The Akorell Break (The Mortal Mage Book 2)

by B. T. Narro

  Desil made the wall as soft as cloth, surprising himself at his improved skill with manipulation. He and Basen nearly slid through it on their way down.

  “What now?” Leida was asking in a panic as they came to the bottom.

  “Keep running until we must fight,” her father answered.

  Their party rushed away from the precipice, all shooting looks back over their shoulders at the dajriks climbing down one after the other. The giants did not move quickly, but with their long limbs they still descended the wall with alarming speed. They sped up even more once they reached the ground and broke into a run. The only thing keeping them from catching up to Desil’s fleeing party were the many pillars they were forced to navigate around with their awkwardly large bodies.

  One let out a roar that would’ve caused everyone in Desil’s hometown of Kayvol to abandon their homes if the giant had been in view. Terror gave Desil’s party a boost of speed past their normal limit as their caution dissolved. Leida was the first to slip as they headed out of the enormous cavern and back the way they’d come. Desil stopped to help her up, but Beatrix slipped on the loose gravel right after. Kirnich grabbed her and hoisted her up before Desil could get there. Rushed dajrik footsteps beat closer behind them as they helped each other over and around mounds of rock that made up this precarious ground.

  They came into a tunnel they’d crossed through that hopefully would be too small for the dajriks. Desil looked back at their pursuers. He announced what he saw.

  “They’re shouldering through, even though some of the ceiling is coming down on them! They’re not going to stop until they reach us.” He was ready to fight if anyone fell again, for the dajriks were too close to outrun if anyone slowed down.

  Desil softened a patch of stone, then took off again, now at the back. It would only take a few seconds for the stone to return to its normal state, but the dajriks were close enough that both behemoths stepped into the softened ground in time.

  Rock in the texture of mud splashed out, sending the lead dajrik stumbling before falling into a sprawl with a mountain-shaking crash. The other ran around it and screamed something.

  “Dar ee hum!”

  “What can you tell from their energy?” Basen asked Beatrix.

  “All I can feel is rage.”

  Desil softened the ground behind them once more, hoping his assumption about these creatures’ low intelligence was correct. Sure enough, the second one didn’t put together what Desil had done to the first and tripped over the loose ground.

  The creature quickly started to rise, though. Bellowing with its thunderous voice, it didn’t seem as if it would stop chasing Desil’s party until it had them, so it came as a shock when the dajrik instead bent down to hoist up a boulder that looked like a mere rock in its hand. It threw the boulder overhand at them after a running start.

  “Move to a side!” Desil yelled. “Any side!”

  The boulder landed just before him at the back as they separated, then bounced past with a huge gust of wind. It slammed into the side of their chosen exit, ricocheting off to crash into the other side with a crack. Rocks nearly as large as this boulder broke off from both sides of the walls and fell across their escape route.

  Desil sped to get to the blockage. He connected his mind to all the stone in front of him and worked to soften as much as he could. The rocks and boulders fell together so that all the gaps between them closed, lowering the makeshift wall a total of about a yard. It was a quick climb up, a fast dash across, and a tiny jump onto the other side for Desil’s party.

  They heard little more than incensed blubbering from the dajriks, and soon, nothing. That didn’t stop Desil and the others from rushing, though, as they made their way all the way back to the cavern where they’d mined out the akorell metal in their bags.

  With everyone panting, Basen made a portal to somewhere with dirt on the ground and the open sky above. Desil didn’t recognize it. Pain caught up to him as he waited for the others to jump in first, his back convulsing from the beating it had taken from his akorell filled pack.

  “Go, Desil,” Kirnich said, after Leida and Adriya had gone through.

  There was a moment of pride as Desil realized that he no longer needed to worry about whether he’d made the right decision to come. His purpose was now obvious. He leapt into the portal.

  *****

  Desil felt as though a day had passed between leaving the Dajrik Mountains and arriving here, although it had only been a moment. It was as if he’d awoken from a long sleep after a night of too much drink, his head reeling. He had trouble believing they had just been fleeing from dajriks in the depths of the mountains, as now everything was quiet and at peace. The sun was too bright for him to see anything. He blinked and squinted, then had his first good look.

  The land was desolate as if abandoned. A shoddy wall wrapped around where they were—what seemed to be a place where Krepps used to dwell. Primitive huts with torn cloth flapped in the breeze.

  “Where are we?” Desil asked.

  “The Kreppen encampment during the Great War of Ovira,” Basen said. “They lived here in the thousands as they prepared to march on Kyrro, but there’s nothing here for anyone anymore. We won’t be bothered. Come, and I’ll show you where we’ll be making camp until the bomb is ready.”

  The encampment was huge, probably four square miles. It was difficult to imagine thousands of Krepps working toward a single cause here, yet it was even more difficult to think of what kind of force it would’ve taken to stop them. Desil’s mother had only just joined the Academy at seventeen years of age before war was declared against the territory of Tenred, a war that would eventually be called the Great War of Ovira. She fought against many of the Krepps that built up their army here with weapons and armor, for the lizard-like creatures sided with Kyrro’s enemies in an unprecedented alliance between Krepps and humans.

  Desil had never imagined what the Kreppen encampment had looked like, but after his experience in the Kreppen village in Regash Forest, it was easy to picture the creatures fighting each other here for sport, spitting and laughing, probably in good spirits as they thought a victory over humans would be effortless.

  Basen led them to the eastern edge where the dilapidated wall came to an end. Here was a beach with the ocean lapping at the course sand. A wooden structure that Desil couldn’t quite call a house had been built near a flat-edged hillock that made up one wall of the large enclosure. Basen took them inside, through a twisting entranceway, the wood wet and rotting, and led them into a square room with a wall missing, giving them an open view of the ocean.

  The headmaster removed his bag and started taking out the broken akorell metal piece by piece. The others followed suit until everything they’d collected was sitting in a small pile between them.

  “None of this will be needed if we can get to the akorell metal near the dajriks’ home,” Basen said as he lifted one of the larger chunks. It already had a faint glow. “I’ll see if I can get a few more rings made out of this. Having only two limits our ability to travel with portals.”

  “Whoever found the akorell metal in those mountains before us probably doesn’t know about the rest,” Leida suggested. “They must be searching elsewhere for more. Do you have any idea where they could be looking?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “It seems best to avoid them if we can, just as we should avoid the Marros.”

  Basen put down the akorell in his hand to direct his full attention to his daughter. “Are you saying you don’t want to attempt taking the akorell metal near the dajriks?”

  “I’m saying I don’t think any of us should try to take that akorell metal. There has to be a safer option.”

  “There probably is,” Basen admitted. “But I don’t know where else we can find as much as we need. We’ll have to search throughout Ovira. It could take months, and we still might not find enough.”

  She put up her hands. “I’m not only scared for m
yself. I fear for everyone’s safety.”

  He showed her a somber smile. “I know, but this is the safest option I’m aware of. We just have to get to the akorell near the dajriks before the Marros do.”

  Leida didn’t seem pleased as she frowned, though she didn’t speak her mind further as she looked away from her father. Kirnich and Beatrix moved apart from the group to speak between themselves. Desil watched the warrior produce the vial of caregelow with half of it remaining and drink with a sour face until it was done.

  “What is it, Leida?” Basen asked.

  “I’m still not sure. I have this feeling that there’s a connection to be made between the missing akorell metal and the people involved in making this bomb. The akorell metal has been valuable since its discovery long before I was born, yet it feels only recently that someone removed the akorell from the Dajrik Mountains. Didn’t you tell me that you told the king about it eventually?”

  “Yes, we spoke once or twice about getting a group together to mine out the akorell, but it was never worth the risk of entering the mountains. Unless he has a portal mage I don’t know about, I don’t see how anyone loyal to King Fernan could’ve made it to the akorell metal before us.”

  “I don’t either. I think it’s someone else.” She paused. “I can feel the man in my sleep getting closer to me, but I still don’t know why he wants to know who or where I am. I have felt more from him recently, though, more than I think he wants me to know.” She turned to Desil with a look as if fed up with the torment this man had brought upon her. “Have you?”

  “No.” I’d rather it be me he wants than you. Desil would reach farther the next time he entered the other plane. He would find this man and figure out what he wanted with Leida, before he got it. But Desil needed to know not just where to look for this man but how.

  “How does he find you when you go there?” Desil asked her.

  “I don’t know yet, but I think he’s involved in all of this. He’s mentioned akorell. Father, you must know of someone else you’ve spoken to about making this bomb.”

  “Just the Elves, but I only brought Rhy back to Merejic recently. None of them could’ve made it all the way to the Dajrik Mountains in that time, unless—like I’ve mentioned before—there is someone else who can make portals. I don’t think that’s the case, as I haven’t felt any other openings.”

  Desil took that to mean the headmaster was more in touch with the energy of the world than Desil could grasp. He still didn’t fully understand portals, but it seemed as if Leida’s father didn’t either. Like Desil, they both used a feeling to push themselves and their world to its limits.

  “I want to try again to reach this man,” Basen said. “We have time now as we wait for the akorell to charge. Do you think that he’s…uh, available?”

  Leida nodded reluctantly. “But I don’t see how you can get there with me if you couldn’t earlier. Only Desil seems to be able to.”

  “And what has your experience been so far, Desil?” Basen asked.

  “Less involved. I haven’t been targeted in the same way Leida has, and I haven’t figured out how to keep her safe.”

  “That’s not your responsibility,” Leida told him forcefully.

  Yes, Desil knew that, but it didn’t change how much he felt it to be. She seemed vulnerable each time she slept until something could be figured out. Had she told her father just how much power they’d felt from this man? Basen didn’t seem as worried as Desil. Leida probably keeps it from him.

  Kirnich and Beatrix came over. “We’ve decided to return to the castle tonight,” she announced. “Kirnich has already taken the rest of his caregelow. Soon I’ll be putting him to sleep as he heals. We’ll need your portal to get us as close as possible without detection. It at least has to be past the curtain wall. There’s no way for us to get past that otherwise.”

  “I can make one that will get you behind the castle keep, right next to its back wall, but that means I’m going to need help charging the akorell metal for the next few hours,” Basen said. “I might need to make several portals because it could take some traveling to figure out where to find Steffen Duroby. I don’t know where the Academy army is at the moment, so we’ll have to check a few places.”

  Desil whispered to Leida, “Is Steffen the chemist?”

  She nodded.

  “Are you ready to start charging with me, Leida and Adriya?”

  Both seemed surprised. “Right now?” Adriya asked.

  “We don’t have time to rest longer, unfortunately.”

  Desil suddenly became aware that, with all this akorell metal to be used for portals, it might be a long while until they had a chance to get a full night’s rest again. He decided to take advantage right now, finding a spot away from the mages where the ground was flat to set out his blanket. They began gathering bastial energy over the akorell metal as he shut his eyes and listened to the wind of their spells.

  No power reached out for him as he fell into the world of sleep. It angered him that this man instead waited for Leida. Why her?

  Desil kept himself in a state of waking slumber as he searched in different directions as far as his mind could reach. There was an endless amount of energy, too much to scour. He needed some way of pinpointing a stranger on this land, but soon his mind tired and he fell asleep.

  He awoke some hours later to Beatrix touching his shoulder. “I’m glad you’ve rested, because we need you now.”

  Desil sat up. “What can I do?”

  “Come with us.”

  “To the castle?” He scoffed. There was no way he would leave Basen, Leida, and Adriya. He’d already proven how necessary his skills were to aid them.

  “Yes, we need you. We’ll never get inside without you, and my father will never know the truth. Please, Desil. Kirnich and I have talked this through. The only option involves you.”

  He could feel her bending his mind to her will, but he had no clue how to resist. “Are you sure there’s no other way?”

  “No, not to get past my brother, who I’m sure has lookouts watching for me and Kirnich. This is the only way—using what you can do to stone. Please.”

  At hearing her practically beg, Desil gave a resigned sigh. How could he say no?

  “And the others are fine with this?” he asked.

  “They understand and have left it up to you.”

  The three mages were still gathering energy over the akorell metal as it now shined like a mirror catching the sunlight.

  “Let me make sure,” Desil told the psychic as he made his way over to the rest of his group.

  Beatrix gave him his distance as she waited with an awake but silent Kirnich.

  “They want me to go with them,” Desil told the others.

  Leida stopped gathering energy to face him. Her shoulders were slack as her father and Adriya sat on the ground nearby, all clearly exhausted. “Have they told you the plan?” Leida asked.

  “No.”

  “It’s up to you, Desil,” Basen said. “It will be dangerous, but you won’t be missing anything if you go. We plan to wait for you here while we rest.”

  “How will I get back?”

  “I’ll make a portal for you at the first sign of light in the morning. Be at the training center near the castle as soon as you can and wait for the portal there. If you’re late, I will make another a little after sunrise, then again each hour until you return to us, or until I’ve used up all the akorell metal.”

  That settled it for Desil. Beatrix had done more than enough without asking for much. It was time to repay her and Kirnich.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Desil realized just how scared Beatrix was as he listened to her plan. She spoke with loathing about her brother, but with caution as well. She made it clear that Allephon Estlander’s wish to end her life was his biggest priority.

  There was the chance, however, that Beatrix was wrong about any or all of this. Jimmin, the king’s adviser Desil had the unfortunate luck
of meeting in his mother’s tavern, had proven he could lie undetected to psychics. Perhaps he was the one who’d sent Micklin after Beatrix, or maybe it was someone else they hadn’t met. It had been clear to Desil that the team assaulting his mother’s tavern had wanted him dead as well as Beatrix. That made it even more dangerous to go with her and Kirnich to the castle, he supposed, but the plan sounded solid enough to trust with his life. He just had to get past his own fear.

  “How are your injuries?” Desil asked Kirnich. The warrior no longer wore bandages, though it might have been because he’d run out.

  “I’ll be able to climb fine.”

  “And fight?” Desil asked.

  “There won’t be fighting,” Beatrix replied, as if saying it made it so.

  Only if everything goes according to plan. “In case there is, I would like to know if Kirnich is capable.”

  “I am capable,” the warrior punctuated. “But don’t take out that sword unless you see me draw mine first.”

  Desil nodded. That had been his plan anyway.

  Beatrix took a small pouch from her pocket. She moved her fingers within, the sound of coins clinking, then drew out a key. “I’m trusting you with this, but it must be returned to me.”

  Desil took it and made light for a look. Long and slender at its center, it seemed like any other key he’d seen. “Is this for the hatch on the roof of the castle?”

  “There’s no key for that. It can only be bolted from within, which it won’t be. They expect no one to get past the curtain wall without detection, and they certainly don’t expect anyone climbing up the outside of the castle and entering from the top. What you hold is the master key. It will get you into any room, though some locks will take hard wiggling. Don’t give up, but try not to make noise if the key doesn’t work smoothly.”

  “Are you ready?” Basen called to them.

  “Almost,” Desil said, then inclined his head toward Beatrix and prepared for her to groan. “Tell me again how to get to the armory.”