Sunstone - Dishonor's Bane (Book 2) (30 page)

Chapter Forty-Two

~

“P
rincess?”

The woman seemed to hesitate a bit, but then said, “I’m here.”

“My name is Shiro. I lead the Ropponi wizards. Why did they capture you?” Shiro could have kicked himself for asking such a stupid question. There were traitors and she didn’t have a choice.

She paused again. Shiro didn’t blame her wondering about a strange person whispering to her on the other side of her dungeon door. “I had a rare gem called a Moonstone in my sword. They captured me for that. The Dakkoran Emperor wants it as well as the Bloodstone of the Red Kingdom.”

“I thought as much. We were surprised why the Happly duke wanted our help in the first place. I’m afraid I don’t have enough people to assist in your escape. Had you arrived with your army, perhaps we could have changed sides.”  Shiro knew that he would have undoubtedly changed his allegiance. He worried about his band even more, now that the Moonstone had been retrieved.

“There are others heading to Happly.” The princess paused again. Was she wondering if she could trust him?  Shiro didn’t want to share the Sunstone with her. “Go south and then west. There is a wizard-warrior who is heading our way. His name is Lotto Mistad. Tell him they have the Moonstone and have no use for me.” The Happly Duke didn’t have any use for his people, either. They were allies if they wished it or not.

“I have heard of him. This man has Affinity?”

“Yes. A lot.”

“We can find him then. I make no promises, but I will attempt to locate him and bring Lotto Mistad to you.”

~

“What did you find out?” Tishiaki said. The three of them shared warmed wine, ready for Shiro’s return.

“We will help the Valetans. The woman has insufficient guile. Somehow she knows Mistad is still alive and coming. I will use the stone to find him and speak with him tonight. I still don’t know what we will do.”

Chika paced. “We can free the prisoners. If they run rampant in the streets we can attack the keep.”

“Without armor and weapons? A diversion, but they’ll be cut down if they confront the Happly army.”

Tishiaki gave a cup to Shiro. “The bulk of the army is made up of impressed peasants. They barely know how to hold their weapons. I took the time to observe them at the edge of their camp. The real army doesn’t approach the number of Valetans in the stockades, but all of the captured men are in bare feet. If we could get them weapons…”

“No. We don’t even know where there are that many weapons except for inside the keep and with men back from a victory, however dubious, will make any move we make suspect. I feel we are missing an element, an edge.” Shiro looked at Chika. He wished to squeeze her hand, but not in front of Tishiaki. He needed the assistance of both of them. “I will intercept Mistad and perhaps he might provide the spark of creativity that we need to move in a better direction.”

Shiro sent them out. He didn’t want any distractions. Chika returned for a good luck kiss, but she seemed to understand his need for solitude.

The book that Rimmel had given him on the Red Kingdom had a section on the Moonstone. The Moonstone gave strength, but where the Sunstone allowed access into many minds, the Moonstone only permitted a pairing. He thought back to the princess’s knowledge of where Mistad was and wondered if they hadn’t bonded in some way. At least she could sense where he was, somewhere to the southwest.

Shiro didn’t want to activate the Sunstone in the camp and waited impatiently for the sun to set. In the murky end of the day, he dressed in his best Ropponi robes and then put on the dark red robe of the Red Rose. He took a deep breath, hoping that inspiration would come, and teleported to the southern road, on the edge of Happly Keep.

The blackness felt comforting as it embraced him. Shiro felt the peace of anonymity. The forest knew him not and the silence calmed his nerves. He pulled out the pouch and lifted out the Sunstone. He felt his power recharge as he concentrated on detecting those who shared Affinity with him.

It seemed that he could detect a cluster of energy that felt like dim yellow lights to the north, his Red Roses. His attention turned to the west and found sporadic lights, weaker than to the north except for a few good lights and one that he would regard as bright. Mistad? He hoped so. That meant the man had prodigious power. That had to be him. Shiro couldn’t teleport so far in the dense forest, wishing he could fly like a bird. But then it dawned on him. He knew how to levitate.

He rose in the air until he hovered above the treetops. He could now teleport a few miles at a time to places that he could dimly see in the waning light. Onward he jumped from place to place, towards the direction of the bright light.

The dim twinkle of firelight caught his attention. He descended a few hundred paces into a small clearing from the camp to check the stone. Mistad’s light glowed strongly in his mind. He wandered around until he found a smaller, more protected glade and gathered enough wood for a fire to keep him warm while he waited until the men would more than likely be asleep.

Shiro caught himself nodding off and smiled. If I am tired, then they are too, he thought. He pulled out the stone and concentrated on the light.

“Come to me. Come to me, Mistad.” He repeated the call, not knowing quite how the stone would summon Lotto Mistad, but he finally felt the light move in his direction. At least he wouldn’t have to disturb the man’s camp.

He heard rustlings in the quiet forest.

“Lotto Mistad?” Shiro called out in the darkness, his hand gripping his sword. “Come further, you are among friends.”

The rustlings came closer and a tall man entered. The man was very young. “I’m Mistad,” his visitor said.

“Ah, there you are.” Shiro rose from the fire and bowed. “Sit with me, there is much to discuss.” He gestured for Lotto to sit on the ground.

“My name is Shiro. I am a sorcerer from the land of Roppon. I must admit, I’m a bit of a renegade there, but for good reasons, I hope. I have something to show you.” He pulled the Sunstone from its pouch and held it out. “Touch it. This is the Sunstone of Roppon and one of the four Warstones.”

Lotto paused for a moment and did as Shiro asked. Shiro had been thinking in Ropponi and Mistad might not understand his thoughts so he concentrated on thinking in Bessethian. The man’s confusion settled down and Shiro looked into a most interesting mind, filled with much more power than Chika’s—maybe even more than his own.

“I am a powerful sorcerer,” Shiro projected at Mistad, “and what you are touching is the Sunstone. I was thinking in Ropponi and that confused you. Now I will concentrate on Bessethian.”

“I don’t think you need to,” Lotto said. “I think I can reach past language.”

Mistad was right. From that point, they did not think in any language but searched each other’s minds for truth. Shiro found the boy’s memories from when he touched the stone. He did indeed have a link of sorts with the princess, but it paled to that of the Sunstone. The link broke and Lotto fell right back into the dirt. Shiro reeled a little from the experience and patiently waited for Lotto to recover from the experience.

“You believe that I am on your side?”

Lotto nodded. “You’ll help me save the princess?”

Shiro smiled. “Of course. All I have to offer are my three hundred warrior-sorcerers. We all are more powerful than anyone the Duke has except for Peleor, the Dakkoran, who visits the keep from time to time.” Shiro sorted through Lotto’s thoughts and realized that an army followed behind. “You have an army following you and I am surprised. I was told, dismissively, that you were a middling wizard, but your power rivals mine, although unschooled. You don’t have a good understanding of the nexus.”

“You know about them?”

“I do. We Ropponi have known about them for hundreds of years, but our culture is insular, bureaucratic and vicious. We regard all others as barbarians—no better than cattle. Roppon has no interest in conquest and perhaps it’s better to leave them to their delusions.”

“So why did you leave?”

“To escape a place that holds no future for me. My followers are exiles, like myself. We thought that Besseth might offer a place for us to settle. We needed funds, so we became mercenaries. However, there is an enemy that we both share. Emperor Daryaku desires all four of the stones. He wishes to use them as war stones to conquer all of Goriath.”

“So we know where three of the stones are,” Lotto said.

“The Bloodstone is lost,” Shiro said. “That only makes two on Besseth.

Lotto shook his head. “Hidden, but not lost. I imagine that the Emperor carries the Purestone?”

“Purestone, no longer. It became the Darkstone at the time of the cursing of Ayrtan. I learned that from my gloating enemy. I don’t see why all four stones would make the difference between ruling the world or not. The powers of each stone are limited. I’m sure they were created that way since communication between continents comprised their principal purpose ”

“We can speak of this later. You will help me?”

Shori nodded with his hands placed on his knees. He bowed deeply to Lotto. “We are allies from this point on.”

“My goal was to disable the Ropponi wizards.”

“We will help you take back the keep, especially with the additional troops. I worried about finding ways to arm your captured men. Many of the Happlyan soldiers are peasants and will run if attacked.”

“Then I intend on entering Happly Keep from the east with just a few men. We can make our way to a building that adjoins the back of the castle. I have a spell that will turn mortar into sand so we can silently get into the keep and essentially go through stone walls.”

“Good. I don’t know of such a soundless spell. I would probably go crash! Boom!” Shiro clapped his hands together and laughed. “You can rescue the princess. The duke holds her in the dungeons. There is only a small block of them at the bottom of the keep.”

“When our army attacks, disrupt the Happlyan soldiers. Can you heat up their weapons?”

Shiro chuckled. “We have our ways. Don’t worry. Just don’t have your men shoot arrows at us. We will be wearing red robes.” Shiro shook the edge of his robe.

“I must save the princess.”

“Do not delay. The duke is a cruel man. Do you know the city?”

“We do and we have maps. All you need do is go to work once my soldiers enter the city from the South.”

Shiro smiled. He now had the direction he so desperately sought. “We will do so and then our people will help you take the keep.”

“I truly know I can trust you,” Lotto said.

“And I, you. Good luck. We will have to talk more when all of this is over.”

“Indeed. In a few days time, then.”

Shiro rose. “Until then.” He teleported back to his tent.

Chika propped up on one elbow, covered in a blanket on his sleeping mat, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “I thought you would need additional diversion tonight.”

He grinned. “Gladly. I met Mistad. Lotto. He passed the Sunstone test. He’s a creature of the Moonstone and very powerful.”

“I thought you surmised that.”

“Oh, I did.” Shiro couldn’t keep the grin off of his face. “He brings a large army with him. They will run wild through the city streets in two days time. We are to provide a different kind of diversion than the one you plan tonight.”

“I would hope so. Can Shiro talk of such things tomorrow?”

“Shiro’s mind is clear tonight, my love.” Shiro took off his red robe and let it drop to the floor.

~~~

Chapter Forty-Three

~

O
ne of Tishiaki’s stronger sorcerers appeared
with a soldier in a red uniform in front of Shiro’s tent.

“I’m Shiro,” he said as he exited his tent. The day had a few hours before it arrived.

“I am Lieutenant Astana in the Prolan Army under the command of General Lessa.” The man swayed and Shiro caught him and helped the exhausted man into the tent. Shiro remembered his first teleportation. Once the soldier recovered they began to plan.

“We will attack one hour before the sun sets.” Astana took another sip of wine and pulled out a sheaf of wrinkled parchment. “This is what we will do. You can augment our actions as you see fit.”

“Do you have battle wizards?”

The lieutenant shook his head.

“Then the Red Roses, our contingent’s name, will accompany you back to your lines under the direction of Tishiaki, one of my two commanders. The others will free your compatriots. We’ve only been able to fashion crude weapons for them, but our powers will make up for some of that deficiency. Chika, my other commander, will lead them. I’ll take a small force and assist with the taking of the keep. Tell your General Lessa that, please. Also, I have some good news. Two or three thousand experienced fighters have headed south towards the Red Kingdom. Fewer skilled fighters will make our mission easier to accomplish.”

“You’ve given yourself a large roll in this invasion. Is your little group up to it?”

“Don’t worry about us. I feared that I might have to confront ten thousand soldiers with my little three hundred,” Shiro said, giving the lieutenant a grin and patting him on the shoulder. “We will succeed with your troops and my Red Roses.”

~

Shiro took ten warrior-sorcerers with him. The Sunstone told Shiro that the greatest concentration of Happly’s wizards sat behind the Keep walls in one of the barracks close to Rimmel. If Shiro had the opportunity to confront Captain Beech, so much the better. He hadn’t seen Peleor in some time, so the man would likely be stirring up trouble in Valetan or the Red Kingdom.

They all teleported to an alley, close to the Keep’s main gate. Shiro decided to wait for two hours or until there were stirrings inside the Keep’s walls.

“You fight for the Red Roses,” Shiro said to the men and women as the wait began to make them fidget. “We fight for new lives and respect. We will have new friends and real allies after Happly is taken… and it will be taken today. Remember to use your power. The soldiers know you are all sorcerers, so you do not need to hold back. Remember, once your power fades, you have only your skill at arms to keep you alive.”

The sound of commotion on the city streets began to close in on the keep. The gates opened quickly, but Shiro kept his soldiers back. “They go to sally with Lotto’s forces. We will let them pass and then rush in.”

The stream of armed men, both mounted and on foot ended and before Shiro could get his forces into position, the gates began to close. Shiro looked up for climbing holds. He didn’t think they’d be scaling the walls until he heard fighting over the gate.

“Those of you who can levitate to the walls, follow me. The rest stay here until we get the gate open.” Shiro lifted himself up into the air. Six followed him up the walls, but only three could make it all the way up. He landed on the ramparts to find three men fighting off a group of guards.

Shiro nodded to his fellow fighters and they closed in on the backs of the guards. One of the three men went down and Shiro levitated quickly beside the remaining men.

“You are Lotto’s men?” Shiro said as he began to push back the guards back into the others.

“We are. We need to get the gate open.”

Shiro nodded and then realized that the man wouldn’t be looking at him. “Give me a little room.”

The man fought to the side as Shiro began to fight more aggressively. His guard fell to the floor and the guard fighting his new ally dropped with Shiro’s sword in his side. With the three Red Roses on the other side of the guards, the fight lasted only moments.

“My name’s Morio, this is Anton. Our stricken brother is Creeden.” Morio’s face held a shock of grief. “The mechanism that raises the gate is through that door. We couldn’t open it and then the guards—”

“I am Shiro and these are my friends of the Red Rose.”

“They’re women.”

“We fight well enough, Bessethian,” one of them said.

Shiro chuckled. “They do and they are all sorcerers.” He turned and blasted the door down with a pulse of power. “After you.”

Morio ducked in and surveyed the mechanicals of the gate. “This decouples the chain from below and this wheel…”

Shiro could see how the gate lifted “We can lift the gate from up here.” Shiro turned back to his Red Rose fighters. “Guard the door while Morio, Anton and I raise the gate.”

In a few minutes the gate rose to let the first of Lessa’s men into the courtyard of the keep.

“We will fight to the courtyard after I fuse the links.” Shiro said as he sent a stream of fire melting the links in place.

“You are as good as Lotto,” Morio said. “I’m glad we are fighting together.”

The man’s smile was infectious. Shiro returned it and led the way to the courtyard below. Fighting had begun to fill the keep and Morio and his companion went to find Lotto.

“I want to find Captain Beech,’ Shiro said as they slashed and parried their way across to the barracks.

The rooms had emptied out, but Shiro put his head over Rimmel’s bed. “Rimmel!” Shiro heard a yelp underneath a bed. “Stay in the room until the fighting stops. If anyone asks, say you are with the Red Roses.”

“I will!  I will!”

Shiro shut the door and made his way towards Captain Beech’s rooms. He ordered his Red Rose to stand guard and opened the door to find the man stuffing valuables into saddlebags.

“You didn’t ride out with your troops. Are you deserting your countrymen?” Shiro walked in and shut the door.

“You!” Beech pulled out two long knives from weapons scattered on his bed. His long sword was across the room.

“I must thank you for the information you gave me a few weeks ago. It sealed my decision to fight with the Valetans.”

“You’ve got a contract with us.”

“And you never included us in your battle with the Valetan princess so we couldn’t get paid. That is enough to break the deal. No gold, no Red Rose mercenaries.”

Beech gnashed his teeth. “Peleor warned me. He thought you’d desert and he’s right.”

“Where is Peleor?”

Beech laughed as he threw a chair out of the way and then a table. “In Valetan. The king will soon be dead and your treachery will mean nothing when Valetan is ruled by Duke Happly.”

He rushed Shiro who backed up against the door and slashed with one knife and then another. Shiro teleported to the other side of the room.

“You damned Ropponi!” Beech rushed again, but this time Shiro had enough room to fight off each of the knives with his enhanced speed. He teleported again.

“The duke will kill the princess and then you think there will be no one left to rule Valetan? She has brothers and sisters, does she not? I think your duke has been deluded by the Dakkoran.” Shiro said as he thrust his sword into Beech’s arm. The man backed up, with blood running down his arm and dripping from his hand.

“I don’t care about any of the details. You won’t get us all. Three thousand of our best fighters have marched south to join the Red Kingdom.” Beech gloated as he said it, but Shiro already knew. The time had come to finish him off.

“I’m sorry you treated us so poorly, but then I would imagine anyone who sides with Daryaku isn’t a trustworthy ally. It is a shame that you remove your best fighters when Lotto Mistad arrives with more than three thousand Prolans,” Shiro said as he backed up.

Beech gnashed his teeth and came at him. His bloody hand held one knife low and the other gripped the other blade high. Shiro turned his back and levitated over Beech, brushing the ceiling, and cutting into Beech’s uninjured arm and then sliced deeply into the side of his neck as he landed and could put some power behind his slash.

His opponent dropped both knives and clutched his neck. Beech turned around and looked pleadingly into Shiro’s eyes.

“I don’t need the Sunstone to know how dark your heart is Captain. I will end your life now.” He thrust his sword into Beech’s heart and ran it sideways. Beech collapsed on the floor and Shiro jumped over his body to open the door.

“We will find Lotto and his princess,” Shiro said to no one in particular.

Morio ran past and turned around when he realized Shiro stood in the doorway. “We need your men to fight the Happly wizards.”

Lotto could be found later, so Shiro gathered his remaining Red Roses. Bodies littered one-third of the courtyard, as Lessa’s men couldn’t advance towards the wizards. Magical shields deflected the arrows and Lessa’s swordsmen were cut down before they could get within ten paces.

Shiro and his group advanced on the cluster of men throwing fire and blasting men apart.

“They will be losing their power soon enough. Shield yourselves and then we will cut them down with our weapons when we are within range,” Shiro said.

The fire bounced off of their shields and their blasts of air would push them back, but finally the shields weakened and they could advance on Happly’s wizards. Shiro nodded and they had to step over bodies as they advanced. The wizards tried to run, but in moments they joined the rest of the dead Happly Keep defenders in the courtyard.

Shiro joined Morio at the gate as the last Happly fighters surrendered. Lotto came down the steps from the formal part of the keep dragging a sheet-wrapped body.

“The Duke,” Lotto said.

Shiro looked at Lotto and at the tall woman at his side. Princess Restella looked ill-used with angry red welts on her neck. She did indeed have the fierce look of a warrior now that she was free from her cell. He bowed to both.

Morio gave them a quick bow and said, “Creeden didn’t make it.”

Lotto must have developed a close relationship with these men because he clamped his lips in obvious grief. “What happened to Pillo?” He looked around and found another man dressed like Morio standing with his arm wrapped to his chest. “There you are. Thanks for keeping the guards off of my back.”

Pillo nodded.

“Their three thousand best fighters left a few days ago, heading south to the Red Kingdom,” Shiro said. “Are you interested in pursuing them?”

Lotto shook his head and looked at Restella. “We have problems in the north to attend to. I’m afraid we will fight them on another day.”

“Captain Beech said the generals have taken over and your Valetan king is in peril,” Shiro said.

“That’s not good. We know we have to be careful on our way to Beckondale. Let’s round up the surviving Happlyan nobles and pick a leader. We need this domain on Valetan’s side. I’m not worried about the rest of the army. The villages probably can’t wait to get back to their families and we’ll give them all a share in the supplies that Happly stripped from their villages. There’s no use letting a domain starve.”

A man with the posture of command walked through the gate and laughed. “Spoken like more than a Captain, Lotto.”  He must be the Prolan general, Lessa.

“I concur with Lieutenant Mistad,” the Valetan princess said as she put her arm through his. “If you wish to stay for a few more weeks, Armand,” she smiled as she said it. “I think that you can bring enough order to the domain to head back to Prola.” She looked at Shiro. “I suggest that you take your band of wizards and Morio’s scouts and head south. There is a narrow border between Happly and the Red Kingdom. It would be worth your while to close it up, working with the King of Learsea or the Duke of Gensler.”

Morio brightened, “Anchor is down there. He’s a good man and we can start from our fort and set up defenses along the three domains.”

“If nothing else, your wizards can create a barrier from the forests,” Lotto said.

Shiro smiled. “We can do more than that, but we will be happy to help organize a frontier. We’d rather be on your side than Emperor Daryaku’s, who is behind the unrest in your land. You need to be wary of a Dakkoran wizard named Peleor.”

“We will.”

“Please excuse me. Depending on the condition of my people, we will leave as soon as possible.”

Morio put his hand on Lotto’s shoulder. His look did, indeed, speak of a close relationship. “You need to head north now.”

Shiro would have offered to teleport them, but he hadn’t been to Valetan and stayed silent. He yearned to find out how Chika and Tishiaki fared to the west and north of the keep.

“Go to our camp and prepare it to receive the injured.” Shiro said to his Red Roses. They winked out as he walked out of the gate. The alley by the wall remained uninhabited. He didn’t waste any time and teleported to the north camp first.  He now could worry about how Chika had fared. None of the Red Rose had accompanied Lessa to the keep.

~

Men walked aimlessly through the camp. Shiro couldn’t find any evidence of conflict. He stopped a soldier.