I swallowed; my throat dry after listening to his revelation. I doubt myself constantly. Do I really seem so sure to others?
“That’s why I released you from the spell. That’s why I’m here, when every instinct in my body is screaming at me to get as far away as possible. I can hear it in your voice and see it on your face when you find your answer, and no matter how stupid it sounds to me, I can’t help but believe in you,” Walter finished.
There was nothing to say to that, so I put my arms out and embraced him. “One of these days you’ll get yourself killed following me around,” I stated somberly.
“You saved my life not long ago, and I probably owed you several for helping my family even before that. I’ll still be coming out ahead on the bargain, even if I die today,” answered the older wizard.
We didn’t talk for a bit after that, just walked, heading ever closer to the area that Walter indicated still had quite a bit of fighting. It wasn’t long however, before my friend held up his hand, gesturing to me that we should stop. “We’re close. There are at least twenty men ahead, fighting just past that door,” he pointed at a door that led into the scullery.
That room itself was of modest size, but it connected to the much larger main kitchen area. “How many of them are ours?” I asked.
“Only a few, Harold and two others, wear your armor. One of the enemy is fighting alongside them… no, wait… that’s Dorian!” stated Walter at last.
That puzzled me. “How could you confuse him for one of the enemy?” I questioned.
“He’s fighting naked,” said the other wizard. He didn’t bother to elaborate further, for I could easily understand the confusion that might cause him.
“That blast of Karenth’s must have completely destroyed it,” I postulated, remembering the moment earlier when he had intercepted the attack meant for my illusory self. “If we survive this day, he will never live this down,” I added. Dorian had always been easily embarrassed.
Chapter 28
Walter had suggested using invisibility until we could get to a safe place to make our ‘entry’, but I dismissed the thought. There really weren’t any safe places, and being fully invisible would also mean we would be blind, since in order to hide from Doron we would have to cloak ourselves from magic as well as visible light.
Instead, I asked him to put a shield around the two of us until I could get the situation under control, though I wanted him to remove it once I got started.
“That’s reckless,” he insisted, “Why do you want to be unprotected?”
“Your shield wouldn’t stop Doron if he’s serious, and it might hurt your chances of escaping if the feedback stuns you when it breaks. I just want to make sure we don’t get killed by flying debris or a wild swing before I can get his attention,” I explained.
“That doesn’t sound like a…,” began Walter, but his words ended quickly as I opened the door and stepped through, leaving him little choice but to follow.
The scullery itself seemed almost untouched. A basket of turnips had been overturned, and a few dishes had been knocked to the floor, but if it hadn’t been for the raucous noises coming from the larger main kitchen area, we might never have known a battle had passed through it. I stepped through the open archway leading into the kitchen and had to blink as a wooden stool passed through the air near my head.
The preparation tables had been reduced to kindling, while pots and pans had been tossed willy-nilly about the room. Backed into one corner, Cyhan and Sir Thomas were struggling to avoid being overwhelmed, using the ovens to guard their backs while they faced seven of the intruders. Thomas still held his sun-sword but somewhere along the way Cyhan’s had been broken, which was not an easy feat. The veteran warrior held the remaining foot of the blade and hilt in one hand and used a large butcher knife with his left hand.
No one had taken notice of us, entering as quietly as we had into such a noisy scene and as I looked on, the fight continued. Those facing Cyhan and Thomas were using the same tactics as before, coordinating their movements and occasionally attempting to entangle one of the knights by sacrificing themselves. Fighting someone that doesn’t mind being wounded or maimed is a difficult thing, especially when he has a friend next to him ready to crack your skull like a ripe melon the moment you are unable to fend off his blows.
Cyhan and Thomas however, had something that none of Doron’s possessed warriors had… experience. Next to them, the berserk warriors seemed like amateurs, despite their advantage of numbers. It was a deadly game though, one that would punish the first mistake on their part with a swift death. The iron-headed maces were unforgiving, and their wielders would be quick to follow up on any misstep.
Cyhan fell backward, stepping awkwardly upon a piece of broken furniture and drawing his enemies’ swings down low, to crush him where he fell. His fall turned out to be a ruse however, and as he slipped downward he pushed off on the oven behind him and went into a slide that sent him between and behind his attackers. Meanwhile, Thomas’ great sword caught the two who had sought to take advantage of his comrade, cutting both arms from the closest one at the elbow, while removing the second’s hand at the wrist.
His attack had drawn his defense out of line, and one of the others facing Thomas stepped forward to make certain he couldn’t recover, or he would have, but for the fact that Cyhan held him by the ankle.
Standing rapidly, Cyhan jerked the berserker’s feet out from under him, causing him to flip forward to slam face first into the stone floor. Meanwhile, Thomas’ backswing caught the man’s companion in the side, neatly bisecting the god-ridden foe, and sending a wash of blood and gore down onto his senior knight commander.
Not that the older warrior particularly cared; Cyhan was already covered in blood and he had never been squeamish. He pushed himself upward, clutching one of the maces that the invaders had dropped, and moved to drive their mutual enemy back from where they were pressing in to flank Thomas. As he stood, he was caught squarely in the back by a heavy iron-headed weapon that had been thrown from across the room. The force of the blow drove him forward to smash into the great brick oven, and while the backplate of his armor protected his spine, the shock of it rendered him senseless for a moment.
Thomas was forced to swing wildly as he attempted to cover both his fallen commander and himself. Under normal circumstances that would have been sufficient, but against these men, it merely delayed the inevitable by a few seconds. Several of those who had already been maimed, threw themselves at him, and even as his sword cut them down, their bodies put him off balance, and he fell under the weight of them while still others grappled his arms and legs.
Only one was left free and able to wield his iron mace, but one was more than enough. Bringing the weapon down in a crushing blow, the berserker struck at Thomas, heedless of his comrades who were pinning the knight. The iron head destroyed the spine of one of the wild warriors, and yet still had enough force behind it to rattle Thomas inside his armor. The second blow was better aimed, and the stalwart Knight of Stone felt something break as it drove him down against the stone floor. The armor he wore was nigh invincible, but the flesh and bone beneath it could only take so much.
During their struggle, Dorian had been valiantly battling against three others and his fight had gone better, despite the fact that he had begun unarmed and stark naked. Without his armor he could not afford to be struck, but it also made him even faster and more nimble. Ducking and dodging, he had managed to get his enemy to do much of his work for him, their maces striking one another as they sought to match his speed.