Soul Under the Mountain (Legend of Reason Series) (8 page)

Herrus hear
d
the horn and immediately turned around. He ran at full speed towards the enemy, desperately trying to kill the man sounding the alarm. With a swift slice, he cleaved the horn in half, along with a good portion of the soldier's face. The stunned soldier fell, rolling down a hillside. His companions immediately sheathed their cold blades inside Herrus's gut. Blood poured from sev
eral wounds and out of the Medoran's mou
th
. He fell to his knees as other soldiers paused to hack in a fit of fury.

Herrus had suffered a cruel fate, but he had also destroyed the horn and bought them precious time. Assuming the guards at the gate
had not heard the initial calls, they would be taken by surprise when the Medorans arrived there.
It had occurred to Rommus that the tunnel would be a better
exit;
however his mission was to get the gate open for the
Medoran troops to enter. He already failed to set fires or cause any sort of damage to the fortifications, and he simply could not return without getting that gate open.

They ran passed the museum with the
pursuing
Vindyri quite a ways behind them. Their armor and their attack on Herrus had slowed them significantly, but not enough
for the Medorans
to escape them completely. A few of th
e enemy
had fallen behind, unable to run any farther under the weight of their armor. Only 11 still gave chase to the fleeing Medorans.

On the Medoran side, the rest of the men charged with assassinating the Vindyri officers had returned during the battle
. Herrus was the only one who had fallen, so eight men ran with Rommus. While the odds of defeating all 11 of the Vindyri were fairly good, it was far too risky to stop and fight. There was no doubt that many Vindyri-including Desmond—would soon be on their heels. Rommus could not risk it, and kept running.

Finally torches could be seen in the
distant mists.
Atop a tall wall
, several Vindyri guards could be seen
in the faint morning light
, and a few of them rushed out to meet the Medorans before they reached the gate. Four Vindyri had left their posts, and another four stayed. The four at the top of the wall were archers, and
arrows were already whizzing through the air.
With no armor, the Medorans were in trouble.

Chapter 8

Tannis saw the archers turn around, firing arrows back into the city. Rommus had failed to set anything afire, which would have been a better cue, but the archers turning was a welcome sight. It meant that the crew of Medoran assassins had completed their task, and with any luck the gates were about to open. He held his hand up as he watched, signaling to the soldiers around him to stay quiet and to watch him for commands.

The ringing of steel and grunts of desperate men could be heard over the wall, along with the twangs of bow
strings. Every now and then the
plink of arrow hitting armor pierced the air. Tannis looked over his shoulder at one of his Captains and nodded towards him. The silent command was for the Captain to send a few archers out
across the short field and take out the Vindyri archers atop the wall.

Six men slipped quietly from the tree line. They wa
ded through the gentle morning mist
and crept close to the makeshift wall protecting the city. All of them worked in unison, and when one archer nodded, all of them fired their arrows at once. A few ricocheted off of armor, but three arrows hit their mark and took the fight right out of the wounded men. Before they knew what hit them, more Medoran arrows tore into them. One fell backwards, tumbling back down the wall into the waiting daggers of the Medoran archers
on the ground
.

With nothing left to hide, Tannis stood and
loudly
barked out orders. "Medorans! To the gates! Fall in!"

A thousand
men stood and left the trees, forming ranks as they did so. They formed phalanxes, 50 men to a
row
and
18 rows
deep.
Behind the phalanxes were two more rows of archers.
They marched in formation to the gates, where they halted; the front line lowering their spears. They waited in silence for orders, the breeze tugging at their crimson capes.

Over the wall, the battle grew quiet. All the men waited in wonder, curios about who had won on the other side. It seemed to be a very long wait, and for a time Tannis thought that it was the Vindyri who had finished off the Medorans inside, and that the gates would probably be bricked over from the inside permanently.

But the heavy wooden doors
creaked. They were pulled open f
rom the
inside, and Tannis saw his son, injured, standing in front of four other Medoran heroes. A
bound
Vindyri prisoner accompanied them
and was pushed along by one of the soldiers
. Rommus staggered out of the gates and his men followed.

"We've lost some men," Rommus said.

Tannis stepped off to the side as the Phalanxes marched into Taburdum. "I know son. I knew you would. Those men knew it when they went in there with you. They are honorable men. They are heroes."

"Your sword. It's gone. I lost it in battle."

Tannis put his hand on his son's shoulder. "It's alright son. It's just a piece of metal. What matters is that you completed
your mission and you have returned. Did you kill all of the officers?"

Rommus shook his head. "Not all of them. According to our prisoner here, we got all but three of them. Two were awake and on duty. You were wrong about them sticking the lowly officers with night watch. I ran into a very formidable foe. He said he knew you."

Tannis knew who it was before Rommus could say it. "Desmond Afornn."

"Yeah, him.
I got into a little fight with him."

Tannis's mouth fell open in shock. "Are you kidding? Rommus, do
not
fig
ht that guy. Stay away from him.
I mean it."

"I did fine. I'm here aren't I?"

"Rommus Desmond is not like anyone else you've ever confronted. He
has been
my arch enemy for decades. He's still alive, even with
me
going after him all these years. Doesn't that say enough?"

"Believe me, I learned my lesson. If I can avoid him, I will—at least while I am not wearing the armor of Arius. I was a fool not to bring it in there with me."

"It had to be done this way, Rommus. Besides, it's good for you to be down in the trenches with your men. It shows you are a true warrior and they will follow you because of it. Those dainty officers who yell orders from horseback are not real leaders."

"Speaking of that, don't you need to get in there with your men? There's an awful lot of Vindyri and Bhoors coming this way. They are going to be very angry."

"No, I am not fighting on this side of the battle. I will command the larger force on the other side of the city. I have Rhodiir and an escort of 20
horsemen that will be leaving with me shortly."

"I see. Well, it's going to take a lot to send those animals running the other way. There's a lot more than a thousand men coming this way. I hope we can handle them."

"Of course we can, Rommus. We use the phalanx. Those brutes just rush up to an enemy and swing. They have no discipline. They have no weapon that can defeat it."

"Well, I hope
you're right
," Rommus said. "But I take nothing for granted. Anything can happen."

"Smart boy. Before I leave, what did you learn from your prisoner?"

"I haven't had time to ask him much. He says the Zidaoz is coming here to Taburdum in a little over a week. He told us where the officers slept and his information proved to be correct. Of course I don't trust him, but so far he's cooperated well. You can take him with you if you want to question him yourself."

"I will do that. Now get your men into the woods. There's a medic and horses waiting for you a few hundred yards in. You need to get to Brinn as soon as you can. Vohl is looking for you. He says it's important."

Chapter 9

Alana drummed her fingers on the cold granite wall. There were torches out beyond the iron bars, and they gave off enough warmth to keep her from freezing to death, but she still shivered in her cell
.
There was no way to know what time it was, but she assumed she had been there for at least half a day, if not longer. Once she was captured, no one talked to her except to order her around. No one came to her cell to interrogate her or torture her. She just sat there, alone and cold. The only person to visit her at all was a silent Mage who brought her food and water. She tried to flirt with him to make an attempt to trick him into trusting her, but he didn't even stay long enough for her to blurt out a complete sentence.

She was sore all ov
er from falling in the street, and h
er lungs hurt when she took deep breaths. She was speckled with little round bruises where the Mages' knuckles had punched her. She had a terrible headache that throbbed in her head with every heartbeat. And on top of all of her ailments, she was bored out of her mind.

She didn't realize that she was falling asleep until the clang of a heavy door
in the distance
startled her. Another metallic clink, followed by the tinkling of keys meant that the door was locked behind the person who approached. Soft footsteps crept closer, and soon the shadowy figure of a Mage stopped before her cell.

Alana stood up. "I know that walk. I know it's you, Uritus."

Uritus pushed his hood back, revealing his face. "So I really do have
the
Alana captured again. I was thinking it was too good to be true. Are you being treated well?"

"Do you Medorans find it funny to ask people that every time you capture someone? And what's with the keys? Last time you had me locked up I saw you unlock the door with magic."

Uritus yawned. "It takes more energy than I care to expend at the moment. Besides, I must
present a certain image to my people, and for that I cannot use magic."

"Yeah, I have gathered as much. You put a great deal of energy into hiding the person you really are."

"Indeed," Uritus said with
a
hint of a sly smile. "Now, tell me about the book"

Alana laughed. "Kill me here. I'm not telling you anything."

His s
mile widened. "No my dear, there's no need to do that
. I want you to tell me everything you know about that book, and in return, I will let you out of here."

His words caught her by surprise and she had a hard time coming up with what to say next. "I—I don't know where it is, and if I did I wouldn't tell you."

"I don't need you to tell me where it is. My men found it not long after they brought you in. Did you think it would be difficult for them to backtrack and look for it? I believe you think you are more clever than you really are, Vindyri."

His words stunned her, and she feared that it showed on her face. She made an effort to relax her expression and give him a cooler look to try to throw him o
ff. He had to be lying to her, as t
here was no need to ask her about the book if he already had it in his possession. He was simply trying to trick her into giving away information on its location. She hoped that her expression didn't already give too much away.

Alana raised her chin. "With any luck that book is halfway to Burnhamheade by now. You'll never get your hands on it now."

"You stupid girl. I already told you that we found it. It was on the doorstep with the mural. Don't lie to me again or I will
start hurting you in ways only nightmares could come close to. Now, tell me what you know about the book.
Has
Rommus use
d
it to regain his power?"

Her hopes were sunk. It was clear that he did indeed have the book back in his possession, and there was no need to lie about its location. She lowered her head and slumped her shoulders in an effort to convey resignation. She hoped that whatever she said from that point on would be taken as truth.
As long as most of what she said was true, it would be difficult to catch her lying.

She looked at the floor as she spoke. "It's an old book. It apparently has the power to remain constantly accurate no matter what changes are made throughout history.
Even using the star of Tachion to alter history has no effect on its words. This is why it's called
The Book of Eternal Wisdom
. It's a complete timeline for many centuries, although it's out of order. The person writing it wrote it from his perspective and since he was using the star of Tachion to travel through time, it jumps back and forth to different eras.