367. Beachhead
Liv’s eyes snapped open, the return of physical sensation to her body all at once nearly overwhelming. The cobblestones beneath her were hard and unforgiving, and her back was aching after staying in one position, with neither support nor cushion beneath her, for so long. She sucked in a breath of mountain air as if coming up from beneath deep water, and it took a moment of blinking before she could really focus on anything around her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d left her body for so long, or had travelled so far as a spirit.
“You’re awake,” Arjun exclaimed, from only a few feet away, where he crouched over Karina’s unmoving form. “What happened, Liv? She slumped over, but she isn’t waking up. I can’t find anything physically wrong...”
Liv closed her eyes. “She’s dead.”
“No, her heart’s beating,” Arjun insisted. “She’s still breathing, Liv.”
“Ractia shredded her Authority,” Liv said. “I saw it. Felt it, in tatters, blowing away like seeds on the wind. There wasn’t anything left, Arjun.” She forced herself to open her eyes and look at the woman who’d died protecting her. Liv shifted forward, placing her palms on the cobblestones, and half-crawled, half-scooted herself up to where she could place a hand on the Elden woman’s cheek. Her eyes were closed, strands of hair that sickly, poison-yellow shade stuck to a clammy forehead.
“Can you - get it back, somehow?” Arjun asked. “Gather up the scraps, like Ambient mana?”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Liv admitted. “Or whether it’s possible at all. It felt - final, Arjun.”
Her friend scowled. “I’m going to get her to the hospital,” he said. “Into a room where we can take care of her.”
Liv nodded, withdrew her hand, and settled back into a kneeling position. If there was one thing she’d learned about Arjun, over the years, it was that he had a very difficult time admitting when there was nothing more to be done for someone. He was the sort of person who’d work himself to exhaustion, trying just one more thing, rather than give up. There wasn’t anything she could do but let him work. Perhaps it's better if he doesn’t come along, she thought to herself.
Kaijia stepped up to Liv’s left side and placed a hand on her shoulder. It wasn’t the same as real human contact, with Liv’s pauldron in the way, but it was something. “Keri and Soile have tents set up at the center of campus,” she said. “They’ve got food and watered ale for the soldiers and the culling mages while they wait.”
Liv nodded and looked around, counting another four members of her personal guard forming a perimeter around where she and Karina had been sitting. “I know where we’re going, and how we’re going to get there,” she said, and reached a hand up. Kaija clasped her arm and gave a pull, yanking Liv up to her feet. “Some of us, at least. It’s going to be - a process.”
They set off toward the campus, and though Liv tried to put what had happened out of her mind - there would be plenty of time for grieving once the fighting was done and, she suspected, rather more cause - she couldn’t help but glance back at where Arjun had bullied a few of the waystone guards into helping him transport his latest patient.
☙
The command tent that Soile and Keri had erected in the middle of the campus was more of a single length of canvas, nearly the size of a ship’s sail, raised on eight poles and tied upright with enough ropes that Liv expected it to all come falling down at any moment when someone stepped carelessly. There were no sides, which was just as well because they had too many people crowding around, trying to get a look, to fit into any tent or pavilion that Liv had ever seen.
They had no map, and Liv wasn’t a cartographer, so she built a sculpture of the lunar surface out of ice, right there on the camp table her officers had dragged over. She built the enchanted struts, complete with the sigils she could remember, up so that they sparkled and glistened. Beneath them, Liv sculpted bubbles of ice so thin and transparent that you could actually see inside of the intact dome. The tunnels and other structures which made up the rest of the Vædic ruins, she left incomplete, with cutaways to show the sections which were most important: waystone, the place where Ractia’s machines were operating, and that odd room with a couch for the ancient goddess to recline on, and all of those strange cables.
Keri stood on her right, with Kaija, Liv’s father and grandmother, and even Elder Aira. To her left, Matthew and Triss, and even their daughter were clustered close, with Master Grenfell, Guild Mistress Every, and the professors of the college, along with Sidonie. Soile stood at the opposite end of the table, and all around were pressed the commanders of the army, and the leaders of the culling teams.
Liv tapped the waystone with the tip of the stormwand. If she hadn’t just watched one of her very first students die to save her, she might have found some amusement in using the millenia-old bone of a god as a pointer.
“They broke the waystone, but they didn’t do a very good job of it,” Liv began. “Which makes me think that Ractia told someone to take care of it, rather than do it herself. Regardless, while the surface is shattered, the enchantment several layers down which allows someone to hook a Tether on is not.”
Keri turned to look at her with a grin; Liv could just see the motion in her peripheral vision, and feel his gaze on her. “You attached one while you were up there, didn’t you?” His voice was filled with undisguised pride, and Liv couldn’t help but enjoy it, even with everything else that was happening.
“I did,” Liv confirmed for the benefit of everyone else at the table. “What we’re going to do is this. I’m going to take an initial group of people as soon as we’re done here. We’ll split that group between fighters best suited to hold a position, and mages with enough mana to handle a tether of their own. I’ll stay and hold the waystone room with half the force while the other half returns to Bald Peak, and each hooks up with their own team. We do this in stages, holding the beachhead while we bring our people in, one group at a time.”
Soile let out a long, low whistle. “That first group is going to be the hardest pressed,” she said. “You’ll only have a handful to hold the tether-point. And once they realize what we’re doing, she’s going to send everything she can to break the rest of the waystone. I’d hate to be in the boots of whoever messed that order up.”
“I’ll go,” Liv’s father said, at exactly the same moment Keri spoke up by her side.
“I’m coming with you,” her husband said.
“While I understand your sentiments,” Kaija broke in, “neither of you is actually a good choice for holding the line. You’re two of the people we have capable of using a tether back to Bald Peak, which means you’re more useful ferrying troops up to the moon. We want people who can’t do that digging in to hold the room. And on top of that, knowing the two of you, I’m assuming you plan to be at the queen’s side when she confronts Ractia, which means we want you fresh, not exhausted and beaten black and blue, by the time that confrontation happens.”
“This is also going to take a ridiculous amount of mana,” Lia Every pointed out. “Alright, so Liv takes the first group over under her own power, fine. They all use a Tether to Bald Peak to get back, and then a Tether to the moon. That’s more mana than anyone other than you has access to, Liv.”
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“We have a lot of guild rings here,” Henriette Summerset spoke up. “Hundreds. Use those.”
“We’re going to go even a step further than that,” Liv said. “Master Grenfell, you’ve got that big hunk of mana stone you haul around everywhere?”
“I do,” the old man said, with a smile. “That might supply a person or two.”
“And we also have the entire student body of Bald Peak,” Liv continued, “who will not be coming up to the moon with us. What they can do, however, is lend their mana to the people who are going.” She looked to Grenfell and grinned. “You remember the spell you used at the Stockyards, all those years ago?”
Her old teacher hesitated a moment, and then nodded. “Aluthet o’Mae Æn'Ea. Not something we teach the students during the first year,” he mused. “But it also isn’t particularly difficult. You want a group of student waiting for each - ferryman? Transport mage? - when they return.”
Liv nodded. “They come back, walk off the waystone, and immediately get filled to the brim with mana by a group of waiting students, whose part in this is then finished. Give them the day off from classes, some mana-rich food to recover, and leave at least one professor to keep an eye on them.”
“Really, Liv, you should be coming back too,” Matthew pointed out. “Everything that Kaija said about Keri and your father applies to you, as well.”
“I can’t.” Liv shook her head. “If Ractia comes before we get our numbers up, we need to have someone there ready to fight her head on. I need Sidonie with me, as well.”
“For what?” Lia Every asked, with a frown. “I would think we’d be better off not putting both of our remaining two archmages in a single location.”
Liv looked across the table and met Sidonie’s eyes, then raised her own eyebrows.
“There is a spell passed down among archmages,” Sidonie explained, after a moment. “We were taught it by Caspian Loredon. It is one of the tools specifically engineered to fight Vædic Lords, during the last war a thousand years ago.”
“And if I’m flinging magic back and forth with Ractia, I may not have time to cast it myself,” Liv explained. “Which is why I need Sidonie with me, to make certain it happens and that we have her trapped.”
“What does this spell do?” Professor Norris asked. Liv recognized the glitter of interest in his eyes: it was the same expression he had whenever she’d brought him some new oddity from a rift.
“Interdiction. It will prevent Ractia from using any tethers of her own to get away from us,” Sidonie explained. “It should prevent any waystone or tether travel into or out of the entire area, once the spell is in place.”
“Which means at any given moment, the people down here at Bald Peak might find they can’t actually get up to you,” Soile pointed out. “That could be a real problem, Liv. What if she hits you early? Sidonie casts that spell, and all of a sudden we can’t get any of your reinforcements up there. You’re outnumbered, unable to get out of there, and facing a goddess. That’s not a winning position to be in.”
“You’re going to have to hold off,” Keri told Sidonie. “Until all of our teams are up there.”
“We can’t risk letting her get away,” Liv said, shooting a look at her husband. “Another twenty years of chasing her all over the world, Keri? While she does Trinity knows what? We need to stop her today, right now. The moment we find her, Sidonie casts the spell.”
For just a moment, she thought that he might fight her on it. Liv remembered the argument they’d had in Al’Fenthia, about how to get to Feic Seria. They hadn’t quarreled like that in ages.
“Then we need to prioritize having your team up there in the first wave of reinforcements, and leave the ferrying back and forth to others,” Keri said. “So that you have everyone you need to fight her as early as possible.”
“List them off, Liv,” Soile said, after a moment.
“Keri, Arjun and Sidonie,” she said, trying not to think of the names that were missing. Wren. Ghveris. Rose. “My father. Elder Aira? I know we don’t have all the elders we did last time...”
“Most went back home after the vote,” Aira agreed, with a nod. “I’ll go with you.”
“So those five need to come with the first transport mage leaving Bald Peak,” Liv said. It was rough, but a plan was starting to come into shape. “Everyone after that will be holding the line to protect what’s left of the waystone, up there, and then, once we have enough people, taking over the ruins one section at a time. We may have to flush Ractia out.”
“I’ll organize that, once I’m up there,” Soile said.
“And I’ll see to sorting out the mana distribution from the students down here,” Lia Every said.
“So it’s just down to the first group going with you, Liv,” Matthew said. He exchanged a brief glance with his wife, and Liv knew exactly what they were going to say before the words were even uttered.
“We’ll come and hold the line for you,” Triss said, without hesitation. Henriette was already nodding, but her mother didn’t stop there. “You, young lady, are still a student at this college - or did you forget that? You’ll be with Guild Mistress Every and Professor Norris, contributing your mana to the transport mages.”
“No!” Henriette exclaimed. “I can fight. I’m not going to stay behind and -”
“That’s enough,” Liv said. “Listen to your parents. If you want to argue with them, do it in private.” She turned to Kaija. “I assume you’ll be coming with me, and filling out the rest of the group with my guards. And that you and Akseli will be the first two back to carry reinforcement groups.”
“Let’s pretend that I’ve already expressed my objections to that, and then move on,” the older woman grumbled. “Yes.”
“I think we’re ready, then,” Liv said, and looked around the table for objections. When no one spoke up, she nodded. “Thank you, all of you. Let’s finally put an end to this, right now.”
☙
Liv could only give credit to the people who were supporting her for how quickly it all came together, after that. Alternating teams of Culling Mages and soldiers gathered to await transport, while Liv and her vanguard found themselves filled to the brim with mana from Master Grenfell’s hunk of mana stone, volunteered guild rings whose owners Liv couldn’t even have named, and a few spells that transferred mana directly from those students who were the quickest study with Aluth.
Keri had, at some point while Liv was sending her spirit out, gotten someone to bring the set of rings and bracelet she’d won from Princess Milisand as a girl, on a sandy beach north of Freeport. He’d made certain it was fully charged, as well.
“I’ll be up as soon as I can,” he murmured, leaning in to give her a soft kiss before they pulled their helms on again. “Try not to do anything too wild without me.”
“I’ll be certain to save plenty of cultists for you to fight,” Liv teased him, and then took a step back to look over her group.
Matthew was wearing a specially made set of armor. The jack-of-plate was green with a white mountain, the heraldry of the Summerset family for as far back as anyone could remember. A shaped plate of steel had been affixed over his shoulder, chest, and missing arm, modelled after the great steel jousting pieces sometimes called grand gards, which had gone out of fashion along with jousting as a court entertainment. It was heavy enough, Liv knew, to balance out the weight of his lost limb. Triss, on the other hand, was much more lightly armored - she’d always relied more on Bheuv to predict her enemy’s attacks, and her own agility to get out of the way.
Sidonie carried a wand, but despite years of Liv chastising her friend for it, had never been fitted for proper armor. Kaija and the rest of Liv’s guards, thankfully, more than made up for that lack, all wearing matching jack-of-plate and carrying not only their halberds, but a variety of daggers, arming swords, one-handed maces and war-hammers meant to deal with any Antrians they might encounter.
Liv took a deep breath, and met each of her companion’s eyes in turn. “Akseli heads back immediately, followed by Kaija,” she said, making certain that everyone knew the plan. “The rest of us move off the waystone immediately, clear the chamber, and then hold at the doorway if we can.” Only once everyone had nodded did she begin her countdown.
“Three,” Liv said. “Two. One. Nesēmus.”
Light swept them up, and carried their spirits to the dark in between. Despite knowing it was hopeless, Liv cast about for any trace of Karina. She tried not to dwell on the fact that, when she made the trip back after everything was finished, there might be more ghosts waiting than she could bear.
The world returned, and Liv stumbled on the shattered white stone beneath her feet. She blinked away the light, and caught sight of two cultists in the room, wide eyed and gaping at the appearance of an entire group of heavily armed enemies who, by all accounts, should not have been able to use that waystone.
Triss shot forward in a running lunge, the tip of her rapier running a man dressed in older hunting leathers, with the look of a Great Bat, through the heart. Kaija’s halberd was but a moment slower, and though she took the head off a pale-haired Iravatan Eld, it wasn’t before he managed to shout: “They’re here!” in Vakansa.
Liv stepped off the waystone and turned to Akseli. “Go,” she told him.
Her guard met her eyes, nodded his head once, and then invoked his tether. “Nesēmus.” Only a few heartbeats later, he vanished in a flash of light - but Liv could already hear shouts, the pounding of boots, and the heavy steel-shod clank of approaching Antrians coming down the corridor.
“Kill anything that comes through,” she commanded.