Another bolt struck the water, this time further back.
Once again the blue fire rippled out. Turning, the Almecs started to flee the field. More than 200 died in the second blast.
‘There’s time for another!’ said Rael. His face was horribly disfigured, the flesh stripped away. His left arm was also badly blistered and black.
‘No, sir,’ said Cation. ‘We will die if we stay here.’
‘You coward!’ shouted Rael.
‘He is not a coward,’ said Mejana. ‘Now do as you are bid!’ Taking his right arm she pulled him forward. Rael sagged against her. Together she and Cation carried him to the rampart steps. Behind them Pendar was helping Goray to his feet. The Avatar had been blinded by the last fireball. Pendar got him to the safety of the steps just as the battlements blew apart. The Sunfire was sent spiralling into the air, its power chest destroyed.
Below the wall Cation and Mejana lowered Rael to the ground. Cation produced a green crystal, which he held to the General’s burnt face. Mejana watched as the skin began to repair, the inflammation dying down. The swelling around his eye sank back, the blisters on his flesh receding. Rael sighed. Reaching up he took Cation’s arm. ‘I am sorry for what I called you,’ he said.
‘It was nothing,’ said Cation. ‘Lie back. Relax. Let the crystals do their work.’
Just beyond them Pendar was holding a crystal above Goray’s ruined eyes. Cation began the healing process on the General’s burnt arm, then swung to Goray. He paused as he saw Pendar at work. For a moment there was anger, then it faded. Moving alongside the young Vagar he added his own crystal to the process. ‘Try not to think of healing,’ he advised him. ‘Merely concentrate on what should be. See good, clean skin. Picture him as he was. And let the crystal do its work.’
‘Thank you,’ said Pendar.
Goray groaned and opened his eyes. ‘I can see,’ he said. Lifting his hand he took hold of Pendar’s shoulder. ‘You have my gratitude, boy,’ he said.
A soldier on the ramparts shouted down. ‘Someone is coming. Fetch the Questor General!’
Cation moved back alongside Rael, and helped him rise. Together they climbed the rampart steps, clambering over the fallen masonry.
Cas-Coatl was moving towards the wall, his hands clasped behind his back. He could have been out for a stroll, and showed no tension as he walked closer and closer towards the defenders, ignoring the zhi-bows trained upon him.
‘What is it you want, Almec?’ shouted Rael.
‘We need to talk, Avatar. Do I have your permission to enter the city?’
‘You do,’ said Rael. He, Cation and Mejana walked along the ramparts, then down the last set of steps before the gaping hole in the wall. Water was ankle-deep here and Cas-Coatl waded through it to stand before the Questor General.
‘Can we talk somewhere where it is dry?’ he asked.
‘Here is fine,’ said Rael. ‘Have you come to surrender?’
Cas-Coatl smiled with genuine humour. ‘We need to talk together, man to man,’ he said. ‘Just you and I.’
‘Very well,’ said Rael. ‘Follow me.’ The two men walked past the ruined wall to a building close by. Pushing open the door Rael entered the guard-house. Three Vagar soldiers were sitting in the narrow room eating a breakfast of flat-baked bread and mutton. They scrambled to their feet as the General strode in. ‘My apologies to you,’ said Rael. ‘But I would be grateful if you would allow us some privacy.’ Grabbing their food the men bowed, then left. ‘Sit down,’ said Rael.
Cas-Coatl did so. Rael stared hard at the man’s glass-like brows and cheekbones. ‘How is it that you survived being crystal-wed?’
‘The Crystal Queen needs me. She saved me, and for that I serve her.’
‘My daughter was crystal-wed. For her there was no saviour.’
Cas-Coatl said nothing, and the two men sat in silence for several moments. Then Rael spoke. ‘Why are you here, Almec?’
‘You were right and I was wrong,’ said Cas-Coatl. ‘I did underestimate you. You are not merely talented sub-humans. You are, in fact, Almecs. Or perhaps we are Avatars,’ he said with a smile. ‘My queen believes we should unite. We have much to offer you, and you can enrich us.’