11- The Sergeant's Apprentice

by Christopher Nuttall

  Casper held out the map. “If we proceed this way,” he said, tracing out a line on a map, “we should make a pretty good sweep of the nearby area.”

  “The map isn’t very detailed,” Gaius grunted. “But it’s a good place to start. As long as we don’t run into any orcs.”

  Emily nodded in agreement. The Nameless World hadn’t quite mastered map-making, not yet. There were a couple of hills marked on the map, but nothing more detailed. Hell, she knew from experience that everything from distances to gradients were badly out of proportion. Farrakhan alone looked larger than an entire country. They’d just have to be very careful.

  She checked her bags one final time, then carried them out of the door and through the city to the main gates. A handful of soldiers saluted her as they walked through the gatehouse, leaving her feeling oddly embarrassed. Gaius elbowed her, none-too-gently, as they stepped out of the city and walked towards the horses. Emily sighed — she would have preferred to teleport — and then carefully locked her saddlebags into place. The horse eyed her in a manner that suggested it knew she was an inexperienced rider. She gritted her teeth, then clambered into the saddle. Introducing stirrups had been a masterstroke, even though it had seemed little more than a chance to curry favor at the time. She hated trying to mount a horse without them.

  Lord Fulbright might have had a point, she conceded, ruefully. The horse started to canter after Casper, Gaius bringing up the rear. A trained war horse is worth its weight in gold.

  She pushed the thought out of her head as they galloped away from the city, the concealment spells falling into place. They should be hard to see, unless the enemy had magic. Sergeant Miles had told her that the spells shouldn’t be overrated — they’d still be leaving a trail as they moved — but as long as they were careful, they should be undetectable to mundane senses. And yet ... she kept a wary eye on the spells, knowing they could fail at any moment. She could already feel the first traces of haze in the air. The necromancer was concealing his position.

  The landscape had been utterly devastated, small towns and villages reduced to ruins and fields stripped of everything that might be even remotely edible. They’d even pulled up grass and devoured it, leaving the ground bare and worn. She shuddered as she saw the remains of a farmhouse, torn to ribbons by the orcs. Even if the enemy army was to be destroyed — even if it vanished tomorrow — it would take years to rebuild. And the desert would claim most of the destroyed lands.

  The wind picked up speed, blowing grains of sand into her face as they kept heading south. She glanced from side to side, sensing flickering pools of magic all around them. It reminded her of the Blighted Lands, only different ... as if there was something truly unnatural loosed upon the land. She felt uneasy, gripping the reins tightly. It was hard, so hard, to escape the sense that something was watching her.

  Casper slowed long enough for her to come alongside him. “There’s an army over there,” he said, quietly. He nodded towards a faint rise, just high enough to conceal them. “Can you smell them?”

  Emily took a breath, then nodded. The original orcs had been human once, according to Sergeant Harkin, but their successors were very far from human. They smelled of something nasty, something that made her stomach heave and her horse whinny in protest. The wind shifted, blowing the scent towards them. She didn’t want to go forward to see what the orcs were doing, but she doubted she had a choice. If the necromancer was there ...

  She slipped off the horse and started to walk forward, motioning for the others to stay where they were. The concealment spells should keep her invisible, as long as she was careful not to attract attention. She gritted her teeth as she walked up the mound, then sucked in her breath sharply as the orc camp came into view. It was nothing more than a campsite, she realized numbly. The orcs were lollygagging around a burned-out campfire in a manner she knew Sergeant Miles would have called insolent — or careless. She was surprised they weren’t fighting each other for dominance.

  Shit, she thought.

  The orcs weren’t alone. A number of humans were sitting to one side, clearly unable to move. Their legs had been broken. Orcs weren’t bright, Emily recalled, but they were clearly smart enough to realize that their captives couldn’t escape on broken legs. None of the captives looked sane, she saw. They looked as though their minds had snapped completely under the strain. She glanced back at the dead campfire and shuddered. Were those human bones in the ashes?

  She wanted to save the captives. But what could she do? Attacking the orcs would tell the necromancer they were there. And then ... and then what? The necromancer wouldn’t hesitate to throw thousands of orcs at them, if he knew who they were. And she didn’t want to risk teleporting in the haze. She had the nasty feeling that it would scramble the spell enough to scatter her atoms across thousands of miles. Clenching her teeth in helpless fury, she turned and scrambled back to the men. There was nothing they could do.

  “Orcs,” she said, grimly. “At least fifty of them. And a number of captives.”

  “We could save them,” Casper said. “It wouldn’t be hard.”

  “The mission comes first,” Gaius said. He motioned for Emily to mount her horse. “The captives will have to fend for themselves.”

  Emily scowled, wishing she didn’t agree with him. The mission came first. If they could find and locate the necromancer, they could end the war. She felt the magic pulsing under her skin, demanding release. If they could find the necromancer ...

  They slipped past a dozen other camps, all following roughly the same pattern. The orcs didn’t seem to be very disciplined at all, but Emily supposed they didn’t think they needed discipline. The average human was slower and weaker than the average orc, with much less endurance. Humans were more intelligent, but what did intelligence matter? Geeks and nerds had been beaten up for years, despite being smarter than their tormentors. Discipline was the one human advantage in this war.

  And firearms will soon add another advantage, Emily told herself, as they passed yet another camp. There was still no sign of the necromancer himself. They’ll be gunned down in their thousands when machine guns enter the field.

  She felt sweat trickling down her back as the sun blazed down, slowly starting its long fall towards the horizon. Unhooking her canteen, she took a long swig of water before digging through her bag for something to eat. She wondered, absently, if sunstroke was a possibility, despite the potions she’d been given. Her skin was already starting to tan.

  “There’s something odd over there,” Gaius said. He waved a hand southwards. “Can you feel it?”

  Emily reached out with her senses. The haze was blurring everything, but there was something there ... an odd twisting vortex of magic. It wasn’t the necromancer, was it?

  Casper snorted. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know,” Gaius said. “Emily?”

  The magic was sparkling now ... Emily tried to parse it out, but it was impossible to get a clear impression of the spell. She couldn’t help thinking of a lighthouse, something designed to help ships navigate the coastline ... could it be a lighthouse? A spell intended to guide the orcs across the desert? They were very close to the Desert of Death. Or was it a portal of some kind? She’d never sensed portals before at such a distance, but if this one hadn’t been put together properly ...

  He might not have mastered the spells, she thought. She found it hard to imagine a necromancer putting a portal together. And yet ... He might have gone for the brute force approach. He certainly has enough power to make it work.

  “It could be a portal,” she said, out loud.

  “Nonsense,” Gaius said, crossly. “We wouldn’t be able to detect a portal at this distance.”

  “We could if it was crude,” Casper said. He sounded enthused. “Maybe that’s how they got across the desert.”

  Emily nodded, slowly. It made sense. The necromancer had moved slowly, perhaps, because he was marching his army through a portal. Instead of cr
ossing the desert, he’d bypassed it ... but bringing his entire army through the portal would take weeks. And yet, an endless stream of orcs could be flowing into the Allied Lands. If they found and closed the portal, particularly if the necromancer was on the other side ...

  “It sounds odd,” Gaius said. “If that is a portal, don’t you think it would be a bit more heavily guarded?”

  Point, Emily conceded. They hadn’t seen any orcs for quite some time. A portal would be heavily guarded. Hadn’t she seen just how easy it was to collapse one? But if it was unguarded, if they could get into range ... they could collapse it themselves. We could win the war in a single blow.

  “I’ll go check on it,” Casper said. He slid off his horse and landed neatly on the ground, holding his shrunken staff in one hand. “If I don’t come back, head straight back to the city and tell father. He’ll want to deal with it.”

  “Of course,” Gaius said. He slipped off his own horse. “Good luck.”

  Emily nodded, dropping down to the ground herself. The horse looked irritated, somehow, as it started to chew something on the ground. Emily frowned, then decided the horse would know what it could and couldn’t eat. Her eyes tracked Casper until he faded into nothingness, his concealment spells doing their work. She knew he was there and she still couldn’t see him.

  Gaius snorted, rudely. “You want to bet he gets himself killed?”

  “No,” Emily said. “I don’t.”

  She shot him a dark look. Casper had survived six years at Stronghold. He might be a mere apprentice, but he was far from incompetent. Hell, there was nothing mere about an apprentice. Unless he was so desperate to prove himself that he attacked the portal on his own. She sobered, a moment later. Why not? He’d challenged her to a duel, even though — technically — he should have been outmatched. But then, he lost nothing by issuing the challenge. He’d be no worse off if he lost and far better off if he won.

  Just like when I beat Bernard, Emily thought. I had nothing to lose.

  The haze seemed to be coming closer, a flickering annoyance right on the edge of her awareness. She rubbed her forehead, trying to feel out the pulsing vortex. Had something happened to Casper? Was the Vortex the source of the haze? She had trouble imagining anything short of a nexus point that could produce such an effect ...

  “You’re a strange person, Lady Emily,” Gaius said. His eyes were following her, making her feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t sexual, she thought. It was something else. “Everything you touch changes.”

  “For better or for worse,” Emily said, dryly. She turned away from him, unwilling to meet his eyes. Casper had been changed by her too. “I ...”

  And then she sensed the surge of magic. Too late.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  THE CURSE SLAMMED INTO HER BACK, driven by rage and hate and a sheer determination that picked her up and tossed her through the air. Emily spun, desperately reinforcing her protective wards as a second curse struck her, throwing her to the ground. She landed badly, instinctively flipping over to avoid a third curse. Gaius ...

  Gaius was attacking her!

  She slammed up another protective ward as a fourth curse struck her like a thunderbolt, half-closing her eyes against the flare of light. Gaius was the traitor? He’d been the one to try to kill her, to enchant innocent men and women and turn them into weapons? Why? She threw more power into her wards, then tossed back a curse of her own. Gaius deflected it easily as he advanced, raw magic spilling out around him. This was no genteel duel. He meant to cripple or kill her.

  Damn him, Emily thought.

  Another curse struck her wards. She shoved them forward, slamming her wards into his. Gaius stopped dead, his eyes widening in surprise. And then he slammed his wards back at her. Both sets of wards disintegrated rapidly. She tossed up another series of wards as he launched a hail of spells at her, including a number she didn’t recognize. Gritting her teeth, she used magic to hurl herself back, putting some distance between them. Gaius started after her, not quickly enough to keep her from throwing a series of spell at him. She silently evaluated his protections as he dodged or deflected the spells. He was good.

  And strong too, she noted, as he threw a wave of raw magic at her. It crashed into her wards, threatening to overpower them. He yanked the magic back, like a whip, then lashed out again. Emily dodged, targeting the ground under his feet with a series of spells. It turned to quicksand, then to ice. Gaius barely seemed to notice, dragging himself free as he started to hurl fireballs at her. Too strong.

  She shaped the transfiguration spell in her mind, then threw it at him accompanied by a set of fireballs. The air around him turned to pure oxygen, the fireballs exploding a second later; she darted backwards as the wave of heat struck her, covering her eyes with one hand. Gaius staggered, but caught himself before she could hit him again. He might not know what she’d done, she noted, yet he’d already figured out how to counter it.

  Magic billowed around her, a spell she didn’t recognize threatening to push down on her and do ... what? Kill her? Trap her? Turn her into something helpless? She threw herself up, using magic to launch herself into the sky, then tossed back a blast of raw power of her own. Gaius jumped to one side, missing the transfiguration spell she’d worked into the magic. The ground exploded into fire, forcing him to jump for his life. Emily landed, taking a second to gather herself. For all the training she’d had under Sergeant Miles and Mistress Danielle, Gaius was still hammering her.

  And yet, he looked surprised at her resistance.

  He saw Casper beat me, she thought, suddenly. She’d wondered if the faked duel would fool the necromancer, but it seemed it had fooled his agent instead. He thought he could beat me without any trouble at all.

  Gaius landed neatly and glared at her, raw magic spilling out around him. Emily braced herself, gathering her own magic. Gaius couldn’t retreat, not now. He’d committed himself the moment he’d cursed her. Either he won — and she dreaded to think what he might intend on doing with her, once she was helpless — or he lost, ensuring that he’d be hunted as a traitor for the rest of his days. Retreat wasn’t an option for him. And yet, Casper might well already be on his way back. Emily could expect reinforcements if she held out long enough.

  He bunched his fists, then shoved forward with his magic. Emily tossed back a series of combat spells, followed by a couple of prank spells. She’d sneaked them through enemy defenses before, but Gaius was too old a dog to fall for that trick. Emily grunted as he slammed his magic into hers, practically body-slamming her. His magic seared her defenses, probing for weak spots. The technique — it wasn’t too different from Casper’s — seemed bound to work. She disconnected herself from the wards instead, and threw herself to one side, landing neatly on the ground. Gaius must have thought he’d won, just for a second, as the wards collapsed. She crashed a spell into him before he realized what she’d done.

  I have to end this, Emily thought. Gaius clearly had power to burn — and far more experience than she did. She’d thought her last spell would have been enough to end him, but he’d shrugged it off. I can’t let this go on.

  “Enough,” Gaius growled. A sheet of fire washed from his hands and slammed into her defenses, followed by a ward-eater. She hastily shoved the ward forward, allowing the eater to wither and die. “You can’t beat me.”

  Emily ignored him. His magic was lashing out in torrents, crashing into her protections and slowly knocking her back. She threw back a spell of her own, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from slamming an overpowered force punch into her wards. The force of the blast picked her up and threw her back again. A second punch sent her falling to the ground. The force of the impact left her stunned for a long, chilling moment.

  “Casper beat you,” Gaius growled. “Casper the incompetent. I can beat you.”

  He held up a hand, a nasty hex glimmering over his fingertips. “Drop your wards and let me stun you,” he ordered. “Or this is going to be very unpleas
ant.”

  Emily focused her mind. “Do you want to know a secret?”

  Gaius blinked, momentarily distracted. “What?”

  “I let him win,” Emily whispered.

  She threw a wave of magic at him, drawing on all of her power. Gaius grunted, trying to stagger back as her magic beat at his wards. Emily braced herself, then redoubled her efforts. Gaius’s shields cracked, starting to fragment despite his desperate attempt to hold them together. She added a ward-eater to the mix, then summoned a spell she’d never dared perform. In truth, she wasn’t even sure how well it would work. But Gaius was dangerously powerful. She had to be sure she’d won.

  Gaius’s wards weakened, sharply. Emily gritted her teeth, then threw Robin’s spell into his wards. They shattered, utterly unprepared for a spell from the distant past. Gaius’s magic shimmered out of existence a moment later, drained beyond recovery, as Robin’s spell tore through his mind. Emily swallowed hard, feeling a wave of bitter guilt that shocked her to the core. Killing him was one thing, but controlling him was worse. She wondered if she’d have the nerve for a mercy kill afterwards ...

  He opened his mouth, then fell to his knees. She saw the quiet horror in his eyes as she picked herself up, silently damning herself. It would have been kinder to kill him. She’d had all kinds of protections woven into her mind and the spell had almost snared her anyway, nearly turning her into a slave. Gaius ... had never even considered the possibility of being struck with such a spell. It was very different from modern compulsion spells.

  I’m sorry, she thought. She meant it, too. I ...

  She straightened as she heard the sound of running footsteps. Casper was racing towards her, staff in hand. She braced herself and built new wards, unsure if he was a friend or enemy. God alone knew what he’d seen or heard. How long had the battle gone on?