Into The Ruins (74 page)

“It’s been two weeks since your friends captured Carif’s squad leader in your Ruins,” Queen Rosul said.  They were meeting in the temporary office overlooking the city on the third floor of the castle.  The once grand wing of the royal quarters was still mostly a mess, but other matters took precedence to repairs.  “There have been no attacks using the beasts in either the Three Kingdoms or in Sedfair.  It is not like Carif to withdraw so completely.”

The only attack of late had been a small feint by the Baldari.  At first it had been thought to be something that Carif’s  forces were behind, but when the intelligence reached the castle, it was obvious that the Baldari were responsible.  Fortunately it was a small attack, and easily put down.  Sedfair had been fortunate that the Baldari had been inactive of late.  It had allowed the kingdom’s forces to concentrate on the problem of the renegade Casters.

“She’s planning something big,” Kall said with certainty.

“That’s what concerns me,” Rosul agreed.  “Fortunately, each day she waits, the less chance she has to use the beasts.  They are rapidly being wiped from existence.  I will rest easier when our teams report none can be found any longer.”

“Our defense preparations are also in better shape each day,” Kall added.  “The teams we have set up are well practiced.  Given the relative numbers of Casters Carif can have left that are loyal to her pitted against the wizards we have at the castle, and Casters at the Guild that are loyal to you, she is greatly outnumbered.”

“She will strike and run,” Nycoh said.  “She must have enough intelligence to know what forces we have against her.  She will know that a face to face battle is not to her advantage.”

“That is true,” Rosul agreed, “but she will strike.  It is not like her to give up.  She will wish revenge for what has been done to her grand plan.  A lifetime of careful manipulation has been taken from her.  She will not let that affront go unanswered.”

Almost as if Carif was listening to their thoughts, a plan that had been carefully thought through was being executed.  Nycoh looked up suddenly as she detected multiple
Doorways
being opened around the castle.  Not too far away, both Suline and Lyes at the Guild Headquarters detected the same thing.  Rigo was unaware of the
Doorways
being opened.  Suline’s detection ability had been found to be transferable, but gaining the skill required one who was inherently a wizard, even if a very weak one, but also someone familiar with the symbolic representations required to create the
Doorways
.  Rigo lacked the latter skill, and while he promised himself he would learn it, he simply hadn’t had the time.  Nycoh and Lyes had both requirements, and once Suline’s wizard skills had been unlocked, they had learned the technique from her.

“They’re attacking,” Nycoh said with certainty.  “We must act quickly.” She stood and hurried to the window to look outside.  “Hoplani,” she said.  “Hundreds of them in the streets around the castle.”

Carif’s Casters had opened eight independent
Doorways
to drive the enraged Chulls into the market and streets around the castle.  They had chosen the middle of the day for the attack because the greatest number of people would be present in the courtyards around the castle at that time and they wished to maximize the terror and use the people as a diversion for their other plans.

“The
Doorways
originate from almost the same location.  They must have found a large herd that our people have missed and used multiple Casters to open so many paths in front of the herd,” Nycoh said.  “They have become skilled at herding the beasts.”

Down on the street the situation was instantly chaotic.  The
Doorways
had been positioned carefully, by someone who knew exactly what they were doing and had considered the layout of the city and the market place when they chose the exit points.  Everything had been planned to create the most terror and death as possible.  The desire was to force Queen Rosul to commit her forces to protect the citizens of Nals.  One group of the Chulls boiled out of the
Doorway
exit, charging directly into a series of stalls set up along the most populated section of the walkway.  Goods and people scattered as the beasts reduced the stalls to rubble, leaving dozens down in their passing.  The crowd tried to back away, but this time of day the marketplace was packed, and within a few steps, those attempting to run found their way blocked by a mass of people preventing their escape.  The beasts plowed into the crowd, blasting many with their magic and using their sharp teeth to rip and tear as they trampled their way through.

The scene was repeated in multiple locations.  Farther away, a herd of Chulls had been released into the university grounds, and the few students still in the area fled in terror.  The larger buildings were safe from the beasts, but smaller structures were battered to rubble as the herd thundered through the area.  Within the first few minutes several hundred people had died as a result of the attack.

The screams of the people had not gone unheard, and already the duty force of wizards were appearing on the streets, using their magic to kill or deflect the beasts.  Rigo watched from the castle as one wizard mimicked something Rigo had done long ago, causing the earth to erupt and blast rock and dirt explosively in the air.  The charging Hoplani were startled by the blasts, and the three dozen beasts that had been charging down on the wizard’s position in front of a crowd of shoppers, swung away from the explosions, and turned down a smaller, unoccupied street.  Intense beams of
Brightfire
flashed repeatedly from several locations as other wizards attempted to cut the creatures down before they could kill the unarmed citizens.

Kall was already on the move, headed toward the barracks and the soldiers he now commanded.  They were equipped with swords and spears that could kill the beasts, and had trained against another attack of this type.  Each wore the special armor tested by those along the border that absorbed the energy blasts from the beasts, which would make them immune to anything but direct contact with the Chulls.

“Get the Queen to the command center,” Kall ordered as he hurried from the room.  A special area had been prepared in the lower, most protected levels of the castle in the event of an attack.  Even though the stone had been enhanced with magic and was more resistant than most, if Carif’s Casters made an assault, the castle could not stand against the energies they could control.  Rosul was to be taken there, along with one of her wizards, and if matters looked grim, taken away via
Doorway
before she could be captured or harmed.  Even though she would have preferred to watch the attack, this was a very exposed area.  There was nothing she could do to affect the course of the encounter, and she was one of Carif’s likely targets.

“Someone’s attacking the Guild,” Nycoh shouted.  She was looking out of the window on the opposite side of the room.  Before Rigo could say anything, Nycoh was gone through a
Bypass
she had made.  Rigo cursed.  Nycoh shouldn’t be so exposed, but he didn’t know where she had gone, and couldn’t help her at the moment.  He had to be certain the Queen was protected.  He pointed to two guardsmen, and indicated they were to escort her to the basement.  He sent another to find the wizard assigned to her.  Rigo hoped Mitty had reacted as agreed, and was already in the secure chamber under the castle.  He would have liked to go and check, but people were dying out there.

A quick glance out the window showed him a Caster shooting blasts of fire toward the crowd.  Carif’s people had arrived.  With barely a thought he opened a masked
Bypass
a short distance behind the Caster.  He stepped through, burned the bitch out of existence, then quickly returned to the castle.  As he stepped into the room he’d only been away from for moments, he noticed an annoyed Daria and Kaler hurrying into the room.

“You agreed not to go into any fight without us,” Daria accused him.

“Sorry,” Rigo replied tritely.  “Let’s see what we can do.  I have seen at least a dozen and a half of Carif’s Casters in the area.  They are attacking the people, but mostly are attempting to kill those who responded to the Hoplani attacks.  They used the creatures to lure Rosul’s wizards out where they could be attacked.”

Rigo could see that Rosul’s wizards were responding, using the techniques he and Kall had trained them in.  A wizard could only execute a single spell at a time.  It wasn’t possible to open a
Bypass
, then execute a fighting spell, followed by a quick escape through the waiting
Bypass
.  The
Bypass
would have collapsed when the fighting spell was executed.  They had known this would be a cat and mouse situation if it occurred.  As a result, teams were created of two to three wizards.  One was solely responsible for creating the
Doorways
.  While the others concentrated on fighting, he always had the escape
Doorway
open and waiting.  It was jump to a position, fire off the beams, hopefully taking out the enemy, then jumping to another location before being targeted yourself. 

Knowing what to look for, Rigo could see teams winking in and out of position all over the area below.  Anyone with the ability to monitor the
Doorways
would have to be totally confused as the number of portals opening and closing was too great to track. 

Rigo watched as one of his teams surprised a pair of Casters and wrapped the pair in a fierce display of fire.  Another team blasted an unsuspecting Caster with
Brightfire
.  It wasn’t one sided though.  As Rigo watched, a team stepped into a position in preparation of attacking a pair of Casters, only to find they had been expecting something of the sort, and as Rosul’s young wizards stepped out of their
Doorway
, they were met by killing fire from the enemy.  Overall, the enemy was outnumbered more than two to one, and had been prepared against just such a move by the defenders.  He could see Kall and his guardsmen charging out of the castle on their mounts, ignoring the Casters by charging directly towards the Hoplani that still ran free in the streets.

Rigo could see they had the advantage here.  He didn’t know if it was the same at the Guild where Nycoh had gone.  “Come on,” he said to Daria and Kaler.  “We need to check on Nycoh.”

At Guild Headquarters, Suline and Lyes charged into Ardra’s office at almost the same time.

“
Doorways
.  Lots of them,” Suline said.

“Originating out in the Wastelands,” Lyes added.

“Unmasked?” Ardra asked unnecessarily, standing up and heading toward the door of her office.  They wouldn’t have detected the origins if they hadn’t been.

“Yeah.  At least these are.  But I can tell there are others that are masked so I can’t detect where they are coming from.  We have to assume Carif and her supporters will be coming through the masked ones.  They could appear anywhere.”

A deep shudder shook the building.  The Guild Headquarters, like the castle and the Outpost in the Three Kingdoms had been protected by Daim with his secret means of blocking
Doorway
access.  That would keep Carif and her people from making
Doorways
into the area they had controlled for so long.  Not that it would be a good idea for them to break in.  The interior was protected by glyphs that blocked all access to magic.  Carif would have to know that.  Many of the glyphs had been put in place at her order, and she’d have to suspect the locations had at least changed, and probably expanded.  That would mean stepping into a place where she would be unable to draw upon her power.  Not a good thing.

Of course, as skilled as she was, she might hope she could disable the spell before entering.  That might be what they were planning.  Blast a way in since they couldn’t come in the usual way, then disable the protection.  Then they could enter and attack as they might like.  That wasn’t going to work either, however.  Ardra glanced quickly at the activated power crystal set along the wall.  It still was dark, indicating its access to the power was blocked.  The spell was in place.

The problem that Carif and her fellow Casters would face was complicated by the fact that wizards were different than Casters.  If the blocking spell was disabled, and Carif entered the Headquarters building, she would soon discover that any of a number of the residents could re-enable it once again.  If Carif was inside when that happened, she would find herself cut off.  So would many of the residents, but not all.  Always on hand were a number of wizards.  They wore the armbands that Daim had created, and were not affected by the blocking spell.  Their magic worked in either case.  That meant Suline and Lyes, who were inherent wizards, still could access their magic.  Ardra was one who couldn’t.  But even a handful of those with the power would be sufficient to handle even several dozen Casters who had been cut off.  In addition, a squad of guardsmen were also present to handle any intruders who attempted to breach the perimeter by means of simple force.

The building shuddered again, and a section of a far wall cracked and broke away.  Obviously, Carif wasn’t attempting to enter the building.  She apparently wished to see it destroyed.  Whether she was after the building and its contents or those inside, remained to be seen.  If she wished to destroy the knowledge stored in the building, she was out of luck.  Queen Rosul and Nycoh had been foresighted enough to relocate all materials of value some time ago.  Carif would have little chance of locating them now.  If she were after the people, revenge of some sort, time would tell if she and her Casters were powerful enough.