Five yards away they halted, and then the woman took three additional steps forward. She removed her black helmet and held it under her arm. Snow-white hair bellowed behind her. Although she had to have been middle-aged, her dark skin showed few signs of wrinkles. Her brown-eyed stare pierced like a hawk’s.
Aria and Pravus approached the woman together, but the woman spoke first. “I am Ursula Picking, commander of the Elatos City Guard. I command you to disband your army and return to your homes. Failure to comply will be met with force.”
Pravus stood tall, his hands behind his back. Mezhik crackled at his fingertips. “You have no authority to command me to do anything. My name is Pravus Rosai, Lord of Galondu Castle and rightful king of the Ancient Realm. Command your army to surrender, or you will be decimated. If you choose to engage us in combat, there will be no quarter.”
Commander Picking’s mouth opened, but Aria cut her off. “My husband has spoken. Surrender now or die this day.”
“We shall never surrender!” cried Commander Picking.
“Perhaps this will persuade you.” Three orangish-blue fireballs flew from Aria’s palms and incinerated the three men who stood behind Commander Picking.
Commander Picking gasped. “You’ve violated the conventions of war set forth by millennia of rulers!”
Aria moved forward and circled the woman. A lioness stalking its prey. “The only rule that matters is mine. Return to your army and let them know that death comes for them this day. Send word to your city ruler that his reign has ended. As it did in the Great War, Elatos will burn to the ground before the sun sets.” She spat at the woman’s feet and walked back toward Cinolth.
Pravus smiled. Gods, she is ruthless.
He backed away from Commander Picking and mounted his horse. Turning his horse around, he signaled the army to advance. War cries filled the air, and the army surged forward with the thunder of more than two hundred thousand pairs of boots, hooves, feet, and paws. Drums pounded away, quaking the ground and shaking the air. Nothing could’ve sounded sweeter to his ears.
Commander Picking ran back to her mount and took off back toward Elatos and her army. Aria mounted Cinolth without another word, and Cinolth took to the sky, beating the air with his mighty wings and raising a cloud of dust from the parched plains.
Pravus mindspoke to Aria. “Head for Vallah and leave the army of Elatos to me.”
“It is in your hands,” she replied. “If possible, don’t let yourself be injured again. I can’t afford to sustain a broken nose or something worse while engaged in battle. And try not to get tied up with vines.” Her laughter echoed in his mind.
The jab infuriated Pravus, but he took a breath and let it slide as he severed the connection with her. This was his day for glory, and nothing would spoil it, not even his wife.
Pravus drew upon his mezhik and hid himself and his mount from view. Then, using his mind, he reached out to Karraar, the designated leader of the gnolls. “Disengage and head east.”
“My lord, I’ve promised them bloodshed,” replied Karraar.
Pravus grinned to himself. “And bloodshed they shall have. Move swiftly through the Orbis Mountains and attack Borza. Kill them all.”
“Consider it done, my lord.”
Pravus severed the connection. His pure black mount stomped its foot and snorted. A war horse from birth.
He leaned forward and patted the horse’s neck. “Sorry, but you won’t be seeing combat anytime soon.”
Pravus urged the horse forward and headed south, through the middle of his surging army, until he reached a point just outside the range of the Elatos archers. Reaching into his satchel that hung from the saddle, he retrieved his diary and a fountain pen. He opened the diary to the first page, a blank one, and wrote a single sentence. “The time has come to lay siege on Vallah. -Lord Rosai”
The words faded when he lifted the fountain pen from the page, his message sent. He closed the diary and placed it and the fountain pen back in his satchel, not needing or expecting a response.
Pravus steepled his fingers as he watched his army march ahead.
The Three Kingdoms will fall into chaos by nightfall.
Satisfied everything progressed as planned, he set to work weaving his mezhik and creating an illusion the enemy would never forget.
† † †
Arrows peppered the sky from the north, forcing Aria and Cinolth to fly higher. Such weapons couldn’t penetrate Cinolth’s scales, but she didn’t have the luxury of armored skin, and wearing any sort of mail didn’t suit her. It didn’t take much effort to destroy or deflect the arrows that came close using her mezhik, but their mission would certainly require them both to be at full strength. Take out the king, and the people’s hope would falter.
Hundreds of her forces already lay dead on the battlefield, arrows buried in their flesh. But it didn’t matter. King Zaridus couldn’t muster an army the size of hers if he had ten years to do so.
Arrows continued to rain down on both sides of the field even as the armies met in the middle of the battlefield with a thunderous clash of metal and guttural cries of war. In a strange way, she longed to be down there. Killing the zhebəllin back in the Daltura Hills and the nōmed in the Inferus Wastelands had been an exhilarating experience. Now, with her mezhik, she feared nothing.
Just as they were about to leave the battle behind, Cinolth banked hard to his left. She hadn’t expected the sudden change in direction and nearly slid off his neck.
“What are you doing?” she demanded through mindspeak. The only response she received from their connection was one of blinding rage. She scoured the battlefield but found no threat worthy of a response.
She was about to ask Cinolth what he was doing again, but then she spotted the target of his wrath. Nardus, her father, stood in the middle of the battlefield, directing soldiers on every front and taking out droves of zhebəllin with a variety of mezhik attacks.
“I thought my father wasn’t a threat.”
“He wasn’t until he found himself,” replied Cinolth in her mind.
Aria leaned forward. “What does that mean?”
“Your father is Cyrus, my prior captor and sworn enemy.” Hatred dripped from his words. “He didn’t remember that until recently.”
Understanding washed over Aria.
No wonder Pravus told me he was dangerous and to keep away from him.
“Why didn’t Pravus or Wrik tell me the truth?” she asked.
“When will you finally learn that they have both manipulated you from the start?”
Heat rose in Cinolth’s neck, and his scales took on a red, ember-like glow. Aria quickly pulled moisture from the air and layered the insides of her legs with ice.
“Leave him!” she shouted. “Vallah is our target.”
Cinolth dove toward Nardus and let loose a pillar of fire.
Nardus moved his hands in a circle and everyone around him flew backward.
The fiery blast engulfed Nardus, the fire so bright that Aria had to shield her eyes.
Cinolth circled back around.
A scorch mark ten feet wide and fifty feet long scarred the earth, but Nardus stood in the middle of it unharmed.
He must’ve shielded himself with ice or something else.
Lightning flashed and struck Cinolth’s left wing. Another bolt struck his right wing. The air rumbled, and Cinolth jerked back and forth.
A six-inch hole pierced each of his wings where the lightning hit. Cinolth roared with fury and banked back toward Nardus.
Aria entered Cinolth’s mind and spoke to him, her voice spry with urgency. “We don’t have time for this! Remember our mission.”
“He must die,” Cinolth roared in her mind.
“And he will,” said Aria. “I swear it on my life. But now is not the time.”
Cinolth turned back toward Elatos and gained altitude. His scales cooled and returned to their normal blac
k color. Aria sighed with relief and looked ahead.
We’re coming for you, King Zaridus.
† † †
Nardus watched Cinolth head toward Elatos. The sight of Shanara riding that foul beast sickened Nardus. Every moment she spent upon his back and in his presence corrupted her mind further. He’d witnessed it happen once before with Magus Carac. A lifetime ago. He’d fight to his last breath to save her from Cinolth.
He returned his attention back to the battlefield and the onslaught of enemy forces he and the Elatos City Guard faced. He tried to preserve the lives of those under the influence of Cinolth when he could, but the chaos of battle limited his ability to do so. No matter how many zhebəllin, giants, ogres, and soldiers he took out, another wave replaced them. Their numbers seemed endless. Nardus estimated that they faced close to a million foes, including a dozen wizards and sorceresses.
A sight far in the distance to the south grabbed Nardus’s attention and chilled his blood. Three massive dragons, bound in chains and led by giants, marched toward the battlefield. Chunks of flesh and scaly skin hung from whitish-beige bones of one of the dragons. Another looked to be covered with bluish-white ice crystals. The third dragon, greenish-black in color, seemed to have no physical structure whatsoever.
A bone dragon, an ice dragon, and a mist dragon. Where in Centauria did Pravus find them?
Cinolth presented a huge threat by himself, but with four dragons, Pravus’s army would prove all but impossible to defeat. Everywhere Nardus looked, the Elatos City Guard were being overrun. They needed to retreat before it was too late.
Nardus gathered the few men around him and told them to spread the word to fall back. As it was, they were already backed up dangerously close to the great wall. Seeing their position, realization set in that falling back was no longer an option for most if not all of them.
Theyn stood next to him, a bloody sword clutched in her hands. She fared well with the weapon but would’ve done better had she shifted into a cat. Fear of losing herself again kept her on two feet.
“Are we falling back?” she asked.
An ogre lumbered toward them. Theyn’s speed outmatched its size and strength, and she dispatched the beast with three quick swings of her sword, one to the back of each of the ogre’s knees and one to its throat. Alderan took out another with an arrow right through the center of its eyes. Once it hit the ground, Alderan stepped on its neck and pulled the arrow back out.
“Yes, but I need to send a message to Morcinda.” Nardus pulled the leather bag over his head and grabbed the book out of it. “You two watch my back.”
Nardus knelt and jotted a quick note to Morcinda on the first page. “The Elatos City Guard is being overrun. It’s time to raise the water wall. -Nardus”
He snapped the book shut before the words finished fading and shoved it back in his bag. “Let’s move!” He slung the bag back over his head as they ran toward Elatos and the great wall.
† † †
Even as Alderan ran toward Elatos he knew the city guard wouldn’t make it back in time. Water from the Hotah River had already begun to rise and overflow its banks. At the rate the water built up, they only had a few minutes before crossing it would no longer be an option.
Alderan yelled at Nardus who ran ahead of him. “Can we create some sort of tunnel through the water for the soldiers to escape through?”
Nardus slowed and allowed Alderan to catch up. “Yes, but that would require a massive amount of energy and would only save a handful of lives.”
Alderan halted. Anger rose in his gut. “Preserving life is why we fight. Or at least why I fight.”
Nardus turned back and faced Alderan. “Yes, son, but you must also consider what will happen after this moment. Those soldiers swore an oath to defend Elatos and holding the enemy back a little bit longer will allow the rest of us to regroup and double our efforts to thwart that same enemy. If we stay here and help them live a few moments longer, we will be sacrificing lives on the other side of the wall.”
Alderan couldn’t argue with Nardus’s logic, but it didn’t settle his anger or ease his conscience. “Then we should stand with them and fight to the end.”
“I admire your bravery, but that would serve no purpose. We must stop Cinolth and your sister or all will be lost. Do you not understand that?”
“What about Sarai? How many people can she transport?” asked Theyn.
“Twelve perhaps, but no more,” said Nardus.
Dozens of fireballs whizzed over their heads. A few hissed as they careened into the growing wall of water, but most of them reached their target, the great wall.
A chilling roar shook the air and grabbed Alderan’s attention. The three dragons had been loosed. The ice dragon stormed forward, crushing everything in its path. Shards of ice shot from its mouth with deadly accuracy, impaling friend and foe without discrimination. The bone dragon raged too, screeching and shooting shards of bone from itself like porcupine quills. Unlike the other two, the mist dragon moved across the battlefield in silence, engulfing soldiers and leaving a trail of bloated bodies in its wake.
Alderan swallowed hard, fear wringing his neck. How can we win?
Hundreds of soldiers in black armor with a red dragon head sigil on their chests rushed toward them, swords, pikes, maces, and battle axes drawn and ready. A few city guardsmen intercepted them but were dispatched quickly and without mercy. Alderan raised his bow, nocked an arrow, and took aim as he drew the string back. A single shot would do him little good with so many approaching.
Nardus reached out and touched the end of the arrow. The arrow began to glow with a blue hue. “Aim for the closest one. We retreat after this.”
Alderan locked in on one of the soldiers. The brutish man screamed obscenities as he ran toward them, somehow audible over the growing frenzy surrounding them. Alderan loosed the arrow and it sailed true, plunging right through the man’s open mouth. Blue light flashed, and a concussive arc of icy wind shot out from behind the man. Dozens of soldiers froze solid and crashed to the ground, their bodies shattering upon impact.
The ground fell out beneath Alderan’s feet, dropping him into a pool of golden liquid. Nardus must’ve called Sarai after imbuing the arrow with an ice bomb. Alderan breathed in the golden liquid as the battle scene above disappeared from view.
† † †
Nardus met Prince Rictar atop the great wall. “Glad to see you’ve made it.”
“Just so.” Prince Rictar gazed at the water wall below. “It worries me that the dragon didn’t attack our ships.”
“That’s because the bigger prize is taking down Vallah. He’ll conserve as much energy as possible to do so.”
“And we’re down here now.” Prince Rictar shook his head. “Perhaps my father was right. Look at the size of the army we face. There is no end to their numbers, and they have three more dragons as well.”
Nardus grimaced. “I won’t pretend that things are looking up, but your army arriving has given hope and strength to the city guard. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to turn the tides of war.”
“Eshtak not see dragons.” He hopped from one foot to the other.
“Perhaps your vision isn’t that good,” said Nardus.
“Eshtak sees fine!”
“Wait…” said Alderan. “Amicus told me that Eshtak is immune to mezhik. Could the dragons be an illusion? Something Pravus is conjuring perhaps, like he did with the gallows.”
“Gah.” How foolish could Nardus have been? Pravus would be doing everything possible to make the odds seem insurmountable. “Let’s see if I can break the illusion.”
Nardus closed his eyes and focused his mezhik on the three dragons.
† † †
Alderan stared in awe as Nardus held his arms in the air and gathered light from the sun. Nardus’s hands and face began glowing so bright that Alderan had to shield his eyes. Nardus lowered his arms and took aim with his
hands at the battlefield below.
“Dissipate!” yelled Nardus.
Alderan turned and watched as light shot from Nardus’s hands and streaked across the battlefield, dispelling all shadows in its path.
The intense light reached the three dragons and caused them to shimmer. In fact, a sizable portion of the enemy army shimmered as well. Then, the mist dragon and several patches of Pravus’s soldiers shattered like mirrors of light and disappeared from the battlefield. Then more of Pravus’s army met the same fate. A few minutes more and the bone and ice dragons shattered into shards of light and disappeared as well, along with four fifths of Pravus’s forces. Despite the victory, their numbers were still staggering, but it still warranted celebration.
“You’ve done it, Father!” The word father sounded strange from his lips but calling him Nardus or Cyrus seemed even stranger.
Nardus leaned against the top of the wall and took a deep breath. “Pravus must have some source of energy, otherwise he’d never be able to conjure such an elaborate illusion.”
Cheers erupted across the top of the wall.
“Good job, Nardus,” said Prince Rictar. “You’ve given our forces more hope.”
“Agreed,” said Alderan. “We have a reprieve for the moment, but Morcinda won’t be able to control the water for much longer.” He sighed deep. “When the water wall falls, Elatos will surely go with it.”
“True.” Prince Rictar turned to one of his soldiers. “Aren, you, Eshtak, and Calen need to start the evacuation of Elatos at once.”
“Yes, my prince.” Aren gathered Calen and Eshtak and escorted them down from the wall.
Alderan surveyed the battlefield beyond the water wall. “Now what—”
Rayah’s voice entered Alderan’s head and interrupted him. “Alderan… help us.” Her voice came through weak and distraught. Flashes of blood and knives bombarded his mind for a few seconds and then everything faded, including her presence.
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