A Shadow Flame (Book 7) (21 page)

"I have not yet heard from the Lady, so we must wait," Brian said. "But if the signal comes, then be ready, for there will be a bloody fight once that door is opened."

"What did you see?" Fergus asked.

"Creatures," Brian told him. "We should not expect to invade the palace with ease."

"We didn'a come her expecting to have the enemy lay down and die at the sight of us," Fergus said.

"Of course not," Brian said. "Nor did you come here to be overrun and killed because of rushing into danger."

"We came here to fight," Fergus argued. "We lost our home, and here's the one's that took it."

"There will be plenty of fighting," Brian said. "But we have to wait, and I have to leave you here, knowing that you won't go charging in."

"We're jes' frustrated is all," Fergus said. "But we've all fought plenty o' battles, and you're right, 'tis better done with a plan."

"Good," Brian said. "Just be ready."

"Right, Sir Brian," said one of the other men. "We'll be ready."

"We'll wait for your word," Fergus said with a nod.

Brian could not be bothered correcting the other man about him not being some kind of knight, since it seemed to do little good whenever he had done so in the past, and he supposed it did not matter anyway. He nodded to Fergus and the others as he made his way through their ranks, then he headed off down another passage, the one that led outside the walls of the city, and down to the shores of Lake Mara. Brian was surprised when his feet began to splash in water as he made his way down the tunnel, and it became even deeper the further he went. By the time he reached the wall of vines that hid the entrance, the water was up to his waist, and he waded out to into a dark fog that made it almost impossible to see, but he could still hear, and from the sounds of things, there was a battle being fought not too far away.

"
Brother,
" Carly said in his mind. "
It is good you have entered my domain for I would speak with you.
"

"
I thought I would visit your shrine, but it seems you have raised the water,
" Kroma rumbled. "
I hear the sounds of battle. Where are you now?
"

"
On the far side of the lake,
" she said. "
We will be crossing with ships, then attack the main gate of the city. I had also hoped to make use of the passages beneath it, if they are clear.
"

"
They are,
" Kroma told her. "
But our way into the palace is blocked by many creatures. We have a number of defenders, ready to attack, but their numbers may not be sufficient.
"

"
An army sails with me,
" Carly said. "
Wait for me there, and I will come to you. It will not be long, but I cannot speak at the moment for my focus is elsewhere.
"

"
I will wait, but I think I will find somewhere dry to do it,
" he said, and Brian waded through the water toward a high point in the land.

*****

Calexis walked out of the passage that led up to one of the high towers that overlooked the city of Maramyr, and Aaron followed her, his face still bloodied from the beating she had given him, and his footsteps dragging across the stone from the pain in his battered body. The dark queen stood at the edge of the archway and looked out over the dark fog that wafted through the city and beyond its wall like clouds in a mountain pass, and used her power to search for her enemies. Though it was getting more difficult for Calexis to see and she knew that she would need a new body soon, she recognized the power of those who had come to challenge her, and she grinned wickedly that almost everything was going according to her plan.

She turned and looked at Aaron, who stood silently behind her, now almost completely in the grip of her power, though the true power that was at the center of his being remained just out of reach. It irritated her that he continued to resist her and she was surprised that he had held out for so long, but she knew that soon her power would invade his thoughts and then he would choose to do what she wanted.

In the meantime, she took pleasure in knowing that no matter how hard he struggled, and even if he refused to obey her will, his power would eventually overwhelm him and when it did, the shadow would take him, and then he would be hers.

"Come, Aaron," she said. "It appears that our guests have arrived."

Carly stood atop the quarterdeck of her ship, and Ariana and Borrican stood with her, accompanied by their guard of dragons and the two women, Keira and Margo, as well as Zachary, who still kept his distance from the Maramyrian princess, even though the fire of her anger toward him seemed to have cooled somewhat. The goddess of the sea stared back at the fleet of ships that were tied together with ropes, moving as one across the great lake named after a life she lived long ago, and she had to focus her power in dozens of places on the ships, both keeping water out of the holes in their hulls, while trying to remove the Darga that were hacking away at them, all without her power upsetting the ships. It was difficult, for though she was the sea, the tide and the waves themselves, using her power in such small, specific ways was almost more difficult than raising an entire ocean's worth of water. Carly knew that the dark god was aware of this, and suspected that it was the reason the Darga now attacked the way they did. While the sailors and pirates on the ships tried to fend off the Darga, Toren swung across the gap on a rope between his great ship the Al'Andor and Carly's smaller vessel, and he landed in the rigging then leapt down to the deck, among the many pirates in her crew. The Aghlar king ignored their leering glances as he walked past them and up to the quarterdeck, almost glad they were occupied with fighting the Darga.

"We are firing arrows into the water, but they are proving to be of little use," he said as he approached Carly and the others. "Can you not drown them?"

"I could but then the ships would be ripped apart," Carly told him. "I can keep the ships from flooding for now, and keep us moving, but with every hole they cut, it becomes more and more difficult."

"I would blast them with my magic, but doing so would also harm the ships," Zachary said.

"We are trying to fight them, but it is dangerous to hang off the edge of the ship over waters teeming with lizards," he said. "They wreak havoc upon our hulls and I doubt the goddess of the sea can magically fix a wooden ship."

"Elven magic might help," Ariana offered. "I will try to strengthen the hulls."

"I will try as well, though I am less able to work with wood that is no longer truly alive," Keira said.

"Any aid you can offer would be greatly appreciated," Toren said. "I don't believe any of us fancy swimming all the way to shore in waters full of these Darga."

"Let's try to avoid that," Borrican agreed.

"I will return to my ship," Toren said, then he turned and grabbed a loose rope, then unhitched another that was strung from the mast of his ship and he swung across the gap between the two vessels and hitched the loose rope to his own deck.

On a patch of land by the shore, Brian peered through the fog, trying to catch a glimpse of the battle that he could hear was happening somewhere out over the water. It was strange that the sound of steel upon steel was less prevalent than the sound of wood being struck repeatedly, which he could hear over the shouting and snarling of combating enemies, and when he waded into the water to ask the goddess about it, she sent him a brief vision of what the Darga were doing to the ships. Irritated at the persistence of the accursed creatures, he stepped back onto dry land and hoped for the best. He was just about to look for a place to sit, when Kroma's power warned him of a slight tremor in the ground as footsteps approached him, and he ducked low in the fog to avoid being seen at first, then he saw the young Xallan Ranger called Pike leading Elric, the blind half-dragon of Kandara.

"Pike, Elric," he called.

"Brian," Elric said, recognizing his voice. "You have returned."

"Where did the two of you go?" he asked.

"We have been right here," Pike said.

"Pike is having troubles remembering things," Elric said. "He even forgets his own name."

"That's troublesome," Brian said.

"What is happening?" Elric asked. "From the sound of it, there is a battle being waged."

"The Darga are cutting holes in the bottoms of ships that are carrying an army across the lake, an army set to fight the dark queen and free Maramyr," he said. "Hopefully they will arrive safely on this side without sinking to the bottom."

"Pike," Elric said, and when the Xallan did not respond, he nudged him in the ribs. "Pike."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Pike asked.

"It's your name," Elric told him.

"Really?" Pike seemed surprised. "It's a strange name. It doesn't sound like my name."

"Then what is your name?" Elric asked him, and Pike thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know," he replied.

"Exactly," Elric said. "Now stay here with Brian. I might be able to help with the ships."

"What are you going to do?" Brian asked.

"I am blind on land," Elric told him. "But I can sense things underwater, cold things like fish or even rocks. It is like being able to see again, and I am not so weak as I was, so I would do what I can to help."

"Thank you, Elric," Brian said.

"Don't thank me," Elric replied as he walked forward and waded into the water. "I will try, that is all."

Elric dove forward, cutting smoothly through the water, and a moment later he disappeared beneath the surface and the fog.

*****

Borrican clambered over the ship's rail with a rope tied around his waist, and he walked down the side of the hull toward the water while Kaz and Raz, in their human forms, held the rope, keeping it tight. With his dragon sight to guide him, he came down overtop a Darga that was hanging from a dagger he had stuck into the wood, and was hacking away at the hull right at the waterline with a small axe, the sort of tool a person would use to cut firewood or trim twigs from a log. Borrican slowly lowered his sword until it was hanging just over the lizard's face, and when the Darga looked up, he smiled down at him then shoved the tip of his blade right through the creature's eye. The Darga screamed and let go of his dagger, falling into the water beneath the moving ship.

He waved to the two young dragons to give him a little more rope, and he walked down the hull and inspected the damage as he yanked the dagger out and tossed it into the lake. From the moving water, a Darga leapt up at him with a splash, its reptilian body and its tail propelling it from the water into the air, and Borrican slashed at it with his sword and the creature fell back into the lake. He looked around at the hulls of the other ships and saw numerous Darga hanging from them and hacking away at the wood with axes, daggers, and other sharp implements. Pirates and sailors from the other ships were trying to dislodge them, but they were clearly having trouble against the pernicious creatures.

He noticed a flicker of movement in the water and saw a Darga swimming alongside the ship, then he watched as it leapt up in the water, stuck a knife in the hull and began slashing at the hull with its sharp claws. Borrican stepped sideways, letting the rope hold his weight and he swiped his sword at the Darga's arm, cutting it clean off. The creature snarled as it fell thrashing into the water, leaving its clawed hand still gripping the knife, and another Darga shot up from the water, this time flying directly toward Borrican. He stepped sideways and punched the creature in the side of its head, knocking it back into the lake, but when Borrican turned around to remove the knife from the hull of the ship, he saw that another Darga had already taken hold of it and was hacking at the wood once again, this time with a short battleaxe.

Borrican knew that there was no way the Darga would be stopped before the ships were completely ruined, and from the damage he could already see, it was clear that the only reason most of them were still afloat was due to Carly's magic. He marveled at the sheer amount of power it must take to hold so many heavy ships, loaded with thousands of soldiers and sailors. Hopefully she would not tire before they reached the eastern shore, and it was all he and the others could do to keep up with the Darga, knowing they would likely carry on their attack all the way to the city gates. He made his way over toward the Darga and was about to strike at the lizard, when the creature snarled as it was seemingly yanked into the water.

With his dragon sight, Borrican saw the creature trying to claw its way back to the surface, and he saw another shape beneath it, grasping it by the foot, and pulling it down into the deep where the water was cold and Borrican could no longer see. A moment later, the mysterious figure shot back up toward another Darga that was clawing at a nearby ship, then did the same, pulling it down into the depths. Borrican cocked his head, trying to look at the shape from a different angle as it appeared again, attacking yet another Darga, and this time it broke the surface of the water and Borrican smiled when he recognized what it was, who had finally chosen to do something, for it appeared that his brother Elric might not be completely lost after all.

*****

"Can you feel it, Calthas?" Stavros asked, from where he hung next to the other mage upon the giant, darkly glowing crystal.

"Feel what?" Calthas asked, his throat hoarse and his voice weak.

"The spell," Stavros said. "It is almost ready."

"How can you tell?" Calthas said. "I can barely see, let alone use my magic."

"I forget that you are much younger than I," Stavros said.

"I don't know how to take such a comment," Calthas said, trying for some sort of levity. "Are you saying we didn't fail?"

"Not yet, by any account," Stavros said. "There's still this blasted crystal and those mages to worry about, but let's try not to lose hope. Perhaps the Lady will send help."

"I will try to hope," Calthas said. "I might have to take a little rest first."

"If you are alive, then there is a chance," Stavros told him. "Do not succumb to it, Calthas. Focus on keeping yourself alive."

"I will try," Calthas said as his head lolled around.

"Good lad," Stavros said, but he could feel his own thoughts slipping into darkness, for the little bit of power he had managed to use, to look at the magic they had been working on, had exhausted him almost completely. Still, though his power now felt dry and empty, his spirits were a little stronger, and all he could do was hope.

*****

Out among the shadowy streets of the city, the world was dark from the strange fog that clung to everything, Coraline shifted the crystal that sat atop an empty residence, a palatial home much like the one that had once been hers. Breathless and tired from working the magic of the crystals and clambering around on rooftop while doing her best not to be seen, Coraline took a brief moment to rest. She stared out through the darkness and the fog in the direction of the temple, which she could not see but she knew where it was, and could feel the poison of its dark magic still deep in her bones.

While she was not sure how she would be able to complete the spell, for it would require that she go to the temple where the other mages were, and possibly guards or even the dark queen herself, and all Coraline knew for sure was that that she had to do something. That was what that had been driving her since she had finally recovered from her tears, the need to do something, and so she had continued reimbuing the crystals in the city, changing the resonance of every last one of them. At least now it would be much easier to shift the power of the last one, the large one at the temple, and it seemed that whatever it was that Stavros was worried about happening had not happened yet, so there was still a chance. Coraline was not sure if she could even complete the magic, and she tried not to think about Calexis or anything else that was happening in the city, and instead she focused on the simple fact that she had to do something, or she had to at least try.

The problem now was how to get into the temple, and Coraline realized that there might be a way, so she climbed down from the top of the residence and dropped down onto the cobblestones, then began making her way back to the place where she had first encountered the blue lizard girl named Lexi, the home where she had once lived, for there was something she had left behind, something she had hoped never to see again, a set of black robes that she would wear one more time, a lie she would embrace for her own reasons, to do what she could to stop the great lie of the one god and the shadow.