The Keys to Ascension Read online

  The Hyzantrians and Citians moved forward, mowing down the blinded enemy. After a good fourth of the enemy lay dead, they turned and ran, slowing the slaughter as men could only reach so many of the fleeing foes.

  The thunder of hooves sounded by the side of the Hyzantrian army, then crashed into the flanks of the enemy farther ahead. Trogs and palberos screamed and yelled as they died.

  *

  Tyzonio blasted himself in the air flying away ahead of his army. Liberty is losing this day. Oh, liberty and justice! Why!? I thought those blasted mounds were built for some religious ceremony! How was I supposed to know they were a military tactic?

  He made air blow behind and below him again, shooting him towards the top of the black box he created. After landing, he waved his hand, spraying the power of Eera through the side of the block facing his retreating army. The wall disappeared, creating an opening.

  He lifted his shaking hands, his fingers spread out and facing the night sky. A rush of air sounded from them as Eera’s magic shot from the fingers before arcing down around the box into the ground where it rumbled before Earth golems rose, yelling their deep yells.

  *

  Lizeto allowed his armored horse to bash through the troglodytes. He swung upward again and again, slicing through fleeing palberos’ necks. He loved hearing the monsters crash into the ground. Then, some other thuds sounded ahead of the fleeing enemy. Dark figures in the night, thicker, but not as tall as palberos.

  The golems.

  Lizeto yelled, “Pull out! Pull out!” Knights on both sides of the enemy army saw the golems and galloped away from the foes, but the infantry still killing monsters from behind had no idea.

  Lizeto rode by the side of them, yelling, “Halt! Halt! Hoooooold!”

  They ignored him, their minds filled with bloodlust. Then, about twenty golems crashed into the infantry. Stabbing and slicing swords simply bounced off the harden rock or were captured by the softer earth.

  The magical constructions hit with such force that soldiers went flying over their army or had their bodies broken like toys with one massive punch.

  Shouts of, “Hammers!” “Hammers!” went throughout the lines, and hammer men came forward.

  The army halted its chase and seemed to flow like the currents in an ocean as normal infantry moved backwards and hammermen moved forward, surrounding the golems. The hammers broke away at the earth until somehow the golems could no longer move, then they fell inert.

  The army remained halted as stragglers caught up.

  “Arrow vision!”

  “Arrow vision!”

  A small volley of fire arrows flew over the army and fell ahead, revealing a mysterious black fortress, like an invincible box. The enemy army had disappeared, presumably inside the structure. Ringing it, stood Earth golems, remaining mostly still, except a scanning movement of their heads and dark, soulless eyes.

  #

  The next afternoon, the Hyzantrian army returned. Lizeto and his knights rode on the right flank of the army, near other mounted knights. He wasn’t a fan of fighting rock golems. Men, he knew how to kill. Even the strange creatures of this invasion had throats that could be slit. But golems of rock and earth…a mounted charge against that would be suicide.

  Fortunately, that wasn’t the plan.

  “Halt.” Officers shouted down the line. They stood far away from the black structure and its magically constructed guards.

  The creaky trebuchet wheels went silent after they rolled into position. Their operators took off the wheels, stacking them neatly to the side, then two men hauled heavy rocks into the weapons’ nets.

  Trebuchets are awesome, but I’m glad I’m not on a crew. It’s like sweating in a workshop. At least we were smart enough to pre-crank them for the first shots.

  The machines loaded, an officer yelled, “Loose!”

  Groaning and swooshing wood filled the air before a barrage of rocks arced through the sky toward the target. Some missed, but others hit the front wall or the roof, creating tremendous crashes. Lizeto imagined the structure simply collapsing in on itself, but he didn’t see anything so dramatic. The rocks made large cracks and dents, but no gaping holes on the first volley.

  The golems opened their huge mouths that took up half their heads and moaned a furious moan. They charged. The trebuchet crews repeatedly pulled on cranks to reset the arms by lifting its heavy counterweight, but that wouldn’t matter unless the furious golems were stopped.

  Swords at their hits, soldiers between creatures and the trebuchets held hammers, giving them a chance to break apart the golems.

  The things barreled forward, continuing their deep yell. Men lifted their hammers, ready to smash. The golems crashed through the men, knocking them left, right, and forward, while hardly slowing.

  Lizeto stared, unable to help and given no order to intervene. The monsters created great holes right through the infantry before smashing into trebuchets. Some of them fell from the golems running into them, others broke apart from repeated punches while the crews fled.

  “Split! Spliiiit!” officers yelled.

  Lizeto pulled his horse right with the other cavalry. The infantry followed, jogging left or right depending on their position. The Hyzantrians then marched away as the golems returned to their posts in front of the big dark fortress.

  Lizeto shook his head while staring back at the trebuchets’ rubble. A lot of waste of good engineering.

  Ch. 66

  Finio couldn’t hold back his rising concern for the horses as their backs and legs strained against the Citians in their heavy estra-armor. Utilizing the light from the flickering torches some men held, he looked over at Lizeto’s knights, plate covering the men and horses. I guess plate isn’t any lighter than estra, just not as strong. But the knights’ beasts have the muscles of monsters. The other horses weren’t specially bred.

  A little bit of embarrassment crept into Finio’s mind. C’mon man, we’re in war against evil things wanting to destroy all humanity. I can worry about the welfare of horses later. He heard his dad say, “For the good of all.” Does that include horses? I suppose it does. But they’re doing more good carrying those Citians right now.

  Before Finio could ponder this claim, blasts and zaps arrested his attention.

  Lizeto pointed, “It’s coming from the mine. No one else was supposed to hit this one, were they?”

  Finio shook his head. “None in the army, but Hyzantria has bounties for mercenaries to collect. Let’s find out.”

  Their horses sped up.

  Kericles pulled up next to Finio. “I listened to the same reports you did. Some raids on these mines went well, but others were ambushed. I don’t care what noises we hear, let’s go in slowly and carefully.”

  Lizeto looked at them with a face of disgust, obviously wanting to charge in like any knight would.

  Finio somehow found himself in a leadership position. Lizeto controlled the count’s knights. Kericles led the Citians. And Finio was the only connection between them, so unless one of the two were willing to go it alone, any disagreements had to be decided by Finio.

  “Citians, dismount. Knights, come in slowly with the infantry. And everyone keep your eyes open for an ambush.”

  Lizeto growled, then slowed.

  On foot, the Citians moved toward the mine, explosions and sounds of flying magic temporarily lit the night sky in different colors.

  As they moved forward, toward the massive mountain range, the building and equipment of the mine became more visible. Finio didn’t see or hear any battle, but by the small fires that burned nearby, saw a few hundred troglodytes and maybe ten palberos towering above them as huge beings of pale white flesh.

  They lined up like they faced an enemy, but there was none.

  Finio’s group halted just outside of charging range.

  Did the attackers retreat? Can we take all of them?

  Kericles faced Finio. “Let’s drench these mines in blood!”
r />   His men yelled, “Rwhaaaaaaa!”

  Lizeto pumped his fist. “Yeaaaaah!”

  His men cheered.

  The enemy hardly glanced at them. They consider the others a greater threat. They haven’t retreated? Invisibility magic?

  Finio held up his hands. “Wait. We need to know who else is here.”

  Suddenly, from behind and to the sides of the troglodytes appeared a variety of men carrying a diversity of high-quality weapons. From them, fire, lightning, and energy blasts flew before slamming into the enemy, who screamed on fire, electrocuted, and/or crashing into each other and the ground.

  The warrior monks, or whatever they were, charged, flashing spears, axes, swords, hammers, and staves. One guy flung around trogs and chocked them with a long chain. The monks continued throwing magic of different types, but not so widespread as the initial attack.

  Trogs and palberos turned to face their enemies, but no longer had a serious spear line, so they fell in droves. Then, from what used to be the front of the trog line, more monks appeared, and charged in.

  Finio’s group watched, most with their jaws dropped as these people eviscerated the monsters.

  Lizeto, staring at the bloodshed, said, “I bet they’re Blastonins. I love how hypocritical The Divinity slaves are, murdering their own people who use magic, but happily allying with the Blastonins when they find their magic useful.”

  One man appeared a little away from the battle. Bald, older, and clearly in worse shape than the others, he just stood and watched. A string around his neck held a ridiculous looking orange and purple hat that hung behind him.

  Kinda looks like Hibberro. Wait…Uncle?

  Finio nudged his horse forward. “I’ll talk to them.”

  He anticipated both Kericles and Lizeto objecting to them not making first contact too, but no one said anything. Finio left his group behind as the warrior monks easily mowed down all of the surrounded enemies.

  As Finio neared, the few flickering fires allowed him to see that the man was in fact his uncle, looking as goofy as ever.

  Hibberro turned toward him, then a large opened mouthed smile splattered on his face. “Heh haaaaaa! Finio! You live!”

  Sliding off his horse, Finio couldn’t help but smile as well. “It has been so long.”

  Hibb jerked his head to the side. “Oh, not that long!” He ran at Finio with open arms, then slammed into him, squeezing tight.

  Finio tried to hug back, but he couldn’t breathe. “Not so tight, Uncle.”

  Hibb didn’t let up shaking Finio back and forth while laughing. Hibb let go for some reason.

  Noticing someone in his peripheral vision, Finio turned his focus on the newcomer—a young warrior monk that looked exactly like Finio except with a little longer hair and a little larger muscles. The brothers didn’t normally hug, but neither hesitated in this moment.

  They embraced, then let go. Theto’s lip quivered and his eyes watered. “It’s good to see you, brother.”

  Finio’s heart swelled at seeing Theto; he assumed Theto would be forever lost to the east like their mother. “You look pretty awesome.”

  “Heh, thanks. The abilities meet the look. Don’t tell the inquisition, but I’m a warrior maleefa now.”

  Hibb butted in. “Can’t you sense it, Theto? Finio is a wizard too.”

  Theto’s eyes bulged and his mouth opened.

  Finio nodded. “We have a lot of catching up to do, but first, let’s explore this mine.”

  #

  Hibb tied his horse at the inn’s stable after returning from an administration building, then walked around into the inn. A handful of the warrior monks drank and talked around a few tables.

  Theto was one and turned toward Hibb. “Did you get our gold?”

  “Just a small down payment. The rest can be collected after the war.”

  “But what if the Hyzantrians lose? Or even the capital is destroyed?”

  Hibb smirked. “Smart huh? Now we have the incentive to stop that from happening. We’ll get the full amount after the war.”

  “That’s unfair.”

  A few other warrior monks grumbled as well.

  Hibb shook his head. “It’s completely fair. We’re hired to help win the war. While we’re paid for individual deeds toward that effort, that is conditional on us all actually achieving that ultimate goal.”

  Theto turned his head to the side. “Chshhh.” He looked back at Hibb. “So we have to live on bread money in the meantime. We saw those fortresses and heard about the enemy’s defeat. This war could go on forever. That is, unless we use one of the plans we devised.”

  Hibb hoped his nephew wasn’t gonna propose a magic laden plan that also required the Hyzantrian army.

  Theto said, “We got guys who can take out the golems and those walls. This should really be no problem. Then we can take on the monsters inside and crush them.”

  “That’s a lot of enemies to defeat on our own.”

  Theto looked down for a second, then looked back up. “Can the Hyzantrians really not be brought to reason? Their very existence is at stake!”

  “Belief in the evil of magic is a part of their existence. Besides, I snooped around the officers’ quarters. They seem to be preparing for a new plan to take out the fortresses. Maybe the stalemate will end without magic.”

  Theto shook his head. “Yeah, plus, if I used magic in front of so many witnesses, my own brother might arrest me.”

  Hibb gave a breath laugh. “Yeah. Parto always leaned more on The Divinity than you and Finio.”

  Shaking his head, Theto said, “I can’t wait to see that.”

  “Me neither.” Hibb’s chest swelled with pride for his nephews. All seemed so talented, and in the forbidden arts. Even Parto, who would not be so skilled an inquisitor without high being sensitivity.

  “I wish your father could see his sons now. You’ve all proven to be as smart and skillful as him.”

  Theto suddenly changed subjects back. “Well, should we even be here? I mean, we can’t use our best talents unless we’re raiding mines alone. What’s the point?”

  “Hey,” Hibb said, “We are great fighters even without high beings. We can still use magic more subtly. And finally, things should get exciting real soon. Because like I said…Hyzantria has a plan.”

  Ch. 67

  Laborers worked all morning preparing the ground for this assault on the largest of the black boxes. If this worked, the foul invaders would have no choice but to flee as the tactic could be applied to every box, and a huge chunk of their army would have died on that day.

  Parto didn’t like the idea of risking eight inquisitors on such an untested opening move, but those golems could run with great speed and inquisitors had the fastest horses. As second in command of this small band, he’d lead the split right, with the leader going left.

  Just an hour ago, on this very battlefield, he discovered that his third brother still lived. All of them somehow survived their prosecution. But he drained all emotion from his mind, for he had inquisition work to do. And it only just began. If his lovely…What’s her name? If the most beautiful woman in the known world was right, then the bigger threat was soon to come, and the mine raids didn’t hit nearly enough of them to prevent tons of estra from being taken north for whatever nefarious maleefa purpose awaited it.

  The inquisitorial commander rode from the generals. The army formed up tightly on a huge manmade hill—a hill created in one morning. Massive boulders sat atop them held in place by wooden blocks. Surrounding them were great wooden sleds filled with men. Everything was gonna happen fast to give as little time as possible for the flying maleefa, that apparently led this invasion, to intervene.

  Parto locked eyes with the commander, then, they set off. The black in the distance could hardly be seen, but it grew quickly and soon: the white horses ridden by men in white robes caught the attention of the hulking golems guarding the black rectangular structure.

  Parto took the
lead of the right wing. The golems looked up and moaned before stepping toward them. As the wings split left and right, the golems ran after them. Parto rode hard around the side of the black box, gathering golems there. After riding pass the edge of the fortress, he turned inward as golems on the back side watched the humans and horses, then ran after them.

  Parto turned right, away from the fortress. He rode toward the other wing of inquisitors, also being chased by stomping rock golems. The two inquisitor bands merged while golems pounded after them.

  Glancing back, Parto thought: Come ooooon. Keep coming. Keep coming.

  They did. The inquisitors split around the small flags planted in the grass, then merged back together after they passed more of the flags. The golems kept running straight, until some in the front dropped. No looks of surprise hit their faces, just that angry stare that they always had while attacking. They fell into the deep pit.

  Golems behind kept running, not realizing what was happening. Those in the back seemed to notice and slowed down, but all the momentum of their weight was hard to stop, and they fell in too.

  As the inquisitors rode back toward the fortress, the massive boulders already rolled down the man-made hill, rumbling toward the box’s walls. In repeated crashes, they hit. Some merely denting or cracking the wall, but others broke through. The screams of troglodytes and palbero moans emitted from the holes as sunlight shown in. Already the great wooden sleds came down the hill, full of soldiers. To their sides, mounted knights rode, but they would not enter the tight quarters of the box.

  The wide fronts of the sleds, designed to be stopped by a solid object, bumped into the walls, and the soldiers piled out, formed up, then marched into the box, where thousands of creatures awaited them—creatures screaming in pain.

  Parto could hear the slaughter as the painful screams sounded a little different when caused by stab wounds compared to sunlight. Horses pulled a massive wheeled battering ram past the structure, then faced it toward the wall opposite of the current assault. Soldiers lined up behind it as its operators prepared to heave its fist-shaped head again and again.