The Choice of Magic

by Michael G. Manning

  Will and the men around him moved forward, swinging to the left while Company C went the opposite direction, opening a wide, clear area in the center of the enemy line which Fulstrom and the reserve company charged through.

  Company B continued on, rolling up the enemy and destroying their cohesion, while Fulstrom’s company moved on, wreaking havoc in the camp and scattering the Darrowan reserves who were still trying to form up.

  Sven called out to Will from his left, “We might just win this th—” His words cut off suddenly. Will glanced over and saw a long, leaf-bladed spearhead pulling back—it had just gone through Sven’s cheek and the back of his throat. The old soldier collapsed, blood pouring from his mouth.

  Their formation had begun to disintegrate, and Will froze in horror as he watched soldiers of both armies trample Sven’s dead body. A shadow caught his attention, and he saw a spear coming toward him. He had been too distracted, and now it was too late. Time slowed to a crawl as his heart sped up, but there was no way he could avoid the thrust.

  A larger shadow eclipsed the sun as Tiny’s massive form bulled forward, the edge of his shield knocking the spear away. Thrusting with his own weapon, Tiny impaled the Darrowan. Will saw the big man’s face and was shocked by the rage he saw there. Snarling, Tiny lifted the man he had skewered and swung him sideways, hurling him off the spear and back into the enemy mob.

  Tiny’s spear had cracked under the weight of the man he had thrown, but he bent and snatched another from the ground and moved on. As he passed by, Will heard him scream, “Get up!”

  Ashamed of his weakness, Will jumped up, lifting his shield and following his friend. He had lost his spear somewhere, but it wasn’t his best weapon anyway. Staying close to the big man, he began using the source-link spell again, incapacitating as many of the enemy as he could. Together, he and Tiny destroyed the knot of rallying Darrowans, and Company B began surging forward once more.

  Their line was gone. The enemy soldiers had lost all cohesion, and many of them began to run, followed by the Terabinian soldiers. Sergeants and lieutenants yelled continuously, trying to restore order to their own men, but the Terabinian army was hot on the heels of the routing Darrowans. Order was gone, and the battlefield devolved into a rioting melee in which it was hard to identify friend and foe.

  Will stayed close to Tiny, and when he looked to his right, he saw Dave was still with them as well, though the man seemed to have gone mad. Spittle flew from Dave’s mouth as he spat out a constant stream of incomprehensible curses. The ex-thief’s voice had failed him at some point, but his mouth continued to open and close as he screamed and stabbed at anyone who got close to Tiny’s right side.

  Ahead, Lord Fulstrom and Company E ran rampant through the enemy camp, scattering the second half of the enemy force before they could form a cohesive force that might turn back the Terabinian army. As Will watched, the baron stood in his stirrups and began drawing power from his elemental, forming a large fireball above his raised hands. Before he could release it, though, streams of fire erupted from the enemy, coming at him from two different sides.

  The baron was incinerated, and the massive ball of fire above his head exploded, devastating the men around him. In the span of a few seconds, half of Company E was gone. The world seemed to pause then, as soldiers on both sides stopped in horror to stare at the awful carnage. Will could feel the battle teetering on the edge of a blade. Given the slightest push, it might topple and fall either way.

  For once, he was the first to recover. “For Terabinia!” he screamed, charging across the open ground in the direction of one of the two sorcerers who had slain Lord Fulstrom. Tiny and Dave went with him, and the Terabinian army began to move again, becoming a raging mob as they charged forward.

  Will only had eyes for the dark-robed sorcerer. He feared to look elsewhere and lose sight of the man. He and his squad mates were ahead of the Terabinian charge, but he couldn’t stop to worry about that. The sorcerer was surrounded by a small, protective guard composed of four men, but otherwise he was alone. His eyes met Will’s, and Will saw them harden as the sorcerer gathered his power to destroy them.

  They were less than twenty feet away when a massive ball of fire flew toward them. Acting almost on instinct, Will did what he had once seen his grandfather do. He expanded his will, creating a wide sphere around himself that was nearly devoid of turyn. During his practices, the purpose was to then fill that space with power for use in a spell, but now he merely hoped it would protect them.

  As the ball of fiery power rushed toward them, his empty shell devoured the turyn, filling Will with burning energy. Meanwhile, Tiny had taken the lead in their three-man charge and he swept the sorcerer’s guards aside like dolls with his shield. Dave was right behind him, and he dashed through the gap and buried his sword in the sorcerer’s throat.

  Will had fallen slightly behind. The burning power the sorcerer had thrown at them was almost more than he could handle. Running up to Tiny and Dave, he put his hands on their shoulders and tried to imagine them as part of himself. In his mind he created a small circle, a space within his power that had to be protected, and then he released the power he was holding. Flames burst outward, turning the enemies around them to ash and creating a burning circle of death forty feet wide around them.

  “Fuck yeah!” Dave yelled, his hoarse voice barely rising above a whisper. “Die, you bastards, die!”

  A wave of lightheadedness passed over Will, but he ignored it. He was empty, almost devoid of turyn, but his grandfather had trained him for that. He stayed on his feet by pure will alone, and gradually his vitality returned as his body drew in turyn from around him. Bending down, he pulled the heart-stone enchantment from the sorcerer’s chest and began plucking it apart with his fingers. Be free, he told the elemental in his mind. Help us if you can, but most of all, be free.

  Dave fell on his ass as the giant fire elemental materialized above them. “Holy shit.” His eyes were wide with fear and awe. Then the fiery monster turned and moved away, wading into the Darrowan soldiers. Dave looked at Will. “What just happened?” he wheezed almost inaudibly.

  Will straightened up. “There’s still one more,” he said, pointing in the direction of the remaining sorcerer.

  The air was full of smoke and the stink of burning flesh. The Terabinian army had reached the remaining Darrowans, and the field had once again devolved into a chaotic mess. But the enemy sorcerer continued fighting, sending bursts of flame into any clumps of fighting soldiers that appeared to be mostly Terabinian.

  The flames had almost died away, but those that were in their path winked out as Will began walking toward the last sorcerer with Tiny and Dave on either side of him. Despite the tumult around them, the few Darrowan soldiers who were in their way ran when they saw them approaching. The sorcerer watched them too, and he turned to flee, but made little headway through the mess. Will began to run after him, heedless of the pandemonium.

  This time Will got there first, and he drove his sword into the sorcerer’s back. The fighting continued to swirl around him, but Tiny and Dave stood over him while he extracted the heart-stone enchantment and released the sorcerer’s elemental. This time he asked it to simply be on its way, as he worried that in the mixed melee it would harm as many Terabinians as enemy soldiers.

  When he got back on his feet, he saw that the battle had moved past them. He and the remnants of Sixth Squad were standing on a torn field with nothing but the dead and dying around them. Dave was leaning on a broken spear he had found, and the ex-thief looked as though he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.

  “Should we go after them?” asked Tiny, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

  Will understood their exhaustion. His mail felt as though it had turned to lead, but there was one more thing he needed to do. “Where’s the baron’s body?”

  “Over there,” panted Dave, pointing to a cluster of blackened corpses.

  The three o
f them walked over, and Will bent down to free Lord Fulstrom’s two elementals from their magical bonds. Again, he urged them to leave in peace, and he watched with a feeling of satisfaction as the elemental beings faded away.

  “What did you do?” asked Dave. “I’ve never seen so much weird shit in all my life.”

  Will gave looked at the man, his face devoid of expression. “Nothing. I did nothing. We fought and killed the sorcerers and that’s all.”

  Dave stared at him for several seconds. “Right…” Then he nodded vigorously, as though he had made up his mind. “Fuck it. You’re right. If anyone asks, that’s what I’ll tell them.” He held out his hand. “Brothers first.”

  He had never imagined saying such a thing to someone like Dave, but Will took the other man’s hand. A second later Tiny put his massive hand atop theirs. “Brothers first.”

  Dave’s legs gave out, and he sat down in a barely controlled fall. Will and Tiny sat beside him. All three of them were done. Then Dave said, “I’ll never forget what happened to Sven, but at least we made them pay for it.”

  Chapter 51

  It took more than two hours to restore order to what remained of the Terabinian army. They had lost more than half their numbers, and of those that survived, many were injured. Company E had taken the worst losses, having been nearly wiped out by first Lord Fulstrom’s fiery death and then the reprisal that followed as the Darrowan mob surrounded them.

  Corporal Taylor was found near the perimeter. He had died during the first clash, and Will hadn’t even noticed. He felt badly for the man, but not guilty. He had too many other things to feel guilty about.

  More than twelve hundred bodies littered the former Darrowan camp, two-thirds of them belonging to the enemy. At least seven or eight companies of Darrowans had routed, fleeing back toward Barrowden.

  The Terabinians had won, but the cost had been terrible. Lieutenant Stanton assumed command of the remnants and tried to organize the survivors to clear the area and loot the bodies, but there were simply too few men in good enough shape to begin such an undertaking.

  And then the bad news came. A mounted scout came galloping into the camp. Another of the Patriarch’s armies had been spotted. Will was close enough to hear the man’s words as he reported to Lieutenant Stanton. “There’s at least five thousand soldiers on the road. They’ll be here before evening.”

  “Goddamn,” muttered Will.

  Dave was close by and he leaned in with interest. “Did you hear what he said?”

  “There’s a huge army marching toward us from Barrowden.”

  Dave’s eyes widened in disbelief and he swore, “That’s not fair! Goddamn it! We won! It ain’t fair!”

  Shortly after that, new orders made their way through the tired army. They were to abandon their position and retreat to their own camp. Since they were too few—and too tired—to take the supplies left in the Darrowan encampment, they set fire to them and began to march. They left the dead behind, both theirs and the enemy’s.

  The sun had nearly set by the time they reached their tents, and Will felt grateful that they hadn’t broken camp the day before. He didn’t think he had the strength left to put up a tent. Supper was cold, as no one had the energy to cook. Despite his multitude of worries, he fell asleep almost instantly when he found his bedroll.

  It seemed that no sooner than his eyes had closed, he woke to the sound of Sergeant Nash’s familiar yelling. “Rise and shine, assholes!”

  “I thought you died, Sergeant,” said someone not far away.

  “In your dreams, Corporal,” said the indefatigable Sergeant Nash. “I was not given permission to die. Until I am, I will be here with your sorry ass. Now, get up!”

  The sergeant continued until he got to where Will was rolling up his bedding. “Cartwright!”

  “Yes, Sergeant!” said Will, jumping to his feet.

  Nash held out a strip of linen that had been dyed black. “Since Corporal Taylor didn’t make it back, you will be the new acting corporal for Sixth Squad.”

  Will started to protest, but after a second’s thought he realized Sixth Squad now consisted solely of himself, Tiny, and Dave. He shrugged into his armor and Tiny helped him tie the black ribbon around the upper part of his left arm.

  The sergeant continued, “Since Fifth Squad only has two men left, they’ll be joining you in Sixth.” Nash looked at the two men in question. “Mayhew, Wilkinson, did you hear that?”

  “Yes, Sergeant!”

  Will looked at the two men, then at Dave and Tiny. He felt awkward. What was he supposed to say? “Get your things together,” he told them.

  Will had thought that Stanton might have them retreat to the south. The mountainous terrain there would offer them a better defensive position, or maybe even a place to hide. But as he saw the supply and baggage wagons leaving, he realized why that hadn’t been an option. They had slightly fewer than four hundred soldiers left, and only half of those were in any condition to fight.

  They simply couldn’t hide without abandoning the supply wagons and the wounded. That left them only one practical option. Retreating to Branscombe. With the men they had, the town wouldn’t be defensible, but at least they could warn the inhabitants. The entire town might have to be abandoned, and that was their best-case scenario. There was still the significant threat that the Patriarch’s forces would catch them as they withdrew.

  Will found himself constantly looking over his shoulder as they marched. Sergeant Nash noticed his backward glances and slowed his pace until he was abreast of Sixth Squad. “Worried?” he asked.

  “Yes, Sergeant.”

  “You should be. Our best hope is that they spend a day cleaning up the mess we left at the top of the pass, but they have enough men to spare that they could send some after us and still leave plenty behind to bury the dead,” said the sergeant.

  Some of the men farther ahead were looking back as well, and Will saw them staring at him. They looked away when he met their eyes, but he heard them muttering. With the noise of so many men on the march, he couldn’t make out their conversation, but one word came to his ears repeatedly, ‘warlock.’

  There wasn’t anything he could do about it, so he ignored them and focused on Sergeant Nash. “Isn’t there anything we can do, Sergeant?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” said Nash. “March faster. We’ve done all we can. All the combat-ready soldiers are in the rear. If we see them coming up behind us, we’ll have to turn and fight a delaying action.”

  Nash didn’t say it, but Will could see in the old veteran’s eyes just how he thought that would turn out. A tiny voice inside told him, You don’t have to die with them. Take off the armor and run. They’d never catch you, and after night falls, you could keep running.

  Shut up, he told his inner coward.

  He marched on, but around midday their worst fears came true. A shout went up as someone saw the glint of sunlight on steel helmets behind them. Sir Kyle’s voice rang out, “Company B, halt!” Similar commands came from the other captains and the small contingent of able-bodied soldiers came to a stop.

  Dave glanced over at him anxiously. “We’re all going to die. You know that, right?”

  “Shut up,” said Will.

  “Yeah, I know. I hate myself sometimes,” said the ex-thief. “If it’s any comfort, the only reason I’m still here is you and the big guy, but if the two of you die before me, I’m going to run my scrawny ass off.”

  “That’s all right,” said Tiny. “I’m sure you’ll bite it first.”

  More commands went out, and the men formed a shield wall. Their numbers were low, so it was only two ranks deep. They faced the oncoming Darrowans, and the words Will dreaded found his ears. “Forward march!” As one, the Terabinians began to march toward their end.

  As had happened before, once the two armies were within fifty yards, a large mass of young men darted through the ranks of the Darrowan army and hurled spears at them. “Why don’t we have any skirm
ishers?” complained Dave as they continued onward.

  “Because most of us are conscripts,” said Tiny. “They didn’t have time to form any special units.” Several men along the line screamed as the spears hit them. Then the enemy skirmishers withdrew, and a minute later, the two shield walls came together.

  Fear and adrenaline had Will’s heart racing, but his mind had found somewhere else to be. It was blank, empty of anything but the clarity of a man trying his best not to die. Without consciously deciding, he cast the source-link spell, and this time he caught two men simultaneously. He didn’t have time to be amazed at his success, though. As soon as he had sent enough turyn into them to cause them to begin vomiting, he released the spell and caught two more. He didn’t even bother trying to use his spear; Tiny and Dave were doing their best to take advantage of the holes that formed in the Darrowan line.

  Thanks to his efforts, the center of the enemy line quickly gave way, but the Darrowan force was considerably larger than their own, and it was wrapping around their flanks. They pressed forward, and Will could see several reserve companies waiting to the rear of the shield wall they had just breached. They were doomed.

  Horns sounded behind him, but he didn’t have time to spare looking back. Will was determined to take as many of the enemy with him as he could before he died. Something hard knocked Dave back, and Will had the wind knocked out of him as something hard slammed into his stomach. He only saw the spear as it pulled back, but there was no blood on the point. Already exhausted, Will drained as much turyn from his attacker as he could and used the power to stay on his feet.

  Then the Darrowans began to back away, and some of the Terabinians around him started cheering. Sergeant Nash yelled for the advance to halt, and their line firmed up. With the enemy pulling back, Will was finally free to look back, and for the first time that day he felt a surge of hope.

  A huge army was advancing from their rear, and they bore the banner of Terabinia, a silver falcon against a blue background. Will saw a second banner beside it, quartered into red and black sections with gold oak leaves overlaying them. He wondered which lord the other banner belonged to.