by Eric Vall
I hoped the damn thing wouldn’t dodge us on the other side, but when we screeched to a stop at the ridge of the peak, I realized I didn’t have to worry about it.
Across the ravine, an icy gate was built right into the side of a mountain, and as I watched the giant part the doors open, I realized the entrance must be at least a hundred feet tall.
I grinned. “Got you, you bastards.”
Pindor leaned around me to get a look. “You think that’s where they have Deli?” he asked eagerly.
“I’m gonna say there’s a damn good chance,” I told him.
“Then let’s go,” he urged, and I didn’t miss the particular concern I heard in his voice. Still, I wasn’t about to kick down a mysterious and seriously huge gate in a barren wilderness with just the two of us.
“Hold on,” I said as I cut Bobbie’s engine. “First off, you don’t storm a gate like that without an army. Second off, it’s only heroic if you win.”
The young mage cursed and sat back in the seat. “Okay,” he said thoughtfully. “So … we go back, get a troop together and maybe a catapult or two, and then ambush them right at dawn?”
I may have been frozen straight through, but I just had to chuckle. “I love the way you’re thinking these days.”
Bobbie roared back to life, and we took one last look at the ominous gates before we turned and sped back across the snowy cliffs toward the fiery battle that glowed ahead of us in the night.
Chapter 18
By the time we reached the final peak, we looked down on a wasted basin, and total destruction met our eyes. The entire ground was torn apart, and giant pillars of stone jutted out violently all over the place, but there wasn’t a scrap of the ice giants to be seen. The moon had risen during the battle, and its light glittered against everything in the clearing as it caught on the edges of millions of shattered diamonds. The dwarves had just emerged from the cover of the trees as Bobbie scaled down the side of the mountain, and we could hear the troops congratulate each other on their success.
Dorinick made directly for Aurora, and I brought Bobbie to a stop at her side as well. “This woman,” the dwarf laughed as he shook the half-elf’s hand heartily. “The hell would we have done without you? You trained ‘em up good, let me tell you. Everything went off beautifully.”
“Well, it’s all thanks to you,” she cut in with a smile. “I just told them what you told me.”
Dorinick waved away her modesty and turned to clap a hand on Pindor’s shoulder. “All of ye’, we owe our lives to you. Not one loss, not one injured. Everything went beautifully. And the fuckin’ diamonds … ” He trailed off as he looked at the glittering basin around us.
“The diamonds were the best part,” I sighed. “So badass.”
“I think the best part was Kurna,” Pindor said, and he gestured toward the brawny man who was now surrounded by dwarves and mages.
The Ignis Mage laughed loudly to something that was said, and the others began to insist he reenact the feat with the orb of fire.
I raised my eyebrows as I nodded my agreement. “Hell of a mage,” I admitted.
“I trained with him when I first came to the Order,” Aurora said as Haragh joined us in the basin. “He was one of the most powerful yet untrained mages at the time.”
Haragh chuckled. “Now, he’s one of the most powerful and fully trained mages, which it turns out is twice as terrifying.”
I couldn’t disagree with him there. I definitely wouldn’t want to be on the other side of Kurna’s devilish laugh. The half-ogre turned away from the mage, though, and dropped a hand on my shoulder.
“But don’t think no one noticed ye’ skip off,” he said as he wagged a big green finger in my face. “What’d you find out there?”
Before I could fill him in, Pindor spoke up from where he still sat on Bobbie. “We found Deli, and we’re gonna storm the castle at dawn,” he informed everyone excitedly.
“Well … ” I corrected him, “not quite. We know we found their fortress, and I’m guessing that’s where they have Deli. The sooner we get in there, the better, though. We followed a scout to the gates, and whatever that scout told their leader, I’d rather catch them off guard before they can plan a retaliation.”
“Good thinking,” Dorinick agreed. “How far is the fortress?”
“About ten miles north,” I replied. “Just over these peaks. But the gates are at least a hundred feet high, and the whole thing looks like it’s built into the mountain, so once we’re inside, there’s probably only one way back out.”
The dwarf thought this over as Thrungrig, Jaka, and Norig joined up with us.
I shook the hands of the dwarves and thanked them for their service.
“Did I imagine it,” Thrungrig grunted, “or did you and that one there split the whole damn mountain open?” His eyes glinted as he asked the question, but I just shrugged and looked to Pindor, who was not remotely modest.
“Hell yeah we did,” he said with a broad grin. “I still can’t feel my arms, but it was fucking awesome!” He gave his arms a good shake and continued to smile despite the way they flopped exhaustively at his side.
I laughed and shook my head as I felt how badly drained my own magic still was from the feat. I’d only ever used my Terra Magic to split the ground, but the mountain’s strength surprised me, and the effort had almost cost me my vision for a minute there.
“We’re gonna have to find some sort of energy if we’re storming the fortress in a few hours,” I muttered to myself.
The half-elf next to me wrapped an arm around my waist. “I love when you talk like that,” she purred. “So sensible.”
“Oh, I’ve realized I don’t have much of a choice with you three ladies keeping me in check,” I chuckled. Then I brushed a sweaty braid from her temple and breathed in the smoky scent of the woman as I kissed her. Her face was nicked in several places, either from shards of ice or diamonds, but her eyes still held the same fierce fire they always did.
Then the deep emerald pools sparked, and she sent me a giddy smile. “Come with me, you’re going to love this.” She hooked my hand in hers and pulled me off toward the brush, but she hollered over her shoulder for Pindor to join as well, and the young mage leapt from Bobbie to quickly follow after us.
Shoshanne and Cayla stood together near the brush that had served as their cover, and they smiled with pride as we approached them.
I wrapped the two women in my arms and laid a kiss on each of them before I turned to the Aer Mage.
“By the way,” I laughed, “watching those giants fall down the mountain was unbelievable.”
The caramel beauty sent a husky laugh to the sky as she nodded her agreement.
“I was trying so hard not to laugh while I did it,” she admitted.
“It’s true,” Cayla giggled. “You should have seen it from where we were.”
“Well, I hope the next phase is as entertaining, because we’re not done yet,” I told them. “Pindor and I found the fortress about ten miles north. It’s our best chance of getting Deli back, so we’re planning to attack at dawn.”
Cayla turned serious and agreed wholly. “Absolutely, we can’t let them take out this success on Deli. They may be furious about the defeat … ”
I hadn’t even thought of that, and I felt my adrenaline kick in for another round. “Maybe we should leave sooner,” I mused.
“Only if … ” Aurora interrupted my thoughts and sent a pointed look to the Aer Mage, who gave a little start as she realized what the half-elf was saying.
“Oh! Of course,” Shoshanne said, and she ducked behind the brush to dig through her bag. When she returned, she held out her slender arm with her fist curled tightly around something. “You and Pindor may take these, but only if you promise right this minute you will truly rest when all of this is over.” Her warm eyes clearly meant business, and her voice had that tell-tale challenge I was powerless against.
I smirked at the sound of it an
d winked to the Aer Mage as I agreed to the promise. She blushed sweetly and rolled her eyes before she opened her palms to reveal two silver berries that glistened in the moonlight.
“No shit?” I breathed, and I turned to Aurora. “You said you didn’t have any more of those.”
The last time I’d seen berries like these was back in Illaria after I defeated the traitorous Mage Abrus.
“I don’t,” the half-elf said with a shrug. “She does.”
Shoshanne plucked one of the berries up and handed it to Pindor before she passed me the second one. “I won’t tell you how many I have, and if you ask me, I’ll never give you another one no matter how much you beg,” she warned, and I raised my eyebrows. The Aer Mage shrugged. “All healers of the Order of Pallax are given a modest store of Tiorlin berries, for emergencies. Which rescuing Deli definitely is.”
I nodded my agreement and took the berry she held out to me. The moment the juices burst between my teeth, the numbness in my limbs began to ease, and soon I felt like I could scale the damn mountain without Bobbie’s help. I bounced on the balls of my feet and grinned as Pindor tried the Tiorlin berry himself.
“I feel so weird,” he informed us after he’d chewed on it for a minute, and then a wonky smile spread across his face. “Ohh, this is much better than the beer was.”
“Yes, well,” Shoshanne said warily, “don’t get too attached.”
Now that my energy was fully restored, my mind moved a mile a minute, and I quickly began to form a plan to rescue Deli. I returned to the dwarves, who still spoke with Haragh apart from the others.
The half-ogre nodded to something Dorinick said and motioned for me to join him. “The dwarves say the pass we split off from doesn’t lead the direction you mentioned the fortress is,” he informed me soberly.
“That’s fine,” I replied. “I think we should just go straight up and over, like me and Pindor did. The ridges are pretty smooth after we worked over the terrain a bit. With a little tweaking, we could make it easy for the catapults, and from the ridge we were on, you’d have a clear shot at the gates.”
“What about the climb up?” Thrungrig grunted.
I looked back to the slope with the eerie black grin that gaped across it and gauged the grade. “We’ll take her at an angle, like we did with the cliff near Garioch,” I said at last.
Haragh considered this and finally agreed to the plan. “It’s tall enough. The grade won’t be much different, but the climb will take some doing. We better get organized and be off soon.”
Many of the mages were working to fix the mess in the clearing now, while the dwarves helped Cayla hand out rations to replenish the troops after the battle. Dorinick climbed to the top of a boulder, and within a few minutes, everyone had settled down and turned their attention to the general.
“Alright now,” he began, “Deli’s countin’ on us to finish this out. We need to be on those catapults and ready to move out in the next ten minutes. I want you in the same groups once we get to the fortress.”
The mages and dwarves gave their approval and quickly finished their rations. Then everyone returned to the Warwolves they’d rode in on, and Haragh and I led the way to the base of the mountain.
Scaling the edge proved to be exactly the same as the cliff. However, we didn’t have to worry about the topmost edge tumbling down on us, or the frozen tracks, so we were able to work over the path with just three Terra Mages to level the terrain. We crested the top ridge within a half hour, and the snowy mountains stretched for miles under the moonlight. The smooth and small path Bobbie had taken us down was still visible, and we swapped out Terra Mages to begin the next leg of the journey in order to conserve everyone’s energy.
The sky had just begun to lighten as we neared the furthest peak, and as the moon lowered on the horizon, the last Warwolf came to a stop and looked down on the icy gate below.
All of the mages and dwarves dismounted and came to the edge of the cliff, and Dorinick joined me and my crew to get a plan together.
“Well, we’re at a good distance for the diamond bombs, but you’re gonna need to bring the mages down a ways,” he grunted.
I nodded my agreement. “I’ll take them down the peak this way,” I said and gestured to a slim jutting of rock to the right. “We’ll close in on either side of the gate just before you open fire, and whatever comes out, we’ll light ‘em up.”
Haragh assigned a Terra Mage to take his place at the catapult, and as I turned to ask what he was up to, I found my original crew at the ready.
Jovian, Zerla, Pindor, Mina, Aurora, and Haragh stood in formation, all apparently awaiting their instructions.
Zerla cleared her throat and stepped forward to speak on behalf of the others. “We’d like to volunteer to be the rescue force,” she said, and the others nodded behind her. “Deli joined on with our crew from the start of the journey into Orebane. We owe it to her to see that she’s rescued safely.”
“I agree,” I told the woman proudly, and I shook her hand. “Deli’s our mage, and we’re gonna get her out of there, together. Once the gates are breached, the other mages will do what they can out here, but the minute there’s an opening, get through those gates. We’ll meet just inside and get our bearings, but remember--whatever magic we use, be careful of your surroundings. We don’t know where Deli is, and we don’t want to injure her in the meantime.”
The crew gave their hearty approval, and we split off to organize the other thirty mages who would lead the fight outside the giants’ fortress. With the Warwolves in position, and each manned by a troop of dwarves and a Terra Mage, the rest of us set off down the narrow path.
Silence pressed in from all sides as we slowly descended, and the snow under foot crunched and slipped unexpectedly here and there. The mages held on to one another, but no one used their magic to alter the cliff just in case the noise of rock shifting gave away our ambush.
As I reached the base of the peak at last, I turned to watch the long line of mages carefully join me until everyone was gathered safely in the shadows between the ridges. The gate loomed not thirty feet away, and not a sound echoed in the barren ravine, just the howl of the wind. The ground was made up of slated rock so smooth, it was clear that many years of heavy giants had worn it down.
I craned my neck, but I couldn’t make out any sight of the Warwolves from where I stood, and I was grateful for the precarious path that led to the dwarves. At least they would be well out of range of the giants if they did catch on to their location. All around me, the edges of mountains jutted sharply toward the sky, and I could see the mages would be stuck in this small clearing outside the gate.
I turned to address them and spoke quietly since the silence of the ravine caught even the echoes of our footfalls loudly.
“This is all we have to work with this time,” I admitted, “but I believe we can handle it. The ground will give easily, and the Ignis Mages will be able to corner the giants quickly.”
The mages gave their silent agreement, and I had one last thing to add. “Position yourself near the gates, and if anyone sees an opening, give a signal.”
Then I organized the other mages so fifteen were flush against the edge of the mountain that held the fortress inside it, while fifteen more formed a front opposite of the gates. Once everyone was in position, I gave a sharp whistle, and a low creak echoed through the pass.
The first diamond struck the massive gates and let out a heavy clang that resonated throughout the walls of the mountain at our backs. The giant gem burst into a cloud of shards and dust, and as the rubble cleared, I looked out to see a large crack had split one of the doors directly down the center.
The next diamond soared overhead, and this one landed with a loud crack. This time, ice flew into the ravine along with the bits of diamonds. When the third diamond struck, the topmost portion of the massive gate loosened from its hinges and came crashing down into the ravine. It sent an echo to the sky that every creature for twenty
miles must have heard as it broke into a dozen sheets of ice.
Then everything was silent, and each mage remained perfectly still. At first, nothing happened, but after a moment I could feel that the ground began to tremble, and the sound of the giants grew.
“Here we go,” I breathed, just as another low creak met my ears.
The diamond flew through the air and met with the first giant to emerge from the gates, and the shriek that split the early dawn nearly shattered my ear drum. The high walls of rock around us sent the shrill sound in every direction, and for a brief moment, it confused my mind completely. All I could think of was how to get the sound to stop, and Kurna apparently felt the same.
The brawny mage stepped forward from the line opposite of the gates and hurled an orb of flames directly into the giants. The shrieking began to turn into a gurgle, and then the chaos began.
Four giants burst from the shattered gates, each half melted on their fronts, and they spun their great bodies around to find the mages in the clearing. Flames shot at them from all around, and as they shrieked and fell to the stone, another group of giants stormed out with their jaws already opened wide to unload a torrent of ice on us.
A Terra Mage blasted the jaw of one of the giants clear off with a slab of the rocky ground, while another beast had its entire head thrown from its shoulders by a diamond. Ice spewed from the next two giants, and the mages threw spurts of flame into the sky to combat the enchanted spears that rained down.
The noise of the cramped clearing was deafening, but the mages gritted their teeth against the chaos as rock and diamond flew through the air and flames lit the ground beneath the giants’ feet. Three more stumbled from the gates and were clearly confused by the assault they found themselves in. They reeled and sent ice in every direction, and I realized the ground had stopped shaking for the moment.
