Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 48 of 86

The airship touched down outside the walls of Tyr Alys. Zach climbed off with Fairhaven's soldiers massing at his back. He needed the city's fighters, but the city answered to the mage guild in the west tower. No guild, no army. He looked at Raven's cousin, the white mage who had healed his wounds and traveled at his side since. "Ayla. You know these people. Get us in the door." Ayla gripped her staff. "They won't listen to soldiers. They'll listen to mages." She turned to Lyra, the elf who had scouted for Zach since the tower. "You and I go up. Alone. Everyone else stays here." Zach hated it. "You're walking in unarmed?" "We walk in as guild sisters," Lyra said. She touched the blue orb at her belt. "Trust us to talk before you trust the sword." Raven caught Zach's arm before he could argue. "Let them. My cousin has never lost an argument with those old men." Zach let go. The two women crossed to the west tower and vanished inside. Zach waited at the gate with Raven, Talon, and Garrok. An hour passed. Talon paced with a hand on each katana. "If they take my sister's cousin as hostage, I burn that tower down." "They won't," Raven said. But her ears were flat. Inside the tower, the guild masters heard them out. Ayla laid the truth bare. Malachar had broken both seals. He would soon carry Darkthorne's soul into flesh. Then he would come for every city, theirs first. The black-robe master wanted a price. He wanted Zach's sword left in guild hands after the war, its power studied. Ayla refused. "The blade is bound to one man across worlds. You can't cage it." Lyra stepped forward. She pressed her palm to the stone floor and let her gift spread. "I feel your people below us. Cooks. Children. Apprentices." She met the master's eyes. "When Darkthorne wakes, I'll feel their hearts stop through this same stone. Name a price for that." The room went quiet. The white-robe master lowered her head first. Then the others. The black-robe master set down his demand for the sword. Ayla and Lyra came out of the tower at dusk. Behind them walked the guild masters. Beside them walked the King, cat ears high, summoned by the guild he answered to. He looked at Zach's blade, then at his daughter's cousin who had spoken for it. "The guild has spoken. Tyr Alys marches." Zach let out a long breath. He had come to spend himself and lost nothing. Two women had won the city with words. "Thank you," he told them. Ayla only nodded, tired. Lyra squeezed Talon's hand. That night the city armory opened. Tyr Alys fell in behind Fairhaven's ranks. Zach stood on the wall and counted his growing force. One army short of enough. Black Hollow was next, and Garrok's people were already waiting.