Chapter 24 – First Blood.
Edwynn's writ functioned well. Word of the riot at the stockades had reached the castle, and the morning's capture of a warlock was quickly forgotten in the excitement of a jailbreak. The royal guard was forming up in the courtyard as the four of them lead Brogan out the main gate to where Mallet's horse stood patiently waiting. Edwynn noticed that Star seemed completely at ease surrounded by the shouts and cries of men preparing for battle. Unlike the other mounts she was not secured to a hitching post, but simply stood next to the younger horses, eying the activity with a mild curiosity..
"Did we have to handcuff him?" Myrista asked. She watched as Brogan twisted uncomfortably in the tight iron bands.
"It would be best to maintain appearances, at least until we get to wherever we're going." Mallet raised his fingers to his lips and whistled sharply. Star immediately trotted forward and came to a stop just before the paladin. Mallet then turned and gripped Brogan securely by the waist and hoisted him up into the saddle.
"Normally I would insist that one of the ladies ride, but under the circumstances this will have to do." The knight tied Brogan's manacles securely to the saddle and then pulled out a large black bag the guards had given him.
"Uncle please! That's not necessary!" Myrista pleaded. By the strength of her protest Edwynn would have sworn it was she that was about to be hooded.
"Until we are away from the castle and he can use magic to disguise himself, the less people see him the better. The last thing we want is for Marcus Jonathan to learn we marched out of Stormwind Keep with his warlock. Wirt or no writ, he'd have us all arrested.
Mythril spoke up at this point. "Your citizens are afraid. Warlocks and bandits are attacking the city. If your people see a helpless prisoner with Brogan's… affliction being marched up the street, some of them may feel like releasing some of their pent up frustrations."
Myrista wasn't about to give up. Brogan however stopped her. "It's fine. And it's for the best." His blazing eyes looked down at the priestess. Quickly he offered her a weak smile, and then bent forward to allow Mallet to put the hood on. Once secured, one would have to look closely at his hands to know there was anything wrong with him. Myrista gazed up at him with sympathy, and at her uncle with absolute loathing.
Mallet said nothing, merely taking the reigns and leading the horse towards the gate. The young lieutenant in charge read the writ slowly, and then looked them over. Edwynn's expensive attire had been somewhat sullied by his trip to the dungeon. Mallet's armor marked him as a knight, but it was obviously old and battered, much like the man who wore it. Myrista kept glancing at Brogan's handcuffs with a sour look on her face. Mythril had set herself slightly apart from the humans. She stood straight and tall, with her shoulders back and her starlight eyes scanning the courtyard in an almost distracted fashion.
The lieutenant shook his head. They didn't look like heroes, but they most certainly did not look like people escaping with a prisoner. He signed the write and motioned them through the gate.
Outside the keep the mood became chaotic. Throngs of confused people, mostly peasants and merchants, massed in front of the gates. All of them were shouting and a few were fighting among themselves. Mallet pushed forward and the crowd closed in around them. Edwynn felt people grabbing at him, asking if the guards were coming. Asking if he had any money. He pushed past them as best he could. It took a couple of minutes before he was through the worst of it.
As they exited the crowd and began to regroup, a man separated himself from the mob and began pleading with Mallet.
"Please good sir knight, you have to help me!"
"We are in haste. I'm sorry."
"The bandits sir! They attacked my shop. My wife and daughter are inside! You must help them!"
Mallet glanced behind him. Myrista was just now pulling herself out of the mob and Mythril's head and large ears could be seen over the mass of humans.
"Please sir knight, I'll pay you! Everything that I have! Please save my family!"
The paladin grimaced. "Keep your money, sir. Where is your family?"
"In the trade district. By the stockades."
"Sir Mallius!" Edwynn had to shout to be heard over the mob. "We don't have any time. The city guard can help him."
The man turned to Edwynn. "Please noble sire, the guards have all been killed or fled. There is no one to turn to!"
Mythril had finally separated herself from the crowd and joined them. "We should move swiftly, before these people get out of control."
"This man says…" Mallet began.
"I heard what he said. We cannot delay." The druid's response was curt.
The paladin frowned at the druid. "We have to help him."
"We are helping him." Mythril responded. "He and his family will certainly die if our mission fails."
"I cannot ignore his situation."
"Do as you feel you must." Mythril grabbed Star's reigns and started to lead the animal away. Star wouldn't move.
"My horse goes where I go." Mallet said.
"So I see…" Mythril leaned forward and whispered several words in Star's ear. The horse neighed loudly and pulled back, almost throwing Brogan in the process.
"Now you've upset her!" Mallet grabbed the reigns back and put his hand on the horse's flank.
"We don't have time for this!" Myrista swept forward and confronted the merchant. "We can't help you. I'm sorry."
"But my family…"
"Find someone else!" She screamed at him and balled her fist as though she was about to hit him. The man retreated quickly. The priestess turned to her uncle. "Let get moving before some other simpleton gets any ideas." Without waiting she turned and marched towards the heart of the city. Mythril followed wordlessly. Mallet stared after his niece in shock, and then a scowl crossed his face. Setting his chin, he led his mount forward. Edwynn kept pace next to him.
"For what it's worth..." The rogue muttered under his breath. "I think we should have helped him."
"One of the first things a paladin learns is that you cannot be everywhere at once." Mallet answered darkly.
The small band skirted the edge of old town and crossed the canal into the trade district. They passed people panicked and fleeing, as well as small groups of city guardsmen. Mallet noticed that these were not standard army soldiers, but simple militiamen. They seemed completely outmatched by the situation. Most of their officers simply stood and waited for the more experienced royal guard to arrive.
Halfway across the trade district Mallet pulled them into a narrow side alley. There he untied Brogan from his horse and pulled the sack from his head. Half a minute later the manacles came loose.
"Can you disguise yourself again?" Mallet asked. In response the warlock closed his eyes and muttered words of magic. Black skin paled and became fleshy pink. When he opened his eyes the flaming glow had vanished.
"How much farther is it?" Edwynn asked.
Brogan stuck his head out of the alley to get his bearings. "We need to go to the mage district. The Wizard's Sanctum is northwest of wh…" A fit of coughing overtook him for a moment. When it seemed to pass he tried to speak again, but then the coughing returned with a vengeance.
"The coven's gias is powerful. You will not be able to speak of its location." Mythril said as they waited for the warlock to catch his breath.
Mallet stepped out of the alley and frowned. "There is another canal between where we are and the mage district. The nearest bridge will take us close to the stockades. We will undoubtedly encounter the Defias, the Twilight Hammer, or both."
Mythril nodded. "Our enemy has chosen their target well. They simultaneously create a city-wide panic and cut off their true objective from reinforcements." Her ears did a little hop. She looked at the humans and took a quick breath. "All of you stand together."
"Why?" Edwynn asked. Mallet rolled his eyes, then grabbed the rogue's arm and pulled him close.
Mythril raised her hands and chanted in her elvish language. Once again Edwynn felt the rush of her wild magic. He heard the others gasp as their senses became sharper. He was acutely aware of the smell of the city, the cries of panic from its peasants and, in the distance, the clash of steel.
"The grace of Elune is now with you. She will watch over us in the coming battle."
"This is a strange magic…" Mallet opened and closed his gauntleted hand several times. "It feels so… feral. The priests of Northshire have a similar incantation."
"The fortification spell. I know it!" Myrista stepped forward. Pulling a small box from a pocket of her robe, she withdrew a four inch candle. Holding it up before her she faced Mythril and chanted a few words. A flame appeared at the wick, and Mythril stiffened slightly. The priestess turned to Brogan and repeated the ritual. Then to Mallet, then to Edwynn. When she cast the spell on him, the rogue felt the warmth of the magic descend onto him from above. It was different from the elven magic. Mythril's spell seemed to flow within him. Myrista's magic seemed to rest on top of his shoulders and head, almost like a cloak.
The priestess staggered for a second as she finished. "Wow. I've never done that on so many people at once. I think I need to sit down."
"This will help." Mallet stepped to his niece and made a small gesture towards her. She gasped, as though she had just taken a long drought of water. Mallet repeated the process on Mythril, Brogan, and himself. He then turned to Edwynn and hesitated.
"What? I'm not good enough for paladin magic?"
"Our blessings are situational. The one I gave them will replenish their stores of magical energy. You don't know any magic, so it will do you no good."
"Guess I'm out of luck then."
Not exactly." Mallet made a different gesture. Edwynn's face tingled like someone had just splashed him in the face with water.
"What did that do? Protect me from damage? Make me stronger? Or faster?"
"I have those blessings but this one is better for you. It will keep you out of trouble. The enemy should notice you less."
"Hey! Don't you trust me? Give me something that will let me help in the fight."
"I decide what blessings you get. I don't suppose you have anything that can help the rest of us?"
"Sorry, I left my poisons back at headquarters."
Mallet glowered at Edwynn. "I detest poison, and the others have no weapons." The paladin turned to his niece. "See what I mean? Rogues bring nothing to the battlefield except themselves." He turned to Brogan. "How about you? Do you have any magic that can help us?"
"You would not want what I can give you." Brogan said as he fidgeted nervously. "We're really gonna do this, aren't we?"
"Yes. Are you afraid?"
Brogan licked his lips quickly. "A little, yeah."
"That's good. It will keep you on the edge, and probably help you live. Now let's go."
"Shouldn't we make a plan or something?" Edwynn asked.
"No point making one until we see what we're dealing with."
Mallets took his hammer from behind the saddle of his horse, and then lead them out of the alley and towards the magic district. The shops became more crowded until they formed a wall of buildings. On the far side an avenue circumvented the district along the canal. The only passage through the wall of shops was a short tunnel. Halfway through that tunnel the knight held out his hand for them to stop. He then moved forward and poked his head around the side of the building. Seconds later he returned.
"We're about twenty feet from the bridge to the magic district. There are four men holding the bridge. All bandits, and all with knives. I didn't' see any demons or wizards, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. So here's the plan: I'm going in first. Once they've seen me I'll draw them back in this direction and away from the bridge. You kids will wait here until…"
A cry rose from behind him and suddenly the air was filled with the clash of steel. Edwynn slipped past Mallet and looked around the corner.
General Marcus Jonathan and a detachment of the palace guard had charged up and were attacking the men on the bridge. The bandits were standing their ground, not retreating or advancing. The bridge itself was narrow enough that four men could stand shoulder to shoulder and block all passage. Jonathan's men outnumbered the Defias five to one, but they were so crowded together that they interfered with each other's ability to fight.
"Imbecile!" Mallet muttered as he watched. "Jonathan was always better at field battles than squad-based skirmishing. His idea of strategy is to swarm the enemy instead of…"
"Over there!" Edwynn pointed.
Windows had opened in one of the houses on the far side of the canal. Red-masked men with crossbows leaned out and began firing at the guardsmen.
"It's an ambush!" Edwynn gasped. The crossbows high-pitched whirls could be heard and two of Marcus's guardsmen screamed and fell into the canal. The water churned red in their wake.
Without saying a word Mythril stepped forward. Raising her hands above her head, she closed her eyes and began chanting. Immediately a gust of wind swept along the canal and slammed into the face of the building. Clouds began to form above the building and seconds later it began to rain, then downpour. The bandits within the building cried out in panic at the sudden change in the weather. One of them spotted Mythril and attempted to fire at her, but the gale forced his bolt hopelessly awry.
Suddenly several more soldiers cried out in pain as new crossbow bolts peppered them from above and behind. Edwynn looked to see a second shop, this one on the trade district side of the canal, was also occupied by the enemy. One of the soldiers on the bridge turned and pointed at the new threat, but a shot to the leg had him crying out in pain. The man staggered, lost his footing, and fell forward into the blood-soaked depths.
"He's gonna drown!" Brogan yelled and before anyone could stop him he raced forward and dove into the canal. Myrista gasped and started to follow, but her uncle grabbed her arm and pulled her to a halt.
"He's on his own. Myrista, stay here and protect Mythril. If her spell is interrupted the men on the bridge are doomed. Edwynn, come with me." Without looking back the old man charged around the corner towards the shop the bandits had occupied. Edwynn stood there stupidly for a moment before racing after him.
Edwynn ran faster than the paladin did, arriving at the door to the shop only seconds after Mallet. He stepped inside just in time to see the old warrior body slam a bandit right into a glass-enclosed wine rack. Bottles shattered and the masked man fell to the ground. A second bandit stood near a set of stairs near the back of the shop. That man drew a narrow throwing dagger from his vest and whipped it at Mallet's head. The old man shrugged and deflected the blade with his massive shoulder pads. He then charged across the distance between them and with a shift of his hammer's shaft pinned the man against the wall. The bandit squirmed against the knight, but the weight of the paladin and his massive armor was too much to budge.
"Upstairs. How many?"
The bandit spit in the knight's eye.
"How many?" Mallet shifted his grip and the brigand cried out in agony. A woman screamed from the floor above them. Mallet shot a glance up the stairs and cursed in a most un-chivalric fashion. Turning to the bandit, he brought his steel-clad knee up between the man's legs fast and hard. He then released the man, who slumped down onto the floor, unconscious from the pain.
"Are you just gonna leave them here?" Edwynn asked.
"I don't like to kill unless I have to. They're not going anywhere for a while." He turned and took the stairs two at a time.
Edwynn drew his knife and ran after the paladin. At the top of the stairs was a doorway leading to the shopkeeper's apartment. That was where the scream had come from and from which the sounds of combat currently emerged. When the rogue got to the edge of the door he stopped and forced himself to creep slowly around the corner.
There were no less than six bandits in the small apartment. Edwynn stepped around the corner just as one received a crushing blow to the head from Mallet's hammer. As one, three of the remaining men jumped at the old man before he could recover. The first dove at his thighs while the other two grabbed an arm each. They pulled his arms out wide so the last two bandits standing near the windows could get a clean shot with their crossbows.
Edwynn struck without hesitation. A single strike to the back killed the bandit holding Mallet's right arm. The knight pulled his steel-clad arm across his chest just in time to have it pinned there by a crossbow bolt. He cried out in pain and dropped his hammer.
Edwynn pulled his knife from the brigand's corpse and brought it up quickly to threaten the man holding Mallet's legs. The action splashed blood onto the man's face and mask. He cried out in fear and fell back, releasing the paladin. The knight struggled with the last Defias for a moment before rearing back and head-butting him. The man went limp and instantly fell to the ground, several of his teeth landing a couple feet away.
Edwynn glanced quickly at the two men with crossbows. The first was reloading from the shot that was still in Mallet's arm. The second was aiming squarely at Edwynn and fired. The rogue twisted as fast as he could, and was rewarded with explosive pain as the bladed bolt head split his jerkin and his skin. It was a long a painful scratch along his left ribcage, but far from serious.
"Look out!"
For the first time Edwynn noticed a woman in the corner. She was a mop of bright red hair and a torn-open blouse. He caught no more details before he followed her extended finger to the second bandit. The man who had been holding Mallet's legs was about to stab Edwynn with a long knife. However, before he could Mallet's mailed gauntlet smashed into his jaw. There was an unhealthy sound of bones breaking and the man went down.
"Hurry up and reload!" One of the two remaining bandits cried.
Edwynn and Mallet each charged one of the crossbow wielding brigands. Edwynn's target dropped his weapon and drew a stout iron club. The rouge feinted left then attacked from the right. His ploy worked and the blade opened a large gash across the bandit's forearm. The man cried out and stumbled backwards. His foot landed on his discarded crossbow and the string twisted around his ankle. The man stumbled backwards out the window. At the last second he managed to grip the side as he fell out.
Unthinkingly Edwynn rushed forward and tried to help him. The rogue's fingers closed around the man's wrist just as the bandit's strength gave way.
"Rosie, help!" The man cried as he slipped out of Edwynn's grasp. He hit the ground and crumpled. It was clear the second story fall didn't kill him, but his leg was most likely broken.
Edwynn pulled back into the room, panting heavily and groaning in pain. The relatively superficial wound on his side stung sharply. Glancing nearby showed him Mallet, standing over the body of the last remaining bandit. The villain was not moving. The knight used his left hand to grab the metal crossbow bolt pinning his right arm to his chest. With a single jarring move he pulled the bloody spike from his chest plate. A small amount of blood trickled from the hole where the bolt had hit his torso. He stared in silent disapproval at the eight inches of unbroken wood spouting from each side of his wrist.
"Oh, sir knight! Thank you for saving me!" The red haired woman said. She leapt forward, her blouse open and her bosom practically falling out over her corset. But her voice filled Edwynn with cold dread. He had heard it before. And the crossbow wielding bandit's last words triggered something in his mind. Something from a rain-soaked night in the woods a week before.
"Hey Rosie." The bandit with the club spoke. "Isn't that Wedge's blade?"
"It's a trap!" Edwynn screamed. "She's one of them!"
Mallet heard the words just as the woman closed to embrace him. Too late he saw the knife appear in her hand. She struck like a viper, slipping the blade up under the panels of his breastplate's lower torso and into his stomach. With a single stroke she opened his belly and pulled the blade free. Then she stepped to the side and let the knight fall forward wordlessly onto his face. She looked at Edwynn and tossed her head so that her hair left her eyes.
"The boy from the forest? Edwynn? Yes that's what you said your name was. I had hoped to find you in Stormwind. VanCleef wants me to repay you for burning down his house."