The God-Stone War

Chapter 21

Penelope Illeniel, the Countess di’Cameron, strode briskly through the corridors, while the two women with her hurried to keep up. She carried her sheathed longsword in one hand and struggled to keep her pace slow enough for Rose and Elaine to stay with her. That wasn’t much of a problem for Elaine, but given Rose’s condition, she was having more difficulty. She was slightly over seven months pregnant, and her swelling belly presented a significant obstacle to moving at anything beyond a normal walk.

“Penny… please, I can’t run,” reminded Rose.

Penny looked back and again tried to hide her impatience. She had borne three children herself and knew well the stresses her friend was under, yet she couldn’t help but push her. They were heading for the nursery to collect Irene, as well as Rose’s son Gram, who hadn’t been allowed to attend that evening’s feast.

A tug on her skirt drew her attention to Moira. “Momma I don’t feel very good,” said her adopted daughter. The seven year old’s face was pale; despite the quick pace at which they had been moving.

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” Penny told her, before glancing again at Rose, “I’ll slow down. We should have plenty of time to reach the nursery and then get to our apartments.” According to what Mort had told her previously, the barrier enchantment should last at least fifteen minutes or so, and quite possibly much longer. That and the fact that they wouldn’t be using the teleportation circles meant that they should have more than enough time. Penny still wished they could run.

People were everywhere as they went, rushing back and forth along the corridors. Because of their slow pace, it took them almost ten minutes to reach the nursery and gather up their children. Lilly was still there watching them, so Penny ordered her to come along with them as well. Lilly wasn’t a part of the plan for the Illeniel family escape, but Penny was sure she would need the other woman’s help in the days to come.

“What about Peter?” asked Lilly, as they headed for the stairs that would lead up to the ‘rooms’ that the Illeniel family supposedly occupied. She was referring of course to her brother, Peter Tucker, the chamberlain for Castle Cameron. “He’s expecting me to take the circle to Albamarl with everyone else. He’ll be worried sick.”

Lady Rose patted the younger woman’s shoulder, “I’m sure we’ll find some way to contact him once the dust settles.”

“My husband keeps several private message boxes in our home. We can send a message to King James, and he can send a messenger to let your brother know you are with us,” said Penny quickly. “Let’s go. We may not have as much time as we think,” she continued. In the distance she could hear yelling and the sounds of fighting in the castle courtyard. Things shouldn’t have progressed that far yet, she told herself silently, but there was no denying the evidence of her ears.

They made a motley assortment as they traveled the corridor; four women, three young children, one toddler, and an infant. Lilly carried the baby, Irene, allowing Penny to keep her hands free on the slim chance she might need to use her sword. Rose held little Conall’s hand, making sure that he wasn’t separated from them, while the twins and Gram were allowed to follow closely on their own. Elaine stayed in the rear of their group, to make sure that none of the children fell behind.

Only one corridor separated them from the stairs that would lead upward to their refuge, but as they started down the long hall, Elaine finally spoke, “There’s fighting just beyond that door; a lot of our soldiers and five of the enemy, I believe.” She pointed to a door midway down the corridor, a door that led to the front entry hall.

“Let’s keep moving,” urged Rose, “The stairs are close.”

Penny nodded and unsheathed her sword, staying in the lead as they went. Roughly a quarter of the way down the hall, just as they had passed one of the servant’s doors leading to the kitchen, the door ahead burst inward. The sturdy wooden door hadn’t been opened; it had simply disintegrated under the blow of a heavy iron mace. Adrenaline had already slowed her perception of time, and Penny idly noted that the head of the mace was far too large for someone to use easily. They must have brought those for breaking down doors.

A heavily muscled man followed the large weapon through the shattered door. He was armored in a leather coat with steel plates sewn across the chest and back, though his forearms were bare, covered only with tattoos. The iron hammer of Doron, the Iron God was prominent among the designs, indicating that the man was probably a temple guard.

Even as Penny noted those things, another man, one of the castle guards, followed the stranger through the door, thrusting at him with a spear. With an almost beautiful grace, the foreigner sidestepped the spear thrust, and reaching out with his right hand, he caught the guard, gripping the top of his breastplate. Twisting, he easily lifted and threw the guardsman into the wall, tossing him as though he weighed no more than a ragdoll. The castle defender slumped to the floor limply, though Penny couldn’t be sure if he were dead or merely unconscious.

The guard’s helm fell from his head and then she recognized his face. His name was Alan, and while he was an unassuming and quiet man, he was frequently selected to guard the door of the Illeniel family suite. He was no one of importance, but Penny knew the man would have died before allowing an enemy to hurt them… in fact he might just have done so. Enraged, she leapt forward, her sword eager to repay the intruder for his rude treatment of one of her people. “Keep the children back,” she shouted, hoping her companions would understand. And cover their eyes, she thought belatedly. She knew that what was about to happen wouldn’t be something she would want her children to see.

Racing toward her opponent, she was surprised at the speed with which he reacted. The massive iron mace he was wielding came up far more quickly than should have been possible, even for a man of his size. She was forced to dodge to the side to avoid it, but even so, she wasn’t worried. No matter how strong her enemy was, her sword would be far faster than such an unwieldy weapon. Twisting her torso as she dodged, she brought her sword neatly around to sweep above the head of his weapon, as she launched herself upward.

Or rather, as she attempted to launch herself upward… the formal dress that she had worn for the celebration, caught upon something at the last moment, tangling her legs and sending her unceremoniously to the ground at her enemy’s feet. Unable to check her fall quickly enough, her head struck the stone floor hard enough to make her see stars, while her sword went skittering away from her hand.

“Looks like your dress got caught on something, bitch,” said the man, with a ghastly smile on his face.

Dazed, Penny struggled to roll away, but her body was still sluggish from the shock of the blow to her head. Looking down, she discovered the reason she had fallen, the man was standing on the hem of her dress. It was an effective tactic, and one she had used many times herself, one she probably wouldn’t have time to recover from.

Before she could move any further, she was struck in the belly by a heavy boot, driving the wind from her lungs. Leaning over her, the grinning bastard laughed, as he began ripping the skirts from her dress. “Let me help you Countess,” he said while she lay on the floor, choking and gasping for air. The strength in his hands was incredible, and he shredded the fabric simply by pulling, as though her dress was made of tissue rather than sturdy linen. “Your husband should have taught you better. If you’re going to fight, you shouldn’t be wearing a dress.”

Her eyes locked on his as she realized that the stranger knew exactly who she was. She struggled to get enough air into her lungs, if for nothing better than to curse him, when a glimpse past the man’s legs showed her Lady Rose running frantically toward them.

Rose had her dress pulled up to keep her legs free, and she ran on bare feet, to keep from alerting the man looming over Penny. Unfortunately, her hands were also empty of anything resembling a weapon.

“After you’re dead I’ll make sure that what’s left of your mangled corpse, will send a proper message to your dying husband,” said the man, as he finished ripping away the last of her skirts. His eyes followed hers and looking over his shoulder, he spotted Rose. “Guess I’ll have to kill this one first,” he said with a shrug, lifting his mace easily with one hand.

Penny had finally gotten a half breath of air,and her hand caught the man’s where it gripped the handle of his mace. “No,” she wheezed. You’re not killing my friend.

The stranger ignored her, though she had his hand locked in an iron grip around the weapon. Instead he stood and dragged her upright along with the mace. His strength was such, that it seemed as if he might happily attempt to swing her along with the heavy iron club.

Having used his help to stand, Penny threw a poorly aimed jab at the warrior with her free hand. Predictably, given the lack of force, he caught her fist in his own. Once both their arms were locked together however, she pulled backward using all the strength she could summon and simultaneously drove her knee into the man’s sternum.

She felt a crack as her knee connected, and she knew that whatever had broken, her opponent would be helpless and unable to breath. Depending on how badly she had hurt him, he might even die.

It appeared that someone had failed to explain that to the stranger though, for he still held her in an iron grip. Instead of collapsing, as any normal man would have, he straightened and pushed forward, driving her smaller mass against the stone wall. “It will take more than that to stop the will of Doron, bitch!”

Penny lost her focus as she hit the hard stone. This time at least, she managed to keep from striking her head, but now he had his hands around her neck. She struggled with him, trying to pull his hands away from her throat, but despite her own strength she was unable to do more than achieve a stalemate… one that she was slowly losing.

A spasm went through the man, and his arms went limp. Pushing his heavy form back Penny saw Rose standing behind him, and as he slowly collapsed, she glimpsed the hilt of a long dagger protruding from his neck. She had driven the blade into his spine. “He wasn’t easy to kill,” commented Rose. That was when Penny noticed the second wound. Apparently Rose had put the blade through his kidney once before switching targets. “He didn’t even flinch at the first wound,” Rose added.

“Where are the children?” asked Penny, as she sought to steady herself. Neither they, nor Elaine, were anywhere to be seen.

“Right here,” answered Elaine, becoming visible not twenty feet away. Lilly stood beside her, holding onto Irene, while the rest of the children gripped Elaine’s dress.

Relief shot through Penny once she was sure that everyone was alright, but Matthew immediately began peppering her with questions. “What happened to you, Momma? We couldn’t see! Did you kill that man?” Although he seemed calm, Penny could feel the undercurrent of fear in his voice.

“Momma, you’re naked,” added Moira, observing that the bottom half of Penny’s dress had been ripped free, exposing her long legs.

Penny sighed, “It’s just my legs, dear-heart. I’ll explain later. We don’t have time to talk now.” She started to ask why they had been unable to see when she realized that Elaine had kept them invisible the entire time. Mort had explained previously that, when invisible, the person hidden could no longer see, because the light was being diverted around their body. That was a blessing in disguise, she thought to herself. After a second she began chuckling at the inherent pun in her thought. Mort must be rubbing off on me… wait till I tell him. That thought triggered a whole host of unwelcome emotions, so she quickly shuttered them away. There will be time for that later.

Before they could move Elaine interrupted them, “There are more coming!” Throwing her hands up, the younger woman spoke an unintelligible word and gestured toward the open doorway. The guardsmen on the other side were all dead now, and four of the strange warriors were heading towards them, with deadly intent on their faces. The first of them ran head first into the invisible barrier that the young wizardess had erected to block the shattered door, bouncing back as though he had struck stone.

“Lilly! Rose! Take the children up the stairs! Don’t wait!” ordered Penny, as she recovered her sword.

“You can’t handle that many if they break through,” protested Rose.

Penny straightened her back and let her anger show openly on her face. “Damnitt Rose! I don’t have time to argue. Elaine, stay with them. If you meet any more of the enemy hide them all,” commanded the Countess di’Cameron, before adding, “Rose will be able to open the door to my rooms… make sure she opens the door first. Do you understand?”

Rose stared at her without showing any emotion before nodding her acceptance, but Elaine’s face was tormented by unexplained sadness. A tear rolled down her cheek as she answered, “I’m so sorry,” before turning away to obey Penny’s command. With Lilly carrying Irene, and the other children close beside them, the three women hurried to the staircase and the hope of refuge.

“I’m not dead yet,” replied Penny without understanding the underlying reason for Elaine’s apology. “If I can’t manage them, I’ll try to draw them in the other direction,” she added, heading back toward the doorway blocked by Elaine’s magic.

Standing about ten feet from the invisible barrier, she couldn’t help but imagine what a ridiculous site she must have been for the four men standing on the other side. She wore no armor; that was still in her bedroom upstairs. Instead, she was clothed only in the upper portion of what had recently been a beautiful formal gown. The skirt had been ripped completely off, leaving her bare legs fully displayed. Her only consolation was, that she had worn soft leather soled slippers under her dress, rather than the awkward thick soled shoes that many women preferred, to give them the illusion of greater height.

One of the men drew back with his heavy mace and swung it against the magical barrier. The weapon bounced back, and the barrier held. Growling he began to swing again.

Meanwhile, Penny drove her own sword into the stone floor in front of her, to free her hands for a moment. Reaching across, she ripped the sleeve from her left arm, a task that would have been difficult but for her enhanced strength. Never taking her eyes from the doorway and the men pounding at it with their iron clubs, she used the torn sleeve to tie her long hair back. It had been elaborately coiffed not long ago, but her recent fight had caused it to fall loose.

Once she had finished, she pulled her sword from the floor and assumed a relaxed pose, waiting for her opponents. They had been battering the invisible wall for two or three minutes now, which led her to doubt her decision. If I’d known it would take them this long, I would have stayed with the others. She toyed with the idea of following them then, but she knew if she did, her enemy would see the direction she went. Better to kill them here, she decided. She closed her mind against the possibility that she might not survive.

Then the barrier vanished, and one of the intruders stumbled forward as his heavy weapon failed to meet the expected resistance. Penny was waiting for him. Despite her calm pose, her body was thrumming with adrenaline. As the brute’s body came through, her sword flicked out, faster than thought and neatly sliced through his throat, before whipping back and severing the tendons of his weapon arm near the wrist.

Blood sprayed from her enemy’s throat and arm, and a thrill ran down Penny’s spine, erasing the doubt that her previous near failure had left her with. Banishing all thought, Penny leapt forward, sidestepping the dying man and thrusting her sword at his comrade standing beside him. As she went, she noted the quick reactions of the two others standing further back, both had their weapons up and whistling through the air almost as quickly as she had advanced, whipping the heavy iron maces through the air, as though they were as light as willow switches. One came in high while the other would strike her at the waist, either would likely kill or maim her with a single blow.

Ordinarily she would have dodged backward, turning her thrust into a feint, but the man behind her, the one whose throat she had cut, was reaching for her with his good arm. She might have wondered at his continued ability to fight, but she was in a place far beyond conscious thought, where time ran slowly, and hesitation led only to death.

Never take your feet off the ground, Cyhan had taught her long ago. He had punctuated his lessons with painful reminders every time she had used her strength to attempt a high flying jump. As soon as you jump like that, you lose the power to control your direction until you touch the ground again. A skilled opponent will take advantage of this, he had told her.

Penny sprang upward, twisting into a sideways roll as she went over the heads of the two men at the rear, the ones swinging the maces. Their weapons had too much momentum to change direction, even for men possessed of such inhuman strength as they were. Instead one of them reached for her with his free hand, seeking to arrest her flight and send her disastrously to the ground. It was exactly what Cyhan would have done.

Her sword removed his arm from the elbow down, the enchanted steel slicing through bones as easily as flesh. Finishing her arc, she landed behind them and let her momentum take her all the way to the floor. Her opponents’ weapons continued to sweep in a full circle, as their wielders followed through in an attempt to strike her as she landed. Her mid-air twist became a spin, as her legs folded into a crouch, and she took the left leg of the man she had just wounded, off at the knee. Off balance, his weapon went wide, giving her just enough room to slip beneath his companion’s mace.

From that point, the fight became simple slaughter, as she systematically dismembered the four men. She had already discovered that shock and loss of blood had little effect upon them. The only thing that stopped them was removing their limbs, and the only thing that killed them seemed to be decapitation. Fortunately, the magical sword she used was perfect for that task. Their speed and strength was as great as her own, possibly greater, but their combat experience was definitely more limited. If they had been better trained, or had possessed lighter weapons she would have been unable to prevail against so many.

Those maces are better suited for use against heavily armored opponents… she thought to herself, as she retreated from the bloody scene, heading for the stairs …like the Knights of Stone, the unwelcome thought finished itself in her mind. “Damnitt!” she swore.

Meanwhile… upstairs from where Penny was fighting, Elaine, Rose, and Lilly led the children away from the stairs and down the long corridor leading to the Illeniel family’s rooms. Elaine already knew they weren’t going to make it unopposed however, her magesight told her that three waited at the door that led to safety, dead guards at their feet. Two more were entering through a small window at the opposite end of the hallway, their hands ripping stones from the wall to make the opening large enough for them to pass. Within moments she and the others would be trapped between them.

How can they be so strong? she wondered silently. In her magesight, they glowed brilliantly with an intensity to their auras that she hadn’t seen since… her mind balked at the thought. That isn’t possible, she thought. Celior’s aura was stronger still, and his presence made it difficult to even think. Besides, there are too many of them.

“There are three ahead of us, and two more will soon be approaching from behind,” she told the others.

“There’s nowhere to hide!” said Lilly, in a voice tinged with incipient panic.

Rose put a hand on Lilly’s shoulder, trying to calm her, “Take a deep breath. Elaine can always make us invisible again.”

Gram tugged on his mother’s arm, “Where’s Dad? How did they get in here?”

“I’m sure your father is still fighting below. Once he’s finished there, he will come and get rid of these as well, never fear,” Rose answered calmly, hiding her own fear that something must have gone terribly wrong with the defense of Cameron Castle. “For now we have to take care of ourselves ‘till he can get here. Do you understand?”

Gram nodded, and Matthew and Moira nodded along with him. They were all listening closely with a seriousness that made it clear that they understood the gravity of the situation.

“When a Prathion doesn’t want to be found, a Prathion isn’t found,” said Elaine softly to herself, repeating one of her father’s old sayings. Raising her voice, she spoke to the others, “Everyone move up against the wall. I’m going to shield you from all sight, magical and otherwise, just to be safe.”

“Will we be blind again?” asked Lilly worriedly.

“Yes, there’s no way around that, but you’ll still be able to hear… and be heard, so stay as quiet as possible,” Elaine explained carefully.

Rose was already lining the children up against the wall. Glancing over her shoulder, she said, “You sound as if you don’t intend to be with us. Don’t we have to be in physical contact for you to make us invisible?”

“Not as long as you stay in one place,” answered Elaine, “This spell will be stationary; if you move more than a foot in any direction, you will become visible again.”

“What will you do?” prodded Rose.

“Teach them why it is never wise to hunt wizards, or their friends,” Elaine replied, with a show of bravado that she hoped she could live up to. That’s probably something like what Mordecai would have said, she told herself. She intended to make her mentor proud.

Only a minute later the two men who had climbed through the window made their approach from the southern end of the corridor, spotting her as soon as they rounded the corner. They stopped some fifty feet away and smiled at the lone woman standing there before them. A moment later, the three that had been in front of the Illeniel family rooms appeared at the northern end of the corridor.

They’re coordinating somehow, noted Elaine mentally, as the five began to approach from both ends of the corridor. “Stop,” she told them calmly.

“Where are the children?” The words came from all five of them simultaneously. Eerily, they spoke in utter synchrony.

That answers one question, thought Elaine. They’re being controlled by one entity. “Here is my answer,” she replied and followed it with the words, “Bradek Tyrestrin!” The hallway erupted with lightning; flashing from her hands, it forked and split multiple times to arc in both directions. Unlike natural lightning however, it did not vanish quickly; instead it remained for long seconds, forming a giant web of small bolts that engulfed and transfixed the five trespassers.

After what seemed an eternity, the lightning abruptly vanished, leaving a dark silence in its wake. The five men were still standing, though their bodies twitched and smoked. Black marks covered them where the electricity had burned holes in their skins. As one, they smiled at the woman standing between them, “You’ll have to do better than that.”

Four of them charged at her, two from either direction, while the fifth turned and swung his massive iron weapon at a nondescript and otherwise empty section of wall. There was no visible reason for his action, other than the fact that that area was guarded by a shield of magic. Like most such shields this one was not visible… not unless one possessed the ability to see magic.

“No!” shouted Elaine, as the iron struck her shield with incredible force. She gasped in pain as the shield collapsed under the impact of the blow, and the wall sent forth a shower of stone shards as it was struck. As she reeled from the shock of her shield failing, the warriors around her attacked. Her arms went up instinctively to protect her head from the lethal violence of their swings.

Elaine’s illusory double vanished, and their weapons found nothing where she had been only moments before. She reappeared forty feet further down the hall. Clearly they can see magic, since they easily spotted my shield decoy. They also won’t be easy to kill, and if I try to shield myself from the force of those weapons, I might go unconscious from the strength of the blow. Speaking again, she tried one of the simplest of spells, “Shibal.”

There was no visible effect.

“I expected better,” said the five men as one. Three of them headed for her new location, while two began systematically working their way along the walls, their hands feeling for things unseen.

Three more copies of the young wizardess appeared at various places along the hall. “I’ll make it more interesting for you then,” Elaine replied, her voice emanating from all four mouths, making it impossible to tell which was really her. Reaching into her sleeve, she withdrew a pair of identically engraved wooden wands, taking one in each hand. Each wand was made of willow and painstakingly carved with runes. Mordecai had favored using a larger staff to channel power when he needed it, but Elaine had always preferred the smaller wands. They suited her better in terms of precision and style. Plus, two is usually better than one, she added mentally.

The two searching the walls ignored her, while the three advancing upon her each separated to attack a different image, in the hope that one would be the real one. There was no hesitation or discussion among her opponents; they continued to move in unspoken coordination.

“Pyrren sills thylen,” said Elaine, and fire snaked out from the ends of each of her wands, forming long ropy lines five foot in length. Each of her images mirrored her actions, as she lifted her arms and began swinging the fiery whips into blurring arcs of flame around her.

“Flame will do you no good against the iron will of Doron!” shouted the fighters, as three of them brought their terrible iron mauls to bear on separate images of the slender woman.

Two of them met no resistance as their illusory opponents vanished. The third met a far different fate, as lines of incandescent fire cut through his weapon, his arms, and finally his chest. In seconds, the blazing whips sliced him into neatly cauterized pieces of smoking flesh, as first his arms, and then his head and torso fell in different directions.

Having discovered her true position, the other two attacked without hesitation, coming at her from two directions. Without flinching she stood between them and spread her arms wide, swinging her whips in brilliant arcs, to intercept each of them, but she could not focus her attention perfectly on both sides.

With inhuman speed and perfect, selfless coordination, the one to her right threw himself bodily at her, allowing her magical whip to bisect him from one shoulder to his waist. Even so, the momentum of his lunge made it impossible for her to avoid being struck by the upper portion of his body, knocking her off balance, as his companion to her left dove under her fiery attack on that side.

Stumbling Elaine was engulfed in blinding agony, as her left leg was struck by an iron mace. As she collapsed, she knew without looking, that her femur had been shattered, while her thigh was probably a red nightmare of bloody flesh. Unable to see from the pain of her injury, she heard a scream of terror as one of the enemy’s searching hands touched an invisible child.

Her right hand still gripped one of her wands, the other she had lost in the fall. Blinking, she was unable to clear the tears of pain that blurred her vision, but her magesight was more than sufficient. Above, her closest assailant raised his iron weapon for a blow that would certainly finish her. She had no time to think, raising the wand, she pointed it past her immediate opponent and uttered her last words, “Borok Ingak.” The head of the man, who had just found the children broke like an overripe melon, as the force of her spell slammed him against the stone wall. She had no time to repeat her spell, before a heavy weight crushed her to the floor painfully, and a warm and welcome darkness swept her away from the agony that engulfed her consciousness. She had no time, even for regret, as oblivion took her.