“I can’t blame her. I’m not anxious to return either. Though in my case it’s because Father wants to kill me.”
Otto laughed. “You know, I’ve heard people claim that their greatest joy in life is family. What do you suppose that’s like?”
“Beats me. Stay safe, little brother.”
“You too, Axel.”
When his brother had ridden off to rejoin his men, Otto closed his eyes and sent his vision soaring over the city walls for a look around. Just inside the gate, a huge force had gathered. There were thousands of cavalry and heavy infantry mixed with archers. How could Straken have so many soldiers left?
He flew down for a closer look.
Something smashed his ethereal construct to pieces. Otto’s sight instantly snapped back to his body, leaving his vision blurry.
What in Straken could have detected his spell much less broken it? They had no wizards, that was well known by everyone. It couldn’t have been a magical device; they’d still need a wizard to activate whatever they found.
Curious now, Otto rebuilt the construct and this time sent it out wide of the city so he could approach the area in front of the main gate from the rear. He made it, this time keeping his distance in the hopes that he wouldn’t draw attention. In the mustering area, the huge force he’d glimpsed before hadn’t moved.
A closer look revealed that they wore different uniforms. The cavalry wore Rolan’s brown with a horse on the chest. The infantry was a mix of Tharanault’s midnight blue and gray and Straken’s black with fur trim. As he’d feared, Straken had brought in reinforcements. The streak he’d seen when he was one with the ether must have been soldiers arriving through the gate.
Otto inched closer. Two smaller groups didn’t look like fighters. Every other one had the ethereal glow he associated with a wizard using magic in some way. Next to each wizard was a soldier with a bare dagger in his hand.
He didn’t need much to understand the implications of that. Having seen how effective Garenland’s wizards were, Straken had brought in some of their own. He counted a hundred wizards before giving up.
His twenty had no chance against them. If they all cast at once, the Northern Army was doomed.
Chapter 49
The instant Otto’s vision cleared, he twisted his horse’s head around and kicked its ribs. The wizards had set up at the rear of the army, thankfully near the command tent. If the Northern Army was going to survive what was coming, he didn’t have long.
Soldiers stared as he thundered past. Otto ignored them, his sole focus on getting the army ready.
He reined in just short of a half-erected tent. One of his squad leaders, the man’s name escaped Otto at the moment, looked up at him. “Lord Shenk?”
“Master Enoch taught you defensive magic, right?”
“Only the most basic. He said if we hit an incoming spell with a thread of ether it would break apart. We didn’t really practice. All our focus was on offensive magic.”
“Well, you’re about to get all the practice you’ll need. Straken’s brought in about a hundred wizards from other nations. I need you to take the others and gather at the front. Stop as many incoming spells as you can. Watch the front gate. As soon as it opens, send up a single-thread fireball to let me know. Understand?”
“Are they coming now?”
“They’re gathering as we speak. Hurry!”
“Yes, my lord.”
Otto left him to gather the others and continued on to the nearby wagons. Hans and his men were setting up the tent they shared when he arrived. “Forget that and get your armor ready. We’ll need you to break up the cavalry charge.”
“What’s going on?” Hans asked.
Otto repeated what he’d seen. “You’ll need to hold them while the rest of the army retreats. There’s no way we can take them with our wizards so badly outnumbered.”
“We’re on it, Lord Shenk.” Hans ran off bellowing orders and waving his hands.
Now if only General Varchi would be as quick to see reason. There was no time for a debate.
Otto raced to the command tent and leapt off his horse. The guards on duty outside started to speak, but Otto ignored them. There was no time.
Inside, the general and his seconds, including Axel, were gathered around a crude map of Marduke. They all looked over as Otto entered.
“We need to get the men assembled and ready to fall back to the forest. Straken’s brought in reinforcements along with wizards, a lot of wizards.”
“That’s absurd,” General Varchi said. “They would never leave the safety of their walls, not when the weather will end the siege for them in weeks.”
“I’m telling you they’re mustering right now. I’ve got lookouts in place. Every second we wait means lives lost. If I’ve made a mistake you can mock me later. Right now we need to move.”
“Ready the legions,” General Varchi said. “Prepare for a controlled withdrawal.”
“We should drive the prisoners to the front and use them as shields to break the enemy charge,” Axel said.
“Good idea,” Otto said. “It’s not like we can take them—“
An explosion cut him off mid-agreement. Otto darted outside in time to see the last sparks fading above the army.
“What was that?” General Varchi asked.
“My spotter. The enemy’s coming.”
As if to hammer the point home one of Axel’s scouts came riding up. “The gates are opening, sir.”
“Get everyone formed up!” the general bellowed. “Where’s my armor? Why is everyone standing around? Move!”
“I’ll join my men up front,” Otto said. “We’ll deflect as much of their magic as we can.”
“We’ll get the enemy prisoners into position,” Axel said. “Good luck, brother.”
“See you on the other side.” Otto held out his hand and Axel shook it.
They parted ways and Otto hurried back to the front of the army. His wizards were spread out in a line, their eyes peeled for incoming spells. It would have been simple enough to escape through the ether and return to Garen, but if he fled, the defense would have no hope and they’d probably end up losing most of the army. That loss might break Wolfric’s will to fight.
The wizards all looked to Otto but he immediately pointed back toward the slowly emerging enemy force. “Watch for spells. You know what to do. Anything that looks like it will miss the main body of the army can be ignored. This is where we show them that wizards are indispensable. When we save the Northern Army, no one will ever question a wizard’s worth again.”
They all nodded and turned back just as the first targeting threads came streaking in.
Otto conjured an ethereal wall as tall and wide as he could. Score of threads struck it and dissolved. As long as they could stop those threads, enemy spells couldn’t strike home. He said a silent thank you to whoever wrote that book on war magic. The author was about to save their lives.
The targeting threads changed trajectory, arcing up over his wall. He didn’t have power enough to expand his wall.
The first fireball came streaking in only to get blasted apart by one of the others. The longer path gave them time to counter at least.
The ground shook as Hans and his men came clanking up in their magical armor. “Orders, Lord Shenk?”
“Hold fast for now. When the cavalry charge comes, use your swords to break their formation.” Another fireball exploded above them. “And be sure to stay behind me until then.”
“Understood.” Hans and the others took a knee to Otto’s left and right.
A tense few minutes passed as enemy spells were broken. The main Straken force continued to advance. They were half a mile away when Axel finally arrived with the prisoners. He didn’t even look at Otto, he just drove them on like a herder pushing sheep to slaughter.
When they were a hundred yards ahead of Otto, Axel turned and rode back the way he’d come, throwing a salute as he passed. Now they had a wall of fl
esh and a wall of ether to protect them from incoming spells.
“If any of them come this way, cut them down,” Otto said to Hans.
All five armored units stood and drew their swords. Otto let the ethereal wall go, trusting that the wizards wouldn’t do anything to threaten the prisoners.
“Here they come!” one of the wizards shouted.
Thousands of cavalry thundered toward Otto. The soldiers of Rolan showed no great restraint, knocking down or trampling prisoners as they approached.
Hans and his men strode forward, six-foot swords swinging. Watching them was like watching a farmer harvest wheat. Each swing of the massive blades felled half a dozen men and horses. Cavalrymen tried to counterattack, but their curved swords just shattered against the massive enchanted armor.
In the end they decided to just ride around them. When they did, they were met with fire and lightning. At such close range, the enemy wizards could do nothing to stop the onslaught.
“How’s the retreat going?” Otto asked.
One of the wizards turned to look. “Most of them are into the forest. Another minute I think.”
“Alright, you lot get going. I’ll cover your withdrawal.” Otto pulled all the ether he could manage and wove heat into it. “Hans! Fall back.”
The armored warriors disengaged and withdrew. As soon as they were clear of the enemy line Otto hurled the gathered ether, raising a huge wall of flames. Threads connected the spell to the ether so it wouldn’t go out until the enemy wizards broke them.
Otto staggered, drained by that final spell.
Hans bent down and picked him up in an oversized gauntlet. “I’ve got you, my lord.”
Otto was only vaguely aware of the reassurance. As Hans clanked away from the flames, Otto devoutly hoped that the enemy didn’t give chase, at least not for a few hours.
The war was over for Garenland. Now it was just a matter of getting home in one piece.
Chapter 50
Otto woke up and was surprised to find he wasn’t moving. The last thing he remembered was nodding off in the grasp of Hans’s armor as they fled the battlefield. He stared up at the evergreens and beyond them the leaden sky. How long had he been out? It felt like moments, but he suspected it was considerably more.
He tossed his blanket aside and sat up.
“Morning, my lord.”
Otto looked to his left and found Hans tending a fire with a bubbling pot over it. He couldn’t smell anything over the smoke that filled the air, but whatever he was cooking would be welcome if it quieted his rumbling stomach.
“What happened?” Otto’s heart skipped a beat when he remembered that the armor could only function for eight hours at a time. “The enchanted armor?”
“It’s fine. Some of your brother’s scouts brought our wagons. You’ve been out for twenty hours; we were starting to get worried. That wall of fire was quite a sight. It let us get the stragglers to safety. You made a lot of friends in the army today, you and the other wizards. Hungry?”
“Starving.” Hans ladled out a bowl of thick…something and handed it to Otto. He took a bite of bland oatmeal and grimaced. “Thanks.”
“We’ll be breaking camp soon, but I wanted to have something ready in case you woke.”
Otto nodded and tried to show a little more enthusiasm. “Bring me up to date.”
“Not much to tell. After we reached the forest, the enemy returned to Marduke. We haven’t seen anything of them since. Doesn’t seem likely they’d just let us go, but so far that’s exactly what they’ve done.”
“I doubt Rolan and Tharanault have any desire to order their troops to go tromping across Straken hunting a force that might turn on them at any moment. I’ll wager if they haven’t already returned to their home nations, they will soon.”
“Maybe you should tell General Varchi. We could turn around and try again.”
Otto scraped up the last of his breakfast and handed the bowl back. “There’s no point. They could simply bring them back through the portal at the first sign of trouble. I didn’t take that into account when I made my plans. I knew the three countries were allied, but I didn’t realize they were close enough that they’d offer military assistance. I never even considered the implications of the portals beyond knowing we couldn’t starve them out in a traditional siege. We’ll need to rethink our entire strategy for next year.”
Hans grunted and put the now-clean bowl back in his kit. “I’ll leave that to you and the other higher-ups. Just point me at who you want killed.”
Otto grinned and wished he could take such a simple position. But of course he couldn’t. Figuring out the portal problem would be his task. Luckily it was one he’d been thinking about for a little while. He suspected he’d be spending a good deal of time in consultation with Lord Karonin this winter. But if his plan worked, it would change the world forever.
The Lady in Red stood beside a snarling Uther as they watched the last of the Tharanault heavy infantry vanish into the portal. As they’d hoped, their allies had turned the tide of the war, especially the wizards, but now that Marduke was secure, they had no desire to linger.
Uther had argued that they needed to chase down and finish off the Garenlanders. The two commanders had listened then explained that they both had orders not to commit to any action beyond securing the city. And nothing Uther could say would change their mind.
Not that they could complain. She had no doubt Straken would now be under new rulership and her and Uther’s heads would be adorning pikes if their allies had refused to help. So they stood and watched until the portal closed. As least they had promises of more aid should Garenland threaten the city again. That and nothing more.
“Idiots, the lot of them,” Uther said. “We should have crushed Garenland together when we had them on the run.”
She nodded as Uther vented. He knew as well as she did that just because Garenland had fled a losing position, didn’t mean that they they might not turn and counterattack if given the opportunity. She’d seen enough of their magical capabilities to know the damage they could do in such a situation would be considerable.
“We should start preparing for spring as soon as possible,” she said. “You know they’ll be back.”
“I do and we will. Damn all wizards to hell! There must be some way to overcome them without relying on outsiders. Assassins maybe. Do you think we could sneak some across the border and have them kill any wizards they find?”
“It’s something to consider, but I don’t really have many people suited for that sort of thing. Our soldiers tend to stand out in a crowd.” That was putting it mildly. The average Straken man was a good hand taller than the people of the other nations. And now that Garenland was on guard, they’d likely just be sending their people to die. “I’ll think about it some more, Majesty.”
“You do that. I need a drink.”
Uther left her alone in the softly falling snow. Some way to defeat wizards without using other wizards. That was a problem she doubted even her scheming could solve.
Chapter 51
Otto rode with the Northern Army for three days, both to regain his strength and to make sure Straken didn’t make any moves against them. As he expected they didn’t. For now, at least, it seemed both sides were done with fighting. That was fine with Otto, he didn’t especially like fighting, especially when he wasn’t in a position to win.
Once he was satisfied that nothing was going to happen, he teleported back to the city, appearing in Franken Manor instead of the palace, mostly because appearing in Wolfric’s bedchamber was a little awkward. That and after a week in the field, he was in desperate need of a bath and change of clothes. Since he had no desire to advertise his return, the bath would have to wait. The servants, bless their hearts, kept a pitcher of clean water beside his bed. Otto washed up with that, changed into something clean, and felt human again.
Reasonably presentable, he turned invisible and worked his way toward the servants’ exi
t. He only had to avoid a single chambermaid laden with fresh laundry. As soon as he found a spot with no one around he reappeared and turned toward the side entrance to the palace. It was an hour before noon and he badly wanted some of the palace chef’s delicious cooking for lunch. There was nothing like army food to make you appreciate fine dining.
At the entrance he was met with surprised looks followed by quick salutes. “Welcome back, Lord Shenk,” the elder guard said.
“Thank you. I trust all has been quiet since I left?”
“Perfectly, my lord. Whatever traitors there were have learned their lesson. His Majesty will have nothing to worry about now.” The guard gestured to someone inside and the portcullis started to rise.
Otto appreciated the man’s confidence but doubted matters would be tied up so quickly. Kelten was well known and according to Wolfric well liked. His execution should finish the job of smoking out any traitors. But first Otto needed to have a nice long chat with him.
He ducked under the portcullis and made his way down the familiar halls. Guards saluted as he passed and servants bowed. Otto nodded back and hurried on toward the throne room. Even if court wasn’t in session, the guards there could tell him where to find the king.
As luck would have it, court was in session when he arrived. The guards weren’t technically supposed to allow anyone in after the doors closed, but they knew better than to hold Otto up. Not because he would do anything to them, but rather because Wolfric would. Standing orders were to let him through no matter the circumstances.
They opened the doors just enough for Otto to slip inside. The throne was half filled with nobles who all had their eyes riveted to the scene up front. A middle-aged bald man in a fancy silk and lace outfit was on his knees before the throne where an enraged Wolfric stood looking down at him. Behind the throne, Borden and a dozen of his men kept a wary eye on the crowd.
The Great Northern War (The Portal Wars Saga Book 2) Page 23
