The Sorcerer's Destiny (The Sorcerer's Path) (50 page)

“We shall see.” Sefket donned his helm, took his enormous battle axe in hand, and waded back into the fray.

Yusuf ordered the Blackguards to secure their King’s body and ordered a retreat. The crack of lightning and the cacophonic booming of thunder punctuated the clarion calls of horns as the human survivors formed ranks and left the fighting to the Kin. Yusuf looked to the three remaining wizards riding next to him as the air began tingling with the presence of magic.

“Not us,” one said in answer to the unspoken question. “There is a powerful shamanic and even druidic influence to it.”

“Will it be enough for the brutes to hold the pass?”

“We did not get a good estimate of their numbers, but their forces appeared to be quite strong. Shamans may not be able to stand toe to toe with a mage, but once their ritual magic gets ramped up it can be devastating over a much larger area than any of us can achieve. Assuming those savages don’t break and run, they will provide a good bulwark for our southern defenses.”

“They are not savages, magus, and it will do us all good to understand that,” Yusuf said in rebuke. “The misunderstandings between all our peoples has contributed to the disaster we face today, and we must learn from it, or we are sure to repeat them until we either learn or our ignorance becomes our end.”

The wizard had the decency to look chastised. “You are a wise King, Highness.”

“Good-looking too,” he responded with a grin directed at Jarvin’s shrouded body tied onto the saddle of his mount.

It was a long, somber ride back to the camp. The sun was just settling into the horizon when they reached the southern battle line reinforced with every available fighter Prince Miles was able to pull from the reserves and battlefront. The air filled with the droning of hundreds of muttering voices as the contingent passed through the lines with more than half the horses carrying dead soldiers, many of them riding double, but it was the shrouded form carried at the head of the procession drawing everyone’s eyes.

Miles pushed his mount toward the riders, leapt from the saddle, and began pulling at the straps securing Jarvin in place. “Father!”

Yusuf hastily dismounted and restrained the anguished Prince in a tight embrace. “Be strong, son. Do not let your grief overwhelm you. There will be time for grieving later, but right now, you must be a pillar of strength for your people. You are now their King, and you must be a shining symbol of your father’s heroic sacrifice.”

“I’m not ready!”

“Yes, you are, my son. Your father knew you were ready when he left you to defend our people. I see in you much of your father’s courage and wisdom. His last thoughts and words were of you.” Yusuf presented Jarvin’s sword and crowned helm to the heir of the Valerian throne. “He knows you are ready for both of these and asked me to give them to you with his final words.”

Miles replaced his own sword with his father’s and held the helm in his hands. “You say I am wise, but I know I’m not my father. Will you help me?”

Yusuf embraced Miles once more. “You already show wisdom beyond your years. I pray my foolish sons do as well one day. Your father was my friend, as are you. I and my people will always stand with you. You will not fight this war nor suffer its ravages alone. Speaking of the war, how fairs the battle?”

“It is bleak. What you see here is the bulk of our reserves, and they were fighting on the front not more than a couple hours ago. We are all exhausted, and I fear none of us will be able to rest for long.”

“Has Azerick been able to close the enemy’s gates?”

“No. He and his son have devised a plan, but they cannot get near enough to them to enact it. Our defense is as tenuous as ever, and it is failing fast.”

“Let us confer with him. It may be time to roll the dice and strike with all our might without regard to what happens next. Otherwise, we may not get a chance to face the fallen gods at all.”

Miles and Yusuf galloped up the hill to the heart of the allied command and left a squad of Blackguards to act as a funeral detail. The two kings found Azerick and Raijaun intently studying the battlefield with worried expressions while the elven King spoke in conference with one of his aerial scouts.

“Azerick, are you able to reach the gates and destroy them yet?” Miles asked, the desperation evident in his voice.

“Raijaun?”

“Not yet, Father. Sandy is unable to fight past the dragons to reach the gates.”

“Yusuf, I am glad to see you returned. Where is the King?” Azerick asked.

“I am saddened to report he fell in battle. Miles is now your King.”

“Highness, your loss is shared by us all. Long live the King.”

Miles’ voice caught as he touched the saint sword’s hilt. “Thank you, Azerick. Your condolences are appreciated. We shall mourn as a nation when this is done.”

“Where is Allister and Aggie?”

Yusuf cleared his throat and spoke. “There was a great explosion deep within the gorge. It may be they perished while effecting the gate’s destruction.”

King Duharhuln broke away from his conversation with the rider and approached. “That was one of the riders I sent south. He says the two wizards were near the gate when the explosion occurred. I am sorry, but it is very unlikely they survived.”

Azerick felt as though he had been punched. Aggie was beloved by all who knew her, and Allister had become a surrogate father to him. The world suddenly felt a much lonelier place now.

“Duharhuln, can your riders help clear a path to the gates?” Miles asked.

“They have been trying, but we have suffered grievous losses and they are overwhelmed by the might of the dragons.”

“Azerick, I know you and Raijaun have been reserving your strength to fight the Scions, but I fear it is no longer an option. If we do not destroy those gates now, facing the fallen gods will be all but pointless.”

Azerick’s face fell and nodded his agreement. “You are likely right. Headmaster, contact your people and have them gather where we discussed. Yusuf, please ask Devlin to do the same. Miles, you must know that even if we are able to carve a path to the gates, it is unlikely very many of us will return. The ravagers will likely envelope our contingent, and we will have only the elves’ wizards to lend their arcane support.”

“I understand, Azerick, but I see no other option if we are to cut off their unending supply of reinforcements. If you think there is any other way, I would gladly hear it.”

Azerick shook his head, knowing that even if they severed the gangrenous limb, they would likely bleed to death. “I wish there was.”

CHAPTER 23

In a world far removed from any war, four gods looked down upon the raging battle, helplessly watching their followers die by the thousands. Sharrellan and Serron’s faces remained largely impassive, Solarian tried his hardest to appear stoic despite his grief and anger, and Ellanee wept openly.

“We cannot stand by and just watch them die,” the goddess of nature pleaded.

Solarian stroked her long, flowing hair. “We do not dare move before the Scions, or we will fail.”

“My Hand is going to lead the wizards in a charge to destroy the gates,” Sharrellan said. “Even if they succeed, the races lack the strength to defeat the Scions’ minions with the loss of nearly all their arcane might, and he and Raijaun will be too weak to force the faceless ones to the battlefield of our choosing.”

“Either path we choose leads to destruction.”

“There is a third option,” Serron stated. “We send another army to break through the horde thus sparing our Guardians’ and wizards’ so they may still employ their power as needs be.”

“We do not have another army!” Solarian shouted in exasperation.

Sharrellan smiled coyly. “I do.”

Solarian glared at his dark counterpart. “Your creatures are forbidden from entering the mortal world enmasse. You would unleash another scourge upon an already beleaguered people.”

“Are you still so petty that you cannot trust me? Do you think I would risk my existence in some childish attempt to become the dominant deity of this world?”

“What about when it is over?” Ellanee asked. “Will you willingly send your demonic army home, in its entirety, without hesitation or duplicity?”

“I make it my most sacred vow. Do not forget, those are my supplicants dying down there as well.”

“I second the motion to release the demons upon the Scion minions,” Serron voiced loudly.

The sun god and goddess of nature exchanged worried looks but nodded their assent. The four gods placed a hand upon the large, flat-topped crystalline column in the center of the celestial palace’s Hall of the Gods. The four-colored crystal: amber, sapphire, emerald, and onyx flared with light as each god touched its surface.

“Only the lesser demons, Sharrellan,” Solarian insisted. “We cannot risk your lords breaking free and pillaging the world.”

“You tie my hands, Solarian, but it shall be as you command.”

***

Azerick, Raijaun, Headmaster Florent, and Magus Skinner hastened down the slope toward the wizards’ gathering point to act as the point of the sword they hoped would be strong enough to stab deep into the enemy ranks and cut out its heart. None of them paid much heed to Tarth as he hummed and skipped along behind them.

As they neared the base of the hill, the ground shook and large plumes of dust, ash, and fire erupted into the air as massive fissures reaching all the way to the abyss opened up. Demons swarmed from the pits like ants from a disturbed mound. Grackin and succubae flew into the air and attacked the dragons as balrog, harunden, powerful tar'raun'atu, and the devilish kamaris threw themselves at the ravagers.

“What in the abyss?” Azerick exclaimed.

Maureen looked at the sorcerer. “You would know better than the rest of us.”

“Father, can you communicate with the demons and get them to clear a path for Sandy?”

“I…don’t know.”

Azerick closed his eyes and sent his consciousness outward. He found the violent thoughts of a succubus and tried to speak to her mind. It did not appear he was getting through so he “shouted”. The demon halted its attack on a dragon and broke away from her sisters swarming the furious serpent.

“
You!
” she sent back.

“
Yes, me. I need you to command the demons for me.”

“You are no longer our master. We need not obey you.”

“I am the Hand of Sharrellan and her Chosen one to act in this war. You will obey me or suffer both our wrath.”

The succubus formed several vile thoughts but acquiesced.
“What would you command us to do?”

“I have a dragon friend who carries powerful objects capable of destroying the gates through which the Scions are using to replace their fallen.
” Azerick sent an image of Sandy to the demon’s mind.
“Help her reach the gates. It is crucial in order to win this war and fulfill the wishes of our goddess.”

“Our goddess?”
the demon chuckled.
“Send your dragon. We will get her there.”

“Raijaun, contact Sandy and tell her to make for the gates. The demons will clear a path.”

Raijaun nodded and reached out to Sandy much like Azerick had done with the demon. His blood contained only a diluted amount of dragon essence, and mind-linking was a challenge that allowed only a limited form of communication.

“She understands, Father.”

Sandy heard Raijaun’s muddy sending and circled back toward the ravager lines once more. She had been trying to reach the gates for the better part of the day, and she was exhausted. Demons thronged the battlefield and dotted the skies. Their numbers were not as great as the ravagers, but their fearlessness and ferociousness shifted the press of the attack back onto the Scion legions.

Succubae hurled balls of fire and stabbed at the eyes and softer parts of the dragons’ anatomy in concert with the bat-like grackin. Neither demon could match the speed of a dragon, but the sky was thick with them, and the demons latched onto their scales like ticks, drawing blood and wounding them with magic, claws, and blades.

Sandy picked an opening between the dozens of aerial battles and summoned a wind to speed her through. A few dragons spotted her and tried to ignore the parasitical demons stinging them like swarms of bees. She clutched the four arcanum spheres Azerick had brought back from his tower earlier that day tightly in her forepaws. It would not do to drop them where they would be instantly and irretrievably lost in the swarming mass below her.

She urged her runes to ward her body from the pursuing dragons’ unwavering attacks, but she was tired and unable to shield herself from the assaults in their entirety. Fire, lightning, and magic ruined several patched of scales and blistered her flesh. Sandy now understood why Azerick had etched so many redundant runes all over her body. Her scales would grow back along with the sigils decorating them, but for now they were all she had.

Sandy conjured fierce winds and choking dust storms in her wake to hamper the dragons’ pursuit. The powerful gales collided and created miniature tornados, sucking in and flinging away any dragon failing to avoid them. Through the haze of her black blizzard, Sandy spied the first gate and spotted two others a moment later.

The dragons became more numerous as she approached, but swarms of winged demons dropped from the sky and savagely attacked to distract them long enough for Sandy to deliver her gifts. Sandy considered her speed, altitude, and the weight of the orbs to plot the trajectory. A hundred yards from the nearest gate, she let one of the arcanum spheres slip from her grasp. The orb fell as a silver streak to anyone watching from the ground and landed in some brush some fifty feet away. Sandy was disappointed in her aim but was not concerned. Azerick had told her the explosion would be powerful enough that it only needed to be close. Still, she thought herself as something of a perfectionist and it bothered her.

Using what she learned from what she considered a practice shot, the next sphere came to a stop an arm’s length from one of the gate pillars and a third butted right up against the other. Sandy increased her altitude and searched the area for another gate. She decided that if there was one, she was not going to be able to find it as the dragons began winning their battle with the demons and directed their attacks toward her. Sandy sprinted for the safety of the human lines, dropping the fourth arcanum bomb in the midst of the ravager legion on her way past.