The Clan Wars Pt. 18

Once upon the road again, Pointer and Mila rode side by side at the front of the group. "So, this nightsign thing," said the orc to her elven comrade. Pointer raised his eyebrows. "Show me how it works."

Pointer's brow knitted in thought for a moment before he pulled his slate off the loop on his belt upon which it hung.

By the time the group stopped for lunch, the orc had already figured out a few basic gestures. Mila picked up on body-language quickly, the innate ability greatly assisting her in learning the thief sign-language. The party took lunch a short distance after the road had turned to climb a ridge-line and the party admired the view the vantage point offered once they reached the apex; the ridge descended downwards ahead of them, cleared of trees on either side of the road. The mountains around them also descended in scale, their pine tree skirts gradually changing to deciduous forest. In the distance, the forest came to an abrupt end where it had been cleared to make way for farmland. Like a boulder in a meadow, the grey bulk of the city of Drasich rose above the surrounding fields.

Bann chewed a sliver of beef jerky and gazed upon the far-off metropolis. "It's huge," said the barbarian. "I've never seen anything like it."

Mila walked up beside him. "First time out of the plains, huh?"

"Yeah," said Bann, still looking at the huge city. "I've been to Gallantfield, and Top Town too, now, I guess, but nothing like that."

Pointer put his hand on the orc's shoulder and pointed at a distant column of dust to the north. The procession causing the disturbance was heading towards the distant city.

"That must be the host," said Bann, following the elf's guiding gesture with his eyes.

Mila expelled her breath in a low whistle. "That's a big army. There were only two, maybe three thousand at Knife Valley and that was a real shit-show. This is going to be messy."

From behind her, Dayna spoke up, "Will we make it to Drasich before them?"

The orc popped the remainder of the chunk of bread she was holding into her mouth and turned to climb into Alagar's saddle. "If we hurry, we can make it by nightfall," she spoke around her mouthful. "That should put us a day ahead of them."

Without Dayna's soothing touch, Bann would never have been able to maintain the quick pace the orc set. Evenso, as they jolted along the road, every thump and bump sent a jagged shard of pain through his chest. He grit his teeth, biting the pain back. Such was his focus that he did not realise that the road had levelled out - the pine trees, their constant companions thus far, replaced by broad-leaved oak, elm and aspen - until his horse came to an abrupt stop behind Mila and Alagar. The orc was looking warily up at two harpies perched on a sizeable branch that hung over the road.

The two winged women were wearing the typical leather jacks their kind prefered and carried light self bows in their hands. Each also had a long knife in a scabbard at their belts. The bows they carried would do little against the greenskin's brigandine; even Bann's and Pointer's leather armour stood a good chance of turning aside their arrows.

"Oi, northman, greenie!" called out one of the women. "What are you doing travelling with elves? Don't you know there's a war on?"

Mila slowly reached down to rest a hand on the heavy crossbow strapped to her saddle. "None of your concern, ladies," she said in a low, measured voice that carried a tone of impending violence despite the peaceful words she had chosen. "Just let us pass and there won't be any bloodshed."

"Ha," cackled the other harpy. "That's where you're wrong. You're heading the wrong way if you're looking to avoid bloodshed. Drasich's a doomed city. Best you leave those two pointy-eared fops and head back into the mountains. You too, northman."

"You know those puny sticks you've got won't even put a dent in my steel," growled Mila. "Just get out of our way."

The harpies stretched their wings, chuckling, knowing full well that the orc would be hard pressed to mark either of them with the crossbow as much as they would be unable to harm her in return, once they were airborne. "Fair enough, orc!" called one as they took to the air. "Just don't say you weren't warned."

"Friends of yours?" said Mila to Bann, watching the two figures lift themselves above the treetops and fly westwards along the road.

"They must have recognized my kilt," replied Bann.

"Scouts for the host, no doubt," said the orc, shaking her head and urging Alagar onwards.

The sun had just set by the time they reached Drasich's walls, lighting the sky beyond the city with a fierce orange glow. A cluster of wagons and rural folk on foot were queued at the gate, awaiting entry, but shuffled aside as the well-armed party rode up. A human wearing the the purple and white tabard of the city guard over a chainmail hauberk looked up from the wagon that she was examining.

"There's a line, dontcha know?" said the guard.

Dayna nudged her horse forward, fishing a small amulet from her belt pouch as she rode up to the soldier. She showed the guardswoman the pendant. "I'm a member of the university - I have urgent news regarding the approaching army."

"What about those two?" said the guard, gesturing towards Mila and Bann. "It's an army of frothing greenies and batty northerners - these ones might be spies. Can't trust the bastards!"

The guard on the other side of the wagon jerked his head up at his comrade's words. The face under his helmet was green and a pair of tusks jutted past his lips. "Hey!" he barked, "What's that you said about orcs?"

The female guard had the decency to look embarrassed. "Uh, nothing Kanko! She's got a kilt wearing barbarian with her too!"

"He's with me," objected Dayna. "Who gives a fuck about his clothing."

"Don't be a fucking idiot, Serta," said the orc guard to his fellow. "There's been bloody harpies flying above the city all day - you think they're going to send a spy in through the gates, in the company of a couple of elves no less?"

"Fine," spat the human guard, gesturing them through the gates with a curt nod of her head.

"Yeah, Serta, don't be a fucking idiot!" called out Gomp, once the group had safely entered into the city, unable to pass up the opportunity to be an ass. The tiny demon chortled with glee, ignoring Dayna's annoyed glare, as the guard's irate cursing faded behind them.

"We may have to get you some pants," said the mage to her barbarian ally, "but first I need to see a librarian."

They found Trelisopoles in the archives, surrounded by a hive of bustling activity. A large portal shimmered in the open area before the main desk and his various acolytes were piling books, texts, scrolls and numerous other documents beside it. As Dayna walked over to the beholder, a figure in a gray robe stepped out of the portal, picked up a few large tomes, and stepped back into the sizzling circle of light.

"Trelis!" Dayna called out in greeting as she strode up behind the hovering, tentacled creature. "Am I glad to see you!"

The beholder turned, a broad smile creasing the mouth below his main eye. Bann and Mila both struggled, and failed, to stop themselves from staring at the outlandish creature. "Dayna!" Trelis' voice rumbled. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to! How did the journey east go?"

Mila watched, astonished, as the beholder enveloped her elven friend in a hug of writhing tentacles. Despite his strange, fearsome appearance, the creature's demeanor was friendly and disarming. Charming, even.

"Oh, but it's a long story, Trelis," said Dayna, stepping back from the embrace. "I need to get a meeting with the department deans and the archmage. The city watch and governor, too."

"That's a tall order, my dear," said the creature, looking away and pausing briefly to tap a few stacks of books with a tentacle. A waiting apprentice began shifting the stacks closer to the portal. "We're all dreadfully busy - this invasion, you know - I still have so many tomes to transfer to safety!"

"I know, I know," said Dayna, "but it's incredibly urgent. I have important information about the army."

Trelisopoles turned to look at the elf shrewdly. "It really is important, isn't it?"

Dayna nodded earnestly.

Late the next morning, Mila stood on the battlements above Drasich's north gate, watching a band of centaurs ride past, whooping and cheering, just out of bow shot. Bann, Pointer and Alagar stood beside her. Soldiers in the city's livery lined the walls, armed with bows and swords or manning the large ballistae and catapults that were mounted on the evenly spaced turrets. Below her, in the street before the gate, a company of spearmen was assembling to their sergeant's barked orders. Beyond the troop of centaurs, the warhost was taking the field - columns of goblins, orcs, trolls, minotaurs and barbarians were arriving and forming up.

"How're your ribs?" said the orc, turning to look at Bann. The lad was gently prodding his side while he watched the army fill the fields beyond the wall.

"Feeling much better already," he replied.

Trelisopoles had managed to get Dayna into a strategy meeting that key members of the city had been invited to - as the chief librarian of the university, he and the other deans had been asked to attend. While Dayna was off informing the city and university leadership of what she had discovered, her colleagues had sold their horses, at a decent markup, to a noble scrambling to flee the city before all routes of escape were blocked. With the coin from the sale and what remained of the purse Cress had left with him, Bann had visited an apothecary, who had treated his wound with a fast acting healing salve, and had equipped himself with a new axe, shield and iron helmet. He had also replaced his battered leather jack with a chain hauberk that hung to his knees, over his kilt. With the bow and arrows that Hedda and his friends had given him slung across his back, completing his loadout, he felt well prepared, at least in terms of equipment, for the impending battle.

"Well, I told them everything," said Dayna, climbing up the steps to the battlements behind her friends. "I don't know what good it'll do, though. The guard captains said that the best tactic was still to hold the walls and wait out the siege while reinforcements from the other free cities get here. The archmage said that he'd strengthen the wards around the tower, but the college mages who can cast useful spells will be on the walls."

Mila gave the mage a nod by way of greeting. "I'd agree with the captains' assessment, ordinarily," she said, before turning to look at the horde marching onto the field, "but they don't look like they're setting up for a siege."

"What do you mean?" said Dayna, puzzled.

"I've only seen a few siege actions," explained the orc, "against much smaller fortifications than this, but the practice is to dig earthworks and set fortified camps around the target to prevent sallies or escape. These guys are forming up in battalions for what looks like an assault."

"I can see campfires, though," interjected Bann.

"It's going to take most of the day for an army that size to get properly in position," said Mila. "The campfires will be to keep 'em fed while the rest of their friends take the field - it's not a sign that they're setting up for a proper siege. Still, I don't see any war engines - catapults and the like. Weird."

"I wonder what they have planned," said Bann, his voice betraying his worry, looking out over the mass of soldiery.

"I don't like it one bit," agreed the orc. "Let's go have a look at the pedestal room again."

The group walked back to the university through streets deserted but for groups of soldiers bustling to and fro. Stacks of buckets were piled beside the pumps that drew water from the underground aqueduct that supplied the city and what citizens who hadn't fled the city gathered in the crossroads and squares they passed, receiving briefings from guards. An air of anxiety hung over the settlement.

The few mages the group passed upon entering the vast, U-shaped university building paid no heed to them, and Dayna led comrades through the huge building to the base of the Omnigarch Tower. Passage to the pedestal room at the top of the tower was provided by a water-wheel driven elevator system. Small wooden platforms, big enough for only a few people at a time, cycled steadily up one of two tall shafts to the top of the ancient structure and descended down the other. Over two hundred feet tall, the tower offered a grand view of the surrounding city, but to climb the stairs that ran up its numerous levels was an exhausting, slow task. The elevator was a much less arduous option, taking any passengers to the penultimate floor, whereupon the visitors would have to ascend a short stair that would put them out on one side of the highest chamber. At the top, the pedestal room, as Mila had taken to calling the Omnigarch Chamber, was a large, circular area, thirty feet in diameter with a high ceiling. Tall, ornate, came glass windows surrounded the room and four balconies protruded from it at cardinal points. A large black granite plinth with a slightly concave top sat in the centre of the chamber.

While her comrades were oblivious to it, Dayna could feel a thickness in the air as they passed through the redoubtable warding magics that had been cast upon the tower.

"So, this Gaermeon is going to try and put that jewel on this pedestal here," said Mila, patting the waist high stone plinth. "Then what?"

"Well, anything, really," said Dayna, anxiously teasing a lock of her hair around one of her fingers. "The whole tower would then act as a giant wand or staff - a massive amplifier for any magic cast through it. I don't know what she plans to do with that power, but it can't be good."

"So we kill her before then," said Bann. "We just shoot her with an arrow or chop her head off or something before she gets here."

Gomp snorted. "You can't kill demons like you can people, stupid," said the imp. "We're basically immortal."

"He's mostly right," said Dayna. "Firstly, they're surrounded by their own magical field - strong enough to turn all but the most powerful of blows. Secondly, if you do manage to get through that field, the demon will just disapparate and reappear near whoever she's tethered to on this plane. If you managed to stab Gomp, here-"

"Don't tempt me," growled Bann.

"If you stabbed Gomp, for example," continued Dayna, "he'd reappear near me."

"So, what if you killed the tether, then?" said Mila.

"Well, you don't have to kill them, per se. Knocking them out would work too," explained the mage. "In that case, the demon could survive a short while off whatever energy they had within themselves or was latent in the area already. You'd then have to inflict a serious enough injury on them to send them back to the outer realms. Even so, if they were powerful and fast enough, they might be able to tether themselves to someone nearby who let them. Sometimes, if an area or object has enough power within it, a demon could connect to that as well - a lot of stories you hear of ghosts are because of that."

"Fuck. This is getting really complicated. I was really hoping I'd just have to stick my sword in the shitstain's face and call it a day," groaned Mila. "I'm guessing Kalliya is Gaermeon's tether, so we'll have to find a way to take the traitorous bitch out and then go after her pet demon, all before they get the stone onto this thing."

While the group pondered the enormity of the task ahead of them, Pointer scribbled on his slate and held the board up to them.

This won't help, but I'd like to take Kalliya alive. I need to ask her some questions. It's important.

He had underlined the last word

Mila rolled her eyes. "Really?" she sighed. "Well, if it's that important, I guess we can try. Any other requests? Maybe we need to get her to bake us a cake too?"

Dayna and Bann laughed weakly as the orc continued. "Speaking of cake, anyone else ready for lunch? Least we can do is die on a full stomach. I'm starving."