The Traveler's Gate Trilogy by Will Wight

Author:Will Wight [Wight, Will]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hidden Gnome Publishing
Published: 2015-06-11T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20:

THE MASK

Leah may have all but drowned in paperwork an hour before, but now that there was an actual emergency, she found herself with practically no orders to give.

Only minutes had passed since she had first received word that enemy Travelers were in the camp itself, and once the initial panic had subsided, order quickly reasserted itself: officers went straight to her military advisor, a grandmotherly Tartarus Traveler who had served in the Damascan army since the reign of Leah’s grandfather, and Travelers all looked to Indirial.

Neither of them needed her input or approval, so she mostly nodded at messengers and directed them to one or the other, projecting an aura of royal competence and unconcern.

Inside, though, she was dying to lend her assistance. The battle had erupted under Talos’ command, which meant he had likely already betrayed the cause. She longed to go find out in person, but she couldn’t in good conscience leave the command tent.

So she was reduced to placing her scrying lens flat against the surface of the desk, watching the battle unfold from an uncomfortable angle high in the sky. She had tried focusing her view on Simon, knowing that he must be nearby, but for some reason she couldn’t get a lock on him. Every time she tried to aim the lens at Simon’s black-cloaked form, it was like trying to pick up a greased egg with two toothpicks.

The most she saw of Simon was an occasional blur at the edge of her screen. Therefore, she had chosen to lock on to the first soldier she recognized, though she couldn’t remember the man’s name. He was currently locked into battle with one of the black-shrouded Valinhall creatures, while the greater battle raged around him.

The whole scene was such a mess that she could barely make out who fought for which side. Helgard creatures clashed with Naraka Travelers, and the both of them were trampled by a storm of metal from a Tartarus Traveler, who was subsequently bowled over by the Valinhall Incarnation.

Leah gripped the lens in both hands and willed it to move. Seven stones, you would think she could at least adjust the angle, but it remained locked stubbornly on to that one, all-but-inconsequential soldier, who didn’t even have the decency to go fight where more important things were happening.

Calmly, Leah took a deep breath and released the edge of the lens. That soldier had a name, and quite probably a family, and he was currently locked into a battle for his life. She would gather what strategic information she could from his surroundings, silently hoping for his success.

Something caught her eye at the tent entrance, and she looked up to see another soldier practically dragging Overlord Lysander through the gap. One lens of his spectacles was all but shattered, and his left leg had been twisted around almost entirely. His buckskin outfit had been soaked in blood, though she wasn’t clear how much of it was his.

The soldier and the Overlord were followed into the tent by a pair of Avernus Travelers, both carrying evident sword wounds.

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