“I’m beginning to question how the Abvi all but wiped out the human race so many thousands of years ago,” Bryan asked. “It’s looking more and more like they just waited for us to die of old age.”
“That’s exactly how we did it,” Malithe said. “We like to summarize that we won the war, but it took us ninety years. We won because we sterilized the humans by poisoning every water supply on the continent. When the war ended it took a couple hundred years before the Abvi could even breed again, but a couple hundred years isn’t even as a decade would be to a human.”
“And you call me barbaric,” Bryan said. “I don’t suggest that method in the coming fight. I’d like to live to see us win and though I may be young for a General, I doubt I have ninety years left in me.”
“The trebuchet’s sound like a good idea,” Malithe said. “I’ll send someone to fetch some Matderi engineers.”
“We do have magic,” Wun said. “We have at least a hundred students at the Sorcery School and a dozen instructors. They should be able to throw lightning around.”
“The Vulak might have sorcerers too,” Shera said. “Magic is rarer among Vulak than Abvi, but it is not non-existent.”
“I know some magic users that might be able to help as well,” Kehet said.
“Water mages are useless in combat,” Shera said. “And Tempests are notorious for not taking sides until there is a clear definition of good and evil among the combatants. They will side with the force for good, but that doesn’t mean they will decide the Abvi are less evil than the Vulak.”
“I’m not talking Earth or Water magic,” Kehet said. “I speak of the banned arts. I speak of the Wizards.”
“There are no Wizards,” The King said. “The trait was wiped from every living creature on the planet during the purge. If a Wizard is born, they are drowned. Fire magic is too chaotic, too dangerous.”
“I’ll agree it’s pretty damned dangerous,” Kehet said, “But if it did exist, that dangerous energy can be aimed at our enemies. If we want Wizards on our side, the laws would have to be changed to not doom them to death simply because they are who they are.”
“No,” Malithe said. “I had a nephew born as a Wizard. When he was two, he threw a temper tantrum and exploded, killing himself and his father and burning my sister so badly that it took two talented healers a season to return her physically to normal. Emotionally, she is scarred for a very long life.”
“If they weren’t hunted, Wizards could have tempered your nephew’s power until they could teach him to calm himself,” Kehet said. “I’ve met a few and they are good people, just like any of us.”
“By my decree, the ban on wizardry is lifted,” King Allaind said. “But, any acts of wizardry that result in unwarranted damage may be tried as crimes.”
“There are Unicorn Wizards?” Sheillene asked. “I always believed that Unicorns were unable to wield magic beyond the blessings of their horn.”
“No, the Unicorns cannot be Wizards,” Kehet said. “And this is knowledge I’ve gained in person, not just some of my godly omniscience, which I don’t seem to have very much of.”
“Then we have a plan,” King Allaind said. “Generals, organize the militias. Sheillene, you are in command of the archers. Adria, you are her second. Pantros, your companions can stay in the guesthouse, but you’re staying downstairs. I’ll send a messenger to the Sorcerer’s school and Kehet, if you would be so kind as to coordinate with your Wizard friends.”
“I’ll need to make a stop at the Hunter’s Lodge,” Sheillene said. “I have to pass on word that Wizards are no longer automatic bounties and, in fact, not bounties at all. It will be a rather big change to us. Our guild was founded in the days of the purge. Our first purpose was to hunt the Wizards. I’m a bit surprised there could be any alive with every hunter always looking for them.”
“Magic tends to breed true,” Shera said, “the element sometimes changes, but anyone with a magically talented parent has a more than fair chance to wield magic themselves. My mother was a Mage. I too have magic, but until today, that was not something I could tell anyone. I’ll accompany Kehet to the Wizard’s School. He may be a god, but they’ll be more likely to trust me.”
“There’s a school?” Sheillene asked. “In Melnith? Where?”
“I think we’ll keep some secrets for today,” Shera said.
CHAPTER 26: PANTROS
The bright azure of the sky with a few fluffy white clouds seemed out of place above the amassed armies of Vulak standing outside the Melnith walls. Pantros stood atop a palace tower with Thomas and the bard’s sister, Mirica and watched the Vulak moving around only a hundred paces from the walls.
Standing next to her brother, there was little family resemblance. Thomas could almost pass for a human, but Mirica was the epitome of the elegant Abvi. Her Strawberry blonde hair was pulled tight to her head, making her jutting, pointed ears far more pronounced. From where it was tied high on the back of her head, her hair fell in perfect ringlets to the middle of her back. Her solid white gown gleamed in the sunlight and showed barely a wrinkle. Where the gown slid across the ground, there wasn’t a hint of dirt or wear on the fabric.
“Even I could hit them with a bow from here,” Thomas said, waving his hand at the Vulak. He glanced towards the archers standing every few paces along the wall. “Why hasn’t the battle begun?”
“The King wants to wait until the Vulak start to charge the walls or until we get the Key safely in the hands of the Archmage,” Pantros said. “Sheillene tells me there are not enough arrows in the city to kill all of the Vulak out there. And we don’t want to start anything until there are a few trebuchet’s done, but even with the crews working day and night, we will only have a dozen two days from now.”
“The Vulak aren’t even building siege engines, just ladders and battering rams,” Thomas said.
“I’d always thought Vulak were beastly,” Mirica said. “They’re loud and they smell bad, but they seem just like any other army, if a little less organized. What surprises me is that they are not touching the monuments outside the city gates. They have them surrounded but they don’t touch them.”
“Abvi heroes,” Thomas said. “Most of them earned their status in wars with the Vulak. Vulak respect warriors who defeat them in straightforward combat. They are not a vengeful race, unless they think they were slighted or cheated.”
“And that archway in the middle of the statues?” Pantros asked. “What does that commemorate?”
Mirica said, “That’s the gate to which you hold the key.”
“I’d think it would be inside the city walls,” Pantros said. He then added an explanation, “To protect it.”
“It’s outside the walls so it cannot be used to invade the city,” Mirica said.
“That makes more sense,” Pantros said.
“Abvi are often stubborn in their ways, but we are not stupid,” Mirica said.
Behind her, Pantros noticed the king approaching along with a tall man in a grey robe with blue trim around the hood and sleeves. Pantros bowed. Mirica and Thomas mimicked his bow.
“Your Majesty,” Pantros said. “This is the Archmage?” he then asked.
“I am Robirt, The Archmage of Vehlos,” The man said. “You may address me as ‘Your Grace’.”
“Your Grace,” Pantros said. “It is good to meet you.”
Robirt held out his hand, palm up. “I think I speak for His Majesty as well as everyone in the city when I say, let’s see that stone, I’d like to get it away from the city as quickly as possible.”
“Yes,” King Allaind said. “Robirt can take care of the stone. He is the caretaker of all the keys.”
“Well, the eleven that remain,” Robirt said. “I am missing stones for Relarch and Rahvenna. And there are certainly ancient gateways that I do not know about. Much research has been lost.”