“I mislike it, Your Majesty,” said Vikon, unconvinced by Sorial’s arguments. “But I lack the authority to command a magus. The decision’s yours.”
“Truth be told, Overcommander, I also lack the authority to command a magus,” said Azarak. His admission surprised Sorial. Technically, he was the king’s subject, not his equal. “Like you, I think there’s great value in the potential of two wizards attacking the enemy army while their leader loiters awaiting a confrontation that will never come. But there’s merit in Sorial’s words. We mustn’t underestimate The Lord of Fire and believe he would allow us to have a two-to-zero magical advantage over his army for an extended period. Sorial’s plan leaves us with one wizard in the battle while offering the possibility of keeping The Lord of Fire away for a time.
“It’s true Sorial’s never seen war, but neither have you or I. We’ve been blessed to live in an unprecedented era of peace. It ends on the morrow’s morrow. But while we can envision the carnage of thousands of men clashing, we have little more than vague descriptions in fables of what happens when wizards fight alongside armies. And Sorial is no innocent when it comes to the horrors of man’s darker side. This is no game to him and I trust him to make the decision that will give Vantok the best chance of survival.”
After that, there was little more to be said. Shortly after the morrow’s sunset, Sorial would depart for a confrontation with whatever fate awaited him to the southeast.
* * *
The last rays of daylight faded beyond the western horizon heralding the arrival of Vantok’s final peaceful night. By morning, streams of thousands of invaders would be within sight and battle would be joined before noon. How long the conflict would last was anyone’s guess - hours or days, it depended in large part on the enemy’s strategy, how the defenders responded, and what role magic played.
The Lord of Fire’s army was moving in a straight line that had varied little since its emergence from The Forbidden Lands. The point of interception looked to be precisely where Azarak’s defenses were at their strongest. Scouts observing the force checked in at fifteen minute intervals. The enemy was aware they were being watched but made little attempt to stymie such efforts. Outside of a few halfhearted arrow shots, no significant effort was expended to intercept Vantok’s scouts. It was as if Justin’s generals didn’t care. That was the mark of a very stupid or very confident commander, and The Lord of Fire wasn’t stupid.
Azarak lay abed with his queen. It was their final night together, at least for the foreseeable future. Plans had been made with contingencies for both their escapes should things go badly but it seemed unlikely they would enjoy this sort of intimacy for many long, lonely days to come. At dawn, Azarak would arise and take his place on the field of battle, far enough from the front lines to be “safe” from arrows and other missiles yet visible to his men as a symbol of what they were fighting for. Myselene would remain in the palace under protection until an order to evacuate arrived, if that became necessary.
Azarak’s final secure day on the throne had seen him give a speech to the public from the palace walls encouraging them to have faith in the city’s army while also issuing a warning: if word came that the battle wasn’t going well, they should evacuate to Basingham. This wasn’t a situation in which those who stayed behind could hope to be well-treated by the invaders. The crowd, not as large as it usually was for such an event, had listened somberly then broken into rapturous applause when the king ended with a rousing exhortation: “Vantok will not bow to the forces of foreign aggression! We’ll fight back with the might of our sinews till we breathe our last!”
He had also given final approval of Sorial’s dangerous plan to investigate The Lord of Fire’s location while leaving behind his wife to provide for Vantok’s magical defense. Azarak had been able ascertain by looking into her eyes that some part of Alicia wanted him to deny Sorial’s request, but he recognized the wisdom of what the wizard was proposing. Alicia never protested but she had hung her head when the king made his pronouncement. This was the second time he had sent Sorial on a mission that could mean his death. Sorial’s plan was to leave tonight and confront whatever awaited him in the morning, close to the time when the conventional battle would be joined.
“I love you.” Azarak hadn’t thought to say it until that moment but he felt he couldn’t move into an uncertain future without revealing what he had privately acknowledged. “If I’d said that on the day of our wedding, it wouldn’t have been true. But today… in only a few weeks, you’ve shown yourself to be more than I ever expected. Your exuberance and loyalty haven’t surprised me, but your generosity of spirit has. You’ve provided the balm to salve the wound of Toranim’s death and the bulwark to keep me upright when it seemed everything might overturn. If I perish in this war, I can’t think of more capable hands to leave Vantok in.”
When she looked up at him, her cheeks were wet and her eyes shone. “Stay alive!” Her voice was husky and urgent. “No matter what, stay alive! When I came to Vantok, I had only one thought: to ensnare a king so I could be his queen. Now, I find that I have little taste for the Crown without someone to rule alongside.” She wanted very much to echo Azarak’s pronouncement, but she couldn’t bring herself to say those three words: I love you. They might be true but uttering them in these circumstances would cheapen them. Azarak might think she was offering an expected but not heartfelt response. Now might be her only chance but it wasn’t the right time.
“Regardless,” said Azarak, his voice somber. “We have to face the possibility that I’ll be one of the casualties of this battle. And whether a queen in exile or a queen in the palace, you have to go on and do what’s best for your people. They’ll rely on you. I don’t have to tell you this; you already know it. Use every tool at your disposal, especially Sorial, Alicia, and even Ferguson. The man is a snake but don’t discount his value.” The thought came to Azarak that the prelate might outlive yet another king of Vantok.
Myselene sought to match his exhortation. “And if I die, don’t return to being the man you were before we met. Don’t retreat into that life of isolation. Find another queen. Hell, if fate decrees that Sorial and I both die, take Alicia as your wife.” A smile flickered across her face as she considered the implications. “If that happened, at least your advisors wouldn’t worry about your next wife bringing sufficient ‘political capital’ to the marriage.”
Azarak knew he should laugh, but the subject matter was too grim. Myselene was the one who laughed and smiled. He was the serious one, the one who brooded.
“Let’s get some sleep,” he said. “Dawn will be here too soon.”
“Oh, no,” retorted Myselene. “Sleep is for later. We have something else to attend to first. I want this night to be remembered for more than grim conversation and tearful goodbyes.”
* * *
At the same time, Alicia and Sorial were also facing the reality of what war meant. Unlike the king and queen, who were lying in the luxury of their bedchamber, the two wizards had elected to spend these last hours in a place where they both felt comfortable: by the bank of Vantok’s river. Unlike Azarak and Myselene, they didn’t have the entire night. In order to be in the vicinity of the “heat signature” by morning, Sorial had to depart before midnight.
They were sitting naked by the river’s side, legs hanging over the edge of the bank and feet dangling into the swiftly moving current. Sorial had shed his clothing in preparation for the journey through the earth. Alicia had joined him because she didn’t want anything between them.
She idly splashed her feet, throwing droplets of water into the moonlit air. It was a perfect late Planting evening, what the farmers called a “lovers’ night.” Tonight, however, no one in Vantok would be sneaking into the fields to sow a few wild oats. War, not love, was the currency of the hour.
“I can feel them coming,” said Sorial. “I don’t even have to concentrate any more, they’re so close. Like distant thunder with the storm drawin
g near.”
“You’ll be gone before it hits. What about The Lord of Fire?”
Sorial concentrated, sending tendrils of thought deep into the earth, reaching out to the faraway spot where Justin had come to a rest. “He’s still there. There ain’t no doubt he wants to be found. I’m sure he could block his signature if he wanted. I wonder if he knows I know it’s a trap. That’s the interesting question.”
“It feels like we’ve been in this position before. You on a hopeless quest and me staying behind awaiting news of your success or failure.”
“This time, don’t follow till you know for sure the direction I’m going in.”
Alicia didn’t think that was funny. “I can’t shake the feeling that this is it for us. We’ve had our two seasons of bliss. Now along comes Justin to fuck it all up.”
“Be glad we had those two seasons - a lot more than either of us expected when your father told us we couldn’t be married. If we’re going to die, we’re going to die doing something that matters. We’re both pledged to Vantok and when we took that pledge, we knew it would lead here. There’s a lot more at stake than us. Win or lose, a lot of lives will be lost, families torn apart, futures ruined. Even if the best happens, nothing will be close to the same. It’ll take generations for the wounds to heal. I don’t envy Azarak the job of reconstruction. We ain’t just wizards, we’re Vantok’s wizards, and this city needs us desperately.”
“I just wish we were doing it together. It’s not dying that frightens me. It’s dying alone or the thought that you might die alone. I always believed this would end with you and me fighting The Lord of Fire together. Not me throwing water blasts at his troops while you play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with him.”
“I thought much the same thing till Ariel. But I guess I never really appreciated how much more... creative... they are than us.”
“Even if we win this, he’ll still be out there.”
Sorial nodded. “Unless I get very lucky. There’s always the possibility that he’ll get sloppy and leave me with an opening, but I ain’t relying on that. Without an army, though... There are limits to what even a master wizard can do.”
“If his real goal is The Otherverse, maybe he’ll change tactics.”
“Maybe, but we’ll worry about that later if we’re lucky. It would be foolish to lose the present because we’re looking too far into the future.”
“You’re right, stableboy. In fact, you’re probably right more often than I give you credit for. Maybe I should start listening to you more often.”
“No sense changing the habits of a lifetime.”
Suddenly, Alicia let out an earsplitting shriek and leapt to her feet.
Sorial, feigning concern, looked up at her. “What is it?”
“You bastard!”
Sorial glanced at the mouse as it scurried away after having pressed its nose against Alicia’s left buttock. “It’s only a mouse,” he said, his voice placid and innocent.
Alicia aimed a kick between his legs that he deftly avoided. She then tackled him, which resulted in a few moments’ awkward wrestling on the ground before they tumbled over the side of the bank and into the water. Sorial surfaced sputtering. Alicia did so with considerably more grace.
“Some things never change, I guess,” he said, clambering out of the water. “You’re still better in the water than I am.”
“I am not afraid of mice!” She exited the stream to sit beside him. “It just startled me.”
“Of course.”
A thought occurred to her. “Did you control it?”
“I felt it close by and might have made a… suggestion.”
“So you have a connection with it? It’s a creature of the earth?”
“I guess so. I don’t think a mouse is going to change the tide of battle.”
“It’s thinking like that that gives Justin the upper hand. We have to figure out how a single mouse can win the war. Or an army of mice.”
“Maybe you’re onto something, but I’m nearly out of time. Right now, we have to worry about an army of people.”
“I wish there was some way we could communicate.”
“There probably is, but I ain’t figured it out yet. Another problem we would have been able to solve if we’d had more time.”
“You and I... we never seem to have enough time. All those years when we were together but not really together.”
Sorial smiled. “I like to think we’ve made the most out of the time we had. No one, not even my mother, has meant as much to me. It’s hard to imagine saying that to the spoiled little girl who wandered into my stable one day.”
They embraced and held each other for a while, watching the moon climb higher and the stars continue their endless trek across the night sky. Their time together was slipping away and they were keenly aware of it.
“Azarak has a good plan,” said Sorial at last, breaking the silence. “It’s going to be a difficult battle but, as long as I can keep Justin away, I think we’ll win.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Alicia whispered, biting her lip when she realized how selfish and childish that sounded.
“And I don’t want to go. But since when have you and I had control of our lives?”
“When we parted before Havenham, it wasn’t on the best of terms. We were both upset and we, or at least I, said some things I didn’t mean.”
Sorial strained his memory. He recalled their final encounter in the temple as being emotional but he couldn’t remember anything specific either of them had said.
Alicia continued, “I don’t want it to be like that this time. If we never see each other again for whatever reason, I want you to know that you’re the center of my world. And I’ll do everything in my power to ensure we have a chance to be together again.”
They kissed, made love, and kissed again. Then, with only a brief word of farewell, Sorial called the rock wyrm and disappeared into the night.
* * *
Sorial had been gone less than two hours - barely enough time for Alicia to drift off to sleep for the briefest of rests - when she was awakened by a pounding on the front door. She hurried to answer and was greeted by the scowling countenance of Undercommander Keltric, Vikon’s second in command, waiting impatiently. He was flustered and out-of-breath. Three equally agitated soldiers accompanied him.
“Your Magus, your… talents… are needed. Instead of attacking to the south, the enemy army has made an abrupt course change with the apparent intention of looping around the city and coming at us from the north.”
Alicia had spent so much time over the past few days staring at the huge map in the king’s war room that she had memorized the local geography and immediately grasped the implications of what Keltric was reporting. By taking this circuitous route, Justin’s forces would avoid the carefully designed trap laid for them as well as most of Vikon’s prepared defenses. Had they been warned? Was there a traitor in the militia? Or had Justin anticipated that the most direct route would be dangerous for his army? At this point, it hardly mattered. However, in order to attack from the north, they would have to cross the river to reach a staging area clear of the perimeter defenses. And that meant…
As if in in answer to her unspoken question, Keltric said, “They began fording less than an hour ago, six miles upstream.”
It was all she needed to know. She understood what was necessary. Although this contingency hadn’t been planned for, it had been mentioned in passing. Without a backward glance at the startled undercommander, she took off for the river at a sprint, racing across a moonlit landscape like a phantom, desperately hoping she wouldn’t be too late to at least inconvenience the enemy. They had counted on Justin’s avoidance of the river because of Alicia’s presence - that his unwillingness to risk lives in a fording would force the attack south and east. Now it was up to The Lady of Water to punish them for choosing this approach. She doubted she could do enough sustained damage to replicate the losses they would h
ave taken between the trenches. There wasn’t enough water to work with to cause the kind of devastation she had proven herself capable of at the oceanside, but every life taken here would be one fewer man available to strike at Azarak’s army. And she was certain she could impede and delay, which would give Vikon time and opportunity to redeploy his men.
It was startling how casually she could contemplate mass slaughter in these circumstances when her justified elimination of Sangaska mere weeks ago had caused her sleepless nights and forced her to confront a darkness within her she had never suspected existed. But the stakes were so high now that she couldn’t afford to flinch. It wasn’t just lives and property in jeopardy; a whole way of life could be snuffed out if The Lord of Fire won. And, if Ferguson was right, a victory here could be the first step of a terrifying progression.
Without bothering to doff her clothing, she plunged into the water and immersed herself in its warm flow. The current, which had been clear two hours ago when she and Sorial had said their goodbyes here, was muddy from being churned by boots, wheels, and hoofs six miles northeast. She closed her eyes and extended her mind into the river, becoming one with it as she impelled her will upstream. Eventually, she reached them: hundreds of booted feet crossing at a point where the banks were the closest to one another and the water was at its most shallow. The perfect ford - most of those in the water weren’t wet above the waist. Three-quarters of the army was still waiting to cross, although the supplies and the small unit of cavalry were already on the far side.
The attack she launched was by far the most difficult task she had attempted with magic - harder than creating massive waves, harder than forming the perfect weapon to strike down Ariel. She was miles away from the target and working with the constraints of a river that limited the flow of water available to her. Looking from the banks, the waterway seemed vast and impressive. Controlling it as a wizard, its inadequacies were evident. The ocean supplied its own energy; it was a source of raw power. The river offered only a trickle of the same fury. Alicia had to draw on her own reserves to attain a fraction of the result.
The Curse in the Gift (The Last Whisper of the Gods Book 2) Page 48