The soldier began hobbling toward Garlan and held the dagger to his throat.
“Shame about your friend,” he snarled into Garlan’s face.
“His will be the last life you ever take.”
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?”
In a fit of rage, Garlan reached up and seized the soldier by the throat, but his grip was still weak. He hadn’t had the time to just sit and perform his healing magic and it was exhausting all his energy just to stay conscious.
The soldier clutched his wrist and jerked his hand away from his throat and pulled Garlan away from the wall he was sitting up against. He forced his face down on the floor of the cave and wrenched his arms behind his back, preparing to bind his wrists again.
“You are one pathetic excuse for a wizard,” snarled the soldier.
The pain in Garlan’s ribs was intense and he still couldn’t focus on anything, but the pain. He felt his hands being bound together and couldn’t do anything to stop it.
As he struggled to stay awake, he thought of sending out a call to either Golrath or Agoroth, but the pain clouding his mind kept him from focusing on either of them enough to call them. He was still fighting the clouds over his mind from when he was hit in the head.
As he laid on the floor of the cave, he could hear some heavy breathing and shuffling of feet in the passageway to the back chamber. In his mind, he knew only one thing could be making that noise and he was not looking forward to finding out if he was right.
After a few seconds, the beast emerged from the passageway and hobbled across the cave toward him. It didn’t bother extinguishing the illumination sphere in the cave and this was the first real good look he was getting of the foul beast.
It stood about four feet high, completely black and covered with a torn and rotted cloak. There was no hair anywhere on its body. Its eyes were completely closed, but the beast appeared to be able to move around the cave just fine without seeing.
Garlan could tell it was a man, but he had never seen a man like this before. He had never heard of any such beings in any of the lands he was familiar with.
“Who is that?” asked the beast, pointing at Severin’s lifeless body.
“It was one of Kerrick’s troops,” replied the soldier. “He surprised us and was able to kill the other three before he was taken down.”
“I was under the impression you four were the best soldiers in the army. If not, you would not have been assigned to protect me.”
“A lapse in judgment on our part, master. I was able to bring him down after a long battle.”
Garlan laughed through his slashed lips.
“You find this funny?” asked the beast.
“It’s just your man here, didn’t do anything heroic,” wheezed Garlan. “My friend was knocked unconscious and your courageous soldier executed him when he couldn’t defend himself.”
The soldier kicked Garlan in the ribs, bringing on a whole new level of pain. As Garlan struggled to breathe, the beast looked at the soldier.
“I am the only one to inflict pain on this wizard!” bellowed the demon.
The soldier backed away and bowed.
“Of course, master. I beg your forgiveness.”
The beast looked down at Blaze, laying in the dirt.
“Such a nice weapon to be left laying in the dirt like this.”
Garlan prayed he would bend over and pick up the sword.
“Be careful, master. When I touched the sword I was knocked unconscious for a few minutes. I think it’s enchanted.”
“Oh really. Is that what you think?”
He bent down and picked the sword up off the ground. But the massive shock from the sword never came. Garlan was dumbstruck by this turn of events. He couldn’t figure out how this beast had been able to lay his hands on Blaze and not suffer the consequences. He could see Blaze was trying to fight back, but it was having no effect on this creature.
The creature looked at him and said, “What? You thought your little pig sticker would take me down?”
He started shambling toward Garlan, weaving the point of Blaze through the air and pointing it at the helpless wizard.
“Perhaps we should find out what kind of effect the blade has on you,” growled the black form.
Just as he got within a couple of steps from Garlan, there was a flurry of wings and feathers, as Keelee came out of her hiding place and attacked the dark figure’s face.
“You leave alone!” she twittered angrily at the monster.
The monster swiped its hand at the fluttering bird, trying to capture it. Garlan wanted to cry out for Keelee to escape the cave and leave him. As he was about to find his voice, the beast grew weary of Keelee’s dodging his attempts to grab her and cast a spell that knocked her out of the air. As she laid on the ground, stunned and unable to move, the soldier stepped forward and stomped on her, crushing her little body under his boot.
“NO!” screamed Garlan through his damaged throat.
The soldier looked at him and sneered, “Seems like the wizard has a soft spot for birds.”
“Truly it seems so,” said the dark master as he reached down and placed his hand on the top of Garlan’s head.
Garlan tried as hard as he could, but he couldn’t prevent the beast from entering his mind. He couldn’t stop him from looking into all the memories he had about places, his training and about the people that meant the most to him.
In a flash, the beast knew everything about Garlan, things that Garlan never would have wanted revealed to him.
He felt the hand lift from his head and he looked up into the piercing blue eyes of the monster.
“It appears there is another that means even more to him.”
Garlan looked at him and shook his head.
“If you hurt her, I shall devote the rest of my days to hunting you and killing you.”
The black face came closer to his and laughed, “Sounds like fun. Shall we begin?”
The creature placed his hand on Garlan’s head again and this time, Garlan felt like he was undertaking a journey with the beast. He tried fighting it, but he was just along for the ride.
Chapter 28 ~ The Battle Started Without Us
As Hilde and the others drew closer to Rosemoor they could see their fears had been correct. The village was under attack from the air and on the ground. She could see Gwen and the other dragon riders in a battle with the red dragons of Kerrick.
Kerrick’s forces were near the marshes just east of the village and it appeared the armies of Wyndweir were holding them back.
As they got closer they could see the other dragon riders had already brought down a couple of dragons and were working on the others. There were flashes of lightning coming from the ground and flying into the sky. Hilde figured that was where she would find Jarell and Pendivall and if she watched where the lightning and fireballs were going, she would likely see Kerrick.
Venia and Golrath set their sights on a couple of dragons that were battling with the troops on the ground in the old, encampment area southwest of the village. They could see the tents were ablaze and the encampment was destroyed.
Hilde aimed Venia at the line where the forces of the two armies had come together. Her intention was to take out as many troops on Kerrick’s side of the line as possible.
As they lined up on the troops, she saw Kerrick alter his own course to intercept her. She could see the demon’s eyes shining through the mask covering the hideous wounds of his face and she wanted nothing more than to snuff those eyes out. She felt a small bit of satisfaction when she saw the bandages on his left hand.
She felt Jarell’s presence in her mind as she closed on the dark wizard, screaming at her to get away from him. Suppressing every instinct in her soul, she changed course and flew to where Jarell and Pendivall were surrounded by swordsmen and bowmaidens, trying their best to hold the enemy troops at bay.
Coming low, she intended to dismount and let Venia take to the
air again and fight without her for a little while. She needed to get information to Jarell and Pendivall and she couldn’t do it sitting on the back of a flying dragon.
She aimed Venia at an open spot behind the two wizards and prepared herself to jump off. A fireball rocked her and Venia as they came in low and she looked to see one of Kerrick’s red dragons descending on them. They were too low and too committed to stop the landing, so they were pretty close to being defenseless.
Hilde pulled an arrow from her quiver and aimed at the incoming dragon, just as a fireball flew past her and right at the red dragon. It swerved to avoid the fireball, but neglected to keep its eyes open around itself and found its neck caught in the jaws of Morgath.
With a couple of violent shakes, the red dragon’s neck snapped. Morgath hurled the dead carcass away from the battle and into the trees north of the village.
Hilde turned her attention back to getting on the ground and Venia timed her mid-air stop perfectly. As they had done many times before, Hilde leaped and fell the last fifteen feet to the ground, hitting and rolling and coming up ready to fight. Venia was flapping her large wings before Hilde even hit the ground and was rising back to the battle. She fell in beside Morgath and followed his and Caroline’s lead in where to take the fight.
Hilde ran across the open space toward her husband, but found herself having to fight with soldiers of Gallyneer almost every step of the way. Jarell could see she was trying to get to him and he began fighting his way toward her, hoping to get to her before her luck ran out. He was both proud of her willingness to wade into a fight and also, terrified that sooner or later it would catch up with her and he didn’t want to see it happen today.
In a quick succession of fights, Hilde took down three soldiers with her sword and two more were taken down from above as Caroline and Gwen fired from the backs of their dragons. Within a couple of minutes, Hilde finally reached Jarell’s side as he dispatched a rather large soldier of the dark wizard.
“What are you doing on the ground?” yelled Jarell. “You are much safer and more deadly in the air!”
She pulled an arrow and shot another soldier right between the eyes and then said, “I missed you. Besides, I have information you are going to need.”
He grabbed her and kissed her quick and then asked, “I missed you, too. Now what information would that be?”
They had to stop for a moment and deal with a couple more Gallyneer soldiers. After they dropped them, he seized her by the arm and hauled her to where he had been originally. This afforded them the protection of a platoon of swordsmen. It also brought them close to Pendivall, who was busy firing lightning bolts at the back lines of Kerrick’s troops.
“Now, quickly” said Jarell, “what do you have to tell us?”
Pendivall stopped for a moment so he could listen.
“What you see here right now, is only half of Kerrick’s troops. We fear the other half of his troops are coming at us from the west, having gone around the mountain, into Terranasia and coming over the mountain at Deanburg.”
Jarell turned and yelled for Belgard, who came running across the battlefield, killing a few Gallyneer troops on the way. After he had reached them, Jarell informed him what he had just learned and said it might be best to take some troops and head to the west and try to obstruct their advance.
“How many royals have you seen fighting with the dark wizard’s army?” asked Hilde.
“Just a handful, m’lady,” said Belgard.
She shook her head and said, “We have reason to believe Kerrick has a force of over two hundred royals fighting for him. They came to him from out of Easternesse.”
Belgard’s mouth dropped open.
“Two hundred? This is even more dire than I had feared.”
“Where did you get this information?” asked Pendivall.
“Garlan and I went to Kerrick’s camp when we suspected it was empty. We encountered a soldier there, who gave us the information. Garlan believes it to be accurate.”
“Where is Garlan?” asked Jarell.
Hilde hesitated, not wanting to inform him of the plan Garlan had.
“Hilde? Where is Garlan?”
“He went looking for Kerrick’s lair. He sent me back to Black Mountain and told me not to come back for him.”
The battle raged all around them and it drowned out the scream of rage Jarell let out when hearing of Garlan’s foolishness. The last thing they needed was for one of their master wizards to go missing in the Eastern Desert, especially considering they didn’t know what lived in the back of the cave.
Pendivall looked at Belgard and said, “Captain, take what you think you need and move to the west. If we get caught between two armies, we are going to be in serious trouble.”
He looked at Hilde and asked, “What of Jong and his men?”
“They are on their way here and should be no more than an hour away. The rest of the troops from Black Mountain will be following behind them.”
Belgard nodded and took off toward his men.
“Anything else?” asked Jarell.
“No, I think that pretty much wraps it up.”
“Then you need to get back on your dragon and get above this battlefield. You are much more useful and deadly when you’re in the air.”
She grinned and leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
“Try not to get hurt, sweetie.”
He smiled back at her as she turned and called to Venia, who broke away from Morgath and began looking for a place to pick her up. After settling on a short hill top a couple hundred yards away, Hilde began running for that spot. A couple of swordsmen went with her, looking to get her there safely. They believed as Jarell did, that she was much more valuable in the air.
After she reached the hilltop, she climbed onto Venia and they were airborne within seconds. She looked at the battle below and saw the forces of Wyndweir were keeping Kerrick’s forces at bay. She looked around and saw Claudious standing on the roof of Toddie’s pub, casting thunderballs at the moors just east of the village. There were a lot of Kerrick’s troops coming through the paths that cut through the moors, something the forces of Wyndweir hadn’t really considered.
Claudious’ thunderballs were producing a devastating effect on those troops and Kerrick kept trying to get closer to the old wizard to stop his barrage, but every time he tried, Pendivall fired off lightning bolts at him and his dragon, driving them back.
Hilde looked at the other dragon riders and saw they were handling the rest of Kerrick’s red dragons and pursuing them all over the sky. She felt like she could get in there and help them, but something at the back of her mind caused her to come up with another idea.
She directed a thought to Jarell and told him she was going to take a quick look to the west, just to make sure they weren’t going to be surprised by anything. Jarell advised her to be careful and hurry back.
She turned Venia to the west and they flew along the road toward Bridgehaven. She looked down and saw Belgard and his troops had moved to a spot about a mile west of Rosemoor and were setting up a defensive line. She hoped they would have enough troops, but she knew that Kerrick probably had close to a thousand coming this way. And if they had the bulk of the royals in that army, Belgard and his troops would be hard pressed to hold them off.
Within a few minutes, she and Venia reached the road that went up and over the mountains to the north, that would take her to Deanburg. She saw nothing as they flew up the mountain. The road was clear and didn’t appear it had been traveled by anyone recently.
She remembered the pass over the mountain was quite rough and if the enemy did come this way, it would not be an easy trek for them.
They reached the top of the mountain and saw nothing. They could see all the way down to Deanburg and to the east, where the enemy troops would come from, but she saw nothing.
Then she looked closer at Deanburg and saw smoke. They were still too far away to make any sense of it, but she
figured it would just be the smoke for cooking fires. She decided they needed to make sure of that, so she set Venia on a course to the village.
When they got closer, they saw it wasn’t cooking fires that was producing the smoke, but the wreckage of the entire village. Every single building had been destroyed and brought down.
As they circled over the village, she could see a few people moving around and could see they were not soldiers. Landing just outside the village, she jumped down and walked toward the nearest people. Venia walked along behind her, not wanting to take her eyes off the people they were approaching.
One thing Hilde began noticing was that all the people were women and young children. There were no men, young or old in the group.
As she walked up to a couple of the women she asked, “What happened here?”
“It was the dark wizard’s army. They did this and took all the men as soldiers in their army.”
“Where are they? I just came over the mountain and didn’t see anyone on the pass. Are they heading for Strafton and further south into Terranasia?”
“No, they are heading into Wyndweir.”
“Wyndweir?”
“They went over the mountain pass.”
“I didn’t see anyone in the pass.”
“M’lady,” said one of the older women, “they came through here yesterday.”
“Three days ago?” she gasped.
She turned and looked at Venia.
“They’re already in Wyndweir! We need to get back now!”
She climbed back up on the dragon and looked down at the ladies.
“Did they have a number of royal soldiers with them?”
“Yes, m’lady. Quite a large number.”
“Let’s go Venia. We may already be too late.”
Venia got herself turned around and launched herself into the sky and headed back to the summit. It only took a few minutes to cross back into the land of Wyndweir and they flew straight down the road to where it connected with the road to Bridgehaven.
Where did they go after they got over the mountain?
The Wrath Page 29