The three cuts in the same place wounded its neck deeply, enough to stop its screeching. It put its talons to its throat, but it was too late. Himself spinning in a circle to gain momentum, Danaba Kemp swung his great sword around and struck the back of the bird’s neck, severing its head completely.
The rest of the enemies—there were only four at this point—were dispatched quickly, and the wounded were dragged inside the gates.
As the massive gates of the keep rang shut, Chisin Ling slumped against a wall. That had been close. Much too close.
Chapter 42
Sam and the others teleported back to Whitehall in the evening, close to the time when most of the people they needed to talk to would be eating dinner. They had cleared the fortress, destroying the mutants and sending away the humans, and settled in to wait for Dal to come back. After being there nearly three days, they all started to worry that the awkum master would teleport directly to Whitehall once he had communed with the artifacts, so they returned to wait for him. If he could already use the magic items, combat with him would be the same whether it was at his home or theirs.
He was tired from anticipating combat with Dal for three days and getting little sleep, but decided that talking to Dr. Walt and Danaba Kemp was more important than a bath and rest. Nalia and Rindu joined him as his other companions split up and went their different ways.
“Let’s head for the main dining hall,” he said. “Hopefully we can find Dr. Walt and Danaba together so we can let them know what we found.” He started off toward his destination.
When they got there, the trio found the dining hall fairly empty. There were less than a dozen people there, eating mechanically with unfocused gazes. Conversation was muted.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked. “Where is everyone?”
“Perhaps Dr. Walt is in his library or in one of the meeting halls,” Rindu offered.
“Yeah, maybe,” Sam agreed. He flagged down one of the servants in the hall, an older, balding man who was cleaning a table. “Do you know where Dr. Walt is? Has he been here to eat?”
“No, sir,” the man said, “he has not been in to eat recently. We have sent many meals out this evening, however. One moment, please.” The man turned and disappeared into the kitchen.
When he returned, he made a small bow and told them what he had discovered. “Yes, Dr. Walt’s evening meal was taken to the planning room near his library and chambers. I can lead you there, if you would like.”
“That is unnecessary,” Rindu said. “We know the room. Thank you.”
“Of course, sir. It is my pleasure to serve.”
The three made their way to a room that had been given the name “planning room.” It was just a normal chamber, but when the army appeared at their walls, it had been used several times for meetings on strategy. It was centrally located, convenient, and large enough to hold a fair number of people and all the maps they needed to use.
Two massive tables dominated the room, one of which held unrolled maps, their ends weighted with an ink jar and several stone figurines of animals.
Dr. Walt was there, as was Danaba Kemp. Two of the members of the new government council, Fulusin Telanyahu and Georg Santas, were also there. The big captain, Chisin Ling, was there too, with half her head bandaged and blood seeping through in places. Sam wondered what could have done that to her but left the question unasked.
“Dr. Walt, Danaba,” Sam said, nodding to the council members. “We went to the fortress and infiltrated it. We found Baron Tingai. He won’t make any mutants ever again. Chetra Dal was not there. He is off somewhere still communing with the artifacts.”
“That is unfortunate,” Dr. Walt said. “We were hoping you would have good news to bring back. We could sorely use some.”
“We waited, but no one there knew when he would come back, and we were afraid he’d come straight here,” Sam said. “We’re not even really sure if he can teleport directly here, but we didn’t want to miss him. Danaba, what’s going on?”
The general rubbed at his eyes and swung his head toward Sam. He looked tired. No, more than that. He looked like he’d been used up and drained of all his energy.
Danaba Kemp sighed. “The damn mutants have been attacking several times a day. They built a bridge to get across the chasm where the drawbridge is and have been climbing each other to get up the walls, not even thinking of the arrows, rocks, and other nasty things that come down on them. They’ve actually come over the walls several times.
“That is quite a feat,” Rindu said, “to get over those walls.”
“Yes,” Danaba agreed. “If you throw enough bodies at something, things tend to happen, difficult or not. We pick our targets carefully because we’re running out of arrows. We’re even running out of stones to throw down on them. We’ve dug up some of the parks looking for more. They’re wearing us down.”
“Can you destroy the bridge to keep them from getting across?” Sam asked.
“Funny you should bring that up.” Danaba winked at Chisin Ling. “It was built in such a way that it was impervious even to fire arrows and sheets of burning oil. Chisin here, and her squad of special soldiers, just took it out tonight. Used all that remained of the explosives Emerius made for us. We’re going to need to ask him to make more. I’m sure we’ll need it.
“Anyway, Chisin’s squad took it out, but there were casualties.” He gestured toward the captain. “As you can see.”
“There were many worse off than me,” she said. It wasn’t a boast, just a statement of fact. “Much worse.”
“Well,” Danaba continued, “you and your special forces saved many lives tonight. If we ever figure out what kind of awards for valor the new government will give out, you’ll be in the front of the line.” He smiled a tired smile at her.
Danaba turned back to Sam. “They’ll build another one, and this time they’ll guard it so we can’t sneak up and destroy it again. All we’ve done is buy time. We need to finish this somehow, or the keep could actually fall without Chetra Dal even using the artifacts on us.”
“Any ideas?” Sam asked.
“No,” Dr. Walt said. “That’s why we’re here, actually. We could use some help, some creative thinking, maybe a miracle or two. We were hoping at least for news of Chetra Dal’s defeat so we could boost morale of our own troops and crush that of the besieging army. But alas, we can’t always get what we want.”
“It is more important to want what you get than to get what you want,” Rindu added. Everyone looked at him, then at each other, and almost as one, back to the maps. No one spoke.
“We will think upon the matter,” Nalia said. “Perhaps after cleaning ourselves and eating something, it will become clear what we are to do.”
Sam had almost zoned out for a moment. “Yes. My thoughts are all cloudy right now. I’m too tired to think. Danaba, you look ready to fall down, too. How about we take advantage of the break in the fighting Chisin’s squad has given us—” he nodded toward the captain and she nodded back to him “—and get a little sleep. We can meet here first thing in the morning and try to come up with a plan.”
“Sounds good to me,” Danaba said. “We’re getting nowhere tonight anyway. I’ll check on the troops on the wall and then turn in. I’ll see you at first light.”
Sam was tired from the day’s events, but he wasn’t ready for bed just yet.
“I think I’m going to go up to the walls, take a look at the army out there,” he said.
“I will go with you,” Rindu said. “I am not ready to go to my bed either.”
“I will come, too,” Nalia added.
The three walked through the keep in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.
“What will we do?” Nalia asked after a time, mirroring Sam’s thoughts exactly.
“That is the question, is it not, Iba?”
“I can’t really think of anything,” Sam said, shaking his head.
They fell silent a
gain as they made their way across the courtyard to the walls. They were soon up the stairs and looking out over the scene below. The soldiers manning the wall nodded companionably to them, and Sam gave them a wave in greeting.
Campfires dotted the cleared buffer zone around the cliffs on which the fortress sat. There were hundreds of them. Sam had seen the army before, but it still struck him how many foes were set against them. His heart dropped to his ankles.
“How can we do anything with so many against us?” he whispered, too silently for the sentries to hear. Almost too softly for Rindu and Nalia to hear. “There are so many.”
“Numbers are not all there is to victory, Sam,” Rindu said. “You know this. Have we not been outnumbered many times over in the past? Have we not always proven victorious?”
“Yes, but this,” Sam swept his arm out to encompass the entire army, “this is too much. Even with the walls, how can we resist it?”
“We can do it because we must. If Gythe is to survive, we must overcome this threat.” The monk looked thoughtful for a moment and then continued. “It is not the army that concerns me. With the artifacts and the power he already possesses, the one calling himself Chetra Dal is more powerful than all that you see out there. He it is that concerns me. How shall we withstand him and his power? That is our primary problem.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sam said. “Him. Right. I forgot about him for a moment. The question remains, though: what will we do? How can we defeat him and the army? I know Dr. Walt has been looking through the keep for something that can help us, items of power, other artifacts, things like that. He hasn’t found anything, but that doesn’t mean these things don’t exist.”
“Perhaps therein lies our path,” Rindu said. “I do not know. It is as you said before, sleeping and looking at the problem with new eyes may be the way. I have no answers for you right now.”
Nalia had remained silent during the exchange. “Yes, sleep will help. In the morning, all the cleverest people of Gythe will put their minds to finding a solution. We will persevere and succeed. Have faith that we will do so, Sam. It is as Father has taught you about resonance. We will take the force applied against us, add to it our own power, and thereby become even more powerful.”
Sam put his arm around Nalia and hugged her to him. “You’re right, Nal. We’ll figure it out. We’ve been in sticky situations before, and we’ll get through this one, too. I don’t know about you two, but I think I could probably sleep now. Are you ready to head back to the keep?”
They were, and so the three walked back toward the keep, talking of little things, until they split up to go to their own rooms. Sam had been right. He got into bed and was soon soundly asleep.
Chapter 43
Rindu woke up before dawn and meditated for a time. When it was close to sunrise, he brought himself out of his meditations and made his way to the dining hall in which he was supposed to meet Sam and Nalia. He was early, so he piled his plate with food and sat down to eat it.
The two showed up shortly after he sat down. They waved at him and went to get their own food before sitting down at the table.
“I couldn’t think of anything,” Sam said, as he and Nalia sat down. “But it’s not for lack of trying. I racked my brain but couldn’t seem to come up with a good course of action. How about you?”
Nalia shook her head and took a bite of a piece of toasted bread.
“I, too, am having trouble developing a plan that would solve our dilemma,” Rindu said. “It is a difficult puzzle, even without the leader who possesses the artifacts. Perhaps we only need the spark of an idea from one of us when we meet later, something to build upon. I hope that it is so, and we can find that spark.”
“Yeah,” Sam said, starting in on his own breakfast, “me too.”
After eating, the three went to the map room. Dr. Walt was already there. He looked to have been there all night. The remnants of his breakfast lay on one of the side tables.
“Good morning,” he said, sounding like he was trying to sound positive. His smile slipped as he said it, but only a little bit. “Did you sleep well?”
“We did,” Rindu said. “Have you thought of anything, Dr. Walt? We have not, I fear. It is a difficult thing.”
The old scholar shook his head, causing his wild hair to sway as if in a breeze. “I’m afraid not, my friend. I had trouble sleeping and so took to reading some fascinating histories to let my mind relax. I find it is much more conducive to creative thought when I’m not trying too hard to force it.
“The works I read were from the library Sam brought back from Kawkibon, the ones about the time before the Great War. Let me tell you about—”
Right then, the door opened and Danaba Kemp came in, closely followed by Ix and Emerius. Greetings were exchanged, and before pleasantries were finished, almost everyone was there. Rindu noted that everyone had brought their weapons with them. He himself had gotten into the habit, just in case there was an attack they had to run to meet. Sunedal lay propped against his chair.
“I guess we should go ahead and get started,” Sam said. “Anyone else who shows up can just jump in. I think this is going to take a while.”
“Yes, yes,” Dr. Walt said. “Quite right, Sam.” He stood and addressed the others, some seated and some still standing. “First off, let me just ask if anyone has come up with an idea they think might work to defeat, or even survive, the siege and the attacks coming against us.”
No one spoke. They all looked at each other, waiting.
After two solid minutes of silence, Danaba Kemp stood up. “It’s obvious you all are having the same problem I am with coming up with a plan. Maybe we should step back a bit and take this one piece at a time. Let me explain exactly where we’re at, and then maybe we can come up with ideas for each smaller problem and in that way solve the bigger.”
There were nods, but no one else spoke. He continued. “There is an army of near to ten thousand enemies camped just outside of catapult range of the fortress. Though we’ve killed many hundreds, they have apparently been making more because their numbers have actually increased overall. We have less than a thousand troops left here, with maybe an additional five hundred noncombatants.
“Most of their army consists of mutants. Mutated humans, mutated hapaki, mutated animals, all of them basically wild and bloodthirsty. Many of them can’t think beyond wanting to kill and eat, but some are cleverer, almost as clever as the humans they used to be. Some can fly over the walls.
“We have destroyed their bridge, but I’m sure they’re already building another. They may have already built it as a backup in case something happened to the first. Most of the opposing army has nothing to do all day, so it is likely we’ll see another platform put in place in the next few days. Maybe today.
“With the bridge, they attack the walls regularly, making it impossible for our soldiers to rest enough. They wear us down and have come close to getting to the drawbridge controls several times. It will only take once.
“On top of that, Chetra Dal has been spending his time learning how to use the artifacts. If what Dr. Walt and everyone else says is true, when he comes against us with the power of those artifacts, even Whitehall’s great walls won’t save us.
“My take on the problem is this: we have to withstand monsters climbing over our walls, somehow stop them with low supplies of every weapon we have, make it so our fighting men—it’s just an expression, Chisin, no offense to fighting women—can get enough sleep, and then somehow kill Chetra Dal before he can use the artifacts against us. Does that sum it up well enough for everyone?”
Again, there were nods, but no one spoke. He looked at each person in turn, ending with his gaze lingering on Sam. Sam motioned with his hand in a seated bow.
“Right,” Dr. Walt said. “Very accurate and concise, Danaba. I suggest we brainstorm, throwing forth any idea you might have, no matter how ridiculous it may sound. Even if we can’t use it, it may spur thought along other lines an
d lead to something more effective. I will take notes and we will discuss everything before making a decision. Your comments and ideas, please.”
“My special forces can ramp up our nighttime attacks on the camp,” Chisin Ling said. “If Emerius can train us to make more of his explosives, they could turn the tide.”
“Noted,” Dr. Walt said. “We will refrain from commenting on the ideas until we have gathered as many as possible.”
“Can we lure them up to the entry pathway by coming out of the gates?” Ru Wilkes asked. “Their numbers would be restricted then, evening the odds, and we could whittle them down.”
So it went on. Rindu put forth a few ideas himself, not because he thought they would work, but because he hoped it would tickle an idea from others. A better idea.
They continued for several hours, having food brought into the room so they would not have to stop to eat. Rindu rubbed his eyes and sighed. They had gathered more than two dozen ideas, but the stream of them was slowing. Dr. Walt would surely stop them soon and allow them to discuss those ideas they had already written down.
An insistent knocking at the door caused a few in the room to jump.
“Come!” Danaba Kemp said, frustration and irritation coming through in his voice.
A soldier rushed in, saluted the general, and took a breath. “Sir, a man in robes is walking from the enemy camp into the buffer zone. He has a fair-sized force with him, and he is carrying something. A few somethings. They are blowing horns and waving flags to get our attention.”
Danaba leapt to his feet and was out the door before anyone else could comment on what the soldier had said. Rindu looked at Sam, then Nalia, then Torim Jet, and got up.
“Perhaps we will finally see this man who calls himself Chetra Dal,” Rindu said, and made his way into the hall.
Everyone followed him, their weapons with them.
The procession raced to the walls. By the time they got there, the entourage of the enemy had stopped midway into the cleared buffer area beneath the cliffs. Danaba Kemp was on the walkway, peering through a looking glass at the group.
Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set Page 134