by J D Franx
“May we intrude?” Nekrosa asked as he limped toward them with Sephi on his arm.
“Always,” Ember said and smiled.
“Spies report back yet?” Max asked.
Nekrosa shook his head. “Not the ones we sent to Ellorya, but a spy from the Blood Kingdoms just returned.” A dark-haired woman approached as Sephi introduced her.
“This is my sister, Dekayna. She has news from the north you both need to hear.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ember said, and Max nodded.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mistress,” Dekayna answered.
“What news?” Max asked.
“I have just returned from Corynth. The civil war is over. King Bale is dead, and Corleya Bale has been crowned the new queen.”
“How?” Ember asked. “Last we heard, Duchess Vakaran was on the verge of victory.”
“I do not have precise details on the war. However, several weeks ago, a mature DeathWizard helped restore Corleya Bale to the throne, and then, he proceeded to free Giddeon Zirakus and Kasik Blodhjorr from the DragonKin.”
“That makes no sense,” Ember replied as a frown crawled across her brow.
“We agree,” Nekrosa said. “The only DeathWizard who would do such a thing would be—”
“Kael,” Ember whispered. Her mind whirled. Kael was dead. There was no doubt about it at all. Unless there was. “Yrlissa,” she growled.
“What would I know? I have been here with you.”
“Don’t play stupid with me,” she barked. “The night I found you unconscious by Kael’s crypt. What did you do? I could sense the magic you used. It was far from normal, even for you.”
“We're going to have to talk about this later.” Max interjected, his voice hollow with concern. “The Elloryan army is on the move. We have to engage them now, or we risk losing the high ground to the valley.”
“We have a bigger problem,” Nekrosa added.
“What?” Ember asked.
“Queen WhiteScale has not arrived and the Fae contingent have not jumped in, yet.”
“They promised they’d be here,” Ember stated. “My mother promised.”
Ember stared back across the valley plains, again. Sure enough, the massive Elloryan army was on the move.
“They must have been engaged elsewhere,” Sephi offered. “They are each guarding one seal. Perhaps the Ri’Tek have moved on another seal as well.”
“What do we do without them?” Ember gasped.
“We go to war,” Yrlissa replied. “War waits on no one—not even a Dragon or the Fae.” She turned on her heel and left.
Ember swallowed, hard. “Goddammit, Yrlissa,” she snapped, but set it aside to focus on the immediate threat. “Be as safe as you can be.”
DORMASAI FORWARD MILITARY CAMP
PEDDLER’S VALLEY
Ember stared out across the valley as the DormaSain ShieldDogs set their feet and pieced their shield wall together to hold back the rush of Elloryan cavalry racing across the valley floor. The bulk of the army ran behind the cavalry. Though frustrated at not being on the front lines, she knew better. Helping from a safe location in the camp was dangerous enough—especially seeing as the Fae and DragonKin were busy elsewhere and could not help.
A flash of magic caught her attention as it rippled through the attacking cavalry. She immediately recognized the adapted Fae shield magic protecting the cavalry’s men and horses from the impact with their own shield wall. In a matter of seconds, the shield wall would be obliterated, and the army behind it would be vulnerable to attack.
“Ember!” Nekrosa snapped from her right. “They won’t stand a chance. Help them!”
Even as she reached out with her magic, she knew it was hopeless. Her magic faded against the altered shield spell. It was as if she was somehow locked out of being able to affect the enemy’s spell.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “The spell’s been changed to keep me out.”
“But your reach is that far?” Sephi asked quickly. Ember nodded as the Queen turned to her husband. “That means the Ancient wizards are further back, love. There are no Ancient amulets among the cavalry.”
“Right, the White Cabal should be able to use magic,” he answered, moving to speak with his runners. “Tell the Whitebloods and the Caballa families to attack—but not at risk to themselves. You carry the attack order to General Soren.” He passed the runners a sealed missive each and sent them on their way.”
“The shield wall will still collapse,” Ember told them as her stomach grew cold.
“My soldiers have trained for that. Perhaps the Cabal can weaken the shield,” Nekrosa stated. “Either way, they will hold long enough for the units under Max’s command to close the pincher from the northern slopes—especially with the White Cabal and my archers hitting them from the southern edge of the forest.”
As if his words were prophetic, magic lit up the southern side of the valley while a storm of arrows whistled through the sky. Ember watched in horror as the magic and the enhanced arrow volley hit the magical shield around the cavalry but did not penetrate.
“Oh no, they—”Her words stopped short as black lightning ripped across the valley. The blast of energy sliced through the adapted Fae shield at the rear of the cavalry just as the first of the charging horses hit the DormaSain shield wall.
“By the Void’s holy ass.” Nekrosa cursed. “That’s DeathWizard magic! Look.” Ember followed his finger, looking to the northern cliffs just half a mile from where Max’s troops began to charge. A long figure dressed in a black sleeveless robe with a dark hood stood on the cliff’s edge. He released another torrent of black and purple lightning. Clearly targeting only the Elloryan forces, the dark wizard’s spell tore into the cavalry unit, again. The modified shield winked out of existence as the remaining men and horses collided with men and shields, both exploding along the front line.
The screams of pain from both horse and man made her wince. Another blast of magic from the wizard destroyed most of the remaining cavalry while Max and his units hit the main force of the Elloryan army from the left. Still, a dozen horsemen managed to punch through the front lines. Instead of engaging the main army, they circled to the south and galloped straight for the pass to DormaSai’s main camp.
“They’re coming our way,” Ember whispered. “Why?”
“They would not dare,” Sephi began, her voice catching. She stared at Nekrosa with waves of worry radiating off her.
Nekrosa shook his head. “The Ancients have no knowledge of modern warfare. Where’s Yrlissa?”
“With Dekayna,” Sephi replied.
“Why?” Ember asked.
“Because,” he answered. “There’s only one reason why those mounts are heading our way.”
Ember frowned, still not understanding.
“To kill us,” Sephi told her quickly. She scrambled around the command tent, grabbing supplies and two water jugs. “By killing DormaSai’s king and queen, the Ancients can place their puppet on our throne.”
“Not on my watch,” Nekrosa snapped and spat the words to a spell. “Wings of death's shadow, words of the faithful, speak.” A black shadow bird unfolded from the air in front of him and squawked. The necromancy communication bird dropped to the command table and opened its mouth. The sounds of clashing metal followed on the tail of another screech.
“Little busy, your majesty,” Dekayna said as her voice rolled from the undead bird’s beak. Three quick strikes of metal on metal rang in the air, and an agonizing cry from a mortal wound chased the words out of the bird.
“I need you and Yrlissa to fall back to the main camp,” Nekrosa ordered. “A dozen Elloryan heavy cavalry are on their way. The Ancients are not holding to Talohna’s modern warfare etiquette—if they’re even aware of it. We may need to retreat, and we’ll need you both here.”
The clash of more swords came from the bird, and Ember frowned with worry when no answer came.
Several minutes passed a
nd finally a gasp and an answer followed. “We’re on our way, Nekrosa,” Yrlissa replied. “Get your ass up, Dekayna—”
“Dammit.” Nekrosa cursed as the connect was severed on the other end and the undead bird vanished. Ember followed him as he hobbled around the command table and approached the cliff overlooking the battlefield. “Ellorya is bringing up a second charge. Our men are going to be hard pressed to hold even though their strategy makes no sense.”
“They don’t have much choice. They must attack head on. It’s why we picked this spot,” Ember said.
“Yes,” he quipped. “But they’re still trying to hammer their way through. There are at least three more units back there, but they’re only sending one at a time… why?”
Ember shook her head. “Good question. I’m not a military commander, Nekrosa,” she reminded him. She watched helplessly as Max’s units were over run only a half mile away. Max would be fine—he always was—she hoped. She swallowed her concern and turned to Nekrosa as a thought jumped to the front of her mind. “This isn’t an invasion.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it, Nekrosa,” she said.
“She’s right,” Max said as he stepped around the side of the command tent, panting.
“Thank god,” Ember let out and went to hug him but stopped short. His armor was covered in blood and gore. “Wait, your unit just fell now. We saw it.”
“A couple of us came back when we saw the cavalry horses head your way,” he explained and stared at Nekrosa. “Ember’s right. This attack was just a way to attack this command camp. The Ancients knew you’d be lightly guarded. The Elder Council’s war crime commission doesn’t allow attacking command tents when royalty or nobility are present, and they’re using it to get rid of you both. You have to run. We’ll hold them as long as we can—”
“Commander Max, Sir!” Dalen Toth blurted into the conversation as he stumbled over a tent peg and nearly fell. “The horsemen are nearly here!”
“Thank you, Dalen,” Max said. “Return to the others and make them ready.”
The young DeathDog saluted and left.
“You have to go, Nekrosa,” Max insisted. “Take Ember, Cassie, and Aravae. We’ll follow when we can. Acropolis is only a dozen miles away. The remainder of the special forces are there.”
The King frowned as Sephi approached and nodded. “I can’t abandon my men, Max.”
“If you don’t retreat and regroup, their lives will have meant nothing,” Max barked. “Men die in battle, Nekrosa. If you are alive, there is always a chance to regroup and fight another day.”
“Come, love,” Sephi prompted and finally got a nod from the King.
Ember grabbed Max’s arm. “I’ll stay,” she said. “You’ll need to jump out if things go bad.”
“And if one of those amulets get too close?” he asked. “Then what? I saw that wizard, Ember. If there is any chance that might be Kael, you must get out of here alive. If you can find him using your magic, then we might have a chance to win this war.”
“You really think it could be him?” she began.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We laid him to rest. He was gone. We know that, Ember. But that DeathWizard up there helped us. His attack seriously weakened the impact of that cavalry charge.”
“Okay,” she replied. “I’ll go, but you’d better follow us, Max. I mean it.”
“We will. Now, go.”
She nodded and raced after Nekrosa and Sephi.
Max pulled his blood-caked war hammer from his back headed toward the forest. The branches and bushes cracked and crashed as the Elloryan cavalry exploded from the forest line and plowed into the few remaining DeathDogs left.
ACROPA MOUNTAIN PASS
DORMASAI
Ember collapsed, falling to the leaf-mold utterly exhausted. They had been running since the moment the Elloryan Calvary burst into their camp. Dekayna, Yrlissa, and Max—along with the only four surviving DeathDogs—had caught up to Ember and her royal protectors an hour later. Unfortunately, that left the Elloryan royal knights and ground soldiers scouring the forest after their tail. Yrlissa and the four DeadthDogs had dropped back to slow the pursuers.
Aravae and Cassie crashed through the last of the heavy underbrush and fell to the grass just inside a wide clearing, the rest were close behind. Yrlissa burst into the open shortly after. She was alone and shook her head when Max glanced her way to inquire about his men.
“Fuck! Get up! Both of you!” he yelled. Grabbing Ember's arm, he lifted her clean onto her feet.
“Myhnera! I can’t, please,” Cassie pleaded, dropping back to her knees after only seconds on her feet. “I can't run anymore.”
“I'm tired, Max,” Ember panted. “Just give us a minute.”
Yrlissa bent down beside her daughter. “Come, mai nohva. We must keep running.”
Cassie started to cry. “I can't...”
“I'll carry you, Cassie. Come on,” Max said, turning his back to her. As she climbed up, Max noticed the King leaning heavily on his spear. “Nekrosa? Come on, man. We gotta go.”
“He can't. His leg,” Sephi replied while she helped her husband remain standing.
“Here, sister.” Dekayna handed Sephi a finger-sized rolled leaf filled with turrin moss and returned to her point position out front.
“The feeling in my leg is gone. I'll just slow you down,” Nekrosa told them, popping the leaf into his cheek and biting. The leaf would release the resin mix inside the wrapped moss and hopefully, restore function to his leg or deaden some of the pain.
Sephi corrected him in a whisper, “We, love.” Turning to Max, she added, “Please, go. We'll earn you some time.”
Ember ignored her offer. “I am not leaving you,” she barked. “Five minutes. We'll take a five-minute break.”
“We can't keep this pace,” Aravae added. Bent at the waist, she held her side and gasped for breath.
“We have to and more,” Yrlissa snapped. “Acropolis is still three or four miles away and they're gaining on us—”
“Wrong, Guardian,” Sythrnax interrupted as he walked from the forest into the clearing. “They've caught you.” Over a dozen Elloryan soldiers surrounded them from the rear.
Max crouched, setting Cassie down. He nodded to Yrlissa and left the little girl with Nekrosa and Sephi.
“Yrlissa,” Ember said, panicking. “I can't feel my magic.”
“Me, either. It's the pendants.”
Nekrosa stood straight. “Good thing they don't work on us.”
“You're right,” Sythrnax replied, stopping less than ten feet away from the DormaSain King. “Normally. But you see, after the last debacle in your castle, the Vikress found this neat little trick to stop your magic as well. Technically, Nekrosa Kohl, bonded or not you are still a wizard, even if you were created within the Void as you claim.”
Sythrnax turned back to the forest behind him and waved. Two heavily armored Elloryan knights dragged a woman into the clearing. Dekayna had no choice but to step aside and let them pass.
The Ancient flourished his hand as the knights came closer. “I present to you one Katarina Desolla,” Sythrnax said. “This little witch I found has a unique ability. It seems when the Vikress killed Ella the White, this young one took Ella's power for herself.” Lifting a small pendant from around the witch's neck, Sythrnax continued. “This pendant will attract any magic. Anything you cast, will be absorbed by her, King Kohl.”
He laughed as the knights forced the woman to her knees. Grabbing her hair, the knight to her left yanked her head back. Ancient markings had been carved into her face and forehead. They were healed, but heavily scarred.
“Katarina?” Yrlissa shouted. “Gods, no. I'm sorry.”
“I am quite afraid she can't hear you, Guardian. Talohna’s new witch of the White does not have much of a mind left I am afraid.”
“She will, Sythrnax,” Yrlissa challenged. “After you're dead, I will help Ember strip that Anc
ient script from her mind.”
“Ah, now there's the Yrlissa Blackmist I remember. I was afraid you'd lost her after so many years. I remember well the atrocities you committed.”
“I committed? You gods-cursed animals were the ones killing innocent people. Most had no magic at all, and still you murdered and slaughtered them,” Yrlissa screamed
“Do not speak to me about slaughter, dosa! I pulled pieces of your cursed wooden dagger from my daughter's neck before I laid her small body to rest forever within our mother earth. She was nine years old! Your race and every other race deserves every ounce of pain we inflict on you all. You forced us into a war we desperately tried to avoid. After everything we did to help you! I'm tired of having this argument and seeing as how we don't need this young Fae anymore, you can all die here. This rebellion is over!” A six-foot-long staff appeared out of nowhere as Sythrnax breathed life into the weapon with words long forgotten by any living wizard. Lazy wisps of cold air rose along the staff's wicked blades.
“Yrlissa?”
“It's all right, Ember. We'll fight, Sythrnax. Even using mundane weapons,” she said, pulling her wooden daggers from the sheathes at the rear of her waistband. Max removed the massive war hammer from his back. Grabbing the neck under the hammer, he set the bladed tip of the handle in the ground.
“It won't be that easy, Sythrnax.” Max smiled.
“You will still die, dosa, even with a demon hammer.”
Yrlissa gasped, and Sythrnax chuckled.
“You didn't know, Guardian?” he asked. “I am truly surprised. The last time I stood across from you in battle, Assani, he,” Sythrnax pointed at Max, Yrlissa's eyes followed, “fought miles above us. He led your army as you protected that Kai’Sar, Asa N'ahai, while he opened the first dimensional doorway that trapped my people.”
“Stop stalling, Sythrnax,” Max snapped. “Your stories are nothing but fiction.”