Red Dragon's Keep (The Dragon's Children Book 1) Page 17

  Thomas nodded in agreement. “I like it. Let’s get everything ready. I want to get as many villagers inside the inner walls as possible. The walls need to be manned at all times and the villagers can help with that. Sergeant, can you see to it?”

  Haloran nodded.

  “All of you need to know we caught Jago communicating through some kind of device with the Demons.” He shook his head and muttered, “I still can’t believe it.”

  Stunned silence filled the room.

  “Why would he betray us?” Breanna whispered. Aeden stepped over to her side and put her arm around Breanna’s shoulders.

  “Some people are weak and think that they will gain strength and be more powerful by serving another master. Some do it for the thrill. It doesn’t matter why. We’ll never know for sure. What really matters is the damage that he has done,” Aeden told her.

  Thomas frowned and looked around the table. “We’re going to have to do it again, darn it! Another chore on the list of things to be done.”

  “What?” asked Owen.

  “Check the whole Keep again for portals and magical traps. Okay. Owen and Evan, take the third floor. Ask your swords to help. Breanna and Cameron, take the second floor. Marta and I will check here and in the undercroft. We’ll meet in the armory and do a sweep there, then through the rest of the Keep grounds. Do you all remember how to isolate and destroy anything you find?” Everyone nodded.

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  The boys left in a clump. Haloran walked out of the Solar with Aeden. Thomas gathered the plans and rolled them into a cylinder. He looked out the east windows at the gathering clouds, his mind far away, thinking of his parents. Wondering if Captain Mathin had found them yet. No report had arrived since Mathin had ridden out of the Keep.

  He shook his head and turned to find the room empty but for Marta.

  “My Lord, I wanted to fill you in about the cousins’ training. They are doing really well. Our …” she paused to search for the right term, “sword companions…have been helping them a lot. Even Breanna can defend and attack. I’m pretty surprised.”

  Thomas grinned. “Quite a change from trying to teach all alone, isn’t it? HellReaver did the same for me. Teaching Owen actually helped me a lot. Let’s get this floor swept for Dark magic and then check the undercroft again.”

  “Yes, Lord.”

  “And call me Thomas when no one else is around. I still look around for my Father when I hear ‘Lord’.”

  “Okay, Thomas,” Marta said slowly. She avoided looking at him. “This room at least is clear. HellScream told me that she’s felt something in the kitchen hallway.”

  “Lead on. The sooner we start, the quicker we finish.” He gestured toward the doorway with a grand sweep of his arm.

  Chapter 31

  Breanna shivered. She felt a cold prickle of fear slither down her spine. Goosebumps rose on her arms. She and Cameron were searching every room on the second floor - the family’s floor. They had been through six of the rooms so far.

  “Cameron, wait! Something’s here,” she hissed.

  Cameron glanced at her and let his eyes run along the corridor that they had just stepped into from her father’s room. Something moved along the wall on the floor. He reached out and grabbed Breanna’s arm, nodding his head at the large rat scurrying down the hall.

  “Let’s follow,” he whispered. “This might be the break we need.”

  They trailed the rat, and watched as it turned the corner into Evan’s room. They crept to the door frame and Cameron slowly pushed one eye past the wood until he could see into the room. Breanna edged her head past the frame below his.

  The rat sat up in the middle of the room, utterly still, holding something in its jaws, its back to them. Its fur was thin and patchy. A long thin grey naked tail stretched out behind. It looked sick. Its head turned jerkily from right to left. It suddenly scuttled toward the large wooden wardrobe that held Evan’s clothes and ran behind it.

  Cameron drew GhostWalker from his scabbard. Breanna drew SunWalker. They charged through the door and over to opposite sides of the wardrobe. Cameron pressed his eye to the gap between the wall and the back of the wardrobe. Breanna did the same on the other side. The rat was up on its hind legs leaning its front paws against the wall, pressing the object that it held against it with its snout. Cameron thrust GhostWalker toward the rat. Light flared and there was a tiny shriek as the sword’s magic engulfed it. Breanna pushed SunWalker toward the disk on the wall, then behind it, popping it off. She used the sword to pull the disk along the floor toward her.

  “That’s how they are getting in here!” Cameron came around to her side of the wardrobe and looked at the disk. “Maybe we can put a spell on it and take it to Lady Aeden? We need to tell everyone how they are getting in.”

  “SunWalker? Can you do that?” Breanna asked.

  Yes. Touch my blade to the disk.

  A shimmer of light covered the disk in a small bubble. Cameron reached down and picked it up. “Come on. Let’s get this to Lady Aeden.”

  § § §

  They hurried out of the room and down the corridor to the stairs that descended to the great hall. Taking the stairs as fast as they could, they charged across the hall and out to the forecourt. Aeden and Haloran stood before a group of villagers, explaining what they would need to do to defend the Keep. Aeden’s eyes jerked to the children and she turned as they ran up.

  “What is it?” she asked, frowning in concern.

  “There was a rat that ran into Evan’s room.” Breanna spoke between gasps for breath. “We killed it, and pried this off the wall. SunWalker put a shield around it so you could see,”

  “That’s how the portals are getting into the Keep!” Cameron panted. He handed the shielded disk to Aeden as she held out her hand.

  “Good work, you two,” she exclaimed. “This explains much.” Snow started to drift down from the lowering sky. “Sergeant Haloran, could you finish assigning these good people to watch the walls, and then join us in the great hall? I’ll gather the others.”

  “Of course, my Lady.” He turned to the forty men and women who would take this shift of the watch. They held pikes, and bows, and arrows, as well as pitchforks and rusty swords that they had brought with them from their homes and Steadings. “Let’s get up on the wall and I’ll have the corporal-in-charge show you where to stand and what to watch for.”

  The forty turned and marched as best they could after Haloran. They showed their pride in sharing the defense of the Keep with straight backs and ordered steps. Aeden watched them with sorrow in her heart. She hoped that most of them would be alive after the Demons attacked, but she knew how close it was going to be.

  She shook her head and turned toward the Keep. “Come on. Let’s get to a table inside. OathKeeper, can you please bespeak everyone and ask them to come here?”

  Thomas and Marta, Evan and Owen, and finally Haloran entered the great hall from three different directions. Haloran was followed by twenty soldiers he had assigned to follow the teams during any battle in the Tower.

  “What is it?” demanded Thomas.

  “Thanks to Cameron and Breanna, we now know how the portals are getting into the Keep. Whoever is commanding the Demon hordes is using rats to place the portals within our walls.” Aeden spoke grimly and gestured toward the table where she had placed the disk within its magical shield.

  “Can you follow the spell back to its maker?” Haloran asked.

  “I thought to try it now with the help of all of you. Come, around the table and place your swords like this beside the disk.” Aeden laid OathKeeper next to it. Thomas laid HellReaver at an angle across OathKeeper. The others laid their swords as Aeden directed until they lay in a star shape enclosing the disk.

  “Sergeant Haloran, please keep everyone away until this is done.”

  Aeden closed her eyes and called on her power. She drew as well on the power of the Swords of Light and their wielders. Above t
he star, a shimmering mist began to form. Within the mist a wavering image took shape.

  “This is the spellcaster,” she growled. “Do any of you recognize him?”

  Those in the circle shook their heads. Haloran turned to look and all the blood drained from his face.

  “I know that man!” he exclaimed. “That’s Mannan. He’s one of the King’s councilors. He rallied the Cailleachs to help defeat the Sabhdans of Fasach in the last human war. Even then, he was a powerful mage.”

  Aeden’s eyebrows rose as her eyes widened. “Oh, really?”

  She frowned, and her jaw tightened. “Why does it seem that evil always emanates from Fasach? It’s something to think about.” She crossed her arms and stood in deep thought. Finally she shook her head and looked at the others. “We’ll have to search for more of the portals.”

  Shouts erupted in the forecourt just outside the great doors.

  Chapter 32

  Screams of fear and pain joined the cacophony. Everyone in the hall rushed toward the doors.

  “No!” shouted Aeden. “Take your swords and get to your assigned defenses. The attack has begun. Watch for intruders in the corridors. Haloran, get the soldiers in here to protect each group.” She ran out of the doors to the forecourt.

  Cameron and Breanna, Evan and Owen, Thomas and Marta charged back to the table and grabbed up their swords. The teams raced up the staircase to their corridors. Haloran shouted for the soldiers he had told to stand by and sent them chasing the teams. He followed Aeden out to the forecourt.

  § § §

  Thomas and Marta hurried down the corridor to the kitchen and Gregory’s office, waiting for the tingle that would signal a portal had been opened. The hair on the back of Thomas’s neck rose and he felt the tingle sweep his body. He brought HellReaver up in guard position as he slowed to a stop. Marta raised HellScream as well, and stood at his side.

  Thomas! Beware! HellReaver warned.

  The door to Jago’s office disintegrated into kindling as a monstrous creature filled its frame. Thomas and Marta reeled back against the wall, away from it.

  Black as night, the Demon seemed to smoke as waves of heat rose from its body. Thomas recovered first. His lips drew back exposing his teeth and he snarled. He lowered HellReaver and thrust the Sword of Light into the belly of the Demon. Marta swung HellScream and sliced through the creature’s shoulder, severing its taloned arm.

  Thomas pulled HellReaver back, and then spun in a graceful circle, beheading the Demon, ending its keening shrieks. Four of the soldiers assigned as Thomas’s bodyguards finally arrived and slipped past them, facing down the corridor, ready to take on anything else that attacked.

  “I’d better get outside to the forecourt with Aeden,” Thomas told Marta, wiping HellReaver on the body of the fallen Demon. He pointed down the corridor with his Sword of Light. “You five, patrol this corridor and the great hall,” he ordered the soldiers. “Marta, check in with each team.” He turned and left her there.

  § § §

  Cameron and Breanna surged into the family corridor from the stairwell with their swords already raised in front of them. Two Demons and a winged Smachtmaistir attacked from both sides.

  The six soldiers assigned to their level fought back to back, protecting each other from the Demons snapping at arms and legs and throats.

  Cameron frantically raised his blade to block claws that slashed at his face.

  Breanna shrieked as the Smachtmaistir raked her left arm from shoulder to elbow. She slashed her blade in a wild swing and decapitated the Demon.

  Cameron thrust GhostWalker through the breastbone of the Demon attacking him. It squalled and pushed itself up the blade, talons reaching for him. He kicked it off of the sword and, with a shout of pure rage, raised GhostWalker over his head and brought the blade down on the Demon’s head with every ounce of strength he possessed.

  Breanna screamed in anger and pain and attacked the last Demon as it sprang toward Cameron’s back. She drove SunWalker through its back, then jerked up and out through its shoulder. She swung the sword back in a great arc and took its head.

  The soldiers were down, four killed and two wounded. The Demons they’d fought lay dead in pools of blood and pieces of Demon.

  Cameron pulled Breanna against his side, keeping her from collapsing in shock and pain. “Come on. We need to get that bandaged and be ready for more attacks.”

  He pulled her into the bathing room where towels were neatly stacked. He laid down his sword on the bench against the wall. He took Breanna’s blade from unresisting fingers and did the same with it. He grabbed a cloth and clamped it to Breanna’s arm. “Hold this tight,” he said, his stomach turning at all of the blood flowing down her arm.

  He grabbed a drying sheet and ripped it into several thin strips, then wound them around Breanna’s towel-covered arm, tying the ends at her shoulder. “Can you still fight?” he asked, afraid her answer would be no.

  “I think I can,” she said shakily. “SunWalker, can you help me?”

  Yes, I will. The sword sent energy flowing into Breanna. “Let’s get back out there,” she muttered.

  Four soldiers surged up the stairs and jerked to a stop by the human and Demon bodies.

  Cameron and Breanna staggered out of the bathing room, swords raised, ready to fight on.

  “Looks like you didn’t need much help,” the corporal in charge of the squad remarked dryly, noting the wounds and shredded bloody clothes on the children, the dead and wounded soldiers and the dead Demons.

  “I think you need to stay on this level and guard against any more Demons coming through the portals,” Cameron suggested to the corporal.

  § § §

  Owen and Evan met up with the six soldiers assigned to their team on the third floor. They both saw mangy rats scurrying down the hall at the same time and sprang after them. The grey creatures almost blended in with the stone walls. They ran toward the Solar and several split off from the main group to run into the rooms lining the corridor. Immediately Demons transported through the portals and the rats died.

  Evan leapt right and Owen leapt left, skewering Demons. A Smachtmaistir came through the portal. Both of them swung their swords and cut it in half before it could unfurl its wings.

  More Demons poured from the portals. The soldiers, Evan and Owen were fully engaged, swinging, thrusting, hacking, trying to keep the monsters from getting past them.

  Five Demons and another Smachtmaistir fought past them and raced down the stairs. They met Marta, Cameron, and Breanna coming up.

  Screams of rage echoed up the stairwell. Marta, Cameron and Breanna fought up the stairs. The going was difficult because of the stairwell’s turn to the right. They couldn’t engage the Demons and Smachtmaistir until the enemy were right on top of the trio. Swords flamed and incinerated Demons.

  The children smashed their way through the Demons, leaving the injured to be dispatched by the soldiers responding from the floor below to the battle. They joined Owen, Evan and the rest of the third floor soldiers in their fight.

  They thrust and hacked and sliced until every Demon lay dead.

  Panting from exertion, the combatants leaned against furniture or walls, covered with blood, both Demon and their own. Not one of the humans escaped without injury.

  § § §

  Thomas ran down the stairs to the forecourt. Demons were attacking the walls, climbing them and killing the defenders at the top. Flying Demons dropped huge boulders onto the walls and had breached them in two places. Smachtmaistirs hovered in the air, somehow directing the flood of Demons violating the Keep.

  Demons poured through the breaches, onto the ramparts and over the inner walls. Dead and dying villagers and Demons littered the ramparts, stairs, and grounds. Demons stopped at the dead bodies and started to eat them as others scrambled past, looking for easy prey.

  Defenders threw dead Demons over the walls to distract those who were trying to climb up the outside. Some of
the Demons looked oddly human.

  Soldiers battled Demons in the forecourt. Thomas charged into the middle of the battle, swinging HellReaver in great arcs, slicing arms and legs, torsos and faces, as if he were possessed. Demons fell as he pushed toward Aeden. Simon followed at his back, clumsily trying to protect him with a short sword.

  Haloran ran at the Demons attacking the defenders on the stairs. He helped the desperate men and women drive the Demons back into the forecourt.

  Thomas raised his hand and called magefire. He threw the glowing ball of fire into the face of a Demon that reached for his throat. The Demon shrieked and fell to the ground, clawing at its face. Thomas drove HellReaver through its heart, pulled back and swung, taking its head.

  He whirled around at a scream of agony behind him. He shouted in horror. Demon claws impaled Simon. A huge Demon lifted his writhing body into the air. Simon shrieked again. Thomas charged forward and thrust HellReaver through the Demon’s body. Another Demon grabbed Simon’s body as it fell and began to feed. Rage filled Thomas’s body. He screamed in battle fury and charged at the Demon. The Demon snarled soundlessly in the noise of battle and jumped to attack Thomas. He whirled HellReaver over his head and slashed the Demon’s head from its body.

  The forecourt was filled with struggling humans and attacking Demons. Human defenders fell as more Demons poured into the battle.

  Aeden danced and ducked, whirled and lunged, OathKeeper a scythe of steel, killing Demons and their masters, the Smachtmaistirs, as they tried to overwhelm her with numbers. She hurled magefire at faces, arms and torsos, lighting up Demons to burn to death. More and more of the Demons converged on her.

  A Smachtmaistir ripped OathKeeper from her hand. Demons clawed her from throat to belly. They clung to both legs with their claws and teeth. A Demon fastened its teeth on her arm, bearing her to the ground. Another twisted past her magefire and dug razor sharp claws into the opposite arm while ripping at her belly with its hind feet.

  OathKeeper, lying on the ground at Aeden’s head, flared with magefire. The Sword blazed brightly, sending its fire into the Demons ravaging Aeden’s arms. The Demons lit up like torches.