Adjusting the spyglass, Mikhail could see figures emerging from the trees; their tall, gangly forms moving with steady purpose out of the shadows and onto a wide floodplain filled with sunshine. The Zynnashan wolf pack began to line up in formation and a quick count gave Mikhail a glimmer of hope.
“Sixteen,” he said, realizing he had been holding his breath. “They only number sixteen.” He moved the spyglass away to give Kreena a triumphant grin. It was short lived, however, as another warning was trumpeted from the south – towards the lake.
Turning quickly, Mikhail examined the gate and beyond. Rocking in the turbulent waters was the strange vessel the red-headed girl from Joram’s Bend had described. It was black, shining with the spray the waters slapped upon it. It had a narrow bow and square, flat body. The top had no sail and was domed with the same black material. It listed towards the center of the lake, away from the safety of the Tebis’non.
“Fools,” he whispered. “The lake is giving them more than they bargained for.”
“Sir!” Kreena warned. “The Zynnashans are moving!”
Shielding his eyes from the sun, Mikhail watched as the sixteen Zynnashans began moving in a column of four by four towards the north gate. “They’re attacking the outpost,” he said in amazement.
“I thought you said they would attack the town gate, sir,” Kreena said aloud, not realizing she had just questioned his strategy.
Mikhail paid it no mind, knowing she was just as flabbergasted as he was. “It seems these wolf Zynnashans are not the tacticians their ape brethren are,” he told her. “Send to Lieutenant Gartis below, move the footmen and five knights to the north gate. I will follow shortly with our bowmen.”
Kreena saluted and ran for the narrow staircase.
“The gods be praised,” he smiled. “The Zynnashans will be routed quickly this day.”
***
Sajiix stood quickly, wincing at the pain as he took two steps back from the approaching paladins and clerics. D’ghelle and his four Palidiamos had unsheathed their weapons while the two clerics placed hands upon handles of the war hammers they carried. Ayce and Tienn were still standing near the hole where the diamond was kept while Lynth still had hold of the rope.
“Release the rope, Zyn Beast,” D’ghelle commanded, “or face the searing light of Diathanos!”
“Do not let them have it, Lynth,” Sajiix warned. “They mean to wipe the minds of your people until they die from madness. They only want the diamond. They care nothing about this town or its people.”
“Was it not you who was just saying to your friends that this town had no hope left?” D’ghelle asked, gesturing to Sajiix, “That even if the diamond was returned, the Zynnashans would still seek to punish Fhaalvak and its citizens? I think, perhaps, it is you who wants the diamond for your own personal glory.”
Sajiix looked to Tienn and Ayce, who were staring at him with that all too familiar glare of suspicion. “I have no interest in keeping the diamond.” He said it more to them than the smirking paladin before him.
“Then give us access to the Eye of Diathanos,” D’ghelle urged. “Let us end this!”
Tienn stepped forward. “It sounds right, Sajiix,” he said calmly. “They have the ability to control the diamond. Let them have it so it can be finished.”
“Not by wiping the minds of my brothers,” Lynth growled.
Sajiix gave an exaggerated wave of his arms, “It seems we are at an impasse.”
“Not where the lives of the people of Fhaalvak are concerned,” boomed a commanding voice behind the clerics. Pushing his way through them, Cassius stepped forward and stood beside Protector D’ghelle. “I’m sorry, Lynth, but your people will wantonly destroy this town and murder its people for a crime they are not guilty of. This is something that I cannot allow to happen.”
“And who made you leader of this mess?” Sajiix quipped with sarcastic venom.
“Be quiet,” Cassius scolded him. “You and I can have words later. Right now the lives of this town are in mortal danger and as a former knight and a Guildsman, I am sworn to do right by their situation.”
“You forgot to mention your status as sycophant to an overrated deity.”
“You go too far,” D’ghelle snarled, bringing his sword to bear.
“Anton,” Cassius warned, “put your blade awa…”
A blast of white energy flung the sword from D’ghelle’s hand just as a wall of flame separated Sajiix from Cassius and D’ghelle.
“What goes on here?” shouted Margas as he emerged from the shadows of the opposite side of the warehouse with Erak, Jordyn, and Baris. “What trickery is this?” The Shadow Magi looked to Baris for an answer, but the thief only scowled at the short wall of flame and the Palidiamos beyond.
“It seems my former comrades are trying to take what you have rightfully paid for!” he bellowed.
The priest behind D’ghelle began to pray, stroking his diamond-shaped medallion. As it started to glow white, the flames weakened and soon disappeared, leaving behind only a sooty line of scorched wood.
Anton leaned back and reclaimed his sword, pointing it at the Diamond Magi that had dared attack him. “You call yourself an ally of Diathanos?”
Sajiix laughed. “I would call him someone else who could use the Purestone.”
Arcane and divine energy began to hum, rising to an audible crackle. Cassius stood between the Palidiamos and the Magi. “Stop this,” he ordered. “Fighting each other will not accomplish anything! We must protect the people of Fhaalvak!”
Seconds later, the warehouse became a battlefield.
***
Captain Longvaale clambered up the wide stairs leading to the battlements of the garrison gate. Adjusting his armor once atop the structure, the captain marched to Lieutenant Nallim who gave him a hard slap of a salute. Mikhail returned the salute, looking over the ginger-haired knight’s shoulder to the loosely columned Zynnashan wolf pack below. They were barely within arrow range, but Mikhail had no intention of firing into them until he had to.
“They’re just standing there, sir,” Nallim informed him. “Some of them have weapons, but most of them are unarmed. They just stand there, staring up at us as if waiting for something.”
Mikhail suddenly felt his blood run cold. He had made a horrible mistake.
“Signal to the main gate,” he ordered a thin soldier carrying two flags posted to thin wooden rods. “Signal to verify situation at south gate. What is that ship doing?”
The soldier nodded and began using the silver and black flags to signal the message to another flag holder at the main gate. Mikhail, impatient and concerned, watched the mid-gate through his spyglass. Finally, in what seemed like an eternity, Mikhail could see the signal given back.
“Still floundering in lake wash…boat has moved closer to shore, but too far for dry landing,” he said slowly, deciphering the flag movements.
He clicked his spyglass shut in irritation. “What are they waiting on?”
“Sir…sir!”
The urgency in his lieutenant’s voice whirled him around. Nallim was pointing beyond the sixteen Zynnashans to another line of trees further south and east. Like a living wave, another group of Zynnashan wolves flowed from the shadows – their numbers much greater.
The army of man-beasts swelled from sixteen to just over fifty.
“Signal to main gate,” he said ominously. “Bring every soldier and mercenary to the garrison…now.”
***
Sajiix was not quite sure how it started. One moment he was standing there, watching Protector D’ghelle and Cassius, and the next moment, he was shielding his eyes from an explosive white glare that seemed to erupt to his right. Sajiix instinctively leapt to the left – which saved his life. D’ghelle’s sword suddenly thrust itself into the space he had just occupied. Shouts of challenge bounced in the air as the Palidiamos attacked the Magi. Sajiix knew that D’ghelle would come for him, but his two main concerns were the diamond
and Kaelyn. Casting a fast glance toward the diamond’s hiding place, Sajiix saw that Lynth had released the rope as one of the paladins came at him with his sword raised.
Behind Lynth was Malagotta – waiting for his chance to steal the Purestone again.
Sajiix brought to mind a web spell that would hold Baris until he had a chance to interrogate him – but a violent blow to the side of his head sent him sprawling to the floor a second time. D’ghelle came at him, blade poised to strike with murder gleaming in his eyes. Sajiix scrabbled backward like a crab, firing shards of amethyst energy at the paladin which bounced harmlessly off his armor that now gleamed with an ethereal bluish-white aura.
Sajiix’s head cracked painfully upon a crate. He was out of room – he had nowhere to move. D’ghelle stood over the Magi with a wicked grin etched upon his coldly handsome face. Behind him, the warehouse was lit with diamond, amethyst, and ruby energy brighter than the sunlight that peeked through the high set windows.
“Your death will be the beginning of the firestorm that comes for all Magi,” he seethed.
Sajiix wished death upon the paladin. If he could have murdered the venerated idiot right there, he would have. Alas, all he could do was wait for the steel blade to split him open. Had Cassius not charged into paladin, he surely would have.
The Magi watched as D’ghelle spun away into the crates. Cassius offered Sajiix his hand. He took it reluctantly, unsure what motivation the former knight had. Sajiix felt himself yanked ungraciously to his feet. “We must stop this before it cannot be stopped,” he told him. “I will handle the Palidiamos; you take care of the Magi.”
Sajiix almost laughed. He had no control over Margas and the others, but he knew that the Magi could not be seen killing diamond clergy without triggering an all out war between the seven houses of faith and the seven orders of magic. Giving Cassius a begrudging nod, Sajiix turned to find Margas, Erak, and Jordyn fighting for their own lives.
***
Cassius focused his attention on D’ghelle, unsure if Sajiix would aid in stopping the fight or not. With his sword still drawn, but pointed away, Cassius offered his hand to Anton, who was just recovering from his charge.
“Help me end this, Anton,” he urged. “You can still have the Eye of Diathanos. We can save the people of Fhaalvak and bring home the prize without having to kill any Magi.”
The Protector’s reply was a sword swipe at Cassius’s chest. “Killing Magi was an added bonus to bringing the Eye of Diathanos back to Kaalé, you simpering idiot. I told Chancellor Tevic that bringing you into the fold was a mistake.”
The knight jumped back and leveled his own blade at D’ghelle. The paladin swung again, his weapon crackling with diamond energy. Cassius parried and the two began a deadly dance of weaving, slicing, and blocking. The paladin was skilled, but Cassius had the experience, easily deflecting any move Anton delivered.
After a series of forward thrusts, Anton quickly brought his blade down in a vicious arc that Cassius parried. The former knight felt something give way in the metal of his blade, like a tremor starting in its center and rumbling to the hilt. Before he could react, Anton reared back and brought his sword down again. Cassius moved with the attack, allowing D’ghelle’s sword to strike the floor while he whipped his own sword around in an extension of his right arm. The blow should have taken D’ghelle’s head off, but the paladin was able to bring his sword up to block just in time. The blue-white glow of the blade’s edge sparked as Cassius’s sword met it and snapped the Guildsman’s weapon in half.
Cassius stared at his sword in disbelief.
***
Tair was pulling on Myst’s arm when the battle began. She could feel what was coming and knew they had to escape. As the lights flared, one of the armored men came running at them, his sword thrust forward like a spear. Behind him, another man came at them whirling a silver spiked hammer, his chain mail coif shining in the magical light that erupted around them. Tair grasped her daggers, knowing they would do no good. This entire fight was stupid. They had no business being here – none of this mess concerned them.
She felt Myst tense next to her as the warrior with the glowing armor came closer, but a dark form leapt over them, taking the paladin down in a blur of black fur and steel armor. A flash of amethyst energy flared every time Lynth struck the man and soon the Zynnashan had the paladin pinned down.
Lynth didn’t see the cleric charging forward, his hammer a spinning wheel of death. Tair flinched as one of the Magi screamed a battle cry, waving his own hammer wreathed in orange flame. The bald, tattooed man met the cleric with guttural cries of ecstasy, their weapons hissing with arcane fire and divine light.
“Too big,” she mumbled. “This is all too big for us, Myst.” She tugged on her friend’s arm as they backed toward one of the corridors that promised an escape.
Turning to find the entryway, Tair came face-to-face with a thin man with dark hair and ebony clothing. He wore a dark, broad-rimmed hat and was currently pulling upon the rope that Lynth had released. In that instant, Tair knew that this was the man responsible for everything. He was the reason Valdine burned; why the refugees of Tabaan had no home; why she and Myst had to return to Joram’s Bend; why Uncle Teeg was dead; why the people of Fhaalvak were in danger; and why this battle was now fought.
And here he was, trying to sneak away with it again.
Tair lunged at the man, her daggers whipping around him like deadly insects. He danced away from her, his own daggers coming from hidden sheaths.
“This is your fault!” Tair shouted.
The man blocked two of her slashes, delivering one of his own that left a scratch on the sleeve of her blood-red shirt. “I’d hate to cut up such a pretty little girl,” he taunted. “But I will if you don’t stand aside.”
Tair felt the cut on her arm, but ignored it, bringing both blades around on opposite sides of the man’s ribs. Somehow, the thief blocked both weapons, leaving her wide open for his knee to crash into her gut. Tair felt the air leave her lungs, her daggers clattered uselessly to the floor. Her legs wobbled, dropping her to her knees. The man looked down, shaking his head in a patronizing way.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” he smiled.
His smile vanished as Myst’s leather-gloved fist smashed into his face, sending him backwards into the crate-lined wall. He slid unconscious to the floor, his hands still grasping his daggers.
Myst helped her friend up, tugging her sleeve to examine the wound. Tair shooed her away, gesturing to the open trap door. “Get the diamond!”
***
Cassius fought for his life against the paladin. He used what remained of his sword to stave off D’ghelle’s attacks, but every time he found a way through his defenses, Cassius’s blade bounced harmlessly off of his blessed armor. Now he was finding it difficult just to keep D’ghelle’s sword from delivering a mortal blow.
The paladin had stopped taunting Cassius with words. His face was twisted into a pinched mask of rage and concentration. Spittle flew from his lips, flecking his sweat-plastered moustache with each swing of his weapon. Anton gripped the blade with both hands, hacking with a fury Cassius never expected.
A sudden flare of white energy took Cassius’s eyes off his opponent for only a second. D’ghelle took advantage with a low swipe of his blade, slicing into the Guildsman’s padded leg guard. The cut was not deep, but it was painful, causing Cassius to collapse to one knee. The paladin wasted no time, lifting his blade to finish the former knight, but a bolt of purple lighting jolted D’ghelle backward, giving Cassius time to recover.
He looked to the source and gave a grim smile to Sajiix. The Magi saluted him, sending a surge of amethyst energy into Cassius’s sword. The Guildsman watched as the arcane magic swirled along his blade, making it whole again. The sword glimmered with violet light and Cassius knew it would hold against D’ghelle’s own blessed blade.
“Your own weapon reflects your soul!” Anton cried as he bro
ught his sword down in an overhead swing.
Cassius countered with a shoulder block. Diamond and amethyst energy sparked along the steel blades. “I know my soul,” he spat back. “I do not hide behind the condemnation of others!”
Both warriors came at each other with renewed anger and rage.
Myst approached the trap door with the thick rope coiled around it. Just a few feet ahead of her, a group of Magi were fighting some of the armored men Myst knew to be paladins of Diathanos. They fought with weapons forged of magic, but their skill was lacking compared to the battle-trained Palidiamos. Ignoring them, she picked up the rope and began tugging on the slack until she felt it tighten. She pulled harder, fighting against the waves below until she dragged a plain iron box up through the trap door.
She set the wet box down and examined the simple padlock that kept the crate secure. Myst glanced at Tair, who was watching her and the thief, but Tair only shrugged her shoulders. Myst was concerned that the padlock was protected as was everything else in this warehouse, but she didn’t have time to deal with it. With a resigned sigh, Myst used the pommel of her uncle’s sword and broke the lock.
Nothing happened.
Opening her eyes, Myst gave a surprised grunt and tugged the padlock off and pulled the lid open in one fluid motion. Inside the box, wrapped in a filthy linen cloth, was the Eye of Diathanos. It was nothing more than a large piece of jagged white rock with transparent facets and cloudy protrusions. It was uncut, unpolished, and was, in Myst’s opinion, quite ugly. She picked the gemstone up by the linen cloth and backed away from the hole toward Tair.
“That’s it?” Tair yelled over the fighting. “That’s what everyone’s fighting about?”
Myst nodded as Tair reached out to touch it. The moment her hand grazed the Purestone, a sudden burst of invisible force exploded outward. Everyone in the warehouse felt it as it passed through them. The fighting stopped.
Rage of the Diamond's Eye (The Guildsmen Series Book 1) Page 35