by Hylton, PT
“What’s going on, my friend?” Gideon asked.
Fannar showed them the note.
“If this is true, we need to get back to Holdgate as quickly as possible,” Elliot pointed out.
“Yes,” Fannar said. “And we’re going to bring an army with us.”
Elliot scratched his chin. “You’ve been warlord for all of one day. Do you really think you’re going to be able to get your army to switch sides? You said yourself that they’d kill you if you lost majority support.”
“That’s true,” Fannar agreed. “But I’ve been thinking about that. I believe I might have a way to win them over to our cause.”
Chapter Twenty
Kraken was allowed entry into the Holdgate port after narrowly avoiding a confrontation with the three stormships guarding the city. A frantic string of messages and counter-messages sent through flashes of light reflected off a mirror eventually convinced the stormships that they were friendlies.
Even so, they were met at the docks by the city guards. Roy, Benjamin, Syd, Dustin, Clemens, and Abbey were ordered to see the magistrate immediately.
As the city guards led them to the magistrate’s offices, Clemens cleared his throat. “Say, Captain Roy, you don’t think this is about that fact that we abandoned our posts on Thunderclap, is it?”
Roy chuckled. “I think that may come up during the course of our conversation.”
“Wait!” Abbey exclaimed. “You didn’t have permission to come rescue us?”
Benjamin smiled. “I guess it’s time you found out the truth, Abbey. Your old man’s a rebel.”
Just as Roy had predicted, their desertion of Thunderclap did indeed come up early in the conversation. They’d barely taken their places around the long rectangular table when the magistrate leaned forward and glared at Captain Roy and Clemens.
“Which of you would like to explain why the captain and Storm Caller of my flagship disappeared while the city was under the threat of attack by an army of Barskall?”
“I will,” Benjamin said immediately. “See, I asked you for help to find The Foggy Day and you refused, so a few of us decided to take on the mission ourselves. I convinced Captain Roy and Clemens to help because I knew they were emotionally attached to the crew of The Foggy Day.”
The magistrate stared at him, wide-eyed at his honesty.
Benjamin shrugged. “What? I don’t even work for you. It’s not like you can fire me.”
“I can throw you in my prison.”
“I’ve been there before. I seem to remember escaping.”
Syd held up a hand. “Okay, let’s all hold on for a minute. Magistrate, maybe they disobeyed an order, but it was a damn good thing they did. The Foggy Day was attacked and burned, and my crew were taken captive. The enemy might still have us if not for the people around this table.”
They went on to tell the magistrate about Simon, his attacks, and the information they’d learned in Algon.
He listened in amazement. When the tale was done, he said, “Just so I understand, not only do we have a Barskall army waiting in the mountains to attack us, but we also have an Algonian army on their way? And a powerful fire-wielding wizard?”
“That’s about the size of it,” Abbey said. “Based on the information we gathered, the attack will be happening any day now. We need to be ready.”
“And this firehand… Simon, was it? What do we know about him?”
Abbey started to answer, but her father beat her to it.
“Not much,” Benjamin admitted. “He appeared out of nowhere to found this phony school. We think he’s Arcadian, but beyond that, he appears to have something against Holdgate based on the way he’s been attacking stormships.”
“Hmm.” The magistrate rubbed his chin.
Dustin shot Abbey a look. Even though he didn’t say a word, she knew what he was thinking. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t told Benjamin what they’d learned about Simon.
The guilt weighed heavily on her when she realized how many people in that room knew more about Simon than Benjamin did. Now he was giving incomplete information to the magistrate because he didn’t know the full story.
She promised herself she’d tell her father everything as soon as the meeting was over. No matter how painful it would be for him, he needed to know. He deserved to know.
They spent the next hour strategizing about how they could best defend the city. Simon and his firehands had burned four stormships that they knew of, and another five were still unaccounted for. That left only six stormships in Holdgate.
Based on what they knew the Barskall army and the Algonian army would both attack on land, but they had to prepare for the possibility that Simon had a naval attack planned as well. After all, he’d proven himself pretty effective against ships.
The magistrate paused a moment. “Look…the way I see it, we are as prepared as we can be for this. Between the city guard, the militia, and the stormship sailors, we have a pretty good chance even if they do have two armies.”
Captain Syd nodded. “The only thing that worries me is Simon and his firehands. I think we need a special team to watch for those assholes and take them down.”
“I’m special,” Abbey said quickly. “Wait, that sounded way more egotistical out loud than it did in my head.”
“You’re not wrong,” the magistrate said. “I’m thinking Abbey, Benjamin, and a few others can hunt these firehands. And everyone else,” he glared at Roy and Clemens, “will stay in their assigned positions. Do you understand?”
They both indicated that they did.
Abbey turned to Dustin. “What about you? Maybe you should be on the wall on the east side of the city, since that’s where the attacks will likely be the heaviest.”
“I worry about the seawater supply up there,” the magistrate said. “We can keep some basins of it up there, but if the enemy knocks them over you won’t be able to stormcall.”
The walls on the west side of the city—the sea side—were built with a trough of seawater along the top of them, but it wasn’t as easy to keep seawater flowing on the other side of the city.
Dustin hesitated a moment, then he sighed. “Ah, what the hell. I guess it’s time to come clean. I can stormcall without seawater, or any water at all.”
The magistrate’s eyes went wide. He was even more surprised when he realized no one else was reacting to this information.
“Sorry,” Dustin said. “I should have told you earlier, but after the thing with Captain Tor, I wasn’t sure who I could trust.”
“I’ll be drowned,” the magistrate exclaimed. “I didn’t know such a thing was possible.”
“Neither did I,” Dustin said with a grin, “until I did it.”
The rest of the meeting went quickly, with the group discussing high-level logistics. The magistrate said he’d call a meeting to discuss the plan with the Storm Captains and Storm Callers later that day, along with the head of the city guard. Then he dismissed them.
As they were leaving, Abbey walked up to her father and touched his arm.
He smiled when he saw her. “That went about as well as could be expected, right? And we get to work together on a special team to take out the firehands. Those idiots have no idea what we they’re up against. It almost makes me feel sorry for—”
“Hey,” she interrupted. “Do you think we could go back to your place for a little bit?”
He looked surprised. “Uh, sure. Why? Not that I mind or anything.”
She found she couldn’t meet her father’s gaze. “It’s just… We need to talk.”
* * *
When Benjamin arrived at his usual practice location the next morning, he was surprised to find someone waiting for him.
“Hello, Hekla.”
The Barskall woman nodded a greeting. He was surprised to see her face screwed up with emotion. She almost looked as if she’d been crying.
He’d never seen her show a single shred of emotion, other than amusement at s
omething humorous or anger in the heat of battle. He was caught a little off-guard, not just by her presence but by her emotional state.
“Are you all right?”
She glared at him. “Of course I’m all right. What would make you say otherwise?”
“Okay, sorry. Listen, if you want to be alone, I can come back later.”
For some reason that seemed to make her even more angry. “Let me ask you a question, blacksmith. Are you so put off by a little basic human emotion that you can’t stand to be in the same physical location as someone who might cry?”
He took a step backward. “Uh, no. I just didn’t think—”
“You didn’t think I could stand the shame of having a mighty warrior like yourself see me like this? Well, I have news for you: I came here specifically to watch you train. And you will train, blacksmith, or we will clash with more than words.”
He was so taken aback by her intense and bizarre reaction that he didn’t know how to respond. Finally he said, “In that case, you’re welcome to watch me practice.”
“Good,” she said sharply.
Benjamin shook his head and chuckled softly. He honestly couldn’t remember ever having exchanged a single word with this woman, and based on how this conversation was going he wouldn’t go looking for another opportunity to speak with her any time soon.
He took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. He liked practicing here in the mornings. The sound of the waves hitting the rocks below the wall soothed him. Also, he could conjure all the fire he wanted and throw it as hard as he wanted. All it would hit would be rocks and water.
Olaf usually joined him unless The Foggy Day was at sea. They’d practice together for well over an hour most mornings. The young man was on his way to becoming a skilled fire mage.
Benjamin paused. Was that why Hekla was here?
“I didn’t know you were interested in fire magic,” he said to her as he conjured a fireball. He let it grow until it was a bit larger than his head, then he threw it hard. It shot through the air trailing smoke, traveling twenty yards before it arced down toward the water.
“I’m not,” she replied, “at all. It’s crude and inaccurate, and that asshole Simon used it to burn my favorite ship.”
He conjured another fireball and reshaped it, turning it into a column of flame that stretched between his hands. Then he moved his hands in a spiral, and the fire spun out over the water. “Then why are you here?”
“Because it’s important to Olaf,” she stammered. “He talks about this practice time like it’s the best part of his day. Now that he’s missing, I guess I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”
Benjamin stopped conjuring and turned toward her. “I’m sorry about Olaf. Don’t give up hope. He’s probably with Fannar, Elliot, and Gideon. Those four can take care of themselves.”
“I haven’t given up. After losing Sigmund, I can’t imagine I’ll lose Olaf too. It just seems too cruel.” She paused for a moment. “Olaf says you practice up here because it’s peaceful. Is that true?”
He nodded. “Among other reasons.”
Hekla chuckled. “Ah, here’s where you Holdgatesmen are behind the Barskall. War isn’t peaceful. Battle isn’t peaceful. Why would you want your training to be?”
Benjamin thought about that a moment. “It’s a good question. Magic feeds on your emotions—or at least it can. It’s easy to conjure when you’re upset or angry or afraid, but it’s more difficult when things are calm. That’s why we practice here. If you can cast a fireball on a peaceful morning as you watch the sun rise over the city, you can do it anywhere.”
“I suppose that makes sense.”
He started to resume his practice, but then he turned to her again. “He talks about you, you know. A lot. Sometimes I can’t get him to shut up about how great you are.”
Hekla looked away. “That’s exactly the problem. He’s barely more than a boy, and he’s rushing into this. I’m ten years his senior, and he’d marry me in a second if I let him.”
“Sorry, I don’t see the problem here. You like him, right?”
“I do.” She thought for a moment. “Maybe a little too much. But the things I’ve seen, the things I did as a Tall Grass Raider… I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like the weight of the life I’ve lived would crush him if he knew the details. I know he comes off as arrogant, but he’s very innocent in his own way. He’s naive to the ways of the world outside Holdgate.”
“You’re telling me!” he said with a chuckle.
“I don’t want him to get hurt.”
Benjamin turned toward the sea and conjured a fireball. It was brighter than the others he’d cast that morning, and he knew why. The emotions were raging inside him. The things Hekla was saying reminded him of Lara.
His conversation with Abbey the previous afternoon had left him shocked. At first he hadn’t wanted to believe the things she told him, but the logical part of him had to admit it answered many of the questions he’d had for a long time.
Somewhere inside he’d always known Lara was too good at magic not to have put some serious time into practicing. And she’d known so much about the world outside Arcadia. He’d told himself it was just because she’d spent time as a servant in the homes of well-traveled nobles, but now he knew better.
“Hekla, may I give you some advice?”
The Barskall woman hesitated a moment, then nodded.
“If you care about Olaf, you run at that relationship with everything you have. Damn the consequences! Who cares what happened in Gren or that he’s younger than you? You’ve found each other, and that’s all that matters. Everything else is just distraction.”
Hekla stared at him a moment, then broke out in a wide smile. “I never took you for the romantic type, blacksmith.”
He turned back toward the water so she wouldn’t be able to see his flushed face. “It’s a rare affliction for me, and it usually passes quickly.”
“I think you’re right, though,” she said. “I’ll take my sword and use it to gut anyone who stands in the way of our relationship. Their blood will run freely at our wedding ceremony, filling the cups of all who wish us well.”
Benjamin scratched his head. “You’re quite the romantic too, Hekla.”
“I know,” she said proudly. “My mother used to say the same thing.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The alarm sounded two hours before dawn, startling Abbey awake. She was out of bed and out the door, sword in hand, in under three minutes.
She reached the center of town, where they’d agreed their team would meet, to find Benjamin waiting for her. She suddenly realized this was where the militia had gathered before the last battle in Holdgate, when Captain Tor had attacked.
“Took you long enough,” Benjamin said with a smile.
The other five members of their team, all former crew from The Foggy Day, including Hekla, arrived within the next five minutes.
“Okay,” Abbey directed, “let’s start on the east wall.”
They’d arranged it so that anyone who spotted a firehand would signal to them with a mirror, similar to the signaling system used on the stormships. That way they could constantly move to wherever they were needed most.
When they reached the top of the wall, they found the section where Dustin and most of The Foggy Day crew was stationed. Unlike the other stormship crews, Captain Syd’s team had been assigned a land-based position.
Dustin nodded a greeting when he saw them. The fighting had yet to begin, but they could see hundreds of torches approaching through the darkness below. The Algonian army had arrived.
Dustin turned to Abbey. “You know, the people we’re about to face were mostly tricked into joining this army. They probably don’t want to be here anymore than we do.”
Abbey put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I know, but they’re attacking our city. We have to defend ourselves. You can’t hold back.”
He nodded slowly. “I won’
t. I just felt like it needed to be said.”
They waited quietly for a few more minutes as the torches grew closer. Then a fireball flew from far below to strike the stone wall, and the fighting began.
“Archers!” Captain Syd called. “Nock!”
As the bowmen prepared to attack, so did Dustin. He closed his eyes and cast. Then the lightning struck.
Dustin brought down a bolt of lightning on the army below. Then another. Then a third. Even as the lightning continued, heavy hail began to pelt the army.
Abbey could see by the frantic movements of the torches that Dustin’s attacks were causing chaos.
The arrows, lightning, and hail might have thinned the enemy’s troops some, but it wasn’t enough to stop them. In a few short minutes they’d reached the wall and begun their attack in earnest.
Six quick flashes of light came from somewhere on the wall to the north of them.
“That’s the signal,” Abbey shouted. “Let’s go!”
Abbey and Benjamin led their team along the top of the parapet, moving quickly through the troops stationed there. Soon they heard swords clashing; a few Algonians had already managed to mount the wall.
They pushed their way through the fighting and reached the spot that had signaled for their help.
“Let’s go to work!” Benjamin called to his team. His sword burst into flame.
That part of the wall was thick with Algonians. Somehow, in the short time it had taken Abbey and her companions to get to the spot, the enemy had gained an advantage. It only took Abbey a moment to determine the reason.
Three firehands stood near the center of the fighting, their hands ablaze.
As Abbey raced toward them, one of the them threw a large fireball at a group of three Holdgatesmen. It hit one square in the chest and he careened backwards, tumbling off the wall. Two more fireballs quickly followed, and his companions joined him in death.
“Holy hell,” Abbey muttered. One firehand had taken out three soldiers in less than ten seconds. No wonder the Algonians were gaining an advantage.