Typhonus collapsed against the border wall, panting, shivering, and covered in sweat. He really should have done more research on this spell before trying to work on the components while traveling through hostile territory, especially alone. Not that he could have let anyone accompany him. They would have tried to stop him. As it was, he was going to need some creative truths to get everything to work.
“Are you injured, human?”
Typhonus looked up to see a Lyonin standing a short distance away. Pushing up from the wall, he carefully offered a bow. “Not injured, just exhausted. Thank you. I don’t suppose you know where my friends are?”
The Lyonin regarded him with a level look. “That depends on who your friends are, and who you are.”
“Right, right. That makes sense. My name is Typhonus, late of the Terrace Mage Academy, current member of the rebellion against the Empire.”
“Of course you are. More and more of you crossing through here. Don’t know why we even have this wall.” The Lyonin shook his head, mane ruffling. “Your… friends… are east of the city.”
Typhonus nodded and thanked the Lyonin, then started to stagger away. The last thing he heard was, “Good luck, old one.”
Old one?
***
“My Khan, our scouts have returned.”
Kubla slammed one more slash into the target, the sound of rending metal screaming through the room. He stretched out his limbs for a moment, then turned to his bodyguard, who was standing in the door.
“What did they find?”
The bodyguard stepped inside, closing the door. “They were able to get all the way through. There were some places that could easily be blocked, should others try to follow. We can easily send everyone through when needed.
“The land on the other side seems rich with game. Many of the Ra’shan have agreed to join us. They are working to prepare an area to receive the clan.”
Kubla grinned, fangs gleaming. “Excellent! I’ve already been approaching some of the younger members of the clan. We have a core group that can start slipping away. Only a few warriors to start. Still need to keep an eye on the humans and their pets.”
The grin flowed into a scowl. His warriors had yet to engineer a confrontation with the humans in the city. Each group seemed to have their own escorts as well, warriors and mages. They also seemed to keep themselves to the markets and merchant sections.
There had been some success in peeling some of the humans from the herd in their settlement. Never from the settlement itself, but humans seemed to wander off on their own, easy prey for a trained hunter.
Those few humans had been fascinating to study. Fighting and killing the humans of the Empire had been simple. Studying the humans to learn the best ways to kill them, where to strike, how much blood they could lose, all that proved useful.
“Speaking of pets, the Shartha have a new present for us.”
Kubla turned to see Sahs emerge from deeper in the home. She was adorned in a dark outfit that shimmered like metal, but flowed like the scales of a snake. Covered from neck to toe, the armor accentuated her lithe figure and flowed her movements.
“They weren’t able to fully duplicate the effect on full armor pieces, but they were able to make smaller plates. Layering them forms an armor that resists slashing attacks, though bludgeoning is still an issue.” She grinned. “Not that many humans can hit hard enough to hurt a Majestix!” She slapped her flat, armored belly.
Kubla stalked over to Sasha, running a claw along her armor, a rumbling purr of pleasure vibrating in his chest. “This will make playing with the humans much more enjoyable. Their over reliance on sword will be their downfall. We’ll get to carve through plenty before making our move through the mountains.
“The Empire will be so riled up that they’ll fall upon the city with blood in their eyes. They won’t even notice most of the Lyonin missing and the rest of the Majestix will be too busy trying to survive.”
Sasha pressed her armored body against his. “I’ve had a thought for the human rebels. Why not offer them an exhibition. A chance to show off their skills and for us to showcase ours. We could even arrange for you to fight some of the humans. Sadly, accidents happen.”
Kubla’s golden eyes glowed with delight. “It would give me a legitimate reason to carve up some of the rebels’ best warriors. Maybe one of their sheep will get involved. We haven’t been able to get near them in the settlement and only one ever enters the city, always heavily escorted. They look so delicious.”
His nostrils flared and he licked his lips. Suddenly his eyes widened as he caught Sasha’s scent. Holding her at arm’s length, he gazed from her eyes to her taut belly.
“Are you?”
Sasha’s shimmering eyes and wide grin were answer enough.
***
“Marcus! There you are!”
Marcus turned to see Typhonus staggering into the area set aside for the mages, those who had chosen to join the rebels. They’d even found some new ones among the former prisoners of Feron’s compound.
Stepping quickly over to this friend, Marcus wrapped him up in a hug. “We were worried about you. You’re later than we expected.” Pulling back to arm’s length, he looked his friend over. “You look rough. And what did you do to your hair?”
“My hair?” Typhonus reached up with his free hand to touch his brow, then tugged a lock of hair into view. His eyes widened as white hairs drifted before his gaze. “How did…” He shook his head. “Never mind. I’ve been working on something this whole trip. That’s why I’m late.”
Marcus stepped back as Typhonus reached into his rucksack and pulled out a small sphere of magicite. “Did… did you raid the Academy stores?” At Typhonus’s grin, Marcus chuckled. “Wish I’d thought of that.”
Typhonus hefted the sphere. “I’ve been working on these the entire time I’ve been traveling and even before that. It’s my greatest project yet.” Twisting the sphere around, he showed off the spellwork. “It’s the basis for the Siege Shield from Central City.”
Marcus blinked in surprise. Reaching out, he took the sphere, feeling the weight of the magicite and history. “The Siege Shield? You’ve got it to work? How?”
“I’ll show you the research notes when we get a chance. First, we’ve got to get these into the ground. At least twenty feet deep and spaced completely around the city and the settlement.”
Marcus frowned down at the rucksack. “Do you think you have enough to surround both?”
“Yes. It only takes twenty-four spheres to power the shield. All we need is your Hanna to bury them.” Typhonus stumbled slightly and Marcus reached out a hand to steady him.
“First, let’s get you some food and rest. You don’t look so good, old man.”
“I’ll old man you!” Taking a deep steadying breath, Typhonus added, “After a break. Working these spells has taken a lot out of me.”
Marcus took a moment to explain things to the other mages, then took hold of Typhonus. A quick concentration of will had the two appearing outside his home. Guiding Typhonus inside, he put him into a bed, then took the rucksack and went in search of Hanna.
***
Hanna hefted the magicite sphere, then handed it to Akara. The elemental took it in her mouth and disappeared into the ground with barely a ripple in the dirt.
Marcus smiled. “That is so much simpler than trying to dig down to that depth.”
Hanna returned the smile. “Akara loves being able to help. Too many people don’t really bond with their elementals, just seeing them as tools to use. I’m trying to explain that to our students.”
“We definitely need more people with a bond like yours. Imagine what could be done. What you’ve already been able to accomplish. I’ve never heard of an earth elementalist who can so easily manipulate their elements. Most are content to use the prepared spells and never venture past that.”
Hanna’s beaming smile was a delight to see. Her blue eyes practically glowed. “I think I’m making progress with the class, especially with those who have seen Akara. Her detail is greater than anyone has ever seen.”
Akara took that moment to resurface, as if her name had summoned her. The elemental rubbed against Marcus’s leg before returning to Hanna’s side with a happy wiggle to her tail. Hana leaned down and patted the rock snake on the head. The snake actually seemed to hiss in pleasure.
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Marcus boggled at the snake. That was new. Gathering the rucksack, he started walking towards the next site for one of the magicite spheres. They’d already buried half a dozen, far quicker than he’d have thought possible.
As they approached the site, they found an armored Lyonin waiting for them. “You are not wanted here. Be gone.”
Marcus put the rucksack down and crossed his arms over his chest. “We have permission from the Khans to do this. It will help protect everyone. Human, Majestix. Everyone.”
The Lyonin growled, fangs gleaming. “You are not wanted here. Be gone.”
There was the sound of rummaging from the rucksack. Marcus looked down in time to see Akara emerge with a sphere in her fangs, then disappear into the earth. He turned to look at Hanna.
“Did you ask her to do that?”
Hanna shook her head. “Nope. She did that all on her own.”
“Huh. What do you know.”
“Do not ignore me, human!”
Marcus teleported to the side, easily avoiding the slashing claw. After getting shot at by flying rocks, the attack seemed slow.
“Cowardly human! Stand still and fight!” The Lyonin came in swinging again. Marcus went through a series of short hops, dodging the attacks and letting the Lyonin only strike air.
“I wouldn’t keep doing that, if I were you. Bad things could happen.”
The Lyonin snarled. “And what can you do, runt? All you do is run!”
Marcus teleported further back to give himself room. “Oh, I’m not the one you should be worried about.” He pointed behind the warrior. “She is.”
The Lyonin turned in time to take a stone encrusted fist to the jaw from a grinning Hanna, who was covered in overlapping plates of a dark stone. Sent tumbling, the warrior dug his claws into the ground to stop himself, crouching down. He seemed confused by the bouncy, braided bundle of excitement.
Hanna apparently decided she was done waiting and leaped at the warrior with a woohoo! There was a mixture of snarls and laughter amidst the whirl of limbs and the sound of stone on flesh and metal and the shriek of claws on stone.
Marcus winced with each shriek, but at least the laughter let him know Hanna was okay.
“She really is quite exuberant, isn’t she?”
Marcus teleported to the side in shock, then turned to see an old Panthra in a cloak, fur white with age where it wasn’t scarred.
“Who? Where?!”
The Panthra chuckled. “Sorry, cub. A habit of my profession. My Khan thought something like this might happen and sent me to keep an eye on things. I hadn’t planned to reveal myself unless you needed me. Then I was watching how you two handled the warrior. I must say I’m impressed by you two.”
Marcus looked between the ongoing melee and the Panthra, then nodded. “Thank you? Do you think you could stop things? I’m afraid of what could happen were my fiancee to decide to stop playing around.”
There was another chuckle from the old Panthra, the shadows seemed to coalesce around the warrior, immobilizing him. The Lyonin snarled and strained until the Panthra stepped into his line of sight. The snarl cut off with the snap of his jaws.
There was some kind of silent discussion between the two Majestix that ended with the Lyonin being released to stalk off, though not without a few backwards looks.
The Panthra returned with a faintly amused smile. “You’ll not be bothered from now on. What you do is for the best of us all. I’ll still be around to keep an eye on you two, though.” With those works, he faded away.
Marcus stared at the empty air, then turned to Hanna, who had made her way over, sweat on her brow and a smile on her lips.
“Do you think the shadow boys will be like that when they get older?”
Hanna scowled. “They’d better not. They’ve just barely become tolerable.”
Marcus nodded. “True enough. Anyway, let’s get this done. I want to get back and check up on Typhonus. Maybe have a healer look at him again.”
***
“That’s a lot of bull.”
Brightheart gazed up at the three story tall stone bull that stood silently as a swarm of workers secured the harness to tow the hundreds of wagons that were filling with soldiers. The beast would have seemed monstrously huge had he not seen the dragon below the city. Even then, it was still the largest moving thing he had ever seen.
Crighton grinned. “That it is. I wasn’t sure what shape it would eventually take but I’m pleased with the end result. There are a large number of reagents involved with this one, along with the control elements.”
The mage turned a fond smile at the stone bull. “All the strength tests show it being more than able to handle any load we could give it. We could haul entire buildings if we could figure out how to get them lifted.”
Brightheart nodded. “It truly is an amazing accomplishment, even with what you’ve already shown me.” He paused to look at the military arrangements. “I do wish you were going with the campaign. You have always impressed me with your handling of the projects given you by the Emperor.”
Crighton gave a brief bow. “I thank you for saying that, for it is a project for our Emperor keeping me from joining you. He wants me to deal with the Elves.”
Brightheart clasped his hands together, running the thumb over his left hand. “If anyone could deal with those arrogant mages, it would be you. I do hope to be there when you unleash your spell against them.”
Crighton chuckled. “Not to worry. That’s going to be a long term project. Dealing with a flying target with unknown defensive capabilities, not to mention what they did to you, is a bit more complicated than a firestorm.”
For a moment Brightheart’s vision was overwhelmed by a remembered bar of light that had killed his mages. Shaking his head, he banished the unpleasant memory. “I look forward to your success.”
Crighton grinned and nodded, then looked around. “Is Dierdra not joining you on the campaign?”
Sighing, Brightheart shook his head. “She said she was in the middle of a project and would be joining us enroute, though how she is supposed to catch up to your beast, I am unsure.”
The mage shrugged. “I’ve never known her to make idle boasts so she’ll be joining you. Should be interesting to see what can drag her from your side.” He gave Brightheart a side-long glance.
Ignoring the glance, Brightheart nodded. “She is an amazing woman. I look forward to seeing her at my side again.”
“I’m sure you do.” The grinning mage had to turn away as some of his mages approached, apparently for last minute guidance regarding the bull. After waving goodbye, Crighton followed the mages back towards the stone behemoth.
Brightheart watched the mages for a moment, then returned his attention to the soldiers and their wagons. This was to be the largest mobilization of humanity in recorded history. None of the portal invasions had been on this scale, nor any war on Entyl.
To think that this was the culmination of a dream that he and Xius had shared all those years ago. Humanity united. The Majestix stranglehold on their world shattered.
One day, perhaps generations from now, this would be a human world, a world able to not only repel the portal invasions, but to strike back through into those worlds.
If only they could understand the mechanics of the portals. Imagine being able to control travel between worlds! Sadly, as far as had been able to be understood, only the Gods had the power to open portals.
Perhaps the dead God of Terrace would one day reveal that secret.
Shaking away thoughts of tomorrow, Brightheart focused on the campaign of today.
It was finally time to show the cats and rebels just who ruled this shattered world.