The Godswar Saga (Omnibus)

by Jennifer Vale

  “I give us one minute before there’s a squad of Imperators charging up behind us,” Tam groused between labored breaths. “Maybe less.”

  “Probably,” Sarina said, slinging her bow onto her back and drawing a pair of throwing knives. “All the more reason for us to hurry the hell up.”

  She dashed up the winding staircase, often hurdling two or even three steps at a time with her long strides, and Tam grumbled under his breath as he followed in her wake. They reached the top level a few seconds later, and she paused and listened carefully while she waited for him to catch up. Defensive fortifications or not, this tower still provided an excellent bird’s-eye view of the northern section of the city, and there was no way in the bloody Void the Crell wouldn’t have at least one guard stationed up here…

  And they did. Just as Tam lumbered up behind her like a panting hound, Sarina heard the scraping sound of a leather boot on stone. She immediately leapt up out of the stairwell, tucked herself into a ball, and rolled as hard and fast as she could manage while still surveying the terrain. There were two Crell archers stationed on either side of the massive golden bell, both crouched and waiting for the opportunity to strike at the fools recklessly rushing their position.

  But they obviously hadn’t expected anyone to be crazy enough to roll directly into their line of sight, and Sarina managed to flick a throwing knife at the guard on her right before he could adjust his aim. The jagged blade caught the man right under the collarbone, and he cried out in pain as he stumbled backwards into the closest wall. His partner kept his poise, however, and he tracked Sarina with his crossbow and lined up a shot—

  At which point a tiny sphere of fire exploded in his back. The man soared forward and actually smashed into the bell before plummeting down the long shaft in a shrieking, blazing ball.

  “A little warning would be nice,” Tam grumbled as he lowered his flame-cloaked hands. “I can’t protect you if you’re diving all over the place.”

  Sarina rolled to a knee and snorted. “Since when do I need protection?”

  “Sorry, I just figured none of us wanted to get killed yet,” he muttered. “It is still morning.”

  She smirked as she whipped herself around and peered down over the lip of the tower. They were perhaps three-hundred feet away from the northern wall, and she could already see the Crell marksmen frantically trying to figure out why the bell was ringing.

  “I assume the whole city knows we’re in here by now,” Tam said, crouching next to her. “We’re going to have soldiers flooding up those stairs if Jace doesn’t act soon.”

  “Or their Imperators will just blow us up,” Sarina said. “If you want to protect me, make sure you intercept any fireballs they throw at us.”

  “I will, but what about arrows? I can’t—”

  Sarina grabbed onto his shoulder and pressed him flat against the stone as a volley of crossbow bolts sprayed against the pillar next to them. The stone was relatively wide and made for decent cover, and the Crell were firing upwards at a terrible angle…but there had to be fifty weapons pointed in their direction right now. She couldn’t risk firing back without a distraction.

  “You stay down,” she told him, risking a quick peek over the ledge. “I see at least one squad assembling in the streets…seven men, plus a few more angling in that direction. Honestly, I think they’d be better off trying to smoke us out. We can bottleneck them in the stairwell almost indefinitely.”

  “How about you don’t give them any ideas?” Tam muttered, lifting up his chin. “Uh oh.”

  Sarina frowned. “‘Uh oh’ what?”

  “The dragons are already on their way. Look.”

  She followed his gaze out to the distant Asgardian army, and rising above the lines of soldiers were six mighty winged beasts, their golden scales glinting in the morning sun. A squad of griffon riders had already flown ahead just to ensure the skies remained clear.

  “I guess they got impatient,” Tam said. “Where in the hell is Jace, anyway? If he doesn’t do something soon, I swear I’m going to—”

  Almost on cue, a torrent of lightning bolts forked across the marksmen shooting from the battlements. Several of their bodies toppled from the wall, their armor still-crackling with residual electricity, while the rest dove for cover and adjusted their aim away from the bell tower. A moment later, a swirling storm of wind and debris gathered strength in the streets, and Sarina could just make out Jason standing at the center of the tempest.

  “One of these days Sel needs to teach me these tricks,” Tam groused, though he was smiling the whole time. “Let’s give him some cover before he gets himself killed.”

  With a nod and a grin, Sarina propped herself up on a knee and took aim. Other than Jason’s magically-conjured vortex, the air was relatively still this morning, and she had no trouble hitting her targets at this range as long as she focused on cutting off the Crell reinforcements in the street to her right. A small squad of soldiers risked rushing forward despite her warning arrows, and she made two of them pay right off the bat—one she crippled with a shot to the leg, while the other she hit squarely in the torso. The rest of their companions learned their lesson quickly, and she kept them pinned down behind cover with relative ease.

  Next to her, Tam focused his efforts on the left side of the wall. He couldn’t risk launching massive fireballs with the shackled townsfolk nearby, of course, and so instead he threw smaller, more concentrated spheres of flame at anyone who got too close to Jason. Ultimately, the distraction proved just as effective as they had hoped: the chaos spreading through the Crell ranks kept them off-balance enough for Jason to rush up onto the battlements and release the captives. Soon he had them dashing down off the walls and back into the streets.

  Just in time. Mere moments after the townsfolk had cleared the battlements, the Solarian dragon riders began their assault. One by one the massive beasts strafed by and unleashed a storm of fire and death, and while the Crell soldiers fired back with arrows and the occasional spell, without a protective barrier or flyers of their own they had no hope of holding their ground. Eventually the rising heat became so unbearable that Sarina had to lie down against the stone and close her eyes. Tam flattened himself next to her, and she felt a tingle of energy as he shielded them as best he could.

  A minute later, it was all over. The dragons roared as they banked away from the city, and all she could hear was the incessant crackling of the fires below. Clasping her hands over her nose, she desperately tried to block out the choking smoke, but it wasn’t enough. She coughed uncontrollably, and her vision even started to blur…

  And then suddenly the smoke and pain were gone. Sarina blinked in confusion before realizing she was being carried in someone’s arms. She reached up with her hand, expecting to feel Jason’s beard against her skin…

  “I can’t see with your hand in my face,” Tam groused. “We’re clear of the tower, just hold on another minute.”

  A few more seconds ticked by before her eyes refocused, and she belatedly realized Tam had carried her down to the base of the tower. The surrounding area was barely recognizable—the nearby buildings had been almost completely razed, and the once pristine white stone of the tower had been scorched almost entirely black. Fires continued to rage around them, and she was surprised they were able to see anything, let alone breathe…

  “Sarina!” Jason’s voice called out. Suddenly he was standing next to her, his face covered in dirt and soot. “Is she all right?”

  “She breathed in too much smoke, but I think she’s okay,” Tam said as he gently helped her down. “Thanks for asking how I’m doing, though. I appreciate it.”

  Jason’s hands glimmered with healing magic as he touched her. “Just try and breathe normally.”

  “I’m fine,” Sarina insisted with a cough. The strange, almost-wet warmth of the Aether coursed through her, and her lungs began to clear after just a few seconds. “I take it the plan worked?”

  “The town
sfolk ran off, but there’s nothing else we can do for them at the moment,” Jason said, pointing back over his shoulder. “The army is on its way, and as far as I can tell the Crell have fallen back to regroup a couple blocks down the street. This place will be swarming with soldiers in a minute or two.”

  “Then we should get out of here before the smoke clears—literally,” Tam said. “We did the hard job. Now we need to get back to Sel and make sure your dad isn’t planning anything stupid.”

  Jason shook his head. “Verrator might try to flee now that his plan has failed. We need to get to the tunnels and slip inside the castle before the fighting gets worse. If we’re lucky, he’ll still be bunkered inside the King’s Bastion.”

  Tam coughed and wiped a layer of soot off his face. “I suppose you’re right. I’m just not looking forward to butting heads with another Ascendant, especially not one surrounded by a legion of guards.”

  “With luck, we’ll be able to slip past most of them,” Sarina said. “Assuming the Crell haven’t collapsed the tunnels. If they have…”

  “If they have, then we’re in trouble,” Jason said. “But there’s no point in worrying about it now. Are you sure you’re all right to move?”

  “I’m fine,” Sarina told him. She plucked her bow off of Tam’s back and readjusted her quiver. “Let’s just get moving before we all come to our senses.”

  ***

  The Solarian attack was quick and precise. The ancient, battered stone walls of Ashenfel didn’t stand a chance against one dragon, let alone six, and by the time the smoke cleared the creatures had opened a sizeable breach directly north of the bell tower. The Asgardian soldiers were already on the move, and within a few minutes they would be pouring into the city en masse.

  Onar Tenel knew he should have been upset. Their defenses were buckling, after all, and even though the battle was far from over, the enemy now had a legitimate chance of taking the city. But it also meant that Sovereign Ishthare’s plan had failed, and most of the Galvian townsfolk would be spared a fiery death.

  “Pull two squads off the southern wall and have them reinforce the breach,” Horsch ordered into the stunned silence that had settled over the war room. “I also want another company of archers in the northwestern tower. We should at least be able to thin the savages out before they push into the main streets.”

  “Have any of our soldiers spotted General Moore or his Elf Witch?” Tenel asked.

  Lieutenant Mirrel cocked her head to the side as she conferred with her fellow Imperators. “Not yet, sir, but I don’t have absolute confirmation. We’re almost completely blind outside the walls.”

  “We’ll be blind within them soon enough if we don’t deal with the infiltrators,” Horsch grumbled, his jaw clenched in irritation. “I thought Her Eminence had a plan to deal with Moore’s son?”

  “She does, and she’ll spring her trap shortly,” Tenel assured his friend. In truth, he was just as surprised as anyone that the young Moore had managed to slip into the city without them noticing…and he was a little annoyed that for all her concern, Sovereign Ishthare apparently hadn’t been able to detect his presence. That, or she hadn’t cared to inform anyone about it. “I’m more concerned that we haven’t heard any reports of demonic activity. Moore must have something else up his sleeve.”

  Horsch tapped a finger against his lip. “We could use the relic. It would disrupt his control before he has a chance to surprise us.”

  “We’ll sit on it for a bit longer,” Tenel said. “What’s the status of the Kai’Hathi Fleet?”

  “They are engaging as we speak, sir,” Mirrel said. “According to Admiral Graeber, the Solarians were even less prepared than we expected.”

  Tenel smiled and nodded. The truth was that even if Moore and the Asgardians managed to take Ashenfel, it would be little more than a minor setback. Their naval forces would cut off Galvia from any future support, and Celenest would be vulnerable to attack on two fronts. At worst, Moore would achieve a minor victory; at best, today he would finally face justice for his many crimes against the Imperium and its people.

  “This is the day they will write about in the history books,” Horsch whispered from beside him. “The day a murderer and his son are finally brought to justice. The day the Alliance Council and its prodigal queen are finally forced to their knees.”

  “A day of victory,” Tenel said, sinking back into his chair and folding his hands into his lap. “A day of reckoning.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “In war, triumph. In death, glory. In conquest, salvation.”

  —Borjann Svolnir, High King of Asgardia, 1735 A.G.

  “When you told me that your dad was the one who built this place, I automatically assumed it would be dark, dank, and full of hate,” Tam commented as he hurled a glimmering ball of Aetheric light down the long, winding tunnel ahead of them. “Glad to see I was completely off base.”

  Shaking his head, Jason conjured his own spark of light and held it inside his palm. These tunnels looked more like part of an old smuggler’s den than a secretive passageway built by the Hands of Whitestone. He hadn’t been down here since he was a boy, but back before the Ash War the king’s agents had treated this underground maze like a secondary base of operations. Now the crumbling walls and low overhangs made the tunnels almost completely unrecognizable. The overpowering musty stench didn’t help, either.

  “Turn right at the next junction,” Jason instructed. “We should be close to the King’s Bastion.”

  “Then we hope Verrator is actually holed up there,” Tam mumbled. “With our luck, he’s camping out in the regular throne room. Or he’s already back in Drakendaar laughing at us.”

  “The Sovereigns are just as paranoid as any other Ascendants, and the King’s Bastion is still the safest place in the castle. He’ll be there.”

  “I’m sure Areekan thought his little hidey hole would be safe too, and look what happened. I think if I were an Ascendant, I’d bury myself inside a huge mountain. Or just fly around on a dragon all day.”

  “Could you be quiet for one bloody minute?” Sarina growled. “And slow down—the Crell could have trapped the hell out of this place for all we know.”

  “Sorry, I guess I get chatty when facing imminent death,” Tam muttered. He summoned another globe of light and flicked it down a different passage. “This place gives me chills.”

  Jason signaled for them to move forward and stay quiet. So far, they hadn’t heard any signs of battle from above. Presumably, that meant the Asgardians were winning without the Solarian dragons obliterating half the city in the process. That, or these tunnels were buried deep enough to block out the noise.

  “You should let Sel know what’s going on if you haven’t,” Tam suggested as they approached a wider passageway. “I can’t seem to reach her all the way down here.”

  “We still need to work on your telepathy,” Jason said.

  “No thanks. I’d rather not know what people are thinking about me.”

  “That’s probably for the best,” Sarina chided. She crouched down at the corridor junction and signaled for them to be silent while she looked around.

  We’re almost at the palace, Jason told Selvhara through the Aether. Any updates?

  The battle proceeds well, she replied. The Asgardians have taken the breach, and the Crell have already begun to fall back and regroup. The rest of Halfren’s men are sweeping around the walls to consolidate forces before we push any further.

  The griffons still haven’t spotted anything strange?

  Not yet, but if the Crell have some kind of trap planned, I expect they’ll spring it soon.

  Agreed. I’ll let you know once we’re inside.

  “I admit, I expected to run into a battalion of Imperators by now,” Tam whispered as they turned right into a wider passageway. “At least we confirmed that the Crell don’t know about these tunnels.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Sarina said, frowning and
holding her arm out in front of them. She dropped to a knee and studied the stone. “There were cobwebs all over the side passages, but not here.”

  “Mm,” Jason mumbled. “That could be coincidence.”

  “Maybe, but those boot prints aren’t,” she said, pointing. “Someone has been down here recently, probably within the last day or two. They tried to hide it, but there’s so much dust that it’s easy to see prints.”

  “You and I have very different definitions of ‘easy,’” Tam murmured as he squatted down next to her. “How in the void did you even notice those?”

  “Because I wasn’t running my mouth like a gibbering nitwit,” Sarina chided. “Anyway, the Crell definitely know about these tunnels. And the fact they haven’t sealed them up means—”

  “This is a trap,” Jason finished, his throat tightening. “They must have known my father was with the army, and they assumed he would try to use these passages to slip inside during the fighting.”

  Tam sighed and brushed a rebellious strand of hair out of his eyes. “Fantastic. So what are we supposed to do now?”

  “It might not be a trap,” Sarina said, sweeping her eyes about the chamber. “If they discovered these tunnels recently, they might not have had the chance to seal them off. And there’s no evidence that whoever was in here actually did anything. We haven’t found any trip wires or foot traps or weakened wall supports.” She shrugged. “But at the very least, I bet Verrator isn’t sitting around inside the King’s Bastion waiting for us to drop down on his head.”

  Jason pursed his lips in thought. He should have known it wouldn’t be this simple. Verrator had been living here for over a decade now, after all, and no one had ever accused the Crell of being incompetent. They’d had plenty of time to unearth all the Hands’ old secrets.