The first line of riders appeared to be five hundred strong. Silver swords flashed in the sunlight as they waved them above their heads.
Rian heard Dax give firm commands, and four hundred steel bolts flew from the hand-held crossbows wielded by the Ravens. Scores of hapless Scartans were punched from their saddles. Nearly the entire front line crumpled and fell apart, causing a blockade of riderless horses. The second line was hampered by the fallen bodies of the advance riders, and complete pandemonium broke out as the charging horsemen fought to swerve around the riderless horses.
“Lord of Life!” Rian heard Dax whisper. “Their beasts are coming!”
A mob of white-furred, ape-faced beasts burst through the ranks of the second line of Scarts. They came on toward the chapel walls like a great white wave.
His glowing blade in hand, Rian stared at the mass of white beasts hurtling toward the high wall, springing forward in great bounds and leaps.
Corey stepped up behind him, and as he turned to face the prince, he said, “Lord of Life keep you safe until we meet again at the end of this battle. And if not, may we meet on the other side of the Beyond Realm.”
The first wave of the white-furred beasts was only a few feet away from the wall when they launched their huge, bulky bodies up and leaped up to scrabble for purchase on the crenellated battlements. Rian sprang back in alarm as a dozen white beasts slammed into the double metal gates below with extreme force.
More than a dozen were repelled by Sharlyn’s war band, who stood in the gaps of the crenelated wall, shouldering their shields to block the advance of the howling beasts. Sharlyn heaved her shield into the face of one beast, shoving it back off the wall, then swung her shield into the breast of a second beast, sending it flying backward as well.
Prince Daggan stabbed repeatedly with his sword at another beast. He tossed aside his sword and used his brute strength to pick the beast up and hurl it into the faces of two of its brethren. Dax and his Ravens took aim with their hand-held crossbows and fired into the advancing mob.
Corey dropped to one knee to use an overhand cut to take out a beast coming over the wall. He found himself frantically hammering the flat of his sword into its face. It was Rian who saved him. Rian cleaved its head from its shoulders, sending its headless corpse toppling over the wall.
Prince Tannen Rose and his company of two dozen Elven Blade Masters proved to be the most effective force. Wielding his glowing sword with whiplike motions, Tannen led his fellow Elves in the battle to hold the wall above the front gate. In the first few minutes of the fighting, he and his company slew four score of the howling creatures.
The fighting seemed to last forever.
Rian had just slain his twentieth beast when a war horn sounded from the massed ranks of Scartans. Scores of the apish creatures turned and leaped back down, obeying the signal to retreat.
Rian sighed with relief and sagged against the battlement. They had been lucky to survive such a fierce assault. He doubted they could withstand another. Half of Prince Daggan’s guardsmen had been killed. All but one of Sharlyn’s war band had died.
“What in hell are they doing?” snapped Prince Daggan at the center of the wall.
“Regrouping for a second assault,” stated Dax at the far end of the wall.
The merc captain looked to the right and left, assessing the damage. “If they throw themselves at us like this again,” he said, “we will not survive.”
Daggan snarled, “What choice do have but to stand firm?”
Dax glanced back at the sturdy, two-story chapel. “We will lose the wall, for certain. But perhaps if we holed up inside the chapel, we can man those windows and repel their attacks for a time.”
He shrugged, the wind whipping his long black strands back and over his shoulders. “We can either die here on their next assault on the wall, or prolong our doom by making a last stand inside the chapel. I’d prefer to take a few more of them with me before I make my final flight to the Beyond.”
He locked gazes with Rian. “What say you, Blackthorn?”
Before Rian could respond, Daggan snapped, “How do you propose we perform an orderly retreat to yon chapel without those whoresons figuring out what we are up to? The moment they see us leaving this wall, they will send those rabid beasts back here, and many of us won’t make it into the haven those strong stone walls might provide before those mad gnashers overcome us.”
Rian took charge then, his gaze fixed on Corey. “Tannen and I and his company of Elves will remain here while the rest of you retreat to the chapel. Prince Corin? Please lead this orderly retreat for the sake of all concerned here.”
Corey opened his mouth to protest, but Rian cut him off, saying, “No, Corey, you will leave here at once. I will stay, then be along shortly to join you in the chapel.”
He looked directly at Dax, hoping the merc captain would take his lead on the matter.
Nodding silently at him, Dax took Corey by one arm and said, “Come, my lord, lead the way to yon chapel. You, too, Princess Sharlyn. Your father would have my head if I allowed the Black Rose of Rissen to wilt on the walls of White Star Chapel.”
Taking Corey by his other arm, Sharlyn guided him down the stairs and into the courtyard beyond. Daggan, his surviving guardsmen, and the Ravens followed behind them. Dax, Silk and Tristan brought up the rear of their formation, while Rian and Tannen and his two dozen Elves stood their ground to cover the others as they raced for the chapel beyond the main courtyard.
*
Corey and Sharlyn had just mounted the steps to the chapel when Sparrow flung open the double oaken doors of the White Star. He stepped out onto the stone landing at the top of the stairs connecting the chapel with the courtyard below. The mad prince stood there, clad in a bright blue robe with glittering silver symbols stitched into the silken fabric. In his hand was a black walnut staff, a shimmering purple jewel attached to the upright end and set within a metal crown.
Sparrow turned slowly around as if showing off his fancy robe.
“Behold,” Sparrow said, grinning broadly, “the Blue Wizard of Brystyn!”
He spun round again, making it quite obvious that he wore no undergarments beneath his silken blue robe, for it clung to his lithe, skinny-limbed body in various places as he whirled and twirled there before his greatly puzzled audience.
From atop the wall, Rian looked across the courtyard, his brow furrowed. Prince Kellen? he thought. How did he get here? And what in hell is he doing dressed in that garish robe?
Sparrow ceased spinning and raised his staff. “Come, all of you! Mount your horses and enter inside! I have just come from a tunnel that connects the chapel with a range of hills overlooking the city of Brystyn! If you wish to live, make your way through the tunnel beyond the altar of the Star! Allow me to deal with that horde beyond the walls!”
Prince Daggan scowled. “Little brother, what in hell are you blathering about?”
Corey, at the foot of the chapel steps, stared at his brother in confusion. “Sparrow, where did you get that jewel? Did you raid Father’s treasure vaults?”
“Why, dear brother,” Sparrow said with an impish smirk, “it is time I come into my power as a Wizard of the Silver Path, and the Jewel of Sorrow can only help me to further my career as one of the most powerful magic users in the realm of Talasar.”
A shimmer of violet power erupted from the jewel on the tip of his staff, sending ringlets of purple lighting crackling through the air. Sparrow whirled the staff above his head and said, “My first strike will be upon that Scartan horde out there beyond the walls of the White Star!”