The Edge of Shadow, page 8
part #5 of The Kin of Kings Series
She released her grasp.
“You must’ve opened a portal to the world of the dead in order to retrieve Alex, and then again for your mother. Do you have the same limitations as I do?”
“Which are?”
“I can only open a portal where energy has been gathered many times, and I can only go somewhere I’ve been before.”
Sanya shook her head. “I don’t have the same limitations, and neither do you.”
“I do. Have you slept at all?”
She swatted her hand at him through the bars. “Don’t waste our time with your worries. You do not have those limitations. You made a portal to the eastern edge of Ovira. Had you been there before?”
“That was different. I had tried to make a portal to the Academy from the Fjallejon Mountains, but we ended up in the Dajrik Mountains because…” He stopped to think.
“Because what?”
“I figured it was because the energy between the two sections of akorell metal was linked somehow. I don’t fully understand it, I’m realizing now.”
“Energy is alike everywhere, and you can’t see how it all fits together. These limitations might prevent you from creating a portal to a specific place, but they aren’t rules. You’ve obviously made a portal to a place you’ve never been before, as have I when I went to the spiritual world. The first time was in Raywhite Forest and the second was in the Takary mansion. I doubt energy had been gathered over time in either of those specific spots.”
“You can make a portal to anywhere?”
“Only to the spiritual world. But I can make a portal there from anywhere.” She made a claw, drawing in all the bastial energy around them. Then she groaned as she spread her hands apart. A small sphere of red—an opening—appeared between them. She dropped her arm, and it collapsed into nothing. She sat on her bed.
Basen was beginning to believe these rules could be broken.
“What kind of damage do these portals do to our world?” he asked.
“I don’t know, but like I told you earlier, they are changing the shape of the spiritual world.”
“So I suppose you don’t know how these portals might affect us?”
“A strain like that probably isn’t good, but I don’t know more.”
He noticed her looking down at the bars in front of his feet. He bent down and put his hand on one of them. The air felt different here, denser yet familiar.
“Have you been gathering energy here?”
“Tell no one.”
He rose and scratched his head.
“If that’s all, there’s something I need to tell you,” Sanya said.
Then he realized what she was doing. “I thought you said you didn’t need an area where energy has been gathered before in order to make a portal.”
“To the spiritual world, yes. But the portals to the spiritual world aren’t as powerful as yours.”
“But you’ve never made one like I have, yet you expect to now?”
“Just because I haven’t doesn’t mean I’m incapable.” She grabbed the bars. “You’re wasting your time with this. I need to tell you about Rockbreak so you can leave and let me get back to it.”
He thought for a while until he decided that he would allow her to drop the subject. He could always tell someone about her plan to escape later if he changed his mind.
“All right, who’s Rockbreak?”
“The dajrik of a man you faced on the mountain and saw again outside the castle before you chased after Tauwin. The one who cannot be affected by psyche.”
Basen hadn’t quite forgotten Rockbreak. He’d just been happily unencumbered by worries of the giant until now. “Is there a secret to defeating him?”
“Not that I know of. I’ve been considering how he’s resisting psyche. He must put himself in a mental state that ignores the shape of his energy. I don’t think he does it on purpose, but it might be something others can learn. Psyche is not the ultimate weapon people perceive it to be. Broken bastial energy, like what I can do, or a solid mental state, like what Rockbreak can do, are perfect examples of complete counters to psychics. I was hoping to research ways people like us can resist the manipulation and teach it to you and your allies, but I might not have the chance. I forgot to mention this during my trial. I want you to tell Terren.”
“All right.”
She bit her lip, looking as if there was more she wanted to say.
“There’s a Slugari colony in Raywhite Forest,” she whispered. “It’s been abandoned.”
“I know where it is.”
“If something happens, I want you to meet me there.”
“I can’t do that, Sanya. In fact, I probably should leave and tell someone you’re gathering energy.”
“Basen, please!” She fell to her knees as she grabbed his hand. “You can’t tell anyone. Don’t you trust me? I’m trying to help your side.”
“I do, which is why I won’t say anything. But you must promise you won’t hurt anyone.”
“I promise. No matter what happens to me, I’m not hurting any more allies. Now promise me you will meet me in the Slugari colony.”
“I’m not sure I can do that. Ulric has people watching the Academy, and I can’t exactly tell Abith I’m leaving for the day.”
“Promise you’ll try,” she pleaded, pulling him down to the floor with her.
“I’ll try.”
“You’re lying! You must mean it.”
“Let go.”
“Not until you mean it!”
Someone was shouting Basen’s name outside the storage house. He tried to stand, but Sanya continued to tug on his shirt.
“Promise you’ll meet me!” she growled.
“I promise! Now let go.”
She finally did. He put his ear to the nearest wall.
It sounded like a Krepp’s voice. “Basen…Basen…where are you?”
“I have to go,” he told Sanya as he ran out.
“Keep your promise! You must!”
He was gone before she could pain him.
“I’m here!” he yelled.
Nebre ran around the side of the building. Relief washed over his face. “Krepps saw someone leaving over the wall. We’ve been looking for you for a while. He has already come back.”
“Did he have long hair tied behind his head and a mean face?”
“No, not Cassius. It was Abith.”
Abith? “That must be a mistake.”
“Don’t you know? He’s the one who wants to betray Terren. It does make sense!”
“No, you don’t know everything about him. He wouldn’t do that.”
“It was him! Many Krepps confirmed.”
“Where is he now?”
“But you don’t believe he is a traitor! You will destroy the surprise if you tell him anything. He doesn’t know we saw.”
“I’m sure he knows. Leaving at this time—human guards probably saw him as well. He needs to explain himself.”
“No, do not tell him!”
“Nebre, you need to trust me. He wouldn’t betray us. Where did he go?”
The Krepp took his time before eventually pointing south. “Toward the stadium.”
Why would Abith go that way? “Don’t lie to me. Where did he really go?”
Nebre heaved a sigh. He pointed west. “Toward the faculty housing.”
Basen ran as quickly as he could. The distance he had to cover was about a mile, and he was seeing spots by the time he got there. Abith was just coming out of his home with his bastial steel sword, a weapon Basen hadn’t seen for quite some time. Abith looked determined as he started toward Basen, then shocked when he noticed his student.
“What are you doing here?” Abith asked.
“Never mind me. What were you doing past the wall, and what are you doing now?”
“Investigating. I need to speak with someone.”
But the way his instructor spoke told Basen it wouldn’t be a conversation but a fight. Basen stayed at his side as Abith walked quickly.
“I’ve been training alone,” Basen pointed out. “It can’t possibly take more than a day to come up with a verdict for Sanya.”
“Of course not. We found her guilty as soon as she left. She will be executed tomorrow. There are other matters that are more important now.”
The news was like a punch to the stomach, stopping Basen completely. He wanted to keep up with Abith; he needed to. But he couldn’t move.
Sanya would escape her cell. They didn’t keep her chained in there. More might die trying to stop her, even though she’d promised not to hurt anyone else at the Academy. Basen was now obligated to say something, but as soon as he told, Sanya would be killed.
Sick with the terrible choice, he ran to catch up with Abith. “What did you find past the wall?”
Abith stopped and spun with a furious look in his eyes. “Who told you I left?”
“The Krepps. They think you’re a traitor.”
He cursed. “I don’t have time to deal with them right now.” Then he broke into a jog.
“What’s happening?”
But the loud and clear call of a clarion came from the south. Battle—an army approaches!
Abith cursed again and grabbed Basen by his shoulders. “Go,” he said. “Join them in the fight, but first tell Terren that I think there’s going to be an ambush from the north.” Abith pushed him. “Go!”
Abith sprinted northeast and was too far away before Basen could think of a single question.
A needle slid down Basen’s spine. His skin hardened as it fell, his bones becoming rocks, his heart bursting with energy. Fire burned in his legs. He would not let the Academy crumble.
He made it to the medical building in no time and yelled his way through. “Ambush from the north! Everyone move to the south wall!” He stormed into the main room, where Alabell had already begun organizing the injured to leave.
“Bring nothing!” she yelled. “If you can run, help those who can’t.” She shot a look over her shoulder at Basen. “Can you carry someone?”
“I have to warn Terren.”
“Then go.”
He darted past the people already evacuating and was first out of the building. He raced all the way to the wall. With Basen coming from the far north, Terren had already organized much of the army here.
“It’s their full force!” Terren yelled. “Show me your bravery. Mages and archers on the wall!”
“Terren!” Basen screamed, but he was stuck behind hundreds of his allies as most people were still making their way to their spots. Basen pushed his way through, but by the time he got to the base of the nearest ramp, the battle had begun.
“Fire!” Terren called.
Mages shot their fireballs, archers loosed their arrows, and Basen screamed for Terren’s attention. The wall was too packed for him to force his way up.
“Terren! There will be an ambush from behind!”
Many troops heard and stared at him with dread, but no officer was among them.
Basen strained his neck for a glimpse through the gate and witnessed the horrifying sight of thousands charging the wall. There were so damn many, did an ambush really matter at this point? Could anyone be spared?
But then Basen got his answer when an explosion of stone shook the earth beneath his feet. He fell, though he was glad to be on the ground as debris flew overhead.
When the rumbling came to an end, he rose up and was sickened to see that it wasn’t just chunks of stone that had moved through the air above him but the bodies of his comrades.
The gaping hole in the Academy’s wall looked like a dog with its teeth missing, a dog Basen had always relied on to protect him.
“Where’s the catapult?” Terren yelled. “There are none in front of us.”
“It’s our own!” Basen answered as he realized the unfortunate truth. “It’s an ambush from behind us.”
“We can’t hold them much longer,” Sneary announced. “They’re coming directly to the hole in the wall.”
CHAPTER NINE
The armored horsemen were the first through, the strength of the beasts too much for even the Krepps in the front line. Basen took a risky shot with his allies so close to his target but managed to strike the lead cavalier with a fireball, sending the enemy soaring off his horse.
It was too little too late, as a horde of other invaders followed the horsemen into the Academy.
Another explosion rocked the wall farther down as a boulder broke through the stone and toppled many archers and mages shooting from atop.
Then came the horde from behind that Basen had anticipated with terror. This was all too perfectly synchronized—this had to have been planned in advance. He noticed the Redfield clock above the charging army of betrayers. It was only a few minutes past the hour. They had planned to strike right at ten. Thousands of them from Tenred, thousands! Every single selfish man who’d come here with Crea now charged to finish off the last of Kyrro’s Allies. How had this happened after psychics questioned every one of them?
Anger struck Basen like a lightning bolt. Was this Abith’s doing all along? No. It had to be someone else. Cassius. Basen saw him at the head of the charge, a sinister grin on his face. Basen was one of the only mages firing upon them, the rest of them panicking with the archers on the broken wall. He struck down dozens, his fireballs large enough to kill two, sometimes three at a time.
But it was not enough. The fight against these betrayers from Tenred would take every ally Basen had, but there was an army of an even greater number pouring through the wall.
“To the east!” Terren yelled. “We cannot be between them. Everyone get to the east.”
The fight raged, swords piercing flesh, many of Basen’s comrades running, others standing to face their enemies against the headmaster’s order.
“If you stay here you will die!” Terren screamed. “You must move now.”
Everyone who disobeyed him was quickly cut down, overwhelmed by enemies. That didn’t stop Basen from disobeying as well, but not by staying put. He had to get to the medical building.
His nerves steeled as courage dissolved all fear. He ran straight for the betrayers, Cassius still at the head, still with his wicked grin.
“Basen, what are you doing?” Cleve yelled somewhere behind him.
“Alabell and Effie were in the medical building!”
If Cleve replied, Basen didn’t hear it. He was too busy focusing bastial energy into his legs. Just before colliding with Cassius, he leapt up and jumped off Cassius’ shoulder. It gave Basen the boost he needed to land on top of the wall of the Group One mage training area. He scampered across as knives sailed by him and quickly scaled the flat roof of the connected classroom.
He halted as he saw it would be quite a leap to the next roof. He took off his training sword and cloak to discard as much weight as he could, then dug deep to push himself to the utmost speed he could reach. He jumped.
Basen braced himself for impact when he realized he couldn’t reach the roof with his feet. He grabbed hold of the edge with his forearms, his chest and knees slamming into the wood. He pulled himself up as more knives barely missed him. Going around the side of the building, many betrayers circled in hopes of him coming down in front of them.
Basen didn’t have it in him to make another jump like the last, and his enemies seemed to know this as they taunted him to try. He dashed across the roof at a speed he was certain none of the men below him could reach. Their taunting came to an end as they struggled to keep up. But Basen didn’t jump for the roof as he’d led them to believe. He leapt off at an angle and came down straight upon the last line of the betrayers. None of these men seemed to have a clue why the rest of their comrades had been shouting about jumping, but a few looked up to find Basen just as he landed on top of them.
He felt their bones break beneath him. Rolling, he avoided enemy swords that accidentally impaled the flesh of the enemies behind him.
“Grab him!” some yelled. But the others ignored the suggestion, swiping wildly at Basen, who zipped around them like a feral cat avoiding capture. They cut more among them as Basen barreled into the few he couldn’t avoid. Hands grabbed at him, but none could keep hold.
He broke free. Some gave chase only to give up after a breath when they saw how much faster he was. Soon he came to the clearing between the classrooms and the stadium. There were many enemies still in front of him. He didn’t know what to make of these men trailing behind their comrades—perhaps they were cowards—but there was no way to trick them into thinking he was one of them. They all wore black uniforms, and Basen recognized some of them from his time in Tenred. Most were too confused to go after him as he ran around them, but others chased him.
They were slow. Basen wished he’d had time to grab a real sword so he could at least kill a few of these men. They deserved worse than death. The entrance to the medical building was blocked by enemies going inside, so he had to go around and hope for an open window. If Alabell was even there.
Basen yelled her name as he circled with many enemies still trailing him. Soon he made it to the first window outside the largest room of the building, where Alabell spent most of her time. A healer in a white coat was crawling out, her face bloody from a head wound. Someone grabbed her from the other side and pulled her back in. Basen jumped in and kicked her attacker off her.
Screams rang out around him as the horrible scene burned in his memory. There were equal numbers of enemies and allies, but hardly any of his allies here were trained to fight. And just like him, they had no blade to defend themselves. None of his allies were being taken prisoner. This was a massacre in the making!
He took out his wand and shot two men cornering a group of injured who were trying to get to Basen’s window. It freed them to escape.
Basen noticed movement from his side. He ducked as he stepped back, his enemy’s blade slamming into the wall. Basen pushed the man’s arm against the wall to keep his weapon pinned. He blocked a punch from the man’s free hand, then delivered his own punch to the man’s wrist.
The sword dropped out of the man’s hand as he squealed. He and Basen fell to the ground in hopes of retrieving it, grabbing each other’s limbs as best they could while trying to pull the other away. Basen got his hand around in front of the man’s face and gathered energy there. It burned his palm, but it did far worse to the man’s eyes. He screamed and turned away as he covered his face.
