Darkwalker on Moonshae - Douglas Niles [119]
“That one!” cried King Kendrick, pointing to the white-bearded northman standing at the prow of his ship.
Quinn Moonwane – the most powerful of the three druids who had come to fight in Corwell – regarded the raider king. His eyes, trained to see the good and evil within nature, saw that the enemy king was not human. The druid knew that he faced something corrupt and very powerful, but he could not understand its omnipotent nature.
Quinn took up his staff and pointed it at his foe. From the deepest wells of his strength, he called forth the might of the goddess. His enemy turned to regard him, and the druid looked into those hellish eyes for a split second.
King Kendrick saw the druid’s body explode into a shower of red mist. His robes, boots, and belt, soaked with blood, fell to the dock, in the middle of a spreading pool of gore. The King of Corwell turned in rage.
“Destroy them!” he bellowed, calling the artillerists to direct their fire against the leading longship. The archers sent their deadly missiles raking the two other vessels that had not caught fire. Both of those soon drifted to a halt; with no one alive to man the oars.
But the leading ship resisted all attempts to incinerate it. A curtain of protection appeared to surround the vessel, as fiery missiles that seemed destined to strike her suddenly veered away to hiss, uselessly, into the water of the harbor.
Yet the raider king knew that he would not be able to land his force on the docks. The fleet beyond the breakwater already steered toward the gravelly beach beyond the town, and the lone longship in the harbor turned to withdraw.
King Kendrick snorted, momentarily satisfied at the withdrawal. “Randolph? Where are you, man?”
The captain stepped up quickly, smiling at the scene of destruction in the harbor. “We’ve slowed them up, sire.”
“Indeed. How fares the organization of the companies?”
“Badly, my lord. Your presence is required, I fear, before Dynnatt, Koart, and the Lord Mayor will listen to reason.”
“Damn their pettiness!” The king turned to look at the retreating longship. “Very well. I’ll find you as soon as that one clears the harbor. And blast my son again for disappearing when I most need him!”
Randolph hurried back to the lords, while King Kendrick stared at the lone vessel. He saw the whitehaired enemy ruler, now standing in the stern. For a moment, their gazes locked, before a swirling cloud of smoke swept between them. The king felt, saw, the explosive force of the enemy’s magic erupting toward him.
Then, the building behind him erupted in a shower of broken stone. The high wall collapsed forward, burying the King of Corwell beneath a tumbling curtain of jagged rock.
*****
Laric rode hungrily across the ruined farm, ignoring the blazing building and torn, muddy field. His gaze remained fixed toward the west.
His eyes glowed red with pleasure at the memories – the slaying of the sister knight had been an exciting thing, fueling him for the battles to come.
The rush of that memory could not compare, however, to his hunger for the knight he had almost taken. That one, somehow, beckoned irresistibly to him.
Laric did not know if that knight still lived, for the spirit had flickered very weakly within her body when he had seized her reins. Yet, he had discovered no sign of her body, and he had searched diligently through the bloody fields for it. Therefore, it seemed that she must have accompanied the army toward Corwell.
And if so, Laric knew, they would indeed meet again.
But until then, the other Bloodriders needed to eat, and this was one reason the farm Laric rode across burned now. Many other such dwellings had become ashes during this long day of riding, and occasionally the Riders had been fortunate enough to find Ffolk within that had not had the sense to flee with the rest of the population. The killing of these poor fools had made a hot and nourishing feast for the scattered Riders. As Laric rode from detachment to detachment, he was encouraged to see that most of his horsemen were slowly regaining their strength.