King Of The North (Book 3) (29 page)

She turned to face him, staring into his eyes as she accepted the stream of consciousness that the land itself gave her. Farouk could see the look of understanding in her face as everything that she would ever need to know became clear to her.

The flood of power and knowledge eased eventually, and the glow began to fade. The spirits had dissolved back into the forest, and those that offered themselves to give Aeli power were now a part of her. With the exception of Belo, who buzzed around excitedly, the two were now alone.

Farouk smiled as he looked upon The Great Druid of Eirenoch. She was now his peer, not quite his equal, and could now take her place among the illuminated mortals of the Earth.

“Come now,” Farouk said. “Let us heal the land.”

Aeli nodded, and joined Farouk on the path out. Though she had come to this forest as a mere initiate, Aeli now left as a Druid.

Chapter Twenty One

The united army of Eirenoch was assembled before the Onyx Dragon. He rode along the length of the front lines, looking over them proudly. The Knights of
The Dragon followed behind them, drawing looks of awe from all of the soldiers that could see them. Ulrich and Ceor stood near the center of the line, facing the men and awaiting the Knights’ arrival.

“It’s about time,” the Jarl said as the group rode up. Eamon laughed, dismounting his horse.

“The Priests are on their way,” he said. “But we are ready. Have the Rangers arrived?”

“They have,” Ulrich said. “They occupy the forests on either side of the castle. Adder’s company is poised to fire upon the castle walls, should archers appear there, and he has already entered the city to contact the Thieves’ Guild. Jhayla’s company has taken position on the north side of the pass. All is in place.”

“Good,” Eamon said, turning to the troops. The Knights moved to either side of him, looking over the troops as well.

“Brothers!’ Eamon began. “Today is our day. Today, we take our kingdom back. We will drive the enemy away and purge Eirenoch of their stench.”

He paused as the troops cheered loudly.

“Today, Eirenoch will be united!”

The troops cheered again, drawing their weapons and thrusting them into the air in defiance. Eamon knew that the enemy troops could hear them, and smiled as his army shouted at the top of their lungs. He drew the Serpent’s Tongue, holding it high.

“To freedom!” he shouted, turning to lead the men to glory.

The Jindala army stood in formation between Faerbane’s north barrier and the nearby forest. They had chosen the area for its potential for setting up an ambush, and Majed, the leader, had done so.

In the forest just along the northern edge of the formation, he had placed archers to thin the ranks of the enemy when they arrived in the narrow pass. Though not great in number, the Jindala archers were skilled and well stocked. They would make short work of the enemy’s front lines. In addition, the four Defilers that were among the Jindala’s ranks would ensure their victory.

“Our sorcerers are ready,” Majed’s Captain said. “The enemy approaches.”

“We will use the archers to take down the front lines,” Majed replied. “Tell the sorcerers to wait for my command. We will save the Defilers for the end. No need to waste their energy.”

“Yes, Sheikh,” the Captain said, raising his hand to signal the archers to be at the ready.

The two men, safely behind their entire army, watched as the Knights of The Dragon crested the hill. They stood in a line, with the Onyx Dragon at their center, and even at this distance, their intentions were clear.

Eamon glared down at the enemy army, noting their position between the rocky ledge and the thick forest. The pass was wide, sloping gently and narrowing to form a road down to the shore. His eyes kept returning to the tree line, where he imagined the silent battle that took place when the Rangers had taken position. No doubt the Jindala had placed archers there to ambush them. They would now be lying dead at the hands of Jhayla’s company.

“Do you think they were successful?” Ulrich asked, referring to the Rangers who had crept into the forest earlier.

“Of course,” Daryth answered. “Adder chose the best among the Guild, and I trust Jhayla’s ability to lead them.”

“Then we are ready,” Eamon said, raising the Serpent’s Tongue into the air again. Behind him, the massive army of Northmen, islanders, and rebel Jindala prepared.

The Knights stepped forward, followed by Ulrich and Ceor, and began their descent down the hill. As the army crested the ridge, they picked up their pace and broke into a run. Their anticipation and morale were high, and they all felt the excitement of battle building as the faces of their enemies became clear.

“For
The Dragon!” Eamon shouted.

“Kruum!” came the response behind him.

Majed raised his sword and gave the signal for the archers to fire. He waited for the volley of missiles to begin dropping the charging enemies, licking in lips in anticipation. But, the familiar sight of a cloud of arrows flying from behind the trees never came. Majed looked to his Captain for an explanation.

The Captain simply shrugged.

Then, Majed’s own front lines began to scatter. Arrows rained down on them by the hundreds, fired by some unknown enemy that taken the place of his own archers.

“Sorcerers!” Majed shouted.

At his command, his two sorcerers appeared on either side of the entourage, raising their arms in the air to cast spells. Balls of flame appeared in their grasp, and the sorcerers hurled them over the heads of the troops. They sped toward the charging Knights, only to explode uselessly on the ground as they dodged.

“Charge!” he commanded.

The Jindala charged to meet the Knights and their army, shouting their cries of allegiance to
The Lifegiver. The sound of thousands of boots filled the pass with a deafening roar.

The final battle had begun.

“To the east!” Jhayla commanded her company.

The Rangers followed her just behind the tree line like shadows. They made their way toward the cliffs, moving parallel with the north flank of the enemy army. Jhayla, bow in hand, fired into the mass of Jindala as she went, and the rest of the Rangers followed suit.

All along the northern flank, enemy soldiers fell as they raced toward Eamon’s army. Soon, the entourage of enemy leaders, including their sorcerers, came into view.

Jhayla smiled as she identified the Sheikh. “That is their leader,” she said, taking aim. “He’s mine.”

Adder had climbed the signal tower, and now sat waiting for the right time to light the beacon. The Jindala guard that had been posted there was dead nearby, having been taken down silently by Adder’s dagger.

The Ranger Captain watched the alleys below as the thieves led the citizens to the secret tunnels below the city. Others, who chose to remain in their homes, were instructed to barricade their doors and were given weapons to defend themselves if necessary.

Adder was a bundle of nerves, filled with excitement at the prospect of battle within the walls of Faerbane. With the placement of Eamon upon the throne, and the expulsion or destruction of the occupying force, the future was sure to be much brighter. He only hoped that the new King would alleviate the need for the Guild.

The only downside, he realized, would be the hundreds of unemployed thieves that would be roaming the cities.

He laughed to himself at the thought.

The armies clashed near the halfway point of the pass. The armor that Eamon and his Knights wore had fully emerged, and the seven of them appeared as demons descending upon the Jindala forces. They parted like cowards, trying to avoid facing the Knights directly. But their cowardice was pointless.

They would die anyway.

As the Knights took down their section of the Jindala line, Ulrich and Ceor carved their own swath of destruction. The bulk of the allied army followed and the two armies quickly blended together in a chaotic mass of death.

Eamon sliced horizontally at the Jindala that passed him. He growled with bloodlust as the Serpent’s Tongue cut them down one by one. A larger swordsman appeared in front of him, and Eamon hacked downward. The swordsman blocked, countering with a curving, side attack. Eamon spun away to avoid the strike, and chopped downward, severing the enemy’s leg at the knee. He then finished the falling soldier with a slash across the spine. He turned, howling with
The Dragon’s fury, and continued into the fray.

Brianna spun and rolled between the surrounding soldiers, slashing them randomly with both blades as she passed. She took down several of them from behind, disabling them with crippling jabs to their shoulder blades, and slicing strikes at the weak points between their armored plates.

Ulrich stood in one place, hacking at every Jindala that came near. Ceor, a short distance away, did the same. Those that escaped one, had to come near the other, and the two men worked together to create a gauntlet of heavy blades. Soon, the ground was littered with the bleeding bodies of their victims.

Daryth and Azim worked together as well, coordinating their attacks in much the same way. They, however, kept in constant motion, ducking between the combatants and kicking their enemies toward one another. When they could, both Knights drew their bows to fire at the back of the lines.

Wrothgaar and Angen kept together, with Brynn close behind. The older Angen was a fearsome sight with his giant sword. He left a trail of bodies in his wake as he pushed through the ranks with his blade. Wrothgaar had broken into a berserker rage, dealing out sweep attacks that fluidly hit their marks with each pass. Brynn kept a close watch on their flanks, taking down any enemies that threatened to sneak up on them.

The two armies were now completely converged and the sounds of battle were deafening. The Jindala held their ground, however, and it was clear that the only possible outcome would be the complete annihilation of one side or the other.

“Release the Defilers!” Majed commanded.

The order was relayed just as an arrow struck the leader in the eye. He instantly went limp, toppling from his sedia. The Captain stared wide eyed, the sorcerers around him screaming their rage as they cast their summoning spells.

From out of the tree line, a line of soldiers charged. Their blades were held high, and their battle cries echoed off of the trees. They met with the rear flank, cutting the officers off from the rest of the army, and fell upon them with the same fury as the Rangers they had replaced.

The Captain took command, directing the sorcerers to release the Defilers near them, to protect them from the attacking Rangers. The beasts appeared as usual; hidden from sight and rising from the chaos to make their dark appearance. The Captain breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the supernatural beasts would protect them.

Brynn caught sight of the Defilers immediately after they appeared. There were four of them, each as dark and terrifying as the others. He raced straight toward them, knowing that he alone could fight them without fear of their magic.

He howled the cry of the Mordumarc, rearing back his blade as he charged. The Defilers, all four of them, turned their attention toward him, sensing the power of his blade. They let loose their power, directing beams of dark energy at the charging Knight. Brynn shrugged off the magic, leaping into the air to jab at the nearest one.

His blade connected with the creature’s head, impaling it through the mouth. An explosion of dark energy threw the Knight back, but he landed unharmed, and rolled back into a defensive stance. The Defiler, howling with pain, held its cowled head, thrashing and flailing with fury. Brynn raced in to finish it off.

Just then, a blinding flash appeared before him. He shielded his eyes, turning to the side to see that others in the area had been blinded as well. When the light dimmed, Farouk stood before him, his hand held out to warn the Knight away.

“Stop, my friend,” he warned. “I will take care of them. Protect the Rangers.”

Brynn, confused, simply nodded and headed toward the back of the Jindala ranks to seek out Jhayla and her Rangers. It was as good a charge as any, he thought, and the prospect of watching the new Rangers in action interested him greatly.

Farouk, having left Aeli on the ridge above, turned toward the Defilers. With his staff held before him, he allowed the two creatures within his gem to call to their brethren. The gem flared into life, casting the familiar, comforting blue light of their home world in a wide radius. The Defilers stopped their attacks, slowly moving toward the Druid in confusion.

Farouk held the staff up, allowing them to gaze at it with their hollow eyes. He knew by their stance that they were torn between serving their master and joining their kin. As Farouk contemplated how he would convince them to enter the gem, the Defilers inside acted on their own.

Two beams of white light flashed from his staff, impacting the ground in front of him. From the impacts, two white, slender beings appeared. They were on their hands and knees in a prostrate position, the four appendages on their backs extended to display their membranous wings.

The Defilers shrieked with a strange timbre. They fell to their knees, their dark shrouds disintegrating into the air. Underneath, their chitinous exoskeletons, exposed to the light of the white beings, began to crack and fall away.

The Defilers writhed in agony as their dark bodies were transformed. The bony shells around their tentacles burst, exposing the supple wing supports that they had been born with. Membranes stretched between the two on each side, widening to catch the life giving light.

In just a few minutes, six beautiful creatures crouched on the ground around the Druid. He raised his staff once again, beckoning them to return. The beings faded into a cloud of sparkling matter, and swirled around Farouk’s staff, only to be absorbed into the gem.