by Kyle West
“He’s formed an alliance with Nova?” Isa asked, her face stunned. “They are the enemy!”
“They are the Makai’s enemy, yes,” King Arius said. “The only way I can see this alliance as possible is if Isaru has truly given himself over to madness. There is no other option. That said, the plan is as brilliant as it is devastating. We are pinned between two sides – Haven and the Annajen to the north, and the Novan Empire to the south.”
“In this way he can take Colonia unchallenged,” I said, feeling sick. “Colonia is still weak from their recent war with Nova.”
“Wouldn’t Nova be weak as well?” Isa asked.
“Nova has more men,” Arius said. “They outnumber Colonia ten to one at the least. They ended the last war with the Covenant to deal with some rebellious lands in the south. It seems now that that’s over. Nova is ready to turn its sight north again.”
“This couldn’t have come at a worse time,” I said. “Is fighting them possible? Can the Makai hold up?”
“We can defend our lands, as we’ve always done, but little more,” King Arius said. “It will take everything we have, and we must take battles in the Wild and not in the desert, where the Novan cavalry would have room to maneuver.”
“Isaru will be completely unchecked,” Fiona said.
Our hands would be tied for sure. The only other choice was fighting a war on two fronts, and that would probably ensure our demise.
“If the Novans get involved, then the Colonians will as well, if only out of sheer preservation,” I said. “It’s hard to say who they hate more, the Elekai or the Novans.”
“The source of all our troubles is Isaru himself. If he can be stopped, war can be averted.”
“He’s surrounded by an army of dragons,” Shara said. “We had our chance at Hyperborea and we failed.”
“Perhaps the Elder Dragons can help us,” Isa said.
“Can you speak to them?” King Arius asked, looking at me.
I nodded. “We spoke with them a few days ago . . .” I paused for a moment. “No. Three months ago. They weren’t keen on helping us then.”
“What about now?” Arius asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “As far as I know, they’re still debating whether we’re even worth saving. Quietus, Askal, and those who follow them will likely help. But as far as Tiamat and the southern dragons . . . I don’t know.”
“If it’s true that these are the Elder Dragons gathering at the Spire, then I truly have no doubt of who you are,” Arius said. “We witnessed the migration of the dragons three months ago, and I wondered if it could truly be the Elders returning. If the Elder Dragons have returned and they proclaim you Anna Reborn . . . then there is nothing more to be discussed on that matter.”
“They’re still at Dragonspire, as far as I know,” I said. “Unless they’ve moved on by now.”
“Our scouts have seen nothing of their movements lately,” Arius said. “They must be keeping to themselves, as the southern dragons always have.”
“Likely, they already know what’s going on,” I said. “Supposing we get the dragons’ help, it’ll go a long way.”
“For now, we’re on our own against the Novans,” King Arius said. “I will need every fighting man to defend against them. They don’t have Askaleen, but they have the numbers and wheeled ballistae to challenge us in the air.”
“We need to know what the Novans are after,” I said. “What did Isaru promise them? They have long coveted the lands around the Colorado River but haven’t been able to hold them since the First Century, when Colonia broke free from their rule.”
“Isaru wouldn’t give them Colonia,” Shara said. “He needs it to cement his legitimacy.”
“Maybe there’s someone we can talk to on the Novan side,” I said. “Who’s their emperor?”
“Emperor Titus IV,” King Arius said. “He has ruled Nova for about a decade. A man of experience and brutality. A real war monger who seeks to restore Nova to the glories it will never again see.”
A flash of memory came to me of Nova’s first emperor, Augustus I. Though his empire had survived four centuries, at least in name, I knew it little resembled his original vision. It had been invaded several times in its history, the conquerors blending in with the conquered to form a new cultural and imperial identity. The only thing that had remained the same was its martial character and old Latin names, a hallmark of an era when Emperor Augustus had wanted to recreate long-forgotten Ancient Rome in America.
“Little is known of Nova,” Isa said. “It has almost always been hostile to the Elekai and anything north of its borders, an isolationist and xenophobic country. It allows no one in, and those who do get in never escape. They have a harsh, feudal society. Besides a few lucky people, everyone else is practically enslaved. There are even rumors that when they were invaded about a century ago by a southern empire, the invaders were giants compared to the locals, seven or eight feet tall. Brasilia imposed their caste system on the locals, transforming Nova into what it is today.”
“That can’t be true,” Shara said. “I worked closely with the Colonian military and while the Novans are bigger than the average Colonian, they aren’t giants.”
I’d heard similar rumors, too, but unless we saw it for ourselves, it was hard to separate truth from fiction.
“Some of my men have claimed to fight giant Novans,” King Arius said, “though no one has ever brought me evidence of it. It could be that if they have giants with them, they keep them in reserve, only to be used in crucial situations. But there is little point in speculating. We must decide how we are to meet our enemy in the field.”
“If true,” Isa said, “the giants would be the local nobility. How often is it that a nobleman fights on the front lines? Likely, they stay in the back giving orders, only fighting when they must.”
That made sense as well and explained why there was only rumors and not concrete proof.
“As long as they enter the Wild, they will die in droves, giant or not,” Fiona said. “Such was the case in the last war, fifty years ago. The Wild could sense their malevolent will, and the land became hostile to them.”
“The Wild is weaker now than it was then,” King Arius said. “When we find Novans trespassing in the Wild, we kill them. We don’t want them to know the land, because knowing our own lands is our chief advantage against them.”
“Where are the Novans entering the Wild from anyway?” Shara asked.
“Most are still massing on its southwestern border, probably preparing for an assault on the fortress of Larre. They mean to breach it with cannons and take it quickly. It’s the main gap in the Selvan separating the interior of the Wild from the exterior. However, Larre’s walls are thick and strong, and it will hold for a long while, especially with the aid of my dragonriders. But it will fall eventually. Until the Novans take it, they cannot safely advance beyond, where their next obstacle is the Webwood, which surrounds Sylva for some fifty miles.”
“So, what do we do?” I asked. “Have they even formally declared war?”
“The Novans don’t make any such declaration,” Shara said. “They just attack when they sense weakness.”
“So, they might not be working with Isaru at all,” Isa said.
“It’s possible,” Arius said. “They could be like a circling vulture . . . except they don’t realize that their prey has plenty of fight in them.”
I thought of Nabea and Elder Tellor, along with Samal and Ret, a thousand miles or more away in the Eastern Kingdoms. If they could only send their army here, it would change everything. The sheer distance meant them taking months to reinforce us, however.
“We need more men, that much is clear,” I said. “The best I can do is inform Elder Tellor of what’s going on.”
“The Elder Dragons need to help us, too,” Isa said. “It’s hard to imagine any sort of victory without them.”
“We have dragonriders, but only a hundred or so,” King Arius s
aid. “We cannot match Isaru’s forces, and attacking the Novans directly would risk losing too many. They are best for harrying enemy troops far from where ballistae bolts can reach them.”
“Will the Makai be okay holding out while we gather support from Tellor and the Elder Dragons?”
“They cannot conquer us in such a short amount of time,” King Arius said. “We will lose ground, but we will not be conquered.”
That part was settled, at least.
“We have Odin,” Isa said. “That counts for a lot, too.”
“Remember, we have limited ammunition,” I said. “I’d rather save the turrets for fighting hostile dragons.”
“So, who to talk to first?” Isa asked. “Tellor and the boys, or the Elder Dragons?”
“We’re going to Atlantea first,” I said. “As soon as Pallos returns with the ship.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
KING ARIUS HAD TO ATTEND to some matters, but unlike before, we could now go wherever we wanted. It was afternoon now, so we decided to head to the forest floor while waiting on Pallos, where the soldiers did their training.
The light here was dim, the sunlight dappled with greens and pinks filtering through the leaves. Tree trunks rose like towers, as beautiful as any I had ever seen, with the Makai capital built on their supports. Fields of xen spread between the widely spaced trunks, well-packed from generations of feet. The city above was only accessible by ladder; ramps could be retracted at will, while the defensive network of bridges and platforms fanned out for miles in the treetops, in which more settlements and fortifications were built.
If the Novans ever got this far, it would be a bloodbath.
We found a quiet spot away from the din of martial drilling, where we could practice our own forms until Pallos returned with Odin. I couldn’t think of a more productive use of our time, so drilling it was.
We sparred for the next hour or so before I could hear the unmistakable sound of Odin’s engine, clamorous even through the thickness of the trees.
We sheathed our swords and ran through the thick trees of the Webwood. We reached a small clearing, and above I could see Odin’s hull and feel the thrum of its fusion engine in my bones.
The rope ladder descended slowly, and it was a minute before it reached the clearing below. Gulping, Shara started to climb first.
“Get high enough for us all to stay on the ladder,” I said. “Pallos can retract it once we’re all hanging on, so we won’t have to climb far.”
Everyone did as I said. Within a few minutes, we were stepping inside Odin’s wardroom, where Pallos stood to greet us.
“We have a problem,” he said. “There’s an entire army of Novans advancing on the Xenoplain outside the Webwood.”
“Novans,” Shara said, shaking her head. “How is it possible? Has Larre already fallen?”
“I don’t know,” Pallos said. “I can’t begin to guess how many there are. Tens of thousands at least.”
Something told me that Nova and Haven had to be working together, now. There could be no other explanation.
“We’ve been outplayed,” Fiona said.
“We’re at war, now” I said. “Whether we like it or not.”
And the real war with the Radaskim was still to come.
“Should we tell King Arius?” Fiona asked.
“He will know soon enough,” Pallos said. “I noticed a few dragons flying toward Sylva on my way, and we won’t get there any faster than they will. Something tells me we have our own things we need to do.”
I knew Pallos was right. “We need to see Elder Tellor, then. Either Larre has fallen, or they somehow found a way to push through the Selvan. Whatever the case, he and the others are the only ones I know who have an army at their disposal. We need those reinforcements if we’re to stand a chance.”
* * *
I spent the flight resting in my cabin while Pallos flew. I had to catch sleep wherever I could get it.
I was broken from my rest early, however, by a knock at the door. I opened my eyes drearily, noticing that the ship had stopped.
I had been sleeping so deeply that I didn’t even notice the landing.
“Shanti,” Fiona’s voice came. “We’ve arrived.”
Despite my grogginess, and remembering the severity of the Novans’ advance on Sylva, I forced myself to stand and latch my katana to my belt. I gave Fiona a nod and passed the wardroom to the lavatory. There, I splashed my face with cold water, the shock doing little to awaken my senses.
When I returned to the wardroom, everyone was now gathered.
“We’ve landed in Atlantea?” I asked. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier?”
“We tried,” Isa said.
I felt my cheeks redden. “Still. You have my permission to come in and shake me if that happens again.”
Pallos cleared his throat. “It appears as if Prince Nabea and Elder Tellor are waiting outside.”
They would have had plenty of time to hear the ship coming down from above. We were fortunate to catch them in the city and not somewhere else, as I had feared.
“Let’s go out there,” I said.
When we left Odin, the air was cool, but not cold, as it had been in Ragnarok Crater or Kalear. Nabea stood next to Elder Tellor, along with Samal and Ret, with an honor guard bearing halberds and wearing the forest green colors of Atlantea. While Tellor wore his Elder’s robes, pure white with the sword sigil of the Champions emblazoned on his left breast, Nabea wore leather armor with a long, flowing cape dyed verdant green, with his own Sanctum-forged katana sheathed at his side. Both Ret and Samal were dressed similarly, though without the cape, which must have been a mark of Nabea’s command.
The two months seemed to have transformed the boys into men. Their faces were stern, commanding, and even grizzled, and where Ret had been tall and lanky before, he had put on several pounds of muscle, though the blue eyes still danced with mischief. Samal had grown even thicker and stronger, though not as tall as Ret. He reminded me then of his namesake – Samuel was only slightly more muscled than him.
Despite the changes, everyone broke into smiles and hugged each other, all of them expressing gratitude that we weren’t, in fact, dead. After a few minutes of chatting and catching up on the smaller things, Nabea’s face became serious.
“Let’s go inside,” he said. “The only news we’ve had was from Pallos the few times he’s visited.”
“Where’s Elder Isandru?” Tellor asked.
I steeled myself before delivering the news. “He’s . . . not dead. But Mia . . . she fell in the Thought Dome by Isaru’s hand.”
The news caused everyone’s face to go solemn.
“How?” Tellor managed.
Going inside to talk was forgotten as all four of them looked at me for an explanation. “It’s . . . my fault. I let her come. We were trying to disable the Hyperfold, and Isaru was there to stop us. He must have followed us there from Haven after killing his father.”
It was hard to make myself go on. I felt tears come to my eyes and flow down my cheeks. Isa grabbed my arm in solidarity as I wiped my face.
“It’s not your fault,” she said.
But it was. I had told her to come. Even with all of us, it hadn’t been enough to kill Shal.
“We should go inside to discuss this,” Nabea said.
I nodded. We followed Nabea past the guards and toward the skyscraper that was the Nabea dynasty’s seat of power.
* * *
So, we told them everything that had happened since we’d left them in Atlantea three months ago. What Pallos told them lined up with what I said; it was the part after the Hyperfold where things became murky.
“We entered the Hyperfold and fought Shal,” I said. “We would have defeated him, too, if Isaru hadn’t intercepted us.”
“He had time to murder King Taris before coming after you,” Ret said. “How is that possible?”
“Time flows differently in the Hyperfold,” Shara said. “We�
�ve experienced it once before. We were in there for less of an hour of our time, and we came back outside, three months had passed.”
Samal was next to speak. “And you said this Nameless One told you to attack Shal directly?”
“He told me that only I could stop the Hyperfold,” I said. “He also said that I wouldn’t have enough power to do it alone.” I sighed. “I don’t know which to believe.”
And now, one of us was dead because of my confusion.
“It sounds like you were betrayed,” Ret said, gravely. “The Nameless One led you to believe something different, and didn’t seem to mind causing the confusion.”
“He’s not on our side,” I said. “But I don’t think he’s on the Radaskim’s side, either.” A memory returned to me, something Alex had told me before he sacrificed himself to save the world. “Elekim had a meeting with him, too. The Nameless One told him how to defeat Askala, the Radaskim who controlled the Xenofold then. The knowledge the Nameless One gave him is what allowed us the victory. The Nameless One hadn’t lied then, so why now?”
“He can’t be trusted,” Nabea said.
Isa nodded her agreement, along with several others – Shara, Fiona, and even Elder Tellor.
“Continue the story,” the Elder Champion said.
“Isaru entered the Hyperfold after we did,” I said. “It was necessary for him to enter it to save Shal. We were so close to defeating him, but Isaru put a kink in that plan. When the battle tipped in their favor, that’s when Isaru vanished. And that was when all of us realized that our bodies were still on the outside, completely vulnerable. I was able to follow him back . . . but not before Mia was killed.”
Tellor lowered his head gravely, his brown eyes troubled. Ret’s already pale face blanched even further, while Samal’s eyes clouded with anger.
