To Be Victorious: The Maestro Chronicles Book 6

by John Buttrick

  The pockets of his cloak were full of the many things he had tucked into them over time and he wondered if there was anything within them that could help him win. Nothing he had done so far had come close to harming Tarin Conn. There were possibilities, but unless the circumstances changed, Daniel knew he probably would be killed by the ancient Aakasear.

  Through the seven compartments in his mind that contained the sensations of his constructs, he realized all of them had fallen to the ground, motionless, and were on the receiving end of numerous spells. The silly Serpents could not kill shielded puppets, but that did not stop them from trying. He willed all of the Daniels to vanish and appear half a span from where they had been. On the bright side, he did sense Carlos seven spans away and tunneling to a sphere that might contain Sherree, and sensed Leah approaching yet another orb. Daniel certainly hoped one of the globes of energy contained his wife and that she would be conveyed to safety. In the meantime, he had a few tricks left to try on the Aakasear who was getting closer to him by the moment.

  -----

  Tarin walked down the steep tunnel until reaching the place where it narrowed so much the only way to go forward would be to crawl on his belly. He had far too much dignity to continue on in that fashion; having many ways of reaching his foe, ways befitting a person of his stature.

  This must have been where my spell hit him, he smiled at the thought.

  The Daniel he had been chasing and six others moved almost with the same frequency, but the eighth one had stopped and then the topaz-energy-shaped-being had begun tunneling down toward one of the decoy spheres. All it took to verify the suspicion was a quick teleportation and a Burning Beam of Light focused at the life-force. The spell slammed that Daniel against the sphere and Tarin had sensed all of the other Daniels fall to the ground and then being swarmed by loyal Serpents.

  A few minutes passed and the doppelgangers vanished, which told him the true Daniel at the bottom of the narrow shaft had regained consciousness. Tarin had many spells with Da Capos ready to be focused and was considering which one to use. After all, he wanted the death of his nemeses to be spectacular.

  He felt a release of energy and in the blink of an eye the stone of the passaged closed in around him. He was immobilized and his shield grew brighter, drawing most of the energy from his crescendo, and some from his borrowed resource. Even more aggravating, Daniel vanished from the bottom.

  Tarin found it to be more than a little frustrating, him, the greatest spell-caster of all time, having to limit the power of his spells. He had been tempted, several times since teleporting to the surface, to focus all of his thirty bolts into the crescendo, and hit the boy Aakasear with sixty lightning bolt of potential. Instead, he had been focusing only enough energy into the amplifier to bring the spell up to thirty. The amount had been sufficient enough to hurl the upstart against the sphere, but not enough to kill him, due to that blighted shield spell that absorbed energy.

  Tarin’s rate of replenishing was still zero and even though he had topped off his resource by draining the life-forces of six thousand six hundred-sixty commoners and three One-bolt Aakacarns who made the mistake of irritating him at the wrong time, he had to be mindful of the fact that the power he wielded was finite, and he had to be miserly with it. He certainly had more than enough energy to deal with the fool boy; a lack of power was not going to be a problem. Especially after discovering the junior Aakasear could be knocked unconscious, even shielded, if hit against a solid object with enough force.

  The idea of smacking Daniel around and ramming him into solid objects had a certain appeal, even if it was reminiscent of a cat playing with its meal before making the kill.

  How many hits would it take to scramble the boy’s brain? Finding the answer promised to be entertaining.

  The scanning spells he had focused on the surface and mental links with his followers gave Tarin a good idea of how the battle was going on the mountain. He felt twenty Aakacarns die and knew the Phantom, commanded by Glenda Rainmaker, had been blown up. The battle itself was too close to call and they needed him to tip the balance, but he first had to nullify Daniel Benhannon.

  Tarin was familiar with every pace of ground in and on Filia and had no difficulty picturing a teleportation point in his mind. Eight topaz life-forms were spread across the mountain, seven doppelgangers and one true Daniel, but which one? Tarin made his choice and focused his spell.

  He arrived near the peak west of the snow-filled crevice and immediately cast the spell, Condemnation. The energy beam shot from the ruby eyes of his crescendo and hit Benhannon with thirty-bolts, which slammed the mountain boy back against the rock-face, hopefully enough to knock him unconscious. A moment later another Daniel appeared and suddenly Tarin was wrapped up in bands of air and flung out over the edge. He plummeted onto the rocky slope and began tumbling head over heels down the rock-face. A shift in momentum sent him to the left and into the crevice where he came to a stop, buried under the snow.

  He sensed eight topaz life-forms that could be Daniel, but one was battling Serpents, Barbering, Sintoc, Goring, and Fraum, all Two-bolt Accomplisheds. Tarin Teleported to the skirmish and arrived just as Daniel’s spell overpowered the shields of the faithful Serpents and then reduced the Aakacarns to four piles of ash. But their loss gave Tarin the opportunity to blast a thirty-bolt lightning strike into the child Aakasear, sending him tumbling down the slope. The neophyte rolled lengthwise rather than head over heels, turning round and round, right down into a line of trees at the base of the mountain. Again, the doppelgangers fell to the ground. The fall must have hurt.

  Tarin glanced up, saw one of those black and white rays strafing the Shimmer, commanded by Ursula Duggan, and sent Burning Beam of Light at the manta. The ray glowed as its shield absorbed the energy, but the force hit so hard the peculiar craft went into a spin and plummeted into the lake. The Sky-cruiser survived and would hopefully prevail in the next engagement.

  Benhannon’s commoners were dropping yetis to the ground all over the mountain and his Accomplisheds, along with those of Aakadon, were on the verge of shifting towards a possible victory, which was something Tarin could not allow. He also sensed ten Accomplisheds burrowing after the decoy spheres and decided to will an additional twenty into existence. Daniel was not the only one who could play with decoys. The thought brought his attention back to the topaz life-force down among the trees.

  In a blur of motion, the doppelganger that had been lying on the ground jumped onto Tarin’s back. “Not again!” He shouted, aimed the black mamba over his shoulder, and blasted the nuisance off, but it hit the rock-face and disappeared.

  Even though his scanning spells had sensed the change, he still looked down at the trees where the real Daniel had been. Seven of them were running in as many directions on the slopes of the mountain, but number eight was descending in a snaky pattern toward the cavern where the sphere containing Sherree Jenna-Benhannon was being kept. It had not taken Tarin very long to figure out the seven doppelgangers had nowhere near the power of the true Daniel, nor had any of them attempted to tunnel, so the one going after the orb had to be the tricky Aakasear.

  Tarin teleported to the tunnel entrance and immediately sent Burning Beam of Light down the shaft. Creating the twisty pattern did the fool no good. The spell burned in a straight line, burning through rock as if it was warm butter, and just a split second before the beam was about to hit its target, Daniel disappeared. That boy was irksome.

  A topaz presence appeared behind Tarin and wrapped him in a tornado. He was immediately slung around in the powerful vortex and growing dizzier by the second. His physical senses told him little other than he felt as if he was going to sick up, but his scanning spells told him he and the tornado had been lifted off the ground and were drifting toward Carlie Dotavoa and her circle of eight. They too were drawn into the vortex, the crescendo dropped from her hand, the shield vanished, and then the violent winds ripped the Accomplisheds apart. Tarin closed
his eyes, pictured a secluded place on the east side of the mountain, and teleported in the cleft where he would have an excellent view of the battle.

  “Serena, I want you to move Jenna-Benhannon. The fool boy came close to reaching her,” he sent through the mental link he had established with her long ago. They did not need an array or amulet in order to communicate.

  “Great One, I will move her immediately and leave a decoy for him to come after,” Serena replied.

  “Excellent, I am going to kill some Atlantans.”

  Far down the sloped he watched as over a hundred Accomplisheds in blue silks overcame the shields of two circles of fifty and then reduced the faithful Serpents to boneless blobs.

  So, my adversary wants to play with the wind and use it to destroy me people, he thought, and then created a cyclone, and directed it at the Atlantans.

  He had conjured it close enough to the group that all of them were caught up in the vortex. Some of them would Teleport to safety, those who could concentrate well enough to picture a destination, but Tarin was sure most of them would be unable to focus, lose control, and be torn apart as his people had been.

  Eight Daniels appeared in Tarin’s vicinity and he was not as of yet sure which was the true one. All of them focused spells at him, but one was far more powerful than the rest, and suddenly he was enveloped in the blackness of between here and there, except he had no idea where his destination would be. Was Daniel taking the battle where the two of them could fight alone?

  In an instant his arms were compressed tightly to his body and he could not move his legs. It felt as if the weight of the world was pressing down on him, he could not so much as breathe, the shield spell was demanding more life-force energy than the mamba possessed, and was taking the difference from his borrowed resource. The spell that converted his breath back into breathable air could not work if he could not exhale and so dying of suffocation was becoming a real possibility. He heard a loud crack and was suddenly able to breathe again, although could not move very much.

  He opened his eyes and realized wherever he was, Benhannon was not with him. Tarin was inside a giant crystal, no a diamond, and one that was as big as the average passageway in Filia or Suteck. Daniel must have altered the spell, Teleportation, in order to have the ability to transport someone else to a place of his choosing while remaining untouched by the spell. The young Aakasear should have been teleported into the same massive diamond. The trick would have instantly killed a lesser spell-caster, but the boy had underestimated his foe, but not by much, Tarin forced himself to admit.

  It was not the first time Tarin was buried under a mountain, but this time there was nothing keeping him where he did not want to be. He pictured the cleft of the rock in which he had been standing and promptly teleported to that location. The cyclone had ceased, but he did not care how many Atlantans lived or died, Benhannon was the one he wanted to smash against something hard.

  Looking up he saw a manta blasting spells, two from the front and one from the tail, into the gondola of the Spector, shearing off the propellers, and penetrating the crew compartment. Before Tarin could react, Sheena ZuCamperton and the nineteen Serpents serving on the sky-cruiser perished in a massive fireball. By the time he raised the black mamba, the ray had vanished from sight.

  Those things moved faster than should be possible.

  It was clear the Atlantans had figured out the crescendo was the only vulnerable point in the newest shield of his composing. All but the ruby eyes of his amplifier was shielded and he knew they would be difficult for even Benhannon to target.

  Tarin had eight Daniels to choose from and a decision to make. Attempting to beat the junior Aakasear senseless was taking up too much time. The boy was a fool, but not so stupid. Every time he had been hurt he managed to instantly heal the injuries and escape. Sadly, it was not proving so easy to catch and hurt him.

  The Serpent Guild needed their Maestro, especially with Vance Cummin a prisoner of the Eagle Guild and Aakadon protected by a High Powered dome shield, making a rescue nearly impossible. The quickest way to end the game would be to capture Benhannon in a sphere and then let him die of thirst. He could be preserved as a trophy to be brought out during the many celebrations that would follow the winning of the war.

  Tarin sensed the presence of one of the Daniels and teleported a hundred paces above him. Lightning bolts, fireballs, jets of flame, and bright beams of light flashed, crackled, roared and boomed all over Filia. The once clear sky was filled with clouds of smoke. Directly below him and looking down the slope was the Maestro of the Atlantan Guild, who had defeated Balen Tamm and Vance Cummin. Tarin was tempted to blast him off the mountain again, but chose to stick with his decision and conjured a sphere.

  Benhannon turned around within his prison and with a cocky grin, vanished. No living person could escape that shield, so what Tarin had captured was a doppelganger. Rather than scream his frustration, he teleported to the location of another Daniel on the opposite side of the mountain. Tarin cast his spell and captured yet another grinning doppelganger. Over and over again he teleported to where he sensed the topaz-man-shaped-life-form and each time it turned out to be one of those stinking doppelgangers. He could hardly wait to catch the real Daniel and watch him die.

  Tarin arrived on the north side of Filia and stood in place after having made ten captures. Even though his faithful Serpents and beautiful blue sky-cruisers were falling, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the eight Daniels, not only where they were, but what they were doing.

  Daniel-1 was harassing Lareine Kaleth, and casting a spell powerful enough to cause the Fon Kayan Accomplished to fall down, but not enough to overwhelm her shield. Daniel-2 jumped onto the back of Beben Gorsser and the poor fool actually drained his own life-force by aiming a spell into the face of Benhannon. The shield drained so much energy from the Serpent, he fainted, the energy field ceased, and the spell used by the Benhannon on his back killed him. Daniel-3 was in a tunnel created and then abandoned by one of his Accomplished, Leah Barryn, Samuel Cresh, or one of the others that served the fool. None of those Daniels had used much if any power, which made Tarin consider them to be doppelgangers.

  Daniels four and five were hiding in trees and sending beams of energy at every Serpent to wander within range, but making few kills. Daniel-6, on the western ridge of the snow-filled crevice, focused a spell up into the air and the casting hit the Mirage and blew the sky-cruiser, along with Sven Walker and his crew, into tiny little flaming pieces. Daniel’s seven and eight were high up on the north-slope. Tarin knew the location of his nemeses and teleported to the peak of the western ridge.

  Daniel-6 was moving toward the crevice and Tarin, out of anger, sent Burning Beam of Light in a sustained blast right into his back. Benhannon fell into the crevice and was buried in the snow, but Tarin could sense the topaz life-force was still very much alive, so kept the energy flowing. Snow melted and his object of wrath was washed down the slope in a torrent of water that toppled trees and flowed into the lake. Seeing the water made him take a drink from his canteen. He was acquiring a powerful thirst that he doubted his three water containers could satisfy, but was in no mood to worry about such a mundane thing.

  Daniel-6 vanished from the lake and moments later appeared on the mountain, but all of the other Daniels had shifted so Tarin was back to trying to figure out which was which. Teleporting to where Benhannon is, any Benhannon, was not a winning plan. Tarin sat on a large rock and then blasted a lightning bolt at one of the blue patrol-boats on the lake below. The vessel glowed brightly and pitched to the south, but was otherwise undamaged. There was some hope members of its crew were injured.

  Ten more Daniel’s appeared, but only eight of them were in motion. It seemed the younger Aakasear could not control more than seven doppelgangers and be able to carry out his plans and schemes. The trickster had limitations and Tarin needed to learn those and exploit them.

  Two Daniels teleported close to each
other, one was in the cleft of a rock and the other stood not far from where a decoy sphere was deep beneath the surface. Both Daniels were casting a spell at the same spot and creating a tunnel, one of them had to be the real one. Even more telling, eight of the eighteen Daniels were hardly moving, and six were not moving at all.

  “I got you,” Tarin shouted and teleported.

  He arrived below the cleft and between the two Daniels, almost immediately eight more Daniels appeared with four in front and four behind Tarin.

  The boy must believe his bride is down in that sphere.

  The original two Daniels had ceased casting their spells and with four in the way of each, Tarin would have to blast or throw a sphere on all of them. Another Daniel suddenly appeared and raised his diamond-bladed crescendo, as did they all. At that point only two Daniels’s moved; the one in the cleft and the new one, all of the others were in the way.

  The Melodies Tarin counted on to interpret everything going on outside of his shield helped him to decide. The one in the cleft had briefly stared at the new arrival and then drew closer and stopped behind the line of four. The movement had been quick, but the interpretation spells caught it.

  Was he the real Daniel or a distraction?

  Tarin really did not want to experience being teleported into a huge diamond ever again. In time he could work out how to send and mesh an opponent’s flesh with solid stone, but time was short, and he needed to beat the younger Aakasear soon, before the Serpent Guild lost any more members or assets. He raised his black mamba at the one who had moved and then was hit from behind by a spell backed by fourteen bolts of potential. Even as his shield drew the power to match the energy level, he spun around and focused Spherical Prison at the newest Daniel.