The Wizard's Tower 02

by Peter Last

  Suddenly the door slammed open, letting in a burst of cool air, and Senndra snapped her eyes open. Timothy and Lemin were the first two people to enter, followed by the Grand Admiral of the academy in Belvárd and several other officers that Senndra did not recognize. Vladimir brought up the tail of the procession and closed the door behind him as he entered. The officers took seats around the large table in the middle of the room as Vladimir crossed the room to where Senndra lay on the couch. His eyes met hers, and he motioned for her to get up. She did so, stretching as she rose, and followed him out of the building. The air outside was much cooler than it had been the previous day, and Senndra looked up at the sky to see if the sun was hidden by the clouds. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the sun was shining in full brilliance. A sharp wind was blowing across the city, and she hugged herself and looked at Vladimir.

  “Why is it so cold?” she asked. “Just yesterday it was too hot.”

  “No one knows what’s up with the weather,” Vladimir said. “Some time last night the wind started to blow, and we figure that the temperature started to drop then, but we don’t know for sure. Ever since, it has been getting steadily colder, and it’s anyone’s guess as to when it will bottom out.”

  “It’s a north wind,” Senndra commented as she looked toward the north. “Maybe Molkekk sent it.”

  “That’s the rumor being spread around, but I don’t believe it,” Vladimir said. “Molkekk is just a man, and a defeated one at that. Last time I checked, even though he has allied himself with Oglemophin he doesn’t have the power to control the weather.”

  “The most recent reliable information that we have on him is over ten years old,” Senndra shot back. “It could very well be that he has gained more power over those years.”

  “I think some people are too quick to assume that everything they cannot explain is an evil power,” Vladimir said. “Perhaps it is simply that winter is coming on early this year.”

  “And I think you aren’t open enough to the idea that perhaps this did come about by Molkekk’s power,” Senndra responded.

  “I’ve never known you to be so eager to believe magic is the reason for something,” Vladimir said. “What is wrong with you?”

  “I’ve been having these dreams,” Senndra started. She looked at Vladimir to see if he would roll his eyes at her, but he appeared to be paying attention to her. “The last time that I had one, it turned out to be true, so as you can imagine, I’m ready to believe the same about these ones.”

  “What kind of dreams?” Vladimir asked.

  “Dreams of death and carnage,” Senndra answered. “In them, Saddun is defeated and burning and so is another city. A Magessan army marches away from the cities with a massive army bearing the sign of Molkekk following them. I can’t help but wonder if they are true.”

  The door banged open, and Timothy stepped out into the open air. The smile on his face disappeared as he saw the solemn looks on Senndra’s and Vladimir’s faces. He looked from one to the other and back again for several moments.

  “What’s up?” he finally asked.

  “Senndra’s been having dreams,” Vladimir answered without taking his eyes off Senndra.

  “What kind of dreams?” Timothy asked, a worried look starting to form on his face.

  “Bad ones,” Vladimir said. “In them, Saddun has fallen and Molkekk’s army is marching across Magessa. Senndra said the last time she had a dream like this one, it came to pass; so, do you think these things will happen?”

  “I don’t know exactly,” Timothy answered. To Senndra he said, “What happened at the end of the dream?”

  “There was a bright light and then I woke up,” Senndra answered. “I mean, there was the bright light, but at the same time there was nothing to be seen.”

  “We’d better let them know,” Timothy jerked his head toward the door he had just come out of. “Come on,” he said and motioned for Senndra to follow him.

  Senndra followed him into the building where the officers were discussing plans in an animated fashion. When the cadets entered, all the officers hushed up except for one man who had his back to the door. He continued to talk and motion for several seconds before he realized everyone else had fallen silent. He turned to face Senndra then, his face beginning to turn red around the edges.

  “What is it, Timothy?” Lemin asked in an irritated tone of voice. “I thought you were supposed to be keeping people out, not letting them in.”

  “Yes, sir,” Timothy answered. “But something has come up. I think you need to hear about Senndra’s dreams.”

  “Dreams?” one of the other officers said incredulously. “What in heaven’s name do dreams have to do with anything?”

  “It is not common, but Elohim sometimes uses dreams to communicate with His people,” Lemin answered, his face suddenly serious. “What were your dreams about?” he asked Senndra.

  Senndra recounted again everything that she had seen in her dreams, leaving out nothing. When she finished, there was silence in the room for several heartbeats as the officers looked at each other and at her. Lemin’s face, especially, showed worry.

  “You can’t seriously be considering believing what she says,” the man who had spoken previously finally exclaimed. “It’s a blasted dream. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  “And what if it does mean something, Tiberius?” Lemin countered. “What if it is a warning? If it is, and we ignore it, our destruction will be upon our own heads.”

  “I say it’s just a dream,” Tiberius growled as he stood and leaned across the table, staring Lemin down.

  Lemin calmly stared back.

  “And I say that it might be more than that,” the elf finally said. “I’m not saying it is a warning or prophecy, but it might be, and I don’t see how we can ignore that.”

  “Because I say that it is nothing,” Tiberius said harshly. “Don’t forget who the magician is, old man. Who do you think that you should listen to?” he asked of all the officers seated.

  “Sit down, Tiberius,” a person Senndra recognized as the Grand Admiral of Belmoth said. “I think Lemin has a valid point. It would cost us but little to send a scout to confirm whether the dreams are true, but if they are and we do not act, the consequences could be dire.”

  “I had a dream last night that informed me that we should take all of our men and assault Vollexa Temp,” Tiberius sneered. “Maybe we should do that. No, wait! My dream was that there is a fertile land across the Sea. Maybe we should send explorers over there. If we decide to check out the validity of every dream anyone ever has, we would be doing nothing else.”

  “I wholeheartedly agree with you,” Lemin answered the outburst. “However, this dream appears to have the marks of Elohim’s message in it. I think it could be a warning from him.”

  “A warning from Elohim?” Tiberius laughed harshly. “Didn’t anyone ever let you in on the secret that those stories are only for children?”

  “And hasn’t anyone ever told you to have more respect for your superiors?” Lemin asked in an even tone. “Last time I checked, I held the rank of Admiral; whereas you are only a Commander. You should at least address me as ‘sir,’ not ‘old man,’ and if you are going to call me an idiot, you should at least preface it by saying ‘with all due respect.’”

  “The Admiral is correct,” the Grand Admiral of Belmoth said over the snickering from the other officers. “You will have more respect when addressing him, or I will be forced to punish you.”

  “Feel free to insult anyone of your own rank,” Lemin interjected with a ghost of a smile on his face. “I don’t imagine, however, you will find the term ‘old man’ very pertinent.” There was more snickering and a few choked laughs which the Grand Admiral silenced with a glare.

  “Admiral, please refrain from encouraging the juvenile behavior that has so far ruled this meeting.”

  “Gladly,” Lemin conceded. “Back to the matter at hand, I believe, though I am not positive, that Se
nndra’s dream could very possibly be a premonition of things that are to come, if not a vision of things that are happening at this very moment. If we ignore it, we could fall prey to the enemy, and we will have no excuse except that we ignored the warning of Elohim.”

  “With all due respect, sir,” Tiberius interrupted, “I don’t believe in Elohim, and frankly I don’t think anyone else here does except for you. Secondly, I am very well acquainted with magic, which is the only way the dream could possibly mean anything, and I don’t think it was sent by magical means.”

  “Concerning your first claim, Commander, I know for a fact that you are wrong,” Lemin argued. “And concerning the dream, you know this because of your extensive experience in magic? I was under the impression that magical ability came from Elohim.”

  “You have been sorely misled, Admiral,” Tiberius said in a strained voice as he tried to keep his emotions in check. “Magic has nothing to do with religion of any type, and yes, I don’t believe that the dream was anything more than a dream because of my magical experience with such things. And considering that I am the only magician in here, I think I am the authority on such things.”

  “Are you sure you are the only magician in here?” one of the officers Senndra recognized from the academy said, and winked at Lemin. “It seems at least two of them have slipped in without your noticing.”

  Tiberius glanced at the door and turned back with a frown.

  “I don’t see anyone…” he said and stopped midsentence when his gaze rested on Lemin. The elf was still sitting in his chair with his hands folded in his lap, but in front of him a display of sparks flashed and sparkled. The sight was mesmerizing, and Senndra found herself being drawn to it until Lemin waved it away with a flick of his wrist.

  “Ah yes, Admiral, some of us here are aware of your magical abilities, though it would appear not all of us were,” the Grand Admiral of the academy of Belvárd said.

  “Knowing how to do a few tricks does not make you an expert,” Tiberius argued.

  Timothy snorted and rolled his eyes. “You apparently are not aware of exactly who is sitting before you. If you or I are lucky, we will be half as skilled as he is by the time we die. You know the elf who slew Molkekk and confined him to his tower?”

  “His name was Jothnial,” Tiberius retorted. “Besides, this couldn’t be him; he died in that battle.”

  “I never said he was Jothnial,” Timothy said. “That would be unrealistic. No, this is the leader of the squad of magicians that Jothnial was part of.”

  “It’s too bad Jothnial wasn’t a better magician,” Lemin commented offhandedly with a wink at Timothy. “If he had been more focused, I bet he could have been as good as me.”

  Everyone at the table turned to Tiberius, expecting him to respond, but he remained silent.

  “Oh, one more thing,” Lemin added. “Religion has everything to do with magic. Now, back to the matter at hand. I think we should investigate Senndra’s dreams before it is too late for them to do any good.”

  “I agree,” the Grand Admiral from the academy of Belvárd said. “Timothy, have Vladimir take a message to my General and tell him he is to have three dragon riders leave the city and scout the county of Belvárd. If they see anything out of the ordinary, they are to report it immediately. Then watch the door and make sure no one else comes in.”

  “Yes sir,” Timothy answered and exited the building.

  “You may go as well,” the Grand Admiral said to Senndra, but Lemin held up his hand for her to stop.

  “If you don’t mind, Grand Admiral, I would like to question her a bit more.”

  “As you wish,” the Grand Admiral responded.

  “Besides this one, have you had any other dreams lately that could be prophesies?” Lemin asked.

  “When we were still in Belvárd, right before the attack, I dreamed I was in Vollexa Temp,” Senndra answered.

  “Here we go again,” Tiberius muttered, but everyone ignored him. Senndra glanced at Lemin who nodded for her to continue.

  “I was in a tower; I assume that it was Molkekk’s tower, though I don’t know that for a fact. Anyway, there was a man there, and a voice which I knew belonged to Molkekk was speaking to him, questioning him about the attack which was about to happen. When I woke up, the enemy dragons were upon us, a part of the plan that I heard outlined in the dream. I also heard that half of Molkekk’s army was supposed to attack Belmoth and the other half was to attack Saddun. I don’t see why, if two parts of the dream came true, that the third part shouldn’t, which is why I was concerned about the dream I just had.”

  “And well you should be,” Lemin told her. To the other men in the room he said, “If her first dream came to pass, then the events of her second dream would logically follow. The question is: is there anything else in the dreams we might be able to use to our advantage?”

  “There were a few things in the first dream that I can think of,” Senndra offered. “Molkekk’s man mentioned they would constantly be sending reinforcements to their army in Magessa, so our troubles are far from over. The enemy may still attack Belmoth again, and they will be adding to the numbers of their army to the east. The man also mentioned that the sea would be on their side. I have no idea what that means, but it sounded bad.”

  “Most likely it means that they will try to use boats in their invasion of the country,” one of the officers said. “That means we will have to keep an eye on the ocean too.”

  “Yes, but that isn’t a new consideration,” Lemin countered. “We always knew that someone could do it. Besides, if we can keep his men from landing or destroy the ships before they are able to reach shore, we may come out on the upper hand because of it.”

  “Did they make any indication as to how many soldiers were supposed to be in each attack?” the Grand Admiral of Belmoth asked.

  “Oh, yes, sir, he did say that each attack force was supposed to have a half a million men in it.”

  “Half a million!” the Grand Admiral exclaimed, following it with a curse. “There’s no way we can stand up against a force like that.”

  “If what Senndra saw is correct, we already have done it, sir,” Lemin said. “Both of the attack forces were supposed to have half a million men, and we defeated one of those forces not long ago.

  “What about striking at the head of the beast? Did they say anything about Vollexa Temp that we could use against them?” Lemin asked Senndra.

  “I got the distinct impression from the way that they were talking that most of their troops were being deployed, sir,” Senndra answered. “From what they said, I think the city of Vollexa Temp should be all but deserted.”

  “That will help if we decide to attack Vollexa Temp,” one of the officers commented.

  “Of course, we don’t know for a fact that the city has no defenders,” someone else countered. “We didn’t destroy all of the soldiers that attacked this city, and they had to go someplace. Besides, we all know about Molkekk’s ability to raise armies in only days.”

  “I don’t know if the soldiers we defeated will go back to their master,” Lemin commented. “If I were in the service of Molkekk, I don’t know that I would want to go back to him after a failure. He doesn’t take failures very lightly. Besides that, they said they would be sending all additional forces to reinforce the troops in Magessa.”

  “Then you think we should attack the city?” the Grand Admiral of Belmoth asked.

  “I never said we should, but I think we should always keep the possibility in mind,” Lemin returned.

  “Well, let’s pretend we did decide to assault Vollexa Temp,” the Grand Admiral postulated. “How would you go about doing it?”

  “The city is landlocked, so there is no way we could use ships to approach it. It is also surrounded by a marsh, with only one main road leading to it, which effectively eliminates a land attack. That is, if you wanted to lead a surprise attack, which is what I was assuming.”

  “Surprise would
not hurt our chances,” the Grand Admiral admitted, “however, if our information is correct, it sounds like a frontal attack would also work.”

  “Why not both?” a commander asked. “We could stage a frontal attack on their gates and at the same time coordinate a sneak attack with dragons.”

  “That might work,” the Grand Admiral said thoughtfully.

  “Actually, I just thought of a better idea,” the commander interrupted. “We have a whole lot of armor we captured from the enemy soldiers. If we dress ourselves in it, we could approach the gate without arousing suspicion. Before we are close enough for anyone to ask us for a password, the dragons can attack, thereby taking the attention off of us. We can then have the dragons drop men onto the gate and open it for us.”

  “A much better idea,” the Grand Admiral admitted. “Get me a map so we can start planning this campaign.”

  “Surely you can’t be actually contemplating this madness,” burst out Tiberius, who had been holding his peace for some time. “The mission would be suicide!”

  “So be it,” the Grand Admiral said. “If you do not want to be part of this suicide, leave now. If you stay, I will expect you to say nothing else concerning the intelligence of the mission.”

  Senndra looked around the table, and her gaze locked on Lemin. The elf was inconspicuously giving her a sign to leave, so she edged away from the table toward the door. In the flurry of activity which was turning the room into an army's headquarters, no one noticed her open the door and slip out.

  ******

  As the army neared the Rebel Mountains, Josiah and Nathan got their first look at the position they would have to defend. On the opposite side of the Vänern River, the Vankor Mountains rose right next to the shore, making it difficult for anyone to proceed on that side. What remained was a stretch of land, perhaps a mile in length, between the Vänern and the Rebel Mountains. There was a small outpost by the road running through the pass; however, since it was so deep in Magessa’s territory, there were basically no defensive structures. An abandoned stone quarry was located nearby in the mountains and would provide stone if the army had enough time to erect any defenses. Nevertheless, the enemy army was close behind, and if they continued at their current pace, there would hardly be enough time to dig in, much less build structures for defense. There was some hope, though, for Cirro had not yet implemented his strategy for distracting the enemy.