As he looked around in his time-skewed vision, he thought he saw Gabrion stride in from the rear door. There was something oddly different about him. Gabrion ignored all the fighting and didn’t once try to help any of the Kallisorian forces. Ervinor tried to call out but his throat injury prevented him from it. The warrior paced the room and headed for the exit, completely unscathed by any of the weapons flying around.
He didn’t know what was more strange: Gabrion’s detached, plodding stroll or his own arm lying on the floor, disconnected from him. He looked up and saw the tension on Quereth’s face as spittle flew from rapidly chanting lips. It was almost funny. A little bit of magical rain falling down as strange sensations swept through Ervinor’s body. His vision grew hazy and Quereth’s face tightened further.
Ervinor tried to tell the mage how funny he looked. Or that he should go find out what was wrong with Gabrion. Or that it was weird that his arm looked like it had fallen off somehow. He wondered idly if he would be able to keep the arm and maybe reattach it with a rope. It would be a great gag in a tavern. Perhaps a little gruesome, but not something just anyone could do.
He opened his mouth to tell Quereth to relax, but the haziness took over him more and more. Soon, he couldn’t remember what he had wanted to say, or even where he was.
No, the darkness was inviting. He should go to it and find refuge there. No one would find him in the darkness. He would be safe there.
Ervinor closed his eyes.
Chapter 37
Leaving Magehaven
Kitalla, Frast, and Randler left the jade chamber at a sprint, guided by Frast’s references to magical traps. He had witnessed the miracle, in his eyes, of Kitalla drawing the energies in through the metal jade and safely dispelling the defenses set to keep the beast jade safe. However, now that the jade had been reunited with some of its kin, the desperation within the jades instantly faded. It was as if they started communing with each other and would no longer support the humans who carried them.
Randler remembered something similar happening before to Dariak. Even more so, the beast jade and the metal jade seemed to be opposing forces, meaning their skills would interfere with each other until a symbiosis was established. After explaining this to Kitalla, she handed the beast jade to Frast.
With the beasts no longer under the mages’ control, sounds of battle erupted throughout the tower and it seemed the very foundation might crack under the tumult. Randler nervously recalled the Prisoner’s Tower and its collapse, but Dariak was not here to protect them in case the same fate befell this place.
“Where is Dariak?” he asked as they sprinted toward a stairwell, leaping across the room like gazellions as Frast avoided more rune traps. “We have to get out of here.”
“What of the other jade?” Kitalla asked, keeping her eyes alert in all directions in case mages appeared.
“It should have been up there,” Frast answered. “It’s where they store them. Something must have happened.”
“Let’s get to Dariak,” Kitalla said.
One flight down they met resistance. The floor was coated with a murky sludge that slowed their movements, similar to the trap Heria had used from sheeliope fur. Kitalla walked on tiptoes the best she could, but still she was terribly sluggish. Across the way, the mages who had set the ooze swept into motion with their spells.
Only their feet were detained, so Kitalla was able to bend and sway around the magical blasts that shot at her. She pulled daggers from her tunic and launched them at the mages, but because the mages were unhindered by the sludge, she missed completely.
However, Frast made use of those fallen daggers. He channeled the energies and summoned a blast of lightning to skitter across the room. The energy was drawn toward one dagger, then the other, and Frast added more strength to the incantation and soon the lightning whirled into a möbius chain behind their foes. The charges whipped through the air behind them and Kitalla grinned at the panic of the mages. She tossed a third dagger into the ground in front of the spellcasters and the lightning obliged by reaching for it. Screaming, the mages collapsed, pulling healing energies about them. Meanwhile, Kitalla pressed forward with Randler and they clobbered the mages unconscious. The sludge did not dissipate, so the trio struggled through the room and beyond until their shoes were free of the binding substance.
The next chamber had three possible exits. Frast had toured the tower well during their first visit, therefore he led them onward, pausing only as they reached new chambers to assess the dangers within. The further they traveled, the more dangerous it became.
Kitalla had arrived at the tower with a small host of soldiers from the king’s army. She had sprinted ahead of them while the captain sought counsel on what help was needed. It had taken time for them to organize and then to dispatch themselves to various layers within the tower. Kitalla’s own mad flight up toward the jade chamber called more troops in her direction than other locations, but Frast was leading them down through another path anyway. Still, soon they faced soldiers as well as mages.
Kitalla was still wearing the uniform of the Hathren soldiers and she tried using it to her advantage. “Hold!” she called as she entered a room. “I must see the captain! There is trouble up above!”
One of the soldiers ran up the stairs behind Kitalla to investigate while the others remained, eying her skeptically. “Who are these two?” another guard asked.
“Mages from the tower,” she snapped. “Look, if you don’t believe me, go check for yourself. But we’re here to get reinforcements.”
“Ollino, go down and summon the captain,” one man said to the youngest member of the troop. He turned back to Kitalla. “Lead the way; we’re right behind you.”
“Finally!” Kitalla said with exasperation, turning back the way she had come. Randler and Frast hesitated only for a moment before following her lead. They approached the stairs, knowing that the first scout would see the downed mages above and would return swiftly. Kitalla tripped on her way up the stairs and Frast used the distraction to blast a fireball behind himself, felling the soldiers.
“Let’s keep going,” Randler said needlessly as they turned back and continued down on their original path. Frast tried not to look at the roasted guardsmen he had so casually blasted. They hadn’t even had a chance to defend themselves, nor had they attacked. But there wasn’t time to mourn now.
A ferocious growl sounded from the chamber below. Frast looked around their room and shook his head; there wasn’t another helpful exit so they had to go forward. One growl was then echoed by several more and the trio knew that the next fight was going to be a rough one. Even Kitalla was showing signs of fatigue now that the fire jade had calmed down. There was no point in delaying. They pushed ahead, defenses at the ready, eyes alert. They were startled by what they saw.
Instead of a pack of wizards with their controlled beasts, they saw a pile of dead bodies with the creatures fighting amongst themselves. The lupinoes were circling around the outside while sandorpions shot poisonous darts across the room, their tails whipping frantically. There was even a baby ursalor in the middle of the room, too bewildered to do much more than yell in consternation. It took a number of blows from the sandorpions and the two diving eaglons, but it didn’t fight back much. Its massive paws pounded through the air, trying to knock down the avian foes and to bat away the sandorpions, but it missed most of the time.
The lupinoes saw the newcomers first and the growls erupted anew, which added to the fierce tension in the room. The wolf-like beasts turned and stalked the human prey, sensing it as easier fodder than the other beasts, who were preoccupied anyway.
Kitalla was already on the move. If she could disable one lupino, the others may turn their attentions away. She raced ahead, leaping over sandorpion tails and claws. Within seconds she reached her target and she crouched down so it would snap its jaw low, then pounced over its head, laying her hands on its neck as she cartwheeled through the air and cracked a la
nding on its spine. Her hands held the thick neck firmly, telling the poor creature it didn’t stand a chance.
Its only defense would have been to flip onto its back, but the lupino knew that she might kill it before it finished the move. Plus, if it flipped over, it would be defenseless until it could right itself again. Thus, after a brief consideration, the lupino lowered itself to the floor in submission. The other lupinoes acknowledged the act and turned their attention back toward the sandorpions.
Kitalla could have made her way across the fray and down the stairs, and Randler might have also been able to get through, but Frast was another matter. He wasn’t used to all this fast-paced hustling and he was wearing out. He pushed himself to follow along the room’s perimeter, calling up defensive shields to protect himself from the sandorpion venom and to dissuade the eaglons from approaching him. Without launching a massive attack, he wasn’t sure how he would get through.
But as he went, he slowly realized that the creatures weren’t pursuing him at all. Some of their attacks flew his way erroneously, but the creatures went out of their way not to crash into him. He hadn’t had personal experience with a jade before, but Randler understood what was happening. The beast jade was shielding its current owner from harm, so Randler grabbed Frast’s hand and pulled him toward the exit.
The closer they came to Dariak’s hiding place, the more chaotic the tower was becoming. The mages no longer controlled the beasts, except those few who had a natural proclivity toward that form of magic. Mage and soldier alike were engaged in a wild torrent of battling the beasts that had, until now, helped keep the tower safe against intruders. Some of the chaos allowed the trio to slither from one location to the next. Other times they were forced to interject their talents in order to get through the beasts, while trying to avoid the soldiers and mages where possible.
Eventually they made it to the storage room where Kitalla had left Dariak. He had passed out, but he was definitely alive. The air had a strange scent in it, like after a massive thunderstorm. The air itself felt charged, but there was nothing else of note. Frast sent some healing spells through Dariak, hoping to awaken him, but his exhaustion was too complete.
Their only other option was to carry him. “Too bad Gabrion isn’t here,” Kitalla lamented. “But, it’s a good thing Dariak is trim.” She lifted up the mage’s shoulders and recoiled uncertainly. “He’s... he’s really heavy!” she said, confused.
Frast and Randler tried to help lift Dariak up, but his body was still affected by the hyperdensity of the metal, as if all the energy he had absorbed during his flight to this room was now turning into mass.
“What do we do now?” Frast asked. “We can’t stay here and we can’t move him.”
“We’re not leaving him,” Randler declared, not that the others would suggest it.
“Well, Frast,” Kitalla said, shrugging, “we need a pack mule. You’ve got the beast jade. Surely you can figure something out.”
Randler protested. “He doesn’t know how to call on its abilities. There has to be another way.”
Frast pulled the jade from his pocket and looked at it. “It seems wrong to enslave the beasts here to satisfy our own need. I don’t know if I can do this.”
It took effort for Kitalla to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “We’re open to other ideas, but time is limited. Look over there.” She pointed out the doorway where spellfire, streaked across the room and was met with angry snarls and shrieks. Swords and spears also clattered as they fought against the feral foes. There wasn’t going to be much time before they were discovered.
Frast bit his lip. “What do I do? How do I call to the jade for help?”
Randler saw the warring emotions in Frast’s eyes and he hated having to push him in this direction, but their lives depended on an escape right now. He placed a comforting hand on the mage’s shoulder. “You have to find a balance with the jade and then you have to sort of let it into you, if that makes any sense.”
As a mage, Frast was more accustomed with the idea than Randler expected. “What then?”
“Communicate your intention to it, your need. Show it what you need done and if it can, it should comply.”
Frast nodded and closed his eyes. It wasn’t entirely different than focusing the effects of a magic spell. It was important to visualize the outcome of a spell, else its effects could erupt carelessly in ways that were unintended. Generally, a spell would not hurt its caster because the natural survival instinct already placed that into an incantation. But whether a fire spell was launched in darts, erupted in a cone of blaze, or exploded in a wide area fireball depended on the wish and skill of the mage. Yes, Frast could commune with the jade and he knew it would listen to his plea.
At first the jade seemed distracted by its reunion with its brethren, but Frast was persistent, pleading for help. The shard turned away from its musings and reached a tendril of its power into Frast’s mind. The mage grabbed that glimmer of strength and wrapped himself in it. It was a wild experience, for he sensed all of the hundreds of beasts within the tower all at once. Their emotions were erratic and purely primal. Some were seeking refuge in darkened corners, bewildered by their sudden freedom from control. Others raged angrily against their captors, while others still turned against the beasts around them, for they were natural enemies. The flood of emotions was overwhelming and Frast cried out in shock.
Kitalla and Randler couldn’t console the mage, for his cry alerted the nearby foes. A call of “Who goes there?” turned into a blast of electrical energy and the fight was on.
“Who do you want: mages, beasts, or soldiers?” Kitalla asked Randler as they drew their weapons.
The bard smiled grimly. “I was going to let you handle them all yourself.” He then fired off an arrow toward a guardsman.
“Mages it is, then,” Kitalla murmured, sprinting down the few steps from the storeroom and across the floor. Four reptigons skittered in her direction, but she did not pause to intercept them. With a groan, she leaped over the critters and ran pell-mell toward a pair of mages on her right side. One mage had erected a wall of fire as protection, so Kitalla first took out the other mage, who was slower in defending himself.
Randler’s bow sang with several more arrow shots, but time was running out. The guards were fighting off the beasts that were attacking, but three guards slipped away and pursued the bard. Randler threw down his bow and drew his mace while calling up a frantic battle song. He then bent his head down and charged.
The guards were not expecting the man to be as agile as he was. Randler bashed one guard’s arm and jammed another in the shoulder, then he dropped and spun about, sweeping the legs out from under one of them. As the guard fell, Randler rolled aside and hopped back onto his feet. He dodged a swinging sword and had to pull back as an eaglon swooped in to kill him. The guards took advantage of Randler’s back step and lunged forward. One kept his flail low to prevent the bard from getting past.
Kitalla saw his plight from across the room but she was too far away, even for a well-placed dagger throw. Instead, she whistled powerfully and distracted the guards, for it was the same call the captain used to get their attention. It was only a split second of interruption from their assault, but Randler capitalized on it by rolling aside and grabbing onto a reptigon. The beast immediately thrashed about, trying to free itself from Randler’s grip, but the bard held on tightly and then swung the creature around and released it into the guards’ path. They veered away from the angry reptile and Randler was back on his feet, sprinting over toward Kitalla’s side of the room.
Hardly idle herself, Kitalla was struggling with the fire-encased mage, for his shield also had a physical barrier that kept her from launching her daggers through. It was a powerful set of defensive spells keeping the mage protected while allowing him to send offensive bursts outward. The fire flared up and shot darts at Kitalla and the beasts, which were attacking the other mages. Kitalla realized that she would not be able
to penetrate the barrier without magic of her own, but now wasn’t the time to engage in a dance. The numerous beasts and spell blasts erupting around the room would undoubtedly strike her if she tried.
Instead, Kitalla wove her way through the beasts, trying to let them see that she meant them no harm. Unfortunately, there were no lupinoes here that would actually notice the maneuvers. These critters fought on instinct and every living thing that wasn’t like itself was seen as a threat. Thus three eaglons dove in, screeching madly, talons reaching out to slash at Kitalla and the other creatures around her. Likewise, the reptigons were biting and scrambling about the room. Three mages lay dead from the feral assault already, and four others were defending themselves.
The companions didn’t know whom to attack first. Each of the warring factions had a right to be there. The mages lived in the tower. The animals were prisoners here, seeking escape. And the guards had been summoned for protection. But all in all, Kitalla decided that the mages would have to be disabled first, for they had imprisoned Dariak and the beasts and they had called for the reinforcements from the king. Take out the mages, and perhaps the rest could be abated.
Randler was almost at her side, his mace battling the rampant beast attacks. Kitalla, meanwhile, felled a mage by cracking his neck with a fist, after which she dodged the reptigons that swarmed over to ravage the fallen body. The fire-shielded mage realized that the beasts were not the major threat now and turned his attacks toward Randler and Kitalla. Blasts of molten metal struck the floor, making it difficult to walk upon, and then he sent bolts of lightning cascading toward them. The blasts hurt terribly, but they couldn’t escape the attack.
The Shattered Shards Page 42