The three Officers stood and bowed to him; “Milord, welcome. These are my officers, Major Gram,” she said gesturing to the unmarked gentleman, “and this is Captain Korak,” she said, gesturing to the rough looking brute.
“Find this man a seat!” Korak bellowed. A soldier who stood behind them saluted, and was off quickly.
“Milord, have you worked with the Legion or another House's Guard before?” Tianna asked him bluntly.
“Yes. I worked with the Legion for three years after earning my staff, ma'am,” He said with a nod. While he had not enjoyed his time with the Legion a great deal, it wasn't a terrible memory for the most part.
“Good. If I am unavailable, these two Officers will be the ones with authority over you, Milord. Were you deployed during your time with the Legion?” She asked.
“Only once. There was an incident where Lord Yancy was ordered by High Lord Valkar to surrender his seat. He was the Crown Lord of West Valkar, and he had been convicted of unlawful slaving. I was sent with the company that was assigned to take the Manor, ma'am,” the guardsman returned with a chair for him, he thanked the man and seated himself.
The Major asked; “They sent you to counter a Wizard he had, Milord?”
He nodded. “Yes sir. He still had one loyal Wizard that had stayed with him. I... wasn't able to get her to see reason. I was forced to kill her.”
He left out the fact that killing that Wizard was why he had decided to leave the Legion to pursue his own studies. That needless waste still left a bad taste in his mouth, even after more than a decade.
The Officers nodded in understanding. “At least you're not a shiny new Wizard coming to work with us, Milord. I'm glad to have you with us,” Korak stood and extended his big meaty hand to him.
Feran took his hand with a reserved smile. “Thank you, sir.”
He drained his cooling mug of coffee and set it down. “Would you like another? I'd guess you'll have time for one more, Milord,” Tianna asked.
“Yes ma'am, I would. I think you'll want me awake when we get to Niral,” he chuckled.
She nodded with a slight smile. “Check the lines, Major. Captain, find out what the holdup is on our medical wagons!” She snapped.
“Yes ma'am!” They said together with salutes and made their way quickly.
The young man who had brought his chair brought a carafe forth quickly to refill his mug and filled hers at a gesture from her.
“Is there anything else you would like to know, ma'am?” Feran asked.
“Nothing more than how many soldiers I'll lose today, Milord,” Tianna said quietly, her gaze turning to a report before her.
* * *
Thorel was awakened by Ari's voice in his ear. “Thorel, it is time to get up.”
“What?” He asked muzzily.
“It is Monday. We have classes,” she said.
His mind finally seemed to make a full turn into consciousness. “We're at war, but we still have to go to school?”
“Well, I suppose I could tell Headmaster Stiral the situation, but I don't want to miss my classes. I don't want you to miss yours either, so get up,” her tone would accept no argument.
He pushed himself up tiredly. He looked at the windows, and could see the early morning light outside. He had no idea how Ari could be so energetic. They had made passionate love before bed. He felt as if he'd hardly slept.
His jaw cracked as he yawned loudly and pushed himself out of huge four-poster bed.
“I thought we were going to attack Quarrel today,” he said, yawning again.
“We are. I will be notified when the conditions are right, then I will tell you. We will go to the rendezvous directly from the Academy. It will be closer anyway.”
He nodded. It seemed to make sense to his exhausted mind. He stood and found his robe. The sooner he had some coffee in him, the better he would be thinking, he knew.
* * *
Feran sat at the folding table with Sirius Niral, each of them with the personal squads that had been assigned to them. Niral's were from the House Niral Guard of course. While his were from the Dothranan Guard.
It was a quarter before the twelfth hour. Lunch had been laid out for them by House Niral servants. They sat within the walls of House Niral's modest five story stone Manor while the second Army of House Dothranan hid themselves inside the walls of the Hold.
Trying to hide forty-nine-thousand mounted soldiers inside this small Hold had been a task of epic proportions. Luckily the Hold itself had fairly tall walls, making it somewhat easier. The northern gate of the Hold had nearly ten-thousand soldiers, with their supply and medical wagons spilling out of it though.
All that was really important was that they could not be seen from the south.
Even with so many unable to enter the Hold itself, it was crowded beyond belief. One could barely take a step without running into a man, woman, or horse.
Lord Niral had been quite gracious though. He had greeted Colonel Tianna and him warmly and introduced him to his son Sirius, as well as the Commander of his forces.
That was when the real conversation had begun.
“So, all we have to do is contain Lord Lok's power and let the Dothranan army take care of the rest? Sounds easy enough,” Niral said with youthful confidence.
Feran almost groaned at that. He clearly had not gotten through to this young man.
“Sir, I doubt it will be that simple in truth even though it is that simple in principle. Lok is no one to underestimate. If he has half of the mind I believe he does, the first thing he will do when he realizes four times his number are bearing down on him is to try to escape. We have to not only protect our soldiers but prevent that.” Colonel Tianna had been quite clear on this point: if Lok escaped and informed Quarrel of their position, it could ruin the rest of the battle plan.
“Then we have to prevent any of his soldiers from escaping too,” Niral said thoughtfully.
“Our soldiers can deal with that well enough. We have to keep Lok engaged and on the defensive, or he could try to apport or contact his Hold. But he won't be able to if we force him to concentrate on preserving his life,” he told him.
“I can keep up the major evocations easily enough. I can use greater evocations, but it will tax my spirits,” Niral said truthfully.
Feran grimaced at that. Yes, his own sight age was six, but he had less than half of the spirits of Sirius. This young man was far too conservative for his comfort. “Sir, I think you should concern yourself more with what needs to be done at the time, and worry about your spirits later. Once Lok realizes what we are doing, he is going to try to kill one of us. And he would gain a great deal more by killing you than me. Please keep that in mind.”
Niral smiled almost bitterly. “I'm not likely to forget that, Mr. Feran.”
He took a bite of his cooling food and jerked as the horns sounded. He coughed forcefully, the surprise had made him swallow wrong. One of his guardsmen quickly struck his back hard and dislodged it, giving him sweet relief.
As he cleared his throat, Sirius stood with a smile. “At least we didn't have a casualty before the battle Mr. Feran. It is time for me to do my part. I hope this works as well as your Colonel Tianna believes it will.”
“Let's hope so, sir. We will be along shortly. Just don't die before I get there,” he said with a croak.
“I'll try not to take that as permission to die when you arrive, sir,” Niral said with a smirk as he nodded and walked away with his guards.
Feran couldn't help a smile at that. Despite his birth rank, Sirius Niral was an extremely friendly, good humored man. He'd never met his like among nobles, not even Wizards who were generally more relaxed on etiquette.
“Milord, we should get to our mounts and get ready,” the Sergeant in charge of his squad said.
Feran looked at his food with a bit of disappointment. He was hungry, but since it had just tried to kill him, he felt it was best to just leave it while he was ahead.
“Milord, please mount and be ready. The House Niral guards are beginning their march,” Colonel Tianna's thin voice said in his mind. He'd attuned a stone for her as well as the Major and Captain so they could contact him easily. It had been her idea though. The woman was quite thorough.
“I am doing so now, ma'am,” he replied. He reached his horse, a black and gray warhorse with chain barding. The guards in his squad checked and mounted their own quickly, taking up their spears or pulling their bows.
After he had mounted, two of his guards rode up to flank him. They rode out of the modest Manor of Niral Hold's courtyard, carefully picking their way through the crowds. His guards called out: “Make way for Lord Feran!” which helped make their progress faster.
He was comfortable with the fact that he was a noble. He'd made his peace with that years ago. But it was a new experience for him to have an armed escort calling out his name to clear the way... it made him feel pompous.
He could see many of the Holders wearing leather armor with short blades and spears: it must be the Holds militia, he realized. They were ready to do their part if needed. It wouldn't likely come to that though.
Unless something went horribly wrong, that is.
It took him several minutes to reach the southern wall of Niral Hold. He could hear the horns sounding again, answered by horns off in the distance: “House Lok's forces must have sighted them,” he guessed. Feran walked up the stone steps of the wall to the Colonel.
She stood on the landing with a telescope in hand, watching the badly outnumbered force of Niral marching to meet Lok's. There were over four thousand men and women in Niral's House guard, but they were outnumbered three to one by Lord Lok's company.
“Do you need a glass, Milord?” Tianna asked him, watching intently through the scope.
“No ma'am. I can see well enough,” he told her. He resisted the urge to use a minor Magik to amplify his sight though: he didn't want to risk Lok noting him, even though it was unlikely. They were still over five hundred yards away.
He saw groups of cavalry split from each flank of Lok's company and begin pounding away quickly. “Where are they going?” He wondered aloud.
“To the fields, I'd wager,” Tianna replied. “Captain! Ready four platoons! Split them into two groups, as soon as we deploy they are to engage the pillagers!”
“Yes ma'am!” The rough man saluted fist to heart and cleared the steps three at a time.
KRAK: the thunder split the air just as the Hold's clock tower sounded the twelfth hour. He saw a greater lightning bolt split the air and collide with Niral's shield. He could see Lok's position now though, in the center of the company, just as he'd expected.
Both sides began unleashing arrows upon each other. The front ranks of each closed, turtling behind their shields.
He saw Lok draw power quickly for another attack, he couldn't tell what it was at this distance though. Then he heard the cries of Niral's soldiers as he unleashed his power: the energy went into the earth, and he saw the front ranks of soldiers fall.
“What the hell is Sirius doing?” Feran snarled quietly as the House Lok soldiers charged in and began silencing their screams with swift strokes.
Then he saw Sirius's Magik enter the front ranks of enemy soldiers, and they began screaming in horror. The blood of Lok's soldiers began spraying through the gaps in their armor on enemy and ally alike. He'd never heard of anything like that before; the display was gruesome to put it mildly.
Some of the militia on the wall began retching violently at the grotesque show of Magikal power.
Tianna hissed a sharp intake of breath as another bolt of lightning struck Sirius's shield. “Major! Ready my army!” She yelled.
“Yes, ma'am!” He replied and began yelling the orders to make it so.
“It is time Milord,” she said, collapsing her scope and handing it to her assistant. Her face became a mask of hard resolve as she mounted the stairs downward.
The men and women of the second army were nearly all mounted by the time he made it to the bottom of the stairs. No horns were sounded, as would have been normal. The Colonel had been clear: “Stand ready, and pass the order soldier to soldier. I'll have no horns blowing to announce our presence.”
He reached his own warhorse with his personal guard and mounted himself. He was a competent rider, but he had never ridden into a battle before. He was a bit concerned about trying to duel from horseback, no matter how well trained these animals supposedly were. But he was equally concerned about flying: if he flew from his mount he would expose himself to enemy archers. This was going to be hard enough without his shield taking the additional beating.
At least his staff was fully charged. He would drain that before he touched any of his spirits. The staff would recharge he knew, but spirits once drained are drained forever.
He could hear more thunder from outside the walls. He hoped that meant Sirius still lived. If he didn't...
That was the sound of hundreds of deaths.
Calls of “Ready!” rolled like a wave from the front of the lines near the gate to far behind him.
Feran's blood pumped furiously in his veins. He took a deep breath to calm himself. He couldn't afford any mistakes.
“Open the gates!” Tianna called out. That woman can yell as loud as any man, easily. He thought as he looked at her. She stood in her stirrups two columns to his left.
He could barely even see the gates, there were so many people and horses between him and there. “Calm down, breathe. Just focus on the Magik. Material sight is a distraction here,” he thought to himself.
“For the Mistress!!!” She screamed and unsheathed her blade. The call was taken up by thousands of throats as the cavalry began moving through the gates: they picked up speed as they exited.
“Just try to keep up, man,” he thought as the warhorses reached a gallop. The thunder of hooves filled his ears now as he saw the two small groups split off to the north and south heading towards Niral's fields.
They angled in towards the Lok company's flank as the mounted archers opened fire during the charge. Feran shielded himself from return fire. He saw Lok's incoming Magik and struck the weave with a charge of pure spirit to dissipate the ball lightning he'd unleashed.
Then the riders in front of him started slowing as the forward ranks collided with the enemy. He could hear the cries of people and animals as the ranks used their momentum to press forward through steel and flesh.
Drawing more power, he expanded his senses as much as he could, there were too many soldiers between him and Lok to depend on sight alone. He raised a light shield of spirit over the battlefield to prevent any speaking stones or mind touches from leaving the area.
He spotted Lok and raised a deadly vortex of wind beneath the man. “He has to know he can't win now, I have to keep him occupied,” Feran thought furiously as he switched his power draw to a spirit; his staff was almost drained already. That's when he saw it with his expanded senses: an apportation weave was being constructed quickly.
“NO!” He yelled as he wrapped a greater shield of spirit around Lok to disrupt the spell; Feran was fortunate his affinity was spirit today. Spirit was the element used in apportation, and a strong enough shield should disrupt his attempt. Fortunately the time it takes to cast such an evocation is proportionate to the distance being traversed, giving him more than enough time.
Lok struck the shield with a blast of lightning; a shield of spirit was weakest to lightning, Lok was no fool. Then Sirius froze the weakened shield with an arctic chill: Sirius's affinity was water, and it could definitely stop him if it broke through.
He could sense Sirius's Magikal signature was physically closing on Lok's now. House Niral's small force must have been able to break through the front line due to the massive damage caused by the Dothranan's charge.
Then wi
th his senses he saw a buildup of Magikal fire from Lok: he heard the explosion and the screams of several people. There was a quick build up of spiritual energy in Lok then. Feran began an evocation of his own to counter Lok's apportation: but his spell fired too quickly for Feran to counter.
And Lord Gorath Lok appeared from a twist in the air directly in front of him, with a mask of rage on his features. Feran barely had time to strengthen his own shield to the maximum before he unleashed a wave of power. The weave was a combination of air and earth that cut through his armored horse eliciting a scream from the doomed animal.
Agony flashed through Feran's legs as he flew from his horse's back. He collided bodily with several soldiers and horses that were being torn asunder by Lok's Magik. He skidded along the churned earth on what remained of his shield. The corpse of a horse stopped his journey with a wet thud. He channeled power from his spirit to heal his broken legs and switched quickly to a new spirit as that one dissipated. He strengthened his shield as quickly as he could, trying to ignore the screams of the dying soldiers all around him.
One quick look showed that his place of safety among the ranks was now a viscera-slick graveyard. For at least ten yards in every direction, all he could see were men, women, and horses sliced neatly by the wind blade that Lok had evoked.
He could see Colonel Tianna pulling herself, without her legs through the carnage Lok had wrought. “Kill that bastard!” She screamed raggedly before she ceased her struggle forward and relaxed in death's embrace.
He could see Lok evoking an apportation weave as archers' arrows broke on his shield, with a victorious smile on his face. Feran numbly prepared a weave of spirit to disrupt Lok's apportation: he felt doom descending upon him though. He was halfway through his second spirit, and only had one more after that. Lok, with an equal sight age to his own still had seven remaining.
He released the major evocation and shattered Lok's apportation. Pushing down the fear in his heart, he stood to face this man, and fervently hoped Sirius would arrive quickly.
If he didn't, he was dead.
Spirit of Magik (The Dothranan Chronicles Book 1) Page 51
