Chapter 87

 

* Weaver’s Road *

The moment the barrier came down, all the monsters pressed forward as one, overpowering the troops that were trying to keep them away from the city. Honsmordin observed this from the ramparts.

“Let’s try and slow them down,” he told the other mind mages around him. They raised their scepters, which each had a glowing crystal at the tip. Within seconds they were raining down massive mentus fireballs from the ramparts. There were also archers shooting arrows and near the middle of the group was Daniel who hurled his chakram into the hoard of monsters, slicing down pogs with precision before the blade returned to his hands.

None of this did much to slow down the creatures, but soon a second wave of fighters rushed past the walls to defend the city, just before the massive steel gate was closed. Jandor and Panson had purposefully divided the troops in half in anticipation of this happening. Now the Weaver’s Road warriors were fighting Davron’s army from the front and behind. One of the mind mages on the wall shifted from hurling fireballs to creating a strong mentant barrier to keep anyone from getting through the massive hole that one of the rockwalkers made previously.

It took Tabatha several minutes to recover from her efforts to bring down the barrier, but even though she could barely move, she was in no danger. Nearly twenty giga pogs were still protecting her from attack. Ace, Pathos, and Karmandrian had joined Alice in trying to get past them, but it was still slow going.

Panting slightly, Tabatha picked herself up and observed the fruits of her labor. The battlefield was chaotic, and the army hadn’t breached the city yet, but this didn’t matter to her. She could reach her goal on her own. She started toward the city wall, a determined look on her face.

“She’s going to try to break into the city,” Ace said as he watched Tabatha’s silhouette disappear into the night. “We’ve got to stop her.”

“Every creature in this army is going to get in our way,” Karmandrian lamented.

Just then they heard a howl in the distance. Ace chanced a look in the direction of the Midlothiac Forest and saw fifty large snow-white wolves racing toward the city. On the back of the two frontmost wolves were Stephanie and Lori, the latter of whom was screaming excitedly as she raised her sword high, clearly eager for battle.

<Stephanie, we need to clear a path so we can get to Tabatha,> Ace called mentantly.

Stephanie put her flute to her lips and despite the turbulence of riding on the galloping wolf’s back, she was able to play a clear strong melody that reverberated throughout the plains.

Immediately, several wolves broke off from the pack and launched themselves at the pogs that Ace and the guardian trio had been fighting. The rest continued past them to join the battle alongside other human fighters, all of whom had been told in advance that animals could kill the creatures of the Book of War and to expect their arrival.

Stephanie rode the largest of the wolves into the thick of battle. Pocketing her flute, she drew the dagger that Daniel had given her earlier that day and used it to slice and stab monsters as she rode by. The wolf moved so fast that the creatures didn’t have a chance to counterattack. Lori gracefully dismounted her wolf by leaping off of it and landing lightly on her feet. She then eagerly raced off to where she saw Jandor to join his fighting team.

Though the blanca wolves of the Gibano Mountains were a welcome addition to the Weaver’s Road fighting force, they were still grossly outnumbered. It was only a matter of time before Davron’s army forced its way into the city.

 

***

 

“Are you all right,” Bernie asked as he helped Becky to her feet.

She’d been thrown backward from the podium which was now nothing more than a pile of broken white quartz stone.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I think.” Becky brushed off her shorts and shook debris from her brown hair before suddenly doubled over in pain.

“What’s wrong?” Bernie asked frantically as he looked her over for injuries.

“Tabatha,” Becky groaned. “That last blast of energy; I think some of it got inside of me. It feels weird.” She grabbed Bernie’s arm reflexively.

“Your body will purge it; just give yourself some time,” Bernie said.

Ben was using his small, white, cylindrical device to examine the core, which was now completely dormant. “This isn’t good; not only did the interface get destroyed but the core is down.”

Harsale came running around the massive quartz rock to reach them. “I’ve tried resetting it using the main interface, but nothing’s happening.”

Ben nodded at this. “Fortunately, it still has plenty of energy reserves, thanks to Becky. The problem is that Tabatha somehow wiped a good amount of the embedded mentus controls. It’ll take a while to restore.”

“So, I take it this means the barrier’s down,” Becky said with a sigh.

“Yeah, and we won’t be able to bring it back up anytime soon,” Ben confirmed.

“Well, you stay here and work on that,” Becky said before looking to Bernie who was still holding her up. “We should go back up and see what’s going on.”

“Are you sure you’re good to walk?” Bernie asked, concern clear in his voice.

“I’ll be fine, we just have to take it slow for a bit,” Becky said.

Bernie was about to argue, but the determined look in Becky’s eyes told him it was useless. He sighed and guided her slowly around the city core to the chamber’s entrance.

 

***

 

Far removed from the fighting, Davron had finally recovered from the forced recall of five rockwalkers all at the same time. He’d been using the mind mage crystal in his scepter to absorb the excess energy that returned to him when creatures were destroyed, but the rockwalkers were extremely powerful, and taking in five at once was too much. Yorkson, one of the mandants in the army, had once again been summoned to help him.

“I see my wife has taken down the barrier,” Davron observed when he was back on his feet. “It looks like the Weaver’s Road fighters are still valiantly struggling though.”

“It appears Lady Ellonous has gone off on her own,” Gamdon added. “Perhaps to confront the Daughter of the Sun herself. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for her to fight her former friends directly. She’s already in a very fragile state as is.”

Davron shrugged. “If this is what she wants, then we should let her see it through. You underestimate her, Gamdon. She’s strong, determined, and willful. I doubt we could stop her anyway.”

“At least don’t let her do this on her own,” Gamdon said sagely.

Davron nodded. “Perhaps you’re right.” He took the Book of War from Gamdon and resummoned two rockwalkers using his scepter. “Take down their wall,” he ordered.

The rockwalkers roared before they each slammed a massive stone foot into the ground.

 

***

 

“This is madness!” Karmandrian said as he swung his sword wildly at the pogs that were approaching him. “We’ll never find her in all of this.”

“She’ll head straight for the Sun Stone,” Ace said as he used mandamus wind to try and blow away their opponents. He was quickly running out of adimus energy though. “I’m sure she can track it the same way she could the seal. We just need to contact Becky and—”

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble as if a massive earthquake had started.

“Ace, look out!” Pathos shouted, but it was too late.

Ace turned to spot the danger but was immediately sucked into the ground, and he wasn’t the only one. All across the battlefield, monsters and soldiers alike fell victim to the rockwalkers’ attack which split the ground in multiple places and caused even more of the north wall to come tumbling down. Honsmordin was quick to act, using his mind mage scepter to slow the descent of anyone falling from the ramparts so that they weren’t seriously hurt.

Alice was quick to take action. “Karman, help Ace, Pathos, see if you can put a barrier up to stop all of those creatures from getting into the city. The fighters won’t be able to hold them off for long.”

Karmandrian peered uncertainly into the gaping chasm. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going after Tabatha.”

 

***

 

Ashley, Wayne, and Franklin were in a small windowless conference room on the third floor of the Weaver’s Road Council Hall. Wayne had picked this place because the room had quartz walls for privacy, which meant even if someone made it into the building, they wouldn’t be able to scan the mentant realm to find their location. In addition, Harsale had used a function of the core’s security system to put the room in “siege mode,” which essentially turned it into something akin to a panic room. The door was transformed into solid wall so that no one could get in, and a barrier protected it on all sides.

In the center of the room, Ashley sat on the floor with the Sun Stone in her lap. She had both hands on it, and her eyes were closed.

“So how much longer do you think this will take?” Wayne whispered to Franklin, not wanting to disturb Ashley’s focus.

“I really can’t tell. From what I understand, the Sun Stone is similar to the seal in that it functions as a conduit of a specific type of supernal energy. The stone’s power is therefore infinite, it’s Ashley who’s limited. She has a finite amount of adimus energy which is what she needs to use in order to harness the power of the stone. The greater the task, the more of her energy is required.”

“So that teleport she did earlier—”

“Almost completely drained her,” Franklin confirmed. “Unlike Becky, who recovers adimus energy at an alarming rate, Ashley is a regular mentant. It would normally take her hours to recover what she used. Your mandamus healing command perhaps cut that time in half, but there’s still no telling. I taught her a meditation trick that should help. Right now, she’s just gathering and focusing her energy. The stone will let her know when it’s enough.”

“I wonder if restoring the orphanage earlier impacted her too,” Wayne mused.

“Not at all,” Franklin assured. “The core used its own energy pool to perform the restoration. It only needed a small amount from Ashley to activate the sun stone’s embedded power.”

Wayne nodded at this, only understanding in part. “It just seems like it requires too much from her to use. It makes no sense. Doesn’t it belong to her?”

Franklin nodded. “It’s bound to her yes, but the Sun Stone existed long before the Daughter of the Sun.”

“Guys,” Henry called. “I just felt something shift in the mentant realm. I could be wrong, but I think whatever barrier was around this room just disappeared.”

Franklin quickly scanned the area mentantly and realized Henry was right. “That can only mean that the core has been damaged somehow.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Wayne said. “Maybe we should move her.”

“Even without the barrier, this is still the safest place in the building.” He gestured to where the door would normally be. Fortunately, it was still solid wall, which meant the transformation wasn’t undone. “If the core is damaged that means the city barrier is down as well. I wouldn’t want to risk moving her to another building.”

Wayne chanced disrupting his friend’s focus. “Ash, do you know about how much longer?”

“I’m close,” she said calmly. “Just need a little more time. Maybe ten minutes.”

Wayne started to pace nervously. He wondered what he would do if they were discovered. He was Ashley’s last line of defense, and he didn’t even have a weapon. The only thing he knew how to do was mandamus, and he was a complete novice despite apparently having guardian level powers.

“Chief Stokenshire, do you know anything about mandamus?” he asked suddenly.

“Well, I’m no mandant, but I of course know all of the principles, why?”

“I need to know more if I’m going to help Ashley,” Wayne said. “If you can give me any clues as to what I’m capable of, that would help. The only thing I’ve really been able to do is manipulate the wind and use that healing command, and that’s only because I saw Fantasma do it.”

“The fact that you were able to mimic mandamus just by observing it is impressive in and of itself; it’s obviously a positive attribute granted by your acceldermitis.” He thought for a moment. “I think there’s one thing I could teach you that might be useful.”

Wayne sat and listened intently to the wise scholar as he explained a mandamus technique to him. The mini lecture was interrupted several minutes later when Sharanel suddenly arrived next to Henry.

“I’m never going to get used to that,” she said as Henry once again caught her after a less than graceful transport.

“What’s going on?” Wayne asked immediately.

“Amber says the monsters have breached the city walls and some of them are headed right for us. We don’t have much time.”

Wayne turned to where Ashley was still meditating. “I really hope this works.”

 

***

 

Tabatha sat on the shoulder of a pog as it raced through the city. She’d managed to force her way through the barrier that was blocking the first hole in the outer wall just before Davron had the rockwalkers attack again. Even though this meant that the monster army would eventually be able to invade the city, she didn’t wait for reinforcements. She’d pulled a nearby pog through the mentus barrier using her melder skills and then used the creature for transportation to her goal.

Despite layers of quartz blocking her ability to find Ashley mentantly, Tabatha could still sense the powerful supernal energy the stone generated. It was like a beacon drawing her toward it. The pog’s speed allowed it to traverse great distances quickly without any fatigue, and with the streets of Weaver’s Road practically empty, nothing impeded its progress.

Within ten minutes they were approaching the Council Hall building. A loan figure stood in front of the entrance. The mentus blue fires that served as streetlights illuminated the petite, olive skinned girl, and her amber eyes flashed with determination, even though she was trembling slightly.

Tabatha leapt off the pog as it slowed down, and she landed mere feet in front of Amber, who drew her dagger from its sheath.

“Really?” Tabatha scoffed. “You’re going to try to stop me?”

“If I have to,” Amber said.

Tabatha gave a nod to the pog. “Hold her down; beat her unconscious if you have to.”

The mace wielding pog rushed forward. Amber barely had time to react, but she dodged the swing of the mace. Her sensant abilities had saved her as she was able to somewhat read the creatures movements, but unfortunately, this didn’t make her faster, which meant the pog would eventually hit her.

As the mace came down for another swing, Amber recklessly lunged forward, dagger in both hands, and she plunged it into the chest of the pog. Even though it wore leather armor, the blade was long enough to penetrate it, and within seconds after doing so, the pog disappeared with a squeal and splatter of green, pus-like blood.

Amber landed on the ground, winded but unharmed. Despite how deep the blade went, it still emerged completely clean.

Tabatha hadn’t missed the exchange and understood what happened immediately. “Oh, that weapon’s special,” she said.

“Yeah, it can kill anything with one strike,” Amber boasted, trying to sound more confident than she actually was.

“So, you’re planning to kill me then?” Tabatha stepped forward, and even though she didn’t draw her sword, Amber reflexively took a step back.

“I…I will if I have to,” Amber declared, trying not to let her nerves show.

Tabatha smirked. “Killing one of these creatures is one thing. They’re not real. It’s like playing a video game; they just disappear.” She stepped forward again. “Taking a human life is different, trust me. I don’t think you have the guts to do it.”

“I’ve already done it,” Amber revealed.

During the meeting, Amber didn’t tell the group about killing Dale, and Wayne omitted it from his story as well. They were the only two who knew the truth of the situation.

Tabatha appraised Amber and seemed to believe she was telling the truth. Still, her smile never faltered. “Oh really? Well then, come on. If you’re serious, then do it, because killing me is the only way you’re going to stop me from getting in there.”

Amber was still hesitant, but Tabatha didn’t wait for the younger girl to gather her resolve. She put a hand on the hilt of her sword and darted forward. Amber gave a start but then ran forward as well. Once again, she held the dagger in front of her with both hands, but at the last second, she winced. She still forced the blade forward, assuming it would hit regardless, but Tabatha easily twisted her body out of the way and struck Amber on the back of the neck in the process, causing the younger girl to stagger.

Tabatha grabbed her by the hood of her short-sleeved shirt and knocked the dagger from her hand with another well-placed strike. Yanking Amber back up to her feet, Tabatha locked eyes with her. “Mentus tricks don’t work on me, idiot,” she said, her tone as malicious as her smile.

Tabatha punched Amber hard in the stomach, using her melder abilities to release a burst of concentrated energy that sent the smaller girl flying into the side of the building. Amber was out cold before her body hit the ground.

Tabatha picked up the dagger and examined it with interest. She hadn’t been able to fully break the embedded mentus on it, only block its effects temporarily. This meant it was more unique than she originally thought. With a shrug, she pocketed the blade before heading inside Council Hall.

 

***

 

Ashley sat in silence, eyes closed, with the Sun Stone on her lap. As Franklin had suggested, she was meditating by focusing on the part of the brain he called the adimus and letting the energy pool inside of her. Occasionally, she would mentally reach out to the stone and try to summon the Book of War. Each time, she felt a slight mental tug, but nothing would happen.  It was frustrating.

Why won’t you work, she thought more to herself than trying to communicate to the stone, though she wouldn’t have been surprised if it answered.

The stone had spoken to her once before, but now it seemed close to dormant. She could feel all of the energy inside, but she didn’t seem to have the strength to get to it. She wondered if the power of the stone was only supposed to be used once a day. Ester had said that she needed to be careful how she used it, and it was clear why.

After several more minutes of waiting, she once again reached out mentally to the stone.

<I need to find the Book of War.>

This time, the stone lit up in response. In her mind, she could see the world moving all around her, as if she was flying toward the object of her desire. It only took a second before she locked onto it. She could see Davron holding it tightly in his hand as he approached the city wall, surrounded by pogs and other monsters.

Ashley smiled. It worked. Now all that was left was to summon it.

<Bring the Book of War to me.>

 

***

 

The monsters were slowly beating back the Weaver’s Road forces and pushing their way past the crumbling walls and into the city. Nearly a third of the defenders had been injured or slain, but despite this, they were still fighting valiantly. Many of the remaining fighters were divided among the multiple holes in the outer walls, using the bottlenecks that occurred as a way to fend off the invaders, which still numbered in the thousands.

Integral in holding the line were the powerhouse team of Ace, Pathos, and Karmandrian; the fighting duo, Jandor and Lori; and the martial artists led by Derrick and Panson. Stephanie and the majority of the animals were fighting outside of the city walls to try and slow down the monsters’ advance while Daniel, Honsmordin, and the other mind mages fought from what was left of the ramparts.

Even though they were doing a good job of keeping the bulk of Davron’s forces out of the city proper, dozens of monsters had still gotten past them and were destroying everything in their path in their quest to find the Daughter of the Sun. To combat this, Alyson led a contingent of fighters and animals to track down and stop the monsters that had gotten into the city.

In the midst of it all, Davron walked casually with Gamdon at his side, observing the action all around him with the air of a ruler looking over his holdings. Even though he stood in the midst of the chaotic battle, not a single attack came anywhere near him. He and Gamdon were surrounded by over thirty monsters of various shapes and sizes, making it impossible to reach either of them.

“I told you,” Davron said to his companion. “She’s already raced off on her own. I’m not even sure where she went; she’s always been hard to track mentantly.”

Gamdon nodded. “We need to finish squashing this resistance before we can do anything to aid her anyway.”

“Then we’ll focus on the seal bearers,” Davron said. “With them gone, the rest may give up.”

Davron was about to send mentant instructions to nearby troops when he felt something hot in his hand. He looked down to see the Book of War wrapped in a bright yellow light.

“What?” he said in awe.

Gamdon also witnessed the strange phenomenon. “Sir, what’s happening to the book?”

“I’m not—” Suddenly, it felt like something was tugging at his soul and he doubled over in pain briefly, but then just as quickly, it was over, and the book went dormant again. Davron’s confused look turned to a smile. “So that’s what their plan was.”

 

***

 

Ashley’s eyes snapped open. It was like she’d been punched in the gut, but in reality, it was the recoil of her failed attempt to summon the Book of War to her. She winced in pain.

Wayne ran to her side. “What happened?”

Ashley shook her head sadly as she stood with help from Wayne. “It didn’t work. I’m sorry. I don’t know what it was. Maybe a barrier? I’ve never tried this before.”

“It was always possible that the Sun Stone would not be able to summon the Book of War. It’s not your fault,” Franklin said.

“Yeah, but now what are we going to do?” Ashley fretted. “This was the whole plan. Should I try again? I think I can do it since it didn’t suck out all my energy like last time.”

“It’ll be fine,” Wayne said. “I’m pretty sure Becky—”

Before he could finish his thought, there was an explosion and one of the walls collapsed with a spectacular crash, creating a cloud of dirt and debris. A silhouette made its way forward and Wayne reacted immediately.

“Mittius Mentenus Safe!” he shouted.

This was the new mandamus that Franklin had taught him. Because Wayne already seemed to grasp the high-level, energy-based mandamus healing command, the librarian guessed that he would be able to quickly learn how to create an energy barrier. He was right, and Wayne seemed to pick up the concept easily. A green aura shot up between them and the destroyed wall.

“We need to get out of here now!” Wayne shouted at the two quickeners.

Both Henry and Sharanel had been stunned into a stupor but at Wayne’s shout, Sharanel stood, working feverishly to find a marker or any other connection that she could use to quicken the group away. Unfortunately, they were deep in the Council Hall, and the quartz barrier of the building prevented her from accessing anything beyond it. Even as her mind raced to find another solution, Tabatha stepped out of the cloud of dust.

“I don’t think so.” She put a hand on the safe shield and Wayne winced as he felt something tug at his head. It felt as if she’d grabbed a hold of him physically.

Twisting her hand, she wrenched the green aura out of place and threw it at the two quickeners, trapping them in a corner. The energy then turned from green to amber and constricted to keep them from moving. She strolled over casually and placed her hand on the pulsing aura.

“Sleep,” she commanded and the two immediately passed out.

Satisfied, she turned to face Franklin, Ashley, and Wayne, the latter of whom stepped forward to protect the others.

Tabatha drew Amber’s dagger. “I don’t have time for this, Wayne.”

“I’ve got all the time in the world,” Wayne quipped, despite the fear he felt.

“Just give me the Sun Stone, Ashley,” Tabatha said with an almost exasperated sigh.

Ashley whimpered and moved behind Wayne even more. “I won’t.”

“Tabatha, are you really going to hurt your own cousin?” Wayne challenged. “She’s your family.”

“Family? I don’t have any family! I don’t even have a home to go back to. I don’t have anything!” Tabatha screamed. Her voice was almost manic with rage. She wiped tears from her eyes before saying, in a much quieter voice, “The only thing I have left is him. He’s my destiny, and I’m not going to let you get in his way.”

Wayne steeled himself. “Don’t do this Tabatha.”

“I know you’d die before handing over Ashley…so I guess you have to die.” Tabatha hurled the dagger at him.

Wayne saw it fly at him as if in slow motion, the blade wrapped in a blue aura. Just as he did before, he grabbed it out of the air by its hilt before it could strike him.

“Try again,” Wayne said, wielding the dagger now.

Tabatha’s eyes narrowed. “Fine.” She unsheathed her short sword, and her aura once again became palpable. “Do you know how to fight Wayne, because I’ve had years of training,” she said as she sauntered forward.

“Mittius Mandamus Wind!” Wayne commanded.

In the past, using that had blown back multiple opponents, so he knew he could use it to give them an opportunity to escape, but unlike before, where a strong blast of wind threw his opponents several feet away, this time Tabatha was met with a weak breeze that barely ruffled her hair.

“What the—”

“I can leech the energy out of anything, even the latent energy in my surroundings. Your basic mandamus tricks are useless,” Tabatha taunted as she stalked forward.

Wayne was desperately trying to find another way out, but before he could formulate a plan, a huge chunk of wall slammed into the unsuspecting melder, sending her flying into an adjacent wall with a resounding crash.

“Hope you don’t mind me cutting in, but this girl still owes me a proper dance,” Alice said as she strolled into the room.