It didn’t take long before we came up to where the Conductivus stood with his guards in the rock tunnel, before him a solid row of Kelsavaxians waiting for their chance to break into the battle. I wasn’t expecting that. I’d been thinking the fight would be more of a melding of enemy forces all the way through, like in the medieval clashes I’d seen on TV. But what made for good TV viewing didn’t seem to apply in real life. One of the Conductivus’ guards turned an eye towards us but made no move to either stop us or shoo us away. Dusk came to a halt anyway, and I tapped him on the shoulder from behind.
“What should we do?” I asked him. “I don’t see how we can keep together and get through this, do you?”
He turned around and shook his head at me. “No, Lise, I do not. The best we can do is to go through separately, or maybe in pairs at the most, and meet up on the other side.”
“But what if not all of us make it?” I asked, worrying already.
He looked at me solemnly with his amber eyes. “That is a risk beings take in battle—that not all might make it through to the other side. But that is the chance taken when fighting for something you strongly believe in.”
Or in this case, someone, I thought. Arghen. I sighed while gathering everyone in behind the Kelsavaxian line, and told them what Dusk and I had just talked about.
Heather looked at Auraus. “I don’t suppose,” she started to ask, but Auraus was already shaking her head.
“No, Heather. I know of no magic, except maybe god-level or dragon-level magic, that would stop a battle long enough for us to get through it unscathed.” She frowned. “Bascom might have, though.” Her shoulders slumped.
I couldn’t stop a flinch at her words. Bascom, the guy responsible for setting up of the Surfacer trade to the Under-elves in the first place and who had personally tried to kill me and about half the people I traveled with, was directly responsible as far as I was concerned for our present predicament. I briefly wondered if he would get sadistic pleasure if his soul ever found out just how much trouble his life continued to cause us. I noted that that Heather looked a little nauseated at hearing his name. Ragar on the other hand smiled a small fierce smile, no doubt remembering that it was at his claws that the Ogre mage had met his end.
Dusk put his arm lovingly around the Wind-rider’s shoulders. “Do not go comparing yourself to that piece of offal! You and he are vastly different in both age and experience. When you get to be more what his age was, you will be able to cast larger and more impressive spells, too. Do not doubt it.”
I heard the subtle emphasis on the word “was,” as if he was reminding Auraus that despite all his power, Bascom was no more. Auraus took heart from his words and straightened up.
“We do need to get through,” she said thoughtfully. “What if each being runs along the side wall of the tunnel, and I cast a shield spell on their other side, the one that faces the battle? It will stop a few sword blows before shredding, and it might last long enough to get us to the gates.”
“But you said, back when we were first working our way through the trapped tunnel near the parley room, that you can’t cast more than one of those at once,” I objected.
“True,” she replied. “What if I did it in a series?”
Heather said, “You mean, everybody has to run the gauntlet alone?”
Auraus said, “I do not see any other way that might work.”
“No more arguments. Just do it,” I said to the Wind-rider, cutting off any further protest Heather might have had.
“I will count out a hundred beats in my head, and then the spell will be dropped so I can cast it on the next one to go,” she warned. “I will, of course, be the last to cross.”
“Send me first, Lise,” Dusk urged. “I have a good chance of surviving the test of this idea.”
I frowned, not liking the way he’d worded it, but I said nothing as I gave him my nod of approval. Auraus looked worried as she softly cast the spell. The tingle of her magic whispered across my skin, and every member of my party reacted to it in one way or another.
I slid a glance over to the honor guard and the Conductivus because I was curious to see what the reaction of the Under-elves would be to magic being cast. I was surprised to see that the warrior who apparently had assigned himself to keeping an eye on us didn’t react, except to spit and silently mouth the word “abomination.” But that looked more like a reaction to her casting magic than to the magic itself, although that may have been because the shield couldn’t be seen. I made a mental note to ask the Wind-rider about that later. Dusk, by virtue of his rope knot, shoved his way past the honor guard into the mass of Chirasnivians and disappeared from sight.
“How will we know if he makes it or not?” I asked Auraus with worry.
Her soft reply was, “We will not.”
Ragar wanted to go next in case he needed to help Dusk along the way, and I agreed. When Auraus’ hundred count was up, she dropped Dusk’s spell and recast it for Ragar. Once again the only Under-elf to observe what we were doing was that one honor guard. I watched him very closely this time, and it still didn’t look like he’d been affected by the fresh cast magic like the rest of us.
Huh.
Ragar yanked his hood down and shoved his way into the mass of Under-elves in front of us. Since he couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than a Surfacer, the crowd of warriors parted for him reluctantly. Aura started her count, and before I could ask who wanted to go next, Heather volunteered. She went in her turn, and then after Heather’s count was done, Auraus turned to me and Jason.
“Who is next?” the Wind-rider asked.
“Lise, you should go,” said Jason. “That way if something happens on the way, I can back you up.”
I looked at him with an “I-can’t-believe-you-just-said-that” kind of look, and said lightly but with a slight edge to my voice, “Don’t you mean that you should go next, so I can back YOU up, Jason?”
Jason blinked. “Wow. That was kind of sexist of me. Lo siento, Lise.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks. Now go on, Jason. It’s your turn.”
Jason shrugged and turned to Auraus, who did her magic. Jason gave me a swift kiss “for luck” before disappearing like all the others before him.
A one hundred count later, Auraus looked at me. “Ready Lise?”
“Ready.”
Auraus’ spell’s tingle ran across my skin and pooled on my right side. I shoved my way through the Under-elves, who gave way with growing annoyance from my group’s constant interferences. Eventually I got through to where the fighting began. It was madness. I plastered myself against the left wall of the tunnel for a moment, looking out at the seething mass of beings bouncing around like bubbles in a soda bottle that had been shaken up. Conscious of the limited time I had, I dashed forward. It was a hellish run. I jumped over bodies, ducked under sword swings meant for other being, shimmied around fights, ran from Under-elves pursuing me until they were interrupted by other Under-elves looking for a fight, and slid by weapons hoping to skewer me. I kept being saved by Auraus’ spell, leaving Under-elf after Under-elf in shock behind me as their attacks bounced off seemingly thin air. The run felt like it lasted forever, but I would have sworn it was shorter than a full count of a hundred when I felt the protection pop at a careless sword blow not even originally aimed at me. The two story bronzed gates standing wide open were in sight, however, so I ran like mad for them hoping to find my friends already across the battlefield. I broke free of the melee without a scratch and saw Dusk, Ragar, Heather, and Jason waiting for me just in front of the gates. Jason took a step forward, held his arms wide, and I ran right into them.
“Are you all right?!” Jason demanded.
“Yes,” I said, shakily. “My spell ran out before I cleared the edge of the melee, but I didn’t get hurt.”
“Good,” said Dusk. “Once Auraus gets here, then we need to figure out the next stage of our plan.”
“Next stage?” Heather asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “Because of the battle, we have all of Chirasniv to watch out for as we head to Central Court, and this time the inhabitants of the city-state are not going to be as complacent or trusting as they were before.”