by Drew Wagar
Already the Amarans were disembarking. Crenech and Zoella could see dozens of them stepping out of the large personnel transport.
Zoella spied Senator Janaid standing before the other Amarans. She walked towards him, Crenech keeping pace beside her.
‘Senator Janaid,’ Zoella called out in greeting. He stepped forward and took her outstretched hand in his. ‘It is good to see you.’
‘We are pleased to be here,’ Janaid replied. ‘I have brought as many as I could, the thoughts of all the people of Amar are with you and they wish you well.’
Zoella smiled.
‘May I introduce Lord Crenech,’ she said. ‘It is he who has safeguarded Scallia.’
Janaid bowed to Crenech and they shook hands. ‘Princess Zoella tells me the Amarans fought bravely against the priestesses.’
‘We fought them off,’ Janaid said. ‘In no small part due to …’ He paused. ‘Princess Zoella?’
Zoella smiled. ‘A long story and one we don’t have time for now. Bring your people within the city,’ she said. ‘They must rest. We don’t know when the priestesses are coming. The attack could happen at any moment.’
* * *
Nerina looked up as a knock came on the double doors before her. She was sitting in her customary place, the ornate chair within the temple hall of the priestesses.
‘Enter.’
The doors swung open, revealing one of the junior priestesses. Nerina recognised one of Merrin’s administrators, one tasked with sending messages about their realm. The priestess bowed low before straightening and walking towards Nerina.
‘What is it?’
‘High Priestess. It may be nothing,’ the priestess said, her voice unsure. ‘I thought it wise …’
‘Out with it,’ Nerina said, her voice sharp.
‘We cannot contact Priestess Amrit, High Priestess.’
‘Amrit?’ Nerina said, with a frown. ‘She was stationed in Viresia was she not?’
‘Yes, High Priestess.’
Viresia … in Scallia!
‘When did you last hear from her?’
‘Two stretches ago, High Priestess. Nothing was amiss, she was searching the towns and hamlets thereabout for any girls who might have been hidden. Since then …’
Nerina nodded.
‘You’ve done well, leave it with me.’
The young priestess bowed and left, the doors closed behind her.
Amrit knows her duty, for her not to report means …
Nerina recalled the memory of the city; the battle there, the death of the king, the prince, the discovery of Liana and the boy from Amar.
The maid, Zoella! She must be there, torn Amrit! But why there? She was bound for Amar, why would she return to that city? Yet, if that’s where she is, so much the better! I will not need a fleet to cross the sea, I can take her now …
Nerina was on her feet in a moment, stretching her mind out in a furious imperative.
Assemble our riders, saddle our dachs! We fly to battle once more! Viresia is in revolt, we will punish them for their insolence!
The nexion flashed and sparkled around her. She felt the priestesses in the temple hear her command and spring into action.
But then, the nexion twisted away, there was something else, another presence. Nerina recognised it.
You …
* * *
The stretch came to an end. Preparations continued, but the urgency seemed less as the spells progressed. Food, weapons, the flying machines – everything was ready. The mood in the city changed from mild panic to a watchful restlessness.
There was no sign of the priestesses.
The fastest riders had been dispatched sunwards to all the major towns in Scallia that might have been in the path of the priestesses attack. They all reported the same.
Nothing.
Zoella brought them all together in the throne room atop the city. Crenech was deep in conversation with Janaid. Kiri sat with Meru, both looked exhausted and ready to sleep after spending the entire stretch training the archers of Scallia. Gemma sat alongside Joachim, stifling a yawn.
‘Where are they?’ Joachim asked. ‘They must know by now, surely?’
‘It is a good question,’ Zoella said.
The conversation around her faded as everyone turned their attention to her.
‘Preparations?’ she asked.
‘All but complete,’ Crenech answered. ‘Now that the Amarans are here, except for a few additional stores of food, the odd soldier still en route, we’re as ready as we can be.’
‘Thank you all,’ Zoella said. ‘You have worked so hard in the service of the city. Viresia stands proud regardless of the outcome of the battle to come. When they come.’ She turned to Kiri. ‘What do you think?’
Kiri shrugged. ‘I would not expect them to give warning, there will be no negotiation. They will just attack when they are ready. Perhaps it has taken longer for Nerina to prepare than we thought. If I had a dach, I’d fly out and take a look …’
‘We could use a flying machine,’ Meru said. ‘Fly sunward, see if we can find them.’
Zoella thought about it.
‘I have a better idea,’ she said, closing her eyes.
‘Zoella … no, wait …’
Zoella held up a hand.
‘I will find her and I will goad her,’ she said. ‘If she wants me, she’s going to have to come and get me.’
Zoella concentrated, her hands clenching with the effort, her brow creased. She summoned her thoughts and sent them out in as strong an emanation as she could muster.
Nerina!
There was nothing but an echoing silence.
Nerina! You know me. I am Zoella, Princess of Scallia. I stand within the city of Viresia. I have despatched your priestesses and reclaimed my home. Scallia is mine, you will not pass its borders …
A sting wave of pain slammed into her, buffeting her mind and making her reel backwards in shock. She heard faint voices around her, but she rallied and pushed back. Then the voice came.
Princess? You are no princess. You’re a scullery maid. I have seen your thoughts, your memories. You are a vagrant, a slum-dwelling scum with ideas beyond your station. You think you can stand against me, but you are wrong and you will soon learn the error of your ways. Scallia will pay the price for your arrogance! Those within your precious city will be slain before your eyes, only then will I take your gift from you. I am Empress! Empress of Esurio!
Zoella cried out as pain crushed in around her mind, but she struggled against it as she had done before.
You will not have me, you will not have any of us. We are not defenceless. You have been beaten before, we will beat you again. You do not know who I am. I am truly Princess Zoella of the house Tiamoi, daughter of Myana, granddaughter of King Marek and niece to King Ioric. For long rounds my people have kept our gifts from you and no more will Scallia bow the knee to Drayden. Nor will Drem or Taloon. Your reign as Empress is over before it begins!
Fury screeched around her, unbridled hostility washed over her like acid, burning and scalding. Nerina’s rage buffeted at her, but before she could respond Zoella pulsed out her own burning righteous anger.
And there is more you do not know. I stand here with my sister, likewise a princess of this realm. We both defy you!
Zoella gestured to Kiri, who got up and stood beside her. She grasped Kiri’s hand. Zoella felt Kiri’s distinctive presence join hers within the twisting currents of the nexion. From the other side of the link the rage paused, washing aside for a moment as recognition, horror and curiosity swirled around her painting lurid swaths of consternation in her mind.
Sister?
Zoella snarled with a fierce joy.
Kiri Tiamoi, likewise daughter of Myana, princess of Scallia! She has slain your precious Rihanna, turned from your wickedness and stands alongside me …
The rage became incoherent, a tempest whirling about her, white hot and incandescent. Zoella held firm among
st it, surrounding herself with surety and purpose, her own thoughts a shield against the wrathful maelstrom beyond.
YOU WILL DIE! BOTH OF YOU!
Then it was gone.
Zoella heaved in a breath and opened her eyes.
‘Zoella?’
Concerned faces were all around her.
She smiled, blinking, struggling to get her balance.
‘Nerina has no doubts where we are now,’ Kiri said, with a wry grin. ‘She comes!’
* * *
Dachs were seen on the sunward horizon, flying in formation in several wings. Bells rang out across the city, deep and sonorous. Children and their carers were rushed inside, doors bolted. Soldiers ran to the walls and towers, readying their bows.
Zoella stood amongst them, with Crenech, Janaid and Joachim alongside. Kiri and Meru had run to their flying machine with two of the Amaran archers, ready to lead the other flying machines in defence of the city.
Zoella watched as the huge metal beasts rose into the air. The dachs had the advantage of height and speed, she could see them turning in the air above. The sky was black with them, silhouetted against the bright arc of Lacaille.
‘How many do you count?’ Janaid asked. ‘My eyesight is not so strong.’
‘Hundreds,’ Crenech said, swallowing.
Zoella nodded. ‘As many as before if not more,’ she said. ‘The first fight will be in the air.’
Meru’s flying machine was the first off the ground. Kiri stood, braced in the back alongside the two Amaran archers. The other small flying machines weren’t far behind, and the big personnel carrier was lumbering away from the ground below. She could see side doors were open, lined with archers.
‘Don’t forget to get as much height as you can,’ Kiri yelled to Meru. ‘Remember, the dachs are slow in the climb, but very fast in the dive. We’ll never hit them whilst they’re above.’
Meru nodded and relayed the instructions to the other pilots. The flying machines rose into the sky, casting shadows on the city below.
‘We’re not going to be above them before they attack,’ Meru called, looking up and out of the windows. ‘Not enough time.’
‘Then tell everyone to watch for firebombs,’ Kiri called back. ‘They’ll try to bring us down with those first, then pick us off with their own archers.’
Kiri felt the flying machine bank and braced herself again as the ground tilted beneath her.
‘Here they come!’
Shadows flickered past the open doors, smoke billowed behind traceries of flaming orbs as the priestesses hurled their weapons. The flying machine banked away, rolling in one direction and then the other as Meru tried to dodge the incoming fire. One hit and bounced off the flanks. Flames flickered around the interior for a moment before being extinguished in the rush of air.
‘We’re alright,’ Kiri yelled. ‘Just keep gaining height!’
Dachs’ wings flashed past outside and Kiri could see a formation of the beasts below.
‘Bring us around now.’
The flying machine banked again, turning to starboard. Kiri grinned at the two archers.
‘Let’s go to work!’
Arrows were loosed, snapping out through the air between the aerial assailants. Kiri downed a dach with one shot and caught a rider with another, seeing the priestess tumble from her saddle and disappear out of sight.
Might have known her … can’t think of that now.
Kiri caught sight of the personnel carrier, besieged by dachs, arrows streaming from the archers aboard. Dachs fell from the sky with screeches of pain, dashing their priestesses to oblivion. Archers, shot from the priestesses own bows, tumbled from the open doors.
The tidy formations of the dachs broke up in the chaos, ships and animals twisting and turning in the air, trails of smoke lancing through the azure sky. Kiri saw the personnel carrier hit by multiple blasts of fire. Oil trickled down its flanks, bursting into flame. She saw men, ablaze, falling from it, spiralling down towards the ground.
She gritted her teeth as the flying machine banked again. She caught sight of a dach, its rider hurling a vial. Fire blazed before them, but Meru’s swift turn avoided a direct hit. There was a flash of smoke and they were through.
Kiri and the two Amarans unleashed their arrows and the dach behind squealed, reared up and fell out of the sky.
* * *
Zoella watched the aerial battle unfold. The smaller flying machines were circling the personnel carrier, defending it from the priestesses that sought to firebomb it into oblivion. She couldn’t tell which one belonged to Meru and Kiri.
Soon the sky was criss-crossed with trails of smoke. Dachs, men and priestesses fell from the sky as the battle progressed. Zoella could see bodies on the ground, people and beasts alike, causalities of the conflict in the sky.
Tears streamed down her face.
I knew there would be death. Was there a way to avoid this? Was there a way to peace I didn’t find, that others might have? So many will die this stretch … all believe they are right … who’s to say who is!
Crenech was alongside her.
‘Do not doubt yourself,’ he said gently. Zoella looked at him.
‘I don’t have your gift,’ he said. ‘But I know your thoughts well enough. This is forced upon us by that high priestess. The deaths lie upon her conscience, not yours.’
Zoella managed a nod. Above her one of the smaller flying machines was hit by fire. An explosion followed and the machine disintegrated, pieces of debris spinning in uncontrolled arcs as they crashed to the ground. The wreckage fell beyond the city, burning in the fields beyond.
The battle was growing closer, some of the dachs slipped past, tightening their formation and heading towards the city.
‘Stand ready!’ Crenech called.
The archers raised their bows, drawing them back, ready to loose their arrows.
‘Hold,’ Crenech yelled. ‘Hold …’
Zoella raised her hands, sensing the thoughts of the priestesses before her in the skies. She remembered Liana, how she had sent out a shockwave through the nexion. She closed her eyes, concentrating, moaning out loud with the pain of it.
She felt the energy grow within her, swamping her mind, spinning up in a glowing fury. The smell of hot metal burnt in her nostrils, she felt as if she was on fire …
She screamed out as she unleashed the power within her. Up in the sky the phalanx of descending dachs broke up in disarray. Two collided with each other, crashing down out of sight as the priestesses that rode them clutched at their minds in shock and pain.
‘Loose!’ Crenech yelled above the turmoil.
Arrows flew, finding their targets. Priestesses and dachs were cut down, the phalanx broken, the bodies of the slain crashing down upon the walls and streets of the city.
Zoella gasped as she opened her eyes. The first attack was destroyed, the flight of dachs in disarray. Smoke billowed from the city below, but the fires were contained.
She had fallen back, but Crenech was holding her up, his arms about her. Dozens of the dachs were downed, but many more still flew in the skies.
‘Truly our queen,’ he whispered. ‘Truly!’
* * *
The flying machine shook as a blast of fire exploded nearby. Kiri saw one of the flying machines falling out of the sky, aflame from nose to stern. She saw it hit and smash on the ground, debris flying out from the point of impact.
One of ours down … there are too many of them.
She watched in dismay as a flight of dachs peeled off, diving past the flying machines’ blockade and sweeping down towards the city.
‘Turn us about, they’ve got through …’ she called.
Her vision blurred, her hearing saturated by white noise, her mind rang with a strange vibration as if a huge gong had been sounded right next to her. She only just retained presence of mind enough to cling to the inside of the flying machine.
‘What was that?’ Meru yelled.
Kiri’s head was still spinning from the furious blast of mental energy. At close range it must have been devastating. She peered out to see the flight of dachs broken in disarray, priestesses stunned and lying crushed and battered upon the ground.
‘That was Zoella! She stopped them …’
Below them the priestesses were co-ordinating a concerted attack on the personnel carrier. Kiri could see dozens of them throwing vials of burning oil at the big ship even as the archers within loosed copious numbers of arrows at the attackers.
Vials struck the exterior and splashed off without causing damage, some managed to find their way inside, lighting the interior with flame. Kiri could see the archers battling to escape the fires.
‘Oh no …’
One priestess was shot as she approached, her dach also hit by the arrows of the defenders. Her vial was dropped, but the dach spun over, flipped in the air and crashed down upon one of the outstretched engine nacelles. The bodies of the priestess and the dach slipped away, tumbling down to oblivion, but then smoke and then fire began streaming from the engine.
The big personnel carrier began to yaw, banking over to starboard and dropping away out of control, trailing smoke and debris. Kiri could see the archers within struggling to hold on as the machine fell out of the sky. Smoke obscured her view, filling the cabin with choking fumes before Meru was able to turn out of the path.
The personnel carrier was going down, its rate of yaw building with every revolution, the screaming noise of straining engines winding up to a crescendo. It cannoned into the ground with an impact that could have been heard for marks in all directions. For a moment it stayed intact, scraping and ripping into the ground before the city, driving a huge gouge in the sand and dried mud beyond Viresia’s walls.
For a moment it was still. Kiri strained to see what was happening below. It was impossible to see much through the billowing smoke.
She could see ’tricity crackling around the broken hull.
Then, without warning, it detonated.
A shocking blue sphere of energy flashed out, crackling in all directions, ripping tortured cracks in the ground and fracturing the wall of the city. Kiri had a brief moment to register that part of the city wall had disintegrated before their flying machine was tossed about as if in a violent storm.