Ebudae (41 page)

The door exploded inward and the walls blew
out to the sides in an explosion of white light veined with sickly
green tendrils. Everyone but Sir Imbra and Appana covered their
ears at the deafening sound. Dust filling the air caused everyone
to cough.

They stood there for few moments trying to
gather their wits and let the dust settle. Sir Imbra turned around
and placed fists on his hips. “My mother told me that it’s always
polite to knock. Do you think they’ll answer the door?”

Commander Coodmur was the first to answer.
“They would have to be able to find the door in order to answer
it.”

The knight looked over his shoulder. A large
stone fell from the top of the jagged opening. “It seems to be
missing. Pity.” He held his arms out to the side in a gesture of
helplessness. “Shall we go in anyway?”

“I think we shall.” The weaponmaster walked
to the knight’s side and they made to enter.

“Wait!” Ebudae yelled. “Gather close to me.
Quickly now.” Pelya joined her side, but everyone else exchanged
confused glances. “
Now!
” she shouted. They gathered around
close. “Relax your minds and bodies. Do not resist.”

Ebudae took five deep breaths. She then
began gathering energies around her. Surreal words flowed from her
mouth while her arms and hands moved in snakelike gestures. Those
closest to her stepped back to give her room, but stayed within
range of the spell.

Arcane winds whipped around her body,
tugging at her dress, cloak and hair. She drew in more and more
energy. With a final word and gesture, she released it. The spell
was an advanced version of the one she had taught to Pelya. It
would protect their minds and make everything they saw more
detailed. Each person would be able to make decisions faster and
more confidently.

She immediately latched on to more energies.
They swirled around her just as fiercely. When she released that
spell, it flowed strength and energy to everyone. Their bodies
would be faster and have more endurance. Vigor ran through their
veins.

“That should help,” Ebudae told them
breathlessly. “Let’s go.”

“Well done, Ebudae,” Frath told her with a
pat on the back.

“
Very
impressive,” Appana said. Her
eyes appraised the wizardess carefully.

“Isn’t it though?” Ebudae asked
challengingly.

The weaponmaster grabbed Ebudae’s hand and
pulled her forward. “Let’s go get some evidence.” He did it more to
keep trouble from happening than to drag her into danger.

Sir Imbra was the first in, followed by the
weaponmaster and Ebudae. Pelya stayed at Ebudae’s side to keep her
protected. Frath, Grinkin and Appana came in after while the squad
stayed back for a moment to give them space to work.

Chapter
28

Ebudae concentrated on breathing steadily
and recovering her energy as fast as possible. She wouldn’t cast
magic from that point on unless confronted by a wizard, or if it
was necessary to protect one of her friends. This was different
from a normal adventure or even the original rescue of Jovias, the
actor. It was hard to believe Aphry was the only one still alive
from all of that.

The room they were in was ruined and the air
heavy with dust. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be anyone in it, or
if there was, they were buried under the rubble, sparing the
intruders from having to look at their dead bodies. The devastation
was impressive. Wooden crates had been shattered. Weapons lay
scattered along with what might have been valuable pottery and
other decorations.

“I hate climbing stairs,” the weaponmaster
said, pointing his torch at the stairs on the other end of the
room. There were a couple of side rooms, but Frath did a cursory
check and found them to be clear. The squad would do a more
thorough search.

“Last one up is old,” Pelya told him with an
impudent grin.

“I’m fine with that,” he replied. “By the
way, you’ll have extra pushups tomorrow at drills.”

“Hey!” she exclaimed in surprise. “That’s
not right.”

Ebudae laughed at the byplay, as did the
others. It didn’t lessen the urgency as Sir Imbra dashed up the
stairs behind Grinkin. The weaponmaster went up after them and
Ebudae followed him. Pelya may have joked about the last person up
being old, but she was determined to stay near Ebudae.

At the top, Grinkin kicked open the door. It
was faster than having Pelya try to pick the lock, Ebudae supposed.
The door splintered and flew open. “Spell!” Grinkin yelled, dashing
back down the stairs.

Sir Imbra plastered himself against the wall
of the stairway in order to let the private by. It was just in time
because a ball of fire exploded at the top. The knight put an arm
across his face, but seemed otherwise unfazed by it. Ebudae could
feel the heat even at the bottom. She debated sending some sort of
cool air, but no spell was clear in her mind, plus the knight was
running through the door with sword drawn.

The Weaponmaster followed him and Grinkin
reversed course to go back up. “Let me by,” Frath said, pushing
past the girls who put their backs to the wall as the knight had
done a moment ago. Both were willing to follow the lead of the more
experienced fighters trained to handle this type of fight.

Appana gestured for them to go ahead. It had
already been decided that she would go last and provide healing to
anyone injured in the fighting. She was capable of much more, but
it would be wise to save her magic only as needed.

By the time Ebudae reached the room, Grinkin
was pulling his sword out of the last swordsman. The wizard’s head
was on the other side of the room while Sir Imbra stood over his
body not far away from the top of the stairs. Five other swordsmen
were dead too.

It was hard to tell who had killed whom.
Commander Coodmur had a sword in each hand, but they weren’t his.
He dropped them on the bodies of the men he had taken them from. It
was a favorite pastime of his to disarm students and beat them with
their own swords when they became arrogant.

Frath was standing over another body. He
preferred to fight with his own sword and was flicking blood off
it. “Let’s get to the next level,” he suggested. “Be ready for more
spells.”

“Good idea. I’ll go first.” Sir Imbra headed
for the stairs directly above the ones they had just come up.

“You just want to kick down the next door,”
Grinkin said, gaining some of his normal humor.

“Me? Noooooo.” Sir Imbra gave him his most
innocent look then headed up the stairs. Grinkin and Frath followed
and a moment later, the sound of a steel boot driving through wood
was heard.

Ebudae sensed powerful magic as she followed
the men up the stairs. It was confirmed when Sir Imbra shouted
“Magic!” from the room beyond.

Grinkin had already gone past the door, but
Frath flattened himself against the stairs. Ebudae decided to keep
going up. She did her best to put her feet on the steps next to
him, but heard an oof. Powerful wind roared through the stairs from
above. Ebudae held onto the wall for a few seconds then pushed
forward when it finished. She heard metal slam against stone and
guessed that Imbra had been hit by the brunt of the spell.

Ebudae had her spell ready as she dashed
through the doorway. It was a nullifying spell that should disrupt
any energy the target was gathering. Two Rojuun dressed in
extremely colorful robes were in the center of the room. One had
four longknives out and was sizing up Grinkin.

The closest was just about to cast a second
spell at the knight and weaponmaster to the left of the door. They
were both struggling to get up from where they had fallen. Ebudae’s
spell was just in time. The energy dissipated just as the Rojuun
thrust both right hands forward.

Both Rojuun instantly looked at her, causing
Ebudae real fear. She ran to the left and began gathering energy as
fast as she could for the next spell.

Fortunately, the distraction gave Grinkin an
opening and he attacked. Longknives furiously clashed against
sword, but the private had already cut the Rojuun twice.
Regrettably, they weren’t serious wounds and Grinkin found himself
pushed back by the flurry of four blades.

The Rojuun that Ebudae had nullified was
drawing in magic for another spell. Ebudae was running around him,
so he turned while preparing it. That was a mistake, because Pelya
had come into the room with sword drawn, followed immediately by
Frath.

It realized the danger as Pelya dashed
toward it. Then it did the most peculiar thing by transferring all
of the spell’s energies to its upper arms while drawing longknives
with its lower. In spite of the speed with which it did it, the
Rojuun was not fast enough. It parried where it expected Pelya’s
sword, but the young warrior rolled at the last second and cut
though the Rojuun’s right leg above the ankle with her blade.

That magical blade was so sharp, it cut as
though there were no resistance. The Rojuun didn’t respond verbally
so as not to lose the spell, but it did lose balance and fall to
that knee. Shock had already begun to register in its face.

Ebudae skidded to a stop and cast her own
spell, a simple dagger of ice formed from moisture in the air. She
aimed it at the center of his body. It slammed into him, piercing
deep before he could defend against it. The Rojuun had
extraordinary mental fortitude to release the energy of its spell
harmlessly into the air.

Frath leapt high into the air and drove his
sword into the Rojuun’s chest with both arms. The force of the blow
slammed the body back. Frath landed on the creature with both feet
and instantly pulled out the blade, spinning to help Grinkin.

The private was doing his best to hold off
the flurry of attacks, but he was forced into a corner and had
serious cuts in more than one place.

Everybody moved at the same time. The
weaponmaster and Sir Imbra had regained their senses while Pelya
and Frath rushed from their positions toward the other Rojuun.
Ebudae chose to let them handle it, as did Appana who stayed in the
doorway as Commander Coodmur zipped by.

It tried to defend itself, but there were
too many experienced blades coming at it. Three of them pierced
vital spots of the body, driving it to the ground. It twitched and
whimpered a few words in a language none of them had ever heard
before.

Grinkin sat hard on the ground. He held a
cut in his stomach with one arm and a cut in that arm with the
other. Appana pierced the bottom of her staff into the hard stone
of the floor and then placed her hands on his arms. They glowed
with golden light and the cuts instantly disappeared.

“Wow! Now
that
was impressive,”
Grinkin said in awe. “Our healers aren’t that good. What in the
world
were
those things anyway?”

“Rojuun.” Frath cleaned his blade on the
robe that had been orange, green and white, but now had red
included. “Pelya rescued one and I thought they might be
friends.”

“I am your friend,” two voices said from the
other end of the room. They turned to see Zaan hanging from the
ceiling by shackles on all four wrists. He still wore the same
ragged clothes they had seen him in the day before.

“Saving you is becoming a habit,” Pelya
walked to where he was hanging. “I’m confused by what’s happening.
Why did they attack us and why are you hanging from the ceiling?”
She crossed her arms expectantly.

“It happens to be complicated.” The Rojuun
seemed embarrassed by his vulnerable state.

“Well you can either uncomplicate it
quickly, or we’ll leave you here,” Frath told him.

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone . . . or
anything else around here,” the weaponmaster told them after
sticking his head in another room. He headed toward the stairs,
which were once again directly above the ones they had come up. “We
don’t have time to deal with him. Leave him for the squad.”

“Wait!” Zaan protested. “Not all of us are
the same. The ones you killed aid your humans in slavery. My family
fights them.”

“It looks more like your family gets
captured by them, over and over again,” Frath said. “The commander
is right. There will be a squad of humans along. Tell them about
it.”

Pelya looked as though she wanted to save
him, but Frath jerked his head toward the stairs. She followed, not
willing to disobey in the middle of the mission.

“You will release me now, humans!” Zaan
yelled at them indignantly. “How dare you leave me hanging here.
This is unacceptable.”

That was the last Ebudae heard him say as
she concentrated on the fact that someone had kicked open the next
door and there were already sounds of fighting.

More magic blasted from the room, but they
were getting used to it. Three human swordsmen tried vainly to
protect another of the Rojuun wearing a robe with different shades
of blue. It didn’t take long for Sir Imbra to bullrush through a
man to the right to get to the Creature while Grinkin and the
weaponmaster went to the left and were blasted by a spell of
lightning bolts. The Rojuun attempted to defend itself with
longknives, but Sir Imbra’s sword came down and cut him in a
diagonal from the right shoulder to the opposite hip. Ebudae
stepped to the right just inside the door, choosing to hold her
spells. Pelya darted in front of her and crouched in a protective
stance while her father zoomed past to kill a swordsman who was
furiously trying to defend himself against the knight’s steel.

It wasn’t a fair fight as the last man also
fell dead. The knight barely had time to kill him before Frath had
his blade out of the first and aimed for another fatal blow. “So
sorry. Did you want to kill him?” Sir Imbra’s apology was insincere
at best and Frath smirked in amusement.