Across the fray, p.34
Across the Fray, page 34
part #5 of Jon Oklar Series
I froze. Ray, the teenager younger than me, was embedded with multiple stabs as he lay in a pool of blood. His eyes were stuck open.
“No.” I put my hands over his gaping wounds and tried to heal, but there was no life within him. There was nothing for my mana to work with. “No!”
I grabbed him and sat him up. I moved my hands around, hopelessly searching for a different angle.
What was I thinking? Of course this wouldn’t work. I tried to push on his chest to start his heart again, but blood squirted out of his wounds.
He was gone, and I knew it, and yet I was still frozen. I had to move, but I couldn’t seem to do it. He had trusted me, and now he was dead.
A strong arm picked me up. Graham’s father growled at me. “He’s gone. Get yourself together!”
He was right, but his own son couldn’t seem to take his advice as Graham fell to his knees to check Ray himself.
“No, Ray, come on! Jon’s here now.”
It wrenched my heart to hear him speak like this. Maybe I could’ve been here earlier had I known.
“Get up and fight, Graham!” Mr. Craw yelled as he fended off one more man but then was thrown off his feet by a spell of dteria. Witnessing him about to be impaled finally pulled me out of my stupor.
I let out my aggression, stopping one swordsman from reaching Graham’s father and then two more, as I showed no regard for my own safety and stabbed both of them at the same time they stabbed me.
I felt little pain as one dark mage picked me up from the ground and another one cut me down my back. I wrapped dvinia around the neck of the mage holding me and snatched him up. He made no sound as he put his hands on my energy in a useless attempt to free himself. I came free from his spell and could feel my blood wetting my clothes. I pulled him all around me, knocking over several men. He was my new weapon.
I would show these dark mages why outnumbering us was not such an advantage. I threw him around without worry of hitting my own people as Graham and his father crouched down and caught their breath. Soon there was a wide berth around all of us, and the face of the man I was holding had gone blue.
I let his lifeless body drop and healed my wounds. I collapsed when I finished, struggling to catch my breath, but there had been a shift to the battle that I had failed to notice until now. It seemed that our forces from Koluk had broken all the way through to here, near the capital wall. I recognized our sorcerers, and in front of them were the krepps—what looked to be all fifty of them.
The dark mages seemed as surprised as I was to suddenly realize that victory was now out of their reach. Many tried to retreat. A few were strong enough to lift themselves up, throwing themselves away from the oncoming slaughter. Others tried to hold their ground and push the wave of aggression back with dteria. However, the battle had gone on long. They had marched many miles and were hungry. All of them were at the end of their rope.
Valinox suddenly shot out of the midst of his troops. I had a single glimpse of his expression, a mixture of fear and anger. He was flying off in retreat.
I was about to go after him, but what I saw across the battlefield made me decide to stay. Ray wasn’t the only soldier in our army who had been in need of my help, yet many of these people were still alive.
“Souriff, help me heal them!” I yelled as I watched her just starting after Valinox.
She looked down but did not stop, not at first. She must’ve changed her mind, showing an expression of frustration but circling back.
We were suddenly both scrambling to find the worst of the injured. There had to be more than a hundred bodies in the small vicinity around me, most of whom were our people. I was certain hundreds more lay in need of help farther away.
Most of these people were still alive, but there was so much blood pooled around everyone that I couldn’t tell who was more in need of healing than others. I had to start with whoever was closest.
I lost track of the time as I healed everyone I could, from the unconscious to those calling out for help. It made it easier that almost everyone suffered from similar stab wounds. The healing process was the same.
I was frustrated to find that I recognized most of these people from our time together. Many of them had joined us as archers, fearful of melee combat and expecting to utilize their ranged skills safely. Everything had changed after Harold’s betrayal, and many of them had been forced to take up swords.
But where were the bodies of Harold’s people? I hoped they were elsewhere, or they had done little to engage Valinox’s army. I finished healing everyone who was still alive and passed by many dead on my way north, but I stopped as I noticed Souriff standing among the fallen and waving as if to call for my help.
I hurled myself over, then caught myself to land softly. Souriff and Airinold crouched over Failina, who lay in a pool of blood not unlike many of the mortals I had passed over.
“I can’t heal a demigod,” Souriff said. “If we try together, we might be able to get through her natural resistance.”
They tilted her up and out of the pool of blood to reveal stab wounds, two deep ones. One was in her lower abdomen, to the side. The other was higher up, close to her collar. She was more pale than usual, but she was alive. I could feel so with my mana.
Souriff and I attempted to heal her at the same time, but it felt like two people trying to hammer the same stubborn nail. There was no way to work together with Souriff to synchronize our mana.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I heard something tearing. Kataleya had taken off her uniform and shirt and was now ripping apart the cloth of her shirt with help from her teeth. She had on just a band holding her bosom in place but I doubted anyone here cared about her show of skin.
“Secure these around her to stop the bleeding,” Kataleya said as she handed the strips of cloth to Airinold. “Jon, as soon he’s finished, get her to our medics. They are starting on the western end and moving this way. They will be able to dress her wounds better.”
Kataleya put her uniform back on. “God above,” she muttered as a commotion started up a good distance from us. “I’m sure that has to do with Harold.”
“If I have to stop healing to head over there, many people are going to lose their lives,” I said. “Souriff, can you take Failina to the medics and then continue to help me heal the fallen?”
“I will.” She picked up Failina, now bandaged with Kataleya’s torn shirt, and soared off.
Kataleya said, “I’ll assemble a team who will help separate the living from the dead, and those most in need of healing versus those who can wait.”
“Kat,” I said as she started off. “Tell me if any of our sorcerers are dying.”
“They are all fine. We made sure to keep each other safe.”
“And the king?” I asked.
“He and his family made it through unscathed.”
I gave a nod, then returned to my healing. I had to move quickly. It seemed that some people were too weak to stop from drowning in a small pool of blood if they weren’t helped immediately.
Airinold pointed out the ones who needed healing the most in my vicinity, though I noticed his gaze continuously drawn toward the mountains, south of the capital.
“Why do you keep looking that way?” I asked him during a brief moment of rest between healings.
“I feel Valinox there,” he muttered. “On the same mountain peak that Caarda has locked himself in a bubble of static time.”
“What’s Valinox doing there?”
“I can think of only one thing, but I must hope it’s anything but that.”
Although my healing spell was exhausting, I had become so accustomed to closing wounds from blades that I could perform it with little focus. It was only the strain that distracted me.
“Has he gone there to kill Caarda?” I asked as I repaired a stab wound in a man’s chest.
“I don’t see how he could’ve been made aware that Caarda was there. Even if he did, there is no reason for him to risk his life in a fight against Caarda.”
“Then why is he there?”
“To transform himself.”
That completely broke my focus. “Like what you did to become Gourfist?”
“That is what I believe.”
“Healer,” muttered a man weakly nearby, reminding me to stop being distracted
I wasn’t sure I could help it. If Valinox was in the middle of transforming himself into a creature like Gourfist, it was surely better to fight him now before he finished.
I saved another life by closing the man’s wounds. Like many others, he got to his feet and staggered off after profusely thanking me. Most of these men would suffer from the effects of blood loss for the next few days, so I hoped we wouldn’t need them to fight so soon again.
“Can’t we stop Valinox?” I asked Airinold.
“Perhaps. It would require four of us to stand a chance against him. You and Souriff could each take someone, but hundreds of those bleeding would die, and the two of you might not live, either.”
I looked around for Leon, the king, maybe even Hadley. I needed to find someone who wasn’t as distracted as I was who could better figure out what to do about this. However, all of them seemed to be in the midst of shouting at each other as the remaining soldiers under Nykal and Harold stood ready to start fighting all over again.
“Why would Valinox choose the same spot as Caarda to transform himself?” I wondered.
“If you knew Valinox and Caarda as I do, you would realize that Valinox did not choose that spot to be near Caarda. Caarda chose it to be near Valinox. I imagine Valinox has no idea Caarda is there. My only question is if Caarda intended for us to be there as well.” A panicked look crossed his unblemished face as he noticed the shouting between Nykal’s and Harold’s armies. “We don’t have time for bickering!” he yelled at them, but it did no good. “Jon, take me over there quickly.”
He hopped on my back before I had a chance to object. He felt as heavy as a krepp, my knees buckling. I got dvinia around my torso and hoisted us up as I was on the verge of collapsing.
It was just a short trip, thankfully. I set us down between Harold and the king—between the two lines of hundreds of soldiers on each side. The fifty krepps stood on our side, Grufaeragar the only one of them shouting in common tongue.
“I challenge him to duel! I challenge fat human!”
Nykal was yelling for Harold’s troops to stand down so he could be arrested, and Harold was screaming for Nykal to back off so they could part ways. Most of Harold’s people looked as if they believed he was in the right, some of them even shouting back that it was because of Harold’s defense of the city that the capital was not taken.
Airinold’s deep voice quieted everyone. “Your brothers are dying as you argue! And Valinox is transforming into some type of beast that cannot be stopped!”
A complete silence followed.
“Harold,” Airinold continued, “I’m giving you one chance to do the right thing and surrender yourself for your crimes against the king. You will be given a fair trial in which your accolades will be compared to your atrocities, and I guarantee you will live no matter what is decided about your prison time.”
“Prison time?” Harold shouted in shock. “It is because of me that we are victorious!”
“That’s just not true!” Trevor said, standing among the krepps. “I was with you the whole time. Had you not turned against Nykal, we would’ve won this war without losing as many people.”
Airinold said, “You swore to us that you would send in your soldiers, but you waited. You endangered the people of Newhaven and the fate of Lycast because you wanted Nykal’s troops to perish rather than your own.”
“He make dishonor! He try kill krepps!” Grufaeragar yelled. “One chance for honor. One duel! If he choose dishonor, he die with dishonor.”
“And now, Harold, you waste our time,” Airinold continued, ignoring Grufaeragar. “We should be saving the lives of the dying and coming together to stop Valinox, yet we are forced to deal with you. Surrender now. This is your last chance.”
“We are going back to the docks,” Harold said. “The terms of your surrender, Nykal, will be discussed later.”
Airinold charged.
The krepps broke out from the line as well. A number of Harold’s archers fired their arrows, but Airinold and the krepps still had on the Valaer steel breastplates. He and the creatures took some arrows to their limbs, but not enough to be put down.
I could see what was about to happen before it occurred, and so could many of Harold’s men. Only a few of them still put themselves at risk to defend him. They lost their lives foolishly. The smarter ones got out of the way.
As Harold tried to flee, Airinold reached him first and grabbed him by his cloak. He pulled him onto his back, but it was Grufaeragar leaping through the air who first stabbed Harold. Soon all of the krepps were upon him, and Airinold walked back toward us while angrily pulling arrows out of his body.
Harold’s screams didn’t last long. Harold’s men looked to their officers, but it was obvious that they were more concerned with their own fates now.
Trevor gaped at the scene with his mouth open. His features twisted a bit as his eyes glistened, but that’s where his expression seemed to freeze.
“That is murder, treason,” murmured one officer.
“What was that?” Airinold grabbed the man by his neck. “What did you just see happen?”
“I saw nothing,” he choked out.
“No, it wasn’t nothing. It was an appropriate punishment to the person who committed treason. Do you agree?”
“Yes, I agree.”
Airinold tossed the man to the ground.
Another officer approached Nykal and knelt in front of him. “We fought against Valinox for Lycast. We deserve at least the same rewards promised to your troops.”
“That is to be decided,” said the king.
“Sire, you would actually reward these people?” Reuben asked in shock.
“That is to be decided,” the king repeated more forcefully.
I was helping pull out the arrows in the krepps’ limbs and heal their wounds as I listened. I understood the king. Although it did not feel right to reward any of Harold’s people, it seemed dangerous to leave them with nothing. There were still very many of them. Some coin might prevent the chance of another rebellion, but that was for Nykal to decide. I had other things to do.
*****
What followed was a great effort among the survivors to find those most in need of healing and bring them to me or Souriff, whoever was closer. At the same time, nearby, Airinold discussed a plan for dealing with Valinox.
According to Airinold, he could still feel Valinox on the mountaintop not far away. Some of his dark mages had escaped when the battle had turned, but not enough to pose a threat anymore. The only threat that remained was Valinox.
If he was in the process of transforming, Valinox should still be at the early stage—the gathering of necessary materials. According to the creator of dteria, Valinox had the power to transform into nearly anything. It was going back afterward that might be impossible.
We valued the lives of our troops too much to let them die just for Souriff and I to fly off and confront Valinox, but when Nijja was made aware of what was going on, she said a few things contrary to that belief.
“One of you just has to bring me there,” she said. “I will convince him not to go through with it.”
“He has changed since you’ve known him,” Souriff tried to explain.
“I saw what he has become when he killed many of my people in Fyrren and took my enchanted gem to maintain his invisibility.”
“He will kill you, sister,” Souriff warned. “He almost killed Failina.”
“He was never in love with Failina,” Nijja countered.
But Souriff was shaking her head. “I am not going to bring you there and let you throw your life away. Not without a plan.”
Kataleya and Jennava had taken the lead in organizing an efficient healing process, delegating tasks to just about everyone in our army.
Jennava approached us, “No one else is at risk of losing their lives. The medics can take care of the rest for now.”
I didn’t know how many I had healed, certainly over a hundred. Some were still unconscious from the blood loss, but Remi had come back from a worse state than most of these people. I was confident they would return to us. Failina was one of them. Her wounds had eventually closed on their own, but she had not opened her eyes. It might be a while before she did again.
I had asked about Valinox’s fire mage, Zaran, who I had only seen briefly during the fight before the krepps had charged into him. He had been found among the corpses farther west, pretty much where I saw the krepps collide with him.
News of his death reminded me that it wasn’t only dark mages who had gotten involved in this nightmare orchestrated by Valinox. Some of his followers were young, like Zaran. They did not demonstrate the same greed or lust for battle as others, and I had believed I might be able to find a way not just for them to survive but to see reason by the end of this.
Now I believed that to be a fool’s dream. The battle had destroyed lives like a flash flood, a powerful destructive force that did not offer a chance of return. And caught in its wake were so many good people, too.
Ray was gone, as were many more. And it wasn’t over. I did not feel that my people were completely safe until Valinox was gone. I needed to see what was happening on top of that mountain.
“I’m going,” I said. “Now what’s the plan?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Valinox landed on the apex of the mountains. South of Newhaven yet close enough to the battlefield, he could still see the end result of years of work. The thousands of sorcerers he had turned to dteria…gone.
