Chapter 84 * Weaver’s Road *

Thousands of monsters were gathered in the plains north of Weaver’s Road. In contrast, Davron only brought a few hundred human soldiers with him, all highly skilled mentus users or elite fighters. Despite bringing an overwhelming force to the outskirts of the merchant city, most of his army was still in Fantasmal Mountain, carrying out the occupation and lockdown of the mountain under Jansdimion’s supervision.

At the front of the massive force were Davron, Tabatha, and Gamdon. They watched as some of their troops thew massive mentus fireballs at the city. Though the first few made it through, subsequent attacks were stopped by the city’s dome-like barrier which extended far above the city and about one hundred yards around its outer edge on all sides.

It was night, and they were quite far away, even from the outer barrier, but Davron could see through the mentant realm that several people had gathered on the wall.

“Tell them they can stop,” Davron said to Gamdon. “I think we’ve gotten their attention.”

***

On the northern ramparts, Harsale observed the enemy forces with mild curiosity. “So, these are the monsters that have been attacking the mountain towns.”

Panson was to his right. “It looks like they’re being led by some people.”

“That’s what makes this so insulting. Mindless creatures are one thing, but who do these fools think they are? Do they really think this is enough to break our defenses?” Harsale seemed truly affronted. “Give me the amplifier.”

A soldier behind Harsale handed him a small, red, stone box. He channeled mentus energy into it and it began to glow faintly. When he spoke next, his voice was magnified to the point where all of Davron’s troops could easily hear him.

“I am Nicholas Harsale, chairman of the Merchant Council of Weaver’s Road. Cease your hostile actions and leave at once.”

***

Tabatha smirked when she heard Harsale’s demand. “I was expecting more of a speech. That was a little disappointing.”

Davron turned to Gamdon. “I think we can do a bit better, don’t you? Perhaps a little fanfare? After all, we came all this way.”

Gamdon shook his head but smiled all the same. “As you wish.”

He closed his eyes, focusing on his staff, tuning and adjusting it with mentus so that it would yield the right attributes for what he had in mind. Once he was done, he tapped his staff, and it began to glow blue.

At the same time, a huge, semi-transparent, three-dimensional image of Davron appeared in the night sky. Illuminated by the yellow moon, he looked like a giant ghost. The image was high in the air and so large that it could easily be seen from any part of Weaver’s Road, and when he spoke, his voice boomed as loud as thunder.

“Hear me citizens of Weavers Road. My name is Lord Davron, current ruler of Fantasmal Mountain, and controller of the Book of War. I have brought my army of creatures here to take back something that was stolen from me. We believe the culprit is in your city. Her name is Ashley Summerson.”

At this, Gamdon deftly manipulated and tuned his staff to project an image of Ashley pulled from his own memory.

“If she is not turned over to me within thirty minutes, then my army will raid this city and turn it to ruins until we find her. For those who think that your walls and barrier will protect you from my army, I’d like you to consider this.”

As he spoke, one of the immensely tall rockwalkers lumbered to the front of the hoard until it was standing a few feet in front of Davron.

The creature lifted its huge stone leg and slammed it into the ground, which splintered beneath it. With an intense rumbling sound, the ground split and the crack ran deep and long, heading straight toward the city ramparts, bypassing the barrier entirely. Once it reached the walls, they too were split, creating a gaping hole. Several soldiers that were unfortunate enough to be standing where the split happened, had to scramble to safety to keep from falling. The ground continued to split well past the wall into the city, destroying several buildings before its momentum finally died.

“That is just a taste of the power we wield. Your barrier will not hold against us; no number of warriors you send our way will even be able to make a scratch on any of the thousands of creatures under my control. Bring me Ashley Summerson, or I will destroy this town and kill everyone in it. You have thirty minutes.”

***

Harsale descended the ramparts shortly after Davron’s bold show of force, Panson right behind him. “Isn’t the girl he’s after the one that helped Salov restore the northeast district?”

“Yup, but what would that madman want with her?” Panson asked.

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Harsale headed for a translift. “If she’s put our city in danger then—"

Panson jumped in his path. “Whoa there, Chairman; what’re ya gonna do? You’re not plannin’ on turning her over to them monsters. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know that lil’ missy ain’t do nothin’ to deserve that fate.”

“I have to explore all options. I’m responsible for thousands of lives in this city and—”

“That’s the problem with you merchants; everything’s a rockin’ deal to you, a list of pros and cons and what d’ya get out of it!” Panson shouted. “Well let me put this in terms you’ll understand. You give that lil’ missy up to those monsters and you’ll lose the support of every guild member in this city, and what happens when that dudder comes back with even more demands? What else ya willin’ to give up? Do ya really think it’s gonna stop here?”

Harsale sighed wearily. “Well, what would you have me do?”

“Put everything you got into the barrier; keep ‘em out for as long as you can. I’m gonna gather everybody that’s willin’ to fight, and we’ll meet those monsters head on. I’m sure folks are already gatherin’ at the guild now,” Panson added confidently.

It was standard protocol for all willing fighters to gather at the Warrior Guild in times of emergency, so he knew a crowd would already be waiting for him there.

“All right,” Harsale nodded. “I’ll tend to the barrier, but then I’m going to see Salov. We still need more information if we’re going to have a chance at defeating this enemy.”

The two split, Harsale headed for the translift, and Panson toward the Warrior Guild.

***

There was general chaos in Salov’s dining room. Everyone was shouting over each other, trying to figure out what to do.

“How did they find us?” Melvin squealed.

“It’s obvious,” Wayne said with a tired sigh. “We told Tabatha that this is the only place we’d been since coming to Mendala. It wasn’t hard to guess.”

“It’s all my fault.” Ashley was holding her head, a distressed look on her face.

“No, it’s not,” Wayne added quickly.

“Can’t we just fire up that glowy stone and go someplace else?” Henry asked.

“An’ leave all the folk ‘ere to just die?” Lori admonished.

“There’s no way,” Ashley shook her head. “I can’t use that much power again, not this soon. It took way too much out of me the last time. Maybe if it was just me—”

“You’d just abandon us?” Stephanie stared at her in shock.

“That’s not what she meant,” Wayne said, his tone stern but still weary.

“Guys calm down!” Jandor shouted so loudly that the others were stunned into silence. When he was satisfied that he had everyone’s attention he spoke calmly. “We don’t have a lot of time or options. We need to figure out what to do, quickly.”

Instinctively, all of the teens in the room turned to Becky. She gave a start at this, but stepped forward, her mind racing through the possibilities at lightning speed. “Okay…well, we can’t fight, so running is really the only option right now. If we make a big show of leaving, then Davron will come after us and won’t harm the town.”

“We’d need to be outside of the barrier in order to quicken,” Henry said.

“The guardians and I could buy you some time,” Honsmordin offered.

Everyone started to nod quietly as the plan came together, but no one seemed certain.

“It’s just not right,” Jandor muttered.

Becky looked up at him. “Jandor?”

“We can’t just run, where would we even go? Tabatha knows this world as well as any of us and knows where we would try to hide. We’d just be delaying the inevitable and putting a bunch of people’s lives at risk.”

“Jandor, come on; there’s no possible way we can fight,” Daniel said, a hint of a plea in his voice.

“Fight or flee aren’t the only options,” Jandor countered, his voice hard and determined. “That’s what you told me, right? There has to be another way.”

“That’s it!” Ace blurted suddenly, a triumphant look on his face.

Everyone turned to see him staring at the remaining piece of the seal.

“What?” Jandor asked.

“You’re right, there’s another way; we can force Davron to retreat. If we take the creatures of the Book of War out of the equation, then Davron will have no choice but to back down. It’s just like what you did in Cirinian.”

“But how are we going to do that?” Stephanie asked. “I’m the only summoner here. There’s no way I could get enough animals to—”

Ace stood. “No, not with animals. If someone with the mark of the seal can get a hold of the Book of War, even just for a few seconds, it’ll disrupt its power, at least enough to destroy all of the creatures in the area.”

“Ace, the seal is gone, none of us have the mark,” Becky said in a tone that sounded almost worried, as if she thought he might be losing his mind.

“The physical seal is gone, but not its power,” Ace corrected. “I can still feel it. There’s still a small piece left in me.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Wayne said.

“Ace has carried the seal for forty years, and all that time he’s been slowly absorbing a fraction of its remaining power,” Franklin explained quickly before turning to Ace. “And you believe that you can use that to restore the mark to everyone?”

Ace nodded fervently. “It’s like what you said: the seal was a conduit for the supernal power.” He held up the remaining fragment of the seal, which was only as large as the palm of his hand. “With this, we can use that conduit one last time and make us all seal bearers again but…”

“But what?” Jandor asked, hardly daring to believe Ace’s words.

“If we do this, that’s it. We’ll be the last seal bearers. The only reason this will work for us is because we’re the current ones linked to it. It can’t pass down to another generation or anything like that. So doing this means we’re committing to being the ones to see this to the end, to figuring out a way to seal the Book of War once and for all.”

The eleven other seal bearers instinctively looked to each other as if silently asking the same question: would they do it? Before, the duty had been thrust upon them, but now they would be actively making a choice.

“Well, you know where I stand.” Jandor turned to address the others. “What about you guys?”

Some looked hesitant, but no one backed away. Though it was scary to make the choice, it seemed that they all already knew the answer.

Ace walked to the middle of the group and held his hand out. “It has to be all of us, all twelve of the seal bearers. If you’re in, then touch the seal.”

One by one, the others put their hand in to touch what remained of the seal. First Jandor, then Becky and Wayne, followed by Amber, Derrick, Alyson, and Ben, and then finally Bernie, Stephanie, and Melvin. The others looked on anxiously.

“So how does this work?” Becky asked, already feeling a bit cramped and uncomfortable from being pressed together.

“The last of the seal’s power is locked inside of me, but I can release it and then use this piece of the tablet as a conduit to flow that power back into everyone the seal recognizes as a bearer,” Ace explained. “Ashley, we need you too.”

“Me?” Ashley rose to her feet.

“Yes, your power will be the catalyst, same as last time. Don’t worry, it won’t drain you like that transport did.”

Ashley scooted in next to Wayne. “What do I have to do?”

“When I tell you, just touch the seal.” Ace closed his eyes, focusing.

His body began to glow a golden-yellow. It became so bright that those outside the circle had to shield their eyes, but Ashley and the seal bearers were staring wide-eyed into the light, almost as if they were being drawn in.

“Now,” Ace called.

But it seemed he didn’t need to. Before he’d even spoken, Ashley was reaching out to the seal, which was also glowing. She put one finger on it, and at that same moment, a voice rang in her head.

The light exploded around them, and everyone was thrown back a few paces, some falling to the ground.

Jandor quickly looked down at his hand, this time knowing what to expect. The familiar symbol of a cross enclosed in a circle briefly appeared on his right hand before slowly fading away.

“I think it worked,” he said excitedly.

Ace looked down at the hand that had been holding the seal. All that was left was dust. The last of the physical seal was gone, leaving only the power that was now inside of them.

“I feel…different,” Amber said as she got to her feet. “Like I have more energy.”

“I feel like I could run a marathon,” Bernie added.

“That’s probably a side effect of taking supernal energy directly into you,” Ace revealed. “Don’t be surprised if your abilities seem enhanced.”

Pathos chuckled at this. “As if one Ace wasn’t mind bending enough, now it’s the whole lot of them.”

“So Ace, you said that if we can get ahold of the Book of War, we can destroy all of the creatures in the area,” Jandor recalled, seeming eager to fight now.

“Yes…well in theory,” Ace amended. “It’s hard to know exactly what will happen, I’ve never done it before. The closest I’ve come was when the raw power of the seal leaked out of me and destroyed several creatures at once, but this would be different. Touching the Book of War directly will cut off the source of the creatures’ power temporarily, and then focusing the power of the seal into the book should destroy all the creatures in a wide area, hopefully wide enough to cripple the army he brought to Weaver’s Road.”

“It sounds risky,” Becky said.

“It is,” Ace agreed, “especially since Davron will eventually overpower the person to get the book back. Unless it’s all twelve of us sealing the book at once, we can’t keep it from him for long.”

“Then why don’t we do that?” Derrick asked. “Get the book away from him and then all of us touch it. Shouldn’t’ be much harder, right?”

“Yeah, except without the physical seal, we’d all have to be touching it forever,” Becky said.

“How did you know that?” Ace asked.

Becky seemed shocked at her own knowledge. “I don’t know. It was sort of like, something just told me in the moment.”

“It sounds like you were able to tap into a bit of the seal’s supernal knowledge. It must be because of your natural abilities because it took years for me to hear things like that,” Ace said, impressed. “Anyway, you’re right. Until we can find a way to create or find a new physical seal, we won’t be able to permanently keep the book away from Davron, but we can at least stop him right now.”

“From what I’ve seen, Davron keeps the book physically on him,” Sharanel said. “How are we ever going to get it from him?”

“Maybe I can summon it,” Ashley offered meekly.

Everyone turned to her in shock and confusion.

“Well, Ester said I could use the Sun Stone to pull almost any object from almost anywhere,” she clarified.

“So, you could just reach out and grab the Book of War right now?” Alyson asked excitedly.

“Well, I’m still recovering from that huge transport, but give me some time and maybe I can get it to work. It’s not a guarantee though; I’ve never done it before.”

“It’s also possible the book itself could resist or be immune,” Franklin pointed out.

“The bigger problem is that Davron’s attacking in less than twenty minutes, and he’s got thousands of monsters with him,” Karmandrian reminded them as he stepped into the middle of the group. “How are we going to hold him off long enough for her to even try. There’s only twelve of you that can kill those creatures. The rest of us can offer support, but still; going up against that massive a force is a lost cause. We’d need an army.”

“Well, I think we can help with that,” said a booming voice from the threshold of the front door. It had been left open all this time, and no one noticed Panson and Harsale enter until the boisterous guildmaster spoke.

“This is quite the interesting gathering,” Harsale said as his keen eyes searched the room. “I see we even have a few guardians. It’s clear you all know far more than we do about this madman knocking at our gates. What exactly is going on? Why is this Davron after you? Salov, after all that’s happened today, I believe I’m owed the truth.”

“Harsale, I…” Salov started, but Ashley stood, and the words died in his throat.

“Salov, it’s okay.” She turned to look at her friends. “If you guys are going to face this, then so am I.”

Ashley stood and picked up the Sun Stone, which started to pulse a soft yellow light. She then stepped forward toward a startled looking Panson and Harsale.

“I’ve decided I’m not going to hide anymore. Harsale, Panson, I’m the Daughter of the Sun.”