Devan Chronicles Series: Books 1-3

by Mark E. Cooper

  Keverin! Oh God, why did you leave me?

  God was punishing her for her misdeeds, that was why he had taken Kev. Julia squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the grief away. Keverin had been the one most responsible for the changes in her. Most were good, some were bad she now thought, but he was her life and she wouldn’t change it even if she could. She had been self-centred, but not evil before Darius had stolen her away. Now she didn’t even know what evil was. The lines seemed to have blurred. She had been moving through the shadows more and more of late. All was darkness and she had lost the way back; she didn’t even want to find it. In the beginning she had killed people for Kev because she had seen the utter dedication to Deva and his people in him. He would have given everything he was for his people and the kingdom he served, but in the end he had lost his life for simple revenge. It was her fault! If she hadn’t been so distracted in Devarr that day she wouldn’t have been taken. More, Moriz and Halbert would still be alive and so would Keverin.

  How many had she killed, not on purpose but by accident and inattention? Dozens of friends gone now and Kev… AND KEV!

  Hundreds of would-be friends were dead at the battle of Athione before she had come to the realisation that she had the power to save them, but since then she had lost more through simple inattention! If only God would give her a second chance, she would do better.

  I would, I swear!

  There was no sense in thinking that way; God didn’t give second chances on this or any other world. Her parents had found that out when a sleepy driver had murdered them. Udall was gone to the God because of her stupid stunt in the hospital had left her tired and distracted when he needed her. Renard was gone, sort of, because of her ignorance. Moriz and Halbert gone because she had allowed her fear of the dark to distract her; fear of the dark! What more stupid reason was there for allowing her friends to die? None, there could be no excuse.

  When would she learn that this world killed the unwary—would she ever?

  Maybe she should go home, but back to Athione first. Without Keverin she had no home now. Jessica would hate her for letting this happen, but perhaps she would let her keep Cavell and lend her some money for old time’s sake. Jessica was a good person, a generous person. She would help. Jihan would offer her a place at Malcor as a healer perhaps, but living in a fortress other than Athione seemed wrong somehow, as if she was meant to live in the mountains or nowhere. Was that the answer then? Darius’ book was still in the vault. She might be able to breach the ward and find a way back to Earth, but there was nothing there for her. She was old in spirit now if not quite in body.

  “How old am I?” she murmured.

  “What?” Mathius said puzzled.

  “How old do I look now?”

  Mathius shifted uncomfortably. “You’re beautiful, Julia, don’t do this to yourself—please!” Mathius seemed close to tears.

  She patted his hand giving comfort helped her own feelings, as if she could bury her pain under his. “Tell me. I just want to know what you see.” Mathius offered his mirror, but she shook her head. “I want to know what you see.”

  “I see a woman who is my sister in everything but birth. I see a woman in pain trying to kill herself for something she imagines she is guilty of!”

  “Nice try Mathius, but I’ll not be so easily distracted.”

  Mathius sighed. “You look around twenty-five. Certainly no more than that!”

  She frowned, that didn’t gibe with what she saw in the mirror each morning. “Twenty-five. You’re sure?”

  “Yes. Definitely no more than twenty six or seven—at the most!”

  Twenty seven now? Julia smiled at Mathius and let him off the spot she was putting him on. It didn’t matter; nothing did but Navarien’s death.

  “Thank you. Thank you for being with me, and for being my brother.”

  * * *

  “Hold it down for the God’s sake!” Captain Nissus screamed in panic over the explosions.

  “We’re trying!” snarled a black robed man with a pale and sweating face. “How long before they get here!”

  “Too long!” Nissus shouted and ducked as a fireball skidded under the ward and ploughed into his men. A maniple of legionnaires screamed and died.

  “Sergeant!” Nissus shouted.

  “Sir?” Timin replied and ducked as an earth-shattering roar threw mud and debris over him.

  Nissus shook his head at the smoking crater in the ground. It was deeper than he was tall. “Pull the men away from the ward! Have what’s left reform in the centre!”

  “Yes Sir,” Timin yelled over the noise and coughed the dust clear.

  “Try to contact the General again,” Nissus said turning back to his sorcerer.

  “We can’t!” Trella snarled. “It’s taking everything we have to hold the ward down!”

  Nissus shook his head and turned away. He couldn’t fight while the ward stayed up and he couldn’t order it dropped. If he did, they would all die. Fire was raining down on him from all sides but that wasn’t the worst part. The sorcerers were giving everything they had to keep the ward strong, but they were fighting an unknown number of shamen who were trying to raise it off the ground! Already hundreds of his men were dead from fireballs skimming under it. The men were keeping low in the centre of the warded area while the sorcerers struggled to save them. It was all anyone could do. Nissus ducked as two fireballs squeezed under the ward and rebounded high into the air after hitting the lip of an old crater; he threw himself aside as the cursed things came back down and splashed fire in all directions.

  “AEiii!” Nissus screamed as his face was branded with sorcerous heat, but he was one of the lucky ones.

  The fire quickly dispersed. Through his one remaining eye he saw dead sorcerers lying in all directions. Gritting his teeth against the agony of his injury he struggled to knees. His head snapped to one side in time to see the ward shudder under repeated impacts and then buckle. Half the sorcerers were dead, the rest were not strong enough to hold the defences. He scrambled to his feet as the inevitable happened and drew his sword.

  “Form square!” Nissus screamed.

  * * *

  Julia gritted her teeth and drew harder. The magic was eating her alive, but she wouldn’t let the tears come. She heaved with all her might and imagined the Hasian ward rising. The downward pressure increased as the sorcerers tried to clamp it to the ground again. She succeeded in raising it about a yard struggling all the while.

  “For God’s sake Mathius—” Julia panted. “Do it, do it now!”

  Mathius didn’t answer. He drew on his magic and aimed at the gap he saw with his mage sight.

  Vrooosh!

  Two fireballs flew at a shallow angle toward the ward. One made it through and ploughed through the Hasian legionnaires. The second one wasted itself upon the ward merely burning the grass. The fires winked out as a sorcerer sucked the heat out of them.

  “I’ll try again,” Mathius said.

  She watched as fire rained from all sides upon the warded Hasians. As with everything else these days the plan had not worked. The fake camp had fooled the Hasians and they had attacked as they had hoped, but when the ward fell under the sorcerer’s bombardment, the illusion’s matrix had been damaged. The Hasian captain had aborted his charge when the fake camp disappeared and the sorcerers immediately erected a ward to cover them. Since then, the clansmen in the surrounding hills had repositioned themselves to encircle the new battlefield while shamen kept the sorcerers busy with fire and lightning. They could do nothing more until the ward fell and time was short.

  Vrooosh!

  Mathius sent two more fireballs skimming the ground so close they left a trail of fire in their wake.

  Julia watched in amazement as they climbed into the air after rebounding from the ward. The impact could be heard leagues away and the ground shivered in sympathy.

  “Yes!” she screamed in triumph as the ward dimmed, but it didn’t go down altogether. “Ba
stards,” she hissed and hammered the ward with fire over and over again. Mathius did likewise and moments later, the ward buckled.

  “It’s going!” Mathius screamed over the crash.

  Julia’s eyes blazed. She pulled on her magic and struck with lightning. Dirt and bodies flew in all directions. She did it again. Fire, she threw fireballs by the score and watched in glee as men were turned to torches. Fire was better than lightning she thought. They had to pay for Kev and lightning was too quick. She threw another fireball but Mathius threw up a ward almost in her face. The huge ball of roaring fire overwhelmed his pitiful attempt to stop it, but it was deflected. She watched it wobble and tumble drunkenly away to impact an empty hill. Fire splashed in all directions and trees flashed into flame.

  “What the hell are you doing!” she screamed in his face; she was so angry that she might have struck at him, but sanity returned in time.

  “You would have killed our own warriors!” Mathius snarled and grabbed her shoulders. He turned her roughly toward the battle. “Look!”

  Julia looked.

  Mazel had charged the remnants of the Hasian square and was in the process of obliterating it. If her fire had landed she would have killed hundreds. She closed her eyes against the sight and took a shuddering breath trying calm her racing heart.

  “I would have seen them in time,” she whispered trying to convince herself, and then more firmly. “I would have seen them, Mathius. Don’t ever do that that again.”

  “Or what?” Mathius snarled. “You’ll kill me?”

  “No of course—”

  “Get hold of yourself!” Mathius said shaking her. “I’m sorry he’s dead, Julia. Keverin is dead, but you’re not! He would want you to go on, not throw your life away.”

  She was angry, so very angry she could hardly think, but then an instant later she was coldly calm. “I know,” she whispered. “I know he’s gone.” Then the fury overwhelmed her again. “And it’s their fault!”

  “The Hasians killed him. Not the clans.”

  Julia blinked. Yes, that’s right. It was the Hasians. She mustn’t kill the warriors; she needed them to fight Navarien. She had to be careful as Keverin always wanted. She had to live long enough to see Navarien and all his men dead.

  “You’re right. You are right, Mathius. Let us go down and see what we can do to help before more of Navarien’s men arrive.”

  Mathius followed her down to the horses. It was a matter of moments before they reached the battlefield but the fight was coming to a close. Julia was disappointed, but Mazel and his warriors had as much right to their revenge as she did.

  “Let them finish this, Julia. You don’t need to see this.”

  “I—” she broke off seeing a warrior she knew lying upon the ground. Her mage sight showed that she still lived. Julia made to dismount, but the girl died just then and her soul fled. “I need to—” she found another familiar face and another.

  Wherever she looked she found dead men and women. Some she knew, others she didn’t, but Hasians were by far the majority. She closed her eyes and forced herself not to care. She needed to be hard or she’d fall apart. She jumped down and searched for those still alive, but found none nearby. The fight had been fierce here with the Hasian phalanx giving them a strong defence. It hadn’t saved them, but it had lasted long enough to kill many of her friends.

  She moved on searching for those who deserved her help, for those who deserved life. Whenever she found wounded Hasians she tossed them aside with her magic and left them for chance to decide their fate, but wounded clansmen were few. Her hands were shaking as she turned over a legionnaire who was still alive to find a dead clan warrior beneath him. The warrior was little more than a boy.

  “You killed him,” she snarled in disgust.

  The legionnaire blinked his one remaining eye and spat blood. He grinned weakly up at her. “All men die. We killed… killed… each other…”

  She would have blasted him then, but he was already dead. She pushed the corpse away in disgust and stood to look around. Mathius had stayed mounted and was using his mirror to talk to someone. That reminded Julia of the time constraint. She quickly scanned her surroundings looking for Mazel. She found him being tended by Larn.

  “How bad is it?” Julia said looking for Lucius and not finding him.

  “I’ll live,” Mazel said. “More than can be said for the outclanners.”

  “You’ve done well, but time is short. Order your people to collect the armour and weapons quickly. Mathius is keeping an eye on the legion but we cannot stay here.”

  Mazel nodded but waited for Larn to finish healing his wounds before carrying out her order.

  “What of the wounded?” Larn said straightening up once he was done.

  Mazel stood and strode away without uttering a word of thanks. He was shouting orders to collect the armour and see to the wounded as he went.

  “Collect them up. We’ll ride double and heal them later.”

  “Many will die,” Larn said. It wasn’t a complaint just a statement of the facts.

  “I know, but even more will die if we stay.”

  Larn nodded and rushed away hoping to heal some more warriors before his time ran out.

  Julia made her way back to Cavell and remounted. “How long do we have?”

  “Not long,” Mathius said. “If we don’t move in the next half candlemark he’ll have us.”

  “That won’t happen,” Julia said looking around and estimating her losses. Three hundred—three hundred at the most had died here, but Navarien had lost an entire battalion in exchange. She doubted Larn would find many warriors to heal. “Mazel is already rounding everyone up.”

  “Good.”

  “Have you seen Lucius?”

  Mathius twitched his head towards a gathering of shaman to the right. She nodded and edged Cavell that way. She could hear a discussion going on, but as she neared the gathering, it quieted.

  “What’s wrong?” Julia asked but everyone looked away. “Lucius?”

  “Nothing,” Lucius said and changed the subject. “Are you ready to leave?”

  Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Kerrion and Shelim weren’t with this group; they were to the north somewhere. “Is something amiss?” Julia asked Hastin.

  The Bear Clan shaman shook his head.

  “You’re sure?” Julia said but received only another head shake for a reply. “What about you Canis?”

  “Nothing is wrong,” the Snake Clan shaman said. “If you want to know, we were discussing the next step.”

  Julia did not believe him, but she didn’t call him on it. “I see. What about it?”

  “We think you need to rest… just for a few days mind,” he added quickly and the others nodded.

  “You do. You are challenging my right to be here?”

  At the word challenge, everyone went still. “No…” Canis said white faced at the thought. He was backed by the others who shook their heads vigorously and muttered various things that amounted to saying of course not. “We just feel you have been through enough and need some time to rest.”

  “What does my father say?”

  “Don’t be like this, Julia,” Lucius said stepping forward and laying a hand on her boot where it rested in the stirrup. “You’ve been under a lot of strain. I think you really do need to rest.”

  “You didn’t answer the question.”

  “Kerrion knows nothing of this,” Canis said. “But I feel sure he would urge you to rest. At least for a little while.”

  Julia nodded slowly. “You haven’t asked him.” She leaned forward to look Canis directly in the eyes. “Don’t ever tell me what I need.”

  Julia sat up and glared at Lucius coldly before turning Cavell and trotting away to the east. Behind her Mathius said something and galloped to catch up.

  “Don’t bother,” she said when Mathius reached her side.

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You were thinking too lou
d,” she summoned a weak smile for him. “I don’t need people telling me what I need. I know exactly what I need!”

  But he is dead.

  “Lucius is scared for you. I am too. You’re using too much magic, much too often.”

  “I know you both care Mathius, but it’s my life.” What’s left of it. “Besides, if I hadn’t lifted the ward we would still be fighting when Navarien arrived.”

  There wasn’t much Mathius could say to that, which was why she had said it.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  “What’s happening?”

  “Shush!” Lorcan said urgently as he studied the hills.

  He bit his lip unsure what to do. The cursed Hasians had beaten him to the border long since. His friends were not far away, but they were on the other side of an army of sorcerers. Did he dare try to sneak through? On his own he might have a chance, but with Keverin the way he was he doubted he could do it.

  That the Hasians had not run him down on their way to Deva was a miracle. He had sent many prayers to the God in thanks, but he could not help but think the Hasian’s eagerness for battle had more to do with his escape. The scouts had ridden by his hiding place with barely a glance for their surroundings. A huge army of cavalry had ridden by on the heels of the scouts. Whoever was leading them seemed confident, too confident to bother with scouting properly. A day after that, General Navarien’s infantry had marched by while Lorcan hid and debated with himself. Thirty thousand soldiers between him and home—what was he going to do?

  Gangs—he had to pretend they were like a gang. What would he have done in Devarr? That was easy. They were too many to fight, and too many to sneak by. He would have left Devarr. That wasn’t an option here. The lord seemed worse not better. It was a struggle to make him drink a little water each day; food was out of the question. Just the smell of it made the lord heave and gag. He needed a healer badly, but Malcor was far away. In his desperation, Lorcan had even tried to use his magic, but nothing had come of it. He was too weak yet to be trained to heal. He had listened to Julia many times and knew what it was meant to be like. Nothing like her descriptions had come to him when he tried. He could only hope he hadn’t made things worse.