Maylin's Gate (Book 3) (57 page)

Andreas moved right a moment too late. General Demos, General Andreas, and Connal sailed over the edge and disappeared.

"No." His stomach dropped. He stopped at the edge and peered over. A sickening feeling of helplessness rolled over him.

"Get on," Rika said and shifted into a war bird.

With a loud crack the generals bounced off the cobblestone. Connal fluttered to a landing on the street behind General Demos.

He leaped onto Rika's back and they glided into the square below.

Battle knights, healers, and shield knights littered the square. They all turned on the fallen troopers.

Connal shifted into an ice bear bigger than any he'd seen.

General Demos staggered ahead. Andreas lay motionless atop the cobblestones. A pool of blood spread beneath the fallen general.

With a hiss, General Demos reached behind, ripped free the dagger, and tossed it aside.

Rika touched down and he leaped off her back. "Father, stop." His voice, lost in the shouts of advancing troopers, never reached Connal's ears.

With a lumbering swing, Connal raked General Demos's face and chest. Flesh tore leaving behind a jagged wound.

A hush fell over the knights and he tripped forward. "In Elan's name, stop."

Connal whirled.

General Demos teetered and fell face first onto the cobblestones.

He dropped to a knee beside his friend and rolled the general over taking care with the knife wound. "Hang on Gregor. Don't you die on me."

Around the square, troopers poured in from every open street and avenue.

The knights closed in around him, Connal, and Rika. Spirit shields flickered to life.

Connal shifted and knelt beside him. "Ronan, I'm sorry. I thought he was hurting you."

"I understand." He stripped off the ragged tunic that had served him across two continents and wadded it into a ball. He leaned over General Demos and spoke in a soothing voice. "I'm going to make you comfortable." He slipped his tunic beneath the general's head.

The warriors packed the square gaping past layers of spirit shields.

Demos's eyes fluttered open. The general's blood-stained tongue slithered outward. "Your father," Demos smiled, "he's a fierce warrior."

"I'm sorry. I —"

Demos took his hand and squeezed. "No apologies." Demos coughed and fresh blood gushed across the general's battered lips.

"Don't speak," he said. "I'll heal you. Like I did the chief's son."

"And, if you don't?"

He peered across the sea of troopers and smiled. "It won't matter because we'll both be dead anyway."

Demos's laugh turned into a fit of coughing.

The doors to Elan's Great Library banged open.

Sura and the fist of sansan warriors fanned out in a blur taking up position inside the shielded area.

Rika cast an uneasy gaze across the line of sansan. "I hope they're friends too."

The troopers pressed forward. "Get away from General Demos," a warrior said near the front. "Leave him or we'll slaughter every woman and child in this city," another warrior said. Roars rose from the troopers flooding the square.

At the entrance to Elan's Library, Tara and the teenage girl appeared in the doorway. They ran down the steps and into the protection of the spirit shields.

Wide-eyed fear registered on the faces of the nearest troopers. A chorus of murmurs and shouts rose from the troopers. The soldiers nearest Tara pushed away.

An expression of menace crossed Tara's face. The witch stalked the perimeter and glared at the troopers. Black mist curled from the witch's outstretched fingertips. Tara's voice rose above the rustling murmur and the crowd hushed. "If you love General Demos, stay back and let the king try to save him. I'll take his life otherwise."

Stay back? He glanced at Rika. "What's she doing?"

A thin smile touched Rika's lips. "Atonement."

General Demos leaned forward and coughed. Blood gushed across the general's lips. "I'm beyond saving. My wounds run too deep."

A Meranthian healer huddled over Demos. White flows of magic wrapped the knight's hands.

The troopers roared their disapproval.

The healer's fear-filled gaze met his. "He's beyond my help Your Majesty. His wounds are mortal."

He gripped the healer's shoulder and squeezed. "Never mind that Marcus. I'll not have his death on your hands."

Relief washed over the healer's face. "As you command Your Majesty. I've never tried healing one of… them."

Rika knelt beside him and spoke in a hushed voice. "Are you healed? Can you channel enough magic to save him?"

His heart sank as he searched Rika's eyes. "I've lost Elan's magic. It's gone Rika and I'll never get it back."

The barest flicker of shock touched Rika's eyes. "What happened on the roof with Tara? I saw something."

He turned to Demos and knelt low before whispering in his friend's ear. "Today is not your day to die Gregor. I'm going to need your help. Okay?"

A slight smile brushed the general's face. General Demos held his wrist and squeezed.

He glanced back at Rika. "Stay close?"

As the sun faded behind Elan's Great Library, the purple hue of evening took hold.

He let go a deep breath while a hush fell over the crowd.

Gregor Demos's fading soul thread hovered like a cocoon meeting spring's arrival.

He stretched out his mind and touched the general's soul thread. He drew on his own life force and pushed it through the connection.

A gasp rose from the troopers. A few feet beyond Demos, Tara sank to the stones mouth agape. Silver light bathed the witch and tears welled in her eyes.

He pulled on his own life thread and poured energy through the link. Silver energy mingled with Demos's dwindling life force. The soul light spread like a forest fire wrapping the general's body in a glove.

"Ronan," Rika's voice shuddered from behind. "Please don't hurt yourself."

Hurt himself? He glanced behind. "Rika, I —"

Rika's gaze fixed on the cobblestone. The knight's behind him held out their hands as if blinded by bright sunshine.

The troopers squinted and shielded their eyes against a flood of sliver energy.

"I —" He swallowed hard. Would he kill Rika this time? Kill Rika and his father and a thousand other fathers and mothers in the square? What choice had he? He couldn't walk away and let humanity fall. Despite the threat he posed, he owed the world his best effort. Both races would need each other in the days to come.

He reached out and settled his hand on Rika's back. "I'm okay," he said. "Stay close Rika. I won't hurt you or the baby."

Rika squeezed in closer wrapping her arms around his chest. "I love you Ronan Latimer," Rika said in a whisper.

He turned back to Demos and gasped.

Demo's orange soul blazed with an intensity unlike any baerinese soul in the square.

"Like the chief's son...," he said speaking the thought aloud.

The wounds riddling the general's body a moment ago faded and he released his friend's soul thread.

Beyond Demos, Tara watched transfixed. Tears streamed down the witch's face.

General Demos's eyes flickered open.

"Gregor," he said in a hushed tone. "Are you okay?"

Demos smiled and nodded.

He let go of his own life force, took Rika's hand, and stood.

Demos's arms and legs moved. Murmurs rose among the general's troopers.

He extended his hand.

General Demos took it and leaped upward.

Wild cheers erupted among the troopers and Demos turned to face them. The general took his hand and raised them both high.

"We are not at war with humanity," General Demos shouted above the noise. "We come as friends and allies. I order an immediate halt to all hostilities."

Across the square, silver light swirled. A triangular door, rimmed with three black and purple spheres, opened. The buzzing of a thousand insects drowned out the celebration.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Doorway

A portal hung open before the monastery. The droning of a thousand insects carried across the square. Through the portal, orange skies dominated a landscape missing grass, shrubs, and trees. Shapeless mounds of soil stretched to the horizon.

Ronan's flesh crawled. He recalled Tarbin's warning about the insects in the glade. The visitor had called them ickaret. Were the faceless man and the ickaret connected? On instinct, he reached for Elan's magic. Gone.

His chest tightened and his legs turned to mush. How could he defeat an enemy powerful enough to wipe out the banthers? He didn't understand his new power or how best to use it.

The droning intensified.

He leaned into General Demos and shouted above the drone. “Prepare your troopers.” He turned and grabbed Connal’s shoulder who stood gaping through the opening. “Gather every soldier you can lay hands on and lead them here now.”

Connal nodded still gazing into the spinning portal. General Demos shouted orders to a cadre of lieutenants.

“And, no flight form,” he said. “Father, do you hear me?”

Connal met his gaze. Fear touched his father’s eyes. “What?”

“No flight form,” he said. “The sky isn't safe. Spread the word to every guardian you can find.”

“What is it?” Rika said over his shoulder.

He whirled to face Rika. “It’s death.” He scanned the high buildings surrounding the square and tried to get his bearings. “I don’t want you here for this. It’s not safe.”

Rika glared. “Since when do you start telling me what I can and can’t do?”

“Rika, this isn’t the time. Please.”

Connal shifted into a gazelle. “There’s a shelter inside the government building,”

He nodded and pointed toward the government building. “Rika, go. There’s no time to argue.”

Panic touched Rika’s eyes. “I’m not leaving you. I feel safe here with you.”

He shook his head. “I’ll worry about you the whole time.”

“Wouldn’t you anyway?” Rika said.

“You know I will,” he said.

“Then let me stay here with you,” Rika said. “You’ll need me.”

He sensed desperation in Rika’s tone. What if their roles were reversed? What if Rika sent him away while she fought and died a hundred yards away? He couldn’t live with himself.

He searched Rika’s eyes. “What if…?” He let the question hang unable to finish the question. What if he couldn’t save her? What if he couldn’t save anybody?

“Then we’ll be together,” Rika said as if reading his thoughts. The only woman he ever loved perched on her toes and kissed him. “I love you. Always have. Always will.”

“Don’t leave my side,” he said voice trembling. “Do you hear me?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Rika said and squeezed his hand.

Hundreds of wagon-sized insects swarmed through the portal. Uneven armor covered the bugs making up the frontal assault. The insect’s swiveled their abdomens revealing thorny spikes. The spikes gashed the trooper’s front line.

A hundred troopers dropped dead. Other troopers released a volley of arrows into the approaching swarm. Two-dozen insects, skewered with arrows, dropped. Yellow fluid leaked from the puncture wounds.

He opened his mind to the souls packing the square and gasped.

Orange and gray souls, by the thousand, intermingled. Orange soul light flared brightest among the troopers nearest the gate.

The soul threads of the invading insects caught him off-guard. No soul light appeared around them.

He couldn’t use their life force against them. “What in Elan’s name…?” His words trailed off as he gawked at the buzzing mass.

A dozen feet away, the witch gasped as if coming to the same realization.

Like an ax through spring saplings, insects dipped, stingers out, into a wall of troopers. Stingers met armor and troopers dropped. Tearing flesh and desperate screams lit up the square.

His stomach spun as he watched helpless to react.

In slow motion, hundreds more insects swarmed through the portal. The mass blotted out the setting sun dipping behind Elan’s Great Library. The insects stormed forward wrecking paths of destruction. By the score, soldiers and troopers fell.

A disembodied head flew high into the air. A leg without an owner slipped like a greased pig through a river of blood.

He stood frozen unable to move a muscle. Let this nightmare end. Please Elan. This lies beyond my skill. A dull throb settled in his hand. He glanced sideways.

Rika stood beside him squeezing hard enough to snap the bones in his fingers.

A tug came on his bare arm and his mind snapped back to the present.

“You have to do something,” a girl’s voice said from beside him.