The attack from the water was the distraction that the Sea Dragon needed. Liam called to the captain, “Take us on a course on the opposite side from our new friends. We’ll hit them while they’re being distracted,” the wizard ordered seeing the chance to go on the offensive and perhaps turn the battle in their favor.
Cannon rung out as the Carnivore furled most of it sails settling into position in the water across from the village and worked to soften any resistance by raining down the deadly metal projectiles. The attempt faired poorly as the thick defenses of the earth and stone walls created by Collin shielded the forces defending the village.
All, but about two dozen warriors guarding the far side of the village, were crouched waiting for the real battle to begin. Over a hundred armored soldiers and warlocks would have been in sight had they dared look over the walls. Sebastian watched from the air to alert the warriors as they readied for the fight. He watched as the Sea Dragon, joined by the Grimnal’s mermen, began to attack the black ship caught between the two forces. The mermen had attacked before the Sea Dragon was returning fire, but unlike his suggestion the two forces were working together well with the enemy caught in the crossfire.
Quickly checking the forces to the east, the mage watched as the rune warriors harried the superior numbers of the enemy. This was their island and they knew it well. The power of the black armor and warlocks was too much to meet head on with less than half their numbers, but the runes on their bodies acted like magical armor and weapons capable of resisting the black armor and magic of the emperor’s wizard hunters.
“The men to the east are falling back to the village slowly, but the enemy will be behind us shortly,” the mage informed Gerid on his return. The thunder of cannons and the noise of metal balls crashing into stone made him raise his voice. “Your mermen have joined forces with the Sea Dragon and are giving one of the enemy ships a very harsh welcome.”
Giving a curt nod, the immortal said quickly, “Their rune magic is different from yours, but you’ll see that it makes my warriors a good match for anyone.”
The large force of armored soldiers began to charge the earth embankments even while the cannon balls attempted to break Collin’s stout defenses. Moments later, the cannons halted at the enemy swarmed their positions. Sebastian followed the giant immortal as the man tested his large battle axe in one hand. An odd sword with worked runes on the blade was in his offhand.
Instinct took over as the battle mage moved into the midst of the fighting. This was what he had trained several long years to do. His skill as a swordsman took over as the black armored soldiers tried to engulf them. The Hollow Sword was charged with light and met the black sword of an orc. A pair of goblins tried to swarm his legs as the two clashed, but a pair of rune warriors moved in from either side driving the smaller fighters back.
It was a tactic Sebastian remembered from previous battles with the Dark One’s forces. Goblins with their daggers often snuck in to cut at a man’s legs while their larger cousins fought as virtual equals to the human soldiers of Southwall. Hamstrung soldiers died quickly when the tactic worked.
As he fought, the mage caught the power of the rune warrior’s magic. Runes shimmered with light protecting their exposed flesh like armor created from barbed wire. Weapons piercing a warrior’s defenses could glance off of flesh strengthened like armor. Fists with dagger tattoos struck with blades of magic and the same went for feet as some men fought the enemy with everything.
A rune warrior cast his arm forward and the runes extended like a biting whip wrapping around the neck of an orc. Others cast their spears only to draw a new weapon from the circles on their chests. Like portal magic, the tattoos somehow held the weapons in space as fingers reached inside the warrior’s chest to draw the new weapon. Another warrior used a knee to the gut of another black armored orc creating a stabbing spike that nearly broke through the magical armor. As they fought, Sebastian thought that the rune armor was a near match for the magic eating black armor of the enemy.
Magic supported the men of the island as Sebastian’s team of wizards used light, stone, fire and nature to attack the dark forces. They had to stay back as wizards. They were not trained to the sword as a battle mage or soldier. Still their powers threatened the warlocks in the black mass. Light and dark, nature and forces beyond, fought back and forth.
“Reflex,” the mage ordered his spell slowing the battle around him. He had to concentrate or find another sneak attack from a goblin disemboweling him if he wasn’t careful. The mage knew this was no normal force of the emperor. He had fought orcs and goblins, trolls and the werebeasts of his horde. These creatures were an elite team designed to take down wizards, but a battle mage wasn’t a wizard. A wizard used magic to affect the world. A battle mage used his magic to become more than a simple soldier.
A troll swatted a rune soldier aside. The massive armored beast wielded a black cudgel thicker than his thigh and as long as his body. Dazed by the blow, the warrior was caught by a pair of goblins stabbing at his mystical armor. A blade found a gap and the man cried out at the blade piercing his side.
Like he was dancing through a crowd avoiding being touched, Sebastian slid past a pair of orcs fighting a pair of warriors and slashed at the goblins. They were quick even to his increased speed. The Hollow Sword cut at the smaller creature’s head gashing his black helmet. The two fell back from the mage as the troll reacting slower reached for the man with his open hand raising the cudgel to crush him with the massive weapon.
“Light,” he charged the sword slicing upwards at the massive club. The power of the Hollow Sword magnified, the blade caught the thick trunk of a weapon slicing through the dark enchantments and split the cudgel in two.
Twisting his follow through, the blade came back slashing across his chest piece, but much of the spell had been used up on the weapon. A gash formed on the black armor as the massive beast fell back in dismay at his broken weapon. The two goblins worked as a pair cutting at the mage driving him back from their compatriot as the troll drew a large battle axe from its back.
It was another proof that this was an elite team even down to the goblins and usually thick headed trolls. Trolls never fell back to regroup and goblins rarely risked their necks for the larger fellows they used for shields.
“Light,” he recharged the blade and cut horizontally through the air before the goblins. They were quick and leaped back as one thinking his reach was just that of the blade. An arc of light cut across the air extending forward catching both goblins across their necks just above the black breast plates. Eyes bulged in surprise as black blood splashed from open wounds on their exposed necks. Both went to their knees grabbing for their throats as they attempted to save their lives by holding in the liquid that was their lives.
The troll ignored its saviors dying at his feet and charged with his axe swinging for the mage’s head, but the man’s speed was too great. His head was no longer there as Sebastian slid within the beast’s reach. He thrust his blade up between the gaps in the armor cutting into the area of its armpit. A cry of pain wasn’t the last as the mage used the goblins’ tactic of cutting the tendon behind its left knee. The massive creature folded on its wounded side exposing its neck as it tried to control the fall onto the wounded leg.
Removed of its base, even the strength of the troll couldn’t wield the axe well enough to stop a final thrust through the exposed neck. Like the smaller goblins collapsing from their spilled blood, the troll reached for the kill point before its body knew that it was about to die. The battle mage was forgotten as the beast choked on blood and began to suffocate.
Sebastian was gone and onto the next fight before the three were fully dead.
The Sea Dragon couldn’t afford to close with the black ship. Liam’s wizards attacked as the cannon struck a solid broadside passing the enemy vessel. Warlocks had tried to stop the assault but the enemy had become cocky and believed the two ships, even with half their usual number on board, could destr
oy a single ship. They had no knowledge that their third vessel had lost to these wizards of Southwall. The hunters were wizard killers and no ship the size of a frigate should have the power to stop them.
Unfortunately for the warlocks, with the merfolk using the power of their rune magic, the enemy had gone from hunter to prey.
Magic cut through sails and cannon struck the hull doing damage even to a magically reinforced ship. The power of the rune warriors drowned soldiers and found openings in the boards of the hull. Spears drove deep and the runes and ocean kept them safe from the black ship. Two of the mermen took out the enemy’s rudder making the ship continue forward towards the island out of control and unable to turn away.
The Sea Dragon turned from their crippled enemy as the hunter helplessly aimed for a beaching. While the Malaiy frigate moved to intercept the second ship that seemed unwilling to use its portal after seeing its wounded companion, Liam held his wizards ready for the other enemy. Both ships would be a close match for the Sea Dragon and its wizards, so this battle was still long from decided.
The crew of the Sea Dragon waited for the enemy hunter to turn back towards them. They had sailed farther from the frigate as their combined plan of attack was ruined. Since they were no longer using the gate spell to attack from a different position, using the wind and tacking became the new tactic.
Liam watched as the wounded hunter hit the shallows grinding to a halt hundreds of feet from the actual beach. Black armored soldiers had been pulled into the waters even as they met the sand. More began to jump overboard thinking to make landfall to fight where they had more of an edge than the tilting deck of the stranded vessel. Like sharks, the mermen hunted the fleeing creatures and men. Chains, harpoons and whips wrapped around orcs and trolls. Goblins disappeared beneath the waves only to be seen floating face first soon after. Blood was in the water.
Warlocks and their soldiers still fought to the land, but the black forces looked thin and weak. Even their casters had been thinned in number by the shark like hunters. Black magic fought against more attacks from the water and still more soldiers were pulled from their feet into the ocean.
“I am glad they seem to be on our side,” Olan remarked as the mage looked on with most of the crew.
The black ship listed further to the right as it continued to take on water. With the first ship down, the enemy knew that they weren’t getting home on that vessel any longer. They also realized that the tide had turned on them. No longer able to toy with their victims, the wizard hunter warlocks prepared to destroy both the Sea Dragon and the warrior merfolk.
More enemies spilled onto the dock or used longboats to move the black armored forces into flanking positions near the Grimnal’s village. In the midst of the battle, Sebastian only could see the closest of the fighting and defend against what he faced. Of a more average male height, trolls and even some of the larger orcs were taller than he and often twice as massive or more. Weapons of great mass and power coated in the black magic of the wizard hunters would have broken a normal sword, but the Hollow Sword was no normal blade.
His speed and skill paired with the magical blade continued to buy him time, time to counter blows, time to find openings in the enemy defenses, time to survive. As he fought, he felt the shift of power to the black armored foes. Warlocks from the ship joined their shock troops and magic began to turn the tide against Sebastian and his allies.
Red glass caught a rune warrior to his right closer to the beach. His hand became engulfed to the elbow blocking his magic armor. A second curse spell tripped the warrior as his legs became tangled in magic that blocked spells and bound limbs. He toppled and an orc stabbed with his sword. The magical runes protected him from the first attack, but the black blade pierced the runes the second time bringing a scream of pain from the warrior.
“Light,” the mage charged his weapon and struck at the orc before him creating space between them. In a rush, Sebastian swept in stabbing the orc standing over his victim. The Hollow Sword split the black armor bringing a similar cry to the men lying on the ground. As the creature toppled over dying, the mage started to bend over to help the warrior, but open eyes stared unblinking. There was no more breath left in the man.
Looking towards the beach, Sebastian spotted nine warlocks casting their magic guarded by a swarm of orcs and trolls. His found the leader, who smiled coldly and cast his spell towards the battle mage.
“Light shield, night,” a bright shield of light sprung onto his left side blocking the spell of red glass, while the darkness of night entered the Hollow Sword. The second echoed the anger of the mage and he readied to attack the wizard hunters. A battle mage was no wizard to be tested with the same spells. The ultimate kind of swordsman, the mage readied to show them the difference between the two.
Another roar of rage came from his left disrupting his thoughts. The warlocks turned seeing trolls and orcs scattered like chafe before a gale. From the hole in the enemy came the giant immortal with half a dozen rune warriors flanking him. Sebastian felt, rather than saw, Frell and a handful more joining the battle mage. The new line had been drawn and an even greater battle began.
Warlocks cast their curse spells and more mundane elemental spells. Red glass tried to snare Gerid, but his magical resistance shed the attempts like a great bull breaking through a window. Sebastian flung his night magic enhanced by the sword at the enemy. A troll caught the brunt of the attack and was knocked from his feet. His armor held and the battle mage changed spells once more.
“Lightning,” he called the spell dragging the sword along the earth at his feet filling the weapon with as much power as it could handle. Closing his eyes as he flung the bright, raging tendril of lighting, Sebastian could see through his lids as the bolt struck the mass of black armored foes. Reopening his eyes, the sound of thunder echoed drowning out curses from Frell and the warriors closest to him.
The black armored soldiers at the front of the warlocks were flung back and aside with the force of the blast. Shields and armor cracked losing much of their power as Ashleen had told him her lightning had been able to do. Moving forward as the mage stalked towards the warlocks, Sebastian watched the rampaging immortal continue forward ignoring the bright lightning bolt. His men were only a few steps behind the giant.
Trolls and orcs charged towards Gerid and his men ignoring those knocked aside by the power of lightning. Two of the trolls hit the giant in a thunderous clash halting the immortal in his tracks. Using a large black axe and club that he had taken from trolls during the initial attack, Gerid met their weapons unbowed before their power.
Magic swept aside another rune warrior, but the remainder flanked the giant. Two stabbed at the stomachs of the trolls as the other three fought with the reinforcing enemies.
Sebastian was struck from the left and barely spotted the armored arms of an orc that had turned from the first attack wave. A dozen orcs and goblins had seen his lightning and the new line of battle joining their fellows. Frell and the rune warriors turned to meet the new threat as Sebastian was knocked to the ground. Strong corded arms pinned the battle mage preventing him from using his sword and his light shield vanished in his surprise.
The urge to struggle against his foe, whose strength surpassed his own, gave way to a quick solution. “Sleep,” he ordered touching the orc’s hand spreading the spell into the monster holding him. His spell had the subtlety of Yara’s magic and as he rolled from the sleeping beast, Sebastian looked towards his group of wizards assisting the island warriors. Black armored soldiers blocked his view, but flashes of magic from beyond their line proved that his people still struggled.
“Reflex,” he ordered a second time. It was believed that most mages could only survive the increased heart rate twice an hour. A third spell was out of the realm of sane thought, though he had pushed himself beyond his limits in other ways before. Hoping that wouldn’t be necessary, Sebastian swept back into the melee.
A pair of goblins spotte
d the rising mage and attacked. His speed was too great and left the green skinned beasts writhing on the ground from their wounds. Moving like the wind, Sebastian aided Frell and the rune warriors from behind cutting down most of their attackers before any could react.
Freed from their opponents, Sebastian led Frell and the men after the nine warlocks.
The Grimnal, meanwhile, surprised the trolls as he released his weapons letting to the two monsters lunge towards him stumbling from the change of force. His hands gripped both of their throats attempting to crush their windpipes. Bending them back, the giant slammed their heads backwards into the ground stunning the beasts. His two rune warriors stabbed the trolls through their throats as Gerid reclaimed his new weapons.
Falling back from his power, the remaining armored soldiers fought back as they gave ground. The giant roared and attacked swinging his giant black axe and club. Tossed aside like rag dolls any armored beast was cleared from the man’s path as he attacked the warlocks joining Sebastian’s handful of soldiers with his own.
Undaunted, the warlocks cast red armor over the orcs pushing them back against their foes. Unbreakable though the glass barriers were, they couldn’t cover every point on the soldiers. Heads flew as the black axe swept in an arc before the giant. Sebastian’s sword found weak points as did Frell’s fire covered sword.
The rune warriors cast their cutting barbed wire whips pulling orcs aside and trapping limbs until throats could be opened by bladed hands. A few more warriors fell to the barrier magic in the confusion and Sebastian used his Hollow Sword to cut through a spell that threatened to capture him.
Shrugging off both spells and soldiers, the Grimnal attacked the warlocks stopping more of the curse spells as the nine men in black conjured red glass swords or used black weapons drawn from sheathes. Even the giant couldn’t break them so easily. His power was great, but their magic strengthened them as well.
Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) Page 45
