The Way of Ancient Power

by Ben Wolf

  The Central Lake glimmered in the afternoon sun. The dock where they had boarded their chartered ship looked exactly the same, only this time each of its slots had a ship floating in it. Perhaps fishing season had hit the town, or perhaps it had recently come to an end. Either way, the lack of people in the empty streets indicated otherwise.

  Calum smiled. People in the streets or not, they were there to free Lumen. Maybe even today, depending on how long it took them to reach the bend in the lake. All they had to do was find and charter a vessel to get them there.

  A familiar weatherworn sign hanging from an equally familiar building caught Calum’s eye. The sign bore the word “Fishig,” which was scrawled next to an image of a fish caught in a net. Gill’s place.

  Calum started toward the door with Magnus and the others right behind him, but he stopped short when the door under the “Fishig” sign shattered. The body of a large man skidded to a halt about ten feet from Calum, followed by a double-sided battle-ax.

  It was Gill.

  Inside the door to Gill’s place, a tall form materialized, and a pair of dark-green reptilian feet stepped out. As the form ducked under the doorframe and walked forward, its thick green fingers curled around the hilt of the sword that hung from a sheath on its belt, and sunlight glinted off its gold breastplate.

  Vandorian.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  When Vandorian stepped out of Gill’s place, Lilly’s heart began to hammer in her chest. How had he found them? And how had he made it there before them?

  Calum and Axel rushed over to Gill and helped him to his feet, battle-axe and all. He groaned, but they helped him get clear of Vandorian’s path.

  They leaned him up against the nearest building then dashed to Magnus’s side with their swords drawn, and Kanton floated over to tend to the bloody gash in Gill’s forehead.

  “Magnusss.” Vandorian elongated his pronunciation of Magnus’s name with a long hiss. “Fancy meeting you here, of all places.”

  Magnus urged Calum aside and positioned himself between Vandorian and the rest of the group. “This is impossible. You should be at the Crimson Keep.”

  Vandorian tilted his head and smirked. “That would make sense, would it not? Unfortunately, your detour to murder Oren and burn down my fortress at the Blood Chasm cost you precious time—time that enabled me to get here first.”

  “You could not have known where we were headed,” Magnus growled.

  Vandorian dismissed Magnus’s objection with a wave. “It was not difficult to ascertain your destination after a few short conversations with the Sky Realm’s Premier. He hesitated to disclose much at first, but in the end he proved quite helpful after a bit of—” Vandorian’s golden eyes fixed on Lilly. “—persuasion.”

  “What have you done?” Like lightning, Lilly drew an arrow, nocked it in her bow, and took aim at Vandorian’s left eye, but she didn’t release. If he had hurt her father, she would finish him off just like Condor had killed Oren, and she would regret it even less.

  “You have nothing to fear, Princess. Your father still draws breath, and the Sky Fortress still stands—for now.” Vandorian bared his pointed teeth at her. “Though I cannot guarantee their state of being will remain so for long.”

  She drew the arrow and her bowstring back and homed in on Vandorian’s face. The shot was difficult enough because of the relatively small size of his eyes. Worse yet, if he moved his head even an inch, she could miss him entirely. Still, it was worth—

  Magnus’s big hand blocked her line of sight. “Do not attack him. He is my adversary, and you would only be wasting your arrows anyway.”

  Lilly fumed, but she nodded and relaxed the tension in her bowstring. She still kept the arrow nocked, though, just in case.

  “That still does not explain how you knew to come here instead of the Arcanum,” Magnus said.

  “Right you are, brother.” Vandorian sauntered toward him. “But consider the reason you went to the Arcanum in the first place. You needed to find the location of the Hidden Abyss. Do you really believe that in all of Kanarah, no one would know where it was without first finding the Arcanum?”

  Magnus’s mouth hung open as a revelation dawned in his golden eyes. “Father told you before he died.”

  “Aside from the King and his generals, he was the only other soul old enough to have witnessed Lumen’s defeat and his descent into the Hidden Abyss. Father divulged that final secret just before Kahn crushed his head.”

  A violent yet brief shudder racked Magnus’s huge body. Throughout all their time together, in spite of all the perils they’d encountered, Lilly had never seen him do anything of the sort. The sight made her want to shudder as well.

  “The moment Avian told me of your plans, I headed straight here.” Vandorian smiled again. “And now here I am, ready to finish what I began so many years ago.”

  Magnus drew his broadsword from its sheath. “Then come forward. My blade will taste your flesh this day, brother.”

  Vandorian grinned, then he cocked his head back and unleashed a roar that seemed to shake the ground itself.

  Behind him, the wall that housed the doorframe to Gill’s place burst into pieces, and four Sobeks in black armor stormed out. Across the street, the same thing happened from within another building, and then more Sobeks broke through the walls of a third not far from that one.

  The Sobeks lined up around Vandorian, twelve in all, not including him. When they stalked forward, accompanied by an air of absolute confidence, Magnus backed up, and so did the rest of the group.

  At the sight of Magnus’s recoil, Vandorian laughed. “Do not tell me that the mighty Magnus is afraid? Surely you did not expect us to engage in this battle on equal footing?”

  “If you had any honor, you would face me yourself in single combat,” Magnus countered.

  “It is not a question of honor, but of power. We have it all, and you have none,” Vandorian replied. “Where power reigns, honor dies.”

  Vandorian and the Sobeks’ approach continued, slow and methodical.

  “We cannot withstand them,” Magnus said aloud as he stepped back, his sword still ready. “Had it just been Vandorian and a few others, I would have said to fight, but against so many, we stand no chance.”

  “We’re already here.” Calum raised his sword higher. “We wouldn’t have made it this far if we weren’t supposed to free Lumen.”

  “No, Calum. Now is not the time. We need to flee.” Magnus shot a glare at him.

  “Though I hate to walk away from a battle, Magnus is right,” Axel grumbled. “We’ll all die if we fight these lizards. You weren’t around when we had to fight Oren, and he was just one Sobek. Even with Riley’s Wolves, thirteen is a death sentence.”

  “I know it seems like that,” Calum said. “But there has to be a solution. We didn’t come this far just to die on the verge of freeing Lumen.”

  A solution. Lilly’s mind raced through the possibilities. There was a solution indeed—a risky one, but a solution nonetheless.

  Lilly tucked her arrow back into her quiver, slung her bow over her back, and smacked the shoulders of Condor and Falcroné. “Come with me.”

  “What? Where are you going?” Axel’s eyes widened.

  “Just hold them off for a few minutes.” She sprang into the sky amid protests from Axel and Calum, with even more coming from Falcroné as she soared in the opposite direction they had traveled, back south toward Trader’s Pass.

  Falcroné caught up to her in the air as she zipped along. “What are we doing? They need our help back there.”

  “You’ll see. Just get ready to fly with all the speed you can muster when the time comes.” Lilly pushed ahead of him, only to watch Condor cruise past her with a smirk and a wink.

  Oh, how she loved to hate him.

  Perhaps Lilly had a plan that could actually help them. Whether or not that was the case, Magnus resolved to give her as much time as he could.

  “Riley, t
ell your Wolves to spread out and encircle the Sobeks.” Magnus motioned to him with his free hand. “But urge them to use caution. These are the twelve members of Vandorian’s personal guard, and all are formidable foes.”

  “Done.” Riley howled, and the thirty Wolves darted away from the main group. They formed a perimeter around the Sobeks, who hissed at them and turned to face them.

  “I see Father’s tactical training still serves you well, brother.” Vandorian smirked. “But thirty Wolves plus the few friends who have not yet deserted you cannot hope to overcome us.”

  Magnus squinted at him. Even if he had no other weaknesses, Vandorian was overconfident. Perhaps Magnus could somehow exploit that to his benefit.

  “But I will offer you a bargain.” Vandorian pointed his sword, its blade also blue Blood Ore like Magnus’s, at Magnus’s chest. “If you surrender now, I will spare your friends. I will not even deign to harm them. I will allow them to go free, and I will grant them a whole day to flee my presence.”

  Magnus glanced down at Calum. For the sake of his friends, he couldn’t pass up that kind of deal. “You need to go, now. Take Axel and the others with you. This fate is mine, not yours.”

  Calum shook his head. “Not a chance. We’re friends. If you die, I die, too. There’s no way around that. And we need you to help us free Lumen anyway.”

  “Frankly, I’m sick of taking orders from both of you,” Axel piped in. “At this point I’d rather die than continue to deal with your rudeness and constant disregard for my ideas. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Magnus snorted. Of course he wasn’t.

  Kanton left Gill leaning against the side of a building, retrieved his spear, and aimed its tip at the approaching Sobeks. His right hand had healed enough that he could use it again, just as Magnus had promised. “I’m with you, too.”

  Magnus looked at Riley, who shrugged.

  “Hey, I just became a Werewolf,” he said. “Supposedly my teeth and claws can penetrate Sobek scales. I’m dying to try them out, see what I can do. Well, hopefully not dying, but you know what I mean. Either way, I’m in, and my pack’s in, too.”

  Magnus sighed. “Try not to fight them one-on-one, any of you, and especially avoid Vandorian. He is by far the most dangerous, and—”

  “And you wanna kill him yourself.” Axel rolled his eyes. “Yeah. We know, Scales.”

  Magnus couldn’t help but smirk. “Exactly. Let’s go.”

  This time, instead of backing up farther, they held their ground as the Sobeks approached.

  At first, Lilly didn’t know if she’d seen a bird flying through the air ahead of them or something else, but the nearer she drew to it, the more its image sharpened, and the fouler the air smelled around her. It noticed her and started toward them, along with two others just like it.

  They each had expansive wings like a bird’s, though they more resembled a bat’s, plus four spindly limbs and bodies not unlike a Windgale’s, all covered in pale-green skin. Huge charcoal-gray beaks protruded in place of their mouths, and talons tipped each of their three toes, their three long fingers, and thumbs on each hand, with one more on the tip of each of their tails.

  Dactyls.

  They screeched dissonance and swirled toward Lilly, Condor, and Falcroné.

  Their beaks and talons can pierce Saurian skin and most armor. Only dragon scales and exceptionally rare types of metal can withstand their attacks, Magnus had said. Their blood gives off a pheromone that attracts other Dactyls.

  Time to attract some Dactyls.

  Lilly drew her sword. The lead Dactyl lurched toward her, and she severed its head from its body. Glowing purple blood sprayed into the sky from its neck, and the monster’s wretched stench intensified.

  Next to her, Condor jammed his sword into the second Dactyl’s chest, and Falcroné cleaved the third clean in half with one vicious hack. Purple blood spattered all over his face, arms, and breastplate, and he sputtered.

  “This is disgusting.” Falcroné wiped the blood from his eyes. “You brought us out here to kill three of these things? How is that supposed to help the rest of the group?”

  Lilly scanned the horizon to the south for a moment. “Dactyls can smell their dead from miles away. These three functioned like scouts. I figured that we could try to—”

  She stopped at the sight of a solitary winged form rising from the horizon. It started toward them. Then another followed. Then another. Soon dozens of them ascended into the sky, until hundreds of dark forms swarmed toward them.

  Falcroné’s eyebrows raised. “Oh.”

  “Brilliant.” Condor gave Lilly a smile that accelerated her heartbeat. Or perhaps it was the army of Dactyls she’d summoned instead.

  The Dactyls were approaching fast. Really fast.

  “We have to lead them back to Sharkville,” Lilly said. “Fal, they’ll come after you first since you’re covered with their blood. Be careful.”

  Without another word, she zoomed north with her captains right behind her and the Dactyls right behind them.

  Calum rolled under the Sobek’s swing and hacked at its leg, but his sword just clanged off its ankle. The Sobek’s other foot slammed into Calum’s chest, and he soared across the street into the wall near where Kanton had tended to Gill.

  The impact almost knocked him senseless. When his vision finally righted itself, Calum refocused on the fight in front of him.

  If his sword couldn’t even penetrate the Sobeks’ skin, how was he supposed to kill any of them? Had Lilly not taken Condor and Falcroné with her, perhaps they could’ve found a way to sever the straps that held the Sobeks’ armor in place and thus expose their vulnerable underbellies, but she’d gone. What chance did they have now?

  The Sobek who’d kicked Calum whirled around and felled one of the Wolves with his sword while another Wolf gnawed on the same ankle Calum had just struck.

  Beyond them, Riley wove between several of the Sobeks and slashed them with his claws. He even managed to clamp his teeth onto one of the Sobeks’ throats, but he caught a stunning punch to his ribs that dislodged him before he could finish the Sobek off.

  Axel and Magnus worked in tandem, a far better team than either of them would ever admit, and Kanton darted over to Calum.

  “Are you alright?” He extended his left hand.

  Calum nodded. He had to find a way to win against these guys. And on top of that, Magnus had to survive the battle. Lumen’s release depended on unifying one soul from each of the four races to set him free. Without Magnus, it wouldn’t work.

  Calum grabbed Kanton’s hand and pulled himself up to his feet.

  Kanton blinked at him, then stared over his shoulder. “Where’s Gill?”

  Calum stole a quick glance at the wall he’d just been leaning against. “I have no idea. Didn’t you leave him right there?”

  Kanton nodded. “He looked really out of it when I left him.”

  A loud slam sounded down the street, but no one still in the battle turned to look amid the cacophony of swordplay, roars, and barks. Calum craned his head in time to see Gill storm out of another gray building, his battle-axe in hand.

  At his side, a wiry young man about Calum’s age led a small army of humans and Windgales armed with spears, harpoons, and swords toward the fracas. Calum blinked.

  It was Jake, the fisherman. Puolo’s son.

  So much for Sharkville being deserted.

  Gill, Jake, and dozens of fishermen charged into the fight, and Calum did likewise. Maybe they had a chance after all.

  Lilly flew as fast as she could, but somehow the Dactyls had caught up with her. It hardly seemed possible, even with Condor and Falcroné flying at her side, but they’d done it.

  One of them clamped its long fingers around her ankle—its fourth attempt after three near-misses—and tried to pull her back, but a quick lash from her sword split its head wide open, and it dropped from the sky. Three more Dactyls took its place.

  Lilly couldn’t hope to
fight them all, even with Condor and Falcroné’s prowess at her disposal. Out-maneuvering them was her only hope.

  She twisted and spun through the air, changing her altitude at unpredictable moments to throw the Dactyls off. Normally she enjoyed this kind of tense chase, but the pervading hunger and evil emanated by the Dactyls erased any semblance of joy from her evasions.

  “This was not—” Falcroné looped underneath her then reappeared on her opposite side. “—a good idea.”

  Condor felled two Dactyls from the air and then joined them. “What are you complaining about? At least you still have armor to wear.”

  “You’d still have your armor if you hadn’t—”

  “Rebelled?” Condor finished for him. “Far too late for that now.”

  “I see Sharkville.” Lilly pointed at a smattering of gray buildings in the distance. They looked more like tiny children’s toys from so high up. “Come on.”

  They spiraled down toward it with the Dactyls still in close pursuit.

  Magnus parried Vandorian’s first several blows with ease, but he could tell his brother wasn’t engaging him with the full extent of his ability. He threw a ferocious counterattack that could have felled a Gronyx, but Vandorian deflected it as if Magnus were only a child swinging a stick.

  “You never ranked among the stronger of our siblings.” Vandorian shoved Magnus backward. “It baffles me that you survived when all of them perished that day.”

  Magnus ducked under the next swipe and lashed his broadsword at Vandorian’s chest. His blade connected with Vandorian’s breastplate and clanged off, but the impact forced Vandorian back a step to maintain his footing.

  He smirked at Magnus. “Perhaps I was wrong. Even so, not even Blood Ore can penetrate this breastplate. If you wish to kill me, you will have to cut off my head.”

  From the side, one of the other Sobeks whipped his blade at Magnus’s head as if Vandorian’s taunt had commanded it.

  In response, Magnus batted the blade away and slammed his tail into the Sobek’s knees.