Cormyr_ a novel - Ed Greenwood [50]
"A naga?" Threldryn asked. "I mean no disrespect, Princess, but how can you-or anyone else-know that?"
Brown eyes blazed into his. "When you go to war, do you merely ride, Lord Imbranneth? Try thinking, just once-you may find things go much better!" Some of the fire in her gaze ebbed, and she added, "So far on this campaign, we've fought hydras and fire lizards and orcs bold enough to come down into our lowland farms not once, but thrice. Where are all these creatures coming from?"
"Well, uh-the-the Stonelands, Princess," offered Threldryn, floundering. "Where else?"
"Don't you think it just a trifle odd, my lord, that three chimeras would line up to do battle with us one after the other? Beasts that should be fighting each other when drawn so close together?"
"Zhentarim," Brace murmured. "The Black Network. Using their magical gates and monstrous charms again!"
"Precisely," Alusair said in fierce agreement. "And that suggests these orcs were fleeing to their master, in that cave, one of those dark nagas the Black Network set up as mentors to their bands of orcs. We took a lightning bolt, and then a fireball, my spellshield dagger took care of the latter. If it had been a mage in yonder cave, he'd have hit us with something more potent by now, or else fled. Instead, we got a flaming sphere!"
"Therefore, a naga, now mystically spent and down to its lesser spells!" Threldryn said triumphantly. Alusair allowed herself a smile. There was hope for the young nobles of Cormyr yet.
Beldred rode up now, and the princess said, "There's a naga in there, and I'm going in after it. I want two volunteers to go with me-and only two. If I don't come out by sundown, my orders are that you decide on the best attack you can think of and follow us in."
Brace, Beldred, and Threldryn volunteered, of course. The princess left Beldred behind in command of the surviving nobles. The Truesilver captain immediately set out scouts to look for surviving orcs or other surprises of the Zhentarim.
Alusair took the other two nobles with her, striding steadily along the rocks on one side of the vale toward the dark cleft ahead. When some rocks provided a bit of cover close to their goal, the princess motioned them to halt behind her and took the time to glance back to see if her companions were ready.
Then she cast a long look at the rest of her company, pulled into defensive positions in case the cavern held any more surprises. This section of the Stonelands afforded a great view of the lands of the south, and Alusair could see at the horizon a thin line of green, the distant woods of Cormyr. Farther south would be Suzail, where Uncle Bhereu lay cold and Thomdor and her father lay dying.
Brace and Threldryn saw sudden tears glimmer in the princess's eyes. She drew in a deep, shuddering breath and turned away from them, tossing her head in fresh resolve.
"Princess? What's happened?" Brace asked hesitantly.
Ash-blonde hair danced as his commander's head snapped around to face him again. "Nothing any Purple Dragon shouldn't always be prepared for," she said curtly, and slowly drew her blade, silently daring them to say more about her tears.
Silently they followed suit, and she seemed to almost smile.
"Now, gentle sirs," she said crisply, "are you with me? For Cormyr?"
"For Cormyr!" they echoed, and this time she did smile. "Then let us take the battle to our foe." And she eased toward the waiting darkness of the cave.
Brace Skatterhawk never forgot what followed. To his dying day, he could call to mind the frantic fight in the cavern with the serpentine naga, with spells blazing all around, and Alusair's fearlessness through it all. Their foe coiled and hissed as they slashed and sprang and hacked at it again. Its venomous tail loomed above them repeatedly, stabbing down with frightening speed. Alusair was the one who braved its jaws to blind the beast, of course, crying, "For Azoun and Cormyr!"