Army of the Dead (37 page)

Raise both hands high over your heads,” instructed Lady Mystic, “and absolutely no talking during this process. It is a little out of the ordinary for a spell modification, but I can assure you that it works perfectly if you concentrate on my words. In fact, close your eyes and listen to my words as I walk around the room. Listen carefully for I do not wish to repeat anything.”

Lady Mystic smiled broadly as the well-honed battle mages followed her instructions like little schoolchildren. She winked at Xavo when he appeared in the doorway. She continued talking as she moved away from the group of mages. Using hand signals to coordinate the timing with Xavo, she suddenly turned towards the group of mages and unleashed a light blade. Xavo also cast his own light blade, and the group of Motangan mages instantly disappeared in a mist of blood. Lady Mystic jumped backwards as blood splattered all over her. She grimaced and shook her head.

“I must learn to put more distance between me and the victims with this spell,” she scowled. “Now I will have to change clothes.”

“Will the bodies be discovered in here?” asked Xavo.

“You mean body parts,” grinned Lady Mystic. “No. I will magically seal the room. If anyone asks, the mages came here for an important mission that cannot be discussed. They are no longer in the city, and you will refuse to talk further about them.”

Xavo and Lady Mystic sat in their secluded hideaway in the jungle, a large picnic basket between them. The cool dawn air had already begun to give way to the rising of the sun. A gust of moist tepid air suddenly blew through the clearing, and Xavo shifted uncomfortably.

“It is going to be a hot one today,” he frowned. “How do you live on this jungle-infested island?”

“I have never known anything else,” shrugged Lady Mystic. “It doesn’t bother me.”

“I long for a nice sevemore forest,” countered Xavo. “The breezes are cool, and everything is not always damp.”

Lady Mystic smiled thinly, but she did not respond. She sat staring at Xavo in a curious manner.

“What are you thinking about?” Xavo asked after a long moment of silence.

“Us,” Lady Mystic said with a sigh. “What is going to happen to us when all of this is over? Have you thought about it?”

Xavo frowned and shook his head. “We have no future,” he said softly.

“What do you mean by that?” scowled Lady Mystic. “I thought you loved me.”

“I do,” shrugged Xavo. “I love you with all my heart, but it is foolish to speak of such nonsense as our future. My life is already given to this struggle. You will have to find someone else in the future.”

“Bah,” retorted Vand’s daughter. “How can you say such a thing? I will admit that our situation here is tenuous, but we can survive it. Vandamar will soon fall to the elves.”

“You give the elves much credit,” sighed Xavo. “While they have shown themselves to be tenacious warriors, there are still ten thousand Motangan troops in this city. Their attack on Vandamar will not be like the other battles. This will not be a case where the enemy is broken up into groups of two thousand soldiers staked out for slaughter. Santiock’s men will be ready for a battle. I had hoped that his men would get drunk at the festival, but Santiock prevented that. No, Lady Mystic, this will be a bloody battle. Many will die here.”

“That still doesn’t mean that we will be among them,” frowned Lady Mystic. “You are so pessimistic.”

Xavo shrugged and averted his eyes. He picked up a twig and began drawing figures in the dirt. Lady Mystic looked curiously at him, her lips pressed tightly together and her eyes narrowing.

“There is something that you are not telling me,” she eventually said. “What is it?”

Xavo looked at his lover and sighed. “It is Dobuk,” he admitted. “This war cannot end with the great demon still in control. He must be destroyed. I stayed on this island with hopes of killing Vand, but he has left and is no longer approachable by me, but Dobuk remains.”

“Dobuk?” gasped Lady Mystic. “You can’t be serious? Haven’t you learned your lesson yet? You are no match for such power. You are throwing your life away. I will not permit it.”

“What is the alternative?” asked Xavo. “Even after Vand is defeated, someone must face Dobuk. If not me, to whom then does the task fall?”

Lady Mystic’s brow creased deeply as she thought about Xavo’s words. Suddenly the truth became crystal clear.

“You are trying to protect your daughter,” she said accusingly. “That is what you are up to. You think Lyra will come to confront Dobuk after Vand dies. I will not allow you to throw your life away in such a manner.”

“I must,” Xavo said softly. “I am not so foolish as to think that I can defeat Dobuk, but I can wound him. If I can stay alive long enough to cause damage to him, it may save Lyra’s life. I have had a full life, several in fact. I want her to have a future. Is that so wrong?”

“No,” Lady Mystic said as she fought back her tears. “Your heart is in the right place, but it is still foolish. While I give you credit for having survived an encounter with Dobuk, I know that you are no match for his power. You will not even damage him.”

“I must try,” Xavo declared with finality.

Lady Mystic opened her mouth to speak, but sounds of shouting interrupted her. Xavo leaped to his feet, His head swiveling to catch the sounds coming from the city.

“The elves have arrived!” he announced with urgency. “We must get to the temple.”

He extended a hand and helped Lady Mystic to her feet as horns blared throughout the city. The two mages raced along the jungle path and into the city streets. Motangan soldiers were scurrying about as they reached the temple. They ran up the steps and stopped at the front doors. Xavo caught his breath and addressed the guards.

“No one is to enter the temple for any reason,” Xavo said authoritatively. “I want guards at each of the entrances to keep everyone out.”

“The elves will never gain entry,” promised the guard.

“I did not mean just the elves,” Xavo shot back. “I said no one is to enter the temple. That includes the army. Not even General Santiock will be permitted inside. Do you understand?”

The guard shook his head and frowned in confusion. “I do not understand,” replied the soldier. “I must do what General Santiock commands.”

“General Santiock in under my command,” spat Xavo, “and I am ordering that the sanctity of the temple shall not be violated for any reason. Carry out my orders.”

The guard stiffened at the rebuke. He saluted as Xavo and Lady Mystic opened the doors and entered the temple.

“Do you think that will work?” asked Lady Mystic as she raced up the stairs behind Xavo.

“I have no idea,” admitted Xavo as he headed for the roof of the temple. “It might just slow them down. We will find out before this day is done.”

The two mages emerged on the roof of the temple. They both fought to regain their breath as they gazed out over the city. The city streets were a sea of red uniforms flowing through the narrow channels between the buildings. Dozens of red-clad bodies bled into the dirt in the open area between the city and the forest. Xavo peered into the distant forest and saw elven archers hiding behind the trees.

“Their element of surprise must not have worked,” commented Lady Mystic. “I doubt that it was their plan to surround the city and demand its surrender.”

“I also doubt it,” nodded Xavo as he saw a column of Motangans leaving the city along the shore. “Even my orders to surrender would not be accepted by Santiock unless the army was assured of defeat. The Motangans are attempting to use the strands of jungle along the coast to get around the elves. Use an air tunnel to advise the elves.”

Xavo left Lady Mystic as she wove the air tunnel. He walked around the edge of the temple roof gazing down at the Motangans as they prepared to defend the city. The battle had quickly worked to a stalemate as the elves could not safely leave the forest, and the Motangans could not cross the open area to approach their enemy. The elves had far fewer men, but their archers had greater range and accuracy. Xavo wondered what would happen next.

As Xavo was walking around the roof, he saw catapults being pushed into position by the Motangans. Large fires were lit along the city side of the open strip. He grimaced, as he understood what Santiock’s plan was. The Motangans were going to start a forest fire to engulf the hidden elves. The sevemore trees would ignite easily, and the fire would spread quickly. He had to do something to stop the attack before it began. He rushed back to Lady Mystic and pointed towards the gathering catapults.

“We must destroy those,” he said emphatically.

Lady Mystic nodded. “The elves didn’t know who I was at first,” she remarked. “They almost didn’t believe me, but they have set up an ambush for the men traveling along the coast. What do you want to do about the catapults?”

“Force bolts would be appropriate,” answered Xavo.

“You do realize that once we attack,” warned Lady Mystic, “Santiock will move to kill us? There will be no further chance to manipulate him.”

“I understand,” replied Xavo. “Let’s make good use of our time. You start at the east end of the line, and I will start at the west.”

Lady Mystic moved away silently. Xavo turned and headed towards the western corner of the roof. When he was as close to the westernmost catapult as he could get, he unleashed the first of his force bolts. A surge of invisible power shot out of his fist and soared through the air. The magical spell impacted the farthest catapult with devastating results. The wooden frame of the catapult disintegrated in a fine shower of splinters. Motangan soldiers in the vicinity of the destroyed catapult fell to the ground, blood running freely from numerous punctures. Xavo ignored the sudden commotion surrounding the destruction, his eyes already moving closer to the temple as he sought out the next catapult. He unleashed another force bolt and sent it streaming towards the siege engine.

Shouts of alarm drifted up to the roof of the temple as Lady Mystic and Xavo methodically destroyed the catapults. The two mages backed slowly towards the center of the roof as they worked their way along the line of catapults. When all of the machines had been destroyed, Lady Mystic and Xavo stood back to back in the center of the roof.

“Santiock has called up the reserves,” warned Lady Mystic. “A thousand soldiers from the dock area are rushing towards the temple.”

“Let’s meet them inside,” nodded Xavo. “We can make the stairways into killing fields.”

“What about the elves?” asked Lady Mystic. “They may need more help from us.”

“I think we have given them more help than we realized,” grinned Xavo as he pointed out to sea. “By drawing Santiock’s reserves off the docks, we have cleared the way for the elven ships to land. Santiock will not even see the elves arriving before they have taken control of the docks.”

Lady Mystic followed Xavo’s gaze and saw scores of small ships approaching the island. They were still far enough off the island to not be visible to anyone at ground level. She smiled and nodded as the two mages entered the temple.

Xavo led the way to the top of the nearest staircase. He leaned over the railing and saw Motangan soldiers streaming in from the front door. The soldiers split into two groups, each heading for one of the stairwells. The dark mage wasted no time in attacking. He unleashed a light blade into the thick of the Motangan ranks on the ground level. Bodies were sliced open by the magical blades of light, and the soldiers scurried towards the stairs and what they thought was safety.

Lady Mystic had already reached the opposite stairway. She looked across the atrium at the stairs climbing the wall on Xavo’s side of the temple. She unleashed her own light blades at the soldiers hurrying up the stairs. Xavo could not see the results of Lady Mystic’s spell as the soldiers were directly underneath him, but he smiled with satisfaction at the sound of the fresh screams. He aimed his own spells at the stairway underneath Lady Mystic.

As the two mages continued to crisscross the atrium with their spells of destruction, a river of blood began to cascade down the stairs and flow onto the floor of the atrium. The soldiers bravely continued to ascend the levels of the temple, but their numbers diminished rapidly. Out of the thousand Motangans sent to the temple, only a handful of soldiers survived the long climb to reach the top level. Those few soldiers were quickly eliminated before they could reach the mages. The temple in Vandamar suddenly succumbed to a tomblike silence.

Lady Mystic breathed heavily from the exertion of summoning up so much magic in a short period of time. She leaned against the railing to catch her breath. After just a short pause, she turned to look at Xavo, but her lover was gone. Confusion clouded her features as her eyes scanned the floor of the top level in search of Xavo. At first she was concerned that he might have succumbed to the stress of the magical battle, but fear quickly overrode her concern when she saw the doors to the throne room standing open.

Lady Mystic pushed herself away from the railing and ran to the throne room. The room was empty, but the door at the rear was also open. Pushing her fatigue aside, Vand’s daughter ran through the throne room and out the back door. She charged along the corridor and around the corner to where the door to Dobuk’s chamber was located. She saw Xavo’s hand reaching towards the door to open it.

“No!” she screamed. “Stop!”

Xavo looked up in surprise. He saw Lady Mystic running towards him and knew that he would not succeed in opening the door before she intercepted him. He sighed in defeat as the woman plowed into his body, knocking them both to the floor of the corridor. For several moments they remained quiet. Only heavy breathing broke the silence. Finally, Lady Mystic rolled off of Xavo and sat up.

“You will not enter that chamber without resting,” Lady Mystic said softly. “You must be rested and in top physical condition. Your recent exertion must be overcome first.”

“Then you do not object to my entering the chamber?” Xavo asked with confusion as he sat up.

“Of course I object,” scowled Lady Mystic, “but you are pigheaded and will not listen in any event. At least rest long enough to give yourself the chance to do something useful with your life before you die.”