Gods Of Blood And Fire (Book 1) (57 page)

To hell with them all, he would show them. He would stand with them when the Abberdonians breached the walls and die just like any other man, no matter what they thought of him. It could be worse, they could have tried to imprison or kill him. The only thing stopping them was the war and the Queen’s order that he was to be obeyed. Thank the heavens that Lyfair had kept her absence secret. He and his priests fed the people tales of her struggles with the royal pregnancy. It seemed to satisfy them for now.

There was no sense debating all of his troubles, it didn’t matter anymore, in a day or two it would all be over. He looked down the wall to see Rufio and Cromwell approaching. “General, you have some … People that want to see you,” Rufio reported.

“What people?”

“Witches.” Cromwell said with a sour look on his face.

The six of them stood before him in the old warehouse he had commandeered for his headquarters near the north wall. Every one of them more beautiful than the next, they had abandoned their heavy-hooded cloaks. In their place, each wore a black lace dress that did nothing to hide their striking figures. One’s hair a deep red, another’s was white as snow, all the rest of the women’s hair was black as midnight, and none looked to be older than twenty-five. “What do you mean, you’ve come to help me?” K’xarr asked.

The one that had introduced herself as Raven was doing most of the talking. Her dark eyes and her cleavage made it hard for K’xarr to concentrate. “Just what I said, General, the six of us want to help you, Havalon will have this city if you don’t have the good sense to let us aid you. I also see that your little secret is out. How long do you think the Bandarans will follow you now? I can make them fear to disobey anything you order.”

Raven was gorgeous, but she was starting to rub him the wrong way. He didn’t like being talked to like he was an idiot. She also seemed to know about his blood. “You don’t know the city will fall that quickly. We could hold longer than you think, and we are expecting reinforcements in the spring.” K’xarr knew that wasn’t true but he would be damn if he was going to agree with the witch. “If my men don’t follow my orders, I will handle them myself.” Why did he feel the need to justify himself to this woman?

She smiled like she knew something he did not. “I beg your pardon, General K’xarr. I meant no offence, just let us assist you in the next assault on the wall and I’m sure we can prove to you our worth.”

K’xarr thought for a moment, they hadn’t asked for anything or tried to make any kind of pact with him, what could it hurt? The next attack would most likely be the last anyway, witches or not. He had nothing to lose. “Very well, but you will follow my orders.” Raven nodded her agreement. “I will also have each one of your names, so I know what to call you if I need to issue you orders during the attack.”

Raven stepped to the side so she could gesture to each woman in turn. “This is Scarlett.” The red-haired woman stepped forward giving a slight bow. “Jade, Skye, and Star.” The three dark-haired women took a step forward with a dramatic sway of their hips. “Lastly, Winter.” The white-haired woman looked at him with her pale grey eyes. Those barren eyes seemed to swallow all the warmth in the room. “As I said, I am Raven. Happy now, General?”

“I met a witch called Selena, do you know of her?” K’xarr asked.

Raven gave a thin smile. “I do, she is one of us. There are more of us than just the six you see here. Does that matter?”

“No, I was just curious if she was known to you.”

Raven nodded. “She helped you before, when the Half Elf was taken. I believe she gave you the location of the Dark One’s tower.”

“She did, but not before she gave us a taste of her power.”

Raven laughed. “She is not very social, a bit of an introvert you might say. I apologize for her disagreeable behavior. I assure you that the rest of us are much more hospitable.” The six witches stood before him each seductively posing, creating a striking effect. He knew they were trying to test his will by using their abundant feminine wiles on him.

As K’xarr looked them over, he could see that their beauty could drive a man mad, but he saw nothing that made him think they would be of much use in battle, but he would humor them. It was very hard not to. “You should put your cloaks back on, the wall is cold.”

“What are they doing on the wall, you know they have to be evil, K’xarr, are you mad?” Cromwell said. The Toran had little tolerance for magic. If there was anything Torans feared, it was magic, and Cromwell was no exception.

“Let them cast their spells or drink their potions. I doubt it will bother Havalon much,” K’xarr replied.

“Well, it bothers me,” Cromwell shot back.

“He will attack in the morning, see how he is moving the towers into place?” K’xarr pointed to the large siege engines.

The big man nodded. “Three thousand fools and six evil witches, we are dead.”

K’xarr had to laugh. “It’s the best I could get on short notice; I couldn’t find any Toran clans walking the streets of Turill.”

Cromwell shook his head. “I know, if you had we would not need anyone else.”

***

Kian staggered through the forest looking for shelter. It was eerily silent. The winter had quieted the woodland. Bone tired he marched on, stumbling over the brush hidden in the deep snow.

Near the end of his endurance Kian leaned against a tree to catch his breath. He had made it to the forest at last and it seemed the bad weather was breaking. Maybe his luck had changed.

He saw a large dark spot in the snow ahead. Willing himself on, he walked towards it. As the swordsman got closer, he could see the spot was a vast hole in the forest floor. It was big enough to drive a coach inside. He jumped down into it to investigate the odd hollow.

It was not much deeper than he stood, but the ground sloped down into the darkness like a tunnel. The hole was more like a cave, he thought, but not naturally formed, it appeared to have been dug out. He could see the roots of the great trees of the wood sticking down through its dirt ceiling.

He walked on down into it until he could not see any more with the natural light from above. His cat-like eyes pierced the dark, he could tell the tunnel went on much farther than even he could see. The cave was warm compared to the frosty forest. Kian decided he would shelter in it for a while.

He walked back out to the mouth of the dirt cave. The swordsman took flint and steel and tried to light a fire. In a few minutes he had a small blaze, fueled by some tree roots from the cave and his provisions bag.

He left the shelter long enough to dig through the snow until he found some wood; it was wet, but he put it on the little fire anyway. He was too tired to worry about the blaze going out.

Kian sat down and lay back against the rough dirt wall. The earthen cave smelled funny; that was the last thought he had before drifting off to sleep.

***

“Here they come, archers to the ready,” K’xarr yelled.

The witch, Raven, stood beside him, “I doubt you’ll need your archers, General.”

“We are going to try and set fire to one of those siege towers before they get to the wall, so I think I will need my archers,” K’xarr snapped.

“We are the Reaper’s Sins, K’xarr Strom, we stood with the Lord of Death in a thousand battles when the Elves still ruled your world.” Raven’s voice rose, as she spoke the witch became almost frightening. “We have destroyed entire races, brought down empires. We are the Children of Death, stand and behold our power.”

She turned back to face the oncoming siege tower. She signaled to the others who were spaced evenly along the northern wall. The witch raised her arms and a ball of fire appeared in her hands and began to grow larger and larger, until it could not have fit through the city gate; she spoke a word and brought her arms down, the ball flew through the air and hit the siege tower and it burst into flames. Molten liquid ran down the icy skins that covered the war engine, causing all it touched to burn.

The screams of the company of men inside could be heard as they were burned alive, K’xarr watched as many of the soldiers jumped out of the tower to land in the deep snow, only to have the liquid fire from the burning tower come down on top of them.

Havalon’s soldiers had stopped in their tracks, watching the powerful display of magic, it was a mistake. The other witches let loose a barrage of magic unseen for centuries. K’xarr watched as great flaming balls hurled by the women crashed into the Abberdonian ranks, large bolts of lightning ripped through steel and flesh, men and horses screamed in panic. The white-haired witch, Winter, seem to create huge spears of ice out of thin air some twenty feet long, and with a wave of her hand she caused them to fly into the enemy troops where they exploded in showers of white liquid so cold it turned all it touched to ice.

Cromwell ran down the wall towards K’xarr. “What is this, General, what have we unleashed?”

K’xarr couldn’t answer, he could only smile. He watched as the Abberdonian assault became a full retreat within minutes.

Cromwell grabbed his friend by the shoulders and spun him around. “K’xarr, did you hear me, what in the name of all the Gods is this?”

K’xarr grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down where the Toran could hear him over the witch’s onslaught. “Its victory, that’s what it is, look at the mighty Abberdonian army running for their lives.”

Both men watched along with the rest of the Bandaran troops as the six witches decimated the front ranks of Havalon’s army. All the siege towers were on fire, their catapults destroyed, men ran through the snow on fire, many tried to roll on the ground, hoping the snow would put out the flames only to find the snow of no use in dousing the magical flames. All matter of sorcery was hurled at the Abberdonians, all of it bringing death. Finally, the witches relented and let the remains of the army retreat.

Raven walked slowly over to where K’xarr stood, a thin smile on her face. Cromwell took an instinctive step back as she approached. “I think we have bought you some time. King Havalon will think twice before he comes at the wall again.”

Rufio came down the battlements with the red-headed witch Scarlett on his heels. “I have never seen anything like that, what now, General?”

K’xarr scanned the battlefield, they had killed thousands of men in less than an hour, the dead lay broken and burned in the dirty snow. He could see a whole cavalry squad, as well as their horses turned to ash, the silhouettes of their bodies still in formation, all having died at once from the witch’s lethal magic. There were many places the snow was gone, and he could see the ground black and wet, it must have been hell for the Abberdonians, K’xarr thought. “Leave one in ten to stand watch, let the rest visit their families, we won’t see Havalon again this day, Raven, if you would I would like to see you in private, Rufio, you stay with the other ladies, Cromwell you have the wall.”

K’xarr gestured for Raven to come along with him; the witch quickly passed him so she was in the lead. “We walk behind no man, General,” she said over her shoulder.

K’xarr took her into his private quarters inside the palace and closed the door. The room had little in the way of décor. A bed, table, and wardrobe were the only furnishings. The young general wasn’t much on finery or comfort. “Why did you come to our aid?” K’xarr took off his helmet and set it on the table, he brushed his hands through his sweaty hair. “You turned back Havalon’s forces, just the six of you.”

“I told you we have used our magic to aid humans countless times. You are not the first we decided to help, but it has been a very long time.”

K’xarr knew the witches were not common sorceresses, but he wasn’t sure he believed they were once servants to the dreaded Lord of Death. He didn’t much believe in the Gods, and he wasn’t sure he believed Raven’s story. He just wanted to know why they showed up just in his time of need. He found it too convenient. “I want to know why you picked me to help and why now?”

Raven put her hands on her hips and gave K’xarr a sly smile. “We chose to help when we want. It’s in our best interest that you hold this city, at least for now.”

K’xarr started unbuckling his armor, Raven moved closer and helped him with the straps. “You’re soaked with sweat, General, I think you should have a bath drawn.”

He looked her over from head to toe, the woman was truly beguiling. He felt an overwhelming lust for her come over him.

Raven took a step back and flipped her hair to one side. “Do you like what you see, General?”

K’xarr took her by the shoulders, surprised at the firmness he found there. “I do, sorceress.” He bent to kiss her and she leaned her head back and put her hand to his lips. “Be very sure this is what you want, General, there is no going back. The cost of your desire could be very high.”

He had not truly understood the meaning of her words his craving for the witch’s naked flesh had overwhelmed him. “I will pay the price, whatever it is.”

She slid from his bed as quietly as she could. After their lovemaking, the young man had fall into a deep sleep. He was exhausted, she thought. The strain of command was weighing heavy on him.

Once again she had used her charms and a little magic to get what she wanted. It was always the same. She looked at him sleeping so sound. Perhaps she had been a bit too vigorous in the boy’s bed. She couldn’t help it, she liked K’xarr, she hated that she had to deceive him. She sat down on the bed and gently stroked his dark hair. “Poor boy, I will try to make it up to you someday.”