The Games of Ganthrea

by Andy Adams

  The force of the impact jarred Brenner more than the cold water.

  While his Volanti spell seemed to assist his swimming ability, stroking one-armed with a shield on was clumsy at best. A dark figure drifted ten feet below him. Pushing himself even harder, Brenner kicked his legs until he reached the sinking body of Haggerty. Haggerty was rigid, but his eyes flicked in fear. Slipping an arm around Haggerty’s chest, Brenner turned, then kicked upward toward the light.

  The dead weight of Haggerty slowed him immensely, and he still needed to push up the last ten feet to get back to the surface…Brenner’s lungs were burning; he clenched his mouth tight against his body’s desperate attempts to expel the carbon dioxide clogging his lungs… nearly there, nearly at the surface. Bubbles fled the corners of his mouth. His free arm thrashed madly to fight the pull of Haggerty.

  The two broke from the water, and Brenner drew a desperate gasp. Then he reignited the flight spell, and with double the effort, pulled both himself and Haggerty from the water, frantically skimming toward the nearest shore. The sound of bullets piercing glass burst around them, as red spell-fire ripped into the water.

  You’ve got to be kidding me! Brenner thought angrily, as they flew toward the shore—his shield clanged with a direct hit, and Haggerty’s body shuddered under the shots. The pebble shore came close—and then a spell hit Brenner’s waist; he felt his grip on the flight spell slip, and the two flyers plummeted down.

  THUD!

  Just barely, they landed on the pebbled edge of the lake, frozen.

  His body was crumpled in such a way that he faced midfield, and could see Haggerty next to him on the boundary of the lake: his legs in the water, his torso on the shoreline. Come on buddy…get some air in there…

  Haggerty was still.

  Brenner wanted to do more—turn him on his stomach, pump the water from Haggerty, anything. But all he could do was lay still and watch, like a felled tree.

  And then a ragged jerk came over Haggerty’s upper body, and he retched water from his mouth, exhaling and inhaling feverishly.

  Brenner breathed a huge sigh. They were both stunned, but at least Haggerty would live to see the end of the match, even if it was a loss.

  For several long moments, red and green spellfire blasted back and forth along the lake and mountains. It didn’t look good for Valoria, as now the brunt of the battle was defensive.

  Then, on the far edge of his vision, he saw two green spellcasters—one a knight, the other with cape, a healer—Gemry! The two flew down the midfield ridge and regrouped back towards the lake. Gemry scanned the area as she flew along the other shore, spotted the downed knights, and sent rejuvenation spells across the water. Fortunately, they were direct hits.

  A surge of energy flowed up through Brenner’s limbs. Haggerty sat upright.

  “I…” he wheezed, “shot down in the lake…you…”

  “You can thank me by heading for cover,” Brenner said, as three red knights from the midfield mountains popped up and began shooting at them anew. Haggerty and Brenner made it to the edge of the forest as spells pelted the trees. Brenner chanced a look to the other rocky side of the lake—and with shock, saw Gemry and another knight struck down by Arcyndo spells. He made certain that they were immobilized on dry land, and breathing, before turning to Haggerty.

  “We’re in trouble,” said Brenner. “We have to regroup and get a healer up here.” Haggerty nodded, and they flew further back in their trees to a squad of Valoria knights stationed on defense.

  “Nils,” Haggerty shouted to the lead knight, “how is it back here?”

  “Not good,” Nils said sourly, “Not good at all. A red scouting party took out one of our defensive ring players. Unfortunately, it was a healer, Piltkins.”

  “Well just get Gemry or Dunn back to rejuvenate him,” said Haggerty.

  “We can’t,” said Brenner.

  The two looked to him.

  “What do you mean?” asked Haggerty.

  Brenner pointed to the middle ridge. “I know there was a healer with Maverick that was shot at the midfield mountains…that must have been Dunn. And I just saw our other healer, Gemry, get stunned.”

  The other two let out groans.

  “No healers?!” said Haggerty. “We’re screwed. Montadaux still has two, which means they’ll soon be at full strength.”

  Nils looked equally crestfallen.

  “Have they gotten a glowbe of ours?” Brenner asked.

  “No,” said Nils, “our defensive ring held back their first advance.”

  “Well,” Brenner said slowly, remembering something Finnegan had once said was ludicrous. “I have an idea then.”

  “Share it quick,” said Nils, “‘cause our tower sentries just signaled that more red knights are coming over the mountain. They’re preparing for a final surge.”

  “I need three knights with me,” said Brenner.

  “Then we won’t have enough to hold our defense.”

  “We’re not playing defense anymore.”

  Nils scrunched his eyebrows together. “You don’t mean to—”

  “I do,” said Brenner. “Wizard’s Gambit.”

  His teammates looked as though they were watching a madman propose a mutiny.

  “It hasn’t been tried in over fifty years,” said Nils, “You’re crazy.”

  “It’s our only shot,” said Brenner, “otherwise they’ll just whittle us down one at a time. We can either finish on their terms—or on ours.”

  Haggerty finally found his voice: “I’m not thrilled about it, but this crazy guy just saved me from death. He can lead as he sees fit.”

  “Thanks,” Brenner said. “Nils? What do you think?”

  Nils’ frown slowly let up; he nodded a fraction of an inch. “Go ahead.”

  “Right then,” said Brenner, “cover me while I go back to the tower.”

  He turned, hovered, and flew with arms forward to their tower, dodging tree branches along the way. Soon he was there, arcing up the back of the tower, and came to the top—he saw their score, 13—and two sentries standing by the glowbes. One had pointed his mircon at Brenner’s chest; the other gave him a confused look.

  “Why are you—”

  “New gameplan,” said Brenner between breaths. “Starts now. Your names?”

  “Lucas,” said a stocky, black haired guy.

  “Alerio,” began the second, who looked like a blond scarecrow, “but we were commanded to—”

  “No time,” said Brenner. “Maverick’s stunned. All healers, too. Come with me, and stay as low as possible.”

  “What do you think you’re doing with the glowbes?” one asked him, clearly agitated, as Brenner grabbed the three glowbes and cradled them with his mircon arm.

  “Wizard’s Gambit. And we need to go now before they realize the glowbes are gone.”

  “What?” said Alerio. “No one from Silvalo has ever pulled off a Wizard’s Gambit at a Ganthrean Game.”

  “I told you, we’re out of healers, and our king is stunned. We’re going to lose soon in a war of attrition. Do you have a better option?”

  Lucas and Alerio looked at each other—in the distance, Brenner heard the Boldenskeep knights shooting against the last strong squad of green knights. The two reluctantly shook their heads.

  “Then it’s settled,” said Brenner. “Now, follow me.”

  He strode to the back of the tower, so hopefully any Boldenskeep scouts watching wouldn’t see him leaving with the glowbes, and then dove head-first down—Volanti. The two knights flew at his heels.

  Now, let’s see if this actually works.

  The trio whipped down the stone tower, past the rustling leaves of the tree line to the base of the forest, and then Brenner zoomed forward, snaking through the air around thick trunks.

  Something bright was interfering with his vision.

  He looked down and found that the three glowbes, held together against his chest, radiated green light, which undoub
tedly made him a clear target.

  He switched the glowbes from his right arm to his shield arm, and found that not only did the shield act as an extra support for keeping them in place, but it also cut down on the amount of green light radiating from the glowbes.

  The trees began to thin, and Brenner saw Haggerty’s fortification about a hundred feet away. Four green knights were engaged in spellfire with a larger Boldenskeep regiment across the lake.

  “Haggerty!” Brenner called from the last stand of trees.

  The older teen, back against a boulder as red Arcyndo spells zipped past him, looked over to Brenner.

  “Tell your squad to veer left soon,” Brenner said. “But you go with me.”

  Haggerty nodded, and while he was summarizing the order to his troop, Brenner turned to Alerio.

  “You need to fly to the next disc above us.”

  Alerio’s face fell. “You mean that one?” Alerio asked, pointing to a silver platform overhead, about twenty yards over the lake.

  “Yes,” said Brenner. “Sync it with Haggerty’s movement, and you can make it. Once you’re there, fly from disc to disc as able, and join us past the midfield mountains when you can. Hopefully we distract enough at ground level to give you some good shots.”

  Alerio looked less than thrilled with the order, but nodded.

  “On my count!” Brenner heard Haggerty shout to his troop.

  “Lucas,” said Brenner, “get ready to fly hard around the right bank of the lake, as soon as Haggerty reaches us. But don’t shoot.”

  “Wh—?”

  “Troop disperse!” Haggerty shouted.

  In a flurry, his group streaked left, firing across the lake as they did so. Simultaneously, Alerio flew past the canopy and up to the silver disc, and Haggerty flew to join Brenner.

  “Now!” shouted Brenner. Lucas and he flew along the right perimeter of the lake, with Haggerty close on their heels.

  As hoped for, the chaotic movement of the squad first diverted Boldenskeep’s attention to Haggerty’s troop speeding left, which sustained the bulk of the red spellfire, and while Alerio drew a few shots on his ascension, Brenner didn’t see him plummeting. Alerio had made it to the superior vantage point. Their trio—Brenner, Lucas, and Haggerty—now rounded the final section of the lake, and only as they zipped past some crags at the base of the midfield mountains, did a few red spells flicker behind them.

  “I told my squad to veer as far left as they could,” Haggerty said, as the three got a few mouthfuls of air, “to buy us time.”

  “Good,” said Brenner, “Okay, since they know we’re here, we need to break apart again. Who would rather fight from the sky?”

  “I’ll give it a go,” Haggerty said, catching Brenner by surprise. “As long as I’m over land, I don’t mind making a target of myself.”

  “Thanks,” Brenner said, looking at his routes up the ridge, searching for the biggest cracks. “Before Haggerty flies up, Lucas, you venture a little back to shoot from lake level, while I ricochet shots off the discs into the red encampment. That will give Haggerty cover to gain position.”

  “Got it,” said Lucas.

  Brenner nodded, and turned to the other knight. “Ready, Haggerty?”

  Haggerty lifted his chin. “Ready to take down some Boldy Baldy’s!”

  “Okay,” said Brenner. “Lucas, go.”

  Lucas zipped back boulder to boulder, soon signaling from near the lake.

  “Okay…” Brenner said, waiting for a break in the spellfire…“Now!”

  Brenner and Lucas burst-fired their Arcyndo spells from different angles, bouncing them off silver platforms, and causing a confused counter-fire from Boldenskeep’s knights, while Haggerty flew skyward to a secondary disc.

  “Lucas!” called Brenner between shots, “Keep giving cover, then join me on top!”

  Red spells whistled past Lucas’ boulder; he looked to Brenner and signaled with a nod that he understood.

  Brenner paused his shots, and channeled his flight spell to speed him up through the crevices of the midfield mountain. By taking the shadowed route, he gained the advantage of surprise when he summited, shooting a look-out sentry and a red healer firing the other direction at Alerio, and then he skirted behind a rough-hewn boulder on the right. He shuddered as he saw a pile of stunned Valoria players not too far from him—Maverick’s earlier surge. “Sorry guys,” he said, checking to see if any needed emergency help. All were breathing, he was glad to see. Not being a healer, there wasn’t much else he could do. He needed to press forward if they had any hope of winning.

  Poking his head around one of the monoliths, he scanned Boldenskeep’s territory. Both crags in the far back corners—where their glowbes were—looked to have three knights patrolling the tops…and the double hills across the river probably had guards, too.

  As he was thinking of their next path, something cracked behind him, and he turned, ready to return fire—and nearly shot Lucas, who flew up next to him.

  “Sorry,” said Brenner, pointing his mircon down. “You’re quick. Nice going back there.”

  “Thanks,” panted Lucas. “There’s one or two trailing behind me, so we’d best keep moving.”

  “Okay,” said Brenner. “Let’s hope Haggerty or Alerio gets close soon, or this next step isn’t going to pan out so well.” Pointing to the outpost on the hill across from them, he quickly explained his plan to Lucas.

  They were just about to ricochet their Arcyndo spells off discs into the two-man outpost, when blasts from behind sizzled above their heads: they’d been discovered.

  “Fly down!” shouted Brenner.

  The two hurtled themselves down the crags into Boldenskeep’s territory—as low as possible above the jagged outcroppings—and Brenner steered them to a cave next to the river. They skidded to a stop inside the dark opening.

  “Hey, Jarik!” a voice called across the gorge. “Two by the river’s edge!”

  Red shots rained through the cave entrance, kicking up dust by their feet. Jarik…Brenner thought, stepping back, where had he heard that name?

  The shots intensified, now coming from two directions: on the ridge above and behind them, and across the canyon from the hill.

  Lucas looked imploringly at Brenner. “Any ideas?”

  Brenner racked his brain…they needed to at least see the vantage point of their opponent…

  “Give me your shield.”

  Lucas unslung it from his arm. Brenner set down his mircon and rested the three glowbes against the dark recess of the cave wall. Taking both shields, he moved toward the entrance, as Arcyndo spells continued to pelt through it. He held Lucas’ shield from the base, turned it horizontal, then stuck it out from the wall so that his hand was still protected by rock. It clanged as though hail beat against it. Then he pushed his own shield underneath it, resting against it and the wall.

  “Alright,” said Brenner, “Now I need your help.”

  Lucas approached tentatively.

  “See the opening between the shields?”

  Red spells pelted above and to the side of the two shields, but between them was a triangular hole as small as an eye-patch, created by the shields and the cave wall. No spells penetrated the opening…for now.

  “Look through the opening for a quick second,” said Brenner, “and tell me what we’re up against.”

  Lucas steeled himself, then stuck his eye to the hole.

  In a flash, he pulled himself back. “Two knights are stationed just to the right of a large beech tree at the top, with a clear sight line down to us.”

  “Hmm,” said Brenner. “How thick is the beech tree?”

  “I’m not certain,” said Lucas, “Probably three to four feet at least.”

  “Mind if I have a look?”

  “Sure,” Lucas said, taking his spot, and holding both shields out.

  Brenner waited for the spells to wane, then put an eye to the opening.

  Lucas was right; the tree was plenty
thick, and the Boldenskeep knights had their shields in front of them in fine position, making it virtually impossible to hit them…unless…Brenner traced the outline of the tree…

  “There.”

  He pulled his head back.

  “There what?” said Lucas, confused.