Sovereign of the Seven Isles 7: Reishi Adept (41 page)

Also, he felt a sense of obligation to explain in person to Erik and Kelvin why he wouldn’t be leading them into battle. Forces were converging, all eyes on the Nether Gate … and Alexander was leaving. He felt a pang of guilt but dismissed it, falling back on his reasoning to keep his resolve intact.

“How’s he doing?” Jack asked from his desk.

“So far, the battle’s been pretty lopsided,” Alexander said.
“Anatoly has position and archers, but the barbarians have numbers and they aren’t afraid to spend lives to get what they want.”

“We could
still go there,” Anja said.

“As much as I’d like to, we wouldn’t get there in time and I doubt we’d make much difference.”

“We’d make a difference,” Anja said with a frown.

Jack offered
Alexander a sympathetic smile.

After a meal eaten with the soldiers that had manned this fortress for months, Alexander checked back with Anatoly. The enemy had retreated and appeared to be regrouping, but showed no interest in attacking at night.
Bianca had arrived and was working with Corina to organize the two flights under their command. Anatoly set his watch and put his people to bed. Alexander returned to his body.

Lita changed the bandage on his shoulder and he went to bed
himself. Using his magic for so many hours had taken a toll on him, leaving him physically exhausted and mentally sluggish.

He woke early the next morning.
“Time to open the Gate,” he said, gently stretching his shoulder.

Lita stopped him from getting up with a hand on his forehead.
“You seem to be on the mend,” she said, “just take care with your shoulder.”

He nodded his thanks and headed for the door, t
railing his friends behind him.

Just after
dawn, he stood by the Reishi Gate, the magical passage open, allowing an entire legion of Ithilian infantry to march through.

Alexander escorted So
fia, Evelyn, and Jalal to a command tent and a hearty breakfast while their soldiers marched into the Keep, spreading out and claiming the interior, one space at a time.

He spent a few minutes describing the enemies they faced and his strategy to intervene only after Phane and Zuhl had engaged—hopefully exploiting any injuries they might sustain. He didn’t add details that he didn’t need to add, not out of mistrust but out of caution. His plan contained many parts. Few of his allies needed to know more than their part.

After breakfast, he left them to organize the quartering of their soldiers. It would take the better part of the day to move the entire legion—all things considered, a quick trip.

A few moments in the firmament told him that he could do nothing to help anyone right now. Everyone was either traveling or waiting for a fight to start. In Anatoly’s case,
he seemed to have been given a reprieve, but at a price. The entire enemy force had made camp and were busy reorganizing, repairing equipment and tending to their wounded—a well-planned, coordinated attack was probably coming, but not today.

He
returned to his body and stood up with a frown, aimlessly looking this way and that.

“What?” Anja said.

“I have a whole day with nothing useful to do,” Alexander said.

“Perhaps you should rest,” Lita said. “You’re still not fully healed, you know.”

“I’ve had enough rest,” Alexander said. “I’m going for a walk. I need to think.”

I’m coming, too,” Anja said.

“I’ll stay here, if it’s all the same to you,” Jack said, gesturing to his desk.

“I have work
to do in the infirmary,” Lita said, touching Jataan’s hand as she left.

Alexander set out along the wall that Perry and his men had built. It was a
n impressive structure, fully twenty feet tall and half as wide. The stones fit tightly and were cut in such a way that gravity pulled them tighter and more solidly together. The Keep itself was an imposing and impressive place, all the more so now that Alexander had access to the formidable weapons and defensive capabilities it possessed. He was probably safer here than anywhere in the world save Glen Morillian.

“When are we going to leave?” Anja asked.

“Probably day after tomorrow,” Alexander said.

“I don’t understand. Why don’t we go now?”

“I’m waiting for the Rangers and the Wizards to reach the Gate on Ruatha so I can let them through.”

They walked for a while in silence, Anja skippi
ng from time to time to keep up, Jataan ever present in the background. Alexander stepped back from the war in his mind, looking at it from a wider, broader perspective, categorizing his enemies and the threat they posed to the world.

In the long run, the shades were still the greatest threat. Rankosi, and now possibly Horace, posed a more immediate threat, but the shades in general represented an end to all things.

As much as Alexander hated to admit it, Peti was next on his list of world-changing dangers. If she managed to summon her coven’s namesake, Sin’Rath herself, the world would fall under her dominion, every man bowing to her will without any hope of resisting her charms.

After the two demonic threats plaguing the world, Phane and Zuhl ranked next, both deadly in the extreme and only ranked lower on his list because of their relative mortality
.

Looking at each of these enemies, Alexander realized that only the shades were his to fight alone. Zuhl would fall to Abigail and the
Coven, Alexander was confident of that. Phane would fall to Isabel, or not at all. Her magic could penetrate his defenses where no one else’s could … and she was standing right next to him, no small piece of the plan. Peti was beyond him in a way that made his skin crawl. The Coven would kill her, costly though it might be. That left the shades—Rankosi and Horace.

Alexander’s plan to undo the
m hinged on Siduri, the ancient adept who had lived for so long in self-imposed isolation, ravaged by his own guilt, hesitant to touch the world again for fear of breaking it. Siduri alone could unmake Rankosi and his brothers. Isabel’s report about Hector and Horace confirmed it. Alexander just had to prove it. He was confident that Siduri would do what needed to be done once he fully understood the consequences of his actions … or inaction.

The first step was to make contact, a task that Alexander had repeatedly failed to accomplish. He thought about his encounters with Siduri, the first at the well of the blood of the earth deep under Bragador’s mountain, and
the second in Siduri’s construct.

The second encounter
still puzzled him, raising a number of questions that nagged at him incessantly. Why did he have to nearly die to reach Siduri’s construct? How had Siduri created another world in the first place? And how had Siduri returned him to the world of time and substance?

Alexander turned these thoughts over in his mind
and decided that he needed to learn more about how his magic worked before he tried to contact Siduri again. If he could build his own construct, maybe he could figure out how to go there physically. He felt a little thrill of fear in his belly at the thought. He might be able to get there … but he had no idea how to get back.

Regardless, the concept merited exploration. He opened the door to h
is Wizard’s Den and went to his circle without explanation.

“I hate it when he does that,” Anja muttered to Jataan.

Jack looked up long enough to see Alexander headed for his circle and went back to his writing.

Alexander slipped quietly into the firmament, listening to the song of creation in all its chaotic harmony for a moment before turning his attention to creating a place of his own within the infinite ocean of possibility.

The most immediate decision was determining the form of the construct. Alexander looked at the Seven Isles from so high that he could see the curve of the world. It looked like a map below him, albeit somewhat obscured by clouds here and there. He looked at each island, recalling his experiences and travels, trying to pick out a place of simple beauty. Many came to mind, but the one that stood out the most was a little box canyon above the vitalwood’s grotto.

It was only a hundred feet on a side, sheer cliff walls rising hundreds of feet on three sides, a waterfall cascading down the
fourth, running in a burbling stream through a lush little grove before spilling off the cliff and falling into spray hundreds of feet below. Alexander shifted his focus there and explored the little place again, taking in the simple, pristine beauty, the calm, idyllic tranquility and solitude. It was perfect.

He slipped back into the firmament, unsure of how to proceed. Always before, he’d
projected his illusions into the world of time and substance. This was entirely different. When he tried to create a duplicate image of the box canyon in the firmament, he slipped out into the world of time and substance, illusion and all. The first few times, the soldiers nearby were alarmed, to say the least.

Alexander persist
ed, trying again and again, working until he got hungry, failing every time he tried. His efforts felt forced and unnatural, at odds with the apparent will of the firmament to project an illusion inside of it.

He opened his eyes and sighed with frustration.

“Nothing?” Jack said.

“Nothing except the same
failure over and over again.”

“Maybe
you’re following the wrong path.”

“Yeah, but it’s the only path I can see.”

“Then take a step back,” Jack said.

“Huh,” Alexander said, nodding to himself. “I think I’ll go see how the Ithilians are doing, maybe find some lunch along the way.”

He thought back to his experience in Siduri’s construct, and more importantly, how he’d gotten there in the first place. Again, it came back to dying on the floor of the Babachenko’s cell. He could send his mind into the firmament at will, but he’d only transitioned there physically when he was dying. That wasn’t very helpful.

“Looks like they’re making good progress,” Jack said.

Alexander looked up from his thoughts and saw a steady flow of Ithilian infantry marching through the Gate. Perry’s officers were quickly and efficiently directing the new arrivals to their respective quarters. Alexander reached out with his mind into the Keep. He could feel it filling up with people, areas coming to life again, warmth and light replacing the cold and dark that had gripped the place for so long.

So
fia and Evelyn sat outside under a hastily erected canopy with General Brand and Commander Perry. Younger officers and runners came and went with regularity, passing instructions to the arriving army.

“Ah, Alexander,”
Sofia said, “we were just about to have lunch. Won’t you join us?”

“I’d love to,”
he said, taking a seat at the table. “How are things coming along?”

“Well enough,”
Sofia said, “though General Brand is concerned that we’re leaving Ithilian unguarded.”

“You
r legion was guarding a closed and locked Gate, General. No one can open the Gates now but me. Besides, if Phane manages to get control over the Nether Gate, Ithilian won’t survive anyway.”

“
Fair point,” General Brand said. “Might I ask how you intend to deploy our soldiers?”

“Phane is approaching from the south with three legions,” Alexander said.
“Zuhl has that many or more in the northern wilds of the Reishi Isle. Both of them are headed for a confrontation over the Nether Gate. That will be our opportunity to strike.”

Brand nodded.

“Two legions of Rangers will be coming through on your heels,” Alexander said. “We’ll garrison the men here until Phane gets close. He’s the key. Once he makes landfall, you’ll move closer to the Nether Gate.”

“
You’ll
move?” Brand said. “Will you not be joining us, Lord Reishi?”

Alexander paused, holding the man with his blind eyes.
“No.”

“I don’t understand, Alexander,”
Sofia said. “Where will you be?”

“I have another task to attend to.”

“You can’t be serious,” Evelyn said.

“I am. It’s important.”

“Who will command our forces in your absence?” General Brand asked.

“Erik Alaric will lead the attack
.”

“I still don’t see what’s so important that you have to leave right before a big battle,” Evelyn said.

“The truth is, in a large-scale engagement, I can be more useful with my magic than I can with my sword. And I don’t have to be here to bring my magic to the fight.”

“You still didn’t answer my question,” she said.

“No, I didn’t,” Alexander said with a little grin. As outspoken as Evelyn was, Alexander liked her. She was genuine to a fault, whether you liked it or not.

Lunch was served
. Alexander shifted the conversation to the battle to come, discussing terrain, enemy weaknesses and strengths, strategy and objectives. He detailed everything he knew about the approaching enemy forces. General Brand was particularly interested in his report, going so far as to take notes. By the time the meal was over, he seemed a bit more at ease with the battle plan.