Heir To The Nova (Book 3) (27 page)

Still, the procession wasn’t finished. Ten more hooded warriors in supple leather armor with two swords strapped to their backs came through next. The swords struck me as being a bit longer than normal long swords and they had a slight curve to them as well. Something more in line with the eastern civilizations, if I had read Rosa’s books correctly. Still, very impressive.

Lastly, a large group of what looked like staff poured out of the portals and quickly took their place on either of the far sides. As the last person cleared the threshold, the two portals finally retreated and closed. The Hall had reached its maximum capacity if you still desired the walkways kept free.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” We both jumped slightly in our chairs. Somehow, a man had managed to get between Maya and me without us knowing. He was an elf; at least, I think he started out as one. His hair was white and his skin looked almost golden; not shiny, just golden. He was definitely older than Rosa, too; not ancient just very old. His eyes glowed blue with a hint of yellow shining though every now and then. His formal robes were probably in style long before Belrothe was born, but he wore them with unquestioned authority.

“My most sincere apology your graces; I did not mean to startle.” His voice was warm and mellow, and the accent very formal as he bowed to each of us separately. He then backed up a few steps scanning our wings. “Lovely plumage,” he remarked, and then resumed his post between our thrones.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Again, I must apologize, my King; this is entirely my fault. I was aiming for a grand entrance and I see I have only caused confusion. Allow me to introduce us. My name is Qleyse, and it is an honor to serve you! My role is to act as your castellan for your time here. That means I will handle all the minor details of running the fortress. I will be handling all the ordinary day-to-day things that you don’t need to attend to personally.”

“And them?” asked Maya, still smiling and stroking Winya.

“Ah, yes, the rest of the introductions then. First off, I would like to introduce the bulk of your guard force, the ladies of the Iron Maidens.” All of them unsheathed their swords at once and lifted them into the air in salute. “I have only had them for a few hundred years now, but I must say they are the most effective and dedicated force I have ever seen; and I have seen a lot, both dead and alive.”

One of the ones in front, wearing a slightly different helmet, stepped forward. “King Alex, Queen Maya, you honor us with this opportunity. Captain Winya, we await your commands once again.” She removed her ornate helmet revealing a woman who looked similar to the man next to us; the same skin and glowing eyes, except she appeared to have been originally human and not elf.

“
I can’t believe they’re back!”
Winya gushed happily.

The lady in armor smiled brightly. “Yes, Captain, it’s good to be back. We will all have a lot to catch up on in the days to come.”

“
Ebony! They can hear me? You can hear me?”
The woman nodded. “
By the stars, this is wonderful! I still can’t believe you’re all still alive.”

“Not alive, Win; just given a second chance,” Ebony grinned, speaking out loud. By this time, Maya was getting jittery in her seat, undoubtedly getting sensory overload from all the excitement Winya was pouring into their bond; even I could feel it.

“Ebony, I think that’s probably good for now,” Qleyse purred smoothly. “I’m sure this is all quite a shock for all of them, so let’s get basic introductions out of the way for now and we can explain in detail later.” The woman, Ebony, nodded again and took a few steps back to her spot. “Next, let me introduce Conlan Gruffrock and his men.”

A huge dwarf stepped forward. “Gruffrock, your Majesties; leader of the best dammed siege crew to have ever walked this rock. If they say it can’t be built, we can build it. We’re in charge of the fortress’s emplacements during battle, as well as keeping the underworks in proper order.” The dwarf stepped back.

“Thank you, Conlan. Next, we have the elves of the Lindenwood forest. Unlike the others, they are under the command of Ebony, here, and have merged with the Iron Maidens.  They are master archers and have trained for years from atop these walls. There is no one better-suited for the job than they.”

“Continuing on. Over there, we have a unique bunch lead by Calimus Francis,” Qleyse said, and motioned for the man to step forward.

From what I could tell, he looked human; but unlike the other troops, these were in all brown leather and their faces were hidden. “Pleased to meet you, my King and Queen. I am Calimus and these are my tempests. Many think we are assassins, but that is simply not true. We use speed and agility mixed with magic to avoid being hit or even seen sometimes. Our role is to shadow you on the battlefield and aid, but not interfere, with your duels. We are your close guard, if you will.”

Qleyse nodded at the man, and he took a few steps back like the rest did. “Lastly, we understand that you have people for the town, but no trained staff for the keep. These men and women volunteered to perform as your new royal staff and will assure the keep remains clean and running properly.” All of them bowed at once.

“Now with introductions out of the way, I believe there is one last formality that needs to be done.” Everyone in the room unsheathed whatever weapon they had, if any, and dropped to their knees, even Qleyse. They all shouted as one in a thundering tone, “All hail, the White King! All hail, the Silver Queen! All hail, the Comets!”

Maya looked over at me and motioned that we needed to stand up. I had no idea what to say to people who devote themselves to you like that, but I had to say something. “Please rise, everyone.” They rose to their feet and sheathed their weapons. “Thank you for your trust and your loyalty. I just hope one day we will live up to your expectations, but today is not that day. We are both new to this and will need all the support and guidance you can give. Thank you.”

“Well spoken, my King,” said Qleyse. Maya smiled reassuringly at me and sat back down, as did I. “Now, before we continue…”

Before he could finish, the main door was blown open by a heavy blast of wind as the five teachers stormed in, followed by one extremely pissed off Higs.

“For the last time, you are not allowed in here…” His voice died away abruptly as he eyed the room packed to the brim with armor and weapons. Spotting us on the thrones, he bowed. “I’m sorry, Sir Alex; I tried to stop them…” Higs looked around at the mass of warriors nervously. “Umm, I’ll just wait outside then.”

“Higs, wait. You should stay, and we will need you after this,” Maya shouted so he could hear all the way in the back. Reluctantly, the guard captain found an out-of-the-way place next to the door to wait.

The teachers, on the other hand, seemed too stupid or headstrong to be intimidated by the sight. After a few seconds of looking around, they mustered their courage and continued to move forward. When they were about twenty feet away from us, Qleyse held up his hand for them to stop. “That’s close enough; speak your mind.”

“Shut up, our business is with them, not you! We demand… Wait, is that dark elf on the throne, too? You have a dark elf trollop as a Queen over wizards? This will not be tolerated!”

Many things happened all at once. First, the two heavily-armored men beside us moved directly in front of us and lowered their spears at the wizards. Second, every archer in the place instantly had an arrow trained on the intruders. And last, but pretty much still simultaneously, Ebony and four other Iron Maidens shield-bashed the wizards to the ground. In less than a blink, Ebony had her sword drawn and aimed at the outspoken one’s neck with a heavy boot on his chest.

“Would you like them executed, my Queen?”

Reluctantly, Maya sighed and thought about it for twenty seconds or so. While she was making up her mind, I stood up, folded my wings in, and walked down to where Ebony had the ringleader pinned. Looking down at him, I remarked, “Before you five open your mouths any further, I suggest you go back to your quarters and have a long discussion with the air and water students who made the original journey with us to this place. Hons and Alera would be good to visit with as well, to give you a better understanding of how things work around here. I can see no reason why the Wind and Water Towers shouldn’t blend in just fine, and yes, we will retake Xarparion soon with or without your help,” I paused and looked all five in the eyes.

“But I warn you, there are going to be some fundamental changes made in the school. The isolation of the towers and the mentality that this tower is better than another tower is a thing of the past. If you haven’t heard the story of what happened to the Fire Tower and where their hubris got them, then I suggest you ask someone. Headmaster Rosa will be happy to fill you in on the changes when you are ready to truly listen. In the end, if you are still discontented, you are, of course, free to leave.”

“Fine,” the air wizard leader under Ebony’s boot grated, “open us up a portal to Anshea, Elcanse, or even Ocanse, and we will leave tonight!”

“Tempting, but no. If you decide to leave Sky Raven, it will be on foot. In case you haven’t heard, Ocanse has fallen; and the kingdoms of Anshea and Elcanse are already destabilized enough trying to fight off the undead and deal with all the refugees that are pouring into their lands. I will not loose upon them a small army of snotty, self-indulgent, undisciplined wizards to play kingmaker at their expense.” Ending the conversation, I returned to my seat. I saw Qleyse nodding with approval as I turned and sat.

Ebony looked expectantly at Maya. “My Queen?”

Maya stood up and shrugged. “Release them; it’s possible a few of them may yet be salvaged.”

Ebony glared at the frightened man. “You should thank her on your knees for your life. But know this; if you ever challenge my King or Queen again, neither I nor anyone of us will hesitate to put a blade, arrow or spear though your chest. Do I make myself clear?” The man nodded repeatedly. “Good, now leave and think better of your actions in the future.”

The wizards quickly got to their feet and slunk out the door. I had a feeling we wouldn’t have any more trouble from them. Qleyse cleared his throat. “Well, if that rude interruption is over, I believe we all have things to take care of; correct, Captains?”

The dwarf stepped forward. “With all due respect, we’ve been standing here far too long. My men and I will get our gear unloaded and actually give this fortress back its teeth.” The dwarf smirked, showing some teeth of his own. “All of its teeth. I think you will find that this place is not what you think it is.” With that, he and his men broke ranks and headed deeper into the keep.

The servants all bowed again and took their own leave. Some returned within seconds and were already starting to sweep out the main hall. I really had no idea where they were all going; the keep doesn’t really have that many rooms…that I know of anyways.

This left the Iron Maidens, tempests, and archers standing in the room. The one called Ebony stepped forward once again. “Unless you have need of us, we will return to our posts and familiarize ourselves with the current guard force.” She turned to Higs who was still by the door. “I promise we will be very accepting of your men and will not interfere with them until our two groups learn more about each other.” Higs nodded weakly as the remainder of the troops filed out of the main hall, except for the two huge guards at either side of our thrones.

“Ebony, if you will please stay,” Qleyse asked quietly. She stopped and returned to her place.

By this point, I could already hear shouts from outside; no doubt people thought there was some kind of invasion. Higs, on the other hand, saw the opportunity and approached us cautiously.

“Alright, I’ve seen more than my share of crazy from being around you two, but this tops it all! How did a golden army show up in the middle of the fortress without anyone seeing them? And who the hell are they anyway?”

“Trust us, Higs; we need some answers as well,” Maya said tiredly.

Qleyse spoke up, “And I would be honored to explain everything to you; but if you will only wait a few more moments, many of your friends are on their way and will be joining us soon.”

For what seemed like the hundredth time today, Maya and I looked at each other in confusion. But as the man said, a few minutes later Rosa with Nia on her shoulder, Alera, Hons, the druid trio, and even the twins were escorted in by a few of Winya’s girls. Rosa actually looked very happy at their presence; Hons just looked worn out. Alera was trying to take in all the sights of the golden warriors at once and beamed brightly, and Dusk and Dawn just looked bored. Of course, Jules, Lin, and Ryliss were rubber-necking every which way, gawking at the Iron Maidens and the throne sentinels. Lin was so engrossed that she ran right into the doorframe coming in and whacked herself a good one. She fell backward in surprise, only to be caught deftly by the golden warrior behind her who snickered softly as she stood her back up.

They gathered in awe around Ebony, who was standing at attention, until Maya motioned for them all to come closer. My wings were still retracted, so I got up and sat down on the top step of the throne dais. I hoped that this would make everyone more comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. To my surprise, Qleyse didn’t look in the least shocked by my actions, as I guessed a castellan or castle steward would be. From what little I knew about them from reading Rosa’s books, I always imagined them to be stuffy paper pushers and prudish sticklers for convention. I did remember a footnote that a good castellan was highly prized in any kingdom, however. My mental review of history books was interrupted by my now wingless mate sliding in next to me. I stretched my arm around her back to hold her comfortably. Qleyse smiled warmly and then made a motion to one of the nearby staff before sitting down on one of the lower steps himself.