But most of my attention was on the battle ahead. Aether and Sagash were raining down attacks from above; the shields of the Council mages were holding, but they’d be vulnerable once they tried to ascend. I selected strands of fate, reinforced them, sent images through the dreamstone. Flying mages from the eastern wing took to the sky, engaging Aether from the air. The fire on the advancing mages fell off, and I pushed the eastern and southern forces up while Sagash was busy with the ones to the west.
My magesight picked up mobility spells, force and fire and air. Mages scaled the walls of the cathedral, jumped up to the windows and doors. Sagash countered with that jinn magic I’d seen in the tombs: the black sun. Through my divination I saw which mages were at risk, and sent urgent messages through the dreamstone to duck back. Black beams carved through wood and stone, but no one was killed. Below, Caldera was about to join the battle, and I detached two mages to block her.
More mages were reaching the cathedral, and the battle was intensifying. I sped up, following the route from the south that Sagash and Aether were now too busy to watch.
By the time I reached the cathedral, the battle was raging at full force. The cathedral was a single huge building with elevated entrances to the north and south. I walked up to the southern entrance, Luna and Ji-yeong still following, and stopped just to one side of the double doors. The roar and crack of battle magic echoed from within, and I looked into the futures for a clear view.
The interior of the cathedral was a vast, empty space. The lower floor was broken with a giant rift running through the centre, and the upper floor consisted of a railed walkway with a catwalk spanning the cathedral from north to south. Lines of windows opened out to east and west, and the mages of the attack force had used them to force their way through; broken glass was scattered on the walkway.
Sagash was at the north end, almost hidden behind his shield. Above his head hovered a black sun that drank in light. Beams of death speared from it, cutting through anything in their path, while magic attacks of every kind poured in through the broken windows, ice and fire and force all slamming into Sagash’s shield as though drawn by a magnet. The noise was incredible, a continuous thundering roar.
My plan had been to use the distraction of the fighting to get close to Sagash, then disable him using the Council’s weapon. Looking at where the Dark mage had made his stand, I realised it would never work. To reach Sagash I’d have to cross nearly a hundred feet of open catwalk; he’d tear me to pieces before I got half that far.
We’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.
Quickly I issued orders. Caldera was still fighting below and Aether above; I assigned three mages to contain each of them while the rest converged on Sagash. Sagash hammered at the mages at the windows with deathbolts and beams from the black sun, and I let the mages give ground, sending impulses through the dreamstone for them to back into cover when threatened. Only when everyone was in position did I begin.
From my position, it felt like a game of chess. Hoarfrost and Tobias struck at Sagash from the west, then as he turned to answer I had Slate and Trask attack from the east. Slate’s death magic disrupted Sagash’s shield and as Sagash took a moment to repair it I directed Landis and another Keeper to strike at the black sun. The magical construct dissolved under a counter-spell; Sagash tried to re-form it, and as he did Hoarfrost hit him again.
It was like a pack of wolves bringing down a bear. With the ifrit’s power, Sagash was stronger than any of the Keepers, maybe stronger than any three of them put together. But I didn’t give him the chance to use it; every time he tried to focus on a single target I’d have a mage hit him from the other side, knocking him off-balance and forcing him to split his attention. From Sagash’s position, it probably felt as though he was holding his ground. He reacted to the flow of battle, attacking targets and countering their strikes, fighting with all of his power, each move natural and logical and taking him step by step towards his death.
I felt the exact moment at which Sagash lost. The currents of fate tipped and began to flow, first slowly then faster and faster. To an observer, it wouldn’t have looked like anything. A novice chess player doesn’t notice when he makes the move that loses him the game. He keeps playing and trading pieces, and only at the end, when it’s far too late, does he come to understand that he’s lost, not now but many moves ago.
Strikes of fire and ice slammed into Sagash’s shield, staggering him. Sagash tried to recover, hurled a counterattack at Hoarfrost, but a force blast from Aegis hit him in the back, throwing his spell off target. Sagash tried to re-summon the black sun; counter-magic from Landis and Tobias flashed out, disrupting the effect and causing the sun to collapse in on itself. More spells hit Sagash and now the Dark mage wasn’t attacking at all; it was all he could do to block the incoming fire. Sagash’s shield flickered, struggling to hold under the rain of attacks.
A lightning bolt from Thunder slammed into Sagash. His shield took it, channelling the electricity away down into the catwalk, but a firebolt hit a second later that weakened his defences. An ice strike from Hoarfrost pierced the damaged shield, freezing Sagash’s flesh. Sagash tried to recast his shield, but I’d already chosen the future I needed and a spell from Landis exploded around Sagash, the fire magic overloading the shield entirely.
Another lightning bolt hit, and this time there was nothing to stop it. Sagash’s body jerked as electricity coursed through it, and a force blade struck him from behind, severing his arm and shoulder, the limb spinning towards the floor far below.
Somehow Sagash got his shield back up. I didn’t know how he was able to stand, much less fight. His lips were still pulled back in that unnatural grin, and with his remaining arm he blocked a water blast from Tobias. I could sense death energy flowing through him, the tendons and muscles of his withered body still obeying his iron will. Once again, he tried to re-summon that black sun.
I pulled in the last strands of fate, and made an end of it.
Battle magic came in from all around, every spell timed to strike at the same instant. Ice, air, force, lightning and fire broke Sagash’s shield and met at a single point.
There was a thunderous crash and Sagash disappeared in a ball of multicoloured energy. The cathedral trembled; hot air rushed through the open doors with a roar, followed by silence.
I stepped out into the doorway. Where Sagash had stood, the walkway, railings and stone had been eradicated in a twenty-foot radius. The catwalk ended halfway across the room. Beyond, the cathedral’s northern walls were melted in a spherical pattern, still glowing with latent heat. If there were any pieces left of Sagash’s body, I couldn’t see them.
I scanned the futures. Caldera had sunk into the stone, and Aether was falling back towards the keep. The remaining jinn were in retreat. ‘All units, enemy forces are withdrawing. Advance on the primary objective and secure it before they have a chance to regroup.’
I started walking around the walkway. Around me, I could sense the Council forces advancing, sweeping north towards the looming shadow of the keep. Behind me, dimly, I was aware of Ji-yeong lingering, one hand on the walkway railing, looking out at the wreckage where her old master had made his stand.
The Council forces kept going. I directed them, ordering them to quickly burn through any pockets of resistance, using the fateweaver to push through favourable outcomes. Inwardly, I was tense; this was where we were most vulnerable. If Anne decided to come out and fight . . .
But she didn’t. The jinn continued to fall back in disarray until they reached the keep. They fled inside, disappearing into its shadow.