Jaalta moved forward to stand with Ciera. I remained where I was, uncertain that I could do anything to help without the waves. If I was shot, then Ciera would die too, and that would be the end of it. The shroud we were standing on would dissipate and everyone would fall to their deaths.
Jaalta raised both arms and pointed her palms at the theros. Green jets of flame poured from her, blasting the creature over backwards. Ciera’s wings spread out and he pounced and closed his jaws on the struggling conjuration. The remaining five Zeikas ran at Jaalta. She flamed one of them straight in the face and he collapsed to the shroud, burned to a crisp. The others grabbed her.
Now is the time to act. I told myself. Risks be damned.
I leapt forward in icetiger form and knocked two of the Zeikas down. Jett and the Tanzans were right beside me, grappling with the Zeikas however they could; with knives, fists and boots.
Green flames erupted around us, some from Jaalta, some from the Zeikas. The mists of the shroud billowed up in great clouds as the moisture combined with the flames.
Before the rest of the circling squadron could join the fight, Ciera flew after them. Jaws swinging wildly, he crunched down on the hindquarters of one dragon, let it fall, then swerved and snapped up another one.
Despite his prowess, there were so many, and when they began to turn on him, he struggled to stay aloft. Slowly we descended, Ciera, shroud and all.
I swiped my claws across the knees of one of my assailants and shoved him over the edge of the cloud.
Ciera’s roars of pain indicated the dragons’ jaws, though small in comparison, were sharp enough to injure him. There was nothing I could do. I paced, clenching my fists and wishing I had a bow and arrows with me. If only Sarlice was here. Jaalta had collapsed into a sitting position once more. There was blood showing through her bandages. Is this the end?
The day star burst through the clouds in the distance. Dawn brought a cool snap of wind that whisked away the mist that hung in the valley.
As I glanced in the direction of the light, wondering if this would be my last battle, hundreds of winged silhouettes came into view.
It was Prince Tyba, leading a hundred flying archers and two hundred air combat skyearls to our rescue.
The skyearls engaged the dragons. Within moments, the battle had escalated. Having slain all the Zeikas on the shroud, I could do little else to help without using my Anzaii abilities on the waves.
I watched as the Tanzan skyearls collided with and killed the Zeika squadron. I had a view of the sky battle that made my heart pound and my head spin. Skyearls flew in massive arcs around the shroud, forming a living, breathing perimeter.
Many of the skyearls were bigger than the dragons and it took little effort for them to overpower them and bite into the Zeikas that were on their backs. The dragons that were being far-conjured, threw themselves at the skyearls with reckless abandon. Dozens, on both sides, were killed.
Jaalta was lying on the shroud with her head in Jett’s hands. Her mouth hung open and I worried that, if we didn’t get help for her soon, she might die even after all we’d done to save her.
Ciera was free of the dragons that menaced him. He sailed around the area, knocking Zeikas from the backs of their dragons with his immense lion-like paws, or snapping them up and spitting them out again. Every falling Zeika that plummeted to his death scream in fear.
With an army to support him, Ciera seemed unstoppable. His fur was peppered with blood, but he soared through the sky vigorously, roaring and flapping his multi-hued wings.
The battle went on until only a small group of Zeikas on tyraks remained.
‘It’s Harolak,’ Jett said, having read Jaalta’s lips. ‘Legion commander. Jaalta’s psion.’
Staring at Jaalta’s rapid decline, I shouted, ‘Slay him!’
Even though we weren’t connected on the waves, Ciera heard me and gave chase.
The commander wheeled his unit to flee.
The ferocity of the immense flying chimera surprised us all. Even for those who had known Ciera a lifetime, it was rare that he let out such raw, animal viciousness. With great speed, he flew after the retreating Zeikas and collided with them mid-air. He tumbled with Harolak’s tyrak through the sky, grappling with his claws, snapping with his teeth. The black dragon got hold of Ciera’s throat and fresh blood flowed. The tyrak vanished as my Sleffion-kin’s fist closed around Harolak’s head, crushing it to a pulp.
Those who were with me on the shroud let out a cry of triumph and Jaalta sagged against Jett in relief.
When finally all the Zeikas had been killed, Ciera landed back on the shroud and presented Jaalta with the corpse of the legion commander. The wristguards no longer burned with green flames. I pulled them off the Zeika’s wrists, wrinkling my nose at the blood and pus that came away with them.
‘These can no longer be used against you,’ I said to Jaalta. ‘From what I saw before, the ritual only works on the person who drank your blood and received it into his own flesh.’
She nodded weakly.
‘We must return her to the fortress,’ I said to Jett and the other Tanzans. ‘She is in a bad way.’
‘I will take you all,’ Ciera said, then return to finish this battle.
‘Finish it?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he replied happily. ‘Now that the Zeikas have no oil barrels, their attacks on the city have ceased. Commander Varal has sent almost all of the air combat group and flying archers out to finish off these foul intruders. Among the Zeika ranks there is widespread confusion about the waverade artefact. The Zeikas are over confident and attack with renewed frenzy, but it becomes carelessness. We will overpower them.’
‘And the strike force?’ I asked.
‘Are in their element,’ Ciera replied. ‘Your actions gave us the advantage we needed.’
‘And the waves… ,’ Jaalta whispered hoarsely, ‘are clear.’
‘Yes,’ Ciera agreed. ‘Now that the Zeika legion commander is dead, the strike force is free to utilise all the powers of Krii through the waves.’
‘The waverade artefact was attuned to his blood—it cannot be used by anyone else,’ I repeated. ‘We must get it back to the Vista so they can study it further.’
‘Thank Krii,’ Jett murmured.
I climbed up onto Ciera’s back and he flew ahead of the shroud pulling it more quickly. I tried to relax and let my guard down, but my mind was clamped shut. It was like holding a muscle in the same place for so long that it would no longer go any other way. I railed against my own borders with a growing feeling of being trapped. I could no longer communicate with Tiaro or use my new-found Anzaii abilities. I could not reach out to Rekala to find out how she was. Don’t panic. It will return in time.
Ciera brought us over the walls of Condii and straight to the fortress. The shroud came down until we were able to stumble, exhausted, onto the landing platform. Commander Varal came out to greet us personally. He received Jaalta from me and gestured for someone else to help each of us walk inside. Jett took off my helmet and carried it for me. I hung my head, feeling nothing but my own pain, sensing nothing but my own thoughts and feelings. It seemed self-centred somehow.
‘We have prepared a place for each of you to wash and rest,’ Commander Varal said.
Jett and I followed a middle-aged woman down one corridor towards a small bath chamber. I groaned, feeling that all I wanted to do was fall into a bed and sleep. I wished I could be outside witnessing the victory that was about to take place. But I knew I would only be a burden to someone now. My body was coming into a depressed low after the high of the last twenty-four hours.
Jett dismissed the woman and closed the door behind her. Without speaking a word he undressed me and pushed me towards the bath. I had not realised how much blood was on me until I stepped into the water. It sheared off in globs and pools, making the water turn pink, then red. There was a second hot tub nearby.
Once I had wearily climed into it Jett cleaned my upper body with soap and a scrubbing brush and washed my hair as I dealt with the rest of me.
Afterwards, my body felt warm but weak as I made my way to my assigned sleeping quarters. To my surprise, Jett opened the door to a lavishly furnished, spacious suite.
‘This can’t be right,’ I stammered. ‘The city is crowded with refugees…’
‘Of that you need not concern yourself,’ my aide told me. ‘After everything you’ve been through, both you and Ciera will be afforded every luxury we can give you.’
‘I have worked no harder than any other warrior out there,’ I protested.
‘We all do our utmost to win this war,’ Jett agreed. ‘However your efforts happen to be about a hundred times more effective than just “any other warrior”.’
‘I have slept outdoors most of my life. I do not need—’
He cut me off with a gesture. ‘You will function at your best when properly catered for. Stay here as long as you need to rest and refocus your mind. Ciera has asked that you do not return to battle until you’re able to use the waves once more.’
‘Ciera needs medical attention,’ I stammered. ‘All those bolts and bites…’
‘We will see to it before he flies off again,’ Jett said.
I blinked tiredly and decided against arguing.
‘You will rest too?’ I asked.
He seemed amused. ‘Yes, just as soon as you and Ciera are seen to.’
I waved my hand at him. ‘Go then, I will be fine. Thank you.’
I dragged myself into the plush, skyearl-feather bed and pulled the linens loosely over me. Jett drew the curtains shut to hold out the light of dawn and to keep the sounds of battle at bay. I was asleep before he’d even left the room.
Chapter Twenty-one—Isolation
I
woke some time in the evening when a Tanzan entered to light the lanterns around the walls.
When she saw I was awake, she said, ‘Your pardon, Astor.’
I groaned. My head ached like I had been severely bashed. At the lady’s gesture, Jett came in bearing a mug of soup and some aloe vera paste.
As he ministered to the self-inflicted scratches on my forehead, he said, ‘A message awaits you.’
‘They wouldn’t give it to you on my behalf?’ I queried, stretching out my legs to regain some blood flow.
‘Nay. We have laws about that sort of thing. They will hand-deliver it soon.’
‘Very well,’ I replied. ‘How fares Ciera and the strike force?’
Jett glanced at me. ‘The Zeikas fall back before them, their numbers much fewer than expected. Estimates indicate we were evenly matched at about 13,000 per army. Thanks to the destruction of their oil barrels, our tactics have temporarily prevailed. We have retaken the towers and crushed the Zeika army. Ciera and the Condii Defenders are hunting down the survivors, who are fleeing back to Lokshole.’
I smiled a bitter-sweet smile. ‘More will come.’
‘Yes.’ Jett applied a thin bandage to my left wrist where a wound had broken open.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they rank you a Specialist before too long. You’re going to need a rank to truly be useful in this war, and it cannot wait for the usual Defender promotion process.’
There was a knock at the door and Jett waved in a young female with her hair in braids. She curtsied.
‘Greetings, Astor. I am Treya, aide of Rada Egrastta. We have some messages for you. The first is from your Rada-kin, Rekala.’
I reached out my hand for the note she was carrying. Receiving a written letter from my own Rada-kin brought home my isolation. The note read:
What have you done to yourself now, Rada? I have heard of your escapades from many sources on the waves. We are all proud of you, but I am sick with fretting. Will you join us here? Sarlice is with us now. She misses you terribly. Why stay in Condii? If you cannot use the waves, perhaps you would be better off here. Maybe we can help you lower your barriers if we are together again. There is no doubt that more Zeikas will come to both Lantaid and Condii. If it’s fighting you want, there’s sure to be plenty here. No matter what you decide, dear one, may Krii howl with you.
Rekala
I closed my eyes for a long moment, thanking Krii they were all safe.
‘And the second?’ I stretched out my hand.
Treya handed me a curl of pig’s hide, inked in black.
Dear Talon,
We’ve been so preoccupied with war here in Lantaid I’ve hardly had a moment to myself to write you. Fought Zeikas at a place called the Hills of Everstain. Rekala and Kestric were by my side. You’d have been proud of your Rada-kin. She saved my life more than once.
We have heard of your prowess in the strike force—everyone seems to know you now, Tanza’s Astor. Look how far you’ve come since we left Jaria so many months ago. I look forward to resuming my place as your guardian and guide. If you can’t come to us, perhaps the three of us could join you there in Condii. Are you always flying about with Ciera or do you sometimes travel afoot? Let us be reunited, that is my prayer to Krii. That and deliverance for Tanza.
Yours, Sarlice.
I brushed the paper with my fingertips, wishing Sarlice was here. Yours. Perhaps I could ask to have her sent to Condii. She and Rekala and Kestric were meant to be by my side—it felt strange fighting Zeikas without them, yet if I did bring them here wouldn’t I be bringing them to their deaths?
The logistics weren’t the main hurdle, I realised. A spare skyearl could be found to transport them in the strike force with me or the three of them could shapechange during flights and stow aboard Ciera somehow. Nay, the reason Sarlice, Rekala and Kestric mustn’t be with me now was because I would become distracted with protecting them. With so much going on and me still learning how to use my Anzaii powers, it was imperative I remain focused.
I wished I could discuss my thoughts with Tiaro or Ciera, but my walls were tight around me.
‘Do you wish to send a reply?’ Treya asked.
I shook my head. ‘Nay. I will regain use of the waves.’
Jett and Treya both remained looking at me.
I shrugged. ‘I must.’
Treya eventually left and I tried to eat some of the soup Jett had brought me. Though heavy of limb and exhausted, I felt as if I ought to be doing something. I wandered out to the Vista. An argument was in full swing.