The King's Sorcerer

by B. T. Narro

  Then I noticed Barrett emerging from behind the ranks of men. It was a little strange to see him on a horse and not at the king’s side. He wore the other tracker ring on his finger.

  They stopped their horses just in front of us. “Where is she, Jon?” Barrett asked. His emotions were hidden behind a dutiful expression. I imagined the king had been furious enough for the both of them.

  “I will tell you in a moment. Our enemies are just behind me,” I quickly added. “You can see them for yourself.” I held up the spyglass. “And they aren’t aware we are here.”

  “There will be no fighting,” Barrett said. “I’m not going to ask again, Jon.” He hopped off his horse and walked toward me.

  “Wait,” Leon said. “You sure you found them, Jon?”

  “I’m sure.”

  Leon dismounted and rushed over to me. He grabbed the spyglass from my hand.

  “I see the bastards!”

  “Give me that.” Barrett took it from him. “That could be Jennava and her soldiers.”

  “I assure you they aren’t.” I knew because Eslenda had told me.

  I didn’t know the politics behind elves in this territory, but there had to be a good reason she chose to remain hidden. Still, I hoped she would support me if I couldn’t convince Barrett on my own.

  “These enemies must be stopped before they reach Koluk and join with Cason Clay,” I said. “Or many innocent people in the city will die.”

  “I know the problem at hand,” Barrett replied indifferently as he continued to look through the spyglass.

  Many of the other men on horseback came closer. I recognized a few of them from the castle. Some started asking each other about who these enemies were. From the confusion in their voices, it was obvious that most of the men here had not heard of the option to strike in the forest and had only come to retrieve the princess.

  “How many are there?” Leon asked Barrett.

  “They are too far away to tell.” He gave the spyglass to Leon.

  Eslenda appeared near my side. “There are a hundred men,” the elf said.

  Many expressed their alarm through exclamations about where she had come from, but a few seemed more concerned that she was an elf.

  “Quiet!” she snapped, silencing them all. “I am with you in this. You have a hundred enemies north of here. Half of them are dark mages without armor. The other half are swordsmen with no magical ability. I have been tracking them, expecting someone to come stop them for days now.”

  “What do the elves have invested in this?” Barrett asked.

  “I do not speak for the elves but for the good of all souls.” She pointed behind her. “These men from Rohaer have no other support. Their scouts are all ahead to the north. This is the right time to attack.”

  “I don’t know about the rest of you,” Leon said to the group, “but I’m going to fight with Jon and this elf. Stay back if you’re scared. But know that if you do, and the rest of us lose here, you will probably face an army against whom your odds will be much worse.”

  “The king gave you orders,” Barrett told Leon harshly.

  “The king did not believe we would find enemies without a trap. Unless you think this elf is part of the trap, you have to agree there isn’t one.”

  Barrett looked at Eslenda.

  “I can vouch for her,” I said. “We’ve met before.”

  “When?” the councilman asked me.

  “When Leon sent me into the forest with Aliana and Eden. She’s not an enemy.”

  “That’s good enough for me.” Leon tied the reins of his horse to a tree. “I have friends ready to attack from the north,” he told the group of soldiers. “I’m not going to keep them waiting longer than needed. They are vulnerable right now. All of us should go on foot from here on. All of us. Trust me.”

  A few men immediately dismounted. The rest of the fifty troops looked at each other with uncertainty as they stayed on their animals.

  “Leon’s right,” I said. “If we don’t defeat this group of sorcerers and soldiers here, with odds in our favor, it’s going to be worse later. The only reason the king didn’t send all of you after them is because he didn’t think we would find them or it might be a trap.” I gestured behind me. “They are just over there, and they have no idea we’ve come. This is an opportunity that cannot go to waste. The king will thank you for it.”

  Many looked at the councilman and waited for an answer.

  He sighed. “Nykal will pay handsomely for your victory here, I’m sure.”

  Groups of men started dismounting, tying the reins of their horses to trees. Soon all were climbing down from their animals.

  “You can tell them where you hid the princess now, Jon,” Leon said. “I will take command of this group.”

  “She’s still in the capital,” I told Barrett. “She went to visit a friend.”

  “So you never lied to her in order to get her into the forest?”

  “No. In fact, she helped me with the plan.”

  Barrett reeled back. “Of course. I’m sure I know which friend it is also.” He shook his head at me. “You’re going to be punished for this Jon, you must be aware. Even if this goes well from now on.”

  “I understand that.” But I was too happy to worry. I almost couldn’t believe this was happening. My plan had worked.

  Now all I had to do was fight. My adrenaline started pumping.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Kataleya and Leon stopped in front of me. “There are others on their way,” Leon said, “the dolts who can’t ride a horse. We’re not going to wait for them, though. Do you know if Jennava’s people are up north?”

  “I couldn’t confirm it.”

  “Do you know if they’re there, elf?” Leon asked Eslenda.

  “I don’t.”

  “Do our enemies have any archers or arbalesters?” Leon asked her.

  “A few.”

  “How many of each?”

  “Four bowmen,” she said. “No crossbows.”

  “We can deal with that.”

  Barrett rode off without a look back. I checked out the others who had come here with Leon. There were a few archers, but all others carried sword, some with shield as well.

  “Are there any other sorcerers with us?” I asked Leon.

  “No, but we will manage.” He started north, the spyglass in hand. “We walk after them! Stay quiet. Use the trees. We’ll get as close as we can before we’re spotted. Then we’ll charge.”

  Soon I was walking beside Kataleya near the front, just Leon and Eslenda ahead of us.

  “Did Reuben hear about the plan?” I asked her.

  “Yes, he would’ve fought if he could’ve. At least that’s what he said.”

  “Who else?”

  “I’m not sure. They were all still deciding as I was leaving.”

  “So everyone knows what I did?”

  “Word got around pretty quickly, but we all thought you had lied to the princess about taking her out romantically. Actually, I remember Aliana said that the princess was probably in on the plan. I was leaving in a hurry. I didn’t hear much else.”

  I appreciated Aliana’s comment.

  I would worry about what my peers thought later. We moved quickly as we stalked our enemies. Leon and Eslenda spoke in hushed tones. From the little I overheard, it was all strategy.

  Eventually, Eslenda split off and headed northwest. It was almost time to charge.

  Leon explained to the rest of us, “The elf will block their escape to the west. Jon, I want you to charge from the east. Head that way now. Wait for my whistle when you’re close to Rohaer’s men, then rush them.” Leon halted the group here. “You lot, the Stormeagles, go with this young man. He fights well and can resist dteria better than any of you, but he’s going to need protection. The king will want to see him alive after this.”

  Ten of the men, all seemingly five to fifteen years older than me, split off with me. There were no archers in our group,
but Leon had given me ten of the most heavily armored. Their house banner, a silver eagle, was painted onto their shields and armor. They looked like experienced soldiers. I imagined they had charged the king quite a lot for their services, and fighting in a battle would surely cost extra. But it would cost the king even more if we were defeated here.

  It was the enemy archers who scared me the most as I hurried northwest with one look back at Leon and Kataleya. Leon gave me a hard stare, while Kataleya added a nod to her determined look. There was no going back now. I hoped Leon knew what he was doing.

  One of the younger guards, a lightly bearded man who looked to be in his mid-twenties, flanked me.

  “You’re Jon?”

  “Yes, what’s your name?”

  “Calvin. All of us sellswords here have done a fair amount of fighting. What about yourself?”

  “Most of it has been in training,” I admitted.

  Calvin appeared concerned. “You might want to stay behind us.”

  “I appreciate your concern, but I just faced a couple of these dark mages last night. I know what I’m doing. You should be prepared to be thrown from range.” I noticed the others coming closer to listen. “All of you should be prepared to be thrown.”

  “We’ve fought dark mages before as well,” Calvin said. “Nasty sorcerers, but they ain’t fire mages.”

  “Aye,” agreed a large man with a sheathed two-handed sword at his hip.

  “When did you fight them?” I asked.

  “It was after Cason tried to convince us to join his army a couple weeks ago,” Calvin said. “After we turned him down, he sent mages and archers after us when we were leaving Koluk. We lost two good men that night. The rest of us escaped. That’s when we decided to offer our services at a discount to the king.”

  One of the older men told me, “It’s a hell of a thing what you did to get everyone here.”

  “We ain’t heard of anything like it,” Calvin added. “Using a princess to make the king send his men after you.” He chuckled. “I don’t imagine his majesty is going to be too pleased.”

  “I’d rather not worry about that right now. Let’s discuss tactics instead.”

  “Ain’t much to discuss. We rush them and hope to catch them by surprise.”

  I tried to think of a better plan. However, there were just too many unknowns. Eventually, I accepted that this was going to be messy no matter what.

  Soon we spotted our enemies without needing a spyglass. We separated somewhat so each of us could use trees individually for cover as we got closer and waited for Leon’s signal. My heart beat like a drum.

  The sorcerers wore heavy black robes not too unlike the brown one of Eslenda. I hoped they didn’t have any light armor underneath.

  My inner voice told me not to kill any of them, only maim, but I knew I had to refrain from showing mercy. As much as it would sicken me to drive my sword into the bodies of these men, they would do the same to us. And they would do the same to the innocent people of Koluk when they took the city by force. They had almost killed Reuben. They had already killed two of ours on their way into the great hall.

  There was a sharp whistle to my left, just west of me. Our enemies spun around.

  It was time to fight! My thoughts disappeared as adrenaline took over.

  I took out my sword and charged, my aggression ripping a battle cry out of my throat. Calvin and the sellswords came at our enemies along my sides, the shouts of their deep voices matching mine. Leon and his larger group charged from the south. I watched fear fill my enemies’ eyes. They didn’t appear to know which way to turn as they tried to scream orders at each other.

  Only one man faced me, a dark mage twice my age. He pulled an essence of dteria from the pocket of his robe. His fear washed away, a confident smirk turning his lips as I sprinted closer.

  He tossed out his other hand in my direction. I was about five yards from him. I figured this was too far to be thrown off balance, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

  I found the four familiar notes of Expel and casted ahead of me. There was a gust of wind that took up leaves and dirt as the energies collided. I felt nothing.

  I had nearly reached him, but he had time to cast again. I tried to cancel out the force of his dteria with another blast of my own dvinia, but it seemed to do nothing as I was scooped up, my momentum quickly reversing. My limbs flailed in the air as I tried to get my feet out under me.

  I landed hard and fell on my ass. The mage charged me while I was down.

  I got my sword up as he attacked with his dagger. I blocked his stab and swiped at him as I sat up. He jumped back and blanketed me with dteria, laying me flat against the ground. He didn’t advance as he made a strained expression, and soon I saw why. An enemy swordsman was stomping toward me as he swung his sword up and around from his hip. There would be too much force behind the attack for me to block it while prone.

  I reached my hand out from around the blanket of dteria against my chest, aimed it at the swordsman, and casted hard at his abdomen.

  He flew backward and landed on his hands and knees, dropping his sword in the process. I could see the dark mage in front of me quickly tiring as I soon found the strength to physically push the cushiony energy off of me and sat up, but it swung back and rolled me over sideways just when I thought I was free.

  I stabbed my sword into the dirt and held the handle to keep from rolling over as the energy tried to topple me. All around me I saw the Stormeagles flying backward away from the fray.

  A few arrows sailed into and out of the large mass of enemies. One struck an enemy mage in his shoulder. He fell back, but two enemy swordsmen jumped in front of him to stop my allies charging in from Leon’s direction.

  Over their head, I saw Leon drop to the ground to purposefully fall underneath a dark mage casting at him. From the ground he whipped out his hand. A jet of fire lit the mage’s robe. Soon the man was screaming as he fled, the fire spreading across his robe.

  I looked over my shoulder at the swordsman I had knocked down. He was picking up his sword, and soon he would be upon me.

  I blasted the dark mage in front of me with Expel. He stumbled back violently and bumped into an archer behind him who was aiming elsewhere, his bow falling. Finally free from the dteria pushing against me, I rose and blocked the overhead slash of the enemy swordsman.

  I took control of the melee with a kick to his knee, dropping him to an easier level to deal with. I gave his sword hand a quick, deep cut. He tried to block my next attack, a stab into his chest, but he couldn’t get his sword up in time.

  He wasn’t dead, but he was out of the fight as he fell back and lost hold of his weapon. The archer had picked up his bow and now had an arrow aimed at me. Meanwhile, the dteria mage looked pissed off, his fatigue hidden by his glaring eyes and red face. I hit the archer with my dvinia, knocking his bow out of his hands yet again, then I hardened my mana to resist the mage as he struck me with the dark energy.

  It knocked me backward but didn’t send me far.

  I was more than irritated at having been pushed down again. Every time I fell, my life was at more risk. The mage tried to jump on top of me and strike me with his dagger, but I lifted my legs and kicked him sideways before he could get close enough.

  I drove my blade into his body, glad to rid myself of him. Then I took the dagger out of his dying hands and threw it at the archer as he loaded another arrow. It struck him in the chest. He fell back with a scream, dropping his weapon for a third time.

  I finally felt a moment of victory, but then I saw two dark mages about to cast at me. I cursed.

  The force of their combined spells picked me up and tossed me back as if I were an old boot they wished to discard. However, I was used to flying backward by now. I got my feet beneath me and landed with a backward slide.

  I let out a single breath of anger and ran back into the fray.

  Our enemies were gaining momentum as they were driving our men back,
no, throwing our men back. I even watched Leon spin through the air as Kataleya shouted his name in worry.

  I was glad she was keeping her distance, staying back near our few archers. One of them shot an arrow into the torso of a mage, taking him down. An enemy archer retaliated and shot back at our archers. Kataleya unleashed a wide jet of water, stopping the arrow dead in the air.

  There were still many enemies. They seemed to outnumber us two to one, the dark mages hurling our swordsmen left and right. It looked as if half of the enemy swordsmen fought with blind aggression, while the other half wanted to flee north, a separation growing between the middle. It would just take a little more coordination from my enemies before they started to kill my allies. I was eager to finish off as many as I could before then, and keep up the chaos.

  The dark mages all seemed eager for combat. They put themselves at the front lines, some snarling like wild dogs but even more laughing hysterically when they tossed my allies away.

  I could see a number of mages and swordsmen eyeing me, but it looked as if Calvin needed help as he was pinned by the dark energy while also dealing with an enemy swordsman. I ran toward him and braced myself. Dteria struck my side, but the mages were too far, my resistance too strong. I kept up my stride and soon used my sword to intercept the swordsman who was about to strike Calvin.

  I drove my blade deep into the enemy’s side, then kicked him off as I pulled my blade free. I ducked under another swordsman swinging high and jammed my sword up between his ribs. I nearly lifted him up as I turned him to block a third swordsman from striking me, the enemy’s blade hitting his own man in the back.

  We each stepped away, the dying enemy falling between us. The dark mage who was holding Calvin let go. I could see him working up a forceful spell with his eye on me now. I motioned one way and then went the other to move behind the swordsman coming at me, putting him between the black-robed mage and myself. The force of the mage’s spell knocked his own man into me as I had my sword up and ready, impaling him.

  I pulled my blade out and left him to die on the ground as I charged the mage. He tried to strike me with dteria, but he didn’t have enough time to put any strength behind the spell. I jumped and turned my back toward him as the spell hit me. It did little to slow my momentum.