“Children?” Maureen called out.
“Headmaster Florent?” a young voice answered.
Tears of joy sprang to her eyes at hearing the voices of her students as they began whispering excitedly to each other. “Yes, children. Help me tear down these barriers. We must be away from here and find the others.”
The sound of shifting furniture broke the quiet of the death-shrouded hall. It took several minutes to move the barricades and for the first few young mages to step warily into the hall. The oldest were the first to peek around the doorway before daring to step fully out of their rooms, but the younger quickly followed as the older passed back the all clear.
“I am so proud of all of you!” Headmaster Florent gushed as she hugged several of her students. “Come, let us find the others.”
“Are they all gone, Headmaster?” one young girl asked.
Maureen felt a slight tremble in the stone beneath her feet and could hear the faint sounds of battle echoing from somewhere within The Academy. “No, I am afraid they are not. We must find the others and fight together. I want you all to stay very close to me. Those of you who can, focus on slowing the creatures. Defensive magic only unless there is no other choice.”
Maureen did a quick headcount and tallied seventy-three novices. Seventy-three out of a roster of two-hundred forty-seven. Had she not had the lives of those seventy-three counting on her, she might well have crumpled onto the floor and wept until the ravagers found their way back and tore her to pieces.
She paused only briefly to call into the devastated rooms she had passed over to reach the survivors. Her heart leapt when a voice called out from beneath a bed or from inside an overturned wardrobe. One young girl stepped out of the corner of her room, breaking the perfect illusion she had cast to hide. Thirteen more novices clung to their headmaster as they left the dead behind but not forgotten.
The group, led by the Headmaster, ran into the first ravagers soon after leaving the novice dorms. They were thankfully few, and Maureen quickly dispatched them. As they grew nearer to the journeyman wing of The Academy, the sounds of conflict grew louder. Headmaster Florent called out into the dorms and received a few replies after several heartrending moments.
The dorm farthest from the hall was sealed much like she had found at the novices’ dorm. Seventeen terrified young boys and girls, most of them barely into their teens, stepped into the hall and looked upon their headmaster and the gaggle of younger novices.
“What happened here? Where are the rest of the journeymen?” Maureen asked softly.
A young man spoke up. “Magus Morgarum and Magus Sorenson came just as those creatures attacked. They were able to hold them back long enough to get most of us out, but not all. Headmaster, they killed us! They killed us like animals!”
“I know, but we must all be strong. What is your name?”
“Eric, Headmaster.”
“What happened next, Eric?”
Eric swallowed hard and continued in a quavering voice. “Magus Morgarum and Sorenson were leading us toward the apprentice dorms. A group of those monsters came from one of the side passages and split our group. They tried to get to us, but there was too many and we were dying so fast. We ran back here. Those of us who made it barricaded ourselves in our room and warded it as best we could. Marian thought they might be able to smell us, and Jonah thought they might be sensing our magic ability, so we sealed the room from smell and scrying as best we could. I don’t know if it worked, but the ones that chased us finally left. Maybe there were others easier to get to, I don’t know.”
“You did well, Eric. You all did well,” Headmaster Florent said, encompassing the group with her eyes. “I know you are all frightened, but we must control our fear and fight.”
“But they’ll kill us!” a girl cried out.
“Yes, child, they will kill some us. I will not lie to you. More of us will die tonight, but I for one will pull as many of these creatures into my grave with me as I can. Now buck up and act like wizards! We are the pride of the kingdom and we will act as such. If we die, it will be with our hands around the throats of our enemies, not cowering in fear as they slaughter us like sheep! Are you sheep, or are you wolves?”
“Wolves!” the children cried out.
“Then let us find the rest of our pack and cast these interlopers out of our den!”
Headmaster Florent led her pack of pups toward the apprentice quarters and soon faced the first sign of real resistance since fighting her way to the novices. Swarms of the creatures piled in through side passages as lightning and fire scythed through their ranks. It was apparent there was an organized resistance beyond the mass of ravagers, and by full wizards, not just students.
Maureen broiled the tightest mass of ravagers alive with a powerful ball of fire while her strongest students used their lesser magic to slow and force the creatures into tighter groups where large area spells like her fireball could kill more of them at once. Desperate to reach the others, Headmaster Florent brought down the roof of the hallway giving the ravagers the greatest access to their position. Their flow of reinforcements momentarily squeezed off, it took only minutes for her to get her small band of children pressed into the larger ranks of those battling within the apprentice dorms’ small, open courtyard.
“Headmaster, the gods be praised you made it!” the chubby alchemy instructor, Magus Morgarum, exclaimed. “You brought the novices! But where are the rest?”
Maureen shook her head sadly. “This is all of them now.”
Magus Morgarum’s hand flew to his mouth. “Dear gods. We tried to go to them, but the creatures had us completely cut off. There was no way for us to go that direction and survive. Magus Sorenson and I thought it more prudent to reach the apprentices.”
The Headmaster nodded her agreement. “You did well. I see many adepts here also.”
“Yes. Magus Douglas and several other members of the staff brought them this way when they detected the outer wards fail. We have been defending the inner courtyard, since it is the only area large enough to accommodate us all and rotate out our defenders. The problem is that courtyard has too many entrances and the beasts are unrelenting in trying to reach us.”
“It was wise, but we cannot stay here. The position cannot hold forever. We need to reach the outer courtyard between the adept and journeyman wings. That leaves us surrounded on three sides by buildings and gives us a larger front where we can destroy greater numbers with our more powerful spells. I fear we will exhaust ourselves before the enemy exhausts their numbers if we continue to fight smaller, pitched battles. We will collapse the halls behind us to prevent the creatures from coming at our rear.”
“Collapse the halls! But The Academy?”
Headmaster Florent pointed at the children. “This is The Academy.” She stabbed at the high walls of the courtyard. “This is just a building, and I will bury these monsters beneath its last stone if I must! Wards are insufficient. The little blue men seem to be capable of piercing them with ease.”
The alchemy teacher nodded. “Yes, we learned that the hard way. Magus Clayton thought he could block one of the hallways leading into the courtyard while we defended the others. He was successful until one of the blue ones leapt right through and cut him down. We lost a dozen fighters pushing the monsters back out before we could control that egress once more.”
“Has anyone attempted to scry out where these things came from? I cannot imagine they marched through the city on their way here.”
“Magus Pugh!” Magus Morgarum called out. “Megan, what have you discovered of the creatures’ arrival?”
“Headmaster!” Magus Megan Pugh called out as she jogged over. “I discovered a temporal disturbance out on the far maneuver training grounds. I believe it is closed now.”
“How many of these creatures do you guess could have made it through?”
“It was not open long, but it was substantial. Given what Sorcerer Giles showed us of their army, I
would guess at least two thousand could have made it through, if not more.”
The Headmaster looked doubtful. “We are assuming what he showed us was not a contrived image of his own delusions.”
“These are hardly delusions, Headmaster,” Magus Morgarum stressed.
“Are we sure they are not his creations?” Maureen countered. “Megan, were you able to ascertain the nature of magic involved?”
“The only thing I can say is…otherworldly. It was completely alien to me. It was neither Source generated nor abyssal in origin, both of which we all detected on the Sorcerer.”
“I suppose it is irrelevant at the moment. Right now, we need to get out of this box before they smash it flat with us in it. We shall collapse all the passages leading in and make our way to the outer courtyard where we can establish a proper front. Instruct apprentices and below to focus on defending the adepts and wizards while they crush these creatures. Kill any of those little blue buggers immediately.”
The wizards relayed the Headmaster’s orders, collapsing the hallways behind them as they fought through the only open passageway to the outer courtyard. Ravagers still came at them from the front, striking with fearsome speed and ferocity at every side passage they passed. Those halls, the mages simply collapsed as they reached them, burying the invaders and preventing them from harassing their rear as they fought to reach the grounds of their final stand.
When they finally achieved the outer courtyard, the host of ravagers seemed to be waiting. Headmaster Florent and the four remaining council members created a beachhead, clearing the courtyard and driving the monsters back onto the open maneuver grounds. The buildings provided forty-foot walls on three sides, leaving a hundred and fifty-foot opening to the maneuver field in which to defend. Maureen called her senior wizards forward to hold the front, supported by the junior mages who created wards to slow the ravagers’ charge and shield their fellows as they exacted a terrible death toll upon the invaders.
“The hallway behind us should be secure. That is where we shall treat our wounded. I want the adepts evenly distributed between the full wizards. I want no weak points,” the Headmaster ordered. “Magus Morgarum, were you able to bring any healing potions with you?”
The alchemy teacher held up a small wooden chest. “I had the foresight to grab these from my chambers before I ran out. I am afraid I have already used half of them.”
“We will do the best we can with what we have. You know best how use them, so stay back at our makeshift infirmary and see to the wounded.”
“Yes, Headmaster.”
“Gods, I would sell my soul to Sharellan for a couple Chosen right now,” Maureen said to no one in particular.
Magus King hustled to her side. “Headmaster, the creatures appear to be massing. There are at least a thousand of them!”
“Bring up our strongest forces and prepare to repel them. Have those unable to reach the front focus on defensive wards to…”
Her words were cut short as a dark figure dropped from the sky, plunging its black blade into the councilman’s neck. Maureen stabbed out with her magic, searing a hole through the creature’s chest. She looked up and scanned the high walls.
“’Ware the roofs! They are jumping from the roofs!”
A dozen more ravagers dropped from the roofs and lower ledges of the surrounding buildings, bringing chaos to the center and rear of her battered army. The main host of ravagers struck the front and headmaster Florent watched her people being pushed back. They were dying. As the battle raged around her, she closed her eyes and spared a moment to pray.
“Dear gods, forgive this fool and preserve us.”
A sharp clarion call split the air and courtyard thrummed with the rapid staccato of charging horses.
Commandant James Reece had read the report from Bruneford’s Mill and even traveled there to see the destruction for himself. He interviewed dozens of survivors. He knew peasants were prone to exaggeration, but weighing their recounting with the evidence he saw, he knew the attack for what it was; an initial sortie to gauge the strength of the enemy and cause widespread fear before an invasion. It was an effective tactic when one was certain they had the advantage of strength.
He had gotten a copy of Lord Giles’ training doctrine and found it impressive, if a bit extreme. After his return from Bruneford’s Mill, he requested copies made for his cadre, but the fools at the Magus Academy had refused to entertain the sorcerer’s ideas. Fortunately, the Scholars’ Academy loved nothing more than reading and penning and provided him with a dozen manuals within weeks.
His cadre enforced standards only put into effect during times of war. That meant sleeping with arms and armor under bunks instead of locked in the armory, static and roving patrols guarding the grounds at all times during the day and night, and frequent readiness drills. When he ordered a muster, his troops had ten minutes to don armor, grab weapons, and form ranks before the main building. After more than a year of intense drilling, his soldiers grumbled of the hardships placed upon them. But that intensity was going to pay off this night in lives saved.
“Lancers, at the ready!” the Commandant ordered and paused as his officers relayed his command. “Charge!”
Five-hundred mounted lancers charged the fearsome creatures laying siege to the Magus Academy. It pained him to know his response was slow, but none of his sentries survived to sound the alarm, and only the hellish sound of wizards doing battle had roused his men. Whether it was sheer luck or design that caused the invaders to largely ignore his sleeping troops and go straight for the mages, he did not know. Regardless of the reason, he counted it a blessing. Had these monsters caught him flatfooted, there would be no reinforcements and little chance of anyone surviving.
His lancers crashed into the massed ranks of ravagers with a resounded clash of steel, flesh, and snapping lance hafts. The cavalry did not pause to draw steel. Instead, the riders wheeled their mounts and raced back to their lines. The attack had taken the ravagers by surprise, but their swiftness allowed them to pull many of the riders from their mounts before they could be safely away.
The Commandant watched the ravagers give chase, and although they were not faster than his horses as the townsfolk had said, they were incredibly swift.
“Auxiliary Lancers, ready! Charge!”
Three-hundred more cavalry charged toward the onrushing horde, passing between their own retreating fellows so close they could feel the air rushing through their visors. Seconds later, they struck and greatly slowed the bulk of the charging ravagers. The cavalry pressed through and did not slow their charge until well clear of the creatures.
Knowing they could not catch the horses, the ravagers continued to charge the formed ranks of humans in from of them. Fearlessly, they threw themselves against the shields and spears of the weak and hated humans despite their decreased numbers.
This was where Commandant Reece would see how well this new battle doctrine worked against these monsters. Instead of men carrying sword and shield, the bulwark of his footmen wielded spears with large, rectangular shields capable of locking together at their edges. A fist-sized hole set in the right side of the shield allowed the spear to thrust into their enemies’ bodies without creating an opening and making them vulnerable.
The two armies clashed and the greater strength of the ravagers pushed his first, then second, and third ranks back, but the forth rank held as the fifth rank braced their shields against their fellows’ backs. Spears stabbed out of the holes in the shields, finding any bit of exposed red flesh presenting itself.
Against a human army, the assault would have ended there, but ravagers farther back leapt over the heads of their brethren and landed within the deeper ranks of soldiers, slashing and clawing. A lesser army may have succumbed to panic against such an alien attack, but these were not conscripts or even common soldiers. The Academy produced officers and knights, men whose training made them elite amongst any army in the known world. The rear ranks wielde
d swords and smaller shields and did not waver. They laid steel into their enemy without balking even as their friends died around them.
Headmaster Florent breathed a sigh of relief and whispered thanks to the gods and to Commandant Reese as his men drew the bulk of ravagers away from her people. But now was not the time to lick their wounds. Despite numerical superiority, the martial students were hard pressed and dying.
“Wizards and adepts, forward! Apprentices and Dorm Masters, stay with the others and guard yourselves,” the Headmaster ordered.
It was a long run to reach the soldiers, especially after such an exhausting ordeal, but the mages used the Source to feed their weary muscles. The wizards reached out with their magic, sending huge balls of fire exploding into the nearest ranks of ravagers brought to a halt by the unyielding shield wall.
The rear mass of ravagers ceased pushing and leaping over those in front of them and sprinted at the mages who destroyed them from behind. Before they could drown the fires of their hatred in the wizards’ blood, the two groups of cavalry thundered into both flanks in perfect formation, seemingly passing through each other like phantoms as they wheeled about for another charge.
Without the bulk of ravagers pressing against them, the footmen pressed forward and began driving the creatures back. Swordsmen ran to the outside flanks of shield bearers and closed the three-sided box upon their enemy, gaining momentum as they hacked their way into them.
Their numbers nearly exhausted, many of the remaining ravagers broke away and fled into the darkness in the direction of the city proper to wreak as much havoc as they could. Commandant Reese ordered a large detachment of cavalry to give chase, rouse the city guard if they were so oblivious to have slept through such chaos, and hunt down every last monster.
The Sorcerer's Return (The Sorcerer's Path) Page 25
