Thad was woken by the sound of alarm throughout the camp. Everything seemed to be moving just as Killian had suggested. “Tuck, how did it go last night?” Thad asked his elfin friend as he belted on his sword and buckled up his armor.
“Reeve seemed happy with the night’s events. They were able to kill a few dozen men, disable two siege weapons, and burn a large store of supplies.”
Everything had worked well. Killian had said the main goal of the sneak attacks was to destroy supplies, not troops. Even the best swordsman would perish without anything in his stomach. It was a harsh way to win a war, but if it worked, Thad was not going to argue. Now it was time for his part, to force the army to expend their energy and fight.
Exiting his tent, Thad found that the Rane forces were forming up to come take care of their guests. That had not been in Killian’s predictions, but Thad had expected it. It was obvious that they would be suspected of the sabotage and killings the night before and that Rane would not allow them to stay on their doorstep if they could help it.
After quickly putting up the tents, Thad formed up his men but didn’t advance them forward. He had made sure these shields not only covered the front but top as well. They didn’t reach high, but it was enough to protect the soldiers from any arrows.
As he had expected, the Rane army loosed six volleys of arrows before deciding that it was not going to be a workable course of action and ordered their men to charge. Thad had been slightly worried about the rain of arrows as the shields were weakening quickly, and if they had fired a few more, then it would have been disastrous.
Using a quick spell, Thad ordered the shields to lower and the metal orbs to return to him. It cost him a few extra hours of work when creating them with the added enchantments, but it made securing them before a battle much easier.
As the Rane forces rushed them en masse, Thad decided it was time to start his true point in the battle. “Men, ready bows. Fire two volleys. Those up front will make one strike against the first foe to reach them, then turn and run. It doesn’t matter if you wound or kill your opponent. Just run!” Thad yelled as he readied his own magic so that he could strike with one strong blow before the planned escape.
It didn’t take long for the Rane forces to cover the distance between them. Thad looked among them and found his target, a large man wearing full armor. It was odd for Thad to see such a man on the ground as most of them were too heavy to move outside of horseback. Besides, the armor the man stood out easily being nearly as tall as any elf he had seen.
Thad called forth his magic, letting it flow into him as he directed the currents. Once he had enough magical energy built up, Thad formed it into a massive ball of energy above the large warrior. It looked like a small blue sun hanging in the sky, and more than one soldier screamed in terror as it popped into existence above them, but the large warrior seemed to pay it little heed.
Once the Rane forces were only a few strides away from his army, Thad dropped the ball of energy and watched as it shattered like a glass ball, sending tendrils of energy through any living being around. When it was over and the blue sparks died away, Thad was amazed to see the large warrior still standing and looking as if nothing had happened.
Thad had the urge to send more magical attacks toward the man but knew that it would only waste time. Now that he was closer, Thad could see the edge of white metal lining the man’s armor. Cursing to himself, Thad drew his sword and prepared to flee.
The rest of the battle went much to plan. As soon as the army was within reach of their swords, the Farlan soldiers attacked, then dropped back, running at full speed away from the battlefield. Thad heard the screams of those who had fallen behind or had not moved quickly enough but didn’t have the luxury of turning around to see their grisly fate.
By the time they had eluded the Rane forces, Thad’s chest burned hot, and his stomach churned. They had followed much farther than he or Killian had expected, but they had given up in the end. Thad didn’t know if he was happy about that fact or not. If they had continued their pursuit, then the secondary force, not far away, would have cut down their pursuers, but it would have been at a heavy cost.
CHAPTER XVI
Thad looked out from the roof of the Emeriss manor at the Rane army camped not far away. Their coordinated hit-and-run attacks had worked and slowed down the opposing army, but not nearly enough. In just nine days, they had reached their main camp. Now Bache was planning to fall back to Bailwood, which lay about half the distance between the Rane border and the Farlan capital.
Thad had traveled through Bailwood but had never stopped at the small farming village. With less than fifty families living there, its only real luxury was its large inn that often housed traveling merchants.
Thad felt the brimming of hopelessness as he looked out at the more than forty thousand men. Even at more than three miles away, they were clearly visible. They would reach the manor by nightfall, but they would find the bulk of the army already gone with only a small token army of five hundred awaiting them.
Over the past few days, Thad had picked the fastest runners to be part of his force. They wore no armor and carried only light weapons. Since he had implemented his new plans and started choosing his members himself, he had lost no more than ten men in a single strike.
Even should the dwarves and Vathari come, do you really think you can win against that massive force? If the dwarves fielded every fighter they had, it would only amount to less than two thousand swords. The Vathari have more warriors and mages, but their numbers are not large either. By design, they could muster four to five thousand from what I remember. Those two added to your force would still leave you at less than half the size of the force you are currently facing.
“What would you have me do?” Thad asked angrily.
Leave before you find your death. You don’t owe these men or women anything. There is no sense dying in a war that has already been lost.
“Thuraman, it seems that with the passing of each day, you care less about those around us,” Thad replied, shutting his mind off from his staff. Every day, the staff suggested he run away and leave those who counted on him behind. He never thought his staff evil, but it seemed it didn’t see the world and the people within it the same as he did.
With the Rane army now close, Thad jumped from the roof of the manor and let his magic carry him down to safety. Thad knew that it was a little wasteful of him to use his magic in such a manner, but there was little that could match the thrill he felt as he fell toward the ground only to be slowed and stopped only inches before impact.
“Tuck, let Reeve know the army will be here within a few hours,” Thad told his friend through the magical ring on his hand. He had tried to make more of the rings, but the experiment had failed. He knew that with more time, he could have made it work.
Thad formed up his troops and waited for the coming army using a new enchantment that Marcus had thought up to aid in fooling the enemy. Besides the shield orbs that would protect them from arrows, more than a dozen soldiers wore small disks that created four illusionary soldiers around them. To Thad’s eyes, it looked as if the soldier stood in front of a mirror.
Like the previous battles, when the two forces neared, they both fired a volley of arrows. When the arrows didn’t connect, the Rane forces charged, not bothering with a second or third try. The Farlan forces were able to get off two more full volleys before the Rane army was close enough for swords. As Thad watched the battle unfold, he almost laughed. It was no longer a simple fight but a rehearsed and planned event. Thad released his magical orb of energy. The soldiers each attacked their first opponent, then ran.
The Rane archers were ready for their retreat, and as soon as they had distanced themselves from the battle, another hail of arrows fell down upon them only to be pushed aside by the shield that was now carried at the corners of the formation by half a dozen soldiers.
As they pulled back, Thad once again saw the large soldier
in the full metal armor. He too was becoming a fixture on the battlefield. He had killed more of Thad’s men than any other, and Thad wished that he would fall soon. Thad had described the man to Tuck and asked Reeve to see to him, but as of yet, the elf had not located him within the massive enemy camp.
After they had run for a little over two miles, Thad called his men to a halt and looked back at the estate. Unlike before, the Rane army had stopped their entire force. Thad could see a contingent of horseback riders heading in their direction. Cursing, Thad called his men to formation, knowing that there was no chance of outrunning them on foot.
Thad started to build up his magic as the horsemen rushed toward him, and he could feel his head becoming light. He should have known that the Rane army would adapt to the changes in his tactics, but after so many successes, he had gotten lazy.
Thad let loose five fireballs about the size of a man’s head. As they raced toward the riders, the horses balked, sending a few riders to the ground, but the best continued on. The archers fired arrows as fast as they could, but many of them were too slow in pulling their swords and were quickly downed by the horsemen.
Thad wished he had saved some of his energy but knew that should he employ any more of his magic, it would most likely leave him lying on the field unconscious.
Sword in hand, Thad readied himself as a rider rushed past him, its lance aimed for his chest. Thad’s shield and armor worked better than anything of metal, and the lance broke the force of the resistance, carrying the man from the horse. Thad had hoped for such an outcome and quickly grabbed for the reins of the horse as it passed, swinging easily up into the saddle.
Thad had little time to celebrate as two horsemen quickly picked him out for their target. Thad mentally checked his shield and knew that it was weakening. At most, it could only take one more strong blow. Looking at the two men, Thad chose the soldier who still held a lance and kicked his horse into a gallop. As they neared, Thad leaned to the side of the saddle, sticking his sword out. The enemy’s lance came so close to Thad’s head Thad he could feel the wind off of it and swore that he had left a few hairs behind. As the horses passed each other, Thad stabbed out, catching the opponent’s horse in the foreleg, causing it to stumble, bearing its rider to the ground.
Thad felt bad about having to kill the horse, but it was the easiest way to deal with a man in thick armor under such circumstances. Forgetting about the downed rider, Thad stood back up in the saddle and looked for the other soldier. He found the rider being pulled from his horse by one of Thad’s men.
Taking a quick look around, Thad noticed that the fighting was over, and they had won, though they had lost nearly a third of their number during the fight. His men were now gathering the horses. When Thad noticed that one of the men had taken a garish leg wound, he dismounted and ordered the wounded on horseback and those able to walk to do so.
It was nearly nightfall before they met up with the rest of the army. Parson, seeing that they had many wounded, called for Mary and the other healers. Thad quickly made his way to the command tent and explained to the general and Killian what had transpired after the battle.
“I had hoped they would hold their cavalry to the rear until they were forced to use them. Horsemen are great against breaking ranks, but not so well in many other situations. That being said, we will just have to adjust. The only other option right now is to surrender, and I don’t think that will end nicely for us.”
“How do we handle their cavalry? I lost a lot of men today, and next time, they might decide to send more,” Thad said, slamming his hand down on the table.
“We will have to hide a number of archers on your escape route. You could also place some of your magical traps and use them if the enemy gets too close behind you,” Killian suggested.
“We don’t have any more supplies for magical aid. Glass is easy enough to come by if we have the men to send back to the capital, but we have run low on gems and metal. We could melt down some of our extra swords, but that still does nothing for our shortage of gems,” Thad replied, frustrated.
“Then we will have to use archers,” Killian replied empathetically.
As they were discussing the best place to put the archers, an elfin scout rushed in. “Sir, we received news a large army is marching in from the northwest.”
The command tent went deathly quiet as everyone absorbed the new information. “Where did they come from?” Bache asked, his voice carrying his concern clearly.
“I don’t know, sir,” the scout replied quickly. “It’s as if they appeared out of thin air.”
“It could be reinforcements from the Katanga, dwarves, or Vathari,” Thad said hopefully.
“We can only hope, but it would be best if we planned as if they were enemies,” Killian interjected. “How many troops are with the new army?”
“The reports have them at around four thousand strong, sir.”
“Not enough to save our skins if they are reinforcements, but more than enough to destroy us if they are unfriendly,” Bache said, a hint of absurd laughter in his voice. “Thad, I know you have just returned from a foray, but Parson is still out preparing the next attack on the main force. Can you gather some men and go out to meet the new force? We have to know what we are dealing with.”
“It will take some time to gather enough troops to march. Most of my men are either wounded or exhausted,” Thad replied hesitantly.
“Take some of the elves with you. We still have some held in reserve in case any hard fighting broke out. Looks like this will be a good time to use them,” Reeve suggested.
Thad left the tent and started grabbing any man who looked as if he could handle another engagement, while Reeve sent for three hundred of the elves. Even with the elves, Thad knew the best he could hope for was around seven hundred troops, and should the force be unfriendly, that wouldn’t be enough to stop them, but maybe he could slow them down. Thad hated the idea that they might have to fight on two fronts, but as Killian had said many times, the enemy rarely lets you do what you want.
As Thad waited for the rest of the troops to muster, he pulled out a small map of Farlan and looked at where he had marked the last known location of the new force. If they moved at a steady pace and continued heading in their direction, he should meet up with them sometime midafternoon the next day. It wouldn’t leave much time for rest, but even a half a day away from the battlefield was more than he had gotten recently.
Grabbing one of the horses they had won from the last fight, Thad mounted. He felt bad that he would ride while the rest walked, but he had already expended most of his energy earlier that day.
You are one of the highest-ranked people here. Let them walk. It’s about time you started acting like more than a stableboy.
“I don’t think I should ask more out of the men than I am willing to give myself,” Thad replied, trying to push Thuraman’s objections from his mind, but he was finding it harder and harder with each passing day. The staff was getting stronger, and he was consistently exhausting himself with the countless battles.
Thad strapped his staff to the back of his horse and gave it a long hard look. It wasn’t just that the staff was getting strong. It was how it acted that bothered him. His staff had said that it was another side of him. If that was true, then it had to be the darker side. The staff seemed to hate women and most everyone else, for that matter. It was self-important and egotistical where Thad was concerned. It behaved as if it believed itself to be the most important being in the world and should be treated as such, even going so far as to nearly kill a young lieutenant that had insulted him a few days back. That had taken a lot of explaining, but as the days passed, Thad really started considering leaving the weapon behind once the war was over.
Do you really think you can simply leave me behind? I can come to you anytime I wish, but even if you did discard me, you wouldn’t for long. You would find yourself in trouble and call on me just as you have done many times before.
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Thad once again tried to force Thuraman from his mind but was unsuccessful, so he was forced to try and ignore the staff’s insults. Before giving the order to move out, Thad looked at the staff one last time and wondered once again if it really talked to him or if he was simply losing his mind. No one else had ever heard the staff, and even the dwarves had only heard of a few rare cases where magical items had enough consciousness to speak.
CHAPTER XVII
Thad had chosen a nice piece of flat ground with a small hill on which to meet the new force. He had stationed a hundred of the best elfin archers on top of the hill and placed the rest in a half circle in front of them. His shields had not completely recharged, and he feared that if the new force was hostile, they would offer little cover.
The wait for the other force was worse than the actual battle as nerves started to wear thin, and he started to second-guess himself. He thought about sending out a scout, but the land was fairly open, and anyone trying to approach would easily be seen. Not to mention that if the other force had changed direction, he had no clue as to which way to send the scouts. His only choice was to wait.
As evening dawned, Thad got his first glimpse of the rumored force. It was far larger than he had anticipated, and they moved together with precision that was clear even from a distance. The longer Thad watched, the more odd the force began to look.
When Thad heard one of his men say that it looked like a bunch of children marching toward them, Thad used his magical eye to get a closer view. For certain, the force marching toward them was shorter in stature than a normal man, but Thad knew that was because they were not men at all but dwarves. Thad continued to look until he found the face of one burly dwarf he had come to miss. Seeing Crusher among the dwarves raised Thad’s spirit as he called for his men to stand down.
Master Mage Page 15
