His magic extended beyond the wall to its base, the stone of the cave floor. Expanding his search, it didn't take long to feel the tremors in the stone. What was more frightening was how far inside the perimeter he noticed that the feeling of digging could be felt.
While the enemy distracted the wizards by attacking the front gate and side walls of the school; Holdy felt nearly a dozen tunnels being made deep beneath the outer wall.
"They're tunneling under!" he warned his teacher frantically. The look of surprise on the older woman's face echoed the others who could hear him as well.
Looking towards the courtyards below them, Megan quickly asked, "Where? How many tunnels?"
"It's hard to be sure how many are there, but some of them are inside the wall already."
A roar from behind the boy preceded a few screams. Two black, furry looking monsters leaped up onto the wall. Ropes were looped over their shoulders leading to a troll suddenly cresting the stone behind them. Kiriaks weren't the most dangerous of foes, but the wizards and apprentices weren't trained to deal with them in close quarters fighting. They needed room to cast their spells.
"Holdy, the shield," Turless ordered his friend passing the control of the shield back to the other apprentice as the older boy gripped his sword and leaped forward to help.
The three creatures were just the vanguard and similar actions were happening all along the wall. Kiriaks could climb stone walls, even ones as smooth as the magically constructed school. They were as fast running up walls as they were running along the ground, perhaps faster even; but they weren't huge creatures and rarely used weapons of steel. Though humanoid and relatively intelligent, the dark furred, monsters fought like beasts using their claws and strength to rend armor and to rip at the flesh beneath.
Holdy watched his friend's bold attack and knew why he felt that he must try. The creatures' assault had split them from the rest of the friends in their class. All of them had decided to follow the path to Sanctuary. It hadn't taken much to convince most of the students. Over the last month Lesolas' people had looked into who would choose freedom over serving someone like the grand masters or one of the generals finding most of the apprentices agreed with them. These were friends, family even now, and he watched Turless' confidence surge being one of the few who had embraced combat skills gleaned from his time with the rogue battle mage, Palose.
A blue shield formed with a word and fire enveloped his sword as Turless barreled into the fray to distract the monsters from his friends. Holdy wasn't certain if the boy believed that he was so skilled that he could take on three monsters at once or if he was just desperate.
The sword moved surprisingly quickly. Holdy could tell that the other apprentice had become comfortable with the weapon and the magic of battle mages. A single word sent fire into the face of one of the kiriaks. Surprised and injured by the fire, the creature fell back with a scream. A channeled gust of wind threw it towards the troll, which had started to turn towards Fordenna and the other students. It was startled, but the troll was larger and more powerful.
Shrugging off the stumbling kiriak, the troll sent it flailing over the side into the courtyard below.
The second kiriak leaped for Turless. The apprentice wasn't as ready as he had hoped. His shield caught the weight of the attack; but in spite of being made of magic, it required the older boy's strength to fend it off. Bigger and stronger with better leverage, the kiriak succeeded in throwing Turless back. He stumbled and started to topple over the low stone barrier at the top of the wall. It was supposed to prevent such things, but momentum caused the boy fall.
"Door!" Holdy called out trying something that he had also learned from Palose. A single word or phrase spoken in the common tongue, like battle mage spells were, had been adapted for other magic by the dark mage.
He had figured out how to simplify the magic of the portal spell after hours and hours of using the spell to remove stone from the tunnel. At first Holdy had cast the magic words that he had been taught by his teachers, words that were inscribed in the books he had read. Hand motions were assigned to the work as well, but the apprentice simplified his gate making it quick enough to form just beyond the wall in the air.
Turless fell through the light and Holdy heard the clatter of his sword on the stone behind him as a second doorway formed in the middle of the wall. The older apprentice tumbled onto the stone with a shout of surprise. He had sucked in his breath in shock readying to fall to his death, but his friend had kept him from that bloody end for now.
The light winked out of sight leaving the kiriak perplexed. It hadn't followed the apprentice, and was starting to change his target. Looking beyond the kiriak and troll, Holdy watched as another troll climbed over the side of the outer wall.
His eyes caught sight of hooks about four feet apart. The ropes that the kiriaks had used hadn't just helped the first troll to climb, but had drawn up one of many ladders. The siege was ending as the creatures sought to crest the wall and destroy the wizards remaining behind to fight.
They would all die, the boy feared and with them being so close to escaping this dark, cold city.
Giving his all, Holdy drove his magic shield ahead of him. The kiriak's black eyes revealed surprise as its bat like face screamed at the apprentice. Driven before him, the kiriak slammed into the second troll. Both beasts couldn't resist the power of his magic and were thrown from the wall.
Snarling came from his right as the first troll turned from the wizard and her apprentices shrinking back from the massive monster announcing its change of intent as the creature had witnessed its fellows thrown to their likely deaths.
"Door," he ordered swiftly placing a wall of light between them. From his point of view, the troll was behind a dull gray fabrication that obscured the monster as it disappeared into the light on the other side.
In his peripheral vision, a second door of light opened about forty feet in the air above the attacking army. The troll's scream, as it realized that it was falling from a great height; came halfway down as the travel blindness faded.
Holdy couldn't even hear the monster's scream and didn't bother to watch the death fall. His attention went to the hooks only a few feet from him. A much smaller version of the door spell formed horizontally cutting the top of the stone wall from one hook to the other. Metal and stone fell into the light to be dropped like the troll into the army outside, while those climbing the rope ladder suddenly fell it go slack sending a handful of orcs and another troll crashing down onto those waiting to climb the device.
Waving towards Fordenna and the others, Holdy called out, "Fall back. They're tunneling under the wall already as well. We can't hold them off anymore!"
The woman probably heard little of what the boy had to say, but the wizard knew a losing situation when she saw it. Herding the other students past Holdy, Fordenna moved back to Megannah and the others gathering on the inner wall connecting to the upper floor of the school.
Holdy looked out over the wall through his glowing shield, which remained up before him, and looked out onto a throng of thousands. He could feel the power of magic near the rear of this beast army and knew that even if they could find a way to keep the monsters at bay, sometime soon the warlocks watching them fight would change their tactics. He guessed that the wizards of the school could resist for a time, but not if the monsters continued to find ways onto or past the walls.
There were few soldiers inside the school for security and fewer hunters since the conflicting visions of the grand masters and the hunt master had butted heads. Few of those remaining had much knowledge of weapons beyond their magic in the wizards' school. It was formidable, but without soldiers to keep them safe, warlocks and wizards were just glass cannons that could be slain quite easily by soldiers with simple steel.
He looked down the front wall and could see their forces already beginning to give way to the monsters cresting the outer battlements. Screams as apprentices and their mentors were pulled
over the side or torn apart by the monsters atop the wall could be heard even over the sounds of battle. Holdy winced knowing that many of those chosen to go to Sanctuary would not live to see it after all.
Chapter 30- Last Fortress
Even on solid stone, the thud of an armored vile crashing to the ground seemed like it should have been felt. Lines of darkness extended from Torva drew back towards the wizard hunter and his jaw was set in grim determination. Dozens of stone walls dotted the landscape between the first battle line and the hunters' barracks built just high enough to keep trolls and armored viles at bay while warlocks worked to cast their spells. Black armored soldiers, mostly human and elven now, hunkered down using the protection created by their teammates to fend off the larger creatures of the enemy army.
Distrust of the orcs, goblins and trolls in the remaining hunter army had caused it to lose their numbers for different reasons than normal attrition. Gock and Bocha continued to live up to the trust Torva had in them and had even killed several of their own kind protecting their fellow hunters. The elf had the sick feeling that trusted or not; these two loyal trolls would not be coming with him to Sanctuary. That raised the question of whether he and the others whose allegiance had kept them close would make it also.
An armored vile's claw slashed through a wall trying to kill the men using it for cover. The black lines of his maintained spell lashed out again going for its face. Distracted by the warlock's spell, the three soldiers stumbled away falling back yet once more. At least the distraction of the wizard's school had kept the enemy from just crushing them with the weight of their numbers; but even so, the outnumbered wizard hunters were bleeding out slowly but surely. Torva doubted that, even if they all retreated to the barracks' outer walls now, the remnants of their forces could stop this army from crushing them.
The west barracks had fallen to magic and perhaps there were enough warlocks remaining to prevent the same from happening to the eastern fortress; but armored viles, kiriaks and trolls were made for destroying stone walls as well. Goblins were excellent sappers also, though digging through the stone of Ensolus would be more challenging when there was only flat land around the garrison. Still, that was just one part of the way the creatures could destroy them.
Torva wondered if barricading their people inside the barracks wasn't just a matter of deciding where they wanted to die. They were losing and couldn't trust their allies. There would be no one coming to their rescue either. Hunters were supposed to protect the school, not the other way around; and apprentices couldn't be expected to come save the veterans either.
"Where to now?" Effelo asked breathing hard before pulling a sandwich from his pouch. The warlock could nearly cast as he ate, Torva knew from watching the youngest of his men fighting in the past. Now the warlocks among them were both fighting using their weapons as well as casting spells. Like Torva's shadow serpents, his other warlocks used their magic to hold similar magical weapons. The spells didn't require the time needed to cast something new and ate at their power slower than trying to pull out new spells like casting fireballs, though Silas had five orbiting above his head readying to cast them at the next enemy to get close.
Torva's eyes glanced towards the school that was farther away from him now. The wizard hunter could still pick out Megannah fighting on the walls, even from this distance. Though he wanted to be at her side or standing in front of her to protect the beautiful woman that he loved, Torva had no way to get there. Unless Megan opened a doorway to bring him there, the monsters' army would be an obstacle that he couldn't pass.
"We'll stay on the field as long as we can to try and buy the school time," he stated.
The decision wasn't stated happily, nor was it received that way. Somehow, his squad had held together so far; but the hunters had lost quite a few men now. Entire squads had been lost. Leaders were scattered or dead. Around Torva a dozen other men seemed to orbit his team moving when they moved and fought when they fought. His warlocks had saved many of them and the favor had been returned. Though not in his team officially, most of those wizard hunters remaining in the city knew each other at least remotely after all. They were comrades and allies, especially now when those who remained were mostly human or elf.
Torva noted how few orcs, trolls and goblins seemed to be fighting on their side. While some had turned on their fellow hunters, most of those had been killed almost as soon as it happened. More of the creatures simply disappeared and likely blended into the enemy before moving away entirely.
He didn't blame those who could see that they couldn't win this battle. They simply wanted to live and thus they left their teams and allies to die, if that was how it was to be.
"Come on, Megannah. Call me to you or come to me. It's time to flee this place. You know that now. Come on," he breathed longing to be heard across the distance. The plans of the grand master looked to be for naught. Hunt Master Zarl had disappeared from the field as well, at least his magic had. Torva knew the sign for what it was. Their leader was dead.
The hunter readied to fight as another wave threw their selves at the remaining wizard hunters.
The earth seemed to tremble beneath her feet. Megannah stumbled and felt Turless hand catch her. The apprentice's balance had become much better than hers as he had chosen to learn the art of the blade. If things had continued, it was likely that he would have joined the wizard hunters soon. Though he wasn't necessarily the type she had seen desiring to join the elite force, Turless' abilities learned from Palose made him an asset that the wizard hunters would surely desire.
Turning at the strange sight of a stone wall collapsing, the wizard watched as a portion of the outer wall of the wizards' school crumbled. There were still a few wizards and apprentices on it as it broke, but there were a few of the enemy as well at least. Losing a few soldiers, or whatever one might call this mob assembled by the orcs of the western city, had much less impact on the enemy, however, than losing those with the promise of magic. They were too few and the monsters were coming.
"Hurry!" Fordenna called out bringing her attention back to their flight.
There were trolls and armored viles in the courtyard as well. Orcs and goblins spewed out of several holes that had opened up below them. The armored viles and their powerful, sharp claws had dug through the solid stone so swiftly and not even magic could stop them. Lines of wizards, warlocks and their apprentices could be seen fleeing from the outer wall. It was a last effort to avoid being cut off and likely cut down by these beasts.
A golden doorway opened as a wizard she knew pulled his students through it to disappear before the top of the wall swarmed with orcs and goblins. Another piece of the wall fell not far from there and only moments after the gate winked out of sight. He was one of their order, if that was what they could call the faction which had arisen hoping to leave before the arrogance of the grand masters got them all killed.
She saw no answering doorway in sight. Most likely he had taken the children away to Sanctuary and Megannah wondered if it was time for her to do so as well. There were a few things which she hoped to grab from her room, but there was always the possibility that she could return using a portal too.
"Megan, get your head together!" Fordenna complained. Her voice tried to sound firm, but her friend's face betrayed her as did the break caused by her fright.
"Do we try to go inside to get our stuff?" the younger wizard asked quickly. "Or do we just run now?"
Holdy spoke up startling her as the boy followed the group. He and Turless seemed to have unofficially taken up the mantle of protectors for the entire class. One had a sword and battle magic, while the youngest of their group had a mind that held more spells than even she likely did. "I can open a portal for you now if you want. I still need to go check on my mom though, so whatever you plan needs to happen soon."
Nodding, she was about to answer when another rumble shook the wall making them all do their best not to be thrown from the top as Turless had
been. A swarm of enemy monsters ran towards them even as another piece of the outer wall collapsed. Magic had been used by the enemy to speed up the process. The girl had felt it just before the wall had broken.
Mumbling a quick set of powerful words, Megannah knelt down to touch her hands to the stone. Letting more power surge from her than she had meant as the wizard reacted, the stone seemed to ripple and roll forward. A dozen feet away the wall appeared to give up before her powerful spell. Erupting in front of the enemy, the top of the wall continued to explode under their feet sending the creatures flying free of the stone to fall into the courtyard below. The destruction nearly made it back to the outer wall; and Megannah realized that the magic which had held the school's wall together so immaculately for more than a century had nearly disappeared already. Even fortifying it as the battle began, the outer defenses had withered. The magic in the stone was nearly gone and her power had torn through what remained here easier than she should have been able.
"Make the doorway between us and them," Fordenna ordered.
Holdy spoke a single word making the teacher's eye widen in surprise. She had seen him use the spell earlier, but hadn't realized that he had found a way to cheat. Fordenna didn't complain when the doorway opened in front of Megannah though.
"Go, go," she urged the apprentices.
Megan stepped back rather than join the flight of the students. They didn't have to be asked twice and no one balked by asking to stay long enough to find whatever might be in their rooms either.
The younger teacher shared her power with Holdy hoping to buy him enough energy to be able to use the spell again in time to check on his mother. It was possible that the battle here wasn't part of something larger which might encompass the whole city, but Megan feared the worst.
Battle Mage Broken Empire Page 40
