The World of Alderest - VI - An Unexpected Journey - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Hurry up!" Solyma shouted to Hector as another crossbow bolt whistled by her head. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" she cursed as she furiously cranked the windlass of her own crossbow. "We need help and we need it fast!" She screamed in anger as another bolt whipped by, slicing a neat red line in her shoulder. If they were using poison on these bolts, she was probably dead several times over. "Penelope, can't you keep these things off us?"

"I'm sorry," Penelope said, her voice tight. "We weren't taught how to stop crossbow bolts, just thrown objects, I-"

"Just do your best," Solyma said as she began cranking the windlass again. She glanced over the log at the dark forest. Jaric was out there, as were Tancred, Kerrith, Dravon, and Laros.

Tancred was making the most noise. She could hear him showing off from here. But the others were silent. When they had slipped off into the forest, each of them had been surprisingly silent. She had always thought of the Knights as bashers in shining armor. But they had been almost as quiet as Laros. Soon after they had set off to slow the relentless advance of the mercenaries following them, Solyma had heard screams and cries from the mercenaries.

"How are you doing?" she said as she glanced over at Ismene. The elf girl had taken a bow from the cache hidden in the forest for this very possibility. As far as Solyma could tell she was a good shot.

"I'm fine," Ismene said as she popped up and let another arrow go. There was not answering scream. She might have killed her target too quickly for him to cry out, or maybe she had just missed. In either case, Ismene didn't hesitate as she ducked down and nocked another arrow before firing again.

Solyma was about to rise and fire again when a dark shape leapt over the log, a longsword in one hand and a dagger in the other. He didn't say a word as he kicked at Solyma, knocking her back and leapt onto her, his dagger ready to strike. She brought the butt of the crossbow up into his gut, knocking him off her. She had her crossbow pointed at him, ready to take him prisoner, when Ismene calmly slid her dagger across his throat.

"Gods, Ismene," Solyma began to say as she looked at the elf girl. She'd seen soldiers who'd killed with more hesitation than that. She stopped when she saw the girl's hands shaking as she stabbed the dagger into the dirt to clean it and slid it back into its sheath. Solyma shook her head and turned to Hector. "Have you gotten through yet?"

"I'm trying," Hector said calmly. Solyma could see the weave of magic that infused his helmet, gauntlets, and monocle glowing in the night. A rhythmic pulse of magic jumped from the weave pointed to the south. Each pulse meant Hector was trying to contact the large crystal scrying array in the College at Corannon. "But they are blocking my attempts."

"You've got the Crystal of Valkersan!" Solyma yelled as she turned and popped up over the fallen log they were sheltered behind. She grunted as she shot a bolt at a dim shape deep in the forest and yelled in triumph when it fell. "You can't handle some mercenary spell-tossers?"

"They outnumber me, Solyma," Hector said reproachfully. "There are at least ten mages of some strength out there in the forest." As if answering Hector's statement, a blazing ball of fire rose in the air over the forest, casting a bloody light over the combatants below.

"We need to find the Queen," Laros said as he hopped over the log and crouched down by Solyma. If he had wanted to he could have cut her down without her noticing he was there. "We're keeping them from advancing but they keep bringing up more soldiers."

"How's Jaric?" Solyma asked without thinking.

"We're all uninjured, it's lucky we reached the cache before they caught up with us," Laros said. "But the Queen and her bodyguards may not have been able to."

"Dammit, Hector, find Amadrin and make it fast!" Solyma yelled.

"She's a half mile to the south, across the river that feeds the waterfall," Hector said a few seconds later. "She's alone- troops are closing in and-" Hector paused. "She is injured slightly."

"Where are her guards?" Laros said in a low voice as he picked up a quiver of arrows and slung them over his shoulder. "Are they dead?"

"I cannot tell, someone is trying to keep me from seeing anything else," Hector said. "Only one mage, but they are very skilled. And powerful." He paused again. "I believe he is an elf."

"How do you know?" Penelope asked from the other side of Hector. "That-that can't..." she trailed off, young as she was, she had had enough training in the ways of politics to know that there wasn't much that was impossible. "But there's never been an assassination attempt in the history of Taladros. Never! We're not like those-" She stopped and looked away from the humans. "-humans," she finished, her face a deep red.

---

Kerrith grunted as he heaved the assassin over his shoulder and into the small clearing strewn with blood drenched bodies. His boot slammed into the assassin's face as he stabbed downward, cleanly stabbing the assassin through the heart.

He glanced around at the clearing, noting that the bodies wore the same outfit as the other assassins he had been fighting. Someone else had gone through here before him. His sword flicked up to the ready as he heard someone breathing harshly.

A survivor, Kerrith thought as he stalked across the clearing. He looked down at the still living man and hissed through his teeth in horror.

---

Too many dead, Amadrin thought grimly to herself as she ran through the forest. Her long gown trailed behind her, the fabric managing to avoid every clutching branch and snagging bramble in her path. Her bodyguards, Dravon, and Matthieu were all probably dead after they had been cut off from her by a series of conjured walls of fire and acid.

"Penelope," she murmured to herself. She froze and crouched, the only sound the gentle fall of her gown around her. She narrowed her eyes and spun at the sound of a branch brushing against metal.

The crossbow bolt splintered against her conjured shield, the wooden and metal pieces floating in mid-air. The assassin, his face dark with some sort of makeup, said nothing as he pulled a long sword coated with a sickly yellow poison and leapt for her.

In mid-leap Amadrin flicked her wrist towards him, sending the shards of the bolt flying towards him and piercing his body in dozens of places. He let out a blood curdling shriek as the poison on the bolt's head started to work its way through his shredded body.

"Who hired you?" Amadrin said as she kicked away his sword and knelt by his head. "Tell me and I'll give you a quick death. Remain silent and I'll make sure you die slowly."

The assassin gurgled and hissed as he writhed on the ground. His mouth worked and he shuddered, blood spilling past his lips. "Lord-" he started to say and then shuddered, his teeth crashing against each other. "Lor-"

Amadrin leapt back as a bolt smashed into the assassin's face, silencing him forever. The elven queen snarled and let out a weave of magic that smashed trees and undergrowth to splinters before it turned an assassin into a cloud of red mist. Without even a glance at the dead assassin at her feet, Amadrin turned and continued to run deeper into the forest.

Tancred fell through the air silently to land on the back of one assassin. His claws had neatly cut the man's head from his neck as Tancred twisted and kicked off to jump at the other assassins. Before the first man's head had hit the ground they were all dead, their blood soaking into the earth.

Tancred growled deep in his throat as he licked the blood from his lips. He could feel all those old emotions coming back. The thrill of the hunt, the exultation of a kill, and the ecstasy of the blood. He ground his teeth together and forced himself onto his feet, standing straight instead of hunching over.

He looked down at his hands and clenched his fists until the claws had receded, leaving fingernails badly in need of a manicure in their place. Snatching up a sword from the fallen men, Tancred leapt back into the trees, his form a shadow that soon disappeared into the night.

---

"Loradros," Dravon gasped as blood bubbled on his lips. "He stabbed me in the back."

"We'll get you to a healer, sir," Kerrith said as he tried to staunch the wounds covering Dravon's body. "We've all seen knights injured worse than you survive."

"You're a good boy, Kerrith," Dravon rasped. "I-I don't think it was just Loradros. Matthieu was supposed to be watching my back." Dravon's eyes went unfocused for a moment. "His boots, I saw his boots...he didn't fight them..."

"Sir, sir!" Kerrith said as Dravon coughed again, blood flecking the front of Kerrith's shirt.

"Leave me, Kerrith," Dravon said as he forced himself into a sitting position. "I'll give you time to find the queen. Get out of here, get out of the country, it's not safe for any of you."

"No, sir, we need you, Krisephyr needs you," Kerrith said as he helped Dravon to his feet. "I'll stay."

"Bad tactics, Kerrith," Dravon said. "I don't know how you passed your tactics course. I wouldn't get ten feet like this."

"But sir," Kerrith said, knowing the older knight was correct. "Yes, sir."

"That's a good lad," Dravon said and grinned. "Now hand me my sword and shield and prop me against that tree. I'll give them a good fight."

"I know you will sir," Kerrith said as he helped Dravon to a tree on the edge of the clearing. "Adramas be your shield."

"Adramas be your shield," Dravon said as he lifted his sword. He paused for a moment and pulled a small silver shield of Adramas from around his neck. He looked at it for a moment and pressed it into Kerrith's hand. Blood gleamed black on the silver, a void in the midst of light. "Give this to my brother, it was our father's. Now get going."

"Yes, sir," Kerrith said, snapping off a parade salute with his sword before turning and disappearing into the forest.

"We'll kill him too," Matthieu said as he stepped into the clearing with Icarii by his side.

"Of course," Icarii said. "Now, what about this one?"

"Do you have the spine to fight a dying man, Matthieu?" Dravon hissed through bloodstained teeth. "Or are you going to be the coward that you always were?"

"There's nothing cowardly about pragmatism, Dravon," Matthieu said and motioned with his hand. Crossbow bolts flew through the night, the sound of their impact echoing through the forest.

"You've betrayed your oath and country," Dravon said as he staggered forward and leaned on his sword. His shield began to throb with light as he raised it before him. "And you'll be damned for it."

Light flashed above the forest as Dravon raised his shield and fell to his knees. Matthieu turned and fled with the assassins as the light grew ever brighter, making the trees and ground smolder everywhere it touched. There was a heartbeat of pure silence and then a roll of thunder shook the ground as light exploded from Dravon's shield, consuming everything in the clearing and stabbing upward through the night sky, a brilliant lance of pure white flame that shone for a breath before disappearing just as suddenly.

In the clearing, there was only a perfectly circular crater cut out of the forest. The ground glowed red and cracking pops filled the air as it cooled. And alone in the center of the crater stood a single sword, undamaged by the heat and shining with a last hint of light before going dark forever.

---

"Your majesty," Laros said as he knelt on one knee. "I'm relieved that you are safe. The others?"

"Cut off from me," Amadrin said as she looked around at the motley group gathered in a hollow made by some fallen trees. "I'm sorry Jaric."

Jaric nodded grimly and pulled the bandage on his thigh tight. Kerrith had been separated from him during the fighting back in the forest to the west. And now the news of Dravon and Matthieu...

"Where are we going?" Solyma said as she finished ripping bandages from her dress. "North-east? If we can get into the hills and mountains they'll have a hard time tracking us."

"Yes," Amadrin said as she gently hugged Penelope close to her. The poor girl had seen more killing in a few hours than many elves saw in their life. "I still do not know whether this is an invasion or coup, but we should be able to find sanctuary in Alathan."

"It's a coup," Solyma said. "Hector figured out that one of their mages is an elf. Powerful one too." Amadrin nodded and sighed. Who could it be? An attack of this magnitude would have required much planning and access to the palace.

"Loradros," Amadrin said to herself and sighed. She had expected an assassin's knife in the dark from him, not an uprising. And those beasts he had been using, he didn't have the skill or power to summon and control such things. So he must have help too-

"There are more assassins on the way," Hector said. "They're coming up from the east."

"How many?" Solyma asked.

"At least twenty," Tancred said as he slid out of the underbrush and pushed Laros's and Jaric's swords to the side. "I killed a few but they were moving fast, I thought you'd like to know."

"Let us go," Amadrin said. "We'll try to cross the river, we should be able to prevent them from following us across."

---

Ismene stared up at the night sky. Her heartbeat was fast but calm, as if she had just finished swimming from the dock at Cielcroix to the channel buoy at the mouth of the harbor. But I haven't been swimming, she thought to herself as she touched the bow propped up next to her.

Around her lay the bodies of men, men who had been trying to kill her and whom she had killed in turn. Their blood had stained her dress and covered her hands. And still, she was calm. She turned her head at the distant sound of men moving through the undergrowth. Would she kill again? And would she feel anything at all?

---

Amadrin stared across the river as Loradros emerged from the forest and sighed to herself. How she hated being right sometimes. He nodded his head mockingly at her as his assassins slowly crept down to the riverbank, crossbows and swords at the ready.

"You are surrounded, my lady," he called out. From behind her, Amadrin could feel the ripples in the forest's lifeforce that were the metal clad assassins. Dozens of them were in front, dozens more behind. And one lucky shot with a poisoned bolt could kill her or any of the others. "Surrender and I'll spare the lives of your...friends."

"Of course you will," she murmured to herself. She could see Laros hovering near Penelope, his eyes flicking from the forest behind them to the assassins across the river. "Very well, I surrender."

"Your majesty, no-" Laros started to say before she cut him off with a sharp look.

"You're insane! Or an idiot!" Solyma hissed, ignoring the horrified looks from Jaric and Laros.

"Isn't that required for royalty?" Tancred muttered.

"He'll just kill you and then kill us!" Solyma continued after ramming her elbow into Tancred's ribs.

"Trust me," Amadrin said with a faint smile. "Laros watch over Penelope."

"Meet me in the center of the river, I will go with you when I am satisfied that my companions are safe," Amadrin called out. As Loradros waved his assassins back, she stepped lightly out onto the water, holding her skirts up to keep them from dragging in the river.

"He's going to kill us all," Tancred said as he cleaned blood and other things to horrible to contemplate from under his fingernails with a dagger.

"Then why is she doing that?" Jaric said. "We have to go after her-"

"Be quiet human!" Laros hissed, pulling Jaric back into the underbrush. "The queen does as the queen will."

"But she's your queen, how can you let her go?" Jaric hissed back.

"Where'd Solyma go?" Tancred asked no one in particular.

"What?" hissed Jaric as he looked around frantically. "Solyma!"

"So good to see you again," Amadrin said to Loradros as he splashed towards her, the water up to his waist, a faint quirk to her lips. "Is there anything in particular that you plan to do to me? I hear ravishing the queen is quite popular in romance novels these days."

"I have no intention of contracting frostbite, your majesty," Loradros said, his handsome face marred by an ugly smile. "Now, if you will come with me- eh?" he looked to his left up river at a dark silhouette under the water. He began to draw his sword as it drew closer and yelled when he saw what it was. "Kill them all!" he screamed as Solyma rose out of the river, water streaming down her body, her dress stuck to her like a second skin.

Solyma dove forward and slammed her shoulder into Loradros's stomach, knocking him back into the river as she reached for her dagger. She flung it forward, burying it in his shoulder as she shifted to a double handed grip on her sword and swung at his head. Solyma heard a hiss in the air and jerked back with a curse as a bolt flew by to kick up a fine spray of water as it hit the river.

More bolts flew by overhead, aimed at the others hidden across the river. Solyma could see the threads of magic gathering around Amadrin as the queen raised her hands, wind whipping her skirts around her legs, and brought her palms up towards the river bank. A curtain of water erupted skywards, thundering up and down river until the river was divided in two.

"You all right, your majesty?" Solyma said as she shook water from her hair and looked at the roiling wall of water that cut the river in two.

"Yes, Solyma, thank you," Amadrin said. "We must leave at once, the spell will not last for long."

"What?" Solyma shouted over the thunder of the water. "I can't hear you over the-" she stopped and looked over at the bank of the river. Jaric and Laros were running towards them, their swords out and waving-

Solyma ducked into the water as a sword swept over her. She twisted, water frothing around her as she struggled to get her footing back on the slick riverbed.

"Your tricks won't save you, my queen," Loradros yelled, his voice barely rising over the thunder of water, as he stood over Solyma, his sword in one hand, a loaded crossbow in the other. Solyma dove to the side, hand crawling, half swimming down river as Loradros slashed at her with his sword. She rolled to the side and parried his sword as he chopped down, forcing her under the water.

"Away with you, Loradros, trouble us no more," Amadrin said as she hurled out a twisting web of magic that caught Loradros and sent him flying through the air to crash into the river a hundred feet away.

"We must leave," Laros said as he stepped between Amadrin and Loradros. "We'll have time to deal with him later."

"I'm getting sick of this river," Solyma snarled as she stood up, coughing and wiping her eyes. "What say we get out of here and find a nice inn with a big firepla-"

"Get down!" Jaric yelled he leapt for Solyma. She started to duck and fell as a bolt slammed into her right shoulder, its head protruding from her front. "Solyma!"

"You bitch!" Loradros said as he threw his crossbow away and began to wade back upstream. He snarled as arrows from Ismene's bow began to fall around him, forcing him back. He parried one with his sword, growling as the wooden splinters fell around him. "Die!" he screamed as he threw a sickly green ball of fire towards the riverbank. Plants in the path of the fire withered and shriveled to a grotesque decaying mass while the water turned black with contagion.

Solyma stared up through the water as Jaric tried to lift her from the river. The roaring of the wall of water was muted beneath the river's surface, sounding as if it were a far away thunderstorm. She could feel the poison racing through her system, already she had lost all feeling in her right arm.

"Jaric," she tried to say, her lips moving silently under the water.

"Solyma! Solyma!" Jaric yelled as he pulled her out of the water and looked in horror at the bolt jutting from her shoulder. He began to pull her onto his shoulder when Loradros slammed into his side, his sword flashing.

Solyma fell back into the river with a faint smile for Jaric. Such a wonderful man, she thought to herself as she drifted slowly towards the waterfall. The water reflected and scattered her sight, a hundred Jarics and Laroses seemed to be fighting with a hundred more Loradroses. Magic filled the air as Amadrin filled the night with fire and ice. Loradros disappeared in the roiling storm of magic reflected in the water.

The water no longer seemed cold to her. She could feel the round stones of the riverbed bumping against her fingertips as she was pulled along even faster. It was almost like flying, she thought with a smile. Solyma saw Jaric looking at her as he splashed after her, his mouth wide in some cry that she couldn't hear.

"Goodbye," she said with a faint smile as she raised her hand to wave. Then sound came back, a thunder that filled her ears. And she was flying.

Continued in Chapter 7

---