Azra of the Burning Sands (Genesis Project) (3 page)

‘What have you heard of this, Mahgic power... is it like Dorash at all?’

-Midrianda Zhet, a Verin Warrior in the First Galaxy, within the Loute Empire, speaking candidly with a young Paltian named, Dykyn

JARRIDON – BAZRA DESERT – HALLI

T
he door to the guard tower burst open and Jahnyz rushed in.

‘Master, did you feel that? An anti-Mahgic blast. It’s completely wiped out all the enchantments I placed on our men!’

Azra’s face tightened, and he said, ‘That was me.’

‘A
warning
would be appreciated
next
time!’ the girl said tersely.

‘You know I don’t always have the best of control over my spells,’ Azra retorted

‘No, it’s another one of your
many
irritating failings. You’ve told me countless times, the energy just comes to you on its own and you have to channel it into a spell immediately or risk a greater calamity. It amazes me you
ever
became a Wyzard.’

Azra took a deep breath, and he countered,
‘You
chose me for your master.’

‘I was drawn by the ferocity of your Mahgic. If I had known it came from something that couldn’t be controlled – let alone
taught
– I
may
have chosen
differently
.’

‘ENOUGH!’ Azra snapped. ‘Bickering will not win this day. Go and remake your enchantments. Leave me be, or so help me, if we live, I will see to it you
never
get the chance to take the tests!’

Looking angry, but resigned, Jahnyz left the tower, slamming the door behind her.

Azra ran his hand through his hair, and leaned against the wall. His body had a lingering numbness to it – a side effect of the power of his last spell. It would fade in a myno... it always did, but he didn’t have the luxury of just sitting around and waiting.

He opened the door to the tower and stepped out.

Guards on the wall were standing alert and ready. The ones with bows fired into the desert below, aiming at the figures that occasionally stuck out from behind the nearby dunes. As the figures inched closer, there was less and less cover for them, but their numbers seemed to be growing by the myno. Already, the garrison was outnumbered. However, they still held the wall, which gave them a clear advantage over the attackers.

The garrison was also made up of professional soldiers, trained since recruitment, in the art of war, and equipped with the best equipment Azra could afford to give them. The Raiders, however, had whatever equipment they had managed to loot or pillage during their generations of living in the Bazra Wastes. They also knew of war, but of a
different
kind. There’s was the war like the sandstorm – blow in with unstoppable fierceness, passing over any defence to get what they want, and sow confusion in their wake, only to blow away shortly after.

They were
not
used to this
slow
war.

They were
not
in their full element.

It began to show as they approached the walls. They darted out from behind the nearest dunes, trying to close the distance with ladders and large shields. But their formations were loose, and open – and infective at actually stopping the determined archers on the walls from picking off the ladder bearers one by one, as the shield bearers stood apart from the ladder bearers. Without the ladders on the walls, the Raiders were no threat.

Azra walked up to the wall, and clenched his right fist, letting the Mahgic energies build up in it. He sent a blue ball of fire towards one of the nearest ladder crews. It hit the ladder, splitting it in half, and setting both halves on fire. The Mahgical fire danced quickly up the rungs of the ladder and down onto the cloaks of the ladder bearers. They dropped the burning ladder and fell to the sandy desert ground, rolling in an effort to put out the fire, but the blue fire would not stop burning. Archers on the wall ended the torment of the pitiful Raiders with deadly accuracy.

From the sands, more Raiders pushed forward, now some armed with bows and firing back at the men at the walls.

Arrows hissed overhead and clacked against the stone of the battlements. Azra stepped behind a stone block as an arrow hissed passed him, into the city bellow. The efficiency of his archers on the wall was diminished, as they had to split their time between hiding behind cover, and firing at the Raiders. The rest broke ranks and scattered to the safety of the dunes.

Azra spun out and sent another fire ball towards one of the ladder crews. It connected with the ladder, but the crew was quicker to drop the ladder, as they saw the fire ball fly towards them, and only one was caught in the Mahgical blaze.

An arrow hissed towards Azra, but was intercepted by a bolt of flame and turned to ash.

He looked around and saw Jahnyz, hand stretched towards him, a look of concentration on her face. Around him other arrows that would have killed, were being blasted from the sky. But Jahnyz couldn’t catch all of them. To his left, an archer staggered back with an arrow sticking from his throat and fell from the wall to the streets below with a silent scream on his face.

Raiders were almost to the walls now. The foot men on the walls threw their spears at them in attempt to thin them out before arming themselves with their swords and shields.

The first ladder swung up to the wall. An archer ran out from a guard tower with a long forked pole. He thrust it at the one of the ladders rung and pushed hard on it. The ladder swung backwards and fell away from the wall.

More people came from the towers with more poles, ready to push the ladders away, but with the Raiders so much closer to the wall, and their own archers now growing more bold, arrows forced the pole-armed soldiers back into cover. Some of the ladders stayed upright against the walls. Raiders began to stream up the ladders. Azra ran to the nearest one and slapped his hand on top of its highest rung. Blue flame leaped from his hand and shot down the ladder, catching three ascending Raiders on their way up. They fell from the ladder, and the other Raiders that had been waiting to go up that ladder ran away, back into the desert, clearly shaken beyond fighting.

Azra spun back behind cover, as some of the desert archers fired towards him in retribution. As he looked momentarily over his city, he saw an unwelcome sight, a red flag was flying on the far wall. Raiders were their too. Azra looked around. He saw John on the wall to the left, already running along with a small group, to reinforce the far wall.

Azra deduced that he needed to get a look at the situation over there. He focused himself, and suddenly vanished into a brief fierce whirlwind and a flash of blue fire. Outside the gate house of the far wall, he reappeared in a similar fashion, and ran up the steps to the upper wall. The few men on this far wall were already mustering towards where the enemy ladder crews were coming forward. Azra saw this group of Raiders was much smaller than the main force, but it was still a threat. If they gained control of the gate house on this wall, it would be disastrous. Azra ran towards the nearest archer.

‘Solider, step aside for a moment,’ he commanded.

‘Yes Lord.’

The archer stepped away from the wall’s battlements and looked at Azra.

‘Give me your quiver.’

The solider undid his quiver of arrows from its place over his shoulder, and held it out. Azra took it from him and closed his eyes, focusing on his intended goal, focusing his power into the arrows. When he opened his eyes, he pulled out an arrow and saw the tip of it. A split second later, the tip burst into blue flames. Azra threw the arrow over the wall and handed the quiver back to the archer.

‘The arrow tips will catch fire when you take them from the quiver. When they hit something, the fire will consume everything burnable that it touches, so if you hit one of the ladder bearers...’

‘It will burn the ladder too,’ the archer finished with fiendish smile. He hung the quiver back over his shoulder and went back to the battlements, firing again with renewed focus.

Azra blasted another fireball at one of the approaching ladders, missing it slightly, but catching the edge of the clothing of one of the Raiders. The fire quickly leaped up his legs and arms, licking hungrily at the ladder. The other Raiders let go of the ladder and scattered apart, rushing towards the other ladders, to carry on the fight.

Azra was ready to send another fiery missile down to the Raiders, when something caught his eye – a glimmer of silver on the wall. He turned and saw his niece by one of the guard towers, firing her bow at the raiders down below. She was hitting them with a perfect accuracy, causing almost as much destruction as the archer with the enchanted arrows, but Azra wasn’t noticing
that.
He was noticing how exposed she was, standing away from the other troops. He ran along the wall towards her and put a hand forcefully on her shoulder.

Kia looked startled, interrupted in the process of notching a new arrow. She turned on her assailant. She saw Azra and flushed red in guilt of having been caught.

‘What are you doing here, Kia? I told you to wait at the estate!’ Azra snapped.

‘You were fighting with the main force, and I saw the flag on this wall. I knew you were engaged, so I decided to come here and help.’

‘John saw the flag too, this is
his
job, and he’s on his way here now!’ Azra held his anger in check, this wasn’t the time.

Almost on cue, John exited the nearest guard tower with his reinforcements and went to work directing the effort on this wall.

‘What about Lady Cina? How did you get her permission?’ Azra asked

‘I didn’t, I left her at your home.’

Azra place a hand on his head and massaged his temples. ‘She's not going to be happy,’ he groaned.

‘I hardly think we should be worrying about that now,’ Kia pointed out, a little impatiently.

‘You haven’t had to deal with her like
I
have.’

Azra looked back over the city, and spotted the armoured shape of Cina rushing up the street towards them.

Kia saw her too, her mouth fell a bit. ‘How did she find me so quickly?’ the girl gasped.

‘It’s a Guardian thing,’ Azra said dryly. ‘Now, you, get
off
this wall. I need to go tell her what the situation is.’

‘Yes, Uncle.’

Azra disappeared in a flash of blue flame and fire, teleporting to the advancing figure of Cina below.

‘There is a bond, created by this... it will mean your life, you will never escape it? Do you take on this weight freely and of your own personal choice?’

-A question asked to every Guardian before being sealed with the Mark of the Guardian

JARRIDON – BAZRA WASTES – HALLI

A
flash of blue flame and wind flared into existence next to the rushing figure of Cina, revealing Azra standing ahead of her. Cina rushed towards him, stopping just a foot away. ‘Where is Princesses Kia?’ she asked forcefully.

‘She went to the walls to help, I found her and she’ll be on her way back. I told her to return to the palace.’

‘I
must
see her back safely. I’ll be going now,’ Cina growled.

‘Just a second. You should know, we’re probably going to lose the walls. You should get Kia to the cellar.’

‘Lose the walls? Is it that bad?’

‘The enemy is truly numerous. I’ve never seen the Raiders come together in such force. Normally they are split into different tribes that only come together on occasion, and never
all
together. This is truly bizarre.’

‘Maybe they are being paid by King Shanta,’ Cina offered coolly. ‘Perhaps this rouge Sorcerer is from
his
court.’

‘I don’t think that’s it. Their hatred of the Kingdom of Hallon is generational and ingrained. They used to be their slaves. They’d
never
work for King Shanta. Regardless, you should still move to the basement and prepare to exit through the Archway. I’ll be ceding the walls soon, and trying to regroup.’

‘The enemy has yet to take the wall, you surrender too easily Wyzard.’

‘I will not give up this city, just the walls,’ Azra snapped.

‘Fight how you will. My job is the same.’

Azra turned to look for Kia, expecting to see her walking down the road towards them.

She wasn’t.

Azra looked up at the walls and saw her still up there.

‘Curse her! She’s still up there,’ he snarled. ‘Come, Cina. Let’s get her down.’

They ran the rest of short way to the wall together. Azra stopped and teleported to the top in his customary way, and saw six ladders being propped up against the wall already. The archer – whose arrows Azra had enchanted – lay on the wall with an arrow in his shoulder, trying to push himself with his feet towards the nearest guard tower, his other hand was grasping a small dagger. A Raider leapt from a ladder next to him and thrust a spear down at the archer’s neck. Azra threw out his arms. A small sphere of fire burned so brightly as to appear like a star, and flew forward, catching the Raider in the chest. The searing fired exploded, blowing the Raider and ladder backwards, away from the wall.

The archer looked at Azra with awe, and continued his retreat to the tower.

Azra turned and looked for his niece. Raiders were beginning to get on the wall. Azra’s men rushed to the ladders and fought them valiantly. The cries of battle and the clang of weapons filled the air. Azra spotted Kia, firing at men coming up the nearest ladder, picking them off as they tried to ascend. He ran over to her.

‘Get
off
the wall!’ he shouted.

Kia looked startled, then angry, and then she turned and ran for the nearest guard tower. Azra took a calming breath. That was over with. Kia could use the tower’s stairs to get down to safety. He looked down at the streets and saw Cina waiting already at the stair exit that Kia would be coming out of. He then saw her turn and looks somewhere else, irritation on her face.

Azra looked up and saw Kia rounding the corner of the wall, firing down at Raiders that trying to come up the corner. The Baron Wyzard bit his upper lip to keep from letting out a scream of frustration. His frustration was quickly washed away by numbness though, as he saw the tops of three ladders clack up against the wall. Kia was concentrating on the nearest one and didn’t see the other two behind her.

‘Kia, look out!’ Azra cried.

He looked around and saw a spear lying next to him – next to the body of one of his fallen men. He picked up the spear. It began to glow with a faint tan light. He hefted it up into a throwing position and waited.

Kia looked around and saw the other two ladders. She fired her arrows wildly down at targets Azra couldn’t see, but a Raider topped one of the ladders. Azra let his spear fly, and it sailed with devastating force. The Raider had his leg tangled in the ladder, and the ladder was torn from the wall as he was blown back. The top of the ladder fell out of sight. Kia fired more arrows, but another Raider leapt from the ladder behind her, and ran towards her. Azra clenched his fist and called forth a fireball, but the Raider grappled with Kia, pulling her backwards, with an arm around her neck and another, pulling her dagger from her side and throwing it aside. Azra flicked away the fire of this waiting fireball, not wanting to burn up his niece along with the Raider.

More Raiders poured over the ladders. Azra took a step forward, ready to run to her aid, but a sound behind him made him turn. One of the dust robed Raiders was running toward him. Azra thrust his right hand forward, and bolt of fire blew the Raider backwards, onto his back.

Azra looked up and saw Raiders swarming over the wall. He looked across the city, and saw one of the guard towers burning brightly in the midday sun. The tan shapes of Zharin Raiders were visible around it.

Azra ducked into the tower nearest him and rushed towards the far door. Cina was fighting with a Raider. She knocked the man’s sword aside, and stabbed him through the chest, pulling her sword out and leaving him to die. She turned on Azra.

‘Where’s Kia?’

‘Raiders have her. I’ll go get her.’

‘Go Wyzard.
I’ll
see to it you can get back again.’

Azra nodded, and exited the tower on the other side.

Bursting through the door, two Raiders were taken off guard, and sent falling to the streets below, with sweep of his arms.

The other Raiders were already retreating down the ladders, taking a struggling Kia with them.

Azra looked over the edge of the wall, and he teleported himself to the sand below.

He looked at three ladders laid up against the wall, and saw Raiders coming down them. Kia was on the middle ladder. Azra ran for the ladder on the left, and grabbed hold of the lower rungs. Blue fire rushed up the ladder and it crumbled downward, flaming bodies crashing to the sand with it. Two Raiders next to the other two ladders ran at Azra. Too close to ready a spell, Azra reached into his robes and pulled out a curved sabre that had a golden inlaid hilt. He parried the swing of the nearest Raider. The second came at him from the right and swung at Azra’s legs. Azra stepped to the left quickly, aiming a slash at the first Raider, cutting open the man’s leg and sending him to one knee on the sand with a grunt. The second Raider lunged at Azra, but just caught the edge of his robes, as Azra deftly slashed his throat, sending his assailant to the ground.

More Raiders came off the ladder, and more still were coming at him from the sands. Kia was now on the ground, still held fast by two Raiders. One of the two pulled out a small, curved, dagger and held it at Kia’s throat. The Raider called out in the strangely melodic language of the desert tribes. Azra didn’t know exactly what he was saying, but knew the intent well enough.

He raised his hands in the air slowly, still holding his sabre lightly.

Kia had a look of fear, bordering on panic, but she didn’t try to struggle any more. The raider raised his dagger closer to her neck.

Suddenly, a glowing version of Azra’s house crest appeared in the sand. The hourglass symbol glowed white, with an almost blinding light. Kia stood at the centre between the two halves of the hourglass, the border of vines surrounding her and the two Zharin Raiders holding her.

Azra closed his eyes, now feeling a tingling all over his skin, and buzzing in his ears. That was the mark of the guardian. The raider moving the dagger closer to her neck had triggered it. Each house Wyzard and all the personal bodyguards were subject to the enchantment. When a member of the royal family, or another VIP subject to the spell, was in mortal peril, it triggered. It caused an almost unstoppable fury in those whose job it was to protect the one in question. Two marks were placed, the Mark of the Protected and the Mark of the Guardian. The Mark of the Protected went on those who were to be protected, and a subsequent mark was placed on those who would protect them. Azra had had one placed on him for Kia – her Mark of the Protected already present because of her status as Princesses.

The single mindedness of the mark was already taking its toll on Azra. Already the battle for the city was a faded memory, only
this
situation mattered.

In a flurry of wind and fire, Azra vanished and reappeared behind the two Raiders and Kia. A quick slash of his sabre cut through the back of the neck of the Raider holding the knife, severing his spine and sending him limply to the ground. The second one turned around quickly, raising his sword in defence. Azra flicked his hand forward, sending a shower of sparks towards the Raiders face, who raised his arms up to protect his eyes. Azra cut across the Raider’s chest with his sword. Blood flowed from the wound, and the Raider fell.

Azra grabbed Kia’s hand and ran with her. Raiders charged after them, and a few tried to stand in his way, but Azra cut them down as he ran on past, parrying them and slashing through as though they were training dummies.

They rounded the corner of the wall and stopped. Twenty Raiders waited for them by the gate, with Raider archers already on the walls. The archers pulled back their strings and fired at them. Arrows hissed at them. Kia lost her resolve again, but Azra focused all his effort on deflecting the arrows with a sudden wall of fire appearing before them. It worked, but not before something else happened.

A second crest appeared. A red glowing crest of a mountain lion surrounded by leaves appeared in the sand. At that same moment, the gate burst open with Lady Cina cutting through the Raiders, joined by a group of Kia’s bodyguards. Cina sliced through the startled Raiders like a reaper through the fall harvest, and ran towards Kia.

Several of the guards following her were armed with bows; they ran a short ways and turned and fired on the archers on the walls, forcing them back to cover. Kia, Azra, and Cina all ran back to the gate.

‘Made sure we had a way back I see,’ Azra said as they ran.

‘Like I promised.’ Cina looked at him. She had speckles of blood on her round checks, and some in her hair. Azra imagined he didn’t look good himself, but thankfully the red robes and armour they both wore would mitigate that sort of thing. Not that now was any time to think about
that
.

‘Let’s get back to the palace, the walls are lost.’

‘Last I saw of your men, they were already being lead back there by your captain, John Fort.’

‘Good man. Let’s join them.’

‘Gladly.’