Page 126 of Lake of Sorrow

“Where are the rangers?”

“Some were inside when this all started, but most got called out to the countryside. The Gavatorin estate was attacked and started burning in the middle of the night, and King Gavatorin ordered a bunch of men out to defend it, even though Captain Targon objected. Everyone objected.”

“We all saw this coming,” another guard growled. “As soon as those phony diplomats arrived.”

Clangs rang out on the wall, axe and sword meeting as Vlerion battled the Kar’ruk.

Kaylina lifted her sling in case she got an opportunity to help, but Levitke startled her by surging toward the portcullis. Kaylina grasped a handful of fur to keep from losing her balance. Around her, other taybarri also rushed for the gate, some roaring a battle cry.

But with the sturdy portcullis closed, the only way inside was by climbing the high wall. Or so Kaylina thought. Several of the taybarri wrapped their jaws around the iron bars. Muscles flexed under Kaylina as Levitke pulled. They all pulled.

Iron wrenched and whined.

“Keep them covered!” an archer shouted, the men again loosing arrows.

More blades clanged in the courtyard. Vlerion must have jumped down—and found more enemies.

The iron bars didn’t bend under the taybarri assault, but stone and mortar gave. Wood and chains snapped, and the taybarri backed up, pulling the now-detached portcullis with them.

More taybarri surged past Levitke, battering at the obstacles that had been pushed in front of the portcullis to hide the courtyard from view. They made short work of them, butting with their heads and shoulders to shove crates and furniture aside.

As soon as the way was clear, Levitke flashed to get past her fellow taybarri and into the courtyard first. The lurch surprised Kaylina, but she still had a grip on Levitke’s fur.

They appeared in the open courtyard amid numerous castle guards lying on the ground. Dead, Kaylina assumed at first, but one lifted his head, eyes bleary, as if he couldn’t keep them open. Were these people… asleep?

Shards of ceramic and glass littered the courtyard. Someone had thrown containers around. Containers filled with a concoction that could knock people unconscious?

On the far side of the courtyard, double doors stood open, one ripped half off its hinges.

Kaylina had been that way before and knew it led toward the royal quarters and other important areas of the castle. Bangs, clanks, and clangs rang out from within, promising fighting was going on inside. The rangers? A few taybarri roars came from the wide hall beyond the doors.

Silence fell in the courtyard as Vlerion finished off a Kar’ruk he’d been battling. There weren’t as many invaders around the courtyard as Kaylina had expected. Only two, one that Vlerion had killed, and another that the taybarri had trampled.

As with the Kar’ruk on the wall, the ones inside wore hide tabards. The dead in the city had been protected by chainmail, like the Kar’ruk in the preserve. Maybe their duty, like their allies lighting fire to the countryside, had been to distract the guard and rangers while the diplomats attacked from within the castle.

Sword bloody, Vlerion nodded toward Kaylina, then ran for the open doors. Kaylina started after him, but he halted abruptly. Kaylina raised her sling.

Vlerion backed up instead of continuing inside. He kept his sword raised, squinting into the hallway at shadows that stirred.

Numerous blurry Kar’ruk in tabards, their forms hard to see, thanks to the silvery powder, walked out. Among them were the females who’d been riding in the litter.

They’d been disarmed, and the reason soon became clear as Captain Targon, Jankarr, and three other rangers strode out behind them, bows and swords pointed at the Kar’ruk backs. Five taybarri with their heads up and tails swishing also followed. They looked proud of themselves, like they’d been instrumental in capturing the Kar’ruk. Given how hard it was to see the camouflaged invaders, they probably had been. Unlike humans, they had other strong senses to rely upon.

“You’re late, Vlerion,” Targon snapped when their gazes met.

With a gash on his forehead dripping blood into his eyes, the captain looked crabbier than ever. Many of the rangers had wounds.

“We were collecting allies and, with luck, deterring an army,” Vlerion said.

“Another one?” Targon waved toward the walls, maybe indicating the estates besieged outside of the city.

“They’re proliferating this spring.”

Kaylina didn’t know for certain that they’d deterred the army she’d only seen in her vision, but she did suspect that if that many Kar’ruk had shown up, the city would have been razed by now. The diplomatic party might have been expecting a lot more backup to arrive. Kaylina shuddered, glad it hadn’t.

“This year is off to a dreadful start.” Targon’s sour expression turned toward Kaylina. “You learn how to be respectful yet, Korbian?”

Before Kaylina could decide on an answer, several beleaguered guards jogged out of a doorway, their bloodstained uniforms and begrimed weapons promising they’d also seen battle. One noticed Kaylina and jerked to a stop. He pointed at her and whispered to his comrades.

---