As Lyra materialized on the new boat, the mage collapsed atop her. She threw him off and he hit the deck with a thud. She held up the spyglass, reorienting herself in the fog using the glowing beacon of the tower as a compass.

Hickory needed to finish off the Arch Mage quickly. She had expected her first ships to reach the coast by now but the damned mages had managed to bottleneck them. They moved like ants atop the tower, their attacks well timed and annoyingly accurate.

It was time to change the game. Lyra pushed through the sailors until she found a new mage, a Soli man who gave her a salute as she approached.

"You," she snapped, "stay with me." He rushed to follow her as she immediately spun around and made her way to the bow of the ship.

Good, that last mage hadn't been too useless, he'd at least gotten her to a ship with a horn. “Sound the next signal," she ordered and the man near the horn nodded and leaned forward. Three short notes and Lyra waited, satisfied by the grinding noise behind her.

The fog melted back into the waves and she turned to see the catapult obediently moved to train on the tower.

"Fire!"

The huge ball of stone flew through the air, quickly followed by dozens of others from other ships. The first wave bounced harmlessly off the tower, but by the second, a few made it through, crashing into the old stone and no doubt sending tremors up to her assailants at the top. She held a hand to shield her eyes as she peered up to the top of the tower.

A silhouette crossed quickly over her vision and she cursed. "Avins!" No wonder the attacks had been well directed.

She dashed to the upper deck, shouting, "Bows! Shoot them down!"

The soldiers who had been mainly standing by for disembarkment, strung their bows and took aim. Lyra watched with satisfaction as other ships got the same idea and a number of winged figures dropped into the waves.

A fireball landed near Lyra's ship and the deck rocked, forcing her to grasp the railing. Lyra's eyes narrowed and she turned to her new mage. "Keep them off us," she hissed.

The obnoxious man saluted again but when the next batch of fire came, he knocked it aside with a gust of wind. Lyra watched as more of her ships sank but the front line neared closer and closer to the shore. The fire coming from the tower was slowing but a heavier concentration seemed directed in her area. She frowned, had an Avin spotted her and reported her position?

She grabbed the mage's arm. "We're leaving. Get me to a ship with another mage and a horn."

"But if we leave, who will shield this group?"

Her eyes narrowed and the man swallowed his question. Lyra felt herself disappear. She hated the way she couldn't control her movement as the wind whisked her to another ship. At least when they landed, this mage was still standing, albeit swaying a bit.

Again it took her a moment to reorient using the increasingly battered tower as a landmark. It's walls were dented and if it wasn't magical, she was sure it would have crumbled into a heap of stone by now. Unfortunately, the catapults were slow to reload and after the initial attack, it was easier for the mages to deflect the bombardment. The shields they used were costing them though, the fireballs they sent were only about half of what they'd been providing before.

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It was a stand off but all Lyra needed was time, so that suited her well enough. She scanned the sky for more Avins.

A ball of fire crashed into the mast of Lyra's latest ship. Two more were hurtling directly at them and Lyra grabbed the Soli mage again. "Let's go!"

He looked a bit dazed but he managed to move her once more. When they landed, he slumped against the rail and Lyra located the ship she'd left. It had been a concentrated assault but there had definitely not been any more Avin scouts in the area.

Something was wrong, they were tracking her position somehow.

She gave the mage a sharp kick, "Tell me if we're being scryed?"

The mage groaned but held up a shaking hand. "I-I don't think so."

“Then how...?”

Deciding the Soli wasn't going anywhere, Lyra searched the ship for a new mage. She found her, an Aryi woman this time, and the mage followed her closely as Lyra ran around the ship, peering through her spyglass and watching the battle unfold.

"Your Excellence! I just received word from another ship! The rear of the armada is being attacked from the sea," Lyra's new mage said and the queen turned her spyglass away from the tower.

Between the tall sails of her fleet, and the blips of magic that sparked from them, she indeed saw a line of unfamiliar vessels. “Damn.”

Somehow the Duskar rebels had managed to cross the Serpants' Waters! She grit her teeth. Surely they wouldn't have enough ships to do significant harm, although it would slow the invasion if the back line had to fight two fronts and she did not like how many ships she was losing.

To make herself feel better, Lyra watched a few more boulders crash into the tower. Fire rained down at the ships nearest the island with renewed vigor as the mages spotted their new allies. Again, with some coordinated effort, fiery blasts suddenly focused on Lyra's sector and she had to jump to yet another ship.

“This is getting tedious,” Lyra thought with annoyance and venom, her fingers white against the spyglass. “Damn them.”

As if in answer to her curses, the sound of five short notes sounding from the edge of the armada lifted Lyra’s mood and she grinned. Her first ship had landed.

“You're too late,” she thought as she watched her new ship's projectile crash near the very top of the tower.

Matius steadied himself as the boulder broke through and slammed into the tower. He stumbled over to Yu'jana whose face was smeared with ash and sweat. "They've reached the coast!" he shouted.

"Then it's time for you to go. I'll stay and help Shasta's people thin them out more. Here!" She tossed him Fenrin's pendant. "I'll join you later!"

He caught the necklace and nodded. Shouting for the mages who were designated for the first ground team and had enough magic left, Matius activated the prepared teleportation circle and led them through. He prayed to the Makers that the strain it would put on the Arch Mage would not cost him the battle he was locked in with Hickory.

As he stumbled into the square with his dozen or so mages, they were rushed by other Azir, hands glowing ready to heal any injuries. Not every Azir was trained to fight, but every Azir had magic and the citizens on Zi'giza were prepared to help where they could.

"They've landed then," a tall Azir man said, shaking Matius's hand. Matius nodded tiredly at Xi'er, the skilled mage in charge of the ground forces. Xi’er added, "I'll send out our front line."

As Xi’er gave the order, Matius let himself be shuffled off with the other mages from the tower as the Earth mages and Azir fighters awaiting in the city moved out, their stone guardians marching with loud rhythmic steps in front of them. Stone walls rose along the edge of the city after they passed, sealing it in.

As Matius forced himself to eat the food he'd been given to help his magic recover, Fenrin found him. "I don't suppose you managed to sink her?" he asked.

Matius shook his head. "I’m afraid not. She kept wind-walking farther away, which was incredibly frustrating since if I'd been any closer I could have stopped her or at least had the wind drop her in the ocean."

"Told you she was a pain in the ass."

Matius pulled the pendant from his pocket. "Yu'jana gave me this so at least we'll know when she gets close."

"Good. Just point me in the right direction," Fenrin growled.