Fredrick was right, Daniel reflected grimly. There were sixteen dusk elf women in the hollow down below, each of them in high-quality, lightweight armor. They each also had bows and swords as well, and he couldn’t help but think that they would probably fare a bit too well against their forces.
“I’d guess that’s why Lord Evansly hasn’t signaled to attack. He’s probably waiting for whoever they’re waiting for to show up,” Daniel muttered, glancing upward at the sun. It was midmorning, which made him guess softly. “I’ll bet that whoever it is shows up in the next half-hour.”
“What makes you say that?” Fredrick asked, glancing over at Daniel curiously.
“Just a hunch. If I wanted to get a reasonable distance during the day, I would’ve wanted to start earlier than this. Noon is just pushing it a bit too late, with the mountains blocking the light at the end of the day,” Daniel explained, shrugging. “But who knows? Elves have better vision at night, so they might be crazy enough to try going through the mountains at night.”
“Well, we’ll see,” Fred agreed. A moment later, he asked, “How’s that training with the adventurers going?”
“Don’t ask,” Daniel replied, wincing at the memory.
* * *
Sistina paused, frowning as she noticed Desa, Phynis, and two of her guards heading toward the exit she’d made for the elves. There was something odd coming from her link to Desa, a sense of tension or worry. It worried Sistina, but she couldn’t do much about it. Phynis had said that they were going outside for fresh air, after all. It was likely just Desa being concerned about the possibility of them being spotted by the scouts.
Mentally shrugging, she resolved to keep a close eye on that entrance, and then went back to her attempts to adjust the foundry a little more. She almost had the golems ready, which excited her. If this set didn’t blow up, at least.
* * *
“I’ll admit, being outside is nice in its own way,” Phynis admitted, taking a deep breath of the air, then wrinkled her nose. “But Sistina’s flowers are a lot prettier than these ones.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. She keeps the caverns surprisingly beautiful, but there’s nothing quite like the outdoors,” Desa agreed, keeping a watchful eye out for trouble.
The quartet were walking through a beautiful copse of trees, and slowly rounded a large boulder that rested in the shadow of the two ridgelines that rose to the mountain’s crest. It wasn’t too far downhill from the shallow cavern that Sistina had used for her exit, either. But as they came around the boulder, Phynis stopped as of all her other guards came into sight. They were all equipped for traveling a long distance, and the princess stiffened abruptly.
“True, but that’s… wait, what are the rest of the guards doing out here?” Phynis asked, her eyes widening in shock as she stiffened. “What’s going on, Desa?”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Desa apologized, her face an impassive mask as she turned toward Phynis, the other two guards with them falling back to cut off any escape route toward the caves. “Her Majesty sent me a dispatch last week, as I’m certain you know. She instructed me to return you to Vara’Sel at any cost.”
Fear, then outrage and anger flooded Phynis’ veins, and her voice rose as she demanded, “How could you, Desa! How could you just… follow her every whim like this? I don’t want to go back! There’s no place for me there, and you know it!”
“Perhaps, but I have my oaths, and I have family back in Sifaren,” Desa began, her voice breaking as she spoke. Desa stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing. “And so do most of us. If we break with Her Majesty’s orders, what will become of them, with the shame and reputation of our actions hanging over them? Are you asking us to abandon our responsibilities to them as well?”
* * *
“Beloved gods…” Evansly prayed, his eyes wide as he looked downhill at the wonderful gift he’d just been granted. “This is incredible.”
“Sir?” Lieutenant Tarys inquired, glancing at her superior. From their vantage point, they could see all the elves gathered in the clearing below without much chance of being spotted.
“That’s Princess Phynis Constella, Lieutenant,” Evansly told him, a smile widening on his face.
“Princess… I thought she got away, sir! She escaped through these very mountains!” Tarys barely managed to reduce the volume of her exclamation, glancing downhill reflexively as she grappled with her surprise. “Are you certain?”
“I saw her once. I’m very certain. Let the men know that she has to be taken alive. I’ll try to disable her,” Evansly told him, grinning as the officer nodded and whispered to two runners. “If she’s got a brand, I can keep her from running."
* * *
Evrial frowned as the princess and Captain Desa argued, now located in the middle of the guards. They were being much louder than they should be and it was making her nervous. She had hoped that Phynis would be understanding, but that seemed to be a lost cause. Evrial felt her anxiety grow as the others pulled out packs of supplies from the cache, gently stroking the grip of her bow.
Her senses kept telling her she was being watched. Maybe it was just paranoia, since Evrial wasn’t sure what was causing her anxiety. She certainly hadn’t seen anything, but Evrial had learned to trust her instincts before. So she opened her mouth to say something, when all of a sudden a voice boomed from above them.
* * *
“Halt where you are and surrender! You are within the borders of Kelvanis without permission, surrender or be fired upon without mercy!” Lord Evansly’s voice was magically augmented and thundered so loudly that the ground vibrated, and for a moment, Daniel was afraid the demand might cause a rockslide.
At the signal, Daniel stepped out from behind the tree he’d been using for concealment and took aim at one of the elven soldiers, even as Lord Evansly’s booming voice echoed. All the soldiers stepped into the open as well, presenting a full sixty men and women to face the elven force.
The elves reacted almost instantly to the ambush, falling into a defensive formation with one woman at its center. In fact, their speed startled Daniel because he’d rarely seen any elves that were quite that fast. For a moment there was silence, and he personally prayed that the elves were going to surrender. Sina had made him softer toward elves than he had been, but he’d do his job if he had to. It wouldn’t mean that he’d enjoy attacking them, though. But that momentary standoff ended as two of the elves began rapidly chanting and gesturing, and Daniel instinctively pulled the trigger on his crossbow.
A hail of crossbow bolts rained down on the elves, but the two elven magi were just a hair faster in casting their spells, and a pair of broad, semi-transparent white domes deflected the bolts lancing out toward them. Other elves returned fire with their powerful longbows, and the entire elven force began to retreat uphill. At the blast of a horn from Lieutenant Tarys, Fredrick and two-thirds of their company began to charge downhill to intercept the elves before they could escape. Lowering his crossbow, Daniel began to winch back the string, feeling sick to his stomach.
* * *
“Retreat back to the caves! Evrial, Alissa, cover the princess!” Desa shouted at them, falling back and rapidly chanting to create a series of ice walls to break up and slow the clusters of charging soldiers. Her own guards were among the best in Sifaren, second only to the Queen’s, but they would be at a disadvantage in melee against the stronger and more heavily armored humans.
“Yes, sir!” Evrial chorused with Alissa, rushing to guard the princess as they began their retreat.
The magi were defending the group well enough, but Desa was grimly certain that while they could retreat back to the cavern entrance, they wouldn’t be able to do so easily. She hoped they wouldn’t lose anyone along the way, and she began weaving another spell, this time to create a cone of shielding ice so the magi could focus on the attack instead.
* * *
Daniel swore as he saw several soldiers
taken down by fire from the elves. Their platoon’s mage had been taken down by a freakishly accurate shot and the other platoon’s mage was occupied trying to compete with one of the elven spellcasters, but the man was steadily losing the confrontation as he struggled to block a series of brilliant green bolts.
The group of elves was quickly falling back up the ravine, with the noblewoman being escorted by a pair of soldiers in the rear, retreating uphill as fast as they could run. Daniel shook his head in pity, but took aim at a woman who seemed to be creating the walls of ice that were shattering the advance of his companions. Taking a deep breath, he took careful aim and then fired with his exhale, almost caressing the trigger. The crossbow recoiled against his shoulder with a solid thump, the bolt hissing with deadly accuracy through the air toward his target.
The massive cone of ice appeared all at once, shrouding the defending elves from attacks. His bolt hit the ice at an oblique angle, and Daniel cursed as it bounced off. Then the bolt hit a rock on its new path, and his curse froze in his throat as the splintered bolt ricocheted directly toward the back of the retreating noblewoman.
* * *
Phynis ran up the hill, panting as she rushed toward the cave. Desa’s betrayal wasn’t forgotten, but a more potent terror had taken its place, as the army of Kelvanis came crashing down on them in another ambush.
She had to get to safety. Sistina would protect her from everyone. She knew she would, and then—
A sharp, sudden pain hit her in the back, just to the left of her spine, and radiated outward as scattered secondary pains hit her. And it was suddenly hard to breathe as she stumbled, gasping, and fell to the ground, a splintered, shattered crossbow bolt embedded in her heart.
The world swam for a moment and began to go dark. Phynis heard the horrified voices of Alissa and Evrial, and saw only glimpses of their faces as even the clash of battle and explosions of magic began to fade. Then there was only darkness, and a faint light shining in the distance.
Chapter 42
“What in the hell happened?” Evansly raged, his eyes flashing with anger as he clenched his hands at his sides. “The princess was branded! I know she was branded! How could she run away in the face of a direct order?”
“I don’t know, My Lord,” Lieutenant Tarys replied, cringing at the normally boisterous elf’s anger.
“Well, keep after them! Those damned women have to be part of Sifaren’s Royal Guard to be this much trouble,” Evansly ordered angrily, his eyes narrowing. “And I want to know who hit the princess, right away!”
Looking at the elves retreating up the ravine, Tarys could understand why Lord Evansly was so angry about their resistance. Several of the elves had been injured, but they were quickly retreating and hadn’t actually lost anyone, despite being outnumbered more than two to one. Their lighter armor allowed them to retreat just quickly enough that her soldiers couldn’t encircle and pin them down, either. But even so, they were faster and stronger than any other elven force she’d ever run into, and their own mages hadn’t stood a chance against the elven casters.
“Yes, My Lord. We’ll harry them until we bring them down,” Tarys promised. Hesitating a moment, she added, “And the shot that hit her… I don’t think it was aimed at her, it came right after the big shield of ice appeared.”
“I don’t care, just look into it!” Evansly growled, and Tarys cringed again, saluting in response.
“As you wish.” Tarys felt sorry for whoever fired the bolt, if they could figure out who it was. It didn’t look like Evansly was going to be nearly as friendly as normal.
* * *
“Oh, goddess, there’s so much blood!” Alissa murmured in a panic beside Evrial, who resisted the urge to look back as she carried Phynis with the other woman. Evrial had one of Phynis’ arms over her shoulders, while Alissa had the other, and they carried their charge into the tunnel that went back into Sistina’s cavern.
“Shush, Alissa! She can still be helped, if Farris gets to her fast enough,” Evrial almost snapped, stumbling a little as she rounded the corner into the tunnel, descending into the bowels of the mountain. “Our job is to get her there.”
“Yes.” Alissa’s voice went quiet. But after a half-dozen steps down the tunnel, Evrial heard the other woman begin murmuring a prayer, even as she heard drops of liquid hitting the stone floor behind them, and the sound of combat echoing down the tunnel. “Oh, Tianna, Hear My Prayer…”
* * *
Alissa hated herself. They’d almost gotten Phynis away safely, and then a damned stray shot had hit the princess! Certainly, if Kelvanis’ soldiers had managed to trap them, she would have sunk her poisoned needle into the princess’ back, but that was only if there was no other choice.
And now she was praying for Phynis to survive, hoping against hope that she would live.
* * *
It took Sistina a few moments to notice the two guards and Phynis re-entering her domain. It took several moments longer to realize that something was extremely wrong. And it took even longer for her to extricate herself from the nascent golem, leaving the enchantments, which she’d have to start anew, to fall to pieces behind her.
It took Sistina several more precious moments to analyze what was happening, her thoughts moving like winter-thickened sap. The two guards moved quickly, but she could feel every drop of Phynis’ blood as it hit the cavern floor. Each drop was like thunder that rippled through her entire domain. Sistina could feel inside the woman’s body, where the crossbow bolt’s iron head had pierced Phynis’ heart, and how spurts of her blood were forcing their way past the wooden plug of its shaft. She could feel every splinter of the shattered shaft that had exploded into the princess’ back and spread through her body, and Sistina could see every drop of blood.
And the feeling that flowed through her as she realized that Phynis was dying was… unknown to her. It was hot and powerful, and it took Sistina a moment to place it. To place the incandescent rage that suddenly flooded her senses.
The other members of Phynis’ guard started to flood into the tunnel from outside, several of them injured but none as badly as Phynis herself. Despite her growing anger and rage, Sistina found her thoughts clear enough to wonder why all the princess’ personal guard had been outside her domain. They normally worked in shifts, and her suspicions began to grow, even as Desa stepped into the tunnel, blocking several humans as they gave chase. The tunnel was too narrow for them to attack in great numbers, but they crowded in despite that, besieging the defending guards.
Sistina, on the other hand, found that the intruders made an excellent outlet for her anger.
* * *
Phillip paused to catch his breath as the others followed the elves into the cave entrance. He hadn’t been injured, but he’d also been at the back. He thought he’d managed to nick a couple of the elven soldiers, but their defense had been coordinated, furious, and supported by magic that had forced him to fall back several times.
But the women were on the defensive, and it was only a matter of time before they fell. Taking a deep breath, Phillip nodded at Rick and took a step forward, then stopped as the stone wall of the cavern closed in front of him. He gawked at the wall which had suddenly appeared, blocking off the entire tunnel and cutting him off from the twenty men who’d been ahead of them.
“What the hell? There must be a switch to open it!” Rick urged him, eyes wide in shock.
“Hurry and find it, the others need our support!” Sergeant Helm urged, stepping up behind them impatiently.
“Yes, sir!” Phillip answered instantly, sheathing his sword and starting to search the stones nearby for a switch of some type. As he did so, he had to wonder about the wall sliding shut. Something about it had seemed strange. Was it his imagination that the rock had flowed like water?
* * *
Jayla hissed as a crossbow bolt pierced a gap in Desa’s ice shield, punching through her shoulder. The pain made her arm twitch and her sword fell from nerveless f
ingers. The two humans in front lunged forward, snarling at her, and she braced herself for death. She wasn’t ready to die, but if she died defending her country instead of being enslaved, Jayla would have to be content.
But it was at that moment, as she stared down a corridor filled with human soldiers, that the ceiling came down. It didn’t make noise or shift beforehand, it just suddenly slammed downward and Jayla gasped as a rush of air pressure threw her backward. Hideous crunching sounds echoed in the hallway, causing her to shudder viscerally.
Biting back a whimper of pain, Jayla pulled herself back to her feet, murmuring an apology to whomever she’d been thrown into, and froze as she saw the corridor in front of them. She almost didn’t recognize her own trembling voice as she whispered a soft oath. “Goddess above…”
The ceiling was now almost perfectly flush with the floor, with no sign of a collapse. Her sword was vibrating on the ground, and a single, outstretched hand from a Kelvanis soldier protruded from underneath the rock barrier, still holding the short blade of the man’s sword. And ever so slowly, a pool of blood was spreading from that tiny gap.
“What just happened?” Jayla asked, shaken as she’d never been before.
* * *
Evrial gasped, paling as she helped lay the princess down and saw the wound on her back again. She’d only gotten a glimpse of it before, and that was before the blood had soaked Phynis’ blouse and dripped down her back. Tiny spurts of blood came from the central wound, and where it was located… Evrial paled even more as she realized what that meant. Her belief that the princess could be helped wavered as she realized that she’d been struck in the heart. The other damage was bad enough, but this was so much worse than she’d feared.
“Oh, gods, what do we do, Evrial?” Alissa asked, her own face white as a sheet despite her skin tone. “Her heart… she was just fine ten minutes ago! What can we do?”
“We… we’ll just have to try to keep her stable. Farris can still help her,” Evrial assured the other woman even as her own doubts whispered to the contrary. “We just have to keep her alive that long.”
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