Avondale V (21 page)

Chapter 37

Leonosis

The battles had been titillating at first, but as the hours wore on and the fighting grew more even, they often stalled. The two armies formed shield walls in the narrow streets, often several rows deep, so that the battle dissolved into a shoving match that could last for hours if left to their own devices. Draggah was all too happy to get involved.

He pulled buildings down on the defenders, crushing them under timber and stone. Their cries of terror and agony filled him with what Leonosis could only describe as a sick glee. The demon was like a child given the freedom to tear everything around him to pieces, and the stalwart city of Avondale was like a city made of sand to him.

At first it was enough to simply kill the enemy, but soon his perversion grew. He used his magic to rip the defenders’ bodies apart, all the while reveling not just in the grotesque killings, but in the way the other soldiers, even his own, reacted to the atrocities. His commander was impassive, his face a mask showing neither approval or disdain, but calm obedience no matter what the order.

And Draggah had no concern for the protection of his own forces. If the building fell on them as well as the defenders, so be it. There were many times when the creature could have used his power to send the defenders running for their lives, but instead he ordered his troops to fight to the death just for his pleasure. Some had deserted, slipping into the homes and abandoned buildings when the opportunity arose. Draggah had no concerns for them. The entire army could have turned against him, and he would have fought on, destroying the Avondale war band with his powerful magic.

There was a growing sense of destructive power that seemed to be feeding Draggah’s own evil magic. At first Leonosis thought that Ariel was doing something, but eventually it was as if the mountain itself was empowering the demon to destroy the city. Leonosis was certain that something dark was coming up from deep in the mountain. His own senses would have missed it, but Leonosis’ link to Draggah cracked open wider and wider as the demon worked his magic and reveled in the gruesome deaths he caused. It was like a child trying to peek through a hole in a wall and occasionally getting glimpses of the activity taking place on the other side. And even though Leonosis hated Draggah and wanted to get away from the insane demonic being, he was seduced by the temptation to connect with Draggah and experience what the demon experienced. It was a secret knowledge and a turning of the tables, and even if Leonosis could never do anything with the information, he still wanted it. He wanted to know Draggah’s secret thoughts and experience the demon’s feelings, as if that might somehow relieve the sense of helplessness Leo felt.

Bong!

The sound resonated through the city, reverberating so strongly that it was felt more than heard. Draggah’s soldiers looked up in surprise at the sound, hesitating for a moment in their otherwise relentless attack. The defenders fell back instantly, retreating as quickly as possible.

“Shall we continue our attack?” the commander asked.

The soldiers were tired; most had dropped their shields and were either leaning against something or bent over with their hands propped on their knees. Draggah had been enjoying the battle, but he didn’t want to rush things.

“No,” Draggah said. “See that the men have food and water.”

“The earl’s men will be reinforcing their position if we wait,” the commander said.

“Of course they will. But that’s of little concern to us. They will take up positions in the palace. Their strategy is simple. Send word to the other groups. Have everyone take a short rest, then converge on the palace.”

“As you wish, my liege.”

The commander gave orders and sent men running to find the rest of the king’s soldiers, who were now spread throughout the city. It would take time to move all his men into position, but Draggah didn’t mind the wait. Normally he was impatient, but Leonosis could feel the demon’s elation at the carnage all around him. He moved through the debris from battle. Human blood turned black when mixed with dust. The splatters of blood on the flagstones were like some great painting, and Draggah wanted to take in every brushstroke.

He climbed over the toppled buildings, seeking out the most gruesome bodies. There were soldiers whose heads had been smashed, so that gaping holes, still dripping with blood, were filled with the wrinkled, gray brain matter that had been squashed out of the person’s skull.

Another fallen soldier had his stomach ripped open. The leather armor had split apart, revealing the vulnerable flesh underneath. Leonosis saw the pale white skin now smeared with blood. The soldier’s intestines ran out like threads from a tapestry that had frayed and fallen from the loose weave.

There was vomit, offal, and blood everywhere. The entire city reeked of death. The coppery smell of blood was mixed with human waste and flesh that was already growing rancid in the exposed air. It was a nightmarish scene, but one that Draggah sought to burn into his twisted mind. Leonosis wanted to scream or even pluck out his own eyes so that he didn’t have to see the horrid scenes of death, but Draggah wouldn’t let him. The demon reveled in death and enjoyed forcing Leonosis to face it time and again.

Leonosis knew his torment only fed the demon’s evil need for cruelty, but he couldn’t help but lash out as Draggah went back to view more and more of the horrible atrocities. There were decapitations, limbs severed or ripped off, wounds that had peeled the skin from the victim’s face so that the bloody skull, rimmed with muscle sinew, was revealed. There were eyes laying on the ground, staring blindly at nothing. And of course the wounded were everywhere, some begging for death, others unable to understand what had happened to them.

The carnage was everywhere, but the scenes of horror lessened as Draggah moved toward the palace. His soldiers were already there. The commander had reformed all their remaining troops, so that the palace was surrounded. Squads had been sent up onto the city walls, where they stood guarding the causeway that led to the palace. Others had been sent to the gardens at the rear of the palace, and still more took up station on the lower level to guard the servants’ quarters. When Draggah finally arrived, he looked up. There were men at every entrance, even the windows of the upper floors. And on the roof, mere silhouettes against the sun high overhead, Draggah could see even more men leaning over the parapets. Some he even recognized.

“Father,” Draggah called out. “You are beaten. Admit your fault and give me my brother.”

“Brutas is in the dungeon,” the earl shouted back. “You can have him any time you want to join him there.”

“Brutas? I did not know he lived. The father I know would have killed any son who tried to usurp his power.”

“I plan on just killing one of my children,” the earl said. “And I take no pleasure in it. But if you think you can attack Avondale and live, you’ve lost your mind.”

“I have lost it, that is true. I’m not the boy you knew. I’ve expanded my horizons and my station in life. You can call me King Leonosis now.”

“Leo, stop this madness!”

“Give me Tiberius. I know he’s here. I feel his power.”

“You’re wrong,” Earl Ageus called. “Tiberius hasn’t been here in over a week. I sent him away.”

“You can’t fool me, Father. I feel his power. Send him to me, with the Balestone, and I’ll let you live.”

“If Tiberius were here,” Rafe shouted. “You’d be nothing but a smear on the bottom of his boot!”

The men from Avondale shouted and jeered. They could see the king’s soldiers and knew there was no escape from the palace. All they had left was mocking bravado, and Draggah smiled. He was enjoying the anticipation of death and suffering he knew was inevitable. Either the war band fought him and died or they surrendered and died—it made no difference to Draggah.

“Where is your father, Rafe?” Draggah shouted. “Surely the sword master should be here with his men.”

“Grentz was a hero,” the earl shouted. “Do not sully his name with your mockery.”

“Was? Oh, has he passed? That is a shame. In days gone by, we might have settled things man to man, if your champion had been brave enough to accept my challenge. Perhaps you would like to come out from your daddy’s shadow, Rafe Grentzson, and face me in battle.”

“I’ll fight you,” Rafe shouted. “Gladly.”

The men from Avondale cheered again, and Draggah smiled.

“You are no swordsman,” Earl Ageus shouted, quieting his own troops with his booming voice. “Take your foul magic away from this place.”

“You doubt that I can use the sword, Father?”

“I doubt that you have any honor.”

“Would you place your entire war band in harm’s way to save just one man?”

“Rafe Grentzson is a man of honor. Do not besmirch our family with your sorcerous evil.”

“Why do my powers frighten you so much, old man? Is not Tiberius a wizard? He is the reason I am here. He has broken Valana’s most sacred laws. If you do not wish to see your champion cut down at your doorstep, then turn my brother over to me, along with all he possesses.”

“He is not here,” the earl insisted.

“Then I shall darken the city with your blood, old man.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Rafe shouted as he swung down from a rope ladder that had been dropped over the roof.

Draggah felt a thrill as he watched Rafe descend. Here was the man who had dared try to interfere with the demon’s plans. He would play with the boy, give him a sense of false hope, and finally destroy him. That would certainly demoralize the earl’s war band. Then the true slaughter would commence.

Chapter 38

Tiberius

Stopping, even for a short while, was maddening for Tiberius, but he knew that keeping the wind spell up was beginning to cost him what little strength he had left. The wind was picking up, and the captain had to angle the sails and wrestle with the steering oar to keep the ship moving in the right direction, but at least Tiberius knew they were making progress.

Once the ship had slowed to a reasonable speed, Lexi had sent Dancer ahead to scout for them. Tiberius ate his morning meal and walked around the small deck to regain a sense of normalcy. Lexi walked with him, and they talked about simple, everyday things. Far below them on the plain, they could see a herd of tamakas grazing. It made Tiberius miss his whip. He had lost track of it somewhere in Avondale. He would have to find it or perhaps make his own. The thought of doing something with his hands sounded appealing. He loved magic and being a wizard, but now that his dream of wielding magic had taken on such massive implications, he really wanted to do something simple.

They talked about the Hoskali and how life seemed so much simpler among the people of the plain. Tiberius had no real skills, and Lexi’s own set of special abilities would be of little use to the nomadic tribes, but they both felt something pulling them back to the blighted lands. Tiberius could imagine spending his days learning to make useful things for the tribe, perhaps entertaining the children at night with stories of his great adventures.

They were pacing back toward the command deck when Lexi suddenly seemed to lose her balance and leaned heavily on Tiberius. He caught and held her, trying not to panic. Lexi’s eyes were shut tight, and she gripped his arms hard. Then she opened her eyes.

“Are you—”

“We’re almost there!” Lexi said.

“What?”

“Avondale,” Lexi said. “We’ll be in sight of the mountain soon. And there’s…”—she closed her eyes again—“a settlement or camp of some kind at the base of the mountain.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Tiberius ran to the bow of the ship once Lexi seemed stable on her own. He knew that Dancer could share mental images with her or let her see through the little animal’s enhanced vision. He leaned on the railing of the ship just in front of the catapult, straining to see anything he could recognize. He thought that maybe he could make out the river that ran along the plains not far from the base of the mountain, but even that was too far away to see clearly.

“
Ultimus Conspectus
,” he whispered.

Suddenly his eyesight shot ahead, past the river, which came into focus and then out of focus again as his vision raced ahead. The mountain came into view. It was green at the bottom and rose up, changing to rocky browns and reds as it neared the thick blanket of mist that covered the blighted lands. Lexi was right—there was a settlement at the bottom of the mountain. He could see soldiers standing watch and hundreds of small tents. The Hamill Keep sky ship was tethered to the ground, as well, and there were people congregating in groups all over the area.

“I can’t believe it,” Tiberius said.

“What do you think it is?”

“It’s not Hoskali,” Tiberius said. “Those are my father’s soldiers standing guard. And the sky ship from Hamill Keep.”

“Do you think the countess has taken a group of people down the mountain?” Lexi asked.

“Someone has, but it’s hard to imagine the countess doing anything other than complaining.”

Tiberius gave the captain instructions to descend, and the ship slowly moved down toward the ground far below. The river came into view first, and then the camp. The people in the camp moved quickly to take cover in the large sky ship from Hamill Keep, but Tiberius had the ship settle away from the camp. He was just getting ready to make his way down the rope ladder when Lexi grabbed his shoulder.

“Look,” she said pointing. “It’s Olyva.”

Tiberius looked up and saw the tall noble-born lady hurrying toward them. Even from a distance, Tiberius could tell that she seemed different. There were more patches of the small brown twigs on her exposed skin, and she was moving differently, almost as if she were moving through water.

“Olyva!” he shouted. “I’m coming down.”

“No, wait!” she shouted back.

He sat on the railing with one leg in the ship and one on the rope ladder. The war ship was only about ten feet off the ground and still moving slightly despite the captain’s best efforts to bring the vessel to a halt. Mount Avondale loomed in front of them, growing larger by the second and making them all a little nervous that they wouldn’t be able to stop the ship from crashing.

“The city is under attack!” Olyva shouted as she drew closer. “Leonosis sent his war fleet.”

“When?” Tiberius asked.

“Two days ago. Your father stalled him until yesterday morning, but there’s been no word from the city since.”

Tiberius turned to Lexi. “I have to go up,” he said.

“I’m going too,” she assured him.

“We’re going up,” Tiberius called to Olyva, who was at the bottom of the ship.

“I’m coming with you,” she replied, pulling herself up the swaying ladder.

Tiberius swung his leg back over the railing, and then he and Lexi helped Olyva onto the deck of the ship. She looked a little sheepish and was out of breath, but she smiled at them both.

“It’s good to see you again,” she said.

“And you as well,” Tiberius replied. Then he turned to the captain. “Take us up, into the mist.”

“Aye, my lord,” the captain said, before calling out orders to the soldiers who manned the war ship.

“Did you find the stone?” Olyva asked.

“We found it,” Tiberius admitted. “But it no longer has any power.”

Olyva’s face fell. “I led the evacuees down the mountain. Actually there were so few willing to leave the city that we sailed down in my father’s ship. Rafe stayed to oversee the defense of the city.”

“Was Leonosis with his fleet?”

Olyva nodded.

The next hour was tense. The soldiers who manned the war ship had been excited by the wonders of the blighted lands, and morale was high. But now, the news of the attack and seeing the evacuee camp made them nervous. No one knew what to expect from the city, and everyone was afraid that all they would find would be carnage and death.

“Send Dancer back up,” Tiberius said. “We have to know what we’re facing.”

Lexi nodded, and the little wind glider jumped from her shoulder and onto Lexi’s hands. One toss sent the tiny animal flying out and away from the war ship. Dancer spread its little legs, stretching the thin layer of hairless skin between them and catching an updraft, which lifted the tiny creature. Tiberius marveled at Dancer’s uncanny ability to sense movements in the air and ride them as effortlessly as if Tiberius could hop onto the back of a hay wagon.

The war ship had just entered the barrier of mist that covered the blighted lands when Dancer sent Lexi the first images she saw of Avondale. Lexi closed her eyes, taking Tiberius’ hands to steady herself.

“The king’s ships are all tied down around the city,” Lexi reported. “It looks like they’re empty.”

“They must have sent their soldiers over the walls.”

“No,” Lexi said, her voice sounding incredulous. “They’ve destroyed a section of the wall. It’s unbelievable. And the wall is black. It took an incredible beating.”

“Leonosis must have used his fire bombs on the city walls,” Tiberius said.

Lexi was quiet for a few moments, then she gasped again. “The king’s soldiers have surrounded the palace.”

Lexi opened her eyes, but she looked worried.

“Did you see Rafe?” Olyva asked.

“He was on the roof of the palace with the earl,” Lexi said. “And King Leonosis was approaching the palace.”

“We can’t trust him,” Tiberius said. “We have to get there as fast as we can.
Flabra
!”

Wind burst from the portal propelling the ship up the mountain and through the mist so fast it looked as if the war ship were a fish leaping from the water of a lake.

"You can damn well warn me before you do that next time!” shouted the captain.

The soldiers scrambled to level the ship out as Tiberius let the spell die. The ship slowed, and the city walls were visible.

“Captain, those war ships may come after you,” Tiberius said.

“Let ‘em! We’ll show those bastards a thing or two.”

“Get me on the wall,” Tiberius said. “As close to the palace as possible. And then give me a distraction, but don’t put the ship in danger.”

“I never do, my lord,” he shouted, before launching into a curse-filled tirade aimed at a soldier who let one of the ship’s sails luff.

The ship came in low and turned so that the vessel was sailing next to the wall. It came up slowly and then slipped over the top of the wall. Tiberius was already on the rope ladder and only had to drop a few feet from the bottom of the boat to the top of the wall. Lexi and Olyva were following, and the captain kept the ship directly over the wall, following the curve perfectly. There were no soldiers on the blackened, cracked surface of the wall, and the massive battlement’s condition made Tiberius feel ill, but he had no time to worry about it. He ran toward Lexi, who was close to a set of stone stairs that led down to the city.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t stay on the wall?” Lexi asked.

“We have to get to the palace and help. We’ll be sitting ducks up on the wall, but on the streets we can use the buildings for cover.”

“What do you have in mind?” Lexi said.

Tiberius glanced at her. She was running behind him, hand in hand with Olyva, who was struggling to keep up. Her feet seemed larger and her arms and legs stiff, where she had always been agile and graceful before. Her condition piqued his curiosity, but he didn’t have time to ask her about the changes.

“If we can take out Leonosis—” Tiberius started to explain, but Olyva suddenly stopped running, her face growing white and her eyes opening wide with fear.

Lexi turned and looked at the noble-born woman, and Tiberius felt his skin prickle with fear.

“We have to get them out,” Olyva said. “The mountain is going to erupt at any moment.”

Tiberius wanted to scream with frustration, but then he realized that perhaps he could use the eruption to his advantage. He turned toward the wall. A narrow alley ran between two buildings, and then the wall towered up high overhead.

“Here’s what we’ve got to do,” Tiberius said. “Lexi, you have to distract Leonosis.”

“How?” she asked.

“Tell him you know where I’m hiding.”

“He won’t believe me,” she said.

“You have to make him believe you. Olyva, you find a way to get the war band and Earl Ageus back to this alley—can you do that?”

She nodded.

“There will be a tunnel leading out of the city.”

“A tunnel?” Olyva asked.

“Straight through the wall, trust me.”

Olyva nodded again, and both women hurried away. Tiberius walked quickly down the alley. It was wide enough for two men to walk side by side, but the alley was lined with trash and other debris. Tiberius ignored the alley and focused on the wall. The huge defensive battlement that ran around the entire city of Avondale was several feet thick at the top and more than twice that thickness at the bottom. Still, if Olyva was right about the mountain, then the wall was more of a danger to the people inside the city than out. Tiberius guessed that Leonosis would have left men guarding the main gates and even the hole he’d somehow managed to blow into the wall on the far side of city. The Avondale war band didn’t have time to fight their way out or traverse around the city. The alley was less than a quarter mile from the palace, and if Olyva could get the soldiers out of the palace, then she could get them to the tunnel he was planning to make and down the mountain safely.

“
Conflo Fervefacio Aestifer
,” Tiberius chanted.

There was no need to hold back the awesome power of the crucible spell. Tiberius let the incredible heat pound into the wall. The backlash was so blisteringly hot that Tiberius was forced backward, but after a few steps, he stopped, and it was the wall that gave ground. The huge blocks of stone were already glowing bright red, but all at once they lost their shape and began flowing back, away from the city and out a large hole on the far side of the wall.

Tiberius adjusted his focus, enlarging the hole and making sure that it was big enough for the soldiers to pass through two at a time. Then, once the cavernous hole was finished, Tiberius stepped back, leaning down with his hands on his knees. Working the spell hadn’t been all that difficult. There was so little need for control that he hadn’t struggled with the spell at all, but the intense heat had sapped his strength. His entire body was soaked in sweat, and he felt shaky.

“
Flabra
!” he said loudly, opening up a portal of wind that swept through the alley and out the new hole in the wall. The super-heated stone was much too hot for a person to walk through and would have taken hours to cool down on its own, but the wind carried the heat away. Tiberius turned, facing the wind that billowed past him and out of the city. He raised his arms and let the air cool his body. The sweat felt cold and then quickly vanished, the red hot stone turned black, then a dark brown as the stone cooled.

There were shouts and screams coming from the direction of the palace. Tiberius looked up, saw Dancer circling above him, and hurried out of the alley. He had to find Lexi now and face his brother. It was not a confrontation he was looking forward to, but all he needed to do was keep Leonosis in the city long enough. The volcano would do the real work, and then, even if Tiberius was lost with his brother, the kingdom would be safe.

For the first time, he really thought about dying. It scared him, but at the same time, he felt confident that he was doing the right thing. He didn’t want to bid Lexi farewell, or Rafe and Olyva, but he felt good about the knowledge that they would be safe. Avondale might fall, but the city could be rebuilt. And Tiberius could live with that, even if it meant he had to die.