am-books Chapter 40 - Death
Chapter 40 - Death
The last cycle, Mirian had missed several days of classes because of her early departure. This time, Professor Marva had given her some valuable tips on the mental component of an illusion spell. It wasn't just the spell itself you could practice, you could also practice rehearsing the image or sound you wanted to produce. Some people with poor visualization capabilities found it easier to have a small painting to sketch to look at. On one hand, it could be a problem if you used the same disguise over and over again, but it was interesting to learn that practicing art or music could enhance the quality of illusions.
Professor Runer, on the other hand, hadn't said much that Mirian hadn't already picked up in her independent studies. It was certainly useful to practice all the different kinds of spells she might encounter, but the class was too focused on the basics. That made sense for a 200-level class where she was one of the few sixth years. She resolved to get her second combat certification level next cycle, though, and see what Professor Cassius had to say in a 300-level class.
Two cycles ago, Mirian had seen one of the Akanan spies atop Bainrose. Her newest spellrod was designed purely for combat, and though it still had too narrow a focus, it had a wide array of force spells and a grounding spell that would deal with the lightning wands she knew the spies liked to use.
After classes, she told Lily she was heading to Bainrose to study.
"Again?" Lily said. "You've been really busy lately."
"Yeah. See you tonight," Mirian lied.
She couldn't bear to say goodbyes. She just didn't want to know. If she didn't know, she could imagine they met peaceful ends.
Mirian got an early dinner from the dining hall by annoying one of the cooks for something quick. There was no way she was going to miss dinner again. That always made her miserable when the next cycle started. Then she went to the front door. It shouldn't have been locked so early, but it was.
"Library's closed," the guard said.
"I need to study," she said piteously.
He shrugged. "Study tomorrow."
"But the test is tomorrow!"
"Sorry," the guard said, not sounding sorry at all.
"Why is the library closed? It's not supposed to close. I know the door locks after eight, but even then we're allowed to come in. So what's going on?"
"Dunno. Just following orders."
"Whose orders?"
Light flashed all around Torrviol as spellfire shells rained down. Chain lightning erupted from craters, fireballs flattened roofs, and everywhere, people were running and screaming. The Akanans were coming across the fields, with their western flank cutting through the northern dormitories and the hills. That group was moving slowly, because, as she could see, the soldiers were busy shooting the fleeing students. She felt sick watching it, her stomach twisting into a knot of disgust and rage. In the more open areas, she could see the Akanans advancing as squads of soldiers, each with a support vehicle trundling along, usually with some sort of gun attached. In the back, the artillery were just in front of the treeline, their positions obvious because of the bright flash that erupted when they fired. There were so many of them. How many did Xipuatl say were in an army? Twenty thousand? They outnumbered the population of Torrviol. What chance will we ever have?
The center of the Akanan army was pushing fast into the city, while a large group of them seemed to be breaking off to go around to the north. Mirian wracked her brain for the terms that book on battles had used. Is that... an encirclement? It's not making a circle, though. She couldn't make out what the Baracuel army was doing. Well, panicking, certainly, and firing on civilians too for some damn reason.
Mirian crept from the tower across the parapet. The northeast tower was empty, but sure enough, there was one of the Akanan spies, looking out from the southeast tower. Right. Obviously. He was watching the Baracuel army assemble. And he had a wand in his hand. Probably some sort of communication spell. Sending, maybe? Or some spell she'd never heard of. Well. His back was turned to her. Now was her chance.
She readied force push. That should knock the combat wand or gun he pulled out of his hands. She snuck closer to him until she was a dozen feet away. She pointed her scepter at him and said, "Hands up! Don't move!"
The spy immediately whirled around, then reached into his jacket.
Mirian channeled.
The blast of force slammed into the spy. The wand he'd been reaching for went tumbling, but so did he, smashing into the lower part of the battlement and then over the edge. With a short scream, he fell, but the scream was drowned out by the sound of gunfire. She didn't hear him land.
Shit, she thought. She'd killed him. Actually killed someone. Gods, that felt strange. Mirian had only meant to disarm him, but he'd reached for—well, it was self defense, wasn't it? And his death wouldn't last, anyways. But she didn't like the feeling that was roiling in her gut, this weird sense of guilt and horror and—and satisfaction. After all, these were the people who had killed her friends. Had killed her. Didn't they deserve to die?
All around her, the Akanans were slaughtering people like animals. She didn't think the Akanans deserved mercy, but... it didn't feel right for her to kill someone. Mirian watched—until she couldn't anymore, then tore her gaze away, feeling revulsion twisting through her. And hate. She hated them for what they were doing.
Mirian walked back to the northwest tower and descended, this time heading for the second basement level. She opened the door carefully, slowly, then looked around. She couldn't see anyone. She headed for the secret door to the third basement level to see if it was open.
As she was walking through the bookcases, though, she heard the rumble of stone, then soldiers speaking Eskanar. She couldn't understand them; the words came too fast, and her vocabulary was still dismal, but she thought she heard the words, "out" and "search."
Mirian cursed to herself, then turned the spellrod to force blades. Of course the Akanans would send a group to secure Bainrose. And of course they wouldn't need to use the front door—the spies had been busy mapping all the secret passages, and using seekerstones to track all the professors to find any that were in use that they'd missed. Five hells, they could pop up from underground amidst the Baracuel army—they wouldn't have even needed an airship! There was just no chance of a defense. None of this spoke to a last minute attack. How long had they been planning this for?
She heard the Akanan word for "door" next as she crept around one of the bookshelves, then she heard soldiers approaching from another direction as well. Mirian looked around. Unless there was a secret passage right next to her, she was surrounded.
Through the books, she could see the blue and white of the soldiers moving.
She was trying to creep behind a shelf when one of the soldiers she hadn't noticed abruptly turned a corner and spotted her. He shouted a warning then raised his rifle. Mirian cast her force blades, but the spell came out incredibly weak. The blades tore holes in his uniform, but only gave him shallow cuts. Fuck, the auramancers, she remembered. How was she even supposed to deal with them?
The soldier raised his rifle.
The last thing she remembered was just how loud the rifle sounded, echoing about in the library, and just how sharp the pain was, before she died again.