To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (56 page)

“Acknowledged,” Daniel replied, feeling better knowing she was on the move, and yet also understood the absence of those forces meant Shantear would have no one from Defense to ward off an attack from Aakadon. That left Emissaries, Seekers, Communicators, Designers, Educators, and Researchers, to fight for the mountain complex and Healers to fix everybody up during and after any assault. Fortunately, all Accomplisheds of the Atlantan Guild had some combat spells in their repertoires and could help with the defense.

Daniel buried his anxieties under a mound of determination and drew his diamond-bladed knife. “Carlos, convey us to the Northland Holding. All of you prepare to use lethal force.”

When the darkness between here and there ended, he immediately cast the spell, Find All, in a twenty span radius to assess the situation. At this level every Aakacarn would sense a spell was being cast but that no longer mattered. Potential was being summoned and focused from every direction and giving off ripple effects and those did not matter either. The closer proximity to the continuing spell at Filia, with its harmonic resonance, made identifying the source of lesser spells difficult to pin point, even for a Seven-bolt Accomplished.

Sherree and fifty Accomplisheds were battling a group of Serpents half a span north of where Daniel stood. A circle of one hundred appeared to the south and then vanished from his senses.
They must be using their invisibility spells.
He smiled while focusing Die Now through his crescendo at where they appeared, and within moments more than eighty bodies slumped onto the ground. The rest were smart enough to scatter and would be difficult to track until they summon potential for a spell. This attack was too fluid for him to stop what he was doing and track individuals. He needed to hit where he could do the most damage.

David took aim and pressed the gem repeatedly, sending lances of light streaking at his designated target, and punching multiple holes in the Accomplished who was in the middle of focusing a beam of energy toward Sero. Silvia sent pebbles of flame from her crossbow at an Aakacarn who glanced up and jumped out of the way. Her stream struck the spell-caster next to him. That fellow’s silks burst into flames and he dropped thrashing to the ground. Carlos launched a lightning bolt at a Serpent, apparently in the process of going from defense to offense, and burnt a hole through his chest. Sero sent beams of light from his hands and seven out of the ten Serpents fell dead. The Four-bolt ducked behind a tree just as three lightning bolts came at him in response from the survivors.

Daniel sensed another circle of one hundred appear right behind Sherree’s position. He immediately conveyed to the rear of the group and sent Die Now at them, killing about a third. Lightning bolts, flaming spheres, and energy beams came hurling back at him. He jumped to the left as trunks of trees exploded and the brightness and cacophony of sounds momentarily overwhelmed his physical senses. He hit the ground, sliding, clearing a large swath of snow, and came to a stop, half buried in the chilly white powder.
At this rate of destruction, there might not be a forest between the border and the holding by the time the fighting was over,
he pondered, and took a moment to sip from his canteen as deadly spells flew back and forth over his head.

Through the spell he sensed Sherree and her team of Accomplisheds, along with Chas and the Sentinels, vanish from their original positions and reappear closer to him, forming a broad ring. Lances of light began striking what was left of the enemy circle from all directions as the Chosen’s Sentinels rained fury on those who dared strike at their leader and Sherree focused spell after spell at those who struck at her husband.

Sero and Carlos appeared beside him just as he stood up and one of them thought to bring along David and Silvia. Daniel pointed his crescendo at the offenders and rainbow light shot forth, forming a sphere that quickly contained the thirty-one remaining Serpents in that group. While he maintained the potential for Shatter Sphere, he could also sense the Ducaunan Royal Cavalry fighting the Pentrosans spans away at the border, and so far stopping them from crossing. The flock of Soarers finally chose a side and began sending Beak Strikes at the Serpents. The outcome of the battle was far from decisive and could go badly, yet there remained a chance for victory.

Carlos, Silvia, and David defended Daniel while Sero continued to go on the offensive. Another circle of one hundred appeared and vanished. Daniel placed a Da Capo on Shatter Sphere and then sent Die Now at the newcomers. This time more than ninety bodies reappeared and fell dead to the ground, unfortunately a number of trees also died in the process.

He brought his attention back to the other circle and watched the Aakacarns within fall boneless to the ground, then removed the Da Capo and the sphere vanished. Sherree appeared beside him. “This could take a while,” she shouted over the noise of battle, drank thirstily from her canteen, and then stepped away and resumed casting lethal spells at the enemy.

Balls of corrosive light flew from the Serpents, destroying vegetation along with several Sentinels. A pair of Accomplisheds removed their invisibility spells fifty paces away and sent beams of light forth with the power of concentrated sound, one of which happened to be aimed at Daniel. Bright light struck him in the forehead and glowed brighter as his shield absorbed most of the energy and even so the sound caused a sharp pain and warm blood to leak from his ears and the tiny vessels in his nose to burst, causing a warm flow to gush from his nostrils. Being deaf and bloody did not stop him from seeing lightning bolts and solidified blades of air flying at him from all directions, striking and being absorbed by his shield. The blades fell harmlessly away but the electrified bolts numbed his nose and the sides of his head, making it difficult to react swiftly. He staggered, needing a few moments of calm in order to concentrate on tending his wounds, but the assault continued with no sign of abatement. Sherree suddenly appeared back at his side, immediately launched spells at the two Aakacarns, and killed them with nine bolts of energy, while he summoned the potential to heal his ears and nose. This he had to do for himself seeing as it would be suicide to remove his protective spells to allow anyone, even his beloved, to touch him. With his hearing restored and his nose no longer bleeding, he rejoined the fight and sent a lightning bolt, backed by fourteen bolts of potential, at a circle of twenty, blasting through their defensive spells, and creating a crater full of sizzling bodies. The wind carried to him the smell of chard flesh and he was not the only one who had to stifle a gag or two.

By the time the spell originating at Filia ended, half a mark from when it began, thousands of Serpents were dead, hundreds of Sentinels and Accomplisheds of the Atlantan Guild were injured, and many of them died before aid could be rendered. Eight of the Soarers were killed and the rest injured. Daniel healed them and kept the Aakacarns of Aakadon asleep. He did not trust them to stay out of mischief. Reports were coming in and he had more important matters to contend with.

He took advantage of the opportunity to sit on a solidified chair of air under a surviving pine with his wife while they each sipped from their canteens and watched men, women, and the animals linked to them swarm through what was left of the forest north of the holding. “We had more victories than losses, Ducaun’s enemies are being stopped at the borders, and the manta rays have proven to be the deadliest things in the water,” Sherree commented in an obvious effort to lift his spirits while sharing what she learned from reports received through her golden array.

It helped a little, her attempt did, but Daniel knew better than to be overly confident. “True, but the fighting is not over. The Lobenian forces are still engaged in battle with Kall, whose wooden catapults and wagons seemed to be breaking apart for some reason, Leah and Jeremiah are playing catch me if you can with the serpents, conveying and teleporting after one another, and our patrol boats are battling anacondas in the Taltin Sea. The fight here has cooled down for the moment and the Accomplisheds of Aakadon have not come any closer to Shantear, so we do have that going for us. Tarin Conn is hitting us with his best shot and we are doing better than merely surviving,” he replied, sharing his information. “We were prepared for this hit and that is the reason we are here to talk about it. I want to know if these multiple strikes are aimed mostly at us or are we experiencing the opening shots of a world war.” The attack on Aczencopa suggested the broader scope.

Sherree took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If the southern kingdoms have come under attack, they are unprepared, and the initial assault will be devastating, but hopefully survivable. You, my husband, need to have your vat replenished before you even think about going to help Leah and Jeremiah.”

She knew him too well, going to the rescue is exactly what he wanted to do, and yet he needed to do as she said. “Carlos, will you convey us to Shantear?”

-----

“Start walking,” Three-bolt Accomplished Rex Badger, Vice-Maestro of the Serpent Guild, dressed in black silks with gold trim, gave the order verbally and to team leaders through the array on his head. This began the journey along Zushong Ki Way, the main street in Zuchang, the capitol of Zune. Walking with him were his closest associates, each a One-bolt Accomplished, Joren Cappa, short and fat, from the mountains of Demfilia, and Leea PenKanner and her sister Joya. Both of the tall women were dark of hair and eye and had been recruited from Ducaun when they were children, as was Rex, although not from the same region. These three had been with him almost from the beginning of his career. Ira Holis, Byron Falton, and Phil Crawlin were of Pentrosan descent and all had the thin-framed, frail look, typical of their countrymen. A Grand Circle’s number of Accomplished, all wearing black silks with silver trim, flooded the street behind them and every citizen of the city knew to be elsewhere when members of the Serpent Guild stepped out into the open.

Tall marble buildings with rooftops that sloped to four points lined both sides of the street. Vending establishments along the sidewalks were closing their doors and shuttering windows as Rex and his assault force progressed towards the residence of Aakadon’s Accomplished assigned to Zuchang. A similar force was moving in the capitols of Demfilia, Fon Kay, and Battencay. He had worked for a good long while preparing for this day, a simultaneous assault the world would not soon forget.

Rex led his team to the right on Aakacarn Way and the objective came into view, a building fifty cubits high that resembled a red-orange flame. Corona Zewen Loaq, a Two-bolt Accomplished of the Sun Guild, should be inside and about to sit down to his mid-day meal along with three Solars currently visiting the city, according to Rex’s most recent information. He held up his hand and came to a stop, as did the Aakacarns behind him.

“What are we waiting for?” Holis asked. It was not surprising Ira was the first to speak among Rex’s closest associates, that man was the least patient of the group.

Few people dared question the Badger when he was about to strike, yet in this instance he decided to make an exception and allow the interruption without lashing out at the questioner. “The command from our Supreme Maestro,” he replied and then added before some dimwit asked the obvious follow up question, “We shall all recognize when he wills us to strike.”

The first ripple of a powerful spell came in from the west precisely at noon and was not as powerful as the morning event, but it signaled what Rex had been waiting for. “Attack!” he shouted out loud and through the array.

He raised his baton and focused the spell, Sonic Boom, at the double doors of the flame-shaped building, and blew open the entrance. Huge splinters of cedar lay on the porch and inside the vestibule. Had he not focused the beam as tightly as he did, the heads of everyone in the vicinity might well have exploded.

Spells from over a hundred Accomplisheds were focused at the building, balls of flames, lightning bolts, and spears of solidified air streaked through the ruined entranceway. Smoke began to rise from the towering artifice of flame. Fire balls soon shot out from windows on the second and third floors and bolts of lightning streaked out from a window on the second level, in all killing five members of his offensive force, no more than what Rex expected from three Solars and a Corona. Half of his fellow Aakacarns switched to forward shields, as did he, while the rest chose one of the four windows and focused their spells at the enemy, each of which proved to be highly skilled at switching back to shields after launching offensive spells. Their prowess could not be allowed to interfere with Rex’s schedule and therefore something more destructive needed to be employed.

“Joya, Leea, shield thirteen,” he ordered, trusting them to combine their potential to protect all three.

The shield formed in the shape of a dome with the equivalent of a tiny arrow slit, just large enough for him to extend his baton through. Feeling confident, he removed his own shield and summoned the potential for Sonic Boom. Life force energy beamed from his crescendo in the shape of a cone and lit up an area ten cubits across around the entrance. With his lightning bolts amplified through his newly made baton, six bolts of potential caused what remained of the frame to crumble and then continue on assaulting the first floor interior. He moved the sustained beam to the right, reducing walls to rubble and the entire building began to shake. He swept the beam to the left and cracks began working their way up the flame-like sides of the edifice. Rex smiled as the weight of the upper floors did the rest of his work and the structural integrity of the section facing him collapsed. The entire building leaned forward and then fell to the ground with a mighty crash, creating a massive dust cloud that billowed into the air and then settled on the shield provided by the sisters, and those of the rest of his assault force. All went dark and he sneezed as dust and smoke entered the shield through the small opening where his baton rested.