Where Serpents Strike (Children of the Falls Vol. 1) (7 page)

The streets before the castle bore a grisly
scene. The guards stationed there had been slaughtered, their
entrails strewn across the ground, giving rise to a foul odor akin
to vomit and manure. Dana held her breath as she passed, hoping she
wouldn’t recognize any of the fallen men.

The doors to the castle had been smashed off
their hinges. A thick wooden battering ram capped with a large
metal boar’s head had been tossed aside in the vestibule.

“They’ve sacked the castle already,” Pick
said in astonishment.

“Hired barbarians with a viper commander
leading them,” said Khalous shaking his head, “a force to be
reckoned with.”

“But where are they?” Pick asked. “Why
aren’t they fortifying their position?”

“They’re not here to siege Aberdour,”
Khalous answered, gripping his sword. “They’re here to destroy
it.”

“Why?” Dana asked.

“No one has opposed the Black King more than
your father. If I had to wager I’d say this attack is pure
vengeance.”

Lying on the floor and speckled with dirt
and shards of rock lay the navy blue flag of Aberdour. Its silver
emblem of a white-beaked rook lay smeared and tattered from the
stampeding feet of invading vipers.

Brayden ran ahead into the Great Hall and
called for Broderick.

Khalous sprang after him, yanking him back
into the hallway. “Foolish boy!” Khalous chided, trying to keep his
voice down. “The enemy could have severed your head just then. Do
not leave my side!”

Brayden hung his head. Dana could tell that
the captain’s brutish scolding had frightened and humbled her
brother.

“Pick, check the bedrooms,” Khalous said.
“The five of you, into the kitchen. Quiet now.”

Dana took Brynlee’s hand and started for the
kitchen.

In the doorway, she stopped. An armed
barbarian, clad in black armor and a spiked helmet charged toward
her. She dodged back as he swiped at her, narrowly missing her
torso. Khalous descended upon him in an instant, plunging his sword
so deep into the man’s belly that it burst through his back. The
enemy’s arms went limp and he collapsed to the floor in a rattling
mess of metal armor and chainmail.

Huddled with her arms around Brynlee and
Scarlett, Dana blinked away her shock.

Pick returned, called back by the commotion.
No sooner had he arrived then two black vipers ran into the castle.
One of them rushed Khalous. The second charged Dana. She shrunk
back with her sisters just as Pick sailed toward them to stop the
attack.

The fight that ensued was full speed, none
of the controlled swipes and thrusts she saw from the soldiers
during practice. Sword strike met counter strike. Jabs were dodged
and blows absorbed against arms, legs, and hips. There were no
tricks. Nothing showy. Just speed and ferocity. Pick was blazingly
fast. His arms and legs were covered in a flexible brown leather
and fabric armor, slick with wear and dark with old sweat.

Dana had always admired Pick, his strong jaw
and level brow that hovered over a pair of kind, trusting eyes. She
had always known how likeable he was, but never had she witnessed
how violent he could be. It frightened and reassured her all at the
same time.

Brayden and Lia made a dash for the kitchen,
but the battle between Khalous and his opponent forced Dana to
retreat onto the front steps with Brynlee and Scarlett.

Two hands grabbed her from behind, lifted
and tossed her down the stone steps of the entrance. She landed in
a heap on the ground below as hot sparks of pain pierced her elbows
and knees. The burly barbarian who had thrown her came stomping
down after her. In his hands he clutched a long club that had been
fitted with a dozen sharpened bones. They sprouted from the log
like a lion’s fangs.

Dana screamed at her sisters to run.

Brynlee and Scarlett dashed through the
violence in the vestibule and disappeared into the castle.

The barbarian arrived at Dana’s side,
growling as he reached for her.

From out of nowhere came Broderick, his
small body sailing off the steps onto the back of her husky
assailant. He tore off the man’s helmet and jabbed his fingers into
his face. The attack threw the barbarian off balance and sent them
both to the ground. Broderick tumbled away, his limbs slapping
along the stone paving.

The savage righted himself, his face covered
in scratches. He grabbed Broderick and lifted his boned club to
strike when an arrow from a castle garrison impaled him. He reeled
up, crying out, until his throat was torn away by the sword of
Khalous.

“On your feet, both of you!” Khalous
said.

An Aberdourian soldier galloped to the
castle’s entrance, his silver armor caked with blood and mud.
“Captain, the southern gate has fallen. The northwestern gate is
smashed. We must retreat.”

Khalous didn’t look surprised. “Gather as
many men as you can find and surround this entrance. We must
protect the children. Collapse the tunnels behind us. Give us as
much time as you can.” Khalous’ eyes darted up toward a tall tower
extending from the castle. “Send word to the rebellion that
Aberdour has fallen.”

A storm of flaming arrows streaked through
the sky toward the castle, setting fire to bales of hay, wood
carts, thatched roofs, and fleeing citizens.

“Down!” Khalous barked.

One of the arrows pierced the horsed
soldier, knocking him off his steed.

As Dana ran for cover another black viper
rushed from the castle’s entrance and engaged the captain in
combat.

Dana cowered behind a short stone barricade
of flowers and small shrubs that edged the castle’s entrance. She
crouched there a moment, peeking over the top. She watched Khalous
as he did battle with the enemy soldier amidst a second volley of
fiery darts that soared through the air.

She noticed Broderick scurrying up the steps
through the smashed castle doors.

“My lady?” came the voice of Alevious, one
of Aberdour’s tearmann. He was hurrying toward the castle’s side
entrance with a crowd of denizens from the school—plain clothed
students, teachers, and servants. He hurried up to Dana in his long
tan robe and brown leather belt, white wisps of hair dancing on his
head. “Come with me, child!” He reached for her hand.

“We need to send out the broadwings!” Dana
said. “The rebellion needs to know that Aberdour has fallen.”

Dana thought that Alevious, of all people,
would understand the significant impact the fall of Aberdour would
have on the realm. Like all tearmann, he was a historian of great
wisdom and intellect, well versed in the rise and fall of the
realm’s high kings, so it surprised her when he brushed her words
away.

“There is no time for that, young miss,” he
said. “We must get you to the tunnels.” He took her by the arm.

“No!” Dana said. “The rebellion must
know.”

Alevious paused, frustrated, but finally
said, “I will send out the broadwings. You get to the tunnels. Come
with me now!”

Without giving her a chance to respond,
Alevious took her hand and left the cover of the rock barricade. He
was quick for an old man, his feet easily picking their way over
the mess of destruction accumulating around the castle.

Behind them the noise of war was growing
louder as the army of the high king’s black soldiers snaked their
way through the streets of Aberdour.

Dana bounded up the steps toward the broken
doors behind Alevious and plowed into him after he stopped in the
middle of the entrance. A single crossbow bolt had pierced his
chest. Dana yelped on reflex. She dodged around him as the old man
fell to his knees.

“My lady, run,” he wheezed.

The viper who had killed Alevious made a
grab for Dana. She managed to slip by and duck into the dining
room. Old Betha was there, one of the castle’s cooks, her plump
body slumped against the wall beneath the window, her skull split
open.

Dana shivered and ran into the kitchen. She
saw the open door leading to the cellar where she hoped her
siblings were escaping into the tunnels.

She paused, her eyes flitting from the
cellar to a set of plank steps that rose in a circle up the
castle’s northeastern turret. After a moment of consideration she
sprang up the stairway, hands gripping the folds of her skirt. She
noticed with a tiny shiver the stains of blood and dirt adorning
the brocade fabric of her dress. It surprised her how dirty she had
become in such a brief amount of time.

On the second floor she paused, trembling a
bit as she glancing up and down the hallway.

Fear crept in, took hold, and wouldn’t let
her move. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, assuring
herself that she could move on.

“Not now,” she said to herself, fighting
back the cold feeling that shivered up her spine. “Not yet.”

Her eyes went to the statues lining the wide
hallway, marble heroes of ancient lore, men who had faced much
greater challenges than she. How would they act were they in her
shoes?

Dana forced herself out into the hallway
where she tiptoed to the southern end of the castle to the
broadwing turret, the tallest tower in Aberdour.

Khalous wanted the realm to know that
Aberdour had fallen, but the higher Dana climbed the more she
wondered if that was the best idea. When word got out that Aberdour
had been taken by the Black King the threads of the rebellion would
fall apart. They were already low on numbers, weapons,
organization, and the true zeal required for victory. Did they need
to lose the last of their hope as well?

The muscles in Dana’s thighs were burning by
the time she finished racing up the circular steps of the narrow
tower. The black broadwings within the tower’s cote were screeching
in their cages and jumping about, undoubtedly irritated by the
clamor outside.

The broadwing was a robust bird, a little
smaller than an eagle, and as smart as a crow. Each bird was
trained to fly from Aberdour to one other kingdom or city on Edhen,
which made them ideal for quick communication among cities.

Out of breath, her hands shaking, Dana
scrawled
Aberdour has fallen
on five pieces of small paper
for each kingdom she knew that still supported the rebellion, even
if in secret. She paused, thinking, then added,
The children of
Kingsley and Lilyanna Falls are alive and will return!
The
rebellion would find hope in those words. The Black King wouldn’t.
She smirked.

Dana affixed the messages onto the feet of
five birds before opening the doors to the tower and setting them
free. The large inky black birds with their yellow beaks and beady
eyes soared from the tower, cawing and screaming over the battle
below.

When Dana caught the view, she felt her
heart chill. She leaned toward the window, taking in the distant
sight of the southwest corner of Aberdour from which rose a
billowing column of smoke. She saw the soldiers of the high king
pushing through the streets like the fingers of a black flood while
commoners before them fled.

Dana shuffled back from the window. The
moment she was dreading where the weight of her fear and grief
overcame her ebbed closer.

“No,” she whispered. “Not now. Not yet.”

She opened the rest of the cages, freeing
the remaining birds and sparring them from becoming messengers of
the enemy.

Dana hurried back down the stairs, exiting
on the second floor to avoid the combat in the castle’s entryway
one floor below.

She came to a quick halt, forcing herself to
stifle a scream when an enemy soldier ran down the abutting hallway
in close pursuit of a black haired boy. It took her only a moment
to register that the boy was Broderick.

Dana gave chase, coming upon them at the top
of the stairs. Broderick was on the floor, clutching his knee, with
the black viper bearing down on top of him. Dana’s protective
instincts took over. She plowed into the man and shoved him forward
over the banister. His body broke and cracked as it tumbled down
the stone steps.

“Did he hurt you?” Dana asked.

She reached down to help her stepbrother,
but Broderick, ever the independent one, ignored her outstretched
hand. He pushed himself up and shook his head.

Dana led him down the northeastern turret,
through the kitchen, and into the castle’s dimly lit cellar.
Khalous was there, funneling women and children into the narrow
tunnel. The look on his face when he saw Dana and Broderick was
nothing short of rage.

“Why in all the bloody hells are you two
still here? By the gods, get your asses in the tunnel
now
!”

Dana and Broderick hurried into the dark
tunnel. It was one of several that had been dug many centuries ago
as an emergency exit for the king and queen. Each tunnel wove under
Aberdour before emptying out in a discreet location far away from
the city. The northern tunnel, she knew, led to a cave that
zigzagged through dark mountainous crags until it emerged on the
eastern slopes of a rocky hillside. The southern tunnel went to a
cave in the low-lying woods, much like the eastern tunnel that they
were in now.

The underground passageway was almost
completely dark, with rocks and severed roots tugging at the tips
of Dana’s leather shoes. Khalous trailed behind them with a torch
that battled with their shadows to properly light the way.

“Dana?” Broderick said. “Where are mama and
papa?”

She couldn’t answer. She didn’t want to. She
had already witnessed the hearts of her other siblings break at the
news, and she didn’t think she could stomach breaking another.

Choking back her grief, she said, “They are
gone.”

The tunnel shook, rattling dirt from the
ceiling as a gust of air surged toward them from the castle.

“What was that?” Broderick asked.