Gorsha stopped retreating, and now her parries cracked the ant's armor in magically enhanced blows that pealed like thunder. The legs shattered, and Gorsha seemed to laugh as she turned the machine into a pile of scrap after several heavy blows. But Druik still stood guard over Latulla, and the artificer rose, her bloody face snarled as she cast a magical attack.
Gorsha's cloak and dress began to ripple and then smolder as Latulla directed her hatred at her opponent. The council servant's hair stood out from her head, and Haddad could see her image wavering as the air heated as well.
"Enough!" Gorsha shouted and raised her staff high over her head, plunging it into the earth. The ground trembled under Haddad's feet as soil and stone shattered and fountained high into the sky. Rising, it blocked the sight of the sun and hung as a mountain over Latulla and Druik. Both retreated to avoid being swallowed by the pit growing before them, but they could do nothing about the attack building over their heads. The pyroclastic cloud collapsed. The superheated vapor and particles of rock hit as a tidal wave. All vegetation and animals within hundreds of yards were burned, crushed, and suffocated. A great groan sounded from the Keldon magic users protecting the crowd from the attack. All of them united were barely able to stay Gorsha's anger.
Eventually the cloud settled and dispersed. The landscape was different, sculpted into bizarre shapes in seconds by the mighty spell. Gorsha stood at the edge of a great pit. On the other side were two bodies encased in stone. Magic users poured power to cool the ground so the crowd might descend to view the aftermath.
When Haddad and Fumash reached the scene, Gorsha was standing tall again. Druik's armor and limbs had been blown free, and at Gorsha's nod, Latulla's former allies threw the body into the pit. Latulla was encased, and Gorsha's supporters moved to throw her down as well.
"Hold!" Gorsha called. "She lives yet." The midwife surveyed the destruction and gave her orders.
"She has failed. Let her and her servants die and wither in far off lands. Let her never leave Jamuraa as long as I draw breath." Gorsha considered the crowd. "The strongest has prevailed, and the witch kings shall not be disturbed again by any in this company."
Warriors rounded up Latulla's servants and her closest allies. Fumash was dragged away by Yacuta before Haddad could say a word. As Haddad was kicked back toward the wagons he felt hope rekindle in his heart. Sentenced to Jamuraa, another chance to escape for home, he laughed as he was crowded together with the losers of Latulla's bid for power.
Chapter 15
"We can win this war, Teferi," Barrin said, looking over the defensive works going up around the city. "But if we lose here then the League is finished."
The defensive works appeared to be on schedule. A series of trenches and traps grew under Barrin's orders. Technically, General Mageta was in charge. Barrin had been surprised to see him alive. The landslides unleashed by the wizard's covering attack for the retreating army had buried the general, but he had dug himself out and fought his way through Keldon excavation teams to rejoin the League forces. When the army withdrew west to Arsenal City, it was Mageta who commanded on the ground.
"The core of the League weapons development is here, and it's next in the path of the Keldons," Teferi said resignedly. "If only it were farther away."
Arsenal City was in a flat valley near the coast. The surrounding hills were thick with mines. Metals and tufa flowed down to the city for industrial use. For generations small factories turned out war machines for the Kipamu League cities. The steel ants, crabs, and mantises were all manufactured there. A network of roads and a canal connected the factories to the rest of the League and the ocean port, but it was still isolated. Men and supplies took weeks to arrive.
"Will you be able to hold the walls with the men you have?" Teferi asked. The wall enclosing the city was only twenty feet high, and years of maintenance and repair had been missed. A few sections had been raided for building material. Men under Barrin's orders tore down houses inside the city to reclaim stones for the defensive works.
"We'll fight in the earthworks outside the walls," Barrin replied. "We need the fighting room, and the factories inside the city can't produce with soldiers filling the streets." Even as the two friends looked out into the valley, a stream of fighting machines and weapons were being produced behind them. Technicians trembled with fatigue, and warehouses emptied as the factories squeezed out every last ounce of production.
"I'll have a few words with the war machine builders before I go," Teferi said. "I'll bring back supplies and the men we need. Is your glide bomb project any closer to success?"
"Nearly," Barrin replied. "With the new Keldon fire barges out there, blimps just can't survive long enough to drop bombs. If we can work out a few production headaches, we'll have a weapon we can use from airships."
"I'm surprised Rayne is not working on the problem," Teferi said. "I hear she is scouting outside the city." Teferi was stuffing the notes and maps he had brought into a travel case. Barrin looked out toward the horizon.
"Rayne returned to check on a pattern of blight in the northwest. She thinks it might be related to the Keldon attacks," Barrin said distractedly. "She thinks it might signal some new Keldon weapon or destructive spell. She thinks that it's important to find out what's affecting the land."
Teferi waited a moment then shook his head. He left the wizard lost in thought and staring out over the defensive works growing slowly as scared soldiers wielded their shovels.
"Are they inside yet?" Rayne asked. The scout shook his head. Rayne looked to either side of her. Ten runners crouched in the bottom of the ditch. A few hundred yards away a small Keldon land barge was stopped in front of an abandoned farmhouse. Hopefully the Keldon riders would dismount and search the farmhouse for food, giving Rayne and her group the opportunity to attack.
"Are you sure that barge contains the blight?" Rayne pressed.
Shalanda was haggard from days in the field and the strain of trying to find the source of the disease showing throughout the central forests. Finally, the healer found a trace to follow, and it led to the farmhouse. But the Keldon barge had proved an unpleasant surprise. Rayne was searching for signs of a plant contagion, not looking for combat. The scouts had withdrawn into a shallow gully and knelt their machines. Then her aide gave her more bad news.
"I am sure there is a concentration of blight onboard that vehicle. Maybe we can identify the source and find out where it comes from," Shalanda said.
Rayne shook her head and glanced at the scout watching the disembarking Keldons. If only Jolreal were still here. The women had expected to find a particularly thick or heavy concentration of disease, not a vehicle filled with armed men. Jolreal and the rest of the scouts were strung out toward the east. Rayne did have a group of steel ants attached to one of the scouts. The League was experimenting with long-range raiding parties, and the scout was evaluating how well the war machines kept up with the Tolarian runners. Combat was something to avoid, but now a key piece of the puzzle might lie only yards away. There was no choice. Rayne needed to capture the barge.