THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 2
A story of Necromantra
By Aladdin
Edited by Christopher Leeson
THE STORM, Chapter 5, Part 2
Arielle’s situation being somewhat improved, I would have wished to push things ahead and rescue her entirely from what was a barrel of snakes. Unfortunately, I was held back due to the uncertainty of Ulik’s fate. I felt I should attempt something positive in order to save lives, it’s troubles being to such a great extent caused by my earlier usurpation.
While Arielle was settling into her place in Armand’s camp, the Darkuran battle troop left its bivouac, arriving at the siege sight like a lowering storm cloud. They proceeded to set up a new camp behind the main army. Though they initially held aloof -- like a pride of lions contemplating a flock of sheep – no human there was reassured. I made rapid inquiries and learned that this redeployment had not been approved in advance by Armand. With tensions running high, word traveled surreptitiously through the ranks that the men should keep their weapons at hand and stay close to their assigned units. Armand, I learned, had called a council of war with his main people, discussing the unwelcome closeness of the alien detachment.
The next morning, an Darkuran ambassador arrived at Armand’s pavilion followed by a thuggish guard of honor. Our faction leader had little choice but to received them, though he kept his own guards on hand and allowed only one bodyguard into the tent with the ambassador. I didn't like it. This unexpected initiative by the Darkurans carried the stench of trouble.
While Armand and the ambassador were meeting, all hell broke loose.
From the distance came the sound of horns and clamor; Duke Erhan, from the city, was making a desperate sortie. The incomplete siege lines were overrun at several points, but Armand’s men, already on alert due to the looming presence of the Darkurans, rallied and issue devolved into a sloughing fight. Our side had not been caught flat-footed and so I didn’t see what the city garrison hoped to gain by forcing an open fight.
Continuing to watch from the sidelines, I received no orders and so took no action. I was unwilling to kill Ulikans – of either faction -- for no good reason. Before long, the cry went up that the that the Darkurans were approaching the battlefront. I guessed they would be able to rout Erhan’s soldiers with ease and then pursue them with gleeful slaughter all the way back to the city gates.
I was totally wrong.
My bad.
I heard the sounds of dismay behind me and whirled to see the Darkuran ambassador’s bodyguard emerging from Armand’s tent holding the viscount's severed head in his gore-drenched fist.
In a flash, I knew what was going on.
Because Princess Arielle had been rescued, Erhan’s position had been rendered hopeless. He had no option except to send to the Darkurans, offering them the sun and the moon and the stars if only they would switch sides. Clever! The Darkurans had probably been peeved at Armand because he had been reluctant to put himself heavily into their debt. That was upsetting their king's plan, and so the new offer from Erhan would have been appealing. No doubt King Q’zon had been contacted by magical means and had signed off on the treachery.
So Ehran had launched his attack against Armand’s besiegers, knowing that the Darkurans would rise to support him. With Armand’s leaderless array caught between two enemy masses, a massacre had begun. I saw no point in joining the battle myself. Really, I had been indifferent to the choice between either Erhan or Armand for high lord. The best move I could make would be to use the chaos to act in the cause of my personal aims and help the people I cared about.
I continued to watch, absorbing the energy released by countless death wounds. I don’t always have to kill personally to vampirize the released bio-energy of the dying. I get a larger percentage if I kill personally, of course, but just being near to violent death replenishes my magic somewhat. Merely by standing there, I was being charged like a battery.
But there were other pressures on me. The victorious side would soon break through into the noncombatant area, so I left my place of vigil and made for the pavilion which had been assigned to Princess Arielle.
“Marinna!” shouted the teen when I came in through the flap. She looked afraid, not sure of my intentions. Maybe she thought I was supporting the Darkurans, while, in fact, I was on no one’s side except hers. The plucky girl stood fending me off with a sword and a buckler, but I came closer, undaunted. I was hard to kill; I could recover in minutes from deadly wounds when my energy level was high – as it was now. Once I survived being run through by Mantra’s enchanted blade – the Sword of Fangs.
“I want you out of here!” I said, shouting over the general din of fight and confusion.
“No! Help my people. My life doesn’t matter!” she returned indignantly.
“Stop that, Arielle! That the attitude that got you killed the first time! There's not much I can do except help you personally,” I admonished. Only later did I realize how much like a parent I must have sounded. But, fine. More than anything else, she needed a parent just then.
Scooping up my stepdaughter, I went phantom and levitated away. A few arrows and lances passed through our insubstantial forms as we came through the tent wall, but the fighters were paying us little heed. Taking flight, we reached a line of rugged hills about fifteen miles away. Before landing, I checked it for danger, but sensed no life larger than a vlag -- a harmless creature about the size of a rabbit.
“Keep your head low and stay here,” I told Arielle. “I’m going to go back and find your cousin. After that, we'll have to concentrate on getting ourselves out of this mess alive.”
“No, Marinna!” she yelled. “You have to do more than that!”
I left her without answering. This hadn’t happened the way I’d wanted it to, but events had changed so quickly. The most productive thing I could do would be to rescue the princess' cousin, whom I though would be ready and willing to join me in protecting the girl's life.
But I was being too pessimistic. I had been surprised once already today, and now I was surprised again. Looking across the battlefield, I saw something amazing advancing over the horizon.
#
Unknown to me, Captain Arielle had held her men back from recklessly engaging Armand's men, until the treacherous movement of the Dakurans made clear what the situation was. From then on, her only interest was in finding Princess Arielle and taking her to safety.
Airelle thereupon worked her band around to the flank and in the open ground made for Arman’s noncombatant camp. But there the knight found fleeing fugitives and plenty of dead, since the Darkurans had brushed by, killing many when they did so. The princess was not to be found, however, and the warrior maid only just barely held on to the hope that the girl was not already dead.
As Erhan’s soldiers approached the area, the she-knight directed her men to make it appear they were pursuing fugitives. At some distance from the tents, they caught up with a broken cohort of routed soldiers wearing Armand’s badges. Arielle shouted after them, requesting parley. A junior officer who knew her on sight slowed and let her come up to him.
“What can we expect at Erhan’s hands, lady?” the lieutenant asked feverishly, blood oozing from the elbow joint of his armor.
“I don’t think Erhan’s in real command anymore,” Arielle replied. “You'd better avoid both his men and the Darkurans for as long as you can. Have you seen any trace of the princess or the witch?”
“I wouldn’t advise you to trust the witch,” the lieutenant replied in bitterness.
Instead of disputing, she asked that the lieutenant’s group should doff their Armand badges and join with her band. As the now-enlarged group moved out, newcomers gravitated to it for protection, encouraged by the sight of the maiden knight’s pendant. Some of them had an interesting story to tell. Arielle listened to their excited jabber.
“More trouble?” asked the lieutenant.
“No! It’s good news," the she-knight replied. “But now it's more important than ever that we find the princess.” She was inwardly pessimistic, but by giving the band some definite task to perform, they would be imbued with an aim and a sense of purpose.
#
Remaining aloft, I had seen the Aerwa warriors sailing over the horizon like a dense flock of geese. I safeguarded myself with a force field and waited in place, unsure how these alien beings would react at the sight of me. I had had scarcely any personal contact with the Aerwa previously, except that many of them knew me as a powerful living weapon serving Q’zon. Fortunately, they ignored my person and preferred to go after the Darkurans, whose grotesque forms they could see on the ground.
The brutes below began to shapeshift, making themselves even more formidable. But Q’zon’s troopers numbered only scores – their numbers having been kept deliberately small so as not to alarm the Aerwa. But the Aerwa had been alarmed regardless. To capitalize on this probability, I had urged the noblewoman to send to the nearest Aerwa outpost with an appeal for aid against the Darkuran threat. Her emissaries' appearance had apparently encouraged an modest interventionist response and hundreds of flying warriors had been dispatched toward Roch.
The elf-like Aerwa’s main weapon was a staff born by most of the warriors, capable of raining energy discharges on the enemy. Most of the Darkurans met the aerial onslaught by taking to sky in the shape of dragon-bats. By my assessment, Q’zon’s small troop was so outnumbered that it could not last long, but I was left to wonder how this mad affair was going to be sorted out later. Armand was dead. Would the Aerwa offer protection to Erhan, though he had been ostensibly the ally of the Darkurans?
But did any of it matter?
While the wild fight raged on, I resumed my search for the blonde soldier girl.
TO BE CONTINUED in Chapter 6, Part 1
