The Crystal Sorcerers (30 page)

His shield gone from the blast, Mark found himself in the water, unsure how he had fallen, or where he even was.

"Boreas!"

Mark, his shoulder numb, looked up at the vast pillar of fire and steam that rose heavenward and saw Tulana hovering above him. Feebly he rose upward and looked around. Bodies lay scattered on the water: ladulta who had stayed with the assault floundered on the surface, stunned by the blast or lying still in death. Mark felt as if he was somehow caught in the end of the world.

"Over here!" It was Shigeru, Giorgini by his side, holding Boreas's senseless body.

Mark flew down to join them.

"I think he's still alive," Giorgini said grimly, his face a vision of horror from the blood pouring down from a torn scalp.

"You two get him out of here," Tulana roared. "I'm going in and finish this!"

Mark looked at the warrior with disbelief, and then started to rise.

"You're out of this," Tulana ordered.
"Your arm, Mark!"

Numbly, Mark looked over at his right arm and for the first time realized that it was
broken,
saw the shard of bone sticking out from a wound that pulsed with blood. He suddenly felt giddy.

"Organize a rear guard with your offworlders. I'm going for the palace," Tulana said, and soared upward, a scattering of sorcerers winging up around him.

Mark tried to follow. But Goldberg cut in front to hold him back.

"You heard him," Goldberg shouted. He grabbed Mark's good arm and fumbled for his communications crystal.

"Mark and Saito battle teams, this is Goldberg. Tulana's battle orders rally on me, rally on me."

"I've got to go in!" Mark cried, struggling.

"You're finished, Captain." With a violent pull, he streaked down, wrenching Mark so that he felt he was going to pass out.

"Anyhow, it's finished," Goldberg whispered.

For a moment, there was silence.
The demons that had been circling above swung about to pursue the attack group.

"We better get organized," Goldberg shouted.

Rising above the water, he called out a series of commands, and Mark could see Saito coming in with the rest of the Japanese, Kochanski by his side. Smithie appeared from the water, blood pouring from his nose and ears.

"I can't hear," Smithie screamed. "Damn it, my ears."

Kochanski settled by Smithie's side and finally calmed him down.

A series of bolts snapped down from above. Looking up Mark saw a covey of demons cutting low across the water.

With his right arm gone, all he could do was snap up his defensive crystal and hope for the best.

"Come with me, Mark friend."

Looking down into the water, Mark saw Sul hovering by his side.

"Not yet," Mark whispered, unable to stop watching Tulana's mad rush for Patrice's palace. The sky rippled with light as the attack force doggedly pushed in, dodging and weaving through the interlocking blasts of half a dozen wall crystals, the pursuing demons breaking off to hover above. Onward Tulana pushed.

"Goddamn it, he's gonna make it," Mark said.

And then the group seemed to disappear as three explosions ripped across the face of Patrice's palace.

"Damn it, damn them all," Goldberg hissed. The explosion roared across the harbor, echoing and re-echoing.

From out of the boiling maelstrom, lone sorcerers appeared, staggering, pulling back. The last to emerge was Tulana.

"Pull out," Tulana's voice cut through the comm link. "Get out, we're finished."

"Maintain fire," Saito shouted, and the group laid down a protective series of bolts over Tulana who, cutting low, streaked down the main boulevard of Patrice's city, a half dozen survivors around him, while from behind a host of demons led by a towering form closed in.

"Get in the water, break and run!" Tulana shouted. "We can't fight them anymore up here!"

"Go!" Sul called, pushing up by Mark's side.

"We're out of here, Captain!" Goldberg shouted, diving into the water.

Grabbing Sul's dorsal with his left hand, Mark dipped below the waves.

With powerful kicks, the ladulta pushed away, going deep. All around him Mark could sense or see his battered companions, surging due west, racing for the narrow harbor entrance.

"Ahead, crystal!"
Sul called and cut a sharp right angle. A flash snapped through the water, the shock wave ripping through Mark. Two ladulta surged past, Shigeru on one, Giorgini on the other, between them Boreas, protected by their shields. Mark could see it was a dangerously close thing--they were desperately overextending themselves. A close hit would overload them. Then they disappeared from view as Sul pulled ahead.

For long minutes the group surged through the harbor, unable to gain the surface against the combined strength of the wall crystals and demons above. Their only hope was to zigzag through the water, dodging the depth charges.

"The harbor entrance is just ahead," Sul called.

This was the tough spot, Mark realized. The demons would be surging into this point to block their retreat and force them to the surface.

"Not much farther," Kochanski called. "Two hundred yards and we're out."

A booming echo snapped through the ocean, half a hundred ladulta picking up the call.

Sul slowed.

"What is it?" Mark cried.

"Cresus," Sul hissed.

"Merciful God," Mark groaned. The entire group seemed to pause. Snaps of energy flashed ahead, and the shadowy forms loomed larger.

"They must have kept them off to one side on the bottom while we swept in, and then herded them in," Kochanski cried. "We've got to go up!"

"Stay down and get through them!" Tulana roared through his comm link, and pushing forward he let go of his ladulta. "Get between them and then out."

With a wild shout, Tulana charged straight in.

"Hang on," Sul called, and drove forward.

Mark could sense half a dozen of the beasts, filling the harbor entrance from one side to the other, being driven forward by teams of sorcerers who kept striking their flanks and their tops in order to keep them from breaching.

Tulana slammed out a series of bolts to the left and right, and a gap between two of the beasts started to open.

Sul cut straight in.

"
Crystal behind us!"

Mark looked back and could sense the energy of a small gem as it dropped.

A snap of fire slashed out and Tulana, caught by the blast, rolled out of control.

"Tulana!"
Mark screamed.

The maw of a Cresus swept past him, Horrified, Mark watched as Tulana struggled weakly to get out of its way.

"I'll see you in hell!" Tulana roared.

The maw closed over him and he was gone.

Ladulta charged past Mark and Sul, shouting their rage, pulling the battered survivors out. A bolt of energy snapped past Mark and, uncaring, he looked up to see an enemy sorcerer hovering above a Cresus. Mark waited for the death blow, but Sul cut downward in a twisting spiral, racing for the ocean floor.

The Cresus surged past them, its massive tail flukes creating a swirl of turbulence; then suddenly it was behind them.

Sul's voice boomed through the ocean, calling to his companions, and Mark could sense the cries of grief as the shattered remnants of the attack force retreated into the open sea.

Beyond caring, Mark hung on as Sul dodged among the depth charges. Gradually, the concussions dropped away, the only sound the calls of wounded ladulta echoing feebly through the water.

"Rally on me," a faint voice hissed through the comm link. It was Saito.

Mark roused from his lethargy and looked around.

The clicking
cali
of a ladulta snapped through the water.

Sul turned and pushed on, and gradually Mark could sense other forms moving in the water. "Rally on me." The voice was stronger now.

Several dozen forms were in the water ahead, and Mark forced himself to regain his composure. For the first time since the explosion in the harbor, he became aware of the throbbing pain in his right arm, and of the thin swirl of blood streaming from it. Looking down at Sul's side, he saw a similar trail welling out from his companion.

"We're a fine pair," Mark thought.

"At least we survived," Sul replied sadly as they joined the exhausted remnants of the assault team.

"The captain made it," Goldberg called, dropping away from his ladulta to come up and float by Mark's side.

Mark could feel his world going dark.
"How bad?"

"Half the assault team is gone," Saito replied.

"Our people?"

"Not sure yet," Saito told him.

"Green Leader, Green Leader," an insistent voice whispered through the comm link, and Mark finally realized that it had been calling for several minutes now.

"Green Leader here," Saito called.

"Did you smash the portal? We saw a tremendous explosion," Ikawa asked.

Saito hesitated. "Negative, it was only their wall crystals. The attack is finished."

There was a moment of silence.

"Is this Saito?" Leti called.

"I'm in command now."

"Mark--where is he?"
Ikawa cut in, his voice edged with panic.

"Wounded."
Saito looked appraisingly at Mark with the cold gaze of a combat soldier judging the condition of another. "He'll pull through."

"Rally in to us," Leti whispered. "The sky is clear."

"Here
comes
Shigeru," Goldberg announced, pointing downward.

From the murk, Shigeru and Giorgini emerged, still towing Boreas. Alongside them was Kochanski pulling Smithie, who was now unconscious.

"We better get in to Leti before they pick us up again!" Saito announced, leading the way straight up.

"I leave you now," Sul whispered.

"You and your herd are true warriors," Mark replied sadly, and let go of the dorsal to gently stroke Sul.

"We stay to keep fighting?" the ladulta asked.

Torn, Mark looked at his friend. How could he tell him the battle was lost, that Gorgon would break through and that Haven would be devastated in the wars to come?

"Go out to sea. If we should win, we will call you. But if you hear no more of us, know that we died to help preserve your world. Avoid all humans who are left, for they will be servants of the evil one and might harm you."

"I will wait for your call," Sul whispered, nuzzling up by Mark's side before turning away and swimming off into the darkness.

At last Mark broke clear of the ocean. Northward on the distant horizon he could see the outline of Patrice's city, a towering pillar of smoke above it. Saito circled for a moment above the group, then pointed back toward a hill half a dozen miles from the city and winged off.

Struggling, Mark tried to keep up. He spared a glance at the bedraggled survivors. Barely a man was uninjured, and clusters of sorcerers clung together, helping to pull their unconscious and badly injured companions toward safety.

"Here they come again!"

Wearily Mark looked up and saw a scattering of dots straight ahead in the sky.

Grimly he tried to force his shield up. The world seemed to close in as if he was looking down a long dark tunnel swirling with dancing spots of light. The tunnel closed into blackness, and he felt himself falling away into night.

"Just what in the name of all the gods did you do?" Patrice stormed through the shattered wreckage of her audience chamber to confront Takgutha, who stood defiantly in the middle of the room, surrounded by a dozen of his companions.

"They were breaking through. I used the wall crystals to stop them."

"Breaking through!"
Patrice screamed. "You destroyed half my wall crystals, you shattered my palace,
hundreds
of my people are dead in the streets. Damn you, it looks like they
did
break through!"

"I stopped them," Takgutha growled.

"How did they get this far by sea? Was the harbor entrance blocked as I had arranged?"

"The command was not properly passed," Takgutha said coldly. "The creatures were not in position, but they did finish them off on the way out. It was a good plan; we wiped them out."

"Where's Kuthna? I want to hear his side of this."

"He was killed in the explosions, my lady. I am sorry--he was a good battle commander." A thin smile crossed Takgutha's features.

Wild with fury, Patrice whirled around. The bastard had set her up. He had undoubtedly blocked the order to move the Cresus in. He wanted an attack from sea to get this far and to use it as an excuse to smash most of her wall crystals.