of knights who had been marching forward saw their master’s sign and suddenly broke into a dead run.
Kaliam had taken up a position with Nock, Mallik, and many of his commanders-and waited for exactly the right moment. Kaliam nodded and Nock launched one flaming arrow into the sky toward the fountains. It was the first signal.
“They are still coming full-bore,” said King Ravelle. “How arrogant they are to think they could just stroll in unopposed.”
Kaliam watched closely as the enemy drew within fifty yards of the palisades.
“Almost there,” he whispered.
“Come on!” Mallik urged.
The clamor of the enemy was like that of a stampede. Paragor Knights spread as wide as the road and were thick all the way to the front gates. They came recklessly, laughing at the wooden palisades before them.
“They will snap like toothpicks,” yelled some of the enemy.
“We will trample them down!” answered another.
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