Page 5

“I'll watch your back. You're going to need eyes front to deal with Redbone,” her uncle predicted.

??

The castle obligingly enlarged the kitchen and made a passage to the cellar. There were still casks and bottles of wine and spirits leftover from her father's reign, which was a welcome discovery.

While it was at it, the castle fortified the outer walls and enlarged the barracks and stables.

Welcome as that was, Zelda finally forced a halt. She was so tired, it was as if she had dug the cellar herself. As much as she wanted the castle in good repair, she wasn't a mule. She had technical, brainy work to do as well, and she needed energy left for that.

She needed to enforce boundaries on the castle so she had some energy reserves to deal with the mundane and any emergencies that might arise. The castle had waited this long to rejuvenate; it could learn patience.

Dinner was barbecue mutton sandwiches (assembled the old-fashioned way, without magic). She didn't want to discuss the treaty, but it had to be done. Not surprisingly, they agreed it would be for the best and discussed terms.

At the very least, they could get soldiers and battle rams out of it.

“Are you sure you're not interested in marrying him?” the steward asked carefully. “He does have a lot to recommend him, but there are other fine men in the village.”

Zelda laughed. “I didn't come all this way to go husband hunting. I'm trying to get the castle in order. If I must be here, then I'm going to make it count. I certainly don't need to marry the first tribal chieftain who rides in off the plains.”

Marriage was so far down on her priority list, it wasn't even a footnote. Besides, marrying a stranger and hoping he would fix all of her problems was a fool's gambit.

Maybe, in a year or two, if she found someone who was capable of dealing with the challenges that a castle entailed, then she would think about marriage. Only hard work would fix what was wrong around here.

Zelda expected her to-do list would keep her up, but she slept like a drunken old auntie, passed out and snoring.

It seemed like she’d just closed her eyes when her bed shook, jogging her awake. She blinked groggily at the glowing flowers and glanced at the window. Instead of dawn, she saw the glare of firelight and heard the distant sound of explosions.

That clearly called for investigation.

Zelda didn’t respond well to emergencies in the middle of the night. She had always been a deep sleeper, and the sudden jolt of urgency left her disoriented. The castle, sensing her distress, helped by laying out clothes on the bed for her.

In the dim light, Zelda fumbled into the garments, her fingers clumsy and uncooperative.

She grabbed the boots and struggled to pull them on, her mind racing ahead to the chaos she knew awaited outside.

The muffled sounds of distant screams and the faint, acrid smell of burning filled her with a mix of dread and determination.

Even though she wasn’t at her best, Zelda knew she had to act.

Her people needed her, and there was no time to waste.

“Hurry, my lady! We’re under attack.” Digger appeared as if from nowhere, surprising a scream out of her. Ignoring her fright, he said urgently, “My people report that the Beast Queen has sent flying jellyfish against us.”

Zelda grappled with that. “Did you say flying jellyfish?”

Digger ushered her out to the castle wall so that she could see for herself.

Sure enough, clouds of translucent tentacled jellyfish swarmed through the air, occasionally exploding.

Toxic purple goo rained down, burning like acid, judging by the screams from the village.

The barrier around the castle protected them, but it wasn't doing anything for the village.

Zelda's heart pounded as she saw the jellyfish explode on the ward, leaving clouds of stinking smoke. Everything was too loud, too chaotic, too freaking early, and she wasn't sure what to do.

She saw Uncle Tank on the wall, directing fire on the enemy. Unfortunately, their weapons were too short-range to strike anything near the village.

Zelda's eyes narrowed. “Digger, what do we have that can reach those creatures?”

“I recommend catapults filled with small stones and nail launchers. If you supply the power, the castle will handle targeting. They should be able to reach over the village, but they could cause damage to the villagers as well. Anything that goes up, will go down.”

“We will target anything outside the village then. What about fire? Is there anything that would evaporate after striking the jellyfish?” She sent a mental command to the castle, telling it to pull the weapons out of storage. Somehow she understood where they had been kept. It only took a thought.

“It's been a dry season, my lady. I don't recommend fire.”

The catapults spooled up, magically filling with small stones like the world's biggest slingshot. The nail launchers were similar to crossbows, only much faster.

Zelda felt herself go distant and gripped the wall, all her energy directed toward the weapons and maintaining the castle's shield.

There was no energy for strategy, only action.

Vaguely, she realized what a problem that could be.

If her uncle had taught her anything, it was that wars were won by cunning, but that was a problem for another day.

For tonight, it was enough to attack.

***

O ZZY REDBONE SAT AROUND the campfire with his friends, passing around a flask of wine. It was late, but he wasn't ready to sleep.

He looked past the bonfire into the darkness. The herdsmen were on watch, and everyone was alert. If they were going to be attacked it would definitely be tonight. The Beast Queen would not want to see an alliance between the tribes and the powerful lady of the castle.

Quill gave Ozzy a knowing look and passed him the flask. “I bet you're looking forward to tomorrow. Lady Zelda is a beauty, isn't she?” He was fishing.

Ozzy smiled. “She is, isn't she? Seems to have a head on her shoulders, too. That was unexpected, given her sister.”

Quill snorted. “She was quick to offer you Lady Divine, wasn't she? No love lost there.”

“Who can blame her? But I'm not settling for anything less than the best for my tribe.” Anyone he married would have a huge influence on his tribe and family. He wasn't going to bring someone like Lady Divine in to divide them.

“That old goblin of hers is no slouch. I heard he used to command the castle guard,” an older goblin said. “Her uncle, I heard. He raised her after her mother died.”

Interesting. He doubted a goblin commander would have raised a fool. No wonder she hadn't fallen for flattery.

Ozzy smiled, remembering her skeptical face. He wanted a closer look at the lady.

There was a ruckus down in the pasture. A horn sounded, signaling an attack. They were on their feet in an instant.

It was the opportunity they had been waiting for.

Night raids were difficult. You couldn't see, sounds were amplified, and it was easy to descend into chaos, but Ozzy and his tribe had been through this before.

Ozzy let his tribesmen handle it while he and his friends made their way behind the enemy. It wasn't difficult. The enemy had gotten used to being on the offense. The two guards in the rear were barely paying attention.

Their mistake.

The noise of the battle covered the struggle. They captured one guard, but the other one put up a surprising amount of fight. During the tussle, he got a knee to the skull from an overzealous goblin, instantly subduing him.

The beastmaster was a little tougher, but he was surprised.

As his animals dropped from crossbow bolts, he had a moment to realize the danger.

He drew a knife and stabbed Ozzy. Ozzy knocked his hand away and delivered a backhand to the side of his neck, interrupting the flow of blood to the brain and dropping him like a rock.

They secured him, and instantly the night was brighter.

They had a prisoner to interrogate.

***

Z ELDA WOKE UP TO A pounding on her door. She felt like she had been run over by a battle ram. She had a vague memory of tottering back to her room and falling into bed, clothes and all.

“Get up, girl! You have a meeting in half an hour.”

“What meeting?” she muttered to herself, annoyed. She would have gone back to sleep, but her bed tilted sideways until she slid onto the rug.

She sat there in a heap of blankets and debated falling asleep on the floor. Finally, she decided the castle would find an unpleasant way to keep waking her and surrendered to her fate.

Grumbling to herself, she freshened up and groped her way to the breakfast table, her eyes half-shut.

Tea and food were placed in front of her.

“There's your food,” her uncle said gruffly. “You'll need your eyes open for the meeting with Redbone.”

Due to the circumstances, Zelda chose to keep the meeting informal. She simply stayed at the table while Redbone was ushered in and offered breakfast, which he ate with quick, efficient bites.

Redbone was grim. “The jellyfish swarmed our camp last night. It was battered; we only had one mage who does wards, and she was exhausted. She couldn't cover everything at once, but it made a big difference.”

“I sympathize,” Zelda rasped. She cradled her teacup like a precious elixir.

“The castle is fine, of course, but the village had it worse. Everyone took cover in their houses, but there were casualties,” Uncle Tank reported.

He glanced at Zelda and then placed the paper on the table. He slid it over to Redbone.

“These are our terms,” Zelda said flatly. They had kept things simple. The agreement was that he would treat the people in the castle like family, with the understanding that she was solely in charge of the castle.

He raised his brows as he read the paper, and then looked at her. There was a calculating gleam in his eye. “Family? Like that of a prospective bride? I accept those terms.”