Proven

by H. M. Clarke

  Ryn inwardly cursed. This is what happens when things start to look like they are going her way. “Why are you still holding the Blackwatch? Are they still alive?” Ryn let the tip of her sword fall to the ground. It did her no good wasting her energy holding it up before her.

  Leeta raised her hand and flicked it towards the shimmer that Ryn had seen earlier in the corner of the room. The shimmer lightened enough for her to see through it. Behind it was Lily and two other girls huddled against the corner.

  Lily plus two? Ryn felt the frown forming on her face. She turned her eyes back to Leeta, but Dagan asked the question before she or anyone else could.

  “There is one missing. There should be three cadets.”

  “They can break the hold of the mind charm. We cannot have them running to the authorities, can we? So we are using their life and magical energy to help build better, stronger charms.”

  “So… you killed her?” Ryn thought the voice was Ashe’s but she couldn’t be sure.

  “Good to know you’re barking mad. And dangerous. A person’s life magic should never be taken by force. It is an abomination to destroy the soul of another. It makes what I need to do so much easier.” Dagan straightened and the blue runes on his staff suddenly flared brighter. She then saw that both Donal and Vannik followed suit, though Vannik held his rod in his hand like he was about to hammer something with it.

  Leeta turned to her people and swept her arm out to point at the group of Blackwatch.

  “Capture them all, their life force is strong and can be used to continue our work.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  As soon as she finished speaking she rushed to the back of the group as they moved forward towards Ryn and Dagan and the other Blackwatch.

  Ryn stepped closer to Dagan. They were a Pair now, so they had better start fighting like one. She noticed that Donal and Ashe had done the same. Banar, so used to fighting with a mage was now by himself when the first of the enemy hit. But Vannik, bless his heart, darted forward quickly to stand with him. Then she lost track of the others as the enemy came against her and Dagan.

  A pair of daggers flashed out at her.

  Ryn bought her sword around and knocked them away while her left hand pulled her dagger from its scabbard. She did not have her shield, so Ryn hoped that she was good enough with the dagger to fend off the blows coming to her left.

  With the dagger covering her left side and sword drawn, both Ryn and the man circled then began to whack at each other. Ryn lifted her dagger and caught a blow then pounded into the man’s off arm with her own sword hilt. The man disengaged and smashed at Ryn again. The clashing of metal filled Ryn’s ears and made her unaware of anything else around her.

  Ryn jumped, dodging a blow to her legs, and then smashed the man across the chest with the chunky butt of her dagger. A loud Oofff escaped his lips, and she swung hard with her sword.

  The man retreated then attacked again.

  Ryn swung toward him, and he turned to catch the blow with the cross piece of his sword. The man overcompensated his balance and fell forward, his sword thrusting toward Ryn's chest.

  A zap of blue lightning caught the man in the side and he was knocked sideways to crash into another swordsman trying to flank Vannik.

  A quick nod from Dagan, and then the next opponent was upon her.

  She gripped her dagger, holding it along her forearm, edge side out and used it to help catch blows that her shield, if she had it, would have stopped. Ryn had practiced like this many a time with Ashe, but this was the first time that her life and others depended on her skill.

  Stepping forward, Ryn raised her arm and took a blow against the dagger on her forearm while jabbing at the man’s exposed belly with her sword.

  The man sucked his stomach in and jumped back.

  But Ryn followed him, using her sword as a distraction.

  He raised his blade to parry hers away.

  She captured his blade against her sword’s hilt.

  And then she ran her forearm along the length of his sword arm.

  Blood seeped into the surrounding cloth and Ryn danced away as the man’s grip relaxed and his sword dropped from nerveless fingers to clatter to the ground.

  She made sure of her grip on her dagger, keeping it secure along her forearm.

  Then another two men were bearing down on her.

  She backed closer to Dagan. He was just whacking the steel end of his staff into the head of a man already doubled over, knocking him unconscious.

  Ashe and Donal charged the two men and now for a brief moment, Ryn and Dagan were unoccupied.

  It was then that Ryn realized that she could now hear a low murmur over the sounds of physical combat. She turned to look at Dagan.

  “The mages stayed back for a reason,” he said. “She wants us alive so they are combining their power to capture us in barrier bubbles. We’ve got to stop them before they finish casting that spell.”

  Ryn didn't quite understand about the spells but she knew whatever it was must be bad. “What should we do?” Ryn quickly looked around and saw that there was more enemy lying on the ground then there was standing.

  “I need Donal and Vannik free to help me. I know Vannik can cast an effective dispel magic spell, Donal and I will funnel our power to him and he can force a magic dispel to go through this entire area. You and the others will then need to get to that huddle of mages before they can start again. Got it?”

  Ryn nodded. “We can handle it.”

  “I’m beginning to see that now.”

  Ryn thought she heard a little respect in his voice, but she could be mistaken over the sounds of battle.

  “I’ll go tap Donal and Vannik to come back to you.”

  Dagan nodded. He then reached out and clasped her shoulder. Ryn turned back to him expecting more instructions.

  “Please be careful.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise and for a brief moment, she felt something flicker through the Link. But then it was gone, replaced with cold determination.

  “I will. I’m like a bad smell, I always come back.”

  With a grin, she turned and headed towards Vannik, who had now been joined by Bron.

  She sidestepped as a swordsman staggered by her and fell unconscious to the floor. She saw Bron spin and his hands whip back and then forward. Light flashed off steel. The man on Vannik dropped to his knees with a scream, clawing at his back where the blades had sliced through the leather. Ryn could not believe that a man so large could move so fast.

  For the moment, Vannik was free.

  “Vannik,” Ryn called out to the group by way of warning. The large man lowered his rod and looked at her. Banar stepped in to engage the next thug. “Dagan needs both you and Donal back with him. He needs your magic.”

  The big man nodded and retreated past her. Ryn moved on and delivered the same message to Donal who gave her a quick smile and left. She took his place next to Ashe and raised her blade to meet the next swordsman.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Dagan watched Ryn head back into the fray.

  Since when did I become so sentimental?

  Kimba was right. The Link does do strange things. The events of this morning amply proved that.

  Dagan mentally shook himself and focused back on the task at hand.

  At the far end of the hall, the mages had gathered around the one called Leeta. She held her staff horizontal to the floor and the other mages had all placed their hands on it. The runes on the staff began to glow with an eerie yellow light that reflected against the surrounding faces making them look like cadaverous mockeries of life. Even above the sounds of fighting, he could hear the combined murmur as each voice incanted their power into Leeta’s staff. There was something strange about that staff though Dagan could not quite put his finger on it.

  “Magister, Ryn said you needed me?”

  Dagan nodded to Vannik, though he did not take his eyes from the group of mages.

  �
��Dagan, Ryn-”

  “Yes, Donal. I need both you and Vannik.” Dagan finally tore his gaze away from the mages and looked at the two men.

  Donal came to stand next to him, leaning heavily on his rune lit staff, his dark hair falling into his eyes. Sweat beaded on his forehead and there was a red spatter against the skin of his cheek and neck, the rest hidden by the dark cloth of his Blackwatch uniform. “They’re pumping a crap ton of power into that staff, Dagan. I’m surprised that it hasn’t splintered under the pressure.”

  A flood of realization came over Dagan as Donal’s words sunk in. “It has a metal core which means that it has been expressly created to funnel power.”

  “Which then means that we are in for a deep shit pan of trouble,” Vannik rumbled. The big man looked unfazed, he still stood tall and true with his mass of long gray hair floating wildly about his head. His blood spattered beard looked no better and his clothes also carried the muck of battle. Bron will be sending Dagan a very big laundry bill.

  Dagan nodded. “I think they are going to cast a stasis spell to trap us all and we need to stop them before they can, which is where you come in Vannik.”

  “Me? But I’m a pseudo unreg.”

  “A pseudo unreg who can cast a damn fine dispel magic that can go clean through an area in seconds.”

  “It’s nice to have my magic be appreciated for once.”

  Dagan nodded. The murmuring from the group began to increase. They did not have much time.

  “Vannik, you are to cast and myself and Donal will funnel our power into you.”

  “I’ve never done that before!”

  “You’ve got to start sometime and now’s the time to do it. Just cast your spell like you normally do and draw the power from your inner core. Donal and I will be feeding our power into your inner core. Draw as much power as you think you’ll need. And then release the spell when I give the command.”

  Vannik nodded and took his place in front of Dagan and Donal and planted his feet firmly on the floor and leaned forward as if he was bracing himself to catch something.

  Dagan twisted his arm tighter into his staff’s leather strap and rested the head of his glowing blue runed staff against Vannik’s left shoulder blade and Donal laid his purple runed staff against the right.

  As soon as the big man felt both staves on his back, he raised his rod horizontally before him and began to incant.

  Time seemed to slow as Dagan felt the power flow from his core, through his body and into his hands, and as it flowed into his staff and seeped up the wood, each of the inscribed runes glowed brighter and stronger than they did a moment before. He knew, rather than felt when his power finally entered Vannik, and then he lost it as Vannik gathered it all up and whisked it away. Dagan felt his muscles weaken, but he steeled his resolve and kept himself in place. From the corner of his eye, Dagan saw Donal doing the same.

  The murmuring from the Mages gathered around Leeta grew louder.

  Dagan risked a look and saw that the stasis spell build was almost complete. There was not long to go now, another moment and those mages will be just as wreaked as he and Donal are going to be when Vannik’s spell begins to be cast.

  A body collapsed. And then another. Leeta abruptly tipped her staff vertical, with the foot of it knee high from the floor. The murmuring ceased as the rest of the mages dropped to the floor, exhausted. Leeta began to take up the chant. The staff clasped in her hands began to pulse with the yellow light in bright, blinding bursts.

  “Vannik, dispel, dispel, DISPELL!”

  Vannik, his small rod held horizontal before him, let all the power he had gathered together within him flow from his hand into the slender metal rod with each word he murmured. Runes flared to life in a burst of orange light, except Vannik’s light burned with the bright goodness of sunlight with hints of blue and purple glinting in its heart.

  Dagan noted the muscles of Vannik’s shoulders stiffen as he bolstered himself against the powerful flow of magic running through him.

  Leeta raised her staff and then bought its heel down hard on the floor, causing its sick, yellow light to flash out away from it into the hall.

  At the same moment, Vannik swung his rod around his head and at its apex flicked it, causing a concussive wave of magic to flood into the hall, rushing to meet the expanding flash of yellow coming towards them.

  Leeta’s yellow flash met her own men first, and they instantly froze in whatever position they were in when it hit. The men were encased in a pulsating, yellow light, holding them immobile in the position they were in when caught. Dagan watched as Ryn and the others rushed back towards their position and he felt a brief spike of fear come through the Link before being replaced by grim determination.

  The yellow flash and the orange wave rushed towards each other to meet in the center of the hall. They collided with such concussive force, that a shockwave of orange, blue and purple light burst out in all directions, knocking all and sundry to the ground.

  Ryn!

  Distracted by Ryn, Dagan grunted as Vannik’s large frame fell back into him catching him unawares. He briefly heard Donal cry out before his voice was ripped away by the tail end of the blast. He still kept a loose grip on his staff, though the leather strap that he had twisted around his forearm had tightened with the force. And then all three of them were sliding along the floor, the force of the wave pushing them back.

  And then in the blink of an eye, the hall was clear. And silent.

  “By Bellus’s Bloody Ball’s, what was that?”

  The sound of Ryn’s voice breaking the quiet stilled the racing of his heart and stifled the unconscious fear that had been quickly building inside him.

  “That was me… I think,” Vannik rumbled as he rolled himself off of Dagan and Donal and slowly pushed himself to his feet.

  Pushing himself up on an elbow, Dagan moved his legs enough to get them under him and then rose slowly to his feet. By Bellus he felt weak. Luckily he had his staff to help him stand.

  “Can someone help me up?”

  Dagan turned and held a hand out to Donal, Vannik clasped the other and they both hauled him to his feet. He wobbled a little but quickly steadied once he had his staff to help prop him up.

  Movement at the far end of the hall caught Dagan’s eye. Ryn and Ashe were checking the mages. They were all out cold, as were the warriors. Banar was checking the captured Blackwatch now that the barrier was down.

  “Where’s Bron?”

  Vannik’s question had Dagan’s eyes darting around the hall. There were a lot of bodies though, none at first sight looked large enough to be Bron.

  “Maybe he’s unconscious among all that lot. He could be under some of them,” Donal said as he started to move slowly in the direction where he last saw him.

  “Yes, he could.” Vannik moved to follow him.

  “Dagan?” Ryn called out across the hall.

  “Yes, Ryn?”

  “All of these magi are out cold. I think one or two of them might be dead.”

  “She must have drained every drop of magic from them, or they were not strong enough to endure the channeling.” Dagan made the slow walk to the other end of the hall to see for himself. As he walked he could feel his strength returning. He should not have channeled so much of his own magic into Vannik, but at least there was not one piece of operable magic in this place that Dagan could ‘feel’. That blast must have cleared the entire farm.

  “Thank Bellus that nightmare is over!” A voice uttered into the quiet hall.

  Dagan looked to the corner where Banar was helping Lily sit against the wall.

  “Thank Bellus you’re alright,” Banar said as he placed a hand uncertainly on her shoulder. “You are alright aren’t you?”

  “The barrier is open… By Bellus’s light…” One of the girls had woken and was now trying to sit up. “Are we saved?”

  Dagan did not hear Banar’s response as Ryn was crossing the floor to meet him. “Are you hurt?�
� she asked accusingly, gesturing to his use of the staff.

  Dagan shook his head. “Just a little weak, but my strength is quickly returning. Donal is worse off I fear. I don’t think he’s channeled before.”

  Ryn glared at him and he felt her checking their Link to see if he was lying to her. “Ryn, I’m a little hurt that you don’t trust me.”

  “I do trust you,” she said stopping a hands width away from him. “I trust you to tell me what you think I want to hear.” Her eyes slid over his shoulder. “Ashe has got Donal, he’s helping him look for something…?” she asked looking back at him.

  “Helping Vannik look for Bron. He’s not standing with us, so he’s got to be down somewhere.”

  Ryn nodded and then looked over her shoulder at the group in the corner. Dagan could feel a little uncertainty through the Link. At least it was no longer directed at him.

  “Dagan, is there a way to tell if they are still mind controlled?”

  “Yes. There is a way, but the Dispel that Vannik cast would have ripped whatever charms they had on them to shreds. The only magic that could survive that blast would be rune staves.” Dagan held up his own staff as an example and let the small amount of magic left in him to trickle into its runes. They glowed a weak blue before he pulled the magic back. “See?”

  “Yes, I see.” Her eyes flicked again to the corner.

  “What I said to you the other day still applies,” Dagan said. “Trust no one.”

  “Even you?”

  “Especially me.”

  Ryn looked again at the corner, and then she frowned. “Shouldn’t there be three cadets?”

  Dagan looked himself. There were Banar and Lily and he recognized the two girls from his run-in in the Women’s Barracks yesterday morning. “Yes, there should.”

  Without saying anything more, Dagan walked to the corner. His steps were much stronger now and barely needed the staff to help him. His rest as he talked with Ryn restored much of what was lost to Vannik.