Chapter 17
I looked from the wizard to the map, and the thousands of green motes that were approaching the shimmering white curtain.
"Why?" I began. "How?"
"Chios is the main city of the island," Kyveli explained. "If he takes Chios, and the ports, then he will control most of the island's resources."
"But that's not…" I said, trailing off. "He was taking the people to hypnotize them. To prevent that corruption he was talking about."
Argondian shook his head sadly. "First thing this morning, he began moving the undead out of Anavatos. At first we were not sure of his intentions, but Amy saw what was to transpire."
I turned to the girl, who wouldn't meet my gaze. "Amy suffers from Cassandra's Tears," Vaccaro said softly. "She has visions of things to come. She saw the coming of the undead army, laying waste to the city and its inhabitants. It's what forced us to act in greater numbers, despite the attention surrounding the trial." Kyveli whispered a soft prayer somewhere behind me, and I caught the name Apollo. "Although if we'd known just how bad things were going to be, I would have insisted on more."
I looked again to the girl, but she was suddenly quite busy with the table of stones. "So how many did you bring?" I asked. "How many of us are facing a few thousand zombies?"
Vaccaro pursed his lips tightly. "I was able to bring two wizards with Amy and myself. With Argondian and the others, we have eight Wizards of the White Council to face what is coming."
I stared at him, slack jawed. When he saw me, he quickly added. "Your friends, the goblin, the vampire, and the salamander, have agreed to help as well. As have Kyveli and her sisters."
"But… but…" I said, stunned by the overwhelming odds against us. "He's got six wizards, including himself. Not to mention Violet and the Hound."
"As I said, you woke to witness the fall of the city," Argondian said softly, which drew a disapproving frown from Vaccaro.
"I'm not so resigned to our defeat," the well-dressed man stated, his Italian accent thickening. "The Council has considerable experience fighting against the undead. We have countermeasures against just this sort of thing." The man looked back at the map. "But if we're going to be in position, we need to go."
Argondian nodded, and then turned to me. "Mister Hayes, if you feel up to it, could you stay with young Nelson and Amy, to assist them as needed? Bassillo and I will need to take up positions to defend the ward lamps."
"Uh, sure," I said, nodding. I think he was just asking to be polite; there was no way I was up for anything yet.
The man nodded, and then the two elder wizards departed, with Kyveli escorting them out. Nelson waved me over to the map table, and gestured to the lights flickering above it.
"There is a highway encircling the western portion of the city," he said, pointing to the wavering white wall. "We've placed ward lamps out along the road. The crystal skulls are similar to Hoberdy Lanterns, capable of warding off evil spirits. If their light falls upon the undead, it will burn away the magics sustaining them."
"Crystal skulls?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Like those things the Nazis were looking for?"
"They were invaluable during the war," Nelson informed me with an absent nod, not realizing he was all but confirming the conspiracies of countless theorists. "With Kemmler raising undead armies, sometimes a crafted ward lamp was the only thing keeping a town from a gruesome end."
Looking at the map, I could see where there were five bright points along the oscillating wall of light. Each of them had a couple blue motes hovering around them. "Are those them?" I asked, pointing at one of the brighter spots.
Nelson nodded. "Yes. We have crystal foci interspersed between them, acting as repeaters to create a barrier along the western front. The town should be protected from any approach by land."
"And if they pull that trick from the first Pirates movie? Where they walk underwater?" I asked. Amy snorted again, clearly amused that the majority of my magical knowledge was based on popular fiction.
"The fires should keep them funneled toward the wall," Nelson said, pointing. "Argondian was out painting wards along the outermost roads this morning, to try and keep the flames away from the cities. Hopefully we can take care of the zombies before the fires become too much of an issue."
I could see what he was talking about. Chios sprawled along the eastern coast for a fair bit, with another large city just to its north. The fires the wizards had started in the hills kept the green motes that represented the zombies to the south, toward the section of the ward wall they'd defend. But it was still a large area; too large to defend if the zombies broke through.
"What about those blue lights?" I asked.
"That's the others," he said. "Vaccaro and Amy are good at crafting protection charms. Each member of our team has one; the stones work as communicators, trackers, veilers, and lucky charms," he said, smiling at the last.
"Veilers?" I asked. Most of the rest I understood.
"The stones distort the light around them. Not enough to affect the bearer's own vision, or prevent them from being seen by anyone up close. But those at a distance won't be able to focus on them."
"Katya," I said darkly, remembering the sniper.
"Exactly," the wizard replied.
"So what now?" I asked.
"Well, I'll monitor the situation here," he said, encompassing the maps as he waved over the table, "and Amy will act as COMMO. If you want, you can help her."
I wheeled my chair over just as Kyveli returned. "I have been in touch with my sisters," she said as she removed the now pump-less IV line from my arm. "The local fire departments are holding at the roads, as are the police and military personnel. They'll only act if the fires approach the city, or if the infected breach the wall."
"The infected?" I asked.
The native woman smiled weakly. "They have been told that the horde of deranged humans currently approaching the city have become infected with a fungal growth made airborne by the burning of the mastic forests."
"Yeah, I'm sure if we survive this, that'll hold up under scrutiny," I said her weakly.
She simply shook her head. "Humanity will believe what it wishes." With that, she moved to the map table. I turned my attention to Amy, who was shifting stones about on her own table.
There was a painted lattice criss-crossing the surface, made of different colored lines and circles. It was no doubt another product of Argondian's, who seemed to paint sigils and runes with more flourish than was technically necessary. The works I'd seen on the low wall outside the old cottage had been elaborate, especially considering he'd done them while injured.
"What can I do?" I asked the girl, who shot a glance at me before reverting her gaze to the stones.
"Each of these are connected to the ward lamps," she said, pointing to five stones in white circles. "Touching them will allow you to remotely view things from that position. These are the stones for the defenders," she said, gesturing to smaller stones in blue circles. "Normally you'd have to touch these to speak with them, but they've been worked into the array. Just touch the ward lamp stones, and you'll be able to speak with the others."
"Just touch them?" I asked. "No spells or anything?"
The girl quickly nodded her head. "You'll need to wear this, and touch the stone with that finger," she said as she shuffled about in what looked like a craft case filled with different stones and crystals. After a moment, she withdrew what looked like a thimble with several stones set into the sides, with etchings surrounding each.
She passed it to me, and I slipped it over the tip of the middle finger on my right hand. When I hesitated, she waved me forward. I touched my capped finger to one of the ward lamp stones, and immediately the world fell away into darkness. After a moment, my vision swirled again, and then I was looking out across the landscape of Chios.
The rolling hills approaching the city were dark under the raging storm, but a white light seemed to encompass the immediate area around the ward lamp. It was enough to reveal the green fog slowly rolling across the ground, preceding the march of the undead. The closer the fog grew to the lamp, the more it dissipated, as if the light itself were burning it away. Based on what the others had said, it might be doing just that.
Whoever was guarding that ward lamp wasn't in sight. I frowned, and wondered if I could only see in the one direction. As I thought about shifting my vision, the view swiveled. It wasn't like being there in person; it was more like looking at a massive, curving flat screen television that was broadcasting the world around the crystal skull. When I thought of turning, the view within the 'screen' shifted around.
"The skull thing just rotated," Anya said as the view stabilized, facing back toward the town. I saw her scowling up at it from below. She was decked out in her white leathers, and was once again armed to the teeth. Someone, most likely Q, had provided her with a sword to replace the one she'd broken while fighting Somboon. It wasn't a match to her short straight sword, but it looked lethal enough.
I noted the black stone in the necklace around her throat, and took it to be her own speaking stone.
"Someone must be looking at us," the guy with her said, giving a short wave to the skull. He was tall, maybe a couple inches over my own six feet, or so it appeared compared to Anya's shorter stature. His hair was short and blond, with fairly pale skin. He was dressed all in black, save for his gray cloak. Rather than a sword, he carried a metal staff.
"That's kind of creepy," Anya said, clearly not at ease with the wizards' toys.
"It's kind of cool," I said, turning the head back and forth with my mind.
"Woody?!" Anya exclaimed as her eyes widened, her pitch arching upward in surprise as she apparently heard me.
"In the flesh," I replied, before realizing that wasn't technically true. "Er, I mean, in the crystal skull."
"Are you okay?" she asked, stepping toward the skull. Her face was worried, but some of the tension I'd seen in her shoulders had fled.
"Fine," I assured her. "Not quite up to full speed yet, but I'm mobile."
"Thank God," she said, and I thought she might have even whispered a prayer. Which was surprising, given as she'd never seemed all that religious.
"You look like you survived the night in one piece," I told her, admiring her leather-clad form without fear of being caught.
"Ah, the boy teases me. I knew I should have insisted on Miss Raith being paired with myself," Argondian said out of nowhere.
I rotated the skull around, but didn't see him. "Hey, where is he?" I asked.
"On his way to another skull," Amy said from somewhere close. I could hear her, but not see her. "When one of the skulls is activated, it links all the speaking stones together."
"So can they all see each other right now?" I asked.
"No, just audio," Amy said, and then suddenly she was there with me. It was like she was standing beside me, looking at the IMAX view the skull provided. She'd obviously touched that ward lamp's stone. "Only we can see the others."
"Glad you're up and about, Woody," Simon said from off-screen.
"Thanks," I said. "Thanks for everyone helping me… you know. Not die."
"Just don't push yourself," Vaccaro voiced.
"I won't," I told him.
"Woody," Q said, his tone disapproving. "Is it true a Warden gutted you in one move?"
"What? Who—"
"That's what the Keres said," the goblin rasped disappointedly. "That all you did was wiggle and flop like a fish on a hook."
"It wasn't that simple," I protested. "Amy, how do I…?"
"Remove your finger from this stone," she instructed. "Place it on whichever you want to see from. I recommend leaving your eyes closed. The spell remains active for a few seconds, allowing you to transition without breaking contact."
"How am I supposed to know where the stones are? Much less which one is in front of Q?"
"Amateurs," Moretti grumbled from elsewhere.
"Good to hear from you too, buddy!" I said, not letting the dour wizard bring me down. These stones were freakin' awesome!
"Look down," Amy said, and I did.
If I looked toward my feet, my view of the landscape fell out of focus, and I found myself staring at the lattice of stones and lines. Rather than paint, each was connected with a glowing string of energy. I could feel the stone I was touching, and shifted over to the ward lamp stone adjacent to the stone and circle with Q's name.
The IMAX view around me shifted, and suddenly I found myself looking out across the landscape of Chios from a slightly different perspective. I rotated it again, and saw Q standing behind where the skull was suspended, either in mid-air, or on a pole of some sort. As I couldn't see directly down, I couldn't be sure.
"Q!" I said, grinning like an idiot. "Good to see you!"
The goblin just shook his head, clearly not as amused as I was. "All of my training gone to waste."
"Hey, I was unarmed!" I argued. "And cornered."
"Then we know what to practice going forward," he said dangerously, a sinister grin revealing his sharp teeth.
He'd released his human-like illusion, leaving him in all his goblin glory. He was clad in his leathers, but his face was the white-green marbling I was used to, and his eyes glowed with a ruby red light.
I shifted my view as something moved in the background, and I saw a moped pull up. Argondian was driving it, and I saw him disembark and walk toward the skull. "Ah, Mister Hayes, has Miss Raith begun her attempts at seducing the young Mister Fors?"
"You wish," Anya replied from elsewhere.
"Martin, watch out for that one," Simon voiced. "She's tricky. And don't make any bets with her."
"Um," the other guy I'd seen said nervously, who I presumed was this Martin Fors. "We've kind of made a bet on who will kill the most zombies."
"What do you get if you win?" Argondian asked, a little too excited about the prospect. "Is it open to all comers?" I could see his grin from the skull; he was clearly imagining what he might claim.
"Ugh, no," Anya groaned, all but making me visualize her eyes rolling with the words.
"Maybe we could double or nothing?" Simon asked as I switched from one stone to another. I was pretty sure he wanted out from his debt. But considering just how hot Anya was, maybe he was coming around to the idea of letting her have her way with him.
"Mmm," Anya replied with a seductive playfulness in her tone. "Deal. Although how will I know if you're being honest?"
The world shifted again as I touched the new stone, and Simon came into view as I rotated the skull. "I wouldn't lie," Simon said, sounding almost offended.
I noticed another wizard with him, one that looked more like a model than a grizzled wizard. Some part of me was glad Anya hadn't been paired with him. He was young, probably about Anya's age,
"Stenguard will keep me honest," Simon continued, glancing at the other wizard. "Won't you, Lane?"
"Inte innebär mig i dina sexlekar med vampyren," the second guy responded, keeping his eyes forward.
Simon sighed. "C'mon, man, I know you speak English."
"Jag kommer att tala väl om eder efter att hon har förbrukat din ande," Lane replied, a slight smile cracking his lips as he stared out.
"What's he saying?" Anya asked.
"Enough chatter," Moretti snapped. "The necromantic fog has reached my ward lamp."
"Don't worry, young Sergio," Argondian said. "As you are guarding the station on the right flank, you should hopefully see little to no action."
"I should have been at the center post," Moretti grumbled.
"You're the only one of us that can hope to hold a ward lamp on their own," Vaccaro said, either placating the wizard or speaking truthfully. Considering that he was up and mobile after having a wall dropped on him, the former was excusable, and the latter down-right impressive.
But as I did the math, I realized that Moretti being at the far stone alone accounted for everyone. That meant Vaccaro was also alone, unless…
I switched stones, and as the fourth skull turned around, I saw a doberman-sized Sal standing beside the well-dressed wizard.
"Hey Sal!" I called out. "I'm in the skull!" There was a collar around his neck, which is something he never would have let me do. A dark stone glittered from it, and I heard his excited trill in response.
"Master Argondian, it appears that the undead are approaching your position," Nelson said, sounding very close.
I switched stones again, and was back at Q and Argondian's ward lamp. I rotated the crystal, and then Amy was there with me, looking out into the dark.
The green mist had stopped at the edge of the light emitting from the crystal skull. And beyond it, the shuffling forms of the undead came into view, until they came to a halt just outside the ward lamp's reach.
"Any sign of Salvago?" Nelson asked.
"He'll be well back from the front line," Vaccaro said. "He'll need to keep his beat going."
"Beat?" I asked, even as I recalled the pulsing sound and light from the dark wizard's spear in the graveyard.
"That's how necromancers control the undead," Amy said from beside me. "The pulse acts in place of a heartbeat, allowing him to control them."
"I can hear it already," Simon said. "Should I be able to hear it if he's that far away?"
"He's an air mage," Vaccaro reminded everyone. "He'll probably be able to control zombies anywhere on this side of the mountains."
"But the power to do that," Simon murmured. "To keep that steady beat, controlling all of the zombies, not to mention ordering about Peña and the others, while also generating all this mist?"
"Of course," Argondian said from somewhere behind my view. "That's why he's attacking now. He's using the power from the storm."
"Dammit, we should have realized that," Vaccaro cursed.
"What's that mean?" I asked, looking upward. I could only see so much of the sky from the skull's view, but the dark clouds flashing with lightning looked as ferocious as they had earlier.
"There's power in nature," Argondian explained. "As an air mage, Salvago is better suited to tapping the power of a thunderstorm than most. He's drawing power down to himself."
"Do you think that's why it's not raining?" Vaccaro asked.
"Let's hope not," Argondian replied. "If so, then Kyvali and her sisters' efforts will be that much more difficult."
I began to ask what efforts, but a curse from elsewhere distracted me.
"Shit, Peña is here!" Anya shouted.
"Somboon just appeared at the front of the zombie line!" Simon echoed.
The zombies in front of me shifted, and I saw a figure step out from their midst. They were still a good distance away, but I could make out the slight form even from there. Argondian sucked in a breath. "Young Rai is here," he said softly.
"We've got Penny," Vaccaro stated dully.
"Bassillo," Argondian said, a slight pleading in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Reon," Vaccaro replied. "We can't hold back."
"I understand," Argondian said as Rai strode forward, drawing his samurai sword. The old wizard sighed, a heavy breath filled with regret. "May the Fates watch over us, and weave in our favor."
The lightning overhead crackled as Argondian and Q stepped to either side of the ward lamp, drawing their weapons to face the Revenant before them, even as the others did the same. And quite suddenly, the battle was on, and all I could do was watch.