Michael Mathias - Kings, Queens, Heroes, and Fools

Nothing the humans did managed to do so much as irritate the hell-born creature. Even Queen Willa’s witchy spells did little other than rankle it as it pounded a bloody path through the ranks. But it didn’t stay and fight, it continued north as if it had an agenda, as if the time spent killing thousands of men had made it fall behind schedule.

In Lokahna, Master Amill and Commander Escott watched as Queen Willa and her formidable army came marching in from the north. Once the two forces combined, they numbered over thirty-five thousand men and dwarves. Now that they held the two main crossing points, getting more troops from Seaward was only a matter of making the orders.

They didn’t know it in Lokahna yet, but already the Queen of Seaward was mustering up another sizable force to join them. After learning that her daughter was safe in Dreen and that Rosa had been tortured and maimed, Queen Rachel vowed to give the High King her fealty and to help him eradicate any who held even the slightest bit of loyalty to the lightning star.

Queen Willa let King Granitheart and Commander Escott take command of the huge force and left Master Amill in charge of communicating with King Jarrek and Master Sholt, who were now marching their men and dwarves south to meet them. She decided to return to Dreen. General Spyra’s situation was affecting his judgment, and Lord Gregory had no designs to rule over Valleya in his stead.

King Granitheart and Commander Escott agreed that a direct march on O’Dakahn was best. Their forces were far too large to try to sneak around. They figured that they could easily push Ra’Gren’s might behind O’Dakahn’s walls and force a siege.

They underestimated the enemy, though. Neither of them counted on Flick and the Choska demon, or the young black dragon. If they had, they might have been able to save half of the great army they commanded from the horrible death that awaited them.

Hyden was only a dozen paces away from the source of the light he had been staggering toward. The very instant he realized it was the ring his brother had found on the hawkling nesting cliffs so long ago, he also realized it was on something’s long claw-tipped finger. What the long dark insectoid creature was, he couldn’t say, but he felt sorry for it when it started to attack him as if it were the one springing the trap.

Behind the creature, in the dim light of the ring, Hyden saw Gerrard coming down claws first. The mantis-like demon wearing the ring crumbled and screamed beneath the self-proclaimed Warlord of Hell. Hyden had to dive out of the way to keep from falling right into the fray. He was mortified at the savage power that Gerard unleashed on the creature. It took the same amount of time for him to stumble to the floor as it did for Gerard to tear the thing into slimy shreds.

The light of the ring faded as the life of its wearer leaked away. The victor began feeding on the greenish gore of the creature, which helped Hyden disassociate the little brother he had loved so much from the monster before him. This wasn’t Gerard. It might have eyes that looked like Gerard’s. It might even have fleeting thoughts that stemmed from some piece of Gerard’s memory that survived deep down, but it was not Gerard. It was some malformed demon beast that was content to be feeding on the ruined body of another hell-born creature.

Hyden managed to crawl to the edge of the bloody mess and locate the ring on the dead beast’s finger. He reached for it and grabbed hold of the elbow that was still attached to the lower part of the limb. As he pulled it toward him, Gerrard saw the dying twinkle of the ring and roared. His huge head loomed down and peered at it.

Looking up at Gerard’s soft-eyed gaze, Hyden saw recognition flare in those eerie orbs again. Hyden yanked the limb to him and began fumbling with the ring, trying to get it off the limp bloody finger.

“No!” Gerard thundered. “Mine!”

Hyden almost let go of the limb and fled. The beast’s voice, though deep and as powerful as shattering stone, still sounded somewhat like Gerard. The pleading look on its face cut through Hyden’s resistance straight into his heart. Still, he managed to get the ring from the dead thing’s finger, and when he did, its glow vanished completely. Darkness enveloped them again.

Hyden rolled over half a dozen times, trying to put distance between him and Gerard. The dizziness that followed caused him to fumble the ring from his hand. Terrified and confused, he felt out in the direction he heard it tinkling on the floor. He couldn’t see it. The world was spinning and he was starting to cough up his mushy guts again. He could feel Gerard coming up behind him. He could almost feel his brother’s savage claws tearing him to pieces. The heat and moisture of the evil creature’s breath grazed his neck. Desperately, he felt for the ring, but his hands found only flat cold stone. Defensively, he rolled to his back and looked up. The slick glistening shape of Gerard was there. And in the darkness those eyes looked nothing like his brother’s. Deep inside them, reddish orange flames flickered and glinted prismatic hate. The Warlord, the Abbadon, the new Master of the Hells took a long step toward him out of the bloody gore of its kill and huffed out a low growl.

“Minnnne,” the word sounded so inhuman and evil that Hyden felt his heart stop. Whatever this thing was, it was about to destroy him. He hoped it would be over quick. He had suffered terribly and he didn’t want to die thinking of how he had failed the White Goddess. All he could do was throw an arm protectively over his face as the thing that was once the brother he loved, lurched down at him to feed.

King Jarrek’s troops managed to trap about half of the Dakaneese forces against the new lake at Seareach. The other half fought tooth and nail to help win their fellows free of the Seawardsmen, Valleyans, and the savage dwarves. It wasn’t meant to be, though. King Jarrek and his troops closed the gap and killed the Dakaneese they had trapped, to a man. They would have pursued the thousands of Dakaneese that escaped the trap, but the Choska attacked and stopped them from it.

The demon bat had no rider this time and it was able to attack them with a speed and agility that it hadn’t been able to employ before. It was ferocious as it swooped in at impossible speeds and yanked men out of the ranks.

The bald-headed wizard was riding on the back of the black dragon’s shoulders now. They came out of nowhere and rained acidy spew and wizard’s fire over Jarrek’s men to great effect. Master Sholt managed to cast a protective ward over a couple of buildings that still stood, but only a few hundred men could get under the protection. The dwarves, at least some of them, found refuge in the foothills. The breed giants fled as well. In a matter of a few moments the angry wizard and his dragon managed to maim or kill most of Jarrek’s men and nearly half of General Diamondeen’s dwarves.

Against all the odds, King Jarrek had managed to defeat the Dakaneese force that had caused him so much trouble, but now he was left huddled under a roof like a rabbit in a fox den. It was only a matter of time, Master Sholt warned, before his wards wore off. Then the dragon and the Choska would be able to pick them off as the structures they were hiding under were eaten away by the dragon’s saliva.

After dropping the three Westland girls in Dreen and hearing about Lady Mandary and the General, Mikahl and Lord Gregory made to review the known situation in Dakahn. Before they were able to get started, a Valleyan mage named Cresso, who had been communicating with both Highwander wizards for Lord Gregory and the General, came hurrying into the map room.