The Topaz Operation Read online

  The Topaz Operation

  The Lights of Zoain

  Book Two

  Jared Sizemore

  © 2019

  Copyright © Jared Sizemore 2019.

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  First Edition: 2019. Available in e-book and print.

  ISBN: 978-1-7320617-2-9

  Cover Design by Paper & Sage (www.paperandsage.com)

  For contact information: www.jaredsizemore.com

  Table of Contents

  Prelude

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  About the Author

  Prelude

  The gleaming asteroid plummeted through space at a speed unheard of to mortal men. The projectile, the size of a metropolis and made of pure diamond, reflected the red sun’s rays off its sharp, multi-edged surface. In its path lay a shimmering blue planet, unwary of its approach and helpless in defense.

  As the diamond asteroid neared its target, the planet received unexpected help. Another asteroid, much larger and of unknown material, emerged from the recesses of space.

  The two collided just above orbit and exploded in a grand spectacle, raining a storm of diamonds down upon Chrysolite while the bulk of the diamond remnant careened into space. The larger asteroid’s remaining chunks spun away in several directions.

  * * *

  The company of horsemen ascended the hill and beheld the glittering diamonds raining upon their land, sparkling on the horizon as light glistens off water. Astonished, they reported it to the king. The king commissioned a delegation to collect the fragments, innumerable though they were.

  The meteorites were brought through the gates of Ochuroma Castle by night. King Mautor Gelboraq rose from his throne and gazed upon their multitude, sparkling in the midst of the courtyard’s torches. He wept. “This is a gift from the heavens.”

  Those present—soldiers and servants—kneeled in reverence. Moonlight alone lit Mount Phengos behind them.

  The king wiped away his tears. “My grandfather witnessed as a child the Great Light of Zoain atop Mount Phengos extinguished, and during my reign the revelers of discord, the magicians of darkness, have crawled from their crevices to bring terror upon our land.” He cradled a diamond in his hands. “This is the sign we are not forgotten.” The king ordered the diamonds stored in the palace treasury until their greatest use could be determined. One large striking piece he kept for himself and stored in his chambers. Mautor personally chiseled this piece into a symmetrical, pointed top. Its beauty surpassed all.

  The news of such a discovery could not hide from the darkness for long. A clandestine group of Qesem—the wizards of discord—witnessed the recovering of the diamonds by the king’s delegation and scavenged a few fragments the soldiers missed. Outnumbered, the dark wizards withheld their assault and waited for the opportune time to strike, for revered among magic users were the powers of diamonds.

  * * *

  Cyelle, the soldier-wizard, awoke in the night, his heart stirring under the heaviness of abrupt darkness. The palace…it’s under attack. He leapt out of bed, seized his sword, and found his wife at her table singing softly over a levitating, golden rod which emanated a faint glow that waxed brighter in accordance with her song. “Fienna, something is happening at the palace. Do you not feel that?”

  “Indeed I do, but the flute is not yet ready,” said Fienna, cradling her precious object in her hands. “Pursuit would be futile.” The great wizardess had been crafting her noblest creation for some time. Ever since the dreadful day of the mountain light’s demise, her soul had been weighed down by the ominous sense of the discordant wizards’ swelling ranks. Fienna’s dear friend, Apollonia, the daughter of Apothena, had aided her, but the day prior Apollonia urgently departed to a far country. Fienna’s creation was nearly finished when darkness struck.

  Ignoring his wife’s advice, Cyelle pressed his chrysolite-jeweled war helmet over his greying-red hair, mounted his stallion, and rode to the palace a short distance from their cottage. As he approached, he beheld seven Qesem raiding the Royal treasury and blasting soldiers with the breath of their dark chants. He drew his sword and blazed toward them, but it was too late. The faction absconded with the diamonds and galloped over the hills on their foul steeds. Cyelle, grossly outnumbered, withdrew his pursuit and attended to the wounded.

  * * *

  The Qesem reached their hideout and—wasting no time—went to work on the diamonds, crafting them into weapons of war. Most notably, seven swords were created through the guile of the chief wizard, Gawore. Gawore’s gaze hung upon his servants while they worked, his eyes burning with white fire, inculcating soul-wrenching fear in the hearts of all that fell under his scrutiny.

  Once their forging work was completed, the sinister assembly surrounded the swords and opened their mouths. Dark chants enveloped the blades, imbuing them with darkness and deceit.

  * * *

  King Mautor fell to his knees in grief over the theft of the diamonds. “This tragedy is, alas, not unexpected.” He assembled a force of wizards, led by Cyelle and Fienna, and a detachment of soldiers to retrieve the diamonds. After they sang together a song of hope, the king sent them out.

  By the light of dawn, the company of seven wizards and two dozen soldiers on horseback reached the outer hills, north of the mountains, and crept upon the Qesem’s hideout, for the king’s spies had long known the location. They approached a shale and limestone rock formation made part by nature and part by man. An upper walkway, carved out of the rock, looked down upon anyone who dared approach.

  As the king’s force halted, a dark chant descended from the rock above. Reverberations drifted toward them like an icy wind and seemed to slither underneath their armor up and down their skin. The soldiers trembled. The
y knew of dark wizards but knew naught how to combat them.

  “Courage, men!” shouted Cyelle.

  The wind stirred violently and the ground before them shook. As the dark music grew louder the ground burst, carving open a ravine hundreds of feet deep between them and the hideout, swallowing up several of the troops and their steeds. Some fled in fear, but others stood firm. A hidden door to an underground portion of the hideout opened up behind the king’s company and six dark wizards emerged, swinging their staffs and bellowing raucous noise, flinging troops into the new ravine where they screamed as they fell into its depths.

  The king’s wizards dismounted their stallions and fought valiantly, singing songs of life and light. Swords clashed and staffs spun with the power of music. Harmony and discord collided, stirring up wind and the morning air’s moisture into instruments of combat. Both Qesem and wizards of harmony were slayed, until only Cyelle and Fienna remained.

  On top of the rock plateau, seven Qesem strode out from an upper crevice, each brandishing a sword of diamond, and stared down from the walkway. Gawore, the chief, holding a diamond sword which reflected pale light off of his fire-like pupils, spoke, “Behold oh Fienna, the great! The light is dead. Long live the power of darkness!” The seven diamond swords, while not failing to sparkle, seemed to cast a dark mist about them.

  Fienna pulled out her flute. Its golden sheen briefly shone brighter than the sun and then faded. “Behold, the power of light and harmony.” She put the flute to her mouth and played a sweet, soft melody. The music pierced the mists of discord, its harmonic tone floating outward like rays of the morning dawn.

  Two of the Qesem shuddered where they stood and swung their swords at each other, slicing through their hardened bodies. They crumpled down dead and their diamond swords tumbled over the ledge onto the rocks below, shattering into pieces. Two more Qesem’s swords clashed as in a duel and the blades broke apart upon impact, several pieces lodging into the wizards’ bodies. Yet two more dark wizards fell into a trance, dropping their swords over the ledge where they too shattered.

  But Gawore remained unaffected. He leapt down to the ground and stared Fienna in the eyes, unfazed by the flute’s music. His hood fell back revealing a bald head with tattoos of black impish eyes carved across his scalp. He cackled with deep, raspy laughter. “I can see through you.”

  Cyelle gripped tighter his sword’s hilt. “Fienna, what’s happening?”

  “An expert in evil is this one,” said Fienna.

  “A deceased expert he will be soon,” said Cyelle as he charged straight at the chief.

  Gawore bellowed a dark tune flinging Cyelle head over heels backward and landing on a pile of dead tree branches. “I see the pride, the arrogance, in both of you,” said Gawore.

  “I would not be so quick to judge traits which you have mastered so well,” said Fienna, shifting her staff to fighting position.

  “Madame, at least I do not try to hide them.” Gawore bellowed a gust of dark noise which she deflected with a song and a twirl of her staff. Fienna sang a song of power, which Gawore absorbed into the upraised diamond sword. Fienna struck the ground with her staff and sang another melody, but the diamond sword absorbed it as well. Gawore stalked closer.

  What have they done to the king’s diamonds? thought Cyelle as he jumped back onto his feet and pulled from his pack a sharp, magically endowed, throwing spear. He sang a tune of speediness over it and cast it through the air. With a timely swipe, Gawore brought up his sword and sliced the spear’s tip in half. However, the rest of the spear burst into a cloud of dust around Gawore’s head, blinding him for a moment.

  Seizing the moment, Fienna yanked out a green dagger made of a dense concentration of Chrysolite stone and lunged at her foe’s neck. But fast and deft he was, he caught her hand with his left, and with his right ran her through the heart with the diamond sword, then retracted the blade. With a gasp, Fienna fell to the ground. The flute rolled out of her robes onto the ground.

  Horror overtook Cyelle.

  Tears streaming from his eyes and anger raging in his heart, Cyelle rushed upon Gawore and squeezed his hands around his throat, forcing him to the ground. In their struggle they pushed the flute into the ravine, where it fell into the unseen depths.

  Passionate music wailed from both combatants, stirring up wind, dirt, and mud from the ravine’s opening. Cyelle reached for the diamond sword clutched by the dark wizard, the blade still stained with Fienna’s blood. Gawore’s strength stayed Cyelle’s hand, and his potent discordant music propelled Cyelle off of him. Cyelle landed on his back near the ravine’s edge. The Qesem leapt to his feet and brought his sword up, preparing to slay Cyelle. But before he swung, a green dagger sliced through the air and impaled Gawore’s left eye. Gawore growled in pain, staggered, and dropped the sword.

  Cyelle spun to behold Fienna’s arm drop to the ground, and she breathed her last. Straightaway Cyelle scooped up the diamond sword, swung mightily, and sliced the Chief Qesem clean in half. His top-half slid into the ravine. The ravine later came to be known as the Ravine of Sumiqua, meaning, the Ravine of Half a Wizard.

  Cyelle dropped the sword, cradled his wife’s head and wept for a long time.

  * * *

  Cyelle brought the diamond sword and many other fragments back to the palace along with his wife’s body. So distraught was he over her death that remembrance of her flute fled his mind.

  Fienna was buried in the Royal Courtyard, and the sword was kept locked in a public display case. Cyelle insisted it be seen by all who came as a warning against letting pride and greed infect the soul. He confided in King Mautor, “This sword is capable of cutting the hard flesh of the Qesem. Keep close watch on the diamonds, for the multitude of their uses is frightening.” The king took heed and ensured that numerous wizards of harmony sang over the sword.

  * * *

  Years passed, and when Cyelle was advanced in age and preparing to die, thoughts of Fienna’s flute rushed upon him. He called his children to him and told them about the power, the beauty and the majesty of their mother’s flute. But before he could tell them what happened to it, Cyelle passed on to the next life.

  Chapter 1

  On his way down the corridor to the Command Bunker, Ryle stared at Qusam’s disheveled, worried face on his visual wrist comm:

  “Ryle, I fear I have made a dreadful mistake, perhaps the worst of my life,” said Qusam.

  “Really? How so?”

  “We must talk in person. Can you come to my cave soon?”

  “Uh—”

  The authoritarian screech of General Turj’s voice interrupted. “Gelibor, get in here! Where’ve you been?” said Turj from the entrance to the Central Strategy Room.

  “Gotta go, Q. I’ll see you soon,” said Ryle as he closed his comm and jogged into the room past Turj. “Sorry, Waap. Wizard business.”

  “Do not, I repeat, do not call me by my first name while on duty, Colonel Gelibor,” said Turj.

  “Yes, sir,” said Ryle, recently promoted to Colonel in Charge of Special Forces. All team commanders reported to him now—one less thing for Turj to worry about.

  “And where is your slippery little brother? He has got to be the most unpunctual member of the Chrysolite Armed Forces I have ever met.”

  “Jez hasn’t always been like that. You need him?”

  “I needed him yesterday.”

  Jez ran into the room. “Sorry for being late, General.” Jez had worked mightily on his physique over the past six months—regular intense exercising, strength training, and weapons training—and it showed. To Ryle he appeared almost menacing.

  “Captain, you’re here because I didn’t want to talk over the comm. Have you noticed anything suspicious at the palace?” said Turj.

  “Suspicious? What do you mean?” asked Jez.

  “I mean suspicious. Anything out of the ordinary.”

  Jez shook his head. “Not really. It’s usually not that exciting over there from
a security perspective.”

  “Right,” said Turj.

  “What’s going on, General?” asked Ryle.

  “Before I get to that, report on your recon trip,” said Turj.

  Ryle motioned them over to the main tactical hologram in the center of the room where other officers bustled about. Ryle waved his hand over the planetary module and a bluish-green 3-D holographic globe of the planet Topaz popped up. “Now is the time to strike.”

  Turj cleared his throat which meant his ears were attuned to Ryle’s report.

  “This is our chance to put another dent in the Archon. There was an uprising on Onyx, and the Archon’s Topazian babysitter fleet launched to go deal with it, leaving Topaz fairly vulnerable,” said Ryle.

  “Fairly?” said Turj.

  “Enough that if we hit it now, we have a fighting chance of taking back that world and actually holding it long enough for reinforcements to arrive. There’s a battlegroup in Sector 58 we can recall quickly. And we still have all those captured Havocs, right?”

  “Yes, we do,” said Turj.

  “Good,” said Ryle. His eyes grew more intense. “I believe the Archon is planning another major offensive. They’re working feverishly to take advantage of our incomplete defense grid. But if we hit them first, we can stave off a disaster.”

  “My other recon team confirmed the same info.”

  “You sent a second team without telling me?”

  Turj lifted his hands up in mock concern for Ryle’s feelings. “There’s a lot of moving parts here. I have to confirm and re-confirm everything.”

  Ryle got the point, but something didn’t sit right about it. He moved on. “Now, one major concern is: what if the Topazian Archon fleet catches on and comes back?”

  “If we hit them hard enough and fast enough, like you said, we can mitigate that contingency. But if we’re doing this, we need to get to the planning, as in, immediately,” said Turj.

  “Absolutely,” said Ryle.

  “Anything else notable from your mission? Factors to consider?”