The Crowned (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga, Book 6) (17 page)

* * * * *

Garret got Seth’s message and literally shouted in triumph.
Fifty
thousand dwarves should do the trick!
But more importantly, it meant that
Linaya and Zorbin were returning. What he wouldn’t give to have them at his
side. One in battle and the other in bed. There would be no more delay, they
would need to be married at once.

With his high spirits restored, Garret raced to the eastern
wall as fast as he was able. Though the majority of the fighting would likely
be on the west wall, the dwarves would be marching from the east.

Reaching his destination, he scanned the fields surrounding
the city’s eastern side to no avail. There were as yet no dwarves to be seen. Disappointed,
he remained for many long minutes thinking that if he waited just a little
longer they would come. So afraid to miss the dwarves approach was the king, he
did not realize how quickly the darkness would be upon them. He feared that the
moment he left the eastern wall was the moment the dwarves would arrive, Linaya
in tow. So, engrossed in his visual search, he completely missed when the order
was given to ignite the walls.

Flames sprang up before Garret’s face, and suddenly returned
to reality, he sighed loudly, his mouth forming a straight line, before he
turned and stalked back the way he had come.

Two hours had passed since the walls had been ignited, and
already Sara had proof that their plan was working. Apparently many of the new
young vampires linked to her had arisen, and began to hunt and feed. Power
began to come to her sporadically at first, and then increasingly more
regularly. Now it trickled in nearly constantly. Though the influx of power
felt so good, eliciting completely inappropriate responses to an impending
battle, she felt disgusted by the process. It was a necessity, not a desire.

Sometime near the three hour mark, Seth’s cat girls bounded
away from the wall defenses, saying something about a mouse hunt, to which
several of her husband’s newest troops looked uneasy. Sara couldn’t help but to
grin a little, Seth giving her as stern a look as he could manage in response.

By four hours the fire upon the walls was running on fumes,
and Sara was feeling amazing. Another generation was already awakening and now
the power came to her quickly, gaining momentum by the moment. It was not long
before she began to really see the effects of gaining so much power, as the
world and people around her began to slow. It was an odd thing, the sounds
around her growing deeper, the movements surreal, as if she had struck her
head.

This early in the process, she tried to imagine what the
world would be like in a few more hours as her kind multiplied faster and
faster. She wondered too if it would be enough to face Sigrant.
Seth
was
afraid of him. And if
Seth
was afraid, Sara knew the man was powerful. But
there was only one way to know what the outcome was going to be, and that was
to see it through. Just one more collision of lives, and a huge one at that.

Watching through the dying veil of flames, she could see
them below the walls, pacing hungrily outside the city. She knew it was only a
matter of time before they got in.

“Just give me another hour,” she begged the night.

* * * * *

Linaya raced alongside Zorbin, their mounted allies fanned
out to either side, creating a wall of fur, fangs, and armor. The padded feet
of their mounts pounded the ground in a constant tumbling rhythm that sounded
like a waterfall in the distance. Linaya could only imagine what the defenders
of Valdadore would think upon seeing them, though really she was simply excited
to see her home again.

Though darkness had come already, she felt secure that they
would reach the city by morning. Already the foothills of the mountains grew
flatter, and less populated by trees and shrubs. It wasn’t until nearly two
hours after sunset that Linaya felt any reason for alarm.

As the sky grew ever darker she soon realized that something
was amiss. For in the distance, in the direction of her home city, darkness did
not claim the land. Instead, a great dome of light seemed to emanate from where
she knew the city was, though the city itself was not yet visible. The great
orange and yellow flickering light hinted of fire, but Linaya could not believe
that Valdadore could have fallen already. Perhaps it was simply besieged and
had lit fires around the city for light and defense. In any case, she knew that
it could not bode well for those she cared for.

“Zorbin, we must pick up the pace,” she shouted over the
constant drumming of wolven paws.

“Aye, m’lady. I see it too,” the Dwarven knight of Valdadore
replied.

Without even giving a command to his mount, Linaya watched
as Xanth propelled forward at an increased rate, and began driving her heels to
the flanks of her warhorse to try and keep pace.

Without so much as a bark or howl, the entire line followed
suit and the thunderous crescendo thrummed on, seemingly louder than before.

* * * * *

Seth heaved a sigh, his chest rising and falling with the
laborious breath. He had done much damage over the last few months. Most of
which for personal reasons. The consequences were not intentional, but
consequences never really were, he supposed. Many had died, not only at his
hands, but as a result of his actions and decisions as well. Even the blood of
those killed by his creations was on his hands. It seemed a relentless pattern
of events that led him to again and again to make decisions under duress. But
even so, every action was birthed of a decision, and only he could take
responsibility for the decisions that he had made.

Looking down the wall, he could see the direct proof of his
decisions both good and bad. Sara stood nearest him, her claim to life growing
with every measurable moment. Even graceful and beautiful by any standards,
Seth had made of her a monster designed to end life. Worse than that, his
ignorance had created of her an infectious breed that even now the spread was
both their curse and their only likely avenue of escape. Few beloved by Seth
had not been directly affected by his alteration of Sara. Even Borrik’s aura
bore witness to Sara’s deeds.

Though a powerful beast of a man in his own right, Seth’s
most trusted ally had become tainted by his bride in an effort to save the
once-man’s life. A single bite Sara had administered to Borrik, after the fall
from the wall surrounding the palace complex. The fall that had brought to
justice Sara’s would-be assassin. And though the bite had not been enough to
taint Borrik’s massive aura enough to give him the thirst, the alteration
was
there. Like Sara, Borrik was infected with the alteration, only to a much
lesser degree. But it allowed the beast of a man the ability to heal
unnaturally fast. Seth wondered what would become of a man bitten by Borrik
that was allowed to live.

With a shudder coursing down his spine, he looked beyond
Sara and Borrik at his newest creations. They were not huge monstrous creatures
designed for slaughtering multitudes of enemies. No. These were different. Whereas
wolves, like the brethren of Borrik and his remaining men were predators, rats
were quite the opposite. Yes, they could fight. Yes, they could kill. Yes, when
backed into a corner rats could become ferocious, but that is not why Seth
created his newest troops. He needed them. Sure. Valdadore needed them in
answer to the vampire horde knocking at the west gate. But that still was not
what had led him to make beasts of children. Instead it was their most inherent
quality, a quality that humans detested, that led him to the action. Rats were
survivors.

Seth decided to create his newest troops as a means to keep
them alive. Rats were designed to avoid predators. They could jump amazing
distances, climb vertical surfaces, chew through just about any material, and
were agile beyond measure. They were designed to survive cats and humans and every
predator in between, and none had yet managed to eradicate them. They needed no
light, could sustain themselves off of just about any food source, and could
breed faster than nearly any creature upon Thurr. If humanity ceased to exist
because of his actions in the days to come, there was hope that a portion of
humanity could live on, inside these once-humans, and they could escape and
repopulate.

Though Seth felt he was the instrument through which humans
might perish from Thurr, he hoped that this small deed might at least allow his
race, or a closely related race, to rise from the ashes of his failures and
make up for the deeds he had done.

Shaking his head, Seth stretched his wings in preparation of
what was to come. If Sara needed more time to save Valdadore, then he would do
everything in his power to buy them every second he could.

Turning his gaze once more, it settled on his wife. Stronger
now, and in the absence of light, she had foresworn her armor, wearing only
skin tight black leather and her favorite pair of enchanted blades. Her once
amber eyes flickered red in the dying light of the burning walls of Valdadore. Reaching
to her, Seth ran the back of his fingers down her perfectly smooth cheek,
eliciting a smile from her deep red lips.

“I love you,” Seth whispered into the night, before
launching into the air with a leap and flap of his great wings.

* * * * *

Sara heard the deep sounding slow words of the only man
deserving of her love, and watched as he ascended into the night air. He seemed
to move impossibly too slow for flight, but she knew it was her own increasing
speed and strength that made it seem so. What felt like minutes later, though
was likely only seconds, Borrik followed his master into the air and Sara knew
the battle was about to begin. Though by her standards,
about to begin
meant she had time to ponder a few things before she needed to lend herself to
battle.

The first thing that she thought of was fear. Not the fear
of losing the battle, or failing to do what she must. Nor was it the fear of
dying in battle. Sara realized that as she was growing stronger and faster she
was becoming more and more alone. Already she could not speak to normal humans.
Borrik and Seth barely understood her. In the hours to come she would become
yet faster and stronger and further distance herself from all that she loved,
and all those she knew. How was she to be Seth’s bride if she was unable to
touch him or speak to him?

For what felt like a long time she pondered the problem,
finally deciding upon two things. First, if given time, Seth would find a
solution to the problem. She believed in him more than any person in the world.
Second, Seth had enough to contend with, especially with the burden on his
conscious. If there was a will, there was a way, and Sara already knew one way
that was certain to relieve her of the power she was gaining.

Looking about, she witnessed as the first sections of wall
became free of flame, creating breaches in Valdadore’s defenses. Drawing her
blades, she hopped to the rim of the wall in front of her and stepped over the
edge into darkness.

* * * * *

Battle was upon them and Garret stalked down the massive
stairs from the city wall. Reaching the bottom, he spun on his heel and stormed
across the cobbled street towards the city gate. The massive gate was closed
and barred, and its portcullis lowered to protect those within the city. But
beside the large gate only a few yards away was a smaller portal unknown to all
but a few who were charged with the city’s defense. It was a hidden doorway
within one of the guard posts just inside the city wall. Daily guards inhabited
the small structure built up against the wall of the city, not only watching
their post at the massive gate, but also defending the secret of this hidden
entrance. In reality, most of the guards themselves were unaware that the
portal existed.

Entering the small building, Garret simply slammed an arm
through the wooden paneling that made up the back wall of the building. With a
quick heave he ripped the secret panel free from the wall and looked into the
darkened tunnel that stood before him. Though his brother preached to spare the
lives of as many enemies as possible, Garret wanted every last tainted monster
ripped to pieces and burned while he watched.

He knew not what had turned his brother into an instrument
of evil, but still held a diminishing hope that the man turned monster could be
redeemed.

Stalking into the darkness, Garret breathed deeply the
scents of moss, mold, and dank, stagnant water. Though he carried no light into
the darkness, and had never been here before, he strode confidently through the
blackness without so much as a raised hand to protect him from collision.

At first the darkened tunnel sloped down, then after
splashing through a cold puddle it again turned upwards. Ahead of him he could
hear the scurrying and squeaking of rats, a grim reminder of Seth’s latest
debacle. Disgusted, Garret slowed his pace and at last raised an arm and felt
the last few feet until he found the stone wall before him.

Feeling the creases between the stones, he located the one
he sought and gave it a rough twist. With a snap it spun a quarter turn before
he thrust it into the wall. With a breath, now filled with dust, the hidden
stone door swung silently open and before Garret stood the first of his enemies
where behind it milled hundreds of its kind.

Still within the confines of the small tunnel, he was unable
to call upon his blessing when the creature attacked. There was nothing to do
but draw his sword and fight his way out of the confines of the wall.

No more was the tip of his blade clear from the scabbard at
his side, than the beast was upon him. Clawing, scratching and biting, the
ravenous thing landed upon him drawing blood time and again. It clung to him
with tooth and nail, forcing Garret to relinquish his sword as he fell back
into the tunnel. Using his fists he pummeled the creature and finally breaking
its grasp he smashed it, first into one wall of the tunnel and then into the
other with a sickening crack. Throwing the lifeless body of the creature out
into the waiting horde, he watched as they converged upon the tunnel opening.