The Sorcerer's Destiny (The Sorcerer's Path) (41 page)

Raijaun scoured the area in front of the wall with gold and silver fire all along its vast length and for a hundred yards or more out from its base. It burned in the eyes of anyone chancing a glance its direction as if they were looking straight into the sun. Even Azerick had to marvel at the power his son was able to draw and wield until a pang of sympathy brought him the sobering reminder of the pain his craft caused him.

Seeing that the humans were fleeing once again, or perhaps the Scions knew their most-hated foes had taken the field, they began pushing their minions harder. The dragons began attacking with increased ferocity, and the ravagers ignored the death and destruction Azerick and Raijaun threw against them and charged the wall. Fire and powerful spells battered at the wards to which the wizards had to devote their full attention. Wards flared like sparks kicked up by log thrown on a fire as the massive wyrms slammed into them and tried to claw their way through despite the sharp, stunning jolts of electricity coursing through them each time they made the attempt. A huge, dusky-brown dragon landed heavily upon a parapet, shattering the heavy ballista mounted there and snapping up the crew trying to help cover the retreat.

The assault came with so much force it was almost impossible to see the sky through the bursting of magic, gouts of flame, and the dragons’ huge bodies. A dragon broke through a ward like an ice bear bashing its way into a seal den and dropped onto a mass of humans. The creature’s own ward deflected the stronger spells cast at it while it ignored arrows and lesser magic. Its massive tail cracked like a whip, bashing aside houses as if they were toys and swept away a score of soldiers like dirt from a kitchen floor.

Azerick made to strike at the beast, but Raijaun was faster. A great golden hand came down from the heavens like the fist of Solarian, plucked the dragon up, and bashed it against the castle wall until it and the dragon lay in a broken heap. As impressed as he was with his son’s spell, Azerick could not help but worry over the grimace of pain rippling across Raijaun’s face. He was not combining his guardian magic with his abyssal power, but even the amalgamation with the closer-related Source magic caused him distress. Azerick’s distraction cost him as a searing bolt of magic struck him in the side and flung him over the edge of the wall. His only good fortune was toppling off to the inner side instead of tossing him to the snapping jaws of the horde of ravagers piling up at its base once again.

Azerick rolled just as a huge forefoot came crashing down with enough force to buckle the cobblestone street. The dragon’s head snapped down with the speed of swooping falcon. A hastily cast force strike deflected the huge head and cratered the ground next to Azerick’s body. The dragon rose up and prepared to spew fire as the sorcerer began shaping a ward to shield himself from the impending flames. Powerful rays and lightning struck the dragon in its side before it could release its breath weapon against the prone human. Azerick saw the dragon stagger under the combined onslaught and turned to see who had come to his rescue.

Ellyssa, Roger, Allister, Aggie, and Rusty appeared through a wind-blown wall of black smoke like avenging wraiths. The Dragon turned, glared at the wizards who had interrupted it, and spit its fire at the newcomers. Aggie and Allister erected a powerful ward, shielding them all from the inferno, while Ellyssa and Roger struck out at three other dragons circling and strafing.

“You like to play with fire do you?” Rusty shouted. “Me too.”

A horizontal column of fire erupted from his outstretched hands with an intensity equal to that of the Dragon’s breath weapon. The dragon scratched at the air with an outstretched talon and growled. Rusty’s spell splashed against an invisible wall and spread out in a great flaming sheet. Allister turned to his offensive magic and unleashed a twisting ray of azure light. Like an auger, it bored through the magical shield and the dragon’s armoring scales. The creature roared in agony as the magic tore and seared the powerful muscles beneath the hard plates and tough skin. Azerick shaped the head of his staff into a spear and hurled it with all his formidable strength. The arcanum blade sank deeply into the dragon’s neck. Runes carved along its shaft flared and sent a burst of arcane power into its body, ending its pain and continued existence. A quick thought and the staff reappeared in Azerick’s hand.

“This place is going to hell with a quickness,” Allister said. “Let’s get out of here before your wife comes and drags us out by our ears.”

“Where is Miranda?”

“Waiting at the gate, and she won’t leave until you’re through it. It was all I could do to keep her from coming with us.”

Azerick nodded and turned to the wall where Raijaun still fought to impede the ravager’s siege. “Raijaun, time to go!”

Raijaun glanced down, conjured a rolling fog that burned like fire, and glided down to the ground. Azerick witnessed his son’s pain and fatigue when he landed a bit hard and took a few stumbling steps. Raijaun waved off Azerick’s concerned inquiry before he spoke. Already, ravagers began pouring over the distant ends of the walls where Raijaun’s incendiary cloud did not reach. It was definitely time to make haste.

“Azerick, would you like to make a gate to the rift?” Aggie asked. “It’s a bit far for us.”

The Sorcerer nodded and opened a portal to the plaza. The city’s remaining defenders still crowded the area as they continued their orderly retreat through the large rift and the remaining gate. Thanks to Ancalon’s portal, the challenge no longer lay with getting people through but trying to clear them away from the exit point in the valley so more could pass. The task was made especially difficult due to the vertigo traveling through the portals caused.

Miranda spotted the group almost immediately from her higher vantage point and pushed through the crowd to reach them. “Azerick! Thank the gods you made it.”

“We’re fine, but it looks as though we are not yet finished. This is taking too long. Raijaun and I need to buy more time.”

“I’m going with you!”

“No, you are not. You have your place in this war, but this is not it,” Azerick declared firmly.

“My place is by my husband’s side.”

“There is nothing you can do to help. That makes it more likely you will be a hindrance. I do not mean to sound callous or belittle your abilities, but your skills are not fit for this duty and could cost people their lives if you insist on applying them to the task.”

Miranda knew he was right, but hearing it burned in her stomach. She swallowed her frustration and pride and nodded. “Fine, but I’m waiting at the gate, and I will not pass through it without you.”

“Fair enough.”

“We’re with you, boy,” Allister insisted.

“I need Raijaun for what I have in mind. You all help reinforce the plaza against any ravagers that might still reach us until everyone is through.”

The archmage looked dour. “It’s been a long time since I was second fiddle in the orchestra. I gotta tell you, I don’t like it.”

Aggie threaded her arm through his and kissed him on his mushy cheek. “You are a distant third, and in the triangle section.”

“Hateful old woman,” he grumbled lovingly.

Azerick and Raijaun stood at the edge of the plaza. Many buildings already lay in ruins, but much of the district still stood proudly defiant. That was soon to change.

“I want to drop these buildings into the streets to create as great an obstacle as we can. I know it’s a poor barrier at best given how they move, but at least they will not have a clear run to us.”

“I agree, Father. We should be able to make it a greater challenge by igniting the combustibles as well.”

Azerick nodded. “This is going to require the blending of abyssal magic, and I know how difficult that is for you.”

“I will manage as I always do, Father. It is my purpose.”

Father and son began weaving the threads of a complex spell. Black fog formed around their hands and began curling through the streets and between buildings like smoke but with the sentience of a living creature. Everywhere it passed, wood rotted, iron rusted, and stone crumbled. Walls cracked and supports failed, causing the homes and businesses to topple and choke the streets. Many fell and crushed the invading army beneath their mass, killing hundreds and trapping thousands beneath the rubble. The corruption complete, arcane and Guardian magic tracked along the ebony streamers and set the ruins ablaze. What was once a skyline of twisting black columns of smoke became a curtain of flames and choking darkness, hiding the grotesque stage and actors while stagehands erected new, horrific scenes. Ravagers pushed heedlessly through the hellish destruction, driven by the silent commands of their creators and the unslakable bloodlust inherent to their existence. The death toll extracted by the defenders and Azerick and Raijaun’s most recent destruction was incalculable, but still the enemy came on. Fierce battles erupted in the clogged alleys and atop the smoldering mounds of rubble all around the plaza.

The park was nearly clear of everyone not valiantly trying to stave off the unrelenting incursion. Raijaun studied the scene and knew those actively engaged in combat would not be able to withdraw through the portals without help. Combining the three elements of his magic, he ringed the plaza in fire that consumed wood, stone, and iron as if it were coal feeding the intense fires of a forge.

Seeing his spell was creating the opportunity for a mass exodus, Azerick focused his power on the skies to drive away the dragons’ constant aerial harassment. Rusty sent tendrils of magic into the cloying smoke, gathered it up like black snow, and created a thick screen to blanket a large section of the city and hide them from the from the dragons’ eyes. Allister, Aggie, and Ellyssa reinforced the ebony cloud with magic, giving it solidity capable of warding off the bombardment if only for a short time.

“Everyone, through the rift!” Azerick shouted with a magically amplified voice.

Scores of defenders, mostly the wizards who were using their powerful magic to hold the ravagers’ advance at bay until the soldiers could retreat, used the last of their physical reserves to sprint for the rift. Azerick and Raijaun moved in a more orderly manner, eyes peeled for any enemies managing to break through their hasty defenses.

“Miranda, go!” Azerick shouted upon seeing his wife standing next to the rift.

“I told you, I’m not going through without you!”

“Go, Father,” Raijaun urged. “I will close the rift and use the gate to make my escape.”

Azerick grimaced and balked, but he looked at Miranda and relented. “Be swift, and do not take any unnecessary risks.”

“I will be fine, Father.”

Azerick nodded, clapped his son on the shoulder, and led Miranda through the rift. Raijaun stood alone in the eye of a vortex of pure chaos and nightmare. Pushing aside the thoughts of the certain death clawing to reach him, Raijaun turned his focus onto the rift and sent his magic deep into its ethereal weave. The power of the rift and the perfection of magic used in its creation filled him with awe. It was unlike anything he had experienced before yet he felt a deep kindred within its form. He began unraveling it with his magic, taking care to avoid leaving a scar in the world for the dragons or Scions to exploit. They would face their enemies again all too soon, and he did not want to hasten that meeting by leaving a door open for them to walk through.

Raijaun did more than close the rift. He sealed it and twisted the weave to make its construction as indecipherable as he could manage in the short time he had. He doubted even his skill could thwart the Scions’ power for long, but he hoped to confound them enough to make it not worth their while. Raijaun tied off the last threads of his weave and made to hasten to the gate still standing proud amidst a field of destruction. A powerful explosion sped his retreat as a concussive wave sent him airborne and deposited him just a few yards from where it stood.

The Guardian sprang to his feet and scanned the sky. A huge ship had somehow managed to breach the shell over the plaza and floated a few hundred feet overhead. The vessel bristled with heavy weapons he was certain were far more lethal than their mundane appearance implied. However, it was not the armament capturing his attention but the figure leaning over the rail with an all-too familiar, satisfied smirk upon is visage. Raijaun wanted to blast the ship out from beneath him, but he was exhausted, in agony, and several dragons were pouring in through the breach behind the ship. Daebian flicked his brother a two-fingered salute from his brow as Raijaun leapt through the portal.

CHAPTER 20

“Destroy it,” Raijaun ordered the moment he stepped through the gate and entered the valley.

Wizards assigned to control the gates promptly obeyed. Special runes lit up along its surface, and the stone columns crumbled into dust.

The gates and the rift opened near the center of the valley, several miles from where the massive army camp stood in the event any of their enemy managed to break through or the Scions were able to reopen them. Even this far from the main body, ten thousand heavy infantry, a thousand archers, a thousand cavalry, and two hundred of Azerick’s constructs stood vigil over the gates in orderly ranks. This was but a fraction of the host occupying the east end of the valley.

The Duchess, General Brague, and several of Azerick’s people nervously waited in the crowded clearing near the gates. They rushed forward, pushing past the last of the people to come through and were still trying to get their feet beneath them. Mellina and Miranda embraced, gushing words of relief for each other’s safe return. General Brague greeted his officers and counted survivors, and several mages barraged Azerick with questions about where he had been and what was going to happen next.

Azerick brushed the queries aside with short, vague answers and an occasional scowling shake of his head. His only concern at the moment was Raijaun who appeared ready to collapse.

“I will be all right, Father,” Raijaun said in voice heavy with pain and exhaustion.