-1So I figured out how to get the ugly boxes out of my paragraphs, it's something in my Windows Vista word processor… So I'm reposting the completed chapter. This is my first fan fiction, like… ever. Let me know if you like it, or didn't like it.
Maerad took a few moments longer to rest with her back against the wall. She pondered what the Winterking had said to her, how could she possibly be stronger than the Landrost? So she could hide, she could withstand the force of his malice, but that was nothing like what it would take to actually defeat him.
Ever since waking up from her internal battle she had blocked her mind. Now, slowly and cautiously, she allowed her shield to go down, until she could just feel the web of the Landrost's thoughts. She didn't go anywhere near him this time, just taking a moment to try to feel out his distance from her. This time it wasn't hard to judge, she could feel his presence as if he stood right next to her.
She glanced around, for the moment things were calm. There had been enough time since the wer attacks for the injured to be taken inside, and the few dead had been moved as well, to where Maerad didn't know.
He is very close she spoke in her mind to Indik, and said the same thing aloud to Cadvan, who was sitting next to her silently. He looked up, but didn't respond right away. Maerad thought he still looked slightly pale, like he was sick.
There is something stirring outside the gate, Indik's voice was strained, and she could feel his anticipation. I can't make out exactly what it is, though. The storm still rages, but there is a great shadow building. Be ready Maerad, I fear the attack will be soon.
Maerad fought down her own fears, and forced herself to stand. It wasn't easy, the tired muscles in her legs didn't want to listen, but she managed. Cadvan rose beside her, more color in his face now. They had a clear view of the gate from where they stood, and Maerad was able to see and feel the shadow Indik was referring to. Through the storm, she could make out the masses of figures she guessed to be the mountain men Indik had spoke of, but slightly off to the east was something else. A being that put out a field of dark energy, she could feel the strands of blackness reaching out towards those who stood behind the gate.
"I don't think the wards are going to be of any use now," Cadvan's voice was steady, but Maerad could see the signs of strain on his face. He had to be as exhausted as she felt, after the ride that morning and then the weatherworking just a short while ago.
Before Maerad had a chance to respond several things happened at once. The first line of soldiers at the gate fell, several men all toppling over limp at the same time, and Maerad knew they were dead. There was instant chaos, arrows were fired in return, but they landed uselessly on the other side of the gate. The mountain men were staying out of firing range, and the arrows went straight into the ever-growing blackness, apparently doing no harm.
Our weapons won't hurt an elemental Now Indik's voice betrayed his fear, causing Maerad's own fear and doubt to rise up within her, but she refused to feel it. She knew from experience that such creatures as the Landrost feed on the fear of others. Do you know of anything, any way to hurt it? Even Cadvan was looking at her, she took his expression as that of one who was expecting something.
Despite the strength she exerted to keep it down, panic swelled within her, what could she do? She remembered Arkan's voice, laughing at her. What was it he knew, that she didn't? Maerad struggled to think, the pressure of the Landrost was terrible, she was sure everyone in Innail could feel his fury. She was sure he was going to crush the entire school, as he had almost crushed her. She wondered for a brief moment if she had the strength to put a shield around the walls, but dismissed the idea quickly. It would exhaust her, if it was even possible.
I'm thinking, Indik Maerad spoke so he would not think she was ignoring him.
Already the bodies of the unlucky soldiers were moved aside, more shielded men stood, this time further back from the gate. The air, though still calm from their charm, tasted somewhat tainted, it felt too thick to breath. In her mind, Maerad could feel the Landrost, his triumph was obvious. She knew now he didn't sense her at all, he was to absorbed in the moment, the feeling of absolute power that Maerad knew all to well.
"I'm going to try something," Maerad was surprised her voice was calm.
"Be careful." Cadvan's answer was simple, but she could hear in his voice the fear he could not hide.
Maerad nodded and tried to smile, then taking a deep breath, she found the Landrost again. She planned to strike out at him, within her mind, as he had done to her just minutes ago. Only she had never done such a thing in her life. As she struggled to build a mass of power within herself, she felt as if the Landrost was doing the same thing. She saw outside the gate the blackness was spreading, more of the mountain men were now blocked from her vision. Then, suddenly, she felt an eruption within her mind, and the massive iron gate of Innail was blow inwards. Men scrambled to the side to get out of the way, and several were too slow, Maerad had to look away. She momentarily lost her concentration as the ranks of mountain men surged forward and the men near the gate were suddenly engaged in physical battle. The mountain men were brutal, swinging their maces at anything that came within their range. Amazingly enough, the charms for weather still held firm, keeping the howling wind and rain out even where there was now no gate.
Cadvan ran forward to help where he could, but Maerad hung back, gathering herself for the attack she planned. She closed her eyes, blocking out the sight of the battle, trying to ignore the shouts of men fighting for their lives. She concentrated on the Landrost in her mind, letting go her awareness of everything else. As she perceived him, and felt the extremity of his pure joy at the slaughter of those of Innail, Maerad felt her fear replacing itself with anger. Still not sure how much good it would do, she unleashed her energy in one massive bolt and sent it hurtling towards the Landrost. She felt it hit its target, and as she slumped against the wall again, weak from the strain of such magic she was not used to performing.
When she finally gazed out past where the gates used to be, even she was surprised at the effect of what she had done. The now clearly visible shadow, which Maerad knew was the Landrost himself surrounded by some sort of magery, had shrunk considerably. But she still couldn't be sure if she had injured him, or if he was merely surprised. Maerad could see now that the wards were down completely, probably broken when the gate came down. The mountain men were still pouring into the school courtyard through the gap where the gate should have been and trampling over their own fallen comrades without hesitation. Still others were smashing the walls, she could hear the terrible sounds of destruction, and when shouts came from the eastern side of the school she knew they had been breached.
Maerad struggled to make sense of what was happening directly in front of her. The soldiers were managing to keep the mountain men under some sort of order, with the bards help, but she didn't know how long they could hold out.
Pushing aside her weariness, Maerad opened her mind to the Landrost once again. He was still immensely sure of himself, but this time something felt different. As she stayed there, hidden and silently watching, that something grew, until she thought she recognized it. Was it, could it possibly be, that he was doubting himself? And then she saw it, with her eyes as well as her mind. The dark wasn't shrinking at all, where her desperate blaze of light had struck, the light was actually spreading. Once she took this in, Maerad summoned the strength she had remaining, and lashed out once more at the Landrost. She stayed within the pattern in her mind this time, feeling more confident as she felt him straining under the force of her blow.
Perhaps I am stronger than I thought, Maerad allowed the consideration to creep into her mind as she watched the second beam of light slowly increasing. She was breaking though his shield. She'd barely had time to finish her thought when suddenly things shifted and the fury and hatred of the Landrost turned from the city to rest solely upon her. This time, though, Maerad would not allow herself to be pinned down by his gaze. She glared back, unmoved and unrelenting. Before she had time to send an attack of her own, she was him hard by a bolt of energy from the Landrost. It did hurt, making her cringe under the impact, but it was nothing like the attack he had made before. If she had not hurt him, she had definitely managed to weaken his magery. She recovered quickly, and struck back, unintentionally screaming at him simultaneously in the Elidhu language, not even sure what she had said. Something about leaving her home alone.
The strains of her act were incredible, Maerad felt her knees go weak and was suddenly aware of the world around her again as she swayed and had to catch her balance. With her weight against the wall, she took several breaths before she regained her composure enough to survey the area around her. The first thing she saw was Cadvan, jogging over. She noticed with a grim acknowledgment the fresh blood on his torn clothes, in his hair, scanning across his body with her eyes for wounds. She saw nothing more serious than a deep scratch on his left forearm.
"If this is all we face, we may have some luck yet. These men are strong and brutal, but not very smart." Maerad nodded, seeing what he meant as one of the overturned vats of burning oils poured towards the enemy. The men did not even change direction, running straight through the liquid as though it was below their notice, only to howl in dismay as their feet and legs were scorched relentlessly. "I wonder, why does the Landrost hold back?"
"I don't think he expected to find so much resistance here," Maerad speculated, averting her gaze from the burning men to where the gates had been. For a brief moment she thought the shadow was gone, but then she saw it, much further to the east than when she had last looked.
"It looks as if the Landrost is retreating," Cadvan's voice bordered on amazement. "What did you do?"
Indik's voice broke into her thoughts before she had a chance to answer. He, too, had noticed the withdrawal of their main opponent, and demanded to know what had happened.
Maerad made an effort to put into words what had gone on, but found it hard, not even she was sure exactly what she had done. She gave up quickly, she was far too tired to be struggling with herself, and chose instead to watch as the mountain men realized they were being left for dead. The battle quickly shifted closer and closer to the empty space where the gates used to be as they attempted to escape with their master.
Cadvan turned to her, a smile on his face, and started to say something, but his words were drowned out as those of Innail cheered their joy and relief. But Maerad was unwilling to celebrate. She couldn't quite contemplate the Landrost giving up so easily, after leaving his mountain and coming so far. She knew she should feel for his presence, there was always a chance for another attack, but for the moment the only thing on her mind was the bottle of medhyl in Cadvan's pack.
Maerad received word from Indik that they were to go to the watch tower to meet with him and the others. As they made their way back, Maerad walked as far away from Cadvan as she could, he smelled so strongly of blood it made her queasy. She did, however, manage to stay near enough to tell him her thoughts about the Landrost returning, perhaps stronger than before.
Malgorn, Silvia, and Indik were already there when Maerad and Cadvan reached the small room at the top of the stairs. Silvia's clothes were almost as dirty as Cadvan's, but she'd had time to rinse most of the gore off her arms and face. She beamed when she saw Maerad, and rushed forward to enfold her in a great hug.
"I'm so glad you both are ok," She said, after embracing each of them. Maerad found herself smiling in return, nearly forgetting the situation in her delight of seeing Silvia alive and uninjured. Almost instantly Cadvan brought her back to reality.
"Maerad believes the Landrost will attack again."
"What do you mean?" Malgorn demanded, his voice was disbelieving, but Maerad though he looked angry. "Why would he leave, why would the mountain men retreat, if he was going to come back?"
"I wondered…" Silvia sighed, the joy drained from her tired face, and abruptly sat down at the table.
"I don't know why the men ran, but the Landrost has not left the area." Maerad knew she said what they all must already know, couldn't they feel his closeness? "I think he only left to recover."
"So you were able to hurt him, you mean?" Indik's eyes were bright, as if their small victory gave him new faith.
"I think I hurt him," Maerad said slowly, looking around at each person and trying not to notice the hope in their eyes, "But it took everything I had, and he is still very strong."
"But we've heard of what you've done, with the wight, and the kulag! I saw nothing similar to what was said you did to them," said Malgorn.
Maerad frowned, what was he expecting? For her to blast down an Elidhu? One of the immoral, oldest living things in all of Edil-Amarandh? Silvia caught her expression and changed the subject swiftly.
"What of the gate, and the destroyed wall? Shouldn't we have all who are available working to build a replacement?"
"It would take time and energy we don't have to spare," Cadvan spoke up, "And I have to wonder if we would be any better off with even the best built gate in Annar."
"Nay," Indik agreed somberly, "We see now the Landrost has no dispute with neither wall nor ward. If he wants in, no gate will slow him." He turned to Maerad, a grim expression on his scarred face, "Do you have any idea how long we have?"
Maerad shook her head, "I can't predict him."
"Does he feel any weaker to you now than he did when the attack began?"
"He doesn't feel as strong, but it's not easy to tell." Indik looked thoughtful for a moment, and Maerad hoped he was not thinking what she suspected.
"Do you think it would be entirely impossible to gain the upper hand with a surprise attack?"
Malgorn looked up dubiously. "It would be suicide! The men would not be able to see in the storm, let alone fight."
"Maerad didn't need to see to hurt the Landrost, did you?" Indik asked.
"No, but that doesn't solve the problem of defeating him. Hurting him might just make him angry."
Indik started to reply, then stopped and looked for a moment like he was listening to something. "There are wers coming through the eastern wall," He said finally, standing up.
"I knew we should have at least remade the wards," Silvia said quickly, receiving a sharp glace from Malgorn.
"Cadvan, Maerad, if you are up to it, you would be of help outside." Indik was already at the top of the staircase, with Cadvan close behind. Maerad took a deep breath before turning to hug Silvia once more and then she followed.
The next part of the day was spend slaughtering wers. Maerad tried not to see anything during this time, turning her attention from a creature as soon as she was sure it could hurt no one. Only once did she have to use her sword, when she'd been occupied blasting wers away from the buildings, and one had managed to get too close to her. She could tell a difference in their toughness, without having to break through the wards they were a lot stronger. When the attack finally ceased Maerad was more exhausted than she could remember ever being, she felt as if she'd been fighting wers for days, when in fact it had lasted just over an hour.
While the remnants of the wers were dealt with, Maerad and Cadvan took the opportunity to go back to Malgorn and Silvia's house and clean up some. Maerad left her mail and sword with Cadvan, who said he could clean them with a charm, and made her way to the bathroom. She washed her hair and scrubbed at her skin, getting the filth off as quickly as possible. Then she got out immediately, the water had turned a dirty brown color that wouldn't have been very inviting even if she had the time to sit around. Then she went to her bedchamber for clean clothes, stopping only for a moment to look longingly at her bed, and then, trying not to think of how tired she was, went to meet Cadvan in the music room.