The Battle of Ebulon (7 page)

“
I know
enough!” Kae replied, keeping his voice steady and firm, mimicking
a commanding tone Entan might have used. He was a Protector now,
and would not stand for anyone’s mockery. “I know they like their
secrets and demand absolute obedience.”

The priests wanted to
take away Kae’s ability to use the Life Force, because they deemed
him too powerful. Wanted him to obey and never question, desired to
control him completely. Even the First Captain urged Kae to submit
to the priests’ control. But Kae could use his Life Force in ways
others could not. He had more to lose if he obeyed that
command.

Enough of
this talk, Kae!
Entan ordered on the air.
Kae cast the captain a glance, but Entan was looking straight ahead
and not meeting his gaze.

The doors of the palace
creaked as they slid open. A jittery priest beckoned them all
inside.

Only a handful of the
torches lining the cavernous entrance hall of the palace were lit,
giving off more smoke than light. An ancient priest stood by the
hanging staircase leading to the underground room, where Kae was
finally made a Protector a few days ago.

From the corner of his
eye, Kae noticed a hooded and masked Protector join them from
behind the vast marble staircase leading to the upper floors of the
palace.

Why would a
Protector wait for us inside the palace?

The old priest clapped
his hands to get their attention. “I will open the passage into the
kingdom of Ebulon for you. Follow me down these stairs.”

The descent took a good
while. The priest led the way, limping down the stairs and stopping
often to catch his breath. Kae spent the wait counting and
recounting all the Protectors. Ten men to a corps, five corps sent,
fifty men. The cloaked figure made fifty-one. He was not a member
of any of the corps sent.

In the underground hall,
the priest laid his hands against a wooden plaque hanging on the
eastern wall. He muttered words Kae could not hear, and then
started humming. The wall vanished. The underground hall of the
Priest’s palace opened onto a vast courtyard, filled with ranks
upon ranks of mail-clad warrior. A clanking of steel echoed across
the courtyard as many of the soldiers drew their swords, startled
from the sudden appearance of Protectors.

The priest stood aside
and pointed. “Ebulon. Your skills are needed there. May you all
return safely.”

“
But how?”
Ryon asked in a high-pitched voice. The other Protectors laughed.
Yet fear filled the air around them. Ryon was not the only one
afraid.

“
Worry not,
the First Captain will see you safely returned,” the priest
replied.

The Protectors filed past
him and into Ebulon. Black smoke rose into the sky in the east,
shading the bright morning sun.

Filling the air was a
stench of excrement, old blood, rotting meat, garbage left in the
heat too long, all mixed together into something so vile Kae had no
word for it.

Ryon nudged him. ”What
died here and wasn’t buried?”

“
Separate and
be vigilant!” Entan ordered and walked towards the ranks of
soldiers.

Kae willed his Life
Force, his essence, to take shape inside his chest and called his
separated self to his side. A translucent, but wholly recognizable
copy of his proper body stood beside him. All around, the separated
selves of the other Protectors sprung up at Entan’s order, doubling
their number.

As always, the
separated self gave Kae a heightened awareness of all around him.
Kae’s heart and mind filled with fear, excitement, expectation of
death, lethargy, and terror of the men and women inside the walls.
He could hardly distinguish his own emotions from those of the
people around him.

An older warrior, a band
of gold encircling his head, approached. Entan stepped forward to
clasp hands with him. “Thank you for coming, my friends! I am King
Yadi. We had begun to fear none of out ancient allies would answer
the call.”

Entan released the king’s
hand and swept it to show all the Protectors. “I’ve brought fifty
men, more than enough. What is the nature of the threat you
face?”

“
Orcs. Vile
creatures you have no knowledge of in your lands. They have no
mercy and less love for men. And this time, I fear they mean to
destroy us!”

Orcs?

Resolution and purpose
emanated from the Protectors, yet fear mingled there as
well.

“
The less time
we lose on talk, the better then. We will form up there.” Entan
pointed to the wall over the gate. Sunlight reflected blindingly
off the armor of the soldiers lining it. “I take it you will not
insist of a central command?”

Yadi shook his head. “No.
I am grateful beyond words that you have come. My only plea is that
you help me save my people from annihilation.”

Entan ordered the
Protectors to climb the wide stone stairs to the top of the wall.
Men and women in heavy steel armor watched them pass.

“
How do they
hope to survive? They wear no armor, and those staffs and thin
swords will simply break against the tough hide of the Orcs.” The
woman who spoke laughed a bitter laugh.

How wrong she
is!

The sword of every
Protector could cut through armor, and the two staffs each carried
on their backs were known to split rock if wielded correctly, let
alone skulls.

Yet Kae could not blame
this woman for her ignorance. They still wore armor here and used
heavy, broad swords. No wonder they needed help.

The fifty-first Protector
didn’t join any of the corps, but walked a few steps behind them
now. Kae crouched on the ground, pretending to fasten the leather
ribbons that held his boot tight against his calf.

As the man passed him,
Kae looked up and saw his eyes beneath the black hood.

His heart
stopped in his chest.
It cannot be. He
can’t be this dumb!

Kae leapt up and grabbed
the man’s arm to halt him and pull him closer. “Baynard, you fool!
What are you doing here? You are a priest, not a
Protector!”

The fear rising in Kae’s
chest was all his own this time.

Baynard yanked his arm
from Kae’s grasp and removed his scarf. “The people of Ebulon need
help. I heard their call too, but when I asked the Head Priest to
send a party of priests to aid in the fighting, he refused. He told
me he doesn’t even expect any of you to return and would not risk
priests to the same losing cause.”

“
And still you
came? Why?” Kae had known Baynard since they were boys. Baynard
became a priest, Kae a Protector. Different roles, different
training. Kae gave Baynard secret lessons from time to time, but it
was one thing to practice sword fighting on fine afternoons,
another to fight Orcs. “You can’t hope to win any real battles,
Baynard?”

Color rose in Baynard’s
cheeks. “I came because the Head Priest is wrong. Priests are
needed here, if for nothing else than to assist you
all.”

Kae,
come!
Entan called on the air.

“
Nothing for
it, what’s done is done. Stay near me. I’ll keep you from harm.
Let’s hope we survive this and return home!” Kae ran up the stone
steps to join the Protectors.

His separated self was no
longer just a replica of his proper body. It shone from inside with
red light now, yet did not burn. Still, Kae feared it would start
to, just as it did when last he used it for too long.

“
Can you use
your separated self, Baynard?” Kae asked as they reached the top of
the wall.

Baynard’s separated self
appeared beside him, a near solid copy of the young priest. Kae’s
waved to it, but it didn’t see. The priest could not see another’s
separated self either. None but Kae could do such a
thing.

“
I can do
things with my separated self you have never even heard of,”
Baynard replied. “Do not fear for me. I can well take care of
myself.”

Boastful, but likely
Baynard had simply spoken the simple truth. Kae only found out
about the separated self a few days ago, and so far no one
explained much beyond that. Still, his separated self could travel
farther than anyone else’s, could see others’ where none could see
his. Now it burned with red shimmering flames. Nothing Kae did
would douse the flames, not imagining the river that always brought
calm, not the visions of rain shielding it, not concentrating on
Entan’s orders as he revealed the battle plan.

The vile stench in the
air grew worse up on the wall. Like rotting fish and rotting meat
mixed together in a pot of old blood, with a heavy helping of a
decaying animal corpse, seasoned with rotten flowers. Then
boiled.

Kae let the river flowing
though his mind wash away the stench.

“
Perhaps these
Orcs fight by smell alone,” Baynard whispered, but straightened as
Entan’s gaze locked on him.

Pay
attention!
Entan’s voice came on the
wind.

The Captain turned to
Kae. “Send your separated self out to scan the area surrounding the
castle. Tell me how many Orcs there are, how far from the walls
their camp lies, what they look like.”

Kae nodded. His separated
self already stood on the ridge near the horizon line. Baynard’s
separated self appeared beside his. The valley below was filled
with creatures of all shapes and sizes, some looked like giant
rocks, bits of sheer wall broken off.

Is that where
we are, near the Mountains of Giants?

Kae was born in a village
at the foot of those grand mountains, lived in their shadow until
the bandits burned down his home and killed his parents. Kae only
survived because Entan and the Protectors came just in time to
drive the bandits away.

No, it cannot
be!

Giants no longer existed.
Besides, the creatures swarming in the valley below him were no
giants! Some were taller than men, others much shorter.

The nauseating stench in
the air came from them, and mixed here with dung they burned to
stay warm. Yet filtered through his separated self, the smell was
easier to bear.

The Orcs were preparing
to attack. The steady, monotonous beating of drums grew louder and
louder. Torturous, like listening to water drip from a pipe at the
castle, while watching Issa eat and not able to join
her.

Issa would
just be waking now.
Would she wait for me
this morning, as she waited yesterday?

Such thoughts were
useless, pointless and painful. Kae was no longer Issa’s Guardian.
The priests had never allowed Protectors to love. Issa and Kae had
no future. Kae’s future was with the Protectors.

Kae had no future if all
these vile creatures attacked the walls of Ebulon. Thousands upon
thousands mingled and jostled in the valley.

The skin of his separated
self glowed a shimmering red now, began to burn. But not as it had
after Kae had used it for too long. This was a slow, quiet,
seething burning, like a predator ready to pounce.

As the Orcs began to form
up for battle, ten catapults were revealed. They meant to take down
the walls of Ebulon and make short work of it, judging by the size
of the boulders stacked on leather sheets ready to be
carried.

Kae had seen
enough.

His separated self was
back by his side on the wall. Kae reported all he saw to
Entan.

Do you think
we could attack them in their camp before they advance?

Kae shook his
head.
There are thousands of them, all
readying to attack the walls.

Entan turned
to the rest of the Protectors and ordered on the air.
Separate and prepare your bows.

The drums in the distance
stopped.

With the sound of
thunder, the horizon line darkened with Orcs.

They move as
wind.

Calls to arms echoed all
around them. Archers drew their arrows. Fires beneath cauldrons of
boiling oil and water sprung to life.

Fear, anxiety,
exhilaration, remorse, caution, cowardice, apprehension, hatred and
sadness filled Kae’s chest through his separated self. He could not
differentiate his own emotions from those of the soldiers around
him. To seal it all off, he imagined damp fog surrounding his
separated self. It lessened the burning glow of its skin, kept the
torrent of emotions at bay.

Everyone except Baynard
readied their bows and arrows.

Entan looked at the
priest. “Prepare for battle!”

Baynard pulled back his
hood. “As a priest, I can use the Life Force to confuse and drive
away the Orcs. But I cannot shoot arrows.”

Entan’s mouth dropped
open. “I was not told any of the priests were to accompany us. Are
you the only one?”

Baynard blushed. “Yes,
and I have come of my own free will. Long ago, when greater need
still existed, priests and Protectors fought side by side. A battle
such as this calls for a collaboration once again, do you not
agree?”