Half-Orcs: Book 06 - The Prison of Angels (41 page)

“Time to go,” Harruq said. “Make us a portal and take us somewhere far, far away.”

“What of Susan?” Aurelia asked as she began the motions with her hands.

“I’ll come back for her once you three are safe.”

Her look said she wasn’t happy with the idea of him remaining behind, but she focused on casting her spell. Harruq waited, expecting the familiar blue line to rip open before him, tearing into reality and creating a gateway to somewhere well-known to his wife. But instead nothing happened. He blinked, glanced around thinking he’d missed something.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Aurelia frowned, and her brow furrowed as she concentrated harder.

“Something is…strange,” she said. Again she tried casting the spell, and again nothing happened. Harruq watched, his anxiety increasing tenfold.

“I think I know what’s going on,” she said after a third time yielded similar results. To test, she went to the window. Ice surrounded her hand, forming into a thin lance that she hurled out the window toward the courtyard. Barely an inch beyond the window ledge the ice dissolved away as if it had never been. Harruq grimaced, confused but knowing that whatever it meant, it wasn’t good.

“The entire castle is surrounded by some sort of invisible…wall,” she explained. “No magical spell can make it through without disappating. Worse, it’s disrupting any sort of translocational magic. I’ve tried opening portals, even to somewhere inside the castle, but they won’t take. I can’t get us out, Harruq.”

He could only follow half of what she said, but he understood the deeper meaning behind it.

“Kevin’s ready for us,” Harruq said. “He knew you would be with me.”

The two shared a glance, each thinking the same thing. If Kevin was ready for them, if he’d gone through all the trouble to trap them there, then he wanted them for a reason. Most likely, he wanted them dead.

“He seeks the throne for himself,” Aurelia said. “We’re just obstacles in his way.”

“We’re more than obstacles.”

Harruq opened the door, to where the four guards waited. All four looked nervous.

“Steward,” one said. “We thought to interrupt, but weren’t sure.”

He didn’t need to ask about what. From the floor below they could hear the faint sounds of steel hitting steel. Kevin’s men were swarming the castle, killing all of the guards.

“We’ve been betrayed,” Harruq said. “All of you, get in here. Guard the little prince with your lives.”

Despite their apparent nervousness, the men saluted and hurried inside. Harruq glanced up and down the hall, his mind racing.

“We can’t hold them off forever,” Aurelia said, coming up behind him. Aubrienna clutched her mother’s hand, her eyes wide with fear at the sudden commotion.

“Sure we can,” Harruq said. “But we don’t need to. There’s a scepter back in our room. If I can get to it, we can summon a whole army of angels to protect us.”

“What about Susan?”

Harruq looked back into the room. He couldn’t get the scepter and Susan, at least not both at the same time. Aurelia could go, but that left the children with only four guards to hold off Kevin’s men until one of them returned.

“There’s nothing we can do,” he said. “We’ll just have to hope she lives. Stay here. I don’t care if they brought a thousand men. You’re strong enough to stop them.”

He kissed her, then bent down to wrap Aubrienna in a hug.

“You stay safe,” he said to her, kissing her cheek. Standing, he drew his swords and went over the layout of the castle in his mind. No matter which way he went, he’d need to go down the stairs to the lower floor. Presumably the floor was already lost, the guards within overrun. If only he could get down there without need of the stairs, bypassing the bulk of the forces…

He looked to Aurelia.

“The outside of the castle’s been blocked,” he said. “But not inside, right?”

His wife gave him a confused look, then understood.

“I won’t be able to get you back up,” she said.

“Leave that part to me.”

Aurelia went to nearest door, pushing it open. Inside were simple beds, clean and unused for some time. Gathering her energy, Aurelia unleashed it in a focused point, blasting a hole in the stone floor just large enough for Harruq to hop through. Peering down, he found another room, this one far fancier, reserved for visiting lords and ladies. Beside the bed lay a heavy gentlemen, blood pooling around his throat. Harruq shook his head, then turned back to his wife.

“Love you,” he said before hopping down. He landed atop the bed, rolled off, and then drew his swords.

“Should have put my armor on after all,” he muttered as he slid to the door, which was slightly ajar. Glancing out, he saw soldiers rushing down the hall, their tabards bearing the Maryll family crest. All wore heavy chain mail for protection. Harruq winced again.

“Really,
really
should have put on my armor.”

When he decided the hall was as empty as it would get, he burst out, then spun in an attempt to orientate himself. To his left were over fifty men filtering into the stairwell leading up. On his right were only a few, and they froze at his sudden appearance. Harruq barreled down the hall toward them, relying on surprise to take them out quickly. The first tried to stab him but woefully underestimated Harruq’s speed. Without slowing, Harruq slashed his throat and sidestepped his collapsing body, swatting aside the second’s hesitant defense before shoving his swords into the man’s stomach. The chainmail resisted, but the magic in Harruq’s swords was strong, and they pushed through to pierce flesh.

With a roar, Harruq yanked them out, kicked away the body, and slammed both blades down against the paltry attempt to block by a third soldier. The steel shattered, Harruq’s ancient blades flaring red as they continued on, chopping through either side of the man’s shoulders to crush in his collarbones. Using the swords to maneuver the corpse, he flung it behind him, into the path of the soldiers breaking off from the stairwell.

The way was clear, and he ran like mad toward his room. From all sides he heard scattered combat, and he tried not to think on how many died. Would Kevin execute the servants, too? The cooks, the cleaners, the errand boys, all to hide his crime? He prayed not, but the screams he heard said otherwise.

A glance behind him showed at least fifteen men in chase. The breath in his lungs felt like fire, and again Harruq chastised himself for growing so lazy. Orcish heritage might have granted him extra muscles and stamina most men could only dream of, but it meant little when he spent two thirds his day in a chair, chugging down wine to keep himself from going out of his mind. The stone walls were a blur as he ran. He turned a corner, slamming into a group of four soldiers.

“Coming through,” Harruq muttered, his momentum continuing through the jumble of arms and legs. Two the men managed to stay on their feet, and they swung weakly at him. Easily dodging their surprised flailing, Harruq hamstrung one, shifted a step to his right, and stabbed Salvation straight through the man’s throat. He left them there, racing along before the rest of those chasing him could catch up.

His room was just up ahead. He stared at the door with his eyes wide. Getting back to Aurelia might be impossible now, but if he could barricade himself in his room and summon the angels, they could turn the tide, saving them from Kevin’s madness. All he needed was the scepter in his closet. Without slowing, he blasted through the door with his shoulder, catching it with his left hand upon entering so he could immediately fling it shut behind him.

Jamming in the lock, he had to hope it held as he dashed for the closet. Pulling out the scepter, he clutched to it like the desperate prayer it was. At the window to their room he pointed the crystal outward and spoke the command word. Light built up around it, forming into a pillar. When it shot out, that pillar halted mere feet beyond the window. Harruq blinked at it, remembered the protection Aurelia had said had been cast around the castle.

“Well,” he said, the door shaking behind him as something heavy slammed into it. “That’s not good.”

Shrugging his shoulders, he spoke the command word again, and then with all his strength he hurled the scepter out the window. It curled end over end through the air, and once beyond the barrier, the pillar of light whipped around as if held by a wild, drunk angel. Preparing his swords, he turned to the door and braced himself to fight whoever might break through.

The lock shattered, despite no pressure exerted on the door at the time. Before Harruq could even realize what was going on, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Letting out a cry, he stumbled to his knees as lightning surged through his insides, dissipating into the wall behind him. The force of the attack knocked him backward, and he cracked his head against the stone wall. Vision swimming, he stared as two men with masks leisurely stepped into his room.

“Not…” Harruq said as the men raised their hands, unleashing more of their power. “Not…fair…”

Darkness came for him, and all he could think was that surely things were supposed to have gone differently.

A
urelia watched until Harruq was gone from sight, then returned to the makeshift classroom. Inside were the four soldiers, waiting with drawn swords and doing their best to hide their anxiety.

“Get away from the door,” Aurelia said to them. They obeyed, shuffling awkwardly to the far side. Once sure the two children were safely behind her, she put her hands together, focusing a spell.

“Now open it,” she said.

They did. Ice stretched from her fingers, growing, spreading out from one side of the doorway to the other, sealing them in with a wall of ice.

“That should slow them for a while,” she said.

“More than that,” said one of the soldiers. “They’d need a ram to break through ice that thick.”

She smiled at him, a young man with barely any stubble on his face.

“Perhaps,” she said. “I hope you’re right, but I fear Kevin prepared for my tricks.”

From the outside they heard muffled noises, undecipherable arguments and shouting. Through the blue of the ice Aurelia could make out dark shapes of men on the other side. Telling herself to remain calm, she took Aubrienna’s hand and led her and Gregory to a corner. She overturned two desks and set them inside.

“Stay in here,” she said, kissing both.

“Are they bad men?” Aubrienna asked her.

“Yes, very bad men.”

“Will you stop the bad men?”

She ran a hand through her daughter’s beautiful brown hair.

“You bet mommy will,” she said.

She touched the stone bricks that made up the floor, and they clung to her like honey. Lifting it upward, she formed a wall, overlapping the desks. Higher and higher she pulled the malleable stone, creating a dome that sealed away the children. At the very top she left a hole so light and air might still enter. From within she heard sniffling, but both children remained brave. Proud of them, Aurelia turned, eyes focused on the ice barrier blocking the doorway.

“I don’t know how Kevin’s planned to kill me,’ she told the guards. “But the ice will let him know where I am soon enough. Please understand what I ask of you. If any of you refuse, I will let the ice remain, and we’ll wait for the trap to unfold to its fullest. Otherwise, I plan on taking down as many of that bastard’s men as I can before he knows what’s hit him.”

She met their eyes, saw their apprehension had disappeared, leaving behind only bravery and determination.

“I’m not one for hiding,” said the youngest of them.

“We’ll be outnumbered,” said another.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Aurelia said. “Draw your swords.”

Electricity encircled her hands as they readied themselves. With a thunderous roar she unleashed her fury upon the ice. The lightning blasted it outward, showering the stunned soldiers with painful shards. The spell continued on, finding plenty of bodies for its ravenous power. Kevin’s soldiers screamed as the lightning swirled through them, frying lungs and knocking dozens to the ground.

Among the smoking ruin of the dead, the rest of the soldiers gathered themselves, raised their shields, and charged.

“Stay clear of the doorway!” Aurelia shouted to the four. “Take out those who make it through!”

They listened, and even if she hadn’t said so they most likely would have figured it out anyway. From her hands tore another blast of magic, this time of fire. The inferno bathed over the men struggling to enter the room, turning their shields to ash, their armor to liquid. With barely a moment to breathe, she unleashed a second burst of fire, refusing to relent. She’d seen their numbers when they entered the castle. Each one she killed was one less to threaten her family. One less to keep Harruq from safety.

The four with her looked on, awe and wonder etched across their faces. Only a rare few made it through such overwhelming destruction, and they were easily dispatched by the guards. Aurelia collapsed to one knee after the last spurt of fire, ignoring the momentary dizziness. Blood had begun to pound through her veins, and despite the strain she suddenly felt shockingly alive. It was more than she could say for the fools allied with Kevin Maryll, somehow convinced they could defeat a sorceress like her. So far the last barrage seemed to have cowed them, for they did not try to enter, and they stayed far from door’s edges.