The Outcast (Summoner #4)(96)
Zacharias looked at the prince for a moment, then smiled with relief and dropped the sword he had been holding.
“Well, then I’m staying too,” Zacharias said. “Someone needs to protect the girls when you and the soldiers have gone.”
Arcturus snorted at this excuse, earning himself a glare from Zacharias. He’d take any of the girls over ten Zachariases.
Arcturus saw the disappointment in Harold’s face, but the prince embraced Zacharias nonetheless. Then he turned to Arcturus.
“Are you coming?” he asked.
Arcturus hefted his axe. This was no longer about survival, or commoners, or nobles. No longer about friendship, or choosing sides. This was about saving lives.
“Thousands could die if I don’t,” he said, looking meaningfully at Zacharias. “Thousands. Of course I’m coming.”
Zacharias shrugged and led Josephine down the stairs. Harold watched them go with what looked like regret.
“I didn’t think Zacharias would back out,” he muttered under his breath. “Maybe I should have pressed him.”
“So, just us three, then,” Arcturus said, patting Ulfr on the back. The dwarf glowered at him and edged away, then muttered something in dwarfish under his breath.
“Edmund and Alice are both injured, but we’ll have their demons fighting with us, at least,” Harold said, though he seemed to be speaking to himself more than anyone else. “Gelert’s ribs are hurt, but Edmund says he can fight.”
“Sacharissa’s hurt too,” Arcturus murmured.
He felt a flash of guilt, for he could still feel the ache of pain from the loyal Canid in his consciousness. But he doubted he could get her to stay behind, and even if he managed to, it would take every ounce of his concentration to keep her there. She was coming with him, one way or another.
“The soldiers can take as much ammunition as they like,” Uhtred said, rapping Prince Harold’s breastplate with his knuckles. “I’ll see if I can’t scrounge up some spare helmets too. Other than that … there isn’t much else I can do, I’m afraid.”
“You’ve done more than enough,” Harold said warmly, shaking the dwarf’s hand.
“I’ll go get the troops ready,” Uhtred said.
The dwarf bowed and hurried down the stairs, stopping on the way to pick up a large box of helmets, lifting it with his muscled arms as if it weighed nothing at all. Arcturus only wished that the kind-hearted dwarf was fighting alongside them.
Then the three were alone, standing in the ill-lit chamber. They stood awkwardly.
“Ulfr…,” Harold said, after a moment’s hesitation. “You should know, I will protect the interests of your people whether you help us or not. I will not forget. These laws my father has enacted … I will work tirelessly to repeal them.”
“Harold, do you want to fight alone?” Arcturus asked, exasperated.
“Don’t worry, boy, I’m coming,” Ulfr said, spinning the axe in his hands. “I’ve never been allowed to hit a human before.”
He chuckled, then grew serious as Harold’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I appreciate it,” Ulfr said, nodding his head respectfully. “But you won’t be able to do any of that if you can’t reach the plaza. And whatever I may think of humans, I don’t want thousands of deaths on my conscience. Not when I could have done something to stop it.”
“Thank you,” Prince Harold said, looking up at the ceiling, as if he could see what was happening above. “I just hope this works.”
CHAPTER
57
IT WAS A COLD morning. Frost grew on the dark windows on either side of them, and gouts of steam plumed from their mouths as the men marched down the road in formation.
The three sergeants led the way, followed by a column three troops wide and twelve deep. Arcturus, Rotter, Prince Harold and Ulfr made up the rear guard, along with the two Canids, Alice’s Vulpid and the prince’s demon. Zacharias and Josephine had chosen not to send their demons, and much to Arcturus’s disgust, Prince Harold had not pressed the issue. They needed all the help they could get, but the pair would not even send their demons in their stead.
Uhtred guided them out of the enormous tent that covered his underground home, through the gardened grounds of the Dwarven Quarter and into the dingy streets beyond before saying his good-byes.
Arcturus was not sure what he had expected to appear when the prince had knelt with his summoning leather on the cobblestones … perhaps a Minotaur, or a brace of Canids. But instead, a demon he had never seen before emerged into the dim dawn light. Even now, as they moved toward the distant roar of the crowds in the city center, Arcturus could not help but stare at it. Harold had called it a Nandi.
The demon possessed the size and characteristics of an overgrown grizzly bear, but with a leaner, more muscular body, enormous, tusklike canines and a physique that hinted at a speed and ferocity that would far outstrip that of its earthly counterpart.
Arcturus knew they must have made a strange sight, walking down the empty streets in full battle dress with their four demons in tow. But there seemed to be no alternative, no sneaking in dressed as rebels. Elaine’s Mite’s scouting had shown them that.
The young noble had been angry at not being allowed to join their mission, so they had been forced to reach a compromise. Valens would go on ahead, guided by Elaine in Uhtred’s home, and Sergeant Caulder would carry the second scrying crystal so he knew what obstacles they would face.