Amidst The Rising Shadows (Book 3) (32 page)

Braden looked at Aaron’s hand before taking it in his own, “I swear to you that I will not let this city fall.”

Aaron thanked him, and Rohnek and Zedya stepped up.

“We would like to stay and help,” Rohnek said.

“Why?” Aaron asked.

“We renounced the Elitesmen Order to join the Free Nations Army. You said that we should focus on protection. The people behind these city walls, some of which are from Khamearra, need protection,” Rohnek said.

Zedya gazed at him intently, “People truly follow you. At first I thought it was through fear, but that is the way of the High King. What you are is different. You make us want to give more. Here in this place, at this time, let us use our skills in a cause worth something more. Let us stand with the Warden of the De’anjard and defend these walls.”

Aaron looked at them for a moment and then to Braden, who nodded.

“All right,” Aaron said, "good luck."

 
He brought out the travel crystal, and Sarah did the same. The others closed in, and they left the walls of Shandara behind.

C
HAPTER
21

WAR

The alarms blared through the city of Rexel, reaching into the palace. The FNA soldiers raced to their pre-battle-plan assignments. Colind glanced at Cyrus, who already wore his armored plate covering his torso. Full-plate armor had become less practical over the years, and with so many changes sweeping across Safanar, Colind knew the days of hardened metal armor were numbered.

“I knew this day would come,” Cyrus said. “As soon as Aaron showed up at the palace, I knew that this battle with the High King would happen.”

“Aaron may be the catalyst for this, but you and I both know that this battle would have happened eventually. The High King wouldn’t have settled for treaties,” Colind answered.

Prince Cyrus watched the feeds come in on the Hythariam’s holo displays. Amorak’s army had arrived outside Rexel’s walls on the west. Rexel’s walls were nowhere near the size of Shandara’s, but with the Elitesmen the size of the walls didn't matter.

Cyrus called for his guards then turned to Colind. “You didn’t think I’d wait out the battle in here did you, old friend?”

Colind shook his head and followed Cyrus out to the waiting transport that hovered just outside. Garret met them at the small airship, which heaved upward after they were onboard. The skies over Rexel were littered with airships patrolling. Some were still in hiding and waited for the orders to provide support where they were needed. The soldiers with them were armed with swords and Hythariam pistols, putting to use the number of weapons found in Shandara. The shields of Shandara were in short supply, but at least they had more than just the two that been found by Aaron’s companions.
 

“I know you’d rather be hunting Mactar,” Cyrus said.

“My place is here doing what I can to help defend the city, and I have no doubts that he will present himself here today,” Colind said.

The prince eyed him for a moment, “You should stop blaming yourself for Tarimus’s choices.”

Colind pressed his lips together, “I can’t absolve myself of my son’s failings. Who else can his failings fall to if not his father? I keep thinking that perhaps if I had done things differently...”

“Tarimus was always power hungry; even as a child the potential was there. And he paid the price for it. The past...whatever else it is, my friend, is gone. We still need you.”

“I have given everything I have for the Safanarion Order, and I understand what you’re saying, but I blame
him
. Goddess how I blame that man,” Colind said balling his hands into fists, feeling the blood rush to his chest. He yearned for Mactar’s blood and as much as his wrath focused on him, deep inside he still blamed himself for Tarimus. His son of all people should not have been pulled into Mactar’s web.
I should have protected him better. Why couldn’t Tarimus have been stronger? Why didn’t he come to me?.
Colind drew the energy into himself on instinct and glared to the west where the High King’s army waited.
 

Why couldn’t I have listened better?
 

Mactar will pay. He could do that much at least. There would be no rest for him until one of them was dead.

Cyrus ordered the pilot to take them higher into the air to get a better vantage point of the battle below. Bright flashes belched from the muzzles of the Hythariam weapons, pouring their destruction into Khamearra’s line. There was fighting on the walls as Elitesmen utilized the travel crystals to their advantage. The tactic worked well against the other kingdoms, but the Free Nations Army had been preparing for this type of assault and had designed the posts on the wall to also function as defensible positions. This slowed the Elitesmen down but didn’t stop them completely. They needed Aaron down there. Full-sized airships roared by with their engines at full blast, dropping a lethal mixture of crystallized dust that exploded on impact. Attack orbs from the Elitesmen upon the ground raced up, tearing into the airships as they went by.

The High King’s army swallowed up the land beyond Rexel’s western walls in a great shadow. Siege towers made their slow progress toward the walls. Cyrus ordered the pilot to take them to what the Hythariam referred to as the operations base, where they could coordinate the battle.

“Be safe, my friend,” Colind said after they touched down.

“Where are you going?” Prince Cyrus asked.

“To where I’m needed. The wall,” Colind replied.

Garret stayed at his side as they ran with the soldiers heading toward the front line. Garret pulled him to the side as a portal opened on the street before them and out came Verona leading a group of FNA soldiers. Aaron and Sarah soon followed, and the portal closed behind them. Sounds of the battle rocked the walls in the distance, drawing their attention, and Colind noticed Aaron glance at the skies.

“Not yet. They haven’t brought the Ryakuls in yet,” Colind said.

Aaron nodded, “It’s only a matter of time.”

Isaac the former Elitesman came to join them, wearing his dark-leather duster over his FNA uniform. He led eighteen other Elitesmen that had pledged their loyalty to Sarah.

“My Queen,” Isaac said, bringing his fist over his heart.

“The Elitesmen are attacking the walls,” Colind said.

Sarah nodded and looked at Isaac, “Have your men go and help hold the walls.”

Isaac motioned the men ahead, and all but four left them. “We will stay to help you with whatever it is you are planning.”

Aaron glanced at Colind, “Has Zsensibar’s army returned yet?”

Colind shook his head, and a new barrage of alarms raced through the city.

“Aaron,” Iranus said over the comms device. “The High King attacks with another army on the eastern side of the city, beyond the FNA camp. They’re unprotected there. The army appeared out of nowhere.”

All attacks had been assumed to come from the western side, and the High King had obliged their assumptions.
 

“We need King Nasim to bring his men up behind them. We’ll head over there now,” Aaron said and closed the comms device.

“Shandara?” Colind asked.

“A smaller army attacks there, but it seems as if the bulk of Khamearra’s forces are here. They mean to overwhelm us. Braden stayed behind to help defend Shandara from attack,” Aaron said.

“Good. That’s really good. He will do well I think,” Colind said.

Aaron nodded and frowned, “The High King learns fast. He brought a portion of his army to Shandara first, knowing that we would send some of our number to defend the city. And now here he has divided his forces again.”

“He seeks to put us off balance,” Colind said.

“I believe it’s working,” Verona said.

Aaron glanced at Sarah, knowing that she intended to stay at his side.

“I’m with you,” Sarah said.

Aaron drew in the energy, and the runes on his staff glowed. He extended tendrils of energy to the others around him, strengthening their own connections. The others around him gasped, including the former Elitesmen.

“Ferasdiam marked,” Isaac whispered and with his thumb and forefinger made a small circle upon his brow, marking the sign of the Goddess.

“Today we fight as one,” Aaron said.

He came to Colind and saw the blazing orange of his lifebeat and sensed a deep hollowness. Aaron’s eyes widened, but before he could say anything to Colind, a plume of smoke rose in the distance. A faint shimmer rippled through the ground at his feet. Aaron launched himself into the air, and the others followed, moving at speeds blurring them from vision. They raced onward, and miles slipped by as they closed in on the FNA camp. Shafts of light burned from different points along the Khamearrian line, wreaking havoc in the camp. Anyone caught in the beam was cut down almost instantly.

“Oh Goddess, they’re using the energy from the focusing crystals,” Sarah gasped.

The focusing crystals were housed in small armored domes mounted on wheels. A team of Khamearrian soldiers maneuvered the domes before firing. The FNA were focusing their own fire in waves of crystal-tipped arrows upon the Khamearrian line. For each group of men that fell more took their place.
 

Aaron streaked ahead of the others, pulling a torrent of energy through the rune-carved staff. He moved so quickly that he was atop an armored dome before the soldiers could react. Aaron slammed down the staff, releasing the pent-up energy. The crystal inside cracked, and Aaron leaped off just before an explosion demolished the dome into a malformed husk. The soldiers around him attacked, and his staff whirled through the air, beating them back. Each blow sent men back, and the Elitesmen converged on his location, oozing through the ranks of fleeing soldiers.

Aaron dodged the Elitesmen attack orbs and for a fleeting moment wished he had his swords to block their attacks. He closed in on them and brought the fight in closer. Sarah and the others joined in, and more Elitesmen fell until their attackers stepped back looking uncertain at those who came to Aaron’s side.

“You betray the Order,” one Elitesman said.

“We serve our Queen, the rightful ruler of Khamearra,” Isaac answered.

The Elitesman’s cold eyes narrowed. A wave of shadows rose in the sky overhead amid the screeching roars of the Ryakuls.

“Then you’ve chosen death,” hissed the Elitesman.

Isaac’s sword flashed, and the Elitesman was dead before he realized that Isaac had moved. The FNA regrouped and pushed forward, throwing themselves at the High King’s army.

Aaron’s gaze drew to the Ryakuls, and a red cloud blossomed around his vision. The Ryakuls were shadows of their former selves. Dragons fallen from grace with death as their only release. He hadn’t seen this many Ryakuls in one place since the Drake commanded them, but the Drake was gone. The sky was full, and the Ryakuls spread out, slicing into the FNA with some breaking off to head toward the city.

“Mactar,” Colind hissed.

“He’s controlling the Ryakuls? If we take him out then they will scatter,” Aaron said.

“Excellent, then maybe they will attack the High King’s army as well,” Verona said.

Aaron nodded and saw another focusing crystal down the line. “I have an idea."

They closed the distance in seconds, but instead of destroying the contraption Aaron took out the men around it, and the others followed his lead. Aaron studied the different levers, and after a bit of experimentation figured out the ones to maneuver the dome. He aimed the focusing crystal into the sky and fired at the approaching line of Ryakuls. The energy blast tore through them as easily as anything else. The Khamearrians pushed forward, eager to take back their asset, but the others fought around him, giving him time to shoot. FNA soldiers caught up to them and began establishing a perimeter. Aaron motioned for one of the soldiers to take over.

The Free Nations Army clustered together in pockets, trying to avoid the attacking Ryakuls that threw themselves relentlessly at their lines. The crystal-tipped arrows helped, but at the rate they were using them they would exhaust their supply in no time. The burning roar of airship engines at full blast plunged over the battlefield, firing their payloads into the Ryakuls. The dark beasts swarmed a single ship, tearing it apart, and Aaron saw men fall to their deaths in the distance. Gritting his teeth, Aaron launched into the air, heading directly into the swarm of Ryakuls. The breath caught in his throat as a dark-speckled presence kept pace with him.

“I hunt Mactar,” Colind’s voice said from the swirling mass, which charged off in another direction. The Ryakuls took no notice of it.

Aaron landed upon the deck of an airship, unleashing the energy from the staff into the Ryakuls that attacked it. The sailors regrouped and reloaded the platforms that held the giant crossbows and fired. For all the Ryakuls’ power, their weakest point was the head.
 

Aaron leaped from the airship, and a dark swath cut deeply into the lines of the Free Nations Army. Bodies of men were tossed in every direction, and their cries were pebbled amid the snarling Ryakuls overhead.

The High King,
Aaron thought. He saw the dark figure slice through lines of FNA soldiers, becoming a tornado of death. The soldiers pulled back, fighting with the weapons they had that seemed all but ineffectual against the High King. A spark of energy lanced across the Dragon tattoo upon Aaron’s chest. He landed upon the ground and launched back into the air, heading straight for the High King.