The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (38 page)

Mordalayn simply glared at
him. 

“
Come, come”
King James said laughing slightly. He turned to his gathered
legion. “What do you think gentlemen?”

 
As one
they responded with a deafening roar; “KING JAMES!!!”

 
He
looked up again at the small group above him and smiled, the humour
not fading from his eyes. “You are heroes now my friends, try not
to become martyrs too. I offer this once only. Lay down your
weapons and kneel to me and I will spare your lives.”

 
Mordalayn replied in a rumbling voice. “James you are a
traitor and a coward. My place is at the side of my queen. In this
world, her world or the next world. I will never kneel to
you.” 

James looked up and for the
first time Jared saw disappointment on his harsh face.  

“
You agreed
surrender Takoba,” the king reminded him. “Are you willing to see
your city and palace destroyed for your foolish pride?”

 
Mordalayn continued. “I agreed to discuss surrender. I never
said whose. I now offer you one chance to turn around and return to
Anghofio and never come back.” 

James stared at the Caracalic
in disbelief. Then he threw back his head and laughed, a deep
throaty roar. Agostios Primmel looked nervous, and glanced around
quickly. 

“
My, my,” the
king said wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He turned to
the troops behind him and shouted. “What do you think men? Should
we turn and leave with our tails between our
legs?” 

There was a
mighty roar of laughter from the assembled troops and the king
turned back to Mordalayn, still grinning. “Takoba Mordalayn, sword
of the Alegrian queen. Your loyalty and courage are equalled only
by your stupidity.” 

Mordalayn
said nothing, his emerald eyes boring into the king. Then he spoke
slowly and clearly. “Leave now and swear on what little honour you
possess to leave Alegria in peace and I will spare your life and
the lives of your men.” 

The king’s face hardened and
his amusement vanished. 

“
Very well,”
he replied and donned his helmet, the ornate gold and pearl armour
shining in the bright sunlight. “You now leave me no choice. My men
were hoping you would fight.” 

He turned to
the gathered soldiers, drew his sword and raised it high above him.
“Gentleman today we take Alegria.”  

His men roared louder than they
had ever roared before.

Chapter
39

Jared was
terrified. The king’s obvious amusement at Mordalayn’s arrogance
had vanished once he realised the Caracalic was not simply making a
gesture of defiance. As King James turned to face the thousand or
so men assembled in the courtyard Jared’s mind flashed to his
family back home and wondered if they would ever find out what
became of him. He looked up at Mordalayn to try to persuade him to
accept the king’s terms and to his astonishment he saw that he had
his eyes closed and was silently mouthing words. The crystal on the
pommel of his sword glowed brightly, green and clear as King James
addressed his men. They roared as they prepared to follow his
command to attack the castle. Jared then looked left and saw one of
the huge, white marble statues on the staircase wall turn its head
with a scraping noise and stare at Mordalayn. The statue was of a
warrior, bare headed and designed with the armour of a knight. It
frowned at Jared and then squatted down and jumped to the stair
below it with a crunch. 

Before he
could say anything two more suddenly turned their heads and looked
at King James. One looked like Kulkrain, with even the braided hair
as part of the design and the tattoo chiselled on the upper left
arm. The other was a woman, designed with a military uniform and
holding a marble sword. A few of the front ranks of King James’ss
men shouted in alarm and then the statues climbed down from their
positions and jumped down onto the stairs with loud, crunching
thuds. Mordalayn was still mouthing something almost silently.
“
Whatever the spell was, it was clearly
something that King James’s research had overlooked,”
Jared thought.

 
The
statues were elaborately carved and detailed. As King James turned
in alarm, Captain Primmel leapt forward and stood in between the
approaching statues and their leader. The nearest statue raised its
arm to block the sword swing and then brought its other arm forward
like a huge hammer into his chest. He flew back into the
ranks. 

The other
statue reached King James, who was attempting to move back to the
safety of his men, and took his arm. He yelled in fear and another
soldier ran forward and tried to tackle the implacable stone
figure. It brought its arm round and slapped the man who landed
like a rag doll at the feet of his comrades.

 
The
other soldiers began to shout in panic and the front ranks moved
forward to assist their king. King James screamed. “Help me! Get
them off me!” The first statue got a grip on his other arm and they
began pulling him up the steps, roughly. As men spilled forward to
tackle them the statues lashed out with arms and feet and marble
swords. A total of six had stepped down from their positions on the
walls and their vacant pedestals stood bare in the high noon sun.
Two held James’s arms and pulled him back while the other four
stood in front forming a shield around the king. They completely
blocked the stairwell, preventing anyone from getting past.
Mordalayn grabbed Jared and picked him up once more, like he had at
Heathrow airport. He ran in swift bounds to the top of the
staircase. As they got to the top Jared turned to see the genius of
what Mordalayn had done. Even though there were a thousand men in
the vast courtyard none could make it past the statues that
completely blocked their way. It was so simple yet brilliant. None
of King James’s archers dared fire as they could not see their king
due to the gigantic marble guards that stood in his way. More of
his elite soldiers ran up to try and rescue their leader. Swords
clashed on stone and the statues were relentless, simply shoving
and swatting the men back as they methodically stepped backwards,
their huge feet thudding on the stairs as they made their way to
the top. A crush was forming as the once disciplined army tried to
force its way through. After having been promised an easy victory
they were not about to see it thrown away by a tactic such as
this. 

Mordalayn
pulled Jared behind the right hand wall at the top of the stairs,
looked at him once more and then drew his sword and dropped to one
knee. He held the tri-blade out in front of him, both hands on the
hilt with the green jewel facing the heavens and the blades
pointing down. He closed his eyes and spoke slowly but loudly. “Our
Lady, in this time of our darkest hour, of our greatest need, I
invoke the most terrible of your protections to save
Alegria.” 

With that he
lunged down hard and with a clang the three blades penetrated the
stone by about six inches. Sparks flew as the razor sharp metal
ground into the smooth rock and Mordalayn shifted his grip on the
hilt to touch the green jewel at the pommel tip.  

King James
was struggling violently against his two captors. One of them stood
on his cloak and the king nearly fell, the fabric ripping as the
marble foot tore a jagged shred from the silk.

 
More
soldiers were running from the front ranks, their orange and black
cloaks making them look like a swarm of ladybirds as they hurled
themselves to protect their monarch. It was to no avail as the
marble creatures contemptuously swatted each newcomer aside, their
strength immense and with a clash of metal and stone the various
soldiers who bravely tried to defend their king were thrown
back.

 
Mordalayn placed his left hand on the top of the huge green
jewel and said “watawashinda kebakaran” repeating the phrase again
and again, his voice getting louder.  

The statues
had now managed to get King James half way up the stairs and he
struggled and shouted for help. The front most ranks of his men
were still trying valiantly to save him but despite their numbers
they could gain no advantage on the narrow steps. One man tried a
reckless move, darting directly at the king through a small gap
between two of the stone figures and grabbing his hauberk, trying
to pull him back. The left side statue grabbed him by the top of
the head with one huge hand and threw him effortlessly against the
vast stone wall. He hit it and fell hard, landing in the many
multi-coloured flowers in the elaborate garden, his heavily
armoured body crushing the delicate petals and stalks.

 
Mordalayn still chanted and Jared saw the green jewel glow
brighter and brighter, like the one on his bracelet in the airport.
He gazed, mesmerised, as swirls of green light appeared from the
jewel and spun around it and upwards, lazily at first but then
faster and faster. “Watawashinda kebakaran, WATAWASHINDA
KEBAKARAN.” The light wove in the air and a wind appeared, whipping
Mordalayn’s long hair and fur and Jared staggered in its billowing
gasp. The Alegrian soldiers on the landing staggered back to the
doorway and wall, squatting down and trying to shield themselves
from the furious gale. A high keening noise rose and got higher and
higher, like a scream of anger being slowly increased in
volume.

 
Mordalayn stood now, his fingers still resting on the top of
the sword hilt and he chanted louder and louder. He grasped the
sword hilt with his other hand and tugged hard. The sword came free
but the two outer blades remained locked in the marble floor, the
lights weaving around them. He stepped back and one more time
shouted as loud as he could, his voice carrying even over the din
of the wind. “WATAWASHINDA KEBAKARAN…FOR ALEGRIA” and the whirling
lights dove simultaneously into the embedded sword blades and made
them glow an emerald green. Simultaneously the blades wrenched
themselves free of the stone with a grinding noise and a shower of
sparks and shot upwards. They hovered about five metres above and
started to spin, clanging together faster and faster until they
were a blur. Mordalayn grabbed Jared and pulled him back to the
castle doorway, turning his face to the wooden door and pulling
Jared’s head into his chest as the sword blades merged and erupted
into light. 

The explosion
shot forward, a streamlined blur of white and green brilliance. A
wall of fire that swept past the statues, King James and those of
his soldiers who were on the staircase. It halted for a moment at
the base of the stairs and formed into a vast monolith of pulsing,
dilating power and with a final scream of anger it erupted again
into the vast courtyard.  

The shock
wave bowled all men before it over, their bodies ripped to dust by
its immense and inescapable power. Only those on the steps survived
its furious wrath. The wave rippled and moved back then forward
again, purging all before it. The hundreds of men that had proudly
and silently stood in the plaza were now rendered into ashes. A few
screamed as they saw the devastation being wrought on the front
ranks and a few at the rear tried to run. The whole thing lasted
less than a minute. The pulsing, ebbing power of the spell
Mordalayn had wrought left nothing in its wake but ashes and
dust. 

Suddenly and
without warning the shock wave disappeared, the green and white
light slowly calmed and faded, the motion slowing and then there
was nothing. Only the blackened earth of the once beautiful plaza
stood. After a pause a wind came and whipped up the dust and ashes,
swirling them round and then blowing them out the main entrance and
far out to the green lands and forests beyond. 

Mordalayn
released Jared and he staggered forward
.
He looked over the lip of the
right hand balcony and saw the ruins of the once proud plaza. The
scorched earth and blackened walls cast a depressing balance to the
ruined gardens that had been destroyed and torn apart in the shock
wave. He gazed open mouthed and then his gaze shifted to the
struggling King James, now at the top of the stairs, his stone
captors standing still. They held his arms firmly and looked
silently through white marble eyes at Mordalayn. The other four
escorting him also stood still, their heads turned to look at the
Caracalic. The pursuing Anghofian soldiers who had survived were
now uncertain of what to do. They stood a few steps down from their
captured leader and looked around, confused, angry and frightened.
They had been promised an easy victory without even a token show of
resistance and now they had witnessed their legion
decimated. 

Mordalayn stepped forward and
sheathed his sword, the remaining blade locking into place, the
jewel now dimmed back to a milky shade of green. 

He ignored the still wriggling
King James and addressed his men.

 “
Survivors. You are loyal men. Willing to give your lives to
defend your king. For that I offer you your lives. Lay down your
swords and you will be spared.” 

The thirty or so men hesitated,
unsure of what to do.  

“
Don’t
listen, SET ME FREE!!!” King James screamed at
them. 

Mordalayn
glanced at the statues who pulled King James’ss arms until he
squealed and then went quiet. 

“
You have
nothing to bargain with. You are our prisoners. Throw down your
swords.”