by Pedro Urvi
Iruki took out her Ilenian sword. “I’m going with him,” she said, and ran after Komir.
Aliana’s gaze followed them. Seeing Komir plunge headlong into danger for his friend without a moment’s hesitation, she felt admiration for the young warrior. It was not the first time she had felt this, since he had already proved overwhelmingly that his heart was noble and his devotion absolute. Once again the feeling of unrest and anguish tightened on her chest, as if an iron fist were clutching her heart. It was almost a physical pain. She tried to regulate her breathing, but the air seemed not to be reaching her lungs. Her feelings for the Norriel were growing stronger, and the desperate situation they were in only served to deepen them. Nothing’s going to happen to him, he’s a magnificent warrior and he has the Medallion of Ether with him, she said to herself as she tried to calm her unease. But looking at the sea of enemies at her feet and knowing Komir was going to fight them, or something worse, she could not help but feel deeply uneasy.
“Be careful, be very careful,” she whispered, although Komir, who was already running along the wall, could not hear her.
Below the gate the men were fighting for their lives. The screams and din of the combat were increasingly deafening. The lines of Norriel defenders had thinned and the enemy kept up its pressure, trying to get through into the city at whatever cost. But the Norriel did not give way. When a warrior from the first line fell, he was rapidly replaced by one from the second. Unfortunately, sooner or later there would be none left to strengthen the line. Aliana knew the situation was critical and that they needed Haradin’s power to help the Norriel. She needed it urgently, or else very soon everything would be lost.
Above the gate, a few steps away from her, Haradin was fighting against the powerful spell which was seeking to devour him. Aliana clenched her fists in frustration. I must do something. I can’t just stay here twiddling my thumbs while Haradin is consumed. I have to help him —but how?
Asti’s eyes were on her as if she could read her mind. She shook her head.
“Aliana… no…”
But Aliana was determined to intervene. She was no longer an innocent, insecure young girl. She was a woman, and she would fight! Aliana hurried to Haradin’s side and allowed the death-blackness of the enemy spell to envelop her. She could see it trying to penetrate her protective sphere, and immediately the medallion sensed it too. The Ilenian gem shone as it cast its spell, using the Healer’s inner energy to strengthen the sphere. Aliana, now completely surrounded by blackness, could feel the cold presence of death enfolding her as it searched for her soul. Haradin was fighting with his elemental magic against the spell, but was barely able to contain it. It’s Death Magic I can feel it clearly… She closed her eyes. Concentrating on her inner energy, she used her Gift, the power of Healing. She projected it from her hands towards the sphere, just as she always did with the sick and wounded. She opened her eyes and witnessed something amazing.
The blackness was vanishing at the touch of the Life Magic.
Aliana watched enthralled as the life-magic of her Gift infiltrated the protective sphere and destroyed the death-magic of the spell. If I could expand my magic’s area of action, I could help Haradin, she thought. An instant later the Ilenian medallion shone dazzlingly on her chest, radiating her vital energy outwards. She watched in wonder as her life-energy, enhanced by the medallion, devoured the blackness of death Haradin was fighting against.
The blackness was destroyed. The Mage was free.
“Thank you… Aliana…” he said, gasping for breath.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I just need to rest a little… to recover. The effort… has been enormous…”
Greatly relieved, Aliana smiled. The Mage looked exhausted, but they had defeated the enemy spell and were still alive. This small victory filled her with optimism, even though things were still desperate.
“You very smart,” Asti told Sonea, and patted her on the back.
Sonea shrugged and smiled.
“She’s very smart indeed,” Aliana said.
Sonea pursed her lips. “Well, we all have a brain to think with, and I like to use mine.”
“Thank you,” Aliana said with a wink. “You go on thinking that way.”
“Yes, you go on, you very smart,” Asti agreed.
Shortly after this, a massive explosion behind them made them all spin round. They saw a flying ball of fire, which exploded over the black tide in front of the wall and reduced everything around into ashes, bringing death to hundreds of soldiers of the black army.
“It looks as though Haradin has recovered,” Sonea said cheerfully as she saw the devastating destructive power of the great Mage in action.
Another ball of fire exploded in the same spot, and the flames rose to the sky. Aliana could see the horror which the fire had spread among the enemy troops. Screams of infernal suffering sounded everywhere. She shuddered at what was before her eyes. But it was their only hope.
The Mage unleashed an inferno on the earth, and the Norriel warriors enjoyed a moment’s respite.
Suddenly the sound of a horn reached them from the west.
“Horn, Kendas,” Asti said, sounding uneasy.
The sound was coming from the left flank.
“The King and Kendas must be under attack from Magic,” Sonea concluded.
Aliana was deeply concerned. She hesitated for a moment, her eyes on Haradin, but he signaled her not to worry about him. She simply could not leave Gerart to his luck. She had to help him. Asti came to her side and said: “We go, help,” as if confirming Aliana in her decision. The Healer nodded at the Usik and turned to Sonea.
“Go, quickly,” the little Librarian said. “I’ll help Haradin,”
Wind of the Steppes
Komir ran towards the east, leaping over rubble, rocks and ruined buildings in the shadow of the great wall. Iruki followed him, running with the agility of a gazelle. The sound of the horn could only mean one thing: enemy magic. He had to reach Hartz to help him. He felt a burning anxiety rising from his chest all the way up to his mouth. I must help Hartz before it’s too late. Behind a heap of boulders which had formed part of the wall he caught sight of his fellow-countrymen. The Norriel were defending the opening in the ruined wall, fighting with their famed courage and skill. The black army pressed hard on the highland warriors, but could not manage to break through.
“Come on, you halfwits!” he heard Hartz roar at the top of his voice. “Come on, I’m here waiting for you! Thousands of heads will roll today and my sword will quench its thirst for foreign blood! Just you mark my words!”
At the sound of those fighting words Komir felt an immediate sense of relief. Hartz was alive and well.
Iruki pointed to where Hartz and Kayti were battling in the middle of a sinister cloud. “Be wary, Komir. Evil magic.”
“Hell! Danger!” Komir felt a spasm of unease. As they approached, they sensed a poisonous spell rising in front of them, with men falling consumed by its corrupt aura.
They found Kayti on foot, surrounded by dead Norriel warriors who had been consumed by the corrupting radiation. Komir at once identified its origin. A few paces ahead of Kayti, facing the line of Norriel defenders, was an unholy well, sickly green in color. The well was not natural. It had appeared from the ground, but was covered in a putrid incandescence, clearly supernatural in origin.
Komir, gestured frantically at the Norriel. “Get away from the haze!” he shouted.
But the warriors, engrossed in the battle and intent on dealing death to the soldiers of the black army while they kept up their line of defense, did not hear him.
Hartz fell to the ground suddenly on top of a dozen enemy bodies.
“Hartz! No!”
Komir ran to him. As he ran, the medallion flashed once with a translucent gleam and a protective sphere rose around him. The medallion has identified the enemy magic and is protecting me from it. He confronted two enemy soldiers and killed
them with Norriel skill, without missing a beat. He sheathed sword and knife, then grabbed Hartz’s arms and dragged him with all his strength to safety, out of the reach of the insidious haze.
Iruki meanwhile was helping Kayti finish off the last enemy soldiers. They too, affected by the fumes of the well, were dying, consumed. Iruki’s medallion shone with a blue gleam, and a protective sphere formed to cover her.
“Enemy magic,” she said to Kayti, pointing at the well.
Komir shook his friend. “Wake up, Hartz, wake up!” But he did not regain consciousness.
He was very pale, as if he had swallowed poison. Komir saw Kayti and Iruki in front of the well, impregnated with its lethal fume, standing in the midst of a hundred corpses.
“Get out of there! Away from the well!”
Iruki took hold of Kayti in an attempt to protect her from the enemy spell, but only managed to take a couple of steps before she fell to the ground.
“Hell!” cried Iruki as she realized she had been too slow. Protected as she was by her sphere, she seemed immune to the effects of the well of corruption. The Masig hurried to tend Kayti.
“Get away from it! Move!” Komir repeated at the top of his voice.
Iruki joined him, signaling to the Norriel warriors: “Don’t let it reach you!”
The Norriel understood what was happening at last. In an orderly manner, to avoid being trampled by the enemy, they moved back to one side out of reach of the fumes. Part of the opening in the wall was left unprotected, covered by the same putrid haze. No soldier from either side dared approach the fumes now.
“Bring her here! Away from the haze!” Komir told Iruki.
The Masig nodded and began to drag Kayti along the ground.
Suddenly several figures crossed the poisonous haze from the other side of the wall, from the lines of the black army. Immune to the effect of the evil spell, they appeared in front of Iruki. As they crossed, the black army launched a frantic attack, pressing hard on the Norriel lines as if possessed. The Norriel intensified their defense, bringing death to the enemy amid roars and war-cries.
The Masig let go of Kayti and stared at the three figures. One of them wore a purple robe and mask. In one hand he was carrying an axe, in the other a skull. Iruki reached for her sword.
Komir saw them too. This man radiated evil power. He was a Sorcerer. He could feel it as clearly as the sun in summer on his uncovered face. Beside him there appeared two other figures dressed completely in black, from head to toe. They seemed the personification of a sinister shadow. In their hands they carried darkened daggers. Fear gripped Komir’s stomach with jaws of steel.
The man in the mask pointed at Kayti with his shining axe.
“Master Isuzeni will be very pleased. We have found the White Soul, and with her one of the Bearers of the powerful medallions.” He gestured at the two shadows. “Bring them to me.”
The two sinister figures lunged at Iruki at an inhuman speed. The young Masig unsheathed the Ilenian sword.
“Come and taste the wild spirit of the prairies,” she said, proud and defiant.
Iruki defended herself with unparalleled skill. Her bewitched sword blocked strokes and delivered backstrokes as her body danced in perfect balance.
“Leave her alone!” Komir shouted. Leaving Hartz, he went to help her. At once several Norriel warriors joined him.
“No, no, no. No interfering,” the Sorcerer said. With a long utterance of power, brandishing his axe at the same time, he cast a spell which he strengthened with the aid of the jeweled skull. Immediately a thick dark barrier, ten feet high and completely circular, surrounded the Sorcerer and the two assassins who were fighting Iruki.
Komir went to cross it, but his own sphere prevented him, as if in warning. Several Norriel warriors ran to the barrier with their swords raised and crossed it in an attempt to kill the Sorcerer. There was a black flash, and the barrier consumed them, ate them alive. The skeletons and the steel crossed to the other side, only to tumble to the ground. The flesh never made the crossing. Komir took a step back in shock.
The Sorcerer laughed and went on conjuring, giving life —or rather death— to the barrier. The Norriel launched spears and arrows through it, seeking to kill the Sorcerer, but in crossing these lost all their force and dropped to the ground.
Komir stared at the barrier, the ominous blackness which composed it, and it seemed to him that it was alive… it moved… He brought his face close to it and squinted to see better, and suddenly made out something very wrong. Trapped inside the barrier was the face of a specter, disfigured and ghostly. Then another, and another, and again another. There were hundreds of them. They moved along the entire circular surface of the spell, as if searching for something. Those phantasmagoric faces seemed trapped in eternal damnation. Abruptly soldiers of the black army crossed the barrier behind the Sorcerer, seeking to enter the fortress. The faces moved at tremendous speed towards them, and amid flashes black as death devoured them as they had the Norriel. All perished, so that only bone and steel crossed. Komir guessed that the spell must devour the life of whoever crossed it, to feed the tortured souls trapped within it.
Iruki shouted: “Assassins, you won’t defeat this daughter of the steppes! I’ll fight with all my heart!”
The two Shadow Assassins could not reach Iruki, who was fighting with supernatural skill. They began to surround her, looking for any weakness in her defense, surprised that someone might succeed in confronting them.
“I’m Iruki, Wind of the Steppes, and I’ll fight with the spirit of my ancestors!” She pointed at Kayti’s limp form beside her. “I’ll protect my friend’s life! I won’t let you touch her, you spirits of evil!”
The two Assassins renewed their swift attacks. No warrior, not even the best sword of all Tremia, could confront one of them, still less the combined attack of two. But Iruki’s bewitched sword seemed to read the blows before they were thrust, and defended her with unbelievable skill. One of the Assassins was now bleeding from the arm thanks to one of Iruki’s lightning backstrokes.
“What are you waiting for? Bring her down!” the Sorcerer howled.
One of the Assassins flashed red. Two daggers shot at Iruki at such a speed that not even the Ilenian sword could stop them. But the protective sphere around her kept them from reaching her. The Ilenian sword protected her from steel, the sphere from the enemy magic.
“You’re all going to die, servants of the night!” Iruki shouted.
The young Masig, defending Kayti against two Dark Assassins and a powerful Death Sorcerer, was a champion of good, a protector of the helpless, a fighter for justice. Cloaked by her sphere and with the Ilenian sword shining in the sunlight, she was the true image of a wild warrior, powerful and incomparably courageous.
Komir was desperate to help her. He ordered his medallion to open up a gap in the enemy barrier. The medallion flashed, and a beam of translucent energy shot out at the death spell. Immediately the ghostly faces turned, seeking to devour any trace of life they might find. Komir concentrated. He had to break the barrier and cross, he had to reach Iruki and help her. But the enemy magic was powerful, and it would take him time, time which his heart told him they might not have.
The Norriel, seeing that their weapons could not cross the spell of death, began to throw their javelins and arrows in an arc, passing over the ten feet of the barrier and aiming for the Sorcerer. The strategy made him uneasy. He covered himself with a protective sphere when he saw the missiles falling around him.
“Catch her! Now!” the Sorcerer howled, urgently this time.
Suddenly both shadows flashed red, then to Iruki’s astonishment they disappeared. The Masig hesitated. Where were they? Where had they gone? At that moment one of the attackers reappeared out of thin air in front of her. Iruki wounded him with a flashing thrust which the enemy daggers could not block completely. But the second assassin appeared at her back. Led by the Ilenian sword, Iruki tried to turn, but she was an insta
nt too slow. The first assassin was the bait, and she had taken it. The second caught her. The assassin struck her in the temple with the handle of his dagger in a swift move which her eye was unable to catch, and she fell to the ground unconscious.
Komir had by now managed to get through the death barrier. “No! Don’t touch her!” he yelled.
The two shadows considered Komir, then the Norriel who were pouring through the opening he had made. They were debating whether to attack or not. For a moment Komir thought they would, that they had a chance. He lunged at them, sword and knife in hand.
“No! This is not the moment,” said the Sorcerer. “Bring me the two women.”
The two shadows hoisted Kayti and Iruki onto their shoulders as if they weighed no more than feathers. A red flash ran through their bodies, and they vanished before Komir’s eyes as he ran towards them.
“Noooo!” Komir shouted as he realized he would be unable to reach them.
The Sorcerer turned and disappeared into the enemy lines.
The King
Aliana ran, followed by Asti, along the base of the wall. She leapt over piles of rock and wood from the devastated lower part of the city. The siege weapons had flattened the area as though a giant vengeful god had decided to punish the city by smashing it to pieces with his divine hammer. When the Healer raised her head she saw several soldiers from the black army, engulfed in flames, leaping from the battlements, which radiated a scorching heat. They ran through the ruined buildings, dodging rubble as they went.
Asti pointed suddenly. “There.”
Aliana saw them at last: soldiers in blue and silver.
But something was wrong. The black army was beginning to break through the defensive line in the ruined section of the wall. They were coming in! The battle was turning in the enemy’s favor. Aliana swore. The situation was chaotic and desperate, with the Rogdonian soldiers trying to stop the breach where units of the black army were already swarming through. If they did not seal the dam, the black sea would drown them in the blink of an eye. The fighting was brutal to the limits of desperation, with the Rogdonian soldiers bearing the onslaught of the attackers as they pushed them back with their shields and skewered them with their spears.