The Daylight War (93 page)

Thamos paced the tent like a caged nightwolf. Every so often, his eyes flicked to the throne and his scowl deepened, looking like he might kick it over in a rage. If Amanvah and her entourage had not been present, he likely would have. The
dama’ting
’s harsh words had cut him deeply. She had retreated to her couch and been silent since, but the damage was done.

Leesha laid a hand on the count’s arm, feeling the tension he was holding even through his armour. He turned to her and she reached out, tracing the line of fresh enamel on his breastplate where it had been repaired. ‘No one in the Hollow thinks you a coward,’ she said, her voice too low for the others to hear. ‘The scars on your armour tell how you have stood between them and the naked night. I don’t like waiting here any more than you do, but there will be work for us both soon enough.’

Thamos nodded. ‘It is just those women. They are …’

‘Simply impossible, I know,’ Leesha said. ‘But they were right about one thing.’

‘Eh?’ Thamos asked.

‘The throne was too much to bring,’ Leesha said. ‘It says you think you’re better than folk, but that’s not the man they need.’

‘Is that why they so love your Painted Man?’ Thamos asked, a trace of bitterness in his voice.

Leesha smiled. ‘That, and he can kick a hole through a rock demon.’

Thamos laughed. ‘Ay, I should learn that trick.’

For a moment, there was warmth between them, but then Amanvah spoke again, and Leesha’s blood ran cold.

‘The
alagai
are building a greatward of their own.’

‘Night, are you certain?’ Leesha asked.

Thamos strode over to the table with his great map of the Hollow. ‘What kind of ward?’ he demanded. ‘How big? Where?’

Amanvah shrugged, her head cocked as she continued to listen. ‘I only know what I’ve heard.’ She paused. ‘I am not certain my honoured husband and his companions can see any more from their vantage.’

Inquisitor Hayes drew a ward in the air, mouthing prayers. Part of Leesha wanted to join him, but she had learned long ago that the Creator did not intervene on His children’s behalf. If they were to be saved, they would have to save themselves.

Amanvah gasped and gave a shriek. Everyone tensed, waiting for more news, but the
dama’ting
said nothing. There was real fear in her eyes, and Leesha was reminded again that for all her training, she was still little more than a girl. Sikvah, normally the more emotionally demonstrative of the two, was strangely calm. She laid a hand on her sister-wife’s shoulder, offering silent strength.

After a few moments, Amanvah let out a breath. ‘He was attacked, but he is playing now.’ The pride was evident in her voice. ‘Even on Waning, the
alagai
cannot resist my honoured husband so long as he plays.’

Sikvah nodded. ‘Everam speaks to him.’

But then Amanvah fell to her knees. ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘No, no, no. Please, husband, do not …’

She did not finish the sentence. Sikvah dropped to her knees behind her sister-wife, gentling her shoulders. Amanvah’s face was blank and she said nothing, but Leesha could imagine what was going through her mind.

Leesha pulled at her skirts as she got to her knees in front of Amanvah. She reached out, taking Amanvah’s soft hands in her own and squeezing, trying to lend strength as Sikvah did.

‘Amanvah,’ she said, not bothering to hide the desperation in her voice, ‘please tell me what’s happened. Is Rojer …?’

‘Not yet,’ Amanvah said. ‘He is still playing, but he is no longer driving back the
alagai
. He is calling them to him, that his companions may live.’

There was a patter, and a spot appeared on the perfect white silk on her lap. Sikvah slipped a tiny bottle from somewhere in her black robes and reached out, catching Amanvah’s tears as they fell. ‘His honour knows no bounds, and Everam will seat him in His great hall on the sixth pillar of Heaven,’ she said. Amanvah nodded, weeping all the harder.

This went on for several minutes, but then Amanvah’s eyes lit up and she straightened. ‘He fights again! All Nie’s forces at his heel, and he stands to face them!’

Sikvah swiftly stoppered the now full bottle and produced another, ready to catch more tears if they fell. ‘Can even he—’

‘Of course he can!’ Amanvah snapped, her strength returned. ‘He is Rojer, son of Jessum, disciple of Arrick of the sweetest song and son-in-law to Shar’Dama Ka.’ She paused, clenching a fist. ‘But the
alagai
will be the least of his worries when I see him again.’

‘Honest word,’ Leesha agreed.

‘The Par’chin is with him now,’ Amanvah said a moment later. ‘He is …’ She furrowed her brow. ‘The
alagai
,
they …’

Just then there was a shout, and all eyes turned to see Arlen suddenly standing in the centre of the graveyard. Even Leesha, who understood something of Arlen’s powers, gaped. He had been miles away in Newhaven just a moment before.

But there could be no doubt he was here now as his voice boomed like thunder. ‘Mount and stand ready! We ride into the night in minutes!’

He turned, striding purposefully towards the count’s tent, and the crowd parted around him, some whispering in awe, others shouting.

‘He just appeared like a demon!’ one woman cried.

Inquisitor Hayes blocked his path as Arlen reached the tent. ‘How is this possible?’ he demanded. ‘The Canon states we must not take the corelings’ methods as our …’

Arlen reached out, brushing the Inquisitor aside like a child, never slowing. ‘Ent got time to argue scripture now, Tender.’

Hayes looked outraged, and Child Franq moved to block Arlen’s path, but Thamos banged a gauntleted fist on the table. ‘Holy Men out! See that our fighters have the Creator’s blessing!’ The Inquisitor and his entourage looked at him, but the count met their eyes with a hard look, and they moved quickly to comply.

‘What’s happened?’ Thamos asked as Arlen came over to where he stood by the map. Arlen did not immediately answer, considering the map a moment before taking a brush and dipping it in the bowl of ink, expertly drawing thick wards over areas that had once been virgin woodland.

‘The mind demons have built greatwards, here, here, and here,’
Arlen said, pointing to New Rizon, Newhaven, and Lakdale. ‘Already they are activating.’ He lightened pressure on the brush to draw the thinner lines of connection. When he was done, the great wardnet of Hollow County was a circle within the triangle of the mind demons’ wards. ‘The net will only get stronger as the rock demons continue to dig, cutting off the Hollow and draining power from our wardnet.’

The wards were elegant, and Leesha knew at a glance that they were powerful. There was a slight similarity in their shape to wards she had seen when Inevera trapped her in Jardir’s palace.

‘They’re human wards,’ she guessed. ‘We will no more be able to set foot across their lines than they can ours.’

Thamos shook his head. ‘That only creates an impasse. There must be more to their plan.’

Arlen nodded. ‘They are stockpiling every boulder and tree trunk as they clear the wards. Soon the rock demons will begin throwing, and it won’t be long before they destroy enough to break the circuit and short out our net.’

‘Circuit?’ Thamos asked.

‘The link that joins our greatwards,’ Leesha supplied. ‘It needs to form a closed shape to operate at full power.’

Arlen nodded. ‘They do that, we’ll have demons in the streets of the outer boroughs, and the rock demons will be able to move in close enough to heave boulders anywhere in Hollow County.’

‘Creator,’ Thamos said. ‘But if these demon wards repel us the way ours do them, how can we destroy them?’

‘We can’t,’ Arlen said. ‘Not tonight, or even during the daylight hours if we make it till tomorrow.’

‘We could set fire to the woods.’ Thamos’ face was grim. He knew the cost, but he would do it if necessary.

This
is
why
we
keep
the
secrets
of
fire
from
men
,
she heard Bruna say.
They
would
curse
the
world
and
think
they’re saving it.

Arlen shook his head. ‘Wouldn’t work. The wards are more than just the shape of cleared-out trees, Highness. We’re dealing with trenches dug by rock demons. Twenty feet wide and ten feet deep. Takes a lot to fill in a trench like that, even with thousands of strong backs and an endless supply of flamework, neither of which we’ll have by morning.’

‘We don’t need to destroy the wards,’ Amanvah said, coming over. ‘Only mar them.’

Leesha looked at her, then nodded. ‘The fangs.’

‘Ay,’ Arlen said.

‘What are the fangs?’ Thamos demanded. Leesha could hear the desperation in his voice. He wanted to take command as he would in any other instance, but he was out of his depth.

Leesha took a scrap of paper and the brush Arlen had used, quickly drawing a ward. She pointed to two small, curved teardrop shapes next to the main symbol. ‘These are the fangs. Almost every ward has them hidden somewhere in its design. They are the place where the ward Draws magic – without them, it will quickly burn out.’

She looked at Arlen. ‘You take your clothes with you.’

‘Eh?’ Arlen asked. Thamos turned to regard Leesha curiously as well.

‘When you turn to mist and move as the corelings do,’ Leesha said. ‘You take your clothes with you. Can you take more?’

‘Ay,’ Arlen said, ‘but nothing heavy, and nothing alive. Breaking things down is easy enough. Putting them back together properly is harder.’

‘Can you carry a crate of thundersticks?’ Leesha asked.

Arlen considered. ‘For a short hop, perhaps, if I have time to study their pattern.’ Arlen smiled, a faraway look in his eyes. ‘Won’t be easy, but easier than hauling one up a frozen mountain.’

Leesha cocked her head. ‘What’s that?’

Arlen waved the thought away. ‘Long story.’

Leesha made a mental note to ask about it later and pressed on. ‘Can you materialize out beyond the greatward?’

Arlen shrugged. ‘Can, but it’s easy to get lost. Simple to skate along the greatward because I know its every twist and turn. Out beyond, I’ll need to go deeper into the Ala, and then find a path of magic leading back up to the surface closer to where I want to be. Might need to hop once or thrice to triangulate, but I know the woods well.’

‘How is this possible?’ Amanvah asked. ‘Even my father does not have such powers.’

Arlen ignored her. ‘If I knock out the fangs of the centre ward, their net will fail, but expect I’ll only have a moment to do it before they sense me. Need a distraction.’

Thamos straightened at that. ‘Then you shall have one.’ He pointed to the greatward the minds were building near New Rizon. The second oldest of the Hollow’s boroughs, it was also the most populous. ‘New Rizon has the most open ground, where our horses and archers can inflict maximum damage. If we attack there …’

‘You ent thinkin’ straight,’ Renna said as Arlen headed for the tent, well away from the troops and horses, where the crates of Leesha’s thundersticks were stacked. The foot soldiers had already begun a march to the east while the horses were readied.

Behind them, Rojer’s wives berated his recklessness, shifting back and forth between their heavily accented Thesan and rapid-fire Krasian. Arlen smiled. It was probably for the best Rojer could not understand most of what they were saying. The Jongleur wasn’t known for his temper, but he could be as stubborn and cutting as any when his back was up.

‘Straight or not, it’s the only plan we’ve got, Ren,’ Arlen said. ‘Hollow will be destroyed, we don’t get this done.’ He drew a deep breath. ‘Maybe even if we do. But I ent the type to lie down and wait for the end.’

Renna shook her head. ‘Me either. Not any more, at least. But do you have to go alone?’

Arlen nodded. ‘Need to be quick. All goes to plan, I should be gone and back in an instant. Time you hear the blast, I should be back on the greatward, covering your retreat.’

‘Should,’ Renna said, not sounding convinced. Her aura was petulant, but resolved.

‘Don’t like you fighting without me any better,’ Arlen said. ‘But you seen what the count is like in a fight. Reckless. Hollow needs him right now. Trustin’ you to bring him back alive.’

Renna nodded. ‘Will. Swear by the sun.’

Arlen saw magic respond to her natural strength, flowing into her and brightening her aura. She had never looked so beautiful. He took her in his arms, kissing her deeply. ‘Love you, Renna Bales.’

Renna smiled, and even her beauty from a moment ago was eclipsed. ‘Love you, Arlen Bales.’

She turned and went to join the others. A moment later, a horn sounded and they galloped off. Arlen concentrated, pulling magic through one of the crates, Knowing its contents down to the tiniest particle. The materials were surprisingly simple, and he was confident that when the time came he would be able to reassemble them.