Ellen swallowed hard and reached to her skirt, pulling out a small blue-white ball of light and raised it toward Ophidian. Even as she did so, she cried, “There’s something wrong with it!”
“Yes,” Ophidian agreed gravely. “I’m afraid there is.” He knelt down on both knees in front of the little girl. “Actually, I’m surprised that there are still here with you.”
“I would have sent them to the captain, to tell him about what was happening but there hadn’t been anything… until now,” Ellen said in a defensive rush of words, a worried look on her face.
“Did you know that Captain Ford was sworn to Arolan?”
“The god of water?” Ellen asked. When the dragon-god nodded, Ellen shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”
“He has fulfilled his oath,” Ophidian said gravely, glancing up toward Rabel and Jarin in warning. He gestured toward the little demon. “The demon is freed of its bond to him.”
“Freed?” Ellen repeated, confused. “But why is it still here then? And why didn’t the captain tell me himself?”
“Because he couldn’t, child,” Rabel said, kneeling down behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders.
“He couldn’t?” Ellen said and then — with a sob — she said, “Is he dead?”
“He was taken by Death and given to the Ferryman,” Ophidian said, nodding slowly. He glanced up to Rabel and Ibb. “He showed great courage. It surprised me.”
“Arolan is free?” Ibb asked. When Ophidian nodded, the metal man began, “And the —”
“There are some things that should not be spoken at this time,” Ophidian said, standing up once more. He looked down to Ellen. “I am glad he trusted you, young Ellen.”
“He was kind to me,” Ellen said in a small, lost voice. “I was an orphan, I had nothing.”
“He was much the same,” Ibb said, “long ago when I first met him.” The metal man creaked his head toward Ophidian. “I am glad to hear that he kept his oath. The sea god has been distracted from his duties for too long.”
“I came only because I felt you near, brother,” Ophidian said, turning to the earth god. He turned back to the three human forms, adding, “And because I wished you to know that they were sworn to me.”
“And through this little one — Ellen Zebala — to me in turn,” Geros said, stretching out a hand toward Ellen.
“Ellen Ford,” Ellen said firmly. She turned around to glance up to Rabel. “If you don’t mind?”
“Of course not,” Rabel said, tousling her hair. “It’s only fitting.”
Ophidian gave her a strange look, his eyes going brighter, before nodding. “I will tell my brother, he will be pleased.” He nodded once more to Geros, saying, “I shall see you soon.” And then he vanished.
“Well, then,” Geros said into the stunned silence, “I think we’ve got the oaths all sorted.” He nodded to Rabel, Ellen, and Jarin. “And now, I think it’s time you learned some earth magic.”
“We shall be honored,” Rabel said dropping to a knee. Ellen and, a moment later, Jarin, followed suit.
Chapter Seven
“I don’t like spies,” Colonel Walpish said as he surveyed the grubby man on horseback in front of him. The man had come down from the mountain and none of Walpish’s troops had seen him until he’d turned up in the middle of their camp.
“That’s the same with me,” Jenthen Barros said, spitting into the snow to the side of his horse. His spit colored the ground brown so Walpish guessed that the man made a habit of chewing on herbs or such like. “Killed five of them just the past two days, truth be known.”
“So why are you here?”
“Lord Hewlitt told me to come down and meet with you,” Barros replied. “Let you know the lay of the land, pick up some fresh arrows and grub.”
“He’d warned me that he’d placed spies on the far side of Korin’s Pass,” Walpish admitted with obvious distaste.
“Had to, to keep them from reporting north and rousing their army,” Barros agreed tersely. “But I’m out of arrows and could do with some grub as well.”
“Very well,” Walpish said, gesturing for one of his aides. “I’ll see that you’re taken care of.”
“Don’t you want my report?”
“Didn’t you give it already?” Walpish replied.
Barros chewed on his herb a moment more, spat down again, and bobbed his head. “I guess I have at that.”
#
“We should be seeing the airships any moment now,” Walpish said to his gathered lieutenants early the next morning.
“How many, sir?” Lieutenant Marless asked.
“Two at the outset,” Walpish said. “But I’m told that one by itself captured two warships some weeks back.”
“And then, sir?” Ensign Berry asked anxiously.
“We wait for the fort to fall,” the colonel replied, “and move through the pass. By then the musketeers will have arrived and they and the pioneers will complete the passage to the north.”
“And once we’re through and the infantry are with us, we head west,” Lieutenant Marless said with a fierce grin. “And we’ll trap the Sorians between us and the General coming up from Sea Pass.”
“Exactly,” Walpish said, clapping the young lieutenant on the back. “There’ll be plenty of loot for all of us.”
Marless nodded to the young ensign, “No doubt the king will make you Baron Berry!”
“And you Count Marless,” ensign Berry returned with a grin. He turned to Colonel Walpish. “Duke Walpish, sir?”
“First, we take the pass,” Walpish said sternly. “After that, we’ll see.”
#
“She needs food!” Queen Diam shouted angrily when she caught sight of Ellen and the way she was shaking.
“That’s not it, your majesty,” Jarin said, “it’s the charge she’s holding.”
“Is it too much?” Diam asked, giving the dragon-lad a wide berth.
“We have to get it out of her soon, your majesty,” Rabel said in a strained voice. “We all need to do it.”
“The slabs are in place,” Granno said. “All that’s needed is the word and we can start charging them.”
“Ibb and Hamo are supposed to be talking with the garrison commander,” Diam said testily. “What is taking them so long?”
“We won’t have much choice, soon,” Rabel said, nodding toward Ellen. “She’ll have to release her charge or she’ll die.”
“I’m afraid Geros didn’t consider your mortality when he taught you the spells,” Diam said with a worried look toward the little girl. “Perhaps Ophidian shouldn’t have praised you so highly.”
“We’re almost there,” Granno said as they made their way through the underground caves. “They can release their spells the minute they get to the metal.”
There were thirty-six inert slabs of high-grade steel all placed strategically in a pair of concentric circles under the base of the East Fort Pass. All they needed were their magnetic charges and they would repel each other, forcing the fort and the earth on which it rested to rise into the sky.
“We don’t want to raise the fort too early,” Rabel warned. “If the airships see it too early, they’ll not attack.”
“Isn’t that the point?” Granno asked.
“If they think they can defeat the fort and learn otherwise, they’ll think twice before attacking again,” Jarin said, nodding toward Rabel.
They had discussed the plan and revised the plan several times in the past few days. Geros, in particular had added twists that neither Rabel nor Ibb had considered, although, to be fair, neither of them had known the sort of magic the earth god could teach them.
Geros seemed delighted to surprise the metal man and almost as delighted to discover that of the three of them, Jarin was the most adept.
“It’s
easy enough,” Geros had said, rubbing his hands in glee. “When metal cools in alignment with the earth, it takes a magnetic charge.”
“If it’s hammered when aligned with the north, it will do the same thing,” Ibb had said.
“Ah! But that’s forcing what comes naturally,” Geros had said. He glanced to Rabel. “You’d charged the magnets and were going to transfer the charge to Ibb.” Rabel nodded in agreement. Geros shook his head. “That won’t work.”
“It won’t?”
“The charge would be too great, even if you could transfer it,” Geros said. “Even our metal man here would be hard-pressed to keep the north magnet in one hand from slamming into the south magnet in the other.”
“If we did it one magnet at a time?” Ellen had asked.
“It might work but you’ve got thirty-six magnets,” Geros said, shaking his head. He chuckled. “No, this way is much better!”
“It is?” Rabel had said.
“It is, and you each know half of it already,” the earth god agreed gleefully.
It had taken over a day for the god to teach the spell to the three. Jarin found it the hardest to learn, Ellen the easiest but, surprisingly, Rabel was the strongest.
And so now they were making their way, charged up with their first spells, ready to magnetise the steel slabs that had been placed by the Zwerg in the chambers mined under the fort.
The spells were exhausting so they had agreed that they’d charge themselves up with all the necessary spells and release them all at once.
Only now, it seemed that the spells were too much for little Ellen. Her teeth were chattering and little spurts of lightning sprang from one finger to the other.
“Is she supposed to do that?” Diam asked worriedly. “She’s almost glowing with the power.”
“So are they,” Granno said, pointing to Rabel and Jarin.
“I imagine we must look quite a sight,” Rabel said with a strained grin.
“Your teeth are glowing,” Diam said by way of agreement.
#
“Where are they?” Colonel Walpish muttered testily as he and his men scanned the skies at sunset. The airships had been expected all day and he’d had his men stand to for most of it. They were now all tired and listless in their saddles, murmuring quietly to themselves as the sun crept to the horizon on the west.
“Maybe the wind held them up,” Lieutenant Marless suggested.
“I thought they could sail against the wind,” ensign Berry said.
“But a harsh wind will push against them and it will take more time,” Marless replied.
“Wherever they are, it will be dark soon,” Colonel Walpish said. He shook his head sourly. “And we can’t see them with the sun in our eyes.”
“Can they attack at night?” Berry asked.
“I don’t know if they’ll be able to see their target,” Walpish grumbled. He turned to the mountains and the dim lights of the fort in the far distance and then turned back to his officers. Bitterly he said, “Have the men stand down.”
#
“It’ll be too dark to see,” Captain Nevins grumbled as he scanned the skies to the north.
“As you say, sir,” Lieutenant Garrett said. “Although we should be able to pick up any torches they light as the night falls.”
“Can you fire at torches?” Nevins growled.
“Actually, sir, if the weather holds, we might just be able to do that,” Garrett replied.
“Won’t that be a surprise for them!” Nevins chuckled. “Iron will be falling on them from the sky and they won’t have a clue how.”
“They’ll think the gods are angry,” Garrett agreed.
“And they’ll be half right, I’m sure,” Nevins said. He gestured peremptorily to someone in the distance. The figure approached warily. “And how are you today, mage?”
“Please sir, I’m just an apprentice,” Tortin Borkis replied, ducking his head nervously.
“You’re better than that fat-headed lout on Vengeance,” Nevins said, gesturing to the airship that followed along behind — and below them. “Mage Tirpin is not half the man you are, lad.”
Borkis gave Warrior’s captain a doubtful look.
“You’ve only to see how much higher our Warrior is in the sky to know that, lad,” Nevins said. “That mage back there might think he knows a thing or two but you are showing him up.”
“He’s helping, sir,” Borkis said, swallowing nervously. “I’m only adding my magic to his.”
“And he doesn’t suspect a thing,” Nevins chuckled. “He thinks he’s doing it all himself.”
“On deck!” the lookout shouted from above. “Lights to the north!”
Nevins turned to the sound and grabbed a telescope from the cabinet near the helm. “I’m going forward.”
#
“Lie still!” Queen Diam ordered when Ellen opened her eyes and struggled to rise to her feet. “You fainted.”
“I did?” Ellen repeated. She struggled again. “I didn’t mean to.”
“No, of course not,” Diam agreed. “Nor did Rabel or the dragon but they fainted all the same.”
“Are they all right?”
“Yes,” Jarin’s voice came to her ears from somewhere close by. “Rabel took it the worst, being the oldest.”
“And carrying the most spells,” Rabel’s voice added testily.
“I could have taken three more,” Jarin replied.
“I wanted you to save your strength,” Rabel reminded the dragon-man.
“Drink this,” Granno said from beside Ellen, thrusting a mug into her hands. Ellen sat up, aided by the queen and heard the other two do the same by the rustling of their clothes.
“That was close,” Rabel said after a moment. He glanced around and looked above him, his eyes going wide. “Did we do it?”
“Can you not feel the stones straining to break free?” Granno asked in surprise. “It will only take the least —”
“But they’re held for the moment?” Rabel asked, his voice full of worry.
“For the moment,” Queen Diam agreed. She glanced around the large cavern that had risen between the two sets of magnets. She glanced down to Ellen. “Can you stand?”
Ellen considered the notion and rose slowly to her feet. Diam raised a hand up to support her.
“We’ve got eighteen of the thirty-six magnets charged,” Rabel said, rising to his feet and nodding to Jarin. “We’ll need to know when to charge the final half.”
“Ibb said something about a signal,” Granno said dubiously.
“Until then, can you three rest?” Diam asked. She looked over to Ellen as she added, “I’ve sent Imay and Missy to get some comforters.”
“That would be a good idea,” Rabel said. “But we should also eat and prepare our spells.” He glanced upward at the gleaming bands of metal above him. “We can’t say how soon we’ll need them.”
#
“I’ve heard of you,” Ellas said to Ibb. He glanced to Hamo Beck. “You vouch for him?”
“I do,” Hamo said with a curt nod. “I’ve known him most of my life.”
“They say that you don’t die,” Ellas said to the metal man.
“I’ve heard it said as well,” Ibb replied.
Captain Ellas Berold snorted in amusement. “And what is it, metal man, that has driven you to climb all the way up here this night?”
“You are going to be attacked,” Ibb said.
Ellas shook his head. “Not tonight,” he swore. “Any guns powerful enough to reach us we’d would have seen hours ago.” He gestured to the other two and they began climbing to the heights above the thick walls of the fort built into the peak of the eastern hill of the pass.
“They will not be coming where you look,” Ibb said as he clanked his way up the steps.
“What if the guns that fired on you were higher?” Ibb asked.
“Higher?” Ellas repeated in surprise. He looked above them. “This is the highest point right where we stand.”
“What if you could be higher?” Ibb asked.
“And how do you propose we do that?” Ellas demanded. He stuck his thumbs under his armpits and flapped his arms. “Fly?”
“No… float,” Ibb said.
“Hamo,” Ellas said turning angrily to the mayor of Korin’s Pass. “Why did you bring this clanking fool to waste my time?”
“Sir, sir!” A sentry shouted from the highest tower. He pointed south into the gathering gloom. “I saw something!”
“Well, what is it?” Ellas demanded irritably.
“It… it looked like ships!” the man said.
“Ships in the sky?” Ellas roared. “Sergeant of the guard! Have that man relieved he must be —”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Duck,” Ibb ordered, pushing both the captain and the mayor beneath him.
“We’re being attacked!” Captain Berold cried, ducking out from under the metal man. “Man the walls! Prepare the cannon! Fire at will!”
“I’m afraid that won’t do any good,” Ibb said from above him.
“Why not?”
“Because the ships are in the air, above you and firing down,” Ibb replied. “Your guns cannot reach them.”
Ellas went to the wall and looked up into the darkening sky. He turned back to Ibb and Beck even as the first of his gun crews rushed to their stations.
“What do we do?” Ellas asked the metal man.
“We must rise to the occasion,” Ibb replied, lifting a hand, palm out, upwards.
#
“Well done, hit them again!” Captain Nevins roared as the first broadside fell on the fort below. He could see large chunks of stone — and a few soldiers — fall down to the valley below. “We’ve got them right where we want them!”
Not too far away, the guns of Vengeance flamed in the night.
Twin Soul Series Omnibus 2: Books 6-10 Page 21