The Baldari (Book 3) (68 page)

“That still leaves Hyndl alive and alerted,” Rigo reminded them.  “He would be gone, and I hate to think of the retribution he would seek.  It’s a last option, because it will reduce the number against us, but we need to see if there is another way.  If only we could get them both to drop their shields while in the room.”

They discussed every option that they could think of, but none provided a means to get both of the Brryn.  They couldn’t approach the Brryn with magic outside of the room, as they were simply too strong, and while the shot through the
Doorway
seemed to offer the best opportunity, Hyndl refused to be helpful and leave himself unprotected.  It was getting late when one of Rosul’s informants brought them news that a likely location for Kytra’s hideout had been discovered.

“That’s interesting,” Rigo said when the messenger had left.  “We know where Kytra has been staying since the beginning.  She doesn’t need another hideout.  What would she be doing in northern Sedfair?”

“It’s a trap,” Jeen said.  “They don’t know we know where they are.  They know we are looking for them, and they are letting us find them.”

“Let’s see what has been found,” Nycoh said.  Perhaps we can make it work for us.”

They were able to “establish” that both Hyndl and Kytra appeared to be living in the remote mountain house.  It was easy to spy upon from several well-positioned locations.  None of the monitoring spots would be defensible, but they did afford an un-compromised view.  It would have been reasonable if it weren’t for what the wizards knew to be the truth.

“Jeen’s right, it’s a trap,” Nycoh said.

Rigo and Nycoh, as well as Daria and Kaler, had come to check the situation out.

“They can’t lead us here,” Rigo said.  “We’d be suspicious, especially after the way we led Hyndl.”

“But if we know where the place is, then this is where we would wait for them,” Nycoh added.  “We could attempt to set a trap, and they would really be trying to trap us.”

“Suppose we spotted either Kytra or Hyndl,” Rigo surmised.  “They pretend to realize they have been spotted.  Where would we think they
Transferred
to, assuming this is the only hideout we knew of?  More than likely we would guess here.”

“Then we show up with our assault team, having already scouted the place and established where we would dig in,” Nycoh added.

They looked around.  The country home was well situated.  It commanded a great view of the valley beyond.  It was open and exposed.  Surrounding the house were any number of great spots to set up protected attack points.  Massive stone boulders and protected hills looked very promising.

Daria scanned the area with a critical eye.  She was considering that Kytra and Hyndl had chosen this place and wanted them to launch an attack here.  It didn’t take her long to see the flaws.

“It’s not as good as it looks,” she said.  “Knowing in advance you are going to be attacked, it’s easy to guess where your enemy would position himself.  Unlike the mine you told me about, the Brryn could have arranged for preplanned destruction of the key assault locations.  Any group expecting to be protected, would suddenly find themselves exposed.”

“Good,” Rigo said.

“Good?” Kaler asked.

Rigo nodded.  “That supports what I hoped.  The Brryn want a fight here.  If they hadn’t chosen a place where they could supposedly turn the tables on us, I would have wondered.  They can always simply flee by
Transferring
away.  What Daria points out shows they want to stay and fight.  They believe they are far superior in strength, and don’t need to worry.”

“They appear to be correct on that score,” Kaler said.

Rigo shot him a sharp glance.

“I’ll bet we are to spot either Hyndl or Kytra, and make a move against him or her,” Rigo said, continuing his thoughts.  “They are probably certain we want to take them on singly given what we have learned about their strength.  I’d wager they believe we think they cannot signal one another, again based on the encounter with Hyndl.  Nycoh’s right, they most likely have done something about that.”

“We show up with the intent of surprising whichever we spotted, not knowing the other has been alerted and is here, or will be once the fighting starts,” Daria said.  “Once the encounter begins, things suddenly turn out differently than we expected.  At the very worst, the Brryn could hope to eliminate many of those supporting you, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have some tricky idea how to get at least one of you two.”

“That’s my guess,” Rigo said.

“So how does this help us?” Kaler asked.

“Let’s go back to Nals.  I think I’m getting an idea.”

Rigo’s idea was to take on the two Brryn, simultaneously, but not at the time and place of their choosing.  He wanted two attacks, at different locations.  The initial idea fell apart, but as the group argued through options, a plan that might work started to emerge.   It was tricky, and depended on luck, and the fact the Brryn thought they held the upper hand.  It could easily fall apart, but with luck, it might be possible.  Rigo had to accept that if it worked, there was no chance he would get to question either of the Brryn.  That meant Mitty would remain trapped.  Sadly, there simply weren’t many options.  They had only a partial set of the Brryn magic, and had shown themselves to be weaker than either of their adversaries.  There was no place to gain more, and there were no allies to help them.  They had to take the risk.

The plan involved two groups, two separate attacks, as well as surprise and trickery.  The groups would have to coordinate their attacks, as certain conditions had to be met before proceeding, or they would reveal all they knew without any chance of overpowering their enemies.  The attack on Kytra would involve no magic, beyond Suline’s creation of the
Ghost Doorways
.  Despite arguments against, the team would consist of four Baldari, led by S’erom, with Daria and Kaler as backup.

“The Baldari have suffered at her hands as much, perhaps more, than we,” Nycoh argued.  “They deserve this chance to revenge their people.”

Rigo had wanted Daria and Kaler to make the move against Kytra, but had lost the argument.

Rigo, Nycoh, and Jeen with her
Linking
team, would concentrate on Hyndl.  They would have a couple of chances to abort without revealing themselves, but once committed, they had to hope for success.  Jeen would set up in one of the less obvious spots for the encounter.

Almost a week passed before the proper circumstances put the plan into motion.  Both sides were trying to make it look natural, for different reasons, and it took time for a believable spotting to take place.  Rigo and Nycoh wanted the confrontation to take place later in the day.  For that reason they delayed following up on a lead that took them where Hyndl was waiting to launch his own plan. 

When Rigo and Nycoh spotted Hyndl, he did a marvelous job of looking surprised, and then disappearing.  Of course, had he not been trying to lure them to a pre-selected spot, he might have simply attacked.  Rigo thought it a weakness in Hyndl’s strategy, but the Brryn wanted to lead them to the cabin, and didn’t know they were aware of that, and so they played along.

After Hyndl disappeared, Rigo, Nycoh, Jeen and the rest moved into position,
Transferring
into a pair of the concealed viewing spots.  At this point, Hyndl couldn’t know whether they had followed or not.  Once in place, Rigo triggered the signal bracelet that let Suline know they were in place and that Hyndl was in the cabin.  Then they waited.  There was always the possibility that Hyndl would alert Kytra immediately, and she would
Transfer
here to support him.  She had shown a tendency since they had been observing her of ending her days early, returning to the island a glass to a glass and a half ahead of Hyndl.  Earlier, Suline had signaled that had been the case today, and that’s when Rigo and his team put their plan into motion.  If Kytra responded to a signal from Hyndl, they would abort.  It was important that Hyndl wait until he spotted Rigo and Nycoh before alerting Kytra.

Long minutes passed, and there was no signal.  It appeared that Hyndl was waiting to spot them as they had hoped.  Enough time had passed that Rigo knew the plan was unfolding at the other end.

Suline was more nervous than she could remember as she opened the enlarged
Ghost Doorway
that would allow the Baldari warriors, as well as Daria and Kaler to step into the faraway island and confront Kytra.  She positioned the
Doorway
as close as possible to Kytra.  She personally believed that Daria was right, and a crossbow bolt should be fired as the Baldari stepped into the room, but that had been decided.  Three of the Baldari had swords drawn, and as they stepped into the
Doorway
with the weapons extended they would emerge as the blades pierced the back of the unprotected Kytra.  The fourth Baldari carried one of the bands to slip into place, a precaution against her being able to draw upon her magic even while wounded and possibly escape, fight, or heal herself.  Kaler and Daria would move in right behind the Baldari warriors.  It was unfortunate that the opening wasn’t wide enough for them all to step through at the same time.  It was time to go.  Rigo and his team were waiting.

Kytra felt an intense pain in her lower stomach, and looked down to see what might be the cause, and was momentarily stunned to see three sharp blades protruding from her body, the blood flowing down her front.  Even as she realized the weapons were typical Baldari fighting swords, she felt the bodies moving behind her. 
How could there be Baldari here?
  There was no time for questions, and she turned against the pain of the weapons.  The Baldari were fierce fighters, and they would rip her apart given the chance.  Her sudden movement caught the Baldari with the headband by surprise, and he missed as he attempted to slip it over her head. 

Kytra realized there were more than just the Baldari, and as she turned she released a beam of killing magic as she raised her shield into place.  The beam caught the Baldari to her right who disappeared in a bright white flash.  The beam was so powerful, it continued on beyond her initial target.  Unfortunately Kaler, who had realized what was going wrong, had moved to that side of the group in hopes of getting a clear swing with his sword in hopes of taking Kytra’s head before she could raise her personal protection.  The beam that had consumed the hindering Baldari, caught him on his left side, taking his arm at the shoulder.  The cut was clean, the beam of powerful magic consuming his entire arm, leaving only a short section of white bone protruding.  The blood from the open wound shot out and Kaler screamed and tumbled to the floor.

Daria had seen what happened, and despite her immediate concern for Kaler, knew that unless something was done immediately, they were all lost.  Kytra already had her shields raised, and the remaining Baldari were unable to extract the swords, now trapped by the shields as they protruded from her body.  She had already unleashed  another beam that had taken a second Baldari.  Knowing her weapons were now useless, Daria made the only move that  might have a chance.  In a tumbling leap, Daria scooped the fallen band from the floor, and as she rolled over, launched herself toward the back of the Brryn, slipping the band over her head as Rigo had described had been done to Tryll.

It was unlikely that anyone other than Daria could have made the move.  The result mirrored almost exactly what had happened to Tryll.  Kytra screamed, and her shield collapsed.  S’erom was finally able to withdraw his sword, which he did happily, and with the barest of pauses, swung it and completed the move that Kaler had in mind when he had been blasted.  Kyra’s head spun from her shoulders as the body was collapsing to the floor.

Daria had made it to Kaler’s side, and was attempting to staunch the flow of blood.  She grabbed the heavy body of the unconscious Kaler and tried to drag him toward the
Ghost Doorway
.  She suddenly felt someone helping, and noted that the second surviving Baldari was helping her.  They stepped through the space where the return was, and exited where Suline stood in shock.

Suline had to close the
Doorway
to be able to access her magic.  She wasn’t one of the great healers but she was able to seal the wound and stop the flow of blood.  There was nothing she could do about the arm.  She had seen the missing member flash in the magical flame.  It was gone.  She hoped that she had been able to seal the wound in time.  Kaler looked impossibly pale. 

Knowing that Rigo would want to know about Kaler, but having no way to inform him, she simply broke the signaling band.  Now they would know that Kytra wouldn’t be able to come and support Hyndl.  She hoped the confrontation of the other end would go better.  Knowing there was little time, she opened a
Doorway
to a secret spot where there was someone who would be better able to help Kaler.  She would come back for S’erom later.

Rigo sensed the signal that told him Kytra was no longer a threat.  He smiled and looked at the figure beside him.  “It’s time,” he said.  Now they would see if they could end this once and for all.

This wasn’t about being subtle.  Rigo unleashed a beam of magic that blasted the front face off the building where Hyndl was waiting.  As the rock flew and pieces of mangled wood rained down, Rigo smiled.  He was certain that would annoy Hyndl.  If he could make him mad, and therefore maybe a bit careless, so much the better.  It looked like it was working.  The Brryn stepped out into the evening light and stared at Rigo.

Hyndl had initially planned to wait until Kytra arrived, but the annoying attitude of the one called Rigo changed that.  Hyndl didn’t see why he needed to wait. Kytra would be here shortly, and he had faced these same upstarts before.  This time the situation was more under control, and there would be no opportunity for the surprises that had prevented him from dealing with them that time.  He had nearly defeated the two wizards with advanced magic in that confrontation.  They simply weren’t strong enough to face him alone, and soon they would have Kytra to deal with as well.  This time it would be different, and any friends they had brought were in for a surprise.

Rigo watched as Hyndl looked at him with open contempt.  As the Brryn stepped forward, Jeen unleashed a bright beam of
Linked
Greenfire
at him.  It flashed and dissipated against Hyndl’s shield.  With a pleased grin, the Brryn somehow triggered a series of explosions around the compound.  Had Rigo been able to distinguish the individual explosions, he would have counted eleven.  They destroyed every hiding place that Rigo’s team had scouted during the previous visits.  Too bad for Hyndl there was no one there.  Rigo could sense the magic behind the explosions was augmented by the kind of magic that would defeat the shields that Jeen and her supporting wizards could manage.  Rigo also knew, that Jeen was to escape immediately after triggering the
Greenfire
.  Hyndl would believe she had relocated to another firing position when he sensed the
Bypass
, and that his blasts would have gotten her wherever she had moved.