Arutha did so, hilt first. Macros released Pug’s hand and carefully placed the talisman below the hilt, so the tiny hammer lay next to the forte of the blade. He then gently closed his hand around the blade and hammer. “Pug, I have the skill, but I need your strength.” Pug took Macros’s hand and the sorcerer again used the younger mage’s magic to augment his own diminished powers.
Macros’s hand began to glow with a warm, yellow-orange light, and all heard a sizzling sound while smoke came off the sorcerer’s hand. Arutha could feel the blade warm to the touch.
After a few moments the glow vanished and Macros’s hand opened. Arutha looked at the blade. The talisman had been somehow embedded into the steel, now appearing only as a hammer-shaped etching in the forte. The Prince looked up at Macros and Pug.
“That blade now holds the power of the talisman. It will guard you from all attacks from mystic sources. It will also wound and kill creatures of dark summoning, piercing even Murmandamus’s protective spells. But its power is limited to the strength of will within the man who holds it. Falter in your resolve and you will fall. Remain steadfast and you shall prevail. Always remember that.
“Come, Pug, we must ready ourselves.”
Arutha watched as the two sorcerers, one ancient and robed in brown and one young and wearing the black robes of a Tsurani Great One, stood facing each other, next to the dais. They joined hands and closed their eyes. A disquieting silence fell over the chamber. After a minute, Arutha pulled his attention from the two magic users and began inspecting his surroundings. The chamber seemed empty of any artifact or decoration. One small door, waist-high in the wall, seemed the only means of entrance. He pulled it open, and glanced in, seeing a hoard of gold and gems lying in the next chamber. He laughed to himself. Ancient treasure, riches of the Valheru, and he’d trade it all to have Lyam’s army on the horizon. After a moment of poking about the treasure, he settled in to wait. He absently tossed and caught a ruby the size of a plum, wishing he knew how his comrades above were faring in the battle for Sethanon.
“Now!” shouted Guy, and the company directly under his command began to fall back from the barbican, while behind them trumpeters sounded the call to withdraw. In every quarter of the city the call was answered and, in as coordinated a retreat as possible, the walls were surrendered to the attackers. Rapidly the defenders fell back, gaining the cover of the first block of houses beyond the bailey, for the moredhel archers upon the wall began taking a heavy toll.
Companies of Sethanon archers waited to offer answering fire over the heads of the retreating skirmishers, but it was only through exceptional bravery that a total rout was avoided.
Guy pulled Jimmy and Amos along, watching over his shoulder while his squad fell back to new positions. Galain and three other archers offered covering fire. As the front rank of attackers reached the first major intersection, a company of riders erupted from the side street. Sethanon cavalry, under the command of Lord Humphry, rode among the goblins and trolls, trampling them underfoot. In a few minutes the attackers were being slaughtered and began withdrawing the way they had come.
Guy waved to Humphry, who rode over. “Shall we harry them, Guy?”
“No, they’ll regroup shortly. Order your men to ride the perimeter, covering where necessary, but everyone is to fall back to the keep as quickly as possible. Don’t do anything too heroic”
The Baron acknowledged his orders, and Guy said, “Humphry, tell your men they did well. Very well.” The stout little Baron seemed to perk up and saluted smartly, riding off to take command of his cavalry.
Amos said, “That little squirrel’s got teeth.”
“He’s a braver man than he looks,” answered Guy. He quickly surveyed his position and signalled his men back. In a moment they were all running toward the keep.
When they reached the inner bailey of the city, they ran toward the keep. The outer fence was a decorative thing of iron bars, which would be torn down in moments, but the inner, ancient fortress wall still looked difficult to attack. Guy hoped so. They gained the first parapet overlooking the battle and Guy sent Galain to see if his other commanders had reached the keep. When the elf had gone, he said, “Now, if I could only know where Arutha has vanished to?”
Jimmy wondered as well. And he also wondered where Locklear was.