Loyalty and War

by Devon Vesper

  “I bumped into something and can’t figure out what.”

  “I—”

  “Now,” Valis called. He immediately dropped the shield, dispatching the three men in front of him. Sounds of battle came from the back of the room, and Valis surged toward the battle. When he couldn’t get there fast enough, he phased in behind the first woman who had her hands limned in black magic. Valis relieved her of her head and phased to the next person, accidentally cleaving his head in two instead of lopping it off when the man dodged a punch.

  Within moments, they cleared the room. Valis took a moment to reorient himself after phasing around the room so many times. He took stock of his forces and found eight dead wearing the silver armor of Avristin. Valis lifted his voice to be heard across the room. “How many did we lose? I count eight of Avristin’s forces.”

  Jintas cleared his throat. “Four of mine have fallen.”

  Venabi shook her head. “We are whole.”

  Nodding, Valis motioned to Shyvus. “Would you have someone phase our dead to camp? Get them stacked so you can take them all at once. Just be careful. We can create a pyre for them all once this mess is over.”

  “It will be done,” Shyvus said. He then helped get their dead stacked in a clear space of the floor. He stood beside both stacks and laid his hands reverently on chests, then disappeared.

  “Recover as you can,” Valis said. “Heal your wounds. Help heal the wounds of the laymen.”

  Valis took up space beside Seza and motioned the closest laymen warriors to them. They worked quietly together, companionably, healing those who needed it. Others sat around the bloody dining halls. The kitchens thankfully empty.

  “Are we going to raid their food stores?” Jedai asked. “Might as well.”

  Valis nodded. “Yeah. May as well.” He raised his voice just enough to be heard across the room. “Translocators. Get into the kitchens and phase out food stores to camp. Be careful and return here immediately. Leave what’s already prepared.”

  “Sir!”

  “You think it’s safe to eat?” Jedai asked.

  Valis gave him a grin. “Do you think the Qos adherents would be eating it if it wasn’t?”

  Jedai winced. “Good point.”

  “We should eat lightly,” Venabi said. “No sense getting sluggish from food fatigue, or getting sick from too much exertion on a full stomach.”

  “Agreed,” Valis said. “But we should eat something as it’s—” he opened his pocket watch and checked the time, “—almost one-thirty in the afternoon. We need fuel to keep going at our best.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Where’s Vodis?”

  Venabi scratched at the scar that ran down the right side of her face and nodded in the direction of the stronghold. “He’s going through the mess of the stronghold and getting anything that might be of use to us on the way back to Cadoras.”

  “Good idea.” Valis huffed a laugh as he looked around. “His hammers would hamper him in here, anyway. He wouldn’t be able to get a good swing without hitting our own.”

  She nodded. “That’s one of the main reasons he stayed back.”

  “We should strategize,” Shyvus said as he returned. “We are almost to the temple floors.”

  “After we finish with the dorm floors, I’ll need a couple teams to head down the priests’ office blocks to deal with any who may be in those offices.” Valis motioned toward those serving themselves at the serving line. “Eat first. How is Aryn?”

  Tavros came to stand next to Valis, perked up at the mention of his baby brother’s name.

  “He’s still safe. He doesn’t look too fatigued,” Shyvus said. “I made sure he and Aenali ate. Aenali is harassing him to make sure he finishes his meal. Vodis cooked for them.”

  “Good,” Tavros said on a heartfelt sigh. “Good.”

  Valis took a seat at one of the tables that didn’t have as much blood on it. “Tav, can you make me a plate? I need to scry after Thyran.”

  “Of course.”

  As his husband headed for the serving line, Valis pulled out his pocket watch, and as soon as Thyran’s face appeared, he said, “Darolen is doing fine.”

  Valis grinned. “Thank you.”

  “Report.”

  “We’re in the dining hall. We’ve cleared the lower floors all the way down to the dungeons,” Valis said. He rubbed the center of his forehead. “Right now, we’re taking a moment to hopefully get some fuel in our stomachs.”

  “You just have two dorm floors, the temple summit, and the priests’ offices to go, then?”

  Thyran looked proud, and Valis flushed. “Yes, sir. It feels like we’re walking into a trap, though.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you are,” Thyran said. “But I’m also sure you will persevere. Keep your spirits high, my boy. Don’t let yourself fall victim to negative thinking. It will get you killed, and I’d like to give your fathers good news tonight.”

  “Me, too,” Valis said. He made a face as his stomach pitted. He leaned over the table and breathed through it. “Oh, this isn’t good.”

  Tavros showed up then with their plates of food. As suggested, he’d loaded only a light meal on their plates, and handed Valis a steaming mug of what smelled and looked like spiced tea.

  Breathing it in, Valis groaned. “I’ve got to go, Thyran. I need to eat before we head out, and I have a feeling we’ll need to head out sooner than we anticipated.”

  “Be careful, my boy. Promise me.”

  Valis smiled. “I promise with all that I am, Thyran.”

  His mentor nodded and sat back. “Contact me when it is over.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Thyran ended the scry, and Valis snapped his pocket watch closed and tucked it back into his sash. He ate his meal slowly, nodding to Shyvus as he and Phalin joined him.

  “You looked ill,” Phalin said. He pushed his long, raven black hair out of his brown eyes.

  Shyvus leaned his blond head against his husband’s pauldron for a moment of comfort before he turned his piercing, ice-blue eyes back onto Valis. “Precognition?”

  “Yeah,” Valis said as soon as he swallowed his mouthful of food. He chased it down with a few sips of his spiced tea. “Precognitive pitting. Something bad is going to happen very soon. We need to hurry and eat while we still can.”

  “Maxvius,” Shyvus called. “You and your partner stand vigil outside. Choose two to take up post inside. We’re not safe here.”

  “Sir!”

  While those four wolfed down the rest of their meals, Valis took a few moments to clear his mind. Dad?

  You are doing so well, my son, Roba said earnestly. I am so proud of the man you have become.

  Valis adopted a gentle smile and stared down at his plate as he slowly ate. You’re sounding like you’re saying goodbye.

  No, my boy. Roba sighed, the sound ghostly in Valis’s mind. But in case anything happens, I want you to know how proud I am of you and how much I’ve grown to love you.

  Valis’s eyes watered, but he blinked the tears back. I love you, too, dad. And I’ve been so proud of the father you’ve become. I couldn’t ask for more. Having three fathers and so many friends has been a blessing.

  Roba made a soft sound of acknowledgment. I am glad you had such men, and so many friends in your life when I was such a terror.

  Me, too. Valis smiled and gazed around the room. Some of the men and women were close friends, most were his past students, and all would die for him. Me, too.

  If I can be of any help whatsoever during this fight, please let me know, his birth father said. I feel quite helpless and… and a little lost.

  If you have any input, I’ll be glad to take it. Valis set down his fork and reached for his mug of spiced tea. It wasn’t as good as what they had at Avristin, but it would do for now. I’ve wondered why you’ve been so quiet.

  I don’t want to ruin your concentration, Roba admitted. You have done well so far.

  I can’t argue with
that. But yeah. If you see me do anything stupid, or I think anything stupid, call me out on it. And if you have any insights, please let me know.

  He tilted his head. Have you ever been to this monastery before?

  Just twice, Roba murmured. The first time was when I was a tactician and needed to come for a change in the field roster. The second was when I became an anchor for Qos.

  Unfortunately, Roba went on, I will mostly be unable to help you. I did not get a good feel for the place, and you already know the layout.

  That’s fine. Thank you.

  Of course.

  “Talking to Roba?” Tavros asked softly.

  “Yeah.” He smiled at his husband, and when Tavros leaned closer, Valis met him halfway for a chaste, heartfelt kiss. “It sounded like he was saying goodbye. But it’s not as if it isn’t a possibility we won’t make it through this.”

  “We will,” Tavros said fiercely. “Don’t you even think we won’t. Don’t you dare. You and I are getting out of here, in one piece, with our friends. We will.”

  “Listen to him,” Phalin said gently. “He’s speaking the truth. You can’t count yourself done this early. We won’t let you.”

  Valis ate the last bite from his plate and pushed it aside, pulling his spiced milk closer to warm his gauntlets on the mug. No one had dared remove their hand armor so they could be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

  After a deep swallow now that his spiced tea had cooled a bit, he nodded to Phalin. “We will see this to its end. I have faith in that.”

  “Good,” Shyvus said, “because I’m not going to be the one to tell Kerac and Darolen that their son and son-in-law didn’t make it. Don’t you dare put that burden on us.”

  “I promise,” Valis said. “I—”

  “Aesriphos!”

  The call came from down the hall. Suddenly the two guards outside fell as if they hadn’t even had a shield up. The sound of boots thundered in the hallway as Valis and the others shoved themselves to their feet. The two guards inside the entryway put a barrier across the threshold, but it shattered with a powerful bolt of magic that made Valis’s stomach curdle. He swallowed his undigested food back down and ran toward the entry.

  “Shields up!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nothing Valis had ever done at the monastery had prepared him for such power. These priests broke every shield Valis had up. He put up another with the parameters to block all attacks and become permanent. But the moment he did, the Qos adherents threw something into the dining hall.

  Moments later, the balls exploded. Blinding light seared Valis’s vision as ear-piercing noise made his ears ring. He covered his ears, healing them as the sound went on. Valis tried turning off his hearing, but the moment he did, someone with even more power than the advancing priests shattered Valis’s shield. Another blast and Valis and Tavros took mage bolts to the chest that felt nothing like what Valis had endured before.

  “Don’t kill them,” someone growled. “Our master wants them alive.”

  What seemed like seconds later, someone hauled Valis to his feet as the sounds of battle waged in the dining hall.

  “Translocate to safety,” Valis shouted over the din. “Regroup!”

  “Don’t let them escape!” a woman shrieked. “Bind them!”

  Valis could almost feel when most of his men and women translocated away. With them gone from the fray, Valis felt more secure knowing that his army would regroup and come to Valis and Tavros’s rescue.

  Large blobs of white dots still hindered Valis’s vision. He struggled against the priests who held him prisoner, struggled against the binding that held his arms at his sides, struggled to reach his husband, struggled to translocate away. He fought against whatever magical muzzle they had over his nose, mouth, and chin. His magic seemed to leave him, and when he moved his hands, magical mitts felt sharp and caustic, burning until Valis whimpered.

  “Stop trying to get out of the bonds, and it will stop hurting,” a man said with a sneer in his voice.

  When Valis could somewhat see again, he glanced around, and Tavros was nowhere in sight. Sometime during his blindness, they had split him up from his husband.

  Valis’s stomach pitted as he realized he was alone, and his magic had been negated somehow.

  Then Valis remembered his dream. In it, they had managed to negate his magic with powerful black magic gloves. The memory made Valis struggle against his captors with all his strength, trying to break free so he could regroup with his army and find a way to rescue his husband, wherever he was. He tried to phase away again, but nothing happened.

  Why couldn’t he feel his magic? Surely they hadn’t been able to drain him. He would have felt that. Wouldn’t he?

  The sense of loss at not being able to access his magic brought on a feeling of helplessness so acute that his skin felt too tight. He tried hard, but couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt so mundane, even before Thyran unlocked his magic.

  As he tried to scream, the sound coming out a stifled moan followed by a soft sob, Valis realized that this scenario was playing almost exactly as it had in his dream, and that made his blood run cold. If this was happening exactly as it had in his dream, then—Valis couldn’t even let that thought surface.

  Just as in his dream, all who accompanied them wore black robes complete with deep hoods that kept Valis from seeing their faces. Not being able to put faces to his captors made Valis shudder. It was almost like ghosts were escorting him as they forced him to walk between them.

  Calm, Roba said. Try to remain calm.

  I’m scared, Valis admitted. He’d thought maybe Roba had been stripped from him with his magic. Hearing his father’s voice in his mind made Valis relax, even if only slightly.

  I know, my son. Roba let out a ghostly sigh. Just pay attention.

  Unlike in his dream, no one pushed him from behind to walk just behind others. Instead, they held him by his biceps, practically dragging him along as Valis tried to stop their forward progress.

  Also, unlike in his dream, they were already in the enemy monastery instead of him being led to it after Tavros’s death. The monastery was also made of the white bricks that made up Avristin. They weren’t black marble as in Valis’s dreams. That thought gave him a small bit of hope, but it dashed away as sudden fatigue settled over him.

  His captors suddenly did something that, despite his adrenaline spiking, made Valis exceedingly tired as they marched him through the hallways and up the stairs toward the temple. They approached a set of ebony double doors that had arcane symbols carved into the wood and filled with gold to stand out against the dark surface. If it had been anywhere else, Valis might have thought it beautiful.

  His thoughts jolted when acolytes allowed them access into what equated to the Hall of Communion in Avristin. Valis sucked in a sharp breath. On instinct, he glanced up to see Phaerith’s Light, but only saw the undulating black blob that filled Valis’s heart with overwhelming despair. Its evil pressed on him in a way that his soul felt it, and his body reacted, making him feel even more lethargic and ill.

  This… Valis groaned as he struggled to think. This is in the wrong order. What is happening?

  Dreams are not always linear, Roba said into his mind, not even precognitive dreams. Pay attention.

  Everyone within the temple wore black robes with the same deep hoods that his captors wore, just like in his dream. And just like in his dream, they marched him into a circle that opened for their approach. And within that circle, hooded figures held Tavros on his knees, bound with black magic just as Valis was.

  Valis swallowed bile. In that dream, Valis was forced to watch as the robed figures killed Tavros in front of him. He only hoped reality differed from his dreams. But just the thought of it possibly happening made Valis feel weak like he’d never experienced before.

  Valis whimpered again. With mounting horror, Valis’s gut clenched as Tavros looked up at him. Just as in Valis’s dream, Tavros�
�s eyes held grin determination. They had somehow stripped him of his armor in record time, leaving him in his damp uniform.

  Just as in his dream, Tavros’s shirt was bloody and torn, the neck ripped as if someone had gripped the front of his tunic and jerked him forward, ripping the material at either side of a strong fist.

  Like Valis, and just like in Valis’s dreams, Tavros wore the same bindings that kept Valis helpless. Tavros looked up, his eyes haunted like he knew what was about to happen. Tavros seemed to have accepted that fact as if he had accepted whatever fate these hooded figures had in store for him, and that realization made Valis see red.

  Then something seemed to snap within Tavros, and he struggled to get to Valis. The hooded priests that surrounded them laughed. “Look at him go,” one of them said, clearly amused by the tone of his voice. “He’ll never get past the bindings set on him.”

  Valis surged forward. He almost made it to Tavros, but something held him back at the last second. More laughter echoed in the temple’s gathering room. “They’re feisty,” a woman said. “They should be fun to play with later.”

  “You break your toys, Corina,” another woman said. “I doubt Master would allow that with these two.”

  “Enough,” a man said. “Take the kneeling one away but keep him near. We may have use for him later.”

  Someone produced a sword, and Valis’s stomach clenched again. He kept in the relieved sigh that wanted to come out as they only used the rounded pommel to knock Tavros out instead of killing him. Yet another deviation from the dream he’d had. So far, Valis was starting to like his chances. If they weren’t going to kill Tavros yet, that meant they possibly thought to use him to get Valis to obey later.

  As several hooded men—the “shrouds” as he remembered calling them in his dreams—carried Tavros off, Valis took in quiet, deep, steadying breaths, trying to calm his heart and ease his racing mind. As Seza had taught him what seemed like ages ago, holding his breath would lead him to frantic fighting. He needed to keep his lungs working, keep his mind clear.

  Just as a man jerked him forward, Valis’s vision went black. A moment later, Valis flew through the room, past the double doors that led to the reliquary, and into the vault behind the magical door. Just like the god jars back in Avristin, a lone white clay jar, it’s glaze heavily yellowed with age, sat on a sturdy pedestal. And just as fast as he’d fallen into the vision, Valis came out of it.