Reign of Madness (Revised Edition) (67 page)

A large fireball suddenly blasted through the hall toward
the invaders. Wesson was able to raise a shield in time to protect the majority
of the fighters, but those on the perimeter were slightly singed with minor
burns. A shriek cut through the air when a woman screamed, “Battle mage!”

“Wesson! Quick, do something!” Frisha pleaded. A tall man
with sharp features stood beside the throne upon the dais. He wore black robes
with black and red panels indicating his affinity for nocent magic with
emphasis in fire.

Still holding his shield, Wesson’s mind darted around in a
panic. His companions knew he had battle magic, probably the most powerful in
all of Ashai, but he had never desired to use it in such a way. He was
untrained and only a journeyman. Even if he
could
bring himself to kill
the man, he did not know if he was capable of defeating a fully trained battle
mage. He swallowed hard and turned to face the imposing opponent. Just as he
started to gather his power, a black figure stepped into his view.

“You protect the group. I will handle the mage,” Dark
Tidings said.

“But he is a fully trained battle mage! He will destroy
you,” Wesson protested, but his words fell on empty air.

The wraith had already turned and was running toward the
offending mage. He slipped right through Wesson’s incineration ward without a
second thought, and a moment later, the battle mage shot a powerful jet of fire
toward the fast approaching warrior. Wesson struggled to form a shield, but the
warrior was too far away and moving too quickly. The inferno washed over Dark
Tidings like a raging flash flood of fire. The invading escapees cried out in
horror, but when the flames abruptly cut off, a shadow emerged. The shadow
descended on the battle mage before he could fully understand what was
happening. One powerful strike, and the battle mage fell to the floor nearly
cleaved in two. The black blade glowed a brilliant fiery green from within, and
its wielder was left unscathed.

Kai and Shezar were already through the door beyond the
throne, and the group within the Hall could hear shouts and the ring of steel
on steel. No one had the chance to question what had just occurred because Dark
Tidings was already through the door leading to the duke’s study.

It was an ostentatious room filled with marble busts and
blues and gold – nothing like what one might think a torturous,
murdering, enslaver would prefer. The duke’s guards were dead at the strikers’
feet and both men stood between the duke and the second set of doors. Behind
the duke, cowering in the corner, were his two eldest daughters, Safrina and
Geila. The duke threw up ward after ward, but Wesson simply pulled them apart.

Ytrevius gathered a small ball of blue flame in each hand as
he shook and shouted, “Stop! I am the duke! I order you to leave this place at
once!”

Dark Tidings strode forward enticing the duke to lob both of
his flames at the frightening warrior. The flaming balls splashed against the
wraith and fizzled to nothing.

The duke’s eyes widened in horror, and the color drained
from his face. “YOU! You brought this upon us. It is
you
he wants!”

“No, Ytrevius. Everything
you
get was brought upon
you by your own actions. The rest is all on Caydean. I know of your secret
underworld. You have been judged and found guilty,” the dark wraith said as he
stood only a few paces from the cowering duke. Ytrevius’s daughters were crying
in fear, and Rezkin noticed there were actually three of them present. The
third, fourteen-year-old Lady Meris, was partially hidden beneath the
voluminous layers of the older girls’ skirts.

“Wait! Please! We can make a deal. Look! I have daughters.
You can have one. Pick any one you want.”

The eldest, Safrina, gasped as the others squealed in fear,
“Father, no!”

The blubbering duke continued his preposterous attempts to
gain his freedom. “I have two others…young girls, if you prefer…or…or…take them
all
! I will give them to you freely if you spare me!” the wretched man
begged.

Rezkin was beyond appalled. Fear filled cries echoed down
the corridor a moment before Shezar escorted a middle-aged nursemaid, a couple
of handmaidens, and two young girls of nine and eleven years.

Dark Tidings turned back to the duke and said, “It seems I
already have all of your daughters, and I
will
be taking them.
You
,
however, will die. Have you any last confessions?”

“Wait! No! No, no, no, no, no…” Ytrevius sobbed as he
attempted to back away.

Dark Tidings pointed at his soldiers and flicked a couple of
fingers in the girls’ direction. Jimson, Drascon and Millins hurried forward to
collect the young ladies. To Kai, he said, “Gather those below and get everyone
to the ship.”

When the last of the group passed through the doors, Dark
Tidings leveled his black blade at the duke’s chest. “You and Hespion were
plotting an assassination. Who was your target?”

“I…I know not of what you speak!” he protested.

“We do not have time to draw this out, Ytrevius. Caydean’s
soldiers will be here soon. Perhaps I will leave you for them. I have heard
Caydean enjoys the pain and torment of others.”

“Okay, okay, okay…I will tell you. We were plotting against
the king. You see. We are like you. We want him gone just as much as you. We
can make a deal,” the duke pleaded.

“You are nothing like me,” Dark Tidings replied. “Your
journey in this world is finished.”

Ytrevius began begging again in earnest. “Please. You do not
have to do this!”

“
I
am not going to,” Dark Tidings said as he turned
slightly and held out one hand. The redheaded warrior’s eyes left Ytrevius in
surprise. Her green gaze was filled with questions as it landed on Dark
Tidings.

“You would give me this honor?” the young woman inquired,
her voice choked with fear, excitement, and anguish.

“To take a life is never an honor,” Dark Tidings replied.

“It is a great honor to restore my family name – to
avenge my father by killing his murderer,” Yserria refuted. “It is the way of
my people.”

“You speak of Lon Lerésh,
but I remind you that you are a citizen of Ashai,” the True King, her liege,
replied. “I give you leave to execute this man for his crimes; but henceforth,
when you take a life, you will not
feel
. Anger, pleasure, despair, and
glory have no place in such an act, nor does remorse.”

“I disagree,” a young man’s voice said from the doorway.
Having gotten the wraith’s attention, Palis continued. “Every loss of life is
cause to mourn.”

“If that is the case, then I should forever be in mourning
– for the remainder of my days,” Dark Tidings replied with a grunt. “Any
life that requires taking is not deserving of remorse. If it is not so, then
the life should not have been taken in the first place.”

“Then it is a matter of conscience?” the young man asked.
Rezkin looked out from behind the mask at his friend. Perhaps Palis knew the
secret of
Rule 2 – Kill with conscience
.

Yserria chose that moment to strike the bumbling duke’s head
from his shoulders. Blood sprayed over her and across the floor as the body
fell. The young woman had a wild look to her eyes, and a moment later she lost
her stomach. Dark Tidings gave Yserria a moment to collect herself as he
searched the duke for any missives or other useful information. Coming up empty
handed, he said, “We must go. The army will arrive soon, if it has not
already.”

The dark wraith ushered his two companions into the corridor
where waited Brandt. Of course Palis would not have left Yserria, and Brandt
would not have left Palis. Malcius would have seen to his duty of escorting
Shiela and Frisha to safety, which is where Rezkin desired to be now. The
warrior led the group to the entrance of the underground cavern. Palis tried to
comfort Yserria, but she would have none of it. She was stubborn and willful
and feeling a great deal of conflicting emotions about killing her father’s
murderer.

When they reached the slave chambers, the living captives
had already been moved, but emaciated and beaten bodies lay everywhere, all
still in chains or cages. The smell alone was enough to make a person wretch,
and Rezkin’s companions did so promptly.

“What madness is this?” Brandt was finally able to ask.

“The duke was a slave trader. When the trade dried up
recently, he could no longer move his
product
. Rather than release or
kill them, he simply left them down here to starve to death,” the warrior
replied. Yserria’s conflicting emotions abruptly cleared. She took a deep
breath in relief, which she immediately regretted. Noting the young woman’s
change in demeanor, Dark Tidings added, “I told you, Mistress Rey. The duke was
not deserving of remorse.”

“I most definitely concur,” Brandt remarked, and Palis
nodded his agreement.

They all stopped to listen at the same moment. Rumbling
footsteps and the clank of armor could be heard echoing down the corridor, and
the soldiers were closing quickly. Rezkin and his companions crossed through
the main cavern as swiftly as possible. Unfortunately, moving hastily in the
poorly lit cavern amongst the plethora of stalagmites, low-hanging stalactites,
columns and pools was nearly impossible. When they were less than half way
across the main cavern, the first of the soldiers appeared. While the soldiers
balked at the sights and smell, they could not stop as more of their comrades
were flooding in behind them. The pursuing soldiers once again bottlenecked
when they entered the final passage leading to the beach.

When the fleeing escapees reached the cove, they noted that
their comrades had not quite finished loading the refugees and rescued slaves
onto the ship. The cove was not deep enough at the shore to bring the ship
closer, so they were forced to use three longboats to row people the short
distance, and then the passengers had to either scale rope ladders or were
hauled up in harnesses by the crew. One of the longboats was nearly unloaded
while the other two were en route to the ship. It became apparent that the
nearly empty longboat would not make it back to shore before the army soldiers
reached the beach.

Dark Tidings turned to his companions and said, “Go! Start
swimming. I will hold them off at the mouth of the cave.”

“But there are dozens, maybe hundreds of them! Even you
cannot possibly fight them all!” Palis protested.

“I do not seek to defeat, only to delay,” Dark Tidings
responded. “It will give the others time to get everyone aboard, and you will
be able to swim to the ship. I would not undertake the task if I thought not to
prevail. Now, go!” he said has he turned back to the cave entrance and the
encroaching sound of boots on stone.

Stumbling in the dark, Palis, Brandt and Yserria ran across
the loose shale toward the black water. Brandt and Palis dove in and swam
quickly as the sea pulled at their clothing and weapons. Brandt was the
stronger swimmer and was already ahead when Palis turned to check on Yserria.
His heart skipped a beat when he realized she was not behind him. Yserria had
stopped at the water’s edge and was looking back into the darkness at the
moonlit shadow that was Dark Tidings. As the soldiers began pouring out of the
cave, Dark Tidings cut them down one after another, the glint of green
lightning intermittently lighting the darkness. Yserria turned and ran back up
the beach to assist her liege. Palis panicked at the thought of Yserria
involved in battle on the beach and turned back as well.

Dark Tidings was doing an admirable job of holding the
soldiers back at the mouth of the cave, but a few managed to slip around the
sides. Yserria was quickly surrounded by three of the soldiers and then a
moment later by a fourth. Palis attacked the fourth, dispatching him quickly.
The young noble did not have time to come to terms with killing the man before
he was battling another.

Rezkin noticed that his friends had not abided his wishes
and gone to the ship. The fact that they had come back to fight for him made
him feel something, but he could not quite understand the sensation. It was
unlike any of the feelings he had experienced when he was younger, before he
learned to distance himself from such things. It was almost similar to the feeling
he got when Frisha stood against her uncle on his behalf. Still, he needed his
companions to get to the ship and to safety.

“You two! Get to the ship now!” he yelled, but he
immediately had to turn his attention back to the eight men who were presently
attempting to overwhelm him.

Yserria would not leave her liege. He had given her the
opportunity to avenge her father’s murder, and she would not fail in her duty
to protect her king. Palis’s thoughts were consumed by the redheaded warrior.
If she would not leave, then neither would he.

The young noble withdrew his blade from the chest of his
latest opponent and glanced around in the moonlit darkness. Somehow, above the
rolling thunder of the waves and the grunts and clashes of battle, he heard a
snick
.
Palis remembered that sound. It was the sound of a crossbow being loaded. His
eyes darted around wildly until he finally saw the glint of light off the tip
of the bolt. It was aimed directly at Yserria. Without a second thought, Palis
launched himself at the young woman who was fighting off two opponents a few
feet away. Tackling her to the ground, he heard the
whoosh
of the bolt
as it shot by their heads just as the darkness found him.

Yserria struggled to shove Palis off her. She had heard the
bolt pass by but did not think he had been hit. Perhaps he had been knocked
unconscious in the fall. On the ground, half covered by the young man, the
swordswoman managed to get her sword up in time to block a potentially fatal
blow. As she held back her attacker, she gritted her teeth and shoved with all
her might. As soon as her body was free, she rolled to the side and regained
her feet. The Swordmaster released a flurry of strikes and overcame her less
skilled opponents.