“Exactly. Where do we start?” she asked.
“We should start by searching the keep.”
“You know your way around the castle too?” Natalia asked.
Solomon nodded.
“How is that?” Natalia narrowed her eyes.
“I used to live here. It was a long time ago,” Solomon said in a whisper as he started to move, leading Natalia through the darkened hallways inside the castle walls. “I was a person of importance at one time in my life, but felt the burden better suited another.”
Natalia shushed him, hearing the echoing footfalls of people marching. They were getting closer. “Quickly, hide,” she whispered, shuffling back the way they came. Turning into a side hallway, they stopped with their backs to the wall. Remaining perfectly still, Natalia watched glowing torchlight illuminate the hallway.
“They came in this way,” she heard someone say. Natalia held her breath as a small group of soldiers and orcs walked just feet from where they stood, the light dimming as they passed them by. She started to relax slightly when she suddenly saw the shinning glow from her pocket come to life.
The mirror, she thought as she frantically searched for the two-way mirror she used to communicate with Nadir. As it illuminated the darkened space around them, she knew they were done for. The soldiers and orcs stopped, and she heard them reverse direction, their torch’s glow cut out by the bright light emanating from the mirror.
Cursing, Natalia drew her blade and stepped out into the hallway. Steel clashed on steel as she met the orcs first. Time seemed to stop as she battled them two at a time while they forced her back down the hallway, a line of their corpses littering the stones. Shouts rang throughout the castle and Natalia knew the entire castle guard would be on them soon. Cutting her way through the orcs, she made her way into the group of soldiers. The one with the torch dashed away to call for help.
As she met the soldiers with blades in hand and worked to create an opening, Natalia heard the booming blasts of cannon fire along the distant city walls. She cut down the startled soldiers who were caught off guard by the noise. As the cannons continued to boom, she thought, The battle for Kingston is about to begin.
Chapter 60
Kurr at the Gates
“Anders,” Maija cried, turning away from the heap of elven bodies.
His gaze left Zahara’s and he consoled Maija, unable to hide the massacre from their memories.
“What kind of monster could do such a thing?” she asked, her voice quivering slightly.
“Kurr,” Anders replied, the disdain he felt for them nearly palpable.
“How could one kurr do all this?” Maija asked, turning to face the bodies once more, tears glistening her cheeks.
Anders looked at the widened path that led into the village and said, “This wasn’t the work of one kurr; this was an entire mob. We were right when we noted that the trail stunk of herd mentality and now we know what kind of creature caused it.”
“Aren’t these forests protected by the elves?” Maija asked.
Anders nodded, “Half of Nadir’s army went with us to Southland, but the other half remained. If the High Council knew of these attacks, they would send troops to hunt them down.” He paused, trying to think of a single reason why the elves would turn a blind eye to the massacre of their people. Anders shook his head, “Something isn’t right in the capital. They wouldn’t let elitist dragons patrol their borders so closely, much less allow kurr to run wild in their lands and kill their citizens.”
“We need to do something, warn someone,” Maija said, confidence and determination returning to her voice.
“We must quicken our pace to Cedarbridge and hunt down any kurr we find along the way,” Anders said.
Flying would be fastest, Raffa said, his deep voice sounding in Anders’ mind.
But wouldn’t we risk showing the entrance to Merglan’s followers? Zahara asked.
“She’s right,” Anders said aloud. “The other dragons could still be within sight if we fly above the trees. We’ll need to get farther away from the Nagano border before taking to the skies.”
And the kurr? Zahara asked.
“We hunt them on foot for now,” Anders said, pointing to the freshly trampled path. “They could still be in the area, so stay on the lookout. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of those dragons leading the kurr.”
No, Raffa said. Those dragons would never help a kurr, let alone a herd of them.
“How can you be certain?” Anders asked. “We know that they can be manipulated; Merglan already has them fooled into helping take us out.”
Justbecause they’ve decided to become dragon supremacists doesn’t mean your evil sorcerer had anything to do with it, this time. Scores of dragons still remember his influence from the wars. Most of the radical groups that managed to hold onto Merglan’s evil ideals have taken them and twisted their intentions into their own. Their Prophet could be any one of the many radical dragons from the wars; Killdoor wasn’t the only one.
“If that’s true, it still doesn’t change the fact that kurr are invading lands that haven’t seen conflict since The War of the Magicians. Kurr have never been able to raid the Everlight Forest unchallenged,” Anders said, frustration sparking his emotions. At that moment, he suddenly had an urge to hold Lazuran in his hand. As the argument between Zahara and Raffa escalated on whether dragons were assisting the enemy forces, Anders became focused on one thing, the sapphires in his sword. Looking down at them, he moved his hand to touch the pommel.
Running his palm over the pommel-stone and down onto the shaft, Anders felt the slightness of the crystals embedded into the handle. As the voices of Raffa and Zahara fled his mind, he thought he could hear the same faint whispering he’d heard before. Longing to know how the tapped crystal managed to call to him, he closed his eyes and dove deep into the recesses of his mind, trying to create a connection with the sword.
Anders! Zahara shouted, disrupting his concentration.
Anders shook himself from the daze he’d drifted into, “Yeah?”
Do we take the elven trails to Cedarbridge or follow the kurr paths? she asked. The anger in her tone was very clear.
“The elven trails,” he answered, quickly regaining his awareness. “Taking an unnecessary risk to hunt the kurr unsupported wouldn’t be something Ivan would’ve wanted us to do. He would’ve said we were too important to the overall objective. Besides, finding kurr here means there must be bigger problems up the line. Right now, we need to focus on getting our allies back from Southland to face this apparent invasion that’s taken place during our brief absence,” he said, feeling as if the words weren’t his own but arrived directly from his father.
Spoken like a true prince, Anders heard Zahara’s voice say to him only.
He looked to the ground, frowning, I don’t feel like a prince. Then he started toward the elven trail leaving the village.
“Anders,” Maija called after him as she jogged to catch up. He felt her hand on his arm as she asked, “What was that?”
