Every Battle Lord's Nightmare (27 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

Claimed

            Yulen knew Highcliff’s men would be spurred into attacking the moment the two dead soldiers fell off the wall and onto the other side where the archers were gathered. As they heard the ladders slam against the wooden structure, he yelled at Renken and Fortune.

            “Move the body to the gate! I want them to see it the moment they enter!”

            “Yulen!”

            He turned to find Atty checking her arrows. She looked up at him with concern. “I don’t have enough to get every archer.”

            He grinned. “Don’t worry. They’ll supply you with ammo.” Giving his men the signal, they rose as one and began advancing toward the tall doors at the end of the section.

            The archers quickly filled the parapet, but were at a loss as to whether or not to start firing. Yulen and Batuset, with the other battle lords in tow, took advantage of their confusion to move
en masse
to the eastern end of the area. At the same time, as the men climbed onto the walkway, Atty dispatched them with a single shot to the head or heart.

            It soon became obvious that Highcliff’s men were lost without their leader. They started to panic and began shooting at random targets instead of aiming directly, hoping they’d hit a mark. As a result, most of the arrows hit or bounced off the makeshift wooden shields each soldier carried. Every time a shaft came within their reach, it was passed to Atty to fire back. Those soldiers who were wounded bore their injuries in silence, and pressed on to keep up with the others. The men who were struck down and unable to continue were left behind for the present.

            Someone yelled as the immense doors were unlocked and started to swing inward. Yulen watched as the combined forces from several armies went to physically block the portals from opening all the way. If there was only enough room for one or two men to enter at a time, those men could quickly be taken hostage or killed. As he’d hoped, word had spread down the line and reached the other battle lords, notifying them that it was imperative Highcliff’s army be subdued, and not killed outright.

            The doors opened further, then appeared to stop. Highcliff’s men ran into the section, expecting to wage immediate war with the visiting soldiers. Instead, they found themselves facing a massive coalition of armed men awaiting their arrival. And placed directly in front of the doors lay the body of their ex-battle lord. Stunned by what they saw, Highcliff’s men halted in their tracks.

            This was what Yulen had been hoping would happen. He glanced over at Batuset, who nodded in reply. “Highcliff made a grievous error, putting all of us in the same section,” the big man commented. “It never occurred to him that, by doing so, our collective numbers would be greater than those of his own men.”

            “That, or he thought we wouldn’t combine forces,” Yulen replied. “He hoped to cause enough chaos so that our initial reactions would be to protect ourselves. Leave us vulnerable in our own little pockets of resistance for his archers to pick off one by one.”

            “And then send in his own troops to finish off what was left.” Batuset shook his head. “All his grand plans, now nothing more than piles of muddy red snow. And all because you had a dream.”

            Yulen didn’t reply. Instead, he waited for one final man to come through those gates. A man who was the last obstacle to overcome. He didn’t have long to wait.

            Mig Karv made his way through the cluster of soldiers plugging the entrance to section C. Pausing a few feet away from Highcliff’s body, he stared at the corpse for a full minute, then looked up to glare at the phalanx watching him.

            “D’Jacques!” His gaze swept the area. “D’Jacques! I know you’re behind this! Come and answer to your crime!”

            “Since when is it a crime to defend one’s self?” Yulen yelled back. He threaded his way between the lines with Atty directly behind him. When they emerged into the small open area, she took a stance beside her husband, arrow nocked and aimed. Karv gave her a look that would have burned her alive if it had had the power.

            “Your argument is with me, Karv,” Yulen barked. “I killed Highcliff in self-defense. Furthermore, I claim Rocky Gorge compound as its new battle lord.” He lifted his chin to face Highcliff’s soldiers. “I personally hold no ill will against any of you. I know you swore allegiance to your battle lord, but that allegiance was based on extreme prejudice against Mutah. I am pro-Mutah, and I will run this compound under that aegis. If you do not agree to my terms, I do not want you to serve under me. You have until the next sundown to leave this compound and seek employment elsewhere. But if you are willing to change your views, or if your views were never agreeable to Highcliff’s, you are welcome to stay.”

            Holding out his arms to encompass the soldiers standing with him, he focused on the stocky man at the head of the other army. “Tosh Karv attacked Mutah without provocation. His sole purpose was to torture, and maim, and kill any Mutah he came across. For years I accepted his behavior, until I decided I no longer wanted to go down that path of death and destruction. But when I ordered him to cease, he refused and continued those attacks. So I removed him from my army and banished him from Alta Novis. If he had gone on his way, his own death would have never happened. But he knew my weaknesses, and he took advantage of them. He had the woman I fell in love with, a Mutah, poisoned. He threatened to kill my mother and the man who became my father after my own father was killed by Bloods. He brought about his own death, Karv. Your brother held a sword at my throat and claimed Alta Novis for himself.”

            Karv pointed his sword at Atty and sneered. “
She
killed him!
She
is the one who shot an arrow into him! I hold her equally responsible!”

            “He was going to kill Yulen!” Atty shot back.

            “He was within his rights!” Karv spat. “D’Jacques was weak. My brother was exercising his right to take over the compound.
And you murdered him!
”

            Lifting his sword, he turned to face the men behind him. “Soldiers of Rocky Gorge! I, Mig Karv, who was your battle lord’s second in command, do hereby claim this compound for my own!
As is my right!
Upon my signal, you will move forward into battle against D’Jacques and his fellow Mutah-loving battle lords. And you will defeat them! Together, we will take the first step toward the complete eradication of all Mutah vermin from this earth. Are you with me?
Are you with me?
” he screamed.

The arrow pierced the back of his neck, the barb exiting through his Adam’s apple. Karv froze, and a second shaft sunk into his skull. Miraculously, the stocky little man managed to turn around to face his executioner as his legs gave way.

Yulen continued to aim the confiscated crossbow at the man. “Yours will be the last death tonight, Karv. This war is over, and I am the new battle lord of Rocky Gorge.”

Everyone remained silent as the second fell sideways onto the snow. In the cold night air, his blood steamed as it pooled beneath him.

Lowering the weapon, Yulen stared at Highcliff’s men as they murmured among themselves. Then, one man stepped forward a couple of paces, stopped, and bent down to lay his weapon on the ground. When he moved away, another soldier took his place and dropped his sword next to it. A third soldier followed, and a fourth, until every man presented himself to Yulen and offered his weapon to the pile in a clear show of solidarity and acceptance.

Beside him, Batuset breathed a sigh of relief. “You did it, Yulen. God help us, but you averted what could have been a major bloodbath.”

A hand grasped his coat. Yulen drew his free arm around his wife’s shoulders and dropped a kiss to her head. Together, they watched as, one by one, Highcliff’s men filed through the open gates to return to their own homes and loved ones.

In the midst of the exodus, a small figure stood watching from the middle of the pathway. She stared in stunned disbelief at Yulen and Atty, her large, delicate ears gently fanning her face. Yulen felt his wife stiffen at the sight of the woman, and he almost raised the crossbow in defense when Atty softly called out to her with tears hitching in her chest.

“K-Keelor?”

“Atty?”

Watching the two sisters come together in the middle of the clearance would be a memory forever engraved in Yulen’s mind.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Delivery

            Yulen sat on the edge of the table as he listened to Keelor tell her sister all that had happened to her nearly four years ago.

            “I screamed and I fought them, but they were too strong.” Keelor wept at the memory, wiping her eyes and face with the sleeve of her blouse. Atty handed her a kerchief for her to blow her nose. Yulen could sense his wife’s conflicting emotions—the exhilaration at finally having her sister back, coupled with the grief of knowing their mother was truly dead.

            “I don’t understand. Why would the Bloods kill Mohmee but not you?” Atty asked. She drew her arm tighter around the younger woman’s thin frame where they sat side by side on the bench. Keelor shook her head, making her gossamer ears appear to dance in an invisible breeze.

            “Atty, didn’t you tell me your mother appeared to be a Normal? That her mark was inherent, and not visible like other Mutah?” Yulen gently intervened. He handed her his own handkerchief as she nodded. “Then that’s probably why the Bloods killed her soon after they kidnapped her and Keelor. They probably thought she was a Normal. Whereas Keelor can’t be mistaken for anything other than Mutah.”

            Keelor reached over and wrapped her arms around Atty’s neck, burying her face in the mass of blue hair. The sisters held each other in silence for another long minute. Every now and then Atty would smooth a bit of hair over her sister’s ear and kiss her cheek or face.

            “Yulen?”

            He sat up as Mastin approached the table. Inside the main lodge, sound bounced off the carved rock walls, magnifying every whisper. Unlike other lodges, this one was bare of any trappings or decorations other than tables and benches. Neither was there a fireplace to help keep the room warm. The place was as attractive and cold as a cave. If not for the handful of lanterns scattered around the room, it would be totally dark, as well.

            “The barracks are secured,” Mastin informed them. “Del Ray had his men take an informal poll. It appears the majority if Highcliff’s soldiers were not satisfied with the way Mutah were being treated. Several of them even mentioned the fact that they were looking forward to this summit taking place because they were hoping for a change once it was over.”

            “How many men do we anticipate leaving come daybreak?”

            “Less than a dozen.”

            Yulen gave him a surprised look. Mastin chuckled. “Yeah, I probably had that same expression on my face when I was given the news.”

            “Any trace of LeGreen and his army?”

            “No. None. I’m guessing the battle lord high-tailed it out of here before the bats struck, and left Highcliff to deal with the messy part.” Mastin shrugged. “Or maybe that was part of the plan in the first place. Highcliff was probably the more blood-thirsty of the pair anyway, which is why the summit was scheduled to take place here rather than in Oka City.”

            “I’m thinking you’re right about Highcliff being more willing to deal with the slaughter, but I believe they chose Rocky Gorge because of its remoteness. What about the dungeon? Has it been checked yet?”

            “Yes. Frankston discovered our missing men, plus nearly fifty others who had been caught outside the gates when they were closed.”

            They heard the sound of another person entering the chamber. This time it was Renken who joined them.

            “Highcliff and Karv are being cremated. Maybe a hundred people are attending the pyres. Most of them are happy to see them dead. It doesn’t appear that the battle lord and his second were well loved.”

            “Any word as to what happened to the vendors and other people who worked the faire?” Yulen asked.

            “Fortune’s checking on that,” the ex-mercenary replied. He glanced at Atty and her sister. “How’s she doing?”

            Atty gave him trembling smile. “Fine, for now. And it’ll get better,” she turned and told Keelor. Running her fingertips over her sister’s cheek, she gave her a tender look. “You’re coming back to Alta Novis with us. You’re not staying here any longer.”

            “How did you end up here in the first place?” Renken asked, curious.

            Keelor wiped her eyes again. “After the Bloods kidnapped Mohmee and me, and after they…killed her…we traveled on foot through the woods. We moved constantly, never staying in one place more than a few days. It was that way for years. Sometimes they’d attack a compound. Sometimes an army of Normals would come across us and attack first.” She sniffed. “That’s how I ended up here. Highcliff’s men killed most of the Bloods. But when they discovered I was a prisoner, they brought me back here. Still a prisoner.”

            “Yulen!”

            Batuset entered and hurried over to the table. “You’re gonna love this. I’ve been having a powwow with the other battle lords. They want to continue the summit, and they want you to lead it.”

            Yulen gave his friend a surprised look. He started to reply when a thread of pain arched through his gut, but it was Atty who gasped. He reached for her with concern.

            “Atty? What is it?”

            She forced a smile onto her face. “It’s nothing to worry about. Our daughter’s up to her tricks again. Being restless.”

            Keelor laid a hand on Atty’s belly. “When are you due?”

            “Not for another few weeks. Don’t worry. She’ll settle down soon enough. Zane, have you contacted the Mutah councils to see if they’re willing to resume talks?”