The door creaked open just as Jez was about to tell Sariel that Aphlel had been taken. R’Virdi stood there, his fur still glistening wet.
“Jezreel, the pharim.” His eyes bulged as he saw Sariel. “I mean...”
“What is it?” Jez asked.
He moved closer to Jez, seeming glad to have someone standing between him and the pharim lords. “They’ve attacked. Troops are marching on both Haziel’s army and on the forest of the beast men.”
CHAPTER 27
Jez was running before he realized he’d moved. Osmund and Lina kept up with him, though they were both breathing heavily before long. A small part of Jez’s mind realized he was drawing on Luntayary’s power, but he didn’t care. The front gate had come into view when Sariel caught with them, running with a casual ease in spite of his flowing robes.
“Jezreel, be careful. Do not do anything foolish.”
“They’re attacking my people and my friends. What do you expect me to do?”
“I expect you to remember that you are a Shadowguard and that your purpose is to protect. Do not forget that.”
Jez considered while he ran, though he didn’t stop. As soon as he had exited the fog, he and Ziary were in the air, with Jez holding Lina in one arm. They swiftly rose above the level of the wall, and Jez’s heart fell.
The forest was on fire. Afur fought against beast men, and in most cases, they seemed to be winning. In other places, more of the former pharim battled against Haziel’s forces. Though the pharim had the smallest camp of all those involved in the conflict, they had more afur than the other two combined, and the mortal forces were slowly being driven back.
“You have to stop this,” Jez said to Sariel. “The battle lines are too spread out for me to do what I did last time.”
Sariel scanned the battlefield before his eyes settled on a pharim with a massive flaming sword and six burning wings who took down four or five people with every swing. The warrior, who could only be Manakel, didn’t seem to care whether he struck down human, afur, or beast man. He just advanced on, surrounded by afur of his own and leaving a trail of blackened earth in his wake.
Whenever Jez had needed to get down quickly in the past, he had tucked his wings and dove. Sariel, it seemed, needed no such gesture. He simply stopped flapping and plummeted to the ground like a stone toward a spot at least half a mile from Manakel, who stood just outside the edge of the forest. Sariel hit the ground and passed through it as if it weren’t there. In the next instant, a mound of earth rose up before the lord of the Shadeslayers. After barely a heartbeat, it congealed into the image of Sariel. He held his hand up in a halting gesture. His voice boomed, and even from so far away, Jez had no trouble hearing.
“Stop this, Manakel! You do not know what is going on.”
“I know enough. Some of the afur brought news. Andera has begun to move. We are out of time. Everyone must be brought under our command if we are to have any chance.”
“Andera’s working is driving you to this. Let us protect you from it!”
“I do not need your protection, Sariel. I have decided it is time to attack. You may be free to interfere in Andera’s matters, but you may not interfere in mine, now get out of my way.”
Sariel’s robes blazed with blue fire, and his crystal sword almost seemed like a beam of light, a stark contrast to Manakel’s weapon, a blade of crimson fire so hot it distorted the air around it. The nearby afur stared in utter shock. It felt as though all of creation was holding its breath, waiting for the lords of protection and destruction to battle one another, but after a few seconds, the light in Sariel’s blade died, and he flapped his wings to return to Jez, but it was Lina who spoke.
“You’re just going to let him go on?”
“I have little choice,” Sariel said. “He is right. Now that he has decided to attack, the restrictions against interfering in each other’s affairs bind me. I cannot even protect him from the working unless he asks.”
“Can’t you just declare the beast men and Haziel’s army under your protection?” Jez asked
Sariel shook his head as Manakel’s blade sliced through a tree. The top fell, but it burned to ash before it hit the ground. “The rules against interference can be bent, but not that far.”
They hovered in silence for several seconds before Ziary spoke.
“How much has your power been limited?”
Sariel turned to him. “A great deal. Why?”
“He’s the lord of destruction, but that doesn’t just include magic. He’s the master over all of it. All kinds of battle and warfare.”
Sariel nodded. “Yes.”
“And a warrior’s honor?”
Again, Sariel nodded. “It is as much a part of him as his power is.”
“So if I challenge him to single combat, he has to accept.”
Even the wind seemed to die at his words, leaving the flapping of their wings as the only sound. They all gaped openly.
“Osmund, you can’t fight the high lord of destruction in single combat,” Lina said.
“He doesn’t have all his power,” Ziary said, “and that working is keeping him angry. If he’s not in control of himself, that’s a weakness.”
“That is a poor reason to give up your life,” Sariel said. “His power may be limited, but his skill has not lessened, and he is still a master of the blade.”
“Do you have a better idea?” Ziary asked.
Jez looked down. Manakel was several yards into the forest now, though he and those with him, had left nothing of it behind. They were, quite literally, a primal force of destruction. He was about to shake his head when Lina spoke.
“A contingent,” she said. “It worked against Maries.”
“Wouldn’t that invalidate it being single combat?”
Sariel shook his head. “Only if he did not know. I promise you, he will sense it the moment he sees you.”
“If that’s true, won’t he just refuse to fight?” Jez asked.
“He’ll fight,” Ziary said. “Of that, I’m sure.”
CHAPTER 28
Jez, Lina, Sariel, and Leziel hovered above the lord of destruction as Ziary floated down to the ground in front of him. He held his flaming sword toward the pharim. The afur walking with the high lord leveled their weapons, but Manakel looked down at Ziary and sneered.
“Get out of my way, mongrel.”
“No.”
That brought the pharim lord up short. “What?”
“You’ll have to fight me if you’re going to do this.”
Manakel’s eyes blazed, and his afur prepared to attack, but they didn’t move any closer without a direct command. Manakel was practically roaring.
“Do you think you can stop me?” Bands of blue and red flowed down the flames of Ziary’s blade. Manakel narrowed his eyes. “You come to me with your power joined with others, and you expect me to fight you?”
Ziary smirked. “Are you afraid?”
Manakel’s wings became blood red flames, and even from so far away, Jez could feel the heat, though whether it was from the fire or the anger, he couldn’t be sure. The trees around Manakel steamed and withered, releasing the smell of wood smoke as he gripped his sword in both hands and stared right into Ziary’s eyes. He inclined his head and walked back out of the forest. As soon as he passed the tree line, the battle quieted, and those under Manakel’s command withdrew from the battle lines and watched their leader.
“He has accepted,” Sariel said as he waved toward an empty spot of ground. “We should land. The winds will soon be too dangerous to any who have not mastered the air.”
Jez nodded, and they landed. For a moment, Manakel glared at them. Sariel returned the gaze, and with a wave of his hand, dismissed Manakel.
“Is that the smartest thing to do?” Jez asked. “You’re just making him madder.”
“And that anger may drive him to make a mistake he would not otherwise.”
“Can Osmund win?”
�
��With your power and Lina’s added to his own, he is formidable, and he is right. Manakel is consumed by rage.”
“But can he win?” Lina asked.
Sariel stared at Manakel for a few seconds. “I do not know.”
The two combatants rounded each other inside a circle formed by afur who were observing. In the branches, Jez thought he saw a few beast men watching as well. Sariel drew near, and the afur parted for him and Jez’s companions, so that they were able to get a better view.
A thin layer of flame surrounded Manakel, causing him to leave blackened footsteps as he walked. Ziary moved with an afterimage which made Jez feel dizzy if he looked at it too long. Brought on by Lina’s power, the illusion would make him extremely difficult to hit.
“Only twice since the foundation of the universe has Manakel engaged in single combat like this,” Sariel said. “One of those was the battle that banished Andera to the abyss the first time. For a mere limaph to do this...” He shook his head. “It is almost too much to believe.”
The wind roared, slamming into Ziary’s back. He stumbled forward a few steps as Manakel flicked his wrist. A whip of pure fire lashed forward. Ziary lifted a hand, and the whip rippled and turned aside. It burned through a tuft of Ziary’s hair but otherwise left him unharmed.
Sariel gave a slight nod. “Your friend is skilled with fire indeed if he can command Manakel’s weapon, even in such a minor way, while he is holding it.”
Ziary took a step forward and slashed, but Manakel’s sword knocked his attack aside with a sound like muffled thunder. The defensive move became an attack that would have impaled Ziary had he not called the wind to blow himself back. As it was, the strike tore a gash through the front of Ziary’s robe. Ziary moved to attack again, but the charred area around the tear burst into flames.
In the next instant, all of Ziary’s robes were on fire. Power was pulled out of Jez as the fire hissed. He could sense water being drawn out of the air as Ziary struggled to extinguish the flames. The air was filled with steam so thick Jez couldn’t see, but a gesture from Manakel called a gust of wind. The steam cleared to reveal Ziary, already in the air and headed right for Manakel.
Manakel flicked his sword, missing Ziary by a wide margin. Again, there was the muffled thunder, though Manakel hadn’t hit anything as far as Jez could tell. Ziary’s sword pierced his neck...and passed right through it. For a second, Jez could only gape. Then, the air in front of Manakel shimmered, and a second Ziary came into view. The first one vanished, and Jez cursed. The deception, sending an illusionary image while the actual person attacked from concealment, had worked against Maries. Jez winced, and his hand went to his stomach, though the wound there was long since healed. The ruse had worked when Sharim had used it against him as well. Manakel, through some unknown sense or power, had detected the invisible attack coming and had knocked it aside while completely ignoring the illusionary one. Jez had been hoping the trick would end the battle with minimal risk, but it apparently wouldn’t be so easy.
Again and again, the two combatants struck at each other. Sometimes, it was with fire or air, but most of the time, they met sword to sword. The gasps rippling through the crowd said no one had expected Ziary to last this long. Even Sariel seemed shocked. That wasn’t the only thing that caught Jez’s attention, though. Ziary was slowing.
Half a dozen times, Manakel had scored a hit against Ziary’s flesh. No normal weapon, the wounds left by Manakel’s sword constantly seemed on the verge of catching fire. Manakel, on the other hand, was completely uninjured and didn’t even seem winded. Osmund, when fighting as Ziary, might well be one of the most skilled swordsmen in the world, but Manakel was something else entirely.
The pharim’s movements were perfect. Manakel never expended an ounce more energy than he had to. Whether he avoided Ziary’s attacks or knocked them aside, Ziary’s weapon never missed by more than an inch, and his counterattacks flowed so easily from his parries that they might as well have been the same motion. The few times Ziary got a blast of fire or wind off, Manakel redirected it back at him. Once, Ziary had to jump out of the way, which gave Manakel the opening to slice off a portion of Ziary’s left wing. Ziary hit the ground and sank in, vanishing after only half a second. For a moment, Manakel stared at the spot. Then, he launched himself into the air, but his moment of hesitation had been enough. Ziary came out of the ground directly under him before Manakel had risen more than a few inches.
Ziary’s blade bit into Manakel’s leg, throwing him off balance. Ziary flew above him. Again and again, he struck, driving the pharim lord to the ground. As soon as they landed, Manakel swept out with his leg. Despite being injured, the blow didn’t seem to lack strength. He knocked Ziary’s feet out from under him. A gust of wind from directly above slammed Ziary into the ground so hard that cracks spread out from the point of impact. Manakel floated to a standing position, though he didn’t actually land. He held his sword in two hands and began driving it down.
Jez cried out, but Ziary threw his hands forward, and a stream of bubbles shot out. Jez couldn’t believe it. The binding, originally created to bind Ziary himself, was a complex one. Contingents allowed a mage to borrow strength but not skill, and Jez wondered when Osmund had learned to craft it. The bubble binding hit Manakel and quickly spread out. Rather than imprisoning the pharim, Manakel just slowed down for a second, but in battle, a second may as well be an eternity. The binding shattered as Ziary rolled to his feet and put the point of his blade to Manakel’s neck. The pharim lord of destruction froze, and those he had been marching with stared in mute astonishment.
“Yield.” Ziary’s voice sounded like thunder, and Jez wondered if he was using some sort of audible illusion to make himself be heard by all those nearby.
“You arrogant mongrel.” Manakel was barely in control of himself, and the sheer heat emanating off of him drove Jez back a step, though Ziary remained firm. “Lapdog of humans. You are not one of them, and you could never be one of us.”
“Yield.” Ziary’s voice was more forceful this time, and the ground shook at the command.
“You are beaten, Manakel,” Sariel said.
“Do you think I did not recognize Leziel’s work? He helped them by giving them a thought to form their contingent.”
Sariel walked up to him and looked into his eyes. “Which you knew when you agreed to the battle. You could have demanded that it be dissolved, but you did not. You forsook the right to claim interference. Do not force him to end this. You must yield.”
Manakel turned to look at Ziary. “He will not destroy me. It would be as harmful as the destruction of Aphlel.”
“Would you hide behind such an excuse? Is that not a coward’s way out?”
Manakel’s head whipped toward Sariel, moving so fast that Ziary’s sword cut a thin line on his throat. “You would dare?”
“Yield, Manakel.”
Manakel’s sword burned an angry red. Its flames flickered so quickly the blade was a blur. The air shimmered with the heat. Sweltering wind pulsed out of Manakel in waves. Ziary winced, but he held his ground. Manakel turned to meet his gaze. Something passed between them, and Manakel took a step back. He lowered his head.
“I yield.”
CHAPTER 29
“Everyone dismiss your weapons!”
Ziary’s voice bellowed over the crowd. For a second, the assembled afur gaped at him. Ziary may have beaten Manakel, but he was a mortal, no matter his bloodline. In fact, most would see him as a mongrel, just like Manakel himself had. Still, the majority of those there had been Shadeslayers, and the precepts of single combat that Ziary had exploited existed inside of them just as strongly as in their former master. The one closest to him, a towering figure that dwarfed even Ziary, dropped his weapon. It disappeared in a puff of smoke before it hit the ground. As if that were a signal, the others dismissed their weapons. They all stared at Ziary who turned to Jez.
“Now, what do we do?”
Manakel looked
into the forest. “In there.”
Jez rolled his eyes. “We’re not moving against the beast men.”
Manakel glared at him. “That is not what I meant. Why do you think the beast men came out to meet us instead of remaining in their sanctuary, where they are strongest? I sent warriors into the forest as a prelude to our attack, and the beast men came out here to try to find a way to stop us from sending more, but those I sent are still in there. They will not know to stop.”
Jez nodded. “Let’s go.”
Sariel put a hand on his shoulder. “Jezreel, one of the power sources is nearby.”
“We can deal with that later, after the beast men aren’t being killed by afur.”
“Not when it is this strong. I dare not leave right now. Unless I protect the minds of those here, they will fall into conflict as soon as we depart.”
Jez looked around. There were dozens of afur, more than he had ever seen in one place. They had been halted by Ziary’s command, but gashes had still been ripped into the ground, and wide swaths of grass had been burned to ash. This place was a pile of kindling ready to go off at any second.
“What about Manakel and Leziel?”
Manakel was shaking his head, but it was Sariel who spoke. “Manakel is the only reason the Shadeslayer afur are in control of themselves. He should remain here, for a little while, at least. Leziel though...” He looked around, but the lord of secrets was nowhere to be seen. Sariel sighed. “Leziel does what he pleases and rarely bothers to inform the rest of us of his plans. He may go with you, though I doubt you will see him.”
Jez turned to Manakel. “How many did you send to the forest?”
Manakel stiffened, but when Ziary cleared his throat, he inclined his head. “Six.”
Jez nodded. “We should be able to handle six as long as we don’t run into them all at once.”
Lifebringer (Pharim War Book 6) Page 14