DragonCrown Saga - The Grand Crusade Part 37

Theturekadinefell with a thump as the hand opened, then the left arm lowered and the figure started forward. For a creature made of stone, the Norrington moved lightly. Theturekadine'sheavy tread had been much easier to feel. As the Norrington drew closer it became obvious that the right shoulder had developed a depression in it that fit Qwc snugly.

The Spritha patted the Norrington on the shoulder. "Go. Go. Will wants to go."

Resolute gave Kerrigan another squeeze. "Qwc, that's not Will."

"Look closer. Qwc sees."

Kerrigan's head came up. He couldn't see anything, could he? Was there a flash in the eyes? Was there something about the movement of a hand? The thing did move as lightly as Will had. Was that what Qwc saw, or did the Spritha manage to see beyond the sh.e.l.l to what lurked within?

Resolute released Kerrigan and moved in the direction of the door. "Qwc's right. We have to get going.

There's probably a horde of them out there."

Magarric shook his head. "The warrens are all but empty, and we have a few tricks to keep them occupied while you leave."

The silver-eyed Vorquelf frowned. "You say that as if you are staying here."

"We are. We will keep the fragments here."

Trawyn shook her head. "Is that wise? Their presence in acoruesciwill be..."

Magarric looked at her. "Distracting enough to drive us insane?"

"Forgive me, my lord."

"Easily done, child." The Vorquelf smiled. "The fragments will be safe here with us until you succeed. If you don't, we'll wander again with them."

Trawyn adjusted the patch over her eye. "You said there were warrens. This is where Chytrine bred troops?"

"Some of them. The ones you see here, thekryalniri-which are not nearly as nasty as the originals, and the lesser ones, too."

"And you say the warrens are empty?"

"All but a few. Many went to Loquellyn, and we would imagine others went east."

invented it is quite talented for one so young." Chytrine breathed into the air and within the vapor an image of Kerrigan appeared.

Isaura gasped. "He is the one who slew Neskartu."

"Hardly a surprise. He is a curious mix of Vilwanese, Murosan, and other magicks. He has been instructed by dragons and my father, of course. What is fascinating is that the magick he used to find me was innovative. I have reshaped it to search for fragments of the DragonCrown. It has been successful in searching them out.

"Two I have here, and one is on Vael. The Ruby is in Oriosa. Scrainwood has hidden it, but I know where it is. Once Anarus destroys the army there, I will send him for it." Chytrine rubbed scaled hands together. "I have had some reports of two other fragments-the Sapphire and Vorquellyn's lost Diamond. Given the direction they were moving and their having vanished, along with Quiarsca's death, I shall a.s.sume they are on Vorquellyn and in thecoruesci. You, my sweet one, will be vital to opening that place so we may complete the Crown."

"Of course, Mother, I will be happy to do anything." Isaura hoped she managed to keep her voice light.

"What of the seventh fragment?"

"Ah, this is the most important thing. As with the Vorquellyn fragment, it was well warded against conventional searching spells. Now, however, I am able to locate it-at least intermittently. I am casting the spell south hourly, and there are times I find it and times I do not. The simple fact, however, is that it is now available to me."

Her mother's gleeful cackle made Isaura s.h.i.+ver.

"The very best part of it all, daughter, is that it appears to be traveling with Princess Alexia and coming directly into our trap. Once I have it, and secure the other pieces, the dragons will give me the Truestone they hold at Vael. Then I will complete the Crown and my Masters' will shall again be the law of the lands."

"That is wonderful, Mother. Shall you send me to Vorquellyn now?"

The empress's forked tongue flicked out for a moment, then she shook her head. "No, I cannot. The searching takes my time and I need you here."

"Do you wish to teach me the spell? I could search for you."

Her mother slowly shuffled around the center of the dark tower room, then turned quickly to face her, giving her a start. "Perhaps that would be a good idea, yes. Come here."

Isaura drifted forward obediently, stopping before her mother. Chytrine reached up and pressed her right palm to Isaura's forehead, sinking her talons into her daughter's hair. The flesh felt dry, yet warm against her skin. The talons bit into her scalp ever so slightly, and she became certain her mother could crush her skull with an absentminded twitch.

Chytrine closed her eyes and heat built against Isaura's forehead. She resisted her mother's presence for a moment, then the spell burst into her conscious- ness. In an instant the young woman grasped it and its elegance. All the disparate elements of it had been woven together brilliantly. All one had to do was define parameters for the search and fix the information transfer point for the heralds, and the spell would work, as well as insulate the user from detection. She especially liked how the sorcerer had s.h.i.+elded the searching spells in such a way that the s.h.i.+elds themselves could mislead anyone trying to locate the source of the spell.

Isaura took a step back, then raked fingers through her white hair. "Oh, yes, Mother, I understand it. As you need, I shall help you."

"I know you will, Isaura-sweet." The empress again flashed fangs as she smiled. "I regret having been so hasty as to have killed the creator of this spell. Had I been able to make him over into one of mysullanciri he would have been a fitting replacement for Neskartu-exceeding him by leaps and bounds."

"Yes, Mother, that is a shame." Isaura hesitated, then spoke. "You said two fragments are on Vorquellyn. Does that mean they have gone there and freed the Norrington?"

Chytrine nodded as she turned and walked back to a workbench covered with books, scrolls, alembics, vials, and a small chest of drawers full of things ancient and rare. "I a.s.sume they have. It is as I have intended."

"How can that be? He is the one fated to destroy you."

"Oh he is, yes, but it becomes a question ofwhen, my darling." The empress turned back and wove her fingers together. "You must understand something vital. A prophecy carries with it a great deal of potential. Because of it all possibilities narrow, as if its fulfillment is the eye of a needle and all that can possibly happen needs to fit through or be excluded from the future. The Norrington Prophecy could cover any Norrington. That is why I have collected them. During this era, the prophecy is further energized because a rash youth, Tarrant Hawkins, made a pledge that Vorquellyn would be liberated in his lifetime. I was hoping to free some of that energy when he was slain, but that was not to be. Yet. So as the Norrington gets closer to fulfilling the prophecy and possibilities squeeze down, more power gathers, and that is the power I need."

Isaura slowly nodded. "To free the Oromise?"

"Yes."

"But what if the Norrington kills you?"

"I have taken precautions. If he does, other forces will swing into play and the Oromise will yet be freed.

If I stop him, if I make him hesitate, then I will be in a position to tap that power and release my Masters.

The coming together of the DragonCrown similarly gathers power, though much less. I will need less, however, as the Crown will allow me to turn the dragons on themselves and destroy them. Once they are gone, the power needed to free my Masters will be much less."

"What if the Norrington never makes it here?"

"I have his child. It will do."

Isaura forced herself to smile. "Oh, Mother, I am so happy. I have been worried for you. Now I know nothing will go wrong."

Chytrine's face brightened. "Very good, my daughter, I am glad you are no longer worried. Now, I must to work. I wanted you to know the end is nigh. I will call you to me when I need help. Farewell."

"And you, Mother." Isaura turned and fled from the tower, raising the hem of her skirts so she could race down the curved steps. All her mother had said sped her along. Her mother was insane; of that she had no doubt. What might have once been a true desire to prevent the south from subjugating Aurolan had long since been warped by the Oromise. Her brief experience with the Oromise, and her knowledge and respect of dragons, led Isaura to the conclusion that she did not want the former again controlling the world.

At the base of the tower she found Hlucri lurking in a shadow. "There you are. Pull together all the things we have been hiding away for our escape."

Thesullancirinodded. "And Sayce?"

"I will get her." Isaura exhaled sharply. "We need to head south and quickly. If we don't, my mother's plans will bear fruit, and the world will become something we never wanted to know."

Ferxigo s.h.i.+fted her shape to make herself as small as possible before she knelt at her mistress' feet. "It is as you said, Mistress. Isaura has taken the prisoner and headed south."

"Hlucri is with them?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Very good." Chytrine smiled, her teeth now all dragonish pegs. "Of course she had to be the one to betray me. It's in her blood. She will always help the Norringtons. And she failed to understand me when I told her of potential. One Norrington coming against me const.i.tutes power. Two, for Sayce will not stay behind, merely amplifies it. She seeks to stop me, and all she does is empower me."

Ferxigo risked an upward glance. "She will be able to find them?"

"Oh, yes, with the spell I've given her, she will find them. You will give her a two-day head start, then you will head south. You will bring me Sayce and the Norrington. You will slay all the others."

"What about your daughter?"

"I have no daughter."

"I understand, Mistress." Ferxigo pressed her forehead to the ground. "Shall I station troops at the pa.s.s?"

Chytrine paused, then nodded. "Alexia will not get past Nefrai-kesh, but might he come at me, too, you wonder?"

"No, Mistress, he would not betray you."

"No, but if he did, to have three Norringtons converging..." Chytrine's smile grew. "Then perhaps even the Oromise would bow to me as you do."

"As well they should, Mistress."

"Indeed, pet, as well they should." The Aurolani Empress nodded slowly. "Go and prepare your troops.

Be swift in your mission. The sooner you succeed, the sooner our future will become reality."

A lexia listened to the Murosan refugee again explain what it was she'd seen asl'tshe fled south. The woman claimed, and markings on her mask confirmed, 1 1 that she was from Caledo. She had fled the capital when it fell to the Aurolani. With her family they had swung south and then west. They remained in the countryside, holed up in a cave, until the thaw came, when they decided to move west to see if Zamsina had fallen.

"It had been destroyed, just melted down to nothing by dragonfire." Her voice took on the monotone of someone both weary and numb. "Everything had been burned down to the foundations. Looking at the city from a hill was like looking at a hedge maze from a tower. Southwest of there, though, that's what we saw that we had to tell you."

Alexia gave her a smile. "Please, I know you have told your story many times, but I want to hear it." As she spoke she moved to the maps others had provided, based on the woman's testimony and that of her family, all of whom had been separated and interrogated. Their stories matched, and once she had told it again they would be gathered together and housed in one of the outlying estates near the town of Notirri.

If what she says is true, just over twenty miles from here, Nefrai-kesh has gathered an army that will destroy me. Part of her wanted to scoff at that idea, since the dream she'd allegedly had posited a final battle in Sebcia. Had things s.h.i.+fted such that Chytrine was abandoning the artifice of following the dreams, or was Nefrai-kesh not following his mistress' plan? Or was her plan just to get Alyx thinking she knew the dreams would be played out, and subsequently she would underestimate the enemy?

"I am not good with numbers, but my son counted banners. He said there were almost a hundred of the little banners and six of the big standards. That's what my husband said you called the big ones. He fought Chytrine back in the old days. My son said there were eighty of the small ones, but I couldn't count them."

Alexia glanced at Crow, who frowned. Eighty small banners would amount to eighty legions, or eight thousand of the enemy. The larger standards would represent regiments, and six of them tallied close with the legion banners. The extra legions were just reinforcing legions. Though Alexia commanded nearly half again as many troops, other factors would make the Aurolani seem superior.

"We couldn't move during the night, but we did see a lot of fires. They were in the hills southwest of Zamsina, making battlements and building a fort. They might have been using slaves from the area. We didn't see any hunting parties, but my son said he could see men working with them. Men would have to be slaves, wouldn't they? They wouldn't work for her unless captive, would they?"

Alexia shook her head, but kept looking at a rough map of the fortifications drawn by the son.

Nefrai-kesh had laid out a square structure where the southwest corner was higher than those of the southeast or northwest. The lowest corner could only be reached through a narrow valley between two lines of hills, which were steep enough to stop anyone riding up and out of an ambush. And if there ever was a place for an ambush, that was it. Getting siege machinery through the valley would be nigh impossible, and then it would be all but useless since there weren't any walls to pound down, just revetments and ditches.

What disturbed Alexia about the fort is that Nefrai-kesh was putting himself in the position she had described her own forces occupying as an Aurolani force came against her. It beat itself to death through repeated a.s.saults, and even though breaching that low northeast corner had let the Aurolani into the fortress, a solid counterattack had driven them back in defeat. Her forces sallied through the breach and slashed at the Aurolani rear by racing out through the valley and around to the southwest, where they overwhelmed the flank and rolled up the Aurolani forces.

In her supposed dream, the eleven thousand troops she had inside could have easily managed that.

They'd been facing twenty thousand Aurolani and there was her current problem. Fortifications such as those described would be sufficient to let an army hold off one twice its size, perhaps even three times its size. And if the Aurolani had dragonels, they might well be invincible.

"I know you want to know if they had dragonels. I saw them at Caledo and heard them. I thought my ears were going to bleed. I didn't see any. I didn't see any digging of the type my son says they would have to have done to use them. I don't know."

"That's fine." Alexia did turn this time. "We will be able to figure that out before we get there."

Arimtara approached the woman and squatted. She breathed out a white vapor, within which appeared the image of a dracomorph. "Did you see anything that looked like this?"

The woman shrank back at first, then her eyes narrowed and she peered at it. "No, nor anything like you, but there were so many people there I could not tell. There weren't any Gyrkyme there, either."

Peri smiled. "AnyaraftiP."

"I saw nothing flying there. And after seeing dragons, I was looking."

"I'm certain you were." Alexia came over and helped the woman from her chair. "Outside you will find a lieutenant who will take you to your family. Thank you for your help."

The woman nodded, then smiled. "You will free our nation, won't you?"

"Of course we will."

"And rescue Her Highness?"

"Without a doubt."

The woman seized Alexia's hands and smothered them with kisses. "May the G.o.ds bless you in all things."

"Thank you for your help."

Arimtara guided the woman along to the door being held open by General Pandiculia. The Salnian warrior closed it behind her. "Grat.i.tude just for a promise. How interesting."

Alyx shrugged. "Hope is all she has now. That, and her family. I gave her more hope. What she gave us, on the other hand, isn't very hopeful."

"Hopeful, no. But helpful, yes." Crow walked over to the map of the fort. "Her son and husband agree on the nature of the fort. The son's lame, so he never could join the army, but has a keen interest in history. He was specific about many of the regimental standards, and very specific about seeing new types of soldiers in the ranks."

"I know. They sound like the things Resolute saw in Loquellyn." Alexia s.h.i.+vered. The information about Loquellyn had been sent viaarcanslataand was sketchy at best, but mentionedturekadineandnyressanuas being two new creatures Chytrine had sent into the field.

Peri looked at the map. "There is one thing I don't understand. The fort is strong, and with the numbers described, we would have a hard time defeating it. But there is a flaw in the fortress. There is no source of water. Even if they were to dig wells, they could never get enough to sustain their army. Why would you have dreamed of puttingyourarmy in such a place?"

The princess smiled. "I did it by accident. When I had described things to my cousin, I told him of a couple battles and said there were more. The Crown Circle pressed me for details on all of them. I started to recall ancient battles and give details. This situation is really a battle in Valician history during which a Jeranese army managed to trap some Valicians in a fortress and wait them out. I'd always thought the Valician commander was a fool, and had been mulling over how he could have won. In my haste, I put myself in his position, and offered a possible solution. In reality, the northeast corner fell when thirsty soldiers could not defend it."

"So, that is what we do, then? We surround it, lay siege, and wait?" Crow stroked his beard. "Itisone solution."