Many
times Kalmar had witnessed the incredible might of the flood-swollen
Kanza. He had routinely seen trees
uprooted, banks undermined, even docks and buildings washed away. All these were impressive sights, but the
undisputed example of the incontestable might of the river was the battle that
was joined between the flood-swollen Kanza and the mighty current of the sea
where the waters met in the Bay of Tamerre.
Ocean
swells would break against the river currents and lose their rounded shape,
turning into dangerous cliffs of water tall enough to engulf a ship. The sandbar at the mouth of the river would
shift, sometimes disappearing and reforming in a different place so channels
safe to navigate in the winter were gone by summer. Even the intrepid Azeans avoided these waters
during the annual contest between river and sea. Oftentimes, implacable west winds would
hammer from the outer seas across the coast superimposing a storm surge on top
of the dueling waters. At such times,
the memories of men couldn't suggest a more impressive example of the
invincible potency of the elements.
The
King's blue crystal took all his images and transformed them into a concept of
unconquerable might. Gegen had to allow
his barrier to expand to hold all the energy being added by Kalmar's
imagery. The synergistic properties of
the crystals suddenly squared the resultant of Flindra and Kalmar's combined
efforts to produce a sparking, crackling energy storm of dazzling intensity. Flindra recognized that Gegen was straining
to hold his barrier to contain this leap in power.
"Let
it go," she commanded.
Gegen
released his barrier and the energy exploded radially outward in a burst of
unimaginable might. In no way, could the
three have anticipated the unstoppable force they had created and released into
the heart of the mountain. They had
freed the energy burst above the howling mob and it manifested as a ferocious
airburst that smashed the frenzied and howling men and women into the ground -
many dying as the shockwave crushed bone and tissue. Above the crowd, the pulse of energy swept
into the overlying rock and the cave reverberated with the sharp report of rock
spalling off the roof. The shattered
rock began to rain upon the prostrate forms of the horde below. Those who had survived the airburst struggled
to rise and escape the deadly hail of jagged stones. The pitch of the sounds in the cavern
lowered, growling ominously as the wave penetrated deeper into the rock mass. With a deafening roar, the cavern roof
collapsed, obliterating the clan under countless tons of rock.
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