“Actually, there are three ways out,” Rosa injected into my mind, which Winya heard and passed on to my dark elf. “The portal, but I just checked on it, and something seems to be making it unstable. I don’t know that I would trust it.”
“Does it matter?” Maya huffed uneasily. “Where could you portal to that wouldn’t be ash anyway when the sun explodes? Best lock it down Rosa, we wouldn’t want the Duke to figure out a way to use it against us.”
“Good point,” Rosa returned sadly, and then seemed to mentally wander off to attend to other issues.
Refocusing on the battlefield, it didn’t take raptor vision to see the tsunami that was building. What the eagle keenness did reveal was the large number of demons mixed in with and around the undead horde. I counted at least six different types that I hadn’t encountered before; some had wings, most had horns or some form of goring appendage. Sharp teeth, claws and a bad attitude seemed to be standard issue for all of them. A lot of them were reddish-hued, but black and vomit green were also popular. Suddenly it hit me; I didn’t see a single siege engine being rolled up, or ladders, or siege towers, either. This struck me as a bad sign, and I felt Winya’s level of concern rising through our link.
“Looks like it’s going to be tonight, then,” Maya whispered, still taking in the view.
I heard a familiar buzzing sound and Nia flew into sight, heavily laden with two large cups of some steaming hot liquid. I quickly took the proffered one from her tired little hands.
“Thanks, Mr. Alex. These were maybe just a little too heavy for me,” she panted.
I took a deep breath of the aromatic steam, recognizing Rosa’s brew of the stuff that tastes like dirt, but in a good way. Taking an appreciative sip, I watched Maya take the other cup, and I sighed. Nia cocked her head slightly with a disgusted look on her face.
“Master, yours is bitter and nasty; I don’t see what you like about it. Maya’s is much better.”
“How so?”
“It’s the same as yours, but Rosa added a lot of chocolate and some warm milk to hers so it tastes yummy.”
“Oh, is that why I only have half a cup?” Maya laughed, pointing at the frothy mustache on the face of our adopted daughter.
“Umm, well,” Nia grinned bashfully, “both mugs full were too heavy for me, so I drank some to lighten the load. Oddly, it didn’t seem to help the carry factor much. Sorry, Mom.”
“No matter, little daughter.” Maya smiled broadly, giving Nia a gentle caress across the tops of her wings. “We were just about to go down for a last good meal before the fun starts. Care to join us?”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly. I’m feeling really full at the moment; unless, of course, you think they have strudel with lots of icing!”
We both chuckled and took one last, lingering look. “I just hope we’re ready,” Maya said under her breath.
“We will be,” said Ebony, appearing behind us. “I have a progress update for you. The dwarves have finished their work on the ballista and catapults. The curtain wall bolt shooters are also fully functional. As long as those aren’t destroyed, our people shouldn’t have to worry too much about attacks from the air. Conlan and his personal team are still working on that strange weapon that the Nova need; personally, I don’t think it will be done in time. But Conlan says he and his team will work on it even through the battle if need be.”
With all the commotion and the planning, I had almost forgotten about the tower weapon. In the back of my mind, I hoped we wouldn’t have to depend on it to save the world. It was bad enough having to put untried fifteen-year-old wizards on the firing line, but a weapon that no one even knows what it does? Well, no one but my parents and they weren’t talking.
But for now all we could do was wait and pray things didn’t spiral out of hand.
..................................................
Maya
Nightfall was fast approaching, and the level of pre-battle preparations was reaching a hive-like intensity. And for once in my life, I was actually nervous about all this. Not in the sense of worrying about living or dying, not even about the prospect of the end of the world; after all, if you really think about it, every warrior who falls in battle has their own personal world end. No, what I was most worried about was Alex. One of his great failings is that he cares too much. He feels personally responsible for every person in this fortress. Hell, he would even feel bad if the donkeys were slain. I am just hoping that if things get bad, he will be able to hold it all together.
After our last meal, and yes, there was strudel, I made him go down to the forge for a couple hours and finish a project that Ranny, the water wizard boy from the tournament, and he had been working on all week when they had the time. All I knew was that it had something to do with the twins but not much else, I had been just too busy with Winya and Ebony.
At dusk, I asked Winya to summon my mate, and a few minutes later I felt his warm presence behind me. We were once again standing on the wall surveying the undead mob below that pretty much covered every scrap of ground beyond ballista range. Something was keeping them back just far enough and waiting. Winya had elected not to raise the ballistae emplacements until the charge started and we had some idea of their plan. She did not want some form of trickery to take out her artillery like last time. Just because we couldn’t see siege engines didn’t mean they weren’t out there. We were also secreting the bulk of our Helios forces, with the exception of the Tempests, in the keep hoping the surprise would give us an edge.
However, this plan hinged on the unlikely chance that the Duke or Kerr didn’t already know about the fortress’s new claws. I looked around; the walls weren’t that heavily manned at the moment, at least by a normal fortress’s standards. But knowing that Winya and eighty of her girls held this ground for days against a superior force made me feel better about our chances. We currently had a mix of dark elves, wizards, and dwarves on the ramparts. The Helios would join them as soon as the battle commenced. Our human soldier contingent of about one hundred twenty or so was lined up at the base of the wall, ready to plug holes if necessary. Able-bodied townsfolk and many of Bel’s farmers were assembled just inside the curtain walls with buckets of sand, shovels, and wet hides to fight fires.
“I hope you two are ready,” Alex’s father said shortly after flashing into existence behind us. “This isn’t going to be a fair fight, I can tell you that.”
We turned to face him and found that he was outfitted in ornate golden armor, complete with inlaid filigreed designs featuring celestial events. It looked more ornamental than functional to me; but Alex, being the armor expert, will tell me about it someday, I’m sure. Oreale appeared next to him in another flash of light; and her armor looked more natural, almost organic in nature. It could best be described as shell-like; not all bumpy and crusty like the dream weaver’s true appearance, but thick and smooth like swirled, polished abalone shell. It was incredibly beautiful.
Alex was talking, so I had to snap out of it and listen. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, I guess,” he finished and resumed looking out over the battlefield, lost in his own thoughts.
Ranther joined his son at the parapet. “The Kerr is here. I can feel its presence, and the game will start shortly.”
“Game?” Alex questioned harshly. “This is no damn game! People are going to bleed and die here shortly!”
“To the Kerr, it is a game. The game format is really the only way our kind can resolve conflicts without destroying whole galaxies in the process.” He paused, shaking his head ruefully and addressed us both. “Son, Daughter, I would be a blatant hypocrite if I didn’t admit to you that I have played at these types of games as well. But when I met your mother, one of the very mortals whose lives I had so callously spent as mere pawns, even for good, I found I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m sorry. Listen, regardless of what you may think of me right now, time is short and the fate of your world is very much hanging in the balance. The bat
tle will start in a few minutes now. When that time comes, your mother and I will do something that we would never ever consider if it weren’t for the love of our son. Anyway, the dwarves are almost done with the tower weapon, but you need to buy us and them as much time as you can. If at all possible, kill the Lifebane; but at the very least, keep him away from the crystal.
Oreale stepped quietly up behind us and announced, “It’s time, Ranther.” I watched in amazement as she unsheathed a massive two-handed great hammer from behind her back. Alex just gawked in stunned amusement, finally commenting, “A great hammer, Mother?”
“What? You didn’t think you got your skills for smashing things from your father, did you?” she said with a frosty smile. “But right now, I need to take this hammer and bash a certain someone.” She looked back to her husband. “Ready, my love?”
“Yes,” he said as he summoned a long sword and shield to his hands.
“Excellent! You might want to cover your ears everyone, this is going to be loud.” With that, she raised her hammer high into the air and brought it down so hard onto the fortress walls I thought for sure they would crumble. Instead of the expected chips of stone flying everywhere, there was an explosion of light. Beams shot out from the impact spot, and after a few moments, they had completed carving what looked like a formal grid pattern in the clouds.
Suddenly a booming female voice cackled from the sky, “Ah, the game board is all set up and everything!” Looking up, I saw what looked like a woman floating effortlessly in the clouds above us. She or it would have been stunning by human standards, pale, tall, and shapely with waist-length black hair. But with my eagle vision, it was her lava-red eyes that screamed to the world that she was far from human. That, and she radiated dark power, lots of it.
This being could only be the Kerr, the malevolent intent flaring off her in waves made me nauseous. I looked sideways at Alex’s father and whispered, “I thought all others were male?”
“It is,” Ranther grimaced. “He just likes to appear as a female to confuse and distract his opponents.”
“So you know this Kerr? You’ve faced it before?”
He sighed uneasily. “Yes, Maya, many times. He is their most skilled champion.”
“But you’ve beaten him before, right?”
“Well, no, the bastard never loses; but then I’ve never had so much reason to win before either. Plus he’s never had to contend with Oreale,” he gritted and turned his attention back to the Kerr. She looked around a bit with a finger on her chin, a most humanlike affectation.
“Hmm, now let’s see; fortress over there with its pesky defenders, check,” she said pointing at us. “Unstoppable undead army over here, check. Game board? Yep, got that too. Looks like all the pieces are in place. Oh wait, we forgot the spectators to watch the end of your pathetic little world.”
Instantly, thousands of demons appeared in the sky, settling in on the grid Alex’s mother had just made. All of them were hooting and howling encouragement for their undead and demon brethren below.
Alex’s father stepped forward to the edge of the wall. “Call off your demons, Kerr; they have no place in this world or this battle.”
She covered her mouth in feigned surprise. “Cheating? Why I never! I am simply leveling the playing field. After all, an army of only undead would hardly be fun to watch, now would it? Besides, you Nova claim that your nebulia are worth a thousand of our demons. Since this human has one,” she said as she pointed out Alera below the walls, “it would only be equitable for my team to have a thousand demons, don’t you think?”
“No,” said Oreale, “Alera summoned her protector though her own magic. Your demons were not summoned.”
The Kerr smiled in a leering manner and ignored her. “So this is dear, sweet Alera. I’ve actually heard much about you. You have the distinction of being the reward most requested by my demon commanders. Any one, or all of them, would just love the chance to play with you for all eternity. Of course, you might not enjoy the experience as much as they will.”
I could see that Alex was tensing up and becoming angrier by the minute; apparently the Kerr noticed it as well.
“Ah, the young hero is getting full of righteous indignation,” she snarled. “Excellent. Tell me, Alex Martin, Master Enchanter, Prince of the Nova, when you recruited your harem of sweet companions, did it ever occur to you the high price each and every one of them would pay when you ultimately fail them? Because I intend to make it a very high personal price, indeed.”
“Enough of your mind games, Kerr!” Ranther shouted. “The real game starts in sixty seconds!”
Alex’s father turned to us. “It’s never going to back down and this is getting us nowhere. I know you are both ready for this, just stay together and do what you feel is right. When you have your chance, don’t hesitate, strike with everything you have.” We both nodded, even though that was probably the worst inspirational speech I have ever heard. I was more concerned about the emotions I was seeing scroll across my mate’s face. Alex was truly angry, an emotion that I rarely saw in him; and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you if that was more likely to spell our salvation or our doom.
Suddenly the sky erupted with another flash of light. I looked up to see an army of nebulia formed in ranks in the clouds. Although their numbers seemed fewer than that of the demons, they saluted us in bravery and triumph.
“Excellent,” gushed the Kerr. “At last, a challenge! You have no idea how long I’ve been setting up this game. But I don’t quite think you understand, little ones. You can’t hide half your pieces on a game board.” My heart sunk a little as I realized that it knew about the Helios we had stashed away and probably every other countermeasure we had dreamed up as well. I should have expected that, I suppose, when your opponent is an ageless, superior being that can create and destroy worlds. With a chilling laugh of evil glee he/she swept her arm back expansively. “But as a show of good faith, I will reveal my cards first.”
Down on the open battlefield below us, scores of zombies and ghouls vanished when eight huge purplish-black portals popped into existence virtually on top of them. Where they went, I’m not sure; but it mattered little as there were still thousands waiting to take their places in the assault. Suddenly, eight monstrous beast-like demons clanked out. I say clanked because their bodies appeared to be made up entirely of steel plate and stone. It took a long time for them to clear the portal, because I would have to estimate they were at least three hundred feet long! Shaped flat and low like some kind of nightmarish centipede, the creature had hundreds of legs, which threw sparks every time it scraped its own sides. The backs were flat, rough textured and ridged across its twenty-foot width, with leaf-shaped bone plates sticking up on both edges. I really had no idea what to make of them, but then I was thinking like a hand-to-hand warrior. Winya finally enlightened me.
“Living siege ladders!”
The look of horror on my face must have said it all, as the Kerr gloated. “Glad you like them. I made them just for the two of you and your irksome enchanted walls.”
Suddenly, Winya was screaming in my head, and I winced in pain as she broadcast loudly to her troops. “Everyone to your stations! Raise the ballista and bolter stations! Come on, people, move!” In my head, I saw the doors to the keep burst open and disgorge our Helios defenders at a dead run, each splitting off to her assigned station with practiced efficiency. I saw Alex dash to the back side of the walls and shout something down to our troops below.
Still hovering above us, the Kerr looked down at our army with interest. “Hmm, a new indigenous lesser form of nebulia? Ranther, you naughty boy, you’ve been holding out on me. But no matter, I don’t see the numbers matching up well for you. But I will have to say the game just got a lot more fun.” It giggled, “Well, let’s get this party started!” With great drama, she pulled out a couple of small cubes from an unseen pocket in her slinky dress and tossed them up into the air. They seemed to bounce and
roll across the overcast sky, tumbling aimlessly, bumping off clouds, and all the while getting bigger and bigger, until finally teetering to a stop. I recognized them now; they were similar to the game of bones that bored soldiers gambled their pay away on incessantly.
“Snake eyes, how appropriate!” the Kerr sneered, as she cackled and then shot up into the heavens to join her demon army in the sky. She was closely followed by Alex’s parents in their full regalia. There was an almost immediate clap of thunder as the two celestial armies ripped into each other above our heads. Tearing my eyes away from the spectacle, I realized I had to focus on my own battle; and for any of us to survive, we had to win!
A long, low moaning horn blast sounded from the undead and demon horde below us, and a black cloud of flying bat-like demons rose up like a flight of blackbirds over a cornfield and screeched toward us claws and fangs extended. Alex was still at the back of the wall, but I saw him windmill his arm at something down below us and then walk casually back to join me with a satisfied look on his face.
Suddenly, I felt the small hairs on the back of my neck rise up in dread, and I actually felt the air pressure behind me change as two keening screams shattered the night air. It’s hard to describe the sound, but it’s something so basic and primal that a part of our brain reacts without thinking–dragons! Like scaly death itself, Dawn and Dusk flashed up and over the walls just a few feet above our heads, unleashing a flight call that shook the ground two hundred feet below us. They flew eagerly to the attack. Part of me cringed at the display, and the other part noted the vast changes in them. They seem to grow larger every time I see them, but the startling part was the new bluish-white scale mail that covered and protected nearly every inch of them. There was also an impressive set of wicked-looking spikes mounted on their tail armor. It looked heavy, but I couldn’t see that it hampered their movements in the slightest; more of Alex’s enchantments I would wager.
Heir To The Nova (Book 3) Page 28
