DragonCrown Saga - The Grand Crusade Part 46

Then something else happened. Thesullancirion the east hill did something and her right arm changed, flas.h.i.+ng brightly in the sunlight as it did so. She raised it to her mouth and apparently blew, for a clarion call sounded loudly, even piercingly. Dogs that had trotted along with their masters howled and a few ran from the sound.

At her call, troops began to pour from the hills and a.s.semble behind the crooked trenching. Legion upon legion-mostly of gibberers, but with enoughturekadineandkryalnirito make Erlestoke grimace. Legions grouped into battalions and then regiments. On the hills more troops appeared, again in thick ranks.

Erlestoke started counting regimental standards, then stopped when he reached twenty.

Sallitt Hawkins rode up beside him. "Their numbers and ours are almost equal."

"That they are." The prince pointed toward the dam. "They can bring the troOps a.s.sembled behind that trench over or around it, then just hit us from the flank and drive us into the woods, blasting us every step of the way."

Themeckanshunodded. "And if we send anyone down to plug that gap andsto p them? They won't last long enough for someone to blow retreat." ' "Agreed. This is bad, very bad." Erlestoke shook his head.

"In fact, I can't see how it could get any worse."

And as those words left his mouth, the dragonels hidden in the woods spat fire and metal.

hipping himself into a column of storm, Drolda lifted the party, one at a time, down to the basin. Only Hlucri eschewed his service and leaped from the cliffside. His flesh flashed jet and green as he descended. He landed in a huge puff of snow, which slowly settled again as thesullanciridashed forward.

For a heartbeat Resolute thought this might be the final betrayal, that thesullanciriwould rally Aurolani forces to trap them.

But Hlucri's ploy soon made itself apparent as gibberers began to emerge from both the caverns and the fortress itself.Kryalniriand some humans also poured from the Conservatory edifice-though their distance from where Drolda had deposited the group eliminated them as an immediate threat. The gibberers focused on Hlucri, but there were enough of them that the party would be bottled up in their drive toward the fortress, and the magickers would then be able to move into range and destroy them.

Nine against an empire. Resolute s.h.i.+vered, recalling a long-ago conversation he'd had with Kerrigan.

Then, it was only supposed to be eight against an empire.If you were here, Kerrigan, I'd pay those magickers no mind at all. The Vorquelf drew Syverce and tossed a salute off toward the south.Best of luck to you.

Sayce landed and drew the twin longknives they'd taken from dead gibberers in the field. She'd long since donned the winter clothing she and Isaura had discarded on their trip south and since recovered, supplementing it with bits and pieces of armor and mail from dead gibberers. "We have to move fast, Resolute."

"I know."Nine against an empire, and only two of them are critical. "Trawyn, Sayce, you guard Isaura.

Isaura, any spells you have that will help, we need them now. Bok, thekryalniri..."

The urZrethi nodded and began to move in that direction, but Drolda swirled around him, nudged him back, and sailed off. As he moved closer to the Conservatory, he grew into an icy cyclone of towering proportions Shocked shouts drifted past the howl of the wind that formed his core.

"Bok, keep your eye on them. Let's move. Force..."

Resolute stopped, for Force had already begun to trudge in Hlucri's wake. Each step left yard-deep holes in the snow-which was packed hard enough that the rest of them ran over the top of it with ease.

Ahead, Hlucri had already torn into the front ranks of a gibberer legion; bodies or their bleeding parts were flying high in the air.

A h.o.a.rgoun emerged from the fortress at the head of some gibberkings. He wielded a huge ax with a blade large enough to split a bullock in one stroke. The frost giant, with his flesh tinged blue and his hair and beard snow-white, s.h.i.+fted his course to head directly for Force. But if Force noticed him, he gave no sign.

With Qwc flying before him and Bok coming up on his right side, Resolute sprinted into battle.

Anomalous thoughts coursed through his mind. The sound of the snow crunching beneath his feet and the burning of the cold air in his lungs, the contrast of Bok's green flesh with the stark white of the snow, the distant scream of Drolda's storm and the piercing screams of the gibberers Hlucri was flensing alive; all of those things came to him and he cataloged them.As I would have when I was a child.

For the blink of an eye he wondered if this was the first step in his reviewing his life before he died. He thought about that for just a moment longer, then laughed aloud in a cloud of steam. "No, I'm nowhere near dead."

And with that his war cry, Resolute leaped into battle. Syverce became less a sword than a scythe. The blade parted flesh as if it were smoke. He hacked no bones, but with a twist and flip, Syverce negotiated joints-be they hip, knee, or elbow-severing ligaments and removing the appendages from the bodies.

The gibberkings he battled did their best against him, and slashes did score his armor. Rings popped and twisted. The leather jerkin beneath it opened, as did his flesh, but only in tiny cuts. He gave far better than he got, and Bok did likewise. The urZrethi's right fist had become a mace, crus.h.i.+ng bone as if it were eggsh.e.l.l. Gibberking swords rang off Bok's carapace, but never cracked it.

Behind them Sayce and Trawyn fought furiously. Sayce positioned herself to Trawyn's right, defending her blind side with her longknives. More than oneturekadineclosed swiftly, thinking she could be overwhelmed, only to find one blade turning his slash, and the other licking out to open his belly or an artery. Trawyn, with her speed and reach, got past guards and stabbed deeply, often before her foes realized she was within range.

Ahead of them, however, the main battle had been set. Hlucri had left a trail of pulsing flesh, pumping steaming crimson jets over the snow. The gibberers had swarmed him, making it impossible for others to get their knives and spears into him. Hlucri, well armed with claws and teeth, ripped and tore, pulping his foes.

The h.o.a.rgoun and Force squared off. Force showed far more agility than Resolute would have thought possible, as he dodged a chop that buried the ax deep in the permafrost. With his right fist tightened into a stone ball, Force smashed the frost giant in the foot, crus.h.i.+ng bone The h.o.a.rgoun howled and twisted back, yanking his ax free. He set his foot down gingerly, then flicked out his hand and slapped Force aside.

The stone creature tumbled sideways, then fell into the hole the ax had created. Force lay there for a moment, on his back, as if in a grave. He curled forward, reaching for the edges to pull himself free, but by then the ax had come up and descended again. With a thunderous clang it smashed into Force's left shoulder and took the arm off in a spray of molten blood that sizzled into the snow.

Qwc arrowed in at the h.o.a.rgoun's face and spat webbing that covered his left eye. The frost giant swiped at it with his right hand, still guffawing over the fate of the stone man that had opposed him. He cleared the webbing from his face, then swatted at Qwc. He missed, but Qwc's next attack just splashed webbing across his cheek. As he wiped that webbing away, he looked down, and his pale eyes widened, just for a moment.

The only thing in the hole was Force's arm.

Force stood half as tall as the h.o.a.rgoun, so this time his right fist slammed into the taller creature's kneecap. The blow utterly shattered it, fragments of bone tearing the h.o.a.rgoun's flesh. The frost giant roared, but that became a squeal as Force's next blow caught him over the left hip and fractured the pelvis.

The h.o.a.rgoun crashed down hard, cracking the snow crust and disappearing in a cloud of powder. As the crystals drifted down, Force leaped onto his right shoulder. The balled fist swung down again, crus.h.i.+ng the base of the h.o.a.rgoun's skull. The huge creature grunted and thrashed, flinging his ax far enough to bisect aturekadine.

The h.o.a.rgoun's fall and the way a b.l.o.o.d.y Hlucri dove into the midst of the remainingturekadineformation scattered the Aurolani troops. Resolute dashed forward to the h.o.a.rgoun and stared at Force. "Are you hurt?"

The stone creature just looked down at him blankly, but his face had taken on enough detail that Resolutecouldidentify it as a blank look. The left shoulder still radiated heat, but the wound had crusted over as a lava flow might in such cold weather. His right hand redefined itself with fingers and pointed back at the hole. Force opened and closed his fist twice, then Bok dragged the stone limb over.

The Vorquelf looked at the urZrethi. "Can you fix him?"

Bok raised an eyebrow. "I don't even know what he is, Resolute. But I can try."

Isaura laid a hand on Bok's shoulder. "Let me. It's my duty as a Hawkins and..." She dropped to one knee and pressed her left hand to the severed shoulder. A light appeared in her palm. "Tythsai has an arm that imitates the meckanshu. It is fluid. I created the spell that controls the most recent one and keeps it together. Force, come down here."

The stone creature knelt. Isaura touched his body at the shoulder and invoked a spell. Force seemed to waver for a moment. Then Bok lifted the arm and touched it to the body, and it, too, became momentarily indistinct. Heat rolled off Force as the two pieces of him fused together again and mineral blood flowed around the edges. Other little fragments flew from the snow to rejoin him and melted into the glowing seam.

He rose and cracked both hands together. His shoulder once again produced the depression in which the Spritha sat. Force raised a hand and pointed toward the fortress.

Resolute nodded. "Agreed." He looked off toward the Conservatory and no longer saw Drolda. What he did see were magickers coming after them, but far fewer than there had been before. Of more minor concern was the appearance of an Aurolani formation high on the cliff face. Whether they were a patrol returning or troops that had been recalled after Ferxigo died, Resolute had no clue.We'll have to deal with them after we've handled Chytrine. If we survive.

"Isaura, where will your mother be?"

"The Grand Hall. Or below."

"We'll sweep the Grand Hall, then we'll ferret her out below if we must."

They set off again with Hlucri and Force in the lead. Theturekadinehad fled toward the fortress, some trailing blood. The black stone structure stabbed into the sky, and on an upper balcony Resolute caught a flash of gold. He glanced at Isaura, but she just shrugged.

As they neared the fortress, draconettes barked from the shadowed doorway. b.a.l.l.s flattened against Force's broad chest. One ricocheted, tearing off the lower of Qwc's left arms and shattering a wing before spilling him from his perch. Hlucri grunted as shots. .h.i.t him. Sayce somersaulted backward, landing on her shoulders and head in the snow, while Bok spun to the ground. Resolute heard one shot whine past him, but he had already moved to the left and flicked bladestars into that opening. He heard some clang, and then a scream; at least one had found its mark.

Force eclipsed his view of the doorway. Resolute glanced back for a second. Trawyn was helping Sayce to her feet. Isaura stood over Bok's body, but even Resolute could see the urZrethi's skull was missing a huge chunk. "Hlucri, get Isaura now. There's nothing she can do for Bok."

Thesullancirigrunted and galloped toward her. Resolute rushed up the fortress' steps and had to stop short inside the doorway lest he crash headlong into Force. The half-dozen draconetteers that had been there were dead. Two had fallen to his bladestars and the rest looked as if they had been kneaded together into a ma.s.s of flesh and fur.

"Forward, Force. We have to find Chytrine, and you have to kill her."

The Norrington stomped forward. Hlucri set Isaura down inside the doorway, then handed Qwc to her.

Trawyn got Sayce within the fortress and the Murosan smiled bravely. "It hit a bit of plate. Knocked my wind out. I'll be okay.We'llbe okay."

Trawyn nodded. "Bok is..."

"Dead, I know. The urZrethi would leave him where he fell. Let's go." Deeper they went into the fortress. A fewturekadineand gibberers did show themselves, but fled before Hlucri and Force. The party continued straight in until they reached the Grand Hall.

Chytrine waited for them at the far end. The hall should have dwarfed her, but she had grown in size to match the Norrington. Her hair had a golden l.u.s.ter to it, and her pale flesh likewise glittered. As she nodded a greeting, the delicate scales that covered her became apparent. Her body's coloration matched the ivory-and-gold gown she wore, rendering her far more elegant than Resolute could have ever imagined. Sharpened ears rose through her hair, and her hands pressed against each other casually, revealing thick talons of gold.

"Myrall'mara said it would be you, Resolute, who came here in the end. I see you've brought the Norrington. Thank you."

Resolute shook his head. "This will be the fulfillment of the prophecy, Chytrine. You die, my homeland is redeemed, and your evil is at an end forever." The empress laughed. "I would find your little p.r.o.nouncement quite tedious were it not so predictably charming. You see, Resolute, you and all the world believe in one prophecy, but there are many. A prophecy will be fulfilled here today, but it shall not be the one to which you refer."

Chytrine opened her arms. "For the short time you will be here, I welcome you. All of you, in fact-save for the one who has betrayed me."

She flicked a finger out and magic sizzled hot and red. The scintillating sphere smashed Hlucri in the chest and bled into his flesh. Thesullancirijerked, his arms flung wide and his head retracted as his spine bowed. The magick flowed over him, then away, stripping him of the skin Nefrai-kesh had given him. As the magic vanished, Hlucri fell to the floor with a wet thump, bare muscles twitching, blood leaking from him.

Isaura's hand fell from her mouth and she strode forward. "Mother, you can't do that."

"I am not your mother." The Aurolani Empress again flicked a finger. Isaura flew back, smas.h.i.+ng against Force. She fell to the ground, still breathing but limp. Force dropped to one knee and carefully slid her body behind him.

"Of course, as a Norrington must, you protect your va.s.sal. But you are a mix, a mongrel-part Norrington, part Hawkins, and part brothel-wh.o.r.e." Chytrine's blue-green eyes blazed. "And I am the Aurolani Empress. No prophecy can empower you to destroy me!"

Force rose and sprinted toward Chytrine. His heavy footfalls shook the floor.

Stone on stone, relentless and pounding, they filled the room with thunder. Force's hands s.h.i.+fted into stone blades, poised to cut Chytrine in half.

The empress did not retreat, but instead thrust her face forward and opened her mouth so wide her jaw must have unhinged. A searingly brilliant gout of flame poured forth, golden white at the core. The heat struck Resolute about the same time the light half blinded him. The fire silhouetted Force in stark black.

Resolute turned his face away and tried to watch, but the heat drove him back. Hlucri's body began to roast. Trawyn and Sayce dragged Isaura back. And, with her, Qwc.

The five of them retreated as a thick vapor filled the room. Resolute coughed at the bitter smoke, not wanting to think about inhaling Force. Trawyn sneezed violently and Sayce gagged. The Vorquelf s.h.i.+fted to s.h.i.+eld the others as best he could, catching the acrid scent of singed hair-his, mostly-on the air.

As quickly as it had come, the light and heat abated. Resolute turned, brandis.h.i.+ng Syverce. "Force?

Show me you're alive."

He caught movement in the smoke and his heart rose for a moment, then sank again swiftly. The grey cloud slowly drifted down, revealing Chytrine as a dragon, her ivory scales stained with ash.Ash that had been Force.

The empress' chest heaved as she breathed. "Your savior is no more." The smoke swirled around her muzzle much in the same way the colors swirled in her eyes. "Your prophecy is done. The fulfillment of the one I serve will now commence."

Kerrigan awoke and struggled against the weight on his chest. A blanket had been laid over him and he went to fling it off, only his limbs felt heavy and sluggish. Then he opened his eyes and saw the blurry blanket peeling off him as if it were curling through water.

Which is exactly what it is doing. That realization shook him and his body rebelled. He coughed, trying to rid his lungs of water. Kerrigan had suffered far more near-miss drownings than he wanted to think about, but his cough produced no bubbles and expelled little in the way of fluid. Rather, it expelled some, but he breathed it back in again.

For Kerrigan, one thing was abundantly clear: he'd been breathing water for a long time and he was still alive. This meant either he was enchanted, or the water was.Or I'm dead and asullanciri. He quickly cast a spell that told him mag-ick hadn't been worked on him. The water, on the other hand, appeared to be different. Somehow it was breathable.

Kerrigan rolled out of the bed he was on and surveyed his surroundings. The room wasn't very big and had no window. In fact, the only opening was where, in a normal room, one would find a skylight. The room itself had been grown of variously colored coral, striping and dotting the walls in an abstract but pleasing pattern. Pa.s.sing a hand over his eyes, Kerrigan invoked a spell that gave him clear sight beneath the water, and smiled as the coral pattern sharpened beautifully.

He wasn't certain what was going on, because the last thing he remembered was a huge wave smas.h.i.+ng him in the chest and knocking him overboard. By all rights he should have been dead, but he wasn't. That left him one logical conclusion, which was that Tagothcha had preserved his life, but exactly why he'd do that, Kerrigan could not be certain.The wand was a great treasure, yes, but...

The young magicker crouched, then pushed off the floor and reached for the edges of the doorway. He grabbed hold and propelled himself through easily. He emerged into a circular corridor, likewise grown of coral, with other openings along its length. Curiously, he felt one current hitting his upper back and another on his legs flowing the other way. He dove forward into the upper stream and, kicking his feet occasionally, propelled himself along the corridor.

Around him others poked their heads out of holes. He didn't recognize many until he found Oracle. He stopped himself and helped her into the stream. Others began to flow past, all heading in the direction Kerrigan had chosen. None of them did more than nod, but he a.s.sumed they couldn't see much of anything since they didn't have his magick.

Then again, underwater, we can't speak, can we?

He tried saying something to Oracle, but it made no sense at all. Despite that, she gripped his arm firmly and smiled. Together they floated off, in the middle of the pack of sailors and soldiers from Adrogans'

fleet. Kerrigan didn't see any indication that the people were any the worse for wear, but the anxiety of being in Tagothcha's realm clearly was taxing them all.

The long corridor turned up and soon merged with others. The flow brought everyone into a large chimney, with the current nearest the edges propelling them upward. Kerrigan squeezed Oracle's arm as they ascended. He wanted to tell her that everything would be fine, but he found her expression so serene that he drew confidence from it instead.

They floated up into a huge domed chamber large enough to have housed Fortress Draconis. The structure most closely resembled a head of garlic in shape, though here coral had given way to mother-of-pearl. The walls had to be incredibly thin because they glowed with light from above. The way the light s.h.i.+fted, Kerrigan a.s.sumed it was sunlight filtering down through the water, but he had no idea how deep they were.

Ahead, perhaps a hundred yards in front of them, Tagothcha waited on a throne of pearl. It had not been created of many pearls cemented together, but grown in one giant pearl with a hollow indentation suitable for someone of his size to sit. Beside it, at its right hand, a black pearl throne of human dimensions had likewise been created, and a woman occupied it.

Tagothcha would have been smaller than a h.o.a.rgoun, but not by much. His long white hair floated on the water and his beard, which had been divided into three braids, moved lazily, like tentacles. He wore only a girdle of sh.e.l.ls and gold coins interwoven, a gold ring, and a crown of coral that had grown up around gemstones. Having seen the world's royalty festooned in their own finery for the New Year's celebration, Kerrigan thought theweirun'scrown more majestic. The way the coral had grown up around the gems reminded him of the magick dragons used to shape Vael, and that pleased him.

The woman who sat beside him had an unearthly beauty. Her pale skin had a translucent quality that rendered her ageless. She wore her long hair unbound and it had the silvery sheen of fish scales to it, save where a thread of blue or red might flash. Delicately featured and clean of limb, she was clearly human. She wore a gown of white silk that clung to her lithe body, and it had been belted with gold. A circlet of gold on her brow and a gold ring served as her only jewelry.

Tagothcha gestured and Kerrigan found himself drifting forward, along with Oracle, Adrogans, Phfas, and Rymramoch. As they came toward Tagothcha, a bit of magick flowed out from theweirun. Kerrigan didn't have time to a.n.a.lyze it before the water itself tightened around him. He expelled most of the water in his lungs, then a secondary wave hit him and he found himself in an air-filled bubble.

Tagothcha's voice boomed as water drained from Kerrigan's ears. "You are invaders of my realm, but I have chosen not to kill you."

Adrogans, off to Kerrigan's right, dropped to a knee and coughed heavily, gus.h.i.+ng water from his lungs.

He waited a moment, then stood and lifted his chin. "I expect that is an oversight you will remedy quickly."

Theweirun's cerulean gaze played over Adrogans. "Many hate me, but few with such vehemence. You are far from home, and would do well to keep a civil tongue in your head."

"Civil did not help me years ago. Nor did pleading." Adrogans gripped the cuff of a sleeve and wrung water from it. "I survived by cursing, and I failed to give you an offering before we sailed. I suppose that is why you took us. You prove your capricious nature by dooming six s.h.i.+ps for the folly of one man.

Take me; let them go."

Tagothcha frowned, then a smile blossomed on his face. He began to laugh with the force of waves smas.h.i.+ng against a breakwater. "Now I remember you. Markus, the fishbait boy."

Adrogans nodded. "The one who survived your best attempts to drown him."

Theweirunsnorted, then gestured. A column of water poured down from the top of the bubble, smas.h.i.+ng Adrogans to the floor. Adrogans fought against it, holding himself up on his hands and knees, but sputtered in spite of himself when theweirunstopped the flow.

"That, Markus Fishbait, is not even a fraction of my best effort to drown you. If I had meant to kill you when you were a child, you would have died. You clung to a cask. You gathered debris for a raft. Who do you think pushed those sc.r.a.ps close to you? Who do you think pushed you toward a s.h.i.+p that could save you?"

Adrogans stood and wiped the water from his face. "You expect me to believe you had mercy on me?

You destroyed that boat and killed all on board."

Tagothcha's fingers flowed together into an intricate weave. "I did. You gave me an offering, a true offering. The others did not. The captain of that vessel would collect offerings, put them in a sack, then throw another sack overboard with fish heads and rusty nails in it. The others knew, for he had bragged on it when deep in his cups, then bought them all drinks to a.s.suage them. They grew bold and foolish. They had to die, but you did not. You needed to tell the tale of their destruction."