All the hair on Indrid’s arm stood up. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He no longer considered the thought that he’d been hallucinating when he saw Rayne at the bottom of the lake. Whether conscious or unconscious, he had seen him. He was sure of it. But he asked Anna to repeat herself to clarify what he thought he’d heard her say.
The watchtower bell rang within the distance. “Torches out in the plains, coming from the south!” the lookout yelled.
Loitering peasants panicked and scampered home.
“Rayne is back,” Anna said. “And he said to tell you ‘she will protect you’.”
“Who? What does that mean?” Indrid wondered. What woman, other than Anna, cares about me enough to protect me? He didn’t know of any female warriors in Ikarus. The new capital made ladies out of their women where Grale, his homeland, welcomed both genders to join its knight’s court.
“I’m not sure,” said Anna.
Beyond the gates, Indrid Cole stood and watched the distant cluster of red and yellow firelight as it twinkled under a sunset sky. An army of savages marched toward the Ikarus plateau, their torches held high.
Ahead, Apollo sat quietly in the high grass along the path that Indrid would be leading south. The beast stared at him, her ice-blue eyes reflecting the twilight. The general’s men were still inside the kingdom gates gearing up and preparing their horses.
Since Rayne had disappeared, Indrid had barely seen Apollo. Starved daily to the brink of death, the cat remained in servitude at the Ikarus arena and had endured many tournament battles, tearing apart criminals who were sentenced to death for food. But Anna had continued her relationship with the cat. She would take her out for walks and talk to her at night while she slept in her cage comfortably next to Maul, the other larger cat. But Indrid never connected with Apollo. His fear had built a wall between them.
How did she get out? Indrid thought. Anna must have opened the cage and led her here. But then, Indrid had a revelation. He repeated what Anna had told him in his head—what she claimed Rayne had told her to tell him…‘she will protect you’. And Indrid realized that she was Apollo. Could it be true that Rayne is alive and preparing Ikarus for battle as the evidence suggests? If Rayne is the cloaked man, what does that mean? Is Rayne a supernatural entity—an angel, a wizard? After realizing his ignorance of the magical world in which he lived, the vision of Rayne at the bottom of the frozen lake was no longer hard to accept.
Indrid was careful and approached the cat slowly. As he got closer, Apollo got low and dipped her head, allowing Indrid to mount her. Her purring shook Indrid’s bones. His hand quivered as he reached out to touch the massive cat. Her fur was long and thick. “Easy,” he told her, gripping her neck.
Upon the mighty Apollo, Indrid Cole felt strong. She was steady and listened to his gestures. “Go”, he said, and Apollo went forward. Carefully, Indrid steered her, moving the skin sack around her neck right or left, or back if he wanted her to slow down. She listened better than his horse.
General Cole gathered his army and led them toward the edge of the Ikarus plateau armed with bows and blades to meet the incoming threat from the Great Flats. The torches approaching from below were getting close.
The Ikarus army made it down to the flatlands safely and timely. But the enemy was now only a few hundred yards away.
“I have never come across an elder,” Indrid said to his medical officer, Melborne, who rode next to him on a wild-eyed horse, terrified by the giant cat traveling next to it. “They have seen more battle than all of us combined. Even their pawns that I deal with every day could be menacing.” He began to question his abilities. “Dead elders can carry more magic than any living mage ever could. Since they are soulless, the construct of their bodies can be pulled apart and reorganized to function again. They can shapeshift.”
Montague had told Indrid about the men and women that had been preserved for centuries, who were able to carry and perform wicked spells; the elders or dead mages—the most dangerous. At the time, Indrid thought the stories about them were just make-believe. Now, he knew they were real. And he understood that Demitri Von Cobb was the one controlling them. But Indrid’s opinion of Montague and his teachings was compromised.
“That may be. But they have never come across you either, General. Your bravery has not gone unnoticed. Maybe you will be the last person these elders will ever see,” the officer said. He had a large gap between his front teeth.
Indrid’s attention was taken by the fragile jelly trees along the way, drooping like they were barely alive. It was common for this phenomenon to happen at this time of year.
“Trolls, General, scurrying leagues underground, sifting through the dirt with their claws, catching gumworms, and drinking the last sweet drop from the tree’s roots,” Melborne, said.
“I’ve heard stories about how our ancestors once worked with the underground cave dwellers they then called, ‘trolls’,” Indrid said, again thinking about Montague. “But they were only stories.”
“Do you think the shadow man will appear?” Melborne asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Indrid. His stepbrother’s face flashed before his eyes. Indrid didn’t know how or why, but there was no more doubt that Rayne Volpi, the king of Men, had returned to them in another form.
A grim-looking clan marched towards the kingdom by foot with fire, whips, chains, and the darkest magic. If Alexandal hadn’t poisoned the Hart River, this wouldn’t be happening. Indrid almost laughed at how easy it was for a king to declare war when the king, himself, didn’t have to fight it.
The first wave of the
