Heir To The Nova (Book 3)

by T. Michael Ford

  Smiling, I turned back to my wide-eyed parents, who were looking around nervously.

  “Dare I ask?” Faeron frowned. “But who or what are they?”

  I shrugged. “Just my handmaidens; a small gift from Alex’s mother. Now come on, if you’re feeling up to it, let’s finish this.” My parents nodded and grabbed their weapons from Belrothe, following me past the card-playing statues and outside. We all ducked and ran quickly across the dirt street to the larger longhouse. We ducked because there were two real-life monsters strafing the outer edges of the compound, only pausing occasionally to rip the roof off a building and freeze everything within. The ice expanded and virtually exploded the wood walls from within.

  As we reached the main door, I motioned my parents and Belrothe to the sides, as crossbows appeared in both of my hands, courtesy of Winya. “I’ll go first,” I snickered, kicking open the door. Of course, the remaining guard force was ready for me. Immediately, I felt arrows impact my armor, kind of like light rain on a window pane. Walking forward confidently, I had Winya open up with her special bolts. The dark elves in the front row, all firing from one knee, dropped like sacks of oats to the floor. The guards in the second row looked down in dismay as the same bolts that blasted through the throats of their kneeling comrades also sailed through their own thighs and stomachs. Winya changed back to her long sword form and we put them all out of their misery. I hummed happily as I stepped across the dead bodies before me.

  My father was the first to peer around the corner of the door frame. He looked from me to the dead men and back to me. He noted all the arrows stuck in the door frame and lying broken on the floor having impacted my armor and shattered.

  “I know these men, and they are hardened warriors, not to be trifled with…and yet you cut them down like they were nothing. Maya, dear, when this is all over, we are going to have a talk,” my father said, still wide-eyed as he followed me into the antechamber.

  “Indeed,” Mother added, stepping carefully over corpses.

  Bringing up the rear, Belrothe decided to chime in with her opinion. “Actually, these are probably the cleanest kills I have seen her do.” Both of my parents did a double take on that one. “Do you remember that huge party of vampires that your spies said were about to attack the capital during the siege?”

  My father nodded and whispered, “Yes, that was a very worrisome point for us. According to the reports, there was supposed to be over three hundred of them. There is no possible way we could have kept the undead hoard out of the city if we had been fighting three hundred vampires inside our ranks. Thankfully, the report must have been a fallacy, as they never showed up.”

  Belrothe smirked and pointed a long elegant finger at me. “The report was accurate Faeron; in fact, it may have been a tad on the light side numbers-wise. The vampires were intercepted before they reached your city. Trust me; you don’t really want to know what went on in that cave.”

  “Thanks, Bel,” I growled. “I was trying not to tell them that one.”

  She simply tried to play innocent. “I’m so sorry; I had no idea.” You could cut the sarcasm in the air with a dull sword. But she was smiling, and I knew she was just having fun. Drawing everyone’s attention back to the here and now, I motioned for silence as we crept forward. Fortunately, the door leading farther back into the longhouse was well-oiled and made no fuss. Once through, we could hear voices, so I gave them the wait signal and activated the stealth on my armor, disappearing from sight.

  Like the other longhouse, this one opened up into a large public room at the far back, and the voices turned to all-out arguing as I approached. Inside were about twenty dark elves. Judging from their clothing and armor, I would have to say this was the remaining hierarchy of the three rebel clans. Damn, I thought I had made a more profound dent in their numbers in the arena, but they must have been holding out on me. Oh well, I would take care of that small detail presently. They were all standing around a large wooden table, and one of the oldest clan chiefs was holding one of the amulets that had sucked Alex into hell. In one corner of the room, an open portal glistened; but unlike the soothing pink or blue ones that Alera casts, this one had a decidedly red, fresh blood tone. On the table was a chunk of stone that no one seemed to want to touch.

  “Maya, that stone is our quarry. I can feel the magic radiating off of it in waves. There is also something profoundly evil in this room, as well. Be careful!” Winya said edgily.

  Ghosting into the back part of the room, I caught a glimpse of what the clansmen were arguing with. There on the floor, less than three feet tall, was a hunched-over creature dressed in rags. It had bony, skeletal hands and a face that was, thankfully, hooded from my view; but you could almost physically feel the malevolence rolling off it. It shifted angrily, turning its head from dark elf to dark elf.

  One of the clan chiefs pointed a finger at it and shouted, “Your lord and master promised us manpower and dark magic! We are under attack; bring forth your demons and slay our enemies!”

  The creature rustled like dead leaves in the fall before replying, “My master finds your demands for additional support a sign of weakness, and he despises weakness. The terms were for you to serve him without question in exchange for power, and now you foolishly attempt to bargain for a better deal using the dark elf King and Queen! They should already be dead, and now you also defy his commands by not handing over the key stone!”

  One of the dark elf elders paled considerably and growled, “No, we did everything as you said. It is the Duke who has not kept up our bargain. Where are the undead hordes you pulled back out of the siege? What happened to the vampires that were supposed to wreak havoc in the city? Your Lord’s contributions have been lukewarm at best. You also failed to warn us about that damned crazy daughter of Faeron’s!”

  “The arrangement stated that you kill the King, Queen and the Child of Darkness; you have accomplished nothing!” the ragged being howled angrily. “You were told to recover and return the key stone immediately to my Lord. And yet you seek to hold it as a bargaining chip while you attempt to sweeten the deal. You play a very dangerous game, my idiotic friends.”

  Having heard enough, I slid back down the hallway to my waiting parents and Belrothe. Reappearing and speaking in hushed tones, I quickly acquainted them with the situation, including descriptions of the dark elves present.

  Looking at the vampire, I said, “Bel, they have one of the amulets.”

  She smiled, showing off her fangs and not in a happy way, either. “Excellent, it saves me the trouble of tracking it down.” Reaching inside her leather armor chest piece, she pulled out the modified amulet that Alex had created for her and let it dangle from her neck.

  “Okay, I’ll go in first and take care of the creature and the clansmen,” I started to say, but was interrupted by a violent shake of the head from my father, the King.

  “Maya, as much as I would enjoy seeing you dice them into tiny bits, it is the prerogative and the responsibility of the King to deal with traitors to the crown.”

  “Besides,” my mother added, her eyes hardening, “one of the bastards you described was the one who murdered poor Kalah, and I will have my revenge for what they did to our poor sweet girl!”

  Bel seemed to think on that for a second, and then nodded. “Then I implore you to be the instrument of our vengeance and kill them all. Maya and I will step in if things get too rough. I will also collect the amulet.”

  Winya reactivated my armor to make me transparent again, and I slid into the chamber where the debate still raged, circling around the other side of the table. After conferring a moment on tactics, my parents glided into the room, catching the group in mid-shouting match.

  It was amazing to watch them work; the two of them have a grace in battle that even I haven’t mastered yet. Where I would have hacked, lunged, and leaped around keeping my enemies off guard and confused, they took down the traitors as easily as if they were ballroom dancing. My mother
using her spear point to jab, but she would sweep it side-to-side as well, using the blood red, heavy spear blade almost like a sword. Her grace was amazing to watch. My father’s sword work was impeccable, and I could tell he was taking full advantage of the extra spring and other enchantments that Alex had built into the sword. The clan chiefs were unable to muster any kind of organized defense as my parents circled around them in an ever tightening circle of doom. While I hated their guts, even I had to admit that these elder clansmen went down as warriors. There was no begging for mercy to be heard, nor would any have been granted.

  I tried to keep my eyes on the creature as I saw him dart under the table during the battle. Suddenly, I saw a clawed hand reach up and snatch the key stone off the table. Immediately ordering my crossbow, I appeared to materialize out of thin air at one side of the room, which caused a moan of dread to run through the opposing elves. They knew who I was and what I could do; by this point, they also knew to a man that they were dead.

  Circling the table and crouching low, I spotted the ragged creature stuffing the stone into his clothing. As soon as it was secured, he scuttled toward the end of the table and launched himself toward the still open portal with surprising speed. My first, second and third crossbow bolts passed harmlessly through him as he cackled madly and leapt.

  As I watched him in horror, from behind me I heard the scream of what could only be described as babbling straight from hell itself as Belrothe’s amulet sucked the clansmen’s amulet dry. All lights in the area dimmed ominously, and then the portal snapped closed with a puff of brimstone.

  Timing is everything they say, and the creature was a bit slow and unlucky to boot. The portal vanished, and his leap ended with him crashing hard into the log wall. Before he could recover, Winya and her sharpest enchantment removed his wretched head. Using Winya, I poked around the body until I located the key stone in one of the pockets of his robe.

  “Seriously, Maya, you couldn’t have used a stick or something instead of me for this? You have no idea how incredibly foul this thing is, and that coming from someone that cleaves maggoty zombies for a living,” Winya complained bitterly.

  “Sorry Win, but I need to make sure we get this stone secured before something else happens. Besides, think how happy Alex will be when we tell him we recovered it.”

  “Yeah, sure, you’ll get all the hugs and kisses; what do I get?”

  “How about this? When we get Alex back, if you promise not to burn him, I’ll have him give you a nice polish.”

  “Oooh! Do I get honing oil with that massage?”

  “Yes.”

  “Deal!”

  I located the stone and withdrew it, wiping it off on the robes of one of the dark elves who certainly wouldn’t need it ever again. Completing my negotiations with my sword, I looked around, only to find that the battle was over. It took my parents awhile, not that the clansmen were really that difficult of opponents, but because they wanted them to suffer badly for their betrayals.

  I was especially impressed with what my mother did to one poor bastard, who I can only assume was the one who murdered poor Kalah. I call myself a cruel fighter sometimes, but that even made me want to throw up.

  I turned to my parents. “Can we go home now?”

  “Definitely. I am so tired I can barely stand,” my mother said, leaning heavily against my father’s shoulder.

  As we walked out of the longhouse, we were greeted by Bel’s liegemen and the twins, who were back in their dark elf forms. The seven of them bowed. “Welcome back, your majesties.”

  My father waved offhandedly. “Thank you. It’s good to be back; but from what I can tell, none of you are really my subjects, so we can dispense with the formalities. I would be pleased to call you all friends, however. Now, we should get moving. From what Maya tells me, the capital is due to awaken soon and wonder what happened to their ‘Warrior Queen.’”

  As soon as we cleared the fence line, I heard the familiar roar of fireballs over our heads as my grandfather began bombarding the compound. We didn’t bother to look back. I doubted there would be anything left of the traitors’ fort by the first rays of the sun.

  The trip back to the capital was quiet, with my mother falling asleep on my father’s lap in the back, and the druid girls napping as well. Ryliss, on the other hand, appeared to vacillate between looks of horror and fascination as the twins selected seats on each side of her, after Dawn gave me a sly wink. I leaned across and whispered into the young scholar’s ear, “What? Haven’t sat next to a pair of silver dragons before, Ryliss?” She shook her head silently in wide-eyed wonder.

  I chuckled to myself, finding that I felt so much better now. My parents were safe and now I can rid myself of all this ‘Queen’ nonsense. I’ll admit, I was starting to warm to the idea when it looked like I would be on the throne with Alex by my side. But I never thought being a Queen would end up with me being held in a dungeon and having to fight for my life on a daily basis. Right now, I was looking forward to a real bath, some fresh air and sunshine, and a decent meal; oh, and I want to see my horse!

  I had just one other concern to worry about…Alex, my love, where are you?

  Chapter 5

  Alex

  Most of the way back from Bellrock, I had been consumed with thoughts about what I would find when I arrived back at the dark elf capital. Should I be angry? Should I be big about having my life shattered and dreams torn asunder? Should I beg her to run away with me to the amber forests of Ayerhs, after all? I shook my head for the thousandth time, still unable to decide.

  When we reached the crossroads, Darroth and Elsa volunteered to continue on ahead, as the heavily-laden cart was so slow. I could also tell that the smith was unhappy with the speed to which the donkeys had limited Somnus. But we all knew that I would easily catch up with them before they reached the fortress anyway.

  Letting Somnus fly, we ate up the miles to our destination quickly. Finally, with a heavy heart, I coaxed Somnus back up to the familiar hillock overlooking the main gate of the capital and looked down into the city. Everything looked pretty normal; the bustle of everyday life down there belying what could be the biggest conversation of my life.

  Before I could formulate any thoughts, or even dismount, I heard Winya’s voice sing in my head, “Alex! You made it back safely!” She beamed warmly through the link.

  Dismounting, I let Somnus have his own reins, tucked away my gauntlets, and sat down on the usual rock to face my destiny.

  “Winya, please…I need to see the Queen. I need some answers and to find out where I stand.” There was a pause as if she was conferring with someone.

  Finally, with some hesitation, she answered, “Alex, I’m sorry, I am told to advise you that neither the Queen nor the King is available to meet with you at this time. I am also to remind you that your banishment from the city has not yet been rescinded.”

  The King? My heart just turned to lead and dropped to the ground. So that’s it then. The high elf council married her off to some clan leader to stabilize the government and save her people. The irrational part of my brain urged me to put on my helmet and storm down to the city and kill the bastard. But another part of me knew that the Maya I loved would never accept anyone who was in league with the Lifebane. So, for the sake of our mission, I could never act on my impulses. I had to keep telling myself that the key issue was still to defeat the great evil and keep this planet a place where good ‘people’ like Nia and the twins could survive. After that, I didn’t care anymore. My brain was vaguely registering that Winya was still speaking to me.

  “Alex!” Winya repeated in a concerned voice, and I could tell there was a lot she wasn’t telling me, but I wasn’t at my most perceptive at the moment. “Alex, there is a dark elf courier coming out in a few minutes with a letter for you and bringing Kaima so you can take her back to Sky Raven with you. She has been a real pain in the ass since Somnus left.”

  “A letter? A letter, Winya? So this is
how it all ends?” I asked bitterly. Somehow, I could sense real pain from her in the reply.

  “Please, Alex, just wait for the letter and all will be explained.”

  After I shared with Nia what was happening and what was said, she wisely decided to fly off and inspect the burned out trebuchets and give me some space. I could tell her little heart was breaking, too. A few dark morose minutes later, Somnus threw up his head and came to attention. That was followed by an excited whistle and a near dance as he shuffled his flaming hoofs impatiently.

  Looking down the couple hundred yards to the gate, I saw it open and Kaima shoot through at a fast trot, an elf in formal courier livery and full helm on her back. As fast as the Vakhas are, it still seemed to take ages until the rider pulled up and walked the mare the last few yards to the rock where I sat. With a snappy salute, the rider reached into his courier bag and handed me a packet of paper tied in gold twine and bearing a wax seal with some ornate design on it. Then he moved the mare back a ways, dismounted, and started to secure the warhorse’s gear for the long trip back.

  I stared long and hard at the envelope like it was a sentence of death. In a way it was for me, the death of all my hopes and dreams since leaving Foalshead. I could scarcely imagine life without Maya. Resigned to my fate, I broke the seal and laboriously unfolded all the pages. Pausing to blink away some tears in my eyes before I started reading…they were all blank…I shuffled through them all and concentrated, stupidly expecting words to suddenly appear like they do with my parents’ letters, but nothing, just blank pages.

  “What’s the matter, Magic Boy? Need someone to read it to you?” I heard a familiar voice purr behind me. Huh? I whipped around to discover the dark elf courier was actually a she, and she had removed her helmet, revealing curly silver locks and a hesitant, hopeful smile.