Death Mages Ascent: Revised Edition (Death Mage Series Book 1) (24 page)

Chapter 29

              Jaxom saw Celia and her men approaching and knew it was no coincidence that she rode from that direction after the enemy mages had stopped casting. The Southerners now had a far superior advantage in numbers. He continued to hurl magic into the invaders’ ranks, casting the blight, and raising fallen soldiers to fight again. Darian fought valiantly by his side, slaying the enemy one after another only to have each one he killed replaced by two more. The enemy seemed an endless tide that would soon wash them into oblivion.

              Out of the corner of his eye, Jaxom saw a dark shape streak from the air, and readied himself for whatever the enemy had now conjured. Then the blur of darkness ripped one of the attackers from the ground, and he understood. Adriana and Brenin were directing the durgen to tear into the Southerners’ ranks. They must have run out of arrows and were now resorting to direct attacks. The blurs of darkness struck quickly, one after the other. It seemed impossible that his two friends could be doing so much damage alone. His suspicions were confirmed when he got a good look at one of durgen. There was no rider, and only one explanation. Alimar, for whatever reason, had decided to aid them. For once, the defenders held the upper hand as twenty durgen ripped through the enemy. The Southerners began looking up, searching the sky for the unseen creatures, which drew their attention away from the fight on the ground. Just as he felt his hopes begin to rise, three fireballs soared through the air, hitting two of the durgen and narrowly missing a third. The cast had not come from the enemy side, but from behind the Ale’adarian line. Suddenly, Jaxom knew what had happened to Serin and his mages. 

              “Serin has betrayed us,” he shouted to Darian, grabbing the other mage by the shoulder. “We must get to him quickly if we have any hope of ever seeing daylight.”

              The other mage stared at him for a moment as if Jaxom had gone mad. “I know the man is not trustworthy, but even he is not capable of such a thing.” No sooner had the words left his mouth then another of the durgen was struck down by fire at their rear. Understanding and disbelief warred on the ice mage’s face. “What could he possibly stand to gain? If we lose, the Southerners will kill him along with the rest of us.”

              “I don’t know, but if we don’t stop him, it won’t matter,” Jaxom replied.

              “What can we do? We do not have horses to reach him in time.”

              “Let me worry about that. We just need to get out of here quickly,” Jaxom said, a plan already forming in his head.

              “Stay right behind me,” Darian said, turning to run through the Ale’adarian soldiers circling them.

              Jaxom reached out to his two of his risen mages, commanding them to ride hard for where he and Darian would come out of the thick fighting… if they came out. Once they were clear of the circle, walls of ice began erupting every ten feet to either side in front of them, carving a trail through the battle that allowed them room to run. Any Southern soldier unfortunate enough to be caught between a set of walls was cut down by a bolt of ice through his chest. Sheathing his sword, Jaxom ran after his friend.

              After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only minutes, they burst forth from the entangled armies to find his risen mages casting at any target nearby. Darian collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily. Grabbing him under the shoulder, Jaxom boosted him up behind the risen ice mage before climbing up behind the other. With a command from Jaxom, the risen kicked their horses to a gallop. Darian was nearly thrown, forcing him to grab on tightly to the waist of the risen mage. As they neared the location, Jaxom saw more flames and chunks of stone flying forth to strike down durgen or Ale’adarian soldiers. Serin was not alone. Looking over the shoulder of the risen fire mage, Jaxom could make out four figures sitting atop horses in the gloom.

              The risen mages raised their hands, sending forth magical death at the traitors. The mage he rode behind threw spheres of flame that were met by a wall of fire absorbing the attack easily. An earth mage tried to raise a wall of stone before him but was not quick enough. The wall only climbed to the height of his horse before several icicles struck him in the neck and chest. Jaxom cast a black veil between the groups before jumping to land at a run, drawing his sword along the way. Darian dismounted in a similar fashion, flinging ice and frost as soon as he was on the ground. Balls of flame shot through the veil at random, striking the ground around Jaxom and showering him in a spray of dirt and stone. Passing through the veil, he came out next to the fire mage who had survived the first attack. He swung his sword, cleaving halfway through the mage’s leg. The traitor clutched at the gruesome wound, screaming. Reversing his blade, Jaxom drew it across the man’s throat, silencing him forever.

              Looking to his left, Jaxom saw Darian holding both hands forward, a steady stream of frost fighting against the remainder of Serin’s allies. The traitorous mage countered by casting a solid column of flame. The two men seemed in a deadlock until his friend redoubled his efforts, overpowering the fire mage, first pushing back the flame, then overwhelming it completely. The traitorous mage was helpless as the stream of frost enveloped him. He brought his arms up in a futile attempt to defend himself as his body froze solid. Jaxom found Serin sitting calmly on his horse observing the fight. Outnumbered four to one, Jaxom thought he would have no choice but to surrender. A wall of flame fifteen feet in height erupted around the former leader of the mages, protecting him from the small group who continued to fling magic at him.

              When it was apparent that nothing was getting through, Jaxom ordered his risen mages to cease their attacks. “Give up, Serin. You can’t win,” Jaxom yelled to the man through the flames.

              “I should have killed you the first day you arrived at the palace, boy,” Serin growled. “You have proven to be more trouble than I anticipated. Or’Keer told me to remove you, but you hardly seemed the threat he thought you would be.”

              The man served the dark god? “You probably should have, but it doesn’t matter now. The Southerners will soon be defeated.”

              Serin let out a long laugh that sent chills up Jaxom’s spine. “You have no idea what you are up against. This little fight is but a sidenote in what is to come. Ale’adar is the first kingdom of many that will soon fall to my god. Even as we speak, the palace has been taken, and soon all within the city will serve Or’Keer or die. Whatever force is left after tonight’s battle will not be able to take the prize that we have claimed.”

              Fear ran through Jaxom as he recalled Alimar’s warning about servants of Or’Keer hidden within the city. “Surrender, Serin. I promise that you will be treated well,” he said.

              The other mage laughed again. “You still do not understand,” Serin said. Hearing a thump, Jaxom glanced to the right where a winged durgen bearing Alimar had landed. “I am glad you have shown yourself, Alimar. Or’Keer will be pleased to have both you and this upstart out of the way. He was not happy when he found out that you had betrayed him.”

              “Our deal no longer suited me,” Alimar said with a wave of his hand. “And the dark god made promises that he had no intention of keeping.”

              “Fool, what are your petty plans compared to the power that service to Or’Keer would have brought?” Serin said. “Kill the boy now. Perhaps my lord will forgive you.” Alimar did not move. “Very well, I was going to kill you anyway.”

              The former leader of the mages lowered his head and began to speak quietly to himself, praying. The darkness around him began to deepen and grow, as if Serin had become a blight in the night itself. Within seconds, the fire mage was enveloped in a blackness that hid him completely. In a panic, Jaxom ordered his risen mages to attack and cast the blight into the wall of fire. Darian and Alimar joined in the assault, but it did not matter. Nothing got though the defenses.

              Serin’s body doubled in size as a dark mass rose from within the circle of flames. Before he completed his transformation, two forms streaked in from the sky, raking at the darkness. On the durgen’s second pass, Serin lashed out with clawed hands, shredding the durgen in midair. The horse he sat on began to whinny and shift as the mage grew heavy. Serin brought his claws to bear on its neck, severing the horse’s head. Now standing over the carcass, the fire mage’s head rose just over the flames. His new body rippled with muscles, and his mouth had become a maw of black fangs large enough to swallow a man at the shoulders. Arms hanging to his knees ended in five curving claws as long as swords.

              Darian sent large bolts of ice to shatter on the creature’s head, while Alimar cast a long thick stream of white smoke to wrap around its neck. Nothing they did had any effect. Serin laughed, a deep rumble, at the futile attempts. The sound reverberated in Jaxom’s chest. Serin easily severed the white smoke with one swipe of a claw.

              “Jaxom, what do we do?” Darian yelled.

              Jaxom looked about at his allies. The two risen mages continued to hurl magic as Darian waited for an answer. Alimar had commanded the durgen into the air where he redoubled his efforts to no viable effect. Glancing down at himself, he realized he still wore the bone armor. He had become so used to maintaining the magical bonds that held it in place, he no longer even noticed it. Jaxom brought his eyes up to meet Darian’s and smiled.

“Do you remember what happened after we had our match?” Jaxom asked. The other mage looked confused, but Jaxom had already command his two risen to perform the test that would detect a mage, the same test Darian had shown him that day in camp after their match.

The risen each raised a hand and directed a flow of energy into Jaxom who could already feel his power growing as his body absorbed the power. Darian must have caught on to what was happening because Jaxom soon felt his friend’s energy added as well. What was most surprising was that a fourth flow connected with him, further feeding the power that was now coursing through him. It was nothing like he had ever felt before. He thought that he could reanimate an army of soldiers. He fought the impulse to revel in the feeling of power because they did not have the time. He cast his hands out and down, and the ground around him erupted. Thousands upon thousands of bones ripped from the earth to spin around him in a hurricane of white. He felt himself begin to grow as the bones attached themselves to the armor he already wore, shaping a body of white to match the creature Serin was becoming. Centered at the chest of his creation, Jaxom created limbs. He formed a long, sword-like appendage on the right arm. Two glowing holes in the head allowed him to see outside of his self-made tomb.

Jaxom saw that he had finished his new body just in time. The flame wall around Serin had gone, leaving the shadow creature Serin had become. “I see you have learned some new tricks, boy, but they will not save you,” Serin said in a strange rumbling voice. Jaxom wanted to reply with a witty retort but realized he had no means to project his voice as the fire mage had done. “Nothing to say? Just as well, the sooner we finish here the sooner I can return to rule over my new city in the name of Or’Keer.”

Jaxom was grateful that the man had taken his silence for stoicism. He might very well have died from embarrassment had Serin known that he could not speak in his current form. With a quickness Jaxom had not expected, Serin launched himself forward, swinging a clawed hand. Bringing the bone sword up, Jaxom caught the claws on its edge and felt the bonds holding it together weaken slightly. He redoubled the magic to make the bonds hard once again. Jaxom brought his free hand up to punch the dark creature, but Serin caught it with his other hand. With both arms now locked in place, the monstrous maw bit into Jaxom’s shoulder, tearing away bones by the dozen. Knowing he could not last long under such abuse, Jaxom thrust Serin away. Serin rushed again only to be met by a swing of the bone sword that carved a rent through his chest where his true body was. More cautious now, the transformed fire mage circled to the left, forcing Jaxom to turn with him when the creature lunged, swiping with its claws. Jaxom brought his arm up to block the attack while thrusting low with the sword, piercing the creature’s leg. Jumping back, Serin was obviously less sturdy on the limb than he had been, and even as the wound began to close, Jaxom could see that it was doing so slowly. Pressing the advantage, he swung the sword in a downward arc that the creature tried to block but losing one of its claws in the process. It retaliated with the other hand, raking more bone armor from Jaxom’s chest. Deep within the protection of the many layers of bone, his true body felt the impact of the claws send waves of pain through him. Lashing out with a fist, Jaxom connected again and again with the dark creature’s head. His blows snapped many of the teeth and almost ripped the low hanging jaw away completely. Changing tactics, Jaxom aimed for the core of its body. With the sword still entangled with the left clawed hand, Jaxom pounded away at its chest even as the claws ripped more of his own bone protection away. The duel had turned into a brawl as each man struggled to be the first to get to the other.

In the end, Serin retreated, releasing his grip on Jaxom’s sword and stepping back. With the wound on his leg halfway closed, he looked even more unsteady than before. Serin turned to swing at the risen ice mage, tearing his body and the horse he rode apart. Jaxom instantly felt the loss of power and knew Serin had found his weakness. Commanding his remaining risen mage to retreat to a safer distance, he hoped that Alimar and Darian would do the same. Serin lashed out at Alimar, trying to snare him from the air, and the other death mage narrowly avoiding the attack by climbing higher.