Roland of the High Crags - Books 1-3

Chapter 4-2

“A dragon army? But how did we not . . .” said the gray-bearded face of a small, but powerfully built warrior dressed in the colors of the House of Bujold as he entered the presence of the king.

The blue-eyed, blond-haired king looked first at the arriving count, then at his aides, before turning to look at me.

“Viratis! He was in charge of gathering information on our enemies as well as being in charge of the realm’s diplomatic needs. He has betrayed us!”

“Sire, Viratis changed the guard’s unit that manned the First Wall’s gate keep! If he has betrayed us, it could mean warriors loyal to him will hand the gate over to the enemy!” Count Bujold shouted as he turned and began running for the door. “I will rouse the First King’s Lancers and send them immediately!”

And so it came to pass that only days after the Barony of Anktooth fell, the Kingdom of Vik found itself under siege. Count Viratis indeed had betrayed his king and people, and for an incredible amount of gold, arranged to have the gate-keep of the First Wall opened, thereby inviting in the one hundred Winged Beasties and their riders who stormed it that first night. By dawn of the second day, sixty thousand dragon pike and swordsmen flooded the farm country between the First and Second Wall. And in the skies overhead, almost three hundred Winged Beasties and their riders soared over the lands, challenging any and all Great Wings to battle.

By midday of the third day, after more of the enemy’s infantry arrived, along with five hundred more Wing Beasties, the Vik king found me and pulled me to one side, a look of grim finality on his usually handsome face.

“Old friend, the hour grows worse for my kingdom. I have received word the Hartooth are using Winged Beasties to fly in even more infantry each day. We are already outnumbered two to one, and the odds increase against us with each passing hour.”

“What of the other kingdoms?” I asked, thinking help would be coming soon from the kingdoms higher up in the Kanris. “Can we hold until they arrive?”

“They have not the numbers we need to counter such a force, my friend. I have sent word to the Kingdom of Valois and the Kingdom of the Ming. But even if they sent all they had, maybe a thousand Great Wings might arrive. It will be days before help of any magnitude arrives. Our spies high in the mountains above us have seen an unending cloud of fire-breathers winging their way toward us. By week’s end, the Hartooth will be able to throw up as many as 1,800 winged beasts against my eight hundred Great Wings.”

It was impossible to believe. In a thousand years, no dragon had ever launched such a massive assault on any human or dragon kingdom. The largest army I had ever heard of, or seen assembled, was the one the Hartooth threw against Baron Anktooth. That alone, I knew, would require the yearly supply of gold an entire kingdom might produce. But an army of 60,000 infantry and as many as 1,800 Winged Beasties? From where was the First Clan finding such wealth?

“Roland, you must take the Pearl Princess out of the city this hour while I have enough Great Wings to command. I can cover your escape. Take her high into the mountains where no Winged Beastie can fly. Save yourself and the child.”

“I cannot abandon you and your people,” I said quietly, sensing the rightness in the king’s words, but reluctant to flee from this fight. “It was you and your city who stepped forward brought succor to any Bretan who came into your domain. You gave us sanctuary. I cannot leave you now in the hour of your need.”

The king smiled and laid a chain mailed hand on my shoulder fondly. We had been friends for years. Long before he became a king, we knew each other as children. As youth, we hunted the wild Thakk higher up in the crags and sang lusty songs over stout ale at night in many of the city’s infamous taverns. To know I would leave him while he stood in such perilous need made my soul weep in grief.

“You must, Roland. The child may be the key, as Baron Anktooth suggests. Her living presence might rally dragon baronies against Hartooth. But it will take more than just a few dragons to defeat them. It will take both dragon and humans to complete such a task. And there is where you become so vital to this cause. You know dragon ways far more than any person I am know. You know what makes the human heart work. This child alone cannot raise the army needed to stand and defy our enemies. The combination of the two of you, as allies, will be the formula needed to accomplish that goal.

The decision has been made. No arguments. This afternoon, just as the first bell after lunch rings, I will launch an aerial assault on the dragon camp. As we lift off, you and the princess will arise on your Cedric. But when we turn to head to the enemy’s position, you and the two riders who will be attached to your little troop will turn toward the mouth of the Four Passes. We will cover your escape. Fly high and fast, and don’t look back, my friend. Don’t look back!”

He did not wait for me to protest further. He left me alone and to my own counsel. Deeply concerned for my old friend, I made my way to the topmost level of the palace aviary and looked toward the east. The view of the entire valley lay before me, sweeping out for almost its entire length. And what I saw was appalling to behold. The valley tilted upward in elevation as one entered the valley from the foothills below.

It was the widest at the lowest elevation and narrowed considerably until it ran into the rocky fac of the mountains itself. The Four Passes were literally four different mountain valleys joined together, not far from the walls of Odar’s Lair. This end of the valley was not more than two leagues in width, and the forest-covered walls of the Kanris lifted straight into the sky on either side of the city. Rugged rocks and steep forests covered the mountains, with peaks so high, no winged fire-breathing monster would be able to fly over. Once anyone fleeing from the dragon entered the Kanris, no dragon would be able to follow.

But escape I was not thinking as I gazed out over the city and the valley in front of me. In the distance, I could see great flocks of Winged Beasties, in layers stacked one atop the other, darkening the distant horizon. Again, like the year’s siege of Anktooth, black smoke in a dozen or more rising columns smeared the horizon with a grisly statement. Squinting and throwing a hand up to shield my eyes from the glaring sun, I thought I could see dark masses of dragon infantry, with a thousand banners of the First Clan’s colors, marching in formations toward the city. I saw hundreds of Great Wings, more of the great war birds than I had ever seen concentrated in one area, floating almost motionlessly in the skies above the valley. They sailed over the Second Wall, moving back and forth lazily, in dozens of diamond formations, with four birds to a diamond. On each of the birds were Vik bowmen. Bowmen who had trained all their lives to fight dragon riders and their fire-breathers.

Looking down at the city and at the city’s massive gray stone walls, I was impressed with the number of Vik ax and swordsmen, along with more bowmen, who stood waiting. Vik war-axes against dragon pike. Vik bowmen, using the double-curved wood and horn bow so familiar to humans and so shunned by dragonkind, pitted against the equally deadly, but slower-firing dragon crossbows.

I found myself wondering. Even with the odds so stacked against them, did the Vik have a chance to hold the Hartooth at bay until help arrived? For a thousand years, humans faced insurmountable numbers of dragons and survived. What were the odds in this coming fight? If Olaf and his people could hold out for two months or more, might not the other mountain kingdoms send enough forces to defeat the Hartooth? Could the Kingdom of Vik survive the next two months?

Another thought crossed my mind. Just how large were the Hartooth armies? And more importantly, where and how did the First Clan find and acquire so much gold? Did gold in the amounts needed for thousands of warriors come by natural means? Or, as I found myself somewhat hesitant to think about, was dragon wizardry being used?

Augh! Dragon wizardry was the stuff of myths and legends. Much like the myths and legends of the wizardry used by the Bretan Brotherhood and other brotherhoods of wizards which supposedly roamed the Kanris. Unlike human kingdoms here in the Kanris who, for reasons yet to be fully understood, turned against the arts of wizards and magic, dragonkind revered these arts. If there were dragon wizards, who among them had the power to conjure up tons upon tons of gold?

“Ahummph, Master Roland?”

I turned and found myself facing the mirror image of two exact countenances. Both were blue-eyed with golden manes. Both were barely old enough to pull a bow in battle or ride their first Great Wing. Neither was old enough to experience the tug of the razor across their faces for the first time. And both had the familiar resemblance of a much younger King Olaf. I smiled as I recognized them immediately. Gawain and Gawaith, the sons of Olaf’s only sister and the only males left in Olaf Vicsson’s royal family.

“My lord Roland, the king asks that you prepare yourself and the child as quickly as possible,” Gawain . . . or was it Gawaith?. . . said, smiling at me at the same moment as his brother.

“And he bade us to give you this, my lord,” the other . . . Gawaith or Gawain? . . .uttered.

He handed me a sealed royal envelope addressed to me in Olaf’s hand. I noticed both lads were dressed in chain mail and the royal livery of the Vik—the royal colors worn when riding war birds into battle. I smiled and opened the envelope.

My oldest friend,

My oldest friend,

Before you stand my nephews, Gawain and Gawaith. I know you, my old friend. You have already surmised what request I am about to ask of you.

Before you stand my nephews, Gawain and Gawaith. I know you, my oldfriend. You have already surmised what request I am about to ask of you.

The coming fight looms just ahead for my people and I have dire fears of its outcome. I may not be able to save my people from destruction.

The coming fight looms just ahead for my people and I have dire fearsof its outcome. I may not be able to save my people from destruction.But I can save these two young ruffians. As you know, my wife and I are childless. The heir to my throne comes from my sister’s side of the family—these two untested, but invincible young nephews of mine.

But I can save these two young ruffians. As you know, my wife and I are childless. The heir to my throne comes from my sister’s side ofthe family—these two untested, but invincible young nephews of mine.

I ask you to take them with you. I ask you to be their teacher. Show them how to survive in this cruel world. Guide them and instruct them on how to be both warrior and poet. Both healer and leader of men.

I ask you to take them with you. I ask you to be their teacher. Showthem how to survive in this cruel world. Guide them and instruct them on how to be both warrior and poet. Both healer and leader of men.

Do not shield them from dangers, for in the next few months, that will be an impossible task. But do teach them to become much like you. I tell you truly, my Roland. I have never met a finer warrior, nor a truer friend than the one I find in you. If you could but

Do not shield them from dangers, for in the next few months, that will be an impossible task. But do teach them to become muchlike you. I tell you truly, my Roland. I have never met a finer warrior,nor a truer friend than the one I find in you. If you could butteach my nephews to be half the man you are, I know they will become the best of men.

teach my nephews to be half the man you are, I know theywill become the best of men.

Do this for me, dear Roland, in remembrance of me . . .

Do this for me, dear Roland, in remembrance of me . . .

Tears fell from my eyes, and I found myself fighting to keep from openly weeping. It took me a moment or two to speak, not wanting to do so if my voice failed, when I looked up and into the boys’ bright and eager faces.

“You are aware of whom we ride to protect? Of the hardships and dangers we will face?” I asked them.

Both grinned and nodded. I smiled at their eagerness, which was like a fresh breath of air, blowing the gloom and despair from my soul.

I sent them off to mount their war birds. But when they disappeared from view, I again turned to look out over the city and the valley. And this time, I did shed tears. I would never again see the grinning face of my old friend. Nor would I take pleasure in walking the winding narrow streets of this old city and enjoy listening to the banter of its happy people.

I could not see the future, as the dragons claimed all Pearl Princesses could clearly see. But I could feel the growing despair within me. The Old World was changing. Changing into something new and different. Such change demanded a terrible price to be paid. A price paid in blood.