The Godlost Land (42 page)

Chapter Thirty One

“High Priestess! High Priestess!”

A soldier came running down the stairs from one of the higher terraces as Erislee was meditating on a convenient roof. Trying to remain as one with the Goddess, even when things seemed so bleak.

And they did seem bleak. Just a look across the walls to the valley beyond where an estimated fifty thousand chimera now stood in ranks and waited for the order to attack told her that. Everyone was scared. Everyone knew that when the chimera attacked in such numbers they would not be able to stand against them. And everyone knew they were going to attack. It was just a matter of time. They were just waiting until their army was insurmountable. The hunter had become the hunted. They were all going to die.

And it was all her fault.

She had led them into a trap. They had taken Midland Heights and even while they had been doing that the Circle wizards had been crossing the northern border between the Kingdom of the Lion and the Rainbow Mountains, and heading for them. Then, once they had taken the rift valley pass behind them and blocked their escape they had slowly started massing. Bringing in more and more chimera. Every day it seemed there were more chimera in the valley, the twisted beasts simply standing there waiting to attack. Waiting for the order to be given. There were more soldiers too.

Perhaps worst of all another three Circle wizards had arrived. Geron's old master, Tyriole the Grand was still alive. And with him stood Immelda the Red and Harriss of the Mist. All three were currently sitting out on the far side of the valley, a league and a half away. A full league behind their own front lines. Despite the distance she could just make out their brightly coloured tents. More clearly than that though she could see the wizards themselves as they were being attended to and waiting to give the order. No one else could have seen them. But thanks to the gifts of the Goddess she could. Hunters could always see their prey. But this she privately feared was the other way around. This was her as the prey seeing the hunter. And waiting to be hunted.

Why were the wizards still waiting? She kept asking herself that. And the only answer she could think of was that they were waiting for more to arrive. But how many more chimera still had to arrive? And why? They already had more than enough beasts to defeat them. Perhaps they didn't know that?  Or were the awaiting the arrival of a fourth wizard? She suspected the latter.

Erislee didn't care so much about that. What she truly wished was that she knew how the priests were commanding the chimera so that she could find a way to break it. Because their command seemed absolute which was something new. The priests in Midland Heights before they had captured the city, had been unable to control them. Not completely. And there had been failures. But here for two weeks at least the creatures had not fed. They had not moved. They had not done anything at all. Instead they had just sat there and waited as their numbers increased in the valley beyond them, well out of range of their most powerful wizards. All she could think was that they must have brought in extra thralls. More thralls with more charms.

But in the end the “how” didn't matter. All that mattered was that now they were five or six thousand against fifty thousand. One Circle wizard against three. And only a set of broken walls that their few wizards of the earth were desperately trying to strengthen stood between them. As if that wasn't enough the enemy had war machines – their war machines! Because they had not thought to bring them into the city after they'd taken it. But even if they had thought about it, they wouldn't have done it. Machines like that were simply too large to be dragged up endless stairs. And what would have been the point? They'd never thought to be in the city for more than a few days. Just long enough to recover, regroup and plan for the next step in their campaign. It was just that those few days had dragged on and on as they made their plans. As she had struggled to decide which direction to travel in. When in reality all she had really been doing as she struggled with her decision had been giving the army from the Kingdom of the Lion time to trap them.

The thing which surprised her most about the counter attack though was the way the enemy had so casually sacrificed one of their own. It seemed as if it had actually been part of the plan. They had to have known that Maynard the Irrepressible was still in the city when the Goddess' army had come for the city. And they had to have known what Erislee's army would do to the wizard. They could have told him to flee. As Alenda Goldeneyes had fled. Presumably it hadn't mattered to them.

And maybe in the end it hadn't mattered to Maynard either? He had gone easily enough into the cage, frightened but she suspected, not really knowing the fate that had awaited him. But then he wasn't called Maynard the Mad without reason. Though maybe he should have been known as Maynard the Pathetic.

His death, and more so the way they had forced the frightened old man into the cage, still left her with pangs of conscience. It still gave her moments of angst in the quiet times. But as for these three Circle wizards – she thought she could push them in the cage without a moment's hesitation.

Still instead of thinking about such things and giving in to despair she thought she'd better deal with the soldier. It might be important. It might be that finally – although she could see no sign of it yet – the enemy had decided to strike. But even if it was nothing, she knew that the one thing holding her army together was her. Against all reason they still had faith in her. They believed she was going to get them out of this somehow. If they realised the truth – that she was just as frightened and helpless as they were – they'd panic.

“Yes?”

“Griffins, a pair of them have returned High Priestess, and one is carrying a bow!”

The soldier blurted it out excitedly, and there was a strange emotion in his voice. Not just the usual sense of dread, but something else – hope. Whatever this was he thought it could save them. And maybe she suddenly realised, it could.

She didn't know how or why a griffin could be bringing her a bow. But surely only a high priest or priestess could command a griffin to bring her one. Or better yet the Goddess herself. Could it be?

“Show me!”

Instantly the soldier took off, running back up the stairs he had just run down and as quickly as she could she gave chase. It was something that still wasn't easy for her. Her years in the cage had robbed her of so much strength and vitality, and it was coming back only slowly. Midland Heights with its endless stairs was a challenge for her.

But when she managed to catch him two terraces up and saw the griffins standing there waiting for her, the ache in her legs was immediately forgotten.

The two beautiful creatures stood there proudly, understanding nothing of what they were carrying but everything of obedience. Obedience to their true mistress, Artemis. She could see that in them so very clearly. They were doing as they had been instructed and that was all that they cared about.

But it was the longbow the male was carrying that truly caught her eyes. She could only see glimpses of it as his body covered it, but those glimpses spoke of the Goddess in a way that little else could.

Erislee ran to him, heedless of the weakness of her legs. That didn't matter any more. Neither did the soldiers all around staring at her. Not even the war masters who pelted her with questions. Nothing mattered save the gift she had been brought. Erislee went down on her knees before the Huntress' companion and untied the bow. And then in one glorious moment it was free and in her hands.

“Artemis be praised!”

Holding the bow in her hands Erislee felt the touch of Artemis more clearly than she ever had before. The weapon was a gift. A gift given so that her divine will could be continued. And Erislee knew that she held the fate of all her people in her hand and maybe the end of the war as well. It was a longbow of fantastic power, a weapon of war, and one thing more than even that; it belonged to Artemis. It wasn't the longbow she normally carried in the heavens, but it was close. A copy, but somehow more than that. Much more. The magic contained within it was fresh and clean, pure and strong. Impossibly strong. It was the Goddess' magic, alive and strong in her hand. Close as it never had been before.

“Thank you Goddess! And thank you Harl Elder Fire!”

She knew it was his handiwork. She didn't know how he could have crafted it – this was a weapon that had needed the touch of the Goddess simply to shape – but she knew it was his handiwork. Just as she knew there was still one thing to do.

Erislee went down on her knees, the longbow in her hands before her.

“Artemis, I bless this weapon in your name and I praise your wisdom and mercy for bringing it to us.”

It was all she needed to do. Blessings in Artemis' temple were simple things, but then hunting was a very simple thing. It wasn't like the temple of Prometheus where the priests might ramble on for hours about seemingly unimportant things. Or the temple of Apollo where there might be hours of history lessons and collected wisdom. This was Artemis' wisdom, and the weapon was just that; a weapon. It's only function was to bring down its quarry quickly and cleanly.

And the time for that had come.

Erislee climbed the steps to stand on the rampart of the nearest wall looking out over the valley, and then she pulled an arrow, notched it, and started hunting her quarry. They weren't hard to find. Not when the sight could somehow bring the face of her first prey so close that she could almost reach out and touch him.

Tyriole the Grand was the first she saw, seated in some sort of armchair that he'd obviously had carried with him into the campaign. What sort of madness she had to wonder, was that? Arrogance and self indulgence to the point of true insanity! But if the armchair wasn't enough to convince her of that, there were the dozen servants with him. Soldiers too. One soldier was bringing him a goblet of wine while another tended to the fire in front of him and a third held out warm robes for him.

Something about the ancient white haired, long bearded wizard sitting there in his armchair – or was that a throne – reminded her of a spider. He was the queen and the others were all trapped within his web.

But not for long.

Erislee loosed the first arrow and less than a heartbeat later watched as it slammed home into the wizard's chest, tearing right through his heart and sending him and his chair flying backwards. Tyriole had just long enough to realise that he'd been hit, for an expression of complete horror to appear on his face, before he slumped down in his seat, dead. And as if that wasn't enough, he exploded into flame moments later.

She notched the second arrow even as the soldiers all around Tyriole were just beginning to yell, and looked for her next target. Immelda the Red wasn't far away. Also on the far side of the valley, she was perhaps only a couple of hundred paces away from where Tyriole lay burning, and just becoming aware of the chaos. But she as yet had no idea what was happening, and as she stood there yelling orders at the soldiers around her, Erislee loosed the second arrow.

It slammed into the middle aged wizard's chest and threw her to the ground so brutally that bones surely broke from the impact. But the mistress of steel and fire wouldn't have cared. She was dead by the time she hit the ground. Unlike Tyriole though she didn't explode, but instead slowly started burning. But then fire was her calling and she was built of it. Still, dead was dead, and as her broken body lay there, blood pooling over the green grass while flames leapt for the sky, Erislee knew it was so.

That left only the last, Harriss of the Mist, a wizard of illusion and sky. He was harder to find, hiding behind a cloak of shimmering air. Obviously he'd realised they were under attack. But then while he knew that something bad was happening and was taking precautions, he didn't know what it was. And he certainly didn't realise that a skilled hunter could pierce his illusion. Or that he was being hunted. The arrow plunged perfectly through his chest as well, sending him flying through the air as if one of his minotaurs had tossed him and then pinned him to a tree. After that he too hung there, dead and she knew that the battle was over. A heartbeat later he too was burning.

Three Circle wizards gone, and Erislee knew a moment of satisfaction at the kills. They had been quick and clean just as they should be. But she also knew what was coming. She also knew that with three Circle Wizards dying at once this time that it would be far far worse.