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

by Ben Hale

  Lance took over, and Breaker sprinted the hundred yards to Rox's unit. Several Twisted attempted to attack him, but he left them crushed and bleeding in his wake.

  "Your orders were to stay behind," he said. His irritation didn't reach his voice, and his pride seemed to win out.

  Rox glided to a stop and raised her chin. "My unit needed me. What was I supposed to do?" She cast a hydra nearby and gestured an invitation.

  Behind the helm of his goliath charm he grinned and drew a bombardment charm underneath the hydra. As its five heads reared back and fired, the streams of water carried chunks of hardened sand into the horde. Smashed and battered, they went down under the fusillade.

  He blew out his breath. When he had taken her back to Tryton's he'd accepted that she was an adult. His acceptance had not extended to her going to war, but now he realized she might not have seen it that way.

  "I'm proud of you," Breaker said.

  She beamed up at him and motioned to the newest group of Twisted exiting the Dark. "I could use a hand, Prime."

  His throat tight with emotion, he nodded, and together they went to work. Water and sand rose up and combined into hexes and curses. After decades of training, combat was second nature for him, yet this time it felt different.

  He attacked on the left, and she smoothly defended his back. When a knot of primates jumped toward them, he stepped to the front, and she gave him swords of aquaglass. As he charged them down she glided to the flank, cutting them down with lancing sprays of water. Breaker met her in the middle and couldn't suppress the grin.

  "You fight like your mother," he said.

  A smile blossomed on her face, but it faded as she caught sight of the newest wave of Twisted. Breaker turned to find dozens of Twisted elephants charging into the surf. Their placid bodies where now muscled torsos and powerful legs. One trunk had split into many, and their tusks had grown sharp and serrated.

  They reached the line of golems and tore them to shreds. Men and women cried out in warning, but their ability to retreat had just been cut down. Forced to turn and fight, they called on their magic to fight again.

  Breaker's chest tightened as he realized Ducalik's intention. He'd waited until the last moment to send in a crushing blow. With his forces halfway up the beach and much of the auren artillery already retreating, Breaker had nothing that could stop the greater fiends. His gaze lifted to the cloud, where he guessed the general was watching.

  "Dad," Rox had to shout over the menacing bugle of the leader. "We can do a—"

  "Get off the beach," he growled.

  "But I know—"

  "That's an order, Rox," he barked, and his tone left no room for argument. Then he turned to leave.

  Water surged out of the sand and carried her in front of him. "We can do a quicksand hex," she snapped.

  Breaker made a motion to dismiss her, but his hand stopped. She was right. They didn't need to kill the beasts, merely stop them. Fleetingly he wondered if he would ever stop underestimating his daughter. Then he went into motion.

  "Lance," he shouted. "Get the earth mages to pair up with water. I want a line of quicksand between us and them."

  "Yes, sir!" Lance said, and Breaker could hear the grin in his voice.

  "Do you know what to do?" he asked Rox.

  She'd started to drift away, but darted back. "You aren't going to make me leave?"

  "Not this time," he said, and shed his goliath charm.

  Her face smudged with dirt and her new uniform torn, she flashed a brilliant smile. The expression cast a ray of light through him, and for one eternal moment everything seemed to pause. In spite of the war, in spite of the carnage, death, and billions of casualties, his daughter had not lost her hope.

  He stepped to his daughter's side. "Don't get caught in it," he said, but it sounded more like a laugh than a warning.

  She nodded, and side by side they lifted off the ground. His slideways charm tilted forward as he accelerated. Water lifted through the sand and lifted her, allowing her to surf on an aquaglass board and match his pace. Then they cast the charm together.

  The ground in their wake began to liquefy, becoming a semi-solid mixture of sand and seawater. As they sped across the beach they trailed an expanding pool of quicksand. Reaching Lance and his partner, Breaker and Rox doubled back, adding to the depth and dimension of the lethal pond.

  By unspoken accord they turned when the first elephant hit the barrier. The lead elephant stepped into it and its leg sank to its chest. Unable to halt its forward momentum, it rolled into a flip. Sand and water geysered upward as the enormous beast crashed into the quicksand. Another flipped next to it, and then another. In seconds the entire line was floundering in the ground, struggling to move at all.

  Breaker reached out to Rox and drew her to him. "I'm proud of you, Roxanne."

  "Thanks for listening, Dad."

  He couldn't help the laugh, and together they turned up the beach. A moment later they joined the rear of the heavily laden convoy. Breaker cast four wheels from the rock on either side, and she cast a pair of aquaglass seats. They climbed in and sped away. The happiness lingered until the nuke struck the beach they had fought and died for.

  Breaker looked back as the mushroom cloud climbed into the sky. Then his eyes were drawn north as another cloud climbed into the sky. Another blossomed to the south, and then another. His gut tightened. They had survived the day.

  But at what cost?

  Part 3

  Chapter 26: Flight

  Wolf sank into the porch seat and gazed at the sky. Millions of stars were visible—but not to the horizon. As if the heavens were being devoured, the eastern stars gradually disappeared as the Dark obscured them.

  "Do you think there is any humanity left in the Twisted?" Linda asked as she joined him.

  "I hope not," Wolf said, "for all our sakes."

  They sat on the porch of a mountain house in Tennessee. A roadway wound up to them, covered in support personnel. Construction crews worked feverishly to complete fortifications and bury explosives. Military support personnel were rushing to mount gun placements and unload ammunition on the summit.

  Wolf's gaze was drawn to the Arc that sat on the mountaintop. Like a giant tooth curving out of the rock, the white material gleamed dully as lights reflected off it. Along with ten thousand soldiers, mages, and several hundred dark elves, his SEAL team had been tasked with guarding the Arc. If it went down, the Halo would be unable to fire on the entire eastern flank. Because of the strategic importance of the Arc, they weren't going to retreat.

  He sighed and looked away. Like the rest of the combat force, Wolf and the six remaining members of his SEAL team had been ordered to sleep. After weeks of straight fighting and the horrific day they had just endured, his body needed to rest. His mind refused.

  "It's hard to believe what's happening," Linda murmured, and Wolf looked at her. Since the dark elves had killed the Twisted lion, she'd at least managed to regain much of the color in her face.

  Wolf released a breath. "When I was a kid I was afraid of the dark. I never thought I'd have to fight it as an adult."

  Linda released a grunt, and her hand tentatively reached out to his. His arm tingled as their fingers entwined. For a moment the sounds of construction faded, and all he heard was his beating heart.

  He released a quiet laugh. "I'd face down creatures of nightmare, but I'm afraid to hold a girl's hand."

  The door swung open behind them, and Peterson poked his head out. "Everyone's bunking in, Captain."

  "Boots on, Sergeant," Wolf said, "and keep your guns at your sides. We may know when the Dark is supposed to arrive, but Alice may send a vanguard."

  Peterson nodded and then grinned as he caught sight of their hands. "Keep an eye out for the dangerous ones," he said.

  "Shut up, Peterson," Linda said, and flicked a hand without looking.

  Peterson recoiled as if he'd been slapped, but it only caused him to grin. His chuckle
faded as the door closed. In the ensuing quiet Wolf looked at Linda, who bore a faint smile on her face.

  "My men like you," Wolf said.

  "They respect me," Linda replied. "But then, I've noticed there aren't any women in your command."

  Wolf met her gaze, the impending battle momentarily forgotten. "The training we go through to become a SEAL is brutal. Physical and mental faculties are tested to the extreme. In the past my government has feared that women wouldn't be able to hold up."

  Linda released a tired laugh. "My government was the same as yours, once. Women were allowed to serve in the battlemage corps, but not in the Rayths. Then a woman refused to accept rejection and took the trials to join the elite. Many more followed her example. I was one of them."

  "What were your trials like?"

  "I'll tell if you tell," she said with a smile.

  He grinned, and told her about his first week as a SEAL. He'd never been so exhausted—except perhaps now. He'd lifted boatfuls of water until his arms had felt numb. He'd swum for endless miles, slept for an hour, and then dragged himself out of bed to do more. Every waking minute he thought of the bell, and how easy it would be to just walk up and ring out of the program.

  He'd survived the first week out of spite for his father, who'd laughed in his face when he'd said he wanted to be a SEAL. After the first week the rigorous training program had been as fun as it was effective. He'd learned to handle knives, guns, and other weaponry, as well as tactical gear. Everything had been drilled into him until he could fight in his sleep. Then came SERE training.

  Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape had tested him like nothing before, and he'd come the closest to dropping out. In the end he'd emerged stronger. Scarred perhaps, but stronger. He didn't realize until later how much the SEAL training would save his life.

  Suddenly chagrined at how much he'd shared, he motioned to her. "Your turn."

  She leaned her head back. "You'd be surprised at the similarities between us. My first week as a Rayth began much the same, albeit with magic."

  She talked about the six trials, each with a rising level of difficulty. The first stage had been with other mages like her. She'd had to siphon water from a pond using just gravity, and hold it aloft. If a single drop touched the ground she would be eliminated from consideration. The precision required had been more than many could attain, and she'd just barely qualified.

  In the next stages she'd learned how to battle mages of other types. Weaknesses had been exploited on both sides, resulting in countless injuries. By the fifth trial only a fraction remained, and they had been deployed to learn how to fight rock trolls, dark elves, and the fiercest of magical animals.

  The last trial had been the worst. Tasked with protecting a tiny glass orb, she'd battled twelve Rayths over the course of a week. They'd come during the night and in the day, in groups and singly. They used every type of magic against her in a battle that was not meant to be won, only endured. Like all those before her, she had failed, and her advancement had been decided by the twelve testers and the Prime.

  Lost in the story, Wolf shook his head when she finished. "How many made it through?"

  "Seventeen out of ninety-eight," Linda said. "I was fourteenth, but it didn't matter. Becoming a Rayth is the highest honor a single-talent mage can receive."

  "So how did you end up in Erzurum as a secretary?" Wolf asked.

  Linda smiled at the reference to the first time they had met. "Rayths were routinely placed undercover in militaries and governments throughout the world—one of the many ways we used to maintain our secrecy. As a secretary I had access and invisibility."

  He laughed at that. "I doubt that, not with your looks."

  She flushed at the compliment. "You were the first soldier that I noticed."

  "That's because I almost shot your colonel."

  "That too," she said, and squeezed his hand.

  The humor faded, and Wolf's attention returned to the beach. "If we survive this, will you do something for me?"

  "What do you have in mind?"

  "I want to see what it's like to fly." He flashed a faint smile. "Every time you lift off the ground I wonder."

  Linda surprised him by getting to her feet. "Let's do it now."

  "I don't want to tire you," he said, and resisted her pull. "You should be resting."

  "You too," she said. "Now stand up."

  "Only for a minute," he said with a sigh, and stood in front of her.

  She took his other hand. "Don't be afraid." Then they lifted off the deck.

  Wolf's boots left the wood, and his grip on her hands tightened. They rose one foot, then two, and then ten. They passed the roof and continued to rise. Only when they passed the power lines did she stop.

  Wolf swallowed in both fear and excitement. The hills and mountains of Tennessee stretched away into darkness. Lights dotted the road, but the traffic was sparse. Civilians had been evacuated days ago, so only military vehicles and construction crews remained. The ones finished with their work were moving a hundred miles back to the secondary barricade at the Stacks.

  Condo high rises sat north of them, their mountaintop views lined with snipers. Mortar and rocket teams filled the roofs. Lights dotted the mountain. Each light represented hundreds of soldiers like him. He saw it all and yet did not think about the impending battle.

  "Wouldn't you just fly all the time?"

  "It's like running," she said with a smile. "You can build up your endurance, but you can't run forever. Now, don't worry." She slowly pulled her hands free, causing him to suck in his breath.

  Hovering above their assigned cabin, she rotated him in a slow circle. The motion robbed him of breath, and he found his heart thundering in his chest.

  "This is incredible," he said, and then turned his eyes to her. "This is every kid's dream, you know that?"

  "It was my dream," she said.

  Her lips parted slightly, and he took the hint. He reached out and drew her to him. Wrapping his arms around her, he leaned and kissed her, tender at first, and then harder. For an eternal moment, the war, the Dark, and all they had endured did not exist.

  It could not last, and the weight of reality soon returned. They parted, and he stared into her eyes. Then slowly they descended to their chairs. Wolf did not release her hand, and instead scooted his chair closer to hers. She threw him a smile, and together they sat in silence. Wolf stared out over the dark forest and wished he had met her sooner.

  "Any chance we'll get lucky and someone kills Alice?" Wolf asked.

  Linda released a quiet laugh. "We can always hope."

  Chapter 27: The Master's Lair

  The Swordsman gazed out the cockpit window of the C-35 Sherpa, but was unable to discern anything below. He favored the obscurity of night for his work, but this was not the same. To have the darkness on the Earth be greater than that of the night sky sent a disturbing tremor through him, and he turned his eyes to the pilot.

  "I've never been inside one of these things," he said.

  Robar flashed him a grin. "I was dropped from a few when I was a SEAL and even dated a pilot. She let me take off a few times when we were off duty. I've never landed one, though."

  "Then it's a good thing we don't have to," Indigo said from a seat behind them.

  The Swordsman threw her a look. Like him, she had been tense during the rough takeoff, but the tension had eased soon after. They had managed to get off the ground ahead of the Dark's advance and had flown east toward the location they had received from Wessel. The plane would not be returning.

  One of the engines coughed as the fuel ebbed in the tank, and the Swordsman asked, "Are we going to make it?"

  Robar reached out and flipped a switch. "We're approaching the drop zone now. Switching to autopilot, I think." He gingerly removed his hands from the stick, and when the plane continued to fly, he issued a sigh. "We've only got a few minutes of fuel left, so let's go."

  They left the cockpit behind
and collected their gear from the floor. In order to make the trip, Robar had stripped everything from the hold. Chairs, gear, and even mounts had been ripped from the interior of the plane.

  The Swordsman did a quick check of the contents of his pack. Since he had no idea what they would encounter he'd packed a spare blade, enchanted gear for infiltration, and survival items. Beside him, Indigo's pack carried similar items, but Robar's couldn't have been more different.

  An assault rifle and shotgun went into what he called a rucksack. Pistols, ammunition, and explosives had been added until the bag bulged. The Swordsman had doubted Robar could lift it, but he strapped it to his waist and walked to the rear of the plane. Robar then picked up a helmet and fitted it over his head. Lastly he strapped on his chute.

  Indigo cast a breathing charm on herself, while the Swordsman activated the tattoo on his neck that would allow him to breathe in the high altitude. When they were ready Robar tossed them a pair of special radios.

  "Remember," he said, "you have twenty feet on all sides of me. Drift away and the Dark has you. Ready?"

  "Let's go," the Swordsman said.

  He cast a body warmth charm to keep himself from freezing, while Indigo cast a fire bubble charm around her body. When they were ready Robar slammed a fist into the red button on the wall. A klaxon sounded as the door opened, allowing a blast of frigid air inside. Robar held up his fingers as he counted down. Then he jumped from the plane. The Swordsman and Indigo leapt after.

  The drone of the plane faded as it carried forward on its course, and the Swordsman didn't spare it a second thought. The wind buffeted him, but it had been diminished by the magic in the Swordsman's gauntlet.

  Angling his body downward, he drifted closer toward Robar until he managed to snag a strap on his bag. Indigo took up position on the other side of him. Like three arrows in the night, they plummeted toward the Dark. Robar lit a flare in his hand, and red light splashed over them.

  In spite of Robar's presence, the Swordsman felt a tremor of fear as the Dark rose up to swallow them. If his brother's immunity had somehow ended, all three of them would perish long before they hit the ground.