The Path Of Peace (The Cremelino Prophecy Book 3)

by Mike Shelton

  Chapter Twenty-One

  THE POWER TO BIND

  Wizard, Christine is through the barrier, but she is injured. Lightning spoke to Darius. I felt a spike of pain through the bond southeast of here.

  “Christine!” Darius’s heart leapt with joy at the thought of seeing her again, but pain filled his soul to think of her hurt. How long had it been now since they bade farewell on the road south of Mar? Seven weeks? Eight? So much had happened.

  “I have to go and find her,” Darius said out loud.

  Roland stood by him. “My Lord, the barrier?”

  “Don’t you think I know that, Captain?” Darius snapped at him. Thousands of people were being protected by the barrier that the High Wizard, Danijela, the Cremelinos, and himself held up. If it came down, there would be war, and thousands would die on both sides.

  He took a deep breath and turned back to Roland. His shoulders sagged. “You are right Roland. I cannot leave. But you can.”

  “Sire?”

  One more time, he thought about running to find Christine and leaving the others to hold the barrier. All he wanted right now was to hold her again, to feel her in his arms. His mouth tightened in frustration. Darius looked at the other wizards holding up the barrier with him. He could see a tightening around the High Wizard’s eyes. It wasn’t fair for him to choose between his wife and his people. But wasn’t that the choice a King faced all the time? It was his duty to use his powers to protect his people.

  “Captain Commander, as much as I want to find my wife myself and hold her again,” Darius spoke with thick emotion, “my main duty is to all of my people. I now entrust you to find and rescue my wife and return her to me. It is the greatest trust I can give you.”

  Roland gave a formal bow. “I will not fail you, my Lord. I will find her and return her to you as soon as possible.”

  “Take Jakob and Lightning with you. Maybe the bond with her Cremelino will help you find her,” Darius instructed.

  “I want to go also,” Jain said, walking up to the group. He had accompanied Cray and had been helping the battalion as they traveled. “After all, she is my sister. If anything happened to her . . .”

  Darius smiled at his brother-in-law. “Very well. I understand. Please hurry and bring her back safely.”

  Roland obeyed, gathering the two young men in quick fashion, and headed southeast out of the camp. Once they cleared the camp, they began to run.

  Darius closed his eyes and pleaded with God for his wife’s safety. He could feel the power soaring through his veins. He tried to reach out through the Cremelinos to find his wife but was met with nothing. Tears leaked from his eyes and ran down his face. He was not ashamed. It was his wife!

  Scanning the two armies, he wondered how they would disarm the conflict. He noticed flashes of light hit the barrier from the other side and surmised that the general had wizards with him also. Could they hold on? Was it only a matter of time until they broke through?

  For now, the three wizards and the Cremelino wizards held the barrier, but it would not hold forever.

  * * *

  Prince Mezar was brought before his father. They stood facing one another in the command tent. Mezar held his father’s gaze with fierce determination to see this through according to the Emperor’s wishes. Guards circled the perimeter inside and outside of the large tent. Other commanders joined them inside.

  “Mezar, I could guess you were involved in this,” he said to his son.

  “Involved?” Mezar let his anger show. “You are the cause of this.” He spread his arms around, pointing at the camp. “I have done nothing against you. This is your doing, and it needs to stop. What has possessed you in this ridiculous endeavor, Father?”

  “Stop?” The general took a step forward. “You are telling me to stop? I am your commanding officer. You obey me, both as your general, heir to the throne, and as your father, Mezar.”

  A man standing with a hooded cloak back in the shadows walked up, put his hand on the general’s arm, leaned in, and whispered something in his ear. He was short with skin color slightly darker than Mezar’s own. His skin was covered with intricate tattoos. Mezar felt power radiating from the man, and realization dawned on him that this was one of the eastern kingdom wizards he had read about in his studies.

  “What is he doing here? What have you done, Father?”

  “He is helping me to understand what needs to be done to bring peace to our western lands,” Mezar’s father said almost mechanically.

  Mezar recoiled and took a step back. His father was mad, but this eastern wizard was dangerous. He breathed in deeply and proceeded with his plan. Pulling a scroll out of the inside of his shirt he handed it to his father.

  His father’s face contorted with rage as he read the document. “How dare he.”

  “You brought this on yourself, Father. As the scroll says, you are now relieved as general of the army, effective immediately.”

  The guards and commanders in the room gasped. A scowl covered the face of the eastern man.

  “I will not obey this,” his father stated. Pointing to two of the guards, he said, “Take my son out of my sight. He is a traitor to his kingdom.”

  The guards hesitated. One of the general’s commanders stepped forward in front of Mezar. “Is this true, my Prince? Does this come from the Emperor himself?”

  “It does, Commander. The Emperor, in light of the general making his own decision in direct disregard to the Emperor’s wishes, has formally removed him from command. A hearing will be held back in Gildan to determine if any further action is needed and who else might be responsible.” Mezar glanced at the eastern man, but the man seemed to be slipping away further behind the crowd. Mezar would have to deal with him later.

  “Take him,” his father yelled again, his veins bulging out from his neck.

  “I am sorry, General Alrishitar,” the commander said. “The Emperor has ordered this. We had assumed that you were acting under his authority. Guards, please escort the former general out of the command tent. He is no longer in command.”

  Mezar’s father looked around frantically for his eastern supporter, but the man had totally disappeared. Turning back to the room, he struck out physically at first, then magically. He punched two guards and drew his sword on a third. The tent was small, and chaos reigned. Blue fire grew around his hands, and he twisted it out at the others, burning a hole in the side of the tent.

  “I will have that barrier down and we will attack,” he screamed.

  Other wizards, beholden to the general, ran to the tent and escorted him away among flinging fire. They raced together toward the barrier. Mezar and the others gave chase. Star came running up beside the prince, and he jumped gracefully up in the air. In one fluid motion, he landed on top of the Cremelino. Reaching the barrier, he noticed his father and four other wizards joining hands.

  “No Father. You cannot form a circle with that many wizards!” Mezar yelled at the wizards. “It’s too dangerous! You will burn yourself out.”

  But his father gave no heed. Power built up around the five wizards. The air churned with a howling wind. Soldiers had a hard time standing in place. Lightning crackled in the air, and dark clouds formed on their side of the barrier.

  “We need more!” his father yelled. “Beltzar, where are you?”

  At the sound of his name, the eastern wizard came forward. He pulled his hood back and tattoos seemed to slither across his face and down his neck. He grabbed the general’s hand with his left and another wizard with his right. The circle of six wizards joined their power together in an awesome force.

  Looking through the barrier, Mezar watched as King Darius, High Wizard Sallir, the young wizard Danijela, and their remaining Cremelinos drew closer. Their faces showed the strain of power to hold the barrier in place.

  “Darius,” he voiced through his Cremelino, hoping he could get a message to him through the barrier. “The general and his wizards are drawing a circle of
power.”

  “I don’t understand,” came the reply.

  “It’s too dangerous with that many wizards together. The power will burst the barrier and destroy thousands on both sides. You must retreat.” Mezar couldn’t bear to see the army of his friend destroyed for his father’s vengeance and greed.

  “Get your people back also, Mezar,” Darius said through the Cremelinos. “We will try and hold it. If we do, the backlash will hit your armies instead.”

  Mezar motioned for the troops to get back from the barrier. It was now raining, lightning and deafening thunder filling the air. A large display of power began to encircle the six wizards. The eastern lord held his head upward, and fire seemed to dance across his tattoos. Evil saturated the air.

  “You will burn yourself out!” Mezar yelled at his father’s wizards through the storm, but once again there was no response. On the other side, he could see Darius’s army retreating, leaving only the wizards on either side of the barrier.

  A force pulsed out from the circle of Gildanian wizards against the barrier. A loud rumble filled the air, causing people to cover their ears. A high pitched sound was heard over the battlefield. Once again the wizards attacked the barrier, this time causing it to shake. Mezar saw the strain on Darius’s face.

  To the east of Darius, a white horse rode in to view. Christine was slumped over the front of Lightning, a bright red crimson stain spreading across her clothes.

  Darius looked toward her. Through the bond of the Cremelinos, Mezar felt Darius groan and saw his lips move in a wailing sound of despair.

  Darius moved toward his wife, his concentration on the barrier waning.

  The wizard circle struck again, timing the strike with Darius’s change of focus. The barrier began to crack and open, wind and power pulling through like a siphon to the other side.

  Darius turned back to the barrier in shock. He wrestled with his attention alternating between his bleeding wife and the barrier.

  Mezar needed to do something. He closed his eyes and dug deep inside of himself. He called upon the reserves of Star, who in turn called upon the Cremelino family back on White Island. Unlike Darius, Mezar had been taught and trained to wield magic. This was not a circle of wizards bound together, but the drawing of power from others. He brought power into him from the Cremelinos, as much as he dared. He had never known such power. The power of the spirit—the power to bind. The sudden knowledge was staggering. He briefly swayed, then set his resolve and opened his eyes. With the increased power came clarity of thought and a heightened awareness to his senses.

  “Father!” he screamed one more time, his voice booming and echoing across the battlefield of two armies.

  This time his father did look at him, but Mezar hardly recognized the horrible visage looking back at him. Rage, anger, and greed had corrupted the general’s face. His eyes were bloodshot and his eyelids receded. His face was drawn and wrinkled, a snarl forming on his lips. He had taken too much power into himself from the circle of his wizards. The general was burning out but seemed intent to try and take the army of the Realm with him when he did.

  “Hold, Darius,” he yelled to his friend. He couldn’t imagine the turmoil Darius was feeling, being torn between his wife and the barrier. It must be eating him up inside.

  Darius had begun to sag to the ground but stood straight again with new resolve at Mezar’s command. Flanked on one side by the High Wizard and his apprentice and on the other side by Thunder and Spring, all their faces showed exhaustion and strain beyond what a normal creature could bare, yet still they held on to hope.

  The circle of the general’s wizards began one last gathering of power, and just at the apex, right before they let it loose into the barrier, Mezar grabbed the hands of his father and the eastern wizard, and forced all the power he held into the circle itself. A seventh wizard.

  Mezar felt the evil, corrupt power and hatred of these wizards course through him, almost overwhelming him. Pulling upon the purity and power of the Cremelinos, he pushed out into the circle with all he had, then let go and fell to the ground.

  The six wizards turned into shimmering firelight. Beings of elemental light, pulsing with power and energy, their physical bodies burned out. A bright burst of light filled the air between them as one by one the six wizards burned out in total, their elemental energy following their physical bodies into oblivion. Mezar’s father was the last to disappear.

  The wind and rain stopped. The clouds disappeared immediately. An eerie silence permeated the air.

  Mezar pulled himself up to his knees and leaned his head against his Cremelino, Star, who sagged to the ground himself. The prince of Gildan watched as Darius, Danijela, and Olan released the barrier. The shimmering light winked out. The three wizards collapsed to the ground.

  Panic struck the two armies, many of which had not been privy to the general’s fate. Soldiers surged forward on both sides. Darius stumbled to his wife’s side, barely able to hold himself up. Her eyes remained closed. With the help of Roland, he lifted her from the horse to the ground. Mezar tried to regain control of the Gildanian army, but he was too weak to yell or to use his wizard powers for anything more.

  Unexpectedly, the young wizard girl Danijela slowly brought herself up off the ground. She looked so small and fragile in the middle of the chaos swirling around her, her short blonde hair hanging straight on the sides, dirt smudges covering her soft and innocent face.

  Gradually but deliberately, she raised her hands to the sky and then in one swift motion, brought them down hard against the ground. The earth cracked below her and spread dramatically outward through where the barrier had been and into the armies of Gildan. Men scrambled to keep from falling into the growing crevice. Again she brought her hands up and back down, swifter this time, and the earth quaked, rocking back and forth, bringing up rocks from its depths. Rocks that suddenly melted and flowed together and began to form new solid walls. Small rocks came up out of the fissure and flew through the air, knocking down soldiers on both sides of the battle.

  Soldiers and commanders both ran and screamed at each other, backing off from the battle. The earth shook again as the ground rolled through the remaining men, knocking many of them to the ground.

  “Enough!” screamed the young wizard, her high voice amplified to be heard over the entire battlefield. “Enough fighting. Go back to your homes. This battle is over!” One last quake shook the area, then the ground stopped moving.

  Mezar summoned a reserve of energy and jumped on Star. He was amazed that after the power of the barrier, the young earth wizard was still able to command the elements around her. He rode toward her, against the tide of Gildanian soldiers leaving the battlefield. She must be in danger of taking too much power into herself and burning out like his father and the other wizards had. He had to warn her.

  The strength of her power and words, however, had the intended effect. Men on both sides backed away from each other and returned to their camps.

  Mezar reached Danijela at the same time High Wizard Sallir did. Together they approached the young wizard in trepidation.

  The High Wizard put his hand tenderly on the young girl’s arm. “Danijela, stop. You will burn yourself out.”

  The young girl turned and looked up at the two wizards at her side. Flecks of orange power floated in her eyes, a sign of the immense power she held. Eyes sparkling, she smiled.

  “I am fine,” she said softly.

  “That was a lot of power,” Mezar exclaimed in amazement.

  “That was not near my limit,” Danijela said, a devious smile adorning her lips..

  “Protect us all.” The High Wizard sighed. “You are an extremely dangerous wizard. For now, however, you are still my apprentice, young lady.”

  “Am I?’ she said with a challenging but friendly smile.

  “We will discuss that later,” her mentor said.

  * * *

  Darius sat kneeling on the ground next to Christine, igno
ring the shaking and rumbling of the ground. He hardly noticed when it ended. All he cared about was his wife. Her eyes were still closed, but her chest rose and fell in a stable pattern. She was still alive. Leandra, Roland, and Jakob sat on the other side of her, Jain standing next to him.

  “Darius!” Mezar came running up to him.

  “Oh, Mezar,” Darius sobbed. “You brought her back.”

  Mezar only nodded.

  “She is back, and pregnant with our child.” Darius could barely speak. “How did I not know? How could I let her leave me? This is all my fault. My fault.”

  That is why the bond was acting irregular, Lightning said. The pregnancy was interfering with the bond somehow. It must be a very powerful child.

  “She has lost a lot of blood, my friend. You must do something quick or you will lose her.” Mezar leaned down next to Darius.

  Darius’s bloodshot eyes held pain for his wife’s condition. “I don’t know if I have the strength.” He sagged down against his wife.

  Remember where your power comes from, wizard of the heart, Thunder and Lightning both said in his head. Remember the prophecy!

  Darius closed his eyes and did remember. He remembered the first time he had met Christine, picking her up off the ground outside of the city gates. He remembered her smile, the time of their first kiss, the hours and days talking to her in the Field of Diamonds. He remembered his longing for her as he left her to go off to training. He remembered with some embarrassment pushing thoughts of her to the side as he sought for power in the army. He remembered being captured and almost losing everything to despair when he couldn’t access his power. It was then that he thought about Christine and his mother. It was then he felt love once again. And with that love, his power had returned. As his heart had turned from anger to love, he had felt peace. That is where his power came from. Deep inside his heart. He had put duty to his people first, now he must heal with his heart.

  He leaned over Christine and put his hands over her wound. Her body flinched out of instinct. Delving deeper into his soul, he remembered returning to Anikari and seeing her again. At that moment, his life had clicked into place. At that moment, he had found true meaning to everything. His path had been set right once again.