Birth of a Wizard

by MJ Schutte

  ‘You know nothing about me! You live in a swamp. Who are you to give me advice?’ Brighton snapped.

  Erostagnos pulled up his shoulders.

  ‘You don’t have to listen to me. Make your own mistakes and deal with the consequences. I am just a tired old man hiding in a swamp.’

  ‘Look, I don’t have time for this. I could use your help against the enemy. Will you join us?’ Brighton asked.

  ‘It is your enemy, not mine. Whether they invade this land or not, does not concern me. You are the first person in hundreds of years to have found my hiding place. Perhaps it will take another few hundred years before the next person finds me,’ Erostagnos replied.

  ‘When this war is over, I’m coming back here to talk to you,’ Brighton said as he started walking away.

  ‘Wait, tell me why I could not use my gift on the panther?’ Erostagnos quickly asked.

  ‘He is immune to the gift. I’ll explain it all to you when I come back,’ Brighton replied as he walked into the darkness.

  ‘I won’t be here,’ Erostagnos called after him.

  ‘Then I will let the panther find you,’ Brighton’s voice came out of the mist.

  Chapter 14

  BRIGHTON LOOKED UP at the mountain. They were standing knee deep in the mud where the mountain and the swamp met.

  ‘Over?’ Carlia enquired.

  ‘We will have to. There are already thousands of troops in Clareton. It will take too long to travel all the way to the pass,’ Brighton replied as he used his sense.

  Travelling through the swamp was slower than Brighton had anticipated. He estimated it would take another three days or more to cross the rest of the swamp and then another day to get through the pass and reach Clareton. By that time, most of the troops would be through the cave and then it would be impossible to stop them. Just getting this far into the swamp had taken them all night.

  He started climbing up the steep mountainside. Carlia, Mischief and the other elves followed carefully. Brighton pointed out slippery or loose rocks every so often.

  For the rest of the day, Brighton and the elves climbed quickly, happy to be out of the mud. As darkness fell once more, they were almost at the top of the mountain.

  ‘Rest,’ Brighton said as he sat down.

  Carlia did not argue. She quickly relayed the order and sat down next to Brighton.

  ‘How many?’ she asked, referring to the number of troops he sensed.

  Brighton cast his sense out.

  ‘Six or seven thousand in Clareton. Another three thousand already through the cave,’ he replied.

  ‘Plan?’ Carlia asked.

  ‘We will go as close to the cave entrance as we can, then I will send energy bolts into the mountainside and try to collapse the cave on top of the enemy soldiers. We will have to fight the ones who have already come through,’ Brighton answered.

  A few hand gestures came from Carlia.

  Why don’t you collapse the cave from here?

  ‘The rock is dead; it has no energy, so I can’t feel it with my gift. I will need to see the cave and the mountain above it to know where to direct the energy bolts. Besides, I want to surprise the others. We are heavily outnumbered, so we need to catch them off guard,’ Brighton explained.

  He laid out the rest of his plan.

  After listening carefully, Carlia nodded in agreement.

  ‘Let’s get going again,’ Brighton said as he got up.

  Brighton and Carlia crept through the small bushes. They were about two hundred paces directly above the cave entrance. Soldiers were streaming out of the cave entrance and down the mountainside towards Clareton.

  The number of soldiers now occupying the town had grown to ten thousand.

  Brighton used his sense to make sure the elves were all in place. He smiled when he felt them on the far side of Clareton, hiding between the trees. Some of them were almost within touching distance of the enemy soldiers. His smile widened as he felt Mischief’s familiar energy between the elves.

  ‘Good boy,’ he whispered.

  He stood up, spread his arms wide and started gathering energy from the surroundings.

  Carlia got her bow ready.

  Brighton built up an incredible amount of power in his body before pointing his hands down and unleashing two huge bolts of lightning into the ground. The mountainside shook under their feet. Soldiers and horses panicked and started to run out of the cave, knocking their comrades down. Hundreds of troops tumbled down the steep mountainside, most of them long dead before they reached the bottom.

  A few soldiers spotted Brighton and Carlia above them. They raced up the mountainside, swords drawn. Carlia took aim and let her first arrow fly. The closest soldier tumbled backwards, an arrow sticking out of his eye and took four of his comrades with him.

  Brighton gathered more energy and pointed his hands down again. All around him, the plants started dying.

  Another huge bolt of lightning struck the ground, going all the way through the rock into the cave. The ground shook again; it felt like the mountain was going to tear open. Rocks started tumbling down towards the soldiers.

  Another thick bolt of lightning from Brighton’s hands and the cave collapsed. Hundreds of soldiers and horses were crushed instantly.

  Carlia kept shooting with deadly accuracy. Not one of the soldiers that saw them came within fifty paces of them.

  The soldiers already in Clareton all turned to look at the mountain. Elves raced out of their hiding places, killing hundreds of unsuspecting soldiers. Before any form of defence or counter attack could be organised, almost half the enemy soldiers lay dead.

  A few enemy commanders realised what was going on and quickly gathered their troops around them. As Brighton had ordered, the elves disappeared into the woods as soon as the first counter attack came. Only a handful of elves were killed.

  Brighton unleashed more energy bolts into the mountainside. Rocks and uprooted trees tumbled down, crushing soldiers.

  He cast his sense out. Between him and the foot of the mountain, less than a hundred soldiers remained alive, most of them were seriously injured.

  In Clareton, there were roughly six thousand soldiers left. Brighton turned around. Sending more energy bolts into the mountain, he caused another landslide on the other side, killing or maiming thousands of enemy soldiers still waiting to go through the cave.

  The only direction these men could run was straight through the line of darkweed bushes.

  ‘That should do it,’ he said.

  He and Carlia started jogging back the way they came.

  ‘Going?’ Carlia asked.

  ‘Yes, I am going back to Weston now. You and your troops have to take care of the rest of the soldiers in Clareton. Remember what I said; only attack them when they don’t expect it. Quick strikes. Don’t get into a head-on battle with them, you are still outnumbered,’ Brighton replied.

  ‘It’s time to test their defences,’ Jaclyn said impatiently.

  ‘Mistress, it’s only been a few days. Our troops are probably not through the cave yet, let alone anywhere near Weston,’ Lance argued.

  ‘I don’t care; I want an assault on that wall to happen by tomorrow. The sooner we start engaging them, the less chance there is of them realising what we’re up to,’ Jaclyn replied.

  Nelath nodded his head in agreement.

  ‘Very well, I will give the order,’ Lance sighed.

  He walked out of the tent.

  ‘That woman will cause our deaths,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Pardon, sir?’ a soldier standing at the entrance said.

  ‘Nothing. Go tell commander Habish to meet me at my tent,’ Lance replied.

  As he strolled through the camp towards his tent, a woman’s scream reached his ears. Following the sound, he tracked down the tent it was coming from.

  Lance threw the tent flap open. Two soldiers had an elf woman pinned down on the ground while a third was standing over her, ripping her clothes off.r />
  ‘Shut up,’ the man snarled as he slapped the woman in the face.

  Lance stepped forward and kicked the man between the legs from behind. The man grabbed his crotch and crumpled to the ground. The other two soldiers immediately let go of their victim and jumped to their feet.

  Lance already had a sword in each hand, pointing them straight at the soldiers’ throats.

  ‘I should kill you where you stand,’ he growled at them.

  ‘General, we were just…’ one man started.

  ‘Be quiet! We are not barbarians! I will not allow this kind of behaviour!’ Lance screamed at them.

  ‘General, it was Paul’s idea,’ one soldier tried.

  ‘Get out!’ Lance boomed.

  The two men scrambled to get out of the tent, falling over Paul who was still curled up on the ground, hands between his legs.

  Lance put his sword away and held his hand out to the woman. She looked at him fearfully.

  ‘I will not harm you,’ he reassured her.

  Carefully, she put her hand in his. Lance pulled the woman to her feet. She tried to cover herself but the dress was so badly torn that it did not help much.

  Lance took his shirt off.

  ‘Here, put this on before you go outside,’ he offered.

  Gratefully the woman took the shirt and pulled it over her head.

  ‘Why help?’ she asked in a small voice.

  Everybody knew how Lance felt about the elves’ way of communicating, so she did not make any hand signals.

  ‘We are soldiers, not barbarians. I will not allow my troops to misuse a woman,’ Lance answered.

  He noticed Paul slowly pulling a knife out of his belt.

  Lance’s big boot connected hard with Paul’s face. Paul screamed in pain as his nose was crushed.

  ‘You are hereby expelled from the army. Leave, before I lose my temper,’ Lance growled at the man.

  With one hand on his broken nose and the other between his legs, Paul limped out of the tent.

  As Lance turned to leave, the elf woman said, ‘Pardon, sir. Three others.’

  She struggled to talk without using her hands, but Lance understood what she meant.

  ‘Bring them to my tent so that they can point out the guilty parties,’ Lance said as he walked out.

  He rushed to his tent. When he got there, Habish was already waiting for him.

  ‘Uh….General, where is your shirt?’ Habish asked carefully.

  Lance ignored the question and motioned for Habish to follow him inside.

  ‘Jaclyn wants us to attack tomorrow,’ he said.

  ‘Is it not too soon? I thought we were waiting for our other troops to reach Weston first,’ Habish asked.

  ‘Yes, that was the plan, but Jaclyn is getting impatient. I must admit, I have been wondering about this war for the last few days. We conquered the elves and got Livia Farasnei back. Why are we still pushing forward? It seems that Jaclyn has a feud with this wizard, Brighton or Erostagnos or whatever they call him and she is using us as pawns,’ Lance replied.

  ‘What do you want to do?’ Habish asked.

  ‘We will attack tomorrow just before sunrise, but send the weakest soldiers first,’ Lance ordered.

  ‘As you wish,’ Habish answered.

  A soldier popped his head into the tent and said, ‘Excuse me, general, there are four women here to see you.’

  ‘Send them in,’ Lance replied.

  Lilian stood on the wall next to Donic.

  ‘They are definitely going to attack. A large column of soldiers are moving this way,’ she said.

  ‘Is Jaclyn with them?’ Donic asked.

  ‘No, I cannot sense her. She must still be in the camp. I’m sorry, my sense is not nearly as powerful as Brighton’s,’ Lilian answered.

  ‘It’s a lot better than my “sense”,’ Brac commented dryly.

  ‘When do you think they will get here?’ Donic asked.

  ‘Before sunrise,’ Lilian answered.

  ‘Good, I hope our little trick is going to work,’ Donic replied.

  Turning to a soldier, he said, ‘Fetch Queen Ashley.’

  The soldier rushed off to do as he was ordered.

  ‘I still don’t like this, but it might just scare the wits out of the enemy,’ Donic commented.

  ‘I think it’s a good plan. People are superstitious, we might just scare them back to their own kingdom,’ Brac replied.

  ‘If this walking stick does what it is supposed to do,’ Donic said worriedly.

  ‘We’ve tested it numerous times. All you have to do is command it with your mind,’ Brac reminded him.

  ‘Yes, I know, but this magic still makes me nervous. I wonder when Brighton will get back,’ Donic replied.

  ‘Soon, I’m sure,’ Brac tried to reassure the general.

  As they waited for the attack, a thick cloud of mist started rolling over the mountain.

  ‘This will help us,’ Donic smiled.

  Ashley and Donic stood on top of the wall. All the archers crouched low behind the wooden railing. The enemy marched closer.

  ‘Now,’ Lilian whispered at a soldier.

  The order was quickly relayed and fires were lit all along the inside of the wall. A bright yellow glow rose up from behind the wall. In the thick mist, with the firelight behind them, Ashley and Donic looked like ghosts to the enemy soldiers.

  ‘Who dares threaten the mighty Kingdom of Mendin?’ Donic boomed as he lifted the walking stick high above his head. The enemy soldiers stopped and looked at each other.

  ‘I am the spirit of General Donic. Come closer and you will join me in the afterlife,’ Donic’s voice echoed off the mountainside.

  ‘It’s a trick. Donic and the Queen are dead. Mistress Jaclyn said so,’ one of the commanders screamed.

  A man in the front row turned to his comrades and, in a shaky voice, said, ‘I know what they look like. Those two on top of the wall are definitely General Donic and Queen Ashley. I’m not fighting spirits!’

  He tried to make his way to the back, but the commander levelled a sword at him and said, ‘Stand your ground, coward!’

  ‘But commander, I saw them dead and now they are standing in front of us. It must be their spirits. We cannot fight them,’ the man pleaded.

  Some more soldiers started pushing backwards, fear on their faces.

  ‘Join me in the spirit world,’ Donic boomed as he pointed the cane at the enemy.

  A thick bolt of lightning jumped from the cane and struck the ground just in front of the enemy soldiers. It was the last straw. Some soldiers fell to their knees begging for mercy, but they were quickly trampled by their fleeing comrades. In just a few moments, the pass was quiet, save for the cries of injured soldiers.

  Hundreds of corpses littered the ground.

  ‘That went well,’ Donic said as he dropped to his knees.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Ashley asked as she kneeled next to him.

  ‘Yes, just very tired. This cane takes a lot of energy from a person when it creates a lightning bolt,’ Donic smiled at her.

  ‘I don’t think they will stay away for long. Jaclyn will realise what we have done very soon. I wish Brighton would come back now,’ Ashley said worriedly.

  It took two days for the next attack to come. Donic and Ashley repeated their little act, but the enemy was not deceived again. Enemy soldiers stormed the wall, placing ladders against it to gain access to the top. Long poles were used to push the ladders back, but some enemy troops still managed to get onto the wall.

  Donic’s voice boomed over the noise, directing his troops to the gaps in their defence.

  Lilian stood far away from the fighting, her black energy link touching countless enemy soldiers. Worried that she might not be able to handle so much energy flowing into her, she did not drain the soldiers completely. She simply took enough to cause pain, making it easier for Donic and his soldiers to kill the enemy troops. The fighting continued until after dark.
/>   Finally, the call came for the enemy to retreat. Donic took stock of the situation.

  ‘We lost far too many troops today,’ he said worriedly to Brac.

  ‘They lost more,’ Brac commented.

  ‘True, but they have thousands in reserve. We only saw a fraction of what they have and it looked like inexperienced soldiers. If they had sent their best troops, I don’t know if we could have held them off,’ Donic replied.

  ‘You could use the walking stick,’ Brac smiled.

  ‘No thanks. I’m not touching that thing again!’ Donic exclaimed.

  ‘Maybe it’s time to give the elves a turn on the wall,’ Brac suggested.

  Donic nodded and strolled towards the barracks.

  Jaclyn stormed into the command tent, followed closely by Nelath.

  ‘Who gave the order to retreat?’ she screamed.

  ‘I did,’ Lance answered calmly.

  ‘How dare you? Send the troops back immediately,’ Jaclyn shouted at him.

  ‘No. I command the army, not you,’ Lance replied.

  ‘Lance, you are testing my patience. I also heard that you expelled six men from my army. Who gives you the right…’

  Lance took a threatening step towards her as he cut her short.

  ‘I am the commander of this army, not you. You will be well advised to remember that. I will not allow my men to misuse women. Those six soldiers can thank the angels that I did not cut their throats!’

  Jaclyn took a step back, surprised at Lance’s aggression.

  She lifted her hand towards him.

  ‘One thought from me and your life ends,’ she snarled at him.

  ‘Go ahead,’ Lance replied softly.

  For a moment it looked like Jaclyn might explode, but then she dropped her hand.

  ‘Lance, you’re a good leader and I do not want to kill you. There is no need to argue. Just do as I say and all will be forgiven,’ she said in a softer tone.

  ‘We will attack again soon. I need to study the reports on their defences first,’ Lance replied as he walked out of the tent.