Sorceress (Book 2) (34 page)

“A trigger is an empty box,” Duke Tomas said. “A framework into which you insert a spell until you are ready to use it.”

“Maybe my magic is just too broken to create one? We’ve tried removing my metal armor. It’s not interfering like we thought.”

“Try not to get upset. You only just started. Patience is a virtue. In fact, we should probably table this until after tomorrow. All of us need our rest.”

Kayleigh frowned, knowing they would be at Pinella in the morning. “You’re right, sir. It’s just disappointing.”

A nervous energy permeated the camp. For most, even the duke’s personal guard, this was their first large scale combat. Kayleigh couldn’t be certain how much rest the others would be getting. For her part, she’d force herself to get the rest she’d need.

On the way out of the duke’s tent, she found Brian using a sharpening stone on his weapon. He smiled at her and she sat down across the fire from him. “Done with my father already? Violet hair this evening is it? I do recall Ashe saying she was going to do something with softer tones.”

“Have you found one you like in particular?” she asked.

“If I had my druthers, I’d go with the original shading.”

“Nervous?”

“About sitting with you alone, or the coming battle?”

“The fight,” she said, trying to ward off his charm.

“Of course not,” he answered, full of bluster. “Icewater flows through my veins. I am a Tomas.”

“Which translates to ‘Of course,’” she said. Brian’s father seemed quite fond of that phrase. Kayleigh made certain to use it around Ashlynn, especially since it irritated her tutor and tormentor.

Brian smiled at her. “Well, combat is much like managing a stable. I’d have to look around, but I could probably scare up a pitchfork for you. It’d be just like old times.”

She made a show of considering his offer before shaking her head and saying, “I think I’ll pass. I guess I shouldn’t stay too long. It would be more grist for the rumor mill and enough tongues are wagging already.”

“And by rumor mill, you mean my sister?”

“She’s just the most outspoken. Trust me. The others are every bit as bad.”

He chuckled in amusement and said, “I don’t know how I manage to get all the things done in my day with all of our secret meetings. One would think that with our amazing stealth abilities, we’d be able to sneak this army into Pinella under the collective noses of the Yar.”

Uncharacteristically, Kayleigh giggled. “You are so very correct.”

“Quite so,” he said and winked at her. “Although I suppose we should actually one day sit down and discuss this clandestine, epic romance we are allegedly engaged in. Having heard some of the talk, I find the imaginary version of me is having a wonderful time with the imaginary version of you. Is it wrong to admit that the whole affair is making me oddly jealous?”

Kayleigh’s mouth went suddenly dry and the easy, witty banter deserted her. “I…I…think I’d like to have that talk.”

He set his sword down and held out his right hand, palm up. Uncertain, she reached her left hand out and placed it on his. Brian’s fingers curled under hers and he gently tugged her hand toward him as he leaned over and brushed his lips against the area on her fingers between the first and second knuckles.

Releasing her hand, he flashed a roguish smile and said, “I’m already looking forward to it. So now all we have to do is win the day, save the city, and avoid fatal injuries. One of us perishing would turn all the stories into some sort of tawdry tragedy. I have to put my foot down and refuse to be part of one of those!”

Kayleigh managed a nod and stammered something she couldn’t even understand. Gallantly, Brian saved her from further embarrassment by standing and bidding her good night.

Minutes later, she sat on her bedroll and stared up at the cloudy sky, running the pad of her thumb over the area he’d kissed. Empty vials sat in her lap, waiting to be filled, but Kayleigh found it difficult to stop smiling and force the tears to come. Tomorrow there’d be too many of those being shed. It made her feel like a thief, stealing a few moments of happiness before the reality of war would come crashing down upon her. Still, for a few minutes, she took refuge in being nothing more than a giddy teenager who fancied a young nobleman.

Danella landed and resumed her human form. The dead hawk clutched seconds ago in her talon fell beside her left foot.

“It’s larger than I expected,” she said, pushing the dead bird away in disgust with her boot. “My guess is two hundred cavalry flying the colors of Tomas and Rosha supporting two companies of Battle Maidens.”

“You’ve led us to our deaths, outlander!” Bradner, Chief of the Timber Wolves accused. “These walls are useless against that many unicorn riders.”

“Silence, mongrel! The Battle Maidens are flying the pennant of The Academy. Or do you cower from inexperienced schoolchildren? They are teenagers who’ve seen no combat, supported by cavalry better suited for parades. Neither of those two kingdoms have known real strife for as long as I’ve been alive.”

“They sent troops to fight your liege in the last war. Do not assume they know nothing.”

“I make no such assumptions, Mighty Slorn. The trainees have their teachers with them. In fact, someone I’ve wanted dearly to find might be out there. However, when last I checked, we outnumber them three to one. Every rider and unicorn you slay today never masters her skills and rallies to the High-King’s banner. We simply pull the weeds while they are small.”

Majherri didn’t care for Danella’s attitude toward killing novice riders.

“She’s right,” Orgo said. “As much as it pains me to admit it. We only need to adjust our defenses, pull some warriors off the walls and have them fight in the streets.”

“Turn out the dwellings!” Slorn ordered. “Litter the streets with barrels, carts, bedding and furniture. Make it so their horses and unicorns are useless. Give the warriors torches and have them set the debris on fire when the time is right.”

Majherri knew that this would be a moderately effective tactic against a force comprised mostly of cavalry.

“Don’t worry, Majherri,” Danella said, picking up on his foul mood. “There will be plenty of them for you to kill.”

“You can force me to kill my kind, but I take no pleasure in it,”
he said.
“I’m not some lowly human like the rest of you.”

The chieftains, who could all understand him, turned to look at the unicorn. Slorn asked, “You think you’re better than us?”

“Do you see any other animals that kill their own species? I do not. Wolves do not hunt other wolves. The spirits dwelling in you actually beheld the Goddess in all her glory. What do you suppose she would think of your plan to slaughter my kin and their young riders? But you don’t care, so bask in your greatness and rejoice!”

“Silence, Majherri!” Danella cut him off before he could get to the part where he hoped they choked on their own entrails.

Snorting, he turned and walked away, wanting nothing more to do with this gathering. Danella did not stop him.

He wandered the city, watching the Yar go from house to house and tell the residents at swordpoint to dump their belongings into the street as darkness crept over the city. Some refused and died. As expected, the roads quickly became difficult to traverse.

The lit lanterns of the city made it difficult to see the sky above. He’d already spilled the blood of his kin. Soon he would do so once more. He didn’t want to think about how he would be judged when his life ended. Of more concern was the fact that Kayleigh might be out there on the other side of the battlefield. There were two things that were absolutely forbidden. He’d already killed unicorns. The other would be attacking his rider. Although Kayleigh wasn’t his rider anymore, but that seemed like a poor justification at best.

Finding a relatively quiet spot, he rested and tried to clear his mind. Moving the free magic around in his body, Majherri felt it was a little bigger, but then he could be imagining that. The only question was what the unicorn might be able to do with that bit of magic.

Danella’s summons shook him out of a peaceful sleep. The sun crept just over the horizon and there was still a slight chill in the air. He sensed she was moving fast and assumed she’d been out scouting in the predawn hours.

Following her call, he ended up in the large courtyard area just inside the gate. Yar tribesmen were scrambling about. Approaching Danella, he listened to the conversation in progress.

“… riding east. Their main thrust will come with the rising sun at their back. They’ll be in position in twenty minutes at most. Ready yourselves.”

Slorn considered Danella’s report. “Pull men from the west and south to reinforce the east. Leave the men at the main gate in case this is a feint. Orgo, if they’re so interested in using the rising sun in their favor, be up on that wall and give them something very shiny to look at. When they breach the wall, you and I will be there to stop them.”

Majherri witnessed the naked bloodlust in the man’s eyes and feared for the unicorns and humans who had the misfortune of crossing his path on this day.

“Now is our time.” Slorn addressed the chiefs and warriors around him. “The Yar have been pushed into a corner and warned to never come out. I say no longer! From this day forth it is the Yar who will be doing the pushing. Fight with pride! Fight with ferocity and unleash your rage upon those who would dare try and stop us!”

The humans found his speech very stirring and they pounded their weapons against their shields. War cries filled the air. Danella was pleased and the unicorn felt the thirst for battle bleeding over from her to him across their bond.

She turned to him and gripped his muzzle with both hands. “No foolishness today, Majherri. No acts of rebellion. If you fail me this day, I’ll kill you myself. I saw Meghan and T’rsa are out there and I plan to reunite our family today. Without your help, both of them will probably die.”

Drawing himself up and out of her grip, he threw his cracked horn into the air and said,
“It’s tempting to weaken you by letting you kill me Danella, but I am a survivor. I survived the netherbeast. I survived the desert. I survived a second rider and I will most certainly survive you!”

“Nice to see you still have a spine, my unicorn. Just remember, I have plenty of power on my own now. You’re not as indispensable as you believe.”

He was oddly pleased that she could understand him clearly now. She hadn’t silenced him yet, so Majherri spoke his mind.
“So you say. Yet you covet even greater power. I see the way you regard the hydra and the serpent. I’ve seen what you’ve become, Danella Lynch. You’ve given yourself over to the darkness and dragged me with you. Where your heart once was is an empty pit. I doubt there will ever be enough power to fill that void. You’re a crazed, diseased…”

Danella’s power gripped him. “Yet I can silence you with just my thoughts, Majherri. I can enthrall others and make them do my bidding. Your resistance amuses me to a point, but now it is time to stop bickering and start killing.”

As expected, the Battle Maidens broke through along the east wall. Sections of the wall broke away in uneven chunks. Orgo’s serpent hissed in agony and went over the wall after being hit with some kind of eldritch bolt.

“Sorcerer!”
Majherri warned.

“Probably Duke Tomas himself,” Danella said. “Get ready!”

Warriors raced toward the gap. He spotted one throwing his heavy spear into the breach. The weapon flew like a dart, but was knocked aside by the fiery mass coming through the opening.

“Fireshade!”
Majherri bellowed and somehow knew it was Kayleigh Reese. The energy spiked and erupted, sending Yar warriors spinning away from her and turning the fallen pieces of wall into deadly missiles.

“Impressive,” Danella conceded as more unicorns and riders broke through the cloud of dust left in his former rider’s wake. “But stupid. She used up her energy right at the beginning. This will be easier than I thought.”

Danella kicked him into motion and began calling on her own fire magic, sending waves of flame at the nearest opponents. A swirl of air magic dispersed the dust cloud and Majherri caught his first glimpse of Kayleigh. The first thing he noticed was her hair was…green? The second thing he noticed was the extra rider on the unicorn, a tiny woman also sporting the same shade of hair, in red robes with white makeup covering her face. When one of the half-burnt savages rose to his feet next to them, it was the white-faced girl who sent him flying with a wave of her hand.

Suddenly, Kayleigh’s gambit made more sense. While she and the female unicorn recovered, the sorceress protected all of them.

Is that the female, Iarisha, from the village?

Further speculation became impossible. A light lance coming at them forced Majherri to look away from Kayleigh and use his horn to parry it as he entered a deadly dance with a Battle Maiden and her unicorn. Danella threw flames that were blocked away by an air shield from the rider who dropped her weapon and drew a sword. Before steel could meet steel, the ground trembled and Majherri struggled to keep his footing. At first, he thought it was a group of earth maidens using thunderhooves, but the massive bulk of the hydra passed by and scattered riders and warriors alike. The two outer heads snapped down. One missed, but the air maiden mere feet away was snatched bodily from her saddle and flung into her element, leaving her stunned unicorn suddenly riderless.

Danella spared it needless grief by unleashing a torrent of flame into the male’s unprotected face. He staggered away, burning, dying, and probably blinded. Majherri fought back the revulsion and pushed it aside.

The giant owl chieftain circling above screeched,
“Secondary breakthrough at the main gate! Most of their forces are coming through there! They have a second sorcerer!”

Orgo’s injured serpent form reappeared and shouted,
“Go, my brother! I’ll deal with these wretched pests!”

“Then do so, Orgo!”
Slorn roared. The hydra’s gigantic form stopped and began to turn. The move forced Majherri to pivot and dodge the creature as Slorn turned away from the smaller group to reinforce the main gate. He ended up ducking behind a building and waited for the hydra to pass before reemerging. Quickly surveying the battlefield, Kayleigh and the sorceress riding with her were nowhere to be seen.

Orgo’s tail knocked a unicorn and rider against the city wall and pinned them. His gaping maw opened, but a series of arrows hit his exposed throat area and around his mouth.

Majherri followed the trajectory back to the source. Immediately, he recognized the woman behind the bow as Meghan. She continued sending a steady stream of arrows at Orgo, who spun away to protect his few vulnerable areas, hissing in rage. She sat high in the saddle of T’rsa, who moved as one with her rider, instinctively pausing for the split second Meghan needed to aim her next arrow.

“There!” Danella cried and used her fire magic to make a path to her sister, burning friend and foe alike. Majherri charged, closing the distance at speeds that would make any unicorn, even one ridden by an air maiden envious.

Meghan must have been alerted to their approach and turned her bow on them. Danella used her shield to deflect them. Her sister’s attempt to make the arrows unblockable failed miserably until Meghan jammed the bow into the leather holder strapped to T’rsa’s side and drew both a sword and dirk.

Water maiden and fire maiden lashed out at each other with blades.

“End this, Danella! Come back to the light!”

“You’re slower than I remembered, sister. All that time on the island has made you soft. Don’t worry, I can fix you.”

“Majherri! How can you serve such evil?”

He did not waste time answering T’rsa’s question. His focus was on subduing his sister without seriously injuring her. The Lynch sisters might be on roughly equal footing, but this contest wasn’t nearly as close. Quick moves and head thrusts. For most unicorns, it remained a way to practice against lances – a game. For Majherri, it could never be that again. He’d already killed two unicorns in this manner, felt his horn strike home and true. In a twisted sort of way, his sister correctly said that his magic was wrong. Angry sparks of magic came into being every time their horns contacted one another.

She’d angered him greatly. T’rsa had betrayed him, however justified it might have been and now she was yielding ground to him as he bullied her backwards with greater speed, strength, and skill. A glint of metal and he used his horn to block the slash from Meghan’s dirk. T’rsa used the opening to stab at him, opening a painful wound on his neck.

The blood sizzled as he called on his magic to seal the wound, sending that bit he could manipulate up to the injured area. Snorting against the pain as he burned his own wound shut, he backed away momentarily to gain his bearings.

T’rsa paused. “Brother I …”

He didn’t give her a chance to complete her sentence. Rearing, Majherri pushed forward with his powerful back legs. His left front hoof slammed into her horn, pushing her head away and disorienting his sister. The right hoof extended and struck through Meghan’s guard and sent her tumbling from the saddle.

Danella’s weight disappeared from his back. He caught a glimpse of her shifting into her hawk form for a second, before returning once more to human and tackling Meghan.

T’rsa tried to get around Majherri to her rider, but he blocked her attempts.