Heir To The Nova (Book 3) (28 page)

Rosa joined us on the top step, Alera and Hons sat on a middle step, and the rest either knelt or sat on the floor in a fan shape around us. To add even more to my surprise, the Iron Maiden who had snickered at Lin’s running into the door frame, returned with a clean cloth and bowl of water. Kneeling down, she removed her helmet and turned Lin’s face to her. “Let’s take a look at that.” She then dipped the cloth in the water and expertly cleaned the blood off Lin’s face with the gentle care of a mother. “I used to have a daughter just like you; she had your same eyes and your beautiful smile.”

Lin was obviously sort of uncomfortable with an armored golden woman caring for her like she was a little girl, but she stayed polite. “Used to? I’m sorry for your loss.”

The guard smiled wider. “Don’t be. She lived a long and happy life to a ripe old age. Remember, I died over four hundred years ago. That’s a long time, even for your kind, Lin.”

“How do you know our names? And what do you mean; you died four hundred years ago?”

Her expression saddened slightly. “I’m sorry, I forget sometimes. Captain Ebony will explain it to you more; but if you ever need someone to talk to, come find me. I will always listen, young one.” With that, she collected her things and left the main hall.

“
That was Tammy; she is the mama bear of the unit. She was always a sweetheart and a devoted mother. The girls could always go to her for help or comfort,”
Winya supplied nostalgically.

“So can someone finally tell me what is going on now?” asked Higs as he settled in on one of the lower steps. Dusk slid in on the next step down in front of him so he could wrap his arms around her, and he did so without thinking.

“It’s simple really,” started Ebony. “We are the Comets’ personal guard.”

“Comets? Alex and Maya are now Comets?” asked Hons.

“That is their rank, yes,” said Qleyse, as he waived over some golden serving girls who had brought in trays of wine-filled goblets. They started with Maya and me, and then began passing them out to the group.

“Ok, so why are you here and where did you all come from?” asked Higs.

Ebony answered, “We came from times long ago. Each and every one of us has lived and died already, most of us within these very walls. The crystal below took in our souls and sheltered us, offering us a second chance. All of us that you saw before in this room accepted that offer for a second chance. For the dwarves, elves, and the others, their reasons vary. Some are looking for redemption; others, the thrill of battle. For some, the motive is as simple as the love of being part of a greater whole. But our reason was always the same.” She turned to Maya and gave a warrior’s salute. “When we watched you the day Winya swore herself to you, to a woman, we knew that we couldn’t let her fight this battle alone. That very moment, all of us accepted the crystal’s offer and joined the ranks of your guard. That day might not have seemed like too long ago here in this lifetime, but time in the afterlife doesn’t hold much meaning. The crystal built us an exact copy of this place as we requested. And we trained, and trained, and trained for what seemed like years for this day. We know a war is coming, and we are ready to fight it side-by-side with you. You may call us your Helios guard.”

Qleyse continued for her, “We understand that most of your current guards and a large number of the people here will one day return to the school. We are here to assure that Sky Raven is never understaffed and that the fortress returns to its former glory and strikes fear into the heart of evil as it was designed to do.”

“Speaking of evil…” There was a bright flash, and my mother and father finally showed themselves. Both of them looked stressed and wan. “We have distressing news.”

Instinctively, the group made room for them to sit. Taking a moment to look around, my mother looked surprised to see Qleyse and Ebony. “Helios warriors? Well, this is a welcome sight. Perhaps things aren’t as dark as they seem.”

My father picked up the explanation. “Their aid will be much needed, Alex and Maya. The situation has gone from bad to worse. There is a Kerr on this world.”

“A Kerr?” Rosa questioned.

“You would think of them as the evil version of the Nova,” he growled. “Anyway, this being is throwing its full weight behind the Lifebane’s attack. Breaking nearly every rule I know of, it has supplied the Duke with a massive demon force to command; and it is opening unlimited portals for the planet’s undead to traverse. My best guess is they will all arrive here in seven days with a force larger and more powerful than the world has ever seen, and with the Lich personally as its general.”

Qleyse stood up, his face was stern and actions direct. “If you will all please follow me.” Bewildered, we stood and followed him outside, past the surprised townspeople and human guards and wizards, and up the ramps to the great outer walls. He led us to the middle section of wall overlooking the river and plains below the massive walls. With a swift hand signal, Ebony ripped a battle horn off her belt and raised it to her lips. The horn’s battle cry echoed through the fortress, ringing in the air. Her horn was answered by every Helios on the walls using their own horns, and the eerie sound bounced off every nook and cranny of the fortress.

Suddenly the earth shook and massive gouts of dirt and debris rocketed into the air, as pits in the top of the walls opened up. Powerful ballista already manned by their dwarven crews rose out of the holes in the wall on platforms, locked into place and trained on the skies above. Behind the walls, the Helios guards had cleared an area of the courtyard. Suddenly, huge doors opened up from beneath and immense lifts powered a set of platforms, each carrying two massive trebuchets. Behind us, on the conventionally constructed curtain wall, more ballistae had popped up on the towers guarding the keep. A touch on my arm from Maya redirected my vision out into the fields in front of the fortress. There large, spiked stone barricades thrust themselves out of the earth. Finally, to cap it all off, behind the keep, radiating from the very tower where our room was located, was a shining beacon. It was far brighter than the sun itself; and as it cast its power over the fortress and the lands below, the battle cry of every Helios in the fortress rang out like a shockwave.

Qleyse turned his back on the outer ramparts and faced us with raised defiant arms.

“I say let the demons come! We’re ready for them!”

The rest of the afternoon and most of the evening was spent putting out fire after fire; not actual flames, but the commotion caused by an army showing up out of nowhere.  Darroth returned through the portal leading two tired, rebellious donkeys pulling a cart filled with horrible smelling dragon parts. He took one look at the golden-skinned troops manning the walls and portal entrance, dropped the reins, turned right around, and walked back through the portal. Fortunately, Elsa had been waiting patiently for him, and she dragged him back to our side before Rosa came by and locked the portal.

We had a number of quick meetings with my parents, which were frequently interrupted by them popping out to meet with other Nova. What we gleaned from all this was that a Kerr was indeed on the planet, and they spoke at some length about the power of the being. It did sound as if the Kerr were a match for the Nova in every way, none of which made me feel encouraged. Especially when they told us what its intentions were.

“What do you mean; it’s going to blow up the planet?” Maya demanded incredulously, smashing her fist onto the table of the war room.

“Well, not so much blow it up; more like flash fry it. It’s actually your sun that will blow up,” my father said levelly, his voice stern. “Regardless if you win or lose this battle, the Kerr will destroy this world. It has already declared its willingness to ignore our laws.”

“Then how do we stop it?” I asked.

“You can’t, Alex. Even with all your power, you are not even an ant compared to the power of a Kerr. Their entire being is now one of rage, destruction, and deception. You wouldn’t last one hit.”

“So there’s nothing we can do, then? And if they can destroy us at any time, why haven’t they?” asked Rosa.

“The Kerr love to play their little games. If there is one good thing to say about them, it is they do honor their personal word. And this challenge is over a millennium in the making; they aren’t going to back out now. As for stopping it, you don’t, that’s our job.”

That surprised me. “I thought you couldn’t fight them directly? Or even kill one?”

Mother smiled. “You’re not the only experiment, my love,” she said. “What took us so long is that we were talking with the others and have come to an agreement. The main reason we don’t fight the Kerr on worlds like this is because it is so easy for the world to be destroyed in the crossfire. One of the other Nova came up with what he thinks is a solution…”

Father stepped in, “But this does not mean we still don’t need your help. Battles with a Kerr take a long time. And the only way we will be able to intercede is if Sky Raven still stands proudly. You must keep the demons, undead, and more importantly, Lifebane out of the keep and away from the crystal. In other words, you have to win this battle!”

“So,” Maya grinned happily, “to sum up; hold off most of the world’s undead, all the demons from hell, and the world-conquering Lich with only the aid of a handful of Helios, wizards, humans, dwarves, and a fortress custom-built specially to fight demons? This should be epic!”

That enthusiasm is going to kill me one day; I just know it!

After the meetings with my parents, we had a long talk with Hons and Alera about the teachers. They were better now after calming down, resting, and having a good meal for a change. Apparently, our friends were making inroads into convincing them that life wasn’t so bad here, considering the alternatives.

After that, I left my dark elf with Rosa and the Steel Maiden contingent while Nia and I went to find Darroth. There was a lot we needed to discuss. I found him and Elsa at the dwarf bar; not surprisingly, they were both drinking heavily when I got there. I have no idea where they keep getting the stuff.

“Darroth, are you ok?”

“Ok? Why would I be ok? Every time I turn around, you two lovebirds pull something impossible out of your tail feathers to drive me crazy! Just after going through that portal, I practically wet myself over the biggest, deadest dragon I’ve ever seen. Again, there’s no way you should have been able to kill a beast like that, even with Maya’s fancy sword. By the way, thanks for not mentioning you left it halfway to the moon in a tree! I damn near killed poor Clara and Gemma dragging back a quarter of its hide. I walk back through the portal to find a celestial army which, again, came out of nowhere, manning the walls. I leave for a couple minutes until Elsa drags me back. We walk through and suddenly the side courtyards are equipped with siege engines, whose designs are functionally impossible, I might add; at least not built with any materials known to man or dwarf. What’s next, dancing warthogs?”

With perfect timing, Conlan appeared behind us. “We’re ready for you, Master Darroth,” said the gold dwarf with a modest bow.

Darroth and Elsa were both confused; but I just smiled, took away their tankards, and pushed them both along behind Conlan.

“What’s all this about?” Darroth asked.

“Conlan told me something interesting about Sky Raven earlier; and when I told him we had a master smith on hand, he insisted that this be taken care of as soon as possible. Consider it a gift if you will,” I chuckled.

“That’s being overly modest, my King; this is no mere gift. But I have seen some of your work, Master Darroth; you will make fine use of it.”

I just smiled at Darroth’s and Elsa’s confusion as we followed the dwarf leader deeper and deeper underground. Finally reaching the lowest level, Conlan opened a solid steel door leading into a large cavern. I had not been here before, but I had known of its existence for a while now. The only reason I hadn’t already started it up was that I had no idea how. Inside the cathedral-sized natural cave, we crossed a set of steel rails spiked into the leveled bedrock floor. My eyes travelled along their length in both directions. On one side, I could see a line of small heavy wagons with steel wheels waiting in rows loaded with ore. The lines disappeared into a dark shaft leading into the chamber to who knows where. Closer to where we were standing, the rails diverged and ran into stout bridges leading up to three of the largest smelters I could imagine. Each smelter looked like it could hold multiple wagonloads of ore at a time. Behind the smelters were two bays filled with charcoal.

Above our heads were more of the steel rails, but these were attached to small rolling blocks with chains that held hooks and large metal vessels. Some of the ceiling rails ran into another larger chamber past the charcoal bays; and from what I could see, it appeared there were enormous iron frameworks constructed inside with piles of sand strategically placed in the corners.

Darroth and Elsa were walking around in an open-mouthed daze. If I had to guess, I would bet this was a vision of what dwarf heaven would look like–to a smith anyway. Nia looked out from her perch on my shoulder and saw that there was nothing remotely green or living here. She muttered ‘yucky’ and retreated to her hidey-hole on my shoulder for a nap.

“Welcome to the foundry,” Conlan said jovially. “These smelters and the forge in the next chamber are fueled by the mountain itself, much like the heated water up top. The original enchanters who built this place put up magical barriers and ventilation piping to keep us from cooking to death in our own skins. But you’ll find nothing gives you an even heat for your craft like magma!”

“But even molten basalt isn’t hot enough for iron work,” Darroth protested weakly.

“Ah, but they thought of that too. Special chambers concentrate the heat,” Conlan grinned. “You can even adjust the heat up or down based on your needs.”

“But why would you need a foundry this big?” Elsa slipped in breathlessly, staring into the gold-hued dwarf’s face.

“The gears and drives that run this place break or wear out periodically. Here, we can make replacements for even our largest parts on site, without having to wait weeks or months for them to be fashioned elsewhere, if that option is even available considering the vagaries of mortal life. Come on, let me show you the forge setup.”

I could see that Conlan was playing the two of them like a travelling pot salesman, and it was working. Hand-in-hand, they followed him like overawed obedient children. We travelled through a huge arch with more of the ceiling tracks overhead and into another natural, but heavily modified, cavern. Dominating the space was a grand forge set easily three times bigger than the one in Xarparion, and that had been the largest I had ever seen. The huge cone was already active and belching out heat into tapered pipe chases big enough for a man to walk through without crouching. Underneath, the ring of workstations stretched all around it like a pinwheel, the coals glowing brightly just waiting for action. Everything I saw exuded ancient master design work and quality.

“By the stars! Tell me I’m dreaming this, Elsa,” Darroth gasped, bringing Elsa’s hand up to his face and kissing it in disbelief. “The forge of the ancient masters! Or at least a damn good replica!”

“Actually, they modeled theirs after this one,” Conlan smirked, and strode over to some massive cabinets set directly into the cut stone side walls. He threw open the doors dramatically, revealing a stunning array of forge tools, many of which I couldn’t even begin to tell their purpose, but they were all in perfect condition.

Again Darroth’s mouth dropped open, and he stumbled forward and lovingly ran his fingers over some of the racked instruments. Even Elsa seemed mesmerized, and they weren’t even weapons.

Sensing victory, Conlan moved in for the coup de grace. “Now, Master Darroth, we Helios seem to find ourselves without a master smith to make good use of this fine facility. If you would do us the great honor of being our forge master, we would be greatly indebted to you.”

“Hell yes!” Darroth shouted gleefully. “Where else would a dwarf get to play with a forge setup like this without dying and going to heaven?” He stopped and got a thoughtful look on his face. Motioning Conlan over, he whispered, “Umm, taking this job doesn’t involve dying first, does it?”

“It’s not an ironclad requirement; I think we can bend the rules a bit,” Conlan chuckled.

“Then I’m your dwarf!”

“Excellent, because we already have a long list of gears and other parts that need replacing right away.”

..................................................

Maya

Alex said he was going to spend the night with Darroth at his new job. That was fine from my standpoint; he probably needs some guy time anyway. And that means for me, it’s girl time! I’m still trying to acclimate myself to the concept of having real friends who I can laugh, cry and let my hair down with. It’s a new and exciting feeling; I even put on a dress.

Ebony led our party through some of the underground passages that had been recently reopened by the siege dwarves. Even Winya had no idea these halls existed.

“Well, I hope you are paying attention, Win,”
I sent through our bond.
“I would hate to be lost down here forever and miss the big battle.”

Ebony must have heard Winya’s response, as she explained for the rest of the group. “Of course, Sky Raven wasn’t this place’s original name; even I don’t know that. But I do know this fortress has seen countless battles, most even before the existence of man. She’s old, but she’s a proud lady. She’s been battered and torn in the past, but never ever defeated!”

We went through a number of long corridors, hatches, and chambers, finally finding one that opened up into a long rectangular room split lengthwise by a half wall. There were four rows of beds that ran the entire length of the space, barracks style. Each bed station had a wardrobe, armor locker, weapons rack, and even a small desk. It was a barracks alright by functionality, but it felt more like a high end inn in reality. Several off duty Iron Maidens were working with staff a number of beds farther down to stow away gear.

Ebony continued, “This is one of the ten dorm blocks we have. As you can see, our living quarters are actually very nice. The troops would normally be garrisoned here for hundreds of years at a stretch. Nebulia, you see, don’t age much at all. Each block can house a thousand armed and ready soldiers comfortably. But right now, we only have block two open because it’s the closest to the keep and there aren’t a thousand of us. The gear-cleaning and washrooms are to the left. To the right are the meeting rooms, map rooms where orders for patrols are posted, and even a comfortable lounge to unwind in after a long day. Sky Raven takes very good care of her soldiers.”

I had the twins, Lin, Ryliss, and Julia along with me, and I had made a special point of inviting Alera, too. From what little I knew of the healer’s personal life, she didn’t have many close friends. Alera seemed to vacillate between being happy to being profoundly uncomfortable, but I hoped she would loosen up as the night progressed. The druid girls, of course, were bouncing off the walls in excitement. I don’t think Ryliss’s sketchbook and journal ever left her hands.

The golden-hued warrior led us into another large area set up with a small fireplace in each wall, plush floor rugs, and numerous low comfy chairs and footrests for relaxing. “If you will excuse me, my Queen, I will change out of this armor and rejoin you soon. Please make yourselves comfortable.” She disappeared, and the group of us gravitated toward one of the fireplaces and dragged some of the seating in a large comfortable circle.

“This place is so cool!” Jules gushed. The twins nodded excitedly, but they markedly claimed the chairs farthest away from the crackling fire.