By the time the spell originating at Filia ended, half a mark from when it began, thousands of Serpents were dead, hundreds of Sentinels and Accomplisheds of the Atlantan Guild were injured, and many of them died before aid could be rendered. Eight of the Soarers were killed and the rest injured. Daniel healed them and kept the Aakacarns of Aakadon asleep. He did not trust them to stay out of mischief. Reports were coming in and he had more important matters to contend with.
He took advantage of the opportunity to sit on a solidified chair of air under a surviving pine with his wife while they each sipped from their canteens and watched men, women, and the animals linked to them swarm through what was left of the forest north of the holding. “We had more victories than losses, Ducaun’s enemies are being stopped at the borders, and the manta rays have proven to be the deadliest things in the water,” Sherree commented in an obvious effort to lift his spirits while sharing what she learned from reports received through her golden array.
It helped a little, her attempt did, but Daniel knew better than to be overly confident. “True, but the fighting is not over. The Lobenian forces are still engaged in battle with Kall, whose wooden catapults and wagons seemed to be breaking apart for some reason, Leah and Jeremiah are playing catch me if you can with the serpents, conveying and teleporting after one another, and our patrol boats are battling anacondas in the Taltin Sea. The fight here has cooled down for the moment and the Accomplisheds of Aakadon have not come any closer to Shantear, so we do have that going for us. Tarin Conn is hitting us with his best shot and we are doing better than merely surviving,” he replied, sharing his information. “We were prepared for this hit and that is the reason we are here to talk about it. I want to know if these multiple strikes are aimed mostly at us or are we experiencing the opening shots of a world war.” The attack on Aczencopa suggested the broader scope.
Sherree took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If the southern kingdoms have come under attack, they are unprepared, and the initial assault will be devastating, but hopefully survivable. You, my husband, need to have your vat replenished before you even think about going to help Leah and Jeremiah.”
She knew him too well, going to the rescue is exactly what he wanted to do, and yet he needed to do as she said. “Carlos, will you convey us to Shantear?”
-----
“Start walking,” Three-bolt Accomplished Rex Badger, Vice-Maestro of the Serpent Guild, dressed in black silks with gold trim, gave the order verbally and to team leaders through the array on his head. This began the journey along Zushong Ki Way, the main street in Zuchang, the capitol of Zune. Walking with him were his closest associates, each a One-bolt Accomplished, Joren Cappa, short and fat, from the mountains of Demfilia, and Leea PenKanner and her sister Joya. Both of the tall women were dark of hair and eye and had been recruited from Ducaun when they were children, as was Rex, although not from the same region. These three had been with him almost from the beginning of his career. Ira Holis, Byron Falton, and Phil Crawlin were of Pentrosan descent and all had the thin-framed, frail look, typical of their countrymen. A Grand Circle’s number of Accomplished, all wearing black silks with silver trim, flooded the street behind them and every citizen of the city knew to be elsewhere when members of the Serpent Guild stepped out into the open.
Tall marble buildings with rooftops that sloped to four points lined both sides of the street. Vending establishments along the sidewalks were closing their doors and shuttering windows as Rex and his assault force progressed towards the residence of Aakadon’s Accomplished assigned to Zuchang. A similar force was moving in the capitols of Demfilia, Fon Kay, and Battencay. He had worked for a good long while preparing for this day, a simultaneous assault the world would not soon forget.
Rex led his team to the right on Aakacarn Way and the objective came into view, a building fifty cubits high that resembled a red-orange flame. Corona Zewen Loaq, a Two-bolt Accomplished of the Sun Guild, should be inside and about to sit down to his mid-day meal along with three Solars currently visiting the city, according to Rex’s most recent information. He held up his hand and came to a stop, as did the Aakacarns behind him.
“What are we waiting for?” Holis asked. It was not surprising Ira was the first to speak among Rex’s closest associates, that man was the least patient of the group.
Few people dared question the Badger when he was about to strike, yet in this instance he decided to make an exception and allow the interruption without lashing out at the questioner. “The command from our Supreme Maestro,” he replied and then added before some dimwit asked the obvious follow up question, “We shall all recognize when he wills us to strike.”
The first ripple of a powerful spell came in from the west precisely at noon and was not as powerful as the morning event, but it signaled what Rex had been waiting for. “Attack!” he shouted out loud and through the array.
He raised his baton and focused the spell, Sonic Boom, at the double doors of the flame-shaped building, and blew open the entrance. Huge splinters of cedar lay on the porch and inside the vestibule. Had he not focused the beam as tightly as he did, the heads of everyone in the vicinity might well have exploded.
Spells from over a hundred Accomplisheds were focused at the building, balls of flames, lightning bolts, and spears of solidified air streaked through the ruined entranceway. Smoke began to rise from the towering artifice of flame. Fire balls soon shot out from windows on the second and third floors and bolts of lightning streaked out from a window on the second level, in all killing five members of his offensive force, no more than what Rex expected from three Solars and a Corona. Half of his fellow Aakacarns switched to forward shields, as did he, while the rest chose one of the four windows and focused their spells at the enemy, each of which proved to be highly skilled at switching back to shields after launching offensive spells. Their prowess could not be allowed to interfere with Rex’s schedule and therefore something more destructive needed to be employed.
“Joya, Leea, shield thirteen,” he ordered, trusting them to combine their potential to protect all three.
The shield formed in the shape of a dome with the equivalent of a tiny arrow slit, just large enough for him to extend his baton through. Feeling confident, he removed his own shield and summoned the potential for Sonic Boom. Life force energy beamed from his crescendo in the shape of a cone and lit up an area ten cubits across around the entrance. With his lightning bolts amplified through his newly made baton, six bolts of potential caused what remained of the frame to crumble and then continue on assaulting the first floor interior. He moved the sustained beam to the right, reducing walls to rubble and the entire building began to shake. He swept the beam to the left and cracks began working their way up the flame-like sides of the edifice. Rex smiled as the weight of the upper floors did the rest of his work and the structural integrity of the section facing him collapsed. The entire building leaned forward and then fell to the ground with a mighty crash, creating a massive dust cloud that billowed into the air and then settled on the shield provided by the sisters, and those of the rest of his assault force. All went dark and he sneezed as dust and smoke entered the shield through the small opening where his baton rested.
When the dust cleared, the embassy of Aakadon was nothing more than a pile of red-orange rubble. “Remove the shield,” Rex ordered and then cast, Find: Potentials, closed his eyes and concentrated.
Within the pile were three male-shaped potentials in three different shades of red, and one female whose energy hue was blue tinted with gold. Had they been dead he would have sensed nothing. The men seemed to be unable to move but the woman managed to touch her forehead, no doubt to report what had happened.
All around him his fellow Serpents were shouting gleefully at the destruction and patting each other on the back. The successful mission greatly improved their moral, which had been fairly low after news from Aakadon of the Da Capo on the spell restraining Tarin Conn had swept the guild.
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“Come,” he said, and the sisters went with him as he approached the rubble, as did Joren Cappa.
“I sense one over there, may I end him?” the plump Demfilian requested.
“Certainly,” Rex replied as he stopped close to the pile where the woman lay buried. “Joya, you and Leea may execute the other two men.”
Each of them smiled at the opportunity he granted them to finish the task with legitimate kills and use their own spells to locate their victims. Life force energy beamed down into the rubble from the three and they sustained the potential, which should be forming a sphere around the heads of each person. “Why are you not focusing potential at your own kill?” Joya asked.
His victim had to be one of the Solars and likely possessed one bolt of potential with the ability to summon another using a crescendo. He could easily overwhelm any shield she was maintaining. “She has not finished reporting to her superiors. Aakadon needs to know how badly they have been hurt.”
Joya nodded her head and went back to focusing her own corrosive sphere, clearly satisfied with the response even though unaware it was not just the Solar’s report he was waiting for. This seemed like a good time to quench his thirst and so he quietly sipped the cool liquid from his canteen.
“Vice-Maestro this is Othello Sherman. Oceanic Bufer Quooter, Aakadon’s Accomplished assigned to Demfilia is dead along with two of his colleagues.” The first report came through.
“Well done. Decoda is now your city of operations,” Rex sent back through the array.
“Vice-Maestro, this is Boris Blassoff. Master Artisan Melanie Carsolaan, Aakadon’s Accomplished to Fon Kay is dead along with her five associates,” he sent along with a sense of pride.
“Well done. Kay Toll is now your city of operations,” Rex replied, deeply pleased with the successes.
A longer stretch of time passed while he awaited the report from Lorain Baler, who, like him, recently gained another lightning bolt. A strong sense of elation flooded the mental link ahead of the words, “Vice-Maestro, this is Operation Commander Baler. Three-bolt Senior Soarer Hopar is dead along with three of his Soarers and two Fledglings.”
“Well done Commander. You are now the Serpent Guild’s ambassador to Battencay and Trevica is your city of operations. I know how enthusiastic you can be at times and perhaps a bit over zealous. Please tell me you allowed one of the Soarers to make a report before killing it.”
A sense of amusement flowed through the link. “Hopar was the first to die. I lost a few associates taking him down. The three Soarers died shortly after that so I captured the Fledglings, they made their reports to Aakadon, and then I killed them.”
“You have in deed done well. All is going according to plan. Our forces are on the move in every corner of the world and I will go from here to assist Trogan at Port Kaylor. By the end of the Great Maestro’s spell, our base at Kelgotha will have helped the Prince seize control of all Ecoppian land north of the Troas Mountains. I will be there to crown him king. Jame Ecoppus will rue the day when he left the running of his ships and armies to his younger brother and thus gave him their loyalty. All the elder Ecoppus has is his Royal Guardsmen and two legions at his southern border where Efferin Tames requested he send them,” Rex informed her.
“I should think it will only take a day at most to give all of Ecoppia to Trogan,” Lorain sent a very liberal time frame.
“We could probably take it all today, within a mark, but Vance wants us to take a few days to consolidate power and then Ecoplis will fall,” Rex replied and the connection ended.
He could no longer sense the potential of the other three Accomplisheds of Aakadon under the rubble. His victim was still in a position consistent with amulet communication. “You have had ample time to set your affairs in order,” he spoke softly, and then focused, Corrosive Sphere and the spell encircled her entire body. His greater potential instantly overwhelmed her shield and though she began to convulse, being racked with pain, the sound of her screams did not penetrate the rubble. He was not quite sure if the spell killed her or the crushing weight of the rubble, either way life force energy no longer emanated from that pile.
-----
Prince Rorie KaTaar sat on the floor of the solarium high atop the royal palace in Aria and feeling confident. After all he was three years older than his sister, Briella, who was only five. They were playing Eagles and Rogues, about to anyway, if he could convince her to play the part of a rogue. “I am Maestro Reese, who do you want to be?”
Her eyes with a slight upward slant were a match for his own, and the amber color they shared was one of the physical signs of royalty in Cenkataar, along with skin the color of peaches blended in cream. The commoners had light brown complexions and brown eyes. He was told the royal tribe in Zune had red complexions.
“I want to be Maestro Beyers,” she stated and her jaw jutted out as she tilted her head back.
He shook his head at the ignorance of his sister. Really, it is not as if they had never played this game before. “You have to be a rogue, I know, you can be Maestro Benhannon.”
Her hands formed into tiny fists and she planted them on her hips. “I don’t want to be the Dark Maestro, besides, he’s a boy.”
“Maestro Beyers is not an Eagle or a rogue,” Rorie countered her argument. “I know, you can be Leah Barryn, she is a rogue and a girl and she is a Four-bolt Accomplished.”
Briella’s hands opened as they came away from her hips. She began stroking her black silky hair, a sign she was giving the matter serious thought. Little sister stared up at the thick glass panes in the dome that held out the cold of winter and let in the light of the sun, which warmed the solarium.
The panels were new and thicker than the ones that shattered back when the two Dark Maestros battled for control of Mount Shantear, according to Father, and he knows everything. The invisible waves that came every morning did no harm that Rorie could see, other than wake him a little earlier than he had grown accustomed to through the years.
Over her shoulders, to the east, he could see the city and the bay with all types of ships in the harbor, even the twenty dreadnaughts and seven man-o-wars, the largest in the royal fleet. Gray clouds filled the skies and Senior Forester Lanna Kerbin, the Three-bolt Accomplished and ambassador from Aakadon, predicted snow later in the day. All of the buildings in Aria had snow on the flat rooftops, except those with spires, and the streets were lined with banks piled by the shovelmen, whose jobs were to keep the roads free of trash, manure, and snow. They salted the ice, but Rorie did not know why.
“Very well,” Briella spoke in her high pitched voice. “I will be Leah.”
He was about to reply but closed his mouth when the invisible waves started again, at noon. Minutes later the dreadnaughts and man-o-wars began raising their sails and so were the destroyers and frigates. Rorie stared at the horizon and white sails, more than he could count, were approaching the harbor. Clarions trumpeted their warnings of approaching danger.
Ersa and Barbri, his and Briella’s nursemaids, hopped up from the benches off to the side where they had been watching him and his sister. Both women were light brown in complexion and wore their hair in a single long braid. The copper-colored silk dresses were tight against their slender bodies and limited the speed at which they could walk, but Ersa crossed the distance and had hold of his hand so fast he did not have time to get out a protest before she yanked him toward the door. Barbri picked up Briella and was carrying her.
Rorie kept his eyes on the bay as Ersa was pulling him closer to the door. Huge green vessels descended out of the clouds, each shaped sort of like a watermelon with what appeared to be oblong baskets on the bottom big enough to hold a platoon. Something fell from one of the flying melons down onto one of the dreadnaughts and exploded with a bang loud enough to be heard over the clarions. When the dark cloud was scattered by the wind, a big hole with splintered beams was all that was left of the bridge. Four more objects fell and dark clouds engu
lfed the entire ship, wood flew in all directions, and when the smoke cleared, the dreadnaught was gone, only bits and pieces remained floating on the water. Warships sent flaming bolts into the air but the melons were too high so those missiles arced under their intended targets and back down, some into the bay, and others striking freighters and setting them on fire. With so many melons in the sky dropping exploding seeds on the royal navy, Rorie wondered if all the warships would be destroyed by the time the hostile surface fleet reaches the harbor.
Royal Guardsmen in their red on black uniforms came rushing towards them as the door banged shut, cutting off Rorie’s view of the destruction, but not the sounds. He could still hear the whistling of falling seeds and the deep rumble of explosions as they landed.
Each soldier had a black lacquered conical helmet with a spike at the top and had a sword and dagger at the hips. Black chain mail lay over their coats. They formed up around him, his sister, and the nursemaids.
“The Queen wishes the royal offspring to be at her side,” Captain Tory told the nursemaids and then began hustling all of them through the hall to the stairs, and then down and down, into the deepest levels of the palace.
Rorie’s legs were aching by the time they reached a floor he had never seen before. “Who is attacking us?” he wanted to know.
To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) Page 49