Valiant Service

Arianelle, as Sergeant Maelneth, begins her first day as a Queen's Guard, but will it be mundane or excitement filled?

8.

Valiant Service

 

It was a very long day for the young princess in disguise as she stood to the left of her grandmother for many hours of citizens petitioning the crown for various reasons.     It was a mind-numbing stream of people, but, to Arianelle’s amazement, Queen Aurei seemed genuinely concerned about each petitioner.    Not one of them left angrily, though many had their requests denied.    It was due to the great charisma of the queen, who had an extraordinary way of making people love her while at the same time encouraging and lifting up even the lowest beggar.   

She had never noticed just how charming her grandmother could be until today.    It was amazing to see, for it was evident in the faces of those who came before her that everyone was deeply fond of the drow queen.    Aurei seemed equally as fond of them.

As she listened to their concerns, members of the royal court came and went, some lingering for a while to listen to the queen, but most of the younger ‘sheets and toadies’ growing restless after a while and slipping out.

It was late in the afternoon before Prince Lee made his appearance in the court.    Arianelle had been very thankful that she had avoided the Hutcaiah prince that day, but her mood was darkened when he strode into the hall with a small entourage hovering around him like flies on a cow.

For a moment he surveyed the room, then, to her dismay, he sighted her standing next to the queen.    Not recognizing her, his curiosity was piqued, so he came forth, respectfully staying out of the queen’s business.    He followed the edge of the room, around the wall until he joined a few others watching the proceedings at the foot of the dais.  

Aurei nodded to him and Prince Lee bowed respectfully to her.   Arianelle just surveyed the room blankly, as if his presence did not interest her at all.

Though she couldn’t hear him, she knew he probably was asking one of those standing with him who the new guardsman was.   

She hoped her plain, tom-boy appearance would create such distaste in his eyes that he’d pay her no mind after his curiosity was satisfied.

As she was trying desperately to appear as inconspicuous as possible, there was a commotion from somewhere in the palace.   The sounds of shouts and a multitude of running feet.

Immediately the Queen’s Guardsman stationed at the front entrance to the audience chamber went out to see, but he only just went through the doorway before he was almost knocked down by Prince Nolen and Princess Aidan.

“Mom!” The princess shouted as they entered the room, “An airship is attacking the paladin trainees in the practice yard!”

“What?”   Aurei leaped to her feet, rushing down the dais to her daughter and grandson.   Arianelle, raced after her.

“It’s a pirate ship, grandmother.”   Nolen told her, “It’s flying the bloody head banner of Captain Hobnail!”

“Hobnail?!”  The Queen exclaimed, “He’d be at least 1000 miles south of where they prowl!   They’ve never attacked anything but convoys and farming villages; why attack here?    Are any of our airships docked here?”

“The Gremlin and The Peacock are here, but they are merchant ships and the crew is all out on leave.    MAS Lone Wolf left two hours ago, and grandfather thinks the pirates may have waited for its departure before they advanced.”

“Are they holding their own?”   Aurei asked her grandson.

“Yes, Ma’am; grandfather sent me here to tell you.   The pirates are using catapults mostly, just dropping rocks and burning pitch.   Their ship looks like it has force cannons, but they aren’t using them against any of the buildings.    They’re staying in their ship too.”

Princess Aidan ran over to the window that would give them a small view of the attack.    The queen, Prince Nolen and most of those in the court followed, curious to see what was happening.   As she followed Queen Aurei to the window, Arianelle noticed that a handful of petitioners at the end of the line of those that had been waiting to see the Queen, were not joining everyone else at the window.

When they saw her looking at them, they quickly glanced the other way.      She didn’t recognize any of them, but they wore the earth colored clothing of poor farmers.     All of them wore cloaks, and though their hoods were lowered, it struck her as odd that they would wear them in the warm summertime.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched them.   They were all quietly huddled together across the room, and all of them seemed to be glancing back and forth at her.    Arianelle knew that they would have been checked for weapons before they were allowed into the palace.   But how well had they been checked and what if a guard had been bribed? 

One of them kept her attention.   She had to be the ugliest woman that Arianelle had ever seen, and she was massively pregnant, standing in the midst of her fellow petitioners, her hands protectively on her belly.

Something just didn’t seem right to the Sylvan princess.     Every time she’d turn and look at them directly, they would all quickly turn their heads to avoid looking at her.    The five of them seemed to huddle even closer together now and none of their hands could be seen.

An alarm went off in Arianelle’s head.     The rest of the royal court was peering out the window, trying to see through gaps between buildings for a glimpse of the airship hovering over the paladin training field.    Even the other three Queen’s Guards had their attention diverted and were standing behind the others, not guarding the room or watching the group of petitioners standing off by themselves.

The five ‘farmers’ were not the least bit interested in what was happening outside.   As if they knew exactly what was going on.

Suddenly the group huddle broke apart and they quickly spread out around the room.    Each of them was unwinding a cloth bundle and Arianelle noticed that the pregnant lady suddenly had no belly at all.

“Hey!   What are you five up to?”   She called out loudly, pulling her sword from her scabbard and rushing toward them.

Then she saw what each bundle had concealed.     Each of them now held a small, curved-bladed short sword, of the style said to be favored by airship pirates.

“HEY!   ASSASSINS!   BEWARE!”   Arianelle screamed out as the five pirates threw back their cloaks and rushed toward the group by the window.    As they advanced, Arianelle noticed black oil dripping from the blades.

“POISONED BLADES!”   she yelled in warning, an instant before two of the pirates attacked her.

 

Her years of training made her respond instinctively.   One of the pirates attempted to slash at her head, but she spun his short sword down and away and ran him through.    He died without a sound and she had extracted her blade before his body fell to the ground.   

The second pirate had planned to slice through between her armor plates as she was deflecting the blow of the first pirate, but she moved so quickly that she parried his blade and slashed at him with her return stroke.  

Amala’s enchanted blade bit through leather armor that the pirate wore concealed beneath farmer’s clothes.    He yelped in pain and attempted to step backwards, but in a flash her sword point pierced his heart.

As he crumpled, a third pirate attacked her.   This one was the ‘pregnant’ one, and now she could see that it wasn’t a woman at all.    He used a straight-edged short sword of a fancy design and attacked with far more skill than the other two.   

His poisoned blade was brought down quickly at her head, but she parried it easily, remembering her training not to try to push the blade aside, but instead to spin on her foot and make the parry into a short stab.

The pirate dodged her thrust, but it put him in too awkward of a position to attack.   She swung at his left side, and he barely deflected her blow in time.   Arianelle brought her sword back, and was preparing her next blow, when another pirate lunged at her with his short sword held in both hands.

She rolled forward, under him, ripping at his chest as she moved.    He gasped in agony, dropping his sword as he died.

 The ‘pregnant’ pirate leaped aside and slashed down at her, but she kicked out with her foot against his knee, sending him falling over her.   She had her sword point upward as he fell and he impaled himself on her sword.

The remaining pirate threw his poisoned sword at her, but she deflected the sword in flight.

The man turned and ran.    Arianelle leaped to her feet, pulling her sword free and snatching up the ‘pregnant’ pirate’s short sword.

The melee had taken less than a minute and was over before Nolen and the other Queen’s Guardsmen could reach her.

But she was already up and running after the fleeing pirate.   He slammed through the double doors, sending them swinging backwards with a crash.  The young princess was right behind him, running as hard as she could in the heavy plate armor.   

Though he was unarmored, she knew the layout of the palace better than he did.    He was racing for the front entrance, but would have to slow down to weave around the statues at the top of the stairs.

He was so bent to escape that he didn’t see the statues until the last moment and he bumped slightly into one as he decelerated.

Arianelle didn’t slow down, but ran into him hard, sending both of them into the large marble statue of Queen Eioldth.

The stone didn’t yield, but the pirate’s body absorbed most of the impact from her.     He collapsed to the floor in a stupor, and she grabbed the edge of his leather armor’s chest piece and pulled him to his feet.

He came up as easily as if he was a rag doll, for Arianelle had forgotten about the magic gauntlets that she wore under her armor.

She slammed him back against the statue, her hand on his throat and his captain’s poisoned short sword a fraction of an inch away from his face.     He regained his senses and stood wide-eyed in terror at Arianelle’s menacing countenance.

“Tell me who sent you here to kill the queen and I will let you live.”

For a long moment he seemed to struggle between self-preservation and loyalty to his fellows.

Arianelle could hear others from the audience hall running to her aid, but apparently the pirate heard this as well.   With a lost look in his eyes, he suddenly jerked his head forward, running the tip of the poisoned short sword into his cheek.

It wasn’t a deadly wound, but almost immediately his body began dancing with spasms and his eyes rolled up into his head.

By the time the others had reached her, the pirate had gone limp, bloody foam drooling from his mouth.

“Damn it!”  Arianelle cursed as she let the corpse slide down the statue to the floor.

“Sergeant, are you alright?”   a man said behind her, but Arianelle hardly heard him.    Someone had to let these pirates into the audience chamber.     It had to be the guards at the bottom of the stairs, by the front entrance to the public area of the palace.

Ignoring those around her and not hearing what they said, she raced down the stairs, Amala’s sword in her right hand and the pirate’s short sword in her left.

 

She was not surprised to find the guard station abandoned so she ran past it, out into the foyer.   No guards were at the front entrance either, but as she glanced around where the guards were usually positioned, she noticed a trial of bright red drops of blood, leading out the main entrance.

Horrified at the implications, Arianelle turned as the others crowded around her. “Someone has killed the guards.”

Gasps and cries of alarm came from all around as she stood up and looked at her grandmother. “Your Majesty, I think this is a much more planned attack than what it appears.   I believe you and your court are in grave danger.   We need to get everyone to some place safe, as we don’t know how many assassins are lurking around here.”

Aurei did not look panicked, for she had years of experience as a paladin.    She had snatched up two of the pirate short swords before she and the others followed Arianelle as she chased the last man.

“We don’t know where the most secure place is, right now,”   she said to her granddaughter, glancing at those standing in a cluster around her.    There were twelve of them; Aurei, Arianelle, Prince Nolen, Princess Aidan, Prince Lee, three orc Queen’s Guards, three nearly hysterical ‘sheet princesses’ and one ‘toadie’ who was trying not to appear scared.

“Sergeant, do you know where Captain Todd is?”   The Queen asked her after thinking for a moment.

“No, Your Majesty, I fear that I don’t.”

 

Aurei was about to say something else when the front doors suddenly swung open.    In rushed a very grim looking Lieutenant Vey, leading fifteen orc Queen’s Guardsmen.    Seeing Aurei and the others, relief flooded over his face and he bowed to her.

“Thank Yesh, Your Majesty!”   The orc lieutenant said, “Are you well?”

“Yes, lieutenant, thanks to Sergeant Maelneth, here.”

“Your Majesty, there has been a rather complex assassination attempt today.    Apparently the pirate airship was a decoy, meant to draw the paladins, palace guards and much of the Queen’s Guard away from the palace.   While this was happening, a group of about thirty men dressed as if they were Hobnail’s pirates, attacked the guardsmen in the guards keep - we believe they gained access some time overnight, though we don’t know how or where they concealed themselves.”

“Their attack seemed very systematic - they were targeting officers and used poison weapons, Your Highness.  They seemed to know that only 50 or so of our guardsmen were in the barracks at the time they attacked.   Captain Todd was meeting with Lieutenant Alton and I when the attack began.    Lieutenant Jost, thankfully, was not there, for he was inspecting repairs being made at the palace gatehouse.   Your Majesty, the ‘pirates’ - or whoever they actually were- surprised us, as we do not post guards in our own barracks.”

“I regret to inform that Captain Todd and Lieutenant Alton were killed in the struggle, along with 21 guardsmen.    We killed 25 of their number, but a handful escaped.    I brought these men with me to come to your aid.    As we were racing here, Lieutenant Jost yelled to me from the gatehouse.   He said that the gatehouse has been secured against the enemy, but that King Eleazar has sent word that he wants Your Majesty and your court to immediately evacuate to the gatehouse, as His Highness believes that there are many unknown assassins prowling around the palace.”

“He wants us to go to the gatehouse?”   Aurei asked, still stunned by the news of the attack.

“Yes, Your Highness - it is logical, for the gatehouse is smaller and with nothing but arrow slits for windows, you’d be far safer there.    Lieutenant Jost, as senior lieutenant, has assumed command of the Queen’s Guard, and he shouted to me that guardsmen and palace guards have complete control of the guard house towers.”

“What about King Eleazar and the paladins at the training ground?”   Aurei asked the orc lieutenant.

“We received a runner from His Majesty just before we came into the palace.    They are safe; none have been seriously injured.    They believe that the pirate airship is operating under some sort of arcane control without anyone actually on board.    They are out of danger, but are pinned down until the wizards can reach them and perhaps throw a protecting sphere over them or neutralize the ship’s control.”

“Then how did the runners reach you and Lieutenant Jost?”   Princess Aidan demanded.

“They created a diversion for them, I would guess.    Our messenger was slightly injured and barely made it past the airship’s catapults.”

Aurei turned to her grandson, her brows raised as if seeking his confirmation of the orc lieutenant’s words.

Nolen nodded, “They sent me running just as the airship appeared and I was nearly hit by a stone as well.”

The queen turned back to Lieutenant Vey, “Alright, lieutenant, if that is my husband’s wish, we will comply.”

The orc guardsmen surrounded the queen and her court.  

A moment later, the lieutenant was leading the royal court out the front entrance.     The guardsmen flanked them on both sides, and Arianelle stayed right at the queen’s side.

Something just didn’t seem right to her.     She expected a volley of arrows to come at them from every side as soon as they exited the building, but nothing happened.     The Lieutenant led them at a run the fifty yards to the palace gatehouse.

The gatehouse was typical for most fortified castles.     Two square towers were on each side of the entrance path and anyone entering the grounds had to go through a fortified tunnel about fifty feet long, with portcullises at both ends and rows of arrow slots on each side of the tunnel to prevent any invading army from using the gatehouse tunnel to get to the palace grounds.    It was extremely secure, as they would be concealed as soon as they reached the tunnel, and at the other end they could go up into the barracks of the gatehouse which were strongly fortified from attack.   

The plan was logical to Arianelle, but something made her uneasy.     They reached the tunnel between the towers without incident and the Sylvan princess could see the armored figures of the Queen’s Guardsmen and palace guards all along the walls of both sides of the tunnel as they entered it.   Lieutenant Jost stood at the other end of the tunnel with two guardsmen, beckoning for them to hurry through the other side.

Still, something troubled her.     Those on each side of the tunnel wall (that she could see) were not orcs, but humans, yet they wore the Queen’s Guardsmen armor.    That was odd, as there were not that many non-orcs in the guard, and to see about 10 of them gathered together seemed strange.  

Something just wasn’t right, she thought again, moving closer to her grandmother.    As they were nearing the end of the tunnel, Jost suddenly shouted something to someone manning the gate.    Immediately the heavy iron gate before them slid down and locked into place.  

“Jost?   What are you doing?”   Vey yelled out to the lieutenant, “Open up the portcullis at once!”

Behind them, from their entry point, the sound of another portcullis dropping sounded.

“It’s a trap!”  Arianelle screamed out, pulling the queen back.

Through the thick bars of the gate, Jost just stared blankly at them for a moment, and then nodded to the men at his side.    One of the men gave out a shrill whistle.

From the arrow slots on both sides could be heard crossbows being positioned.

“We’ve got to get back!”   Arianelle yelled, and her voice seemed to set everything into motion at once.

The orc guardsmen began pushing the royal court into a tighter formation, flanking them with their bodies.     Vey was yelling angrily through the portcullis, shaking the bars with his large hands, as if he could somehow move them.

Everyone was speaking at the same time, the ladies of the court were hysterical over what was about to come and Prince Lee and his toadie were wide-eyed in desperation.

Arianelle looked down the tunnel at the other end, where soldiers (or pirates?) were gathering, each holding crossbows.

They would be sitting ducks, for the tunnel was filled with arrow slits and there was no place to run.

A burning rage overcame the young princess.   If she was going to die, she was going to die fighting, not trapped like a cow about to be slaughtered.

She remembered suddenly her magic gauntlets that would give her the strength of an ogre.    But Amala had given her something else, something that would perhaps create a distraction.   Quickly she felt for her belt pouch, speaking to the queen as she searched, -Your Majesty, I want you, Princess Aidan and Prince Nolen to get as low to the ground as you can.”

“Sergeant, why-“

“Just do as I say!”  She yelled at the queen, for there was no time, “Please, do it right now!”

To Arianelle’s surprise, Aurei did as she ordered, yelling for the others to do the same.     The members of the royal court dropped to the ground at the same moment the twang of crossbows sounded.

Suddenly the tunnel was filled with terrible, deadly missiles.

The Queen’s Guardsmen stood protectively around the court and the bolts found them first.    Heavy crossbow bolts were more than a match at that short range for even the best made plate armor.

Lieutenant Vey fell first, and then four guardsmen on each side, but their bodies shielded the members of the court.

The sheet princesses screamed as the missiles flew, and after what seemed like an eternity, Arianelle found what she was searching for.    She ripped open the lead box and flung the two stones to the ground.

Immediately all sound and light was doused.    It was terrifying in that situation, but she hoped it would confuse the assassins all around them.

Remembering the direction and distance to the portcullis, she jumped up and ran in the silent darkness, stepping and stumbling over forms around her.   She prayed that those she stepped on were not dead or dying.    Her silent movement in the dark seemed almost as if she was moving through water.

A crossbow bolt slammed into her shoulder, knocking her back in pain, but thankfully it did not hit her directly and only wounded her slightly.

Her hands spread out in front of her, she suddenly ran into the heavy bars of the portcullis.   She felt a crossbow that was poked through near her hand and she grabbed it blindly and yanked it through the opening.

Feeling for a horizontal bar, she grabbed it and lifted with all her might.

The gate was incredibly heavy, but her magic gauntlets gave her the strength of a twelve foot tall ogre.     Up the gate went, meeting some resistance from the crossbows pushed through the slots.    Arianelle knew that if she merely raised the gate, there would be no way she could usher everyone through it in the silent darkness.

She had to remove the barrier entirely.

Clenching her teeth, she grabbed the bars and yanked backwards with all of her strength.    Twice, then a third time she pulled at the bars.   They bent yet would not break free.   

Then there was a flash of light and a burst of sound.    Someone had dispelled the magic of the silence and darkness stones!   Terror rushed over her.   She ripped backwards with all of her might, using her body as leverage, screaming in rage.

There was a snap and abruptly she was falling backwards with the twisted metal of the gate tumbling on top of her.

Pinned to the floor by the heavy gate, she still managed to scream out, “RUN!   THROUGH THE GATE!”

There was the sound of running feet, the clash of arms and the twang of crossbow bolts.

Arianelle pushed the gate off of her, glancing up to see the Queen’s Guards charging forward into a volley of crossbow bolts, with the queen and her court behind them.    The desperate orc guardsmen furiously attacked the crossbowmen, and Arianelle realized that they would all be exposed from behind to crossbows as they fought.

She had to protect them.    Leaping to her feet, she scooped up the huge portcullis and held it before her, then turned around and ran with it in front of her, toward the opposite end of the tunnel, screaming like a banshee as she ran.

She had hoped to draw the fire of those on each side of the wall firing through the arrow slits, but more importantly, of those firing through the portcullis at the far end of the tunnel.

Halfway toward them she felt a bolt slam into her lower abdomen.   She stumbled, but pure determination kept her running.    Another bolt hit the upper part of her right leg, and then another pierced her right chest.    Blood pooled in her lungs, but her momentum sent her crashing into the other portcullis.  She heard the clang of the two gates contacting, then the jolt of the impact sent all consciousness from her.

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"...extraordinary way making people love her..." Perhaps add "of" after "way."
"...when he strode into the hall with a small entourage hovering around him like flies on a cow." I love this! What a perfect visual comparison between the two. Perfect!
"...that would give them somewhat of a view of the attack." Maybe "...that would give them a small view of the attack." ?