The Forge of Light: The White Mage Saga #5 (The Chronicles of Lumineia)

by Ben Hale

  The men and women sat still and quiet, glancing back at the sunlight touching the eastern horizon. It was the stillness before a hurricane, where animals huddled in their burrows, and the air hung heavy and still. Then the sun touched the mountains behind them, and the stillness shattered.

  Twisted erupted from the massive cloud in a flood of gnarled flesh. Gunfire, artillery, and sparks of magic ignited across the breadth of the California coast, decimating the first ranks. Breaker issued crisp orders to the mage and auren captains around him as he surveyed the conflict.

  "Have your military target the left flank," he said. "Don't leave an inch of ground free. I want them bunching in the center."

  Captain Lee passed on the message. Then he shook his head. "Are you sure they are going to assault here?"

  "This is the only break in the cliffs for miles," Breaker said. "And we can't use the Halo here or risk eroding the embankment. If they can breach this point our whole line will crumble. The entire western coast will fall."

  The captains didn't argue, but Breaker heard the doubt in their silence. Breaker didn't bother trying to convince them. Like most of California, the coastline boasted stretches of beach alongside towering cliffs. For most of the cliffs, gun placements would keep the Twisted from attacking head on. With concrete bunkers to protect the defenders from the bats, they could hold out well. The beaches between the cliffs were another matter.

  The stretches of beach were like open doors, inviting and empty. Even with heavy artillery, armored tanks, and mage curses, the holes could not be closed. While Janson and other trusted generals had been tasked with the rest of the front, Breaker had kept the largest hole for himself.

  With the information Iris had been feeding him, he'd learned a great deal about the tactics of their enemy. He'd shifted mages to compensate for weak areas, and had prepared for the greater Twisted he knew would attempt to create holes. Unfortunately, the Dark had also learned.

  Instead of an unbroken surge of Twisted, the Dark army focused its entire attention on the gaps in the cliffs. Twisted of every size exploded from the Dark and surged onto the beach. A pair of leviathan's anchored the center, their roar rattling the ground for miles. Auren fire and mage attacks darkened the air before slamming into the horde of Twisted.

  Funneled by the cliffs into the mile wide gap, the Twisted drove into the teeth of the Earth Army defenses, and men began to die. The Dark horde died by the thousands, and yet the advance did not halt. Breaker let out a breath and turned to the earth mage at his side.

  "Is everything in place?"

  "Are you sure about this?" Lance asked.

  "They have leviathans," Breaker said. "It's time we had one as well."

  Lance shook his head but stepped to the edge of the cliff. Thirty earth mages stepped up beside Breaker and Lance and collectively they cast their magic. Brown light poured into the ground at their feet. In response the cliff cracked . . . and began to move. The auren soldiers around them sucked in their breath and leaned over the drop, craning to see.

  Eyes, a nose, and lips pressed out of the cliff face, the features grinding into an expression of anger. Rocks and sand cascaded down as a hand reached out and caught a rock outcropping. Using it as a grip, the titan pulled the rest of its body from the cliff.

  A huge chest appeared, followed by a waist, and finally an enormous leg stepped out. Several Twisted were not quick enough to move, and the eighty-foot behemoth crushed them under its foot like rodents. Rocks cascaded off its shoulders into the recess it left behind. Then it turned and began to walk toward the beach.

  "Where did you get this spell?" Lance asked, his voice strained with both awe and exertion.

  Breaker thought of Hawk, and how he'd taught them the Alluvian charm. Hawk had made it clear that casting an entity of such magnitude required a unique piece of magic to hold it together. Hawk had been careful to teach the Core charm to only a select few, and Breaker knew why. If the knowledge of such magic fell into the wrong hands . . .

  "Some magic was not meant to be remembered," Breaker quoted Hawk.

  Lance issued a grunt. "Yes, Prime," he said, and did not press the issue.

  Down on the beach, the battlemages and aurens gave way to allow the behemoth space. With a quickness that belied its form, the titan dove into the fight. Fists the size of tanks crushed the Twisted exiting the Dark. Then it reached the leviathans.

  Catching one by the open jaw, the behemoth lifted the enormous creature off the ground, and heaved it into the other. It crashed into its companion and they both went down. Thrashing and hissing, they rolled to their feet and circled. The normal Twisted were left to be trampled as the giants squared off.

  One of the leviathan's lunged for the titan's leg, snapping great chunks from the rock. The other leapt for its throat. His mind deep in the Core charm, Breaker lifted the giant's arm and caught the leviathan by the neck. As the first chewed on the giant leg, the titan reared an arm back and smashed a great fist into the second leviathan's head.

  Empowered by the Dark to withstand bullets and artillery, the thick hide of the former whale could not withstand the mighty blow. The whale went limp, and the giant tossed the body aside. It crashed into a group of Twisted, flattening them under its bulk. Then the titan turned on the smaller one.

  Reaching down, the titan caught the open maw of the leviathan. Teeth broke off as the titan pulled it free. Keeping the jaws at bay with one hand, the titan leaned back and struck it in the skull. It too went limp, and the titan picked it up. With a quick jerk and release, it launched the massive corpse into the horde still streaming from the Dark.

  The carcass rolled across the ranks of Twisted, leaving a trail of dead in its wake. Breaker allowed a tiny smile to crease his features. Hawk had not left them defenseless.

  "Breaker," Jack's voice spoke into his ear.

  Breaker fought to hold onto his concentration as he answered. "I can't really talk right now, Commander."

  "You've just made yourselves a target," Jack said. "I'm seeing a movement from the north and south. It appears the Dark doesn't care for your defiance."

  "Let them come."

  "I hope you know what you're doing," Jack said. "If they break through at your location the entire coast will have to withdraw."

  "That's why I'm here," Breaker said.

  There was a moment of silence, and then Jack relented. "Take them down, Prime."

  "I intend to."

  Controlling the titan through the core charm, Breaker wrecked havoc on the Twisted charging the beach. With the small army of earth mages at his back keeping the rock semi-solid, Breaker could focus on the attack.

  As the minutes passed it became evident that Jack's words were true. The sheer volume of Twisted increased tenfold, and they climbed up the titan's body like giant ants. By their sheer numbers they were whittling the titan down.

  Breaker gritted his teeth and fought against his rising weariness. His plan counted on the behemoth lasting. It had taken days to enchant and prepare. There would not be time to cast another.

  The minutes stretched into hours, and as the time passed the titan's movements began to slow. Scratches and cracks marred the surface of the behemoth, and its legs bore deep gouges. No matter how many Twisted it killed, more clawed at its frame. Shortly after the morning passed into afternoon, the behemoth buckled.

  Crashing to the earth like an avalanche, the behemoth killed hundreds under its bulk. As the Twisted swarmed over its shape, Breaker fought to force it upright. At the very least it could still use its arms . . .

  "A core charm has not been cast since my time," a voice said.

  Weary and weakened by the use of magic, Breaker looked to the source and found a man gliding toward them. The thread of Dark that supported him stretched back to the cloud, but evaporated when he alighted a dozen steps from the collection of mage and auren soldiers. Breaker sucked in his breath in recognition as the aurens trained weapons on him.

  "Don't," Br
eaker said, but it was too late. One by one they shot themselves with their own weapons. Captain Lee died last, his expression one of terror as his body betrayed him. The mages were quicker to obey, and did not move to attack.

  The man looked the corpses. "Their weapons are so useful," he said. "Wouldn't you say . . . Breaker?"

  "Ducalik." Breaker spit the word out.

  The man's lip curled into a menacing smile. "You are fortunate I was distant, or your pitiful attempt would have ended far earlier."

  "Sever your charms," Breaker ordered his men.

  "But it can still fight," Lance said. His gaze did not leave Ducalik.

  "We have a new foe," Breaker said, and cut the link to the Core charm.

  As if the strings had been cut on a marionette, the titan collapsed. The other earth mages released their charms as well, and the entire shape disintegrated. Breaker made a motion with his hand, and the earth mages spread out. Golems rose from the rock at their feet, and several of the mages wrapped themselves in a goliath charm.

  "You do not have the Dark here," Breaker said.

  Ducalik issued a mocking laugh. "I was the Master of Flesh before I was cast into the Dark."

  Breaker struck as his enemy finished the statement. Whipping his arm forward, he cast a whip charm that streaked toward Ducalik's skull—but Breaker's arm suddenly betrayed him. Two feet from contact the whip came to an abrupt halt.

  Breaker fought with every ounce of willpower he could muster, but his body was no longer his own. Sweat beaded his forehead from the struggle as he turned to face the other earth mages. Lance turned with him—and soon others joined them. In seconds over half of the command were being controlled by Ducalik.

  "I do enjoy watching friends kill each other," Ducalik said, and his eyes glowed with anticipation.

  Breaker fought even harder. It did not matter. Against his will his body raised the whip charm and struck down one of his men, and then another. Confused and afraid to attack their battlemage companions, those not controlled were slaughtered.

  Breaker's heart rent in two has he was forced to kill his own men. He tried to close his eyes, but that too was outside his control. Then Ducalik turned them on each other. Half of those remaining were forced to stand inert while Breaker and Lance methodically crushed them to death.

  The golems and entities that had been cast could not move without the command of their master. As their casters were killed the entities disintegrated. Tears of rage blurred Breaker's vision as his body struck down those he called friends. When Lance and Breaker were the only ones left alive, Ducalik released them.

  Breaker fell to one knee, weak yet filled with fury. He raised his head to Ducalik and forced himself to his feet. The Twisted general issued another mocking laugh and raised his hands, summoning a thread of Dark to lift him a away.

  "I look forward to killing you, Prime," Ducalik said as he departed.

  Breaker ground his fingers into a fist, and snarled, "I swear I will see you dead before this is over."

  Ducalik simply laughed as he departed. As he disappeared into the Dark, Lance stumbled to Breaker's side, his expression one of horror. "What sort of magic wrought this?"

  Breaker didn't answer, and his gaze settled on the beach below. In the wake of the titan's demise, the Twisted had launched themselves at the mage and auren battlements. Screams of the dying accompanied the desperate attacks to stave off the assault.

  Gritting his teeth, Breaker tapped his nexus charm. "Ignite the failsafe."

  He stepped to the edge in time to see the entire beach disappear in a hurricane of fire and sound. Every Twisted was engulfed by the blast and incinerated. Few lasted long enough to scream. Magnified by magic, the auren explosives that Breaker had ordered placed beneath the sand continued to spit forth torrents of searing fire.

  Instead of a weak spot on the front line, the raging inferno would now forestall any attempt to break through. Sand gradually melted and turned to patches of blackened glass as the compressed fire traps burned through the fuel that Breaker's fire team had poured underground.

  Breaker breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. He'd anticipated the titan drawing the Dark army's ire, and even that it would fall. He had never suspected that Ducalik himself would appear. His gut wrenching, he finally turned and looked at the corpses littering the ground behind him.

  "I don't understand," Lance said. "Why didn't he kill us?"

  "The dead cannot be afraid." Breaker turned to face him. "He wants us to fear."

  The expression on Lance's face made it clear that it had worked. Breaker looked back at the bodies of his friends, many of whom he'd gone to school with and trained with as battlemages. Their eyes were locked open, their expressions full of horror. Breaker's fists clenched so tight that the ground beneath him began to crack. It was not fear he felt.

  It was anger.

  Chapter 18: The Patriarch

  After finishing the Halo of Dawn, Siarra and Tess had moved to the library so Tess could delve into her farsight. Time slipped away as she sought the vault's location, and when she did she blew out her breath.

  "I have it," she exclaimed, and sent a message to Iris including the images she'd foreseen. After a moment of searching Iris came back with an answer.

  "It looks like the Vault is outside Calgary in Canada," Iris said. "The fastest route would be via terra train in Oakridge."

  "Can't we Gate?" Tess asked.

  Siarra shook her head. "Without an exit we would have to know our destination intimately, or have a memory of someone who does. The vault itself is laced with powerful negating hexes. We can't open a Gate anywhere near it."

  "We can Gate to Oakridge. From there we can take a terra train." Tess flashed an image to Siarra, but Siarra shook her head.

  "Perhaps it would be best if you Gate us," Siarra said. "Gating can be taxing, and you must never do so in haste."

  It would be the first time Tess Gated someone by herself—without an exit—and a flurry of thoughts filled her head. What if I do it wrong? What if we don't come out? Do we die in oblivion?

  "You can do this," Siarra said.

  Tess concentrated on the place she remembered best, the Terminous launcher on the edge of Oakridge. Then she collected a speck of Gate energy. Holding her breath, she activated it and stepped through. The change in pressure revealed it had worked, and she opened her eyes to see Siarra standing beside her. She blinked at the sudden brilliance—and then realized how much time had passed.

  "It's after noon," she said in dismay.

  "We must hurry," Siarra said.

  "Iris," she said through the nexus charm. "We're on our way to the Vault."

  They leapt into the air and glided over the Colorado mage city of Oakridge. As she flew over the village Tess was struck by the difference from her first visit. The town had offered her first real exposure to the mage world. Unique magic had been on display in wondrous buildings, roads, and even on the people. The invasion had taken all of it.

  Many of the shops had their windows and doors shuttered, the magic that drew customers disturbingly quiet. Instead of mages, refugees from Mexico filled the streets. A pair of older earth mages ushered them out of the elevators from the terra trains and guided them toward the line of auren buses that would take them to the Stacks.

  In spite of the circumstances of their arrival, the aurens stared in shock at the remaining demonstrations of magic. Drawing gasps of astonishment, Tess and Siarra flew above them and landed next to the elevators that would take them to the subterranean station.

  Aurens crammed each elevator coming up, but the descending lift lay empty. Stepping inside, Tess and Siarra rode it to the station below. It came to a stop, and the doors opened to reveal an overcrowded cavern.

  Domed and massive, the space held eight tracks. Rather than gleaming and white, the one train carried a dingy sheen on its surface, matching the people trudging into view. Bearing overloaded bags, the ones disembarking appeared to be from Mexic
o.

  Spotting an older mage directing the crowd, Tess flew over the others and landed next to him. The act drew a collective gasp of wonder from the onlookers, and she spared them a smile before turning to the harried conductor.

  "We need to get to Canada," Tess said.

  His eyes flicked to Tess. "The North is almost evacuated now. Only a couple of trains are still going past the northern front. If you go up, you won't be coming back. Orders are that no one is sent outside the line unless they have broken the rules."

  Siarra frowned in irritation at the delay. "We will board this vehicle."

  The conductor glanced at her—and recoiled at the rage in her eyes. Catching sight of it, Tess sent a mental thread to calm her and Siarra visibly reigned in her emotions.

  "Er . . . I'm sure for the oracle and her friend I can make an exception," the conductor said.

  He withdrew an orb from his pocket and touched the rune engraved on the top. An ethereal map shimmered into view. After studying it for a moment he moved some things around and then dismissed it.

  "Five minutes," he said. "Third track."

  Tess nodded in gratitude, and a few minutes later they boarded an empty train headed north. This marked the first time Tess had been aboard a terra train since her initial journey to Tryton's, and she found it disturbing. The sofas and seats were dirty and ruffled from constant use and the air reeked of sweat. The oppressive quiet overrode the smell, reminding her that their destination had been abandoned. The miles slipped by, and Tess's anger mounted.

  "We should have flown," Tess finally said.

  "Iris was certain," Siarra replied. "It would have taken too much time—and we would have expended unnecessary energy."

  Tess stood and began to pace. "I can't bear to sit here while everyone is fighting for their lives. There has to be something we can do."

  "We can prepare ourselves."

  Tess rounded on her. "You mean use my farsight again?"

  Siarra shook her head. "If you use farsight too much it will fracture. For now we have a purpose. We will seek Jack's Vault, and the talisman within. Then we will return and retrieve Tryton's Sword, leaving only one talisman."