Anchorite and the The Heart of Effie. Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. THE LAST KING

The door creaked. Lairiel, completely distraught with nervous anticipation, like the criminal before execution, shuddered and rose to her feet, taking almost a fighting stance. Taurebeleg, who had ordered his daughter to stay locked up in the folt until his return, was in no hurry, turning the time of waiting for his daughter into true torture. Never before had Lairiel seen her father so furious. There was a fire in his eyes, and a very unkind one. And the voice burst out with such force that it seemed to roll like thunder throughout the forest.
'I told you to stay at home! I told you to take care of the house! My words are empty words for you?!'
'Father…' Lairiel muttered, but he didn't let her say a word.
'Shut your mouth, ungrateful! Traitor!' the king raised his hand, as if he had swung, but still the daughter was standing far from him. 'I don't need your excuses anymore! What if something bad happened to you - and no words would help! Vampires roam the forest! Two elves have already died! And you wander the woods without protection, knowing that the enemy is nearby?! What's wrong with you at all?! Didn't Oriel's story teach you anything?! Also, Aegion is gone! Where is your brother, in the name of the Five, tell me?!'
'I’ve already told you everything. Everything, up to the last detail,' the girl spoke through her teeth. Of course, she kept silent about some things. In general, Lairiel simply told her father that the offender was found and questioned. And, of course, about the war. However, Taurebeleg did not take the news seriously at all, as Aegion had predicted. Father was only shouting and indignant at the disobedience of his offspring. Lairiel, holding her breath, repeated it. 'Vampire. Before Aegion killed him, he said that Taurentius was coming for us. It’s important now. Not everything else is...'
'My children will lower me in the grave! If your mother were alive...' Taurebeleg threw angrily. 'And what should I do now? Engage in strengthening the forest, preparing for war? To search through the wood for my own son, hoping that the vampire spawn had not ripped his throat out? Or stand at the door of the folt to see if my reckless daughter ever thinks of running away again? What should I do to make my own children, the heirs of my kingdom and the entire Enchanted Forest, finally begin to think with their heads and do the right thing ?! WHAT?'
'Father,' Lairiel was afraid of her father, but tried to speak firmly and confidently. 'The forest must be protected!'
"Dry up about that, Lairiel!" Taurebeleg suddenly shouted again, as if the mention of the war brought to him infuriated him more than ever. 'You don't have to be concerned with what's going on. As soon as we deal with the problems that are pouring hail on my head, you will immediately marry the glorious Parcelsus, the son of Garcius from the council of elders! The two of you will go to the Firetree and recite the vows!'
'Marry?' From that moment on, Lairiel completely forgot about her fear and trembling before her father. In the blink of an eye, a powerful fire of protest flared up in the depths of her chest. 'That won't happen, father! I don't want to get married! Not for Parcelsus, not for anyone else!'
'It's not up to you, got it?' Taurebeleg shouted in anger, in just half a dozen steps came to his daughter with such a look that he was ready to tear her to pieces. 'Don’t you dare say anything against my word! Don’t you respect your father? Don’t you thank me for watching over your well-being day and night? I thought about your future even before your birth! Don't you feel grateful that I protected you, as well as our entire family in such turbulent times? So listen, my dear daughter! You will sit under lock and key until the storm that looms on the horizon will come to naught. And then you will go down the aisle, as I command, do you hear? You will, because I said so! And because it is the duty of the royal daughter and princess of the Enchanted Forest!'
'FATHER!' Oriel exclaimed.
Then Taurebeleg swung and slapped his daughter in the face. The girl swayed but did not fall. The blow was not particularly strong, but still the marks of a gesture of anger remained on the cheek: a bright blush and a humiliating burning sensation. This was the first time Lairiel had seen her father in such a state, and even more so the first time he raised his hand to his child. But Lairiel didn't even think of bending, didn't shed tears that now was ready to burst from her eyes, and let herself be overcome by despair. She looked boldly into her father's eyes and said distinctly.
'NO! I WILL NOT GO…'
'YOU WILL GO!' Taurebeleg snapped. 'You will, Lairiel! Otherwise, you will go away from our forest forever. Seek shelter and another home for yourself, and live as you please! But you will not be the daughter of a king anymore! And you will be forgotten here forever! Behold, Lairiel! Disobey the king - and be ready to answer for this nasty sin!'
And turning around, not wanting any more words in response, Taurebeleg left the folt, heading towards the meadow of the Firetree, leaving his daughter in utter shock. For the first time, Lairiel felt truly alien in this forest, in this folt. She was ready even now to simply rush to run, no matter where, the main thing - away from the fate prepared for her by the king. But she didn't do it now.
The meadow at the Firetree today has become many times larger than it was for many years. Taurebeleg used an ancient expansion spell, and now all the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest gathered here, who only managed to be notified of the impending disaster and who did not have sufficient skills and strength to defend themselves from the enemy. Taurebeleg was in the worst mood. On the one hand, he was discouraged by such a sudden news of the war, that was very much to be expected, but deep down the king still hoped that Taurentius would not dare to do so. On the other hand, the possibility of recognizing himself as incapable of protecting the forest, possessions, that were under royal protection, potentially completely devalued him as a ruler. At first, Taurebeleg with great reluctance and a heavy heart admitted that the time had come to sound the alarm, but at the same time he was sure that the magic of the forest would be enough to drive out all the enemies that dared to cross the border of the forest kingdom. The council members convinced him that the borders had long been vulnerable.
'We have decided, your Majesty, that every second is worth its weight in gold. Therefore, we have dispatched our brave troops to line up around the perimeter of the forest and take a wait-and-see position.' said the councilors when they saw the King in troubled thought. 'Frankly, the situation was very much expected almost for each one. The whole forest had been filled with rumors for months about Taurentius' army and the role played by the extermination of the fairy race. So many were prepared to fight for their homeland.'
'All right,' said Taurebeleg, though a shadow of indignation flashed across his face. The king hated it when important things were done behind his back without royal approval. Now the decision taken by the council of elders alone was correct and timely.
A message has been circulated throughout the forest for all residents: a protected zone will be organized in the meadow near the Firetree, where everyone can hide in case of a real danger. The spell that Taurebeleg cast on this place worked in such a way that it allowed for all who happened to be there to fit in the place, expanding to the required size. There were so many who came that after an hour a real pandemonium began. There were creatures of all stripes and guises, among which were both adult elves and children. There were davines, who rarely left the trees, and squat, grumbling arculls, small creatures like gnomes, but covered with spines and resembling overgrown hedgehogs. There were even water nerokons here, who never left the swamps, which for centuries served as a home for these scary-looking, but peaceful little creatures. Someone was clearly panicking, some were curious and tried to find out what was happening after all. In addition, not everyone could speak a common language.
Taurebeleg thought restlessly of his son, who had not yet been found, although the king had already sent a few of his servants to find his heir. Aegion simply vanished. Taurebeleg faced a choice: leave his subjects and show the forest dwellers that in a critical situation the king can simply disappear for personal reasons, or remain on the defensive side, protecting his kingdom. Therefore, Taurebeleg undoubtedly chose the last one. He always considered royal duty more important than any other duty, even his father’s one.
Ehreon, trying to calm the forest people and explain the criticality of the situation in the right words, looked around the inhabitants of the forest, looked, as it were, at all of them, but as if through them, realizing in horror the cause of all this pandemonium.
Taurebeleg went to the borders of the forest to strengthen the magic shield and call on the magic of the elements. The king was sure that no matter how powerful the enemy’s army came, in any case, it would not break through the protection of the forest borders. Taurebeleg used a special magic that he had not resorted to for many years, which consisted in the fact that from now on any stranger, even overcoming the protective barrier will be doomed to an irreversible end. The forest king immediately shared this information with all the elves-brothers, who expressed their desire to stand up for the protection of the forest and the king. There were a lot of them: in the first half hour after the alarm was announced, several thousand elves arrived at the borders of the Enchanted Forest, resolutely and militantly inclined, with arrows and swords at the ready. However, it's been a few hours, and so far everything was quiet and calm. Taurebeleg patrolled the border without standing still, casting a spell of protection and fortifying the energy of the invisible wall of protection.
About an hour later, Garcius arrived at Taurebeleg. He informed the king about the situation at the Firetree meadow and assured him that everything was under control.
'We have convinced the inhabitants that this is just a precautionary measure,' Garcius assured, standing with Taurebeleg at the edge of the forest and peering into the empty distance. 'But you yourself don’t think that the alarm was false, your majesty?'
'No, I don't think so, Garcius,' replied the king. 'The words of my daughter is a sign that is no less proof of the plans of Taurentius, about which the council was so fond of repeating every meeting. We will be ready to repel the onslaught of the enemy. You did everything right. There is no need for us to panic. Taurentius will not cross the border. And if he dares, he will become more helpless than an ant.
'You put the protection of the Cerrich, your majesty?' Garcius was surprised.
The spell that Taurebeleg used was called Cerrich's protection. It was used very rarely, primarily because it required huge magical energy and not all elves could do it, and this spell had a big side effect that left extreme inconvenience. The spell could not be removed for a long time, they locked everyone under the dome, preventing them from freely moving outside the barrier, and could only be prematurely dispelled with the death of the one who cast them. The last time Taurebeleg's predecessor used this magic was several hundred years ago.
'These extreme measures are now simply necessary. There are a million reasons for that,' the king nodded. 'And above all - due to the fact that my son is now wandering somewhere in the forest and I can’t be distracted by his antics at all. Cerrich would at least keep them from leaving the forest.'
'So we're all prisoners of the Enchanted Forest now,' Garcius muttered, looking down. 'But the enemy may try to starve us out. Have you considered this option as well?'
'Taurentius won't do that,' Taurebeleg shook his head confidently, gazing into the distance. 'It's not his style. Rather, he will storm the forest and try to break on my spell.'
'So we're just going to wait?' Garcius drawled.
'It won't be long to wait...'
The king lowered his voice to a whisper. He finally saw what his eyes were looking for, and what he hoped not to see. They were very similar, as if copied clean off, tall dark-skinned creatures with powerful wings behind their backs and majestic crooked horns. From a distance, such a monster could be mistaken for an elk standing on its hind legs, and although these creatures stood on their feet, like a human being, there was almost nothing of a human in them. A huge number of unknown winged monsters approached the forest, merging with the horizon.
'Hybrids…' whispered Taurebeleg, not believing his eyes.
The king hoped to the last that the invasion would not happen, believed that Taurentius would not be able to create a hybrid army. How many times the council of elders told him about the impending danger, the same number of times the whole topic went down on the brakes.
'A mix of fairies and ogres…' Garcius added, covering his mouth with his hand, also in disbelief. 'Is this the result of that fairy genocide…'
The phrase wasn't finished. Three tall, stately elves swiftly approached the king from behind.
'Your Majesty,' one of them said. 'What do you want to do?'
'Nothing,' said the king without hesitation. 'Nothing needs to be done. Just wait.'
The elves nodded and went to the rest of the volunteers, who had gathered at the edge of the forest and were ready to defend their forest.
'But what to expect?' Garcius asked. 'What is your plan?'
'The plan is to understand the enemy's plan. Let them come closer. We are ready for any outcome. The forest has not been taken for many hundreds of years. Not to be taken today, Garcius.'
The enemy army was getting close enough to see these strange creatures in detail. Surprisingly, it turned out to be so large that it was impossible to count at first sight. It turned out that ogres were among the hybrids, but there were so few of them that they were lost in the black crowd. Monsters with fairy magic and ogre power. They have become reality. The King glanced around, catching Garcius' stunned gaze. Both the army of hybrids and the cold calm of the king visibly took his adviser aback.
However, when the enemy army came closer to the forest, the movement stopped. The hybrids and ogres froze, as if frozen in a stone eternity, lining up in a long column that went in both directions. Taurentius was nowhere to be seen. Taurebeleg did not move either, continuing to look at the outlandish monsters and realizing with bitterness in his soul how many lives of innocent fairies had been put into creating such a terrible ugliness.
Time has turned into a viscous mixture, sluggishly pouring from vat to vat. It may have only been a few minutes, or it may have been a few hours, but the Taurentius army still stood still and quiet. There was a dead silence, and even, it seemed, all the sounds and rustles were silent, the forest inhabitants hid. Taurebeleg had already begun to think about the possibility of starting a dialogue with the enemy, but did not dare to do this, because he was sure that Taurentius should appear here in person at any moment. Nevertheless, Taurentius did not appear. Instead, everything in the area was suddenly filled up with a terrible sound, cutting the ears like a knife through glass. It began as a rattle that echoed everything around, but after a few seconds, words began to be clearly heard in this noise.
'Inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest…' the velvet bass sounded. 'My name is Taurentius. You have probably heard of me as a dark magician who crushes and destroys everything in his path for his own benefit. And partly it is. Like any great magician, legends and conjectures accompany me. Some of them are true, some are not. I appreciate the ancient magic that fills this forest, and the last thing I want to do is destroy it. Every inhabitant of the forest is part of a treasure that is too valuable to be neglected. Your king, Taurebeleg of the Aglar clan, with his short-sighted policy, brought your kingdom into decline, led you into feuds with all your neighbors, turned against you, innocent forest dwellers, all the peoples remaining outside the forest, and the vanity of your current king put all of you in the situation in which each of us is now forced to be. Your king's magic defense is worthless and will fall in the first minutes of my army's advance. Your king has been lying to all of you for many months: the protection of the forest has long been insignificant, and vampires now and then roam the forest, which have already torn apart more than one elf. An honest and just ruler would have taken action, protected his subjects, but your king chose cowardly silence over this. And to such a ruler, you, the proud inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest, still hold the oath? Is this the kind of ruler your ancient wizarding world deserves?'
Taurebeleg listened to that voice with cold indifference, frowning as he continued to glare at the army of ogres and hybrids. But Garcius was more frightened than before: his eyes ran from side to side, either because they were looking for the source of the terrible noise, or simply because the elf still succumbed to panic and tried to suppress it.
'You all probably want to understand why I brought my army to your forest?' continued velvet bass. 'We didn't come for war. We came for the peace. For a new world that can be built together. A world based on honesty and equality. Only one thing prevents us from doing it right now. Your haughty and mediocre king. Taurebeleg of the Aglar clan. Now listen you. Now it's only about you. You have lost your power and your kingdom. Your reign ended today. And all rational beings understand that this happened not because of an enemy attack, but only because of your stupidity and arrogance. If you surrender now and leave the forest, no one will be harmed. And the punishment for your vanity will be only life exile in the rotten wastelands. But if you dare refuse, if you’re too stupid to keep holding on to power, we will have to use the full power of the Evangard army. And the blood spilled in the process will be your fault. You still have a chance to be sensible for once. And even wisely. Don't think that the barrier you put up around the Enchanted Forest will somehow keep you safe. It will end up being just as useless as any defense you think of placing in the path of my enchanted army. I'm giving you just five minutes. Five minutes to leave the Enchanted Forest alone. Leave it and go out to meet your destiny. Remain in the memory of your subjects as a king who at least did something right, even in the last moments of his reign. The countdown starts now...'
There was an eerie silence again. Taurebeleg thought hard. He even seemed to ignore Garcius, who addressed the king a couple of times with some kind of vaguely formed proposal, and did not even notice Ehreon, who arrived at the edge of the forest and exchanged puzzled looks with Garcius. Waiting for the king's decision was a real torture.
'They don’t have a plan,' Taurebeleg said confidently, and a faint smile flashed on his lips, smacking more of pride than joy. 'Whether these hybrids adopted fairy magic or not, they still won’t have the power to break our defenses. Taurentius is bluffing. He does not have such strength to take the forest in the state in which we've defended it. And that means we have nothing to fear. An army of freaks can stand on the borders of the forest for at least a hundred years. You, Ehreon, and you, Garcius, go to the meadow at the Firetree.
'Cerrich's protection has not been used for a very long time. Are you sure she's invulnerable?' Garcius asked.
Then Taurebeleg finally turned to his subjects, bringing down on them a heavy, full of irritation look.
'I said go to the Firetree meadow!' the king rapped out and again turned away from his interlocutors, continuing to pierce the enemy army with his eyes.
The time that Taurentius indicated, or rather, his voice, was already ending. Something must have happened. Ehreon and Garcius disappeared behind the trees, whispering. Footsteps were heard, but Taurebeleg ignored them. The voice of the enemy, contrary to expectations, did not appear, but, as the king of the forest had expected, the enemy attempted to unsettle him and this time very subtly.
One of the horned monsters stepped out of the crowd, holding Oriel in front of him with his hands twisted behind his back. The she-elf was severely beaten: her face, arms, legs were covered with wounds and bruises, as if someone had recently struck her countless blows all over her body. The horned hybrid held Lairiel in an upright position: it is obvious that she was in a terrible state and could hardly stand on her feet. However, the girl still recognized her brother. She looked at him, full of heavy despair, and distinctly whispered the word "help".
Either the hybrids were speechless, or they were waiting for something, although the picture was already clear. It was a real blackmail, for which Taurebeleg was not at all ready. The king of the forest was completely unsettled: his sister, Oriel, was now standing in front of him, the one whom he had considered dead for so long, whom he no longer even dared to dream of meeting, having lost all hope. Obviously, this was the trump card of Taurentius. It is worth to pay tribute to this magician: this turn of events was a real test for Taurebeleg.
He was horrified at what was happening, but still showed no emotion. Keeping his stillness and icy gaze, the king kept waiting for the appearance of any conditions of exchange.
'So now what?' Taurebeleg thundered loudly, in an iron tone, hard as flint.
The elves lined up among the trees along the borders of the forest, armed and ready at any moment to repulse the aggressor, were also confused. The capture of the king's sister punched a monstrous breach in the armor of confidence that the forest is invulnerable to the enemy. There was an dead silence for about a minute.
'Go outside the forest and you will save the king's sister. His beloved fairy Oriel...' Taurentius voice rang out, still hovering in a disgusting rattle. 'This is your very last chance. This time the last one. If you do not do this, the inhabitants of the forest will begin to die. And your sister will be the first.'
Then Taurebeleg, still immobile and reminiscent of a statue, abruptly turned his back on the enemy and his face clouded with horror and panic. The king understood that on one side of the scale was the possibility of maintaining his power as king of the Enchanted Forests, and on the other - the life of his sister, temperamental and troublesome, but still beloved, the part of the royal family. Hundreds of eyes of loyal soldiers were turned to the king, who finally had to make a decision. Now the king should have risen to the occasion either in front of the defenders of the forest, or in front of the enemy, or in front of himself.
There was a wild cry. Female cry. Taurebeleg shuddered and turned around. Oriel's shoulder turned into an ugly stump, and in the hands of the horned hybrid a blade was clamped, from which pink blood dripped in drops: the enemy mercilessly deprived the girl of her right arm. The elf soldiers prepared their weapons. It was impossible to wait any longer.
Taurebeleg sat down, touching the ground, and began muttering something very quickly. For a moment, the soil trembled, and a faint glow began to spin around the forest king, covering him and wrapping sparkles into the elf’s flesh. Taurebeleg understood that he was going to take the battle alone, and thus he was gaining strength from the magic of the forest. Now any energy input was not superfluous for the king, as he has already made his fateful decision.
Taurebeleg stood up, looking back at his subjects, looked around the outskirts of the forest, as if saying goodbye to his native abode, nevertheless took a decisive step and crossed the border of the forest, going one on one to the enemy army.
Taurentius did not deceive. As soon as the king of the forest was outside his domain, the horned hybrid let go of Oriel, literally pushing her towards her brother, after which the girl collapsed on the king's chest, clasping his shoulder with her only surviving arm. Taurebeleg, without taking his eyes off the enemy, spoke in a low voice.
'Go to the meadow to the Firetree. They will help you... Oriel! Have you understood?'
Nevertheless, Oriel subsided, even her breath became so imperceptible, as if life had completely left the she-elf. Taurebeleg felt as his sister's hand slid over his shoulder, running her fingers to the middle of his back, and then the strong elf's fingers, suddenly acquiring unprecedented strength of the blade's edge, pierced into the flesh of the king and in a split second tore the Taurebeleg's warm, still pulsating heart out. The king of the forest only had time to let out a muffled groan, recoiling from the killer and seeing not his sister at all, but a shell that quickly disappeared from the enemy, exposing the face of Taurentius.
Heard the hollow snaps: the air around the forest seemed to explode, filling invisible bubbles. Thus, the protection put up by Taurebeleg and disappearing after his death came to naught. The defense of the Cerrich fell.
At the same moment, the subjects of the murdered king, comprehended the crime committed in front of the forest people, attacked the enemy. Arrows were fired first, a huge cloud of arrows rushed towards the enemy column. Then a few seconds later, the brave elves, armed with sharp swords, marched across the forest line, intent on destroying uninvited guests. Taurentius gave a loud command to his army to attack back, and the army of hybrids and ogres, finally revived, rushed to the borders of the forest with furious exclamations.