Silver Dragon (36 page)

Alto nodded. "That's just how everybody should be anyhow."

Aleena chuckled. "The world would be a nicer place if it were. Ah well, c
ome, let's get you back."

Alto followed her through the halls and nearly broke into a sweat keeping up with the athletic squire. He didn’t remember her moving that quickly when she took him to the armory, but that was before he'd strapped fifty pounds of metal to his body. He walked into the hall, his armor clanking with each step, and studied the admiring eyes of his friends. He couldn't help but grin.

"You look right," Tristam said.

"Right?"

"Born for it," Kar offered instead. Tristam pointed at the wizard and nodded.

"Let's be off then," Alto said. "The mountains are no easy place to go and we'll want as much daylight as possible."

They bid each other farewell and left the palace, turning to their right to head for the south gate so Alto could find Winter and have a guide through the mountains to where Patrina was held. He just hoped that Winter would work with him since he'd rid himself of Beck's sword. Alto glanced down at the blade at his side and couldn't help but smile. It was a blade that was his, finally. Something he'd earned and paid a price in blood for. His spirit blade. Alto nodded, liking the ring of the name he'd come up with.

Now he only had to wait to see if it would perform as well as the knight's sword.

* * * *

Alto didn't have to wait long. He crouched with Namitus and peered over the rocks at the stone wall he'd delayed being built. The ogres had returned and finished building it. Now the wall was piled with rocks nearly twice the height of a man from
one side of the ravine to the other.

"No other way around?" Namitus whispered.

"I don't think so."

"You don't know? I thought you spent a month in these mountains!"

"There's a lot of mountains," Alto argued. "I made my way west slowly. I had to work through a lot of enemy camps."

"I know
. We saw a few of them." The bard turned to look at Alto. "You left a bloody trail behind you."

Alto grimaced. He hadn't been himself at the time. All that mattered was revenge and killing. He needed to hurt something. Ideally
, he wanted to hurt Sarya but he couldn't find her so anything that got in his way suffered his wrath. His wrath, supplemented by the power of the sword.

"If there are other paths
, they'll be blocked and defended like this one," Alto steered them back on topic.

Namitus nodded. He glanced at the sky. "It's getting late
. We could wait for sunset and try to sneak up. Get the drop on them."

"Might work, but if there's anything other than ogres
, they see better in the dark than we do."

Namitus frowned. "Good point. Giants
, too?"

"I don't know
. I only saw the one and that was during the day." Alto tried to remember anything that stood out about the giant. "He could see me just fine. Nearly crushed me with a rock he threw that was as big as Mordrim!"

The rogue grimaced. "Any chance we can talk Sir Amos into building a catapult and sending it with us? I bet that would make short work of that wall!"

Alto snorted and slipped away from the rocks they'd been hiding behind. "Come on, I don't see any other way to it but to just go at it."

"We didn't see any ogres, maybe there's nobody there? Shift change or something?"

Alto chuckled at his friend's optimism. He gathered around the others and reached out to rub Winter's side. The unicorn flinched but didn't move. When the touch continued to prove that Alto seemed to be back to normal, Winter relaxed and let him rub his neck.

"They finished the stone wall. There's a door t
hrough it. Wide enough for a giant to walk through, but that means two of us at the most at one time," Alto said.

"How tall is the cursed thing?" Kar asked.

"Ten feet or so."

"Giants are taller than that."

"The wall's split in two parts with a gap in the middle."

Kar grunted.

"Have any spells that will make this easier for us?"

"Yes, lots," Kar said. "Is that your plan or do you want to maybe minimize the part where we g
et heavy rocks thrown at us?"

"What do you mean?" Alto asked.

"Stones like that won't just fall over with a stiff breeze or even an explosion. I could soften the ground under them, like a sapper, and topple the wall but I need to be next to it to do so. That's the part where large rocks get thrown at me. I don't like that part," Kar said.

"Can you climb up the canyon wall and come around behind them
?" Alto asked Namitus.

"Perhaps, but doing that and hiding is all but impossible during the day. What's worse, what do I do when I get there? I'm not afraid of a good fight but I've got to agree with Kar and saying I'm not fond of the part where I'm getting lots of rocks hurled my way."

Alto scowled. He turned and looked at Mordrim and Garrick. "Either of you have any ideas?"

"I want to fight a giant," Garrick stated.

Alto sighed and looked at Mordrim.

"Dwarves and ogres go back a ways," Mordrim said. "All the way to when the first dwarf killed the first ogre. Think of it as a family tradition."

"This will either be an epic quest or the shortest adventure in the history of bad ideas," Alto muttered.

"What are you worried about?" Namitus teased. "You're the hero
who cuts through ogres like a farmer through wheat!"

Alto ignored him and looked at Karthor. "You haven't said much."

"You're the boss," Karthor said with a glint in his eye. "I'm just here to patch everyone up after the stones fall where they may."

Alto looked at the grinning faces on his friends. It was hopeless. He turned back to the wall. "Mordrim and I will go first
. We've got the best armor; hopefully, we can keep them focused on us while the rest of you get through."

"How many are there?" Kar asked.

"I don't know; we didn't see any," Alto said. "When they were building it, there were nine ogres led by a giant. We'd see the giant—they're too tall to hide behind that wall, so it's probably just ogres and goblins."

"Why haven't we seen any trolls since the mountain?" Karthor asked.

"Mountain trolls don't like daylight."

"Thork didn't mind," Alto pointed out.

Kar snorted. "Thork's not a mountain troll, is he?"

"Fair enough. But what about Highpeak? When we killed Barador
, there were trolls in the city."

"Perhaps they were being paid better. Or maybe they thought it was a short campaign. Or maybe there are trolls here
, too."

"Or maybe they've all decided to throw down the clubs and swords and take up basket weaving," Alto said. "We can guess all day but it won't do us any good. And the later it gets
, the more time we lose."

"Back to me and you rushing the gate?" Mordrim asked.

Alto nodded. "Garrick comes after, then Namitus and Karthor. Kar, stand ready to reinforce where we need it. Winter—come last; we dare not risk you. You're our guide."

"This is a bad idea," the wizard muttered.

"Probably, but it's not our first."

The wizard swore under his breath and complained, "It's like Tristam's still with us!"

"Come, let's do this." Alto drew his sword and led the way to the rocks he and Namitus had used. Mordrim walked beside him without crouching.

"Must be a pain being so tall," the dwarf mused.

Alto scowled at him and then motioned. They were off at a run, clanking in their heavy armor with each step. "So much for stealth," the warrior lamented.

They saw movement as the
y neared the gap in the wall. Over the stones, they glimpsed ogres rising to look at them. Through the opening, a large white shape stepped into view.

"Somebody's home," Mordrim grunted.

"Through the gap!" Alto decreed. "It's a yeti, strong and fast but they can be killed."

Alto pushed harder, his longer legs helping him race ahead of the dwarf and slip through the
gap in time to receive several thrown stones. They banged against his shield and armor, jarring him about mostly, though a few caught him in less protected areas covered only by chain. He plowed into the yeti, unable to affect his momentum.

Claws and teeth scraped at his armor. Alto felt the yeti's fingers catch on the chainmail and tug at it, yanking at his skin and scratching him. He slammed his shield into it repeatedly until he gained enough room to thrust his sword into the yeti's body. The yeti howled under him and began thrashing desperately. Alto pushed away from it and yanked his blade free, marveling at how easily it had cut through bone and flesh. The yeti thrashed some more and then lay still, blood and guts
exposed to the late winter sunlight.

When Alto turned
, he was hammered with two more stones, one on his shield and another high on his breastplate. He grunted with the impact and turned in time to see three ogres running towards him with clubs brandished. He noticed Mordrim was ducking and dodging another pair of ogres while a third hopped on one foot and clutched at its knee. The hopping ogre tripped and fell just as Garrick leaped through the gap in the stones and hacked its head off.

Alto returned his attention to the ogres. He allowed his mind to relax as he relied on the skills and reflexes he'd
learned in the mountains. He deflected blows from the clubs or dodged them altogether while striking back with his sword. The ogres knew only to attack; their defensive skills were pathetic against a skilled opponent. In moments, the ogres lay in steaming piles around him.

Alto ran to help his friends as they battled the remaining ogres. By the time the battle was over
, they tallied a score of the behemoths and the yeti. The members of the Dying Dragon were breathing hard from some bruises and near misses, but no lasting damage had been done.

"Must be they didn't trust him," Kar said as he moved to study the yeti. He stopped to gather up some of the yeti's blood and fur,
and then pointed out the heavy chain around its neck. Alto followed the chain through a hook driven into the ground. Another score of feet beyond the hook, the chain was driven to a stake that had been buried.

"Anybody coming through would either face the ogres or have to deal with the yeti," Alto said after he studied how the creature had been chained. "Like
a guard dog taught to attack anything."

"Except a lot nastier," Namitus said as he picked up
the yeti's hand and looked at the creature's claws.

Alto turned to Winter and saw the unicorn snorting while it looked at the yeti. "Winter, are you ready?"

Winter raised his head to look at Alto. He tossed his mane and stomped his foot, and then started up the ravine. Alto glanced at the rest of his company and then turned to follow the unicorn. He caught up to it and lifted his hand to scratch Winter on the back. "Sorry about having you come last. I need to make sure you can lead me to Patrina."

Winter snorted and shifted sideways, knocking Alto stumbling. Alto laughed and came back. "Okay, that's fair. I won't do it again. You lead the charge next time. We'll stay back and watch."

He managed to jump away from the unicorn's next attempt to knock him down.

Chapter 22

Aleena returned to the palace after watching Alto's company head across the bridge and into the mountains.
She ran her hands along the sword he'd given her without realizing it. It was Lady Patrina's sword and Alto had asked her to take care of it until their return.

She walked without purpose, trapped in her thoughts and feelings. He'd
confused her again, as he always did. First his talk with her in the armory and then the sword. Alto was like a beam of sunlight breaking through the darkness. He had a way of looking at things that shone a different light on them. He'd always made her think, even when he was nothing more than a farm boy lost in the city. Her problem was that she didn't always understand what it was that he was showing her.

"You seem troubled
, Squire?"

Aleena jumped and turned around. Sir Amos was standing behind her in the hallway.

"Or do you make a habit of studying the walls of the palace?" he added with a gentle smile.

Aleena felt her cheeks redden.
"It's nothing, my lord."

Sir Amos made a clucking noise. "Remember your teachings, daughter."

Aleena sighed. Honesty, above all. She nodded. "I'm just confused, Sir Amos. Nothing a good run or practice with a sword won't work out of me."

"Confused? I hope it's not about your faith."