Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (91 page)

* * * *

Yesterday’s flight had been a nice distraction, but simply flying in the scouts was becoming less fun than it had been. Asari couldn’t pilot the vehicles, and so was relegated to being simply a passenger. Since no action against the enemy was anticipated, he didn’t even get a chance with the ship’s weapons.

Today, Buris’ lab was busier than Asari had seen it in some time. With the technological marvels that Gene had brought from Earth, and now some of the new items brought by the dragons, far more mage students had shown an interest in technology. Buris even had a half dozen apprentices, who, like Asari, had no abilities with magic at all. They were waiting for Iach-Iss and Den-Orok who were going to give some instruction on several power units they had brought from their base. Both the knowledge and the chance to interact directly with the dragons were strong motivators. Even Tishe was here. She was still seeking a simple power system for the refrigeration unit she had designed and hoped to distribute one day.

Conversation was animated while the group waited for the two dragons to arrive, with multiple topics under discussion around the room. Asari was just starting to wonder what might be keeping his friends when he sensed something was wrong through his link to them and heard the sharp blasts of extreme amounts of energy being released down the halls.

“
The dragons are under attack!” he shouted, knowing it was true but not having any direct confirmation. The energy blasts had to be an Ale’ald attack, which meant they had wizards within the College building at the moment. That probably meant one or more of their triads had managed to penetrate the security of the Inner Court and there might be attacks elsewhere as well.

Buris ran to his intercom to warn Morin over at the Council building and see if any attacks were taking place there as well. Asari hurried across the room and grabbed the sole dragon weapon they had, which fortunately hadn’t been returned to Wylan as planned a few days earlier. One of Buris’ apprentices that Asari knew better than most grabbed one end of the bulky weapon and helped him as they ran down the hall. Several of the lower level mages ran back into the dormitory to seek help, and a couple of them followed after Asari. Tishe was hot on his heels as they hurried toward the sound of the fighting.

The first of the triads had waited while the dragons walked past them and continued down the hall toward the lab that the triads had learned they would be visiting today. The second of the two triads waited farther down the hall. Only the two triads were within the Inner Court. The triad in charge was made up of three wizards that had been resident within the Inner Court for several months now. The second triad had been smuggled in the previous night, and then only with a great deal of luck. The means they had used would soon be discovered, and that method would be forever closed. It didn’t matter. By then the members of these two triads would be dead. The leader realized this, but somehow it didn’t seem to bother him, which would have perplexed him had he more time to think on the matter. All he could focus on was the importance of taking down the two creatures that walked in front of him.

The first bolt of blue-white fire that was launched at the dragons from the triad in front of them was almost successful. Iach-Iss and Den-Orok didn’t normally raise their personal protective barriers, and their minds weren’t on attack. Fortunately, the devices they carried in the sole pocket in their simple clothing detected the sudden rise in the surrounding energy and responded accordingly. Since the protective barriers the dragons used were not magical, their devices could control them.

The
energy-bolt
slammed into them moments after the barrier snapped into place, followed by a second bolt from their rear. These were not the bolts of a high level wizard, but the far more intense energies that could be controlled by a melding of three minds. Fortunately the triads were not built from the strongest of the wizards, and intense as the beams were, the barriers the dragons were able to wrap around themselves deflected the brunt of the initial attack. Both were tossed across the floor by the blast, however, making them easy targets for the two triads.

It didn’t take the triads long to realize the two dragons were unarmed and didn’t have a means to fight back. This was very fortunate, because neither triad was protected by the metal barriers they had become accustomed to using which could stop the coppered bullets the locals liked to use against them. They also realized that the dragons were able to deflect their best efforts, so the two triads teamed up, both concentrating their attacks on Iach-Iss, who was closest to them.

The air crackled with the intense energies, and they could sense the barrier around the dragon weakening. The lead triad had to momentarily break off its attack and slam another bolt into the second dragon, who had stood and attempted to charge them. Then it turned its attention back to the first dragon, who wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. After finishing him off they could take care of the other one.

While the triads knew they would be attracting attention and could soon expect to be confronted by some of the mages that lived in the building, they weren’t too concerned. The mages wouldn’t be able to interfere unless there were many of them of a high enough level. They were more worried about the rifles, which were why they’d chosen to make the attack here, a considerable distance from the soldier’s barracks and their weapons.

Neither saw Asari and his helper round the far corner down the hall and hurry their way. Slipping to the floor and positioning the heavy weapon they carried onto his shoulder, Asari positioned it with the help of the man beside him. Once the weapon was steady, he extended his thumb and index finger to the trigger spots on either side of the stock and slowly pinched them together. A roughly foot wide ball of distortion seemed to leap from the front of the weapon, crossing the distance to the triad almost instantly. When it encountered the combined shield the triad had formed, the ball expanded and spread across the surface of the shield, crackling and flashing with bolts of energy that glowed greenish-purple. The shield glowed bright red for an instant and then collapsed. The energy pulse continued inward to wrap around the three wizards that had moments before been protected safely inside their barrier. As the energy touched each of them, their eyes grew wide and screams erupted from their throats. Their entire bodies glowed from within with the terrible energies the weapon had called forth, and within seconds they had fallen to the floor dead.

Asari hadn’t waited to see the final result. As soon as he was certain the shot had connected, he’d turned toward the second triad that was farther away. Before he could bring the weapon into line, he saw the floor opening up underneath the group. Tishe stood off to Asari’s left, her eyes fixed in concentration. She had drawn on her powers as a
Naturemage
and had opened up a sink hole that extended deep into the rock below the building. The three members of the triad suddenly realized they were falling, and screamed as they dropped into the deep hole. Asari could hear their screams for some time, and then just as quickly as the hole had formed it closed up again. Solid rock filled the hole from the bottom up to the floor. All that remained was a slightly irregular circular patch in the stone of the building floor to mark where the three had stood moments before.

While others checked to be sure no threats remained, Asari flashed a grateful look at Tishe, and then together they hurried over to the dragons. Den-Orok was unharmed, but Iach-Iss was lightly burned by the intense energies that had started to pass through his defensive barrier. Den-Orok extended a hand and helped his friend to stand. Both looked at the group that had come to their aid.

“
My thanks,” he rumbled, looking at each of them in turn. “I think it’s my turn to spend some time on the medi-table.”

He turned to Asari. “We’re going back to the base for a few hours. Go and tell Wylan it’s time to send Ale’ald a message. Tomorrow we need to plan an attack to show them what they have to face.”

“
I don’t know how to properly express our apologies for the oversight that allowed this attack to happen,” Chancellor Vaen said to Iach-Iss the following afternoon when the group had gathered once again. The dragons had returned an hour earlier from the Lost Territories using the portal downstairs after Iach-Iss had spent the night on the medi-table. He now appeared as good as new, all signs of the burns from the attack having vanished.

“
We share any fault,” Iach-Iss grumbled. “I should have been less complacent. For Den-Orok and myself to wander around anywhere outside our own base without being armed is simple carelessness. We allowed the comfort of being back here cloud our judgement. We will not allow the situation to repeat itself.”

They had already made changes. Both Iach-Iss and Den-Orok now carried one of their own weapons in carry rigs on their backs, the heavy weapons looking almost small against their bulk. This was an arrangement they had used in the past and allowed them to reach over their shoulders and bring the weapons quickly into play should the need arise. Had they been so armed the other day, the two triads would have been dispatched effortlessly.

“
We have begun a complete check of all our security efforts,” Vaen explained. “We already know how one of the triads was able to get inside the Inner Court. That won’t happen again. The other triad is far more worrisome. From the bodies we have identified the people, and they have all held positions here for some time. They have been able to come and go into the city. How they were able to do so requires a careful review. We are convinced there are no more triads here at the moment, in part because they had to bring in an outside group to support the attack. Clearly Ale’ald felt the chance to eliminate the two of you was worth losing a group they had worked hard to move into place.”

“
Since they have been integrated into the work force, they will have had access to all of the rumors, gossip, and knowledge available to the people here. That has to be at least one source of the leaks back to Ale’ald.”

“
There are likely others,” Vaen admitted grimly. “We have long suspected there were individuals inside. Now we have proof. This means we need to have a long look at everyone that has access to any critical information and reevaluate their loyalties. It will take some time, but we will find any others. In the meantime, we need to be far more careful. Who knows what kinds of things might have been overheard?”

“
I think we need to send Ale’ald a message,” Den-Orok rumbled. “Even though the seasons are not right for a significant outbreak of hostilities, we need to attack them. The attack should focus on taking out the triads they have in several locations. They need to realize that we will be coming for them, and watching the portals will no longer give them warning as to where and when we are likely to strike.”

“
We have already chosen several targets,” Major Wylan said. “Den-Orok and my team have been in communication while Iach-Iss was recovering. We will be ready to launch an attack in a couple of days.”

“
Why the delay?” Vaen asked. “I would think an immediate response would convey a stronger message.”

“
Several reasons,” Wylan explained. “For the primary location, we want to start shifting troops around to get their attention. We wouldn’t want them to be caught off guard. We want them to be concerned that we are up to something. That will get their triads in place and ready to respond. After all, the primary goal is to bait them, and then take them out.”

“
Another reason is some of the weapons we want to deploy. Gene and Buris had already started modifications on something when the skimmers first arrived, and can have a significant number of the new skimmer launched bombs available close to the attack site in two days. This will be a more realistic test than they were planning, but Gene is convinced everything will work fine.

“
Finally, Jolan and Shyar are due back tomorrow. We feel it would be best to have them back here safely before we initiate anything. That also means the scouts would not be torn between attack duties and the need to run up to Tilano and pick them up. Besides, Jolan is the gunner for Iach-Iss’ scout. It will be a sudden transition for him to come back from vacation and go directly into battle, and I know Shyar will not be happy, but it will give us our two most effective teams.”

“
It makes sense,” Vaen agreed. “Where do you plan on attacking?”

“
The largest attack will be at the two bridges that Tishe created. They have represented a contested area for some time, so it will seem natural at first that we might initiate something there. We have had frequent skirmishes there, even though the troops are mostly confined to their own side of the river.”

Vaen frowned. “It doesn’t seem like those would be the best places for us to mount an offensive. The enemy had far too many troops in the area.”

“
You are correct,” rumbled Den-Orok. “This will be a feint designed to give them a false impression of our ultimate intentions, such as you have done in the past. We will take their side of the river, and they can wonder through the winter what we are doing. A future assault would begin far differently, but this might keep their minds from thinking of it. Besides, the goal here is to shake them up, and take out a group of their wizards.”

Wylan nodded. “In addition, we have long known of the wizard headquarters in Kimlelm’s capital, in the port city of Sisco, and in Angla, just a short distance in from the river border between Seret and Kimlelm. After the daytime attack on the river crossing, Kavel and Samm’s teams will make assaults on these three locations. They will be assisted by the skimmers, which will have changed pilot crews after the daytime attacks along the river. With the precise locations we have of the headquarters using the dragon’s technology, we can move the skimmers into position above the compounds and bomb them from above. As they react and try to escape, the ground teams we will have moved into place will be able to attack them with a combination of Jolan’s sniper rifles and the new weapons the dragons have given us. With just a bit of luck we can eliminate a significant number of Ale’ald’s wizard force in just a day or two. Then we can watch and see how they react.”