Sneak Peek at The Duel

Very little to add here today, but here's an excerpt from the draft of 'The Duel'. Enjoy!

From her quarters within the ruined tower, Lady Alisson Heartstone cast her hazel eyes down upon the courtyard far below, and then further beyond, past the fortress walls to fields of gray tents, black banners, and armored flesh. A growing wind carried the voices, scents, and general din of both besieger and besieged up to her high perch, even as it flattened her brilliant white robes flush against her curves. Her long, auburn curls were tossed and sent aflutter by that same stiff, cool breeze. One delicate hand rested against the worn, crumbling surface of what used to be the tower's masonry, in ages before that tortured stonework had yielded to the weather and let a sturdy wall become a grand and irregular window.

Ludum Hold had certainly seen better, grander days in those years when the land was still untamed and strongholds peppered the hills and valleys like stone fairy rings, springing as if from the very earth. Now, as war returned to a land that had grown fat and complacent during years of peace, Alisson could only hope those ill maintained ramparts could hold the swarming legions under General Grendec's black banner at bay. Of course, no fortress could hold out forever, and there were no allies or reinforcements to rally to the aid of Lord Aldmere's tattered army.

As Court Wizard, Alisson was privy to such information, just as she had been made aware of their supply situation. The fortress's old cisterns could still hold water, so long as rain provided. Food, however, was another matter. Even with careful management, Lord Aldmere's men would be on empty bellies within a week, two at the most. Her magic could only do so much to alleviate that.

Mere days ago, when Grendec's men had broken Aldmere's line, the old lord had ordered the retreat to Ludum Hold in the hopes that the Lord of the Black Banner would find laying siege to that stronghold too costly to be worthwhile. Aldmere's lands had merely been a conquest of convenience after all. A mere interlude between its much larger and richer neighbors. With free reign to cross those porous borders and move onward to better plunder, surely the General wouldn't need to wholly eradicate a broken, dug in force merely trying to stay out of the way. The gamble had not paid off. Bottled up in a dead end fortress, with no hope of outside rescue was not a position anyone wanted to be in.

As the Lady wizard contemplated the mismatched armies below, a fluttering white flash of movement caught her gaze. From the enemy line, a lone figure under a flag of truce timidly made his way toward the ancient gates of the crumbling fortress. Perhaps they were sending forth terms for Aldmere's surrender. The thought did not put her heart at ease. General Grendec was not known for his clemency, nor Lord Aldmere for his humility. The idea that the dark army would accept anything less than total submission, or that Aldmere would bow his head to a foreign flag were equally inconceivable. Still, at least they would soon know the details of what appeared to be their inevitable defeat.