Cam's Connection

Betrayal Chapter 3 ~ Nothingness The Queen's Rider group quickly and silently packed up their things mounted their horses and grabbed any weapons they might need. The only sound was the drumming of owl wings in the violet sky, cicadas chirping musically and the distant sound of waves breaking on the shore of the sea. Far off, a group of about 50 Scanran pirates slowly piloted their small lifeboat to shore. They would leave their large vessel anchored a little ways off the coast so it wouldn't scrape the bottom of these shores. The area was famous for wrecked ships. Razorlike rocks jutted dangerously out of the bottom and sandbars seemed to appear out of nowhere. The steersmen was being very diligent and careful not to run into any of these obstacles. All of the crew were under strict orders to remain silent. They didn't any of those blasted Tortallans to hear them coming. When they arrived on shore they would be swift and quiet and attack under the dark of night. By dawn, they would be gone without leaving a trace, except for burning homes, looted villages and broken hearts. Their plan was to attack a small seaside village called Ayersby. It was home mostly to the working class. Farmers, fisherman and shopkeepers, although there were a few wealthy merchants who specialized in the trade of pearls, which grew in abundance on these treacherous shores. That was where the main bounty would come from, although some commoners would be useful to bring back as slaves to sell on the black market on the Copper Isles or Carthak. The last thing these Scanran pirates expected was to come face too face with the renowned Tortallan police group the Queen's Own. Their luck must have run out that night because they just happened to meet up with the group of Riders headed by Queen Thayet herself. In fact, they were doing such a good job of rowing their craft in quietly, they might have escaped down the coastline on foot without being detected until it was too late if it weren't for a mighty winged Albatross that decided to empty its bowels on one of the members of the crew. The white sticky mess landed right on his eyes and he screamed out in fear, digust and anger. The sound echoed off the rocky bluffs and their wooden ship anchored out in the bay to produce a high pitched shrieking that would have woken the dead. The other thugs quickly tried to muffle his mouth and stop the sound but it was too late. The Riders had heard the outcry and were now pouring forth from farther along the beach with their swords drawn and bows outstretched in their hounds. The galloping destriers with foam flying form their mouths must have been quite a sight for the pirates. They panicked and some tried to row back out to sea, while the other half drew their weapons and tried to jump out of the boat to get at the Tortallans. The result was a boat that was rocking sideways with Scanrans struggling to make it go two ways at once, which of course could not happen. It flipped over and their were a lot of swearing and squealing noises coming from the overturned boat. The Scanrans would have either drowned or been beaten mercilessly by the riders if it hadn't been for their leader who took charge of the situation. He yelled coarsely at them with what were unmistakable threats and pretty soon pirates started running form underneath the boat into the shallows and then up onto the beach with scimitars and axes in their hands. They were met by an onslaught of perfectly coordinated riders who chopped them down with intricate and elegant but deadly swordswings and shot them with dangerously perfect accuracy. The Scanrans fell with arrows in their throat and knives through their bellies but the riders were suffering losses two. Some big burly Scanrans made a wide chop with their axes that felled rider and horse in one swing of the whistling blade. The riders behind them pushed on by horses behind them ploughed right into the Scanrans and their horses tripped over the bodies of their fallen comrades. In fact the battle was not really going one way or another and it was starting to look bleak with all the losses on both sides when Thayet had the bright idea to fire a flaming arrow into their boat. The pirates had started to use the overturned craft to their advantage and were retreating under it to escape from arrows and were replenishing their weapons before charging out again. Soon other riders followed Thayet's example and the boat was set ablaze. There was a rush of Scanrans to get out and they pushed and shoved each other violently in their hurry to escape. Many perished under the boat or got burned alive when burning arrows set their clothes ablaze with a dull thunk and a sizzle. After all the Scanrans were dead the Riders set about healing the wounded on their side. Many had been injured or seriously hurt but luckily, only 5 of 75 had died. People with the gift set broken bones and relieved fiery pain and those without were content to stitch up wounds and run errands for the new nurses. Thayet decided to set up camp to recuperate those who were ill and take a small break from battle. Those who had died would also have a proper military burial. Although it should have been a glorious occasion since evildoers had been defeated, there were only frowns and grim faces of those who were mourning for their lost friends. ~*~ But the evildoers were not all defeated. The Scanran warlord Maggur Rakhausak watched the fire burning and the tide of the battle turning in favour of the Tortallans through his golden spyglass. Those blasted female warriors! They were really amazing fighters, especially considering they were women! He sighed in annoyance. That was the third patrol of warriors he had lost to Tortall this month. The Scanran campaign to invade Tortall was not off to a good start. But he would have his revenge... Maggur set the spyglass down on his mahogany desk in the captain's quarters of the stolen Carthaki warship. It was beautiful. The ship was made of teak and it had marvellous silk sails and a stout mast with plenty of space for Scanran warriors to sleep in. He walked arrogantly to the helm of the ship where the remainder of the force was clustered. They nervously parted out of his way because they knew it would be a big mistake to get him angry at them. "Through my spyglass I watched Squad 2 get decimated by a group of Tortallan women! They were cut down like a group of ninnies and dolts! Will you end in the same way they did?" "No sir!" They screamed in unison, desperate to avert his wrath. Since he couldn't take it out on Squad 2 he would probably get mad at the first person he could find fault with. "That's more like Scanran warriors!" he shouted earnestly. They cheered in response, chanting war cries. "Do you think we should take some revenge on those Tortallan women?" he asked them. They were far too caught up in the spirit of the moment to object. "Yes! Vengeance!" they chorused loudly. "Good. While they sleep we'll send out an elite command force. Who wishes to take part?" Every hand shot up speedily to try and win Maggur's favour. "Oh yes..." he added. "You must be a mage to battle those blasted Tortallan fools!" Most of the Scanrans on the ship were mages, so almost every hand remained up. Maggur chose thirty of the biggest, burliest and most powerful mages. He gave them their instructions on how to wreak magical havoc on the Queen's Rider Groups camped out on the shore. They would go over once they were sure the Tortallans were all asleep... ~*~ Thayet called all her riders to group around her after all the healing had been done. She congratulated them on their victory and they all said a joint prayer for those who had lived through the attack. Then she instructed them to unpack their things. They would continue riding down the coast the next day after a healthy rest to recuperate and go into the village they had saved from invasion. An hour later it was broad daylight but the riders were so exhausted they were all asleep anyway. The only people who were still awake were the handful of riders assigned to guard duty. They would be taking extra precautions after the surprise invasion. Suddenly, a silent explosion of crystal light blinded the sentries and shot straight into their eyes. Their eyes briefly flashed multi coloured fire before closing into a magically induced sleep no one could wake except the mage who had caused it. None of the sleepy sentries noticed a thread of creamy coloured fire slip around the camp forming a circle of magic. It was coming from the direction of the Scanran pirate ship anchored offshore. Thayet had assumed it was empty after they had killed all of the invaders. But she had assumed wrong. The cream coloured noose grew larger and larger until it formed a dome over the rider camp. It slipped under the ground and uprooted plants. This was all done in complete silence. It slowly faded away into invisibility, but the noose was still there slowly constricting on the camp. The sentries eyes flashed colour again before they exploded into nothingness. Their souls were yanked right out of their bodies into death before their awareness had realized what was happening. This was a new craft of black magic invented in the darkest Scanran caves and unknown to all of the Eastern lands. It used the power of the realms of the dead to draw a person there before their time was up. Then the dome flashed colour and slowly started shrinking in on itself. But where a rider's tent had rested there was nothing. Where a patch of blueberries had grown, there was nothing. Where a horse had grazed happily, there was nothing. The noose was strangling the very entity of everything. Everything was literally turning into nothing. The being, the essence, the atoms that had made up that person, animal, plant or anything that were there were being snuffed out like a candle. The grass on the ground, was gone. The rocks in the soil, were gone. Everything had just disappeared into thin air. But the Scanran mages on the ship were getting tired. This new magic required massive amounts of raw strength, energy and power to work. Their hold on the dome of death was slipping. But it was getting all the more powerful as it feasted on everything that was inside it. Riders, horses, trees and tents were all being consumed by the dome. Finally, it got too strong. The mages' bodies flew into the air with a flash of light and were sucked into the spinning dome just like the Riders had been. It had consumed them as well. This new magic was so strong it was very dangerous even to the person who first created the spell. When the last mage's mind was eaten the dome imploded. It became a vortex of swirling colour and matter. It was like a tornado ripping through the once quiet field where the riders had camped. Silent screams of the things that had once been something but were now nothing filled the air. As quickly as it started, the dome disappeared leaving the ground blackened and scarred. And most of all it left it empty. There was nothing. There would be nothing. There was something there before but no one would ever know. Thirty Scanran mages were now nothingness. So were 75 Queen's riders. So were 100 horses. So was Queen Thayet of Tortall. Were they dead? Not really. There were in Uusoae's kingdom as nothing, but they were an alive nothingness. Nevertheless, if they were nothing, they could never return to the realms of the living or the realms of things that were something. Chapter 4