The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (36 page)

“
Good luck on your
mission, my Lady,” Captain Harvey finished. “I hope to see you
after this is all over.”

“
Likewise, Harvey,”
Cathy said, leaving the tent with me in tow.

“
How’d it go?” Donkor
asked.

“
We’re set for
tomorrow,” I answered. “You might as well grab a bunk and get some
rest. We leave pretty early in the morning.”

“
You sure you don’t
need me for anything else?” Donkor asked.

I shook my head. “We’re just going to
bed ourselves.”

Donkor giggled and winked. “Right. See
you tomorrow.”

He left and Cathy turned to me with a
confused look. “What was that?”

“
I wish I knew,” I
answered.

“
So what’s the plan
for tomorrow?” Cathy asked playfully, lowering her voice. “How do I
die?”

“
I think I got an
idea,” I smiled.

“
Do I go out in a
blaze of glory?” she asked hopefully.

“
Something like
that,” I replied playfully.

*****

I was worried that my
night would be plagued by nightmares but I only had one dream and
that didn’t make sense to me.

I was walking in a flat, barren
wasteland. There were no people, or wildlife or even a sky. The
ground was black and where the sky should have been was white. I
started running, looking for something and finally stumbled upon a
single structure. The Tower of the Watchful Eye.

When I approached,
the Tower exploded at the base and fell towards me. As I watched it
I didn’t feel scared, instead I felt...relieved. The Tower fell and
I knew it would crush me, but I was glad. I was going home. I awoke
before it could hit me.

Sleep was ruined for the night. I lay
awake until Cathy entered the tent to wake me up. We quickly
dressed, gathered our volunteers and hurried out of the camp. We
needed to cross the field before sunrise. I kept busy searching for
any signs of Evenawks, hoping the dream wouldn’t press against my
mind and distract me.

Arriving at our
position, I watched the sun slowly rise. How Markus was going to
drive the Evenawks out to fight, I was still trying to guess. Could
their presence simply be enough to have Desroche meet them head on?
I scanned for patrols and sure enough, Evenawks were scouting the
mountain side at this early hour. I would have my answer
shortly.

Donkor’s presence
made me turn and I watched the big guy sit down beside me. I
pitched my thoughts about the upcoming fight to see what his
experience had taught him.

Donkor smiled. “Our enemy has to know
something is happening. You’ve stopped his scouting camps and
defeated key players in his offensive. He receives word that
Balendar is marching under a new king. He won’t have any choice but
to send an attack. If he doesn’t, he’ll have an entire army on his
doorstep.”

“
Certainly make our
job easier,” I said, looking to the sky. “Patrol’s coming.” I
closed my eyes and shielded us from the sight of the passing
Evenawk. I opened my eyes again. “Okay.”

Donkor chuckled. “Some days I wish I
had magic. Just to know what that is like.”

“
Well there’s a scary
thought,” Natalie said behind us. “You’re already a building.
Imagine that building throwing Fireballs and that would be the
scariest thing I’ve seen.”

I debated whether to tell her that the
city we’re to attack used to have towers that threw Fireballs but
decided the surprise would be better. “How’s everyone doing back
there?” I asked.

“
Alright,” she
shrugged. “Kind of a buzz kill. I just want this to
start.”

“
Soon enough,” Donkor
responded, pointing outwards.

In the distance, the flags of Balendar
and its cities could be seen as waves of troops marched towards
Ghanlar. They chose to spread themselves out, giving the illusion
of a large, invading army. Donkor was right, Desroche wouldn’t
ignore it. He couldn’t. This was the remainder of Balendar and it
was marching right into his hands. My stomach knotted as I realised
that every second spent getting to Desroche would mean another’s
death.

Donkor patted me on the back in
comfort. “Come on. The Evenawks will be all over the place shortly
and you can’t shield us from an army.”

We rose and followed
Natalie back to our group pressed up against the mountain. The
scouts had been accurate. The way the rock had formed had created a
small area that was shielded from above. It was safe for now but
when the ground troops landed and looked this way, we would be
easily spotted.

We were under the
cover when the squawking started. They were long, panicked sounds.
A quick search of one of their minds showed that their attention
was directed towards the army and not us. I looked over the group
and gave them a quick nod that we were alright.

Most of the Davalin
warriors closed their eyes at the sound of the squawking. Bill had
found a great group of ten soldiers willing to help us, but some of
them looked like this was their first battle. Seven men and three
women of every age, all willing to die in the hopes of keeping
their loved ones safe. I would do my best to bring them
home.

“
You don’t look too
well,” Cathy said quietly to me. “Are you over thinking
again?”

I chucked softly. “Yeah, but I’ll be
fine once we start fighting. I just hope we can get to Desroche
before we lose the Evenawk race in this battle.”

“
We’ll free them,”
Cathy smiled.

I nodded and took a
couple of deep breaths. A couple of loud squawks drew my attention
to the sky which darkened as hordes of Evenawks flew over us. The
sheer numbers surprised me. It looked like Desroche had
successfully brainwashed the entire race and wasn’t afraid to send
everyone out to fight this battle.

“
I love you, Aaron,”
I heard Natalie whisper.

“
Love you too, Nat,”
he replied.

Cathy nudged me and I
turned to look at her. She had a childlike smile on her face.
“First to a thousand kills gets to make all the rules for the rest
of our lives.”

I couldn’t help myself from smiling.
She always knew just what to say. “You’re on,” I replied.

Chapter
32

There was no whistle or bell or any
other sign that signalled the start of the battle. The Evenawk
horde just plunged from the sky straight at the Balendar troops.
Sky archers covered the ground troops as they transformed into
their humanoid form and the Balendar troops could do nothing but
wait for the volley of arrows to stop.

From behind the
Balendian main line, a returning volley of arrows was shot into the
sky, taking down its fair share. With the archers in the sky
temporarily scattered, the soldiers marched on the Evenawk ground
troops and the music of iron on iron played out across the
land.

From our spot, we couldn’t make out any
details, but the sounds of war cries and squawks left enough for
the imagination to fill in the blanks. Either the fighting was
fierce or they were standing in front of each other shouting. The
latter suggested that we would be in for a long day.

A few straggling Evenawks slowly made
their way over the mountain and lowered themselves behind the
fighting. Dangling from their feet where human shapes that could
only be the Mages assisting Desroche.

From their position they could watch
over the battlefield and control the Evenawks. They also happened
to be between us and our goal up the hill. For the sake of both the
battle and our mission, we would have to take them out.

“
They’ve dropped
Mages in our path,” I told the others. “We need to take them down
to help the main group.”

“
We should wait for
when the king starts to pull back,” Aaron said. “The Evenawks will
be too busy to realise what we’re doing.”

“
Solid plan,” Donkor
responded. “The Balendians should be backing out soon. The Evenawk
force is larger than we could have expected.”

“
If we take down the
Mages now though,” Cathy started, “the army will be more
disorganised when Balendar pulls back. Nat and Aaron could catch
them from behind and we won’t get spotted.”

“
How many did you
see, Kairu?” Natalie asked, favouring the idea.

“
Just four, but there
has to be more than that,” I answered.

“
It’s a good start,”
Cathy smiled. “Up front, lovebirds. Stick close to the
rocks.”

“
Single file should
work well,” Donkor added.

Aaron and Natalie
readied their bows and hurried out of our hiding spot. It was weird
to see Natalie using a bow but she assured me she was well trained
in its use and it made sense to have something good for long range
when you are fighting birds on a mountain side. I assured her that
I would be giving her a hard time should she miss her
targets.

Aaron stopped and dropped to one knee.
The group did the same as Aaron drew his bow and fired upon the
first Mage. The arrow struck the Mage in the back and he dropped. A
little further ahead, Natalie and Aaron lined up their shots and
dropped Mages close together.

The closer we drew to
the mountain path, the more Mages I saw. There had to be at least
ten in total and when Natalie and Aaron each released another
arrow, half had been eliminated. We could take care of two more
before having a clear path up the mountain, but the remaining three
would sense something was wrong eventually. We didn’t have time to
waste, but we couldn’t keep them alive.

The two at the path were killed and we
headed for our destination. I pointed out the last three to Natalie
and Aaron. “Anything you can do?” I asked.

“
I can get one more
from here,” Aaron said. “Maybe two.”

“
My Lady,” a Davalin
soldier named Gina called out. “Balendar is pulling
back.”

Sure enough, past the
Evenawk army, Balendar was starting its retreat into Archanion.
General Kobo and the Nesqians would be waiting and the Evenawks
would be for a tough time. Unfortunately, this also meant that the
Mages would be looking to each other to rally the rampaging
brainwashed.

“
Take the shot,” I
said to Aaron.

He and Natalie lined up and let their
arrows fly. Two of the three dropped quickly to the ground and the
last turned towards us. He immediately grabbed his throat and a
loud squawk escaped him before Aaron’s second arrow hit him in the
forehead.

“
Nice shot,” I
said.

“
Too high,” he
answered. “I was aiming for his chest.

“
Up the mountain,
now!” Cathy called out.

The squawk had
alerted the Evenawks near the back of the army. Seeing a chance for
action a whole lot sooner, they abandoned their pursuit of the
retreating Balendar army and started towards us. If there was ever
a reason that working out was good for your health, this was it. We
immediately turned and ran up the mountain path.

The frenzied sounds
behind us begged me to look behind, but I wasn’t going to be fooled
into it. Not looking back meant I could think that we were only
being chased by a couple of Evenawks, not over a hundred. Denial
wasn’t going to get us anywhere, but it would buy me a few moments
to think of something.

Our first obstacle,
however, would be the bridge. We didn’t have time for me to
magically create it and cross while everyone followed behind us in
single file. I couldn’t waste all my magic on it either. The bridge
was make or break for this mission and we needed to at least make
it to the other end before engaging any enemies.

“
Donkor!” I called
out.

“
Yeah?” he asked
casually, like we weren’t being followed.

“
There’s a magical
bridge up ahead,” I started. “We don’t have time to play its game.
I’ll create the bridge but it is going to require all my
concentration so we can get across quickly. You’ll need to pick me
up and carry me.”

“
Look, if you’re
tired then just say so,” Donkor joked.

“
Make sure everyone
gets across,” I said.

Donkor slowed down as the bridge loomed
in the distance. I ran in front of him and reached out, frantically
searching for the connection. When I linked with the bridge, I
slowed down and started feeding magic into it. Donkor immediately
scooped me up and I closed my eyes and tuned out the world around
me. There was nothing but me and the bridge. The stream of magic
between us was warm and inviting.

I started shaking and opened my eyes.
“We’re across,” Donkor said, reintroducing me to the world around
me.

I shut down the link and looked over
the group. The soldiers with shields were protecting the archers
between their shots. I was right to assume that a hundred Evenawks
were hunting us. They filled the sky all around us.

“
We can’t keep
running,” Natalie said. “We’ll lead them right to the capital and
then have two armies to deal with.”

“
We’ll split up
then,” I said. “One group draws their attention here. The other
heads to the capital.”

“
Dibs on staying
here,” Donkor smiled.

“
I’m staying with the
giant,” Natalie said.