Legon Restoration (28 page)

Slightly below her were ranks of soldiers preparing to hold the front line. As her gaze swept the faces she was struck by their youth.
 

"Were we that old when we were thrust into this war?" Keither asked coming up next to her.

"No," was all she said.

They turned around and made their way back to the medical center Sara worked at. She was not in charge of the facility that she was at now but rather the Elves were. Still, Sara had a large team she was responsible for, but for the first time her responsibilities didn't involve inventory.
 

A healer named Jenny bounced up to her. "Ma'am is there anything you need me to do?" the girl was young, right out of training.
 

Sara smiled, "Rest, soon you will have plenty to do."
 

Jenny gave her an odd look but did as she was told and plopped down on a cot to take a nap.
Sleep tight today because soon, sleep will be the last luxury you get
.
 

A familiar voice called her name and Sara turned, "Hey Ankle, how are you?"

Ankle limped up to her and frowned, "Sorry Sara but I twisted well...my ankle, can you take a look at it?"
 

Sara fought not to smile and instead directed him to sit down. "How'd you get hurt?" she asked.

"Playing ball, it was stupid but I need to be in top shape for tomorrow..." he said and trailed off.

"Oh, so it's tomorrow then," she said all of her previous amusement leaving her voice. Sara wasn't in the loop on when the army was going to start its assault on Salez, she figured most of the base wasn't in the loop either, but Ankle was an officer so of course he knew. "Don't worry I won’t say anything," she said reading the look of worry on his face.

"Thanks, I'm just so used to you and Keither being more informed than I am. I forget you aren't running this center."

She was feeling around his swollen ankle and didn't look up. "It's so nice not to be in charge let me tell you...hmmmmm you're not hurt bad, you'd be fine in a few days but I'll take care of it," she said and muttered a spell. Silver light bathed his leg and Ankle turned his foot around.

"Thanks Sara," he said standing up.

"So why didn't you tell Heath you were hurt?" she asked.

Ankle smiled. "What and give him the satisfaction of besting me in a game? No thanks. See ya," he said trotting off.

"Men."

* * * * *

Tom was losing people left, right and center. He couldn’t figure out how. But it was a problem he needed to solve. The Pawdin Empire was at the door step of Salez, Tom couldn’t afford to have problems at the moment. But everything he was doing was turning into a bust. He hadn’t been followed since Stacy had killed his last tail, but that wasn’t to say that he was comforted. If anything, she scared him now. She’d had a man trampled to death and it didn’t seem to affect her.
 

Stacy aside, Tom had more than enough with people getting killed. He knew that they had a mole and he was going to find out who it was. There were only four people in their team, four people that Tom himself had recruited. There was also a hand full of others from other teams that he knew of in different cities. So he was digging, rechecking everything he knew about everyone. It wasn’t an easy task. Like Tom, all of the members of teams tried to hide their past lives, but still Tom was making headway. He’d managed to clear most everyone that he had brought on.
 

He’d started with the teams outside of Salez first. He wasn’t able to find anything that spoke to anyone being a threat. He was now onto the Salez Team. Tom didn’t want to think that anyone in his team was the mole, but prudence dictated that he make sure.

He walked back into the shop, seeing a bit of folded parchment on the counter. He reached down and read it. It was one of his only remaining contacts. The contact, named James, said he’d found something important. Tom needed to meet with him right away. He was about to burn the paper when it hit him. James’ note shouldn’t have been on the counter, nor should it have been open. That could only mean one thing…

Tom ran from the room. The mole was in Salez. It was one of the people he’d spent every day with for years, but who? Tom didn’t have time to think about it, he had to run and run fast, James was in trouble. He knew where James worked and rushed there just as the sun set.
 

He could see the street he needed to turn down. As he got closer he noticed people walking away quickly, looking uncomfortable. His own emotions darkened. He wanted to not be here. He wanted to go some place else. The emotions were not his own.
 

Tom entered the mind of a dog on the corner. He directed the dog to look down the street, which was empty. From a shop a man came bouncing out, not seeming worried in the least bit. It was James. Tom was about to reach out with his mind to James when the
 
form came from the shadows in front of James. The dog jumped and Tom lost sight of what was going on.

He reached for James’ mind and found nothing. Tom pressed himself against a wall, wondering what to do. To his right an Iumenta walked by, coming from the direction of James’ work. Tom saw the flash of a crimson coated blade being put in a pocket.
 

A woman screamed in the street. Tom walked away, not needing to see James to know his fate.

* * * * *

Emma found Sara and Keither at their barracks. They looked tired but happy to see her when she came in.

"Em, how are you?" Keither asked trying to sound bouncy.

"I'm good, is it too late? You two look tired," she said.

Sara waved her off, "Tired is a way of life and the sun has barely set. We can sleep tonight."
 

Emma looked down without thinking.

"We won’t be sleeping tonight, will we?" Keither said. "I thought the attack was tomorrow."

"So they told you I take it?" Emma said.

Keither sighed, "Yes, I just got back from a meeting, but why aren't we going to sleep tonight?"

"The Ascended will attack tonight, they are the first wave, I think Sydin only told a few of the higher ranking human command about it," she explained.

A tea kettle started to whistle behind Sara and she took the pot off a small silver fire that went out. "Tea?" Sara offered.

Emma joined them and they talked for a while. It was tense like all conversation had become and Emma longed for a time when the only thing that worried her was if Kovos was going to fall out of her window. But those days were gone, she knew that her life would never be like that again, and in some ways, though it pained her to lose that innocence, she preferred her new life.

They heard a thud outside and went to investigate.
 

Salez shone bright on the horizon, almost peaceful. Emma looked up to the sounds of wings, seeing Ascended upon Ascended pass over head, armor glinting off of the light of camp fires. A chill ran down her spine and she noticed Sara take Keither's hand.

In the distance Emma heard a siren sound.

"The Iumenta know what's coming," Keither pointed out.

Yes, Emma thought, she knew that sound. It was not unlike the siren she'd heard on the Carrier, the order to scramble, the warning that an attack was coming.

"What's going on?" Keither asked Sara, and Emma turned to see Sara's eyes had a silver film over them, she was enhancing her vision.

"The Iumenta that were flying cap are falling back, I think to group up. The Pawdin forces are midway between our base and Salez. I can see the Iumenta now, I can't tell who has more dragons, there are so many on each side."

Then the night sky flashed with magic and Emma didn't need Sara to tell her anymore. Magic in every color and shade imaginable streaked across the heavens, exploding and booming. Fire lit up the night and the sound of roars and metal on metal could be heard as the two groups of immortals met.
 

From the forward edge of the base Emma heard the groans of trees as the Elves fired their trebuchets and other siege weapons. The missiles burst into flames once airborne, arching across the sky to smash into wards just outside of Salez. She saw similar projectiles come from Salez to break apart on Elvin wards being maintained by Pawdin Ascended on the ground.
 

Emma looked up again to see that the battle above was raging ever harder. She tore her gaze away from the sky, feeling her head start to hurt from the sound and flashing light.

She looked at Keither, a grim look on his face, he spoke in a near whisper, "And so the battle for Salez has begun."

Chapter Nineteen

Breach

"What is security? Is it knowing that you will be safe at home as you sleep? Or is it something else...is it just an illusion we play on ourselves to think everything is OK?"

-An Island of Sorrow

Legon looked down on the burnt field that separated the Pawdin army and Salez. The week following the Elves’ attack had seen no progress for either side. He flew above the ever steady stream of fire from ballista, catapults and trebuchets. The Pawdin line glowed with wards of Ascended who stayed on the ground protecting artillery. He looked at the once white walls of Salez. Wards now only stopped a portion of projectiles; the Iumenta saved the magical power of their Ascended for battle with almost all of the power from store crystals fueling the city’s jump crystals.
 

Legon refocused on what was ahead. Before him was the air battle that had been going at a constant pace since he and the other dragons first attacked. At any given time, there were around fifty Ascended in the air fighting and now he would join the melee for the day.

"Un Prosa how would you like to proceed?" Opes asked him.

Legon thought for a moment and responded, giving orders to his squad. "Fly ahead of me and try and engage targets, once you have someone engaged I will come in and take over," he said.

He'd found that the Iumenta dragons were giving him a wide birth, making it hard for him to fight. Iumenta would attack him and after a few blows would back off to let another dragon take a shot. It wasn't that Legon was taking a lot of damage, but that the attacks wore him out and kept him from being able to do any real damage himself. His squad would try to push targets to him, but as soon as he started using magic they would retreat.
Not today
he told himself.

Opes flew ahead of him taking on a blue Iumenta. Legon faded back, taking his time approaching the dragon. He feigned an attack on a red class six, allowing himself to get in close to the blue dragon. The blue dragon was right below him when Opes spoke, "NOW!"

Legon dropped in the sky, the blue dragon not even having time to turn in the air to defend his back. It felt cowardly to Legon to fight this way, but he didn't see himself having a choice. He landed on the blue dragon, who tried to twist. Its back spikes glanced off of the heavy metal on Legon's feet as he tried to grab onto the blue with his front paws. The dragon's head turned and bit at him. Legon slapped his tail blade into the blue’s hip. In the blue’s moment of pain, Legon was able to get purchase on the blue’s shoulder and he breathed fire on the dragon’s neck and head. Wards blocked his flames and Legon felt himself descending.
 

Opes and the rest of Legon's guard were circling around the two dragons trying to keep the Iumenta from helping their comrade.

"Anytime Legon!" Opes said.

"I'm getting to it!"

Legon was loath to use up too much magic this early in the day, but he didn't have a choice, the ground was coming up fast. He felt the well of power deep within him, letting it bubble in his gut and spewed forth a stream of amethyst flames engulfing the blue dragon’s head. Legon felt the blue’s wards blocking him but soon they buckled under the pressure of Legon's magic. Legon let go of the blue dragon, its head a mass of charred bones. Its body fell toward earth as Legon tried to engage another enemy.

* * * * *

Barnin felt a rain drop hit his cheek.
Wonderful
he thought
more rain
. Another drop hit him followed by others. He turned on his mount to look at Heath who was looking up at the clouds.

"Do you remember what it's like being dry?" Heath asked, as it started raining harder.

"Feels like it’s been forever, doesn't it?" Barnin said.

There were rumbles in the distance, along with flashes of light, Barnin had no idea if it was from lightning or dragons. The rain was starting to come down hard, Barnin couldn't see far ahead of himself and the sound of the downpour made it all but impossible to hear anything.

He came up next to Heath and yelled. "We need a network," he said, hating what he was asking for.

"You sure?" Heath confirmed.

"Ya, I hate the mind talk junk but it's not worth lives."

Barnin felt his mind join with Heath’s and then the rest of his men. Several of them shied away from the contact but didn't sever it.
 

They were in the near by country side of Salez making sure the Impa and Cona Empires couldn't flank the resistance and Elves. He told his men to stay sharp. The Elves were in control of most of the air space outside of Salez, but when the weather took a turn for the worse the dragons didn't fly. It was during these times when ground units would try to move in on the area.
 

Barnin rode, keeping close tabs on all three of his units, he knew at some point they would run into resistance. It was just a question of when and who. Poison, his mount, splashed along, her hooves making slurping sounds in the mud. A nearby creek had burst its banks early in the week, turning the field they were entering into a sort of shallow lake.
 

Barnin's eyes strained to see across the field and his heart dropped. From the other tree line was a group of figures running at them, they moved as fast as horses.

"IUMENTA!" he yelled across the network.

His units clumped together drawing swords. Barnin looked at a large group of Iumenta, their fenrra drawn, bearing down on them. When they were twenty feet away Barnin saw a flick of orange and from behind a ball of orange, magic flew from the sky striking the ground in the heart of the Iumenta formation. Barnin was blinded by an explosion and despite the magic protecting him he felt a blistering wave of heat and steam. His eyes focused again, the field in front of him was shrouded in steam. Before it could clear there was another flash of light, this time purple and coming from the other direction. The air rent like thunder as he saw more orange and purple streak the sky.