The Queen of Mages (59 page)

Then some fool on Dardan’s side, one of the
men hidden in a storefront, fired an arrow into the mage’s back.
The mage screamed and slumped down over the body of one of his
soldiers, but this alerted the rest, who immediately retreated down
the street, shouting about an ambush.

“Forward!” Dardan shouted. He leapt out from
his hiding place and sprinted across to Amira. The second group of
enemy scouts, on the far side of his wife, had fared better, for
they looked to have two mages, a man and a woman.

As he closed, Dardan saw that Emma lay dead
on the ground. Not from mage-power, but rather a white-fletched
arrow through her throat. At this close range, it seemed, Amira and
her mages could not react quite fast enough to stop arrows.

But the same was true of the enemy, and
another five archers came up behind Dardan and started firing at
the enemy scouts. One of the mages, the man, took a shaft through
the shoulder and fell, and then the air cracked as Jeffrey—Dardan
guessed—got off an explosion with his own mage-power. The remaining
half-dozen enemy soldiers were flung into the air, and the second
mage, the woman, was torn to pieces. Her upper torso landed not
five feet before Dardan, splashing blood across the stones and
dying with a silent shriek on her lips. The horror of it barely
registered on him.

By now Dardan’s men had all come out,
forming ragged ranks as Liam exhorted them to get in order. He was
trying to make them look a larger force than they were; Edon’s men,
further down the road toward the wall, were preparing for a
charge.

“We’ll never survive that,” Dardan said,
racking his brain for a way out. There were five times as many men
on the other side, and probably a comparable ratio of mages.

The first ranks of the main body of royal
soldiers were no farther than two hundred yards away and closing
quickly. Jeffrey peered around the corner of the smithy at them.
“Black spirits! We’ll be overrun if they’ve even got just one or
two mages to block our beads.”

“They’ve likely got more than that,” Amira
said.

“And they’re in good order. Those are royal
soldiers, not irregulars we drummed up…” Dardan shouted all of a
sudden. “Jeffrey! Blow up the street to slow them down!”

A mad grin spread across the blond mage’s
face. He leaned around the corner, and a moment later the paving
stones fifty yards away cracked and exploded into the air. This
repeated every few moments all along the width of the street, until
it had been churned into knee-deep rubble. Dust swirled above it as
Edon’s forces closed, and arrows started to fly in both directions,
with little accuracy. Jeffrey hooted with satisfaction.

“Tell the men to fall back,” Dardan said to
Liam. “With luck, we’ll keep one step ahead.”

“Count Razh is going to be annoyed you’re
tearing up all his nice streets,” Liam remarked.

“He may present me with a bill for the
damage if we survive. Move!”

Their ragged company, with Dardan and the
mages at its tail, scrambled up the road. Voices hoarse from
shouting urged Edon’s men after them, through the dust and
rubble.

Again Dardan ordered Jeffrey to tear up the
road, creating another haze of dust. Two hundred yards further on,
they were about to do it again, when Amira grabbed Dardan’s
arm.

“This is gaining us time, but little else.
They still have their mages. Put archers on the roofs ahead! With
the dust Jeffrey makes, they can wait until the best moment, and
kill some of Edon’s mages.”

“That might lose them a few mages, at little
cost to us, m’lord,” Liam put in.

“Our men will certainly die,” Dardan said.
Liam only raised his eyebrows at his master. “But… we cannot win
unless we take some pieces off the board. So be it.” He had Liam
give the order, which the
valo
seemed more than happy to do.
To send men to their deaths. Is that what it means to
lead?

He sent up eight archers, four on either
side of the road, and told them to spread out across the roofs so
that even if one were hit by an explosion, the others would still
be free to fire. Jeffrey tore up the street again, to make a screen
of dust and hide the archers.

“How will we know if it worked?” Francine
asked. They’d taken up station another two hundred yards on,
watching the road where Edon’s men were now scrambling through the
debris.

“We’ll watch for the silver, or for less of
it, I suppose,” Amira said.

When the bulk of Edon’s men were past the
rubble, Dardan had his few remaining archers fire at them, to focus
their attention. A moment later, eight arrows descended almost as
one from the rooftops to either side. Dardan thought he saw a few
men fall. A moment later, the roof of one of the buildings
exploded, and then another a moment later. More arrows came down
from above, but not as many; and in a few more moments they stopped
altogether.

“There must be some female mages in that
group,” Amira said. “But I think our archers took out a few of the
men.”

“Maybe, m’lady,” Liam said, “but they’re
still coming.”

That surprise would not work again, and in
any event they had only a half-dozen archers left. Dardan kept the
remains of the company moving. Jeffrey complained of fatigue by the
sixth time he tore up the road, though he was energized when at one
point he blew up the wall of a brick-fronted building and showered
Edon’s men with rubble, knocking several of them down. Still,
Edon’s men were gaining on them. Stragglers from Dardan’s force
were overrun and cut down. Their numbers dwindled, and yet Edon’s
army seemed as strong as ever.

Once, Dardan’s force was almost blindsided
by a column of royal infantry who came barrelling out of a side
street—but inexplicably, they had only one mage with them. Amira,
screaming like a banshee, ran toward him with Francine on her
heels. Between them they killed the mage and cut down half a dozen
soldiers before the rest turned and fled. But that stroke of luck
did not repeat.

Dardan’s legs felt like jelly. They’d
crossed half the city evading their pursuers, but where would it
end? The mages said they still saw many silver flashes from the men
following them. Dardan might not have Liam’s head for numbers, but
he could count. They just didn’t have the resources to survive
this.

He gritted his teeth and made himself take
another step. Then a man of his shouted and pointed down an
adjoining street. Dardan looked; a small group was coming toward
them. A few armed men… but more who wore no armor, and finally
Dardan recognized that mop of blond hair.

Count Razh Bahodir trotted to a stop and
waved, breathing heavily. “We would have found you sooner… but a
company of Edon’s men decided to chase us around. We lost them down
near the docks.”

“The docks?” Amira said suddenly. “Did
you—never mind. Where are we?”

“Not far from the castle. Look,” Razh said,
pointing behind her at the battlements atop the keep, just visible
poking over a trading-house.

Dardan took a moment to examine Razh’s
party: half a dozen mages, some battered, some bloody; four or five
archers; and Patric, Razh’s old
valo
. Not much in the way of
reinforcements. “Is this everyone?”

“Everyone we could find. It’s likely there’s
still a few of our mages out there somewhere.”

“We should go to the castle,” Amira said
softly.

“What? Why?” Dardan glanced over his
shoulder. Edon’s men were tiring as well, but still they were only
a few hundred yards away. He gave Amira a push and signaled his men
to move on.

“Edon wants me. He could bring the castle
down around our heads, but he won’t. He’ll come for me.” Her voice
was as tranquil as Dardan had ever heard it.

Razh shrugged. “It’s as good a plan as any.
At least we’ll feel safer.”

“We’d do well to unlearn those old feelings,
m’lord,” Liam muttered.

They cut down the next street and aimed for
Tal Vieran. The gate, stupidly, stood open. No one had thought to
seal it.

As his company streamed in through the gate,
another shout of alarm went up, and Dardan looked. Who was it this
time? A group, a large group, was coming up another street toward
Tal Vieran’s gate. But this time, its allegiance was unmistakable:
the purple and blue banner of Relindos marched in time with armored
and mounted men, and there, in the van, rode Edon Relindos,
resplendent in his golden armor.

Amira saw him too. Her jaw clicked shut and
she shuddered.

Dardan wanted to put his arms around her,
but there was no time. “Inside!”

Arrows flew from Edon’s group, and then the
explosions came, on the fringes of Dardan’s company. Men went down
on both sides, but more defenders fell than invaders.

They were down to ten mages and maybe twice
that in mundane defenders, including Dardan and Liam. When they
came to the front steps, Amira stopped and turned to face Edon.

“There’s at least a dozen mages out there,
plus the king,” Razh said, surveying the royal forces arrayed
beyond the outer gate.

“Better odds than we had before, m’lord,”
Liam said.

The count grinned faintly. “Somehow I am not
comforted.”

The other mundane defenders of Elland looked
as ragged and worn as Dardan felt. He could hardly stand the idea
of sacrificing any more of them to preserve his own life. The mages
had a fire in their eyes that the regular men did not, but even
they were nearing their limits.

Edon strode through the wide-open gate. He
stopped, fists planted on hips, just inside the foreyard. A full
dozen other mages spread themselves out behind him. Dardan
recognized Lord Chyros among them, smug and smirking and looking
just as presentable as when he’d come to treat the previous day, as
if none of the fighting had touched him.

“You have cost me a great deal, Lady Amira,”
Edon called out. “I am beginning to wonder if you are worth the
effort.”

“Would that you’d stayed in Callaston and
saved yourself the trouble,” she shouted back at him. The gash on
her cheek had stopped bleeding, Dardan saw; she’d have her own scar
there, to match Edon’s.

“Come to me now and put an end to this. You
simply lack the strength to win. The realm will not be stronger
with us divided.”

“The realm will be stronger if you are not
in it.” She drew herself up imperiously, and all the blood and dirt
no longer mattered. “Come and claim your prize, if you dare.” She
spun on her heel and strode into the castle.

Dardan followed her, but kept an eye on
Edon, who looked infuriated. In the vestibule, Dardan stopped his
wife. “That was foolish.”

She shrugged his hand off her arm. “You keep
saying we’re doomed. What does it matter?”

He frowned, unable to find a reply. Finally
he said, “Then let us plan for our doom.” He peered back out the
door. Edon stood there conferring with his mages. Some men in plate
had joined them, including at least half a dozen Wardens. He
wondered for a moment if Mason Iris might be one of them—no one had
seen him since his argument with Amira yesterday—but then he
realized that he did recognize one: black hair, hard eyes. Jack
Penrose stood beside Edon, glowering at everything.

“Send the servants to the cellars, if they
haven’t gone there already,” Razh said to Patric, who despite his
age had kept pace with them the whole day. “And hide there
yourself.”

“I shouldn’t leave you, m’lord,” the old
valo
protested.

“I should not like to explain to your wife
why you died uselessly.” Razh gave a weak smile. “Go.” Patric
huffed a sigh, nodded, and left.

“Have we some sort of plan, m’lords?” Liam
asked.

Dardan glanced outside again. Some of the
mages and Wardens stared back at him, but Edon still spoke urgently
to the others. “They mean to come in after us. Our mages and theirs
cannot easily hide from one another, but the Wardens can make use
of the element of surprise. And so can we who are not mages.” The
Ellanders who had been archers outside also had swords; Dardan had
them discard the bows in favor of their blades. “Group up. One
mage, two swords. Scatter through the castle. Set our swords to
ambush their mages. Kill the mages
first,
” he emphasized to
everyone. “Without them, the Wardens are nothing.”

“What about his maj—Edon?” Jeffrey asked.
“Killing the king can’t be a good idea, no matter what.”

Dardan met his gaze. “Let the Aspects guide
you.” Jeffrey nodded, confused, but Dardan had no other advice. He
was certain that he himself would kill Edon, given the chance.

He took Amira’s hand. “I would not have this
end with anyone else.”

Her eyes sparkled at him. “I am sorry. For
all of it.”

He shook his head, and kissed her once
quickly.

Amira addressed Jeffrey and Razh. They and
Benton were the only male mages in the party; the rest were all
women. “Turn the front steps to rubble. Perhaps Edon will twist his
ankle climbing over it.”

Razh laughed, and clapped a hand on
Jeffrey’s shoulder. “This is going to empty my coffers, I swear. On
the count of three…”

Dardan could not see the beads, but someone
in the foreyard shouted, “Look out!” If Edon’s mages tried to stop
Amira’s, they must have failed, because the steps outside the door
exploded into stony fragments, and then again once more a moment
later.

“Group up and go!” Dardan shouted. He took
Amira’s hand; Liam followed them into the main hall and up the
grand stairs. Razh and two other swordsmen went the same way, then
split off toward the bedchambers.

Dardan ended up leading Amira and Liam to
Razh’s private office. He shut the door behind them.

“The male mages are going to have a tough
time of it,” Amira said. “They risk bringing the castle down around
them, even if they use as little power as they can.”