Spellscribed Tales: First Refrain (9 page)

Leona sat against one of the walls near the portcullis wheel, her eyes closed as she napped. She had been up all day
 helping her sons prepare, fixing up their weapons. She wore a simple tunic, pants, and a winter coat that had been reinforced with fine chain links in vital areas between the inner cloth layer and the outer leather layer. She wore a pair of gloves similar to Joven's, except the plates on the backs of her hands and knuckles were a bit thicker and covered in scratches. She wore no apparent weaponry, as she preferred to use her fists.

There were two of the elite guard with them, standing watch at the double doors to the castle proper. There were two more inside, with the prince. There usually was upwards of two dozen of them, but most had gone with King Gurn's hunt. The two in the courtyard were armed with crossbows, with battle axes hooked onto their armor for up close work. They were both armed in black iron breastplates, but their axes were black steel.

"I wonder who made your weapons." Leona asked after waking, eyeing one of the axes. "There aren't a lot of people who can find the right temperature and mixtures to make black steel reliably."

One of the men shrugged. "Hells if I know who made
it." he replied, his voice gruff and scratchy despite his apparent youth. "But it's sturdier than the raw iron and a bit lighter too."

Leona sighed. "I’ve almost got the recipe figured out, but it's been slow going." she said. "Black iron is cheap, but the other components, not so much. Do you know what kind of mix your smith –
"

The guard shook his head. "I told you, I have no idea."

Leona bowed her head. "Damn." she muttered. "Worth a shot."

Daelen's family remained out of sight from anyone approaching the courtyard gates, which had the portcullis raised. The plan was to have the traitors enter the courtyard and close the portcullis on them,
then the five would capture the group. If there were more than they could handle, they were to use the portcullis to split the group up, if at all possible.

Balen, as a unit commander, could only pull away a dozen men, many of whom were green recruits. Young men, they had very little real
 battle experience and could not hope to stand a chance against a whole group of warriors with Guardian training and expertise. So Balen had them stationed at the switchback guard posts, under orders to observe only and send messages up when an invading force breached the gates.

The walls of the castle were built like a pentagon, with three of the sides built into the mountain, but the remaining two coming together at the gates to the courtyard. The gates were
open, but in the dark, only the brazier closest to the castle doors was lit to provide warmth to the guard. Joven and his family would be able to handle the temperature well enough; their armors were fur lined for this reason.

They waited, and no signal came for two hours after suns set. Then suddenly, the sound of a pair of booted feet running was heard coming up the path to the gate. The two guards tensed, like they had
been doubting that the attack would ever actually come.

A single man came running into the courtyard. "Balen!" he whispered hurriedly. "They're coming!
And a lot more than we thought!"

"What?" Balen replied. "What are their numbers?"

The soldier oriented on the sound of Balen's voice. "Six of the family." he reported. "And they're well armed."

"Is Davik and Korvos with them?" Balen asked.

"I'm pretty sure!" the soldier replied. "And one extra."

"Someone else?"
Balen demanded.

The soldier shook his head. "I dunno
, he was in front with Davik. He was bald, that's all I know."

Joven felt a trickle of anxiety down his spine.
Talen? He was going to participate in this insane endeavor?

"Dismissed."
Balen commanded. "Find a place to lay low until you can get past them."

The tone of his voice was all the indication that Joven needed, to know that Balen was furious. Joven knew very well the rage that was building.

"Sir." the messenger slipped back out the gate.

Leona stood, still cloaked in the darkness of the night. "Leave Talen to
me." she demanded, her tone easily saying that she would not tolerate resistance. "You four take care of the rest, if you can. I'll assist once I've taught him a lesson."

Shortly after, the sounds of many booted feet were heard approaching. The three did their best to conceal themselves, and they went unnoticed as Davik and his family approached.

First was Davik, followed by his eldest son, Torvus. After him was Korvos, two of Davik's daughters, and Davik's wife, Ophelia. All were exceptionally well armed and ready for a fight.

Davik looked behind him. "Talen, get your ass in here." he demanded.

Talen slowly walked in, the light of the brazier deepening the lines of his face. He was obviously nervous. "I did all I needed to, why are you still dragging me around?"

Davik scowled. "Do it." he commanded. "Or people will find out your little secret."

Talen grimaced, but walked up to Davik.  "I don't think it's going to matter any more after this is over." he muttered.

The two guards, prepared for a fight but trying to keep their cool, took a step forward. "Stop." one of them said. "What brings you here?"

"The throne." Davik replied. "It looks so empty without anyone sitting on it. I think I'd like to have a seat, see how comfortable it is."

The guards then gripped their weapons. "The king is not available to challenge today." The other guard added, "Come back when he returns."

Davik smiled, his grin looking disturbing when under lit by the brazier. "Oh, I don't think that Gurn will be coming back." he said. "So get out of our way, and I promise you can keep your position when I'm in charge.

"Davik, you'd break the tradition of rulership?" The guard replied. "Gurn would take your challenge, if you’d only but made it."

Davik shook his head. "Why would I want to have a fair fight?" he asked. "You know you can lose those?"

"Then we have to stop you." The first guard replied.

Joven and Balen stepped into the light, on either side of the group. Leona pulled the lever, and the portcullis dropped into place behind them with a crash. Joven held his bastard sword with one hand and a throwing knife concealed in the palm of the other.

"A trap!?"
 Torvus shouted. Each of the Rathe family readied weapons.

"Talen!"
Balen exclaimed. For some reason, Leona had remained hidden. "You've this one chance to surrender. Do so, and you might just be able to walk away from this alive."

Talen turned to his brother. Joven noticed that Talen had no weapons, and wore only clothing to protect against the cold. "I'm sorry brothers." Talen replied, his expression sorrowful, but his eyes burned with anger. "I can't. You wouldn't understand."

"You can't beat me, Talen." Balen replied. "You know that."

Talen held up a hand and looked at it in the firelight. Joven wasn't able to determine what it was, but something felt wrong.

"You're right." Talen replied. "I couldn't beat you before. But now, I can beat you both. So just-"

Leona flew across the stone floor in a horizontal leaping charge
 from behind Talen. She thrust out her right elbow, using her left arm to stabilize and reinforce the strike as she hit him squarely in the back with enough force that his feet left the ground and he crashed face first to the stones twelve feet away. He bounced once, sliding across the floor another couple of feet, as she was suddenly in the place he had a moment before been occupying.

"I've been beating your ass since you were a babe." Leona replied, her voice cold. "Now, accept your punishment, son."

Davik and Torvus took a step towards her, but then the two guards raised their greatswords and charged in past her. Joven raised his bastard sword to his shoulder with his one hand, squaring off with one of Korvos' sisters. He felt no hesitation to fight, and possibly kill them; all warriors were equals in steel, regardless of gender. With a flick, he threw the knife he had palmed. Caught off guard, the woman fell with his knife in her throat.

With a shout, Balen swung his greatsword in an arc in front of him. Korvos and Ophelia blocked the strike with their weapons, but were forced back from the strength of the blow. Joven went to work fighting the other sister while the two guards kept Torvus and Davik busy.

Leona stalked towards her son Talen who, to her surprise, was getting back up to his feet. "That was a low blow, mother." he said, wiping blood from his lips.

"You deserve such a beating." she replied.
"After what you've done to our family."

"You don't understand!" he exclaimed, raising his arms in a guarded stance. "Gurn is
evil, we need to be rid of him!"

"And his son?"
Leona asked. "Is he evil, too?"

Talen's face was flushed red, the veins in his neck standing out as he clenched his jaw. "Yes." he muttered.

"Stop this." Leona said, a hint of softness in her voice. "I don't want to do this to you."

Talen laughed, but there was an aggressive tone in his voice.
"Stop? You can't do anything to me now." Talen replied. "I guess it was stupid to try to hide it."

Her eyes narrowed, Leona adjusted her defensive stance. "What?"

Talen's eyes were bloodshot. "You have no idea how angry I am." He managed to get out, before his voice turned into a wordless growl.

From him, a wave of some unseen feeling washed over Leona and everyone within the courtyard, temporarily halting the battle.

"Oh shit." Korvos exclaimed. "Open the gates. Open the gates!"

Rage.
It boiled and bubbled in the air around Talen. Everyone could feel it coming off of him like the heat of a fire. His coat bulged as his muscles swelled with power, the seams straining to remain intact. His hands clenched into fists, a singular purpose danced in his eyes. Destruction.

"Oh gods."
Leona murmured. "My son... you've been taken by the Furie!"

One of the guards panicked. "Berserker!" he screamed, backing away from the fight.

The mistake drew Talen's attention. The stone floor cracked as he pushed off, shooting past Leona in a blur that knocked her into a spin.

Talen's fist hit the man square in the breastplate and caved it in, the man's rib cage shattering under the blow as he was knocked straight backwards. He was dead well before his corpse hit the wall on the far side of the courtyard and left an impact crater in its surface.

A scream of rage resonated from Talen's chest, unnaturally loud and powerful, and only pausing when he took a breath. Saliva spewed from his lips as he rounded on the rest of the men, no longer able to identify friend from foe.

"By the gods."
Balen muttered. "Talen..."

"I thought you said he had it under control." Davik asked Korvos.

Terrified, Korvos backed away slowly. "He wasn't in the refuge, so I thought he was." He said with a trembling voice.

"Change in priority." Davik said aloud. "Focus on that guy."

The remaining fighters able to stand, turned towards Talen. Talen rounded on Davik and leapt in. Though Talen had power and rage fueling his every movement, Davik had decades of combat experience. He juked out of the way of a wild swing, but could only move fast enough to hit Talen in the side with the pommel of his sword.

"Take his head!" He shouted. "They ignore fatal wounds!"

Torvus jumped in, swinging with a longsword. Talen reached out and caught the blade, the edge biting into the flesh of his palm, but not penetrating. He caught Torvus' wrist with the other hand and with a scream of effort. swung him around, knocking fighters down like pins. He kept up the spin, and threw him straight up into the air. Sailing dozens of yards into the air, Torvus screamed all the way down to crash into the roof of the castle somewhere in the darkness.

Joven and Balen stood back as Talen devastated his own allies. Leona had picked herself up, but was staying out away from him as he fought more obvious targets.
"Mother?"

"We are in trouble." Leona replied. "He's not going to go down without a fight."

"What if we stop fighting?" Joven asked.

"We're in sight." she replied.
"And breathing. That's enough. He has no control."

"Okay, then we
come at him from three sides." Balen said. "Split his attention."

"Great." Joven replied. "Then while he's splattering one of us the other two can get him. Best odds I've seen so far."

"Or," Leona said. "We can jump in now while Davik and Korvos are still alive."

Joven looked. The two were the only ones left standing, and they were barely keeping Talen from smashing them with the body of the other guard. He'd
swing, they’d leap back, but couldn't close in fast enough before Talen recovered to swing again.

"Oh." Balen said. "That's a much better plan. Circle out."