by John Corwin
"I hope so." I put my dirty dishes in the sink like a good boy and headed for the front door. "Guess it's time for me to learn how to fly a broom."
Elyssa's phone chimed again. She looked at it and grunted. "While you're doing that, I'm going to work with my father on the defenses at El Dorado."
I hugged her tight, kissed her nose, each ear, and went for the grand finale on her lips. "I love you. Be careful."
She sighed longingly. "You too, Prince Charming." Elyssa headed for the omniarch room. I took the tunnel to the surface and jogged to the large grassy field behind the university. As promised, Darklings from Ketiss's army were there. Another group of revived Seraphim were also present. The Tarissan uniforms made it easy to differentiate Ketiss's people from the revived Darklings in Templar armor. Mom, Ivy, Nightliss, Joss, Otaleon, and other familiar faces were also present.
I spotted Flava near the front. She made eye contact with me, but quickly looked away. I wondered if I'd offended her at some point. Ever since she'd healed Elyssa, Flava hadn't spoken to me.
"We get to fly brooms!" Ivy clapped her hands and jumped up and down. "I've always wanted to fly one."
I almost told Ivy she couldn't be here. I didn't want my little sister flying into combat on a broom, but she'd proven powerful in the first battle. My heart clenched at the thought of anything bad happening to her.
"You sure about this?" I asked Mom.
She returned an uneasy look. "No, of course not." She glanced around at the young faces of revived Seraphim. "Just the thought of Ivy in danger makes me sick to my stomach." She sighed. "Unfortunately, we need everyone for the next battle, and if anyone is capable of learning to fly a broom, it's her."
"I promise I won't let you down," Ivy said, her blue eyes big and pleading. "Just let me try. You saw how good I fought already."
I ruffled her hair. "I know you can fight, sis, but I don't want to lose you."
"They won't be able to touch me. I'll be zooming all over the place." Making flying noises, she zig-zagged with her hand.
I squeezed her in a tight hug. "I'll give you a chance, but if I don't think you fly well enough, I'll have to find somewhere else for you to be."
She snorted. "I'll be one of the best. I promise."
"I think she will do very well," Nightliss said. "I just hope I can rise to the challenge."
"You and me both," Mom said. "I've never been a fan of brooms. They're nothing like flying carpets."
"Hello, Justin."
The question jerked me from the conversation. I turned and saw Lanaeia standing behind me. Having seen her in battle, I knew she was quick, agile, and powerful. She could prove a valuable asset. "Think you can fly one of these things?"
"Bella seems to think these brooms are much better than flying carpets." Lanaeia pursed her lips doubtfully. "I decided to see if this was true." She looked toward Colossus Stadium. "It would appear the brooms have arrived."
I glanced across the field and saw a wide floating platform with racks of brooms making its way toward us. Figures on flying brooms circled the platform. A couple of them broke off and zipped toward us. It didn't take a genius to see that they were moving a lot faster than even the swiftest Templar flying carpets.
The leader wooshed overhead. He pulled into a steep climb, performed a loopty-loop, did a couple of barrel rolls, and then skidded to a stop at the top of a small rise in the middle of the field. Grinning, Rai landed the broom and stepped off it, leaving it to hover next to him.
I walked up the small rise and greeted him while his apprentices landed their brooms behind him. I spotted a pink blur racing over the university. Magnifying my vision, I realized it was Bella, her face flushed with excitement. She went into a steep dive, pulling up just feet from the ground, and performed the flying broom equivalent of a hockey stop next to the other brooms.
"What a rush!" she exclaimed, her Colombian accent thickening with her excitement.
By now, the Seraphim volunteers had gathered into a crowd at the base of the hill, their formerly bored, uncertain faces now lit with interest. I could hardly blame them. I was dying to try out a broom myself.
First, I had to get through the introductions. I raised my hand for quiet. "Welcome, volunteers. You have been invited to train for a new airborne unit called the Skywraiths."
"Ooh, cool name," Rai said.
Murmurs went up from the crowd. Most of them nodded as if they liked the name.
"Elyssa must have come up with that," Bella said.
I looked over my shoulder at her. "Believe it or not, I'm the one who did."
She gave me a scrutinizing look. "I find that hard to believe."
I turned back to the crowd. "With me today are Rai and his apprentices. They will break you into groups for training."
"Me too," Bella said.
I nodded. "Yes, and Bella too."
Lanaeia raised a hand. "Can Bella be my instructor?"
"We'll get to that in a minute." I turned to Rai. "Why don't you say what you need, and get started?"
He raised a hand in greeting. "Welcome to flight school, everyone! Let's get started with the basics." Rai held his broom over his head. "From now on, you will not refer to this as a flying broom. A finely crafted work of art like this is called a boomstick."
I watched as some of the Seraphim practiced pronouncing what was probably a very strange word for them. I pressed my lips together to keep from grinning.
Rai lowered the broom so it hovered waist high and ran his hand over the black leather seat. It resembled the kind of sleek saddle favored on racing motorcycles with a small, cupped backrest. "As you might have guessed, this is where you sit." Metal rods ran from the sides of the seat and ended in stirrups. Rai gripped one of them. "This is not only where you put your feet, but also where you control the yaw and roll."
Several hands went up. Rai pointed to Joss. "Yes?"
"What do those terms mean?" Joss asked.
Rai pointed the broom toward the crowd and slid the front of the broom from side to side. "Yaw is the left to right movement of an aircraft." He barrel-rolled the broom. "This is the roll." He then angled the broom up and down. "This is the pitch." Rai went through a few more examples until the candidates seemed satisfied with the answers.
Rai continued the orientation. "How many of you have flown a flying carpet?"
Several hands went up.
"For those of you who aren't familiar with them, you control the speed of a flying carpet by willing it to go fast or slow." He backhanded the air. "That approach is crap. You lose precise speed control, and it limits the top speed." Rai gripped an indentation in the boomstick handle. "This is the throttle. To go faster, you twist it right. To slow, you twist it left." He pulled back on the throttle. "Pull toward you for the emergency brake. Unlike magic carpets, you're not bonded to the seat, so if you brake hard, squeeze your legs tight to the seat to keep from flying off." He looked around. "Any questions?"
Nobody raised a hand.
Rai folded his arms. "Excellent. Let's divide into groups."
We broke into groups of five. I joined Rai since Ivy, Mom, Nightliss, Lanaeia, and Flava hurriedly joined Bella's group. Rai let each of us take turns sitting on a broom. The first student flipped upside down and couldn't get it upright. The next student accidentally revved the throttle and planted the handle into the ground. When it came to my turn, I prayed I didn't do anything to make myself look stupid.
I hopped onto the boomstick and put my feet in the stirrups. The broom tilted to the right, so I gingerly pressed down with my left foot.
"The trick is not to overcompensate," Rai said as I toppled to the left.
Using pressure from my feet, I managed to keep the broom upright. It was like balancing a plank centered on a rail. "Why is it so hard to keep it centered?"
"It's like riding a bicycle. When you're moving forward, it's easier to stay balanced." He gripped the end of the broom to steady me. "Standard brooms use stabilizing c
harms, but those take precious aether power from the speed enchantments." He released the end of the stick.
I shifted my feet back and forth, somehow managing to keep upright.
"Excellent," he said. "Now I want you to do a barrel roll."
Gulping, I released pressure on left and pushed down on the right stirrup. My view rotated. Falling back on my demonic physical enhancements, I used hyper reflexes to slow my sense of time and stopped the roll at the perfect moment.
Rai looked surprised. "Wow, I rarely see anyone get that right on the first try."
I gave a nonchalant shrug. "Beginner's luck, I guess."
The other students didn't fare quite so well and took turns rolling out of control. Thankfully, the revived Seraphim and their supernatural reflexes allowed them to catch on more quickly. Ketiss's soldiers took longer, but by lunchtime, it seemed most of the candidates had the basics down.
After lunch, Rai produced a two-seated broom. "I don't usually start assisted flying until a couple of weeks into training, but since we don't have a lot of time, we're going to have to jump ahead."
One of the other trainees gulped loudly.
Rai chuckled. "Don't worry. Most of my students don't have the lightning reflexes of Seraphim."
There were a few nervous chuckles at that statement.
I saw Bella hopping on the back of her two-seater with Lanaeia driving. The broom jerked forward, stopped, and jerked forward again, nearly throwing the two women off. Bella touched Lanaeia's arm and pointed at the throttle. The Brightling gently twisted on the throttle and the broom glided forward smoothly.
"Ready, Justin?"
I flicked my gaze to Rai and nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."
I took the broom, tapped a symbol above the throttle, and activated the levitation spell. Once it rose to waist level, I climbed on and steadied the roll with my feet while Rai hopped on the back.
"Ease open the throttle," Rai said.
Using Lanaeia's example, I very slowly twisted my hand on the throttle. Even though there were no moving parts, it felt as though the wood moved under my hand. The broom slid forward. As we gained momentum, the need to keep it balanced with my feet diminished until I didn't even have to think about it anymore.
"Pretty neat, huh?" Rai tapped my right shoulder. "Steer us in a circle."
I pulled the handle to the right. The broom turned to the right in a very wide arc, taking us right toward the forest. I pulled harder, but that didn't make it turn any faster. Just as we closed in on the tree line, I twisted the throttle back down and pulled toward me. The broom jerked to a stop.
"Not bad," Rai said. "Have you ever driven a bicycle?"
I nodded. "Used to be my only mode of transport until high school."
"You went to a nom school?"
"Yeah. That was before I found out my parents weren't exactly human."
He laughed. "Wow, that's really cool. I always wanted to try the nom lifestyle." Rai cleared his throat. "Anyway, my point about the bicycle riding is this—how do you make sharp turns?"
It only took a second of thought before his point hit home. "You lean the way you want to go."
"Exactly. You only turn the wheel a little bit." He motioned to the left with his head. "Spin us around by pulling left and gently pressing on the left stirrup."
I did as instructed. The broom tilted to the side and swung in a swift arc. I over-steered a few degrees, but managed to stop the turn without toppling us over.
Rai whistled. "Dude, you're a natural. Give me a couple of days and I'll have you ready for the pro scene."
I grinned. "I just hope we have two days."
Lessons continued until darkness claimed the field. The brooms had illumination orbs—the magical equivalent of headlights—but Rai didn't think it would be safe to continue lessons. I got together with him and the other instructors after dismissing the students.
"How are they looking?" I asked.
"I have two who'll take a bloody month just to teach throttling," said a young man with a red Mohawk and Cockney accent. "I grounded them after the assisted flight lesson because it would've been a waste."
The next few instructors chimed in with reports. Most had at least one incompetent student, but were satisfied with the bulk of their students.
"Every one of mine picked up on the basics very quickly," Bella said. "Ivy caused me quite a scare when she performed a looping barrel roll." She tittered. "I must say she's the best student by far."
"Impressive," Rai said. "I'd have to say Justin one-upped that, though. He did a three-sixty spiral tail-whip."
"Oh?" Bella pursed her lips. "Ivy did a moon-shot reverse roll with a one-eighty endo."
"Not bad." Rai grinned. "I forgot to mention that Justin also—"
Part of me was ecstatic that Ivy was doing so well, while another part of me tightened with apprehension. I threw up my hands to stop their one-upmanship. "Look, I get that you're proud of your students, but just because me and my sister are better than average doesn't mean squat. We can't form a fighting unit with just two of us."
Bella and Rai looked like I'd just slapped their hands for reaching into the candy jar.
"I'm sorry, Justin," Bella said.
Rai shrugged. "Yeah, dude. We'll get everyone up to par."
"Bloody right we will," said the Mohawk dude.
By the end of the little pow-wow, I felt better about our chances. I decided to replace the poorly performing students with fresh recruits. Rai assigned an instructor to teach them and split that group among the others.
After planning out the next day of training with the others, I returned to the mansion. Elyssa was there with a grim look on her face.
Dread crept up inside me. "What's wrong?"
She showed me a report on her phone. "Our scouts report that Daelissa is mobilizing."
"Destination?"
She shook her head. "We don't know."
Wherever Daelissa was going, we were out of time.
Chapter 32
Shelton showed up for dinner with good news. "The doors are ready. We made three of them just in case." He took me outside and displayed a thick piece of wood, which he set flat on the ground. "Just trace this symbol, and"—the wood unfolded into a massive door—"voila! A big-ass door."
Constructed of dark mahogany with thick support columns to either side, the door was tall and wide enough to admit battle golems. Strange runes painted in silver and gold adorned the surface. I pointed them out. "What are those?"
Shelton leaned back on his heels and nodded. "Enchantments for structural stability and other crap so this thing doesn't topple over and smash into a thousand pieces."
The doorknob and lock assembly was situated low and on the right. Compared to the size of the door, it looked woefully inadequate. "Is it hard to open?"
He shook his head. "It's enchanted."
I walked around the thick support columns. "Show me how it works."
He snorted, touched the doorknob. With a faint creaking noise, it swung open. "Complicated, I know."
Elyssa gave him a slow clap. "Nice work."
He bowed. "Thank you." Shelton touched a small fob on the doorframe and the door swung shut with a click. He traced the symbol again and the door compacted, making a series of wooden clunking noises until it was once again a thick plank.
I gave him the Map and Key of Juranthemon along with instructions for linking the doors. "Test them out and make sure they work even after you compact and move them."
He saluted. "I'm on it, boss."
I left him to his work and contacted Thomas. "Any word on Daelissa's troops?"
"We've scouted the area around El Dorado, but the jungle makes it hard to see if there's any activity." He made a thoughtful noise. "Our Arcanes have established wards up to a mile around the perimeter of the city. We should know if anyone breaches it."
"Do you think she'll make another play on Atlanta?"
"Entirely possible. With her reinfo
rcements trapped in Seraphina, she might want to draw us out." He paused. "I would advise against responding in such a case. Better to make her come to us."
I'd had the same thought myself, but hearing Thomas say it made it plain just how bad our situation was. "Just sit back while she rampages through the city? The city could be destroyed and the noms would know about the Overworld."
Thomas sighed. "I think this war is beyond containment. Atlanta holds no strategic value for her other than a way to bait us into a fight we'd be hard pressed to win."
I paced in a circle, trying to think of a way we could fight her in such a situation, but unfortunately, Thomas was right. We had to win the next battle, or the war was over. "I really hate this, but I don't see any alternative. Maybe the nom military can put a dent in her."
"Daelissa is not the brightest strategist, but if Arturo knows anything about nom military capabilities, he might advise against attacking the city if we don't respond." Thomas grunted. "The noms far outnumber us. In an all-out war scenario, they would likely win. This world is far different than the one Daelissa ruled thousands of years ago."
"There's a reason the Overworld Conclave didn't want to stir the bee hive."
"Precisely. A smart strategist would advise her to win the magical war first, and then use subversion to take over the nom governments. After decimating us, they could take control of the Alabaster Arches again and bring through more troops." Thomas's voice sounded unsure. "We just have to hope Arturo respects how dangerous the noms could be if attacked."
"Let's hope so." I told him about Shelton's doors. "Once we confirm they work, we'll move Fjoeruss's battle golems into position at El Dorado."
"That's good news, at least. I'll keep you apprised of further developments. In the meantime, I suggest you get some rest. Tomorrow could be the day."
My stomach knotted. "You too." I ended the call.
Elyssa put her arms around my neck and leaned on my chest. "We're not ready, are we?"
"Ready as we'll ever be." My words sounded hollow. Even without the battle golems, Daelissa's Brightling army would be extremely hard to beat.