The knife-thrower nodded acceptance while fingering the knife in his belt. The daggerlance in his right hand had within the CPA the spell to kill, but the ordinary blade seemed to be his favorite one to use for actual stabbing and slicing.
Silvia stepped around her husband. “Chosen One, the ultimate winner of the conflict in this mountain is too close to call, but if you do win, I see you catching up in the footrace, within a few paces of meeting your adversary face to face.”
That was the closest he had come so far to catching the ancient Aakasear in her viewings and yet he would have felt better if his greater progress was not hanging on an, “If.”
Leah, who had been focusing energy into Vance, straightened up to her full height. “So you are saying if we lose here we lose the war, but if we win here, we live to fight another day.”
Silvia bit her lip, which was never a good sign. “If we fail here we will lose the war, but winning means the Chosen Vessel will soon face the other Champion.”
“How soon will that be?” Daniel asked while clipping the canteen to his belt.
The Seer bit her lip again. “This is another pivot point and the answer will depend on the decisions you will be making shortly. I can say this much, one way or the other, this battle will be over within the mark.”
Daniel nodded. “Leah, convey Cummin to Shantear. His part in this war is over no matter what else happens, then come back and help me destroy this Nest.”
“It will be as you say, Maestro,” she responded and then disappeared in a flash bang along with the prisoner.
“You two stay with me,” he told the Teki couple and then ran for the door.
“We would have it no other way,” David replied from a few strides behind.
To the left, lances of light flew in a near continuous stream from the Sentinels, some on one knee and others in standing positions, but they were all hundreds of strides down the corridor. Carlos and Rachel were down there casting spells in the same direction. To the right, Samuel, Sero and another batch of Sentinels were casting spells. The long hall was packed with people and the actual fighting was far from the doorway. It was only through Find All that Daniel could get a good understanding of who was where, physical sight was doing him little good, being blocked by the Sentinels nearest to him who were facing forward and back, waiting their turns to go and relieve the more distant fighters.
The fiercest fighting was to the right where he sensed Samuel in a hectic duel with a pair of Aakacarns Daniel could only identify generically. Beyond them were more Aakacarns, likely Serpents. He willed the shield away from the palm of his right hand, placed it against the wall, and cast Fashioning. The granite, various mineral deposits, and bedrock of the mountain came into his awareness. He could feel every tunnel, cranny, chamber, and cavern. Through Find All he could sense people moving through those passages at every level, including new tunnels being created by various Accomplisheds. The only reason he did not attempt to reform those passages to crush the tunneling Aakacarns was the possibility some of them could be Artisans of Aakadon.
He added a Da Capo to Fashioning so both spells would be feeding him crucial information about his surroundings beyond what his physical senses could detect. “Follow me,” he said, after reforming the double shields on his palm, and then cast Digger, focusing on the floor beneath his feet.
The spell caused whatever it was focused on to flow into the surrounding rock, rather than simply displace it, and to combine with and increase the density. The Melody for the spell was the same for Fashioning but the rhythm and harmony were different and removed the requirement of physical touch to do the reshaping.
He sank down nine cubits and then, focused the spell forward. As he took off running, the spell created a tunnel three strides ahead that was a little taller and wider than his physical dimensions. Silvia and David wasted little time leaping into the new passage and were soon followed by a few hundred Sentinels who had been waiting their turns to fight. Daniel was aware of every other tunnel and in particular the one above. He reached the area where Sam was dueling and ran on a little father until he and his followers were on the far side of the exchange and under the area that was full of Serpents.
He focused the spell upward through his left hand, displacing rock and swept the topaz light forward along the path of the upper hall. His energy beam forced all of the rock to flow to the sides and the entire floor, several hundred strides worth, beneath the enemy Aakacarns, was suddenly gone. Hundreds of people in black silks dropped nine cubits without any warning and were faced with a barrage. They were hit by pebbles of flame from Silvia’s crossbow and lances of light from David and the Sentinels, and those spells were deflected by shields, but then Daniel refocused his spell through his diamond-bladed knife, rather than his hand.
Digger, backed by ten bolts of potential, flashed along the newly made passage and slammed into the Serpents before half of them had managed to stand up after the initial fall. They all flowed, screaming, into the surrounding rock, some becoming part of the floor, others becoming part of one wall or the other, but after a ten count, the newly made tunnel was smooth and empty of what was once a horde of enemy spell-casters. They were all likely One and Two-bolt Accomplisheds and even those who might have had the new type of shields in place and tied to their crescendos clearly did not possess enough potential to withstand a spell backed by ten bolts.
He created an incline upward to the higher level and the Serpents there charged down at him. Daniel almost felt pity for them as he pointed his knife and hundreds, perhaps a thousand, or so Serpents flowed down and became part of the floor. “Sentinels, charge up that incline and defend my back,” he ordered, and then levitated nine cubits straight up, bringing the Teki couple with him. “Silvia, David, I want you to distract the Serpents.”
Even before they set foot on the floor of the hallway, pebbles of flame and lances of light flew at the backs of the enemy Aakacarns who were battling Samuel, Sero, and the Sentinels. Daniel could not see beyond the Serpents in their black silks, but Find All made him aware of every soul in the hall who was on his side, forward and back, even the bodies of the dead, among who was Ryon Carroon. His career as an Accomplished had lasted barely a month, his death was sad, and so were the deaths of the others who had died in the service of the Chosen Vessel.
Daniel focused Digger through his knife, knowing exactly how far to send the beam, and three hundred men and women screamed in horror as their shields failed them and their bodies were drawn into the walls, ceiling, or sank into floor, but there had been three hundred and forty-two Aakacarns between him and Samuel. The survivors were two groups of twenty-one acting in concert, each including an Operations Commander as the conductor. Daniel’s spell had been blocked by their shields.
Boris, with his hood down revealing an array atop a head of black-oily hair, continued the battle with Sam, Sero, and the Sentinels, while Othello turned to face the new threat. Sherman’s array rested on top of a completely shaven head. Ten of his Serpents were feeding energy into his crescendo while the remaining members were likely powering the shield.
“Keep firing at them,” Daniel told the Teki couple, and then conveyed to the space in between the enemy teams.
They were unprepared for his arrival, giving him time to focus Conveyance at both groups and picture them where he sent their former colleague Lorain Baler. He sent them there and shouted; “Cease fire,” in a spell amplified voice to his forces in the hall, and then conveyed all of them, several thousand Sentinels, including the dead ones, along with Sam, Sero, Carlos, and Rachel, into the chamber he had been in. It was a tight squeeze and most of the super soldiers were in the vacant part of the pit.
The Sentinels shouted and rejoiced over the action taken by their leader, but celebration was not on his mind. Time was of the essence and he had to act quickly.
“Daniel, you do realize they will teleport right back from wherever you sent them,” Samuel pointed out while his Maestro was
busy focusing a spell.
“Even if that destination was your favorite spot at the bottom of the Eastern Ocean,” Carlos added, guessing correctly. “The shield will easily displace the water and protect them from being crushed by the weight. Conductor Cresh is right, those Accomplished will come back.”
Through Fashioning, Daniel forced the stone of the mountain to fill-in the entire hallway while touching a diamond in the pouch in his pocket. He cast Change It, and the entire section was transformed into possibly the largest diamond ever created outside of the Zephyr Guild, making it many times denser than it had been. Only then did he stop to make a reply. “I really hope they do, right from where they departed.”
A few moments later his scanning spells revealed the sudden addition of mass out where the hall used to be, forty-two human-shaped impressions to be exact. They had only been sent away minutes ago and had he stopped to explain his actions the plan would have failed.
The Sentinels had been exposed to his brand of spell-casting for so long that not one of them had questioned their foes suddenly disappearing or being ordered to cease fire or at finding themselves suddenly in the chamber they had been defending. Chas trained them well.
“I think they just returned,” Rachel said while ignoring the dead Accomplished and Sentinels on the floor. “It doesn’t seem these two teams of Serpents are in any condition to give us trouble. Maestro, why did refashioning work for you and not for us?”
“While they were here, the best I could have done would have been to wrap their shields in granite, which would have stopped them until the conductor teleported them elsewhere. They killed themselves by traveling back into solid rock I transformed into diamond, which is a lot harder to displace than is water. It was a race between me and the conductors, if they had returned before I cast my spell their shields would have saved them,” Daniel replied, and then concentrated on what was happening within the mountain at large.
“I bet that hurt,” Carlos commented.
“No, their deaths were instantaneous,” Sero corrected him.
The picture presented by the scanning spells no longer resembled the image of Suteck created by Samuel in the briefing, due to many tunnels and chambers being altered, but in the second of the three lower chambers Daniel sensed thousands of Aakacarns spell-battling, and Quala Robin and her team of Seekers were among them, meaning the generic Aakacarns alongside of them had to be from Aakadon. They were not doing as well as Darrel Logan and his team who were fighting alongside Joint Mission Task Force members in the first chamber. His group was close to defeating their opponents that numbered into the thousands, a figure that was rapidly decreasing. The Atlantans also seemed to be wining in the first chamber against a similar number of foes, which was another good thing. Unfortunately, the chamber that needed Daniel the most was a long way down from where he was standing, and his scanning spells were good but not enough to provide a visual for conveyance.
“Rachel, I need you to convey these captives to the staging area at Shantear where Healers will tend to their needs and then take our dead there, be sure to take Ryon’s array to someone in Communications, the rest of you follow me,” he ordered, ignoring the irrelevant conversation taking place between his bodyguard and assistant, and then focused Digger at the floor while the ISIG agent nodded and began the chore given to her.
“Where are we going?” Samuel inquired, as a spiral stare-way was being created before his eyes.
Daniel descended the steps that were appearing in the downward helix two body-lengths below him. “The largest part of the battle is taking place where Quala’s team of Seekers and Accomplisheds of Aakadon are currently contending with thousands of Serpents. They seem to be evenly matched so we are going down to tip the balance our way.”
Fortunately, Sam and the others followed immediately rather than wait to hear the answer. Daniel was deep down by the time the last Sentinel, Mallory SuKendall, began her descent and thousands of people were on their way to the next battle ground. All around him he sensed pockets of fighting in halls and chambers throughout the mountain. Between his Accomplisheds and those fighting alongside of them, it seemed as if the Serpents were losing, and yet he dared not be overly confident, knowing the tide could swiftly change the other way.
When the newly forming stairs were thirty cubits away from the ceiling of the cavernous chamber, Daniel sent, “Accomplished Robin, we are about to drop in behind the Serpents. Notify our allies from Aakadon.”
“Lena Beyers and Senior Corona Janice Footner of Lobenia are with me,” Quala replied with a sense of growing anticipation accenting her words. “I sensed your descent. We are facing Leo Zanner, who is conducting a circle of thirty spell-casters. Not even the Maestro of the Sun Guild and one of her most powerful Senior Coronas has been able to defeat the Operations Commander. The Serpents on the far side of the chamber have been creating tunnels and using them to out flank us and have been hitting us from behind, but so far we and the Eagles have been beating them back and the Artisans have been closing up the passages.”
Daniel could see where the pair of Five-bolts with their equally powerful crescendos would have difficulty under the circumstances; each of them could focus ten lightning bolts of potential, yet not enough to overwhelm the shield, and Zanner was a truly competent contender, more so than the other Operation Commanders had been. “We will hit the individual Serpents from this side and as for the Circle, what cannot be overwhelmed through sheer power alone must be overcome with ingenuity,” he replied just as the lowest step reached the chamber and he ceased the creation of the stairs.
The cacophony of sounds caused by the rapid exchange of spells that crackled and boomed reminded him he was vulnerable. He brought back his outer shield and then dropped down to the floor of the chamber. Samuel came next, but cast a spell to slow the descent of David and Silvia. Due to the extra energy absorbed into the recipe strands of each Sentinel Daniel had restored from condemnation, Jacob Tanner, Al Benkorren, Bow Kerren, Jana and Carn Bencain, all of whom were light-skinned-dark-haired Ducaunan’s, and their fellow super soldiers, had no problem dropping from so high and landing on their feet, nor did Carlos or Sero.
Daniel sensed groups of enemy Aakacarns creating passages and tunneling through the floor and walls towards the Seekers and Accomplished of Aakadon. “You three pick a passage and do what you can to stop the Serpents,” he told the Accomplisheds.
The Conductor, bodyguard, and assistant each ran into one of the spell-created passages and soon began their assaults. Daniel stood staring at the backs of black-cloaked Accomplisheds who were so engrossed in what was ahead of them they had not yet realized the danger they were in. He focused Digger through his diamond-bladed crescendo and sent all of the potential he could summon in a broad beam that was the width of the chamber. The topaz light touched one Serpent after the other, overwhelming their shields, and then making them part of the floor or nearest wall.
The spell continued forward and struck a globe created by a group of Aakacarns working in concert. He maintained the energy and in moments the spherical energy field winked out and that group became part of the floor. Lances of light and pebbles of flame shot past him, but it was his spell that overwhelmed the shields and forced the enemy spell-casters to become one with the mountain.
While keeping the focus forward, he could sense Carlos killing the Serpents in the passage to his right, Sero eliminating the Aakacarns in the passage to his left, and Samuel defeating one foe after another in the tunnel beneath his feet. Thousands of Serpents were dying as Daniel’s spell enveloped them and continued onward. Even as his spell progressed closer and closer to the Operations Commander, ending the lives of everyone in the way, Daniel knew fourteen bolts would not be enough to finish the chore, even with Maestro Beyers battering at the shield from the other side.
When Digger reached the energy field created by Zanner’s circle, Daniel ceased the potential and drank the last of the water from his canteen.
“You could have let us kill a few,” David commented, even though he had to have seen how ineffective his daggerlance was against the shields.
If killing the Serpents had been that easy, the Seekers and Accomplisheds of Aakadon would have won the chamber half a mark ago, but Daniel chose not to state the obvious. “Call me greedy, although Sam, Sero, and Carlos are making a lot of kills of their own,” he said and began walking toward the remaining Serpents and their commander.
“Six thousand seven hundred eighty-three kills is more than greedy,” David apparently felt the need to continue the dialogue as he, his wife, and the Sentinels walked with their leader.
Daniel sensed Sero complete his chore and nodded when the assistant tunneled back into the main chamber. Carlos did the same minutes later, and Samuel cast a spell that gutted the last Serpent in his tunnel, but he was on the other side of Zanner, and came up through the floor amidst the Seekers.
A familiar presence was descending the spiral stares and dropped into the chamber. “Everybody, on the floor,” she called out, verbally and through her communication array.
Daniel did as instructed and watched as a horizontal column of white hot flames jetted over his head. The fiery blast bathed the super shield. If not for personal shields, everyone on his side of the chamber would have been broiled alive. As it was, the Sentinels and the pair of Teki were at risk of having their clothing singed.
For the time being, Zanner’s team was feeding the shield that was insolating Quala and the people on the other side of the chamber, but the spell coming from Leah was far more powerful than anything Daniel had ever known her to have wielded. The highest amount of energy she should be able to summon was her five bolts and the additional seven from the baton he had given her long ago, but she was focusing at a level higher than Vance had hit him with.
Cracks formed in the ceiling and walls, dust fell, and was soon followed by chunks of stone. The harmonic waves given off by Leah’s spell and the shield that was designed to match that potential, was threatening to bring the mountain down on their heads. Daniel pictured the entire chamber in his mind and formed a shield along its dimensions. Since the cave-in was an indirect result of Aakacarn spell-work, the energy to maintain the shield came straight from his vat, and was making him thirsty. He licked his lips, but his mouth had gone dry, and so had nothing to ease the chapping of his lips.
To Be Victorious: The Maestro Chronicles Book 6 Page 63