The Baldari (Book 3) (22 page)

In the next half glass, S’erom similarly disabled two more wizards.  One had been knocked unconscious by flying rubble from the structure that had been blown apart by one of their Talls.  He would awake to find himself stripped of his power and a prisoner.  The third was a woman, this one badly wounded and so frightened she also had no will to fight.  S’erom didn’t know if she would survive, but he withdrew the Band and repeated the branding anyway.  When they turned her over, he saw that another ten wizards stood huddled together, the brands stark and sore on their foreheads.

Then, the battle suddenly became more intense.  The number of explosions and beams of powerful magic far more frequent than just moments before.  The defending forces from the Outpost had finally been alerted, and now a raging battle was beginning.  A’ardaugh warriors were being killed in large numbers, and the Talls would be greatly outnumbered.  S’erom watched as three of the newcomers unleashed powerfully bright beams directly at the Older Tall.  She shuddered under the attack, but  while the air around her grew hot and bright, she stood through the attack.  She blasted one of her attackers from existence, as the remaining two wisely sought cover. 

S’erom didn’t know what triggered the decision to retreat.  Perhaps it was because the captured wizards were at risk of being recovered, or that only the Old Tall was safe from the recently arrived defenders.  Perhaps it was because the village was beyond helping.  There was little doubt it would burn to the ground.  Whatever the reason, two
Openings
suddenly appeared, and the A’ardaugh warriors knew it was time to flee.  Many were cut down as they fled for the safety of the portals, but most made it.  S’erom was close, and unashamedly stepped through to safety, deep within Tin’skel’ot.

Their Talls stepped through after the prisoners had been dragged through, and then the flow of warriors was cut off.  A few A’ardaugh warriors had been left behind, but there was little to be done about that.  They would be killed or would die.  That’s the way it was.  While the
Openings
could not be tracked, had they been left open, the western Talls could have followed through.  S’erom knew that would have been bad, even though he wasn’t certain why.

Kytra examined the memories of each of the key individuals as they returned from the attack.  That included the three sorcerers whose minds had been altered by the implantation of control crystals and which she now controlled to her own ends, and the leaders for the small warriors, the Baldari she knew the sorcerer’s named them.  The special crystals atop the staffs of the sorcerers had allowed her to see what they had seen, which was so much better than the single crystal that had been carried to provide protection to her force by one of the fighters.  How she had rejoiced when she had discovered their primitive use of the ancient tool.  Because of the vision allowed her by the crystals, a careful examination of the memories of her subjects was not really necessary, but she wished to be certain that she had missed nothing.  While the attack was taking place, trying to follow each of her servants simultaneously had been difficult. 

A short time later she was convinced
.  So, it is truly gone
.  It was supposed to have been destroyed so very long ago but she’d come to doubt it had really happened.  Kytra had been told the fortress was lost, but recently had reason to wonder if it had actually happened.  She couldn’t believe that a place so powerful had fallen.  Nyk had said it was so, and that all of the western lands had fallen as well.  Nyk had told the truth.  At least in part.  The surprise attack by the wizards thousands of years ago had been successful after all and had taken the facility apart.  The earthquakes they had initiated afterwards had shifted the landscape to push the once well-protected beach under the ocean. 

But he had been lying when he’d said the western lands had fallen and been consumed by the blight.  Many of the cursed wizards had unexpectedly survived the cleansing that had been attempted and now occupied a large area that had once been a stronghold of the Brryn.  She didn’t know why he had lied, but when the wizards had come to the eastern lands she had realized something was wrong.  She had been angry, and concerned.  Since awakening and finding Nyk missing, she had focused on the eastern side of the continent.  If the wizards had survived in the west, perhaps they now controlled the fortress.  That would have been very bad.  There was far too much they might have learned, and that placed the future of herself and the others in this chamber at great risk.  As a result she had sent her slaves to see.  She wanted to gaze through their eyes and know the truth before she ventured into the world.  The destruction of the village that had been built on the lands that once belonged to the Brryn was unimportant.  They deserved to die for desecrating the sacred lands.

Now she knew, but had to answer the question of what or where the wizards called home in this very different world.  Where was their stronghold?  They must have one.  Kytra knew little of this land now.  It had been ravaged and changed so much, she had little idea of what to expect.  That was a situation that must be rectified, and soon.  The extent of the changes was one thing that restricted her ability to make portals and send her warriors where she wanted.  The portals she was restricted to making for her warriors were primitive compared to the means she would have used had she been free and had full access to her magic.

She turned her head, the only part of her that was free to move as she wished.  Some of her light purple hair could be seen out of the corner of her eye.  After all these thousands of years, it hadn’t grown from the day she had climbed into her pod.  She tried to move her shoulders and free a hand as she had done countless times before.  Still nothing.  She tried to convince herself she felt a lessening of the hold on her body, but she wished it so much that it was impossible to tell if she really could detect a difference. 

Her eyes moved to the empty pod off to her side.  That’s where Nyk was supposed to be, but the pod was mysteriously empty.  It had been empty from the very first time she had regained awareness, almost a thousand years ago
.  Where had he gone, and when?
  Equally important, how had he escaped?  They were supposed to have been freed at the proper time together, all eight of them.  That would have allowed them to return to the world as its masters.  She and Nyk would have been the Superiors.  Such was reflected in the position of their pods, which were set above those of the other six.  She could see each of the other locations if she strained.  She had done so many times over the years, checking first to see if she was the only one left trapped, and later to see the condition of the others.  All of the others in their small group were still here.  Smmt and Nldt were clearly dead.  Kytra didn’t know what had happened to them, but the condition of their bodies left no doubt of the reality.  It made her uncomfortable to be locked in place so close to their remains, but like most things, she had no control over the fact.  Most important, Hyndl and Tryll appeared to be sound, although they were still in the deep sleep.  Never had she seen any indication that they had ever been awake, even briefly as she had been at first.  They were her closest allies, and they would support her against whatever Nyk was doing, if only she could get them awake and they could jointly free themselves from the constraints of the crystal chamber.  The remaining pair would be more likely to support Nyk, and that made her wonder why they were still here.

Kytra was certain that Nyk had betrayed her, all of them it seemed, after his promises they would defeat the sorcerers that opposed their rule.  The altercation had not gone as he had predicted.  The sorcerers were far less capable than those like herself, but they had learned far more than could have been expected, and worse, they had somehow gained the support of a great many Brryn.  The Brryn, those like herself with the lavender hair – a distinguishing characteristic that developed as one’s power matured, were the true masters of magic.  As they matured they came into powers that the lesser sorcerers could never hope to duplicate.  Long had there been disagreement as to how their superior magic should be used.  Some, like herself and Nyk, had realized they were meant to rule over all others.  That was their right.  Apparently the sentiment hadn’t been shared by as many of her fellow Brryn as she had expected.  The resulting war had nearly broken the world, the Blight spreading far beyond the planned borders.  When they had surveyed the damage after the conflict, they had come to believe the whole of the northern continent would be consumed, allowing only a small portion of the population to survive, and then as primitives.  Nyk had foreseen as much, and hence they had created this special chamber, a place that sidestepped the passing centuries where they could wait out their already extremely extended lives without aging until the effects of the Blight receded.  It had been located in the southern jungles, a fierce and primitive land, protected from the Blight by the Great Mountains, but populated only by savages.  By now the Blight should have collapsed, and the land should have begun to restore itself, but from what she knew of the outside world, that hadn’t happened.  Much was not as Nyk had predicted.  Either that, or he had lied.

Clearly the untrustworthy traitor had other plans.  Plans unshared and entirely of his own.  She had seen enough to know he had been free for a very long time.  The magical beasts that had until recently roamed the Blight were clearly of his doing.  The same was true of the minders for the beasts.  He had experimented with such creations even before the thought of a war with the sorcerers.  Whatever he had been up to by creating the creatures, he’d had sufficient time to have released herself and the other Brryn if that was his intention.  Instead, the years had flowed by, and never had he returned to even check on them.  He obviously had elected to rule alone, and to leave the rest of them trapped in the chamber, perhaps forever.  Perhaps only until the day he might need them.  He probably didn’t even know that she was partially freed.  That she was awake at all appeared to be some fluke of the magic that was meant to contain her.  She wondered briefly what he might do if he knew.  Maybe she was wrong, and he would be delighted.  They had been close once, or so she thought.  Her actions in the outside world were a risk.  If he were out there watching, he would almost certainly notice her touch upon those who she imposed her will.  But what choice was there?  She certainly couldn’t just wait here doing nothing.  The very fact that he hadn’t returned, made her wonder of late if something had happened to him.  Perhaps he no longer lived.  That he was allowing the sorcerers to gain a foothold made her wonder.

By the Powers, she wished to be freed.  While the confinement kept her from aging, and using a special form of magic removed any needs for food or drink to sustain her, she wished to escape and be free to move about the world.  To do so, the pod would have to release her entirely.  So long as a single finger was held in by the magic it contained, she was bound to the unusual structure.  Over the long years, she had gradually felt the restrictions lessening.  At first, she had been awake for very short periods, only to fall back under the influence of the magic for decades at a time.  Then she remained awake for a glass or two, with periods of sleep that lasted months, not decades.  Over the past years, she had been awake for days at a time, with only short periods where she was pressed back under.  It was amazing how she could function for extended periods without becoming tired. 

But, just as she had no control over when the pod would claim her consciousness, she also had limited use of her magic.  Only when she was freed would she be herself once again.  Until then, she had to work through those she could manipulate.  She amused herself with destroying those who would almost certainly resist her when she was freed.  The sorcerers had been more of a problem than expected before, and she had no desire to see them grown in number and ability while she was trapped here.  One day she would be freed, and on that day she would rule the world.  Perhaps Nyk had a sound plan after all.  She wouldn’t mind being the supreme and only ruler of this world.

To that end she used what tools were available to her.  The sorcerers shouldn’t have existed, but they did.  Fortunately, their powers were limited.  They could be controlled and turned to her wishes, just as the so-called Baldari.  They were easier.  Like herself, their ability to communicate mentally made them easy subjects.  Nyk had once wondered why the Baldari and the Brryn had such abilities, but not the rest of the population.  She didn’t want to believe there was some genetic connection in the distant past.  The Baldari were expendable.  There were many of them, and they fought well.  The sorcerers, both those who called themselves Casters, and those who were known as wizards, would be used to aid her attacks.  She now knew that would allow her forces to move freely around the occupied lands.  Each time she claimed one of the sorcerers with the ability to make the portals, she gained access to new places.  Hopefully those captured in today’s raids would allow her more freedom within the western lands.  The long journey she had been forced to send the one called Shym on simply to learn the way to the ocean village, wouldn’t have to be repeated again.

There was a dark side to recent events, she admitted.  The sorcerers were now aware of her.  It was all due to the white haired woman.  She knew of her type.  There had been those like her among the sorcerers in the past, and they had always been trouble.  She could see Kytra from here in the pod.  She sensed that Kytra was behind the Baldari attacks, and also that she was gaining strength.  As yet the white-haired one didn’t know where this place was, but even so she saw too much.  Kytra could sense the woman was growing in ability.  It was becoming more difficult to know when she was watching.  As yet Kytra didn’t know where the woman lived, but once she learned, she would send whatever forces were required to kill her.  It wouldn’t do to be watched, especially once she was free.  Anyone who could watch, would be able to know where she was at any time.  Of course, if she could capture the woman, make her subject to her will, Kytra could use those powers to spy on others.  She would have to consider which would be for the best.

Another worrisome problem had just come to her attention.  The latest Baldari warriors impressed to her will came from the northern limits of the Baldari lands.  Her Baldari leader had caught snatches of loose thoughts that hinted of foreigners making their way into the jungles from the north.  The sorcerers were searching, whether it was for her or the homelands of the Baldari didn’t matter.  It was unacceptable. She would have to take action to stop further efforts along that line.  She would have to move in a way that wouldn’t reveal herself.

She felt herself starting to fade.  Angrily she hissed, and quickly planted instructions in the minds of those returning from the attack.  The sorcerers they had captured were to be cared for, but kept from escaping until she was ready for them.  She knew it wouldn’t be long, but disliked the interruption.  Too much was happening for her to be delayed.  There was nothing she could do.  The chamber that had kept her alive and unchanged for millennia, also held her trapped.  It was subtly shifted from the reality of her world.  That shift was what moved her outside the influence of the passing years, but it also restricted her in ways she hated.