Alitta’s Diary part 20

in Home from the Hill

Root & Branch

I return to my flying duties after Sorashi is injured, and out in the direction of the serpent men's city I spot something. Several things actually. I get closer and determine there are 8 of them; great winged lizards with dangerous looking teeth and claws. They are circling the troops coming out of the city and amassing 6 or 7 miles out, perhaps performing the same duties I am. I can see more over the city itself, maybe two dozen in total.

I return to the main camp to report, pausing to warn any rangers I see on the half hour flight. When I arrive I see three men engaged in some debate about the disposition of the troops; one is William. A woman, I believe it is Fiona, intercedes and the conversation seems to end without too much antagonism.

I shift my head and give my report to William and Darig. They decide we are to maintain an aerial lookout above the camp, high enough to observe the serpent men and their winged support without getting close – their fliers outnumber ours.

I am to remain with Rachael, William’s wife, and we stay up on the wing for a number of hours, as more of Amber’s units arrive below us in the camp. By mid afternoon Rachael is tired – she seems to have less stamina that I do in my eagle form – and so we return to the ground and provide our report; the troops outside the city now number around 12,000, and there are several dozen of the flying lizards, venturing out a little way in twos or threes but not engaging us.

Over an early evening meal, William tells me that there is news from Rebma. There has been an earthquake, and they fear Amber is gone; fallen into the sea, the whole coastline changed and new land pushed up in its place. I am used to the changeable nature of Chaos, but it seems this sort of thing is not so common in Amber.

I briefly check on Dirk, but he has been put to work by his father in the troop deployment and I see no reason to interrupt; I have things to do myself. The sun sets and I take flight again, this time with Rhanda in the form of a bat. I swap my eagle’s head for that of an owl, for the superior hearing and vision in the dark.

It seems the lizards do not like to fly at night and we have the sky to ourselves. We get close enough to make a good assessment of the serpent troops, now numbering around 20,000 with more still emerging from the city. I see no bows, but they have spears or javelins, and long polearms with crescent blades, swords too. Most have some form of bronze armour. Each unit seems to have smaller (maybe older) members, and bigger ones that I assume are officers.

We risk flying over the city itself, and are able to remain unobserved. There is one main street, down which the troops are queuing in columns. Most of the city buildings are very low, I think they may even be underground, but there are a few stepped pyramids that rise higher, and a great tower or statue – Rhanda says it is stone – shaped like a snake, perhaps 100 yards tall. It faces directly towards Ygg and our camp.

On our way back we see a cleared space where the winged lizards are resting on the ground, their wings folded like tents. The serpent troops are preparing defences much as our forces are; a perimeter with a ditch and spikes, and sentries posted. We deliver our report, and I sketch a map of the city for William.

I need to rest, but before I do I find a private space and try the trump of Aunt Cymnea I was given. I hold it up and concentrate as I was instructed, and I see her as though she were right in front of me. I tell her what I have heard about Amber, and she seems genuinely concerned for a moment. I promise to keep her informed of any new information on the matter. She asks after Dirk and William, and then starts to mention the possibility of a match for me, not a discussion I particularly want to have. Thankfully the conversation ends before going any further.

In the morning I am woken by a scream. It turns out to be Llewella; there are people already clustered around the tent she shares with some of the other Amber royals when I get there so I don’t hear much of what has happened, but she doesn’t seem injured. I think she has had a vision of something dangerous in Ygg’s roots.

Sorashi seems to have recovered extremely well from the poisoning, and she and I, along with Rachael and Surpanakha, return to the air. There seem to be more of the winged lizards now, half are still over the serpent army, but the other half head in our direction in two V formations. We attempt to draw them towards our archers on the ground below us, hoping they may not know the danger posed as their troops don’t appear to use bows.

Three dive for us, one towards me and two towards Surpanakha. I have no illusions about my ability to take the thing on with any certainty of winning, so I dive towards our archers and they loose arrows, injuring it, unfortunately not seriously – it pulls up though. Sorashi has moved to aid Surpanakha against the other two; they fight and kill one. The other flees back to its fellows and they don’t come for us again.

On the ground, I am informed that Fiona has scryed the city using the map I made, and determined the location of a conduit of power connecting it to the thing in Ygg’s roots, which it seems is some great snake that we believe may be summoned to attack us. A strike team is formed to enter the city and try to prevent this, while the main army moves to engage the serpent troops, which are mobilising.

DeLambre and I fly unencumbered. Sorashi bears William on her back, and Surpanakha carries Margrath, who has communed with Ygg and seen the snake beneath the tree, and an associate of William’s called Rikard. Dirk remains behind with others; the plan is for Margrath to contact him by trump when we arrive, to bring through reinforcements.

We fly low and wide to avoid detection, taking several hours to make the journey and approaching the city from the rear left side. Fiona has directed us to a low pyramid near the back, not the tall snake statue as I initially expected. It is topped by a smaller version of the snake, a mere 20 feet high, and a large mirror reflecting the light of a bonfire towards Ygg. There are priests and guards, and one priest-king figure, clearly in charge and chanting.

I take ragworm form and position myself to defend Margrath while he contacts Dirk, and the others move out to engage the guards in combat. They dispatch several without much difficulty, and as Dirk and Margrath transfer through more support it seems the closest threats have been dealt with, so I move towards the priest-king, as no-one else has reached him yet.

Before I can get there he completes his rite, and a great snake emerges from the mirror, matching the statue in size and appearance. The priest-king has several guards but I manage to draw one out from the group and kill him with no trouble. I attack the priest-king himself and he wards me off, but while I have him distracted he is taken down from the side by one of the warriors Dirk has sent through by trump.

On the other side of the pyramid, William slays the great snake. All the guards are dead and the remaining priests cower in fear. I sustained a minor injury attacking the priest-king, but nothing serious. DeLambre, however, has been badly bitten and poisoned – he is quickly transported to Fiona for treatment – and one of the others Dirk sent through has been killed. William’s arm is hurt and I use a spell to help staunch the bleeding while Sorashi binds it.