Soul Relenter (Soul Saga #3) (38 page)

“No, she isn’t,” Zyle added. “And she doesn’t have to know.”

Aleco stared at Zyle, surprised by his words. The King of the Asquithians was giving him permission to feed on the souls of his subjects. Aleco couldn’t hide his disgust—it was an abomination. Any other man would take advantage of the opportunity, relishing the idea of his immortality and securing the end of the war, but Aleco would never betray Accacia’s wishes. “Just because we don’t see Her Highness doesn’t mean she isn’t here—I will never betray her—ever. Drop it now—this will not come to pass.”

Zyle looked away from Aleco
, and Laura stepped back, startled by the venom in his voice. She knew better than to argue with him. His decision had been made. Aleco raised his hood over his face and covered his visage in shadow, trying to hide the anger he felt. Aleco couldn’t gamble the possibility of sending her parents’ souls to the void. The probability of utilizing their souls was unlikely, but Aleco couldn’t risk it. If he decided to do it, then he would be just as evil as his brother. Aleco refused to bring himself down that low. “Is there anything left to say? Any final words before we attack the city?”

The Asquithians and Nolan stood in silence around the circle, saying nothing to one another. They looked into each other’s eye
s, trying to read the expressions on their comrade’s faces. They knew this could be the last time they would see each other—ever. Laura cleared her throat. “I will see you all when the war is finished.” She looked at Aleco. “You in particular, Aleco.” Aleco smiled at her from the depths of his hood. She was threatening him to live.

Nolan was the first
to step away from the circle. “Let’s finish this,” he said as he approached his horse. “This war needs to end quickly—I have other things to do.”

Aleco laughed as he walked away from the Chief. “Always so pragmati
c,” he said as he climbed onto his horse. The others departed and mounted their steeds, rallying the men to their feet and to form their lines and columns for battle. Aleco led his horse to Nolan and looked at his mentor, the man who had given him the tools to be a warrior. “It isn’t too late,” he said. “You can still turn back.”

The Chief smiled. “I’m afraid I can’t, Aleco.
I will never turn my back on a Brother.”

Aleco shook his head. “I’m not a Brother and I haven’t been for years—stop associating me with the title.”

“That isn’t what I was referring to.” Aleco stared at him but said nothing. He understood his true meaning and was touched by the words. Nolan turned toward him and looked at him with his signature black gaze, staring directly into Aleco’s eyes within his cloak. “My sword is yours, Aleco—even if it claims my life.”

“It won’t,” Alec
o said. “I will be the only one who perishes in this fight.”

The Chief stared at him. “You seem intent on it.”

Aleco didn’t say anything. If he didn’t die today, it would happen when they returned to the forest—it didn’t really matter.

“The battle isn’t over, Aleco. Don’t give up.”

Aleco stared at him, not understanding his words. Zyle rode up beside him and halted his steed. The army under their command stretched for a league behind them. Their armor gleamed in the early morning, making the metal of their breasts appear on fire from the blood red sun cresting the horizon. They held their swords aloft in the air, screaming as they jumped in their positions, waiting to claim their revenge and retribution. The sound of their cries washed over Aleco like an incoming tide, cooling the anxiety of his body. He had been waiting for this day for too long. Now Aleco would claim his revenge on his demonic brother and prove to his deceased family that he wasn’t completely worthless. He would stab that man through the heart for ever touching Accacia, the love of his life. Aleco felt the excitement flush through his body as he led his steed forward, holding his sword into the air as he screamed. “TO FREEDOM!”

Aleco
squeezed his boots into the horse’s side and urged his mount to sprint forward. The Chief and Zyle rode on either side of him, letting their horses guide them around the trees and into the open plain before the tower wall built around the city. The horses in the rear pulled the catapults behind them, stopping them at the rear of the army of ten thousand men. Aleco had already told the men what to do.

Zyle saw the large boulders fly through the air and collide against the stone wall surrounding the city. The sound blasted their eardrums as the rock cracked the wall and fell to the ground. The soldiers standing on the wall stumbled as the fortification shook below their feet
, and most were knocked to the ground twenty feet below, cracking their skull or breaking their neck as they landed on the earth.

The boulder
s continued to reign down on the fortifications and Aleco was glad that the walls were shaking under the force. The soldiers panicked at the unexpected attack and scrambled in chaos along the wall. Aleco and the others were almost to the gate before the Letumian guards could even react. The catapults continued to throw the boulders against the gate to the city, breaking the fortified doors with the weight of the stone rocks. Aleco halted his steed away from the gateway and waited for it to open. It was cracked down the middle but the entryway still hadn’t been severed. They needed just one more thrust.

The guards
pulled the alarm bells and the ringing could be heard around the walls and on the plain below the city, alerting the citizens as well as the intruders of the attack. The arrows were fired into the army below, piercing the Asquithians and guild members through the weak spots in their armor. Zyle knocked the flying arrows away from his body and his steed, and told the warriors to step back away from the line of shots. Aleco saw the men fall around him, becoming prey to their aim. Aleco had expected the door to be open by now. He looked behind him across the field, waiting for the final boulder to be launched. The catapult had been compromised. The gears in the mechanism had been lodged together, unable to unleash the catapult. Aleco growled and ran to the gateway. The Chief followed him on his own horse and fired his own arrows into the guards along the wall. He killed every man he hit. Aleco turned to him. “Cover me, Nolan.”

The Chief nodded without looking at him. Aleco dismounted his horse a
nd approached the front of the doorway. He extended his palm and called to the wind with his mind, fusing his consciousness with the Nature God until he felt the elemental power of the air in his fingertips. He felt the arrows bounce from his armor as they fell upon them. There were less projectiles than he had expected. Nolan was shooting most of them down.

“Step back,”
Aleco shouted to the men he passed. They maneuvered out of the way and did as he asked. They looked at the door and realized the Nature Priest’s intent. Aleco unleashed the forced of the wind and it pounded against the door, making the crack in the stone wall stretch furthers downward to the floor. Finally the door severed in half and crumbled apart, leaving the boulders and the remains of the door at the entrance of the gateway. “Move the rubble,” he instructed.

Zyle heard Aleco’s words and came to the aid of the army, pushing the boulders away from the entryway and clearing the passage in
to the city. As soon as the road was clear, Zyle mounted his steed and withdrew his sword, understanding that the entrance of the city would be full of Letumian soldiers. “Get within the walls,” he yelled to the men and Asquithians behind. Uruith, one the greatest warriors of Suaden, took down his bow and unsheathed his sword, following behind Zyle into the city.

The
y charged forward into the throng of soldiers that congregated into the entryway. Zyle stabbed anyone who came too close to him and aimed to kill with every strike. He whirled his blade in a flash, remembering everything Henral had taught him in battle. The image of his friend’s face fueled him forward and he swung his blade with all the strength he had. Zyle was happy that Accacia wasn’t present. It was a relief not to worry about her. Zyle looked up at the sound of Laura’s voice. She and Roxian were pushing their horses through the crowd of people toward the left of the city, the quickest path to the Aleutian Palace. Zyle pushed forward through the throng of the battle and came closer to them. He parried a blow made to his neck and decapitated a man that lunged at his horse with a battle axe. Zyle felt the fear wash over him. There were more soldiers than they had been expecting. He hoped most of the soldiers were at Paso Robles but that seemed to be untrue.

“We have to move forward,” Roxian yelled to Zyle. Zyle
heard her words but didn’t look at her. He was too busy blocking the attacks made at him. He was thankful for his legendary armor. It was the only thing keeping him alive. Zyle knew his horse wouldn’t survive the turmoil despite the armor it wore for protection.

“We can’t leave yet,” Zyle shouted. “They are outnumbered. There weren’t supposed to be so many soldiers.”

Laura decapitated a man that lunged at her, swiping his head clean from his soldiers. “We can’t deviate from the plan, Zyle. Uruith will command them to victory.”

Zyle looked around for the warrior and saw him swinging his blade and battle axe through the crowd, killing anyone who came too close. The army under his command continued to move through the gates even though most of them were being killed by the arrows that fell upon them from the wall.

“Come on, Zyle!” Roxian wielded her blade around her body and killed two men on either side of her. She turned to him and stared at him. “We need to keep going.”

Zyle looked at Aleco
, who fought alongside the Chief. They stood side by side on their horses, deflecting the blows of the men within the square before the gate. After the soldiers were killed, various commanders of Aleco’s army would dispatch troops throughout the city, causing as much destruction as possible.

Aleco turned to Nolan as he fought the soldiers before him. He didn’t need to look at him while he deflected the blow. “I need to leave,” he said. “Cover my flank.”

“I’m coming with you, Aleco.”

“No,” he said. “You’re to cover me and that’
s final. That was the plan.”

“Well, I’m changing it Aleco. Let’s move.”

Aleco was furious with Nolan but there wasn’t time to argue. He turned his steed through the crowd and headed to the left. The dirt street would lead to the main entryway to the keep in the corner of the city. He could see it over the houses and buildings within the realm. Aleco moved forward and felt his horse fall to the affliction of its injuries. Aleco jumped from the steed before it fell and maneuvered through the crowd of people without looking back. When Aleco reached the pathway he looked behind him to see Nolan standing nearby.  He had abandoned his horse as well.

Aleco ran through the street with No
lan beside him, heading for Aleutian Palace. Fresh soldiers filled the street as they responded to the call of the warning bells at the entryway. It wouldn’t have mattered if the bells hadn’t been set off. The catapults had caused the earth to shake under the force of the collision of the wall, alerting every one of the attack. Aleco withdrew his sword and killed the oncoming soldiers with lightning speed. The Chief assassinated the men just as quickly. When Aleco cleared the pathway up the road, he saw the gold color of Roxian’s hair turn the corner and Aleco was glad to see they were headed for the same destination.

Nolan sprinted up the street and
sheathed his sword in his scabbard, choosing to use his deadly bow instead. The Chief took down most of the men down the roadway before Aleco even caught up to them, speeding their progression through the city. Timing was the most important element at their disposal. The province was still processing the shock of the attack to begin with. He hoped to reach Drake before the king had time to prepare for the battle, leaving his Soul Binders in a place they couldn’t access.

The two men finally reached the grounds of the keep
, which was swollen with soldiers. All of them were preparing their weapons in the barracks adjacent to the keep up the stairs and near the gardens of the province. There were too many to fight. They would have to go around. Aleco saw Zyle and the others hiding in the shadow of the wall that lined the streets. They were under the same predicament. Aleco and Nolan reached them and their eyes met. They didn’t know what they were going to do. There was only one entryway to Aleutian Keep but it was blocked by hundreds of soldiers. Aleco hadn’t expected the barrier. He looked at the wall that surrounded the keep from the general population and knew they would have to climb the wall. “Does anyone have any rope? I left mine at the gate.”

Zyle nodded and withdrew the rope for his pack.
He was hesitant to give it over. It had sentimental value to him. Aleco grabbed it and crossed the street with the others following behind him. He moved down the wall until they were out of sight of the soldiers, who were occupied with adorning themselves with weapons and protection. Aleco attached a hook on the end of the rope and threw it over the wall, feeling it stick in a crevasse on the other side. Aleco ran up the wall and fell to the other side. He unsheathed his blade and looked around the garden. There was no one in sight. The others climbed over and fell to their feet, withdrawing their weapons to an oncoming attack. “Follow me,” Aleco whispered as he reinserted his blade. They ran across the gardens and approached the terrace entrance. Aleco could hear the sounds of screams and yells of turmoil from the battle in the province. He prayed that Uruith was orchestrating the battle well. They needed a distraction so they could approach the king. Aleco knew his brother would never engage in battle himself. He was too much of a coward. He knew he would be in the keep. There was no other possibility.