Joining Forces

Aedric notices something which may spell trouble for King's Reach

32.

Joining Forces

 

As he jogged after Snoe, Aaron, and his horse, Aedric kept glancing to the other end of the tournament field, where the enemy forces still seemed to be waiting on someone or something.   Duke Dullerm’s group rode directly toward them and half a dozen Ogres, as well as a score of men and Hobgoblins rushed to meet them, but the rest of the rebels just stood quietly by, glancing from time to time up into the sky without seeming too worried about how the tide of battle had turned.

 

About halfway to the gate that led to the Palace, he was startled when Griz galloped up behind him suddenly.   It was Aaron’s warhorse, a brother to Rwalaer, and he gave a quick sharp whistle, as he knew the signals that his foster brother used to summon his steed.

 

The large warhorse stopped and nuzzled Aedric’s neck as he recognized him.   He patted the horse’s head, speaking gently to him and he was relieved to find the steed uninjured.   Quickly he mounted Griz and before some archers could target them, they galloped out of range and through the gateway from the field toward the palace castle.

 

He kept wondering about the enemy glancing into the sky while they stood back there waiting.   The Queen’s forces would certainly be numerous enough to overwhelm them, yet they stood there waiting for something.  

 

It was something that was to arrive by air.   The thought of dragons or wyverns soaring out of the sky chilled him, for King’s Reach still had a few scars from the final assault on the city by the Necromancer’s Guild, over 80 years ago.  

 

But he had heard that there weren’t any of the Dragon kind left anywhere in the Southern Empire or any of the kingdoms bordering it.   So that would leave Airships.   Yet these too were uncommon and would they be large enough to carry troops to fuel a coup?  

 

Aedric was catching up to the rear of the Queen’s group and he glanced up into the afternoon sky one last time to verify that nothing was to be seen in the direction that the enemy forces still on the tournament field were looking.

 

But this time there was something to see.   It was a series of six black dots, far, far away, standing out in the clear sky.   Aedric stopped his horse and stood in Griz’s saddle, straining to see.   His vision was as sharp as any Elf’s, and though he could not make out any detail, he could tell that they were definitely vessels and not dragons or wyverns.

 

“What is it?  What do you see?”  A tall and surprisingly attractive Orc lady, wearing the silver plate armor of the Queen’s Guard, asked as she saw his concerned expression.

 

“Six airships, coming this way, without sails.”   He replied, glancing at the Orc.   She was indeed rather pretty for an Orc and she wore the red cloak of an officer of the guard.

 

She frowned at the news, but nodded and bringing her fingers to her lips, whistled shrilly to the front of the escort, which immediately stopped at her signal.

A moment later, an extremely tall, muscular Orc, wearing a red cloak trimmed in white that indicated that he was the commander, came riding back with a questioning look.

“What?”  He asked the female Orc, and she nodded to Aedric.

“Do you see something, Sir?”   The Orc commander asked him.

“I see six airships, commander " coming this way without any sails.”

“You are sure of this?”

“Yes.”

“Come with me to the Queen.”   The Orc commanded and they and the female lieutenant rode quickly through the group to the very center, where Eioldth rode, surrounded not only by her Orc honor guard but also Duchess Aurei and her three oldest daughters.   

All four of the Drow ladies had strapped sword belts on, which looked somewhat humorous against the dresses that three of them wore.  

 

Amala alone seemed dressed for the part, wearing her typical chainmail shirt.   They were already scanning the skies, along with the Queen and her ladies-in-waiting, apparently having heard his words to the Orcs.

“I see them.”  Eioldth told them as they rode up.   She turned to Aurei, “Can you?”

The Drow lady shook her head, “Our eyes aren’t as keen in daylight.”  

She motioned for Aedric to approach, and he came forward, bowing respectfully to the Queen and Duchess.

“How is your brother, Aaron?”  The Drow lady asked him.

“He is fit; His Grace and Sir Aeric laid hands upon him.   His Grace bid me to report to the Queen.   Lady Snoe rides with Aaron at the rear of the column, under the Duke’s orders.”

 

The Queen now turned her attention to Aedric, “Sir Aedric, your sight is true; I too see six airships, and they seem to be propelled magically.”

“Your Highness; I noticed that the enemy massed at the other end of the tournament field seemed to be watching the skies and waiting.”

Eioldth nodded, “I noticed that too.   We are about to be attacked, Sir Aedric.”

“What would you have me do to serve you, Your Highness?”

“Right now, I want you to escort this group to safety.   Your brother is injured and I want my court safe.”

“Your Highness, I am also concerned for your safety.”

 

The beautiful Elven lady smiled sweetly, “Young man, I assure you that I am very secure in this company of friends.”

 

He had no doubt of that, for he knew that Duchess Dullerm was a Paladin and all of her daughters were said to have been trained in weapons by their father. 

 

“I apologize, Your Highness, it is my duty to protect you.”

“You have already done that today, Sir Aedric.   Your skill-at-arms is quite impressive and you behaved most gallantly in battle.”

 

Before he could respond, a royal messenger came riding up and was escorted by the Orc guards to Eioldth’s presence.   The young man was covered with dust as if he had ridden for long hours on a dusty road.   He bowed, swaying in the saddle from exhaustion slightly as he did so, but still he excitedly told her his message. 

 

“Your Majesty, I bring urgent news from Southgate.   Early last night a column of unusual airships passed over the defenses at a low altitude.   Their ships were unlike any seen before.   They did not attack the garrison, nor the city, but sailed on northward at the speed of a horse trotting.   After clearing the walls of the city, the airships lowered until they flew about 10 feet off the ground.”

“They were almost like rafts, long, wide and flat with a cabin on the decks that takes up most of the deck.   They were propelled by magic engines and there were about 20 of them in number.”

 

“One of our keen eyed guards in Southgate saw unusual creatures on one of the decks.   He reported that they seemed to be humanoid, but reptilian -perhaps a type of lizardfolk- and they were armed.  I am the last of the relay dispatchers with this message.   The ships follow the river and seem to be heading to King’s Reach.”  

 

The Queen looked up into the skies, “We have sighted six airships coming this direction, but from the east.   They seem to be conventional in design.   You say that the ships approaching from the south are raft-like and flying low.   How near are they to King’s Reach?”

 

The young man shrugged, “I’m not sure, Your Majesty, but when I left my relay station, the rider before me said they were about half an hour behind him.   I rode hard and as fast as my horse would ride, to try to make up some time.   I could not see them when I crested hills, so I’d say they are at least three quarters of an hour behind me, if they keep at their reported speed.”

 

The Queen nodded grimly, “Thank you, young man.   Find somewhere safe to rest.   We are currently in the middle of a coup attempt, and I suspect the airships approaching from the east and those you have reported coming from the south are part of this coup.”

 

Eioldth turned to the Orc Captain, “Captain Bruce, ride to General Luca and inform him of the airships.   He should be advancing upon the rebels in the tournament field by now with his troops.”  

 

The Orc saluted and immediately turned his horse and galloped off.   The Queen now turned to the pretty Orc lady, “Lieutenant Lysa, find Duke Dullerm and report this news to them, then join your brother and gather the off-duty guardsmen.   Have them assemble on the parade ground in full armor in half an hour.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”  She saluted and immediately set off on her way.  

Aaron and Snoe now approached, curious of what was going on.   Amala hurried over to them and softly filled them in, while the Queen made strategic plans.

 

“Your Highness, how many of your airships are in King’s Reach?”   Duchess Dullerm asked.

“We have four --- three of the warships and the Autumn Maid.   Three more warships should be arriving this evening from patrolling the northlands.   I’d received rumors of sightings of giants in the villages nearest the mountains, so I sent the ships to investigate.   Now I wonder if those rumors were false - a ploy to get some of the airships out of King’s Reach.”

“But why wouldn’t they wait until all of their forces are nearer before they attempted the coup?”   Sirya asked as she stood beside her mother.

“Perhaps it was Redburr’s hotheaded son.   I suspect his loss to Sir Aedric caused him to try to get revenge, using forces he knew he had waiting.   I’m also fairly certain that Redburr’s challenge was an attempt to get everyone watching the joust so that he could get his forces in place.”

“He knew his son would lose, but everyone would be watching the drama and he would have time to move some of his creatures into place before the airships arrived.   But his son’s temper spoiled that.”

 

Aedric shifted slightly on Griz, “Excuse me, Your Majesty, but the Ogre that first rode out on the tournament field - he was riding some sort of Mammoth, so apparently Redburr has brought other creatures into King’s Reach that he has at his disposal.”

 

Eioldth frowned as she considered this, “We could be in dire straits.”

“Your Majesty, it seems to me that if we could capture Earl Redburr, perhaps we would have leverage against the forces coming against us.”   Aedric hoped his idea did not sound too ridiculous to all those present, and to his relief, they all seemed to agree with it.

“That is a good idea, Sir Aedric, but finding Earl Redburr right now might be difficult, and we do not have much time.”

“I would be very willing to try, Your Majesty.”

 

She smiled again, pleased at his gallantry, “I know you would.   But I need my champion here, at least until we know the extent of what we are up against.   All of you - listen to me:   Let us go into the lower levels of the palace - they will be secure from airship attack.   I want to find out the extent of our enemy, but I want somewhere safe as a base of operations.   We’ll get our injured secured and then we’ll plan our next move.   Come with me.”

 

Eioldth turned and hurried through the gateway into the courtyard of the palace.   As Aedric let the ladies on foot pass, Snoe and Aaron rode over to him as he sat staring into the sky where the airships now grew larger on the horizon.

“Well, this isn’t turning out like I had thought.”  Aaron joked weakly from the saddle.”

“No, it’s not.   How are you?”

“I’m weak, but I think I can fight.”

“Not until you have to.   It would be better to save your strength in case the palace is attacked.”

“I don’t want to lie around while everyone is out there fighting!”

“Aaron, Duke Dullerm ordered me to get you to safety, and I intend to do that.   I’ll try to find a cleric to heal you more completely, then perhaps you will be fit to fight.”

“Since when are you in charge?”

“I’m the Queen’s Champion, remember?   Snoe, help him off that horse and let’s get him into the palace.”

 

They helped the half-Elf off of Aedric’s horse, then he helped his foster-brother  walk as Snoe took both warhorses to the stable.   He turned the injured knight over to a trio of young palace maids who seemed more than happy to tend to the handsome young man.  

 

Snoe found him as he was going toward the stables to check on her progress.

“They are being tended to; I told them about Rwalaer’s injuries.   He’s a wonderful horse.”

“Yes he is.”

“One of the knights in the fight against the Ogres was in the stable and he said that the Queen’s army and the knights have pushed the Ogres and Redburr’s forces from the field.   They weren’t able to surround them, though, and they have retreated southward.”

“Toward the river -where the low-flying airships will arrive, no doubt.”

The albino girl nodded, “I imagine you’re right.”

“Did the knight mention anything about Redburr or his son?”

“He said that my father and Sir Aeric were searching for him, so they probably had the same idea that you did.”

“Good.   It might be our only hope.”

“Do you really think things are that hopeless?”

“I don’t know - it depends on who --- or what- they have on those airships.”

“So what do we do now?”   The girl asked meekly.

“Well, ‘we’ don’t do anything.   I want you to go join your sisters and mother.”
“Why?” She seemed slightly offended.

“I don’t want you in danger.”

The girl laughed, “Then you don’t want me to be around them!   My mother certainly won’t be cowering in a corner, and neither will Amala.”

“Well, I could order you to sit with Aaron.”

“You could, but I won’t do it.   He’s fine.”

“You are being defiant.”   He chastised, but he actually liked her sudden spiritedness.

Snoe’s face flushed with red, but she tried to look confident and held her chin up, “I’m your squire and I’m going to stay with you.”

 

He couldn’t help but smile.   For someone who hadn’t spoken in 20 years, she was certainly persuasive.

“Alright, but you’ll have to obey me if I let you play out your role as my squire.”

“I will if you don’t give me stupid orders to go hide somewhere.   I know how to use a sword, you know.   Father taught me… well, he and Amala taught me, and Mom worked with me as well.”

“Then I’m sure you are indeed well trained.   So let’s find you some weapons.”

Her eyes sparkled, “Oh, I have some, but they are up in my room.”

“Well why aren’t you wearing them then?”

 

She looked down at her feet, “Squires aren’t supposed to wear swords, at least until they are about to become knights.”

 

He of course knew the rule, but it wasn’t usually followed except during functions such as tournaments. 

“Well, let’s go get your swords and then we’ll report to the Queen.   Tell me; do you have any armor up in your room?”

She grinned, “No; I have some on now.”

 

She pulled up her tunic to reveal that underneath her squire’s attire, she wore a suit of Elven chainmail.

“I made it myself.” She said proudly, “It’s a full suit from neck to ankles -except for my hands.”

He leaned in and examined the chainmail.  It was extremely fine workmanship.

“Impressive.” He told her, “Is it enchanted?”

“No; I hope to get it enchanted some day, but I just finished it last week.   It took me a year to make it, and then when I was finished, I had to alter it.”

“Why?”

She blushed, “I… grew since I first took my measurements.”

“Well, that shouldn’t have been too difficult.   A few more inches of length to the legs.”

Her blush grew more intense and her eyes were focused on her feet which she shuffled nervously, “I didn’t grow taller, it was… in other places.”

“Oh.” He said, now equally embarrassed, “Uh, why don’t we go get your swords.”

She nodded and they hurried up the stairs to the guest quarters in silence.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...helped his foster-brother to walk..." You can probably leave "to" out.
"All right, but you’ll have to obey me..." You should make "all right" one word, in this spot.