Chapter 6: Siblings Abroad Chapter 8: Vortex of Strategy
Chapter 7: The Black Shadow
Kent slipped off his horse and pressed his back to the wall. Sain was on the other side of the entrance. Matthew, the volunteer, darted around them both, giving them a quick grin and disappeared inside.
They did not have to wait long. The thief was out again quickly.
“Well,” he said, sneaking up on Ceniro, “it’s mostly narrow corridors, but there are more folks inside than we thought.”
The tactician frowned. “Well, it’s their stronghold. Let’s get in there. Kent and Sain will be point down the corridors, Erk and Florina will watch the close chamber, and Rath and Matthew and Dorcas, mm, Lucius too, will go left. Lyn, with Kent. Wil, with Sain.” Everyone scattered to their positions indicated curtly by Ceniro. He was feeling under pressure.
“And what do we do?” asked Serra, indicated the ‘revival team’.
“Help out when ever someone calls for you,” Ceniro told her. “And look after Ninian. Nils…”
“I’ll play for… uh… Matthew! Or Florina.”
“Good choice,” chuckled Matthew. Wil looked at him.
Ninian looked worried. “Are you sure of this?”
Lyn smiled. “Yes. We’ll do it.”
“Rush ‘em!” cried Ceniro. “Don’t give them time to think!”
Kent’s passage, on the right, was bitterly fought against another cavelier. Kent cried out as the enemy’s sword sliced through his upper arm. Lyn darted around Kent’s horse’s legs and sliced the Mani Katti through the horse’s throat. Ceniro flinched and turned a little green again, but neither Lyn nor Kent noticed. The cavelier fell off and smacked his head into the wall. Kent rode on. Ceniro was slightly shaken. He had thought he was getting used to death, but that poor horse…
Matthew opened the door with hardly any trouble at all and bowed Lucius and Dorcas through. The large chamber was hideously underguarded: a single archer snapped a potshot at Lucius and tore his cloak. Rath brushed his fingers over the fletching on an arrow, and Lucius opened his mouth, but Matthew zipped past them all eagerly in a blur. The archer fell onto his back limply as the focused blur poked a slender knife into the lock of a treasure chest. Dorcas leaned over the corpse and saw a thin line of blood on the unfortunate bowman’s throat, then reached up and caught a large steel-headed mallet.
“I wonder why they bother keeping weapons in chests,” chattered Matthew. “It’s not like they get used or anything, and they could keep more useful stuff in them… money, for instance. Anyhow, I hope that hammer works OK.” Dorcas shrugged.
A rattle at the far door distracted them all.
Throughout the building, there seemed to be arrow slits in the walls between rooms.
“Great for security,” muttered Erk, sending fireballs through one into an archer trying to shoot out. Serra hung around, talking animatedly to Florina, who seemed afraid that the soldier in the room would part with his javelin just to kill her. An occasional note from Nil’s flute could be heard nearby, confusing the young pegasus knight. Ninian stayed close to her brother, moving as best her injured ankle would let her. Normally she rode with Florina, but that was not safe or practical in battle.
“What’s great for security?” asked Serra, pouncing. “I don’t think much of these guys’ security. I don’t think they feel very secure. Anyway, this fortess is pretty old and needs repair badly. Look at these holes in the walls! Anything will go through them, and a well placed prayer to St. Elimine will knock them all down. Even from the outside, I saw roofs falling in, trees coming out, sludge from…”
“Serra, will you be quiet?!” snapped Erk furiously. “I can’t concentrate!”
Florina shrieked. Serra whirled. The javelin had driven right through her pegasus’ wing at the broadest point and torn through; it was now sticking in the wall behind. The flying horse reared and screamed and tossed Florina off. Serra waved her staff urgently and the terrible wound began to staunch.
Lyn charged back around the corner. She glanced around and swept up the unconscious Florina in her arms after sheathing her sword. On the other side, Wil ran back also. He skidded to a stop, but still slammed into Erk and knocked him over.
“Watch it, Wil!” Erk growled irritably. The brown-eyed archer scrambled up. Rumbles and crashes could be heard from Sain’s corridor.
“Sorry,” he panted. “I just heard Florina scream, and…”
“HELP!”
Nils’ cry rang through the fortress. Ninian stiffened.
The door creaked wildly as it was opened a cautious distance. Dorcas flung it wide, hinges protesting. The door fell off. Rath sent an arrow through the eye of the skulking figure who had opened it, and a blast from Lucius sent other figures flying back. Then the cry came.
“Well, uh… HEY, CENIRO!” bellowed Matthew down to the entrance hall.
“Dorcas and Matthew! Come back here!” echoed back. The burly warrior and the lithe thief ran. Lucius watched them go, and turned to see a cavelier with a sword charge through the door straight at him. The arrow from Rath’s little bow pinged off his armour. Lucius narrowly escaped being trampled.
Ceniro rounded the corner. Nils was sprawled on his back in the far corner, a grim-jawed mercenary swordsman and a lance-wielding soldier standing over him. The tactician sent Wil and Erk down hastily.
“Not a step closer,” yelled the soldier. “Any further and the brat dies.” Lyn whipped around the corner, still carrying Florina, and bumped into Ceniro. Serra slammed into Lyn, and Florina’s pegasus nudged Serra. Ceniro felt nothing, as all his attention was on controlling the disaster in front of him.
“CHARGE!” yelled a familiar voice. Kent and Sain appeared around the bend and skewered both enemy soldiers. Nils yelled and ducked. However, the two knights were no mean horsemen; Sain pulled the young bard into the saddle and trotted back to Serra.
Florina’s eyes were open, and Lyn put her down. The young knight was wobbly, but managed to get astride her pegasus with little trouble. Serra’s staff glowed bright blue, and the long cut in Nils’ arm was healed.
Dorcas and Matthew arrived, out of breath.
“Sorry,” Ceniro apologized. “We have it under control now.”
“I think Lucius is in trouble,” said Matthew, eyes wide. “I heard something back there. Who’s going?”
“Kent, Nils, and Serra,” said Ceniro instantly. “Come, Lyn.” The brown-haired strategist sped down the passage with the swordswoman at his heels.
