Vedientir

  The men cheered but quickly turned silent to hear what else Aris had to say.

  "Are you ready to march?" he deliberately finished with a question, knowing their answer will get the blood moving through their legs.

  "Yes," their answer boomed across the field. Dion twitched from the sound, and even Aris's war horse stomped its hooves and moved a step back.

  "Move!" ordered Aris and commanded his horse to move first. The primaries then began coordinating the legionaries to make sure they exited the field orderly, and to make sure no stone on the road was without a legionary's foot on it.

  "Your southern friends are really loud," said Kerkio, but he smiled. "At least they've woken up our dirty friend," he added, hearing Zmai's soggy footsteps approach them lazily.

  "And Eya," Kerkio added when he saw her peering out of the inn.

  "Good morning," said Dion to Eya. "I'll go get the horses."

  Chapter 21 - Rising from the Ashes

  The day favored the legion. The sun did not burn their napes and a gentle wind pushed them along and cooled them at the same time. Everything was good, especially the food that the Pharesians had prepared that waited for the legion half-way to the city.

  They continued on after the midday meal and finally, after a few more day parts, they came to a sobering sight. The Mountain blocked their sight so they still could not see the city walls, but they could see what of it went up and above the Mountain. While the sky was blue above the rest of the world, above Tialoch it was almost black from smoke. It looked as if a storm gathered only above the city.

  Only footsteps could be heard from then on, until the legion's vanguard passed the edge of the Mountain to finally see the city to their right. A few cheered then, seeing the city's northern wall intact and guard fires atop it manned by many legionaries.

  The legion turned south at the pine crossing and there they came upon an entire segment of legionaries who stood guard at a deep ditch that stretched from east to west as far as they could see.

  "What is this?" Aris asked the ditch guards and pulled his horse off the road.

  "There had been several breaches from the city," answered one of the king's legionaries stationed there. Aris waved for the legion to continue marching towards the city.

  "The filth began sneaking out of the city in the night - all kinds of strange creatures, not only men," replied a tired member of the king's legion. "This is how we are trying to stop them from leaving the city and spreading out of our control."

  "That there is ours also?" asked Aris and pointed toward the top of the wall next to the city gate.

  "Yes, we built the wooden barricades to protect the towers guarding the gate when the enemy tried to overtake the walls. We pushed them back, and now we control the high ground and the walls in their entirety. The western gate we had to block completely after a large group broke out and ran towards Eborum. The king ordered us then to contain the enemy within the city walls at all costs. They have nowhere to go anymore, but their attacks inside the city have become relentless. The scouts who manage to return from the western quarters say they have begun to turn towards the Mountain, but we have men there already who will stop them, at least for a while."

  Aris exhaled loudly, thanked the legionary for his report, and then continued with Dion and the others towards the city that waited eagerly for them to arrive.

  "The south is here!" shouted the gathered crowd when the first Echa's legionaries entered the city.

  "Tonight they will fear to come out! We will free the city!"

  The cheers were loud and full of hope, but they came only from the eastern side of the road. The west was hidden behind a veil of smoke and was cut off from the eastern part of the city by the king's legionaries. They guarded all the roads that led to the west quarters of the city.

  The men from both legions looked at each other as the southerners absorbed the reality of the chaos the northerners had suffered. Half of the city was torn and its stone houses looked like rotten old teeth - the white stone of their walls was blackened by fires that had eaten away their innards. The streets around the houses were filled with ash from their burned beams and littered with red pieces of broken tiles that were once their roofs.

  Aris, followed closely by Dion and the others, moved to the head of the column and led the South legion forward to the agora that now belonged exclusively to the king's legion. There were so many tents put up there that it looked like a regular legionary encampment. There was red all over the square, but the color came not only from the legionaries' cloaks, but also from the blood of their wounded.

  Between two large houses situated on either side of the main road leading west to the Great Oak now stood a massive rammed-earth wall, obviously built in utmost hurry, fortified by stones and wooden beams, and adorned with spears and spikes stuck into it on the outer side to stop the enemy from assaulting it easily. It was slightly taller than the tallest of men present there, and wide enough so that the legionaries could stand atop it and move freely to defend it.

  Valan and Telurion were there, behind that earthen wall, waiting for Aris to arrive ever since the men from Phares had announced his return. King Valan's face struggled between joy and disbelief when he saw Aris.

  "Aris!" the king greeted him as Aris's horse stopped.

  "The arrival of your legion is like the adding of a drop of honey into a bitter drink. I just hope the drop is sweet enough to remove all of the unpleasantness."

  Aris returned the hug he received from the king, and then shook hands with Telurion. It was a firm handshake, but one that also confirmed the compassion that was already present in his eyes.

  "It seems to me that we are going to need a honeycomb, not merely a drop to resolve this bitterness," replied Aris to the king.

  "And that precisely is my fear," said Valan. He took Aris by the hand and pulled him aside, but only a step and half away from the others.

  "How? How are you here?" asked the king.

  "Dion of Echa, son of Arnos, has found two new Great Oaks," replied Aris, bursting with pride for his friend's son, and pointed with his right hand towards Dion who was standing close to Aris's horse. "He found one close to Phares and the other one close to the western wall in Syevnor."

  The king looked towards the legion, recognizing the name as soon as Aris said it, and then recognized the face too. Neither Dion nor the king said anything in that short moment before the king's eyes moved from Dion to the dragon and then the king greeted the dragon with a smile before finally returning his attention to Aris.

  "Renk sent an envoy this morning, but I met him at the bridge outside the walls. I did not want the people to see him, even though they heard later that he was at the eastern gates."

  The king pressed his forehead with one hand as if it ached.

  "Their army will be at our walls in the morning, and they will surround us just as we have surrounded the ones around the Great Oak. I am afraid that when that happens all hope that you brought with you will disappear.

  They set up their camp some ten miles northeast of here, and he brought a new ally with him. Some queen Roga, but I haven't heard of her before."

  "He spoke that name?" shouted Dion from the background.

  "Yes, why?" replied the king.

  "You have heard of her before," explained Dion. "That is the name of the witch who destroyed Aquia, but she is not with Renk now. She came to Tialoch through the Great Oak and followed us west. We last saw her near Barda Rei."

  "The envoy bragged about you too," continued the king to Aris. "He said Syevnor is about to fall and that you had been destroyed to the last man."

  Aris nodded.

  "I was almost certain that Renk was behind the pigeon sabotage. Conniving old scum."

  "You knew, but I didn't, and I couldn't hope for anything," replied the king. "The men I sent to search for you are now sailing the Inner Sea, and are days away from any news that would have brought me comfort and hope."

  "Ar
e there news from the south? Newer than those that Dion had brought me?" asked Aris.

  "Yes, but there are no worse news than the bad ones he already brought. Regular reports tell us that Echa still suffers, but she stopped the enemy from continuing north to Mara and us. Telurion and I have sent two horse segments of the first legion as scouts, and they've managed to reach all the way south to your training camp in the hills of Wissa."

  "That is very good news for us," said Aris, but the king went silent.

  "Aris, I need the South legion here, but I cannot forbid you to go. That is your home and you would be right to rebel against me for breaking the Aelan Code, and my own morality. I've already said no once to that young man behind you and left Echa to its fate, but I fear that we risk not only Tialoch but the kingdom if I let you go to Echa. If we fall behind your back, you will find yourself completely surrounded and with no help from anywhere. I would rather we push together and overtake this Tree, especially now that you have found more of them that work."

  "We cannot overtake the Tree," shouted Dion only as loudly as he thought was needed for the words to grab the king's attention. The king frowned again like he had done the first time the two of them argued, but gestured for Dion to continue.

  "We cannot close or control the Paths in our old Trees. We can only destroy those Trees before we are overrun, like they destroyed the one in Echa. The enemy does not yet know that we have returned to Aelan or that we have functioning Trees again. If we attack them here and now, it is absolutely certain that at least one will be sent back through the Tree and take the news of our return to Echa Rei or Echa Doros. We will lose all advantage in time that we now possess."

  "How do you know that we cannot retake our Tree?" asked the king, still irked by the young man. Dion knew he could not speak of Bor or Vedientir so he kept quiet while his mind burned to come up with an answer.

  "I was in her kingdom," said Dion finally and pointed towards Eya. "They have tried the very same and failed, and now her kingdom is in ruin." He seemed content with his interpretation of events in Arvinia, and the king looked at Aris again.

  "Do you trust him?" the king asked.

  "I have known him since he was a newborn. He has been trustworthy thus far."

  "My worries not only remain but deepen and multiply," said Valan. "Even if you manage to free Echa, you will be lost to Tialoch. Mara is already under orders to evacuate to Eborum, and through two sieges there will be no way of sending you supplies or reinforcements. The more I think about it, the less I am inclined to let you leave." The king finished speaking and ruffled his own hair nervously, struggling with his decision.

  "Tell me something that will make me let you go," the king spoke once more with audible pain in his voice.

  "We do not have to save Echa," Dion answered since no one else said anything.

  "You do not have to let us go into Echa. Just let us go to Echa so we can get the people out. The enemy can keep the stones of the city for themselves."

  "That will take too long," the king answered, but Aris and Telurion looked at each other and both could tell that the other was seriously considering Dion's words.

  "You have no way of coordinating that rescue plan with Echa," the king continued. "You would have to capture the entire city and fight the enemy outside the walls while the people inside prepare to leave. That would take longer than the battle itself would last, regardless of outcome, and that gives the enemy more time to bring reinforcements from the Trees in Rei and Doros."

  "We have a way of sending a message to Echa without getting near to it or having to worry about our plans being discovered."

  Kerkio and Eya started looking above their heads, knowing well who it was that Dion spoke of.

  "Gafranihi!" shouted Dion. The king understood him and looked up at the sky and almost immediately spotted them on the rooftop of a house to their right.

  "Grak!"

  "Bel! Charn!" Dion called them by their name, and they flew down and landed onto the saddle of his horse.

  "Introduce yourselves," Dion said to them in the old language and guided the horse closer to the king.

  "Charn," said the black raven.

  "That did not sound like cawing," said the king with a thrill in his voice that momentarily overshadowed his worries.

  "Ya sai kral Valan," the king introduced himself.

  "Ya gafran Bel," said the white raven.

  "First the dragon, and now these two," the king laughed.

  "They speak the old language, and more importantly they know how to find my family in Echa. We can use the ravens to tell Arnos and the defenders of our plan and of our arrival ahead of time. Then we just have to pierce our way to the city gates, get the people behind the legion's shields, and get to the safety of the forest."

  "But then you would have to fight all the way back here," said Telurion.

  "Which to me does not sound as bad as what they must be going through in Echa now," answered Aris.

  "Galinos and the other woodsmen from Mara could help with that part," Dion continued defending his plan, but no one understood what he was talking about, not even Kerkio, even though he knew Galinos.

  "The woodsmen could create blockades at the narrowest places by preparing trees to be felled as soon as the people flee north of those places. Each felled tree will slow them down and hopefully deter the enemy after they find that they have to fight their way through or around each one."

  "They'll simply jump over them," said Telurion and threw aside the idea, but Dion looked at him and continued.

  "They won't if the trees are felled so that the treetops point towards the enemy. That way we get hundreds of spears from each tree that will hinder their movement, and the leaves will hide us from their sight. And when they do push through the blockade, hopefully they will first meet the arrows from Phares."

  "Dion might be right," added Aris. "The Wissa is hilly in the west where our camp lies. We can hold them back until the people reach safety. I know what these men can do. And don't forget that their families are there."

  "Well?" asked the king finally and looked at Telurion who first shook his head sideways as if unsure, but changed his gesture to an approval. The king looked at Aris then and received the same reply.

  "Dion, it looks like your idea has been approved," said Aris finally when he saw that the king remained silent. "The legion will go forth to Echa, and your tasks are to handle the woodsmen and your ravens as best as you can."

  Dion bowed to the three men, somehow feeling personally indebted to them, and Aris smiled at him.

  "We won't see peace for a long time," said the king then.

  "Many kingdoms through history failed to survive lesser ordeals and ended up only as traces of ink in old books."

  The sound of the loosing of a bowstring ended the king's speech and everyone looked up towards the roof of the house from where the sound had come.

  "They are coming!" shouted the Pharesian archers who stood on the roofs and kept watch.

  "Go!" shouted the king to Aris and then ran up the earthen wall with his legionaries.

  "Go! We'll make sure they don't see you leave."

  "More arrows!" shouted one of the Pharesian archers, and when Dion looked toward the archer he saw a hand come up from under the roof holding an arrow pouch. The archer bent and picked up two arrows that left the roof almost immediately in search of their targets.

  "The tentacled ones are coming!" continued the archers' shouts from the rooftops.

  Aris turned towards his men.

  "White segment! Ride south and prepare Mara for our arrival."

  The riders jumped into their saddles and started for the southern gate. Aris's eyes escorted them and it was only then that he noticed that there was no trace of the Pharesian column inside the city.

  "Valan? Where are the resources from Phares that Jor had given to Echa?"

  "They are on their way to or maybe they already are in Mara," replied the king.

>   Aris smiled.

  "I thought you had grown wise in your old age," said Aris, understanding that the king had no real intention of forbidding them to leave Tialoch. "I am glad you are as madly brave as you once were."

  "Just mad," answered the king and waved for Aris to go.

  "And hurry back!" added the king right before Aris ordered the rest of the legion to continue south.

  "We rest when we reach Mara!" Aris commanded his men, and the command spread quickly from the segments in the city to those who had not yet even entered through the northern gate.

  The legion continued marching and the city opened its southern gate to let the sons of the three Echas into war.

  Chapter 22 - The People

  "When were you planning on sending your message to Echa?" Aris asked Dion while the hooves beneath them knocked on the stones of the Northern road as they rode to Mara.

  "I could try to send the ravens now, but I'm not sure if they can find Echa from so far away."

  "What do you mean?" asked Aris, and turned slightly in the saddle towards Dion. He seemed worried.

  "These ravens aren't messenger pigeons. They don't fly home to a location. These birds fly home to a person, and they should be able to find either Daedar or Arnos. I'm just not certain from how far away because both of them ate much less of the... If that's how that works..." Dion wandered off in thought while he was explaining himself to Aris.

  "Let me ask them," said Dion and turned left towards the dragon. This time he did not need to search for his birds - they were already on the dragon's back. They seemed to enjoy riding on the dragon whenever the situation presented itself, and the dragon did not mind their company at all. It was quite the opposite, and only now that he had interrupted them did Dion notice that they spoke among themselves.

  "Chutyte Arnosa yl Daedara?" Even though he doubted it, he asked them if they could sense Arnos or Daedar. He pointed south down the road and the ravens looked in the direction for quite some time, but then Bel answered for both of them.