Sword of Kings
Chapter 53– A New Wrinkle.

by Bill W

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Legal Notice:
The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts. 
The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality.
Don’t read this story if:
**You’re not 18 or over,    
**If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live,
**Or if you don’t want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex.

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I wish to extend my thank you to Emoe57 for his editorial assistance with this chapter.

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“What type of lunacy be this?” the Mitikuan leader asked, after scanning the oncoming throng. It certainly was not what he, or any of the other military leaders, would have ever anticipated.

Interspersed among Madumda’s warriors was a vast assembly of civilians, armed with an assortment of common weapons and farm implements. The ages of these new ‘volunteers’ ranged from pre-adolescence to the very aged, and they were of both sexes. However, there was something more about these new ‘fighters’ that troubled the onlookers. As Beraut scanned this group more closely, he could tell their movements appeared to be stiff and controlled, which provided him with his first clue about who or what they were. They also wore blank expressions upon their faces, as if they were unaware of anything happening around them. Any onlooker would have expected these typical non-combatants to look frightened, angry or at least concerned, but their faces showed absolutely no emotion at all. As Beraut observed the manner in which they were moving forward, as if guided by some unseen force, the Mitikuan general spoke and broke his concentration.

“These be not warriors,” he stated, with great concern. “An army doth not battle women, children and the elderly. What manner of foe is this?”

“It is only a conjecture on my part, but I believe this is something I heard about in my youth - something one of my elder, magical brothers forewarned me about. He told me that after Madumda turned on the Council of Wizards, the older mages went through the volumes of black magic he had been studying, to see what types of things he might have learned. The senior mages filled me in concerning each tidbit of information that might later prove useful, and I believe the result of one of those enchantments is what I see here. I can only barely recall his words, but he told me about a procedure that would allow the user to completely control the mind and will of another. Anyone possessing this knowledge could, therefore, make an army of puppets and command them to do whatever he wished. The beings so affected were referred to as the Soulless Ones, because they were no longer in control of their own actions and would not have any feelings about what they might be commanded to do.”

“Why doth the Dark Lord deem it necessary to utilize civilians to fight?” the Mitikuan wanted to know. “Doth he believeth these creatures can be effective against seasoned warriors?”

“No, but I believe he has other, more devious reasons for using them,” the enchanter replied, while conjecturing about the Dark Lord’s purpose for utilizing them at this moment.

“Thou cannot expect our fighting men to battle such a foe!” the General exclaimed, shocked by the thought. “Warriors only battle other warriors, not peasants. How canst we inspire our men to battle an opponent whom they hath been trained to protect, by our codes of honor?”

“I believe you have just answered your own previous question,” the mage told him. “I suspect Madumda is using the Soulless Ones to raise questions amongst our fighting men and gnaw away at their confidence. I believe this will be a case where our troops must be instructed to merely defend themselves from any enemy who is trying to do them harm. We will have to convince them that, in this situation, it is kill or be killed. We must get them to focus on the fact that this army has no intent or will of its own, so they will be dueling solely with the Dark Lord’s control of these beings, not the old men, females and youngsters they see before them.”

Nasrollah merely nodded his understanding, although he was dismayed by the thought of what they were about to be called upon to do. Without hesitation, however, he quickly sent messengers to inform all of his other officers about this information and ordered them to share it with those under their command. Looking at the faces of those receiving the news, it was immediately evident that these professional soldiers were not at ease with these new instructions, which contradicted many years of previous training. Luckily, they were conditioned to follow orders, so eventually, and after much inner conflict and turmoil; they concluded this was what must be done.

As the allies continued to watch this unusual throng approach, interspersed with the more traditional units of black-clad troopers, they braced themselves, both physically and mentally, for what was to come. As the two sides clashed, it was evident that the Soulless Ones were not capable fighters, but that didn’t mean they weren’t a threat. It soon became clear these beings could distract an opponent long enough for one of the other mindless creatures, or one of Madumda’s regulars, to slay him. Therefore, It didn’t take long before the Tarolian warriors’ survival instincts took over, leaving them no choice but to do away with these civilians or risk being killed instead.

The Soulless Ones came at them carrying knives, meat cleavers, pitchforks, scythes, and sickles, but their movements were not fluid. None of them could react well to countering blows, so it didn’t take a great deal of effort to do away with such clumsy fighters. The Soulless Ones did claim a fair share of victims along the way, however, by using their own techniques. In order to accommodate their lack of ability, they would attack in groups, with all of them stabbing at the same target repeatedly, usually while he was engaged with a more competent combatant. This proved to be an effective strategy and allowed them to impact the battle.

Bodies were now beginning to mount more quickly than normal along the battle lines, since the Soulless Ones were defeated more easily than the trained troopers, and it was becoming more difficult to move or defend oneself. By this point, the allies were actually becoming callous to dealing with this odd collection of opponents, but they were still more at ease when facing off against one of the true professionals. The fighting was intense and both sides were fully engaged when, without warning or explanation, the entire army of Soulless Ones fell limp and lifeless where they stood, dropping to the ground in unison.

This surprised and shocked both sides, equally, and the fighting temporarily came to a halt. Seeing this dramatic turn of events, Madumda’s troops suddenly chose to withdraw, before their opponents could respond, totally unconcerned about how their officers might react. The dark-clad fighters saw this change in fortune as a bad omen, which meant they wouldn’t be victorious, so they quickly turned tail and ran.

Their sudden departure left the allies befuddled - unable to comprehend exactly what had happened to the Soulless Ones or the sudden disengagement by the regulars. The only logical explanation they could foresee for such a move would be to make way for a new adversary to take their place, such as a condor or Madumda, so they quickly began to scan the area, to see if such a foe appeared. Discovering no new threats in the vicinity, the warriors turned to their superiors, hoping they could provide the needed answers. When the officers could not explain what had just taken place, the warriors searched out the mage, to get his opinion.

Beraut had also been surprised by this recent change in fortune, but did have sufficient background knowledge to make a conjecture. Seeing the questioning faces turning in his direction, he signaled for their attention and began to address their concerns.

“Although I cannot tell you precisely what happened, I can make a few educated guesses as to what caused the demise of the Soulless Ones. First of all, it could be that Madumda was distracted by something more pressing and simply lost control of his mindless forces. It is also possible that someone has somehow countered the Dark Lord’s magic and released their souls from his control. Another remote possibility would be that Madumda has been destroyed, which would thus negate all of his black magic.”

There was now a great deal of murmuring throughout the ranks, as everyone mulled over these suggestions. However, none of these proposals seemed to make much sense to them. After a few minutes of awkward silence, one brave soul decided to speak up and ask the question many of them had been thinking. “But who, besides yourself, has the power to do any of those things?”

The conjurer merely shook his head, before he answered. “I informed you earlier that I had given another person control over some magical power, so I would suspect this is somehow his doing.”

“You mean he’d have the power to do those things?” another warrior shot back, still not believing it possible. Looking chagrinned, Beraut felt he needed to explain the situation in more detail.

“I guess it is time to tell you more about who he is,” the wizard began. “Up until now, this has been a well-guarded secret, but seeing Madumda is most likely already aware of this person’s existence and identity, I can see little harm in disclosing this information to you. An heir of Ethelbert has survived and entered the fortress at Treblanc, in search of the Sword of Kings.”

After several seconds of confused murmuring throughout the crowd, someone else screamed back, “What’s that?”

“Don’t the bards still sing of Tarolia’s glorious history any more?” Beraut challenged, disgusted, finding it difficult to believe that no one knew anything about the talisman. Shaking his head in surrender, he continued. “It is a powerful weapon, which was produced for the sole purpose of dealing with the Dark Lord.”

“Do you think this heir has killed Madumda then?” another person shouted.

“It is one possibility, but I seriously doubt that has happened. I believe I would have felt something more powerful, if that had occurred, but I’ve had no indication anything of that nature has taken place. I think it best that we not dwell on what might have happened, for we shall learn that soon enough. In the meantime, we must set about locating and tending to our wounded. We shall march on Treblanc tomorrow.”

Immediately, work details were formed and sent out to perform the duties they were assigned. These groups worked the rest of the afternoon and well into the night, taking care of everyone who needed attention. They used torches and lanterns to see by, once the final rays of daylight had faded, providing assistance to those who needed it. After these duties had been completed, the fighters began to unwind and recoup their strength, after another long day’s efforts. It was during this time that Beraut sat down with a group from the Eastern Army and persuaded one of their senior officers to fill him in about why they had arrived so late.

“I will begin by telling you what happened, but it is quite a lengthy story,” the Akiktite general informed him. Beraut nodded his consent, so he continued. “Upon leaving our homeland, we set out to move the army of the combined northern city-states to our pre-established rendezvous point. Before that could happen, however, we had to make our way past the Faerie Forest, which surrounds the northern edge of the Devil’s Horseshoe. We were planning to stay close to these woods, but not enter them, as we made our way to Hell’s Gate. From there, we were going to make our way to the spot we were scheduled to meet up with the river elves.

“It all began routinely enough, as we made our trek beside the lush woods of the Faerie Forest, but we soon discovered the entire area was heavily patrolled by Madumda’s troops. They were all over the lands between the Devil’s Horseshoe and the Iron Hills and posed a serious threat to our mission. In an effort to avoid one particular gnome patrol, we entered the forest. We were smart enough not to venture very far into it, but we did use the trees to hide our presence. To our misfortune, though, we soon discovered Madumda was using the entire open expanse as a staging area for his army, so it was going to be impossible for us to get past them unnoticed.

“Someone suggested we go farther into the woods and travel around them that way, but we had heard stories about how this magical forest could trap unwanted guests, so we decided against doing that. Then someone suggested we might possibly be able to travel just a short distance inside the woods during dawn and dusk, using the diminished light to hide our presence, but quickly agreed there were too many of us to make that possible. The noise alone, from stepping on dried leaves and dead branches, would be enough to give us away, but if somehow that didn’t draw attention to us, the enemy was most likely to spot movement that close to the fringe and come to investigate. The only other option we could come up with was to try and wait them out. We were going to stay put until they left for battle, but they appeared to be in no hurry to do that, which left us realizing they probably wouldn’t march off until the day before they expected the hostilities to commence. That would put us greatly behind schedule.

“Even when they did begin to leave, they left behind a contingent that was still nearly as large as the size of our army. We figured a confrontation would be too costly, so we continued to sit tight. After a couple more days of this idleness, the time factor was becoming crucial. You would be expecting us to join in the fighting soon, since you had given us only ten days from the Second Council of War, until our part in the battle plan was to be sprung, and we had already used much of that up. After leaving the war council, we journeyed two days over the Great Eastern Sea, to get from Leander to Akikta. After that, the other groups still had to travel overland to reach their own cities. It took them three more days to get to their homes, get everything organized and then return to the place where we would combine forces.

“This meant we had only five days left to get to the battle, six if things didn’t go as planned. We knew it would be barely enough time, as it was quite a lengthy march, especially through territory under the control of the enemy. We had already used up another day since we joined together, just to reach the fringes of the Faerie forest, and now we were on our third day of being stuck in this enchanted woodland. We were all becoming extremely frustrated, but that’s when things began to change.

“We had been continually debating how we were going to extricate ourselves from this situation, when my Nardinian counterpart happened to mention your name. He only made a very brief statement, simply saying that he ‘hated to let Beraut and the rest of Tarolia down.’ Right after he made that slip, a voice responded to us out of the darkness.

“‘Who are you and what is your mission?’ it demanded, but none of us were sure it would be wise to answer. We thought Madumda might be using his magic to keep us trapped and was now trying to discover our plans. When we did not answer its query, the voice spoke again.

“‘If you are truly aligned with Beraut, then you must also be aware of the name of the surviving heir of Ethelbert.’

“Without thinking, I blurted out, ‘What’s Kieren got to do with this?’ When I realized what I had done, I feared I had betrayed a confidence and revealed the secret you had worked so long and hard to keep. There was nothing I could do to take back my words, however, so I began to pray this obstacle was not of Madumda’s doing.” Beraut simply nodded, letting the military leader know he understood how such a blunder could have been made and that he was not upset about it. Feeling better, the officer went on with his story.

“It seemed an eternity before the voice spoke again, but this time it informed us that it would assist us in getting to where we needed to go. Suddenly, a pathway opened up amid the trees, leading deeper into the woods, almost as if the trees had actually moved and made it appear. The voice then said, ‘Follow this trail. It will guide you to the southern fringe of the forest.’

“We briefly debated if this would be wise, since it would be taking us deeper into its depths. It might just be a way to trap us completely and keep us from getting to the fighting. After some heated arguments, we felt we had little to lose, except maybe not arriving at all, but so much to gain. Therefore, we took a chance and did as we were told. We were pleasantly surprised to discover it led us to the spot where the Faerie Forest abutted the northern edge of Shadow Lake. From there, we were able to travel along the eastern shore of the lake, between the water and a small range of mountains, and completely bypassed Hell’s Gate. It was certainly a route we would never have devised on our own, but it saved us from being discovered or experiencing a dreadful early showdown with Madumda’s forces.”

At that point a confused voice, from among the others present, spoke up. “Excuse me, but I don’t see how a pathway could suddenly open up for you. Who spoke to them and how can trees move about at will?”

“I think I’m the only one who can explain this,” Beraut began, “but I must take you back to the time when the Council of Wizards first selected Treblanc as its home. The Council was always concerned that others would seek to break in and steal the secrets contained within its library, so it did many things to protect itself from such threats. One of the things they did to guard against such intrusion was to plant an enchanted forest around the northern and eastern borders of the Devil’s Horseshoe. The wood sprites and wood nymphs that dwell there still possess the ability to move and rearrange themselves, thus giving them the opportunity to delay or trap unwanted visitors. Madumda was never able to exert any influence over them and they have worked hard to frustrate those aligned with him. It is my hunch the spirits of the forest watched you closely, to see if you were working for the Dark Lord. It was fortunate that someone inadvertently blurted my name out in frustration.”

“One indiscretion I would gladly repeat,” the Nardinian military leader confessed. This brought about a little good-natured snickering, as they teased him about his breech of military decorum.

“Now, sir, would you please continue your story?” the mage urged.

“There is not a great deal more to tell,” the officer confessed. “Once we no longer had the mountains to shield our movements, we waited until after dark and followed the Shadow Lake until it emptied into the Shadow River. Then we followed the river until it branched off and moved to a spot between the Mystic Forest and the Arden Woods, where we were scheduled to meet up with the river elves. We feared they had given up hope and left to participate in the battle without us, since we were so dreadfully late, but to our great surprise, they were still waiting for us. If you want more of this story, though, I think it would be best if I let the elf’s senior officer relate his leg of the journey and finish the tale.”

The elfin captain, who had been sitting inconspicuously near the back of the group, was coaxed forward, so he could tell about the river elves’ experiences. “Our journey was not nearly as interesting as the Eastern Army’s, although I am grateful we had a easier time of it. After our delegation returned to Eurielle, we immediately loaded several merchant ships with cargo and troops, as our part in the war effort. We set sail for Leander, like any of our merchant fleets might routinely do, and unloaded a token amount of goods when we arrived there. After that, we continued to sail up the Shadow River to Cassander, continuing our deception by removing more items there.

“Our ships had been fitted with false interior walls, giving us hidden rooms in which we housed our warriors and shielded them from being spotted by any spies helping to unload the vessels at either location. After we finished removing our cargo at Cassander, we allowed the crew to take shore leave until it got dark, which would have been expected. We boarded the ship again as evening fell and quietly slipped out of port. Under the cover of night, we headed north, which might have raised a few eyebrows, if it had been noticed. However, it seems that no one was concerned about what we might do next, as we did not appear to be a threat.

Once we reached the place where the Shady River branched from the Shadow River, we took the fork that meandered between the Mystic Forest and the Arden Woods. When we reached the spot where the river bends into the Mystic Forest, we anchored and waited for the northern army to arrive. Seeing that route is seldom used, we were not overly worried about being discovered. We did send scouts out routinely to see if they could locate the late arriving troops and to watch for any of Madumda’s henchmen, who might have been sent to patrol the area.

“Our scouts did report spotting several contingents of gnomes and Merropite warriors using barges to ford the river north of the Mystic Forest, so they could get to the place where the battle would be waged. Fortunately for us, though, none of them journeyed southward and posed a threat to our plans. We did, however, start to become gravely concerned when our northern friends failed to arrive by their appointed time, which led to several heated debates over what we should do next.

“Some under my command thought we should go ahead, on our own, and offer what assistance we could to our combined army. Others felt we needed to wait for the Eastern Army to arrive, fearing our measly numbers would have only a negligible impact in aiding our cause. At last, we agreed it was imperative for us to wait for the reinforcements. After spending more days without hearing any word from them, we had almost decided to go it alone, when a scout excitedly reported seeing them in the distance. From that point on, it was an uneventful, but harried trek to join you a few hours ago.”

Prudently, Beraut waited for the murmuring to die down before he began to speak. “I, for one, am glad you waited and arrived when you did. I am going to retire now and I urge you all to do the same. We shall begin our march toward Treblanc at first light, and it will be near the fortress where the next battle will take place. It is apparent this conflict is nearing its conclusion, and with the continued blessing of the Gods, it shall end in our favor.”

After hearing his final comments, a collective sigh could be heard from those gathered around the mage, as they were all relieved to learn that he believed the conflict would soon come to an end. Slowly, the warriors began to disperse and the camp gradually grew quiet - except for the light snoring, occasional coughing or other typical nocturnal sounds one might expect. The guards continued to silently make their rounds, even though no one was expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen.