by Rosie Scott
Chance arranged more lights in the room until it was well-lit. Finally, Varian's paralyze spell released me, and I came to with a curse.
“Thank the gods, finally,” Chance said, coming over to squat beside me as I tried turning over. “What can I do?”
“Help me sit up,” I requested, favoring both of my wounded limbs. Chance helped me pull my body around so I could sit against the nearest table. I pulled off armor pieces to assess my broken arm. “Tell me what happened to Azazel.”
“You kicked him,” Chance replied. “When that god—Varian—sent you flying, Azazel was shooting his bow behind you. You flipped through that doorway with such force that you accidentally kicked his head on the way. I heard a bone break. Forgive me for saying this, but I'm happy it was your foot rather than his head.”
“Me too,” I agreed. I grabbed my satchel with my good hand and rummaged through for my surgery kit. “Thank you for going back out for him. I was terrified you wouldn't.”
“Of course I would,” Chance retorted lightly, sitting on the ground to watch me work. “Azazel and I worked together even more often than you and me did. I respect and like the guy.”
“Hand me that bucket,” I requested, pointing behind Chance at the wall. When he complied, I situated the bucket on its top and lifted my left arm to lay flat on its end.
“What are you doing?” Chance asked.
“Surgery. The bone's shattered. I can't just heal it through the skin because the pieces are loose.” I tugged the scalpel out of my kit and went to work. As I split the skin, Chance hissed in distaste from my other side.
“And you do all this so nonchalantly like you've done it a million times,” the god mused.
“I have,” I replied. “I can't dally. The others were right outside and Terran was there. I fear for what will happen between Cerin and Terran if they think I'm dead. Terran's shields can absorb even the strongest elements, and all Cerin wields is death magic. Who is Varian, Chance?”
“I don't know,” Chance admitted. “I've never heard of him or seen him.”
I fused the first break of bone back together. “Get into Azazel's satchel. You'll see two logbooks. One is hundreds of years old and frayed. It's Malachi's old book we took from a cave in Eteri. Flip through it for references of Varian.”
There was a rummaging as Chance complied, and then all was quiet as I healed myself save for the flipping of pages. “He descends from the god of evolution,” he read. “It just says here he's been requested many times for battle support, particularly by mages.”
“If Azazel were awake, we could ask him about his name.”
“I can try waking him,” Chance offered, before I heard the god do just that.
Only when I healed the muscle over the newly mended bone of my arm did Azazel wake with a panicked gasp. I glanced over in concern, watching the archer blink rapidly and take in his surroundings. “How are you feeling?”
Azazel stared back at me as his chest rose and fell rapidly. After a moment, his breaths started to calm. “I have a headache.”
“You have more than that,” I commented, speaking of his panic.
“I awoke to dark stone and alteration lights,” Azazel replied, his voice low. “I thought I was back in the underground.”
I finished healing my arm and reached out to Azazel's face, dulling his pain with illusion magic and brushing his bangs back in a move meant to calm him. “You are not. You are safe in the basement of Comercio's castle.”
Azazel nodded and breathed, “Yes.” He glanced back at the stairway, finding it blocked with rubble. “What happened?”
Chance filled the archer in as I healed my foot next. The god asked, “What does the name Varian mean?”
“Fickle and changeable,” Azazel replied, glancing at me. “He is likely a god of alteration, Kai. Alteration means change. The magic he used on you was silent and invisible and worked just like telekinesis.”
“He also used paralyze, and given how strong Terran's alteration shield was, I assume Varian gave it to him.” I shook my head with frustration. “Terran found the best allies to defend himself from me. I will be useless against him unless I resort to catastrophic attacks. Nothing else will break through his protections. His shields melted metal, Azazel. I've never seen such a thing.”
“Nor have I.” Azazel exhaled heavily and stood up, scanning our surroundings. “Our army will be leaderless until we can dig our way out of this rubble. It was a bad idea to come in here alone.”
I couldn't help but be amused by his matter-of-fact retrospect. “Hindsight fixes all mistakes.”
“We don't have to dig our way out,” Chance replied. “It was good fortune we were in the kitchen during the collapse because there's a way out down here.”
Azazel turned back to the god. “Where? How do you know?”
“It's a few rooms that way,” Chance replied, pointing to the open doorway which led further into the basement. “In the back corner of a storage room. The Naharan trade route was re-established two seasons ago while you were away and replenished our stores. When working on moving crates of dried goods to rearrange the room so that the oldest food would be the first to get eaten, I found a tunnel behind a bunch of barrels.”
I glanced up from healing. “Did you follow it?”
Chance gave me an endearing sheepish smile and admitted, “Of course. I thought it might be a secret passageway or something. I couldn't not explore it.”
Azazel grabbed his longbow from where Chance had laid it on the ground and prepared it. “Where does it go? It's possible they could breach it from the other side.”
“It goes to two places. To gutters that drain sewage out of the castle and to the basement of the community hall.” Chance shrugged. “I assume they built it as an escape route for royalty. I would have used it to get around the city more quickly, but I didn't want someone to discover it until I knew what you wanted to do with it, Kai.”
“Right now we'll use it to escape this mess,” I announced, standing up and putting pressure on various points of my foot to ensure all was well.
“You are healed?” Azazel asked, eyeing the blood puddle from my arm surgery. “You need to be in top form to face them again.”
“I have some swelling. I'll be fine.” I motioned to the bruise on his head. “You're as hardheaded as I am.”
Azazel chuckled at the unexpected jest as I passed him to follow Chance through the basement. “It certainly has its merits, doesn't it?”
Chance led us through multiple dark storage rooms, using only a handheld alteration light to guide our way. The muffled sounds of battle hummed over our heads. I tried not to fear for Cerin and the others; fear could not help them. I could only focus on one step at a time, and the first step was getting back to battle.
The tunnel was only five feet high and very thin. After clearing its entrance of crates and barrels, even I had to duck to travel through it. The farther we walked, the heavier the stench of sewage from the castle's plumbing. When the tunnel forked, Chance stayed on the main path. Only a few minutes after leaving the castle basement, we were in the lower levels of the community hall.
“You bring more fortune than gold, friend,” I complimented Chance as I passed him to leave.
“The gold is coming as well,” the god called after me. “I owe it to you for taking Narangar.”
“Come and find me once we defeat the Serans,” I offered. “We have much to discuss. For now, hide in the tunnel. Try to keep from being captured again.”
Chance grinned and bowed dramatically. “As you wish. May fortune smile upon you in battle.”
The community hall was quiet and empty as Azazel and I hurried through the same room we'd had the open house in long ago. As soon as I busted through its door to get back out to Comercio's streets, however, all was chaotic again.
The underground tunnel only took us a few blocks southward. I passed over the same cobblestone road I'd traveled earlier in the day, catching glimp
ses of igneous rock and puddles from melted ice as I went. Our progress north was not undone, but my army hadn't moved past the castle courtyard. Even from a distance, I heard why.
“You are a fucking coward!” Cerin's voice was hoarser than usual with turmoil. Black magic fanning out over shields hissed through the streets as he threw enervat. I could see nothing yet from over the heads of my men.
“Call me what you will, necromancer,” Terran hissed. “I only finished what you started. I didn't choose this path. Kai did. You are the one who taught her what it was like to lust for power. Kai was so used to having power and control that she looked legitimately shocked to lose it just before she died.”
The ringing of metal shards shattered out, then the echo of splattering blood. Just above the crowds of allies, Cerin flew back through the air, impaled by multiple magical blades and trailing blood. A rush of heat rose in my chest, and the edges of my vision darkened to red.
“No, no no no no,” Terran rambled. “Don't die yet. You can't die yet. I'm not through with you.”
“Aggh!” Maggie's scream preceded the bashing of her hammer into a magical shield. Terran grunted, and sounds of a scuffle broke out. Then, the drizzling of sand echoed off the nearby buildings before Maggie collapsed.
“Gods, look at you,” Terran blurted. “You just don't quit, do you?”
“I will see you dead,” Cerin spat back. His voice was pained, wheezy.
“Look in a mirror,” Terran retorted. “You can't kill me if you are dead yourself.”
Finally, I pushed through the crowd to see the personal vendetta playing out in the intersection. Comercio's castle was merely a pile of rubble behind one standing wall, and the courtyard before it was filled with bodies that had been risen and defeated many times. Nyx was trying to aid Cerin though she was caught up with fighting a group of Terran's men. Maggie crawled to the edge of battle, a pile of steel and leather granules in a blood puddle from where her prosthetic leg had disintegrated. I did not understand what kind of magic could disintegrate leather, but Varian was nearby, so I assumed the spell was his.
A trail of blood led from the courtyard and across the street where Cerin struggled to stand after crumpling against a wall. Four metal blades impaled my lover. One was stuck diagonally across his lowest rib, and his leather armor protruded where the bone was broken and misplaced. Another blade was all that kept his internal organs from slopping out of his right side. Blood and sizzling bile rolled over the metal and dripped to fill the cracks of cobblestone. One piece of metal stabbed between two ribs and punctured his lung. Finally, a blade stuck out of the armor over Cerin's heart. There was no telling how deep it was.
Cerin leaned against the wall for support, shaking with pain and injuries and mourning. His face glistened with tears and the sweat of battle. His right hand held his side to keep his organs from escaping the wound, and the other regenerated his shield. But the white magic was already weak, for Cerin's energy was draining fast.
I glanced behind me, catching Azazel's gaze. The rage was so dominant in my chest that my eyesight shook with its power. “Get Cerin medical attention at all costs. Do not send our men after me unless I call.”
Azazel nodded once, and I turned back. Terran stalked across the street, his alteration shield robust but his life shield flickering from heavy damage by Cerin's scythe. I dispelled my shields and summoned invisibility on myself before building a combination spell in my palms.
“BROTHER!” My voice was hollowed with rage. It traveled through the intersection and beyond, bouncing off of structures and echoing like a warning. Terran stilled abruptly with panic, eyes wide and searching through the crowds. Cerin frantically searched as well, his pained gaze gaining an edge of hope. Neither man could find me.
Terran spun to his godly friends and pointed. “Find her, Varian!”
Varian lifted a palm to seek life with his magic, but the red energy only proved what they already knew. These streets were full of soldiers, and the magic could not discriminate and pick out only one.
Sss... I thrust my hands between two allies before me and released a dense fog into the intersection. It billowed out from allied frontlines, and Terran searched for its origin just before he was lost within the obstruction.
“Find her!” Terran screamed within the fog.
“Perhaps your ears deceived you,” Raphael called back, though he sounded panicked.
“Sister!” Terran yelled, goading me to speak. Dispelling the fog, I released necromantic tendrils next. As hundreds of fallen allies and foes alike rose, I directed them all to the same target. Shambling corpses disappeared into the thick mist that sat in the intersection like a blockage, and within moments, the unsheathing of a sword rang out from its center. “Raphael! Shield!”
“I cannot find you!” Raphael called back, his voice closer as the god ventured into the mist.
Scrambling boot steps echoed out from the fog as Terran backed away to the north. I sent the corpses forward, moving into the mist myself. Knowing that Terran's men were all that flooded through the northern gate, death bombs flew out from my palms like it was the only spell I knew, disappearing in the fog to steal energy from unsuspecting foes on the other side. Before any power returned to me, I'd already sent out six. Through the billowing white mist came an overwhelming black cloud of life force so solid I expected to lose my breath. When it imploded into me all at once, I screamed with the influx of power and staggered over my feet.
“Raphael!” Terran's shout dripped with fear. Much like in the Battle of Hallmar, my brother seemed terrified by my changing voice and what hearing it meant. I sent more death bombs through the fog and heard the collapse of hundreds. I neared Terran, for I saw the flickering of his alteration shield in the mist. My head was so overwhelmed with power that I expected to hear the crack of bone as my skull broke with its pressure.
“How the hell did you make it through that?” Terran screamed next, full of perplexity and fear. “You were paralyzed! Your bones were broken! I watched that ceiling crumble! That castle is fucking dust!”
“Perhaps I cannot die, brother!” I shouted hoarsely back, raising his army from the dead and building a boulder to break through the remainder of his life shield. “If you truly wish to kill me, finish the fucking job!”
The boulder launched just as I walked over Comercio's fallen north gate, exited the mist, and found my brother to target. Terran's weakened life shield immediately shattered, and the force threw him back over his forces north of Comercio. My brother was smart and sent his own magic forward, and the boulder disintegrated in mid-air as it continued on its course. Such a move would save him from being crushed. I couldn't see Terran land, for my rage had sent him over so many soldiers that blocked my view. I boosted my defenses by building multiple shields and dispelled my invisibility.
I lifted my hands to the sky. “Creatius les fiers—”
An influx of energy entered my alteration shield just before I, too, went flying through the crowds, at the mercy of Varian's telekinesis as the enemy gods caught up to me.
“For fuck's sake!” I cursed in mid-air, refreshing my life shield when it flickered after ramming into so many soldiers on the trek. My brother insisted on allying with foes who could toss me around the battlefield like a toy, and I was beyond annoyed with being thrown around. I landed amid Terran's army and was immediately swarmed. Infantrymen charged forward to chip down my shields, and mages threw spells at me from a distance. The Chairel Army was in such a furor for my death that friendly fire became commonplace. A lightning bolt refreshed my energy reserves, only to arc out and fry an infantryman. A fire mage's thrown fireball was inaccurate and exploded against the side of a man's face, melting his ear against the flesh of his cheek.
Explodis a roc. The crumbling of stone clattered in my palms as I scrambled to stand. Enemies were so close to me that my shields overlapped their limbs and protected them; I needed to clear the herd.
With an enraged cry, I s
lammed the earth magic to my boots, and the battlefield erupted with stone. Solid earth exploded outward, bashing back protected and unprotected soldiers with its density before crushing bone on the field. Magical guards dissipated as the whistle of solid projectiles traveled through the crowds. In a ripple effect, soldiers collapsed in a circle around me, bones broken and crushed. Some were disabled rather than killed, but the spell was so powerful it threw many stones up into the air. Gravity's flirtations proved inescapable; thousands of rocks fell from the heavens like heavy rain, and the surrounding wasteland misted red as new wounds burst open in living and dead alike.
Despite using an excess of energy for the overpowered spell, I was still full of it. It seemed my power continued to grow, for I could absorb even more energy into my reserves without passing out. I raised the hundreds of dead surrounding me, and then I gathered more energy from the soldiers who tried their luck next. I could only appreciate such overwhelming power if I used it to its fullest extent.
HUUURRRNNNNN!
The war horn reverberated in the west where Cyrus kept his army from infiltrating the northern battlefield. It was a smart decision; Cyrus must have seen my rock explosion, and it was possible my screams were so impressive that the Fremont Army could hear them from their distance. They knew better than to get close to me now.
As the Fremont Army stayed back at the northwestern corner of Comercio's wall, however, one man continued fighting through Chairel's masses surrounded by an undead horde of thousands. Hades was not only unfazed by seeing and hearing me fight in my rage, but he headed my way.
Full of a potent high that would have disabled me years ago, I lifted my hands to the sky to summon the spell that Varian had so rudely interrupted earlier, using the energies of a thousand men.
The already hazy skies over the northern battlefield darkened to black, and clouds so thick they appeared solid formed to cover the earth like a conniving blanket. The heavens rumbled with indigestion so intense that the weighty rubble of Comercio's northern wall rattled in intimidation. A high-pitched hissing reverberated behind the lowest clouds, and flashes of orange light blinked through the skies as they prepared for Armageddon. On the battlefield below, Chairel soldiers broke apart from their units and fled.
