by David Wind
<><><>
Two miles southeast of the Nevaen encampment, seven Masters sat in an oval. They had been in this position for several hours, discussing their plans for the coming battle when the eighth Master sat at his spot in the oval.
“How is our Afzaleem? She has recovered?”
“She is severely wounded. The arrow penetrated the area that gives her power. It took the entire day to repair the damage and begin the healing, but she lives; her anger is strong. Her powers are weak and will remain so, until the healing is complete. She needs two days or more. However, valuable information did she have. The two are now with the Nevaens. It was they who injured our Afzaleem. She said there was a third as well, a child.”
“Strange,” Fasil muttered.
“I have done all within my power. Will it be enough? Such I cannot say.”
The leader of The Masters shook his head. “We have waited millennia for this very day, and no matter what happens, we must find the source of their powers and destroy it!”
Master Fasil held the other Master’s stare for several long moments and then, as he dismissed the thoughts of Lessig, he looked up at the sky and sent his senses outward, moving carefully, easily across the distance between the two camps, testing the blocks surrounding it, feeling for anything familiar. Just as he was about to return, he felt… her. His entire body jerked.
Opening his eyes, Fasil’s small oval mouth twisted eerily into what might be a smile. “She is with them still …then the boy will be as well. This is very good.”
Fasil looked from face to face. Then he returned his gaze to the three Masters who controlled the ghazi at Dees. “When the battle begins, have Dees attacked. Crush them and find the way to their power!”
“When do we fight?”
“When the ghazi from Freemorn join us. A day and a half, at the most. We will attack by nightfall, in two days. They will be unable to stand before the power of all our ghazi.”
CHAPTER 37
“I’M NOT SURE,” Areenna said. They were sitting at a fire near Roth and Enaid, just far enough away to be by themselves—if one considers sitting in the center of twenty-thousand plus people ‘far enough away’.
Mikaal started to speak, but Areenna stopped him with a quickly raised hand. Your father is the best king Nevaeh has ever known. His strategies in war were well thought out and executed, and he has proven time after time, he can defeat them. This is a different war.
Mikaal tilted his head. How so?
Before she answered, she pushed the warmth for him, which she carried so deeply, to him. His smile was reply enough. When he fought and destroyed their armies, he fought the Afzaleem, not The Masters. The only time he fought them, was at the Mountain of the Twin Peaks, and we did most of the fighting. He knows them not as we do.
You’re getting to something, what?
She laughed. We need to show him how to fight them. We need to guide him in this… and to be the ones who face them, not your father, or your mother, or my father. Mikaal, you know this to be the truth of it.
Mikaal took her hands. He stared into her eyes and then pulled her to him. Slowly, gently, he kissed her. When their mouths parted, he nodded. I know.
Standing, he drew her to her feet. He looked over at his father, who was sitting at a field table, writing, and suddenly laughed.
“What?”
Mikaal shook his head. “Exactly how do we go to the high king and tell him that, we want to lend him our vast wisdom?”
Areenna frowned, took his hand and said, “Let me show you.” With that, she marched them over to Roth. When they stood next to him, she cleared her throat.
The only person who looked up from the table was Enaid, who, seeing them, smiled, but stopped at the tension etched on their faces. “Solomon.”
Roth continued to write, drawing and notating as he did.
“Solomon,” she repeated, louder.
It took a second before be looked at her. “What?”
Enaid’s gray eyes flicked to his left, to where they stood. When he followed her gaze, he found himself looking into Areenna’s eyes. “Yes, Princess?”
“May I see?” she asked, pointing to the diagram he was working on.
Frowning, he pushed the paper toward her. “What is it?”
Areenna studied the diagram, seeing exactly how he was thinking of deploying the fighters. You see what he does. He thinks to encircle the ghazi and attack, pushing them together so closely they can’t fight properly.
It is brilliant, Mikaal replied. They won’t suspect anything until it’s too late.
It would be if it were the Afzaleem. But The Masters, no.
Roth stared at them. “Are you two finished yet? It is rude to hide your conversation from someone who cannot hear it.”
“Apologies, Highness.” Areenna pointed to the plans. “This is a brilliant strategy—”
“Well thank you for that,” Roth said, unable to hide his sarcasm.
“But it will fail.”
Mikaal choked back his grunt. Enaid’s eyebrows rose into twin mountain peaks.
Roth looked from Mikaal to Enaid and then back at Areenna. “Well, Princess, I appreciate getting the benefit of your wartime experience but—”
When Areenna held up her hand palm first to stop him, he was so surprised he bit off the last word.
“My deepest apologies, My Lord, but it is not wartime experience, unless you call the one battle with the Master such, but I know what will happen and I know how to help you.”
Roth glanced at his wife, and saw her smiling. Then he laughed. “Sit down,” he told her, pointing to one of the stools next to him. “You too,” he told Mikaal.
When they were seated, one on each side, he said. “Talk to me.”
“The Masters will be somewhere high, either a platform in the very center of their army, where they can overlook and guide, or someplace safer, from where they can do the same. They control their ghazi mentally, not verbally. When they are high, they see everything and will stop our fighters before they can surround the ghazi.
Their shields are the most powerful I have ever known. Nothing can penetrate them so our weapons will be useless against them. There is a way: Mikaal, Neleh, and I are the way, but only when we wear The Masters down. They get their energy, their very life force, from the ghazi by draining a ghazi’s life force, taking their energy into themselves—”
Roth stopped her. “I know this. But how does this help us?”
Mikaal leaned close to his father. “If they don’t renew their energy, they weaken. We need a way to keep them so occupied in defending themselves, they will be unable to gain energy.”
Roth looked deeply into his son’s eyes and then nodded. “How?”
“We look at two things,” Areenna began. “The first is that The Masters can move where they want, when they want. If they reach the mountain, their powers will destroy our people; the second, is that the ghazi are truly slaves to their masters. While they can fight individually, they only fight well under a Master’s or an Afzaleem’s guidance. Without control, they run amok and while dangerous, are easy to defeat. To us, the most important aspect of this battle is to contain The Masters on the ground, and not let them reach the mountains. They will be on a platform, because I have seen this in my foreseeing; however, if they find the tide going against them, they will abandon the platform and go to the mountains behind us and guide the ghazi from there.
What our fighters must do, is to keep The Masters busy defending themselves against physical attack, while Mikaal, Neleh, and I fight them.”
Roth arched his back as he stared at Areenna. “The three of you against… them?”
“It’s the only way,” Areenna said, her voice a mere whisper.
Roth turned to Enaid, who had been silent through it all. “And your thoughts?”
Although she looked at her husband, Enaid’s thoughts went to Areenna. You are certain?
There is no other way. There is m
ore to discuss, but not with the king—with you and the other queens. You trained Neleh as well; you know her power—but not what it is like when combined with ours.
She turned to Roth. “There may be no other way, My Lord. I will work with them on how this will go. But trust Areenna and Mikaal you must.”
Roth stood. “Noslen,” he barked. The captain of the Sixes turned instantly and started to Roth. When he reached the king, Roth nodded. “Gather the captains of the other Sixes, and have Prince Darb and King Nosaj sent for… Ecorah and Timon too.” He paused and looked at Areenna and Mikaal. “We have a long night ahead. Tell me, how do you think it best to keep The Masters occupied?”
Before Areenna could respond, Tissel came to them, her aoutem, Ilna, a traimore, on her shoulder. “The ghazi army from Freemorn will be here the day after tomorrow, mid-day at the latest. King Nosaj requested me to send my aoutem to seek them out.”
Roth nodded. “Well done, Tissel, thank you.” Turning, he looked at the others. “This changes things. We need to force The Masters into battle, tomorrow, before the other ghazi arrive. How do we provoke them?”
“I may have a way,” Enaid said. “I have given much thought to your ideas about them. We hold them at the base of the mountain, by the pass, within an area of trees and ringed by guards. Two Women of Power have them blocked. The Masters want to get to the entrance to the Island. They believe Dees holds the entrance. There must be a conversation overheard.” Enaid stopped talking as she traced a thought.
“We will question the women and ask if The Masters know where the entry is. That they know nothing about any entrance, we know. Then Ilsraeth and I will step aside and whisper about the entrance, letting them know that only Areenna and Mikaal know exactly where it is, and that it is nearby. A second conversation between us will follow, speaking of how a special woman opened the barrier long enough for reinforcements to cross through.”
Areenna stiffened at the words, and then smiled. “Yes. The Masters are unsure of my power… of our powers,” she added, grasping Mikaal’s hand. “After our battles with Fasil, and after we escaped their trap in the wormhole, he would believe it. To what end? We would be giving up much by letting the women know about the entrance here.”
“To provoke The Masters,” Enaid said. “During the night, the women guarding them will fall asleep. When the two realize it, they will try to escape. They will use their abilities on the guards to stop the guards from seeing them escape. When they reach The Masters, they will bring word that more fighters are coming tomorrow night, and that the entry is in the mountain, not Dees, and we are planning to destroy it so no one can ever use it again.”
“Yes, it will make them want to get there quickly; make them want to be certain it is not destroyed beyond recognition or use. They will want to be in the same place that Areenna and Mikaal are.” Roth stopped speaking just as Nosaj, Ecorah, Timon, and Darb reached them.
<><><>
While Roth went over the details with the leaders of Nevaeh, Enaid held her own council of women. Gathered near the base of the mountain, with no one within fifty feet, Enaid, Areenna, Neleh, Ilsraeth, Atir, and several other Women of Power discussed the two dark sorceresses, and how they would use them. Once their plans solidified, Ilsraeth and Layra went to where the two women sat, while Enaid and the others trailed behind to keep an eye on the proceedings.
Areenna sent Gaalrie to hide in a tall tree. The treygone would follow the escaping women until they reached the ghazi camp. Then, with Neleh at her side, she reached out to Mikaal. Meet us at the mouth of the pass; we must plan.
Areenna watched Ilsraeth and Atir reach the women and begin questioning them. Then, with an aside to Enaid, she and Neleh went to meet Mikaal.
<><><>
Standing in the center of the pass, Areenna looked up. While the mountains were small in comparison to many in Nevaeh, they rose high enough to disappear into the night sky.
She sensed Mikaal before he reached her, Charka walking behind him. Neleh’s aoutem went over to the blue kraal and nudged its chest affectionately. “You summoned me, Princess?”
Areenna’s heart skipped a beat at his words, spoken so gently. “I’ve several thoughts about The Masters.”
“Tell us.”
“There are two things, one more difficult than the other.”
Neleh looked from Areenna to Mikaal, but stayed silent.
Mikaal shrugged. “And they are?”
“First we must set fire to the mountain to stop The Masters from going there.”
His eyebrows shot up. “A massive risk if they go out of control; but, it will hold them away until the fires burn themselves out. The other risk is that when the fire dies, it leaves the mountain bare of trees. They will see the entrance.”
If we fail, they will find it anyway.
“True.”
“But the second task we must complete is the hardest. We must find a way to get The Eight of the Island to join us. We need The Eight to use their powers to help lock The Masters into place, so they cannot use their ability to move from place to place, using the ethereal plane.”
“I thought they cannot leave the Island.”
She looked at Mikaal for several seconds. Sophia said she couldn’t leave, not that The Eight can’t, although there have never been any stories of such happening.
Ruth will be angry.
“What can it harm to ask?” Neleh said aloud, having followed the silent conversation carefully.
Mikaal laughed, bent, picked Neleh up, and held her at eye level with him. “Of course we will ask.”
Without prompting from Areenna, they sat in a triangle, holding hands. Each went to their powers, fostering them from inactive to an explosive heat that rose and coursed through their bodies. When Areenna judged the powers sufficient, she closed her eyes and pictured The Speaker of The Eight, and built a mind picture as solid as if Ruth were physically there.
A moment later, the wavering form of The Speaker rose between them. Her eyes orange-red glared at Areenna. What has happened?
Look first. Areenna opened her mind to The Speaker and drew her in.
All The Masters are here, in one place?
They are, Mikaal answered.
What seek you?
Areenna took a deep breath. You, you and the other sorceresses. We need you here.
We dare not leave this Island unprotected. We cannot come to you.
If you do not, life here is over. For you as well.
So certain are you? Ruth asked, looking from Areenna to Mikaal and then to Neleh. How do you know this is not The Masters’ plan, to lure us from the Island so it is unprotected?
We don’t, Mikaal snapped. All I know is that Sophia would not allow such to happen, and you know that as well as I!
Ruth pinned him with a glare, her eyes glowing solidly even though her ethereal body continued to waver.
Before she could speak, Mikaal said, Talk with Sophia. Tell her what we have asked for. She will know it is the only way. We need you to contain The Masters, nothing more. Contain them, hold them to their spot in the battle, and we will defeat them.
A wild promise you make.
A promise it is not; a fact it is,” Areenna stated, cutting both off from any argument. No matter what, the decision is yours. As you yourself said to us once, you have waited for us for too many millenniums to see us fail. We will destroy The Masters, but we cannot do it alone. All of Nevaeh, all must be a part of this.
Again, before Ruth could speak, Mikaal did. My father once told me about our world, from the time before he left. He told me that it had once been a beautiful place, with blue skies everywhere, not just in Nevaeh; that the darkness across the sea was once green grasses, tall trees and free people. Would it not be worth any risk to have such become a reality again rather than face the battles that have gone on for so many lifetimes?
Ruth stood in thought for a long moment. I can make no promises. I do not know if we can do this… leave t
he Island. Never, not in three thousand years, have we left.
Areenna locked her eyes on Ruth. Join us, or not, tomorrow the battle will be. Tomorrow determines your future.
An instant later, Ruth was gone and they were alone.
Mikaal spoke first. “Will they come?”
Areenna sighed. “I know not.”
“They will.”
Areenna and Mikaal looked at the small woman-child but said nothing.
Neleh smiled. “There is no other way.”
<><><>
The sky held a slice of moon in its descent as Areenna found a place with no one near. She was troubled and saddened at the way The Speaker had reacted to their plea for help.
Kneeling on the ground, she closed her eyes and dug her hands into the earth; pushing her fingers as far as she could, she reached deep within herself, to the place of her power and brought it forth. While the heat spread through her lower abdomen and upward, she concentrated on forming a message and, as the heat roiled through her body, she drew up the image of Ruth.
Help us tomorrow. It is our chance to end them. We need you here—I need you here. Our people will stop the ghazi army, and Mikaal, Neleh, and I will face The Masters, but without your help, they will…
Areenna released her power and as it returned to from where it had risen, she withdrew her fingers from the earth, brushed them off and stood. She needed to find Mikaal. There was more work to yet to do.
CHAPTER 38
DAWN WAS UPON Nevaeh and all the represented domains were moving with determination. Each dominion was gathered together, receiving their orders and checking their armor and weapons. In the center, Areenna watched Elyl and a dozen of his smiths work on what Areenna had asked for late last night.
“You’re sure about this?” Roth watched Elyl wave off two of the workers, while two others moved a large plank into position.
