“You are going to wear those boots out,” came a friendly voice from the shadow. “Can’t sleep?”
“Uncle Temiker,” smiled Lyra. “I guess there is too much on my mind to sleep this night.”
“Uncle?” chuckled the old mage. “I haven’t been called that in a while. I thought you would be thinking about the coming battle, but it sounds like your mind is in the past. What is bothering you?”
“I’m not sure,” Lyra admitted. “My mind has been wandering all night, but it always comes back to Marak.”
“You like him a lot, don’t you?” asked Temiker.
“I love him,” smiled Lyra, “but that hardly matters. It is a love that can never be. Perhaps if we had met in another place or another time, we would have a happy life together, but this war will tear us apart.”
“The odds are against any of us living through this war,” shrugged Temiker, “but those are just odds. People have beaten the odds before. Besides, you have Kaltara. You haven’t lost your faith, have you?”
“Certainly not,” Lyra shook her head vigorously.
“Well,” smiled the mage, “you are special in Kaltara’s eyes. If anyone survives this war it will be you and Marak.”
“That is where you are wrong,” frowned Lyra. “We have been chosen by Kaltara and given positions of great responsibility, but we are merely tools of Kaltara. We are the instruments to revive the people’s faith in God. Our task is almost over.”
“You think Kaltara is using you?” frowned Temiker.
“Of course He is,” nodded Lyra. “Do not take my words in the wrong sense. I am not feeling abused by God. I am thrilled to be His tool for the betterment of the world, but I also understand and accept my place in that world. The Three are to rid the world of Vand and to bring the people back to Kaltara. We will succeed in doing that, although I question how much of the world will survive the destruction that is coming to us. My thoughts go beyond that day of final triumph. Marak, Rejji, and I will be held up by the people of the world as saviors. We understand that we are not special, but the people will not understand that. They will want to worship us instead of Kaltara. That is not right, and it must not be allowed.”
“So what will stop that from happening?” asked Temiker.
“What else could cause it not to happen?” Lyra shrugged as tears welled up in her eyes. “Can’t you foresee what must happen? We must be sacrificed for the good of the world.”
“Preposterous,” scowled Temiker. “Put that nonsense out of your head immediately. Kaltara would not kill you for being His faithful servant. What kind of reward is that?”
“Our reward is in serving Him,” replied Lyra. “You do not understand. None of us will object to the sacrifice. We will all go willingly. Kaltara knows this. It is not my life that I will miss; I will miss the life with Marak that is never to be.”
“Where do I go to protest the deeds of Kaltara?” grumbled Temiker. “I cannot conceive of such treatment for the Three. I will not let it happen.”
“Don’t be silly,” smiled Lyra. “You cannot dictate terms to God.”
Lyra didn’t notice right away, but she had lost Temiker’s attention. The old mage had turned towards the waterfront and was sniffing the air. Lyra frowned at his sudden lack of attention.
“Have you been listening to me?” asked the Star of Sakova.
“Smell the air, Lyra,” urged the old mage. “This fog that is creeping in is unnatural.”
Lyra raised her nose and inhaled deeply. Deep furrows etched her flawless brow.
“It is the Motangans,” she said softly. “The boy Kenda from Duran spoke of an eerie morning fog before the city was attacked. The enemy is offshore and getting ready to unleash their evil. The Time of Cleansing has arrived.”
“We must rouse the city,” Temiker declared urgently. “I will gather the mages; you wake the soldiers. Tell everyone to remain quiet. We must not let the Motangans know that we are awake.”
Lyra nodded and ran off. Temiker entered the schoolhouse and started waking the mages. Within an hour the entire city was awake and quietly moving to their stations. By that time the sky was beginning to lighten, but the unnatural fog persisted.
Lyra stood on the roof of the Imperial Guard headquarters. LifeTender stood at her right hand and ValleyBreeze her left. The Star of Sakova gazed to her right where General Manitow stood with his advisors and a small group of mages who could cast the air tunnel spell. She waited patiently for the general to signal that his troops were ready.
“We are set,” General Manitow declared. “Show us the enemy.”
Lyra nodded to the two mages beside her who immediately gave a signal to the other mages lining the waterfront. Hundreds of mages simultaneously cast the same spell, and the wind started to flow eastward. Within moments the wind was roaring out to sea and carrying the unnatural fog with it. Gasps echoed all over the city as the Motangan armada was revealed. The ships had been sitting quietly offshore, their sails slack from the lack of wind. The Sakovans stared out at two hundred monstrous vessels sitting offshore.
The Motangans had been in the process of preparing for their attack, and the sudden disappearance of the fog caused chaos within the fleet. Some catapults were immediately launched, sending huge balls of fire flying towards the city, but the wind had already hit the Motangan sails. The leviathans bounced every which way as the wind drove the ships backwards, causing most of the catapults to miss their targets.
Scores of Sakovan catapults immediately fired at the ships, some of them fired haphazardly, while others fired late because their operators took time to aim them. Those that were aimed fell short of their targets as the Motangan ships were blown away from the coast. The Time of Cleansing began with total chaos.
The captains of the Motangan ships recovered quickly, turning their bows out of the wind and retreating a safe distance from the city. The Sakovan catapults fell silent as everyone waited to see what would happen next. Lyra instructed the mages to rest and the wind died down. For a long time, both sides stood staring at each other. Eventually, the sun broke the horizon and the winds picked up. With the breeze blowing towards the shore, a dozen Motangan ships broke from the armada and headed south. Another dozen proceeded north.
“Send General Addley’s army to the south of the city,” General Manitow instructed his mages. “Notify General Romero to head north. Inform each of them that approximately twelve thousand enemy troops will be put ashore in their sector in an attempt to flank the city.”
The rest of the Motangan ships jockeyed for position as the armada reformed into four distinct groupings. Four long lines of ships, running north to south, faced the city. The first row of ships raised full sails and started moving closer to shore, while the other three rows sat motionless. The Sakovans tensed as they waited for the signals to respond to the new threat.
“There are so many of them,” Lyra sighed. “Give the signal to the mages.”
LifeTender and ValleyBreeze sent the messages to the mages using air tunnels. The mages had to work harder the second time to overcome the natural onshore breeze. The wind slowly died as the mages’ spells reversed the airflow. Soon a slow offshore wind began and started building in strength.
The Motangan ships fired their catapults at the beach where the mages were lined up, while the Sakovan catapults aimed for the stern of the ships to account for movement from the mage-created breeze. Huge balls of fire soared towards the beach, and groups of Sakovan mages scattered. The wind faltered a bit, but the mages who fled immediately rejoined the line in a different place. Several Sakovan catapults scored direct hits on some of the ships. Motangans raced around in an attempt to extinguish the blazes.