Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian (60 page)

“We have them on the run, and there’s no good place they can set up a defensive position for at least another five miles beyond where they are,” Nathaniel reported. “Does anyone know if there’s a route we can use to send a force around behind them and set up an ambush?” he looked at the ranking Bondell officer.

“There is a parallel valley north of the road that you could enter on this end, although it will be rough re-crossing the ridge to get back to the road,” Major Fantas of Bondell responded, looking at Rashrew for a nod of confirmation. “We can have men ready to lead your troops in the morning.” Discussions about injuries, availability of soldiers, and supplies continued for another hour, and then all were dismissed to return to re-organize their own forces for the next day’s battle.

As the tent emptied out, Rander stood wearily in the front of the empty tables, and saw Bethany and Rief sitting together in the back. “I’m so sorry about Alec,” Rander told Bethany. “Whatever he did was incredibly brave. He was a hero. If he hadn’t defeated those demons, we would have lost control of the battlefield today.”

“He isn’t dead,” Bethany said simply. “It may be a while, but we’ll see him again, won’t we Rief?” she asked.

Rief nodded in agreement. “We both know what he did. He took the demons back to John Mark’s cave,” Rief confirmed. “And I can’t imagine that our saint will take too kindly to having such unpleasant guests!” she added.

“He promised me that we’d be together again, and he said he had a premonition it might be awhile,” Bethany told Rander. “So it looks like you’ll have to be the steward of the throne at Oyster Bay for a little while longer,” she smiled.

Though Rander doubted anyone, even Alec, could have survived the type of assault he had watched the demon mount against Alec before their disappearance, he refrained from saying anything further; he had real issues to address for the moment, as questions had already risen about who was in charge of the war and the Dominion. He knew he would have time to mourn Alec later.

“We all better get some sleep,” he said, as he held out his hand to Rief. “Can we walk you to your tent?” he asked Bethany, and together the three of them left the command tent to find rest and a reprieve from the Dominion’s victorious battle.

“I’ll agree to remain as Steward if you’ll assume the throne as Queen while we wait for Alec to return,” he said.

Epilogue – Pale Mountains

Alec opened his eyes. He was looking out at a bright morning on an early spring day. He saw trees off in the distance, their limbs covered with buds just opening into leaves. He sat up abruptly, and realized that he was in the upper chamber of the Cave of John Mark, gazing out the window that looked over the Pale Mountains.

His body felt stiff and sore, and his leg still suffered some residual pain from the demon-inflicted injuries. His mind too, was scarred by the contact with the demonic forces, though calmed by the soul-saving salvation he had received, allowing him to escape from Hell.

“Welcome back, my son,” he heard, and he turned to see John Mark standing by the open doorway.

“What has happened?” Alec asked.

“You have scored a great victory. You have given your Lord great pride and hope and joy,” John Mark said. “You accepted the burden and carried a demon back to perdition, from whence it will no longer trouble your world.

“The Michian forces are being forced into retreat by the army you assembled, and now your kingdom awaits you. Are you ready to float down the river again?”

Coming in the sixth volume of the Ingenairii Cycle, the conclusion to the story…

Alec was leading Givens, Danel and another man through the back halls of the palace. They were clad in the gray uniforms with gold trim that were the sign of members of the imperial guard. Alec had led his three companions to a back entrance to the palace, where they had overpowered the guards at a gate and taken their uniforms, then acquired more uniforms along the way. They had visited the armory, where Alec had acquired two bandoliers of throwing knives.

“
The sleeping rooms are this way,” Alec indicated, as they turned a corner. A pair of guards was stationed at an approaching intersecting hall.

“
What brings you here?” they challenged Alec’s crew.

“
We were told to provide escort service for someone,” Alec artfully dissembled.

“
You’re too late for that!” the second guard spoke. “What have you been doing? The emperor’s niece and her retinue left fifteen minutes ago.”

“
Thank you,” Alec said, slightly flustered by the unexpected movement of the imperial niece. “We’ll try to catch up.”

“
The only thing you’ll catch is twenty lashes, is my guess,” the first guard said. “Take the first turn on the right and you might reach them before they get outside for the ceremony,” he suggested, without much apparent hope they would succeed.

“
We’ll go right now,” Alec said, and thanked the guards, then led the other three men out of sight.

“
What now?” Danel asked.

“
We’ll see what we can salvage,” Alec said. “Follow me.” He proceeded to begin weaving through halls and rooms and even a kitchen, giving no one time to ask him any questions. They entered the arrival hall, the large ceremonial space inside the main doors of the palace, and saw that the imperial procession had just left through the doors, and was already in the plaza.

“
We can make this work,” Alec turned and spoke over his shoulder. He felt his pulse pumping with excitement as he saw a way to achieve this great victory. “Givens, you and your squad stay here. I’ll run out and begin an attack on the guards out there. When it looks bad for the imperial niece, you run out, rescue her, and take her back to the palace armory, and wait for me to catch up with you.

“
Stay low, stay out of trouble,” he laughingly told his companions.

“
And then we’ll be able to use the niece as a hostage to end the war? You really believe that?” Givens asked.

“
It will work like clockwork,” Alec guaranteed. He knew his plan could work. Lewis and the other Dominion forces were waiting on roof tops with bows and arrows, ready to shoot at the sorcerers, according to the original plan, which had expected Alec and the others to be the escorts for the niece in the first place.

“
Watch this,” he said, as he pulled out four knives, two trapped between the fingers of each hand. He took a deep breath, engaged his warrior powers once again, and ran out into the plaza.

Alec’s eyes took in the scene at a glance and he let the four knives fly with swift small motions and reached for four more, even as he realized that the situation was not what he had expected. It was worse, much worse than he had imagined it could be.

The imperial niece stood near the far end of the plaza, surrounded now by both living and dead guards, his flung daggers having ended several lives. Alec was confident that he would be able to reach her or shepherd her back to the waiting arms of Givens if needed. Alec had expected to find sorcerers present as well, as the comment from the cathedral had hinted. He had not expected to find the sorcerers already finishing their spells to summon demons, nor to find them so heavily guarded and well protected. Even as screams erupted from the sudden death sown among the niece’s guards, Alec felt a demon beginning to materialize. His spiritual powers, now in a fuller state than he had ever possessed in any previous battle with demons, were painfully able to detect the arrival of the personified malignity.

Alec let his next set of knives fly, killing the rest of the guards around the niece, and he prepared to throw more at the guards around the sorceress whose demon was now present. Before he could release those knives though, he felt the arrival of another demon on the opposite side of the plaza square. He spun around, briefly glimpsing the screaming imperial niece, now all alone, surrounded by a flower-like pattern of bodies spread about her on all sides. She was a young girl, he thought for a moment, then realized that she was probably only slightly younger than his body suggested he was. She was small and thin, truly petite, and had blond hair in a braid piled on top of her head.

“
Jeswyne! Run! Run, your highness,” a voice shouted. A whispering noise caught Alec’s attention, and he realized it was the silent, deathly sound of arrow fletchings whirling through the air. Another noise made him whirl, and he saw that the two demons were charging towards him.

Alec pulled out knives to throw, and felt the arrival of a third demon in the plaza. He was vaguely aware of chaos and screams, as bystanders and others in the plaza and nearby streets began to run and shout and flee in panic.

There were more arrows flying, and Alec prayed they might find their marks. He released all four of his knives in the direction of one demon, somersaulted and came up throwing four more at the second demon, pulled his swords loose, and twirled around to begin to assault the first demon, who he hoped was blinded in one eye by now.

The third demon was unexpected in his path, and swiped an incredibly fast paw at Alec, one claw ripping the shoulder of his robe and another claw painfully slicing the tip of his ear. Alec slid on the ground beneath it, reaching up with his swords and slicing deeply into its thighs as he passed below it.

He found himself on the blind side of the first demon, while the second demon was unscathed by his knives somehow. Alec stabbed his sword into the blindside ribs of the demon, then jumped and used his momentum to swing himself up and across its back, pulling his sword free, and swiping the other sword in an arch as he rolled across the demon’s back and to freedom on the other side. His sword swing cut the unharmed eye of that monster, and suddenly one demon was completely blinded and screaming unimaginably loudly in pain and anger, though a lucky swing by the demon had laid open Alec’s back as he flew away, cutting so deeply as to expose part of a rib, making Alec whimper momentarily. The things were huge and vicious and fast, and Alec knew he was in grave trouble. He was aligned with all three demons in front of him for the moment, and he took a moment to feel the painful tip of his ear. He dropped his warrior power, engaged his healing power, and found that the tip of his ear had been sliced completely off. Had the claw reached another inch closer, it would have torn his skull. He brushed his hand across the top of his back, reducing pain there as well.

One demon in his field of vision flickered and grew smaller, a welcome sign that Lewis’s archers had hit one target. That demon was the second demon, the one he hadn’t harmed yet. The third demon, despite the horrible wounds to its legs, was now circling around Alec, while the blinded first demon was lashing out unpredictably in all directions, trying to randomly inflict damage.

And Jeswyne, the imperial niece was running in blind panic, not towards the palace gates as Alec had expected, but directly towards the demons, where death awaited her.

Alec dropped his healing abilities, re-engaged his warrior powers, and ran directly towards the girl and the demons. He stooped as he passed a knife on the ground and scooped it up, and stuffed it in his bandolier for later use, then he pulled his right sword out of the scabbard and swung at the distracted demon. The living sorcerers were retreating towards the safety of the palace, Alec absently noted. He hoped Givens and the others would find their way to safety, because he realized now that their planned approach to the niece was impossible. Faced with three demons, and holding no fragment of the Cross, he knew his was a hopeless situation.

Another demon stopped in its tracks just as it was about to pounce on the screaming girl; it flickered and shrank, indicating to Alec that someone had killed one more of the sorcerers.
That’s a good thing
, he thought to himself, as he jumped high to avoid an attack, landed, and flipped hard to his side, but received another deep claw across his calf, leaving his flesh open and painful.

Alec landed next to Jeswyne, who was petrified in place by her horrific surroundings. Alec threw his sword high in the air then reached out his hand, grabbed the girl’s arm, and snatched her away from the demons. He shoved her down on the ground, stood directly over her, caught his flying sword as it returned to earth, and turned in all directions looking at the demons.

The three monsters, one blind and two reduced, were circling him, and he was spinning madly, striking his swords out to knock their attacks away; mostly he succeeded, but some small slices were accumulating on his arms where he was just a tick too slow. His plan was going to fail, but even so they very well might ultimately be a victory for the Dominion despite his lost. He wouldn’t be able to hold the imperial family member as a hostage to negotiate with, but her death here, at the hands of the empire’s own demons, would rattle the internal dynamics of the army and the imperial palace and the sorcerers. The disunity would be to the advantage of the Dominion. “Why didn’t you run for the palace, stupid girl?” he snapped in exasperation. “This wasn’t the plan!”