Halls of Power (Ancient Dreams Book 3)

by Benjamin Medrano

  Diamond spoke first, her voice calm as she looked at Sistina. “Sistina? May I ask if you’re willing to allow us to harvest a large number of herbs from your private gardens?”

  The dryad nodded in response, looking curious but not saying anything. Smiling, the priestess looked at Albert and asked, “Guildmaster, may I ask what your Guild’s stance on outsiders purchasing healing items is?”

  “We sell them all the time. Only members can buy items used to attack or cause damage, but healing items are freely available, though Guild members get discounts,” Albert replied, and Phynis could see the realization dawn on him. “I think I know what you’re going to ask, and I’m probably going to say yes.”

  “You likely do. I’m not going to ask you to do anything for free, Guildmaster. What I’m going to offer are the herbs to create healing potions, with three potions worth of herbs being exchanged for two potions.” Diamond replied. “I would say that your adventurers defend your part of the city, as if the walls are breached the soldiers outside might not realize you want to stay out of things, but allow us to gain healing for our soldiers. That could be the difference between victory and defeat.”

  “That seems fair to me, but considering things from before, I shouldn’t just agree,” Albert murmured, turning to Phynis and asking, “Would that be acceptable to you, Your Majesty?”

  “Considering everything you’ve done since the attack on Sistina, yes. I know you weren’t responsible for what was done, Guildmaster, and my anger has largely cooled,” Phynis told him after a moment of thought. “I must say that the deal seems fair to me, though I’m uncertain if it seems that way to you. I have no idea how much effort it takes to distill potions.”

  “It isn’t a loss for me, I’m willing to say that much. Oh, it’ll be a lot less of a profit than normal, but the hard part for higher quality healing potions is getting the ingredients to begin with,” the Guildmaster replied readily, then sat back and let out a sigh. “I’m glad, though. I’ve been feeling like I was walking on pins and needles around you, Your Majesty.”

  “Likely for the best, at least at first,” Phynis murmured, her thoughts still churning through their problems. After a few moments she sighed and looked at Farris, her voice soft. “I hate to ask it, Farris, but since you don’t need to sleep, might I convince you to keep watch for Tyria, with the beacon ready?”

  “I am more than willing to do so, Your Majesty,” Farris replied, giving a deep bow.

  “There isn’t anything else I can see to do for preparations. Everyone knows their part of the city’s defense, and Kelvanis’ army hasn’t gone anywhere. Let’s get back to work,” Phynis told the others, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “Oh, and try not to tell anyone what the exact preparations are for Tyria. We don’t want Kelvanis catching wind of it somehow.”

  That caused a chorus of chuckles as the others stood, and Slaid replied drolly, “Right, that would be bad. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”

  “Good enough. Be safe, everyone,” Phynis murmured, and watched them go.

  “Hey, Albert,” Daniel called out cheerfully.

  “Oh, hello, Daniel.” The Guildmaster’s reply was slightly belated, and the look of concern on his face made Daniel pause.

  “Is something wrong? Other than the siege, I mean. We were going to take Sina on her first delve to try to get away from the commotion, but if it’d be better to stay outside, I’d like to know,” Daniel asked, growing a little more worried. They were in the front room of the Guild, and Daniel realized after a moment that their conversation had already caused the others in the area to quiet down.

  Albert looked around the room, then chuckled and set his mug aside. Standing, he spoke more loudly. “I suppose that it’s best not to let myself stew in private anyway. Right, all of you heard about how one of the local goddesses, Medaea, was supposedly captured, right?”

  “I heard the rumors, but didn’t really believe it.” Penelope spoke up from her chair, swiveling away from the bar. “Who could capture a goddess anyway?”

  “I suppose it’d be a lot easier if she was asleep, as she apparently was. Regardless, it happened. I’ve heard the details from several of those involved, and I believe them,” Albert replied, and Daniel couldn’t help but flinch. No matter that Medaea hadn’t been worshiped in Kelvanis almost at all, the news was troubling. Yet Albert didn’t stop there.

  “The next part is less certain, but it’s… distantly plausible. A defector brought information that Kelvanis was attempting to corrupt Medaea, and turn her into the goddess of a budding religion under the name Tyria.” Albert paused and had to raise his hand to quiet the hubbub at that, his voice growing stronger as he spoke over them. “I have no idea if that’s true! What is true is that Tyria attacked Sifaren’s army yesterday, and may be coming here.”

  “Aw, dammit. What’re you wanting us to do, Guildmaster? I may not be too impressed with Kelvanis, and am willing to fight them somewhat, but fighting a goddess?” Darak spoke up, looking very unhappy.

  “I’m not asking you to do that. Better, Queen Constella isn’t asking you to do that,” the Guildmaster replied, looking around seriously as he continued. “If you choose to join in this fight, that’s on you. This is an unusual war in that a former Guild member has broken the rules and allowed us to get involved, yet he isn’t anywhere nearby. As it stands, I’m supplying Beacon’s defenders with a variety of healing potions in exchange for enough herbs to replace them, and then some. The Queen asked us to defend our area, and the dungeon if we’re willing. I think that’s fair.”

  “W-what if Tyria comes, though?” Eileen’s voice trembled, her knuckles white as she clutched Eric’s hand. He looked worried as well, but was putting a brave face on things.

  “If you see a winged woman in armor, carrying a flaming sword and with purple hair, get the hell out of her way,” Albert replied dryly, shaking his head. “I’ll admit I’ve always been curious just how powerful a demigod might be, but I’m not foolish enough to ask you to fight one. A group of Dungeon Slayers might have a chance… but I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in it. We tend to fight monsters, not people or beings as intelligent as people.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Darak muttered, and Daniel couldn’t help but swallow as the other adventurers muttered their agreement. After a moment Albert sat back down and people began to talk again.

  A minute later Sina appeared in the door of the Guild, wearing lightweight leather armor and carrying both a dagger and bow. Sayla was with her, and the pair of them smiled. “Hey, are we going to go or not?”

  Giving Eileen and Eric a questioning look, Daniel was almost relieved when they nodded. “Yeah, just give me a minute. I wanted a couple more healing potions, just to be safe.”

  “Alright,” Sina agreed, almost bouncing happily in place.

  Daniel wondered how well that would hold up if she heard what had just been discussed. Still, there was no reason to ruin her mood, and he headed for the alchemist’s, deciding to get higher quality potions this time. He didn’t want to risk losing any of his friends.

  “Phynis…” Sistina said softly, wrapping a blanket around the Queen’s shoulders as she looked up at the sky. The worry on Phynis’ face was palpable, which concerned the dryad greatly.

  “Do you think we can survive this, Sistina? Tyria, I mean. You said that you’d taken measures, but you didn’t seem nearly as certain during the meeting,” Phynis said, not looking down from the stars above them. The moon was a waning sliver of itself, and the Queen pulled the blanket a little closer.

  “Yes. I dare not speak of my last resort,” Sistina replied, then hesitated for a moment, swallowing hard and then asking, “I could show you. Would you like to see?”

  Phynis turned at that, blinking in surprise. It took her a moment, as her mouth opened… but then she hesitated. “I was going to say yes, but then I wondered. Would me knowing change anything, Sistina? Or would it just be a risk?”

  “Pe
rhaps, and yes,” Sistina replied quietly. Anyone knowing about the bodies of Demasa and Kylrius would be a danger, as even as a shadow of their living selves, their power was immense.

  “Then I’m content. I trust you, Sistina, absolutely and forever. I just… I worry,” Phynis replied, giving a nervous smile.

  “Of course. All is darkest before the dawn, Phynis. The Godsrage was a great darkness.” Sistina paused for a long moment, and pulled her beloved into a gentle embrace, smiling as she murmured, “It is time for a new dawn.”

  Chapter 45

  Vendis looked out over the walls in worry. Over the last few days the besiegers had grown more and more concerned over the scattered raids by Kassandra, and only once had the carnage broken out into open warfare in the middle of the night. In that raid the vampire had been spotted and others had attacked her properly, leading to a wide range of explosions and bloodshed during the night. Kassandra had escaped the battle with little more than torn clothing, and the blood-soaked scene revealed by the dawn had been shocking, prompting Kelvanis to attack the city in return.

  That attack was going even now, a full day later, and Vendis found herself reassured by the way most of the catapult stones and ballista bolts bounced off the walls with little damage. “I’m glad the walls can repair themselves. Even if they’re tough, this sort of abuse would add up.”

  “Agreed,” Slaid replied with a nod, glaring at the enemy force as they started moving up a covered battering ram again. “They just won’t give up, will they?”

  “Why would they? They’re your countrymen, aren’t they?” Vendis retorted, faintly amused as she added, “Most people would have given up their rebellion a decade ago.”

  “Lady Cascade, you wound me!” Slaid pretended to clutch at his heart and chuckled, smiling and shaking his head before his expression grew more solemn. “But being more serious, I’m surprised. The last time the ram didn’t get to the ramp, let alone much further than that.”

  “I doubt they would throw good money after bad, but we can hope,” Vendis agreed, frowning thoughtfully as she watched two golems with arbalests take aim.

  The two constructs took their time before firing, their bowstrings loud even with the regular fire of enemy siege engines. Vendis flinched slightly as a ballista bolt bounced off the shield defending the battlements in a spray of crimson energy, but her eyes followed the flight of the heavy bolts of the golems. The distance made it difficult to see for certain, but she saw the bolts hit the heavy wooden canopy and stop.

  “I think they added metal plates to the cover. The bolts just stopped,” Vendis told Slaid flatly. “I think we need a couple of the ballista to go after it.”

  “Crap. I’ll let their crews know. If not, we do have the water spouts, so we aren’t completely out of luck.” Slaid’s amusement vanished entirely, and he rushed off.

  As she studied the ram, Vendis’ worries grew. If it was as sturdy as it looked, the ram was going to be very difficult to stop, unless a ballista hit the wheels. It wasn’t moving fast, which probably meant it was heavily reinforced, though. As she watched the first ballista fired at it, and the massive bolt bounced off due to the angle, spinning into Kelvanis’ army and revealing the gleam of metal beneath the wood.

  “Archers!” Vendis called out, gesturing them closer. As the nearby squad approached, she nodded at the ram. “I want you to try and shoot into the gaps of the ram’s cover. They have to see where they’re going and breathe, so there have to be weak points. Try to slow them down and get rid of their porters.”

  “Yes, sir!” they chorused, quickly moving into position.

  Vendis grew a bit more worried over the next few minutes. None of the attacks were doing much good, though a few of the archers managed to at least get a handful of arrows into the interior of the ram’s canopy and walls. The only moment of hope was when a ballista bolt hit one of the supports, but other than cracking the wooden post it didn’t do much. Even the occasional fire bolts from their magi didn’t seem to be doing much, which was worrisome. Finally it reached the winding path up to the gates and started to crawl its way up, ironically moving faster on the slope than it had over the rocky ground. A moment later one of the other guards, a man who’d been enslaved by Kelvanis until Sistina freed him, vanished into the gatehouse and Slaid returned.

  “Well, I suppose we’re about to find out if the water trap will do any good,” he growled, scowling. “I don’t know if you got a look inside, but the damned thing is being pushed by orcs, and they’ve got a pile of magi shielding them.”

  “That explains why the fire bolts didn’t do any good,” Vendis commented unhappily. “I hope the water does better.”

  “So do I. I don’t know how much water it can put out, though, so it might not…” Slaid began, but his voice trailed off as the sound of water rushing down pipes echoed through the area, and abruptly water began to fountain from pipes all around the gatehouse.

  The water wasn’t a trickle, it was coming out with a speed that left Vendis drop-jawed, staring at the foaming water that quickly began forming a small river to flood down the ramp. The first few seconds didn’t have much water behind it, but the ramp’s lip kept the vast majority of the water focused, and the ram visibly slowed in only a few moments.

  “Where’s the water coming from?” Vendis asked, stunned.

  One of Beacon’s guards was nearby, and the woman smiled. “Someone said that Sistina put in a huge underground reservoir to fuel the defense. She said something about needing water for the dungeon, too.”

  Vendis’ response was cut off by a cracking sound from the ram. The support that had been damaged earlier began to break under the rush of water flooding up against the ram, and ever so slowly it began to topple, and the ram’s sheer weight suddenly was turned against it as other supports began to collapse as well.

  “Quickly, get ready to hit them!” Slaid called out, and the others prepared themselves.

  Vendis readied her own bow, since she didn’t see any point to trying to call out orders now. Their target was obvious. Then the men and women within the ram began abandoning it, and as they did, Beacon’s defenders were waiting.

  The hail of attacks decimated the fleeing soldiers almost instantly, and the survivors quickly broke and began to run. Vendis focused on taking down several magi, but as she was taking aim at a third, she saw a faint purple light in the distance, almost like a star that was rocketing toward them.

  The afternoon sky was suddenly split by a brilliant crimson bolt of light. It didn’t so much lance across the sky as flash into existence, a lightning-cored crimson beam from the palace that reached out to meet the purple star. When it hit the star, it didn’t stop but kept going until it hit the ground in the distance, and then the light vanished. Everything happened in an instant, leaving Vendis drop-jawed. A few moments later a crash like immense thunder rolled over her and the others, prompting a flinch as it went on and on.

  “What in the name of the gods was that?” Slaid asked, looking shaken.

  “If I’m not mistaken… that was Tyria, and the Siegebreaker that Sistina was talking about,” Vendis replied hesitantly, her ears still ringing.

  “Oh,” Slaid replied, and didn’t say anything more.

  Even their opponents seemed cowed by the magic that had just split the sky, and the soft reverberations of thunder echoed from the mountains around them. It seemed that for now, the attack on Beacon was over.

  The temple was finally quieter, and Elissa let out a soft sigh of relief as she reached the private wing for the priestesses. The last few days had been stressful, with a massive surge of people coming to the temple to ask questions, make demands, and attempt to appease Tyria as well.

  Her smile faded slightly as she considered what the goddess had done. No matter what Elissa had thought about the goddess, she’d never expected Tyria to incinerate several noble households whose leaders had tortured and murdered their slaves, but she had done so with eerie precision, her fla
mes having left the slaves and innocents completely untouched. How much of it was Medaea’s nature not having vanished, and how much of it were the changes that the faithful had instigated in the goddess, Elissa didn’t know.

  Among the common folk and slaves, Tyria had suddenly exploded in popularity due to her actions. Unlike many of the courts and nobles, the goddess simply didn’t care what titles those she judged had, and the sight of someone holding them accountable had delighted a large part of Kelvanis’ underclass. It had also worried those in charge, which left Elissa in a strange position, as many of those who had questions came to her. In all, it had led to a couple of long, exhausting days.

  That was why she thought it was time for a soak. The pool where she’d given Diane and Jaine their baptisms was now the private bath for the priestesses after only minor remodeling. The chance to relax would do her a world of good. With that in mind, Elissa grabbed a bathrobe and towel from her rooms and headed toward the bath, humming to herself. She really needed a few more assistants, but none of the acolytes felt right as priestesses, and she was debating whether to open the ranks of the priesthood to men, since they could already be acolytes, but—

  Elissa’s thoughts ground to a halt as she opened the door and found the room filled with steam and a glowing figure half-submerged in the bath. The flame within Elissa surged joyfully, and the priestess openly gaped as Tyria opened her eyes and looked at her.

  The goddess looked like someone had hit her with a boulder. Half her body was bruised, the skin an ugly purple and faint traces of other wounds on her face, while several regrowing feathers were in her wings. Near the wall behind the goddess was her armor in a pile, most of which had been mangled as well, a sight which utterly shocked Elissa.