They were inside Castle Tartus.
Chapter 37
They stood inside an empty chamber, weapons readied. Two double door wooden gates led out. Otherwise, the room was empty. Wooden torches lined the walls. Upon closer inspection, Nathan confirmed they were fake. The tips of them were lit with magic and the fire was a form of magical light.
“This isn’t the basement,” Seraph noted.
“I thought about it, and in the end, I agree with Nathan,” Narime said.
“And besides, aren’t I the Bastion?” Nathan grumbled. “If I say it’s suicidal to try to claim a binding stone from a Bastion while they’re here, it’s suicide.”
“I think you’re overestimating Theus. You might be able to crush intruders in an instant, but he struggles with construction,” Seraph said.
“People can do amazing things when under pressure. And he’d still have a binding stone.” Nathan shook his head. “We’re dealing with him first. Narime, do you know where he is?”
Nathan’s magical senses searched nearby but found little. If he cast a spatial detection spell, he could find Theus quickly, but that meant burning a lot of binding stone power.
Every drop of power was going to be necessary when fighting Theus. Nathan had the power and technique to fight Theus, but it was going to be expensive given how far he was from any of his binding stones.
“Give me a minute,” Narime said. Her tails whirled around behind her.
After several seconds, Nathan felt magical power wash over them. That was Theus.
“Search while we move,” Nathan grunted. “Move now.”
Both doors shimmered. The gaps between them vanished as the wood congealed together. A creaking noise sounded in the walls.
With a pulse of magic, Nathan stabilized the room around him. The creaking stop. Power from the binding stones flooded through his body as he prevented Theus from modifying the structure of the room.
This was how Bastions fought. The defensive Bastion had the power to change the world at a whim, but he needed to actively change things. But the attacker only had to keep things the same. Maintaining reality was far cheaper than changing it, despite the distance from Nathan’s binding stones. The downside was that Nathan needed to be preventative.
It was like a reality-preserving bubble. If Nathan stopped casting it, Theus could change the castle within seconds. Every change cost Theus ten times as much power, but Nathan couldn’t stop casting.
“Seraph,” Nathan said, pointing at the door in front of them.
Her jade gems flashed, and an energy wave vaporized the wooden door.
Everybody piled through and into a long hallway that was filled with paintings and glass displays. Taking a risk, Nathan let go of his bubble of protective magic.
Nothing happened. Theus had left.
Did he not understand how this worked? Or was he preparing a trap up ahead?
Clattering noises echoed from both sides. Dozens of knights poured into the hallway. They were humans and heavily armed and armored. Their armor was painted black and had visible abs sculpted into the torsos. It was also enchanted, which Nathan figured to be the more important part.
But really, sculpted abs on the armor? Was that necessary?
The knights formed a shield wall on either side, halberds held aloft. Behind them, battlemages formed up and began to cast spells.
With a yell, Sen stepped forward and pointed an arm at either side. A square appeared in each hand. Before any of the battlemages finished their spells, gouts of flame roared down both ends of the hallway.
Halberds melted in the searing heat. Shields and armor glowed as their enchantments attempted to protect their wearers. Screams and shouts ripped through the Federation ranks and soon they were in full retreat.
Within moments, the hallway was empty, save for several melted weapons and a couple of unfortunate casualties.
“Narime, heal them if they’re not dead,” Nathan said. “I assume you’ve found Theus by now.”
“Everybody is gathering in one location, so it’s not too hard to guess where they’re going,” Narime said. She bit her lip. “But it’s not somewhere you expected, which makes me think it’s a trap.”
“Nathan has said everything is a trap. Is this any different?” Sen said.
“I feel I’m being misrepresented,” Nathan said.
“You’re really not,” Seraph said.
“Agreed. Theus isn’t the sort to lay traps,” Sunstorm added.
Throwing his arms into the air, Nathan gave up. He gestured for Narime to continue.
“They’re gathering in the grand hall of the castle.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I remember you saying that was enormous. ‘Large enough to fit an army’ enormous.”
“It is. Torneus uses it to intimidate guests whenever he needs to put on a display of strength,” Seraph explained. “It’s several stories tall, vaulted ceiling, marble columns, everything is gilt with gold, and the galleries can fit thousands of people. Which is great for when you want to squeeze in an army to glare down at visiting envoys.”
“Or attackers,” Nathan said. “I really hope he’s not thinking of this like a conventional battle. Bastions are better off fighting in enclosed spaces. So they can--” he trailed off and made a squishing motion with his hands.
“It’s Theus. Why are you surprised?”
“Because… Because he’s still a Bastion.” Nathan let out a grunt. “Did he get where he was without fighting anybody?”
“When have you ever fought a Bastion, Nathan? The Empire’s battling Trafaumh, but it’s one of the largest wars to happen for almost a century,” Narime said. “All the Bastions with much experience fighting one another are long dead.”
Or should be. Nathan really should know better, but he had gotten caught up in the heat of the war. In his timeline, battles between Bastions became normalized due to the fights over the Empire’s former territory. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that peace had been relatively normal before then.
“True. But there’s a lot written on it,” Nathan said.
“Ah, yes, books. Theus’s favorite pastime,” Seraph said with a broad grin. “While you may choose to read tomes about ancient magical experiments, I suspect your opponent’s mind would melt reading a book about sexual positions. Even if it had drawings in it.”
“I feel as if underestimating him will get somebody killed,” Nathan muttered.
“Feel free to overthink and worry about him, then. But for me, the real worry are his Champions,” Seraph said. “We need to make sure we pick the right fights.”
A fair point.
Theus had three duogem Champions. An amethyst, a diamond, and a sapphire. A very standard trio. Nathan refused to say anything bad about it, however. His first Champion, Vala, had worn a garnet, which was the most popular gem in Falmir by far.
Nathan had also lectured Fei about the dangers of underestimating the more “generic” gems. Amethyst Champions were extremely capable fighters in close quarters, with their weaknesses primarily being opponents they couldn’t reach or who had methods to counter physical strength. The former was why Nurevia favored her crossbows.
Diamond Champions were the definition of durability. For many Bastions, they formed the core of a team of Champions. An amethyst Champion could launch devastating attacks, then hide behind her diamond counterpart. They could also keep Bastions safe. That had been part of Ciana’s role in Nathan’s timeline, although she had plenty of experience working with Jafeila.
And sapphire Champions made for great sorcerers and wildcards. If anybody was dangerous in Theus’s team, it was his sapphire Champion.
Or she would be, if Seraph didn’t know what her gems did. Narime was confident she could counter the abilities, and that reduced Theus’s sapphire to a mere sorceress. Which was decidedly less impressive.
The trick was preventing Narime from being tied up by the other Champions. Seraph being targeted by the sa
pphire Champion. Fei or Sen getting cornered by the amethyst. Or relying on Sunstorm to take out a diamond Champion she probably couldn’t even scratch.
If Theus’s Champions played their cards right, it was possible to make things difficult for Nathan.
That was a big “if.”
Nobody accosted them on the way to the grand hall of the castle. Nathan felt Theus monitoring them from time to time, but no effort was made to attack them.
Eventually, the group approached a pair of gargantuan stone doors. They stood over two stories tall and were covered with the golden lily pattern of the Federation. Magic caused the doors to swing upon as Nathan and his Champions approached.
The hall’s interior looked as ostentatious as Seraph had described it. Marble columns lined the walls. The windows were large enough to allow a dragon through them, if such a beast existed. The floor tiles were inlaid with gold.
Two huge galleries fanned the central walkway to the far end of the hall. Each of them stood a whole story off the ground and was the size of the hall back in Gharrick Pass.
At the far end of the grand hall was a raised platform. Theus stood there, although he looked far smaller than before. Even he looked small in a room of this size.
If Theus had intended to fight a battle somewhere where he could show off, he had both succeeded and failed. Castle Tartus’s grand hall was impressive, but Theus looked the opposite. The grandiose hall made the Bastion appear as small and insignificant as he truly was.
“When you said an army could fit in here, I didn’t think you were being literal,” Nathan said. “My mistake.”
Narime gave him a sidelong look.
Fei and Sen took up defensive positions in front of Nathan. To his sides, Narime and Seraph remained relaxed. Sunstorm grabbed his arm, and he gave her a smile.
“Relax,” he said.
“Those balconies are packed with soldiers,” Narime said.
She was right. There were hundreds of soldiers packed onto the balconies. And even more below them. They tried to hide behind the railing and stone walls but failed.
“Bastion Nathan, I presume,” Theus called out. His voice echoed across the entire hall. “I’m amazed that you were stupid enough to come here. You walked right into my trap.”
He said it. Nathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Theus clicked his fingers, a smug smile on his face.
Hundreds of soldiers rose from their “hiding” positions and pointed crossbows at Nathan and his Champions. Below the balconies, more soldiers raised spears and shields. They didn’t move yet.
“At my command, I can end you,” Theus said. “Every crossbow is enchanted. Their bolts are enchanted. A thousand crossbow bolts at once, empowered with the magic of a Bastion, all to kill another Bastion.”
A pause. Nathan gestured for his Champions to remain still. Sunstorm fingered her swords, looking grumpy. Both she and Seraph glared at Theus.
“Surrender, and I’ll let you live. Although I don’t promise I won’t make you watch.” Theus laughed.
“Right, okay. So, he’s immensely stupid,” Nathan said.
“Stupid? I’d go with evil,” Narime muttered. She and most of the others appeared to be furious.
“I generally think you need to have some intelligence to be evil. Animals can’t be evil.” Nathan shook his head. “I really have overthought this. He genuinely tried to antagonize me into surrendering.”
“No, I think he wants to kill you,” Seraph said. “He’s just an arrogant idiot who thinks he’s in a winning position.”
“Well, time to end this charade,” Nathan said. His Champions looked at him, the looks of anger slipping from their faces. “Narime, summon a barrier for us. Seraph, you clear the right gallery. Sen, the left. Try to scare them or incapacitate but do what you have to. Fei and Sunstorm, you protect the barrier in case the Champions get here faster than expected.”
“Yes,” all of his Champions snapped out at once.
A lot happened in the next several moments.
Narime began to cast a barrier. Theus shouted, and the twang of hundreds of crossbows filled the hall. A rain of glowing crossbow bolts poured down on them.
Seraph’s jades flashed. She ran toward the right-hand gallery but flicked her tonfas out. Two waves of energy rippled through the air.
Every crossbow bolt disintegrated in midair. The air filled with enough dust that Nathan found it difficult to see Theus for several seconds.
Narime’s glowing blue barrier snapped into place moments later. More bolts slammed into it and exploded into pieces. Presumably the soldiers who had taken too long. Crossbows took longer than that to load.
The sound of a thousand winches being wound hurt Nathan’s ears. He held a hand against the side of his head.
“Fuck,” he said. “This place has awful acoustics. Did they place an acoustic ward over the windows?”
Fei whimpered, her ears flat against her head. But she held her scimitar in the air. It shimmered with azure flames and she kept an eye out for attackers.
Screams overwhelmed the winding sound. The winches stopped. Nathan looked up and saw a meteor appear in the far corner of the hall. To his side, Sen’s supercharged fourth rank spell finally finished.
The meteor slammed into the left gallery. Soldiers scattered. Chunks of flaming rock and lava flew everywhere. The stonework creaked. Moments later, the entire balcony collapsed. Thousands of tons of granite and wood crashed down onto the soldiers below.
“Um, whoops?” Sen said, wincing. “Does that count as incapacitated?”
“We are at war,” Nathan said. “And it would be worse outside. You could be turning the ground under thousands of soldiers into lava.”
“That sounds pretty horrific,” Sen said. “Um, let’s avoid doing that for as long as possible. Although I guess you kind of did that with that insane flesh-eating magic against the demons, huh.” She stared at him, realizing how vicious Nathan’s spells were.
To the right, Seraph leaped into the air. The soldiers screamed in terror and began to flee. They had seen what had happened to the other gallery. What would the other Champion do to them?
“Stand and fight, you cowards?” Theus shouted. “Lucia, get them!”
Theus’s Champions remained stationary. Their expressions were grim as they raised their weapons. They spoke to each other and to Theus, and he shouted obscenities at them.
A difference of opinion, evidently.
Seraph unleashed her waves of energy at the gallery. The stonework exploded into clouds of dust. So did the armor and clothing of the soldiers in the way. Hundreds of soldiers fell on top of those below them, forming a pile of bodies.
Nobody charged out to attack Nathan. The soldiers that had escaped Seraph ran toward doors in the side of the hall and fled.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself,” Theus said.
Nathan felt the power of another Bastion swell below him.
After a long wait, Theus had finally remembered that he had a binding stone.
Chapter 38
Before Nathan could react, Theus’s power surged into the nearby ground. A stone hand larger than a man rose up behind Nathan.
Nathan jumped away, cursing. The hand continued to move toward him, stone pouring from the ground to extend its reach. Blue flames slammed into the stone. They did nothing, as the stone was entirely natural once it was created by Theus.
A golden square flared in Narime’s hands, and the hand collapsed to the ground in an explosive heap. Shards of stone flew everywhere as the hand burst into pieces. Narime raised an eyebrow. The foundation of the hand remained standing, but everything above it had been blown apart.
“Good thinking,” Nathan said. Presumably, she had used a force spell to blow it apart.
His lesson learned, Nathan started pumping power around him to prevent Theus from altering the foundation of the room.
“Time to think harder,” Narime said. “Get behind me.”
Nathan turned and saw two Champions running at him. One was the amethyst Champion that Theus had called Lucia, and she was carrying a battle axe. The other was a sorceress in a battle robe with two sapphires. The diamond Champion remained behind.
That made this easier than expected. Nathan darted backward and watched as a wind spell fizzled out in midair. Narime’s gems flashed again and canceled out another spell from the sapphire Champion.
Lucia charged, her gems glowing and battle axe over her head. It slammed into the ground, and the entire hall shook. The stone blocks in front of her burst into pieces as a shock wave rippled toward them.
Flames attempted to block the shock wave’s path but passed harmlessly past them. Fei squawked in surprise. Narime’s barrier snapped into place just in time to stop the shock wave from passing through.
“Can’t counter that, can you, bitch?” Lucia shouted.
Narime scowled.
“You can’t?” Nathan asked.
“It’s not a skill or ability. She’s just projecting raw force with her hits,” Narime said. “I’d need to use a force spell to stop it.”
That sounded like an alternate version of Nurevia’s gem enhancement.
Lucia leaped through the air and crashed down in front of them. Her pigtails flicked in front of her and she slammed her axe into the barrier. The entire thing cracked.
Flames roared across Lucia and she screamed. Turning, she swung her axe. The air rippled. Several moments later, the stone wall exploded in a cloud of dust.
Yes, her gem enhancement was exactly like Nurevia’s. The difference was that it was a long-range weapon. Lucia essentially had an on-demand ability to destroy anything she swung at. Very effective for an amethyst Champion, if single-minded.
Fei ducked and weaved as Lucia swung at her. Huge chunks of the hall were blown apart. Fei had a large part of her torso cut to ribbons, and blood flew everywhere. She went down, a scream tearing from her mouth.
“Shit,” Nathan said. He drew his sword and almost leaped forward.
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