by Jim Hodgson
In the distance, the throwing giants had plodded into view. There were only two of them and one of them shuffled along as though on death’s door. But, as Aysu had said, one would be enough.
The fireball arced overhead and landed within the city walls. Ozel heard the sounds of falling timber and masonry plus shouts and screams of terror, but didn’t pry his eyes away from the attacking Yetkin. He and the other mages used fire spells on the ladders the Yetkin were using to scale the city walls, but in some cases the attackers were so mad with rage that they managed to climb to the top of the wall despite the flames. Once, the defenders were obliged to abandon a section of the wall to deal with a small pack of Yetkin who had climbed over, but returned to their posts when the attackers had been killed, only to find an even larger bunch had raised a few more ladders.
The fireballs overhead were coming steadily now. They weren’t accurate, but they didn’t need to be. The fires they started would do the work their accuracy didn’t. The next one to loop high overhead was a perfect hit on the main gate of the city, blasting the wooden doors to splinters. The flames drove the gate defenders back, and when these subsided, they could see that the iron inner gates hung slack on their hinges as well. Yetkin warriors, mad with rage and sensing all the blood they could want close at hand, flung themselves at the gates despite the heat. They screamed with the pain of the fire even while clawing at the iron bars and climbing inside.
“Ozel!” Aysu shouted. “Look!”
He followed her finger. In the distance there was a beam of what looked like magic. It swept side to side, then back again. Ozel thought he saw one of the throwers heaved into the air. What could do that?
The beam was moving forward faster than any man could run, that was for sure. It was cleaving its way through the Yetkin horde, sweeping this way and that like a scythe, destroying dozens at a time as it charged. The screams of the dying Yetkin were enough to pause the headlong assault of the attackers as they heard their comrades dying behind.
As the beam came into view, Ozel could see that it appeared to be some kind of controlled lightning emanating from what looked like the end of a sword — and that sword was being wielded by Ergam Sakir.
“The Koksal steel,” Aysu breathed.
Ozel looked down again and saw Ergam dispatch a half-moon of Yetkin attackers as though he were sweeping so many crumbs off a tablecloth.
A cheer went up. It was feeble at first, but gained strength as Ergam was singlehandedly breaking the advance of the Yetkin. Some of the smarter ones were running in the direction of the tunnel. Ozel and Aysu fought on, clearing the wall of the Yetkin who had been about to climb up, and setting fire to the ladders. They ran through the city from street to street, helping anyone they found fighting. No more Yetkin climbed the walls or tore through the gates.
When they’d secured the city, Aysu used her hammer to bash the iron gates aside. She and Ozel walked out of Dilara to find a scene of destroyed Yetkin as if it had rained and every drop had been a beast.
In the distance, Ozel could see a lone figure looking out across the sea.
Chapter 48
Ergam didn’t turn around as Ozel approached, which Ozel figured meant that he was waiting for his moment, given that Ergam had probably been able to hear him approaching for a few minutes. A sword was stuck into the ground. Actually, on second glance, Ozel noticed that it had been plunged into a rock. That had to be the instrument of magic that had brought the Yetkin to their end.
Ergam was looking out over the waves. His magical mask was dirty. The expression on it revealed nothing. His arms were crossed.
Ergam turned, gave Ozel an odd smile. “I’m glad you’re the first one to speak to me,” he said.
Ozel wasn’t sure how to respond. “Well, you are my best friend. Especially now that you’re the savior of Dilara and all.”
Ergam said, “I’m not proud of the way I’ve behaved. After my father died, I felt ...” he paused, again looking out across the ruined defensive walls and destroyed Yetkin throwers to the waves for answers. “I don’t know what I felt. Just useless.”
Ozel smiled. “Well, look at it this way. You just killed thousands of evil assholes who were bent on wiping all your friends off the map. That’s hardly useless.”
Ergam huffed a laugh and nodded.
“So,” Ozel said. “How’d you do that, anyway? Where’d you get that sword?”
Ergam reached down and withdrew the sword from the boulder. He gave it a flick as he held it up and it revolved in the air, tiny tongues of lightning licking along its length. He caught it again. “Pretty fucking great sword, eh?”
Ozel realized he was cringing. “Ye gods, be careful, man. You’ll slice the world in half.”
Ergam laughed again. This time, the laugh sounded a little better, as if he was relearning how to do it. “I’d better go help the hill people. They’re probably fighting the Yetkin up near the tunnel.”
“Help the hill people?” Ozel asked.
“Long story. I’m kind of their savior too, I think.”
“You what?”
Ergam shook his head that there was no time for that now. He pointed with his sword. “Can I assume from the giant glass bowl in the middle of the battlefield that Wagast is gone?”
Ozel nodded. “He took the Yetkin wizard with him.”
“I envy him an honorable death,” Ergam said. “Aysu okay?”
Ozel nodded.
“Good,” Ergam said. “She’s my favorite, but you’re a close second.” He grinned, then winked, and took off at a run toward the tunnel with the speed only the undead could manage.
Ozel shook his head. Ergam. What an enigma.
Chapter 49
It took days to deal with all the dead Yetkin and to bury the defenders. The magical poison that had been affecting many of them, however, began to dissipate when Yordam was destroyed. No small number of people who had thought they were on death’s door began to recover.
Kadin knew that she should have been helping the cleanup operation. She had organized bucket brigades and helped clear damaged construction debris, but had, admittedly, dodged most of the work. She felt a little ashamed that the entire city was working as one and she was nowhere to be seen, but there was something more important she had to do.
She wasn’t the most quiet of people in the world, but when she wanted to she could move reasonably silently. Certainly much quieter than a living person, since she didn’t need to breathe. Inside the burned-out house she moved herself into position in the gloom using the hubbub of the city recovering its dead and preparing for the royal wedding. She lowered herself until she was squatting against a half-destroyed wall and waited.
After nearly a day of sitting motionless she began to wonder if she might have made a mistake. But no, she hadn’t.
On the second day after the battle, the city began to return to normal. Still, she waited. It was deeply relaxing to her, if she was completely honest with herself. She could hear people walking in the street, talking to one another, making plans for the coming feast. She thought she even heard Post’s voice once. He was probably looking for her. Ah, well. He’d survive.
The day turned to night and a cool settled over the city. She could hear a bell tolling somewhere, probably on the river. She felt a calm so deep it was as if she was swimming in it. Why didn’t she do this more often? Just sit and wait for a few days like this? Especially if she went up in the mountains. She could watch the snow collecting between the—
There was a cracking sound. The burned floorboards lifted a bit, but they had been damaged in the fire and didn’t open as smoothly as they must have before. There was a heavy thump from underneath, another. The boards were open enough now that whomever or whatever was trying to open them must be able to see out of a crack.
A man’s head appeared. He looked around, swept his eyes across where Kadin waited. He didn’t see her because she was so utterly still in the darkness. Almost, she thought.
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br /> The man climbed out of the hole in the floor, and Kadin sprang from her hiding place. She landed with her feet on the trap door and at the same time shoved the man forward. He went sprawling. She leapt backwards and then, as she’d planned, put her full weight behind a heavy bookcase against the nearby wall. It was already leaning over. All she needed to do was give it a little nudge.
The trap door was opening again. As she’d feared, an extramortal was climbing out. If she had to fight both of them it would be a problem. Why hadn’t she asked someone to help her? Because no one could wait like she could. And she wanted full credit all to herself.
The bookcase wasn’t moving as she’d hoped. A cold spike of fear shot through her heart as she realized it might be nailed to the wall. But then it gave a creak. The extramortal crawling from the hole was nearly out now. Her plan to catch these two assholes and cement her position as the head of the City Watch was unraveling. She pushed even harder. Pushed for herself, for her pride, for her safety, for the memory of her father. She screamed with the effort and the bookcase finally toppled. It smashed down on the extramortal trying to get himself free of the hole. He’d been hindered by a giant rucksack on his back. He was trapped. Not dead, but certainly pinned.
She didn’t want to kill another extramortal — even one who was bent on killing her — unless she absolutely had to. It wouldn’t even trouble her terribly if, when the city guards got back to this house, they found the extramortal gone.
The living man was trying to stand and yelled, “Tig!” But then seemed to realize he was in big trouble if he didn’t get going. He scrambled to get his feet under him. Kadin aimed a kick at his ass that sent him sprawling again, then got her hands into his coat and shirt and half-dragged, half-kicked him out the door and down the street. It wasn’t easy going. She was far stronger than the man, but he had a weight advantage. She had to kick his legs out from under him once or twice. Maybe three times.
But the sweetest part was when he offered her gold if he’d let her go. “Please, I can pay you handsomely.”
She laughed in spite of herself. “You know, I thought I’d never hear those words,” she said.
The revolting man smiled conspiratorially. “So, we can come to an agreement?” His face was smudged with soot.
She laughed again. “Of course not. I just love it that you tried.”
His expression fell. He actually looked a little hurt. Then he tried to run again, and she tripped him once more. This time he fell at the feet of one of the city’s guards.
When they arrived at the palace, the future Queen Elgin was sleeping, but the king squinted at her catch. At last he said, with a rising tone, “Torus Gonul?”
Torus Gonul cowered.
“But why?” Usta asked. His face showed genuine puzzlement. Kadin would have thought the answer obvious. This Torus Gonul person was a disgusting shit of a man who thought he was owed something. Most likely, that something had been denied him when the extramortals were freed from slavery. So, long story short, most likely, in Kadin’s opinion, he could go fuck himself.
Whatever conviction had led Gonul to attempt to kill his king and future queen, it fled him when called to answer for it. He just hung his head and wept. The guards took him away in irons.
Usta sighed. He stared at the marble floor a moment, then looked up and met Kadin’s eye. “How did you find him?”
“Cats, Your Majesty,” Kadin said. “He had a lot of cats. But when his home caught fire he hid himself and left the cats to fend for themselves. So, he had lots of cats, but no love for them.”
Usta looked confused. “Cats?” Then it seemed to dawn on him. “To keep Yonca’s spiders away.”
“Quite right, Your Majesty.”
Usta nodded to himself. “Well, we owe you a debt of gratitude for this. What can the Kingdom of Dilara offer you?”
Kadin knew exactly what she wanted.
“I think you should ask for more than that,” Usta said. “We desperately need a captain of the watch. Asking for that is actually doing me a favor.”
Kadin shrugged. “That’s what I want, Your Majesty.”
“Think on it a while,” he said. “Perhaps something more will come to you.”
Chapter 50
Ergam was back in time for the wedding. Aysu was thrilled that her Koksal steel sword had become something after all and promised to make Ergam a proper pommel and guard for it.
The hill people viewed Ergam as their king. A small retainer of them followed him wherever he went, which required a bit of smoothing over given that the hill people had done everything they could to kill Yonca for many years, plus Ozel, Aysu, and the extramortals who had worked on the Sakir tunnel. They seemed more content and a lot less warlike now that they had a leader.
“I commanded them to be nice,” Ergam explained. “The little fuckers do get feisty.”
The royal wedding was held on the steps again, but this time security was much tighter. It probably helped that everyone was still exhausted from the fight for their lives against the Yetkin.
As they watched Usta and Elgin saying their vows, Aysu squeezed Ozel’s hand. She was looking at him in a significant way and it didn’t take a master wizard to figure out what she might be signifying. Well, that was no problem. He’d been thinking along those lines since she’d planted a kiss on his cheek on a dusty road to nowhere all those years ago.
After the service, as the townspeople prepared a city-wide feast, they walked out to the depression in the earth that marked Wagast’s passing. It was a perfectly round bowl with glassy smooth sides. No one had ever seen the likes of it before.
Ozel had hired some help to raise the bowl out of the earth and place it, tilted slightly, on a plinth. Otherwise, water and dirt would collect in it and it would be buried. He wanted the shrine to Wagast’s sacrifice to be visible to everyone for all time. In the end, he’d had to get his mages to help him lift the thing due to its enormous weight, but they managed it.
The carving on the lower stone read, “Here Lies Wagast the Wise. Master Wizard, Mentor, Beloved.”
Aysu hugged him as he read the words, his eyes stinging a little. There was a breeze from the sea and, placing his chin atop Aysu’s head, he looked out past the shore. Like the sky, there were oranges and reds on the water, but the day’s ocean swell was settling. In an hour or two, when the moon rose, it would be over a calm sea.
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed the Ozel the Wizard trilogy. This is the end of this series, obviously, but I have a few further ideas in mind so we may see these characters again. Thank you so much for coming with me so far!
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