Ulfr cursed quietly. The rebels were winning. He had chosen the wrong side, and now the dwarves would be punished.
“The soldiers are supposed to start the fight, then shepherd the crowds toward the plaza,” Uhtred continued. “It’s a powder keg, waiting to explode. And they will light the fuse in a few hours.”
“The cowards are going to make the citizens fight their battle for them,” Rotter growled.
“Hang on—they said they would attack today?” Prince Harold said, horrified.
“That’s right,” Daniels said.
“We have to stop this!” Prince Harold exclaimed.
“So you can protect your inheritance?” Uhtred said, raising an eyebrow. “There’s nothing you can do. The king will be forced to surrender—even a summoner can’t defeat thousands. How can someone rule those who refuse to obey him? It is better this way.”
“We were never the key to the rebellion,” Arcturus said, realization hitting him like a brick wall. “We were insurance. To make sure the nobles behave after they surrender.”
“You don’t understand,” Prince Harold said, wringing his hands. “You think my father would surrender? He would never.”
“But…,” Arcturus began.
“No!” Prince Harold said. “He would die first. It will be a massacre. Hundreds, maybe thousands will be slaughtered. He is one of the most powerful summoners to have ever lived. His demons will butcher people in the streets. Blood will run in the gutters and half the city will be burned to ash before he’s done.”
Arcturus knew it was true. He had seen the cruelty in the man’s eyes.
“Our families have charging stones full of mana,” Zacharias scoffed, misunderstanding Prince Harold’s tone. “We’d win, easily.”
“They underestimate his power … and overestimate his aversion for killing innocents,” Prince Harold whispered.
“Some of our parents would surrender; they wouldn’t want to kill citizens … but I know Alfric would not fight alone,” Josephine said. It was the first time she had spoken since they had left Vocans, and Arcturus looked at her, surprised.
“The Favershams, the Forsyths, the Rooks, and many others. They would join him,” she continued, tears in her eyes.
“And well they should,” Zacharias said. “Why should they lie down and let the plebs steal our birthright?”
His words were met with grim stares, even from Josephine. The noble lowered his head.
“Maybe we could win,” Josephine whispered. “But at what cost?”
“So we have to stop it,” Prince Harold said.
He turned to Elaine. She was sitting cross-legged, her tongue sticking out with concentration as she guided Valens over the roofs of Corcillum, oblivious to the conversation.
“Elaine,” Prince Harold said.
She looked up and blinked tiredly.
“I can’t find our parents,” she said, her eyes half-closed. “Can you tell me where the palace is again?”
“It’s okay,” Prince Harold said, brushing a smear of dirt from her cheek. “You can sleep now. We don’t need to get a message to them anymore.”
“Why not?” Zacharias demanded.
“Because the fact that they think we’re still captive may be the only thing that stops our families from fighting back when the time comes,” Prince Harold snapped. “And maybe they can convince my father, if not to surrender, then to retreat, fly away.”
“Wait … so we want our parents to just give up?” Zacharias said. “You’re crazy.”
“Would they manage to convince him?” Sergeant Caulder asked, ignoring Zacharias. “To run away?”
“Maybe,” Prince Harold said with a sigh. “I don’t know. But we can’t take that chance.”
“There’s nothing we can do, Harold,” Josephine said, touching the prince’s shoulder. “We just have to hope.”
“To hell with that!” Prince Harold growled, clenching his fists. “We’re going to stop it.”
“How?” Arcturus asked. “We’re a handful of novice summoners with no mana, most of us are injured and our forces are a few dozen exhausted men. What could we possibly do to change things?”
Prince Harold smiled. It was a strange, unhinged smile, and there was madness in his eyes.
“We’re going to make me king,” he said.
CHAPTER
56
“TELL ME THE PLAN again,” Arcturus said as Uhtred strapped the breastplate to his chest. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand it. But hearing it said aloud made it seem less crazy.
“We’ll fight our way to Corwin Plaza and then I’m going to demand my father give up the throne to me,” Prince Harold said.
They were in the room above the forge, where Uhtred seemed to store all his spare armor and weapons. Strangely, there also seemed to be large piles of what looked like bamboo lying around, though for what purpose, Arcturus did not know.
Zacharias and Josephine had reluctantly joined them, while the three sergeants were busy getting the men downstairs ready for battle.
“What good will that do again?” Arcturus asked, holding his arms and legs wide so Uhtred could fix a pair of metal vambraces to his forearms and two greaves to his shins.
“We will do it in full view of the crowds,” Harold said, examining the weapons piled in the corner and selecting a fine sword. “They know I am not the same man as my father. I have always been popular with the people—in fact, many nobles have been pressuring my father to abdicate the throne to me for this very reason—including Zacharias’s father. Is that not so, Zacharias?”
Zacharias looked up from where he had been prodding a stack of shields with his foot.
“He has,” Zacharias admitted. “Everyone knows Alfric is detested by all common folk, and this makes the nobles’ position precarious given their allegiance to him. But Harold’s public support of the military, and his opposition to the continued construction of the palace, earned him a lot of goodwill there. He would make a more stable king than Alfric.”
“So it would appease them?” Josephine asked. She had barely left the stairwell, and in the dim torchlight, her face looked pale and waxen. “If Harold was made king. The crowds would disperse?”
“They have to,” was Harold’s only reply.
“They had better,” Ulfr’s gruff voice called from the stairwell. He stomped into the light, and Arcturus was surprised to find the dwarf had armed himself with a battle-axe, and was wearing a brigandine of mail and a steel helmet.
“Are you joining us?” Harold asked.
“Aye, I’ve got to protect my investment,” the dwarf said. “Can’t leave you lot to mess it up at the last hurdle.”
“Very noble of you,” Arcturus said drily.
Still, the dwarf’s participation made him feel much better. They would need every fighter they could get.
“You’re all set for armor,” Uhtred said, patting Arcturus’s chest. “Any more and you’d be too weighed down, but at least you’re protected from a crossbow bolt or a sword blow. How about your weapon?”
Arcturus smiled and tugged his axe free from the quiver on his back.
“Good workmanship,” Uhtred said, examining the blade. “Sharp as a razor too. Have you used it before?”
“I have,” Arcturus replied, though he wondered whether his frantic skirmish in Vocans or chopping at a drawbridge really counted.
“Best you hold on to it, then,” Uhtred replied. “Now’s not the time to get used to the weight and balance of a new weapon.”
He handed it back to Arcturus and moved on to help Prince Harold put on his own breastplate.
“I have something to say,” Josephine announced.
Arcturus turned, startled. The girl was looking at her feet.
“I’m staying here with my sister,” she said in a quavering voice. “I’m not cut out for this. I’d freeze up.”
Prince Harold’s face fell. But then he went over to Josephine and hugged her.
“Thi
s is my mess,” the prince said, kissing her on the cheek. “I cannot ask you to risk your life for me. Not when you’ve been through so much already. The soldiers below, they swore to protect king and country. But you … you’re just a student. You didn’t sign up for this. That goes for you too, Arcturus. And you, Zacharias. I will understand if you don’t want to come.”
Zacharias looked at the prince for a moment, then smiled with relief and dropped the sword he had been holding.
“Well, then I’m staying too,” Zacharias said. “Someone needs to protect the girls when you and the soldiers have gone.”
Arcturus snorted at this excuse, earning himself a glare from Zacharias. He’d take any of the girls over ten Zachariases.
Arcturus saw the disappointment in Harold’s face, but the prince embraced Zacharias nonetheless. Then he turned to Arcturus.
“Are you coming?” he asked.
Arcturus hefted his axe. This was no longer about survival, or commoners, or nobles. No longer about friendship, or choosing sides. This was about saving lives.
“Thousands could die if I don’t,” he said, looking meaningfully at Zacharias. “Thousands. Of course I’m coming.”
Zacharias shrugged and led Josephine down the stairs. Harold watched them go with what looked like regret.
“I didn’t think Zacharias would back out,” he muttered under his breath. “Maybe I should have pressed him.”
“So, just us three, then,” Arcturus said, patting Ulfr on the back. The dwarf glowered at him and edged away, then muttered something in dwarfish under his breath.
“Edmund and Alice are both injured, but we’ll have their demons fighting with us, at least,” Harold said, though he seemed to be speaking to himself more than anyone else. “Gelert’s ribs are hurt, but Edmund says he can fight.”
“Sacharissa’s hurt too,” Arcturus murmured.
He felt a flash of guilt, for he could still feel the ache of pain from the loyal Canid in his consciousness. But he doubted he could get her to stay behind, and even if he managed to, it would take every ounce of his concentration to keep her there. She was coming with him, one way or another.
“The soldiers can take as much ammunition as they like,” Uhtred said, rapping Prince Harold’s breastplate with his knuckles. “I’ll see if I can’t scrounge up some spare helmets too. Other than that … there isn’t much else I can do, I’m afraid.”
“You’ve done more than enough,” Harold said warmly, shaking the dwarf’s hand.
“I’ll go get the troops ready,” Uhtred said.
The dwarf bowed and hurried down the stairs, stopping on the way to pick up a large box of helmets, lifting it with his muscled arms as if it weighed nothing at all. Arcturus only wished that the kind-hearted dwarf was fighting alongside them.
Then the three were alone, standing in the ill-lit chamber. They stood awkwardly.
“Ulfr…,” Harold said, after a moment’s hesitation. “You should know, I will protect the interests of your people whether you help us or not. I will not forget. These laws my father has enacted … I will work tirelessly to repeal them.”
“Harold, do you want to fight alone?” Arcturus asked, exasperated.
“Don’t worry, boy, I’m coming,” Ulfr said, spinning the axe in his hands. “I’ve never been allowed to hit a human before.”
He chuckled, then grew serious as Harold’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I appreciate it,” Ulfr said, nodding his head respectfully. “But you won’t be able to do any of that if you can’t reach the plaza. And whatever I may think of humans, I don’t want thousands of deaths on my conscience. Not when I could have done something to stop it.”
“Thank you,” Prince Harold said, looking up at the ceiling, as if he could see what was happening above. “I just hope this works.”
CHAPTER
57
IT WAS A COLD morning. Frost grew on the dark windows on either side of them, and gouts of steam plumed from their mouths as the men marched down the road in formation.
The three sergeants led the way, followed by a column three troops wide and twelve deep. Arcturus, Rotter, Prince Harold and Ulfr made up the rear guard, along with the two Canids, Alice’s Vulpid and the prince’s demon. Zacharias and Josephine had chosen not to send their demons, and much to Arcturus’s disgust, Prince Harold had not pressed the issue. They needed all the help they could get, but the pair would not even send their demons in their stead.
Uhtred guided them out of the enormous tent that covered his underground home, through the gardened grounds of the Dwarven Quarter and into the dingy streets beyond before saying his good-byes.
Arcturus was not sure what he had expected to appear when the prince had knelt with his summoning leather on the cobblestones … perhaps a Minotaur, or a brace of Canids. But instead, a demon he had never seen before emerged into the dim dawn light. Even now, as they moved toward the distant roar of the crowds in the city center, Arcturus could not help but stare at it. Harold had called it a Nandi.
The demon possessed the size and characteristics of an overgrown grizzly bear, but with a leaner, more muscular body, enormous, tusklike canines and a physique that hinted at a speed and ferocity that would far outstrip that of its earthly counterpart.
Arcturus knew they must have made a strange sight, walking down the empty streets in full battle dress with their four demons in tow. But there seemed to be no alternative, no sneaking in dressed as rebels. Elaine’s Mite’s scouting had shown them that.
The young noble had been angry at not being allowed to join their mission, so they had been forced to reach a compromise. Valens would go on ahead, guided by Elaine in Uhtred’s home, and Sergeant Caulder would carry the second scrying crystal so he knew what obstacles they would face.
But even before they had left, Valens had reached the plaza, and it became immediately apparent that disguise was not an option.
The four streets that led to their destination were blocked off. There were as many as a hundred rebels at each one, scanning the crowds for anything suspicious as the people milled back and forth, singing and chanting their protests. It seemed that General Barcroft had warned the rebels of what had happened at Vocans. Disguises might have got them closer before the fighting started, but Prince Harold had decided the benefit of the demons outweighed this thin advantage.
“Prince Harold, are you sure we’re going about this the right way?” Ulfr asked, breaking into Arcturus’s thoughts.
“Yes, Ulfr.” Harold sighed, sick of belaboring the issue. “The southern entrance is our only option. There are no crowds there—which means fewer casualties if it comes to a fight.”
“But don’t you think that’s suspicious?” Ulfr asked.
“It’s likely where the soldiers will attack through. Then the men in the other three entrances will incite the crowds to riot and surge toward the square.”
“So we’d better get there before that happens,” Arcturus said.
He grimaced, thinking on the new plan that they had hurriedly devised in Uhtred’s tent. Ever since the rebels had occupied the southern half of the city, the narrow street there that led into the plaza had been kept clear for some unknown reason.
There were a few dozen rebels there, well-trained traitor soldiers keeping the crowds from the area, but it seemed the path of least resistance, and the one that would lead to the fewest casualties. So that was where they would go.
A thousand thoughts continued to spin through Arcturus’s mind as they marched. All the things that could go wrong. The many, many ways that he and Sacharissa could die. But he could do nothing about them now. Only walk on, and ignore the twitching curtains and scared faces in the frost-chilled windows on either side.
“Almost there,” Sergeant Caulder called. “Another street over.”
Now Arcturus was beginning to see people, though they did little more than scurry away at the sight of them. They could hear the crowds chanting, and it had become a maelstrom
of noise. Somewhere nearby, the national anthem was being sung, near drowned out by the hundreds of screaming, shouting voices.
Then … a flash of light.
“No!” Harold yelled.
Above Arcturus, a giant dome was materializing in the air. The surface was a shining opaque white. A shield spell, larger than any Arcturus had ever imagined possible, completely covering the plaza. And somewhere else … screaming.
“The nobles are throwing up a shield,” Sergeant Caulder yelled. “We’re too late—the rebels must be attacking.”
Arcturus sprinted to the front of the line, his heart pounding in his chest. Prince Harold followed close on his heels, and Sergeant Caulder held out the scrying crystal for them to see.
Valens flew high above the southern entrance, and from the demon’s viewpoint, they could see themselves, just around the corner from the thin avenue.
And down the center of that channel that led directly to the plaza, dark forms hurried: a block of black-uniformed men, two hundred or more—it was impossible to tell. The image panned to the side, where the nearby eastern entrance was visible. There, the crowds surged forward, a stampede pushed on by scores of dark-cloaked men, like wolves chasing a herd of panicked deer.
“What do we do?” Arcturus said, watching as their plan fell apart before his eyes. “There’s an army of damned soldiers between us and your father. We were supposed to get there before their army attacked.”
Prince Harold simply stared, his head shaking.
“That shield won’t hold for long,” he said. “Thank god someone has some sense in there; it will keep the crowds off for now. But once they break in … my father will start the killing.”
Valens had hovered over the dome. Through the scrying crystal Arcturus could see the personal bodyguards of the various noble houses arrayed in battle formation, just inside the walls of the shield. Behind them, King Alfric and his various nobles sat in the plaza’s center, watching the crowds seething against the barrier from a large platform of wood. Even through the small shard of scrying stone, Arcturus could tell the edges were beginning to crack.