(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider (35 page)

   "Yes, your son planned your death, and he may yet succeed." The prisoner said.

   Falendor looked at the man, and for a second, wanted to kill him himself. The smile on his face made the regent even madder, and as he turned and walked from the cell, he spoke to the guard.

   "Kill him." Falendor said. "That way, my demise will not happen in his lifetime."

   "Yes sir." The guard said, and pulled his sword from its scabbard, and entered the cell.

   "No, you can't do this." The prisoner pleaded. "I am just a messenger."

   "A messenger for the wrong side." Falendor said, and walked down the hallway and away from the screaming man.

   "No, you can't, its." That was all he heard from the prisoner, before the screams became louder.

   Falendor walked from the dungeon as the screams of the dying prisoner began to fade, and ordered his son brought to him. The castle was searched, but Saesic was nowhere to be found, inside, or out. He would learn the truth one way or another, Falendor thought, but he would have to find his son first. It was not until later that day that he discovered his oldest daughter had known, but was afraid to tell anyone. How something like this could have happened he did not know, but he would see that it never happened again

   When the realm was once again safe, he would look for his son, but he did not believe he would be found easily. He should have seen it coming, but loved his son too much to believe him capable of such an evil act.

   Events were unfolding that would change the empire, and Falendor would be one of the men it changed. He could not know how much, but he would find out soon enough, and he would never be the same.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

   It was late in the day when the last tree was felled, and the woodcutters returned to the camp. Tomorrow they would prepare the logs for use on the towers, and all of the stumps and large rocks would be removed from the path they had cleared. Mareston walked into the headquarters where Chidren waited, and gave him the news.

   "The way will be cleared within the next two days."

   "Two days, are you sure?" Chidren asked, as he looked up from the map on the table.

   "The last tree was felled today, and a few large rocks and some stumps are all that remain."

   "Are the siege weapons finished?"

   "All but the sides of the towers." Mareston replied. "And they can be completed along the way."

   Chidren stood from the chair, and walked to the entrance of the tent. He spoke to the guards there, and returned to where Mareston waited by the table.

   "Have the men prepare to break down the camp. I want them to be ready to leave within one hour of the order to depart."

   "Do you want the siege weapons moved south, in preparation for the order to leave?" Mareston asked, "It would save us several hours."

   "Do it." Chidren said. "And report to me when it is done."

   Mareston walked from the headquarters, and looked at the rotting corpse of Avren. He was the last man hung from the tree, and he of all the men there, deserved it most. The order was given to the men to start breaking camp, and to be ready to move out quickly when the order came. They would no longer travel as brigands, but would carry the banners of the mage king in this conquest.

   It took the rest of that day to move the siege weapons south, and have them ready to go when the way as clear. He would have them pulled out into the open land when the last of the stumps were cleared, to make way for the supply wagons that would follow.

   Gaston rode into camp two days later, with thirteen fewer men than what he had departed with, just as the camp was preparing to leave. Chidren was furious, but it did not change his plans for the assault other than to delay their departure for another day.

   Mareston stood in the headquarters, which was to be the last tent to be loaded on the supply wagons, and waited for his orders. Gaston was gathering his cavalry together, and would be ready to leave with the first light of the early morning, along with the rest of the army. Chidren studied the map laid out on the table, and after several minutes, spoke to Mareston.

   "We will move the men east until we reach the fords of the Grayling River, and after we have crossed it, we will turn southeast."

   "You do not wish to use the road, as Avren had planned?" Mareston asked.

   "No, we would be caught on the wrong side of the river, and would lose far too many men trying to cross the bridge."

   "I agree. The fords are the most defendable place to cross, and the straightest route to the castle." Mareston said. "We will save several weeks that way."

   "How fast can we move the siege weapons?" Chidren asked. "Can they keep up with the army?"

   " We have enough horses to pull them and the supply wagons." Mareston said. "They will keep up as long as the land in level."

   "Then we start at first light." Chidren said. "Inform the men."

   "Right away sir." Mareston said, and walked from the tent.

   Gaston arrived not long after Mareston had gone, and found Chidren at the table looking at the map once again.

   "The men will be ready to ride when you give the command." He said. "The horses are fed and watered, and they will be rested by morning."

   "We will leave at first light, and you will ride ahead of the army to stop any ambushes that may have been planned for us along the way." Chidren said. "But do not stray far from the main forces."

   "Do you expect them to mount some kind of resistance?" Gaston asked. "To try to defeat us before we can reach the castle?"

   "No, I do not believe they have enough men to fight outside of the castle walls. We should out number them three to one, even if all of the realms send their solders."

   "What of the stories of the dragon and his rider?" Gaston asked. "Do they not worry you at all?"

   "Arnoran destroyed all of the dragons over five hundred years ago, and no one has seen one since." Chidren said. "Now we are here, and the realms wish to frighten us off with stories of dragons and riders. If the dragons had returned to the empire, they would have attacked us by now. No, I do not believe the stories are true, and we will take Argnon none the less."

   "We will be ready at first light." Gaston said, and turned to walk from the tent.

   "One more thing." Chidren said, as Gaston was about to leave. "Assign another officer to lead the cavalry from the front. I want you and your men to ride in the rear of your cavalry, in case there is another ambush, and report all that happens back to me."

   "As you command." Gaston said, and walked from the tent.

   Chidren thought the western realm would have men at the bridge across the Grayling River to keep him from crossing, and would be that much weaker when he reached the castle. The thought that they would not did not occur to him, and he made special planes to trap the men when they returned to the castle, and kill them all. He wanted a complete victory, and a lot of prisoners to torture and kill, to keep the people in line. He did not want any of the defenders to escape into the east, to fight him again later, and he planned to surround the castle to prevent it. Once the west was cut off from the other realms, he would be able to take the castle easily, and at his leisure.

   The next morning Chidren was up before the sun by more than an hour, and ate his breakfast before ordering the tents disassembled, and packed on the supply wagons. Today he would start the men east, and the siege weapons would follow, but he would see to it that they kept up with the army.

   Gaston rode up to his commander just as Mareston arrived, and dismounted as the old solder reached the fire.

   "The time has come for us to leave." Chidren said. "Give the order to break down the camp and be ready to go within the hour."

   " The men have already done that, and are ready to depart when you give the order." Mareston said. "They are eager to begin the assault."

   "And what of your cavalry?" Chidren asked Gaston. "Are they ready as well?"

   "Yes sir, the scouts have been sent out ahead, and the men wait by the siege weapons." Gaston said.

   "Then we leave now." Chidren said, as he stood and kicked dirt onto the fire, before walking to his horse.

   It took more than three hour for all of the men to leave the camp, and begin the march to Argnon. When they did, they marched as an army of the mage king, and carried his banners. The solders marched in ranks, and the precession stretched for more than a mile. Chidren rode in the middle of the army so he could see both ends, and make sure the siege weapons kept up.

   Gaston rode ahead of the main army, and looked for ambushes along their chosen path. He had outriders at first, but Chidren did not believe the empire could afford to attack them so far from the castle, and ordered the outriders to return to Gaston. He would allow them to do their job when they were closer to the castle, but for now, they were to stay with the cavalry.

   Mareston rode up and down the ranks, and kept the men moving at the same pace, all day. It was not a fast pace, but the men had not marched for many months, and needed to speed up slowly. They were still several days from the fords when the day ended, and were forced to make camp for the night. Chidren expected it to take a week or more to get that far, but wanted to reach the fords sooner. He was still angry that the plans had to be changed, because the men who were sent to kill the warrior in the dragon armor did not succeed. How could just one warrior be so hard to kill, he wondered.

   Gaston was the last man to enter the camp that night, and the first to leave the next morning. He ate a cold breakfast with his men, and rode out as the sun was rising to clear the way, and to be sure they were on the path he had marked while on the raids. After three days of traveling on level ground, the land began to rise slowly, and the siege weapons began to fall behind. For the next two days, the army moved slower than Chidren wanted, and he was growing angry when the land finely began to slope downhill once again.

   Several times, they passed through the forests of the western realm as they neared the fords, where a path large enough for the siege weapons had already been cleared. The men moved easily through the countryside, but the siege weapons did not. It was ten days after leaving the camp in the west before they reached the fords, and made their camp on the western side. It was close enough to dark not to matter, and they needed to move the siege weapons in the daylight.

   The river was up slightly, and it was moving swiftly, but the mage's could solve that problem Chidren thought. As long as the bed of the river remained solid, the siege weapons could be moved across with little trouble, and the men would soon follow.

   He would have to do something to speed up the siege weapons if he was to reach Argnon within the two months he wanted. He was already several days behind, and believed it was unacceptable. When Gaston reached the camp he would talk with him, but first it was Mareston he wanted to see.

   "Why do the Siege weapons fall behind?" Chidren asked. "You said they would keep up."

   "It is the green wood placed on the tower platforms." Mareston replied. "It causes the wheels to sink too deep for the horses to pull easily."

   "Then use more horses." Chidren said. "We will not reach the castle within the time allowed at this pace."

   "We have no more horses in which to pull them." Mareston explained to his commander. "All of the horses are used by the

cavalry."

   "What are our options?" Chidren asked, but knew the answer before it had been given.

   "We will need more horses, if we are to reach the castle in time." Mareston said. "All other options will require a delay in the attack."

   "You will have your horses, just see that there are no more delays." Chidren said. "Or you will be held responsible."

   "I will see that they keep up with the army." Mareston said, "The ground should level off again in a few days, and we will not need the extra horses once we are within two weeks of the castle. That is where the land begins to fall, and it is downhill the rest of the way to Argnon."

   "Keep them until we reach the castle." Chidren said. "I do not want to lose anymore time than we have already."

   Gaston arrived as Mareston was leaving, and waited until the old solder was gone before speaking.

   "All is clear for several miles." Gaston reported. "There is no sign of the enemy that we can see."

   "I need fifty of your worst riders to give up their horses, to help pull the siege weapons for the next few weeks." Chidren informed his captain. "When we reach the castle, they will be given back to you, along with the horses that pull the wagons and siege weapons now."

   "I will see to it right away." Gaston said. "Fifty men will not make much difference in the march to the castle."

   "You can use the outriders again if you wish." Chidren said, "We are close enough now that the empire may get brave and try another ambush."

   "We will be ready for them if they do." Gaston assured his commander. "We will not be caught off guard again."

   The next morning, the siege weapons and the wagons were moved across the ford early with the help of magic. The men followed, and the army was several miles away by the end of the day. With the extra horses to pull them, the siege weapons had no problem keeping up with the army, and Chidren appeared content.

   The army of the mage king now traveled at the pace Chidren wanted, and they encountered no resistance along the way. Chidren believed he would reach Argnon weeks before the empire expected him, and would catch them unprepared when he did. He would be the one who delivered the lands of the empire to Arnoran, and he would be richly rewarded for his deeds. Soon, the beginning of the end for the empire would begin, and he would be the one who had brought them to their knees when it was over. Soon, he thought.

*****

   Fagerin watched in fear, as the warriors dressed in the purple and gold of the empire appeared on the road in the east. He was making his way to the road from his camp, to travel farther west, but only reached the brush at its edge when the warriors appeared. He quickly crawled under the brush to avoid detection, and was unable to move until they had passed.

   He looked around as he crawled from under the brush, and made sure the warriors were out of sight before he stepped out onto the road. He could no longer continue on in his intended direction, because the warriors of the empire now stood between him and freedom. The north was empty and not an option, and he could not return to the east for fear of being recognized, so in the end he traveled south. That was a place where he could hide for a while, and wait out the changes the empire was going through.

   It may be the time to change professions he thought to himself, as he walked to his camp to retrieve his horse and supplies. He had enough gold to last him for a very long time, and good information was harder to get lately. After carefully looking down the road in both directions, he crossed to the southern side, and disappeared into the trees. He had never been to this part of the empire, but knew there were towns farther south and east, and that is where he headed.

   This part of the western realm was one of the thickest and overgrown areas in the empire, and little progress was made for several days. Fagerin worked his way southeast as best he could, but found himself leading his horse more than riding it. The farther southeast that he went, the thicker it became until he was making less than a mile a day. He began to worry that he would be trapped in the thicket, and in desperation, lunged through a wall of brush and brambles.