“If all the witches were to pile in here, who knows how many would die thanks to a stray arrow?” Anaya started her reply, not letting the High Witch get to her. “The witches are our group clearing weapon to be used whenever there is a weakness that can be exploited. As is, I am not sure of any weakness they may have and I also wish to know if the enchanter’s weapons are worth it.”
“Well the Thornians look like their front line is taking a beating, they don’t even seem interested in fighting, even though it is obvious they are dying by the tens, soon to be hundreds” the High Witch said as she prepared to leave.
“It’s because they are not interested in fighting, they seem intent on rushing the gate without any regard for their welfare” Anaya began before her words were cut off by screams coming from within Riley. General Anaya looked around and saw as the children of war who were stationed at the outpost began targeting Witches inside the compound in an effort to take out as many as possible. Anaya knew her Fire troops would not be harmed by such attack and would soon start turning the tide against their betrayers. Right now though, she had one thing on her mind, the same thing that was probably on the High Witches mind as they raced down the stairs towards the quarters occupied by Aubrey, Princess of Rangel and Heir to the throne.
CHAPTER 12
AUBREY
Aubrey had begun talking to Xander in an effort to calm him; she knew he longed for the battle that was raging outside. Aubrey had made sure his armor and other such war waging weapons were kept far away from him, he needed to know his job was at her side, nowhere else. Aubrey smiled inwardly at her show of emotion a couple of days ago received the outcome she was expecting. While he still did not have any use for her Palace Guard, he had smiled a couple of times and even lightly touched her hand when she was sitting down, something he never did. All was well until Vincent, one of the Palace Guardsmen came crashing through the door.
“Your Highness the Reds have turned on us, you must get…” were the only words Vincent was able to get out before he was hit heavily over his head with what looked to be a crude club. As Vincent fell men began to run over him and focused on Aubrey. Although she was taller, and outweighed Xander by at least a stone, Xander snatched her up in his arms and reached for his dagger before crashing out of the window.
Aubrey heard Xander moan as she landed on top of him, at first she thought he may have broken an ankle but he was up before she was and roughly pulled her to her feet and began running towards the stables where the carriage was kept. Aubrey was amazed that somehow Xander weaved them through the chaos towards the stables where she could see the traitorous soldiers hacking apart the carriage. As they ran towards them, she figured they must have heard the carriage could teleport but had no idea on how it worked or they would be busy defacing the floor of the carriage instead of the walls. Somehow the enemy did not notice Xander as he got up close and ran one of them through with his dagger to the back of the neck, an action that drew the attention of the other two men who were both armed with axes and swords instead of the dagger he had.
Aubrey was stunned as suddenly Xander kicked open the door of the carriage and threw her in it just as one of the men climbed through the window after her. Aubrey kicked at the man in front of her, landing a surprisingly solid kick to his groin. Aubrey could see that although the man was armed he was not armored and she was generally bigger than most children of war, even bigger than Xander who was much more muscled than her attacker. Aubrey quickly surmised he had to be of Thornish decent since due to the combination of diet and exercise, all Rangelian men except the nobles were generally muscular. As the man bent over, Aubrey grabbed his sword hand and his neck and flung him to the ground of the carriage. She could see the man looking out the door as Xander stood between his back up and her. Aubrey briefly made eye contact with Xander and she could see he was scared, left to defend himself with a damn dagger against an enemy with an axe. Xander stuck his hand into the carriage and the next thing Aubrey knew she was back in the throne room.
“GUARDS!! GUARDS!!” Aubrey screamed as she separated herself from her attacker who no doubt was wondering where the hell he was. Aubrey was alone in the throne room and as she ran to the door she could see her attacker rise. Aubrey backed towards the door but instead of chasing her, the man began hacking away at Xander’s circle which brought them there. Aubrey had discovered that once a circle was changed significantly, its ability was nonexistent and could not be used. Aubrey grabbed a small chair and ran towards her attacker just as he looked up.
“Oh ya want ta play now girly” the man said as he raised his weapon towards Aubrey, stopping her in her tracks.
Aubrey circled the man nervously as the Throne Room door burst open, bringing with it Frowley the retired Captain of the palace guard in full armor. Aubrey ran away from the man as Frowley charged right at him, easily deflecting his weapon with the heavy gauntlet he wore before knocking the man out with an overhand right.
“Frowley what are you doing here?” Aubrey said, amazed to see the former Captain of guard after he retired years ago.
“Well if that isn’t a fine greeting your Highness” Frowley said as he kicked the man’s weapon away from him and began searching his unconscious body.
Aubrey was stunned into silence as Frowley broke the silence. “Our Queen let her Guard Captain accompany you on your trip. I also hear Red went with you to fight those Thornish bastards. I could not in good conscious leave the Queen with these whelps protecting her; they are only used to Red’s fancy enchanting and probably never been in a real tussle. I started here today and the Queen will keep me on until this war is finished. I just came from sparring when I passed by and heard your call.”
“Well you are a welcome sight, there are not many people here that I can speak openly with” Aubrey stated.
“Well you will all ways have me; I’ve known you since you were a little girl. It looks like you haven’t forgotten all I taught you but I am curious how you were going to take a bloke like that out with a chair.”
“We were betrayed by Children of war in the outpost, Xander is still there! Keep him alive and bring him to the throne room” Aubrey said pointing at her unconscious attacker. “And Frowley, send someone get my mother” Aubrey said as she stomped off.
The man was brought to the throne room where Aubrey paced; livid she had almost been killed if not for her quick thinking husband. Aubrey just glared at the man, who was forced on his knees by the palace guard. Aubrey had a million things going through her mind at the time, how did they infiltrate her ranks? Did her husband survive? What of the battle, who had won it? Did Anaya make it out unharmed? Aubrey was soon interrupted by the Queen, who went into the room and took her seat.
“The Thornians somehow knew I was going to be in Riley and sent a sizable team to intercept me. They had to have been in our army for a while, posing as children of war” Aubrey said pointing at the man. “I need answers.”
Celeste turned her attention toward the captured enemy and motioned for Aubrey to come sit by her. “Do you know where you are” Celeste asked the man, receiving no reply. “I am the Queen of Rangel and I am used to being answered when I ask a question. No one here will harm you, answer my questions and you will be thrown in the dungeon and fed regularly until I have no use for you. From that point I can give you some poison for a quick death or you can earn your freedom in the arena. If you fail to answer me again though, I will turn you over to my torturer who then will chop off your limbs for starters and then use her other abilities to extract anything I need. After that you will be given to my witches for a human test subject where you will live out the rest of your pitiful life. Now I ask you again, do you know where you are.”
“I am not sure” the man answered.
“See, now that is better, I do hate to ruin this room with the smell of blood” The Queen began before continuing. “You are in the Palace of the Queen in the capital city of Rangel, transported here by my enchanter. How did
you know who or what to attack?”
“We saw that there were a lot of wagons coming into Riley, but only a few carriages, it didn’t take much thinkin’ ta see that the carriage held someone important” the man said.
“You there” the Queen said pointing at a Guardsman. “Find the Royal carpenter and blacksmith. Tell them to make a carriage that looks exactly like a covered wagon with all the amenities. Now where were we” said the Queen looking back at her prisoner.
“We paid off the witch stationed at the border to allow some of our people to stay in her base” The man said looking around at all the Palace Guardsmen around him.
“Paid her off, witches do not need any money. You dare lie to me?” said the Queen as she began to get angry.
“We did not pay in coin, we paid in flesh” said the man as he dropped from his knees in a crouching position looking at the tile on the floor.
“In flesh” asked the Queen quizzically.
“Her appetites were for men with red hair. All the children of war she kept stationed there to sate her appetite. I was one of the Thornians who was tasked with giving our tribute, we soon saw what was happening and offered her whoever she wanted. We then paid the Children of War to stay put, their loyalty would get them out of Rangel and set up somewhere nice.”
“You fool, chasing a non-existent dream. You care to live in a place where crime runs rampant and children starve? Take this idiot to the witches to do as they please. Let them know he is to fight in the arena in one month’s time” Celeste said still disgusted her own people would endanger her daughter.
“But you said I would be spared” the man started stammering.
“As if I would make a bargain with a male, you should ask King Janus for forgiveness” the Queen said as he was taken away.
“You did not speak after your outburst; you are still worried for your mate” the Queen asked the daughter.
“When I last saw him we were surrounded by the enemy with no weapons. There was no way he could have escaped. I do not believe the Thornian women survived either, I am not sure how we should proceed.”
“Aubrey, we still are the most powerful nation around, for too long we have been content to keep our land, when we should have been expanding our Queendom! We will march deep into Thorn and make them submit! We still have the power of our witches, since Rangel became a Queendom we have not lost one war that has been waged on us. It is our time to wage war; we will end this senseless slaughter the world of man engages in.”
“Mother, after my father died, why did you not take another consort” Aubrey asked, something she always wanted to know but never asked for some reason.
“That is a rather odd question, Aubrey” said the Queen. “I was given a Queendom that was not running as smoothly as it should have. My mother was dying and many powerful nobles thrust their sons at me, pressuring my mother to have me married before she passed. I chose your father because he was old and frail, his mother having long since passed, along with his first wife. He was a proper Rangelian male and just wished to live out his life after his wife died. He was not even one of my many suitors; I picked him out after overhearing a conversation about him. When I approached him, a man over forty summers older than I, he laughed thinking I was joking, after all, women with much younger men are common place, not the other way around. I married him that day, he didn’t have an older woman as part of his family who would try to use me through him. With my marriage completed, my power was absolute. I was in a hurry to have you, I was five summers younger than you are now when I was with child. Your father expired soon after you were born; he never had any sights on my power and was not easily manipulated. Once he died, many tried to saddle their sons on me, but in a roundabout way. I never wanted to share my power with anyone, except you. I used your father’s death as a permanent mourning, it meant I would never have another child, but it also meant I will never have the fighting in my house like my mother did. You will face this soon, as you are not yet with child.”
“I need to see Xander’s body first before any of that talk begins” Aubrey started before finishing. “We need to send out a Raven, how do the witches fair with Ingland?”
“They invaded yesterday, drawing a good distance into that country. Ingland is throwing everything they have at them so the plan is to pretend to be held back, then eventually withdraw and leave Ingland to lick her wounds. Already we have captured 100 prisoners; the best among them will be slaves, the rest given to the arena. I do not see Ingland as a factor in this war.”
CHAPTER 13
XANDER
Xander stuck his hand through the door and made contact with the floor as he fed his aura into the wood, sending Aubrey as well as her attacker back to the Palace at Rangel. Xander saw his remaining attacker bring down his axe hard and just maneuvered out of his way in time to catch the man with his dagger to the stomach. Xander whirled around the now slumped man and finished the job with a dagger in his back. Xander pulled the now dead man out of the way blocking the door leading to the inside of the carriage and put his aura into the wood, nothing happened. Xander didn’t have time to wonder why and instead took the time to run since he noticed enemy soldiers heading his way and figured he would try to lose them by running deeper into the fray.
Xander could see the Palace Guard from a distance as they began to form up and take down their attackers. Elsewhere General Anaya’s Fire Soldiers seemed to getting the best of their attackers. All around Xander though were bodies of witches caught off guard in the attack. Suddenly the front gate opened bringing with it soldiers that could only be from Thorn.
Xander froze as the wave of men poured towards him. Xander pulled out his blade as the first soldier got near, but the men passed right on by him electing instead to fight anyone in armor. Xander glanced back and could see the soldiers from earlier still hadn’t gave up their chase except this time they were recruiting people and pointing at Xander. Xander ran out of Riley, electing instead to get out in the open field. Xander passed through the gates and he could see Rangelian soldiers and Thornians in combat. Xander tried to skirt the battle when he saw Patrick carrying one of the Thornian women over his shoulder.
Xander could see Patrick had no weapons but an abundance of people trying to kill him as he ran into the forested area surrounding Riley. Xander followed Patrick as the Thornians started to file in behind him. Xander looked back and could see although his pursuers were far behind, they still saw where he was headed and started in towards him. Xander entered right at the tail end of the group running after Patrick and although the enemy turned to look at him, once they saw his red hair they turned around to continue their Quest. Xander quickly sped up to the front of the group, after all these men were in armor. As Xander got to the front of the group, he could see Patrick standing on a stone slab with the woman Samantha behind him, intent on making his last stand here. Xander was the first to reach Patrick as Patrick eyes were surprised by his presence. Xander held his dagger out like he was making out to stab Patrick as his eyes spied something he never really took notice of before. The slab Patrick was standing on was a perfect circle with some sort of lines drawn in it, what type Xander could not tell because of all the dead foliage and dirt around it. Xander touched the stone and poured his aura into it, moments later he was someplace he had never been before, along with Patrick and Samantha.
CHAPTER 14
ANAYA
General Anaya faced her foe with her blade at the ready. The enchanter’s weapons were awesome powers of destruction, one she was happy to be wielding this day along with her armor. She knew she should have been killed at least three times already, if not for the armor the enchanter crafted. Her opponent lunged at her as she caught his sword in her gauntlets. Anaya was still amazed at the power she possessed as she tugged the sword away from its owner before delivering a lethal chest cracking kick to the man’s sternum, ensuring he did not rise again. Anaya looked around her and could see the Palace Guard in perfec
t formation slaughtering all who came close to them, even though they did not possess any enchanted armor like she did, these men were worth their weight in gold when it came to a battle. Anaya looked around and tried to spot the princess, to no avail. It was hard for her to see thanks to the devastation the witches were causing among the enemies ranks. Anaya looked for another opponent to engage when she realized the enemy was retreating. Anaya thought about following them, but the Princess’s safety came above all.
“Have you seen the Princess” Anaya asked a palace guardsman, barely croaking the words since her senses were filled with the smell of burning flesh.
“She was with the Enchanter My Lady” he started off saying as he constantly kept his eyes roving looking for an unforeseen enemy. “I saw the enemy surrounding her but I was far away, by the time I got there he transported her somewhere, if I had to guess maybe he sent her to the Palace.”
“The enchanter, what of him?”
“My lady after sending the Princess out, the enchanter tried to send himself but something was not working. He then ran deep into the battle with the enemy not far behind. I went to fight with some of the attackers when my brothers in arms joined me. We fought and killed many, as we saw the High Witch’s son with one of those Thornian women running for his life. Then I lost sight of them.”
“Very well, send a Raven and let the Queen know what happened here” Anaya said as she walked off towards one of the more competent male soldiers.
“General Anaya, the enemy has fled but I do not recommend we follow until we know what we are facing. The witch that was stationed here was found murdered, by whom we do not know.” The man said as he sheathed his sword.
“I think we have snakes in our mists” Anaya said looking around at all the red haired soldiers around her. “Send all of the children of war to the Inglish border and some to the capital; send each a somewhat even number. Find out what we have here exactly before we push into Thorn. This was an attack that will hamper our efforts severely; I need an update on the witches. Someone find the high witch and bring her to me!”
The Terror of Thorn: Child of War: Book 2 Page 5