"Fair enough." The sergeant ran off.
Within a few moments, King William and Juxta stepped out of the castle.
The king shouted, "Rollin, you old fool. You're retired."
"Me, and some of the other old folks," Rollin said, "think our experience will prove useful."
Some of the ancient men following Rollin howled aye.
"Name your spot!" King William said. "We're going to need strong blades and eagle eyes in the command pavilion. Or a place on the line."
"A place on the line," Rollin said.
"And you other men, what say you? Command pavilion or the line?"
The old men spoke in unison. "The line."
Juxta stepped up to Rollin. "It's good to see you."
Rollin pulled on Juxta's arm. "I need to talk to you."
"What of?"
"You let it happen, and you should fight it. You're a lord!"
"I don't even know what you're going on about."
Rollin grabbed him by the upper arms. Their faces were inches apart. "Every tavern in the free lands waters your cider down!"
Juxta chuckled.
"Even the tavern in your fiefdom waters it down!" Rollin exclaimed.
"You've been to my fiefdom?"
"I went there once and made Monroe sell me a five-gallon barrel at wholesale."
Juxta hugged the old man and pushed him away. "Was what Monroe sold you watered down?"
Rollin shed a single tear. "No."
"I’m doing my job!"
"I just want one more glass of it pure," the old man said.
Juxta said, "Follow me."
Rollin and Juxta walked to where the wagons were. Juxta pulled a blanket off to reveal ten five-gallon barrels. "I'm surprised nobody has found it."
"These are full?" Rollin asked.
"Better be. Take one. Share it with the men you brought in."
There really weren't any others around. Rollin grabbed the barrel. Juxta covered the other nine. Rollin asked, "How long before the Southlanders get here?"
"You have at least four days, but you need to share that cider."
"I haven't seen Monroe around. Is he bringing more?"
Juxta pulled the blanket off again and grabbed a five-gallon keg for himself. "We had less than ten thousand gallons when I left home. Monroe brought some. He's around here somewhere."
"Less than ten thousand he says."
"Merchants come to buy it. Some of my men seem to need it every day. Ten thousand gallons is less than you think."
Rollin laughed and laughed.
Juxta walked back into the castle with the barrel on his shoulder. King William commanded a great feast that night. Gregory asked around until he found Simon's youngest, Nicholas.
"Let's duel," Gregory said.
"Have you considered you may be resistant to healing?" Nicholas said with a raised eyebrow.
"Why would I be resistant to healing?"
"You have the blood of Lynken's kings in your veins. Make Juxta check."
The two fifteen-year-old boys walked up to where Juxta was eating with Lisa and the other adults. Gregory said, "Can you heal me, Juxta?"
"That's an interesting question," Juxta replied.
He chanted out a simple Truesight spell. Juxta shook his head. "In theory, I could heal you, but it would drain almost all my strength. If you're thinking of dueling, use wooden swords."
"I don't think you understand," Gregory said. "Men do not duel with sticks."
King William overheard. "Men of my line do not have the luxury of dueling unless it's to the death."
Chapter Sixty-Nine
The king ordered able-bodied young men to report to the guardsmen to be assigned weapons and places. Simon was looking over the latest batch. A face he recognized was in the third rank.
"No!" Simon shouted.
Men looked at him, confused. Simon walked up to the kid he recognized and grabbed the young man by the lapel. The kid spoke, "Father, I--"
"No!" Simon said. "I won't have three sons fight in this war!"
"I thought you'd want me to enlist."
"You run after your wife and protect her. Damned merchants."
The kid bowed. "As you wish." Then he ran off.
* * *
Prince William rode into the castle with Samantha at his side. Xander and Samantha sent their cats off to hunt or play or whatever Kergian cats do in strange lands. Mathew dismounted. William looked at Adam and Clark. "You've done well, men. Earned your keep."
"Thank you, my lord," Adam said.
"We must tell tales of David's bravery," Clark said.
William nodded and dismounted. Samantha asked, "Your mother won't be truly angry?"
He leaned in close and kissed her. "I brought thousands of Cat Riders to fight. How can she be angry?"
William walked into the castle proper. He traversed a straight hallway to the throne room. A scribe announced, "Prince William and Mathew. With two others."
King William looked up from the throne. "How many Cat Riders?"
"They committed four thousand, but we lost some to cursed spider shamans on the way," Prince William said.
Teresa pointed a clawed right hand at William. "You're wearing a ring!"
"Let me introduce Samantha."
She bowed.
"He means Princess Samantha, second in line to rule Kergia," Mathew said.
Teresa hissed loud enough that scribes in the room shivered. "You're engaged or married!"
"The captain of the Sea Hawk married us," William said with a wide smile.
"You have betrayed me!"
King William patted her on the knee. "It's not that bad."
"Not that bad? He got married by some drunken ship captain in a moment of lust."
King William let out a little sigh.
"How many times did I say you deserved a big wedding?" Teresa asked.
Xander stepped forward. "There are really more important matters to discuss."
"Quiet, you." Teresa stood up and started pacing. She snapped her fingers. "We could still have a ceremony. Invite Rubie and your cousins. Plus her parents. Were either of you thinking beyond the fire in your loins?"
"Another ceremony sounds nice, Mom," Samantha said.
Teresa rolled her eyes to the heavens.
Xander cleared his throat. "How many days before Quintak's army arrives?"
King William counted on the fingers on his right hand. "They set foot in Lyken yesterday. We've got about a week according to Juxta."
"We should be working on battle plans and practicing maneuvers," Xander said.
"Quite right," King William said. "We have a war room in this castle. Scribes!"
Eight scribes stepped forward and raised their hands.
King William pointed at them. "Summon Gregory and Malik, they should be together. Kirl and Juxta, too. Rollin is around here somewhere, and I want him there. You're joining us, William. Find Prince John, too. Don't forget to summon Simon."
Prince William knew his father meant him. The scribes ran away to other parts of the castle.
"I don't think our thirteen-year-old is going to have anything to contribute," Teresa said.
"I want you there, too, my love," King William said.
"Is this news of the wedding stirring a fire in your loins, too?"
The king leaned in and whispered in her ear. She flushed red in the cheeks. Teresa approached Samantha and hugged her. "Let's leave these boys to their toys. We have much to discuss."
They left the throne room. King William stood up. "The war room’s this way."
He led, and Prince William, Mathew, and Xander followed. The room was easily twenty yards square. Five maps sat in the center of the room, separated by walkways. Each map showed the terrain in one direction away from the castle proper. The center map was the biggest: six feet by six feet. The maps had holes bored in them every inch or so.
Bins lined one wall containing painted wooden pegs that fit in the holes
in the map.
"My sons and I play in this room sometimes," King William said. "We have peg markers for Rangers and guardsmen. Pegs for Nork forces. Cat Riders are represented as well. We will have to use wild tokens for Southlanders. We even have icons for Magi and Druid. There’s a bin for Tercian forces as well."
Simon and Rollin stepped into the room. William introduced them, and Xander introduced himself. The process continued as Derrick, Gregory, and Malik entered. Kirl, Juxta, and Lisa were next to join.
Prince John entered last. "I think I'm in the wrong war room."
Xander smiled at the boy. "You're in the right place. Sometimes children have a better perspective than adults on many topics."
"The center map is best. It's basically blank," King William said. "We won't be able to choose the battle site, but most honorable combatants will set up on the great eastern plains outside the city."
"I have trouble believing they're going to set up there," Malik said.
"The thing is, in every other direction, it's purely a downward slope. The attacker's command pavilion won't be able to see anything. The eastern side is a rising slope, so the enemy will be able to see everything. Attackers almost always choose this place. The grass grows especially green."
"Then it's just a matter of making plans for what units are where," Xander said.
Gregory's voice cracked as he said the words. "I have some ideas."
"Let my young nephew speak," King William said.
Chapter Seventy
The final day of preparations ended with the Southlanders camped fifteen miles from the battle site. The next morning at dawn, Lyken's troops began to set up.
A line of Lynken's guardsmen stood at the center of the formation four hundred men wide and fifteen men deep. On both sides of them, lines of one hundred Nork men, twenty men deep, were ready. On the outsides of that, on each end, were rows of Cat Riders. The far left side also had over a thousand Rangers led by Prince William, Simon, and Simon's youngest son, Nicholas. Juxta's men, including Rollin and Monroe, sat on horses on the far right.
Quintak's army crested the opposite hill. A line of foot soldiers one thousand souls wide, and a hundred deep. Then a row of spider shamans five hundred wide and ten deep.
The troops were over two hundred yards apart. The spider shamans threw hundreds, if not thousands, of splattering gray shards of darkness. The pieces of magic seemed greasy, as if covered with graphite or lead. They bounced along the ground like stones skipping across a lake. These incapacitating spells were deflected by the turquoise well enough. Men's guts would wrench, but not enough to make them fall or puke.
The Magi on Lynken's side summoned power. The spider shamans threw balls of slow moving tar-like black fire. Juxta shouted, "What is this?"
"Throw a fireball at them," Kirl said to Josah.
Josah threw one, but the magics just passed through each other. The black fireballs were two hundred yards away from Lynken's troops. Men in the front ranks began to try to step backward, and for a moment it looked like the entire Lynken line was going to turn and bolt.
"Lightning," Kirl said.
Josah blasted one of the fireballs with a small lightning bolt. The fireball disintegrated into pieces of darkness. The pieces splattered like sticky messes of tar on the otherwise green grass of the field.
Derrick poured power into his apprentice, Oppie. He whispered 'Shoc' over and over pulling lightning out of the sky. All the Magi worked at destroying the balls of black fire.
Quintak, Luther, Timothy, and Pintos crested the opposing hill. Timothy threw a lightning bolt down on Lynken's guardsmen, cutting a path of destruction through their ranks. Skulls split open like melons to spew forth brains. Derrick shouted, "He's mine!"
Oppie rained lightning on Timothy, who threw up a spherical shield. Luther tossed a great ball of fire at Lynken's men. Mathew raised up a line of thirty shields around the impact point. Quintak's foot soldiers continued to advance. The spider shamans threw black fireballs one after another. A fireball the size of a small castle drifted out of Luther's hand, more than even Mathew could shield. Juxta drew a triangle on his son and called out, "Shoc!"
The bolt of lightning was bigger across than the ancient tree Juxta once forged a staff from. It scorched the earth in a circle around Luther. His shield didn't cave or falter.
Quintak summoned lightning against Lynken's guardsmen. Lisa threw all her might into spherical shields around the troops. By now, the armies were no more than fifty yards from each other. Cat Riders raised their crossbows high and fired thousands of quarrels. Rangers and Juxta's men raised bows skyward, as well. Many of the projectiles fell short, but at least half landed true, and every dead man was one less they had to cut open.
Luther pulled together a great storm of power and called down lightning on Juxta. Purple flames blazed in Juxta's amethyst gemstone, and he did not fall. More arrows and quarrels flew, but those weapons were soon discarded. A horn blew on Quintak's side, and his men on foot accelerated to a charge. The black balls of tar-like fire from the spider shamans were not slowing. Bart, the Magi from Juxta's fiefdom, focused on these black fireballs, and every so often, Oppie would lend a hand to counter them, or Mathew.
The great armies crashed into each other with blades dancing. Blood flowed all up and down the lines. Both sides bled, but there seemed to be more of the Southlanders' blood nurturing the soil than free landers'. Nork's men held the line. All the free men held the line. The torrent of magic flowing between Timothy Drakkar and Oppie dwarfed most suns going nova. They seemed Hell-bent on casting stronger and stronger lightning blasts until one of them burned out. Mathew and Lisa continued to try to counter Quintak's massive lightning strikes. Sometimes they were a half second too slow, and men fell to the ground with their brains scattered about the field. Both Juxta and Luther were buried in their own magic, but Juxta noticed something. Black lines grew like rivers in his hands and forearms. The lines were in Luther's arms, too. Black shadows like bats flew into Luther from some nether region.
On the left flank, Jason fought with his Cuts-metal blade, slicing into Rangers left and right. Nicholas had a similar blade and was close to him. Nicholas kicked his horse on the rump and charged Jason. The younger brother aimed his sword point at Jason's right shoulder. Jason bent down low and cut the legs out from under his brother's horse. Nicholas went flying and landed on his feet.
The two young men faced each other amidst the melee of death and pain. Nicholas yelled, "You've got to snap out of it!"
"You're fighting for an oppressive regime and deserve death," Jason said.
Nicholas thrust forward with his blade. Jason countered it and sliced Nicholas on the forearm. They exchanged blow after blow. Jason was bigger and stronger.
Prince William noticed the fight and kicked his horse into a gallop.
Jason slammed his fist into his brother's face, sending him backward. Nicholas lost his grip on his sword. William was almost there.
Jason raised his blade high to finish the younger man.
William's right fist and sword hilt connected at full gallop with the side of Jason's skull. Massive flashes of colored light danced in his vision, and he fell.
"If you would kill your brother,” William shouted, “you're no better than a traitor!"
Jason tried to shake off the effects of the blow. Nicholas was up with his sword in his hand. Lightning from Quintak burned into him for a moment, but Lisa was quick to throw up a shield.
At the command pavilion, Lisa shouted, "I can't take on Quintak's magic much longer."
Mathew shouted, "I can keep the shields up!"
William turned his horse around and aimed his sword point, not the hilt, at Jason.
Jason shook his head one last time to clear it, then he ducked down low and pierced William's horse through the heart. The young prince leaped off the animal and landed on all fours. He turned to face Jason. "I called you brother."
Jason let out the laugh of a
madman. "Your regime is at an end!"
Chapter Seventy-One
The spider shamans raised their staves at once, and thousands of balls of black fire launched at the same time. Josah and Mathew tried to focus on blocking Quintak's magic and blasting those fireballs. Oppie did the same while countering Timothy's magic. Derrick and Kirl fed all the power they could into their apprentices. Bart raged with lightning. Lisa tried to summon strength, but she was clearly near the end of her will.
The first black fireballs hit the free men's troops. They splashed like liquid tar on the soldiers. Some of the men were covered in it from head to toe; on others just an arm or leg was greasy. A few moments passed, and more of the fireballs hit the men of Lynken and Nork. The Cat Riders seemed adept at dodging the tarry messes, but some leaped right into a Southlander's blade. The reality of the problem sank in as the tar covering the men hardened. This immobilized scores of the troops, and as more fireballs landed, possibly hundreds. Some of the troops who could not move were cut down promptly. The second and third ranks wised up and pulled the helpless men backward.
A lot of fireballs still slid through the air, but another barrage was not forthcoming, as if the shamans were spent.
Prince William and Jason battled on the left flank. Both young men had cuts on their arms, but neither seemed to be able to gain an advantage. Every so often a Southlander would try to get in the middle of their war, only for William to cut them down. Jason cut down Rangers who got in the way.
Blood spilled and splattered all across the front line. The free men were quick to pull injured men backward and let fresh men get to where they needed killing. Men of Lynken, Nork, and Kergia didn't seem to tire. They held the field. Even the men who weren't injured were covered in blood. Juxta looked at Luther. The dark veins of magic reached to his shoulders.
Juxta drew a horizontal line in front of Luther, as if Juxta intended to move some object with his mind. Then he pushed the line forward as hard as he could into Luther's throat. He grabbed at his neck, choked, and fell. Juxta shouted to William, "Sound the retreat!"
"We're winning!" William yelled.
"Do you see the lines of black in my hands? Luther has similar veins. The more magic we use: the stronger these lines become. If they reach our hearts, it'll be doom. The end of all things!"
Luther, Magi: Blood of Lynken II Page 22