“As you wish, sir.”
Five griffins soared a hundred feet over our heads two moments later. With no immediate report that a battle raged somewhere in the city, I had everyone trail the nismerdon crystal, which bobbled on its staff during Ghevont’s unhurried trot. We had to go through the assembly of students lingering at the academy steps. A few who had been in my group, including the young woman Gerard had to stop from pounding the ward, rejoined their peers. An almost equal number replaced them. Hanying and his friends remained with us, with Hanying’s more vocal companions taking it upon themselves to explain to the others what just happened.
Our fast ramble brought us into an aristocratic part of town, meaning homes stretched wide and gave their neighbors green space to breathe. Since the city wall curved sharply inward here, I could identify its well-kept state compared to what I had seen entering the city. Thanks to several large torches bordering it, I also saw a small iron gate that must have been a private access for those living or doing business in the highborn district. It was currently shut.
The grandiose homes dwindled in size and elegance as soon as the wall slanted outward again. After sullenly gallivanting on this poorer district’s uneven road for a bit, a good angle and lack of cluttered structures allowed a clear line of sight to the main southern gate a hundred yards away, this one overseen by an enlarging division of guardsmen.
A few strides after this point, Ghevont stopped in his tracks. As I did the same, the nismerdon crystal flashed bright green. At the same instant, Orda herself groaned and wobbled under my feet in a pulsing wave that rose the ground by an inch before resettling. For the life of me I couldn’t tell where the pulse came from or where it went after I jumped backward to avoid what I thought was an underground attack. The fading groan sprang from wherever my head turned.
“Mercer!” said Clarissa, who pointed above the city wall.
Rising higher than any tree was that fucking nismerdon barrier. Its origin appeared to be several yards outside the wall. The barrier expanded lengthwise as far as my eyes could see. No doubt the ward was forming on every side of Uratama as well. Its initial shading looked lighter compared to earlier varieties, but a reinforced hue of gloom climbed the ward seconds later.
Like in Furubiro, the faster, lighter shade tilted toward the center of town, racing there at dozens of feet per second. Shallow tremors more erratic than the first pulsation rolled the earth. Then, not far from the main gate and a clutch of peasant homes, the ground tore open as cleanly and easily as sharpened shears going through sheep’s wool. Spilling out from the growing gorge was a mass of serrated roots that ranged from being as thin as a noodle to as thick as a fat man’s thigh.
The ripped ground found its way under four or five households, but the first screams I heard came from another incident farther up west. Surprised cries and pained yelps from the north and west melded together to create an alarm that surely awoke anyone still residing in the realm of dreams.
Running ahead of me and the scholar, Odet exclaimed, “We have to destroy the roots!”
We chased after the princess. As we ran, we saw a couple of the swiftest or luckiest quarries escape their homes. An older man’s luck ended when a flailing root swung itself under the man’s feet, tripping him. The frail looking elder groaned as the root latched on to a leg. He wanted to scream or curse, but his weak throat only managed a whimpering cry. I expected for the root to drag him into the gorge, but it simply squeezed tighter as it started absorbing his paltry prana.
I feared we would not make it in time to free him from his death sentence. However, a screeching griffin swooped down and landed right next to the old victim. A stream of fire leapt off Eu-Sook’s left hand, aiming for a piece of root not attached to the man’s leg. Another root darted for the griffin, but a red ward from an airborne Yawen blocked its path. A third griffin, floating higher than the second, threw a fireball at the next nearest root. Fortunately, these nismerdon tendrils resisted flame about as well as a tree branch of equal breadth.
When those of us using our feet entered a helpful range, the root gripping the leg had been severed, though a piece of it remained wrapped around his lower leg. It reminded me of the fiend’s tail around my arm. A few of the most attentive guardsmen had already gotten there before us. It was a remarkably calm armored youth who picked up the elder and carried him away from the dying shrieks behind the hedge of life-sucking feelers.
The roots, probably attracted by auras of prana, relentlessly attacked anyone that came within their range, which varied depending on the individual root. A trusty ward, shield, sword, or spell looked to be enough to defend someone from a single root. However, a root rarely pounced alone. The bundle of barbed vines whipping about could not be suppressed, so the next best thing was to prevent it from reaching other homes. Residents poured out from every structure, giving more life to the thrashing feelers.
Odet, casting a rectangular ward twenty feet wide to give a few people an avenue to run, used all her lungs to say, “Mercer! Focus on breaching the barrier! We’ll look after everyone and send them to the gate!”
I nodded and motioned for Clarissa to follow me. To Captain Shao, I said, “Tell your men to stay with the princess! You come with me!”
I ran without paying much attention to who else followed me. I caught sight of more root-spewing chasms not far from the gate. Many of the guardsmen that had been gathered at the gate were now heading toward these embattled spots, leaving behind a dozen of the more tentative ones for the captain to coordinate. I told him to tell them not to physically attack the black barrier and to follow my lead. Happy to hear an assertive voice unaffected by the outlandish circumstances, the guardsmen changed from ducklings perplexed by the sight of a new predator to wolves poised to face down an opposing pack.
I crossed through the gate and faced down the barrier. A pair of guardsmen stood near the nismerdon ward, inspecting it with the light of a torch and fire spell. They backed off when the captain warned them of the danger of physical contact. I didn’t want to expend energy without any future refugees yet ready, so I asked the captain to organize the guardsmen by their strengths. Those who could cast elemental spells were to aid me in breaching the barrier and keep it open. Those who specialized in wards and physical attacks were told to secure the escape route.
We had to wave away the curious onlookers outside the barrier during the short wait for absconders to reach us. When the captain shouted that the first citizens were coming, I lit one of two dragon stones I placed by the base of the barrier. The formidable resistance deflected my power and the power of my allies in the same way it always had. Ripples and shifting shades of black wobbled the ward.
Someone got the idea to dig under the barrier, but the barrier appeared to have burrowed itself at least three feet deep. I wondered how far we would have to dig to fashion a tunnel beneath the nismerdon ward. Perhaps I could get some earth casters to create one if enough of them came together, though an underground passage might be too precarious to maintain if the Advent or their roots attacked. Or was being buried alive preferable to getting your prana sucked out of you?
In any event, with streams of fire, water spouts, spikes of ice and dirt, and an electric arc pounding the area around my dragon flame, a tiny tear permitted my fire to reach free air. The opening rapidly grew when I used my flame to eat the boundaries of the hole. It happened much faster than I anticipated. Like its brethren before, the ward wanted to heal itself, however, it felt much easier to prevent it from doing so. I imagined a ward this size needed to sacrifice healing potential to keep its infamous resilience. Hence, I let my flame die out and had the others work to enlarge the cavity.
I stepped aside to give room for Uratama’s people to cross through a gap earth, water, and ice spells held open. The sporadic outflow of people became less broken over the next couple of minutes. The majority of these scared, confused people brought nothing but the nightclothes on their backs, if that. One youngi
sh couple were apparently forced to flee mid-coitus going by the fact the woman wore only a short mantle while the man’s nightcap had been repurposed to conceal a smaller head.
Coming toward the barrier from its external side was a contingent of infantry soldiers. I worried they might be under the wrong general’s orders, but they were already too close for me to somehow vet their loyalty. As luck would have it, ten of their thirty man group helped lead the runaways farther from the danger, so I did nothing to stop the other twenty from aiding us in getting the breach wider. Satisfied with the state of this gate, I told Clarissa, who contributed her water spell in the effort, to follow me back to the others.
Yawen’s whiptail flapped above me, implying that finding the rest of its feathered comrades would lead me to Odet. After a moment looking up at the curtailed sky, I witnessed Eu-Sook’s griffin landing on the roof of a house. Running up to that area brought me within sight of my group, including that of Hanying and his cohorts. Without as much assembled prana to reach out to, the gorges’ roots did not look as active as before. Seeing me, Odet met me halfway and her eyes asked whether my running meant something bad or something good.
“People are getting out,” I assured. “The ward is easier to hold open once we crack it.”
“Good. I want to secure as many gates as we can.”
“The smaller gate we passed comes to mind,” said Gerard.
“Right! Let’s go!”
We hurriedly retraced our steps to the wealthier district. Out of habit at this point, the captain and several academy students came with us. Possibly due to the less concentrated aspect of the neighborhood, the gorges stayed at the northern peripheries in this part of town. Not that the ambient screams, spell casting, and smoke still rising from the charred academy didn’t do the job of notifying the district of the enclosing peril.
Nevertheless, on the whole, those outside were a handful of patrolling guardsmen and servants who roamed the streets attempting to learn what was happening and what to do about it. We told the servants to inform their masters that an evacuation was necessary. A captain’s order had the guardsmen following us to the district gate while three of his riders sought more warriors to organize the exodus. The guards at the gate already had it opened for us, making it a simple matter of crossing through and sprinting the fifty yards to the barrier’s brink.
A couple of minutes later, after implementing the same barrier-tearing tactics so present in my life, the ward split open to admit passage to the first group of nobles who made their way beyond the wall. Not having as many guardsmen lending their spells forced us to wait for reinforcements before Odet felt at ease about moving on.
Except, as a larger group of reluctant nobles tramped through the rift, a warning screech from the griffins brought everyone’s attention upward. Convincing the trickle of people under the gate to move their ass faster, a barraging, lion-like roar dropped our line of sight to the wall. This is where I saw a large, grayish paw pop out from behind the stone barricade and grab the top edge.
Pulling itself the rest of the way up was a brutish creature with the rough outline of a furless bear, though with a longer body, broader snout, and reptilian tail. A pair of short tusks curved out from its lower jaw, four yellow eyes with rectangular pupils lined the top of its twitchy head, and a row of bristled black hair went down its back. The tallest of men would find it difficult to peer over its muscular shoulders. Drool and blood leaked down its mouth. The eidolon couldn’t have been comfortable having its snout constantly flared the way it did.
“Qubura,” Odet said under her breath.
“What?” asked Clarissa.
“That’s Lady Vealora’s eidolon,” explained Gerard. “If I remember correctly, he’s supposed to be more white than gray.”
“He’s corrupted,” said Odet. “Qubura would not obey his partner’s madness otherwise.” She shook her head. “He knows my scent. He must have…” The princess advanced a few steps. Those not helping keep the barrier open stepped up with her. “Come forward, Lady Vealora! Enough hiding and running from you!”
We waited for a rejoinder. It came seconds later when three human figures walked out from under the gate’s shadow. Qubura leapt down and joined the trio.
“It’s those two blondes,” said Clarissa. “And I’m assuming the older woman in the red cloak is Lady Vealora.”
When the last residents exited the barrier, the captain ordered for the guardsmen to form a defensive line on either side of my group. The younger Advent woman countered by summoning a pile of glinting objects in front of her. They appeared to be a mass collection of a hundred steel swords of different styles, lengths, and time periods. Her twin picked up a long, thick katana from the dozens of options.
Succeeding that, she rose her arms to shoulder level. The heap of weapons rose with them. At the same instant they started levitating, a sound like shattering glass issued forth from their blades. They were snapping into smaller chunks. What started as a hundred weapons became five thousand jagged pieces of metal, each about the size of an ovate leaf. The hilts of these dismantled swords were left to rust on the ground.
“I hope everyone remembers their roles,” said Gerard. “We stay defensive. Let them make the first mistake.” His reminders were directed at Odet most of all, whose ice-dagger stare never left Lady Vealora’s obstinate form.
Letting us know her ears could still hear reason, Odet’s deadened voice said, “I remember.” Louder, she said, “Captain Shao, tell everyone not to-”
Qubura, unable to quell its lunacy any longer, howled and dashed right for us. Each of its drubbing paws clawed into the soft soil and gave it the leverage to bound twice its body length. Sechen threw a spear at the eidolon. She aimed true, but the impaling weapon failed in its duty when it bounced off the dense skin behind Qubura’s neck.
“Wards!” shouted Odet.
The captain must have yelled the same command in his tongue, for those who could not understand the foreign princess’ word cast the spell nonetheless. About a dozen wards united to form a magical, multicolored wall a few feet in front of us. One dark greenish ward in particular stood out, even before its fringes flashed a muddied red color. Behind this ward stood Ghevont, his staff thrusted forward and its crystal glowing.
Qubura was already too close to the defensive measure to do anything but meet it head-on. His overwrought mind didn’t seem to know whether to slam into it or swipe his six-toed paw at it, so he half turned his body and ended up crashing its right flank on wards that included Odet’s and Ghevont’s. From this distance, I could now see the mind runes cut into the eidolon’s skin. I knew exactly how the poor bastard felt.
With many dispelling their weakened or broken wards to cast new ones, Odet cried out, “You’re stronger than this, Qubura! Fight it!”
No heed was paid to the plea. Qubura smashed his head and tusks into the next ward. But with that act, he did not see a griffin silently diving for his head. Talons clamped on to Qubura’s head, with one finding an eye to poke. Both beasts shrieked and squawked as Qubura shook off the annoyance and slashed one of the griffin’s legs. With the eidolon’s attention skyward, Gerard cast a spell to enclose one of Qubura’s back legs in earth. Clarissa followed suit by wrapping that same leg in water and freezing it.
Qubura didn’t even note its ensnared leg until it tried leaping at the griffin. His strength still nearly had him breaking free, but it stayed on the ground. He looked back in time to see a ball of dragon fire striking a mind rune behind his shoulder. A fire and lightning spell joined mine shortly afterward. I wanted to gash his stomach, but I doubted the sharpness of my blade and the durability of the leg restraints. Indeed, Qubura broke free and thrashed at the ground underneath him.
“His legs!” said Odet to everyone. “We need to snare his legs again!”
Movement sparkled to my far left. To the guardsmen who stopped paying attention to the Advent, I yelled, “Look out!”
It was too late f
or the last man in line, whether he understood me or not. A coiling torrent of steel swathed his upper body and sliced through anything not covered in armor. He fell screaming and covering his face. The guardswoman next to him suffered a similar fate. The third man in line had the sense and reflexes to cast an earthen barrier to hinder the rest of the attack. The metal shards retreated and regathered near its master, who ambled toward us wearing a placid expression on a face that beamed guiltless sweetness to those unaware of her intentions.
Meanwhile, her male companion sprinted right for me. Seeing that my abilities would not do well to immobilize the eidolon, I decided to engage the humans.
“Captain! Clarissa! You’re with me!”
“Why don’t you summon your dragon?” asked the captain.
“Not now! Summon your griffin and let’s go!”
I charged, taking a glimpse at Odet and the others doing their best to raise their wards and elemental defenses and putting the rest of their effort in evading the eidolon’s strikes and bites. It was fortunate that a corrupted being became so easily distracted.
My concern reverted to the humans when the male Advent swung his sword. A contortion of air blew outward from that same swing. Despite bracing my legs with prana and Clarissa putting up a wall of water, I still almost lost my balance when the cold, cutting gust blasted past the liquid shield.
The captain used his summoned kingclaw to keep his feet, then leapt on his steed to take to the air. The splinters of steel raced to cut off the griffin’s wings. The captain’s blue ward blocked the initial surge before the ragged hail shaved off its magical core. A hedge of vampiric ice water slowed the attack enough to allow the griffin and rider to escape the rest of the solid stream.
The Dragon Knight and the Light Page 7