Fate Rides Wicked: Volume I of the Lerilon Trilogy (30 page)

The expedition passed through the door as the page
held back the flap. Wooden floors creaked under their feet
as they approached the throne, passing between vertical
beams holding up the roof. People milled around on each
side of them, some sitting and watching, others going one
place or another. The page stopped them a few yards from
the throne and called out, “Presenting King Vedelbred, the
fifth of his name and the 459th king of this realm. May he
be wise in his council and live forever.”

Another page stepped forward from beside the throne.
“Who presents themselves to the majestic presence of our
ruler?”

“Emissaries from the Army of Li, including Aquendar
of Concrof and members of all intelligent races,” called
back the page.

An averaged size man in the middle of his life climbed
up the steps behind the throne. He wore a grey cloak
striped in gold, the colors of his kingdom. After the page
announced his arrival, Vedelbred sat down with the grace
of a falling feather. The page with the expedition gestured
that they should sit on the cushions around the throne and
they did so.

King Vedelbred smiled from ear to ear. “Welcome, my
friends. It is not often the daril races visit us. No hiftnuvin
has been seen here for as long as anybody can remember.
Yet, you are all welcome in my kingdom at any time.”

Tych nodded and said, “If not for the perilous
mountains to the east and the insurmountable evil to the
south, I’m sure more visits would have been made. In any
case, your hospitality is very much appreciated. Not since
Efreiden have we been able to sleep in a building without
fearing for our lives. The pleasure has been ours.”

The King laughed heartily. “I see you have learned
some human phrases. Good for you. Now, let us get down
to business. There has been enough formality already.
What is it that you want from me that you would travel
almost 1500 miles across this threatening continent to visit
me?”

Cautious about the danger in his request, Tych said,
“There is one enemy on this continent that we all share, and
I’m sure this close to the Kingdom of Evil, you know he
moves. He gathers his forces in the north for what he
hopes will be the crushing blow. Separate, he may succeed
in defeating us, overwhelming us one by one.

“I know all this because my grandfather is a great
wizard and my father also wields great magical power.
Corl, my grandfather, battled with Rangdor, and in doing so
became friends with the gold dragons, the good dragons of
their species.” The room fell completely quiet as the wide
eyed watchers stared in awe. “One of those gold dragons
rescued me from certain death. By them I know that the
power in the north stirs, and also by my own abilities. I am
no ordinary endaril. I am the bane of Rangdor. In the
spring I will take on the lord of evil and vanquish him from
the continent.”

The King raised his hand to stop Tych. “I think I know
what you are about to ask for. I would give you my armies
but for one thing. Every day now, two hundred forangen
leave the land to the south and make their way north. We
have lost too many men fighting them, so we bother them
from a distance. My men will serve you better here,
thinning out the forangen that march north. Then, in the
spring, they will join you in the north. I only hope I am not
alone in this.”

“No, there are over thirty thousand soldiers gathered by
now. By spring we should be more than three times that.”
Tych breathed a sigh of relief inside. He knew that since
the danger remained, the kings had every right to ask to
protect their people as long as possible.

The King turned the conversation to lighter topics and
they shared laughter and amazement. Tych took this,
rightly, to mean the deal had been completed and joined in
the banter in his distinctly subdued way. Soon the midday
meal came and they all stood to join the king and the other
nobles.

They never reached the table, however, as bells began
to ring all over the castle. The soldiers in the throne room
drew weapons and charged out. Some of the nobles
excused themselves to go get into battle dress. Lendril
turned to King Vedelbred and asked, “Permission to assist,
Your Majesty.” With a nod the expedition members ran
from the room.

One of the women in the room turned to the king and
said, “There were women in that group. They aren’t going
to go fight, are they?”

Vedelbred responded, “In other races women have also
had to become soldiers, not just men. If they’ve made it
here, they’ll survive against whatever is out there. Go
watch if you wish, but be sure to stay out of the range of
the arrows.”

The intrigued woman went and talked to some of her
friends, and then they all went out to see what they could.
They ended up at a window in the south wall.

The expedition followed the soldiers to the south gate,
wide open as soldiers poured out to meet the forangen
rushing up the field. Twice as many humans fought as
forangen, but the expedition did most of the damage. The
concentrated skill of the likes of Reichet and Aquendar
helped them carve quickly into the enemy. A couple of
times Tych let a controlled amount of energy vaporize a
dozen or so assailants the way it involuntarily did in
Damarin’s castle.

It took less than an hour, since the forangen fell like
grass, so unskilled and clumsy had they become hiding in
the depths of evil. Cheers went up but Tych shouted for
silence. “They hide some other bad deed. Protect the rest
of the city. Go, I sense some other presence.”

The soldiers began to run towards the city, moving to
cover it from all sides. More soldiers arrived and bolstered
them. Tych and the expedition turned towards the kingdom
called Western Evil, and watched. As if out of nowhere, a
blue creature floated lightly to the ground several dozen
yards off. Its hair stood on end, white as new snow. Three
eyes sat below his forehead and no nose could be seen. A
mouth with fangs like icicles said, “You will die, Tych di
Corl, at my hands.”

Aquendar said under his breath, “This is an ice demon,
one of the most deadly. Don’t be fooled by its substance, it
is immune to all levels of heat, especially lack of. It repels
it like oil and water.”

Tych nodded and shouted, “I wouldn’t call those
hands.”

The demon roared with both laughter and fury. In fact,
four arms ended in flat sheets of ice, only slightly
recognizable by the thumb protruding from the ‘palm’ of it.
The monster lowered its head and a horn grew out, pointing
right at Tych, forming before their eyes. Minions of the
beast, half as high at seven feet tall began to land around
him. They had wings where the demon had none and they
looked normal for demons, rust colored skin, horns and
vicious claws.

Tych shouted, “Magicians protect us!” and Nandel,
Blard and Quez stepped forward, preparing spells. “I have
the big one,” yelled the Prince. “I count twelve minions,
those are yours.” Just as they finished their spells, the
demon’s horn flew from his head towards them and split
into twenty smaller ones, each a deadly dagger. They
embedded themselves in a wall of steel created by the
magicians.

The wall vanished as Nandel chased it with a spell on
his staff and the expedition charged. The magicians sent a
little fireworks ahead of the warriors, causing enough of a
pause for them to reach their targets. Gaylin already
glowed brightly and sang loudly, full of strength from the
battle with the forangen.

As Tych approached, an ice sword as tall as the endaril
formed in the hand of the demon. Tych took a blow on his
sword and knew that only the magic of it saved it from
being cleaved in half. For a moment, the Prince feared he
might be overmatched, and the demon put him on the
defensive.

Blow after blow came down around Tych. He dodged
some but had to take others on his sword. He didn’t know
how long Gaylin would last, but knew he had to do
something to turn the tide. He concentrated on a web spell.
As the demon drew back to strike, he covered the upper
body of his opponent, stopping him long enough to realize
what happened and how to escape. Tych used the pause,
striking with all his strength at the midsection of the
demon. He followed it but only hit lightly as the beast
recovered and struck back. Tych’s magic armor resisted
the blow, but the two stood at a stalemate. The demon
suffered horribly from a deep wound, but Tych felt drained
by the spell casting and the use of energy against the
forangen.

For two hours the swords of Tych and the ice demon
swung. The others still fought the minions, which teased
them and avoided dangerous contact. Only five of the
smaller ones had died and vanished. Tych’s weariness kept
him from thinking properly so he could not come up with
any of the maneuvers that had served him so well before.

As darkness approached, the wound on the demon
began to heal and Tych took a quick step back in dismay.
In doing so, he bumped into Lendril and Sir Xalt and good
energy coursed through his veins. Though very little
entered him, it gave him the mental and physical strength to
move boldly. As the demon brought the sword around
once more, Tych ducked under the blade and used his own
strength and the momentum of the demon’s arm to remove
his opponent’s hand at the wrist.

Frozen by the loss of his blade and hand, the beast fell
prey to Tych’s leaping slice at its neck. With a crack, the
demon’s head fell to the ground. The servants, seeing the
defeat of their master, attacked and died on the blades of
the expedition.

Tych just stood and stared at his opponent. He had
become an ice statue. Nandel yelled, “Now you can melt
him. Do so before night comes or he will rebuild himself.”
Tych concentrated on a fire stream spell and a long tongue
of flame licked the legs of the demon. Nandel added his
own and in minutes the magic flame left only water.
Aquendar and Tendelbro tossed the head and sword into
the flames and the demon melted from the face of Lerilon.

“What?! Are you crazy?” shouted Worlef, the thrandril
archer chosen by Lendril. “We can’t ride through there.
Nobody’s ever come out alive.”

Tych nodded. He had told the expedition that they
would be riding through the area known as Western Evil,
even though a boat could have taken them around it. The
whole area, formerly a kingdom, had been taken over by
Rangdor and housed thousands of his servants, many
heading north at this time. Underbrush covered the ground
like thick carpeting and the sun never hit the ground
anywhere inside. With a smile, Tych said, “Trust me. We
will make it through and be the first to do so. I have to
prove to you that you can do the impossible. We have
magic, very fast horses and the strength of our warrior
abilities. Just yesterday morning we defeated thirteen
demons.”

Ofeldar said, “I’m a tracker and my profession
communicates the activities of the continent between each
other. We won’t just find demons or devils in there. I’ve
heard of hell steeds and their riders, giants, unfathomable
mutations of creatures from other planes, and many evils,
which only come out at night. It’s night in there all the
time!”

Reichet, always the self-assured, aggressive one,
responded, “I think we can do it. We’ll be going so fast
that very little will see us in time to stop us. Tych’s right.
We can do the impossible.”

Lendril chuckled. “We decided last night, that we
wouldn’t do this unless everybody agreed. Let me say one
thing. I think that if any group has come along that can do
this, it is us. Perhaps, in order to convince you, it is time
Tych revealed powers he has discovered since Unlo.”

Tych began to object but then saw the other waited
expectantly. Blard frowned. “We said we wouldn’t keep
secrets.”

The Prince looked around and the same message rolled
across everybody’s face. “Very well. In Unlo I discovered
that I can cast spells just by thinking them, and I never
forget it once I have learned it.” The magicians went wide
eyed. For them, casting spells meant memorizing, at least
thirty seconds of chanting or singing, and forgetting it the
moment they finished. Such was the nature of magic on
Lerilon. “Perhaps the reason I can do this is through the
other power. Come, follow me, I need space to do this.”
As they walked from the trees to the open area above the
valley that Western Evil sat in, Tych continued, “I
discovered this power in Rambestar when I fought the
dragon.” With a moment’s concentration, he changed into
the giant gold dragon.

Leaping out above the jungle to the south, he swept
west towards the ocean, the setting sun at his back. In a
moment he circled back to the hill where the expedition
stood, amazed. He alighted in front of them and said, “It is
the power of dragons to cast spells with their minds,
because they are not restricted by time and space as we are.
It takes mere moments to generate what can take minutes
for others. Their only limit is their minds, which we have
power over and they don’t. They can only remember a few
spells at a time. Since I am born of creatures of
consciousness, but half of me is a child of space and time, I
have no such limitations.”

Andri came running at Tych, “Dragons destroyed our tunnels
in the Efres. My children died in their collapse. I should
kill you.”

Tych stayed calm. “Chances are, red dragons did the
damage. They are the evil ones. If a gold dragon did it, the
race would gladly pay reparations and help repair the
tunnel.” The endaril returned to his normal state.
“Besides, I am not the dragon that destroyed the tunnel.
Settle down, Andri, save your anger for the creatures in
there.”