by Lisa Cassidy
Alyx jerked as thunder growled again and a spear of blue lightning lit up the southern sky.
“Maybe it will go around the valley,” Finn shouted over the strengthening wind and the shouts as Nordan scored a hit on Fengel. Oscar stepped into the ring to support him, and then one of Nordan’s team joined the fight too.
“I don’t think so,” Tarrick said. “It’s coming right for us.”
“That means the festival will have to end early.” Dawn’s face registered disappointment.
“Do you think they’ll cancel the dance too?” Finn’s shoulders drooped.
As if to underscore Finn’s words, thunder ripped across the sky, this time the roar coming from directly above the valley. Another brilliant fork of lightning lit up the southern hills. Seconds later, heavy drops of warm rain began to fall. When another deafening crash sounded, Alyx initially thought it was the thunder again. Then the tenor of the shouts nearby changed to fear, and turning, Alyx saw a pillar of fire erupt from the north-eastern corner of the valley wall.
Screams now cut over the hiss of rain and wind. Alyx was knocked sideways as two students closest to her turned and ran towards the main hall. Around her, the remaining crowd turned into a seething mass of panicking people.
“Stay together!” Tarrick shouted over the screams and wind.
Alyx reached out and gripped Dawn’s hand, while Finn grabbed her other one. Tarrick took Finn’s and Brynn’s. They stuck close, trying to keep their feet amidst the people rushing around them.
“The boundary wall has been breached!” a master shouted above the din, Alaria maybe. This was closely followed by another shout: “Where are the signal fires?”
Alyx craned her head, attempting to keep still long enough to look for the bright signal fires that should be lighting up the four corners of the valley wall. It was dark as night now, the entire valley covered in storm clouds, and they should have stood out like beacons calling the apprentice mages on duty in the other towers to defend the north-eastern wall.
Abruptly, Howell appeared in front of them. He’d been tugging at his short beard in concern, but his face cleared as he recognised them.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said.
“Sir?” Dawn asked, then stumbled and almost fell as someone crashed into them.
“I need you to take your horses and ride up to the south-eastern watchtower. The signal fire there hasn’t been lit.”
“You want us to go, sir?” Tarrick asked with a puzzled frown.
Howell nodded. “First and Second Patrols are already mobilizing to head to the tower under attack, but they’ll need reinforcements from the other towers. Master Romas wants the remaining warrior mages to stay here to calm this mob and protect them in case there is an attack in progress and the northern valley wall is breached.”
“Sir, I don’t think all of us should go. Brynn and the twins aren’t warrior mages, and Alyx doesn’t have any power yet.” Tarrick’s frown deepened. “It would be better if I went alone.”
“I’m not asking you to fight, Tarrick, just get the signal fire lit. Whatever is happening is in the northeast,” Howell snapped. “Just do as I say.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you see any trouble up there, keep your heads down. Master Rothai is rounding up more apprentices and won’t be far behind you,” he said. “Go, hurry!”
Tarrick led as they fought through towards the edge of the thinning crowd. Howell watched them go, a look of mixed dread and deep reluctance on his face. When he saw Alyx looking he gave her a reassuring nod before turning and disappearing into the crowd.
Moments later they broke free and sprinted across the open grass towards the barn. Alyx tried not to dwell on the plume of flame she’d seen rise into the sky from the top of the northern valley wall, or the danger they might be about to ride into.
We just have to light the fire, she tried to reassure herself. If Howell had thought the southeast was under attack too, he wouldn’t have sent initiates to help.
But if everything was fine up there, why wasn’t the fire lit?
Alyx shook her head, dismissing her doubt. It was unthinkable to return to DarkSkull alone, leaving the others to go off without her, and so she went along and hoped that they could get the fire lit and warn the apprentices up there without running into any trouble.
The horses were restive in their stalls, spooked by the screams coming from outside and the weather gusting heavily against the stable walls. The barn door slammed behind Brynn, the last one in, making them all jump.
Tingo was half-rearing, kicking out at his stall door. His coat had darkened with sweat and his eyes were rolling back in fear. Alyx’s presence calmed him immediately, which surprised her for the brief moment she allowed herself to dwell on it. They worked in tense silence to saddle up the horses and lead them out of their stalls.
Alyx reached up, touching the comforting weight of the wooden staff hanging between her shoulders before grabbing the saddle and leaping up to land lightly on Tingo’s back. He shifted slightly but remained calm.
“You stick close to me.” Tarrick’s shoulders were rigid with tension. “Do not go off on your own. Understand?”
“Aye, captain,” Finn said.
“This is no joke,” Tarrick snapped. “If there is danger up there, I’m the only one who’s going to be able to defend us, so you’d better damn well listen to what I have to say.”
“And when was the last time you were in a real fight?” Finn asked.
“Stop it,” Alyx told him, angry at his attitude. “Tarrick is right. He’s the only one of us who is a warrior mage. We stick close to Tarrick, and we do what he says.”
“Fine, sorry,” he muttered, chastened.
Tarrick gave her a grateful look. “It should just be a matter of finding the apprentices on guard, sending them to help, and then getting the signal fire lit.”
“Right.” Brynn nodded decisively.
“Dawn.” Tarrick looked at her. “If there is anything wrong up there, you’ll know it before any of us, so tell me immediately.”
“I can do that,” she said, looking pale but determined.
“We’d better stop talking and go,” Finn said impatiently.
Tarrick ran forward to open the barn door, then dashed back to mount his own mare.
Closest to the door, Alyx kicked Tingo, urging him on with her voice at the same time. The big horse jumped into a gallop, racing out of the barn and into the gusting winds and rain. Alyx reached back to pull the brown hood of her cloak over her hair in an attempt to keep dry but the driving wind simply ripped it back off again.
Tarrick took the lead as they galloped across the dark fields now emptied of people. What the darkness of night and storm didn’t hide, a heavy curtain of falling rain did. It took a good few minutes for them to find the start of the path leading up to the walls, and all of them chafed at the delay. Alyx wondered if the patrols had reached the tower under attack yet; for all she knew, the northern wall had already been breached and attackers were inside the valley.
Once found, they started up what had been the path but was now a muddy quagmire. Alyx could barely see her way ahead and Tingo slipped so much that she had to rein him into a slow canter.
Rain drove into her face and eyes and soaked through her clothes. Tingo half-reared when a tree branch blew down right in front of them. Alyx slid halfway out of the saddle before managing to drag herself upright and grabbing the loose reins. It took her a further few minutes to re-establish control over the plunging, high-strung stallion.
Tarrick and the others had passed her by then, and she fell in behind them, wincing as her strained fingers held tight to the reins. The trail steepened as they approached the summit of the valley wall, forcing the horses to slow even further.
The trees around them were bending sideways in the wind, and that mixed with the torrential rainfall made Alyx wonder if the weather was the cause of the signal fires not being lit. She di
dn’t know enough about mage power to know whether that was possible.
Just before the top, the path widened and flattened slightly. By unspoken accord all five of them urged the skittish horses into a gallop. The path rounded a corner and suddenly a tall stone watchtower—the one situated on the southeast corner of the valley wall—was in front of them.
Lightning cracked open the sky above, illuminating the tower for a brief second. It was enough to show that the signal fire had still not been lit. Alyx dismounted on Tarrick’s shouted order, mud splashing as she landed. Her neck craned as she tried to peer up to the top of the tower. It looked as tall as the twin turrets of the Alistriem Palace.
“Over here!” Tarrick shouted, pointing to the iron rings hammered into the stone wall near the tower door.
Pulling on Tingo’s reins, Alyx dragged him over, then tethered him to one of the iron rings. Struggling against the gale-force wind, she then followed the others to the tower door. As soon as Tarrick put his hand against it, it swung open.
Shooting concerned glances at each other, they ventured indoors. A gust of wind slammed the tower door shut behind them and instantly everything was dark and still.
“Why aren’t there any lamps lit?” Dawn’s disembodied voice came out of the darkness.
Another lightning flash outside lit up the ground-floor room through arched windows set deep in the stone wall.
“It’s empty,” Finn said. “Where are the apprentices on watch duty?”
“Alyx, Brynn, you go up and light the signal fire,” Tarrick ordered. “The twins and I will go and see if any horses are in the stables outside. The apprentices here might have seen the signal fire in the north and ridden to help already.”
“Why didn’t they light the fire first?” Alyx asked.
“Let’s ask questions later.” Brynn was already heading for the stairs. “Come on, Alyx. It’s imperative we get this lit.”
Alyx would have preferred they all take a moment to think before leaping into action, but it was too late—Tarrick was already heading out the door, the twins hot on his heels.
Alyx sighed and went after Brynn. They took the winding tower steps at a run, their speed hindered by the weight of their soaked clothing.
“I’m assuming mage power isn’t needed to light the fire?” she panted.
“No, just regular flint, oil and kindling,” he replied.
“I’m glad you know these things,” she muttered, mostly to herself.
They reached the first landing and Alyx had her foot on the next step when a flood of thoughts thundered through her mind from Dawn, causing her to double over in pain.
“Brynn! I… ahh!” She clutched her head as Dawn’s terror communicated itself to her. She was telepathically calling for help, but barely coherent in her panic.
“I’m coming!” Alyx tried to send the message back instinctively, but it seemed to work. The flood of scared cries for help slowed enough that the pain faded and Alyx was able to stand.
“They’re in trouble,” she managed to gasp out. “I have to go... can’t not go.”
Brynn paled and grabbed his staff. “Go. I’ll get the fire lit, and then I’ll be right after you.”
She nodded, turning to stumble back down the stairs. The residue of Dawn’s panic still echoed in her mind, overriding some of the fear she felt at running down into the unknown.
Alyx was gasping for air by the time she reached the bottom. The room was still eerily deserted, and she fumbled around to yank her staff out of the holster down her back. Its knobby wood was warm to the touch, reassuring her slightly.
Dawn’s cry for help throbbed in Alyx’s mind. Summoning what resolve she could, Alyx pushed open the tower door and stepped into the storm. Outside, the cleared area around the tower was lit intermittently by flashes of lightning, but otherwise obscured by the falling rain.
She opened her mouth to shout Dawn’s name, but closed it as she caught sight of several cloaked figures nearby, all with swords drawn. Someone was on the ground—Tarrick! Finn kneeled over him, his hand on Tarrick’s chest.
Lightning flashed, illuminating Dawn as she ran towards Finn. The tallest of the cloaked figures stepped out to send her flying with a sharp gesture. She landed near Alyx, crying out in pain.
“Leave her alone!” Finn shouted, drawing his dagger and hurling it straight at the unknown mage.
He or she turned, raising a contemptuous arm and engulfing the flying dagger in white-hot flame. It fell to the mud in a melting puddle.
“Alyx! I can sense Galien... he’s here.” Dawn looked up at her, sheer terror in her face as one of the hooded figures advanced on Finn and Tarrick’s prone body. Alyx cast wildly about—who was the strange mage? And where was Galien? Her heart pounded with panic, but as she watched Finn kneeling helplessly in the mud a matching anger sparked inside her.
Dawn scrambled back to her feet and tried again to reach Finn. She got only two steps before someone came running out of the shadows to grab her around the waist and haul her away. In the flash of lightning that followed, Alyx saw Fengel’s familiar Zandian features under the hood of his apprentice robe.
Torn, Alyx looked from Finn towards where Fengel was dragging Dawn away from the fight.
“Please, help Finn!” Dawn’s voice slammed into her mind. “Fengel’s not going to hurt me, I can read it in his mind.”
“Kill them.” The order carried clear across the sound of the storm, and came from the cloaked mage. Metal glinted as the warrior nearest Finn raised his sword in preparation to swing. Finn reached back, desperately fumbling for his staff.
The mingled desperation and fury that swept through Alyx now felt like it was powerful enough to physically burn her; the skin of her hands and forearms flared white hot. As quickly as it had come, the feeling passed, but when she looked down she saw that both her hands and forearms were encased in a silver-green shimmering light.
“No.” Alyx spoke as clearly as the mage had.
As she spoke, she raised her right arm and, gathering up all the fear and anger inside her, hurled it all straight at the man with the sword. A ball of shimmering white-green light burst from her right hand, shooting straight towards her target.
“GET DOWN!” she screamed into her friends’ minds.
Time slowed. First there was a bright flash of light, and then an electric, concussive blast, tearing through Alyx’s eardrums as she dropped to the ground. Her ball of energy exploded into the stranger’s face, ripping flesh, muscle, and bone into tiny slivers. Bright light lit up the night, blinding them all. A powerful force pushed her into the ground so hard she couldn’t breathe, and then it was gone.
Alyx staggered to her feet, her ears ringing loudly, dots cascading across her vision. She stumbled, unsure if she was upright, rubbing at her blurred eyes.
“Finn!” Alyx dimly heard Dawn’s shout and squinted in that direction.
Dawn was kneeling beside her twin when Alyx’s vision cleared. Tarrick still lay crumpled on the ground, and Fengel was nowhere to be seen. A short distance away, the mage made another sharp gesture. The cloaked figures turned and melted back into the trees, the long strides of the mage following them.
“Brynn!” Dawn shouted again. Alyx shook her head, trying to make sense of Dawn’s words around the ringing in her ears. Turning, she saw Brynn step out of the tower door, staff raised and ready. A running figure appeared through the rain, heading straight for Brynn.
Galien.
“It’s gone wrong,” he screamed, looking at someone Alyx couldn’t see. “I’ll get Brynn. Get the rest of them out of here.”
Before Alyx could realise what was happening, Galien had grabbed Brynn and was hustling away towards the trees. She felt dizzy and sick, her vision still blurry and the ringing in her ears turning into a thumping headache.
Fengel stepped out of the darkness to meet Galien, pausing only long enough to shout in her direction, “Get back to DarkSkull.”
Then he was gone,
disappearing after Galien.
Chapter 24
Alyx turned to see if the others had seen what happened. Finn, his face and clothes streaked with blood and gore, was concentrating hard, his hand lying on Tarrick’s chest. Dawn was watching both boys in worry. After a few moments, Tarrick stirred and sat up. He had a livid bruise on his temple, but otherwise seemed alert.
“His head cracked against the ground,” Dawn said, sitting back in relief. “I was so afraid.”
“He’ll be fine. Not even a concussion.” Finn looked down at Tarrick. “You’ve got a hard head.”
“Thanks, Finn,” Tarrick croaked, staggering to his feet.
“Finn.” Dawn was looking at Alyx. “I think she might need help.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered. “I’m…” and she swayed, falling in an awkward heap.
“Whoa, I’ve got you.” Tarrick pulled her head into his lap, and then she saw Finn hovering over her. His palm touched her forehead and the dizziness drained away. Tarrick lowered her head gently to the floor before rising again.
“Sorry, I can’t help the headache,” Finn mumbled. “I don’t have much left.”
“They’re retreating!”
They all turned at Tarrick’s shout. He was several paces away, looking down the other side of the valley wall.
“Alyx’s magic must have scared them off.” Dawn looked at Alyx with mingled awe and respect. She wasn’t entirely sure why—the events of the last few moments were such a blur.
“Who were they?” Alyx staggered back to her feet; standing was easier now that the dizziness was gone.
“Don’t know, but they had a mage with them,” Tarrick said grimly.
“Dawn, you’d better send to Master Romas and let him know what’s happened,” Finn said.
“What about Brynn, he was...” Alyx turned slightly, her gaze falling on the dead attacker’s body. His head was mostly gone, and flesh and blood splatters covered the ground around him. Her stomach heaved, and she began retching uncontrollably onto the ground.
She’d killed a man.