by Mussie Haile
But as soon as it had arrived, the beams stopped, and the red wall disappeared. The ring of horses and soldiers fell carelessly to the ground, their skeletons shattering on impact. Lord Taboon opened his eyes and smiled.
The battle raged hard. Sometimes, it looked like the Middle Kingdom were winning, and all of a sudden, the tides would turn and it would seem as though Tonar was winning. However, one thing was sure: Tonar was in no way as weak as Henok had thought them to be. The King himself was directly facing the consequences of his assumptions. Even his ring of guards was not safe. They were being barrelled by ambitious soldiers from Tonar who wanted to make a name by being the ones to kill the King of the Middle Kingdom. So far, his elite squad had proven their usefulness, slicing to pieces in the space of seconds anyone who would dare venture close enough.
General Senay was not allowed to try the attacking strategies he had prepared. From the start of the battle, the goal had become rather simple. Withstand Tonar’s assault enough to not get themselves thrashed. So far, the plan seemed to be working, though it was not going too smoothly. He turned to a soldier and handed him a parchment he had just prepared.
“Take this to Sinto or Lord Taboon, any one of them you find is fine. They will likely not get the chance to read it, so my suggestion is this: that they should redistribute some of the stronger magicians to the front of the battle. We need them to begin to hit at Tonar so that they can stop reinforcements coming at us! I will order my soldiers to spread into a semi-circle so that we can hit them from all sides as well as from the front. That way we will be able to finish off the remaining soldiers so we can now make an advance. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir,” the soldier replied.
As the soldier came out, another ran in, bringing in reports of the direction the battle was going. General Senay had soldiers like this, scouts, who would study the battle and get back to him. The constant update informed his decision on what strategy to use, and what reinforcements to make.
“Report,” he ordered the soldier.
The soldier opened his mouth, and that was all he ever did. A bolt of bright light shot out from out of nowhere and speared through him. The soldier was dead even before he fell to the ground. Smoke was coming out from the hole on his back. Senay stared nonplussed.
“What just happened?” he asked one of his colonels at the planning table.
They were still about to respond when another one hit the tent. And then another and another.
“The sky!” Senay heard someone shout from outside. And when he went outside, he saw bolts of light falling from the sky in a storm.
There was an army of flying men up there! In the sky, shooting bolts of light into the army of the Middle.
Senay saw that all of them had a contraption fixed like a backpack, except this one spat fire from its underside. As if that was not enough, it was as if the forest suddenly came alive. More men were pouring in than he had seen. And then it hit him. They were being hit from more than one angle. He felt his spirits drop. There was no doubt that the Middle Kingdom had better soldiers but Tonar had the better strategies.
In truth, Senay did not care about the magician-warriors, only his soldiers. Already the lists of the dead were growing by the second. It would be up to him to visit all of the grieving families and tell them that their kin had died in service to the kingdom and to the King, who had sent them into battle based solely on an assumption.
It would be General Senay who would hear the soul-shattering cries, the piercing wails, and would be the one to try and console them. Tonar had had the advantage of them since the start.
Tonar’s newly acquired technology from the Technocons was wreaking untold havoc. The Middle Kingdom had been fighting for survival since then, and as such had focused the brunt of their attention to the front, where the heat was coming from. They could not see that Tonar had already had something even more audacious planned. Now, they were facing soldiers from all sides, and most jarring of it all, soldiers from the sky, raining arrows of white light!
“Where are those damned magicians when you need them?” Senay asked.
He saw more and more of his soldiers fall from the arrows from the sky, as they were too busy withstanding the attack from the front and the sides. They could not put up a shield as it would be too weak. The men he had here were known more for their physical strength than their magic. Senay saw all this, and he knew what he had to do. The battle here was over. Without the magicians, this would easily turn into a slaughter. He did not know where the magicians were, and he could not wait for them to come to save them. If he did, there would be nobody to save by the time they arrived. He moved into his tent, which surprisingly, was still standing amidst the hail of projectiles. He grabbed the special horn made for the retreat signal. It had been long since this horn had been sounded in battle. Indeed. the glory of the Middle Kingdom had been decimated today. He moved out of the tent, and put the horn to his lips, blew with all his might. The horn was infused with magic that allowed its sounds to travel far and wide so everyone could hear it.
“Retreat! Retreat!” the soldiers shouted among themselves as they ran back into the forest.
Mosael heard the horn, and a smile split his face – the first since the battle began. Tonar had successfully set the Middle Kingdom to their heels. But he did not plan on stopping there.
Sinto heard the sound of the horns. It was time to leave. Even for someone as strong as him, this display of force from Tonar was not what Sinto had expected at all. Using magic fire as they ran back into the forest, he felt the defeat in his bones. He knew the King would be furious at this terrible humiliation. And he also knew that he would be blamed for this.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Life of a Telepath
“There are certain things you have to keep in mind if you are to master the skill of telepathy. A focused mind, will, and consideration.”
Eldana and Kochob were under the shade of a huge beech. Eldana sat on the ground, with her legs folded while Kochob leaned on the tree in front of her. Today was one week since Eldana had consigned herself to Kochob’s tutelage, yet she was no closer to reading a mind than she was when she started.
“Why should you have a focused mind?” Kochob asked.
“Because, like a dagger, my mind must be sharp and precise to be able to penetrate the walls of someone else’s thoughts,” she replied.
After the third day with Kochob had yielded nothing, Eldana was beset by frustration. Fraweyni had requested her presence in her grove to enquire of her progress, and Eldana had told her that she did not think she was cut out for telepathy.
“Eldana,” Fraweyni said with calm, “A being of Balance and Chaos can master all the forms of magic. No magic and I mean none at all, is exempt from their mastery. All you have to do is learn.”
“I am trying.” Eldana had cried out with exasperation. “I truly am. While I am here trying to learn new skills, all the world is eating itself up.”
“I understand your frustration, but you know, this is important.”
Eldana nodded and sat. “I just wish there is something I could do to, you know, to speed things up,” she moaned.
“Whatever it is you need to do, you are doing it,” Fraweyni told her.
Today, Kochob was taking her through exactly the same thing, just with different words.
“The will of a telepath is just as important as their focused mind. You have got to use that well, deftly, like a thrusting force, to get into another’s mind. And lastly, you need consideration so that you do not destroy the victim’s mind. Reading minds can be very tasking work, and very addictive too. There are only a few things as sweet as knowing the secrets of another.”
Yes, Eldana thought, I know that well enough.
The first thing Kochob had done when he began his lessons with Eldana was to take her to the training grou
nd. Siem had been practicing her archery, shooting arrow after arrow into the bullseye of the stuffed targets. Mikko was using long wooden staves to train with another elf. Eldana had spotted him and remembered what Siem had said about his speed.
Wow, he is fast, she had thought.
Kochob signalled for an elf to give Eldana a sword.
“No offense, Kochob,” Eldana chuckled. “but I know enough of sword fighting. I do not think there is enough time for us to revisit this.”
“This is not about your skill in sword fighting,” Kochob told her.
Eldana raised the sword in her hand and cocked her brows inquisitively.
“Strike me,” Kochob said.
“What?” Eldana asked, her tone rising a few notes higher in mild confusion.
“Strike me,” Kochob repeated.
“But you don’t have a weapon in hand!” Eldana protested. “I mean, I know you are an elf, and are fast, but so am I. I have been trained. You will only get yourself injured.”
Kochob had sighed, “If you are that concerned about my well being, you can blunt the edges of the sword.”
Eldana eyed Kochob, wondering what exactly he was up to. She muttered a spell over the edges of the sword. When she was done, she ran a finger over the edge of the blade. There was no blood. She nodded satisfactorily.
Seeing her nod, Kochob nodded. “Now.”
Eldana looked at him. “Are you sure about this?” she asked him.
“Oh, please stop being such a wimp,” Kochob cried with mock frustration.
There was resounding laughter from all around. Eldana turned to find that all the elves had stopped their training to watch. She spotted Siem and Miko at the fore, and they gave her an encouraging smile.
Eldana pressed her lip into a hard line and gripped the sword. It was an elven blade, long and slender with a hilt. Eldana rolled the blade in her palm and then settled into a stance facing Kochob.
She saw the look in Kochob’s eyes. His gaze was anticipatory, expectant. It was almost like he was begging her to attack. There was no fear in his eyes.
Oh, you have no idea what’s coming, Siem thought, and then Eldana dashed forward.
The elves were taken aback by the speed at which Eldana lunged at Kochob. This was the first time that they had seen her fight. It looked like Eldana was going to thrust the sword into Kochob’s shoulders. But at the very last second, Kochob twisted his torso to the side. Eldana’s thrust went through air. But she had something up her sleeve. She flicked her wrist to the left, in the hopes that she would nick Kochob across the chest, but once again, her blade passed through thin air.
Mikko’s mouth was open. He had seen the fight between D’rmas and the elven commander. But this one was something more exhilarating. D’rmas and the elven commander had used speed and brute force. Here, he was seeing speed, skill, thoughtfulness, and improvisation on the spot.
Eldana moved away from Kochob, her eyes on him the entire time. He seemed to have more in him than he let out. She circled him, but he stood still. She made a feint at him when she was behind him. He did not move. She tucked her lower lip into her mouth and smiled, the glint of mischief in her eyes. Still, behind Kochob, she slashed at his neck. Kochob zinged low, evading the strike, and the second strike that followed immediately.
The elves were beginning to cheer now. Eldana was beginning to get furious. She had struck numerous times at Kochob, and not even one of them had touched him. He had evaded all of her blows effortlessly,
She noticed Kochob attempt to spread his legs a bit wider. She lurched at him before his raised leg touched the ground. She knew that now his mind was still making a decision, and he was out of balance, it would be difficult for him to evade her blow.
With lightning speed, Kochob applied pressure to the foot that was still on the ground, and turned, letting Eldana’s thrust go through the air. Eldana had gone in with such speed, that she sped past Kochob when she missed him. She turned, immediately, and went into a melee of strokes. Kochob dodged all of them. Neatly.
Eldana stopped. She was heaving, but Kochob was looking calm, still maintaining his poise. Eldana gave him a look of incomprehensibility.
How’s he doing this? She asked herself. It is almost like he knows every move I make before I make it...
The thought had not matured into completion, when her eyes widened, as realization dawned on her.
Kochob saw her reaction and smiled satisfactorily.
“I think this lesson is over.” He told her.
“Of course, it is,” Eldana said. “I could have gone on trying to hit you, and would never have. And that’s because you were reading my mind. You knew all of my moves before I even made them.”
“I believe I do not need theorizations to impress upon you the use of telepathy in battle. In battle there are specific magics, especially the ones that are forbidden, that can be used by certain malicious mages. Those spells when used, are impossible to counter or stave off. No shield is potent against them.”
“So you are saying no matter how strong I get, there is absolutely nothing I can do to avoid the spells you are talking about?” Eldana asked.
“Yes, I believe Siem knows somethings about these kinds of spells.” He said, throwing a glance across to where Siem stood.
“Crazy mind reader,” Siem muttered under her breath. “Stay out of my mind.”
Kochob, now faced Eldana, “The only way you can avoid those spells is by telepathy. You can access the mind of your opponent and discern what their next move is going to be, and then you can plan an appropriate defense or counterattack. I must warn you though, certain people are trained to resist telepaths. Your level of magic is a natural mental defense for you, but you need to work on it so that you are near impenetrable. Your friends, especially Siem and D’rmas, had mental fortifications in place. An ordinary telepath would not have been able to penetrate them. But then again, I am not ordinary.”
“So, if these mages have been trained to resist telepathy, my ability as a telepath is as good as useless then,” Eldana said.
“Not entirely,” Kochob replied. “You see, a lot of things go into a fight, other than force, and magic. There is a skill, tactic, strategy. Some even resort to fighting dirty. Battles are essentially a fight for survival, after all. There is only too much that the mind can focus on. If you can create something else for the mind to focus on, it borrows strength from what it already focuses on, and gives it to the new object of interest. Therefore…” Kochob cocked his brows suggestively for Eldana to fill in the theory.
Eldana’s eyes widened as the implication of what Kochob had just said struck her.
“Therefore,” she said, “the mage’s mental fortification is weakened.”
Kochob nodded with satisfaction. “And then you get your opportunity to stab through their mind.”
Eldana had smiled then, imagining how formidable she would be in battle. She had not known how difficult it would be to learn the skill.
Now, she was sitting, her eyes closed trying to get into the minds of the birds chirping overhead for the tenth day in a row.
“It is almost noon,” Kochob said, suddenly. “I suggest you take some time off to collect yourself. We will meet again at dusk.”
Eldana sighed and stood up. She had a look of dissatisfaction on her face. She bowed slightly to Kochob, and Kochob bowed in return before Eldana stalked off.
On her way to the tent that she and Siem shared, she stopped by Hermon’s. He always possessed this quality that made her spirits rise whenever he was around. And at the moment, there was nothing that else she needed. She went to his tent to discover that he was not in. Eldana muttered something about friends not being there when you need them and walked off. She was not ready to retire to her tent just yet. Not with the way she was feeling. She strolled through the forest, hoping that its life
would suffuse her with the feeling of betterment that she so desired. She was at a part of the forest filled with lots of singing birds when she heard someone speak beside her.
“Rough day?”
Eldana turned. There was nobody from where the voice had come from. Just a young tree. Eldana squinted. She thought she saw the tree move. Suddenly, the tree began to shrink in size, its bark growing smoother, and smoother. Some of its branches disappeared outrightly, while the ones that remained, melded into hands.
Eldana stared wide-eyed with wonder as what had once been a tree was now Meko.
“Hi.” Eldana said awkwardly in surprise.
Meko nodded, acknowledging Eldana’s greeting. “You look every bit like you had a rough day,” Meko repeated.
Eldana sighed, coming back to herself.
“A rough day, indeed.”
“You have still not been able to use telepathy?” Meko asked.
“I guess word travels fast,” Eldana replied in a dejected tone.
“Just give it some time,” Meko advised.
“That is all I seem to be giving it,” Eldana said. “I mean one would think that a psychic would learn telepathy easily.”
