A Crown Of War (Book 4) (29 page)

T
he last of the Uthen-Arden soldiers fell to the swords of their undead brethren. Veolindra strode to a battlefield littered with bodies and began the ritual that would raise them from the dead. Her arms shot toward the heavens, and her booming voice chanted in a sort of ritual song. High above, storm clouds began to churn violently, small flashes of lightning from deep within the clouds illuminated the battlefield and sent fleeting shadows darting across the corpses. Aurora imagined those shadows to be the souls of the departed, frantically trying to ascend to the heavens, but trapped by the lich lord’s powerful spell. Veolindra’s voice rose high as her spell gained power, and the storm churned faster with her every word. With one last bellowed phrase, Veolindra brought her arms down, and with them came crackling, green lightning that struck the dead where they lay.

The
bodies of the Uthen-Arden soldiers rose slowly. Their eyes became dim green lights floating inside hollowed sockets. The lightning had left the battlefield smoldering with the smoke of burnt flesh and hair. The green lanterns within the undead skulls caused the smoke to glow like a green fog, and, from the fog, the new army marched to fall in line with their undead brethren.

Veolindra
returned to Aurora and Zander with twenty undead limping, shuffling, and dragging their battered bodies behind her. Aurora’s heart pounded in her chest; she was left speechless by the lich lord’s incredible display of power. What a curse she was to her enemies, who were not free of her far-reaching power even in death.

“
These shall be your personal guards,” Veolindra told her, as she gestured to the undead soldiers. “With the Ring of the Dead, you will control them easily. You remember what I have taught you?”

“
Yes,” said Aurora. “Through the ring, my thoughts become their commands.”

“
Are you ready to command such a large group?” Veolindra asked.

“
I am.”

The
lich lord nodded her approval and set her sight upon the Ky’Dren Pass. The stone wall stood nearly ten feet high, and large catapults had been set about the sides of the entrance.

“
Send the dwargon to destroy their pathetic wall,” Veolindra ordered Zander.

“
Yes, my lord,” he said with a malicious grin and closed his eyes for a moment. Aurora knew he was mentally relaying the orders to the dark elf handlers who controlled the hordes of dwargon, Draggard, and draquon.

“
Are your barbarians ready?” Veolindra asked Aurora.

“
They are.”

“
Good.” Veolindra smiled as the dwargon began their charge. “I will send the Draggard up the sides of the mountain to descend upon the inner ranks of the dwarves. Another horde waits just within the northern range.”

“
They have come through a rift within the mountain?” Aurora asked.

“
Yes, they will attack the eastern and western mouths of the Pass. The draquon will infiltrate the Pass as well. Go now to your people. You shall come in behind the undead. Leave none alive in your wake.”

“
Yes, my lord,” said Aurora with a grin.

*

From the high ledge of the northern mountain, high above the Ky’Dren Pass, Dirk, Krentz, and General Reeves watched as the undead humans slaughtered the Uthen-Arden army. Though there were no Eldalonian soldiers among them, General Reeves nonetheless seethed with brimming anger at witnessing the slaughter.

“
How does one defeat such wicked magic…such unrestrained evil?” Reeves asked.

“
When you have found the answer to that question, you have won a war,” Krentz replied.

They
moved away from the ledge and prepared for battle, and, though Dirk urged Reeves to remain upon the ledge, the general would hear none of it.

“
This is not a place for valor, my good man,” Dirk explained. “This enemy has power beyond any human.”

“
Then, help to even the odds,” Reeves argued, his glance moving to Krentz.

Krentz
smiled at the brave general. “We’ve no time to teach you the finer points of magical weapon wielding, but I can strengthen your armor and weapons. Lay down your arms and stand aside.”

Reeves
unsheathed his sword and dagger, and laid them upon the stone next to his shield. Krentz first took up the sword and held it before her with closed eyes. She chanted words in Elvish and set the sword to glowing red until it finally burst into flames. Laying it down, she took up his dagger and similarly enchanted it as well, followed by his shield. When she was done with the weapons, she stood before Reeves and laid a hand upon his plate armor. A humming vibrated through the armor, and a strange, tingling sensation resonated throughout his entire body.

“
Done,” said Krentz, taking back her hand. Reeves felt as if he had been struck by lightning. “Your armor will protect you from heavy blows and some spells, but I suggest you steer clear of dark elves. Your blades have been imbued with fire and will pierce through armor and scale as if through cloth. And your shield shall absorb the most powerful of strikes.”

Reeves
fell to one knee, shaking with the energy within him. “Thank you, m’lady.”

Krentz
only nodded.

“
Chief, come!” said Dirk as he held out the figurine. “We go to war.”

*

              Ky’Ell ventured to a door in one of the tunnels leading to the Ky’Dren Pass. He pushed, but found it stuck, a greater shove proved the door had been barricaded on the other side. Ky’Ell summoned his strength and blasted the door open spilling the sun’s gloomy light into the tunnel.

“
Northern Wall breach!” he heard a cry of alarm ring out.

He
stepped out and squinted into the sunlight. “It is I, King Ky’Ell! Hold your fire!” he bade the dwarves. Upon seeing their king, all nearby dwarves slammed their fists to their chests and bowed low.

“
I would speak to the nearest general!” he bellowed, and more than one dwarf went running off with a quick “Aye, sire!”

Soon
, the dwarven general, Dar’Kwar, came rushing to stand before his King. “Me King,” he said with a slam and a bow.

“
Report,” Ky’Ell ordered.

“
The Southern Mountains be secure and sealed. We got five thousand warriors inside and along the Pass. The Eldalonian side be digging in, and they be reportin’ a large advancement o’ Draggard headin their way from inside Eldalon. Here at the eastern mouth be an army o’ Draggard, barbarians, and human soldiers with some sort o’ witchery about them.”

Ky
’Ell nodded as he contemplated the situation. “Two thousand warriors await me orders in the northern chambers. Have the Draggard come through from the north yet?”

“
Nay, me King, we sealed off the northern mountains when the beasts began slaughterin’ our search parties. We’d cleared the way for twenty miles north, but were overwhelmed by the beasts. Then, this army arrived at the foot o’ the mountain from the north, and we ordered all arms to the Pass.”

“
Very well,” said the King.

Ky
’Ell surveyed the mouth of the Pass; too many dwarves were out in the open. He had seen what the dark elf spells did to an army packed too tightly.

“
Order half of the dwarves back into the southern mountain chambers. This ain’t gonna be no straight on fight. These be dark elves. The mountain doors be the first priority,” said the king. “The Draggard that came through the rift in the northern mountains be coming out soon, I be bettin’. See it ain’t no surprise attack. I want all soldiers against the southern side o’ the Pass, and the catapults aimin’ north. When the beasts come out, let it rain stone.”

A
dwarven horn blared a warning, and a dull rumbling shook the ground. Ky’Ell and Dar’Kwar looked to the east. The hulking dwargon charged with the Draggard close behind. The battle for the Ky’Dren Pass had begun.

*

              Raene felt the disturbance in the stone below her feet; a dull vibration told her of marching feet. The charge had begun. She waited patiently for the dwarves before her to charge out through the secret doors leading to the pass. She waited for what seemed like an eternity, though she knew only minutes had passed. The rumbling in the stone had become stronger, and, where once she thought the vibration to have come from many feet, she soon discerned that it came from large feet. Through the stone below her hand, they seemed like giants.

She
was nervous and exhilarated…and afraid. She was loath to admit it; she had never heard a dwarven man say such a thing. Did they feel fear? Were men truly different from women in that regard? Were they really tougher? She knew what they would say. A woman’s place was at home tendin’ to children, cookin’ and cleanin’, sewin’ and fixin’. A woman’s place was doing what the men could not, as the men were doing what the women could not. She understood the harmony it lent dwarven society, and she understood many women−most women−thought the traditions true and good, but, for her, they were not. Raene longed to train with the men in the vast arenas and battle chambers, rather than in secret against the only one who knew the full extent of her secret, her twin brother Ky’Ro. If the gods had wanted her to be a cooker or a cleaner or a tender of children, then they would have made her better at it. That was her way of thinking. Where she failed at those tasks, she excelled in armed and unarmed combat. She had surpassed her brother years before, and was skilled in stone moving, just as good as her brothers, she thought. But her father would hear none of it. He had tolerated her armor, and her helping move the stone from the tunnel, but, beyond that, he was as stubborn as a child at bedtime.

From
the chamber and tunnels ahead, the call for the charge rang out, and Raene perked. The moment had come.

After
a time the rear of the dwarven lines began to move as the dwarves went running out the doors screaming battle cries as they charged. Raene took up the battle cry and dared join the ranks as the last of them charged through the doors to the Ky’Dren Pass.

When
Raene came through the door, she was not prepared for what awaited her. The brightness of the silver clouds blinded her momentarily as she followed the sound of the shuffling dwarven feet in front of her. When her vision returned, she realized they were running into chaos. Draggard climbed the walls in droves, springing from the stone to land among the dwarven ranks. Their vicious claws, teeth, and tails sent blood spraying in their wake. Overhead, draquon circled and dove down into the battle, and while some did not come back up, others returned to the sky with a thrashing dwarf in its claws. The ground shook with the heavy footsteps of fifteen and twenty-foot dwargon, as they stomped, thrashed, and crushed dwarves and Draggard alike. Heavy clubs the size of trees sent dwarves flying and destroyed catapults with a single blow. Human soldiers unlike any Raene had ever seen attacked like rabid animals, disregarding wounds as if they felt no pain. She watched horrified and perplexed as one lost its arm to a dwarven axe and never flinched, but single-mindedly continued in its attack.

The
group of dwarves she was following thinned and began to slow. She soon realized this was not a head-on clash. A Draggard leapt from the southern wall and landed upon the dwarf behind her. Raene reeled as the Draggard latched its maw on the dwarf’s face. Blood flew from his head, yet the injured dwarf found the strength to reach up and snap the beasts head completely backward, raking his own face with sharp teeth in the process. Raene froze, and more beasts leapt from the walls to attack the dwarves. A dwargon came barreling along the southern wall, dragging and scraping a dwarf against the stone. Dwarves had climbed its back and embedded axe and hatchet into the thick skin. The dwargon was trying to shake them loose, but they stubbornly held on for the ride. A Draggard came rushing through the dwarven lines at Raene, its spear held high and its bloody grin mocking. The spear went gliding toward her stomach, and Raene knew then she would die if she did not act. She blocked the blow with her heavy shield and came across with the ball of her large, spiked mace. The mace imploded the Draggard’s head, sending gore flying in her face. The beast dropped like stone and lay twitching upon the ground. The dwarf whose face was mangled by the leaping Draggard patted her on the shoulder as he passed.

“
Good to see ye stop acting like a girl,” he said, and stormed off, howling obscenities into the chaotic fracas.

Raene
smeared the gore upon her face and reminded herself why she was here: she was a warrior, and, right now, Ky’Dren needed warriors.

*

              Dirk surveyed the battlegrounds as the dwargon began their charge of the pass with legions of Draggard in tow. Dark elves rode atop the lumbering beasts, casting spells of destruction upon the hastily made wall. Beside him, General Mick Reeves shook with the rush of battle and the energy he had been gifted by Krentz.