by B. T. Narro
Valinox’s scowl turned darker as he fixed his gaze on Souriff. “Surrender today and hand over Airinold, or prepare for your followers to be slaughtered.”
Then he took off out of the fort. He was gone but a second before Airinold addressed everyone, as I quickly healed the broken arm and damaged torso of the man who Valinox had injured.
“Do not even think about giving up,” the demigod cautioned. “I may not have the power of sorcery that I once did, but I will hold them back from the front line with the strongest of you by my side. With a shield in my hand and my resistance ready, they will not get through me while I can stand on two feet. So long as a few good sorcerers can promise the same, Rohaer will not pass.”
“I will stand with you,” Leon said.
“So will I,” I said.
“I will be at your side, Jon,” Michael added.
But Leon put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “We need water. Wind is too flammable, and they will have fire.”
“Then I will be there,” Kataleya said.
“I can be just behind,” Hadley added. “My curses will weaken the strongest foes.”
“And I will burn them,” Remi said.
I noticed Jennava and Eden sharing a glance before Jennava spoke. “Eden and I will be ready to step in if someone must fall back.”
“What sorcery do you cast?” Airinold asked Jennava.
“We use dteria,” she answered, then lifted an eyebrow and waited for his reaction.
“I thought I felt that coming from you.” Then to the king, he asked, “How many dark mages and witches do you have here?”
“Just the two dark mages and one witch.” The king gestured at them. “They are not corrupted by the magic.”
Airinold looked over Jennava and Hadley. Then his gaze slowly traveled up and down Eden. She fidgeted with her feet.
“Are you sure they can be trusted?” Airinold asked the king.
“Don’t you recognize the witch?” Nykal retorted. “She was the one who blinded Gourfist when Jon was defending the capital against him.”
“Ah yes, that is right,” he said. Hadley formed a tiny smile aimed at me. “But I also remember that this is the one who opened the rift to Fyrren,” Airinold said as he pointed at Eden. “She might be a spy for Valinox.”
Failina walked up to Airinold and put her hand on his back. He eased up at her touch.
“She was,” Failina said. “And she wasn’t the only one. But these people have been rescued from corruption by the mortals who just volunteered to stand next to you. They now trust one another with their lives, so you can, too.”
Apparently, the king had updated Failina on recent events.
“I understand, Lina,” Airinold said in a gentle voice he seemed to reserve for her. “That is what I will do. Now it’s my understanding that Rohaer marches toward the defile with each passing moment. That means that it is time to work out the intricacies of our defense.”
“I know you are a demigod,” Harold Chespar stated somewhat dismissively. “But that does not make you in charge. There is still a lot we have to discuss with you and the king.”
“I will be leading the men into battle,” Airinold replied. “Unless you wish to do that, then yes, I am now in charge.”
“Whose coin do you to think pays for the service of all these people?” Harold challenged.
“If it is yours as you claim, then you have done well to bring them here. Now let me show them the way to victory, or you will have wasted your coin on a great loss.”
Harold stared at the demigod, his gaze unwavering.
“Challenge me, if you dare,” Airinold said. “Have me imprisoned if it fills you with pride. I won’t fight your soldiers. You will, however, regret that decision later when Valinox decimates your army and spreads a pox across the land. They are too large of a force to stop except here and now, where they are vulnerable.”
Everyone’s gaze fell on Harold. He glanced over at Alecott, who stood back and lowered his head ever so slightly.
“You can take command for this battle only,” Harold told the demigod. My low opinion of the man sank even lower at this display of impudence.
I still wondered how much the other demigods believed what Airinold had said about mana and Basael, but from the way Leon had reacted, I figured most of my peers believed him and had a dozen questions buzzing around their heads as I did. I wondered if it was true that Basael was not a god but just a powerful being with a long life. Or was that what had made him a god to the rest of us?
For now, I would think of these beings as demigods, because there were more pressing matters. We had to figure out how to keep Rohaer from getting past us, or this might be the beginning of the end.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
It took just one day for us to set up our defense at the narrowest point at the defile. There we waited for Rohaer’s army to come around the bend, where the mountains pushed the twisting road west, close to the edge of Curdith Forest on the other side. Having walked down this road, I could tell that one day the forest might envelop the whole area. In fact, there were already a few trees seeming to defy nature as they grew out of the rock at the foot of the mountains.
A large group of people, probably over the course of years, had created this road between the kingdoms. I wondered if any of them had a clue that it would be a battleground one day.
Harold Chespar had given in to Airinold soon after the demigod had challenged him. After that, every leader seemed to be on the same page. We would stop Rohaer when they tried to get through the narrow pathway between the mountains and the forest. Kataleya’s brother had expressed fears that Rohaer would attempt to go into the forest to get around us, but so long as we saw them in time, most everyone agreed that we should be able to shift our line to keep our advantageous position. We could drive them to the fort. Even though the walls were not tall and had potential to be set aflame, I imagined we would hold the fort and slay many of the soldiers who tried to get in.
I was a bit worried about Rohaer trying to get around our fort, but it seemed unlikely for them to attempt this. They would have to deviate two miles from the road to make it all the way around us, but that would leave them open to ambush. The forest was dense, with many hiding places for us. They would certainly lose many troops.
Their best bet seemed to be using their superior sorcery to force us to retreat. That meant they would have to get through me first.
Airinold had garnered a lot of attention after his various speeches in our fort. On the way to the defile, hundreds of people felt inclined to introduce themselves. Many asked him questions about his siblings, Gourfist, Basael, and other details of how he came to create dteria that he had already shared with me after I had freed him from the demise of his own making.
When it was just Hadley and me with him later, I asked him my own question, “If everything you said was true, could there be other types of magic we might be able to discover?”
“Other schools of magic within mana, yes, but other forms of sorcery might be too difficult to feel for mortals or demigods until more time passes,” he said.
It was Hadley’s questions that I soon became more interested in. After introducing herself and explaining her affinity for curses, she had asked Airinold to tell her of curses she might not be aware of, in particular any powerful ones.
Airinold had appeared uneasy at first, admitting that he had never taken the time to speak to any dteria user after creating the school of magic.
“Swiftly and without remorse, I killed anyone who had used it long enough for me to sense them. I am now wondering if I took it too far. I might even say that perhaps I shouldn’t have ever discovered it in the first place. I believe Basael had intentions to keep producing offspring until one of us did, but he was gone by then. Dteria probably wouldn’t exist in its current form if it wasn’t for me.”
Hadley shared a look of concern with me as she walked between the demigod and me. But after a moment o
f what appeared to be silent thought, Airinold gave a more complete answer.
“I might’ve been able to provide you with more information when I first thought I created dteria, but that was centuries ago. Even then, I couldn’t be aware of all possible curses. Think of it like the inventor of the lute. Could he be aware of every possible sound the instrument can make? A school of magic is the same, in some sense. I thought I created the rules and let mana do the rest. It is how all my siblings thought we created, by establishing rules. We thought we built upon Basael’s creation of mana and made our own magic.”
He sighed. “But mana is more complicated than even demigods can tell. Only Caarda seemed to truly understand it.”
“Is there anything else he told you about it that you haven’t shared yet?” I asked.
“Many things. He would be able to explain it better than I can, but basically he told me that mana has many more capabilities than we are aware of. What a demigod is doing through the process of ‘creation’ is actually altering a piece of mana. This is almost like making an essence. It is forming an attraction to mana, and that attraction changes how mana behaves. Ultimately what this does is make certain schools of magic much more accessible than they were before. However, when many schools of magic are created in this way, none of them can overlap, or they will not work well together. So demigods have chosen different frequencies of mana from each other and connected themselves to these frequencies in a way that alters themselves and the mana and allows this mana to be more accessible. The demigods feel like they have created something, but it would be like someone taking a rope and making a pulley out of it and thinking they had created the pulley.”
I had been paying such close attention that I didn’t realize until then that Failina had come to stand behind us, listening. “Airi, you’re filling everyone’s head with confusion,” she complained.
“Perhaps,” he replied. “But I find the confusion makes me sane, as it should everyone else. It’s much better than blindly believing something they have no proof of. At least this way their mind is open.”
“And this is what Caarda wanted?” Failina asked.
“I’m not sure. You know how he is, always mysterious.”
Hadley asked Airinold, “Is there maybe one specialized curse which could help us that you can remember?”
“There is one I distinctly remember for which I thought I ‘created’ the rules for. I feared I might lose power and would have to rely on the crutch of curses to disempower my siblings once they turned against me.”
Hadley wrinkled her nose at hearing curses referred to as crutches, but she didn’t voice an objection.
“Unfortunately, the most powerful curses are indiscriminate,” Airinold continued. “The targets they choose are out of control of the witch, but in this case it might not matter. There is a curse that targets souls darkened by corruption, but for the life of me I can’t recall the necessary ingredients.”
“Maybe you have a guess?” Hadley prodded.
“Give me a moment to think.” He fell silent for a short while. “I don’t believe it was a curse that targeted corruption, after all. It’s more likely to have targeted dteria itself. It should involve two things: the blood of a sorcerer who has exceptional power over a school of magic, and a part of an animal that has been modified by mana.”
Hadley gasped. “I have felt that something like that is possible, but I have been unable to test it. I have a small bit of Valinox’s blood and some feathers of…well, Gourfist. His form was created through mana, wasn’t it?”
“Not created. I grew Gourfist from my own body, and it was mana that decided what elements would be taken from me and what would be drawn from my surroundings. I had gathered many dead creatures before beginning. Mana started the process but had little to do with the transformation. The same occurs in many animals of the forest that have been permanently altered by dteria, such as their overgrown fangs or even the discoloration in their fur.”
“I understand,” Hadley said. “But that means a feather from Gourfist mixed with the blood of Valinox could still potentially create a curse that disrupts dteria?”
“I believe so, as would the blood of my brother and an animal part from any other creature altered by mana. It’s the power of the witch and the ingredient that determines the strength of the curse, but you have to take into consideration the resistance of the target.”
Hadley nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, I know.”
He seemed surprised as he looked down at her. “You seem to know a lot for someone who has not been corrupted by dteria.”
“Because I have a gift yet no thirst for power.”
The conversation that followed left little imprint on my memory, as Hadley and Airinold delved deeper into curses. I eventually went to chat with Leon so we could go through every possible scenario Rohaer could throw at us. From a line of shield-bearers, to a horde of dark mages, and even the possibility of a dozen fire mages all at the front and covered in armor, we discussed it all. There was a counter to everything, and most of the time that counter was a wall of dvinia or water. There was only one problem, and that was running out of stamina.
With so many potential dark mages attempting to get past us, our mana was likely to run dry before long. That was where Reuben—I was surprised to find out—was to balance out the scale. With Hadley weakening the front line of the enemies with curses, their ability to fight would not last for long. Meanwhile, Reuben had learned to disable enchantments from a safe distance, meaning that any imbued stone of dteria, fire, or even water—if Rohaer used water mages against us—could be disenchanted in the midst of battle. I knew how greatly I would be weakened if my Induct stone was taken away from me, especially considering how long it would take to re-enchant the stone afterward. It was such a viable strategy that the thought of Rohaer using it against us scared me more than it excited me.
There was a deep need for me to protect this Induct stone of dvinia that allowed me to fly great distances without rest. I still didn’t know exactly where this need came from, just that it had nothing to do with dvinia itself. It was something within me, something corruptible. Perhaps it was in every man. This was not the time to worry about it, though I’d better make time eventually.
As afternoon turned into evening, we received word that Rohaer wasn’t going to make it to us today. There was contemplation between the demigods, the king, and the officers about whether we should strike our enemies with a surprise ambush. Unfortunately, it became obvious this wasn’t feasible when we saw Valinox circling the skies above. Any attack we planned would be spotted, and our enemies would be well-prepared. There were no worthwhile traps we could set, either. Rohaer would not charge through them. They would disarm them as they slowly passed by.
The only thing that might work to our advantage would be destroying the road in front of us with holes, but they were ready for this. Our spy told us so when he snuck out of their brigade and joined us. They had planks to cross over any holes and even the tools to rebuild the road, if that’s what it took. They knew we wouldn’t attempt to advance on them. We didn’t have the means.
I didn’t meet this spy, but I heard he had been living in Rohaer for nearly a year and had joined their army. He provided detailed information to our king about Rohaer’s forces, but it didn’t change our strategy. Holding them at the defile was still the best way to go about this.
Rohaer’s army was falling sick. There were just a few infections in the beginning, but now this illness seemed to be spreading quickly. Stricter measures had been taken only recently to separate the sick from the healthy, but there was chaos within the encampment. While the dark mages were powerful, they lacked patience, so said the spy. We just had to hold them back. Time was on our side.
We decided to set up camp on and around the road. I was certain most of us would not sleep well tonight because we feared tomorrow. I wished I could say the same of our enemies, but I had faced the kind of men we would
soon fight against—those corrupted by dteria. They did not feel fear like we did. They lived life as if every step was toward success and victory. I would’ve given up a lot for that feeling tonight.
One good thing did happen. I had the chance to share a small tent with Hadley now that our sleeping arrangements had lost order and supervision. I did not let my mind take me to a place of fantasy, as it surely would’ve had we truly been alone. I knew nothing was to happen tonight, for the privacy that tents created was a visual privacy, not an audible one. I was fine with that, nonetheless. It was her touch I craved, and any words she chose to spoke.
We cuddled close underneath her furs as owls hooted and the cold wind shook the thin walls. I was warm and cozy with her head on my chest, her arm draped across my body. I could think about her instead of tomorrow, providing some measure of peace before the coming chaos and uncertainty.
She told me sweet things, little appreciations about my muscular chest or taut stomach that she discovered with her hand. She leaned her head back and pecked my cheek. I made sure to catch her lips with mine the next time I felt her moving.
Hadley’s warmth was a blanket of comfort, like a bed in a safe place, or like knowing that tomorrow would bring better fortunes. It didn’t matter if that wasn’t true. She always made me feel it. She melted away all the tension in my muscles and brought out a wide smile when she playfully nibbled on my ear.
I didn’t want to go to sleep, but eventually my eyes closed on their own.
*****
The king gathered us, his sorcerers, after breakfast. “A long time ago,” he said, “I told all of you that you wouldn’t ever need to face hordes of enemies. I said your talents would be used in other ways. Today, I admit I was wrong. I didn’t plan this, I want all of you to know. I never thought it would come to this. However, I have been convinced that without some of you putting yourselves in the front line, Rohaer will get past us. I want to take this moment to recognize a few things about all of you.”