by Frank Morin
Three little Misters creeping in like a dream.
Four little Misters leave no time to scream.
Five little Misters clear the food from your plate.
Six little Misters strike with overwhelming weight.
Seven little Misters touch steel to every kill point.
Eight little Misters take the heart and not the joint.
Nine little Misters draw secrets using screws.
Ten little Misters kill them while they snooze.”
That wasn’t actually too bad, although the line about clearing food from a plate sounded more like a truth Hamish would teach. The mental image made Connor smile. What other courses would he teach if he ran an academy? Pocket hoarding, food diplomacy, and practical joke fundamentals immediately came to mind.
Student Eighteen looked shocked, and exclaimed, “The great and first leader would not institute the sacred titles based on such a silly rhyme.”
Kilian shrugged. “You know I never lie. Mhortair was your first and great leader. Fine, I won’t argue that point. However, I knew him in earlier days when he pursued a different life. Arguing about why he experienced a change of heart, reversed the direction of his life, and established your community the way he did would be a waste of time.”
While she considered that, Hamish said, “I think it’s time to bank south.”
He descended from the fast-moving air current and made the turn. Soon they spotted the peaks and swooped down in that direction. Most of that part of Ravinder was comprised of flat plains, broken only by gently rolling hills. It already looked green with spring grasses, and Connor could see why Ravinder was renowned as the grain-growing capital of the world.
A cluster of mountains broke the otherwise unremarkable plain. A group of low hills surrounded a smaller number of larger hills, almost big enough to be called mountains. Two tall peaks reared out of the center, rising several thousand feet higher. They were rather narrow, like giant stone spears driven up from underground.
The tops of the peaks were sheer stone cliffs, close together like two tines of a giant fork. They reminded him a little of Badurach Pass. Lower down, they expanded into a series of shoulders and canyons, with steep valleys clogged with lots of broken stone and debris. He spotted few signs that anything green or living grew anywhere on the desolate peaks. Any other time traveling past, he would have felt no desire to explore the grim peaks.
The afternoon shadows were beginning to settle heavy over the canyons to the east of the mountains, and even when Hamish activated the long vision viewscreen, Connor didn’t see anything that looked like a city.
“Are you sure these are the right mountains?” Hamish asked, peering forward intently.
Student Eighteen smiled. “Do you think it would be easy to spot a secret city?”
“From way up here I did,” Hamish admitted.
The fact that they were having so much trouble finding the city helped ease Connor’s fears. If they struggled to find Jagdish, surely Queen Dreokt wouldn’t know exactly where to find it either. She’d fallen to the long sleep before Mhortair transitioned to his new life as the great and first Mhortair.
“There!” Connor said, pointing. He wouldn’t have spotted the subtle signs of human habitation in one of the high, rocky canyons if not for movement. Scores of soldiers were rushing along the top of what looked like a sheer cliff high up one of the canyons. Only as he focused on the area did he realize it was a wall, cleverly worked into the natural landscape to look like a rock face.
The top of the wall was more than a dozen feet thick, but the flat walkway was hidden by a three foot wall of rock that blended in with the cliff face. Squat guard towers were worked into the slopes at either end, and even with his enhanced vision he almost missed them.
The wall blocked a steep, narrow canyon that wound down through the lower reaches of the mountain to the foothills and plain beyond. It looked like a difficult climb, and the city would be invisible to anyone approaching from the land. Now that Connor recognized the wall, he spotted the angles and straight edges of buildings of a city clustered in the deep canyon behind it. At first, they had looked like boulders and debris. If not for Student Eighteen’s guidance, they could have searched for weeks without finding Jagdish.
“They must have spotted us,” Hamish said with a frown. “I had hoped to surprise them.”
Connor’s tension grew as he gazed down on the fast assembling soldiers. He sought peace with the dangerous assassins and vital knowledge to ascend. With Student Eighteen’s help, he hoped to make the Mhortair powerful allies, but their response suggested they might not be as accommodating as he had hoped.
Kilian glanced at Student Eighteen. “Did you warn them we were coming?”
“Of course not. I’ve been actively suppressing the noise from our thrusters to keep them from noticing us.”
“Pathfinders might have spotted us descending, but why would they be scanning this high? With our paint scheme, we’re hard to see unless they were specifically looking for us,” Hamish said.
He was right. It didn’t make sense that they’d been spotted so soon. Connor scanned the area beyond the mountain, trying to figure out what was going on. At the edge of his vision, movement miles to the south drew his gaze. He focused on a solitary figure sliding across the land upon a glittering throne of ice.
Sudden fear chilled him as he recognized the figure.
“They’re not mobilizing because of us. Look! Queen Dreokt is already here.”
47
If Only We Had a Month to Plan
Connor’s hope wilted as he stared down at the queen. At least she wasn’t flying, but that offered little consolation. For some reason she had chosen to approach Jagdish by land. Maybe she was questing out for the city through slate, although Connor would be surprised if the Mhortair city wasn’t heavily shielded.
If it was, she’d pierced the illusion because she looked like she knew exactly where she was going. Queen Dreokt moved at speed, sitting on a glittering throne of ice, carried along by a boiling platform of blue-green waters. She slid north, moving fast, but not as fast as Connor suspected she could. It was almost as if she wanted to give the inhabitants of the doomed city time to recognize their fate.
Harley had acted in similar arrogant fashion in her assault on Althing. It had been extremely annoying, although ultimately they had managed to use the time to turn the tide against her.
Kilian grimaced and muttered a curse under his breath. “That’s her, all right. She’ll reach Jagdish in less than half an hour.”
“Oh, no,” Student Eighteen breathed, her face ashen with fear. “We’re too late.”
That’s what Connor feared. He couldn’t help think that if they hadn’t turned back to help their friends in Merkland they would have arrived in time to learn vital information and hopefully gain some help in preparing him to ascend. Just as he had feared, saving Verena and the others might have just cost them the war.
He hated thinking that, and refused to accept the idea that sacrificing Verena to that summoned horde might have been the right thing to do.
“What can we do?” Hamish asked nervously. He had slowed their descent. They were still a couple miles in the air, a few miles northeast of Jagdish.
“We have to help them,” Connor said.
“Yes,” Student Eighteen said eagerly. They all turned to Kilian, who was scowling down at his mother, small in the distance even through the enhanced viewscreen.
“We’re not ready to fight her yet,” he said gravely.
Connor opened his mouth to protest, but Kilian flashed a predatory grin and added, “But we can’t afford not to. Student Eighteen, can you contact your people without her hearing?”
She nodded and leaned forward, focusing on her distant home. Connor tapped serpentinite and reached for the other elements too. He was nervous, not angry, so the connections came a little slower this time and he had to tap a little porphyry to help stabilize them.
<
br /> Porphyry awoke in his heart and he felt the beast reacting to his fear with a growl, and sensed its desire to transform and hunt whatever dared scare him. That feeling eased his fear a little, and the elements appeared in his mind. Water appeared first, looking beautiful and regal, as always. She wore a shimmering gown that glittered like ten thousand points of light reflecting off of crystal droplets of water.
Strangely, porphyry reacted to her appearance with another growl. Connor pushed it back out of the way. He didn’t have time for porphyry’s out-of-control rage problems. He’d thought he was past all that.
Connor addressed Water in his mind. Can you hear me? Are you real? Verena told me she met you. Thank you for helping her.
She inclined her head toward him and smiled. He sensed that she wanted to communicate more, but for some reason did not. If she was only a figment of his imagination, then he was giving her those attributes, but he hoped she was something more, and wished he had time to explore the mystery.
Fire appeared beside Water, dressed in a fancy doublet made of flickering, multi-colored flames. As always, the red and green energy frequencies flowed across his clothing, but did not diminish the brilliant colors of his wardrobe. His hair looked longer, full of crimson and yellow flames, and he winked at Connor, then strode around Water, appraising her elegant gown with an appreciative eye.
Earth rose up from the depths to stand beside the others, his expression a bit troubled as he glanced out toward Queen Dreokt. Air flitted down from above, her gown made up of dozens of strips of light blue cloth, their detached ends floating around her like clouds. Her hair was loose, and it hung long and dark around her oval face, blown constantly by an invisible, gentle breeze. Her eyes were filled with tiny tornadoes, and she winked at Connor, then danced lightly around Earth, who tried to look unimpressed, but turned to follow her.
Serpentinite entered his mind with the sound of Verena’s laughter, echoing endlessly around the other elements. They ignored the formless late-comer, and Connor sensed for the first time that they somehow considered serpentinite unworthy of their company.
Where had that come from? Was that another figment of his imagination, or a glimmer of truth from real beings that chose to walk with him?
His musings were interrupted by a brilliant beam of pure, white light streaking away from the Hawk. It originated with Aifric, who had opened her mouth to speak. Connor heard nothing as she caught her words and cast them down that beam of light that acted like an insulating tube, preventing anyone else from eavesdropping.
The beam of sound touched down upon the wall and bounced back and forth between the guard houses for a few seconds before one of the soldiers reached out a hand and caught it.
“They have received my message,” Student Eighteen said happily.
“What did you tell them?” Hamish asked.
“I told them we’re here, who we are, that we spotted Queen Dreokt approaching, and wish to help.”
“That’s a good start,” Kilian said.
Connor hoped so. The Mhortair could have easily interpreted their arrival at the same time as Queen Dreokt as a threat. They all had too much to deal with to fight each other over a misunderstanding.
Another beam of light erupted off the ground and shot for the Hawk. Connor tensed to defend them if the light proved dangerous, but Student Eighteen extended a hand, and he felt her pulling at the light. It struck her hand and rolled up her arm.
The light disappeared into her ears. She sighed, a little tension easing from her posture. “They know she’s coming. They had received warning from an unknown source of an imminent attack.”
“Ailsa,” Connor guessed.
“How can she do all that?” Hamish asked incredulously. “She’s traveling with the queen, after all.”
“I don’t know, but I bet it’s her,” Connor said. The terrible risks she took to send warnings scared him, but he felt inspired by her bravery and her ability to somehow remain right under the queen’s nose without being discovered.
Student Eighteen continued, looking pleased. “They’ve chosen to accept our offer of aid. Much of the population is already concealed in heavily shielded caverns beneath the mountains. They’ve marshaled all of the strength of Jagdish to repel the queen’s attack. Flanking parties are already moving out onto the plain. They want to know what we can do to aid.”
Connor welcomed the news. It suggested the Mhortair had already decided to ally with them. If only they’d arrived a little sooner! He liked hearing that they were trying to conceal some of their people. Chances were good that everyone who openly stood against the dread queen would die, unless he and his friends could find a way to drive her off.
Kilian glanced out the window, looking from the city to the distant queen. “I’m surprised they shared so much with us.”
“Well, they shared it with me and cautioned me to keep some of it secret, but . . .” She shrugged.
“We can help. She doesn’t know we’re here,” Hamish said eagerly, and Connor agreed. He didn’t want to fight Queen Dreokt before ascending, but surely they could do something.
He said, “Maybe we can hit her from behind, from the air, surprise her, distract her, make her retreat, or something.”
After a couple seconds deep in thought, Kilian nodded, his expression serious. “Very well. We’ll fly out wide. We’ll have to give her a lot of space to not draw her attention. Once the battle starts, we’ll make our move.”
“What move?” Connor asked, licking suddenly dry lips. Helping Merkland had been the right thing to do, and he didn’t regret it. Helping Jagdish was the right thing too. Surely they could figure out how to save the Mhortair. The alternative made him sick.
Kilian said, “The only one we can try with so little time to plan. My mother is focused on Jagdish. Look at her, how she sits on that ridiculous throne. She knows she’ll win, and she is planning to enjoy the destruction. Connor, shield us with every trick you know. Hamish, you too, and swing us out wide.”
Hamish immediately complied, banking the Hawk away from the mountain and gently increasing thruster. Without needing to be told, Student Eighteen seized all the sounds they made and squashed them.
“Not quartzite shielding yet. It glows and she might notice,” Connor cautioned. “I can shield us with air almost as well, but keep it invisible.”
“Good idea. Activating pumice,” Hamish said, his hands flicking across various controls on the front panel.
Connor reached for Air, who hovered over to him and slid her warm hand into his. She and the other elements were starting to look a bit troubled. He wondered if that was because they recognized Queen Dreokt, and knew she was far more their master than he ever could be.
“Help me. We can defeat her together,” he urged.
Air seemed to like that idea and flashed a dazzling smile. At her touch, he sensed all the air currents flowing past. He carefully parted them around the Hawk, forming a protected bubble within the air that would hopefully deflect Queen Dreokt’s air senses from noticing them.
“Nice and easy,” Kilian urged Hamish in a soft tone, even though Student Eighteen was shielding their words. Little points of light had ignited within his eyes. “We’ll fly out wide and hit her from behind while she’s distracted.”
“Hit her how?” Connor asked.
“I’ve got missiles and hornets, but will those do any damage?” Hamish asked.
“Not really, but they’re great distractions. When the battle starts, I’ll have you make a pass over her, then hit her with everything you’ve got. The three of us will bail out on that first pass.” He glanced at Connor. “Find one of those Builder descent jackets for Aifric.”
Connor scrambled to one of the storage hatches set in the floor of the Hawk and pulled it open. They’d packed in lots of supplies, including power stone, mechanicals, and the clever jackets. Similar jackets had been used to great effect at the battle of Altkalen.
“We can activate pumice on the
way down to shield ourselves from her until we reach the ground,” he suggested.
“When we hit her, don’t hold back,” Kilian said grimly. “She’s a lot stronger than we are, but together we should be able to distract her for a while. If the Mhortair strike teams can join us, we might be able to drive her off.”
“How do we kill her?” Connor asked, trying not to think about how crazy the plan sounded. Kilian was terrifying when he wanted to be, but he’d just admitted the best they could hope to accomplish all together was to distract his mother, maybe injure her or force her to retreat for a while.
What would happen if they failed? He usually thought of Kilian as too powerful to die, but Queen Dreokt could destroy him. What about the rest of them? She could kill them all.
He suddenly wished he’d taken more time to say goodbye to Verena.
Student Eighteen’s expression had turned predatory. “The kill squads will include champion sword masters and some of our most powerful tertiary Petralists and kill instructors. They are masters of every possible form of death.”
“But can they kill her?” Hamish asked nervously.
“I’ve seen her injured before, hurt so badly that she retreated to heal,” Kilian said.
That was probably supposed to be reassuring, but Connor glanced at Hamish, who was starting to look a little sick.
“I’ve seen her cut in half. That only seemed to annoy her,” Hamish reminded them, his eyes a bit wild from the terrible memory.
Kilian placed a calming hand on his shoulder. “We can do this. It’s not ideal, but we can do it. If we can distract her, get enough kill leaders in close, we might have a chance.”
Student Eighteen said, “We can. We saw her cut in half, Hamish, but that wasn’t enough. Maybe if we can cut her into even more pieces we might be able to destroy each of those pieces before she can heal.”
Connor swallowed, trying to focus on that small chance. “Hit her with everything you can think of, Hamish. You’re a Builder and she fears Builders. Maybe you can scare her.”
