Maiden's Wolf (In Deception's Shadow Book 3) (22 page)

*****

At last, a small
group of a dozen soldiers on horseback arrived. General Stonemantle rode in the
lead, but Silverblade could sense the acolytes behind him. He narrowed his gaze
and expanded his senses, seeking Acolyte Ironsmith’s scent.

Ah. His prey was
presently riding third in line, if he wasn’t mistaken. Good.

They stopped at
the edge of the clearing and took in the sight of Silverblade and the others
waiting by the river. General Stonemantle urged his mount back into motion
after a moment, seeming calm, his expression giving nothing away. Surprisingly,
there was no hint of deceit upon his scent. Silverblade reached deeper, but still
couldn’t detect the acolytes’ taint upon this human. Uncertainty fluttered at
the edge of his mind.

And where was
Captain Nurrowford?

Was the general
still in possession of his free will? But that made no sense. The only
certainty was that there was some treachery afoot. But was it one of the
general’s devising or the acolytes’ master?

He glanced
sideways at Beatrice to see her scrunch her brows together. After a moment, she
looked up at him questioningly. He didn’t have the answer, either. He gave her
the slightest shake of his head.

They would wait
for the acolytes.

The general, his
senior officers, and their military escort left their horses at the tree line
and made their way over to the river bank where the Elementals waited.

When he reached
them, he looked Crown Prince Sorntar up and down. “In truth, I don’t care which
magic wielders control these lands. Be it acolytes or Elementals, it matters
little to me. All I care about is getting my daughters back. Surrender them to
me peacefully and we will leave you in peace. The acolytes have agreed to abide
by the terms you set out in the peace treaty between River’s Divide and the
Elementals.”

This particular
turn of events was not one Silverblade had visualized. Yet he thought the
general was intelligent enough to know and recognize the danger that the
acolytes represented—not just to the Elementals, but to the humans as well.

Apparently, he’d
been wrong. It wasn’t the first time.

Beatrice held her
breath and called on her death magic. Tendrils of black magic flickered to life
between her fingers. Barely noticeable to the naked eye, they crawled across
the back of her hand and snaked around her wrist, slowly creeping higher up her
arm.

She watched and
waited, surprised by General Stonemantle’s betrayal. Silverblade’s one look had
said he didn’t trust it, either. Her healer’s magic flickered to life, mixing
in with the death magic. Now that she’d bonded with the pack, something had
snapped into place inside her and she now possessed a better mastery of her
magic. The two powers complemented each other instead of fighting for control
of her body. Her physical senses flared stronger along with her magic.

Scanning General
Stonemantle a second time, she still did not see any obvious taint from the
acolytes. There was something more at play here. She’d also noted one key
player was missing—Lord Master Trensler.

While she’d been
studying General Stonemantle and his small group of soldiers, the rest of the
vanguard arrived, making their way through the forest where they spread out.
Likely thinking they were flanking her own small group.

Her own Larnkin
felt tension run through the other Elementals. The lupwyns and the santhyrians
in the woods remained hidden, but ready. Phoenix, high up in the canopy, awaited
the signal to attack.

‘Soon,’
her magic whispered to the other Larnkins.
‘It will be soon.’

As a collective
group, the Larnkins that slumbered within the other Elementals roused at her
call. Preparing for battle.

Her pack began
sharing their united power with her.

A river of magic
flowed from her, her dual powers hunting out the location of each of her
enemies. When her magic came in contact with the first of the acolytes, it was
absorbed by a dark red stone mounted in a bracelet that circled the acolyte’s
wrist.

Ah. There was
something interesting to study there.

The black metal
of the bracelet bit like frost along her senses. She allowed more of her power
to be absorbed by the acolyte. It wasn’t wasted.

Those red stones
were how the acolytes’ master fed and as such, it was a link to that creature.
She might just have found a way to track it. Filing that information away for
later study, she turned her attention back to the general and his advisors.

“Surrender my
daughters to me, and we can avoid a great deal of unpleasantness,” General
Stonemantle said. He was still calm, but she heard an edge of impatience
creeping into his voice.

Pushing past the
other Elementals, Sorsha, the youngest of the Stonemantle sisters stormed
forward, armed with a longbow with one of her lethal fire arrows already
notched. “How could you betray us like this? I’ll kill you myself!”

Sorsha’s
bondmate, the stallion mage Shadowdancer, was in his centaur form and he
trotted forward with his own longbow at the ready. His massive size dwarfed
everyone else around him and the soldiers standing beside the general shifted
nervously, hands tightening on their weapons.

Before the leader
of the Twelve acted to soothe the heated situation, Silverblade skirted around
the others with the silent stealth of his kind, and placed a large, restraining
hand on the Sorsha.

“Wait,” he
cautioned. “Let us hear him out first.”

She and
Silverblade had already discussed what to do with General Stonemantle if they
thought he had been corrupted by the acolytes. Thus Beatrice knew Silverblade
was prepared to kill anyone that the acolytes had corrupted, even the general.

So why was he
suddenly willing to hear out the general?

“There is
something not right about this situation,”
Silverblade whispered into her mind.
“I think the clever tactician has
something planned.”

To the general he
said, “Go on, human. Explain to your daughters why you’re ready to throw them
to the acolytes.”

Beatrice noted General
Stonemantle didn’t dignify Silverblade’s remark with an answer. He didn’t even
look at the lupwyn.

“They are your
daughters. If you claim to care for them at all, you will not surrender them to
the acolytes.”

“I do not have to
explain myself to you, beast!” The general turned his attention back to the
Phoenix Prince and continued. “In the past, you’ve proven more sensible than
the others of your kind. Hand over my daughters and the peace treaty will
remain intact.”

The human had
just stressed the words ‘peace treaty.’ Why? And yet, almost in the same
breath, he’d insulted every Elemental present.

Beatrice frowned
in thought, paying attention to the general for the first time. This behavior
was nothing like his reputation as a brilliant military tactician.

Sorntar shook his
head. “That will not be possible, I’m afraid.”

“Then I will
recover my daughters after every last Elemental is dead.”

General
Stonemantle turned his horse and galloped back toward his army, which was even
now splitting to allow a new group of horsemen passage. These were not horse
archers or even heavily armed cavalrymen. They were acolytes accompanied by
their soldier slaves.

General
Stonemantle addressed Acolyte Ironsmith. “I want my daughters unharmed. I don’t
care what happens to their companions.”

With a bow of his
head, he acknowledged the general’s words. “Do not worry. I will see that you
and your daughters are reunited.”

With that, the
acolyte spurred his horse into motion, his own smaller army of lethal acolytes
rode close on his heels. Just as he was about level with the general,
Beatrice’s Larnkin directed her attention toward the forest once more. Captain
Nurrowford rode out into the open, raised his longbow, and loosed the arrow in
one smooth motion.

A moment later,
Ironsmith lurched in his saddle, almost unseated by the sudden, unexpected
jolt. When he turned to face the general, Beatrice spotted where the shaft of
the arrow had gone right through his chest and the arrowhead now protruded just
to the left of his sternum.

Given the
location, it should have been a killing blow, if the target had been human. The
acolyte merely attempted to break off the arrowhead, but it was too slick. When
he came to the same conclusion, he allowed his hand to drop back to his side
and calmly studied the general. “You should have used fire.”

“I needed proof.
This worked better.” General Stonemantle increased his volume so everyone
present could hear. “I had suspected for some time that you and your acolyte
kin didn’t have our peoples’ welfare in mind, but it wasn’t until a human girl
and a lupwyn scout—two who should have been enemies—came to me and told me of a
greater danger. I knew I needed some evidence to take back to my Emperor.” The
general tilted his head and gave the acolyte a cold smile. “I have enough
evidence to satisfy.”

“You picked the
wrong side, General. But what I find most interesting is that neither I nor my
master sensed your treacherous plan. How is that?”

“Who said this
was
my
plan?” The general drew his sword. “Acolyte Ironsmith, by the
power bestowed upon me by the Emperor, I charge you and your fellow acolytes
with treason of the highest order.”

The acolyte
raised an eyebrow, as if finding the whole conversation humorous. The general
did not care and continued on. “The Emperor does not allow lords, governors,
town councils, or cult leaders to gather armies on his lands. And from what I
have seen firsthand, you and the other acolytes under Lord Master Trensler’s
command have been doing just that. Furthermore, you are in violation of the
treaty signed between River’s Divide and the ruling council of the Elementals. And
lastly, even if I was not bound by my vow to the Emperor, I would still see
every last one of your kind dispatched for the good of all.”

The general made
a slicing motion through the air, giving the order to attack.

Garrison soldiers
led by Captain Nurrowford led the charge, swiftly meeting the acolytes’
soldiers in a clash of steel, punctuated by the grunts and screams of dying
men. Or at least the human men were dying. The acolytes were silent. No matter
how terrible the wounds dealt them, they did not go down.

The human
soldiers were no match for the undead acolytes, but they weren’t alone in the
fight. Wordlessly, Crown Prince Sorntar took to the air as fire magic erupted
around him in a whirling cloud. In a dive almost too quick to follow, he dipped
down toward the group of acolytes, his fire magic preceding him.

In a blink, three
acolytes were ash, their metal bracelets with the red stones had been purified
in fire until all that remained was molten lumps of ore. Beatrice’s healing
magic danced over those steaming lumps, but found no taint of acolytes upon
them.

Taking that as a
signal, all the other Elementals attacked in unison. Several members of
Silverblade’s pack raced from their hiding places among the thick reeds along
the river bank to join them.

“Feel free to
kill as many of the other acolytes as you wish,” Silverblade said as he grinned
back at Beatrice. “But Ironsmith is mine.”

“He’s already on
the far side of the battle, trying to make for the forest, I believe.” Beatrice
gestured in the general direction she’d last sensed him. “Take the pack and go
after him. I’ll only slow you down and we can’t let him escape.”

Silverblade
growled unhappily. “Fine. But some of the pack will stay with you.”

She nodded her
agreement and then, flanked by three members of her new pack, she stepped away
from Silverblade. With equal parts focused will and sharpened rage, she lashed
out at the nearest acolyte. Tendrils of death magic flowed away from her body,
darting between and around the other Elementals and the human soldiers of
River’s Divide until it found its first target.

When he crumpled
to the ground, she picked her next target. Two more fell to her death magic
before she took a moment to see how the others were faring.

She felt
Silverblade’s intense stare for a moment and then looked back in time to see
him give a nod of respect before he darted away with several members of the
pack barking and snarling at his heels.

Near at hand,
another power caught her attention and she looked away from Silverblade’s
departing form to witness the effects of another power as fearsome as her own.
Perhaps more so. While her power took a few heartbeats to destroy a victim,
what she saw Ashayna Stonemantle wield took even less time. When that bright,
silvery power touched one of the enemy, they blew apart—nothing more than
whirling specs of light and ash.

Beatrice tore her
eyes away from what the other woman was doing and turned her attention back to
her own targets. The first of the lupwyns from the forest were now in the mix,
adding an even more chaotic element to the battle field.

As she watched,
one of the lupwyn warriors got cornered between two acolytes. He fought them,
but she could feel when they started to feed.

“I don’t think
so,” she whispered under her breath and set her death magic upon the acolyte.

While she’d been
busy destroying another acolyte that had stumbled into her path, a hail of fire
arrows from across the river took out a few more.

Beatrice admired
their skill for a moment before she was once again attending to her own
problems as more acolytes started to close in on her location, drawn by her
fierce power.

More lupwyns
raced through the battlefield—nothing more than dark shadows in the tall
grass—but wasn’t tracking them with the naked eye. Though it was soon apparent
where they were as the acolytes’ horses were taken down with brutal efficiency
and the riders dragged from their backs.

Three more
acolytes were suddenly upon Beatrice, but Prince Sorntar darted out of the sky
and lashed out at them with fire, and then was gone again just as quickly.

Even as the
acolytes burned, she felt them feeding upon the magic flames, but it didn’t
save them and the flames soon devoured their bodies. With no host to house it,
the dark power that had been reanimating their bodies dissipated in the
sunlight.

After dispatching
another acolyte in her path, she looked around, taking in the carnage of the
battle. Clearly the Elementals and soldiers of River’s Divide had the upper
hand. Though their side was not without casualties. Directly in her path, a
female lupwyn lay sprawled beside a dying santhyrian. It wasn’t Autumn Shadow,
but another member of her new pack. It took her a moment to remember this one’s
name. Ah, River Finder. Beatrice did not have to look at her chest to see if it
still rose and fell—her healing magic told her there was no life left in that
body. The lupwyn’s spirit had already fled. She said a silent prayer to speed
her soul to the afterlife.

While Beatrice
had been focused upon the dead lupwyn, the battle had shifted closer to the
forest. Likely, the remaining acolytes were trying to escape and vanish between
the trees. Beatrice followed, still seeking Silverblade. As she walked, she
found other bodies—some were human, some were acolytes.