The Hordes of Chanakra (Knights of Aerioch) (13 page)

Before the wizard could recover from whatever had happened, Kreg lowered himself the full length of his body and dropped.  He hit the ground hard, adding a bruised hip to his injuries, but no worse than that.

The first thing Kreg saw as he regained his feet was Shillond.  Shillond had already reached Kaila and he helped Kreg hoist her onto Kreg's shoulders.  Together they ran as best they could from the castle.  Guards, following the wizard onto the rooftop, loosed a few arrows after them but the shots were wild.  Kreg did not know why the wizard did not attack but was grateful for the respite.

#

Later, while Shillond was strapping Kreg's shoulder, Kreg wondered aloud at the lack of pursuit.

"I think my firestorm spell may have been responsible," Shillond said.

"How so?"

"An army such as that one before the gates is not raised in a day.  Those not killed have no doubt fled.  They cannot know how drained I am."

"And not knowing," Kreg said, "How eager would any new army be to find you and suffer the same fate."

Shillond nodded. "The wizard will have to persuade them that his powers can defend them against mine."

"Can they?

"I fear so.  Magics to strike at large numbers at once are too easily parried.  We were fortunate that they had no magical defenses in place when we escaped."

"Okay.  Now what happened to Kaila and what can we do about it?"

"It's obvious she's being controlled," Shillond said.

"That much I figured out already," Kreg snapped.

Shillond sighed again, “Kreg?”

“Sorry, Shillond.” Kreg smiled wanly. “Tired and scared and worried and I guess...”

Shillond nodded then picked up a stick and began to scratch in the dirt. "The question is whether she is under an actual possession, a lesser compulsion, or a greater compulsion.  If the first I can do nothing and we will have to find a holy man, the Threefold Twins alone know where.  If it is one of the latter two then I should be able to break it once my energies have been restored unless that mage is a great deal more powerful than I believe."

At Shillond's mention of the other mage's power, Kreg thought to mention the apparently failed attack against Kreg but decided it was not important.  He said, "How long to restore your energies?"

"About two days."

#

"Is everything ready?" Kreg asked Shillond as he pulled brush to block the entrance to the small cave.  They had been fortunate in finding the cave.  It offered a place to hide from the soldiers searching for them.

The cave mouth sat halfway up a large hill.  It opened onto a small shelf of level ground above a steep slope of loose, broken rock.

"Ready enough," Shillond said. "I'll have to awaken Kaila in order to make the tests." He had renewed the sleeping spell on her several times over the past two days. "Stand ready.  She is likely to be violent and I am unsure whether her bonds will restrain her."

"Cripes, if we had any more rope to use..."

"But we don't." Such as they had, they had stolen from farmyards in the moonless hours of the night. "Be alert.  I will begin."

Shillond began to chant.  In a few seconds Kaila's eyes flew open.  They flashed with pure hatred, a look so grim as to make her usual expression seem positively cheerful.  Her muscles bulged.  The ropes creaked under the strain, but held.  Barely.  Kreg shuddered before Kaila's stare as Shillond finished the spell.

"We are lucky." Shillond turned to Kreg. "It is a compulsion rather than a possession.  Unfortunately, it is a greater compulsion rather than a lesser."

"Which means?"

"I should be able to break it." Shillond shook his head. "It will be difficult.  Perhaps you should wait outside."

"Not meant for the eyes of us mortal types, huh?" Kreg regretted the jest at the pain in Shillond's eyes.  He held up a hand. "Sorry.  I'll go."

"Do not reenter the cave," Shillond said. "That would break the wards and release forces you cannot imagine."

Kreg thought about the weapons of his own world and thought he could imagine more than Shillond thought.  He nodded and backed out of the cave's small opening.

Outside, Kreg sat and waited.  In the distance he could see the light of the army's watchfires, pinpricks of light in the darkness.  Shillond had said that such an army as had been encamped before the castle was not raised in a day, but two days had seen the apparent raising of an even larger army.  Kreg did not doubt that the army was on its way to reinforce the forces attacking Aerioch.

Seeing the apparent size of the army, Kreg frowned.  Shillond had explained that Schah was a small country, not in area but in population.  Although the land area was similar to that of either Aerioch or Shendar the land of Schah was much drier.  As a result, population was sparser.

The armies they had been fielding numbered hosts larger than Schah's entire population and, judging by the army that was massing below, there did not seem to be any end to them.  Those people had to come from somewhere, but where?  Kreg had suggested Chanakra along with the wizards, but Shillond had said that Chanakra was an even smaller country than Schah.

So lost in thought was Kreg that he nearly missed noting that several of the watchfires were moving.  They also flickered a bit much for watchfires seen at a distance.

Kreg jumped to his feet.  Those were not watchfires.  Those were torches, and they were moving closer.

"Shillond!" Kreg drew his sword. "We've got company!"

Kreg's gaze flitted from shadow, to rock, to twisted bush hoping to find something with which to stave off the attack.  He saw nothing.  First, sticking his sword point first in the ground he gripped his bow, nocked an arrow, and estimated a target under one of the torches.  He loosed and the arrow disappeared in the darkness.  A moment later a cry of pain rewarded Kreg and the torch fell to the ground.  He loosed another arrow after the first but this one missed.

Kreg sent arrow after arrow speeding into the approaching band.  Twenty arrows he loosed.  Seven men fell, dead or wounded.  At least ten more were still approaching.  They had reached the base of the slope and would have to scramble up it to reach Kreg.

Kreg plucked his sword from the ground and drew himself to his full height. "Come on, you bastards!  I may die tonight, but I'll take a few of you with me."

He stood at the edge of the slope where he would have solid footing while the men approaching him would still be on the scree.

The first of the men arrived.  Kreg thrust, catching the man through the throat as he scrambled for footing on the loose rocks.  After parrying the next man's attack, Kreg drove back with a riposte as the third began to clamber to the side in an effort to outflank Kreg.  He sliced past the second's guard and sidestepped to deal with the third.  Numbers four and five split up, working Kreg between them.

Kreg managed to drop the third just as the larger of the two moons chose to peak from behind a cloud and bathe the scene in a ruddy glow.  He turned to face four, unable to avoid leaving his back to five.  While Kreg dealt with four, he heard a shout behind him.  Something warm and wet thumped against his back, causing him to lose his balance.  As he stumbled, he threw out his arms for balance.  By chance rather than design, Kreg's sword caught four in the ribs.  Four dropped.

Kreg turned to deal with the others and saw only bodies.  Over them stood Kaila, clad in buff tunic and high leather boots.  She returned his gaze with a grim smile.

"Again, I owe you thanks," she said.

At that moment Kreg thought her the most beautiful woman who ever lived.  He smiled. "So who's keeping score?" He gestured at the bodies at her feet. "As I see it, you just saved my life--again."

Shillond crawled out of the cave.  He stood and dusted himself.

"As you can see," he said, "the spell worked." He looked around at the carnage. "It also seems success could not have been better timed."

"No argument on that one." Kreg sank to the ground.  Near his right leg rolled the object that had struck him in the back--the severed head of number five.  With a sigh, he told himself that he was too tired to be bothered.  He would take the time to be sick later.

#

Kreg was the first to wake the next morning.  Aside from a slight stiffness, he felt fine, better than he expected.  Even his sprained shoulder gave him only slight twinges.  Shillond and Kaila were still sleeping off the aftereffects of the magic necessary to restore Kaila's wits.

Kreg crawled out of the cave to relieve himself and surveyed the area.  All was peaceful.  He looked again.  The bodies of the men they had killed had vanished; not even bloodstains remained to mark where they had fallen.  Nothing but trampled dirt and underbrush revealed the previous night's fight.

"Shillond!" Kreg called. "Kaila!  Come quick."

"What is it?" Shillond poked his head out of the cave mouth. "What's wrong?"

"Look around and tell me I'm seeing things, or not seeing things, or..." Kreg shut up, realizing he was babbling.

"I see nothing," Shillond said, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.  Those eyes snapped open wide. "Pireth's Scepter, where are the bodies?"

He scrambled out of the cave and ran up and down the level area, peering into every hollow and crevice.  He stooped and rose, holding up something that dangled from his hand. "Ha!"

"What is it?" Kreg asked.

Shillond held the object toward him.  It was a dead squirrel.  Its throat had been sliced open.

"I don't understand." Kreg examined the squirrel closely. "Who killed the squirrel?  And what has this to do with the missing bodies?"

"You killed it," Shillond said, "or Kaila did maybe.  And it has everything to do with it.  Don't you see?"

"You don't mean...."

"Absolutely," Shillond said. "It's a form of possession.  Lesser demons take the bodies of small animals.  While thus possessed the animals have the form and abilities of men, with weapons and armor to suit whatever form they take.  The demon draws its strength from its native realm.  Only the animal body needs sustenance--the same sustenance it would need in its native form.  Shillond dropped the squirrel. "Kill the body and with the next rising of the sun it returns to its natural form.  I think we now know where Schah is getting its armies."

Kreg shivered. "Then those commando units...."

"Will scarcely help our cause." Shillond shook his head. "There will be no baggage trains to disrupt."

"Worse than that," Kreg said. "If I understand, the Schahi can conjure up whatever armies they need to hunt down the commandos.  I've sent hundreds of men to their deaths."

Kreg sank to the ground.

"Not quite, Kreg," Shillond put his hand on Kreg's shoulder. "There are limits to magic as in all things.  Each mage can only cast so many spells before having to replenish his energies and replenishing energies takes time.  Since the Schahi took so long to come after us, I think they may be reaching those limits.  Perhaps your commandos will stretch those limits even farther.  They have a fighting chance, which is all anybody can expect and may still turn the tide in the war.  An army spends its time searching for us rather than fighting Aerioch and that is no small thing."

"I don't think so," Kreg said. "Remember that village near Elam?"

"What of it?"

"Even the animals were gone.  We wondered how they had brought up such an army to Elam.  Now I think we know.  They didn't.  They created it on the spot." Kreg waved in the general direction of the valley. "That army out there isn't headed to Aerioch.  I think it's just to hunt for us.  We've got to get out of here, now.  If just one of the...things that found us last night got back to report, they'll be back."

Shillond shook his head. "If someone had reported finding us, they would already have been here.  Do you think demons would be afraid to come at night?"

"No, I guess not.  But eventually somebody will miss them.  And they'll go looking where they were.  So what do we do?"

"We have to get back to Aerioch," Shillond said. "I need to check my grimoires.  There must be a counter to this form of possession.  Possessions are normally in the realm of Holy Men, but if a wizard can cast it, another can counter it.  If any such counter spell exists, I must find it."

"On foot and in enemy territory?" Kreg shook his head. "It will take us months to get back, if we make it at all."

Shillond sighed. "The spell of the winds is the quickest way I know of."

"Nothing doing!" Kreg shook his head emphatically. "It nearly killed you last time and I can't guarantee I would be able to pull you back again."

"Unfortunately, you are right," Shillond said. "Also, the danger to you and Kaila would be grave on a repeat journey.  The demons have your scent now.  We will just have to walk."

"Maybe you could send some kind of magic message ahead, let them know what we've learned," Kreg suggested.

Shillond shook his head. "If we had not been discovered, I could.  That was the original plan.  But they have discovered us and this deep in Schahi territory, they would almost certainly detect and block any message I could send.  No, we will just have to walk.  If we are fortunate, we'll discover a place of power where I can work a spell of apportation."