Sorceress Ascension

  Sorceress Weave: Book Three

  Author: D. L. Harrison

  Copyright 2023. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two - Interlude

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven – Interlude

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine – Interlude

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Afterword:

  About the Author

  Other books by D. L. Harrison:

  Book Description

  Chapter One

  The engine growled as Iris stomped on the gas, and her adrenaline-fueled wild smile grew wider as the tires screeched and the car took the wild turn.

  It’d been a year since she’d arrived on her new world, and there was still nothing quite like the visceral thrill of a car chase. She hadn’t been able to work law enforcement as much as she’d planned, ruling was harder than that, not to mention the time needed for her magical research and preparations for the war, but she’d kept her hand in. She was in charge of it all after all, no one was going to stop her, not even Cane’s stern looks or disapproving glares.

  At the moment she was chasing down a van filled with a siren, earth mage, two shifters, and a human. They were a team of criminals who had been knocking off jewelry stores for weeks. The human an expert in alarms, the shifters the muscle, the mage to find the hidden valuables or crack safes, and the siren a distraction whose voice put the witnesses and guards in a daze.

  It was somewhat ironic that thieves were far more willing to integrate races in pursuit of ill-gotten gains than the normal Joe and Jane on the street. The races got along well enough, surprisingly well under the guidance of the dragons laws and traditions, but they didn’t normally mix to such an extent.

  It was pure luck, they’d been two blocks over when the call had come in of the robbery, and they’d arrived on scene soon enough to see the van taking off.

  Olwyn grabbed the mic for the two-way radio, and radio was something she finally understood. Science was kind of fascinating to her, if limited compared to magic, but communications in the field was priceless.

  “Olwyn here, we’re in pursuit of a white van, license plate 4WGVI. Current position is Fourth and Mayberry, heading south on fourth.”

  She doubted anyone else but her could hear the tenseness in his voice, he never had taken to car chases like she did, and she was fairly sure he thought she was a little crazy when it came to her need for speed. They were dangerous, not so much her driving. She was sure of her abilities and the limits of the vehicle. It was the van driver that would cause collateral damage in life and or property if this went on for too long.

  She feathered the brakes through the next wild turn, then stomped on it, making the tires chirp before the car launched forward. It was the first city street they’d entered that didn’t have a ton of civilians on the sidewalks. Not quite an alley, but a small side street that didn’t see so much foot traffic, so she released the spell-weave she’d been holding in abeyance.

  The spell was slightly complex, but not all that powerful relatively speaking. It both kicked their quarter panel to push the van into a spin with earth magic, while fire magic blew out the tires. The van missed the telephone pole, jumped the curb, and slammed into the brick building going at least fifty miles an hour.

  She hit the brakes as she weaved a spirit spell. Her capture tactics hadn’t changed appreciably in the last year, as the mind trap spell wave slammed into the van. The shifters, human, and siren were put under, but the earth mage resisted. The proof of that was the van’s door exploding off its hinges, as the man jumped out wielding his magic.

  She got out too as the car came to a stop, prepared to take him down and already building the elemental fire spell to burn through his shields, mixed with a second spirit mind trap.

  But when he saw her his eyes went wide in obvious fear and recognition.

  He immediately lowered his hands, and his magic faded, “I surrender. Of all the damned luck.”

  She giggled. Not that it was a laughing matter, but she was high on adrenaline and the chase, and the look on his face had been priceless. She just hadn’t been able to help it, ruler or not, wise or not, she was still a teenager in a lot of ways.

  “On your knees, hands behind your head.”

  He complied, and she kept the completed spell in abeyance just in case, as Olwyn moved forward to cuff him.

  All in all, a satisfactory ending to the patrol.

  She’d been busy this last year, and she was confident they were ready for her people’s arrival tomorrow morning as well as the arrival of the lich and his horde a few days after that. She’d long since learned to block inter-realm taps between mortal realities, and over the last year had built up over twenty basic spells of life and nature, as well as integrated life or nature into the complex spells to make them more effective. Including the dispel she planned to use on the lich’s taps, it was now laced and enhanced with life magic.

  Her raw power hadn’t grown, not really, but she was far more dangerous with the spells to back up her additions of elemental nature and life magic now under her control.

  She’d even written her own spell books, with the updated spells, new spell weaves, and of course the weaves required for her people to build their own tap system. She’d delivered it to her old world via portal. They wouldn’t be able to practice until they got here, but them studying the last few months all that was involved when they weren’t on duty, would greatly shorten their learning curve upon their arrival.

  She’d be on hand to supervise and correct their first attempts, but she wouldn’t have to teach all of it to them from scratch. It was her hope that they’d be competent and up and running within days, because she planned to join the dragons on the offensive assault. The walled military city they’d built for their army and defense was ten miles north of the farm, and about seventeen miles south of the territory’s large city.

  Which of course, meant when she was by the farm, all of her sorcerers in the military city wouldn’t be able to use her miniaturized great weave for their magic. It just seemed prudent, to make them self-sufficient as quickly as possible, and before the lich arrived.

  Once that happened, she was planning on abandoning her Great Weave for the more simplified tap version of things as well. Just six taps, small bladders, with variable filament openings. It was simpler and more variable, since the filament sizes would grow to any size she wished, not just a set ten sizes. It was also safer, since if her personal great weave was ever dispelled, it would release a toxic amount of raw elemental magic over a half mile in diameter into this world.

  So it just made sense, only to have the mini-great-weave for a few days so that her sorcerers could use it until they’d set up their own taps. She planned to stay in the city and work with her people until the lich opened a portal and started to move its horde through, guiding and correcting their magic in the time they had. At that point, she’d join the nine dragons and set up their ambush, whether they were ready or not. She suspected enough would be, to continue to train and guide the few who fell short of the goal.

  She got her mind back on the present.

  Once the criminal mage was secured, they moved over to the van. She weaved a life spell of healing for the human and siren, who had both been hurt badly in the crash. Their wounds faded in moments, and their color returned to normal and healthy looking. The shifters were fine that way being much hardier and faster of healing, and obviously the earth mage’s shields had absorbed the impact for him.

  Five was too many to take in only one car, so she created a portal to the holding area, and other agents came through to collect them and put them in holding, as well as secure the bags of jewelry as evidence. Most law enforcement on patrol would’ve had to wait for backup in the form of two more cars to transport that many prisoners, but portals worked to make it faster and more efficient, at least for the one person on the planet who could currently weave them.

  All that was left, was the paperwork.

  Anna still looked right around twenty a year later, making it apparent Iris had truly learned the secret to immortality with life magic. Or at least, the way to reverse aging and rejuvenate the body. She’d just beaten aging really, she could still be killed, and a lot easier than a lich at that, whose body could be regenerated after being destroyed. She just wouldn’t be dying of old age. Of course, using death magic to make her harder to kill too, wasn’t at all a temptation for her.

  “Everything ready?”

  Anna nodded, “I believe so. Currently we have about half the shifters expected, a hundred thousand, and the rest should arrive by tomorrow night. Cane is already on site, and making sure it all goes smoothly. All the barracks are built and furnished, the walls enchanted and w
arded, and the witch coven and mage volunteers are arriving tomorrow as well. The warehouses are fully stocked with food, weapons, and everything else we need, and the supply depots in the ten supporting cities are also stocked.”

  She nodded. It’d been a lot of work and a large drain on the treasury, for a contingency they hoped was never needed. If everything went right, they’d stop the necromancer and his horde at the portal. But it did make her feel better to know it was all ready. If things didn’t go to plan, the enemy army would be facing a hardened military force and walled city, instead of a sprawling city of civilians. That would hopefully buy them the time they needed to adjust and take down the necromancer.

  “How about Brittany?”

  Anna replied, “The vampires are ready to move out tonight as soon as sunset arrives. The temporary prisons in Indrith’s territory are ready as well. There shouldn’t be a single vampire or their inmate charges in the territory when the lich arrives.”

  Good.

  “Anything else going on?”

  Anna said, “Besides war preparations, not really. The other rulers haven’t been doing much here, not since you embarrassed Jirlen so badly.”

  She smirked. She’d been conservative in her foreign policy as far as acting in other territories, no snatch teams. But she’d been aggressive with counter-intelligence, and managed to feed Jirlen’s spies false information, then laid traps for the inevitable snatch teams that the old black dragon had sent. It had won her a small measure of influence, but a much greater amount of respect in her ability to play their games.

  The coming war was also probably a part of that equation too, everyone was focused on the world ending threat on the horizon.

  “How’s the family?”

  Anna smiled, “Good. I’m going to miss them, but better that then them coming with me.”

  She nodded. Anna was going to be in charge of the mage offense, and keeping the peace in that group in the fortified city. Mages from other territories would be there, but she’d be the only ruler of that race present, so would be in charge. Same for Cane and the shifter contingent of two hundred thousand.

  “Hopefully we’ll all get to go home within a week or two.”

  Anna asked, “Any idea how you’re going to end the threat?”

  She blew out a breath. Not really. She was confident they’d be able to get the necromancer in a torpor, even if their first plan didn’t succeed, they’d get him eventually. The only question was how much blood payment would be required. But completely destroying it, she had no new insights.

  “Not outside of the two maybe options already discussed. Find a way to block his connection to his heart since it crosses realities it may be possible, where it wouldn’t be if he were on his home plane. Or if that doesn’t work, try to trace that connection to his reality of origin and form an expedition force to go through a world-gate, then find and destroy the heart. If both blocking and tracing the magical connection is impossible, then… I’ll figure it out.”

  She wished she knew the answer. Hell, she wished her two current options weren’t so vaguely defined, but as long as they put him in a torpor and destroyed the miasmic cloud cover spell, and his horde burned in the sun, they’d have time. They’d have time to figure it out, while they moved his body around the world to ensure it was always in sunlight. As long as they did that, his body wouldn’t be able to regenerate. Not ended perhaps, but a threat neutralized for a time.

  So, she’d have the time to figure it out.

  It was the one thing she hadn’t really made progress on, but at the same time she suspected having his body in a torpor to study would give her the insight she needed to find the solution. It had to.

  She’d investigated the idea of just leaving him in a torpor for all eternity, by dumping his body into the sun itself, where the body would never be able to find darkness until the sun burned out. There was even a chance the power of the sun in such close proximity would overcome the constant flow of death magic that prevented the corpse’s complete destruction and making it a final solution in truth.

  But she’d discovered the star that warmed their world was simply too far away. She could never build a teleport spell powerful enough to cross that vast distance.

  Far too far for a portal as well, but that was a nonstarter for another reason entirely. It would in essence, be putting the surface of the sun right next to the planet, at least in one small spot. A terrible idea if there ever was one.

  Some would think world-gates crossed even further distances, but they’d be wrong. A world-gate didn’t cross any distance at all, it only opened a path between realities, to the same exact corresponding spot in an other universe.

  Her other ideas on the matter had hit dead ends as well. She’d even considered resurrecting the lich, since its soul was bound to the body by death magic and present to complete the spell successfully. That would make it mortal again and theoretically make the death magic unravel, and then she could just cut off his head and be done with it. Easy peasy. She might even try it anyway, just to be sure it won’t work, but she believed the constant flow of death magic preserving the corpse in a torpor would also corrupt the spell and cause it to fail.

  She still thought life magic may be the key, her instincts said so, but it wouldn’t be nearly so simple as a resurrection spell and a beheading. That was likely just wishful thinking.

  She shook her head, shaking off her internal meanderings on the matter.

  “So, the hubby came to terms with the new you?”

  Anna laughed, “He did.” Then her mage ruler blushed.

  She was sure she didn’t want the details on why.

  Their relationship and friendship had grown over the last year, and they broached personal topics almost daily now. While Anna’s husband surely had enjoyed the results of his wife’s return to youth and beauty, it had also interjected doubt into the relationship for a time. No doubt he’d been concerned his wife would attract a new younger man, even as he’d enjoyed the view and benefits of a younger wife himself.

  She had created a spell to suspend her own aging, which would have to be cast once a year, but she didn’t plan to start using it for another twenty to thirty years when her body reached full maturity, the equivalent of an eighteen or nineteen-year-old full human.

  She’d also included it in her spell books, so she suspected all the sorcerers would be in their prime for good, within days after their arrival on this world. Just another complication in her mind, but she could hardly begrudge them the benefit. It worried her though.

  She wasn’t immune to ambition either, and where would hers turn if and when the war finally ended, and the scourge of the multi-verse was destroyed? Past that, some like Caroline were far more ambitious and power hungry than she was. She didn’t really want to rule, which gave her some insulation against temptation that way, but she was hardly a saint. Her ambition was more along the lines of personal power and mastering magic.

  Her ambition was a personal journey, not one that ruled over others.

  Where would that take her in the end, and would it be any better or right or just than where Caroline’s ambition would lead her?

  She was kind of depending on the dragons to keep her ambition in check, while she kept her peoples’ in check. But that only worked if the dragons were stronger. She wasn’t quite sure that was true anymore.

  Yes, they had more instant power, but her power was inexhaustible as it stood now. That made a huge difference. Sure, they could be overwhelmed with greater numbers, but the last thing she wanted to witness was her entire people slaughtered in mass because one of them got really stupid.

  But that was tomorrow’s problem, the mission came first, and she wasn’t expecting any trouble from anyone, including Caroline, until it was finished. No one that witnessed their own world’s death would make trouble out of personal ambition, not even Caroline past laying a few seeds of doubt or snide remarks. The permanent death of the necromancer was too important to everyone for that.

  Chapter Two - Interlude

  The horde went on forever, but Evelyn pushed down her worry and focused. She’d see Iris soon enough, she could hardly believe it’d been a year since her friend had left them. It wouldn’t be long now before her magic was the only thing holding back that horde. At least, on the east side of the city.