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  It wasn’t long before I noticed King Ederich and his men coming toward the tower. When he saw us, he and his men began to work their way over with more enthusiasm. The Centaurs were now with their group, some standing back as Archers, some with swords drawn.

  The Sun was making its first appearance in the sky to the east so that now, we could see quite a few Carrion Drakes and Grosteques lining the sky. The Slickers began to fight blindly in the light, which boosted our progress.

  “Want to see something neat?” King Ederich grinned mischievously.

  He took the whistle King Naethan had given him and blew it hard and loud. Within a couple of minutes, the Rocs, previously stationed on the mountains around Aheb’an, began to soar into the sky.

  He motioned a few signals to them. With their huge talons, they picked up two Drakes at a time, and with ease, carried them off to the side of the mountains to the north, pecking the beasts to death along the way.

  We began to cheer at the Rocs as we watched the skies slowly clear out of Drakes and Grosteques. Archaos was mounted on one of the Drakes as a Roc flew off with it and him in its enormous claw.

  Cenathor stood staring off at the whole affair, hoping the Roc had enough sense to know what it was pecking at. A few moments later, however, the same Roc returned. Archaos had lifted a ride back, holding on for dear life to the giant bird’s talon.

  “We really need to find a way to the top of this tower while those beasts up there are occupied,” King Ederich told both Kal and Solecreation.

  Kal spoke up first, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that already. They keep knocking down the grapples,” he turned to Alusia and continued, “Alusia, can you enter someone up there and see what we’re up against?”

  “On it,” she replied and immediately disappeared.

  We could ride the Drakes up to the top, but it’s too hard to get more than one person at a time positioned that way,” Solecreation added.

  They continued battling the members of the Legion in the streets. By this time, the warriors were much fewer in number. The Luminomes, too. At least half of the lighted Nomes had been killed by Grosteques, Drakes and Cerapithali. However, they still had enough deep within the caverns to continue pushing the Orcs back.

  Kaliesto

  All I could think about was Cyrow in Malakael’s Lair. After everything we had been through, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him again. And yet, he was down there, in the most dangerous part of the battlefield. The likelihood of that happening was as high as it could get.

  I really just wanted all of this to be over. I was tired of death and pain. My frustration level continued to rise until I began to fight as I once had in the depths of the Cerapithalan dungeons. I was taking twice the hits with almost no consequence, and I wielded my two-handed sword as if it was light as a dagger. Sigge and Raffe seemed just as determined. I realized that even with the brotherhood separated, we still drew on our bond to use everything the Minzkalans had granted us to the fullest potential. With my enhanced attention to all that was going on around me, I could overhear the men from the other groups commenting on our abilities. They had never seen warriors fight the way we were in that moment.

  I could sense their determination growing, too. They began to pick up the pace in their own fights. Each warrior found a war-like zone to enter with their entire focus being to rip the enemies to shreds. They sliced through the multitudes of beasts and Warlords that lined the streets surrounding the tower. With each slain enemy, the numbers of the Legion began to dwindle. Hope for the people of Gael was being restored. What was once uncertain now seemed shift to our favor in a more determined state.

  Twenty-Eight

  The Rescue of Shift

  Below the surface, deep in the tunnels, King Naethan and those with him commenced the rescue mission for Shift.

  “Cyrow,” the King began, “I need you to pick this lock. Zarathustria, if you can, transfer to the inside of that cage with Shift and take her these,” he handed her the extra Enchanter’s gear. “If Zara can’t transfer in, we’ll need to get Cyrow up there…Kelara, that’s your job if need be,” Kelara nodded at the King’s words, making it a point to have her conjured zip-line ready.

  “Everyone has to stand back from that Wyvern. You can attack him while we get Shift out, just stay near the doorway to do so. As soon as Shift is safe and everyone is back in the corridors, we’ll need to get back out and close the door immediately.”

  Zarathustria poured on clarity and hastened the group to prepare them for battle.

  “Who’s going to be on Malakael the whole time?” Stheta asked.

  “I will,” said the King.

  Cyrow unlocked the door as instructed and they rushed into the room. King Naethan went straight for the corner with Malakael, hoping to distract the beast. Right off the bat, he was thrown down to the floor hard, knocking him to the ground, breathless.

  Stheta immediately came to his aid with her resuscitation spell. He jumped back up with little delay. The King stood in the corner and forced the beast to turn its back to the others.

  Zarathustria was successful in transferring herself into the cell. While she did this, Pinky and Zaaid fired their biggest damage spells at Malakael. Blasts of white light and fire balls lined the area between them and the giant Wyvern, as much as if they’d had ten Pyromancers with them. But the fire was being consumed and had little effect on Malakael.

  Cyrow would occasionally leap across the floors of the lair to strike the beast. He landed a stunlock shot which temporarily put Malakael out of commission. His strikes into its fiery flesh with his cold steel blades did massive amounts of damage, but the beast remained hardly scathed at all.

  Stheta focused her greater healing spells on the King; firing them one after another to keep him up in the wake of the fire breath and earth tremors. At one point, Cyrow said something about making his way to the corner with the King, but Zaaid reminded him of the King’s orders.

  King Naethan proved to be tougher than they had thought, taking more hits than the average Champion. The protection he provided the other group members seemed to be doubled on himself. The firebreath made only superficial burns to his armor and skin.

  He was able to stand mere seconds after being knocked down by a tremor. And the explosions caused by the giant Wyvern only served to send the King back several feet; none of the burns creating life-threatening wounds. Stheta continued to heal him as fast as she could.

  Once Shift had the Enchanter’s gear on, she immediately transferred herself back to Stheta and the others. Zarathustria followed her out. The seven of them backed up close to the door, continuing their attacks on the giant Wyvern.

  The two Enchantresses began to send out mind blasts. They followed up with a weakening spirit tap which drained the beast of its strength and wherewithal.

  The conjured ice damage from Kelara did the most damage to Malakael. In between, she created storms of razor-sharp ice sickles to fall on the Wyvern. The freezing effects slowed its movement greatly and allowed the King to make huge strikes using the King’s Sword. When frozen, Cyrow would take his chance to flip through the air, jabbing his Katanas into the beast’s inner organs.

  “We’ve got her, let’s go!” Zaaid cried out, loud enough for the King to hear him. Zaaid continued to power drive his pyroblasts into the beast. The spells of the Enchantresses had weakened his resistance, but not enough for the pyroblasts to do their normal damage.

  King Naethan turned his head slightly to see Shift standing safely among the group of them. Their eyes briefly met, and his smile showed the relief he held in his heart that she was finally free from the Digvi’ja.

  But instead of running to join them, he dropped his shield and his protection and looked back to Malakael, his sword limp to his side. With one more fiery breath, King Naethan was consumed.

  “Nooo!” Kelara cried o
ut and fell to the floor.

  Picking her up and moving her quickly into the corridor, Cyrow began to shout at the others to get out before it was too late.

  Malakael was making his way to the door with great speed. If the beast was let loose into the city of Aheb’an, it would mean a sure defeat to not only the Legion, but to everyone around.

  With not a moment to spare, all seven warriors found themselves in the corridor, the door being slammed shut by Pinky. Cyrow reset the lock.

  They all fell to the floor weary from exhaustion and emotionally lost. They felt they could go no further. The tears poured from their eyes, as they realized they had lost their beloved King. They sat there for what seemed an eternity.

  “I knew it was coming, and I didn’t stop him,” Zaaid said solemnly. He remembered all the speeches that led him to believe this would be the King’s intention. At the time, he thought perhaps it was just the King’s attempt to plan for a worst-case scenario. He realized now that it was said in a more prophetic tone.

  Deep in their hearts, they all knew it. Though they couldn’t admit it at the time, the words the King had used in saying farewell to the warriors near the Luminome dwellings told them so. The solemn look on his face and the love in his eyes told them so. He was saying good-bye to them, but why?

  They took a few moments to rest before joining the other warriors in the city streets. Zarathustria was one of the first to somewhat recover. She transferred herself to the twins and asked one of them to come and help the Court members. Sigge volunteered.

  When he got there, he heard the whole story and was deeply saddened. But knowing that the bulk of the battle still lie ahead, he did what any normal Spirit Healer would do. He covered their sorrows and granted them a peace that would carry them through.

  When they returned to ground level, they could see that the warriors outside were making progress. Strewn bodies of Slickers and Cerapithali lined the streets. It was hard for the others not to notice that the King was no longer with the Court members.

  Kaliesto

  “Where’s King Naethan?” I asked. I saw Cyrow and felt relief beyond anything imaginable, but it was counteracted with the sight of the missing King. I knew something was wrong.

  Before I got his answer, Sigge called for peaceful waters, not wanting to disturb our fighting. And upon hearing about the death of the King, I felt my mournful spirit, although Sigge’s spell had helped to buffer the news a little. So I went numb instead.

  I drew upon the anguish I felt and found strength. I got so angry at the evil that kept taking the people I loved from me. I felt the surge of the berserker nature flowing into me once again, the Conundrum, and I fought with forced hits that blew my opponents away.

  Alusia returned to our side, “There are five Council members along with Chesed’reg and Killian up top. They are guarded by at least five others, maybe six,” she paused, seeing the Court members with us, the long faces, and the King’s absence, “Where’s the King?” Her heart felt like someone had ripped it out. She began to cry.

  “We can’t do that her,” Vespa comforted her partner. Then she helped her gain back her spirit of fighting as Sigge had with the others.

  Shift began to cast a mass focus spell that helped us clear our minds. We would need it to take on the Digvi’jan rulers. Winge hastened us, and the Spirit Healers began to bring in courage and strength and wisdom.

  The Centaurs requested to make a round through the city to help finish off the Legion members that were straggling around. All around the battlefield, standing warriors regrouped to have the right balance of classes once again. There were still many Digvi’ja and Cerapithali to fight. Grosteques had taken to ground assaults when possible to avoid the Rocs in the air.

  “King Naethan wants you to lead them in the fight,” King Ederich was looking at me.

  I was baffled. Did he actually know King Naethan wouldn’t be here? And me? Lead?

  Twenty-Nine

  The Fall of the Digvi’ja

  Kaliesto

  What a group of cowards!” Archaos interrupted my thoughts and shouted as he glanced up at the platform. “All their men are dying while they hide in the tower.”

  “Can you get those Rocs to us?” I asked King Ederich.

  “On it.”

  King Ederich blew the whistle once more, only this time, he let the sound ring out loud and long. He blew it twice more the same way until the Rocs were coming straight for us. I called for Solecreation and Welkin to assist me. Together, we broke the chains from the doors of the tower. They fell to the ground.

  “Everyone, climb on top. Cenathor, can you hold these up for the Rocs to latch onto?” I held up the chains of the door I was on.

  Cenathor conjured up a grasping giant hand that took the chains into the air above us. The Rocs, responding to King Ederich’s call, hovered above and took the chains into their talons, slowly lifting the platforms of four dozen or more of us from the ground.

  There was Team One from Rhalas; us, the Minzkalans including the warriors lost at sea; and around twenty class leaders. We poured out everything we had on each other to ready ourselves.

  Loren and Valkryiex summoned their Pegasi. Ace and Cringle took them into the air, saving room on the platform. Stheta and Kelara mounted their Tianettes to fly up. Once we were level with the top of the tower, I noticed something. The seven Ancients were with us.

  They were hovering in the air around us, encircling the tower with uniform measure. They had dropped their cloaks and together, highlighted the sky with their fiery blue color.

  The Digvi’ja looked up, startled at first, then a little frightened. Oh yeah. Little red ants, that’s all you are now, I thought.

  “Take out that landing for the Drakes!” I shouted.

  “Drop the temperatures far below, freezing elements, ice and snow,” Vespa said, calling for a hardened freeze. The landing was now nothing but a huge block of ice. Cenathor and Kelara conjured giant hammers and commenced to breaking apart the brittle landing.

  When the Digvi’ja saw that one of their escape routes had been destroyed, a couple tried to run for the portal. Again, the Conjurors were quick to action, creating barriers which gave us a little time to get over to the tower.

  “We’ll fight between them and the portal,” I instructed.

  We fired everything we had at Warlords as Zara, Alusia, and Winge levitated us from the platforms to the tower walls.

  “Ryan, grab those Slickers!” Solecreation cried as two Giant Slickers began to descend from the stairs near the demolished Drake landing. Fouad unleashed Slick to help with them.

  Ryan was having a hard time getting the one on the left under submission, but being in no immediate danger, Fouad let him continue trying until at last, the demon was in Ryan’s control. Fouad gave him the thumbs up.

  King Ederich, the class leaders, and the men lost at sea began to attack Killian the Sorcerer.

  They used every effort to contain him, stunning and confusing him each time he began to shout his words of magic. He was weaker than the others, wearing a robe instead of the plated armor of the Digvi’jan Warlords.

  At one point, Killian raised his stave into the air and began to chant, “Darkness comes when you least expect it. Leave me now, before you regret it.”

  With his words, a massive storm filled the air around the top of the tower. Lightening poured from the skies and strong winds caught a few on top, cycloning them off the ground below the tower. Two warriors died instantly, another was safely floated down with the quick instincts of Alusia using her levitate ability.

  As soon as the Sorcerer was almost down, the class leaders switched their attention to the various Digvi’jan Warlords around the top. Team One found inspiration in seeing their class leaders in combat. Many were reminded of some of the tricks they had been taught in the Coterie runs back in Rhalas.
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  Vamble flipped his way through the Digvi’jan leaders and began to hammer away at the one they called Hanbrig. Welkin was keeping him busy, with the help of Old Bleu.

  Vespa and Mank handled healing the group on Hanbrig, as Kelara conjured up her magic attacks on him, cycling between flame wreaths and magic missiles that glided through the air as enormous darts would.

  Valkryiex sang a taunting war song that brought the attention of Hanbrig to fighting them instead of running to group up with the other Digvi’jan leaders. Pinky’s continuous flame cannon began to strike the target repetitively, burning away the protective armor he wore.

  Standing behind Hanbrig, Vamble began to jab his swords into the Warlord’s sides, striking him just below the ribcage and into the kidneys. His blows were causing the most significant damage.

  As he did this, Lucache crept up behind Vamble and was about to strike the Blade Maven when Jasi summoned herself to his side. She grew three times the size of the wolf she normally was because of the higher threat level and took a protective stance beside her master.

  Jasi’s teeth were the size of the gorehounds, her saliva was pouring out on the tower’s floor. Her white coat reflected a prismatic array of colors. She was more agile than a gorehound and able to dodge almost any attempted strike. Lucache turned when he saw her and decided to take his fight elsewhere.

  Captain Kellerson had a handle on Greshan. With the remaining glowing warriors, Kellerson continued to fight the Warlord, slightly pulling his target to the ledge in the corner.

  Each class did as they had been trained to do; firing arrows of various sorts into the weak areas of Greshan’s armor, stunning and confusing his movements. The Warlord grew weaker as he slowly began to lose the fight.

  Jenla, the female Council member, was currently under attack by Solecreation’s team. Not only was she part of the Council, but she was a Warlock. This made it important to keep her away from the Minzkalans and the team with Captain Kellerson. Ryan saved his paralyzing blows and used them only when she lifted her scepter with a glowing Minzkalan in sight.