Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Tiredness. Heavy eyelids. Difficulty drawing breath. Rembold could not remember where he was. He opened his eyes with some effort and saw rock above him. Was he in a cave?

He tried to move his head, but could not. He had no control over his limbs. He looked as far as he could with his eyes. To his right was a bright red light, and he thought he could see a person in the light.

No sound. He realized he could not hear. He closed his eyes again and concentrated on his body. He could not feel any clothes, but he did feel rope straps around his wrists, midsection, head, legs, and feet.

Memories of battle came back to him. He remembered the hill, and Borli standing next to him. He remembered the Chaelestans coming up the hill. Then. . .

Captain Horr. Borli had said his name, and then Rembold had felt a sharp pain in his head. Horr had betrayed him. Had betrayed Neljan Joen.

Rembold could hear a slight chanting. His hearing was returning. He recognized the chanting as Chaelestan, though he could not understand it.

Panic started to flood his mind. He tried to breath deeply to calm himself, but could not manage it. He tried to think how to escape, but only thoughts of his family filled his mind. He thought of his last conversation with Ainu.

And it hit him. He could hum to get out of these bonds, using air magic just as he did to activate the missive bowl. He tried to hum quietly a few notes.

His voice did not work. Despair filled him this time. He knew this was the ritual that would steal his magic. Which meant he was at the mercy of his enemies. They were going to kill him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun had set, but there was still some light. Prince Mikol led the fleet of aerships toward the meteor ruins, now only minutes away. Borli reported that the men were ready for battle on their ship, christened “Lady Serendipity.” Mikol nodded. He sent out a call on the short-range communicator and one by one received confirmations from all the other ships.

Lasy Serendipity held the prince's own guard. These were men he trusted and had been trained to protect royalty. They were some of the very best mages and warriors in the nation, just as Borli's team had been. There was a variety of magical abilities in the guard. Most had hand-to-hand combat training, as well as excellent swordsmanship. They used various tools to control their respective magics, ranging from musical instruments to weapons to potions and tonics. Some were adept healers, ready to give parts of their own lifeforces to heal and save their comrades.

In the other six ships, there were also a variety of mages. Most were military from the Royal Forces. A few were from a local militia. They carried guns of various magics, but were not as well trained as the prince's guard in fighting magic.

“Your Highness, the Chaelestan army has surrounded the meteor ruins. I see some campfires through the foliage,” reported the watchman over the communicator, “and they make a radius approximately one quarter of a mile from the ruins center.”

Mikol knew what they should do. He opened the communicator with the other aerships and told them to surround the ruins.

He waited ten minutes for the other ships to get in position. Once he had confirmation, he gave the command for them all to advance on the ruins. Seeing the visuals that showed they were ready, he gave the command for the fire mages to initiate the battle.

Balls and streams of fire began pouring out of the aerships toward the forest below. Mikol watched, Borli standing beside him, as the trees caught flame.

“Look there,” Borli said, pointing to their right. The Chaelestans were fighting back with their air magic, pushing the fire back toward the hovering aership.

“Podrug, get your earth mages to counter that wind!” Mikol said ove rthe communicator. A few seconds later, large stone started dropping from the ship, shooting toward the ground and creating small craters on impact.

The rest of the forest was catching.

“Air and water mages, go!” Mikol commanded.

From each ship, water began being directed toward the trees, containing the flames within the circle. Wind started blowing inward from every side, toward the ruins.

“Men, protect the ruins!” Mikol commanded his own ship.

They did so, creating a similar barrier to protect the meteor impact site from the blazing fires.

Mikol noticed a disturbance to the left. The wind was acting strangely, going in a circle.

“Their creating a vortex,” Borli observed.

The prince nodded, not sure what to do. He watched as the wind caught the fire, spinning upward towards the sky.

“Their going to send that vortex toward the ships!” Mikol realized. “Air mages, remove the oxygen from the area. Quickly!” he shouted over the line.

The fires started sputtering and dying. He watched as more vortexes appeared, creating flaming tornados. He watched in panic as one vortex started moving toward the ship two to his left, the Loda's Rebirth.

“Kilstigal! Get all your men to focus on taking out that vortex!” he ordered.

Guns started firing from Kilstigal's ship toward the trees. The water ones were directed at the vortex, while the electricity ones were shot toward the enemy below. More boulders were dropped from that ship toward the ground.

The fire in the forest was nearly dead now, as were the other vortexes, but that one tornado remained, moving slowly toward the aership.

“All water and air mages that can be spared, direct your attention to taking down that vortex!” Mikol directed.

But it seemed the Chaelestans were putting all their power into that one vortex, trying to make it reach the aership. The vortex was growing larger, leaves and debris getting caught up, then burned in the fire that was still blazing within it.

“Prince, it's nearly upon us!” came Kilstigal's panicking voice.

Mikol did not know what to do.

Holden had found some metal plates in a storage area of his uncle's aership. Using these, he had constructed two more teleportation plates. These were larger than his first ones, but still compact enough that he could fit them into his pack.

“We're drawing close to the ruins,” Imbert said from the controls. Holden looked up and saw how dark it had gotten while he worked.

Tumus approached the window and looked out. Imbert had finally removed his bonds and allowed the young man to wander around the bridge.

“So many trees,” Tumus commented. “This forest is enormous.”

“The largest in the world,” Imbert replied. “Holden, is your teleportation thing ready?”

Holden made sure he had enough baubles of each element for the teleportation of two people. He had considered how many he needed and had decided to double the amount he had used for the dog.

He took a moment to reexamine all four plates, both engines, and each bauble.

“Yes, it's ready. Except for the lifeforce baubles, of course.”

“And you know how to make those?”

“Yes.”

Ten minutes later, they could see fire blazing ahead of them.

“Forest fire?” Tumus asked.

“No. Battle,” Imbert responded.

They heard a voice come over the short-range communicator.

“Kilstigal! Get all your men to focus on taking out that vortex!” It was Prince Mikol.

The three of them watched as a huge vortex of fire swirled toward one of the aerships surrounding the meteor ruins. The forest fire died down.

“All water and air mages that can be spared, direct your attention to taking down that vortex!” came his voice again.

Another moment later came a panicking voice. “Prince, it's nearly upon us!”

This ship was the one closest to Imbert's Tidalwind. He drew his ship up to the rear of it just as the vortex hit the metal-plated balloon. The ship was buffeted about, and a few men fell out toward the ground.

“I've got to help them!” Holden shouted, then ran toward the port side windows. He opened one and started humming a folk tune that reminded him of a peaceful, calm spring day, when the wind did not blow and the world seemed still. He started singing it aloud without realizing it.

To a shaded place of green,

by a cool and calming stream,

Where the birds all sweetly sing,

I would go.

To be there all by my lone

to remember times now gone

and become as still as stone,

I would go.

I would go, to the green

to become as still as stone.

I would go, just to be,

just to feel that peace alone.

Alay-oh, alay-oh.

Alay-oh, all alone.

The wind died as he sang. Holden watched as the vortex broke connection with the ground and started ascending into the clouds. He did not waver in his singing. Finally, the flames were gone and all was still. No wind. He stopped singing.

Tumus was standing next to him when he pulled his head back from the window.

“That was. . . amazing.” he said in awe. “I've never seen air magic so powerful in all of Chaelesta.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“Imbert! Was that Holden singing? All my men could hear his voice,” Prince Mikol asked over the line.

“Yes, your highness,” Imbert replied.

“Well, he stopped the vortex for now. But we are already being attacked again in other ways. I am sending my men down there now to combat face-to-face. We will clear a path for Borli and Holden to get them into the ruins proper.”

“Holden,” Tumus said, pulling hims aside. “I'm not great with your machines, but if you show me how, I can make sure the teleporter is ready for you to bring you and your pa back.”

“Thank you, Tumus,” Holden said. He took a minute to show the younger boy how to turn on the engine and where to place the plates in proximity to it. He had already attached all necessary baubles except the lifeforce ones.

“As soon as I get some of those filled, I'll send them up to you with air magic through that window I was just at,” Holden told him. Tumus nodded. “Then just attach them here, where there are two empty slots for baubles on the engine.”

“Get your parachute on, Holden,” Imbert said. “Borli is meeting you directly below this aership in front of us, toward the aft.”

Holden put on his backpack on his front, then had Tumus help him strap the parachute to his back. He doouble checked his pockets to make sure he had all necessary items, then led Tumus to the rear of the ship.

“Once I jump out of this door, you close it a return to my uncle. And Tumus,” he said, smiling wryly, “Thank you. I'm glad to have a friend here, even if you did try to kill my head maestro.”

Tumus bowed his head for a moment. “Thanks for considering me as a friend.”

 “Here goes!” Holden opened the hatch and turned around to face Tumus. He waved, then fell backward out of the aership.