The Exodus Sagas: Book II - Of Dragons And Crowns (42 page)

“The easiest way is by the breath unfortunately. Those of us raised well by our parents will have learned to breath in water and turn it to steam, then the same with air as we grow older, and finally to manipulate and heat our chests to produce fire. Most of the savage and bestial of my race will have little or no power to produce flame, but that is not to say that is always the case. Much like the world of men
, it is difficult to tell good from
wicked
dragons
with but a glance.
”

“We will be cautious then, great Ansharr. Farewell
once more
.” Sir James bowed his good bye, but knew he would see her again.

“The road north turns east after that ridge, follow it close and do not stray into the swamps of Kar
No
ssos. Saint Erinsburg should be within sight by this time tomorrow if you march hard. Farewell my friends, and may your journey to Mooncrest be safe.” Ansharr beat her wings, stepped three quick paces back, then leapt into the air as dirt, leaves, and dust whipped all around the companions on the road. Higher she climbed, circling and diving to gain speed
as she soared up and around
Soujan Mountain and
the
surrounding hills and valleys. Within moments, she was far away in the clouds, and then gone.

Everyone watched, even well after the great red dragon was no longer in sight. They stared at the tall mountain, the clouds around it that seemed to circle and then wisp off over central Harlaheim.
Cristoff began to turn and walk, his head low as he thought of his loyal steed that had perished on the mountainside. Saberrak and Zen followed, and then Gwenneth started on the road as well. James stood still, perplexed, confused, staring at the sky.

“Time to go James, you will have time to figure it all out on the road. All for a reason, whether you are aware or not, come on.” Shinayne patted his shoulder, and pulled gently on his tabard to get the first step out of his frozen legs.

“I am aware of one thing for sure, Lady T’Sarrin. Something in that mountain calls to me, I do not know what, but there is something there besides the dragon that
I can sense. Someday
I will find out what it is.” James turned and faked a smile. He walked ne
xt to the highborne elven noble
and kept his thoughts deep and his steps forward behind the rest of his friends.

Johnas II
:III

Fortress Salganat, Loucas, Chazzrynn

Prince Bryant backed up as another doppelganger tore at him with black claws, this one was scrambling toward him on the side of the wall. The young Chazzrynn heir nearly tripped over the bodies of the first two he had cut down with his broadsword
in days previous
. They had been left out as bait to see if their re
maining kin hidden in the castle
would try and smuggle them out. T
heir blue blood covered the hallway upstairs and
had
ran off of the open side through the decorative railing making a pool on the marble floor of the great hall below. He looked for the fourth shapeshifter he
had seen disguised as either Ba
lric, Vanessa, or a servant, but heard the glass in the guest room shatter and he assumed it had made it outside. “Guards!!! Father!!!” Bryant yelled, not for his
own
concern, but to prevent the escape of the
fourth
demonic spy.

The claws slashed across his tabard, ripping it and sparking as they scraped the chainmail armor underneath. Black solid eyes blinked rapidly as the creature turned it’s head to look behind, to the right and left, searching for a quick way out.
It had taken the bait to inspect its kin, and now was desperate and trapped. There was no escape
, unless it cared to leap from the hallway railing thirty feet to the floor, make for the room behind it and dive out the window, or get past this young human
boy
with a sword.
The creature hissed and dove at the Pri
nce of Chazzrynn,
avoiding the swinging blade in front of him. It latched on with its claws, struggling against the noble boy who was fighting to get his swordarm free of the grappling fiend.

Slams of double wooden and iron reinforced doors echoed in the greathall below him. Bryant heard the guards taking orders from his father, although fear gripped him in his struggle against the clinging doppelganger. He had fought a few men, killed an ogr
e with help, but until just now
he had never faced anything he had to kill all alone. His anger and strength focused as he saw the brand of the spider symbol on the fiend’s
shoulder
. I
t tried to wrap it
s body around his and wrestle him to the ground. “
Damn you
Johnas!” Bryant’s mind went blank for a moment, feeling the rage at his older cousin and his schemes and treacheries that had gone on for far too long unchallenged.

Mikhail lowered his hand to the archers beside him, the same ones that had killed the escaping doppelganger as it crawled down the side of the castle moments earlier. The king saw his son engaged too close to the creature to take a chance with an arrow. He ran to the stai
rs at the end of the throneroom
as fast as his old legs would let him. The first three steps were easy, the next few slowed his pace, and halfway up the curving stairway Mikhail felt winded, but kept on.
His only living son was fighting alone, two
doppelgangers
lay dead behind him
from their kills previous. H
is body simply could not move as fast as it needed to. The
old
king of Chazzrynn kept on, step by painful step nearing the top, trying to reach his son.

Where it came from
he did not know
, but a fury took him over
. Bryant grabbed the doppelganger by the throat with his left hand, claws now tearing into his skin and armor and fangs biting his shoulder. He roared like a man of twice his size as he lifted the creature up over the railing, then plunged his swordarm forward with all his strength.

“Aaarrrghh!” t
he
wretched
body tightened as the length of
the blade punctured through it
s chest, hissing and screams followed but were nothing compared to the mighty yell of the Prince. He pushed the beast over the railing, flailing arms and legs dangling as it was held by the neck and the gut, by sword and
clenched
fist. Prince Bryant released his grip and withdrew the broadsword in one quick motion, dropping the shapeshifter off the edge and onto the stone floor thirty feet below. The bones and flesh smacked the ground with a sickening sound. The heir to Chazzrynn walked down the steps, still enraged, right past his f
ather
and to the squirming beast with the broken body. He asked no questions, felt no mercy or pity for the writhing attempts the injured and dying doppelganger
made to crawl
out of the castle. His blade to the side, he placed his left hand over his right, and as the bloodied fey beast looked up, Bryant took its head off with one quick cleave of his sword.

“There was one more, it escaped out the balcony window, it-“

“Son, it’s dead. We killed it before it could get away. Are you all right, are you injured?” Mikhail looked down to his poised son, recently victorious over three doppelgangers, and
he
felt great pride as a father.

“Just scratches father, nothing more.” Bryant breathed deep and calmed himself. He sheathed his broadsword and looked at his beheaded foe that lay in a pool of blue blood on the castle floor. He noticed the spider brand
again
, one he had seen before when dealing with unsavory men he thought to be working for Prince Johnas Valhera. Same spot, same size, a
brand of a
spider over the shoulderblade
behind the heart
, if these creatures had hearts at all
, he thought.

“The spider brand again father, like I’ve shown you many times. Agents of your nephew in Valhirst. When will we put an end to it?
He has taken his escaped quarry from us. How much more proof do you need?
”

Mikhail
strode down the stairs, exhausted in his age, tired from his nerves
and worry for his son. He looked down at the brand he had been shown before, then to Bryant. “You are certain of this, that these creatures and the men previous that share the brand all work for Johnas in some secret fashion?”

“Beyond doubt
my king.”

The king of Chazzrynn sighed, his thoughts resigned to how much the kingdom had been through in the last twenty years. Mikhail recalled the costly war with Harlaheim, the battle with the ogre in the west, and the never ending skirmishes in the south with the remainin
g natives and wandering bands of
trolls and tribes. His sons gone
, his wife followed, and now his only child wished to wage war on his corrupt nephew; for he knew Johnas would not be arrested or taken willingly. “What would you suggest be done, if you were king, how would you bring him in?”

“The royal guard numbers one thousand strong, the army here in Loucas is five times that. As I lead them into Valhirst, the ten galleons surround the port with another thousand men. His army is less than half that, his only defense is the city itself. I know I can breach the city and capture him.” Bryant answered without hesitation, as if he had it planned and recited for years.

“And who would protect the capital, the tradeways, the fortress, and the northern routes?”

“I would send word to Southwind Keep, Lord Alexei can send men since the spring will lessen the threat of the ogre from the west. Lady Lazlette surely has more men than Vallakazz warrants and her captain is renowned for his skill in battle. Addisonia and Silverbridge could-“

“If that is your plan, you had better get messages sent quickly. It will take a week for the messengers and most likely two for the assembled protective forces to arrive here in Loucas.” Mikhail looked to the tapestry that hung on the wall, a beautiful blue cloth relief of
the falcon of
Chazzrynn
and a map of the kingdom woven underneath it
. He surveyed where the forces would move to, where they could assemble to keep from the prying eyes of Prince Johnas.

“Am I to understand that you will be invading Valhirst then father?”

“No. You will be invading Valhirst. I will be leading the navy to prevent any escapes
. Find your generals, you will have to attack from three directions and try and force them to me. I do not want my own people to suffer, so we cannot lay siege for long. Johnas will use the peo
ple against us, to strike at our
conscience if they starve or live under threat. He won’t care, but he will demoralize our men by making them feel they are hurting the populace. You will have to be quick and cautious.” Mikhail started to form plans in his mind of how many men would be needed at each gate, at each wall, and how much artillery in way of catapults and ballistae would be required for a fast victory.

“When should I begin the preparations father?” Bryant felt nervous, having not ever really thought this day would come.

“You should have started already, I do not know why you are still here.”

“Permission to assemble the armies of Chazzrynn
for war
and take my leave, your highness?” Bryant could barely talk, his words caught in his tightened chest.
His wounds ran red down his garments, yet he cared not.

“
Permission g
ranted.”

LCMVXI
ILCMVXIILCMVXIILCMVX

Florin took off the queen’s crown and placed it on the small round wooden table; two rats scurried past as her shadow moved in the torchlight. The
female imposter and domenarch of the White Spider in Harlaheim sat in the l
eather chair deep under the castle
with the dank musty aromas of the undercity wafting around her
. Agents and members loyal to her
passed by in and out of the many hidden chambers. A black robed figure approached from one of the well lit rooms in her hidden station. Yari Mourille, the wizard of the house, bowed to Florin, his bones popping and cracking from old age. The lady assassin looked up at his sagging skin around the eyes, drooping earlobes, and frazzled strands of gray hair that wisped around his dark and ancient complexion.
A more haggard and detatched man there was not in all of Harlaheim.

“Any word from Alec Silverblade or the salisans of Vimm,
old mage?” s
he thought little of this one, for his spine was as weak as they came and he took forever to do anything.

“No word lady Florin, but Prince Johnas has made contact and demands an update
on the
situation here in Harlaheim.” h
is monotone voice dragged out of his lungs like an anchor across the ocean floor. He had no reason to live save his duties here with the White Spider. His family
was
killed many years ago in the war with Chazzrynn, and
he was
forced out
of Kalzarius’ tutelage due to his inability to focus for long; Yari was like a zombie just moping through each day and night waiting for the end.