To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (64 page)

“Conductor,” Bonny’s voice came to Sam through the array. “Through Find All, I am sensing no people, Aakacarn or otherwise, yet Silvie, my ferret, is showing me a huge number of riders dressed in the silks of Aakadon and they are less than a quarter of a span from the city. One moment there was nothing and then she suddenly saw them.”

Sam knew the Serpents had invisibility spells and that Daniel had composed a shield spell that prevents scanning by Aakacarn means, but had no idea Aakadon possessed something similar in their repertoires. “As a former Eagle I know the Guild has no spells that can do what you just described, so it must be a cloaking spell restricted to the Grand Maestro, and Silvie must be under it now,” he replied and then to everyone in his array commanded, “all teams convey to the west gate, Accomplisheds of Aakadon are approaching under a cloaking shield, and therefore presumed to be hostile. Begin deterrent with non-lethal spells, inflicting injury is not prohibited, and no one is to use fire. We do not want to burn this city to the ground. Scouts are to stay in position and keep watch on the other approaches to the capitol.”

“Solars and Soarers are invading from the west,” Simon called out, clearly having been informed by his non-human scouts, and then disappeared in a flash-bang, no doubt to where the action will be.

“I knew it, I knew it!” Carlos shouted, as if he was the only one who suspected there would be foul play.

Silvia raised her crossbow. “Cousin, are you going to take us there or will David and I have to run?”

Sam made a quick decision. “I will convey us all to the west gate, but use your nightsticks or daggerlances. Pebbles of flame might trigger a conflagration inside the city.”

Sero vanished in a flash-bang without saying a word. Samuel summoned the potential for conveyance and peered through the eyes of Remus the owl for the visual, moments later he, Carlos, Silvia, and David were standing beside Bonny at the west gate.

Simon stood out on the concrete road and glowing with potential. A forest of honeylocust trees began sprouting up in the fields on both sides of the street, growing seventy cubits high, and each twig with three-branched thorns.
Clever move, this will cause the thousands of Accomplisheds to either form narrow lines, cast spells to broaden their path, or walk between the trunks.
Sam approved of the idea.

The harmonics of Simon’s spell must have reached the army of Aakacarns, alerting them their presence had been detected, because they suddenly appeared, galloping up the road and glowing with potential. A Beak Strike sped at Simon, who looked up toward the approaching danger and vanished just before the sharp jaws snapped shut where he had been standing. The Battencayan-born Accomplished appeared right beside Sam.

The Royal Guardsmen wisely went into their station, taking cover as spells shot out from the Eagles, some of whom were conveniently riding between the trees.

“And now for your next trick,” Sam gave the cue to his friend like a Teki Master-of-the-ring.

Simon smiled and glowed with potential for another spell. The branches on the tree closest to the galloping army swung down, swiping four Accomplisheds right out of their saddles, and possibly breaking a few bones in the process. The back swing took out as many Aakacarns.

Silvia aimed her nightstick, a beam of light shot forth, striking a Soarer, and sending him in a back flip off his steed in a hit that probably would have rendered him unconscious, even if the spell had not already done so. David sent a lance of light toward an Aakacarn who was sending a Beak Strike at him. The hostile spell vanished moments from reaching its goal, seeing as the caster’s concentration was suddenly more focused on the hole in his shoulder.

A group of Eagles and Solars concentrated on pruning the branches off the animated tree. Simon was doing a good job of keeping them busy, especially when he let that tree go and animated the one behind them, which they discovered as those branches swung out, sweeping half of them out of their saddles with bone-snapping violence.

Sam’s anxiety dropped slightly when a flash-bang, up and to the right, announced the arrival of Logan and the other ISIG teams appearing on the walls. They began casting spells at the Soarers, who launched Beak Strikes, Lock Joints, Confusion, and just about every spell Sam had learned while being an Eagle. A cone-shaped beam shot over to his left and struck Bonny in the face, causing her to stop casting spells and begin walking around with a dazed expression, as if unsure of where she was and why. He ran over and pulled her to the side before she could wander out and be struck by a more dangerous spell.

His teams were only slowing down the invaders. Through Find All, and with their cloaking shield gone, he sensed the number of Aakacarns coming against him, and did not like the sums. The current effort had only stopped about a score of them and would not be sufficient to keep the city from being overrun. “Leah, I need help here,” Sam sent to the First Accomplished. “Seven thousand Soarers and almost as many Solars are attacking us here in Ducanton and the few hundred operatives with me cannot stop them from entering the city.”

“I and the Accomplisheds with me are in the middle of fighting eight Grand Circles here in New Oben and if we pull out now the city will be destroyed,” Leah’s voice came into his head with a sense of distance as if she was multitasking, which she undoubtedly was. “Street fighting can get ugly but it may be your only option for a while,” she sent what Sam already knew. “I will get forces to you after the threat here has been neutralized.”

Sam barely ended the communication when another voice entered his head. “Conductor, thousands of Soars and Solars are approaching from the south,” Buck informed him. “About as much as you are facing in the west.”

“Conductor, the same numbers are coming from the East,” Elias sent.

“Conductor, we have roughly the same amount coming in from the north,” Walker gave his report.

Sam weighed his options, and made his decision. “Silvia, David, I want you to take care of Bonny until the effects of the confusion spell wears off,” he said out loud, and through the array sent, “all teams break up, we cannot stop the Soarers and Solars from entering the city. Each of you is to use Conveyance to the fullest, appear, strike and vanish. We will keep picking them off until reinforcements arrive.”

Acknowledgments followed and Simon nodded and then vanished along with Silvia, David, and Bonny. Sam was confident the Chief Aid would minimize the danger to them as much as is possible in a spell fight where safety was hard to come by.

Since there was a strong chance of the enemy Accomplisheds reaching the palace, Sam had one more person to reach. “Daniel, more than fifty thousand Soarers and Solars are swooping down on us and things are about to get messy,” he reported and then thought to add, “They came under some sort of cloaking spell I believe must be from the Grand Maestro’s private repertoire.”

“Acknowledged, that explains Efferin’s attitude,” Daniel sent with a sense of calm before a storm and the communication ended.

“Carlos, before we leave, I am of a mind to exact a toll on those who wish to enter this gate,” Sam suggested.

The three-bolt Accomplished raised his baton, “Yeah, let’s.”

-----

Jeremiah Lassiter, standing at the podium in the staging area within Mount Shantear, focused his scan west, toward the Senior Soarers and Coronas moving in the direction of the mountain stronghold. Ahead of them were a score of Aakacarns, each tunneling forty-five cubits beneath the ground with teams of Accomplisheds right behind them.

So much for the good faith talks taking place in Ducanton, he thought while thousands of his own Accomplisheds vanished from the vast chamber, conveying into defensive positions all around the mountain.

“The tunnels are twelve spans away and closing while the main body is above ground and trailing them by a span,” Accomplished Beatrice Exkable, standing right beside him, reported the results of her scanning, which verified his. With her hood up, all that could be seen of her red hair were the bangs that helped to frame a freckled face. “They will be encountering a few obstacles so we can put off engaging them in battle for a while and perhaps give them a chance to change their minds. They have not actually attacked us yet.”

Her facts were correct but the conclusion missed the mark. Jere shook his head. “They have been warned what would happen if they moved against this facility, and in spite of our Maestro’s clear advisement against doing so, have chosen to challenge our resolve. This group is far too deadly for us to let them have the first strike and so will receive no more chances,” he replied and paused, deciding to give the rest of his response verbally and through the array. “Attack plan Beta Z, injuries acceptable, kills only if necessary; focus all efforts on the forces above ground. D & D will handle any tunneling Artisans who get beyond the lake.”

Jere focused on Regus, the cougar, for the visual and then conveyed in the tree opposite the big cat. The moon and stars gave a soft light and he was tempted to once again focus through the eyes of the feline, which were far better than his. The need to see potential being summoned and focused, which Regus could not, persuaded him to use his own vision. Accomplisheds of Aakadon, riding horses on the ground and far below the sequoia, continued east. It had taken extra encouragement to get the big cat to climb so high but the effort was clearly worth attaining such an excellent vantage point. Shields began forming as the experienced Eagles reacted to the thundering sound thousands of Accomplisheds created when displacing air upon arrival. The deafening noise came at them from all around and so did bright beams of light from Jere’s precision-trained fighters, whose well-placed spells took down those Aakacarns who were not quick enough to get their shields up. Fire balls and lightning strikes shot out from the Coronas while Beak and Talon Strikes struck out from the Senior Soarers, most of which broke into flocks and went on the offensive as trees and bushes caught on fire and the smoke made visibility worse than before.

The Senior Soarers were extremely good at balancing offense and defense, Jere noted, one casting spells, and the other lowering and raising a shield in perfect timing with his or her partner. Consequently, they were still moving closer to Shantear even though many of their associates had been injured or rendered unconscious in the opening shots.

Jere pointed his baton ahead of the horses and sent lightning, backed by six bolts of potential, crackling down, blasting a crater forty paces wide into the ground. Horses reared up and the forward momentum of the entire force came to a halt. Before he could fully appreciate his success, a team of Artisans ran forward, glowing with potential, and threatened to undue his work by repairing the damage. He focused, Sleep Time through his baton, flooding the Accomplisheds in a cone of light, and then watched as they dropped unconscious to the ground. Those seconds lost in observation cost him.

A Beak Strike bit through the branch he was sitting on and just as he began to drop, glowing talons wrapped around him. Another beam of light struck him in the chest, probably, Shield Potential, and he marveled at the efficiency with which they had captured him. He made no struggle while they were lowering him down or when his feet came to rest on the ground.

“I have you now,” said Jerrian Tobermin, the Vice-Maestro of the Eagle Guild, a Five-bolt Accomplished. “Order your Accomplisheds to stand down. By now Maestro Reese and Efferin Tames have captured Benhannon. It is about time we put an end to him and the Atlantan Guild thumbing their noses at Aakadon and be fully focused on the Serpents.” His brown mustache twitched, reflecting satisfaction.

“You should know, my former colleague, capturing and keeping are two different things,” Jere gave fair warning before releasing the potential for Conveyance, and moments later appeared in the staging area within Shantear. As far as he knew this was the first time anyone escaped using that technique and he decided to add it to his written report. Once again he felt gratitude to Daniel for composing Personal Shield and Conveyance.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on the information coming to him from Find All. His teams of Accomplisheds were following his example and blasting craters wherever the groups from Aakadon attempted to ride their horses. This was not stopping the advance of a force numbering in the thousands but it was sure slowing them down.

Three tunnels, fifty paces apart, no doubt consisting of Artisans, Senior Soarers, and Coronas, were ahead of the other seventeen and moving right where Jere knew they would go. He counted, “four, three, two, one,” and they burrowed straight into Lake Shantear. Water burst into the tunnels, washing them off their feet, and taking the Accomplisheds on a wild ride back along the routes they had taken. Unfortunately, a few of them hit their heads on the walls and drowned along the way, but most of the Aakacarns were still swimming as the three passages began filling up. Some of the more clever Artisans stopped swimming and began tunneling to the surface while their heads were still above water, thereby saving not only themselves but also the lives of the Accomplisheds who had the good sense to follow them. Clearly, no one in Aakadon knew about the newly-formed lake.
Well, they do now.
The remaining seventeen dry tunnels began angling up. Evidently the leading Accomplisheds were warned of what was ahead.

Jere brought his thoughts back to what Tobermin had said and decided it was time to make a report. “Maestro, beware of Tames and Reese, the Senior Soarers and Coronas are on the move, we are slowing them down, and there have been deaths, even though we have been avoiding the use of some of our more lethal spells. I can stop the advance but not without increasing the death count.”