An Alliance of Mortals, page 23
part #6 of The New Earth Chronicles Series
Larin muttered an incantation and gripped his staff firmly in his left hand. Then he took one last quick look around the throne room and stepped through the portal. It closed behind him with a mutter of thunder, leaving nothing but an empty throne room in its wake. When Falder entered the hall a short time later to report to the king and found neither Shandon nor the guards, he immediately raised the alarm. But by then, it was far too late to do anything.
Shandon stepped into the darkened council hall of the elves and stood still, looking around in the gloom. Fortunately he was suspicious and he sensed the threat before he saw it. He swung his sword over his head and blocked an axe blow that would have cleaved his skull in two. His scabbard got caught in the notched axe blade and Shandon ripped his greatsword free of its sheath. He spun around and slashed downward with the weapon, splitting his attacker from head to crotch. It was a goblin.
The filthy creature, clad in bits of mismatched armor and no taller than the king, shrieked in agony and then collapsed on the floor with a wet, meaty thud.
Shandon stalked forward several paces, giving the warriors piling in behind him through the portal some room to move.
The lieutenant began to speak and the king motioned for her to remain silent. There had just been the one goblin in the hall, but they could all hear shouting coming from outside of the building.
Larin stepped out of the portal and it faded away behind him. He gaped at the dead goblin and then wrinkled his nose at the stench rising from the corpse.
“A goblin attack, my lord?” he whispered.
“It seems so. But my guess is that they are spread thin,” Shandon told him as he listened intently to the din outside. “Or else they would have stationed more than one guard in here. I'm assuming that they attacked to take control of the anchor, and yet just one of them was watching over it.”
“Sound reasoning, my lord,” Larin told him. “How should we proceed?”
Shandon smiled grimly at him.
“I am not Hallic to sneak around and stab my enemies from the shadows,” he told the mage. “We will attack. Warriors, follow my lead.”
“Yes, my lord,” the lieutenant replied. “We are with you.”
The king scooped up his scabbard and slid the belt over his shoulder to that the sheath hung across his back. Then he walked to the main door and waited for the guards to form up behind him.
He looked past them at Larin.
“Do whatever you feel you need to do,” he told him. “We must save as many of the elves as we can. Understood?”
“Understood, my lord.”
“Good. Here we go.”
Shandon grabbed the door handle. He took a deep breath and flung it open.
“Forward!” he bellowed. “For honor and glory!”
And then he raced through the doorway, the guards hard on his heels.
Larin stepped carefully around the messy corpse and the pool of blood that was spreading across the floor. His staff burst into cold flame as hurried to catch up with the king, a look of determination on his face.
Outside in the narrow streets of Caladur, bodies were scattered here and there, most of them riddled with arrows. Almost all of them were the twisted corpses of goblins.
Shandon stopped and looked around in surprise. There was yelling coming from some distance away, but he could see no one moving near the hall.
“It seems that the elves have made a good showing,” he told the warriors gathered around him. “Their rangers are obviously defending this town better than I had expected. Come along. Let's find out what all the shouting is about.”
He trotted down the street with the guards following in close formation. Larin brought up the rear and kept an eye on the king as he went. To the mage, the king's safety was his first concern and he intended to do all that he could to protect him.
A minute later, the dwarves rounded a corner and skidded to a stop. Ahead of them, a group of at least two dozen goblins was facing a wooden barricade that had been hastily erected across the street, between two houses. Behind the barrier, rangers were shooting arrows at their enemies, their barrage so intense that the goblins could only hunker down behind their shields, unable to press their attack.
Shandon chuckled in appreciation at the goblins' predicament.
“It seems that the elves have this battle well in hand,” he told the others. “I don't know if we should interfere or not at this point.”
Larin moved forward to stand next to him.
“My lord,” he said urgently. “This is not what it seems. I sense another group of attackers over in that direction.”
He pointed to the right of the scene in front of them with his glowing staff.
“I cannot tell you how many there are, but I'm guessing that they are trying to flank the defenders while the goblins in front of us keep the elves' attention on them.”
Shandon looked in that direction, but several houses were blocking his view. Those same houses were hemming in the goblins and keeping them from going around the barricade built across the street.
“Do you have a suggestion?” he asked the mage.
Larin stared at the goblins.
“Yes, my lord. We must deal with these creatures immediately so that the elves and our warriors can unite and pivot to face the real threat.”
The king frowned at him.
“But how...”
The mage moved away from the king and raised his staff.
“I am not a dwarf who enjoys battle,” he said softly as he stared at the goblins, their shouted curses filling the air. “But evil must be confronted and excised or it will grow and consume us all. So I will do what I have to do.”
He chanted an incantation in a strange tongue and slammed the butt of his staff against the ground. The earth rumbled and shook and the goblins stopped shouting and looked around in surprise, finally noticing the group of dwarves.
One of them, dressed in better-fitting armor than the rest, pointed his crooked sword at the king and his warriors and bellowed at his fellows. It seemed that he was ordering them to charge at Shandon and the others. They never got the chance.
The ground beneath their feet suddenly dipped several feet and then split wide open. The goblins tumbled screaming into the chasm that gaped beneath them and disappeared into its depths. A moment later, the rift slammed shut again, cutting off the sounds of the shrieking goblins and leaving an abrupt silence behind.
The king stared at Larin for a moment and then shook his head, grinning ruefully.
“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” he joked as the warriors around him all smiled with mingled delight and relief.
Larin looked at Shandon solemnly.
“I take no pleasure in killing, my lord, but I had no choice because time is short. The other goblins are advancing quickly on the elves' position.”
Shandon nodded, his grin fading.
“Right. Let's go.”
He trotted toward the barricade with the others following along behind him. As the king approached the pile of logs and wooden furniture that blocked the street, he spotted a familiar figure waving at him from behind it.
“Welcome, my lord,” Ethmira called out with a smile. “Thank you for your timely aid. Those vermin attacked without warning and we had very little time to raise a defense against them.”
“The attack isn't over yet, my friend,” Shandon told her as he reached the barrier.
Several of the rangers pulled down a section of the impromptu wall and the dwarves hurried through it to join the defenders.
“Larin tells me that another group of goblins is moving in on your flank,” the king said, speaking quickly. “The squad that was attacking your barricade was just a diversion. With them gone, we can unite and face the enemy together.”
Ethmira nodded respectfully at the mage as she replied to Shandon.
“It would be an honor to fight with you again, my lord,” she told him.
Her face was smudged with dirt and blood stains speckled her leather tunic. Clearly though, they were not her own.
“Good. My warriors and I will form a line and take the brunt of the attack,” Shandon told her. “Your rangers will then have a chance to cut them down with their arrows. It isn't an elegant tactic, but we have no time for anything more elaborate.”
“It will do, my lord. We are with you.”
Shandon glanced at Larin, who pointed to the right of the elves' position.
“They are coming from that direction, my lord,” he said gravely. “And they are coming fast.”
The king motioned to his guardsmen.
“Warriors, with me. Form up and ready your shields. We will hold back the goblin scum for as long as it takes our elven friends to finish them off.”
The twelve guardsmen slipped their shields from their backs and moved forward. They formed a line on the grass next to a tidy little home, facing a row of low houses that blocked their view of the approaching enemies. Shandon took his place in the center of the formation and held his greatsword in both hands, eagerly awaiting the attackers.
“Rangers, ready yourselves,” Ethmira called out. “You know what to do. Our dwarven allies are protecting us and we must do the same for them. Do not allow even one of those damnable goblins through, understood?”
The rangers, about twenty of them, shouted an enthusiastic affirmative and lined up several paces behind the dwarves. Standing directly behind the rangers, Larin grounded his staff and waited nervously for the onslaught.
Moments later, the defenders heard the sounds of jingling metal and loud grunting coming from the other side of the houses they were facing.
“They're coming,” Shandon called out. “Hold the line, warriors.”
All of the guardsmen drew their weapons and raised their shields, prepared to meet the enemy. Behind them, the rangers set arrows to their bows and waited for their targets to appear.
Larin frowned as he listened to the approaching hostile force. He raised his staff with his left hand and made a motion with his right as he murmured under his breath.
Ethmira looked over her shoulder, her keen ears picking up the dwarf's muttered spell.
“Is something wrong?” she asked him.
“Yes,” he replied softly. “But I cannot say what it is. Something else is coming. But it's not coming from in front of us. It's...”
His staff flared with white light and the mage gasped as he looked up.
“There!” he shouted, pointing with his staff. “Bat riders!”
Chapter 17
The silhouettes of monstrous bats could be seen plunging through the clouds directly toward Caladur. The bright sunlight shone through their enormous wings as they swooped down on the elven town, their terrifying screeches splitting the air.
Shandon looked back at Larin while he held his position in the line of warriors.
“Can you do something about those creatures?” he shouted over the ear-splitting shrieks of the approaching bats.
“I can try, my lord,” Larin replied as he watched the monsters getting larger and larger. “But there are six of them and they are huge. I will do what I can.”
He raised his staff and began an incantation. At the same time, a stream of goblin warriors burst through the space between two houses in front of the dwarves and elves and raced toward them.
The dwarven guardsmen raised their shields and braced themselves as the rangers drew back their bows.
Ethmira quickly tapped the shoulders of half of her rangers and pointed up at the giant bats.
“Support the mage!” she ordered. “The rest of us will deal with the goblins.”
Those ten elves all stepped back and looked to the sky, waiting silently for the bats to come within range of their bows.
Time seemed to stand still. Dozens of screaming goblins were about to slam into the dwarven line, while the bat riders had almost come close enough to the defenders to shoot arrows into them from above.
At that moment, the slender figure of an elf wearing red robes raced up to the formation from behind them. Larin looked at him in astonishment.
“Callius?” he exclaimed. “Where did you come from?”
The young scryer shook his head.
“No time to explain, sir mage,” he replied as he stared up at the diving bats. “I saw those monsters swooping down at the town and I wanted to help. I cannot use the ley energy to attack them unless they land, so I have called for help instead.”
“Help? What help? From whom?”
They were interrupted as the goblins collided with the dwarven warriors, the deafening sound of their clash making conversation impossible.
Shandon cut down his first opponent and, even over the screams of the goblin attackers, Larin could hear his laughter.
The other warriors slammed their shields into their foes, breaking their charge and pushing them back as they swung their axes and swords at the goblins.
Ten of the rangers shot their arrows into the goblins, while the rest of them stood immobile and waited for the giant bats to get closer.
Callius was frantically searching the sky, spinning around in wide-eyed anxiety, his robe wrapping around his ankles and almost tripping him.
“What are you looking for?” Larin asked him, shouting over the clang of metal and the shouts from the combatants.
The scryer stopped moving and stared toward the east, the opposite direction from which the bat riders were attacking.
“There!” he exclaimed as he pointed at the sky. “There they are.”
Larin looked in that direction and frowned in concentration, trying to identify what he was seeing.
A sparkling cloud was approaching rapidly, its rainbow hue making it difficult for the mage to identify what it was.
“What am I looking at, Callius?” he asked the young elf.
Callius was smiling in relief as he looked at Larin.
“I used the ley lines to contact the queen of the Fay. Her people are connected to the land even more closely than we elves are and it wasn't difficult for me to reach their leader.”
“Queen Ellas?” Larin replied as he watched the glittering cloud moving quickly toward them. “That's amazing!”
“Look out!” one of the rangers shouted at the mage.
He spun around just in time to see the bat riders begin shooting arrows directly down at himself and Callius.
“Invectis!” he said loudly as he raised his staff.
A translucent shield of energy sprang up around Larin and the scryer, just in time. The bolts from above disintegrated as they slammed into the magical barrier and the riders shrieked in rage as their attacks failed.
“Thank you, sir mage,” Callius said gratefully. “I should have thought to raise a protective barrier myself.”
“It's fine,” Larin replied with a smile. “I had the incantation ready to cast, just in case.”
The six enormous bats were flapping their wings quickly as they hovered above the battle. Several of the rangers were shooting up at them, but the winds raised by their wings blew the arrows off-course and none of them hit their targets.
One of the bats was holding its position at a higher elevation than the others and Larin narrowed his eyes as he tried to see its rider. Unlike the other goblins mounted on their bats, the mysterious figure wasn't wearing leather armor, and it wasn't shooting a crossbow down at the elves and dwarves. Instead the rider was dressed in black flowing robes and seemed to be unarmed.
“A goblin wizard, perhaps?” the mage muttered. “By the Stone, I hope not.”
“Here they come,” Callius exclaimed excitedly.
Larin turned around again and saw the multicolored cloud approaching quickly. As it reached the edge of the town, it was possible for the mage to finally make out some of its details.
“Faeries,” the mage said softly. “Hundreds of faeries. How extraordinary.”
The tiny winged beings each glowed with a multitude of colors, sparkling in the sunlight. Leading the cloud of faeries was a figure that was larger than the others. Her wings were shaped like those of a butterfly and her white gown flowing behind her as she led her people.
“The queen,” Callius said, pointing up at the approaching faeries. “She's leading them herself.”
“From everything I have heard, the Fay hate the goblins and all agents of Darkness,” Larin told him as he gazed up in wonder. “I'm not surprised that she came her herself. She has allied her people with the mortal races and it seems that she's taking that alliance seriously.”
The dwarven line was still holding back the attacking goblins. A heap of corpses was growing in front of them, but there were still dozens of the red-eyed warriors throwing themselves at Shandon and the others.
The guards' skill and their superior armor had so far kept them from being wounded by the twisted weapons of the goblins, which was a good thing because goblins were known to poison their blades.
The king was unharmed as well. He swung his enchanted greatsword as if it was weightless, and the gems and gold beads in his beard glittered as he bellowed with laughter, the joy of battle consuming him.
Larin glanced at Shandon and shook his head ruefully.
“He'll never change,” he told his companion.
“The king? Oh. But he is a magnificent fighter, isn't he?” Callius said as he watched the slaughter, looking a little nauseous.
“Well, he does enjoy a good fight,” the mage replied dryly. “And I don't think he knows what the meaning of fear is, at least not when the battle lust takes control of him.”
A multitude of sweet, high-pitched voices called out from above them and the scryer and the mage looked up just in time to see the cloud of faeries close in on the bat riders.
“What are they going to do?” Callius wondered as he watched the encounter.
“I have no idea,” Larin replied breathlessly. “I have never seen the Fay in battle before.”
They watched in anticipation as the cloud of faeries broke into six separate groups, each one shooting toward a bat rider. As they moved to attack, the winged figures began to swirl around each other until each cloud was spinning like a miniature tornado.
