Fate Rides Wicked: Volume I of the Lerilon Trilogy (35 page)

“I’ve been doing it for many years. The monks helped
me with some of it but I learned most of it the hard way.”

“Tell me, wizard, how long will he be frozen like that?”

“Until somebody touches him. They’ll be too
frightened to do it for a while. Finally, they’ll give him up
for dead and move to bury him, only to wake him. He’ll
think only a second has passed. We’ll be gone.” Aquendar
nodded, digesting his discoveries about his new friend.

Tych greeted them without a hello. “What did you
learn?”

“A few days ago, a thrandril came to the king and told
him to give half his wealth to him or he would bring mass
destruction. The king refused, and since then they have had
terrible storms and earthquakes, that hurricane being only
the most recent.”

Xalt groaned. “We have a demon in our midst, and a
powerful one at that.”

Tych looked at the knight. “What makes you say that?”

“There is a type of demon that cannot directly injure
intelligent creatures unless attacked, but it can control the
elements and bring destruction indirectly. It can change
shape and become whatever it wants. Clearly, that is what
we are up against.”

“Ride towards Concrof. I will join you at the border. I
have a demon to destroy.” Tych dismounted.

“Use Gaylin. Only magical steel can harm it. No spells
or base means will damage it.”

Aquendar felt a nudge by Lendril and said, “Ahem, do
you need any help? Perhaps you could use my assistance.”

Tych shook his head. “I will change into my plate
armor before becoming a dragon, but I should be alright.”
With this, the endaril took off his leather armor and
climbed into his royal plate while the expedition waited.
Several minutes of silence later, he said, “Leave for the
border immediately. I will join you soon.”

Flandroke began a walk to the northeast and the other
horses pulled in behind him as Tych ran off to the
northwest. Tych’s horse followed the pemilons. Lendril
took one look back, but her lover could not be seen.

As soon as the prince reached a clearing, he
transformed into a gold dragon and streaked into the air. In
minutes the capital came into view. With a moment of
concentration, he teleported himself into the king’s
courtyard.

The king sat on his throne, listening to the petition of
one of his subjects, but the room went quiet when the
armored endaril appeared. The soldiers began to charge,
but they had been shook by an earthquake when the demon
arrived earlier, so they stopped. Tych merely strolled onto
the carpet and waved the petitioner aside. The human
obliged immediately.

“I have come to destroy the creature which attempted to
blackmail you. Do you have a way to bring him here?”
Tych waited.

The king paused for a second. “Yes, but he would
surely destroy us.”

“He will not live for more than a few minutes. Bring
him here. NOW!” This last word boomed and echoed
through the castle for minutes.

Once the sound died down, the king said, “Alright, I’ll
do it, just don’t hurt us.” He climbed down from the throne
and went over to a rope hanging near the wall. It ran up
through the ceiling and into a bell tower above. The king
pulled on this, ringing the bell three times.

With a flash of light, a male that looked like a thrandril
appeared on the throne. With a cackle of confidence it
looked at the king. “Why do you call me here, mortal, do
you wish to surrender to my demands? I can be a very
forgiving person if you give me a chance.”

The king pointed towards Tych and the demon lost its
smile. “Prince of the Endarils I believe.”

“Demon of Rangdor, prepare to face destruction!”
Tych drew Gaylin and charged the creature.

Before the endaril could reach the throne, the thrandril
changed to a hairy beast, which stood taller than a dragon
on its hind legs and bore the bulk of two golds. “No, it is
you that will die, prince.”

Tych dove through the monster’s legs as the audience
ran for the doors, screaming in fright. The king and the
soldiers just stood there, watching, frozen by their fear.
The demon began to turn, giving Tych time to overcome
his surprise. He pledged to return Xalt’s lack of
information as soon as possible and concentrated for a
moment.

With a magical bounce in his step, Tych leaped into the
air and plunged Gaylin into the beast’s chest. Only the hilt
showed and the demon bellowed. The castle shook and
some stones began to fall from the ceiling. As the endaril
pushed off the shaggy white chest, pulling his sword with
him, the creature swung and smashed a nearby column.

The prince landed and looked up. He dove to his left,
but the falling block smashed into his armor. Gaylin
clattered to the ground and the soldiers groaned as Tych lay
still for a moment. The demon reached down to grab him.

With another moment of concentration, the block flew
off Tych’s body and towards the face of his attacker. It
threw the monster off long enough for the endaril to regain
his sword and footing. His armor began to reshape itself,
and the king gasped as he watched. The demon smiled,
apparently flushed with the challenge and not lacking in
confidence, though grey blood flowed down its chest from
a rapidly healing wound.

The endaril gave no pause, plunging forward and
hitting his opponent in one leg and then the other. The
demon reeled, shocked by the speed and boldness of his
destroyer. The monster struck down, but Tych stepped
between its legs and struck it again behind both knees.
With a thundering crash the creature fell to its knees,
bringing cries of pain. Tych dodged another falling block.
Using the spell cast earlier to give him bounce, he leaped
over the left shoulder of his opponent and dragged Gaylin
through the beast’s neck.

The giant horned head landed in the throne, its eyes
looking at Tych, who alighted in front of it. For a moment,
its eyes stayed closed. Tych walked towards it cautiously,
unaware of the two arms reaching for him from behind.
The eyes snapped open and the endaril spun just as the
giant hands closed around him. The beast squeezed and
Tych screamed.

The king covered his eyes and several soldiers fainted.
The demon began to laugh with pleasure. Tych’s armor
held.

The laughter stopped and more soldiers fell as Tych fell
to the ground, two giant hands grasping him, but no longer
connected to their arms. Gaylin sang like a forest full of
birds, grey blood dripping off of it. The prince glowed
bright blue with pulsating energy. Like a whirring fan, he
sliced off every finger and the hands fell off.

The demon began to say, “No, no, no,” over and over.
Gaylin glowed brighter; Tych became a ball of light. The
orange of the sword lifted into the air and tone of the
singing increased. With one final burst of energy from
Tych, the sword came down and cleaved straight down the
middle of the head. At the moment of impact, the high
windows in the room exploded inward as the sword hit the
right pitch. In a blaze of energy and sound and light, the
demon’s body and head imploded and vanished.

The king looked from behind his arm. He saw Tych
kneeling on the steps to the throne, facing it. The prince’s
armor slowly started to reshape itself. Gaylin lay across
the endaril’s lap, purring like a happy cat. Grey blood ran
down the steps and joined the pool on the floor.

Cautiously, the king made his way over to Tych. He
touched him on the shoulder as some of the soldiers
regained consciousness. The prince didn’t move. The king
shook him and the endaril fell over onto his side, stiff as a
board. Gaylin fell from his hand.

The sword stopped singing and the glow began to fade
to its normal softness. Slowly, life began to flow back into
Tych’s bones. The stiffness left and he began to slide down
the stairs. Some of the soldiers ran forward at the king’s
bidding and picked him up, setting him down in one of the
chairs nearby. He sat amidst incredible ruin, rocks and
masonry everywhere.

A few seconds passed while they waited, none of them
daring to touch Gaylin. The prince stirred and began to
look around. He saw the soldiers looking at him and
blinked a couple of times. “Is it gone?” croaked the
warrior.

“Yes it is,” answered the king. “How can we ever
repay you?”

“Simple, King Eflat. Help me prevent this from
happening again and contribute your armies to mine. Next
spring I march on Rangdor and all his minions. The
northern and western kingdoms already send forces.”

“I will do as you ask. However, please stay and rest.”

Tych stood, rapidly regaining his energy. “No, I must
leave to rejoin my companions on their way to Concrof.”
He walked over to Gaylin and picked it up. For a moment
it glowed but Tych concentrated for a moment and a sound
like a whimper preceded its entry into the scabbard.

“No, you shouldn’t go to Concrof. An evil magician
has it under his thumb.”

“All the more reason I should. I defeated this demon,
didn’t I? Magicians are easier. What is this sorcerer’s
name?”

Tych’s eyes almost exploded from his head at the
answer: “Blackdrad,” said the king.

“I have done battle with that sorcerer before, and he
escaped. This time he will not be so lucky. We will meet
again, King Eflat. Remember one thing until then: There
are no evil members of the thrandrils, endarils or mendar.
You need only watch out for the credarils and their demon
allies.” Tych turned and strode confidently towards the
door. “To your health, King Eflat,” added the Prince.

He walked down to the city gates, the glow and
adrenalin of victory very evident to those who thought of
stopping him. He distanced himself from the city for about
ten minutes. Still moving forward, he closed his eyes and
leapt into the air, and a gold dragon swooped to the east to
join his comrades on the border.

Usually, a traveler could tell when he had reached
Concrof only by the guards that stopped him at some
unrecognizable creek. The entire border had been
intricately fashioned by linking landmarks and none of
them stood out from the rest of the scenery. Eastern Evil
festered to the north of this kingdom and the other
neighbors agreed to leave it to Concrof to deal with the
residents of the jungle.

On this day, however, Tych and the expedition knew
they had arrived when they passed from a beautiful autumn
day into a rainy, dreary-grey bog. They pulled the hoods of
their cloaks over their heads and prepared themselves to
feel miserable. Only Tych and Nandel looked forward to
reaching Concrofak, eager to take another shot at
Blackdrad.

The sorcerer had other ideas. As the expedition reached
deeper into the kingdom, armies closed off their retreat.
Other forces waited ahead of them to try to destroy them.
Tych became aware of the ease of entry first and how
busily quiet the light forest stood around them.

He pulled up the expedition and listened for a moment,
with both his ears and the sense all humanoids have of what
they can’t see but feel. “Ofeldar and Worlef, dismount and
scout around to our rear. Findra and Andri scout to the
north, Lendril and Aquendar take the south. Reichet and I
will check in front of us.” The prince dismounted. “The
rest of you circle up with the empty horses in the middle.
Blard, work on an illusion to make us look like hundreds
instead of a handful.”

Tych pulled his sword, wrapped himself in his cloak
and struck out to the east with Reichet. The others went
their designated directions as the rain became heavier.
They could each squeeze a small creek from their cloaks.
The rest of the expedition huddled together and listened to
the silence, the only sounds the steady splatter of raindrops
on leaves and the slow chanting of Blard.

A half hour later, Blard had stopped casting and nothing
moved. Every now and then a horse shifted or whinnied a
little but their isolation felt total. Suddenly, the sound of
swords coming out of sheaths made them all turn and look
at Loktaro as he said, “Who goes there?”

Ofeldar and Worlef stepped out of the wall of rain. The
human said, quietly, “Have the others returned?”

As he put away his sword, Loktaro answered, “No,
you’re the first back. What did you find?”

“The others must return soon or we won’t be here when
they get here. There is a great army forming behind us.
They are slowly advancing towards the capital as if to herd
us there. I fear for what Tych might find.”

“I found more armies.” Tych made everybody jump as
Reichet climbed onto his horse. “We’ll wait for the
others.”

Only a few minutes passed before the others returned.
As she climbed into her saddle, Lendril said, “It’s clear to
the south as far as we can see. What did you others find?”

Findra shook her head. “They’re about two hours off
but they’re coming from the north.”

Tych said, “They are surrounding us on three sides and
hoping the ocean provides the fourth wall. Blard, can you
make a duplicate set of us for illusionary purposes?”

“Yes, but how much do you want the dummies to do?”

“Just ride straight north, get in a defensive position and
ambush the northern army with arrows. They just have to
draw the two other arms north and together so we can ride
around.”

“Well, there’s no sure way to insure their performance
but I can do my best.”

“Do it. The rest of you bundle up and turn south.”

Blard reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a silk
thread, a small crystal and some dried animal skin.
Drawing arcane symbols with his left hand and chanting, he
lifted each one up into the air in turn. At each step in the
spell the raised object disappeared and he picked up the
next from his lap. Finally, they all vanished and a flash of
light filled the air.