A Sorcerer's Fist

by Guy Antibes

  They continued on their way. Ricky couldn’t detect any pickets, and they never ran into another checkpoint. Even with his inexperience, Ricky wouldn’t run a war that way.

  They entered the Wedo’s village. Some cottages were burned down. The inn remained standing. Jac and Ricky tied their horses up and entered. The interior of the inn was turned upside down.

  “I’m sorry. I’m not in the position to help you.” The innkeeper said in the dark room. Chairs and tables were jumbled and broken. Scorch marks decorated the walls. “Mr. Crabacci, isn’t it?” The innkeeper looked more closely at them. “Where is Wedo?”

  “I left him in Paranty,” Ricky said. “What happened?”

  “Lord Griama’s army marched through here. They took all my food. You can see the cottages of those who put up a fuss. At least I can repair the damage to my inn. You should head back to the capital. They will be back through here once Rassoport is theirs.”

  “Didn’t they spread through the countryside to get to Rassoport?” Jac said.

  The innkeeper shook his head. “It is like they have no idea how to march. Thugs make up Lord Griama’s army. They have little discipline. I refuse to leave my village unless they burn it down.”

  Ricky set a chair upright and sat down at a table. He pulled out the rough copy of a map that Lady Griama had given them.

  “Where do you think the army is?”

  “They weren’t exactly running to Rassoport,” the man said. He gazed down. “Maybe ten or fifteen miles away by now.”

  “What kind of troops does Lord Rasso have?”

  “Not quite as many as near as I can tell, but that doesn’t include the contract workers they have moved south.”

  “Are the sorcerers gone from the village?”

  The innkeeper nodded. “I’m here. The village agent was beaten and had his cottage burned down, but he’s in one of my rooms.”

  “King Courer has sent an army south from the capital,” Jac said.

  “King Courer. He hasn’t been much help, has he?”

  Jac pulled out the authorization documents. “You should know who we represent.”

  The innkeeper looked at the proclamations and then his eyes locked on Jac’s. “You are the Crown Prince? I thought you looked familiar. I last saw you six or seven years ago.”

  Jac nodded. “I am. Please tell me where you think the forces are. The army that we will soon march through your village needs to free you from the Rassos and Lord Griama.”

  “But he is your father.”

  “Did you read the words?”

  The innkeeper looked at the two documents on the table. “I did.” He looked at the map, and they talked for a while. The man brought in the same man who had verified Wedo’s purchase by Ricky.

  The man managed to smile, although he could barely walk and had his arm in a sling. “The Rassos were very upset that you took Wedo away. They ranted and raved for a full hour in my office, but then they left. I thought they would send thugs to do this to me.” The man lifted his injured arm and winced. “I guess it was Lord Griama’s turn.” He looked at Jac and nodded. “Not you, young lord Griama.”

  “Is there any food left in the village?”

  The innkeeper smiled slyly. “Of course there is. We won’t let anyone have it until whatever happens at Rassoport happens.”

  “I’ll make sure the army is well-provisioned,” Jac said. He looked at Ricky. “I think we know enough.”

  “You can go back. Mattia needs to know what we just learned. I’m going to find those contract sorcerers. I wouldn’t want King Courer’s soldiers to attack contract servants, sorcerers or commoners.”

  “I’d play Princess Pira and demand to accompany you, but I know we have enough information.”

  Jac left Ricky alone with the two men. The innkeeper rubbed his hands. “I know it is late, but you seemed to like my wife’s breakfasts. We have enough to offer you one before you head to Rassoport.”

  ~~~

  Chapter Seven

  ~

  R icky enjoyed the solitude of traveling on his own. His last time alone was when he had traveled to Sealio to extract Nania Sarini. He felt he had neglected his former warden, but between Pira and Nemo, she probably had enough attention.

  He traveled the same path he used when he and Wedo headed for Vorria. This time he didn’t make it very far before he ran into Lord Griama’s rabble. Jac had taken the map, but Ricky could imagine where the village was located.

  There weren’t many soldiers in town, but they congregated around an inn. The rabble hadn’t torn this village apart like Wedo’s. Lord Griama’s men didn’t post sentries, so it was easy for Ricky to walk around the periphery of the village until he came to an older woman washing clothes in a tub in her back garden that bordered the forest.

  “Good afternoon,” Ricky said.

  The woman lifted her head up and clutched her chest. “You scared me.” She looked closer. “You don’t look like one of Lord Griama’s horde.”

  “I’m not,” Ricky said. “I’m from the capital. I wanted to see what was going on.”

  “Not much, actually. We aren’t important, and that suits me just fine,” she said. “Are you going to change all that?”

  “It depends on what I would change, doesn’t it? Is there something important at the inn? That’s where the horde is.”

  Ricky’s comment brought a smile to the woman’s lips. “A sense of humor, you have. Good. I like lads with sense of humor. If you must know, there are sorcerers in the inn. The conditions are worse than a jail. Poor men and women.”

  “And why does Lord Griama keep them under guard?”

  The woman stopped to rinse out what she worked on and hung it on a clothesline. “He doesn’t trust the sorcerers. Truth is, they would happily tear down the Rassoport palace or whatever they live in.”

  “What if I took them north?” Ricky asked.

  “Then set them free, if you do. They haven’t done anything wrong but become caught in a bad situation, and Lord Rasso has taken advantage of them,” the woman said. “My husband, bless his departed soul, and I were able to buy our freedom. He was a woodcutter. Died when a tree fell on him. I have two daughters in this village who have remained free.”

  “I’ll do that,” Ricky said, giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I have means.” He took out his wand and sang the blade out.

  “A sorcerer, yourself. Aren’t you a little young to play with sharp things?” she said, laughing at her joke.

  “Perhaps,” Ricky said. “When can I free them?”

  “All by yourself?”

  Ricky nodded. “I don’t want any villagers to get into trouble. In fact, you should make the village look like it was ransacked if the horde is killed or flees.”

  “My cottage needs a bit of improvement anyhow. I can repaint it after you have won, if you can do that. You aren’t pulling my leg?”

  Ricky grinned and held up both of his hands. “How can I do that?”

  She laughed again. “Wait until dark. They generally drink themselves to sleep. I’ll have a talk with my fellow villagers.”

  Ricky went a hundred paces into the thick forest and found a place to wait. The afternoon turned into twilight, and then darkness covered everything. He walked back, picking his way through the trees and undergrowth, and knocked on the woman’s back door.

  “I had given you up for a ghost,” she said. “We are ready. The innkeeper gave them the good stuff.”

  Ricky assumed she meant potent alcohol. He led his horse to the inn and found the ‘horde’ asleep, decorating the inn’s entrance. The doors were padlocked, but that didn’t stop Ricky. He stepped inside.

  Bodies snored on the floor of the common room. Ricky guessed the inn’s rooms were filled as well.

  “What are you doing? Get back to sleep,” a man said. He held a sword at Ricky’s neck. Not all the rabble was drunk in the front.

  It was easy to put the man to sleep. Ricky lit a
sorcerous globe and shook one of the sorcerers awake. Soon Ricky talked quietly to an ever-growing group of prisoners. He told him of his plan to buy out their contracts and move them north, out of Lord Rasso’s grasp and out of Lord Griama’s way.

  “You will have to walk north to the Griama manor first. If any of you want to return here to fight Lord Rasso or Lord Griama, feel free to join us. I can teach you how to modify your spells to become weapons.”

  A debate ensued, and within an hour, Ricky led two hundred sorcerers north. He looked back at the village and saw torchlight through the trees. The villagers were doing their best to disguise the easy escape.

  A woman walked at Ricky’s side. Two sorcerers who could barely walk sat on Ricky’s horse.

  “Where are your children?” Ricky asked.

  “We spread them out to the other villagers,” she said. “They aren’t under contract like we are, anyway.”

  “Then you can wait north of the Griama manor until we are done here.”

  They walked into the night. Ricky ended up making sure people were helping those who needed a bit more help in the dark. He communicated with Pira and asked where these people should go.

  Before they reached the manor, carts showed up on the road, and many of the sorcerers were loaded up. By the time Ricky arrived with the stragglers, the sorcerers had been fed and were sleeping throughout the manor.

  “We can cart them to three farm villages that will take them in temporarily,” Lady Amira said. “Perhaps you can count this as penance.”

  Ricky took the woman’s hand. “Penance isn’t needed, but good deeds are always welcome,” he said, rather proud that he thought that up. Pira stood behind the woman and nodded with appreciation.

  “I’m sure there are others, but maybe these sorcerers can help us. I’ll need Jac and you to evaluate their abilities. Have them create a light and heat up a knife at a distance. I doubt if any can throw fire, but you can ask them,” Ricky said to Pira. “I’m going to find someplace to sleep.”

  ~

  Jac shook Ricky awake. “Mattia has arrived.”

  Ricky blinked his eyes open. “It’s not early morning.”

  “An hour before noon,” Jac said.

  “Have you been evaluating the sorcerers?”

  “There is a problem there. They all want to return to the South.”

  “They will once we pacify Lord Griama’s army.”

  “No, many want to fight.”

  Ricky nodded and shook his head. “I need some food. Maybe we can talk to whoever leads the sorcerers and Nemo.”

  “Uh, you are their leader. That’s what they told me. You brought them out of the forest.”

  Ricky rubbed his stubbled chin and shrugged. In moments, he and Jac looked out at about two hundred sorcerers grouped in the front courtyard.

  “How many of you want to fight?” Ricky asked.

  They all raised their hands.

  “Who had trouble walking to the manor last night?” Ricky saw a few hands go up. “I don’t need all of you. We are probably going to walk all the way to Rassoport. I don’t want to leave stragglers along the road. I’ll still buy out your contracts if you stay and don’t fight. There are two forces in the South. We will fight them both. When we are done, Lord Griama’s army will be defeated, and Rassoport will have to find a new name.”

  The sorcerers, men and women both, cheered Ricky’s words. “Get some food in you. We don’t have much in the way of supplies, but we will outfit you as best we can. You might not even find the floor of an inn to sleep on.”

  “The forest floor is soft enough,” one of the sorcerers said.

  “Then get fed and come back here one hour after noon. We will continue to test you and teach you some offensive spells for the rest of the afternoon.”

  Mattia walked out of the shadows. “Just like the Home,” he said. “You lead them. I don’t know enough about sorcery, and there are none among King Courer’s troops. They aren’t encouraged to join in Dimani. Come on in. I’ll tell you what I know if you will tell me what you’ve found out. Jac has given me an overview.”

  Pira and Nania joined Mattia’s officer corps, twenty men dressed in fine uniforms, plus the officer who had been at the manor when Ricky arrived. Jac and Lady Amira walked into the room to join them. He told them the army was setting up camp half-an-hour to the north of the manor. Mattia had made sure there were supply carts and healers. The way he said it gave Ricky the impression that the Dimani army wasn’t particularly competent.

  Lady Amira provided them with maps the soldiers had with them. They appeared to be better than any others at the manor.

  They hashed out battle scenarios. Only a few officers offered any useful ideas. Lady Amira was more astute than all of them.

  “I will teach the sorcerers how to sing the counterspell for compulsion and the spell for protection,” Ricky said. “I’ll give them practice working on the troops.”

  One of the officers objected. “You don’t trust Dimanians?”

  “What if Lord Griama has four or five sorcerers start compelling your troops to fight you?” Ricky sang the counterspell in the room. Two officers swayed, including the officer who objected. “Do you see what I mean?” Ricky said to those remaining. “It won’t take more than a few soldiers to make the army distrust their fellow soldiers. It’s going to be hard enough coming up with any useful strategies until we confront the two armies.”

  “But they are a rabble,” an officer said.

  “If someone puts you in the middle of armed rabble, what are your chances of survival?” Mattia asked.

  “Point taken,” the man said.

  ~

  “They aren’t battle-tested, and I’m sure Lord Griama’s troops may not have fought a lot of enemies, but they have been trained on the streets,” Mattia said to Ricky as they rode toward the army camp.

  “Can we defeat them?” Ricky asked.

  Mattia nodded. “I put our troops through some additional training on the way and reorganized the chain of command. The officers howled, but I howled louder. It helped to have orders from King Courer putting me in command for this operation only.”

  “But can we defeat them?”

  “We can, but conditions may change. If we let the two lords fight it out in Rassoport, there will be fewer soldiers to fight, but the casualties might be higher. If we go in now, we run the risk of the two armies joining together to fight us, since they were allies in the past.”

  “So there isn’t an easy solution.”

  Mattia shook his head. “Your sorcerers might be the tipping point, no matter what we do. Get them trained and get my men protected.”

  “Pira and Jac are doing that right now.” Ricky looked back in the direction of the manor. “Tomorrow, we will be working with the troops, giving them some protection from magic.”

  They reached the camp. It appeared the Dimanian officers knew how to set up a camp, at least to Ricky’s eyes. The only military camp he’d been to had been in Dimani when he sought Mara. Men were pitching tents; women and men were setting up field kitchens.

  “Everything seems organized,” Ricky said.

  “The Dimanians know how to live in the field. They don’t fight very often, and I’ll be drilling them later this afternoon and into the night.”

  “How many men are here?”

  “Less than three thousand. Lord Forari reportedly has fewer than two thousand men in the field,” Mattia said.

  “Then there are Rasso’s troops.”

  “An unknown. Rasso might have a few hundred men, or he might be able to mobilize all of Rassoport.”

  “The contract workers aren’t interested in fighting for Lord Griama,” Ricky said.

  Mattia shrugged. “Another big unknown. The way Lord Rasso acted, the people might be behind us.”

  “They were in the village holding the sorcerers.”

  “I’ll put a few of my better officers in reserve to command our own version of the rabble,
then.” Mattia looked at all the activity. “Have you seen what you came out here to see?”

  Ricky nodded. “I’ll report back to Jac.”

  Mattia smiled. “You and I run this little war, Ricky, not Jac. Think of this campaign as an appetizer of what is to come. I’ll be waiting for your sorcerers first thing in the morning, if that is acceptable.”

  “Then let’s do it,” Ricky said, smiling as he turned around and rode alone back to the manor.

  The sorcerers were gone.

  “Lord Jac and the princess marched them towards the closest village. It is a half-hour’s walk along that road.” Lady Griama’s butler said. He pointed towards a southwestern gate.

  Ricky had been to the village when he visited Jac. He grimaced. The sorcerers would have to walk for an hour to get to the camp. There was nothing he could do about that now. He found Pira talking to a group of women sorcerers. It looked like they were going to settle in a large field bordered by woods.

  “Where is Jac?” Ricky said, interrupting the session.

  Pira looked up and gave him a dazzling smile. “In the village, arranging food and lodging.”

  “I thought they would be at the manor.”

  The princess shook her head. “The sorcerers declined to use their lord’s manor. They are uncomfortable enough working with me.”

  Ricky tied up his horse. “Then I’ll help. I’ll begin by watching you.”

  Pira looked at Ricky with pursed lips. It made him uncomfortable, but he imagined he’d have to get used to it.

  She squinted her eyes playfully at him and resumed her instruction. When it came time for a bit of practice, Ricky took half the women aside.

  “It is all in the resonance that you feel,” Ricky said. “You have to have a result in mind. If you sing the proper resonance, you will feel yourself fill with power.”

  Some of the women frowned. “That isn’t how I learned,” one of them said. “You learn the right song and apply the spell.”

  “I developed a better technique that uses less power. Come here,” he said to the woman. “Do you know how to levitate?”

  She nodded. Ricky removed the saddle from his horse and put it on the ground.