The Better Part of Valor
Dawn of Chaos: Hell Gate - Chapter 3
Exposed on the Cliffs
Randia and Stefan ran from the shelter of the little glade and into the open sunlight. They came to a stop at the edge of the bluff and stood together, gazing out at the valley. The distance and the whine of the wind made it impossible to hear anything from the city below, but they could see the roiling cloud over the amphitheater. It was dense and grey, like an enormous thunderhead that had settled itself on the ground near the mouth of the firth.
“That doesn’t look like a fire to me,” Stefan ventured.
“Not to me, either,” Randia said. “It looks more like a steam or a vapor. It’s almost like an actual rain cloud, hovering over the center of the city.”
“I’ve seen fogs like this here by the mountains,” he said, nodding. “But there are no other clouds out. The sun is strong, and it should be burning this away.”
Randia pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I think it’s a spell,” she ventured at last.
Stefan frowned. “Why would anyone want to cast a cloud over the amphitheater?” he asked. “Is there going to be a surprise there today? Something they would want to hide until it’s ready?”
“Father does have an announcement planned for this afternoon,” she answered uncertainly. “But there’d be no reason to cover it up. And it wouldn’t be like him. He’s never been one for theatrics.”
He laughed. “That’s more your style than his.”
She grinned. “Yes, Father and I are rather different in that way, aren’t we? Aron can put on a show when he wants, but he doesn’t have the skill with magic for this.”
She looked intently at the cloud, shading her eyes from the sun with a slender hand.
“I think I can make out something moving inside it,” she said at last. “Like figures flying around, circling the center. Mostly black and red. They’re hard to make out, though.”
“Could they be pegasi?” he asked.
She shook her head again. “The colors are all wrong. And pegasi would be even less likely to pull a stunt like this than Father.”
Stefan pointed. “There’s a violet glow tinging the cloud. Can you see it?”
A group of figures emerged from the edge of the brume. Enormous wings beat furiously around them, gleaming evilly in the light of the morning sun. They were far away, but Randia could make out their shapes plainly enough. She gave a cry, and the back of her hand rose to cover her mouth. Her mind reeled in disbelief as she saw them fly toward the mountain.
“Are those what I think they are?” Stefan asked. His normally vibrant voice was weak with shock. His arm slipped instinctively around her. She noticed it was trembling.
“Demons!” she gasped. “A whole flight of them! By the Light, Stefan! The city is under attack!”
The lovers watched numbly as more demons appeared. They emerged from the cloud, launching themselves into the city in all directions, circling it in a relentlessly expanding spiral.
“There must be scores of them already,” she said shakily. “And they keep coming. But how? Why?”
Stefan’s eyes narrowed. “You said you thought there was a spell involved. Doesn’t that make the question ‘who?’”
Randia nodded in sudden understanding.
“Of course,” she said angrily. “A spell to summon a cloud, to conceal the arrival of attacking demons. This is Emil Zomoran’s work. It has to be.”
Stefan pointed to the first group. It had settled into a formation racing westward, like the head of a broad-bladed spear. “That flight,” he said. “It’s headed straight for the palace.”
Randia’s eyes went wide. “They’re after my family!” she screamed.
She twisted, looking around wildly, as though searching for a way to rush down to the city to warn them. Stefan tightened his grip around her.
“It’s no good, Randi,” he said, holding her firmly. “We’re too far away, and they’re almost there already. There’s nothing we can do.”
She sagged into his arms, crying.
They stared helplessly as the demons reached the palace walls. Flashes of red and blue sprang from the head of the spear-point. A portion of the battlement erupted into the air in a shower of glowing fragments.
“Lightning and demon fire,” Stefan said. “Some of them are sweeping the battlements on the north side. What do you think they’re after?”
“The conference room,” Randia sobbed. “Where the High Council deliberates. Aron told me they were meeting there today. To vote on the new constitution.”
“This is a surgical strike,” he said grimly. “They’re trying to take out the Council and the Crown together in a surprise attack.”
He pointed down toward the amphitheater. The cloud was finally dissipating. They saw the shimmering dome clearly through the thinning mist now, along with the true extent of the massing army.
“That thing — it’s like the hellgate from the legends of the Great War,” he whispered. “This isn’t just an attack, Randi. It’s an invasion.”
As if to underscore his words, they heard a booming series of distant explosions. The sounds of the attack on the palace had finally reached them on the cliffs.
Randia’s face was pale and she was shaking, but she had stopped sobbing. “We have to get down there,” she said firmly.
Stefan shook his head. “Not you,” he insisted. “You have to get to safety. When Windheart returns, you need to take her and head straight out along the firth to the east.”
Randia’s blue eyes flamed in defiance as she turned to face him. “And where do you think you’re going?”
“I’ll go down to the city. To do what I can to help.”
“Not without me, you won’t,” she said obstinately. She grabbed the arm holding her and pushed herself forcefully out of its grasp. Stefan pointed angrily at the city.
“Look at that, Randi,” he said. “Take a good look. That’s not just dozens. It’s hundreds already, if not thousands. And they’re still coming. You’re the princess of Carlissa. And from the look of it, you may be the only member of the royal family not caught in the attack. We have to get you out of here. And someone has to get away to warn the rest of the kingdom.”
Randia nodded numbly, blinking back a new spurt of tears. “All right,” she said. “But I’m not going without you.”
He shook his head. “If Windheart has to carry us both, it will slow you down.”
“No, Stefan! I’m not leaving you here!”
He looked into her eyes, his face tortured. Then he turned to look down at the city.
“I don’t want to leave you, either,” he said. “But I need to do what I can to help.”
To his surprise, she smiled suddenly at him. She leaned in and kissed him.
“Oh, my dear, sweet prince,” she said, stroking his cheek. “I understand you. The thought of fleeing shames me as well. But can you truly ask me to run, if you are unwilling to do the same?”
He closed his eyes, his expression pained. Finally, he nodded.
“You’re right,” he said. “And I suppose we need to be honest with ourselves about this, you and I. We are performers. Singers, artists. Bards. That’s the choice we made for our lives. We’ve spent them learning music and poetry, not wizardry and combat. We can fence passably for a stage production, but we’re no warriors. If we go down there to fight, we’ll almost certainly be killed. And our sacrifice will be for nothing.”
She nodded reluctantly.
“The best we can do now is escape to warn others,” he continued. “We’ll ask Windheart to bear us east until we’re far from the city. Then you’ll set me down in a town on the south shore of the firth. Ironsbridge should do. I’ll rouse the countryside and get them to spread the alarm.”
“And then?” she asked.
“And then you will continue on to safety in the Elven Citadel,” he concluded forcefully. “And to warn Queen Talina.”
“All right,” she agreed. “If anyone could send help in time, it’s Grandmother. If I fly hard, I should make it to Elde before nightfall.”
Stefan nodded, looking relieved. He turned again to look down at the city.
Then he grabbed Randia by the arms and threw her to the ground. The breath blew out of her lungs as she struck the rough earth behind a patch of thin scrub. Stefan landed beside her a moment later.
“Quiet,” he whispered. “Don’t move, and don’t make a sound.”
She looked at him in bewilderment. He placed his lips against her ear.
“We were fools,” he breathed. “Standing out there in the open and talking about what to do, while winged demons circled out over the city. There’s a group of them flying along the cliff just below us. One of them was looking our way and rising toward the glade. I think it may have spotted us.”
Panic washed through Randia like a wave, and she felt her skin grow clammy with fear. She glanced around. The bushes afforded little cover, and there was nothing better to be found near them where they lay at the edge of the cliff. “What do we do?” she whispered.
He shook his head silently, and she nodded in terrified understanding. She tried to still her ragged breathing, to stop her body from shaking. Her hammering heart sounded loudly in her ears.
They heard the beat of wings, and a creature rose into view a few dozen feet from the cliff. They couldn’t see it clearly through their cover of underbrush, but it wasn’t large. The size of a tall man, it was surprisingly human looking. It wore a jerkin of black leather, and its feathered wings and skin were tinged a deep red. In one hand, it carried a wickedly curved scimitar.
A half-demon, Randia decided in a fugue of detached fascination. The rare offspring of an elven or human woman taken by an incubus. She had heard of them, but those stories were more rumor and legend than known fact in the modern age of Kalara. At least they were in the civilized world, far from the remnants of the demon armies of the past that still lived in the lands far to the north and west.
Yet here they were now. A horde of them was massing right in the capital of Carlissa.
The half-demon hovered, looking around uncertainly. Randia held her breath. Had it seen them standing together at the edge of the bluff, or heard their voices? The wind was loud and it might have masked them. Perhaps it would miss them and move on …
The creature’s eyes settled on the cliff-face behind them. With a shiver of fright, she realized that it had spied the narrow opening to her glade. It began to rise and move forward, clearly intending to investigate. In moments, it would see their hiding place …
A blur of white fell on the half-demon from above. It dropped right out of the sun with a sudden roar of wind. The creature’s eyes squinted at the blinding sunlight as it looked up in surprise.
A harsh war-whinny sounded its challenge over the cliffs as Windheart attacked. The pegasus’ great wings unfurled to beat the air, and its body spun as it dove in to strike. Its powerful hind legs lashed out, and its hooves caught the creature squarely in the face. The demon’s head snapped backward in a spray of black gore. It toppled from the cliff, its body limp, and fell out of sight.
Randia’s heart sang as the pegasus flew by. She reached out to Windheart through their bond as her friend’s presence once again flooded her mind. She would run to her, leaping from the cliff and onto her back. It was a dangerous stunt they had practiced many times, riding together among the peaks of the Nurian Mountains. Then they would circle back for Stefan and escape over the ridge, flying away to the south and east.
She started to rise. Stefan grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back down behind their meager cover.
“Are you out of your mind?” he whispered harshly. “They’ll see you!”
Randia struggled to break free. “No!” she whispered hotly. Somehow, she kept the presence of mind not to raise her voice. “Now’s our chance to escape!”
When she looked again, though, she saw Stefan was right. Windheart hadn’t come around for them. The pegasus was flying directly away from their hiding place on the ridge. Randia felt their bond weakening as the distance between them increased.
“She can’t come back for us,” Stefan whispered. “The demons have spread out too quickly, and it’s too late to escape by flying. She’s leading them away, giving us time to flee without being spotted.”
The full realization of what was about to happen came to her in a burst of horror and loss. She reached out to Windheart desperately through their bond, screaming at her friend not to do what she intended. No creature in all of Kalara could match the speed of an unburdened pegasus of the Nurian Mountains. There was still a chance that she could outpace the monsters that were converging on her as she flew out over the city.
Don’t do it! she pleaded. Get away while you can!
But if she did, Randia realized in despair, the demons scouting along the ridge would return too quickly to their search. They would find the lovers before they could escape.
The pegasus reached out to her, touching her mind for the last time.
You must live on, my friend. You and your new stallion. Find new life together, and remember me to your foals.
No! she thought, weeping. No, No!
The bond between pegasus and rider extended not only to the sharing of thoughts, but of sensations, perceptions, and emotions. Randia could see the city through Windheart’s eyes. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her mane and the rush of the wind under her wings. She could feel the winged steed’s fierce loyalty, and her determination to save her friend’s life at all costs.
The pegasus tried to release their weakening bond as it raced away. In panic, Randia struggled with all of her will to hold on to it — and succeeded.
Their minds melded with a rush of magic that she didn’t know she could command. Her hiding place on the bluff faded from her awareness. She was one with the winged horse, lost in its thoughts and feelings, as it soared over the city.
“We have to move now, Randi,” Stefan whispered firmly in her ear. “You told me there was a path down to the city from here. You have to lead the way.”
Randia couldn’t hear him. She was seeing the world through the pegasus’ far-vision. Flying demons had established a perimeter around the city. They were converging on her winged form, swarming in from all sides to cut off her escape.
Stefan tried to drag her with him as he crawled slowly away from the ledge and back toward the glade.
“You have to get a grip on yourself, Randi,” he pleaded. “If we delay, we won’t make it. I can’t lead you. You’re the only one who knows the way!”
Randia felt the wind under her wings as she wheeled and dodged. Arrows whined through the sky around her. She galloped on the air in the way of her kind, evading the demons that clawed and swiped at her with their weapons. Her agility and grace made them look slow and clumsy by comparison. Her heart sang with pride.
The net of enemies drew in around her.
Stefan managed to get one shoulder under Randia’s body. He rose into an awkward crouch and staggered toward the glade. He carried her, knees bent, keeping low to stay out of sight.
A stab of searing pain pierced her flank. She looked down to see the shaft of an arrow protruding from her left shoulder. She stumbled, her foreleg going numb. In desperation, she banked, and began a steep dive toward the palace.
Yes, her mind sobbed. Go there. Mother will protect us.
Stefan staggered through the opening and into the glade. He carried Randia’s naked form into the pool and held her there in his arms.
She looked down at the palace. Demons were crawling all over the bailey, keeping the guards from regrouping to defend the inner gates. The conference room was cut off.
It is time, Windheart’s voice wept in her mind. You must let go of me now!
No! I won’t let you die alone!
Stefan splashed water on her face. “Randi, snap out of it!” he insisted. His voice was frantic.
Five winged demons appeared in the air between her and the palace. Three of them held enormous bows, nocked and drawn. They loosed.
Another arrow pierced her flank, and then another, and another. She writhed in agony as the barbed heads ripped into her side and neck. Stefan clapped his hand over Randia’s mouth in desperation to muffle her screams.
She pitched to the side and began to fall from the sky. A vulture demon descended on her, its huge claws outstretched. They raked across her belly. Through a haze of searing pain, she felt a gush of liquid running down her legs, and the wet slap of ropey flesh striking her thighs.
Stefan dunked Randia’s head beneath the water and then pulled it back up again. She spluttered and gasped. “Come back to me, Randi!” he pleaded.
A wyvern slammed into her from the other side. Its claws tore into her flesh like hooks, holding her fast. Its jaws closed around her neck.
Goodbye, my princess. Her vision dimmed, and blackness swallowed her.
I love you, my Windheart. Go now into the embrace of the Divine.
“She’s giving her life for you,” Stefan whispered angrily. He took Randia by the shoulders and shook her. “If we don’t go now, her sacrifice will have been for nothing!”
Stefan’s words finally reached her. Through a haze of pain and despair, she forced herself to look again through her own eyes. She saw where they stood in the pool and felt the water dripping from her face and hair. Windheart’s death throes faded from her mind. She was herself again.
Stefan looked into her eyes. Worry furrowed his brow. “Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded. Her expression was strangely blank and detached, but when she spoke, her voice carried a new note of determination.
“Get our clothes and throw them in my pack,” she said quietly. “We’ll need them, but we can’t dress now. That’ll have to wait until we’re away from here.”
Stefan sprang out of the pool and ran to where they had left their things. Randia waded to its far end, next to where it was fed by the little waterfall.
“What about my pack? And the picnic basket?” he asked.
“Leave them,” she said. “Our footprints are all over the glade. There’s no time to erase signs that we were here.”
“What if the demons track us? Won’t they be able to follow our scent?”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry about that.”
She dove under the water. Stefan finished gathering their things and waded in after her. After a minute, her head broke the surface again.
“It’s still where I remember it,” she said. She looked relieved.
“What’s still where you remember it?”
She pointed.
“There’s a small opening behind a rock under the water right here. It leads to a submerged channel. It’s narrow, but you should be able to squeeze through it. How long can you hold your breath?”
“Does it matter?”
“I suppose not. Give me my pack. I’ll take it and follow you through.”
He looked at her obstinately.
“You know I’m a better swimmer than you,” she said. Her voice was insistent. “I can hold my breath for a long time. And I know the way.”
“All right,” he said reluctantly. “What do I do?”
Randia took the pack, slung it over her shoulders, and fastened the belt. It had a metal buckle with an insignia in the shape of an eight-pointed star. She twisted it with her fingers, and it turned like a dial. There was a brief sighing sound, and the pack’s straps tightened visibly.
“Breathe deeply to charge your lungs,” she told him. “Once you’re under, go right into the opening. You’ll be in a narrow, rocky channel that’s about forty feet long. It turns a little, so keep your hands ahead of you to feel your way. Use them to pull yourself forward and kick your legs to keep moving. Don’t pause or stop.”
“How far should I go?”
“When you can’t feel the walls around you anymore, swim for the surface. You’ll find yourself in an underground lagoon inside the bluff.”
“How long has it been since you used it? What if it’s blocked?”
“If it’s blocked, we’re dead,” she said simply. “There’s no other way out except trying to scale the cliff.”
He looked at her carefully. Only minutes ago, she had been weeping in pain and despair. Now she was planning their escape with purposeful efficiency. Her manner seemed strangely flat, without affect. It was as though a switch had been thrown inside her.
“Randi, are you all right?” he asked tentatively.
She shook her head. “No time for that,” she said curtly. “Go on now. I’ll be right behind you.”
He nodded reluctantly, and breathed deeply, in and out. Randia nodded, doing the same. After a dozen breaths, he dove under the water. She waited for a few seconds and then followed him.
Flight from the Academy
Orion stepped from the garden back into the classroom. It was already in an uproar. The students were all talking over each other, and Dame Marjeune was shouting to try to quiet them down. Lieutenant Caldor was barking rapid orders at the other two guards. Private Trevane looked like he was about to be sick, and the other one, Jenkins, was shaking his head in disbelief.
The room quieted abruptly as he entered. Frightened and skeptical faces alike turned toward him, as though waiting for him to speak. He nodded in understanding.
“It’s true,” he said loudly. “A large force of demons has appeared and is attacking the city. We’re still trying to understand how, but they seem to be entering through some kind of magical gateway that manifested in the amphitheater.”
“Oh, come on,” one boy replied, rolling his eyes. “How gullible do you think we are?”
“It must be some kind of weird philosophy lesson,” a girl said. “They want to see how we react to a fake crisis!”
Orion looked around. At least half of the students wore openly skeptical expressions.
“I don’t blame you,” he said. “It sounds crazy to me, too. I wouldn’t have believed it either, if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”
Then his eyes hardened.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have time for a discussion,” he continued. “Our lives may depend on quick action. So I’m going to show you. Everyone outside. Now.”
He had expected an argument. To his surprise, there was none. The students fell quickly in line and moved toward the garden, Dame Marjeune expertly herding them along. There was still some laughing and chatter, and most of them still looked skeptical — but they were moving.
Caldor came to his side with the other two guards. “Can you see the demons already?” he asked.
“It won’t be long before some of the fliers pass overhead,” Orion replied. “The commotion in the street’s getting pretty loud, too. I’m hoping that’ll be enough to get the students in line.”
Caldor looked around. “Where’s Diana?” he asked.
“She stayed on the wall to keep watch. She promised to come down as soon as the flying demons got close.”
Caldor’s face twisted in anger. “Why did you let her do that?” he barked. “It’s dangerous! She could be killed — or taken!”
Orion followed the students out into the garden. He looked carefully at the lieutenant.
“I’m going to guess you’ve had some experience with trying to tell that girl what to do,” he said calmly. Trevane put a hand over his mouth and chuckled. “I didn’t think trying to wrestle her down from a fifteen-foot wall was a good use of our limited time to prepare for — whatever’s coming. Besides, she was right. We needed someone to stay on lookout. I believed her when she said she’d be careful.”
Dame Marjeune assembled the students along a path that led through the garden. Brightly colored flowers bloomed in the sunshine and they saw bees everywhere, going about their business.
The cries of panic in the streets outside the academy were unmistakable now as screams — not ordinary screams, but the blood-curdling shrieks of people fleeing in mortal terror. Then, in the distance, faintly at first but slowly getting louder, they heard a martial chant. Soldiers with harsh voices were marching through the city, and they were coming their way.
A swift blur of brown caught Orion’s eye. Diana was descending the wall, climbing hand over hand down the vine as though it were a rope. He had a moment to marvel at her agility before her feet hit the ground. She ran up to him and nodded.
“They’re coming,” she said. “Straight up the road from the marketplace, less than a quarter of a mile away. A column of soldiers in red and black armor. Human sized, but with red skin, almost like lava. A tall man in black with a staff is leading the way. They’re chanting something as they march. I don’t know the language, but it doesn’t sound friendly.”
Orion nodded. “Hellmen,” he explained. “The song is their Slaver’s Chant. The wizard leading them will be Zomoran of Westreach.”
A figure circled into view above the garden. Orion looked up to see a large, winged demon with a scaly green hide, carrying a glowing red sword. Its wings beat steadily as it arced around them, rising slowly into the air above the Upper City.
One of the students screamed. Dame Marjeune put her face in her hands and began to sob.
“I told you this was no joke,” Caldor said harshly, through the numb silence that followed. “These things are real. And it’s my job to keep you safe until the army can drive them off. For that, we’ll need discipline. So no more acting up. Clear?”
“What do we do, then?” one of the students asked. His voice was quavering and uncertain. “Run for the palace?”
Orion shook his head. “We’d never make it,” he said. “We’d have to go right through the part of the city that’s already thick with demons. And the palace itself is under attack. It’s not safe to return there.”
“Then what do we do?” Trevane asked.
“We can’t go south or west,” Orion replied. “And if we go north, we’ll just end up pinned against the cliff wall. If we bolt, it’ll have to be east, along the line of the firth. And we’ll have to do it now, before that way is cut off as well.”
“No one is running,” Caldor declared harshly. The others turned to look at him in surprise.
“We’re not going out into a city that’s filling up with rampaging demons,” he continued. “We’ll stay at the Grand Academy. It’s well defended by guards, and there are scholars here schooled in magic. It’s the safest place for us to wait out the attack.”
Diana gripped Orion’s arm. When she spoke, her voice was suddenly panicked.
“Wait. Did you say that Lord Zomoran was leading them? Lord Zomoran of Westreach?”
“Yes,” Trevane said. “That’s what the lady mage running up from the marketplace said, too.”
Diana looked directly into Orion’s eyes. “You realize that means they’ll come here, don’t you?”
Orion’s face went white. “Oh, no,” he breathed.
“The mage said the same thing before she ran off,” Trevane said, bewildered. “What does it mean?”
“Lord Zomoran was expelled from the Grand Academy the day of his rampage at the Cathedral,” Orion explained. “And the same regents who expelled him are meeting here today. Right now, in fact. If he’s back, he’s out for revenge. And the academy will be his first target.”
“We have to get out of here!” Diana cried. “Make a run for it along the east road, like you said!”
“No!” Caldor barked. “You don’t know that they’re coming here. And even if they are, it’s still our best chance of safety. Running off into the undefended streets is suicide!”
“I’ll take those odds,” Diana countered. Her eyes flashed with defiance. “Who’s with me?”
Orion turned to the lieutenant. He tried to keep his voice calm.
“I agree with Diana,” he said. “My vote is to run while we still have time.”
Caldor grabbed him by the shirt. He thrust his face directly into Orion’s.
“You don’t get a vote,” he said flatly. “I’m the ranking officer here, and we do this as I say. Clear?”
Orion’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not under your command,” he told him carefully.
“You are now,” Caldor replied menacingly. “I’m an officer of the guard, and I have conscription authority. I’m using it.”
“Oh, for Light’s sake, Kieran!” Diana yelled. “We don’t have time for a bull-rutting contest!”
The lieutenant ignored her. “You’re going to stick with us and help protect the students,” he continued, still looking at Orion. “Now, where’s the best defended position in the academy? Where will the rest of the staff go?”
Orion took a deep breath, trying to hold down his anger. He pointed to a tall building that looked like a fortress.
“The Deans’ Library,” he said at last. “There’s an exit into the courtyard at the far end of the garden. From there, you can’t miss it.”
Caldor nodded to the two guards. “Orion and I will lead the way. Trevane, Jenkins, bring up the rear. The rest of you, double time it!”
Diana stepped up to him. She slapped him, hard, across the face.
“You idiot!” she screamed. “You’re going to get us all killed!”
Before he could react, she turned and bolted across the lawn. She was halfway to the wall before Caldor had even raised his hand to his cheek in shock, and scaling it before he started to move after her in pursuit.
“You’ll never catch her,” Orion said.
The lieutenant stopped. Diana was using the vine like a rope, grasping it with both hands and walking up the wall with her knees bent.
“Not in that armor, anyway,” Orion added. “She’s too fast for you, and you know it.”
Caldor looked at him acidly.
“Then you get her,” he ordered. “Bring her to the Deans’ Library. Knock her out and carry her if you have to, but bring her back.” He looked menacingly again into Orion’s eyes. “If you don’t, I will see you in the dungeons when this is over. Do you understand me?”
Orion took another deep breath. He nodded.
“I understand you perfectly, Lieutenant Caldor,” he said tightly.
He turned and ran toward the wall. Dame Marjeune at his side, Caldor led the rest of the group toward the exit from the garden.
Diana was already on top of the wall by the time Orion started his ascent. She was racing along it to the east, looking for a place to climb down. He scaled it quickly and was soon running after her.
She heard him and turned. She stopped, waiting for him to catch up.
“Quick — what’s the best way down to the street?” she asked.
“Caldor ordered me to bring you back,” he said quietly. “I’m risking prison if I don’t.”
Diana glanced down into the garden to see the others running through the exit and into the courtyard. Then she turned back to Orion. Her green eyes met his brown ones and held them for a long moment.
“You know we’re right,” she said at last.
She looked down into the city and pointed. “They’re heading straight for us. If we don’t go right now, we’ll be cut off. If we go back, we’ll be killed. And that’s if we’re lucky and aren’t captured. You know as well as I do that no one’s going to get here in time to save us.”
He followed her gaze. He saw the line of Hellmen coming up the road. There was no mistaking the figure of Lord Zomoran now, walking at the head of the column. One of the fire elves marched close at his side.
“What is it that Hellmen do to prisoners, Instructor Deneri?” she asked. “I’ve heard stories, but a scholar and a journeyman adventurer must know them in gruesome detail. Do you want that to happen to us?”
Orion sighed. He shook his head and pointed in the direction she had been running.
“Keep going. There’s a tree near the wall up ahead. We can jump to its branches and climb down from there.”
Diana smiled. “Then let’s go.”
A minute later, they were sprinting across a road that led further into the Upper City. There were estates on either side of them, surrounded by low hedges. They hopped over one and cut across the lawn. After a short time, they emerged on a street that led east, parallel to the firth.
As they did, the first lines of the Hellman force ran up the road from the Lower City. With ruthless efficiency, they surrounded the Grand Academy.
Next: Chapter 4 - The Hunt Begins
Copyright 2017, 2023 by Tony Andarian. All Rights Reserved.