Silver Dragon (41 page)

Garrick buried his hatchet in the troll's shoulder. He yanked it free as he
broke away from the trolls and continued towards the two at the end. Namitus was slower, having to leap away from the troll that Alto killed a moment later and then lash out with his scimitar at the troll on his left that snagged his leather shirt. His cut opened a shallow gash on the troll's midsection but it got the creature's attention and secured his release.

When the troll that had waylaid Namitus looked up again
, Mordrim's hammer swung up between its legs. It started to screech but Karthor's mace smashed into the side of its head, knocking the lumbering beast to the ground as it clutched its loincloth. Mordrim finished it with a second blow to its head.

Alto blocked the second troll's raking claws and then had the edge of his shield grabbed and yanked so hard he feared his should
er would pop out of its socket. He hacked into the troll’s side, earning its attention, and then stabbed it again in the chest on the opposite side. The stubborn creature snarled at him and came at him again, leaking blood from side, chest, and shoulder. Alto leapt forward and to its left, counting on Garrick's wound slowing its arm down. He spun as he passed the monster and buried his sword in a clumsy but powerful {XX} cut the severed its spine and ribs from behind.

Alto turned back and saw the dwarf and priest finishing off the second troll from their side of the passage.
He spun back and saw that one troll lay on the ground with its back to a wall. Winter kicked it a final time and turned and ran down the open passage after the other troll that had escaped.

"Winter, wait!" Alto cried out. It was too late
; the unicorn couldn't hear him. He cursed and started forward, nearly running into Kar as he stepped around the dead trolls at his feet.

"Alto!" Kar snapped at him, earning the man's attention.

Alto turned and looked in midstride. The smaller tunnel that was on the right side of the hall led to a path that curved up into the rock. Alto hesitated, and then nodded and ran on to where Garrick and Namitus stood at the body of the troll that Winter had impaled with his horn and then kicked repeatedly to ensure its death.

"He's dead," Garrick said when Alto slowed to look at him.

"I think he got the point," Namitus said with a grin.

Alto ignored the rogue and continued through the tunnel, only to see Winter running back towards him. "Did you get him?" Alto asked.

He had his answer before the unicorn had a chance to respond. He heard yelling and saw several trolls and ogres, as well as a few giants, stepping into the tunnel and turning to look down its length at them.

"Kar!" Alto said. "That invisible wall you mentioned
—now would be a good time!"

Kar chuckled. "So it seems, but it won't last if they start to really go at it. A few minutes maybe."

"Do it!" Alto snapped.

Kar nodded and motioned the others to step back from where the passage narrowed before expanding again on the other side. He stretched out his arms and began to chant, pulling the arcane energies together and then setting them in place. A moment later
, he finished and nodded. "It's done."

"I don't see anything," Garrick said.

"So that's why it's called an invisible wall!" Kar snapped his fingers. "Took me years to figure that out."

Garrick snarled and clenched his axe tighter.

"Back here, the passage leads up," Alto said as he started back down the cavern.

"The wall won't hold," Kar reminded him
, stopping the warrior in midstride.

"So do the thing you did in the mines," Namitus told him. "You know, where you turned the floor into quicksand?"

Kar nodded. "I can do that." He began chanting again and then tossed out the crushed pebbles he'd picked up onto the ground. He turned to the others and said, "There, it's done. Not as long or deep because the tunnel's wider but it should prove a nasty surprise for them. At least until the spell wears off. Then the surprise will be even nastier for anyone caught in it!"

Alto shivered at the gleam in the wizard's eye.
He resumed walking back down the passage and then stopped when he saw the large tunnel that Karthor and Mordrim had secured. He stepped closer to it and looked down the gently sloping passage. He could see the distant sparkle of campfires.

"Their camp is this way," he said. "Can you put up another wall?"

Kar shook his head. "One at a time, I'm afraid."

"Why?" Garrick asked. "I can build more than one wall in a day."

"Why indeed," Kar said. "I've been wondering that same thing. It has to do with metaphysical formulae and the structure of the connection to the aether that binds it in place. I could go on, if you like."

Garrick had already turned away from the wizard and moved to the entrance to the tunnel. "Won't be long and they'll come," he said.

Alto nodded.

"Won't be long and they'll be on us
, too." Karthor gestured down the hall to where the first of Sarya's forces were trying to figure out why they'd slammed their noses into a wall they couldn't see.

"I'll stay and keep them off your back
." Mordrim planted his hammer on the ground and rested his hands on the shaft.

"What?" Alto asked. He shook his head. "No, we'll all go and make a stand if we must up there."

"I can't let stumpy have all the fun. I still haven't killed a giant." Garrick ignored Alto and walked next to Mordrim. He reached out and patted the top of the dwarf's helm, knocking his visor down. Mordrim dropped his hammer on Garrick's toe in retaliation.

"
Well, this is a terrible plan," Namitus muttered. He shook his head and added, "No, we can't rest Patrina's safety on just those two. They're more likely to take a swing at each other instead of the enemy. I'll have to stay with them."

"And they'll need Leander's blessing if they stand a chance. Not to mention all the time and energy I've put into keeping Namitus alive," Karthor said. "If I leave him alone
, it's all for naught."

Winter stomped the ground, leaving an impression with his hoof in the solid rock.

"I think he's saying he'll make his stand here, too," Karthor interpreted. The unicorn bowed his head, dipping his horn down and then up in agreement.

"Kar, they'll need you
, too," Alto said. "Will you help?"

"I'd think you'd want me helping you," the wizard said. When Alto didn't respond
, he said, "Hello, dragon!"

"I know, but that's why I have this." Alto held up his sword.

Kar frowned and then began to chant. A moment passed before he finished and uncapped a skin of water. He splashed some water on Alto, causing the man to cry out and then fall silent when the water disappeared before it hit him.

"What was that?"

"Dragons breathe fire, or have you forgotten the stories you were told to frighten you as a child?" Kar snapped at him. "This won't save you, but it might help if you can keep yourself from being directly roasted."

Alto nodded. "My thanks. To all of you."

"Get going," Namitus said after he turned away from where he'd been peering down the passage. "There must be other caves into the mountain. We've got company coming up the passage and I saw somebody else running towards the camp."

Alto swallowed his words and stared at them as they turned away and made ready to defend the tunnel. He took a breath and let it go. Lady Patrina awaited, as did Sarya. The past months had all led up to this. The past year, really, or perhaps longer. Sarya might have had this in the works for three hundred years, for all he knew.

Alto turned from his friends and walked into the inclining passage. The light dimmed as he walked but he refused to activate his shield yet. He had no idea what awaited him but he didn't want to ruin whatever chance of surprise he might have.

Alto came to a small room decorated with tapestries that
hung from the walls. There were two exits to the room, other than the one Alto came in. The one that led up was behind the armored man sitting in a large chair. Alto stared at the man, focusing on the emblem on his breastplate that marked him as another knight of the Order of the Silver Dragon. He dragged his eyes up and saw that this knight had red hair, including the mustache on his face.

"We've been waiting for you," the knight said with a grin when Alto entered the room. He used his arms to help push himself out of the chair and stepped in front of the passageway that led
farther up into the mountain. "My apologies, but I'm assuming you're Alto?"

"I am."

"I am Sir Harad, of the Order of the Silver Dragon," the knight said while offering a limited bow. "I'd like to offer my apologies for Sir Beck. As I told your lady, he's always been a bit zealous in his approach."

"Where is she?" Alto clamped down on the memories the knight nearly brought up by mentioning the man who had ruined his family.

"Your lady? Up there." He nodded towards the passage behind him. "And soon to be given the greatest honor anyone could ever hope for. Her sacrifice will allow our mistress to live forever! She—"

Sir Harad's monologue was cut short by Alto's sword. He lunged forward and slashed through the man's plate armor and flesh. Sir Harad fell, his own sword only partially out of its scabbard. He stared up at Alto and tried to speak. His lips moved but
only a hissing and bubbling noise came from him, and most of that from his chest.

Alto stepped on his breastplate and wrenched his sword free,
and then left the knight behind. He didn't care what the man had to say; he only cared about saving Trina.

* * * *

Splinters of rock rained down around the knights, a prelude to the larger rocks that bounced off the mountainside and swept away two of the armored warriors. Aleena heard the ping of the shrapnel against her helmet but didn't dare take her attention away from the forces that crashed against their line.

Aleena's small force of prisoners had met the first wave of goblins sent forward by the enemy. One man had fallen and another two were wounded, but they fought surprisingly well and cut through the horde of savage creatures.
That was the easy part; what came next was the hired men and ogres, fighting side by side. Aleena lost four more of her troop and her line was about to collapse when Celos led the squires across the field and hit the flank of the enemie's main thrust.

They had little time to regroup
before the enemy rallied and came again, shattering their plans and forcing the Knights of Leander to band together to fight as a single unit. Rocks began to rain down on them from above, tossed from the side of the ridges by goblins.

The knights had no bows. Ranged combat wasn't considered honorable in battle. The small rocks continued to ping off their suits of armor. The distraction was proving costly as well as the occasional injury. Some of Aleena's men had bows and those bows turned the tide for a while. She pulled her forces back and set them to picking off the goblins.

The battle had raged back and forth for the day and well into the night before the enemy withdrew. Sir Amos knew better than to trust the respite and kept his men ready. They repulsed each attack that came, but the cost in exhaustion and blood was not lost on them.

The next morning as the sun crested the mountains to the east and
shone into the valley, Sir Amos called upon the holy light to strike down their foes. With his sword blazing so brightly the blade burst into flames, he led the charge and routed the first of their gathered foes. The assault was short-lived when more ogres and a handful of giants arrived.

They'd fought through the day, losing ground slowly until Sir Amos had decreed that they would retreat no
farther. A wide valley lay before them that they'd been driven across quickly by the superior numbers of the foes. They spent the night and most of the next day fighting in a ravine with steep walls that rose from the valley to lead back to the initial camp they'd overrun.

Sarya's forces were having trouble budging them, but it was only a matter of time. The
knights were exhausted and had lost too many. Three recruits remained and a like number of squires. Aleena had six men able to fight and two more wounded and near death. Of the twenty-three knights who ventured into the mountains, thirteen still drew breath and fought on.

Now the giants had gotten involved. Rocks the size
{OF WHAT } hurled from catapults crashed above them and dropped on them. The day was drawing to a close and they all hoped that with dusk the giants would stop bombarding them.

She used
her shield to block the tired thrust of a spear and then she stepped into it and hacked the spear in half before reversing her cut and tearing into the mercenary's chest and shoulder. He fell back and so did she. Aleena knew better than to leave her line behind.

Just in time, an ogre came charging from her right and swung his club at her. She ducked under the club but it caught the top of her shield
and it ripped it out of her arm. The straps that held it to her forearm snapped as the shield was flung away.