A Dagger of the Mind (The Imperial Metals) (31 page)

“Not if you leave now,” Frost said. “I was able to slip into the Dreamscape seconds before my body perished. And that is where you are now. Seconds away...”

“I have to help my friends.”

“You saved them all,” Frost said. “Now save yourself.”

“I want to say goodbye,” Vye said.

“You can’t.”

“I don’t want to die.”

“You won’t.”

“I will! I’m sorry to shatter your illusion, but what you’ve been doing isn’t living. You’ve been waiting. Remembering. But you haven’t been ALIVE.”

“It’s the best I can offer. I’m sorry, life isn’t fair.”

“Neither is death.”

“So be it, but you have only seconds to decide. Do you want to vanish from the world of the living? Or do you want to stay in the Dreamscape with me, and continue the fight? You have to make a choice.”

---

The Wave receded. The rafts that had been carried on the water were swept back out to sea, ricocheting off one another, top-sizing, splintering. But they gained their bearings and righted their courses. They were delayed, but they were still determined. They would be coming ashore, one way or another.

But Nuria wasn’t watching the ocean. She was staring up at the sky. Her eyes were fixated on where Vye had been when the spell had finished. Her mentor, her friend, had been floating there. Aglow with magical energy. And then, just as the wave had subsided, she had evaporated. Vye had just ceased to exist.

A tear fell down Nuria’s cheek. She might have been able to play it off as the residual rain, but nobody could blame her. Vye. The Sorceress. The Countess. The indestructible one. Was gone.

“What happens now?” Landora asked Duncan, both of whom stood beside Nuria, both staring at the same spot in the sky.

“She gave herself so we would still be here. Now we fight.”

“No,” Nuria said, turning to the ocean, and the army that descended upon them. She glared out at her enemies, enough hate in her thirteen year-old eyes to account for lifetimes of malevolence, “Now we win.”

Book
7

Awake

Chapter
56: The Battle of Anuen

Duncan looked out over the beach. The Rone army and the Turin army were still sighing their relief. But they were still full of trepidation. As far as either was concerned, they were at War. They had just survived what should have been a deadly tidal wave. It seemed someone had wanted to kill them both. But now that that danger was passed, they faced off once again.

Duncan grabbed Landora’s wrist and dragged her with him.

“Where are you taking me?”

“We have to get organized,” Duncan shouted. “And we really, really don’t have a lot of time.”

Indeed, the enemy rafts were already paddling back to the shore. The receding tidal wave had washed them far out to sea, but not far enough. They would still land on the beach in under thirty minutes.

Duncan ran into the Castle. A few guards here and there tried to say something, or stand in his way, but there was just something about the way Duncan kept running that made them think better of it. They had just watched Countess Vye evaporate and a Tidal Wave almost wipe out their city. Each of the guards, in his own mind, had secretly resigned. This shit was getting too real.

So Duncan led Landora up to the Grand Balcony, where Emily and the rest of the Council stood.

“Who’s in charge?” Duncan shouted.

“It’s...not entirely clear,” Emily admitted.

“Where’s Landos?”

“Accused of Treason,” Emily said. “And dead.”

“What?! How did this happen?”

“Well, Jareld came in and proved--”

“Did you say Jareld? The historian?”

“Yes,” Sir Gaelin of Trentford chimed in.

“I thought he was dead.”

“He wasn’t,” Emily said. “Anyway, he uncovered the Queen’s affair with Landos, and proved to us that Prince William isn’t the Prince.”

“OK, fine,” Duncan said. “Who’s the new Magistrate?”

“Jareld,” James said.

“OK, get Jareld.”

“He’s not himself right now,” Emily explained. “His mind might still be under the influence of the demon. Guards are currently holding him in his room.”

“Great Halinor!” Duncan exclaimed. “OK, listen, this is Landora. She’s just become the head of the Turin-Guarde. I need her to make an announcement with whomever is in charge of the Rone, so we can get our two armies not to fight each other, and to instead fight those guys out there.”

“So, you need to know who’s in charge?” James asked.

“You mean, right now?” Gaelin added.

“Yes!”

“Can we just put you in charge?” Emily asked.

“What?” Duncan asked. “No. I’m just...I’m the High Lieutenant of the County of Deliem.”

“Actually,” Emily said, “You’re the temporary Count of Deliem.”

“No,” Duncan protested. “I’m not a Count. I barely have the rank of a Knight--”

“Your Countess just died,” James said. “I mean, she kind of...vanished, I guess. Anyway, that means until her heir is formally inducted, you’re in charge of the County.”

“And since,” Emily went on, “None of us here hold the rank of Count or higher, you actually are in charge.”

Duncan stared at the Council. Did they not want to be in charge? Were they intentionally throwing this responsibility on him? Perhaps if he had witnessed the chaos of the previous few days, the rise and fall of factions, the rampant politics, he would have understood.

But it was more than that. Duncan was walking and talking with the confidence of a leader. And they all recognized it. They all felt safer in his hands than they would have been in any of theirs.

“Fine,” Duncan said. “I’m in charge. Ready the catapults and the ballista. Wait for my signal. Set up the War Room. I need to know how many troops we have and where. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Landora, come with me. We have to make a speech.”

“I’m not good at speeches.”

“I’ll do all the talking,” Duncan assured her. “You just translate.”

Duncan ran to the edge of the balcony, overlooking the two armies. He shouted for their attention. In the silence that had followed the Wave, he actually got everyone’s attention. They were listening. Duncan began his speech, and Landora translated for the Turin:

“Our people do not have to be enemies,” he said. “There is no law of nature that makes one of us superior to the other. There is no law of state that insists we be at each other’s throats.

“I know that Queen Sarah died at the hands of the Turin Regent, but it was a trick. It was designed to make us enemies. We recently held a Peace Festival, right here in this city. And I know many of you are skeptical. My fellow citizens of Rone, we were taught that the Turin are a savage people. That peace does not come to them naturally. That they want nothing but to destroy us. But I have been to their lands, and I can tell you this is not true. They want only the best for their children. For their future. Except for the vicious Argos, who led them astray, they do not seek to destroy.

“And to the Turin people, please know that we are not the same men and women who conquered your ancestors. We are not all good or perfect. We have flaws. We are mortal. But we are trying to learn from our past sins. We did not seek out conflict with your people. We really do wish to live in peace.

“The enemy who approaches our shores is more dangerous than any we have ever faced. Greater than Rone the Great, when he conquered the Turin people. Greater than Argos of the Turin-Sen, who invaded our country six years ago. We stand no chance-- None-- if each nation fights him alone. Our only hope is to stand side-by-side. To fight as brothers. To defy him as One.

“Soldiers of Rone! Will you fight?”

The Rone army clapped their spears upon their shields, shouting a great, “Hoorah!”

“Soldiers of the Turinheld,” Duncan said in the Turin language, “Will you fight?”

The Turin soldiers drew their swords, and as one, shouted, “Tempo Avara Sai!” A common battlecry which translated roughly as, “Now is the time for War!”

“Turn and face the enemy!” Duncan said, “For they are upon us. FIRE!”

The catapults released. The Ballista shot their bolts. The first flurry of ammunition hit the approaching army. The two armies turned and faced the ocean as the first boats arrived on the sand.

The battle had begun.

---

The invading army was numerous. They outnumbered even the combined forces of the Rone and the Turin two to one. But Grimsor’s army had been counting on a tidal wave to do most of the work for them. Their entire battle plan had been to ride the wave in. Roughly a third of their ships would have coasted right onto land, their soldiers would have disembarked, and they would have been on mop-up duty, as they expected their enemy to have lost their footing to the Wave.

But instead, they had to paddle extra hard against a receding current, and they floated to shore only a few ships at a time. And the Rone soldiers were right on top of them. Even on the sandy ground, they had better footing and slightly higher ground. They chopped up each crew as it landed.

Xerxes and Xanathos became the de facto leaders of the ground troops. Though they could only speak Turin, their intentions were clear enough.
At
one point,
Xerxes
waved to a Rone Captain, then lifted a raft out of the water, carried it onto the sand, and turned it over. Grimsor’s soldiers tumbled out like apples from a basket, and the Rone Captain advanced his men on the pile, stabbing them to death. When the grim task was done, he returned a salute to the Turin mages.

Nuria did what she could, but mostly she ran back and forth across the beach, healing any soldier she could find. The enemy ignored her, a waif of a girl scampering across the beach without a weapon. She kept running and healing until she exhausted herself. When Duncan arranged for medic tents to be set up on the hill, she retreated there, and healed any soldiers who could be carried to her.

Duncan and Landora commanded things from the Castle. Emily had set up the War Room, giving them her best guess about which units were where. Duncan went to work maneuvering troops, moving supplies, calling in reinforcements and retreats. His managerial skills translated well to conducting a battle, so long as he could translate people and equipment into resources in his mind.

The sky had cleared, the storm blown away in a strong southern wind. In the bright sun, the Rone and the Turin turned all their advantages to their favor, beating back the endless ranks of the enemy. For the remainder of the day, they were winning.

But then Selene showed up.

She had exhausted herself from miles away, launching the tidal wave against Anuen. She had expected the battle to last less than an hour after that. But Vye had countered her, and now the army actually had to win a battle. And they were motivated more by the fear of Grimsor behind them than the glory of victory before them. They had lived too long without Grimsor. They didn’t know what it meant to serve the great demon.

Grimsor himself did not want to be in this battle. He had other fronts of the war to fight, namely in the minds of his enemy. So Selene would have to do cleanup in the land of the waking.

She flew in, as mages are wont to do. And she wasn’t subtle about it either. She had been waiting on the galleon, way at the back of the armada, watching the progress of the battle. But as the sun set and the moon rose, she streamed out across the water. Aglow with the pale blue light, as though channeling the moon through her body.

The lookout saw her coming, and the alarms were sounded. It was odd, sounding the alarms in the middle of a battle. Danger was pretty much three paces in every direction from any living person. But Selene was dangerous, and it was clear she had to be handled.

She landed in the middle of the battlefield, halfway up the slope of the beach. She spun once around, a stream of lightning arching out of her fingers and smashing into every Rone and Turin soldier within thirty paces of her. They crackled in the electrical stream before falling over, dead.

Landora swept into the medical tent. Nuria was there, scampering from bed to bed, healing every soldier in turn. Just enough to keep them from dying. There were so many injured, she had to conserve what energy she could.

“Nuria,” Landora called, “We have to go. One of the mages who attacked Countess Vye is out there.”

“I’m too tired to fight,” Nuria said. “I’m worn to the bone.”

“Then you’re going to have to fight with your bones,” Landora said. “It’s going to take everything we have to deal with her.”

And she ran out of the tent. Nuria took a deep breath. She didn’t think she could do much, but if anything could motivate her, it was the opportunity to hurt one of the people who had attacked Vye.

---

Nuria ran out onto the beach, where she found the fight with Selene had already begun. Landora had joined the Twins, and the three of them were attacking Selene from three sides. Nuria decided it was time to make it four.

Selene saw that she was surrounded, but she had other tricks up her sleeve. She launched herself into the air, floating above the others. While Nuria could do some minor levitation, and the Turin-Guarde could do a little more, none of them could maneuver the way she could.

“Keep her away from the city!” Landora shouted, repeating the command in Rone for Nuria’s benefit. The mages all ran north along the beach, forcing Selene to float in their direction. The villainess fired bolts of lightning down at the others, who could only throw their hands up, deflecting the magical attacks.

Nuria couldn’t keep up. She tried levitating a few feet off the ground and pushing herself north, but that only tired her out more. There was no way she could keep running on the sand at the same pace as the three adult mages.

She tripped and flopped into the sand. Every ounce of her body was bruised. But she was still angry enough to want to destroy Selene. Fine, she thought. If I can’t fight her with my body, I’ll fight her with my mind.

She rolled onto her back, staring up into the clear night sky. The stars sprinkled light over the naked beach, and Nuria closed her eyes. She hoped she was far enough out of reach of the battle that she wouldn’t get trampled by some random soldiers.

She reached out in her mind, tracking her steps back along the beach, up the slope, to the West Tower, and into Castle Anuen. Her mind drifted down the steps, into the armory. The battle had happened so suddenly, none of the nobles had been given time to get their armor on. And even in the hours since, it didn’t seem helpful, as the sandy beach was the worst terrain for them.

So Nuria found plenty of empty suits of armor lying around. Her favorite. But then, on her way to the armory, she saw something else. Something even better...

---

Landora
shielded
Xanathos
from another blast from Selene. The flying mage may not have been fighting at full strength after launching the Wave, but she was still packing quite a punch. And none of the attacks the Turin-Guarde had fired back seemed to do much at all.

She got even more worried when she felt a thump in the ground. It was like four tons of rock had just dropped on the beach, and she was feeling the impact through the
soles of her feet.