The Labyrinth of Destiny (40 page)

She straightened her back and
lifted her chin in an expression of defiance.

“I am the Threshold Child—not
because I wanted to be, but because I accepted the responsibility that was
given to me. I did not choose this path because I thought it would be easy or
that it would be without great personal sacrifice. I know what my future holds,
just as I know that the Darkness will never prevail.”

The wisps of shadow around Cha-sak’s
dark figure began to swirl in the torrent of his wrath. His ruby eyes burned
with hatred as he stared at Adesina.

The young queen went on. “A single
person
can
make a difference in the world, just as a single candle can
keep the night at bay. As long as I draw breath, I will stand against you and
all who would see Darkness conquer the Light.”

Cha-sak’s fists clenched at his
side, and he looked as though he might attack Adesina right then and there. She
prepared her
vyala
to shield her at a moment’s notice, just in case.

“Before we are done, you will see
the blood of all those you love soak the ground. You will see the life fade
from their eyes, and you will curse yourself for turning away the chance to
save them.”

“They would not thank me for saving
them at the cost of all that is good in the universe,” pointed out the young
queen.

“You are a fool,” rasped the Shimat
demon in loathing.

Adesina smiled sadly. “There are
far worse things to be.”

The Shimat army began moving
forward as soon as the flames of the trench burned down. With the arrows of the
Seharan archers rendered ineffective by Cha-sak’s shield, the hard work of the
defending soldiers had done nothing but buy a bit of time.

Adesina’s meeting with Cha-sak
finished well before the Shimat army advanced. The demon had shown his
displeasure by vaulting several attacks through the air toward Adesina’s
allies. Sitara had stopped them with Ruon’s help, and then they could do
nothing but wait.

The waiting was now over.

The Scepter of Cha-sak marched
forward with their weapons drawn. There could be no sweeping charge when the
battle was to take place in a forest, but they still moved forward with deadly
purpose.

Adesina waited until the first
lines of soldiers entered the woods, then she called out, “Gold group.”

Before this war, the L’avan with
gold in their eyes had mostly been used as support—helping others to regain
energy, or something along those lines. Now, after some instruction and heavy
training, they had become a force to be reckoned with.

The L’avan of the Gold group joined
hands. Adesina could feel the flow of their
vyala
as they directed it
toward their goal.

They fed fat streams of power into
the trees lining the edge of the forest. In moderation, this would have simply
nourished the trees and helped them to grow. When done in extreme excess, as in
this instance…

The entire line of trees exploded
violently, the trunks shattering and sending chips of wood flying through the
air. The screams of soldiers caught by the blast were mingled with the cries
from those who were peppered with the piercing pieces of wood.

Hundreds of men died instantly, and
hundreds more were gravely injured.

The L’avan of the Gold group
slumped forward, weakened after using so much of their
vyala
. Adesina
pursed her lips together and frowned. She had underestimated how much
vyala
it would take to conduct one attack.

“Gold group back,” she snapped.

She felt angry, but mostly at
herself. She was struggling to remember the limits of her fellow L’avan.
Adesina always scaled back her expectations to accommodate her mortal
companions, but apparently it had not been enough.

You have done what you can
,
Ravi said soothingly through their Joining.

“Well,” said L’iam, standing next
to her, “I suppose we will have to revert to our usual tactics.”

She gave her husband a strained
smile and turned her eyes back to the approaching enemy.

Much to the dismay of the royal
advisors, L’iam and Adesina had concluded that they would both be needed on the
battlefield. Adesina would be in charge of the specialized L’avan division, and
L’iam would be at the head of the regular army.

L’iam turned to one of the
messengers standing nearby. “General Ri’sel and Captain Leander are to advance
with me. General Me’da, Captain Finlay, and Captain E’nes are to hold their
forces in reserve. The Rashad are to keep the Shimat army from making any
attempt to move around our forces.”

The messenger ran off with the
orders.

Adesina had tried to convince Ravi
to go with the Rashad during the battle. After all, he had the ability to
transport to her side at a moment’s notice. She had argued that he would better
serve everyone as the leader of the Rashad, and that he could keep an eye on
her through their Joining.

Ravi had only listened to her
arguments because he had known that she was determined to say something. He had
told her flatly that he would not leave her side that day, no matter the
reason.

So, Ravi’s brother Ruvim had been
appointed the temporary leader of the Rashad. He would be the one making the
decisions on how the Rashad could best serve their human allies.

L’iam waited until he was certain
his orders had been received and then signaled to Mar’sal. Mar’sal was acting
as L’iam’s second in command within their division of soldiers. Mar’sal began
issuing orders to the soldiers, rallying them into motion.

“Please be safe,” whispered Adesina
in a choked voice.

L’iam gave her his most brilliant
smile. “Of course, my love.”

He leaned over and gave her a quick
kiss on the lips, then he assumed his place marching at the head of the L’avan
and Seharan forces.

Adesina and Ravi moved out of the
way as row after row of defenders passed them.

She looked over her shoulder and
saw the reserve forces positioned behind the safety of log wall. The wall was
low enough that the soldiers could look over the top and watch the battle with
ease. She could see her brother over the barrier, frowning as he watched his
friends march into danger. E’nes was too good of a soldier to ever consider
disobeying the orders given to him, but Adesina could see that he wished he was
marching with L’iam.

Every soldier of the reserve force
knew that they would see plenty of battle soon enough. They would be called in
to relieve the attacking force, giving their allies a chance to rest and
recuperate. The two forces would switch back and forth as long as this battle
lasted.

Adesina did not expect Cha-sak to
give them any reprieve.

She walked purposefully to a
smaller, separate fortification. It was located further west and had been
carefully concealed from the casual observer. She and Ravi ducked behind the
wall that was covered in leaves and mounds of dirt, joining the L’avan who were
waiting there.

The young queen had been given
charge of a specialized force that comprised roughly a dozen of the strongest
members of the Red, Orange, and Gold L’avan groups. There were more members of
the Gold group than there were of Orange or Red.

She had only requested those with
dark red eyes, rather than any with light red. The latter were only able to
manipulate illusions, and Cha-sak had shown that he was able to neutralize
illusions with ease. Those with dark red eyes could manipulate physical
objects, which was more useful on the battlefield.

There Orange group was only
slightly larger. Their powers were similar to telekinesis.  And then there was
the Gold group.

Adesina took a moment to walk
through the members of the Gold group, who were resting and trying to recover
from their attack earlier. The young queen touched each of them on the forehead
and gave them a small boost of energy, for which they each thanked her
sincerely.

Adesina knew that she would need to
be careful with how she used her own
vyala
today, but she wanted her
soldiers to feel their best as the real battle began.

She restored her own energy with a
deep breath, closing her eyes as she internalized the power. It was a useful
technique, but it took time and left her briefly vulnerable. She could not
afford to do that when in the middle of a fight.

There was a slight disturbance
behind her, and Adesina turned to see what was going on.

Sitara, Riel, and Ruon had joined
her force, and they were looking at her with expectation in their eyes.

“I am glad you are here,” Adesina
said, genuinely pleased. “We could use your help.”

Ruon snorted softly. “You are
fighting a losing battle. Three more Immortals will not change that.”

Adesina frowned at him, but her
irritated response was cut off by Sitara’s urgent words.

“Why are you here, Adesina? You
need to confront Cha-sak directly. That is the only way that we can win this
war.”

“I understand that,” she
acknowledged, “but I cannot do it yet.”

“Why?” questioned Riel.

Adesina fell silent. She didn’t
know how to explain it to them, especially since the answer didn’t quite make
sense to her either.

There was something nagging at the
back of her mind, and it was frustrating that she couldn’t quite identify it.
Her instincts told her that it was vital to her success. She didn’t know what
it was, but she knew that she needed to figure it out before she could face
Cha-sak and win.

She hated feeling like she was
using this battle—and the lives that would be lost in it—to stall for time, but
she didn’t know what else they could do.

“The time is not right,” was the
only reply she could give to Riel’s question.

The Immortals looked extremely
dissatisfied with her response, but they did not press her for a different one.

Ravi turned to the Laithur. “Have
you had any visions about this battle?”

Ruon shook his oval head. “The last
vision I had was of Adesina refusing Cha-sak’s offer of alliance. When I try to
See the outcome of this war, I feel nothing. It is likely that the outcome has
not yet been decided.”

Adesina felt the weight of her
responsibility keenly. She felt as though the entire world was in her hands,
and it would either thrive or die according to her abilities.

You are not the only factor that
will decide the future of this world. You are simply the most visible.

She appreciated Ravi’s words, but
it didn’t make her feel much better.

That is because you are
stubborn, Ma’eve.

Adesina grinned at her guardian,
but said nothing in return. She could hear that the fighting had begun in
earnest, and the sound immediately caught her attention.

There were several holes in the
fortifying wall through which they could watch the distant battle. Adesina
watched with her heart in her throat, praying for L’iam’s safety.

After several gripping moments,
Adesina took a deep breath. “Let us begin,” she said to her soldiers.

She walked outside of the
fortification and used her
vyala
to lift herself into the air. Then she
wrapped herself in an illusion that made it seem that she was floating several
feet away from where she was actually located.

With her elevated view of the
battle, she was able to see where her forces would be most needed. The
mercenary archers were readying themselves to once again try to thin the ranks
of the opposing army.  Adesina sent a thought to Ravi—an order for the Orange
group to send the arrows back to their source. She felt Ravi relay the message,
and a moment later the arrows were streaking back into the mercenary ranks.

A group of Seharan soldiers were
separated from the main army, so Adesina opened a path for them by ordering the
Red group to make a series of well-placed ruptures in the earth.

L’iam’s soldiers began to be too
far spread, and Adesina helped to rectify that by ordering the Gold group to
explode a few trees among the back ranks, forcing the mercenaries to press
closer together.

As Adesina watched the battle, she
began to notice something strange. There was a group of enemy soldiers forcing
their way forward from the rear. There were probably fewer than a hundred of
them, but they stayed in a tight knot.

They appeared to be led by a woman
whose face bore intricate black markings. They all had their weapons drawn, but
they ignored any enemies that they came across. Instead, they pushed forward
resolutely with intense expressions on their faces.

One of them spotted Adesina in the
distance—or, rather, the illusion of Adesina floating several feet from her
actual location. He pointed and raised a frenzied cry.

“Death to Lord Cha-sak’s mortal
enemy!”

The cry was taken up by the other
members of the group and they surged forward in Adesina’s direction.

“Death to Adesina!”

“Death to the queen of evil!”

“Kill her! Kill her!”

Adesina wasn’t the only one who was
shocked by the harsh cries. L’iam had heard the shouting, even over the din of
battle, and his eyes widened in alarm.

He and his soldiers rushed forward
to try and head off the fanatics, but they were far to the east had to fight
their way through hoards of enemies.

Other L’avan and Seharan soldiers
had heard the battle cries of the frenzied followers of Cha-sak and they moved
to cut down those they could reach. The fanatics did not appear to be the best
fighters, but they were clearly willing to give their lives for their cause.

Adesina realized that they were
pressing forward as a group to increase the odds of some of them getting
through. Dozens of them fell by the sword of their enemies, but the rest
continued forward as if possessed.

There were perhaps twenty fanatics
that broke free of the press of battle. They broke into a run, heading straight
toward Adesina’s illusion.

Adesina didn’t want to hurt
them—they were clearly being manipulated by the Shimat demon—but it was
apparent that nothing would stop them from achieving their obsessive purpose.

She raised her hand and shot out a
wide stream of
vyala
, transforming the raw energy into roaring flames
that consumed the charging soldiers.

Screams of agony rent the air, but
several of them managed to shriek a few final words.

“Praise and glory to Lord Cha-sak!”

Adesina felt sick as the fanatics
fell to the ground, dead.

It had been a hopeless charge from
the beginning, and she couldn’t understand why Cha-sak would have wasted time
ordering it.

High above them, humming through
the air like an errant breeze, Adesina recognized the sound of Cha-sak
chuckling in amusement.