There were strategists seated at a round table with a stone-carved model of Condii on it. A skyearl was carving a new map of the land with his claws, showing where the Zeika encampments were. Many other humans and skyearls paced around the table discussing ideas with each other and scrawling notes and diagrams on scrolls of vellum set before them.
A messenger entered the hall and spoke fervently to one of the strategists, ‘Ervan, the Zeikas have taken a fourth one of the outer towers.’ I missed the rest of what he said. Ervan waved to get Commander Varal’s attention. Most of the other strategists paused to participate.
‘Another tower has fallen,’ Ervan said. ‘The Zeikas are using them to attack our ground troops before they can reach the south west corner.’
Varal marched over to the round table, examined the blue and green armies that were positioned in the south west corner and made some adjustments to represent what he had just been told.
‘Well? It’s up to us,’ he snapped. ‘You’re meant to be some of the best strategists in Tanza. Come on and strategise.’
Several of them began talking at once.
Varal gestured at one human. ‘Sigthan, your thoughts first.’
Sigthan stood up and moved to his side. Pointing at the model, she explained how having our civilians so spread out was allowing the Zeikas to keep our flight squadrons separated.
‘If we are to defeat this legion we must recall all flight squadrons and direct them to the gates and retake or destroy those towers,’ she said.
Looking out through the dome, Varal made a sweeping gesture. ‘And allow our children and their carers to be killed? There are far too many civilians here now to gather them all in one place.’
‘Varal, if I may,’ Tyba began. Varal nodded. ‘We have ground troops, Rada and cavalry at the gate, trying to take back the towers. Why not recall them into the town and send the flight squadrons out to the gate?’
Several of the strategists shook their heads, but it was Varal who spoke. ‘That would leave the dragons free to send their oil barrels down upon the city from on high. What good can ground troops do against dragons?’
‘Then take away their oil barrels,’ I said boldly.
All eyes turned to me, some roving up and down.
‘This is Astor Talon,’ Tyba said. ‘You will have heard about him in missives from Centan.’
There were several nods and ‘ayes’ around the room.
‘We’ve seen the battlefront,’ I continued, including Ciera and Tyba in my gesture. ‘The Zeikas move like one great swarm, everybody together. They will not expect us to attack their camp.’
‘Us attack them?’ Strategist Sigthan demanded. ‘How would we get that close?’
‘Through stealth,’ I replied.
‘But what could you possibly do against that many splittin’ Zeikas? There are over ten thousand out there!’
‘Light their oil barrels,’ I replied. ‘Destroy their supplies and take down a good part of their camp as well.’
Everyone seemed to start talking at once.
‘We can’t even get our own supply skyearls into Condii let alone send an army out undetected,’ Sigthan said.
I looked her directly in the eye and said, ‘You don’t need to send an army. Send me.’
Ciera lowered his head to my level, ‘You would go alone into that nest of demons? I could not go with you.’
I gestured at my earring and folded my arms. ‘Tiaro will accompany me. We have done this before… though on a much smaller scale.’
The rescue of the Jarians from the Zeika camp near Krii came back to me vividly. Rekala and I had been newly bonded then, and the Zeikas had taken her from me to lure me into a trap. They always seemed to know what I would do, but perhaps they still underestimated me.
‘What happened last time?’ someone asked. ‘How did you survive?’
‘I was a new Anzaii then. They had my Rada-kin, so they expected me to come, but they didn’t count on my being able to dispel so soon.’
‘And how do you know they don’t expect you now?’ Sigthan asked. ‘We don’t want the Zeikas to get hold of you and use your knowledge or powers against us.’
‘We can’t let that fear hold us back,’ I argued.
‘You don’t seem to understand what a threat you are—’
‘You’re sounding a lot like a Wavekeeper,’ I growled, my skin tingling with the start of a transformation. Anger often drew me into my Rada-kin’s form. With effort, I suppressed it. ‘I apologise my lady. I am still raw from the betrayal of Corypha.’
‘Apology accepted, Astor,’ Sigthan said. The others in the room watched the exchange intently, seemingly happy to let us argue it out. Sigthan drew a breath and added, ‘Corypha’s methods may be distorted and wrong, but that doesn’t mean we are happy for you to just march in to a Zeika stronghold and hand yourself to them on a platter.’
‘I don’t think I am that infamous,’ I replied. ‘How would they know it was me?’
‘You would be surprised how much they know,’ Commander Varal said. ‘We have found inked vellum on some of the Zeika’s bodies. Rough sketches depicting the facial features of many of our most gifted Anzaii indicate they are most certainly aware of and targeting both you and Jaalta.’
Many around Varal stared at him in surprise. Apparently he hadn’t shared this news before.
‘How would you get past their perimeter anyway?’ Tyba asked. ‘They are bound to have spirit circles, guards and a timber palisade.’
‘You have the bodies of some of their dead, don’t you?’ I queried. ‘I will wear the robes of a Zeika and control one of their conjurations long enough to get inside. Conjurers are higher in rank than most Zeikas and will not be questioned, especially if I have a conjuration there with me.’
‘This is madness,’ one of the strategists said.
Then Tyba asked in wonder, ‘Can you really control a conjuration for that long?’
‘I think so,’ I replied. ‘But you have to hold the real conjurer captive and conscious for all that time.’
‘And what about handling the spirit circle at the same time?’ Tyba added.
‘I can handle it if there is one, but I’m willing to chance they don’t have one,’ I said. ‘Why bother when they don’t see our ground troops as a threat? They’ll have dragons circling the camp to protect it from aerial attacks, but that won’t affect me if I’m in disguise.’
‘It is far too risky,’ said Sigthan. ‘You do not even speak Reltic, for one thing.’
Then Ciera added only to me, ‘I tend to agree, Talon. It’s a brave idea, but I do not want to lose you.’
He didn’t have to say it, but I was reminded that I would be holding his life on the brink, too. My resolve crumbled.
‘That’s true,’ I admitted, making my statement more towards Ciera than the strategists.
Commander Varal continued moving pieces about on the stone replica. Numbers were scratched into various lumps of wood, representing the placement of Defender warriors throughout the realm. Blue paint indicated the squadrons originating from Centan. These were spread out across the realm now; some 2,400 were on their way to Highford; 6,400 were nearing Lantaid, to my great relief; roughly 4,400 had travelled to Condii with only 4,300 remaining in the Cascade City. So we had divided our army… but what choice had we?
Tyba and I sat down; the backs of our knees were aching from standing for so long outside on the shrouds. Servants came to take away our armour for cleaning and offer warm water to wash our faces and hands. A pair of servants even removed our boots and washed and massaged our aching feet.
‘Thank you,’ I said when they had finished.
The middle-aged woman who had served me bowed politely. ‘My pleasure, Astor.’
‘Sooner or later I might learn to accept my new class and rank,’ I whispered to Tyba.
He grinned. ‘I’m the wrong person to confide that to. I’ve been royalty all my life.’
‘In Jaria everyone is afforded the respect and dignity of a child of Krii,’ I replied, wincing as I realised I still spoke as if Jaria still existed. ‘Not one person is considered higher or more blessed than another, even if they have more of the Astor gifts.’
‘But what about the people with none of those gifts?’ Tyba asked. ‘Would they not automatically feel less accepted? And if they are humble people, would they not be honoured to serve those with more abilities in battle?’
I nodded, realising that I myself had been in that position prior to meeting Rekala.
‘The servants do what they can to make you more effective, Talon,’ Tyba went on. ‘They know that you, and the others, with gifts, are the most powerful weapons we have against the Zeikas. That is why I cannot understand the position of the Wavekeepers.’
‘I agree with you,’ I said, ‘but imagine it from their point of view. They are mostly ungifted people, or have only one of the gifts, Sleffion, Tolite or Rada. They are jealous. What’s more, they find it threatening to think that an Anzaii with enough experience might actually be able to read their thoughts the same way their own beloved kin can.’
Tyba nodded. ‘And judging from the Zeikas’ drive to capture you alive, they have figured out a way to harness that telepathic power and use it to intercept our long distance communications.’
‘Tyba!’ Amadeus interrupted, allowing me (and therefore Ciera and Tiaro) to hear him on the waves, ‘Jaalta’s squadron has been intercepted. Reen has been knocked in the head and is fighting to stay aloft. He is no longer responding through the waves.’
My heart sank.
‘Can you reach Jaalta, Talon?’ Tyba asked.
‘I’ve never initiated contact before with a human,’ I replied. ‘But if she is open to me…’
‘Jaalta,’ I called. Tiaro joined her senses to mine in the waves, questing out over the mental landscape, searching for the pin-points of light indicating another’s awareness. There were tens of thousands of them and enough voices to make me go insane. Thoughts and emotions rose off them like steam invading my sense of purpose.
‘Jaalta,’ Tiaro reminded me. We searched.
I began to focus on those thoughts and feelings that were the most harried, the most threatened, the most desperate. A whirlwind of presences, floating up into the sky, caught my attention. These were Jaalta and her personal guard.
Even as we watched, one of Jaalta’s guards, Sanka, was knocked from her Sleffion-kin’s back and plummeted to the ground. There was no time for any of the three skyearls to react with a shroud. The light I perceived her mind as suddenly winked out. Her skyearl was driven to the ground after her by four dragons.
‘They’re in trouble,’ I murmured distractedly to Tyba.
Jaalta was dragged from Reen’s back and the skyearl set upon by three dragons. Their demonic jaws opened wide and their unnaturally long teeth stabbed into the skyearl’s neck. Reen fell, back first, towards the ground, wings flapping uselessly. As he perished, Jaalta went limp in the arms of her captors. The emotion that seared from her threw me to the floor. I didn’t care what it looked like to those gathered in the Vista.
‘Jaalta,’ I called. ‘We will come for you. Jaalta.’
There was no response. Then Galtoro touched my mind. Though just a stone, the Anzaii-kin’s mental presence was strong. Perhaps being trapped in an innate body made him completely reliant on, and therefore proficient with, his wave senses.
‘They have not harmed her,’ Galtoro said. ‘This is… a bad sign.’
‘They are taking care not to harm her,’ I relayed to Tyba, reaching up one arm from my position on the floor. ‘They surely mean to use her in the way you suggested.’
‘Go!’ Tyba shouted to someone else in the hall.
Boots clattered on the floor as whoever it was ran to do Tyba’s bidding. Tiaro and I noticed several other presences turn their attention to Jaalta. As one they began to converge on her location. The dragons and Zeikas that were still struggling with Jaalta’s remaining guardian, Amril, drove him further away from her, leaving the one carrying the Anzaii free to retreat. His dragon somersaulted and shot away to the south, bearing the inconsolable Jaalta away.
Tyba, Varal and the strategists were shouting. Pain erupted inside me; the most terrible grief I could imagine, ripping open old and long buried feelings from my own childhood. Jaalta’s reaction to Reen’s death had been entirely different to anything I had ever experienced, and yet the memories it awoke in me were like red-hot daggers stabbing me from all sides. When I opened my tear-filled eyes even more people had appeared in the room. Two servants lifted me up by the arms and patted my face and back.
‘Reen is dead,’ I stuttered. The shouting ceased and all eyes turned toward me. ‘Sanka and her Sleffion-kin have also been slain.’
‘And Amril?’ Tyba asked.
I concentrated for a moment on the waves before saying, ‘He and his Sleffion-kin made it to the ground… fighting off Zeikas with help from citizens.’
My breath came in gasping sobs. Someone pressed a cold swab against my forehead. I closed my eyes and swallowed. Reassuring hands pressed me down into a wooden chair.
‘I must go now,’ I said. ‘We cannot allow our most powerful Anzaii to be exploited by them. Not only will we lose a powerful warrior, but we may also lose our main advantage over the Zeikas…’
Tyba looked long into my eyes—and finally nodded. ‘Talon’s right. If the Zeikas are able to use Jaalta’s wave senses to intercept the communications from this building, they will ambush us at every turn.’
I noticed a hooded figure pulling back his cowl. Standing right before us—daring to be within our midst—was none other than Corypha.
‘Do not attempt a rescue,’ he said loudly. ‘You must send spearskyearls and slay her now, before they get to the camps. It is the right thing to do.’
The heat that flashed through me was enough to make the food I’d eaten riot through my body. I flew from my seat, bowling Corypha over. Both of us slid several paces across the polished floor. Without even thinking, I had shifted into icetiger form, blue fur bristling like razor-sharp icicles. My claws pressed savagely into Corypha’s chest, drawing blood through his cloak. He shouted and struggled, but nobody moved to stop me. It was only the words of my Sleffionkin, which registered dimly in my hate-clouded, instinct-driven mind that stopped me from biting the traitor’s throat open.