is if you’re in charge. That prissy courtier’ll get us all killed.”
Cordell studied the man and then made his decision. If he was to be successful, he needed a lot of Don Vaez’s men to come to the same conclusion as Millston.
“Glad to have you,” he said, nodding to Rodolfo’s accomplice. “Give him back his sword.”
The conspirators extinguished the lamp. They brought the feverish Katl from the cell and made him as comfortable as possible on a bed of straw. The other two guards, bound and gagged, were locked in the cell for good measure.
Cautiously they opened the door to the barn. The headquarters house stood across the compound, and men were moving about everywhere. A series of bright lanterns illuminated the top of the rampart to the south, on the side facing the grassy savannah.
Cordell realized that Don Vaez had organized a work crew that now labored to excavate the gold hidden in the rampart wall. The fort was being destroyed, just when its greatest threat marched toward them in the shape of Zaltec and his monstrous army!
“What’s that?” Urgency hissed through Grimes’s voice as the officer whirled, raising his sword. “Chical!” he added with relief.
Cordell saw the Eagle Knight advance from the shadows beside the shed. He clapped his friend on the arm, his throat tightening with emotion.
“I came to set you free, but 1 see others have done the task before me.”
“I’m glad you came,” replied Cordell quietly.
“I bring news,” whispered the Maztican, quickly explaining about his meeting with Halloran and the plan they had formed. At the same time, they heard a commotion arise among the men on the work crew. From their vantage point, they looked over the field toward Ulatos and clamored in excitement and alarm.
“That must be them!” said the knight.
“Let’s go!” cried Cordell, leading his small party at a trot toward the high walls of the fortress. “Follow me!” he shouted to the rows of tents sheltering Don Vaez’s men. The workers and guards turned in surprise to see Cordell climb the sloping earthen surface of the wall, turning to face the courtyard.
“Listen to me, men of the Sword Coast’ 1 warn you of a great danger. A monstrous force approaches, one that will require all your valor to face.” The captain-general’s voice rang throughout the fortress. The men of Don Vaez gathered below, listening carefully.
“We can face it, but we need allies. I ask you now-look into the field before you.”
The men on the wall top, working to excavate the gold, had already seen the savannah. Now they shared their knowledge with their companions in the fort below.
“An army camped on the field!”
“I see a thousand campfires, all come to life at once!”
“There are twenty thousand men there!”
What they actually saw were the campfires, some six hundred in number, made by the desert dwarves, the Little People, and the Itza warriors out on the savannah. But the dark night made exaggeration easy. In a few moments, the overly observant lookouts had spotted a hundred thousand men, with elephants and chariots and huge catapults, all gathered before the fortress of Helmsport.
“Seize him! Stop him!” Don Vaez’s command urged his men toward the charismatic captain-general. Panic made the man’s voice shrill.
Beside the silver-haired adventurer, Cordell saw the cringing figure of Kardann in the lamplight. It figured, he thought, that the assessor would be on hand when the effort to dig up the gold was made. Now, in the midst of the confusion, Kardann groaned in fear. He took a long look at Cordell and then spun wildly, racing down the outer slope of the rampart to disappear into the darkness of the savannah.
Good riddance thought Cordell with dark satisfaction. It would suit him if he never saw the little maggot again
One man decided to take action in the face of chaos. Pryat Devane leaped onto his flying carpet, darting into the air. He began to mouth the words to a potent clerical spell, a casting that could have masked Cordell from all who tried to see and hear him.
But another form lurked in the sky. As the cleric raised his hand, his carpet soaring toward the captain- general, a great eagle swooped toward him from above. The priest screamed as talons ripped across his face, and his carpet twisted beneath him.
The eagle dove away but the cleric had already lost control. As his carpet careened toward the rampart where Cordell stood, the pryat desperately struggled to maintain his balance. He could not.
With a terrified cry, the priest slipped from his carpet and fell heavily to the ground, perhaps twenty feet below He
groaned and thrashed his arms, one of his legs twisted unnaturally beneath him.
“Men of the Sword Coast, hear me! These are my allies camped on the field beyond the fort!” cried Cordell, his voice pounding through the vast courtyard. “Join with me, with us, and we will stand against the foe and claim the victory and the treasure that we all deserve!”
The men working at the excavation scowled at Don Vaez, then looked again at the many fires twinkling across the field. They looked, to the imaginative watchers, like a sky full of stars,
Immediately several of the workers grabbed their erstwhile captain and dragged him forward. Don Vaez protested loudly, until one of the men cuffed him soundly.
“Cordell!” A shout rose from the men among the tents.
”Hail, Cordell!” It was echoed by the workers on the rampart above.
In the meantime, the captain-general descended from the rampart and crossed to the injured cleric. The groaning Pryat Devane struggled to straighten his leg out so that he could cast a spell of healing upon it.
“Wait,” ordered Cordell, standing above the terrified priest. “There’s somebody else I want you to heal first. Pick him up,” he ordered several of his loyal legionnaires.
With the sputtering Don Vaez in tow, they started toward the cell where the injured Eagle Knight, Katl, still lay.
From the chronicles of Coton.
In thankfulness to the god who has seen so much of our journey completed.
We arrive in the plain before Ulatos late at night, exhausted from the last stage of our march. We make camp on me savannah, building our cookfires, though the hour is Past midnight.
Later we learn that these fires, seen by the men in Helmsport, gave them fear of Cordell’s army. The joke is a good
one, on all save the hapless Don Vaez. Cordell is indeed a charmed soldier, it would seem, for now he takes a fort of fifteen hundred men with the help of twelve legionnaires and two dozen Eagle Knights.
Already, at first light, the twenty-five ships of the new. comers are sent to the south under the command of a veteran navigator. They intend to sail around the jungles of Payit to the Sea of Azul. There they will gather the remainder of Cordell’s men and the warriors of Kultaka as well.. And as to us, we shall rest here in Ulatos. Erixitl still slumbers, and not until we can restore her awareness will we make the final leg of our journey. But ultimately, I am confident, we will trek to Twin Visages, and there we will seek the coming of the Plumed God.
19
A GATHERING OF POWERS
Halloran approached the brown bulk of Helmsport, Storm cantering easily across the fields. Concern for his wife formed a cold knot in his chest, but that didn’t completely vanquish his alertness and caution.
