Deceptions (Ascendant Book 3)

by Craig Alanson

  “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” Koren howled out of control as he commanded the world, and the world bent to his will. From his right hand arose not a flickering flame, not a spinning ball of fire but a river of liquid fire, a torrent of flaming hell and he swept it across the ranks of assembled orcs, burning everything in its path. The orcs tried to scatter and run but there was no time, no place for safety as the blinding torrent of flame consumed all on the west side of the meadow, throwing up clouds of steam as the marsh in the center of the meadow cracked and burned. Wherever the flame touched the ground exploded upward, blasting a trench ten feet deep and three times as wide. Orc bodies instantly flashed into coal-black cinders and were flung high into the sky, parts of those creatures raining down even in the trees on the far side of the meadow. The only conscious impression Koren remembered was the wide-open mouth of the orc wizard as that being attempted a futile spell to ward off a power beyond comprehension. All the magical energy that wizard could muster was less than nothing to the raging river of flame that erased him from existence in a puff of smoke.

  When his right hand had swept from one end of the orc line to the other and nothing there now existed, Koren’s hand snapped closed into a fist, his knees gave out and he pitched forward onto the scorched grass.

  Raddick lay dazed, shaking his head but otherwise unable to move. The only sound was the faint crackling of burning vegetation, and an odd crunching sound he realized with shock was the seared ground underneath where a marsh and a stream had been moments before. His eyes could barely see anything yet, for the flame that had erupted from Koren’s hand had been as if the sun had touched the land. Blinking and shading his tender eyes, he perceived that where the stream had been were now only steam and black smoke, where the orc army had been, nothing but clouds of soot lazily dancing in the air. Flakes of soot hung suspended in the air, seeming to be as stunned into immobility as the men and dwarves who witnessed the cataclysmic event.

  His ears ringing, Raddick pushed himself to his feet, pulling his sword from its scabbard and using the weapon to hold himself upright on legs like jelly. The air smelled like raw power and Raddick’s mind struggled to understand what he was seeing, for he had seen nothing of the like in all his years of army service, and those years had witnessed several battles between wizards.

  The orcs across the meadow were gone, not even lumps of ash remained where an army had stood. Of the orc wizard there was no sign, but- Raddick sucked in a sharp breath as he realized what he was seeing. Dull silver puddles were gently quivering in the breeze that was beginning to stir across the meadow, silver puddles quickly congealing because they had been axe heads and swords. The fire had melted the orcs’ weapons, melted them so the metal ran like water, collecting in blasted craters and cracks in the blackened soil.

  “Raddick!” The army captain had to turn around twice to understand where the call came from, and his flash-burned eyes still fought to focus as his eyes welled with protective tears. “Captain Raddick!”

  It was Renhelm, leaning on his battleaxe as Raddick leaned on his sword. “Renhelm,” Raddick answered weakly with a parched throat.

  “What,” the dwarf limped forward, gaining strength with each step, “was that?” He spoke to Raddick, but his eyes were locked on the prone form of the boy who had accompanied the Royal Army troop. “You brought a wizard with you?”

  “Aye,” Raddick worked his tongue to get enough moisture in his mouth to talk.

  “Such power I have never seen, and from one so young,” Renhelm marveled.

  “Aye, he is young,” Raddick’s brain was slow, then he saw something that spurred him into action. Orcs. Koren had killed all the orcs on the west side of the meadow, hundreds of the foul creatures, but the band of orcs who had pursued Renhelm and the civilians up through the forest were regaining their wits and edging warily toward the dwarves. Even what Raddick’s dazed mind estimated at only twenty orcs could overwhelm Renhelm’s soldiers and the Royal Army troop, and as those orcs had been farther away from Koren, they were quicker to recover than the stunned dwarves. One orc had an arrow fitted to its bowstring and was blinking and shaking its head, seeking a target among the dwarves who were milling around aimlessly. “Renhelm!” Raddick pointed to the danger then had an idea, a desperate idea. “Help me!”

  Raddick dashed on quaking legs to the prone form of Koren, kneeling to pull the boy’s face out of the scorched grass. As Raddick rolled him over onto his back, the boy gasped and his eyelids opened briefly, then his head lolled to the side and his eyes closed. “Get him upright,” Raddick instructed and with the dwarf leader’s help, they got Koren upright, Raddick jamming Koren’s helmet back on. The Royal Army captain dug into a pocket for a signaling mirror and squeezed it into Koren’s open right hand. “Begone, foul orcs!” Raddick shouted from behind the boy, tilting the mirror to catch the bright sunshine and reflect it toward the orcs in the forest who were shifting from one foot to another, trying to work up the courage to attack.

  Seeing light flare in the open hand of the boy wizard was enough, the quick blinding flash sending a shock of panic through the band of orcs for what else could the light be but another ball of magical fire? As one, the orcs cast aside their weapons and ran in sheer terror, screeching and wailing as they disappeared into the woods. “Begone!” Raddick roared before his strength failed him and he sank to his knees, Koren’s limp body slumping to the ground with him.

  “That was,” Renhelm paused to catch his breath, “good thinking,” he said with admiration. Then, his expression turned to accusation. “Why did you not tell us the boy is a wizard? And such a wizard! Where did he get such power?”

  “Renhelm,” Raddick leaned on his sword to stand, pulling the blade out of the blackened soil and wiping off the tip with his cloak before sheathing it properly. “Our purpose here is, or was, secret, I was not free to speak.”

  “The boy was your secret?”

  “Aye,” Raddick agreed, and shrugged as apology.

  “Hmmm,” Renhelm frowned unhappily, then nodded slowly. He understood the need for soldiers to keep secrets in order to carry out orders. He understood, though he didn’t like it, and he suspected his counterpart from Tarador hadn’t liked it either. “Well, it is no secret now. You are,” he peered into the woods, where the fleeing orcs could not be seen, “still bound for Tarador?”

  “Yes,” Raddick replied wearily.

  “You won’t change your mind, I don’t suppose? A wizard of his power could be useful up here in our mountains.”

  Raddick shook his head emphatically. “His power is needed urgently in Tarador, where the enemy is already across our frontier in great numbers. Renhelm, now you have seen the truth, will you aid my quest? You spoke of a hidden path down to the valley.”

  The dwarf shook his head sadly. “You can’t get there from here, leastwise, not without crossing too much open ground, and these mountains are crawling with orcs. Hmm, there is,” he tapped his chin while he thought. “There is another way down to the valley, it’s not quite hidden but few people know of it. Captain, I must get these people to the fortress, but I can lend a guide to show you the way.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Cecil and Paedris were struck down at the same time, falling to their knees on the dusty trail in a forest of gnarled, stunted trees. Paedris slumped insensible to the ground, his face pressed into the dirt, breathing in dust that choked him. It was the dust in his nostrils making him sneeze uncontrollably that brought him back to awareness. All he could do was to roll onto one side, then painfully over onto his back where a sharp rock dug into his one shoulder blade, which he ignored. How long he lay like that he did not know, although the sun had not moved appreciably in the sky while he lay weak and unaware. Then a horrible thought struck him and he opened his eyes!

  Lord Mwazo could not throw a powerful fireball, could barely summon a magical flame at all, but that wizard was much more sensitive to vibrations in the field of energy that formed the barrier be
tween the world of the spirits and the world of the real. If Paedris had been knocked to his knees and rendered defenseless, Cecil would have been affected much more strongly, and be in serious danger.

  Paedris, unable to stand yet, crawled on his knees to his fellow wizard, fearing that master of subtle magics might have choked to death in one of the pools of fine dust collected in what had been puddles. To his great relief, he found Cecil’s head propped up by a tree root, with a gash on his forehead and a rivulet of blood seeping onto the ground. Touching the man’s cheek, Paedris could feel the life force within was strong though Mwazo was deeply unconscious.

  Feeling it more important to act correctly than quickly, Paedris took a minute to stand up and walk, waving his arms and feeling blood coming back into his limbs. When he could walk a few steps without spots swirling in his vision, he knelt beside his friend, rolling him off the tree root and settling him as comfortably as Paedris had the strength to manage. Closing his eyes, he lent energy to the other wizard, and Mwazo’s eyes blinked.

  “Oh,” the man gasped, trying to push himself upright.

  “Easy, easy,” Paedris cautioned. “You had a terrible shock. We both did.”

  “Paedris,” Cecil gasped, “I-” he was struck by a wave of nausea and fell to his hands and knees again. When he was able to think again, he understood his friend was holding onto his shoulders, preventing him from pitching face-forward into the burnt-dry dirt.

  “Cecil, up, come sit here,” Paedris helped the other wizard half walk and half crawl a few feet to sit uncomfortably on a rock that was really too small, but it was better than the rough bark of the diseased trees and thorn bushes that covered the area. “What was that?”

  “Koren,” Cecil looked up with eyes that could barely focus. “It had to be Koren. Only that boy and the demon can summon such power-”

  “And it wasn’t the demon, I could tell that,” Paedris agreed. While the court wizard of Tarador was a powerful master of wizardry, he was not nearly as sensitive to magical forces as Mwazo. “What happened?”

  Cecil put his head on his knees and breathed deeply, fighting another bout of nausea. Sitting up again, he accepted a flask of water from Paedris and drank deeply. “Koren must have conjured a fireball, no, a stream, a raging stream of magical fire. He killed an enemy wizard, did you feel that?”

  “No,” Paedris shook his head. “It felt like someone hit me on the head with a blacksmith’s hammer, I instantly lost my senses. He killed an enemy wizard?”

  “An orc wizard, the echo was very distinctive,” Cecil explained. “Many other orcs died also. Paedris, the power that boy unleashed-”

  “I know. This is not good. Koren may as well have lit a signal fire for our demon enemy. The boy cannot remain hidden now, it will only be a race against time whether Raddick can bring Koren back to relative safety, before the enemy can capture him.”

  “We do not know if Raddick is with Koren, or even alive. When Shomas died, Raddick must have been with him,” Cecil reminded his friend.

  “I do not like the idea of Koren still wandering the wilderness by himself.”

  “I do not like the idea that, wherever he is, Koren was so threatened by the enemy that he somehow acted, in spite of his complete lack of knowledge and our blocking spell.”

  “Ha!” Paedris snorted. “It is safe to say that blocking spell has been thoroughly shattered now. Oh, this could be a disaster, the end of everything,” he wiped away a tear as it traced a line down the dust on his face. “The question is, what should we do now?”

  Mwazo thought, taking sips from his water flask until it was empty. “This is unquestionably a disaster, and I am now fearing you and I should have gone to find Koren, instead of sending Shomas on an errand he was ill-prepared for. However, I do not see this changes our plans, particularly as we are now far from Tarador. We must continue as we planned. We cannot do anything else from here, and-” his voice faded and his eyes stared off into a great distance.

  “What? Cecil, what is it?”

  “Paedris, we might have an opportunity to salvage something from this disaster, turn the demon’s eye away from Koren.”

  “How?” Paedris could not see how any good could come from Koren’s uncontrolled use of immense power.

  “The enemy has no idea Koren Bladewell exists. To the best of the demon’s knowledge, you are the most powerful wizard to oppose the demon. I could place into the demon’s mind a fear that the incident we all felt was caused by you, that you have developed an ability to summon power beyond imagination. Hmmm, I will need your help in this. Yes!” Cecil liked the idea more and more as he considered it. “Paedris, we fear the enemy will rush soldiers and wizards toward Koren, hoping to capture the course of that incredible power. But, remember, the enemy does not know anything about Koren. If the enemy believes you summoned that enormous power, the demon might instead pull his forces away from the area. He especially would not wish to risk his wizards against you.”

  “The demon surely felt, as we did, that the release of that power was raw and uncontrolled,” Paedris frowned.

  “Yes, but that could be explained by you being new to use of such power, that your ability to control it is still new. Again, there is no reason for the enemy to think anyone other than you could wield such power.”

  “It is,” Paedris responded slowly, warming to the idea. If even a single orc had survived Koren’s massive use of power, that creature would certainly tell a dark wizard that a young boy was responsible for the releasing an astonishing amount of magical energy. Then, the enemy would do anything to kill or capture that unknown young wizard. But, Cecil’s idea was worth trying. Paedris slapped his knee. “Cecil, I like it! Trust you to find a silver lining in this dark cloud.”

  “Yes,” Mwazo said dryly, “because I am known far and wide as a ray of sunshine in everyone’s lives.”

  “Speaking of sunshine, we need to get moving, before the day becomes too hot and we need to find shelter from this burning sun. Our mission here is all the more urgent, and I fear we have little time.”

  Wing and Olivia were also affected by Koren’s use of raw power. Olivia was bending down to take a teakettle off a fire when she slumped forward, fortunately to the side rather than face-first into the fire. The hem of her robe did catch fire and she received a red mark on one leg, before attentive soldiers rushed over and beat the flames out with their vests. They pulled the young wizard away from the fire and laid her on the ground, calling for a wizard healer for help, but it was no use. Every wizard with the Royal Army had been affected, some worse than others.

  Madame Chu narrowly escaped serious injury or death because she and Ariana were galloping their horses along a road when Koren called upon the spirits for power he could not control nor understand. When Wing collapsed, she pitched off her horse to the left into a drainage ditch filled with scummy water and reeds. The waist-deep water and soft mud broke her fall if injuring her dignity, and jumping into the ditch to rescue the master wizard did little for Ariana’s own dignity. “Help me!” The princess shouted as she sank into knee-deep mud, holding the wizard’s head above the algae-slicked water. Soldiers quickly jumped down into the ditch, pulling both wizard and princess out of the muck.

  One soldier was embarrassed by the disheveled condition of the princess, and the fact that he had touched her to get her out of the sticky mud. “Your Highness, your dress is-”

  “Oh, I don’t care about my stupid dress! Fetch a healer, Madame Chu needs-”

  “Forgive me, Highness, but all the wizards appear to have been affected,” the soldier reported, pointing forward along the road to the army camp. Around the tent used by the wizards, bodies in the colorful robes of wizards were slumped on the ground.

  “What is going on?” Ariana asked in fear and wonder. She helped the soldiers get Madame Chu into a wagon and brought over to the wizard’s tent, where some of the magic-users were stirring. “Olivia!” Ariana called out, dismayed to see the young w
oman’s robe burned at the hem. “Madame Dupres, are you well?”

  “Yes, fine, Ari- Highness. I was clumsy,” Olivia blinked slowly, her eyes still not focusing properly.

  “Madame Chu is not well, can you help her?”

  Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know how, I might do more harm than good. Highness, someone used an incredible amount of magic energy, that caused a disturbance in the spirit world.” She walked over and placed two fingertips on Wing’s forehead, closing her eyes and concentrating. “She will be fine,” Olivia announced with a shudder from having come into contact with the power inside the wizard from Ching-Do. Will I ever have such power, Olivia asked herself. And could I control it?

  Ariana looked around her, where many wizards were recovering, being helped up by soldiers who were wary of touching a wizard. “Why is Madame Chu not responding?”

  “Because she is the most powerful among us, her connection to the spirit world is strongest. She felt the effect more deeply that I did.” Olivia held up her hands in a shrug, giving the princess a weak smile. “This is a time when I am fortunate that my abilities are still developing.”

  “Oh,” Ariana did not know what to say, so she changed the subject. “The energy you felt, was it Lord Salva?”

  Olivia jerked her head silently and motioned for the princess to follow her beyond earshot of the soldiers around them. Ariana held up a hand to signal the soldiers should stay back. “Highness, this was not Lord Salva, he could never be so crude. I recognize magic of this type from my very first days of training, when I had no idea how to control my own power. Except for the amount of power used, this was the act of an untrained wizard.”

  “Koren?” Ariana gasped.

  Olivia nodded, eyes flicking to the soldiers to see if they had heard what the princess said, but they had no reaction. “Possibly. I can’t think of anyone else who would have, could have, done this. It was not a dark wizard.”