Darkmask (Pharim War Book 5)

by Gama Ray Martinez

  Lina spoke softly, and Jez was sure only he could hear. “I hope.” Their eyes met. “Promise me you won’t get captured or killed.”

  Jez, uncomfortably aware that he and Lina had become the center of attention, nodded. “I promise.”

  He just hoped he wasn’t lying.

  CHAPTER 28

  Eleven beast mages took the form of great birds or giant bats. A boy with dark skin and raven black hair who seemed too young to where the robes of a full mage became a bee as large as a horse, while a mousy girl transformed into a winged lizard that looked uncomfortably like the dragon demon that had nearly killed Jez. He absently glanced over his shoulder at his wings, but of course, they were uninjured.

  Jez and Osmund shifted out of their mortal forms and into their otherworldly ones. They leaped into the air with the mismatched flock behind them. Including himself and Osmund, the power of thirteen mages pulsed within him, a full contingent. His skin tingled, and he even thought he could feel the power running through his robe. A part of him said that was only his imagination, but the rest of him wasn’t so sure. Jez had an immense amount of power at his fingertips.

  After a few minutes, the giant eagle form of Master Horgar rose above them and began leading the way. Some of the destruction mages beneath caused a wave of heat to rise up to them, and the fliers rode the thermal up. The ruined slope of the mountain passed beneath them in a blur, and soon a dark mist became visible over the top of the mountain. As they approached, Jez could only stare.

  It hadn’t been mist. The sky was alive with winged demons of every shape he could imagine. Some looked like disfigured birds or other flying animals, but others were like nothing that had ever flown in the skies of the mortal realm. They had three wings and blobs for bodies, or they had no wings at all and a body made of what looked to be liquid earth, shifting from obsidian to diamond and back again.

  Ziary gripped his arm. “We have to run.”

  “We didn’t come here to run,” Jez said.

  “We didn’t come here to fight either. We have to get to the library.”

  Though they were still dozens of yards away, one of the demons roared, and the others echoed the cry. Like a tide, they headed for Jez and his companions. Jez stared at the oncoming horde for a second before nodding. He waved a hand, and the beast mages surrounded him. Jez’s eyes locked onto the library. The yellow stone on the north side of the Academy stood out among the obsidian buildings that made up the rest of the city.

  “Stay beneath me!”

  Ziary nodded and flew down with the beast mages right behind him. Jez flew toward the library, drawing on the destructive energies granted by the contingent. Though the air was calm where Jez flew, the wind that blew above him could have ripped buildings from the ground and tossed boulders as if they were nothing. Any time a demon got too close, they were hurled away, often crashing into each other with enough force to destroy their physical forms. Ziary dealt with those few that got through, and in relatively short order, they had reached the library.

  They stopped directly above it. Every once in a while, a blue light would flash from around the building as land-bound demons attempted to pierce Besis’s wards. Even from so high above, Jez could sense it weakening. He drew deeply of Luntayary until he could barely stand the pain of the pharim’s energy burning through him. Then, he summoned every ounce of power he could from the contingent. The wind died as he focused the power into his hands until it congealed into a sphere of glowing red and blue energy. The colors swirled around each other. The air around the ball pulsed with power, and light bent around it. He knew he only had moments before the demons were on him. He hurled the working down and held his breath as it rushed toward the building.

  It splashed against a dome of green energy.

  For a second, Jez stared. He knew that working. Both Sharim and Dusan had used a similar defense. He could undo it if he just got close enough.

  “You always were predictable,” Sharim’s voice said from nowhere.

  Swiftly, Jez wove a ward against illusion. Sharim shimmered into view less than a hundred yards before Jez. He had his hands raised. The sky rumbled, and clouds materialized above them. Lightning split the sky and hit Sharim’s raised hands. It formed a ball of blue energy, though it only lasted for a second before shooting toward Jez. He lifted a hand and tried to raise a shield, but he wasn’t fast enough. It crashed into his chest and drove him back several feet. The air smelled of ozone and burned flesh, but Luntayary’s form was more resilient than a mortal body. He was hurt but managed to stay aloft.

  Before he had a chance to retaliate, the wind stirred. In moments, it was blowing with the strength of a hurricane. Some of the beast mages were being thrown about, and the demons, who had apparently waited for Sharim to make himself known, were closing in. They had seconds, at best.

  “Jez, you have to counter this!” Ziary cried out.

  Jez summoned the power of the other mages, but he was no destruction mage, and he had only the most basic idea of the workings of venta magic. Sharim’s gale swallowed up his working and grew even stronger. A hawk slammed against a bat, and the two fell, not moving.

  “Jez!”

  The demons were on them. The winds tossed the weakest of them about, but the rest seemed able to bear it. A green creature with a long face and razor teeth ripped into a red-plumed bird, and the magic within Jez waned.

  There was another flash of blue beneath him. He looked down and almost rejected the idea, but no better one presented itself. Controlling the weather as Sharim had done required a degree of control that Jez simply didn’t have. The contingent granted him raw power, but not the skill with which to use it. They had only intended for him to make an attack of brute force, not to lead them against a foe with millennia more experience than he. If they were to survive, he would have to act fast, and all he could think of was the brute application of force. He called the winds, not to counter Sharim’s working, but rather to tear both himself, and all those around him, out of the sky.

  The winds roared as Jez sent power into the air. They made Sharim’s working seem like a gentle breeze, and they threw everyone down. Jez tucked his wings and dove. The wind added to his speed as he plummeted to the ground. Jez struggled to grip his power. As they came close to Sharim’s shield, which he’d long ago learned to counter, Jez waved his hand. The shield shattered. They passed right through Besis’s barrier, but the demons weren’t so lucky. The protection master’s working flared to life as the creatures it had been intended to stop crashed into it. There was a surge of energy, and the demons were gone. Just before Jez and his companions crashed into the roof of the building, Jez threw his power against the stone, not to destroy it, but to change it.

  Jez hit first. The softened stone bent inward as if it were rubber. He cried out in pain. All around him, birds, bats, and insects crashed. There was a cracking of bones. Jez managed to get to his hands and knees. Some of the beast mages writhed in pain while others remained unmoving. Nearby, there was a hole where something had crashed through the ceiling.

  Jez crawled to the hole and peeked in to see Ziary’s form melting away to reveal Osmund, seemingly unhurt. He looked up, and his face went pale. Jez followed his gaze. Sharim flapped just above Besis’s shield, staring daggers at Jez. Jez managed a weak smile. They were safe. For now.

  CHAPTER 29

  Jez had killed them. He had led them into battle, and some of them had died. To make matters worse, two mages hadn’t survived the fall. He may not have wielded the magic that took the lives of the others, but his actions were directly responsible for the deaths of that pair. Only half of their original number remained.

  Horgar and the few beast mages without serious injuries ferried the rest of them down to the interior of the library. One of the fortunate aspects of transformation magic was that damage to the body was not maintained between forms, so once most of the mages returned to their human forms, the injuries they had suffered from the battle
and crashing into the library were wiped away. At least they were for those that could change back. Too many had died because Jez had failed.

  As soon as he got into the library, he plopped down on the ground and stared listlessly forward. He was dimly aware of Osmund trying to rouse him, but Jez couldn’t muster the will to respond. Eventually, Horgar and another mage in a contingent made their way to him. They healed the worst of his injuries, but still, he just looked forward. Horgar dismissed the other mage with a grunt and took Jez by the hand. The master led him to a bench, and they both sat. After a few minutes, Jez turned to him.

  “Are we safe?”

  “As safe as we can be in the middle of a demon occupied city. They’ll break in before too long. You should get some rest. Real rest, not mystical healing. You’ve had too much magic going through you recently, and even you have your limits.”

  Jez nodded and scanned the area. He was in a round room with a bench and a single table; one of the small reading rooms scattered throughout the library. A surge of protection magic brushed against the edge of his senses, and he guessed another demon had tried to get in. The wards were getting dangerously weak.

  “Is there any way to strengthen the wards?”

  Horgar shrugged. “You would know that better than I.”

  Jez thought for a second, glad for something to take his mind off of his guilt. He let out a breath. “I don’t suppose Besis left a copy of The Blood of Sariel here.”

  Horgar shook his head. “The most important books we’ve identified were taken. It’s possible that there’s another copy here somewhere, but if there is, I have no idea where.”

  “Where’s Osmund?”

  Horgar cleared his throat. “He’s out scouting. We’ll want as much warning as possible when the demons break through the barrier.”

  “Luven?”

  The shadow cast by the table lengthened and grew pitch black. The pharim stepped out of it and ghosted across the room until he stood next to Jez. “I’ve been trying to find a way to employ the defenses of the library against the demons without interfering with Andera’s human form. I’ve had no luck, I’m afraid.”

  Jez blinked at him. “The library’s defenses?”

  “Of course. The library was the premier center of learning in the world during a time when much of the land was cruel and savage. The Zandrans wanted it protected. The demons bypassed it last time by coming into the world from within the library itself. Had they been outside, they would’ve been hard pressed to enter.”

  Jez and Horgar went silent and stared at the pharim. He stood impassively until Jez found his voice.

  “What are these defenses?”

  Luven gave the impression he was grinning. “You know better than that. If I were to tell you, that would be interfering.”

  “But you can tell us they exist?”

  “I can tell you what I was doing. The conclusions you draw from that are your own business.”

  “You know, I’m starting to think you people just make up these rules as you go along.” He turned to Horgar. “Do you know anything about this?”

  “Nothing. If we’d known, we would’ve used them.”

  Jez nodded and struggled to his feet. The beast master tried to hold him down, but Jez shook him off. “Now that we know the information exists, can we find it?”

  Horgar’s eyes scanned the ceiling as he thought. “Perhaps. There’s a section on how the library was constructed. We were mainly concerned with finding ways to fight Sharim, and we didn’t pay much attention to it.”

  Jez nodded. “It’s as good a place as any to start.” He turned to Luven. “I don’t suppose you’d care to tell us what else you were doing so we could draw our own conclusions?”

  Again, there was that impression of grinning. “I was moving Marrowit’s cage to stop them from finding it.”

  “You can do that?”

  “So long as it’s only demons that search. Even then, I can’t move it far, only within the confines of the fire mountain. I won’t be able to keep it up forever, though. Andera has demons more powerful than I. If they detect my presence, they’ll be able to counter me.”

  “All right. Keep doing that.” He turned to Horgar. “Have the others go look for some sign of these defenses. I’ll...”

  Horgar cut him off. “Rest.”

  “But Master, I—”

  “Have been brought back from the brink of death three times in as many days. I don’t care who or what you are, you can’t sustain that. Even the combining of healing and beasts has its limits. We will search for the information. You will rest. If you don’t agree, I’ll bind your powers.”

  Jez’s jaw dropped. “But—”

  “I’d prefer not to do that. I have better things to do than stay here and maintain a shield, but I will if I have to.”

  Jez stared at the beast master. Unless special measures were taken, binding powers was temporary, but still to be threatened by it was almost unthinkable. He looked for some sign that Horgar wasn’t serious, but his gaze was as fierce as a bear protecting her young. Finally, Jez nodded.

  “I’ll rest.”

  Instantly, Horgar’s expressions softened. “Good. Now, I’ll see to the defenses.”

  He left, leaving Jez alone with the pharim. “Darkmasks specialized in divination, don’t they?”

  “Among other things.”

  “Can you see the future?”

  Luven shook his head. “Only glimpses. Even our power has its limits.”

  “Do you have a glimpse of how this will all turn out?”

  For a second, the shadows swirled around the Darkmask until Jez could barely see him. When they returned to normal, the pharim was shaking his head.

  “The future is hidden from me. There are too many possibilities.”

  Jez was quiet for several heartbeats. “Can we survive it?”

  “If there is a way, I cannot see it.” Jez let out a breath, and his shoulders slumped. Luven put a hand on his shoulder, and it felt like a breeze brushing against his skin. “Do you remember what Sariel told you about fighting evil the first time you met him?”

  “You mean when he saved Osmund and me from Dusan?” Luven nodded. Jez thought for a second. That had been two years before, but he doubted he’d forget that experience if he lived to be a hundred. “You don’t always fight evil because you think you can defeat it. You fight because evil needs to be fought.”

  Luven nodded and retreated into a nearby shadow. “I must go if I am to keep them from finding Marrowit’s cage. However this turns out, Luntayary, it has been good to once again fight by your side.”

  Then, Luven was gone.

  CHAPTER 30

  “It’s centered on the tower,” Horgar said as he came into the room Jez was in. “The runes were engraved into the stones around the brazier that housed the light of knowledge.”

  Jez pushed aside the book on countering protection magic and groaned. “The tower that we wrecked during a fight with Sharim?”

  Horgar nodded. “I’m afraid so. You might have disrupted them beyond use.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Luven said he was looking for a way to activate them without interfering. That means there has to be a way to activate them in the first place.”

  “If there is a way, we can’t find it. We’re still looking.”

  Jez got to his feet. He’d rested for over an hour, and while he still wasn’t anywhere near full capacity, he could, at least, walk in a straight line.

  “Where are you going?” Horgar asked.

  “To the tower.”

  “Why?”

  “To activate the defenses.”

  Horgar stopped. “Would you care to explain how?”

  Jez looked over his shoulder. “It has to be protection magic. Maybe it was just the runes that activate the defenses that were destroyed. Now that I know what to look for, I might be able to bypass that and turn them on.”

  Jez started walking again. The stairs to the
tower were located inside a wide pillar in the center of the library. It could only be accessed by opening a hole in the structure with terra magic, though some workings they hadn’t been able to identify would seal up any holes a few minutes after they were created. Besis was sure there was a way to get in using the native magic of the library, though he hadn’t been able to identify what that was.

  Jez laid a hand on the pillar, and the stone beneath his fingers gave way. He stumbled as he stepped inside. Horgar rushed after him. The beast master raised his hand. Using some working Jez was unfamiliar with, Horgar made his skin glow, illuminating the way.

  “Jezreel, you’re not strong enough for this.”

  Jez started climbing the spiral staircase. He spoke quietly. “How long do you think we have before they break through?”

  From above, there was a flash of blue. It was noticeably dimmer than it had been before. It barely registered against Jez’s protection sense. “I’m not sure. Maybe a few hours.”

  Jez shook his head as it pressed against his senses again. “I doubt it will last an hour. We have to do something if we’re going to survive.” Jez paused. “Unless you think the best option would be for us not to survive.”

  Horgar cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean we’re in the library. The whole reason we came was to destroy it. We can do that now. We should’ve done it when we got here. It would probably take down the defenses. We’d have to sacrifice ourselves, but we’d prevent Sharim from getting all this.”

  Horgar pursed his lips. “We’re not out of options just yet, boy. If this doesn’t work, we can do that, but we don’t actually need to destroy the building. Just the books. You told us that the first time you were here, Osmund set up runes to burn everything in case you needed to. Balud wouldn’t let us set a trap like that again. He was afraid it would go off accidently. If we activate the defenses and they give us more time, we might be able to set something like that up.”

  “Why wait?”