The Spectral Blaze

Aoth dreamed that he was back on the mountaintop in Szass Tam’s private little hell, and somewhere amid all the undead giants and beholders, Jet was crying out in anguish. He fought madly to reach the griffon, but for every foe he destroyed or blasted aside, two more loomed before him, and he couldn’t even catch a glimpse of his steed.

His eyes snapped open. But Jet’s voice was still ringing inside his head. It made him feel addled.

What you are, the familiar rasped, is drunk! Sober yourself up!

Aoth touched one of the tattoos on his forearm. A surge of clarity and vitality washed his muddled daze away. What’s wrong? he asked.

Something was floating above the War College tossing balls of fire. It’s stopped now, but you still needed to know.

Aoth grabbed Cera’s shoulder and shook her. “Muh?” she murmured.

He shook her harder. “Wake up!”

She frowned up at him and knuckled her eye. “What’s wrong?”

“If we’re lucky, Tchazzar’s just amusing himself. Or the citadel’s under attack.”

“And if we’re not?”

“Then Jhesrhi just tried to warn us that the dragon’s turned on us. Dress fast. We don’t want to be in these rooms if somebody’s on the way to kill or arrest us. Jet’s coming to carry us to safety.”

Cera rolled out of bed and grabbed her shift. “What if Tchazzar does still trust us but then finds out we ran away?”

Aoth pulled on his breeches. “I’ll think of some excuse.”

Once they were dressed, he reached for his mail but then left it on the stand. It took time to put on armor, and he was afraid they didn’t have it. He thrust Cera’s mace and buckler into her hands, grabbed his spear, and led her into the sitting room.

He cracked the door open. No one was waiting right outside, but the War College had begun to echo with excited voices. He couldn’t tell if it was because people were simply reacting to the rain of fire or because Tchazzar and his officers were already giving orders.

He did know the closest staircase was to the left. Since it was a good idea to get off that level, he and Cera headed in that direction. I’m nearly there, said Jet.

Good, Aoth answered. We’ll get out on a balcony or someplace like that.

I had to swing wide to avoid Tchazzar. He was in the air in dragon form.

Was he chasing Jhesrhi? Or on his way to attack our camp?

All I know is he was headed west.

Curse it! Get here as soon as you can!

What do you think I’m trying to do? Several moments passed before the griffon spoke again. A couple of the buildings near the War College are on fire.

There may be a reason to care about that later. Right now, we have other problems.

Aoth reached the top of the stairs and led Cera to the left again. Every upper level of the fortress provided some sort of access to the open air. He just had to find one of the doors.

But before he could, a squad of Tchazzar’s guards armored in gilded breastplates and helms with scarlet horsehair crests came around a corner. Spying Aoth and Cera, they reached to draw their swords. Their leader sucked in a breath to shout.

Aoth shouted first. He bellowed a word of power and jabbed at the soldiers with his spear.

Magic amplified the shout in a boom like a thunderclap. Loud as it was, the noise didn’t hurt him or Cera, but the guards reeled and fell.

Aoth strode forward and looked down at the officer. The Chessentan was bleeding from the nose and ears and looked dazed. But his eyes were open.

Aoth poised his spear at the fellow’s throat. “My followers and I want out of Chessenta,” he said.

The officer goggled back at him.

“I don’t think he can hear you,” Cera said. She murmured a prayer that set her fingertips aglow with golden light, stooped, and touched the fallen man on each ear. “Try it again.”

“My men and I just want to leave,” Aoth said. “If Tchazzar allows it, there won’t be any trouble. But if he tries to stop us, I guarantee the battle will lay waste to Luthcheq.” He remembered the blazing aerial display and the burning buildings Jet had told him about. “In fact, I’ll burn the place to the ground. Tell him.” He waited for an answer, but the man just kept gawking. “Say you understand or I’ll kill you.”

“I… I understand,” the warrior stammered.

“Good,” Aoth took a look at the other battered soldiers. They were all still too groggy to cause any trouble. He and Cera picked their way through them then hurried on.

“You can’t burn Luthcheq,” she said. “There are tens of thousands of i

“I had to threaten them with something,” he said. Then, at last, he found what they were looking for.

The door opened on a walkway behind a row of merlons. He pulled it open, and wings beating, blacker than the night behind him, Jet lit on one of the sandstone blocks.

“Tchazzar’s chasing us,” said Jhesrhi, her golden hair streaming and nightclothes flapping in the gale that swept her and Gaedy

He looked around. He could see the War College, its walls stained by the wavering yellow light of the fires near its base, but nothing in the air.

“I assume the wind told you,” he said.

“Yes. We’re faster than he is, but…”

“But he’d catch us eventually. When you ran out of magic if not before.”

“Yes.”

“But it doesn’t matter. As long as we reach the Brotherhood ahead of him, we’ll be all right.”

Inwardly he prayed to old Keen-Eye that that was true.

They soared over the site of Tchazzar’s new temple. The shops and homes that had stood there were mostly rubble, waiting for someone to cart it away. Fires burned in the shadow of the piles. Displaced paupers with nowhere else to go were surviving as best they could.

Gaedy

Jhesrhi’s tame wind set them down in the center of their camp, then departed in a final howling swirl. People gawked at them. Her mouth hanging open, Son-liin in particular seemed unable to tear her gaze away from Gaedy

He gri

The stormsoul scurried off, and Ramed strode out of the dark. “What’s happening?” he asked. “Jet cried that there was danger, then-”

“Tchazzar’s coming to attack us,” Gaedy

“It’s only been a little while. Most of them aren’t saddled-”

“I don’t care. I don’t care if they have riders. They’re more intimidating on the wing than on the ground. I want every man showing he’s ready to fight too. Don’t worry about putting them in formation. There’s no time for that either. Just have them point their weapons at the sky.”

“Right.” Ramed hurried away, shouting orders.

“It isn’t going to be enough,” Jhesrhi said. “Tchazzar’s a warlord. He’ll see that we’re not prepared to stop him.” She looked around. “Oraxes! Meralaine!”

She kept shouting while Gaedy

“Tchazzar’s coming for us,” Jhesrhi told them. “He’ll be here in a matter of moments. You have to make us look more ready than we are. You have to fill the night with shadows and phantoms and play on his fears. Start now and I’ll support you as best I can.”