Traven shook his head in confusion, trying to clear the ringing in his ears. His shield was suddenly ripped completely away. He quickly formed another as a large fireball crashed into him. It hit with less force than the lightning bolts but still caused his shield to shift backward slightly.
He recognized what the galdak wielder had just done. The old creature had attacked Traven in the exact same pattern he had used against him. However, he had done it with immensely greater power and somehow less effort. While Traven could already begin to feel a slight drain of his strength, the galdak wielder appeared completely at ease.
He gritted his teeth and sent a volley of ice spears flying towards his attacker. He tried once again to tear away the galdak’s shield but with no success. All of his spears shattered against the solid barrier and fell to the ground in pieces. He strengthened his own shield as several ice spears came flying towards him. His shield was once again ripped away. He dove to the side and reformed his shield as the spears of ice whizzed harmlessly past him and into the darkness. If he had been any slower, he would have been skewered.
The ancient wielder smirked and motioned for Traven to try again. It was obvious the galdak was toying with him. He wasn’t sure what to do. It seemed that there was no way for him to defeat the ancient wielder at the moment. His attacks were having no effect on his opponent. The old galdak was too powerful and too skilled in the ambience.
He considered a few different attacks, but none of them seemed as if they would be any more effective than his previous attempts. It would be hard to challenge the ancient creature if he couldn’t even break through his opponent’s shield. He concentrated and tried once again to shred it. Despite his increased effort, the shield remained firm. Almost instantly, his own shield was ripped away once again.
Fear began to overtake him as his only option became obvious. Traven needed to somehow escape or he would be killed. He quickly wrapped light around his newly formed shield, disappearing from sight. He began walking backward as a giant bolt of lightning came crashing down squarely on top of him. His shield shuddered with the impact. How did the wielder know where he was? He realized his folly almost immediately. A wielder didn’t rely on physical sight to see the particles that formed a shield. Traven was no more invisible to the ancient galdak than a field mouse was to a hunting cat.
He wondered if he should just make a run for it. He quickly disregarded the idea as another large bolt of lightning came crashing down on him. The galdak wielder could easily stop him long before he reached safety. Traven knew he could hold out for awhile, but unless the creature began to tire soon, the ancient galdak would easily overpower him. He cleared his mind to think, trying desperately to push his fear aside. He had defeated Kadrak by distracting him. Perhaps enough distractions would allow him the chance to escape.
An idea formed in the quiet of his mind. It would be tricky to pull off, but he thought he had enough strength to do it. He waited for one more bolt to come crashing down on his shield before bursting into action. He quickly began raining fireballs and lightning down on his opponent. Just as with his battle with Kadrak, they were merely a distraction. While the galdak was hopefully distracted by the barrage, Traven quickly ran to the side and formed four more shields near him. He remained invisible and carefully moved all of the shields slowly in different directions. He began walking slowly backwards towards the city wall.
As his barrage of attacks came to an end, there was silence. The ancient galdak’s eyes narrowed as his head swiveled slightly from side to side. It appeared his plan was working. The wielder didn’t know whether to attack the shield that was slowly moving straight towards him, the shield moving straight towards the city gate, or any of the other three moving in various directions.
Traven smiled with relief from within the safety of his own shield. Sweat began dripping down his face as he steadily got closer to the city wall. The strain of holding all five shields at the same time was draining him, but he was now hopeful that he would be able to escape with his life.
Five bolts of lightning came crashing down, one on each of the shields. Traven strained himself and kept them all solid and moving. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that he was getting close to Darian. The elf was staring into the darkness with his eyes darting back and forth, trying to locate him. Traven dropped the back half of his shield so that Darian would be able to see him. The elf flinched slightly but did a good job of hiding his surprise at seeing Traven appear so near him.
Traven motioned for Darian to come and join him. The elf stealthily made his way over to him. As soon as he was at his side, Traven reformed his shield. He then continued moving south along the city wall. He was afraid if he moved towards the city gate his opponent would know which shield he was hiding in.
It was apparent that at the moment the galdak wasn’t sure where he was. His opponent finally focused on the shield moving towards him and ripped it to shreds. The shield disappeared. The old wielder ceased to attack and stood silently staring towards the city. He finally raised his hands. Traven tensed and prepared to hold all of his remaining shields firm, but the attack wasn’t directed at any of them. Instead, three large bolts of lightning lanced towards different sections of the city wall. There was an earsplitting crash as all slammed into the rock wall simultaneously. The three bolts were immediately followed by several more volleys.
Screams began to fill the night air as the soldiers atop those sections of the wall tumbled to the ground. As the boulders from the wall came to a rest and the dust settled, the intent of the attack became evident. The once solid wall that encircled the entire city now had three large gaps in it. The galdak wielder smiled and turned away. His ten galdak companions rushed forward to meet him. They quickly surrounded him, and all eleven began to walk back to the galdak camp.
Traven waited until the galdaks were far in the distance before dropping his shields. He surveyed the damaged walls with concern. The gate to the city had been completely destroyed. There was also a large gap in the wall a slight distance to the north of the gate and a slight distance to the south of the gate. The Kalian Army would be forced to defend three open entry points.
“What happened?” Darian asked, breaking the silence.
“I wish I knew,” Traven replied as he began walking dejectedly towards the ruined gate of the city.
He had failed.
12
Traven and Darian picked their way through the rubble of the destroyed gate and entered the city. Soldiers were already beginning to sort through the rubble. Traven located Blaize and made his way over to him with slumped shoulders and his head hanging. He had completely failed in his attempt to defend the city.
“Thank goodness you’re alright,” Blaize said with visible relief. “When you quit fighting and disappeared, I feared the worst. We’ll talk in a moment.”
Traven stood silently and waited while Blaize finished giving instructions to several messengers. He didn’t know what the army was going to do. There was no way they could defeat such a numerous horde of galdaks with an incredibly powerful wielder leading it. He wasn’t the hero they had thought he was. He was worthless. His duel with the ancient wielder had done nothing but proven to the galdaks that he would be unable to offer much resistance. Darian reached over and put a hand on his shoulder, sensing his mood.
“You cannot win every battle,” the elf said. “Rejoice that you have lived to fight another day.”
“Darian’s right,” Blaize said after sending the last of the messengers on his way. “Moping around about your failure won’t help anyone. We don’t have much time to finish getting ready for an assault on the city. I need to know if the galdaks are preparing to attack tonight. Can you scree their camp?”
“I’ll try,” Traven responded dejectedly. He didn’t know if the galdak wielder would block him or not.
Blaize led them to what was left of the guardhouse and had a shield filled with water. Traven stepped up beside it and called up an image of the galdak camp as soon as the water was still. The answer to Blaize’s question was immediately apparent. The galdaks were streaming forward from the camp and forming ranks on the plain. It looked as though they were definitely planning on beginning their assault that very night. Traven let the image fade. He was already tired and didn’t want to waste any more energy than was necessary.
“I suppose we have our answer,” Blaize said with a sigh. “It appears the galdaks have a preference for attacking at night. Traven, what of the galdak wielder? What can you do to counter him if he attacks with the rest of the horde?”
“I don’t know,” he responded. “I suppose I could distract him and keep his focus on me, but I don’t think I can defeat him. He is far more powerful than I thought.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Blaize stated. “You said that you could see the auras of power around wielders. If the galdak wielder’s aura is weaker than Kadrak’s was, you should be able to defeat him.”
“I know,” Traven responded with frustration. “Maybe Kadrak was so drained by the time I fought him that he was only using a small fraction of his power. I don’t know.”
“I don’t think so,” Blaize said, shaking his head. “Kadrak never wielded lightning bolts with the force of those the galdak wielder formed. Is there a chance you could mistake how much power a wielder has?”
Traven looked at Darian before answering. He wondered if the elf knew more about it than he did. Darian shrugged in response.
“If the galdak is as powerful as his attacks suggest, his aura should be very bright,” the elf offered.
“Then why does his aura look so dim and faded?” Traven asked with irritation.
“I don’t know,” Blaize said. “But I do know one thing. These creatures are sneaky and deceitful. They seem to appear out of nowhere and always attack in the dark. We have to expect that anything is possible if we have any hope of standing against them.”
“Maybe that’s the answer,” Darian said thoughtfully.
“What?” Blaize asked.
“You said these creatures are deceitful,” the elf stated. “I wonder if the galdak wielder has the stone of deceit in his possession.”
“What’s that?” Blaize questioned.
“It is one of the might stones,” Darian explained. “Just as the stone of protection that Traven once had shielded him from magic, the stone of deceit shields others from seeing that a wielder has magic.”
“But I saw his aura,” Traven countered.
“It does not completely disguise a wielder’s ability. The stone of deceit just masks it.”
It made sense. The galdak wielder had appeared to be very weak in the ambience but had been able to wield more than Kadrak had. Traven suddenly remembered the many precious stones that dangled from the ancient galdak’s neck. One of them could very easily have been a might stone.
“I think you’re right,” he said to Darian. “However, knowing why the old galdak has more power than we thought doesn’t change the fact that I can’t beat him.”
“That’s a detail you’ll have to work on,” Blaize said. “You’re still our best chance for neutralizing him. See if you can come up with a new strategy. I need to prepare the army for the impending battle. We now have to defend three openings and consider the ancient wielder’s impact. Keep an eye on the galdaks and let me know when they begin marching.”
Traven watched as Blaize left the damaged guardroom and strode out into the night.
“Let’s go up on the wall,” Darian suggested. “We can keep an eye on the galdaks from there.”
Traven followed the elf and made his way to the top of the wall. He walked over to the edge and ran his hands through his hair as he stared out over the plain. He was tired, frustrated, and depressed. Blaize was still counting on him, but he didn’t think there was anything he could do. The galdak wielder was simply too powerful for him to defeat. He let out a frustrated groan.
“Stop, Master,” Darian said. “What happened to the great hero of Kalia who defeated a master wielder and killed hundreds of galdaks single-handedly? Do you deserve the title you have been given or not?”
“I don’t deserve it,” he responded gloomily.
“A hero is not a hero one day and nothing the next. A hero is always a hero. You have overcome difficult odds before. You can do it again.”
Traven stared back at his devoted servant. At the moment he didn’t feel as if this was something he could overcome, but Darian was usually right. Traven could at least be useful in the coming battle. He may not be able to defeat the galdak wielder, but he could distract him and weaken him. He could also use his screeing and other abilities to aid Blaize in directing the battle. His self pity wasn’t helping anyone.
“You’re right,” Traven conceded, trying to shake off the despair he felt. “Do you have any ideas? I’m out of them.”
His devoted servant looked back at him quietly for several long moments, deep in thought, before answering.
“Is there anything in your recent visions that might guide you?” Darian finally suggested. “In the past they have been instrumental in guiding your actions.”
He reflected back on the vision he had been having for the last week. He wasn’t sure what help it could provide him. He had already realized that it foretold the coming of the galdaks. Perhaps it had even foretold of the galdak wielder and his immense power. Regardless, both things were now facts. Dreaming of them didn’t give him any more knowledge than he now had from personal experience.
Traven supposed another theme of his visions had been that he couldn’t hide from the storm and needed to face it. He was ashamed to admit that the thought of running away had already crossed his mind. The cowardly thought had been dismissed. He would stand and fight with the army, but victory still appeared impossible.