The Mortal Mage, page 31
part #3 of The Mortal Mage Series
Desil didn’t answer as he thought that over.
“No matter what,” Leida continued. “Even if you have to stop him through force, you can’t let him take the akorell. We have all gone through too much for it to end up in Fatholl’s possession.”
Desil still didn’t answer.
“He could use the weapon against humankind,” Leida implored.
“Why does Fatholl want to wait for the Wind Knights to arrive before he forces your father to come here and take the akorell?”
“Because he figures you have hid the akorell as you wait for the assistance you need to build the weapon. Only once it’s exposed will my father have a chance to take it. There will be no more waiting once the Wind Knights arrive. You must act quickly to stop the war, and Fatholl knows this. The akorell will be in the open.”
“I see.”
Damn.
“Are you going to promise me?” Leida asked.
“I’m not sure yet. What is Fatholl going to tell Basen to convince him to take the akorell?”
“That he will kill me if my father does not obey. I don’t know how much time he will give my father. It could be one day or three, but I doubt more than that. It won’t be enough time to build the weapon and threaten the Elves with it, which is the only other way they will release me.”
Desil was scared to ask, but he had to. “You really believe Fatholl will kill you?”
She didn’t answer for a while. “I’m not sure anymore.”
Desil figured it was a lie. Fatholl would kill her.
“I will think of something,” Desil said. “No one is going to die, and we will keep the akorell. That is my promise.”
The red and blue colors of her energy came out like sunbeams over the horizon. “I don’t think I should believe you, but I can’t help it,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve your help.”
“You would do the same for me.”
“I would, Desil. But isn’t that a little mad?”
“No,” he told her firmly. “When we first started sharing memories in Lake Kayvol, I knew we would be involved in something much larger than the two of us. I wanted to seek you out, but I didn’t know how. It wasn’t until your father found me and requested my help that I could find you. I never thought about abandoning you, and I especially won’t now. That would be more than a little mad.”
There was no answer for a while. He started to fear he had upset her.
“I wish I was there with you,” she finally said.
“You will be soon.”
There was another long silence.
“I do believe that. Thank you, Desil.”
When Desil returned to the physical plane, he cursed. He should’ve told her how much he wished for her to be here as well. He thought about going back just to say the words. He spoke them in his mind to hear how they sounded, “I wish you were here with me also, Leida.”
It would’ve been the right response at the time, but now it would just be awkward.
He had to let her out of his mind for now. The Wind Knights were coming tomorrow, as well as Basen to take the akorell, and he’d promised Leida he would figure out a plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The commotion within the Kreppen colony made it clear that the Wind Knights had arrived. Every Krepp grabbed their weapons and ran toward the southern border. Desil sprinted ahead of Beatrix and Kirnich, as it was more of a priority to get to the Wind Knights as soon as possible than it was to stay together.
Fortunately, the Krepps were not fighting with the humans when Desil made it to the border and pushed through, but he did witness something almost as bad.
A line of perhaps fifty humans stood behind Adriya’s mother, Reela Polken, as she was passing swords into the hands of the Krepps in front of her. They were clearly meant as gifts, but the Wind Knights didn’t appear to realize, like Desil did, that they would need to keep these weapons.
“Wait,” Desil told Reela. “You can’t give away any more swords.”
“We can and we must.” She handed off another sword to a Krepp.
“We’re going to need them all.”
“We already brought weapons for ourselves that we won’t be giving away.”
“I figured, but we still need them all. Please trust me. I will explain later.”
She looked into his eyes, then sighed and nodded.
“And we’re going to have to take back the weapons we gave them,” Desil told her.
“You must be joking.” It was Adriya’s voice.
Desil was so happy to see her, he almost threw his arms around her right then. He didn’t realize how worried he’d been that something had happened to her in one of the battles. His mind had been too occupied with other worries until now.
“You do trust me, right Adriya?”
She let out a breath of resignation. “Yes.”
“How do you plan to explain taking back our gifts to the Krepps?” Reela asked.
Desil looked around for Nebre. He and Rickik weren’t here yet, though Beatrix and Kirnich were just pushing through.
“We’ll have to wait for their translator.”
“I can translate,” Reela said.
“That’s wonderful.” Desil was already feeling relief, and the Wind Knights had only just arrived. It went away as he noticed the Krepps showing off their new swords to their jealous brethren. At least there would be some Krepps happy to see these gifts taken back.
“The Krepps know all about the Wind Knights and what we’re trying to accomplish together. Introduce yourselves and say a mistake has been made. You need these weapons to train. It’s the only way to meet your potential in the arena.”
Reela paused mid-translation to stare at Desil. “The arena?”
He figured he had told them to trust him enough already, so he said it only with his eyes.
“All right,” Reela agreed, then translated the rest. Her Kreppen was much better than Desil’s, guttural like a Krepp and with solid flow.
His relief returned. The Wind Knights not only made all of this possible, but the load on Desil’s shoulders was finally gone.
The Krepps held their gifted swords tighter by the time Reela was done. Other Krepps started gesturing at the weapons as they spoke harshly. None of the Krepps wanted to be the first to give back their gift.
One of them stepped toward Reela and announced something. It sounded like a challenge. All the Krepps became boisterous.
The rest of the Wind Knights behind Reela came closer as she explained what he’d said. “Humans are not allowed into Kreppen territory without proving themselves.”
“Did you tell them who you are?” Desil asked.
“Yes. They don’t seem to care.”
Rickik finally arrived and spoke loudly, silencing the hundreds around him. But soon a few spoke back. More joined in. They pointed at the humans and at the swords, no doubt explaining what had happened.
Rickik gestured for Reela to approach, bending his claw toward him. She did so without hesitation, bowing her head when near. She spoke in Kreppen. Desil recognized Cleve’s name but not much else. It was still easy, however, to determine that Reela was telling Rickik that Cleve could not come. The Kreppen leader frowned at hearing the news.
The two of them spoke for a little while, sometimes gesturing at Desil, other times at the swords. Reela returned to her Wind Knights smiling.
“We need a simple demonstration to prove to the skeptical Krepps that we are as powerful and honorable as Beatrix has described. Neeko, have something you can do?”
“Of course.”
Before Desil could object, Neeko took to the air with pyforial energy. In the right light, Desil could see it wrapped around his torso like a shirt. He flew over the Krepps and pulled two swords out of his sheaths. He let them go as he spun, the swords rotating around him in the air with precise control.
The Krepps were not impressed. They yelled to each other as a few took out arrows and loaded them onto their bows. Most of the Krepps around them tried to stop them from shooting, but some aggressively pushed their kin away as they lined up a shot.
“Some think he’s Micklin!” Beatrix was first to shout. She ran toward the nearest Krepps with her hand out, paining them to keep them from shooting.
This turned every Krepp against the humans, hundreds barreling toward Beatrix and the others. Reela screamed, “Don’t take out your weapons! Psychics, pain them all.”
The Krepps fell, all of them shrieking so loud that Desil’s ears stung.
Reela yelled in Kreppen as the spells of pain came to an end, the Krepps slowly getting up. One of the Wind Knights stepped in front of Reela with a shield as an arrow banged off it. Reela didn’t appear frightened as she continued to yell.
Soon Rickik came forward with his hands up, standing in front of Reela and turning toward his Krepps. He shouted louder and longer, until all of them dropped their bows and threw their gifted swords in the dirt.
It took a while in the following silence for it to be clear that it was over.
The Krepps separated to make a path for the Wind Knights. None seemed keen on the idea of allowing the humans into their colony, staring with watchful eyes, but at least there was no spit.
Reela asked Desil, “Now will you explain why we had to take back the weapons?”
“Yes, and we don’t have much time.”
*****
As Desil, Beatrix, and Kirnich had figured, the Wind Knights were capable of everything needed to build this weapon. They all got to work quickly, before even finding out where they would be sleeping. The akorell needed to be unburied, finally broken out of the bottles after so long, and smelted so it could be shaped accordingly.
The eppil seeds also had to be planted. Desil was glad to let Steffen Duroby take charge of this. Desil had heard of him before, though the two had never met. Steffen was the chemist Basen went to for the akorell-melting substance that they used to get all of this akorell from the Dajrik Mountains into the bottles they’d brought across worlds.
“Why haven’t you planted the seeds yet?” Steffen asked Desil when he handed over the pouch. They hadn’t so much as greeted each other yet, though Desil didn’t feel that the question was malicious. It seemed more curious than anything.
“I didn’t want to put them in the ground where they wouldn’t grow. I worried it would ruin them, and we can’t exactly get more.”
“They grow anywhere, and they grow fast. They also kill anything growing nearby.” Steffen started to dig a hole near the northern wall of Desil’s home.
“You’re going to bury them there?”
“One of them. I will dig separate holes for each one, in case one doesn’t grow.”
“Shouldn’t it be farther from my house?”
“There will be a wall between you and it. You will be fine.” But Steffen paused as he seemed to be judging the location again. “Perhaps a little more distance would be prudent.”
Steffen walked a bit farther before digging. Desil looked around, wondering what he should do to help, when he saw Adriya approaching.
“Have you spoken with Leida?” Adriya asked.
“Every night.”
Her eyes brightened. “How is she?”
“Better than she’s been, but we still need to get her out of there as soon as we can.”
Adriya nodded. “What’s your plan?”
Desil wasn’t sure how to break the news to her.
“You always have a plan,” she said.
“I do, but it depends on a few things. We first have to see what Basen will do when he arrives.”
“Leida told you he’s coming?”
“Yes, but there is something we must do before he arrives. It’s why we took back the swords from the Krepps. We need the metal.” He went on to describe what he hoped to accomplish with the help of the Wind Knights. Adriya brought her mother over to include her. After Desil had explained it to Reela, she took a few moments to ponder.
“If you’re wrong,” Reela said, “much of our resources and time will have gone to waste.”
“Do you think I’m wrong?” Desil genuinely wanted to know, for he trusted Reela’s opinion.
“No. But I will take care of it from now on. Thank you for everything you’ve done. I’ll let you know if anything else is needed.” She walked off to speak to the first Krepps she saw. Desil was left with Adriya.
He knew many men might’ve been upset for control to be taken from them, but he felt the opposite in this case. He grinned wide at Adriya.
“I’m relieved you and the Wind Knights are finally here.”
“I just hope there’s no battle while we’re gone.”
His relief faded. It seemed silly to forget even for a moment what was at stake. “What happened since we last spoke on the Fjallejon Mountains?”
She suddenly seemed surprised. “I had nearly forgotten what you did. I thought you might’ve died on the way to the water. I watched you slide down the mountainside with Micklin chasing you. I think I saw you jump off and grab his cloak to pull him into the water with you. I didn’t have a spyglass, so it was difficult to tell. Micklin wouldn’t speak to me about what happened, so I figured he had failed to kill you. What happened?”
“I did pull him by his cloak. I was going to drown him, but he locked my wrists with pyforial energy and started to swim up. Some gigantic beast passed by underneath us. It was bigger than any whale. I don’t think it felt us nearby. We were too small.”
“Was it long, with scales?” she asked.
“Yes. You know what it is?”
“A stormblow. They don’t usually come close to the surface, but their disruption of the water from far below can capsize ships.”
“The current it caused pulled us apart and nearly drowned me.”
“So that’s what Micklin was talking about when I heard him tell Erwal that a sea beast saved you.”
“It saved him, not me.”
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
She laughed. “I’m glad to see you’re well,” she said.
“The same for you. What happened after Micklin returned?”
“Nothing most days.” She paused. “Those were the good ones, waiting for battle.” She looked off in the direction her mother had gone. “Tenred took the Fjallejon Mountains eventually. It was the only reason we finally were able to leave. Allephon had all of his loyal troops watching us, but we were able to escape during the chaos of the retreat. We walked all the way here without rest. I don’t know how I’m still on my feet.”
Desil took her inside his home in the Kreppen colony and nearly had to force her to lie down so she could sleep. “You need rest,” he told her.
“But there’s more I have to tell you.” She sat up.
“What?”
“Erwal has to die.”
“I know that already.”
“Do you?” She sounded as if she didn’t believe him.
“Yes, Beatrix told me of his reward for his service.
Adriya just shook her head. “I thought about killing him many times. I knew I would die soon after, but I still almost did it. I don’t know who’s worse, him or Allephon.” Her gaze was cold and harsh. “I will kill Erwal if it’s the only way to stop him.”
“Only if I don’t do it first.”
Adriya looked down at her lap for a while. Seeing as how she wasn’t ready for sleep, Desil asked, “So now Hawthen controls the mountains overlooking the Academy?”
“Yes.”
“Where is your father?”
“At the Academy. He stayed behind to keep fighting and leading. There will be a battle, but only Hawthen knows when.”
“I assume that means there’s no way for Kyrro’s army to take back the mountain?”
“Not from the southern side, where our army is. And there’s no way around without Tenred seeing. It could be days, weeks, or even months before Hawthen attacks the Academy. And if he takes it, the war is as good as lost.”
“Why wouldn’t he order his troops to attack it from the Fjallejon Mountains?” Desil asked.
“Almost every arrow shot down at the Academy would be wasted. It’s too great a distance to be accurate. Fireballs mostly fizzle out at that range, except if Hawthen has a mage with Erwal’s power. But there are innocent people at the Academy. We hope Hawthen won’t order his men to shoot fireballs when it’s just as likely to kill innocents as it is an enemy soldier, but I guess no one can be sure.”
“What about catapults? I assume Hawthen has built some by now.”
“Yes, both sides have, but it’s nearly impossible to get one to the top of the mountains. It might be just as difficult to get a boulder up there to hurl down. There is nothing they can do from the mountains except watch and prepare to attack.”
“Have there been any more talks of peace?” Desil asked.
“No, Hawthen refuses to meet with Allephon.” She yawned.
“Sleep,” Desil told her. “And I’ll get you something to eat when you wake up.”
“I want to hear everything that has happened here. The Krepps may be savages, but they are not boring.”
Desil chuckled. “I’ll tell you all.”
*****
Desil joined Beatrix and Reela during their meeting with Rickik. However, eventually it became clear that he wasn’t needed. Reela spoke with the Kreppen leader in his language, and whenever she had a question, Beatrix had the answer. Desil eventually excused himself to train with Kirnich. From what he’d gathered during his time at the meeting, the arena entertainment would continue, with a few changes. The Krepps had already proven that their race had the best swordsmen in the world for dueling, but humans have proven in the past that they could fight better with a partner than Krepps could. There would still be one-on-one combat in the arena, but much of the focus would shift to teams of two facing each other.
Reela advised that the Krepps should continue to face Beatrix until they learned to resist psyche, but that there also must be lessons given each day.
“You’re the strongest psychic,” Beatrix had told Reela away from Kreppen ears before the meeting. “They should face you.”
