The Unwilling Ambassador (Book 3) (21 page)

"And we should do the same with the dwarves in the city," Percy spoke up. "Otherwise the citizen casualties will be worse than in Galaron."

"What can we do to stop these things?" Danto asked them.

Piako looked at his captain with a horrified expression. "What are ya talking about? Are ya taking their word without seeing for yerself if they're telling the truth?"

Danto turned and scowled at the king. "If we wait to see for ourselves and they're right then it'll be too late to do anything about it."

The king whipped his head from one face to the other, guard and foe alike. He saw fear in one, and determination the other. A spark lit up his eyes, and his quivering lips stiffened. He drew himself up to his four and a half feet and pulled his waistband up. "Fine. If that's the way it's to be done then we'll show this stone and its magic what we're made of. Danto, gather the men and have scouts go to the outskirts of the marshes. If these things are coming, Ah want to know how many and where they're headed. Half of the others will pull the citizens out of the city to the east, and the rest will take a fighting position on the western wall of the city."

Danto straightened and bowed at the waist. "As you wish, my king." He turned to his troops who had taken courage from their king's newfound leadership. "Two of ya will get back to the castle and bring anyone and any weapons ya can find, including ma best suit of armor. The rest, follow me." Danto, Piako, and their men hurried to evacuate their people and establish a line of defense for the city.

That left behind the grim companions with Thino and Shilo. Percy, with Sins by his side, turned to Ruth. "How fast was this army traveling?" he asked her.

"A shamble, but they are so close to the fields they will be here within an hour," she replied.

"An hour doesn't give us much time to think of a plan of attack against the stone," he mused.

"At least we still have the treasure," Pat spoke up. Everyone looked to Ned, who sheepishly smiled and shrugged. Pat's eye twitched, and she stalked up to the castor and stuck her face in his. "Where is the treasure?" she growled.

Ned nodded past her at the rubble. "I may have dropped it in our journey down the street," he admitted.

"Dropped it?" Pat exclaimed. She waved her hand at the staff in his grasp. "How could you drop the treasure when you didn't drop that?"

Ned hugged his staff to himself. "I'm rather fond of my staff, and would rather it not be crushed."

"While the treasure is now a mass of metal buried under tons of rubble?" she growled. She threw up her arms. "No wonder you've taken on Fred as an apprentice. He's here to make you look better." Fred frowned, but didn't interrupt her tirade.

Ned smiled. "The instruments created by the old castors are made of tougher stuff. It survived, but I do not know how to get to it."

"Can't you blast through the debris with your magic?" Percy suggested.

Ned shook his head. "I would be likely to blow it to the other side of the city. No, what we need is a sensitive touch, and a good light."

"Light. . ." Fred murmured. Ruth stood close beside Fred and heard him.

"Do you have an idea?" she asked him.

Fred looked to Ned. "What about the Stars? Couldn't they search through there?"

Ned froze and a wide grin slipped onto his face. He stepped up to Fred and patted the boy on the shoulder. "That's the mind I knew lay in that thick skull of yours."

"Um, thanks. I think. . ." Fred mumbled.

"But there are no Stars here," Pat pointed out.

Ned glanced up at the skies and smiled. "Our luck may be turning. Look." Everyone tilted their heads back and glimpsed a string of lights that floated through the sky toward them. The string wound its way down to the group and they saw it was made up of hundred of Stars. They flitted around the companions and lit the whole area with a gentle glow. The teenagers smiled at the beautiful colors of their bodies, but Canto swiped them away and Sins was indifferent. Fluffy tried to eat them.

Hywel was at the lead, and he flew into the center of the awed companions. "I thought perhaps you might need some help," Hywel spoke up.

Ned chuckled. "How did you convince so many?"

"I admit it wasn't easy. Cadwaladr already flew from our city with most of our people, but I guaranteed the king would let my people go once the battle was over. That is, if there's anyone left alive," he told them.

Canto bristled at the promise. "Let the Helpers go? Ya think we're fools?"

"No, I think you're desperate fools, and we Stars can help fix that desperation problem," Hywel replied.

"And none too soon, but how are the swamps and what of the creatures?" Ned interrupted.

Hywel's color dimmed and he shuddered. The flock of Stars likewise shivered. "The creatures have already ransacked our city and are destroying every living thing in their path. Most of their army are headed this way, and I doubt we have half an hour to spare before they are at the walls."

"Then we've no time to lose," Ned replied. He gestured to the rubble. "I seem to have lost your treasure. Do you think-"

"Don't say another word. We'll have it found and floated out in no time," Hywel promised. He turned to his waiting companions. "You heard Ned. The swamps and our lives depend on a hide-and-seek game. Let's win it." A cheer went up from the Stars and they flew into their work, and the rubble. The collapsed walls and broken wood came alive with their glow as they flitted in and out of every crevice, crack, and pile of debris. When they couldn't get under it, they picked it up and tossed it aside.

"Well, that's one problem solved," Ned commented.

"But we're forgetting one," Percy spoke up. "Even if they do manage to find the treasure, how will we get close enough to the stone to use the item?"

"How close do we even have to be?" Pat added.

"Close enough for the stone to hear the ringing of its music," Ned told them.

"But far enough away not to die," Canto added.

"That would be preferable," Ned agreed.

"But won't the stone throw us back if we get close?" Ruth pointed out.

"No doubt about that, and we might not be surviving the next toss," Canto replied.

"Maybe Ned's barrier can protect us," Pat suggested.

Ned pursed his lips and shook his head. "One castor's barrier was already tried. Another won't work."

"And that castor barrier woke it up. The next one might destroy the entire city," Percy added. Fred cringed, but Ruth patted him on the shoulder.

"You didn't mean to," she consoled him.

"We'll have time for blame after the battle," Ned spoke up.

"Or we'll all be dead," Canto quipped.

Ned smiled. "Or that, but I don't plan on dying just yet."

"Neither do I, but how can we defeat the stone?" Pat mused. She glanced at Ned. "Can its power be weakened by constant use of its energy blast?"

He shook his head. "No. The stones have power so long as there are inhabitants of the region."

"But can it keep sending out wave after wave of those blasts? Isn't there a point where it needs to rest?" she persisted.

Ned opened his mouth, then shut it and frowned. He pulled at his beard and a smile slipped onto his lips. "You may have something there. There could be a way of forcing it to use its energy and get in close during the intervals." He glanced around the group. "For my plan we'll need the fastest and most agile of us. Sins, Ruth and Fluffy, I'm afraid you will be needed." Sins nodded, Ruth bowed her head, and Fluffy drooled.

"And the rest of us?" Percy spoke up.

Canto grinned and tapped his ax in his hand. "We get to have some fun with the army," he guessed.

Pat cringed. "I hope they don't smell as bad as-" A smell wafted over her nose and she slapped her hand over her face. "What is that smell?" she garbled. Fluffy lifted his head and howled. The group heard yells and looked to the western border of the city. Torches lit the wall and the cries were of dwarves attacking un-dwarves.

"It seems the battle has started without us," Ned commented.

"Then we'd better get going," Shilo spoke up.

Thilo looked at her in horror. "Yer not going anywhere. Keep yer crows safe and stay with Ned," he ordered her. He stuffed the birds in his hand into her arms and took a few steps forward, but she grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"And where do ya think yer going?" she shot back.

"To fight for the city," he told her.

Her face paled. "Ya don't know the first thing about fighting!" she argued.

"Ah agree," Canto spoke up. "Yer not a fighter, Thino, and neither are ya, Shilo. Ya both best stay back here or leave the city."

"Ah know enough not to get myself killed," Thino countered.

"Not without me there to keep ya alive." Shilo tossed her crows into the air and the birds flew unsteadily over her head. "Now no more arguing. Let's get to the battle before all the good enemies are dead."

CHAPTER 24

The group was split into two teams. The warriors were to go to the battle raging on the outskirts of the city, and the nimble friends would remain to distract the stone. Pat set her sword at her side and looked to Fred with a hint of a smile on her face. "Careful with your earthquakes. We don't want the whole city falling into the earth," she teased.

Fred returned her humor with a shaky smile. This was the first battle he'd ever participated in. "I'll try," he replied.

"Fred, you're to stay here," Ned told him.

Fred and Pat looked to Ned in surprise. "Me? What can I do here?" Fred asked him.

"You can help distract the stone while the Stars get their treasure close enough to ring it," Ned pointed out.

"But I already woke it up. What if I make things worse?" Fred argued.

Pat scoffed. "I don't think that's possible."

"What if I make it angry and it destroys the whole city?" Fred suggested.

Ned chuckled and rested his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Then that would be to our advantage."

Fred blinked. "How would destroying the whole city be to our advantage?"

Pat rolled her eyes. "Not the destroying part, you fool, the angry part. An angry enemy doesn't know what it's doing and will make mistakes."

"Well said, Pat, and quite right," Ned complimented. "But we don't have time for arguing. Warriors to your battle and we distractions to our distracting."

"Good luck to all of us," Percy cheered.

"And may us all come out alive," Thino grumbled. Shilo rolled her eyes, grabbed his arm, and led the warrior group down the road to their battle.

Pat hugged Ruth and turned to Fred with a frown. "Try not to doom us all," she advised. Her face softened when Fred winced, and she lowered her voice. "And try not to get yourself killed. I don't like crying at funerals."

A small smile slipped onto Fred's face and he shrugged. "I'll try not to."

"You'd better." Pat paused and her eyes flickered around the group. Ruth smiled and turned away. Fred was confused until Pat leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Now go show everyone what a good castor can do," she whispered in his ear. Then Pat raced after the warrior group, leaving Fred with a clear blush on his cheeks.

Ruth stepped up to him and mischievously smiled. "I think she may like you," she commented.

"What? Oh, um, maybe," was his befuddled reply.

"Enough goodbyes when we'll say hello again," Ned spoke up. "We have a stone to defeat."

"But we can't do that without the treasure," Ruth reminded him.

Ned looked over at the furiously flitting Stars. "The Stars will find the treasure, but we need to know the stone's pulse pattern before it can be used."

"How can we even be sure there is a pattern?" Fred asked him.

Ned chuckled and nodded up the road toward the stone. "We visit the stone and find out."

While the four of them made plans to annoy the stone, the warrior group of Pat, Percy, Canto, Thino and Shilo with her crows hurried through the winding city streets to the western wall. The houses there were empty with the citizens evacuated to the eastern side of the capital. They didn't find the trouble until they hit one street away from the wall, and then they found the first injured being brought in through the nearby gate.

Canto's face took on a grim expression and he tightened his grip on his ax. "Monsters," he growled.

"Aye, and they're nearly impossible to kill," a voice spoke up. They turned to see Piako leaning against Danto with his arm slung over his captain's shoulders. Piako's body armor hung from one metal strap and he had a terrible wound in his side that seeped blood. His face was pale and his lips quivered. "Ya cut off the hands and the arm crawls toward ya. Ya hack off a leg and it keeps kicking ya."

"Only cutting off the heads ensures they don't come back," Danto added. He set Piako down on a cot set up for the wounded.