“Row six, join!” Rellik shouted, and six more tekson joined the wedge; the beam flared bright blue-white, and Klare became breath-giver, pouring more power into the orthek. Altering her thinking altered the shape of the beam, and it became a huge, cold blade, rising high in the light of the dawn, slicing down on the beam of red force, the sound of a howling blizzard against the sound of the roaring of a furnace. Crackling sparks and billowing clouds of smoke burst from the point of impact, but the red beam held against the blue-white. Out of the corner of her eye, Klare saw Marilee suddenly writhing on the ground, the kailum tending her now trying to hold her still. A second time, the blade-beam of icy blue-white force lifted high into the sky brightening with dawn, slicing down with all the power of the tekson maintaining it. Again, the air was split by the sounds of a howling blizzard, roaring flames, and crackling sparks that became billowing clouds of steam obscuring both the blue-white and red beams of force. For the third time, Klare raised the beam-blade, the sounds of their singing increased in volume, the notes rising to a high crescendo, the sun rising with the song, and the icy blue-white beam, howling like a blizzard, sliced down against the roaring red beam of force. Marilee writhed across the ground, sparks crackled more loudly than if trees were being snapped off by an army of krugle, clouds of steam billowed up, nearly obscuring the rising sun, and a concussion blasted all of them from their feet, breaking the wedge apart. The last thing Klare remembered was breath-giver flying out of her hands, and then she struck something hard and knew no more.
The great, black web shook as Spenthronsa bounded forward; Blakstar lay unmoving, but for the shaking of the web. Thal joined Klaybear kneeling beside the kortexi. As he braced himself for the crushing impact, Delgart leaped in front of Spenthronsa, his pair of curved sabers a blur as he beat back her attack, but although the speed of his motion baffled the sponsu queen, his weapons had not the elemental power of will-giver, and only glanced off her thick armored hide, occasionally causing sparks but never any significant damage. Each half of the command squad loosed arrows and ortheks against her apparently unprotected sides, but her armored hide was so thick that she hardly noticed their attacks; after they saw the kortexi fall, both halves of the command squad started to move back toward the head, since it was her only vulnerable spot. Mitha and Hranda ran toward the place where the will-giver lay, ignoring Kreega and Janelle’s shouted warnings. As Mitha and Hranda both neared will-giver, one of the sponsum queen’s long legs shot out, struck them both, and sent them flying back the direction they had come; neither wetha moved from where either landed in a heap at the edge of the giant, black web. Grelsor hurried toward them.
“Quickly!” Thal exclaimed as Klaybear raised his green-glowing hands and staff over the fallen kortexi. “We have only moments!”
Klaybear nodded once as he moved his hands and the staff over Blakstar’s inert form, pouring energy into him as the green kailu softly sang an orthek of healing. Thal looked over his left shoulder toward Delgart, his glance drawn by the sparks flying from the legion commander’s sabers. Klaybear’s eyes looked momentarily in the direction of his older brother, and beads of sweat erupted from his forehead as he tried to push his healing faster. “Isn’t there anything you can do to help him?” he hissed. “Any way to empower his weapons?”
Thal’s brow furrowed in thought for a moment, then his face brightened. “There might be,” Thal replied, “at least temporarily.” He stood and turned and moved toward Delgart, whose arms and curved blades were still blurs. “I think I can give your blades, temporarily at least, some teka power,” he whispered to Delgart. “If you could fight with one blade for a moment while holding one back: when you hear my sung word reach its end, then switch; it might give Klaybear a little more time to revive Blakstar.”
“Whenever you are ready,” Delgart hissed through clenched teeth.
Thal raised his rod and sang the phrase, “plen-akya-ksun-gelu,” and as he finished singing the phrase, Delgart held one of his sabers back, pausing long enough for Thal to touch the blade, which rang like a bell; brilliant blue-white flames burst along the edge of the curved blade, and ice crystals fell like snow from the blade. The saber whistled coldly as Delgart brought it back into play. Thal shifted to Delgart’s left side and sang the phrase a second time; as he finished, Delgart’s left hand and saber came back and paused, and Thal touched the blade which rang like the first, its edge also licked by cold, blue-white flames. The enchantment had the desired effect; Spenthronsa’s forward movement was checked, and the sponsu queen flinched away from Delgart’s attacking blades.
Thal called to the other maghem, “Enchant the edges of their swords with ice–it seems to help”; the other tekson replicated what he had done; Janelle’s sword was the first finished by Luthina, and the second archer darted forward. On the opposite side of Spenthronsa, Hrothlo was the first to rush forward, followed by Velnar, and then Rolva, all three of their swords glowing with cold, blue-white light. The proximity, however, of four more swords, enchanted like Delgart’s, did not have the desired effect of cowing the sponsu queen, but instead, she screamed in frustration, not able to reach her prey that was down and lying clearly in view. She clicked her mandibles furiously at Delgart, who hardly escaped being caught as Blakstar. Turning back and forth on the spot almost too fast for the eye to follow, Spenthronsa caught each of them–Hrothlo, Janelle, Velnar, Delgart, and Rolva–with one of her thick, black threads, wrapping a strand once around each; she kicked each one hard with one of her long hairy legs, sending each flying toward the edge of her great web, looping the still attached thick, black thread over one of the many, tangled branches, where the five of them hung, swinging uselessly upside-down. Spenthronsa turned and charged toward the fallen kortexi.
“He’s not responding!” Klaybear exclaimed as he and Thal stood up and pointed rod and staff at her eyes, firing ice arrows at her; Thal saw similar ortheks fly at her from either side, but the sponsu queen did not slow her pace: she simply ran through the icy, teka projectiles. Klaybear sang the words to raise an ice shield to defend them, but Thal held little hope that it would protect them from her fury, and both he and Klaybear braced themselves for her crushing blow, but the blow never came; Spenthronsa stopped just before she hit them, rearing onto her four rear legs while she screamed and her forelegs beat the air above them.
“Look!” Klaybear pointed to one of her clawed forefeet that was smoking.
“What?” Thal began, but then he noticed a light on the black web about where her clawed forefoot had been: will-giver glowed brightly against Spenthronsa’s black webs, and the sponsu queen howled in pain and was shoved backward as if she had been struck by some heavy blow; the air around him felt suddenly cold, and for a moment, he heard the sound of a howling blizzard.
Thal looked from the glowing sword to the howling queen to Blakstar and back to the sword again. “Quickly!” he shouted. “Get the sword!” Thal grabbed the Vessel of Life from the kortexi’s belt; the green kailu did not bother to stand but simply rolled forward and grabbed will-giver. Thal unstoppered the Waters and poured some into Blakstar’s mouth; he swallowed automatically, and his eyes flew open. The kortexi rolled up and stood in a single motion, holding out his right hand and catching will-giver, thrown by Klaybear as soon as Blakstar began to roll forward. As the kortexi’s hand closed around the hilt of his sword, both sword and wielder flared golden, with the brightness of the newly risen sun, causing his companions to shield their eyes. Swinging first left and then right overhand strokes, he severed first one and then the other front foreleg; repeating this action, Blakstar chopped off both mandibles, and then changing to a two-handed grip, he swung down on Spenthronsa’s head, cutting through her forehead and splitting her head in two. He leaped onto her body as her remaining legs splayed out and shook, driving his shining blade to the hilt into the center section of her quivering body, holding it there until she ceased to move. He pulled will-giver free from the corpse, and golden flames bur
ned the blade clean of Spenthronsa’s crimson blood.
Blakstar sheathed his sword and looked around. “Where are the others?” he asked.
Klaybear stood and pointed to where they were still slowly swinging in the trees. They moved toward Delgart, since Tevvy was also on that side; Grelsor and Hrelga were already cutting Delgart down.
“Why did she stop charging?” Delgart asked, sheathing his sabers, which were no longer glowing coldly.
“She stepped on will-giver,” Klaybear grinned, “and was burned by its touch.”
But Thal shook his head. “I do not think that was all,” he noted, “because I think she stepped on the sword after she was pushed back: something else attacked her. Didn’t you notice how it suddenly became cold, and the sound of the blizzard: where did that come from?”
“I could use some help over here,” a weak voice called.
“We are coming,” Klaybear called back.
“Please,” Tevvy pleaded, “I feel slightly unsettled; now I know how a ball feels!” he added in a voice that squeaked.
“Your missing awemi?” Grelsor asked, chuckling.
Delgart nodded but then held up his hand, looking at his verghrenum; he touched one of the symbols and waited.
Grelsor nodded once. “I’ll go rescue your missing companion: what is his name?” he asked.
“Tevvy,” Klaybear supplied.
Thal, with Klaybear and Blakstar, placed hands on Delgart’s shoulders so that they could also join the conversation.
A small, gray archway opened in the air before them, and Marilee’s face, although pale and drawn, smiled at them.
“Marilee!” they exclaimed together, although Delgart’s voice was the loudest and continued to speak. “We were worried about you!” Delgart exclaimed. “What happened?”
“Where’s Klare?” Klaybear asked, surprised to see Marilee alone.
“She is all right,” Marilee replied, “but was stunned, as were most of the maghem and kailum who joined with her to break the sponsu queen’s orthek on me.”
“Joined with her?” Thal asked. “Do you mean channeling?”
“That’s what they tell me,” Marilee replied. “Your staff, Klaybear, can channel more power than has been possible for centuries: Klare stood holding breath-giver at the head of twenty-one maghem and kailum, and those who did not join all agree that more could have joined, but that was when the orthek was broken, which also broke the wedge.”
Thal’s mouth fell open; Klaybear shook his head. “That staff is dangerous,” Klaybear noted.
“What about the sponsum,” Delgart put in, bringing the conversation back to what was immediately important, “and the rest of our legion?”
Marilee sighed, and the smile left her face. “About half are missing,” she noted sadly.
“Half?” Delgart replied with disbelief. “Dead?”
Marilee shrugged and looked away. “We do not know,” she said finally. “As soon as we can get organized, and revive our tekson, we will send squads out to search for their bodies.”
“And the sponsum?” Delgart asked again.
Marilee brightened at this. “The ray of cold orthek used destroyed many of them,” she replied, “those that remained all suddenly, strangely, died.”
“Why?” Delgart asked.
Marilee shook her head.
“How long ago did this happen?” Thal asked.
“Just a few minutes, why?” she asked.
Thal smiled and nodded. “The same time that Blakstar killed Spenthronsa, their queen.”
“So you saved us, saved me,” Marilee added.
“We saved each other,” Thal replied. “I would guess that the moment Klare and the others attacked her orthek was the very moment when she was driven back, the moment when she nearly had all of us, which gave us the time we needed to revive Blakstar and put will-giver back in his hand so he could finish her off.”
Marilee’s head turned toward the kortexi. “You were down,” she said, a note of surprise in her voice, “and unconscious?”
Blakstar nodded. “She was a formidable opponent,” he noted wryly.
Tevvy came up and put his hand on Thal’s forearm. “So it’s a good thing I was here first and wore her out, letting her toss me around like that!” Although dirty, his round and innocent face still lit up when he smiled. Blakstar’s mouth fell open, but Thal and the others started to laugh; Tevvy winked a couple of times at the kortexi to convey the idea that he was joking. Finally, Blakstar burst out laughing.
“That’s quite enough,” Delgart said after a few moments filled with laughter. “Get organized as quickly as you can,” he said to Marilee. “As soon as you are, send everyone to me here, the Seventh is fighting alone at the gate. Have Klare stay behind with Kella’s command squad and whatever number of squads you think is necessary to search for the missing, that way she can send them to me as soon as the search is completed.”
“Are our companions going to fight with you?” she asked.
Delgart shook his head. “Not if there is another way,” he said turning to Tevvy. “You were inside the fortress, can you open a door back inside, so that the four of you can find the morgle, Motodu, and the rod?”
Tevvy sighed and shook his head. “We were unconscious when they carried us inside,” he replied, “and I awakened inside a cell, but it was not inside normal space. In fact, I’m not certain that I was actually awake, because I saw Sutugno still alive inside the fortress.”
“You must have been dreaming,” Thal noted.
“And Rokwolf?” Klaybear asked.
“I saw him,” Tevvy replied slowly. “He was chained upside-down, naked, in a cell, and they were dumping the contents of the fortress’s chamber pots over him.” He shook his head. “Sutugno was on a bed that was a torture table, and she was . . . ,” he hesitated for a moment before he could go on, “she was raped by a ponkolu who looked like Rokwolf.”
“Did you see Elanor, or any other students from the school?” Thal asked.
Tevvy hung his head so they could no longer see his face. “I saw some of the students being forced to dump the chamber pots into a hole that must have been above Rokwolf, which did not make sense, because I had seen down into Rokwolf’s cell, just as I was seeing down into this cell with Sutugno, from a small, nearby cell on the same level, a few doors down. From there I ended up in some kind of maze, and when I found the way out, I fell into this fiend’s web.”
“But no Elanor?” Klaybear asked gently.
Tevvy did not speak, but shook his head once.
“What does that mean, Delgart?” Marilee asked.
Delgart put one hand gently on the awemi’s shoulder. “It means that we will have to find one of the buried west towers and hope that we find the passages still open.”
“We suspect that Spenthronsa might have been here to guard such an entrance,” Thal added.
Marilee nodded. “And if not?”
“Then we will have to force our way through the main entrance,” Delgart replied.
“Not a pleasant prospect,” Marilee said, but she smiled crookedly at Delgart, and he returned her smile; Thal noticed just how similar their looks had become, almost mirroring each other, because of the maimed half of each of their faces.
“We have work to perform,” Delgart said simply; Marilee nodded and broke contact.
Thal looked around and saw the rest of the squad moving toward them, carrying those who had been knocked out.
“Blakstar,” Thal said, “I think you will need this,” and he handed the Flask of Life back to the kortexi, who took it and moved off to help the others.
Tevvy turned to look at the web. “If you are correct,” he began, “then I would bet that the tower is under this web, but how will we clear it away?” he finished, looking back at the others.
“Fire was useless against her,” Thal said, “so I’d guess we will have to use the same orthek that Klare did on the sponsum, ray of cold, and when Blakstar fin
ishes, I think we should try channeling it through will-giver; that should speed things up.”
Delgart was looking back toward the gate, not visible for the black webs strung between the trees. “I will leave the four of you to it,” he said. “I am going to take the rest back to aid the Seventh.”
“Leave one of your scouts with us,” Klaybear suggested, “that way you will know what has happened.”
Delgart nodded once and gripped hands with each of them before turning away. A few minutes later, Blakstar walked back with Reena.
“So, how are we going to find this entrance,” Blakstar asked, “if it exists?”
“We are going to try the same orthek Klare used,” Thal said, “with the sword in the same way as before.”
Blakstar nodded. “What are the words?” he asked, drawing will-giver.
Thal spoke the words in his mind, as Lidelle had with the earthquake orthek: They are ‘gwolagelu,’ which will produce a beam that should shoot from your sword. You should be able to use it like a scythe on the web.
Blakstar nodded and turned to face the web, holding up his sword and beginning to concentrate as before. Thal and Klaybear put a hand on each of his shoulders.
Get ready to sing the words in the same way, now! Thal spoke into their minds.
Three voices sang together, “gwo-la-ge-lu,” slowly and in ascending notes, and they continued to repeat them. A beam of blue-white light flashed to life and surrounded the sword, shooting twenty feet overhead. Blakstar lowered the sword and beam slowly, and it cut through the webs easily. He swung the beam left, and the black threads of the web twenty feet in front of him crystallized and shattered, falling to the stony, uneven ground beneath, like snow that instantly melted. He swung the blade right and more black webs crystallized and shattered. He started to walk slowly forward, and in this way, they cleared the webs away in fifteen minutes. Tevvy and Reena were waving to them as they dropped the orthek.
The Redemption, Volume 1 Page 104