The Roots of Wrath

by B. T. Narro

  Jennava handed the king a parchment that Nykal glanced over briefly before he looked at us again and spoke.

  “It’s been less than a year since all of you were invited to the castle. A number of you have had birthdays, some more recently than others.” He glanced at me. Yes, I had turned nineteen recently, but it had meant nearly nothing. “You have given up a piece of your lives in your dedication to Lycast, and it will not go unnoticed. You will get each other through this battle. So long as no one does anything rash, you will all remain safe from harm. This will not at all be like the fights you’ve been through before. It will be slow and frustrating, and less dangerous so long as you stay focused. You will tire out. Listen to your bodies and fall back when you need to. You will be fighting alongside soldiers of an army that I have little control over, though I do know these men can hold a shield and certainly don’t want to die. While I want you to protect them, it is each other you need to look out for the most. All of you are going to get through this; you will make sure of it. Let’s hear an aye.”

  “Aye,” we said in unison.

  “Rohaer cannot get past you, no matter how hard they try. Let’s hear an aye.”

  “Aye,” we repeated.

  “You will make them feel doubt deep in their hearts, a doubt we will feed on.”

  “Aye!”

  “They will turn and flee, and you will pounce on them and kill as many as you can!”

  “Aye!”

  “This will be the turning point in the war. This will be the time when Rohaer sees that we are not a kingdom for the taking. We are Lycast, and we will destroy anyone who threatens our people!”

  “Aye!”

  A horn blew from the forest south of us—from where our scouts watched the road ahead.

  “They are coming,” Nykal said as we helped each other into our Valaer steel armor. “Show them you are unafraid. Show them what a true army looks like. Now let’s hear a ‘give them hell.’ ”

  “Give them hell!” we boomed.

  With my heart lifted, I felt like we were floating as we marched down the road toward the bend as the rest of our army filed into place behind us.

  It didn’t take long for us to see Rohaer come around the bend toward us. They wore black tabards over their metal armor. We had on blue over our boiled leather. While their swords, shields, and spears were made of steel, only those of us in the very front, with Valaer steel, were better equipped. Everyone else behind us had wooden shields and spears. It was unlikely that such a spear could penetrate metal armor, but anything that wasn’t Valaer steel could be melted by Davon.

  I recognized him in the second row, behind the most heavily armored men. The king had thought about putting Charlie behind us, but our metal mage didn’t have the same kind of capabilities as theirs. Though he could melt metal, he could only do so when it was close to his touch. He would probably have to fight beside me for that to do any good. It was better that he stayed out of this, especially given that he wasn’t as brave as the rest of us.

  Airinold, meanwhile, might’ve been a little too brave. There wasn’t a Valaer steel breastplate that fit him, forcing him to stand tall in leather armor instead. At least he had on a Valaer steel helmet, like all of us sorcerers of the king had recently received via a cart from Koluk.

  Rohaer didn’t seem interested in stopping in front of us as they continued closing the distance. We held our ground at the tightest turn of the road, where there were rocky slopes to our left and the steep hills of Curdith Forest to our right. If Rohaer became incredibly desperate, they could attempt to infiltrate our ranks by using these slopes, but they were just as likely to slip in their haste as they were to be stabbed by our wooden spears. Then, of course, there were those who held swords far behind us, out of range of Davon, just in case things did not go according to plan and we had to resort to old tactics. Many people would surely die in that scenario, most of them on our side.

  Souriff took off with Failina right behind her. I saw the heads of Rohaer’s army tilt upward to watch them soar overhead. Souriff landed high on the mountains, on a precipice. She stood on the edge, appearing as small as an insect. Failina came down behind her somewhere, out of my view. The blue sky turned white as snow began to fall over Rohaer’s army.

  “Archers!” yelled someone from within the midst of enemy soldiers. “Fire!”

  A hail of arrows shot out over the heads of Rohaer’s soldiers and mine, traveling far toward the deep ranks of our army before descending. I had little idea what kind of damage these arrows would do, but our army was prepared for this. Everyone knew to hold their shields overhead and protect each other as our own archers fired back.

  Our arrows rained down onto Rohaer’s army as they came around the turn a good distance ahead. I heard nothing except the patter of arrows against shields, not a scream or a single sound of worry.

  “You’re just going to waste arrows, like I said!” Leon yelled back. Of course he was too far away for any of the archers to hear him, but our highest-ranking officials were mixed in with the rest of us, including Kataleya’s brother and Harold Chespar himself. Orders would be spread and heard by all.

  There was a strange moment of silence as neither army fired another round of arrows, both probably realizing the same thing. It would be a waste.

  That’s when the fireballs began.

  Unfortunately, all came from Rohaer’s side toward my allies far behind. I heard the crash of burning mana against shields, and this time I did hear screams.

  Remi fired back, but she took aim at the sorcerers not ten yards away from us. A woman waved her hand and caught Remi’s massive fireball with a shell of dteria.

  “Damn,” Remi said.

  “Wait until they’re close,” Leon said.

  But Rohaer stopped there, ten yards away. The temperature had dropped severely. I had just noticed a couple of our enemies shivering when Valinox flew out from the middle of the army, toward the precipice where his sisters awaited him.

  Dense snow fell onto Rohaer’s army, and soon I could see them no longer.

  “Now. While we still have time,” Leon said.

  We rushed toward them as quietly as we could. Soon the snow enveloped us, too, and I couldn’t see past Airinold on my left and Leon on my right.

  “Shields,” Leon practically whispered, and we made barriers of dvinia and water.

  I felt the blast of dteria against my wall, but it held firm.

  “Hold here,” Leon said, and I heard Airinold repeat the same thing down the line to my left.

  We stopped. All was white, the air frigid cold. I figured our enemies were just a few feet in front of us, but I could barely see my own hands.

  I felt another dark mage cast, my shield absorbing the spell. Leon’s wall of water cracked and froze from the outer edges in, but something unseen struck it. Shards of ice and freezing water splashed us, but we did not move. We couldn’t possibly be as cold as the enemy sorcerers in front of us, in the heart of the snowstorm.

  “They’re right here!” yelled someone in front of us with a shaky voice, as if he couldn’t speak clearly through his shivers.

  Rohaer’s front line let out a wild battle cry followed by an onslaught of dteria and fire, but we stopped it all.

  “I’m going now, Leon,” I said.

  “Make it quick.” His wall of quickly freezing water extended to cover Airinold.

  I took off vertically, the cold air and dense snow forcing me to put my hand up over my eyes protectively. Above me, I could feel dense mana from where the demigods fought.

  I had seen Valinox take off fully covered in a suit of armor. I had as much chance of killing him from behind with my sword as I did of blindly shooting an arrow at him through the snowstorm. But there was something else that would be better so long as he was too distracted to notice.

  I heard Souriff and Failina grunting in pain as I reached the precipice of the mountains where I had last seen Souriff. The snow quickly began to c
lear as I landed quietly behind Valinox. He was taking out his longsword as he trudged toward a fallen Failina, Souriff standing in front of her protectively with blood running from a badly broken nose. I did not use mana but approached on foot as I took out a small wooden box from my pocket and opened it.

  I felt Souriff put up a dense shield of dvinia as Valinox threw out his fist and struck her shield with dteria. There was just enough shape and visibility to Souriff’s dvinia for me to see a ripple as Valinox struck it again, and again. Souriff strained to keep it up and even managed to counterattack with her own blast of dvinia, but Valinox blocked it and used the opening to strike her person this time, sending her tumbling through the air, over Failina’s head.

  Failina, back on her feet, cast a massive stream of fire at Valinox. She and Souriff figured they could not kill Valinox, but they knew their efforts would keep him distracted. I crept closer, the heat from Failina’s spell melting the snow in my hair and causing me to break out in a sweat as Valinox blocked it all with dteria, though not so easily as he groaned and turned his head. I froze in fear as I thought he might see me, but he had his eyes shut from the intense heat.

  The fire roared so loudly I thought about abandoning my plan and attempting to find a way in with my weapon through Valinox’s full suit of armor, but if it failed, it would ruin everything we’d set up. Instead, I came up right behind him, slowly and quietly.

  Within the wooden box that I put back in my pocket had been a cursed stone. We had adhered it to a small bit of metal, and Reuben had enchanted that metal into a powerful magnet. The wooden box served as protection against Rohaer’s enchanters. Without it, one of them would be able to pull the curse out from the stone in the midst of our front line, and that could be the end of all of us. I did not fear they would feel the cursed stone or have the ability to remove the curse from such a distance now, while I was so high above them. Failina just had to make sure Valinox wasn’t aware of it.

  I stuck the magnetized metal, with a cursed stone attached, to the back of Valinox’s armor.

  He still didn’t notice me as he pushed his dteria at Failina and forced her fire back on herself, his wall of dteria smacking her in the process and sending her tumbling off the back summit.

  That’s when I jammed my sword up under one of the flaps of metal covering his hips and felt my Valaer steel drive into his side. He screamed as he spun and tried to backhand me, but I ducked and pulled my sword out from his body. Hopefully, he would assume I had come here to stab him and wouldn’t feel the curse trapped in the stone on his back.

  This was not a fight I could win. I did not need to pretend as I showed fear and fled, forming a wall of dvinia behind me to protect my back. I was just about to hop off the precipice when I felt a spell of dteria break through my wall. The clear energy grabbed me and started to crush my ribs beneath my armor, but I stabbed my sword down through the right side of the ring of energy, breaking free and tumbling out.

  I fell off the precipice, back first, as I looked up and saw Valinox lean over to watch me go.

  Come on, Souriff. He had to remain distracted.

  Valinox looked back over his shoulder and seemed surprised by something. I felt an immense amount of dvinia and dteria all at once as he disappeared from view.

  Good.

  I turned to get my feet underneath me as I made a ring of dvinia around my torso. I let gravity take me down as I pushed myself toward my allies, so as not to come down on the heads of Rohaer’s army. All traces of Failina’s blizzard were gone, the sun bright in the sky.

  “Make way!” Leon called as he kept up a wall of water behind him and turned to clear a bit of space for me to land.

  I tried to protect myself from Rohaer’s archers and fire mages with a wall of dvinia, but I still wasn’t very good at casting two spells at the same time, and I couldn’t exactly let my Grab spell dissipate while I was still falling.

  An arrow broke through my thin protective wall and stuck in my leg. I shrugged it off as I slowed and landed in the midst of my peers. Then I yanked out the arrow.

  By the time I had healed myself, I noticed Failina and Souriff coming down to join us.

  “Did you do it?” Souriff asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Really?” Failina made a massive wall of water as she spoke, giving us all a break as she covered the entire front line from mountain to forest. Airinold had to crouch slightly to get his tall self completely beneath it.

  “I did, but I don’t know if it’s still there,” I said. “Did you keep him distracted?”

  “We did,” Failina said. “He should be coming any second.”

  “Here he comes,” Leon called as he pointed at the sky. “Reuben, do you feel it on him?”

  Reuben stepped forward and stuck out his hand in the direction of the demigod. “I do.”

  Valinox might’ve been twenty yards ahead of us, descending down behind the first few rows of his men. He had an arrogant smirk on his face. Clearly, he thought victory would soon be in his grasp with Failina no longer able to continue her snowstorm.

  “Get him, Reuben!” Michael yelled.

  Reuben made a pulling motion through the air while Valinox was still a few stories high. “I got it!” he yelled in triumph.

  Shock twisted Valinox’s expression as he started to flail and turn in the air. He looked down and gasped. Never had I seen him look more mortal as he plummeted like a rock and screamed in absolute terror.

  I couldn’t see him crash, as Failina’s wall of water blocked my view, but I heard the slam of metal and the yelps of several men.

  Leon removed a wooden box from his pocket identical to the one in mine. He tossed the box and the stone over Failina’s wall of water. I saw the box open and the stone come out in the air, but through Failina’s water barrier, I couldn’t see where it landed. Everything was a blur, black tabards twisting and wiggling.

  “Can you get it, Reuben?” Leon asked.

  “Hold on.”

  “Hurry up! We have to get to Valinox before he recovers,” Leon urged.

  “What’s taking so long?” Airinold snarled at us. He looked more eager than the rest of us to get to the final step.

  “I think I’ve got it.” Reuben grunted as he pulled his hand through the air. “There! Go now!”

  A moment later, I smelled the earthy scent of the curse as it disabled all mana in the vicinity. Failina’s wall of water fell with a splash. We charged through it, boots sloshing as we gave a battle cry. Arrows flew out overhead and found new homes in many soldiers.

  “Time to die!” Michael yelled.

  I focused on the soldiers just in front of me, two men who did not even have weapons up as they tried to cast at me and failed, their expressions morphing from confusion to horror.

  From the corner of my eye, I noticed Airinold pull ahead of me. He chose boot over sword as he kicked the shield of a man trying to keep him out, driving the man into the others crowding behind him.

  The two in front of me barely got their shields up as I came at them. Their meek defense would not be good enough. I leapt and lifted my sword over the shield, driving it down into the neck of another man as the one trying to keep me out with his shield looked over in alarm.

  A number of cries rang out from within the ranks of Rohaer:

  “Melt them, Davon!”

  “We need fire!”

  “They’ve disabled sorcery here!”

  “Move back. Move back!”

  They didn’t put up much of a fight as we pushed through them one rank at a time. I could feel Michael and Reuben close behind me, breathing down my neck in their eagerness to get around me and claim some kills for themselves. The road was too narrow between the slopes, and that was the whole point to engaging Rohaer here.

  It didn’t take long for Rohaer to fully turn and flee. I had probably fatally injured a dozen men by then. I noticed Michael making his way up the forest slope to my right and jumping at the fleeing sorcerer
s with an overhead slash.

  “Michael!” I yelled, fearful he had gone too far ahead and would be overwhelmed.

  “I’m with him Jon, raaaaahh!” screamed Reuben as he jumped through the air in a similar fashion.

  Still in the midst of the curse, none of us could cast as we cut down Rohaer’s troops, all showing us their backs as they tried to push through each other to safety. But where was the demigod of dteria? I had to slow to check the ground, thinking that this was where he had fallen. I did not see him.

  “Where is Valinox?” I called out for anyone who might have eyes on him.

  “They’re carrying him off!” I heard Michael yell from ahead.

  “Failina, hurry!” Souriff said from somewhere to my left.

  “Everyone, stay on your feet,” Failina warned us from the woods. She had climbed up the slope and run as far into the forest as was necessary to get away from the curse so that she could cast.

  Intense wind kicked up the dust and dirt from the forest earth and blew it into our faces. Our tabards whipped, some breaking off as I heard cloth tearing. All of us halted, crouching and covering our eyes as we tried not to fall over.

  It came to a sudden end, and I realized I could cast again. I picked myself up without caution and hurled myself toward the retreating enemies, who had gained quite a bit of distance from where we’d removed the curse from the air.

  I realized my mistake too late as Rohaer’s army had now turned around to face us, a number of archers ready at the bend in the road. Dark mages put up a barrier as a hail of arrows fired at me. I turned in the air and ducked my head. They pattered against my armor, many finding new homes in my legs and ass.

  With the ring of dvinia around me now broken by arrows, I crashed down near my peers and rolled as the shafts of arrows splintered off. Pain like I’ve never felt tore through my legs and rear end. I finally came to a stop, but it felt even worse when I noticed the horror written on Reuben’s face.