Lady of Wolves (Evalyce Worldshaper Book 2) (3 page)

Kalla teleported the three humans and the wyvern back to the Stymphalian with no effort at all, the transition to Lady having freed up even more of the leashed power within. She had to admit, now she felt different. Power thrummed in her bones, and her skin prickled with its weight. Kalla's ears flicked back, picking up sounds she never would have heard before. New scents filled her sensitive nose, and she could see farther, with great clarity.

Warmth spread through her, leaving a liquid contentment behind. She stood, shoulders back, surveying the sodden landscape beyond the shields. The sky was now bright with sunlight, dotted here and there with tiny cottonball clouds, and the devastation left behind by the rains was far more evident.

The rains may be gone, but the entire ecosystem within Arkaddia was threatened with collapse. The herds would suffer still, from lack of food. Kalla's brow furrowed, as she stood pondering the fate of the Plainslands.

The locks were still open, all of Amaraaq's power there for the taking. She started walking, thoughts turning inward once more, hardly aware of Aleister and Vander calling her name. Amaraaq's power was a warm, heavy blanket wrapped around her.

As she walked, Kalla expanded her awareness into the earth itself. Using this connection, she pushed the extra power into the land, willing the water to be gone. Around her steam began rising from the marshy ground. The effect spread out from her in ripples, leeching the water from the land and restoring the lush winter grass to health. Kalla swayed in place, her awareness everywhere at once as she followed the ripples outward, urging them further on. Faster and faster it spread, racing throughout the entire Plainslands.

Kalla felt the locks begin to close, breaking the connection to Amaraaq's full power. She was not yet ready to contain it all. The mage crumpled to the now dry ground. As she came back to herself, Kalla was surprised to find that the air had grown considerably cooler, more befitting the late winter. Aleister and Vander had come up behind her and now they each offered a hand to pull her up, looks of wonder on their faces.

“You healed the land,” Aleister said softly.

“Yes. Though I must admit, I didn't think it would work,” she said.

“I'm glad that it did,” Aleister said, sweeping her up in a hug. “Otherwise, famine would have taken the herds anyway. Famine and sickness. All this water is unnatural.”

Kalla followed her magisters back to the campsite and sank back against the wyvern's side, falling asleep wrapped in the safety of the healed wing.

Urgent voices in the soft, lilting tones of Arkaddia roused the dizing mage some time later. Kalla peeked around the sheltering wing. The voices belonged to two males, one near to Hauss' age, one closer to her own. They were dressed in the simple brown, spiral covered robes of the Plains shaman.

Amaterasu opened her wing to let Kalla up. The voices stopped and the two shaman stepped toward her, bending to one knee. She gave Aleister a puzzled look, which he returned with one of his own. The Plains shaman never bowed to magi, not for any reason. The elder shaman stirred.

“You are the shining lady who broke the storms, are you not?” he asked.

“Shining lady?”

“Yes, you called the fires. When we first saw you, you were wreathed in bright flame. Great Lady-”

Here Kalla cut them off with a sharp gesture.

“It's just Kalla. Kalla kyl'Solidor. Get up. I'm no one you need kneel to,” she admonished.

The shaman straightened up, shaking grass from their robes.

“My name is Shukke. This is my son, Komugi.

Lady Kalla, you must return with us to Karokorum. You've done what the magi said couldn't be done. You broke the storms and healed the land itself. Perhaps you could talk some sense into the Khan?” the elder shaman replied.

“It's a pleasure to meet you Shukke, Komugi.” Kalla inclined her head politely to first one, then the other. “Why does the Khan need sense talked into him? The last time I met the Khan Arkaddia, Nobunaga was a very pleasant, level-headed person.”

“You've met the Khan?” Aleister asked, a slightly dazed look on his face. Kalla twitched a grin.

“Yes, during the plague. I was one of the Healers who accompanied Hauss to Arkaddia. The Khan was most thankful for our help. Hauss' credit, not mine. He managed to find a cure. I was simply along to learn and to help. He probably won't even remember me,” Kalla said.

“Nevertheless, I beg you to please try. He plans to invade Rang'moori. Even now he is gathering all of the warriors together. The mage that is with him tells him evil things. It was he who suggested that the Rang'moori were to blame for the storms, though the mage be Rang'moori himself. We have a treaty of peace with them. It would be dishonorable to break it with no provocation,” Shukke said. The elder shaman's eyes pleaded with her to help.

Kalla sighed. A Rang'moori mage bent on chaos could only mean they'd inadvertently tracked down Grosso. Vander growled softly, sharing her thoughts.

“Very well. We will try. It will not bother you overmuch to travel in the ship, will it? We'll get there faster if we fly,” the mage said. Fear flitted across the shamans' faces, but they nodded agreement.

“We will fly. The sooner we can get to Karokorum, the better,” Shukke said.

Twenty minutes later found the group aloft, the shaman and Vander having found spaces in the sleeping quarters and the kitchen to sit. Kalla found it strange to have the War Mage back in a human form, She had grown quite fond of the frost wolf form.

Vander was tense, his mind a flurry. He sat in the back, fretting over what the change may mean for him. Kalla wished she could help him. She stood, thinking to go speak with Vander face to face. A flash of blue and a startled roar drew attention to the window.

A pair of small, blue-scaled wyvern chased Amaterasu, darting around her larger form and stinging her with blasts of ice. Kalla had the sneaking suspicion that these frost wyvern were still spiked and under the influence of the
kepfal
. One of them broke off, turning its attentions to the ship.

The frost wyvern had slightly stockier bodies than Amaterasu, and blunt clubs at the end of the tail. Two tapering horns swept back from the head and their muzzles were rounded, blunter than the fire wyvern, but they still sported the sensitive barbels common to many of the dragon-kin.

Kalla started to pull down the gunner's scope, then changed her mind. There was no need for the wyvern to die. If she could free them from the spikes, then they should be fine. Ignoring Aleister's questioning thought, she watched the blue blurs out the window. She was going to have to time this perfectly. Kalla tensed, bracing herself and teleported.

“
Kalla
!” rang back to her from both magisters in tones ranging from furious to terrified, and then she was free-falling through the air. She was right in front of one of the frost wyvern and she reached out, clamping down on the leather armor covering the beast's neck.

The mage had a brief moment to wonder why a wyvern might be wearing armor before the beast figured out she was there and slung its head from side to side trying to dislodge her. Leather creaked and groaned, then she found herself flung free, but she snatched at the beast's muzzle as she went past and managed to latch onto one of the barbels. The wyvern started to draw in a breath to freeze her, but she swung her legs around and gripped the muzzle with both hands and feet. Using the Healer's gift, she paralyzed its jaws. The wyvern's eyes widened and it swallowed the freezing breath, letting out a plume of frosty air from its nostrils.

“Good. Now that I have your attention, I know that you can understand me. I'm going to climb up to your neckplates. At any time I will have a hand on you. If you try to throw me off again, I'll paralyze more than your jaws. Understand?”

The wyvern nodded slightly, fear warring with rage in its ice blue eyes.

Kalla began to climb up the neck, using the leather armor to aid her, but always keeping contact with the wyvern's scales. All of her concentration was focused on getting up that she nearly let go in shock when a hand reached down and grabbed her arm. The mage looked up, startled to find that the frost wyvern was carrying a rider. The man's face was wrapped with a black cloth to shield it from the wind and all she could see of him was a single eye that shone with an odd reddish glint in the light. He hauled her up in front of him, putting her exactly where she needed to be.

“What the bloody hells are you doing?” the rider growled in an Arkaddian accent.

Kalla frowned. Why would an Arkaddian be riding a rogue wyvern? Up close, she could see that he was wearing soft black clothing that concealed the rest of his body. The hilts of twin swords peeked over his shoulders. She scowled and set about looking for the spike.

“I could ask you the same thing. Why are you assaulting my companion and my ship? Do magi no longer have Pass Right in Arkaddia?” she snarled back.

“We did not know a mage traveled on the ship. We were given orders to take it down,” he replied slowly.

“And are you also going to tell me you don't know about
this
either?” Kalla asked. She had cut loose the leather armor and found the scale hiding the spike. She shifted so that the rider could see it, and his muffled gasp told her that he hadn't known.

Kalla gestured for him to come up closer beside her. “I want you to pull this out, while I heal the wound behind it. It's what made the wyvern insane to begin with. The one traveling with us had one also.”

The man nodded and reached for the pin. He drew it out slowly, causing the beast to shudder and whimper beneath them. Finally it was free and he investigated it as Kalla sealed the wound and smoothed the scale back down.

“What is this..?” he asked.

“It is called
kepfal
. The wyvern and other creatures who've been attacking the cities have been spiked with it.

“Al'dhumarna wakes. It is he that caused the storms over your lands. And it was I that dispersed them. The spikes have allowed the Nagali to speak to them, to control them.” Kalla replied.

“The Nagali wakes..?” the man whispered. “Wait, you stopped the storms? The other mage who came to the Khan's court said it couldn't be done.” He looked over at the other wyvern and rider who had left off harassing Amaterasu and now flew beside them. He made a gesture and the wyvern swooped, diving for the ground.

Kalla risked a glance downward, just as the man pushed her down along the wyvern's neck. He leaned forward also, pinning her down and then their own mount was diving for the ground in a dizzying sensation that brought the mage's heart into her throat. The wyvern pulled out of its dive, leveling off near the ground and she saw that they'd traveled all the way to Karokorum.

Kalla grinned, laughter bubbling up from her throat. She wondered if Amaterasu would be so obliging as to let her fly like that again.

Unsettling though, were the number of people amassed before the city. Yerts spread out in concentric circles around the city, neatly organized. The entirety of the Arkaddian nation was gathered together, for the first time in a very long time. Clans put their feuds behind them at the Khan's call. It was an army of considerable size, even with the families factored in.

Kalla was shocked to see that there were other frost wyvern in the encampment. The Khan controlled at least seven of the creatures. Backwinging, their mount landed gracefully on its hind legs and dropped down on its wingclaws to let them slide off. Nearby Amaterasu landed and fluttered over to her. She hissed menacingly and the smaller wyvern backed away with a snort.

They did not hurt you, did they, Lady Kalla?
Amaterasuu hissed again as the wyvern rider came over to her.

“Easy, Amaterasu. I'm fine. These wyvern are just like you were. They need our help,” Kalla soothed.

“Are they all like that?” the Arkaddian asked as he unwound the head covering, revealing a face that was handsome despite jagged scars. One eye was a milky white, seeing nothing. The other did indeed have hints of red in it, being a rich mahogany color. Kalla judged him not much younger than herself. For some reason he seemed vaguely familiar.

“My name is Kasai, by the way. Of the Khan's Harriers.”

Kalla gave him a gruff nod, impressed despite herself. She knew what the Harriers were- the elite guard of the Khan Arkaddia. Hunting hawks sent to gather information, and occasionally to carry out assassinations. Kalla's eyes narrowed, remembering the reason Aleister had been slated for execution in the first place.

“Kalla kyl'Solidor,” she replied. “Yes, there are most likely spikes hidden under the armor of each of the remaining wyvern.”

“Thiassi said to thank you. He said that he feels more clear-headed now and that he remembers those who came to spike his clan. Will you do the same for the rest? If they really are being controlled by Al'dhumarna, then I have a bone to pick with that mage,” Kasai growled out.

“Let me guess? A bit on the chubby side, Rang'moori, kinda cold and aloof?” Kalla asked.

“That would be him. Do you know him?” Kasai replied.

“Unfortunately, all too well. Grosso was the Master of House Solidor, our Tem', but he was corrupted by Al'dhumarna. He fled the Kanlon at the Solstice Celebration,” Kalla said.

“He has come here off and on the past few months, at one point bringing the wyvern. It would be around the Solstice that he came to stay permanently. He says he is serving as an 'advisor' to the Khan, but he is filling Lord Nobunaga's head with foolish ideas. Like invading Rang'moori. And teaching vykr warriors to ride flying beasts. We are Plains warriors!” Kasai exclaimed.

Behind him, Thiassi whimpered, nudging the Harrier in the back, clearly unhappy. Kasai turned his attention to the frost wyvern, speaking in a gentle, placating tone. Despite his gruffness, and declarations against flying, it was clear the Harrier cared for his wyvern companion. Nearby the
Stymphalian
came to ground

No sooner than the ship had settled down, than the occupants came swarming out. Both magisters stalked towards her wearing identical pinched expressions. Tension radiated off of them.