Witch Bane (22 page)

“
Not in direct combat, certainly, but
if we can lure them in, we might stand a chance of ending them here
and now.”

“
I cannot risk myself for the
possibility
of success,
Darius.”

“
I’m not asking you to.” He drew
closer to her. “I need only a small number of your people to help
me. You can lead the rest to safety while my son and I bear the
brunt of the combat. We will lure them in and spring a trap upon
the witches. The Red Guard will collapse once their masters have
fallen, and you can clean up the remnants as you see
fit.”

Elizabeth paced. Her uncertainty was clear
upon her face. After a few moments, she stopped and looked to
Darius. “You may take the men you need, but Emerald and my inner
circle go with me, no exceptions.”

“
Fair bargain,” Darius told
her.

She met his eyes. “I must see to my people.
Gather who you need and we will work out your plan once you are
done.” She stormed off, calling for Freya.

Having said nothing during their
negotiations, Sebastian turned to his father. “Are you sure this is
a good idea?”

“
Not entirely, no.” His father leaned
in so only he could hear him. “As of now, Elizabeth doesn’t know
you’ve killed one of her warlocks, but that you
have
slain the Red Witch. There will be no
better opportunity for us to win the war with her support, for she
will turn upon us the moment she learns of his death.” He raised
his eyebrows in a warning. Sebastian understood. “I expected her to
refuse being part of the trap itself, but she will remain close by.
She cannot allow us to take the glory or her chance at usurping the
throne will slip away, for she wants more than just a realm free of
the Council rule.” Darius smiled. “Though she was your mother’s
friend, she was always too fond of herself. Her arrogance will keep
her tied to our plan while her people make the perfect
bait.”

“
I’m not sure I can take out three of
them, even with your help. One nearly killed me.”

“
I don’t intend for us to attack them
directly. Since they believe the camp will be caught unaware, they
will come in force. Once they realize we are gone, they will have
doubts as to how to proceed.” He grinned. “These women know magic,
but they do not understand the tactics of the battlefield, which is
why they enslaved men like me and Graves. They needed our
experience, our leadership in the field, where their power could be
turned against them by superior organization and deployment. They
will split their forces, leaving the main group behind to await
direction while they seek out our trail. We will lead them to where
we wish them to be and can spring the trap before their army can be
mobilized against us.”

“
How can you be sure the witches will
come if their army is not with them?”

“
I don’t, but I know the White Witch
and her minions want us both dead, for they know who we are now;
who your mother was. They’ll take no chances with killing us, which
means they’ll do it themselves.”

Sebastian stared at his father,
wide-eyed at the revelation. He had expected to wage his war
against the witches from the shadows, them never knowing who he was
or why he came for them. To realize they knew and could guess at
the power he brought to bear made him feel a little less confident.
As his father had always said,
the less an
enemy knows of you, the better your chances against
them
. Sebastian believed that to be true.

At Sebastian’s pause, Darius continued,
“Deborah cannot allow us to live, for the Council would turn upon
her if they learned she was the one who killed your mother. If she
believes they can silence us, she will do everything in their power
to do so; to include stumbling into a trap. The less who know of
us, the better it is for the White Witch. Because of this, I
believe she will take the bait.”

Sebastian swallowed a grin at his father’s
convolution of his own theory, turned about to represent the
witch’s side. “What about Elizabeth?”

Darius glanced about before he answered.
“We’ll deal with her after, if it becomes necessary, but I’d rather
not fight a war on two fronts. Keep your mouth shut about the
warlock. If it’s to become a problem, I’d rather it surface later
rather than sooner.”

“
No one saw it happen, though the
resistance man, Jonas, would point the finger were he to
reappear.”

“
Then we say nothing and hope the
witches kill the bastard. That would solve our problem.”

Sebastian nodded in agreement.

“
I’m going to speak with Elizabeth.
Gather a dozen men, and find at least a couple of them who won’t
panic under pressure. We have to be ready before the Red Guard
arrives.” Darius ran off into the frenzied crowd to find the
witch.

Sebastian started off after him. The moment
he’d been raised for was at hand, the Red Witch’s death just a tiny
piece of balancing the scales for the loss of his mother. There was
so much more to do. No time to dwell on what was to be, he called
out for volunteers to join him and his father.

If they were to face death for his revenge,
he would have them come willingly.

Twenty-Six

The resistance camp on the move, far from
where he sat and under cover of the camouflage warding, Sebastian
crouched in a thick cluster of trees they’d found, which best
suited their needs. With no clearings nearby, the Red Guard would
be forced to drop soldiers by rope from their transports, or land
at a distance and march their men in. Both options supplied
Sebastian and Darius with the precious extra time they needed to
engage the White Witch and her minions without having to worry
about facing down the whole of the Red Guard army as well.

It wasn’t the best of plans, by any means,
but it was certainly the best they could hope for given the
circumstances. They had talked amongst each other as they rushed to
help pack the resistance camp for its flight, going over the little
details of the most appropriate site to plan the attack and what
they would need. After talking to another of the local men, their
current location had been pointed out as the most suitable for what
they planned, and close enough to reach and prepare before the Red
Guard was on them.

The labyrinth of monstrous tree trunks and
clinging foliage in the area played to the favor of the ambushers.
With plenty of obstructions to limit the buildup of soldiers, the
location would keep them in small, manageable groups, not allowing
the Guard to swarm in and overwhelm them with numbers even after
they had their feet on the ground. The trees also served as
protection against the ranged attacks of the witches.

The trunks would bear the brunt of most
magical assaults, giving them some small measure of protection,
forcing the witches to draw in close or raze the entire forest.
With their men within, and their own lives put at risk by such
reckless abandon, the witches would be less likely to rain down
such overt destruction. Should they do so regardless, the chaos
brought about by the fires and smoke would only put them at a
further disadvantage, both Sebastian and Darius capable of
operating in such extreme scenarios, his father having been
painstakingly methodical in Sebastian’s training regimen. If a
situation existed in melee combat that Sebastian hadn’t been at
least somewhat exposed to, he couldn’t think of it.

Satisfied as best as he could be that
they’d done all they could to prepare, Sebastian stared out at the
loosely gathered group of volunteers as night fell over them fast.
He felt a mixture of amusement and trepidation as he looked upon
the young man that played the role of
Sebastian
. Dressed in his clothes, his cloak and
mask in place to hide the specifics of his features, Sebastian’s
doppelganger might not be a perfect replica up close, but from a
distance, through the clutter of the trees, he was near enough.
Knowing full well the man was likely to die for his role, made
Sebastian feel somewhat guilty. He vowed to do all he could to keep
his copy alive, but thought that might not be enough. He wasn’t
even certain he could keep himself alive given the difficult goal
they’d set for themselves.

Alongside the copy of Sebastian stood
another double; this one standing in for Sebastian’s father. The
older man, a perfect decoy for the grizzled general, paced back and
forth, just as the old man would have had he been forced to stand
in place while the enemy closed in. The man’s nervous energy would
only serve to enhance the appearance of him being Darius to anyone
who knew the general. At least Sebastian hoped so. Without their
misdirection, the plan was destined to fail.

Darius had gone behind the resistance camp
and had made sure they left no tracks behind, which might lead the
Red Guard to them. Between that and the camouflage spells that kept
the group invisible from above, their trail would be dead cold to
other trackers, a seeming impossibility for a group so large. That
would keep the trackers headed toward the ambush.

While his father had done that,
Sebastian set subtle signs of passage that led in the direction of
the trap; signs that would likely be missed by your average
tracker, but would stand out like beacons to an experienced one.
Shade would most certainly spot them, as would any of the trackers
sent to find them, the witches certain to use their best to search
out the group. Sebastian had been careful not to be too obvious in
his trail, leaving only the most likely of
mistakes
behind. Anything too clear would be a
warning to those who followed that the trail had been set
purposely, thus ruining its value as a lure. There was a fine line
to be drawn, and Sebastian felt he had skirted it with
perfection.

Now, there was nothing left to do but wait.
That was the worst part. Sebastian’s hand twitched on the hilt of
his sword, the blade still sheathed. His father was hidden
somewhere in the forest, doing the same as he was; probably
chomping at the bit, waiting for the action to start, yet dreading
it all the same.

With no certainty the witches would even
fall for the trap, it was a frustrating creep of time while he
stiffened in place, hoping to spring out soon and relieve the
tension that had wound up within him. It had been many hours since
he’d settled in to set the ambush, and Sebastian had expected
something to happen by then. The fact that it hadn’t ate at
him.

He wondered if he’d made a mistake while
setting the bait, one of his signs too obvious to be believed. His
mind whirling with the possibility that he had doomed them all, he
debated heading back down the trail to see if he could find the
witches’ group and subtly lead them into the trap before he and his
fellow ambushers had the tables turned on them. While they sat
waiting, the enemy could be circling to come at them from the other
direction. The thought split his attention as his eyes darted off
to be sure he wasn’t being sneaked up on.

Every muscle in his body ached, the
tenseness of his position growing from mildly annoying to a furor
as the time dragged on. He was uncomfortable in the strange outfit
he wore, having swapped with his doppelganger. The frayed tunic
hung too low and caught against his legs, while the pants crept up
and bunched in uncomfortable regions. His leg bounced in place as
he contemplated moving, if for nothing more than to have a
different perspective than the same view he’d had for far too long.
At last, he made up his mind and started to stand when he caught
the barest rustle in the branches along the path he’d set. He went
rigid instantly.

The men in the clearing, the copies and the
others who gathered about as though they were the rear sentries of
the larger resistance camp, appeared to hear nothing. They
continued on in their quiet actions, unaware that the moment of
truth was at hand. It was probably good for them, considering what
might be coming. They probably didn’t want to know. Cruel as it
sounded, even to Sebastian, It would also keep the resistance men
on the hook, which would help him and Darius close the trap. If all
went well, he could view it as a necessary sacrifice, as his father
would, their lives given in trade for those of the witches. The
realm would gladly make the deal. Sebastian wasn’t so sure.

He hunkered down even lower into the
foliage, keeping his eyes on the trees where he’d spotted the
telling motion. He heard no more movement, but he could see the
branches shifting in just the slightest, no breeze in the air to
move them. He clenched his teeth, knowing the enemy was close at
hand, surveying the scene just as he was watching them. The wait
had finally come to an end. Soon, he would be given the opportunity
to put his mother’s spirit to rest, once and for all. His breath
chilled in his lungs as he waited, looking for his chance to
strike.

The piercing shrieks of a dozen griffins
exploded above the leafy canopy and nearly made his heart burst
inside his chest, but he knew to keep his attention on the trees
below. His father had warned him of the tactic used by the Red
Guard to distract their opponents, and though he’d been ready, the
sound still sent chills prickling down his back. He grimaced. The
decoys hadn’t been warned.

He heard the men in the makeshift camp
start and begin to scramble, their true panic and uncertainty only
helping to draw the attackers from the woods. Those chosen to
be
Sebastian
and
Darius
stood their ground more
aptly, understanding their part in the ambush, for which Sebastian
was grateful. Had they scrambled for cover like frightened rabbits,
the trap would have been blown. Their composed reaction did exactly
as it was meant to.