Fire And Ice (Book 1) (85 page)

             
Coran watched as the black blade spun over Elthzidor’s head, then struck downward.  Coran sidestepped, the blow missing, then he blocked the return swing with Ice.  Pushing down and to the side on both blades he managed to move beside the wizard.  He swung an elbow that clipped Elthzidor’s temple, then kicked at the back of his leg.  Elthzidor went to one knee as Coran followed through, letting his momentum spin him around and the sword as well.  He spun Ice in an arc, reversed his grip on the handle, and with their backs to each other, he thrust behind him.  Once again there was almost no resistance as Ice slid into the wizard’s back.  Coran pulled the blade back out and turned around to watch the wizard cautiously.

             
Elthzidor was on both knees, staring blankly ahead.  Coran carefully walked around the wizard to face his front.  Then something odd happened.  Elthzidor started to flow, to move as the wind started to carry him away.

             
Coran was not sure how he knew it, but Elthzidor was trying to get away.  Instinctively he halted that flowing air, denying the wizard his escape.  Was it from him or the sword where the instinct came from? 

             
Elthzidor raised his head to stare into Coran’s face.  Blood was on his lips and chin.

             
“You have lost,” Coran told him.

             
“Have I?”  Elthzidor said in a rasping voice.  “I am one of many.  You are only one.”              

             
“What is that supposed to mean?”

             
A ragged laugh escaped the Maji’s throat until it was caught off by another fountain of blood.  His eyes rolled in his head until he was able to focus them on Coran.  When he spoke it was barely a whisper.  “I am not the Destroyer’s Champion.”  Then he gathered what power remained to him and directed it downward at the tower itself.

             
Coran had been ready for an attack at himself, but not at the tower.  Surprised by the move he could not stop it.  The tower shook as the base exploded sending chunks of stone in all directions.  Stones also flew outward from the second and third levels.  Even the battlements at the top shook and cracked.  The tower started to break apart, to crumble all around him. 

             
Elthzidor forced one last smile onto his bloody lips before falling face first onto the tower.  As he did the stones beneath him cracked and fell, the body of the wizard and the black sword fell with them into the tower’s dim depths.

             
Coran looked around the trembling tower knowing that there was nothing he could do to stop the disintegration.  The power that had so suddenly filled him was gone.  He tried to reacquire a link to Naturus but to no avail.  He went to the southern side of the tower as the stones of the north side broke off and fell away.  The shaking increased.  He looked to the ground which was at least thirty feet below.  That was too far to jump and survive.  The trees however were not so far.  There was no time to judge distances.  All he could do was look for a limb big enough to support his weight.  He spotted one ten feet below.  That would be difficult to catch while falling.  His only chance was to fall onto the branches above it and hope.  Just as the tower broke apart he jumped. 

Chapter 44

Fire and Ice

              Katelyn dug her heels into the ribs of the black Leanesse.  The horse carried her swiftly along the ridge line.  First Taragosans and then Westlanders saw her coming and wisely moved out of the way.  They did not cheer or say a word as she passed by.  They could see the look on her face, and more importantly they had seen the tower fall and who had been on it before it fell.  She reached the end of the line of soldiers just before the beginning of the trees.  The tower had stood partly up the ascent before her.  Dodging branches bare of their leaves she rode ever closer to where the stone watchtower had exploded and then collapsed.  She could see blocks of building stones and pieces of wood used for supporting the structure scattered among the trees.  Frantically, she looked for any sign of him. 

             
Behind her she could hear others who were now entering the trees to help.  As she searched golden cloaked Knights and a few Westlanders started to search among the rubble.  At one point she saw something dark sticking out from under one of the heavy stones and went to investigate.  It was a body, that was clear.  Dismounting she leaned over the person and saw that a stone slab covered the face. 

             
“Over here!” she shouted unable to move it herself. 

             
Martin was the first to appear, then a Westlander.  The two men heaved together and removed the slab.  The dead man‘s face was pale and blood was drying around his mouth and head.

             
“Elthzidor,” someone said and she turned to see a man with gray hair and a beard in whitish robes.  “Your Majesty.  We have not yet met, but I am Tenobius.”

             
“The First Wizard,” she replied standing up straight.  “I have heard of you.”  She did not bother to remount before heading off to search some more.  She did not care if the wizard was offended by her turning her back on him or not.  All that mattered was finding Coran. 

              The army was formed up and ready to continue its advance across the valley.  Those who had been retreating needed to be reorganized with the new arrivals.  Now

everything was ready.  Kere was confused that the
Westerners had not yet retreated.  They were waiting patiently on the ridge.  Then he staggered as something hit him.  It did not come from outside, but inside him, and he knew.

             
“Elthzidor is dead,” he said out loud.

             
“What?” Nestera asked in surprise. 

             
“The Ra Majin is dead,” he repeated.

             
She looked to the south, towards where the tower had stood.  There was nothing there now.  “Do we still attack?”

             
“No,” he ordered.  This had been Elthzidor’s plan.  It was not his.  “Attacking now would gain us little.  And I do not want to lose any more Maji until I know what happened today.”

             
“Yes, Majin Kere,” she answered respectfully.  They both knew he could be named the next Ra Majin.

              Shifting his grip on the branch he let his legs fall to dangle a few feet from the ground.  Letting go, his feet crunched in the snow as he landed.  Coran took a quick look back up to where he had started the climb down, and then down to his hands.  They were dirty and there was some blood on them from where they had been scraped by bark.  Rubbing his hands on his pants he took a look around.  Of the tower, only the very base remained standing, a circle of stone only three feet high.  All around him stones and wood lay where they had fallen, or been blown in the initial explosion.  He found Ice lying in the snow not far away, where it had fallen in his mad leap from the tower.  Picking up the blade he sheathed it with a practiced professionalism. 

             
He could see shapes moving through the trees, people searching the rubble strewn hillside.  He spotted one in particular and his heart leapt in his chest.  Ignoring the pains in his thigh where Elthzidor had cut him, and his face where the piece of stone had gashed him, and from the fall through the trees where branches had scratched him, and his hands, and his back from hitting the stone wall, he hurried towards her. 

             
Katelyn spotted him and ran to meet him.  He threw his arms around her and held her tight.  “I am so glad you are all right,” he said putting a hand to the back of her head as she leaned against his chest.

             
She pulled away slightly to look at his face.  Seeing the number of scratches it was a worried look.  “Are you okay?” 

             
“Fine,” he said, and it was true.  He had never felt better.

             
“Thank the Creator,” Tenobius exclaimed as he came near.  He walked slowly, resembling the old man he appeared to be.  “You survived.  When I saw the tower fall, and then found Elthzidor’s body I feared the worst.”

             
“You found him?”  Coran asked. 

             
“Yes.”  It was Katelyn who answered.  “He was pretty well smashed up in the fall.”

             
“Did you find his sword?  A black one?”  Coran questioned with concern.

             
“No.”  Tenobius shook his head.  “All we found was the body.”

             
Katelyn frowned as they talked.  “What sword?”

             
“It is called Fire,” Tenobius stated simply.              

             
“Another sword like this?”  She pointed at Ice in its sheath and waited for Coran’s nod before rounding on the wizard.  “You knew?”  Katelyn accused the man.

             
“And you did not tell me?” finished Coran.

             
At least the wizard had the decency to look ashamed.  “I am sorry.  I was only supposed to tell you so much.  I should have told you about the sword, but it would have led to other questions, with answers that you are not yet ready for.”

             
He was getting a little tired of being told that he was not ready.  After all he had been through someone was still playing games.  His face must have shown his anger because the wizard visible shrank away from him.  Coran let go of Katelyn, then took her arm and led her away from the ruined tower. 

             
“Don’t you want to know about the sword?” she asked him.

             
“Later, maybe.  The battle is over and I want to go somewhere, anywhere that is not here.”  He had too many things to think about, or to forget if he could.    

             
“What about the other army we saw?  Will they not fight now?”

             
“I doubt it,” he said. 

             
As they cleared the trees his prediction was proven correct.  The enemy was retreating over the next rise and the army of Midians and Northmen were already rejoicing at their victory.  They raised their swords in the air and shouted for joy.  The gray overcast that had been there all day did not return after Elthzidor’s control of the winds was removed.  Spaces of blue sky appeared and the sun showed itself for the first time low in the west. 

             
He stopped and she placed herself in front of him.  She leaned with her back against him and pulled his arms around her like a cloak.                

             
“Now what?” the Queen asked him as they watched tens of thousands congratulate each other, and themselves, on surviving the day.

             
“Hopefully, we can go home,” he replied not sure if they would be able to.  Elthzidor had said a lot of things before he died.  They all added up to the fact that things might not be as simple as they seemed.  He did not want to think about that right now though.  All he wanted to do was enjoy the moment.

             
“Then what?” she asked and he could tell that she was smiling even with her back to him.

             
“Then we see you properly married.”

              Miko put his back to the wall and waited for the soldiers to pass by.  With no one on the streets of Arencia except for Ithanians he had a good idea what was happening, and it was not the homecoming he had hoped for.  Being with Coran had taught him how not to be seen.  Keeping to the shadows as much as possible he was able to work his way home.

             
He knocked on the wooden door of his adobe house.  A few moments later the door was opened a crack.

             
“Who is it?” a woman asked.  He could never forget that voice.

              “It is your loving husband come home.”

             
The door was opened and he slipped inside.  They hugged each other tightly.

             
“What has happened here?” he asked after they parted.

             
“The Ithanians.  It is as bad as the old tales say it was when they ruled over us long ago.”  Her face was sad.  “They came and took away all the young men.”

             
“Oran?” he gasped.              

             
“Is safe,” she said permitting herself a small smile for that.  “When the rumors started he and many others went to the mountains to be safe in case they were true.”  She shook her head in misery.  “What is happening to the world?”

             
“Change,” Miko replied feeling just as sad.  “The M’Shai has come.”

             
It was her turn to gasp in surprise.  “Truly?”  He nodded.  “Then it has started.”  Her voice sank further with each word.

             
“Yes, my wife.  The Great War has begun.”