Kitalla yelled and charged forward. She had had enough. The protected mage would fall. She avoided the molten patches on the floor, which slowed her rush, but she needed to take him down. Seeing his situation, the mage drew fire from the shield and launched it toward Kitalla, but it did not stop her. She pushed harder and rushed into the flames, tackling the mage’s barrier, and knocking the man over entirely. The fire-shield enwrapped Kitalla with blistering energy, but she did not care. This mage needed to stop so she drew out her dagger to break through the defensive barrier even as the fire burned her with its searing heat. The mage panicked and whimpered pitifully as he tried to set up other defenses in the few seconds he had before she broke through. He hadn’t seen anyone with the mad look that Kitalla now had in her eyes. He knew deep down that she would kill him.
At last, Kitalla broke through the protective barriers, though the fire shield still scorched her, and her dagger slipped through the air. But she did not bring the knife point into the mage’s eye as it looked like she would. Instead she swept her hand downward to keep from killing him and then she brought the hilt backward, cracking into his skull and knocking him out. At last, the fire shield dissipated.
Her body ached deeply from the heat but as she looked, there was no charred flesh. The fire jade had kept her whole, though it had not protected her from the pain of the fire. Perhaps it was exhausted from propelling her into the tower as they sought its companion on the upper floors. It didn’t matter. She had overcome pain before and this would be nothing new.
The fighting in the room continued and she could see Randler struggling between the feral and human opponents. She was disoriented from the agony for a moment and could not assist him, but the bard had learned well from her over the course of their adventure. He used one guard’s momentum to flip the man overhead into the sandorpions on the other side. Randler then turned and ducked the next attack, while dodging another eaglon strike. The large bird took the brunt of the sword thrust that Randler avoided and it crashed to the ground, wailing miserably.
Two more mages fell to the onslaught and, with only one remaining, soon the rest of the fighting would turn into a brawl with the random bursts of energy erupting around the room. Randler dipped under a sandorpion tail and rolled over to safety on the other side, but an eaglon caught him and bit his shoulder deeply. Screaming in pain, the bard grabbed the oversized bird and pulled, hoping that the eaglon’s claws had not pierced his skin. The bird’s grip on his shoulder was strong, and wrenching the beast off created terrible damage to his shoulder. He blacked out from the pain and collapsed.
Kitalla was already by his side as he hit the ground and the eaglon was dispatched. Desperation set in, but the jades seemed unresponsive to their plight. Claws and swords all reached for the thief, and she fended them off as best she could, but she was getting weary.
Then, all at once, the beasts stopped, as if someone had turned them off. Momentum carried them forward to crash into walls and each other, but otherwise the room fell oddly quiet. The four remaining guards stumbled over the beasts and Kitalla called aloud for them to stop fighting. They knew her only from their journey to this tower and realized that she had infiltrated their troop, but they were exhausted and lowered their weapons.
Kitalla first shook Randler awake and assessed his shoulder wound. It was a deep gash that would take more healing than she could do on her own. He was bleeding badly, but she didn’t have anything with her that would help. “Frast!” she called, then turned to ensure the guards had not resumed their attack.
The mage was smiling at his success over channeling the power of the beast jade, and impressed with the absolute obedience the beasts were showing him in the room. His joy was short-lived as he saw Randler and he sprinted over and enwrapped the bard with healing energies. Kitalla turned and approached the guards.
“We’re leaving this tower and you’re not stopping us,” she stated.
One of the guards shook his head. “You’ll never get out alive. We won’t let you, nor will the mages.”
Kitalla looked at the horde of beasts that were standing still, eying the surroundings but otherwise completely enthralled. “I think we have a chance. Care to test your theory?” She grinned evilly and twirled a dagger in her hand deftly.
“We cannot let you go.”
“I would rather not kill you,” Kitalla frowned. “But I will if you leave me no choice.”
“Fesh, come on,” piped up another guard. “We don’t stand a chance against them.”
“Our fealty requires us—”
Kitalla had enough. She pounced forward and punched Fesh hard, dropping him to the ground. “Anyone else suffering from duty?” For emphasis, she pounded her hand into her fist.
“We—we are honor-bound to stop you,” said another guard.
Kitalla growled. “So only one of you has any sense. Fine. Come at me. I will try not to kill you.”
“Not me,” said the other guard. He looked at the other two. “I’m all for defending the kingdom, but I’m not going to die here needlessly.” He looked back at Kitalla and then threw down his sword. “I don’t care if it makes me look like a coward. I’m not fighting you. But I can’t just walk out of here either.”
Kitalla understood his underlying plea and she stepped forward and knocked him out. “Next?” she eyed the other two who felt completely overmatched by her. They swallowed hard, debated silently, then they too dropped their weapons and waited for Kitalla to clobber them.
“He’s going to need more healing than that, but it’s all I can do right now,” Frast said as Kitalla approached.
“If he’s going to live for now and you don’t think he’ll lose his arm, then let’s get moving.”
Randler was barely coherent, but he was able to walk and follow. Frast communed with the beast jade again and now he called for a different kind of action. With Kitalla’s help, a set of reptigons dragged Dariak’s magically heavy body from its hiding place. Four eaglons gripped Dariak’s torn robes and helped to ease his weight by lifting him upward, though they were not strong enough to actually carry him. Frast guided the beasts to work in unison to carry the sleeping mage from the room. It was, perhaps, the oddest litter any of them had ever seen.
Randler and Frast were both distracted, one by pain and the other with keeping the beasts in line. Kitalla was hurting but focused. She led the group onward, down through the rest of the tower. The fighting on the lower levels had quelled, for Frast’s interaction with the jade had stopped all the creatures in the tower from attacking. The mages and guards were now tending to their wounded, rising up only as Kitalla and the others approached.
On the fourth floor, Kitalla intercepted the attacks that came from a mage but the fight did not last long. The mage could see that he had little chance of stopping them, so he turned and fled. Kitalla hoped he wasn’t going to call reinforcements, but she didn’t have the inclination to pursue him to make certain. Instead, they continued toward the next floor.
“Jareesa!” called a familiar voice as they crested the landing.
Kitalla couldn’t believe it and nearly forgot her role. “Haasa! Thank goodness you’re safe!”
The guardswoman looked over Kitalla’s shoulder at the progression that was following her. Her eyes went wide. “What—what’s all this?”
Kitalla looked back at Randler and Frast who were staggering along behind the beasts that were struggling to carry Dariak. “It’s what the king sent us here for,” Kitalla replied easily. “Those two mages in the back are controlling the creatures.”
“I—I see,” Haasa said in a strange tone. “What of him?”
Kitalla shook her head after glancing back at Dariak. “One of the mages on the Council. Badly wounded and barely alive. We must take him to the king.”
“But—”
“Haasa, there’s no time!” she interrupted with intentional impatience. “If he dies before he gets his message to the king then the war with Kallisor
will be lost. He has vital information that no other mage has and it’s imperative that we get him safely away from here!”
“But the other mages. Surely they can heal him first?”
“No time, no time, no time!” Kitalla raged in her best Jareesa tone. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for his death!”
Haasa always responded to such off-hand threats. She paled at the thought of angering the king directly. “Well I— Oh, Jareesa, what should I do?”
Kitalla loved this woman for her lack of intelligence. In the heat of the moment, she seemed to have forgotten entirely that Kitalla was not Jareesa at all and that she really owed her no allegiance. “Go ahead of us with the guards and secure a path out of here. No more fighting is needed. We have to get to the king posthaste! The other mages can start looking for wounded in the tower and healing them.”
“All right,” Haasa agreed, then turned to share this information with the other guards nearby. They looked at Kitalla, recognized her, and nodded, running off to carry out the orders.
Amazed at their luck, the group moved onward and downward until they were in the main foyer of Magehaven.
“Halt!”
Kitalla knew that voice. It was the captain’s. There was no chance of duping her like she had Haasa. “Captain!” she replied, snapping to attention. “Urgent message for the king from this mage here,” she said, gesturing to Dariak. “We must hurry onward to the castle.”
“You don’t give the orders here,” the captain sneered. She looked over her shoulder and called out to someone in the shadows. “Is this claim true?”
Kitalla’s heart sank as Master Pyron strode over, his robes charred and gaping. Kitalla thought back to the storeroom and the odd electrical after-smell that had been there. Perhaps Dariak had not been entirely idle in that room, which would explain his added convalescence.
As the older mage approached, his eyes widened and he drew breath to start casting spells. Kitalla leaped forward and stabbed him with her dagger, breaking through a defensive shield. She struck again rapidly, shattering a second, then a third, layer. At last, her dagger bit into his flesh and though he cried out in pain and staggered back, he did not fall.
Outraged, the captain drew her sword and pursued Kitalla. The thief knew the captain was an accomplished fighter, but she was in no way the best fighter in the king’s service. Her sword swipes were wide, though powerful, and she had an undisciplined sense about them. Gabrion easily fought better than she did and would bring her down with little effort at all. Not that he was here.
Instead, Kitalla grabbed Pyron and spun him around even as he summoned a freezing snowstorm into the room. The captain’s frantic charge could not be stopped and her sword thrust its way through Pyron’s belly, almost impaling Kitalla on the other side. The old mage screamed and coughed up blood.
Panicked, the captain withdrew her blade, worsening the wound. She then threw it aside and grabbed for the mage. Meanwhile, the screams alerted the rest of the people in the area that the trouble wasn’t over yet. Mages and guards readied for battle and approached.
They were going to be overwhelmed shortly. With Pyron’s death, there would be no escape, though it was technically the captain who slew him. Kitalla glanced around for inspiration and then she stopped suddenly, agape.
Pyron was already back on his feet, his face contorted in anger and pain, but he was very much alive. His hands gestured wildly and the snowstorm he had summoned grew more intense. A bitter wind cut through the room and the falling snowflakes were denser, splattering icy patches of water everywhere.
The captain recoiled from the mage, horrified and partly relieved that he was alive. But she didn’t understand how it was possible. It was so far beyond her comprehension that the fight went out of her and she backed away until she hit a wall, still stepping backwards in order to keep away.
It was obvious to Kitalla what had happened. Pyron had the healing jade with him, which was why it wasn’t on its perch on the upper floor. However, she had no idea how it would be possible to stop him, especially if he could overcome such a wound as the one he had just received. Kitalla could hack away at him over and over and the jade would keep him alive and healthy. No, she wouldn’t be able to defeat him now. They had to escape, recoup their resources, and try again some other time.
There was nothing else to do. Pyron was already casting another spell, but she didn’t want to see its effect. She called back to her companions, “Frast! The beasts! Attack! Attack!”
The mage was caught up trying to support Randler and Dariak while maintaining the calm of all the feral creatures. He wasn’t focused on tactics, but he heard Kitalla’s plea and he snapped himself to alertness and then complied. He pulled on the energies of the beast jade and he bade the creatures to flock to this room and take down the mages within. Straining against a budding headache, he maintained a separate set of commands for those beasts that were transporting Dariak.
Kitalla was lost in the flood of creatures that poured into the chamber from side rooms, upper floors, and from outside the tower itself. The reach of the beast jade seemed immensely powerful, but it was something to be explored later on. She couldn’t get back to the others, but she didn’t need to. Frast was already having the beasts open the way toward the exit while still overwhelming the mages in the room.
Pyron saw what was happening and he understood the cause. Infuriated, he manipulated his snowstorm spell and soon each bit of snow that hit the ground exploded, spraying venom everywhere. Man and beast were soon covered in agonizing poison, but Frast remained focused despite it and he commanded the beasts to take Pyron down. Reluctant lupinoes sprinted toward the elder mage and slashed and bit into the man’s skin. The healing jade kept him from suffering any damage from those wounds, though he still felt the pain of each nip and cut.
Frast was tiring from all the concentration, but they were getting closer to the door and their freedom. He tugged on Randler’s sleeve and the beastly entourage led them and Dariak’s unconscious body from the tower. Kitalla was already outside taking care of a couple guards posted by the door. The way was clear. Frast kept the animals within the tower active so the mages would be unable to pursue them. Kitalla decided instantly that they should return to Marritosh rather than the castle. They would have less chance to rest and heal at the castle, especially with the increased security that would undoubtedly be in place after her bit of thievery there.
Once they were outside the invisible boundary of Magehaven, the strength of the beast jade waned significantly. Frast could no longer maintain a hold over the creatures within the tower and it was difficult to control the eight beasts that were carrying Dariak. If he didn’t prioritize things, he would lose them all, so he released the beasts within the tower and encouraged the group with him to move all the faster. It was hard for Randler to keep up, but Kitalla dragged him along while keeping a lookout for attack. Luckily, the beast jade’s power was active and the desert’s feral creatures let them pass without incident.
It took nearly two days for them to actually reach the town, and they had barely slept along the way. The beast jade kept Frast’s wishes active even in sleep, which was a welcome relief. But once they reached Marritosh, Frast at last released the beasts from their duty. They almost immediately turned back to attack him, so he summoned the jade’s power for one more command. They were to flee the area and go into the wild. Only then did the companions have a chance to catch their breath.
Chapter 38
Recovery
The town of Marritosh buzzed with excitement. The arrival of the Frast, Kitalla, Dariak, and Randler gave the people a new sense of hope that they hadn’t realized they were missing, and they greeted the four travelers with a cheering bellow. With Gabrion, Ervinor, and the Kallisorian forces off to the castle, not much had happened.
Dariak’s body was less heavy after the two-day journey and the villagers swarmed in to carry him. They reached the healers’ hut and the visit
ors were set inside on cots. Dariak’s overly heavy body crushed his bed instantly, so they tucked a pillow under his head and tossed a blanket over him. Three mages swooped around Randler and immediately started tending to his deep shoulder wound. Kitalla glanced over and frowned, worried that he might never be able to play the lute again; Frast was no real healer and they hadn’t had time to stop and tend to him properly.
Frast only requested a blanket and some water, but he was asleep before the cup was even brought to him. That left Kitalla with nothing much to do.
“Rest, my lady,” said one of the healers. “Your journey must have been harrowing and we will tend to your needs while you are here.” He noticed the burns on Kitalla’s tunic and asked about damage to her skin.
But the fire jade had protected the thief from burns. Kitalla shook her head. “What I need is information, healer. I don’t need your services otherwise.”
“Then what information do you require?”
“Tell me everything that’s happened since I was last here.”
It took some time for Kitalla to refresh the man’s memory and it was necessary to bring in a few others who could update her on the recent events, but she pulled the pieces of information together the best she could.
“I see,” Kitalla said after a lengthy recitation. “So all it took was Gabrion to pull you together before he went to see your king? Have you all truly thrown your lot in with Kallisor?”
“Not exactly,” said one of the healers. “We have sided with your Gabrion and his beliefs that the war must end. We understand that it means we must support the Kallisorians in order to reach that end. Or, at least, your comrades.”
“We’re all tired of the wars,” chimed in another mage. “This is no way to live our lives.”
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