Crystal Doors #3: Sky Realm (No. 3) (19 page)

FROM THREE SEPARATE WAR galleys, the five members of the Pentumvirate read spell scrolls, combining their skills. They faced the stream of terodax and aeglors that rushed at the ships through the crystal door from Sharif’s world. Lyssandra, who had been translating what was being said in Gwen’s window, suddenly felt dizzy and weak. Flashes of waves and sea serpents, merlons and flying creatures, ships and flying carpets, and embattled Virs and sages strobed in her mind’s eye. She reached out and grabbed Vic’s hand. “Today will bring great sadness, Viccus.”

“Don’t worry, Lyssandra,” Vic said, steadying her. “I’ll try to be your knight in shining armor — or pantaloons, at least.” He gave her a cockeyed grin, tugging at his loose, billowing pants. “I’ll do my best.”

“As will I.” Taking a deep drink of greenstepe from the ever-replenishing vial that hung from a long chain around her neck, Lyssandra felt the energy returning to her. She passed the vial of greenstepe to Tiaret, who had used a great deal of energy slamming the crystal door. “I am not done fighting yet.”

After drinking, Tiaret handed the vial back to Lyssandra. “I am always ready to be put to the test,” she said, hefting her teaching staff and indicating the arrowpult clipped to her waistband. “I will find a good enemy for my first target today.”

“You’ll have plenty to choose from,” Vic said, rolling out the Sultan’s large carpet. “Let’s go.”

Lyssandra’s parents had gone aft with Sages Polup and Pierce to prime the cannons. Everyone was prepared to do their part. The winged men and the monstrous-looking terodax kept swooping through the gaping crystal door from the skies in front of Irrakesh and over the waters of the ocean.

Vic traced the embroidery on the carpet, and it lifted into the air, giving the friends a dauntingly clear view of the approaching attackers.

Azric rode proudly on the back of the largest terodax Lyssandra had ever seen. This one had an even broader wingspan than the terodax leader that the old Sultan had killed with a poison dart. With that leader gone, Azric had no doubt taken over as “flock commander,” or whatever the terodax called their main general. Though the winged predators had a vaguely human appearance despite their batlike wings, Azric rode this one as if it were a mere beast of burden. She knew the dark sage would enslave any living being — including humans — without compunction, so long as it served his purposes. She shuddered to think what might be happening in the flying city of Irrakesh under his oppressive rule.

As hundreds and hundreds of aeglors led by King Raathun, along with Azric’s sharp-winged terodax, flowed through the crystal gateway, the passage remained open between the worlds.

“Tiaret, can you not slam the crystal door so no more of them can come through?” Lyssandra asked. The carpet rose higher.

The dark-skinned girl shook her head, the muscles in her jaw standing out as she clenched her teeth with effort. “I cannot. It seems that while a living thing is passing through, a crystal door cannot be closed.”

“If only we knew how to seal it,” Lyssandra said with dismay. “Though that would mean stranding the people of Irrakesh.”

“Not necessarily, “ Vic said, flying the carpet in a wide arc around the fleet of battleships. “I could always rip open a new doorway, if I had to — I already did it once. Then we could free all of —”

Tiaret’s golden eyes flashed. “Let us complete this battle before we contemplate others.”

From the ships below, volleys of arrows shot up into the sky, some of them flaming. Because the winged warriors of both species were so thick in the air, each pointed barb found a target. Aeglors and terodax dropped into the water, many of them already dead; others thrashed and quickly drowned, the aeglors in particular. Once their thick feathers were drenched, they could no longer remain afloat.

“Sheesh,” Vic said. “Good thing we weren’t close enough to those flyers to get shot! We’d better stay out of the main line of fire.” He watched an aeglor fall, its wings ablaze. “And I mean ‘line of fire’ literally.”

King Raathun roared, rallying his fighters. They winged down.

A few of the fighters tried to circle around the ships to attack from the flank, and Tiaret and Lyssandra shot at them with their arrowpults.

Directed by Master Polup, cannons blasted from the ships up into the largest mass of aeglors in the sky, belching forth blue-white fire — a combination of magic and complex chemistry the anemonites had developed. Coordinating their reading with signal flags between the galleys, the Pentumvirate members recited from spell scrolls, launching powerful magical volleys. They struck the flying attackers with the Bubble of Death spell, crackling balls of electrical fire, poisonous gases, and furious bursts of cyclone winds.

The winged army swiftly lost its military formation and attacked in a complete chaotic melee. Lyssandra thought this was what the aeglors had wanted most anyway. More arrows shot upward. Lyssandra had brought an extra basket of quarrels with them on the carpet, but now as she watched clusters of flyers circling around Azric’s monstrous main force, she wondered if they had brought enough quarrels along, even if everyone found a target.

As the battle continued, Lyssandra saw the horned head of a large armored sea serpent break the surface of the ocean. A single merlon soldier rode on its back.

“Shut the door now, Tiaret,” Lyssandra said.

“Sheesh, talk about closing the barn door after all the horses are gone,” Vic said, taking a shot at a stray terodax. “Most of them are
here
now
.
Why would —”

“To cut off their retreat and reinforcements,” Tiaret answered. She went silent with concentration, but a few terodax stragglers were already sweeping through the crystal door, winging out of the sky from another world and sweeping low, reacting to the moist air, the cooler temperature.

The sea serpent streaked toward the sparkling portal. From their previous trip, Lyssandra knew that on the other side of the barrier, the rippling, deep-blue ocean met with an expansive wasteland of rounded sand dunes. She looked around frantically, expecting other merlons, but saw only the single sea serpent.

“That monster is heading toward the crystal door,” she said.

“Well, it’s in for a surprise if it tries to swim across that desert,” Vic said.

The sea serpent raced forward, leaving behind a white foamy wake.

A lone terodax dove toward them, and Tiaret got to her feet on the carpet to meet it with several furious blows from her teaching staff.

Lyssandra suddenly realized what the sea serpent down below meant to do. “It will beach itself and be stranded halfway through the crystal door.”

Vic attempted to evade the attacking monster without unbalancing his friends. “Slam the door now, Tiaret,” he yelled.

The girl from Afirik tried, but she still battled the sharp-winged terodax. Controlling the carpet with one hand, Vic brought up his arrowpult with the other and shot at it.

Meanwhile, the sea serpent, having built up a great momentum, threw itself forward.

Apparently, Gwen had seen what was happening from her spot on Sharif’s carpet — just above the
Bright Warrior
— and quickly opened a large window. Through it, Lyssandra saw the front half of the sea serpent flop onto the arid sands, while the other half stayed in the ocean.

It thrashed and writhed, between two worlds, sacrificed to keep the door open. Its raw, flapping gills quickly became coated with dust. If it stayed where it was, it would die in a matter of hours. The merlon warrior that had goaded it sprang away before he could be crushed in the sea serpent’s thrashings. The merlon appeared to be panicked by the sudden dryness of the dunes. He stumbled forward, trying to brush abrasive sand from his wet skin. Gasping, he fell to his scaly knees, crawled back to the edge of the crystal door, and dragged himself over the threshold into the oceans of his own world again.

The sea serpent, though, was trapped like a beached whale on the sands, effectively jamming open the crystal door so that Azric could pass back and forth as he pleased.

Seeing that Tiaret was still struggling with the terodax, Lyssandra drew her crystal knife, stood, and plunged it into the creature’s eye. It soon stopped moving and fell heavily onto the carpet, weighing them down and making the rug wobble precariously. The carpet sank toward the waves until Lyssandra and Tiaret heaved the terodax off the side into the ocean.

The giant terodax that carried Azric flapped its sail-like wings and circled high over the war galleys.

“I have waited thousands of years for this,” Azric cried, his voice magically amplified to carry on the ocean air. “Surrender now, or die. In either case, I will crush Elantya. Make no mistake, I
will
break the seals to free my armies. My loyal generals have waited millennia for their victory. Soon all worlds will bow to us.”

The Pentumvirate members worked their spell scrolls, keeping up the defense. King Raathun brought his aeglors together, flying above the decks of the war galleys. Each aeglor dropped a large spiked ball that crashed into the decks, smashing anyone who happened to be in the way.

Vic turned the carpet toward the
Thunder Shield.

Lyssandra saw her bearded father roll one of his small casks to a catapult launcher on the deck. Vic’s father helped him secure the launcher. They aimed up in the sky as arrows continued to arc upward, killing some of the smaller aeglors and one terodax. Azric appeared to scoff at the Elantyan fleet and its weapons. Groxas and Dr. Pierce aimed and launched.

The target came close as Azric guided his terodax steed toward the ships. The dark sage held on with one hand, then raised his other, starting to work a spell. Vic’s father let loose the catapult and Groxas worked an ignition spell. The small canister flew upward and Azric swerved his terodax so that they wouldn’t be struck directly. But the sky fireworks exploded close by. Chunks of shrapnel and bright-colored flames and sparks blew outward, striking the terodax in its chest, shredding its wings and setting them on fire.

Even Azric was surprised. The terodax’s ribs were smashed. It opened and closed its long, jagged jaws, gasping, flailing as it plummeted into the water. Lyssandra could see it was already dead. Azric fell off. Transforming in midair into a sleek diving bird, he plunged at full speed into the water.

The Virs and Elantyan sailors let out a cheer at seeing Azric fall from his steed. The aeglors shrieked with fury and renewed their attack. The terodax dropped down and began pelting the soldiers on the war galleys. The sages renewed their spells, while the archers shot even more arrows.

“Good shot, Dad,” Vic cried, bringing the carpet down on the deck. Lyssandra grabbed two more baskets of arrowpult quarrels.

“That was even more effective than I expected,” Groxas said. “Quick, load more sky fireworks.”

“Did Azric flee?” Tiaret asked. “I wished to fight him myself.”

“Trust me, he’s not gone yet,” Vic said. “We know he does just fine in the ocean.”

Lyssandra ran to the edge of the galley and searched for any sign of Azric resurfacing but not did not see the dark sage. A few dark heads emerged from the water — Ulbar’s rebels signaling danger.

Just then, a guard who had been watching the viewports belowdecks appeared and shouted, “Merlons!”

Vic sighed. “This is going to be a long day.”

25

MERLONS STREAKED TOWARD THE war galleys. Lys sandra, Tiaret, and Vic got back on the carpet and took off, readying their arrowpults and crystal daggers, as well as the spears they had gotten from the Elantyan navy. Hovering at the side of the ship below the deck level, they shot quarrels at the scaly undersea warriors who began to scramble up the rough hulls of the galleys. The merlons hissed, clawing with their webbed hands.

Vic jabbed with a spear, striking the hard seashell armor the lead merlon wore on his shoulders. The wound he inflicted was not serious, but the force was enough to send the slippery aquatic creature back into the waves.

Tiaret swung her teaching staff, knocking another merlon off the hull. Lyssandra drew a deep breath.

“Why do I feel like I’ve been here before?” Vic muttered.

In a burst of spray, a blunt-nosed sea serpent rose above the waves with a drenched and defiant Azric — back in human form — holding onto its horns for balance. He didn’t seem to care whether he rode a sea serpent or a flying terodax. He raised his hand and shouted a command.

Now, dozens of armored sea serpents appeared all around the Elantyan war galleys in the water. An army of sharks accompanied them. Wave after wave of merlon warriors emerged. General Goldskin rode her own monstrous steed, and King Barak led them all. The merlons and their sea monsters closed in on the Elantyan navy. Aeglors and terodax dashed down from the sky, renewing their attack.

Groxas and Dr. Pierce rolled out small casks of explosives, touching their ignition runes and dropping them over the side into the water. Groxas had used the sea fireworks before to provide a diversion when the companions were rescued from the merlon city.

Though the merlons were momentarily stunned, Goldskin shouted, driving her armored sea serpents forward to continue the attack. Vic quickly raised the carpet out of the serpent’s reach.

On the
Thunder Shield,
Ven Sage Rubicas read from a fresh spell scroll and created a shimmering barrier that acted as an invisible ceiling over the boats. Aeglors slammed directly into it and were stunned. Feathers flew. While they reeled, trying to reorient themselves, two terodax also smashed into the barrier.