Nearing the end of the story.

Chapter 69 – The final battles

Kalosun appeared the next day, and he wasn’t alone. There was a pretty young Kithren woman with him and a 10-year-old boy, clearly her son. Kalo sent them to Rayla and immediately headed off to meet with Stone.

A short battle plan was devised by Stone, Jason, Kalo and Whojo. As Stone had predicted, Kalo nearly went ballistic when he found out that thousands of Kithrens were enslaved in the eastern tower communities. He wanted to go immediately to free his people.

Stone urged caution. He wanted Kalo to minister to the 100 or so former slaves still in the area for a few days. Whojo sketched out a map of the eastern area. There was a town along the shore where a river entered the ocean. Other communities were along the river until it reached the hill where the third tower was located. Stone had worked out that the wizard Provo derived his power from his people, enslaving them while drawing power from them. Kalo would be key to his plan. Get into a population center and preach to the people, freeing them of slavery. The town on the shore seemed the best place to start.

“You, Whojo, will send Jason, Kalosun and myself there, and we will start in four days,” Stone said.

“I’m not going anywhere without Pinky,” Jason avowed with all the energy of a 15-year-old in love.

“And you will not go without me and my bow,” Rayla said. She had left Kalo’s girlfriend with Sissy, Pinky and Emily and had moved close enough to hear the war plans.

“Are you planning to leave Doug here?” Jason asked.

“Of course not,” Stone said. “I need him.”

“We might as well bring the girls too, then,” Stone conceded in defeat. “Sissy, Emily, Pinkie, and who is the new girl?”

“Rytha,” Rayla said. “She seems very nice, Kalo. And her son Keem is very polite.”

Whojo gulped. Nine people and a very big horse. That would be quite an amount to transport. Also perhaps he could send them in two lots. But he realized that bringing Kalo back had been much easier than sending Kip out with his family. Using his power seemed to increase its potential. Stone had an almost unlimited (to Whojo) amount of magic. Perhaps he could gain more capabilities by stretching himself this way.

The war party broke up, and Kalo went to a small rise and started to preach. At first only a few idlers listened, but then more and more stopped what they were doing and started to listen. Kalo told them of their heritage and the people swelled with pride. They were no longer former slaves: they were Kithrens, a proud and noble people.

Keem stood next to Kalo and acted as an altar boy. This was how they had met in the western town. It was only later that Kalo learned that the boy’s mother was a widow, and soon she was keeping house for him, and later warming his bed.

While this was happening, Stone trickled power into Whojo so the magic would not incapacitate the wizard with a huge surge. He also got Wrk to fly out and find Arthur, telling him to signal to the ship that it should head to the eastern town.

It was several hours later that Rayla let out a little shriek of delight. She had made contact with her familiar again, after days apart. She told Stone that Arthur had successfully got the ship to head east with a full load of fish. The eagle was now going to roam along the coast and see the town on the shore and provide Rayla with a more precise map of the area.

Thus, three days later a fully charged Whojo was ready to transport the group into the center of the town square. Minutes later they all disappeared from the launching position, and Whojo was free to return to the area where his tower had been. His servants accompanied him, leaving about 50 people in the small village along the trade route.

“It worked,” Whojo thought. Such a large group did not incapacitate him. Rather it had strengthened him.

Stone felt a small degree of disorientation when the terrain around them changed. One second they had been in a rural clearing, and the next they were in what looked like a town square of a small village, with people staring at the people, including a near giant on a huge horse, who had suddenly appeared in their midst.

It took a few minutes for the travelers to regain their balance, and in that time two armed Kithrens strode towards them. About 20 feet away they drew their swords and ordered Stone to dismount. Instead he drew Pate, who quickly separated the men’s heads from their shoulders.

A woman near a hut screamed at the instant violence. “Why did you do that?” she cried out. “Now the wizard will send an army and destroy the town.”

That was Kalosun’s cue. He stood on a wooden box and started to preach, telling the people within earshot that they were Kithrens, and not slaves to anyone, man or wizard. For about five minutes the people listened with blank faces, but then people started to believe, and the faces went from bland to angry.

Soon all 300 people in the village were surrounding Kalosun and angrily denouncing the wizard. Even the woman who had cried out at first. But Kalo continued his sermon.

“The wizard will feel the loss of these slaves,” Stone said. “Even now he is sending out a patrol to try and bring the village back under his control. It is up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

With Arthur notifying Rayla of the oncoming group of about 100 armed Kithrens coming from a larger town to the north, the group set up in a favorable position to intercept them. There was Stone and Doug at the front, with Rayla off to the side with her bow. Jason stood near Stone, after forcefully ordering Pinkie to the rear with the other girls. Kalosun did not participate in the battle but continued to preach so that the arriving soldiers could not use the wizard’s magic to reconvert the villagers.

When the soldiers arrived, they stopped in a wide circle and started to chant. They fought on foot, but it was apparent that they were just providing a protective circle around two old man in the back, who were leading the chants. Clearly it was an effort to re-enslave the villagers through wizardly magic. Rayla put an end to that with arrows killing each of the two old men. Eighteen more arrows cut down others in the party as she emptied her quiver. By the time it had refilled itself the battle was over, with Stone and Jason wreaking havoc on the remaining soldiers. Finally, with about 10 men left, the Kithrens broke and ran, heading back to the north. Rayla managed to put arrows into the backs of eight of the fleeing men, but two escaped.

“Missed two, dammit,” Rayla said, upset that two survivors would return to tell the tale of the battle.

“Doesn’t matter,” Stone said. “The wizard was probably watching the whole thing take place through the eyes of his soldiers. He now knows what he is facing.”

The group headed back to where Kalo was preaching. Seeing them approach, he stopped his sermon. At that instant every person surrounding him fell to the ground in supplication. Stone noticed something odd about them now. They were all gaunt and emaciated, reminding him of pictures he had seen of concentration camp victims from the war back on Earth. Apparently, the wizard was tapping all of their strength, and feeding it back to them. When his magic was gone, their apparent strength disappeared as well.

“These people need food,” Rayla said. She and the girls started doling out fruit and rolls from the supply wagon. Stone and Jason headed to the largest buildings in town. One had a small train of wagons lined up outside.

“That is food,” one of the men said. The wagons were headed north to a collection station in the bigger town. Stone ordered the most fit of the Kithrens to set up cook stoves, and sides of beef started to roast. The warehouses alongside were broken into and other foodstuffs were liberated and eagerly enjoyed by the starving people. They each had a small meal before the meat was ready, and then ate beef for the first time in years.

“It was touch and go for a few seconds near the beginning,” Kalo said explaining what he saw. “I could feel them wavering from whatever power was being used. A couple nearly broke, but then I felt it snap back together. They are stronger than before. I don’t think they will fall back into slavery no matter what is done to them.”

That was good, because Stone wanted to go to the other town, which Arthur reported as being 10,000 people, located 10 miles away. But first they had to tend to the slaves. The biggest chore was preventing people from overeating until they sickened. But Kalo’s word was powerful to them, and when he spoke, everyone obeyed without even thinking of it. They spent three days watching the people increase their physical strength to match their new mental strengths.

Finally it was time to move on. It took almost three hours to walk to the next town. Kalo brought four or five acolytes from the village. Most of the other people went about their normal lives, although walking proud that they were no longer slaves.

At the big town Kalo and his acolytes started to preach. Only six soldiers came out, and two of them were the men who had been at the earlier battle. “Three days and they didn’t send another army,” Stone mused. “They must fear us.”

Stone, Jason and Rayla each killed two men, Rayla getting the pair who had escaped her earlier. It was over in seconds, and people in that area again showed fear that the wizard would strike with retribution.

But Kalo started preaching and soon had a crowd of 1000 around him. He slowly started to walk out of the town and the crowd followed until he had all 10,000 around him in a field. He talked longer this time: there was no battle for the men’s souls to strengthen them. So he did it the hard way, preaching, telling stories, singing songs until he was certain that they were no longer susceptible to slavery magic.

It took another three days to restore these people as well. This town was a collection point for the goods that the slaves were forced to produce. Some warehouses held seemingly useless good like spices, fabrics and trinkets. But more than enough contained food, allowing the thousands to eat a good meal for the first time in their lives.

This continued for several weeks, with the group visiting other towns, liberating them, then tending to the material and spiritual needs of the freed people.

“Something has to happen soon,” Stone told Jason one day. “We have freed over 50,000. That has to be an eighth to a tenth of his support. He cannot continue to lose power like that. He is getting weaker and I am getting stronger. He has to act. I just wonder what he will do.?