by Stuart Jaffe
Malja looked at her meager force. Not even twenty Guards and a half-dozen magicians. When the vibrations took on the enormous sound of a hundred armored bodies, she expected them to fall apart. Especially if they continued to stand still and wait for the army to arrive.
"Get back to work. We can still have things ready before they get here," she said, snapping them into action.
Though they moved with purpose, the magicians became clumsy from nerves. Had they been new recruits to a fledgling army, Malja would have berated them, using sheer force to make them fear her more than any threat outside the walls. But these magicians were not soldiers. They were barely useful magicians. One of them was so raw, he could only produce electrical magic.
The Guards worked steady and strong, but Malja was not fooled. She could tell they were green when it came to real battle. Queen Salia's earlier attack probably summed up their first full experience in raw combat. No sparring gear. No Master to intervene. No rules. Some of them looked eager to fight again. She noted those faces. Others had a sickened expression. She noted them as well.
Beyond the few extra handguns, the pile of weapons amassed consisted of rocks, rusty nails in moldy wood, a few arrows, a pipe, and little else. Two magicians sat on the ledge, focused on their tattoos, prepping their spells. Malja didn't have time to inventory all the spells at her disposal, and even if she had, she would have balked at the idea.
"Doesn't matter, anyway," she muttered to herself. If she had more time, she could have set up barriers and obstacles to funnel her enemy's progress through a narrow point. From there, a handful of magicians with rocks and spells might stand a chance. But the pounding of Brother X's army grew louder, underscoring the lack of any sufficient defensive measures.
By the time Brother X's army arrived and broke off into three groups, Malja thought her force had enough power to feign a good defense. They could put on a show, but she had no illusion that they would be able to fight. Looking over all they had, she thought they could put up enough of a defense to stall. Sometimes that's all it took. Stall defeat long enough, opportunities opened up.
Trotting back and forth in front of his soldiers, Brother X thrust his sword skyward and his army cheered. Malja knew this kind of display well. Her own force paled at the sight. The army stretched far back, so numerous they had replaced the grass of the Great Field with their unending bodies.
Malja waited until the noise died down. Then she said, "You've marched a long, tiresome way for nothing. There is no victory for you here."
"You must be the greatly pathetic Malja," he said, and his army laughed. "You'll find Penmarvian soldiers far tougher than the scraps that call themselves civilized down in Corlin." Brother X pointed to a soldier who rushed back into the crowd. Seconds later, three cloaked figures were carried in, each one concentrating on a tattooed leg or arm. They were set down far apart, and the soldiers gave these magicians a wide berth.
Malja looked to her own magicians. "What are they doing?"
The oldest magician, a portly woman, said, "There's no way to tell from here. Whatever it is, it's taking a long time to conjure and that can't be good."
Brother X pointed his sword at Malja. "Surrender now and we can avoid bloodshed."
"You first have to give us something to be afraid of," Malja said. She didn't feel so brash, but she knew better than to let a superior force get away with any kind of belittling or weakening comment.
Flashes like lightning on a pitch black night snapped from the magicians' hands. The ground before each one rippled and reformed as if invisible hands sculpted the earth. The soldiers stepped further back.
Malja's magician watched with wide eyes. "Lava-spitters," she said.
The sculpted ground finished changing. They looked like a giant blisters cut open. Steam trailed out of them and the thin membranes that made their skin expanded and contracted at odd intervals.
At Brother X's command, soldiers tossed anything they found on the ground into the creatures: rocks and sticks and dirt, as well as broken weapons and severed limbs left from the previous battle. These items melted down inside the lava-spitters, and even from the wall, Malja could see the molten balls forming in the creatures' mouths.
"Fire!" Brother X called out.
All three creatures threw up the molten balls. Three fiery spheres sailed through the sky. Molten goo dripped from them as they passed over the wall. Though high in the air, Malja felt the burning heat pass across her.
They hit the bell tower first, splattering like an egg thrown against a tree — but this yolk ignited the walls, spewing hot gray-black smoke toward the sky. The second ball set the stables aflame. The last struck the statue of Moonlo, melting it into a formless blob.
This defense would fail if Brother X could manage a few more volleys. "Guards," Malja said. "Shoot those things dead."
Five Guards pulled out their handguns and aimed at the lava-spitters. Nobody shot off at random. Instead, they each steadied an arm and waited, patiently seeking out a perfect shot. Malja was impressed.
"Defend the spitters," Brother X said. Twenty men lowered to one knee and aimed guns as well as crossbows at the wall. They were either less experienced or more nervous — they shot right away.
Bullets spat into the wall and arrows whizzed overhead. Malja and her men crouched until the last bullet fired. Now, while Brother X's soldiers reloaded, they had plenty of time to aim.
Malja paced behind them, waiting to hear at least one gun fire. They were amazing — stoic and still like a statue of Moonlo. Malja peered through her spyglass. More and more debris found its way into the lava spitters. The next set of molten balls formed with steady growth.
She wanted to yell at her men, force them to fire, but she held back. If these Guards had even half the skill she had seen in Owl, then they didn't need her to guide them. They had training in the Way, and she would have to put her trust in that.
Brother X swung his sword down and yelled, "Fire!"
The lava-spitters convulsed to throw up another volley.
Malja only heard the rapid report of gunfire seconds after. Smoke from the fired weapons wafted by, obscuring her view. But she could hear the screams.
A moment later, she saw the aftermath. The Guards had shot the lava-spitters just as the molten balls were about to leave their bodies. The result — the lava-spitters never got the chance to put any force behind their weapon. The balls fell back and splashed their burning liquid across Brother X's army, forming a long line of orange fire sizzling in the ground.
The Guards and magicians cheered from the wall. Malja quieted them down and made sure they were prepared for an attack. They waited and watched. To her relief, Brother X called back his soldiers. He brought the magicians out front again and had them start the arduous task of creating new lava-spitters.
"We've got a little time," Malja said to her men. "Ready your weapons for another strike. When the time comes, they won't do the same attack. They'll storm the walls, give us much more to deal with, so we can't shoot out their spitters. Get ready. The real battle is coming."
Owl
Owl, Tommy, and Fawbry trailed the old man through the winding halls and down several flights of stairs until they entered an underground bunker. Two rooms and a bathroom. A large table and four chairs. Nothing else.
Master Kee pressed a button next to the door and a tube mounted in the ceiling lit up. It cast a pale light upon the room. "We still have a few storage cells left and a handful of magicians to recharge them, if needed."
Fawbry said, "This is how you survived the Queen's first attack?"
Master Kee raised an eyebrow. "Many of us. Yes."
"It's hot," Owl said as he removed his coat and tossed it on the table. "You fit everyone in here?"
"No," Master Kee said. "If we had, more people would have survived. Some refused to come down, insisting on fighting. Some found other safe places to be. Most died."
"It'll be perfect," Fawbry said, taking a
chair and leaning back enough to put his feet on the table. "So, let's figure this out. What exactly did the Chief Master tell you?"
The others each took a chair and settled in — Owl and Master Kee on opposite sides and Tommy on the end. Owl's voice caught as he recalled those final moments. Though it hurt to discuss, he detailed Chief Master's death.
When he finished, Master Kee stretched across the table, placed a hand on his shoulder, and closed his eyes in prayer. It was unorthodox to share a prayer, and awkward in this position, but Owl didn't mind. Part of him actually found comfort in it.
Fawbry scratched his head. "You said this was the first time Chief Master took you out as his escort?"
"That's right," Owl said.
"Did you ever spend much time with him before that?"
"No. That's part of what made it so odd. Usually he assigned Brother X to be his guard. But, of course, Brother X was busy betraying us this time."
"Do you think Chief Master knew that?"
"Knew Brother X had betrayed us? I can't see how he'd know," Owl said. He remembered the horrified look that twisted Chief Master's peaceful face into one of sheer disbelief. "No. He couldn't have known."
Master Kee said, "But he did. I remember just a few days before the meeting when a messenger from Queen Salia's court came to the Order — a young girl with striking gray eyes."
Sweat beaded on Owl's forehead. "I remember her, too."
With a chuckle, Master Kee said, "I suspect all of the Order noticed her. We have females in our ranks, but not many."
"I'm glad I never joined then," Fawbry said.
"She arrived to request the parlay in the Great Field that we know now was a delaying tactic and a trap," Master Kee continued. "I rushed to Chief Master with the news. Tensions between the government and the Order had been so high that I honestly thought this was a crack we could exploit to bring peace about Penmarvia. But when I opened the door to Chief Master's study, he merely nodded and waved me off."
"He knew?" Owl said.
"I think he suspected. And he looked sad, I think. He looked like he had been expecting the news all along but had also been hopeful that it would not come. Sort of resigned."
Owl's hands covered his stomach as if he had been punched. "When he saw Brother X at the Great Field, the betrayal became undeniable. He knew the whole time but only then was it real."
Fawbry said, "That's when he knew you were being set up."
"I just don't understand why," Master Kee said. "If he knew Brother X had betrayed us, if he knew this meeting was most likely a trap of sorts, then why did he go? Why not warn us?"
Fawbry's face brightened. He stood and paced the cramped room. "First, he only suspected. But even if he knew, he had to go. If he had ignored the message, Queen Salia would have guessed that he had figured out the betrayal. Without this Brother X fellow in place, there'd be no reason to hold back. She would have brought on a full-scale assault."
"You think he went along with the meeting in hopes of delaying this situation?" Owl asked.
"He may simply have figured out this way cost less lives."
Master Kee nodded. "That sounds like something he would do."
Fawbry leaned on the table, his face filled with excitement. Owl didn't see exactly where this odd man was headed, but he could feel Fawbry's attitude catching within. "But it only made sense if Chief Master could ensure that the Queen wouldn't get hold of the full power of the Library." He pointed to Owl. "You said you hadn't had much contact with him before. So that would suggest that he gave the book to you recently, maybe even on that day."
"But he didn't. I never got a book from him," Owl said.
"You did. You just didn't know it."
Planting his hands on the table, Owl stood and glowered. "I would know if I received a book from the Chief Master. One doesn't forget such a thing. Especially on the day that he died."
Fawbry pulled back, his lips quivering. "Calm down. I'm not accusing you of anything bad here. All I'm saying is that perhaps Chief Master got this book into your possession without you knowing about it." To Master Kee, he asked, "Could Chief Master have had somebody put the book in Owl's belongings?"
"I checked my things already," Owl said. "You were there."
Master Kee shook his head. "The books are sacred. We don't just leave them on somebody's bed."
Three loud slams on the desk brought all attention onto Tommy. At first, Owl thought the boy's fierce expression was one of frustration at the bickering going on. But then Tommy thrust a finger toward Owl's coat.
"The coat?" Fawbry asked.
Even as Tommy flipped it inside-out, Owl knew. "Of course," Owl said. "My Guardianship."
Master Kee popped to his feet. "Your Guardianship. That clever little man."
"By Kryssta, what're you talking about?" Fawbry said.
While he spoke, Owl leaned closer to the coat and Tommy. "When you begin learning the Way, you are called Novice. That's your name. Only after passing the first level of tests do you acquire an actual name. Second levels allow you to call others by name. The highest level you can achieve is Chief Master. Below that is Master. Below that is Guardian. Most of us only ever make it to Guardian."
Brimming with excitement, Master Kee said, "The night before the meeting with Queen Salia, Chief Master came to me and asked what I thought of Guard Owl. That's what we call the level before Guardian — just Guard."
"See," Owl said, unable to wait for Master Kee's patient cadences. "Only a Guardian or higher could leave the Order compound and be tasked with protecting the Chief Master. So that morning, he made me a Guardian."
"And," Master Kee continued, "the tradition is that the Chief Master presents the new Guardian with a gift. Often a new sword."
Fawbry said, "He didn't give you a sword, though?"
"Nor a book," Master Kee said.
Owl pointed to Tommy and the coat. "He gave me that coat."
Tommy raised his hand and glanced at his tattooed arm. A ball of electrical energy formed. It cast a pale light directly on the coat. All four hunched over. There, sewn into the lining, they saw words.
"This is it," Owl said. "This is the thirteenth book."
Malja
Malja stared out at the ever-growing numbers of Brother X's army, her mind blanking at the sight. Tens of thousands of soldiers and magicians marched in on the fields. She had never seen so many people in one place.
"Why don't they just attack us and get it over with?" a woman asked. Her name was Bell, or maybe, Beel. Malja couldn't recall.
"They don't know how many of us there are. They certainly don't know how few. Look at the size of that army. They got word that I had come and assumed I brought some kind of army with me. So, they're being sensibly cautious."
"But with that many, it doesn't matter how large our force is."
"Don't forget, they still plan to conquer Corlin. They can't afford to lose too many lives messing around here."
Mocking her words, a loud, raspy barking noise rolled in from the distance. Malja pulled out her spyglass. "Crap," she said under her breath.
Three muscular men led in a green sodik. The army parted for the massive beast with its rock hard skull and wooly hair. It had six thick legs like ancient tree trunks and a hide that took no notice of gunshots. Twelve feet high, the beast had only one clear purpose — a giant battering ram.
"Don't look scared," Malja said, though she knew it was a futile command.
In unison, the three muscular men dropped the chains. From behind the sodik, soldiers fired their guns into the air. The noise scared the creature into a blind run straight for the wall. Its legs thundered into the ground as it lowered its head, putting its hard-boned skull into a battering position.
"Clear out!" Malja called.
Three Guards and two magicians hurried out of the way. The sodik galloped ahead, crushing anyone stupid enough to get in its path. It let out another raspy cry.
And it hit the wall. T
he far left corner. Shattered concrete and glass sprayed into the air. Stone and wood and every little bit of scavenged metal crumbled to the ground in an avalanche of debris. Because Malja's forces were so small, nobody was hurt, but had her army been properly sized, the creature would have taken many lives.
The wall breach was damage enough.
The sodik pulled free from the rubble and snorted. The jolt appeared to have calmed the creature for it settled down against the wall and groomed itself.
Master Kee stepped into the courtyard, scanned the area until he found Malja, and rushed toward her. His fast, agile motions continued to impress Malja, and she let her lips curl up briefly. He wasn't even breathing hard when he reached her.
Before he spoke, Master Kee peered over the wall. With a grim face, he placed his hands on his knees. Malja thought he might vomit, but then, with a sharp inhale, he straightened.
"It still hurts to see my former pupil on that side of the wall," he said.
"The giant sodik and the hole in the wall don't bother you?" Malja asked.
Master Kee ran his forefinger across his brow. "He was family." Then, with a triumphant glow covering him, he said, "We found the book."
"Finally some good news."
"Your boy found it, actually."
Malja couldn't have stopped the warmth of pride filling her chest. "Good for him," she said. "I should go down and see what we can do with this."
Master Kee must have caught the way she looked at the magicians and then Brother X's army. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll take care of things up here."
"Make sure that gate is reinforced with whatever you can find."
"I'll make sure."
"And have those three men over there build two more barriers so we can retreat into the buildings when it becomes necessary. Once that sodik clears out, they'll attack."
"I've fought in armies before. I know what to do. You go see the book."
"I only meant—"
"I appreciate what you've done. Now let me show you something." Master Kee stepped around Malja and whispered to the portly magician. She turned to him, her brow drawn deep, but he urged her toward the edge of the wall. Licking her lips, the magician stepped closer and lifted her robe to reveal her tattooed belly. She concentrated on the tattoo for just a moment.