White Angel Page 4

  “Trying to prove what?”

  “That darkness is the most powerful force on earth.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be rude, but isn’t evil right? If good’s more powerful than evil, then why has King Tarlen been hiding and living as a rancher for all these years?”

  “There is a reason,” Mother Protector said quietly.

  “I’m listening,” Aerylln said expectantly.

  “The Creative Light knows it’s more powerful but is hoping evil will realize that on its own.”

  “Which hasn’t happened, at least not yet.”

  “Evil’s deluding itself. It’s in denial.”

  “And so we’ll continue suffering until when, until evil catches on?”

  “Yes, and that’s finally happening. Evil is beginning to doubt itself. Now, you must go in and drive home the point personally.”

  “Me? Why me?” Aerylln asked.

  “You’re the cornerstone. The assault on evil will be built around you.”

  “I don’t feel much like a cornerstone,” the teenage girl fretted.

  “Cornerstones never do. Your grandmother, Lyssa, felt the same way.”

  “You knew my grandmother?”

  “Yes.”

  “She’s dead. Balzekior killed her long ago.”

  “Yes, but she wasn’t able to transform into White Angel. You can.”

  “Why did my grandmother have to die?”

  “Lyssa’s death showed evil that even by killing her, all the forces of darkness could do was slow their inevitable demise, not stop it. Killing your grandmother only paved the way for an even greater heir to Baelfire to come forth. You.”

  “Why go through all this? The longer evil is allowed to exist, the more pain it can cause. You’d think the Creative Light would want to end suffering, not prolong it.”

  “Yes, except for freedom of choice. That complicates things considerably.”

  “Freedom of choice?”

  “The ultimate experiment in creativity.”

  “What do you mean?” Aerylln asked.

  “Create sentient beings, allow them to choose their own way, and see where it goes.”

  “Well, things have gone to hell if you ask me.”

  “It would appear so,” Mother Protector agreed.

  “Even if I’m some sort of cornerstone, how can I defeat Swarenth and Balzekior? At Dominion Castle, the warlord has 10,000 gargoyles, while she has a seemingly inexhaustible supply of demonic lava.”

  Mother Protector smiled. “Cracks are forming in Swarenth’s armor and in Balzekior’s. They both fear you.”

  “Why should they fear me? Our scouts reported that Dominion Castle has been surrounded by impassable rivers of flaming lava. It seems she has little to fear.”

  “Or much to fear.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If Balzekior didn’t fear you, she wouldn’t have put rivers of fire around Dominion Castle.”

  “Well then, I wish she’d fear me a little less.”

  “Even now she underestimates you. If she knew you the way I do, she’d double the size of those rivers.”

  “In the face of all this, I feel so insignificant.”

  “Just be yourself.”

  “I hope that will be enough.”

  “I hope so, too,” Mother Protector said with the slightest hint of fear in her voice.

  Aerylln picked up on that fear and realized even Mother Protector didn’t know for sure what was going to happen. Not exactly a reassuring thought.

  “I’m getting a little too old for this, Aerylln. I’m feeling tired,” Mother Protector sighed.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Allow me to guide you to someone who can help.”

  “All right, where do you want me to go? How far do I have to travel?”

  “Sometimes the biggest distance is the smallest one.”

  “What?” Aerylln asked, confused.

  “The hardest step to take can be the last one we have to make.”

  “What is the step I must make now?”

  “Turn to your king,” Mother Protector told her. “Take one step towards him and pledge your unwavering friendship.”

  Aerylln looked at King Tarlen, who was standing next to her. He suddenly seemed so far away. “I want to do what you say,” the teenage girl said. “But I can’t seem to move my feet or lift my hand in greeting.”

  Mother Protector said nothing but found herself holding her breath. Everything depended on what happened next. Can she do it? Mother Protector asked herself. If the burden fell to me, could I do it?

  Mother Protector felt her heart grow heavy and her eyes tear up. She thought, How can we ask such a young woman to carry such a weight on her shoulders?

  Aerylln swallowed and looked into King Tarlen’s eyes. She was 19, he was 36, but he was pleading with the eyes of a six-year-old boy who was desperate to avenge his father’s death.

  “Aerylln, please help me. I can’t do it alone.”

  Looking up at her king, the teenage girl wanted to be heroic and courageous. However, the problem with heroism and courage, she suddenly realized, is that they’re rarely enough by themselves. If they were, almost anyone would be willing to face danger.

  “I’m not enough, Tarlen. I wish I was, but I’m not.”

  “I wasn’t enough when I became king at the age of six. And know what?”

  “What?”

  “It doesn’t get any easier with age.”

  “How do you handle it?”

  “One day at a time.”

  “A day can be so long.”

  “When it’s a day like that, I handle it one hour at a time.”

  “Sometimes an hour can seem like forever.”

  “In that case, I take it a minute at a time.”

  “What happens when a minute is more than you can stand?”

  “Then, I live in the moment.”

  “Let’s live in the moment.”

  “Yes,” the king eagerly agreed, reaching out his hand to the young woman he desperately needed as his ally.

  Aerylln looked at the hand and realized that for all the king’s good intentions, and for as handsome as he was, that hand could put her in the grip of death. Hesitating, she looked up into his eyes once more.

  “Aerylln, you said the suffering’s been going on for too long. Please do something about it. Break the cycle of pain,” King Tarlen pleaded.

  Aerylln continued looking at the king’s outstretched hand but still didn’t move.

  “You won’t be alone, Aerylln. I’ll walk the path with you.” It was Marcheto, her boyfriend, who was also a young wizard.

  “I’m frightened, Marcheto. I’m no hero.”

  “Neither am I. Yes, I accepted Eldwyn’s offer to become his apprentice, but do you want to know why?”

  “Why?”

  “Back at Crystal Castle, when Balzekior threatened me, I somehow remained calm. However, what put me over the edge was when she threatened you. The old crone told me that not only was she coming for me, but she was coming for you as well.”

  “You did it for me?”

  “I did it because I believed our destinies were intertwined. I’ll always stand by you.”

  Forgetting King Tarlen for the moment, Aerylln put her arms around Marcheto’s neck, lifted her lips to his, and the young wizard wrapped his arms around her. The kiss sealed their fate. They would stand united as one on this quest.

  While still kissing Marcheto, Aerylln took one arm from around her boyfriend’s neck and reached out to King Tarlen taking his hand.

  “Thank you,” King Tarlen said, greatly relieved. “Thank you.”

  “That’s why you will be able to destroy evil, Aerylln,” Mother Protector said.

  “Why?”

  “You have the one power that can defeat Balzekior and Swarenth.”

  “What is that?”

  “The power of love.”

  “I hope it’s enough,” Aeryll
n said, still uncertain.

  “It will be,” Mother Protector said with assurance. “Evil hates love. For the sake of love, people will do all sorts of things they never would have done otherwise.”

  “Love makes no sense sometimes,” Aerylln mused, heaving a sigh.

  “It never does,” Mother Protector smiled. “It never

  does.”

  Chapter 4

  A mile north of Dominion Castle. Two days later, right before dark.

  Aerylln’s scouts were back in position, clandestinely peering over a ridge looking at the blazing inferno surrounding Dominion Castle. This time, however, Aerylln, Baelfire and Zorya had accompanied them. Captain Polaris and 20 of his men, all former members of King Ulray Kardimont’s personal guard, had comprised the original scouting party, as well as this one. It was their job to reacquaint themselves with the lay of the land around the castle.

  What bothered Captain Polaris the most wasn’t the fact that Dominion Castle was now surrounded by a sea of impenetrable flames, which was bad enough. Most disturbing to him was that King Tarlen and Genevieve had decided to come along on this reconnaissance mission. The king hadn’t seen Dominion Castle since he was six-years-old and couldn’t resist the opportunity to see his home again. But Captain Polaris, the man responsible for the king’s safety, was wishing his sovereign had stayed behind secure at Hawthorn Village where he’d be protected by the other 100 warriors under Captain Polaris’ command, all of whom had also been members of King Ulray’s personal guard. Yes, they were quite a bit older, but they were no less deadly. If anything, they were even more so.

  For 30 long years, they had kept the king safe and raised him from a boy into manhood, and all felt an acute sense of ownership of the man who was their master. Tarlen belonged to them as much as they belonged to him, which was an unusual view for a king’s subjects to have, but the last three decades spent avoiding Swarenth’s search parties had formed an unbreakable bond between them. All would follow their king both in life and in death. Never, ever, would they allow themselves to be separated from this man who bore such a striking resemblance to his father. For the king’s personal guards, it was like King Ulray had been reborn in his son. The two could have been twins.

  Now as Captain Polaris and his men looked at Dominion Castle, the lair of Swarenth, the madman who had murdered their beloved king, they burned with hatred and a desire for revenge. It was all they could do to keep themselves from riding down and plowing into the gargoyles protecting the bridge leading across the rivers of lava. There was only one way in and one way out, and it was heavily guarded day and night.

  It was King Tarlen who broke the tension. “Well, I can’t say that I like what they’ve done with the place.”

  Captain Polaris turned to his king and said, “When the streets are filled with gargoyle blood, it will look a lot better.”

  “Who’s working the fields? They don’t look like gargoyles,” Aerylln observed.

  “Slaves,” Captain Polaris said in disgust. “Human slaves. The villages that surrounded the castle on the outlying areas still exist and are inhabited by humans, but they are a wasted, ravaged people. Swarenth uses them mainly for plowing and planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall. They work all day for him and then go back to their villages after dark and tend their own fields just to keep some food on the table and avoid starvation. However, they are dying from exhaustion, literally. I don’t see how any of them stay alive. Some are so emaciated, they look like walking human skeletons.”

  “How do you know all this?” King Tarlen asked, not doubting the accuracy of the information, just wondering how his captain became so well-informed. Captain Polaris and his men had only scouted the area for the first time a few days ago.

  “Oh, last time we were here, I crept down after dark and followed some people back to their villages. I had a nice, long talk with a few of the older villagers, ones who’d remember your father and what it was like to live free.”

  “What else did they say?” King Tarlen asked.

  “It was a sad affair. Their houses are rundown, but not as badly as they themselves are. At first, the villagers were frightened of us and thought we were ghosts. They hadn’t seen well-fed humans since your father died, and the contrast between us and them was so extreme that they were embarrassed. They felt humiliated to be seen living under such conditions.”

  “This has got to end. I must put a stop to this madness,” the king said forcefully, his voice filled with conviction and determination.

  “We will, my lord, we will,” Captain Polaris said firmly. “But we must be patient. As it is now, the castle is virtually unassailable. We need to lay the foundation for our attack carefully, and we could begin by smuggling food to the surrounding villages so people can regain their strength. Some have duties within the castle and may be of help to us.”

  “What duties?”

  “Well, it’s mostly the women, who are kept better fed than the men. They get a meal at the castle after their chores.”

  “What chores?”

  “Cleaning mostly.”

  “Gargoyles live like pigs, I’m told. How much cleaning can there be?”

  Captain Polaris remained silent.

  “How many women work at the castle and how often do they go in?”

  “Every day, my lord. About 200 women are part of the, ahem, cleaning crew.”

  “And how long do they stay?”

  “All day, sire, and sometimes most of the night.”

  “Gargoyles wouldn’t need 200 cleaning women, seven days a week for most of the day.”

  “No, sire.”

  As the reality of the women’s main chore struck home, King Tarlen clenched his fists in anger. He’d heard what Chen had gone through at the hands of her uncle while growing up. It had sickened him then, and what he was hearing sickened him now.

  “It’s got to stop.”

  “It will, sire, soon.”

  As dusk began to settle upon the valley, the king saw one more thing that infuriated him, a huge gargoyle riding alongside the humans as they left the fields for the day. The winged ape was riding a charnuk, one of the ghastly beasts the enemy used instead of horses, which didn’t surprise King Tarlen, his having seen such animals before. But the gargoyle held the leash of a tiger that walked ahead of him snarling and clearly terrifying the already frail workers.

  Suddenly, the tiger reared up on its hind legs and fell upon one of the humans. King Tarlen and the others watched as the big cat quickly killed the man and began feasting on his flesh.

  “Dinner time,” Captain Polaris said sadly. “They feed the tigers human flesh from time to time. Rarely do all of the workers make it back to their villages. Gargoyles, with tigers acting like huge guard dogs, also prowl the roads keeping the locals in line. As if the villagers had any energy to resist.”

  A throaty, rumbling growl began deep in Tarlen’s chest, while claws eased out from under his fingernails, and the king was a hairsbreadth away from transforming into the Tiger of Dominion Castle. Incisors crept out of his gums, causing his mouth to bleed.

  “There’s nothing we can do about it today, my lord. We can’t tip our hand yet.”

  Captain Polaris was speaking in a calm voice, but he was just as ready as his master to begin the war now. Still, the need for strategic thinking forced him to rein in his emotions. All he could say to Tarlen was, “Our turn will come, my lord. Our turn will come.”

  “The women will have their revenge.”

  “I’m sure they will.”

  “We can exploit the gargoyles’ weakness for human women. We can arm those who are willing to fight. The village women can strap sheathed knives to their thighs. And this time, when the women enter the castle, the males won’t be the only ones with steel between their legs.”

  “It’s a lot to ask, my lord. Two hundred women would be alone in a castle filled with 10,000 gargoyles.”

  “They wouldn’t be alone.”


  “How so, sire?”

  “I’d be with them.”

  “How do you intend to accomplish that, sire?”

  “On all fours,” King Tarlen smiled. “Look, the gargoyles are taking some of the tigers off their leashes and allowing them to walk across the bridge to the mountain trail on their own. One day soon, Chaktar and I will be with them.”

  “Once the villagers are stronger, hundreds of men and women would be eager to attack the gargoyles in the fields, on the roads and even on the bridge.”

  “We need one more thing.”

  “What’s that, my lord?”

  “A tiger revolt.”

  “But, sire, none of the big cats alive now lived during the days of King Ulray. They know nothing of human rule.”

  “Chaktar and I will fight any tiger who opposes us, and we’ll reestablish dominance over the pack.”

  “You can’t fight them all, sire.”

  “I won’t have to. I’ll give them something they want more than anything else.”

  “What is that, sire?”

  “Their freedom.”

  As Aerylln listened to this talk of war, the young woman knew she’d be the one who would bear the burden of confronting Balzekior. Chen could not do it this time, for to unsheathe the dark sword, Crystal, and create the Trinity of Darkness would prove disastrous. Back at Firecrest Castle, Balzekior had been hampered by being at the farthest reaches of a very thin crack in the earth’s crust, giving her little access to demon lava. But here at Dominion Castle, the supply of it was enough to give a White Angel nightmares. Aerylln thought, I’ll have to face her alone. But then, she remembered the Council of Aeryllns and thought, Well, not completely alone.

  All of this weighed heavily on the teenage girl’s spirit and Aerylln, overwhelmed with emotion, felt the need to walk a little and think. So, she said, “I want to get a bit of a closer look.”

  “Please, my lady, stay with us,” Captain Polaris said, concern filling his voice. But he had no experience raising teenage girls and may as well have been talking to a wall. Aerylln hardly even heard him.

  Marcheto crept after her saying, “I’ll keep an eye on her, and Baelfire is with her.”

  Wanting to help protect Aerylln as well, Zorya stamped her hooves in frustration, knowing she was too big and might be seen if she tried to sneak down the hill with them. So the warhorse remained where she was, snorting in protest.