The Path Of Peace (The Cremelino Prophecy Book 3) (22 page)

Suddenly, a white light rose in
the air between the two armies. The party stopped and looked toward the border.
A milky translucent sheen filled the air. Mezar could hear shouts of confusion
as the apparent barrier seemed to spread and grow larger.

A warm feeling of accomplishment
from Star came through Mezar’s bond with his Cremelino. His tilted eyes opened
wide as Star informed him of the barrier and the fourth wizard power.

“How long can they hold?”
Christine asked after Mezar had relayed the information to the group.

“A long time apparently,
especially with the powers of the Cremelinos now helping,” Mezar informed her.
“Let’s get closer.

The group rode up to the rear of
the army. The ranks of the Gildanians held, just barely. Their disciplined
training kept soldiers from running away from the barrier.

Mezar felt power crackle in the
air and saw a bolt of fire hit the wall. That would be his father or one of his
wizards. They must have marched forth with the army. Multiple barrages of power
tried to crack the barrier, but to no avail. It stood firm.

Soon, however, he noticed smaller
groups of men going off to the sides, trying to circumvent the barrier to the
west and east. As they did, the barrier just expanded further. Mezar stood in
awe at such power.

“How will we get back?” Christine
asked. “The barrier is growing.”

“You are right. We can’t have you
trapped on this side. We need to get you back to Darius.” Mezar motioned for
the group to follow. “Ride quickly to the eastern side. Let’s try to get around
the barrier!”

They rode to the edge of the
barrier, but as they neared it, it expanded once again and they bumped into the
invisible barricade. Mezar got down from his horse and walked next to Star,
examining the wall.

“Star. Do something,” Mezar
cried. “We have to get the Queen back to Darius.”

Suddenly a group of soldiers
approached them. Leandra and Christine hung back, while the men walked out to
meet the commander of the small group.

“I am Prince Mezar Alrishitar,”
Mezar shouted while they still approached.

The leader of the soldiers
hesitated. “My Prince. We have ongoing orders to bring you in should we find
you.”

Gregor, the other wizard in
Mezar’s group, brought forth his hands. Mezar felt power building.

“No, Gregor.” Mezar put his hand
on his friend’s arm. “We will not fight our own people.”

Gregor stopped but glared at the
soldiers.

Mezar stepped forward. “I will
allow you to take me, but the others will be free to go.”

The head soldier inclined his
head. “The orders are only for you, Prince Mezar.” He said it almost
apologetically. A soldier only doing his duty. “I am fine with the Gildanians
leaving. However, the two Realm ladies I will have to take in for questioning.”

Christine looked at Mezar and
shook her head to the side. He could not let her be taken again. Two of the
soldiers raised bows.

Star touched his nose to the
barrier, and an irregularly shaped door appeared. Without thought, Christine
grabbed Leandra’s hand and dove through.

Arrows whizzed through the air
and into the opening. One hit Christine in the side. She screamed, and Leandra
caught her. The barrier closed and sealed itself again. Mezar could see the
wound bleeding in Christine’s side as Leandra lowered her to the ground.

Gregor wheeled on the group of
soldiers and shot out a blast of air, knocking two of them to the ground but
not killing them.

The commander motioned for his
men to grab Mezar.

“I told you I would come.
Shooting them was not necessary.” Mezar gritted his teeth.

“Just doing my duty, my Lord.”

Duty. That is what Mezar had to
do now. Duty to his country above supporting his father. He looked back through
the shimmer again at Christine and whispered under his breath, “Darius, it’s up
to you now. I returned her to your land as promised.”

He nodded to his friends, and
they took off on their horses. The two Gildanian soldiers picked themselves up
off the ground.

Mezar grimaced in determination
as he allowed the soldiers to tie his hands and march him to the middle of his
father’s army camp. Now he would meet his father head on and stop this battle
from destroying two kingdoms.

THE POWER TO BIND

W
izard, Christine is through the
barrier, but she is injured.
Lightning spoke to Darius.
I felt a spike
of pain through the bond southeast of here.

“Christine!” Darius’s heart leapt
with joy at the thought of seeing her again, but pain filled his soul to think
of her hurt. How long had it been now since they bade farewell on the road
south of Mar? Seven weeks? Eight? So much had happened.

“I have to go and find her,”
Darius said out loud.

Roland stood by him. “My Lord,
the barrier?”

“Don’t you think I know that,
Captain?” Darius snapped at him. Thousands of people were being protected by
the barrier that the High Wizard, Danijela, the Cremelinos, and himself held
up. If it came down, there would be war, and thousands would die on both sides.

He took a deep breath and turned
back to Roland. His shoulders sagged. “You are right Roland. I cannot leave.
But you can.”

“Sire?”

One more time, he thought about
running to find Christine and leaving the others to hold the barrier. All he
wanted right now was to hold her again, to feel her in his arms. His mouth
tightened in frustration. Darius looked at the other wizards holding up the barrier
with him. He could see a tightening around the High Wizard’s eyes. It wasn’t
fair for him to choose between his wife and his people. But wasn’t that the
choice a King faced all the time? It was his duty to use his powers to protect
his people.

“Captain Commander, as much as I
want to find my wife myself and hold her again,” Darius spoke with thick
emotion, “my main duty is to all of my people. I now entrust you to find and
rescue my wife and return her to me. It is the greatest trust I can give you.”

Roland gave a formal bow. “I will
not fail you, my Lord. I will find her and return her to you as soon as
possible.”

“Take Jakob and Lightning with
you. Maybe the bond with her Cremelino will help you find her,” Darius
instructed.

“I want to go also,” Jain said,
walking up to the group. He had accompanied Cray and had been helping the
battalion as they traveled. “After all, she is my sister. If anything happened
to her . . .”

Darius smiled at his
brother-in-law. “Very well. I understand. Please hurry and bring her back
safely.”

Roland obeyed, gathering the two
young men in quick fashion, and headed southeast out of the camp. Once they
cleared the camp, they began to run.

Darius closed his eyes and
pleaded with God for his wife’s safety. He could feel the power soaring through
his veins. He tried to reach out through the Cremelinos to find his wife but
was met with nothing. Tears leaked from his eyes and ran down his face. He was
not ashamed. It was his wife!

Scanning the two armies, he
wondered how they would disarm the conflict. He noticed flashes of light hit
the barrier from the other side and surmised that the general had wizards with
him also. Could they hold on? Was it only a matter of time until they broke
through?

For now, the three wizards and
the Cremelino wizards held the barrier, but it would not hold forever.

* * *

Prince Mezar was brought before
his father. They stood facing one another in the command tent. Mezar held his
father’s gaze with fierce determination to see this through according to the Emperor’s
wishes. Guards circled the perimeter inside and outside of the large tent.
Other commanders joined them inside.

“Mezar, I could guess you were
involved in this,” he said to his son.

“Involved?” Mezar let his anger
show. “You are the cause of this.” He spread his arms around, pointing at the
camp. “I have done nothing against you. This is your doing, and it needs to
stop. What has possessed you in this ridiculous endeavor, Father?”

“Stop?” The general took a step
forward. “You are telling me to stop? I am your commanding officer. You obey
me, both as your general, heir to the throne, and as your father, Mezar.”

A man standing with a hooded
cloak back in the shadows walked up, put his hand on the general’s arm, leaned
in, and whispered something in his ear. He was short with skin color slightly
darker than Mezar’s own. His skin was covered with intricate tattoos. Mezar
felt power radiating from the man, and realization dawned on him that this was
one of the eastern kingdom wizards he had read about in his studies.

“What is he doing here? What have
you done, Father?”

“He is helping me to understand
what needs to be done to bring peace to our western lands,” Mezar’s father said
almost mechanically.

Mezar recoiled and took a step
back. His father was mad, but this eastern wizard was dangerous. He breathed in
deeply and proceeded with his plan. Pulling a scroll out of the inside of his
shirt he handed it to his father.

His father’s face contorted with
rage as he read the document. “How dare he.”

“You brought this on yourself,
Father. As the scroll says, you are now relieved as general of the army,
effective immediately.”

The guards and commanders in the
room gasped. A scowl covered the face of the eastern man.

“I will not obey this,” his
father stated. Pointing to two of the guards, he said, “Take my son out of my
sight. He is a traitor to his kingdom.”

The guards hesitated. One of the
general’s commanders stepped forward in front of Mezar. “Is this true, my
Prince? Does this come from the Emperor himself?”

“It does, Commander. The Emperor,
in light of the general making his own decision in direct disregard to the
Emperor’s wishes, has formally removed him from command. A hearing will be held
back in Gildan to determine if any further action is needed and who else might
be responsible.” Mezar glanced at the eastern man, but the man seemed to be
slipping away further behind the crowd. Mezar would have to deal with him
later.

“Take him,” his father yelled
again, his veins bulging out from his neck.

“I am sorry, General Alrishitar,”
the commander said. “The Emperor has ordered this. We had assumed that you were
acting under his authority. Guards, please escort the former general out of the
command tent. He is no longer in command.”

Mezar’s father looked around frantically
for his eastern supporter, but the man had totally disappeared. Turning back to
the room, he struck out physically at first, then magically. He punched two
guards and drew his sword on a third. The tent was small, and chaos reigned.
Blue fire grew around his hands, and he twisted it out at the others, burning a
hole in the side of the tent.

“I will have that barrier down
and we will attack,” he screamed.

Other wizards, beholden to the
general, ran to the tent and escorted him away among flinging fire. They raced
together toward the barrier. Mezar and the others gave chase. Star came running
up beside the prince, and he jumped gracefully up in the air. In one fluid
motion, he landed on top of the Cremelino. Reaching the barrier, he noticed his
father and four other wizards joining hands.

“No Father. You cannot form a
circle with that many wizards!” Mezar yelled at the wizards. “It’s too
dangerous! You will burn yourself out.”

But his father gave no heed.
Power built up around the five wizards. The air churned with a howling wind.
Soldiers had a hard time standing in place. Lightning crackled in the air, and
dark clouds formed on their side of the barrier.

“We need more!” his father
yelled. “Beltzar, where are you?”

At the sound of his name, the
eastern wizard came forward. He pulled his hood back and tattoos seemed to
slither across his face and down his neck. He grabbed the general’s hand with
his left and another wizard with his right. The circle of six wizards joined
their power together in an awesome force.

Looking through the barrier,
Mezar watched as King Darius, High Wizard Sallir, the young wizard Danijela,
and their remaining Cremelinos drew closer. Their faces showed the strain of
power to hold the barrier in place.

“Darius,”
he voiced
through his Cremelino, hoping he could get a message to him through the barrier
.
“The general and his wizards are drawing a circle of power.”

“I don’t understand,”
came
the reply.

“It’s too dangerous with that
many wizards together. The power will burst the barrier and destroy thousands
on both sides. You must retreat.”
Mezar couldn’t bear to see the army of
his friend destroyed for his father’s vengeance and greed.

“Get your people back also,
Mezar,”
Darius said through the Cremelinos.
“We will try and hold it. If
we do, the backlash will hit your armies instead.”

Mezar motioned for the troops to
get back from the barrier. It was now raining, lightning and deafening thunder
filling the air. A large display of power began to encircle the six wizards.
The eastern lord held his head upward, and fire seemed to dance across his
tattoos. Evil saturated the air.

“You will burn yourself out!”
Mezar yelled at his father’s wizards through the storm, but once again there
was no response. On the other side, he could see Darius’s army retreating,
leaving only the wizards on either side of the barrier.

A force pulsed out from the
circle of Gildanian wizards against the barrier. A loud rumble filled the air,
causing people to cover their ears. A high pitched sound was heard over the
battlefield. Once again the wizards attacked the barrier, this time causing it
to shake. Mezar saw the strain on Darius’s face.

To the east of Darius, a white
horse rode in to view. Christine was slumped over the front of Lightning, a
bright red crimson stain spreading across her clothes.

Darius looked toward her. Through
the bond of the Cremelinos, Mezar felt Darius groan and saw his lips move in a
wailing sound of despair.

Darius moved toward his wife, his
concentration on the barrier waning.

The wizard circle struck again,
timing the strike with Darius’s change of focus. The barrier began to crack and
open, wind and power pulling through like a siphon to the other side.

Darius turned back to the barrier
in shock. He wrestled with his attention alternating between his bleeding wife
and the barrier.

Mezar needed to do something. He
closed his eyes and dug deep inside of himself. He called upon the reserves of
Star, who in turn called upon the Cremelino family back on White Island. Unlike
Darius, Mezar had been taught and trained to wield magic. This was not a circle
of wizards bound together, but the drawing of power from others. He brought
power into him from the Cremelinos, as much as he dared. He had never known
such power. The power of the spirit—the power to bind. The sudden knowledge was
staggering.  He briefly swayed, then set his resolve and opened his eyes. With
the increased power came clarity of thought and a heightened awareness to his
senses.

“Father!” he screamed one more
time, his voice booming and echoing across the battlefield of two armies.

This time his father did look at
him, but Mezar hardly recognized the horrible visage looking back at him. Rage,
anger, and greed had corrupted the general’s face. His eyes were bloodshot and
his eyelids receded. His face was drawn and wrinkled, a snarl forming on his
lips. He had taken too much power into himself from the circle of his wizards.
The general was burning out but seemed intent to try and take the army of the
Realm with him when he did.

“Hold, Darius,” he yelled to his
friend. He couldn’t imagine the turmoil Darius was feeling, being torn between
his wife and the barrier. It must be eating him up inside.

Darius had begun to sag to the
ground but stood straight again with new resolve at Mezar’s command. Flanked on
one side by the High Wizard and his apprentice and on the other side by Thunder
and Spring, all their faces showed exhaustion and strain beyond what a normal
creature could bare, yet still they held on to hope.

The circle of the general’s
wizards began one last gathering of power, and just at the apex, right before
they let it loose into the barrier, Mezar grabbed the hands of his father and
the eastern wizard, and forced all the power he held into the circle itself. A
seventh wizard.

Mezar felt the evil, corrupt
power and hatred of these wizards course through him, almost overwhelming him.
Pulling upon the purity and power of the Cremelinos, he pushed out into the
circle with all he had, then let go and fell to the ground.

The six wizards turned into
shimmering firelight. Beings of elemental light, pulsing with power and energy,
their physical bodies burned out. A bright burst of light filled the air
between them as one by one the six wizards burned out in total, their elemental
energy following their physical bodies into oblivion.  Mezar’s father was the
last to disappear.

The wind and rain stopped. The
clouds disappeared immediately. An eerie silence permeated the air.

Mezar pulled himself up to his
knees and leaned his head against his Cremelino, Star, who sagged to the ground
himself. The prince of Gildan watched as Darius, Danijela, and Olan released
the barrier. The shimmering light winked out. The three wizards collapsed to
the ground.

Panic struck the two armies, many
of which had not been privy to the general’s fate. Soldiers surged forward on
both sides. Darius stumbled to his wife’s side, barely able to hold himself up.
Her eyes remained closed. With the help of Roland, he lifted her from the horse
to the ground. Mezar tried to regain control of the Gildanian army, but he was
too weak to yell or to use his wizard powers for anything more.

Unexpectedly, the young wizard
girl Danijela slowly brought herself up off the ground. She looked so small and
fragile in the middle of the chaos swirling around her
, her
short blonde hair hanging straight on the sides, dirt smudges covering her soft
and innocent face.