The Dragonswarm

by Aaron Pogue

  And then the other wizard came.

  16. Enemies Engaged

  I awoke to a terrified cry within the night. Fear hung as heavy as the darkness in the air, and I could feel it in my bones as I sat up and rubbed a hand against my eyes. Then I heard the screams, terror piercing the night outside. I sprinted to the chamber door then stopped and closed my eyes and stretched my senses. There was chaos in the courtyard.

  Fire rained in great streamers across the paving stones—not the searing lance of a dragon's breath, but hailstones of flame that trailed fire through the air. In the distance, lit in flashes by the deadly shower, I saw the giant form of a man towering above the walls we'd built.

  As I stepped straight from my room into the night, a voice thundered through the air, drowning out the screams of soldiers and civilians in a terrible boom. "Fools and traitors! Arrogant children! You spurn the mercy of your king! You taunt the combined might of the Guard and the Academy. You dare to stand against us?" The litany rolled on, a crashing sound that rained down with the fire, but I stopped listening at once. I could recognize a wizard's empty work.

  I looked with second sight and the web was a simple one, great arcing threads of fire twisted tight that rained illusions on my camp. I stepped out into the flashy rain and severed the threads with a wave of my hand. I spread my senses to the frightened crowd, searching for injured, but the only damage in my camp had been caused by panic. Nothing burned.

  This time, nothing burned. Next time, it could be real fire. Next time it could be burning pitch from the king's catapults or spears of dragons' flame. We had done so much to build the walls, but we were open from above. My gaze shifted up, and I felt the memory of frightened villagers throwing stones. I raised my hands and caught the wild breezes high above and stretched them into a shield like I'd done then.

  But this one was huge. I drew it out into a band, one long, curved circle hanging in the sky above the walls. I made several, overlapping belts of air that all combined to form a dome above the courtyard, but with gaps between the high wind could blow through. It would have blinded us to a dragon's eyes as well, but I suspected the power of my lair already did that. I left the constructs hanging in the sky, then turned my attention to the gates.

  A ragged cheer had gone up when the fires flashed out, as those who recognized me called out their relief. I barely heard. I fixed my thoughts outside the camp, reaching with my will to find the wizard who'd attacked me. But my senses ended at the walls. I called to my hand a sword of earth and anger as I strode to meet him.

  That voice still boomed, an artificial thing of air that dared to infiltrate my fortress. I snapped it like a strand of spiderweb. When I reached the drawbridge I waved a hand and called out, and it fell crashing to the earth outside, landing with a thud in the sudden silence. I waved and the towering figure of the wizard melted, the illusion dispelled to leave only a man, alone, on the plains before the fortress.

  I crossed the open gate, my steps resounding in the wood and echoing back in the dark night. Hatred burned in my eyes.

  When he recognized me, his lips peeled back. "It really is you?"

  I said, "Seriphenes."

  "What is this game you play?" He took a step forward. "Whatever magic you have learned, it won't save you. The Guard comes to crush you—"

  "Let them come!" I said. "I have walls no catapult can break. I have an army ready to defend. I have a power you cannot imagine. Let the king's men come if they must. I cannot be bothered by your threats."

  He shouted, "Impudent fool!" and raised a hand suddenly crackling with energy. He hurled it toward me, but I slapped it down with a casual gesture.

  "Leave this place, Seriphenes. You cannot imagine what I have become. I have no time for this war. Have Othin take his men back to Tirah."

  The wizard sneered. "The Eagle is no longer your concern. The king himself has come to lead his force against you."

  I shook my head, disappointed. "He wastes his time. There is a greater trouble coming. Send him back to the City to prepare. Take those soldiers to some kind of safety."

  "You really are so arrogant?" He sounded surprised. "I didn't quite believe. But now...I'll strike you down to end this here!"

  He lashed out again, calling up another rain of flaming stones and this one too was just illusion. I just had time to recognize his real intent before it could resolve. He sought to make a gateway. I saw the energies around me start to waver as he tried to banish me away. I didn't try to guess where it might lead—a prison in the capitol, a cell at the Academy, or perhaps just miles and miles out to sea.

  I didn't care. I stamped my foot and crushed both workings in my will. They wavered longer than Lareth's had, perhaps, writhing and struggling to survive, but it was no more than a heartbeat. Maybe two. The powers broke beneath my will, and my enemy fell back a step. I followed after, stepped down off my gate to bring us on a level, and raised my brows. His face twisted in rage.

  "You wretched filth!" he snarled, and I watched the working roll toward me. The earth erupted all around me, but I caught all the energy and tore it loose. His exploding wave of earth became a puff of smoke that hung for a moment in the still air. I waved a hand before my face and shook my head. Then with a nod, I made the earth roll like a bucking horse beneath his feet, and the proud Seriphenes spilled into the dirt.

  "Take a message to the king for me, mage. I have no quarrel with him. I take no joy in trading barbs. I only seek to protect his people from a threat that he ignores."

  Seriphenes threw himself to his feet, shouting with fury, "I carry no messages. I shall destroy you!"

  I did not let him strike this time. Instead I smashed him to the ground with fists of air. He began to thrash in panicked fear as I tried to sink him through the earth the way I'd done to Lareth and the spies. But when he saw that he was caught he only looked into my eyes, his lips peeled back to show his teeth, and shouted some dark curse into the night.

  There was a flash of light and darkness, and he was gone. Earth like water sloshed back over empty air. I sighed and turned my back on the night to make my way across the open gate. I'd gone a step or two before I heard Caleb cry out from the battlements. I couldn't understand the words, but I could feel the warning in his heart. I looked his way, confused, and watched a crossbow bolt flash an inch above my nose. Another clattered across the rock-hard wood beneath my feet and ricocheted off into the courtyard.

  I didn't wait to understand. I caught myself up in a hundred threads of air and snapped them, flinging me deep into the courtyard. Behind me a hundred different voices called out the command they had been taught, and the great door banged shut. Even as I fell, I spun toward the gates and looked, not with the senses of my stronghold but with a wizard's sight, and saw a host of men outside my walls.

  The siege had reached my fortress.

  I picked myself up off the ground and brushed irritably at the dirt on my clothes. While I was still grumbling, Caleb came sprinting up, concern in his eyes. "Are you hit?"

  "No. Just bruised by my own hand." I felt my wizard ally's presence through the stones and turned to meet his eye as he approached.

  "What did he do, Lareth?" I asked. "How could he have brought so many men so quickly to this place?"

  "He can't. No wizard could make a portal such as that."

  Caleb grunted. "He didn't, then. He brought them slowly, under cover."

  I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "Of course. Concealed beneath illusion. I only had to look, and I'd have seen—"

  "But why give you any chance to run at all? Why let us see? They could have walked right up and cut you down unseen."

  I stared up at my gate, shut fast against the night. I looked beyond it, to the army settling in. "That could have been the plan," I said. "They couldn't come too close, or I'd have seen. If I had even bothered with a glance...." I shook my head. "I doubt he thought I'd come so fast. I know he didn't think I'd break his spells. I made him run. He likely lost contro
l of the illusion when he went."

  Lareth nodded absently.

  "And where were you?" I asked. "You could have seen it at a glance as well. You could have fought his spells."

  He didn't meet my eyes. "I was asleep."

  "Seriphenes was your master." I had to force the words through clenched teeth. "You two were friends. And when I needed your support—"

  "I was in bed," the wizard said, his voice small and scared. "I crossed a thousand miles today to fetch you food. I never guessed that I'd be needed in the night."

  I still held my summoned sword. It rolled beneath my fingers, flashing silver by the moonlight. "It's hard to trust a man who sleeps through storms like that."

  Caleb laid a hand on my shoulder. "He was asleep," he said. "I was as well. I'd only barely reached the walls when it was done. How did you come so fast?"

  I glanced aside to him, but turned my anger back to Lareth. "You can go to him," I said. "That was the point of his theatrics. They hope the weak will lose their nerve and bleed away. Seriphenes would take you back." My eyes lingered on the wizard's throat, on the scars I'd left there, and I felt the weight of the blade in my hand. "If you gave the king a chance to kill me, even he might forget what you've done. The man is mad."

  "He isn't mad," Caleb said. "Petty, yes. But he is sane enough. And even Lareth isn't fool enough to risk your wrath."

  The wizard nodded, swallowed hard, and backed a pace away. My lips peeled back from my teeth, but I did not raise the blade.

  Caleb squeezed my shoulder. "You struck him down with power. You set that fire in the sky." He waved up at the bands I'd woven overhead. They glowed in faint aurora high above. "How much of the monster are you now?"

  His meaning hit me like a blow. I'd borrowed Chaos. It wasn't much, but it had come as easily as breathing when the vicious Master challenged me. I felt it now, throbbing hot and dark behind my eyes, and forced it back. I let my sword dissolve and dropped my gaze.

  "I'm sorry, Lareth. You have served me well."

  He stepped back toward me and spread his hands. "And I have earned all that distrust. I know it well. I only hope next time I'll have the chance to prove myself. I wish I'd done it here."

  "You'll have your chance, now that we have our siege. I suspect you'll have your hundreds." I turned to Caleb. "Have they attacked us, beyond that one volley?"

  "They brought in a line of archers, but our men answered back, and now they're keeping out of range. The other lines are setting camp."

  I nodded. "Then everything is much as we expected at this point." I took a deep breath, still fighting to calm the anger in my soul. "Just...just the encounter with Seriphenes was a surprise. But now we're back on track."

  "I have men patrolling the walls already, and they've had their rotations for a week now. The defenses should be routine, as long as we face no magical attacks."

  Lareth pointed up to the layered belts of air that capped the keep like a lid. "Between that and the sorcerous walls, we should have nothing to fear. When did you come up with that, anyway?"

  "As I went to face Seriphenes. Can you bind it?"

  "I can with ease. And that should help against the dragons, too."

  "Then do," I said. "And Caleb...I suspect you'll want to speak with your officers?" He nodded. I nodded back. "See to our defense. If you need me, call. I will explain to Isabelle, then get some rest."

  Both men looked surprised. Lareth spoke. "You hope to sleep at all? With this?" He waved toward the wall, but I didn't even look.

  "I must," I said. "I'll need my rest. I mean to kill some dragons come the dawn."

  We met in council the next morning, and both men seemed surprised to learn I'd meant it. "I should be gone about an hour, maybe two," I said. "I don't intend to take much more than that. Just keep the fort secure 'til I get back."

  "You can't intend to leave," Lareth said, trying for a laugh. "Not now! The king is here."

  "That's why I must," I said.

  "It seems unwise," Caleb said.

  "Do you expect them to attack?" I asked.

  "No. I've been watching them all night, and it's all good news. They have trebuchets already. That was a surprise. But they rained down rocks and burning tar, and it all slid right off the shields you made."

  "It's good you thought of that," the wizard said. "Or it would have been dead cows and rains of stones until they filled the northern courtyard."

  I shrugged. "They couldn't touch the tower. There's room enough, and I can make more with a little effort."

  Caleb grunted. "This is better for morale. It's good to see them try and fail. And now they're settling in for a siege, just as we hoped. They can't possibly suspect we'd have those wells, and they have some idea how many mouths we have to feed. They'll expect a month at most before we break."

  "Excellent," I said, clapping my hands together. "Then there's no reason not to go out on a hunt."

  Caleb frowned. "There's not a way, is there? I thought he said the wizards will be watching for our portals now?"

  "I did," Lareth said. "And if they find one going out, they might just follow it back in."

  Caleb nodded. "But they can't make one on their own?"

  "I think not," he said. "Even if one of them had been here before, we've changed far too much of the structure for them to portal in. And that is why we do not dare to portal out. If there are Masters in the camp out there, they'd catch us when we moved and trace the continuity back through the walls."

  Caleb turned to me. "So. We have established our position. We're secure. Now we have to wait them out."

  I shook my hand. "We won't. We can't afford to."

  "Well, we could drive them," Lareth said. I immediately opened my mouth to call him down, but he held up his hands and spoke quickly, "I know you've no desire to war with men, but they know how to lay a siege. They will sit outside our walls and wait while dragons burn the world of men to ash. You are the one who says we need to join that fight. Perhaps we'll have to pay this price before we start."

  Caleb nodded. "They'll strip the land, too. All those fields you protected from our men will be pillaged by the king's forces in a week. It might be wisest to attack."

  "Gentlemen...." I sighed. They were so ready for a civil war. "My answer's no. It always will be no. I won't send two thousand of my men against twenty thousand of the king's and get them all slaughtered. Please stop advising it." They both only looked at me.

  "So you'll just wait them out?" the wizard asked.

  "No. I'll go out by another way."

  I waited. Lareth comprehended sooner than I'd expected, and instantly said, "No! My lord, I told you no! It is absurd."

  "It works."

  "It wouldn't work. You'd only end up dead, or perhaps obliterated, and then we'd be—"

  I spoke softly. "It works, Lareth."

  He hesitated, then his eyes went wide.

  I nodded confirmation. "I knew it days ago. I can travel the threads of reality."

  Caleb rose to his feet, "You tried it? Without consulting us, you risked this thing—"

  "Sit down, Caleb." He didn't budge, and I said more sharply, "Take your seat. Good. Now, I know how my magic works—I am the only man alive who knows as much. That made consulting with you unprofitable."

  "We've spoken of your recklessness," Caleb began, but Lareth shook his head.

  "No. This was his caution. What good would it have done to speak with you?"

  "I don't mean me," Caleb said. "In this. It should be you. And you've told him all along—"

  Lareth narrowed his eyes. He turned something over and over in his fingers. The Chaos shard I'd left him. He nodded. "It's caution, as I said. Daven couldn't trust me. If it worked—he's told us that it works—if it had worked, he couldn't risk letting me know. He couldn't trust me when I told him not to try. Not if he suspected I'd betray him to another lord."

  I didn't meet his eyes. He spoke the truth. And for his part, he didn't seem the least off
ended. He did turn back to me to say, "I wasn't lying, though. I genuinely thought you'd be destroyed. I can't conceive that kind of travel being safe."

  I shrugged. "Mine's not a delicate control like yours. It's a simple thing—a blunt thing. I knew that it would work. The only question was whether the mind made the body, or the body made the mind."

  Caleb let out a long, low sigh. He shook his head, still unbelieving.

  Lareth said, "That's no small question, there. I cannot even find some hope that you took my good advice and tried it on another?"

  I met his gaze and shook my head. "I'm not that kind of man. And it would not have worked on any but my own. You'll ask that next."

  Lareth's eye went wide. "But it will work on others? On your men?"

  "If they are willing. If they trust me. I've tried with Garret Dain, and Isabelle as well."

  "Then it's safe," Caleb said, breathing out at last. The worry left his face. "If he risked Isabelle at all, he knows it's safe."

  "Safer than Lareth's magic, now," I said. "It creates no similarities, it bends none of the superstructure, and it should leave no trails for the wizards."

  "So it's a perfect way," Caleb said.

  "As close as we could hope to find. And that is good, because as I said before, I mean to start the hunt today."

  "But why?" the wizard asked. "Why so much haste?"

  "To clear their heads. The king himself laid siege around the stronghold late last night, and that could be a powerful distraction. I want to guarantee we all remember who we're fighting. The king is not our enemy. That's not our war."

  Lareth leaned back, considering. "How many will you sacrifice to send that message? They cannot possibly be ready to go out."

  "They're ready," Caleb said. "They have learned fast. They've skipped their meals and skimped on sleep to learn whenever I'd allow it."

  "And you?" the wizard asked the warrior. "I thought you thirsted for their blood. Why don't you clamor for a chance to go along?"