“Is it really so difficult?” asked the queen.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Harold. He blushed mildly as he remembered his first charge while strengthened by the earth-bond. He had nearly killed himself slamming into a ceiling. “Several of the soldiers have already been injured and one would have died if the goddess had not been present.”
“Died?”
“He leapt into a tree and broke his neck when he struck a limb, Your Majesty,” supplied the knight.
“It really takes a lot of getting used to,” added Penny.
“And the gods have been true to their word thus far?” asked Ariadne.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Harold. “Doron has given any man who volunteered the strength of several men, and Millicenth has already healed a number of injuries, new and old alike.”
Penny broke in then, “Speaking of our allies, how will we coordinate with the Kriteck?”
“Karenth will serve as our liaison, ferrying information and orders to them,” said Ariadne. “They will remain separate from our forces and wait until the attack has begun before they respond. Once the attack starts, their giant flying ‘dragons’ will deposit them in the central courtyard.”
“And what of our dragon?” asked Harold.
“He has declined to participate,” responded the queen with a tight face. “He prefers autonomy. Moira Centyr assures me he will render assistance if necessary, but only when and if he feels that it is required.”
“Damned uppity dragon,” muttered Chad, “wonder how he’d feel with an arrow in one eye?” He closed his mouth quickly when he realized the queen was staring at him. “Sorry, Your Majesty, just thinking out loud.”
The meeting continued for another half hour, while details were discussed and agreed upon. When it was over, Ariadne signaled to Penny to wait behind. Once the others had left she took the Countess’s hands in her own, and Penny started to take knee.
“Please, don’t Penny,” said the new queen. “You know I think of you more as an older sister. As difficult as all of this has been, please continue to treat me as before, at least when we are alone.”
Penelope watched the younger woman’s face with empathy. Having been raised a commoner, she was all too familiar with the discomfort of newfound formality with former peers. “I should have known better. Forgive me, Ariadne, the stress of late—sometimes I don’t know who I am anymore.”
“That’s mainly why I held you back,” said Ariadne. “I wanted to know how the twins are doing.”
“They regained consciousness briefly, before returning to a more normal sleep,” assured Penny. “I’ve seen it with their father a few times before, so I think they will make a full recovery.”
The young queen nodded, “I’m relieved to hear it. What about Rose? I had hoped she would come to the council, but I didn’t think it right to command her presence.”
Penny frowned. “She’s withdrawn into herself. She’s still nursing, and she seems to be comforting Gram but she hasn’t spoken to anyone other than Elise since Dorian died.”
“Not even you?”
It was a sensitive subject, but Penny decided to be frank, “Rose and I weren’t on the best of terms before the attacks.”
“I thought you two were as thick as thieves,” commented Ariadne.
“Normally, yes. She came to visit me the day that your father...,” Penny paused before rewording her statement, “… the day Tremont showed his true nature. I think she had come to reconcile, but everything just fell by the wayside when the news came.”
“It’s not really my business, but why were you fighting?”
“My stubbornness to consider future wedding arrangements,” admitted Penny. “She thought I should start thinking of my options before the year was up, so that I’d be better prepared when the pressure began.”
“I can see why that upset you.”
“It’s even worse now,” said Penny. “I felt as though she was cheapening Mordecai’s memory, but when Dorian transformed…”
“What?” asked Ariadne.
“… she went to him without hesitation, even when he was a horror of crystal and spikes. I saw then, that she was truer to her heart than I had been,” said Penny with tears in her eyes. Now that she was finally confessing what had lain in her heart, the emotion threatened to sweep her away.
“But you didn’t know!” protested the younger woman. “He had become a shiggreth. Even Dorian knew that he wasn’t safe.”
“But he was,” countered Penny. “He was confused, but he didn’t want to hurt us. I saw that later, when it became apparent that he had not become the monster we had assumed.”
“Moira says he isn’t really the same man, and that his mind is unraveling.”
Penny stared at the earth. “Moira isn’t the same woman, but she still loves her child. I stood beside my husband the last time we thought his sanity was in question.”
“You did what was necessary. You told me that he didn’t really want to take the bond with you back then,” corrected Ariadne.
“You’re right,” agreed Penny. “I had no faith then either.”
“You took a ballista bolt through the stomach for him. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You’ve done the best you knew for you and your family at every turn, right or wrong,” said Ariadne as she moved toward her friend. She put her arms around Penny and did her best to comfort her for several minutes before they pulled apart.
“I need to help Harold,” said the Countess.
“You need to talk to Rose,” countered Ariadne, “There may not be a chance later.”
“If something happens to me, then you will have to tell her,” said Penny, drying her cheeks with one sleeve. “There’s too little time now.”
The Queen looked sadly after the Countess as she returned to her duties. “There’s never enough time, is there?” she said to herself, thinking of her mother and father.
Chapter 38
“How will you be able to see when they open the gate to let the villagers in?” whispered Harold. He stood close behind Walter, along with Penny, and Sir Egan. Another twenty men stood with them, huddling together at the edge of the road leading through the gate into Cameron Castle.
They were cloaked in invisibility provided by Walter, who also dampened any noises they might make. A similar group stood across the road from them with his son George shielding twenty others, plus Sir William and Sir Thomas.
One unfortunate side effect of an invisibility shield was that it blocked the entry of whatever it was hiding the user from. This meant that if you were using it to block visible sight, you were effectively blind. For a wizard this wasn’t so bad, since they still could see using magesight, but Walter and George were forced to hide them from that as well. The sound dampening also made it impossible for them to hear beyond their small groups.
They were deaf, dumb, and blind.
However, Walter had been using his magic to hide for decades, and his family was known for their special talents in that regard. “There’s a hole in our perceptual shield,” he explained. “It allows me to see out through a tiny spot, but only using physical eyesight.”
“Because they might find us if you used magesight?” questioned Harold.
“Yes,” responded Walter. “I think a physical peephole is easier to hide than a magical one, especially with so many people full of aythar inside.”
“How do you hide a hole?” asked Sir Egan, clearly enthralled.
“With an illusion,” said Walter with some exasperation. “I’m looking through what, from the outside, appears to be a perfectly normal bird perched in a tree right here.”
“But there isn’t a tree here,” objected Egan.
“There isn’t a bird either,” Walter told him with no small amount of sarcasm. “Will you let me concentrate? I know I make this look simple, but it really isn’t.”
Penny fought the urge to laugh at their conversation, though she needn’t have. Her sounds would have gone
unheard by the outside world, but old habits die hard. When she did speak she continued to whisper, as they all did, “You should relax Egan.”
“It isn’t easy, standing in the pitch black on the side of the road, waiting for the order to move, knowing that at any moment we could be discovered,” protested the knight, also in a whisper.
“Imagine Cyhan is standing behind you, watching over your shoulder,” suggested Penny.
Sir Egan shuddered in the dark. “That really doesn’t help. I don’t think anyone would want that,” he complained.
“Then just shut up, or I’ll have him watch you sleep for the next month, after we’re done today!” hissed Harold in frustration. He wasn’t enjoying the circumstances either, but he kept his complaints to himself. They were all on edge, nervous with pent up adrenaline, afraid to move or even speak loudly for fear of disrupting their wizard.
“The wagons are rolling up now,” announced Walter. “They’ll be opening the gate any moment.”
“That’s a relief,” said one of the soldiers in the group. Penny didn’t recognize him by his voice.
Harold sighed, “Keep it quiet.”
“See, I’m not the only one that’s a bit anxious,” said Egan, feeling validated by the other man’s comment.
“I’m starting to think Mordecai bound you to someone’s grandmother instead of the earth, because that’s what you’re starting to sound like!” barked Harold in a slightly louder voice. “Just like my Nanna, next you’ll be complaining about your rheumatism.” His remark was met with a number of quiet chuckles.
Even Egan saw the humor in the remark, “I rather like your Nanna. She’s a sensible woman. She’d know better than to be standing out here on a cold morning in the dark.”
“Alright, be quiet!” ordered Walter. “We’re going to start moving carefully forward. Move at a slow pace, the last thing we need is to bump into each other, or heaven forbid, into George’s group.”
Each person kept a hand on the shoulder of the one in front of him and another on the waist of the person to their right. Standing at the front of the group, Walter led them carefully forward. His peephole was no longer disguised, but it would be difficult for anyone to spot; although he knew from experience it wasn’t impossible.
His son should be on the opposite side of the road from them now, moving in the same direction, but he had no way to confirm the fact. So long as their shields rendered them invisible to aythar, even direct mental communication would be impossible. They had discussed their routes earlier however, and each group had a different target.
Breathing a sigh of relief as they passed through the gatehouse without incident, Walter guided them through the mostly empty courtyard toward the main keep. Once they reached the main door to the keep, they would discard their invisibility and break into three subgroups. George’s group would do the same, once he saw them enter the keep.
Walter’s group would divide into three parts. One, including him and Penny, would head for the key chamber that controlled the castle’s magical defenses. They were fairly certain that these had remained undiscovered, since the enemy had shown no sign of using them yet, but it would be important to gain control of them quickly. Harold would take seven men and head for the barracks and armory, racing to catch and eliminate any enemy reserves who weren’t on duty, while Egan and his seven would head for the roof to eliminate the archers there who threatened the courtyard. Once that was done they would sweep the walls and smaller defenses to eliminate the other defenders.
George’s group would also split, with one team, led by Sir William, taking control of the main gate as quickly as possible. At the same time, as soon as their game was revealed, Sir Thomas and his seven would run for the postern gate to take control of it before their enemies could coordinate to stop them. George and the remaining six would sweep the top of the outer walls to help take control of the courtyard.
It was a simple and direct plan, made possible by two things, the element of surprise, provided by the Prathion wizards, and the strength of Doron. They couldn’t sneak enough men in for their initial surprise attack to have succeeded if it weren’t for Doron’s enhancement of their soldiers. Each of the men with them would be nearly as fast and strong as one of the Knights of Stone, and although their armor would be simpler and their weapons mundane, they should be able to handle any human defenders they encountered easily enough.
As soon as the walls and gates were under their control, the Kriteck would land to deal with whatever ‘servants’ Mal’goroth had left behind, and the rest of their enhanced soldiers would enter to solidify their hold on the castle. It sounded easy enough.
I can’t wait to see what goes wrong first, thought Harold pessimistically. He knew from experience that few plans survive past the first few minutes of battle, but it was better to have one than not.
“We’re standing in front of the main door to the keep now,” said Walter with a nervous warble in his voice. “There are four men directly in front of us, two on either side. I’m going to count to three, and then I will drop the concealment. Are you ready?”
A quick chorus of ‘ayes’ answered him, and Walter began to count. “One, two—three!” The light of what seemed to be a dozen suns blinded them as soon as Walter removed his spell. Having been in absolute darkness for almost two hours, their eyes were slow to adjust. Moving forward on instinct and experience more than eyesight, Penny and Harold killed the four men guarding the door in seconds.
Egan was prevented from doing the same by the man behind him who in his excitement brought his axe to the ready so quickly that he knocked the knight forward and off balance. Two others in the group were less lucky. One lost an ear when the man next to him unsheathed his sword, while another suffered a broken arm from an overenthusiastic mate next to him.
About what I expected, thought Harold as he threw open the doors.
Penny entered beside Walter and spoke rapidly to Harold, “We’ll take the injured. Walter can patch them up before we reach our objective.”
Nodding, Harold and Egan quickly pointed and switched the two wounded men for two of those who had been meant to accompany Penny. Without waiting further, the two broke off in different directions, Harold toward the barracks and Egan the stairs that led up. The few guards who were in the entry were dead before they could react, and Walter created a new concealment shield to hide himself along with Penny and the remaining men.
“How long will it take to fix them?” asked Penny.
“I’ve already stopped the blood loss from the fellow’s lost ear,” replied Walter. His healing skills were nowhere near the level that Mordecai’s had been, or even the level of Elaine’s, but simple cuts and bones he could handle. “Once we get to a safe place, I’ll drop the shield and tend to this fellow’s arm. That will take a minute or two.”
They began their careful walk to the center of the main floor of the keep, toward the hidden chamber that controlled the castle’s defenses.
***
George and his group stood in the shadow of the wall, just inside the main outer gate of Castle Cameron. Speaking in his characteristically calm voice, George made his announcement, “They’ve begun. I’m going to drop the invisibility. Get ready.”
He didn’t bother counting to three, which was just as well, for it avoided the problem that the other group had encountered. No one was so hyper-ready that they wounded their companions. There was no one standing close to their position, and the shadow of the wall made it easier to adjust to the sudden change in lighting.
William went directly to the doorway that led into the back of the gatehouse; unfortunately, it was closed and locked (as it was supposed to be). He had hoped the invaders would be too lax in their duty to bother keeping it secure while the keep was seemingly safe otherwise. His men were prepared for it, though. He motioned to one of the soldiers who had been chosen as their door-breaker; the man stepped forward and brought out a heavy iron sledge. With a twenty pound head,
it was normally unsuitable for combat, but Doron’s strength changed the equation a bit.
The fellow smashed the door in within three strikes, and Sir William was into the interior like a steel flash. The others followed quickly behind, but William’s enchanted sun-sword was so swift that they had little to do but finish off the wounded and hurry to keep up with the armored knight.
Meanwhile, George led six of the soldiers up the stair that led from the interior courtyard to the first section of Cameron’s exterior wall. Their job was considered one of the most risky, especially considering he didn’t have a Knight of Stone along with his subgroup. George was unarmored, but he trusted his shields to protect him from the arrows they would probably face. The men with him had no such guarantee though, and their chainmail wouldn’t stop a crossbow bolt.
To make up for that disadvantage, he cloaked them with a shimmering near-invisibility that would let the men see dimly while making them hard to target. The first bowmen on the walls never even realized what had hit them until it was too late.
Things got tougher from there. The top of the outer wall was sectioned, so that the walkway atop each wall between the towers was separated from the others by a ten foot empty space to the left of each tower. When things were quiet, wide wooden gangways provided easy bridges between each section of the wall, but when threatened, the men near each would shove them off to make it more difficult for an invader to take the entire wall.
As soon as the guard at the next tower heard the first bowmen’s cries, they called out an alarm. The nearest crossbowman raced to the wooden bridge and knocked it free, watching it fall to the ground far below. Raising his weapon, he and the two men exiting the tower behind him began to take aim on the elusive figures now trapped on the other parapet.
A ten foot gap was little problem for a man with the sort of strength and agility that one of the knights had, provided he was used to it. Regrettably, Ariadne’s newly enhanced soldiers did not have that much experience yet. The first two to reach the gap were afraid of heights and sensibly stopped, the third was bolder. Leaping out, he overshot his mark. Passing over the gap, he covered the distance but landed off-kilter and fell from the other parapet. His scream as he fell to his death was a warning to the others.