The seige of Clevin

The twins moved swiftly, silently, through the small wood. Twice they were forced to stop and hide as more and more troops headed toward the village of Clevin. Reb had been all for taking them on, her knight’s honour had strict rules about fleeing the enemy, only Gin’s insistence that their mission had to take priority, that their friends and comrades in arms were willing to fight a losing battle against these things in order to give the twins time to find the talisman, worked. One thing the knights held dearer than their own glory and honour was the protection of others. With a nod and a scowl, she had sheathed her sword and followed her brother deeper into the woods. The relatively short distance that should have been covered in little more than a day and a little of the night took them three days.

Twice they had to detour round camps that had been set up on the path, a sure sign that this was an army being force marched with a set purpose. That they had already failed, cheered Ginfla up a little, as he waited once more for his twin to find a suitable path round the encampment, until he realized what those that had been left behind would endure. He just hoped that Detom had done his part and told the dragon everything they had let him learn. He was still angry that Detom had proven him wrong, despite the evidence he had believed Detom innocent of the charges, right up until he had vanished soon after they had laid the trap for him.

“This way,” Reb said, interrupting his thoughts.

Gin nodded and followed her silently as she led them through a narrow animal track that bypassed what they hoped was the last of the troops heading to Celvin.

“Do you think he made it through?” Gin asked his twin, once they were clear enough of the enemy to speak freely.

“I doubt this lot are out for a picnic,” Reb said, forgetting that Gin was not as versed in military matters as she was. “Celvin has no strategic value, it is too isolated for that and too small to warrant this number of troops, unless they intend to lay siege, they would have no need to do that unless Detom did his part and told of a soft village that harbours a weapon that can destroy this dragon,” she added by way of an explanation.

“I hope we don’t have to fight him, he was strong in his magic. I have a feeling that we are going to have enough to do with this dragon.”

“I doubt we’ll have to worry about that,” Reb said. She had known when they set Detom up that he would not survive it, he was too much of a liability to the dragon. A small part of her felt guilt over that, but more because she was keeping the information from Ginfla than Detom’s fate. Detom had chosen his own fate as far as she was concerned, he had chosen to betray them not once but several times, the penalty for treason was death, this way his death was of use, not just symbolic.

“Because they will kill him?” Gin asked.

“Probably; I would,” Reb said.

“It will be an honourable death, I’m glad, for his family; they will not need to live with the shame, will they?”

“No, it is why I suggested it,” Rebsla confessed. “I’m sorry, I really wish…”


“You did the right thing,” Gin said. “You always were the strong one, it makes sense they asked your opinion, your judgement.”

“In answer to your unspoken question; yes I would have done the same if it had been you, as many had suspected. I hope that you would do likewise.”

“I know, that is why I can accept it. I just wish you didn’t keep things from me, it makes me feel as though you don’t trust me.”

“I never considered that” Rebsla said. “I trust you with my life, the reason I am so certain my actions would be no different if you betrayed us, is that I know you wouldn’t. I just hope your information is correct, otherwise we have…”

“Left a lot of good people to die in our place…thanks for the reminder.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that we ….it doesn’t matter what I meant, I was just talking to alleviate the boredom.”

“You were just saying what I was thinking,” Ginfla said. “I know this is a long shot, but it is the only one we have. It may sound noble to take on a dragon, but believe me we would none of us stand a chance. The original race was formidable, powerful, and noble. The thing that we are facing is nothing like them. It was born of the darkest magic as a weapon, it knows only darkness and rage. It is incapable of thinking outside it’s own goals and needs. It will kill for the pure joy of it, it will not listen to reason nor will it submit to any authority. The scroll we are looking for is the only thing that has ever affected it, and as you can see, the effects were not permanent.”

***** ************** *************

Trasmo looked out over the army that surrounded their small village. They had arrived over a week ago, and done nothing more than camp there. “Why don’t they attack already?” he asked.

“Because they know they don’t need to. They have blocked our supply lines, destroyed our fields and damned the river that supplies our well. Another week or two of this and we will be living on rainwater and rats,” his friend Akout said. “Look on the bright side, the longer they take to attack, the better Rebsla and Ginfla’s chances of success.”

“That supposes the twins even got through the enemy lines,” Trasmo said

“I would lay odds on it,” Akout said. “Gin is one of the best mages on Mundus, his sister already holds one of the highest ranks of the Knights of Mundus, it is why they were selected.”

“I thought they were chosen because of the prophecy,” Trasmo said.

“That too, but in order for this plan to have a hope of working we needed to fill this place with war mages and knights. No, they were chosen because they were the best candidates.”

“Let us hope we haven’t sent them on a wild goose chase then,”

“Yes,” Akout agreed, “let us hope.”

***** ******

Repus looked on the small village, with its puny defences and soft defenders and sighed. “Why don’t we just attack?” he asked.

“Regnada’s orders are to lay siege, not attack,” Gasal replied.

“Another week or two of this and they will be down to rats and rainwater, and this being the dry season, means there will be nothing to attack.”

“I don’t care. Our orders are to maintain the siege until she arrives,” Gasal said. “I have seen what happens to those that disobey her orders, it is not pretty, so I for one will follow them.”

“It would help if she wasn’t late,” Repus said.

“I would love to see you say that to her face, from a safe distance, of course,” Gasal said.

“Where is she anyway?” Repus asked, ignoring Gasal’s comment.

“I didn’t think to ask her plans, dragons aren’t that big on sharing information with us lesser races.”

“Dragons,” Repus said with a shake of his head. “Had anyone told me a year ago that dragons were real and that I would be serving one I would have gutted him.”

“I’d have tortured him a bit first, but the ending would have been the same,” agreed Gasal. “Times are certainly changing. Let’s hope our luck does too, the forces of light have held sway far too long. I am tired of hiding in places that even the rats prefer not to dwell.”

“Let us hope,” Repus agreed.

**** ***** ****

Regnada allowed the air currents to lift her higher, after all these years in hiding it felt good to be aloft again. Her sharp eyes caught movement on the path below and with a smile, folded her leathery wings into her body and dove down. Unfolding her wings at the last moment, she glided over the small group and spat a stream of acid over them. She soared back up into the sky, the screams of the dying ringing in her ears. Yes, she thought, it felt great to be free again. She had heard rumours of something or someone that could stop her, the spy hadn’t been that clear; a fatal error on his part; though in truth she was always happy to eat a spy, one could never quite trust them not to turn their coat a second time. She had, fortunately, garnered enough from his fear filled stuttering to make out the name of a village and taken care of that. Her troops, if she could call that rabble of humans, goblins, hobgoblins and ogres that, were under orders to surround the village, no-one in or out. She smiled as she recalled the flavour of the commander that had questioned her on that; a delightful mix of sweat, metal and fear. It had served two purposes, the primary one being to ensure that if she gave an order, no matter how foolish it seemed to these inferior creatures, it would be obeyed without a debate. That it also provided a tasty snack was a mere bonus, though she was grateful that it had been a human commander that had made the error, not a hobgoblin…they were not eaten just killed.

She caught sight of two humans fleeing from her most recent bout of ill-temper…she turned and swooped low, feeding on the fear her presence generated in them, as a creature they had long thought a mere myth proved she was very real indeed. She aimed her other breath weapon, a blast of fire close to them, she didn’t want these ones dead, dead folk tell no tales as the old saying went and she wanted them to tell tales. She wanted the people to tremble at the mere thought of her attacking them at random. Scared people tended to be one of two things, either they surrendered, or they fought and since either option suited her, she saw no reason to deprive herself of any fun. Being in a magically enforced hibernation for three millennia tended to give anyone a lot of rage to work out, that she already had an abundance of that quality before that damned spell didn’t matter. No, in Regnada’s mind, the humans had done this to her, it was time that they paid for that insolence. Just as those that had brought her into existence had paid for theirs, she thought. The screams of the mages still lulled her to sleep some nights, as did the images of what she had done to them.

Typical humans with a minute amount of power, they had thought to create a creature such as her so she could do their bidding. She had let them rear her…she had been hatched from an ancient egg those fools had found and even she had to admit in those first days she had needed them. They had raised her on a steady diet of deer, prisoners and hatred. Every day she witnessed the torture of those not fortunate enough to warrant being her dinner, tales of slaughter were her lullabies; every day the mages used their magic to, with excruciating pain, age another year; every day they used their magic to control her; every night she planned her revenge, the only problem she had was getting them all in one place. There were too many caverns and passages that she could no longer fit down for them to hide, they were strong enough in their magic that she would not underestimate them. If even one got loose it could mean her end too. The day they told her that she was ready to demonstrate her loyalty was the best day of her short life. Every mage that had worked on her, on their ‘project’ as they called her, would be there to witness her strengths, to see how next to proceed. She could have told them not to make too many plans, but what was the point of a surprise party without the surprise. She had performed their tests with an almost impatient air, using both of her breath weapons on one sorry group of captives, her claws and teeth on another. She sat back and listened to their plans, waiting for the arguing to start…even two of them discussing her argued so it was almost a guarantee that a dozen would. That was when she struck. Her first job had been sealing them in, a few well placed tail strikes closed off their only method of retreat while keeping her roof exit intact. She let loose her acid, catching all of the shocked mages off guard. One or two managed to avoid the fatal strike, each crawling a different direction. She made her decision swiftly, the one that could walk was far more of a threat than the one whose legs had melted, whose body was even now being consumed by the acid that had entered the blood stream…she could play with him later. She spat a fireball close to the mobile one, watching his him dive away, his fear and confusion feeding her soul in the same manner his corpse would shortly be feeding her body. Then she heard the words of magic. A language she had come to know all to well in her week of life. She turned to the wrecked form of a mage she had left alone just as the spell was released. A web like substance hit her, an image filled her mind, a rune, she realized, and the web fell away as if it had never been. The mage’s face went from victory to resignation in less than a second. More words of magic followed, this time from the ambulatory mage she had momentarily forgotten about in her surprise. Again her instincts took over, this time it was a series of runes joined together, dispelling the mage’s magic as easily as her acid destroyed flesh. No wonder they had stopped aging her with magic, they must have sensed her own innate skills taking over at maturity.

“We created you,” the ambulatory mage had hissed as her head leaned down toward him.

“Thank you for that,” Regnada had replied. The last words he ever heard.

“Have you no loyalty?” The dying one had gasped.

“To creatures I’ve known less than a week? To creatures that tortured me daily so I would fit with their plans? To creatures that seek to control me? Let me think a moment before I say no.”

“Regnada, I was always good to you, I named you…”

“Aptly it would seem,” Regnada had replied.

“Why did you do this, we could have ruled the world,” he had said.

“I rule alone,” Regnada had replied. “You are right though, I do ‘owe’ you so I won’t kill you, I’ll leave you here. I believe you humans call that repaying a debt.”

“I will starve…”

“Nonsense,” Regnada said. “The acid is in your blood stream. It is eating away at your organs and blood vessels as we speak, your body is just in to much shock to feel it…you’ll be dead long before you need food or water.”

Regnada stopped her memories there, with his screams and curses, she always did. Her reign of terror had been fun but brief. An involuntarily shudder ran through her as she recalled those words, those words she had recognised as runes, had struck her. The words that had stolen her life.

This time she would do better, this time she had gathered an army to her. She had realized her errors and corrected them. This time she would not be stopped.

*********** *************** **************

Ginfla lay his hand in the small recess he had uncovered. The loud, jarring noise, of stone grinding upon stone, of chains moving through gears that had not been used in centuries, echoed round the small clearing before the mountain.

Instinctively, Rebsla drew her sword and placed her back to her brother. Her eyes searching the wood and sky alike for any sign of danger.

“We can go in now,” Ginfla said, lighting one of the torches they had brought with them. He could have used his magic, just as he could have used it to get them here, but he knew he would need all his strength to use the magic of the scroll. Even the minor strength the maintenance of light spell would take could prove to much. He still dreaded to think what would happen if he was forced to make the choice of whether to use it to save their lives if needed. One live was always easier to save with magic than two…

“Here, I brought this for you,” Rebsla said. She handed him a sword, a twin to her own.

“Olsdelab? I thought you were my sword these days.” Ginfla strapped the sword on as he spoke, it felt like the old friend it was.

“My way of saying, I’m expendable, remember that,” Rebsla said, with a smile. “Getting that scroll and shield back to Clevin is the only thing that can matter. There are plenty of knights there that can use the shield.”

“Plenty of mages to read the scroll too,” Ginfla pointed out.

“Not from what I heard, but that wont mean a thing unless we get it, so after you.”

The twins made their way into the cavern that Gin had opened, the door shut almost immediately behind them.
“At least we can focus ahead rather than behind,” Reb said, with a shrug. They had been warned this might happen, the scroll and shield would know their own, would only leave with their own. The cavern would open once they had proven their worth and that of their cause. In theory.

Ginfla nodded, setting off down one of the passages. He walked silently, not just his footfalls which had always been light, but he never spoke. Reb tried once or twice to draw him out, but it was as if he couldn’t even hear her. She drew her sword, which emitted a soft glow of its own, and followed. She had said she had trusted him, and trust him she would.

They met no resistance, a fact that worried Reb. How could something so valuable be left unguarded? Yet she couldn’t deny that Gin seemed to know where they were going and how to get there. Twice they had stopped, briefly, as he had looked at a mark on the wall and traced something next to it. She couldn’t see what and her queries were met with silence.

“Reb, I need you for this.”

The sound of Gin’s voice caused her to jump. She nodded and approached him.

“I’m trained in the sword, but I believe this is the warrior part of the lock system,” Gin whispered. He too, it seemed, found the sound of his own voice eerie.

Reb nodded and studied the device he pointed at. A deployment chart, she recognised, yet it was set up so that both sides would lose. She touched one, it felt warm to the touch so she withdrew her hand. The characters on the pad looked at her expectantly, as did Gin. She took a deep breath and went to work. She was pleased that it was her first choice that opened the door; a stalemate…to her it was the only logical choice given that she had no idea of the conflict or the sides involved. The next one was a little more informative, but it was basic training at the knights academy. She smiled, so that is why it requires both, it is one way to maintain a kinship between two groups that would otherwise ignore each other, at a detriment to both.

The shield lay on a table, next to a scroll. Dust had gathered all round the artefacts but had not dared touch them. The twins hesitated, suddenly unsure if they could just take these things, a voice laughed. “Take your prizes with my blessing, it is why I created them after all. Do not fear them falling into the wrong hands, once balance has been restored they will return here,” it told them. “Hurry, your time runs out, I will take you to Gatetown, from there you can take the passage back to Clevin.”

The twins exchanged a swift glance, a glance that encompassed all the thoughts that were suddenly swimming round their heads, primarily whether they could trust the voice. Without a word both reached out for the weapon they were skilled in using, in a blink of an eye the cavern was gone and they stood in the centre of a small sea town. Gatetown, Reb realized after a cursory glance. Only a few miles from Clevin via the tunnel that had once been used by smugglers.

Gin and Reb arrived in the Clevin inn cellar tired, bruised and victorious. The journey through the thongs of people had been far more hazardous to the pair than the one to gather the talismans, as they crowded round, jostling and fighting in their eagerness for some news of their home.

“You have both done your people a great service,” Commander Suneagle said.

“We still have one more service to do,” Rebsla said.

“Nonsense, you have done the hard bit, one of the others can take over now.”

“So I thought too sir, until I went to remove the shield. It seems the artefacts don’t share our view, and while I appreciate that removing my arm may be a solution it is not one I am willing to risk.”

Commander Suneagle blanched a little, he had indeed been thinking along those lines, though for the life of him he didn’t know why. Then again he had been having a lot of thoughts today that he had not recognized as his own. Only the strange look on Rebsla’s face made him think that perhaps it was not just him that this was effecting.

“The dragon is approaching. This is her doing, at least so I have been able to gather from this scroll. They can project confusion as well as fear, we need to get into position,” Ginfla said.

“You can read the scroll?” Suneagle asked.

“Yes, it seems that it has the ability to make itself understood by the user.”

“That makes sense, it is written in the rune language, a language that has long been dead to our people,” Rebsla said. “Gin’s right though, if we are to do this, we need to get ready now, Sir.”

***** ******* *********

Regnada, having explored her new home sufficiently for now, turned and headed for the village of Clevin. The only flaw she had discovered. The mortals that populated her home were no threat, indeed she may even find a use for some of them. Not the knights, they were as unyielding as the armour they loved to parade about in. The mages too would have to go; while their magic was far inferior to hers, they were too damn inquisitive. All it would take was one to work out how her magic worked, and within a generation or two they would think they could control her again. No, best to just be done with them now. Some of the leaders would have to go, but she had already received emissaries that had been eager to talk terms on behave of three of the nations. On the whole, she decided she would keep them alive, larders that would take care of themselves and thank her for it.

She was so engrossed in the future that she had not realized that she had arrived, it was only the stench of so many mortals close by that caused her to look down. Her army was sprawled beneath her, the village was silent. She dove down, letting loose both acid and flame, a signal for her troops to attack. It was then she caught the glimpse of metal, not the metal that covered the knights on the wall…a surprise in itself, so much for an easy village. Then again, it did seem to have the majority of those she had decided must die in one place…her head turned again to the single flash. Two mortals on a tower, it was probably nothing, but she had learnt the hard way that it paid to be thorough.

She let loose her acid, with a brief turn, she let loose her fire. It was on the second run she saw the markings on the shield, it was then the words hit one of them speaking hit her. Unlike the magic she had grown used to on this world, this one sang to her…

“I call to you my brother,
I call for you to see
The path you’re on
Is not where you should be.

I see within your heart,
I see within your soul,
I see your destruction
As you realize your goal.

As you were borne
Of nightmares deep,
So I must send you
Back to sleep.”

The spell hit her like sack of bricks…or at least what she imagined a sack of bricks would feel like. Her rune magic tried to enfold it, tried to dispel it, but this was a magic far more powerful than her own. She fought it for as long as she could, but the now familiar darkness took over. “I’m not yet done,” she cried out, as she fell from the skies onto her own troops. Most of which were already moving on.

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