Serpentlord (Rise To Omniscience Book 9), page 31
“And the others?” he asked, looking over to see Sarah heading his way.
She was on her feet this time, having already dismissed the icy wings. Trailing her were Tagar and Fortuna, as well as a dozen gnomish engineers.
“They arrived just a few minutes after Grace started getting the captured people out of their prisons. From reports, they had to fend off a few groups of cultists, but overall, they had a pretty easy time of it.”
“Keep me updated,” Morgan said, giving her a nod.
The crowd broke around him then as he headed away to meet Sarah and the gnomes.
“The battle is over,” Sarah said, giving him a small smile. “The last of the cultists are being killed off. We won.”
“All thanks to you and your bravery,” Morgan said, directing his words at Tagar.
“Don’t thank me for treason,” Tagar said stiffly.
“Is it really treason if you betrayed a traitor?” Morgan asked.
“We don’t have time to discuss semantics,” Tagar said, dodging the question. “We need to get our engineers into Arcane City to activate the portals. In case you haven’t noticed, the tremors are growing worse, and so is the weather.”
Morgan had, in fact, noticed. It would have been hard not to, what with how the winds had been kicking up and the sky had begun flashing with eerie bolts of purple lightning. The ground now trembled and shook nonstop, growing worse and worse by the minute.
“Alright then, hold on,” Morgan said. “And I do hope you haven’t eaten anything because this is going to be a rough ride.”
Sarah took his hand in hers while the gnomes – minus Fortuna, who was staying behind to organize the retreat through the portal once it was operational – grabbed onto whatever parts of Morgan they could.
The world around them warped as Morgan entered the tunnel of space and streaked toward the capital.
***
Grace stood with her arms crossed as she watched Shul direct the escaped prisoners onto the first of the ships. According to him, there were nine-hundred-and-ninety-six in all, each able to carry a maximum of one-hundred-and-twenty passengers. It took eighteen crew members to work each ship, leaving room for just one-hundred-and-two each.
That gave them room for a grand total of 101,592 passengers. While that seemed like a lot of room, and it was, it was still only a fraction of the previous population of Faeland. They weren’t even filling the ships to bursting. By their estimates, they were only loading up around eighty-five-thousand, and that was including the freed prisoners.
Of course, this wouldn’t be enough for the armies, which was why they were still going to have to get to the ships in Arcane City.
“Good news,” Shul said.
He’d put someone else in charge of directing the people onto the ships and had come over to talk to Grace.
“The battle is over. Apparently, the remaining gnomes defected. Everyone turned on Shedra and his cultists, and while there were some losses, they were far fewer than expected.”
“How many still need to leave?” Grace asked.
“Katherine says there are around forty-thousand soldiers, between all the different races, and estimates place another fifteen thousand gnome civilians inside their capital.”
“So few?” Grace asked.
“I know,” Shul replied. “I’m just as surprised as you are. We don’t know why there are so few civilians in the capital, but at least we know that they’ll likely be able to fit everyone on the ships they have.”
“If all goes well, all five races of Faeland will be escaping with a total population of about a hundred-and-thirteen-thousand between them all,” Grace said, her voice somber.
The cost of this war had been high, though she doubted that it was the war itself that was to blame. The World Beasts were at least partially responsible, but without Shedra’s war, they could have saved a lot more.
Shul placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face the ships where shaking elves, gnomes, trolls, dwarves and beastmen all boarded.
“Just think of all those you managed to save instead of those we’ve lost,” he said. “All of those people are alive, thanks to you.”
“But I didn’t save them all,” Grace said. “In fact, I barely did anything.”
“You did more than you’ll ever know.”
Grace turned, seeing the small, shriveled gnome limping up to her. She could see tears budding in the corners of his eyes, and for the first time, she saw an actual smile on his face.
“You remained strong in the face of despair. You fought against your own fate, refusing to bow as I did. While I wallowed in self-pity, you found a way to ensure that every single remaining prisoner would make it out alive, refusing to sacrifice so much as a single life to make it easier on yourself.”
The shriveled gnome pulled a gleaming dagger from his robes, his eyes meeting hers.
“You’ve shown me what true selflessness looks like, and now, I’m going to return the favor. Live well, Grace of the human kingdoms.”
Grace didn’t try and stop him, but neither did she look away as the shriveled gnome drove the dagger into his chest. It was quick, the gnome dropping to the ground as black blood pumped from around the dagger handle.
In the end, the gnome had been able to make a singular choice for himself. By defying Strangler’s will, he was able to die on his own terms.
The ground shook and trembled once more, nearly knocking Grace off her feet.
“Come on,” she said, turning her back on the corpse. “We need to get these people to move faster. I don’t think we have much time left.”
47
Elyssa lunged in with a scream, the earth flowing up into her hand and forming into a stone blade. Shedra threw a powerful punch, his fists sizzling with power, but Elyssa pulled down on the stone wrapping her legs, avoiding the blow and slashing the blade across his belly. Shedra hissed as a long line of red appeared in its wake, though after just a few seconds, greenish goo began to leak out along with the blood.
The elven queen whirled, Shedra turning to face her, but she was only the distraction. Malachi came darting in from the back, his claws extending six feet from his hands as he sliced down, leaving an X-shaped series of slash marks across the traitor’s back.
Shedra screamed, whirling in place and lashing out with a powerful blow. Green light exploded from his arm in a wave, but missed as Malachi sprang upward. A moment later, a hammer cracked into the gnome’s knee, shattering the bone as Ragnar swung with all his might. Shedra’s attack had been aimed at chest-height, and had he still been a regular gnome, that would have resulted in Ragnar taking the brunt of it.
Seeing as he was so much taller now, his attack had gone straight over the dwarf’s head.
Shedra collapsed to one knee, howling in pain as Ragnar sprang back. Malachi darted in then, his hand extending in a swift attack, mimicking a spear-thrust. Shedra threw an arm up, coating the limb in corrosive energy. However, Malachi pulled his attack short. Before Shedra could react, a stone sword exploded from his left shoulder, Elyssa having come up from behind and dealing the devastating blow.
Distracted as he was, Malachi continued his attack, ripping into his forearm and leaving a bloody red trail that began to leak green just moments later.
“You can’t beat me!” Shedra roared, punching the ground with his one good arm and unleashing an explosion of corrosive power.
A hammer caught him in the side of his head, sending his ears ringing and disrupting his attack. Shedra swayed on one knee, his hand reaching for the dwarf and his palm cracking with power, only for a stone dagger to slam into his forearm.
Malachi’s claws pierced his other shoulder a moment later, causing the arm to drop. Shedra opened his mouth, trying to build some energy there, but Ragnar swung his hammer up, slamming into the gnome’s chin and rocking his head back. A stone hammer came crashing down on his nose, causing the gnome to sprawl flat on his back, the force of the hammer blow driving the back of his skull half an inch into the ground.
Shedra stared through bleary vision as the three rulers of the races he’d sought to conquer loomed over him, their bodies silhouetted by the flashing lightning in the clouds overhead.
“This is impossible,” he groaned, his broken jaw grinding out the mangled words. “You’re too weak.”
“We’re not the ones who had to depend on the power of a World Beast, nor did we stab our comrades in the back to start a war of conquest,” Elyssa said coldly.
“This is what happens when you give up your free will and bow to a creature who seeks only our destruction,” Malachi said, kicking the gnome in the chest as he tried to rise.
“I’ve got nothing profound to say,” Ragnar said with a shrug. “You’re a right bastard, Shedra. Rot in hell.”
Ragnar brought his hammer down on the gnome’s face. However, Elyssa could have sworn that the gnome’s eyes had gone dead a moment before the hammer hit home, shattering the twisted creature’s skull and scattering its contents across the ground.
The three of them watched as the body twitched several times, then simply fell apart into a disgusting pile of meat and green goo.
“This monster deserved far worse,” Elyssa muttered, glaring down at the melting corpse.
“Gilderon has been avenged,” Ragnar said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Yeah, but I…”
Elyssa was cut off as the ground shook. Only the fact that they were standing so close together and that her legs were firmly sealed in the ground kept the three of them from being tossed from their feet.
Loud shouts of alarm rang out as the earth began to split, roiling, molten stone beginning to work its way to the surface. Plates shifted, the ground where they stood sinking while the earth before them rose.
There was a massive explosion in the distance, and they all whirled, seeing a thrashing cloud of destruction headed straight for them.
“The World Beasts!” Ragnar yelled, keeping a tight grip on Elyssa’s arm.
A portal opened next to them then, and Katherine stepped through. She grabbed Elyssa by the arm and yanked, dislodging her from the ground and yanking all three of them through.
They collapsed on the other side, Elyssa finding herself on a steep slope as the piece of ground they were on rose, tilting to one side. Below, she could see their forces, yelling and screaming as the commanders and lower-ranked officers tried to get them into orderly lines. Some had already begun marching to the portal, while others were still binding wounds. Several soldiers had been killed in the shifting of the earth and several more had been injured.
She turned back to look at the landscape between her and the World Beasts and felt her blood freeze in her veins. Even as she watched, massive funnel clouds came down from above, slamming into the ground and tearing it up. Lightning flashed, striking down, shattering stone, and splitting the earth. The ground itself began to tear itself up, some floating into the air as though under its own power.
Then, just a quarter-mile away, a gigantic badger exploded up from the ground. Elyssa was tossed from her feet this time, a gigantic cloud of dust and debris flowing out and washing over them all, briefly blinding them.
The cloud was pulled apart by her power as the screams of her forces began to grow, but as the dust vanished, Elyssa began to wish it hadn’t. The badger stomped down, and the earth split and cracked, nearly knocking her down once again. Thousands of tons of stone rose into the air, streaking into the sky and vanishing into the clouds.
For a moment, Elyssa wondered what the Beast could be aiming for, but a moment later, the stones came crashing back down. They were on fire, a half-melted rain of destruction that pelted down on the massive badger, and a moment later, the gigantic Elder Dragon came plummeting from the sky and slammed into the beast.
“Run!” Elyssa yelled, turning and screaming at her forces. “Run, dammit! Run!”
She snagged Ragnar by his arm and shot down the side of the rising earthen plate, using her Liquid Stone to propel herself along. A portal opened directly in her path, and she felt a moment of disorientation before coming out alongside her men.
Malachi bounded out behind her, also yelling for his troops to run. Katherine followed right after, stomping down hard on the ground, and pulled her mace from a pocket dimension. She let out a loud grunt as she swung, a massive section of earth rising to meet the tide of destruction.
She slammed the mace into the wall, sending shards of stone careening back and leaving a massive crater in the ground before her. A wall of destruction washed out to either side, catching some of her men, but definitely sparing more than a few. She whirled then, running up to join them, and the ground continued to tremble and shake.
“What the hell kind of monsters are these?” Katherine exclaimed, leaping over fissure as the earth split wide.
“The world-destroying kind,” Elyssa said grimly.
There was another loud crash as the earth to the left of their running forces split, an enormous shelf spinning up and threatening to crush them. Elyssa pulled a dozen pillars up from the ground, catching the shelf of stone and tossing it back, only for another funnel to come shrieking down from the sky and snagging it.
“Well, shit,” she muttered as the stone was hurled right back at them.
“Hold on, ma’am!”
There was a buzzing sound, followed by a streak of red, as Darv and several Garrison Blue soldiers fired one of the enemy’s cannons, which had apparently been tossed their way.
“Good thinking,” Katherine said as a shower of rubble fell around them.
Stones of this size might hurt when they landed, but they definitely wouldn’t kill.
Darv tried to right the wagon the cannon was on, only to have the earth split open right beneath him, causing the entire contraption to list heavily to one side.
“How about we keep moving?” Elyssa suggested.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Ragnar said, looking back at the destruction wide-eyed.
They were nearing the portal by now, their forces crowding around the area, massing by their only hope of escape. No one would be able to outrun the World Beasts, at least, no one but the most powerful here, and none of them were going to abandon their troops.
“What the hell is going on?”
Elyssa slowed and stopped as she caught up to her forces and saw Fortuna, the gnome who was in command, stalking toward them.
“Ask them,” Katherine said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder.
The gnome growled at them, but didn’t otherwise say anything. The ground trembled again, and Elyssa saw a dark shape in the clouds, growing larger by the moment.
“Brace yourselves!” she yelled, her voice almost cracking from overuse.
A second later, a massive two-headed monstrosity exploded through the bank of clouds, Breaker clutched in its claws and the two of them ripping and tearing at one another. The entire world seemed to shake as they slammed into the ground, and a moment later, another wave of destruction was headed their way.
“All earth Mages to me!” Elyssa yelled, already constructing a wall as the ground trembled and split.
Katherine slammed her foot down, once again raising a section of the ground, and Ragnar moved to help. Malachi, on the other hand, went running to the front to assist in organizing his forces. There was another explosion, and something slammed into the ground next to them in a streak of whirling blue.
“Beatrice?!” Katherine exclaimed as the Queen of the South appeared as the blue funnel vanished.
She was covered in cuts and bruises, her left eye sealed shut, and her clothes in tatters.
“Don’t ask,” she said, breathing hard.
They didn’t have a chance to, as the ground began to split once again, the stone they were standing on beginning to pitch down, dragging soldiers toward them and threatening to drop them all into the boiling magma below.
“Get this ground stabilized!” Elyssa shouted, working to straighten them back out, catch the falling soldiers, and prevent them all from dying a horrible death.
“Wherever you are, Morgan,” Katherine thought, directing her thoughts into her pendant as she braced herself for another impact, “you’d better hurry the hell up, because none of us are going to last much longer!”
48
Morgan appeared inside the gnomes’ capital city, leaving all of those who’d been clinging to him to empty the contents of their stomachs all over the floor.
“What part of the city are we in?” Sarah asked, ignoring the retching gnomes and looking around curiously.
“No idea,” Morgan replied, taking in the soaring columns and smooth marble floors.
“We’re inside the Chamber of the Five.”
Morgan turned to see Tagar staggering to his feet and swiping a hand across the back of his mouth.
“Are we near the portal?” Morgan asked, not really caring much about a building that was going to be destroyed.
Tagar opened his mouth to answer, paused, turned around, and vomited once again before straightening to answer.
“The portal we’re going to be using is just a bit deeper inside the building.”
Sarah wrinkled her nose at the growing puddles on the ground and turned to take in the grand hall. It was eerily empty, the massive room not containing so much as a single person.
“Where are the docks located?” she asked, not turning back to face the vomiting gnomes.
“Shouldn’t be too hard to spot from the air,” Tagar said, still unsteady on his feet but seeming to have gotten over the motion sickness.
“I think I’ll go there then,” Sarah said, now pinching her nose. “Who can I take with me to kick these gnomes into gear and get them moving to the ships?”
