A Dagger of the Mind (The Imperial Metals) (26 page)

Chapter
48: The Council of Jareld

The Council met at midnight.

Jareld was changed, refreshed, and energetic. Emily had also changed out of her bloody dress, electing for a drab outfit. She wanted to sleep, but was so shaken up by the events of that morning, that she had wandered the entire Castle, floor by floor, until it was time for the Council to meet again. And just as the blood had come out of their clothes, so, too, had the fire gone out of their words. They were a calmer Council. A steadier Council.

But also a Council ready to go to War.

Jareld conceded the need for a Declaration of War. Emily thought it was a little too easy. That he acquiesced too suddenly, considering how reluctant he had been just hours before. But there really was no getting around it. Stories of the Queen’s blood-soaked demise had spread across the Kingdom like an unstoppable wave. There was no stopping the growing rage.

So Jareld made a series of declarations, each of which the Council ratified unanimously. Mustering the largest army the Kingdom had ever seen? Check. Moving food stores south from Trentford? Check. Reinforcing security measures around the Castle Anuen? No problem.

“And finally,” Jareld said, holding up a slip of parchment, “A troop movement order.”

“Where are we moving the troops?” Emily asked through a yawn.

“Just some simple, strategic adjustments,” Jareld said, passing the paper around. Each Council Member in turn gave it a perfunctory glance before it made its way to Emily.

She gave it a perfunctory glance as well. If the rest of the Council was OK with it, it couldn’t be that provocative. Everything seemed to be in order. The five largest standing units, along with the two proposed newly mustered units, would all be repositioned...

“Hang on,” Emily said, sitting up. “This has all the troops being repositioned along the shoreline.”

“Yes,” Jareld said. “How many vote ‘Yea?’”

“Wait,” Emily said, “I want to open the floor for discussion.”

“It’s been a long day,” James Avonshire said. “Can we just get the vote through?”

“No, we can’t. Not until we consider this order.”

“Emily,” Jareld said, dropping all formalities in addressing her, “It’s a simple troop movement.”

“Why are we putting all our troops on the shore? If the Turin invade us, it will be over land or by magic transport. We gain nothing by moving our defenses to the beach. This document has our troops standing ankle deep in the high tide.”

“I’ve thought through all the angles, and trust me, I know how this is going to play out. The coastline is the best position for our army,” Jareld argued. And Emily could tell something was wrong. Because despite how much she resented Jareld, she knew he would never be this reckless. And he would never pretend to know what the best military move was.

“I call for a vote,” James said.

“I object,” Emily said.

“Anyone second the objection?” Jareld asked. None of the Council Members raised a hand. Emily looked around the room in disbelief...

And for the first time really saw the Council. She had been sitting through the meeting, thinking about the Queen, about Jareld, about everything else. Now she finally made eye contact with everyone else, one by one. They all had the same vacant stare. The same daydream behind their faces.

If it had been only one of them, or if they had each looked tired in his or her own way, Emily wouldn’t have noticed. But the fact that they all looked exactly the same made it eerie.

“No objections,” Jareld concluded. “Let’s vote.”

The motion passed seven to one. It was ludicrous, but the Council had moved the entire army onto the sand. As though that was a normal place to keep an army. As though a vacant stare was the normal expression to have.

Chapter
49: Counteroffensive

The stars were already shining when Duncan, Landora, and Nuria arrived at the Lunapera. They set up a campfire while Nuria described her encounter with Vye, and what she had to do.

“I should be the one to enter the dream,” Landora said. “Especially if we are trying to get to Master Eric.”

“Countess Vye indicated I should go,” Nuria pointed out.

“I thought the Countess was dead,” Landora protested.

“We lied,” Duncan explained. “We didn’t want anybody to know she had survived.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me the truth?”

“I thought about it,” Duncan answered, piling firewood over the growing blaze. “But it didn’t seem important.”

“We have been through many dangers together,” Landora said. “I would have trusted you with my secrets.”

“And I would have trusted you with ours,” Duncan said. “It just never came up.”

“We spoke of the Countess. In the cave in Aceley. You continued to speak as though she were dead.”

“Yes, because we were in the heart of the enemy’s territory. I didn’t think it was the best time to reveal our secrets.”

“But in the days traveling home?”

“Both of you, shut up,” Nuria broke into the debate. “Great Halinor, it’s like listening to a nest of baby parrots. Duncan, we should have told her. For my part, I’m sorry I kept it a secret. Landora, Duncan doesn’t have a dishonest bone in his body. He didn’t tell you because he thought that was the best thing to do. Now, can you tell me what all those lanterns are off in the distance?”

Landora and Duncan turned, facing down the mountain. Indeed, the path leading up the slope was littered with torchlight. A procession was coming to the sacred place.

“Soldiers,” Landora reported.

“I thought they sent all the soldiers to the volcano.”

“These are the Regent’s personal guards,” Landora said, scanning their uniforms, “Forty in total. Probably here to capture us. Maybe kill us.”

“OK, I have to start this dream now!” Nuria announced.

“We’ll watch over you as you sleep,” Duncan said. “We’ll make sure you have time to finish your...dream.”

“Those soldiers are only minutes away. I can’t fall asleep under these circumstances.”

“Do you trust me?” Landora asked.

“Yes,” Nuria said.

“Close your eyes,” Landora said. Nuria did so. Landora pressed her hand over Nuria’s eyes, and concentrated. A quick, silent burst of energy shocked Nuria’s mind, sending her reeling to the ground...

---

...Nuria glanced over the Lunapera. The precipice jutted out above the forest below, like the crest of a wave over a sea of green. The full moon beamed down at the world, a white lantern hovering in the night sky.

Nuria turned away from the cliffside, facing down the gentler slope of the mountain. A man stood there. Not a very interesting man. Nuria wouldn’t have been able to describe him to anyone. He was just, you know, a guy. The only thing Nuria could see was that he was standing beside a crumpled suit of armor. The same one Nuria had used to rescue Vye from under the collapsing tower.

“Hello Nuria,” the man said, “My name is Johann Frost.”

“You’re the one Vye sent to help me?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Vye left a clue,” she said, pointing to the armor. “Can you explain what’s going on, or are you going to be all mysterious and vague like she was?”

“I will tell you what I can, but we don’t have much time. Not nearly as much as Vye had to deal with this.”

Frost delved into his explanation of the Dreamscape, of the demon Grimsor, and of what it meant that the leaders of the Turin were under his domain. But before he was done with every aspect of this explanation, Nuria realized they were surrounded.

They hadn’t snuck up, nor faded in, nor appeared in a flash of light, nor stepped through a smoking door. They were just there, as though they had been there all along. Nuria recognized the Regent, Master Eric, and a number of other Turin, most likely the Turin Council.

“Well,” Frost said, “It seems we’ve arrived at the party.”

“Nuria,” the Regent said, “Welcome to our dream.”

“I was hoping it would be my dream,” Nuria responded.

“It’s all the same dream,” Frost pointed out.

“Is it just the two of you?” Eric taunted. “To face all of us?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Nuria answered.

“Your will cannot outlast ours,” Eric warned. “Not all of us together.”

“Then she will have to face you alone,” Frost answered. He turned to Nuria, kneeling beside her. “I need you to jump off the cliff.”

“What?!”

“It’s a dream, remember? Haven’t you ever dreamed that you could fly?”

“Yes,” Nuria answered, staring down the sheer cliffside. “But as soon as I realize it’s a dream, I always fall.”

“Well,” Frost said, as he tossed Eric off the cliff, “Try to get over it.”

And then he shoved her off the cliff, too.

---

Duncan laid Nuria out by the fire, easing her head onto a rolled up blanket. No time to make her comfortable. Just enough to make sure she didn’t crack her skull on the ground.

Landora drew her sword, looking down at the approaching platoon. Duncan drew his weapon and stood beside her.

“These are my comrades,” Landora said.

“I’ll try not to kill any of them.”

“Not good enough. They are innocent in this. Following orders that they think are given in good faith from the Regent. Or else they are under the influence of the same monster that has taken the Regent and my Master. Either way, I will not accept any of their deaths.”

“OK, what’s the plan?”

Landora scanned the area. Not a lot of room to move around. They had the advantage of having their backs to a cliff, but they also had the disadvantage of having their backs to a cliff.

“I’m going to that ledge. It’s the steepest part of the climb. I think I can hold off a lot of them there. Treat it as a sort of bottleneck. You stand over the cave. If they want to get around me, they’re going to have to pass right by you. Throw rocks, branches, whatever. Keep them at bay. But no killing.”

“Don’t worry, my aim isn’t that good.”

“Go!”

Duncan ran to position as the Turin soldiers stepped up to the ledge...

---

Nuria plummeted down the side of the cliff. The trees below growing larger and larger as she fell further and further.

Great, she thought. I’m going to die falling into trees. Well, except they weren’t really there. They were just the memory of trees. The illusion of a forest. Maybe Nuria couldn’t stop herself from falling, but she could pretend she was anywhere else.

And then she was in the clouds. Still falling. Still in the grasp of gravity, but not close to the ground. She pierced the layer of clouds, speeding ever downwards. She was higher than the birds. She could see the Castle Hartstone below her. Only the size of a marble from up here.

And again she realized she wasn’t alone. Master Eric stood beside her. It was weird, that he seemed to be standing while Nuria was falling through the empty air. But that’s what it looked like. It looked like he was standing, still and calm, in thin air. The wind didn’t even brush through his hair.

“Hey there,” Nuria said, unable to think of anything better to say.

“You’re falling.”

“You’re very observant.”

“I can help you.”

“Don’t need it.”

“You will hit the ground eventually.”

“I have some time yet.”

“In the meantime, I must bring you into our fold.”

He reached over to her, but Nuria spun around, distancing herself from him. It was dizzying. He seemed to be pacing over, like he was taking a leisurely stroll along the castle corridors. And she seemed to be falling, turning her body as though in a swan-dive.

Nuria saw that the ground was getting much closer. The Castle Hartstone now looked more like the size of a coconut.

“Do you really expect to outlast my will?” Eric said.

“Not sure,” Nuria said, “But I’m definitely not giving up that easily.”

“The demon you are opposing is too great for one so small.”

“I don’t see a demon here. Just you.”

“I am too great for one so small.”

“I’ve heard that before. More than once.”

The Castle had grown to the size of a carriage, and seemed to be growing faster and faster. Nuria was getting nervous.

“You cannot even stop yourself from falling,” Eric pointed out. “How do you expect to outmatch me and my fears.”

“Your fears?” Nuria said, “Right. That guy said it was something about your fears. That the demon controlled you by your fears.”

“Yes. And you cannot even master your own.”

The C
astle now looked the size of a galleon. They would hit it in seconds...

“I’m not afraid of falling,” Nuria said, “I’m afraid of hitting the ground.”

And once again, they were somewhere else. Way high up in the frigid air, above Aceley. The terrain below was an even white. The snow and ice spread out for as far as the naked eye could see. Though they couldn’t see anything from this height, Nuria knew they were right above the bear cave. Where Sir Noble had died.

And they were still falling. No matter what, she couldn’t shake the sensation of dropping. Her dive continued, while Eric only stood, calmly, arms crossed, glaring at her.

“So,” Nuria said, “What are you afraid of?”

“My worries are too grand for your young mind.”

“Then you should show them to me. Defeat me once and for all.”

“Very well,” Eric said, “Prepare to enter my mind.”

---

Landora opened with a concussive blast. Similar to what
she used on Nuria, but stronger and with a wider blast radius. She hit the first half-dozen soldiers who approached the ledge. It wouldn’t knock any of them out, but they all stumbled back, some bumping into others further back in the ranks. It made them stumble on their first assault.

But it was only seconds before the next line approached the same position. Landora swung her sword around, parrying attacks, beating them back, but never going for the killing stroke. She managed to use the flat of her blade to smack some of the soldiers, but it wasn’t much damage. At best, it would pause a handful of the attackers for a minute. At best.

Duncan saw five of the soldiers break off from the main attack, heading for the passage by the cave. Either they hadn’t seen Duncan take a position up there, or they didn’t care, for they climbed the rocky facade without caution.

Duncan knew he couldn’t hold off five trained swordsmen, even with the high ground and a bit of a bottleneck. He had the element of surprise, but after that, the only surprising thing for the Turin would be how bad he was at fighting.

The five soldiers were scaling the rockface in close formation. Duncan could only see one maneuver, and it was going to hurt. He grabbed a lose branch. One that still had a lot of pine needles on it. And he slid down the side of the cave, feet first, holding the branch out in front of him.

It worked about as well as he could have hoped. The needles got in the lead Turin’s eyes. Duncan’s feet broke the Turin’s fingers, forcing him to lose his grip. He fell into the second Turin, who fell into the third. Duncan and the three assailants tumbled ten feet down the rocky slope, crumbling over each other as they smashed onto the path below.

Duncan felt it when his ankle broke. And that bruise on his shoulder sucked, too. But he didn’t stop moving. He kept waving the pine needles around, hoping to keep the soldiers off him, as he limped away from the fray. As he had hoped, the three soldiers he had knocked down had taken the worst of the fall. They weren’t dead, but they were all badly bruised.

The only problem now was that the other two soldiers were healthy and Duncan wasn’t at the bottleneck anymore...

---

Nuria was still falling.

But now the sky had become more populated by one. Eric was still standing there. Like he was on solid ground. And beside him was the Regent. She wore the most elegant silk gown. Her dark skin glistened in the sun.

And she was facing away from Eric.

Nuria realized right away that the Regent’s mind wasn’t there with them. Not in the way she had been on the clifftop. This was Eric’s memory of the Regent. His projection of her.

“Your greatest fear is a woman in a dress?” Nuria asked.

“Do not mock me,” Eric said. “I still have the strength of a hundred men.”

“So, what’s the problem? Your genitals only have the strength of a crippled boy?”

“Silence,” Eric said, though he wasn’t facing Nuria. He was facing the Regent, even though she wouldn’t meet his gaze. He knelt beside her, lowering his head. Like he was offering his fealty.