Chapter Five
Nel's heart thudded in her chest at the sight of Aquios, its towers a shadow on the dark horizon. She and Adray had left Peterny the same night they'd uncovered the plan to attack Castle Aquaria, a day behind the rebels and desperate to make up time. Even so, before they'd left Peterny they'd had to take the time to inform the head of the Chain Legion of what they'd learned and order them to take into custody the group of merchants they suspected were involved in the plot. A message had also been dispatched to the Shield Legion in Arias ordering them to return to Aquios. A detachment of the Chain Legion was headed there to the capitol as well , but they would be too late to do much good. What truly frightened Nel, however, was the knowledge that, in all likelihood, she as well would be too late.
They had barely paused to rest during the length of the trip and twice they'd stopped at farmhouses along the way to commandeer fresh horses with the promise of returning them later. As a member of the Crimson Blade Nel was granted the authority of the Queen and though she rarely used that privilege, this time she did so without a second thought. If there was any way to arrive in Aquios in time to warn them, she would take it.
Dawn light was casting a rosy hue on the stones of the city when they finally reached Moonlit Bridge. The horses' hooves thundered over the paving stones, drowning out the roaring river that flowed beneath, but just barely audible over the pounding of her pulse in her ears. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Adray, but she did not need to look at his face to know his craggy features were deeply lined with worry. He had said little since they'd left, but then neither had she.
Nel was certain that they'd made up a great deal of time. The rebels wouldn't have rushed as she and Adray had. A group as large as the rebels' would have travelled separately to avoid being conspicuous and, once in Aquios, would certainly have taken some time to gather together and prepare for the attack. Yet the hush of the city, even at this early hour, felt unnatural. Her stomach clenched as she glimpsed the ruins in the distance where she and Clair had so often met in days past... Oh gods, Clair, please be safe...
Empty streets greeted them as they arrived in Aquios proper. Nel thought she glimpsed pale faces pressed against the window of homes as they raced down the main boulevard of the city, but otherwise she saw no sign of life. However, it was when they lay eyes on the demolished front gate of the castle that Nel truly felt her insides turn to water. As they slowed their mounts and came to a halt before the pile of rubble that had once been the arched gate leading to the castle's outer courtyard, Nel had to steel herself to be able to dismount without her knees giving way beneath her. Balling her fists to keep her hands from shaking, Nel scanned the area for any signs of life, whether friend or foe, but nothing moved. The still forms of several of the castle guard protruded from the rubble and she could see more bodies scattered in the courtyard beyond.
Nel drew her twin swords before moving forward. Adray, she noted, had already drawn his blade, but even without it the ferociousness of his scowl would have daunted most men. Without a word to her he stalked onto the castle grounds like an angered lion. Nel followed close behind.
The grounds were still, the only sound coming from the wind whipping through a tattered banner caught in a mound of rubble near the gate. They found more bodies at the entrance to the castle antechamber. Kneeling down to inspect them for a moment Nel felt a spark of hope rise within her. "These aren't our people," said Nel.
Adray grunted. "Clair wouldn't let them take the castle without a struggle."
"She is a Lasbard," said Nel.
"That she is." She thought she saw a wistful smile on his face, but just as quickly as it had appeared it was gone and they proceeded past the charred bodies and into the antechamber.
Moving with silent steps towards the castle's main entrance, Nel had runes of battle on the tip of her tongue, ready to unleash a storm of fire or ice at a moment's notice. But the stillness remained undisturbed and all they could hear was the steady flow of the aqueducts that ran the length of the castle's main corridors. It soon became apparent, however, that a battle of some intensity had taken place there at the castle entrance, for the doors to the Chapel lay in splinters and shards of the doors' pale blue stained glass crunched beneath their boots as they approached.
Nel caught Adray's eye and signalled her intention to enter the Chapel. Even as she took her first steps onto the raised walkway and looked out over the Chapel, it was clear to her that the area was free of enemies. The rose window on the far side of the Chapel, directly opposite the entrance, was shattered and the yellow and red shards littered the space below. Both the raised aqueducts that flanked the window had been destroyed and the resulting rubble was strewn through the Chapel while the water they normally channelled sloshed onto the marble floor, creating a lake in the main worship area. She wondered for a moment why the water was not higher but then realized that a good deal of it was being washed down into the underground passageway that led to Kaddan, though she was puzzled as to why the passage lay open at all. In any case it was clear that while the battle had not taken place here, the phase guns the rebels sported had been powerful enough to damage the Chapel even from a distance. However, though the shambles of the Chapel were painful to look upon, Nel found herself little concerned with it. All she wanted was to know what had become of the others– of the Shield Legion, the Queen, and Clair.
As she emerged she nodded to Adray and they began making their way the down corridor. They paused before turning the corner into the western hallway; it was difficult to make out the sound of their own footsteps above that of the flowing water, let alone an approaching enemy's. Nel darted a glance around the corner. The west hallway appeared to be empty, but her heart leaped into her throat as she saw the demolished stairway at the far end of the corridor.
"What is it?" hissed Adray.
Nel shook her head and stepped into the empty hallway. She heard a sharp intake of breath from Adray as he followed and saw the remains of the western stairway. Blades gripped in her hands, heart racing, Nel moved forward with slow steps; it would be easy for someone to ambush them from the corridor that branched off ahead and led to the library of runology. They had only taken a few paces before Nel thought she heard the scuffle of footsteps ahead. She ducked into a doorframe on the right just in time to catch a glimpse of a man armed with a phase gun rounding the corner of the very corridor she'd been concerned about. A runological spell was already on her lips when a voice rang through the hallway.
"Hold your fire."
Nel immediately stepped out into the hallway for were she to live a hundred centuries she could never mistake that voice. "Clair?"
And then there emerged from around the corner a scraggly band in nightclothes or tattered uniforms. Several of them were armed with phase guns, but they were unmistakeably the members of the Shield Legion who'd come with Clair to Aquios. And then there was Clair herself, marching down the corridor toward Nel who found herself for several moments fixed to the spot before she surged forward with long strides to meet the commander of the Shield Legion. Clair sported only a nightshirt and trousers, her hair was loose and coated with thick white dust, and she looked deathly pale, but Nel's heart swelled with gratitude and joy at seeing her alive and unharmed, though her eyes latched on to a gash in Clair's right temple and the blood that oozed down the side of her face.
"Nel," said Clair quietly, a smile touching her lips as they met halfway down the corridor.
Nel reached out to take hold of Clair's chin and tilt her head to one side so she could inspect the bleeding gash.
"It's not bad," assured Clair, placing her hand over Nel's.
Nel nodded and then moved to embrace Clair. "I was worried," she whispered.
"Now you know how it feels." The lightness of Clair's tone brought a smile to Nel's lips and she could not help but hold on to her a few moments longer than she knew was really appropriate for appearances. As Nel released her, Clair caught sight of Adray standing a short distance away. "Father, you're here too."
"Clair," he said with a nod.
"What happened here?" asked Nel, looking again towards the collapsed stairway at the far end of the hall.
Clair gave them a brief account of the attack and how they'd managed to hold the castle's second storey and of how the battle had ended abruptly when one runological cannons had been hit by a phase gun beam and exploded, collapsing the eastern stairway completely– and nearly taking Clair with it.
"The Queen's safe," added Clair, "but the enemy disappeared after the explosion. We managed to get a handful of weapons they left behind, but the number of bodies doesn't account for the whole of the group. Did you see anyone on your way in?"
Nel shook her head. "No one." But then she remembered something which had niggled at her thoughts when they had first entered the castle, though, she'd been too worried about Clair's welfare to pay it much heed. "Is there any reason why the passageway to Kaddan would be open?"
"What?"
"When I checked the Chapel for enemies on the way here I noticed it was open. They must have gone down there."
"But why? If they'd wanted to escape they could easily have left the palace."
Nel's expression was grim; she could think of only one reason. "They must be after the Sacred Orb. From what I learned in Peterny they got their weapons from a man on a celestial ship. He must have asked them to retrieve the Sacred Orb as well." Fayt and the others had called the Orb an OPA– an "out of place artifact", an object far in advance of the technological development of the world on which it was found, usually an exceedingly powerful one– and then they'd discovered that Orb was the creation of the 4-D beings. The Orb was indeed an object of power and if the Vendeeni had coveted it then she supposed she ought not to be surprised that others would as well. "I'll have to go down there."
"You're not going down alone," stated Clair.
Nel shook her head. "You've been fighting all night; you're exhausted."
"So are you; you rode through the night," countered Clair. "And besides that the Shield Legion is charged with defending Castle Aquaria and I'm in command here."
"Yes, ma'am," said Nel.
Clair's lips twitched at this, but she managed to keep a straight face as she signalled for three members of her unit, Farleen Wrin, and Lina, all armed with the discarded phase guns, to join her. None of them, Nel noted, were runologists; most of them must have exhausted themselves during the course of the battle. As they set out for the Chapel and the hidden passageway within it, Adray followed silently behind, and Nel could only wonder what he was thinking...
ooo
They were gathered at the top of the steps leading down in to the passageway to the Shrine of Kaddan when Clair stopped and turned to the three officers she'd brought along. "The Shrine took a great deal of damage during the Vendeeni's attack and there's no telling what these rebels have done to it so let's not add to the mess. Fire those weapons only when absolutely necessary."
"Yes, commander."
After that they descended the stairs, careful of their footing as the water from the broken aqueducts continued sloshing down into the passageway. Nel and Clair took the lead while Adray brought up the rear. They made their way along the underground causeway lined with pillars and statues of the goddess Irisa and reached the Sealed Cavern in short order. Soon, they were winding their way through its dusky corridors which showed the telltale pockmarks of recent weapons' fire. Few of the beasts that usually inhabited the cavern remained, most having been dispatched by the rebels. When they did run into one, Nel and Clair quickly stepped forward to deal with it. Adray had intended to step in to help, but soon realized it was quite unnecessary to do so. Instead, he observed.
Since Adray was so often sent on missions to the north of the continent thanks to Lasselle he tended to be out of touch with current events in his own country, but he was not so out of touch as to be unaware of the fame of his and Nevelle's daughters. They were known both in and outside of Aquaria and were often referred to as "the double-edged Crimson Blade". Watching them, he could– grudgingly– understand why. They fought with amazing efficiency, each alternating between blades and runology, keeping their foes under constant pressure without exhausting themselves. While Nel attacked the foe with her twin swords, Clair called on bolts of lightning; when Nel drew back, Clair stepped forward, slashing with her dagger while Nel called upon razor-sharp shards of ice. Their attacks blended together so that where one ended, the next began. It was like watching a dance.
He knew that they had trained together and fought side by side early on before they'd been given their present commands, but this was the first time he had seen it for himself. That they had trained together was evident by their familiarity with each other's fighting style, but there was something more Adray sensed there. To fight as they did required more than simple knowledge; it required an innate understanding the one of the other, so that in battle they knew intuitively how to move together, how to complement each other's abilities, and it necessitated that they trust each other unquestioningly. It was rare to find such a battle partner. When Adray fought the only thing he trusted in unquestioningly was his sword.
In short order the beast lay slain and Nel sheathed her swords. Adray watched, tight-lipped, as Clair turned smiling to Nel and said, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"It has. You haven't lost your touch."
"Nor have you, Nel." And Clair smiled.
Adray sighed and trudged along. He'd really been hoping for grandchildren...
ooo
The Shrine of Kaddan was still in shambles after the Vendeeni's attack with many a demolished wall and toppled pillar, so it was difficult to tell whether the rebels' foray into the shrine had done further damage. Nel kept alert as they made their way through the broad passages, but the only sound was that of their footsteps ringing hollowly on the large stone floor tiles. It was not until they reached the heart of the shrine that they heard voices drifting through the open door to the final chamber where the Sacred Orb was kept, and which Nel herself had returned to its proper place once Luther had been defeated.
"What do you mean we have to get back outside before you can take us to your ship?" A pause. "You can't transport us from here? Dammit! You said if things went wrong you'd get us out of here as long as we had the Orb." Nel managed to dart a glance through the door and counted eight men including the one who was speaking. He seemed to be addressing no one in particular, but was holding a small object pressed against his ear and Nel could only assume it was some sort of communication device such as the one Maria had used to contact her ship.
Nel signalled the information to the others. She glanced at Clair and knew they were thinking the same thing: there was little in the way of cover in the chamber in which the Sacred Orb rested; they would have to ambush the men as they exited. Clair motioned Wrin, Adray, and Lina to one side of the doorway while she, Nel, and Tynave took up position on the other side. They did not have to wait long.
No sooner had the first men stepped through the doorway than Adray, Nel, and Clair struck at them with runology before they could even get their weapons up. Wrin, Lina, and Tynave followed up with blasts from the phase guns. However, when Nel scanned the floor she counted only six bodies. Damn.
Nel pulled back into the cover provided by the pillar that flanked the doorway to the Orb's chamber, pulling Clair with her as she did and pressing her close as a flurry of white beams lashed through the doorway. She watched Wrin fall, but the others managed to get to cover safely.
"Can you manage another round of runology?" Nel asked, worried by Clair's pallor.
"I'm fine. Flame or lightning?"
"Flame, through the doorway. Just a short burst to rattle them and then I'll go in."
Clair nodded. Loosing her grip on Clair and stepping slightly out of the cover of the pillar, Nel gripped her blades and prepared her own incantation; the timing would be critical.
Clair's flame leaped through the doorway and at once the shooting stopped and was replaced by cries of alarm. The moment the flame vanished Nel rolled towards the doorway, coming in low as she called upon a flurry of lightning bolts, taking out one of the remaining men, but she hesitated as she saw that the second one clutched the Sacred Orb. She did not dare strike at him with runology while he held it.
The second man had gathered his wits enough to raise his weapon to fire, but he never had the chance. He fell to the floor and did not move while the Sacred Orb rolled across the chamber. Slightly stunned at the abrupt end of the battle, it took Nel a moment to see the dagger buried to the hilt in the man's side. She nodded her thanks to Clair and moved to retrieve the Sacred Orb and place it carefully back on the pedestal where it belonged.
It was only then, as she set down the Orb and realized that the battle was over, that her weariness– from lack of sleep and the worry of the past several days– swept over her. Glancing over her shoulder towards Clair she was certain she saw the same fatigue reflected in Clair's face
Clair smiled wanly as she noticed Nel looking at her. "Time to pick up the pieces," she said quietly.
"Seems that's all we do lately."
"It's better than the alternative..." said Clair and Nel followed her gaze to Wrin who lay quite still where he'd fallen.
Nel nodded and together they left the chamber of the Sacred Orb to begin the long process of restoring what had been broken.
