Fate Rides Wicked: Volume I of the Lerilon Trilogy (23 page)

Tych turned back to his horse and remounted, as did
Vilmar. Reichet waited for his horse to come forward at
the hands of Tendelbro, before slipping his axe into its
resting place and climbing up. Once they entered the gates,
Tych ordered the guard to take them to the castle. A
protest started to escape his lips, but the soldier
immediately thought better of it and continued on. At the
gates to the castle, Aquendar sat on a horse, decked out in
all his weapons and dressed in new armor.

When the escorting guard drew in hearing range, the
large horsemaster turned to the page and said, loudly,
“Announce the Prince and Princess of the endarils, Tych di
Corl and Lendril di Rutif, Commander of the Efre Neftir,
Tendelbro, Commander of the Mendar Army, Findra di
Polef, Commander of the Andarin Neftir, Andri,” and so he
continued until every officer had been listed. The soldier’s
face, if white before, was now transparent from the loss of
blood and he fainted.

Tych smiled at Aquendar. “I see you have already
established a reputation among the soldiers of Efreiden.
Well done, Aquendar. Shall we go meet her majesty?”

The caller scrambled off to announce them as they rode
into the courtyard. They all dismounted and passed their
reins on to stable boys before entering the double doors to
the hallways of Efreiden’s power. One of the many stories
Sir Xalt had told Tych while Lendril warmed herself before
the fire after the ambush in the rain, told of the similar
design of every castle. Now Tych could barely suppress a
smile as he passed through the long hallway to double
doors at the other end. The design matched Xalt’s
description, and the construction of Morg’s domain but for
the different positioning of the stairs.

The caller opened the doors to the throne room, stepped
through, and in his best voice announced each of the
previously important members of the expedition. None of
them still held their army titles, having given them up to
their lieutenants before leaving Crentin’s staging area. Yet,
each of them entered in full regalia, ready to impress Queen
Olera with their rank, and also pay her the respect due by
wearing the best finery. Tych had not only given
permission to do this, he had ordered it.

The queen waited patiently, sometimes mocking
boredom, to the delight of the audience, which had to
suppress its laughter. Finally, the whole expedition had
been introduced, with only a few slip-ups, but all in all,
Tych felt the display had been pompous enough for their
amusement. He felt this to be a stop to have a little fun,
expecting very little more of it until they reached
Greenhaven in the middle of summer.

The queen stood up from the throne and came down the
few steps of the dais to stand in front of Tych. A few
seconds passed, then a soldier dressed in plate mail came
out through a door behind the throne carrying a pillow. On
the pillow sat a dagger in a richly jeweled scabbard, with a
hilt studded with diamonds. Tych started to speak, but
Lendril grabbed his hand and he stopped.

Olera took the dagger off the pillow, raised it above her
head and took hold of it with both hands. “In honor of your
brave and successful effort to free Efreiden from the
clutches of the evil sorcerer Blackdrad, I give you this
ceremonial dagger, and bestow upon you the title, Liberator
of Efreiden. May your journeys always be easy and your
paths always smooth, Prince Tych di Corl. We are forever
in your debt.”

With slightly trembling hands, Tych took the dagger
from the outstretched palms of the queen. He unsnapped
the loop from the back of the scabbard, fed it through his
belt and secured it. Then he bowed and said, “You honor
me, Queen Olera, for the effort came from many. Yet I
accept your appreciation and hope that this is the beginning
of a great future for our two peoples.”

The queen stepped next to Tych, put her arm around his
shoulders and said, “Then let us eat, my friend. Today’s
audiences are over and it is time to celebrate the dawning
of a new day.” She led them through the door from which
the soldier had come and down a short hallway. On the
other side of the door at the other end, they found
themselves in a dining room, with twenty-one chairs lined
up next to a table laden with food. One chair sat at the
head, and Olera sat down here, indicating the others should
take a seat.

They all sat down to succulent meats and fresh
vegetables, decanters of wine and sweet fruit. The
conversation started off light, and then grew into a loud
banter. The meal lasted over an hour, and when it ended
Olera called for silence.

“Now that we have feasted together, we have shared
stories and backgrounds, it is time to impart some
important information. Since you ride in less than half an
hour, it is essential that I prepare you for some things you
will face. First of all, we have had some disturbing
intelligence reports which seem to correspond to some
disturbing events.”

Now Tych became very interested. “What do you
mean, Olera?”

“Men have been vanishing from the armies. Until
recently we did not know how or why. Just yesterday,
however, a soldier saw a man in a cloak sneak into camp,
then leave with two or three of the men. Those men never
returned. We have posted additional watches, but it doesn’t
seem to help. Checking with intelligence, we discovered
that a group of renegades has formed with the goal of
driving all the non-human races back to their homes.”

“How serious do you think it is?”

“Most of the men taken are loyal to Efreiden first, and
see the threat as being to the kingdom. They will try to
spread prejudice against all of you, but according to my
advisors, they pose little threat to the mustering of armies.”

Tych turned to Lendril on his right and asked, “What do
you think we should do, Lendril?”

“Ignore them. By making efforts against them, we will
make more people aware of them, but if we go about
bringing the kingdoms together to our aid, we will form a
majority of friends that will make them seem non-existent.”

Sir Xalt stood at the other end of the table. “I agree. If
people see the success of our mission and the support of us
regardless of race, they’ll be more likely to stay out of such
groups. Humans have an overpowering need for
acceptance which may even drive some of the renegades
back to our side.”

“It is settled. Instruct your intelligence organizations to
keep a lid on this information. As few people are to know
about this renegade group as possible. I am, however,
unfamiliar with the common Lian word for people that hate
others for these reasons.”

“We call them bigots, though it has been only ten
centuries since we were all bigots. I will order the
intelligence groups to make this top secret permanently.
The other information is about the disposition of the other
kingdoms towards you. Some of them, like the next one
west, Efrenbont, are ruled by what you might call bigots.
Let me go over the list...”

Queen Olera went through each kingdom’s feelings
about neftir, darils and hiftnuvin. After discussing a
timetable for the return to Crentin, the expedition said their
goodbyes and left the castle. Stable boys returned their
horses and they rode towards the city gate. They paused
momentarily to make sure everybody remembered to hold
on tight, and then rode out at a gallop. In moments the
pemilons joined them and their speed increased. The trip to
Efreidenak had taken them south of the entrance to the
pass, lengthening their journey to the mountains, so night
fell with several hours riding still ahead.

They made camp in a grove of trees. A few clouds
rolled by overhead and the air cooled off quickly. Tych
had a few words to say as they ate a light dinner. “You all
handled yourselves very well today. Tomorrow we should
encounter similar resistance to our passage from more
bigots. Let Nandel and Aquendar do all the talking. We
should be at the top of the pass by nightfall tomorrow, and
there the danger will grow.”

Tendelbro grunted then said, “Telling the truth of it is
your way it seems, Tych. I respect that. The xadineft will
be out in force in that part of the mountains with this
migration north. We had best be ready to do combat on
either side of the pass, which at times is walled by steep
rock.”

“I expect some plans to be formulated by each of you
on how to deal with that situation and others we will face.”
Lendril looked each member in the eye and finished, “Do
not forget your duties and special skills.”

Aquendar stood and walked over to his saddlebag. He
took out a horn carved out of wood in the shape of an
animal’s horn. “The xadineft use these to call others to
battle. When you hear it sound,” he let out one long,
wailing blast, “we’re in trouble. It would be best to run
into them, rather than have them find us, because we’ll be
rabbits in a snare already in that pass.”

“It is best we get some rest since the real work begins
tomorrow. Findra, set the watch schedules.” Tych and
Lendril stood and left the circle to go get some privacy.
They would check all the watches before returning an hour
later and climbing into bed together. They slept almost
immediately.

With the sun beating down from a cloudless sky onto
the grassy plain, they sped to the pass entrance. Soon they
came to the North Kingdom Highway, no more than an
overused dirt path, and the pemilons left to go around the
guards’ station. Within a mile they came to two posts and
men stepped out to stop them.

One of the soldiers wore plate mail, and a ribbon of
cloth striped down its length with brown and yellow hung
from shoulder to waist across his chest and back up his
back. The emblem indicated a captain’s rank, and he
stepped out in front of his men. The others had bows or
hand weapons drawn and pointed. “Who enters the pass?”
asked the captain.

Aquendar came forward and said, “I am Commander
Aquendar of the forces of Efreiden, Lieutenant Commander
of the forces of Li. This is Prince Tych di Corl,
Commander of the Lian army, Liberator of Efreiden.” The
horse master had put on crisscrossing pieces of cloth the
same color as the captains and a third ribbon hung from his
right side. A clasp hung where the two emblems crossed
on his chest. All this proved his rank, because soldiers of
the kingdoms for rank emblems could only use the color
yellow since colors other than green and brown were
scarce.

The captain crossed his arms over his chest in salute
and all the weapons of the soldiers were put away. Nandel
came forward next. “Let it be known among you that
magicians are no longer banned in the kingdoms of
Efreiden and Polentair, and that three ride to Efrenbont and
onward. Do not be hasty in stopping them, for your actions
will not be condoned nor will you be likely to survive.”

Tych kicked his horse into a gallop and they raced off
into the pass, the soldiers clearing the road just in time.
The pemilons joined them almost immediately and they
slowed to a stop. Aquendar, Xalt, Tendelbro and Reichet
all dismounted, took long coils of rope off the horses and
went to Tych’s side. Tych whispered, “We’ll wait half an
hour at the first sign that we’re entering a walled part of the
pass. Continue to ride with us until we reach such a point,
then you’ll go into the trees ahead. Understood.” The four
nodded and went back to their horses.

Tych signaled the pemilons and they sped into the pass.
In less than an hour they reached the beginning of a gully
and stopped. The four rope bearers dismounted and others
took the reins of their horses. Tendelbro and Aquendar
went into the trees on the left and Xalt and Reichet to the
right.

Tych turned his horse to face the rest of the group. “In
half an hour we’ll ride into this walled part of the pass.
Keep your eyes open for ropes hanging down from above.
If there is a brown ribbon at the end, its one of ours and we
should dismount immediately and climb up to help the
scouts. If there is no ribbon, be prepared to fight in the
pass. In both cases the magicians, including myself, will
go to the top of the walls to help the battle.”

They sat and waited for half an hour without trouble
and rode into the gully. They traveled at a normal gallop
for over a mile then stopped. Ropes hung down from both
sides of the trail, but only the ones on the left had ribbons.
Lendril dismounted and called off the names of the people
to follow her, taking command in an instant. Andri and
Bratif, the two neftir, dismounted to join her, as well as
Ofeldar, Loktaro and Wiltev.

Tych yelled, “Nandel and Blard, time for fireworks.
Findra, take Worlef and Buynar and get those ropes. I’ll
get you down.” He drew Gaylin and a dagger and prepared
for assault from above.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and a large object
could be seen moving down the gully towards them. Tych
turned to Quez, Blard and Nandel already gone. “Blast it
with something!”

“I know very little and no spells to destroy something
that large without creating more problems.” Quez looked
disappointed he couldn’t help, since Tych had chosen him
to ride for his magical skills.

Quickly the endaril sheathed his blades and began to
cast. After a few moments of chanting, a giant hand began
to take shape in the air. The hand stood as large as a horse
and as it began to become more solid one could see it
looked like a fist. As the boulder came within one hundred
feet of the horses and remaining expedition members, Tych
finished the spell and the huge fist struck out and hit it.

With a thundering explosion the boulder flew back up
the pass in ten different pieces. Tych turned to Quez. “Do
you know how to get them down?” He pointed at the
mendar waiting patiently to be helped back down the
twenty-five foot walls. Quez nodded and dismounted. The
prince turned to the hiftnuvin, sitting quietly, dumb with
amazement at the force of the spell. “Let’s go help out
above. No xadineft above will come through that shower
of boulders.”