Despite his concerns, Hotic remained stoically silent. He knew his duty even if it terrified him.
“Captain,” Lord of the Watch said. “Alert your fellows to the threat. When we give the signal, you will all sail out to defeat the invaders. Rest and prepare yourselves. Harbor patrols are suspended until this matter is resolved.”
“As you command, Lord.” Captain Hotic bowed and left the council chamber.
Outside he took deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He knew and accepted his duty. Come what may, he would not shirk this task.
That he may die in the doing changed nothing.
Chapter 22
Dawn was just tinging the sky red when Otto gathered the squad leaders of his war wizards for their pre-battle meeting. To a person they looked at him with a mixture of fear and eagerness. The group had gathered belowdecks on the ship Otto and Wolfric called home, for the moment anyway.
The war wizards had had little enough to do since the war with Straken ended. Not that guarding the empire wasn’t important, but with no external threat, it did become tedious. Otto only avoided the boredom because he had his own goals to accomplish. He thanked all the angels that this madness happened now and not when he was halfway around the world in the Celestial Empire.
“We learned a lot about assaulting a walled city during the battle with Straken,” Otto said. “One advantage we have today is that we don’t care about seizing the territory. We just want to do as much damage as we can to force the city’s leaders to give in to our commands.”
“We’ll be using large-scale attack spells then?” one of the leaders said.
“That’s right. I assume they have a force of wizards that will oppose us. You need to launch your spells on a high arc, force the enemy wizards to build a shield over their heads. With luck, that will leave their legs exposed.”
The war wizards looked around at each other then one finally asked, “Why would we want to leave their legs exposed?”
“So I can cut them off at the knees.” Otto’s smile was cold and humorless. “While you keep them occupied defending the city, I’m going to attack the wizards themselves. If I can kill or maim a sizable portion of them, it will make the second stage of the battle much more effective, assuming they don’t give in at once. Are there any other questions?”
No one spoke, so Otto said, “If our plans change during the battle, Corina will relay my orders. Go and ready your people. We attack on my command.”
A pair of rowboats ferried the wizards back to the second ship. As Otto and Corina watched them she asked, “Why do you want me to relay the orders?”
“Simple. I’ll be focusing my magic on the wall. Extending my voice to the other ship will break my concentration. That could be the difference between victory and defeat. If you’re not certain you’re up to the task—”
“No! No, I can do it. I just didn’t understand why. Thank you for explaining, Master.”
He nodded and turned his gaze back to the city walls. The sun had risen enough to reveal figures moving around on the battlements. He debated extending his sight, but any wizard watching would destroy his construct instantly. Better to wait until the battle started.
He’d convinced Wolfric to remain belowdecks until the fight ended. Otto had enchanted his cabin to keep enemy threads out and Wolfric safe. The last thing they needed was to lose him now after he survived an assassination attempt.
Otto glanced over at the second ship. Looked like everyone was in place. “Tell them to attack.”
Corina lips moved but no sound emerged. Across the water, two score targeting threads arced up and out towards the city. One squad held back to act as a reserve in case the enemy counterattacked.
Fireballs shot out, glowing orange spheres of destruction aimed at the heart of the city.
Otto sent his vision along behind them, low over the water where the enemy wizards would be less likely to notice.
Just as he expected, the first fireballs exploded against an ethereal barrier. With so many spells coming all at once, it was too hard for the outnumbered wizards to smash them one at a time. Sweat poured down their faces as they withstood the first barrage and every eye focused on the sky.
They’d never know what hit them.
Otto conjured an ethereal blade made from twenty compressed threads. None of the weaklings on the wall had any hope of stopping it on their own.
“Second barrage, fire,” he said.
The fireballs screamed in again.
The instant the first one struck the barrier, Otto made his move.
His ethereal blade hit the nearest wizard right above the knees and sliced both her legs off like they were nothing.
The woman’s screams of agony distracted her allies enough that two of the fireballs snuck through, exploding in the city and setting a dockside warehouse alight.
The remaining wizards redoubled their focus, restoring the barrier to full strength.
Otto struck again.
He slashed three more in a span of ten seconds, leaving them legless.
Someone finally noticed his construct and attacked it, trying to rip the threads apart. The enemy wizard’s construct had only five threads and couldn’t begin to scratch Otto’s.
He killed the man with a slash to the chest that left him in two pieces.
“Third barrage,” Otto said.
More fireballs smashed their way through this time as the wizards divided their focus between Otto’s sword and their barrier.
Even with their modest attempt at defense, he killed three more before the last fireball burst.
Otto let the construct vanish and returned his awareness to his body. Three shots was all the war wizards were good for, assuming he didn’t want to exhaust them. And he didn’t. This siege might last a while and he needed to preserve his wizards’ power.
“Tell the assault team to rest and have the reserves take defensive positions. We’ll hit them again this evening.”
“Done,” Corina said. “Did we win? I saw some fireballs slip through.”
“Round one certainly went to us, but we won’t win until the assassins have been eliminated. Burning the city is only a means to an end. Keep an eye on things here. I have to update the emperor.”
Otto left a beaming Corina on deck and descended to Wolfric’s cabin. Ideally the assault would convince those in charge to give in. But if there was one thing Otto had discovered, it was that nothing ever went in the direction he considered ideal.
Chapter 23
When the final fireball had faded to embers, Captain Hotic left his sloop and ran for the battlements. Even from the docks he could hear the wizards screaming. Whatever Lord of the Watch had expected to happen, this surely wasn’t it.
He dodged a ten-man bucket brigade running for a warehouse ablaze near the water. Deeper in the city more fires sent plumes of smoke into the sky. Given the number of fireballs the invaders sent against them, it was a miracle anything remained intact.
Hotic coughed as a gust of wind carried acrid smoke from the city into his path. At the base of the wall, litter bearers carried a wizard on a stretcher toward the city center where divine healers would try their best to save the man. Before they left, he caught a glimpse of the man’s legs, gone from the knee down, the cut perfectly smooth.
At the top of the wall he found Commander Baileon kneeing beside another wizard that had been cut perfectly in half. His tan uniform was spotted with blood; even his bald head was splattered. Finally he raised his head and spotted Hotic.
The commander nodded toward a spot away from the wounded and Hotic joined him.
“I don’t think this is how Lord of the Watch thought our battle would go,” Hotic said.
Baileon grimaced and smudged some blood off his cheek. “None of us expected this. I’ve never encountered wizards of such power. And so many of them. I counted nearly forty targeting threads. The only reason the city still stands is that they stopped when they did. I’m going to ha
ve to completely rethink our defense.”
“Is there anything the harbor patrol can do?”
“No. If you sail out there without wizards to protect your boats, you’ll be sunk in seconds. And I can’t spare a single wizard if we want to have any chance of protecting the city.”
“Perhaps the lords will give in to the invaders’ demand,” Hotic said. “I mean, we owe the assassins nothing. Is protecting them really worth having the city burn down around our ears?”
“It’s not about the assassins,” Baileon said. “It’s about not letting some foreigners sail into our port and tell us what we have to do and who we’re allowed to do business with. If we give in this time, we’ll have to give in every time anyone shows up and threatens us.”
Hotic scratched his chin. That didn’t really follow in his mind. When a more powerful force showed up, giving in made sense. And it certainly didn’t oblige anyone to give in to anyone else. It seemed more like the lords’ ego wouldn’t let them surrender. That struck Hotic as a stupid reason for the city to burn down.
What the hell good was principle to the dead?
Chapter 24
“They’re not idiots, unfortunately.” Otto sat on the iron footlocker in Wolfric’s cabin and wiped the sweat from his brow. The small room felt stuffy and the air close. Heat combined with a lack of ventilation made it hard to breathe. Not that Wolfric seemed overly discomforted.
The second bombardment had just ended with considerably poorer results than the first. He’d only killed one wizard this time, but the war wizards had slipped more fireballs through the defensive wall. It wasn’t a horrible effort, but it was less overwhelming a win than he wanted.
“I didn’t suppose they survived here for so long by being weaklings.” Wolfric had grown a beard during their time at sea and he gave it an absentminded scratch. “Will you try again tomorrow?”
“I think moving on to the second phase of the assault would be prudent. It would also reserve the wizards’ strength.”
Wolfric frowned. “Are you certain about this? Can you control the creatures?”
“I don’t need to control them, just force them into the city. Once inside they’ll do what they do with no prompting from me. Trust me, if anything will rattle the city’s leaders, this will.”
“Very well. Go ahead with phase two. Hopefully it will convince the fools to do the right thing and spare us another day of pounding them with fireballs.”
“Yes, hopefully.” Otto stood. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Otto quickly left the stifling cabin and went up on deck. The slightly less stifling evening air came as a bit of a relief. He glanced at the sky. It would be twilight soon, the perfect time to find what he sought.
He sent his sight flying toward the desert beyond the city. About a mile from the walls, he marked a spot and blinked his vision back to his body. His heart lurched when he found Corina standing right next to him.
“Make some noise when I’m scouting. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Sorry, Master. Can I come with you tonight?”
“No. I’m traveling through the ether and even if I wasn’t, my task is far too dangerous to have you along. Stay here and pay attention. Wolfric’s safety is in your hands while I’m gone.”
She smiled. “I’m not sure Hans and Commander Borden would agree.”
“Both of them have their uses, but they can’t see everything a wizard can.” He looked dead into her eyes. “I’m trusting you with the emperor’s safety. Take nothing for granted.”
“I won’t let you down, Master.”
He nodded and became one with the ether.
An instant later he appeared in the sands outside the city where he’d left his marker. There were supposed to be undead all over the place, yet he sensed nothing beyond the endless dunes. If he had to go hunting for the creatures, this might be a long night.
With a shrug, Otto set out across the sand away from the city. At least the walking was easy. There wasn’t so much as a stone bigger than his head visible in any direction.
About half a mile from his point of origin, the ether swirled to his right. He’d never sensed anything like it. Hopefully this was what he sought. Adjusting his course slightly to his right, he marched on, every muscle tense, and a powerful ethereal barrier surrounding him.
The power he sensed grew ever closer, but he still saw nothing. Had he made a mistake? Perhaps the creatures lurked elsewhere.
Directly ahead of him the sand exploded upward as ten humanoid figures rose from under the sand. That made sense. There was nowhere else for them to hide and it wasn’t like the undead had to breathe.
The creatures moved closer, giving him a better view of their misshapen forms. They had certainly been human once, but now, twisted by magic, they were monsters. Hunched over with elongated limbs and oversized jaws filled with three rows of teeth like steak knives. Their bodies were emaciated, the ribcages poking out of skin like leather. The creatures stared at him with glowing red eyes.
“Why doesn’t the meat run?” one of them asked.
“Yes, we like the taste of fear,” another said.
Just as Otto hoped, they retained at least some awareness. A deep philosophical conversation was probably too much to ask, but he could talk to them.
“I have a proposal for you,” Otto said. “How would you like to sneak into the city and slaughter a bunch of humans?”
“Meat doesn’t talk,” said the biggest of the group, a near-seven-foot creature that stood more upright than the rest. “It bleeds.”
Perhaps it led this pack? Otto wasn’t certain. Did the concept of leadership even enter into their thinking?
When the giant ghoul took a step toward him, Otto pointed. An ethereal lance made up of twenty compressed threads smashed into its head, blowing the twisted appendage apart in a burst of brains and blood.
“As I was saying,” Otto continued. “I’m not meat. But I am offering you a chance to kill and devour as many humans as you can.”
“You are one of the masters,” the first ghoul that spoke said. “Forgive us, great one, we did not recognize you.”
The nine remaining members of the pack fell to their knees and touched their heads to the sand. Otto smiled. It seemed he would get what he needed after all.
“I take it you’re interested in my offer?”
One of the ghouls looked up at him. “We’ll be killed if we go into the city.”
“You’re already dead,” Otto pointed out. “How long has it been since you’ve fed? Since you’ve killed and rent flesh? Half the city’s wizards are dead and the other half exhausted. You’ll never have a better chance to slaughter all the humans you want. Eventually their superior numbers will overcome you, but isn’t that better than rotting out here, starving, in the vain hope someone’s stupid enough to leave the safety of the walls?”
The one ghoul seemed to have taken up the role of spokesman for the group. “Why do you ask us and not command? You are a master. We couldn’t resist your orders if we wanted to.”
Otto had no doubt that Amet Sur and the other Arcane Lords had some way to control the undead, but he hadn’t learned it yet. Not that he had any intention of telling these creatures that.
“I ask, because in my experience, willing fighters are more motivated than slaves. I’ll compel you if I must, but I prefer to secure your willing aid.”
“Want to kill!” one of the other ghouls growled, and bared its fangs.
The others snarled their eagerness as well.
“It seems we have an understanding. Follow me.”
Otto turned his back on them, a move of supreme confidence calculated to show just how little of a threat he considered them. When, after twenty paces, none of them had attacked, he let out the breath he’d been holding.
The sun had fully set when they reached the base of the wall. Using his magic, Otto enhanced his vision, rendering the world in shades of gray. On the battlements, a guar
d passed by, never looking down, completely ignorant of what would soon happen to the city he was supposed to protect.
“How will we climb up?” the ghoul spokesman asked.
“I’ll lift you. Gather together in a tight group.”
The undead did as he asked and Otto conjured a disk beneath them. He needed twenty-five threads to do it, but soon the monsters rose into the darkness. When they reached the top of the wall, he felt them leap off.
His construct had barely dissolved when the screaming started.
Satisfied with his work, Otto followed the base of the wall to the ocean. Once there, he conjured an ethereal walkway and strode across the water toward their ship, extending it as he went.
By the time he reached the side of the ship, he had nearly exhausted himself. Happily, a rope ladder fell from above followed by Hans’s worried face peering down at him. “Are you well, my lord?”
“Perfectly, though I’m in serious need of sleep.”
Otto climbed the ladder and at the top Hans pulled him aboard.
“Do you think there will be trouble tonight?” Hans asked.
Otto smiled and looked back at the city. “No, I do believe they’ll be too busy to trouble us tonight.”
Chapter 25
Eddred of Markane stood on the balcony of his rented room in the City of Coins. The air had cooled since the sun went down, but it never really got cool. He couldn’t wait to get home. Even in the middle of winter, Markane had its charm. The white plumes when you exhaled, icicles hanging from the eaves, snow covering everything and making the land look clean and pure…
He sighed. Happy memories to distract him from his current predicament only took him away from reality for so long. Then he’d catch a whiff of smoke or see the orange glow of flames and reality would come crashing back.
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