Chapter 27

“Ignis, Life's eternal enemy, saw the beauty of her creations on the land of Merith. Filled with envy and guile, he brought fire to the world, turning many of Life's creations into flames and ashes.”

Origins by Grand Arboler Parley, year 1989

Cambium

Ahead loomed the Myrin Mountain Range, running north to south as far as the eye could see. One part of the range was flat, as if Life forgot to put a mountain there, which created a large passage between the east and west. Directly in the middle of that flat passage between the mountains was Cambium. Billowing smoke over the treetops indicated its location. Oliver's hands began to sweat again.

One building stood above the rest; the palace, located in the center of the city. Not as large as the palace in Magen City, but still quite impressive. The mid-morning sun reflected off its three golden domes with intricate designs and windows, the middle dome being the largest. A couple of fires on the palace wings had recently started.

Ashley groaned. "We're too late."

"Not yet," Ilan said. "The palace still stands." He looked over at Oliver. "You ready?"

Oliver still hugged his ebony log as they flew. He'd just grown comfortable with flying, and now had to go to war? "How do we land?" he asked.

"We'll get to that. It's not that hard."

Everything is easy to him, Oliver thought.

As they flew closer to the city, they could see the full picture of the siege on Cambium.

A sea of blue-garbed soldiers, the Barklians, flooded through the gate into the city. mages in white, the Forids, led several squads of Barklian soldiers, Casting fire and lightning at whatever or whoever stood in their way. The rest of the Forids, a glacier of white, stood outside the city, waiting for the Barklians to finish the job.

Whatever defense the Salverians in Cambium offered, it didn't last long. The only ones left fighting were a thousand or so mages standing their ground in a large plaza at the center of the city just in front of the palace. They fought like dragons, barely keeping the enemy at bay. But, they wouldn't be able to hold them off forever. The Barklians alone far outnumbered them. And the Forids hadn't even deployed their entire force yet. This city is fallen, Oliver thought. Even our three thousand reinforcements won't be enough to stop this.

"Ash staves!" a mage up ahead shouted. The flying mages surrounding them said the same thing. "Ash staves!" It was a command from up front that was passed back here.

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked.

"It means you need to fly to the palace and watch from a distance," Ashley said, unstrapping one of the staves from her back.

Ilan nodded. "You haven't flown enough for this part. Just fly around in circles until we come back, okay?"

Oliver obeyed, veering off from the rest of the mages. He turned back to ask a question but closed his mouth when he saw Ilan and Ashley leaning over their logs, their arms wrapped in a tight embrace, passionately kissing each other. They broke apart a second later, wishing each other safety, and then they angled their logs to follow the rest of the mages.

From a distance, the massive flock of mages looked more intimidating than a brewing storm. With Silas at the lead, they angled their logs into a steep dive, heading toward the city plaza. The Barklians and Forids in the city turned, pointed, and shouted warnings about the incoming mages, but it was too late for them. The flying mages held their logs with one hand, and with the other, they twirled their staves in the Carvings for ash and willow. Their staves shot out jets of fire.

One by one, the mages dropped their rain of fire down on the enemy within the city. It reminded Oliver of napalm bombs he'd seen in documentaries of the Verencian War of 3895, except in a way... it was worse. Having one mage fly over an area shooting fire down was quite destructive but having three thousand was complete annihilation. Nearly all the enemies inside the city were burnt to crisp. The Forid mages attempted to shield themselves, but it was too much for their magical extensions to block.

Silas circled the fleet around for another run, this time, in front of the Cambium walls, where most of the Barklian soldiers stood. As they saw the mages, with their deadly staves of fire, descend on them, most of them ran. Scattering like mice from a cat. The fleet spread out this time, covering more area. They flew low, burning everything below them; a firestorm.

Barklian archers shot arrows, striking a fair number of mages. Some of them clung on to their ebony staves and flew in skewed directions. Others let go of their staves and dropped to the ground among the Barklian soldiers.

The Barklians burned. Oliver could hear their screams of agony all the way up where he flew. Perhaps I was wrong, he thought. Maybe our fleet of 3000 mages can make a substantial difference.

He saw movement from the army of Forids. His jaw dropped.

Like a giant cloud rising into the sky, the white-robed Forids took to the sky. They had a smaller number than the Barklians, but probably double the Salverian fleet. With their own ebony-willow logs, they flew up to meet the Salverian mages in a clash of fire and lightning. Some of the Forids Cast fire, some lightning, and some Cast a rain of water over the Barklians to put out any remaining fires.

The air quickly filled with smoke, steam, and electricity, making it hard for Oliver to see all the details. He jumped as a bolt of lightning shot below his log.

"Time to land," Oliver told himself. He stared down at the palace. "Long ways down..."

He angled his log in a subtle downward trajectory and flew around in circles for a while until he was close. Once he was just above the palace steps, he attempted to land but was moving too fast. The moment he let go of the ebony log, the force of gravity came down on him like a ton of bricks. He landed on his feet and then rolled a distance before coming to a stop. He got up, remembering how heavy gravity felt, and tended to a few bruises and skinned knees.

"Nothing maple can't fix," he said, pulling out a maple wand and Casting its magic on himself. He instantly felt better, injuries healed, and rested, as if he'd slept through the night on his own bed at home. He stretched his hands and twisted his muscles, popping his fingers and joints. He massaged his neck, hardly believing he survived that flight. He turned around to enter the palace.

And froze.

Inside the palace were thousands of Salverians stuffed inside—some mages and soldiers, some civilians—and they were all kneeling to him. Oh, flames.

They were all looking at him with curiosity. The captain with dark skin at the front spoke, Oliver recognized him from the lumberyard on his first day here. "My lord," the captain said. "Captain Fields at your service. We are so grateful you are here to save us."

"Fields?" Oliver asked. "You're Ashley's father?"

"Yes, my lord."

Oliver frowned, nodding his head. He looked at the crowd of thousands before him. He slowly shifted his posture, stepping into his Guardian of Magic persona. Some of the mages were wounded. Others helped bandage their injuries. "Do you have any maple to tend to the wounded?" he asked.

"No, my lord," Fields said. "We used the last of it just as they were about to break into the palace. You, Silas, and the mages arrived just in time to save us from our demise."

Oliver sniffed. I probably shouldn’t have used my maple on myself, he thought. Especially right in front of them. Some of these mages look like they need it more than I did. Oh... they saw my terrible landing too! He shook those thoughts from his mind. "On your feet!" Oliver shouted. "All of you! Tend to those who are injured! Prepare to defend the palace!"

The crowd jumped into action, obeying his commands. Captain Fields walked up to him. "My lord, wouldn't it be wise to retreat?" he asked. "Even with the aid of Silas' fleet, I don't think we can hold Cambium. It will fall."

"Nonsense," Oliver said. "Where is your faith, Captain? Cambium will stand for centuries." It was true. Cambium still existed in his time, two thousand years later. Though I don't remember ever seeing this palace before.

Fields bowed. "Forgive me, my lord. You are right. I was wrong to doubt."

"No sweat." He turned to observe the battle.

Before him was an awful scene. The Barklian and Forid corpses still burned all throughout the plaza. Several houses and buildings burned, adding to the horrific image of what the fiery Descensions might look like. Through the smoke, Oliver could see green and white mages flying around in the sky, shooting all sorts of magical elements at each other.

After ten minutes or so, Oliver spotted Silas leading the rest of the mages to the palace, their numbers reduced by about half. He flew to the palace steps and landed right in front of Oliver. The mages landed behind him, lifting their logs up at the last second, turning loose of them, and letting them fly off into the air. They made landing look so easy. Ilan and Ashley were among them.

"Extinguished our offensive woods and our ebony logs are nearly gone," Silas said, looking winded. "Had to land." He looked at Captain Fields and the palace full of people. "Why haven't these people fled?"

Fields raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, General, but the Guardian said they wouldn't need to. Said Cambium won't fall."

Silas leveled a cold stare at Oliver.

"It won't," he said defensively.

"Well, can't run now," Silas said. "Have to wait till the Forids run out of ebony. They're flying here right now. We need to all squeeze into the palace and protect it from an aerial attack. Keep them from burning us out."

"No, General," Ashley said. "Look, they're landing."

She was right. The white-robed mages could barely be seen through the smoke, returning to the ground somewhere behind the walls, and letting their ebony logs fly off into the sky.

"Why would they...?" Silas said to himself. "They had the advantage."

"Oliver Kapur!"

They all turned to the other side of the plaza, looking for who spoke. All they saw were burning buildings and corpses.

Like the sound of a roaring waterfall, a thousand staves shot jets of water on the fires in the city. Steam and smoke filled the sky, followed by a white mist that soaked the air, blocking some of the light from the noonday sun. Through the mist, figures could be seen marching through the city.

Thousands of Forids mixed with thousands of Barklian soldiers filled the city plaza in perfect ranks. There were still so many of them. At the lead were three people riding horses. One man in blue. A man and woman in white. The man in the middle spoke again. "Oliver Kapur!"

Oliver's heart stopped.

This was it. The moment. The fight against Lennox Elmson.