Nights in Rodan Ch. 05

She slept better that night than the past week. In the morning she was ready to tackle the treaties again. Rayn left hurriedly after he received a note. She asked him what it was about but he said he didn't know yet. She heard a lot of movement in the corridor but thought maybe the men were running a drill. They had one several days prior. Leni started her very last stack of papers. She was almost halfway through when she found something. It was shocking; she read it slowly and very carefully to make sure she did not miss anything. She finished reading it and put it down, she called for Mary. She needed to send Rayn a note, right now. Mary entered, trembling.

"What's wrong?" Leni was immediately worried.

"The raiders have tried to breach the castle walls, the Prince rode out to meet them in battle." Her words tumbled out and Leni's heart almost stopped.

"Bring Ramsey to me, now," her voice took on a commanding tone. She needed to know what to do with the information she held in her hands.

She changed out of her dress and into a more suitable outfit. She chose her riding outfit and strapped a dagger to her thigh. Leni paced while she waited. Everything was happening so fast now.

The door opened but it wasn't Ramsey. It was the traitor from her memory.

"What do you want?" she asked him roughly.

"The King has summoned you for battle." Ferinor's words cut like ice.

She stood frozen, this was it. If she went with him the King would force her to kill her own people. Her palms started sweating and the bottom of her feet tingled.

"You'll have to make me, traitor." She growled at him.

"How did you know," his smile was sinister. His long dark hair fell around his face and his green eyes glinted as he strode towards her. She thought he looked like pure evil. She tried to run past him for the door and he caught her around the waist and pulled her against him. She felt sickened. His hands had killed her father and now those same hands were on her. She twisted away but he held on. Ferinor was stronger than his slender physique let on.

"My Princess, you grew up so beautifully." He held her with one arm and stroked her face with his free hand. It made her stomach turn. She couldn't reach her dagger. She clenched her fist and drove it at his face but he blocked the blow easily.

"You think you can fight me? A pretty thing like you, beat me? I slayed your father girl, you think I couldn't break you too?" he snarled in her ear as she pushed away from him. He twisted her arm behind her and forced her against the wall making her gasp in pain. He ground his hips against her ass, pinning her.

No!

She remembered Rayn's coaching. She closed her eyes and focused. She saw her memory more clearly now. She saw Ferinor kill her father, remembered her small voice begging her father to come back to her. She opened her mind to the rage and it burst forth.

He screamed as she felt his weight lifted away from her back and her arm released. The crunch of his body hitting the opposite wall was accompanied by an angry growl.

"You will pay for what you did to him!" she whirled around to face him. He stood slowly and with difficulty, balancing himself on the stones behind him. He recited an incantation and one of the heavy chairs facing the fireplace was flung towards her, she ducked it as it crashed against the wall behind her. She let her internal power take over her body completely. Her hands glowed and she shot lightening at Ferinor. He dodged it and drew his sword. She'd left a scorch mark on the wall where he had been standing a half a second earlier. He advanced towards her with his sword raised. She tried to push him back but he did not retreat this time. He was resisting her somehow. She started to panic and the intention behind her magic skyrocketed forcing him back, his feet slid on the floor as he braced himself against her onslaught. She prayed her new skills would hold out against him. The air around them crackled and popped. It was like standing in a thunderstorm without any rain.

Suddenly Eleanor's hands gave out, forcing her to the ground; she took a knee and panted from the effort. Ferinor charged her and pinned her against the floor with his sword at her neck. She only had one really good burst left; she had to make it count. His blade was so close, she knew the only reason he hadn't killed her yet was because King Mollach still wanted to use her. She kicked at him but it didn't do any good.

"You're all out of magic Princess," he snarled, his breath stinging her cheek.

Eleanor narrowed her eyes and looked directly into him willing her magic to pass through his body. She managed to resist the urge to grab the sword and push it away from her and instead put her hands over his. His skin started sizzling almost instantly. It burned away under her touch making him shriek and scramble backwards away from her on the floor, dropping his sword in the process. She drew her dagger and rolled to her side to catch her breath before trying to pick herself up off the floor. She was about to take a step when he started screaming the ancient Druid language at her but she didn't let him finish.

She rushed him with a battle cry on her lips as he shrank back from her. Eleanor put a hand on his face while he continued scrambling away and trying to stand, but screaming in agony as he tried to use a hand to balance himself. More skin scorched and burnt before her eyes; he screamed in terror, and she plunged her dagger into his gut. She felt the blood seep over the hilt and over her hand and wrist. She withdrew the dagger and watched him crumple to the floor, screaming in pain and clutching his wounds. She backed away and stood behind the table, his blood dripping from her hand. She was panting and internally panicking at what she'd done. He went quiet rather quickly, succumbing to his wounds; his body layed in a crumpled heap of half burnt flesh against the wall.

Leni grabbed the treaty from the table and ran into the bedroom where she swiped the portrait of her mother from the bedside table. She quickly opened the passageway and slipped through, closing it behind her. The gravity of what she'd done hit her and she felt her way along the wall. She vomited once, and wiped her mouth with her sleeve before continuing on. She had to get out, but she couldn't leave without Rayn.

She came to a staircase and knew instinctively where it went. This was her way out. When she got to the top and saw the paper thin sliver of light from the other side she knew where she was. These had been her father's rooms and probably Mollach's quarters. She crouched down and listened carefully. She heard nothing for several minutes and decided it was safe. She made it out into the corridor and went straight for Ramsey's study. The castle seemed oddly empty. She got to the study and it was empty. She sighed in frustration. She would go to the dungeon next; maybe she could get Kieran out and he could help her figure out what to do. The only problem was she had no idea where the dungeon was. She folded her treaty and tucked it under her shirt and started flipping though the papers in the study frantically. She might be able to find some sort of map that would help her. Ramsey showed up several minutes later, looking shell shocked and disturbed.

"Ramsey! I need you to take me to Kieran," she rushed toward the door.

"Did you kill Ferinor?" he asked.

"He tried to kill me," she paused, "I had to. Please, we need to go now. I need to find Kieran." She moved towards the door.

"I can't go with you child. But I will tell you how to find him," he sank down in a chair, absorbing what he had seen, obviously shaken.

**

Rayn sat on his black warhorse at the castle gates ready to direct the next wave of attack. The raiders were surprisingly well prepared; they'd slowly snuck into the city one or two at a time over the past months, bringing with them supplies for battle, even enough wood to build the two medium sized catapults that were now blasting away at the stone wall. They were more organized than expected but he was confident his men would prevail. He just hoped he could stop them before they breached the gates. He waited just inside the gate, they closed it after the cavalry had advanced, to make it easier for the archers to pick off any raider who broke through. A catapult pummeled the wall, threatening to break it wide open. The crack of guns pierced the air and the clashing of swords made the anxious horses prance in place, their breath curling upwards in wisps in the cold air.

"Hold the line!" he cried.

The cavalry outside the gates were being pushed back, if he didn't open the gate they'd all be massacred. At the rate they were launching boulders and flaming tar the wall was going to come down soon anyway. Rayn's hands were sweating but he held the reins confidently. His mind was on winning this battle and hoping his Eleanor would find a way to escape.

He said a silent prayer and gave the order, "Open the gates!"

Rayn breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw Riley barreling through the opening on his grey horse spattered with blood and dirt.

"Cavalry fall back!" Riley cried out as he led his men back into the safety of the massive group. Fighting in such a cramped area would put a damper on their maneuverability.

Rayn drew his sword and prepared for the onslaught. They tried to close the gate again but the wall was too damaged, it broke open after another boulder from a catapult found its mark.

"Hold the line!" Rayn bellowed one last time.

He watched them pour over the wall like water on rock and raised his voice in his usual battle cry, "For the Empire!"

His men surged forward as arrows split the air. The Raiders had few guns but the men who did knew how to use them. The man on Rayn's flank went down almost immediately and Riley took his place. They exchanged a knowing look, Rayn had hoped to avoid a confrontation such as this.

"Together, Brother!" Riley cried, and they each engaged the enemy.

*******

As usual, thank you for reading! Comments, ratings, and PM's are appreciated. Thank you everyone who reaches out to me and tells me what they think, regardless of good or bad. Also, HUGE thanks to raiguy for being a great editor and plot detangler. ;) It's a pretty big chapter this time, lots of action and *gasp* more sex! I know you have all been waiting very patiently, and I am grateful. Enjoy!

-FP