by Frank Morin
"I'm helping you." She pushed up her visor and he clearly read the worry in her eyes. "Oh, Connor. I can't imagine how terrified you are right now."
"I'm not terrified," he lied. "I'm angry."
Hamish swooped over to join them, his expression furious. "You're going the wrong way."
"We can't go rushing in there," Verena said in a placating tone. "That's just what Carbrey will want."
Connor was trying to think, to understand how their families could be there in mortal danger. Only one idea seemed possible. "Dougal wasn't returning to Obrion for reinforcements. He was going to fetch our families."
"I hope you're right," Verena said.
"You're happy our families are in danger?" Hamish exclaimed.
"Of course not! We'll save them. I'm just hoping that Dougal isn't bringing back another thirty thousand troops for us to fight too."
"All we have to fight right now are the ones holding knives to their throats," Hamish growled.
Connor nodded. "I'll hit them with fire and water and knock them away. Then you two strike with diorite."
"Sounds good to me," Hamish said, fists clenching in anticipation.
"Kilian wants us to meet with him," Verena said.
Hamish snarled, "I don't care what Kilian wants. Those are our families!"
Connor agreed. He was already chafing at the delay and barely refrained from leaping off the Swift. He would call upon all the elements and unleash the beast in his heart in an overwhelming assault of vengeful destruction.
Verena spoke in a tone that seemed far too reasonable. "If you fly over there right now, not even you can kill all those soldiers before they start slitting throats."
"Don't say that!" Connor shouted, gripping the rail on the Swift so hard it crumbled in his hand.
The thought of his parents, his brothers, or his baby sister dying right in front of him was like a splash of cold water in the face, though. The red-hot anger clouding his mind faded enough for a little rational thought.
Hamish spoke, his tone mollified too. "We have to do something."
"We will," Verena assured him. "But we need a plan."
Connor said, "We don't have time for that."
"I think the battle's paused," Verena said, pointing down.
She was right. The Obrioner center had stopped retreating, and the windriders full of air-drop Rumblers had slowed to a hover over the middle ground. Only the auxiliary troops had continued their advances on the distant edges of the valley.
They would reach the outer limits of the middle ground and clash within minutes. Everyone else seemed to understand that the outcome of the hostage standoff had to be determined before they could continue.
Carbrey's voice, amplified by a Pathfinder, cracked like thunder over the battlefield. "Wolfram. Kilian. You have one minute to pull that lava back. Connor, Hamish, and Jean must surrender immediately, or their families will all be executed."
Connor growled, sounding like a rampager, and in that moment he yearned for porphyry so he could turn into one. He would rip apart Carbrey and every member of his army.
Verena said softly. "Breathe, Connor. Think. Going now and surrendering won't help save your family."
He snarled, "I'm not going to surrender. I'm going to kill Carbrey and every one of those soldiers!"
"The danger to your family is too great," she reminded him in that infuriatingly reasonable tone.
"I can't not go!" Connor shouted, trembling with fury and fear.
He had known something bad would happen if he didn't bring his family to safety when they'd stopped in Alasdair. He raged to think of their stubbornness for not heeding the warning, and for his foolishness in not forcing them to leave.
Hovering in the air nearby, Hamish's entire suit erupted into flames, but he didn't even seem to notice.
Kilian's voice boomed over the battlefield. "Don't be foolish, Carbrey. We need twenty minutes to respond."
Carbrey's booming voice laughed. "Do you think I'm a fool, Kilian?"
"Just a coward for hiding behind children."
"No!" Connor shouted. "He can't taunt him. He might kill them out of spite."
Verena shook her head. "He won't. He'd lose the very bargaining position he's trying to leverage. Trust Kilian."
Carbrey responded a few seconds later. "I will allow a little more time, but the price is that you must surrender too and bring with you the stones stolen from my tent this morning."
"He knows that's never going to happen," Verena said with a frown.
"So let's go kill him," Hamish urged.
Verena suggested, "Go get Jean. She needs to be part of this."
Hamish rocketed away, and Connor wished he had something useful to do too. He couldn't seem to focus on anything other than calculating how best to kill every one of those soldiers before they could hurt his family.
He hadn't found the right solution yet, but he would. When he did, they would die. Then he would find Carbrey, no matter where the man tried to hide, and he would kill him too.
Kilian was already responding. "I will confer with the generals and leaders of Altkalen."
Connor held his breath for the long seconds until Carbrey responded.
"Ten minutes."
He sighed, feeling a glimmer of hope. In ten minutes, surely they'd figure out what to do.
Verena pulled his head closer and kissed him. "We'll save them, Connor. I swear it."
"Thanks." He leaned his forehead against hers and savored the contact. "And I swear that Carbrey just made the worst mistake of his life."
Thirty seconds later, they met on Anton's tower, which he expanded to hold them all. Kilian was already there, and Wolfram arrived seconds later with Saskia, Mattias, and Ulrich. Hamish and Jean landed immediately after. Martys followed. His anger was better controlled than Connor's, like a simmering bonfire that would only need a gust of wind to whip into an inferno.
Ulrich frowned at the Obrioner army. "We never imagined they'd try something like this."
Saskia looked grim as she spoke. "I hope we can find a clever solution because we cannot surrender."
"We can't incinerate our families with lava either," Connor retorted.
Saskia placed a hand on his arm and gave him a compassionate smile. "My heart aches for you, but all our families are in danger today. We swore an oath never to surrender, no matter the cost, and we cannot rescind it at the first test of our resolve."
Ulrich grunted. "In all the history of warfare, I've never heard of an invading army using their own citizens as hostages."
"I will free my family," Connor promised them, and he barely recognized the cold, furious voice as his own. "And anyone who gets in my way will regret it."
Saskia warned, "Don't start threatening us. If Altkalen's best interests are served by striking now, we will."
"How many people are you willing to lose?"
Verena held up her hands in a calming gesture. "I agree with Connor. We cannot attack until their families are freed."
"Think about what you're saying," Mattias told her. "If Altkalen falls, we lose all of southern Granadure. The lives of a few Obrioners are not enough to justify such a sacrifice."
"They are to me," Connor growled, happy to focus his anger on Mattias, and hoping he'd try flashing that glowing smile. Connor would break all those shining teeth.
"And we can't afford to alienate Connor, Hamish, and Jean," Verena replied, holding Mattias's gaze. "They've already sacrificed so much to help us."
Wolfram spoke for the first time. "Everyone try breathing instead of threatening each other. We are not the enemy, and your positions are not mutually exclusive. It is clear we must defeat Carbrey today, using whatever means are at our disposal."
He held up a hand to forestall any argument. "It is also clear that we must deal with this unexpected threat before that first stated goal can be accomplished."
Martys said, "Dinnae think too long about it. We must go and kill them."
"But we have to be smart about it," Kilian cautioned.
Martys sidled close to Connor and whispered, "Lad, this be the time I was preparing ye for. In this ye must be willing to unleash the beast and fight to kill."
Connor nodded. "Don't worry about me, Uncle. I'll do what it takes."
"Good lad."
"We need ideas," Ulrich said.
Verena said, "He wants the stones. What if we filled the box with diorite and blew it up in his face?"
Connor and Hamish nodded. That sounded perfect, but Kilian shook his head. "The distraction would be excellent, but it wouldn't disable the soldiers. It is far too easy to slit a throat."
"What if you used a shieldstone?" Connor asked Verena.
She shook her head. "Those soldiers are standing close. They'd probably get included in the protective barrier with your families."
"We could slip everyone a piece of blind coal," Hamish suggested.
Jean said excitedly, "I could do it. They won't see me as a threat."
The idea had merit, but Connor immediately saw the flaw in it. "I doubt Carbrey would let even you start handing out stones to everyone."
Saskia said, "We're running out of time."
"I don't see how we can do it without compromising our security," Ulrich said sadly.
"Shona!" Connor cried, getting a crazy idea.
Verena turned on him. "What does she have to do with anything?"
"When I met with her, she told me that her father appointed her high marshal. She said that if I return to her and promise to. . ." He couldn't finish, couldn't say marry Shona in front of Verena.
"What?" Verena asked, her tone turning icy.
"She can overrule Carbrey and appoint me commander. I could save our families and order a retreat."
"Then why haven't you done it yet?" Ulrich demanded.
"Because he'd have to marry Shona," Verena said, seeing the truth instantly. Her expression turned angry. "And I guarantee that once she secured her hold over him, we'd have even less chance of surviving the next invasion."
Connor said, "I don't think she plans to invade, at least not any time soon. She wants to secure her power base in Obrion."
"This Shona sounds like quite the woman," Mattias said. He looked eager for Connor to accept the offer.
Ulrich growled, "Sounds like her father, and you can't trust anything people like that say."
"But it might work." Connor was desperate enough that he was seriously considering returning to Shona and accepting her offer.
"Is that why you were kissing her?" Verena asked in a deceptively calm tone. Her eyes glittered with anger.
"She was kissing me," Connor corrected, but that didn't seem to help.
"No one should have been kissing anyone!" Verena shouted, advancing on him. "I told you she was trying to manipulate you."
"It was the only way I could get a chance to speak with the others," Connor tried to explain.
"Think, Connor!" Verena shouted, while the others retreated a step, abandoning Connor to face her wrath alone. "Shona just happens to outline a plan for you to give her everything she wants just in time to miraculously offer the one solution you so desperately need today."
Connor frowned. "You think she planned this?"
"What else am I supposed to think?" Verena stormed. "That's actually better than thinking you arranged that stupid meeting with her just because you wanted an excuse to kiss her again!"
He opened his mouth to respond, but for the life of him, he couldn't imagine anything he could possibly say that wouldn't make her angrier.
He very nearly said, "You know I love you," but somehow it didn't seem like the right moment.
"You can't trust Shona," Kilian said, saving Connor from having to reply.
"Of course we can't," Verena snapped, pacing away and drawing one of her throwing knives. She twirled it in her hand, as if that helped calm her nerves, but Connor watched it closely. She could stick that thing between his eyes in a blink if she chose.
He really wanted to tell her how attractive she was with that sense of danger clinging to her like an exotic perfume.
"Then I think I need some porphyry," Connor said.
"That's a bad idea," Kilian said.
Verena turned and pointed the knife at Connor. "No, that's plain stupid."
"Well, do you have a better one?" he retorted. He hated speaking angrily to her, and he didn't want to encourage her to stab him, but he couldn't seem to control himself very well at the moment.
"I do." Aifric, dressed in her white Healer's robe, climbed to the top of the tower to join them. "Or more precisely, Student Eighteen does."
Chapter Sixty-Three
"The moth is consumed by the flame, no matter its intent to seek but the comfort of warmth or light."
~Ilse
Aifric gave Connor a hug and an understanding smile. "I'll go with you."
"I'm glad you're here," Connor said, hoping she had a great idea. If not, he'd be back to attacking with overwhelming elemental rage.
Jean drew closer and said, "Kilian suggested once that maybe you can immobilize people with serpentinite. Is that true?"
Aifric looked shocked and glanced around. Everyone was eagerly listening. "We don't talk about such things."
"Is that what you had in mind?" Connor pressed. He didn't have time for games.
She hesitated, then shook her head. "I do not yet have that ability."
"Then what's your plan?" Hamish asked.
"Serpentinite can still help. I can suppress Carbrey's voice, prevent him from issuing the order to strike. I can even speak in his voice. I could tell the soldiers to stand down, or something to distract them for a moment."
"Like you did with Gregor on the mountain above the Carraig," Hamish said.
Aifric nodded.
"We can work with that," Connor said.
It wasn't as good as immobilizing the soldiers, but it might be enough. He only needed a couple seconds to hit them. He'd only get one chance before the soldiers realized what was going on and murdered his family, but he felt confident he could do it.
"Is there anything else you can do with your secret affinities that we should know about?" Jean asked.
Aifric frowned. "I don't make a point of asking about your secrets in public."
Kilian said, "But her secrets are not likely to endanger our lives."
Aifric's frown deepened. "I swore an oath to Connor. Does that mean nothing?"
Connor placed a hand on Aifric's shoulder. "I trust you. All of you."
Aifric flashed her trademark smile. "I appreciate that, Connor. We've all agreed to support you." She paused and added. "Just remember when Rith is in charge to use her name. She gets cranky when she gets lumped in with the rest of us."
"I'll keep that in mind," Connor promised.
Saskia said, "Your families are your responsibility. I wish you luck, and we'll grant you time to strike, but we will resume the attack as soon as you move against Carbrey."
Verena said, "The Crushers are ready to drop. I'll ask Ilse to task a squad to drop nearby to assist."
"Thanks," Connor told her, grateful that she seemed to have controlled her anger.
She even sheathed that knife. Once they saved their families, they'd be standing directly in front of the entire Obrioner army. They'd need the Crushers' help.
"Well then, let's go complete negotiations with Carbrey," Kilian said in a grim tone, his eyes flickering with fire.
As the group dispersed to issue new orders to their commands, Verena drew Connor to one side, took his hands in hers and gave him a serious look. "Be careful, Connor."
"I'll save them," he promised her.
"I know, and I'll be watching from above." For a second, it looked like she wanted to say something else, but she instead turned toward the Swift.
Connor placed a hand on her shoulder, and she turned back to him. "I'm sorry I let things get so messed up with Shona again. You were right. I thoug
ht I was the one being clever, but all I did was play into her hands again."
Verena sighed. "Shona can read you even better than I can, Connor. Let's talk about it after we save your family."
He let her go, wishing there was a good way to explain that he still owed Shona a passionate kiss. He definitely needed to make sure he had the healing pendant with him for that conversation.
Connor joined Hamish, Jean, and Martys while they waited for Kilian to finish conferring with Wolfram, Saskia, and Ulrich. "Uncle Martys, I want you to lead our families back to the Grandurian lines when the fighting starts."
"I mean to strike a blow by yer side," Martys objected.
"I know, and I appreciate it, but I'd feel better if I knew you were watching over them."
"Very well, lad. I'll do yer bidding, but make sure ye do what is necessary."
"I will." He meant it.
They decided that Hamish would fly them in the Storm to meet with Carbrey. Verena took off in the Swift, flying north, away from the battlefield until she ascended into the clouds and out of sight. There she would bank around and observe from above until the fighting started.
General Carbrey's voice boomed across the valley with one minute to go before the deadline was up. "You're just about out of time. These people are going to die."
Connor was already seated between Kilian and Hamish in the front row of the Storm, with Jean, Aifric, and Martys in the second row. The box that had contained all the sculpted stones sat in the little bed at the back. The precious stones had been removed and sent to the citadel with Mattias. The empty box had been filled with knives.
Tapping quartzite, Connor applied it to Kilian's throat. His voice boomed out in response. "Very well, Carbrey. We submit to your demands. Don't harm anyone. We're coming over."
Hamish activated the thrusters, and the Storm rose in a whirlwind of stinging sand. He ascended to about three hundred feet before accelerating out over the middle ground. With the molten lava covering the area, the air was brutally hot, and the Storm pitched in the turbulent air.
The Obrioner army had left a clear buffer zone of more than a hundred yards from the lava. The massed ranks of several thousand soldiers, including many Petralists, forming that unbroken ring of men was a daunting sight.
