by Guy Antibes
“Who says it does? I cried when I served time on the borders with the Colcanans. The border with Santasia and Colcan flares up from time to time. I had to kill my countrymen, even though I no longer was under the influence of the Adoption spell. I thought I’d die doing it, but I didn’t. I hated myself for what I did. It was only a five-person patrol in the forests, but three of those men died at my hand. Their families were left without them, their lives cut short, all because I had to maintain my disguise among the Magicians Guild.” Nullia shook as if chilled. “I still remember, but I have put the feelings aside because I have helped many more Colcanan magicians find freedom.”
“Not just Colcanan magicians,” Valanna said brightening a bit. “You saved Trak.”
Nullia leaned her head back to look at the ceiling of the tent. “Trak pretty much saved himself. Honor had more to do with that than I.”
“I wonder what he is doing now?” Valanna said, the worst of her fears fading with thoughts of him.
~~~
Chapter Fourteen
~
Trak walked back to the camp with his two fathers and tossed his plate into a water barrel. The Toryans knew the cleaning spell and would wash the dishes magically. He passed two men transferring the contents of one floater to another and noticed one of them stepping from one floater to the other. The floater didn’t dip at all with the increased weight.
He cocked his head while he observed a bit more and then realized that his problem of raising the rock, and then leaving it to fall had the simplest of solutions. He only needed to step onto an adjacent flyer. Trak clapped his hands and immediately sought out Tembul.
“Is there a spell to abruptly kill another spell? The pose you used to originally bring down the flyers does so, gradually. The worry spell works the same way, gradually. I can raise big rocks—“
“You can?” Tembul narrowed his eyes a bit. “How big?”
“Big enough to pose on,” Trak said. “If a flyer went up with me, I could step onto the flyer and stay aloft, then if we can cut off the lift spell, completely, it would crash to the earth.”
“Squashing our opponents?”
Trak nodded. “If we want to just cut off the pass, we could gently lower the rocks using the lift descend pose. What do you think?”
“Let us talk to Ben,” Tembul said, shaking his head. “I don’t know how to do what you describe.”
They found Ben rearranging the items in his pack. Trak explained his idea.
Ben grinned. “An Innovator, through and through.” He clapped Trak on the shoulder. “I think there are a few ways we can arrange to do that, but I think we should solve this problem together.”
“Together?” Trak said.
“You are still learning, boy. If the lift spell puts an object at a certain level above the ground and nothing can change that altitude, then you might still need to use the worry spell.”
“But it will just drift down,” Trak said.
“What if you help the object on the way down?”
“A combination?”
Ben nodded. “A combination. You might use a telekinesis spell to keep the object aloft until the worry spell takes affect and then release the spell. What else?”
“Push. You can use the push pose from the other platform to increase the speed of the rock going down.”
Ben rubbed the side of his stubbled face. “Why not use destruction?”
“The rock would blow up and we would, too. But if we were to send the rock below us, and then use destruction, the rocks would be smaller but rock fragments would cover a larger area. Why don’t we do some experimenting? Is an attack imminent?” Trak said.
Tembul shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think so. We can do it now. I know where there is a rock-filled valley. We should be able to find plenty of big rocks.”
Soon the three flyers hovered over a massive pile of rocks in Tembul’s valley. They left Lenis and Rasia behind, but Able joined them since he said he wanted to see how his stepson did.
“There’s one!” Trak pointed towards a boulder with a flat side facing up. He stepped off the flyer onto the rock and lifted it up ten stories. Ben had accompanied him and positioned the flyer so Trak could step off the rock onto the wing, and then climb on the flyer.
Both the rock and the flyer hovered above the rocks. Trak jumped onto the flyer, and then used worry on the rock, and as it began to fall, he quickly converted his pose to Force-Push and then Force-Destruction. The rock split up, but didn’t really expand like they wanted.
They all landed again and Trak found another boulder and did the same thing, but from twenty stories. This time he pulled his sword instead of using the Destruction pose and used the lightning explosion pose that he had used that had gotten him a death sentence in Bitrium.
The rock exploded into a large mass of rocks of all sizes and peppered a wide area below.
All flyers landed and Neel ran to find one of the shards. “Unless the enemy wears metal caps, even one this size will do damage.”
“Even with a cap,” Able said as he hefted an anvil-sized rock, “a man would be out of action.”
Neel climbed up on a rock and invoked the lift spell, but nothing happened. “I can’t move this.”
Ben and Tembul followed, trying to lift a rock, but none of them could. “Not quite the revolution in warfare that I had anticipated,” Ben said as he hopped off a large boulder and walked over to Trak. “It looks like you are our secret weapon.”
Trak clamped his lips together in frustration. “I’m cursed.”
Neel pushed his shoulder. “Well that’s a negative way of looking at it, but I see your point.”
“If everyone sees me do all the special work…”
Ben laughed. “No need. We’ll use the three flyers and the other two flyers will mimic what you do. Actually we will augment one another, although you will be providing all of the effective power. Will that be acceptable?”
“Let’s keep this a secret from Lenis. Agreed?” Trak looked at Tembul.
“I won’t tell him,” he said, smiling. “That’s a good idea, Trak.”
By the time they flew back to the camp, people were running around in a panic.
“Our forces have been overrun. The Kandannans are using Toryan fighters as well as their own!” a passing soldier said.
Tembul looked miserable. “It will be brother against brother,” he said. “None of us relish battling our own. We haven’t done such a thing for centuries.”
“That also means that resistance to the Kandannans on the western side of the pass is non-existent,” Neel said.
They all agreed. “We’ll have to seal the pass,” Tembul said. “Let’s get back to our rock pile and get to work.
In two hours, Trak looked down at soldiers assembling just on the western side of the pass. “This will stop them.” He had already stepped off the boulder. “This one goes down as is, since we are sealing the pass.” He had carefully positioned the boulder over the middle of the road and invoked ‘worry’. Spells on inanimate objects didn’t take as along as humans, and soon the rock descended. One soldier didn’t get out of the way and the big boulder crushed him.
“That will discourage the soldiers,” Tembul said as all three flyers hurried back to the valley.
Trak continued to ride the boulders up to the pass until twilight. This last boulder would have to be his last for the day. Men could still climb over the rocks that they had laid, but no supply wagons would be moving east or west.
All of them, weary from the effort, collapsed on their bedrolls as soon as they had stuffed some food inside of themselves.
Trak woke the next morning with a headache. He staggered to the mess line and picked up more food than normal.
“Another morning like our afternoon, and the pass will be sealed,” Tembul said. “I talked to the force leader, and the Kandannan army has dwindled to a trickle that still leaves a larger force than ours on our side of the pass, but they are now cut off from
their supplies.”
“I can hardly wait,” Trak said wearily. “We can go as long as my strength holds out.”
Neel looked bright and refreshed. “We’ll support you all the way.”
Able, Rasia, and Lenis stayed behind to fight on the ground and left them, joining a Toryan unit.
“Let’s get it done,” Trak said.
They worked nearly until midday until Trak had finally exhausted his ability to channel the earth’s forces.
“No one is getting over that clump of rocks now,” Ben said. “Toryan soldiers with bows and arrows can pick off any soldiers wanting to get over the new barrier.”
Tembul nodded. “After we eat, let’s try exploding rocks over the Kandannan forces. All you’ll have to do is point your sword and hit the rock with a jolt of lightning. Any of us can use the worry spell. That will keep your posing down quite a bit.”
“Fine with me,” Trak said.
Not much later, they hovered over an assembling Kandannan force not far from their camp. They now used two flyers with three magicians. One would be holding a shield around the flyer to keep any Kandannan magician from using a pose to get them down. Neel would point his sword at the rock as well, but Trak would be providing most of the power to make the rock explode. From an observer on the ground, both swords would emit bolts of lightning.
Lightning and streams of fire lifted upward from the assembled army. All of them splashed harmlessly underneath the flyers. Trak stepped from the rock, somewhat smaller than the boulders that he had transported to the pass now that it floated above the soldiers, who looked up above.
“Now,” Tembul said. He posed the Force-push spell, which propelled the rock downward. “Swords,” he said again.
Trak and Neel pointed at the rock and intoned lightning. The rock shattered. A few shards pinged against the bottom of the flyers and then fell back to the earth. Honor and Ben couldn’t look down and maintain the shield spell, but the other four gazed at the destruction below them. The rock had exploded to create a hail of rock 50 paces wide by the time the shards began their destruction below them.
“Let’s get the next rock,” Tembul said as he and Neel assumed the wind pose and pushed them from the battlefield.
When they returned, the bolts of fire and lightning seemed desperate. The rock that Trak had moved began to chip from the spell, but that only created more rock shards raining down on the army. After a few passes, the soldiers scattered as the flyers and the rock moved overhead.
“Supplies,” Tembul said. “Over there.
Trak was rapidly losing strength. “I can do another one, but no more. This morning took too much of a toll.”
“Can you take the rock up another ten stories?” Ben asked, calling over from his flyer. “The destructive ring will be larger.”
Trak performed the lift spell, which never seemed to take much out of him. They repeated their actions from the last attack and watched the destruction. Supplies were shredded. Water barrels exploded. Boxes, crates, and baskets of food were destroyed.
Trak barely had the strength to hold on while they flew back to their camp. He crawled to the bedroll in his tent and lay down. He wondered if he’d ever been so tired, even after a full day sparring with Gio’s swordsmen. Neel brought in some food that Trak managed to down before he lay back and fell asleep.
~
“Wake up, hero.” Honor gently shook Trak’s shoulder. She had sat down beside him. “The Kandannan army is in disarray, but you can sleep while we eradicate them from this side of the mountains.”
“What time is it?”
Honor put her finger to her cheek. “Oh, about midday,” she said. “You need the rest, or you’ll burn out. I imagine you came close yesterday. Talk about stirring up a beehive. We have been flying over the Kandannans throwing down rocks, and they have learned quickly to stay out from underneath a flyer.”
Trak shook his head to toss his drowsiness away. “Have I missed the midday meal?”
“No, nephew. That’s why I’m here. Your voracious fathers, Ben, and Tembul didn’t want to wait for you, but there is still time to fill your belly.”
Honor certainly seemed to be in an exceptional mood. “Why are you so nice, all of a sudden?” Trak said.
“Your exploits have been dispatched to Kizru, and you are a Toryan hero. I am very happy for you. I only wish that those idiots in Bitrium would see the error of their ways.”
Trak furrowed his brow. “Wait, weren’t you one of those idiots?”
“Don’t you remember me walking out? I never voted to put you to death.” She paused for a bit. “Anyway, they wouldn’t have counted my vote since we are related.”
Trak didn’t know what to make of being a hero. He didn’t feel that he had done anything wonderful to deserve it. Towing the rock and exploding it was a team effort. He couldn’t have done that by himself.
“What about the rest of you? Don’t you get any credit? Didn’t the force leader put your contributions in his message?”
Honor pursed her lips. Her eyes didn’t look very serious. “I doubt it. Perhaps they just want to make sure you don’t flitter off. I’m not so sure I wouldn’t, if given the chance.”
“Well, I don’t have to accept anything. We need to finish up here and then move north to the Lazanti Pass. I don’t have to make a decision until after this war is over and I don’t want to.”
She patted Trak’s hand. “Good. You do have a smattering of intelligence.” That was more of an Honor comment, he thought. He looked her in the eye. “Is this a test?”
Her smile faded somewhat. “Life is a test. For some strange reason you keep passing, even though you are so recently out of diapers.” Honor’s demeanor cooled a bit more, and that made Trak more comfortable.
He rose and helped Honor to her feet. His head barely brushed the slanted roof of the tent. “Let’s get something to eat. I could eat a horse.”
Honor looked away. “I think you will. That’s on today’s menu.” She quickly left the tent.
The trip to the mess line showed Trak how stiff he was. While he stood in line he stretched and played at making sword forms. The Toryans began to back away from him, making him laugh.
“Sword forms, not poses,” he called out, but they continued to back away.
Tembul walked up and said something in Toryan, making the soldiers relax. “They didn’t understand you. Spooked them, you did,” he said in Pestlan. “Get something to eat, and then we can talk about what we can do this afternoon.
Trak ate pretty much by himself, but as he finished up, his fellow unit members began to congregate around him. He looked around. “Where is Lenis?”
“He has assumed command of a unit of soldiers and is out harrying the enemy,” Rasia said. “I nearly joined them until I realized that he would be running the operation.” She shook her head. “I don’t like him, and I certainly don’t trust his judgement.” Everyone nodded except Tembul, whose set expression betrayed his agreement with them.
“The force leader doesn’t think our rock slinging is going to do more than sting at this point. We’ve run over them a few times and they just scamper for cover,” Able said. He grinned. “I got to sling the rocks. That doesn’t take any talent, and I quite enjoyed watching the rocks fall.”
“So we need a new strategy?” Rasia said.
“There will be a time when we can shower rocks on them, but until we fight a set battle, we’ll have to think of something else,” Tembul said, crossing his arms.
Trak looked at the trees. “I thought while I ate, that we could build a loose wooden platform and set it on fire before we exploded it, sending fire down. We could do it at night when the men slept in their tents.”
Ben brightened up. “Innovation! Good idea, Trak. Vicious, but good.”
“We wouldn’t want to do it too close to the woods, or a fire might start,” Tembul said. “That is not an appropriate strategy in Toryan lands.”
Trak managed a smile.
“So what do we do now?”
“If you are rested, we can fight alongside our Toryan fighters. The flyers can take us right to the fighting.”
“No magic? I think I can handle that. Let’s go,” Trak said. “I just need to get my weapons.”
“We have some armor if you need it.”
Trak shook his head. “I can use a personal shield that doesn’t require a constant pose. That’s what Lenis does, right?”
“Right,” Tembul said, not hiding a disgusted look on his face.
They flew above the treetops. A gust of southerly wind shifted them off course a bit, but soon they heard the sounds of fighting. Tembul led them to a tiny meadow.
“We can hide the flyers here and walk south to the fighting.” They all drank some watered wine and ate a bit of bread for further energy, and then headed into the forest.
Tembul seemed to know every inch of the land as he took them directly to the skirmish. Trak drew his sword along with the others and entered into the fray. Even Honor fought with magic, shifting from pose to pose, but not as artfully as Trak thought he could.
As the fighting continued, Trak’s opponent fought him with manic zeal, which got Trak to wondering. The swordsman wasn’t particularly skilled, but he fought bravely. Trak easily became defensive and let his opponent wear himself out. He incanted ‘worry’ as they broke off for a moment. The young man continued the fight for a few moments, but his movements became sluggish. Trak drew back while the fighter slumped to the ground.
“Use worry on as many as you can!” Trak yelled, “Especially if they fight as if possessed.”
The Toryans finally prevailed. Able had a deep cut in his thigh, but he had sustained the worst injury of the group. There were six of their enemy asleep on the ground. Tembul had Trak line them all up.
“We’ll take care of these,” he said to the leader of the Toryans, who withdrew with their wounded. Tembul spoke with the commander for a moment and returned. The only Kandannans left alive were the ones at Trak’s feet, while Rasia saw to Able’s leg. All six looked like Toryans.
His opponent began to stir. Swords were drawn and pointed at the prisoners. The man’s eyes blinked open. He raised his hands to cover his eyes.