The Sorcerer's Dragon (Book 2) (7 page)

Remi nodded. “Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all, but Ian was telling me about your quest, and I was thinking that if you would have me, I’d like to go too.”

“Why? It’s not going to be fun.”

“Because there’s someone out there I need to find.”

“Oh yeah, who’s that?”

“The strongest man in the world. I need to talk to him, and maybe even challenge him. See where I measure up.”

“Of course I would like to go too,” Ian replied. “And I have one more person if you’re willing, but that requires going back to Paragon. Not to mention that we really, really need some supplies.”

“Okay!” Remi said in exasperation. “We’ll get some supplies before we go!”

“So I’m going?” Harlan asked, turning to Ian. Then he chuckled and crossed his arms. “Of course I am. Who’s going to be the bodyguard?”

“I might,” Remi said, pursuing her lips.

“Oh yeah? Shake my hand.”

“No, thanks,” she laughed and his face fell in disappointment.

“You sure you’re okay going back?” Ian asked.

“Yeah,” she said. She realized quickly that there was no way she could go on the journey alone. Perhaps the other Sage weapons were used to being alone, but she had been around others since childhood, and if there were people that loved her enough to accompany her on her quest, who was she to deny them?

“It won’t take long,” Ian promised.

Just as he finished his sentence, an arrow whistled behind him and flew right through his left shoulder.

“Ian!” Harlan shouted as he grabbed his friend and let him down gently. Remi snapped her head around to see a group of Langorans coming toward her, but that wasn’t what scared her. It was the horrible machinations they were towing behind them.

“Catapults,” Remi whispered. “What do they need those for? I thought I was the only one they wanted.”

“Apparently not,” Ian groaned. “Can this hurt any more?”

“Shush,” Harlan said, then he turned to Remi. “We need to get Ian out of here, and there’s no way we’re going to be able to take down a force that large. In this darkness, we don’t even know how many there are.”

“Agreed,” Remi said as Harlan threw Ian over his shoulders. “Where are we heading?”

“Sage Academy,” he said. “You have friends there that can help?”

“Yeah,” she said. “At least I hope so.” Her eidolon shrieked and Remi managed to slice an arrow in half before it hit Harlan in the back. “Let’s hurry.”

The three of them took off running, and Remi’s thoughts suddenly fell on the family of three that she had left behind. Had they made it? Were they slaughtered? Or did they join with the Langorans and tell them where she had headed? Why would anyone leave Paragon to side with Cimmerian? It didn’t make sense.

“Can you get this out of me?” Ian mumbled before he went unconscious. Harlan and Remi kept running. Because the Langorans had the catapults to pull behind them, they were able to lose them easily, but it didn’t make her feel any safer.

They were still heading right for Paragon, and no one had any idea that they were coming.

*              *              *

“Close the gates!” Remi shouted as they neared, but to her horror, there was not one guard stationed on the wall. The entrance to Paragon was wide open, and not a single person was there to stop them. “Keep going to the Academy!” she shouted to Harlan as they ran through.

Remi turned around and threw her eidolon into the stone wall. She leapt on top it and then jumped again, willing her eidolon to vanish and reappear at her hip. She stabbed the surface in front of her, and then she performed the same action until she had scaled up the wall.

It had taken far too long, but at least she was able to reach the levers.

She ran to the first of the two pulley levers and pulled at it with all her might but it was stuck. She crouched down and rammed into it, using her body weight to push it to the side. Thankfully it worked, but there was still a second lever on the other side of the entrance.

Remi grunted in frustration, eyed the gap between the wall and took off running as fast as she could. When she reached the edge, she leapt as high as she could into the air, knowing she wasn’t going to make it.

She had to use her eidolon again to catch her fall. She slammed it into the wall’s side and began scaling up it just like the other one. By the time she reached the second lever, she could already hear the rumbling of the catapults in the distance. She glanced in the Langorans’ direction only for a moment, and she saw trees being knocked down in their path.

Remi turned her attention back to the second lever. She rammed it and finally the gate came crashing down. Depending on what the catapults were carrying, the flimsy thin steel gate wouldn’t last long, but it would give them some time.

Remi didn’t feel like getting hit by an arrow so she turned back toward Paragon and scanned the ground below. It was a long drop, but as long as she transformed before she leapt, it would be okay.

A large rock hit in her the back and she went sprawling over the edge.

So much for waiting, she thought as she willed her Sage robe to cover her. She landed on her feet hard, but at least her muscles were able to take the shock. She had made sure to land more on her human leg than her artificial one.

Once she was sure her artificial leg didn’t have any cracks in it, she took off running, heading straight for the Sage Academy. Behind her, she could already hear the first volley of boulders crashing against Paragon’s gate.

*              *              *

Remi jumped onto the stone platform quickly and willed it to ascend. She glanced behind her but there were no enemies yet. That would probably change within the hour.

Remi sucked her teeth as the platform rose up to its destination—the Sage Academy. She didn’t wait for it to lock in place. She leapt up as soon as she was close enough to clear the opening. She ran up the spiral staircase, huffing and puffing the entire way, and when she hit the main walkway, she was shocked to see how casually everyone was acting. They were sparring. They were talking and laughing. They were eating and doubling over in laughter.

“HEY!” she shouted, gaining the attention of a few. “We’re under attack!”

“What are you talking about?” someone muttered, going back to their sandwich.

“The Langorans are here!” she shouted, but even fewer paid attention this time. A hand slapped her right shoulder and she jumped up in surprise.

“Remi?” Olivia asked, carrying her sword in hand and wearing nothing but a fluffy red bathrobe. “Are you okay?”

“Livi, we’re under attack!” Remi said frantically, grabbing her shoulders. “They’ll be here any minute. We have to evacuate or fight or something. Langorans and Cimmerians I think. They have catapults that are—”

“We would have gotten word they were coming from the wall,” Olivia replied.

“No one’s at the wall. Where’s Catherine and James?”

“They left to get information about something,” Olivia replied.

“Then who’s in charge?”

“No one,” she said, taking note of the sweat on her friend’s face. “We’re governing ourselves.”

“Someone needs to order everyone out of here now! Where’s Ian and Harlan?”

“Who are they?”

“They didn’t make it?” she cried out, running down the small steps to one of the platforms facing out toward Paragon’s wall. She couldn’t see it, but if the Langorans were coming, they would be over the hill at any minute.

But where were Ian and Harlan? Surely she would have seen them on her way to the Academy…unless they didn’t know the way.

“I’ve got to go,” she said. “They’re still out there somewhere.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Kace asked, appearing at Olivia’s side.

“Remi says we’re under attack.”

“But we haven’t heard…” Kace’s voice trailed as he saw the silhouettes roll over the first hill in the distance, trampling the flowers and grass underneath. Remi’s face fell as the small army appeared, heading straight for the Sage Academy. One by one, the students stopped what they were doing and came to look as well.

The rumblings of the catapult’s wheels and massive frames created an echo across the countryside and many stopped talking in mid-conversation, curious as to what was the cause. Eventually, the entire student body became frozen in fear.

“Who’s the best we’ve got?” Remi asked as the small army approached.

“Me,” Olivia said. “And to be honest, I’m sure that’s enough.”

There were a dozen Langorans, but the army was mostly made of Cimmerians hidden under massive armor. There were hundreds of them, and at least a dozen catapults, each of them carrying a boulder that was as big as six people. There was also a separate compartment underneath each raised catapult, where more boulders were stored.

“The Langorans have to go first!” Olivia shouted. “They’ve got to be the ones loading the catapults.”

“I didn’t think it would come to this,” Kace whispered. Remi looked at him and saw his face turning pale. She knew he wasn’t ready for this. Few of them had been prepared, and she wasn’t sure if she was included in that number.

“Of course James leaves now,” a student muttered and Olivia turned around to slap him across the face. The student yelped and grabbed his cheek.

“It doesn’t matter,” Olivia snapped at him. “What if James and the others were dead?! We’d still have to handle this ourselves. Now stop whining and tell everyone to prepare for war. Someone needs to head to Cirrus and tell the King’s officials of what’s happening here.”

Before a number of hands could go up she chose someone and the chosen one left the walkway happily, heading straight for the western tower.

“You can’t keep us here,” another student replied. “We’re leaving.”

“You can’t be serious!” Remi exclaimed as she glanced over at Kace. She knew he was on the verge of losing it.

“This isn’t our fight,” Berto shouted from within the slowly dispersing crowd. “We didn’t sign up for this.”

“Then what did you sign up for?!” Olivia shouted. “Cowards! I thought we were Sages!”

“We already died once,” Berto said. “I’m not going through that again. Kace, are you coming?”

Kace’s lips quivered as they stammered over a reply, but in the end, his eyes fell upon Remi. He shook his head. “I’m not,” he said to Remi. “I’m staying right here with you.”

She couldn’t lie. She wanted to kiss him in that moment.

“I’m sorry,” Berto cried out as he began taking his place in the crowd, all of them scurrying for the exit.

“I could kill them all,” Olivia muttered. “If I had the time and energy to spare.”

“COVER!” someone shouted, and the first boulder crashed through the west tower, taking several escaping students with it. The Academy sounded like it exploded as another boulder hit the west tower right after the first, sending the platform leading to the ground into a spiral.

“That’s not good,” Kace said, wiping the sweat from his face. “If we lose the east tower’s exit platform, we won’t be able to leave.”

“They want us to head for the exits,” Olivia said. “But it’s not like we can just wait here until they run out of boulders either…what I wouldn’t give for a manifestation right about now.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Remi asked as a third boulder whizzed over their heads. The Sage Academy had nothing they could fire back with and the Cimmerians knew it.

“They’re coming!” a student screamed as a dozen Cimmerians crawled into one of the catapults and were subsequently launched toward the Academy. As they neared, they released grappling hooks from their hands and lodged them into the sides of the wall, using the momentum to swing themselves back toward the Sage Academy’s floating walls. They landed on the walkways and unsheathed their swords, ready to slay as many Sages as possible.

“Watch out!” Olivia shouted, but her warning was muffled by the sound of another boulder hitting the walkway behind her. It had only hit the bottom half, but it was enough to knock her off her feet.

The students not paying attention didn’t even see two Cimmerians land on top of a couple of their comrades and began slashing at the crowd. Since so many were trying to make it to the exit, it was difficult to get out of the way of their enemies’ blades.

“Spread out!” Remi shouted as she tried to work her way through the crowd to get to the Cimmerians. Other waves were coming by the second, landing on all points of the walkway. The Cimmerians weren’t that tough, but because they were so condensed, there was little room for the young Sages to swing their eidolons and vanquish their foes.

“Remi, watch out!” Kace shouted as he leapt onto a Cimmerian that had landed behind her. She ducked and narrowly dodged a swing at her head. She kicked at the Cimmerian’s shielded legs but he didn’t budge. The Cimmerian lifted his arms and tried to grab Kace, but Kace was relentless. He ripped the helmet off of the guard’s head and then took one of the scythes sticking out of his forearm and plunged it into the Cimmerian’s neck, killing him instantly.

The guard fell onto his stomach and Kace rolled off, ready to take on the next attacker, but he didn’t get a chance. A large boulder plowed into his legs and subsequently the floor underneath his feet, sending him crashing to the meadow below with the debris.

Remi screamed in rage as the Academy groaned over the uneven structure, but somehow it was still maintaining its place in the air.

Remi ran to the side of the walkway and looked over, trying to see where Kace landed, but she couldn’t see much with the Academy still crumbling apart underneath, causing a cloud of smoke and soot to fly up in her face. She coughed and bumped into a Cimmerian that had just finished stabbing another student. She took out her eidolon and sliced right through him. More Cimmerians were leaping onto the walkway and there wasn’t enough room to continue such a battle.

Yet the students were fighting back. Seeing that there was no escape but through their enemy, they began unsheathing their eidolons and giving it all they had. Remi still didn’t know how they were going to take down the catapults though, and it was only a matter of time before they took out the Academy completely.

“We have to retreat,” Remi shouted to Olivia. “Or we’re going to be hit too!”

“Head to the east tower!” she shouted as she clashed blades with another Cimmerian. “Spread the word along. That’s where we’re headed!”

“What’s happening here?” Eckard groaned, showing up completely naked.

“What happened to you?” Olivia shouted and he covered his privates with his hands.