by David Wind
Grasping Mikaal’s arm, she pulled herself up and, without a backwards glance, strode into the woods, Gaalrie dropping to her shoulder before her second step. When she returned, she woke Neleh. Across from her, Mikaal opened the bag of supplies and took out dried meat.
Fifteen minutes later, their meal of cold food finished, Areenna, Mikaal, and Neleh put on their armor. To the side, Charka, Duv, and Gaalrie, who rode Charka’s back, watched. “Dawn will be here soon,” Areenna said. “At first light, I will send Gaalrie to scout.”
Mikaal tightened the cinch on Areenna’s upper armor. “Better she fly to my father and mother and let us know when they ride.”
Areenna nodded. “This she will do, as well. But we need to see how ready Lessig is for this surprise.”
Before Mikaal could speak, Duv growled low in his throat. “Easy,” Neleh whispered and turned to Mikaal. “A man and a woman approach. Duv caught their scent.”
On her last word, Neleh faded back, drawing her bow over her shoulder and freeing a shaft.
They are Northcrom, Areenna told her when the two emerged from the woods. The two walked directly to them, giving Mikaal and Areenna slight bows.
“My Lord, My Lady, I am Treb, leader of the archers. This is Negam, a Women of Power .” Treb, tall and broad, his body hidden within leather and mesh body armor, carried his helmet in the crook of his arm. He had a round face, mostly obscured by a long, kinky red beard.
“The archers are in position?”
“They are, My Lord.”
“You know what is needed of you?” Areenna asked Negam. In her mid-thirties, she was tall and thin, with short hair only a shade or two darker than Areenna’s own pale blonde hair.
“I do, My Lady. Sirc instructed me. Haras, who is with the archers across the pass, and I are to keep the block on the archers until the fighting begins, and then shield them as best we can. During the fighting, we must neutralize the women who follow the Dark.”
Areenna held Negam’s gaze. May I join with you?
An honor, My Lady.
Areenna joined with a simple tendril of connection and found the woman to be freely open. Thank you for being here, Negam. When the fighting begins, there will be many ghazi coming from the south. Do your best to stop the women with them.
In the east, the first coral bands breeched the horizon. “It is time,” Mikaal called. “Northcrom must move into position.”
Areenna broke the joining and drew Negam into an embrace. “Be strong, Sister; use your abilities well, for yourself and for our people.” She released her and said, “Go!”
When they disappeared into the woods, Areenna called Neleh to them. “Keep Duv at your side. He will protect you when you fight. Keep a part of you joined with Mikaal and me. Do not drop that joining or the one with Duv.”
“I understand,” the future Woman of the Village said, and called Duv to her. The large hunting cat had grown again over the past few days. As Duv padded toward Neleh, his muscles rippled beneath the short, tawny coat. When he reached Neleh, his head rested against her, halfway between her hips and breasts.
Areenna called Gaalrie, who flew onto her outstretched arms and brought her cinnamon and gray wings quickly to her side. Pressing her forehead to Gaalrie’s head, Areenna pushed her own emotional warmth to her aoutem, and then asked the treygone to fly, to scout the mountain and then find Enaid.
<><><>
Twenty minutes after Areenna sent Gaalrie out, Roth rode at the front of his six thousand riders. Enaid rode next to him, Irii, her aoutem, was between them, the white gorlon pacing easily with the kraals. They were a quarter mile from the northern entrance to the mountain pass, picking up speed, and uncaring of the thunder of the kraals’ hoof beats.
From the corner of her eyes, Enaid saw Gaalrie swoop down. The treygone turned and crossed before them, rose straight into the air, reversed its direction and dropped to Enaid’s saddle bar.
Enaid stroked Gaalrie’s head for a moment before taking the message cloth from her leg and reading it quickly. She put it into her pocket and smiled. “Northcrom is in position, on the mountain and on the ground. Lessig and the ghazi were unaware of us when Areenna sent this.” She lifted Gaalrie. “Return to Areenna. Watch over her.” She tossed the treygone into the air.
“Good,” Roth said.
He looked back. “You heard?” he asked the kings and queens riding behind him.
“We did,” Ilsraeth said for all.
“Pass the word back. Ready weapons,” he called to Noslen, who rode behind the rulers while the two groups of Roth’s Sixes rode behind Noslen, but in front of the main body of warriors. The third of Roth’s Sixes rode behind the main body, bringing up the rear. With them was Niroc, a Women of Power from Morvene, who would join with Enaid during the fighting.
<><><>
Lessig sat before her fire. She had woken a half hour earlier. With the rising sun over her sloped shoulder, unease brewed, but she could not discover its cause. As she studied this strange disquiet, she sensed a faint calling and closed her eyes in concentration. It took a minute for the Afzaleem sorceress to realize the spirit she had created and released had reached its goal. She pushed herself until she felt the spirit solidly. Then she looked through its eyes, and her own snapped open. It was above Tolemac; there was no sense of Areenna, but Tolemac was… different.
Below the spirit, the ghazi forces surrounded Tolemac. She pushed the spirit closer and saw two Masters standing on the outer wall.
There was something very wrong. She withdrew from the spirit creation and returned to herself, but not until she called the spirit back. Everything about what she had seen was wrong. Bodies had been lying everywhere, but all were ghazi. There had not been a single Nevaen.
Then she understood. She had heard her uncle, king Nosaj say on several occasions that the way Roth had built Tolemac made it unconquerable. That was why she saw no Nevaen bodies. Only a handful of people were necessary to hold Tolemac against The Masters’ army. None of Tolemac’s army was there. None!
Where were they? She called up a spell, mumbling the words that would transport the shadow spirit to her with unnatural speed.
She finished the spell just as a sensation of danger exploded within her. Dropping to the ground, she pressed her ear to the earth. The sound of hooves pounding the earth told Lessig all she needed to know. “Damn them!” She pulled her misshapen body upright, and made herself stop and think.
Turning and looking up at the ridges above the pass, she sent a command to the four women with the archers. They come early. Move into position. Now! Without hesitating, she sent silent warnings to the women hidden near both entrances. They come! Prepare!
When? asked one.
Now!
The silent declaration bored into every one of the Afzaleem sorceress’s minions, jolting them into action.
<><><>
Areenna looked from Neleh to Mikaal. “They are close,”
Mikaal nodded. “Minutes away.”
“We have to wait, keep our block strong so Lessig does not suspect us here, not yet. When she is in the midst of battle, we strike.” She waited for Mikaal’s acknowledgement.
“Agreed,” he whispered. “But we have to know where she fights from.”
Areenna thought back to the battle on the Mountain of the Twin Peaks. The very thought of it tightened her throat and made her swallow to fight back the feelings. “Up high, as a Master would. She is Afzaleem, and thinks herself the equal of The Masters. Up high, from where she can rain down destruction.” Areenna fell silent as Gaalrie’s essence washed across her mind. She held up her hand, her palm facing Mikaal and Neleh as she closed her eyes and looked through Gaalrie’s.
She saw the ghazi rushing to form ranks between the trees, moving frantically as they pulled on whatever armor they could reach and sent Gaalrie higher to circle the mountain and search for Lessig.
A half-minute later, Gaalrie floated above a place where a small fire burned. She de
scended is slow circles, giving Areenna a full view. She could sense Lessig’s aura, but the Afzaleem was not there.
Find her, she asked Gaalrie who rose higher and flew toward the pass. The treygone’s height gave Areenna a panoramic view of the entire area. While Gaalrie sought the Afzaleem sorceress, Areenna stood frozen, watching the Nevaens gallop into the pass, the thundering of hoof beats echoing loudly in the air. In the distance, the riders of Northcrom gathered into formation while their foot soldiers moved toward the pass, using the trees and bushes at the base of the mountain to stay hidden from the ghazi soldiers a hundred yards ahead.
Gaalrie hovered over the pass, allowing Areenna to witness the unfolding events, all the while seeking Lessig. When the last of the Nevaen riders entered the pass, the ghazi archers on both sides went to the very edge of the overhanging ridges. An instant later, they released a barrage of arrows on the riders.
Above them, the hidden Northcrom archers attacked, directing wave after wave of arrows at the ghazi archers, killing a hundred ghazi even as the Women of Power controlling them fought Northcrom’s Women of Power. Their individual battle allowed Northcrom’s archers to continue to decimate the ghazi archers in their crossfire above each side of the mountain pass.
Then, from the south, several thousand ghazi charged behind the Nevaens, so poorly organized from the surprise that most had not had the time to put on their armor. Their sheer numbers filled the pass, blocking any exit. On the ridge, the Northcrom archers continued to eradicate the ghazi archers.
Suddenly from above, a flash of red lightening exploded and half a dozen Northcrom archers flew into the air, screaming as they tumbled to the floor of the pass.
In that instant, Areenna traced back to the origin of the red lightning and as Gaalrie flew over the spot, Areenna saw a figure standing on a narrow ledge overlooking the pass. The ledge, halfway to the top of the mountain, was the perfect location to see everything.
This way! Without waiting, she raced up the steep mountainside to where Lessig oversaw the battle. Behind her, Mikaal and Neleh followed.
Focused on the trees ahead, Areenna ran as fast as she could, while also watching through Gaalrie’s eyes as the Black Sorceress released streaks of red lightening on the Nevaens below. Caught in what she saw, Areenna tripped on a root and fell. Rolling forward, her shoulder struck a trunk.
<><><>
At the lead of the Nevaen riders, Roth drew his sword while Enaid charged Ilsraeth and Layra with protection from the archers. The echoing of the kraal’s hoof beats grew like thunder within the confines of the pass as Roth, rather than slow the kraals, pushed his faster. Behind him, six thousand riders kept pace.
Halfway through the pass, Enaid shouted, “All riders are in.”
A heartbeat later, the first arrows descended. Ilsraeth, Layra, and she deflected half the arrows, two other Women of Power helped; less than a dozen riders fell. Then bodies of ghazi began to rain down as the archers of Northcrom went to work.
There was an explosion above them and several Northcrom archers blew into the air, their bodies cartwheeling down two hundred feet before crashing onto the pass’s floor. “Lessig joins the fight,” Layra shouted.
“Areenna goes for her,” Enaid said, sensing both Areenna and Mikaal above.
Roth raised his arm, his fist in the air, and as the signal passed back, the Nevaen forces halted their kraals. The last two thousand riders, led by Roth’s Sixes and Niroc, spun their mounts a hundred and eighty degrees and charged back toward the pass’s entrance and the onrushing ghazi foot soldiers, Niroc countering the two dark women of power. At the northern entrance, the Northcrom forces, both mounted and afoot, closed the distance between them and the ghazi.
From above, red bolts blazed through the ranks of Nevaen riders within the pass, killing them before any of the women could raise a strong enough shield.
<><><>
Areenna rolled on the ground, pain slicing through her shoulder and into her arm. She bit off a cry, fought to her feet and started forward again. Fifteen seconds later, she burst past the last tree and found Lessig standing at the edge, her entire body covered with a red glow, releasing bolt after bolt of fiery death on anything that moved below her.
The screams of wounded and dying kraals and fighters tore through her head as she edged closer to the Afzaleem sorceress. From behind, Mikaal and Neleh burst through the last of the trees. We are here. Join now!
Before they could complete the joining, Lessig spun and released a powerful stream of vacillating red at Mikaal and Neleh. Areenna instinctively focused her abilities on forming a shield and deflecting the weapon while above Lessig, Gaalrie dove at the Afzaleem’s head.
The instant before Gaalrie struck Lessig, the huge dangelore shadow spirit swept in from the left and rammed Gaalrie. Areenna screamed but could not release the shield as the giant treygone tumbled toward the floor of the pass.
Mikaal, from the side, sent a stream of flames at the dangelore spirit, which flared as if it were tinder, and disappeared, while Neleh, reacting instinctively, released a torrent of white power at Lessig, the force of which exploded against Lessig’s own shield. The moment it did, the stream of red destruction pouring from her hands stopped.
Releasing her shield, Areenna rejoined with Gaalrie and stirred the treygone back to consciousness twenty feet above the ground.
Lessig screamed out her fury, using it to propel a wave of murderous power at Areenna. Areenna broke the joining with Gaalrie to raise her shield, but too late. Lessig’s rage-fed power struck like a battering ram, lifting, spinning, and slamming Areenna to the ground, then sending her sliding madly back toward the edge of the high ridge.
Grabbing at anything to stop the slide, Areenna dug her nails into the rocky surface of the ridge. They bent and snapped, but did not slow her hurtling body. Then, there was nothing under her.
Twisting frantically, she grasped at the very edge of the ridge with her left hand, caught a small rock outcropping, and held on by her fingertips.
Mikaal, screaming in anger, raced to the edge of the high ridge and dove toward her, his armor skimming the ground, his hand reaching toward Areenna. Neleh stayed exactly where she was, facing the Black Witch.
Laughing at whom she took to be a child, Lessig raised her right arm, her index finger pointing directly at Neleh. Just before Lessig released her powers, Duv launched himself from her left side, striking the Afzaleem’s shoulders with one large paw, his claws ripping through fabric and flesh. Lessig, spun by the striking cat, staggered for balance and screamed in fury.
Turning to the rantor, she swept both arms forward. Before she could complete the movement, Neleh, her heart almost tearing from her chest, drew up whatever powers she could raise and, silently telling Duv to run, released it at Lessig a millisecond before Lessig completed her own strike.
A wave of pure energy, unlike anything she had ever created, burst from her hands and struck Lessig a millisecond before she could hurt Duv. The power hit the Dark Sorceress, throwing her twenty feet into a tree. The sound of her body against the bark was that of a crack of lightning.
Behind Neleh, Mikaal grabbed Areenna’s wrist and pulled her back up and onto the ridge.
Breathing hard, Areenna got to her knees as Mikaal slipped his arms under her and lifted her to her feet. I’m fine, she told him, just winded.
Neleh called. Something is happening.
They both turned and started toward Neleh as a gray cloud formed around Lessig. “Fight it!” Areenna screamed. It is a Master! He will take her away. At the same time, she drew up her powers and released her weapon of light at the cloud, which flared a brilliant orange. Mikaal released a stream of fire, and the gray cloud split apart and disappeared, but not before Lessig was again on her feet, a flash of red directed toward them.
Mikaal raised a shield, stopping it just in time.
Then a new glow surrounded Lessig; black tendrils mixed with an amber mist that seemed almost solid. Areenna
knew exactly what it was. Master Fasil protects her.
What do we do? Neleh asked.
Join!
The three came together instantly, and as they’d practiced, Neleh drew them within. Mikaal called up his fire, Areenna her blue-white light and Neleh caught them and took them deep inside herself, boring down into her place of power until she was burning with fire and light and then, pulling them back up, she wrapped them with her white power. She stared at the disfigured woman standing inside the amber shield and released the three weapons.
The shield around Lessig flared to iridescent amber and then into a deep bloody red, rising a hundred feet into the air, and holding solid. Slowly, Lessig pushed back.
Areenna, sensing the Master’s strength aiding Lessig, stared at the focal point of their weapon, and saw a small hole burning an opening on Lessig’s shield where the most potent of their weapons struck. As she watched, the hole closed, and a second later, it reopened. Holding her powers strong, she timed the opening and closing in the shield, and realized the possibility.
Without lessening the powerful ability she was sending to Neleh, Areenna pulled a shaft from her quiver and slipped the arrow’s noc into the strung gut of the bow. Neleh, keep your weapon on the shield, exactly where it is. When I say, release my weapon and Mikaal’s, Mikaal must ring Lessig with a wall of fire. Keep it high!
Now!
The instant her weapon was free, and Mikaal’s fire flared around Lessig’s shield like a circular wall, she simultaneously released her blue-white light and the arrow. The opening in the shield closed again against Neleh’s white powers and as the shaft flew, encased by blue, it disappeared into the flames.
“Stop!” she shouted aloud and by thought. Both Mikaal and Neleh stopped their weapons and, with perfect timing, the arrow slipped through the timed opening in the shield to plunge into Lessig’s abdomen.