Isabel and Abigail landed in the little clearing and scrambled off their wyverns.
Alexander bounded to his feet and raced toward his wife. They crashed into each other and he held her tight as he spun her in a circle.
“I’m never going to let you out of my sight again,” he said, hugging her fiercely.
“Promise?” she whispered.
When he let go of his wife, Abigail was standing a few feet away watching with a gentle smile.
“Told you he’d get into trouble without us,” she said to Isabel.
Alexander grabbed his sister and hugged her. “I’ve missed you both so much.”
“Easy, Big Brother, you’ll break me,” she said teasingly.
He let her go and held her out at arm’s length. “Who hurt you? I saw that you were injured. Who?”
She and Isabel shared a smile before she shrugged. “Your wife already killed her.”
Alexander looked over at Isabel and nodded approvingly as he slipped his arm around her waist and drew her close.
Jack stepped up and bowed formally to Isabel. “Lady Reishi . . .”
“Don’t you start that with me, Jack,” she said.
He smiled and winked. “I’m very glad you are well and have returned to us.” Then he turned to Abigail and held out his hand. She looked a little taken aback but she gave him her hand nonetheless. He took it with a gentle smile and bowed to kiss it softly.
“There are many things I wish to say to you, Abigail,” he said. “For now, just know that I’ve missed you terribly every single day that you’ve been gone.”
She blushed. Alexander was glad. It was about time someone could fluster his sister.
Lucky came ambling up, a mixture of happiness and grief struggling to gain control of his face.
“I’m so glad to see you both, but I have terrible news,” Lucky said, his voice breaking slightly.
“What is it?” Alexander said, suddenly alarmed. It took a lot to undo Lucky’s composure.
“Anatoly has been gravely injured,” Lucky said. “I’ve done all I can, but I fear he won’t survive the day.”
Alexander was suddenly stricken with a mixture of guilt and grief. He knew Anatoly had fallen to the scourgling but his joy at seeing Isabel and Abigail had driven the worry for his old man-at-arms from his mind. He raced to the place where Anatoly had fallen. Lucky had made him comfortable and treated his wounds as best he could, but there was a lot of damage. His breastplate lay nearby, crushed and rent where the demon had swatted him.
“Dear Maker,” Alexander whispered as he knelt next to Anatoly. “You can’t die, you stubborn old bull,” he said, taking Anatoly’s hand. His emotions crashed from the pure joy of seeing his wife and sister again to finding that his mentor and protector was dying.
“You have to fix him, Isabel,” Abigail said through a sob.
Alexander wasn’t sure what she was talking about and he didn’t take the time to focus on anything other than his friend lying on the field where he’d fallen trying to protect him. The guilt threatened to crush him.
Isabel knelt next to Anatoly and smiled at Alexander. “He’ll be all right,” she said as she laid her hand gently on his chest and closed her eyes.
Alexander watched her colors turn pure white, the color of life itself, then her aura swelled and the light became visible around her hand. Anatoly stiffened slightly and then began to breathe easier as he drifted off to sleep.
“I don’t understand,” Alexander said. “What just happened?”
“She healed him,” Abigail said through her tears.
“But how?” Lucky asked.
“With magic from the realm of light,” Isabel said. “It’s a long story better told at another time.”
Lucky and Alexander both nodded, somewhat dumbfounded by the power Isabel had just displayed.
Everyone turned when Duncan, Bella, and Hanlon came rushing up. Once they were assured that Anatoly would be all right, they spent a few moments hugging their daughters while the sounds of battle raged in the distance.
Another wyvern landed not far off, sending soldiers scattering out of the way and looking at the giant beast warily. It folded its wings, and the rider waved to Isabel.
“The enemy cavalry have retreated back to the city. What are your orders, Lady Reishi?”
Isabel looked up to Alexander. “What were your plans?”
“We were trying to set Northport on fire, but it’s not working,” Alexander said. “I’ve ordered the assault force to retreat out of range of the archers for now.”
Isabel nodded and turned to the woman rider. “Have the Sky Knights land behind the army. I’ll send riders for you and Constance.”
She nodded and her wyvern launched into the air gaining altitude with each powerful stroke of its wings. Asteroth and Kallistos launched into the air just after her and followed as she ascended toward the circling formation of Sky Knights overhead.
Alexander smiled at Isabel. “I want to hear about every single thing that’s happened since you were taken from me, and I want to know how you destroyed that scourgling, but right now we have a battle to win. Let’s go back to the command tents and decide what to do next. Lieutenant Wyatt, please go to the Sky Knights and escort their leaders back here.”
He nodded and turned on his heel to tend to his orders.
“I’ll stay with Anatoly,” Lucky said. “It really is good to see the two of you. We were all quite worried when you were taken.”
They both gave him a hug before everyone made their way up the winding path to the top of the hillock where they stopped for a moment to watch the fires dying down in the city from the heavy rain that was falling out of the conjured clouds.
“I should have anticipated that,” Alexander said, shaking his head.
Isabel shrugged. “No plan ever survives contact with the enemy,” she said, smiling up at him.
“You are very wise, Lady Reishi.”
They turned away from the army sprawling before them and went into the command tent. Alexander was overjoyed that Isabel had returned. He knew he should be anxious or even worried that his plan had failed but he just couldn’t bring himself to feel anything but happiness.
It wasn’t long before Wyatt entered with two women wearing armor following behind him. They each carried themselves with confidence. Both had the colors of a witch.
“Alexander, these are Flight Commanders Bianca and Constance,” Isabel said. “Ladies, this is my husband, Lord Alexander Reishi.”
Both women bowed formally.
“Lord Reishi, it is an honor to meet you,” Bianca said. “For my part, I hope we can put any past differences behind us and join forces against our common enemy.”
“Well said. Please, sit. We have much to discuss.”
Once everyone was seated around the council table, Chloe buzzed into existence. She floated up to Isabel and kissed her on the cheek.
“I’m so glad you’ve returned to Our Love,” she said. “He’s been most distraught since you were taken, but now his heart sings.”
Bianca and Constance blinked, looked at each other and then back at Chloe.
“We heard the rumor that you had bonded with a fairy, but none of us believed it,” Constance said.
Alexander smiled, then cocked his head to the side in recognition. “You’re the one on the bridge. The one Jataan put a javelin through.”
She looked a little startled. “I am,” she said rubbing her shoulder. “That was a very dark day for us, Lord Reishi. We believed that we had failed the world when you recovered the Sovereign Stone.”
“And now?” he asked, pointedly. He saw Jataan tense ever so slightly through his all around sight.
“Now, many of us are uncertain, though your wife and sister have impressed all who live within the fortress island. Many believe that a man can be measured by the quality of the women who love him. By that standard, you have earned our respect.”
“Good enough, for now,
” Alexander said. “In time, I hope to win your friendship as well.”
Both women seemed surprised by his response. Their colors shined with uncertainty.
Alexander smiled more broadly. “Not what you were expecting?”
“No,” Bianca said. “Most who seek power tend to lord it over others, yet you speak of friendship rather than command. We expected you to demand our obedience and press our forces into service.”
Alexander laughed, shaking his head. “I invited you here to listen to your counsel and ask for your assistance. As for seeking power, I didn’t. It sought me and I’d gladly give it all up if I could take my wife home and raise a nice little herd of cattle. But I can’t because Phane is out there plotting to kill everything and everyone I care about.”
“We will gladly offer our counsel,” Constance said. “As for our assistance, Lady Reishi, as the only triumvir of the Reishi Coven present, is the commander of our forces. We will follow her orders.”
“Triumvir, huh?” Alexander said to Isabel. “I bet there’s quite a story behind that one.”
“You have no idea,” Abigail said, rolling her eyes.
Isabel gave her a look but Abigail just shrugged.
“All right then,” Alexander said, “does anyone have any suggestions for killing the hundred thousand or so enemy soldiers holed up in Northport without grinding our army into dust in the process?”
The table fell silent for a moment before Kelvin cleared his throat and sat forward. “I believe that I may have a way, with the assistance of the Sky Knights, to do immeasurable damage to the occupants of Northport.”
Alexander gestured for Kelvin to continue and sat forward to listen.
“As you may recall, there were a number of powerful explosions during the battle at the Gate. Those were the result of a weapon that I created while you were away. The ones used by our forces during that battle were delivered with a very large catapult. I have created several more of much greater power, but they are very heavy and I had to leave them at Blackstone Keep until I could devise an effective means of delivering them into the midst of the enemy.
“If the Sky Knights can drop them into the city, I can detonate them. A dozen of the larger versions would devastate everything within the walls.”
“All right, I like it. But that still leaves the problem of the weather wizard and his lightning,” Alexander said. “I don’t want to send anyone in under that dark cloud of his.”
“We noticed the clouds over the city on our way here,” Bianca said. “They are most unnatural. Am I to assume they’re the result of a spell of some kind?”
“One of the wizards in Northport can control the weather,” Alexander said. “He killed at least a hundred men today with lightning called down from the sky.”
“I see,” Bianca said. “How long does it take him to call lightning from the clouds?”
“Ah, simple solutions are always the best solutions,” Alexander said. “It takes him a good twenty minutes. How heavy are these weapons of yours, Kelvin?”
“Easily the weight of a full-grown bison,” the Guild Mage said.
“That’s no problem for a wyvern,” Isabel said.
Alexander nodded to himself, considering the plan and liking it more and more. “Dad, order the army to withdraw, and make a show about it. Isabel, send a couple of dozen Sky Knights to the flight deck on Blackstone Keep. Kelvin, which one of your wizards knows enough about these things to find them and move them up to the flight deck?”
“Wizard Hax would be the one to speak with,” Kelvin said.
“Good, I’ll send the message,” Alexander said. “They should be ready by the time the Sky Knights arrive.”
Alexander sent his orders into the dreams of a Ranger in the sleep room at Blackstone Keep. With his plan set in motion, he and his family spent the time talking and sharing stories of their past few months. Reports came to them from time to time but the enemy was quiet and seemed content to wait. Alexander was happy to learn that the reinforcements the Regency soldiers were expecting were never going to arrive. Lucky came and went to attend to Anatoly as needed, but he reported that the big man-at-arms was resting and would recover from his wounds.
By midafternoon a report came with news that the wing of Sky Knights had returned from Blackstone Keep with the weapons. Kelvin rode out to the staging area where the wyverns had landed and prepared his magically constructed weapons. The weather wizard had let his spell lapse and the sky had returned to the clear blue of a warm summer afternoon. By the time Kelvin returned to the command tents, the wyverns were just passing overhead, carrying the large, barrel-shaped weapons in their talons.
Alexander stood with his arm around Isabel’s waist, flanked by his family and friends as the Sky Knights released the weapons to fall indiscriminately into the city of Northport. Within moments of their passage over the city, dark clouds began to form overhead. The wing of wyverns circled out from under the conjured clouds and set a course for the staging area behind Alexander’s army.
“I haven’t tested this version of the weapon,” Kelvin said. “I’ll be interested to see just how powerful it actually is.”
The wing of Sky Knights floated overhead and out of harm’s way.
“It’s time,” Alexander said.
Kelvin nodded and set a handful of twelve little pebbles on a nearby table and corralled them into one spot. He raised his hammer and gently brought it down onto the dozen stones, crushing them into powder. Alexander saw the telltale flare of magic as the stones shattered. There was a sudden stillness in the air, followed by a bright flash of light. A fiery cloud of smoke and debris rose from within the walls of Northport. A moment later the sound hit them. It was a stunning shock to hear something so loud. Even thunder didn’t compare with the fury unleashed by the Guild Mage’s enchanted weapons. Everyone stepped back when the shock wave hit them. The ground shook beneath their feet. The plates and cups on the table rattled as a great ball of flaming smoke lifted into the air and formed a massive cloud of destruction over the city.
“I have never in all my life seen such power,” Bianca said with a mixture of awe and fear.
“I know what you mean,” Alexander said. “Well done, Kelvin, but let’s hope we never have to use those things again.”
The Guild Mage nodded somberly.
Here Ends Mindbender
Sovereign of the Seven Isles: Book Three
www.SovereignOfTheSevenIsles.com
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