Deadly Intentions (Blood Feud - Volume 2) (2 page)

The female mercenary fell forward as her head
rolled down the incline his command pavilion had been built on. A
horn sounded from behind enemy lines and the attacking army quit
pouring over the short wall. Those few that remained on this side
of the killing field continued to fight to the last man. After the
final invader was killed Tristan nodded to a nearby soldier who ran
across the killing field and quickly crept up the incline to look
over the large breastwork wall.

“The army halts my Lord. They mill about in
front of their fort.” He shouted.

Tristan signaled for a few of his men to
follow behind him as he made his through the field and up the
incline the breastwork was built on. He could see that the enemy
was back a hundred yards or so, closer to their large crude fort
blocking the road to Kumia. The five giants were stationed to the
north of the fort, goblins and orcs kept them fed and calm. The
assembled force of human mercenaries and the press gang of former
citizens that Boris had assembled milled about at the base of the
fort walls, taking their rest.

“What do you make of that?” Tristan muttered
to no one in particular.

“Calm before the storm?” A familiar voice
grumbled beside him.

Tristan looked over at Sergeant Frose, who
had just appeared at his side and chuckled.

“Very likely.” He mused. “Are the
reinforcements here yet?”

“Aye sir. They arrived shortly after the
enemy horn blew.” Frose reported.

“Please send for my brother.” He ordered.

“How did you know Kevin led them?” Frose
blurted before smiling in annoyance. “Never mind, I don’t want to
know. I’ll send word.”

Tristan smiled to himself as the old war dog
turned and walked off, shouting the order to the nearest messenger.
In truth, Tristan didn’t know how he’d known Kevin was nearby. The
Prince chuckled as he continued to watch as Boris’ army began to
set up fires and relax. The giants sat and more than one bird to
take off in alarm from the fort’s battlements. One of them
absent-mindedly played with a large battering ram, spinning it
playfully in its large hands as Tristan watched on. His amusement
fled quickly.

~

Within the hour Kevin leapt off his horse and
entered into Tristan’s command tent to find his younger brother
brooding over a map of the area. He chuckled to himself, musing
that only two years ago the boy wouldn’t have known which side of
map was up, let alone be planning an offensive to reclaim lands. He
corrected his thoughts slightly; his brother was now a man.

The last two years had turned the soft boy he
had brought with him to Kenting for the first time into a clever
leader and fierce warrior. Kevin spared a moment to brood over the
effects of warfare on the young, making them old men long before
their time. Shaking his head from his musings he walked forward and
filled himself a metal cup of water from the bucket.

“How go things?” He asked with a smirk.

“Oh wonderful.” Tristan answered
sarcastically. “Ever since that bastard started throwing orcs and
trolls at me I’ve been spending more men than I had in the first
eight months of this non-sense!” The Prince yelled.

“Maybe you should return the favor?” Kevin
suggested with a chuckle.

Tristan could never stay angry with his big
brother cracking jokes. Tristan’s anger visibly fled he smiled,
looking up at Kevin.

“What do you mean?” He asked with a
smirk.

“Well.” Kevin began. “You seem to forget that
you have creatures that answer to you as well.” He observed.

“Father tells me that Draconis has been to
visit you a few times, Lesariu has offered to take you to Guis and
Socolis would be very upset if you didn’t invite him to the
fun.”

Tristan laughed; Kevin assumed he was
reminded of the last time Socolis helped him in battle, setting
ladders and towers on fire as he sped the young Prince away on his
back to meet his grandfather. With dragon magic back in place, the
elder Prince wasn’t sure what kind damage a force like Boris’ could
inflect. Or even what kind of force dragons could be in battle.
Besides, they had a race to repopulate. Even so, Tristan had done
dragon kind a great deed and surely that earned some sort of help
if the young Prince should need it.

“I wouldn’t need them for long.” Tristan
muttered out loud. “Just long enough to get rid of the giants and a
maybe burn that fort down around the rest of those bastards.”

Kevin remained for a month, helping Tristan
with a plan of attack. They were only attacked another dozen times
or so, and the forces were easily repelled. The older Prince had
the sinking sensation that the enemy made plans as well. Tristan
called out for Draconis a few days after Kevin had arrived and the
three of them discussed what the dragons could offer.

“With our magic restored, anything short of a
dozen mages or more will do little damage.” Drake explained in his
human form. “With the three of us we should create quite the
uproar.”

“I’d prefer to know what Boris plans are
though.” Kevin commented.

“I’ve sent a dozen of my more talented spies
into their camp. Hopefully we’ll have a better appreciation of
their tactics when they return.” Tristan explained.

“When did you do that?” Kevin asked in mild
shock.

“When you were napping.” Tristan shot back
with a wry grin as his older brother laughed in reply.

~

Four days before their attack was planned
Lesa, Drake and Otis, the human forms of Lesariu, Draconis and
Socolis respectively, sat around Tristan’s desk discussing the plan
as it was. The Prince felt that his old tactic of attacking from
many different angles held merit, and Sergeant Frose quickly
explained to the three dragons and Kevin the “Four Point Strike” as
the 7
^th
Infantry came to call it.

Tristan’s plan was quite straightforward; he
would assemble his men on the other side of their breastwork. They
would make as much noise and fuss as possible, to draw attention
away from the three dragons that would fly in from the north, south
and west, setting fire to as much as possible.

Their main concern was the giants. Though
simple-minded, no one was certain if they would stand rather than
flee before the might of a greater dragon. Kevin had a solution for
them though. If the giants rushed their lines he would personally
lead out teams on horseback that would use ropes and hooks to lash
the giant’s legs together. Then they could either use their
ballistae to kill or at least knock the giants over to a more
manageable size. The dragons could of course converge and force the
giant off balance. Lancers and archers could then stand ready to
lash the giant to the ground if need be.

Tristan never heard a plan that had so many
things that could potentially go wrong. He was reminded though,
that a plan could be perfect and still fail if situations arose
that commanders weren’t prepared for. So the Prince set about
making as many alternative plans as possible in the hope that he
would need none of them.

Then an unearthly horn sounded in the
distance.

Tristan felt the ground tremble beneath his
feet and stood in his tent. Drake, Otis and Lesa rose from their
seats and followed him out of the tent and away from their
planning. Kevin was already outside and waited for them near the
small mound Tristan used to see and command his troops. He saw them
coming and motioned off into the distance.

“I swear. That vanity must be genetically
bred into them.” Tristan said darkly as he approached his
brother.

Before him, the five giants lifted an
enormous pavilion off the ground. An impressive throne rose up on
an elevated dais in the middle of the pavilion, next to it was a
slightly lower throne. Even at this distance Tristan could make out
a man dressed in a gaudy bright red robe and a towering crown made
from what glinted as though it was gold. The woman seated in the
lower throne was dressed in a black robe, though her hood was drawn
back to reveal her young features. The ground shook while the
pavilion was slowly moved forward.

Tristan felt a familiar pressure in his mind.
Do we fight my boy?
Draconis asked.

The Prince tried his best to send the reply
to the three of them.
Not yet. I want to hear what he has to
say, and the longer we put the battle off, the closer to winter
we’ll be.
He sent.

The three of them nodded their understanding
and Tristan again was greeted by the feeling that he was becoming
something more than he was sure he could handle. Drake put his hand
reassuringly on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. The Prince
was glad for the thought, but he was still deeply troubled.

Of late his dreams had taken on an almost
nightmarish quality. He had dark thoughts that his leadership would
crumble and thousands of hideous creatures would swarm into his
father’s lands and destroy it. Of course, when he woke he would
focus his mind and use the pain as a lesson to consider the
consequences of his choices. Even so, the nagging fear threatened
to rear up and unseats him at times such as these.

The sorceress rose and waived her arms in an
arc above her head. A familiar blue hue rose up around the pavilion
as her defensive spell took its effect. Tristan smiled as he shot
the dragons and his brother a thought.

Oh brilliant. Protect the center, but
leave it easy for me to kill a giant and send that monstrosity
crashing to the ground.
He sent.

The four of them laughed at his side and he
mentally sent Sergeant Frose the message to aim one of the
ballistae at one of the giants and to wait for his command. Tristan
looked out of the corner of his eye to see the Sergeant quickly
stalk away, shaking his head, and motioned for the weapon to be
loaded.

We might need to move up our plans
slightly.
He sent to the three dragons.
Be ready.

Armor gives me such indigestion.
Lesariu sent back.

Tristan couldn’t help himself, he began to
laugh out loud, remembering all too well the bronze dragons’ help
the last time a large wooden fort threatened them. The other
dragons joined him, laughing heartily as the pavilion came to a
stop a hundred yards in front of them.

“Welcome to my country.” King Boris spoke
with a magically amplified voice.

“This should be interesting.” Kevin muttered
at his side. Tristan grinned as he nodded in agreement.

“By what right do you invade my lands?” The
King asked.

The Prince turned to his brother and
dramatically mouthed the words; ‘my lands’ with a raised
eyebrow.

Tristan replied in his own amplified voice,
thanks to Draconis; “The last King of these lands, Roger by name,
was the father to the Queen of Vallius.” The Prince explained. “As
he died without an heir, the lands revert to her husband to
control.” Tristan shot. “So the question becomes; by what right to
you occupy
my
lands?” He demanded in anger.

The sorceress leaned over and whispered
something to Boris; his shoulders seemed to sag for a brief moment
before his gaze locked forward once again. In a disjointed voice he
answered. “Leave my lands and return home, lest you incur my
wrath.” Boris ordered.

Tristan smiled sarcastically, sending the
dragons a message with his mind.
Off with you three! We start
now.
He sent.

“Your wrath?” Tristan yelled. “Very well.
Let’s see what
your wrath
can do then, shall we?”

FIRE!
Tristan shouted in his mind to
Frose.

Behind Tristan three humans disappeared in a
bright flash of light, followed by a white, silver and bronze
dragon taking flight. Their take off ruffled his hair and cloak as
Sergeant Frose shouted the order to fire the ballistae missile. The
sorceress began launching balls of fire and arcs of lightning at
the three dragons as they playfully looped along shooting their own
flames at her waning defensive dome.

The ballistae snapped, sending its missile
high into the air quickly closing the distance between the two
armies. Tristan watched in morbid satisfaction as it arced high and
struck the giant on the far right in the chest. It looked down
pathetically at the wood left protruding from its chest. The
giant’s left hand closed around it weakly as blood began dripping
out of the corner of its mouth. It groaned dramatically as it
swayed, releasing his hold on the large pavilion. The self-styled
King of Terum and his sorceress tumbled from their thrones and lay
sprawled on their stomachs. All of the sorceress’s attacks ceased
for a moment.

You would think they learn their lesson
the first time.
Socolis chuckled in Tristan’s mind.

Tristan laughed as he shouted; “CHARGE!” He
leaped up onto his horse Pava’s back, drew his sword and urged her
into a gallop. Kevin and Tristan each lead out their squad of hook
and rope specialists. The pavilion tittered alarmingly, but the
other four giants readjusted their grip and steadied it. On top the
sorceress had regained her bearing and began calling down lightning
bolts on Tristan as he and broke Pava into a full gallop in a mad
dash for the nearest giant.

The Prince pulled his shield off his back and
raised it over his head as a lightning bolt connected. The shock of
it traveled up his arm making his muscles twitch and tingle, but he
was otherwise unhurt as he signaled for his men to surround the
giant they were nearing. Using precision, two of the horsemen stood
up in their saddles as they rode past on each side of the giant’s
enormous legs.

The first man threw the hook up into the air
and the second caught the hook and quickly joined it to his own
rope hook. The remaining men tied off their end of the ropes on the
horns of their saddles as they continued their wheel around the
giants’ feet. After the fifth pass the ropes were released just as
they went taught.