The Terror of Thorn: Child of War: Book 2 (7 page)

              Celeste turned her attention toward the captured enemy and motioned for Aubrey to come sit by her. “Do you know where you are” Celeste asked the man, receiving no reply. “I am the Queen of Rangel and I am used to being answered when I ask a question. No one here will harm you, answer my questions and you will be thrown in the dungeon and fed regularly until I have no use for you. From that point I can give you some poison for a quick death or you can earn your freedom in the arena. If you fail to answer me again though, I will turn you over to my torturer who then will chop off your limbs for starters and then use her other abilities to extract anything I need. After that you will be given to my witches for a human test subject where you will live out the rest of your pitiful life. Now I ask you again, do you know where you are.”

              “I am not sure” the man answered.

              “See, now that is better, I do hate to ruin this room with the smell of blood” The Queen began before continuing. “You are in the Palace of the Queen in the capital city of Rangel, transported here by my enchanter. How did you know who or what to attack?”

              “We saw that there were a lot of wagons coming into Riley, but only a few carriages, it didn’t take much thinkin’ ta see that the carriage held someone important” the man said.

              “You there” the Queen said pointing at a Guardsman. “Find the Royal carpenter and blacksmith. Tell them to make a carriage that looks exactly like a covered wagon with all the amenities. Now where were we” said the Queen looking back at her prisoner.

              “We paid off the witch stationed at the border to allow some of our people to stay in her base” The man said looking around at all the Palace Guardsmen around him.

              “Paid her off, witches do not need any money. You dare lie to me?” said the Queen as she began to get angry.

              “We did not pay in coin, we paid in flesh” said the man as he dropped from his knees in a crouching position looking at the tile on the floor.

              “In flesh” asked the Queen quizzically.

              “Her appetites were for men with red hair. All the children of war she kept stationed there to sate her appetite. I was one of the Thornians who was tasked with giving our tribute, we soon saw what was happening and offered her whoever she wanted. We then paid the Children of War to stay put, their loyalty would get them out of Rangel and set up somewhere nice.”

              “You fool, chasing a non-existent dream. You care to live in a place where crime runs rampant and children starve? Take this idiot to the witches to do as they please. Let them know he is to fight in the arena in one month’s time” Celeste said still disgusted her own people would endanger her daughter.

              “But you said I would be spared” the man started stammering.

              “As if I would make a bargain with a male, you should ask King Janus for forgiveness” the Queen said as he was taken away.

              “You did not speak after your outburst; you are still worried for your mate” the Queen asked the daughter.

              “When I last saw him we were surrounded by the enemy with no weapons. There was no way he could have escaped. I do not believe the Thornian women survived either, I am not sure how we should proceed.”

              “Aubrey, we still are the most powerful nation around, for too long we have been content to keep our land, when we should have been expanding our Queendom! We will march deep into Thorn and make them submit! We still have the power of our witches, since Rangel became a Queendom we have not lost one war that has been waged on us. It is our time to wage war; we will end this senseless slaughter the world of man engages in.”

              “Mother, after my father died, why did you not take another consort” Aubrey asked, something she always wanted to know but never asked for some reason.

              “That is a rather odd question, Aubrey” said the Queen. “I was given a Queendom that was not running as smoothly as it should have. My mother was dying and many powerful nobles thrust their sons at me, pressuring my mother to have me married before she passed. I chose your father because he was old and frail, his mother having long since passed, along with his first wife. He was a proper Rangelian male and just wished to live out his life after his wife died. He was not even one of my many suitors; I picked him out after overhearing a conversation about him. When I approached him, a man over forty summers older than I, he laughed thinking I was joking, after all, women with much younger men are common place, not the other way around. I married him that day, he didn’t have an older woman as part of his family who would try to use me through him. With my marriage completed, my power was absolute. I was in a hurry to have you, I was five summers younger than you are now when I was with child. Your father expired soon after you were born; he never had any sights on my power and was not easily manipulated. Once he died, many tried to saddle their sons on me, but in a roundabout way. I never wanted to share my power with anyone, except you. I used your father’s death as a permanent mourning, it meant I would never have another child, but it also meant I will never have the fighting in my house like my mother did. You will face this soon, as you are not yet with child.”

              “I need to see Xander’s body first before any of that talk begins” Aubrey started before finishing. “We need to send out a Raven, how do the witches fair with Ingland?”

              “They invaded yesterday, drawing a good distance into that country. Ingland is throwing everything they have at them so the plan is to pretend to be held back, then eventually withdraw and leave Ingland to lick her wounds. Already we have captured 100 prisoners; the best among them will be slaves, the rest given to the arena. I do not see Ingland as a factor in this war.”

CHAPTER 13

XANDER

Xander stuck his hand through the door and made contact with the floor as he fed his aura into the wood, sending Aubrey as well as her attacker back to the Palace at Rangel. Xander saw his remaining attacker bring down his axe hard and just maneuvered out of his way in time to catch the man with his dagger to the stomach. Xander whirled around the now slumped man and finished the job with a dagger in his back. Xander pulled the now dead man out of the way blocking the door leading to the inside of the carriage and put his aura into the wood, nothing happened. Xander didn’t have time to wonder why and instead took the time to run since he noticed enemy soldiers heading his way and figured he would try to lose them by running deeper into the fray.

Xander could see the Palace Guard from a distance as they began to form up and take down their attackers. Elsewhere General Anaya’s Fire Soldiers seemed to getting the best of their attackers. All around Xander though were bodies of witches caught off guard in the attack. Suddenly the front gate opened bringing with it soldiers that could only be from Thorn.

Xander froze as the wave of men poured towards him. Xander pulled out his blade as the first soldier got near, but the men passed right on by him electing instead to fight anyone in armor. Xander glanced back and could see the soldiers from earlier still hadn’t gave up their chase except this time they were recruiting people and pointing at Xander. Xander ran out of Riley, electing instead to get out in the open field. Xander passed through the gates and he could see Rangelian soldiers and Thornians in combat. Xander tried to skirt the battle when he saw Patrick carrying one of the Thornian women over his shoulder.

Xander could see Patrick had no weapons but an abundance of people trying to kill him as he ran into the forested area surrounding Riley. Xander followed Patrick as the Thornians started to file in behind him. Xander looked back and could see although his pursuers were far behind, they still saw where he was headed and started in towards him. Xander entered right at the tail end of the group running after Patrick and although the enemy turned to look at him, once they saw his red hair they turned around to continue their Quest. Xander quickly sped up to the front of the group, after all these men were in armor. As Xander got to the front of the group, he could see Patrick standing on a stone slab with the woman Samantha behind him, intent on making his last stand here. Xander was the first to reach Patrick as Patrick eyes were surprised by his presence. Xander held his dagger out like he was making out to stab Patrick as his eyes spied something he never really took notice of before. The slab Patrick was standing on was a perfect circle with some sort of lines drawn in it, what type Xander could not tell because of all the dead foliage and dirt around it. Xander touched the stone and poured his aura into it, moments later he was someplace he had never been before, along with Patrick and Samantha.

CHAPTER 14

ANAYA

              General Anaya faced her foe with her blade at the ready. The enchanter’s weapons were awesome powers of destruction, one she was happy to be wielding this day along with her armor. She knew she should have been killed at least three times already, if not for the armor the enchanter crafted. Her opponent lunged at her as she caught his sword in her gauntlets. Anaya was still amazed at the power she possessed as she tugged the sword away from its owner before delivering a lethal chest cracking kick to the man’s sternum, ensuring he did not rise again. Anaya looked around her and could see the Palace Guard in perfect formation slaughtering all who came close to them, even though they did not possess any enchanted armor like she did, these men were worth their weight in gold when it came to a battle. Anaya looked around and tried to spot the princess, to no avail. It was hard for her to see thanks to the devastation the witches were causing among the enemies ranks. Anaya looked for another opponent to engage when she realized the enemy was retreating. Anaya thought about following them, but the Princess’s safety came above all.

              “Have you seen the Princess” Anaya asked a palace guardsman, barely croaking the words since her senses were filled with the smell of burning flesh.

              “She was with the Enchanter My Lady” he started off saying as he constantly kept his eyes roving looking for an unforeseen enemy. “I saw the enemy surrounding her but I was far away, by the time I got there he transported her somewhere, if I had to guess maybe he sent her to the Palace.”

              “The enchanter, what of him?”

              “My lady after sending the Princess out, the enchanter tried to send himself but something was not working. He then ran deep into the battle with the enemy not far behind. I went to fight with some of the attackers when my brothers in arms joined me. We fought and killed many, as we saw the High Witch’s son with one of those Thornian women running for his life. Then I lost sight of them.”

              “Very well, send a Raven and let the Queen know what happened here” Anaya said as she walked off towards one of the more competent male soldiers.

              “General Anaya, the enemy has fled but I do not recommend we follow until we know what we are facing. The witch that was stationed here was found murdered, by whom we do not know.” The man said as he sheathed his sword.

              “I think we have snakes in our mists” Anaya said looking around at all the red haired soldiers around her. “Send all of the children of war to the Inglish border and some to the capital; send each a somewhat even number. Find out what we have here exactly before we push into Thorn. This was an attack that will hamper our efforts severely; I need an update on the witches. Someone find the high witch and bring her to me!”

CHAPTER 15

HIGH WITCH ELIZABETH BRIGHTLY

Elizabeth looked around her at the carnage unfolding with uncaring eyes. Her personal contingent of slave body guards was doing their work well, namely dying so she didn’t have to. Elizabeth, being one of the most powerful witches in the land could have easily wiped out many of the men trying to assault her with magic, but she discovered long ago the use of magic is what causes witches to die earlier than their non-magical counterparts.

The witches that were performing magic though took out a vast number of Thornians, but were still dying due to the archers on the rooftops. If only they had been as smart as she was and wore armor under her clothing. The enchanter would have been a welcome member of her group regardless of his sex, getting him to enchant her lightweight armor was paying dividends. Elizabeth could see more men pouring into Riley adding to the melee and decided it was time to do something about those archers.

Elizabeth focused her energy and lifted five of Anaya’s so called fire soldiers on the wall, leaving the armored men to take care of their traitorous counterparts. The men were scared at first but Elizabeth saw they quickly calmed down once they saw where they were deposited, and quickly began cleaving through the red haired archers. Elizabeth used her magic to float to the quarters the Crown Princess was occupying, not fancying the Queen’s temper if her only daughter were to be killed by these imbeciles.

Elizabeth could see the enchanter burst out from the top floor landing awkwardly with Princess Aubrey falling on top of them. Before Elizabeth could change her course she saw the boy speed off towards the carriage, no doubt to whisk the brat away. Elizabeth landed on the roof of the building the enchanter bursted out of and took in her surroundings. She could see the archers on the wall dying off easily, but not before one of them was smart enough to open the main gates. Turning her gaze elsewhere, she could see General Anaya fighting through a throng of males no doubt trying to determine if the princess is safe. Elizabeth spied her son carrying the Thornian Girl, the only shot at securing power for her and her family, over the wall of the outpost followed by many enemy soldiers. Elizabeth hadn’t used her magic in years, but this was her only son. Elizabeth could take no more as she spied two of her own archers locked in combat with Thornians. Elizabeth shot lighting out of her fingers killing their attackers before lifting her guards off of their feet and making them trail behind her in the air to save Patrick. The guards made eye contact with her and went about their business like nothing had happened, unleashing arrow after arrow from on high, killing anyone they could see that was either assaulting a witch, or had a bow.