“You know we cannot do that unless our lives are in danger. Climate can be greatly harmed if we make the decision where and where not to control weather. To alter the atmospheric conditions can have far reaching repercussions.” Ulon adamantly spoke.
“I do understand, Young Cub.” Daku responded and relied on the constant wind to push him along, just like his escorts did.
Early sunlight stabbed at Cage’s eyes as he awoke on his Familiar’s back, more like magically glued. The persistent headache accompanied with his earlier use of too much magic was tiring. He groaned before realizing he couldn’t sit up till he broke the sticking spell and groaned more as a new wave of vertigo hit when he did manage to rise. Beside him he found the staff and book also stuck, but for now it was in a good place. The air was cold, but not biting as he realized Poli was protecting him. He rose his voice to give thanks and she gave a wink. The wind braking barrier moved with him as he crawled on hands and knees up onto his partner’s head to learn how far he’d come in a week’s worth of training and smiled that there was some improvement.
From up so high it was easy to spot the magical city and the mountain high library he finally finished the tour of a few days back. It was the only bright spot of green in a sea of white and gray mountains. Cage enjoyed the sight and how some sparkling dragons flew lower, not bothering to look up, as they went on their way. As he took in the wintery beauty Daku informed him of Poli’s plan and shrugged.
By midmorning they passed the Blind Mountains thanks to the constant jet stream, but still Cage couldn’t look away from the scenery.
Around noon a tiny flash caught all fours attention. It was little more than a piece of glitter in the trees down below, but from so high up only truly sharp sight could have noticed it. Cage’s eyes narrowed and zoomed to the spot the flicker came from along with Daku, Poli and Ulon doing likewise at the oddity. Through narrowed vision the area became larger, but the sparkle vanished for a moment.
Then a bright green flash exploded and upon closer examination it was clear what was occurring, but Ulon was the one to say “Battle.”
Poli stated quickly “Ulon, use magic to see what it is about.”
“Powerful magic is blocking me. I cannot break through. Only human royalty have such wards to thwart me.” He said while there were more flashes with a smaller group hiding behind a natural barrier while a larger force slowly converged. “From this distance it is impossible to determine what group either side belongs. We should not approach.”
“Screw that!” Cage said with a rush of adrenaline that instantly made him feel better. He turned to the pink dragon. “I do not like what I’m seeing down there. For a moment I saw what looked like a dragon on a breastplate who went hiding behind that rock. And you said yourself only royalty could resist your magic to see through for a close up view. The only issue I can see is their opponents are from the Laqura Empire and if there is someone down there it might threaten my relationship with Tate if his daughter, Amy’s, fiancé, Sek, is down there! Brooke would kick my sorry ass if I didn’t help him because they have an agreement. I do not like the numbers I see and if I’m right, they need help. If it’s the empire getting its ass handed to them I won’t involve myself. You three stay up here until I make my decision.”
“No, do not involve yourself…” Ulon said.
“Do not presume to order us, Cub.” Daku growled when he heard how his partner was spoken to. Ulon’s eyes widened before lowering. “Cage is correct, I too saw the standard of Emroc on the metal breastplate for a moment. If by some chance he is correct then the Laqura Empire won’t gain yet another advantage here. You might not be allowed to interfere, but we are… Cage, you are powerful enough to be victorious if you involve yourself down there. Do what you must, but be certain of your actions.”
“It won’t take long and beside’s” Cage stood and stretched along with a spreading grin. “That wyvern wasn’t much of a challenge today. It will be a good change to face someone besides you or Colby. See ya!” He shouted happily and stepped into a black archway before teleporting out off the area.
“TAKE COVER!” Luke billowed when he was the first to spot the approaching force moments ago.
Without question Shorty jerked the reigns and forced the horses to veer towards a rocky outcrop just as the witch inside stuck her head out of the carriage to deflect a searing white fireball of magic. Suddenly the horses buckled and whinnied as they hit a rut on the side of the road covered by snow and impaled themselves on sticks also hidden beneath. Pain and terror seized the horses and they panicked, making the perilous situation worse. They thrashed and the momentum of the heavy carriage barreled on and over them, launching Shorty over them and into a patch of snow. The two horses were silenced almost immediately.
“Damn!” Cody billowed and kicked his horse to leap skillfully over whatever misleading ditch that was covered in snow and yelled “Shorty, you alive!?”
“Depends!” The quarterstaff master groaned while jumping up from the snow unharmed. “Empire caught us again?”
Sensing the man hadn’t lost his sense of humor even as their end had finally come, Fredrick rode over to the halted carriage just as the door exploded by unseen power. “Princess, climb up!”
Gregory was at his side and said “Sir, my arrows are ineffective at this range. Nolan’s sacrifice would have ended today, but those three are the same bastards he trapped, but the men with them are different. Those have the look of mercenaries and bandits.” He reported as the princess climbed up in his captain’s lap while shrieking like a banshee.
Fredrick turned to his men who all drew weapons to say “Mistress, cover our backs while we take the princess to a more defensive position.” He got a nod from the witch as the sparrow shot off overhead. “Men, we need to move!”
Just as he said that there came a green glowing lance magically shot from a half league away, but the breaking spell enchantment was canceled from the warded crystal protecting Bern, hidden behind a leather jerkin. As the weapon clearly targeted him.
Gregory, Bern, Bryan and Luke put themselves behind Fredrick and the princess as another barrier of protection while Cody pulled Shorty up to ride double. They fled for the only defensible place on the rugged terrain while the witch glided behind while using her own magic to deflect or block the retreat. In seconds they passed the broken carriage and avoided the ditch, leaving the road for an area lush with evergreens and large boulders to hide behind.
Being well over a mile away they had to throw caution away and hope to reach protection of the stone before dying.
Behind followed the three mages and canine Familiars from before, along with close to fifty hired men, well paid to do a job, who took their time and enjoyed playing around.
Fear and uncertainty appeared for Fredrick and his men when not even a half mile later their horses screamed when treacherous ground beneath the snow found holes and broke all of their legs. Fredrick crushed the princess to his chest not a moment too soon as all of them were thrown. “Princess, are you…” he began when they came to a stop and saw her scowl. Before she could start screaming he said “To our feet! We must reach it!” The captain hurried to stand, as did everyone else. Weapons were drawn, but were otherwise useless in such a battle. The most it did was give relief thanks to weight and familiarity to at least be ready. In a battle such as this, hand to hand weapons were ineffective when magic was the only way. “Bern! Run ahead! The rest of us…” he gulped in a breath. “Surround her!”
Bern, being their fastest runner, shot ahead with his combat bow ready and fitted with an arrow. Everyone else surrounded the princess and ran as fast as they dare. The only benefit was that without the weight of a horse, the snow was level enough to run on and not reach whatever other dangers lurk beneath.
Booms, sparks and bright flashes of light harried them constantly and the witch barely managed to hold the relentless assault at bay from by how much she sweat in this frigid air and by the determin
ation in her muddy brown eyes. The most she could do was defend their rear.
Bern reached the outcrop swiftly and climbed the highest rock and loosed an arrow. Even fully drawn, the projectile didn’t reach half the distance to the enemy. The knights cursed when they knew little could be done to return the generosity being given by their foes.
“Good, you made it!” Bern shouted as the group rounded and hid behind the large rocks that obscured them. Everyone dropped to their knees from the taxing run.
Before anyone could say anything the princess decided “Why don’t you fools do something other than run away like cowards! And you call yourselves my guards? Spineless cowards you are. You are honor bound to kill any who wish to do me harm, even at the cost of your life! These commoners dare to strike at me so openly yet you cower! I order you to fight them.”
All except the handmaiden ignored her.
Luke sheathed his sword and slung his shield over a shoulder while saying “Captain, Nolan’s magic would have held them till sometime in the night. How could those bastards have followed us when we had a week to separate us? In less than a day we are cornered like prey. I know its them, I remember that white wolfhound clearly. They certainly couldn’t follow our scent after a whole week. And they even had time to gather a second group.”
“If I knew the answer… wait, everyone I suddenly remember stepping through some odd muck when we first made camp after leaving Twilight, but when I looked down nothing but snow covered my boots.” Fredrick turned to his men.
“I had the same experience.” Bryan said in his usual deep timbre, remembering after it had been pointed out.
“Same here.” The rest of the knights and rangers said.
“It must have been some special tracking spell.” The handmaiden said, temporarily quieting the princess. “I faintly remember one that acts like you say. In the night it would be impossible to see such magic and when it did as it was meant, it somehow became undetectable to me, but still allows our enemy to pursue us.”
Fredrick grumbled before saying “Men, place the crystals all around us so no magic can get too close to us…”
“Good, that much magic was dangerous. I almost did too much and it would have killed me. I need time to…”
Captain Fredrick stomped right up to her and glared. “That is something we do not have. Time is our enemy as much as they are!” To support his claim there was another explosion, but Gregory placed his crystal down just in time to block the incoming attack. “Those three know we are weakened. It won’t be long before our crystals run out of energy and you cannot protect us without killing yourself. This venture was foolhardy to begin with and you well know it. I’m taking full command and I order you to call Emroc and demand immediate reinforcements to our position. We are in trouble as it is, but to lose the princess is not going to happen. Our supplies are ruined. Even if somehow we get rid of this situation our supplies and horses are all useless.”
“I give the orders around here, Captain!” the princess shrieked.
The handmaiden was torn before saying “You are correct. At this rate we’ll die in less than a half hour.” She stepped back. “Forgive me Princess, you are too important.”
“MUST I DO EVERYTHING!?” She said in a shrill and before she could be stopped she grabbed her staff and conjured a pale yellow fireball and threw it overhand. The men all stopped to watch the magic sail over the land, straight for the central mage.
Just before it could reach any of them they saw the princess’s magic die out long before reaching anyone. Then came laughter over the sound of whinnying horses unable to get up on broken legs.
Seeing her best effort killed so easily she gawked before turning to say stiffly in derision “See! At least I did something. You should follow my example.”
“You mean make them laugh, Highness?” Shorty asked in his ever comforting humor. “That I can do!” he climbed atop a boulder while undoing his belt and dropped his pants. “If you didn’t get enough, take a look!” he shouted. “Uh Oh!” he jumped down while pulling his pants back up moment before three magic attacks resulted. “I guess Nolan left a good impression.” He smiled while fixing his belt. Cody and Luke patted his back with a sincere chuckle.
“Caaaptain…” Fredrick turned to the handmaiden when he heard her quivering voice and the horror it contained as she stared into a swirling disk of silver floating in the air. Her eyes met his and his heart sank even before she said “I cannot contact anyone. Those mages crafted a barrier to bar any attempts to send for help and even if I Jump, I doubt you’d survive against them… iii…if they haven’t created a way to hinder Jumping out like they are doing with my sight mirror. We are doomed and I’m afraid the princess will be captured by the Laqura Empire…”
“Then it’s a good thing I happened to be in the area.” Came a nearby voice. Sheathed weapons rang as they were released and the men turned around. They blinked in confusion. “Up here boys!”
Lounging upon a snow covered boulder lay a grinning man with windblown brown hair with a section by his left temple displaying three colored beads, black eyes and a golden tan, clothed in a deep green robe. Between his fingers twirled a long white staff. He seemed totally at ease looking down on their group. Even with blades aimed at him he didn’t flinch, but his grin did widen.
“One move and you’re dead.” Bern said as he trained his bow between the man’s twinkling eyes.
“Awe, all this attention for me… oh, miss, you better be sure that acid magic can kill me if you lob it in my direction before I blow your head clean off.” Heads turned to the handmaiden standing behind Bryan with a ball of silvery liquid in her palm. The man stopped twirling the staff and sparked a ball of black flames between his fingers lazily and looked closely at the brown eyed woman. “Tell me, who’s magic do you think would win?”
“Sorcerer.” She hissed when she felt the immense pressure exerted and contained in those flames.
“Not quite.” He responded and watched closely as her magic dissipated. “That’s better.”
“Name yourself, Stranger! I’m Captain Fredrick of the elite Emrocan army. Apparently you could have killed us all and snuck up on us without being detected. What reasons do you have?”
“My name is Cage and I came to have a little fun. I showed up when the squirt lobbed that pitiful fireball.” Eyes glanced at the princess standing behind Luke. Cage took them all in. From the twelve year old girl trying to overly assert herself as leader in a group of adults all the way to the giant of a man with a thick black beard who stood a good seven feet with a claymore in one hand and an impressive war hammer in the other. Cage saw four of the men wearing black painted plate armor with a green dragon emblazoned on their chest. Two carried bows and wore leathers and at their belts were long daggers. Another man of slight build, but average height held a quarterstaff and wore loose clothes for maximum flexibility, but a slight movement in the sleeves told Cage the man had hidden daggers. From the power of the woman, he determined she was a witch of either the first or second class. The middle age man who addressed him with the two held swords appeared to be the leader, since he did give his rank and the others seemed to naturally defer to him and hold deep respect for the man.
A slight flutter caused Cage to cancel the fire between his fingers as he snatched a sparrow out of the air before it could attack. The speed he displayed shocked the whole group, especially the Familiar who tried sneaking up. “You really need to stop before I squeeze your head off.” He said to the bird. “Those three over there won’t get through with me here so take it easy. I could level this whole area if I decided, so relax.”
The sparrow stilled and chirped “How can we trust you?”
For an answer he looked up as there came a rather powerful, combined bolt of lightning from across the field. Cage erected a barrier completely around them all and added a little color to it so everyone could see. The barrier took the assault like a fly trying to break through a mountain. It did
n’t even make much of a sound whereas their wards before were hammered. “How’s that?”
“We’re at his mercy, Boys.” Captain Fredrick said. “Lower your weapons since he hasn’t proven hostile and is protecting us.” Grudgingly they obeyed. “Gregory, see what the Empire’s mages are up to.” He ordered without taking his eyes off the powerful mage setting the sparrow down beside him.
“They are just standing there talking…”
“Actually they are wondering why their last attack failed.” Cage said and tucked hair behind his now visibly pointed ears. “They expected your crystals to drain as that combined magic was created to latch onto wards and drain them dry, but since I used my own magic rather than wards, their magic couldn’t find purchase. And since I erected a barrier to garble out our words, they cannot understand us. At this range, they do not sense my magic and cannot figure out why it didn’t work…” He cocked his head. “Now they are talking about the squirt… Seems she is a princess of Emroc and are unable to return to the empress without her…” his eyes locked onto the princess’s. “You don’t resemble Skylar… I’m guessing you’re likely his grandkid.”
“You dare speak of my grandfather with such insolence?” the princess snidely barked. “Honor his title peasant!” The soldiers flinched and then stepped closer to her for her own protection since she just insulted him and didn’t know how he would react.
They were surprised as it only resulted in a chuckle. “Feisty little brat… Well, If I’m going to give you all a hand I need to at least know your names.” Each man gave their names, but the princess and handmaiden didn’t speak. The princess continued acting snobbish while the witch called her Familiar to stand on her shoulder. After Cage put names to the faces he admitted “I wasn’t exact in my assumption, but I was close enough to Jump in and do something. You guys are understaffed, outmatched and quite literally royally screwed. If I had come even ten minutes later I wouldn’t have been able to Jump in and join the fun. What do you say? Want some help?”
Ascension of the Warlock (Book 4 of the Death Incarnate Saga) Page 13
