The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (34 page)

Mordalayn
looked at the empty Prime Guardian’s chair and then around the
table again. “So much power with no power to fall back on” he said
quietly and in the empty, hollow silence that followed there was
suddenly a high keening noise of a trumpet being blown, loud and
long. A two tone blast of a short and then long note that made
everyone in the room look up in shock. After a pause the same two
tones were repeated and then again and again.

 “
What’s
that?” Jared said looking from the astonished faces of the
councillors to the stone hard one of Mordalayn.

 “
The
invasion warning” he said grimly. “Alegria is under attack.” He
turned to the councillors. “You know the protocols, lock yourselves
down in your quarters, bar the doors with the spell of
stronghold…and Our Lady be with all of us.” 

They all
stood up and without hesitation made for the vast door, running as
fast as they could.

Chapter
30

Mordalayn
pounded across the vast, round, main hall of the palace as the
trumpets sounded. Around him people were scattering like leaves on
the wind. The Alegrian guards were trained for such an event as
this but as they surged to the main entrance they were bewildered
and scared. For hundreds of years the trumpets had only been
sounded for ceremonial events or drills. Some were pulling helmets
and breast plates on as they assembled in the forecourt beyond the
doorway to the main hall. Many thought this was another practice
run and were laughing nervously amongst
themselves. 

Jared and
Bue, with Kloee flying frantically alongside them, ran after
Mordalayn who had reached the main set of men, roughly two hundred
in all. “Where’s your captain?” he bellowed over the din of the
keening trumpets. 

“
Other side
of the bridge sir,” the nearest man said pointing as a small group
of riders could be seen galloping towards them in the far
distance. 

Mordalayn
glanced at the man and noticed his scabbard was empty. “Your sword!
Where is it?” he snapped and the man blanched in
embarrassment. 

“
Err…it was
damaged sir, still with the swordsmith,” he stammered back, looking
away and blushing. 

Mordalayn stared at him in
disbelief and then shoved him away and looked to Jared and Bue as
they ran up, Kloee hovering over Jared’s shoulder. 

“
You two stay
in the main hall out of sight,” he snapped then a bright light
began to emanate from high above and he turned in shock to the huge
tower above them. The vast, multi faceted crystal in the tower was
starting to glow. High in the sky the clouds were moving, becoming
grey then black as they swirled and merged then broke and merged
again above the huge pointed spire. Lightning began to flash in
tiny bursts on to the tower’s needle point. Mordalayn looked
dismayed as the tip began to glow then fade. The crystal pulsed
bright white, then green then faded again.

 “
Our
Lady! They have activated the signal!” he shouted and looked on in
horror as the crystal continued to pulse and the trumpets continued
to sound.

Chapter
31

Miles away
King James sat in a field with his most trusted guards around him.
He trained his telescope over the towers of Alegria castle and
whistled merrily to himself. He could hear the distant peeling of
the trumpets, a beautiful sound that had started the moment his
troops had cleared the ground and begun the march across the open
plains leading to Alegria. As they had pounded through the villages
on the outskirts of the city the terrified residents had fled
indoors, slamming their hatches and barricading themselves in their
homes. Alegria had not faced invasion in hundreds of years and the
population were petrified. Over a thousand of the Anghofian army
had marched with their king, the elite of his troops, the King’s
Daggers, and all were proud to be there that day. A day their
children and grandchildren would tell wide eyed stories about in
years to come. The drummers had beat the marching rhythm for them
and every thirty second step they would hit double beats on their
drums. Then the whole legion would raise their right fists in the
air and shout as one, “KING JAMES”, the sound carrying for
miles. 

Now the king
sat and looked at the distant castle and then turned to his nearest
aide. The man leaned in instantly with a whispered question. “Your
majesty?” 

“
Send in the
Glavers, I want them to know how serious we are,” he said amiably
and the man nodded and turned to another soldier further
back. 

“
Order the
Glavers to attack!” he shouted and the man ran back to the main
body of armed men. 

“
Now for some
entertainment” King James said grinning as he again raised his
telescope to view the palace before him.

Mordalayn saw
the riders jolt to a stop at the foot of the marble steps and run
up them two at a time. 

The captain
looked at him, winded from the sudden exertion and panting. “About
a thousand men Takoba,” he gasped. “About two miles hence,”
pointing over his shoulder. 

Mordalayn
looked grim. “Take half of these men and secure the bridge
entrance, the rest can stay here with me.” He turned to the
swordless man and said with a sneer. “As you are unable to fight
you can run. Go and find as many soldiers as you can who are in the
building and tell them I want them here now.” 

The man bowed
fearfully, and then ran off into the palace. The captain had
separated half the group of men and was now running back down the
staircase with them. He mounted his horse and signalled the other
two riders and they galloped back to the bridge, the group of
soldiers following them at a fast run.

 “
What
can we do?” Jared asked and Mordalayn turned to him and put his
hand on his shoulder. “There is a secret room behind the main
throne room. It is where the queen appears. They will almost
certainly try and trap her there in case she gains power once she
is through. The door is directly behind the throne. Push the left
eye of the statue of the bird above the throne to open
it.”

 
Jared
winced as the men around him scrambled to try and form some
semblance of order amongst themselves. Above them the crystal still
pulsed into light and then dark again, the lightning far above
flashing intermittently, thunder cracking loudly.  

Mordalayn
stared at him and spoke clearly. “No Alegrian can help her until
she is here, but as you are of her world you may be able to stop
this somehow.” 

Jared
suddenly saw shapes flitting in the sky and his stomach turned. He
pointed up. “Isn’t that…?” he said and saw Mordalayn turn and then
look back in dismay.  

“
Glavers!” he
hissed the words. The hover boards of the cackling creatures that
had attacked Jared at the airport were in the distance but this
time there were dozens of them. 

The shapes
flitted back and forth in the sky above the far end of the vast
bridge and Bue gasped. “They’re going for the soldiers!”

Jared stared
in terror as the weaving shapes crisscrossed and then, like an evil
swarm of bees, dived down onto the group of running men. The
trumpets were still sounding loudly and then ceased. As the
soldiers at the palace doors watched helpless, the Glavers tore
into the men and one by one they were lifted up, screaming and then
dropped over the yawning chasm either side of the bridge. The three
men on horses fared better at first but then the Glavers attacked
two at a time and wrenched the men out of their saddles and out
over the edge. The panicked horses bolted, two back to the palace
and the other out and away over the bridge and to the road beyond.
Two men who had both courage and skill made a valiant gesture of
defiance and stood back to back, taking three or four of the
swooping assassins down before they were engulfed and dragged to
their deaths. 

“
It’s a
massacre,” one soldier next to Jared cried out in dread.

 
Within
minutes it was over and the Glavers soared up in the air again and
assembled in the sky above the bridge. 

Everyone knew what was coming
next. 

Behind them the messenger came
running back. With him were a handful of armoured men and they
skidded to a halt. 

“
Is that it?”
Mordalayn seethed at the man who blushed again.

 “
There
is no one else sir.” 

“
Seal the
palace, anyone who is not able to fight is to be inside, NOW!!!”
Doors and windows began shutting with bangs and thuds and the main
door started to slowly close. 

“
Both of you get inside!” Mordalayn bellowed at Bue and Jared
and pushed them to the vast, arched, wooden gates of the
palace
.
As the
gap got smaller Bue ran through but Jared tripped and fell,
sprawling forwards and then watched fear stricken as the door
closed with a loud boom.  

Mordalayn
picked him up and turned to the troops. “Assemble as close to the
doorways as you can,” he yelled and started pulling men into lines.
Above them the crystal continued to glow, this time brighter, and
Mordalayn prayed that they could stop this. He glanced yet again up
at the peak of the huge tower. The lightning was flashing faster
and faster and the thunder cracked. The swarm of Glavers in the
distance bobbed in the air like some flock of malignant crows and
then as one began to surge towards them.  

Jared stood
next to Mordalayn and yelled loudly. “What can I do
now?” 

 “
JUST
GO!!!” Mordalayn roared back as the black spindly shapes swarmed
towards them cackling loudly like a demonic choir of army ants.
They merged over and through each other and as Jared stared at the
vast number he could see there were at least a hundred of
them. 

“
How are we
going to stop them?” he shouted to Mordalayn over the din of the
approaching force. 

“
Just get to
the tower and stop them bringing the Queen through,” the cat man
shouted back. Jared was about to argue when Mordalayn whirled and
grabbed Jared by his shirt and belt and before he could say
anything heaved him back and then launched him up and into the air.
Jared barely had time to register what was going on before he
landed with a crunch on the tiled, slanting roof above the main
doorway. Winded he breathed heavily and with a start realised that
he was slipping back, the loose tiles from his sudden impact coming
loose and cascading back towards Mordalayn and the soldiers in a
shower of red stone.

 
Kloee
flew up and hovered protectively next to him. She glowed again and
his slide abruptly stopped, his kicking feet dislodging a few more
of the tiles that crashed unnoticed amongst the men below.
“Thanks,” he gasped and turned into the gentle pull of her
protective light. He flung his arms out to stop the slide and with
a grinding noise stuck still and then scrambled up and lunged for
the window. More tiles came loose under his feet until he managed
to grab the ledge and flung his hands through the open window. As
he went to heave himself in he turned round. The sight was
stomach-churning. Swarms of Glavers were hurtling towards them as
Mordalayn drew his tri-blade. The others with him formed a ragged
line against the oncoming black tidal wave of evil and Mordalayn
glanced up at Jared.