The Midwizard of Cosconia, page 39
“I know,” he said solemnly. “I think she’s under the control of a mind mage.”
Izzie’s heart dropped into her feet. “What did you just say?”
“A wizard came to her before the peace summit. Ruta and I believe she put my mom under some sort of spell and forced her to order the massacre of the dwarves. I can’t prove it, but I know my mother. She would never have done something like that.”
Horror dawned on Izzie as she put the pieces together. She thought out loud. “Dalfa. It’s the only explanation.” She turned to Doren. “It never made sense for your mom to do what she did. I know your father’s death changed her, but at heart she is a good frele. I know she is.”
“Who is Dalfa?” Ruta asked.
“The one we saw in the majalir. The mind mage. She used to be a midwizard, but she got too jaded by the failing Maternal Magic. She quit the field, but when she found out about Gravipar, she insisted war was the only way Cosconians could one day coexist harmoniously here.”
Ruta, who Doren had informed her was a scholar before she was a warrior, finished her thought. “And she needed a catalyst to kick off the war, so she took control of Doren’s mom and ordered the flooding of the tunnel.”
“We have to stop her,” Doren added. “But please—don’t kill her. She doesn’t deserve that. We just have to figure out a way to break Dalfa’s spell.”
“We can do it,” Lago added hopefully. Yet again, Izzie was impressed with the dwarf’s optimism and fortitude during these trying times. With that, all those who had gathered around the Mother Tree trudged out of the conference room, through the nursery and out into the open, where blood sprites buzzed around injured members of every race. Donrel continued to carry his husband, not willing to let him miss a second of the action.
Queen Luxor was blitzing across the island like a halfling headed for second breakfast. She ignored the wounded and the dead, her eyes only focused on Syrel.
“Mom, please wait!” Doren called out as she approached, trying to make peace. “You’re under the wizard’s control again. Fight it mom, fight it! I know you can snap out of it.”
She didn’t even look at her son as he pleaded with her, but her words were chilling. “Nobody is in control of my mind except me.” Far behind the furious water fae, the water of the channel started to coalesce into a mist surrounding the island. Izzie couldn’t believe her eyes, as she was shocked Queen Luxor would have that kind of power. The mist had to contain thousands of liters of water, and typically fae could only control a small volume of water. The mist drifted from the moat toward the center of the island, threatening to wipe out surrounding visibility.
Pyke tried to reason with the enraged queen, even though she knew deep down it would be futile. “Lulu, please. There’s so much you don’t know. Can’t we just talk this out?”
The fae raised her hands, drawing water from her surroundings, and blasted Pyke with one of the most powerful water cannons Izzie had ever seen. The changeling went flying, caught off guard by the brutal attack. How could she possibly be controlling the mist and be blasting off water cannons? Nobody is that powerful… Something was off here, and Izzie had an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Izzie and Syrel were ready to prepare their own attack. She would stick with her vow to not kill anybody, but that didn’t mean she was useless in a fight. Since blood was mostly water, her blood magic Affinity did give her some small level of control over water, and she was always working on her water spell Skills. Izzie raised her wand and shouted “Glaciartus!” to freeze one of Queen Luxor’s water spears and prevent it from hitting Syrel. At the same time, he cast cudrado, a basic defense spell. The frozen water careened away from him and hit Arkan square in the chest, knocking her out instantly. Izzie took her focus away from the battle to quickly glance at the orc, who was thankfully still breathing. She returned her attention to Queen Luxor, who was now frozen in place.
From the mist emerged a face she hadn’t seen in years. The face she used to see for breakfast every morning before class. The face she pictured as she wrote letters while traveling around Cosconia. The face she blamed for starting this entire war.
“Dalfa.”
“Izzie. It’s been a while.”
“Why are you here? Come to finish what you started? Maybe wipe out a few thousand more dwarves?”
Dalfa grimaced. “So you figured out I was behind that. It was a necessary evil.”
“It was certainly evil, I’ll give you that much.”
“That’s rich!” Dalfa laughed harshly. “You’re going to talk to me about evil? We wouldn’t even be standing here if it weren’t for you and your psychotic boyfriend. None of this would have happened without your ritual.” She spat the last word. Dalfa seemed to notice the looks of confusion on the faces of Izzie’s allies.
Dalfa laughed again. “You haven’t told them, have you?”
Izzie clenched her jaw so tightly it hurt. “That’s not relevant right now, Dalfa. This is between me and you.”
“Between me and you? This is between all of us! All of Cosconia!” She turned to address Izzie’s gathered companions. “Your beloved midwizard created Gravipar by sucking the Maternal Magic out of the rest of Cosconia. She is the one responsible for this war, not me.”
“Izzie has been saving lives every single day for decades!” Lago said from beside her. “I don’t care what you think she’s done; you’re a monster who tried to wipe out my entire race!” Izzie was proud of the dwarf for speaking up, but she worried for her safety. She had promised to get Lago home safely so she could continue to raise her adopted child.
“And they say I’m the one who brainwashes people. You’ve convinced everybody here you’re the hero, when really, you’re the most wicked villain of them all.”
“I know I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, Dalfa, but I’m doing my best to atone for them. I started this hospital. I kept on delivering babies, whereas you quit when the going got tough.” Izzie instantly regretted her words, but the battle lines were already drawn.
The mist now almost completely surrounded them. Queen Luxor still remained frozen, leading Izzie to believe she was back under Dalfa’s control.
Dalfa shook her head. “You’re deluded if you think you’re anything but a monster. No matter; it’s time to put this war to an end once and for all.” She magically amplified her voice. “Anybody who wants to live has ten minutes to evacuate the island.” She looked directly at Syrel and then Izzie. “Unfortunately, the offer doesn’t extend to you two.”
Gravipar instantly devolved into bedlam. Anybody who could move, did. Izzie looked on as bloodied orcs and weakened minotaurs stumbled through the mist toward the bridges off the island. There were actually touching displays of camaraderie all around the island. She saw water fae put their arms around the shoulders of humans with missing legs and lead them toward the exit. A giant carried two halflings. Changeling and dwarf freles, babes in arms, streamed out of the nursery and dashed madly to the nearest bridge. The blood sprites emerged from hiding to fly away. A few elves, though they were injured themselves, assisted a group of pregnant halflings who could barely run with their giant bellies holding them back. Izzie hoped they could stumble through the haze and make it off the island.
“Pstttt!” came a whisper from her back. Baggie Smalls. “Is this a bad time?”
“It’s certainly not a great time,” she whispered under her breath. “Do you have any tricks up your sleeves?”
“Maybe if I had sleeves…”
“Do you have something useful to say?”
“Well not if you’re gonna sass me!”
“Can we not do this right now?”
“Fine. I’ve been around you and Syrel for long enough that I’ve developed sort of an… eighteenth sense for the presence of magic.”
What the hells? “Eighteenth?! You have seventeen senses? You’re a glorified purse for cryin’ out loud!”
“I’m going to choose to ignore that because I like you. I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say!”
“Yes yes, spit it out!
“Why is nobody getting wet?”
“Excuse me?”
“The mist is completely surrounding us, but nobody is wet.”
Izzie looked at her hands, which were bone dry in spite of the heavy mist in the air. It must be some kind of illusion… Mind magic, she realized.
“STOP! Everybody stop! It’s a trap! Don’t cross—” Izzie’s voice caught in her throat. She tried to finish her warning, but the words wouldn’t come. She tried to reach for her wand, but her arms wouldn’t work. She couldn’t move her body. She couldn’t speak. With great effort, she was able to slightly swivel her head to see Syrel and Doren experiencing the same problem. Pyke and Ruta had disappeared into the fog to help the evacuation effort. Dalfa had her wand in her hand. She must have cast some kind of spell to freeze them.
She saw Dalfa grin before she spoke. “You’re experiencing a little spell I developed myself. Sivromo. Mind magic that temporarily severs the connection between your brain and your muscles. Makes it awfully tough to move, as you’re probably feeling right now.” Izzie was horrified, but also slightly impressed by the way she was able to use her mental Affinity. “I guess I can let the illusion drop now.”
In an instant, the air around the channel, which a moment prior had been completely obscured with mist, cleared to reveal soldiers of every race poised and ready to fight. Thousands of them. The chaos devolved into a slaughter. The giant who had been carrying two halflings was cut down by a water fae, who subsequently kicked the halflings off the bridge and into the water. Much to Izzie’s surprise, mermaids started popping up in the channel. A trident skewered the murderous fae. Lursa surfaced and liberated the mermaid’s arm from her body. Izzie tried to mentally communicate that, at least according to Pyke, the mermaids were on their side now, but it didn’t seem to work.
A disfigured orc swung a heavy axe and murdered two pregnant dwarves. That face… Kurai. Izzie had thought for sure her one-time captor had died at the hands of the giants, but he must have survived. It looked like he had landed on his face when the giant had launched him across the battlefield, as his teeth were jagged and broken. His nose was almost completely gone, and scars covered his pale blue face. He walked with a slight limp. It didn’t stop him from smiling in her direction as soon as he spotted her.
The remaining troops from every army started pouring onto the island. Skygyr leading battle-hardened giants. Eko at the forefront of armor-clad humans. Drago, Lago’s brother, commanding a small battalion of axe-wielding dwarves. The elves were conspicuously absent, perhaps not wanting to join the fray with their fearless leader, who had remained on the island, wracked with grief. He still had yet to return to his army since Werna’s injury. There were plenty of water fae, so clearly somebody had taken over command in Doren’s absence.
This was it. The final confrontation of the war. Whichever army still stood at the end of this would control the fertile land, granting them the ability to regrow their population quickly and safely. Though Izzie hated to admit it, their motivations made sense. As things stood in Cosconia, going into battle was no more dangerous than getting pregnant. So many of these soldiers had likely watched their mothers and sisters die from pregnancy complications and hoped for a better future in spite of the cost. This was the final push for these armies, in an attempt to secure a future where starting a family didn’t feel like losing a battle.
Everybody was fighting with reckless abandon. A general could throw as many soldiers into harm’s way as necessary to come out on top, since the winning army would be able to take advantage of Gravipar’s improved pregnancy outcomes, while the rest of the armies would take generations to recoup their losses. It was a gamble, but a worthwhile one for the winner.
The island turned into a close-quarters battlefield. Injured soldiers were trampled underfoot as minotaurs charged at giants. Human swords clanged against dwarven shields. Halflings scurried around unnoticed, using their daggers to stab unsuspecting fae. Orcs indiscriminately swung their maces and axes, occasionally even beheading their own comrades. The hastily-erected walls of the nursery fell, and Izzie could see terrified freles huddled in the corner, trying to protect their newborn infants. She was completely powerless to prevent the horror as she saw soldiers casually end lives that had just begun.
Izzie fought as hard as she could against the spell preventing her from acting, but she couldn’t do it. It was obvious to her what was happening here—Dalfa had somehow used her mind magic to convince the remaining armies to make a last stand here and now. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Werna pull himself across the ground by his upper arms. He was just below Dalfa’s sight line, and he slowly snuck up on her. When he was close enough to reach her, he swung his arm up and batted her wand out of her hand, causing her to drop the spell she was holding Izzie under.
“Oh fuck,” she heard the former midwizard say.
Chapter Thirty-Five
All Wars End
The universal slogan of war, she'd learned, was simple: If it had been you, you'd have done no different
—Omar El Akkad
Last Day of the Twelve Race War
Gravipar Hospital
When Werna forced Dalfa to drop the sivromo spell, Izzie immediately went on the offensive. She wouldn’t break her vows, but she could still use her magical abilities to render the attackers powerless. It was extremely difficult to kill a wizard anyway, so she would aim to disable her.
Izzie realized Queen Luxor was on the move again, Dalfa’s spell on her broken as well, charging toward Syrel. Her hands were raised, gathering the water in the air into a sharp spear that would easily impale her fiancé. She knew he wouldn’t fight back, since a part of him still felt like he deserved to die by Queen Luxor’s hand. Thankfully, the queen’s son intervened. He erected a barrier of impenetrable water between the fae and the wizard, stopping her in her tracks. Izzie couldn’t believe her eyes. Thelonius’s son was defending his father’s murderer.
“Mom! Please! You’re focusing on the wrong enemy!”
“Dolara!” Dalfa shouted, attempting to cast a spell on Izzie that would cause excruciating pain. She narrowly dodged the spell.
“Pesangra!” Izzie cast back, attempting to use the same spell to slow the wizard down that she’d used on Lursa. Dalfa blocked it with a flick of her wand.
Izzie had a moment to glance at her surroundings, and she saw Doren occupied with holding his mother back from Syrel, while Pyke, Donrel, and Syrel attempted to fend off the horde of warriors closing in on their position. Ruta positioned her body between Werna and Dalfa, fearing for the elf’s safety after his direct attack on the mind mage. Izzie knew it was up to her to stop Dalfa.
In an effort to create some distance between herself and her attacker, she spun around and cast cudrado behind her back, deflecting a spell Dalfa hurled at her. Before Izzie could completely turn around, she ran face first into a massive orc. She didn’t even have time to register what was happening before he grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her back. She felt something in her right shoulder pop and screamed out in pain.
“’Ello poppet,” a familiar voice hissed into her ear. A lyonium dagger pressed into her throat, causing a trickle of blood to roll down her neck like a bead of sweat. “Say a word and this here knife goes right through yer gullet.”
“The plan is still on, right, old friend?” Dalfa asked Kurai as he held Izzie in a vice grip. “We kill the wizards and then put an end to the fighting?”
“Ay, a deal’s a deal,” he responded, raspy voice hot in her ear.
“And you said you wouldn’t kill any of the freles or babies,” Dalfa said in a pained voice.
Kurai barked a harsh laugh. “All’s fair in love and war, darlin’”
“You’ve truly sunk this low, Dalfa?” Izzie asked, each word causing the knife to dig further into her throat. “You’re going to let this monster kill me?”
“It’s high time you paid the price for all the lives you’ve taken.”
“And what about you? When are you going to pay the price?”
“We all get what’s coming to us eventually, but somebody has to usher Cosconia into this fertile and prosperous new era.”
“Please, Dalfa,” Izzie begged. “It’s me. Can’t we talk about this?”
Dalfa shook her head sadly. “Finish her off.”
This was it. Izzie was trapped between a vicious orcish warlord who seemed like he couldn’t die, and a powerful mind wizard who could probably kill her with a word. Her arms were at an awkward angle behind her back, and her wand was in the pocket of her robe. It didn’t matter, since she couldn’t use her magic with the lyonium dagger at her throat and in contact with her bloodstream.
“I’ve got other plans for the lovely wizard,” Kurai responded. “She’ll be coming with me.”
“No,” Dalfa answered coldly. “She won’t. Either you’ll kill her right here, or I will.”
Is this really what my life has become? Two monsters arguing over whether to kill or kidnap me? She couldn’t move her head for fear of the dagger digging further into her throat, but she cast her eyes wildly about her. There was no sign of Syrel or Pyke, who she knew were both wrapped up in their own battles. Ruta and Werna had disappeared. Doren continued to hold his own mother back from doing anything she’d regret. The intense fighting continued to rage around her, but the common soldiers seemed to be keeping their distance from the standoff. Izzie could still hear the wailing of the freles and babies in the nursery who were rapidly being displaced by the armies that had stormed onto the island.
This ending was fitting for her. Here she stood, in the very land created by her own magical ritual gone horribly wrong. When she had started hearing rumors of the war, in the back of her mind, she had always suspected this would be her fate. As the orc and the wizard argued about what to do with her, the cut on her neck growing wider every time Kurai moved, some of the major events of her life passed before her eyes, almost like they were appearing inside the majalir.
